Market Open: Stocks Higher, Nvidia Falls 6% on CEO Affair, China Security Risks • 11/9/26

0:01CNBC Business News Update. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Major averages building on their gains out of the gate this morning. The Dow is now up 730 points. That's almost one and a half percent, topping 52 ,000. Amazon shares leading the Dow higher. They're up 5 percent this morning. The S &P 500 index up 123 points. That's more than one and a half percent. And the Nasdaq is popping 2 % now, up 510 points. Chipmaker shares mostly in the green. It's NVIDIA that is lower. All eyes on those NVIDIA shares today. They're down 4 % after being down 7. There's scrutiny of founder and CEO Jensen Wong, who admitted an affair.

0:46And New York Times and other reporting suggests it was with an alleged Chinese female spy. Here's CNBC's Eamon Javers in Washington. President Trump offered some cautious support for Nvidia CEO Jensen Wang last night. I think he's an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it. In a statement to Nvidia employees on Sunday, Jensen Wang wrote in part, I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry. And in its statement, NVIDIA's board of directors said it had no reason to believe national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.

1:27The woman, Alice Wong, no relation to Jensen, is a former Chinese TV reporter turned executive at Megaspeed. One of NVIDIA's Chinese company customers, Rochefort's Kyle Bass, tells CNBC this NVIDIA risk really wasn't too hard to see. Look at Megaspeed. Megaspeed had had no balances, had 30 million dollars in its balance sheet in mid 2023. By the end of 24, they were ordering four point six billion dollars worth of NVIDIA chips. And Jensen was, you know, hanging out with Megaspeed's the woman that he's been alleged to have an affair with. And here's Hightower's Stephanie Link. She owns NVIDIA shares.

2:08This is her take on CNBC. How he could get involved in something like this, someone of his stature, is just incredible to me. Mind-boggling. You know, obviously very disappointing. I like to buy good quality companies on sale. This company is going to grow earnings to$20 a share by 2028. Stock's trading at nine times. The discount is substantial. But the overhang means this stock doesn't do anything for the medium term. And, you know, you can sit on dead money for a really long time. Berkshire Hathaway reported a drop in earnings in the last quarter. Results released over the weekend. It more than doubled its stock buybacks.

2:48Has a cash hoard now of$377 billion. Independent producer G-Kids, Godzilla minus zero, won the weekend box office. G-Kids is the company that made the boy in the Heron, which won the Academy Award two years ago for Best Animated Feature Film. On this National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day, there are deals and discounts at major chains, including McRispy's Sandwiches at Mickey D's for two bucks using the app. No Mega Millions winner over the weekend. Tomorrow night's jackpot is more than a half billion dollars. Jessica Ettinger, CNBC. Traders don't need a prettier app. They need a better angle. Schwab's think-or-swim trading platforms were built for real traders like you.

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