Key Highlights

● Nvidia rose to $173.73, up $4.93, after a two-day slide erased over $430 billion.

● CoreWeave's strong quarter sparked a semiconductor rebound that led the S&P 500.

● Baird downgraded Nvidia to Neutral with a $200 target, cut from $500.

● Unconfirmed reports about CEO Jensen Huang pressured Nvidia shares after hours.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose to $173.73 during the session on Wednesday, up $4.93, snapping a punishing two-day slide that had erased more than $430 billion in market value. The world's most closely watched AI chipmaker rose alongside a roaring semiconductor rebound that lifted the technology sector to the top of the S&P 500 leaderboard.

The broader backdrop was friendly. The S&P 500 climbed 98.45 points to 7,619.38, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 400.31 points to 25,466.19 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 254.60 points to 52,486.49. The Russell 2000 gained 24.88 points to 2,846.26, while the VIX, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, eased to 17.49. The Bond Market was closed for Veterans Day, leaving stocks to trade without fresh Treasury signals.

A relief rally in the regular session

The spark for the chip rally came from CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV), the AI cloud provider that rents out vast fleets of Nvidia-powered servers. Its third-quarter Revenue of $3.66 billion more than doubled from a year earlier and topped estimates, and it raised its full-year revenue outlook to $13.0 billion to $13.3 billion. That eased fears, stoked by last week's AI-spending scare, that Demand for data-center hardware was cooling.

Analysts step back

The bounce came despite two notable analyst moves. A Baird analyst downgraded Nvidia to Neutral and slashed the price target to $200 from $500. The note carried the title "Icarus' Rise and Fall; Company Will be Fine."

Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, removed Nvidia from its list of Top Picks but kept an Overweight rating on the stock with a $300 price target.

Those calls landed as the company's board had hired outside counsel to review reports concerning CEO Jensen Huang, a backdrop that had weighed heavily on the shares earlier in the week. Strategists summed up the mood in commentary that circulated widely online: "At this point, the market is pricing in two major potential headwinds," they wrote.

After the bell, a new jolt

The calm did not last. After the bell, reports said Nvidia's board was preparing to remove Huang, and a further report about him followed. The reports had not been confirmed by the company. Nvidia shares fell in after-hours trading as the news spread, and evening futures tied to the Nasdaq-100 slipped.

The swings underline how much weight a single stock now carries. Nvidia is one of the largest companies in the world by Market Value and a heavyweight in the S&P 500, the Nasdaq-100 and the Dow, so its moves ripple across index funds, retirement accounts and the wider AI trade. It was also among the most discussed tickers across retail investing forums and Social Media on Wednesday.

Governance Questions Hang Over Nvidia's Earnings

The next big test is Nvidia's fiscal third-quarter report, due November 17. Investors will be parsing data-center revenue, Supply commentary and guidance for signs that the AI build-out remains on track, and any update on governance matters could also draw attention.

Before then, the wider market faces a busy calendar. Weekly jobless claims arrive Thursday morning, followed by October producer prices on Friday. Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) report after the bell on Thursday, offering more readings on AI infrastructure spending. The Federal Reserve's next policy meeting is December 8 and 9, with a rate hike seen as nearly fully priced after a hotter-than-expected October consumer price report. Anthropic's widely anticipated initial public offering is also expected to price next week, another event that could shape sentiment toward AI stocks.