The Morning Brief
Nvidia's board opening an investigation into Jensen Huang collides with one of the heaviest earnings slates of the quarter, forcing traders to decide whether the AI trade can shrug off a governance headline before the open.
Overnight, the governance shock in AI hit first.
Nvidia (NVDA) disclosed its board has launched an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang, a headline that lands just hours after President Trump told CBS's 60 Minutes that AI risks "can be managed" and he doesn't mind guardrails, a comment that touched a wide swath of the AI complex from Meta and Alphabet to Baidu and Qualcomm. Nvidia shares are still indicated higher regardless, up 2.8%, suggesting the Street isn't treating the probe as disqualifying, at least not yet.
Asia and Europe delivered a steady drip of industrial and dealmaking news.
CNH Industrial (CNH) is selling 70% of its construction equipment business to Kobe Steel, and reports before the bell today. SoftBank and ABB are exploring a spin-off of their China robotics operations. SK Telecom paired with Nvidia and Rebellions on sovereign AI infrastructure in Korea. In autos, BMW locked in battery supply deals with both Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution, doubling down on European battery security. On the regulatory side, the EU sued IBM (IBM), Atos, and Leonardo over delays to its smart border system, a headline weighing on IBM, down 0.9%. Wizz Air was hit by a coordinated wave of hoax bomb threats across its network. In crypto, Standard Chartered launched a tokenized deposits platform in Hong Kong with HashKey and CoinShares' physical bitcoin product began trading on the London Stock Exchange, modest plumbing news but another sign traditional banks keep building in digital assets.
Pre-market movers are concentrated in biotech and space.
Vir Biotechnology (VIR) is up nearly 11% after positive topline Phase 3 ECLIPSE 1 results for its Alnylam-licensed elebsiran and tobevibart regimen in hepatitis delta. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is higher by 1.4% following a run of weekend data drops, including a strong psoriatic arthritis readout for ICOTYDE and early prostate cancer combination results. SpaceX, trading as Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX), is up more than 8% after Deutsche Bank reaffirmed its Buy, with NASA separately handing fresh lunar delivery framework awards to Intuitive Machines, Redwire, and Northrop Grumman. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) cut its dividend overnight.
On the radar today:
a packed earnings docket headlined by Constellation Energy, Occidental Petroleum, KKR, Barrick Mining, The Trade Desk, Take-Two Interactive, Lucid Group, MARA Holdings, Hims & Hers, H&R Block, Rocket Lab, Archer Aviation, monday.com, and Five9. With Treasuries flat (TLT unchanged) and the dollar firmer (UUP +0.8%), rates aren't the story this morning, earnings reactions and the Nvidia governance overhang are.
Bottom line: the AI trade opens the week absorbing a boardroom shock while the broader tape leans on a dense earnings calendar to set direction.