What happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after revelations surrounding leadership uncertainty at Nvidia and the resignation of Chief Executive Jensen Huang triggered broad declines across the artificial intelligence industry. 

As reported by AP News, the sudden leadership shakeup at the world's preeminent AI chipmaker sent shockwaves throughout global financial markets. Nvidia has served as the foundational pillar for the generative AI boom, supplying high-performance graphics processing units that power complex machine learning models across major tech enterprises. 

Huang's departure follows an emergency board review prompted by disclosures of two extramarital relationships, one of which was with a direct report, CNBC and The New York Times reported. 

Investors and analysts have increasingly questioned whether massive spending on data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure will yield timely returns. With the industry's primary bellwether facing sudden executive transition, broader technology and AI-related shares experienced selling pressure as market participants reassessed near-term growth trajectories and supply chain stability.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Ground transportation company Hertz fell 4.3%. Is now the time to buy Hertz? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Genomics & sequencing company 10x Genomics fell 4.3%. Is now the time to buy 10x Genomics? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Renewable energy company Bloom Energy fell 2.5%. Is now the time to buy Bloom Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Renewable energy company FuelCell Energy fell 4.4%. Is now the time to buy FuelCell Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Renewable energy company Plug Power fell 8.4%. Is now the time to buy Plug Power? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming in on Plug Power

Plug Power’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 57 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock dropped 8.7% on the news that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Consumer Price Index increased 0.4 percent in October 2026, highlighting persistent price pressures across the economy. The latest inflation figures showed that underlying inflation remains resilient, with the core Consumer Price Index—which excludes volatile food and energy costs—advancing 0.3 percent over the month. Sticky inflation complicates corporate operating environments by elevating input costs and weakening consumer spending power. 

When consumer price gauges climb faster than expected, market participants often reassess future earnings expectations, particularly for high-growth technology firms whose future cash flows are heavily sensitive to macroeconomic headwinds. Sector-wide sentiment turned cautious as investors factored in the potential durability of elevated cost structures across operations.

Plug Power is down 44.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $1.25 per share, it is trading 69.9% below its 52-week high of $4.14 from May 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Plug Power’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $28.86.

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