U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday, Nov. 12, after recovering most of a sharp early drop that followed the resignation of Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 189.40 points, or 0.36 percent, to 52,297.09. The S&P 500 lost 26.98 points, or 0.35 percent, to 7,592.40, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 100.10 points, or 0.39 percent, to 25,366.09, Reuters reported. On Wednesday the three had closed at 52,486.49, 7,619.38 and 25,466.19.

A morning scare, a modest close

The opening claim was that losing Huang would break the AI trade. The S&P 500 dropped nearly 1 percent at the start before erasing the loss and finishing slightly lower, AP reported. The Nasdaq fell as much as 1.6 percent in the opening minutes, according to Investopedia.

Nvidia itself raises the objection. The stock was down nearly 12 percent at its low and closed down 4.3 percent, Reuters reported. Retail investors bought about $111 million of Nvidia in the first half hour, the biggest opening bid on record for the stock, according to Vanda Analytics data cited by Reuters. Reuters put the shares at about 12 times expected earnings, the lowest since 2012.

Chipmakers did not move together. Advanced Micro Devices rose 5.9 percent and Broadcom 5.5 percent, and Alphabet also gained, Reuters reported. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index slipped 0.5 percent after surging 17.2 percent over the prior four sessions. Intel, Marvell and Micron each fell roughly 2 percent, Investopedia reported.

The deeper losses were among companies that rent out AI computing. Nebius fell 16.8 percent, its biggest daily percentage drop since July 1, after its results and outlook. CoreWeave lost 6.9 percent, IREN 6.5 percent and Applied Digital 5.4 percent, according to Reuters. Alibaba fell 7.1 percent in U.S. trading.

What the index closes leave out

A 0.35 percent decline reads like a quiet day. Breadth says otherwise. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 3.4-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange and by 3.18-to-1 on the Nasdaq, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows. Volume was 19.18 billion shares, above the 20-day average of 18.61 billion.

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors fell, Xinhua reported. Materials lost 1.49 percent and industrials 0.91 percent, while communication services rose 0.37 percent. Energy gained 1.5 percent, its fourth straight advance and the best of the 11 sectors, according to Reuters.

Abroad, the MSCI all-country world index fell 0.44 percent to 1,116.27. The pan-European index rose 0.14 percent to 664.01 after touching a record 666.58 during the session, Reuters reported.

The bond market

It is tempting to tie the jump in yields to Nvidia. Reuters tied it elsewhere: yields rose after President Trump said Washington does not need a deal with Iran. The 2-year Treasury yield rose 13.96 basis points to 4.867 percent, its highest since Oct. 14. The 10-year yield rose 11.58 basis points to 5.105 percent, its highest since Oct. 21, after touching 5.1169 percent during the session.

Fed funds futures priced in 29 basis points of rate increases in December, with slim odds of a half-point move, Reuters reported. That is a statement about the Fed's next meeting, not a verdict on any one company.

Commodities and crypto

Brent crude for January settled up 3.3 percent at $95.82 a barrel, and U.S. crude for December settled up 2.6 percent at $88.74, CNBC reported, citing Reuters. COMEX gold for December settled down 2.88 percent at $3,885.30 an ounce, its third straight decline, according to The Edge.

Bitcoin fell as low as $71,200, its lowest in nearly 12 weeks, and was down 3.4 percent at $71,600 on Thursday, The Block reported. More than $750 million of crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data cited by The Block. MSCI confirmed it will remove Strategy from its indexes on Nov. 30.

The print that settles the morning's argument is the close: Nvidia down 4.3 percent, not 12, and the S&P 500 down 0.35 percent.