Nvidia Without Huang: What a Pause in AI Deals Means for Metals

Nvidia Without Huang: What a Pause in AI Deals Means for Metals

By Michael Kern
Publication Date: 2026-11-14 22:00:00

Copper slid to its lowest in almost four months on Friday and was heading for a fifth straight weekly loss, with traders blaming Nvidia’s (Nasdaq: NVDA) loss of Jensen Huang for the latest leg down. The exit is a convenient culprit, but the slide started before it. Copper has dropped every week since mid-October, and Goldman Sachs called the correction a matter of positioning in AI-linked stocks, not a sign that fundamentals have loosened.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.5% at $13,519 a metric ton as of 1000 GMT, after touching $13,456, its weakest since July 17. As the Nvidia news broke on Thursday, Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price put it bluntly: “Every time AI takes a hit, copper demand and prices come under pressure too.” He also pointed to stubborn US inflation and the prospect of Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Nvidia said Huang resigned Thursday as president, CEO and director, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is interim CEO while keeping her finance job, and Harvey Jones becomes the board’s first chair. Shares closed 4.3% lower Thursday and fell about 2% more on Friday. Bloomberg reported that results are due Nov. 17, with Kress promising an all-hands meeting the next day.

Huang has also agreed to testify before Congress by Thanksgiving, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast said, adding that “he has some very serious questions to answer.”

The route…