Nvidia Reports Earnings Tuesday After Jensen Huang's Ouster

Nvidia reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday, and the print lands days after Jensen Huang's ouster from the company amid affair controversies — with investors still assessing the fallout and options volatility already climbing.

The chipmaker's results top a crowded calendar. Palo Alto Networks reports Wednesday. Walmart and Alibaba follow on Thursday. Home Depot and Walt Disney share Tuesday's slot with Nvidia, while Baidu and XPeng open the week on Monday. For a semiconductor industry watching its most valuable company, the Nvidia report is the one that moves prices.

Why the market enters the week on edge

Stocks rose Friday. The U.S. Producer Price Index climbed 0.3% month-over-month in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — cooler than the +0.4% consensus and down from the prior month's revised +1.4% reading. Inflation at the producer level is easing faster than economists expected, and that gave equities room to rally.

But the tape's calm hid a sharper question. Investors spent Friday weighing what Huang's exit means for a company that has anchored the AI trade, and that question doesn't resolve before Tuesday's numbers arrive.

What does Huang's departure change?

That's the multi-trillion-dollar unknown hanging over the week. Nvidia's report will be the first hard data point since the leadership shake-up, and traders have positioned accordingly. Options volatility on Nvidia shares increased over the last week, per Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Week Ahead preview — and it wasn't alone.

Micron and Intel have seen the same rise in options volatility. All three chip names are carrying elevated uncertainty premiums into earnings season's heaviest stretch, a signal that options markets expect outsized moves in either direction.

How packed is the macro calendar?

Dense, and front-loaded. The week kicks off Monday with a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh. Tuesday brings retail sales data. Wednesday delivers crude oil inventories.

Thursday is the heaviest day. The Fed releases FOMC meeting minutes, the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index for November lands, and initial jobless claims print the same morning. Friday is comparatively quiet, barring speeches from FOMC member Thomas Barkin and Governor Michael Barr.

For chip investors, Thursday matters most. The minutes will show how officials weighed inflation against growth at their last meeting, and that debate frames the rate environment in which high-multiple semiconductor names trade.

What else is on the volatility map?

Beyond Nvidia, Micron and Intel, technical screens flag other stretched names. The most overbought stocks per their 14-day Relative Strength Index include Ultralife — a reminder that momentum positioning is extended in pockets of the market heading into a week packed with catalysts.

The combination is unusual: a cooling PPI print, a Fed chair's speech, FOMC minutes, and a leadership crisis at the sector's anchor company, all inside five trading days.

What to watch on Tuesday

Nvidia's numbers will carry the week. The report arrives with the stock's options market already pricing in abnormal movement, with Huang's departure still fresh, and with macro data — retail sales the same morning — capable of swamping even the strongest chip results.

Analysts and traders will parse guidance for evidence the AI spending cycle stays intact through the leadership transition. Until then, the elevated volatility in Nvidia, Micron and Intel options stands as the market's own forecast: big moves are coming, and the direction is genuinely uncertain.