Breaking Pocket

🔄 BREAKINGPOCKET UPDATE: The chip selloff deepened into midday — the early PPI bounce is gone An update to this morning's snapshot: the selling in AI and chip stocks intensified by late morning, even after October producer prices came in softer than expected (+0.3% on the month vs +0.4% expected; +6.5% on the year, the most since November 2022). At 11:23 AM ET (Reuters): • S&P 500 -1.01% to 7,515.49; Nasdaq Composite -1.74% to 24,923.79; Dow -0.23% • Philadelphia semiconductor index -6% — Advanced Micro Devices fell about 10% and Broadcom about 7%, giving back all of Thursday's post-Huang-reshuffle gains • Nvidia fell further and is on track for its longest streak of weekly losses since October 2012, having closed lower in each of the past five weeks • The S&P 500 technology sector dropped 3%, the day's worst; the 10-year Treasury yield pushed to about 5.16–5.17%, a four-week high • One counterweight: Cerebras rose more than 6% after raising its 2026 revenue forecast • Bitcoin stayed under pressure below $69,000 WHAT CHANGED: This morning's read was a broadening selloff; midday made it a rout in chips specifically, with yields above 5.1% doing as much damage as the Nvidia overhang — expensive money and a shaken AI leader at the same time. WHY IT MATTERS: Chip stocks sit inside almost every retirement and index portfolio now. A -6% day for the sector index, with the bond market simultaneously demanding 5%+ yields, is the combination that turns a single-company story into a whole-portfolio down day. 👀 WATCH: whether the Nasdaq holds 24,900 into the close, and Nvidia's Q3 earnings on Tuesday, November 17 — now the market's biggest single event. Source: Reuters market report, Nov 13, 2026 (11:23 AM ET snapshot); Barchart and Yahoo Finance market data.

🧠 POCKET EXPLAINER: Canada's factories looked flat in September — underneath, the real volume of goods fell the most since January Statistics Canada's September surveys, released Friday, tell one story twice: prices did the lifting, volumes fell. Manufacturing: • Sales were essentially unchanged at C$80.25 billion, after a revised +1.8% in August — a tick firmer than the agency's early +0.1% estimate • In volume terms, sales fell 1.5% — the largest monthly drop since January — and were down 1.4% from a year earlier • Sales fell in 11 of 21 industries, led by primary metals (-9.5%) and wood products (-7.0%) — two sectors squarely in the path of US tariffs; September was the first full month of new 50% US tariffs on about 5% of Canadian exports • Petroleum and coal products jumped 10.0%, mostly on higher prices — strip that out, and total factory sales fell 1.5% • Inventories rose 1.7% to C$130.5 billion while unfilled orders hit a record C$136.8 billion Wholesale told the same story: sales rose 0.7% to C$92.5 billion — beating the 0.5% advance estimate after August's -1.4% — but volumes edged down 0.2%. The data affirm Statistics Canada's preliminary estimate that GDP shrank 0.1% in September, after little change in the prior two months. WHY IT MATTERS: A flat dollar figure can hide a shrinking real economy. When factories sell fewer goods but collect the same money because prices rose, that is tariff and energy pressure passing through — the kind of squeeze that shows up later in jobs, orders and, eventually, in what the Bank of Canada can do with rates. Canada's October CPI lands next week, with markets pricing about a 59% chance of a BoC hike. 👀 WATCH: next week's October CPI, and the September GDP release for confirmation of the -0.1% preliminary print. Source: Statistics Canada, Monthly Survey of Manufacturing and Wholesale Trade, September 2026; Dow Jones reporting via Morningstar.

⚡ POCKET ALERT: H&R REIT unitholders vote down the C$6.7B breakup — and the monthly distributions are coming back H&R Real Estate Investment Trust said Friday that the special resolution approving its plan of arrangement with a consortium of purchasers — the deal that would have broken up the Canadian landlord, with GO Residential REIT taking a 27-property US residential portfolio — did not receive the required unitholder approvals at today's special meeting. What happens now: • The arrangement agreement (dated August 10, 2026) has been terminated, effective immediately, and no termination fee is payable • H&R stays a public REIT, trading on the TSX as HR.UN — trading was halted at 10:54 AM ET pending the news and resumed at 11:30 AM • The monthly distribution of $0.05 per unit is reinstated from November, plus a $0.15 special distribution to make up for August, September and October, when payouts were suspended during the deal — $0.20 per unit in total, payable December 15 to holders of record November 30 • H&R also intends to declare a further special cash distribution of about $2.30 per unit before year-end, from asset sales, subject to lender approval • Q3 results land Monday, November 16 The vote followed open opposition from major pension funds and other institutional holders, reported earlier this week, who judged the cash-plus-GO-units consideration too low after GO's units fell more than 30% this year. WHY IT MATTERS: This is a pocket story about income. Unitholders chose to stay independent and get their monthly cheques back — starting with a catch-up payment in December — rather than accept a breakup price they saw as discounted. The intended ~$2.30 special distribution would be a second, larger cash return if lenders approve it. 👀 WATCH: Monday's Q3 results and call for the board's standalone plan, and confirmation of the ~$2.30 special distribution before year-end. Source: H&R REIT press release, Nov 13, 2026; GO Residential REIT release confirming termination; The Real Deal reporting on the vote.

👀 POCKET WATCH: Fed's Collins says more tightening is coming 'soon' — and maybe more than she expected Boston Fed President Susan Collins told Bloomberg Television on Friday that inflation is too high and appears to be broadening — and that the direction for policy is clear. Her words: "I think it's clear the direction that monetary policy needs to go and I would think that soon some additional firming, tightening of policy is appropriate." She added that a slightly tighter path than she had pencilled in a couple of months ago might now be appropriate, while declining to say how high or how fast rates should move. Her base case is "careful adjustments." Context: Collins spoke hours after October producer prices rose 0.3% on the month — softer than expected — but 6.5% from a year earlier, the largest annual gain since November 2022. The Fed's rate sits at 3.75%–4.00%, and markets fully price a hike at the December 8–9 meeting, with another expected in January. WHY IT MATTERS: Collins is one more senior voice lining up behind Williams, Daly and Hammack this week. When the message is this consistent, the question for borrowers stops being whether December brings a hike and becomes how many follow it — each one feeds into mortgage rates, car loans and credit-card APRs. 👀 WATCH: Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson speaks this evening, and Nvidia's earnings on Tuesday — the last big tests of the higher-for-longer mood before December. Source: Reuters reporting of Collins's Bloomberg Television interview; FXStreet.

⚡ POCKET ALERT: Paytm just got a route back to the wallet business — and its shares hit a record Paytm said in a stock-exchange filing on Friday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL), has received in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India to set up and operate a payment system for issuing prepaid payment instruments — digital wallets included. What this is, and what it is not: • It is a preliminary approval under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 — not a licence to launch • PPSL must first complete a system audit, including a cybersecurity audit, and file the report with the RBI within six months • Wallets can only be issued after the RBI grants the final Certificate of Authorisation • It does not revive Paytm Payments Bank, whose banking licence the RBI cancelled in April 2026 after barring it from taking fresh deposits and wallet top-ups MARKET IMPACT: Shares of parent One 97 Communications rose about 1.8% to a record intraday high of ₹1,960 on Friday, before closing up 0.81% at ₹1,940.60 — a market value of about ₹1.25 lakh crore, with the stock up roughly 50% this year. WHY IT MATTERS: The wallet was Paytm's original product, used by hundreds of millions of Indians for small everyday payments. This approval is the first regulated path back to it — through a separate subsidiary, under fresh audits — but until the final certificate lands, nothing changes for users: no top-ups, no new wallets. 👀 WATCH: the audit timeline (report due within six months) and any RBI word on the final authorisation. Source: Paytm (One 97 Communications) exchange filing, Nov 13, 2026, via Reuters reporting in The Hindu BusinessLine and Mint; closing prices via Upstox.

👀 POCKET WATCH: Washington and the Fed are now arguing about inflation in public — and the argument decides your December borrowing costs US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Friday that the Federal Reserve should NOT raise interest rates because of inflation driven by an "energy supply shock" tied to the Iran war. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, appearing on the same network shortly afterwards, contradicted him directly. His case: • Price pressures are building far beyond what high oil prices can explain • Inflation has spread into services and medical care — areas that do not usually respond to the price of oil • Strong demand from the AI data-centre buildout is adding its own heat — "old-fashioned demand overheating" • Asked whether the Fed is on a path back to its 2% target, he said: right now, it is not "We have had signs of trouble now for several months in a row if you look at how broad-based the inflation is," Goolsbee said. One detail that matters: Goolsbee does not vote on rates this year — he rotates onto the voting panel in 2027. Bessent, for his part, has no vote at all. But the split frames the exact question the voters face on December 8–9: is this inflation a supply shock that fades, or demand that needs cooling? MARKET IMPACT: Markets currently price roughly an 88% chance of a quarter-point December hike and about 12% on a half-point move — pricing that assumes the Goolsbee reading wins, whatever the Treasury Secretary prefers. WHY IT MATTERS: If the Fed treats this as an oil shock, rates can stay put and mortgages stop climbing. If it treats it as overheating demand, December brings another hike — and every prime-linked loan, card and mortgage renewal prices off that call. 👀 WATCH: the October PCE report on November 25 — the last big piece of evidence before the December 8–9 meeting. Source: Reuters, reporting the CNBC interviews with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Nov 13, 2026; December pricing per market rate-expectations summaries.

📊 MARKET SNAPSHOT: The chip selloff broadened Friday morning — and Thursday's winners became Friday's losers Wall Street gave up its early gains as selling spread across the whole semiconductor sector, not just Nvidia. The intraday picture (Reuters snapshot, about 10:16 AM ET): • Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.41% at 52,081.40 • S&P 500: -0.93% at 7,519.10 • Nasdaq Composite: -1.42% at 25,006.20 • The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell about 5% The reversal in one line: AMD — which jumped about 5.9% on Thursday as investors bet it would win business from a leaderless Nvidia — was down about 9.8% by 11:13 AM ET at $528.09 (Finnhub). Broadcom fell about 5.8% in the Reuters snapshot, AI cloud names CoreWeave about 10% and Nebius about 13.7%, and Nvidia itself was down about 3.9% at $159.64 by late morning, extending its post-resignation slide. Two forces are squeezing the trade at once: the leadership vacuum at Nvidia ahead of its November 17 earnings, and a bond market that is not rewarding this morning's softer producer-price print — the 10-year Treasury yield was still about 5.16% mid-morning, keeping pressure on the valuations of growth stocks. WHY IT MATTERS: This is no longer a one-company story. When the whole chip index falls 5% in a morning, the AI trade itself is being repriced — and chips sit inside the index funds and pensions most households own, so a sector-wide slide reaches far more pockets than a single stock's bad week. 👀 WATCH: whether the selling stabilises into the close, and Nvidia's results on November 17 — the first hard numbers since the resignation. Source: Reuters intraday market snapshot (about 10:16 AM ET, Nov 13); Finnhub quotes (about 11:13 AM ET). Intraday figures, not closing prices.

🍎 APPLE2APPLE #017 — Cisco vs Arista Networks $CSCO $ANET Cisco just posted record revenue, +24%. Arista grew +58.5% in Q3. LTM: Cisco wins 5 — scale, profit, cash. Arista wins 3 — growth and margins. Bigger ≠ more profitable. Not financial advice.

📊 MARKET SNAPSHOT: India's rally pauses — profit-taking, pricey crude and 6.09% inflation end a three-day run Indian markets closed lower on Friday, November 13: • Sensex fell 318.56 points (-0.39%) to 81,592.45 • Nifty 50 fell 155.05 points (-0.61%) to 25,144.30, slipping below 25,200 after an intraday low of 25,054.40 • Nifty Bank dropped 484 points to 61,034; breadth was weak, with 39 of 50 Nifty stocks in the red • The rupee weakened for a second straight session, closing 21 paise lower at 94.24 per US dollar (from 94.03) • For the week, the Sensex still added about 0.7% and the Nifty about 0.45% • IT shares lagged during the global Microsoft outage — TCS -1.43% and Infosys -0.84% at the close — though exchanges said trading ran normally What dragged: selling in banking and auto heavyweights, Brent crude holding near $95–96 a barrel, and October retail inflation at 6.09% — above the Reserve Bank of India's 6% upper tolerance limit — reviving talk of an RBI rate hike. WHY IT MATTERS: India imports most of its oil, so every dollar on crude is a direct line to inflation, the rupee and household fuel and food costs. A market that falls on profit-taking after a strong week is healthy; one that falls because inflation breached the central bank's limit has a rate problem to price next. 👀 WATCH: Monday's open against any weekend Middle East headlines, and the RBI's December decision now that inflation is above its band. Source: NSE and BSE closes via Moneycontrol, CNBC TV18 and ANI reporting.

⚡ POCKET ALERT: Nubank just made $1.1 billion in one quarter — a record, with one caution attached Nu Holdings, Latin America's largest digital bank, reported third-quarter results after Thursday's close: • Net income reached a record $1.1 billion — $1,091.6 million under IFRS, up from $782.7 million a year earlier; the company reports +31% year on year on an FX-neutral basis, with return on equity of 32% • Gross revenue hit a record $6.3 billion, up 37% FX-neutral; gross profit rose 35% to $2.6 billion • Customers reached about 143 million after 3.7 million net additions in the quarter; average revenue per active customer rose to $18 • The credit portfolio reached $41.6 billion, with Brazil unsecured personal-loan originations at a record 22.1 billion reais, up 28% • The caution: loans more than 90 days overdue rose to 7.3% of the portfolio, from 6.9% last quarter • The efficiency ratio improved to about 19.3%, and Nu now guides 19–19.5% for full-year 2026 MARKET IMPACT: Shares rose about 3.5% in Friday premarket trading. WHY IT MATTERS: Nu is the clearest test of whether app-only banking can lend at scale and stay profitable. This quarter says growth and profit can coexist — but the rising share of late loans is the number that decides whether that holds when credit turns. 👀 WATCH: whether 90-day arrears keep climbing in Q4, and the first results from the newly launched Nu US and Nu Global. Source: Nu Holdings Q3 2026 results release (Business Wire, Nov 12); earnings call reporting via Watchlist News and FXNews.

⚡ POCKET ALERT: Microsoft's outage passes 12 hours — and the workday tools went with it A major Microsoft outage that began Thursday afternoon US time was still disrupting Outlook, Teams, Copilot and Microsoft 365 into Friday morning — more than 12 hours on — affecting businesses and government agencies worldwide. What is known: • Outlook problem reports on Downdetector peaked at roughly 138,000 early Friday, with tens of thousands still reporting issues hours later • Microsoft blamed server-related problems — servers becoming unexpectedly unavailable and pushing load onto the rest — and said it was not aware of any malicious activity and had no indication of a cyberattack • Some services were restored in part late Thursday, but restored servers kept failing into a second day, with reports from more than 70 countries • In India, brokerages warned clients that replies to emailed queries could be delayed; exchanges said trading itself ran normally MARKET IMPACT: Microsoft shares fell about 2.5–2.6% in premarket trading Friday, to around $508–$510, after closing Thursday at $523.00. WHY IT MATTERS: This is the single-point-of-failure problem in one headline. When one company's email, meetings and AI assistant go down together for half a day, the cost is not the share dip — it is the lost work across thousands of firms that have no backup plan. 👀 WATCH: Microsoft's next status update for full restoration and a root cause — it has not published one yet. Source: Reuters reporting via market briefs; Moneycontrol via TradingView; Microsoft statements via Downdetector-tracked coverage.

🚨 BREAKING: US wholesale inflation cools a touch in October — but the yearly rate hits a near-four-year high US producer prices rose 0.3% in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday — below the 0.4% expected and a sharp slowdown from September's revised 1.4% jump. The details: • Headline PPI: +0.3% on the month, +6.5% on the year — the largest 12-month rise since November 2022, though below the 6.6% expected • Core PPI (excluding food and energy): +0.3% on the month, exactly as expected, and +5.0% on the year • Excluding food, energy and trade services: +0.5% on the month, +4.9% on the year — underlying pipeline pressure did not cool • Goods rose 0.5% — foods +1.3%, goods excluding food and energy +0.5%, energy edged down 0.1% after September's surge • Services rose 0.2%, a fifth straight gain, led by transportation and warehousing +2.0% (truck freight +3.9%) MARKET IMPACT: This was the last major inflation report before the Fed's December 8–9 meeting. Markets went in fully pricing a December hike — roughly 87% for a quarter point and about 12–13% for a half point, per CME FedWatch — with the 10-year Treasury yield near 5.12%. A headline that came in cooler than feared, with core exactly in line, gives the half-point case no new fuel, but a 6.5% yearly wholesale rate gives the doves none either. WHY IT MATTERS: Producer prices are what businesses charge each other before goods reach the shelves, and parts of this report feed into the Fed's preferred PCE gauge. Wholesale inflation running at 6.5% a year — with goods up 10.2% — is pressure that lands either in company margins or in the prices households pay, and it is why borrowing costs stay high even on a softer monthly print. 👀 WATCH: Fed speakers Bowman, Daly and Jefferson later today for the first official read on this print, ahead of October PCE on November 25 — the final inflation input before December. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Indexes — October 2026 (USDL 26-1687); consensus and market pricing per Dow Jones and CME FedWatch via Reuters and Seeking Alpha reporting.

⚡ POCKET ALERT: Flowers Foods profit falls 64% and the full-year outlook is cut — a staples maker says shoppers are buying less Flowers Foods, the maker of Nature's Own and Wonder bread, reported third-quarter results after Thursday's close — and the story is volume. The numbers, for the quarter ended October 10: • Net sales fell 4.7% to $1.169 billion — price increases were more than offset by lower volume • Net income fell 63.6% to $14.4 million; adjusted earnings were $0.10 a share, down from $0.23 a year earlier and below the $0.15 expected • Adjusted EBITDA fell 33.2% to $78.9 million, on lower volume, higher marketing spending and higher logistics costs • Full-year guidance was cut: sales to about $5.02–$5.06 billion (from $5.07–$5.14 billion) and adjusted earnings to $0.63–$0.68 a share (from $0.75–$0.85) MARKET IMPACT: Shares had already closed down 3.8% at $6.01 in the regular session and fell further in after-hours trading on the cut, according to market summaries. WHY IT MATTERS: Bread is about as basic as spending gets. When a staples maker raises prices and still sells less — and cuts its outlook heading into the holidays — it is a direct signal that household budgets are being squeezed at the grocery shelf, not just on big-ticket items. 👀 WATCH: whether other packaged-food makers report the same volume pattern this earnings season, and what management says about holiday demand. Source: Flowers Foods third-quarter 2026 results release, via PR Newswire; consensus estimates via FiscalAI reporting.

📊 MARKET SNAPSHOT: The US opened its new fiscal year with a record October deficit of $404 billion — and $115 billion of the month's spending was interest on past borrowing The Treasury Department said Thursday the federal government ran a $404 billion deficit in October, the first month of fiscal 2027 — a record for the month, $120 billion or 42% wider than a year earlier, and well above the roughly $299 billion markets expected. The pieces: • Receipts fell 9% to $369 billion — customs (tariff) collections dropped 39% to $19.2 billion, from $31.3 billion a year earlier • Outlays rose 12% to a record $773 billion for the month • Gross interest on the federal debt rose 11% to $115.5 billion in October alone • After adjusting for benefit payments shifted into October because November 1 fell on a weekend, the deficit would have been $285 billion — still up 49% from a year earlier • It follows a fiscal 2026 deficit of nearly $2 trillion, about 6.2% of GDP MARKET IMPACT: A bigger deficit means more Treasury bonds for the market to absorb — on the same day the 10-year yield closed at 5.10% and a 30-year sale cleared at 5.441%. WHY IT MATTERS: This is the supply side of your borrowing costs. The more the government borrows, and the higher the rate it pays to do it, the harder it is for long-term yields — and the mortgage rates tied to them — to come down. 👀 WATCH: Friday's producer price report, and the November Treasury statement in mid-December for whether October was a calendar fluke or a trend. Source: US Treasury Department, Monthly Treasury Statement for October 2026, via Reuters; Congressional Budget Office estimate.

⚡ POCKET ALERT: Bitcoin breaks below $70,000 — its lowest level since August, and leverage is amplifying the fall Bitcoin's selloff gathered pace late Thursday. The largest cryptocurrency fell to about $69,000, its lowest since August 19, CoinDesk reported at 10:37 PM ET — and market data showed it near $68,874, down about 6.7% on the day, at 11:12 PM ET. What is driving it: • The US dollar is at its highest since April 2025 — a 19-month high — as markets price a December Fed rate hike, and a strong dollar has been a headwind for crypto all week • Exchanges liquidated more than $1.3 billion in crypto futures positions over 24 hours, according to Coinglass data reported by CoinDesk — $677 million of that in Bitcoin alone, and nearly $500 million of it as the price broke below $70,000 • US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a fifth straight day of outflows on Wednesday — about $299.8 million, taking the five-day total to roughly $1.44 billion • Bitcoin is now down about 17% this quarter, reversing a large part of the prior quarter's rally MARKET IMPACT: This is a leveraged unwind, not just a price dip — forced selling from futures positions is pushing the move further than spot selling alone would. WHY IT MATTERS: Bitcoin is acting as the purest read on risk appetite right now. When the dollar and yields rise, the money that flowed into crypto through ETFs and leveraged bets flows back out — and anyone holding it, directly or in a retirement account, feels that swing. 👀 WATCH: whether Bitcoin can reclaim $70,000, and Friday's producer price report at 8:30 AM ET — another hot inflation print would keep the dollar and rate pressure on. Source: CoinDesk; Coinglass liquidation data via CoinDesk; Farside Investors ETF flow data; Binance market data via Finnhub.

🌎 BREAKINGPOCKET — TODAY IN MARKETS Thursday, November 12, 2026 THE 3 BIGGEST STORIES 1. Nvidia's first day without its founder. The board's acceptance of Jensen Huang's resignation (confirmed by the company's SEC filing, effective Nov 11) made Thursday the first session in 33 years with someone else in charge — Colette Kress as interim CEO, Harvey C. Jones as the board's first chair. The stock fell 14% at the open to $148.80, then recovered to close down 4.34% at $166.19 as buyers stepped in. Wall Street's verdict arrived in parallel: nine to ten analyst downgrades, the average price target cut by about a third. Q3 earnings land Tuesday, Nov 17 — the first test of the post-Huang company. 2. Six Fed voices, one direction. On the first full bond session after Tuesday's hot October CPI, Hammack, Daly and — closing the day — vice chair Williams all pointed the same way: inflation is too high and more tightening is coming, with the live argument now 25 vs 50 basis points in December rather than hike vs hold. The 30-year auction ($25B at 5.441%) passed without drama, but the 10-year yield still closed at 5.10%. 3. Housing froze a little harder. Existing-home sales fell 5.5% to a 3.75 million annual pace — the lowest since August 2010 — with the average 30-year mortgage at 7.33%. Canada's building permits fell 4.1% in September on a 9.4% multi-family drop. High rates are not cooling these housing markets; they are locking them. MARKET MOVES • S&P 500 -0.35% to 7,592.40; Dow -0.36%; Nasdaq -0.39%; Russell 2000 -1.66% — small caps took the real hit • Nvidia -4.34% to $166.19 (intraday low $148.80); AMD and Broadcom each gained about 5–6% as AI money rotated • 10-year Treasury yield 5.10%; 30-year auction 5.441% • Brent crude +3.3% to $95.82; gold down about 3% to roughly $3,878 • After the bell: Cisco beat and doubled its AI infrastructure outlook to $9 billion; Applied Materials posted record revenue of $10.41 billion; Cerebras beat and raised its 2026 outlook TOMORROW'S WATCHLIST • October PPI, 8:30 AM ET (expected +0.4% on the month) — the last inflation read that can still move the December 25-vs-50 debate • Anthropic's IPO pricing, ahead of its expected market debut next week • Whether Nvidia holds Thursday's recovery — and whether the downgrade wave grows • Nvidia Q3 earnings, Tuesday Nov 17 after the close Because every headline eventually hits your pocket. Source: Nvidia SEC Form 8-K and company announcement; Federal Reserve speakers via Reuters and Bloomberg; National Association of Realtors; US Treasury auction results; AP and Finnhub closing data; company earnings releases.

🔄 BREAKINGPOCKET UPDATE: Wall Street takes a chainsaw to Nvidia targets — ten downgrades in a day The analyst verdict on Nvidia without Jensen Huang landed Thursday: at least nine to ten firms downgraded the stock or slashed price targets, with the average target cut by roughly a third, to about $217 from about $343, according to analyst-ratings tallies. The biggest cuts: • Bernstein: downgraded to Market Perform, target halved to $200 from $400 — analyst Stacy Rasgon said he prefers to 'watch from the sidelines' while further revelations remain possible, while stressing the AI business itself is robust • Baird: cut to Neutral, target to $200 from $500 • Evercore ISI: downgraded to In Line, target cut about 60% to $186 from $465 • Truist: downgraded to Hold, target $174 • Stifel kept a Buy rating but cut its target to $205 from $315 The important distinction: these cuts are about leadership and uncertainty, not chip demand — Bernstein kept its earnings forecasts unchanged. And the stock itself told a calmer story than the open: down 14% at the low of $148.80, Nvidia closed down 4.34% at $166.19 as buyers stepped in. WHY IT MATTERS: Price targets are opinions, not facts — but a one-day, one-third cut in the average target on the market's most important stock shows how much of Nvidia's value was the founder himself. Tuesday's earnings (Nov 17) are now the first hard test of the company he left behind. 👀 WATCH: any permanent-CEO signals from the board, and whether the downgrade wave grows or stops here. Source: TipRanks analyst roundup; TheStreet; Finbold (analyst notes as reported Nov 12).

⚡ POCKET ALERT: Cerebras beats and raises — the Nvidia challenger had its best night yet Cerebras Systems, the AI chipmaker built around one giant wafer-scale chip, reported third-quarter results after Thursday's close — and beat its own guidance for the third quarter in a row. The numbers (company release): • Core revenue $230.9 million, up 70% from a year earlier, above the roughly $214.7 million analysts expected • GAAP revenue $210.8 million, up 55% • Core cloud and services revenue more than tripled to $144.9 million — now the biggest piece of the business • Full-year 2026 core revenue guidance raised to $940–$960 million, from $880–$890 million; Q4 guided to $310–$330 million • Contracted future business (remaining performance obligations) stood at $26.1 billion at September 30 • Still loss-making on a GAAP basis: a loss of 67 cents a share, and hardware revenue fell as cloud took over • A Microsoft deal signed in October starts contributing revenue in the first quarter of 2027 MARKET IMPACT: Shares jumped roughly 12–18% in after-hours trading as the move built through the evening (reports varied), after closing the regular session at $97.75 — a sharp relief move on the same day Nvidia fell 4.3% on its leadership shock. WHY IT MATTERS: Cerebras is the clearest listed test of whether AI computing demand is broadening beyond Nvidia. A raised outlook, a tripling cloud business and a $26.1 billion contracted backlog say customers are still signing — even as the losses show this challenger is spending heavily to stay in the race. 👀 WATCH: whether Friday's open holds the after-hours jump, and Q4 delivery against the $310–$330 million guide. Source: Cerebras Q3 2026 results release (GlobeNewswire); Reuters (estimates, after-hours move); CNBC (Microsoft deal).

👀 POCKET WATCH: The Fed's vice chair says inflation is 'far too high' — and more rate action is coming New York Fed President John Williams — the FOMC's vice chair and a permanent voter — closed a six-speaker Fed day on Thursday evening with the same message the rest of the chorus sang: inflation is still the problem. Speaking at an event in New York, Williams said inflation is 'far too high and it continues to be high even in the latest data,' that the economy is strong and the labour market continues to strengthen, and that the Fed will have to act over time to bring inflation back to its 2% target in a timely, sustained way — while trying not to unduly harm the employment side of its mandate. Reuters reported his bottom line plainly: rate increases likely lie ahead. What he did not do: publicly endorse Governor Waller's idea that a 50-basis-point December hike should be considered. On the day, Hammack and Daly both argued for smaller, steadier steps — the argument inside the Fed is now about the size and speed of hikes, not the direction. MARKET IMPACT: A December hike is already priced as close to certain in futures markets; Williams — the official closest to the Chair — offered no pushback to that pricing on the eve of Friday's producer-price data. WHY IT MATTERS: When the Fed's vice chair says inflation is 'far too high' two days after a hot CPI print, borrowers should expect the December meeting to raise the cost of variable-rate debt again — mortgages, HELOCs and credit cards price off exactly this path. 👀 WATCH: Friday's October PPI (8:30 AM ET) — the last inflation read that could still change the 25-vs-50 debate before the December 8–9 meeting. Source: Reuters; Bloomberg (Williams remarks, New York, Nov 12).