Markets
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Luke Kawa
3/18/25

Nvidia CEO’s speech wasn’t the “wake-up moment” investors wanted, stock falls

If this was the “Super Bowl of AI,” then Nvidia is this year’s Kansas City Chiefs.

Shares of the chip designer hit their highs of the day as Jensen Huang stepped onstage to deliver his keynote address at the firm’s GPU Technology Conference, having pared a loss of as much as 4% to a decline of less than 0.5%.

Nothing he said was able to fuel any additional rally in the stock.

From about 1:45 p.m. ET onward, the stock basically traded like a more volatile version of the S&P 500, with none of the CEO’s remarks leaving a large impression.

Suffice it to say this was not the “wake-up moment for the tech bulls” that some analysts had been expecting. The stock was down more than 2.5% by the time Huang wrapped up.

“Nvidia’s GTC keynote delivered key updates, including Blackwell Ultra for 2H and Rubin for 2026-27, and reinforced its AI lead,” wrote Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Kunjan Sobhani and Oscar Hernandez Tejada. “Yet with expectations already high, the lack of near-term surprises kept investor sentiment muted, even as its advancements in GPUs, integration with CPO, and presence in automotive and telecom continue to widen its moat and expand its customer base beyond cloud providers.”

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US stocks crumble on Friday to end worst week since 2020

There was no reprieve from Thursday’s massive sell-off, as Friday saw even larger declines for the S&P 500. The benchmark US stock index fell 6%, the Nasdaq 100 dropped 6.1%, and the Russell 2000 slumped 4.4% on the day.

So ends the worst week for the S&P 500 since March 2020, near the bottom of the Covid-induced bear market.

Trading volumes across all US exchanges set a record on Friday, as did the number of put options that changed hands.

The number of stocks in the S&P 500 that fell outnumbered gainers by 475, the most since March 2023. Every S&P 500 sector ETF fell at least 4%, with energy leading the way down.

The US no longer has any $3 trillion companies, as Apple fell out of that cohort with today’s retreat.

China ratcheted up the trade war by unveiling retaliatory tariffs on US goods, weighing on US companies with big exposure to the world’s second-largest economy and serving as a drag on shares of Chinese companies listed in the US. Intel’s outperformance on Thursday gave way to a double-digit loss on Friday as its exposure to China becomes a sore spot for the company in light of those retaliatory tariffs.

OPEC+’s plans to return even more oil to global markets in May, coupled with the demand shock from tariffs, sent the likes of Exxon, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips reeling.

The dealmaking and IPO pipeline is running dry in light of market conditions, with Klarna pausing its plans to go public. Bank stocks like JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley were all throttled and underperformed the broad market.

Boeing stock fell to levels not seen since the doors of its 737 were consciously uncoupling from its body mid-flight.

However, there was a glimmer of light on the hopes for these trade barriers to be dialed back: Nike and Lululemon surged as President Trump touted progress on coming to a deal with Vietnam.

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Market panic propels trading volumes to highest on record

The 6% tumble in the S&P 500 to end the week was indicative of a market in complete panic, with trading volumes going haywire.

Over 26 billion shares changed hands today in a game of pass-the-falling-stock, smashing the previous record of 23.67 billion on January 27, 2021.

Put volumes traded on OPRA exchanges surged to 52.8 million, also a record.

A tip of the cap to Tom Hearden for flagging!

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Get ready for another $20 billion wave of selling from leveraged ETFs

JPMorgan is once again flagging the potential for a messy close as leveraged ETFs, much of which are dominated by exposures to tech stocks, go into sell mode.

“We estimate these funds have to sell ~$23 billion of equities to rebalance into the close today, ~2/3 of which is in tech-related exposures,” analyst Bram Kaplan wrote.

On Thursday, these products had to dump about $28 billion, according to Kaplan, some of which was offset by a $600 million inflow into the triple-leveraged Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull ETF, the largest net buy since the DeepSeek market freak-out in January.

Cement is pumped into the space around the outside of the well casing in finishing a well

Oil prices hit multiyear low as supply surge and demand fears slam energy stocks

It’s shaping up to be the worst week for oil in over two years.

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Berkshire Hathaway rushes to deny false claims that Warren Buffett endorsed Trump’s trade policies

A video posted by X user @AmericaPapaBear has been viewed 2 million times and shared by President Donald Trump on his Truth Social account. The clip includes a doozy of headline — “Trump is Purposely CRASHING The Market” — and one allegation that has Berkshire Hathaway rushing to correct the record on behalf of its chairman and CEO.

“This is why Warren Buffett just said Trump is making the best economic moves he’s seen in over 50 years,” the video says.

Berkshire’s response: “There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false.”

In his 1997 shareholder letter, Buffett did point out that, if you expect to be a buyer of stocks, you should be happy when share prices fall:

“A short quiz: If you plan to eat hamburgers throughout your life and are not a cattle producer, should you wish for higher or lower prices for beef? Likewise, if you are going to buy a car from time to time but are not an auto manufacturer, should you prefer higher or lower car prices? These questions, of course, answer themselves.

But now for the final exam: If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. In effect, they rejoice because prices have risen for the ‘hamburgers’ they will soon be buying. This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.”

But... that’s not remotely close to the claim being proffered by @AmericaPapaBear.

Among the wealthiest people in the world, Buffett stands out as having seen his net worth increase since Trump’s second term began, in contrast to the fortunes of major tech kingpins.

Berkshire’s response: “There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false.”

In his 1997 shareholder letter, Buffett did point out that, if you expect to be a buyer of stocks, you should be happy when share prices fall:

“A short quiz: If you plan to eat hamburgers throughout your life and are not a cattle producer, should you wish for higher or lower prices for beef? Likewise, if you are going to buy a car from time to time but are not an auto manufacturer, should you prefer higher or lower car prices? These questions, of course, answer themselves.

But now for the final exam: If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. In effect, they rejoice because prices have risen for the ‘hamburgers’ they will soon be buying. This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.”

But... that’s not remotely close to the claim being proffered by @AmericaPapaBear.

Among the wealthiest people in the world, Buffett stands out as having seen his net worth increase since Trump’s second term began, in contrast to the fortunes of major tech kingpins.

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