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Capitalist Insider: Chip sales explode 60% as AI demand refuses to die
Fake food truck steals $11.4M in Nvidia AI hardware
Six pallets of Nvidia hardware reportedly worth $11.4 million disappeared after pickup in Oakland on August 29, and as of November 9 Oakland police had announced no arrests or recovery while a Berkeley professor warned the gear could reach China.
Pickup and disappearance: A truck bearing a food company’s logo took the load on August 29, headed south, stopped for hours at a time, and was last tracked in San Bernardino County.
Police timeline: The buyers reported the shipment missing in early September; Oakland police logged a grand-theft report on September 13 and have not identified the cargo, owner, shipper, carrier, or driver.
Expert warning: UC Berkeley’s Olaf Groth told ABC News the missing chips are a national-security concern because “we don’t know where these chips are going. They could be going to China.”
Broader pattern: More than $100 million in similar shipments have been stolen since June, and the FBI’s April advisory put 2025 U.S.-Canada cargo-theft losses near $725 million, up 60% from 2024.
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Nvidia board probes Huang’s affair with alleged Chinese spy
Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation after CEO Jensen Huang admitted an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive U.S. intelligence believes was working for Beijing, while shareholders sued and Trump said the FBI is looking into it.
Board probe launched: The independent directors hired outside counsel after Huang admitted unfaithfulness; the board said it has no reason to believe secrets were compromised and that Huang is cooperating.
Class action filed: Shareholders sued Huang and Nvidia on Tuesday, alleging they were misled about the relationship with the accused Chinese spy.
Trump and FBI: Trump said Huang told him Monday he did not know she was a spy and that he believes him; the president added the FBI is looking into it.
Market reaction: Nvidia fell more than 5% Monday and continued lower Tuesday, yet the rest of the Magnificent 7 held up as the broader market bounced.
Hot October CPI seals case for December rate hike
October consumer prices rose 0.4% and core prices 0.3%, both hotter than expected, with no year-over-year rates available because of last year’s shutdown, as Fed Governor Waller said a 50 bp December hike should be considered.
Print details: Headline CPI increased 0.4% month-over-month versus 0.3% expected; core rose 0.3% versus 0.2% expected.
No annual figures: The BLS never collected October 2025 prices during the shutdown, so traders focused solely on the month-over-month readings.
Waller signal: The governor said he is leaning toward a December increase and that a 50 bp move should be considered if core printed around 0.3% or higher.
Market pricing: 25 bp odds jumped above 99% while the chance of a 50 bp hike rose to roughly 14%, and stocks lost steam.
Anthropic prices IPO at $70-78 for up to $1.4T valuation
Anthropic filed an amended S-1 seeking 825 million shares at $70 to $78, implying roughly $1.0 trillion or up to $1.4 trillion fully diluted, while launching cheaper Fable models as its roadshow begins.
Deal size: The offering plus a $26 billion supplier placement and greenshoe pushes the raise above $100 billion.
Valuation range: The implied market value sits 30–50% below the $2 trillion figure floated earlier.
Model update: Claude Fable 5.2 was priced 20% below its predecessor at $8 per million input tokens and $40 per million output.
Timing: The roadshow starts Tuesday, with pricing expected around Nov. 18 and trading targeted for Nov. 19.
Monday’s record bounce hits inflation wall on Tuesday
The Dow soared 1,132 points and the Nasdaq jumped nearly 3% on Monday as chip stocks rallied while Nvidia fell, only for hotter CPI data to stall the rebound on Tuesday.
Monday surge: Amazon and Tesla led the charge as dip buyers returned and the S&P erased post-election losses.
Nvidia exception: Nvidia dropped nearly 5% on the Huang news even as the rest of the market enjoyed its best day in months.
Tuesday reversal: Futures and cash indexes lost steam once the 0.4% CPI print boosted December hike odds.
Rotation noted: Money moved out of AI names even as broader indexes held some of Monday’s gains.
Goldman: 35 GW of 2027 data centers already committed
Goldman argues the 35 GW of data-center additions planned for 2027 are largely already under construction and still sees $1.3 trillion in AI infrastructure capex by 2027, even as a bipartisan permitting bill advances.
Buildout locked in: The bank says restrictions on new permits do not stop projects already underway.
Capex view holds: Goldman maintains its $1.3 trillion AI infrastructure spending forecast through 2027.
Permitting progress: The Senate voted 73–25 to advance a bill that would make data centers pay incremental grid costs and shorten NEPA suit windows to 150 days.
Texas share: Texas accounts for more than a quarter of planned U.S. data-center capacity additions through 2030.
Goldman flags AI disconnect after extreme chip washout
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 25% since October on AI-spending fears, yet Goldman argues the market is pricing a slowdown that is not occurring while 35 GW of 2027 capacity is already being built.
Drawdown scale: SOX recorded one of its most extreme drawdowns on record and remains well below its 200-day average.
Goldman view: The bank says moratorium talk misses committed projects and still forecasts $1.3 trillion in AI capex by 2027.
Monday bounce: Chip stocks soared Monday even as Nvidia sold off, leaving the SOX up 5%.
Positioning washed: Allocations have fallen back toward year lows after the five-day performance through Thursday was the worst since Covid.
Trump downplays Iran strikes and oil falls below $90
Brent crude fell 2.6% to $90.20 and briefly traded under $90 on Tuesday after President Trump said military action against Iran did not seem necessary at this point and that the war was going to end fairly soon.
Price move: The drop extended Monday’s losses as Hormuz shipping showed signs of recovery.
Trump comments: The president said Iran militarily is effectively over and kept the door open but played down new strikes.
War premium fade: Analysts noted the steepest one-day drop since April after the midterm results as hedge funds had already dumped $6.6 billion in Brent.
Still fragile: Some desks caution that a lasting peace deal remains unlikely despite the de-escalation talk.
Credit markets: chipmakers now riskier than hyperscalers
Goldman’s credit desk said chip Credit Default Swapss blew out wider than hyperscaler spreads for the first time as AI default-swap volumes hit a record and risk migrated down the supply chain.
Spread flip: Chip credit default swaps moved wider than those of the large cloud operators that buy their products.
Index calm: CDX Investment Grade widened only 3.5 basis points even after Thursday’s sharp equity drop.
Issuance absorbed: The market digested $296 billion of hyperscaler debt this year against a $250 billion forecast, with more queued for 2027.
Goldman warning: The bank said the broad index is hiding the damage concentrated in AI-related names.
