Highlights of the week: Nvidia report, Alphabet's record, crypto's fall

Nvidia's report this week lowered anxiety around a possible AI bubble by 24 hours. Alphabet shares hit a record high thanks to its powerful AI model Gemini 3. Tech giants Microsoft and Nvidia, as well as Claude's chatbot developer Anthropic, announced strategic partnerships, strengthening their position in the AI race. A court in the US dismissed a major antitrust lawsuit for the first time, finding Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp legal. The main events from November 17 to 21 - in our review.

The United States and Russia have prepared a 28-point plan for a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine, a document drawn up by US officials and suggesting a cessation of hostilities in exchange for significant concessions to Moscow, Bloomberg reported citing sources. Among the proposals are Ukraine's refusal to join NATO, reduction of its armed forces and territorial concessions.

However, already on Friday, Kiev's biggest European allies opposed these conditions. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed in a phone call with Zelensky on Friday that the Ukrainian armed forces should retain the ability to defend the country's sovereignty and that the current line of contact should be the starting point for any peace talks. According to Financial Times sources, Washington is pressuring Kiev to accept the plan.

European leaders will also meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in South Africa on Nov. 22 to determine next steps, a Bloomberg source said.

Nvidia once again beat Wall Street's expectations as the company's third quarter revenue jumped 62% to a record $57 billion - above the LSEG consensus. Adjusted EPS came in at $1.3, versus Wall Street's forecast of $1.25.

The forecast for the current quarter was even stronger, with Nvidia expecting about $65 billion in revenue, which also exceeds market expectations.

The main driver is data center hardware shipments, with revenue in this segment adding 66% year-over-year in the third quarter to a record $51 billion, of which AI chips accounted for $43 billion. Nvidia cited exponential growth in demand for computing, record Blackwell sales and the scaling of the AI ecosystem, from startups to major cloud players.

The market reacted instantly: following the report's release on Wednesday, November 19 after the close of trading, Nvidia shares soared nearly 6% in the postmarket, with the entire AI sector picking up the rally, from AMD and Micron to Oracle and Palantir. Despite sales challenges in China and uncertainty surrounding H20 chip shipments, analysts called the report "near perfect" and saw it as evidence of sustained demand for Nvidia products. By Friday, optimism had already been replaced by a sell-off in the U.S. tech sector and the return of fears of an artificial intelligence bubble collapsed markets in Europe and Asia, pushing them to their worst weekly results since April.

What else is there to read about Nvidia?

- How Wall Street analysts reacted to Nvidia' s report - in "A Necessary Break": Nvidia dispelled fears of an AI bubble by the end of 2025.

- Nvidia has defended the economics of skyrocketing AI spending after investor Michael Burry questioned the longevity of its chips and return on investment. Read about the company's response in the article "Nvidia Responds to Investor's Criticism from 'Downgrade Game'".

On November 21, the crypto market capitalization fell below $3 trillion for the first time in seven months. On Friday alone, positions worth about $1 billion were liquidated on the market in just one hour, and the value of bitcoin reached its lowest level since April.

"This is the first major 'washout' of positions since October 10," said CryptoQuant analyst Marten Regtershot. According to him, if the then collapse was caused by sales on the spot, the current decline is due to the liquidation of borrowed positions.

The general deterioration in sentiment reflects changes in fiscal and monetary policy, as well as widening credit spreads. But, as Decrypt notes, the fall on Friday looks localized and is probably mainly due to excessive use of leverage by large players.

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index (The Crypto Fear and Greed Index) is in the "extreme fear" zone, Decrypt noted. At trading on Friday, the cost of bitcoin was above $84 thousand. Ether, meanwhile, fell to $2700.

One of the first analysts to build formal models for bitcoin - Tom Lee of Fundstrat - predicts a recovery for the cryptocurrency in the coming months. Fundstrat estimates that bitcoin could rise to $150,000-200,000 by the end of January, despite the sharp drop and large-scale liquidations.

What else is there to read about the crypto market?

- October, dubbed Uptober in the crypto industry for its frequent rallies, has become one of the worst in a decade in 2025. Rustam Botashev, Partner and CIO of Blockreign Fund, explained what this means for future market dynamics in his column for Oninvest, "Uptober in reverse: how investors can now predict cryptocurrency market movements.

Alphabet's shares soared to an all-time high after the presentation of a new AI model Gemini 3: during trading on November 19, the securities rose by almost 7%, bringing the company's capitalization close to the level of Microsoft. Wall Street analysts praised Gemini 3, noting that for the first time Google is actually pulling ahead in the race to create the most powerful AI system. All told, Alphabet's share price has risen about 53% since the start of 2025, while the Nasdaq 100 has added 14%.

Experts called the Gemini 3 a technological breakthrough: the model outperforms competitors on key benchmarks and pushes the boundaries of capabilities of its generation of systems. Analysts Baird, William Blair, D.A. Davidson and Bank of America agree that the release has boosted investor confidence and reduced concerns about the future of Google's search business. The Wall Street consensus remains convincingly bullish, with 62 of 74 analysts recommending buying Alphabet shares and a target price of $324 - nearly 12% above the last close.

What else is there to read about it?

- The first reviews confirm the successful launch of Gemini 3. Oninvest columnist Roman Kutuzov explains why this has made Google a new contender for leadership in the AI race in the article "Okay, Boomer: Why Google is back in fashion".

Microsoft, Nvidia and Claude chatbot developer Anthropic have announced a strategic partnership that includes up to $15 billion in investments: Microsoft will invest up to $5 billion, Nvidia up to $10 billion. In return, Anthropic has pledged to purchase $30 billion worth of Azure cloud capacity from Microsoft and has reserved up to 1 GW of computing capacity. The deal shows that Microsoft is seeking to reduce its dependence on OpenAI, whose technology underpins Copilot+, despite the fact that the corporation owns 27% of the OpenAI Group.

The collaboration comes amid growing competition around Anthropic. Google, which has already invested more than $3 billion and owns 14% of the company, is in talks for a new round that could value the startup at more than $350 billion. Amazon previously gave Anthropic access to 1 million specialized AI chips and a lease on Trainium2 for its global Project Rainier cluster. Which underscores Anthropic's status as a key player in the next-generation AI model race.

Kraken, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has filed a confidential IPO application with the US SEC, confirming plans to go public. Founded in 2011, the exchange offers transactions in more than 450 digital assets, fiat and traditional instruments. The parameters of the offering have not yet been disclosed. The announcement comes just a day after news that the company's valuation had reached $20 billion - a third more than two months ago.

Circle and Gemini have already gone public since the beginning of the year, but their shares have slumped since their IPOs. Cryptocurrencies are seeking to float before the U.S. midterm elections in 2026, Reuters notes. Grayscale and BitGo remain in line to list, underscoring the industry's desire to gain a foothold in the public markets despite the sector's volatility.

A US court has ruled that Meta did not violate antitrust laws by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp. The Federal Trade Commission had demanded that the company be obliged to sell or split these services, believing that this would restore competition in the social networking market, but the court rejected the regulator's arguments. Meta insisted that buying strong and innovative players is a normal practice to accelerate development, while the real competition comes from TikTok, YouTube and Apple's services.

The decision was an important victory for Big Tech against the backdrop of a major US antitrust campaign against major technology companies. The proceedings against Amazon are ongoing, the Justice Department is pursuing cases against Google and Apple, but the outcome of the dispute with Meta was the first strong signal that courts are not always ready to support regulators' attempts to renegotiate long-standing deals.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor