Top Stories This Morning: The FBI to Investigate Huang, Exxon Eyes Venezuela, Anthropic Closer to an IPO

Trump has asked the FBI to investigate the relationship between Nvidia’s CEO and a Chinese citizen whom U.S. intelligence agencies believe to be a spy. Oil giant ExxonMobil is in talks with Venezuela regarding the development of one or more oil fields, despite the fact that the company’s assets in that country have been nationalized twice in the past 50 years. Anthropic continues to prepare for its IPO, despite the recent sell-off, and may list its shares on the stock exchange next week. Shares of Asian tech companies surged following Wall Street’s rebound. Read about these and other topics in our roundup of key events as of the morning of November 10.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that the FBI is investigating the circumstances surrounding an extramarital affair between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a woman whom U.S. authorities suspect of working for Chinese intelligence, according to Bloomberg. The woman in question is Alice Huang, the head of the Singapore-based company Megaspeed International. Huang himself admitted to cheating on his wife, to whom he has been married for about 40 years. Nvidia’s board of directors has launched its own investigation to determine whether the company’s CEO could have been targeted by foreign intelligence. However, Nvidia stated that there is currently no reason to believe that U.S. national security or company secrets have been compromised.

Trump voiced his support for Huang, calling him “a very decent person.” According to the U.S. president, the head of Nvidia assured him that he was unaware of Alice Huang’s alleged ties to Chinese intelligence, and Trump believes him.

The American oil company ExxonMobil has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Venezuelan government and the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) regarding the potential development of one or more oil fields, according to Bloomberg. The agreement is nonbinding.

Back in January, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods described Venezuela as unattractive for investment, but the company is now considering a return to the market. According to the company, this would require stable government policy, transparent regulation, and investment protection.

Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, plans to hold an IPO by the end of November, despite recent market volatility linked to investments in artificial intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources. The company plans to hold meetings with investors this week, and trading of its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT could begin on November 19 or 20.

Reuters, citing email correspondence, also notes that Anthropic had already sent documents to banks outlining plans to raise up to $69.3 billion in an IPO, but soon withdrew them, stating that the figures were incorrect.

The WSJ notes that just a week ago, investors were expecting a valuation of about $1.5 trillion; however, following a sharp drop in the stock prices of AI companies, some of them are now calling for a downward revision.

The price of gold fell 0.7% on November 10 to $4,110.81 per ounce, following a rise of nearly 2% the previous day, according to Bloomberg. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates in December are putting pressure on prices. Fed officials have pointed to the resilience of the U.S. economy and persistent inflationary pressures. Higher interest rates reduce the appeal of gold, which does not generate interest income.

At the same time, gold is being supported by falling oil prices amid hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in the Middle East. The weakening of the dollar has been an additional positive factor. According to Niki Shils, head of metals strategy at MKS PAMP, sentiment in the gold market remains moderately optimistic or neutral through the end of the year, though major investors are holding off on active buying for now.

Shares of Asian technology companies surged on November 10 following a rebound in the U.S. market amid falling oil prices, according to CNBC. In Japan, SoftBank Group shares rose 13.4%, Advantest shares rose 2.36%, Tokyo Electron shares rose 4.73%, Lasertec shares rose 6.74%, and Disco shares rose 6.01%. In South Korea, shares of chipmaker SK Hynix gained 5.2%, Samsung Electronics rose 3.9%, and Samsung SDI climbed 6.87%. Taiwan’s TSMC rose 0.45%.

Yesterday, the U.S. Nasdaq Composite index rose 2.74%, while the S&P 500 rose 2.35%, marking their best performance since April 8.

The rally followed a sharp sell-off in tech stocks last week, triggered by concerns that a Democratic victory in the U.S. midterm elections would lead to tighter restrictions on data center construction and a decline in demand for AI chips.

— Japan’s broad-based Topix index rose 2.4%, while the Nikkei 225 rose 3.3%.
— Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.5%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 Index rose 0.2%.
— In South Korea, the Kospi index rose 4.6%, and the Kosdaq rose 4.4%.
— Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.1%.
— Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.1%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.4%.

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