London, 9 November 2026 — EBM Newsdesk Analysis — By Katie Winearls
On Monday 9 November, Nvidia fell around 5% .The surprising detail is that markets had looked calmer after Thursday’s sharp sell-off. US futures were firmer, and Japan’s Nikkei rose 2.3%. But underneath the rebound, the cracks in the AI story are widening.
For European investors, the warning is clear. The AI boom has driven much of the gap between Wall Street and Europe. If doubts about that boom harden, the stocks that powered US gains are also the most exposed to a fall.
The AI Casualties Pile Up
The damage is clearest among the companies most tied to AI spending. In Tokyo, SoftBank fell 4.2% and is now down 63% from its peak in early June. Kioxia, Japan’s memory chip and data centre group, fell 2.5% and has lost 78% since June, after warning that demand for its memory products was starting to level off.
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SubscribeIn the US, CoreWeave, which rents out AI computing power, lost 4% overnight, wiping out Friday’s gains. It is down 78% from its peak 19 months ago, and reports its results after Tuesday’s close, the same day as SoftBank. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell 1.7% in early trade after rebounding 3.5% on Friday.
The worries are not new. Investors have questioned for months the scale of AI spending, the way money circulates between the same few companies, and whether returns will ever cover the cost. As the trade matures, those questions are getting harder to ignore, as Google’s spending bill showed last month. The timing is also awkward for Anthropic, which is expected to go on its investor roadshow this week ahead of a planned listing later this month.
Profits Still Strong
Yet the earnings picture remains strong. According to FactSet, 84% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beaten profit forecasts, and 74% have beaten on revenue. Earnings are up 31.4% on a year earlier, against the 29% expected in September.
That strength is what keeps investors buying the dips. But it also raises the bar. Matching those numbers next quarter, and into 2027, will be harder.
Oil Falls, Gold Recovers
Oil had its biggest weekly fall since March 2020 last week, with Brent down 16% and WTI 13.2%. Prices fell again on Monday after Donald Trump said he was “highly unlikely” to order heavy strikes on Iran if talks made progress, a softer tone than before the midterm elections. Risks remain. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran was making unreasonable demands, and ships were again attacked in the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend.
Gold rose further, recovering from below $3,900 last Monday. It remains far below January’s record of nearly $5,600, and analysts want to see it hold above $4,200 before calling the bottom.
In currencies, the dollar slipped as investors cut their safe-haven positions, after jumping on Friday when tech stocks plunged. Elsewhere in Asia, China’s wholesale prices rose at their fastest rate since June 2022, driven by raw materials and mining costs.
Where This Goes
Markets want to believe last week’s sell-off was another chance to buy cheaply, as it has been many times in the past four years. This time may be different. The Huang affair is a distraction, but the real issue is that the companies most exposed to AI are falling hard, even as overall profits soar. That suggests investors are starting to separate the businesses earning money from AI from those still spending on the promise of it. Europe has fewer of either, which has hurt it on the way up. On the way down, it could prove a strange kind of protection.
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