Traders work on the ground of the Latest York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Nov. 21, 2025 in Latest York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Last week on Wall Street, two forces dragged stocks lower: a set of high-stakes numbers from Nvidia and the U.S. jobs report that landed with more heat than expected. However the leaves that remained after hot tea scalded investors appeared to augur good tidings.
Though Nvidia’s third-quarter results easily breezed past Wall Street’s estimates, they couldn’t quell worries about lofty valuations and an unsustainable bubble inflating in the bogus intelligence sector. The “Magnificent Seven” cohort — save Alphabet — had a losing week.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics added to the pressure. September payrolls rose way over economists expected, prompting investors to pare back their bets of a December rate of interest cut. The timing didn’t help matters, because the report had been delayed and hit just as markets were already on edge.
By Friday’s close, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost roughly 2% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.7%.
Still, a flicker of hope appeared on the horizon.
On Friday, Latest York Federal Reserve President John Williams said that he sees “room” for the central bank to lower rates of interest, describing current policy as “modestly restrictive.” His comments caused traders to extend their bets on a December cut to around 70%, up from 44.4% per week ago, in accordance with the CME FedWatch tool.
And despite a broad sell-off in AI stocks last week, Alphabet shares bucked the trend. Investors seemed impressed by its latest AI model, Gemini 3, and hopeful that its development of custom chips could rival Nvidia’s in the long term.
Meanwhile, Eli Lilly’s ascent into the $1 trillion valuation club served as a reminder that market leadership doesn’t belong to tech alone. In a market defined by narrow concentration, any sign of broadening strength is a welcome change.
Diversification, even inside AI’s sprawling ecosystem, may be exactly what this market needs now.
What you want to know today
And at last…
The Beijing music venue DDC was certainly one of the newest to need to cancel a performance by a Japanese artist on Nov. 20, 2025, within the wake of escalating bilateral tensions.
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Japanese live shows in China are getting abruptly canceled as tensions simmer
China’s escalating dispute with Japan reinforces Beijing’s growing economic influence — and penchant for abrupt actions that may create uncertainty for businesses.
Hours before Japanese jazz quintet The Mix was as a consequence of perform in Beijing on Thursday, a plainclothesman walked into the DDC music club during a sound check. Then, “the owner of the live house got here to me and said: ‘The police has told me tonight is canceled,'” said Christian Petersen-Clausen, a music agent.
— Evelyn Cheng
Correction: This report has been updated to correct the spelling of Eli Lilly.
