US Stocks Slip on Hot CPI as Nvidia Falls, AMD Rallies

U.S. stocks retreated on Tuesday, November 10, after hotter-than-expected inflation data raised concerns about further Federal Reserve interest rate increases, interrupting Wall Street’s recovery from last week’s selloff. Technology stocks were mixed, with Nvidia extending its decline while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) advanced, revealing a widening divide between two of the artificial intelligence industry’s biggest chipmakers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite recoavered much of its initial decline. By 10:01 a.m. Eastern, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% at 7,542.96 and the Dow had slipped 0.3% to 52,169.93. The Nasdaq was little changed at 25,254.85, according to Tuesday’s market update. These were intraday observations, not closing prices.

The market’s uneven performance points to two competing forces: renewed pressure from inflation and interest rates, alongside company-specific developments that continue to influence semiconductor valuations. The October CPI report, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, showed consumer prices increasing 0.4% from September on a seasonally adjusted basis, exceeding economists’ expectations of 0.3%.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.3%, also above the anticipated 0.2% increase. Although headline inflation slowed from September’s 0.6% monthly gain, underlying price pressures remained persistent enough to complicate the Federal Reserve’s outlook. The distinction matters. A slowdown from an unusually strong previous month does not necessarily indicate that inflation is returning sustainably toward the central bank’s target.

Shelter costs increased 0.3% in October and accounted for more than 30% of the overall monthly CPI increase. Food prices rose 0.5%, while energy prices advanced 0.7%. Used vehicle prices provided some relief, declining 1.2%. I find the composition of the report more consequential than the headline number alone.

Core inflation has now increased 0.3% for three consecutive months, suggesting that price pressures outside food and energy have not meaningfully eased during that period. An Investozora calculation using the BLS’s published monthly figures shows that October’s 0.4% headline CPI increase would correspond to approximately 4.9% annualized inflation if repeated for 12 consecutive months.

The 0.3% core increase translates into an annualized pace of approximately 3.7% under the same assumption. Those figures are illustrative calculations, not official annual inflation readings or forecasts. They demonstrate why a seemingly modest monthly change can remain significant when sustained.

The distinction is especially important because the BLS could not publish most October 2026 year-over-year inflation comparisons. The agency did not collect survey data for October 2025 during the federal government shutdown, leaving the historical index values needed for those comparisons unavailable.

The inflation report also arrived alongside unusually direct comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller. In his November 10 remarks in London, Waller said he favored a quarter-percentage-point interest rate increase in December even if October inflation improved. He also argued that a larger half-point increase should be considered if core inflation remained around 0.3% or higher.

Tuesday’s 0.3% core CPI reading therefore landed within the range Waller had specifically identified as potentially warranting stronger action. That does not establish that a half-point increase will occur. Waller was describing his own policy assessment, not announcing a Federal Open Market Committee decision.

The distinction is important because the Fed’s October policy statement maintained the federal funds target range at 3.75% to 4.00%. Future adjustments remain dependent on incoming economic evidence and decisions by the committee. Bond markets responded sharply to the combination of inflation data and the policy outlook. By 10:01 a.m. Eastern, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield had risen 12.9 basis points to 4.992%, while the two-year yield climbed 19.1 basis points to 4.738%.

The larger move in shorter-term yields is consistent with investors reassessing expectations for near-term monetary policy, although the relative contributions of the CPI release, Waller’s comments and other market developments cannot be established from those price movements alone.

Higher Treasury yields create another challenge for growth-oriented companies because their valuations often depend heavily on expected future earnings. Higher discount rates can reduce the present value investors assign to those earnings, even without an immediate change in a company’s operating performance.

That mechanism helps explain the broader pressure on technology shares. It does not, however, fully explain why Nvidia and AMD have traded so differently. Nvidia shares fell again Tuesday following an approximately 4.3% decline on Monday, when other major semiconductor companies participated in Wall Street’s rebound.

The company’s weakness comes amid an investigation involving Chief Executive Jensen Huang. In a November 8 statement, Nvidia’s board confirmed that independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would examine reports that Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.

Importantly, the company said it had no reason to believe that national security or its confidential information had been compromised. The investigation remains an unresolved source of uncertainty rather than evidence that the reported allegations have been established. AMD, meanwhile, benefited from a different set of developments. The chipmaker surged approximately 13.3% on Monday and traded higher again Tuesday, supported by improving expectations around its data-center business and demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

On November 9, AMD announced that its fifth-generation EPYC processors would power the host infrastructure supporting Google Cloud’s TPU 8tx systems. The company announcement emphasized security capabilities and computing infrastructure for enterprise AI workloads.

AMD also received an analyst upgrade from Oppenheimer, which raised its rating to Outperform and assigned a $600 price target, citing expectations for substantial growth in data-center revenue. The contrast illustrates why the semiconductor industry should not be treated as a single investment narrative.

Nvidia faces company-specific uncertainty at a time when investors are increasingly sensitive to valuation and governance risks. AMD has attracted attention through newly disclosed customer relationships, business momentum and stronger analyst expectations. Neither company’s short-term share-price performance establishes which will ultimately capture more of the AI infrastructure market. Their businesses overlap, but their product exposure, customer relationships and financial expectations differ.

There is also a broader explanation worth considering. Monday’s technology rally followed substantial losses earlier in November, meaning some of the recovery may have reflected investors rebuilding positions after sharp declines rather than a fundamental improvement in earnings expectations.

AMD’s gains could therefore reflect several influences simultaneously: the Google Cloud announcement, analyst optimism, company fundamentals and the broader semiconductor rebound. The available market evidence does not isolate the precise contribution of each factor. The same caution applies to Nvidia. Its weakness has coincided with corporate governance concerns, renewed regulatory scrutiny and pressure on technology valuations. Assigning the entire decline to one development would overstate what the market data establish.

For investors assessing the broader U.S. stock market, the more consequential question is whether corporate earnings growth can remain strong enough to offset persistently elevated interest rates. Tuesday’s inflation figures made that question more immediate, but they did not resolve it.

The next important evidence will come from additional inflation releases, corporate earnings and Federal Reserve communications. Producer-price data and the Fed’s preferred personal consumption expenditures inflation measure will help clarify whether October’s CPI reading reflects persistent price pressure or a temporary setback.

Further developments in Nvidia’s investigation and AMD’s commercial execution will also determine whether their recent performance gap has lasting significance. For now, the clearest conclusion is that inflation has complicated Wall Street’s recovery without producing a uniform reaction across technology stocks.

Investors are simultaneously reassessing monetary policy and distinguishing between individual companies on the strength of their underlying business prospects. That distinction, rather than a single day’s index movement, is what I consider most important about Tuesday’s trading.