U.S. equity futures ticked up on Thursday evening after major indices dipped and Nvidia shares fell following the exit of founder and CEO Jensen Huang amid an ongoing scandal.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40 points. S&P 500 futures rose about 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.3%.
Shares of Nvidia closed down 4.3% on Thursday, well off their lows of the session. Huang stepped down from his post at the chip company following reported extramarital affairs , including a relationship with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe is a Chinese spy. Analysts told CNBC that Huang's exit could trigger a 20% correction in the stock.
Technology investor Paul Meeks said he's buying Nvidia with " both hands " due to the compressed valuation of the stock prompted by Huang's sudden departure. Multiple analysts said the company is well-positioned to continue operations apace without Huang at the helm.
Nvidia's chief financial officer Colette Kress , who's worked at the company for more than a decade, will lead the chipmaker as interim CEO. The company's board is looking both internally and externally for a full-time replacement for Huang.
In other parts of the chip sector, shares of Cerebras popped 18% in extended trading on a revenue beat and news of a deal with Microsoft.
"I think there is opportunity created by, particularly on the hardware side, the sale of hardware, where long lead times in GPUs and more expense creates opportunity for us," Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman told CNBC .
Markets are looking ahead to Friday's producer price index (PPI) report from the Labor Department, which is a measure of wholesale inflation.
U.S. equity futures opened modestly higher Thursday, just after 6 p.m. ET.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures added about 0.2%, while Dow futures gained 40 points.
