Europe open: Stoxx down as Nvidia fallout, Microsoft outage hit sentiment

(Sharecast News) - European shares fell into the red for the first time this week as the fallout from the departure of Nvidia boss Jensen Huang and a major Microsoft outage hit sentiment.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index fell 0.26% to 662 at 0824 GMT with all major bourses following suit.

Microsoft reported an outage, which began around 1800 GMT on Thursday, that disrupted key services such as Outlook, Teams and Copilot in the US which then went on to cause disruption across the Asia-Pacific region. The company on Friday said it did not believe the issue was caused by a cyberattack.

Meanwhile, the market was dealing with the immediate aftermath of the scandal that shook the tech world. The leather-jacket wearing Huang resigned on Wednesday after admitting over the weekend he had an affair with a woman widely reported to be Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed who the US authorities believe is a Chinese spy.

It was also reported by the New York Times that Huang had had another affair, with a woman who works at Nvidia.

The scandal, which has rocked both Washington and Wall Street, wiped billions off the market's poster child, which makes high end computer chips for the artificial intelligence industry.

"It's usually best to rip off a plaster rather than prolong the agony. Jensen's decision to fall on his sword and leave the company he led to global fame is probably the best thing for the stock and Nvidia itself," said IG analyst Chris Beachamp.

"After dropping nearly 14% the shares have bounced nicely - while a Congressional investigation is sure to follow, Nvidia can declare the Jensen era at an end. Rock star CEOs can be a great help, but also a terrible Achilles' heel. For Nvidia, it may well be onwards and upwards from here."

In equity news, shares in luxury goods maker Richemont slumped despite the Cartier owner reporting a faster-than expected quarterly sales increase on Friday, helped by continued demand for its jewellery and surging growth in Japan and the US.

Financial fintech Wise jumped by almost 5% on the back of half-year results.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com