WSJ What’s News - Why Nvidia’s Results Could Jolt the Market

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

A.M. Edition for Nov. 19. After dropping for four straight sessions, markets are now bracing for today’s earnings report from AI-bellweather Nvidia. Plus, WSJ’s Anne Tergesen explains why millions of Americans are leaving behind old 401(k) accounts - costing savers billions in missed investment gains. And a rare Gustav Klimt portrait has shattered records, becoming the most expensive modern artwork ever sold at auction. Caitlin McCabe hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investors' attention turns to invidia's earnings today, a report that could spark major market moves. Plus, a bill to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein heads to President Trump's desk for signature. And we take a look at the Sotheby's auction that has the modern art world buzzing. A Gustaville-Clint painting just made auction history, selling for $236.4 million. It's Wednesday, November 19th. I'm Caitlin McCabe for the Wall Street Journal, and here's the AM edition of What's News. The top headlines and business stories moving your world today. Global stock indexes are edging lower this morning, building on a continued sell-off in the U.S. Yesterday's downturn marked the fourth straight loss for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial average, with the Dow falling four. point five percent over that period, its steepest four-day pullback from a record close since

1999. Today, attention is turning to invidia, which reports earnings after markets close. Journal reporter Hannah Aaron Lang says the financial results of the world's most valuable public company have more or less become a macroeconomic event in and of themselves. Nvidia is one of the only companies where you see investors, you know, throwing watch parties are making tons of memes. There's just a huge amount of focus on this particular company and what its profits mean for the artificial intelligence trade as a whole. That's a sentiment echoed by the co-host of WSJ's Take On the Week podcast, Telestimos.

We have Nvidia earnings, which are an event, not just to talk about Nvidia's numbers, but to talk about what's going on with the AI economy. And interestingly, we did see the giant Japanese investor soft banks sell a big chunk of its NVIDIA stock recently, and actually to fund a bigger investment in Open AI. So it's, in that sense, shifting some of its bet from the chips themselves to the applications like ChatGBTGBT, which is what Open AI makes. So that's an interesting trend that I think people are going to be wondering, where is the

money heading just within the AI trade, what stocks might benefit from here? Maybe it's less chip makers and more applications. So the AI trade might continue, but what form it takes might be really the big question. chipmakers, including NVIDIA, have slipped dramatically in recent days, with NVIDIA's shares down some 12% from their record high last month. With the bar set is especially high for NVIDIA's earnings, Hannah says it all sets the stage for some big swings in its stock. Even a really impressive report on its face hasn't been enough to wow investors. And we've actually seen NVIDIA shares turn lower the day after earnings, even if

the financials themselves were quite good. That being said, for this particular round of earnings, option traders are actually anticipating some pretty big moves in Nvidia's stock price. So as of Tuesday, traders were positioning for roughly 8% swing, higher or lower, in the stock price after earnings and through Friday. And on Tuesday, some of the most actively traded Nvidia options contracts were those pegged to the stock jumping to $195 a share or $200,000 or $200,000. share. And just for context, shares closed Tuesday at about $181. For more on the finances of the tech industry and whether the AI bubble could find its way into the bond market, check out this week's episode of WSJ's Take On the Week, wherever you get your podcasts.

After months of the president calling the push to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a Democratic hoax, legislation to make a trove, of government files public has landed on Trump's desk. The House voted 427 to one yesterday to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the Senate quickly agreed to approve it by unanimous consent. The bill directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to make unclassified documents related to the late sex offender and his associate Galane Maxwell publicly available within 30 days of being signed into law. Speaking in Washington, after Congress approved the bill, Epstein accused Anna Farmer said it was a watershed moment in the quest for accountability.

I very much, I think like many people, you know, there were fights going on. There were definitely women that had, you know, worked so hard for so long for justice, but I had, you know, given up on the idea that anything would happen in this case. Ahead of the Senate vote, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Epstein's victims supported the bill and deserved credit for getting it passed. The American people have waited long enough. Jeffrey Epstein's victims have waited long enough. Let the truth come out.

Heading into Trump's second term, many MAGA supporters were demanding more disclosures in the Epstein case, believing there was a list of powerful men whose identities were being protected. Trump has said he cut off ties with Epstein long before the financier was first arrested in 2006. A high-level Pentagon delegation is on its way to Kiev as part of the administration's latest attempt to revive negotiations on ending Ukraine's war with Russia. The White House is turning to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and other senior military in the belief that Moscow might be more open to talks brokered by the military. Driscoll will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials with plans to

meet with Russian officials at a later date. Turning to a slew of AI news now, and President Trump has said that the U.S. must have one federal standard for regulating artificial intelligence. Posting on social media yesterday, he added that the technology risked being overregulated if each American state came up with its own standard. This comes as many startups are burning through cash in a bid to quickly build infrastructure that can help train and refine their AI models. We are exclusively reporting that Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company XAI is an advanced talks to raise $15 billion in new equity at a $230 billion valuation, a significant step up from the $113 billion

XAI disclosed after acquiring Musk's social media site X in March. We've also learned that Brookfield asset management is targeting $10 billion in equity for its new AI infrastructure fund. The world's biggest infrastructure investor has already raised $5 billion of that from the likes of Nvidia, Kia, and its own balance sheet. Brookfield said it plans to use that money to build and acquire as much as $100 billion worth of AI infrastructure, including data centers, dedicated power providers, and semiconductor manufacturing. And the Trump administration will back a $1 billion federal loan to Constellation Energy to restart the three-mile island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Constellation Energy aims to bring the mothballed plant that suffered a partial core

meltdown in 1979 back to life to help generate electricity for Microsoft, which needs more power to fuel its AI business. Coming up, why Americans are leaving behind billions in lost investment gains when they change jobs. And we unpack the $236 million modern art sale that just made auction history. That's after the break. Workers in the U.S. are leading behind their retirement accounts as they switch jobs, often unknowingly,

meaning they're missing out on billions of dollars in investment gains. Employers can automatically enroll new starters in a 401k plan. So in some cases, people don't even realize that they're saving for retirement or that they're leaving behind a plan when they change jobs. The journals Ann Turgesson explains how it's particularly relevant for young workers who tend to switch jobs more often. The young workers, they're not paid a lot.

They might be automatically enrolled in the 401k plan. So they have these small balances and then they change jobs. They may not know that they did save. They may not know that they're leaving money behind. or they may know. They may think it's totally fine that they leave the money in their former employer's 401 plan. But in fact, when the balance is below $7,000, an employer has the option to get rid of that account and to force it out of the 401k and into an IRA. And so what happens is that this can result in people having one or more small 401k accounts that get transferred.

to IRAs that people lose track of. Employers are required to notify former workers when they're transferring savings into an IRA, and as Anne explains, that isn't a good deal for the former employee. When an employer does a forced rollover into an IRA, the money is required to be invested in cash until the former employee comes along and decides to invest it in something else like stocks or bonds. Well, cash just doesn't return as much historically as stocks and bonds. So to the extent that people have money sitting in these IRAs, they're locking

in a very low return on that money for the period of time in which it is in the IRA. Approximately 1.7 million 401k accounts are projected to be transferred into IRAs this year, rising to 2.2 million by 2030. And an auction at Sotheby's last night has set the record. for the most expensive modern work of art ever sold at auction. A Gustav Clint painting just made auction history tonight, selling for $236.4 million. This makes it the world's most expensive modern artwork and the second-priciest artwork ever sold at auction. It's called The Portrait of Elizabeth Letterer, and Clint painted it in 1914 to 1916.

That's WSJ reporter Kelly Crow, who was at the auction. She said at least six bidders, vibe for the Gustav Klimt painting, with one telephone bidder only jumping in once the competition reached $171 million. Another bidder eventually won the work, but only after a 20-minute bidding war that saw bids escalate in multi-million dollar increments. Here it is for the Elizabeth Lader in Portrait, only at Sotheby's here in the Breyer. The Klimt, Julian, is yours. Congratulations. The record-breaking sale is good news for the auction house, who's $100 million, investment in new headquarters in New York's Breuer Building was a bid to crawl out of a period of downturn sales across the wider art industry. And that's it for What's News for this Wednesday morning.

Today's show is produced by Daniel Bach, Kate Bollivant, and Hattie Moyer. Our supervising producer was Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Caitlin McKay for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with the new show. Until then, thanks for listening. Thank you.