Nvidia's future, AI's road forward, and an inflation-battered economy: Welcome to Yahoo Finance Invest 2026! -

It has been an interesting November for the markets ahead of Yahoo Finance’s annual Invest event.

First, the entire tech sector got crushed following Election Day, amid fears that Democrats would bring pitchforks to AI data center sites and impose a heavy hand on regulations in D.C. Weak free cash flow trends at hyperscalers like Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META) did nothing to temper this negative sentiment.

Then the godfather of artificial intelligence — Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang — admitted to an affair, believed to be with a reported Chinese spy. Just as Nvidia stock began to stabilize, a report of a second affair sent shockwaves through the tech sector as the board met to decide the fate of once-untouchable Huang.

Through all these twists and turns, I am amazed by Wall Street’s relentless optimism on tech. Earnings estimates for tech continue to float higher as if there were no blue wave and hyperscalers’ aggressive AI investment wasn’t pressuring their profits.

That optimism was evident when Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) said it would seek a valuation of more than $1.3 trillion for its IPO, expected Nov. 19 or Nov. 20. You saw that on CoreWeave’s (CRWV) earnings call this week, with CEO Mike Intrator hyping the demand he has in his business.

Maybe we call this blind optimism in tech. Sort of like what investors have with celebrity CEOs like Jensen Huang.

On the other side, we have the broader stock market limping into year-end after being battered repeatedly.

The year has been defined by whiplash as the US war on Iran sparked an aggressive oil price shock that pushed crude past $100 per barrel and reignited stubborn headline inflation.

To combat persistent price pressures — as seen in this week’s October CPI reading, for example — Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh executed the first interest rate hike of the cycle in September, lifting the policy rate to 3.75% to 4%. Calls are now rising for the Fed to lift interest rates by 50 basis points at its final policy meeting in December.

The S&P 500 is up 9.5% year to date, outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s (^DJI) 8.5% advance and the 7.5% rise for the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC).

I think Yahoo Finance’s annual Invest event couldn’t have come at a better time.

For one, you need in-depth views on what’s driving the markets right now. And two, we can all use some new ideas for 2027.

Here are some of the market-movers we will be talking to throughout the day: