US stocks settle lower as October CPI data raise rate hike expectations, Nvidia down 6%

US stocks settled in the negative territory on Tuesday after the hotter-than-expected October inflation data raised expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.30% to 52,231.89, while the S&P 500 fell 0.32% to 7,525.88. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite declined 0.74% to 25,065.87.

Nvidia shares dropped 5.53% to $168.80 per share after the company's board initiated an independent probe in light of recent reports that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the "target of a foreign intelligence effort."

Huang acknowledged that he was unfaithful to his wife and assured that he will fully cooperate with the investigation.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers surged 0.4% in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics reported. The street expectation was 3%.

"The index for shelter rose 0.3% in October, accounting for over 30% of the monthly total increase. The food index increased 0.5% in October, as the food at home index rose 0.4% and the food away from home index increased 0.5%. The index for energy increased 0.7% over the month following a 5.2% increase in September," the Bureau of Labour Statistics said.

The index for all items except food and energy climbed 0.3% in October, as it did in September and August. Year-on-year figures were not available due to the 2025 government shutdown.

Before the CPI data release, Fed Governor Christopher Waller had backed a 50-basis-point hike if the inflation situation worsens.

Brent Crude, the international standard, was up 1% to $92.40 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 0.67% to $86.64 a barrel.

Stocks that ended in red include Moderna, SanDisk Corporation, Constellation Energy Corp, Nike, Cisco Systems, Johnson & Johnson, The Home Depot, Honeywell Technologies and Shopify.

Broadcom, Marriott International, Qualcomm, PepsiCo, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon.com, NXP Semiconductors NV, Coca-Cola Co and Boeing, among others, closed higher.