SoftBank dumps Nvidia stake to raise capital for OpenAI, data centre projects

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

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1.

Nvidia dump: SoftBank sold its entire USD5.8 billion stake in Nvidia in October to help fund a sweeping push into AI, centred on its record USD30 billion commitment to OpenAI. The company disclosed the sale of 32.1 million Nvidia shares in its quarterly earnings, where CFO Yoshimitsu Goto said the divestment was “nothing to do with Nvidia itself” but was needed to raise capital for financing. The move adds to SoftBank’s scramble for cash to support initiatives such as the USD500 billion Stargate data centre project with OpenAI and Oracle. The OpenAI investment (USD7.5 billion of which was made earlier this year) helped lift SoftBank’s September quarter profit to ¥2.5 trillion ($24.9 billion), more than double the previous year’s result. The Nvidia exit follows earlier asset sales, including USD9.2 billion worth of T-Mobile shares. Nvidia shares dropped over 3% following the news, amid rising market concern that AI valuations may have outpaced fundamentals. SoftBank shares meanwhile have surged over 200% this year and the company announced a 4-for-1 stock split effective 1 January. (SoftBank)(Reuters)(WSJ)(Bloomberg)(CNBC)(Capital Brief)

2.

Shutdown hopes: Wall Street rose as the Senate passed a temporary funding measure to end the 42-day US government shutdown, the longest in the country’s history. The bill, backed by US President Donald Trump, now heads to the Republican-controlled House, which is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday (Thursday AEDT). It would keep most of the government open through 30 January and some agencies through 30 September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.1% higher in afternoon trading, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq was 0.3% lower, as megacap tech stocks underperformed. Nvidia was 3.2% lower after SoftBank sold its entire USD5.83 billion stake. CoreWeave shares slid 13.8% after the company flagged a delay in fulfilling a customer contract. Paramount Skydance shares were 9% higher after the company raised its 2026 cost-cutting target to USD3 billion. The dollar weakened, US bond markets were shut for Veterans Day, and Microsoft and Google announced large AI infrastructure investments in Portugal and Germany. (WSJ)(Bloomberg)(AP)

3.

Copy, paste: Commonwealth Bank’s $2.6 billion quarterly cash profit was higher than a year ago but fell short of market expectations, sending its shares down 6.6% and wiping $18 billion off its market value. CEO Matt Comyn told The Australian Financial Review the three main rivals were pursuing similar strategies, creating “continued competitive intensity” and targeting more affluent, metropolitan customers. “It felt like ‘replicate CBA’,” he said, pointing to strategic convergence across the majors, focused on proprietary home lending, business banking and deposit growth. ANZ also reported earnings this week, posting its annual results on Monday, and as Capital Brief’s Jack Derwin writes, the two banks are at the mercy of two very different narratives. CBA is navigating market disappointment after a long share price rally, while ANZ signals a turnaround under CEO Nuno Matos, whose aggressive restructuring has lifted its share price more than 30% since his appointment. (AFR)(Capital Brief)

4.

Private pursuit: Morgan Stanley launched a dedicated research product for private companies, joining JPMorgan and Citigroup in expanding coverage of startups that are staying private longer. According to internal memos cited by Bloomberg and Reuters, the page will include research on individual companies, venture capital activity and sector trends, as well as multimedia content. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson told Bloomberg the product will also explore the impact of private firms on public-market competitors. Global director of research Katy Huberty said in the memo the bank is broadening its focus “to deliver deeper analysis, broaden our reach, and stay ahead of client demand.” She told Bloomberg the strategy is now a top priority, alongside expanding thematic leadership, and that the firm is hiring to support both areas. She said the firm had published over 100 private company reports since 2017, with more than 65 produced in 2025. It comes after the bank last month agreed to acquire EquityZen to improve access to private shares. PitchBook data shows nearly 1,600 global startups valued above USD1 billion, with a combined valuation of USD6.5 trillion as of 5 November. (Reuters)(Bloomberg)

5.

Tense climate: Moderate Liberal MPs have been handed polling signalling dire electoral consequences if the party abandons climate action, as MPs gather in Canberra ahead of a meeting to thrash out its position. All party MPs and senators will be able to speak on the issue this morning, before Ley’s leadership team meets on Thursday to settle a position. In a bid to keep the Coalition together, senior Liberals and Nationals will then attempt to broker a deal over the weekend. A group of moderate Liberal MPs were briefed on Tuesday about the polling, seen by Capital Brief, which painted a bleak picture of the Coalition’s standing with voters, with just one in five seeing it as “in touch with modern Australia”. The problem was particularly acute on climate change, with 45% of respondents saying the Coalition did not align with their priorities on the issue and only 26% saying it did. The crisis threatens Ley’s leadership, though multiple party sources insist a move against her is not imminent. (Capital Brief)

6.

Jobs lens: US firms were cutting more than 11,000 jobs a week in the four weeks ended 25 October, according to ADP’s new weekly payroll data, as the longest US government shutdown continued halting official employment statistics. ADP’s chief economist Nela Richardson said in a statement the labour market “struggled to produce jobs consistently during the second half of the month”. ADP’s monthly report, released last week, found private-sector payrolls rose by 42,000 in October after falling in the previous two months. The weekly estimates, based on a four-week moving average and published with a two-week delay, do not include government workers. ADP introduced them last month as policymakers and investors turned to private data to fill the gap left by the shutdown. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs economists estimated US nonfarm payrolls fell by 50,000 in October. That included the effects of a Trump administration deferred resignation program that likely reduced payrolls by 100,000. That also comes as Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in their latest report that employers announced the most October job cuts in more than two decades. (Capital Brief)(ADP)(NFIB)(WSJ)(Reuters)(Bloomberg)

7.

Continuous (non)disclosure: ASIC accused the suspended miner AVZ Minerals and two of its directors of failing to disclose critical market information about a lithium project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The watchdog alleged that the company breached continuous disclosure obligations and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by failing to announce an escalating legal dispute in the DRC tied to the acquisition of shares in AVZ’s Manono Project to the ASX. The watchdog also alleged that managing director Nigel Ferguson and technical director Graeme Johnston breached their director’s duties, noting that the pair failed to inform investors about a rival’s challenge to AVZ’s claim over the Manono Project for nearly 12 months. ASIC is seeking declarations of contravention against AVZ, and declarations of contravention and pecuniary penalties against Ferguson and Johnston. AVZ and its directors “strongly deny all allegations of wrongdoing and the proceedings will be vigorously defended.” (ASIC)(AVZ Minerals)(Capital Brief)(The Australian)

8.

Walking on neoclouds: Nebius Group signed an approximately USD3 billion ($4.6 billion) agreement to deliver AI infrastructure to Meta over the next five years, after reporting strong Q3 revenue. The neocloud’s revenue rose 355% in the quarter from a year earlier to USD146 million and forecast that it will reach annualised run-rate revenue of USD7 billion to USD9 billion by the end of 2026. Shares in Nebius have climbed over 300% this year as the company’s strength as a leading neocloud provider continues to garner attention, having inked a USD17.4 billion deal with Microsoft in September. Meanwhile, Microsoft chief Brad Smith told Portuguese masthead Jornal de Negócios that it is planning to spend USD10 billion on an AI data centre around 150 kilometres south of Lisbon. Microsoft secured leasing capacity at the Sines site in October, agreeing to rent capacity from Nscale as the US tech company expands its computing resources in Europe. (Capital Brief)(Jornal de Negócios)(Bloomberg)