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Palantir has worst month in two years as AI stocks sell off

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Palantir has worst month in two years as AI stocks sell off

CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

It’s been a tough November for Palantir.

Shares of the software analytics provider dropped 16% for their worst month since August 2023 as investors dumped AI stocks due to valuation fears. Meanwhile, famed investor Michael Burry doubled down on the artificial intelligence trade and bet against the company.

Palantir started November off on a high note.

The Denver-based company topped Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. Palantir also posted its second-straight $1 billion revenue quarter, but high valuation concerns contributed to a post-print selloff.

In a note to clients, Jefferies analysts called Palantir’s valuation “extreme” and argued investors would find better risk-reward in AI names such as Microsoft and Snowflake. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets raised concerns about the company’s “increasingly concentrated growth profile,” while Deutsche Bank called the valuation “very difficult to wrap our heads around.”

Adding fuel to the post-earnings selloff was the revelation that Burry is betting against Palantir and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Burry, who is widely known for predicting the housing crisis that occurred in 2008 and the portrayal of him in the film “The Big Short,” later accused hyperscalers of artificially boosting earnings.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp vocally hit the front lines, appearing twice in one week on CNBC, where he accused Burry of “market manipulation” and called the investor’s actions “egregious.”

“The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Despite the vicious selloff, Palantir has notched some deal wins this month. That included a multiyear contract with consulting firm PwC to speed up AI adoption in the U.K. and a deal with aircraft engine maintenance company FTAI.

But those announcements did little to shake off valuation worries that have haunted all AI-tied companies in November.

Across the board, investors have viciously ditched the high-priced group, citing fears of stretched valuations and a bubble.

In November, Nvidia pulled back more than 12%, while Microsoft and Amazon dropped about 5% each. Quantum computing names such as Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum have shed more than a third of their value.

Apple and Alphabet were the only Magnificent 7 stocks to end the month with gains.

Sill, questions linger over Palantir’s valuation, and those worries aren’t a new concern.

Even after its steep price drop, the company’s stock trades at 233 times forward earnings. By comparison, Nvidia and Alphabet traded at about 38 times and 30 times, respectively, at Friday’s close.

Karp, who has long defended the company, didn’t miss an opportunity to clap back at his critics, arguing in a letter to shareholders that the company is making it feasible for everyday investors to attain rates of return once “limited to the most successful venture capitalists in Palo Alto.”

“Please turn on the conventional television and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are,” Karp said during an earnings call. “Enjoy, get some popcorn. They’re crying. We are every day making this company better, and we’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries.”

Palantir declined to comment for this story.

WATCH: Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We’ve printed venture results for the average American

Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We've printed venture results for the average American

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CME disruption, Black Friday, the K-beauty boom and more in Morning Squawk

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CME disruption, Black Friday, the K-beauty boom and more in Morning Squawk

CME Group sign at NYMEX in New York.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. Down and out

Stock futures trading was halted this morning after a data center “cooling issue” took down several Chicago Mercantile Exchange services. Individual stocks were still trading before the bell, while the CME said futures indexes and options trading would open fully at 8:30 a.m. Follow live markets updates here.

The stock market has rebounded during the holiday-shortened trading week. But the three major indexes are still on pace to end November’s trading month — which ends with today’s closing bell — in the red. The Dow and S&P 500 are poised to snap six-month winning streaks, while the Nasdaq Composite is on track to see its first negative month in eight.

Today’s trading session ends early at 1 p.m. ET.

2. Shopping and dropping

A Black Friday sale sign is displayed in a shop window at an outlet mall in Carlsbad, California, U.S., Nov. 25, 2025.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Black Friday was once considered the biggest in-person shopping day of the year, drawing huge crowds to stores in search of bargains. But while millions are still expected to partake in the occasion, it’s not what it used to be.

Here’s what to know:

  • In the past six years, online sales have outpaced brick-and-mortar spending on Black Friday. Data shows in-person foot traffic has been mostly flat over the last few years, as well.
  • No matter where they make their purchases, shoppers are also skeptical that they’re getting the best deals.
  • As CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge reports, the shift has meant a change in strategy for many of the retail industry’s biggest names. Some have started offering their holiday sales earlier in the season, while others are spacing out their promotions.
  • Deloitte reported that the average consumer will shell out $622 between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1, a decrease of 4% from last year.
  • Even as the day of deals loses its allure, AT&T found that Gen Z participates the most, while their older counterparts do their shopping closer to Christmas.

3. AI comeback

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Alphabet has been a notable exception to the recent tech downturn. Shares of the Google parent have surged more than 13% this month as Wall Street sees the company as an AI leader.

Alphabet began the month by announcing its latest tensor processing units, or TPUs, called Ironwood. Last week, the company launched its latest AI model, Gemini 3, which caught positive attention from Silicon Valley heavyweights.

Shares of the stock are now up close to 70% this year, making it the best-performer within megacap tech. But experts told CNBC’s Jennifer Elias that Alphabet’s lead in the competitive AI market is marginal and could be hard to hold onto.

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4. Tech’s tug of wars

Alibaba announced plans to release a pair of smart glasses powered by its AI models. The Quark AI Glasses are Alibaba’s first foray into the smart glasses product category.

Alibaba

The Alphabet-Nvidia AI race isn’t the only tech rivalry that has heated up in recent days.

Alibaba‘s AI-powered smart glasses went on sale yesterday. With its new wearable tech offering, the Chinese tech company is going up against major players — namely Meta, which unveiled its smart glasses with Ray Ban in September.

Meanwhile, Counterpoint Research found Apple is poised to ship more smartphones than Samsung this year for the first time in 14 years. Apple is also poised to boast a larger market share, driven by strong iPhone 17 sales.

5. From Seoul to Los Angeles

Carly Xie looks over facial mask items at the Face Shop, which specializes in Korean cosmetics, in San Francisco, April 15, 2015.

Avila Gonzalez | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images

American shoppers are increasingly looking to South Korea for their cosmetics. NielsenIQ found U.S. sales of so-called “K-beauty” products are slated to surge more than 37% this year to above $2 billion.

Retailers ranging from beauty product hubs Ulta and Sephora to big-box chains Walmart and Costco are jumping on the trend. On top of that, Olive Young — aka the “Sephora of Seoul” — is opening its first U.S. store in Los Angeles next year.

The Daily Dividend

Here are some stories worth circling back to over the weekend:

CNBC’s Chloe Taylor, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Laya Neelakandan, Jessica Dickler, Sarah Min, Sean Conlon, Jennifer Elias, Arjun Kharpal and Luke Fountain contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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What’s going on at Nexperia? Dutch chipmaker issues urgent plea to its China unit

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What’s going on at Nexperia? Dutch chipmaker issues urgent plea to its China unit

This photograph shows a general view of Nexperia headquarters in Nijmegen on November 6, 2025.

John Thys | Afp | Getty Images

Dutch chipmaker Nexperia has publicly called on its China unit to help restore supply chain operations, warning in an open letter that customers across industries are reporting “imminent production outages.”

Nexperia’s Dutch unit said Thursday that its open letter followed “repeated attempts to establish direct communication through conventional channels” but did not have “any meaningful response.”

The letter marks the latest twist in a long-running saga that has threatened global automotive supply chains and stoked a bitter battle between Amsterdam and Beijing over technology transfer.

“We welcomed the Chinese authorities’ commitment to facilitate the resumption of exports from Nexperia’s Chinese facility and that of our subcontractors, enabling the continued flow of our products to global markets,” Nexperia’s Dutch unit said in the letter.

“Nevertheless, customers across industries are still reporting imminent production stoppages. This situation cannot persist,” they added. The group called on the leadership of Nexperia’s entities in China to take steps to restore the established supply flows without delay.

Chinese company Wingtech, which owns Netherlands-based Nexperia, reportedly hit back on Friday morning. Wingtech accused the firm’s Dutch unit of seeking to strip the firm of its shareholder rights and pushing to establish a non-Chinese supply chain, Reuters reported. CNBC has also contacted Wingtech for comment.

In this photo illustration, the logo of semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia is displayed on a screen.

Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Nexperia manufactures billions of so-called foundation chips — transistors, diodes and power management components — that are produced in Europe, assembled and tested in China, and then re-exported to customers in Europe and elsewhere.

The chips are relatively low-tech and inexpensive but are needed in almost every device that uses electricity. In cars, those chips are used to connect the battery to motors, for lights and sensors, for braking systems, airbag controllers, entertainment systems and electric windows.

How did we get here?

The situation began in September, when the Dutch government invoked a Cold War-era law to effectively take control of Nexperia. The highly unusual move was reportedly made after the U.S. raised security concerns.

Beijing responded by moving to block its products from leaving China, which, in turn, raised the alarm among global automakers as they faced shortages of the chipmaker’s components.

In an apparent reprieve last week, however, the Dutch government said it had suspended its state intervention at Nexperia following talks with Chinese authorities. It was thought at the time that this could bring an end to the dispute and pave the way for a restoration of normal supply chains.

Rico Luman, senior sector economist for transport and logistics at Dutch bank ING, said it remains unclear how long the situation will last.

“The imposed measures to seize the Dutch Nexperia subsidiary have been lifted, but there are still talks ongoing about restoring the corporate structure and relation with parent company Wingtech,” Luman told CNBC by email.

“It’s not only about supplies of finished chips, it’s also about wafer supplies from Europe to the Chinese entity,” Luman said, adding that companies including Japan’s Nissan and German auto supplier Bosch are among the firms to have warned about looming shortages.

Nissan signage at a dealership in Richmond, California, US, on Friday, June 21, 2024.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A spokesperson for the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), which represents Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz Group and BMW among hundreds of others, warned of elevated risks to supply, “particularly for the first quarter” of 2026.

“In recent weeks, the German automotive industry has largely been able to keep production stable through intensive efforts,” a VDA spokesperson told CNBC by email.

“However, the disruptions in the supply chain for Nexperia parts caused by political intervention have not been fundamentally resolved. Component availability remains uncertain,” they added.

ING’s Luman said the Nexperia situation is somewhat comparable to China’s rare earth export controls.

“The Chinese position appears strong again as European manufacturers are dependent on the supplies. And comparable to the rare earths, it’s not fully transparent which buyer is able to qualify for which chip supplies,” Luman said.

— CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report.

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