« It’s over, » said one investor, who asked to be called simply « Bell’s Dell, » adding: « The whole value is in the bin, frankly. »
The £1,200-a-month pensioner, who has been trading Nvidia stocks since the first day of the new year, said: « I was absolutely gutted. I’ve lost everything. I’ve lost the kids’ future. I’ve lost my whole life’s work. »
It comes after the company’s shares saw a sharp plunge in the early hours of yesterday morning, wiping out £30 billion in total value within just a few hours of trading.
Sources at the London Stock Exchange confirmed that, in what was being described as a « Black Wednesday » situation, trading was halted as « panic selling reached levels not seen since the dotcom bust.
« We are seeing an extraordinary amount of volume come through, » one source said. « It’s like a dam breaking. »
Analysts at Deutsche Bank warned that if Nvidia continues to « trade at these depressed levels, it’s going to take out the whole market, » a view echoed by colleagues at JP Morgan, who said they were « bracing for the worst.
Meanwhile, back at the Nvidia office in the Californian city of San Jose, the atmosphere was described as « one of numbness and fear. » Employees were seen « clutching the walls, trying to work out if the building was going to fall. »
A company spokesperson said: « We are committed to working through this. We will not let the value crash, and we are confident in our strategy. As it’s known, we’re in this to the end.
« We will carry the value, we will keep trading. We are not going anywhere. »
The spokesperson confirmed that the « entire staff » – from the « top men » in the boardroom to « the guys packing boxes on the warehouse floor » – would face the same losses if the « market doesn’t swing back. »
In a statement to be read out at a press conference today, Jensen Huang said: « We are going to carry on. We are going to trade, we are going to sell. We are not going to stop the value from coming in. We know we’ve got the best product out there. »
And, speaking to the wider market in a video posted to the firm’s YouTube channel, he added: « We are a family. You are all family. We are going to be strong together.
« We are not going to let the Bell take us down. Not now, not ever. Not on my watch.
Meanwhile, shares in rival chip maker Intel have taken a value hit of their own, as they trade in « sympathy » with the Nvidia plunge – a sign, say market observers, that the « whole sector is going down in value. »
Investors are being told to « brace for pain, » with one fund manager saying the value of his pension pot has gone « through the roof, out of the window, and into the street.
« I’ve got 29,000 worth in that fund, and it has gone down to 18,000 in a matter of hours, » said John, a former miner who now trades stocks « from his phone down the pub.
« I’ve lost a fortune, but at least I’ve got me mates to go out and tell me it’s going to be okay. Well, they haven’t been doing that, actually.
One analyst, who asked not to be named, said: « The whole situation is just a value-destroying disaster.
« We’re not going to sugar-coat it: it’s over. The market has spoken, and the market says Nvidia is going down. We’ve never seen a plunge like it.
« The value has left the building. There’s no one here. It’s like a ghost town, except it’s the ghost town of the 21st century.
« It’s a very dark time.