CNBC finds Cantor’s reported Nvidia shares fell 49% while business ties persisted

Cantor Fitzgerald’s analysts were still championing Nvidia in October. But a CNBC investigation published November 13 found the firm’s reported Nvidia share count had fallen 49% during an earlier six-month period. The firm, now run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s sons, also kept financing businesses in Nvidia’s network as questions mounted over his handling of suspected chip smuggling.

The investigation adds a family-business dimension to scrutiny of the secretary’s enforcement decisions. Lutnick formerly chaired Cantor; Brandon and Kyle Lutnick now lead it. CNBC found no evidence that the firm’s interests influenced their father’s decisions, that his sons knew about intelligence concerns in advance, or that the holdings changes were tied to government warnings.

A smaller share count is not the whole position

CNBC’s analysis of securities filings, excluding options, found Cantor’s Nvidia share count held steady at roughly 3.5 million through September 2025. It then fell to 3 million in December and 1.78 million by March 2026. The disclosed shares’ value dropped from $652 million to $310 million over those six months.

Those numbers do not establish why the share count fell or whether Cantor’s total financial exposure to Nvidia declined. Most shares were attributed to CF Secured, a brokerage subsidiary that uses stocks and derivatives to offset risks from customer transactions. Cantor also disclosed substantial Nvidia options positions, overwhelmingly puts, which can protect against falling prices.

Cantor told CNBC that positions in its quarterly 13F securities filings arose from ordinary client swap transactions. Its stand-alone proprietary Nvidia positions—holdings for the firm itself—were only immaterial, the spokesperson said. That distinction limits what the headline share decline can reveal about Cantor’s own investment decisions.

The enforcement dispute behind the scrutiny

The holdings decline overlapped with pressure from White House and intelligence officials to act against Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company suspected of routing advanced Nvidia AI chips to China. Axios reported that Lutnick repeatedly resisted those efforts, according to CNBC. The suspected smuggling remains an allegation.

On November 13, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Treasury, Defense, State and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office had favored putting Megaspeed on the Entity List for months. That list identifies restricted businesses and other groups. Bessent pointed to Commerce as responsible for imposing it, directing questions about internal processes there.

His conversations with his sons better be about publicly available information,

Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer, speaking to CNBC

Financing relationships continued

Beyond stock disclosures, CNBC traced Cantor’s financing work for companies connected to Nvidia. Two transactions illustrate the commercial relationships, rather than establish a connection to Lutnick’s policy choices:

• IREN: Cantor was one of seven banks managing a convertible bond offering that raised $3 billion when it closed on May 14. A week earlier, Nvidia and the cloud provider had announced a five-year, $3.4 billion computing contract and a partnership giving Nvidia the right to invest up to $2.1 billion.
• Lancium: Cantor advised the AI infrastructure developer on a $600 million financing deal in October 2025. Lancium later confirmed an Nvidia investment and technology partnership. Whether Cantor continued advising Lancium or participated in Nvidia’s investment is unclear.

Cantor also hosted Jensen Huang and other Nvidia executives for investor meetings in late September. An October 3 research note maintained an overweight rating and a $350 price target. The firm declined CNBC’s other questions; Commerce, the White House, Lutnick and his sons did not respond to requests for comment.

Cantor’s next quarterly filing is due November 16. Its latest public disclosure, covering June 30, still showed roughly 1.81 million Nvidia shares—near the lower level reached in March.