Mars, the maker of M&M candies, is set to acquire Kellanova, known for its Pop-Tarts, in what is anticipated to be one of the largest deals this year.
On Monday afternoon, the Nasdaq increased by 1.5%, gaining 277 points, following President Joe Biden’s announcement of his withdrawal from the presidential race and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also saw gains, rising by 0.3% and 1.1% respectively.
In the political betting arena, Polymarket favors Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts her as the likely 47th president of the United States.
Nvidia’s stock rose by 4% in the afternoon, spurred by reports that the company is developing its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. Collaborating with local partner Inspur, Nvidia aims to launch the chip, known as the “B20,” with shipments expected to commence in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not commented on the news.
Tesla’s stock experienced a nearly 5% increase ahead of its earnings report, where Elon Musk is expected to discuss the company’s delayed robotaxi project. Musk shared on X that Tesla plans to have functional humanoid robots for internal use next year and aims for mass production for other companies by 2026.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm associated with a significant global tech outage last week, is still dealing with the repercussions. The company reported that a notable number of the 8.5 million Windows devices impacted are back online. However, CrowdStrike’s stock fell over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading around $263.
Verizon stock faced a nearly 6% drop after the release of its quarterly earnings report which revealed that the company missed revenue expectations. Many customers are reportedly holding on to their old phones longer, affecting upgrade rates for telecom services. Verizon’s revenue for the second quarter was reported at $32.8 billion, slightly under the anticipated $33.06 billion, with earnings per share meeting expectations at $1.15.