Big tech is accelerating its investments in artificial intelligence following Nvidia’s latest earnings report, according to a strategist. The Nasdaq index rose by 1.5%, adding 277 points on Monday afternoon, influenced by President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 saw increases of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In the realm of political predictions, the crypto-based betting platform Polymarket designates Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts that she will become the 47th president of the United States.
Nvidia’s shares climbed 4% after reports surfaced that the company is working on a new version of its Blackwell AI chips targeted for the Chinese market. Collaborating with Inspur, a local distribution partner, Nvidia plans to introduce the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” with expectations of shipping beginning in the second quarter of 2025. The company did not provide any comments regarding the report.
Tesla’s stock saw a rise of nearly 5% a day ahead of its earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to discuss the timeline for the company’s delayed robotaxi. Musk announced via social media that Tesla would produce low quantities of useful humanoid robots for internal use next year, aiming for larger-scale production for other companies by 2026.
On the other hand, CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm responsible for Friday’s significant global tech outage, is still addressing the aftermath. As of late Sunday, the company reported that a considerable number of the approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices are returning to operational status. Nonetheless, CrowdStrike’s stock faced a decline of over 13% on Monday, trading around $263.
Verizon experienced a nearly 6% drop in its stock after revealing its quarterly earnings report. The telecom giant fell short of revenue expectations due to customers opting to keep their old phones longer, which has impacted upgrade rates for telecom companies. In the second quarter, Verizon recorded revenue of $32.8 billion, slightly below the analysts’ average estimate of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share matched expectations at $1.15.