Disney is in the process of finding a successor to Bob Iger, with an executive from Morgan Stanley leading the search. This comes at a time when the market is reacting positively to political developments. On Monday afternoon, the Nasdaq rose 1.5%, gaining 277 points, following President Joe Biden’s announcement to withdraw from the presidential race and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also saw gains of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In the realm of finance and politics, a crypto-based betting platform, Polymarket, is backing Harris as the Democratic nominee, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts her becoming the 47th president of the United States.
Nvidia saw its stock jump approximately 4% after reports emerged that the company is developing a version of its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. According to sources, Nvidia plans to collaborate with local partner Inspur to launch the chip, tentatively named “B20,” with expected shipping beginning in the second quarter of 2025.
Tesla’s stock increased nearly 5% in anticipation of its upcoming earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to address the delayed robotaxi unveiling. Musk shared on social media that Tesla plans to produce humanoid robots for internal use next year, with hopes of mass production for external companies by 2026.
In contrast, CrowdStrike is facing challenges after a significant global tech outage linked to its cybersecurity services. The company reported that many of the approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices are beginning to restore operations. However, its stock was down over 13% on Monday, trading around $263.
Verizon’s stock dropped nearly 6% following the release of its quarterly earnings report, which revealed the company missed revenue estimates as customers delay upgrading their old phones. Verizon reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, just shy of the expected $33.06 billion, and earnings per share of $1.15, meeting analyst expectations.