The Bank of Japan has announced that it will not increase interest rates, signaling that the yen carry-trade could be renewed, according to strategists.
On Monday afternoon, the Nasdaq rose by 1.5%, gaining 277 points, following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also showed gains, adding 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In the realm of political forecasting, the crypto betting platform Polymarket indicates strong support for Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, predicts she may become the 47th president of the United States.
In corporate news, Nvidia’s shares saw a 4% increase after reports emerged that the company is developing a version of its new Blackwell AI chips for the Chinese market. Collaborating with local partner Inspur, the chip, reportedly named the “B20,” is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not commented on the report.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock surged nearly 5% ahead of its upcoming earnings report, in which CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to provide updates on the company’s delayed robotaxi project. Musk noted on X that Tesla aims to have functional humanoid robots in limited production for internal use next year, with hopes of ramping up production for external use by 2026.
On the cybersecurity front, CrowdStrike is still dealing with the aftermath of a significant global tech outage. The company confirmed that a large number of the approximately 8.5 million impacted Windows devices are now operational, though its stock was down over 13% on Monday, trading around $263.
Verizon, conversely, faced a notable decline of nearly 6% after its quarterly earnings report disappointed investors. The company reported $32.8 billion in second-quarter revenue, slightly missing the analysts’ expectations of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share (EPS) met predictions at $1.15. Verizon has noted that customers are holding on to their old phones longer, adversely impacting upgrade rates for promotional plans.