Mars, the company behind M&M chocolates, is set to acquire Kellanova, the maker of Pop-Tarts, in what is anticipated to be one of the year’s largest business transactions.
On the stock market front, the Nasdaq Composite climbed by 1.5%, gaining 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race on Sunday and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 saw increases of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In political betting, the crypto-based platform Polymarket is favoring Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, predicts she will become the 47th president of the United States.
In tech news, Nvidia’s shares rose by 4% after reports emerged that the company is developing a version of its new Blackwell AI chips intended for the Chinese market. Nvidia is expected to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch the chip, known as the “B20,” with shipping anticipated to begin in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not commented on the report.
Tesla’s stock increased nearly 5% a day before its scheduled earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to provide insights into the company’s delayed robotaxi project. Musk revealed on social media that Tesla aims to have operational humanoid robots for internal use next year, with the potential for mass production by 2026.
In contrast, CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm involved in last week’s significant global tech outage, continues to address the aftermath. The company reported that many of the approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices are back online, but its stock fell over 13% to around $263 in afternoon trading.
Verizon experienced a decline of nearly 6% after its quarterly earnings report showed it missed revenue estimates. The company has noted a trend where customers are retaining their old phones for longer periods, affecting upgrade rates for telecom companies offering promotional deals. Verizon’s second-quarter revenue amounted to $32.8 billion, slightly below analysts’ expectations of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share matched forecasts at $1.15.