The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 1.5%, gaining 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek reelection and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose by 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In related news, the betting platform Polymarket is backing Harris as the Democratic nominee, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts that she will become the 47th president of the United States.
Nvidia saw a 4% increase in its stock price after reports from Reuters indicated that the semiconductor company is developing a new version of its Blackwell AI chips intended for the Chinese market. Nvidia is reportedly collaborating with the Chinese distributor Inspur to launch the chip, initially referred to as the “B20,” with shipments expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has chosen not to comment on the matter.
Tesla’s stock rose nearly 5% on the eve of its earnings report, during which Elon Musk is anticipated to share details about the company’s delayed robotaxi project. Musk stated on X that Tesla aims to have usable humanoid robots in limited production for internal use by next year, with hopes for a broader rollout for other industries by 2026.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm implicated in a significant global tech outage, is still working through the repercussions of the incident days later, although operations are gradually normalizing. The company reported that a considerable number of the 8.5 million affected Windows devices are now operational. Despite this improvement, CrowdStrike’s stock fell over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading at approximately $263.
Verizon experienced a nearly 6% drop in its stock price following the release of its quarterly earnings report, which fell below revenue expectations. The decline in revenue is attributed to customers retaining their older phones for more extended periods, negatively affecting upgrade rates. Verizon reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, slightly under the expected $33.06 billion, with earnings per share aligning with projections at $1.15.