On Monday afternoon, the Nasdaq index experienced a rise of 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 increased by 0.3%, while the S&P 500 saw a rise of 1.1%.
Polymarket, a crypto-based betting platform, has backed Harris as the likely Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, predicts she may become the 47th president of the United States.
In the tech sector, Nvidia’s shares rose by 4% after it was reported that the company is creating a new version of its Blackwell AI chips aimed at the Chinese market. They are set to collaborate with local partner Inspur to launch and sell the chip, currently known as the “B20,” with expectations for shipping to commence in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not provided any official comment on the matter.
Tesla’s stock jumped nearly 5% ahead of its earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to address the recently delayed unveiling of the company’s robotaxi. Musk stated on social media that Tesla plans to produce useful humanoid robots in low quantities for internal use next year, with hopes for higher production levels for other companies by 2026.
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm linked to a significant global tech outage last week, is still dealing with the repercussions, though recovery efforts appear to be yielding results. The company reported that many of the approximately 8.5 million impacted Windows devices are returning to operation. However, their stock price has fallen over 13%, trading around $263 on Monday afternoon.
Verizon also faced a setback, with its stock dropping nearly 6% following the release of its quarterly earnings report. The telecommunications company reported a revenue of $32.8 billion, slightly below the $33.06 billion consensus estimate, which has been attributed to customers keeping their old phones longer, negatively impacting upgrade rates. The company’s earnings per share came in at $1.15, aligning with expectations.