The Nasdaq index experienced a surge of 1.5%, gaining 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will not run for re-election and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also saw gains, rising by 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In related news, the betting platform Polymarket has predicted Harris will be the Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts she will become the 47th president of the United States.
Nvidia shares rose by 4% after reports emerged that the company is working on a new version of its Blackwell AI chips aimed at the Chinese market. The chip is tentatively called the “B20” and is expected to launch with local partner Inspur, with shipments anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not provided further comment on this development.
Tesla’s stock climbed nearly 5% ahead of its earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to discuss the company’s delayed robotaxi reveal. Musk indicated on social media that Tesla plans to have useful humanoid robots in limited production for internal use next year, with hopes for wider availability to other companies by 2026.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm linked to a notable global tech outage last Friday, is still navigating the aftermath. However, the company reported that a substantial number of the 8.5 million Windows devices affected are now back online. Despite this recovery, CrowdStrike’s stock fell over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading around $263.
Verizon shares plummeted by nearly 6% following the release of its quarterly earnings report, which fell short of revenue expectations. The telecommunications company reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, below analysts’ average estimate of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share matched expectations at $1.15. The decline in revenue has been attributed to customers holding on to their phones longer, impacting upgrade rates amid promotional offers.