On Monday afternoon, Nasdaq climbed 1.5%, gaining 277 points, following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.3%, and the S&P 500 rose by 1.1%.
The crypto betting platform Polymarket is backing Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts she will become the 47th president of the United States.
In other news, Nvidia shares gained nearly 4% after reports emerged that the company is developing a version of its new Blackwell AI chips aimed at the Chinese market. Nvidia is reportedly partnering with local distributor Inspur to launch and sell the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” which is anticipated to start shipping in the second quarter of 2025.
Tesla’s stock experienced an almost 5% surge ahead of its earnings report, with CEO Elon Musk expected to provide insights regarding the company’s delayed robotaxi unveiling. Musk stated on X that Tesla plans to have functional humanoid robots for internal use next year, with hopes for wider production for other businesses by 2026.
In the realm of cybersecurity, CrowdStrike is still dealing with the ramifications of a major global tech outage. The company noted that of the approximately 8.5 million Windows devices affected, a significant portion has returned to operational status. However, CrowdStrike’s stock fell over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading at around $263.
Finally, Verizon shares dropped nearly 6% following the release of its quarterly earnings report, which showed the company missed revenue expectations. This was attributed to customers holding onto their old phones longer, adversely affecting upgrade rates across the telecom industry. Verizon reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, slightly below analysts’ estimates of $33.06 billion, while earnings per share met expectations at $1.15.