Jerome Powell’s upcoming keynote speech at Jackson Hole on Friday could have significant implications for the financial markets. Investors are keenly observing the event for potential insights.
On Monday afternoon, the Nasdaq rose by 1.5%, adding 277 points, after President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also saw increases of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
The crypto-based betting platform Polymarket has backed Harris as the Democratic nominee, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts that she will become the 47th president of the United States.
In stock news, Nvidia’s shares jumped 4% after reports emerged that the company is preparing to release a version of its new Blackwell AI chips for the Chinese market. Nvidia is set to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch the chip, temporarily named “B20,” expected to ship in the second quarter of 2025, although Nvidia has not provided official comments on the matter.
Tesla experienced a nearly 5% increase in stock value just one day before its earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to share updates on the delayed robotaxi project. In a statement on X, Musk indicated that Tesla would have functional humanoid robots in low production for internal use next year and aims for high production for external companies by 2026.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm involved in a significant global tech outage, is still dealing with the repercussions days later, although recovery is underway. They reported that a large portion of the approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices are now back online. However, CrowdStrike’s stock was down over 13% during Monday afternoon trading, currently hovering around $263.
Verizon reported a nearly 6% decline in its stock following the release of its quarterly earnings, which fell short of revenue expectations as more customers opted to retain their existing devices longer. Their second-quarter revenue was reported at $32.8 billion, slightly lower than the anticipated $33.06 billion, while their earnings per share (EPS) matched expectations at $1.15.