The Nasdaq experienced a notable increase of 1.5%, adding 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s announcement of his withdrawal from the presidential race and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Additionally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 saw gains of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In related political betting news, the crypto-based platform Polymarket has endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee, while PredictIt from New Zealand forecasts her to become the 47th president of the United States.
In the tech sector, Nvidia’s shares surged by 4% in afternoon trading after Reuters reported that the company is creating a version of its new Blackwell AI chips tailored for the Chinese market. Nvidia plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” with shipments anticipated to begin in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has chosen not to comment on the report.
Tesla’s stock jumped nearly 5% one day before its upcoming earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to address the delays in the company’s robotaxi project. Musk stated on X that Tesla aims to have functional humanoid robots in limited production for internal use next year and hopes to ramp up production for external clients by 2026.
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm involved in a significant global tech disruption on Friday, continues to face challenges. The company reported that many of the approximately 8.5 million impacted Windows devices are returning to online status. As of Monday afternoon, CrowdStrike’s stock was down over 13%, trading around $263.
Verizon’s stock fell nearly 6% following the release of its quarterly earnings report, which fell short of revenue expectations. The telecommunications giant noted that customers are delaying upgrades to their older phones, affecting their promotional offer uptake. Verizon’s second-quarter revenue reached $32.8 billion, slightly missing the analysts’ average estimate of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share remained steady at $1.15.