The Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 1.5%, adding 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also saw increases of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In related news, the crypto-based betting platform Polymarket is backing Harris as the Democratic nominee, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, predicts she will become the country’s 47th president.
In the tech sector, Nvidia’s shares climbed by 4% after reports emerged about the company developing a version of its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. Nvidia is expected to collaborate with the local distribution partner, Inspur, to launch the chip, tentatively named “B20,” which is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not commented on the report.
Tesla’s stock price surged nearly 5% ahead of its earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to provide updates on the delayed introduction of the company’s robotaxi. Musk announced on social media that Tesla plans to have humanoid robots in low production for internal use next year and aims for high production for external companies by 2026.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm implicated in the recent significant global tech outage, is still recovering from the incident. According to the company, many of the 8.5 million affected Windows devices are now online and operational. However, CrowdStrike’s stock plummeted over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading around $263.
Verizon’s stock dropped nearly 6% after the company reported its quarterly earnings, which fell short of revenue expectations. The telecommunications firm indicated that customers are holding onto their old phones longer, affecting upgrade rates and overall revenue. Verizon’s second-quarter revenue reached $32.8 billion, slightly lower than the expected $33.06 billion, with earnings per share matching forecasts at $1.15.