On Monday afternoon, the 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. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 also saw increases, adding 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
In the realm of political predictions, the crypto betting platform Polymarket supports Harris as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, while New Zealand’s PredictIt forecasts her as the 47th president of the United States.
In corporate news, Nvidia’s shares rose by 4% after reports emerged that the company is developing a version of its Blackwell AI chips tailored for the Chinese market. Nvidia is said to be collaborating with local partner Inspur to launch the chip, tentatively named the “B20,” expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025, though Nvidia did not provide any comments on the matter.
Tesla’s stock experienced a nearly 5% gain just a day before its eagerly awaited earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to discuss the delayed unveiling of the company’s robotaxi. Musk stated on social media that Tesla aims to produce useful humanoid robots for internal use next year and targets high production for external use by 2026.
Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike continues to deal with the ramifications of a significant global tech outage from the previous Friday. The company reported that, out of approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices, many are now operational again. However, CrowdStrike’s stock was down over 13% by Monday afternoon, trading around $263.
Verizon’s stock fell nearly 6% following its quarterly earnings report, which revealed that the company missed revenue expectations. Customers are reportedly holding onto their old phones longer, impacting the upgrade rates for telecom companies. Verizon’s second-quarter revenue reached $32.8 billion, slightly under the anticipated $33.06 billion, with earnings per share (EPS) reported at $1.15, meeting analyst expectations.