The Nasdaq index gained 1.5%, adding 277 points on Monday afternoon, influenced by President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race on Sunday and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. During the same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 climbed by 0.3% and 1.1% respectively.
In political predictions, the crypto-based betting platform Polymarket has placed its support behind Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, while New Zealand’s PredictIt anticipates she will become the 47th president of the United States.
In tech news, Nvidia’s shares rose by 4% amid reports that the company is crafting a version of its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for China. The chipmaker is said to be collaborating with local partner Inspur to introduce the chip, temporarily named the “B20,” with shipments expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has refrained from commenting on the matter.
Tesla’s stock experienced a nearly 5% surge a day before its earnings report, during which CEO Elon Musk is expected to provide updates regarding the postponed robotaxi launch. Musk announced on X that Tesla plans to produce “genuinely useful humanoid robots” for internal use in 2024 and aims for broader production for other companies by 2026.
Meanwhile, CrowdStrike is still facing consequences from last Friday’s significant global tech outage. The cybersecurity company reported that many of the approximately 8.5 million Windows devices affected are gradually returning online. However, its stock was down over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading around $263.
Additionally, Verizon’s stock fell nearly 6% following the release of its quarterly earnings. The telecommunications giant missed revenue expectations as customers are retaining their older phones for longer, affecting the upgrade rates that impact promotional plans and new mobile lines. Verizon’s second-quarter revenue was reported at $32.8 billion, slightly below the analysts’ average estimate of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share (EPS) was in line with expectations at $1.15.