The Nasdaq composite index rose by 1.5%, gaining 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 also saw gains, increasing by 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based betting platform, has placed its bet on Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee, while PredictIt, a platform based in New Zealand, forecasts that she will become the 47th president of the United States.
In tech news, Nvidia shares climbed 4% after reports indicated that the company is working on a version of its new Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. Nvidia is collaborating with local partner Inspur to introduce this chip, tentatively named the “B20,” which is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has not commented on these developments.
Tesla’s stock rose nearly 5% ahead of its upcoming earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to provide updates on the delayed robotaxi launch. Musk mentioned on social media that Tesla expects to have functional humanoid robots for internal use next year and aims for mass production for other companies by 2026.
Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike is navigating the aftermath of a significant global tech outage. The company reported that a majority of the approximately 8.5 million Windows devices affected are now back online. However, CrowdStrike’s stock price dropped over 13%, trading around $263 on Monday afternoon.
Verizon experienced a nearly 6% decline following its latest earnings report, which revealed that the company missed quarterly revenue estimates as more customers opted to keep their old phones longer. This trend has adversely affected upgrade rates for telecom providers that offer new devices with their promotional plans. Verizon reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, just under the analysts’ expectations of $33.06 billion, and its earnings per share (EPS) were in line with forecasts at $1.15.