Mars, known for its M&M candies, is set to acquire Kellanova, the company behind Pop-Tarts, marking one of the year’s most significant corporate transactions.
On the stock market front, the Nasdaq experienced a surge of 1.5%, gaining 277 points on Monday afternoon in light of President Joe Biden’s announcement to withdraw from the presidential race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris. In the same time frame, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 saw increases of 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
Polymarket, a crypto-based betting platform, now offers odds in favor of Harris as the Democratic nominee, while PredictIt, based in New Zealand, forecasts her as the potential 47th president of the United States.
In tech news, shares of Nvidia rose by 4% after reports emerged that the company is developing a version of its new Blackwell AI chips tailored for China. Nvidia plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to launch the chip, provisionally named the “B20,” which is expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia, however, chose not to comment on these developments.
Tesla saw its stock price jump nearly 5% ahead of its earnings report, during which CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to discuss the rollout timeline for the company’s robotaxi technology. Musk announced on social media that Tesla will produce a limited number of humanoid robots for in-house use next year and aims for larger-scale production for other firms by 2026.
Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike continues to recover from the repercussions of a recent significant tech outage that affected around 8.5 million Windows devices. As of Sunday, many devices were reported to be back online, yet CrowdStrike’s stock was down over 13% on Monday afternoon, trading at about $263.
Verizon’s stock fell nearly 6% following its earnings report, which revealed that the company missed its quarterly revenue targets. This decline is attributed to customers opting to keep their existing phones longer, which has adversely affected upgrade rates and promotions associated with new mobile plans. Verizon reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, slightly lower than analysts’ expectations of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share remained consistent at $1.15.