On Monday afternoon, the Nasdaq experienced a notable rise of 1.5%, gaining 277 points, following President Joe Biden’s announcement of his withdrawal from the presidential race and subsequent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 recorded minor increases of 0.3% and 1.1% respectively.
Polymarket, a platform focused on crypto-based betting, has backed Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, while PredictIt from New Zealand forecasts that she will become the 47th president of the United States.
Nvidia’s stock saw a 4% increase in the afternoon after reports surfaced indicating that the company is working on a version of its new Blackwell AI chips tailored for the Chinese market. Nvidia plans to collaborate with local distributor Inspur to introduce the chip, currently referred to as the “B20,” expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has chosen not to comment on the matter.
Tesla shares surged nearly 5% ahead of the company’s earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is anticipated to provide insights into the delays surrounding the vehicle manufacturer’s robotaxi launch. Musk stated on social media that Tesla aims to produce useful humanoid robots for internal purposes next year, with aspirations for large-scale production for other entities by 2026.
CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm responsible for the major tech outage reported last Friday, continues to deal with the repercussions. The company announced that a significant number of the 8.5 million affected Windows devices have been restored to operational status. However, CrowdStrike’s stock was down over 13% in afternoon trading, hovering around $263.
Verizon’s stock dropped nearly 6% following its earnings report, where the telecommunications giant fell short of quarterly revenue projections. The decline is attributed to customers retaining their older phones for longer, affecting upgrade rates for telecom companies that incentivize new mobile plans. Verizon reported second-quarter revenue of $32.8 billion, which was slightly less than analysts’ expectations of $33.06 billion, and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.15, meeting forecasts.