Tech stocks are seeing upward movement, boosted by recent developments. The Nasdaq composite index rose by 1.5%, gaining 277 points on Monday afternoon, following President Joe Biden’s announcement of his withdrawal from the presidential race and his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 increased by 0.3% and 1.1%, respectively.
Market predictions are favoring Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, with platforms like Polymarket and PredictIt suggesting she could become the 47th president of the U.S.
In individual stock news, Nvidia shares rose by 4% after reports emerged that the company is creating a version of its Blackwell AI chips specifically for the Chinese market. Nvidia is collaborating with the local partner Inspur to launch the chip, tentatively named the “B20,” expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia has refrained from commenting on the matter.
Tesla’s stock also saw a significant increase of nearly 5% as anticipation builds ahead of its earnings report, where CEO Elon Musk is expected to provide an update about the company’s delayed robotaxi service. Musk stated on social media that Tesla aims to have useful humanoid robots ready for internal use next year, with broader production anticipated by 2026.
On the other hand, CrowdStrike is still facing consequences from a major tech outage last Friday. The cybersecurity firm reported that approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices are beginning to come back online, yet its stock is down over 13%, trading around $263.
Verizon’s stock took a hit of nearly 6% after the release of its quarterly earnings report, which fell short of revenue expectations as customers are retaining their old phones longer, impacting upgrade rates. Verizon reported $32.8 billion in revenue for the second quarter, slightly below analyst predictions of $33.06 billion, while its earnings per share matched expectations at $1.15.