 "Wall Street closed broadly in the green on Monday (July 22). AFP")
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street on Monday (July 22), as a rebound in tech shares helped recoup some of the losses from their worst week since April. Markets largely shrugged off Joe Biden’s surprise withdrawal from the US presidential race.
The S&P 500 rose 59.41 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 5,564.41, breaking a three-day losing streak. It marked the first gain for the benchmark index since it set an all-time high last Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 127.91 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 40,415.44.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 280.63 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 18,007.57, after markets in Paris and Frankfurt posted gains of over one percent.
Market movers
Chipmakers Nvidia, Broadcom, and Texas Instruments were among the standout performers, each rising more than two percent, reversing recent trends that saw tech shares decline.
Delta Air Lines dropped 3.5 per cent amid ongoing issues related to an IT outage linked to a flawed update from American cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The airline canceled over 820 flights on Monday, according to FlightAware. CrowdStrike shares tumbled 13.5 per cent over concerns about the reputational damage from the incident.
Ryanair’s shares fell 16 per cent on Monday, the first day of the Farnborough Airshow. The no-frills carrier warned that despite increasing passenger demand, revenue would be hit by lower-than-expected airfares.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsVerizon Communications slid 6.1 per cent following a second-quarter revenue miss.
Mattel Inc jumped 15.1 per cent after reports surfaced that buyout firm L Catterton had approached the toy maker with an acquisition offer.
Trump-linked stocks had mixed performances, with Trump Media & Technology Group dropping 0.8 per cent, while software firm Phunware gained 4 per cent.
Elements of uncertainty
As investors digest Biden’s exit from the race, attention turns to key questions, such as who will join Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket and whether she will depart from Biden’s platform.
This political uncertainty adds to traders’ concerns over quarterly earnings, with reports from Alphabet and Tesla, two of the so-called Magnificent Seven companies, due later this week.
With inputs from agencies