• A major outage caused by a CrowdStrike update led to significant disruptions and an 11.1% drop in its stock price.
  • President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee.

CrowdStrike Oversold? 

A widespread outage on Friday left computer screens blue, grounded flights, halted hotel check-ins, and disrupted freight deliveries, forcing businesses to revert to paper and pen.  

The incident, allegedly triggered by an update from CrowdStrike (down ~12%), also affected Microsoft’s Windows (down 0.7%). 

Running into the fire is Cathie Wood’s ARK ETFs, with a significant acquisition of CrowdStrike valued at approximately $13.24 million, through ARKW and ARKF ETFs. 

Biden Steps Aside 

President Joe Biden announced today his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee.  

While Harris is poised to become the nominee, confirmation will come at the Democratic National Convention from August 19-22 in Chicago.  

The key market-moving news from this event could hinge on Harris’s choice of running mate.  

There is also speculation around the use of the 25th Amendment, which could theoretically see Biden removed from office early, though no officials have indicated such intentions. 

US Natural Gas Futures Plummet  

US natural gas futures plummeted over 10% to below $2.1/MMBtu last week, influenced by milder weather and reduced feedgas to LNG export plants. This price drop occurred despite expectations of a return to hot weather in late July and early August, which should increase demand for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioners. Meteorologists project near-normal temperatures across the Lower 48 states through July 25, with a hotter-than-normal trend anticipated through at least August 3.