Biden drops out, endorses Harris

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

Biden drops out
President Joe Biden on Sunday quit the presidential race against Donald Trump and backed Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee of the Democratic Party, bowing to pressure from his party members to drop out. Harris said in a statement, “I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.” You can read more on her next steps. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are calling on Biden to resign. What does this mean for markets? CNBC’s Jesse Pound wrote the ‘Trump trade’ could stall.

CrowdStrike failure
Nearly 8.5 million devices were affected by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, triggering a global IT outage on Friday. The disruption impacted services across industries, including banking, health care, and airlines. Flights were grounded, and TV broadcasters went offline as businesses scrambled to address the ongoing issue. Delta Air Lines canceled 800 mainline flights on Sunday and offered more pay to crews as it struggles to recover. CrowdStrike’s shares plunged 11% on Friday. You can read more on how a software update caused one of the world’s biggest IT blackouts. And there’s more from CNBC’s coverage on how the next IT meltdown is already in the making. 

Biggest weekly losses
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted their biggest weekly losses since April, sliding nearly 2% and 3.7%, respectively. The rotation out of mega-cap AI-related stocks and into cyclicals in anticipation of an interest rate cut saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average climb 0.7%, while the small cap-focused Russell 2000 advanced 1.7%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched higher, while U.S. oil prices slumped over 3%.

Boeing ‘disappointed’ customers
Boeing‘s output of 737 Max planes is showing signs of improvement, the new head of its commercial unit said, while admitting that the manufacturer has “disappointed” customers with delayed planes. “We’ve impacted their business and we haven’t met the commitments and lived up to being the partner that they expect and they need us to be,” Stephanie Pope said before the Farnborough Airshow, outside of London. However, she expressed confidence in Boeing’s path to improving production quality, and cited higher output of the 737 Max to 38 planes a month.

Asia down, China cuts rates
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region mostly fell as China’s central bank unexpectedly cut rates in an effort to support the economy. Mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 0.76%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.82%. Japan’s export-heavy Nikkei 225 fell 1.14%, South Korea’s Kospi…