Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ:DJT) soared nearly 13% in premarket trading on Friday, buoyed by President Joe Biden's faltering performance against Republican rival Donald Trump in the first 2024 U.S. presidential debate.
During Thursday's debate, Biden's shaky and halting delivery was met with a barrage of often false attacks from Trump.
The exchange between the two oldest presidential candidates in U.S. history was marked by personal insults as they vied for the upper hand ahead of the November election.
Ben Laidler, a global markets strategist at digital brokerage eToro, noted, "Investors are likely giving Trump the benefit of the doubt due to his market-friendly policies during his presidency."
He added that the performance of Trump-related stocks might be seen as a real-time proxy for investor expectations about the election outcome.
By mid-morning, shares of TMTG, which operates Trump's social media platform Truth Social, had risen 7.3% to $39.54.
Meanwhile, Phunware (NASDAQ:PHUN), a software developer involved in Trump's 2020 election campaign app, saw its shares climb 8.1% to $6.81.