While media pundits and undecided voters continue to argue the highs and lows of Tuesday night's presidential debate in Philadelphia, the stock markets are choosing the winners and losers Wednesday on Wall Street.
The fallout from the debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump may be politics as usual, with both sides firmly entrenched behind their candidate. But it's far from business as usual for a handful of companies reaping the rewards and suffering from the realities of the debate.
Trump Media's share price dropped by more than 17% early Wednesday, one day after the company's namesake and majority shareholder delivered a disappointing debate performance against Harris. After closing at 18.63 on Tuesday, DJT was down 15.43% as of 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
Another industry saw the opposite effect as solar and clean energy stocks rose Wednesday after Harris got the better of Trump in the energy policy debate. She called out Trump's bizarre references to windmills causing cancer in Tuesday's debate.
"I am proud that as vice president over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels," Harris said.
Perhaps as a result of the debate, some of the largest clean energy conglomerates saw positive bumps. First Solar is up nearly 7% in early trading, Invesco Solar ETF gained 4.59% to 39.95 as of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, and iShares Global Energy ETF gained more than 3% in early trading.
Harris appeared to get the better of Trump in the exchange involving clean energy and climate change. She outlined her plan to rely on clean energy solutions and came out firmly against a ban on fracking, while Trump''s rambling answer left more questions about his energy plan.
"We'll go back to windmills and we'll go back to solar, where they need a whole desert to get some energy to come out," he said. "You ever see a solar plant? By the way, I'm a big fan of solar."
