DJIA up 103.28 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 22 Jul - US shares were trading higher at midday as investors assessed what President Biden's decision to exit the presidential race might mean for markets.

Biden's sudden announcement that he would not stand for re-election in November and would endorse Vice-President Kamala Harris as Democrat candidate triggered uncertainty, bringing politics firmly back centre stage.

The move, while not unexpected, is expected to spark volatility and refocus attention on campaign pledges from both sides of the political fence as the landscape slowly shifts.

Last week already witnessed a change of sentiment for smaller stocks as investors rotated away from the Big Tech names that have driven indexes to record highs this year on the back of AI frenzy to companies that have fared less well.

On the earnings front today Verizon Communications missed expectations for revenue in the second quarter, sending shares down 6% in early trade. Tesla and Google parent Alphabet are scheduled to report tomorrow.

Meanwhile shares in CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company behind last week's global tech outage, fell a further 11% after slumping also by 11% on Friday.

At 1618 GMT, the Dow Jones was gaining 103.28 points, or 0.25%, at 40,388.03 points.

The S&P 500 was 41.72 points, or 0.76%, higher at 5,546.72 points.

The Nasdaq was up 168.43 points, or 0.95%, at 17,985.49 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 22-07-24 17:29:55 (0470) 5 NNNN