Market Highlights: CrowdStrike plunges 11pc after global outage, as Biden pulls out of race

The ASX is set to fall when it opens Monday, following Wall Street’s losses
Major tech stocks like Nvidia and CrowdStrike saw drops, while crude oil tumbled 3pc
President Biden has ended his re-election bid

The ASX200 index is expected to drop further when the market opens on Monday as Wall Street extends its losses. At 8am AEST, the ASX200 futures contract was pointing down by more than 0.8%.

On Friday, major indices struggled to bounce back from a sell-off that ended the Dow’s streak of gains. Tech stocks wobbled again, particularly those focused on AI chips.

The S&P 500 tumbled by 0.71%, the blue chips Dow Jones index slipped by 0.93%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined by 0.81%.

CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company at the centre of the largest cyber event ever recorded, fell more than 11% and was down another 1% in post-market trading.

The outage was caused by a faulty update from CrowdStrike linked to its main product Falcon, and affected computers running Microsoft Windows.

Microsoft estimated that the global IT outage affected 8.5 million of computers worldwide. Microsoft saw its stock drop by 0.75%.

Nvidia was down 2% on Friday and 9% for the week, while Amazon fell by 6% for the week.

Chip equipment maker ASML also saw a drop on Friday, bringing its total drop over the past five sessions to 17%.

Tesla tumbled more than 4% on Friday as as electric vehicle stocks came under pressure following Donald Trump’s criticism of the Biden administration’s clean energy initiatives, which he labeled the “green new scam” during the Republican Convention.

“I will end the electric vehicle mandate on day one, thereby saving the US auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now, and saving US customers thousands and thousands of dollars per car,” Trump said.

These remarks were made despite an endorsement from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

This week, investors will gain further insight into the state of the US economy as more earnings reports are released, including quarterly results from beverage giant Coca-Cola, delivery service UPS, Alphabet (Google), as well as Tesla.

Crude oil, meanwhile, dropped 3% on Friday, erasing its gains from earlier last week. A stronger dollar and uncertainty over stimulus measures for China, the world’s largest crude customer, pressured the market.

Biden pulls out of race

US President Joe Biden has withdrawn from this year’s presidential race, ending his bid for re-election.

He has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place on the ballot.

On Sunday (US time), 81-year-old Biden announced that stepping out of the 2024 US presidential race was in the “best interest” of the Democratic Party and the nation.

“While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” Biden wrote in a letter.

Biden has been facing persistent pressure from his own party following his poor performance in the June 27 presidential debate.

Over 35 congressional Democrats publicly urged him to reconsider his candidacy and pass the torch.

Polls have repeatedly indicated that a significant and increasing number of Americans believe Biden, at 81, is too old for the role.

In other markets …

Gold price fell by almost 2% to US$2,395 an ounce.

Oil prices plunged by over by 3%, with Brent crude now trading at US$82.57 a barrel.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield climbed by a further 4 basis points (bond prices lower) to 4.24%.

The Aussie dollar retreated a further 0.4% to trade at US66.85 cents.

The iron ore price slipped by 1% to US$104.40 a tonne.

Bitcoin meanwhile was up 1.4% in the last 24 hours to US$68,055 while Ethereum lifted by 0.4% to US$3,531.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Immutep (ASX:IMM)
Immutep has announced a positive outcome from its meeting with the US FDA about its Phase III clinical trial for a new lung cancer treatment. The trial, called TACTI-004, will test a combination of its drug efti, the anti-PD-1 therapy KEYTRUDA, and standard chemotherapy on about 750 patients with non-small cell lung cancer. This trial aims to include all patients eligible for anti-PD-1 therapy, regardless of certain cancer markers. This feedback is a key step in moving forward with the trial and developing a new treatment option for lung cancer.

Altamin (ASX:AZI)
Altamin has released the first results from its 2024 sampling program at the Gorno Project, showing strong levels of zinc, lead, and silver in areas not yet included in its resource estimates. The company tested 112 samples from 48 locations and found impressive results, such as up to 43.2% zinc and 68 grams of silver per ton in some samples. The sampling is ongoing, and the next batch of results is being processed. Additionally, results from last year’s drilling show that the mineralisation extends 200 metres south of its current estimates, with potential to go deeper.

Althea Group (ASX:AGH)
Althea has finalised agreements to form a joint venture with Flora Growth Corporation. This partnership will target the booming US cannabis beverage market, which is expected to grow from $967 million in 2024 to $19 billion by 2028. Peak USA Inc., a subsidiary of Althea, and Flora have developed six THC-infused beverages that will be available online and in wine and liquor stores across the US starting early next year. Peak USA will handle production and may also support Canadian clients wanting to enter the US market. The deal follows a successful $2 million fundraising round from investors.

Evergreen Lithium (ASX:EG1)
Evergreen has made promising discoveries at its Bynoe Project, located 50km south of Darwin and next to Core Lithium’s Finniss Mine. Early aircore drilling has found signs of lithium-rich pegmatites, suggesting that the mineralization from Core Lithium’s area extends into Evergreen’s land. The company is continuing with its drilling program to find more pegmatites and plans to do deeper drilling to explore these findings further.

Lycaon Resources (ASX:LYN)
Lycaon has completed a heritage clearance survey over its high-priority targets at the Stansmore Project in WA. The survey covered the Stansmore, Volt, and Ions target areas. Stansmore is a significant magnetic anomaly with potential for high-grade niobium and rare earth elements, similar to another successful project in the region. The completion of this survey brings Lycaon closer to starting drilling at these promising targets. The company is now planning the initial drilling phase and is in talks with drilling contractors to schedule the work.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Althea Group and Lycaon Resources are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.