Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) stock saw a massive rally across the first half of 2025's trading. The tech company's share price rose 80.3% across the stretch against the backdrop of a 5.5% gain for the S&P 500 index, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence

The IPO Pulse actually peaked last October and has been slowing since then. But the downturn certainly accelerated in March and April as the stock market sold off, with the IPO Pulse falling to a 1½-year low in April (chart below, blue line).

Wall Street opened higher on Friday as market sentiment continued to be upbeat, a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs. The S&P 500 (SP500) +0.3%, the Dow (DJI) +0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) +0.

One stock that managed to outmaneuver the various headwinds torturing the markets throughout the year, however, is data mining specialist Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR). With shares soaring by 80% during the first six months of 2025, Palantir was the top-performing stock across both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100.

Nvidia took a $4.5 billion write-off in its latest quarter on unsold H20 chips that it was unable to repurpose for other markets. If sales of these high-volume chips to China resume, a reversal of this write-off could boost earnings.