Trump-linked stocks gain on attracting retail traders' attention

Remark Holdings

31/03/2023 13:43

March 31 (Reuters) - Shares of companies tied to former
U.S. President Donald Trump gained in premarket trading on
Friday, drawing interest from retail investors after the
ex-president was indicted in a historic first.
    Trump, the frontrunner to be Republican nominee in 2024, was
 indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after an investigation into
hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016
campaign.
    "It might seem counter intuitive ... but Donald Trump's
indictment might actually make him more electable with a certain
portion of U.S. voters," Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell, said.
    "If more people are talking about Trump, more will gravitate
to his social media platform and there's likely to be a lot more
cash swelling the coffers of his campaign budget."
    Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp  DWAC.O , the
blank-check company looking to take Trump's social media venture
Truth Social public, rose 12.1%.
    Software developer Phunware Inc  PHUN.O , which was hired by
Trump's 2020 presidential re-election campaign to build a phone
app, gained 5.6%.
    "There is always the prospect that if he successfully
defends the charges, it may actually boost his appeal and
increase his chances of winning the presidency again," Stuart
Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital said.
    To win the party's nomination, Trump will likely have to
broaden his support beyond the 25%-30% of the Republican
electorate generally thought to be in his corner no matter what,
especially if the field of Republican candidates narrows in the
coming months.
        An indictment could also make it difficult for Trump to
broaden his appeal and push Republicans tired of the drama
around him to look for another presidential candidate.
    Shares of video-sharing platform Rumble Inc  RUM.O , popular
with conservatives, gained 11.4% after posting a near seven-fold
jump in quarterly revenue.
    Digital World and Rumble were among the top 10 most touted
stocks on investor-focused social media stocktwits.com.

 (Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru,  additional reporting
by Sruthi Shankar; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty
)
 ((Medha.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6210 0592; Twitter: https://twitter.com/medhasinghs;))