Investors have given former US President Donald Trump's debate performance a thumbs down, dumping shares in the public company that owns Truth Social, Trump Media & Technology Group, overnight.
On Wednesday, the company’s stock plunged 17% to its lowest level since the owner of Truth Social went public in March, and ended the day down a record 10%.
The market's reaction follows the presidential debate where Vice President Kamala Harris was widely seen to have owned Trump, who talked variously about babies being executed, immigrants in Ohio eating pet cats and dogs and his rally crowd sizes during the 90-minute debate.
Compounding Trump’s woes, the debate was perfectly punctuated with the endorsement of Kamala Harris by mega star Taylor Swift less than an hour after the candidates exited the stage.
Swift took a cheeky swipe at Trump's running mate JD Vance, who has disparaged what would seem a sizeable portion of the electorate with the epithet 'childless cat lady', by referring to herself as a member of that group in her endorsement post on Instagram.
The performance, and no doubt the Swift endorsement, shifted investor sentiment against Trump-related trades, such as his social media business, cryptocurrency, and companies like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN).
While Trump Media’s shares had rallied earlier in the week, jumping 9% leading up to the debate, the stock has struggled in recent months, losing about half its value since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in July and Harris took the helm as candidate.
Trump Media has long been a stock influenced by the political fortunes of its namesake.
The Republican nominee holds a dominant 114.75 million shares, with the lock-up restrictions preventing their sale set to expire later this month.
The lifting of these restrictions could lead to further volatility in the stock’s price if Trump chooses to sell shares. Analysts like Matthew Tuttle of Tuttle Capital Management have indicated that if Trump loses the election, DJT stocks could plummet to just $1.
Trump's stake in the company alone has seen a significant decline, falling from $6.2 billion in May to around $1.9 billion this week, drying up what was seen as a potential campaign war chest for the ex-president as he seeks to convince voters to give him a non-consecutive second term in the White House.