- Trump Media stock sinks 7% on Friday.
- Donald Trump appears to have won the CNN debate with President Biden on Thursday.
- Trump carries a slight lead in the polls, but DJT sinks regardless.
- President Biden had several verbal stumbles during the debate.
After opening nearly 9% higher just under $40, Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) stock is sinking some 7% after lunchtime in New York. The meme stock that represents former President Donald Trump’s social media company TRUTH Social is always volatile, but many traders thought Trump’s perceived win in the debate would help the share price hold onto gains.
The broad market was optimistic after the US released Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data on Friday showing that inflation continues to trickle lower in line with consensus. This caused the market to expect trimmed interest rates before the year is out from the Federal Reserve (Fed). The NASDAQ Composite, S&P 500 and Dow Jones all gave up healthy gains from the morning session are largely flat at the time of writing, 13:00 EST.
Trump Media stock news
The general opinion following Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s debate on CNN late Thursday was that Trump won the debate due to Biden’s verbal fumbles.
NBC writes “Biden stumbled repeatedly, sounding hoarse, leaving many of his allies panicked about his odds in November.” NBC showed that foreign policy was the primary topic of the debate, and Trump spoke longer on the subject than Biden. Both candidates spoke for an equal amount of time on the topic of democracy, the second major focus, while Biden dominated the third biggest topic of the economy.
Slate.com, a platform that usually sympathizes with Democrats, even led with a piece on how the Democrats could replace Biden on the ticket before the November 5 election. Most pundits, however, think that option is unlikely, and Trump said to expect Biden to remain the candidate in November.
However, most of the media said Trump showed himself to be misinformed and lied on a number of issues. Polls have been neck and neck in June, so the candidates could use any advantage at this point. The FiveThirtyEight poll of polls has Trump leading on June 28 at 41.1%, Biden close at 40.9%, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at 9%.
S&P 500 FAQs
The S&P 500 is a widely followed stock price index which measures the performance of 500 publicly owned companies, and is seen as a broad measure of the US stock market. Each company’s influence on the computation of the index is weighted based on market capitalization. This is calculated by multiplying the number of publicly traded shares of the company by the share price. The S&P 500 index has achieved impressive returns – $1.00 invested in 1970 would have yielded a return of almost $192.00 in 2022. The average annual return since its inception in 1957 has been 11.9%.
Companies are selected by committee, unlike some other indexes where they are included based on set rules. Still, they must meet certain eligibility criteria, the most important of which is market capitalization, which must be greater than or equal to $12.7 billion. Other criteria include liquidity, domicile, public float, sector, financial viability, length of time publicly traded, and representation of the industries in the economy of the United States. The nine largest companies in the index account for 27.8% of the market capitalization of the index.
There are a number of ways to trade the S&P 500. Most retail brokers and spread betting platforms allow traders to use Contracts for Difference (CFD) to place bets on the direction of the price. In addition, that can buy into Index, Mutual and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) that track the price of the S&P 500. The most liquid of the ETFs is State Street Corporation’s SPY. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) offers futures contracts in the index and the Chicago Board of Options (CMOE) offers options as well as ETFs, inverse ETFs and leveraged ETFs.
Many different factors drive the S&P 500 but mainly it is the aggregate performance of the component companies revealed in their quarterly and annual company earnings reports. US and global macroeconomic data also contributes as it impacts on investor sentiment, which if positive drives gains. The level of interest rates, set by the Federal Reserve (Fed), also influences the S&P 500 as it affects the cost of credit, on which many corporations are heavily reliant. Therefore, inflation can be a major driver as well as other metrics which impact the Fed decisions.
Trump Media stock forecast
Trump Media shed about 7% late Friday after opening at an intraday high of $39.94. Now DJT is treading water near $34 per share. Support from the first quarter of the year at $32 sits nearby, and that price level is buffered by the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) just below. If that doesn’t work, then range lows near $23 and $26 from April and June, respectively, might come to the rescue.
DJT stock is in a downtrend as it trades below both the 50-day and 100-day SMAs. Currently trading near $43, both must be overcome to place DJT stock on an optimistic footing.
DJT daily stock chart
