Shares of Donald Trump’s social media company are experiencing another bout of turbulence following the latest assassination attempt against the former president and face of Truth Social.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) initially climbed 5% in premarket trading early Monday in the wake of the Sunday security incident.But in late morning trading, the Truth Social owner’s share price was down 4%.
The reaction on Wall Street represents a far more muted response compared to the aftermath of the assassination attempt against Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July. After the former president emerged defiant from that shooting, Trump Media skyrocketed as much as 50% the next trading day before closing up by 31%.
Experts have compared Trump Media to a meme stock because it tends to trade on sentiment and hype, not fundamentals. And even though it brings in little revenue, the conservative social media company continues to be valued in the billions of dollars.
The former president himself set off the latest turbulence on Friday when he declared he won’t sell shares in the company.
“No, I’m not selling. No, I love it,” Trump said at a press conference in response to a question from a reporter.
Lock-up restrictions preventing Trump and other insiders from selling shares expire as soon as Thursday. That event has been hanging over the stock for weeks.
Trump Media’s share price exploded higher on Trump’s comments, spiking as much as 30%. The surge was so great that Nasdaq halted trading in the stock twice. Trump Media finished the day up by 12%, its best performance in three weeks.
Trump lashed out at Nasdaq over the trading halt, suggesting something nefarious was at play.
Yet such trading pauses are common across the US stock market. They are required by federal regulators and designed to provide a cooling-off period for stocks experiencing rapid increases or decreases in price.
Investors who bought Trump Media when it went public this March remain deeply in the red.
The stock is down roughly 74% from its March 27 closing high of $66.22.
Trump’s stake of 114.75 million shares is still worth about $2 billion, but that’s down from $6.2 billion as recently as May 9.
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