Shares in Trump Media extend slump as investors weigh upcoming US election
Investing.com — Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ:) sank by more than 5% in premarket US trading on Monday as investors assessed Donald Trump’s chances of winning the US presidential election.
The company’s stock price, which has effectively become a proxy for traders’ wagers on the ballot, plummeted last week. On Friday, it slumped by 13.5%, bringing down the value of Trump’s dominant stake in the business to around $3.5 billion. It had stood at roughly $5.9 billion last Tuesday.
Trump owns almost 57% of the group, which oversees the Truth Social platform, according to a recent regulatory filing. Trump Media went public in March following a tie-up with special purpose acquisition vehicle Digital World Acquisition Corp.
After the debut, the stock has undergone sharp swings. In mid-July, it spiked after a failed assassination attempt on Trump, then slipped in the wake of Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee.
But the stock surged higher yet again in October when online prediction markets began showing that Trump, the Republican Party candidate, maintained a sizeable advantage of Harris.
Critics, however, have raised concerns over manipulation in these betting markets, while national polls have remained very close. With the election now only one day away, both Trump and Harris have been campaigning furiously in key battleground states that could heavily sway the outcome of the ballot.
Harris received a particular boost when a respected survey out of the traditionally conservative-leaning state of Iowa showed her leading Trump by three percentage points, due in large part to support among women.
Still, the contest remains virtually tied. A New York Times/Siena poll suggested that Harris was clinging to leads in Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin, while Harris and Trump were even in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania and Michigan. In Arizona, Trump holds a three percentage point advantage.
