Trump Media shares climb after Trump says he won't sell

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group jumped on Friday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he had no intention of selling his shares in the company, which owns his Truth Social media platform.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump rejected what he described as rumors that he was planning to sell shares a day after the stock slumped.

"There are fake, untrue, and probably illegal rumors and/or statements made by, perhaps, market manipulators or short sellers, that I am interested in selling shares of Truth," Trump wrote.

"THOSE RUMORS OR STATEMENTS ARE FALSE. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF SELLING!," Trump added.

Shares of the company were up about 8.7% at $30.15 in midmorning trade on the Nasdaq and hit a high for the session of $32.

The stock was briefly halted for volatility after spiking on Trump's comments.

On Thursday, shares of the company slumped as speculative bets on Trump winning a second four-year term lost steam a day after his victory over Democrat Kamala Harris. The stock rose 5.9% on Wednesday following Election Day on Tuesday.

While Trump and Vice President Harris were nearly tied in most opinion polls leading up to the election, online betting markets favored the former president more, prompting investors to pile into securities that they viewed as more likely to benefit or come under pressure under his leadership.



That resulted in a roughly a 200% surge in Trump Media stock in the six weeks before the election.

Trump owns nearly 115 million shares of Trump Media, putting his stake at more than $3.5 billion. The company's total market capitalization late on Friday morning was $6.5 billion.

Source: Investing.com