Trump's media business, Tesla surge as former president nears second term

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) - Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA ), Donald Trump's media business and domestic-focused small-cap companies surged on Wednesday in anticipation of a win for the former president even though some key states in the U.S. election are yet to post results.

Trump claimed victory after Fox News projected that he had defeated Democrat Kamala Harris, although other news outlets had yet to call the race for Trump.

Tesla jumped 11% as CEO Elon Musk has promoted the former president throughout his electoral campaign. If re-elected, Trump has promised to make Musk head of a government efficiency commission.

Trump Media & Technology Group, in which the former president owns a majority stake, soared 30%. From their all-time lows hit in late September, they have nearly tripled in value, boosting the former president's stake to $5 billion.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 futures hit an all-time high and futures tied to the small-cap Russell 2000 index surged 5.6% on bets that U.S.-focused companies would benefit from business incentives and tariffs that favor domestic production.

"The market believes a Trump presidency will unleash animal spirits and give a boost to growth in the short-term through some relief on corporate taxes and deregulation," said Frédérique Carrier, head of investment strategy for RBC Wealth Management in the British Isles and Asia.

Republicans took control of the Senate, while neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representative.

The outcome of who controls the U.S. Congress will play an important role in determining how easily the U.S. president will govern over the next two years.

"If you look at historical playbook, a Republican sweep has been strong backdrop for the S&P 500 whereas a Republican presidency with a split Congress has given a more muted return," Carrier said.

Wall Street lenders JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM ), Bank of America and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC ) jumped between 5% and 6%.



Trump, who has positioned himself as pro-cryptocurrency, lifted bitcoin to a record high. Crypto-linked stocks Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN ), MicroStrategy, Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT ), MARA Holdings jumped between 11% and 14%.

On the downside, U.S. renewable energy firms such as NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE ) and First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR ) plunged 7.5% and 11%, respectively as Trump has campaigned for the rollback of climate regulations passed under President Joe Biden.

Source: Investing.com