While many across the United States and the world, including President Joe Biden, are urging Americans to lower the political temperature in the country in the wake of a failed assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, some stocks on Wall Street looked upbeat this week.
Crypto stocks, prison operators and other shares that could benefit from a Trump presidency jumped on Monday, as an assassination attempt on the Republican candidate boosted his odds of an election victory in November.
Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of the former president’s Truth Social platform, soared 35 per cent. Trump owns a majority stake in the company, worth about $3.8 billion as of late June, according to LSEG data.
The stock has surged 75 per cent this year, driven by retail traders betting Trump will win the rematch against his Democratic rival, Biden.
Online betting site PredictIt showed bets of an election win for Trump at 67 cents, up from Friday’s 60 cents, with Biden at 27 cents.
Also getting a boost: crypto stocks, tracking bitcoin’s jump to a two-week high, as Trump has presented himself as a champion of cryptocurrency. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global and bitcoin miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital all rose.
Gunmakers and prison stocks jumped. Gun stocks like Smith & Wesson Brands and Sturm Ruger & Company tend to rise after a mass shooting as calls for gun control can lead some people to buy more firearms, fearing their availability may become limited.
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Prison operator stocks Geo Group and CoreCivic also gained, as Trump has promised to crack down on illegal immigration, which could boost demand for detention centres.
On the downside, clean energy stocks like Invesco Solar and iShares Global Clean Energy slipped as Trump has said he would reverse many of the Biden administration’s signature climate policies, including tax incentives, if he wins the election.
All three of Wall Street’s main indexes were up, with the Dow hitting a record intraday high, and long-dated bond yields also rose, in part on the assumption Trump’s policies would add to inflation and debt.
Shots rang out at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday evening in a dramatic scene that had the former president huddled underneath the podium while his protective detail surrounded him. Trump grabbed his ear before ducking behind the podium.
Trump, face bloodied, gave a defiant upraised fist to the crowd as he was ushered offstage by his security detail.
In a leaked video, Trump can be seen describing the bullet as “the world’s largest mosquito” to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“I just turned my head to show the chart and something wrapped me. It felt like a giant … it felt like the world’s largest mosquito,” the Republican nominee is heard telling Kennedy.
On Monday, Trump appeared triumphantly at the Republican National Convention’s opening night with a bandage over his right ear.
GOP delegates cheered wildly when Trump appeared onscreen backstage and then emerged in the arena, visibly emotional, as musician Lee Greenwood sang God Bless the USA. That was hours after the convention had formally nominated the former president to head the Republican ticket in November against Biden.
Trump also selected J.D. Vance, a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, as his running mate on Monday.
Biden on Sunday condemned the attempted assassination of his predecessor as “contrary to everything we stand for as a nation” and said he was ordering an independent security review of how such an attack could have happened.
— with files from Reuters
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