|
Trump, the frontrunner to be Republican nominee in 2024, was
indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after an investigation into
hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016
campaign.
"It might seem counter intuitive ... but Donald Trump's
indictment might actually make him more electable with a certain
portion of U.S. voters," Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell, said.
"If more people are talking about Trump, more will gravitate to
his social media platform and there's likely to be a lot more
cash swelling the coffers of his campaign budget."
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, the blank-check
company looking to take Trump's social media venture Truth
Social public, rose 7.4%.
Software developer Phunware Inc, which was hired by Trump's 2020
presidential re-election campaign to build a phone app, gained
2.5%.
"There is always the prospect that if he successfully defends
the charges, it may actually boost his appeal and increase his
chances of winning the presidency again," Stuart Cole, head
macro economist at Equiti Capital said.
To win the party's nomination, Trump will likely have to broaden
his support beyond the 25%-30% of the Republican electorate
generally thought to be in his corner no matter what, especially
if the field of Republican candidates narrows in the coming
months.
An indictment could also make it difficult for Trump to broaden
his appeal and push Republicans tired of the drama around him to
look for another presidential candidate.
Shares of video-sharing platform Rumble Inc, popular with
conservatives, gained 10% after posting a near seven-fold jump
in quarterly revenue.
Digital World and Rumble were among the top 10 most touted
stocks on investor-focused social media platform stocktwits.com.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by
Sruthi Shankar; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shounak
Dasgupta)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
