{"id":49214,"date":"2025-04-10T10:22:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/?p=49214"},"modified":"2025-04-10T10:22:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:22:28","slug":"trumps-truth-social-bombshell-a-great-time-to-buy-or-a-market-manipulation-masterstroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/trumps-truth-social-bombshell-a-great-time-to-buy-or-a-market-manipulation-masterstroke\/49214\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Truth Social Bombshell: A \u201cGreat Time to Buy\u201d or a Market Manipulation Masterstroke?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"trumpIn a move that\u2019s sparked a firestorm of speculation, applause, and outright accusations, President Donald Trump may have just pulled off the most audacious financial flex of his presidency\u2014or stumbled into a legal minefield. On April 9, 2025, at 9:37 a.m. EDT, as Wall Street braced for another bruising day, Trump took to Truth Social with a tantalizing teaser: \u201cTHIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,\u201d signing off with his initials\u2014which just so happen to match the NASDAQ ticker for Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), the parent company of Truth Social where he owns a commanding 57% stake. Four hours later, at 1:30 p.m., he dropped a policy bombshell: a 90-day pause on \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs for over 75 countries, paired with a staggering 125% tariff hike on China. The markets erupted\u2014S&P 500<\/a> up 9.5%, Nasdaq soaring nearly 12%, and DJT stock rocketing 22.67%, padding Trump\u2019s personal fortune by $415 million in a single afternoon. Was this a stroke of genius, a lucky break, or a calculated play that\u2019s got ethics watchdogs howling? Buckle up\u2014this one\u2019s a doozy.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s set the stage. Trump\u2019s tariff saga kicked off on April 2, when he unveiled a sweeping plan: 10% baseline levies on imports from over 180 countries, with heftier \u201creciprocal\u201d rates like 34% on China and 20% on Europe, effective April 5. The goal? Reset global trade in America\u2019s favor. The result? Chaos. Markets tanked hard\u2014the Dow hemorrhaged over 2,200 points in two days, the S&P 500 shed nearly 10%, and the Nasdaq took an 11% haircut. China clapped back with 84% duties on U.S. goods, Canada readied a $20.7 billion retaliation package, and the EU greenlit $35 billion in countermeasures. Goldman Sachs slashed its 2025 GDP forecast to a measly 0.5%, JPMorgan pegged a 60% recession chance, and oil prices cratered to $66 a barrel as global demand fears spiked. By April 8, a brief market uptick was dismissed as a \u201cdead cat bounce,\u201d with Trump doubling down, threatening 50% tariffs on China and dismissing a rumored 90-day pause as \u201cfake news\u201d via Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on CNN.<\/p>\n

Then came April 9. At 9:37 a.m., with markets wobbling and the Dow futures down 0.9%, Trump\u2019s Truth Social post landed like a flare gun in the dark. \u201cTHIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT\u201d wasn\u2019t your typical presidential pep talk\u2014it was a neon sign pointing straight to his own company. X users like @southernwoman64 later noted Trump doesn\u2019t always sign posts \u201cDJT,\u201d fueling speculation he was hyping his stock intentionally. Others, like @StockRetail, saw it as a broader market nudge. Four hours later, the tariff pause hit: 10% levies stayed, but higher reciprocal rates were frozen for 90 days\u2014except for China, which got slapped with 125% duties for its \u201clack of respect,\u201d Trump said on Truth Social. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, he shrugged off the flip-flop: \u201cPeople were getting a little bit afraid. I listened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The market\u2019s reaction was seismic. The Dow surged 2,800 points\u2014its biggest one-day gain since 2020\u2014the S&P 500 recouped $4 trillion in losses, and the Nasdaq logged its largest single-day jump since 2001. DJT stock, trading at $32.15 pre-announcement, closed at $39.44, a 22.67% leap that swelled Trump\u2019s stake by hundreds of millions. Web chatter from CNBC, TIME, and Reuters dubbed it a \u201chistoric rally,\u201d with Interactive Brokers\u2019 Steve Sosnick calling it a \u201cshock reversal\u201d after days of White House denials. On X, @hissgoescobra snarked, \u201cHe refuted himself 10 ways to Sunday,\u201d while @DannyDeraney quipped, \u201cTrump just made himself richer\u2014again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cue the conspiracy theories. Critics are screaming market manipulation louder than a foghorn at a silent retreat. Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego and Adam Schiff fired off a letter to the Office of Government Ethics, demanding a probe into whether Trump or his allies traded on insider info. \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s decision to ease most tariffs predictably caused the financial markets to skyrocket,\u201d they wrote, per The Washington Post, hinting at a \u201cscheme\u201d to juice Wall Street donors and his own portfolio. Elizabeth Warren took to X, calling for an SEC investigation into potential pump-and-dump tactics, while @blockonomi flagged posts suggesting Trump\u2019s billionaire buddies\u2014like Elon Musk, who\u2019d clashed with tariff hawk Peter Navarro\u2014might\u2019ve leaned on him. Musk, whose Tesla stock jumped 14% on the news, stayed mum, but his earlier tariff critiques loomed large.<\/p>\n

Defenders see it differently. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS News the pause was always part of Trump\u2019s \u201cstrategy\u201d to negotiate from strength, and the Truth Social post was just \u201coptimism.\u201d Navarro, on Fox Business, claimed Trump\u2019s \u201cwinning bigly,\u201d predicting \u201cDow 50,000\u201d by year-end. On X, @FMckool argued it\u2019s a \u201cbrilliant move\u2014markets up, America first.\u201d But the timing\u2019s too perfect for skeptics: a personal plug for DJT stock, followed by a policy shift that sent it soaring? The SEC\u2019s already sniffing around DJT\u2019s volatile history\u2014its 2024 merger with a SPAC drew scrutiny\u2014and this could reignite those flames.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? The 90-day pause buys breathing room, but China\u2019s 125% tariff wall promises pain, and global retaliation\u2019s still simmering. DJT\u2019s rally might fade if markets sour again\u2014its $8 billion valuation\u2019s already called \u201cabsurd\u201d by Forbes given $4 million in revenue. For now, Trump\u2019s grinning, his wallet\u2019s fatter, and the debate rages: was this a savvy play or a scandal waiting to explode? One thing\u2019s clear\u2014when Trump says \u201cbuy,\u201d the world listens, and the line between president and profiteer just got blurrier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a move that\u2019s sparked a firestorm of speculation, applause, and outright accusations, President Donald Trump may have just pulled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":49215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4179,4180,4201],"class_list":["post-49214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","tag-tariffs","tag-trump","tag-insider-trading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}