Trump-linked stocks soar

The rally comes as the former US president cemented his place as the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 nomination

Shares of companies linked to Donald Trump have continued to rally this week as the former US president comes closer to securing the Republican Party’s nomination in the 2024 presidential race.

Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) soared 88% on Monday, hitting its highest level since June 2022, after one of Trump’s main rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, quit the race on Sunday and threw his support behind the former president. The company’s shares are now up 168% since the start of the year.

Set up as a special purpose acquisition vehicle, also known as a blank check company, DWAC’s purpose is to go public in order to raise money to finance a future merger – in this case with the operator of Trump’s social media platform Truth Social. The merger has seen multiple delays since its IPO in late 2021.

Shares of video-sharing platform Rumble, which cooperates with Trump Media and is popular with conservatives, surged by 36% on Monday and another 33% on Tuesday. In this case, however, the sharp surge is attributable less to Trump’s campaign success and more to the company having inked a video deal with Barstool Sports on Monday.

Software developer Phunware, hired by Trump’s 2020 presidential re-election campaign to build a phone app, jumped 20% on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Trump's top rival drops out of US presidential race

Meanwhile, Trump won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, defeating former South Carolina Governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley by a comfortable margin. This triumph comes on the heels of the former president’s resounding victory in the Iowa caucus last week. 

“Now that Trump appears to be the de facto Republican candidate, that momentum is naturally going to carry over,” Kristi Marvin, a former investment banker and founder of SPACInsider, which collects data on the SPAC market, was quoted as saying by the New York Times. “In a way, it’s a barometer for how he’s doing in the race,” she claimed.

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