Trump’s ‘buy’ call nets huge returns for those who listened

Investors who followed President Donald Trump’s blunt advice to buy stocks Wednesday morning got a windfall when the president hours later retracted some of his market-roiling tariffs.

At 9:37 a.m. ET, just minutes after the opening bell, Trump posted on Truth Social: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” That post ended with the letters “DJT,” which is both the president’s initials and the ticker symbol for Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology, in which he holds a majority stake.

Theoretically, anyone who bought into the market that minute on Trump’s urging netted a big return. Stocks shot up in a historic reversal in afternoon trading after Trump announced a walkback on some tariffs, a stark turn after his April 2 announcement of new import taxes torpedoed the market.

Here’s what returns would look like for some key names for investors who bought in at 9:37 a.m. ET and sold at session highs for each respective holding:

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPDR), which tracks the namesake benchmark index, traded as low as $494.11 in that minute. The SPY climbed to $548.62 at session highs, reflecting an 11% jump from where it sat when Trump sent out his advice to buy.

If you invested $1,000 at that moment, you could have sold for around $1,110 when the holding hit its peak of the session.

The SPY finished the session higher by 10.5%, which was its biggest one-day gain since 2008.

Trump Media & Technology shares initially popped after Trump referenced his initials in the post, with some investors appearing to know he was referring to the stock ticker.

The stock fell to $16.69 in the minute of his post. It has since soared as high as $20.40, which marks a jump of around 22.2%. The stock finished the session up more than 21%, its strongest day this year.

If you poured $1,000 into the stock in the minute of Trump’s post, you could have sold for about $1,222 at the highs of the day.

Tesla is another stock that has become intertwined with the Trump administration, given CEO Elon Musk’s role leading its controversial government efficiency initiative. Apparent critics of Musk’s foray into government have staged protests and vandalized Tesla dealerships.

The electric vehicle maker’s shares traded as low as $226.27 in the minute of Trump’s post. It surged as high as $274.69 in afternoon trading, reflecting a 21.4% gain. Tesla shares soared more than 22% in the trading day as a whole, recording its best session since 2013.

If you invested $1,000 when Trump’s post hit, you could have sold for around $1,214 at session highs.

Stocks remain under pressure, though, compared with where they sat before Trump unveiled the broad and steep new levies. Even including the S&P 500‘s jump of more than 9% on Wednesday, the index is still down 3% compared with a week ago.

Forums for retail investors such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets page were abuzz as investors reacted to the news. One user called themselves “psychic” after saying that they invested a retirement account holding into the market Tuesday.

Others weren’t so elated, with multiple commenters on a popular post sharing the update equating Trump’s actions to market manipulation.

“Can you imagine the insider trading?,” another user wrote. “Like if you are inside the white house and don’t come out of this a brazillionai[r]e you are literally the dumbest person on the planet.”