On Thursday, a steep selloff of tech stocks had the financial wizards at Barron’s declaring that President Donald Trump’s “bad week is getting worse.” This is because the tech stock slump included Intel, in which the government had bought a 10 percent stake at Trump’s behest last summer. Intel’s stock has fallen sharply as of late, however, losing half its value in a matter of weeks.
As Barron’s explains, the bulk of that 50 percent plunge came last week, when the price of shares tumbled 29 percent in a single day following a bad earnings report. According to the outlet, “There has been no bounce whatsoever since that brutal selloff. The stock has fallen another 11 percent in the three full trading days since then amid broader tech pressure and it's down 6 percent early Thursday.” In Barron’s estimation, “It’s more bad news for the Trump administration after the Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House following Tuesday’s midterm elections.”
Following his decision to have the government buy into the company last year, Trump loudly celebrated an initial rise in price and its resulting returns. At Intel’s peak in June, Trump said in a social media post, “America’s stake is now over 60 Billion Dollars. When was the last time a president made America money??” Within days, the stock price began trending downward, before plunging in the final days of October. According to Barron’s, the government’s stake was worth around $50 billion before said plunge, but is now around $24 billion. And while that means the government is still up on its initial investment of $8.9 billion, if it continues on its current trajectory, it will be back to its buy-in price soon.
When Intel’s stock crashed last week, commentators were alarmed at what amounted to an $11 billion loss. This week’s continuing tumble has over doubled that decrease with no signs of stopping. In light of this, experts are sounding the alarm. As Telegraph financial columnist Matthew Lynn put it, “Trump's investment in Intel is not looking quite so smart.” What’s more, notes Cato Institute economist Scott Lincicome, "One of the many problems with the government's Intel stake — and Trump bragging about big stock gains over the summer — is that the 'gains' are an illusion: they're only realized when the government sells, but the government can't sell." Were the government to pull out, Lincicome explains, the resulting investor panic would destroy the company.
This isn’t the only plummeting stock price to roil Trump this week. On Wednesday, a steep selloff of his DJT stock – the ticker for Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG), the parent company for Trump’s Truth Social social media platform – dropped to its lowest point on record at just over $5 per share. As Washington Post contributor Drew Harwell pointed out, after the fall, “A share costs about as much as a Happy Meal. At its peak, investors paid $175 a share.” This prompted New Yorker writer Philip Gourevitch to warn, “Do not buy the dip.”
