Democratic lawmakers will continue to raise questions about possible market manipulation after the global maelstrom generated by president Donald Trump’s tariff policy and dramatic pause announcement on Wednesday.
After the initial global shock and relief at the 90 day reprieve announced at 1pm on Wednesday, scrutiny quickly turned to the advice the president had offered on his Truth Social page at 9.37 that morning.
“This is a great time to buy!!!DJT,” he posted. Hours later, shares in Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT) rose by 20 per cent in tandem with the turbo charged resurgence of markets in general.
“How is this not market manipulation?” asked Mike Levin, Democrat of California in a video message.
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“If you’re a Trump supporter and you did what he said and you bought, then you did great. On the other hand if you are a retiree or a senior or someone in the middle class over the last few days that didn’t have the tolerance for risk and you decided to sell, you got screwed.
“So I am curious to know why Donald Trump thinks he can just post things like this on Truth Social. This is market manipulation at its worst.”
New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez responded to events by stating that she had been “hearing some interesting chatter on the floor” of the House chamber and advised any member of congress who had bought or sold stocks within the relevant 48 hour period to disclose that information.
“Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”
Colorado Republican representative Jeff Hurd said he is against the practice of lawmakers trading given their privileged and elected positions.
“I don’t do that,” he told CNN. “I don’t think it’s right. It is something we should certainly look into if that’s the case but we need to let the facts determine our actions, not just speculation.”
Market experts are sceptical as to the likelihood of identifying, let alone definitively proving, insider trading based on prior knowledge given the unprecedented volume of sell-offs and that startling recovery on Wednesday.
Prominent members of the Trump administration and financiers were quick to hail the 90 day pause to allow time for tariff negotiations between the United States and its hundreds of trading partners as a triumph of financial savvy by the president.
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who had voiced concern about the tariff policy pushing the US into recession, declared the volte-face as “brilliantly executed” and “trademark, Art of the Deal”, a reference to the 1987 title of the business advice book published by Mr Trump.
As the threat of a tariff war between China and the US deepened, the Dow was down 2.5 per cent by the close on Thursday. Going into the weekend, investor sentiment remained spooked by a week that had seen trillions of dollars erased from, and returning to, portfolios.
