Category: Business

(NEW YORK) — Shares in former President Donald Trump’s social media company fell more than 12% Wednesday morning on the heels of Tuesday’s presidential debate, which a CNN poll indicated was won by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, were trading Wednesday at the lowest level since the company first went public — a drop of more than 70% since a closing high of $66.22 on March 27.

As of noon, the company’s shares were selling for $16.29.

For some investors, Trump Media serves as a bellwether for the former president’s odds in the upcoming presidential election. When Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in May, the company’s stock price tumbled — but the stock surged in the days following the July presidential debate and the assassination attempt on the former president.

Analysts have said that the company’s stock performance is removed from the financial outlook of the company, which reported losing more than $16 million over a three-month period ending in June during which it only brought in $836,000 in revenue.

The stock price has been buoyed by a number of passionate individual investors who bought shares in the company to support Trump or because they believe in the company’s mission.

Next week, Trump faces a pivotal choice about his investment in the company. The lockup provision that barred him from selling his shares for the first six months since the company went public expires next week, meaning that Trump could begin selling his shares in the company as early as Sept. 19.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Trump owns approximately 115 million shares of the company, which are worth nearly $2 billion based on Wednesday’s stock price.

On paper, Trump has lost more than $4 billion in his stake over the last six months as the company’s stock price has declined.

A representative for Trump Media & Technology Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

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(NEW YORK) — Consumer prices rose 2.5% in August compared to a year ago, slowing more than expected and delivering welcome news for the Federal Reserve, days before a widely expected interest rate cut.

Inflation cooled significantly from a year-over-year rate of 2.9% recorded in the previous month.

Price increases have fallen from a peak in 2022, but inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.

The chances of an interest rate cut at the Fed’s meeting next week are all but certain, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment. Market observers are divided over whether the Fed will impose its typical cut of a quarter of a percentage point, or opt for a larger half-point cut.

So far this year, the job market has slowed alongside cooling inflation. That trend was underscored last week by a weaker-than-expected jobs report, though employers added a solid 142,000 jobs. The unemployment rate has ticked up this year from 3.7% to 4.2%.

The Fed is guided by a dual mandate to keep inflation under control and maximize employment. In theory, low interest rates help stimulate economic activity and boost employment, while high interest rates slow economic performance and ease inflation.

Recent trends have shifted the Fed’s focus away from controlling inflation and toward ensuring a healthy job market.

Speaking at an annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the “time has come” for the Fed to adjust its interest rate policy.

At previous meetings, Powell said the Fed needed to be confident that inflation had begun moving sustainably downward to its target rate of 2% before instituting rate cuts. Last month, Powell appeared to indicate that the Fed had achieved that objective.

“My confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path down to 2%,” Powell said.

Since last year, the Federal Reserve has held interest rates at their highest level in more than two decades. High borrowing costs for everything from mortgages to credit card loans have helped slow the economy and lower inflation, but the policy risks tipping the U.S. into a recession.

Last month, Goldman Sachs economists raised the probability of a U.S. recession in the next year from 15% to 25%. However, economists disagree about whether current economic conditions warrant serious concern.

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