Trump announces 2024 presidential bid; here are stocks that might benefit

Former President Donald Trump formally filed notice of a third run for the White House Tuesday night – setting up a two-year fight for the heart of the Republican Party, following a midterm election that largely went the Democrats’ way.

He may be in for a rough fight after last Tuesday’s runaway re-election of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the few Republican high points from the midterm elections – and amid an increasing groundswell over the past few days of key GOP leadership urging a break with the party’s recent past (namely Trump), and a look toward DeSantis as the future.

“Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump told a crowd at his Mar-a-Lago home.

“Two years ago, we were a great nation, and soon we will be a great nation again,” Trump said.

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for President of the United States.”

Trump is launching a campaign that, depending on whom you talk to, either significantly boosts or seriously hampers the GOP’s chances for reclaiming the U.S. presidency in ’24 – and with that, improving prospects for industries often benefiting from Republican leadership, such as coal and energy stocks including Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Peabody Energy (BTU), Arch Resources (ARCH), Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP) and Consol Energy (CEIX); large employers that would benefit from minimum wage limits, such as Walmart (WMT), McDonald’s (MCD), Kroger (KR) and Target (TGT); and defense stocks including Lockheed Martin (LMT), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and General Dynamics (GD).

That’s not to mention the so-called “Trump SPAC” Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the special-purpose acquisition company linked with efforts to take the Trump Media and Technology Group public.

DWAC surged 66.5% on Nov. 7 after some weekend rumblings that a Trump entry announcement might be near, and that company extended the deadline for investor approval of its merger with TMTG to Nov. 22 – past the election and Trump’s (then-anticipated) announcement of a run.

DWAC rose another 11% on Monday, Nov. 14, with the announcement drawing nearer, but fell back by 8.8% Tuesday.

Phunware stock (PHUN) might move on the latest news; the company was hired by Trump’s 2020 campaign to create a smartphone application, and the stock has made volatile Trump-related moves along the way (it also jumped 38% on Nov. 7).

Trump’s media efforts are also connected to conservative-focused video site Rumble (RUM), and his page on the site was one of many live-streaming his announcement. Rumble provides cloud hosting for Trump’s Truth Social media platform.

It would be remiss to skip over Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, including Fox News (FOX) (FOXA) and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. (NWS) (NWSA). Trump and Murdoch’s media were closely intertwined during the Trump presidency, and Trump made frequent call-in appearances to shows including Fox & Friends and Hannity. Recently, Murdoch’s papers and stations have demonstrated that turn away from Trump after the midterm disappointment – the New York Post ran a post-election cartoon cover of “Trumpty Dumpty” – but having a Trump race to cover again could be a difference-maker for newspapers and programs that often made Trump their No. 1 story.