- Donald Trump’s election victory lifted tech stocks the next day, with Tesla leading gains.
- Trump’s past policies reshaped technology; his second term could affect Big Tech similarly.
- Apple faces potential challenges from Trump’s proposed tariffs on China.
It’s rare for the stock market to move so clearly on a single event, and when it does, it often provides valuable signals for the future.
When Donald Trump decisively won the US election this week, the market took off. Some stocks gained more than others, especially in the technology sector.
In his first term, Trump took drastic steps that changed the technology landscape. This time may be similar.
So what has the stock market told us so far about which Big Tech companies could be winners and losers during Trump’s second term?
For data on this, Business Insider looked at the two-day performance of many of the largest technology companies by market capitalization. Here’s what we found.
Apple at the end
Apple is at the bottom here. Investors may be concerned that Trump will impose tougher and broader tariffs on China, where most of Apple’s iPhones are made.
“Apple CEO Tim Cook got along very well with Trump and successfully exempted Apple products from Chinese tariffs; however, a potential blanket tariff, which Trump has vowed to implement, would hurt badly,” tech blogger Ben Thompson wrote in his newsletter this week. Strategy.
To be sure, Apple isn’t a loser here, because its stock still rose as the entire market jumped after Trump’s victory. However, among stocks reviewed by BI, it has seen the smallest gains over these two days.
TSMC is also notable for its poor performance in this period. The Taiwan-based chipmaker works closely with Apple on iPhone chips. If Trump’s tariffs send the global supply chain into a tailspin, that could be bad for TSMC, too.
Tesla in charge
Tesla has had the best performance in the market in this period. CEO, Elon Musk gave his full support to Trump’s second election bid.
Trump praised Wednesday Musk.
“We have a new star, a star is born,” he told raucous supporters hours before the election was declared in his favor. “Elon. He’s a great guy.”
BI reporter Ana Altchek previously wrote about the potential benefits of Musk’s successful endorsement of Trump. While Trump may pull government EV incentives, Tesla has already hit the scale and makes billions of dollars now, giving it a huge potential advantage over other US EV makers.
Google wins
Google is somewhat surprising as a big stock gainer in the last two trading days. Trump has criticized the search giant over the years, so his election would appear to be a negative for the company.
However, Trump could withdraw regulations and rules for businesses, which could benefit Google. Parent Alphabet owns autonomous driving company Waymo, which could get a boost, while even small signs of easier antitrust enforcement could help the company.
“Self-driving car regulation may be loosened and investors may hope that DOJ pressure eases,” Stefan Slowinski, an analyst at BNP Paribas Exane, wrote in a note to investors following Trump’s victory.
Meta overload?
Meta shares have not fared so well in this period. Trump is no fan of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta “risks seeing a political overload,” Slowinski wrote.
“Trump has long expressed personal animus against Big Tech, which he sees as the Democratic Party’s purse strings, and Meta in particular, thanks to the money CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated to 2020 ballot initiatives that Trump believes are funded by the Party Democratic. out-of-vote operations,” Thompson wrote in Stratechery.
“Consumer Shock Absorber”
Slowinski highlighted other Big Tech stocks this week in his note to investors.
“Amazon may also now see an overhang as the 60% Chinese tariffs, as proposed by the President-elect, could pressure margins in North America as Amazon renews its role as a ‘customer shock absorber,'” the analyst wrote.
As for Microsoft, Slowinski wrote that it “seems more unaffected by politics and new short-term policies.”