Analyzing Trump's Social Media Impact on Financial Markets

Since his election on November 4th of last year, US President Trump's social media pronouncements have been enough to roil markets, keeping traders, investors, and even journalists on high alert.

A CNBC analysis of President Trump's data on the 'Truth Social' platform reveals that he has posted at every hour of the day. 3 a.m. Washington, D.C. time appears to be the only period when the 'never sleeping president' slows down. However, even late at night, Trump has posted at least 10 posts since November 4th, the lowest number of posts in any time period throughout the day.

Unfortunately for investors, many will not be surprised to find that posting policy statements via social media was a pattern in his first presidential term – and continues to be. Data shows that Trump’s most active hour is between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., when U.S. stock market trading is in full swing, during which time he has shared a total of 323 posts since the U.S. election.

Trump's second major posting spike occurs in the 3 p.m. hour, during which time he has posted a total of 310 posts.

Thereafter, his social media activity remains high until the end of the 6 p.m. hour. Trump’s social media accounts appear to only begin to slow down after 1 a.m., then become active again after 6 a.m., with these time periods recording about 100 posts per hour since his election.

Data also shows that Trump has only not posted on his ‘Truth Social’ platform on one day since the election, on November 6, 2024.

CNBC’s analysis also reveals that the ‘social media president’ posts an average of 15.7 posts per day since his election. On March 10th, Trump posted the most on social media, reaching 139 posts, most of which were retweets and shares of others’ content. On that day, Trump posted on a wide range of topics, from immigration to tax cuts and tariffs.

CNBC's analysis did not consider instances where Trump may have been in different time zones due to overseas travel.

Further Analysis:

It's important to note that the impact of Trump's tweets on financial markets can be short-lived or long-term, depending on the nature of the tweet and the topic it addresses. For example, a tweet about a new trade policy could cause immediate fluctuations in stock prices, while a tweet about economic growth could have a more sustained impact.

Additionally, it's important to keep in mind that financial markets are influenced by many other factors besides Trump's tweets. These factors include economic data, corporate news, and geopolitical events.