Trump traders are back in business (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump trades soar on signs president recognizes economic, political risks

4/23/25 2:43PM

It’s been a while since we checked in on the Trump trades that surged in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s election victory last year.

Shares of these diverse groups of stocks (and crypto) — seen as likely to outperform thanks to Trumpist policy shifts, favorable regulatory treatment, and perhaps murkier benefits owing to cozy personal or political connections — romped Wednesday, as Trump seemed to soften his stance on tariffs and dumping the head of the Fed, policies that spooked global markets over the last couple months.

Palantir, the large US government contractor whose cofounder and largest shareholder is Republican mega-donor and sometime Trump adviser Peter Thiel, is one of the largest contributors to the S&P 500’s gain.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the money-losing parent of Trump’s personal Truth Social media site, is up nearly 12%.
Tesla, Trump ally Elon Musk’s battered electric vehicle company, is also up big, despite an ugly earnings report yesterday.
Axon, maker of tasers, body cams, and other products for security services, thought to be a beneficiary of the White House push for mass deportations, is having its best day since April 9, when Trump announced a temporary pause to his tariff policies. Private prison and ICE contractor GEO Group has had a more muted gain.
Bitcoin’s, which seemed to get the news slightly ahead of the stock market, is basically flat today, though it posted its biggest gain since April 9 yesterday.

As you can see from the chart above, some of these assets are now above water for the first time since Trump began what’s widely seen as an economically — and, if you look at his approval numbers on the economy, politically — disastrous month and a half tariff rampage that pitted him head-to-head with financial markets.

It’s hard to say exactly what’s going on. For sure, if backing away from tariffs reduces the risk of recession, and leaving Powell at the Fed reduces long-term interest rates, that would be good for most companies. And it has been today. (At last glance, more than 483 companies in the S&P 500 are in the green.)

But with the second- and third-biggest gainers in the index, Palantir and Tesla, there’s a distinctly Trumpy vibe to the market.

Of course, these companies aren’t just Trump trades. You could put them in any other number of buckets: high-beta momentum trades, AI trades, meme stocks, retail favorites, large-cap tech, and on and on.

But it stands to reason that if you’re betting these stocks will do well by basking in the bronzed glow of President Trump, any shift to shore up a political position weakened by the last couple months of tariff war would be a good thing. At least, that’s how I read it.

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Ross Stores surges as Q1 results beat expectations, full-year guidance raised

Ross shares are rising after the company delivered strong Q1 results, with sales topping Wall Street’s projections.

The stock soared 6.3% just after the open.

Key numbers:

Earnings per share of $2.02 vs. $1.47 year over year (estimate: $1.72).
Sales of $6.01 billion, up 21% year over year (estimate: $5.61 billion).
Comparable sales growth of 17% (estimate: 8.58%).

CEO Jim Conroy attributed the results to better traffic in stores. “Customer traffic was the primary driver of the strong sales trend as compelling merchandise assortments, higher customer acquisition and engagement from our ongoing marketing initiatives, and an improved in‑store experience are resonating with shoppers.”

The company also noted that transaction volume grew across all key demographics, including “income levels, ethnicities, and age groups, including younger customers.” Sales were also likely buoyed by standard seasonal tailwinds, including consumer spending from tax refunds.

Backed by the strong quarter, the company lifted its full-year targets. Ross now projects same-store sales growth of 6% to 7%, up from the prior forecast of 3% to 4%, topping Wall Street’s estimate of 4.64%. It boosted its annual EPS guidance to a range of $7.50 to $7.74, versus the prior outlook of $7.02 to $7.36.

Ross Stores has been one of the retail sector’s standout performers this year, rising around 20% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

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Imax surges on report it’s approached entertainment companies for a sale

Imax is on pace for its best trading day since 2021 following a Wall Street Journal report that it’s exploring a sale. Shares are up more than 15% in premarket trading on Friday.

The premium screen company has reportedly approached entertainment companies for a deal, though talks are early and may not come to fruition. Imax has been boosted in recent years by its higher ticket prices — a K-shaped trend in movie theaters — and last year accounted for more than 5% of domestic box office sales.

Theatrical release windows have become a large debate in Hollywood this year, amid the bidding war between Paramount and Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s unclear if an entertainment buyer would favor its own films for Imax over a rival’s.

In the first quarter, Imax booked $81.4 million in sales, beating Wall Street expectations but down about 6.5% from last year, when China’s “Ne Zha 2” smashed records.

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AMD rises as CEO forecasts massive 5-year CPU demand growth

AMD’s shares are rising in premarket trading after CEO Lisa Su delivered an optimistic demand forecast, predicting that the global market for CPUs will grow by more than 35% annually over the next five years, according to Nikkei Asia.

“About six months ago or 12 months ago, nobody was talking about CPU shortages,” Su said at an event in Taipei. “But as [AI] inferencing and agentic AI have really started to ramp up, the CPU market [will] continue to grow very much. Over the next five years, we see the CPU market growing at over 35% each year, and this is an area where we’re seeing very strong demand.”

The comments come as the computing demands of AI agents (in particular, the so-called “orchestration” of tasks) increase the need for CPUs in running models.

AMD also said this week it plans to invest more than $10 billion into Taiwan’s AI ecosystem alongside supply chain partners as it ramps production capacity for next-generation AI infrastructure. This investment will support the manufacturing ramp of AMD’s sixth-generation EPYC CPUs, code-named “Venice.”

Su added that CPU supply is now “tight” as inference demand accelerates, while bottlenecks are emerging across memory, power availability, and advanced packaging.

AMD shares have climbed sharply this year amid broader enthusiasm around AI infrastructure spending. The stock has risen more than 100% year to date. During AMD’s last earnings call, management told investors it now sees the server CPU total addressable market reaching $120 billion or more by 2030, according to Yahoo Finance.