Can Tesla and Meta keep enjoying the Trump administration's favor?
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It feels too strange to begin Chart of the Week without addressing the elephant in the room, which is the past week’s intense oscillation that has taken place on Wall Street. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy has taken global trade by storm -- and not always in a good way. On Monday, April 7, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) suffered its largest intraday oscillation ever -- plummeting more than 1,700 points at its session lows before swinging 2,595 points back into positive territory.
This market volatility stems from global trade war tensions on the back of Trump’s equally volatile levy proclamations. In the latest, Trump enacted a 90-day pause of his original plan and imposed a 10% universal tariff rate, excluding China, which is now staring down the barrel of 145% levy. The country quickly retaliated, pushing out a 125% tariff on almost all U.S. goods, slated to begin April 12.
How exactly has this wild week impacted the broader Big Tech community, with so many existing ties between the trade-waring countries? Taking a step back, in early February I looked at what another Trump term could mean for the newly minted band of 'Broligarchs' and their tech powerhouses. This included names such as Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). Let’s take a glance at how these Broligarch leaders are faring now.
I noted that during Trump’s first term, META grew roughly 78.3% between the November 2016 election and January 2020 inauguration of former President Joe Biden. At the time of that writing, if that growth was matched over the next four years, it would put the equity at an unprecedented $1,229.73 by 2029. However, this is Wall Street. And if we’ve learned anything, it’s that things rarely go according to plan.
For perspective, META was charging higher at the time of Trump’s second inauguration, with years’ long support stemming from the ascending 100-day moving average (first chart below). But with trade war fears gripping investors, Big Tech and chip stocks have taken the brunt of the fallout, leaving Meta Platforms stock not only significantly below the aforementioned trendline, but just off six-month lows after an April 7 trip below the round $500 level for the first time since mid-September (second chart below).
Meta Platforms stock proved my previous claim that it would inevitably surge to a new record high following inauguration, hitting $740.91 within 10 trading days of publishing. However, META’s Thursday close of $546.29 now puts it more than 26% below the Feb. 14 record peak. The Facebook parent subsequently suffered a 13.7% drop for the month of March -- its worst monthly performance since October 2022.
Despite moderate optimism behind the electric vehicle (EV) sector’s long-term support from the current administration’s loosening restrictions, any progress looks to be continually wiped by the prospect of strict levies out of China -- the home of a large chunk of U.S.-tied chipmakers. While last month Trump claimed Musk’s advisor position would be ending sooner rather than later, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader’s Tesla (TSLA) has been far from exempt from recent market turmoil.
Attempts to break out have been relentlessly capped by both the overhead $280 level and descending 40-day moving average. The former is a historic ceiling for the equity, rejecting breakouts since July. Now, TSLA carries a steep 38% year-to-date deficit. As of Thursday’s close of $252.40, the security is 48% off its Dec. 18 record high of $488.54.
As the U.S. economic outlook inches closer to the scent of recession, Forbes' annual World’s Billionaires list shed light into how well the Broligarchs and their peers have been faring over the past 12 months. Familiar figures such as Microsoft’s (MSFT) Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A) Warren Buffett continue to hold a spot, as well as several new nepo names, including Walmart (WMT) founder Sam Walton’s grandchildren. Unsurprisingly, the first and second spots are held by Musk and Zuckerberg, respectively. While Forbes’ 2026 list could sport a shift in post-tariff sentiment adjustment for the top two, it’s hard to imagine a headwind that would take precedence over the long-term reign of a Broligarch.