Why Chinese investors piled into ‘Trump wins big’ during US presidential debate
Shares in a Chinese company whose name sounds like “Trump wins big” have jumped in the wake of Joe Biden’s disastrous US presidential debate.
Wisesoft Co, known as Chuan Da Zhe Sheng, which sounds like “Trump wins big” to Mandarin speakers, jumped by around 10pc on Friday, after Joe Biden appeared to stumble in his performance against the Republican challenger in the TV debate.
The company enjoyed a similar rise in 2016, when Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton to become US president.
Speculative investing on companies based on homophones is common among Chinese investors, and they have not just bet on US Republicans.
When Barack Obama became president in 2008, a company whose name sounds like his soared by 43pc for four days.
And, while Wisesoft enjoyed a bigger boost, two companies whose names echo that of Joe Biden for Chinese people – Huaiji Dengyun Auto-Parts Holding Co. and Shandong Denghai Seeds Co – saw small lifts of around 3pc on Friday.
Marvin Chen, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, suggested the trend could heat up and draw further attention from retail investors as the November election draws closer.
He said: “The stocks may see large volatility in the coming months based on the perceived chances of Trump or Biden winning.”
Western investors who bought into Mr Trump’s own social media company Truth Social, however, have had a harder time since it debuted.
Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, have been battered by Trump’s criminal conviction in New York and the revelation in April that it lost $58m (£46m) last year on revenues of just $4.1m.
The share price of the company has fallen by around 45pc since it debuted on the Nasdaq in March through a merger with a listed cash shell.
Founded as a so-called free speech platform to rival Twitter and other platforms, Truth Social has become a key communication channel for Mr Trump, who was banned from Twitter in 2021 in the wake of the Jan 6 riots.
His account was restored after Elon Musk bought Twitter, now named X, but his activity on it has been minimal, opting instead to post on Truth Social, which he often does multiple times a day.
Mr Trump owns almost 60pc of the company, but is unable to sell any shares in it until six months after the debut under a listing agreement.
