US stocks experience sharp volatility as Trump repeatedly targets the defense and housing sectors in his posts

Glonghui January 8th｜On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump posted a series of explosive messages on social media platforms, announcing potentially game-changing new policies targeting the housing and defense industries, which triggered sharp volatility in the stock market. The first post was released at 12:45 pm New York time (UTC+8), where Trump stated that he would immediately take action to "ban large institutional investors from purchasing more single-family homes" to promote housing affordability. This news caused the stock prices of several housing-related companies to fall, including private equity firm Blackstone Group and homebuilder PulteGroup Inc. Less than an hour and a half later, he turned his attention to the defense industry, warning contractors that before speeding up product production and maintenance, they would not be allowed to pay dividends, repurchase shares, or pay executives more than $5 million in compensation. Shortly after the close of regular trading, major defense-related stocks fell, but during after-hours trading, he announced a sharp increase in the 2027 military budget to $1.5 trillion, which pushed these stocks higher again. As the market questioned how Trump would actually implement these plans, some traders found themselves in a familiar situation: trying to figure out whether the president was bluffing as a negotiation tactic, or whether he was serious, and whether he had any legal basis to achieve these goals.