In This Article:
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Musk's star has risen during the Trump era, boosting assets tied to the world's richest person.
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Everything from Tesla to xAI to SpaceX has seen valuations soar in recent months.
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Musk's net worth has grown by $135 billion since Trump's election victory in November.
Donald Trump's presidential election victory in November spurred an immediate surge in assets such as stocks and crypto. It was dubbed the Trump trade.
After an initial bump, things haven't exactly gone as planned. The president has been less decisive than expected — particularly when it comes to tariffs — and it's caused the trade to fade.
Meanwhile, assets specifically linked to Trump's efficiency-bureau right-hand man, Elon Musk, have soared in appeal and value. Forget the Trump trade — maybe the "Musk trade" has been the place to be all along.
The clearest distillation of this is Musk's overall net worth, which Bloomberg estimated had grown since the election by roughly $135 billion as of Wednesday.
But it can also be seen across Musk's array of companies, both public and private, as well as assets that function as real-time sentiment gauges for the polarizing Tesla billionaire.
Here are five ways the Musk trade has panned out positively since November:
Tesla
Despite choppy returns year to date, Tesla stock closed Thursday up 42% since the election.
Musk has set an ambitious 2025 plan for the electric vehicle maker, including the rollout of a network of automated Cybercabs in Austin and a return to vehicle sales growth for the overall business.
Meanwhile, Trump's plan to roll back Biden-era tax credits for EVs has been viewed by many Wall Street analysts as a headwind for Tesla's competitors.
Dogecoin
The meme cryptocurrency dogecoin has surged about 60% since Trump's election win. Musk has long called the Shiba Inu-inspired meme coin his favorite crypto, and even named the White House DOGE office after it.
Meme coins broadly have seen sharp gains in recent months. That's allowed dogecoin, the original meme token, to ride a wave of enthusiasm generated by Trump and Musk's deep political ties.
X
X has seen a resurgence in recent months, at least on paper.
The banks that arranged financing for Musk's acquisition of the social media platform have been able to sell much of the previously unappealing debt they've been forced to sit on since 2022.
The latest chunk of this debt — $4.74 billion, to be exact — was sold last week at face value. The sale was upsized from the $3 billion originally sought by Morgan Stanley and other banks after demand was higher than expected.