Morgan Stanley reports Trump’s posts no longer move markets
Wall Street's biggest firms say investors have grown desensitized to the president's social media salvos on tariffs, the Fed, and geopolitics
Remember when a single Trump tweet could send the Dow spiraling 500 points in either direction? Those days appear to be over. Morgan Stanley equity strategist Ariana Salvatore flagged on July 17, 2026, that the president’s social media posts now pose “reduced risks” to equities, mainly affecting intraday trading rather than triggering the kind of sustained market swings that defined earlier years of his presidency.
The desensitization timeline
The turning point, according to Morgan Stanley’s analysis, traces back to the post-April 2025 period. That’s when the so-called “Liberation Day sell-off” rattled markets badly enough to serve as a kind of collective learning experience for investors. After that episode, posts about trade tariffs, the Fed, and geopolitical tensions like the Iran conflict gradually lost their ability to generate panic or euphoria at scale.
Between July 17 and 19, 2026, Morgan Stanley observed that markets were largely unmoved by a stretch of posts covering exactly the topics that would have caused chaos two years ago.
JPMorgan’s research independently arrived at the same conclusion. The bank found that Trump’s communications cause “negligible reactions” in bond markets, with the impact comparable to baseline volatility.
Where the impact still lingers
That’s not to say Trump’s social media presence is completely toothless. Morgan Stanley’s analysis noted that individual stock endorsements can still create isolated price movements. Posts mentioning specific companies like Dell, Micron, and Palantir have shown the ability to move those particular tickers, while broader indices have remained stable through these episodes.
What this means for investors heading into the midterms
With the November 2026 midterm elections approaching, both Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan are essentially telling clients the same thing: focus on concrete policy developments, not individual posts. Legislative agendas, actual executive orders, and measurable economic data points should drive investment decisions heading into November.