From Tesla to prison companies, these stocks are rising after Trump’s victory

new York
CNN
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Former President Donald Trump’s planned return to the White House made many shareholders of listed companies significantly richer on Wednesday.

His victory is expected to usher in sweeping changes from the Biden administration, including a tougher stance on immigration and crime and a looser approach to regulating businesses. It also leads to significant rallies in individual stocks as well as the overall market.

It’s too early to say whether the gains will last. Trump, for example, has promised to impose sweeping tariffs that could significantly raise prices on almost everything not entirely made in the United States. That could hurt some of the companies that posted big gains on Wednesday.

For now, though, here are the companies that saw some of the biggest daily jumps after Election Day.

Prisons and detention centers

Companies that manage private prisons and detention centers surged Wednesday on expectations that Trump will detain more migrants entering the country illegally. That would be a reversal from the Biden administration, which allowed migrants seeking asylum to work legally in the country while they awaited trial.

Shares of two private prison operators, GEO Group (GEO) and CoreCivic (CXW), rose 42% and 29%, respectively, on Wednesday.

Elon Musk is poised to be rewarded for his multimillion-dollar donation to Trump’s campaign — and his efforts to get Trump reelected — with more favorable policies for the companies he owns, including Tesla, SpaceX, X and artificial intelligence startup xAI.

Of these companies, Tesla (TSLA) is the only one that is publicly traded. Shares of the electric vehicle maker closed 15% higher on Wednesday, while rivals like Rivian (RIVN) and Lucid (LCID) fell.

Credit card companies and banks

Trump’s victory is expected to lead to an easing of banking regulations. In contrast, the Biden administration had pushed for stricter capital requirements to protect the nation’s largest banks from failure during times of increased stress. Bank bosses, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, strongly criticized the proposal drawn up by financial regulators.

Based on the feedback he received, Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman for supervision and one of the top financial regulators who is leading the effort to impose higher capital requirements for banks, announced that the original proposal would be revised. Still, banks were nervous that even a small increase in capital requirements could hurt their profitability by potentially leaving them with fewer resources to lend.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the country’s largest bank, rose 11.5% on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, shares of Discover Financial Services (DFS) rose nearly 20% on Wednesday on expectations that its proposed merger with Capital One (COF), whose shares rose 15%, will go through under Republican leadership. So far, the merger planned in February has been held up by financial regulators.

In general, a Trump administration is expected to be more supportive of mergers and acquisitions than the Biden administration, which has tried to block many mergers and acquisitions.

As a result, JetBlue had backed out of its deal to purchase Spirit Airlines. But on Wednesday, shares of Spirit (SAVE) rose 9%, while shares of JetBlue (JBLU) closed 4% higher.

Trump positioned himself as a supporter of cryptocurrency during the election campaign. At a Bitcoin conference this summer, he promised to keep the Bitcoins confiscated by the government from criminals instead of auctioning them, which is the current practice.

His victory on Tuesday pushed Bitcoin to a new record high of over $76,000 and caused crypto-related stocks to surge. Among the biggest gainers on Wednesday was crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), whose shares rose 31%.

Retail and green energy stocks are reeling

However, Wednesday didn’t just bring good news for stocks.

Retailers including Five Below (FIVE), Wayfair (W) and Dollar General (DG), as well as toymakers Mattel (MAT) and Hasbro (HAS), all closed lower on Wednesday. Their declines are likely due to fears of Trump’s tariffs, which could make the products they sell more expensive since many of them are made outside the United States.

Green energy stocks saw some of the biggest declines on the day amid expectations that Trump will prioritize fossil fuel energy production over other energy sources considered more environmentally friendly. Shares of solar panel companies Sunnova (NOVA) and Sunrun (RUN) fell 52% and 30%, respectively, on Wednesday. Trump is widely expected to repeal tax credits and other incentives that President Joe Biden pushed for in the Inflation Reduction Act.