yahoo news | Trump name-drops Palantir by ticker symbol, 1st president to hype a stock. It... President Donald Trump broke new ground for a sitting commander‑in‑chief by publicly praising a publicly traded company by its ticker symbol. In a Truth Social post on Friday he wrote, “Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war‑fighting capabilities and equipment. Just ask our enemies!!! President DJT.” The endorsement arrived at the tail end of a brutal week for Palantir shares, which had slipped 14‑16 % over the prior five days and were down about 6 % on Friday before the post. Within minutes the stock rallied roughly 3 % from around $123, though it still closed lower at $128.06, a move that sparked immediate scrutiny from lawmakers and market observers. The steep sell‑off was driven less by Trump’s tweet than by broader pressure on the software and defense‑AI sectors. Anthropic’s release of its Claude Mythos Preview AI model and the company’s rapidly growing ARR raised doubts about Palantir’s AI‑centric valuation, while the Pentagon’s March blacklist of Anthropic forced Palantir to strip Claude from its Maven Smart Systems platform and rebuild portions of its defense software. Investor Michael Burry amplified the panic with a now‑deleted X post claiming “Anthropic is eating Palantir’s lunch,” backed by data showing a surge in corporate spend on Anthropic. At the same time, the Trump administration’s deep connections to Palantir—co‑founder Peter Thiel’s longtime support, CEO Alex Karp’s donations to MAGA Inc. and the White House renovation fund, and a near‑doubling of federal contracts to $970.5 million—highlighted potential conflicts of interest as Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg moved Palantir’s Maven AI system toward Program‑of‑Record status. The episode underscores how a single presidential post can move markets in seconds, echoing previous instances where Trump’s announcements triggered sharp swings in oil futures and other securities. Analysts remain divided: Wedbush’s Dan Ives maintains an Outperform rating with a $230 target, citing 70 % YoY revenue growth, while Burry continues to hold long‑dated puts, labeling the stock “wildly overvalued.” Lawmakers have noted the lack of clear insider‑trading rules for a president who name‑drops a ticker, and the White House has warned staff against using nonpublic information for trades. As Palantir’s share price fluctuates, the episode raises fresh questions about the influence of political figures on publicly traded companies and the need for transparency in such disclosures. Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/trump-name-drops-palantir-ticker-154500129.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall #donaldtrump #palantirtechnologies #anthropic #peterthiel #pentagon