Elon Musk Emerges as a Stock Market Influencer During a Dramatic Week for Investors

Paco Dennis

Paco Dennis

SF VIP
Location
Mid-Missouri
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"Move a million here, a million there...yea, that ought to do it!"

Growing up, I remember my dad watching Jim Cramer all day yelling about the stock market on cable TV. Ah, simpler times.

It seems like now, all it takes is following Twitter, especially Elon Musk, to see where the market is going. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing — I’m just a marketer with some risk-adverse investments. And I draw cartoons.

This week, the stock market stories gave me inspiration for a couple of doodles about stock market influencers, a new people vs. the rich narrative, and unlikely unity.

Stock market influencers​

Fashion and beauty influencers (ie Arielle Charnas of Something Navy and Kylie Jenner) can sell out a whole line in minutes. But they have nothing on stock market influencers who can have an actual lasting impact on the economy. With the power of social media, the stock market is moving faster than fast fashion.

Last week, there were a couple of examples of this. Besides the group of “Wall Street rebels” on reddit, one person stood out — Elon Musk. He can give a fashion or beauty influencer, or an economy, a run for their money.

He has the ability to move markets with a single tweet. ( above cartoon )

He must be bored. Are there not enough rockets to fly or Teslas to produce? So he took to Twitter to rave about Etsy — he loved the Marvin the Martian hat he got for his scruffy pup — and change his profile. If I did this, it would make absolutely no difference in the world. But, when he did it, he sent Etsy stock up about 9% in a day.

When he added #bitcoin to his profile, that stock went soaring too. And apparently, he did make an impact on the encrypted messaging app, Signal, as well.

I guess that’s the idea of a fun day for a billionaire stuck at home in a pandemic with a newborn. If I were him, I’d probably try to rouse up some chaos on the Internet and in the economy, too. Why not?

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Democracy and unity in the stock market​

A Wall Street subreddit — a group of seemingly powerful influencers — also started a chaotic underdog movement online when they bought up the shorted GameStop stock. Musk was along for the ride, tweeting about the “Reddit rebellion” to bring attention to it.

And once Robinhood got wind of it and shut down buying stocks, Musk had more to say about this democratic, for-the-people app gone bad.

But this time, he wasn’t alone. A group of odd bedfellows had a moment of unity agreeing that Robinhood was up to no good. Everyone from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Donald Trump Jr. to Barstool president, Dave Portnoy, and even Ted Cruz spoke out against the investing app’s actions. I drew them having their “kumbaya” moment, and I made a video with screenshots of all of their reactions.

It doesn’t seem like the scandal will lead automatic unity, SEC reform, or distributed wealth, but, maybe we’re one step closer?

Elon Musk Emerges as a Stock Market Influencer During a Dramatic Week for Investors – Disruptive Technologists.
 

At one time, I followed the person nicknamed “The Oracle of Omaha” who was actually Warren Buffet. I watched him and his investment team as they would buy and sell. Make a few hundred thousand bucks here and invest a few million there. I was never able to figure out his investing strategy, but then again, I didn’t have the amount of money he had and if I lost a few hundred thousand dollars to be able to just write it off and move on.

My all time favorite investor was Peter Lynch. He had started the Fidelity Magellan Fund that was returning about 30% per year. I read his books on investing and tried to follow his strategy and even though I made money, I never had enough to invest at one time to make the hundreds of thousands that he would make. But, nonetheless, I would still make more than I lost.

Investing to me was fun and somewhat of a game, but I had to always keep one thing in mind that Lynch kept reminding investors of, “Never invest more than you can afford to lose.”
 
People like celebrity, and they follow them in many ways, from fashion, places to go, and investing.

Musk hasn't been able to do much with Tesla stock though.
 

@VaughanJB Celebrates of all shapes and colors are part of the 1st world culture. The masses almost always have some celebrities they love and listen to. When enjoying those celebrities our culture connects with them and they are influenced by the way they see our world. Pretty normal stuff , no? Who else do we get our information from? Independent news ( which has newscasters we like ), MSM to get the REAL story. :) and celebrities, like Joe Rogan, and people like Oprah, and Dr. Phil, and whomever else we listen to. Even pop and rap singers the masses want to hear their views on things. Where else do we make our assumptions about the world come from? Oh I forgot...Editorials and Authors...writers explain the world to us also.
 
Sorry, you didn’t mention anyone that so impressed me that I would take their advice on investing. A few are good at giving out political news as it fits their agenda, or their party’s platform, but after that, they have very little to offer. Entertainers are good at what they do and if they can get the audience to applaud or give a ooh or ahh, they have done their job.

I am also not a fan of the MSM to get my news. I found one channel that has proven itself to be honest and neutral. I don’t take the word of a sports’ star or an actor or actress to get the lowdown on anything important to me in the way of news. That would like me asking LeBron James what’s the best sneaker to buy. Of course he will say Nike, the company that is paying him millions of dollars per year for his endorsement. BTW, I have ever only bought 1 pair of Nike’s in my life and I have bought lots of athletic shoes.
 
Paco Dennis said:
@VaughanJB Celebrates of all shapes and colors are part of the 1st world culture. The masses almost always have some celebrities they love and listen to. When enjoying those celebrities our culture connects with them and they are influenced by the way they see our world. Pretty normal stuff , no? Who else do we get our information from? Independent news ( which has newscasters we like ), MSM to get the REAL story. :) and celebrities, like Joe Rogan, and people like Oprah, and Dr. Phil, and whomever else we listen to. Even pop and rap singers the masses want to hear their views on things. Where else do we make our assumptions about the world come from? Oh I forgot...Editorials and Authors...writers explain the world to us also.
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Well, if you want to keep in touch with what matters, you get information from friends, family members, neighbors, and people you socialize with. You didn't mention any of them. Let's go back pre-internet, when influencers weren't ten a penny, and you had to go looking for them. People were far more selective. Now, you don't have to look for them, they're instead fed to you via algorithms.

Let's also acknowledge that much of what we know about celebrities and influencers isn't in fact, real or true. Celebrities live in a fantasy world where they proffer self-promotion as a way to "get to know them". I have no idea whatsoever what having billions would be like, other than a surface opinion. The likes of Musk has no real idea of what living in my home town is, either.

The trouble with relying on celebrities is that we rarely get to see and know the real them. They're cartoon characters in the drama of our every day lives.

Of course, in the past we also has experts to listen to, people dedicated to real research and study. But in the modern deconstruction of our societies that is ongoing, we're being told actual experts and intellectuals are corrupt, and equal to what you someone can find in a 5 second google search.
 
I've studied Musk over the last few years and have to say he is one complicated character. Sometimes I find myself admiring him, and other times I would like to send him back wherever he came from (south africa ?).

Have to say one thing, he is getting away with more legal "tax evasion" than one could imagine.
 
Mobilman44 said:
I've studied Musk over the last few years and have to say he is one complicated character. Sometimes I find myself admiring him, and other times I would like to send him back wherever he came from (south africa ?).

Have to say one thing, he is getting away with more legal "tax evasion" than one could imagine.
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People tend to ignore the projects he's been involved in that completely failed. They also ignore the promises of when Tesla products would be available and missing by years. Instead, his wealth and celebrity make people forget that mostly he's just too rich to fail.
 

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