Hot Stocks: Trump posts; ISIS bribes; VIAC, WIX plunge; ABNB rallies on earnings
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A surprising set of headlines impacted Wall Street trading in Wednesday's intraday action, including news from Donald Trump's new media venture and potential bribes to the terrorist organization ISIS.
A post from the former president on the new TRUTH Social platform gave a lift to SPAC Digital World Acquisition (NASDAQ:DWAC). Meanwhile, Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) plunged on revelations about payments it made years ago in Iraq.
Elsewhere in the market, ViacomCBS (VIAC)(VIACA) dropped more than 20% in intraday action, as investors doubted its ability to transition to a streaming-focused company. Meanwhile, Wix.com (NASDAQ:WIX) lost almost 30% following a disastrous earnings report.
Quarterly results had the opposite impact on Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), which rallied in the wake of its latest financial figures.
Decliners
A bribery scandal put pressure on shares of Ericsson (ERIC), with the stock falling nearly 14% in midday action. In an interview with a Danish newspaper, the company's CEO left open the possibility that the firm had paid brides to ISIS in Iraq.
Borje Ekholm told Dagens Industri that the company made payments to secure transportation routes that might have been controlled by terrorist groups like ISIS. He noted that he can't know where the payments, which date from 2018, eventually ended up.
ViacomCBS (VIAC)(VIACA) was another major decliner in intraday action. Shares plunged about 22% as investors punished the stock for an aggressive streaming strategy unveiled at its investor day.
The company announced that it would rebrand itself Paramount Global as part of an all-in move into streaming. VIAC said it now targeted 100M streaming subscribers by 2024, a notable increase compared to its previous objective of 65M-75M.
Meanwhile, earnings news sparked a selling spree in Wix.com (WIX). The company's loss managed to beat expectations but its revenue growth came up short, rising 16% from last year to reach $328M.
WIX also gave a weak forecast for Q1. The company projected revenue between $338M and $343M, below the approximately $354M that analysts were projecting. On the news, WIX plunged about 29% in intraday action.
Decliners
Airbnb (ABNB) got a lift in midday trading following the release of its quarterly results. The stock rose more than 5% after beating expectations with its latest financial figures. The company also provided a strong forecast.
Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) represented another notable gainer in midday trading. The SPAC slated to bring Donald Trump's media company public rose about 3% after the former president posted his first message on the TRUTH Social platform.

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