Finance Tweets of the Month: April 2017

We often receive questions about how Twitter’s developer partners are using Twitter Data to modernize the investment decision-making process. While there are countless ways in which they have innovated using Twitter Data over the past 10 years, we thought it would be helpful to hear from some of Twitter’s most trusted finance partners directly.

This will be the first of what will become an ongoing series of guest blog posts. Our goal is twofold: first, we want to continue to surface great insights and some of the best, most compelling content on Twitter. The second is to showcase all the great work and diverse perspectives our partners are bringing to Twitter and the value gained by financial professionals.

One organization Twitter works very closely with is Bloomberg, which has done incredible work bringing the power of Twitter Data directly onto the Bloomberg Terminal and who we just partnered with to launch a new global live video breaking news network exclusively on Twitter. Bloomberg (@TheTerminal) leverages Twitter Data at scale to help quantify market trends, calculate investor sentiment on an individual company level, and inform their users of breaking business news & current events as they unfold on Twitter. All of this helps Bloomberg Terminal subscribers generate ideas and maintain comprehensive access to real-time information on global markets within one fully integrated market data solution.

This first guest blog post in our series features Mark Dimont (@mdimont), Product Manager for Bloomberg Terminal News Applications (@TheTerminal), who will walk us through some of the most financially relevant Tweets over the month of April.

We hope you enjoy, and be sure to look for additional partners and guest bloggers in the coming months. And now we’ll turn it over to Mark:

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At Bloomberg, I send a recurring note to my colleagues called “This Week in Social.” The email aggregates items from financial social media that are particularly popular, novel, interesting or compelling. For this blog collaboration with Twitter I have compiled some of the best content from these notes for the full month of April.

Tweets of the Month:CEOs, Short-Sellers, and Journalists talk stocks and move markets

These “Tweets of the Month” represent a collection of the most popular, compelling, and impactful Tweets for the month of April in the finance world. Some of these may have made national news, while others might have flown completely under the radar of mainstream media. We saw some great content this month in terms of Tweets that had a material impact both on the markets as well as mindshare of the financial community at large.

Elon Musk responds to short-sellers following Tesla record results:  One of the pre-eminent and most active executives we see on Twitter is Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, Solarcity, and SpaceX). He is informal, blunt and not afraid to talk stocks. After Tesla’s earnings this month, he responded to short sellers in Tesla as the stock climbed.

Stock moves related to Tweets about Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy merger:  Twitter is a powerful outlet for regional news and reporters, and is frequently the source for breaking market moving content. In this case a local Kansas reporter covering a court case impacting the merger of Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy tweeted the following directly from the courtroom. Shortly thereafter Westar Energy dropped 4.5% post-market, and the following day it fell as much as 7.7% on the New York Stock Exchange

Short Sellers Opinions have Impact on Stocks:  Earlier this month, short-seller Marc Cohodes tweeted his view of Equitable Group and helped to propel its stock price substantially lower. The opinions of short-sellers in social media can dramatically impact stock prices and at times be predictive of very large moves in security prices.

Richmond Fed’s Lacker announces immediate departure:  The actions of the US Federal Reserve Bank are watched closely on Wall Street and when this news of the abrupt resignation of the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond broke on Twitter, it quickly got the attention of investors around the world – as his votes as a member of the FOMC impacted interest rates and US monetary policy.

Twitter Finance Around the World: Government Ministers use Twitter as a way to reach their Constituents

Compelling and relevant content for the finance world is not just confined to domestic issues. The global nature of finance lends itself to comment from the myriad of world leaders and CEO’s on Twitter. This month is no exception with important Tweets on everything from the French election to the Foreign Minister of Iran.

There was a flurry of interesting content in April around the French Election:  The French Election was broadly watched by Wall Street and social media proved an excellent source for differentiated content. Poll results appeared rapidly (and often first) on social media, and even the candidates themselves were taking to Twitter throughout the election. Leading candidate, Emmanuel Macron, used the platform to reach his supporters and give his thanks and encouragement.

Brazilian Minister of Agriculture broke news of the removal of a key trade restriction on Twitter:  In March, several countries banned Brazilian meat imports due to allegations that Brazil had bribed inspectors to certify beef which was tainted or rotten. This had a significant impact upon cattle commodities and beef exports in Brazil. In April, Brazil’s Agriculture Minister took to Twitter to communicate some positive developments.

 (TRANSLATION: Blairo Maggi: I have good news! Jamaica and Barbados reopened the meat market for Brazil. Mexico opened the market for rice.)

Foreign Minister of Iran Tweeted about US/Syria conflict:  It is not uncommon for global governmental officials to use Twitter as a mechanism to communicate with the public (and other governments). Following the US airstrike on Syria, Iran’s Foreign Minister used Twitter as a mechanism to reach out the world, to express his country’s positions.

Indian Business News breaks layoffs at large auto manufacturer:  It is common for news bureaus around the world to use social media as a destination for important financial bulletins.

Twitter User to Watch

We wanted to highlight one user a month who is especially newsworthy, producing compelling content, or is brand new to the platform.

Welcome to Twitter

Ray Dalio RayDalio

On April 24th Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater – one of the world’s largest and most successful hedge funds – joined Twitter, noting his enthusiasm for sharing his thoughts with his followers. Ray will undoubtedly be a “must follow” for finance and business professionals alike, offering a potential glimpse inside one of the sharpest minds on Wall Street.

Jack welcomes Ray Dalio to the platform:

Twitter offers elected officials, company executives, and financial professionals a unique platform to communicate with the world publicly in real-time. Tweets move markets, and Bloomberg does an incredible job of identifying and surfacing the best content for their Terminal subscribers.

Stay tuned, as we are excited to showcase additional innovative solutions brought to you by Twitter’s financial Data partners over the coming months.