"White House stock god" blows the stock again! Trump praises Citigroup (C.US) for its strong comeback with "mistaken data"

On Wednesday morning at 9:30 am Eastern Time on June 10th, as the opening bell rang on Wall Street, former President Trump posted a tweet on Truth Social that took Wall Street by surprise: "Wow! Citigroup (C.US) ranks first in the first quarter merger advisory market by value! Congratulations to Jane Fraser and all the excellent employees, they work very hard! Citigroup is making a strong comeback!!!" Trump's timing of the post was intriguing. Citigroup's stock price surged to an annual high of $137.12 in response to the news, an increase of nearly 1.8%. However, as the market calmed down, Citigroup eventually closed down 1%, but the decline was smaller compared to JPMorgan Chase (JPM.US), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS.US), and the S&P 500, showing relative resilience in the overall market downturn. The question remains: which merger ranking data did Trump refer to? Ranking controversy: President's "data" does not match industry lists At least two authoritative sources provide vastly different answers. According to the financial analysis platform Dealogic, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley (MS.US), and Bank of America all ranked above Citigroup in merger advisory rankings up to 2026. Goldman Sachs led 196 transactions with a total value of $992.3 billion, while Citigroup only led 97 transactions with a total value of $285.3 billion. In fact, according to Dealogic, Citigroup has slipped from fourth place in 2025 to fifth place in the overall 2026 merger advisor rankings. Data from another industry organization shows that Citigroup even dropped to seventh place. Interestingly, just before Trump's tweet, Citigroup's global banking chief, Leo Kalvaria, had an interview where the subtitles on the screen indicated that Citigroup was leading in the first quarter electricity industry merger advisory just one segment of the overall merger market. According to the Global Data financial transactions database, Citigroup has participated in four energy industry transactions with a total value of $41.4 billion since 2026. Perhaps Trump saw the "first in the electricity industry" portion in that TV interview, rather than the widely understood "overall first." However, his tweet had already put Citigroup at the center of a storm of discussion. President's "Golden Touch": From Tesla, Inc. to Citigroup, Trump's concept stock portfolio continues to expand Using social media to boost stock prices is not new for Trump. In March 2025, Trump turned the White House South Lawn into a Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) showroom, sat in a Model S, and publicly praised Tesla, Inc. as a "great product" and the Cybertruck with the "coolest design." Tesla, Inc.'s stock price surged that day, and Elon Musk's net worth increased by $20 billion in a single day. After that, companies like Dell Technologies, Inc. Class C (DELL.US), Intel Corporation (INTC.US), Micron (MU.US), and IBM (IBM.US) were all included in his public praise list. In February of this year, Trump made a $1-5 million investment in Dell Technologies, Inc. Class C, publicly urged people to "buy a Dell Technologies, Inc. Class C, they are great," and Dell Technologies, Inc. Class C's stock price rose by about 14% during trading. Intel Corporation had a more special case in August 2025, the Trump administration converted the $8.9 billion subsidy owed to Intel Corporation under the "Chip and Science Act" into equity at $20.47 per share, acquiring about 9.9% of the company, making the US government the largest shareholder of Intel Corporation, jokingly referred to as a "US state-owned enterprise" by the market. In April of this year, Trump broke new ground by directly mentioning the stock code of a company he endorsed on Truth Social. He endorsed Palantir (PLTR.US), stating that they have "powerful operational capabilities," reversing the stock's 6% intraday decline. According to newly disclosed financial documents, Trump conducted 3,642 stock trades in the first quarter of this year, averaging about 58 trades per trading day. Citigroup's transformation in progress: "Strong comeback" with over 200% growth in three years Setting aside the controversy over Trump's stock endorsements, Citigroup's own progress in transformation is indeed commendable. Since Jane Fraser took over as CEO in 2021, Citigroup has been advancing a multi-year transformation plan: streamlining business units, layoffs, and focusing on high-profit markets and services, aiming to cut around 60,000 positions by the end of 2026. Citigroup started the year 2026 with laying off about 1,000 employees, stating that they will continue to reduce their workforce. From a stock price performance perspective, Citigroup has been on the rise for three consecutive years, with a 19% increase in 2023, a 42% increase in 2024, and a staggering 70% surge in 2025. So far in 2026, the stock has risen by approximately 15%, outperforming the S&P 500 index, which only rose by about 6.2% during the same period, as well as Wells Fargo & Company (WFC.US) with a decline of over 12%, JPMorgan Chase with a decline of over 4%, and Bank of America Corp (BAC.US) with a 1% decline. Recently, Citigroup's Chief Financial Officer Gonalo Luati stated that due to strong momentum in trading operations, the performance in the second quarter is expected to be better than originally forecasted, with revenue growth expected to reach high single to low double digits, and investment banking fee income expected to achieve mid-double-digit growth. Therefore, while the source of Trump's claim of a "strong comeback" may be questionable, at least he hit the mark halfway under Jane Fraser's leadership, Citigroup is indeed returning to the mainstream vision of Wall Street step by step.