A single comment from Nvidia's CEO was enough to create $60 billion in market value. However, as markets grow increasingly accustomed to trading on celebrity endorsements, frustration and confusion are spreading among retail investors on forums like Reddit.
On Tuesday at Computex, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly stated that chipmaker Marvell Technology is "destined to be a trillion-dollar company."
This remark immediately ignited the U.S. stock market, sending Marvell's share price soaring over 32% in a single day, marking its largest daily gain in three years. The company's market capitalization surged from approximately $192 billion on Monday to over $254 billion, creating more than $60 billion in wealth from a single sentence.
The average investor may have no understanding of Marvell Technology's balance sheet, cash flow, or price-to-earnings ratio, and may have never even heard of the company.
However, if someone knew in advance that Marvell CEO Matt Murphy would share the stage with Jensen Huang—who leads the world's most valuable company and a central symbol of the current AI wave—the mere expectation of "mutual praise" could be reason enough to buy. Marvell's stock had already surged 158% in the preceding months.
Analysts note that in the current euphoric market environment where "stocks almost never fall," what drives prices higher is often off-the-cuff remarks, vague expectations, or speculative sentiment itself.
Retail Investor Outrage on Reddit: Are the Rules Fair?
The dramatic surge in Marvell's stock sparked a major uproar on the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets, a hub for retail traders.
Comments like "This market is insane" and "This isn't fair" flooded the platform. The core grievance is that Huang's single statement instantly created tens of billions in wealth, while ordinary investors lack both informational advantages and the ability to position themselves ahead of such events.
Some traders on the same forum had previously placed bets that uninformed retail investors would mistakenly buy Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE) thinking it was SpaceX (a future ticker: SPCX), aiming to profit from this confusion.
This type of arbitrage, exploiting information asymmetry, is seen by some market observers as emblematic of the current market ecosystem. The intensity of this trust crisis multiplies when the "celebrity effect" involves the President of the United States.
Trump's Actions Spark Greater Controversy: Self-Promotion and Retail Bag-Holding?
A similar "celebrity effect" is not confined to the tech sector. Recent public praise for stocks in his personal portfolio by former U.S. President Donald Trump has also triggered strong market reactions and raised deeper questions about fairness.
Late last month, Trump publicly praised chipmaker Micron Technology, a company in which he holds shares. Following his comments, Micron's stock rose over 25% in just over a week.
It is noteworthy that Micron's share price had already doubled in the two months prior to that surge, a period that closely coincided with Trump's significant purchase of the stock in the first quarter.
For ordinary investors hoping for a better entry point, the cost of entering the trade after Trump's public endorsement had risen substantially.
Earlier, Trump had also repeatedly publicly recommended Dell Technologies Inc., at a time when he already held millions of dollars worth of Dell stock.
His first call in February to "go buy a Dell computer" elicited a tepid market response. However, a second public statement on May 8 caused Dell's stock to jump 13% in a single day, reaching a record high.
Subsequently, Dell's share price rose an additional 72%, partly because the company secured a $9.7 billion Pentagon contract weeks after Trump's "stock call."
Wall Street Masters the "Follow the Leader" Game, Changing Rules for Retail
The core conflict in these events lies in the widening asymmetry between ordinary investors and those with privileged information.
Institutions and professional investors have long cultivated the habit of closely tracking "high-level statements," while retail investors often only become aware and enter trades after the price movement has begun, facing higher costs and greater uncertainty.
This series of events has resonated strongly on social media. A user on platform X quipped: "I'm just sitting here waiting for Jensen Huang or Donald Trump to mention a stock someday."
This half-joking, half-resigned statement reflects the increasingly passive position of ordinary investors in a market driven by celebrity influence.
As noted by Bloomberg columnist Mark Gongloff, retail investors read daily about the potential bursting of the AI bubble, and the phenomenon of "celebrity stock calls" only deepens their distrust of the market.
When the President of the United States is both one of the "callers" and a beneficiary, the seriousness of this issue is amplified.
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