Trump Media & Technology Group , founded by U.S. President Donald Trump, is considering spinning off its social media platform Truth Social into a publicly traded company.

The company is in discussions with TAE Technologies and Texas Ventures Acquisition III about the proposed transaction, the company said on Friday.

Under the proposal, shares ‌in the ⁠spun-off company ⁠would be distributed to eligible TMTG shareholders, after which the new entity would merge with a special purpose acquisition company.

This would separate TMTG’s social media and digital media assets from its recently announced fusion energy venture, effectively splitting the company into two publicly traded businesses with distinct strategies.

The Truth Social-parent’s net loss widened to $712.3 million in 2025 from $400.9 million a year earlier, mostly reflecting unrealized losses ⁠from the ‌company’s purchase of bitcoin and Cronos.

TMTG ended 2025 with about $2.5 billion in financial assets, more than triple the $776.8 million it had a ⁠year earlier, the company said. Net sales edged up to $3.68 million from $3.62 million in 2024.
Founded by Trump and known for its Truth Social platform aimed at conservative audiences, TMTG has faced challenges scaling its media business amid competition from larger social networks and uneven user growth. It is now seeking to reposition itself beyond its core Truth Social platform and tap investor interest in emerging energy technologies.

TMTG said no definitive agreement has ‌been reached on the spin-off and discussions are ongoing. In December, TMTG agreed to merge with TAE in an all-stock deal valued at more than $6 billion, marking a ⁠pivot toward fusion energy and the creation of a publicly traded company focused on developing utility-scale power plants to help meet rising electricity demand, including from AI data centers.

TAE Technologies is a California-based private company developing advanced nuclear fusion technology that has raised more than $1 billion from investors, including Alphabet’s Google and Chevron.

The startup focuses on a form of fusion designed to produce electricity without releasing large amounts of neutron radiation, reducing radioactive waste.

Gold rose to near a one-month high on Friday and was headed for a seventh straight month of gains, supported ‌by geopolitical ⁠tensions after ⁠the United States and Iran extended nuclear talks, while softer U.S. Treasury yields further boosted bullion.

Spot gold was up 1% at $5,238.75 an ounce by 11:31 a.m. ET (1631 GMT), hitting its highest level since January 30. Prices climbed 7.6% so far in February.

U.S. gold futures for April delivery rose 1.1% to $5,254.

“There’s a lot of nervousness surrounding geopolitics, you have all the set-up for a high probability of a military operation over ⁠the weekend, ‌so it’s a risk-off in a flight to safety,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures.

The United States and Iran made ⁠progress in Thursday’s nuclear talks, mediator Oman said, but hours of negotiations ended without a breakthrough that could avert possible U.S. strikes amid a major military buildup.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem also permitted non-emergency staff and families to leave Israel citing safety risks.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields slipped to a three-month low, making non-yielding gold more attractive by lowering its opportunity cost. Gold’s next likely upside target is $5,450, with key support near $5,120, Streible said.

Data showed that U.S. producer ‌prices increased more than expected in January, suggesting inflation could pick up in the months ahead.

Markets are pricing in about a 42% chance of a 25-basis-point U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut ⁠in June, as per the CME FedWatch tool.

Elsewhere, top consumer China’s net gold imports via Hong Kong in January rose by 68.7% from December, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data showed.

China’s central bank moved to curb the yuan’s rise by removing risk-reserve rules for forex forwards, encouraging more dollar buying.

Spot silver rose 6% to $93.67 an ounce, on course for a 10.3% monthly gain.

Spot platinum climbed 3.5% to $2,352.05 an ounce while palladium was up 0.1% at $1,785.47. Both metals were headed for monthly gains.

Oil prices rose ​about 2% on Friday with traders bracing for supply disruptions as nuclear talks between the United States and Iran had yet to reach an agreement. Brent crude futures settled at $72.48 a barrel, up $1.73, or 2.45%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $67.02 a barrel, up $1.81, or 2.78%.

The two sides ‌agreed to extend ⁠indirect negotiations ⁠into next week but traders grew skeptical that an agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration and Iran was possible.

“The likelihood Iran is going to agree to what the Trump administration wants doesn’t seem possible,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. “There’s got to be an endgame to this and the market seems to think that’s where we are headed.”

OIL BENCHMARKS ON TRACK FOR WEEKLY GAINS

The Brent and WTI benchmarks were trading at their highest since July and August, respectively, and were poised to register weekly gains well above ​1%.

“Uncertainty prevails, fear is pushing prices higher today,” said Tamas Varga, an oil ⁠analyst at ‌brokerage PVM. “It is completely driven by the outcome of the Iranian nuclear talks and possible military action the U.S. might take against Iran.” The United States and Iran held indirect talks in Geneva on Thursday after ⁠Trump ordered a military buildup in the region.
Oil prices gained more than a dollar a barrel during the talks, on media reports indicating that discussions had stalled over U.S. insistence on zero enrichment of uranium by Iran. However, prices eased after the Omani mediator said the two sides had made progress. They plan to resume negotiations with technical-level discussions scheduled next week in Vienna, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said on X.”We think the latest round of talks offers some hope on chances of a peaceful resolution, but military strikes are in no way out of the equation,” said DBS analyst Suvro Sarkar. Trump said on February 19 ‌that Iran must make a deal over its nuclear programme within 10 to 15 days or “really bad things” will happen.

Geopolitical risk premiums of $8 to $10 a barrel have been built into oil prices on fears that a conflict will disrupt Middle East supply through ⁠the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of global oil supply passes, Sarkar said. To cushion the impact from a possible strike, UAE oil producer Abu Dhabi is set to export more of its flagship Murban crude in April, two trade sources said on Friday. Earlier this week, other sources said Saudi Arabia would also increase oil production. Additionally, Saudi Arabia may raise its April crude price to Asia for the first time in five months due to higher demand from India to replace Russian supplies, potentially raising it by about $1 a barrel. Producer group OPEC+, meanwhile, is likely to consider raising oil output by 137,000 barrels per day for April at its March 1 meeting, sources said, after suspending production increases in the first quarter. (Reporting by Erwin Seba, Anna Hirtenstein, Florence Tan and Nicole Jao; Editing by Rod Nickel)

The Nifty IT index tumbled 19.5% in February, its worst monthly fall in 17 years since the nearly 21% drop in September 2008, as fears of an AI-led disruption rattled the sector.

The index declined in 12 out of 21 trading sessions, wiping out nearly Rs 5.7 lakh crore in market capitalisation during the month, according to data from the ET Intelligence Group.

Selling pressure intensified after Anthropic, a US-based artificial intelligence firm, unveiled its tools Claude Cowork and Claude Code, triggering a sell-off in technology services stocks across the US and India.

On Friday the Nifty IT index edged up 0.16% to 30,603.85, even as the benchmark Nifty fell 318 points, or 1.25%, to 25,178.65. The Nifty has declined 0.6% for the month.

Among individual stocks, Coforge, LTIMindtree, Tech Mahindra, Persistent Systems, and Infosys fell more than the index, dropping between 21% and 28%, with Coforge the worst hit. Oracle Financial Services declined the least, by 10.7%, followed by Wipro, while Tata Consultancy Services, Mphasis and HCL Technologies fell by 15–18%.

Sweetgreen’s SG -9.61%decrease; red down pointing triangle sales continued their fall despite price increases and a transformation plan to try to turn around dwindling traffic.

The salad restaurant chain on Thursday posted a loss of $49.7 million, or 42 cents a share, compared with a loss of $29.0 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting a loss of 32 cents a share.

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