Capitol Hill Cash: Monthly Winners and Losers

Author

David Love
August 14, 2024

This Week’s Quiver Newsletter:

What you can expect to read about today:

  • An overview of recent notable Congress trades, including over 40 sales by Tommy Tuberville.

  • Dive into the latest Quiver analysis, looking at the changes in Congressional wealth in the last month.

  • Read about Google’s potential breakup following a new antitrust ruling by U.S. regulators.

Congressional Trades

Back in June, we reported on massive stock sales by Senator Tommy Tuberville. He closed out positions in 40 companies.

Some of his trades have proven to be incredibly well-timed, with some sales being down 30%+ since he sold. Here's an update on some of the most significant trades:

  • Massive stock sales: Tuberville closed out positions in over 40 companies. Some like Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) are down 33% since sale.

  • Intel (INTC) $45 Put sale traded on May 7 2024, which is down 60% since trade.

  • 3x Gilead Sciences (GILD) $70 Put purchases traded on May 10, 2024, which is up 8% since trade.

  • S&P biotech ETF (XBI) Iron Condor purchase of the $90 Call & $100 Put (while he sat on the Senate Committee on Health) on May 8, 2024.

  • Paramount (PARA) stock sale traded on May 10, 2024, which is down 21% since trade.

  • He bought stock in United States Steel (X), which is up nearly 33% since purchase.

  • More options trading in Barrick Gold (GOLD), Chevron (CVX), and Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF). Tuberville sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Commodities.

Earlier this year, we reported on massive sales of $1.7M of (NGL) stock by Rep. Mark E. Green.

  • It has now fallen 26% since. These sales came after Green made a 124% return from buying last year.

  • As the only known member of Congress trading this stock recently, Green's well-timed trades — buying low and selling high — raise questions about potential insider knowledge.

Quiver has caught a STOCK act violation by a member of the House Ethics Committee.

Rep. Dan Newhouse bough Raytheon stock in April 2024.

  • He bought in before the $95B foreign aid bill was passed.

  • He sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

To see more details about their trades, and how they’ve performed since, check out our:

Congressional Wealth Changes: A Monthly Analysis

In an era of increasing public interest in the financial activities of elected officials, our latest analysis looks into the month-over-month wealth changes of members of the United States Congress.

This report aims to provide transparency and insight into the financial fluctuations experienced by our nation's legislators.

Dataset Overview:

Our analysis is based on a comprehensive Quiver dataset that covers:

  • 435 members of Congress

  • Their party affiliations (Democrat, Republican, Independent)

  • Their starting and ending wealth figures for a 1-month period

  • Absolute dollar change in wealth

  • Percentage change in wealth

  • We excluded politicians who filed an annual disclosure in the last month (about 90 politicians) to remove net worth gains that were only due to new assets being listed in annual disclosures

Winners and Losers: The Congressional Fortune 500

Leading our pack of gainers is Rep. Thomas H. Kean, Jr. (R), with an increase of $350,793. That's a 1.68% bump in just one month. Not far behind is Rep. William R. Keating (D), who added $140,337 to his portfolio.

On the other side of the coin, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) experienced the largest decrease, with a substantial $12 million drop. That's a 4.71% decrease in her overall estimated net worth. Close behind is Rep. Pete Ricketts (R), with a loss of over $10 million.

Party Lines? More Like Party Rollercoasters

Here's where it gets interesting. Both Democrats and Republicans are experiencing notable fluctuations in their wealth. The top 5 gainers list features 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats, while the top 5 losers list has 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans.

It's clear that members from both parties are seeing significant changes. This suggests that the factors influencing these wealth changes aren't strictly partisan.

There could be plenty of legit reasons for these swings – stock market jitters, real estate deals, the end of the Japan carry trade - but this type of volatility also raises questions about whether politicians’ portfolios could be a distraction from their day job.

The Bottom Line

What does all this mean? For one, it shows that even for members of Congress, wealth can be volatile. The disparity between the largest gains (in the hundreds of thousands) and the largest losses (in the millions) is particularly striking.

These figures raise important questions about the financial interests of our elected officials and how they might relate to policy-making. They also highlight the importance of financial disclosure and transparency in government.

One thing is for sure: keeping an eye on these financial acrobatics using Quiver’s data is more important than ever.

Check out our Congress Live Net Worth Tracker on Quiver:

Get full access to these insights, copytrade and more by trying Quiver Premium for free👇

GOOGLE FACES POTENTIAL BREAKUPA FTER LANDMARK ANTITRUST RULING

U.S. regulators are contemplating a historic move to break up Alphabet's Google (GOOGL), following a court ruling that found the tech giant guilty of illegally monopolizing the online search market. The Justice Department, which secured this significant legal victory last week, is now evaluating various remedies, including the potential divestiture of key assets like the Android operating system and Google's search ad program, AdWords. This development marks a critical juncture in the ongoing battle to curb the influence of Big Tech on the global stage.

The ruling, which accused Google of spending billions to secure its dominance as the world's default search engine, is being hailed as a major win for federal antitrust authorities. While breaking up Google is the most drastic measure under consideration, other options include mandating data-sharing with competitors and preventing Google from leveraging its power in the artificial intelligence market. These potential actions reflect the DOJ's broader strategy to rein in the monopolistic practices of leading technology firms.

Continued on our News Feed.