Capitol Trades’ data used in media analysis of the Pelosi Portfolio by Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch and Daily Wire
2022 has continued to play host to heated debate of the trading activity of Capitol Hill politicians. 2iQ’s Capitol Trades has played a major role in underpinning the media’s reporting of political trades. Most recently in July 2022, we reflected on our data being used to analyze the trading of crypto assets on Capitol Hill.
Since then, there has been continued focus from journalists on which stocks politicians are investing in, with many zeroing in on Nancy Pelosi’s investment portfolio.
On July 8, 2022, Yahoo Finance published an article titled “Nancy Pelosi Stock Portfolio: 10 Latest Stocks To Consider”. The reporter, Usman Kabir, utilizes Capitol Trades’ data to analyze the 78 trades disclosed by Pelosi.
Amongst the top picks from the portfolio was Telsa Inc (TSLA:US). On March 17 of this year Pelosi exercised 25 CALL options on shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA:US) valued between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000. The options had a $500 strike price and were set to expire on March 18, 2022.
Fast forward a few months, Tesla is gearing up for its second stock split in two years, so it will be interesting to track Pelosi’s TSLA activity in the near to mid-future.
Pelosi isn’t a major talking point just because of her portfolio, but also for her standing in the debate on congressional trading. On July 18, 2022, journalist Ben Zeisloft penned an article for Daily Wire: “Pelosi’s Office Defends Husband’s Stock Buy Ahead Of Key Vote, Says Colleagues Are Actually The Ones Breaking Rules”.
The report examines the response from the office of Pelosi in light of her spouse’s favorable trade activity. This Daily Wire piece references data from 2iQ’s collaborative report with New York Times’ DealBook on how in 2021, assets were purchased for $267 million from members of Congress and their families, while assets were sold for $364 million. Pelosi has spoken out for more enforced compliance with the STOCK Act when it comes to late filings of trades, and has taken a strong stance against insider trading.
MarketWatch also reported on Nancy Pelosi’s denial of feeding her spouse with insider information. On July 21, 2022, the publication published “Pelosi says her husband has ‘absolutely not’ made any stock trades based on information from her”.
In the article, reporter Victor Reklaitis refers to MarketWatch’s January report that utilized Capitol Trades data and how it reflects on the Speaker’s current stance:
“Thanks to [Paul Pelosi’s] trades, Nancy Pelosi ranked as the eighth-biggest trader last year among Congress’s more than 500 members, with $12 million in buys and no sells.”
This article also appeared on investor and financial services website Morningstar here, covering the push for a ban on Congress members trading stocks.
As discussions continue to evolve around congressional trading, 2iQ Research and Capitol Trades provide industry leading data that is used to break news across the globe.
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