Congressman Ditches Russell 2000 ETF To Buy Lithium, Uranium ETFs

The trading activity of members of Congress continues to be widely followed by retail traders. A new trading disclosure by a member of Congress shows the sale of a Russell 2000 ETF and the purchase of ETFs linked to lithium and uranium.

What Happened: Members of Congress are free to buy and sell stocks, options, and cryptocurrency as long as they disclose the transactions promptly. While one member of Congress recently bought Bitcoin ETFs, another went shopping for different types of commodities.

Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.) recently disclosed several stock and ETF transactions, as reported by Benzinga Government Trades page.

The Senator bought shares of tech stocks like Nvidia Corporation, Amazon.com, Alphabet and Microsoft. Those transactions and several stocks sold including Disney and big banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan might not catch the same attention as Boozman's ETF transactions.

The Senator bought the following:

$1,000 to $15,000 of Sprott Lithium Miners ETF LITP
$1,000 to $15,000 of Sprott Uranium Miners ETF URNM

The purchases come with Boozman selling off several ETFs, as shown below.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM
First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund FTGC
First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund EMLP

Buying lithium and uranium ETFs while getting rid of an ETF that tracks the Russell 2000 stock market index could signal the belief that these commodities will outperform the broader stock market going forward.

Why It's Important: Boozman has been in Congress for many years and made many trades. The Congressman's committee assignments don't show any immediate red flags related to the purchase of the ETFs, but could be something to watch.

In February 2024, Boozman tweeted about Arkansas' production of lithium at the Arkansas Lithium Summit.

A post on the AUKUS Forum in December 2024 talks about a collaborative effort for lithium between Australia and the U.S., involving Arkansas. Boozman is cited in the post.

"With this resource under our feet, our state can play a major role in helping restore U.S. energy independence + reducing our reliance on China," Boozman said at the time.

The purchase of the ETFs by Boozman could be related to tariffs by President Donald Trump. The U.S. imports lithium from China and uranium from Canada among other places.

With tariffs in place on China and threatened on Canada, a focus on uranium and lithium mining in the U.S. could become more of a priority and put a focus on companies held by these ETFs.

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