Congressman Sells Stocks At End Of 2022 And Retires From Office: Taking Profits Or Warning Sign?

A member of Congress sold out of his positions in several stocks at the end of 2022. The move came as he finished his term serving the state of Texas and announced his retirement.

What Happened: Last year turned out to be a disappointing one for many investors, with the S&P 500, as tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 Global ETF SPY, having its worse year since 2008.

Congressman Van Taylor (R-TX) disclosed several stock transactions in late December, from trades made on Nov. 28, 2022.

The transactions were:

Sold $100,000 to $250,000 Bristol Myers Squibb BMY

Sold $500,000 to $1,000,000 Chevron Corporation CVX

Sold $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 Eli Lilly LLY

Sold $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 Exxon Mobil XOM

Sold $250,000 to $500,000 Moody’s Corporation MCO

Sold $1,000 to $15,000 Occidental Petroleum OXY

Sold $100,000 to $250,000 Zimmer Biomet Holdings ZBH

Sold $1,000 to $15,000 ZimVie Inc ZIMV

The transactions included the sale of partial stakes in several of the positions and full exits in others. The disclosure includes positions that were subholdings of VanAnne Holdings LLC.

Related Link: Was Buying Activision Stock A Call Of Arbitrage Duty For A Congressman? 

Why It’s Important: The sales by Taylor come after it was announced he was suspending his 2022 re-election campaign and would retire at the end of the 117th Congress.

The 118th Congress convened on Jan. 3, 2023, with Taylor officially exiting his seat, which he held since 2018.

As highlighted by Pelosi Tracker on Twitter, Taylor serves on the House Committee on Financial Services. The committee oversees the financial services industry for the United States and has oversight over the Federal Reserve, Department of Treasury and Securities and Exchange Commission.

This could mean Taylor has insight into what direction the U.S. financial sector will take with Fed rates and other important metrics that caused periods of volatility for stocks in 2022.

The sales by Taylor could also have been done at the end of last year to take profits, as many of the oil stocks and pharmaceutical stocks were up in 2022 compared to the down year for the S&P 500.

Transactions, like those of Taylor, that are executed with insight into what the U.S. Government may do to offset high inflation could continue the push to ban members of Congress from trading during their time in office.

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