BENZINGA
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi‘s trades are among the most followed in Congress, and the California Democrat’s stock and options trading activity while in office continues Friday with a trade in the hot artificial intelligence and semiconductor stock NVIDIA Corporation NVDA.
What Happened: One of the trades by a member of Congress that drew the most attention from retail traders and the media in July 2022 was a decision to exercise Nvidia calls by Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi, who is a venture capitalist.
Pelosi’s trades have often drawn attention given their questionable timing and concerns that her husband has received inside information before placing trades.
In July 2022, the Pelosis announced they had sold 25,000 shares of Nvidia at an average price point of $165.05, with a loss of $341,365.
The Pelosis are back in Nvidia with a filing shared Friday by Congresstrading on Twitter.
“Pelosi bet millions on $NVDA in November using call options. Using a deceptive tactic, she purposely disclosed this on the Friday before Christmas weekend to avoid media coverage,” Congresstrading tweeted.
The transaction was the purchase of 50 call options of Nvidia with a strike price of $120. The transaction amount was listed as being between $1 million and $5 million. The call options have an expiration date of Dec. 20, 2024.
Based on past trades, the latest filing follows a history of buying options that are a year or more out and are deep in the money.
Why It’s Important: The last time the Pelosis owned Nvidia shares, concern over the timing came relative to the passage of the CHIPS Act. Pelosi publicly backed the legislation, which had the potential to directly benefit Nvidia. The calls were exercised before the vote for the CHIPS Act.
The disclosure that the Pelosis had sold and taken a loss also came at a questionable time.
“It is surprising to see the sale. Also, what’s surprising here is that she sold and reported one day later. Usually she takes a couple of weeks. She wanted the public to know she cleared the books of this conflict of interest immediately,” the founder of Congresstrading.com, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of his site, previously told Benzinga.
Fast-forward to 2023 and Nvidia shares have been on an absolute fire, gaining 243% year-to-date and hitting new all-time highs. Nvidia became one of the newest members of the $1-trillion market capitalization club, attracting increased attention thanks to the company’s role in the growth of artificial intelligence.
