Tag: stock market

White House Warns Staff Against Insider Trading Using Iran War Information

As recent geopolitical events shake financial markets, some traders are making risky bets to profit from the volatility.

In an email on March 24, the White House warned staff not to trade or place bets related to the U.S. war in Iran, including on prediction markets.

The warning aimed to prevent any misuse of confidential information, the White House told The Epoch Times.

“President [Donald] Trump has been crystal clear: while he seeks a strong and profitable stock market for everyone, members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using nonpublic information for financial benefit,” Davis Ingle, White House spokesman, said in an email.

The warning was in line with government ethics guidelines that prohibit the use of nonpublic information for trading activity, he said.

Ingles added that “any implication that administration officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting.”

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US stock markets fall, oil soars as Trump promises to bomb Iran ‘back to the stone age’

The value of US stock markets fell, while the price of oil soared in early trading on 2 April following US President Donald Trump’s speech in which he vowed to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age.”

The president said on Wednesday evening from the White House that the US would continue its bombing campaign on Iran “until our objectives are fully achieved,” suggesting the war will last longer than expected.

“I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly. We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks – we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Age, where they belong,” Trump vowed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell some 1.3 percent when the US stock market opened the following morning. The S&P 500 index was also down 1.3 percent, while the Nasdaq composite was down 1.7 percent. Much of the losses were recovered over the course of the trading day.

Oil prices rose sharply and remained high throughout the day. The price of US crude rose to $113 – a 13 percent gain.

Brent crude, the international baseline, rose more than eight percent, to $109 per barrel.

US stock markets rallied, and the price of oil fell to start the week, after Trump stated on Sunday he was having “serious discussions” with a “new and more reasonable regime in Tehran.”

But the price of oil has risen following Trump’s remarks, which underscored that the war will not end soon and the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed indefinitely.

Since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on 28 February, the strategic waterway has effectively remained closed due to the threat of Iranian attacks and soaring insurance premiums for vessels wishing to transit it.

Energy prices have since skyrocketed, as Gulf oil exports through the strait have ground to a halt.

During his Wednesday address, Trump expressed no urgency in opening Hormuz, instead criticizing European nations suffering from fuel shortages for refusing to send their own warships to reopen it.

“To those countries that can’t get fuel – many of which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves – I have a suggestion,” he said.

“Number one, buy oil from the United States of America; we have plenty. We have so much. And number two, build up some delayed courage … Go to the strait and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves. Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done.”

Trump claimed that Hormuz would likely “just open up naturally” at the close of the war.

He called rising gas prices in the US a “short-term” matter, while claiming “the United States has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat.”

Regarding Trump’s threats, Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that Tehran has “no choice but to fight back strongly.”

“We will not tolerate this vicious cycle of war, negotiations, ceasefire, and then repeating the same pattern,” he said in a statement reported by state media. “This is catastrophic not only for Iran, but for the entire region and beyond.”

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$580 million in oil bets placed moments before Trump’s Iran post – FT 

Oil traders placed more than half a billion dollars in bets minutes before US President Donald Trump announced “productive” talks with Iran on Monday, the Financial Times has reported.

A burst of activity followed by a sharp price drop has raised questions about possible advance knowledge among market participants.

About 6,200 Brent and WTI futures contracts changed hands between 6:49 AM and 6:50 AM in New York – a one-minute flurry worth $580 million, based on FT calculations using Bloomberg data. Volumes in both benchmarks – Brent and US West Texas Intermediate – spiked simultaneously, about 27 seconds before 6:50 AM, while S&P 500 futures surged shortly after.

The trades came roughly 15 minutes before Trump said on Truth Social there had been “productive conversations” with Tehran to end the war in Iran.

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Pelosi Loses It – Starts Chomping Her Dentures After Trump Calls Her Out for Insider Trading

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was caught on camera playing with her dentures on Tuesday after President Trump called her out for insider trading during his SOTU Address.

President Trump roasted Democrats during his State of the Union Address for standing up against insider trading.

Trump called out crooked Nancy Pelosi: “Did Nancy Pelosi stand up for this?

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Vaccine Stocks Drop After FDA Memo Links COVID Shots To Child Deaths

Vaccine stocks slumped Monday after an explosive memo from FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad surfaced late Friday, signaling the agency is preparing to roll out tough restrictions on new vaccines for children. Prasad described a “profound revelation” linking Covid shots to at least ten deaths in children. 

By late morning, Vaccine makers dropped on the memo: Moderna -6%, BioNTech -4.3%, Novavax -4%, Vaxcyte -6.6%.

Wall Street analysts weighed in on the memo, and all agreed it introduces a new regulatory overhang for vaccine stocks.

Here’s what the research desks told clients:

William Blair, Myles R. Minter (rates the MRNA market perform)

  • “Our interpretation of the memo is that CBER will focus its efforts on the younger 12- to 24-year-old male population for newly approved Covid-19 vaccines where the myocarditis risk is highest”
  • If new regulatory restrictions were to be implemented in the higher myocarditis risk population, analysts see further headwinds toward Moderna’s declining Covid-19 franchise “alongside further negative sentiment that this memo and subsequent actions may generate”
  • Analyst says Pfizer, BioNTech, Novavax and Sanofi could also be impacted
  • “The memo also indicates several upcoming reforms to the CBER vaccine regulatory pathway, most notably the “demand” for pre- market randomized trials assessing clinical endpoints, not just immunogenicity, for most new vaccine products”

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Nancy Pelosi’s Stock Market Return Rate During Her Time in Congress is INSANE

Nancy Pelosi is finally retiring from congress and she is doing so as an extremely wealthy woman.

During her 40 years in congress, her stock market return rate was 16,930 percent. Read that again. 16,930%

That is beyond stunning. People can spend their entire career working on Wall Street and not get that kind of return. It’s just the sort of thing that has spurred rumors of insider trading, and/or taking advantage of information gleaned by working in congress.

Pelosi is now worth over $280 million dollars. Not a bad haul for a public servant.

FOX News reports:

Pelosi earned more than $130 million in stock profits, return of 16,930%, during time in Congress: report

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and husband Paul Pelosi have raked in more than $130 million in stock profits over the course of her congressional career, a report said.

That’s a return of 16,930% over nearly four decades representing California, according to the New York Post.

The figure comes as Pelosi, 85, announced this week she will not be seeking re-election after completing her current term in 2027…

Before entering office in 1987, Pelosi and her husband reported between $610,000 and $785,000 in stocks in their portfolio, the Post said, citing a financial disclosure form.

Those stocks reportedly included Citibank and companies that are no longer publicly traded.

Over time, that portfolio has soared in value to $133.7 million today, the Post reported, citing estimates from Quiver Quantitative.

The newspaper said the profit of 16,930% exceeds the 2,300% that the Dow Jones had during the same time period.

Pelosi’s talents for investing are really unmatched, aren’t they?

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Report: Far-left Dem Crockett Didn’t Report Stocks As Required

U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett, the far-left, foul-mouthed Democrat from Texas, might have violated House rules by not disclosing her stock portfolio.

The Washington Free Beacon disclosed the possible violation today. Crockett “owned stocks in at least 25 companies that she did not disclose to the public during her first congressional run in 2022, even though she’d quietly admitted to the holdings the previous year as a Texas state legislator,” the website reported. Nor did she disclose the holdings when she landed in Congress in 2023.

The records reveal Crockett to be something of a hypocrite. She doesn’t believe the sinistral nonsense she spews like a firehose.

The Stocks

Indeed, Crockett is quite the Wall Street tycoon, the report shows.

“The records obtained by the Free Beacon open a window into the personal financial life of Crockett, 44, who says she supports herself,” the website reported:

“I have no husband, y’all. Never been married, never been engaged” she told an interviewer in February, holding up her hands to emphasize the absence of a ring.

She holds stocks in companies that can gain from her position in Congress, and “and others that stand in opposition to the image she’s cultivated as a champion of green energy.”

Crockett’s holdings during 2021 were “sizable,” the website reported. She owned shares in Big Tech, Energy, and Pharma, along with shares in the auto and marijuana sectors. She “did not disclose owning any of those same stocks in her first congressional financial disclosure, which also covered her financial holdings during the 2021 calendar year.”

Crockett’s array of blue-chip and other stocks is impressive. They include “Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, General Motors, Uber, DuPont, ExxonMobil, American Airlines, AT&T, Aurora Cannabis, Ford, and ‘Corporate Cannabis’ and ‘Stocks Worldwide.’”

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Why Politicians Always Get Richer in Office (and You Don’t)

Think about your last job. Ever gotten a secret tip about the company’s next big merger right before the public announcement? Yeah, didn’t think so. For the rest of us, acting on that would land us in hot water – maybe even jail time. But inside the marble corridors and hushed committee rooms? Different story altogether.

They call it “congressional stock trading,” which sounds very official and boring. What it really means is politicians legally using information they learn because of their jobs – stuff you and I aren’t privy to – to buy or sell stocks. Government earmarks billions for a new defense project boosting a specific drone manufacturer? Funny how certain portfolios suddenly get heavier. Massive legislation passes changing healthcare subsidies? Watch how health insurance stocks move right after the vote.

It’s not telepathy. It’s not “expert analysis.” It’s being on the inside track while everyone watches the race from the nosebleeds. They write their own rules about disclosures, enforce them weakly against themselves, and pat themselves on the back for “transparency” that resembles fogged-up glass.

The Golden Parachute Club

You leave your job, you get maybe a handshake or a parting gift. Their journey is different. The moment someone announces they aren’t running again or loses an election, something fascinating happens: headhunters scramble. Suddenly, that junior Senator with average name recognition lands a seven-figure advisory role at a defense contractor. That obscure committee chair suddenly becomes a “consultant” for the very industry they supposedly regulated.

This is the “revolving door.” It spins both ways. Industry insiders walk into key government jobs to “oversee” their former colleagues. Then, politicians glide effortlessly back out into lucrative “consulting” gigs, “think tank” positions, or board seats for companies that directly benefited from legislation they championed. The currency here isn’t expertise you can find on LinkedIn; it’s relationships, favors owed, and the warm, cozy feeling they generate in corporate boardrooms. They call it “private sector experience.” We see pawns completing their mission and collecting their rewards.

Political Chameleons and Real Estate Magic

Ever tried buying property in a booming market? It’s expensive, cutthroat. Now imagine getting insider knowledge about a planned government development – a new highway extension, a federal complex, a mass transit hub destined for a forgotten corner of your district. Information like that is pure gold dust.

It’s not uncommon to see lawmakers snapping up parcels of land or properties just before major, undisclosed public projects become known. The value explodes. Sudden windfalls from “smart investments.” They disclose the gain eventually, but the how and the why? Buried under layers of complex paperwork and shrugs. Did they foresee the future? Or did they peek behind the curtain? The coincidence meter pings off the charts more often than it has any right to.

It goes beyond dirt. Think zoning changes voted on by local officials who own large chunks of real estate nearby. Think obscure amendments slipped into massive bills that funnel taxpayer dollars towards building projects conveniently adjacent to land held by those well-connected individuals. Follow the geography. The map tells its own story.

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Bitcoin crash proves crypto is a rigged casino

Something strange happened in crypto-land this weekend. On Friday afternoon at around 4:30 pm, a large “whale” — a player big enough to noticeably move asset prices — began placing shorts on crypto. Short orders occur when traders borrow an asset, which they immediately sell, before buying it back at (they hope) a reduced price, repaying the loan and then pocketing the difference.

Minutes later, President Donald Trump announced a 100% tariff on Chinese imports. The price of Bitcoin then plunged by 4%, whereupon most of the short positions were closed. Whoever was doing the trading walked away with a profit of $192 million. Nice work if you can get it.

Of course, everyone else in the crypto space lost around $200 billion among them. The immediate suspicion was that someone in the administration knew what was coming and decided to make a fast buck.

It’s not the first time strange movements have taken place in markets just before a major Trump announcement that moved asset prices. In April, the Attorney General Pam Bondi sold millions of dollars worth of stock in Trump Media just hours before the President’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement sent its price tumbling. A week later, Trump’s tweet urging that it was a “great time to buy,” just before his U-turn on tariffs, raised further suspicion. ProPublica has documented several similar cases where market swings coincided suspiciously with presidential statements.

Trump denies any insider dealing while acknowledging, albeit doubting, that administration insiders could be profiting from privileged information. And it would be very difficult to prove that anyone broke the law. In any case, there’s more to the story than an engineered crash: cryptocurrency prices were already sliding before Trump’s announcement, which merely accelerated the fall — if only briefly.

The crypto market is highly leveraged, with traders taking on debt to buy digital assets on the assumption that rising prices will make repayment easy. But when prices turn, some owners are forced to sell quickly to meet their debt obligations. That appears to have exacerbated Friday’s plunge.

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The country is healing: A company that provided car loans to illegals just went belly up…

A Dallas-based auto lender built on giving car loans to illegals has just gone belly up, and it’s dragging Wall Street down with it.

Tricolor Holdings was once hailed by the US Treasury as a “community development” success story. Now, they’ve just filed for bankruptcy as fraud allegations and a full-blown federal investigation overtake them. The company, which sold overpriced used cars to illegals and wrapped the scheme in a feel-good “social lending” label, is leaving major US banks like JPMorgan, Barclays, and Fifth Third staring at massive losses.

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