The Legislative Branch : Weekly Extract August 15

The legislative power of politicians using their knowledge of upcoming bills in conjunction with stock trading activities could, in theory, constitute insider trading. Discussing their perceived legality or illegality has long been a staple of the stock market. Yet the practice goes unnoticed in day-to-day trading activities.

In the United States, the issue of abuse of legislative power has come to the forefront several times, especially in late July, when the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sold 25,000 shares of NVIDIA (NVDA) stock from his portfolio, one day before the "CHIPS" Act (aimed at strengthening U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturers) was passed for the second time by Congress.

Others at the top of the list of stocks traded by members of the legislative body are Big Tech companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet, whose trading volume amounted to $ 129.6 million, $ 8.3 million and $ 7.0 million in the last twelve months, respectively, in the list of political holders.

Congress mentions that it is open to discussing measures that would prohibit all those with a stake in the legislative branch at the federal level from trading stocks.

0% of inflation means purchases remain expensive

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics presented the consumer price index numbers for July, with a total change of 0% compared to June, although they have tried to present this data as something positive, we must understand that behind the index there are several items, one of them being the price of fuel, which plummeted more than -7%, shouldn't this cause a decrease in consumer spending?