Congressman Jim Langevin Is Selling Tech Stocks

Jim Langevin, the U.S. representative for Rhode Island's 2nd congressional district since 2001, is one of the most closely-watched members of Congress in terms of his stock market trading activity.

Congressman Langevin is a member of the two very important committees - Armed Services and Homeland Security. For September, Mr. Langevin reported that he sold shares in 5 companies.

On two occasions in September, the Congressman sold options of Airbnb (ABNB: US), as well as options of Block Inc (SQ: US). All trades values were in the range of  $1,000 - $15,000.

Similarly, Congressman Langevin was also selling options of DoorDash (DASH: US) and PayPal (PYPL: US). The only buy trade for September included options of Generac (GNRC: US), although he reported the sale of this company’s stock just 8 days later. The sell trade was worth between $15,000 - $50,000.

This trading activity from Mr. Langevin is not surprising given that he was actively selling shares of Block, Airbnb, and DoorDash in August as well. For instance, the Congressman sold $100,000 - $250,000 worth of Block shares on August 05.

It is possible that Mr. Langevin is decreasing his exposure to the tech sector given that the Fed seems committed to continue tightening its monetary policy. The technology sector is very sensitive to any changes to monetary policy, hence many analysts see the tech-heavy Nasdaq index hitting fresh YTD lows before the end of the year.

It remains to be seen whether Congressman Langevin will increase exposure to more defensive parts of the market or if he simply wants to stay on the sidelines and wait for better times before deploying more cash to fast-growing tech companies.