Kurt Schrader Is Betting on the Stock Market’s Recovery

The S&P 500, the U.S. benchmark stock market index, is down more than 17% year-to-date (YTD) and is near recording one of the biggest single-year declines in recent decades. 

The third bear market rally faded just above 4,000 as investors fear the Federal Reserve is not done hiking interest rates. Moreover, many fear that a recession is coming to the U.S. given that interest rates are at the highest levels since 2008.

However, some Congress members are using the 2022 pullback to increase their exposure to U.S. equities. Along these lines, Democrat Kurt Schrader invested tens of thousands of dollars in iShares Russell 1000 ETF (IWB), which offers diversified, low-turnover exposure to the broad U.S. stock market. Given its diversified holdings, IWB is closely correlated to the S&P 500.

The Congressman, who has served as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 5th congressional district since 2009, invested between $15,000 - $50,000 in IWB on November 08, when the ETF closed the day at $210.27. The index rose about 3% in the meantime on hopes the Fed will slow down its rate hikes and allow the market to recover a portion of its losses.

Despite the fact that Rep. Schrader is a member of the Energy & Commerce committee in the House, he often trades Financial and Tech stocks. Microsoft (MSFT:US) and Citigroup (C:US) are among his most popular stocks for trading. The house representative also trades in shares of the energy giant Exxon Mobil (XOM:US).