Ro Khanna Appears to Be Winning on His Stock Market Bets

The U.S. equities closed sharply higher Tuesday after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers came in cooler than expected, fueling investor hopes that the Federal Reserve may slow down its pace of rate hikes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 0.3%, while the S&P 500 added 0.73%. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.01%. Earlier in the season, three indexes were trading much higher with Nasdaq up nearly 4% early in the day

It looks like many money managers used yesterday’s tip to take profits and reduce equity exposure given the looming recession and earnings risks. The investor focus will now turn to Wednesday afternoon when the Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 0.50%.

The S&P 500, the benchmark index for U.S. equities, is now trading above the 4000 mark again, meaning that the recent dip-buying is paying off. For instance, Congressman Kurt Schrader bought iShares Russell 1000 ETF (IWB) recently with his position up around 5% already.

His colleague from the House, Democrat Ro Khanna bought the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) in late October when the index was trading near 2-year lows. Rep. Khanna bought the ETF that tracks the performance of the S&P 500 on the day when it closed at $365.41. Unless he exited this trade in the meantime, Rep. Khanna is up about 10% on his investment that was valued between $500,000 - $1,000,000. 

Congressman Khanna, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, Armed Services, and Oversight and Reform, is one of the most active stock market traders among House members.