This week in power × markets

the briefing · 2026-08-05

Congress keeps trading the very financial names their overseers are actively working, with $GS drawing nine members alongside CFTC, FTC and SEC signals — the single densest overlap between capitol portfolios and Washington's regulatory machinery.

• $GS saw nine members trading against a backdrop of CFTC, FTC and SEC activity, while fellow bank $MS drew five members and the same three-agency trifecta; brokerage $HOOD attracted four members amid SEC signals.
• Big Tech dominated consensus buying: $MSFT (21 members, 45 buys/30 sells, 8 committee-sector overlaps) and $AAPL (21 members, 30 buys/17 sells, 5 overlaps) led the pack — even as Nancy Pelosi disclosed an $AAPL sale of $5M–$25M.
• On the individual side, Chip Roy bought $AESI ($5M–$25M) and Jefferson Shreve sold $RILA ($5M–$25M), while telecom $T — a federal contractor — logged nine members trading.
• Insiders headed for the exits elsewhere: Berkshire Hathaway sold ~$109.5M of $DVA, General Dynamics brass (Chairman/CEO Phebe Novakovic among them) sold ~$72.1M of $GD, and Fortinet CEO Ken Xie sold ~$52.5M of $FTNT — plus a ~$9.47B block sale of $JMKE tied to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

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