Trump Discloses Big Buys of Shares in Boeing and Nvidia as the Companies Look Set to Gain From His China Trip

Dow Jones05-18

A 113-page disclosure, which became available Thursday on a U.S. Office of Government Ethics website, shows more than 3,000 transactions

U.S. President Donald Trump makes a toast as he attends a state banquet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

President Donald Trump has filed a disclosure showing massive buying and selling of U.S. stocks, index funds and other securities, including a purchase of at least $1 million in shares of Boeing and Nvidia as those companies expect to score new business during his trip to China.

The 113-page disclosure indicated that Trump bought Boeing shares $(BA)$ and Nvidia shares (NVDA) on Feb. 10, and the amount purchased in each case was between $1 million and $5 million. Disclosure forms typically allow government officials to list a range rather than an exact amount.

Boeing investors have been expecting that an aircraft order from China will be one of the deals unveiled during this week's trip, and Trump told Fox News on Thursday that 200 Boeing planes were being purchased.

Meanwhile, Nvidia's stock has surged this week on expectations of new access to Chinese customers.

The new disclosure, which became available Thursday on a website run by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, showed 36 purchases of between $1 million and $5 million made in January, February and March. Those buys include Apple $(AAPL)$, Chipotle Mexican Grill $(CMG)$, Costco Wholesale $(COST)$ and Procter & Gamble $(PG)$, along with exchange-traded funds tracking the S&P 500 VOO and commodities COMT.

It showed more than 2,000 purchase transactions overall, including many buys of between $1,001 and $15,000, along with more than 1,000 sell transactions. The disclosure shows big sales on Feb. 10, in the range of $5 million to $25 million in each case, for shares of Amazon.com (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft $(MSFT)$ and the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF VIG.

Trump has purchased Nvidia shares before, disclosing a March 3 buy of between $100,001 and $250,000 in a form filed last month. The president has also bet on Boeing, disclosing an Aug. 25 investment worth between $1 million and $5 million in the aerospace company's bonds in a form filed in October.

In addition, an annual disclosure filed last June showed a stake in Nvidia shares worth at least $600,000, as well as Boeing stock worth at least $17,000. The June form showed stockholdings in hundreds of companies overall.

Presidents are exempt from conflict-of-interest rules that prohibit federal officials from having a role in government matters in which they have a financial stake. But Trump's predecessors have relied on blind trusts, divestments or investments in vanilla assets to limit ethical concerns.

The White House on Thursday referred MarketWatch's questions to the Trump Organization, the president's conglomerate. The Trump Organization didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization told the Washington Post last year that all of Trump's investment decisions were made entirely by independent managers with no input from Trump or his family, adding that investments are made through "computer-based model portfolios."

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