Congress Stock Trades: March 2026 Recap — What Lawmakers Are Buying and Selling

Congress Stock Trades: March 2026 Recap

Congressional trading disclosures for early March 2026 reveal a clear institutional playbook emerging among lawmakers: concentrated buying in defense, healthcare, and AI infrastructure — sectors with direct committee jurisdiction — while trimming consumer and growth-oriented technology positions.

Quick Summary

Overview

Every member of Congress is required to disclose stock trades within 45 days under the STOCK Act. These filings, while delayed, reveal a picture of what America's legislators believe about the markets — and which sectors they think will benefit from policy tailwinds they're shaping.

The March 2026 disclosure batch (covering trades primarily from late January through early March) contains 132 trade records across the House and Senate. The picture that emerges is not random: the most active traders are concentrated in committees with direct oversight over the industries they're trading.

Key Themes

1. Healthcare Accumulation — Coinciding With ACA Debate

Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK, Armed Services, Environment and Public Works, and Indian Affairs) made his largest disclosed purchase of the period: UNH (UnitedHealth Group) at $50,001–$100,000 on February 25. It landed while Senate committees were reviewing proposed changes to Medicare Advantage reimbursement schedules, though none of his own assignments covers that file — which is the kind of coincidence worth checking against the rosters rather than assuming, and the kind of purchase the tracker is built to surface.

LLY (Eli Lilly) also appeared in Senator Angus King's sale portfolio, suggesting the Maine independent was reducing exposure to pharmaceutical names before the Iran war-driven market volatility in late March.

2. Technology Rotation — From Software to Infrastructure

The tech sector showed a clear rotation pattern:

• Sells: ADBE, INTU, AZO, MSFT — software and consumer platforms
• Buys: AMAT, AAPL, NVDA (across various members) — semiconductor and infrastructure-adjacent names

This mirrors the broader institutional thesis: AI infrastructure capex beneficiaries (AMAT, NVDA) versus software platforms whose margins are under pressure from both rate sensitivity and AI substitution risk.

3. Angus King's Feb 13 Portfolio Liquidation

Senator Angus King (I-ME, Intelligence + Armed Services) executed a nine-position liquidation on February 13, selling ONON, PYPL, META, LLY, MSFT, BX, ADSK, NFLX, and UBER — all in the $1,001–$15,000 range.

What stands out is less any single name than the shape of the move: a broad, same-day exit across unrelated sectors (consumer, payments, streaming, software, asset management) reads as a portfolio-level risk-off decision rather than a set of individual stock calls. The names span very different post-sale paths — some rose, some fell — which is exactly the pattern the academic literature would predict: whatever aggregate congressional "edge" has been claimed is contested, and where present it is dispersed and inconsistent at the individual-trade level.

Notable Trades

Sector Analysis

Based on the February–March 2026 filing batch:

Net Buying Sectors:

• Healthcare (+2 net positions): UNH, LLY buys outpaced sells. The Armed Services assignment with no Finance or health-policy seat (Mullin) buying UNH is notable given its Medicare Advantage exposure.
• Financials (+1 net): WFC purchase by McConnell; GS sold by Mullin. Mixed but slight net positive.

Net Selling Sectors:

• Software/SaaS (–3 net): ADBE, INTU, ADSK all net sold. No corresponding buys in this category.
• Consumer (–2 net): AZO, ONON sold; no major consumer buys.

Roughly Neutral:

• Technology (hardware/infra): MSFT sold, AAPL and AMAT bought — sector rotation rather than net exit.

What It Means for Retail Investors

Congressional trades are not a trading signal in the traditional sense — the 45-day disclosure lag means you're reading week-old information. What they do reveal is where the policy-informed money is positioned.

Three takeaways from March 2026 data:

1. Healthcare is the defensive hold: The committee members with the most policy knowledge about healthcare reimbursement showed up as buyers, not sellers, in this batch. That is a description of where committee-adjacent money is positioned — not a prediction that the sector will outperform. Whether policy-informed positioning translates into returns is exactly the question the academic literature disagrees on (see references below).

2. Tech rotation is real and structural: The consistent theme of selling software (ADBE, INTU) while maintaining or adding hardware/infra (AMAT, AAPL, NVDA) is not noise. It reflects a view that AI capex beneficiaries have a clearer earnings path than AI-disrupted SaaS platforms.

3. Watch the full liquidations: When a senator sells 9 positions in a single day (King, Feb 13), that's a risk-off signal worth noting — even if the timing was imperfect. It suggests a view that general market conditions were unfavorable in ways that wouldn't be visible until later.

Methodology

All data sourced from mandatory STOCK Act disclosures filed with the House and Senate financial disclosure systems. Trade dates, tickers, transaction types, and reported dollar ranges are taken directly from those filings; sector groupings are our own categorization. Disclosure lag means trades are typically reported 15–45 days after execution.

Some trade amounts are reported as ranges per STOCK Act requirements ($1,001–$15,000; $15,001–$50,000; $50,001–$100,000; $100,001–$250,000; $250,001–$500,000; $500,001–$1,000,000; over $1,000,000).

Track Congress Trades in Real Time

Meridian tracks all congressional STOCK Act filings as they're published — no login required for recent trades. See who's buying, what sectors are favored by committee chairpersons, and which committee-aligned trades are worth watching.

View live Congress trade data → meridianfin.io/congress