President Donald Trump’s funding accounts offered between $500,000 and $1 million of ExxonMobil inventory on April 7, the identical day Trump introduced a ceasefire within the Iran struggle and hours earlier than Exxon shares opened 6.5% decrease, based on monetary disclosures reviewed by CBS News.
Exxon closed at $163.91 on April 7 earlier than Trump introduced the ceasefire that night and opened at $153.52 the next morning. The transaction was considered one of lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in purchases and gross sales involving Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and different oil and gasoline firms in the course of the first half of 2026, based on filings with the Workplace of Authorities Ethics as reported by CBS Information.
These trades continued by means of a struggle that despatched oil costs sharply greater and delivered a few of the strongest earnings for U.S. oil majors since 2022. ExxonMobil and Chevron in the end earned a combined $26.5 billion within the second quarter because the Iran struggle and disruption to grease flows by means of the Strait of Hormuz drove crude costs and refining margins sharply greater. Exxon reported $14.5 billion in web earnings, greater than double its year-earlier revenue and its finest lead to 4 years, whereas Chevron reported document web earnings of $12.2 billion, practically 5 occasions its year-earlier end result. Trump subsequently accused the businesses of constructing “an excessive amount of cash” and demanded that they minimize gasoline costs.
CBS reported that Trump’s accounts executed roughly 3,600 inventory and securities trades value between $212 million and $695 million in the course of the first quarter alone. Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee estimate that his oil and gasoline holdings elevated in worth from between $13 million and $46 million at first of the yr to between $17 million and $61 million by mid-August. The estimate doesn’t embrace trades made throughout 2026.
The White Home mentioned Trump doesn’t direct the trades. Spokesman Davis Ingle informed CBS that the portfolio is managed independently by third-party monetary establishments utilizing computer-based mannequin portfolios and that Trump and his household can’t affect when securities are purchased or offered.
Trump has not positioned his belongings in a blind belief, and federal legislation doesn’t prohibit presidents from proudly owning or buying and selling particular person shares. His power holdings stay a small portion of a fortune Forbes estimates at greater than $6 billion.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
