David McCormick, U.S. Senator and apparently a man with opinions about Pennsylvania municipal debt, disclosed last week that he sold somewhere between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of University of Pittsburgh revenue bonds. The coupon is 5%. They mature in 2032. You now know this because the law says he had to tell you, thirty-one days after the fact, in a range so wide it could fit a ski chalet.
To be clear: this is a bond. Not a meme stock. Not a leveraged ETF. A bond backed by the revenue of a public university in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Phil is not here to speculate on motive. Phil is simply noting that someone with access to federal policy levers decided, on May 26th, that a 5% yield maturing in six years was no longer working for him.
The STOCK Act requires disclosure within 45 days. He filed in 31. Gold star. Partial credit for civic participation.
Whether this trade is meaningful, suspicious, or just a routine portfolio rebalancing by a man who simply prefers liquidity — we cannot say. We can say that the disclosure window is wide enough to drive a fiduciary duty through, and that the exact amount remains, as always, a mystery the law specifically chose not to solve.
The chart, presumably, is flat. It's a bond.
Leave a Comment