President Donald Trump faces immense controversy for continuing to buy and trade stocks, even though doing so creates a conflict of interest for him as president. Yet there is at least one Trump stock trade which has attracted attention for a somewhat different reason — namely, that it may have been accidental.
On Feb. 2 the president bought between $1 million and $5 million worth of stock in the conveyor belt sushi chain Kura Sushi, according to a report by the Associated Press. People online quickly noticed that, much as Trump scheduled a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in 2020 instead of the famed hotel with a similar name, he may have accidentally purchased a sushi stock instead of something else he wanted.
“Some people are speculating that perhaps Trump (and the people managing his investment portfolio) intended to buy something like FujiKura, an electrical equipment company that also makes golf equipment, or Kura Oncology, which develops cancer treatments and has the stock ticker KURA,” reported Gizmodo’s Matt Novak. “Kura Oncology’s stock is currently up 9% on the day, perhaps because so many people online are speculating about Trump’s odd stock purchase. FujiKura is down 8% on the day, but that slide kicked off yesterday after a three-year forecast dashed investors’ hopes.”
Most of Trump’s other trades have involved the major tech firms that are also shaping his policies on issues like regulation and AI, including Amazon, Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft. He also has traded in the tobacco company Philip Morris, the private prison company GEO Group, the bodycam company Axon and defense contractors like Palantir and RTX, formerly known as Raytheon. All of them have direct business before the government or are at least subject to potentially costly and high-profile regulations. Some of their CEOs have joined him on high profile trips to nations like China.
“That said, there are some restaurant groups in the stocks that Trump bought,” Gizmodo noted. “Trump purchased Cheesecake Factory stock worth $15,001-$50,000 on March 4 and Dave & Buster’s stock worth $15,001-$50,000 on Feb. 26. Maybe Trump is just a big fan of skee-ball.”
Financial columnist Matthew Lynn has previously warned about the potential corruption in Trump’s stock trading while in office.
“A Rose Garden announcement triggers panic on Wall Street,” Lynn recently wrote for The Washington Post, “then a post on Truth Social sends stock prices soaring. A promise of upcoming news launches a market rally, which slumps when the actual news is delivered that evening.” In general, Trump tends to make presidential proclamations which then directly impact his stock holdings, which Lynn described as “troubling.”
“According to a recent report from the financial research firm Fundstrat, Trump was the driver of the five best trading days on the S&P 500 index since the start of his second term,” Lynn wrote. “And he was also responsible for its five worst trading days. Such as? On April 3, 2025, the S&P 500 fell 4.8 percent when Trump announced ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, and it bounced back 9.5 percent when most were suspended six days later.”
By contrast “none of the five best or worst trading days under Joe Biden were driven by one of his announcements,” Lynn wrote. “During Bill Clinton’s eight years in office, only one of the five worst days could be pinned on the president or his administration, and none of the best. Sentiment on the stock market was routinely driven by interest rate announcements, corporate earnings or economic data. Not by the guy in the White House.”
