How much money does Eric Cantor make on this downgrade?

[Renew Deal]

It is now well known that Eric Cantor shorted US treasuries. It looks like he got the outcome he wanted. So how much does he make on the deal?

From WSJ:

What do Bill Gross, Evan Newmark and Rep. Eric Cantor have in common? They’re all betting against Treasury debt!

But only one of these men has been involved in heated negotiations over the government’s debt ceiling, and that’s Eric Cantor, No. 2 Republican in the House.

Mr. Cantor, who walked out of debt discussions with Vice President Joe Biden last week, owns up to $15,000 in shares of the ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury ETF, Salon notes today, updating a Wall Street Journal report on this from last year.

Salon argues this means Mr. Cantor has a conflict of interest in the debt negotiations. Conventional wisdom holds that letting the talks fail would roil the bond market, hurting Treasurys, which would benefit Mr. Cantor. The TBT is up 3% since Mr. Cantor walked out of debt talks.
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http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/06/28/eric-cantor-is-short-treasurys-sort-of/

[polichick]

1. That's what I've been wondering - what a patriot!

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Depends on when he bought the shares.

TBT was up $1.59/share today

If he bought it at the beginning of the year, he is down almost ten bucks a share.

[Cool Logic]

3. Canter is a weaselly geek, but he was just 1 out of 536 reasons Treasuries may be downgraded.

If I were in the business of lending money, I'd downgrade us too. For a country that is still digging, when all of signals say stop, is not a good investment.

[pa28]

4. Probably nothing.

He had a very small position in TBT as a hedge against treasury holdings (he claims) which has dropped something like 35% since he took the position. Putting aside who he is that seems like a reasonable thing to do.

Don't get me wrong. If you want my opinion on Eric Cantor just google "santorum" but he's not going to get filthy rich off this downgrade. He's already wealthy and I'd be really surprised if he made money in the fallout over this event.

[TalkingDog]

5. He bought them in 2009

Eric Cantor bought up to $15,000 in shares that take a short position in long-dated government bonds. In effect, it is a bet against U.S. government bonds — and perhaps on inflation in the future.

I don't know anything about how much they have gained or lost in that time.... a market geek might be able to help.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. In January of 2009, TBT was selling for $39.00/share...

and hit a high in 09 of around $57.00/share.

It will open Monday @ $28.41.

In other words, he's lost his ass.

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:TBT

The thing about these "Ultra-Short" ETF's is they are geared to reflecting returns on a daily basis. Since they pay no interest rate, they make crappy long term holdings.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. Cantor's a multi-millionaire. Potential gains on a 15 G investment wouldn't mean much to him,

It may be unseemly but that's about all.