As online broker Robinhood eased disputed trading restrictions on GameStop, the army of small investors behind this week’s dramatic squeeze on Wall Street hedge funds returned to drive shares in GameStop and other hot companies higher on Friday.
Shares in the video game store chain and headphone maker Koss Corp both doubled in early deals after slumping on Thursday when several online platforms imposed buying halts, sparking a backlash from investors, celebrities and policymakers.
Robinhood said on its website that it was easing the restrictions, but still not allowing purchases of fractional shares in GameStop and 12 other companies, effectively meaning smaller investors have to bet more in order to buy in further to the trade.
The showdown between small-time traders and professional short-sellers has drawn the scrutiny of Congressional lawmakers, the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is being probed by the New York Attorney General.
Global equity markets have also suffered as funds were forced to sell some of their best-performing stocks, including Apple Inc, to cover billions of dollars of losses.
U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as worries of a short squeeze resurfaced after an army of amateur investors trading in GameStop and other hot stocks pitted small investors against short-selling hedge funds.
Big hedge funds rushed to cover losses after retail investors bought into shares of companies including GameStop Corp, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc and BlackBerry Ltd.
Popular long positions in some stocks including Apple Inc were sold off by hedge funds recently to cover billions of dollars in losses.
Shares in Apple, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp , Facebook Inc, Netflix Inc, Tesla Inc and Alphabet Inc fell between 0.5% and 1.3%.
MacDailyNews Take: Screw the hedge fund shorts. When Apple was smaller, the short fomenters routinely manipulated AAPL. Obscenely. Obviously. With impunity.
Squeeze ’em ’til they bleed.
Apple, the world’s most valuable company, will be fine (and AAPL buyers will get a nice discount price) because Apple makes things of value to earn their money, unlike the shorts who will now need to think twice before attempting to manipulate the market while the SEC sleeps.
“The showdown between small-time traders and professional short-sellers has drawn the scrutiny of Congressional lawmakers, the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is being probed by the New York Attorney General.”
I wonder if the investigation will include White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s brother Jeffrey Psaki? A lot of Wall Street blood in this one!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-psaki-bbb38a86
My guess is that this will get swept under the rug. The power brokers are tied to politicians and short of a sacrificial lamb, few will be punished.
We’ve gone from ‘Swanee River” to ‘Swampy River’. Build Back Better sure has a funky meaning!
Especially with Biden’s Secretary of the Treasury, who is a woman, in case that hasn’t been repeated enough by Biden’s White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin, who received $800,000.00 from Hedge Fund at center of GameStop debate, being at the helm! “Swept under the rug”, no truer words spoken, Priate. No truer words spoken.
So nice that there is still some power from the people. MDN is spot on, these are social parasitic leeches. Nothing like a bit of salt to make them squirm.
“Nothing like a bit of salt to make them squirm.” Squirm? Sorry, no. There is no “power from the people”, because if the people had power they would not be put back in their place by the power brokers currently in charge in DC. Look at how those DC power brokers think they are the true arbiters of events, like BLM are protesters, not terrorists, March on DC wasn’t a 1st Amendment right to peaceful protest and to petition the government, but an insurrection that needs to be investigated and the FBI is going full force with facial identification and tracking these people down. The same FBI that just had one of their own, a lawyer, who doctored an email that led to FISA court investigating an American citizen and a presidential campaign. This criminal lawyer was found guilty and his punishment… probation. That’s right folks, not one day in prison! If some low level plebe is getting probation, don’t expect anything harsher from the higher-up lying crooks in the FBI and elsewhere that pissed away $32 million tax dollars and two years of chasing a fake rabbit down the proverbial rabbit hole! But let’s see if the January 6th protesters get the same probation, shall we? Because in Biden’s Build Back Better America, no man is above the law! smh
From USA Today…
“During sentencing, Clinesmith said he was “ashamed” of his actions, adding that it had “harmed the very institutions that I cherish and admire.”
Ashamed he got caught, and blah, blah, blah for the rest.
“I have a duty to take responsibility for my actions and mistakes,” Clinesmith told the court.
Again, I hear this “take responsibility for my actions” but what the Hell does that mean??? Is that some get out of jail free card verbiage? Hillary Clinton said the same BS regarding the Benghazi, Libya debacle investigation. If I threw a baseball and it broke out a window and I said I take full responsibility, it meant paying for a replacement window to get it fixed. So, again I ask, what the Hell does it mean when the potatoes in government throw out that tag line?!?
While the government argued for prison time, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that the 38-year-old attorney had already suffered greatly since he was charged and pleaded guilty.
Suffered greatly, WTF? Gen. Flynn says hi, asshole District Judge Boasberg. Oh right, “judge Boasberg also serves on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts in May 2014,…” THAT explains everything!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/29/fbi-lawyer-kevin-clinesmith-gets-probation-altering-russia-email/4072865001/
https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/content/district-judge-james-e-boasberg
Pointing out valid corruption and situations where the power of the people is usurped does not mean that the power of the people does not exist. In fact the country’s reaction to the COVID-19 virus is an excellent example of people power. There are some articles out there that point out that the country has roughly 4% of the world’s population and yet it has 25% of the cases and deaths. It has the highest death in numbers than any other country and one of the highest deaths per capita. You don’t get results like that without a lot of power from the people disregarding the science, having festivals, large gatherings, protests, riots, massive rallies, trying to start some sedition or civil war, and so on and so forth. In fact it is the leadership and the power of the people that has put the country in the number one spot regarding the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Absolutely. Soon there will be a half-million monuments scattered around the country so that the triumph of people power over science, opinions over facts, and party politics over public service will never be forgotten.
Nice to see you again TxUser, thanks for the insightful comment. I’ve noticed a few regulars since my return here. I look forward to catching up and exchanging some civil ideas with you.
oh, please. what’s with all your tribal rationale and myopic worldview. can you not see that thoughtful people want honesty in government and have been fed lies and spin.
can you not even see the imbalance of justice, clinesmith being just the latest example and cnn’s collusion with mueller for a predawn raid, weapons drawn for roger stone, muellers team wiping their phones, hillary’s closet server, an outgoing administration spying on an opposition candidate, followed by howls in the capital that trump was a russian asset and the list goes on and on.
what about you txuser and road warrior, have you gotten out of your car, yet, created a crowd and pushed back on conservatives?? no??? your friends certainly have. all last year, in fact, while your vice president solicited donations to bail out the blm and antifa terrorists and put them back on the street.
why are you such a shield for rock throwers and government liars, yes liars, like harry reid, standing with immunity in front of the senate accusing romney of 10yrs of tax evasion and later admitting it was a lie. like adam schiff, hundreds on news outlet declarations that he had hard evidence trump had colluded with russians. lies. why don’t you and road warrior get yourselves a set of kettle drums. keep beating out the tribal narrative.
I’m not quite sure about what tribal rationale you are talking about, I’m on humanity’s side. I agree with what you say about wanting honesty in government and I have no doubt that lies and spin have and continue to occur from both sides of the country’s political spectrum. Thing is that I’m not from that country so I’m less than interested in the sordid details of the internal corrupt machinations that are going on. That imbalance of justice is to be expected. I’ve warned, predicted and harped on about the invasion of Iraq having consequences. I am more interested in how various countries have responded to COVID-19, and that country’s response really sticks out. Over the last year there have been many mass gathering as I have pointed out, from both sides of the political spectrum and some neutral, all disregarding the basic elements of dealing with a pandemic. It is more than just a political item, it’s a behavioural cultural approach.
The narrative for me is not determine which side is corrupt and which is not, that point is moot, both sides are corrupt. The GameStop squeeze is just another indication of that. I’m just hanging around to see which side of the road the car veers off but I don’t have a preference one way or the other. A country that has promoted the plague this way has obvious issues.
apologies to you road warrior. i mistook your post as an alignment with txuser’s political posturing and i couldn’t remember your previous posts and positions on these and similar matters but i am familiar with txuser and don’t think much of the way he thinks. i apologize to you. i’m worried for the USA.
A lot of the early writings, late 1700’s, described the big vulnerability of America’s governmental architecture and that was the election of dishonorable people to leadership positions. This is America’s achilles heel. I am upset and saddened that this has been happening for decades and there are people who won’t see this. please accept my apology
Why does a country have “roughly 4% of the world’s population and yet it has 25% of the cases and deaths?”
The answer is simple. COVID-19 preys on diabetes, asthma, obesity, smokers.
The U.S. is reaping what’s been sown for decades. Every bill comes payable sooner or later.
https://twitter.com/urtruthdetector/status/1306441506488750080
Diabetes, asthma, obesity and smoking may increase the incidence of deaths but the transmission of the virus is associated with behaviour. If you look at the spectacular mass gatherings in 2020 you’ll see people of all various shapes and sizes packed closely together, doing a lot of shouting. That’s the sort of behaviour that has contributed to the extra ordinary spread of COVID-19.
My friend told me that she does a sneeze or cough on purpose whenever a MAGAer without a mask stands closely; They get unnerved and she gets entertained.
What I typically do when I see some dummy who’s “too close” ..
…is to turn to them (while wearing my own mask), addressing them directly, saying:
“I might still be contagious – better ‘Mask Up'”
Puts them off balance just a tad.
“Pointing out valid corruption and situations where the power of the people is usurped does not mean that the power of the people does not exist.”
Dream on USA HATER! The people have NO POWER. As Stalin said, the vote counters have all the power. We have seen the results of vote counter power in the last USA presidential election.
Back to your old incessant and repetitive bad mouthing ways of the most liberating and righteous country on planet Earth. Did you crawl out from under your rock lately?
Well, that’s to be expected from an Aussie A-hole…
I suppose Apple shareholders will get stuck with the worst short-term losses because Apple had done so well last year and this year. I think that’s what’s called a mixed blessing. I’m not complaining and just noting it. I’m hoping at some point, those funds that are selling off Apple will return to Apple but I have a feeling they’ll decide to use that money to buy Tesla instead of Apple. I’m just glad Apple is doing well financially even if big investors don’t think so. If Apple could only raise the dividends a bit more I wouldn’t mind if the share price doesn’t go up much higher early in this year. All Apple can do is keep buying back stock, and right now it certainly makes a lot of sense to do so.
I’m sure a lot of investors were celebrating Apple’s fine holiday quarter, but ended up disappointed when all the potential share gains went up in smoke. I used to feel bad when that happened years back, but I’m used to it now. Apple is used as a bank to buy other stocks and that’s just how it is. The day-traders use money from Apple to buy short-term longshot and momentum stocks for bigger profits. I have made enough money from Apple to not be concerned about day-to-day drops in Apple’s share price. I’m sure it’s all out of Apple’s control and all to do with investor sentiment about Apple. I believe Apple is doing to best it can for shareholders, but Apple can only do but so much. I’m sure next quarter’s earnings report will produce increased share price results, or at least I hope so.
Looking forward to picking up some Apple stock at a good discount.
But it’s not gambling…! lol
Interesting post. There definitely could be crosswinds out there due to deleveraging.
It’s supremely rich that now that small amateurs got in on the gambling methods that regulation-averse big boys use to redistribute wealth from Main St to themselves that NASDAQ is crying for regulation.
The house never loses, unless it’s laundering money.
A shame you never launder your brain, Applewanqnyc. The same ol’ same ol’ crapola from you all the time.
“Even during the pandemic, the 1% got richer and the 99% lost. Hedge funds are designed to gamble on the Stock Market, and despite their protests of course they manipulate the market to their advantage. They contribute nothing to the world – no rise in standard of living for society at large, no improvement for the fauna and flora of the globe. The rage of the Hedge Fund manager Cooperman at being bested at his own game is amusing. This is exactly what they do to the common man! Gang up on a stock to make it go up or down.?
Your art is very pedestrian and common. It’s like you’ve ganged up on a stock photo and beaten it into life. Terribly poor showing, old chap. I’ll have to Executive Order your exile to Siberia, where you and your artworks belong – the worst parts of Soviet Russia. I may have dementia but even I know rubbish when I see it.