Retail Investors Take Wall Street for a Ride

Several Wall Street firms faced the prospect of massive losses this week as a result of their short positions in several stocks, most notably in GameStop Corporation. Individual investors, encouraged most notably by users on the Reddit forum, or subreddit, WallStreetBets, purchased shares in GameStop and other stocks facing short positions to punish those shorting the stock as well as provide a boost to those companies.

Short selling occurs when an investor borrows a stock from another investor or brokerage, usually for a fee, and sells it immediately after. The investor expects the stock to decrease in price, and the investor hopes to repurchase the stock and return it to the original holder. The profit to the investor is the sale price minus the repurchase price minus the borrowing fee. However, if the stock increases in value, the investor will have to repurchase the stock at a greater price than which he sold it, and the losses can be theoretically unlimited.

Several brokerages, including Robinhood, blocked purchases on Thursday for WallStreetBets’ favored stocks, prompting criticism from investors as well as government officials.

 

Protests Erupt in Russia over Poisoning and Arrest of Opposition Leader

Russian authorities have detained more than 5,000 people after demonstrations erupted across the country after opposition leader, Alexei Nalvany, was poisoned last year and arrested this month. Mysterious poisonings and assassinations have plagued opponents to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule in the past.

Nalvany was poisoned with a nerve agent in August 2020, falling ill on a flight. Nalvany recovered but was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia, accused of violating terms of a suspended jail sentence.

 

Biden Works to Advance His Agenda in His First Days

President Biden has begun pushing his agenda in his first days as president, issuing numerous executive orders and laying out his administration’s plan for a $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

Biden has already issued more than three dozen executive orders that cover issues including abortion, immigration and border security, economic regulations, COVID-19, criminal justice, and climate change. The pace of Biden’s executive orders is largely unprecedented this early in one’s presidency, with presidents previously spreading their first executive orders, especially over more controversial matters, over several months.

While Republicans have predictably criticized Biden’s orders, many of which reverse or rollback former President Trump’s own executive orders, some Democrats have also said that the administration should focus on legislative action to increase the scope of change as well as make such changes more permanent. Executive orders can easily be reversed by future administrations and cannot change or add to existing legislation.

Pushing through his agenda in Congress in the coming weeks could prove difficult for the president. He faces an evenly split Senate where Vice President Kamala Harris would cast a tie-breaking vote and a House of Representatives with a slim Democratic majority. In addition, the next few weeks are likely to be consumed with the second impeachment trial of now former President Donald Trump, who was impeached just before his term ended over his alleged role in encouraging rioters who broke into and occupied the Capitol building on January 6. Regular Senate business is likely to be postponed or curtailed during trial proceedings.

 

Joe Biden Sworn in as 46th President

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. has been sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. He takes office as the oldest president in American history after he defeated incumbent Republican Donald Trump, who conceded defeat this month.

His running mate, Kamala Harris, has become the first woman to become Vice President, as well as the first black and Asian-American to take that office. She is the second Vice President to have significant non-white ancestry, after Charles Curtis, Calvin Coolidge's vice president.

Biden emphasized unity in his inaugural speech, citing a need for a more constructive, less divisive political climate to address the challenges the country faces.