 | | | | The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left its key overnight interest rate near zero and made no change to its monthly bond purchases, pledging again to keep those economic pillars in place until there is a full rebound from the pandemic-triggered recession. | | | | | | Dennis Dick, a professional stock trader in Las Vegas, reads the site Seeking Alpha before work and keeps up to the minute throughout the trading day by watching Twitter, but last weekend he also joined a group on the popular online discussion board Reddit "because I need to know what's going on." | | | | | | Shares of video game retailer GameStop Corp surged nearly 700% over the past week as retail investors piled in to the stock, appearing to be urged on by bullish posts in popular online forum Reddit as opposed to any fundamental changes in the company's finances or prospects. GameStop's interstellar surge has sparked calls for regulatory scrutiny. Why? | | | | | | Fiat Chrysler said on Wednesday it will plead guilty to charges it conspired with company executives to make illegal, lavish gifts to United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders and undermined workers' confidence in collective bargaining. | | | | | | Retail traders scored against professionals on Wednesday as hedge funds Citron and Melvin retreated with heavy losses on short positions in GameStop in the week-long battle between Wall Street and Main Street, with more calling for scrutiny of anonymous stock trading posts on social media. | | | | | | A surge of retail stock trading over the last year lit the fuse that sent shares of GameStop Corp rocketing higher without a clear business reason, market watchers say, squeezing hedge funds that had bet against the video game retailer and other companies that were out of favor on Wall Street. | | | | | | Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates says he has been taken aback by the volume of "crazy" and "evil" conspiracy theories about him spreading on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said on Wednesday he would like to explore what is behind them. | | | | | | European regulators on Wednesday lifted a 22-month ban on flights of the Boeing 737 MAX after a design and pilot training overhaul in the wake of crashes that killed 346 people. | | | | | | U.S. stocks dropped more than 1% on Wednesday, showing little reaction to the latest Fed statement, as major indexes were weighed down in part by a slump in Boeing and hedge funds selling off long positions to cover a short squeeze. | | | | | | Oil prices ticked up on Wednesday as a massive drawdown in U.S. crude inventories countered persistent concerns about the coronavirus pandemic continuing to hurt fuel demand. | | | | | |
