The White House is staying out of the Wall Street chaos unleashed by a Reddit group.
Press secretary Jen Psaki was peppered with questions that she refused to answer directly about market volatility involving a Reddit group called WallStreetBets gathered to pull short sellers out of their positions, buying shares in video game retailer GameStop and other companies in difficulties.
The Reddit group was temporarily deprived. The trading app Robinhood and the online broker Interactive Brokers have restricted the trading of certain securities due to the recent volatility in various stocks, generating controversy.
YELLEN RECEIVED $ 800G FROM THE HEDGE FUND IN THE GAMESTOP CONTROVERSY, WHICH DOESN’T UNDERTAKE TO REFUSE
“Given all the volatility around Wall Street and GameStop, what is the Biden government doing to protect the average American investor, if there is, potentially a major market correction?” Asked CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins.
Psaki referred to it in a statement from the SEC, which said the commission was “monitoring continued market volatility”.
“In addition to just monitoring, did he talk to economic officials about what’s going on?” Collins pressed.
“He is frequently informed by his economic team,” said Psaki. “But I have nothing else to read to you.”
Psaki again pointed to the SEC’s statement when another correspondent addressed the controversy.
SURGING GAMESTOP STOCK CREATING CHAOS FOR HEDGE FUNDS
A third reporter asked Psaki if Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would refuse to advise the president on GameStop, as she received about $ 810,000 in lecture fees from Citadel, the hedge fund that saved one of the top losers in the Gamestop frenzy.
Both Citadel and Point72 injected nearly $ 3 billion into Melvin Capital, which suffered huge losses after betting on inflated stocks. The White House said on Wednesday that Yellen was monitoring the situation.
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GameStop’s stock skyrocketed from less than $ 20, closing at around $ 350 on Wednesday. The action was even more wild on Thursday: the action ranged between $ 112 and $ 483. The action closed at $ 193.60, down more than 44% – however, after hours, the frenzy started again with the action rising more than 50% and approaching $ 300 per share.
Sam Dorman of Fox News contributed to this report.