Tag: WSJ

Keith Gill Drove the GameStop Reddit Mania. He Talked to the Journal.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/keith-gill-drove-the-gamestop-reddit-mania-he-talked-to-the-journal-11611931696

Excerpt:

The investor who helped direct the world’s attention to GameStop, leading a horde of online followers in a bizarre market rally that made and lost fortunes from one day to the next, says he’s just a normal guy.

“I didn’t expect this,” said Keith Gill, 34 years old, known as “DeepF—ingValue” by fans on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum and “Dada” by his 2-year-old daughter. He said he didn’t set out to draw the attention of Congress, the Federal Reserve, hedge funds, the media, trading platforms and hundreds of thousands of investors.

“This story is so much bigger than me,” Mr. Gill told The Wall Street Journal in his first interview since the unboxing this week of a volatile new stock-market game. “I support these retail investors, their ability to make a statement.”

Author(s): Julia-Ambra Verlaine and Gunjan Banerji

Publication Date: 29 January 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/well-have-herd-immunity-by-april-11613669731

Excerpt:

Amid the dire Covid warnings, one crucial fact has been largely ignored: Cases are down 77% over the past six weeks. If a medication slashed cases by 77%, we’d call it a miracle pill. Why is the number of cases plummeting much faster than experts predicted?

In large part because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing. Testing has been capturing only from 10% to 25% of infections, depending on when during the pandemic someone got the virus. Applying a time-weighted case capture average of 1 in 6.5 to the cumulative 28 million confirmed cases would mean about 55% of Americans have natural immunity.

Now add people getting vaccinated. As of this week, 15% of Americans have received the vaccine, and the figure is rising fast. Former Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb estimates 250 million doses will have been delivered to some 150 million people by the end of March.

There is reason to think the country is racing toward an extremely low level of infection. As more people have been infected, most of whom have mild or no symptoms, there are fewer Americans left to be infected. At the current trajectory, I expect Covid will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to resume normal life.

Author(s): Marty Makary

Publication Date: 18 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

States of Growth and Decline

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/states-of-growth-and-decline-11609460276

Excerpt:

Sixteen mostly coastal and Rust Belt states lost population from July 2019 to July 2020, according to the Census Bureau’s annual population survey, and Illinois, West Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Mississippi and Vermont have shrunk since 2010. At the same time, many low-tax Sun Belt states have continued to attract newcomers.

The pandemic may have contributed to population losses in some states as city dwellers with means escaped to rental and vacation homes. Foreign immigration also fell after President Trump suspended new green cards in April. Some states, especially in the Northeast, experienced thousands of more deaths than usual due to Covid.

But the bureau’s annual population estimate captures only the first few months of the pandemic when migration generally declined as most people hunkered down. Geographic mobility increased over the summer and fall, and the pandemic seems to have accelerated migration flows that have been occurring for years. States such as New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania and California have counted on foreign immigration offsetting net out-migration. That didn’t happen this year, so many states lost population for the first time in decades.

Author(s): Editorial board

Publication Date: 31 December 2020

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

U.S. Life Expectancy Fell in First Half of 2020 as Covid-19 Deaths Surged

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-life-expectancy-fell-in-first-half-of-2020-as-covid-19-deaths-surged-11613624460

Graphic:

Excerpt:

U.S. life expectancy declined by a year during the first half of 2020, according to federal figures released Thursday that show the deadly impact of the coronavirus pandemic’s early months.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics said life expectancy at birth was 77.8 years as of the end of June based on provisional estimates. The one-year decline from the previous year was the largest drop since World War II, when life expectancy fell 2.9 years between 1942 and 1943. It put life expectancy at its lowest level in the U.S. since 2006.

“It’s very concerning when we see mortality increase to such a degree,” said Elizabeth Arias, a health scientist at the center and a co-author of the report. “It gives you a clear picture of the magnitude of the effect of the Covid pandemic.”

Author(s): Janet Adamy

Publication Date: 18 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Bitcoin Trades Above $50,000 for First Time

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-trades-above-50-000-for-first-time-11613479752?st=5sdazs17y4me06r&reflink=article_gmail_share

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Bitcoin topped $50,000 for the first time Tuesday, doubling in value in less than two months.

The digital currency traded as high as $50,584.85, before closing at $48,642.45, according to CoinDesk, up 0.95% for the day and 68% for the year, with a total market value in circulation close to $909 billion.

The $50,000 level is an “emotional level for people in the space,” said Brian Melville, head of strategy at trading firm Cumberland. But it is also a simple result of supply and demand, he added.

From August through December, about 150,000 new bitcoins were minted, he estimated. The firm calculated that about 359,000 bitcoins were bought in the same period, and that imbalance has continued in 2021. “It’s a really important metric to watch,” he added.

Author(s): Paul Vigna and Caitlin Ostroff

Publication Date: 16 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

States of Budget Surplus

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/states-of-budget-surplus-11612999662?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Excerpt:

Governors—especially from Democratic states—have been pleading revenue poverty since the pandemic began. But as we approach the anniversary of Covid-19 in America, that tall tale is becoming more difficult to sell.

Even the left-tilting media are beginning to figure out what we’ve been reporting for some time. One of our sources is Dan Clifton, of Strategas Research Partners, who has been tracking state revenue trends and Covid relief from the beginning. His latest analysis shows that state revenues have been doing far better than advertised, especially states that have kept their economies largely open.

He estimates that a majority of the 50 states are seeing revenues arrive above their pre-Covid levels despite the 2020 economic damage. The big exceptions are states that had the most restrictive business lockdowns (New York), those that rely on sales taxes and have no income tax (Florida and Texas), and those that depend on travel and tourism (Nevada).

Author(s): Editorial board

Publication Date: 10 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

How Much Does a C-Section Cost? At One Hospital, Anywhere From $6,241 to $60,584.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much-does-a-c-section-cost-at-one-hospital-anywhere-from-6-241-to-60-584-11613051137

Excerpt:

When a woman gets a caesarean section at the gleaming new Van Ness location of Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center, the price might be $6,241. Or $29,257. Or $38,264. It could even go as high as $60,584.

The rate the hospital charges depends on the insurance plan covering the birth. At the bottom end of the scale is a local health plan that serves largely Medicaid recipients. At the top are prices for women whose plans don’t have the San Francisco hospital in their insurers’ network.

The nation’s roughly 6,000 hospitals have begun to reveal the secret rates they negotiate with insurers for a range of procedures. The data offer the first full look inside the confidential deals that set healthcare rates for insurers and employers covering more than 175 million Americans. The submissions also illuminate how widely prices vary—even for the same procedure, performed in the same facility—depending on who is paying.

Author(s): Anna Wilde Mathews, Tom McGinty and Melanie Evans

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Lower-Income Covid-19 Aid Recipients Seen Boosting Consumer Spending

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lower-income-covid-19-aid-recipients-seen-boosting-consumer-spending-11613298600?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

Early signs point to an uptick in consumer spending at the start of the year, particularly by lower- and middle-income households receiving payments through the most recent Covid-19 relief package.

Spending by consumers who make less than $60,000 a year jumped by more than 20% in the week ended Jan. 10—the week after the U.S. Treasury Department began electronically sending stimulus payments of $600 per adult and $600 per child for individuals with adjusted gross incomes under $75,000—according to the research group Opportunity Insights’ tracker of figures from Affinity Solutions, which collects consumer credit- and debit-card spending data.

Author(s): Harriet Torry

Publication Date: 14 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Raise in Covid-19 Relief Bill Despite Senate Concerns

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-democrats-to-craft-covid-19-relief-bill-with-minimum-wage-increase-11613168330?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

House Democrats are preparing to stitch together a legislative version of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal next week, which will include an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour despite a second Senate Democrat opposing it this week.

House committees spent the past week shaping portions of the legislation, including the proposal to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 over four years. Early next week, the House Budget Committee is expected to assemble all the pieces into one bill, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said should pass the full House by the end of the month.

Author(s): Kristina Peterson and Andrew Restuccia

Publication Date: 12 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Robinhood’s Reckoning: Facing Life After GameStop

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/robinhoods-reckoning-can-it-survive-the-gamestop-bubble-11612547759?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

Many startup founders dream of the day their creation claims the top spot in Apple Inc.’s app store. For Vlad Tenev, Robinhood Markets Inc.’s chief executive, it was more like a nightmare.

Mr. Tenev and his co-founder, Baiju Bhatt, had set out eight years earlier to bring the stock market to a new class of investors. With engineers plucked from Facebook Inc. and other tech giants, they stripped down the trading experience and eliminated commissions, making buying a share of stock about as easy as posting a photo on Instagram.

It worked. During the pandemic, throngs of amateur investors—homebound, bored and flush with stimulus checks—opened Robinhood accounts to experience the market’s thrills. By the end of December, the firm had amassed about 20 million users, according to people close to it, and weeks later its app hit the top of download charts.

Author(s): Peter Rudegeair, Kirsten Grind and Maureen Farrell

Publication Date: 5 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

GameStop Mania Is Focus of Federal Probes Into Possible Manipulation

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-mania-is-focus-of-federal-probes-into-possible-manipulation-11613066950?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

The Justice Department’s fraud section and the San Francisco U.S. attorney’s office have sought information about the activity from brokers and social-media companies that were hubs for the trading frenzy, the people said. Prosecutors have subpoenaed information from brokers such as Robinhood Markets Inc., the popular online brokerage that many individual investors used to trade GameStop and other shares, the people said.

GameStop shares surged from about $20 to $483 over a period of two weeks in January. The stock has since fallen to around $50. It was fueled by an army of bullish individual traders exhorting one another on Reddit to buy the shares and squeeze hedge funds that bet the price would fall. Traders who bet stock prices will decline are known as short sellers.

Author(s): Dave Michaels

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

GameStop Mania Reveals Power Shift on Wall Street—and the Pros Are Reeling

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-mania-reveals-power-shift-on-wall-streetand-the-pros-are-reeling-11611774663?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

Long-held strategies such as evaluating company fundamentals have gone out the window in favor of momentum. War has broken out between professionals losing billions and the individual investors jeering at them on social media. Meanwhile, the frenzy of activity is stirring regulatory and legal concerns, as well as the attention of the Biden administration. The White House press secretary said on Wednesday that its economic team, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, is monitoring the situation.

The newbie investors are gathering on platforms such as Reddit, Discord, Facebook and Twitter . They are encouraging each other to pile into stocks, bragging about their gains and, at times, intentionally banding together to intensify losses among professional traders, who protest that social-media hordes are conspiring to move stock prices.

Author(s): Gunjan Banerji, Juliet Chung and Caitlin McCabe

Publication Date: 27 January 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal