Weekly news summary for January 29 to February 4
Friday, Jan. 29, 2021: Heavily-Shorted Stocks Rise on Restriction Lift
GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and Blackberry were all up in pre-market trading after Robinhood, and other brokerages decided to withdraw restrictions on trading heavily-shorted stocks.
Following huge losses on Thursday due to the restrictions, GameStop indicated a 98% increase, while AMC Entertainment rose 53%, and BlackBerry surged 17%.
Monday, Feb. 1, 2021: Silver Hits Above $30 as Retail Traders Move On
Silver edged higher on Monday, as the frenzy in some largely shorted stocks showed signs of easing, with retail traders on social media chat boards shifting their focus on the precious metal.
Silver futures added 11% to $28.89 per ounce after briefly hitting above $30 earlier in the session, with the bulls seeing strength in the photovoltaic and electronics sectors that support the demand for the metal.
Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021: US Dollar Climbs to a Seven-Week High
The dollar climbed on Tuesday as talks over US President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package and the Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) underlined economic growth differences.
The US dollar index was up to a seven-week high, as investors reconsidered the US’s near-term expansion outlook in relation to Europe and other developed markets after the Reserve Bank of Australia’s dovish statement.
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021: Jeff Bezos to Step Down as Amazon CEO
Amazon Inc. founder Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as chief executive of the online retail giant to transition to the role of executive chair, while longtime Amazon Web Services head Andrew Jassy will take over as CEO.
The announcement was made as Amazon revealed a 44% revenue growth and more than a twofold increase in profit, as online shopping and remote working gained momentum due to the pandemic.
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021: Nokia’s Q4 Revenue and Profit Beats Forecasts
Nokia Corp. revealed forecast-beating revenue and underlying profits for the fourth quarter on Thursday as the Finnish telecom company found support on chief executive Pekka Lundmark’s strategy revamp.
Nokia’s October-December revenue dropped 5% to €6.57 billion ($7.89 billion), but was still higher than the consensus figure of €6.42 billion, while its earnings lost €0.14 per share from €0.15 a year earlier, it managed to beat the €0.11 forecast.
