The United States Federal Reserve following its last meeting of the year on Wednesday announced another interest rate hike, this time by half a percentage point making this its seventh time this year. Furthermore, the officials have also said that the central bank will deliver more interest rate hikes in 2023, in a bid to tame decade-high inflation in the country.&nbsp;

The interest rate, which is now at its highest in the last 15 years, seems to be reducing inflation to some degree as the US CPI data shows that the annual inflation has slowed down from 7.7 per cent in October to 7.1 per cent in November. However, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the recent slowing down has not been reassuring that the fight has been won.

Why is the Fed raising the interest rates?

When an economy is booming and inflation is on the rise, an increase in the interest rates slows everything down by making borrowing more expensive and&nbsp;discouraging consumers and businesses to spend more. This decrease in spending typically slows the economy and cools down inflation.&nbsp;

These hikes are also in line with the central bank’s goal to push inflation down to two per cent. So far, the Feds have been aggressively raising the interest rate as the country continues to battle high inflation, this time around, the&nbsp;benchmark was raised&nbsp;by half a point as opposed to the string of four straight three-quarter point hikes&nbsp;in the past couple of months.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/us-federal-reserve-raises-interest-rate-by-075-again-in-a-bid-to-combat-inflation-530687">In a historic move, US Federal Reserve raises interest rate by 0.75% again</a>

Furthermore, the interest rate hike announced on Wednesday also marked the highest fed funds rate since December 2007 during the onset of the global financial crisis of 2008. However, this trend may continue for the upcoming year as it is projected that the rates would rise above five per cent by the end of next year, which is now somewhere between the 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent range.&nbsp;

What does it mean for American consumers?

The federal funds rate, set by the central bank, is the interest rate at which the commercial banks borrow and lend from one another overnight. Consequently, it directly or indirectly affects the borrowing costs for consumers and their earnings on savings accounts.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/fed-lifts-benchmark-rate-by-half-percentage-point-543120">Fed lifts benchmark rate by half percentage point</a>

As of now, this leads many Americans to lean on credit as they are affected at a time when they are facing higher prices due to inflation as well as an unprecedented rise in interest rates which has not been witnessed in the past decade or so.

Notably, the Fed does not control all interest rates; rather it's a ripple effect, which begins with the central bank raising the interest rates and others following suit. Some of these interest rates affected include mortgages, credit cards, and other loans.&nbsp;

Chief financial analyst at Bankrate, Greg McBride, said, “Credit card rates are at a record high and still increasing. Auto loan rates are at an 11-year high. Home equity lines of credit are at a 15-year high. And online savings account and CD yields haven’t been this high since 2008.”&nbsp;

The New York-based consumer financial services firm, Bankrate also noted that the average credit card rate hit a record high of 19.40 per cent (as of December 7) which is up from 16.3 per cent since the beginning of the year. Consequently, with the recent hike consumers can also witness an increase in their credit card rates within a few statements.&nbsp;

ALSO WATCH |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/world-business-watch-us-announces-7th-interest-rate-hike-of-2022-543170">World Business Watch: U.S. announces 7th interest rate hike of 2022</a>

Therefore, McBride suggests transferring any balances on the credit cards to a zero-rate balance transfer card which locks in a zero rate between a year and 21 months, this would “insulate you from rate hikes” giving the consumer a “clear runway” to pay off their debt. He added, “Less debt and more savings will enable you to better weather rising interest rates, and is especially valuable if the economy sours.”

As for mortgages, the recent Fed hike would affect millions. Freddie Mac, an enterprise promoting home lending, said that with every percentage point increase in mortgage rates, which is eventually affected by the increase in the central bank’s benchmark rate, households which can afford a $400,000 mortgage decline by three to four million.&nbsp;

Furthermore, according to the federally funded company, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average was 6.33 per cent by the end of the second week of December which is more than double the same time last year, for the first time in US history. This comes as mortgage rates have been rising over the past year or so which has also affected at least 15 million potential homebuyers.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/us-securities-regulator-issue-new-guidelines-on-disclosing-cryptocurrency-risks-541559">US securities regulator issues new guidelines for firms, makes cryptocurrency risk disclosure must</a>

The 30-year average at one point had peaked above seven per cent, however, the decrease is not enough to help buyer affordability, said McBride. Furthermore, with mortgage rates rising faster than home prices dropping, Americans will be forced to spend more which could add to the financial stress of high inflation, said a report by NBC. Therefore, with more hikes in the Fed interest rate on the horizon, mortgage rates may climb further.&nbsp;

How has the market reacted to the latest hike?

Interest rate hikes typically create volatility in the stock market and this time was no different. Following the announcement, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 142.29 points or 0.42 per cent, while S&amp;P 500 lost 24.33 points or 0.61 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 85.93 points, or 0.76 per cent, reported Reuters.&nbsp;

Notably, three major averages on Wall Street might witness a yearly decline for the first time since 2018 as well as their biggest annual percentage decline since the financial crisis of 2008. This comes as nearly all 11 major S&amp;P 500 sectors ended in negatives on Wednesday with healthcare being an exception, while financials were down 1.29 per cent making it the worst performing sector.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/dollar-gains-broadly-as-upbeat-us-data-muddles-fed-rate-hike-views-540382">Dollar gains broadly as upbeat US data muddles Fed rate hike views</a> 
 
Meanwhile, the condition of Asian stocks was no better, on Thursday, following the announcement and declines on Wall Street, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.42 per cent, while Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 fell 0.62 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng witnessed a decline of 1.13 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 1.32 per cent.&nbsp;

The decline has also been attributed to a rise in COVID-19 cases in China and crude oil’s downturn after strong gains a day prior. Additionally, while Beijing moves to open its economy after lifting its stringent zero-Covid restrictions, the slowed factory output and fewer retail sales in November continued to affect its outlook.&nbsp;

What has the Fed forecasted for the upcoming year?

On Wednesday, following the announcement of the interest rate hike, Powell also said that more interest rate hikes are on the horizon for the upcoming year while the US economy is in the midst of possibly slipping into recession. The Fed officials also projected a rise in the unemployment rate from the current 3.6 per cent to 4.6 per cent for the upcoming year. &nbsp;

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/poll-shows-that-the-us-economy-is-headed-for-a-shallow-recession-heres-what-it-means-541596">Poll shows that the US economy is headed for a shallow recession: Here’s what it means</a>

Currently, the rate of unemployment is increasing by 0.5 per cent annually and by the end of 2023, it would be well beyond what has historically been associated with recession. However, Powell has said that they don’t “talk about this kind of recession, that kind of a recession. We just make these forecasts.”

During the press conference, following the meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), he also said that there is no “completely painless way to restore price stability” and they are doing the best they can. However, even with the recent aggressive hikes, inflation remains at least three times higher than their target and they speculate it will take at least three years for things to fall back.&nbsp;

ALSO WATCH |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/fitch-inflation-and-fed-hikes-to-drive-us-economy-into-recession-526566">Fitch: Inflation and fed hikes to drive US economy into recession</a>

“The inflation data received so far in October and November show a welcome reduction in the pace of price increases, but it will take substantially more evidence to give confidence inflation is on a sustained downward path,” said Powell.&nbsp; 
 
(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp; 
 
&nbsp;

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The United States Federal Reserve following its last meeting of the year on Wednesday announced another interest rate hike, this time by half a percentage point making this its seventh time this year.

The United States Federal Reserve following its last meeting of the year on Wednesday announced another interest rate hike, this time by half a percentage point making this its seventh time this year. Furthermore, the officials have also said that the central bank will deliver more interest rate hikes in 2023, in a bid to tame decade-high inflation in the country. The interest rate, which is now at its highest in the last 15 years, seems to be reducing inflation to some degree as the US CPI data shows that the annual inflation has slowed down from 7.7 per cent in October to 7.1 per cent in November. However, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the recent slowing down has not been reassuring that the fight has been won. Why is the Fed raising the interest rates? When an economy is booming and inflation is on the rise, an increase in the interest rates slows everything down by making borrowing more expensive and discouraging consumers and businesses to spend more. This decrease in spending typically slows the economy and cools down inflation. These hikes are also in line with the central bank’s goal to push inflation down to two per cent. So far, the Feds have been aggressively raising the interest rate as the country continues to battle high inflation, this time around, the benchmark was raised by half a point as opposed to the string of four straight three-quarter point hikes in the past couple of months. ALSO READ | In a historic move, US Federal Reserve raises interest rate by 0.75% again Furthermore, the interest rate hike announced on Wednesday also marked the highest fed funds rate since December 2007 during the onset of the global financial crisis of 2008. However, this trend may continue for the upcoming year as it is projected that the rates would rise above five per cent by the end of next year, which is now somewhere between the 4.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent range. What does it mean for American consumers? The federal funds rate, set by the central bank, is the interest rate at which the commercial banks borrow and lend from one another overnight. Consequently, it directly or indirectly affects the borrowing costs for consumers and their earnings on savings accounts. ALSO READ | Fed lifts benchmark rate by half percentage point As of now, this leads many Americans to lean on credit as they are affected at a time when they are facing higher prices due to inflation as well as an unprecedented rise in interest rates which has not been witnessed in the past decade or so. Notably, the Fed does not control all interest rates; rather it's a ripple effect, which begins with the central bank raising the interest rates and others following suit. Some of these interest rates affected include mortgages, credit cards, and other loans. Chief financial analyst at Bankrate, Greg McBride, said, “Credit card rates are at a record high and still increasing. Auto loan rates are at an 11-year high. Home equity lines of credit are at a 15-year high. And online savings account and CD yields haven’t been this high since 2008.” The New York-based consumer financial services firm, Bankrate also noted that the average credit card rate hit a record high of 19.40 per cent (as of December 7) which is up from 16.3 per cent since the beginning of the year. Consequently, with the recent hike consumers can also witness an increase in their credit card rates within a few statements. ALSO WATCH | World Business Watch: U.S. announces 7th interest rate hike of 2022 Therefore, McBride suggests transferring any balances on the credit cards to a zero-rate balance transfer card which locks in a zero rate between a year and 21 months, this would “insulate you from rate hikes” giving the consumer a “clear runway” to pay off their debt. He added, “Less debt and more savings will enable you to better weather rising interest rates, and is especially valuable if the economy sours.” As for mortgages, the recent Fed hike would affect millions. Freddie Mac, an enterprise promoting home lending, said that with every percentage point increase in mortgage rates, which is eventually affected by the increase in the central bank’s benchmark rate, households which can afford a $400,000 mortgage decline by three to four million. Furthermore, according to the federally funded company, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average was 6.33 per cent by the end of the second week of December which is more than double the same time last year, for the first time in US history. This comes as mortgage rates have been rising over the past year or so which has also affected at least 15 million potential homebuyers. ALSO READ | US securities regulator issues new guidelines for firms, makes cryptocurrency risk disclosure must The 30-year average at one point had peaked above seven per cent, however, the decrease is not enough to help buyer affordability, said McBride. Furthermore, with mortgage rates rising faster than home prices dropping, Americans will be forced to spend more which could add to the financial stress of high inflation, said a report by NBC. Therefore, with more hikes in the Fed interest rate on the horizon, mortgage rates may climb further. How has the market reacted to the latest hike? Interest rate hikes typically create volatility in the stock market and this time was no different. Following the announcement, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 142.29 points or 0.42 per cent, while S&P 500 lost 24.33 points or 0.61 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 85.93 points, or 0.76 per cent, reported Reuters. Notably, three major averages on Wall Street might witness a yearly decline for the first time since 2018 as well as their biggest annual percentage decline since the financial crisis of 2008. This comes as nearly all 11 major S&P 500 sectors ended in negatives on Wednesday with healthcare being an exception, while financials were down 1.29 per cent making it the worst performing sector. ALSO READ | Dollar gains broadly as upbeat US data muddles Fed rate hike views Meanwhile, the condition of Asian stocks was no better, on Thursday, following the announcement and declines on Wall Street, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.42 per cent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.62 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng witnessed a decline of 1.13 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 1.32 per cent. The decline has also been attributed to a rise in COVID-19 cases in China and crude oil’s downturn after strong gains a day prior. Additionally, while Beijing moves to open its economy after lifting its stringent zero-Covid restrictions, the slowed factory output and fewer retail sales in November continued to affect its outlook. What has the Fed forecasted for the upcoming year? On Wednesday, following the announcement of the interest rate hike, Powell also said that more interest rate hikes are on the horizon for the upcoming year while the US economy is in the midst of possibly slipping into recession. The Fed officials also projected a rise in the unemployment rate from the current 3.6 per cent to 4.6 per cent for the upcoming year. ALSO READ | Poll shows that the US economy is headed for a shallow recession: Here’s what it means Currently, the rate of unemployment is increasing by 0.5 per cent annually and by the end of 2023, it would be well beyond what has historically been associated with recession. However, Powell has said that they don’t “talk about this kind of recession, that kind of a recession. We just make these forecasts.” During the press conference, following the meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), he also said that there is no “completely painless way to restore price stability” and they are doing the best they can. However, even with the recent aggressive hikes, inflation remains at least three times higher than their target and they speculate it will take at least three years for things to fall back. ALSO WATCH | Fitch: Inflation and fed hikes to drive US economy into recession “The inflation data received so far in October and November show a welcome reduction in the pace of price increases, but it will take substantially more evidence to give confidence inflation is on a sustained downward path,” said Powell. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

US Federal Reserve raises interest rate for 7th time this year: Here’s what it means

Goldman Sachs aims to cut at least a few hundred more jobs as the Wall Street titan restructures its struggling consumer business and braces for an uncertain economy in the year ahead.

World Business Watch: Goldman Sachs to cut hundreds more jobs as consumer unit scaled back

Austerity seems to be the pointer in the rule book of the gold global bank - Goldman Sachs and this will translate into reduction in bonuses of traders. Cost-cutting pressures will eat into the bonuses of many of the Goldman Sachs traders this year even as the bank is expecting a strong revenue growth.

WION Dispatch: Goldman Sachs executives face bonus cuts; 20% decline in bonuses for Wall St bankers

It is not just tech giants like Meta and Twitter that are going for massive lay-offs, some big Wall Street banks are also cutting hundreds of jobs. Barclays has got about 200 across its banking and trading desks this week.

WION Business News | Wall Street lay-offs: Citigroup, Barclays cut hundreds of jobs

Wall Street major Morgan Stanley is expected to start a fresh round of layoffs globally in the coming weeks, as dealmaking business takes a hit due to rising inflation and an economic downturn.

Morgan Stanley to reduce employee headcount in coming weeks as dealmaking slows

US lawmakers have slammed the Wall Street executives over their plan to attend Hong Kong Summit. As per experts, US presence could be used to increase foreign investment.

WION Fineprint| Wall Street slammed over plan to attend Hong Kong Summit

On Friday, global and European markets increased as Wall Street continued to rise amid expectations that certain central banks will scale down their rate hikes.&nbsp;

A rising US&nbsp;dollar reduced the value of commodities. Following the expansion of Covid limitations by top crude importer China, oil prices fell.&nbsp;

The STOXX index for Europe recovered from session lows of as much as 1.1 per cent&nbsp;to close up 0.1 per cent&nbsp;at a five-week high. Prior to that, Amazon's disappointing estimates on Thursday hurt the tech sector in Europe, while the possibility of further Covid&nbsp;restrictions in China hurt mining and oil companies.

The 47-country MSCI main global index increased by 0.92 per cent. It gained for a second week in a row as investors processed conflicting earnings and economic data.&nbsp;

By 1:52 pm&nbsp;ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had increased by 2.43 per cent. (1752 GMT). The Nasdaq Composite increased 2.42 per cent&nbsp;and the S&amp;P 500 increased 2.14 per cent, with advances in Apple due to positive results countering Amazon's sombre warning.&nbsp;

Also Read:<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/let-the-good-times-roll-musk-says-after-becoming-the-new-twitter-boss-529241">&nbsp;‘Let the good times roll’: Musk says after becoming the new Twitter boss</a>

"This stock market clearly wants to go higher and is growing confident that next week's Fed-driven fireworks will include the beginning of a deliberation to tighten at a slower pace," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

Consumer spending in the United States rose more than anticipated in September, and the Federal Reserve is on course to raise interest rates by 75 basis points for the fourth time this year. At the same time, underlying inflation pressures continued to soar.

(with inputs from agencies)

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On Friday, global and European markets increased as Wall Street continued to rise amid expectations that certain central banks will scale down their rate hikes. A rising US dollar reduced the value of commodities.

On Friday, global and European markets increased as Wall Street continued to rise amid expectations that certain central banks will scale down their rate hikes. A rising US dollar reduced the value of commodities. Following the expansion of Covid limitations by top crude importer China, oil prices fell. The STOXX index for Europe recovered from session lows of as much as 1.1 per cent to close up 0.1 per cent at a five-week high. Prior to that, Amazon's disappointing estimates on Thursday hurt the tech sector in Europe, while the possibility of further Covid restrictions in China hurt mining and oil companies. The 47-country MSCI main global index increased by 0.92 per cent. It gained for a second week in a row as investors processed conflicting earnings and economic data. By 1:52 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had increased by 2.43 per cent. (1752 GMT). The Nasdaq Composite increased 2.42 per cent and the S&P 500 increased 2.14 per cent, with advances in Apple due to positive results countering Amazon's sombre warning. Also Read: ‘Let the good times roll’: Musk says after becoming the new Twitter boss "This stock market clearly wants to go higher and is growing confident that next week's Fed-driven fireworks will include the beginning of a deliberation to tighten at a slower pace," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York. Consumer spending in the United States rose more than anticipated in September, and the Federal Reserve is on course to raise interest rates by 75 basis points for the fourth time this year. At the same time, underlying inflation pressures continued to soar. (with inputs from agencies)

Wall Street's upswing lifts global and European markets while oil prices decline

Many financial institutions have predicted that the world is headed for another recession.

As rising inflation leads to a hike in interest rates, companies across the world have announced a freeze in hiring and planning to downsize their staff.

On Tuesday, the United Nations warned of an impending global slowdown that may likely be worse than the financial crisis in 2008 and the COVID-19 shock in 2020.

In its Trade and Development Report 2022, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned that the world is “on the edge of a recession” and developing nations like those in Asia could bear the brunt of it.

It said that monetary and fiscal policies in advanced economies — including continued interest rate hikes — could push the world towards a global recession and stagnation.

Economists have given a myriad of reasons for the current recession predictions. Here are some of the five key indicators that suggest a lull in the economy worldwide.

US dollar

The US dollar has been surging for the past few months. It’s now the strongest it has been in two decades, and experts believe the value will grow even stronger in the coming days.

But this surge in the value of the power of the greenback is agitating the economies and markets worldwide, and creating winners and losers.

Though a strong dollar bodes well for the Americans, the consequences are faced by other countries, especially the developing ones.

The rise of US dollar has led to a decline in the value of UK pound, the euro, China’s yuan, Japan’s yen, India’s rupee and many others.

As a result, it makes it more expensive for these nations to import essential items like food and fuel.

In response, central banks in a bid to fight surging inflation and to shore up the value of their own currencies end up raising rates higher

US economy faltering

The key driver of the US economy is shopping. They live by the motto ‘shop till you drop’.

But recently, their spending amount has taken a massive hit. And the reason is linked to the US Fed rate hike.

The central bank has raised interest rates at a historic pace, making mortgage rates to the highest level in decades, and clipping the wings of the business. &nbsp;

Though the Fed hikes rates to taper down inflation, it gives a short-term shock to consumers whose borrowing power decreases for a brief period.

Corporate America tightens purse strings

Though the business prospered in 2020 despite the Covid shocks thanks to the American spenders, it has not been smooth sailing for the past few months, especially in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports CNN.

In mid-September, FedEx, which operates in more than 200 countries and whose performance signals the strength of the market, revised its outlook.

It warned that demand was softening, and earnings were likely to take a hit by more than 40 per cent.

Moreover, last week, Apple cut back on its production of the iPhone 14 after assessing subdued demand. &nbsp;The move took a toll on its shares as it fell by 4 per cent.

Bear makes an entry into Wall Street

According to CNN, Wall Street is now on track for its worst year since 2008.

After inflation set in, the Fed raised interest rates giving a brutal blow to the stock market.

The S&amp;P 500, the broadest measure of Wall Street —&nbsp;and the index responsible for the bulk of Americans’ 401(k)s — is down nearly 24 per cent for the year. Moreover, all three major US indexes are&nbsp;in bear markets— down at least 20 per cent from their most recent highs.

A similar situation has arisen in Europe, where the bond yields are spiking as central banks follow the Fed’s lead in raising rates to shore up their own currencies.

War and inflation

The Russia-Ukraine war and the resultant inflation spike have caused the most harm to the people of the United Kingdom&nbsp;

The UK has been struggling with surging prices since COVID-19, followed by the trade disruptions created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

After the West imposed sanctions on Russian gas, energy prices have soared and supplies have dwindled.

The Britishers, who are grappling with the cost-of-living crisis with 10 per cent inflation, are raising concerns over higher borrowing costs that make millions of homebuyers’ monthly mortgage payments go up by hundreds or even thousands of pounds, reports CNN.

When would recession hit?

While there is a general consensus on the impending global recession, many analysts predict it to happen sometime in 2023. But, no one has predicted how severe it will be or how long it will last.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Many financial institutions have predicted that the world is headed for another recession. As rising inflation leads to a hike in interest rates, companies across the world have announced a freeze in hiring and planning to downsize their staff.

Many financial institutions have predicted that the world is headed for another recession. As rising inflation leads to a hike in interest rates, companies across the world have announced a freeze in hiring and planning to downsize their staff. On Tuesday, the United Nations warned of an impending global slowdown that may likely be worse than the financial crisis in 2008 and the COVID-19 shock in 2020. In its Trade and Development Report 2022, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned that the world is “on the edge of a recession” and developing nations like those in Asia could bear the brunt of it. It said that monetary and fiscal policies in advanced economies — including continued interest rate hikes — could push the world towards a global recession and stagnation. Economists have given a myriad of reasons for the current recession predictions. Here are some of the five key indicators that suggest a lull in the economy worldwide. US dollar The US dollar has been surging for the past few months. It’s now the strongest it has been in two decades, and experts believe the value will grow even stronger in the coming days. But this surge in the value of the power of the greenback is agitating the economies and markets worldwide, and creating winners and losers. Though a strong dollar bodes well for the Americans, the consequences are faced by other countries, especially the developing ones. The rise of US dollar has led to a decline in the value of UK pound, the euro, China’s yuan, Japan’s yen, India’s rupee and many others. As a result, it makes it more expensive for these nations to import essential items like food and fuel. In response, central banks in a bid to fight surging inflation and to shore up the value of their own currencies end up raising rates higher US economy faltering The key driver of the US economy is shopping. They live by the motto ‘shop till you drop’. But recently, their spending amount has taken a massive hit. And the reason is linked to the US Fed rate hike. The central bank has raised interest rates at a historic pace, making mortgage rates to the highest level in decades, and clipping the wings of the business. Though the Fed hikes rates to taper down inflation, it gives a short-term shock to consumers whose borrowing power decreases for a brief period. Corporate America tightens purse strings Though the business prospered in 2020 despite the Covid shocks thanks to the American spenders, it has not been smooth sailing for the past few months, especially in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports CNN. In mid-September, FedEx, which operates in more than 200 countries and whose performance signals the strength of the market, revised its outlook. It warned that demand was softening, and earnings were likely to take a hit by more than 40 per cent. Moreover, last week, Apple cut back on its production of the iPhone 14 after assessing subdued demand. The move took a toll on its shares as it fell by 4 per cent. Bear makes an entry into Wall Street According to CNN, Wall Street is now on track for its worst year since 2008. After inflation set in, the Fed raised interest rates giving a brutal blow to the stock market. The S&P 500, the broadest measure of Wall Street — and the index responsible for the bulk of Americans’ 401(k)s — is down nearly 24 per cent for the year. Moreover, all three major US indexes are in bear markets— down at least 20 per cent from their most recent highs. A similar situation has arisen in Europe, where the bond yields are spiking as central banks follow the Fed’s lead in raising rates to shore up their own currencies. War and inflation The Russia-Ukraine war and the resultant inflation spike have caused the most harm to the people of the United Kingdom The UK has been struggling with surging prices since COVID-19, followed by the trade disruptions created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After the West imposed sanctions on Russian gas, energy prices have soared and supplies have dwindled. The Britishers, who are grappling with the cost-of-living crisis with 10 per cent inflation, are raising concerns over higher borrowing costs that make millions of homebuyers’ monthly mortgage payments go up by hundreds or even thousands of pounds, reports CNN. When would recession hit? While there is a general consensus on the impending global recession, many analysts predict it to happen sometime in 2023. But, no one has predicted how severe it will be or how long it will last. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE:

Five signs why global economy is headed for recession

US financial watchdogs have fined some of Wall Street's biggest companies a total of $1.8bn after it was found that the staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps, BBC reported. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says the investigation uncovered "pervasive off-channel communications". Barclays, UBS and Goldman Sachs were among the 16 firms named by regulators.

The SEC issued statements about the fines totalling $1.1 billion, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it had imposed $710 million of penalties.

"Finance, ultimately, depends on trust. By failing to honour their recordkeeping and books-and-records obligations, the market participants we have charged today have failed to maintain that trust," SEC chair Gary Gensler said.

It further said that from January 2018 through September 2021, bank workers routinely talked to their colleagues, clients and other third party advisers through apps on their personal devices, such as text messages and WhatsApp.

Most of those chats weren't preserved either, violating federal rules that require broker-dealers and other financial institutions to keep records of business communications. In absence of records, regulators couldn't ensure compliance with key rules and gather evidence in unrelated probes, the agencies said.

Some bankers have lost their jobs following the investigation. It has also forced companies to introduce tough new measures to stamp out unauthorised use of apps.

(With inputs from agencies)

&nbsp;

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US financial watchdogs have fined some of Wall Street's biggest companies a total of $1.8bn after it was found that the staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps, BBC reported.

US financial watchdogs have fined some of Wall Street's biggest companies a total of $1.8bn after it was found that the staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps, BBC reported. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says the investigation uncovered "pervasive off-channel communications". Barclays, UBS and Goldman Sachs were among the 16 firms named by regulators. The SEC issued statements about the fines totalling $1.1 billion, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it had imposed $710 million of penalties. "Finance, ultimately, depends on trust. By failing to honour their recordkeeping and books-and-records obligations, the market participants we have charged today have failed to maintain that trust," SEC chair Gary Gensler said. It further said that from January 2018 through September 2021, bank workers routinely talked to their colleagues, clients and other third party advisers through apps on their personal devices, such as text messages and WhatsApp. Most of those chats weren't preserved either, violating federal rules that require broker-dealers and other financial institutions to keep records of business communications. In absence of records, regulators couldn't ensure compliance with key rules and gather evidence in unrelated probes, the agencies said. Some bankers have lost their jobs following the investigation. It has also forced companies to introduce tough new measures to stamp out unauthorised use of apps. (With inputs from agencies)

16 Wall Street firms fined $1.8bn over staff indulging in 'off-channel communications'

Wall Street’s major indexes ended a choppy session on Monday as investors looked to this week’s policy meeting at the Federal Reserve and how aggressively it will raise prices.

World Business Watch: Wall Street ends choppy session higher with firm focus on Fed

Ever since the Consumer Price Index report was released, the US stock market has continued to take a beating. On Friday, according to a Reuters report, Wall Street stumbled to its two-month low as fears of a global recession loomed amid a slowdown.

Ever since the Consumer Price Index report was released, the US stock market has continued to take a beating. On Friday, according to a Reuters report, Wall Street stumbled to its two-month low as fears of a global recession loomed amid a slowdown. Reportedly, all three major US stock indices fell well below their numbers set in the month of June. The Dow dropped 139. 40 points to close at 30,822 while S&P 500 closed the week by siding 0.72 per cent. Lastly, Nasdaq Composite slide 0.9 per cent to finish at 11,448. "It’s been a tough week. It feels like Halloween came early. We are facing this toxic brew of high inflation, high-interest rates and low growth, which isn’t good for stock or bond markets." said David Carter, managing director of JP Morgan. It is pertinent to note that the fear of global slowdown amongst the stock market investors was expedited after FedEx released a dystopian earning report. The company's revenue fell about $300 million below company forecasts which hastened the warning that a slowdown was impending. WATCH | World Business Watch: FedEx shares fall as global volume plunge × Moreover, to get ahead of the curve, banking major Goldman Sachs is planning to fire hundreds of its employees as early as next week. Reportedly, the layoffs will mark the resumption of its annual practice which was halted the last two years due to the pandemic. It is pertinent to note that on the day the CPI report showed inflation hitting a worse-than-expected mark of '8.3' per cent, US President Joe Biden threw an 'inflation reduction' party at his official residence at the White House. "Exactly four weeks ago, I signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. So today, we're celebrating. Tune in at 3 PM ET as I deliver remarks and welcome the leaders and advocates who made it happen to the People's House." tweeted President Biden from his official Twitter account. Read more: Biden parties as stock market tumbles, inflation worsens and Fed indicates rate hike Experts believe that after inflation numbers continued to hit a 40-year record high, the US central bank, the Federal Reserve may be hiking interest rates for a record fifth time this year, next week. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE:

As recession fears mount, Wall Street tumbles to a two-month low

5 Chinese state-owned companies have decided to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. More Chinese companies could follow suit. Is this the beginning of a decoupling? Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: 5 Chinese companies to leave wall street

Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings on Thursday that beat Wall Street expectations for sales and profit but showed slowing growth for the iPhone maker. Apple stock rose over 3% in extended trading.

iPhone sales rise by 3% in 3rd quarter despite glum economy

In a world which is still feeling the after-effects of a deadly global pandemic and simultaneously witnessing a geopolitical modern war unfold; investors everywhere are assessing the long-term consequences of these events.

In a world which is still feeling the after-effects of a deadly global pandemic and simultaneously witnessing a geopolitical modern war unfold; investors everywhere are assessing the long-term consequences of these events. The concoction of the aforementioned circumstances has led experts to cast a warning that we stand at the cusp of a global recession, primarily due to rising inflation and the destruction of supply chains. Now, three Wall Street leaders have laid down three warning signs that could be the precursor to an economic downturn. One, that is expected to dwarf 'The Great Recession' of 2008. A deadlier future pandemic Sam Bankman-Fried, Co-founder, FTX believes that the world is not prepared to handle yet another future pandemic. Especially, one, that is much more deadly and has a higher fatality rate. COVID-19 showed the absolute worst of humankind as people fought over trivial matters and remained divided on the best way to fight the invisible enemy. "There was no coordination in terms of what the response should be. If you look at where we are today, we have not started putting any of those processes in place that we should have had last time," said Sam. Sam considers that Covid has had a massive negative impact on the world economy. Sky-high inflation, rising interest rates and limping stock market are a few of the indicators that our Covid mitigation programmes did more harm than good. Thus, if a future pandemic was to arrive just now, the economic order of the world will go for a toss as we are not remotely prepared. Read More: Major economies to enter recession in the next 12 months: Report Labour shortage Meanwhile, Abby Joseph Cohen, a Columbia Business School professor and former senior investment strategist at Goldman Sachs is of the view that a reduction in the labour force, whether it be the service sector or research and development field, could cause the next big financial catastrophe. Citing the example of America, Cohen remarked that the country was built on the foundations laid by the immigrants. These foreigners came to American soil, made it their own and contributed to the growth story, which allowed America's GDP to dwarf that of nearly every nation on the planet, for close to a century. However, the recent trend of not being welcome enough towards immigrants had had a negative effect. Not only the economy is shrinking in real time with high inflation, but the lack of labour strength also means that there will be no future scientists, doctors or engineers coming to the fore. Cohen is worried that the pipeline is not being created. The fabled 'American Dream' is fading as successive generations are finding it extremely hard to do better than their predecessors. The wages have not risen, and the median income has not kept up with inflation. Ultimately, the middle class is finding it difficult to maintain stability. And if the health of the middle class deteriorates, a country can fall apart on seams, says Cohen. "What has happened is that this rise in inflation has pulled apart the curtains. Now we see much more clearly where these problems are and where the issues are." Deglobalisation of the world order Lastly, Ken Moelis, Founder and CEO, Moelis & Co. is of the view that deglobalisation of the planet, which has already started, may affect the countries that do not have ample resources to sustain on their own. Earlier, a country like Germany had outsourced everything, right from its military to the USA to financial management to the EU and energy supply as well as end market to Russia and China respectively. However, in the immediate aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and a sluggish Chinese economy, Berlin has been seen huffing and puffing. While Germany still may have the resources to get back on its feet, owing to its developed nation status, other small nations, particularly the African nations, may not have the same luxury. These countries have grown in a major way due to globalisation. However, if the cycle stops, they may soon go bust. "Each country will move to protect their own citizens. And as a result, they might deglobalize ahead of you," stated Ken. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE:

Global recession incoming? Three Wall Street leaders enlist possible reasons for the economic doomsday

Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday, finishing solidly lower after US data showed persistently high inflation pinching consumer spending. The broad-based S&amp;P 500 finished at 3,785.38, down 0.9 per cent for the day and a loss of more than 16 per cent for the last six months, the worst first half of a year since 1970. 
&nbsp; 
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.8 per cent to 30,775.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.3 per cent to 11,028.74. The market has fallen most of the year, breaking the trend only in late March and for other brief stretches in a reasonably steady retreat. 
&nbsp; 
A series of bad inflation readings have prompted the Federal Reserve to undertake increasingly aggressive measures to try to rein in growth and pricing pressures. Two weeks ago, the central bank enacted a supersized three-quarter of a point interest rate hike, the biggest increase in nearly 30 years. Markets are weighing whether to expect the same thing in July. 
&nbsp; 
Commerce Department data showed spending rose just 0.2 per cent in May, less than half the increase in April and part of a steady downward drift as consumers pull back amid surging prices. The report also showed that the price index rose 6.3 per cent compared to May 2021, the same annual pace as in the prior month -- a positive sign in the Federal Reserve's battle against inflation.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iskon-temple-in-northern-island-becomes-sanctuary-for-devotees-fleeing-ukraine-493532">ISKCON temple in Northern Ireland becomes sanctuary for devotees fleeing Ukraine</a> 
&nbsp; 
But when inflation is taken into account, the data show a decline in real consumer spending. 
&nbsp; 
As reported by AFP, Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management said, "Inflation came in a little bit better than expected today but probably not good enough to prevent the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates 75 basis points at the next meeting." 
&nbsp; 
"At the same time we had the personal spending coming in negative for the month in real terms," Cahill said. "People are starting to get the sense that perhaps the Federal Reserve is going to push the economy into recession," he added. 
&nbsp; 
(with inputs from agencies) 
&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

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Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday, finishing solidly lower after US data showed persistently high inflation pinching consumer spending. The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,785.

Wall Street stocks fell on Thursday, finishing solidly lower after US data showed persistently high inflation pinching consumer spending. The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,785.38, down 0.9 per cent for the day and a loss of more than 16 per cent for the last six months, the worst first half of a year since 1970. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.8 per cent to 30,775.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.3 per cent to 11,028.74. The market has fallen most of the year, breaking the trend only in late March and for other brief stretches in a reasonably steady retreat. A series of bad inflation readings have prompted the Federal Reserve to undertake increasingly aggressive measures to try to rein in growth and pricing pressures. Two weeks ago, the central bank enacted a supersized three-quarter of a point interest rate hike, the biggest increase in nearly 30 years. Markets are weighing whether to expect the same thing in July. Commerce Department data showed spending rose just 0.2 per cent in May, less than half the increase in April and part of a steady downward drift as consumers pull back amid surging prices. The report also showed that the price index rose 6.3 per cent compared to May 2021, the same annual pace as in the prior month -- a positive sign in the Federal Reserve's battle against inflation. Also Read: ISKCON temple in Northern Ireland becomes sanctuary for devotees fleeing Ukraine But when inflation is taken into account, the data show a decline in real consumer spending. As reported by AFP, Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management said, "Inflation came in a little bit better than expected today but probably not good enough to prevent the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates 75 basis points at the next meeting." "At the same time we had the personal spending coming in negative for the month in real terms," Cahill said. "People are starting to get the sense that perhaps the Federal Reserve is going to push the economy into recession," he added. (with inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Wall Street stocks fall as S&P 500 concludes worst H1 class shares since 1970

Today is the last trading day of the week and clearly, it's not going to be as good as it was last year. Yesterday, US stock markets closed sharply lower in a broad sell-off.

Wall Street plunges as recession fear grows

A bear market is growling on Wall Street. S&P 500 has confirmed the presence of a bear market. Inflation fears are dragging S&P 500 into a bear market.

Bear market growls on Wall Street | Recession next?

Stock markets plunged deeper into the red on Friday after data showed US inflation soared to the highest level in more than 40 years in May, far outpacing analyst's&nbsp;expectations.&nbsp;

On&nbsp;Wall&nbsp;Street, stocks were deep in negative territory after US government data showed inflation reached 8.6 percent in the 12 months ended in May, the steepest rise in consumer prices since December 1981, on the back of surging energy and food prices.

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The S&amp;P 500 dropped 2.9%, closing out its ninth losing week in the last 10.

The data had been eagerly anticipated as investors hungrily look for clues as to the direction of US interest rates at next week's meeting of the Federal Reserve.

"The market had expected that we'd see at least a plateauing or flattening out of inflation but it seems that inflation pressures continue to build and we've seen a further broadening of price pressures", said Shaun Osborne, a foreign exchange specialist at Scotiabank.&nbsp;

"So it seems more entrenched, stickier kind of price or inflation situation", he further added.

Watch |&nbsp;Bitcoin: World's largest cryptocurrency drops as Wall Street shares tumble

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Osborne said the report will encourage investor debate on whether the US central bank will shift to a 75 basis point interest rate hike next week instead of the planned half-point increase.

But Osborne believes the Fed will go with its original plan, considering a bigger increase would look "panicky".

Adding to the unease was news that officials in China had once again locked down millions of people for Covid testing owing to another flare-up in cases, dealing a blow to hopes for an economic reopening.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/dollar-gains-as-us-stocks-fall-ecb-decision-on-tap-486375">Dollar gains as US stocks fall, ECB decision on tap</a>

"Warning signs about the economy are emerging as weekly (US) jobless claims are starting to rise, China's Covid situation will prove troublesome for supply chains over the next couple of quarters, and as inflationary pressures broaden and show no sign of easing", said Edward Moya, analyst at OANDA trading group.

"It seems reductions in global growth forecasts will become a steady theme over the next few months and that should complicate how much more tightening we see from central banks", he said.

The World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development this week each lowered their global economic growth forecasts for 2022.

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Stock markets plunged deeper into the red on Friday after data showed US inflation soared to the highest level in more than 40 years in May, far outpacing analyst's expectations.

Stock markets plunged deeper into the red on Friday after data showed US inflation soared to the highest level in more than 40 years in May, far outpacing analyst's expectations. On Wall Street, stocks were deep in negative territory after US government data showed inflation reached 8.6 percent in the 12 months ended in May, the steepest rise in consumer prices since December 1981, on the back of surging energy and food prices. Also read | Asian shares fall as oil lingers above USD 120, yen sinks The S&P 500 dropped 2.9%, closing out its ninth losing week in the last 10. The data had been eagerly anticipated as investors hungrily look for clues as to the direction of US interest rates at next week's meeting of the Federal Reserve. "The market had expected that we'd see at least a plateauing or flattening out of inflation but it seems that inflation pressures continue to build and we've seen a further broadening of price pressures", said Shaun Osborne, a foreign exchange specialist at Scotiabank. "So it seems more entrenched, stickier kind of price or inflation situation", he further added. Watch | Bitcoin: World's largest cryptocurrency drops as Wall Street shares tumble Osborne said the report will encourage investor debate on whether the US central bank will shift to a 75 basis point interest rate hike next week instead of the planned half-point increase. But Osborne believes the Fed will go with its original plan, considering a bigger increase would look "panicky". Adding to the unease was news that officials in China had once again locked down millions of people for Covid testing owing to another flare-up in cases, dealing a blow to hopes for an economic reopening. Also read | Dollar gains as US stocks fall, ECB decision on tap "Warning signs about the economy are emerging as weekly (US) jobless claims are starting to rise, China's Covid situation will prove troublesome for supply chains over the next couple of quarters, and as inflationary pressures broaden and show no sign of easing", said Edward Moya, analyst at OANDA trading group. "It seems reductions in global growth forecasts will become a steady theme over the next few months and that should complicate how much more tightening we see from central banks", he said. The World Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development this week each lowered their global economic growth forecasts for 2022. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Wall Street stocks sank after inflation hit a 40-year high

Bitcoin is no exception and following the plunge on Wall Street yesterday, World's largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin has also fallen to its lowest level since July of 2021.

Bitcoin: World's largest cryptocurrency drops as Wall Street shares tumble

From Google to Meta: Tech giants dominating Wall Street's trillion-dollar club

According to a report, Wall Street workers have received an average of $257,500 in bonuses last year. DiNapoli wrote in the report, "Wall Street's soaring profits continued to beat expectations in 2021 and drove record bonuses".

Wall Street bonuses hit record high, likely to come down this year

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked five Chinese companies to meet audit requirements or face delisting from Wall Street.

These Chinese companies include fast-food company Yum China Holdings, tech firm ACM Research, biotech group BeiGene, Zai Lab, and pharmaceutical company Hutchmed.

Chinese authorities have expressed reservations in recent months about China-based companies listing in the US.&nbsp;

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Chinese companies have sold shares abroad for two decades but regulators have yet to say whether their financial structures comply with rules that ban foreign ownership of internet companies and limit access to other industries.

Yum China, which controls KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and other eateries in China, surpasses the other companies by far in revenue and capitalization.

Born from the 2016 spin-off of the Chinese operations of US-based Yum Brands, Yum China has a market capitalisation of $18.8 billion.&nbsp;

China Securities Regulatory Commission responded to the US move and said it was confident it will reach an agreement with US counterparts on securities supervision.&nbsp;

<a href="wionews.com/business-economy/new-york-stock-exchange-to-delist-chinese-telecom-firms-on-us-executive-order-353745">Also read |&nbsp;New York Stock Exchange to delist Chinese telecom firms on US executive order</a>

Talks between the CSRC, the Chinese finance ministry and the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board had made "positive progress," the CSRC said in a statement.

Meanwhile, ride-hailing firm Didi Global Inc has suspended preparations for its Hong Kong listing after failing to appease Chinese regulators' demand to overhaul its systems for handling sensitive user data, Bloomberg News reported.

The Cyberspace Administration of China told Didi executives that their proposals to prevent security and data leaks had fallen short, Bloomberg said.

Regulators said in July they would step up scrutiny of tech companies with shares traded abroad and their information security and cross-border data flows.

The US Congress in 2020 passed a law specifically targeting Chinese companies under which the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) must be able to inspect audits of foreign firms listed on US markets.

Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies are notorious for not submitting their financial statements to US-approved auditors.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked five Chinese companies to meet audit requirements or face delisting from Wall Street. These Chinese companies include fast-food company Yum China Holdings, tech firm ACM Research, biotech group BeiGene, Zai Lab, and pharmaceutical company Hutchmed.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked five Chinese companies to meet audit requirements or face delisting from Wall Street. These Chinese companies include fast-food company Yum China Holdings, tech firm ACM Research, biotech group BeiGene, Zai Lab, and pharmaceutical company Hutchmed. Chinese authorities have expressed reservations in recent months about China-based companies listing in the US. Chinese companies have sold shares abroad for two decades but regulators have yet to say whether their financial structures comply with rules that ban foreign ownership of internet companies and limit access to other industries. Yum China, which controls KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and other eateries in China, surpasses the other companies by far in revenue and capitalization. Born from the 2016 spin-off of the Chinese operations of US-based Yum Brands, Yum China has a market capitalisation of $18.8 billion. China Securities Regulatory Commission responded to the US move and said it was confident it will reach an agreement with US counterparts on securities supervision. Also read | New York Stock Exchange to delist Chinese telecom firms on US executive order Talks between the CSRC, the Chinese finance ministry and the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board had made "positive progress," the CSRC said in a statement. Meanwhile, ride-hailing firm Didi Global Inc has suspended preparations for its Hong Kong listing after failing to appease Chinese regulators' demand to overhaul its systems for handling sensitive user data, Bloomberg News reported. The Cyberspace Administration of China told Didi executives that their proposals to prevent security and data leaks had fallen short, Bloomberg said. Regulators said in July they would step up scrutiny of tech companies with shares traded abroad and their information security and cross-border data flows. The US Congress in 2020 passed a law specifically targeting Chinese companies under which the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) must be able to inspect audits of foreign firms listed on US markets. Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies are notorious for not submitting their financial statements to US-approved auditors. (With inputs from agencies)

US asks Chinese companies to comply or face delisting from Wall Street

The sister of convicted Wall Street Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in the US state of Florida, said media reports. &nbsp;

The couple, who were identified as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener and her 90-year-old husband Marvin, were found unresponsive at their home in Boynton Beach on Thursday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said, as per the Associated Press. &nbsp;

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-plans-to-cut-ties-with-targeted-russian-banks-if-ukraine-is-invaded-sources-454960" hreflang="en">US plans to cut ties with targeted Russian banks if Ukraine is invaded: Sources</a>

According to the sheriff's office, the detectives from the Violent Crimes Division arrived at the home and further investigation indicated "it appears to be a murder or suicide." &nbsp;

A medical examiner will specify the official cause of death, AP reported. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Madoff had pleaded guilty to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He had died of natural causes in a North Carolina prison in April 2021 at the age of 82. Madoff was serving a 150-year prison sentence, which began in 2009.&nbsp;

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In a statement, a woman, who identified herself as the wife of David Wiener, the son of the couple, asked for the media to give the family some privacy at this time, the AP noted. &nbsp;

“We are not making any comment at this time,” she said. &nbsp;&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

The sister of convicted Wall Street Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in the US state of Florida, said media reports. The couple, who were identified as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener and her 90-year-old husband Marvin, were found unresponsive at their home in Boynton Beach on Thursday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said, as per the Associated Press.

The sister of convicted Wall Street Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff and her husband were found dead in the US state of Florida, said media reports. The couple, who were identified as 87-year-old Sondra Wiener and her 90-year-old husband Marvin, were found unresponsive at their home in Boynton Beach on Thursday, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said, as per the Associated Press. Also Read | US plans to cut ties with targeted Russian banks if Ukraine is invaded: Sources According to the sheriff's office, the detectives from the Violent Crimes Division arrived at the home and further investigation indicated "it appears to be a murder or suicide." A medical examiner will specify the official cause of death, AP reported. Madoff had pleaded guilty to running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. He had died of natural causes in a North Carolina prison in April 2021 at the age of 82. Madoff was serving a 150-year prison sentence, which began in 2009. Also Read: Biden ready to meet Putin 'until the moment' Ukraine invasion begins In a statement, a woman, who identified herself as the wife of David Wiener, the son of the couple, asked for the media to give the family some privacy at this time, the AP noted. “We are not making any comment at this time,” she said. (With inputs from agencies)

Wall Street Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff’s sister, husband found dead, say reports

Global markets are reacting to the new scare of the Omicron variant. Here's a report on how wall street reacted to the Omicron scare in America.

Will global markets stage a comeback?

Ana María Banegas lives on a sun-drenched street in central Barcelona, a short walk from where her children go to school. Outside, a doormat welcomes visitors: “Home Sweet Home.”

But this is where the domestic idyll ends. The building’s owner isn’t your typical landlord, she says, but rather a private equity firm thousands of miles away. And Banegas is no typical tenant: Along with a dozen other families who have been struggling financially during the pandemic, she has occupied the building since April and now refuses to leave.

“This property belongs to Cerberus,” said Banegas, referring to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm based in New York. “And from this home, we aim to pressure them.”

Her protest is part of a battle that is being waged in the courtrooms, living rooms and streets of Barcelona, pitting foreign investment firms that have bought up thousands of homes across Spain over the past decade against residents and activists who are using a novel strategy to try to stop them from evicting renters who have fallen behind.

On one side is Cerberus, which, along with other giant investment firms like Blackstone and Lone Star, has been snapping up properties across Spain at bargain prices since the global financial crisis that began in 2008. The firms then put them up for rent at a time when the country’s economy was on a stronger footing.

But the pandemic pushed the Spanish unemployment rate up to 15%, and evictions nationwide spiked in the first half of 2021. The investment firm landlords sent out a slew of eviction notices to tenants across the country or cancelled leases for those who fell behind on the rent, residents said.

In the streets of Barcelona, a group called War Against Cerberus decided to fight back.

When lawyers of private equity firms come with police officers to force residents from their homes, members of the group — some of them longtime housing activists — surround the building to block their entry. As residents are pushed out of apartments, the group sends squatters to occupy properties owned by the firms elsewhere in the city — sometimes breaking in to gain entry.

The activists even took over the offices of a Cerberus real estate servicer in Barcelona for a time last year.

According to War Against Cerberus, dozens of families have occupied buildings owned by private equity firms in Barcelona, which has long been a target of outside investors. That can translate into years of courtroom hearings and millions of dollars in legal fees to remove the squatters.

Miquel Hernández, a spokesman for War Against Cerberus who helped Banegas find the home where she is squatting, accused the private equity firms of profiting from the economic distress caused by the pandemic.

“They’re treating them like any other asset,” he said, referring to the homes owned by the firms.

The problem has caught the attention of Spain’s national government, led by a left-wing coalition. It has proposed the imposition of rent controls on investment funds and other large landlords.

The proposed legislation, supported by Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, would allow for rent caps for owners with more than 10 properties in areas where rent increases have outpaced inflation.

“We have to civilize a market that has gotten out of control,” said Colau, a former housing activist who rose to power with an organization that fought against foreclosures. “A problem that was bad before the pandemic has suddenly gotten worse.”

She attributed much of the increase in evictions to investment firms that refused to negotiate agreements with renters who fall behind, choosing instead to force them out and find others who can pay.

Spain imposed a partial moratorium on evictions for much of the pandemic, but only for those in “vulnerable situations,” such as single parents. In cases that went to the courts, the judiciary was seen as siding largely with the landlords.

Cerberus said it was committed to treating every resident with dignity and respect and to following the law.

“We believe it is the responsibility of all corporate citizens to not only respect the dignity of everyone but also appropriately address illegal activity that can harm communities,” a company spokesman said in a statement to The New York Times.

The Association of Rental Housing Owners, a Spanish group which includes some of the outside investment firms, took aim at the proposed housing law, saying that rent controls would only discourage owners from building new rental units during a time of low supply.

The conflict in Barcelona traces its roots to the financial crisis that started in 2008. That downturn hit homeowners hardest, driving many of them, as well as the banks that owned their mortgages, into bankruptcy. The crisis also fueled evictions and the rise of a protest movement to defend homeowners against predatory loans.

But thousands lost their homes anyway, and many of them became renters. And in the current crisis, it is renters who have suffered the brunt of the damage, activists say.

As defaults became common and credit harder to come by, the number of renters in the country grew by more than 40% over the last decade. At the same time, private firms amassed at least 40,000 properties in Spain, according to estimates by economists and the Spanish news media.

Even so, homeownership has remained relatively high in Spain, about 75%.

In one case in 2013, Blackstone, now thought to be Spain’s biggest landlord, bought more than 1,800 apartments from the Madrid city government, which was low on cash.

But those types of acquisitions did not cause a stir until the pandemic left the firms, like many other landlords, serving up eviction notices for those who could not make the rent.

In the first quarter of 2021, evictions of renters in Spain rose by 14% compared with the same period the previous year, according to the government. By the second quarter of this year, they surged to eight times as many as in the same period in 2020.

One complaint about private equity landlords is that being based abroad, they are difficult to reach to negotiate settlements, unlike local landlords.

Irma Vite, a 47-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, first received a notice in 2019 that the lease for her rental apartment would not be renewed by Divarian, a Cerberus-owned real estate company in Spain. She has spent the entire pandemic fighting in courts to remain in the home.

Her story offers a window into the unregulated world of Spanish housing, which allowed private equity companies to become such dominant landlords here. She bought the apartment in 2005 for 216,000 euros, or about $267,000 at the time, with no down payment, from a local Spanish bank. Her monthly mortgage payments were 900 euros.

The mortgage had a fluctuating interest rate, however, and by 2009, her payments had risen to 1,200 euros. By 2015, she could no longer afford the payments, and she entered foreclosure proceedings with the bank, which allowed her to remain in the home as a renter.

But that bank, Caixa Catalunya, was barely solvent itself. In 2016, it merged with Spanish giant BBVA, which extended her rental agreement until 2019.

In October 2019, she received a letter from Divarian, the Cerberus company, saying that it now owned the property and would no longer rent to her. Vite sought help from the War Against Cerberus and has spent the last two years refusing to leave her home.

Cases like hers are becoming more common and have provided War Against Cerberus opportunities to flex its muscles. In October, the group got word of five evictions that were scheduled in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a town on the outskirts of Barcelona.

When a lawyer representing the firm that owned the apartments arrived with police, they were met by about 50 activists who surrounded the building. A crowd of residents soon arrived, chanting for the officers to leave.

“You’re vultures,” one of the protesters yelled.

Police backed down, saying that they would give the owners an extension before their eviction.

War Against Cerberus is also trying to play offense against private equity firms by sending residents like Banegas to occupy apartments that the firms own in Barcelona. Hernández, the activist spokesman, said that the group’s goal was to eventually pressure Cerberus into agreeing to allow the squatters to remain and pay reasonable monthly rents.

Vite said she would much rather go back to paying rent than keep squatting. But so far, Cerberus has refused to make an agreement with her and has asked a court to evict her.

An auxiliary nurse at a nearby hospital, Vite said that she recently came across a man suffering from depression who was also being forced out of his home after not being able to pay the rent and that they had briefly commiserated.

“I was there as the nurse, he as my patient, and I was just thinking — 'Look at what’s at the root of all of these problems,' ” she said.

Ana María Banegas lives on a sun-drenched street in central Barcelona, a short walk from where her children go to school. Outside, a doormat welcomes visitors: “Home Sweet Home.

Ana María Banegas lives on a sun-drenched street in central Barcelona, a short walk from where her children go to school. Outside, a doormat welcomes visitors: “Home Sweet Home.” But this is where the domestic idyll ends. The building’s owner isn’t your typical landlord, she says, but rather a private equity firm thousands of miles away. And Banegas is no typical tenant: Along with a dozen other families who have been struggling financially during the pandemic, she has occupied the building since April and now refuses to leave. “This property belongs to Cerberus,” said Banegas, referring to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm based in New York. “And from this home, we aim to pressure them.” Her protest is part of a battle that is being waged in the courtrooms, living rooms and streets of Barcelona, pitting foreign investment firms that have bought up thousands of homes across Spain over the past decade against residents and activists who are using a novel strategy to try to stop them from evicting renters who have fallen behind. On one side is Cerberus, which, along with other giant investment firms like Blackstone and Lone Star, has been snapping up properties across Spain at bargain prices since the global financial crisis that began in 2008. The firms then put them up for rent at a time when the country’s economy was on a stronger footing. But the pandemic pushed the Spanish unemployment rate up to 15%, and evictions nationwide spiked in the first half of 2021. The investment firm landlords sent out a slew of eviction notices to tenants across the country or cancelled leases for those who fell behind on the rent, residents said. In the streets of Barcelona, a group called War Against Cerberus decided to fight back. When lawyers of private equity firms come with police officers to force residents from their homes, members of the group — some of them longtime housing activists — surround the building to block their entry. As residents are pushed out of apartments, the group sends squatters to occupy properties owned by the firms elsewhere in the city — sometimes breaking in to gain entry. The activists even took over the offices of a Cerberus real estate servicer in Barcelona for a time last year. According to War Against Cerberus, dozens of families have occupied buildings owned by private equity firms in Barcelona, which has long been a target of outside investors. That can translate into years of courtroom hearings and millions of dollars in legal fees to remove the squatters. Miquel Hernández, a spokesman for War Against Cerberus who helped Banegas find the home where she is squatting, accused the private equity firms of profiting from the economic distress caused by the pandemic. “They’re treating them like any other asset,” he said, referring to the homes owned by the firms. The problem has caught the attention of Spain’s national government, led by a left-wing coalition. It has proposed the imposition of rent controls on investment funds and other large landlords. The proposed legislation, supported by Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, would allow for rent caps for owners with more than 10 properties in areas where rent increases have outpaced inflation. “We have to civilize a market that has gotten out of control,” said Colau, a former housing activist who rose to power with an organization that fought against foreclosures. “A problem that was bad before the pandemic has suddenly gotten worse.” She attributed much of the increase in evictions to investment firms that refused to negotiate agreements with renters who fall behind, choosing instead to force them out and find others who can pay. Spain imposed a partial moratorium on evictions for much of the pandemic, but only for those in “vulnerable situations,” such as single parents. In cases that went to the courts, the judiciary was seen as siding largely with the landlords. Cerberus said it was committed to treating every resident with dignity and respect and to following the law. “We believe it is the responsibility of all corporate citizens to not only respect the dignity of everyone but also appropriately address illegal activity that can harm communities,” a company spokesman said in a statement to The New York Times. The Association of Rental Housing Owners, a Spanish group which includes some of the outside investment firms, took aim at the proposed housing law, saying that rent controls would only discourage owners from building new rental units during a time of low supply. The conflict in Barcelona traces its roots to the financial crisis that started in 2008. That downturn hit homeowners hardest, driving many of them, as well as the banks that owned their mortgages, into bankruptcy. The crisis also fueled evictions and the rise of a protest movement to defend homeowners against predatory loans. But thousands lost their homes anyway, and many of them became renters. And in the current crisis, it is renters who have suffered the brunt of the damage, activists say. As defaults became common and credit harder to come by, the number of renters in the country grew by more than 40% over the last decade. At the same time, private firms amassed at least 40,000 properties in Spain, according to estimates by economists and the Spanish news media. Even so, homeownership has remained relatively high in Spain, about 75%. In one case in 2013, Blackstone, now thought to be Spain’s biggest landlord, bought more than 1,800 apartments from the Madrid city government, which was low on cash. But those types of acquisitions did not cause a stir until the pandemic left the firms, like many other landlords, serving up eviction notices for those who could not make the rent. In the first quarter of 2021, evictions of renters in Spain rose by 14% compared with the same period the previous year, according to the government. By the second quarter of this year, they surged to eight times as many as in the same period in 2020. One complaint about private equity landlords is that being based abroad, they are difficult to reach to negotiate settlements, unlike local landlords. Irma Vite, a 47-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, first received a notice in 2019 that the lease for her rental apartment would not be renewed by Divarian, a Cerberus-owned real estate company in Spain. She has spent the entire pandemic fighting in courts to remain in the home. Her story offers a window into the unregulated world of Spanish housing, which allowed private equity companies to become such dominant landlords here. She bought the apartment in 2005 for 216,000 euros, or about $267,000 at the time, with no down payment, from a local Spanish bank. Her monthly mortgage payments were 900 euros. The mortgage had a fluctuating interest rate, however, and by 2009, her payments had risen to 1,200 euros. By 2015, she could no longer afford the payments, and she entered foreclosure proceedings with the bank, which allowed her to remain in the home as a renter. But that bank, Caixa Catalunya, was barely solvent itself. In 2016, it merged with Spanish giant BBVA, which extended her rental agreement until 2019. In October 2019, she received a letter from Divarian, the Cerberus company, saying that it now owned the property and would no longer rent to her. Vite sought help from the War Against Cerberus and has spent the last two years refusing to leave her home. Cases like hers are becoming more common and have provided War Against Cerberus opportunities to flex its muscles. In October, the group got word of five evictions that were scheduled in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a town on the outskirts of Barcelona. When a lawyer representing the firm that owned the apartments arrived with police, they were met by about 50 activists who surrounded the building. A crowd of residents soon arrived, chanting for the officers to leave. “You’re vultures,” one of the protesters yelled. Police backed down, saying that they would give the owners an extension before their eviction. War Against Cerberus is also trying to play offense against private equity firms by sending residents like Banegas to occupy apartments that the firms own in Barcelona. Hernández, the activist spokesman, said that the group’s goal was to eventually pressure Cerberus into agreeing to allow the squatters to remain and pay reasonable monthly rents. Vite said she would much rather go back to paying rent than keep squatting. But so far, Cerberus has refused to make an agreement with her and has asked a court to evict her. An auxiliary nurse at a nearby hospital, Vite said that she recently came across a man suffering from depression who was also being forced out of his home after not being able to pay the rent and that they had briefly commiserated. “I was there as the nurse, he as my patient, and I was just thinking — 'Look at what’s at the root of all of these problems,' ” she said.

As pandemic evictions rise, Spaniards declare ‘war’ on Wall Street landlords

The iconic Charging Bull on Wall Street may be unstoppable. He may represent the Alpha behaviour that characterises the financial district. But he seems to have encountered a formidable foe in the form of Harambe the gorilla.

A seven-foot statue of the gorilla has been installed in front of the Charging Bull. What's more, the bull is surrounded by 10,000 bananas. The prime symbol of capitalism has a gorilla stoically sitting in his way, and he appears in no mood to budge.

The statue has been installed by Sapien. Network. It is a social media platform that describes itself as “dedicated to putting the needs and welfare of human beings first.”

Founders of Sapien. Network, Robert Giometti, Tejay Aluru and Ankit Bhatia were quoted by NBC as saying that the gorilla statue represents millions who struggle in America's capitalist system. According to them, the capitalist system “enriches wealthy elites and leaves the average person behind." Giometti adds that though the artwork is at odds with the system, it does not necessarily oppose Capitalism.

Harambe was a gorilla in Cincinnati Zoo. He was shot dead in May, 2016 by authorities when a 3-year-old ventured into his enclosure. The gorilla was cradling the child and as per many onlookers, appeared to be protecting the child. Harambe's killing had hit global headlines and caused an uproar.

The iconic Charging Bull on Wall Street may be unstoppable. He may represent the Alpha behaviour that characterises the financial district. But he seems to have encountered a formidable foe in the form of Harambe the gorilla.

The iconic Charging Bull on Wall Street may be unstoppable. He may represent the Alpha behaviour that characterises the financial district. But he seems to have encountered a formidable foe in the form of Harambe the gorilla. A seven-foot statue of the gorilla has been installed in front of the Charging Bull. What's more, the bull is surrounded by 10,000 bananas. The prime symbol of capitalism has a gorilla stoically sitting in his way, and he appears in no mood to budge. The statue has been installed by Sapien. Network. It is a social media platform that describes itself as “dedicated to putting the needs and welfare of human beings first.” Founders of Sapien. Network, Robert Giometti, Tejay Aluru and Ankit Bhatia were quoted by NBC as saying that the gorilla statue represents millions who struggle in America's capitalist system. According to them, the capitalist system “enriches wealthy elites and leaves the average person behind." Giometti adds that though the artwork is at odds with the system, it does not necessarily oppose Capitalism. Harambe was a gorilla in Cincinnati Zoo. He was shot dead in May, 2016 by authorities when a 3-year-old ventured into his enclosure. The gorilla was cradling the child and as per many onlookers, appeared to be protecting the child. Harambe's killing had hit global headlines and caused an uproar.

Harambe the gorilla's statue stands in the way of Charging Bull on Wall Street

Despite fresh all-time highs on Wall Street, Asian stock markets opened lower today, as worries about China's slowing economic growth and regulatory changes weighed on investor sentiments. WION's Sumit Chaturvedi talks to Margaret Yang Yan, DailyFX strategist for more perspective.

World Business Watch: Fresh all time highs on wall street registered

As Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin scrambled to save faltering markets at the start of the pandemic last year, America’s top economic officials were in near-constant contact with a Wall Street executive whose firm stood to benefit financially from the rescue.

Laurence Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, was in frequent touch with Mnuchin and Powell in the days before and after many of the Fed’s emergency rescue programs were announced in late March. Emails obtained by The New York Times through a records request, along with public releases, underscore the extent to which Fink planned alongside the government for parts of a financial rescue that his firm referred to in one message as “the project” that he and the Fed were “working on together.”

While some conversations were previously disclosed, the newly released emails, together with public calendar records, show the extent to which economic policymakers worked with a private company as they were drawing up a response to the financial meltdown and how intertwined BlackRock has become with the federal government.

Mnuchin held 60 recorded calls over the frantic Saturday and Sunday leading up to the Fed’s unveiling on March 23, 2020, of a policy package that included its first-ever program to buy corporate bonds, which were becoming nearly impossible to sell as investors sprinted to convert their holdings to cash.

Mnuchin spoke to Fink five times that weekend, more than anyone other than the Fed chair, whom he spoke with nine times. Fink joined Mnuchin, Powell and Larry Kudlow, who was the White House National Economic Council director, for a brief call at 7:25 the evening before the Fed’s big announcement, based on Mnuchin’s calendars.

The records reveal how often federal officials engaged with a Wall Street executive at a moment of crisis, as they strategized about how to turn around markets that were descending into chaos.

Fink’s firm is a huge player across many stock and debt markets and its advisory arm helped to execute some of the Fed’s crisis response during the 2008 financial meltdown. That market insight and experience got him a front-row seat at a pivotal moment, one that may have put him in a position to influence a rescue with huge ramifications for households, businesses and the entire U.S. economy.

“They’re about as close to a government arm as you can be, without being the Federal Reserve,” said William Birdthistle, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and the author of a book on funds.

On March 24, the New York Fed announced that it had again hired BlackRock’s advisory arm, which operates separately from the company’s asset-management business but which Fink oversees, this time to carry out the Fed’s purchases of commercial mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds.

BlackRock’s ability to directly profit from its regular contact with the government during rescue planning was limited. The firm signed a nondisclosure agreement with the New York Fed on March 22, restricting involved officials from sharing information about the coming programs.

But how the Fed and Treasury devised their rescue package mattered to BlackRock. The company makes a profit by managing money for clients in an array of funds, generally charging a preset fee. It earns more when it grows its assets under management. In the early days of the coronavirus crisis, as people converted financial holdings into cash, parts of its asset base were contracting and its business outlook hinged on what happened in certain markets.

While the Fed and Treasury consulted with many financial firms as they drew up their response — and practically all of Wall Street and much of Main Street benefited — no other company was as front and center.

Simply being in touch throughout the government’s planning was good for BlackRock, potentially burnishing its image over the longer run, Birdthistle said. BlackRock would have benefited through “tons of information, tons of secondary financial benefits,” he said.

Mnuchin could not be reached for comment. Asked whether top Fed officials discussed program details with Fink before his firm had signed the nondisclosure agreement, the Fed said that Powell and Randal Quarles, a Fed vice chair who also appears in the emails, “have no recollection of discussing the terms of either facility with Mr. Fink.”

“Nor did they have any reason to do so because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York handled the process with great care and transparency,” the central bank added in its statement.

Brian Beades, a spokesman for BlackRock, highlighted that the firm had “stringent information barriers in place that ensure separation between BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory and the firm’s investment business” and said it was “proud to have been in a position to assist the Federal Reserve in addressing the severe downturn in financial markets during the depths of the crisis.”

The disclosed emails between Fed and BlackRock officials — 11 in all across March and early April — do not make clear whether the company knew about any of the Fed and Treasury programs’ designs or whether they were simply providing market information.

Emails indicate that Powell spoke with Fink on March 23, hours after the Fed announced its corporate bond program.

“Larry Fink is available to speak today regarding the project you will be working on together,” an email from Fink’s assistant directly to Powell said. “Please let us know if there is a convenient time for you.”

“Now is good,” Powell replied.

The call does not appear on the Fed chair’s official schedule from last March. Those calendars generally track scheduled events, and may have missed meetings in early 2020 when staffers were frantically working on the market rescue and the Fed was shifting to work from home, a central bank spokesman said.

Powell’s calendars did show that he talked to Fink in March, April and May, and he has previously answered questions about those discussions.

“I can’t recall exactly what those conversations were, but they would have been about what he is seeing in the markets and things like that, to generally exchanging information,” Powell said at a July 2020 news conference, adding that it wasn’t “very many” conversations. “He’s typically trying to make sure that we are getting good service from the company that he founded and leads.”

BlackRock’s connections to Washington are not new. It was a critical player in the 2008 crisis response, when the New York Fed retained the firm’s advisory arm to manage the mortgage assets of the insurance giant American International Group and Bear Stearns.

Several former BlackRock employees have been named to top roles in President Joe Biden’s administration, including Brian Deese, who heads the White House National Economic Council, and Wally Adeyemo, who was Fink’s chief of staff and is now the No. 2 official at the Treasury.

The firm has grown rapidly: Its assets under management swelled from $1.3 trillion in early 2009 to $7.4 trillion in 2019. By the end of last year, they were $8.7 trillion.

As it expanded, it has stepped up its lobbying. In 2004, BlackRock Inc. registered two lobbyists and spent less than $200,000 on its efforts. By 2019 it had 20 lobbyists and spent nearly $2.5 million, though that declined slightly last year, based on OpenSecrets data. Campaign contributions tied to the firm also jumped, touching $1.7 million in 2020 (80% to Democrats, 20% to Republicans) from next to nothing as recently as 2004.

In March 2020, as some of BlackRock’s own offerings were being rocked at the pandemic’s onset in the United States, the firm reached out to Powell and Quarles, the emails show. In one or two cases, BlackRock appears to have had phone calls with Quarles. In others, Powell and Quarles did not reply, based on the released records.

The firm’s representatives also talked to Treasury policymakers other than Mnuchin in March, the emails show. One former official said such calls were part of routine information-gathering from a big market participant at a time when markets were rapidly falling apart.

BlackRock operates in short-term debt markets that came under intense stress as people and companies scrambled to move all of their holdings into cash. And problems were brewing in the corporate debt market, including in exchange-traded funds, which track bundles of corporate debt and other assets but trade like stocks.

Corporate bonds were difficult to trade and near impossible to issue in mid-March 2020. Prices on some high-grade corporate debt ETFs, including one of BlackRock’s, were out of whack relative to the values of the underlying assets, which is unusual.

People could still pull their money from ETFs, which both the industry and several outside academics have heralded as a sign of their resiliency. But investors would have had to take a financial hit to do so, relative to the quoted value of the underlying bonds. That could have bruised the product’s reputation in the eyes of some retail savers.

“This was the first time that ETFs came under stress in a really systemic way,” said Gregg Gelzinis, associate director for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress.

The Fed’s programs helped to turn that around. The central bank supported the corporate bond market on March 23, 2020, by pledging to buy both already issued debt and new bonds. The program for existing bonds promised to also buy ETFs, because they are a quick way to get access to a wide swath of the market. The bond market and fund recovery was nearly instant.

When the New York Fed retained BlackRock’s advisory arm to make the purchases, it rapidly disclosed details of those contracts to the public. The firm did the program cheaply for the government, waiving fees for exchange-traded fund buying and rebating fees from its own iShares ETFs back to the New York Fed.

The Fed has explained the decision to hire the advisory side of the house in terms of practicality.

“We hired BlackRock for their expertise in these markets,” Powell has since said in defense of the rapid move. “It was done very quickly due to the urgency and need for their expertise.”

As Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin scrambled to save faltering markets at the start of the pandemic last year, America’s top economic officials were in near-constant contact with a Wall Street executive whose firm stood to benefit financially from the rescue.

As Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin scrambled to save faltering markets at the start of the pandemic last year, America’s top economic officials were in near-constant contact with a Wall Street executive whose firm stood to benefit financially from the rescue. Laurence Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, was in frequent touch with Mnuchin and Powell in the days before and after many of the Fed’s emergency rescue programs were announced in late March. Emails obtained by The New York Times through a records request, along with public releases, underscore the extent to which Fink planned alongside the government for parts of a financial rescue that his firm referred to in one message as “the project” that he and the Fed were “working on together.” While some conversations were previously disclosed, the newly released emails, together with public calendar records, show the extent to which economic policymakers worked with a private company as they were drawing up a response to the financial meltdown and how intertwined BlackRock has become with the federal government. Mnuchin held 60 recorded calls over the frantic Saturday and Sunday leading up to the Fed’s unveiling on March 23, 2020, of a policy package that included its first-ever program to buy corporate bonds, which were becoming nearly impossible to sell as investors sprinted to convert their holdings to cash. Mnuchin spoke to Fink five times that weekend, more than anyone other than the Fed chair, whom he spoke with nine times. Fink joined Mnuchin, Powell and Larry Kudlow, who was the White House National Economic Council director, for a brief call at 7:25 the evening before the Fed’s big announcement, based on Mnuchin’s calendars. The records reveal how often federal officials engaged with a Wall Street executive at a moment of crisis, as they strategized about how to turn around markets that were descending into chaos. Fink’s firm is a huge player across many stock and debt markets and its advisory arm helped to execute some of the Fed’s crisis response during the 2008 financial meltdown. That market insight and experience got him a front-row seat at a pivotal moment, one that may have put him in a position to influence a rescue with huge ramifications for households, businesses and the entire U.S. economy. “They’re about as close to a government arm as you can be, without being the Federal Reserve,” said William Birdthistle, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and the author of a book on funds. On March 24, the New York Fed announced that it had again hired BlackRock’s advisory arm, which operates separately from the company’s asset-management business but which Fink oversees, this time to carry out the Fed’s purchases of commercial mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds. BlackRock’s ability to directly profit from its regular contact with the government during rescue planning was limited. The firm signed a nondisclosure agreement with the New York Fed on March 22, restricting involved officials from sharing information about the coming programs. But how the Fed and Treasury devised their rescue package mattered to BlackRock. The company makes a profit by managing money for clients in an array of funds, generally charging a preset fee. It earns more when it grows its assets under management. In the early days of the coronavirus crisis, as people converted financial holdings into cash, parts of its asset base were contracting and its business outlook hinged on what happened in certain markets. While the Fed and Treasury consulted with many financial firms as they drew up their response — and practically all of Wall Street and much of Main Street benefited — no other company was as front and center. Simply being in touch throughout the government’s planning was good for BlackRock, potentially burnishing its image over the longer run, Birdthistle said. BlackRock would have benefited through “tons of information, tons of secondary financial benefits,” he said. Mnuchin could not be reached for comment. Asked whether top Fed officials discussed program details with Fink before his firm had signed the nondisclosure agreement, the Fed said that Powell and Randal Quarles, a Fed vice chair who also appears in the emails, “have no recollection of discussing the terms of either facility with Mr. Fink.” “Nor did they have any reason to do so because the Federal Reserve Bank of New York handled the process with great care and transparency,” the central bank added in its statement. Brian Beades, a spokesman for BlackRock, highlighted that the firm had “stringent information barriers in place that ensure separation between BlackRock Financial Markets Advisory and the firm’s investment business” and said it was “proud to have been in a position to assist the Federal Reserve in addressing the severe downturn in financial markets during the depths of the crisis.” The disclosed emails between Fed and BlackRock officials — 11 in all across March and early April — do not make clear whether the company knew about any of the Fed and Treasury programs’ designs or whether they were simply providing market information. Emails indicate that Powell spoke with Fink on March 23, hours after the Fed announced its corporate bond program. “Larry Fink is available to speak today regarding the project you will be working on together,” an email from Fink’s assistant directly to Powell said. “Please let us know if there is a convenient time for you.” “Now is good,” Powell replied. The call does not appear on the Fed chair’s official schedule from last March. Those calendars generally track scheduled events, and may have missed meetings in early 2020 when staffers were frantically working on the market rescue and the Fed was shifting to work from home, a central bank spokesman said. Powell’s calendars did show that he talked to Fink in March, April and May, and he has previously answered questions about those discussions. “I can’t recall exactly what those conversations were, but they would have been about what he is seeing in the markets and things like that, to generally exchanging information,” Powell said at a July 2020 news conference, adding that it wasn’t “very many” conversations. “He’s typically trying to make sure that we are getting good service from the company that he founded and leads.” BlackRock’s connections to Washington are not new. It was a critical player in the 2008 crisis response, when the New York Fed retained the firm’s advisory arm to manage the mortgage assets of the insurance giant American International Group and Bear Stearns. Several former BlackRock employees have been named to top roles in President Joe Biden’s administration, including Brian Deese, who heads the White House National Economic Council, and Wally Adeyemo, who was Fink’s chief of staff and is now the No. 2 official at the Treasury. The firm has grown rapidly: Its assets under management swelled from $1.3 trillion in early 2009 to $7.4 trillion in 2019. By the end of last year, they were $8.7 trillion. As it expanded, it has stepped up its lobbying. In 2004, BlackRock Inc. registered two lobbyists and spent less than $200,000 on its efforts. By 2019 it had 20 lobbyists and spent nearly $2.5 million, though that declined slightly last year, based on OpenSecrets data. Campaign contributions tied to the firm also jumped, touching $1.7 million in 2020 (80% to Democrats, 20% to Republicans) from next to nothing as recently as 2004. In March 2020, as some of BlackRock’s own offerings were being rocked at the pandemic’s onset in the United States, the firm reached out to Powell and Quarles, the emails show. In one or two cases, BlackRock appears to have had phone calls with Quarles. In others, Powell and Quarles did not reply, based on the released records. The firm’s representatives also talked to Treasury policymakers other than Mnuchin in March, the emails show. One former official said such calls were part of routine information-gathering from a big market participant at a time when markets were rapidly falling apart. BlackRock operates in short-term debt markets that came under intense stress as people and companies scrambled to move all of their holdings into cash. And problems were brewing in the corporate debt market, including in exchange-traded funds, which track bundles of corporate debt and other assets but trade like stocks. Corporate bonds were difficult to trade and near impossible to issue in mid-March 2020. Prices on some high-grade corporate debt ETFs, including one of BlackRock’s, were out of whack relative to the values of the underlying assets, which is unusual. People could still pull their money from ETFs, which both the industry and several outside academics have heralded as a sign of their resiliency. But investors would have had to take a financial hit to do so, relative to the quoted value of the underlying bonds. That could have bruised the product’s reputation in the eyes of some retail savers. “This was the first time that ETFs came under stress in a really systemic way,” said Gregg Gelzinis, associate director for Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress. The Fed’s programs helped to turn that around. The central bank supported the corporate bond market on March 23, 2020, by pledging to buy both already issued debt and new bonds. The program for existing bonds promised to also buy ETFs, because they are a quick way to get access to a wide swath of the market. The bond market and fund recovery was nearly instant. When the New York Fed retained BlackRock’s advisory arm to make the purchases, it rapidly disclosed details of those contracts to the public. The firm did the program cheaply for the government, waiving fees for exchange-traded fund buying and rebating fees from its own iShares ETFs back to the New York Fed. The Fed has explained the decision to hire the advisory side of the house in terms of practicality. “We hired BlackRock for their expertise in these markets,” Powell has since said in defense of the rapid move. “It was done very quickly due to the urgency and need for their expertise.”

Top US officials consulted with BlackRock as markets melted down

SAN FRANCISCO — In 2009, Shamir Karkal and several colleagues struggled to raise money for a banking startup, Simple. Most of the 70 venture capital firms they met over the course of a year did not see the point of the idea, he said. The few that did thought it would fail.

By last year, things had changed. When Karkal set out to raise funding for his new financial technology startup, Sila, which makes regulatory compliance software, he garnered $5 million in a few months with a fraction of the pitches. He said he was frustrated it did not happen even faster.

“I know folks in the space who raised rounds in less than one week,” he said.

Sila is one of thousands of financial technology startups riding an investor frenzy driven by a growing realization that Big Finance is ripe for a tech makeover. When the pandemic forced businesses to speed up their usage of digital tools, including e-commerce and online banking, the demand for what is known as fintech exploded.

Now startups with names like Blend, Brex and Dave that provide decidedly unglamorous banking, lending and payment processing offerings are hot tickets. That was punctuated this month when Stripe, a payments company, raised $600 million in a financing that valued it at $95 billion, the highest ever for a private startup in the United States.

Financial technology companies are also making a splash on the stock market. On March 23, Robinhood, a stock trading app popular with young adults, filed for an initial public offering. And Coinbase, a cryptocurrency startup, is scheduled to go public in the next few weeks in what could be a $100 billion listing.

Even tiny financial startups that have not formally introduced their products — such as Zeller, which will offer banking services to businesses; and Sivo, which is building lending software — have raised millions of dollars and been valued at nine-digit sums.

In total, venture capital investors poured $44.4 billion into financial technology startups last year, up from $1.1 billion in 2009, according to PitchBook, which tracks private financings.

Many investors are making bold predictions that these startups will upend big banks, established credit card providers — and in some cases, the entire financial system.

“The banks are extremely vulnerable” because they have not kept up with what customers expect, said Mark Goldberg, an investor at the venture capital firm Index Ventures. He predicted $1 trillion of market value could transfer from old guard financial institutions to tech companies over the next two decades.

“It’s what Amazon did to offline retail,” he said. “It’s just playing out 10 years later in fintech right now.”

The financial technology startups that are riding the boom run the gamut. They provide services including checking accounts, mortgages, insurance, investing, payment processing and cryptocurrencies.

Many are capitalizing on people’s long-simmering distrust of the big banks, especially after the 2008 financial crisis. Often, the startups offer slick and easy-to-use apps, no physical branches and low or no fees. And they are building on people’s growing familiarity over the past decade with tech tools and digital payments, a shift that has accelerated in the pandemic.

Just as cheap cloud computing and smartphones once enabled a wave of new app startups, the financial technology sector has developed its own set of building blocks, allowing new companies to spring up faster.

One of the building-block companies is Stripe. Founded in 2010, Stripe started out by offering to process payments for small businesses and startups. By 2018, it was worth $20 billion and had begun investing in other startups.

Stripe now processes hundreds of billions of dollars in payments a year, has expanded to larger customers including Salesforce and Booking.com, and has made more than 30 investments in other fintech startups.

“We are in a hypergrowth industry and within that, the company itself is experiencing hypergrowth,” Dhivya Suryadevara, Stripe’s chief financial officer, said in an interview.

Domm Holland, chief executive of Fast, an e-commerce checkout software startup, said Stripe sped up his company’s progress. Customers who use Stripe to accept online payments can then use Fast’s software for their checkout process.

“If Stripe didn’t exist today, we would first have to build Stripe,” Holland said. “That’s a lot of work. They’ve already done that.”

Last year, as Fast’s business grew in the pandemic, investors began messaging Holland daily asking to invest in the company. “I have people LinkedIn messaging and emailing, just offering, ‘Take $5 million at any valuation you like,’” he said. “It is a bizarre world to live in.”

He ended up raising $102 million for Fast in January. Stripe was one of the main investors in the financing.

Other companies that play similar “building block” roles in the financial technology boom include Affirm, which offers lending and went public this year; Shopify, which enables e-commerce transactions; and Plaid, which helps apps connect with bank accounts.

“The infrastructure has gone to a whole other level,” said CJ MacDonald, founder of Step, a debit card provider aimed at teenagers. Introduced in September, Step quickly reached 1 million customers, partly from endorsements from social media influencers like Charli D’Amelio.

In December, Step raised $50 million in funding. The company was not looking for more money, MacDonald said. But investors started calling as soon as the app joined the top-downloaded finance app list shortly after it was released. The money came together in a matter of weeks, he said.

Investors are even clamoring to buy into broken deals. Plaid, which had agreed to sell itself to Visa for $5.6 billion last year, saw the deal unravel in January after facing antitrust scrutiny. Now the fast-growing company is in talks with investors to raise funding at a valuation near $15 billion, said two people with knowledge of the company who spoke on the condition they not be identified because the discussions are confidential. The Information earlier reported Plaid’s funding talks.

Sheel Mohnot, an investor at Better Tomorrow Ventures, said Plaid’s sale price to Visa was viewed as “so amazing” at the time. But now, with multiple fintech companies approaching $100 billion valuations, it looks low.

Some caution that the excitement has gotten far ahead of reality.

Robert Le, an analyst at PitchBook, pointed to the valuation of Affirm, which has a market capitalization of $20 billion, or roughly 40 times its annual revenue. That is significantly higher than the value that investors typically assign to blue-chip financial services companies. American Express, for example, trades at just three times its annual revenue.

“I think it’s a little irrational,” Le said. “Over the long haul, some of these companies will have to come down.”

Some of the startups have already hit growing pains. Chime, a banking startup, had a series of outages in 2019, leaving millions of customers with no access to their money for hours. Some Coinbase customers have said they were locked out of their accounts or experienced thefts of their money. And Robinhood faces nearly 50 lawsuits and multiple regulatory investigations after it halted trading for some stocks during a frenzy in “meme” stocks in January.

Leigh Drogen, chief executive of Estimize, an investment data startup, said the hiccups, high valuations and irrational behaviors have not canceled out all the progress in fintech.

“There are a lot of very, very real things, and then there’s some insanity,” he said. “That happens in every boom.”

SAN FRANCISCO — In 2009, Shamir Karkal and several colleagues struggled to raise money for a banking startup, Simple. Most of the 70 venture capital firms they met over the course of a year did not see the point of the idea, he said.

SAN FRANCISCO — In 2009, Shamir Karkal and several colleagues struggled to raise money for a banking startup, Simple. Most of the 70 venture capital firms they met over the course of a year did not see the point of the idea, he said. The few that did thought it would fail. By last year, things had changed. When Karkal set out to raise funding for his new financial technology startup, Sila, which makes regulatory compliance software, he garnered $5 million in a few months with a fraction of the pitches. He said he was frustrated it did not happen even faster. “I know folks in the space who raised rounds in less than one week,” he said. Sila is one of thousands of financial technology startups riding an investor frenzy driven by a growing realization that Big Finance is ripe for a tech makeover. When the pandemic forced businesses to speed up their usage of digital tools, including e-commerce and online banking, the demand for what is known as fintech exploded. Now startups with names like Blend, Brex and Dave that provide decidedly unglamorous banking, lending and payment processing offerings are hot tickets. That was punctuated this month when Stripe, a payments company, raised $600 million in a financing that valued it at $95 billion, the highest ever for a private startup in the United States. Financial technology companies are also making a splash on the stock market. On March 23, Robinhood, a stock trading app popular with young adults, filed for an initial public offering. And Coinbase, a cryptocurrency startup, is scheduled to go public in the next few weeks in what could be a $100 billion listing. Even tiny financial startups that have not formally introduced their products — such as Zeller, which will offer banking services to businesses; and Sivo, which is building lending software — have raised millions of dollars and been valued at nine-digit sums. In total, venture capital investors poured $44.4 billion into financial technology startups last year, up from $1.1 billion in 2009, according to PitchBook, which tracks private financings. Many investors are making bold predictions that these startups will upend big banks, established credit card providers — and in some cases, the entire financial system. “The banks are extremely vulnerable” because they have not kept up with what customers expect, said Mark Goldberg, an investor at the venture capital firm Index Ventures. He predicted $1 trillion of market value could transfer from old guard financial institutions to tech companies over the next two decades. “It’s what Amazon did to offline retail,” he said. “It’s just playing out 10 years later in fintech right now.” The financial technology startups that are riding the boom run the gamut. They provide services including checking accounts, mortgages, insurance, investing, payment processing and cryptocurrencies. Many are capitalizing on people’s long-simmering distrust of the big banks, especially after the 2008 financial crisis. Often, the startups offer slick and easy-to-use apps, no physical branches and low or no fees. And they are building on people’s growing familiarity over the past decade with tech tools and digital payments, a shift that has accelerated in the pandemic. Just as cheap cloud computing and smartphones once enabled a wave of new app startups, the financial technology sector has developed its own set of building blocks, allowing new companies to spring up faster. One of the building-block companies is Stripe. Founded in 2010, Stripe started out by offering to process payments for small businesses and startups. By 2018, it was worth $20 billion and had begun investing in other startups. Stripe now processes hundreds of billions of dollars in payments a year, has expanded to larger customers including Salesforce and Booking.com, and has made more than 30 investments in other fintech startups. “We are in a hypergrowth industry and within that, the company itself is experiencing hypergrowth,” Dhivya Suryadevara, Stripe’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. Domm Holland, chief executive of Fast, an e-commerce checkout software startup, said Stripe sped up his company’s progress. Customers who use Stripe to accept online payments can then use Fast’s software for their checkout process. “If Stripe didn’t exist today, we would first have to build Stripe,” Holland said. “That’s a lot of work. They’ve already done that.” Last year, as Fast’s business grew in the pandemic, investors began messaging Holland daily asking to invest in the company. “I have people LinkedIn messaging and emailing, just offering, ‘Take $5 million at any valuation you like,’” he said. “It is a bizarre world to live in.” He ended up raising $102 million for Fast in January. Stripe was one of the main investors in the financing. Other companies that play similar “building block” roles in the financial technology boom include Affirm, which offers lending and went public this year; Shopify, which enables e-commerce transactions; and Plaid, which helps apps connect with bank accounts. “The infrastructure has gone to a whole other level,” said CJ MacDonald, founder of Step, a debit card provider aimed at teenagers. Introduced in September, Step quickly reached 1 million customers, partly from endorsements from social media influencers like Charli D’Amelio. In December, Step raised $50 million in funding. The company was not looking for more money, MacDonald said. But investors started calling as soon as the app joined the top-downloaded finance app list shortly after it was released. The money came together in a matter of weeks, he said. Investors are even clamoring to buy into broken deals. Plaid, which had agreed to sell itself to Visa for $5.6 billion last year, saw the deal unravel in January after facing antitrust scrutiny. Now the fast-growing company is in talks with investors to raise funding at a valuation near $15 billion, said two people with knowledge of the company who spoke on the condition they not be identified because the discussions are confidential. The Information earlier reported Plaid’s funding talks. Sheel Mohnot, an investor at Better Tomorrow Ventures, said Plaid’s sale price to Visa was viewed as “so amazing” at the time. But now, with multiple fintech companies approaching $100 billion valuations, it looks low. Some caution that the excitement has gotten far ahead of reality. Robert Le, an analyst at PitchBook, pointed to the valuation of Affirm, which has a market capitalization of $20 billion, or roughly 40 times its annual revenue. That is significantly higher than the value that investors typically assign to blue-chip financial services companies. American Express, for example, trades at just three times its annual revenue. “I think it’s a little irrational,” Le said. “Over the long haul, some of these companies will have to come down.” Some of the startups have already hit growing pains. Chime, a banking startup, had a series of outages in 2019, leaving millions of customers with no access to their money for hours. Some Coinbase customers have said they were locked out of their accounts or experienced thefts of their money. And Robinhood faces nearly 50 lawsuits and multiple regulatory investigations after it halted trading for some stocks during a frenzy in “meme” stocks in January. Leigh Drogen, chief executive of Estimize, an investment data startup, said the hiccups, high valuations and irrational behaviors have not canceled out all the progress in fintech. “There are a lot of very, very real things, and then there’s some insanity,” he said. “That happens in every boom.”

The startup enemies of Wall Street are booming

Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor of Wall Street`s "Charging Bull" statue has died in his home town of Vittoria, Sicily, Italian media reported on Saturday, citing friends of the Italian artist.

Di Modica, who recently turned 80, had been fighting cancer for many years, La Repubblica daily said.

Located in Bowling Green at the heart of Manhattan`s financial district, the 7,100-pound sculpture, Di Modica`s most famous, became a symbol of New York City.

Originally appearing as guerrilla art, it was unofficially installed in front of the New York Stock Exchange by Di Modica in 1989 and intended to convey the fighting spirit of the United States and of New York.

After police seized the sculpture, public outcry led the city`s parks department to reinstall it days later at its current location nearby.

Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor of Wall Street`s "Charging Bull" statue has died in his home town of Vittoria, Sicily, Italian media reported on Saturday, citing friends of the Italian artist.

Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor of Wall Street`s "Charging Bull" statue has died in his home town of Vittoria, Sicily, Italian media reported on Saturday, citing friends of the Italian artist. Di Modica, who recently turned 80, had been fighting cancer for many years, La Repubblica daily said. Located in Bowling Green at the heart of Manhattan`s financial district, the 7,100-pound sculpture, Di Modica`s most famous, became a symbol of New York City. Originally appearing as guerrilla art, it was unofficially installed in front of the New York Stock Exchange by Di Modica in 1989 and intended to convey the fighting spirit of the United States and of New York. After police seized the sculpture, public outcry led the city`s parks department to reinstall it days later at its current location nearby.

Wall Street Charging Bull sculptor Arturo Di Modica dies aged 80

A young day trader who went by the screen name Roaring Kitty and found himself at the center of the GameStop stock trading frenzy will make his first public appearance at a congressional hearing Thursday.

The trader, Keith Gill, was on a list released Friday of the panel that will appear in front of the House Committee on Financial Services as it examines the circumstances around the wild spikes in prices of GameStop and other so-called meme stocks.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/how-gamestop-missed-out-on-capitalising-on-the-reddit-rally-362984">How GameStop missed out on capitalising on the Reddit rally</a>

Gill is the only non-chief executive who will appear at the event, titled “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media and Retail Investors Collide.”

The other people testifying that day will be Vlad Tenev, CEO of online broker Robinhood; Kenneth C. Griffin, CEO of trading firm Citadel; Gabe Plotkin, CEO of hedge fund Melvin Capital Management; and Steve Huffman, CEO of social media company Reddit.

Gill lingered in anonymity until he was outed last month as the person behind Roaring Kitty. Under that screen name, Gill shot dozens of videos from his home in Massachusetts promoting the GameStop stock.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/hbo-to-develop-film-chronicling-the-gamestop-wall-street-incident-361954">HBO to develop film chronicling the GameStop-Wall Street incident</a>

He built up a large holding of GameStop shares and became a hero among the online crowd that gathered on Reddit to talk about the stock. But his endorsement has drawn attention from regulators in his home state.

Many of these traders bought and sold stocks on the Robinhood trading app. But Robinhood and other brokers effectively blocked trading of GameStop on its platform as the stock became the most actively traded on Wall Street, with its share price up as much as 1,700% in January.

The spike caused huge losses for the hedge funds that had made big bets against GameStop. Melvin lost 53% in January, a person familiar with the matter said, and had to ask for billions of dollars from other hedge funds, including Citadel, to stay afloat.

Robinhood’s decision to block trading infuriated its customers and drew bipartisan condemnation, with the unlikely combination of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ted Cruz agreeing on the issue.

Robinhood raised $3.4 billion in five days to ensure it had enough money to cover the trading on its platforms. Even so, the platform continued to limit trading of GameStop and other so-called meme stocks, such as AMC Entertainment, for days.

A young day trader who went by the screen name Roaring Kitty and found himself at the center of the GameStop stock trading frenzy will make his first public appearance at a congressional hearing Thursday.

A young day trader who went by the screen name Roaring Kitty and found himself at the center of the GameStop stock trading frenzy will make his first public appearance at a congressional hearing Thursday. The trader, Keith Gill, was on a list released Friday of the panel that will appear in front of the House Committee on Financial Services as it examines the circumstances around the wild spikes in prices of GameStop and other so-called meme stocks. Also read| How GameStop missed out on capitalising on the Reddit rally Gill is the only non-chief executive who will appear at the event, titled “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media and Retail Investors Collide.” The other people testifying that day will be Vlad Tenev, CEO of online broker Robinhood; Kenneth C. Griffin, CEO of trading firm Citadel; Gabe Plotkin, CEO of hedge fund Melvin Capital Management; and Steve Huffman, CEO of social media company Reddit. Gill lingered in anonymity until he was outed last month as the person behind Roaring Kitty. Under that screen name, Gill shot dozens of videos from his home in Massachusetts promoting the GameStop stock. Also read| HBO to develop film chronicling the GameStop-Wall Street incident He built up a large holding of GameStop shares and became a hero among the online crowd that gathered on Reddit to talk about the stock. But his endorsement has drawn attention from regulators in his home state. Many of these traders bought and sold stocks on the Robinhood trading app. But Robinhood and other brokers effectively blocked trading of GameStop on its platform as the stock became the most actively traded on Wall Street, with its share price up as much as 1,700% in January. The spike caused huge losses for the hedge funds that had made big bets against GameStop. Melvin lost 53% in January, a person familiar with the matter said, and had to ask for billions of dollars from other hedge funds, including Citadel, to stay afloat. Robinhood’s decision to block trading infuriated its customers and drew bipartisan condemnation, with the unlikely combination of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ted Cruz agreeing on the issue. Robinhood raised $3.4 billion in five days to ensure it had enough money to cover the trading on its platforms. Even so, the platform continued to limit trading of GameStop and other so-called meme stocks, such as AMC Entertainment, for days.

Reddit’s ‘Roaring Kitty’ will speak at GameStop hearing

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