(New York) The US government and a federal regulator are investigating whether the late January spike in the price of certain titles on Wall Street, including that of GameStop, amounts to manipulation, reported Thursday. Wall Street Journal.
Posted on February 11, 2021 at 3:44 p.m.
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According to the financial daily, the anti-fraud section of the Justice Department and the San Francisco area attorney are seeking information from online brokerage platforms, used by many amateur investors to conduct their stock transactions.
In particular, investigators tapped into the popular Robinhood app, headquartered in Menlo Park, a suburb of San Francisco, says the Wall Street Journal.
The company had been vilified by many users for restricting stock and option purchases of several companies targeted by the speculative fever that gripped Wall Street last month.
In addition, the agency overseeing the commodities markets (CFTC) has opened a preliminary investigation into possible illicit behavior by stock marketers on the Reddit site who called for massive investment in silver, indicates the American daily.
The CFTC said in early February that it was “closely observing recent activity in the silver market” and that it remained “vigilant to monitor this market in the event of fraud and manipulation”.
The CFTC told AFP that it could not comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to the agency’s requests.
The GameStop affair began when an army of budding investors ganged up against large Wall Street hedge funds that bet on the stock market collapse of GameStop and other companies with fragile financial health and declining business models. .
Massive purchases of the securities of these companies had made them take off to the chagrin of several hedge funds, forced to buy back the shares at a high price in order to avoid colossal losses.
GameStop has, however, given up a very large chunk of its earnings since its peak last month: its stock, which was worth $ 347.51 on January 27, is now trading at less than $ 50.
The House of Representatives Financial Services Commission is organizing a hearing next Thursday to shed light on speculative practices in financial circles.
The Senate Banking Commission has also announced its intention to look into the subject.
The US stock market regulator, the SEC, had for its part assured at the end of January “to monitor and assess closely the extreme volatility of the price of certain shares. ”
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