On the day after the Warriors selected Jordan Poole in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft, there were hints that he was a project. He turned 20 two days earlier, had a thin physique, and general manager Bob Myers urged everyone to give him time to grow.
“It really matters what they look like a year or two, or three years, from now than what they look like in two weeks or a month,” Myers said that day in June 2019. “They’re all different. They’ll all grow at different rates. I just hope they all end up in a good place.”
Myers was speaking not only of Poole but also of fellow 2019 draftees Eric Paschall and Alen Smailagic.
Now, 19 months later, Paschall is in the rotation and the Warriors have decided to send Poole and Smailagic, along with 2020 second-round draft pick Nico Mannion, to the G League bubble outside Orlando next week. They’re expected to be there awhile.
Of the three, Poole is the one with a first-round pedigree. He is scheduled to get time, roughly one month, and space to prove he belongs in the NBA. He’s expected to play heavy minutes at shooting guard.
“I’m excited,” Poole said Saturday after shootaround, a little more than six hours before tipoff of Warriors-Pistons at Chase Center. “It’s an amazing opportunity. I get to play some games. I’m looking forward to it.”
This is Poole’s second opportunity to star in the G League. After a poor start last season, during which his projected best asset – shooting – did not materialize, he spent three games last January with the Santa Cruz Warriors, averaging 35 minutes a game. Moreover, he shot 46.3 percent from the field, including 42.3 percent from distance.
Upon returning to the NBA, he showed some slight improvement, most notably playing point guard. But any momentum he might have built disappeared when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the league.
Poole has appeared in 14 of Golden State’s 19 games this season. Since playing a total of 34 minutes in the first three weeks of the month, he has played 28 in the last four games, three of which were blowouts. He is better than last season, but not enough to crack the rotation.
The purpose of going to the bubble is to give Poole enough playing time to find a rhythm on offense. The Warriors drafted him mostly for his scoring ability, but his college success has not translated to the NBA.
“I get to play games, and that’s always exciting. I get to get up and down, get a little bit of game burn,” he said. “We’ll see when I come back, or however long I’m down there what the situation is.
“I’m just really looking forward to playing, getting on the court and playing against some other people.”
GameStop's and AMC's stocks have spiked in recent days. Here's what's going on.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Wall Street investors made big bets that struggling video game retailer GameStop would fail. They'd been making those bets for a long time too, and they were so sure, GameStop became one of the most heavily bet-against stocks on the market. Over the past few months though, a bunch of Reddit users have been buying up shares, pushing up GameStop's value and undermining Wall Street's big bets. At first, these forum traders bought because they believed the company was better off than the Wall Street doubters thought. Then, as GameStop value soared, Wall Street's bad bets started to cost investors billions of dollars.
Now the Reddit users want the price to rise even more, as they wage an epic battle against Wall Street.
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At one point, the Reddit users from the forum r/WallStreetBets sent the stock up more than 14,300% (you read that right), though it's gone through wild fluctuations. They've spread their strategy to struggling movie chain AMC, and tech company BlackBerry, too. In their wake, these online market players have upended Wall Street, creating a drama filled with memes, app trading disasters and weird internet lingo as big-time investors have lost billions of dollars.
It's a crazy story, complete with cameos by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and CNBC financial commentator and former hedge fund manager Jim Cramer. There's even Michael Burry, one of the subjects of the book and movie The Big Short, who happens to be a prominent investor in GameStop.
Even Silicon Valley found a way to get in the middle of this mess. It's wild.
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"We're seeing a phenomenon that I have never seen," Jim Cramer, a Wall Street commentator on CNBC and a former hedge fund manager, said during a segment as GameStock's stock began rocketing up. And GameStop could be just the start. "It's insane."
It all started last week, when posters on the Reddit stock trading chat community r/WallStreetBets pushed up shares in the struggling game retailer. With much of Wall Street betting against GameStop's success, r/WallStreetBets investors believed they could force a market rally by creating demand where there had been little before.
As a result, GameStop stock jumped more than 822%, from $17.25 per share at the beginning of the year to a high of $159.18 on Monday. Then it dropped by nearly half, only to rise back up to $147.98 on Tuesday. And then Musk tweeted about it to his 43 million followers (using that weird internet vocabulary, of course), and the price jumped 40% in after-hours trading. On Wednesday, it closed at $347.51 per share, before dropping again in after-hours trading.
On Thursday, it jumped even higher, to $483 per share, before halving again. Amid all the chaos, the New York Stock Exchange temporarily halted GameStop share trading more than a dozen times before midday Thursday. It ended the normal trading day down 44% to $193.60, only to jump back
The Reddit community has also turned its eyes on BlackBerry, attempting to pull the same trick. So far, they've pushed shares up more than double from $6.58 per share, where they started at the beginning of the year. On Tuesday, the stock closed at $18.92. On Wednesday, it closed regular trading at $25.10, though it's fallen since then to $14.65.
There's also AMC. Reddit targeted that one, spawning the hashtag #SaveAMC on Twitter too. Its stock jumped from $2 per share last week to close trading at $19.90 on Wednesday. It too fell in after-hours trades, and after jumping on Thursday, fell again to close at $8.63.
App-based traders Robinhood, TD Ameritrade and WeBull responded to the fluctuations by restricting trades of GameStop, AMC and other fast-moving stocks on their services.
Robinhood drew particular ire, leading US Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Sen. Ted Cruz, to criticize its decision. Some people had already raised concerns about Robinhood before, saying it "gamified" stock trading. Now it's being accused of outright market manipulation, including through at least one class action lawsuit filed already. Robinhood, for its part, said Friday that market rules effectively forced it to put those restrictions in place.
It's a lot to take in. So, here's what you really need to know about GameStop, AMC and Wall Street.
How'd this happen?
GameStop is one of the largest video game retailers in the world, but it's struggled to remain relevant in the age of online sales.
Effectively, the r/WallStreetBets crowd realized Wall Street made a huge mistake. People known as short sellers who were betting GameStop stock would fall had been too aggressive.
The r/WallStreetBets crowd understood that if they could create artificial demand for GameStop shares with their own money, they could force Wall Street to recalibrate its bets, pushing prices even higher. And some investors who couldn't even back up their bets against GameStop, would have to pay even more.
As of Wednesday, there were 3.8 million members of the r/WallStreetBets community, though it's nearly impossible to determine how many people are involved in the GameStop, AMC and BlackBerry schemes.
What we do know is that all this activity appears to have created a "short squeeze," where the short sellers betting against GameStop are being forced to buy more GameStop stock to cover their losses. That pushed the price up even more, which forces more short sellers to cover their losses, which pushes the price up even more. Some of the Reddit crowd believe that GameStop stock could reach into the thousands of dollars just because of this mechanism.
And that's why we're suddenly seeing GameStop's value jump.
When people buy a stock normally, they're betting it'll rise or share enough profits that they'll make more money than they put in.
Short sellers, or "shorts," do the opposite. Shorts trade with borrowed shares and sell them, with hopes they can make money if the stock falls in the future.
Imagine Ian Corp. is a public company, and its shares are worth $10. A "short" would borrow shares of Ian Corp. and sell them for $10. Their bet is that Ian Corp. stock will actually drop below that -- maybe to $4. If it does, then, they can buy the shares at $4 and pocket the other $6.
If Ian Corp. stock jumps to $25, then the lender who made this bet possible may push the short to cover their bet. That would mean the short effectively has to buy the shares at the new, higher price.
When a short is right, betting against a company, they can make a lot of money. But if they're wrong, they can lose a lot more money too.
There are other options and tools to bet against a company's future as well.
GameStop stock from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25.
Google Finance
How much money did the GameStop shorts lose?
The losses appear to be tremendous. As of Wednesday, shorts seemed to have lost $5 billion betting against GameStop this year, according to Investopedia. About $1.6 billion, or about half, of those losses happened on Friday when the stock jumped 51%.
It's also worth noting that GameStop began the year as one of the most shorted companies on the market.
That seems like a lot of money
It is, but what's perhaps an even bigger indication of how dramatic these moves were, GameStop share sales were halted during Monday's trading because they were moving too fast.
These wild swings won't continue forever, will they?
Part of what's driven this behavior is the popularity of retail investing, or when traders who aren't Wall Street professionals buy and sell stocks. Stock trading apps, often with no fees, have made it easy for people to jump into the market. And social media has helped people to rally together, egging one another on to buy more and more of a stock.
"GameStop's rally is one in a series of eye-catching market moves to stir concerns among fund managers, some of whom say trading by individual investors is pushing stock prices out of whack with fundamentals," The Wall Street Journal wrote Monday.
How's Wall Street responding?
Big name trading apps like Robinhood, ETrade and others have reportedly struggled to remain online amid all the hysteria. TD Ameritrade on Wednesday acted to restrict the sudden spikes in demand, "out of an abundance of caution amid unprecedented market conditions."
Robinhood has also come under particular scrutiny for appearing to severely restrict trades of some stocks while the market was wildly fluctuating Thursday. Politicians on both sides of the aisle in the US have called for an investigation into the app maker. Meanwhile, many angry Redditors say they'll stop using Robinhood. Some have even threatened to join a class action lawsuit.
Nasdaq said it will halt trading on a stock if it finds a link to unusual activity on social media. The company said it sees its role as a "self-regulatory organization" is to make sure its markets act in a "legitimate" way. "Regulators kind of have to catch up with the technology that's now available," Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman told CNBC on Wednesday.
Throughout the past week, the markets have temporarily halted trades of GameStop and AMC stocks in particular because of the wide price swings and heavy volume.
I heard people are particularly angry at Robinhood. Why?
Of the stock trading apps, Robinhood appeared to be the most aggressive in shutting down purchases of highly volatile stocks like GameStop and AMC. The company hasn't given clear reasons, other than vaguely saying it's working in the interest of users. But the US government may not agree.
On Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it's "closely monitoring and evaluating the extreme price volatility of certain stocks' trading prices over the past several days."
The statement didn't mention Robinhood by name, but the commission said it would "closely review actions taken by regulated entities that may disadvantage investors or otherwise unduly inhibit their ability to trade certain securities."
Robinhood declined to comment about the SEC statement. The White House referred questions about GameStop and brokerage firms to the Treasury Department, which houses the SEC.
What does Robinhood have to say?
On Friday, the company published a blog post explaining that the company it works with to help users trade stocks was what had set off all the drama. That company, a clearinghouse that helps facilitate the transaction of stocks and cash between buyers and sellers, requires Robinhood and other trading companies it works with to have a specific amount of money in deposits each day to cover their customer's stock trades. That amount changes each day, based in part on market volatility.
Robinhood said that last week it was told it must increase its deposits tenfold. "That's what led us to put temporary buying restrictions in place on a small number of securities that the clearinghouses had raised their deposit requirements on," the company said. The requirements were so large, it said, that it had to restrict trades in order to meet its requirements.
"It was not because we wanted to stop people from buying these stocks," the company added. "This is a dynamic, volatile market, and we have and may continue to take action to make sure we meet our requirements as a broker so we can continue to serve our customers for the long term."
Has Robinhood gotten in trouble with the SEC before?
It has. A little over a month ago, on Dec. 17, the SEC charged Robinhood with "repeated misstatements that failed to disclose the firm's receipt of payments from trading firms for routing customer order to them." What that means in plain English is that Robinhood didn't tell users that their share trades might be accessible by people competing against them in the market.
Robinhood made its name by offering stock trades without a standard commission that people often payed at other firms. The SEC said that between 2015 and 2018, Robinhood made misleading statements and omissions, including "in FAQ pages on its website, about its largest revenue source when describing how it made money – namely, payments from trading firms in exchange for Robinhood sending its customer orders to those firms for execution, also known as 'payment for order flow.'"
The SEC estimated that Robinhood's approach deprived users of $34.1 million, even after taking into account the savings from not paying a commission.
Robinhood agreed to pay $65 million to settle the charges "without admitting or denying" the SEC's findings.
"There are many new companies seeking to harness the power of technology to provide alternative ways for people to invest their money," Erin E. Schneider, director of the SEC's San Francisco regional office, said at the time. "But innovation does not negate responsibility under the federal securities laws."
What do the companies think of all this?
GameStop didn't respond to a request for comment. BlackBerry executives told MarketWatch it was "not aware" of any reason for the recent trading activity. BlackBerry did reach a settlement with Facebook earlier this month over a patent fight, though the terms were not disclosed.
Why are the Redditors doing this?
There's the seeming easy money aspect, which is compelling in and of itself if you're that comfortable with risk. But some of them are also framing this as a crusade against Wall Street. "We're in a war," one Redditor posted Wednesday. "A war for the redistribution of wealth."
You promised me Elon Musk, how's he involved?
Aside from being a prolific Twitter user, Musk has also recently learned he can drive people to various companies' stocks. He tweeted about how much he enjoyed buying something for his dog off Etsy, and the stock jumped. Now he's tweeted about GameStop, stirring up more frenzy.
Any other people's opinions I should know about?
If you're a fan of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Jon Stewart posted his first ever tweet in support of the Reddit crowd on Thursday. Among other things, he also said we clearly hadn't learned from the financial crisis.
This is bullshit. The Redditors aren't cheating, they're joining a party Wall Street insiders have been enjoying for years. Don't shut them down...maybe sue them for copyright infringement instead!!
We've learned nothing from 2008.
Love
StewBeef
I went to r/WallStreetBets and saw this post of someone's brokerage account worth tens of millions of dollars in GameStop stock.
That's Keith Gill, or Roaring Kitty on YouTube, one of the first people to kick off this rally. He spoke to The Wall Street Journal, telling his story about how he never expected this to happen.
He posts a screenshot of his share values from his ETrade brokerage every trading day, in what he calls a YOLO ("You only live once") update. Many r/WallStreetBets members cite his holding onto shares despite stock fluctuations as inspiration for them to hold as well. "REMEMBER: If [he] can hold even through a 130% dip, so can YOU," one Reddit user posted as the stock started to fluctuate.
"I thought this trade would be successful," Gill told the WSJ, "but I never expected what happened over the past week."
This sounds nuts
It is. And just watching it is enough to make your head spin. For example, on Wednesday evening, the popular chat app Discord banned the r/WallStreetBets community from its service for violating its rules against hate speech and glorification of violence. Apparently, some of the nastier elements of the community had repeatedly broken Discord's rules.
That appeared to spook investors, who suddenly sent GameStop and AMC stock diving more than 30% each in after-hours trading.
A little over an hour later, the Reddit community was publicly available again, denizens had created a new Discord chat group, and GameStop and AMC stocks were recovering from their sudden slumps. If you'd put down your phone to watch a movie before it happened, you might never have noticed by the time it was done.
Except you may have seen Elon Musk tweeted about how Discord wasn't cool anymore (Discord eventually reversed its decision.)
OK, and what about The Big Short guy?
Michael Burry is an interesting subject himself. He became famous for betting against the housing market before the great recession kicked in around 2007 and 2008. He'd invested in GameStop, but also said he believed all this behavior was "unnatural, insane and dangerous."
Of course, some of the Reddit members say they see this battle over GameStop as their Michael Burry moment, making it all that much more interesting.
Correction Jan. 25 at 5:52 p.m. PT: Fixed the explanation of short selling to make clear how the process works and that there are different ways to bet against a company's stock price rising.
The Sundance Film Festival opened Jan. 28, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, instead of audiences settling in front of large cinematic screens, attendees will have to settle into smaller, homier screens.
Premiering on Jan. 31, native Northern California filmmakers Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp bring Calaveras County to screens across the country.
"First Date" is about Mike, a shy highschooler who finally asks his neighbor, Kelsey, out on a date, only to realize he needs a car. Through some hijinks, he's conned into buying a beat-up '65 Chrysler that leads to a surreal adventure with Kelsey involving cops, a gang, and a vengeful cat lady.
CapRadio's Ed Fletcher spoke with Crosby and Knapp about their movie. And while Sundance this year is mostly virtual, they'll still be able to enjoy a "packed house" because tickets to the premiere screening are already sold out.
"Manual and I grew up in Valley Springs," said Knapp to Ed Fletcher. "I currently still live here. He's up in Tahoe. But when we were writing the script, we wanted the setting to be here, or we grew up."
It's a tight-knit community up here. There is a lot more goodwill toward each other's productions," Crosby said to Ed Fletcher about filming in Calaveras County.
Written, Directed and Producedby Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp
Producedby Brandon Kraus
Producedby Lucky McKee and Charles Horak
Cinematographyby Manuel Crosby
Starring
Tyson Brown: Mike
Shelby Duclos: Kelsey
From the filmmakers and stars
Knapp on shooting in Calaveras County:
“We know a lot of people in the community and they were very generous.”
Crosby on shoot in Calaveras County:
“It’s a tight knit community up here. There is a lot more good will toward each other's productions.
Duclos on playing Kelsey:
“She’s just kind of fearless. I had a blast just getting to play this person that is super confident.”
Tyson on playing (shy) Mike:
“I took a lot from my early years of high school and from some of my favorite actors.”
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Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel (9) scores an overtime goal against New Jersey Devils goaltender Scott Wedgewood (41) to beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at KeyBank Center on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.
The Buffalo Sabres didn’t overthink their power-play strategy with Jack Eichel receiving treatment after the 24-year-old captain was struck in the face by a puck.
Without their top player on the ice, the Sabres simply gave Victor Olofsson the puck in the spot where he scored most of his 20 goals as a rookie last season, and the 25-year-old winger delivered the go-ahead goal in the third period Saturday.
Eichel returned to the bench just in time to watch the New Jersey Devils tie the score. He then helped the Sabres secure two points.
Following an overtime in which the Devils’ Jack Hughes hit the post, Eichel scored in the shootout to help Buffalo defeat New Jersey, 4-3, inside KeyBank Center.
The Sabres (4-3-2) have earned points in six of their last seven games, and the Devils (3-3-2), now coached by Lindy Ruff, entered Saturday with three losses in their previous four games.
Olofsson’s power-play goal from the right circle with 9:04 remaining gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead after Eichel left for the dressing room, and the Devils tied the score again when Janne Kuokkanen capitalized on a bouncing puck near Buffalo’s net. Eichel missed almost 13 minutes after taking a puck to the face.
Eric Staal and Tobias Rieder also had goals for the Sabres, and Linus Ullmark make 31 saves while making his fifth consecutive start in net. Ullmark stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout.
Andreas Johansson and Ty Smith scored for the Devils.
Better start: The Sabres had five shots on goal through the first 8:16 of the first period and controlled possession, yet they couldn’t generate quality chances against Devils goalie Scott Wedgewood, who played for the Rochester Americans in 2018-19.
Power-play adjustment: With Sam Reinhart out, Dylan Cozens moved to the top power-play unit and assumed Taylor Hall’s position in the slot. However, the Sabres appeared disconnected in their first opportunity on the man-advantage, generating only two shots on goal. Cozens was eventually replaced on the top unit by Rasmus Ristolainen.
Special teams: Buffalo was forced to kill a 5-on-3 when Eric Staal and Brandon Montour were penalized during the same sequence. Ristolainen, Curtis Lazar and Jake McCabe were on the ice for 1:43 of the penalty kill, helping the Sabres not allow a shot on goal on the Devils’ two-man advantage.
Momentum shift: Turnovers caused the Sabres to go 10:06 without a shot on goal in the first period. Buffalo benefited from winning 65% of the faceoffs in the first 20 minutes and outshot New Jersey, 7-6, during that span.
Opening salvo: Staal gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 9:03 into the second period with a shot from the slot that went off the post and in for his third goal of the season. Hall, who was playing the Devils for the first time since he was traded by New Jersey in December 2019, earned the primary assist with his pass from near the right wall.
Staal has points in four of his last five games, including three goals. His 439th career goal puts him ahead of Gary Roberts on the NHL’s all-time list. Staal trails only Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau and Sidney Crosby among active players.
Slump ends: New Jersey was amid a 1-for-11 skid on the power play when Smith scored on the man advantage with a shot from the point, tying the score 1-1 at 18:35 into the second period.
High shot: Andreas Johnsson gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at 1:37 in the third period on a shot from the left circle that went over Ullmark’s glove and into the net.
Quick strike: Rieder tied the score at 2:18 into the third period on a low shot from the left circle that beat Wedgewood at the far post.
Matinee magic: Under Krueger, the Sabres entered Saturday with a 7-2-2 record in afternoon games since the start of the 2019-20 season.
Iron man: Reinhart (upper body) missed his first game for the Sabres since March 28, 2017, an iron-man streak of 246 consecutive games played. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Reinhart has totaled 51 goals at 5-on-5.
Reunion: Former Rochester Americans coach Chris Taylor is now an assistant on Lindy Ruff’s staff with the Devils. Taylor, who was among the 22 hockey operations employees dismissed by the Sabres in June, led the Amerks to a combined 116-65-33 record across three seasons.
Lineup: Defenseman Henri Jokiharju returned to the lineup after missing consecutive games with an undisclosed injury. Matt Irwin, who replaced Jokiharju on the blue line, was a healthy scratch for the seventh time this season.
Next: The Sabres complete third set of back-to-backs with a game at 1 p.m. Sunday against the Devils.
January 31, 2021 at 07:44AM
https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/wraparound-jack-eichel-linus-ullmark-send-sabres-to-shootout-win/article_2be81298-631e-11eb-a319-7bded8cdbd13.html
Wraparound: Jack Eichel, Linus Ullmark send Sabres to shootout win - Buffalo News
When four fifth-grade Girl Scouts sat down to figure out what they should do to earn their Bronze Award, their first idea was helping animals.
But as the coronavirus pandemic limited their options to help animals get adopted, they shifted gears and found a way to provide care packages for people in need in Broomfield.
Girl Scouts, left to right, Sofia Gutierrez, Reese DeCamp, Clara Jones and Georgia Williams helped the homeless in their community. The Broomfield Girl Scout junior troop created and donated care packages to The Refuge and earned their Bronze Award. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
Girl Scout Junior Troop No. 65574’s four members Sofia Gutierrez, Reese DeCamp, Clara Jones and Georgia Williams assembled and donated 48 Blessing Bundles to The Refuge in Broomfield. The project earned the troop their Bronze Award — the highest award the junior troop could earn — while giving them the ability to give back.
The four Scouts, who have been in the same troop since kindergarten, each said it felt “really good” to be able to help people in Broomfield.
The Blessing Bundles included a reusable water bottle that the Scouts stuffed with items such as masks, gloves, socks, bandages and lots of snacks. The troop raised money for the project through Facebook, and Troop Leader Jessica Williams said the Scouts had about $700 after they matched the funds. The money went to buying all of the care package items.
“It feels good because people wanted to help,” Reese said about the community donations.
She said she still found a way to incorporate helping animals in the project.
“I made dog treats for the bundles,” she said. “Sometimes I see people on the street with dogs, and I didn’t want the dogs to go hungry, so I made treats and put them inside the bottles.”
Sofia said the hardest part of the project was finding something they all agreed on, but she said it was all worth it when they found out they won the Bronze Award.
Reese DeCamp poses with items purchased for the Blessing Bundles. (Sandi DeCamp/Courtesy photo)
Because of the pandemic, the troop has been meeting virtually through Zoom calls. The Blessing Bundle items were dropped off at each of their houses where they assembled them. Williams had to deliver the bundles to The Refuge without the Scouts because of the pandemic, but she relayed to them the gratitude from The Refuge staff.
Clara said the best part was seeing photos of the bundles being delivered to The Refuge, a Christian community and mission center.
“Not only do you get to help people, but you get to do fun stuff,” she said about Girl Scout projects.
Georgia said she didn’t have a favorite moment in particular because she enjoyed the entire process.
With Girl Scout cookie season approaching, Williams said she chose to nominate The Refuge as the troop’s Hometown Heroes recipient, which means The Refuge will receive the cookies when community members don’t want to buy cookies for themselves but still want to purchase cookies.
“Once we went and saw the place and saw the work they’re doing, it’s a really cool place,” Williams said. “Everybody recognizes the fireman and the policemen when we do Hometown Heroes, but places like (The Refuge,) you don’t hear about them much.”
Williams and the other troop moms are hopeful the Girl Scouts will be able to join in on delivering donated cookies to The Refuge to be able to see what they’re supporting.
To donate cookies to The Refuge, visit https://bit.ly/2MjHgxz and select “donate cookies.”
NASA is targeting April 20 to send the next round of astronauts into space.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA and SpaceX are aiming for no earlier than April 20 for the launch of the second crew rotation mission with astronauts into space.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission will launch four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. It will be the first mission to fly two international partner crew members as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, according to NASA.
Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the mission. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet will join as mission specialists.
The Crew-2 astronauts will stay aboard the International Space Station for about 6 months as expedition crew members, along with three crewmates who will launch via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
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"The increase of the full space station crew complement to seven members – over the previous six – will allow NASA to effectively double the amount of science that can be conducted in space," NASA wrote in a press release last year.
Crew-2 also is expected to arrive at the space station to overlap with the astronauts that flew to the station as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission.
NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, are currently scheduled to return to earth in late April or early May. Crew-2 astronauts are set to return in fall 2021.
"NASA and SpaceX also continue preparations for the launch of the agency’s Crew-3 mission, which currently is targeted for fall of this year."
Elon Musk updated his Twitter profile to include the bitcoin hashtag early Friday morning. And when Musk does something like this, he has the power to influence the market. The price of bitcoin spiked following his profile update. And as we'll see, he's not the only prominent figure giving the popular cryptocurrency a boost today.
As of 11:15 a.m., bitcoin was around $37,400 per token, up 17.7% over the previous 24-hour period, according to digital currency news site CoinDesk. And stocks that mine and hold bitcoin were soaring as well.
Shares of Marathon Patent Group(NASDAQ:MARA) were up 11%.
Shares of Riot Blockchain(NASDAQ:RIOT) were up 11%.
Shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust(OTC:GBTC) were up 10%.
And shares of MicroStrategy(NASDAQ:MSTR) were up 18%.
Even a cryptocurrency called Dogecoin was in the news. It's up roughly 225% over the past 24 hours and is now in the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. While I'd normally ignore Dogecoin (considering it was created as a joke), I believe it's relevant to what's going today, as we'll see in a moment.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
First, today's story should be framed with the broader context of what's going on in the market. GameStop is in the middle of an epic short squeeze, caused by abnormally high short interest, and catalyzed by a group of retail investors buying shares in concert. GameStop, and a group of other stocks with a lot of short interest, have skyrocketed during this past week as a result.
But then yesterday, brokerages like Robinhood and others started limiting how many shares of GameStop could be purchased (for a while you couldn't buy any at all). It appears some of these retail investors, in frustration, then turned to cryptocurrencies, an asset class that's perceived to be impervious to unwanted control and oversight. The parabolic rise of Dogecoin corresponds with the decision by brokerages to limit trading on certain stocks.
Image source: Getty Images.
Therefore, it would seem that a herd of retail investors was already looking for alternative trades. Initially, it was Dogecoin. But their appetite for alternatives was then served an unexpected entree when Musk appeared to throw support behind bitcoin. And it wasn't just Musk. Even Ray Dalio, the famous billionaire behind the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund, marveled at the invention of bitcoin yesterday.
On Bridgewater's website last night, Dalio sought to clarify his position on bitcoin because he believes the media is mischaracterizing his intent. In the article, he regularly asserted that he's not a bitcoin expert and therefore isn't giving advice. But his team is exploring the balance of supply and demand and what that could mean for the future value of bitcoin tokens.
This sequence of events is impacting the price of bitcoin today. And it directly affects the share prices of MicroStrategy, Marathon, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. All three hold bitcoin tokens (Grayscale holds them exclusively). For its part, MicroStrategy holds 70,784 bitcoin tokens. And Marathon just bought 4,813 tokens that it plans to hold. When bitcoin gains 17%, as it has today, then the value of these companies' holdings rises by the same amount.
How much the rising price of bitcoin benefits bitcoin-mining companies is less straightforward. Marathon, Riot Blockchain, and Bit Digital are all unique companies. Each has its particular mining capacity, ongoing expenses, and decisions from management that potentially create or destroy shareholder value. That said, investors seem content to continue bidding these up regardless of the individual business fundamentals, so long as bitcoin is going up.
Three-month returns for bitcoin, bitcoin stocks, and the S&P 500. MSTR data by YCharts.
Now what
Don't rush out to buy bitcoin and bitcoin stocks (not even Dogecoin) based solely on this week's events. Keep in mind how quickly today's narrative developed. Just as quickly, the narrative could spin the opposite way, sending these assets tumbling. Every day the financial news cycle drives a hamster wheel of volatility. Be careful not to take long-term action on short-term news.
Long term, stocks go up and down based on demand, and businesses executing on their long-term vision tend to be those in-demand stocks. For that reason, it's important to never lose sight of what's going on with the business.
Yesterday, MicroStrategy reported fourth-quarter results. This is material news for shareholders. Full-year revenue was down 1%, which isn't good. However, subscription billings for the company's software were up 41% year over year. That's significant, and it's something CFO Phong Le believes investors should be watching. In the conference call, Le said subscription billings were the "top operational priority" for 2021, distinguishing this from the impact bitcoin will also have on the stock in the coming year.
