Wednesday, February 3, 2021 Headlines

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Yellen plans to meet with regulators
Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon, leaves after a record year
Affected by Covid-19, the eurozone economy declines 6.8% in 2020

Former Fed President Janet Yellen, appointed by US President Joe Biden to the Treasury Department, has called on regulators to assess the volatility in financial markets caused by Gamestop transactions.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with the leading regulators of the financial industry to discuss the volatility of the GameStop stock trading, silver and other stocks favored on social media.

In the statement made by the Treasury Department, it was stated that the officials of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Fed, the New York Fed and the Commodity Futures Commission will hold talks.

In the statement made by the Ministry, “Minister Yellen thinks it is important to protect the integrity of the markets and will discuss with the authorities whether the volatility created by the latest movements in the financial markets is fair and compatible with the effective markets.’’

Shares of the video game retailer GameStop rose strongly with the organization of many users on the Reddit forum last week, with the company’s shares rising from $ 19.95 to $ 347.51. But GameStop crashed back to earth, closing down 60% at $90 on Tuesday, leaving many traders with huge losses. Silver prices also fell.

The SEC last week warned here that “extreme stock price volatility has the potential to expose investors to rapid and severe losses and undermine market confidence.”

The Federal Reserve Board declined to comment and the SEC, New York Fed and CFTC did not respond to queries about the meeting late on Tuesday.

The Treasury official said Yellen was looking for an update from the top U.S. financial regulators.

The meeting signals heightened concern about the volatility just a week after Yellen was sworn in as the first female U.S. Treasury secretary.

Jeff Bezos the Founder of Amazon, Leaves After a Record Year

While Amazon announced its balance sheet for the last quarter of 2020, it was announced that the company’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, would leave office in the third quarter of 2021, a role he’s had for nearly 30 years.

In the statement that the company will change manager this year, it was reported that Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos will leave his senior management position in the third quarter of the year. In addition, it was stated that Bezos will continue to remain as the chairman of the company, and Andy Jassy’s future as the top manager of Amazon was recorded.

In the statement, where the financial results of the company for the last quarter of 2020 were shared, fit was noteworthy that Amazon’s quarterly revenue exceeded $ 100 billion for the first time. It was also noted that Amazon’s sales increased by 44 % in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter of the previous year, reaching $ 125.6 billion.

In the statement, which pointed out that the company’s sales increased throughout 2020, it was stated that Amazon’s sales increased by 38 % in 2020 compared to the previous year, to 386.1 billion dollars. Additionally, it was reported that Amazon’s net profit increased to $ 7.2 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, and its profit per share was $ 14.09. The company announced a profit of $ 3.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In the statement, which recorded the net profit of Amazon as $ 21.3 billion in 2020, it was reported that the profit per share was $ 41.83 last year. Amazon had a profit of $ 11.6 billion in 2019.

Bezos added that he plans to focus on new products and early initiatives being developed at Amazon. And he said he’ll have more time for side projects: his space exploration company Blue Origin; the newspaper he owns, The Washington Post; and his charities.

“I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring,” Bezos wrote in his message. “I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organizations can have.”

Affected by Covid-19, the Eurozone Economy Declines 6.8% in 2020

Lockdowns, widely introduced due to the spread of the coronavirus by the authorities of many countries, led the European economy to fall by 6.8% at the end of 2020, according to news.

Though catastrophic, this was much better than the EU commission’s forecast of a 7.8 % crash, made in November.

It is explained that in the last quarter of 2020, the situation with health care worsened in the EU countries. New lockdowns had to be introduced in Germany and France.

Tightening social restrictions have led to a new economic situation. in October-December last year, the EU’s GDP fell by 0.7%.

But early indicators show that the 19-countries that use the euro currency now face the prospect of a fresh recession after a recovery last summer was cut short by a second wave of the pandemic. This is due to a halting start to the vaccination campaign in Europe and continued Covid-related restrictions.

In addition to the situation with Covid-19 and the complexity of mass vaccination in Europe, the situation is aggravated by the fact that in the new 2021, the number of infections with a new strain of coronavirus has increased.

German economic activity contracted by 5 % in 2020 and even France in the end did better than expected with a slump of 8.3 %, when a double digit crash was initially feared. Germany is traditionally considered the strongest economy in the eurozone. In this country, the economic recovery has slowed down amid the introduction of new restrictions due to the pandemic.

The eurozone is expected to reach 2019 levels of economic output only in 2022, say officials from the European Central Bank. That contrasts with China, the only major economy to grow in 2020 with a 2.3% increase in output, and with the U.S., where Congressional budget experts foresee a rebound to 2019 levels by the middle of this year. The International Monetary Fund last month cut its forecast for eurozone growth this year to 4.2% from 5.2%

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