PRIMERAS PLANAS INTERNACIONALES
EL PERIÓDICO GLOBAL
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JUEVES 28 DE ENERO DE 2021 | Año XLVI | Número 15.900 | EDICIÓN MADRID | Precio: 1,70 euros
El Barça pasa a cuartos tras derrotar al Rayo (1-2) P34
COPA DEL REY
Catherine Millet regresa a la polémica con un libro sobre Lawrence
CULTURA
La escasez de vacunas ante un virus sin control tensa a Europa La UE exige parte de las dosis de las plantas británicas de AstraZeneca G ABRIL / P. LINDE / I. VALDÉS J. J. MATEO, Bruselas / Madrid La escasez de vacunas y el progreso de un virus que se desarrolla por Europa sin control en la tercera ola han tensado las relaciones entre la Unión Europea y el Reino Unido. La UE exige a la farmacéutica AstraZeneca cumplir con el calendario de envíos de vacunas pactado y ayer subió el tono en un nuevo giro de guion con potencial para abrir una crisis diplomática entre Londres y Bruselas. La Comisión Europea reclamó parte de la producción de las cuatro fábricas europeas que usa el laboratorio, dos de las cuales se encuentran en el Reino Unido, otra en Bélgica y la cuarta en Alemania, con el fin de cubrir el recorte en los envíos anunciados. En una entrevista concedida a periódicos del grupo LENA —entre ellos EL PAÍS—, el director ejecutivo de AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot, aseguró que el descenso de entregas se debía a la “mala suerte” en el proceso de producción de una de las fábricas de la UE. Esta controversia coincide con otros retrasos del laboratorio de Pfizer y del de Moderna. Todo ello lastra el plan de vacunación de las comunidades, aunque de forma dispar. Mientras la mayoría asegura que está haciendo pequeños reajustes, Madrid anunció ayer que paraliza durante dos semanas la primera dosis para dedicar las partidas que reciba a inocular la segunda. PÁGINA 22 Y 23
La decisión de la Comisión Europea enfrenta a Bruselas y Londres
Los retrasos en las entregas lastran el calendario de vacunaciones en España
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El BCE autoriza a la gran banca española a dar dividendo Santander, CaixaBank y BBVA podrán repartir el 15% del beneficio ÍÑIGO DE BARRÓN, Madrid El Santander, el BBVA, CaixaBank y Bankinter podrán repartir el 15% de sus beneficios en dividendos para sus accionistas, tras recibir la autorización del Banco Central Europeo (BCE), que ha limitado la distribución a esa cantidad. Las entidades reclamaron un reparto mayor, pero el supervisor ha optado por la prudencia ante la incertidumbre existente, según fuentes del mercado. El Sabadell no ha pedido autorización, por lo que no remunerará a sus accionistas. Bankia lo hará a través de la fusión con CaixaBank. PÁGINA 39
El Supremo archiva la causa de Pablo Iglesias y se la devuelve al juez instructor
Un grupo de vecinos de Granada, la noche del martes. / CARLOS GIL ANDREU (GETTY IMAGES)
Los seísmos, no muy grandes pero muy continuados, sacaron a la gente a la calle
La noche de los 40 terremotos en Granada JAVIER ARROYO, Granada A las 22.30 del martes sonó el primer crac en Granada. El crujido constituyó el principio de una noche inacabable: al terremoto, largo, de magnitud 4,2, le sucedió otro de la misma fuerza que se hizo notar 8 minutos después, y que a los 10 minutos se convirtió en un tercero aún mayor, de 4,5. La secuencia empu-
jó a la gente a la calle. Muchos pasaron la noche al raso. Otros prefirieron los coches. Los seísmos, más de 40, han causado grietas dibujadas en los muros de la ciudad, cornisas desprendidas, pequeños desperfectos en la Alhambra, cierre de algunos centros escolares y, sobre todo, miedo y confusión entre los granadinos. PÁGINA 19
REYES RINCÓN, Madrid El Tribunal Supremo no ve indicios sólidos para sostener ninguno de los delitos que el juez Manuel García Castellón atribuyó al vicepresidente del Gobierno, Pablo Iglesias, en el caso Dina. El Supremo insta al juez instructor a agotar su investigación y, solo entonces, decidir si procede remitir otra exposición razonada contra Iglesias. PÁGINA 15
Biden firma en una semana 37 medidas para desmantelar el legado de Trump PABLO GUIMÓN, Washington El presidente de EE UU, Joe Biden, ha firmado en su primera semana en el cargo 37 decretos, que van desde medidas medioambientales a leyes para luchar contra la pandemia. Una decena de estas órdenes ejecutivas son derogaciones explícitas de políticas de Trump, en un intento meteórico de borrar el legado del anterior presidente. PÁGINA 2
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© 2021
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latimes.com
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2021
Biden issues bold orders on climate change President’s actions aim to reduce emissions and reverse Trump’s dismantling of environmental rules. By Anna M. Phillips and Evan Halper
Photographs by
Mel Melcon Los Angeles Times
THE LINE to get a COVID-19 vaccination on Wednesday in Encino, where Debbie Chigaridas, 67, hugs her
husband, Chris, 71. Getting an appointment can be hard, and it doesn’t mean the wait in line won’t be long.
Elders face a vaccine gantlet Getting a shot is tougher for those who lack online skills, a cellphone, reliable car or the stamina to wait outside for hours By Hayley Smith On a chilly January afternoon, 86year-old Selda Hollander sat on the grass next to a baseball field in Encino. Though eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Hollander hadn’t been able to navigate the appointment system online or over the phone. She had heard about the unofficial standby line at the Balboa Sports Complex and decided to try her luck. “I can’t figure out if it’s worth it,” she said, shivering slightly as she hugged her knees against the cold. “I’m waiting for the vaccine, but I can get sick because of the weather.” Hollander is one of countless seniors who are struggling to navigate the region’s rocky rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Those 65 and older have discovered that being eligible for the vaccine is one thing; actually receiving it is another. The system set up by Los Angeles County seems, in many ways, to be a young person’s game: It can take social media skills, technology savvy, re[See Seniors, A12]
THE WAIT for a vaccination can be a cold, miserable day in the park.
Above, Thomas Zisfain, 70, covers up at Balboa Sports Complex.
Elementary school reopening could be near If infection rates keep falling, pupils could return in 2-3 weeks, a top health official says. Some educators have doubts. CALIFORNIA, B1
WASHINGTON — President Biden announced Wednesday a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on public lands, one of a slate of executive actions to demonstrate his commitment to fighting climate change, despite opposition from the fossil fuel industry and many Republicans. The move in effect hit pause on the federal government’s leasing program while the administration considers an overhaul, weighing the climate and public health risks of continued oil and gas development against the government’s legal obligations to energy companies. This review is the first step toward an outright ban on new drilling, one of Biden’s campaign promises. The president aims to harness federal authority as never before to reduce planet-warming emissions. The orders amount to a sweeping repudiation of the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken environmental regulations and deny the seriousness of climate change. And they reflect how the new administration thinks about climate policy — as an existential crisis de-
Blinken signals a diplomatic shift “The world is watching us intently,” secretary of State says in his first day on the job. NATION, A5
Far-right memes catch eyes, recruits Extremist groups turn to alternative social networks to compete for Trump supporters. By Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Richard Read
Rafiq Maqbool Associated Press
INDIAN farmers want the government to withdraw legislation to boost private
investment in their heavily regulated sector. Above, a rally in Mumbai this week.
Women join front lines of India’s mass tractor rallies Their role reflects deep opposition to farm reforms By Shashank Bengali and Parth M.N. MUMBAI, India — Sunita Malik sat in the driver’s seat of her tractor, parked behind a police barricade at the edge of India’s capital. She and her husband had come 60 miles from their farm in northern India to the gates of New Delhi, where hundreds of thousands of farmers have camped out for two months in bone-chilling cold in one of the biggest protests in the country’s history.
They are demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government withdraw legislation aimed at boosting private investment in India’s heavily regulated farm sector, on which half of India’s 1.4 billion people depend for their livelihoods. They fear the laws will undermine the government price supports that prop up small-hold farmers and open the door to a corporate takeover of agriculture. Popular agitation in India is nothing new, but these protests have captured national attention for their size and staying power — and for
the role of women such as Malik, 45, who have pushed their way to the front lines in a striking show of gender equality among agrarian communities traditionally dominated by men. “I learned to drive the tractor eight years ago,” said Malik, who owns 15 acres of land with her husband in Panipat, north of New Delhi. “There are many more women like me. It isn’t just men who drive tractors.” Malik spoke by phone Tuesday just hours before police fired tear gas and water cannons to break up a [See India, A4]
HOUSTON — Far-right leaders across the nation — disillusioned by former President Trump’s defeat and banished from mainstream social media — have launched recruitment drives in new radicalization efforts that have turned into a “meme war” among groups such as the Boogaloo Bois, the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters.
In the days following the Capitol riot, right-wing extremists who lost Parler accounts or were suspended from Facebook and Twitter migrated to Telegram and gained a following of tens of thousands of Trump supporters looking to vent anger and promote extremist views. The groups are competing for a surge of new users on alternative platforms while refocusing their messages on militant nationalism, white supremacy and conspiracy theories. At a gun rights protest in Richmond, Va., days before the inauguration of President Biden, local Boogaloo Bois leader Mike Dunn marched with an AR-15-style rifle in defiance of a local [See Extremists, A7]
manding an all-of-government approach. “We’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis,” Biden said at a White House signing ceremony. “We can’t wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones. And it’s time to act.” Even as opponents were claiming the initiatives would cost jobs, Biden emphasized that a comprehensive climate effort would create clean-energy jobs nationwide. [See Climate, A6]
BLUE SHIELD TO LEAD VACCINE EFFORT After a bumpy start, state reaches deal with health insurer to oversee distribution. By Melody Gutierrez and John Myers SACRAMENTO — Following a shaky rollout of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts, advisors to Gov. Gavin Newsom have struck a far-reaching agreement with Blue Shield of California for the health insurance company to oversee the distribution of vaccine doses to counties, pharmacies and private healthcare providers. The decision marks a sharp turn away from a more decentralized process that has been criticized for inconsistency across regions of the state and sluggishness in its effort to vaccinate Californians. It will also mean the outsourcing of tasks that, until now, have been overseen by state and local government officials. “We understand that vaccine supply is limited,” state Government Operations Secretary Yolanda Richardson said Tuesday. “But we also need to address that the supply we have now needs to get administered as quickly as possible, so we’re developing an approach that allows us to do just that.” On Tuesday, officials announced their intent to create a statewide vaccine distribution network but declined to identify Blue Shield until Wednesday as the company that would be put in charge of the program. A spokesman for the California Department of Public Health said Wednesday that [See Blue Shield, A9]
Newsom target of plot, FBI says A Napa man arrested this month with illegal guns and bombs may have been planning an attack. CALIFORNIA, B1
Remembering the Holocaust On 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, survivors warn of a rise in hatred. WORLD, A4 Weather Afternoon rain. L.A. Basin: 63/51. B10
Chris Pizzello Invision
V ERSATILE STAR Cloris Leachman, who won an Oscar for “The Last Picture Show,” starred in comedies and danced for reality TV, has died. CALENDAR, E1
BUSINESS INSIDE: Despite Cal/OSHA’s COVID rule, little has changed, workers say. A8
Nxxx,2021-01-28,A,001,Bs-4C,E1
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Late Edition Today, clouds and sunshine, windy, feeling colder, high 34. Tonight, clear, windy, colder, low 16. Tomorrow, partly sunny, very cold, windy, high 23. Weather map, Page B12.
VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,952
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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2021
© 2021 The New York Times Company
Nearly Everyone Remains at High Risk of Getting Covid-19 People in a great majority of U.S. counties are at very high or extremely high risk of getting the coronavirus, despite cases falling from record levels this month and an accelerating vaccination campaign. A new assessment of risks and how they have changed since September. Page A6. RISK OF GETTING COVID-19, BY COUNTY, ON JAN. 26
LOW
MEDIUM
HIGH
VERY HIGH
EXTREMELY HIGH
INSUFFICIENT DATA
U.S. Extremists PRESIDENT’S TEAM Pose a Threat, OUSTS HOLDOVERS Agency Warns
FROM TRUMP ERA
Shift in Policy and Tone After Change at Top A BLITZ OF APPOINTEES By ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and DAVID E. SANGER
Source: Risk level assessment by The New York Times and Resolve to Save Lives, based on reported cases and test positivity data.
ELEANOR LUTZ AND CHARLIE SMART/THE NEW YORK TIMES
The ‘Dumb Money’ Outfoxing Wall Street Titans Biden Pitches Climate Policy Driven by Social Media, As a Jobs Plan Amateurs Rush In to By MATT PHILLIPS and TAYLOR LORENZ
A real estate salesman in Valparaiso, Ind. A former line cook from the Bronx. An evangelical pastor and his wife in Huntington Beach, Calif. A high school student in the Milwaukee suburbs. They are among the millions of amateur traders collectively taking on some of Wall Street’s most sophisticated investors — and, for the moment at least, winning. Propelled by a mix of greed and boredom, gleefully determined to teach Wall Street a lesson, and turbocharged by an endless flow of get-rich-quick hype and ideas delivered via social media, these investors have piled into trades around several companies, pushing their stock prices to stratospheric levels. Some of the names are from an earlier business era. BlackBerry’s shares are up nearly 280 percent this year. Stock in AMC, the movie theater chain, has surged nearly 840 percent. But the trade that captures the David-versusGoliath nature of the moment involves GameStop, the troubled video game retailer that was once a fixture in suburban malls. On Wall Street, individual investors are often derided as “dumb money,” destined to lose against the highly compensated analysts and traders who buy and sell stocks for a living. But in recent days, individual investors — many of them followers of a popular, juvenile, foul-mouthed Reddit page called Wall Street Bets —
Squeeze Top Funds GameStop Share Price Wednesday’s close: $347.51 $350
$300
$250
$200
$150
$100
$50
0
Jan. 14 Source: FactSet
Jan. 21
Jan. 27
THE NEW YORK TIMES
have upended that narrative by banding together to put the squeeze on at least two hedge funds that had bet that GameStop’s shares would fall. While the hedge funds and other professional money managers had been shorting GameStop’s shares, betting that its stock was doomed to further decline, the retail investors — online traders, mom-and-pop investors, small brokers and others — have been pushing the other way, buying shares and stock options. That caused GameStop’s market value to increase to over $24 billion from $2 billion in a matter of days. Its shares have risen over 1,700 percent since December. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the market value rose over $10 billion. The tribal framing online, as a kind of team sport pitting plucky upstarts against well-heeled Wall Streeters, has been especially helpful in motivating more investors to participate. This week, Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, fueled the trading by posting about the Reddit page on Twitter. And speculation is growing that other investors are seeing fresh opportunities to push the stock even higher. Ben Patte, 16, a high school student in Wisconsin who said he made $750 off GameStop stock, said the campaign felt like vindication for himself and fellow young traders. “It’s a good opportunity to make money and stick it to the hedge funds,” he said. “By buying GameStop, it’s kind of like Continued on Page A23
In Queens, New D.A. Confronts Her Office’s Past By TROY CLOSSON
The crimes were heinous, the punishments severe: A Latino man was sentenced to 40 years to life for murdering two people at a nightclub in 1993. A Black man was given 25 years to life for shooting a police officer two years later. But in both men’s trials, officials now acknowledge, a prosecutor from the Queens County district attorney’s office illegally excluded women and people of color from the juries — the kind of misconduct that both defense lawyers and some of the office’s former prosecutors say was long overlooked. The acknowledgment represented a marked shift: After documents revealed the discrimination last year, the first new district
attorney in Queens in nearly 30 years, Melinda R. Katz, signed on to a motion to vacate the convictions and made plans to retry the cases. The move signaled a turning point within the office, long
SARAH BLESENER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Melinda Katz, sworn in a year ago as Queens district attorney.
known among lawyers for its reluctance to admit mistakes and misbehavior. “Queens was always way behind. There was very little you couldn’t get away with,” said Barry Scheck, a prominent criminal defense lawyer who is cofounder of the Innocence Project, an influential nonprofit that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. “She’s sent a signal to lawyers across the city that she’ll change things.” In her first year on the job, Ms. Katz has established a review unit for potential wrongful convictions in the borough, supported a total of four exonerations and stopped heavily prosecuting several categories of low-level, nonviolent crimes. She has garnered support from those who say that she has Continued on Page A22
This article is by Lisa Friedman, Coral Davenport and Christopher Flavelle.
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Wednesday signed a sweeping series of executive actions — ranging from pausing new federal oil leases to electrifying the government’s vast fleet of vehicles — while casting the moves as much about job creation as the climate crisis. Mr. Biden said his directives would reserve 30 percent of federal land and water for conservation purposes, make climate policy central to national security decisions and build out a network of electric-car charging stations nationwide. But much of the sales pitch on employment looked intended to counteract longstanding Republican attacks that Mr. Biden’s climate policies would inevitably hurt an economy already weakened by the pandemic. Mr. Biden argued instead that technological gains and demands for wind and solar infrastructure would create work that would more than make up for job losses even in parts of the country reliant on the fracking boom. Using the government’s purchasing power to buy zero-emissions vehicles, Mr. Biden said, would help speed the transition away from gasolinepowered cars and ultimately lead to “one million new jobs in the American automobile industry.” Overall, the text of his executive order mentions the word “jobs” 15 times. And in a clear echo of former President Barack Obama’s claims that his climate policies would create millions of “green jobs,” Mr. Biden also said his agenda would create “prevailing wage” employment and union jobs for workers to build 1.5 million new energy-efficient homes, to manufacture and install a half-million new electricvehicle charging stations, and to seal off one million leaking oil and gas wells. “Today is climate day in the White House which means today is jobs day at the White House,” Mr. Biden said. Taking on another Republican refrain, Mr. Biden reiterated his longstanding position that he wouldn’t ban fracking, saying his policies would in fact “protect jobs and grow jobs” by putting people to work capping leaky oil and gas Continued on Page A20
WASHINGTON — Warning that the deadly rampage of the Capitol this month may not be an isolated episode, the Department of Homeland Security said publicly for the first time on Wednesday that the United States faced a growing threat from “violent domestic extremists” emboldened by the attack. The department’s terrorism alert did not name specific groups that might be behind any future attacks, but it made clear that their motivation would include their anger over “the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives,” a clear reference to the accusations made by President Donald J. Trump and echoed by right-wing groups that the 2020 election was stolen. “These same drivers to violence will remain through early 2021,” the department said. The warning contained in a “National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin” was a notable departure from a Department of Homeland Security accused of being reluctant during the Trump administration to publish intelligence reports or public warnings about the dangers posed by rightwing conspiracists and white supremacist groups for fear of angering Mr. Trump, according to current and former homeland security officials. Starting with the deadly extremist protest in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, when Mr. Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides,” he played down any danger posed by extremist groups. When racial justice protests erupted nationwide last year, his consistent message was that it was the so-called radical left that was to blame for the violence and destruction that punctuated the demonstrations. Even after the Department of Homeland Security singled out Continued on Page A18
Cleaning House and Putting Own Stamp on Government By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON — When President Biden swore in a batch of recruits for his new administration in a teleconferenced ceremony late last week, it looked like the country’s biggest Zoom call. In fact, Mr. Biden was installing roughly 1,000 high-level officials in about a quarter of all of the available political appointee jobs in the federal government. At the same time, a far less visible transition was taking place: the quiet dismissal of holdovers from the Trump administration, who have been asked to clean out their offices immediately, whatever the eventual legal consequences. If there has been a single defining feature of the first week of the Biden administration, it has been the blistering pace at which the new president has put his mark on what President Donald J. Trump dismissed as the hostile “Deep State” and tried so hard to dismantle. From the Pentagon, where 20 senior officials were ready to move in days before the Senate confirmed Lloyd J. Austin III as defense secretary, to the Voice of America, where the Trump-appointed leadership was replaced hours after the inauguration, the Biden team arrived in Washington not only with plans for each department and agency, but the spreadsheets detailing who would carry them out. A replacement was even in the works for the president’s doctor: Dr. Sean P. Conley, who admitted to providing a rosy, no-big-deal description of Mr. Trump’s Covid-19 symptoms last year, was told to pack his medical kit. While all presidents eventually bring in Continued on Page A19
JENNA SCHOENEFELD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Maribel Ramirez and her sons, Eusebio and Jesus Gomez.
Immigration Plan Raises Hope, But Reality Cools Expectations By MIRIAM JORDAN
LOS ANGELES — Maria Elena Hernandez recently retrieved a flowery box tucked in her closet and dusted it off. For more than a decade, she has used it to store tax returns, lease agreements and other documents that she has collected to prove her family’s long years of residence in the United States. “We have been waiting for the day when we can apply for legal status. In this box is, hopefully, all the evidence we’ll need,” said Ms. Hernandez, 55, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who arrived in this country with three small children in 2000.
INTERNATIONAL A11-14
NATIONAL A15-23
BUSINESS B1-7
Weapons Deals Get Fresh Look
Deal for Weinstein Accusers
Interest Rates Stay Near Zero
Stories of American Blackness
Recycling in America Is a Mess
The United States will review major arms sales between the Trump administration and Gulf Arab states. PAGE A12
A bankruptcy judge cleared the way for dozens of women to claim a share of a $17 million victims fund. PAGE A23
The Fed said the economic outlook was “highly uncertain” and would depend on the path of the virus. PAGE B3
Montages of Black historical figures watching over successful Black Americans serve as heroic folklore. PAGE D1
A New York bill to get manufacturers to pick up the tab could offer a solution, Michael Kimmelman writes. PAGE C1
Truckers Shun British Ports
Not Ready to Abandon Trump
OBITUARIES A24-25
Stepping Into Lagerfeld’s Shoes
A Case for Sketch Comedy
Post-Brexit trade rules have imposed daunting paperwork requirements for exports to E.U. countries. PAGE A11
Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, opened the door for Republicans to push aside the former president, but few were willing to do it. PAGE A16
Oscar Winner and Comedy Star Cloris Leachman was best known for drawing laughs on “Mary Tyler Moore” and “Phyllis.” She was 94. PAGE A25
TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-10
Teacher Worried to the End The death of a beloved educator in Houston has deepened the conflict over in-person instruction. PAGE A9
SPORTSTHURSDAY B8-10
A Snowboarder’s Salvation After losing use of an arm in a motocross crash, she turned to the slopes. PAGE B8
THURSDAY STYLES D1-6
She had just learned of President Biden’s plan to offer a pathway to U.S. citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented people, announced as part of a sweeping proposal to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. The bill would allow undocumented immigrants who were in the United States before Jan. 1 to apply for temporary legal status after passing background checks and paying taxes. As newly minted “lawful prospective immigrants,” they would be authorized to work, join the military and travel without fear of deportation. AfContinued on Page A21
The celebrated men’s wear designer Kim Jones makes his women’s wear debut at Fendi this week. PAGE D1
ARTS C1-6
Keegan-Michael Key’s podcast mixes history, memoir, analysis and performance, Jason Zinoman says. PAGE C1 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27
Nicholas Kristof
PAGE A26
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DJIA 30303.17 g 633.87 2.0%
NASDAQ 13270.60 g 2.6%
STOXX 600 402.98 g 1.2%
10-YR. TREAS. À 7/32 , yield 1.014%
OIL $52.85 À $0.24
Business & Finance n eye-popping rally in shares of companies that were once left for dead, including GameStop, AMC and BlackBerry, has upended the natural order between hedge-fund investors and those trying their hand at trading from their sofas. A1
A
Shares of GameStop and AMC have soared this week as investors piled into momentum trades with volume rivaling that of giant tech companies. In many cases, the froth has been a result of individual investors defying hedge funds that have bet against the stocks.
Major U.S. stock indexes suffered their sharpest oneday losses since October, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both retreating 2.6% and the Dow falling 2%. B1 The Fed kept its easymoney policies in place, saying that business activity has softened with the resurgence of Covid-19 cases. A2
Facebook posted record revenue and profit for the fourth quarter while warning of challenges including growing friction with Apple. B1 Boeing reported its biggest-ever annual loss and took a big financial hit on its newest jetliner, signs that the pandemic is compounding the company’s problems. A1 Ant Group is planning to turn itself into a financial holding company overseen by China’s central bank, responding to regulatory pressure. A1 Tesla posted its first fullyear profit and laid out plans for a sharp increase in production over coming years. B1 Exxon is preparing to make changes to its board and adopt other measures as it faces pressure from a pair of activist investors. B1
1,641.9%
The power dynamics are shifting on Wall Street. Individual investors are winning big—at least for now—and relishing it.
GameStop Wednesday’s total dollar trading volume, $28.7B, exceeded the top five companies by market capitalization.
By Gunjan Banerji, Juliet Chung and Caitlin McCabe
$25 billion
An eye-popping rally in shares of companies that were once left for dead including GameStop Corp., AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and BlackBerry Ltd. has upended the natural order between hedge-fund investors and those trying their hand at trading from their sofas. Individual investors have vaulted the three stocks, which have received hundreds of thousands of mentions across social media since early January, into the ranks of the most traded stocks in the U.S. market. On Wednesday, GameStop shares hit a high of $380 intraday, briefly giving the videogame retailer a market value of $26.5 billion—more
Tesla’s 0-day trading average 4 3 billion
769.0% $20
Share performance Past 10 trading days
229.0%
Apple finished 2020 with its most profitable quarter ever and for the first time exceeded $100 billion in quarterly revenue. A1
BlackBerry
AMC Entertainment
$14.1 billion market cap
$19.3 billion
Apple 5 GameStop $28.7 billion
Apple’s 10-day avg. volume
Wednesday’s trading volume $6.7 billion
$24.2B cap
EURO $1.2114
YEN 104.09
$6.8B cap GameStop traded nearly twice the 10-day average volume as Apple, the largest publicly traded company
AMC’s volume Wednesday was nearly three times its market cap
Microsoft
Alphabet 3
AMC Entertainment
BlackBerry
BY JAMES MACKINTOSH
$10
Trading volume since Jan. 13
Biden took steps to address climate change, suspending new oil and gas leases on federal land and confronting the issue through diplomatic, conservation and other initiatives. A4 The president plans to sign more immigration-related executive actions reversing Trump’s policies on asylum seekers and refugees. A4
$5
The DHS issued its firstever national terrorism bulletin about violent domestic extremists, warning they could attack in the coming weeks, emboldened by the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol. A3 Two senators from opposite sides of the aisle were working to build support for censuring Trump over his rhetoric ahead of the Capitol riot as an alternative to proceeding to an impeachment trial. A6 A Pfizer lab study found that mutations identified in the U.K. and South Africa had only small impacts on the effectiveness of antibodies generated by its Covid-19 vaccine. A7 The European Union demanded that AstraZeneca stick to a previously agreed to schedule for delivering doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to the bloc. A8 The Pentagon sent a B-52 bomber across the Persian Gulf region, the sixth such sortie since last fall, in a show of deterrence to Iran. A18 The administration imposed a temporary freeze on U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. as it reviews weapons transactions approved by Trump. A18 Opinion.............. A15-17 Personal Journal A11-12 Sports....................... A14 Technology............... B4 U.S. News............. A2-7 Weather................... A14 World News. A8-9,18
>
Jan. 13
27
Jan. 13
27
Jan. 13
27
Sources: Dow Jones Market Data (volume, market value); FactSet (performance)
Boeing’s Biggest Loss Reflects Pandemic Toll BY DOUG CAMERON AND ANDREW TANGEL Boeing Co. reported its largest-ever annual loss and took a big financial hit on its newest jetliner, signs that the Covid-19 pandemic is compounding the aerospace giant’s problems. The plane maker said the new 777X, its largest passenger jet, would be at least three years late for airline customers, the latest Boeing plane to hit
trouble following the grounding of the 737 MAX. Quality problems with its popular 787 Dreamliner jet have halted deliveries since October. The delay leaves Boeing even more reliant on its defense business and other troubled commercial-aircraft programs to reverse heavy losses, as the pandemic has sapped demand for new planes. Executives said Wednesday they didn’t exPlease turn to page A4
than that of Delta Air Lines Inc. While the individuals are rejoicing at newfound riches, the pros are reeling from their losses. Long-held strategies such as evaluating company fundamentals have gone out the window in favor of momentum. War has broken out between professionals losing billions and the individual investors jeering at them on social media. The frenzy of activity is stirring regulatory and legal concerns, as well as the attention of the Biden administration. The White House press secretary said on Wednesday that its economic team, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, is monitoring the situation. The newbie investors are Please turn to page A10 Short sellers become target of vitriol......................................... B1 AMC rides wave after fighting to avoid bankruptcy................ B2 Heard on the Street: Reddit bubble just game for now... B12
GameStop Shows Epitome of Bubble
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CONTENTS Arts in Review... A13 Business News...... B3 Capital Account.... A2 Crossword.............. A14 Heard on Street. B12 Markets..................... B11
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2021 ~ VOL. CCLXXVII NO. 22
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GameStop is the platonic ideal of a stock bubble. A combination of easy money, a real improvement in the company’s prospects, technical support from a short squeeze ANALYSIS and a mad rush to get rich or die trying pushed stock in the retailer up 64-fold from late August to Wednesday’s close. Anyone who has held on for 10 days made gains of more than 10 times their money. It is tempting to see GameStop as merely clownish behavior in a chat room having some amusing effects on a stock few care about. That would be a mistake. Sure, the wildly popular Reddit group wallstreetbets—slogan: like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal—is full of childish chat.
There are plenty of calls for the stock to go to $1,000 or more (it started the year at $18.84). But GameStop’s soaring stock—and similar moves in BlackBerry, Nokia and others—is a bubble in microcosm, with lessons for those of us worrying about froth elsewhere in the market. GameStop’s rise started with some genuinely good news, just as bubbles always do. Ryan Cohen, who built up and sold online pet-food retailer Chewy, started building what is now a 13% stake for his RC Ventures in GameStop last year. He pushed for the staid mall-based seller of videogames to improve its internet sales. This month he joined the board. Mr. Cohen’s arrival means GameStop at least has a chance of joining the 21st Please turn to page A10
Apple Profit Hits Record As Sales Pass $100 Billion BY TIM HIGGINS Apple Inc. finished 2020 with its most profitable quarter ever, fueled by an uptick in higherend iPhone sales and a pandemic-induced surge in demand for its laptops and tablets. Altogether, the Cupertino, Calif., company generated $111.4 billion in quarterly sales, an all-time high and the first time it has exceeded $100 bil-
lion in quarterly revenue. Profit rose 29% to $28.76 billion in the three months ended in December, its fiscal first quarter. On a per-share basis, Apple said it earned $1.68, exceeding the $1.41 predicted by analysts in a FactSet survey. “We could not be more optimistic,” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview about the company’s product lineup.
The results arrived Wednesday during the biggest week for corporate earnings this quarter as Apple, Tesla Inc. and Facebook Inc. sought to appease investor concerns over whether their rapid growth will continue. Tesla posted its sixth straight quarter of profits but fell in afPlease turn to page A6 Facebook’s revenue surges on advertising.................................... B1
Ant Group Bends to China Pressure BY JING YANG
Ant Group Co. is planning to turn itself into a financial holding company overseen by China’s central bank, responding to pressure to fall fully in line with financial regulations, people familiar with the matter said. Chinese regulators recently told Ant, which is controlled
by billionaire Jack Ma, to become a financial holding company in its entirety, subjecting it to more stringent capital requirements, the people said. Ant, in response, has submitted to authorities an outline of a restructuring plan, they said. The plan represents a significant turnaround by a digital-payments juggernaut that has in recent years tried to
shed its image as a financialservices provider and fashion itself as an internet-technology company, which helped it command lofty valuations. Before its blockbuster initial public offering was called off in November, Ant had been on track to go public at a valuation north of $300 billion, well above the market capitalizations of the Please turn to page A9
THE THREAT OF EXTORTION IS REAL. Don’t Negotiate. Mitigate.
What’s in Your Digital Wallet? Frustration i
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Shoppers embrace germ-free apps, but they can be tricky to use BY ANNAMARIA ANDRIOTIS Rachel Carmack thought Apple Pay was the answer to her pandemic-induced germaphobia. No more plastic credit cards, with their button-pushing and receipt-signing. Instead, she would simply wave her phone to pay for things. Her plan hasn’t gone so smoothly. On two trips to a fast-food drive-through in Jonesboro, Ark., cashiers
Analog version grabbed her phone when she stuck it out the window. On another, she had to give the cashier an Apple Pay tutorial
before she could get her order. “If you just hold the reader out I can hold my phone up to it,” she told the stumped employee. The pandemic has done what Apple, Google and Samsung have long struggled to do on their own: get more shoppers to use their digital wallets. Some 46% of people surveyed by S&P Global’s 451 Research said the pandemic Please turn to page A6
A new kind of adversary is on the rise, using extortion to threaten businesses across the world. Without the right protection, yours could be next. See how NETSCOUT visibility can detect and help mitigate these complex threats. goNETSCOUT.com/extortion