First up, what happened with GameStop last week.

Selling a stock short, or short selling, is when an investor borrows a stock they think will decrease in price and sells their shares at a high price. When the price of the stock falls, they buy the shares back and return them to the person they borrowed them from, pocketing the money they made from selling high and buying low as profit. If after investors sell a stock at a high price it does not go down, but instead goes up, the investors still have to buy their shares back, losing money. This is called a short squeeze.

Gamestop, the once-popular video game store, has been losing money for months and their decline has been accelerated by the pandemic. The market’s move to online video games as opposed to games with physical software and decline in the suburban malls where it was traditionally located have contributed to its downfall. Because of these factors, GameStop stock was expected to fall in price, but this January it has risen 1,600%. Let’s look at how this happened:

• In late 2019 and 2020, GameStop stock, then trading between $3 and $8 a share, caught the attention of hedge fund managers who borrowed many shares with the intention of selling the stock short.
• The hedge fund managers intending to sell the stock short caught the attention of the Reddit r/wallstreetbets who then executed a short squeeze that raised the price to a high of $483.00.
• Many of the investors on r/wallstreetbets used the mobile day trading platform Robinhood, which has since restricted trading of GameStop, among other stocks popular with r/wallstreetbets, like AMC, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and BlackBerry. Robinhood has drawn furor from r/wallstreetbets and lawmakers alike for restricting trading in what it touted as a ‘free market.’
• After its high of $483.00 on Jan. 28, by Feb. 2, the price had fallen to $85.00, losing almost $400.00.

Now, a snowy weekend in the Midwest.

A major winter storm left much of the Midwest and Northeast covered in snow, even hitting parts of California. Here's what the storm means for school, transportation and vaccine distribution:

• For many years, snow storms have brought along time for kids to get outside and go sledding, build a snowman, have a snowball fight or drink a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, but in an especially internet-dominated world as a result of the pandemic, snow days could become obsolete. Many schools across the country were forced to hold classes virtually this year, a method that could be used on snow days in the future. However, some educators argue that children deserve to have the magic snow days bring, even if it is possible to hold class over Zoom. In 2019, District 204 announced that e-learning days would take the place of snow days, and District 203 announced this year that remote learning days would replace the typical snow day.
• In Chicago, the storm covered the city in around 10.8 inches of snow, the largest amount in five years. The storm caused the cancellation of hundreds of flights across the country, and the above-ground subway was shut down in New York City.
• The storm impacted vaccine rollouts in several places, including Washington, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York City, with the latter deciding to postpone vaccination appointments for Monday and Tuesday of this week. In Oregon, a truck of healthcare workers carrying vaccine doses got stuck in the middle of the storm on a highway. In order to prevent the doses from going to waste, the healthcare workers went car to car distributing doses.