Senate Banking has a hearing at 10:00 a.m. on the nominations of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to be HUD secretary and Cecilia Rouse to be chair of the Council of Economic Advisers … Jobless Claims at 8:30 a.m. expected to drop to a still huge 875K from 900K … First read on Q4 GDP expected to show a gain of 4.4 percent … A BIT MORE ON GAMESTOP — Cato’s Director of Financial Regulation Studies Jennifer Schulp: “In pulling off a sophisticated short squeeze … this new brand of retail investor has shown the power of the people. These events should not be used as a reason to limit retail investors” SEC TAKING A LOOK — Our Kellie Mejdrich: “The SEC said … that regulators were ‘monitoring the on-going market volatility in the options and equities markets,’ following multiple rallies in stocks driven by social media. … “The regulators did not specify what activity they were looking at. But the statement came after massive rallies in stocks of companies that had reported years of losses, following posts by users of the social media website Reddit, spurred by one community of the website's users in particular, known as 'r/WallStreetBets.'” Mohamed A. El-Erian on Bloomberg View: “For some, the recent market action reflects a fundamental power shift that gives smaller investors much greater influence on market outcomes. The key enabler is ample liquidity, de facto coordination platforms (think Reddit) and low-cost and highly accessible investing interfaces (think Robinhood). It’s a tail-wagging-the-dog phenomenon that has lasting power in terms of changes to market structure.” MORE BARR DEFENSE — Via Georgetown Law Center’s Linda Jeng: “I've never written to MM since I began subscribing a decade ago when I was a Senate staffer working on Dodd-Frank. … Progressives accuse Barr of not being 'progressive' enough because he did not support the initial stricter version of the Volcker Rule. Repeating such statements without explanation implies that Barr did not support the stricter Volcker draft because he does not support consumers. Quite to the contrary. “As someone who is familiar with the initial Senate draft of the Volcker Rule, I know that draft was a deeply flawed Frankenstein version of former Chairman Paul Volcker's idea - and I'm writing this with esteem of the Senate staffers who drafted it and are still my friends. “Barr has a long track record of protecting consumers not only through his three decades of research but also through his many years of public service.” FED GETS A LITTLE MORE SOMBRE — Our Victoria Guida: “The Federal Reserve … struck a more somber tone about the U.S. economy, saying the recovery is weakening as the country waits for widespread vaccinations against the coronavirus. … “Economic pain is still acute for tens of millions of people and for businesses across the country as the pandemic, which has taken the lives of more than 400,000 Americans, continues to spread. The central bank emphasized that the outlook would depend greatly on the course of the pandemic and, more specifically, ‘progress on vaccinations.’” MILLENIALS MOST IMPACTED FINANCIALLY BY PANDEMIC — Via Aubree: Millennials have seen more than their share of financial struggles over the last year, in light of Covid-19, according to a new survey from Prudential. Roughly 1 in 3 millennial workers have drained their emergency savings, compared to just 16 percent of boomers and 27 percent of Gen X-ers. The pandemic has also led to a new realization for many millennials: that they’re not quite as financially secured. Two-thirds of millennials said they shared that sentiment, versus 58 percent of Gen X-ers and 43 percent of boomers. Millennials were also more likely to: draw from their retirement plans to make ends meet, notice an increase in debt over the last year and delay a professional goal because of their financial concerns. Check out the full results of Prudential’s latest American Worker survey here. | 
