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On Thursday the House Financial Services Committee will heat up the grill for five players in laffaire GameStop (GME), late Januarys stock market spectacle that saw the stock of the video game retailer skyrocket from the teens to well over $300 and back down again to the mid-$40s.

There has been a lot of confusion, conspiracy theories, complex market dynamics, loss, gain, and drama, and Congress hopes to clear up some of these things. Expect questions about conflicts of interest, market manipulation, the internal workings of how stock trades happen, how trading data is shared, and more.

Still, dont expect everything to be cleared up and tied with a pretty bow, even if the five witnesses will be answering questions under oath.

My experience is that these hearings are tough on both [Congress]members and witnesses as the witnesses know much more about the subject matter than the members of the Committee, Tom Block, Fundstrats expert in Washingtons inner workings, wrote in a recent note. Members can get lost in questioning that a staff member may have written but is not fully understood by the member; and the witnesses need to be careful not to appear to be talking down to the Committee members.

Because of this, Block and others see the SEC as the body that will clear up any issues.

12 p.m. ET. You can watch on YahooFinance.com or the Financial Services Committees WebEx. You can read the Houses memorandum here.

Based on publicly available information, some people invested in GameStop, including a regular guy named Keith Gill.

He posted on a loose internet forum on Reddit called r/WallStreetBets. In mid-January, his investing thesis (it was undervalued) began to gather steam and others piled in and the price began to rise. Since at least 2020, some hedge funds, including Melvin Capital, had been betting that the price of GameStop would go down and had accumulated substantial short positions in the stock.

Story continues

The Reddit forum captured wide interest and the situation and the stock went viral. The stock climbed higher and higher, putting serious pressure on the hedge funds betting it would go down.

During this market volatility as the stock shot up, average investors were using fairly advanced products like margin (borrowing money to buy stocks) and options (buying the right to buy the stock at a certain price in the future).

Robinhood and other brokers halted buying of the stock on their platforms on Jan. 28 because of market mechanisms that usually doesnt get discussed much, which were put in place after the Financial Crisis to mitigate risk. Essentially, GameStop and other stocks were so volatile and the positions so concentrated that the entity that clears the stock (the clearinghouse) told Robinhood that it needed to deposit an enormous over $1 billion as collateral if it wanted to continue to let its clients buy. This caused Robinhood to restrict buying.

Many people on the internet cried foul, lawsuits were filed, and many accused brokers like Robinhood of being on the side of the hedge funds that had bet against GameStop. Robinhood denied the claim many times including in CEO Vlad Tenevs prepared statement.

At the same time, a handful of other stocks became similarly popular.

The excitement faded as did the price after the buying slowed down. GameStop continued to fall and many people lost a lot of money. With a lot of political uproar, Congress wanted to find out what happened and called a hearing.

Who is testifying?

Keith Gill: The man known as Roaring Kitty (on YouTube) or Deep F***ing Value (on Reddit and Twitter). A regular retail investor in GameStop who made millions. Unemployed but recently worked for MassMutual, a financial services firm, where he worked in education. Gill is facing a lawsuit alleging he violated securities laws and caused "huge losses" for investors, which he denies in the strongest possible terms.

[Read more: GameStop investor 'Roaring Kitty' expected to tell Congress claims against him are 'preposterous']

Steve Huffman: CEO of Reddit, the company that hosts the forum r/WallStreetBets in which Gill and others discussed GameStop.

Gabriel Plotkin: CEO of Melvin Capital Management, a hedge fund that was short GameStop and sustained heavy losses as the stock soared.

Vlad Tenev: CEO of Robinhood, a popular investment platform used by many of the people who drove the GameStop frenzy. Robinhood, founded in 2013 with a mission to democratize finance for all, offers commission-free trades.

Jennifer Schlup: Director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Ken Griffin: A billionaire and head of investment firm Citadel.

[Read more: Melvin Capital says it wasn't 'bailed out' in GameStop saga]

Short-selling: Stocks are usually bought by the people who want to own them and sold by the people who do not. Thats called long. Short-selling is an investing strategy that speculates a particular stock will fall. An investor borrows a stock to sell it; then if the value goes down, they buy back the stock at a discount and return it, pocketing the difference.

For example: Someone who thinks Stock A will drop from $10 to $5 borrows a share from a brokerage for $10 plus a small fee and sells it on the market. The stock goes down to $5. The short-seller then buys the stock back and returns it to the brokerage. His profit is $5 minus the borrowing fee.

If the stock goes up, say to $15, the short-seller would have to re-buy the stock for $15 to return it and get out of the situation. In that case, he loses $5. Because there is no limit to how high a stock can go up but a limit to how much it can fall the potential losses for a short-seller are infinite.

Margin call: If the stock goes up in value, then suddenly the short-seller (see above) who has borrowed and sold a stock needs to pay more than they got for it to return it. To make sure the short-seller can afford to buy back stock theyve sold (that has increased in value), brokerages will often require collateral or margin. Being asked for more margin is a margin call.

Hedge fund: An investment firm that often uses risky methods to realize high gains for investors that pool their money together. Often they have large research teams. In the GameStop affair, Melvin is a hedge fund.

Market maker: A firm that makes sure you can always buy or sell a stock by providing quotes for selling price and buying price. They make money because theres a small difference between the two. Brokerages work with market makers to make sure their clients can trade. Citadel Securities is a market maker for Robinhood, executing trades for the platforms customers.

Citadel: A financial firm that has a market-making arm called Citadel Securities and a hedge-fund arm that is invested in Melvin Capital. Melvin bet against GameStop, and Citadel Securities has a relationship with Robinhood, where many customers invested in GameStop and other viral stocks.

[Read more: Citadel CEO: 'We had no role in Robinhoods decision to limit trading in GameStop']

Retail brokerage: A firm like Robinhood, Fidelity or Schwab where retail investors use to buy and sell stocks.

Retail investor: A non-professional individual investor.

Payment for order flow: Brokers have to provide clients with the best possible price under the law. There can be small differences in prices just like for goods in stores, and one exchange or seller quotes one price and another quotes a slightly different price; the broker needs to get the best price for their client.

These days, market makers like Citadel Securities provide brokerages like Robinhood with better prices for stocks than the brokerage could get on an exchange, another place where investors can buy and sell shares. Citadel will even pay for the right to execute these orders (even at the best price for the brokerages clients) because it finds the order flow information useful in some way. For example, if Robinhood executed a lot of trades for a particular stock with Citadel, Citadel would know that a lot of retail investors like the stock. This could be helpful information to them and their businesses.

Option: A contract that gives you the right but not the obligation to buy or sell a stock at a certain price in the future. A fairly high amount of the trading action around GameStop happened with investors buying options. Because options can be inexpensive, if the stock happens to go up, a small amount of options can conceivably provide a big payoff. Because of this, its a form of leverage.

Investing with margin: Borrowing money to buy a stock. Margin means collateral.

--

Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance focusing on consumer issues, personal finance, retail, airlines, and more. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann.

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A guide to the 'GameStop' hearing - Yahoo Finance

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Bank of America has a strong reputation for keeping finger on the pulse of the financial world and one of its key tools is the Global Fund Manager Survey, conducted monthly and seeking opinions from more than 200 hedge fund, mutual fund, and pension fund managers who hold a combined $645 billion in AUM. Its the largest regularly conducted survey of its kind. And BofA most recent findings show that Big Money is feeling confident. More than 90% of investors surveyed believe that 2021 will show a significant recovery from 2020, that asset allocations to stocks and commodities are at their highest in 10 years, and theres a general belief that global growth is at an all-time high. So, there is a general consensus that now is the time to invest. The only remaining question is, invest in what? Wall Street pros argue there are early-stage companies that reflect promising opportunities, with the low share prices meaning you get significantly more bang for your buck. Whats more, even what seems like minor share price appreciation can result in massive percentage gains. The bottom line? Not all risk is created equal. To this end, the pros recommend doing some due diligence before making an investment decision. With this in mind, we used TipRanks database to find compelling penny stocks with bargain price tags. The platform steered us towards two tickers sporting share prices under $5 and Strong Buy consensus ratings from the analyst community. Not to mention substantial upside potential is on the table. ObsEva SA (OBSV) First up is a clinical-state biopharma company with a sharp focus on womens health. ObsEva is working to develop and commercialize new therapeutics for womens reproductive health issues up to and including pregnancy. The companys lead drug candidate, linzagolix (branded as Yselty), is an orally administered GnRH receptor antagonist that has completed two Phase 3 studies, PRIMROSE 1 in the US and PRIMROSE 2 in both the US and Europe. The clinical trials enrolled 574 and 535 patients, respectively, and used doses of 100mg or 200mg to treat heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids. The results from both studies were positive, supporting Linzagolix's favorable safety and efficacy profile. In an update announced last month, ObsEva reported that, pursuant to Phase 3 results, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had validated for review the company's Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Yselty (100mg and 200mg). Potential MAA approval is anticipated in Q4:21. The drug is also slated to be the subject of a New Drug Application (NDA) that is due to be submitted to the FDA in Q2. With shares changing hands for $3.80 apiece, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos sees an attractive entry point for investors. In our view, Linzagolix has the potential to achieve best-in class oral GnRH receptor antagonist status based on a flexible dosing regimen either with or without the add-back hormone therapy (ABT)a key differentiator from other GnRH receptor antagonists Based on the positive PRIMROSE 1 and PRIMROSE 2 primary endpoint results for YSELTY/UF and additional follow-up data, we project annual sales of more than $750 million in 2027 for Linzagolix/UF, Moussatos opined. To this end, Moussatos rates OBSV a Buy along with a $28 price target. Should her thesis play out, a potential twelve-month gain of ~643% could be in the cards. (To watch Moussatos track record, click here.) Overall, ObsEva has impressed its observers, as shown by the unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating on the shares, based on 3 recent Buy reviews. With a return potential of 342%, the stocks consensus price target stands at $16.67. (See OBSV stock analysis on TipRanks) BELLUS Health (BLU) The second stock were looking at, BELLUS Health, is also a clinical stage biopharma research company but the focus here is on an issue that few of us ever think about. Hypersensitivity the state of being highly, or even excessively, sensitive to environmental or foreign stimuli can cause a range of conditions from a chronic cough to serious disorders. Sometimes, the less severe chronic symptoms can be the worst. Chronic cough and chronic pruritus (itchy skin) are mild to moderate symptoms that can triggered by a range of factors but when the symptoms dont go away, they can have a disproportionately negative impact on the quality of life. BELLUS lead drug candidate, BLU-5937, is undergoing studies of its efficacy in the treatment of these symptoms. BLU-5937 is a highly selective PsX3 antagonist, working on the P2X3 receptor in the cough reflex pathway. The current clinical trial is a Phase 2b study, the follow-up to the Phase 2 RELIEF trial. The RELIEF trial enrolled 68 patients in the US and UK, of whom 52 completed two test periods. The trial showed a statistically significant cough count reduction in patients with a higher baseline count. The Phase 2b studies, are now enrolling and dosing patients, with interim results expected by mid-year and top line results expected to be published in the fourth quarter. Singing the healthcare names praises is RBC Capital analyst Gregory Renza. With a proven MOA from the clinically successful P2X3 antagonistgefaxipant (MRK), we believe the high selectivity of BLU-5937 could lead to minimal taste effects and drive higher patient compliance and preference than gefapixant, where, if successful, we estimate revenues as early as2024 with over $900M peak global sales potential in RCC with upside from potential label expansion into indications linked to P2X3 hypersensitivity, Renza noted. Despite the PE miss of the ph.II trial in RCC, we believe the stats sig reduction in awake cough frequency in patients with high baseline demonstrated POC and viability of the asset. It should come as no surprise, then, that Renza joined the bulls. Along with an Outperform rating, the analyst gives the stock an $8 price target. This target conveys his confidence in BLUs ability to surge ~116% in the next twelve months. (To watch Renzas track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, other analysts also like what theyre seeing. With 3 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that BLU is a Strong Buy. At $8.67, the average price target indicates ~134% upside potential. (See BLU stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for penny stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Burger King, Wendys ramp up the competition in the chicken sandwich wars - Yahoo Finance

One month after GameStop (GME) shares surged to record levels due to Reddit-fueled trading, Wall Street, online brokerage Robinhood and Reddit are facing probes by the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and both chambers of Congress.

During GameStop's two-week meteoric rise, the S&P 500 dropped a whopping 5% from peak to trough. Wall Street felt the full brunt of the chaos. Hedge funds endured a gut-wrenching de-risking event comparable to the global financial crisis as retail investors banded together to short squeeze institutional investors. Fortunes were made and lost in hours, as the now-infamous hedge fund Melvin Capital Management became the poster child for Wall Street's self-help bailout machine.

Suffice to say lawmakers and regulators are paying attention. The incident has also caught the eye of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Now what?

A House Financial Services Committee hearing about the GameStop trading frenzy, scheduled for Feb. 18, will shine a light on the extant secular trends that allowed the capital markets to become farcical caricatures of themselves.

"We're still learning things new about what went on every single day... [T]he financial markets can move quickly," Andy Green, senior fellow for Economic Policy at American Progress and former SEC counsel, told Yahoo Finance Live. "So I think that's why it's really important for investors to be prudent, to be looking for the long term, to be aware of the basics about not borrowing on margin and taking risks that they can't afford."

Robinhood will have to field tough questions. It will have to explain why it temporarily banned investors from trading GameStop and other stocks. Robinhood will also have to disclose how it assesses whether its customers are suitable to trade options (even if they're only call options that have defined risk). Exploding call option volume and the leverage embedded therein are accounting for a big chunk of a recent run-up in stock prices. Simply handing out leverage to inexperienced traders can be very dangerous.

Story continues

Last year, Robinhood beefed up the educational section of its website but only after a U.K. college student committed suicide after misinterpreting his account statement and financial loss (a lawsuit, filed by the student's family, against Robinhood is pending). With the flood of new retail traders opening new accounts, it would be useful to revisit how brokers industry-wide assess customer risk and suitability and whether or not brokers are actually sticking to their written controls and procedures.

Green compares Robinhood's no commission trading to the free services offered by Big Tech that aren't really free. "The cost is hidden. And they're passed on to ordinary users of the big tech sites or other parts of society. So there are hidden costs to a lot of these platforms and free services that we're going to pay for and we need to think about more carefully." he said.

Robinhood will also have to explain the margin calls it got from Citadel Securities, which is an institutional broker that is a distinct entity from the affiliated hedge fund Citadel. Like most retail brokers, Robinhood sells its users' order flow to wholesale market makers like Citadel, which is how brokerages make money.

This practice, called payment for order flow (PFOF), is coming under scrutiny. Wall Street market makers, like Citadel, paid brokers, like Robinhood, $2.86 billion for customer orders in stocks and stock options in 2020, according to Bloomberg data. The business model needs to be thoroughly investigated to determine how retail investors are indeed being affected by it. There's huge money in this, so the stakes are high.

Robinhood and other brokerages claim they improve the fill price of customer orders when they're matched internally at firms like Citadel, Susquehanna International Group and Virtu Financial. But last December, Robinhood paid a $65 million fine to the SEC, in part, for providing "inferior trade prices" that cost customers $34.1 million. Assuming Robinhood has cleaned up its act, it should still break down its order price improvement statistics across different classes of stocks particularly by stock price and market capitalization.

Doug Cifu, the CEO of Virtu Financial (the only public company that pays for order flow), recently defended the practice on an earnings call. He said he'd never seen a shred of data that validates the assertion that PFOF distorts the marketplace.

Traders are concerned about PFOF because it reduces overall market transparency (as do all off-exchange transactions) by definition, as the details of those internally matched trades dont make it to public data feeds. In addition, theres a reason why those orders are so valuable, which needs to be sniffed out and put in the record. Traders will want firms that buy customer orders to disclose if they trade ahead of such orders or otherwise seek to profit off the data.

Finally, the very structure of trading stocks will likely be explored. The term pump-and-dump (whether fair or not) will likely emerge during the Congressional committee hearing. That is, questions will arise whether or not there was a concerted effort to artificially raise prices of stocks with the intention of selling them at a profit.

Hedge funds pay billions of dollars every year for high speed exchange data that's far more useful than the slower feed that retail investors get. And it's that slow, retail data feed called the National Best Bid and Offer, or NBBO, that is used as the benchmark to determine if customers are getting a better price at Citadel et. al.

If the NBBO was faster and not so archaic, retail traders would presumably get better fills. But that would impinge upon the profitability of PFOF, and therein lies the rub. The NBBO provides a de facto structural safe harbor for brokers to deliver fills at inferior prices at the expense of retail traders.

A 2014 study compared the retail NBBO to the direct feed that hedge funds buy, looking for price dislocations. Its findings: "Price dislocations between the NBBOs occur several times a second in very active stocks and typically last one to two milliseconds. The short duration of dislocations makes their costs small for investors who trade infrequently, while the frequency of the dislocations makes them costly for frequent traders. Higher security price and days with high trading volume and volatility are associated with dislocations."

High trading volume and volatility were hallmarks of the GameStop saga, so it would be helpful to quantify exactly what price dislocations occurred and how much they cost investors.

"I'm not going to propose ... a comprehensive reform of payment for order flow because you have to look at the whole market. But I am of the view that conflicts of interest are not good for investors. They're not good for our financial markets. We need to be reducing them, not ... permitting them to increase," said Green.

Jared Blikre is a correspondent focused on the markets or Yahoo Finance Live. Follow him @SPYJared

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What the GameStop Congressional hearing will reveal to retail investors - Yahoo Finance

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Bank of America has a strong reputation for keeping finger on the pulse of the financial world and one of its key tools is the Global Fund Manager Survey, conducted monthly and seeking opinions from more than 200 hedge fund, mutual fund, and pension fund managers who hold a combined $645 billion in AUM. Its the largest regularly conducted survey of its kind. And BofA most recent findings show that Big Money is feeling confident. More than 90% of investors surveyed believe that 2021 will show a significant recovery from 2020, that asset allocations to stocks and commodities are at their highest in 10 years, and theres a general belief that global growth is at an all-time high. So, there is a general consensus that now is the time to invest. The only remaining question is, invest in what? Wall Street pros argue there are early-stage companies that reflect promising opportunities, with the low share prices meaning you get significantly more bang for your buck. Whats more, even what seems like minor share price appreciation can result in massive percentage gains. The bottom line? Not all risk is created equal. To this end, the pros recommend doing some due diligence before making an investment decision. With this in mind, we used TipRanks database to find compelling penny stocks with bargain price tags. The platform steered us towards two tickers sporting share prices under $5 and Strong Buy consensus ratings from the analyst community. Not to mention substantial upside potential is on the table. ObsEva SA (OBSV) First up is a clinical-state biopharma company with a sharp focus on womens health. ObsEva is working to develop and commercialize new therapeutics for womens reproductive health issues up to and including pregnancy. The companys lead drug candidate, linzagolix (branded as Yselty), is an orally administered GnRH receptor antagonist that has completed two Phase 3 studies, PRIMROSE 1 in the US and PRIMROSE 2 in both the US and Europe. The clinical trials enrolled 574 and 535 patients, respectively, and used doses of 100mg or 200mg to treat heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids. The results from both studies were positive, supporting Linzagolix's favorable safety and efficacy profile. In an update announced last month, ObsEva reported that, pursuant to Phase 3 results, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had validated for review the company's Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Yselty (100mg and 200mg). Potential MAA approval is anticipated in Q4:21. The drug is also slated to be the subject of a New Drug Application (NDA) that is due to be submitted to the FDA in Q2. With shares changing hands for $3.80 apiece, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos sees an attractive entry point for investors. In our view, Linzagolix has the potential to achieve best-in class oral GnRH receptor antagonist status based on a flexible dosing regimen either with or without the add-back hormone therapy (ABT)a key differentiator from other GnRH receptor antagonists Based on the positive PRIMROSE 1 and PRIMROSE 2 primary endpoint results for YSELTY/UF and additional follow-up data, we project annual sales of more than $750 million in 2027 for Linzagolix/UF, Moussatos opined. To this end, Moussatos rates OBSV a Buy along with a $28 price target. Should her thesis play out, a potential twelve-month gain of ~643% could be in the cards. (To watch Moussatos track record, click here.) Overall, ObsEva has impressed its observers, as shown by the unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating on the shares, based on 3 recent Buy reviews. With a return potential of 342%, the stocks consensus price target stands at $16.67. (See OBSV stock analysis on TipRanks) BELLUS Health (BLU) The second stock were looking at, BELLUS Health, is also a clinical stage biopharma research company but the focus here is on an issue that few of us ever think about. Hypersensitivity the state of being highly, or even excessively, sensitive to environmental or foreign stimuli can cause a range of conditions from a chronic cough to serious disorders. Sometimes, the less severe chronic symptoms can be the worst. Chronic cough and chronic pruritus (itchy skin) are mild to moderate symptoms that can triggered by a range of factors but when the symptoms dont go away, they can have a disproportionately negative impact on the quality of life. BELLUS lead drug candidate, BLU-5937, is undergoing studies of its efficacy in the treatment of these symptoms. BLU-5937 is a highly selective PsX3 antagonist, working on the P2X3 receptor in the cough reflex pathway. The current clinical trial is a Phase 2b study, the follow-up to the Phase 2 RELIEF trial. The RELIEF trial enrolled 68 patients in the US and UK, of whom 52 completed two test periods. The trial showed a statistically significant cough count reduction in patients with a higher baseline count. The Phase 2b studies, are now enrolling and dosing patients, with interim results expected by mid-year and top line results expected to be published in the fourth quarter. Singing the healthcare names praises is RBC Capital analyst Gregory Renza. With a proven MOA from the clinically successful P2X3 antagonistgefaxipant (MRK), we believe the high selectivity of BLU-5937 could lead to minimal taste effects and drive higher patient compliance and preference than gefapixant, where, if successful, we estimate revenues as early as2024 with over $900M peak global sales potential in RCC with upside from potential label expansion into indications linked to P2X3 hypersensitivity, Renza noted. Despite the PE miss of the ph.II trial in RCC, we believe the stats sig reduction in awake cough frequency in patients with high baseline demonstrated POC and viability of the asset. It should come as no surprise, then, that Renza joined the bulls. Along with an Outperform rating, the analyst gives the stock an $8 price target. This target conveys his confidence in BLUs ability to surge ~116% in the next twelve months. (To watch Renzas track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, other analysts also like what theyre seeing. With 3 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that BLU is a Strong Buy. At $8.67, the average price target indicates ~134% upside potential. (See BLU stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for penny stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Warren Buffett's favorite indicator is at a dangerous level, but he just bought these stocks anyway - Yahoo Finance

First of its kind partnership with Yahoo Ryot Lab and New York Fashion Week will reimagine fashion through next gen content built on 5G

Yahoo Ryot Lab will launch an immersive sneak preview with Rebecca Minkoff this season, tied to her Spring/Summer 21 collection debut at NYFW

Immersive content created with Rebecca Minkoff will be powered by Verizon Media Immersive and distributed across Yahoos ecosystem

NEW YORK- Today, Yahoo Ryot Lab (formerly known as RYOT) announced it will be the official Innovation Partner for IMGs New York Fashion Week (NYFW): The Shows. As the Innovation Partner for 2021, Yahoo Ryot Lab, Verizon Medias award-winning incubator for next generation 5G content experiences and the first and only 5G production studio in the country will work closely with IMG and leading fashion designers to create extended reality content experiences that add a multi-dimensional lens to their collections and presentations throughout the year.

Yahoo Ryot Lab will launch an immersive preview beginning with Rebecca Minkoff this season, tied to her Spring/Summer 21 collection debut at NYFW: The Shows, building toward more scaled experiences for multiple designers come this September. By leading the convergence of technology and storytelling, this innovation partnership uniquely puts the consumer in the front row with todays leading fashion tastemakers.

Were excited to join forces with IMG and New York Fashion Week as their first Innovation Partner, showcasing our leadership in technology innovation as we build the future of entertainment at the forefront of 5G, said Jo Lambert, Head of Consumer at Verizon Media. Through our Yahoo Ryot Lab, were creating cutting edge, next gen immersive 5G experiences that illustrate and define the future of the consumer experience, engaging communities and immersing them in their passions.

Were thrilled to be partnering with Yahoo Ryot Lab to showcase the Spring/Summer 21 collection through a new lens. Rebecca Minkoff, on a brand level, has always been notorious in the space for our innovative efforts sitting at the intersection of fashion and technology and this partnership with Yahoo is the perfect alignment! Rebecca Minkoff, Co-Founder, Creative Director of Rebecca Minkoff; Co-Founder Female Founder Collective.

Content created with Rebecca Minkoff for the NYFW February 21 season will be powered by Verizon Media Immersive, a proprietary technology that powers immersive format capabilities across advertising, content, commerce, product and search ecosystems built on 5G for Yahoo. The Innovation Partnership will utilize the companys 5G-equipped state of the art facility and immersive technologies including but not limited to: motion/performance and volumetric capture, real-time animation rendering, augmented reality and mixed reality.

Next week, audiences can experience Rebecca Minkoffs collection through an immersive experience on Yahoo.com, timed to her presentation.

NYFW: The Shows is the official central hub of New York Fashion Week and will take place February 14-18, 2020, live at Spring Studios and virtually at NYFW.com. NYFW: The Shows is a property of IMG.

Excerpt from:

Yahoo Ryot Lab to be official Innovation Partner of NYFW: The Shows 2021 - Verizon News

Famed investor and ETF manager Cathie Wood joined Scott Wapner and Bob Pisani on the Halftime Report on CNBC Wednesday to share opinions on some holdings across her funds.

Wood On Tesla: Wood has been a notable bull on Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) and it remains the largest holding in the signature Ark Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKK).

Our confidence in Tesla has grown, Wood said. The fund manager said no one is modeling the ride-share potential for Tesla when forecasting revenue and price targets. Rideshare could be more profitable for Tesla than electric vehicles.

Related Link: 7 Stocks That Fit Cathie Woods Big Ideas 2021, Could Be Added To Ark ETFs

Wood On Bitcoin: Wood has been bullish on Bitcoin recently hitting on the rise in valuation that could be seen if every S&P 500 company allocated 1% of cash to the cryptocurrency.

We have individuals now who really understand, Wood said on Gary Gensler, the new U.S. SEC Chair.

Gensler taught a class on blockchain and Bitcoin at MIT and understand the technology and valuation, Wood added.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC) is a popular option for investors in the U.S. to get exposure to Bitcoin as no ETFs are available currently. Wood said the probability of a Bitcoin ETF goes up with new administration understanding cryptocurrency.

The fund manager praises companies like Tesla and Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) who are on the right side of change by adding Bitcoin and diversifying their cash holdings.

Wood On Telemedicine: One of the largest holdings in the Ark ETFs is Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC). The telemedicine company is held in the Ark Innovation ETF, Ark Genomic Internet ETF (BATS: ARKG) and Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE: ARKW).

We had a great opportunity to buy into Teladoc when stay-at-home stocks flattened out, Wood said.

Despite the stock being up 40% in 2021, Wood remains bullish and thinks the company was hurt by public sentiment of the acquisition of Livongo.

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This is a beautiful acquisition for Teladoc,"Wood said, adding that the two companies will create a powerhouse of data together.

Wood on SPACs: The Ark fund manager has added several SPACs to the portfolio recently, including some that have completed mergers and others like Experience Investment (NASDAQ: EXPC) that are in the merger process.

Wood named DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ: DKNG), Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ) and Butterfly Network Inc (NYSE: BFLY) as former SPACs that the Ark funds own.

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock

We are investing in them, Wood said of SPACs. Were being very careful.

Wood said the fund is selective and doesnt like the incentive structure of some SPACs. The fund manager noted SPACs remain a way for the public markets to invest in some growth sooner than the traditional IPO route.

Space ETF: Wood is launching a space ETF under the Ark umbrella of funds soon.

Due to a quiet period with the SEC, Wood couldnt discuss specific space stocks, but was bullish on the overall industry. She called space exploration the right side of change.

We see SpaceX, Blue Origin pushing the envelope, Wood said of the private companies. She highlighted the work that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have done in the space industry.

The costs of launching rockets are coming down dramatically, which could lead to strong growth in the sector, according to Wood.

See more from Benzinga

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Cathie Wood Talks Tesla, Bitcoin, SPACs And More On CNBC: Here Are The Highlights - Yahoo Finance

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Bank of America has a strong reputation for keeping finger on the pulse of the financial world and one of its key tools is the Global Fund Manager Survey, conducted monthly and seeking opinions from more than 200 hedge fund, mutual fund, and pension fund managers who hold a combined $645 billion in AUM. Its the largest regularly conducted survey of its kind. And BofA most recent findings show that Big Money is feeling confident. More than 90% of investors surveyed believe that 2021 will show a significant recovery from 2020, that asset allocations to stocks and commodities are at their highest in 10 years, and theres a general belief that global growth is at an all-time high. So, there is a general consensus that now is the time to invest. The only remaining question is, invest in what? Wall Street pros argue there are early-stage companies that reflect promising opportunities, with the low share prices meaning you get significantly more bang for your buck. Whats more, even what seems like minor share price appreciation can result in massive percentage gains. The bottom line? Not all risk is created equal. To this end, the pros recommend doing some due diligence before making an investment decision. With this in mind, we used TipRanks database to find compelling penny stocks with bargain price tags. The platform steered us towards two tickers sporting share prices under $5 and Strong Buy consensus ratings from the analyst community. Not to mention substantial upside potential is on the table. ObsEva SA (OBSV) First up is a clinical-state biopharma company with a sharp focus on womens health. ObsEva is working to develop and commercialize new therapeutics for womens reproductive health issues up to and including pregnancy. The companys lead drug candidate, linzagolix (branded as Yselty), is an orally administered GnRH receptor antagonist that has completed two Phase 3 studies, PRIMROSE 1 in the US and PRIMROSE 2 in both the US and Europe. The clinical trials enrolled 574 and 535 patients, respectively, and used doses of 100mg or 200mg to treat heavy menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids. The results from both studies were positive, supporting Linzagolix's favorable safety and efficacy profile. In an update announced last month, ObsEva reported that, pursuant to Phase 3 results, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had validated for review the company's Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for Yselty (100mg and 200mg). Potential MAA approval is anticipated in Q4:21. The drug is also slated to be the subject of a New Drug Application (NDA) that is due to be submitted to the FDA in Q2. With shares changing hands for $3.80 apiece, Wedbush analyst Liana Moussatos sees an attractive entry point for investors. In our view, Linzagolix has the potential to achieve best-in class oral GnRH receptor antagonist status based on a flexible dosing regimen either with or without the add-back hormone therapy (ABT)a key differentiator from other GnRH receptor antagonists Based on the positive PRIMROSE 1 and PRIMROSE 2 primary endpoint results for YSELTY/UF and additional follow-up data, we project annual sales of more than $750 million in 2027 for Linzagolix/UF, Moussatos opined. To this end, Moussatos rates OBSV a Buy along with a $28 price target. Should her thesis play out, a potential twelve-month gain of ~643% could be in the cards. (To watch Moussatos track record, click here.) Overall, ObsEva has impressed its observers, as shown by the unanimous Strong Buy consensus rating on the shares, based on 3 recent Buy reviews. With a return potential of 342%, the stocks consensus price target stands at $16.67. (See OBSV stock analysis on TipRanks) BELLUS Health (BLU) The second stock were looking at, BELLUS Health, is also a clinical stage biopharma research company but the focus here is on an issue that few of us ever think about. Hypersensitivity the state of being highly, or even excessively, sensitive to environmental or foreign stimuli can cause a range of conditions from a chronic cough to serious disorders. Sometimes, the less severe chronic symptoms can be the worst. Chronic cough and chronic pruritus (itchy skin) are mild to moderate symptoms that can triggered by a range of factors but when the symptoms dont go away, they can have a disproportionately negative impact on the quality of life. BELLUS lead drug candidate, BLU-5937, is undergoing studies of its efficacy in the treatment of these symptoms. BLU-5937 is a highly selective PsX3 antagonist, working on the P2X3 receptor in the cough reflex pathway. The current clinical trial is a Phase 2b study, the follow-up to the Phase 2 RELIEF trial. The RELIEF trial enrolled 68 patients in the US and UK, of whom 52 completed two test periods. The trial showed a statistically significant cough count reduction in patients with a higher baseline count. The Phase 2b studies, are now enrolling and dosing patients, with interim results expected by mid-year and top line results expected to be published in the fourth quarter. Singing the healthcare names praises is RBC Capital analyst Gregory Renza. With a proven MOA from the clinically successful P2X3 antagonistgefaxipant (MRK), we believe the high selectivity of BLU-5937 could lead to minimal taste effects and drive higher patient compliance and preference than gefapixant, where, if successful, we estimate revenues as early as2024 with over $900M peak global sales potential in RCC with upside from potential label expansion into indications linked to P2X3 hypersensitivity, Renza noted. Despite the PE miss of the ph.II trial in RCC, we believe the stats sig reduction in awake cough frequency in patients with high baseline demonstrated POC and viability of the asset. It should come as no surprise, then, that Renza joined the bulls. Along with an Outperform rating, the analyst gives the stock an $8 price target. This target conveys his confidence in BLUs ability to surge ~116% in the next twelve months. (To watch Renzas track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, other analysts also like what theyre seeing. With 3 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that BLU is a Strong Buy. At $8.67, the average price target indicates ~134% upside potential. (See BLU stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for penny stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

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Should AT&T Or Verizon Try To Acquire Nokia In 2021? - Yahoo Finance

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Carson Wentz is headed to the Colts after Philadelphia opted to cut bait on their $128m franchise quarterback, a decision which went from unthinkable to inevitable in six dizzying months The Philadelphia Eagles have agreed to trade quarterback Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional 2022 second-round pick that could turn into a first-rounder. Photograph: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images For all that was made of their snakebitten history in the run-up to their first Super Bowl championship, the Philadelphia Eagles have been among the NFLs steadiest ships in the 27 years since film producer Jeffrey Lurie bought the team for a then-record $185m. At the time, the Eagles had won their division on only nine occasions in 61 years. Under Luries ownership, they have reached the playoffs more often than any NFC team besides the Packers, the club which Lurie made the organizational paradigm when he handpicked a little-known Green Bay assistant coach named Andy Reid to lead them into the 21st century. Even if they only have one Lombardi trophy to show for it, the Eagles under Lurie transformed themselves into one of those select clubs thats managed to mitigate if not defy the NFLs built-in gravity and are never down for long. That even keel has been down to Luries ability to balance patience, measure and dispassion with satisfying a city where sports mean a little too much and every decision is debated and scrutinized year-round by a ravenous media and not one but two 24-hour sports talk radio stations. The Eagles have been a lot of things under their present ownership, but theyve never been rash and theyve never been rudderless. No longer. Three years of inept management and failure to build on the momentum of their championship season came to a head on Thursday when the Eagles reportedly traded quarterback Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for a 2021 third-round draft pick and a conditional second-rounder in 2022. This time last year, the idea of Philadelphia cutting bait on the franchise player theyd planned their next decade around would have been unthinkable. Yet here we are. The divorce is as costly as it as hasty: The Eagles take on a crippling $33.8m in dead cap hit, the largest in NFL history, leaving them with little money to re-sign anyone else or improve a roster thats fallen into an alarming state of disrepair. So much of Wentzs downward trajectory since the Super Bowl season can be pinned to the lack of talent around him. With general manager Howie Roseman calling the shots, the Eagles have missed badly over the past three drafts (JJ Arcega-Whiteside over DK Metcalf! Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson!). The once-dominant offensive line charged with protecting Wentz, where Philadelphia fielded 13 different combination of players in their first 14 games this year, has become a turnstile. The Eagles have an old and expensive roster, have for a number of years, and Roseman thinks that targeting players who have been discounted because of injury histories is a sound strategy. (Spoiler alert: Its not!) On one hand, if Wentz rebounds with the Colts, where he reunites with former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, Philadelphias decision to sell low will go down as one of the great blunders in NFL history. After mortgaging a chunk of their future to trade up twice for Wentz in the 2016 draft, he followed a promising rookie year with a leap-forward 2017 campaign that took the NFL by storm. He led the Eagles to an NFL-best 11-2 record and was the prohibitive favorite to be named Most Valuable Player until he went down with a season-ending knee injury in a December game against the LA Rams. That wasnt that long ago. Even after Philadelphia went on to win the teams first Super Bowl with backup quarterback Nick Foles, the Eagles stayed the course and never wavered from Wentz. Not in 2018, when he struggled to rediscover his MVP form and suffered a back injury that forced Foles into action again. Not in 2019, when the team regressed still further but he still managed to spirit Philadelphia to the playoffs.And it wasnt mere lip service: the Eagles believed in him enough to consummate the union with a four-year, $128m contract extension in July 2019. On the other, if Wentz truly is washed, it will be yet another cautionary tale of how brutal and cruel this sport remains no matter how much the NFL tries to sanitize it with rule changes and safety PSAs. Theres ample evidence to believe Wentz has been permanently egg-cracked since suffering a nasty helmet-to-helmet hit by Jadeveon Clowney in a wild-card playoff matchup with the Seattle Seahawks at the end of the 2019 campaign, only months after signing his extension. He looked jittery and indecisive from opening day of this past season, when he turned the ball over three times and took a career-high eight sacks as the Eagles blew a 17-point lead to Washington. Somehow, it went downhill from there. Wentz led the league in interceptions (15) and sacks (50) despite playing in only 12 games, while finishing 33rd in yards per attempt (6.0) and 34th in both passer rating (72.8) and completion percentage (57.4%). The adversity didnt exactly bring out the best in Wentz as a leader, who responded to his eventual benching in December by obviously planting stories that he wanted out of Philadelphia before their dismal 4-11-1 season was finished. Maybe the Eagles know something we dont. But in a span of a year they have jettisoned their franchise player and their Super Bowl-winning head coach in favor of a rebuild with no clear path guided by an executive, Roseman, who has taken the wrong path at every fork in the 36 months since Super Bowl LII and left the team with no option but Thursdays big gamble. The sunk cost and wholesale change in organizational direction after one bad season is worse than uncharacteristic, its laid bare an organizational dysfunction that only bigger changes can resolve.

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One of the founding members of the Lincoln Project said in a new interview that the anti-Trump political group needs to provide a full public accounting of what its leaders knew about the sexual misconduct of one of its top officials as well as questions about the organizations finances.

So far, Lincoln Project officials responses about what and when they knew about the allegations of sexual harassment by consultant and founding member John Weaver have been a little bit squishy, veteran lawyer George Conway said in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery.

Expressing dismay that the hard work of the groups employees trying to defeat then-President Donald Trump in the last election has been blemished and undermined by the scandal engulfing the Lincoln Project, Conway said: I think all these people are owed and I think all the people who gave money to the Lincoln Project are owed a full explanation of what happened. So we know what happened with Weaver, and if there are issues with where the money went, that too.

Conway resigned from the Lincoln Project last summer because he wanted to devote more time to family matters as his wife, Kellyanne, was stepping down from her White House job as a top adviser to Trump. He said he was unaware of any of the allegations about Weaver at the time.

But given Conways public profile, his comments could step up the pressure on the Lincoln Project to be more forthcoming about the multiple allegations swirling around it.

Late last week another Lincoln Project founder, Steve Schmidt, resigned in the aftermath of reports that the groups leadership was informed as early as June 2020 about at least 10 specific allegations that Weaver had sent improper, harassing phone calls and Twitter messages of a sexual nature to young men. The Lincoln Project has said in response that it was retaining a best-in-class outside professional to review Weavers tenure to establish both accountability and best practices going forward for The Lincoln Project. It has also offered to release employees from nondisclosure agreements.

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For his part, Weaver has resigned and issued a public apology. To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry, he wrote in a statement. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you.

There have been separate questions about the huge donations the Lincoln Project raised to run anti-Trump political ads during the last election cycle. According to the Associated Press, more than $50 million of the $90 million the group collected went to consulting firms controlled by its leaders.

Conways comments came in an interview hours after the Senate failed to convict Trump in the impeachment trial over the events of Jan. 6. While expressing his profound sadness and disappointment about the outcome, Conway predicted that Trumps legal troubles are far from over. In addition to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vances ongoing probe into the Trump Organizations finances, Conway emphasized that the former president faces real legal jeopardy in the recently announced investigation by Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis into Trumps attempts to pressure Georgia officials to overturn the results of the election in that state.

Willis is going to be a household name, Conway said. If you try to cause someone to create fake votes in an election, thats election fraud. Its clear as day.

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George Conway: Lincoln Project must give 'full explanation of what happened' - Yahoo News

The Milken Institution is out with its annual Best-Performing Cities Index, and as with most things this year, the COVID-19 pandemic had a hand at shaping the list. The index measures economic vitality in 200 large metropolitan areas, those with populations greater than 300,000. This years list takes into consideration jobs, wages, high-tech growth, housing affordability, and household broadband access.

The pandemic has had an outsized impact on cities where the economic effects of the current recession are exacerbated by high housing costs, said Kevin Klowden, executive director of the Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics and California Center.

What youre seeing, particularly this year is that the cities that have done the best of that, what we consider our top tier, are cities that are building on infrastructure and activities that they had already set up in many ways. These are all cities with knowledge base industries, all cities that really have strong economies, said Klowden.

States from around the U.S. were represented on this years list:

Provo-Orem, Utah

Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida

Austin-Round Rock, Texas

Salt Lake City, Utah

Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina

Boise, Idaho

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, Arizona

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee

Ogden-Clearfield, Utah

Huntsville, Alabama

Denver, Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado

Fort Collins, Colorado

Seattle, Bellevue-Kent, Washington

Utah comes in strong, with three cities in the top 10, including the number one entry the Provo-Orem area.

As a place right now it is doing very well for itself, says Misael Galdamez, senior policy analyst for the Milken Institute Center for Regional Economics. He tells Yahoo Finance that every single metro area in the state of Utah met tier-one criteria on Milkens list.

What makes Provo so successful, according to Galdamez, is its strong "innovation ecosystem," rooted in Brigham Young University's (BYU) main campus there. Galdamez also tells Yahoo Finance that Provo, unlike other tech-centered areas like San Francisco, has affordable housing and lifestyle costs. These traits are also shared with Salt Lake City, which comes fourth.

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Salt Lake City is very similar to Provo. It has a pretty strong tech sector. It also has developed financial and professional services. So its industrial basis is pretty diversified, and has the kinds of jobs that can survive COVID. It also has a lot of middle-skill kinds of jobs like health-tech manufacturing that can provide workers with middle-class existence.

Palm Bay, Florida known as the Space Coast due to its proximity to Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station primarily for its institutional assets, such as in the defense and aerospace industries.

Palm Bay has also built up industries around that. So its not like its just the one sector, theres adjacent industries related to aerospace and defense manufacturing that [it has] been able to specialize in. I think thats also a part of what makes Palm Bay special. And that also translates to say job growth and wage growth overall.

Austin, Texas, which takes the third spot on the list, has been in the spotlight for many years. Aside from being the capital city of the Lone Star State, it is home to academic-industry research and a growing tech industry due to its low tax rates. Tesla (TSLA) and Oracle (ORCL) have announced that they are moving their headquarters to Austin.

The Raleigh-Cary area of North Carolina rounds out the top 5. One of the reasons it ranks so high is it's home to the "research triangle:" North Carolina State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Raleigh is pretty famous for whats known as the research triangle basically, theyve been between the academic side, the private sector side, and the government side. Theyve been making investments in high-tech industries, research, and development, life sciences, basically since the 90s. So they are basically reaping the rewards of things that they have sowed for quite some time.

Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.

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These are the best performing cities: Milken Institute - Yahoo Finance