House Financial Services Panel Sets GameStop Hearing for Feb. 18

(Bloomberg) -- The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing regarding “recent market volatility” involving GameStop Corp. and other companies on Feb. 18.

The virtual hearing was announced on Monday evening in a short statement by the committee chairwoman, Maxine Waters, a California Democrat. The statement, however, did not say if any witnesses would appear.

The session is entitled, “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide,” but the statement did not provide further details.

The tumultuous trading of GameStop has left politicians in both parties in two branches of government grasping for responses to a new phenomenon -- retail investors banding together on social media and driving up shares in a company.

“There is an important set of policy issues that have been raised as a result of market volatility in recent days, and we think congressional attention to these issues is appropriate and would welcome working with Congress,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at the White House on Monday.

Earlier: GameStop Frenzy Shows ‘Important’ Policy Issues for Congress

She didn’t specify any possible policy changes and said she couldn’t comment on whether the White House had discussed any specifics with lawmakers.

Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and the incoming chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has also pledged to hold a hearing.

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