The White House refused to comment Friday on the populist market trading movement fueling GameStop stock.
“I know it is a big story,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said to reporters on Friday, refusing to comment on the issue. “Obviously, our focus and our big story is getting the American people back to work.”
On Thursday, the trading app Robinhood infuriated users after blocking purchases of stocks popularized by trading communities on Reddit.
Wall Street hedge funds lost billions by betting against GameStop before Reddit traders rallied to boost the stock price to unprecedented heights.
Reddit traders also questioned whether Biden’s Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen had a role in the market disruption, noting that she received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from hedge funds such as Citadel before she was appointed.
Psaki responded to all GameStop trading questions by pointing back to a statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued on Thursday.
“They are closely monitoring the situation, but it’s under their purview at this point in time,” she said Friday.
Psaki said the White House would only encourage GameStop investors and people concerned about it to listen to the SEC.
“I guess part of our education can be conveying to people that the SEC is their regulatory body that would oversee this and can speak to it further,” she said.
Psaki said that she did not anticipate Biden to speak publicly about the issue, but did not rule out discussing it privately with Yellen.