GAMESTOP SHARES SURGE 53%, OTHER ‘MEME’ STOCKS RALLY

Shares of GameStop surged as much as 53% and other so-called meme stocks rallied, lifted by the latest news from the video game retailer and expectations that investors may soon plow a fresh wave of stimulus checks into the equity market, By Sinéad Carew reported for Reuters.

GameStop shares last traded up 29.2% at $178.01 after earlier reaching $210.87, their highest level since Feb. 1, Reuters said. The development came after the company tapped shareholder and Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen to spearhead a new committee to help its transition to an e-commerce business.

The stock was up as much as 53% earlier in the session. Other stocks that are often discussed on Reddit were also soaring on Monday with AMC Entertainment up 12.3%, headphone maker Koss Corp climbing 18.4%, and Rocket Companies up 5.0%.

Other stocks favored by retail investors on forums such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets also rallied, with some market watchers attributing the moves to the Senate’s passage of a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that could soon put $1,400 direct payments into the hands of Americans, including retail investors eager to buy stock.

“Maybe there’s a thought that if people are going to get a lot of money in their stimulus checks, that some of it’s going into the stock market,” said Christopher Murphy, co-head of derivatives strategy at Susquehanna Financial Group.

“Some of it might go into those same names that we saw in late January, those message board Reddit-type stocks.” Retail investors surveyed by Deutsche Bank last month said they would put more than a third of their stimulus checks into the stock market, which could represent inflows of around $170 billion, the bank said in a research note.

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