There was plenty of bullish macroeconomic news to go around on Monday, which initially sent stocks higher before a bit of an afternoon selloff.
Billionaire hedge fund investor David Tepper had some encouraging commentary to offer, saying it was “very difficult to be bearish” on the current market, which has been fluctuating due to concerns over rising interest rates. Tepper, however, says that Japan will likely step in to start buying U.S. Treasurys, removing one of the more oft-discussed risks to growth.
In Washington, the $1.9 trillion stimulus package cleared the U.S. Senate, bringing another major relief bill one step closer to passage.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 306 points, or 1%, to finish at 31,802.
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Return of the Reddit stocks. GameStop (ticker: GME), the headline “meme stock” of early 2021, came back with a vengeance on Monday, as investors applauded news from the company’s board that Chewy ( CHWY) co-founder Ryan Cohen would be leading a committee to revamp the video game retailer’s business model.
One of the early 2021 catalysts for GME stock was the addition of Cohen, a respected founder of a multibillion-dollar e-commerce company, to GameStop’s board after Cohen had acquired a roughly 10% stake in the troubled retailer and begun agitating for change.
GME stock rose 41.9% on Monday, finishing the day flirting with the $200/share level.
Another former favorite of Redditors, AMC Entertainment Holdings ( AMC), saw shares rise more than 15% on Monday on the heels of an increased price target at Wedbush Securities. While the headline that Wedbush doubled its price target sounds great, the new target is $5 — well below AMC’s $9.29 closing price on Monday.
Fierce ViacomCBS rally. Media and entertainment giant ViacomCBS ( VIAC) burst higher on Monday, finishing as the single best performer in the S&P 500. Shares, which have been on a robust winning streak since the pandemic-fueled lows roughly a year ago, are up 287% in the last year. The stock rose 12.7% in Monday’s trading session alone.
Monday’s big gains were a little odd in that there was no one clear catalyst, but shares are riding momentum from Viacom’s newly announced Paramount+ streaming service, which aims to be a contender in the rapidly heating up streaming wars.
While CBS’ interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, conducted by Oprah Winfrey, drew an incredible 17.1 million viewers on Sunday, even that impressive viewership can’t truly explain the 12.7% jump.
Another possibility: large investors could be gobbling up shares, or short-sellers could be covering, as about 18% of the float is sold short.
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GameStop Stock Resumes Rally, Up 42% originally appeared on usnews.com
