GameStop, AMC slide as meme stocks rally loses steam

Tupperware Brands

16/05/2024 11:24

May 16 (Reuters) - Retail darlings GameStop  GME.N  and
AMC  AMC.N  continued their slide into premarket trading on
Thursday, as the euphoria over the return of "Roaring Kitty",
who was the central figure in 2021 meme stock rally, fizzles
out. 
    Shares of the struggling videogame retailer GameStop fell
16% to $33 after jumping as much as $64.83 so far this week.
Theater chain AMC shed 13% following an 88% gain since Friday's
close.
    Despite the losses on Wednesday, the two companies were
among the top three most-traded shares by retail investors
during the session, data from J.P.Morgan showed, a position they
have held every day this week.
    The sharp surge in the shares began after a series of posts
from Keith Gill's X account "Roaring Kitty", whose bullish posts
on GameStop was a reason for the 2021 meme stocks frenzy.
    But unlike 2021 when Reddit users banded together to target
highly shorted stocks that burnt bearish hedge funds, this time
retail and institutional investors were part of the meme stock
mania, Vanda Research, which tracks retail investor flows, said.
    Since his first post on Sunday, Gill has put out dozens of
cryptic movies clips a day on X.com. He did not respond to a
Reuters request for comment on what the posts mean and whether
he planned on making his investments public again.
    Former U.S. SEC Chair Jay Clayton told CNBC on Wednesday the
posts have triggered "a wave of euphoric and speculative buying
in the retail (trading) community which is never a good thing",
adding that it was not illegal to say "I like a stock".
    Retail purchases of GameStop eased to $5.7 million in the
previous session from $15.9 million on Tuesday, which was the
highest this year, Vanda data showed. 
    Similarly, for AMC, daily retail inflows dropped to $7.7
million on Wednesday from $51 million in the previous day.
    Other highly shorted stocks that caught a bid this week also
fell on Thursday. Tupperware  TUP.N  dropped 7% to $1.68, while
U.S. listed BlackBerry  BB.N  shed 4.6%.

 (Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
 ((Medha.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6210 0592; X, formerly
Twitter: @medhasinghs;))