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GameStop retail store (Ying Tang/Getty Images)

GameStop boosts eBay stake to 6.55% after e-commerce platform rejected its $55.5 billion offer

GameStop has only had to spend around $10 million to gain economic exposure to about 29.1 million shares of eBay.

Luke Kawa

Ryan Cohen is not taking “no” for an answer.

After eBay rebuffed GameStop’s $55.5 billion unsolicited offer last week, a 13D report filing on Tuesday shows that the video game and collectibles retailer increased its stake in eBay to 6.65% from 5% via options. That is, GameStop has entered into put/call pair trades (selling calls and buying puts) with TD Securities to more efficiently amass a position.

So far, GameStop has only had to spend around $10 million to gain economic exposure to about 29.1 million shares of the e-commerce platform, which currently has a market cap of roughly $51.5 billion. And it’s enjoying a tidy paper gain in the process: the call options bought have risen as eBay’s stock jumped on news of the bid, while the value of put options sold has declined.

In an interview with ProCap’s Anthony Pompliano last week, Cohen said, “I want the business,” and that “we’re going to do whatever we obviously need to do in order to bring this proposal in front of the true owners of the business.”

Prediction markets currently imply about a 20% chance of GameStop acquiring eBay this year, per Kalshi.

Read more: The real problems with using GameStop shares to try to purchase eBay

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Max Knoblauch

Airlines and cruise stocks surge as oil prices plunge

Travel stocks are surging on Wednesday, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures down 5% as of 12 p.m. ET, largely on commodity traders’ hopes of a resolution to the US war with Iran.

The decline comes despite the US Energy Information Administration reporting a record plunge in US crude inventories last week. As the country expands its oil exports to reduce the impact of the war in Iran, inventories have fallen by 7.9 million barrels, according to the EIA, indicating a significant drop in domestic supply wiggle room ahead of the summer driving season. Per Reuters, analysts had expected a drop of 2.9 million.

Bloomberg noted that US oil exports have been crucial in keeping global petroleum prices in check, as supply remains historically constrained due to the effective closure of the Straight of Hormuz. Typically, such a sharper-than-expected drop in inventories would cause oil futures to rise.

Today, however, that is not the case and oil’s pain is travel stocks’ gain, with US airlines and cruise lines surging higher on Wednesday. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue were all up by at least 6%, while Carnival and Norwegian were up about 7%.

Royal Caribbean pared earlier losses from Mexico’s rejection of a large planned water park, but was still down about 1%.

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Helena Cheng

Micron jumps on looming Samsung strike

Micron shares are climbing early Wednesday, breaking a sharp multiday semiconductor pullback. The rally comes amid the potential for a critical supply-side disruption at one of its largest global competitors, Samsung Electronics, as well as building investor enthusiasm ahead of Nvidia’s highly anticipated earnings report.

As demand for AI compute accelerates, Micron is increasingly viewed as a top-tier beneficiary due to its role in the critical high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market. The operational catalyst sparking Micron’s rally is a massive looming labor dispute in South Korea. According to Reuters, roughly 48,000 Samsung workers are set to begin an 18-day strike Thursday after negotiations broke down.

As global HBM production is effectively controlled by Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix, any manufacturing hiccup at Samsung shifts pricing leverage to Micron. This backdrop comes as South Korea’s broader chip ecosystem is benefiting from the global infrastructure boom, pushing the country to the seventh-largest stock market in the world.

Micron has been expanding its own AI memory footprint. In March, the company completed its acquisition of PSMC’s Tongluo P5 site, a strategic integration designed to scale its domestic HBM production capacity and meet accelerating hyperscaler demand.

Luke Kawa
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Semiconductors surge as yield spike abates, Nvidia earnings await

Oh, and executives spent all of Tuesday talking up the strength of demand for AI infrastructure.

Roller coaster steel car full of riders
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What Wall Street’s looking for from Nvidia’s Q1 results

Further upside to its $1 trillion revenue guidance, more customer success, and shareholder returns.

Jensen Huang at 2026 GTC in San Jose
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Helena Cheng

Target sinks on expense concerns despite Q1 earnings beat

Target shares are sinking in volatile early Wednesday trading, erasing its premarket gains as investor anxiety over rising corporate overhead and tightening profit margins appeared to overawe strong Q1 earnings results that beat Wall Street estimates.

Key numbers:

  • Revenue of $25.44 billion (estimate: $24.11 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $1.71 (estimate: $1.43).

  • Same-store sales growth of 5.6% (estimate: 1.85%).

Target’s headline numbers signaled a clear, if partial, comeback story with 6.7% net sales growth, breaking a yearlong slump. The company also raised its full-year sales growth forecast to 4.0% compared with 2025, double its previous forecast of 2% growth. The company now projects annual EPS to land at the high end of its $7.50 to $8.50 range, beating the $8.10 consensus estimate from Wall Street.

However, Target’s operational expenses climbed to 21.9% of its total revenue last quarter, up from last year, with the company citing “higher compensation costs” and “higher marketing expense” to explain the jump. These rising costs were only partially offset by the boost from Target’s strong sales growth.

“While we have momentum, we’re also being cautious about the near-term operating environment,” said Michael Fiddelke, CEO of Target. “With consumers weighing multiple headwinds and tailwinds, and recent dips in consumer sentiment, we continue to place a premium on flexibility, not wanting to swing too hard too quickly, despite the early signs of momentum we’re seeing.”

This is the first earnings report under the newly appointed CEO, who officially took the helm in February and who’s focused on enhancing operational efficiency amid a prolonged retail sales slump.

Target yesterday announced that it tapped former Walmart exec Jeff England as chief supply chain officer to optimize inventory and delivery, part of a wider $6 billion turnaround. The retailer is also overhauling its beauty, baby, and apparel categories through exclusive Parke and “Pokémon” partnerships, though margins remain sensitive to inventory markdowns and labor costs.

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