Meme stocks soar, rest of US stocks go nowhere
US benchmark indexes were flat on the day as investor focus returned to a handful of meme stocks ahead of a week of high-profile economic data releases on prices and spending.
Technology stocks were the best-performing sector, offsetting broad-based but modest losses elsewhere. No sector ETF gained or lost at least 0.5% on the session, the first time that’s happened in more than four months.
The markets story of the day was the resurgence of investor interest in heavily-shorted so-called “meme stocks” that went parabolic in 2021. The gains were linked to social media reappearance of Keith Gill, whose posts on GameStop helped inspire the frenzied trading three years ago.
Shares of GameStop jumped 74.5% on the day while AMC fared even better with an 80% advance.
Bond yields, like benchmark US stock indexes, were little changed on the day. Investors await US inflation data this week, including April’s producer price index on Tuesday and the consumer price index on Wednesday, which may shift expectations around the timing of any potential interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve.
