Quoted from The Wall Street Journal:
GameStop shares soar as meme-stock mania resurfaces
May 13, 2024 4:32 pm ET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell, snapping its longest winning streak of the year, as markets braced for fresh inflation data in the coming days.
The blue-chip index lost 0.2%, or about 81 points, falling after eight sessions of gains, while the S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%.
Investors are hoping new data this week will show inflation easing after several months of firmer-than-expected readings. Lingering price pressures have kept the Federal Reserve from beginning to cut interest rates, a move that tends to boost stock prices.
Traders and money managers will get their next look at how inflation is faring with the release of the producer-price index on Tuesday, followed by the highly anticipated consumer-price index on Wednesday.
“I think we’re really just all in wait-and-see mode,” said Dan Eye, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital Group. “No big bets ahead of the CPI report.”
Nine of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors ticked lower Monday. The technology group bucked the trend, rising 0.5% with the help of gains by Apple and Nvidia. The real-estate segment added 0.3%.
Major indexes have rallied lately on signs that the U.S. economy remains strong even as slower hiring keeps alive hopes that the central bank could begin to trim rates.
Investors say they also have been pleased by the earnings season that is wrapping up. With most reports in, analysts expect that earnings from S&P 500 companies rose 5.4% in the first quarter, the highest earnings growth since the second quarter of 2022, according to FactSet.
The S&P 500 has advanced 3.7% in May and 9.5% so far this year.
The rally has stocks looking increasingly expensive. The S&P 500 traded late last week at 20.6 times its projected earnings over the next 12 months, above a 10-year average of 18.1, according to FactSet.
The richer valuations have some investors ascribing particular importance to the Fed’s decisions on interest rates. Lower rates tend to boost the appeal of investing in the stock market, partly by making bonds relatively less appealing.
“We’re trading at levels now that if the interest rates are not cut…the market is going to grow very slowly from here,” said Dan Genter, chief executive and chief investment officer at Genter Capital Management. “Everything has to be perfect.”
Elsewhere Monday, meme-stock mania reared its head again. A social-media account associated with Keith Gill, the investor known as “Roaring Kitty,” sent its first post since 2021, when he focused online followers on the retailer GameStop.
GameStop shares soared 74% Monday, their largest percentage increase since February 2021, and were halted for volatility several times. Shares of AMC Entertainment, another meme-stock favorite, jumped 78%, while Hertz Global rose 12% and Plug Power gained 13%.
Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8%.
Oil prices advanced, with global benchmark Brent crude rising 0.7% to $83.36 a barrel.