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NEW YORK, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) – For the US stock market, the week was like no other, as the skyrocketing GameStop shares spurred by retail investors took center stage.
During the week ending Friday, shares of the US brick-and-mortar video game retailer soared 400 percent, giving the shares a whopping 1.625 percent gain in January.
The stock experienced large fluctuations this week. On Monday, GameStop shares closed 18 percent higher with high volume after multiple trading stops during the session. It continued to gain strength for the next two days and closed at a record on Wednesday.
The stock jumped nearly 68 percent on Friday, after falling 44 percent in the previous session. Shares of the video game chain tumbled on Thursday after Robinhood and other trading platforms took steps to stem the sharp swings in shorting stocks.
For a stock that was still struggling at $ 10 apiece in October, the rally was impressive. The buying wave was fueled by bullish sellers on online forums.
Individual investors, particularly on the Reddit chat forum “WallStreetBets,” began buying GameStop shares and encouraged others to do so.
The games retailer is a popular short target on Wall Street. More than 130 percent of its floating shares were borrowed and short-sold, one of the shortest names on the US stock market, according to CNBC, citing data from FactSet.
As GameStop continued to rise, other very short names like AMC Entertainment also jumped in.
While some saw the GameStop frenzy as a showdown between retail investors and hedge funds, others were concerned about its domino effects.
It caught the attention of high-profile investors and a large number of legislators calling on regulators to intervene.
The speculative frenzy has raised concerns about a bubble and financial stability, according to some experts.
The mania made the broader market nervous which saw the major Wall Street averages suffer notable weekly losses. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 fell 3.3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 3.5 percent, posting its worst week since October. Final product
