GameStop Mania Goes Global as Retail Traders Gang Up on Shorts Bloomberg 1/28/2021
(Bloomberg)
The market drama surrounding GameStop Corp. is spreading ever further beyond Wall Street, whipsawing stocks from Amsterdam to Sydney as traders race to bet on where the flood of retail money might head next.
Heavily shorted companies have become the biggest targets, after an epic short squeeze in GameStop helped drive up the stock more than 400% this week. In Europe, short-seller favorites including Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield jumped 20% or more. E-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. and baby-care goods maker Pigeon Corp. climbed at least 6.9% in Tokyo on Thursday.
The GameStop effect has also played out in different ways. Day traders in India have been piling into shares of the video-game retailer, which accounted for about 15% of volume on one popular platform allowing locals to bet on U.S. equities. An Australian company with “GME” in its ticker symbol jumped as much as 60% on Thurs
Australian Stocks May Shed Laggard Tag in 2021
Bloomberg 12/17/2020 Jackie Edwards
(Bloomberg) For many investors Down Under, 2020 was a year to forget. Australia’s stock market struggled to regain ground during the pandemic, even as many others like the U.S. surged as investors continued their love affair with all things tech.
Next year will likely be a different story: With a vaccine-fueled global rebound benefiting cyclical shares, Australian stocks are set to shine.
Strategists from AMP Capital Investors Ltd. and Commsec expect the local benchmark to reach a record high in 2021, while Macquarie Group Ltd. forecasts double-digit returns amid a recovery in earnings on economic stimulus and rising commodity prices. The S&P/ASX 200 Index is 5.7% below its record reached in February this year.
UPDATE
Guitar Center in Silver Spring will close as of Jan. 3, according to a statement from the company.
“As part of our ongoing business processes and after careful consideration, Guitar Center has made the decision to close our retail store in Silver Spring, MD, effective January 3rd,” the news release stated.
Guitar Center, which has stores in Rockville and Silver Spring, announced Thursday that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern Division of Virginia approved its restructuring plan during a virtual hearing and the company hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of this month.
Two people at the Silver Spring store said they were not authorized to talk about how the restructuring plan affected their store.