Wall Street turns red as GameStop trading blitz rages

4:00 p.m .: Short sellers maintain their positions

The Dow Jones closed Friday down 623 points, 2%, at 29,981. The Nasdaq plunged 266 points, 2%, to 13,071, and the S&P 500 slipped 73 points, 1.9%, to 3,714 .

GameStop Corp () surged, gaining nearly 70% to $ 328.24 after brokerage app Robinhood allowed investors to re-buy shares of the video game retailer and other highly volatile stocks.

Short sellers are still holding their bearish positions on GameStop despite $ 19.75 billion in total mark-to-market losses, according to CNBC and data from S3 Partners.

Jim Cramer urged retail investors to sell stock on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”

“Take the home run. Don’t go for the grand slam. Take the home run. You have already won. You have won the game. You’re done, ”Cramer said.

12:15 p.m .: GME short sellers down nearly $ 20 billion

The Dow Jones fell 422 points, 1.4%, to 30,215 by noon. The Nasdaq Composite lost 136 points, 1%, to 13,200, and the S&P 500 slipped 47 points, 1.2%, to 3,740.

Institutional and individual investors are tied to all movements of GameStop Corp () and others. Incredibly, GME’s short sellers have lost nearly $ 20 billion since the start of the year, according to data from S3 Partners.

“Fear is once again crossing the stock markets as some trading apps have eased restrictions on some stocks that have recently experienced colossal volatility, such as Gamestop,” CMC Markets UK analyst David Madden wrote on Friday. “There is concern that we may see frantic trading again by retail players in selected stocks and this could renew fears that some hedge funds could adopt a cut and run policy, hence the decline general stock market. “

GameStop, the stock every trader has an eye on, is up 88% to $ 370.50. The video game retailer saw its shares reach $ 483 on Thursday afternoon before closing the same day at $ 193.60.

Inc (), another favorite of reddit-inspired retail traders, is up 81% to $ 15.64.

Shares of () fell almost 4% to $ 162.62 after the company’s COVID-19 vaccine was found to be 66% effective overall in protecting against the virus.

10:05 am: Proactive Headlines in North America

The ORYX division of Inc (TSX: BRAG) (OTCMKTS: BRGGF) enters the Czech and Slovak markets through the partnership of the SYNOT group

NexTech AR Solutions Corp () () (CSE: NTAR) virtual experience platform to transform the online conference of the Canadian Society of Leading Physicians

Blackrock Gold Corp () signs agreement with Red Cloud Securities for a bought deal placement to raise gross proceeds of CAN $ 7,020,000

Inc () (OTCQB: TBPMF) (FRA: JAM1) Receives U.S. FDA Clearance on IND for QIXLEEF, Paves the Way for Clinical Trial

Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp () () (FRA: 2UE) Receives First Order From Ontario Cannabis Store For Its Purefarma And Pura Vida Products

() () (FRA: 20Q) identifies a potential porphyry target at Yawi in its project in Ecuador

Victory Resources Corporation () (OTCMKTS: VRCFF) (FRA: VR62) ready for shorthole drilling program at Loner once permit is received

Great Panther Mining Ltd (TSE: GPR) (NYSEAMERICAN: GPL) (FRA: G3U) describes exploration plans worth US $ 13 million for 2021

Esports Entertainment Group Inc () Says VIE and SportNation Brands Now Approved in 150 Global Jurisdictions

Corp () to Host Florida’s First Annual Future of Healthcare Summit for Key Healthcare Leaders

9:44 a.m .: Wall Street starts lower

The main Wall Street indices got off to a slower start on Friday morning following some gloomy US macroeconomic data.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.84% ​​to 30,344, while the S&P 500 fell 0.67% to 3,762 and the Nasdaq fell 0.46% to 13,276.

The market decline follows data showing consumer spending in the United States fell 0.2% in December, the second consecutive month the figure fell as pandemic-related restrictions continued to weigh on consumer purchasing activity.

Despite this, the drop was less than the 0.4% that analysts had predicted and better than the 0.7% drop in November.

Meanwhile, GameStop Corp () shares saw another impotence, opening at US $ 345 from its previous close of US $ 193.60, with the Reddit-inspired rally showing no signs of slowing down.

7:52 a.m .: Wall Street will go down

After rebounding yesterday, US markets should return some of those gains today.

Spread betting quotes indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will drop 153 points to open at around 30,450. The wider S&P 500 is expected to dip 24 points to 3763 and the Nasdaq Composite drop 258 points to 13,079.

No report on the US market seems complete these days without a mention of GameStop Corp (), the stock that has become a stock football.

The stock is up 60% on the pre-market after plunging 44% yesterday after the Robinhood trading app put restrictions on trading in stocks. Today’s move is, of course, on the back of a zero corporate news feed from the company.

There have, however, been a few income updates from big names like Colgate Palmolive and Eli Lilly.

Fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of US $ 2.07 was seven cents above consensus forecast.

Colgate-Palmolive shares relaxed their pre-market reading after announcing they expected high levels of uncertainty in 2021 and volatile commodity prices.

Eli Lilly edged up in on-screen trading before the bell after his sales and profit numbers beat analysts’ expectations.

The pharmaceutical company has delivered 950,000 doses of bamlanivimab, its treatment for the coronavirus (COVID-19) to the US government, and has agreed to deliver an additional 500,000 doses before the end of the quarter.

Speaking of which, the Johns Hopkins Database yesterday reported 165,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the United States, down 14.5% from Thursday last week.

“This is the fourth consecutive drop of less than 20%, after a week in which cases fell 22%. Cases are still dropping fairly quickly, but if the change seen in recent days continues, new daily cases will level off in mid-February at around 135K per day, down around 45% from peak but still well below. above the peak seen in wave two last summer, ”said Inah Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

“We have argued for some time that the current restrictions across the United States are not strong enough to continue to bring cases down indefinitely. The tightening in many states and cities between October and December was significant, but no part of the United States is subject to a British-style lockdown, so it is unrealistic to expect the cases Americans continue to decline, ”Shepherdson said.

When it comes to macroeconomic issues, the US economic journal is busy today, according to Daiwa Capital Markets.

“The Personal Income and Expenditure Report for December will highlight the monthly pattern of consumer spending that underlies the weaker than expected fourth-quarter private consumption increase that was reported in the National Accounts of” yesterday (expenses will certainly have decreased during the month of September). The core PCE deflator for December will also be interesting, with the 1.4% increase in Q4 AR slightly firmer than expected (explaining part of the surprise in the decline in real consumer spending), ”said said Daiwa.

“Today will also bring the employment cost index for the fourth quarter (likely to point to modest growth given the weak labor market) and pending home sales for December (d ‘interest in light of the slight decline reported over the previous three months). In addition, we will also receive the Chicago PMI index for January and the final result of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey for January, ”he added.

Three things to watch for on Friday:

• Big names in Friday’s earnings journal include oil giant Chevron Corp (), while investors will also be looking at shares of pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly & Co () and backhoe maker Caterpillar Inc () after profits of two exceeded expectations.
• In the macro calendar, U.S. personal income for December will be examined, along with Chicago PMI data for January and Michigan consumer confidence figures for the first month of 2021.
• Bitcoin is also likely to gain attention after a Twitter endorsement by Elon Musk pushed the price up 16.4% to around US $ 36,824 on Friday morning.