GameStop and AMC shares surge amid volatile market frenzy

Shares in GameStop and AMC Entertainment doubled again on Tuesday, before losing ground, as a market frenzy surrounding top meme stocks took hold for a second day.

Retail traders’ interest in GameStop, the struggling video games chain, has been reignited by the re-emergence of an influencer known as Roaring Kitty.

GameStop soared by as much as 98% during early trading on Wall Street, before losing steam in volatile trading, after rallying 74% on Monday. AMC, the world’s largest cinema chain, climbed by as much as 120%.

By lunchtime in New York, GameStop was up 38% and AMC was up 23%.

Meme stocks – boosted by memes on social media – first e​merged as a force three years ago, when amateur traders mobilized on platforms including Reddit to boost shares in GameStop.

Their bids triggered an extraordinary, but fleeting, increase in GameStop’s stock market value. It also left hedge funds that had bet against the company nursing heavy losses.

Earlier this week Keith Gill, the influencer known as Roaring Kitty, posted on X for the first time since the height of the meme stock frenzy in 2021. He shared a sketch of a gamer leaning forward, as if things were getting serious – and followed up with a string of clips from movies and TV shows.

Three years ago Gill’s videos on YouTube, and posts on Reddit, where he is known as DeepFuckingValue, placed him at the front of an army of meme-toting day traders who tried to mount a rebellion against Wall Street – and the financial titans dominating the market.

The story of the initial meme stock rallies has already been transformed into a Hollywood movie. Paul Dano played Gill, the central character in Dumb Money, which was released last year.

Gill himself has largely kept his head down, however – and steered clear of social media – until now. His posts on Sunday evening and Monday unleashed a torrent of speculation around his plans.

Other meme stocks including BlackBerry and Tupperware also rallied on Tuesday.

Shares in GameStop have fallen dramatically since their extraordinary peak in early 2021. Questions have been raised, too, about the strength of GameStop’s business, which has reported falling sales and endured a series of high-profile departures from its management team.

Institutional investors were quick to condemn the latest rally. “It is gambling,” Cole Smead, a fund manager, told CNBC. “You’ve got to remember these are young people, these are 40-year-old people like me, who are going out and doing stuff that is just frankly stupid.”

AMC, which also owns the Odeon chain of cinemas in Europe, was quick to capitalize on its stock’s latest rally – raising $250m by selling shares.