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(Bloomberg) — Animal spirits in the US equity market rampaged into a handful of meme stocks after a cryptic afternoon X post from Keith Gill, the online persona known as Roaring Kitty who rose to fame in 2021’s meme-stock mania.
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Shares of GameStop Corp., one of Gill’s original favorites in the January 2021 meme frenzy, spiked as much as 14%, triggering a volatility halt, before paring most of the gain to end the day up 5.9%. AMC Entertainment, another darling from that era, also erased some of a spike to close 5.9% higher.
The trader posted a mock-up of a Time magazine cover, featuring a blank computer screen with a media player that resembles YouTube. The image appears to be an edited version of the cover of the Dec. 25, 2006 issue of Time, when “You,” as in the American public, was named “Person of the Year.”
With no accompanying text to provide clues to the post’s meaning, day traders made other leaps of logic. Shares in Unity Software Inc. — ticker U — gained as much as 8.2% intraday, while Clear Secure Inc., the operator of airport security systems — ticker YOU — quickly pared earlier losses of 4.6%. Unity shares ended the day 4.9% higher, while Clear Secure fell 1.1%.
The meme-style rally comes amid rising signs of excess in US financial markets. Bitcoin surged past $100,000 for the first time, while stocks ply new records and credit spreads remain tight.
It’s the first X post for Gill since September, when a similarly cryptic image of a dog inserted in a still from the Toy Story movie franchise caused a brief pop in meme shares. In June, shares of Chewy Inc. and Petco Health and Wellness Co. jumped after Gill posted a different photo of a cartoon dog on X. He disclosed a 6.6% stake in July before dumping his entire position, according to an October filing with the SEC.
Shares of GameStop also spiked in June when Gill scheduled a return to his YouTube Channel, which became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic, but fell after the subsequent live stream. Gill profited handsomely from investing in the beleaguered video-game retailer through 2020 and 2021.
Thursday’s post from Gill dove a flurry of options activity with traders snapping up bullish call options on Unity, sending volume to the highest since Sept. 24, while the one-month call skew more than doubled from the previous day.
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