Stocks sell, shorts squeezed
It was a wild Wednesday. Sentiment turned negative Wednesday as stocks sold across the board in New York and Toronto. All sectors of the S&P and nearly the entire TSX (except tech) closed negative. There wasn’t a particular catalyst, though profit-taking and vaccine and Covid worries endure. In their worst session in three months, the American indices plunged over 2% with the Nasdaq falling as low at -2.61%. Materials, consumer discretionary and healthcare especially lagged. L Brands closed -12.7%, Xilinx -7.29% and Netflix -6.88%. The negativity was so strong that Microsoft, which beat earnings late Tuesday and popped 4% after hours, closed only 0.25% Wednesday.
The TSX lost 1.98% as Barrick Gold slid 4.85%, CNQ fell 3.01% and Goodfood Market plunged 12.59%. Industrials and materials bore the brunt of Bay Street selling.One of the few bright spots was Blackberry, yet again propelled by the ongoing short squeeze, orchestrated by a Reddit group. BB soared 32.42% as retail investors targeted hedge fund companies in the shorting business.
Those rogue buyers rocketed Gamestop another 135% and AMC by 301% in a phenomenon that continues to astonish the investing world. Lest we forget, several major earnings reports were announced after the close. Facebook beat top and bottom lines, but still slid 5.5% after hours, Tesla fell 4% as it missed Q4 earnings, and Apple slipped 1% despite beating earnings.
👙 L Brands Inc. -12.7%
💿 Xilinx Inc -7.29%
📺 Netflix Inc. -6.88%
Ⓜ Microsoft +0.25%
🥇 Barrick Gold -4.85%
🛢 Canadian Natural Rsrcs -3.01%
🍱 Goodfood Market Corp. -12.59%
📱 BlackBerry +32.42%
🎮 GameStop Corp. +135%
🎞 AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. +301%
🕵️♂️ Facebook -5.5%
🚗 Tesla Motors Inc -4%
🍎 Apple -1%
