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Shares of GameStop were up 44% in premarket trading Thursday as stocks with a strong short position that appear to be favored by Reddit traders towards a revival.
Investors stepped into the physical video game retailer on Wednesday following the reported impeachment of Chief Financial Officer Jim Bell, pushing the stock up 103.9% before stopping trading.
The company announced on Tuesday that Bell will step down on March 26, with reports suggesting that Ryan Cohen – GameStop investor and co-founder of online pet food retailer Chewy – and the board have forced the move to accelerate the transition online.
GameStop found itself at the center of a period of market turmoil in late January when retailers led by the multimillion-member Reddit thread WallStreetBets skyrocketed the stock price, causing a number of Wall Street hedge funds to turn down bets.
However, some analysts have suggested that there was also some institutional involvement in the rising stock price.
Another stock caught up in the retail frenzy, AMC Entertainment, rose 17% in premarket trading Thursday, after an 18% rise in the previous session. The cinema chain has been bolstered by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who announced that cinemas in the city could open with limited capacity next month.
Meanwhile, headphone maker and fellow Reddit favorite Koss Corp jumped 57% in the early hours of Thursday.