Investors reacted positively to the Federal Reserve’s announcement of a gradual taper in the central bank’s asset purchases and no change to the interest rate. Thursday morning, the Bank of England also announced that it would leave interest rates where they are. The news had all three major U.S. indexes trading higher in the morning, with the Nasdaq leading the way. After dropping below $80 briefly late Wednesday, crude oil traded above $82 Thursday morning. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes were down by about three basis points at around 1.58%.
COVID-19 vaccine maker Ocugen Inc. (NASDAQ: OCGN) posted a year-to-date high of nearly $19 in February. On Thursday it reached a high of $17.65 before dropping 19% to close at $12.73. The drop came after the company announced that the World Health Organization had approved its emergency use authorization for the vaccine. Investor reaction could have been based on the stock’s failure to put up a new annual high. When that didn’t happen, plenty of investors sold the news. Ihor Dusaniwsky at S3 Analytics tweeted Wednesday that nearly 30% of Ocugen stock is sold short and that short sellers were down $208 million for the year to date, including a $278 million boost due to the day’s sell-off. The stock traded down about 14% in Thursday’s premarket.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) filed a report on Wednesday announcing a $500 million asset-backed revolving credit facility. A previous $420 asset-backed revolver and an uncommitted letter of credit were terminated. The new revolver matures in 2026 and includes a $250 million letter of credit sublimit, a $50 million swing loan revolver, and a $50 million Canadian revolver. GameStop stock traded up about 5.5% on Wednesday on heavier than normal volume.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AMC) added more than 5% on Wednesday and closed at $40.79. The company had no specific news, but probably got its boost from the big gain (15.2%) that fellow OG meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond posted.
Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: HOOD) on Wednesday expanded its IPO Access program to include Directed Share Programs (DSPs). The program allows companies on their way to an IPO to set aside some shares, at the IPO price, for specific groups of people. IPO prices are typically available only to big investment banks, which then offer the sales to their own customers at (they hope) a profit. Robinhood will distribute the DSP shares “to select individuals,” according to the company’s blog. Shares added nearly 6% on Wednesday and traded up slightly Thursday morning.
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