The broad U.S. market was up solidly in the noon hour Monday, with the Nasdaq showing a gain of about 1.1%, the S&P 500 just over 1% higher and the Dow Jones industrials up about 0.6%. All 11 sectors were trading higher, led by tech (1.7%) and energy (1.5%). Several tech stocks posted new 52-week highs thus far Monday, including Applied Materials, Box, Broadcom, Box and KLA.

Crude oil soared, up 2.5% to $75.65 a barrel, after reaching nearly $76 earlier. Bitcoin was at a daily high just a few bucks short of $52,000 and 10-year Treasuries were yielding 1.48%, unchanged from the morning, while two-year notes yielded 0.7%, also unchanged.

American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AVCT) had put up the day’s largest gain so far among the stocks on our meme stock watch list. The shares were up more than 20% on no specific news. The stock price has swung mightily over the past five trading sessions. One day up a lot, another day, down a lot. The stock was up about 7% since last Monday, but early in the morning the stock was up more than 25% over the same period.

Camber Energy Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN: CEI) was up nearly as much as American Virtual Cloud, but there is some actual news here. Earlier in the morning, the company announced that it had signed a financing agreement that allows it to redeem approximately 46% of its outstanding preferred stock.

An unnamed lender is providing $25 million maturing on January 1, 2027, with interest deferred until maturity, and a conversion option for around 16.7 million shares at a conversion price of $1.50 per share. The lender is also expected to receive warrants to purchase up to 50 million shares at $10 per share for the first 25 million purchased and $20 per share for the remaining 25 million shares.

A long-time meme stock favorite, Upstart Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UPST), traded up by about 10% in the noon hour Monday. The cloud-based, artificial intelligence-based lender had no specific news, but the stock was generating increased social media chatter levels.

Progenity Inc. (NASDAQ: PROG) posted Monday’s biggest loss among stocks on our watch list. Last week the company announced it had sold an affiliate and put together enough cash (according to the chief financial officer) to reduce the company’s need to seek more capital from the market (i.e., offering more stock or snagging a high-interest loan).

As the noon hour ended Monday, American Virtual Cloud traded up about 22.4% to $2.33, in a 52-week range of $0.84 to $9.62. The average daily trading volume is around 13.8 million shares, and more than 81 million had traded thus far on the day.

Camber Energy traded up about 19.3%, at $1.05 in a 52-week range of $0.33 to $4.85. The average daily trading volume is around 165 million shares, and more than 80 million had traded thus far on Monday.

Upstart stock traded up 9.0%, at $161.45 in a 52-week range of $36.26 to $401.49. The average daily trading volume is around 5 million shares, and more than 3.5 million had already changed hands.

Shares of Progenity were down about 9% to $2.03, in a 52-week range of $0.66 to $7.86. The average daily trading volume is nearly 84 million, and about 10 million had traded so far.

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