NEWS
Let’s Just Rename Monday GameStop Day

For those of us covering markets, our new version of the “Sunday Scaries” is Roaring Kitty rolling up to his keyboard to put out a post just before the weekend concludes. We’ve seen this two times, with his post yesterday revealing a massive position in GameStop and setting off another round of silliness. Let’s see what you missed. 👀

Today's issue covers an update to the GameStop saga, the NYSE’s latest trading hiccup, and why oil prices slid to a multi-month low. 📰

Here's today's heat map:

3 of 11 sectors closed green. Healthcare (+0.70%) led, & energy (-2.62%) lagged. 💚

Manufacturing data remained mixed in May, with ISM’s PMI missing analyst expectations, while S&P Global’s U.S. PMI saw another slight uptick in May. 🏭

Paramount Global shares popped 7% on reports that Paramount and David Ellison’s Skydance (backed by RedBird Capital and KKR) have agreed to deal terms. The deal, which has risen in value from $5 to $8 billion, now awaits signoff from controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. 📺

Waste Management shares fell 4% on news that it will acquire competitor Stericycle in a deal valued at roughly $7.20 billion ($5.80 billion in cash and $1.40 billion in the assumption of net debt). 🗑️

Merck and Moderna both jumped after their experimental vaccine improved survival in patients with deadly skin cancer. And Structure Therapeutics surged 55% after its experimental anti-obesity drug showed positive results in its midstage clinical trial. 💉

Betcon, Dickinson and Company rose 3% after acquiring Edward Lifesciences’ critical care products in a $4.20 billion all-cash deal. Meanwhile, pharma giant GSK fell 9% after a setback in the more than 75,000 cases related to claims that its Zantac drug contains carcinogens. 🧑‍⚖️

Software company Autodesk rose 5% on news that it will not restate its financial results after an investigation into its accounting practices. 📋

Recreational boat and yacht services company MarineMax jumped 27% on reports that OneWater Marine is looking to buy it for $40 per share. 🛥️

Other active symbols: $NVDA (+4.89%), $FFIE (+7.10%), $CRDL (+6.11%), $AFMD (+68.51%), $GWAV (-26.44%), & $CRKN (+17.90%). 🔥

Here are the closing prices: 

STOCKS
Don’t Hate The Player, Change The Game

If you’re just getting up to speed on the Roaring Kitty x GameStop collab of the summer, check out our newsletter from two weeks ago that explains the story in detail. But for the rest of you, let’s dive into the latest twist and turns… 🙃

It all began familiarly, with traders enjoying a quiet Sunday evening and preparing for the week…only to be uno-reversed-carded by the man himself.

That was accompanied by a Reddit post from his account, which outlined a massive position in GameStop…owning 5 million shares of common stock and thousands more $20 strike call options expiring in about three weeks. That’s a position worth over $210 million. 🤯

This news obviously sent GameStop shares soaring via the platforms that offer 24/7 trading, which continued in the pre-market hours. The stock rose about 75% at the open, though that turned out to be the high of the day. 🔺

Throughout the day traders and investors theorized what his next move would be. Did he sell into the strength? Is he buying more? Why did he amass so many short-dated call options? But answers they did not receive…

Instead, what we learned from an exclusive WSJ report was that Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade brokerage was considering removing Roaring Kitty from its platform due to “market manipulation” concerns. 🚫

That poured fuel on an already raging fire of online discourse, with everyone chiming in with their thoughts. Many see it as Wall Street changing the rules of the game on retail investors and traders once again.

Even Dave Portnoy came to Roaring Kitty’s defense, disclosing his own issues with E*Trade in his usual, colorful language. 😆

Despite all of the noise and mayhem around the stock today, shares still closed up around 21% on the day. And Roaring Kitty posted another update showing his massive $85 million gain as of today’s close.

In other words, he’s not leaving. At least not yet…it appears.

Whether there’s a greater purpose in his return remains up for debate. But what’s clear right now is that he’s here to secure the bag. And securing it he is…

Our social team did a great job of summarizing today’s sentiment in one tweet. We’ll leave it at that and be back tomorrow with more updates. 🫡