A “short squeeze” that started on Wall Street swept across the globe on Wednesday, triggering another day of frenetic moves in the share prices of companies with large bets levied against them.
The White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration was “monitoring the situation” as shares of companies including GameStop, the hard-hit cinema owner AMC and BlackBerry surged in a volatile day of trading.
The dramatic moves highlight the growing influence of retail traders, who have organised on the message board site Reddit. The group has focused on pushing up stocks that are the subject of large short bets by hedge funds. Their success in rallying the stock price of GameStop has vindicated a group now targeting companies on both sides of the Atlantic.