Advertisement
Canada markets open in 6 hours 30 minutes

  • S&P/TSX

    22,373.38
    +52.51 (+0.24%)
     

  • S&P 500

    5,304.72
    +36.88 (+0.70%)
     

  • DOW

    39,069.59
    +4.29 (+0.01%)
     

  • CAD/USD

    0.7339
    +0.0002 (+0.03%)
     

  • CRUDE OIL

    78.70
    +0.98 (+1.26%)
     

  • Bitcoin CAD

    92,546.84
    -624.80 (-0.67%)
     

  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,475.31
    -21.15 (-1.41%)
     

  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,343.80
    +9.30 (+0.40%)
     

  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,069.67
    +21.26 (+1.04%)
     

  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.4670
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     

  • NASDAQ futures

    18,937.50
    +61.50 (+0.33%)
     

  • VOLATILITY

    12.36
    +0.43 (+3.60%)
     

  • FTSE

    8,317.59
    -21.64 (-0.26%)
     

  • NIKKEI 225

    38,855.37
    -44.65 (-0.11%)
     

  • CAD/EUR

    0.6745
    -0.0007 (-0.10%)
     

Alfi shares tumble from record, 'meme stock' Torchlight also sinks

Reuters
Updated ·2 min read
FILE PHOTO: Torchlight energy stock graph is seen in front of the company's logo in this illustration picture

(Reuters) - Shares of retail darlings Alfi Inc and Torchlight Energy were both down more than 20% on Wednesday, highlighting the wild ride facing investors in so-called meme stocks in a year that has thrown the spotlight on individual traders.

Shares of software firm Alfi were last down 24.4% at $12.32 after more than doubling in price to close at $16.29 in the previous session.

Analysts and social media users had pointed to an article on Benzinga.com, which quoted the company’s CEO and said Alfi would buy back $2 million of its shares, as a catalyst for Tuesday’s move.

Alfi confirmed this on Wednesday, announcing board approval for repurchases of up to $2 million. The stock pared some losses after the news before losing ground again.

ADVERTISEMENT

Another retail darling, Torchlight Energy was down 26% on Wednesday, after a 29% slide in the previous day's session after it increased its stock offering to $250 million.

Shares of a group of heavily shorted companies including video game retailer GameStop Corp and cinema operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc have seen wild swings this year in a phenomenon dubbed the "meme stock" rally that has been driven by retail traders on online discussion forums.

Although short interest in Alfi was at 3.85% of its free float at the end of May, according to the latest Refinitiv data, the company was among the top 10 trending stocks on trading-focused social media site Stocktwits, a platform commonly seen as a measure of interest from retail investors.

GameStop has also cashed in on the Reddit-driven rally in its stock, saying on Tuesday it had raised $1.13 billion in its latest share offering. Its shares were down 1%, after a 10% gain in the previous session.

Another meme stock, Clover Health Investments Corp was up 7.4% in high-volume trading while ContextLogic Inc was down 0.3% and AMC shares were basically flat.

(Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bengaluru, Sinéad Carew in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Lisa Shumaker)