Midday Market Brief: Just Another Meme-Stock Monday

So much for a calm start to the trading week.

While the stock indices were struggling to extend the upward momentum they suddenly found to close the week last Friday, some individual names were a little more frenzied. 

The good news is that Berkshire Hathaway shares did not, in fact, fall 99% on Monday morning. That was just a technical issue that affected several New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks as the trading day got underway. Trading was halted for certain stocks while the issue was fixed.

No such technicalities surrounding meme stocks, however. Shares of GameStop jumped 26% after trader Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, posted on his Reddit account on Sunday that he was in on shares of the video-game retailer to the tune of a $116 million stake. The mood lifted other recent meme-stock favorites like AMC Entertainment, which was up 11.4%.

Movers & Shakers

Here are other stocks making news today:

• Paramount Global stock rose 6.7%% on Monday after reports that the company has agreed to terms for a merger with Skydance. CNBC said a deal could be announced in the coming days — it follows weeks of talks and a competing offer from Apollo Global Management and Sony Pictures.

• Nvidia shares rose 3.3% after the company announced a new line of AI chips. Given the company is considered the presumptive king of AI chips, investors likely see the new line as the beginning of another strong sales cycle. The stock is already up 113% so far this year.

• Spotify shares climbed 4.4% after the company rolled out another round of price hikes for its US subscription plan. Investors clearly believe that the streaming audio firm’s customers will continue to pay up.