CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday questioned “prices are real” on Wall Street, while trying exasperatedly to explain GameStop’s 175% rise in the past two days.
“I think the average American is now trying to figure out how I can find a stock that triples,” said Cramer. “‘Forget what you’re talking about with FAANG. I want a triple.'” FAANG, an acronym coined by Cramer, means big tech stocks – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google.
“It is what people want. They want a triple. It is not necessarily what we can offer,” said the host of “Mad Money”. “Robinhood wants it. WallStreetBets wants it,” he added, referring to the online brokerage popular with young investors and the Reddit forum at the heart of the GameStop saga.
Against the backdrop of the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic, Cramer said, incredulous, that GameStop is “what is holding America” and the investing public.
The frenzy of online trading around the video game retailer skyrocketed again on Wednesday, when shares doubled after chief financial officer Jim Bell’s departure next month. The stock rose more than 70% again on Thursday at one stage, before cutting the gain in half in the volatile session.
Cramer said it seems unlikely that a change in the CFO could be the catalyst for such moves.
Ryan Cohen, a major GameStop investor and co-founder of online pet food retailer Chewy, and GameStop itself remained silent during the big swings that started last month with a hedge fund that bought short over US $ 20 per share, which triggered 2,300 shares. % up to $ 483. GameStop fell below $ 50 in mid-February, before Wednesday’s peak.
Cohen posted an enigmatic tweet on Wednesday afternoon, and that caused Cramer and the other “Squawk on the Street” hosts to speculate on Thursday morning what it could mean.