Retail investor participation in GameStop hit a 3-year high on Monday, according to JPMorgan.

Everyday traders were involved in the video game retailer’s stock at a level of around 30% on Monday after the online return of “Roaring Kitty,” the user credited with helping spur 2021’s epic meme stock squeeze. That’s a level not seen since 2021, JPMorgan data shows.

Despite that, the meme stock rallies have fizzled as the week has gone on, making Monday’s moves appear to be more of a fad than a harbinger.

— Alex Harring

On Thursday, 53 stocks in the S&P 500 hit new 52-week highs.

Names that reached this milestone included:

On the other hand, only one stock hit a 52-week low: Solventum.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The S&P 500 could next find support at the 5,575 level, according to Strategas head of technical and macro research Chris Verrone.

“[It’s] not exactly advanced math, but simple breakout technique suggests roughly 5550-5600 as the next S&P target,” Verrone wrote in a Thursday note.

The S&P 500 has gained more than 2% over the past week and nearly 12% in 2024.

— Brian Evans

New research authored by former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and International Monetary Fund veteran Olivier Blanchard suggests that the United States and other countries may need unemployment to rise for inflation to fall back to normal levels.

The working paper, published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, comes from a project in which 10 global central banks used a model developed by Bernanke and Blanchard to examine the pandemic-era inflation spike. The research showed that some period of higher unemployment and slower wage growth may be necessary to accomplish the “last mile” of reducing inflation.

“As the effects of relative price shocks and shortages stabilized or reversed, inflation declined, and the role of labor market tightness became increasingly important, suggesting that some slowing of activity might be necessary to get US inflation all the way back to target,” the paper’s abstract said.

The paper does say in its conclusion that “the unemployment costs of the last mile could be limited” in the United States.

— Jesse Pound

Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said Thursday that he was encouraged by the consumer price index report the previous day but sees more work ahead to get back to the central bank’s goal of 2% inflation.

“On the inflation side, it certainly came off the numbers of the prior few months, which was good. It’s still not where we’re trying to get to target,” the central bank official said during a CNBC “Squawk on the Street” interview.

“I do believe we’re on the right path here. I do believe inflation is coming down on the big picture,” he added regarding data showing CPI inflation running at a 3.4% annual rate. “My point is only to get to 2% sustainably in the right kind of way. I just think it’s going to take a little bit more time.”

Harkin is a voting member this year on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading:

Meta — Shares pulled back 1.3% after the European Union opened a probe into the company regarding child safety concerns on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

Deere — Deere shares slipped about 3% after the maker of agricultural equipment cut its full-year guidance. The company said it now expects net income of roughly $7 billion, down from a range of $7 billion to $7.5 billion.

Walmart — Shares rallied nearly 6% after the company reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of 60 cents per share, topping the 52 cents expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $161.5 billion, beating the $159.5 billion consensus estimate. Walmart said it made big gains in e-commerce and won over more high-income shoppers.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing above 40,000 for the first time on Thursday could add fuel to the flames for the current bull rally, according to Independent Advisor Alliance Chief Investment Officer Chris Zaccarelli.

“Breaking the 40,000 barrier is a big psychological boost for the bulls as round numbers hold special significance in people’s hearts and minds,” he said in an email. “We are in a Bull Market and people are showing some irrational exuberance (meme stocks) and dismissing bad news (slowing retail sales) and focusing on good news (slightly slowing inflation).”

Zaccarelli added a warning that the market is now heading into “overvalued territory,” making it even more important for investors to become especially discerning when investing in equities.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Advertising technology stocks popped Thursday, a day after Netflix announced it plans to roll out its own ad platform and partner with Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk and Magnite.

The Trade Desk added 5%, while Magnite shares rallied 28% and headed for their best day since November 2022. Alphabet shares were last up 1%.

Wall Street views the partnership as a boon for these ad-tech stocks, with Citi’s Ygal Arounian estimating that it could add $500 million to The Trade Desk’s 2025 gross billings.

Netflix aims to start testing the platform in Canada later this year, and roll out the offering worldwide by the end of next year.

Read more on what the partnership means for this under-the-radar stock here.

— Samantha Subin

All three major stock averages ripped to new intraday highs Thursday morning, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossing over 40,000 for the first time in history.

Baird analyst Ross Mayfield attributed the strong earnings season as providing another leg for the market rally to stand on in recent weeks.

“This has all the signs of a cyclical bull market and it’s not running out of steam as far as we can tell,” he told CNBC in an interview.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The 30-stock Dow reached a fresh milestone Thursday morning, surpassing the 40,000 threshold.

At its high of the session, the average touched 40,002.75, climbing about 0.2%.

Walmart shares helped lift the price-weighted index to its fresh high, as the big-box retailer jumped more than 6% following a fiscal first-quarter beat on the top and bottom lines.

The Dow’s new high follows a day after the three major averages closed at fresh records.

— Darla Mercado

Wolfe Research replaced Nvidia with AMD in its Alpha List, saying the decision was a “tactical shift” after Nvidia’s outperformance this year.

“We make a tactical shift in priority to AMD, adding it to the Wolfe Alpha List, replacing NVDA given the relative move in shares YTD,” Chris Caso wrote to clients on Thursday. “We expect more significant catalysts for NVDA later this year, and expect numbers to move higher for both NVDA and AMD.”

The decision comes ahead of Nvidia’s earnings results next week in which the artificial intelligence chipmaker will have a high hurdle to clear after its exorbitant run. Nvidia shares have nearly doubled this year, up roughly 91%. In comparison, AMD shares are up just 8%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up more than 11%.

Walmart, Under Armour and Canada Goose all reported better-than-expected profits. But the retailers’ outlooks ranged from somewhat cautious to downright disappointing.

• Walmart expects second-quarter earnings per share of 62 cents to 65 cents, roughly in line with the consensus estimate of 64 cents, despite just posting its biggest earnings beat in three years.
• Under Armour’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat by 3 cents, but its profit forecast of 18 cents to 21 cents in the new fiscal year is a fraction of the 59 cents the Street has been expecting. The athletic gear firm also sees a shocking low double-digit decline in revenue, while analysts were expecting a 2% rise. The company blames “lower wholesale channel demand and inconsistent execution across our business” for the weak guidance.
• Canada Goose’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings were three times greater than the Street’s expectations. But its outlook for the new fiscal year was far more tempered as it expects “global consumer spending will continue to be pressured.” The outdoor apparel maker projects mid-teens earnings growth versus Wall Street’s expectation of 20.6% growth, and revenue growth of low single digits versus an estimate of 8.1%. An even bigger problem, though, is the company has withdrawn its long-term financial targets amid the “more challenging consumer spending environment” that has caused its direct-to-consumer and wholesales businesses to “have not performed according to our expectations.”

— Robert Hum

Import prices jumped 0.9% in April on rising food and fuel prices, indicating that pipeline inflation pressures are still at play, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

The increase topped the Wall Street consensus estimate of 0.3% and came after an upwardly revised 0.6% acceleration in March. It was the largest one-month gain since March 2022. On a 12-month basis, import prices increased 1.1%, the biggest move higher since December 2022.

Fuel prices rose 2.4% while foods, feeds and beverages posted a 1.7% increase, the largest since July 2023. Nonfuel import prices jumped 0.7%, the highest since March 2022.

— Jeff Cox

Initial claims for unemployment benefits drifted back lower last week after showing a spike in the previous period, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

First-time filings totaled 222,000 for the week that ended May 11, just 1,000 above the Dow Jones estimate and a 10,000 decline from the previous week’s upwardly revised total, which was the highest since late August.

Continuing claims rose to 1.794 million, up 13,000 from the previous week and a bit above the FactSet estimate.

In other economic data Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that building permits fell to 1.44 million, below the 1.48 million estimate, while housing starts rose to 1.36 million, but well below the 1.4 million estimate.

— Jeff Cox

Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

• Under Armour — The sportswear maker’s Class A shares slumped 11% and its Class C stock fell 9% after it issued lower-than-expected full-year earnings guidance. Under Armour now expects earnings in the range of 18 cents to 21 cents while analysts polled by FactSet had forecast 59 cents.

• Canada Goose — The coat maker jumped more than 12% after beating Wall Street estimates for sales and earnings in its fiscal fourth quarter. Canada Goose said one key profit margin metric “will expand by approximately 100 basis points compared to fiscal 2024” this year.

• Walmart — The big-box retailer popped 4.7% after reporting adjusted first-quarter earnings of 60 cents per sharer, topping the 52 cents expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $161.5 billion, beating the $159.5 billion consensus estimate. Walmart said it made big gains in e-commerce and won over more high-income shoppers.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

While Walmart posted its 17^th consecutive revenue beat, adjusted earnings per share of 60 cents was an impressive 15% above the consensus estimate and handily topped every single forecast on the Street. The highest analyst estimate was for a profit of 55 cents. Operating income rose 9.6% from the prior year’s quarter. That was well above the 3.0% to 4.5% growth forecast the company had previously expected.

The strong first-quarter performance came amid successful advertising efforts and the retailer’s ability to win over more high-income shoppers. Same-store sales at its Walmart U.S. stores grew 3.8% — with all the growth coming from higher transactions.

— Robert Hum & Melissa Repko

Shares of Zurich-based Chubb Ltd. climbed 8.2% premarket Thursday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed it was the conglomerate’s previously undisclosed, $6.7 billion “confidential” investment.

Chubb’s advance was the largest among all stocks in the S&P Composite 1500 Index Thursday, comprised of the S&P 500, the MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600, according to FactSet data.

Berkshire’s first-quarter 13F released Wednesday showed it owned a 6.39% stake in Chubb, making it the second-largest institutional investor after Vanguard’s 9.08%.

Berkshire had kept the Chubb purchase secret for two quarters, having applied for Securities and Exchange Commission treatment to keep the details of one or more of its stock holdings confidential.

— Scott Schnipper