By Sarah Whitten, CNBC •
Updated 2 hours ago
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
AMC has pivoted back to an offensive strategy on a bet that its retail investors will stick with the company long enough for it to recoup its pandemic losses.
Since the January stock surge, some retail investors have used social media to attack anyone who shares negative opinions of AMC.
AMC Entertainment made a gutsy move Tuesday. The movie theater chain has pivoted back to an offensive strategy on a bet that its retail investors will stick with the company long enough for it to recoup its pandemic losses.
A wobbly day on Wall Street ended with a mixed finish for the major stock indexes Tuesday as losses in technology and health care companies offset gains elsewhere in the market.
The S&P 500 gave up an early gain, slipping less than 0.1%. That broke a three-day winning streak. The benchmark index had been up 0.7% in the early going. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched 0.1% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1% gain.
The market s modest moves came as investors returned from a three-day holiday weekend. Traders weighed a new report showing more growth in manufacturing as the coronavirus pandemic wanes in the U.S., but were also looking ahead to the government s monthly jobs report update on Friday.
By Sarah Whitten, CNBC •
Updated 17 mins ago
This Memorial Day weekend could break the $100 million mark at the box office.
The weekend of April 23, is currently the highest-grossing weekend the box office has seen during the pandemic, with ticket sales reaching $57 million.
Heading into this Memorial Day weekend, more than 70% of theaters are open and Hollywood has two blockbuster releases: Cruella and A Quiet Place Part II.
This Memorial Day weekend could have the right combination of new movie releases, number of cinemas open and increased consumer confidence to break the $100 million mark at the box office. Be prepared for the 2021 hurricane season! Download our
With 450 million shares outstanding, the entire company changed hands nearly 1.5 times during Friday s trading.
The so-called short covering could be contributing to AMC s massive rally this week. The company has about 20% of its outstanding shares sold short, compared with an average of 5% short interest in a typical U.S. stock, S3 Partners said.
When a heavily shorted stock jumps higher in a rapid fashion, short sellers are forced to buy back borrowed shares to close out their short position and cut losses. The forced buying tends to fuel the rally even further.
AMC s new retail investors, who stand at 3.2 million strong, owned about 80% of the company s 450 million outstanding shares as of March 11, AMC reported earlier this month. Their efforts, which surged in January, pushed the stock to $20 a share, up from $5, and allowed AMC to lighten its debt load by around $600 million.