Investing

Meme Stocks and Movers for 1/12: Bed Bath & Beyond, DiDi, Lucid, Sigma Lithium

Paul Ausick

Published: January 12, 2022 9:24 am

All three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher Tuesday, led by the Nasdaq (up 1.4%). The S&P 500 closed up 0.9% and the Dow Jones industrials closed up 0.5%, as investors began buying the dip in the late morning once it became clear Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would not say anything new in his confirmation hearing. The energy sector (up 3.4% for the day) again led the gainers. Premarket trading Wednesday morning indicated a modestly higher opening.

Crude oil was up slightly at around $81.75 a barrel, but the overnight chart showed some volatility. Bitcoin added about 1.5% to trade at around $43,300. Yields on 10-year and two-year Treasuries dropped by two basis points each on Tuesday, and the 10-year notes dipped by another basis point in the morning to about 1.74%. The two-year note also shed one point to trade at around 0.89%.

One of Tuesday’s big movers was Lithium Americas, which rang up a gain of 14% based on two analyst recommendations and rising lithium prices. Wednesday’s premarket winner in the space was Sigma Lithium Corp. (NASDAQ: SGML), which traded up almost 8.5%. The Vancouver-based company owns rights to 191 square kilometers of potential deposits in Brazil. It is very lightly traded, and that may be part of its appeal among the lithium stocks.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) traded up about 4.8% in Wednesday’s premarket. Four company insiders reported combined buying of 33,000 shares at a total cost of about $457,000. All were at-the-market purchases executed last Friday at a per-share price between $13.78 and $14.00. The company’s stock closed at $13.80 on Friday and at $13.01 on Tuesday. Shares were trading at around $13.75 in Wednesday’s premarket.

DiDi Global Inc. (NYSE: DIDI) added more than 9% to its share price on Tuesday and traded up nearly 6% in Wednesday’s premarket. The company reportedly has begun discussions with the Hong Kong stock exchange regarding a listing sometime in the second quarter, after it de-lists from the New York Stock Exchange. More important for investors, the Financial Times reported that one DiDi investor commented that the de-listing will include a one-for-one swap of NYSE-listed shares for the new Hong Kong-listed shares.

At noon on Tuesday, shares of Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ: LCID) traded up by about 6.6%. The stock closed the day up almost 9% on no specific news. The electric vehicle space, while not exactly on a tear, has posted decent gains up and down the list for the past few sessions. All-star fund manager Cathie Wood of ARK Invest tweeted that “China is a leading indicator of a change in preference for EVs.” She also noted that sales of gasoline-powered cars fell about 4% last year, while EV sales rose 145%. In terms of sheer numbers, of course, gas-powered cars still outsell EVs by a factor of about seven in China. But the trend is not favorable for fossil-fueled cars.

In our view, China is a leading indicator of a change in the consumer preference for EVs. In the US, gas-powered car sales are likely to struggle, especially now that used car inventories, as measured by Manheim, are roughly 40% above normal at wholesale and retail. https://t.co/Xh4NKn4U2R

— Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) January 11, 2022

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