Shares of GameStop soared Monday following speculation that the man at the center of the pandemic meme stock craze owns a large number of shares of the video game retailer that may be worth millions.
GameStock's volatile stock ended the day with a 21% gain after earlier being up as much as 75%.
Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty" on social media platforms YouTube and X, also goes by the name Deep F- - - - - - Value on Reddit. Late Sunday, the Reddit account shared a screenshot in the r/SuperStonk forum that people are speculating could be an image of the shares and call options Gill holds in GameStop. The image showed that Gill may hold 5 million shares of GameStop that were worth $115.7 million as of the closing price on Friday. The screenshot also showed 120,000 call options in GameStop with a $20 strike price that expires on June 21. The call options were bought at around $5.68 a piece.
In addition, Gill's account on X posted a picture of a reverse card from the popular game Uno on Sunday night. There was no text accompanying the image.
This latest activity comes about three weeks after Gill appeared online for the first time in three years, spiking the price of GameStop at the time. In May, the “Roaring Kitty” account posted an image on X of a man sitting forward in his chair, a meme used by gamers when things are getting serious.
The post on X was followed with a YouTube video from years before when Gill championed the beleaguered company GameStop saying, “That’s all for now cuz I’m out of breath. FYI here’s a quick 4min video I put together to summarize the $GME bull case.”
GameStop in 2021 was a video game retailer that was struggling to survive as consumers switched rapidly from discs to digital downloads. Big Wall Street hedge funds and major investors were betting against it, or shorting its stock, believing that its shares would continue on a drastically downward trend.
Gill and those who agreed with him changed the trajectory of a company that appeared to be headed for bankruptcy by buying up thousands of GameStop shares in the face of almost any accepted metrics that told investors that the company was in serious trouble.
That began what is known as a “short squeeze,” when those big investors that had bet against GameStop were forced to buy its rapidly rising stock to offset their massive losses.
The day's meme surge also included movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, which gained more than 11%. But others shed their gains over the course of the day. Koss Corp. a headphone manufacturer, which was 17% at one point, ended up less than 1%. And BlackBerry, the one time dominant smartphone maker, finished unchanged after being up almost 6%.
FILE - Pedestrians pass a GameStop store on 14th Street at Union Square, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in the Manhattan borough of New York. Shares of GameStop are soaring before the market opened on Monday, June 3, 2024 following speculation that the man at the center of the pandemic meme stock craze owns a large number of shares of the video game retailer that may be worth millions.. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, setting off sirens late Monday in central areas including Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel, as well as attacking shipping in the Red Sea corridor — attacks they say won’t stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 45,500 people, over half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians. The Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli airstrikes and bombardments had killed at least 27 people over the past day alone. Israel says its forces only target militants.
In Syria, Ukraine is pledging support for the new government that ousted Bashar Assad, who had been a key Russian ally in the Mideast. The Ukrainian foreign minister met with Syria’s de facto leader on Monday during a visit to Damascus.
Here’s the latest:
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations humanitarian agency said Monday that Israel allowed a U.N. and Palestinian Red Crescent team to deliver medical supplies, food and water to critical patients in northern Gaza a day earlier.
The patients had been forced by Israeli soldiers to evacuate Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza and had been taken to the Indonesian Hospital, which is not functioning, the U.N. said.
“Ten patients were evacuated from the (Indonesian) hospital, four of whom were arrested by Israeli forces at the checkpoint leaving the area,” the U.N. humanitarian office known as OCHA said.
“Seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remain at the facility, which is severely damaged and has no ability to provide medical care,” it said.
The U.N. humanitarian office is warning that the Israeli onslaught on health care and humanitarian access in Gaza, combined with relentless strikes that kill and wound civilians daily, is dismantling the means for Palestinians to survive.
OCHA stressed that humanitarian access to Gaza remains hindered.
"In the past three days, over 60% of the 42 U.N.-coordinated movements were denied, interfered with or impeded on the ground” across all of Gaza, it said.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, setting off sirens late Monday in central Israel including Tel Aviv. There were no reports of injuries from Magen David Adom, Israel’s rescue service.
The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel as well as attacking shipping in the Red Sea corridor — attacks they say won’t stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has carried two waves of intense strikes in recent weeks in Yemen in response to the missile attacks. The latest launch raises the likelihood of further Israeli retaliation.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday, Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon vowed his country will respond decisively to Houthi attacks.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Wounded Palestinians who Israeli soldiers expelled from a northern Gaza hospital over the weekend described harrowing conditions where they were forced to strip down to their underwear in cold winter weather for hours.
“They surrounded the hospital at 4 a.m. and burned all the buildings around the hospital,” said Wissam Warsh, a 45-year-old father of five who spent almost a week at Kamal Adwan Hospital receiving treatment. He said soldiers made the hospital director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, bring all the patients outside before detaining him.
“They told him over the loudspeaker that he had 10 minutes to evacuate them, and they began firing shells around the hospital as a pressure tactic,” Warsh said. He and other patients were recuperating at Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where he spoke to The Associated Press from a hospital bed on Sunday.
Israel’s military says its troops entered the hospital because Hamas militants were using it as a base, and said over 240 militants were detained, including Abu Safiya. Hospital officials have denied those claims.
Other patients said the Israeli army refused to provide them with food or water.
“The most difficult thing was that we were in the cold and winter and we could not find clothes, in addition to the moments of insults. All the moments were difficult,” said Ramadan al-Aswad, who was a patient at the hospital.
Staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital say it has been hit multiple times over the past three months as Israeli forces wage an offensive against Hamas fighters, who the army says have regrouped in northern Gaza. Israel has virtually sealed off the areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya from food or medical aid.
ADRA, Syria — Syria’s new government said it deployed dozens of soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Adra on Monday in search of alleged militiamen loyal to ousted President Bashar Assad, with military police vehicles seen transporting detainees.
“A security campaign was carried out in Adra town which led to the arrest of the militia leaders in the area,” said Abu Yaarub, a security official who did not give his full name in accordance with regulations. He added that five top militiamen were detained.
Clashes erupted last week in several cities across Syria between Assad supporters and the new government, which is led by Islamist rebels.
Since Assad’s fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to activists and monitors, the vast majority of them from the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad belongs.
By Leo Correa and Ghaith AlSayed.
JERUSALEM — The family of a hospital director in northern Gaza is pleading with the international community and the Israeli military for his release, after soldiers detained Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya over the weekend.
Abu Safiya's family says he's being denied medical care and kept in the freezing cold in Sde Teiman, an Israeli detention center that been sharply criticized for its inhuman conditions.
Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Abu Safiya “is currently being questioned regarding his potential involvement in terrorist activity.”
Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers expelled staff and patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital, where it detained 240 people who it said were militants and took them for interrogation in Israel. The military said some militants attempted to pose as patients and hid in ambulances, without providing evidence.
Israel alleged that Hamas had been using the facility, which hospital officials have denied.
Israel’s latest military offensive in northern Gaza has largely isolated the area, with little medical or other aid allowed to reach hospitals there.
On Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Israeli operations have “obliterated the health care system in northern Gaza,” noting that Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals are now “completely inoperable.”
DAMASCUS, Syria — Ukraine’s foreign minister met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus on Monday, days after Kyiv announced the delivery of a large shipment of wheat flour to the country following the ouster of Bashar Assad, Russia's ally.
Syria is gradually shifting away from Iran and Russia and rekindling ties with Western and Gulf Arab nations that had opposed Assad’s rule, as well as Turkey, which backed opposition forces during the civil war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will send 500 tons of wheat flour to Syria through the U.N. World Food Program to help improve the country’s food security and economic crisis. About 90% of Syrians live in poverty, while over half don’t know where their next meal will come from, according to the U.N.
"The Ukrainian delegation held important talks with the Syrian administration, leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa and ministers. We support the Syrian people in overcoming decades of dictatorial rule and restoring stability, security, and normal life in Syria,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he hopes “that a new Syria would become a country that respects international law." He said Ukraine is ready to share its experience in gathering evidence and conducting investigations to hold war criminals accountable.
"The Russian and Assad regimes supported each other because their foundation is violence and torture,” he said.
BEIRUT — Syria on Monday appointed its first female interim Central Bank governor, as the country navigates through recovering its battered economy after the downfall of the Assad dynasty’s rule.
Maysaa Sabreen is the second woman appointed in a leadership role under Ahmad al-Sharaa and his Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led Assad's ouster in an offensive in early December.
Sabreen had served as the Central Bank's first deputy governor.
She inherits a dire financial crisis following a decade of civil war, mismanagement and sanctions, which has led to the Syrian pound drastically losing its value against the U.S. dollar. The United Nations estimates that some 90% of Syrians live in poverty.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey is prepared to export electricity to Syria and Lebanon to assist them in addressing power shortages, Turkey’s energy minister said, adding that a Turkish delegation was already in Damascus to evaluate Syria’s energy infrastructure.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar also said Monday that the Turkish delegation included experts who would be assessing how Syria’s oil and natural gas could be used to improve the economy.
“We can see the picture a little more clearly after seeing the situation of the transmission network,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Bayraktar as saying.
He said Syria's electricity capacity had dropped significantly due to the civil war.
“The vast majority of the people meet their electricity needs through generators,” he said. “There is a serious need for electricity.”
Turkey has backed insurgents who ousted President Bashar Assad and has expressed readiness to support the new administration.
CORRECTS ID Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, and Honorary Consul General Tamer Altounsi, right, pose for a picture next to the Ukrainian flag at the Ukrainian consulate in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government looks on as members of Bashar Assad's army, or a pro-government militia, line up to register as part of an "identification and reconciliation" process in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Members of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government stand in front of a damaged weapons and military infrastructure, following an explosion on Sunday, that the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said was an Israeli airstrike that targeted a weapons depot belonging to Assad's forces, in Adra, in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Wafaa Nasrallah poses for a portrait with her 4-year-old son Ameer and her 2-year-old daughter Ayloul at her tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
People attend the funeral of 1st Sgt. Yuval Shoham, who was killed in a combat in the Gaza Strip, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Members of Bashar Assad's army, or pro-government militia, line up to register with the newly formed Syrian government as part of an "identification and reconciliation" process in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A member of Bashar Assad's army, or a pro-government militia, talks to members of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government as he takes part in an "identification and reconciliation" process in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, left, and his Syrian counterpart Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, right, pose for a picture next to the Ukrainian flag at the Ukrainian consulate in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government looks on as members of Bashar Assad's army, or a pro-government militia, line up to register as part of an "identification and reconciliation" process in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Wokers at a tyre shop wait for customers in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
People walk between buildings that were damaged by airstrikes during the Assad rule in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
A man cycles past a building that was damaged by airstrikes during the Assad rule in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Boys warm up next to a fire on a cold day in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024 (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
