A holdings page for Keith Gill, a Reddit user who inspired the GameStop rally before hosting a YouTube livestream on a laptop at the New York Stock Exchange on June 7, 2024.
Michael Nagel | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Crypto transactions jump. Roaring Kitty boosts meme shares. A broader market ripping without clear catalysts.
At the start of trading in 2025, there are animal spirits in the market.
Many speculative parts of the stock market rose Thursday, the first session of the new year, just after the S&P 500 posted its best two-year run since 1998.
Stocks tied to Bitcoin’s price rose as the cryptocurrency climbed back above $96,000. Microstrategy added 3% after rising more than 360% in 2024. Crypto-related companies Coinbase, Robinhood, Mara Holdings And Riot platforms also traded higher after a big 2024. A crypto token called “fartcoin” shot up 45% and now has a market cap of $1.38 billion.
Elsewhere, retailers active on social media were busy playing a guessing game after online personality Roaring Kitty reposted a cryptic message on X of a short clip from the late musician Rick James. Some believe the meme stock leader, also known as Keith Gill, was referring to Unity softwarewhose shares rose 11%, while others think he is praising his original favorite again GameStopwhose shares were also subject to a bid.
Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks – the big winners of 2024 – helped lead the market again after artificial intelligence trading lost some steam late last year. Broadcom rose 2% on Thursday, while Nvidia 1.6% gained.
Additionally, Topgolf Callaway Brands golf stock rose 8.5% thanks to an upgrade at Jefferies to buy off hold. The investment bank said the golf equipment maker’s shares appeared oversold and raised its price target to 65% above where the name ended the year.
As market speculation picked up, broad stock indices rose to kick off 2025. The Dow Industrial Average advanced more than 300 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both gained 0.7%.
Thursday’s dramatic moves resembled the initial rallies after Donald Trump’s election victory in November, when investors bet that his pro-business policies would propel companies and the economy to strong growth. These gains slowed toward the end of 2024 as concerns grew that the president-elect’s protectionist policies could fuel inflation or disrupt supply chains, and as the Federal Reserve signaled fewer interest rate cuts in 2025.
“Many investors are assuming that the new administration’s push for deregulation will unleash ‘animal spirits,’” Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a recent note to clients. “But what if it only accelerates the concentration of monopolistic power in the hands of a few, reducing the effectiveness of broad economic measures and leaving even larger parts of the population behind?”