GameStop surges another 58% along with top Reddit meme-stocks including AMC and Koss

• GameStop shares extended their rally early on Thursday, along with other Reddit favorites AMC and Koss.
• Renewed activity in GameStop led to an hour-long outage for Reddit – the hub of last month’s frenzy. 
• The company is back in focus after it announced the resignation of its CFO, Jim Bell.
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GameStop surged another 58% in early trading on Thursday, after the stock more than doubled the previous day, in a move that sent shares in other Reddit-favorites soaring.  

The stock rose to $144.08 per share as of 05:50 a.m. ET, after closing 103% higher at $91.71 on Wednesday. Among other so-called “meme-stocks” that were at the center of Reddit’s buying frenzy, AMC Entertainment rose 17%, Express Inc rose 15%, Koss gained 57% in pre-market trading.

GameStop’s spike was spurred by a spike in final hour of regular market hours on Wednesday, after a session that saw trading in the stock halt multiple times due to volatility. The video-game retailer came back into focus after it announced the resignation of its chief financial officer, Jim Bell.

Sources told Insider Bell didn’t actually resign voluntarily, but was forced out by the board as part of a push by activist investor Ryan Cohen. The board aims to make way for an executive that is more in line with Cohen’s strategic vision.

Cohen’s addition to the board in early January, along with his boosted investment stake in the company, fueled the first flurry of moves in GameStop.

After GameStop’s stock doubled, Reddit’s website suffered an hour-long outage in after hours-trading. It is unclear whether the two instances were related, but the Wall Street Bets subreddit page is known to be a popular forum for day traders that recently triggered a rally in multiple shorted stocks.

The clearinghouse that forced Robinhood to restrict trading in volatile stocks because of higher margin requirements published a whitepaper on Wednesday that laid grounds for accelerating the stock-settlement process.  The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation proposed shortening the settlement cycle for US equities to one day from two, prompting some renewed interest from the retail crowd on Reddit.