Reddit Stocks: What meme stocks are trending today? – July 10, 2023

US futures

• Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.2%
• S&P 500 is up 0.1%
• Nasdaq 100 is up 0.1%

US futures are rising following the selloff we saw last week. It is a big week for US markets, which are bracing for the next set of inflation data to be released to gauge what the Federal Reserve will do when it meets next month. Fed funds are convinced that we will see a 25bps increase this month but are more divided about the trajectory for the remainder of 2023. The Fed is in play today with speeches scheduled from Michael Barr, Mary Daly, Loretta Mester and Raphael Bostic.

The CPI figures are out Wednesday, just before the second quarter earnings season starts, with markets becoming increasingly nervous that we will see a slowdown or a recession later this year. US treasury secretary Janet Yellen refused to rule out a recession over the weekend due to how high inflation is. The S&P 500 is forecast to report a 7.2% fall in earnings this season, according to FactSet, which would be the worst quarter for two years.

Most discussed Reddit stocks

Below is a list of the top 10 most mentioned US stocks on the WallStreetBets thread on Reddit over the last 24 hours, according to data from Quiver Quantitative. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and other instruments have been excluded:

1. Rivian
2. Tesla
3. NVIDIA
4. C3.ai
5. Visa
6. Spirit Airlines
7. Apple
8. AMTD Digital
9. Delta Air Lines
10. Rite Aid

Most active US stocks before the bell

Below are the most active stocks with a valuation of at least $500 million before the bell, based on trading data taken from Bloomberg:

1. Rivian
2. AMC Entertainment
3. Lucid Group
4. Nikola
5. Tesla
6. Apple
7. Fisker
8. NVIDIA
9. Amazon
10. Carnival

US premarket winners and losers

Here are the stocks worth at least $500 million experiencing the sharpest movements in premarket trade, according to data from Bloomberg:

Top US stocks to watch

Tesla is up 0.7% at $276.20. We discovered that the electric carmaker delivered 93,680 vehicles from its factory in Shanghai in June, with 19,486 of them being exported to other markets. That represents a 20.6% rise in sales from the previous mont. It suggests it has entered the second half with momentum after reporting record global deliveries in the second quarter. It is also finding support after Jefferies became the latest to up its view on the stock, raising its target price to $265 from $185 this morning.

Meanwhile, the China Association of Auto Manufacturers said over the weekend that it is retracting a pledge signed last week to avoid abnormal pricing because of antitrust law. A total of 16 companies, including NIO, Xpeng, Li Auto and Tesla signed the pledge in a sign that the price war in the country was ending. Notably, Tesla then introduced a new rebate just days later. NIO is up 0.2% this morning while Xpeng is down 2.2% and Li Auto is trailing 1.9%.  

Rivian is up 3.3% today, set to rise for a ninth consecutive session and poised to open at fresh 2023-highs. The 52% surge we saw last week represents its best-ever weekly performance. Markets have turned bullish on the electric carmaker since it delivered more vehicles than expected in the latest quarter and because it has shipped its first electric vans being made for Amazon, its largest customer and shareholder, to Europe. CEO RJ Scaringe also told Bloomberg last week that the supply chain is much healthier now than it was in the last quarter, which should help it ramp-up production as it tries to produce 50,000 vehicles this year.

Other electric vehicle stocks are also in demand this morning. Lucid is among the most traded stocks before the bell and is up 1.5%, with the electric carmaker set to open at its highest level in six weeks. Nikola is up 4.3% and at a three-week high despite its troubles securing enough support from shareholders for its plan to issue more equity and raise new funding.

Stocks involved in flying cars, or vertical take-off and landing aircraft, also remain popular as the industry edges closer to their ambitions becoming a reality, with Lilium the most traded in the sector today and down 0.7% before the bell. The stock remains below the eight-month highs hit last week when it said it had completed the final audit of its Lilium Jet in what it described as a major step towards securing regulatory approval.

NVIDIA is up 0.7% at $428 after Goldman Sachs said it sees further upside potential despite the stellar rally we have seen this year, pushing its target price up to $495 from $440 as it sees the chipmaker reaping further rewards from the opportunities stemming from artificial intelligence. The stock is up over 196% since the start of 2023 and boasts a huge premium over its rivals, which has made it all the more difficult to climb above the all-time highs hit last month.

Apple is down 0.3% and set to lose its $3 trillion valuation. Evercore ISI released a report this morning that said Apple’s App Store saw revenue grow 3% in June, which it estimates means revenue fell 1% in the three months to the end of June. It said weakness continues to be caused by the gaming market. The App Store is Apple’s largest service and continued weakness here ‘makes it difficult to see a meaningful inflection in the services growth rate,’ the broker warned. Services are becoming an increasingly important part of Apple’s business as the company leverages its 2 billion installed devices to push higher-margin revenue streams.

Meta is up 1.1% and just below recent 18-month highs. Its new social media platform Threads, which was launched last week to rival Twitter, is thought to have secured over 100 million users within the first five days of being launched, according to a live tracker from Quiver Quantitative. That would make it the fastest growing app ever invented! That title was briefly held by ChatGPT, which is thought to have secured 100 million users in the first two months after being launched earlier this year, taking the title away from TikTok.

Amazon is trading broadly flat as it prepares to hold its annual Prime Day event this week, in the face of strike action and negotiations with labour unions that could disrupt the sales period. Warehouse workers at one site in the UK are striking for three days this week as they argue for better pay and it is also facing pressure from unions in the US.

Visa is marginally higher before the bell at $236.50 after KBW raised its target price on the payments giant to $278 from $270. The stock remains below the 22-month highs hit last week.

Spirit Airlines is up 1.6% in premarket trade and poised to open at five-month highs as investors increase their bets that its takeover by JetBlue is more likely. JetBlue announced last week that it is terminating its alliance with American Airlines in order to convince regulators to allow its combination with Spirit.

Delta Air Lines is up 0.8% this morning as markets prepare for second quarter results later this week. Things look rosy for Delta considering it raised its outlook in the last quarter, reinforcing hopes it can deliver record profits this year. The second quarter is also expected to be a record for the airline, with sales expected to grow 17% from last year to $14.4 billion with adjusted EPS forecast to pop 65% to $2.37.  It has outperformed its US rivals and climbed to a 27-month high before pulling back last week, with the RSI in deep overbought territory. Delta Air Lines may struggle to keep up the momentum this week without a positive surprise, and that is less likely given it has already raised its outlook. All seems well now that the airline industry is posting record figures after recovering from the pandemic and Delta Air Lines has said it expects profits and cashflow to improve further in 2024, suggesting it should remain on the right trajectory for some time. However, there are risks ahead as inflation and rising rates continue to eat away at consumer’s finances while simultaneously raising the risks of a recession.

AMTD Digital has reappeared in the top 10 most-discussed stock after a lengthy absence. The Hong Kong-based fintech firm was swept up in meme stock mania last year, when it soared to as high as $2,555! It has been on a long downward slump since and it hit all-time lows last month before finding some support. Still, today it trades at just $6.49, with the stock up 0.2% before markets open.

Rite Aid is up 0.6% as it continues to rebound from the all-time lows hit last week. The online pharmacy trades at just a fraction of the all-time highs we saw in 2017, around the time when it rejected the opportunity to merge with larger rivals. The stock rebounded during the pandemic as the company helped deliver Covid-19 vaccines but has seen all those gains unravel and more. It reported earnings last month that showed revenue fell less than anticipated and a smaller loss than forecast but it still has a job to do to escape the red and revive sales growth.

Coinbase, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms are up 0.7% to 1.9%. Bitcoin came under pressure over the weekend but is holding above the $30,000 threshold after slipping below that level last week.

Don’t forget the second quarter earnings season starts this week, with major US banks set to kick things off on Friday when JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup will report results. Those most exposed to rising interest rates are set to outperform those that lean more toward trading and investment management. A clean bill of health from the recent stress tests provides some certainty following the banking crisis we saw in March, but tighter capital requirements are coming and recession risks are increasing. Provisions are growing as a result as the sector becomes more pessimistic about the outlook. You can find out everything you need to know, from dates and consensus numbers to our latest technical analysis, in our US Banks Q2 Earnings Preview.

How to trade US stocks

You can trade US stocks and indices with City Index in just four easy steps:

1. Open a City Index account, or log-in if you’re already a customer.
2. Search for the stock or instrument you want in our award-winning platform
3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
4. Place the trade

Or you can practice trading risk-free by signing up for our Demo Trading Account.