Day Traders Go Big on Blue Chips as Meme Stocks Fad Cools
- Money is flowing toward stalwarts like GM and Microsoft
- Conservative Boomers may be influencing choice of targets
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Retail day traders whose frenetic buying sent stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment soaring this year are tilting away from tiny memes in favor of mammoth old blue chips like GM and Microsoft.
That’s one explanation offered by analysts at JPMorgan and VandaTrack for why small-cap stocks have cooled, with the S&P 600 Smallcap Index falling about 5% from a March 12 record. Meanwhile, S&P’s large-cap benchmark advanced almost 4% over the same period to an intraday record on Thursday, with Microsoft Corp., General Motors Co. and Starbucks Corp. setting new highs this week.