markets

12/13/24

SoundHound AI hits record amid apparent short squeeze

Retail-trading favorite SoundHound AI on Friday closed at a record high amid a surge of trading that bore all the signs of a short squeeze.

The California-based small cap, which sells voice-AI software for use in devices like televisions and service vendors like restaurants, has been on a remarkable run this year, rising about 700% amid euphoric trading of AI-related companies.

By any traditional standard of value, the enthusiasm has gotten out of hand. The company — which since going public via a SPAC in early 2022 has never turned a profit — is trading at a price-to-next-12-month-sales ratio of nearly 40x. (Amazon.com, for comparison, one of the world’s great businesses, has a price-to-sales ratio of between 3x and 5x. Even at its peak in 1999, it had a price-to-sales ratio of only about 22x.)

Such signs of euphoria have attracted attention from short sellers betting that financial reality will eventually pull the stock back to earth. Short interest in the stock has been building steadily through the year to more than 25% of SoundHound’s float.

Alas, the downturn shorts were betting on didn’t materialize, and upward pressure on the stock price — seemingly aided and abetted by a record rise in call-option trading — appeared to make holding the trade too painful on Friday.

Shorts, when they throw the towel in on a trade, often rush to buy the shares they need to “cover” at any price, generating a sharp pop in the shares similar to Friday’s nearly 25% jump in SoundHound AI.

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

S&P 500 goes nowhere, Nasdaq 100 hits another record, small-caps tumble

Warner Bros. Discovery led gains for the second day in a row, and only three S&P 500 sector ETFs finished in the green.

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markets

9/12/25

Rocket lab soars to new record close amid rally for retail faves

Rocket Lab ripped by roughly 10% Friday to close at a new all-time high, riding an upturn of retail enthusiasm for a coterie of tech-themed favorites, even as the broader market was more or less flat on the day.

Goldman Sachs’ basket of “retail favorites” — its heaviest weights are Reddit, AppLovin, and Tempus AI — was the second-biggest gainer among the company’s flagship US equity baskets on Friday, rising about 1.6%. The S&P was almost dead flat.

It’s not Rocket Lab’s first retail rodeo, as the money-losing company has more than doubled this year and is up nearly 700% over the last 12 months.

Oracle Wall Street Revisions

Analysts revise up anything and everything they thought about Oracle

After the company’s bombshell earnings this week, Wall Street thinks Oracle’s trajectory has changed.

Matt Phillips9/12/25

markets

9/12/25

Six Flags pops after reiterating its guidance as theme park attendance rebounds

Six Flags shares rose more than 7% today after the company reported a rebound in attendance and early season pass sales heading into the fall. The nine-week period ended August 31 saw 17.8 million guests, up about 2% from the same stretch last year, with stronger momentum in the final four weeks.

More importantly, Six Flags reaffirmed its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $860 million to $910 million, showing confidence that its cost and operations strategy can stay strong for the duration of the year. Riding that wave, Six Flags also said early 2026 season pass unit sales are pacing ahead of last year, and average season pass prices are up about 3%.

The good vibes come despite a drop in in-park per-capita spending, especially from admissions, where promotions and changes to attendance mix (which parks or days guests visit) have weighed. Earlier this week, the amusement giant signed a new agreement that extended its position as the exclusive amusement park partner for Peanuts™ in North America through 2030.

Despite the rally, Six Flags shares are down about 52% year to date.

markets

9/12/25

Rivian turns red on the year, squeezed by a recall and the looming end of the EV tax credit

Shares of EV maker Rivian are down more than 5% on Friday following the company’s recall of 24,214 vehicles due to a software issue. The stock move erases Rivian’s year-to-date gain and turns the company negative on the year.

Rivian’s 2025 model year R1S and R1T are affected by the defect, which was identified after a vehicle’s hands-free highway assist software failed to identify another vehicle on the road, causing a low-speed collision. Rivian said it’s released an over-the-air update to fix the issue.

The recall marks Rivian’s fifth this year, affecting nearly 70,000 of its vehicles.

Rivian’s shares are down more than 20% from their 2025 high, which came prior to the passage of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Through the legislation, the $7,500 EV tax credit is set to expire at the end of the month.

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