Finance

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in Beijing, capital of China, July 1, 2021.Ju Peng | Xinhua News Agency | Getty ImagesBEIJING — One hundred years since the founding of China’s Communist Party — which it says was born out of a secret meeting on a boat — President Xi Jinping now stands a chance to lead the country to becoming the world’s largest economy.Achieving that level of growth will require China to propel itself past looming challenges: the so-called middle income trap, lack of innovation and a rapidly aging population. That’s according to analysts, mostly looking in from abroad.For Xi, his eyes are already on the next hundred years, and an unfulfilled dream of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” which he reiterated at centenary celebrations for the party this week. Xi also holds the top political position of the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party’s central committee and heads China’s military commission.”He has iron in his soul, more than [former President] Hu Jintao, who ascended the ranks without experiencing the trials and tribulations that Xi endured,” the late founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, told American foreign policy experts Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill in 2012, just before Xi officially became president.The 68-year-old is the son of an early Communist leader who rose to vice premier, then suffered political persecution for 16 years under the party’s dominating founder Mao Zedong.Xi himself spent about seven years working in the countryside as a teenager during the Cultural Revolution, which Mao used to regain his power and eliminate his political rivals.Xi’s political careerXi had a stint as a village party secretary, studied at Tsinghua University’s chemical engineering school, then worked his way up through government positions across the country, notably in Fujian province and Shanghai, according to state media.Meanwhile, the architect of China’s economic reforms, Deng Xiaoping, spearheaded an economic restructuring that allowed individuals and even foreign businesses to take ownership from the state. Many credit those changes for helping lift hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty, and turning China into an economy that now ranks second only to the U.S.The key factors that really drove China’s phenomenal growth have either ended or declined in performance.Tony SaichProfessor, Harvard Kennedy School of Government”When you think about the centenary of the party, you think not so much about the party as about the economic progress of the last 30 years,” said Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.”Most people here bank on a continuing progress and even higher achievements in the years ahead. Clearly history doesn’t work that way,” he said. “There are successes. There are also failures.”By 2007, Xi was a member of China’s top leadership group and president of the central school for training Communist party leaders. He officially became president in 2013, and launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign.In consolidating his power, Xi abolished term limits in 2018, while stepping up the party’s role in private business.’Middle-income trap’However, China’s economic growth began to slow in the last several years, albeit remaining at relatively high rates compared with other major economies.”The key factors that really drove China’s phenomenal growth have either ended or declined in performance,” said Tony Saich, professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.He pointed to China’s aging population and the inability to keep relying on foreign direct investment.Xi’s challenge is how to “get financial resources to those parts of the economy that are more productive,” said Saich, who authored “From Rebel to Ruler: One Hundred Years of the Chinese Communist Party.”Privately run businesses contribute to most of China’s growth and jobs, while the financial system is dominated by state-owned banks that prefer to lend to state-owned enterprises. Beijing frequently mentions the financing problem in policy statements, although it’s less clear how significant the moves are in practice.Meanwhile, as risks rise from tensions with trading partners like the U.S., Xi has revamped calls for boosting domestic consumption and building up technology at home.That kind of innovation will be harder to achieve than GDP goals of the past, said Yuen Yuen Ang, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. Innovation is “inherently uncertain and cannot be planned from the top.”But such new drivers of growth will be critical for the long term.”The most challenging task for China’s leadership is to avoid the middle-income trap,” Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., said in an email. “If its governance system fails to achieve that goal, there could be domestic instability.”She was referring to the theory that once a country has grown rapidly due to a large force of cheap labor, its economy could stagnate and fail to sustain higher wages for workers, and greater growth.There’s always danger when there’s a very powerful authoritarian figure, because when he chooses to use power it could have very detrimental effects on the country.Ann LeeAuthor of “What the U.S. can learn from China.”Xi’s individual association with policy particularly raises the stakes for ensuring growth, Rana Mitter, professor of the history and politics of modern China at the University of Oxford, said in an email.The Chinese leader has labeled “Xi Thought” on directives ranging from “socialism with Chinese characteristics” to “diplomacy.” It’s common for official documents to start with the line: “Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core.”Questions about the futureNext year, the ruling party will hold its 20th National Party Congress which will provide signals on whether Xi will hold onto power beyond the two terms of his recent predecessors.”There’s always danger when there’s a very powerful authoritarian figure, because when he chooses to use power it could have very detrimental effects on the country,” said Ann Lee, a former professor at Peking University and author of “What the U.S. can learn from China.””Thus far, since he’s taken power,” she said, “I don’t think he’s used it to necessarily enhance his own wealth for selfish reasons, but more for nation-building at this point.”China’s growing economic clout has raised new challenges, including greater opposition from the U.S.President Joe Biden’s administration has criticized China over human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong — matters Beijing considers part of its internal affairs, along with Taiwan. The democratic government of Taiwan feels differently.Within China, disparities between central and local government slow policy implementation, while some question the leadership’s direction.Read more about China from CNBC ProCathie Wood bought shares of this recent China IPO every day this weekJPMorgan picks its favorite Chinese stocks on everything from hydrogen to EV batteriesWedbush says Tesla faces a ‘moment of truth’ in China with recallAmong the country’s academic thinkers, there’s a rethinking of the Chinese experience outside of the political revolution, and a desire to combine some kind of democracy, said David Ownby, professor of history at the Université de Montréal and founder of “Reading the China Dream,” a website that translates articles from Chinese intellectuals.But for most people in China, their rise in prosperity over just a generation or two is sufficient for now. In many respects, the party under Xi has adeptly responded to and controlled majority opinion, while using centralized power to swiftly direct resources to containing the pandemic, for example.Analysts widely expect China to overtake the U.S. and become the world’s largest economy in the next decade, if not sooner.Chinese leaders “may become their own worst enemies if they turn too self-confident and develop hubris,” Trenin said. “They are not there yet.”Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Yuen Yuen Ang is associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. More

Xpeng Motors launches the P5 sedan at an event in Guangzhou, China on April 14, 2021. The P5 is Xpeng’s third production model and features so-called Lidar technology.Arjun Kharpal | CNBCBEIJING — U.S.-listed electric car start-up Li Auto reported more deliveries than Xpeng in June, putting the latter in last place for the month among a closely followed trio of Chinese automakers.Li Auto said Friday that last month, it delivered 7,713 units of its only model on the market, the Li One SUV. The Chinese start-up said the figure marked a new monthly high. Li One is more of a hybrid since it comes with a fuel tank to charge the battery and extend driving range.Xpeng said its deliveries for June also set a monthly record, at 6,565 vehicles. The company said the majority of deliveries were for its P7 sedan, versus its G3 SUV.On Thursday, Nio said deliveries for June reached 8,083 cars — also a monthly record. That brought the second-quarter total near the high end of Nio’s forecast.Nio has ranked first among the three U.S.-listed Chinese electric car start-ups by monthly deliveries, while Xpeng has typically taken second place.Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC ProUBS cuts Tesla price target by roughly 10%, citing growing competitionWedbush says Tesla faces a ‘moment of truth’ in China with recallHere’s an infrastructure-based way to play the electric vehicle takeover in the next decadeXpeng’s drop to third place in June comes as the New York Stock Exchange-listed company is set to launch a “dual primary listing” on July 7 in Hong Kong that could raise as much as $2 billion.The company has two other vehicles slated to begin deliveries later this year, an updated version of the G3 called the G3i SUV and a new sedan, the P5.Despite ranking third in June by monthly deliveries, Xpeng exceeded the high end of its second quarter guidance by nearly 1,400 vehicles.But Li Auto beat its quarterly forecast by more than 2,000 vehicles. More

The logo of trading app Robinhood is displayed on a smartphone.Olivier Douliery | AFP via Getty ImagesRobinhood Markets filed for one of the most anticipated initial public offerings of the year on Thursday, revealing rapid growth resulting in 18 million retail clients and more than $80 billion in customer assets.Unlike many recent IPOs, Robinhood was profitable last year, generating a net income of $7.45 million on net revenue of $959 million in 2020, versus a loss of $107 million on $278 million in 2019, according to Robinhood’s S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.However, the brokerage lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021 tied to emergency fundraising-related losses during January’s GameStop trading mania. The company generated $522 million in revenue in the first quarter if 2021, up 309% from the $128 million earned in the first quarter of 2020. Options trading accounts for about 38% of revenue while equities and crypto are 25% and 17% of revenues, respectively.The brokerage aims to raise $100 million in the public debut.Robinhood plans to trade under the symbol “HOOD” on the Nasdaq.In its prospectus, the company said it has grown its funded accounts, those which have bank accounts linked to them, to 18 million in March of this year from 7.2 million in 2020, an increase of 151%. Assets under custody have ballooned to roughly $80 billion from $19.2 billion last March. Monthly active users total about 17.7 million.Robinhood plans to allocate between 20% and 35% of its IPO shares to its retail customers.Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan are the lead underwriters on the deal, among other banks.New York-based D1 Partners, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures and Google’s venture capital arm, GV, are some of Robinhood’s biggest venture capital investors.Free-trading pioneerRobinhood was founded in 2013 by now CEO Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt. Now, the company has 2,100 full-time employees.The Menlo Park, California-based start-up pioneered free stock trading, forcing the entire industry to drop commissions in 2019.Robinhood offers equity, cryptocurrency and options trading, as well as cash management accounts. Users can make most trades for free. The app makes the majority of its money from customer order flow and a premium paid service.The stock trading company collected a record $331 million in payment for order flow – the money brokerage firms receive for directing clients’ trades to market makers – in the first quarter of 2021, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC.”Because a majority of our revenue is transaction-based (including payment for order flow, or “PFOF”), reduced spreads in securities pricing, reduced levels of trading activity generally, changes in our business relationships with market makers and any new regulation of, or any bans on, PFOF and similar practices may result in reduced profitability, increased compliance costs and expanded potential for negative publicity,” the S1 filing said.Robinhood — whose longstanding mission is to “democratize” investing — is seen as the main gateway for young investors to access the markets.The app experienced record levels of new, younger traders entering the stock market during the pandemic.That surge has continued into 2021, marked by frenzied trading around so-called meme stocks. The millennial-favored stock trading app found itself in the middle of a firestorm in January amid the short squeeze in GameStop, which was partially fueled by Reddit-driven retail investors.At the height of GameStop’s surge, Robinhood restricted trading of certain securities due to increased capital requirements from clearing houses.Robinhood announced on May 20 that it is giving retail investors access to IPO shares, an area long exclusive to Wall Street banks and sophisticated investors.Growing painsRobinhood’s impressive growth has come with its challenges.On Wednesday, Robinhood was slapped with FINRA’s largest ever penalty, totaling about $70 million. The settlement regards the technical failures Robinhood experienced in March of 2020, Robinhood’s lack of due diligence before approving customers to place options trades and purveying misleading information to customers about aspects like trading on margin.Robinhood has also faced lawsuits for its multiple days of outages during times when trading volume was heavy during the pandemic.”We have grown rapidly in recent years and we have limited operating experience at our current scale of operations; if we are unable to manage our growth effectively, our financial performance may suffer and our brand and company culture may be harmed,” Robinhood said in the “risk factors” section of the prospectus.Robinhood paid the Securities and Exchange Commission $65 million after being charged with misleading customers about how the app makes money and failing to deliver the promised best execution of trades. The SEC’s charges came a day after Massachusetts regulators filed a complaint accusing the trading app of predatory marketing on inexperienced investors.Robinhood was also sued for wrongful death by the family of Alex Kearns, a 20-year-old customer who took his life last summer after believing he had racked up big losses on the millennial-favored stock trading app.Additionally, Robinhood’s chief Tenev was forced to testify to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee in February regarding the GameStop trading mania. Legislators criticized payment for order flow, the subsidy Robinhood receives from market makers like Citadel Securities for bringing them trades.Payment for order flow is a common practice, but it’s often criticized for its lack of transparency. Robinhood has since taken steps to address some of the scrutiny like providing more education services from its clients and removing the confetti feature when investors make trades.Robinhood ranked No. 1 on this year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list.Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro. Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial today. More

FOUR WEEKS ago the finance ministers of the G7 countries, meeting in London, trumpeted that they had sealed a “historic” and “global” deal to reform the taxation of multinational companies and thus to curb tax avoidance. In fact, that was just the precursor to an agreement struck on July 1st, after fraught negotiations in the virtual realm involving 130 jurisdictions. Though the talks were held under the auspices of the OECD, an economic club of mainly rich countries, the deal has been agreed to by rich and poor alike.Officials signed up to a five-page statement with two main elements: a new minimum tax rate on multinationals’ profits; and a reallocation of the right to tax those of the largest, away from places where they register their assets and towards where they make their sales. In return for those new tax rights, governments would refrain from some unilateral measures, notably taxes on giant technology companies. Securing agreement from so many countries on such a touchy issue is a remarkable feat. Even so, there is more work to do before the future of corporate taxation is settled.For years negotiators have been trying to close the gap between the places where multinationals do business and where they book profits. As the global economy has digitised, the gap has widened—for example, as firms have registered intangible assets in tax havens and reported profits there. A study published by the IMF in 2018 found that a decrease of a percentage point in a country’s corporate-tax rate raised pre-tax profit reported there by 1.5%. The effect has increased over time. In the chase for these flighty profits, tax rates have been slashed.Now governments have had enough. The proposed minimum tax of at least 15% would reduce companies’ incentives to game the system, by reducing the gains from siphoning away profits to havens. The reallocation of taxing rights should also reduce companies’ power to play with their tax base. The location of customers is harder to manipulate than that of intangible assets like brands or algorithms.The deal is structured to affect more companies as time goes by. At first the reallocation of taxing rights will apply to those with global turnover above €20bn ($24bn). But if all goes well, that threshold could fall to €10bn. To address the common complaint that digital companies can make profits somewhere without registering the physical presence often necessary to tax them, governments will be able to levy some tax if local revenues exceed just €1m. In small, poor countries with GDP of less than €40bn the threshold will be only €250,000.Agreement was not quite universal. Of the 139 jurisdictions taking part in the online negotiations, nine opted out, including Ireland, Hungary and Estonia, as well as Barbados and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Their resistance is hardly surprising. All these low-tax places stand to lose a competitive edge as well as tax revenue. More remarkable is that havens such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Jersey signed up.Other hold-outs include Nigeria and Kenya. According to someone close to the talks, one worry is that the reallocation of taxing rights will cost them revenue, when the loss of unilateral measures is factored in. Pascal Saint-Amans of the OECD is saddened by their decision. “We have run the numbers and taking both pillars into account these countries would certainly benefit,” he says. On July 1st the African Tax Administration Forum, a club of the continent’s taxmen, issued a statement warning that “if the process is to produce an equitable outcome it will be important that developed countries do not exert political pressure on developing countries.”Having secured a high-level agreement, negotiators have agreed on a deadline of October to settle important details. Some countries are pushing for a minimum tax rate of 15%; others want the floor to be higher. The base of profits subject to the minimum tax, the precise amount of taxing rights to be reallocated and the precise scope of unilateral measures to be withdrawn also have to be hammered out.After that, in 2022 governments must draw up an international treaty to reallocate taxing rights, to be implemented in 2023. The deal also envisages that minimum taxes might be legislated for in 2022 and implemented in 2023, though countries could do that without waiting for a treaty. The agreement is a big step forward. But plenty of taxing work still lies ahead. More

Commuters exit a Wall Street subway station near the New York Stock Exchange.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesFutures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes held steady at the start of the overnight session Thursday evening as Wall Street awaited the key June jobs report and another glimpse at the recovering U.S. labor market.Contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 6 points, while those linked to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 traded within 0.1%.U.S. investors await the Labor Department’s all-important monthly jobs report that on Friday will show how many payrolls American employers added last month.Economists expect nonfarm payrolls grew by 706,000 jobs in June and that the unemployment rate fell to 5.6% from 5.8%, according to Dow Jones. If employers added as many jobs as expected, the print would top the 559,000 jobs created in May.The average hourly wage is estimated to have jumped 0.3% on a month-over-month basis, and climbed 3.6% over the last 12 months. The government’s weekly report on first-time jobless claims, published Thursday morning, came in at 364,000 and set a pandemic-era low.While Friday’s headline job creation number is important, traders will likely scrutinize the change in average hourly earnings for any signs of an unexpectedly large uptick in wages. Labor is often corporate America’s top cost, and spikes in payroll expenses can precede broader inflation throughout the U.S. economy as firms look to pass on rising input costs onto their customers.Inflation is the purview of the Federal Reserve, which could move to curb its easy monetary policies sooner than expected — and potentially upset markets — if prices rise too fast.”For the first time in over two years, the upcoming jobs report may make the Fed get more aggressive about reducing accommodation, and as such the biggest risk for tomorrow’s report is that it’s ‘Too Hot,'” The Sevens Report founder Tom Essaye wrote.”While I don’t expect tomorrow’s jobs report to materially alter the Fed’s outlook, the fact is this market has aggressively priced in 1) Temporary inflation and 2) A still-very-dovish Fed,” he added. And “if either of those ideas are challenged by wages or the jobs number over the next few months, then the chances of a correction (not a pullback, but a correction) will rise.”Despite that risk, equity markets have been on a strong run in recent days and continued to post records on Thursday.The S&P 500 rose 0.5% during Thursday’s regular session and notched its sixth-straight record close, finishing above 4,300 for the first time at 4,319.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by 131 points to close at 34,633.53, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ticked up about 0.1% to 14,522.38.Those gains added to already-robust 2021 market returns.The economic rebound sparked by vaccine deployment and looser Covid-19 restrictions helped the S&P 500 rise by more than 14% in the first half of the year. The Dow and Nasdaq also posting double-digit percentage gains during the six months ended June 30.For the week, the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1% as of Thursday’s close. The S&P 500 and Dow were up about 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively.Enjoyed this article?For exclusive stock picks, investment ideas and CNBC global livestreamSign up for CNBC ProStart your free trial now More

Trading information for GameStop is displayed on the Robinhood App as another screen displays the Robinhood logo in this photo illustration January 29, 2021.Brendan McDermid | ReutersRobinhood said Thursday that the first time Robinhood restricted trading on its app — during the GameStop event earlier this year — may not to be the last.In January, when an epic short squeeze erupted in GameStop’s stock partially driven by retail traders, Robinhood shut down trading of certain meme shares due to increased capital requirements from its clearinghouses. Despite raising north of $3.4 billion in a few days to shore up its balance sheet, the brokerage limited trading of GameStop, AMC Entertainment and other Reddit darlings.”We cannot assure that similar events will not occur in the future,” Robinhood said in its S1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.As a brokerage, Robinhood has financial requirements to the clearinghouses that execute its clients trades, and some of these requirements fluctuate based on volatility in the markets. The volatility in January forced hikes in requirements and caused a flurry of outraged customers, many who threatened to leave the app.”This resulted in negative media attention, customer dissatisfaction, litigation and regulatory and U.S. Congressional inquiries and investigations, capital raising by us in order to lift the trading restrictions while remaining in compliance with our net capital and deposit requirements and reputational harm,” Robinhood said in the filing.Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev blamed the two-day trade settlement, known as T+2, for some of the clearinghouse deposit issues during the GameStop mania and called for real-time settlement.”The existing two-day period to settle trades exposes investors and the industry to unnecessary risk and is ripe for change,” Tenev said in a testimony to the House Financial Services Committee following the GameStop drama.”The clearinghouse deposit requirements are designed to mitigate risk, but last week’s wild market activity showed that these requirements, coupled with an unnecessarily long settlement cycle, can have unintended consequences that introduce new risks,” he said.The trading mania revived last month as Reddit traders continued to pile into their favorite meme stocks including GameStop, AMC Entertainment and others. AMC is up 2,400% this year.Robinhood is expected to go public on the Nasdaq under ticker “HOOD” this year. The free-trading pioneer experienced record growth in the past year resulting in 18 million accounts and $80 billion in customer assets.Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro. Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial today. More

Pedestrians walk past a Walgreens store in New York.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCheck out the companies making headlines in midday trading.Didi — Shares of the Chinese ride hailing company surged almost 16% in their second day of trading, rising back above $16 per share. The stock had a muted session on Wednesday after its initial public offering, posting a gain of 1% from its IPO price and closing below its opening price.CureVac — The German drugmaker’s stock fell 7.6% as final study analysis showed its Covid-19 vaccine is just 48% effective. An initial assessment two weeks ago showed 47% effectiveness.Walgreens — Shares of the drugstore chain dropped 7.4% even after the company raised its outlook for the year and reported stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for its fiscal third quarter. Walgreens reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.51 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17, according to Refinitiv. Revenue also topped forecasts amid a rebound in prescription volumes. Investors may be concerned that Walgreens could see slower growth amid the slowing pace of Covid-19 vaccinations.Micron Technology — The chip maker lost 5.7% despite beating quarterly earnings estimates by 16 cents a share, reporting $1.88 per share. Micron’s revenue topped Wall Street forecasts as well. Micron sold a Utah semiconductor factory to Texas Instruments for $900 million in cash.ZipRecruiter — The online recruiting company’s stock fell 3.44% despite a call from Barclays Thursday morning, which gave ZipRecruiter an overweight rating saying the stock could jump 20%. Still, U.S. employers have cited worker shortages and difficulty replacing lost jobs from the pandemic.Coinbase — The cryptocurrency exchange’s stock fell 4.6% after Mizuho reiterated its neutral rating on it, saying meager crypto volumes” bode “poorly” for the rest of 2021. Coinbase shares tend to trade in tandem with the price of bitcoin, which is also trading lower Thursday.United Airlines — The air carrier continues to trade higher at 1.5%, two days after said it would begin chasing premium customers with larger planes. United said it expects to hire 25,000 people by 2026 after placing a 150-unit aircraft order, as it shifts from survival mode to rebound mode. — CNBC’s Yun Li, Jesse Pound and Hannah Miao contributed reportingBecome a smarter investor with CNBC Pro. Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial today More

In this articleAMCGMEMichael Burry attends the “The Big Short” New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater on November 23, 2015 in New York City.Jim Spellman | WireImage | Getty Images”The Big Short” investor Michael Burry believes Reddit-favored meme stocks are set to crash like the dot-com and housing market bubbles of previous decades, Barron’s reported Friday.”I don’t know when meme stocks such as this will crash, but we probably do not have to wait too long, as I believe the retail crowd is fully invested in this theme, and Wall Street has jumped on the coattails,” Burry told Barron’s.”We’re running out of new money available to jump on the bandwagon,” he added.Burry was one of the first investors to spot and profit from the subprime mortgage crisis, as profiled in the popular book and movie. He made headlines in 2019 after he said he was long GameStop, but sold his stake during the fourth quarter of last year, before the meme mania in January.According to Barron’s, he believes the speculative trading propping up these meme stocks could soon hurt regular investors.GameStop made Wall Street history in January with its monstrous short squeeze that pushed the stock up 400% in one week. The video game retailer became a star on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum, where retail traders aimed to push stock prices higher and squeeze out short selling hedge funds.The trading mania revived last month as Reddit traders continued to pile into their favorite meme stocks including GameStop, AMC Entertainment and others.While the frenzy has cooled as of late, these stocks are still up an unimaginable amount. GameStop has surged more than 1,000% in 2021, while AMC is up over 2,500% this year.Retail investors represent about 10% of all trades in the market currently, according to a recent Morgan Stanley report. This level has come down since the third quarter of 2020 when retail investing was 15% of all trades during pandemic-induced retail frenzy; however, the current figure is still in the 82nd percentile.GameStop has taken advantage of its massive rally to raise new capital to accelerate its e-commerce transformation. Last week, the video game retailer said it sold 5 million additional shares, raising $1.13 billion in capital. That’s on top of an offering of 3.5 million additional shares in April, which raised $551 million for the company.”This is a Godsend for these companies,” Burry told Barron’s.Click here for the full Barron’s article.— CNBC’s Yun Li and Maggie Fitzgerald contributed to this reportEnjoyed this article?For exclusive stock picks, investment ideas and CNBC global livestreamSign up for CNBC ProStart your free trial now More