GameStop mania severely tested market system, regulator says

By STAN CHOE
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market certainly shook when hundreds of thousands of regular people suddenly piled into GameStop early this year, driving its price to heights that shocked professional investors. But it didn’t break. That’s one of the takeaways from a report by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s staff released Monday about January’s “meme-stock” mania. As GameStop shot from $39 to $347 in just a week, some of the stock market’s plumbing began creaking, but the report indicated the market’s basic systems remain sound. The surge also laid bare how much power is being wielded by a new generation of investors armed with apps on their phones.