GameStop Leaps 74.4%

US stocks drifted to a mixed close near their record heights Monday.

• The S&P 500 fell 1.26 points, or less than 0.1%, to 5,221.42, less than 1% below its record set at the end of March.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 81.33 points, or 0.2%, to 39,431.51.
• The Nasdaq composite rose 47.37 points, or 0.3%, to 16,388.24.

Stocks have rallied this month on revived hopes that inflation may ease enough to convince the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate later this year. A key test will arrive Wednesday, when the government offers offers the latest monthly update on inflation that households are feeling across the country, the AP reports.

Other reports this week include updates on inflation that wholesalers are seeing and sales at US retailers. They could show whether fears are warranted about a worst-case scenario for the country, where stubbornly high inflation forms a devastating combination with a stagnating economy. Hopes have climbed that the economy can avoid what's called "stagflation" and hit the bull's eye where it cools enough to get inflation under control but stays sturdy enough to avoid a bad recession. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also gave financial markets comfort when he recently said the Fed remains closer to cutting rates than to raising them, even if inflation has remained hotter than forecast so far this year.

On Wall Street, biopharmaceutical company Incyte climbed 8.6% after saying it would buy back up to $2 billion of its stock. GameStop soared 74.4% in a swing reminiscent of its maniacal moves a little over three years ago. That's when hordes of smaller-pocketed and novice investors sent the stock's price way above what many financial analysts and professional investors called rational. One believer in particular, who goes by the nickname Roaring Kitty, helped lead the charge. Within the first 70 minutes of trading, trading of GameStop's stock was temporarily halted nine times because its price was swinging so severely.

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