A massive rally in meme stocks during Wednesday’s trading session showed signs of losing steam. Here’s what we’re watching before trading gets under way Thursday.

  • AMC Entertainment reversed earlier gains to fall 4.3% after it said it plans to sell 11.5 million shares and cautioned investors that current market prices are unrelated to business fundamentals. “Under the circumstances, we caution you against investing in our Class A common stock, unless you are prepared to incur the risk of losing all or a substantial portion of your investment,” the company wrote in a filing.
  • BlackBerry was set to extend its surge, gaining 26% premarket. But Express shares did an about-face to decline 16% premarket.
  • Pot stocks gained, with Sundial Growers up 17% premarket and Tilray adding 8.9%.
  • Cryptocurrencies advanced, with bitcoin gaining more than 3% at $39,083.57 and ether up 3.9% at $2,830.51.
  • Futures tied to the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, pointing to a decline for the broad market gauge after the opening bell. Read our full market wrap here.
  • The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell to 385,000 last week down from 405,000 the prior week—a new pandemic low. The ADP employment report showed that the U.S. added 978,000 private-sector jobs in May.
BlackBerry shares were climbing in premarket trade on Thursday.

BlackBerry shares were climbing in premarket trade on Thursday.

Photo: mike blake/Reuters

What’s Coming Up
Market Movers to Watch
  • Smartsheet shares gained 5.8% premarket after the cloud-computing company reported a quarterly loss but revenue that came in ahead of expectations.
  • Semtech ‘s profit more than doubled in the latest period as sales rose 28% from the year earlier, driven by record sales in its wireless and sensing-products group. Its shares added 3.7% in premarket trading.
  • Conn’s shares rallied more than 4% after the retailer of furniture, mattresses, home appliances, consumer electronics and home-office products reported its highest quarterly profit in its 131-year history, as it booked gains in its retail and credit segments.
  • Software company Splunk reported a 16% revenue increase in the latest period but its net loss widened on higher operating expenses, driven in part by its transition to the cloud. Shares fell 4.3% premarket.
Market Facts
  • In a rally reminiscent of the Reddit-fueled craze of late January, AMC shares almost doubled to $62.55 Wednesday, notching their first record close since 2015. AMC shares jumped so far so fast that trading was temporarily halted four times.
  • Dogecoin jumped 21% on Wednesday after Coinbase Global said it would allow users to trade the joke cryptocurrency on a platform geared toward more experienced investors.
  • On this day in 1775, the national debt of the U.S. was born, as the Continental Congress authorized a loan of 6 million pounds sterling to buy gunpowder—showing they were prepared to borrow money more than a year before they were ready to declare independence.
Chart of the Day
  • Dogecoin and NFTs have captured the public’s imagination, but money is also flooding into another hot, and risky, corner of the cryptocurrency market: DeFi.
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Write to caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com