fbpx

Stocks Labeled ‘BLM’ Went Parabolic On Heavy Volume After Police Brutality, Urban One Almost Doubled In A Day

Stocks Labeled ‘BLM’ Went Parabolic On Heavy Volume After Police Brutality, Urban One Almost Doubled In A Day

Trader Thomas Lee works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Two publicly traded companies that serve Black and underrepresented communities saw their shares more-than double in June as investors — motivated by global protests against police brutality — sought out Black-owned businesses to support.

The May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody brought “mainstream” attention to the idea of “Buying Black” and “buying back the block”, Bloomberg reported at the time.

Urban One‘s Class A and Class D shares saw the biggest increases in popularity in Robinhood — which offers zero-commission trades — at one point in June. Carver Bancorp‘s stock jumped by as much as 853 percent — the most on record, on volume more than 100 times the three-month daily average.

“The moves come as calls to ‘Buy Black’ have circulated on social media, pointing consumers to Black-owned businesses as a step toward correcting economic inequalities,” Bloomberg reported.

Almost four months later, stock trader The_Real_Fly tweeted a list of Black-owned businesses, saying “VOLUME DELTA OFF THE CHARTS FOR BLM STOCKS.”

Volume delta is the difference between buying and selling power. It is calculated by taking the difference of the volume that traded at the offer price and the volume that traded at the bid price, according to JumpStartTrading.com.

The_Real_Fly’s stock list included Urban One, Broadway Financial, Jumia Technologies, Carver Bancorp, RLJ Lodging Trust, Weight Watchers International and Optimum Bank Holdings.

“What are BLM stocks?” Moon tweeted in response to The_Real_Fly. “Black owned businesses,” The_Real_Fly said. “Who is doing the buying?” Sheeeeazus tweeted @ChrisSheaBo. “Me,” The_Real_Fly replied.

The $2.2 trillion CARES Act handed out forgivable PPP loans to businesses, but an estimated 90 percent of Black-owned firms were denied or ineligible.

“Here was an opportunity for the U.S. to once again help us reset some of the ways racism operates in our society, and we swung and missed again,” said Rashawn Ray, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Official Black Wall Street started a “Buy Black Challenge” on Juneteenth (June 19), Marketwatch reported.

“The way I think about change is that we all play a role in it,” Ray said. “There are things that people can do and often times they know the things they can do, they just have chosen not to do it. That’s what’s key, to put your money where your mouth is. … It’s not rocket science.”

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.

Shares of Broadway Financial, Urban One and Carver traded so heavily they were all briefly halted for volatility on Juneteenth by Nasdaq. Another stock, American Shared Hospital Services, was halted Thursday, Wall Street Journal reported.

The Class A shares of Urban One surged 45 percent to $36.30 on Juneteenth — up 1,873 percent on the week. The company operates radio and TV stations focused on Black listeners. Based in Silver Spring, Md., Urban One was founded in 1980 by Catherine Hughes, a TV and radio personality who was the first African-American woman to head a publicly traded corporation.

New York-based Carver Bancorp shares saw 513-percent gains for the week of Juneteenth. It is the holding company for Carver Federal Savings Bank, which has branches in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

 The BLM stocks action appeared to be driven by day traders, many new to the stock market, Barrons reported.