Remember Keith Gill? The chicken tender-loving investor behind the 2021 meme stock craze? Perhaps you know him by his other name: Roaring Kitty. He was the face of all that pandemic-driven, day-trading insanity. Now there’s another trader at the center of the latest meme stock frenzy, and well, he’s less dramatic.

Eric Jackson, 53, manages his own tiny hedge fund, EMJ Capital, in Toronto. He’s been around for awhile, having made a name for himself a decade ago with a 99-page presentation to Yahoo’s board on why the tech company should oust its now-former CEO. Years later he was back in the news, talking up Opendoor Technologies and Carvana. “Of these two—Carvana and Opendoor—I have more confidence in Opendoor,” he said in a June 2022 interview.

Carvana shares soon skyrocketed almost 1,400%. But Opendoor plunged more than 80%. Unwinding from that stock was exceptionally painful, he said.

Eric Jackson in his home office Photograph: Bloomberg

But lately, Jackson has found that stock positions he considered long-term picks are becoming part of a retail mini-revolution, stoked by feeds from the usual sites (like WallStreetBets). Now everything has changed, including his views on Opendoor, which helped thrust him to the center of the current market mania.

Jackson has even become a meme himself, with his face superimposed onto a photo of Gill. He gets hundred of calls and emails from investors, asking for his ideas or wondering how to buy into his fund. It’s true he’s had a rough two years and his fund needs money, he said, but all the interest may not help with that. “It’s not like an ETF,” Jackson said. “It’s not like people can just go and buy it.” —David E. Rovella

What You Need to Know Today

Wall Street ended the week on a positive note, with stocks hitting fresh all-time highs. In the run-up to the busiest week for corporate results, the S&P 500 rose for a fifth straight day, approaching 6,400. More than 80% of the index’s companies have exceeded profit estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. That’s on track for the highest share of beats since 2021. “The pace of earnings so far this month has been positive, economic data has been hanging in there, and we’re even starting to get some sense of clarity on tariffs,” said Bespoke Investment Group. “You can’t fault investors for being optimistic.” Here’s your markets wrap.

Bloomberg’s Editorial Board writes that Donald Trump’s cascading attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continue to degrade the institution’s independence. Many business leaders might share the White House’s desire for immediate rate cuts, but calling for lower rates is one thing. Trying to compel the Fed’s submission, as the Republican president and his allies seem intent on doing, is another.

No central bank is infallible, and the Fed’s choices should be thoroughly debated. At least two of its policymakers now seem to agree that a (modestly) lower policy rate makes sense. More, including Powell himself, might join them as further data arrives. Yet trying to force the Fed’s hand is different from questioning its reasoning. It could prove to be an extremely costly mistake.

Microsoft is said to be investigating whether a leak from its early alert system for cybersecurity companies allowed Chinese hackers to exploit flaws in its SharePoint service before they were patched. The alert system is designed to give cybersecurity experts a chance to fix computer systems prior to public revelation of new security concerns.

Microsoft has attributed SharePoint breaches to state-sponsored hackers from China. At least a dozen Chinese companies participate in the alert initiative, called the Microsoft Active Protections Program, or MAPP. Chinese authorities say they oppose hacking and pushed back on what they called “smears.”

The leak of news of a pending patch would be a substantial security failure, said Jim Walter, senior threat researcher for the cyber firm SentinelOne. However, he adds, “it has happened before.”

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