SEC Suspends Trading in 15 Stocks That Got Hyped on Social Media
- Wall Street watchdog temporarily halts trading in 15 stocks
- Regulator says it’s actively monitoring online message boards
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
U.S. regulators are engaging in the stock market’s version of whack-a-mole -- racing to suspend shares of companies with dubious prospects that have been hyped to the moon on social media.
In a Friday statement, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it temporarily halted trading in 15 companies due to concerns that their stock prices were artificially inflated. One of the companies, a penny stock called Blue Sphere Corp., was recently highlighted in a Bloomberg News story after spiking in value following a barrage of posts on online message boards.