AMC Stock Price: AMC Entertainment shares pulled down towards $15.00

• AMC Entertainment edges lower on Thursday as the market's mood soured.
• Geopolitical turmoil keeps leading the way for financial markets. 
• The movie theater company is now set for more losses as sentiment dries up.

Update: AMC shares edged lower on Thursday, trading 3.31% lower at $15.19 per share. Wall Street suffered a setback after the US reported local inflation soared to a 40-year high of 7.9% YoY in February, as the figure opens the door for a 50 bps rate hike as soon as next week when the Federal Reserve will have its monetary policy meeting. Government bond yields soared, with that on the 10-year US Treasury note hitting 2.02% and currently at 2.0%. Meanwhile, US indexes stand in the red, although well above their early lows. The Nasdaq Composite is the worst performer at the time being, down 0.81%, while the DJIA is down a measly 0.36%.

Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues. The fourth round of talks ended without an agreement on ceasefire or human corridors. However, Moscow's government announced that it will open corridors daily basis at 10:00 am local time from Ukraine to Russia. Commodity prices cooled down, but speculative interest is now pricing in the effects of higher crude prices on inflation and hence, monetary policy decisions. 

 

 

Previous update: One hour into Thursday's session, AMC stock is down nearly 3.4% at $15.15. This is the second day of losses for AMC after a minor rebound on Tuesday, and it means that AMC shares are aiming for support at $14.90. This is where the cinema chain found solace in early February. Talks between Russia and Ukraine got off to a bad start on Thursday, which left a hopeful market drooping. The US inflation reading also came in high, which did not help the situation. The Nasdaq is down 2.1% at the time of writing. This is, however, better than the start of the session. All three major US indices are down at the moment, but the Nasdaq is the worst off due to its focus on growth stocks. In times of war, worry, and rising interest rates, growth stocks tend to do worse. That is the case here with AMC stock, which tends to only do well when risk-on sentiment returns to the market at large.

We had expected better things from AMC stock on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both days saw a bit more risk back into the market, but AMC failed to catch on. This was despite the perfect catalyst in the form of a strong box office for the new Batman movie. Wednesday in particular was frustrating as AMC only closed up 2%. Other retail favorite stocks such as Lucid and Rivian rose 4% on Wednesday, while Nio rose over 12%. It was left to old school WallStreetBets names AMC and Gamestop to lag the field.

Read more about another retail favorite in Nio here.

AMC Stock News

AMC CEO Adam Aron was on the wires this week trying to get things moving for AMC apes. He said The Batman movie was the third-best weekend box office since the pandemic began. He also said using crypto had worked out well and that AMC may seek to launch its own cryptocurrency in the future. This is probably a weak effort to appeal to the younger AMC apes and keep them on his side. The real problem for AMC is ironically one that AMC shareholders rejected. Raising fresh capital to pay down debt. Shareholders did not want to be diluted so did not back the plans and that has left AMC holding too much debt in a rising interest rate environment. AMC did recently tap the bond markets to restructure its debt profile. AMC Entertainment stretched its maturities out and reduced its interest rates but still needs to do more in our view. This is holding the stock back currently. Growth is no longer sufficient to mask balance sheet problems. 

In response to the strong opening for The Batman, Warner Bros. has moved some of its upcoming releases to more prime slots in the calendar. DC League of Super-Pets has moved from May 20 to July 29. Black Adam was on July 29 but has now moved to October 21 in what looks like a strong weekend with Sony's Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse: Part 1 also slated for that weekend.  

AMC Stock Forecast

Wednesday's move was a big disappointment. AMC stock opened at $15.72, but it closed lower, giving us a red candle for the session. Failure to push on is a big red flag without any momentum. $14.54 is now odds on to break in our view, and that will take AMC toward a test of $10. $8.95 is the next big support on the chart. $21.04 remains the key resistance. 

AMC stock chart, daily

On the intraday chart below, AMC has put in a double top at $16.26. This is a bearish signal and was a warning on Wednesday. A break of $15.34 will likely see more losses on Thursday.

AMC chart, 15-minute

Prior Update: AMC stock has opened nearly 2% lower on Thursday as the stock continues to disappoint investors. AMC failed to rally on Wednesday when the overall market was especially strong. Now stock sentiment is back in bears hands as the US CPI print was high and there appears to be no immediate resolution in sight to the Russia Ukraine conflict. AMC stock is currently trading at $15.28 which is already down nearly 3% after just over ten minutes of trading. This brings support at $1454 firmly into view and a break of that level could see AMC break $10. AMC apes look likely to be disappointed despite the strong Batman performance.