Stock Market Today, June 24: Wendy's Soars As it Becomes the Latest Meme Stock, Names Steve Cirulis New CFO
Today, June 24, 2026, investors piled in as leadership changes fueled meme stock hype and speculation about a potential turnaround at the burger chain.
Stock Market Today, June 24: Wendy's Soars As it Becomes the Latest Meme Stock, Names Steve Cirulis New CFO
Overview
The Wendy's Company (NASDAQ:WEN), a hamburger-focused quick-service restaurant franchisor, closed at $7.87, up 25.64%. Shares jumped after the company became the latest popular memes tock on the WallStreetBets Reddit community. Wendy’s also named Steve Cirulis as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer last night after hours. Investors are watching whether the leadership change supports turnaround hopes. Trading volume reached 202.2M shares, coming in about 1,483% above its three-month average of 12.8M shares.
The S&P 500 fell 0.08% to 7,360, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.43% to 25,477. Within quick-service restaurant franchising and operations, McDonald's closed at $273.94, up 0.84%, and Yum! Brands finished at $153.02, up 0.94%, offering a steadier read on sector sentiment than Wendy's meme-driven surge.
Details
In a somewhat similar fashion to the original memestock, GameStop, the WallStreetBets community is rallying around Wendy’s and its deeply discounted share price. Down 66% over the last five years, Wendy’s currently has a hefty short interest of roughly 27%, and the WallStreetBets community is hoping to catch these sellers in a short squeeze.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.
