Retail investors could buy a record $3 billion of US stocks the day they get their stimulus money, one research firm says

• Retail investors could snap up a record $3 billion in stocks the day they start receiving their COVID-19 relief funds, says Vanda Research.
• That could happen as soon as Wednesday or Thursday, when most Americans will start seeing $1,400 deposited into their bank accounts.
• Owning small-cap stocks could be a good way to position for this week's event, says Vanda Research.

Retail investors could buy a record $3 billion of US equities in a single day when they receive their $1,400 stimulus checks from the US government, according to Viraj Patel, global macro strategist at Vanda Research

The firm says this could happen as soon as Wednesday or Thursday of this week. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have previously said their customers are slated to start getting the $1,400 checks on Wednesday.

Numerous Americans have already said on social media sites they've already received the cash approved by Congress and signed off on last week by President Joe Biden. The aim is to help reinvigorate the world's largest economy after it was thrown into recession last year because of the coronavirus crisis.

A new round of cash coming into equities would take place at a time that the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones industrial average have hit all-time highs, spurred in part by investors rotating into cyclical stocks that should benefit from the recovery in the US economy. Many businesses have been reopening their doors as millions of Americans have received vaccinations to ward off COVID-19 infections.

"But besides just guessing past retail favourites (GME, TSLA, AMC, BB, NIO etc.) in the hope that retail traders will plow their stimulus checks into those stocks once again -- we'd think owning small-cap indices (namely the Russell 2000) could be a good way to position for this week's event," Patel told Insider via email on Monday.

Vanda Research's data analysis arm VandaTracks tracks retail investing activity in 9,000 individual stocks and ETFs in the US.

GameStop, AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry have become popular among retail investors who are active on Reddit's WallStreetBets platform and who drove the January rally in those and other so-called meme stocks.

The small-cap Russell 2000 Index has gained about 19% during 2021, with movie theater operator AMC among its best performers. The company this week will begin showing films again in California, starting in the major market of Los Angeles.

Big buying of US equities on Wednesday would be on the same day the Federal Reserve will release its monetary policy statement. The Fed isn't expected to make any changes on interest rates but investors will listen for indications from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell about when the central bank will begin to raise interest rates in the face of improvement in the economy.

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