Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday, February 18th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. Our top story so far. The GameStop plot thickens.

GameStop announced that it intends to pursue a sale with its operations in France and

Canada. The retailer said the decision was part of its evaluation of its international assets.

The development is interesting after GameStop rallied last week amid buzz over a possible

entry back into the crypto sector. CNBC reported that the retailer is eyeing investments in

alternative asset classes, including crypto and especially Bitcoin.

Sources indicated that GameStop is still figuring out if the investment is sensible for its business.

The report caught the attention of investors because GME had $4.6 billion in cash holdings at the end of Q3,

compared to its current market cap of $12.1 billion.

The company has a mixed history with cryptocurrency and blockchain initiatives in general.

It launched a self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet in 2022 that allowed customers to manage

digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens.

The move was part of GameStop's broader strategy

to expand into the digital asset space. On the economic front, the Empire State Manufacturing

Index bounced up to positive 5.7 in February, moving to expansion territory from negative

12.6 in January. Economists were looking for a smaller rise to negative 0.5. New orders and

shipments increased moderately. Delivery times grew slightly longer and supply availability

was slightly lower. Panthean macroeconomist Oliver Allen expressed some concern with

the prices paid index jumping to a two-year high, with prices received also rising. That might be a sign that the

tariff-length surge in demand for durable goods since late last year is starting to put some

upward pressure on prices, although neither index has yet strayed far from its typical pre-COVID range,

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