Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Market update: Stocks are lower nearly across the board Friday, putting the S & P 500 on track for a flat or small weekly decline. Initially, stocks got a boost after the January nonfarm payroll report showed continued solid job growth and wage gains. But the market dipped at 10 a.m. ET after digesting lower-than-expected University of Michigan consumer sentiment and higher-than-expected one-year inflation expectations. The selling picked up later in the session after Reuters reported that President Trump planned to announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries as early as Friday. Trump later clarified that these tariffs will be announced next week. The added trade uncertainty wraps up a volatile week that saw the market sell off on Monday on concerns about tariffs and a potential trade war with key trade partners Canada and Mexico (both struck a last-minute deal to delay tariffs) and China. It was also the busiest week of corporate earnings this quarter. Roughly one-quarter of the S & P 500 reported, including seven companies in the portfolio. The biggest earnings-related gainer in the portfolio was Eli Lilly after it reassured investors about the trajectory of its obesity drugs franchise. The largest earnings-related faller with Alphabet , which dropped on a small revenue miss and concerns about rising capital expenditures. Sector winners and losers: Consumer staples , surprisingly, was the best-performing sector this week, but the strength was mostly due to the gains in the big heavyweights Costco and Walmart . Both reached new all-time highs. Energy had a positive week, but our lone name Coterra Energy finished slightly in negative territory. Real estate, financials, and technology put together a solid week of gains while utilities and health care were marginally higher. On the flip side, consumer discretionary was the worst-performing group, led lower by weakness in homebuilders and auto stocks. Meta Platforms — on pace for its 15th straight positive session — couldn’t save communication services, which was dragged down by Alphabet . Materials and industrials dipped slightly. Next week: We’ve made it through the gauntlet of earnings season, but there are still a ton of companies reporting next week. Coca-Cola , McDonald’s , and Cisco are the Dow stocks reporting, and in the portfolio we’ll hear from DuPont , GE Healthcare , and Palo Alto Networks . On the economic data side, the first big event is Wednesday when we’ll see the January consumer price index (CPI) report. The consensus forecast is that the index increased 0.3% month over month and 2.9% year over year. The producer price index (PPI) report follows a day later, and retail sales on Friday. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on Feb. 23, 2024.
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Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street.
