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. (We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) Down market : Concerns about rekindling inflation and a possible Iran attack on Israel were knocking stocks lower Friday. The Dow , the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq were all losing more than 1% each on the session and also headed for weekly losses. Not even a dip in bond yields Friday was helping stocks as it often does. The flight-to-safety trade — bond buying, meaning yields go lower — was palpable and a rise in oil prices due to Mideast worries also was a headwind. A recent intensification of price pressures also weighed on the market Friday after the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey showed year-ahead and long-run inflation expectations ticked higher. Investors were already on edge after Wednesday’s hotter consumer price index for March. As Jeff Marks, the Club’s director of portfolio analysis, said during Friday’s Morning Meeting , Wall Street’s weakness Friday could push the overall stock market into oversold territory. We’ll find out when the S & P 500 Short Range Oscillator comes out after the closing bell. In oversold markets, our Club discipline mandates that we look for stocks to buy. Marks said Friday we’re considering another Best Buy add next week. He also said beer giant Constellation Brands could be a buy on further weakness for Club members who don’t own some already. Constellation reported a solid quarter on Thursday. Mideast concerns : West Texas Intermediate crude , the U.S. oil benchmark, jumped Friday and was above $87 per barrel at one point on Mideast supply concerns. Overt Iran aggression risk has been simmering since last week, when Israel launched a deadly missile attack on the Islamic Republic’s consulate in Damascus, Syria. Iran’s proxies have been taking shots at the Jewish state for months now as the Israel-Hamas war rages on. WTI has had an up-and-down past few sessions — and even with Friday’s gain, it looks like it’s headed for a losing week. Three weekly winners : Despite the wash of red, there were some portfolio stocks in the green this week. Palo Alto Networks rose nearly 4% on the week. Tuesday was particularly strong after the cybersecurity company announced an expanded partnership with Google Cloud. The Google Cloud Next event, which kicked off Tuesday, also boosted Alphabet ‘s shares more than 3% this week. Apple ‘s gain of almost 3.5% for the week reflected Thursday’s surge, which was the best single session for shares of the iPhone maker since last May. Apple’s nearly 9% year-to-date decline is looking like an attractive level to hedge fund investors, JPMorgan wrote in a note this week. Three weekly losers : Most of our stocks were in the red this week. Foot Locker has fallen more than 8% over the past five sessions. Thursday was a bright spot and the sneaker retailer filed its annual report. But that was the only positive session in the past 11. Ford dropped nearly 5.5% this week after 3%-plus slides Tuesday and Friday. Ford said late Thursday it’s preparing to resume F-150 Lightning shipments, and it’s dropping prices on some models. Earlier Friday, we explained why we want Ford to take a page out of its crosstown rival’s playbook . Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley declined 7% for the week after Thursday’s news that U.S. regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission, are investigating the bank’s wealth management business over concerns about money laundering. Next week : Morgan Stanley reports earnings before the opening bell Tuesday, following better-than-expected quarterly numbers from our other financial holding, Wells Fargo , before the bell Friday. Club holdings Abbott Laboratories and Procter & Gamble also deliver their latest quarters next week, on Wednesday and Friday mornings, respectively. The week ahead is lighter on the economic data: Retail sales are out Monday, followed by housing starts Tuesday and jobless claims Thursday. (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.
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. (We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.)
