January was great for the stock market. Benchmark gauges notched all-time highs, as stocks charged through a busy earnings season. The S & P 500 set records for five consecutive sessions late in the month. The Dow and Nasdaq 100 , weighted more heavily on Big Tech, closed at milestone levels, too. The Nasdaq , however, still has some work to do to get back to record highs. We took advantage of the hot streak in stocks, making small sales throughout the month. The Club freed up cash in January as Wall Street appeared overly optimistic about how soon the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pretty much confirmed our belief on Wednesday, when he said a March rate cut was unlikely. Here’s a breakdown of our top five performing holdings in January as we turn to February, which is so far keeping the rally going. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia (NVDA) year-to-date performance 1. Nvidia jumped 27.7% in January, notching an all-time record high on Jan. 8 after the chipmaker announced three new graphics cards. Shares got another boost after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg signaled plans to shell out billions for Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips. Zuckerberg’s comments on Nvidia showcase the company’s continued dominance in the graphics processing unit market. The semiconductor sector is known for its boom-and-bust cycle, but we remain bullish on Nvidia as large companies — even outside the U.S. — continue building out their AI infrastructure. We also like Nvidia’s more aggressive push into software. PANW YTD mountain Palo Alto Networks (PANW) year-to-date performance 2. Palo Alto Networks stock rose 17.2% on the rising demand for cybersecurity products and services. Microsoft , for example, disclosed a breach earlier in the month, and analysts at JPMorgan said Palo Alto was a beneficiary. (Microsoft said the hack has been addressed.) The analysts wrote that this latest incident “could drive greater levels of caution with regard to relying too heavily on Microsoft for security,” adding that firms like Palo Alto that “compete with Microsoft in their core markets will benefit.” Jim Cramer agreed with the banking giant. “Palo Alto’s been sensational,” he said. “This stock’s clearly not done [climbing higher].” META YTD mountain Meta Platforms year-to-date performance 3. Facebook parent company Meta climbed 12.7% in January, driven at least in part by a brighter outlook for advertiser spending on its social platforms. A recent TD Cowen survey of U.S. ad buyers showed most have raised their global digital ad forecast for 2024. The firm previously said that the buyers had a preference for Meta’s Reels. And following Thursday’s earnings release, it looks like Meta could be set for an encore in February. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) year-to-date performance 4. Salesforce shares advanced 9.7% in January, boosted by positive Wall Street reports and general optimism around AI-adjacent stocks. Additionally, Salesforce cut roughly 10% of its staff earlier in January, and reportedly has plans to slash roughly 700 more roles, as management remains committed to improving margins. LLY YTD mountain Eli Lilly (LLY) year-to-date performance 5. Eli Lilly stock rose 9% as investors remain bullish on the drug maker’s launch of its new weight-loss treatment Zepbound. Early data indicated a strong start for drug. There was around 7,700 weekly subscriptions for Zepbound in the first week of December, according to Jefferies. Later, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said the treatment notched 25,000 new weekly prescriptions by the end of 2023. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PANW, NVDA, CRM, LLY, MSFT, META. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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 at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 29, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
January was great for the stock market.
Benchmark gauges notched all-time highs, as stocks charged through a busy earnings season. The S&P 500 set records for five consecutive sessions late in the month. The Dow and Nasdaq 100, weighted more heavily on Big Tech, closed at milestone levels, too. The Nasdaq, however, still has some work to do to get back to record highs.
