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. Stocks were mixed to start the week . The market got some welcome news over the weekend after the U.S. and Iran paused military strikes . The cooling of geopolitical tensions sent U.S. oil prices down about 7%, with West Texas Intermediate crude falling back to roughly $83 per barrel. The decline in energy prices helped ease inflation concerns, fueling a rally in bond prices. That means, inversely, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped but remained elevated near 4.65%. The recent volatility in energy prices is likely to fuel debate over the future path of monetary policy as the Federal Reserve begins its two-day July meeting on Tuesday. The interest rate decision comes Wednesday afternoon. According to the CME FedWatch tool , the market sees just over a 60% chance of no change in rates and a nearly 40% chance of a hike. The sectors you would expect to benefit from lower oil prices led the market higher. The banks and financials were performing well, with the State Street Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF) hitting a new intraday, all-time high. We’re seeing those gains play out with Capital One bouncing back from last week’s decline post-earnings decline. Wells Fargo traded higher, too. Many retail and consumer stocks rallied, names like TJX Companies , Starbucks , and Costco all higher in the session. The industrials away from those heavily tied to the data center were positive. From a diversification standpoint, healthcare was outperforming, with Johnson & Johnson hitting a new all-time high. J & J shares are now up about $20, or roughly 8%, since falling after earnings two weeks ago. Johnson & Johnson’s dip and subsequent rally is a good reminder that first reactions during earnings season aren’t always the correct ones. The selloff in chip stocks and AI-beneficiaries was holding back the market’s attempt at a rally. Sentiment in semiconductor stocks remained low, and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index pulled back roughly 4% for the second straight session. The index is down about 23% from its highest close on June 22, which was two days before Micron ‘s last earnings report. Alphabet signaled on its earnings call last week that its capital expenditures (capex) will continue to rise into 2027, and earnings from Meta Platforms , Microsoft , and Amazon later this week could tell a similar story . However, reports that Nvidia is in talks with OpenAI to provide a $250 billion backstop on one of the AI lab’s data center projects renewed fears about circular deals. Nvidia lost 5%. The AI trade also came under pressure on concerns that China is closing the gap in the artificial intelligence race with cheaper models and semiconductor manufacturing tools. The group’s sensitivity to the negative headlines underscores some of the challenges facing tech stocks, as Jim Cramer discussed in his Sunday column. It’s the calm before the Club earnings storm . After the bell, we get reports from Nucor, Celestica, Universal Health Services, and Amkor Technology. Before Tuesday’s open, Corning and Boeing kick off what will be a total of 10 portfolio companies reporting earnings this week. Coca-Cola, UPS, PayPal, Centene, Pentair, and Royal Caribbean are out Tuesday morning. On the data side, the Conference Board releases its latest consumer confidence (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, including COF, WFC, TJX, SBUX, COST, JNJ, META, MSFT, AMZN, NVDA, GLW, BA.) 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.
More tech pain means gains elsewhere. What’s winning in Monday’s mixed market
Jul 27, 2026
