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. Markets: The stock market is wrapping up a good week, with the S & P 500 on Friday pacing for its fifth straight session of gains. This week’s increase put the index off about 30 points from its all-time high close of 6,001.35 on Nov. 11. Weekly gainers: The top-performing sector this week was consumer staples, carried higher by the strong beat and raise from Walmart , which also helped lift shares of Club name Costco to a record high. Utilities and industrials also had strong weeks, thanks to the belief that there isn’t enough power to handle the demand for Nvidia ‘s chips. Materials, real estate and energy also delivered increases. Club name Coterra Energy was the third top gainer in the energy sector, up 8%, as investors continued to appreciate its recent Permian acquisitions. Coterra was also helped by natural gas hitting its highest level since November 2023. Both the financials and technology sectors delivered weekly gains but below that of other groups. Technology had a volatile week as the market digested earnings from its key component Nvidia. The AI chipmaker reported an upside quarter with bullish guidance relative to the Street consensus estimate, but the stock was choppy as investors questioned whether the outlook was good enough to satisfy the stock’s move this year. We’re taking the longer-term approach since its Blackwell chip is shipping better than expected and demand is expected to exceed supply for many quarters. Enterprise software was a standout within technology. CrowdStrike was the top performer in the portfolio this week, up nearly 10%. The healthcare sector rebounded from last week’s bruising tied to the nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services , but the group is still lower on a monthly basis. Weekly laggards: The communication services sector was the loser of the week, with a roughly unchanged finish all due to the Thursday and Friday drops in Alphabet on renewed antitrust concerns after the Department of Justice called for Google to divest its Chrome browser. Alphabet was the worst-performing stock in the portfolio, down roughly 4%. Next week: It’s a holiday-shortened week with markets closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and closed early (1 p.m. ET) on Black Friday. Only nine companies in the S & P 500 are scheduled to report. In the portfolio, we’ll see Best Buy ‘s results Tuesday before the opening bell and CrowdStrike after the closing bell. Other earning reports of interest include Macy’s , Burlington Stores , Dick’s Sporting Goods , JM Smucker , Abercrombie & Fitch , Dell Technologies , Workday , and HP Inc . It’s a heavy week of economic data. The most important report is on Wednesday with the PCE price index, which is commonly referred to as the Federal Reserve’s favorite measure of inflation. The index is expected to show a 2.3% increase year over year in October, up from 2.1% in September. On a core basis, the PCE price index is expected to have increased 2.8% year over year, up from 2.7%. The data could sway the market’s thinking about the Dec.0 18 FOMC meeting and whether a 25-basis-point cut or a pause is in the cards. (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 on Nov. 22, 2024 in New York City.
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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.