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 S & P 500 is solidly higher Thursday, overcoming a volatile start to the session during which the index seesawed between gains and losses. We’ll get into Alphabet in a moment, but its peers within the “Magnificent Seven” cohort are mostly lower, acting as a source of funds as investors rotate into other areas like the banks and industrials. The market is also taking its cue from Club name Nvidia , but not in the way you would think. Sure, Nvidia is up slightly Thursday after yet another earnings beat and upside guide , but what’s happening around Nvidia may be the bigger story. The pin action in industrial stocks tied to the data center buildout and power generation theme was incredible. Club names like Eaton and Dover , along with other data-center plays such as Vertiv , are flying. Eaton is hovering right around its all-time closing high Thursday, while Dover is trading less than $2 below its record close. Alphabet: Shares of Google parent Alphabet shares are getting hammered Thursday after the Department of Justice said in a court filing late Wednesday that it wants the company to divest its web browser Chrome as a remedy to its antitrust case. In Alphabet’s response, which can be read in full here , Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker argued that the DOJ filed a “staggering proposal that seeks dramatic changes to Google services.” He added, “It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.” The DOJ’s other remedy proposals may threaten Google’s existing partnership with AI startup Anthropic , Bloomberg News reported Thursday. We disagree with the DOJ’s proposed remedies, especially since they are targeting products that, as Walker said, people enjoy using everyday. If there was a better alternative to Google’s products like Chrome or Search, you would hear about them more. Still, as longtime Alphabet shareholders, we’ve never felt comfortable shrugging off the Justice Department — even if its final judgment “looks draconian,” according to Evercore ISI, or is unlikely to be approved by the court, per Baird. We cannot underestimate what we do not know. This regulatory overhang is why we have trimmed our Alphabet position to make it small and haven’t chased strong earnings beats like we saw in response to third-quarter numbers. Thursday’s sell-off of nearly 6% looks excessive, but we do not have the confidence to buy the weakness until we have more information. The federal judge overseeing the antitrust case, Amit Mehta, is expected to issue a final ruling on remedies by August 2025. In August of this year, Mehta ruled against Alphabet , concluding it illegally maintained a monopoly in the online search and text-advertising markets. Alphabet has said it plans to appeal the decision. Up next: Companies reporting after the closing bell Thursday are Gap , Ross Stores , Intuit and NetApp . There are no major earning reports 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.
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.