The stock market has been tense since the club’s monthly meeting in August. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8 percent during the period, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite rose 2.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively. But this rise has not been one-sided for the stock market. Investor concerns about the longevity of the productive artificial intelligence boom, along with market sensitivity to the Federal Reserve’s next policy stance, have caused Wall Street to struggle in recent weeks. Case in point: On Friday, the S&P 500 finished its worst week since March 2023, led by a weaker-than-expected jobs report in August and a big drop in Nvidia (although the artificial intelligence chipmaker rallied this week and many He has deleted those losses). September’s tough performance so far follows four consecutive winning months for the S&P 500. We have taken advantage of recent market fluctuations. Since our last monthly meeting, the club has reduced shares of Eli Lilly and Procter & Gamble and exited our position in Estee Lauder entirely. We used these funds to strengthen our position in AI beneficiary Dover and Nextracker’s clean energy play, despite the latter’s near-term challenges. We also initiated a stake in Home Depot on September 4th. The recent turmoil has pushed the money market into more defensive territory as investors look for well-capitalized companies that can withstand a potential downturn. Just look at portfolio names like Abbott Laboratories and TJX Companies. These two were our top performers from the August monthly session. Meanwhile, other winners such as Amazon escaped last week’s selloff in megacap tech, while Best Buy rose on a strong quarterly earnings report. Advanced Micro Devices joined the gainers late Wednesday as chip stocks bounced back. Here’s a rundown of the factors that drove each of the five stocks higher from the close of the club’s Aug. 14 meeting through Wednesday’s close. 1. Best buy: Stocks rallied 17.7% on Aug. 23 after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Best Buy could benefit from the rate cut, as lower borrowing costs lead to more activity in the housing sector, which could increase demand for the company’s offerings such as televisions and appliances. We capitalized on the move higher and did a small sell on August 26th to hedge against any disappointment in its upcoming earnings report. He was not disappointed. In fact, most of the stock’s double-digit advance came from Bit’s quarter and an increase in electronics retailers on Aug. 29. The stock jumped more than 14% in the session. Although the stock is down nearly 3 percent since the initial launch, it has held on to most of its gains on a string of positive Wall Street comments. Bank of America, Telsey Advisory Group and DA Davidson each raised their price targets after the quarterly results. We also updated our PT from $95 to $105 per share. 2. Amazon: Shares of the e-commerce giant surged 8.5 percent on a string of positive Wall Street surveys, fueling a continued recovery after its earnings sell-off that began last month. On August 19, JP Morgan named Amazon its top Internet stock pick. A few days later, Goldman Sachs named the stock its top Internet pick, while reiterating a buy rating on the stock. In an Aug. 29 note, Goldman analysts said that even if consumers narrow their shopping choices amid economic uncertainty, the company remains well-positioned to capitalize on shifting spending. “We believe that [Amazon] Pointing to the growth of Amazon’s everyday essentials business, the analysts wrote that this is an opportunity to gain market share and meet consumers with lower prices, faster delivery speeds and wider selection. The stock faded a bit after that until Monday, when the stock rebounded. After Amazon’s investor day, where investors celebrated CEO Andy Jassy’s positive comments about its cloud business and new partnership with Oracle 3. On Aug. 21, TJX rose 6.1 percent after raising its fiscal 2025 profit outlook, and since then, the stock has lost about 2 percent. But that’s far better than the performance of a retail ETF, which lost TJX’s relative performance against other retailers as investors sought recession-proof names. 4. Advanced Micro Devices: AMD’s 6.5% gain has been a big gainer, up 11.5% in the past three sessions alone to top the top five. The stock has been under pressure in recent months, including in late August through September. Diminished buyers have now kicked in alongside some generally positive updates on AI demand. After a 2.8 percent jump on Monday, AMD continued to rally after cloud computing partner Oracle released quarterly results. Wednesday’s strength in chip stocks, spurred by comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, likely helped AMD’s gains in that session. Shares rose nearly 5 percent ahead of the September monthly meeting. 5. Abbott Laboratories: The medical equipment maker’s 6.1% gain could thank money flowing into defensive sectors such as health care for a slow climb higher in recent weeks. The S&P 500 health care sector is up 2.2% since the August session, slightly better than the overall index’s 1.8% gain in that time frame. However, Abbott stock appears to have benefited from a company-specific stimulus. The stock really took off on Sept. 5 after the company launched its first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor, Lingo, in the U.S. (See here for a full list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s charitable trust.) As a CNBC Investment Club subscriber with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim trades. After sending a trade alert, Jim waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his mutual fund portfolio. If Jim has discussed a stock on CNBC, he waits 72 hours after issuing a trade alert before placing a trade. The above investment club information is subject to our terms and conditions and privacy policy along with our disclaimer. No obligation or fiduciary duty exists or will be created by reason of receipt of information provided in connection with Investor Club. No specific results or profits are guaranteed.
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on September 4, 2024.
Brendan McDermid Reuters
The stock market has been tense since the club’s monthly meeting in August.
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