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: Stocks were sharply lower Friday, putting the S & P 500 on track for a decline of more than 1.5%. Growing concerns about the health of the U.S. economy were the main driver of the decline. The preliminary February S & P Global PMIs were weaker than expected with the services index dipping into contraction territory. The final read of February’s University of Michigan consumer sentiment index missed estimates. January’s existing home sales numbers fell more than expected. too. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta provides an ongoing estimate of gross domestic product growth through its GDPNow forecast, which has already been revised downward in recent weeks. The most recent data won’t offer any relief. We don’t know when this big sell program hitting the market will end, but our unusually large cash position that we’ve built up in recent weeks provides us with some protection in this decline. We’ll look to deploy these funds more opportunistically as the market shakeout continues. We added to our Eaton position on Friday. Pockets of green: There are some spots of green within the sea of red, but the stocks up Friday were mostly limited to defensive groups like consumer staples, utilities, and health care. Makes sense when the market is worried about economic growth. Apple was slightly higher on the idea that it would receive tariff exemptions if it built plants in the United States. Danaher was curiously one of the biggest gainers in the portfolio Friday and working on back-to-back sessions of roughly 1% gains despite the broader market weakness. The only news we see is that on Thursday night Danaher announced a 19% increase to its quarterly dividend. While nice, Danaher isn’t considered a dividend play since its yield is about 0.6%. The company also filed its 10-K late Thursday, and analysts at Jefferies pointed out a disclosure that may suggest upside to earnings this year. Jefferies flagged Danaher as having started a cost-savings initiative that could be $150 million or more. “While unclear whether this was factored into ’25 guidance, we view this development as definitively positive (potential > $0.17 EPS upside if it was not) and another example of DHR taking steps to protect the P & L (what investors want)” Jefferies wrote Friday. Lastly, Danaher announced a new member to its board. The company added Charles Lamanna to its board and the board’s Science & Technology Committee. Lamanna has a strong background in the tech world. He is currently a corporate vice president at Microsoft working on AI-powered products. We like the experience Lamanna brings, but a larger shakeup at the C-suite level may be necessary to get this once-exceptional company and stock back on track. Jim Cramer emphasized this point in our Monthly Meeting when he argued the current management team had grown too complacent. Next week: It will be a busier one with roughly 50 companies in the S & P 500 scheduled to report. The most important one will be Nvidia , which is set for release after Wednesday’s closing bell. Salesforce also reports on Wednesday night. Four other Club names report during the week: Coterra Energy on Monday night, Home Depot on Tuesday morning, and off-price retailer TJX on Wednesday morning. There’s also a ton of Fed speak, and it will be interesting to hear their thoughts on some of the weakening economic data. Wrapping things up on Friday is the PCE price index, the Fed’s favorite measure of inflation. (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.
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