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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. Markets drop: Wall Street struggled to hold onto its early gains and moved lower. We’re not surprised to see the market take a breather after its run over the past two weeks and how overbought it is. Technology initially started the session strong but later fell as semiconductor stocks dropped. We can’t find a specific catalyst for the decline — maybe it was the disappointment around Snowflake ‘s quarter or the small revenue beat from chip designer Synopsys . But some of these stocks were up huge since the yen carry trade blew up earlier this month and there could be some profit-taking. The issues: ” We are beginning to get into the nitty-gritty of the platform of the Democrats and there does seem to be some villains, namely the drug companies for pricing and the supermarket gouging,” Jim Cramer said Thursday. ” It is actually important that the banks aren’t being castigated and that could explain some of the positive action in the banks” Thursday is the final night of the Democratic National Convention, and Vice President Kamala Harris will accept her party’s nomination for president. Medical devices : “The medical device sector is doing better because no one is gunning for them. Abbott Laboratories still acts well as part of the device trade.” Citi raised its price target on Abbott, calling it a medical device favorite. We trimmed our position a tad Tuesday on concerns about diabetes device makers in reaction to fellow Club name Eli Lilly ‘s new study for obesity drug Zepbound. There’s also the legal overhang due to specialized baby formula lawsuits. Housing trade : “We have a four-month inventory of unsold homes. I have always felt that six months is the tipping point and we haven’t reached it yet, hence the homebuilders’ strength” Cramer said. “But I am worried about Best Buy given the furniture weakness from Williams-Sonoma .” The disappointing same-store sales numbers from Williams-Sonoma follow some disappointing comp numbers from Club name TJX ‘s HomeGoods and lackluster sales at Home Depot and Lowe’s . Big ticket, housing-related items are struggling this earnings season. Of course, lower mortgage rates via Fed rate cuts could change that outlook in the quarters ahead. Best Buy reports earnings next week and we’re debating taking some profits ahead of the report. Earnings ahead: “Gap Stores rang the opening bell and I think we could be on the cusp of a multi-year move and I might push for this one to go into the bullpen,” Cramer said. We’ll keep an eye out when Gap reports earnings next week. After the bell, we’ll see earnings from the growing restaurant chain Cava , a couple of software stocks in Workday and Intuit , and the off-price retailer Ross Stores . Jackson Hole : The most important event on Friday isn’t economic data or earnings — it is Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech from the central bank’s annual confab in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We could get some clarity from Powell on whether the Fed is leaning toward a quarter-point or a half-point interest rate cut at its September meeting. Any guidance on how many cuts U.S. central bankers expect by year-end would be welcome, too. Ahead of the speech, the market is pricing in 1 percentage point, or 100 basis points, worth of cuts this year, according to the CME FedWatch tool . (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.