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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. Tuesday turnaround: Much weaker-than-expected consumer confidence data sent the market down earlier in the morning, but we’ve rallied since the Morning Meeting , putting the S & P 500 on track for a second straight record close. The materials sector is leading the way, driven by a rally in commodities after China announced new stimulus measures to boost its struggling economy. Tech, industrials, consumer discretionary, communication services, and real estate are also firmly in positive territory. Lagging are the financials along with defensive sectors like health care, utilities, and consumer staples. Energy couldn’t hang on to its gains at the start of the session, despite oil prices up more than 1% Tuesday. Heavy lifting : Nvidia is a big reason for the S & P 500’s daily gain. Shares of the AI chip leader are up about 4% after spending the beginning of the session in the flat-to-down range. The stock might be rallying on a headline from financial news outlet Barron’s, which reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang completed a predetermined trading plan he adopted earlier this year. As the largest individual shareholder of Nvidia, no one should fault Huang for wanting to monetize a portion of his stake, especially after the trillions of dollars in value he’s created over the past few years during the AI boom. We do not know if Huang will enter into another trading plan to sell additional shares, but the completed one was a point of contention for some investors. So, we understand why shares are bouncing off Tuesday’s news. Other artificial intelligence-linked semiconductor stocks like Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom also traded higher. Home improvement : Oppenheimer wrote a bullish piece on home improvement stocks Home Depot and Lowe’s . The analysts prefer Lowe’s to Club holding Home Depot, upgrading the former to a buy-equivalent buy rating due in part to its still-discounted valuation. The firm kept a peer perform rating on Home Depot and upped its price target to $400 a share from $345, which implied about 2% upside from its close Monday. Nevertheless, both stocks are making new 52-week highs Tuesday. Oppenheimer closely examined prior Federal Reserve easing cycles – the early 2000s, the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 – and said the data suggests moderating rates lead to improved housing activity and demand for home-related products. This is exactly why we started buying Home Depot earlier this month . We’ve pointed out that when elevated 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fall into the 5% to 6.5% range , housing turnover finally unlocks. We also said that the drop in mortgage rates won’t fix these retailer’s businesses overnight because there typically is a lag effect. Oppenheimer also made this point, with analysts expecting the companies’ sales to strengthen late in 2025. Still, both Home Depot and Lowe’s trading at their highest levels in the past year Tuesday is another good example of why you have to buy stocks before the cyclical part of their business bottoms. Up next: After the close Tuesday we’ll see earnings from the homebuilder KB Home . Cintas reports before the opening bell Wednesday. Cintas is a provider of work apparel and uniforms, and its executives’ commentary often provides are good pulse on business formation and the economy. On the data side, housing will be the focus with mortgage applications and new home sales. (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.