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. Lost steam: Stocks are up Thursday, but the S & P 500 has come well off its highs of the morning. Similarly, the tech-heavy Nasdaq initially was off to a blistering start in reaction to chipmaker Micron ‘s upbeat commentary, but the index lost some steam alongside the semiconductor group. One potential reason chip stocks gave back some gains as the day progressed: The Wall Street Journal reported AI server maker Super Micro Computer is being probed by the Department of Justice over possible accounting violations. But that looks like a Super Micro-specific problem, and it does not change the still-robust demand story for artificial intelligence chips. Club holding Advanced Micro Devices is maintaining its rally on not only Micron’s report but also news that its MI300x AI chips are now generally available on Oracle’s cloud-computing platform. We’ll hear more about AMD’s AI ambitions at its Oct. 10 AI event . In addition to AMD, Micron’s report shed light on the business prospects of seven other Club holdings . Meanwhile, consumer and industrial stocks with exposure in China are rallying nicely for the second time in three sessions in response to the Chinese government’s latest commitment to stimulate its struggling economy. That includes Club name Starbucks , which is up about 2%. Chipping away: Shares of Wells Fargo popped around 5% on signs of progress in its multiyear journey to clean up its operations and have its Federal Reserve-mandated asset cap removed. On Thursday, Bloomberg News reported that the Club-owned bank has submitted a third-party review of its risk and control overhauls to the Fed. The next steps require the Fed to approve the changes and eventually vote to lift the restriction, which was put in place in 2018 due to a series of scandals under previous leadership. The Bloomberg story suggests the asset cap’s potential removal is a 2025 story at the earliest — a view we share — because regulators may ask for more information or additional work. Still, Thursday’s report is the first sign of progress in quite some time, and the market is reacting accordingly. In addition, this news pushes back on the idea that Wells Fargo recently suffered a regulatory setback. That was the market’s takeaway two weeks ago after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced an enforcement action against Wells Fargo, citing deficiencies in the bank’s financial crimes risk management practices and anti-money laundering controls. The stock fell 4% to $51.57 a share in reaction to this news on Sept. 12, but, as we said out at the time, language in the filings of other big banks suggested Wells Fargo wasn’t the only being scrutinized and probably didn’t change the asset cap timeline . Up next: Club holding Costco reports after the closing bell Thursday. The wholesaler reports its sales every month, leaving little to the imagination when it reports its quarterly results. However, investors will be focused on profit margins, member churn after the recently announced fee increase , and how management plans to use that extra fee income to reinvest in the business. No major earnings reports are set for Friday. On the economic data side, we’ll see August PCE price index, the Fed’s favorite inflation indicator. The current consensus estimate is that the index rose 0.1% month over month and 2.3% year over year, which would be down from 2.5% in July. On a core basis, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, the current consensus estimate is a 0.2% month-over-month increase and a 2.7% year-over-year rise, which would represent a slight uptick from 2.6% in July. (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.
