Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch audio feature in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Here’s today’s edition. The calendar has turned and so has the market from its end of year melt up, as Wednesday’s declines in the S & P 500 put the index off about 1% to start the new year. Tuesday it was all about profit-taking in the Magnificent Seven stocks after the huge gains they had in 2023. Wednesday was all about the reversing of the broadening out trade – the small caps, the cyclicals and the banks as well as the weaker balance sheet and low-quality names that rallied throughout November and December. While these areas were overbought and short covering was involved, what’s also happening is that these have an inverse relationship with interest rates, and over the past two days bonds have sold off as the market prices in less of a chance that the Fed cuts rates at its March meeting. When bond prices drop yields rise. Jim describes the market dynamic as a game where people try to figure out what the Fed officials in various areas of the country are thinking will vote. Instead, what we like to do is try to figure out individual companies and how they fit into these market changes. Some of the stocks that rallied the hardest in November and December after the Fed’s dovish pivot were getting hammered Wednesday like Estee Lauder and Foot Locker . Both consumer discretionary companies have weak balance sheets whose stocks surged after the dovish pivot. Elsewhere, Ford shares were also down today after disappointing news about the F-150 recalls and higher rates that make it tougher to take out a loan to buy a car. On the upside, some individual Clubs stocks making moves today are Eli Lilly and Coterra . Disney is also higher after the entertainment giant reached a knowledge share agreement with activist firm ValueAct. And tech giant Alphabet is stabilizing after Tuesday’s Mag7 selloff. (See here for a full list…
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