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. (We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) AI trade: Market gains accelerated since the Morning Meeting, with both the Nasdaq Composite and S & P 500 rising to new all-time highs. The Nasdaq topped its November 2021 record close Thursday and its November 2021 all-time intraday high Friday. Credit the artificial intelligence ecosystem trade for the strength. The latest to show concrete benefits from AI was Dell Technologies , which delivered a strong quarter and forward guidance due to demand for AI servers. Dell shares surged nearly 30%. Semiconductor stocks and anything else tied to the buildout of so-called AI factories were also pulled higher. The Energy sector was strong in response to U.S. oil prices climbing back to $80 per barrel, levels not seen since last November. What worked : The top-performing sectors this week were Tech , Energy and Consumer Discretionary . In the portfolio, Salesforce earned top marks thanks to a great quarter from its Data Cloud and a strong margin forecast for the upcoming year. Palo Alto Networks was another big gainer this week, despite Friday’s pullback, as the cybersecurity name continued to claw back its recent losses. Broadcom , Bausch Health and GE Healthcare were a few other outperformers. What didn’t : The worst performing sectors this week were Utilities , Health Care and Consumer Staples – three of the more defensive areas in the market. Alphabet and Apple continued to lag their Magnificent Seven peers. Alphabet shares dropped on worries about its AI initiatives and whether its Search business will be disrupted by generative AI chatbots. Apple dipped due to ongoing concerns about its iPhone business in China. Wynn Resorts, Foot Locker and Starbucks were a few other…
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