Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. (We are no longer recording audio, so we can get this new written feature out to members as quickly as possible.) Bounce Attempt: After a nice rally at the start of the session, the S&P 500 was struggling to hold on. on its gains. (The index moved solidly into the red after the first publication of this story.) This would make for two consecutive days of declines late in the day, which could simply be the result of the market trying to sit on neutral ground ahead of Friday's session. Job data. Or perhaps the market is starting to fear the recent rise in oil prices? WTI traded lower for most of the session but rose $1 at around 1:45 PM EST – almost perfectly paralleling the stock market sell-off. As we wrote in a commentary on Thursday morning: This oil rally should not be ignored. .SPX @CL.1 1D Mountain S&P 500 vs. WTI – JOBS ONE DAY FRIDAY: The last few monthly employment reports from the government showed a resilient labor market on the surface with strong job gains and moderate wage growth but significant negative revisions to previous months. This dynamic has led some market watchers to believe that cracks are starting to form. Let's see what the latest numbers show and keep an eye on corresponding moves in the Treasury market since the recent rise in bond yields has led to some choppy behavior in stocks. Doubling down: Ford announced it has delayed production of its all-electric SUV and pickup truck. Instead, the automaker plans to expand its hybrid offerings. By the end of the decade, Ford expects to offer hybrid powertrains across the entire Ford Blue lineup in North America. The Ford Blue division includes all internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid vehicles. This update isn't a huge surprise if you listen to CEO Jim Farley's comments on the last few earnings calls. With sluggish demand for electric vehicles, weak pricing power, and rising interest rates making profits more important, Ford has rightly pivoted toward a more prudent capital allocation strategy to slow the pace of investment in electric vehicles. This doesn't mean the company has lost sight of expanding its profitable electric vehicle business over the long term, but what we'd rather see is Ford's profits and cash flows being maximized. The company responded to this call by manufacturing more types of cars in demand. This means doubling reliance on hybrid cars, whose sales increased by 42% in the first quarter. We believe the market will reward this strategy over time. That happened for most of Thursday, though Ford stock fell after the market lost steam. Shares of the automaker closed up about 2.8% on Wednesday after those quarterly sales numbers. (See here for a complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you'll receive a trade alert before Jim takes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after a trade alert is sent before buying or selling a stock in his charitable fund's portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after the trade alert is issued before executing the trade. The above Investment Club information is subject to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, as well as our Disclaimer. No obligation or fiduciary duty exists or is created by your receipt of any information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or profits are guaranteed.
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. (We are no longer recording audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.)
