A few weeks can make a big difference. The last time we held our monthly meeting was on Friday, March 27, when the stock market was still stuck in the fog of war with Iran. The following Monday I felt a little more sore. However, it turns out that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed March 30 at their lowest levels since the attacks began in late February. Since then, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have made incredible gains, rising 10.7% and 15.5%, respectively, as of Wednesday’s close, both hitting new closing highs. The Nasdaq has been up for all 11 trading days, its longest winning streak since November 2021. The S&P 500 has been trading for 10 of the past 11 trading days. Since then, the market has continued to soar on the back of expectations for a resolution to the Middle East conflict. It also helped that U.S. oil prices have fallen about 18% from their April 6 war high of nearly $113 a barrel. .SPX .IXIC YTD Mountain S&P 500 and Nasdaq YTD This dramatic rise in stock prices underscores what Jim Cramer has been preaching for more than a month and repeating at his March meeting: “Don’t panic.” Don’t exit the stock market feeling like it’s an easy way out of a tough market. We’re not market timers, but Jim’s advice came one session before stocks hit their wartime lows on March 30th. Ahead of Thursday’s April monthly meeting, which will be livestreamed starting at noon ET, the club’s best-performing stocks over the period shattered the broader market’s big gains. To be sure, not all stocks rose. The rankings of the top four stocks and bottom four stocks from March 30th to Wednesday’s close are as follows: Top 4 Broadcom gains 35.2% The chipmaker booked two sales this week, taking profits following a massive rally in its stock price. We reduced positions on Monday and Wednesday. The recent rally comes after a number of positive developments, including a multi-year deal with Meta Platforms announced after the close of trading on Tuesday. Corning Up 30.9% Stocks that support the AI infrastructure boom are falling. Corning makes optical fiber in data centers, which is in hot demand as hyperscalers invest hundreds of billions of dollars in energy-intensive facilities. In his Sunday column, Jim described Corning stock as one of the “endless data center insides.” Meta Platforms up 25.2% Not only did the Broadcom news boost investor sentiment, but Meta also announced an expansion of its $21 billion AI infrastructure deal with CoreWeave last week. Additionally, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced a new AI model, Muse Spark, around the same time. We hope Muse Spark helps justify Meta’s massive AI spending. Amazon gains 23.7% The rise in Amazon stock pushes Amazon’s weight in the portfolio to more than 5%, which is above our ideal criteria. Jim said Tuesday that he is considering downsizing the position as a right-sized move. Shares soared nearly 4% that day after Amazon announced a deal to acquire Globalstar and strengthen its Leo satellite internet business. Bottom 4 Nike fell 11.3% A lackluster earnings report in late March put pressure on the retailer. Forward guidance also disappointed investors. This release was proof that Nike’s rebuild was farther along than expected. We give CEO Elliott Hill one more chance to show progress. However, it’s not all bad news. Nike received a much-needed vote of confidence after Hill and director Tim Cook each bought about $1 million worth of stock in the past week. Salesforce falls 4% The stock fell along with other software products. Investors are concerned about how generative AI will impact Salesforce’s sheet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model. “When you’re in a software camp, you’re treated like you’re ready to be embalmed,” Jim said last week. “If you’re in the hardware and AI camp, you’re heading to a great temple,” he said, pointing to the interests of chipmakers and other companies that help build data centers and AI infrastructure. Johnson & Johnson – 1.6 The company started a position in Johnson & Johnson in early April, replacing pharmaceutical rival Bristol-Myers. J&J stock has been a laggard lately, but the club likes the drugmaker’s ongoing portfolio transformation and its robust pipeline. Our decision was validated on Tuesday when management announced a beat-and-raise quarter. We hope to further strengthen J&J’s position. Costco, down 1.2% The stock has seen impressive gains since the start of the year. Costco’s decline had little to do with fundamentals and more to do with profit-taking. After all, the wholesale retailer reported another month of impressive sales last week. We continue to like Costco because more shoppers tend to shop for bargains, especially in an environment of high gas prices. (See here for a complete list of Jim Cramer Charitable Trust stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. 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