Every weekday, Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club releases the Homestretch, a practical afternoon update to coincide with the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks were higher Friday afternoon, with gains in the S&P 500 pushing it firmly into positive territory for the week. That’s quite a change after last week’s ugly showing, followed by back-to-back losses on Tuesday and Wednesday. Markets received a boost from optimism over an Iran peace deal after Iran’s foreign minister posted on Friday X that a memorandum of understanding was “closer than ever.” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said at X that “the final text of the peace agreement has been reached” and that Pakistan is working with both countries to finalize the next steps. But nothing is guaranteed. Trump administration officials put the probability at 80% to 85%, calling it far from certain. We remain cautiously optimistic that a deal will be reached at some point. Oil markets appear to share that view, with U.S. benchmark WTI crude oil down about 3% and trading below $85 a barrel. Friday’s other big news was SpaceX’s record-breaking initial public offering, with its stock price up more than 25% as of this writing. The IPO generated $100 million in fees for both the club’s namesake, Goldman Sachs, and rival Morgan Stanley. This is a big change for banks. For context, Goldman posted total equity underwriting income of $535 million last quarter. Our smooth delivery service has also earned us a reputation. Goldman bankers can point to the successful SpaceX deal as part of their pitch for SpaceX as Anthropic and OpenAI prepare to go public. Here are some of the biggest gainers in your portfolio during this turbulent week. Intel is in the top spot, up more than 25% after some good news. Stocks soared on Monday after The Information reported that Google has ordered Intel to manufacture more than 3 million tensor processor units (TPUs) in 2028. The report also said that Nvidia is testing Intel’s technology to see if it can manufacture certain processors. Admittedly, this report is still unconfirmed, and some have suggested that Google may be using Intel for packaging rather than manufacturing services. Nevertheless, it shows that AI chip designers are increasingly looking to alternatives to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, making Intel’s promising foundry business a logical second source. Intel stock also had a solid day Thursday after Bank of America reversed its bearish view and doubled its price to buy, citing confidence in its foundry and central processing unit (CPU) businesses. Arm Holdings shares rose about 10% thanks to Friday’s big move. We sold some stocks on Tuesday to further protect our big gains, but each time we sell we bring our position back to 1% and keep it there. Outside of chips, Cardinal Health rose more than 8% as the market briefly turned to non-AI names. The drug distributor was the best-performing health care stock in the S&P 500 this week. The company took the opportunity to reduce its position on Wednesday, even as the stock price rose to its highest since early March and the sale locked in a small loss. Starbucks is up more than 7% this week, pushing its stock price above $100. Restaurant stocks liked the drop in oil prices, as higher oil prices could limit how much people can spend when dining out or dining out. There have also been reports that Starbucks is considering strategic options for its Japan operations, and we welcome this move. Kuniti Electronics has had a strong week, rising more than 6%. There was no company-specific news from this materials supplier to the semiconductor industry, but the stock tends to trade with equipment manufacturers like Applied Materials and Lam Research, which also had strong weeks. It hasn’t been a good week for software when it comes to portfolio weekly losers. Salesforce and Microsoft were therefore the two biggest laggards in the portfolio, down more than 11% and around 7%, respectively. Software stocks appeared to be rebounding in late May and the first trading day of June, but one has to wonder how much of those gains were tied to rebalancing and not reflective of the future. I have no plans to buy either stock on the spur of the moment. Apple had a tough week, dropping more than 5% following the sales response to its WWDC developer conference where it announced the all-new Siri AI. Although the stock price reaction was subpar, Morgan Stanley estimates that more than 850 million iPhones in circulation are unable to run basic Apple Intelligence functions, and more than 1.3 billion iPhones are unable to use some of Siri’s most advanced features. This should facilitate upgrades over the next few years. Other underperforming stocks include “Magnificent Seven” stocks Amazon, Metaplatform and Alphabet. The concern here is that the success of Alphabet’s capital raise announced last week could prompt other hyperscalers to consider selling stock and raising capital. Another thing to keep in mind is that the largest and most liquid stock on the market could have been a source of funding for SpaceX’s new investors. Next week will be a quiet week with only a few companies scheduled to report. Jabil, Progressive and CarMax will report on Wednesday, while Kroger and Accenture will report on Thursday. Other than news of a peace deal between the US and Iran (or an escalating threat), the biggest market-moving event may be the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting. This is a first under new chairman Kevin Warsh. Rates are likely to remain unchanged, but the market will want to know how Mr. Warsh and other members view the recent acceleration in energy-driven inflation, and whether they may be forced to raise rates by the end of the year if prices remain high. Other events include the Investment Club’s monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday at noon (Eastern Time). (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. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
