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. Shares were trading higher as the new trading month began. The S&P 500 ended a three-session losing streak and was on track to hit a new closing high. There were concerns in early trading that the weekend’s decline in cryptocurrencies and Friday’s decline in precious metals such as gold and silver would spill over into the broader stock market. However, volatile movements in these markets were subdued. President Donald Trump announced Monday that the United States and India have agreed to a trade deal that lowers each country’s tariff rates. Trump also said in a post on Truth Social that India has pledged to buy more than $500 billion in U.S. goods, including energy, technology, agriculture and coal, and agreed to halt oil purchases from Russia. Industrial stocks were near the top of the leaderboard on Monday for several reasons. First, Oracle’s plan to raise up to $50 billion was well-received by investors, further cementing its spending on AI data centers. Doubts about OpenAI’s ability to repay its debt also eased over the weekend after NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang pushed back on reports that his investment plans for OpenAI were in jeopardy. Another reason for the rise in the industrial sector was the ISM Manufacturing PMI report, which showed that economic activity in manufacturing expanded in January for the first time in 12 months. The index rose from 47.9 to 52.6, the highest level since 2022. Indices for new orders, production, employment and prices also rose from December. Susan Spence, Chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Manufacturing Research Committee, attributed January’s strong performance in part to a “post-holiday reorder month,” but we still take it as a win. The recovery in manufacturing is consistent with what we heard last week from diversified industrial company Dover. Dover reported its best quarterly revenue and booking growth this year. The company also said it does not expect individual end markets to decline in 2026 compared to 2025, suggesting a tipping point is here for broader industrial companies. Monday’s economic data provided a positive start, but also showed the week’s most important data points are lagging. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the January employment report will not be released this Friday due to the government shutdown. Laggy economic data could make the Fed’s job more difficult, but short-term risks appear to be limited given the Fed’s next policy meeting is not until mid-March. The next thing to watch after Monday’s closing bell will be the earnings of Palantir, Teradyne, NXP Semiconductors, and Simon Property Group. Eaton, PayPal, PepsiCo, Merck, Pfizer, Archer Daniels Midland, Hubbell and Gartner will release reports before trading opens on Tuesday. (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.
