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. For the past five trading days, stocks have been rallying to end another volatile week while the S&P 500 remains headed for losses. A weaker-than-expected January consumer price index also contributed to the market’s strength on Friday, pushing bond yields lower and boosting expectations for interest rate cuts later this year. This week’s data, along with the better-than-expected January jobs report, should give markets some reassurance about the direction of the economy. There has also been some recovery in sectors hit hardest by concerns about AI disruption, particularly software, which was among the first to sell on such concerns earlier this year. All S&P sectors except communications services were in positive territory, weighed down by Alphabet’s decline. The three best-performing sectors in the market this week were utilities, materials, and real estate. This was the market’s way of saying that the risk of AI disruption faced by the owners of these hard assets was minimal. Consumer staples and energy also recorded increases of more than 1%. This week’s market weakness was most concentrated in financials, communications services, consumer goods, and technology. Eli Lilly is preparing to launch a GLP-1 obesity drug. Thursday’s filing revealed that the drugmaker has amassed $1.5 billion worth of pre-market inventory of orforglipron. This is an increase from the approximately $550 million in inventory Lilly held last year. The Food and Drug Administration has set a target action date for approval of orforglipron of April 10, and this pre-built inventory indicates that Lilly anticipates strong demand from the beginning and will not face the supply chain shortages experienced by the GLP-1 market from 2022 to 2024. If the strong uptake of Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug WeGoby is any guide, these new drugs will expand the category with a fresh start, without significant growth. Cannibalizing the injectable drug market. About 50 companies in the S&P 500 index are scheduled to report earnings during the next holiday-shortened week. The portfolio gets Palo Alto Networks on Tuesday nights and Texas Roadhouse on Thursday nights. Other important earnings reports to watch include Walmart, DoorDash, Toll Brothers, and Deere. On the data side, this week’s headliners are durable goods orders, housing starts, industrial production, December PCE price index, fourth quarter GDP, new home sales, University of Michigan consumer sentiment and inflation expectations. (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.
