It was another volatile week for stocks, but Wall Street ultimately finished lower again. The market experienced a sharp sell-off Monday on recession concerns, which led the S & P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst single-day performances since 2022. The VIX index â Wall Street’s fear gauge and a measure of expected volatility for U.S. equities â surged to its highest level in more than four years that same session. The market recouped some of its losses on Thursday after weekly jobless claims appeared to temporarily alleviate worries around the U.S. economy. The reversal continued through Friday as the stock benchmarks rose even further. But it wasn’t quite enough: The S & P 500 and Dow closed Friday down 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively, for the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3%. Looking back, quarterly earnings also played a key role in big stock moves for the portfolio. Eli Lilly posted a blowout quarter Thursday, sending shares 9% higher in a single session. Walt Disney shares fell nearly 5% on Wednesday as weakness in the theme park business overshadowed a strong quarter that checked all the boxes that matter most to us. Jim Cramer recommended taking advantage of the stock’s dip. Speaking of buying opportunities, we took advantage of the market’s convulsions with a flurry of trades. The Club picked up extra shares of seven solid names at a discount during the early week rout, while adding to positions that have long-term growth prospects like Microsoft for its generative artificial intelligence efforts. Meanwhile, we had to exit two stocks altogether to move cash into higher-quality holdings. Here’s a recap of this week’s trades. Monday, August 5 The Club exited Ford Motor and Wynn Resorts , and picked up shares of Microsoft, DuPont, Dover, Wells Fargo and Nextracker. Tuesday, August 6 We tapped our cash pile to buy more Eaton and Advanced Micro Devices , and trimmed our Procter & Gamble position. Wednesday, August 7 Again, the Club bought more Wells Fargo and Advanced Micro Devices. We also sold some Abbott Laboratories . Looking ahead, we’ll see an update on some key inflation data, plus a closer look at the state of the housing and retail sectors. Inflation data: The July producer price index (PPI) is out on Tuesday morning, while last month’s consumer price index (PPI) is due before Wednesday’s opening bell. Both of these are important measures of the economy’s health, which the Federal Reserve factors in when deciding whether or not to lower interest rates next. Traders are pricing in nearly 100% odds of a cut when central bankers gather for the next policy meeting in September, according to CME FedWatch data. As we’ve noted in the past, CPI typically carries more weight because it tracks how much consumers are paying for a basket of goods and services over time, helping the Fed gauge if inflation has come down enough to ease policy. But the PPI measures the change in selling prices received by producers over time, providing more insights on inflation at the wholesale level, which can impact future prices for the U.S. consumer as well. Though, the market’s been especially sensitive to labor data recently, as we saw with Thursday’s jobless claims, which led to the S & P 500’s best day since November 2022 . Monday, August 12 Earnings: Monday.com (MNDY), Sun Life Financial (SLF) Tuesday, August 13 8:30 a.m. ET: Producer Price Index Earnings: Home Depot (HD), Pandora (PANDY), Nu Holdings (NU), Sea Limited (SE) Wednesday, August 14 8:30 a.m. ET: Consumer Price Index Earnings: Tencent Holdings (TCEHY), Cisco (CSCO), UBS (UBS), JD.com (JD) Thursday, August 15 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial jobless claims 8:30 a.m. ET: Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey 8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. retail sales Earnings: Walmart (WMT), Alibaba (BABA), Applied Materials (AMAT), Deere & Co (DE), Ross Stores (ROST), Lenovo Group (LNVGY), H & R Block (HRB) Friday, August 16 8:30 a.m. ET: Housing starts (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on July 24, 2024.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
It was another volatile week for stocks, but Wall Street ultimately finished lower again.
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