Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Market moves: Stocks are getting hit Thursday on concerns about economic activity, trade policy, and the pace of artificial intelligence infrastructure investment. Tech stocks are especially weak, and a Nasdaq close below 18,157 would send the index into correction territory, down 10% or more from its record-high close of 20,173 back on Dec. 16. Investors did get some hope earlier after President Donald Trump said he would delay tariffs until April 2 on most Mexican imports covered by the USMCA, the trade pact Trump fashioned with Mexico and Canada during his first term. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced NAFTA, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. Unlike Wednesday’s market rally when Trump granted one-month tariff exemptions on automakers, stocks on Thursday continued to struggle, overwhelmed by economic concerns. Jobs Friday : Some of Thursday’s selling might be out of fear of a weak February employment report, which is out Friday morning. Economists expect 160,000 nonfarm payroll additions, an unchanged unemployment rate of 4%, and a 4.1% year-over-year increase in average hourly earnings. It’s possible the consensus job gains estimate may be too aggressive based on weak ADP employment data on Wednesday and the latest report on job cuts from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. According to data from the outplacement firm, layoffs in January came in at their highest level since July 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. More than a third of them came from Elon Musk ‘s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government. Gradual buys: With others afraid, we are trying to be opportunistic. We were buyers in Thursday’s big decline, deploying more of our large cash position into the oversold market as the S & P 500 made a new intraday low for 2025. We added to our Dover position and initiated Capital One . Barring good news, we’ll likely remain patient and wait to make our next round of buys until the market moves another leg lower and becomes even more oversold. Due to the elevated volatility and rapidly changing headlines, we prefer a gradual pace of buying and not a more aggressive stance. Up next: After Thursday’s closing bell, Club names Broadcom and Costco report earnings. Other companies reporting are Gap and Hewlett Packard Enterprise . There are no major earnings out before Friday’s opening bell. The key event Friday morning, as mentioned, is the government’s jobs report. (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.
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street.
