Fed rate cut guessing game dominates ahead of 5 major events for investors

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 wrap : Stocks were mixed and drifting in Friday afternoon trading. But the S & P 500 and Nasdaq were poised to post weekly gains. Both indexes on Wednesday closed at record highs. Wall Street’s earlier gains Friday came despite a surge in bond yields and another pushout of Federal Reserve interest rate cut odds. The culprits were strong-than-expected nonfarm payrolls growth and average hourly wages for May. Pricing in fed fund futures suggested a roughly 50/50 chance of the Fed lowering rates by 25 basis points at its September meeting, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool . Sector dynamics : With bond yields shooting higher, the sectors you would expect to stumble were indeed lagging. Real estate and utilities tend to trade opposite rates, and that played out Friday. Other sectors lower were staples and materials . Solidly higher were the financials , industrials , tech , health care , and energy . The big banks like the higher-for-longer Fed policy, so long as the economy remains resilient and growing, which the strong data suggests will continue. Our bank stocks Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley were higher Friday. Abbott Laboratories was one of the leaders within health care and was quietly putting together a big week. The reasons were unclear, but we’re reiterating our long-held stance that the stock has been hit too hard by litigation risk. Catalyst ahead : There are several big events on the horizon, starting with Nvidia ‘s 10-for-1 stock split that takes effect after Friday’s close and begins trading Monday. While stock splits in theory do not create any value and shouldn’t matter, it’s hard to argue against the positive impact they’ve had as we pointed out in a commentary Thursday . Club name Nvidia was no different with a gain of roughly 27% since earnings. Other big events on Monday are Apple ‘s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) where iPhone AI news is expected and an FDA meeting discussing Eli Lilly ‘s Alzheimer’s treatment donanemab that goes until after the market closes. Apple and Lilly are portfolio holdings. Wednesday is another big day with the May consumer price index out in the morning, the Fed’s post-June meeting news conference in the afternoon, and earnings from Club name Broadcom after the closing bell. (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.

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