My top 10 things to watch Friday, Feb. 24 1. The Fed’s favorite inflation gauge came in hot for January. The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index suggests inflation picked back up at the start of 2023. The Dow , the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq open sharply lower on the news. Ahead of Friday morning’s PCE release, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester tells CNBC she sees a case to go back to a half-point interest rate hike. 2. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told me Thursday the Fed could take rates to 6%. What would that world look like? Current range: 4.5% to 4.75%. The most recent dot plot, released after the December meeting, put the so-called terminal rate at 5.1%. At its latest meeting, policymakers opted for a smaller quarter-point increase. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the market email newsletter for free 3. Still focusing on Club holding Nvidia (NVDA) and waiting for CEO Jensen Huang’s March 21 keynote at the chipmakers GTC developers conference. In focus: the H100 for accelerated computing, artificial intelligence and the metaverse. The H100 for mainstream computers comes with a five-year subscription to the Nvidia Software Enterprise suite that teaches everything you need to know about how to use chatbots and so much more. Jensen in deep dive mode. 4. Bausch + Lomb (BLCO) catches multiple price target boosts. Really great for Club name Bausch Health (BHC), which owns most of BLCO. Makes it so struggling BHC, which closed Thursday up 14% on solid earnings , can get rid of all short-term debt as it figures out a long-term strategy without best-selling drug Xifaxan. An appeals court is still considering BHC’s defense of Xifaxan’s patents. 5. HSBC takes Linde (LIN) to $380 per share from $375; keeps buy rating. This is an excellent Club name, perhaps the best growth cyclical because of the demand for industrial gases. We will talk about it at Saturday’s first-ever annual meeting for Club members. Here’s the link to the livestream. 6. The Justice Department is reportedly getting ready to block the Adobe (ADBE) purchase of privately held Figma. Even though it’s very expensive, a $20 billion deal, it’s so needed because Canva is really coming for Photoshop. Absorbing Figma would help Adobe make it a two-company battle with Canva for dominance in design software. 7. Evercore ISI goes to in line from underperform (hold from sell) on Block (SQ). Big defeat as this thing keeps signing up people like mad. Baird, Wells Fargo and Needham all raise price targets on the company formerly known as Square. 8. Barclays is warning to get out of Nordstrom (JWN). Big reduction in estimates ahead of earnings set for March 2. Analysts cut price target to $16 per share from $18; keep underweight (sell) rating. Citi sees the high-end department chain’s prospects differently, raising its PT to $20 from $17; keeps neutral (hold) rating. Citi doesn’t see any surprises in the quarter. 9. I like the Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) quarter. Really cutting down on debt. In entertainment, we like and own Disney (DIS), whose CEO Bob Iger recently unveiled a major cost-cutting plan. 10. SVB Securities downgrades Moderna (MRNA) to underperform from market perform (sell from hold); cuts price target to $93 per share from $111. Cites dwindling Covid profits. Too short-sighted. (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.
My top 10 things to watch Friday, Feb. 24
1. The Fed’s favorite inflation gauge came in hot for January. The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index suggests inflation picked back up at the start of 2023. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq open sharply lower on the news. Ahead of Friday morning’s PCE release, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester tells CNBC she sees a case to go back to a half-point interest rate hike.
2. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told me Thursday the Fed could take rates to 6%. What would that world look like? Current range: 4.5% to 4.75%. The most recent dot plot, released after the December meeting, put the so-called terminal rate at 5.1%. At its latest meeting, policymakers opted for a smaller quarter-point increase.
3. Still focusing on Club holding Nvidia (NVDA) and waiting for CEO Jensen Huang’s March 21 keynote at the chipmakers GTC developers conference. In focus: the H100 for accelerated computing, artificial intelligence and the metaverse. The H100 for mainstream computers comes with a five-year subscription to the Nvidia Software Enterprise suite that teaches everything you need to know about how to use chatbots and so much more. Jensen in deep dive mode.
4.Bausch + Lomb (BLCO) catches multiple price target boosts. Really great for Club name Bausch Health (BHC), which owns most of BLCO. Makes it so struggling BHC, which closed Thursday up 14% on solid earnings, can get rid of all short-term debt as it figures out a long-term strategy without best-selling drug Xifaxan. An appeals court is still considering BHC’s defense of Xifaxan’s patents.
5. HSBC takes Linde (LIN) to $380 per share from $375; keeps buy rating. This is an excellent Club name, perhaps the best growth cyclical because of the demand for industrial gases. We will talk about it at Saturday’s first-ever annual meeting for Club members. Here’s the link to the livestream.
The Investing Club Annual Meeting 2023 this Saturday
Join Jim Cramer and Club portfolio director Jeff Marks on Saturday for our first annual meeting, live from 10:30 a.m. ET to around 4 p.m. ET, with members in New York City. They’ll talk about the Club’s investing strategies and outlook for 2023, and answer questions from the audience and members at home. This event will be live-streamed on CNBC. Watch here.
Here’s the agenda:
10:30-11 a.m. ET: CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla interviews Jim Cramer
11-11:15 a.m. ET: Jim’s opening remarks on the state of the markets, economy
11:15-11:30 a.m. ET: Q&A with Jim and Jeff Marks on general investing, market thoughts, education
11:30-12:15 p.m. ET: Jim and Jeff discuss the Club portfolio (Part 1)
12:15–1:30 p.m. ET: Lunch break
1:30-2:15 p.m. ET: Jim and Jeff discuss the portfolio (Part 2)
2:15-2:45 p.m. ET: Q&A with Jim and Jeff on portfolio
2:45-3 p.m. ET: Jim’s closing remarks
Again, if you’re not attending live, you can still watch it live on Saturday. Shortly after the conclusion of the event, we’ll be posting video of the annual meeting.
6. The Justice Department is reportedly getting ready to block the Adobe (ADBE) purchase of privately held Figma. Even though it’s very expensive, a $20 billion deal, it’s so needed because Canva is really coming for Photoshop. Absorbing Figma would help Adobe make it a two-company battle with Canva for dominance in design software.
7. Evercore ISI goes to in line from underperform (hold from sell) on Block (SQ). Big defeat as this thing keeps signing up people like mad. Baird, Wells Fargo and Needham all raise price targets on the company formerly known as Square.
8. Barclays is warning to get out of Nordstrom (JWN). Big reduction in estimates ahead of earnings set for March 2. Analysts cut price target to $16 per share from $18; keep underweight (sell) rating. Citi sees the high-end department chain’s prospects differently, raising its PT to $20 from $17; keeps neutral (hold) rating. Citi doesn’t see any surprises in the quarter.
9. I like the Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) quarter. Really cutting down on debt. In entertainment, we like and own Disney (DIS), whose CEO Bob Iger recently unveiled a major cost-cutting plan.
10. SVB Securities downgrades Moderna (MRNA) to underperform from market perform (sell from hold); cuts price target to $93 per share from $111. Cites dwindling Covid profits. Too short-sighted.
(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.
