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. Markets: Wall Street is having a mixed Friday — the S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are modestly higher while the Dow dropped slightly — but remains on track for a strong week. Tariffs and inflation are at the top of all investors’ minds. Still, the market largely shrugged off this week’s headlines as President Donald Trump’s pledged reciprocal tariffs didn’t go into effect immediately and the two inflation reports — consumer price index and producer price index — are expected to translate to lower than anticipated PCE index, which is the gauge the Federal Reserve is focused on. Tech was the best-performing sector in the S & P 500 this week thanks to big moves in heavyweights Apple and Nvidia , both longtime Club names. Apple traded higher after it was confirmed Alibaba is partnering with the iPhone maker to bring Apple Intelligence to China. Meanwhile, Nvidia erased its year-to-date losses as last week’s momentum in the AI chipmaker continued. After selling off on DeepSeek fears, Nvidia found its footing on the back of strong capital expenditure outlooks from its big hyperscaler customers: Amazon , Microsoft , Alphabet and Meta Platforms . Materials also had a strong week, with Club name DuPont topping the list with a more than 10% move after its quarterly report. Consumer discretionary and health care were at the bottom of the sector performance list. Welcome news for Wells: Club name Wells Fargo has cleared yet another regulatory hurdle, pushing the bank one step closer to getting its Fed-imposed $1.95 trillion asset cap removed . Late Thursday, Wells Fargo confirmed that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated a consent order related to its compliance risk management program. It’s the 10th consent order that U.S. financial regulators have closed since 2019 — the year CEO Charlie Scharf assumed his role — and the fourth closed in the past month alone. In a statement, the chief executive called the series of recent terminations, along with last year’s termination of the 2016 sales practices consent order, a “huge accomplishment.” He added, “We are a different company today than when the new management team arrived.” Wall Street analysts cheered the news. “To us, the pace at which these [consent orders] are being resolved is the most significant takeaway,” Piper Sandler said in a Thursday note to clients. “Bottom line: each of these terminations represents another important step forward in WFC’s broader regulatory remediation efforts. We expect the shares to respond well to this additional step forward.” Indeed, shares of Wells Fargo are up around 1.5% on Friday, outperforming the financial sector, and more than 13% since the start of 2025. The Federal Reserve in 2018 instituted a lid on Well Fargo’s assets following a series of misdeeds. The unprecedented penalty has limited the bank’s growth until it fully cleans up its act. Although the timing around the asset cap’s removal remains uncertain, the recent announcement is another solid sign of regulatory progress for Wells Fargo. The removal of the asset cap is a key reason why the Club has stayed invested in the bank stock. We see the lift as a “when, not if” scenario that will serve as a catalyst for shares. It will allow the firm to finally grow its balance sheet and expand budding fee-based businesses like investment banking . Next week: It’s a slower week of earnings with about 40 companies in the S & P 500 scheduled to report. Walmart is the big name to watch — it reports Thursday — as a barometer of consumer spending, but there’s also a number of restaurant companies reporting including Club name Texas Roadhouse . We expect to see strong same-store sales trends in the fourth quarter, but poor weather across the country could result in some noise around early first-quarter sales trends. We’re keeping this newer position on the small side in case bad weather leads to volatile trading. We also have our February Monthly Meeting next week, which kicks off at noon ET Thursday. (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.
