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 meltdown: The S & P 500 and Nasdaq were on track for another difficult close — with declines of nearly 6% for each, bringing this week’s losses to around 9% and 10%, respectively. There was a brief recovery in the market following President Donald Trump ‘s comments about Vietnam wanting to negotiate a deal to reduce tariffs. This development suggests a willingness on the part of the Trump administration to, at least, consider tariff deals that could help ease the pressure of this manufactured market selloff. The market selling, however, picked back up after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech in Virginia. Powell was his usual pragmatic and thoughtful self, but the market wanted something more dovish. The Fed chief acknowledged that the tariffs were “significantly larger than expected” and their economic effects “will include higher inflation and slower growth” for the economy. That was not what the market wanted to hear as it was beginning to fully price in a 25 basis point rate cut at the June meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool, and at least three more by the end of the year. As always, we’ll have to see how the data unfolds before getting more serious about rate cuts. Housing help : One of the few bright spots in Friday’s brutal market offers clues on how investors are now thinking about the tariff fallout. Shares of homebuilders and other companies that benefit from a pickup in housing activity, including Club name Home Depot , are outperforming the broader market Friday. A popular exchange-traded fund that tracks homebuilding stocks, was up modestly despite the S & P 500 rout. The reason: Bond yields are dropping for the second straight day as part of a flight to safety move in response to tariffs, and investors are starting to realize that it could spark activity in a housing market that’s been stubbornly sluggish due to elevated mortgage rates. During Thursday’s tariff-driven market plunge, the homebuilder ETF and shares of both home improvement retailers sold off because recession fears were winning the day. The yield on the 10-year Treasury — which influences borrowing costs on a variety of loans including mortgages — reached its lowest level since October, at just above 4%, and was a secondary consideration. Now, with the 10-year yield falling below 4% on Friday, the market is paying more attention to the benefit that lower rates could provide this group of stocks. Jim Cramer made it clear Thursday that lower rates shouldn’t be ignored. On Friday, at least, they are not. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate on Friday is sitting around 6.55%, according to the Mortgage News Daily . That’s down from 6.79% a week ago. The highs of the year, which were north of 7.2%, came in January. Executives at Home Depot have previously said 6.5% is the key level to watch because, historically, mortgage rates around there have coincided with a pickup in activity. To be sure, the decline in bond yields won’t improve things in the housing market overnight and the risks to the broader U.S. economy remain real if Trump’s country-specific tariffs go into effect next week in their current form. While a weaker consumer and economy overall is generally not ideal for housing, that must be balanced against a ton of pent-up demand to buy homes. The gains in homebuilders, Home Depot, and Lowe’s on Friday suggested that investors are increasingly believing some of that demand will finally be unlocked. Next week: The most important thing to watch over the weekend is how countries respond to the tariffs and their willingness to try to make deals with the United States. We’re also interested in seeing if companies can work with the Trump administration and pledge investment in the United States to gain tariff exemptions. On the data side, inflation will be the story with the March consumer price index and producer price index out Thursday and Friday, respectively. On earnings, some of the key reports will be Levi’s, Delta Air Lines, Constellation Brands, CarMax, and then the slew of bank earnings on Friday, including Club names Wells Fargo and BlackRock . (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. 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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.
