A big win for Wells Fargo — plus what’s dragging down Google parent Alphabet

By News Room Last updated Feb 15, 2024

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. We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible. Here’s Thursday’s edition. Total recovery: The market gained momentum over the past two days and clawed back all of Tuesday’s losses. Real estate is leading the way thanks to the dip in Treasury yields and a better-than-expected quarter from commercial real estate services firm CBRE . Materials are also higher with Air Products & Chemicals at the top of the leaderboard after an upgrade from Bank of America. Keep in mind that Linde is the best-of-breed name in the industrial gas group and has significantly outperformed APD. Energy continues its strong week, with the price of WTI crude approaching $80 per barrel. The only sector in the red is technology. Perhaps the talk of inventory digestion at Cisco Systems is triggering some profit-taking. One more down: Shares of Wells Fargo hit a new 52-week high after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated a 2016 consent order linked to its sales practices. This is fantastic news for the bank and its CEO, Charlie Scharf, who has been relentlessly improving the bank’s risk and controls. This is the sixth consent order that regulators have terminated since 2019. Every consent order that is resolved brings the bank closer to having the Federal Reserve lift the asset cap that’s been holding it back since February 2018. Although there’s still more work to be done, it’s evident that Wells Fargo is on the right path. Risk to search: Alphabet underperformed the rest of its Magnificent Seven peers after The Information reported that Open AI, backed by Microsoft , is developing a web search product. While Google dominates the search industry, doubts have surfaced about its ability to maintain its competitive moat. Last spring, Alphabet’s stock faced pressure due to concerns that Microsoft Bing’s AI-enhanced search engine would eat into Alphabet’s share. However, those concerns proved to be overblown and GOOGL went on to rally to new highs. It’s still too early to say whether generative AI will help or harm Google, but after a couple of post-earnings sell-offs in a row, it’s increasingly clear that the company either needs to have its “year of efficiency” moment similar to Meta Platforms or develop more effective AI tools to keep pace with its mega-cap peers. Shares were down 2.7% on Thursday afternoon. Up next: Earnings season is winding down, but several companies report their results after the market closes, including DraftKings , Coinbase , Trade Desk , and Applied Materials . Housing Starts, producer price index (PPI), and University of Michigan expectations round out the economic data this week. Of the three, most of the attention will be on PPI following Tuesday’s hot consumer price index (CPI) print. (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.

The Leuna refinery and chemical industrial complex, home to facilities operated by companies including TotalEnergies SE, Shell Plc, BASF SE, and Linde AG, beyond electricity towers in Leuna, Germany, on Tuesday, June 7, 2022.

Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

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