We see a driver for AMD stock coming up — plus, what’s behind the continued market rally
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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. Markets: The S & P 500 rose to a new record high Wednesday. There was no specific catalyst for the move, but we are seeing a continuation of a theme that we’ve been pointing out. With oil prices sliding and China’s market giving back more of its recent gains, U.S. stocks have been free to rally. The market maintained its gains after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting showed some disagreement among central bankers on how aggressively to cut interest rates last month. The Fed ultimately opted for a jumbo 50-basis-point reduction to begin its cutting cycle — with only one policy committee member officially voting in dissent. “Some participants observed that they would have preferred a 25 basis point reduction of the target range at this meeting, and a few others indicated that they could have supported such a decision,” the minutes read. As of mid-day Wednesday, the market saw a roughly 80% probability of a combined 50 basis points of rate easing before the end of the year, according to CME Fed Watch. Movers : Financials were leading the market higher, and it’s been a good few days for them going back to last Friday’s stronger-than-expected jobs report. Club name Morgan Stanley hit another multiyear high — and at the highs of the session were a tick under its intraday record set back in Feb. 2022. Morgan Stanley delivers earnings Oct. 16. Wells Fargo , our other bank stock, was flat Wednesday ahead of Friday morning earnings release. There has been some solid follow-through in Honeywell after the industrial conglomerate announced on Tuesday plans to spin off its advanced materials business. CEO Vimal Kapur explained the rationale for the spin in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” Kapur said, “We cannot deliver a strong growth momentum if our portfolio is not right.” He added, “Expect more portfolio work to occur in 2025 and beyond.” Chips : Semiconductors were mixed with Club stocks Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices slightly down but Broadcom hitting a new all-time high. AMD holds its Advancing AI event Thursday, starting at noon ET. Last week, analysts at Bank of America said the showcase could be a “catch-up catalyst” for the stock. After the company’s AI presentation last December, the stock rose 19% in a month. AMD is expected to introduce new products at Thursday’s event, including the MI325 accelerator and Turin CPU. But what seems up for debate are questions around forward guidance. Details about AMD’s product and roadmap are exciting, but the Street always wants to know what sales are booking now. It sounds like the Street expects AMD to raise its full-year AI sales forecast to more than $5 billion, an increase of $500 million management guided to in July . The company’s ability to raise this outlook gave us the confidence to keep buying AMD when the market turned on AI stocks in early August. However, with earnings coming up toward the end of this month, analysts at Wedbush said Wednesday that they think management may wait until earnings to adjust guidance. Beyond this year, one question Wedbush has is whether AMD will provide a 2025 AI sales target. They said the Street is targeting about $10 billion in sales next year, and their estimates are slightly above this number. Outside of guidance, Wedbush wants to know if AMD will announce another cornerstone customer of its AI chips. We know large tech companies are hungry for computing power for AI workloads and that AMD can already claim Oracle and Club names Meta Platforms and Microsoft as big customers. Wedbush also is curious if AMD will provide more insight into the ZT Systems acquisition , which was announced in August. Up next: There are no major earnings after Wednesday’s closing bell or Thursday’s open. September CPI, out before the bell Thusrday, is expected to show a continued deceleration in inflation, with the consensus expecting a 2.3% year-over-year increase from 2.5%. PPI is out Friday. (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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