Stocks rose on Friday and ended the week higher after the Federal Reserve’s closely watched inflation indicators provided the basis for a rate cut next week. For the week, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq rose nearly 1%. Both indexes recorded consecutive weekly increases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 0.5%. The personal consumption expenditure price index for September released by the government on Friday morning showed that the year-on-year rise in the core rate, which excludes food and energy prices, was slower than expected. The PCE report was delayed due to the government shutdown, but was welcome news in a data-starved market ahead of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. .SPX 1M Mountain S&P 500 One Month Performance It’s been several weeks since New York Fed President John Williams breathed new life into the possibility of a central bank rate cut. During this time, the S&P 500 rallied 5%, ending the week just shy of its all-time high closing price of 6,890 on October 28th. Here are some highlights from this week’s portfolio. Metaplatforms shares rose 4% this week after Bloomberg reported Thursday that the parent company of Instagram and Facebook plans to cut Metaverse spending by up to 30%. This would be a smart move for CEO Mark Zuckerberg, especially if it means the company will focus on technologies that can be monetized more quickly, such as Meta’s smart glasses and AI efforts. Meta has been spending like crazy, and its stock has taken a hit since late October, when management raised capital spending guidance along with strong earnings. Salesforce stock rose 13% for the week after the company’s big earnings report. Although it was the best-performing portfolio stock this week, it is still down 22% year-to-date. The move reflects Salesforce’s struggle to convince investors that the introduction of generative AI does not pose a threat to the company’s core customer relationship management software’s seat-based business model. In conjunction with fiscal 2026 third-quarter results, management on Wednesday night raised its guidance and further disclosed paid transactions for Agentforce, the company’s AI platform. On Thursday’s “Mad Money” with Jim Cramer, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff argued that AI is a “commodity feature” that increases the value of the company’s CRM software. CrowdStrike on Tuesday night reported better-than-expected third-quarter fiscal 2026 results and strong forward guidance. Jim called this quarter a “trophy quarter” after the cybersecurity company delivered record free cash flow, annual recurring revenue, and operating profit. We weren’t upset if the stock, which had been mostly flat this week, didn’t move on the bullish news. It’s common for CrowdStrike, and even Palo Alto Networks, another cyber stock, to see its stock price drop after earnings, then recover and rise in the following weeks. Following this print run, we reiterated our 1 rating on CrowdStrike, which equates to a Buy, and raised our price target from $520 to $550. We sent out 3 trade alerts this week. On Monday, I bought more Boeing Co. as the stock stabilized after a sharp drop in profits in November. We didn’t buy stocks on the way down because the stock was trading like a falling knife. We wanted to see things settle down before putting more money into it. On Tuesday, we added to Procter & Gamble’s shares, which fell after Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten’s comments about the volatile U.S. environment. We believe there are opportunities ahead for P&G, and we are building defenses in case losses from AI trading increase. Goldman Sachs posted a profit on Wednesday and closed at a record high on Friday. We still like this position long-term. (See here for a complete list of Jim Cramer Charitable Trust stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
