My Top 10 Things to Watch Thursday, April 9th 1. Oil prices are rising, suggesting stock futures will start lower this morning. U.S. benchmark WTI crude rose 5% to over $99 per barrel. Will oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz resume? Will the ceasefire hold? Iran has already accused the United States of violating this provision. 2. After yesterday’s big rally, the S&P 500 is up 6.9% from its March 30th war low. It’s also just 2.8% below its record closing price on January 27th. Yesterday’s market showed what will be worth owning when things calm down. The labor market and inflation are important issues. This morning, we learned that the Fed’s recommended inflation measure was in line with expectations in February, rising 3% year over year, excluding food and energy. 3. Meta Platforms and CoreWeave announce the expansion of a long-term agreement for $21 billion worth of AI computing power. Meta needs all the compute it can get for things like Reels and its new AI models, and CoreWeave has chips including Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin platform. It’s a clear signal that the AI boom isn’t slowing down yet. 4. JPMorgan upgraded Capital One to buy-and-hold, naming the credit card issuer a top pick in the consumer finance sector. While this decline in club shares is frustrating, JPMorgan sees limited downside from here “unless new tail risks emerge.” When Capital One reports in two weeks, we hope to see clear progress in realizing synergies from the Discover acquisition and learn more about payments startup Brex’s plans. 5. Hormel Foods was downgraded from buy to hold at JPMorgan, with analysts concerned about margin headwinds for the Spam and Skippy peanut butter maker. Processed food stocks have become a graveyard. Hormel is down 27% over the past year, and its 5% dividend yield hasn’t slowed the decline. McCormick, with its plans to buy Unilever’s food business, is perhaps the most interesting stock on the block. 6. Stifel upgraded Texas Instruments from hold to buy. After a six-year investment cycle that squeezed profits, analysts believe analog chipmakers are poised to gain market share in the next upcycle. this is a good phone. Stock prices have hardly moved in recent years. However, the company has strength in industrial and data centers and had a good story last quarter. 7. Chipmaker Marvell Technology has delivered an upgrade to Barclays. Analysts upgraded the stock from hold to buy, calling Marvell “first and foremost an optical company.” Marvell’s business co-designing custom AI chips typically gets the most attention. Currently, fiber optics is a hot area in the data center industry. Corning is our way of doing it for the club. 8. Wolfe Research initiated coverage of Dell without a price target. Analysts warned that memory prices were putting pressure on profit margins. This had previously driven many away from Dell, but the AI server maker still posted strong results in the late February quarter, and the stock has been on the rise since then. Will they be stupid enough to sell it again? I’m confused as to why I didn’t pull the trigger on this incident. 9. BTIG puts cloud-based cybersecurity provider Zscaler on hold from acquisition. Analysts cited increased competition from “multiple sources,” including club name Palo Alto Networks. We also own CrowdStrike. PANW and CRWD both rose yesterday following news of the Human Security Initiative. It’s too early to sell them. 10. Investors are too focused on App Store numbers and not enough on Apple taking market share from Android. This is a comment from Ben Reitz, an analyst at Melius. I feel like this is the first Pro-Mag 7 I’ve read in years. Conflicting foldable smartphone reports affected the stock price earlier this week. But I think Apple can go even higher from here. Sign up for free for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Markets email newsletter (See here for a complete list of Jim Cramer Charitable Trust stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you’ll 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.
