Stocks ended last week slightly lower as the market faced a series of headlines and political news. To start the week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he was the subject of a criminal investigation by the Trump administration over the $2.5 billion renovation of the central bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC. The market did not like the uncertainty and attacks on the independence of the Fed. Global and geopolitical tensions also rattled the market when President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional 25% tariffs on countries that do business with Iran. The bank has launched the results season. Despite strong reporting, bank stocks were weaker last week on concerns over Trump’s call to cap credit card interest rates. Midweek, the market received a favorable inflation report. The consumer price index rose 0.3% for December, bringing the annual rate to 2.7%. Both were in line with estimates and showed that the pace of price increases was moving closer to the Fed’s 2% target, while still remaining high. Sectorally, volatility in tech trading was caused by a pullback from Nvidia after Trump said the chipmaker had to meet new requirements to send its H200 AI chips to China. The United States will accept a 25% discount on these sales. Other mega-cap names have also been under pressure, including Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Broadcom. That helped fuel broader trade with energy, industrials and commodities rising last week. .SPX .IXIC 5D mountain S&P 500 & Nasdaq 1 week For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%. However, the S&P Short Range Oscillator remained in overbought territory as of Friday’s close. When that happens, our discipline kicks in and we look to reduce positions that have advanced, which we did. We made a series of portfolio trades during the volatile week. On Monday, we reduced our position in Texas Roadhouse to protect against the risk of high beef prices eating into the company’s margins. We’re optimistic that beef prices will neutralize at some point, which could send shares of the restaurant chain higher. In the meantime, we have made some profits as a safety measure. We downgraded Texas Roadhouse to our equivalent rating of 2. On Tuesday, before the earnings release, we booked profits on Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo after both stocks rose. Wells Fargo reported a revenue shortfall and shortfall on Wednesday. Goldman had a mixed quarter, missing revenue but beating earnings expectations on Thursday. We have a rating of 2 on both bank stocks. On Wednesday, we made some gains on Honeywell. While it’s a tough stock to own in 2025, we still like the industrial giant after announcing plans for an IPO of Quantinuum, the quantum computing company in which it has a significant stake. An IPO means Honeywell would monetize an asset that could be worth more on the public markets than its current value embedded in Honeywell. We downgraded the stock to our equivalent rating of 2. We continued another trade on Thursday, booking a profit in Dover. The industrial name is down 24% since its last earnings release in October, so we’ve been disciplined. We lowered our rating to a Conservation Equivalent 2. (See here for a complete list of Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust stocks.) As a subscriber to CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after a trade alert is sent before buying or selling a stock in his charity’s portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after the trade alert is issued before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, AS WELL AS OUR DISCLAIMER. NO OBLIGATION OR FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULTS OR PROFITS ARE GUARANTEED.
Stocks withstood a flood of news and we booked profits
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