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. Market moves: The stock market tacked on some additional gains after the Federal Reserve on Thursday afternoon cut interest rates by 25 basis points. It was a unanimous decision. The Fed’s widely expected move at the end of its November meeting came one day after the S & P 500 surged to a post-election record high. The November meeting did not feature an update to the monetary policymakers’ Summary of Economic Projections — including the excessively analyzed “dot plots,” which provide a glimpse into where Fed members expect rates to be over the next three years and the longer term. The Fed will update its projections next at its mid-December meeting, the final schedule gathering of 2024. After Thursday’s move, the market was putting roughly 65% odds on another 25-basis-point rate cut in December, according to the CME FedWatch tool . That was down a bit from before the rate announcement. What happens after December is a bigger question. At his post-meeting news conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested there is no rush to cut rates. He said he hasn’t ruled “out or in” a December cut. “Even with today’s cut, policy is still restrictive,” he said but stressed there is no way to tell yet how restrictive. The Fed kicked off its easing cycle with a jumbo 50-basis-point reduction in September. Bond yields rose slightly immediately after the Fed rate cut announcement but were still down in Thursday’s session. The 10-year Treasury yield surged Wednesday in reaction to Trump’s victory as investors sold bonds and put money into stocks and on concerns that the president-elect’s pro-economic growth and tariff policies might rekindle inflation. Bond yields, which move inversely to bond prices, have been on the rise since the Fed cut rates in September. Bond traders have been signaling their displeasure with the central bank’s jumbo cut and how it might heat up the resilient economy and, in turn, inflation. Quick winner : Supporting the market Wednesday and Thursday was the swift outcome of the presidential election. NBC News projected Donald Trump as the winner early Wednesday morning. One thing to always remember is that there’s nothing the market hates more than uncertainty. The longer the election drew out, the choppier the market would have likely been. But if you remove the overhang and the market gets a better picture of future policy decisions, stocks can rally. It’s what Jim Cramer wrote in his Sunday column , predicting the market’s near-term fate rested more with a quick winner rather than who won. Stick to discipline: The stock market especially liked the idea of a pro-business environment and de-regulation expected in the future Trump administration. That’s why the financials and industrials surged, though there was a slight giveback of gains in the banks Thursday. It’s not surprising to see Wells Fargo down 3% after the Club stock surged more than 13% on Wednesday. Whenever a group spikes on a double-digit percentage basis in a single session, our discipline is to always ring the register on some shares to protect ourselves from greed. That’s why we trimmed our huge Wells Fargo position and locked in big profits on Mogan Stanley . Shares of Morgan Stanley dropped 2% on Thursday after closing more than 11.5% higher. Up Next: After Thursday’s closing bell, earnings from DraftKings, Arista Networks, Block, Rivian, Affirm Holdings, Fortinet, Pinterest, Airbnb, Cloudflare, Azon Enterprise, Trade Desk, and Toast are out. It’s a slower morning of earnings Friday with Bloomin’ Brands, Baxter International, Fluor, and NRG Energy reporting. (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.
