After a short hiatus, bulls returned to Wall Street on Friday. In the coming week, investors of all camps will focus on a series of labor market reports to gauge where the U.S. economy and stock markets might go from here. The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average are coming off a volatile, holiday-shortened trading week. Despite a big and broad rally in Friday’s session, all major stock benchmarks posted weekly losses. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both lost 0.5%, while the 30-stock Dow lost 0.6%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq entered Friday with five-session losses. The Dow was down for four days. The market was closed on Wednesday on the occasion of New Year. Sure, it’s 2025 now, but “the same stocks that are good are still good,” Jim Cramer said at a Friday morning meeting. He said the group of winners in 2024 once again includes semiconductor companies like club holding Nvidia, which was our No. 1 portfolio performer last year. Artificial intelligence chip king was also one of our top-performing stocks last week, gaining 5.7%, behind only oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy and solar firm Nextracker, which both rose about 6.5% . We made a profit of nearly 1,000% when we shorted some Nvidia shares on Thursday. 1. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech at the annual CES conference in Las Vegas, which begins at 9:30 p.m. ET on Monday, is one of the biggest events on the corporate calendar in the coming week. “The controversy over the speech is that you haven’t seen any of it,” Jim said. “Well, there’s been a lot of emphasis on total cost of ownership and the return on buying its chips. I think that will change the discussion” about custom AI processors encroaching into Nvidia’s territory, he said. There are quiet concerns. 2. The employment picture will be in the headlines on the economic front from Tuesday morning with the job opening and labor turnover survey for November. The closely watched reading, known as Jolts, measures tightness or slack in the labor market. According to Dow Jones, economists expect 7.7 million jobs to be created in November. This will be in line with last month. 3. The main jobs event of the week is Friday morning’s nonfarm payrolls report for December. The consensus forecast is for the U.S. to add 155,000 jobs in the final month of 2024 and the unemployment rate to remain steady at 4.2%, according to estimates compiled by Dow Jones. In November, nonfarm payrolls increased by a better-than-expected 227,000, while the unemployment rate was in line with forecasts. 4. Ahead of Friday’s official government report, payroll processing firm ADP will release its outlook on private-sector job creation in the US on Wednesday morning. ADP reports expectations that 130,000 jobs were added in December, according to Dow Jones. Initial jobless claims will also be released on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual, as Thursday is a national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. The American stock market is also closed on Thursday. The latest batch of labor market data will help shape investors’ thinking about Federal Reserve policy this year. In particular the stronger-than-expected December jobs report has the potential to reinforce expectations of less accommodative monetary policy in the year ahead. In mid-December, the central bank released projections that showed policymakers expect to cut interest rates just twice in 2025, down from the four cuts it provided in September. The more dovish stance spooked the stock market, and the S&P 500 remains down about 2% from its Dec. 17 closing level, a day before the Fed’s disclosure. We’ll keep a close eye on bond yields for real-time signals about how the market is interpreting the upcoming labor numbers. Strong data generally lends support to the yields. “(Bonds) are reacting to every piece of data. I think it’s because there is a perception that the economy is really picking up, performing well,” Jim told reporters during Thursday’s morning meeting. ” 5. Modelo and Corona brewer Constellation Brands is the only Club Holding to report earnings this week. Due to National Day of Mourning the numbers are now released before the bell on Friday instead of Thursday as originally scheduled. Analysts expect Constellation to earn 3.32 cents a share on revenue of $2.54 billion in the three months ended Nov. 30, according to LSEG. We added to our position in Constellation Brands on Tuesday. The year-on-year growth rate of its beer business will be given considerable importance in the report. Investors were not satisfied with Constellation’s 6% figure in the June-to-August period, which represented a slowdown from the 8%, 11% and 11.8% growth seen in the previous three quarters. Constellation’s struggling wine-and-spirits division will also be in focus. CEO Bill Newlands talked about some “green shoots” at some high-end wine brands in October, and now we’ll see if there’s any sequential improvement in this disappointing segment. Constellation executives have more to discuss on their earnings call. When it comes to President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal for higher tariffs on Mexican imports, we’re curious whether the administration will mention the possibility of securing exemptions. Roth MKM analysts raised this possibility late last year, citing a settlement with the Justice Department that effectively requires Constellation to brew its Mexican beers in Mexico. The US Surgeon General’s new warning on the dangers of alcohol and cancer, which impacted stocks in Friday’s session, also remained a topic of conversation. Upcoming Week Monday, January 6, 10 a.m. ET: Durable Goods and Advances to November 9:30 a.m. ET Total Manufacturing Report: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Keynote Speech at CES Tuesday, January 7, 10 a.m. ET: Jobs Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) 10 a.m. ET: ISM Services for December Before the bell: Apogee Enterprises (APOG) After: Kura Sushi USA (KRUS) Wednesday, January 8, 8:15am ET: ADP Employment Survey 8:30am ET: Initial Jobless Claims 2pm ET: FOMC Minutes Before the bell: Angiodynamics (ANGO), Helen of Troy (HELE), Simply Good Foods (SMPL), Albertsons (ACI) After the bell: Penguin Solutions (PENG) Thursday, January 9 The NYSE and Nasdaq were closed for a national day of mourning on Friday, January 9. 10am 8:30am ET: Nonfarm Payrolls Report 10am ET: Preliminary Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Before the bell: Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Constellation Brands (STZ) After the bell: WD-40 ( WDFC) (Jim Cramer’s charitable trust is long NVDA, STZ, CTRA, and NXT. For a full list of stocks See here.) As a CNBC Investing Club subscriber 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 stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has 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 disclaimer as well as our terms and conditions and privacy policy. No fiduciary obligation or duty exists, or is created, by virtue of your receipt of any information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
“Now Hiring” signage outside a Home Depot store in San Carlos, California, US, on Monday, November 11, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | getty images
After a short hiatus, bulls returned to Wall Street on Friday.
In the coming week, investors of all camps will focus on a series of labor market reports to gauge where the U.S. economy and stock markets might go from here.
