3 themes that gripped Wall Street as stocks dropped for a 4th straight week
Things continue to get worse in the stock market. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow lost a fourth straight week as the Iran war and hot wholesale inflation fueled economic concerns. Nvidia’s annual GTC developer event last week was filled with bullish announcements and Wall Street and Silicon Valley talk. That hasn’t helped the AI chip powerhouse’s stock, though. Micron’s earnings report and post-release comments provided an update on how serious the worldwide memory shortage is, which put pressure on the stock. .SPX .IXIC,.DJI YTD mountain Year-to-date performance of S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow The S&P 500 is down 1.5% over the last five sessions. The Nasdaq and the Dow each fell about 2% for the week, each briefly dipping into 10% correction territory before closing out of their lows on Friday. The rise (and occasional decline) in oil prices has been moving stocks largely in the opposite direction since the United States and Israel first attacked Iran three weeks ago. The decline in stocks has kept the market in oversold territory for nine consecutive sessions, according to the S&P Short Range Oscillator, so we put some money to work. The club made two purchases of Goldman Sachs and Boeing last week, and also acquired shares of Wells Fargo and Cardinal Health. Each of these names were unfairly punished in the market downturn, and they could rebound with even the slightest bit of positive news. Opening the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil transport channel off the coast of Iran, is key to a meaningful recovery in stocks, says Jim Cramer. It’s unclear whether the market will be able to break its losing streak on Monday. Until then, let’s take a closer look at the three forces that drove Wall Street and our portfolio last week. Inflation concerns Inflation was on investors’ minds as conflict in the Middle East caused oil prices to rise. Wholesale prices came in higher than expected in February, and this was even before the start of the Iran war. The producer price index increased by 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis during the month, well above Dow Jones’ forecasts for a 0.3% increase. Hours later, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation was not falling as quickly as hoped. He also said that the war-induced rise in oil prices would increase this in the near term. Last week, Jim called the oil-PPI combination a “one-two punch” for the stock market. International benchmark Brent crude rose 8.8% for the week following attacks on various energy facilities abroad. Consumers are already feeling the pinch from higher gas prices at the pump, which, as we reported Friday, tends to make Costco gas stations busier as people decide to hit the store while they’re there. Costco sells gas for less than retail prices. Extra store traffic increases sales. Memory crisis Micron posted a blockbuster quarter on Wednesday. The memory chip maker’s revenue nearly tripled, but CEO Sanjay Mehrotra attributed this to “structural supply constraints” and “the surge in demand for memory driven by artificial intelligence.” However, a day later, Mehrotra said that Micron would not be able to provide enough memory to large customers due to tight supply. “We can only meet 50% to two-thirds of our key customers’ needs over the medium term,” the CEO told Jim on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Thursday. The explosion of artificial intelligence has caused a major memory crisis. This is great news for storage and memory stocks like Micron, which is outperforming about 50% year to date after more than tripling in 2025. But for hardware companies that need memory, the situation is complicated. Look at HP’s earnings last month. Shares of the laptop maker hit a 52-week low as management hit annual profit forecasts at the lower end of guidance and noted pressure from rising memory prices. The stock is down 18% year to date. Apple is faring better, with its shares down less than 9% year to date. The iPhone maker gained share from China in the first nine weeks of the year despite the decline in the smartphone market in the region, according to data released by Counterpoint Research on Thursday. Analysts said Apple was able to attract more customers because it held the line on pricing, while its rivals had to raise prices due to rising memory costs. “Maybe this is a sign [Apple’s] better [at] Nvidia’s GTC Nvidia held its highly anticipated GTC last week, featuring new product announcements and information on where the revenue is going, Jeff Marks, Investment Club’s director of portfolio analysis, said on Thursday’s Morning Meeting. Highlights: CEO Jensen Huang said the company expects Blackwell and Vera Rubin generation chip orders to reach $1 trillion by 2027. The conference is a big deal for investors because they often look to Nvidia, which is not only the leading AI chip maker but also the largest publicly traded company by market cap, for signs of what’s to come in AI. Despite all the positive news, its shares are down 4% for the week. Jim maintained his “own, don’t trade” stance as it tumbled more than 7% in 2026 (see here for a full list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable). Trust.) By subscribing 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 transaction alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable foundation’s portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trading alert before executing the trade. THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY DO NOT EXIST OR SHALL BE CREATED BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT CAN BE GUARANTEED.
