Wall Street saves a weekly win, and Palo Alto Networks gets closer with Google
Every weekday, CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer publishes Homestretch, an actionable afternoon update just in time for the final hour of trading on Wall Street. Market moves : Stocks were much higher Friday afternoon as gains in the S&P 500 pushed the index into positive territory for the week. It’s been a volatile period for tech- and artificial intelligence-related stocks as worries about data center construction delays and funding concerns plagued the group earlier in the week. But the pressure has eased in the last few days. There are concerns about OpenAI’s ability to meet its financial obligations, but that risk could be on the table if there’s truth to several reports suggesting the AI startup behind ChatGPT is in the process of a new round of fundraising that could help it raise up to $100 billion. Cybersecurity: Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud announced the expansion of their strategic partnership on Friday. The new collaboration combines Google Cloud’s AI and infrastructure capabilities with Palo Alto’s AI security platform Prisma AIRS. Analysts at Cowen on Friday described it as a “full platformization deal” that will provide “the full capabilities of Prisma AIRS” to Google Cloud customers. But sometimes you can’t give without receiving. Palo Alto Networks will pay Google parent company Alphabet close to $10 billion over several years as part of this collaboration, Reuters said. As organizations increasingly adopt agency AI, cloud security will become even more important. We believe Palo Alto Networks and its other Club name, CrowdStrike, are the leaders. Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora is no stranger to Google. He spent a decade at the company before leaving in 2014, rising to the ranks of chief operating officer. Next week: A quiet holiday-shortened week with no major earnings reports. On the data side, we get readings on third-quarter economic growth and consumer confidence on Tuesday morning, as well as a weekly look at initial jobless claims before the opening bell on Wednesday. The US stock market will close early on Christmas Eve at 1 pm ET on Wednesday afternoon and will be closed on Thursday for Christmas Day. (See here for a complete list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) When you subscribe 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 trading 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 ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH THE DISCLAIMERS. NO CIVIL OBLIGATIONS OR DUTIES EXIST OR SHALL BE RESULTING FROM YOUR RECEIVING ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT CAN BE GUARANTEED.
