Here are 3 themes that drove another challenging week on Wall Street

There was no negativity in stocks last week. Surprising economic data, a fresh wave of earnings, and intensifying conflicts in the Middle East have all combined to move the market mostly downward. The S&P 500 closed Friday with a weekly loss of 2%, with the broad market index swinging between positive and negative sessions over the past five trading days. During the same period, the Nasdaq fell 1.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3%. This was the second consecutive week of losses for all three major averages. The S&P 500 has gained just one week in the past five as concerns about AI disruption continue to weigh on the market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has had a positive performance in only one of the last eight weeks. We'll see if the market can break its losing streak on Monday. Until then, there are three forces driving Wall Street and the Club's portfolio over the past five sessions. An escalating war in the Middle East This was the first week of trading since the US and Israel began bombing Iran last Saturday, putting immediate pressure on stocks around the world. Conflict has spread across the Middle East and there is no clear end to the conflict in sight. On Friday, President Donald Trump shared that there will be no end without Iran's "unconditional surrender." Qatari Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi also told The Financial Times in an interview published early Friday that Gulf energy producers may have to halt production in the coming days due to the situation in the Middle East, which "could collapse world economies." "If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be affected," the energy minister said. In response, oil prices rose sharply due to concerns about disruptions in global fuel supplies. West Texas Intermediate crude rose above $90 a barrel on Friday and closed the week up 35%. This is the biggest gain since oil futures began trading in 1983. In an analysis earlier this week, we explained why oil was key to the stock market during the Iran war. Jim Cramer's advice during this period: Be selective. Don't panic and sell everything. "Those who run away at moments like these can never get in," he said during Tuesday's Morning Meeting. It's the same approach we took when the club opened a position in Cardinal Health, a healthcare stock, on Monday. The US medical equipment maker generates almost all of its revenue domestically, so its shares should be less sensitive to developments in the Middle East. The club has since acquired the Cardinal two more times to scale the position. The club also sold some BlackRock on Monday and exited the financial sector entirely a day later because private credit fears were too much of a distraction. We used our then 15% cash pile to pick up shares of Alphabet due to weakness. Google's parent company has a clearer path to monetizing AI spending than its Big Tech peers. Mixed economic signals Investors were also presented with cross-economic data. Positive news in the middle of the week helped stabilize the market. It didn't take long. The S&P 500 rose about 0.8% on Wednesday after payroll processor ADP reported that private payrolls rose by 63,000 in February, beating the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 48,000. During the same session, another optimistic economic sign was seen in the market. The Institute for Supply Management's Services PMI hit its highest level since July 2022 last month. The prices paid by service organizations for materials and services also decreased from 66.6 to 63. This can be seen as an encouraging sign in terms of inflation. But Friday's surprisingly weak February jobs report sent stocks falling. Nonfarm payrolls fell 92,000 last month, compared with Dow Jones estimates for monthly gains of 50,000. The unemployment rate also rose to 4.4% from 4.3% the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. Jim warned that the weak payroll report shows AI job losses are here. Overall, mixed data creates a dark picture for the U.S. economy as the Federal Reserve prepares for its next interest rate decision in late March. The market is pricing in a roughly 96% chance that the central bank will leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Earnings impact Broadcom set records for earnings and revenue in the first quarter on Wednesday evening. Management also issued better-than-expected guidance, painting an increasingly positive picture for the company's custom chip business. Broadcom shares rose after this announcement and finished last week with a 3.4% gain. Printed optics manufacturer Corning. Shares fell almost 7% on Thursday following remarks by respected Broadcom CEO Hock Tan in what the market saw as a break in optimism about the growing use of fiber optic technology in the data center. This was a negative for Corning because many on Wall Street had bet that the company's fiber-related offerings would eventually replace copper in data centers and become a crucial cog in Corning's AI evolution. Tan's words do not change our views: The stock's decline was an overreaction. CrowdStrike, another name for the club, beat earnings and revenue expectations on Tuesday. CEO George Kurtz dismissed concerns that artificial intelligence would eat into his company's share of the cybersecurity market, describing the technology as "an increasingly larger growth opportunity." Kurtz added that the firm's "technology, team and ecosystem are well positioned to continue winning." Shares of CrowdStrike are up more than 15% year to date. In addition, Costco Wholesale reported earnings on Thursday and impressed us with another quarter of strong sales momentum. We raised our price target to $1,100 per share from $1,050, but maintained our equivalent 2 rating on the shares. (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 would wait 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. 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