Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday
Top 10 things to watch Thursday, July 2 1. June employment report came in weaker than expected; nonfarm payrolls rose 57,000 compared to the Dow Jones consensus of 115,000. In response, stock futures are strengthening and the yield on the Fed-sensitive 2-year Treasury note is falling. The market takes this as a sign that the central bank will not need to be so hawkish in the near term. Oil continues to fall, easing inflationary pressures. (The stock market is closed tomorrow due to July 4, which is on Saturday this year.) 2. According to the Financial Times, OpenAI considered giving a 5% stake in the company to the US government. Part of CEO Sam Altman’s argument is that this will help the public share the positive aspects of AI, according to the FT. It’s also worth noting that we’ve seen the Trump administration step up pressure against OpenAI’s main rival, Anthropic. 3. Palantir upgraded to purchase from hold at Prosecutor Davidson. His $175 price target implies an almost 40% upside for the stock, which has had a tough year like many others in the software sector. The data analytics company is growing at an impressive pace, making the stock’s valuation the most attractive in some time, analysts said. They called it a “gift” just in time for America’s 250th birthday. 4. Nvidia introduces a new business model for fast-growing AI startups; The chipmaker is offering rapid access to computing power in exchange for future revenue. Interesting move? Yes. But Nvidia, the Club name, still needs to start buying back its stock in the first place to revive its shares and close the underperformance gap with its chip peers. 5. The commodity dropped a few pennies this morning as the market heard news that it is planning a cloud business that will sell AI computing power. This is an incredibly lucrative business model, so it’s hard to believe Meta was only up 8.8% yesterday. This is worth much more than that. JPMorgan said it greatly contributed to Meta’s existing AI work, but said its preference would be to develop core AI products. Can it do both? 6. BMO Capital initiated the Honeywell Aerospace Club name with a buy and $276 price target; This represents an increase of approximately 21% from yesterday’s close. Unlocking the supply chain is key to the investment story, analysts said. I think unification is a possibility for this. 7. Goldman Sachs likes airlines as fuel prices drop, increasing its PTs on Delta Air Lines ($116 from $80) and United Airlines ($162 from $131). Revenue trends are also strong. Goldman kept both buys. I would consider buying Club stock Boeing instead. We believe in the turnaround story under CEO Kelly Ortberg. 8. DuPont’s price target was lowered to $170 from $168 at Citi. This is another benefit of lower fuel prices and reduced tensions in the Middle East. I’m not thrilled with this Club stock at all. DuPont wisely spun off its electronics business, Qnity, in November, which was a stellar move for us. Now, I want DuPont CEO Lori Koch to take action to increase the company’s access to health and water. 9. Bank of America raised its General Mills price target to $39 from $36 but kept the stock steady. Shares rose 8.5% yesterday after reporting a breakout quarter and announcing multi-year cost-cutting targets. Other food stocks also rose in sympathy. I don’t think this means the struggling group has finished the quarter, so I won’t be following the moves. 10. Cardinal Health’s price target on BofA was raised to $260 from $240. Analysts are seeing a relative increase in consensus and ongoing applications at the healthcare distributor. Healthcare stocks have made an impressive comeback in recent weeks. I admit that we started buying Cardinal too early in March, but since we did not see any problems in our business, we took advantage of the pullback before this rally to grow our position. Sign up for free for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter (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. NO SPECIFIC RESULT OR PROFIT CAN BE GUARANTEED.
