Wall Street has become increasingly divided since our last CNBC Investing Club Monthly Meeting . The selling in recent days, however, has intensified on worries about the AI trade, making the likes of Micron our biggest loser week-to-date and defensives such as Cardinal Health among our biggest weekly winners. As of Wednesday’s close, the Nasdaq was down 2.5% so far this week, with the less tech-exposed Dow Jones Industrial Average flat since last Friday’s close. Another hot inflation report Thursday morning and another terrible day for AI stocks were widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. Expectations of at least one more Federal Reserve interest rate hike before year-end are not helping investors feel any better about whether companies are borrowing too much to fund the AI infrastructure buildout. From our Sept. 10 meeting through Wednesday’s close, the tech story on aggregate was doing better. Nasdaq was actually 2.3% higher over the period, and the Dow was down nearly 1%. Ahead of our October Monthly Meeting livestream, let’s review the winners and losers in our 32-stock portfolio as a baseline as we try to figure out where the market goes from here. Winners CrowdStrike up 19.4% Cybersecurity stocks surged as growing concerns about the risks posed by increasingly powerful artificial intelligence models reinforced the need for companies to protect their networks and data. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s essay calling for frontier AI labs to slow the pace of model development amid growing safety concerns helped fuel the rally. CrowdStrike has more than doubled this year — making us cautious about chasing the stock after its powerful runs. Still, we continue to view cybersecurity as a ” cornerstone ” of our portfolio, with AI adoption providing another long-term growth driver. Meta Platforms up 14.4% The Facebook and Instagram parent is starting to show investors how its massive AI investments could pay off. Shares have surged since the Sept. 8 launch of Muse, its personal AI agent, which quickly climbed to the top of the app charts. Meta built on that momentum this week with the release of Muse Wonder and the more powerful Muse Wonder Full, demonstrating its ability to compete with leading AI developers. Wells Fargo said Muse Wonder Full has reached the “AI frontier,” ranking among the industry’s most advanced models. The releases could help Meta Platforms attract more paying subscribers to Muse and its coding tools, opening up new revenue streams beyond advertising. While it’s too early to know how meaningful that revenue could become, the steady pace of AI releases is helping ease earlier concerns about whether Meta’s billions in AI spending would generate sufficient returns. TJX Companies up 13% Shares of the off-price retailer rebounded from a steep sell-off following disappointing August earnings and broader pressure on consumer stocks from higher inflation and interest rates. Investors had grown concerned after second-quarter results that showed slowing comparable sales at Marmaxx, the company’s largest division, which includes TJ Maxx and Marshalls. At the time, the CEO said it was a product mix problem, which was being addressed. However, a recent Morgan Stanley survey suggests the weakness more broadly in Q2 was driven more by consumers pulling back on spending. That’s encouraging for our thesis that TJX’s value-focused model and ability to acquire excess merchandise at attractive prices should help it navigate a challenging retail environment. We took advantage of the post-earnings weakness to add to our position several times and remain optimistic about the longer-term opportunity, even if a meaningful sales recovery takes another quarter or two. Losers Bank of New York down 15.4% and Goldman Sachs down 13.8% Our financial holdings were among the portfolio’s biggest laggards as the Fed’s first rate hike in three years back at its September meeting intensified concerns about the outlook for banks. Higher rates can increase funding costs, weaken loan demand, and slow capital markets activity — like mergers and acquisitions (M & A) and initial public offerings (IPOs). Still, investors shouldn’t paint the entire sector with the same brush . Despite solid earnings from Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, the stock continued to decline . We view the pullback as a buying opportunity . On Thursday, BNY reported earnings and saw better-than-expected fee growth. Members, watch out in the afternoon for our full Club analysis on BNY’s quarter in your texts and emails. FedEx Freight down 12.4% Shares of the less-than-truckload shipping company struggled as the ongoing Iran war drove diesel prices higher. The weakness extended across the transportation sector, with the iShares Transportation ETF falling 3% and trucking company J.B. Hunt sliding 13% since our last Monthly Meeting. While we remain optimistic about FedEx Freight’s long-term prospects, we’ll be looking for signs of improving shipping demand and the company’s ability to manage elevated costs before becoming more constructive on the stock’s near-term outlook. Boeing down 9.8% The plane maker has come under pressure amid rising fuel prices, broader concerns about the aerospace industry and a software issue affecting certain 737 Max aircraft. Higher oil prices threaten airline profitability and could weigh on demand for new planes, adding to investor anxiety about the manufacturer’s recovery. Boeing also disclosed a software glitch that could affect certain landing procedures, raising questions about the certification timeline for the 737 Max 10, which Boeing and airlines expected to come in early fall. However, the Federal Aviation Administration determined Oct. 2 that the issue does not pose a flight-safety concern , clearing a potential obstacle to certification. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long CRWD, PANW, META, TJX, BNY, GS, WFC, FDXF, BA. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber 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 trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
