My top 10 things to watch Monday, Jan. 5 1. The S & P 500 is on track for a higher open this morning, despite the U.S. attack on Venezuela and capture of President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. Looking ahead, Wall Street is awaiting the December jobs report due Friday. 2. Oil prices are up slightly this morning following the ouster of Maduro. Don’t get carried away, though. Yes, Chevron , the only major U.S. oil company working in the country, is a winner. Bernstein raised its price target by two bucks to $172 and maintained its hold rating. But the infrastructure needs billions of dollars, and the only loser may be China, given that Venezuelan crude is heavy. The Chinese refine it, and we can refine it. Expect it to be diverted to us. That forces China to either pay more or write off the $50 billion in debt it has extended to Venezuela. Proven reserves may not be feasible. It took Iraq more than eight years to return to 4 million barrels per day (bpd) from 2 million bpd, despite having more viable infrastructure. 3. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will kick off CES 2026 — in Las Vegas at 4 p.m. ET — with a keynote address. Expect him to discuss the fourth industrial revolution and Nvidia’s role in accelerated computing and full-stack solutions, meaning hardware and software. Also, expect multiple PT hikes. Will this be the year we stop talking about circular investments and start recognizing that Nvidia has invested in all the key players and therefore has a significant edge over everyone? Additionally, Nvidia’s capture of as much High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) as it needs—which explains Micron ‘s steady climb—and Chinese tech companies’ orders for more than 2 million H200 chips put the lie to the notion of weak Chinese demand. Who tells these lies about light demand? So many of these lies and the endless chatter of the circular spending. 4. I sought to address many of these misconceptions in my Sunday column and made the case for owning AI stocks again in 2026. Power gating is the No. 1 reason I am optimistic about hyperscalers: they can’t spend as quickly and as much as they want. Look for OpenAI to raise $100 billion following SoftBank’s $40 billion investment . 5. Barclays issued a slew of price target hikes on big banks as part of its 2026 outlook. Once again, the winner was Citigroup , just like in 2025. Still, analysts raised their PT on Club holding Goldman Sachs to $1,048 from $850. Wells Fargo , another Club name, was raised to $113 from $94. Barclays kept a buy rating on all three stocks. 6. Guggenheim upgraded Palo Alto Networks to hold from sell without a price target. Analysts say that the Club stock’s recent underperformance has made it difficult to make money shorting Palo Alto right now. Guggenheim believes, however, that the cybersecurity group is “somewhat insulated, if not boosted by the threat of AI.” The Club’s other cyber name is CrowdStrike . 7. Will AI stop pressuring software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies? Remains in doubt, but RBC Capital raised its PT on Salesforce to $290 from $250 and maintained its hold rating. Analysts expect 2026 to be the year when AI tailwinds become more evident for companies well-positioned for enterprise AI adoption, while less-prepared peers may struggle. 8. Mizuho lowered Honeywell’ s price target to $240 from $250, but maintained a buy rating on shares. Analysts see “uneven terrain ahead” for the multi-industry group but say that the “tariff fog” is clearing. I think this is Club holding Honeywell’s year as the industrial conglomerate finishes its split into aerospace and automation. 9. Bank of America hiked GE Healthcare ‘s price target to $92 from $82. I think this is the wrong call. This company can’t make as much money as the Street expects. 10. Goldman Sachs upgraded Coinbase shares to a buy from hold and raised its price target to $303 from $294. Analysts view the stock as a “best-in-class play” on cryptocurrency infrastructure growth. Shares are up more than 4% premarket. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) 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.
