My top 10 things to watch Thursday, Sept. 11 1. Wall Street was heading for a higher open today, which would add to yesterday’s record-high close for the S & P 500. This morning’s inflation and jobless claims data didn’t change the near lock on a 25-basis-point Federal Reserve interest rate cut at next week’s meeting. Chances for a half-point cut increased. Bond yields were lower. 2. Following yesterday’s cooler wholesale inflation print, the August consumer price index showed hotter-than-expected month-over-month retail inflation. Weekly jobless claims came in worse than expected. Further signs of labor deterioration increased dramatically the market odds of a total of three Fed rate cuts by year-end. 3. Club name Nvidia was upgraded to buy from neutral at DA Davidson. The firm had been skeptical on the stock for a while but now has an “increasingly optimistic view” on AI compute demand that overrides past worries about custom-chip competition and the China conundrum. 4. Perhaps lost in the shuffle this week: Nvidia announced a new chip designed for the day-to-day running of AI workloads known as inference, not training. SemiAnalysis, a trade publication, called it another “giant leap” that extends Nvidia’s performance lead over AMD and even custom chip providers like fellow Club name Broadcom. I like the specs of this chip, Rubin CPX. 5. DA Davidson went the other way on Club stock Apple , downgrading the iPhone maker to neutral from buy. Analysts believe the new iPhone lineup is “uninspired” and the significant AI infusion that Apple needs to drive a major refresh cycle won’t happen in the near term. Not a lot of money made listening to these in-and-out calls. I say “own it, don’t trade it.” 6. Bank of America downgraded UPS to an underperform sell rating from neutral on the end of the de minimis exemption that allowed small-dollar packages to enter the U.S. duty-free. What’s going to happen to the dividend, which currently yields 7.8%? While the company is committed to paying it, I think it’s ill-advised to keep paying such a large one. They need to conserve the cash. 7. Thermo Fisher was upgraded to an overweight buy rating from equal weight at Barclays, with analysts lifting their price target to $550 a share from $490. The firm said the life sciences stock’s valuation is attractive, and end market demand is relatively stable. I’ve been warming up to Thermo peer Danaher , which we own for the Club. 8. AutoZone’s investments into its stores, supply chain, and more have the company well-positioned to capture additional market share, UBS argued. It raised its PT on the stock to $4,925 from $4,260 and kept its buy rating. Total agreement. This company has repurchased about half is stock in the past decade. 9. Morgan Stanley, while keeping its hold rating, said it’s leaning more positive on Robinhood after attending the brokerage firm’s Las Vegas summit, where a number of new products were announced, including a social network. Analysts said the pace of innovations enhances its ability to capture more users and supports multi-year earnings growth. 10. Mizuho Securities upped its price target on a host of real estate investment trusts, or REITs, including Realty Income . Analysts took their PT to $63 from $60 but stayed at a neutral rating. I like the name. 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.
