Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Market moves: The market was higher Thursday, with the S & P 500 trying to recover all of Wednesday’s losses. Energy stocks were the best-performing group in response to a spike in oil prices after the Trump administration sanctioned Russia’s two largest companies. Technology and industrials were having a bounce-back day after Wednesday’s weakness. Honeywell and Dover were at the top of the industrials leaderboard after both portfolio companies reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results and raised their full-year earnings outlooks. In other news, the White House said President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in South Korea in what could be an important step toward resolving trade issues between the world’s two biggest economies. Subprime woes : After climbing as high as $228 on Wednesday following a stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings report , shares of Capital One gave back some of those gains and fought to stay in positive territory Thursday. The post-earnings reaction in the Club stock mirrors what happened in July after better-than-expected results in the second quarter. It’s disappointing to see Capital One struggle to hold its earnings gains for a second time, but we’re betting the $16 billion buyback will help drive the stock to new heights. Still, there might have been some news that caused the stock to drift lower. PrimaLend Capital Partners announced Wednesday afternoon that it filed for bankruptcy protection. The Texas-based company provides financial services to auto dealerships focused on subprime borrowers. In recent weeks, a few cracks have started to show in the auto industry following the collapse of auto parts maker First Brands Group and subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings. PrimaLend is another domino to fall. But as we learned from Capital One on Tuesday evening, its subprime auto exposure is outperforming the industry. As CEO Richard Fairbank explained on the earnings call, the company decided a few years ago to scale back its exposure, and he credited the business’ stable performance to its own “adaptive underwriting.” Overall, Capital One’s credit performance was better than expected domestic card net charge-offs down 64 basis points and auto net charge-offs down 62 basis points. It’s possible we haven’t seen the end of the turmoil in the subprime industry — but so far, Capital One has not seen an impact on its portfolio. AI at banks : CNBC Investing Club reporter Morgan Chittum attended the Evident AI Symposium on Thursday, where top banking leaders gathered to discuss the power of artificial intelligence. At the conference in New York City, Goldman Sachs Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti said the bank is committed to deploying AI across its businesses. “Operational roles are the next domain” to be virtualized with AI agents, Argenti said, adding that Goldman leaders are all asking the question: How can we rethink the way we do things in a way that clients get instant answers. In many cases, he feels AI can do it better (and cheaper) than human support agents. Earlier this year, Goldman announced an internal generative AI assistant for its bankers, traders, and asset managers, which can perform tasks like writing up emails or summarizing lengthy documents. Up next: The portfolio is done with earnings for the week. Some companies reporting after the closing bell are Intel , Ford, Nextracker, Norfolk Southern, Deckers Outdoor , Alaska Air, Baker Hughes, and Newmont Mining. Before Friday’s opening bell, we’ll see earnings from Procter & Gamble, General Dynamics, Illinois Tool Works, HCA Healthcare, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Believe it or not, we will also see a key economic reading despite the government shutdown, which by the way is on Day 23. The September consumer price index is expected to be released Friday morning. Economists expect the CPI to rise 0.4% month over month and 3.1% year over year. It’s a key inflation reading that comes ahead of next week’s two-day Federal Reserve meeting, which is widely expected to conclude with a 25-basis point interest rate cut. (See here for a full list of the stocks in 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.
