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The stock market heads into Monday on a streak of volatility it just can’t seem to shake. What had been shaping up as a positive holiday-shortened week turned on a dime Wednesday when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled concern that President Donald Trump ‘s tariffs could increase inflation and slow economic growth. Speaking at an economic forum, Powell said , “We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension.” The S & P 500 went from modestly lower Wednesday to closing down more than 2% on Powell’s remarks. Throw in Trump on social media Thursday blasting Powell as “too slow” to cut interest rates and saying Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough,” and the market didn’t have a chance to get its footing. Also pressuring the market this week was Nvidia ‘s nearly 7% drop Wednesday, which was sparked by its disclosure of a $5.5 billion charge for inventory on China-specific chips that now require an export license. The Club stock dropped another 3% on Thursday. With stock trading on Friday closed for Good Friday ahead of Easter, the S & P 500 and Nasdaq finished Thursday with weekly losses of 1.5% and 2.6%, respectively. It was their third week of declines in the past four in what’s shaping up to be another brutal month for Wall Street. So far in April, the S & P 500 has dropped 5.9%. That would top the 5.75% decline in March, which was the worst monthly performance for the index since December 2022. Perhaps a little glimmer of hope: The market was no longer oversold after Thursday’s session, according to the S & P Short Range Oscillator . Our trusted momentum indicator had been oversold in all one of the past nine sessions. .SPX YTD mountain The S & P 500’s year-to-date stock performance. The Club’s biggest gainer last week was Eli Lilly , all thanks to a more than 14% surge Thursday after saying that its daily obesity pill was successful in a late-stage trial for Type 2 diabetes. Additional portfolio winners including Goldman Sachs and Abbott Laboratories . Shares of Goldman popped 3% for the week after the bank reported earnings that cleared Wall Street’s lowered bar on Monday. Abbott stock also gained 3% last week following Wednesday’s solid quarter . We only made two trades in the shortened week. We added more shares of Amazon on the dip and trimmed off-price retailer TJX Companies near all-time highs. This week, Jim also said it was time to lighten up on Nvidia and Apple , given the realities of Trump’s trade war with China. During Wednesday’s April Monthly Meeting , Jim retired his “own it, don’t trade it” mantra for both Nvidia and Apple, emphasizing thoughts he first conveyed in last Sunday’s column . The Club was restricted all week from trading either stock. With no major economic reports on the calendar this week, it’s all about earnings. Danaher and Capital One Financial kick off our week of earnings on Tuesday, and then we’ll hear from Bristol Myers Squibb and Dover on Thursday morning. There is also a ton of other influential reports outside the portfolio this week, such as Tesla , Procter & Gamble , American Airlines and Google-parent Alphabet . Earnings It’s no secret our patience has been tested by Danaher, which analysts expect to report first-quarter earnings of $1.64 per share on revenues of $5.59 billion, according to LSEG. We’re not alone, either. Sentiment around the entire life-sciences cohort is quite negative, due to tariff uncertainty, federal government budget cuts and U.S.-China tensions. Those figure to be big themes on Danaher’s conference call with analysts, though the company has tried to downplay its revenue exposure to the National Institutes of Health and academic research. Danaher’s first-quarter and full-year guidance came in below Wall Street expectations in January, and we don’t expect to hear an upbeat tone on its growth outlook Tuesday, either. However, Danaher’s past conservatism should mean its outlook is the most achievable of its peer group, and we added to our position in late March on the expectation that a recently initiated cost-savings program could drive earnings upside. When Capital One reports after Tuesday’s close, analysts expect the company to report January-to-March period revenues of $10.04 billion and earnings per share of $3.69, according to LSEG. The stock was crushed after Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement, as recession fears rippled through the market and investors fretted that Capital One could get hit by slower spending and higher delinquency rates. Executives’ comments on spending and payment patterns in recent weeks will be crucial, arguably more so than the backward-looking results themselves. And, of course, we’ll be listening for additional insights into Capital One’s strategy for Discover Financial Services now that the $35 billion merger cleared its final regulatory hurdle. On Friday, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency signed off on the deal — the main crux of our thesis in Capital One. It’s set to close next month. Bristol Myers is projected to have earned $1.52 per share on sales of $10.75 billion in the first quarter, according to LSEG. The impact of looming pharmaceutical tariffs will likely be a topic of conversation on the conference call. With our long-term thesis resting on the success of new schizophrenia drug Cobenfy, a progress report on its launch also will be critical. Sales will take time to ramp up — the Street expects around $19 million in the first quarter, per FactSet — but the company is conducting a series of additional clinical trial results that will support its commercial potential. That includes an “adjunctive schizophrenia” study looking at Cobenfy in patients taking other treatments for the condition, and we should see those results soon. Finally, we expect executives to address the implications of its recent failed late-stage study for the heart drug Camzyos, which is part of the company’s “growth portfolio.” Wall Street expects Dover to report first-quarter sales of $1.88 billion and earnings per share of $1.99, according to LSEG. The actual results here will matter less than what the diversified industrial company has to say about the future and recent order trends. On multiple occasions during the quarter, Dover CEO Richard Tobin said at conferences that orders were holding up well — and that was very encouraging at the time. However, that was before the April 2 tariffs injected additional uncertainty into the economic outlook. The stock has struggled since then, which analysts at JPMorgan pointed out in a recent note does help reset expectations a bit. One more thing: Dover has significant dry powder that can be used to make deals that advances its portfolio transformation or buyback stock, so perhaps we’ll get updates on its plans for the cash. Week ahead Monday, April 21 Before the bell: Comerica (CMA) After the bell: Western Alliance (WAL), Zions Bancorporation (ZION), Hexcel (HXL), BOK Financial (BOKF) Tuesday, April 22 Before the bell: Verizon Communications (VZ), GE Aerospace, Lockheed Martin (LMT), RTX Corporation (RTX), Danaher (DHR) , Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Elevance Health (ELV), Halliburton Company (HAL), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Northrop Grumman (NOC), PulteGroup (PHM), 3M (MMM), Synchrony Financial (SYF) After the bell: Tesla (TSLA), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), SAP (SAP), Capital One Financial (COF) , Baker Hughes (BKR), Steel Dynamics (STLD), EQT Corporation (EQT), Chubb (CB) Wednesday, April 23 Census Bureau’s new home sales at 10 a.m. ET Before the bell: Boeing (BA), AT & T (T), Vertiv (VRT), Amphenol (APH), NextEra Energy (NEE), GE Vernova (GEV), Philip Morris (PM), General Dynamics (GD), Lithia Motors (LAD), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Boston Scientific (BSX), Otis Worldwide (OTIS), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Taylor Morrison (TMHC) After the bell: O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY), Alaska Air (ALK), IBM (IBM), ServiceNow (NOW), Chipotle (CMG), Newmont Mining (NEM), Lam Research (LRCX), Texas Instruments (TXN), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), United Rentals (URI), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Whirlpool (WHR), Molina Healthcare (MOH) Thursday, April 24 Initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET Census Bureau’s durable orders report at 8:30 a.m. ET Census Bureau’s existing home sales at 10 a.m. ET Before the bell: American Airlines (AAL), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) Nokia (NOK), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Merck (MRK), PepsiCo (PEP), Dow Chemical (DOW), Union Pacific (UNP), Valero Energy (VLO), Comcast (CMCSA), Fiserv (FI), PG & E (PCG), Procter & Gamble (PG), Tractor Supply Company (TSCO), CBRE Group (CBRE), Dover (DOV) , L3Harris (LHX), Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP) After the bell: Intel (INTC), Alphabet (GOOGL), T-Mobile (TMUS), Vale (SALE), Skechers U.S.A. (SKX), Eastman Chemical (EMN), Digital Realty Trust (DLR), Weyerhauser (WY), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Republic Services (RSG) Friday, April 25 Final reading of University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey at 10 a.m. ET Before the bell: SLB (SLB), AbbVie (ABBV), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Phillips 66 (PSX), Charter Communications (CHTR), Centene Corporation (CNC), LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), AutoNation (AN), HCA Healthcare (HCA) (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 . 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A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on April 8, 2025, in New York City.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
The stock market heads into Monday on a streak of volatility it just can’t seem to shake.
