The stock has bounced back in the past week. We’ll take it where we can take it, but earnings haven’t made much of an impact in this current bear market. The S&P 500 on Friday just missed closing higher for its fifth straight session, which would have been its longest winning streak since an eight-day rally in November 2021. Friday’s slight miss came after stronger-than-expected government Employment Report in June. The jobs data boosted market expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike at the upper end of the 50 or 75 basis point increase that central bankers said was likely at their July meeting. The Fed’s June meeting minutes, which were released last Wednesday, said policymakers “recognize the possibility that an even tighter stance may be appropriate if elevated inflationary pressures persist.” The Fed began its inflation-fighting interest rate tightening cycle in March with a 25 basis point increase. It doubled in May and 75 basis points in June. As Jim Cramer wrote to members of the Investing Club on Friday, he thinks the Federal Reserve is doing its job to ease higher commodity prices, but needs to address an overheated labor market. The bear market in stocks over fears of higher interest rates and, more recently, whether necessary Fed action will tip the economy into recession is wide and deep. The S&P 500 on June 30 closed with its worst six-month start to the year since 1970. During these difficult times, we have valued Club’s portfolio highly, lightening high-volume and economically sensitive stocks that are underperforming and buying more shares in traditionally recession-proof companies that do things for profit, return excess cash to shareholders and trade at reasonable valuations. All four of our first-half winners stayed strong in July. As noted earlier in the week, Eli Lilly ( LLY ) was our top performer in the first six months of 2022, followed by health insurer Humana ( HUM ), Corona beer maker Constellation Brands ( STZ ), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Some of our top tech names also started the month of July strong, including Alphabet ( GOOGL ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Marvell Technology ( MRVL ), Apple ( AAPL ), and Meta Platforms ( META ). Amazon and Marvell were among our top four first-year losers for the year. For the week, the US dollar index rose to around 107. Gold fell below $1,800 an ounce. Commodities were volatile, including U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude Friday, which closed Friday around $105 a barrel. The yield on 10-year Treasuries, which slipped significantly back below 3% and near its lowest levels since May last week, rose above 3% again on Friday after a strong jobs report showed the Fed may to need more aggressive action to cool the economy Looking back None of our club holdings reported gains in the past week. But there were several important economic reports released during the holiday-shortened week. The US stock market was closed on Monday for Independence Day. Tuesday brought higher-than-expected May orders for US-made goods. The aforementioned minutes from the Fed came on Wednesday. On Thursday, weekly initial jobless claims were slightly higher than forecast. The big finale of the week, as described above, was Friday’s solid job growth data. What’s Ahead Wall Street’s latest earnings season begins in earnest this coming Thursday, with Club ahead of Morgan Stanley ( MS ) with quarterly numbers ahead of the opening bell. Our other club holding posting results next week is Wells Fargo (WFC) ahead of the bell on Friday. The week ahead also brings two key inflation reports, as well as several other major company earnings reports. Here it is in a nutshell. Monday, July 11 After the Bell: PepsiCo (PEP), PriceSmart (PSMT) Wednesday, July 13 Before the Bell: Delta Air Lines (DAL), Fastenal (FAST) 8:30 a.m. ET: Consumer Price Index (June) 2:00 p.m. ET: The Treasury’s latest budget statement 2:00 PM ET: The Fed’s beige paper on regional economic activity Thursday, July 14 Before the bell: JPMorgan (JPM), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), Ericsson (ERIC), Conagra (CAG), Cintas (CTAS) ), First Republic Bank (FRC) 8:30 AM ET: Producer Price Index (June) 8:30 AM ET: Initial Jobless Claims (Week Ending July 9) Friday, July 15 Before the bell: UnitedHealth ( UNH ), Citigroup ( C ), Progressive ( PGR ), US Bancorp ( USB ), PNC ( PNC ), BlackRock ( BLK ), BNY Mellon ( BK ), State Street ( STT ) 8:30 a.m. ET : Retail Sales (June) 9:15 a.m. ET: Industrial Product Use and Capacity (June) 10 a.m. ET: Michigan Survey of Consumer Sentiment (Preliminary July) (The Charitable t Jim Cramer is long LLY, HUM, STZ, JNJ, GOOGL, AMZN, MRVL, AAPL, META, MS and WFC See here for a complete list of stocks ks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive trade warning before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling shares in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC, he waits 72 hours after a trade warning is issued before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, ALONG WITH OUR DISCLAIMER. NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR OBLIGATION EXISTS OR IS CREATED BY YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INVESTING CLUB. NO PARTICULAR RESULT OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
A man walks past a sign advertising a job at a fast food restaurant on November 5, 2021 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The stock has bounced back in the past week. We’ll take it where we can take it, but earnings haven’t made much of an impact in this current bear market. The S&P 500 on Friday just missed closing higher for its fifth straight session, which would have been its longest winning streak since an eight-day rally in November 2021.