The stock market had a tough week but a great month. Here’s what happened
A strong month for the stock market ended on a sour note. The S & P 500 on Friday retreated just over 0.6% from Thursday’s record high close. That decline sent the index slightly into the red for the week and ended its four-week winning streak. For the month of August, however, the S & P 500 advanced more than 2%, extending its monthly gains to four straight. It’s hard to blame anyone for wanting to take some profits ahead of the long Labor Day weekend, especially after the market got through the biggest earnings report of the quarter unscathed. We’re talking about Nvidia , of course, which reported strong results and rosy guidance Wednesday evening. But Wall Street nitpicked the numbers, and the stock fell 0.8% on Thursday and more than 3% on Friday. As the biggest stock out there, with a market cap of $4.25 trillion, Friday’s move dragged the overall market lower. For both the week and the month, Nvidia lost more than 2%. Nvidia earnings : Investors questioned Nvidia’s slight revenue miss in data centers, an increase in inventory, and whether the company has become too reliant on just a handful of deep-pocketed customers. The Club, however, believes all of these concerns are misguided. In fact, Jim Cramer maintained his “own, don’t trade” thesis on the stock. “My take is there wasn’t anything that I saw that made me feel any different,” he said during Thursday’s Morning Meeting. For the moment, he said, we are placing our Nvidia price target under review. We have a hold-equivalent 2 rating on the stock. CrowdStrike earnings : The cybersecurity firm on Wednesday evening delivered a clean beat across each of its key metrics. While it did raise earnings per share (EPS) guidance, underwhelming revenue guidance pressured shares in after-hours trading. We weren’t shocked that the long knives were out, given that CrowdStrike trades at a premium multiple. Following the release, we upgraded the stock to our buy-equivalent 1 rating and maintained our price target of $520 per share. By the end of Thursday’s session, CrowdStrike shares reversed course and closed up more than 4.5%. They lost 4% in Friday’s down market but still finished the week higher. The stock lost 6.8% in August after losing 10.8% in July. Club names Broadcom and Salesforce report earnings next week. Cyber trade : Following a terrible start to August, the Club’s other cybersecurity stock, Palo Alto Networks , finished the month strong. Shares took a hit during the week ended Aug. 1, around the reports on July 29 and the official announcement on July 30 of Palo Alto’s $25 billion offer to buy identity security provider CyberArk . The Street was worried about whether it meant that Palo Alto’s core business was weak. Palo Alto’s earnings report on Aug. 18 dispelled that notion and helped the stock recover some of its losses. On top of our Aug. 11 purchase, we picked up more shares of Palo Alto on Monday, as the stock was still down a lot from its closing price on July 28, before the CyberArk deal was part of the equation. From the onset, we had thought the concerns about CyberArk were unwarranted and were happy to buy the dip on Palo Alto. Friday’s market action was not helped by the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge failing to extinguish price pressures as a concern. The July personal consumption expenditures price index, or PCE as it’s known, showed that core inflation rose 2.9% year-over-year, matching estimates but the highest annual rate since February. The Fed certainly takes into account headline PCE, too, but considers the core rate a better measure of inflation over the long haul because it excludes volatile food and energy prices. The market still expects central bankers to cut interest rates at its September meeting after Chairman Jerome Powell on Aug. 22 indicated a policy shift could be coming at the Fed’s annual economic summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. September question mark : The Fed meeting comes in the middle of what has historically been the biggest losing month for the S & P 500 since 1950, according to The Stock Trader’s Almanac . Last year’s September rise aside, the four Septembers before that were especially weak. The S & P 500 gained 2% in September 2024, which was when the Fed cut rates for the first time in 4½ years. Rates were cut two more times last year — at the Fed’s November and December meetings. Powell and his colleagues have held rates steady since then in an attempt to keep inflation in check. While still seeing a risk of rekindled inflation from President Donald Trump ‘s tariffs, Powell said in his Jackson Hole address that he’s more concerned about the slowdown in the labor market. (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.