The Club’s 10 things to watch Wednesday, Dec. 24 — Today’s newsletter was written by Investing Club portfolio analyst Zev Fima and editor Kevin Stankiewicz. 1. Wall Street is headed for a muted open in this holiday-shortened session that ends at 1 p.m. ET. Today marks the start of the seasonally strong Santa Claus rally period, covering the final five trading days of the year and the first two of the next. The S & P 500 is coming off a fresh record close, boosted by the AI tech trade. Trading volumes yesterday were predictably lighter than usual. 2. Initial jobless claims for last week totaled 214,000, below the Dow Jones consensus of 225,000 and also an improvement from 224,000 in the prior release. Continuing jobless claims, however, did increase to 1.923 million after being below 1.9 million for two consecutive weeks. 3. Nike shares rose 2% this morning after board member Tim Cook – yes, the Apple CEO – disclosed he bought almost $3 million worth of stock in the sportswear giant on Monday. Fellow Nike director Bob Swan, the former Intel CEO, also bought about $500,000 worth of stock. We pay close attention to insider buying at the Club because it’s major vote of confidence. 4. Intel shares fell nearly 3% this morning down after Reuters reported that Club name Nvidia recently tested Intel’s manufacturing process known as 18A for its own chips but “stopped moving forward.” That detail came within a larger profile on new CEO Lip-Bu Tan and his interactions in Washington. Intel has sought to make its foundry capabilities more competitive with market leader TSMC . 5. Cantor Fitzgerald argued that Nvidia and fellow Club name Broadcom are “ripe for outperformance once the calendar turns.” While analysts acknowledged the AI cohort has been under pressure recently, they “believe that these fears are overdone and shortsightedly missing the forest for the trees as we remain at the cusp of a massive AI-related demand inflection.” They expect the value disconnect to quickly be remedied next year when “the AI trade is likely off to the races once again.” 6. Barclays cut its price target on Club stock Honeywell to $250 a share from $269. Still, its new PT implies nearly 38% upside from yesterday’s close. The analysts, who reiterated their buy rating, believe interest in Honeywell’s stock will pick up as we approach the spin-off of the company’s aerospace division later next year, a view we share. 7. UK oil giant BP has agreed to sell its 65% stake in the Castrol lubricants business to investment firm Stonepeak. The sale is based on an enterprise value for Castrol of about $10 billion, with BP receiving roughly $6 billion in net proceeds. BP, which has refocused on its core fossil fuels business, said it will use the money to pay down debt. 8. The Trump administration unveiled a voluntary test of a payment model for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs under Medicare Part D plans and state-level Medicaid programs. It builds on the November price-cut agreement that obesity drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Club name Eli Lilly struck with the White House, in exchange for Medicare coverage. 9. President Donald Trump said in a social media post yesterday that he expects the next Federal Reserve chair to lower interest rates if the market is doing well. He wrote, “Anybody that disagrees with me will never be the Fed Chairman!” Trump’s commentary reinforces the predicament the next Fed chief will find themselves in after current Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends in May 2026. Low rates are great, but investor confidence in the Fed is paramount. 10. French drugmaker Sanofi said it has struck a $2.2 billion agreement to buy vaccine maker Dynavax Technologies , sending shares of Dynavax up more than 39%. The deal will give Sanofi an approved hepatitis B vaccine in its portfolio. 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.
The Club’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Wednesday
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