Club meeting recap: Banks in focus, Big Tech earnings, Palo Alto

Published Wed, Apr 26 202311:51 AM EDT

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Wednesday's key moments. Equities rise with banks in focus Bullish on tech Palo Alto is a buy 1. Equities rise with banks in focus Stocks edged up Wednesday morning in the wake of strong technology earnings the evening prior, as the S & P 500 climbed 0.3%. Oil prices were trading mainly flat, with West Texas Intermediate crude hovering around $77 a barrel. Meanwhile, investors continued to focus on the banking sector after embattled First Republic Bank (FRC) reported Tuesday it had lost about 40% of its deposits during the first quarter, sending the stock tumbling nearly 50%. The share price continued to plummet Wednesday, trading down more than 20%, at $6.36 apiece. But Club holding Morgan Stanley (MS), a beneficiary of outflows from First Republic and other regional banks, climbed more than 1% higher Wednesday, to more than $89 a share. 2. Bullish on tech Two Big Tech Club holdings — Alphabet ( GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT) – reported quarterly beats Tuesday, despite gathering macroeconomic clouds. Moreover, continued investments by both tech giants in artificial intelligence (AI) bodes well for chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Shares of each of those Club names, set to report quarterly results next month, were trading up more than 3.5% Wednesday morning. Additionally, solid growth at both Alphabet and Microsoft's cloud divisions is likely good news for Club holding Amazon (AMZN), which reports Thursday after the closing bell. 3. Palo Alto is a buy Cybersecurity stocks came under pressure this week after Tenable (TENB) lowered its full-year billings forecast, suggesting the industry could be facing a slowdown, as enterprise customers rein in spending. But Palo Alto Networks (PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora told Jim Cramer Tuesday that he's confident his company is well-positioned to weather the current economic uncertainty. The Club holding remains a leader in the cybersecurity space and we would be buyers here, if not restricted. (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.