Jim Cramer calls out this simple strategy to help weather earnings and Fed market volatility

Published Tue, Jan 30 20243:03 PM ESTUpdated Tue, Jan 30 20243:20 PM EST

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch audio feature in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Here's today's edition. Market moves: Even with all the earnings Tuesday morning, the S & P 500 was trading in a tight range. One reason for this: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is going to speak Wednesday. There is a growing divide in the market about whether the Fed will start cutting interest rate at its March meeting, or if we should expect later and fewer cuts. The probability of a March cut is now down to 40% from 50/50 just one week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool. All of our Significant Six tech stocks, excluding Nvidia, will report earnings over the next few days. This group has largely been responsible for the market's gains over the past year. Microsoft and Alphabet release earnings after the close. (It's Apple , Amazon and Meta Platforms on Thursday after the bell.) Top performers: Some of the top portfolio movers on Tuesday included Danaher following its fourth quarter results, which were in line with expectations. The life sciences company's outlook for Q1 and full-year 2024 was lighter than expected, but the market was looking past it — thinking there's a lot of conservatism baked into the guide . Shares of Ford trended higher in reaction to the beat and upside forecast from General Motors . Wells Fargo was up on the back of a bullish note from Morgan Stanley research analysts on the banks. Fellow Club bank stock Morgan Stanley was also up. In staples, Costco stock was up too. Bottom performers: Wynn , Estee Lauder and Amazon were down Tuesday. Apple was lower, too, after influential analyst Ming Chi Kuo said that 2024 iPhone shipments will likely fall by 15% year over year, based on supply chain data. Shares of Constellation Brands were down on a weak quarter from alcoholic beverage company Diageo . Stay patient: Jim Cramer on Tuesday expressed concern that if investors try to act amid this market volatility, they're going to end up being wrong, which is why we're staying patient. In the meantime, we're still sitting on some cash so if we do see weakness in the names we like, we could use that as an opportunity to get bigger in some of our favorite stocks. "Don't take action, watch this market, it's a little crazy," Jim said. "I am very concerned that the Significant Six will go down since we're in them." Instead, he recommends waiting: "See what the Fed says, see what the employment number is, see what the reactions are, and then make decisions. That's a lot better way to manage a portfolio." (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.