Energy, materials lead the way — plus, what we want to hear from DuPont and Estee Lauder

Published Wed, Mar 13 20242:28 PM EDT

Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. (We're no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) Sector moves: The S & P 500 was about flattish following Tuesday's rally to a new closing high. Leading the way were the energy and materials sectors while the technology and health-care groups lagged. The move higher in energy comes as U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude jumped more than 2.5%, approaching $80 a barrel, as natural gas pulled back by more than 2%. The current economics in oil production is much more favorable than natural gas, which is why we've favored Coterra Energy 's ability to shift its production toward the commodity that can generate a better return; it's been one of the top-performing Club stocks over the past month. Freeport-McMoRan is the story within materials as copper prices hit their highest level since August 1st. Cyclical sectors like energy and materials have been strong performers over the past month or so, amid a broadening market rally . Tech is lower Wednesday on some profit-taking in the high-flying semiconductor stocks, such as Club holding Nvidia , which fell about 1.75%. Meanwhile, Club holding GE Healthcare is an underperformer within the health-care sector following the pricing of an upsized secondary offering of 14 million shares held by former parent General Electric. Still, GE Healthcare traded off its lows of the session by the afternoon. During the Morning Meeting, we discussed why General Electric's sale helps remove an overhang on the medical equipment company's stock. Quick hits: We're trying to figure out if the strong action in DuPont and Estee Laude – up more than 2% and nearly 4%, respectively – is part of a group move, or something specific to them. Both companies speak at conferences Thursday, allowing us to gain a better insight into their respective inventory destocks. DuPont, which is in the materials sector, spoke in late February and said good things about an uptick in orders, which helped the stock rebound from its lower level. The question on our mind: Has the order growth continued? For its part, Estee lauder declared last quarter that the cosmetic maker's growth was at the inflection point. Our question for Estee Lauder: Has China improved? Elsewhere, legislation to either force a sale or ban TikTok in the U.S. passed a House of Representatives vote , 352 to 65. The bipartisan bill now moves to the Senate, where its future is less clear. Up next: The notable earnings report after Wednesday's closing bell are homebuilder Lennar and cybersecurity company SentinelOne . Retail is back in focus Thursday, with earnings from Dollar General and DICK's Sporting Goods , while the Commerce Department's retail sales report for February is due out before the bell. Dollar General's report comes on the heels of rival Dollar Tree's weak report Wednesday morning, which has sent its stock tumbling 14%. We'll also get February wholesale inflation data on Thursday, known as the producer price index, which could show a continued firming of inflation. (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.

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