Tech stocks slide as pivotal Nvidia conference and Fed meeting come into focus

Published Fri, Mar 15 20242:52 PM EDT

Kevin Stankiewicz @in/kevin-stankiewicz-b5593466 @kevin_stank

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.) Weakness on Wall Street: Stocks fell Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite setting the pace to the downside amid declines in tech heavyweights like Microsoft , Amazon and Alphabet . The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost around 1% on its way to a three-day skid and weekly losses of roughly 0.7%. The S & P 500 and 30-stock Dow also were lower Friday, but have held up better than the Nasdaq for the week. Inflation was again front and center for the market Friday, following two warmer-than-expected reports on price pressures in the U.S. economy this week. The Federal Reserve's policymaking arm gathers next week, which will provide investors a fresh look at how central bankers are factoring recent economic data into their interest-rate outlooks. Markets still expect the Fed's first rate cut to arrive in June, though the odds it keeps them steady at that meeting have been rising in recent weeks, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool. In general, the Club's view has been that the U.S. economy is doing quite well, making it increasingly unlikely that the Fed would need to reduce rates at its next few meetings. In our minds, a strong economy to support corporate earnings and stock prices is better than a market fueled by rate-cut hopes. Sector spotlight: There's a whole lot of red among S & P 500 sectors Friday. Information technology, communication services and consumer discretionary are feeling the most pain, all down more than 1%. The Super Six are major culprits in those moves. Club names Microsoft and Apple — members of the info tech sector — slid around 2.4% and 1%, respectively. Another big drag on the tech sector is Adobe , which has been seen as an artificial intelligence winner. The software provider tumbled more than 14% after offering weak current-quarter guidance Thursday night. Meanwhile, Club holdings Alphabet and Meta Platforms , which call the communication services sector home, are down roughly 1.3% each. Amazon weighed on the consumer discretionary group, as the e-commerce and cloud computing giant fell around 2%. Ulta Beauty also dragged down consumer discretionary, falling 4% on disappointing full-year earnings guidance. Energy and materials were among the S & P 500 sectors in the green Friday. Within energy, Valero Energy led the way higher, jumping more than 3% after Bank of America upgraded the stock and two refining industry peers outside the S & P 500. However, refinery operators in the index, such as Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 , also were strong performers Friday, boosting energy. The Club's lone energy player, oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy , was flat in the session. Semis stumble: The VanEck Semiconductor ETF is set to wrap up its worst week since early January, falling around 2.5% over the past five sessions. However, the world's most valuable semiconductor firm by far, Nvidia, is bucking the trend, despite some recent volatile sessions. The leading AI chipmaker is on pace for its 10 th straight positive week, ahead of its closely anticipated GTC conference next week. On Friday's Morning Meeting, Jim Cramer suggested the overall weakness in semis this week is linked to Nvidia's GTC event. "I think it's people positioning for next week" when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will deliver his keynote address, talking about the future of AI and the chip industry more broadly, he said. " It has gotten "everybody nervous, and I don't know why," Jim said. "I've been going over everything Jensen has been saying in preparation for interviewing him, and I see nothing but upside, but I recognize that there are people who want to take profits in Broadcom" and other chip firms with AI tailwinds. Club holding Broadcom is down 5% this week. Looking ahead: Nvidia's GTC conference and the Fed meeting, which wrap up Wednesday, are the key market events next week. (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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Brendan McDermid | Reuters