We initiated a position — plus, top gainers and laggards
Friday marked the end of a lackluster week for stocks and the first trading session of 2026. The market was mixed for the holiday-shortened week: The Dow and Nasdaq shed 0.1% and 1.5%, respectively, while the S & P 500 edged roughly 1% lower, its third back-to-back loss since Monday. It’s unclear what caused the market’s decline because there wasn’t much for investors to digest. They received minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting, when the central bank announced a 25-basis-point rate cut. The release on Tuesday afternoon indicated that Fed officials were divided on the cut. The decision was approved on a 9-3 vote, the most considerable dissent among officials since 2019. The market wasn’t incredibly reactive to the news. Stocks, however, did continue to tumble that session. .SPX YTD mountain S & P 500 (SPX) year-to-date performance The weak weekly performance, however, stands in sharp contrast to the stock market’s stellar 2025 run. The S & P 500 advanced more than 16% last year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20% and 13%, respectively. All three hit record highs over the stretch, too. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing the entire year. The market ebbed and flowed as Wall Street speculated on the Fed’s next rate decision and weighed concerns of President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Investors also periodically rotated out of tech and into value areas of the market due to worries of inflated valuations in the AI trade. However, tech stocks ultimately drove the market higher with strong performances. As for the Club’s portfolio, there were clear winners and losers. GE Vernova, Corning , and Alphabet outperformed the S & P 500 by a wide margin, with one name posting a near triple-digit gain. On the other side of the trade, Salesforce , Nike , and Procter & Gamble stumbled. Here’s what drove the moves in all six stocks, including one that we initiated earlier this week. First, the winners … GE Vernova: +98.7% This industrial stock soared because it’s a key beneficiary of the AI boom. GE Vernova manufactures heavy-duty natural gas turbines used to support the data center buildout, enabling the company to deliver a series of strong quarterly earnings reports in 2025. It doesn’t seem like the stock’s run is going to end anytime soon, either. Management last month shared incredibly positive guidance through fiscal 2028. Corning: +84.3% This stock can thank the strength in consumer electronics in 2025. Corning, which produces specialty glass for smartphone screens, surged after inking a partnership with fellow Club holding Apple earlier this year. Corning is also a winner from the AI buzz because its specialty glass can be used in data centers, given the advantages of fiber optics over copper wiring. We started a position in Corning stock in October. Alphabet: +65.3% We started a position in Alphabet on Monday after exiting it in March of last year. At the time, we thought Gemini was cannibalizing the Google Search business. Things have clearly changed for the better, though. Investor sentiment in 2025 has been lifted by the parent company of Google’s robust AI roadmap. Developments to Gemini, the tech company’s large language models, along with the rollout of its custom chips with fellow Club name Broadcom , have been welcome news to Wall Street. … Next, the laggards. Salesforce: -20.8% What has boosted the Club’s top-performing names has weighed on another. AI adoption has been a significant concern for software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks such as Salesforce in 2025. That’s because the nascent technology threatens their seat-based business models. As companies worldwide automate more labor, that means fewer seats, or employee headcount, using Salesforce software. It’s also why we downgraded Salesforce stock to a hold-equivalent 2 rating in August. Still, we’re holding out hope on this tech stock. We have faith in CEO Marc Benioff. Nike: -15.8% We’re not surprised to see this athletic apparel giant at the bottom. Nike shares have fallen amid a steep decline in its key China market and challenges with its direct-to-consumer strategy. It also wasn’t a great year for retail stocks overall, as consumers grew increasingly cautious. The company’s turnaround story under CEO Elliott Hill, however, is exactly why we started a position last year. Hill recently purchased $1 million in Nike shares, according to securities filings this week. Insider buying is also a solid sign of confidence in the company’s future. Procter & Gamble: -14.5% The stock has been weighed down in 2025 by macroeconomic uncertainty. Investors feared how changing rates and higher tariffs could impact the company’s costs. Additionally, the prolonged government shutdown did nothing to improve sentiment. We initiated a position in Procter & Gamble late in 2025 as a hedge against consumers pulling back on spending in 2026. While we may see a pullback in discretionary spending, P & G makes consumer staples that people rely on daily and will prioritize if affordability issues persist or worsen. We even added to our position on Friday. (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 . 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