Stocks started the week promisingly but ended in despair
Posted by Times Reporter | Nov 1, 2026 | Health | 0 |
It was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde week at the market. Wall Street’s enthusiasm for artificial intelligence stocks was short-lived. A promising start to the week resulted in strong back-to-back selling after a string of disappointing tech earnings. The Nasdaq was up more than 2% through Wednesday before losing 1.4% on Thursday and nearly 3% on Friday. The tech-heavy index lost 2% this week and fell 5.3% in October. The S&P 500 followed a similar pattern, culminating in a nearly 2% decline on Friday and a similar loss for the week. The broader market index performed better over the month, only losing almost 1%. The rotation away from technology and toward defensive stocks was most evident in the Dow Jones, which fell less than 1% for the week and actually rose 1.7% for the month. Semiconductor stocks rallied sharply before renewed concerns about AI trading sent shares tumbling. It also didn’t help that expectations remained high that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in December. While central bankers held interest rates steady on Wednesday, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh spoke forcefully about inflation, signaling that it was only a matter of time before another rate hike. The prospect of higher interest rates only heightened investor concerns that tech companies may be borrowing too much money in the race to further expand AI. Here’s a closer look at the three developments that drove the market last week. What turned chip stocks around on Monday was a strong start to the week. Anthropic’s IPO filing helped rekindle enthusiasm for the AI group, while SK Hynix’s record quarterly profit on Wednesday boosted confidence in strong storage demand. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose around 9% in the first three trading sessions. But the rally failed as disappointing earnings from Big Tech companies reignited concerns about AI spending. Intel added to the pressure with a weak outlook Thursday evening that sent shares plunging more than 28% on Friday, making the company our worst performer of the week. We have lowered our price target and reviewed our valuation. Jim Cramer said Friday that he couldn’t rationalize selling Intel after such a big drop. Portfolio director Jeff Marks summed it up in The Homestretch: “The data center story at Intel is still largely intact, but what we got wrong was the sharp decline in CPU demand from PCs due to high memory costs and some execution issues.” Wall Street’s AI priorities have changed. The results from Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon reinforced a shift in sentiment: investors are increasingly emphasizing financial discipline and a clear focus on returns on AI investments over aggressive spending. Microsoft delivered strong results on Wednesday, with Azure revenue rising 48% and capital spending falling short of expectations. Shares initially rallied before giving back gains, but Jim praised management’s ability to deliver robust cloud growth while keeping expenses under control. We raised our price target to $580 from $550 and maintained our Hold Equivalent Rating of 2. Microsoft shares fell just 0.5% this week, which is certainly a win given the technology’s poor performance. Alphabet faced a much harsher reaction. Shares plunged about 12% on Thursday, a day after Google parent company missed profit and revenue expectations and reported negative free cash flow. Strong cloud growth wasn’t enough to offset disappointing advertising results and concerns about massive AI investments. Alphabet was the week’s second-worst performer, down 12.6%. Although we were still encouraged by the cloud business, we were not ready to accept the decline. Amazon also disappointed Thursday evening, missing profit and revenue expectations as weaker retail and advertising results overshadowed accelerated growth at Amazon Web Services. Shares fell 1.4% on Friday, which was encouraging given the session’s lows of over 6%. Investors examined the company’s negative free cash flow and major capital spending plans for next year. AWS remains a bright spot, with revenue growing at its fastest pace in nearly five years. Shortly after the opening bell Friday, Jim said, “I think you’re buying Amazon here.” On a weekly basis, Amazon lost 3%. Winners (and one loser) outside pure-play technology company Eli Lilly rose more than 6% to a record high on Thursday, after another successful quarter driven by strong demand for its obesity and diabetes drugs. The stock extended gains on Friday and was our second-best performer of the week, up more than 11%. Healthcare was the best performing sector this week as the flight from technology benefited more defensive stocks. We raised our Lilly price target to $1,500 from $1,300 and maintained our Hold Equivalent Rating of 2 following the stock’s impressive rise. Although the current outlook was weaker than expected, FedEx shares rallied on Thursday and Friday as investors focused on the company’s progress in improving efficiency and profitability under CEO Raj Subramaniam. Jim said Friday that he still sees FedEx as a buying option but may not pursue it at the moment. The stock gained nearly 5% last week. FedEx Freight did even better, rising nearly 15% on Friday and up nearly 15% for the week. In its first official earnings report as a standalone company, Freight exceeded expectations. Encouraging comments on pricing and operational improvements made LTL inventory our best performer last week. We continue to favor FedEx over its former subsidiary, but both reports have increased our confidence in their long-term strategies. Linde and Starbucks also delivered pleasing results. Linde posted record sales and profits in the quarter, helped in part by demand for semiconductors, while Starbucks reported better-than-expected profits and comparable sales growth as CEO Brian Niccol’s turnaround gained momentum. During Friday’s morning meeting, Jim called Starbucks a buy. For the week, Starbucks rose nearly 3% and Linde gained 1%. GE Vernova initially struggled, although the company delivered a stellar quarter on Wednesday and announced a $9 billion acquisition of network equipment maker Trench Group. Investors appeared concerned about the pace of gas turbine order growth next year, but we believe the reaction overlooked strong underlying demand. GEV is not a pure AI stock, but is tied to the expansion of the data center. But the electrification opportunity looks promising. The Trench deal supports this. GE Vernova rose more than 5% last week, recouping nearly half of the previous week’s decline. Last week we went from winners to our third biggest loser. Boeing slumped more than 10% on Tuesday after management pushed back its timeline for reaching $10 billion in annual free cash flow to 2029, eclipsing a record $745 billion shortfall. Although the recovery is taking longer than expected, we view the forecast rebalancing as a possible clearing event. We maintained our Buy rating of 1 but lowered our price target to $225. For the week, Boeing lost almost 9%. (A complete list of Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust stocks can be found here.) As a subscriber to 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 foundation’s portfolio. 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