Investing Club: The week in review, the week ahead

It was another wild week of trading on Wall Street. Stocks fell on Friday, with all three major averages giving back gains from Thursday’s sharp rally. The Nasdaq and the S & P 500 ended the week lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to inch higher. The driver of the price action was the same it has been all year — inflation — as both the producer and consumer price numbers for September came in hotter than expected this week. While inflation remains the key concern for investors, the macroeconomic data will take a back seat in the coming weeks as corporate earnings take center stage. The season unofficially kicked off Friday and we will hear from management teams in real time about what they are seeing on the ground. Though the reported results are always important, it is the forward guidance and management commentary that will be most important. Analysts are looking to update their earnings estimates for the end of the year and a debate continues to rage about what the appropriate S & P 500 aggregate earnings estimate is for 2023; an earnings estimate and multiple is essentially how strategists develop their year-end price targets. The market swings are incredibly frustrating. But as we outlined during our Monthly Meeting , we have no intention of folding. Rather, our intention is to maintain a diversified portfolio while searching for opportunities in the broken stocks of still fundamentally strong businesses . Under the hood this week, the consumer staples sector led to the upside, followed by healthcare and financials. Consumer discretionary led to the downside, followed by technology and utilities. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index hovered at the 113 level. Gold pulled back to around $1,650 per ounce. WTI crude prices fell to the mid-$80s region and the yield on the 10-year Treasury advanced to about 4%. Club trades for the week Monday Bought 20 shares of Constellation Brands (STZ); Trust owns 390 shares of STZ. Sold 150 shares of Qualcomm (QCOM); Trust owns 700 shares of QCOM. Wednesday Bought 25 shares of Estee Lauder (EL); Trust owns 130 shares of EL. Looking back On the earnings front, we had results from Wells Fargo (WFC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) on Friday. On Wednesday, the September producer price index was reported to have risen 0.4% monthly, double the expectation. Annually, the index was up 8.5%, representing a slight deceleration from the 8.7% annual pace seen in August. On Thursday, the September consumer price index was also reported to have increased 0.4% monthly, above the expectation for a 0.3% increase. The index was up 8.2% versus the year ago period. Also Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 8 came in at 228,000, an increase of 9,000 from the prior week and above the estimate for 225,000. Finally on Friday, retail sales were reported to be unchanged in September, below expectations for a 0.3% increase. Excluding automobile sales, sales were up 0.1% slightly ahead of the expectations. What’s ahead Earnings pick up next week. Within the portfolio, we will hear from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) on Tuesday before the opening bell; from Procter & Gamble (PG) on Wednesday before the bell; and from Danaher (DHR) on Thursday before the bell. Here are some other earnings reports and economic numbers to watch in the week ahead: Monday, October 17 Before the bell: Bank of America (BAC), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Bank of NY Mellon (BK) After the bell: Marten Transport (MRTN) FB Financial (FBK) Tuesday, October 18 Before the bell: Goldman Sachs (GS), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Hasbro (HAS) After the bell: Netflix (NFLX), United Airlines (UAL), JB Hunt (JBHT), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Interactive Brokers (IBKR) 9:15 a.m. ET: Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization Wednesday, October 19 Before the bell: ASML Holdings (ASML), Abbot Labs (ABT), Prologis (PLD), Ally Financial (ALLY), Nasdaq (NDAQ), Baker Hughes (BKR), Travelers (TRV) After the bell: Tesla (TSLA), IBM (IBM), Alcoa (AA), Lam Research (LRCX), Steel Dynamics (STLD), Kinder Morgan (KMI), Crown Castle (CCI), PPG Industries (PPG), Equifax (EFX) 8:30 a.m. ET: Housing Starts & Building Permits Thursday, October 20 Before the bell: American Airlines (AAL), AT & T (T), Nokia (NOK), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Ericsson (ERIC), Blackstone (BX), Dow Chemical (DOW), Philip Morris (PM), Union Pacific (UNP), Tractor Supply (TSCO), Alaska Air (ALK) After the bell: Snap (SNAP), Whirlpool (WHR), CSX (CSX), Boston Beer (SAM), Tenet Health (THC), BJs Restaurants (BJRI) 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial Jobless Claims 10:00 a.m. ET: Existing Home Sales Friday, October 21 Before the bell: Verizon (VZ), American Express (AXP), Schlumberger (SLB), HCA Healthcare (HCA) (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.

Traders work during the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 16, 2022 at Wall Street in New York City.

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