It was a down week for the major stock market benchmarks as rumors of an iPhone ban for government employees in China sparked concerns over increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing. While recovering a bit on Friday, shares of Club name Apple (AAPL) lost more than 5% this week, taking the Dow , the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq with them. Investors are wondering if the September stumble on Wall Street will continue into next week when three big things — major events, inflation data, and companies reporting their quarterly results late in the cycle — take center stage. Despite Apple’s bounce Friday, that big decline wiped out roughly $190 billion in market value. While Jim Cramer thinks that any iPhone restrictions in China may well prove to be more “bark than bite,” we do understand the broader concerns. That’s because China is a key growth market for Apple — to the tune of about 19% of total revenue — and for many companies across various sectors. In a Friday commentary , we looked at how Club names Broadcom (AVGO) and DuPont (DD) might be affected by a chillier U.S.-China relationship. Both countries have been taking steps to reduce their reliance on each other’s technology. For example, Chinese tech giant Huawei, which just released a new smartphone, has been the subject of U.S. trade restrictions. The American government has also banned certain types of artificial intelligence chips made by U.S. companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) from being sold in China, citing national security concerns. The Chinese regime has made it quite clear that while they may dabble in capitalism, they are at their core communists. As a result, we must remain mindful that what is in the best interest of their economy, our economy, or the global economy will always take a back seat to the interests of the People’s Republic of China. However, at the end of the day, the two countries very much need one another if they are to prosper. After all, Apple may generate only about one-fifth of its sales in China but the company also employs millions of Chinese citizens at plants that assemble its products in China. 1. Busy week of events: Perhaps worries over China will take a backseat next week to Apple’s September product launch show, set for this coming Tuesday — a very busy day featuring two other major events (more on those in a bit). Dubbed “Wonderlust,” Apple’s event is where the iPhone 15 is expected to be unveiled. We could also see some price increases, at least on higher-end models, as well as updates to the Apple Watch, AirPods, and the operating systems for Apple’s various products. Notably, this may well be the last iPhone and Watch updates prior to the launch of the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset , which was announced earlier this year. Jim took it for a test drive and loved it. So, we’ll be interested to see if Apple has any plans for enhanced integration between the upcoming Vision Pro and the iPhone 15 or next-generation Watch, a factor that could certainly justify a higher price point on the more premium iPhone models. Anyone entertaining the idea of $3,500 for the Vision Pro headset likely isn’t too concerned about a $100 increase to a smartphone that can last years. Also on Tuesday , it’s the start of Salesforce’s (CRM) Dreamforce conference. Jim will be heading out to San Francisco for the event to get a closer look at the capabilities of the Club holding’s new Einstein GPT offering. Club holding Alphabet (GOOGL) is also headed to court Tuesday to defend Google against antitrust accusations brought by the Justice Department concerning search. Google faces a separate government lawsuit over its online advertising practices. No trial date on that has been set. The United Auto Workers contract, which affects roughly 150,000 union workers across General Motors (GM), Chrysler-owner Stellantis (STLA), and Club holding Ford (F) is set to expire just before midnight on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. With a strike authorization already in place and the two sides very much at odds, we’ll be watching closely in hopes that a deal can be reached before the deadline. If there is a UAW walkout, the big question is whether it would be at one or two automakers or all three. 2. Inflation watch and other data: We’ll get another glimpse at retail inflation and wholesale inflation — when the August consumer price index is released Wednesday and the August producer price index comes Thursday. As has been the case, we hope to see signs of a continued deceleration of price increases. August retail sales are also out on Thursday, with industrial production data on Friday. Current inflation expectations are for a slight reacceleration in headline CPI to a year-over-year rate of 3.6% in August compared to a 3.2% rise in July. That’s not surprising given the recent strength we’ve seen in energy. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy due to their natural price volatility, is expected to show a smaller year-over-year increase of 4.3% in August compared to a 4.7% advance in July. On Wednesday , we’ll also be focused on the CPI’s shelter number, which represents about a third of the total index. Remember, housing costs have been a real thorn in the Fed’s side as a lack of supply has served to keep prices elevated. PPI expectations for Thursday are less optimistic, with economists expecting a year-over-year acceleration for both the headline number to 1.2% in August from 0.8% in July and the core reading of 3% in August from 2.4% in July. Fortunately, both headline and core PPI are much closer to the Federal Reserve’s inflation target rate of 2% The Fed, which meets later this month, is much more concerned with the cost to consumers, which is measured by the CPI, than they are the cost to producers, as measured by the PPI. However, as investors in stocks, we probably care more than the Fed about the PPI print because to protect profit margins, companies either have to cut costs or increase selling prices. So, any material reacceleration of input cost inflation can spark concerns that further price increases, meaning inflationary pressures, are on the horizon, and that could hurt the stocks in the affected companies. On retail sales Thursday , we’ll be looking at the breakdown of the headline number for any further indications of which areas of retail are winning and which are losing as consumers, the middle-income cohort in particular, become increasingly pressured by inflation, high interest rates and the prospect of student loan payments resuming in the weeks ahead. Remember, consumer spending drives 68% of the U.S. economy. Friday brings industrial production and capacity utilization numbers, helping us better understand the state of the manufacturing, mining, as well as electric and gas utilities industries, which combined make up another roughly 14% of the economy. 3. Earnings: Club name Oracle (ORCL) reports its quarter after the closing bell on Monday . Sentiment on the Street is generally positive heading into the print with much of the focus being placed on demand for the company’s cloud offerings and the migration from on-premise IT to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Growing adoption of AI workloads is another factor expected to drive OCI demand — especially thanks to Oracle’s now close ties with accelerated computing leader Nvidia, as we pointed out in our Friday preview story . ORCL YTD mountain Oracle YTD peformance In addition to the positive momentum analysts expect to see, based on recent surveys, many Oracle notes that we have reviewed ahead of earnings were quick to call out the stock’s undemanding valuation versus cloud peers. A discount to peers, along with room for AI revenues to grow and a smaller cloud market share versus the likes of Amazon, Microsoft (MSFT) and Google, results in a favorable risk/reward setup heading into the numbers. Any confidence management can instill in investors as far as an ability to gain further share as it positions itself as another enabler of AI can certainly work to support some multiple expansion as earnings grow. That would be icing on the cake for investors Thirty-three Club names have reported their latest earnings. As we do every quarter, we ranked them as Good, Not So Good, Bad, and Ugly. Oracle on Monday and Costco (COST) on Sept. 26 will be our final two earnings to round out our 35-stock portfolio. Here’s a full rundown of all the important domestic earnings reports and economic data in the week ahead. Monday, Sept. 11 Before the bell: Bowlero (BOWL) After the bell: Oracle , Caseys General Stores (CASY) Tuesday, Sept. 12 No data Wednesday, Sept. 13 8:30 a.m. ET: Consumer Price Index Before the bell: Cracker Barrel (CRBL), REV Group (REVG) After the bell: Semtech (SMTC) Thursday, Sept 14 8:30 a.m. ET: Producer Price Index 8:30 a.m. ET: Retail Sales After the bell: Adobe (ADB), Copart (CPRT), Lennar (LEN) Friday, Sept. 15 9:15 a.m. ET: Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization (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.
IPhone 14 Pro models are promoted outside Apple Inc.’s flagship store in Shanghai, Oct. 13, 2022.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images
It was a down week for the major stock market benchmarks as rumors of an iPhone ban for government employees in China sparked concerns over increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing. While recovering a bit on Friday, shares of Club name Apple (AAPL) lost more than 5% this week, taking the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq with them. Investors are wondering if the September stumble on Wall Street will continue into next week when three big things — major events, inflation data, and companies reporting their quarterly results late in the cycle — take center stage.
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