Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday
My top 10 things to watch Thursday, July 9 1. We’re looking at a slightly higher open for the S & P 500 . Nasdaq futures are more solidly in the green, led by none other than the chip stocks. The Nasdaq mounted an impressive late-day rally yesterday to close up, while the S & P 500 and Dow were pulled down by reignited tensions with Iran. After settling up 4.4% yesterday, WTI crude is up less than 1% this morning. 2. SK Hynix’s U.S. stock listing is more than seven times oversubscribed. The South Korean memory giant is raising $28 billion, with shares set to start trading on the Nasdaq tomorrow. It will also continue to trade in South Korea. I’m starting to worry about excessive new supply of both debt and equity weighing on this bull market. Not in the danger zone yet, but if the offerings keep coming, we won’t be safe from oversupply. 3. Mixed quarter from PepsiCo — slight earnings miss but nice revenue beat. The beverage business is the standout in North America, with volume growing. Not so clear on the snack side, home to Frito Lay. Pepsi warned about higher input costs in the second half of the year. Will learn more from CEO Ramon Laguarta, who joins us on “Squawk on the Street” this morning. Shares are off 2% premarket. 4. Five Below was upgraded to buy from hold at Mizuho Securities. With shares pulling back almost 30% from their April peak, analysts said the risk/reward looks much better considering the company is retaining new customers well and the merchandising team is firing on all cylinders. CEO Winnie Park has done an impressive job since taking over in late 2024, but the health of the lower-end consumer is something to watch here. 5. Truist upgraded Solstice Advanced Materials to buy from hold following this week’s 24% plunge on its Element Solutions acquisition. The market clearly is not a fan of the deal, which was announced Monday morning. But I like the specialty chemical maker’s move to beef up its semiconductor exposure. CEO David Sewell told me on “Mad Money ” he knows they’ll need to execute to prove the Street wrong. 6. Another upgrade of Old Dominion Freight Line as the freight cycle rebounds from a multiyear downturn. This time it’s Citi going to hold from sell. Yesterday, Wells Fargo went to buy from hold. Old Dominion is a competitor of Club name FedEx Freight , which has pulled back hard. I think you’re getting a chance to buy. 7. AstraZeneca is down roughly 8% after its heart disease drug, Wainua, failed to meet targets in a late-stage clinical trial. Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals , which co-developed the treatment, are down almost 20% in tandem. Disappointing outcome. Wainua had been hailed as a big breakthrough. For drugmakers, we own Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson . Both stocks are near all-time highs. 8. Mizuho downgraded Tractor Supply to hold from buy and cut its price target to $32 from $50. Analysts cited stagnant comparable sales growth and eroding operating margins, mentioning competition from the likes of Walmart and Club name Costco . Still, Mizuho said that the company’s business “can be fixed” and has a strong brand. Boy, everyone has cut this one over and over. Earlier this week, Evercore ISI took the stock to $40 from $45. 9. Meta Platforms was added to Bank of America’s “US 1 List,” a collection of the firm’s best investment ideas among buy-rated stocks. Also this morning, Reuters reported that the Facebook and Instagram parent plans to put AI chips into production in September as part of its effort to double computing capacity. Shares are off 3% this morning, continuing a volatile stretch for the stock amid AI spending concerns. I’m a fan of their plan to launch a cloud business to sell compute. 10. RBC Capital Markets downgraded AeroVironment to a hold from buy. Analysts lowered their PT to $180 from $210 and said that investors will stay on the sidelines due to capacity expansion risk and flat top-line defense spending. The company posted a solid quarter late last month, which sent shares soaring. It looked like a lot of short seller interest. I still think a cheaper drone would help their case. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at 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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