S&P 500 struggles to make it two wins in row — plus, a portfolio name leads the M&A race
Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Market moves : Wall Street on Tuesday was having a hard time keeping Monday’s rally going. The S & P 500 spent much of the afternoon in the red, one day after making back much of Friday’s 1.6% drop. Weak jobs data was the reason for Friday’s decline, but also the reason behind the near 90% market odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September. During Tuesday morning’s CNBC interview, President Donald Trump was asked about the jobs numbers, and he stood by his assertion that the jobs numbers were rigged to make him look bad. Trump also said pharma tariffs could go up to 250% and that semiconductor levies could come as soon as next week . The president also said four people are being considered for Fed chair. He said, “Both Kevins are very good,” referring to speculation about former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and Kevin Hassett, the current National Economic Council director and a key Trump advisor. “There are other people that are very good, too,” Trump said, adding, however, that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent does not want the Fed job. M & A ranking : Goldman Sachs was No. 1 in mergers and acquisitions (M & A) so far in 2025, according to new LSEG data. For the first seven months of the year, the Club holding was the top global M & A financial advisor by both number and value of deals. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan followed. Combined M & A value for Goldman jumped 54% year to date over the same time frame in 2024. The Wall Street powerhouse grabbed 32% of market share, according to LSEG. There were significant improvements for fellow Club name Wells Fargo , too. The bank jumped to seventh place in this year’s M & A rankings, up from 16th last year. The influx of deals for Goldman and Wells is a part of a broader M & A pickup. Global M & A reached $2.36 trillion during the first seven months of the year, a 35% increase from the year prior, according to LSEG. While the overall price tag of the deals went up, the number of actual deals announced over the seven-month period hit a five-year low. So, fewer deals but much bigger swings. There have been five high-profile M & A transactions, worth at least $10 billion or more, announced in July alone. They include last week’s announcement of Union Pacific ‘s proposed merger with rival Norfolk Southern for $85 billion. Wells Fargo is an advisor on the deal. Goldman was tapped to help Baker Hughes buy Chart Industries for $13.6 billion, according to a July 29 company announcement. Overall, the rebound in Wall Street dealmaking is great news for Goldman Sachs because investment banking is a crucial business for the firm. It’s also a key reason why the Club first started a position earlier this year. Additionally, Wells Fargo moving up in the M & A ranks is a sign that management’s expansion into investment banking is paying off. Although Wells is known as a Main Street lender, we like that the firm is diversifying its revenue streams to not rely so heavily on interest-based income streams. Now that the 2018 Federal Reserve-imposed $1.95 trillion asset cap has been removed, Wells Fargo can grow its nascent IB business and others, even further. Tariff update : Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur told CNBC Tuesday that the impact of the next wave of tariffs remains unknown. But roughly five weeks into the third quarter, Kapur said he has not seen any tariff impact that would change the earnings-per-share (EPS) outlook that the company issued nearly two weeks ago as part of its second quarter financials. Management raised Honeywell’s full-year outlook for revenue , organic sales growth, and adjusted EPS during earnings on July 24. Since then, however, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that updated import duties between 10% to 41% for dozens of countries, which are set to go into effect in two days. Kapur said trade policy updates are “a new factor that’s coming in,” but that “so far we haven’t seen any impact” beyond the scope mentioned on the post-earnings call. “That’s why we remain confident of the earnings guide that we gave,” he added. Kapur’s remarks come ahead of Honeywell’s spinoff into three standalone entities — a process expected to be completed by the end of 2026. Automation will stay with the current Honeywell, and aerospace and advanced materials will be split off. The CEO said the “spinoffs are progressing on time” as well. This is reassuring news for investors like us. That’s because for over a year, Jim has insisted that Honeywell needs to dramatically reshape its portfolio of far-flung businesses. Not only did Honeywell’s organic revenue growth continue to disappoint Wall Street in recent years, but its shares have lagged compared to peers as well. We think this will change once Honeywell’s break-up is finished, as the Street starts to see the quality fundamentals in each standalone company. That being said, don’t expect many more significant portfolio moves from Honeywell. “We have majorly completed our portfolio transformation work,” Kapur said. Up next : After covering Coterra , Eaton , and DuPont earnings Tuesday (we also bought some more DuPont), Club name Disney reports its quarter before Wednesday’s open. Parks and streaming are two keys items to watch, especially following the Athletic report that the NFL will provide ESPN with many of the league’s media assets in exchange for equity in the sports network. Eli Lilly and Texas Roadhouse , also positions in the portfolio, are out with earnings before Thursday’s open and after the close, respectively. (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.
