The bulls returned to Wall Street on Friday after a brief hiatus. In the week ahead, investors from all camps will focus on a series of labor market reports for clues on where the U.S. economy and stock market may go from here. The S & P 500 , Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average are coming off a volatile, holiday-shortened trading week. Despite a big and broad rally in Friday’s session, the major stock benchmarks all posted weekly losses. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq both lost 0.5%, while the 30-stock Dow dropped 0.6%. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq entered Friday on five-session losing streaks. The Dow had been on a four-day skid. The market was closed Wednesday for New Year’s Day. Sure, it’s now 2025, but “the same stocks that are good are still good,” Jim Cramer said on Friday’s Morning Meeting. He noted that the winners circle in 2024 once again included semiconductor companies such as Club holding Nvidia , our No. 1 portfolio performer last year. The artificial intelligence chip king also was among our top-performing stocks last week, with a 5.7% gain that trailed only oil-and-gas producer Coterra Energy and solar firm Nextracker , which both rose roughly 6.5%. We booked a nearly 1,000% profit when we trimmed some Nvidia shares on Thursday. 1. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote address at the annual CES conference in Las Vegas, set to begin at 9:30 p.m. ET on Monday , is one of the biggest events on the corporate calendar in the week ahead. “The scuttlebutt on the speech is that you’ve seen none of it,” Jim said. “A lot of emphasis, by the way, on total cost of ownership and the return that you get by buying his chips. I think that’s going to change the discussion” and quiet concerns about custom AI processors encroaching on Nvidia’s turf, he added. 2. The employment picture will command the spotlight on the economic front, starting Tuesday morning with the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for November. The closely watched reading, known as JOLTS, measures the tightness or slack in the labor market. Economists expect 7.7 million job openings in November, according to Dow Jones. That would be in line with the prior month. 3. The main jobs event of the week is Friday morning’s nonfarm payroll report for December. The consensus forecast is that the U.S. added 155,000 jobs in the final month of 2024 and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, according to estimates compiled by Dow Jones. In November, nonfarm payrolls expanded by a better-than-expected 227,000 , while the unemployment rate matched forecasts. 4. Before Friday’s official government report, payroll processing firm ADP will release its look at private-sector job creation in the U.S. on Wednesday morning. The ADP report is expected to show that 130,000 jobs were added in December, per Dow Jones. Initial jobless claims also will be released Wednesday, a day earlier than normal, because Thursday is the national day of mourning for former President Jimmy Carter. The U.S. stock market also is closed Thursday. The fresh batch of labor market data will help shape investors’ thinking about the course of Federal Reserve policy this year. A stronger-than-expected December jobs report, in particular, has the potential to reinforce expectations for less supportive monetary policy in the year ahead. In mid-December, the central bank released projections that showed policymakers expect to lower interest rates just twice in 2025 , down from an expectation of four cuts provided in September. The more hawkish stance spooked the stock market, and the S & P 500 remains nearly 2% below its Dec. 17 close, the day before the Fed’s disclosure. We’ll keep a close eye on bond yields for real-time clues on how the market is perceiving the forthcoming labor numbers. Strong data generally lends support for yields. “[Bonds] are reacting to every piece of data. I think that’s because there’s a perception that the economy is actually accelerating, doing well,” Jim explained during Thursday’s Morning Meeting. 5. Modelo and Corona brewer Constellation Brands is the only Club holding set to report earnings this week. The numbers are now due out before the bell Friday, instead of the originally scheduled Thursday, because of the national day of mourning. Analysts expect Constellation to have earned $3.32 cents per share on revenues of $2.54 billion in the three months ended Nov. 30, according to LSEG. We added to our position in Constellation Brands on Tuesday. Within the report, the year-over-year growth rate of its beer business will hold a lot of weight. Investors were not satisfied with the 6% figure in Constellation’s June-to-August period, which represented a slowdown from the 8%, 11%, and 11.8% growth seen in the three prior quarters. Constellation’s struggling wine-and-spirits division also will be in focus. CEO Bill Newlands in October talked about some “green shoots” in some higher-end wine brands, and now we’ll get to see whether there was any sequential improvement in this disappointing segment. There’s plenty more for Constellation executives to discuss on their earnings call. When it comes to President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal for higher tariffs on Mexican imports, we’re curious if management will mention the possibility of securing exemptions. Analysts at Roth MKM floated this possibility late last year , citing an agreement with the Justice Department that effectively requires Constellation to make its Mexican beers in Mexico. The U.S. surgeon general’s new warning on alcohol and cancer risks, which weighed on the stock in Friday’s session, also figures to be a topic of conversation. Week ahead Monday, Jan. 6 10 a.m. ET: Durable Goods and Advance Total Manufacturing report for November 9:30 p.m. ET: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang keynote at CES Tuesday, Jan. 7 10 a.m. ET: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) 10 a.m. ET: ISM Services for December Before the bell: Apogee Enterprises (APOG) After the bell: Kura Sushi USA (KRUS) Wednesday, Jan. 8 8:15 a.m. ET: ADP Employment Survey 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial jobless claims 2 p.m. ET: FOMC minutes Before the bell: AngioDynamics (ANGO), Helen of Troy (HELE), Simply Good Foods (SMPL), Albertsons (ACI) After the bell: Penguin Solutions (PENG) Thursday, Jan. 9 NYSE and Nasdaq closed for national day of mourning Friday, Jan. 10 8:30 a.m. ET: Nonfarm payroll report 10 a.m. ET: Preliminary Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Before the bell: Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Constellation Brands (STZ) After the bell: WD-40 (WDFC) (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long NVDA, STZ, CTRA and NXT. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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.
“Now Hiring” signage outside a Home Depot store in San Carlos, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The bulls returned to Wall Street on Friday after a brief hiatus.
In the week ahead, investors from all camps will focus on a series of labor market reports for clues on where the U.S. economy and stock market may go from here.