My top 10 things to watch Thursday, July 31 1. Microsoft joined the $4 trillion club after reporting an incredible acceleration of business , especially from its AI digital assistant Copilot and its Azure cloud division. It was an extraordinary quarter, so much better than six months ago. It was actually constrained by not enough computing power. The Club stock rose 8% this morning following last night’s earnings print. 2. Club name Meta Platforms shares jumped nearly 12% this morning after the social media giant delivered a stunningly good quarter and strong guidance last night. It looks like the AI bets are paying off both in innovation and in advertising. Family of Apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, saw users rise to nearly 3.5 billion. Smart glasses form factor is the one that will win AI. 3. A powerful earnings-driven tech stock rally this morning was positioning the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq for higher opens. Club names Apple and Amazon report earnings tonight. Apple has a tall order to win back Wall Street’s favor, while Amazon also needs a strong showing. Updates on AI and tariffs will be themes on both conference calls to watch. 4. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell yesterday afternoon opted to continue to wait for more evidence either way on the inflationary impact of President Donald Trump’s evolving trade policy. The market odds of an interest rate cut in September dipped after the central bank left rates unchanged, defying the president’s calls for cuts. The Fed’s favorite inflation gauge come in a touch hotter than expected this morning. 5. Ahead of Trump’s self-imposed “reciprocal” tariffs tomorrow, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC this morning that Washington has the “making of a deal” with China. Trump announced last night a trade agreement with South Korea, featuring 15% tariffs and a commitment from Seoul to invest $350 billion in the U.S. Others with trade deals include the EU on Sunday, Japan last Thursday, and the UK back on May 8. 6. Club stock Bristol Myers Squibb was up 1% this morning but earlier strength was fading. The drugmaker reported a beats on the top and bottom lines for the quarter and raised its full-year sales outlook. Investors are still waiting for trial results on schizophrenia drug Cobenfy as an Alzheimer’s psychosis treatment. 7. Eli Lilly shares dropped almost 2% this morning on trial results that compared the heart-health benefits of its GLP-1 diabetes drug Mounjaro to its own Trulicity, an earlier GLP-1. While the Club name is claiming the data shows Mounjaro’s superiority, the market reaction suggests the results aren’t good enough. I am not buying the negative story. It’s about insurance coverage. 8. Moderna shares were under modest pressure this morning after the biopharma company announced plans to cut 10% of its global workforce. The company became a household name during the pandemic but demand for its Covid shots has dwindled. CEO Stephane Bancel wrote in a memo employees that the “future of Moderna is bright,” with three products approved and more on the way. Moderna reports earnings tomorrow morning. 9. Design software developer Figma priced its initial public offering last night at $33 per share, above its expected range. The stock will start trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the “FIG” ticker symbol. Figma was supposed to be bought by Photoshop giant Adobe, but the deal fell apart in 2023 under pressure from regulators. Club name Goldman Sachs is one of the underwriters on the IPO. 10. Shares of CoreWeave , which rents access to Nvidia GPUs to cloud providers and AI developers, jumped more than 12% after Citi upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The analysts cited Microsoft earnings as a signal that AI demand remains strong. Microsoft is a top client of CoreWeave. Club name Nvidia is a backer of CoreWeave. 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.
