Ford steals market share, plus bank stress tests and Pool Corp's ripple effect

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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 Wrap: The S & P 500 is higher Tuesday, on track for its first positive session in a week. But once again, the action is very lopsided. After three sessions of heavy rotation out of tech and AI winners and into other areas of the market, the market has shifted back to tech and momentum leaders. One reason for the flip back: These tech names generally have some of the cleanest multiyear growth stories and strongest fundamentals, creating a "defensive" trade in an uncertain macro environment. So when cracks are forming in other areas of the market, investors quickly return to where the growth is the strongest: tech. A negative business update from Pool Corp didn't help with the broadening out trade. The wholesale pool supplies distributor on Monday said new pool units could be down 15% to 20% in 2024 and remodeling activity could fall 15%. As a result, the company lowered its earnings forecast, sending shares down 7% Tuesday. Pool Corp's weakness is dragging down good companies along with it. Adds Jim Cramer: "Do Builders FirstSource , Tractor Supply , and Lowe's all deserve to be down this big off of Pool Corp? I think that all three will jump if we get a soft PCE [personal consumption index] on Friday and, in particular, TSCO can snap back hard." The consensus May estimate, per FactSet, calls for an annual increase of 2.6% on both headline PCE and the core rate, which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices. Then at an investor conference in London, Walmart CFO John Rainey talked about challenging comparable sales, and Union Pacific said its quarter had "a little bit more minuses than pluses." Despite the rebound in tech Tuesday, Cramer said Micron needs to report a strong number Thursday to restart the rallies in AI. "Nvidia is shaking off sellers but remember that a stock that is up 5% is not back to even if it fell 6% the day before. I continue to think that to get Nvidia back up you need a strong takeaway from Micron on data center growth," he explained. Scoop: "Intelligence I have tells me that Ford 150 is taking share from Stellantis this quarter despite a hedge-fund-based story about how it is losing share." Ford was one of nine stocks we believe will benefit when the Federal Reserve begins cutting rates. Stress tests: With the annual bank stress test results due out Wednesday after the bell, Jefferies took a look at how bank stocks have fared since 2021 immediately following the release. Wells Fargo has been at top of the pack three years in a row, according to the Jefferies note to clients. We take those past results with a grain of salt. As Jefferies analysts said, stress test "outcomes are difficult to model." Still those results show a positive bias for shares of banks that pass. The stress tests are also what banks use to model their capital returns to shareholders. Often in the days following the results, the banks with excess capital on their books will increase dividends or buybacks (or both). Up next: FedEx reports after the bell and its stock has been pretty weak since its last quarter, driven lower by concerns of a slowdown and fallout from announcing it did not reach an agreement with the United States Postal Service on a new contract. General Mills and Paychex report Wednesday before the bell. — Morgan Chittum contributed to this report. (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. The new Ford F-150 truck goes through the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Plant on April 11, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan. Bill Pugliano | Getty Images