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. (We’re no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) Good news is good news: The stock market correctly viewed the good jobs data as good news — no matter what it means for the timing of the first interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. Some may be concerned that a still-tight labor market is too inflationary. But the reality is that strong job gains with elevated yet moderating wage growth is a great scenario for the U.S. economy. If the market needs that first Fed rate cut after the tightening cycle so much, why has the rally barely skipped a beat? Lack of news can also be good news: Friday’s market rally has more to it than just the jobs number. It’s rebounding on the lack of new escalations in the Middle East. Those concerns were the catalyst that caused oil to spike late Thursday and the stock market to spiral. We must monitor the Mideast and the oil dynamic. More importantly, though, Thursday afternoon’s reversal had nothing to do with the Fed. Our advice is to block out day-to-day Fedspeak and only focus on what Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says. This week, Powell said that rate cuts will come when needed but central bankers will need more time to figure it out. That’s no different than what he’s said before and in line with what Jim Cramer and I have been saying for a while now. Ford gets a bump: Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas raised his price target on Club name Ford to $17 per share from $16. The move comes in response to the automaker’s announcement Thursday about delaying production of a new all-electric SUV and pickup truck to focus on its more profitable, in-demand hybrid offerings. Jonas believes that slower electric vehicle adoption is great for legacy U.S. automakers like Ford. We agree . Ford’s evolving…
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