As Wall Street monitors a broad bond market sell-off and shipping costs ahead of the holiday shopping season, major technology executives and banking leaders prepare for high-profile market sessions following a postelection rally across the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500.
Financial producers across major networks and newsrooms are tracking a convergence of market pressures as private equity stocks slip and ocean freight costs climb. The broader market environment reflects shifting sentiment across credit markets, commodities, and high-flying technology equities.
Private Equity Turbulence and Shipping Cost Surges
Private equity stocks have faced sustained downward pressure over recent sessions. Ares Management slipped 2.6% over a four-day span, while KKR dropped 6.1%. Blue Owl Capital fell 6.7%, and Apollo Global recorded a 7.6% decline over the same four-day period. On Friday, CNBC’s senior finance and banking reporter Leslie Picker will cover what recent turbulence in the bond market means for this group of stocks moving forward.
Simultaneously, the shipping market is seeing notable momentum as retailers eye the end-of-year shopping calendar. There are 99 days until the day after Thanksgiving, when the shopping season really gets underway, and 127 days until Christmas. CNBC TV’s Pippa Stevens will report on the shipping market and the impact on the big ocean liner shipping stocks. AP Moller climbed 21% in August, hitting a new high this week. Frontline rose 10.6% in August and also hit a new high this week. The SonicShares Global Shipping ETF (BOAT) gained nearly 10% in August, hitting a new high this week, and Diana Shipping advanced 9% in August, with shares sitting 9% from the May high. Hapag-Lloyd and ZIM are both up roughly 8% in August, and both stocks are about 10% from their highs.
Micron Technology Expands Boise Operations for Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure
In the technology sector, Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra hosted Jim Cramer for a big show at the company’s Boise headquarters and plant as the company introduced Micron Research Labs. Mehrotra emphasized the strategic necessity of modern memory development in scaling advanced systems.
“Memory is no longer the component in a system. Memory is the strategic infrastructure for AI.”
Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, via CNBC
Mehrotra further noted that the lab will be driving America's leadership in semiconductor and memory technology.
Stressing the technical constraints of modern computing, Mehrotra added, Without memory you can't make AI smarter, you can't make AI faster, you can't scale up AI.
Micron shares were up about 4% as Cramer spent the day in Boise with Mehrotra. The company currently accounts for 26% of the popular Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM), an exchange-traded fund that has more than doubled since its April 2 launch.
Overbought Equities and Wall Street Analyst Forecasts
Market technicians are monitoring the relative strength index, or RSI, across major indices following an extended postelection rally. An RSI reading above 70 suggests a stock is overbought, while a result below 30 could mean it’s oversold, though these readings don’t necessarily guarantee that a big move is imminent. Across the Nasdaq 100, 22 of the stocks are in the overbought category, led by Booking Holdings—up 3.6% week to date and 18% in a month—and Gilead Sciences, which is up 9.4% in four days and has gained about 16% in a month.
Within the Dow Industrials, five of the 30 stocks are seen as overbought. Goldman Sachs is tops in that group, rising 12% in four days and roughly 18% in a month, followed by Visa, which is up 5.2% in four days and 11.7% in a month.
JPMorgan Chase got a downgrade from Baird, where analyst David George thinks the stock will drop to $200, a roughly 15% decline from Thursday’s close, despite the stock being up about 39% year to date. George noted that the stock hit a high Wednesday but dropped 4.7% from that level.
“We find that expectations are quite high, with the stock trading at ~2.6x [tangible book value], 15% cap to assets, over 14x 2026 [earnings per share] estimates, and ~10x [pre-provision net revenue] — all close or at all-time highs,” Baird’s George wrote in his research report on JPM. “We know we are fighting the tape here, but believe it makes sense to sell the stock.”
David George, Analyst at Baird
