My top 10 things to watch Tuesday, Aug. 18 1. Bonds are the story of the day. The relentlessness of this worldwide bond market rout is unnerving, pushing yields to decently attractive levels. We are not seeing any let up. Here at home, the 30-year Treasury yield is at a roughly two-decade high, at over 5.33%. Do we secretly fear 6%? A 15-year high for Germany’s benchmark 10-year bund. A three-decade high for Japan’s 10-year bond. 2. What’s driving it? Concerns about prolonged inflation, as the U.S.-Iran war shows little signs of letting up and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains impeded. Also concerns about elevated government deficits in the U.S. and elsewhere, like the United Kingdom. Rising corporate debt issuance to help fund the AI buildout also offers competition for some of the money that historically went to government paper. 3. No surprise to see S & P and tech-heavy Nasdaq futures under pressure this morning . Tech stocks are especially sensitive to rising yields because that makes their future profits less valuable today, which explains why the Nasdaq is down the most ahead of the open. Dow futures are roughly flat. Yesterday was a nasty day, with the S & P 500 closing off 0.5%. 4. Home Depot reported a solid quarter considering the brutal housing market. CFO Richard McPhail went as far as calling it “frozen” in a CNBC interview. Top and bottom line beat, with full-year guidance reaffirmed. Comparable store sales, a key metric to evaluate retailers, were up 1.7%. Best since the third quarter of 2022. The stock is up more than 2%. We’ll hear from rival Lowe’s tomorrow morning. 5. UBS upped its Snowflake price target to $425 from $370. Analysts are fighting each other to hike their price targets. That’s because the company, which unites client data from multiple systems under one cloud platform, has the perfect model for this moment: a consumption model that can’t be killed by AI agents. 6. CrowdStrike got a price target boost to $235 from $169 at Barclays ahead of next week’s earnings. The analysts see new net annual recurring revenue (ARR) getting better: $285 million, with $300 million upside. Barclays predicts the Club cybersecurity company’s annual Fal.Con user event from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3 could be a “follow-through catalyst.” Cyber risks posed by AI mean CrowdStrike should keep going higher . 7. Abercrombie & Fitch was downgraded to hold from buy at Raymond James. This is a mostly valuation call after the stock has rallied big since reporting first-quarter earnings in May. Analysts expect mixed same-store sales when Abercrombie reports next on Aug. 26. I still like Ralph Lauren in apparel as a play on the high-end consumer. Club name TJX reports tomorrow morning. 8. Stay away from Lululemon ahead of earnings in the coming weeks, according to Needham. Analysts are worried about the demand environment, along with uncertainty around next month’s arrival of new CEO Heidi O’Neill, a former Nike executive. Competition in the world of athleisure is tough. Nike shares also haven’t found a bottom yet, hitting lows not seen since September 2014 yesterday. 9. Norwegian Cruise Line was downgraded to hold from buy at Mizuho. While still positive on the cruise business overall, the analysts expect Norwegian shares to be range-bound for a while due to the company’s turnaround. Viking is my favorite cruise stock right now. No gambling and no kids. 10. Cantor Fitzgerald and Mizuho both raised their price targets on Amgen , while keeping hold ratings on the stock. Cantor said the big question is whether Amgen’s late-stage pipeline can deliver the positive updates needed to keep the stock’s momentum going. We own Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson for the Club, with both seeing some encouraging prescription trends for new drugs in the first week of August. 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.
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