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 moves : Stocks were mostly higher on Monday but off their best levels of the session. One potential reason why the rally faded is the nervousness surrounding a possible government shutdown, which could kick in just after midnight ET early Wednesday morning. Federal funding runs out Tuesday. A shutdown could result in furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal employees and delay the release of key economic data, including Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report. But nothing is final, and a shutdown could still be averted. A meeting between President Donald Trump and leaders of both the Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. We’ll watch for headlines. Either way, we’re not making any changes to the portfolio based on what may or may not happen in Washington. Still waiting : We’re still looking to add to our Boeing position when our trading restrictions allow it. The stock has given up nearly all of Friday’s rally after the FAA loosened some restrictions, clearing the company to boost production and deliveries of its 737 Max jets. We don’t see a definitive headline driving Monday’s weakness, but we would be buyers here. Deal time: DuPont said it is buying Sinochem RO Memtech to boost its reverse osmosis manufacturing footprint in China and the wider Asia Pacific region. Terms were not disclosed. The company said the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, supports its strategy of locating production closer to its end customers . This may be a tiny deal, but we expect more bolt-on acquisitions in DuPont’s future. The company’s goal is to have more secular growth, and its Healthcare and Water end markets are expected to grow faster than its Building and Industrial end markets. All four end markets will be serviced by the remaining DuPont after the company spins off its electronics business, which it named Qnity. Currently, roughly half of what will be the new company’s sales come from Healthcare and Water, and we would expect management to use the cash proceeds from its Aramids business sale to pursue more deals in these two areas. The Qnity spin-off remains set for Nov. 1, and we continue to believe the breakup will unlock shareholder value, given that Qnity Electronics’ peers trade at higher multiples. Qnity’s closest comp, Entegris , trades at an enterprise value-to-EBITDA ratio of about 17 times 2026 estimates. In theory, Qnity should trade somewhere in that vicinity when it separates, much higher than DuPont’s 11 times. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Up next: Jefferies reports its third-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Monday, and the bank’s results and commentary also provide a solid read-through into investment banking and capital markets activity — both of which are big revenue streams for Goldman Sachs . Before the opening bell on Tuesday, Lamb Weston and Paychex report. On the data side Tuesday morning, we get JOLTS, the Labor Department’s job openings and labor turnover survey, and the Consumer Board consumer confidence index. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust. including BA, DD, GS.) 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.
