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. Markets: Stocks were sharply lower Friday, putting the S & P 500 on track for a decline of more than 1.5%. Growing concerns about the health of the U.S. economy were the main driver of the decline. The preliminary February S & P Global PMIs were weaker than expected with the services index dipping into contraction territory. The final read of February’s University of Michigan consumer sentiment index missed estimates. January’s existing home sales numbers fell more than expected. too. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta provides an ongoing estimate of gross domestic product growth through its GDPNow forecast, which has already been revised downward in recent weeks. The most recent data won’t offer any relief. We don’t know when this big sell program hitting the market will end, but our unusually large cash position that we’ve built up in recent weeks provides us with some protection in this decline. We’ll look to deploy these funds more opportunistically as the market shakeout continues. We added to our Eaton position on Friday. Pockets of green: There are some spots of green within the sea of red, but the stocks up Friday were mostly limited to defensive groups like consumer staples, utilities, and health care. Makes sense when the market is worried about economic growth. Apple was slightly higher on the idea that it would receive tariff exemptions if it built plants in the United States. Danaher was curiously one of the biggest gainers in the portfolio Friday and working on back-to-back sessions of roughly 1% gains despite the broader market weakness. The only news we see is that on Thursday night Danaher announced a 19% increase to its quarterly dividend. While nice, Danaher isn’t considered a dividend play since its yield is about 0.6%. The company also filed its 10-K late Thursday, and analysts at Jefferies pointed out a disclosure that may suggest upside to earnings this year. Jefferies flagged Danaher as having started a cost-savings initiative that could be $150 million or more.
