Profit-taking hits the AI trade again, and Instagram reaches 3 billion monthly users
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 are sliding for the second session in a row and pulling back from their record close on Monday. The AI trade carried the market to record highs, but there’s some profit-taking and pushback on Wednesday, with some of the best-performing stocks for the month giving back a portion of their gains. For example, Oracle and Micron are leading the tech sector to the downside on Wednesday, but both are up more than 30% in September, so we’re not surprised to see drops in stocks that have gone parabolic. Screen time: Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Instagram hit 3 billion monthly active users. The company doesn’t disclose Instagram’s engagement metrics on a regular basis. Before Wednesday’s announcement, Meta’s most recent update was almost three years ago, when it said the app exceeded 2 billion monthly active users. That puts Instagram across a threshold that both Facebook and WhatsApp, its other two main social platforms, already reached. Zuckerberg disclosed that Facebook and WhatsApp topped 3 billion monthly active users on earnings calls in January and April, respectively. Instagram and Facebook are Meta’s cash cows, though the company has taken some encouraging steps on increasing the monetization of WhatApp. Instagram’s engagement growth has been driven by its continued emphasis on Reels, its short-form video rival to TikTok, and by the use of artificial intelligence to refine its recommendation systems, resulting in more time spent on the app. Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday that Meta is also making changes to the Instagram app to emphasize private messaging and Reels, which are its two most popular features. Instagram is also testing features that let users open directly into Reels instead of the traditional feed and also give them more control over their content algorithm, according to Bloomberg. Meta is constantly experimenting with its platforms to optimize user engagement and maximize advertiser returns, and these potential updates seem like natural next steps in that evolution. And that is music to investors’ ears. Up next: KB Home reports after the closing bell on Wednesday, and Accenture and Jabil report before the opening bell on Thursday. There’s a slew of economic data on Thursday, including the third read on second-quarter gross domestic product, durable goods orders, and existing home sales. We’ll also see initial jobless claims, which provide a look into the health of the labor market. Last week, bond yields rose after initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell more than expected, and the rise in the long end of the interest rate curve has coincided with drops in stocks like Home Depot that are banking on rates coming down to unlock pent up housing demand. (See here for a full list of the stocks in 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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