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Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Monday’s key moments. U.S. stocks kicked off the first trading session of the second half of 2024 with slight gains. Meta Platforms was the portfolio’s biggest laggard on Monday, down 1.5% after the opening bell. Raymond James raised Meta’s price target to $600 apiece from $550, implying a more than 19% upside from Friday’s close. The analysts said the Facebook and Instagram parent’s capital expenditures could amount to an estimated $50 billion in 2025 in order to support its artificial intelligence efforts. Investors seem to be weighing if these massive bets on the nascent but fast-growing tech are worth it. The Club says they will be, given the monetization opportunities AI brings to Meta’s advertising business. Shares of Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo climbed 1% and 0.7%, respectively, after the banks announced a boost to their dividend payouts Friday evening. The news follows the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests results last week, which both our financial names passed with ease. Morgan Stanley raised its dividend by 8.8% and authorized a $20 billion repurchase plan, while Wells boosted its dividend by 14%, but did not give firm details on its buyback plans. Barclays laid out a case for Abbott Labs stock to bounce back after the company’s latest trial over allegations that its formula may cause necrotizing enterocolitis in infants, which begins July 8. Abbott has lost nearly $30 billion in market cap since peer Reckitt Benckiser’s $60 million verdict in mid-March over similar matters. But the Wall Street analysts said that if the outcome is substantially below Reckitt’s figure, investors could come back to the stock. We’re not making light of the terrible situation, but are pointing out that Abbott’s fundamentals are still solid. Just look at the medical device maker’s beat and raise last quarter. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long META, WFC, MS, ABT. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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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