Finance

Wells Fargo shares rose again Monday amid fresh Wall Street research and a broader market gain. It is tempting to take profits on the Club stock, which has mounted a 10% rally since its lowest close of 2025 on March 10. However, Jim Cramer advised investors to hold on for a little longer. The analysts’ moves are not surprising since the stock, while working its way higher, was still roughly 9.5% below its record-high close of $81.42 per share on Feb. 6. The news Shares of Wells Fargo were up nearly 2.5% to start the new week as traders brushed off multiple price target cuts and, instead, focused on signals that the U.S. may avoid starting a full-blown trade war. One of the price target cuts came from Morgan Stanley, which took its Wells Fargo target to $79 per share from $86. That still represents roughly 9% upside to Friday’s close. While citing “higher uncertainty driven by trade policy and a slower economic growth outlook” for the move, the analysts on Monday reiterated their buy-equivalent rating. They pointed to a number of positive drivers for Wells Fargo once the 2018 Federal Reserve-imposed $1.95 trillion asset cap has been removed. “Where does Wells benefit when the asset cap is lifted? (1) Faster deposit growth, (2) faster earnings asset growth, (3) higher markets [net interest income], (4) higher trading revenues, (5) lower expenses, and (6) a halo effect across the whole organization as they will be able to pivot to growth initiatives,” the analysts wrote. WFC YTD mountain Wells Fargo (WFC) year-to-date performance Big picture The Fed asset cap and other regulatory penalties known as consent orders were levied against Wells Fargo due to a series of account scandals and other past misdeeds. Management has cleared five consent orders since the start of 2025. The timing of the cap’s removal remains uncertain, some media reports — albeit unconfirmed by the bank — have suggested that it could happen as early as this year. Dealing with those regulatory challenges comes during a turbulent year for bank stocks and the overall stock market due to President Donald Trump’s near-daily barrage of tariff threats. Fellow portfolio financial names BlackRock , Goldman Sachs , and Capital One have faced similar volatility. This marks a reversal from post-election gains on high hopes that another Trump administration would bring about a more lenient regulatory environment, along with a boost in dealmaking activity. Bottom line We’re glad to see the Monday boost in Wells Fargo stock and the run it has been on during the past couple of weeks. Still, investors shouldn’t jump the gun and make a sale just yet. We believe this financial name has much more upside ahead. Like Morgan Stanley, we see the asset cap removal as a key driver for the stock. This, coupled with a multi-year turnaround plan, were big reasons why we started a position in Wells Fargo to begin with. The cap removal will allow the bank to expand budding parts of its business mix such as investment banking, further diversifying the company’s revenue streams. Currently, Wells Fargo relies heavily on interest-based incomes, which are at the mercy of the Fed’s policy rate decisions. Wells Fargo’s operating losses would likely come down as well with the lifting of the asset cap because the bank has been spending billions on risk and control infrastructure to appease U.S. regulators. Last year, according to Bloomberg, Wells Fargo submitted a third-party review of its risk and control changes for Fed consideration. The report said a decision to remove the cap requires a vote by the full Fed board. Jeff Marks, the Investing Club’s director of portfolio analysis, said he wouldn’t be surprised if the cap were to be lifted in 2025. “They’re getting more and more consent orders closed,” he said during Monday’s Morning Meeting. “There’s a lot of momentum there.” (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long WFC, COF, BLK, GS. 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.

A pedestrian walks by Wells Fargo headquarters at 420 Montgomery Street on December 04, 2024 in San Francisco, California. 
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VLADIMIR PUTIN is getting ready for an early Christmas. In the hope of a swift normalisation of relations with America, the Kremlin has been asking Russian firms which sanctions they would like Uncle Sam to lift first. America, for its part, seems impatient to deliver the gifts. Last week Steve Witkoff, a White House envoy, said that sanctions relief would come after a ceasefire is agreed in Ukraine—in other words, possibly before a full peace deal is ready. Mr Witkoff expects such a breakthrough within a “couple of weeks”. More

Economic forecasters have raised the odds of a U.S. recession amid an escalating trade war.
Investors shouldn’t act emotionally if trying to prepare their portfolios for a downturn.
Fundamentals like asset allocation and diversification are generally the most important considerations, advisors said.

Nitat Termmee | Moment | Getty Images

The odds of a U.S. recession have risen amid an escalating trade war. But most investors should ignore the impulse to flee for safety by exiting the market, financial experts say.
Instead, the best way to brace for an economic shock is by double-checking fundamentals like asset allocation and diversification, they said.

“You’re looking for balance rather than casting your lot with any one economic outcome,” said Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar.

The probability of an economic downturn rose to 36% in March from 23% in January, according to fund managers, strategists and analysts polled for a recent CNBC Fed Survey. A recent Deutsche Bank survey pegged the odds at almost 50-50.
President Donald Trump hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a U.S. recession and earlier this month said the economy was in a “period of transition.”
Recession isn’t assured, though, and economists generally agree the chances are relatively low.

‘Market timing is a bad idea’

Trying to predict when and if a recession will happen is nearly impossible — and acting on such fear often leads to bad financial decisions, advisors said.

“Market timing is a bad idea,” said Charlie Fitzgerald III, a certified financial planner based in Orlando, and a founding member of Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo. Trying to predict market movements and exit before a decline is like “gambling, it’s flipping coins,” he said.
When it comes to investing, your strategy should be like watching paint dry, he said: “It should be boring.”
He often tells investors to focus on ensuring their portfolio is properly diversified instead of worrying about a recession.
More from Personal Finance:Stock volatility poses an ‘opportunity’How tariffs fuel higher pricesThe ‘danger zone’ for retirees when stocks dip
When the economy heads toward a recession, it’s natural for investors to worry about falling stock prices and the impact on their portfolio. But investors quite often make bad moves and guess poorly, experts say.
Emotional behavior — selling stocks during market downturns and missing the rebounds — is a big reason investors underperform the broad market, experts said.
The average stock investor earned 5.5 percentage points less than the S&P 500 in 2023, for example, according to DALBAR, which conducts an annual investor behavior study. Investors earned about 21% while the S&P 500 returned about 26%, DALBAR said.
The story was similar in 2022: Investors lost 21% while the S&P 500 declined 18%, it found.
Stocks have always recovered after bottoming out during recessions, Fitzgerald said. Missing those rebounds can be costly, he said.
“I’d definitely urge people to tap on the brakes before making big shifts in anticipation of some market outcome,” Benz said.

Check your asset allocation

That said, the prospect of a recession is a good time for investors to revisit their portfolios and make small adjustments, if necessary, experts said.
Advisors suggest investors examine their asset allocation to make sure it’s appropriate for their goals and timeline, and to rebalance if their allocations have gotten out of whack. They should be diversified among (and within) asset classes, experts said.
A target-date fund or balanced fund held in a retirement account may be good options for investors who want to outsource asset allocation, diversification and rebalancing to a professional asset manager, Benz said.

Young investors saving for retirement — and who are more than 20 years from reaching their investment timeline — should generally be 100% in stocks, Fitzgerald said.
However, there is one exception: Investors who are also saving for a short-term need within three to five years, perhaps a down payment on a home, should not keep those funds in the stock market, Fitzgerald said. Put that money in a safer place like a money market fund, so you know it’ll be there when you need it, he said.

Retirees and near-retirees may benefit from a less risky portfolio, experts said. An allocation of 60% stocks and 40% bonds and cash, or a 50/50 split are good starting points, Benz said.
Retirees generally need to keep a chunk of their portfolio in stocks — the growth engine of a portfolio — to help their investments last through old age, advisors said. Bonds generally act as a ballast during recessions, typically rising when stocks are falling, they said.
Retirees who rely on their investments for income should avoid withdrawing from stocks if they’re declining during a recession, advisors said. Doing so, especially within the first five or so years of retirement, raises the odds that a retiree will deplete their portfolio and outlive their savings, research shows. (This is called “sequence of returns” risk.)
Retirees who don’t have a bucket of bonds and cash from which to pull during such times may benefit from preparing while the economy is still strong, Benz said.
“If you have a portfolio constructed well enough, [a recession] will be uncomfortable and the waves will toss [the ship] around a little bit, but the ship isn’t going to sink,” Fitzgerald said. More

Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group is using both Chinese and U.S.-made semiconductors to make its artificial intelligence development more efficient, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The combination of chips not only reduces the time and cost of training AI models, but also limits reliance on a single supplier such as Nvidia, the source said.
The company on Monday also announced “major upgrades” to its AI solutions for healthcare, which it said were being used by seven major hospitals and healthcare institutions.

A view of the Ant Group buildings in Chongqing, China, on March 23, 2025.
Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

BEIJING — Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group is using both Chinese and U.S.-made semiconductors for building more efficient artificial intelligence models, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The combination of chips not only reduces the time and cost of training AI models, but also limits reliance on a single supplier such as Nvidia, the source said, noting the industry trend of tapping multiple networks, known as mixture of experts — a technique that allows models to be trained with much less compute.

The company earlier this month said in a paper it was able to use lower-cost hardware to effectively train its own MoE models, reducing computing costs by 20%.
Ant operates Alipay, one of the two major apps for mobile payments in China. Jack Ma founded the company and its affiliate, Alibaba.
Bloomberg reported Monday, citing sources, that Ant has used chips from Alibaba and Huawei for training AI models. Ant also used Nvidia chips but now relies more on alternatives from Advanced Micro Devices and Chinese chips, according to the Bloomberg report.
Ant did declined CNBC’s request for comment.
The company on Monday announced “major upgrades” to its AI solutions for healthcare, which it said were being used by seven major hospitals and healthcare institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo.

The healthcare AI model is built on DeepSeek’s R1 and V3 models, Alibaba’s Qwen and Ant’s own BaiLing. Ant’s healthcare-specific model is able to answer questions about medical topics, and can also help improve patient services, according to the company statement.
The U.S. has sought to restrict China’s AI development by limiting Chinese businesses’ access to the most advanced semiconductors used for training models. Nvidia can still sell its lower-end chips to China. More

The mood music on Wall Street is downbeat, as America’s government throttles trade and hints at recession. Consumers seem poised to trim spending. Yet one corner of the entertainment industry is partying on. Live Nation, a concert promoter, has said it expects the live-music industry to break records in 2025. Its Ticketmaster app saw 70% more traffic this February than last, reckons Sensor Tower, a data firm. More

The mood music on Wall Street is downbeat, as America’s government throttles trade and consumers seem poised to trim spending. Yet one corner of the entertainment industry is partying on regardless. Live Nation, a concert promoter, has said it expects the live-music industry to break records in 2025. Its Ticketmaster app had 70% more traffic this February than last, reckons Sensor Tower, a data firm. More

Investors may want to get back to the basics when it comes to navigating the stock market volatility.
According to F/m Investments CEO Alex Morris, they should consider increasing their exposure to bonds.

“Particularly on the short end of the curve … there’s a lot of safe haven to be had there,” Morris said on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “If you look at where the equity market is going, you didn’t like the wipeout of a couple of weeks ago — there’s some more banana skins ahead of us.”
His comments came from the site of Miami’s Future Proof conference, where financial advisors and wealth management executives traded ideas and discussed technology, including using generative artificial intelligence.
Morris’ firm provides investors with access to “innovative” strategies, which includes mitigating risks, according to the F/m Investments website.
Morris, who is also the firm’s chief investment officer, sees the economic backdrop and tariff risks as another reason to buy bonds.
“If [DC] policy stays where it is, the short end of the curve is going to be a great place to be,” Morris added.

TCW’s managing director Jeffrey Katz, who also attended the conference, sees benefits in fixed income right now, too. “Bonds are acting as they should in the context of a 60/40 portfolio,” he told “ETF Edge.”
Katz’s firm is behind the TCW Flexible Income ETF, which has been around since November 2018.

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TCW Flexible Income ETF Performance

As of Feb. 28, FactSet shows the exchange-traded fund’s top holdings included U.S. Treasury notes yielding above 4%. It is also rated four stars by Morningstar.
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The S&P 500 has wobbled in 2025. The U.S. stock index briefly touched correction territory last week.
Investors can take advantage of such selloffs by buying stocks at a discount, financial experts say.
Investors should be mindful of their overall stock/bond allocations when doing so.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City. 
Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Stock market corrections are common

First, there is some consolation for investors. Though they may feel painful, stock market corrections are fairly common.
There have been 27 market corrections since November 1974, including last week’s market move, according to Mark Riepe, head of the Schwab Center for Financial Research. That amounts to roughly one every two years or so, on average.
Most of them haven’t cascaded into something more sinister. Just six of those corrections became “bear markets” (in 1980, 1987, 2000, 2007, 2020 and 2022), according to Riepe. A bear market is a downturn of 20% or more.

Pullbacks can be ‘an incredible opportunity’

Investors often engage in catastrophic thinking when there’s a market pullback, believing the market may never recover and that they’ll lose all their hard-earned money, said Brad Klontz, a certified financial planner and behavioral finance expert.
In reality, pullbacks are a less-risky time to invest, relative to when stocks are hitting all-time highs and feel more “exciting,” said Klontz, managing principal of YMW Advisors in Boulder, Colorado, and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

Investors are also buying stocks at a discount, known as “buying the dip.”
“It’s an incredible opportunity for you to be putting more money in,” Klontz said.
This is especially the case for young investors, who have decades for stock prices to recover and grow, Klontz said.  
Investors in workplace plans like 401(k) plans unconsciously take advantage of stock selloffs via dollar-cost averaging. A piece of their paycheck goes into the market every pay cycle, regardless of what’s happening in the market, Klontz said.

Be mindful of stock/bond allocations

However, investors should think carefully before going on a stock-buying spree, said Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar.
They should generally avoid diverging from their stock/bond allocations calibrated in a well-laid financial plan, she said.  
Of course, certain investors with cash on the sidelines may be able to take advantage of selloffs by investing in undervalued stocks, Benz said. U.S. large-cap stocks, for example, were selling at a roughly 5% discount relative to their fair market value as of Wednesday, according to Morningstar.
“I would let the asset-allocation target lead the way in determining whether that’s an appropriate strategy,” Benz said. More