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: Wall Street is putting together a strong bounce-back session Monday after wrapping up last week on a sour note thanks to a weak jobs report. All three major benchmarks — the S & P 500 , tech-heavy Nasdaq and 30-stock Dow — added more than 1% in afternoon trading. It’s a broad-based rally, with 10 of the 11 sectors in the S & P 500 in the green. Energy is the laggard, weighed down in large part by declines in shares of ExxonMobil and Chevron , by far the two largest constituents in the sector. We took advantage of the positive day to lighten up on shares of Abbott Laboratories , our third sale since July 21. If not for our trading restrictions, we would’ve used some of the cash raised in that sale to buy more Starbucks , consistent with what Jim said last week following the coffee chain’s post-earnings decline. BLS drama: President Donald Trump on Monday was again posting on social media that last week’s big July nonfarm payrolls miss and the massive combined downward revisions to May and June were rigged. Those comments echoed the ones that came Friday as he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On CNBC Monday morning, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, one of Trump’s top advisers, was asked directly if the BLS numbers were rigged. Hassett pivoted. He acknowledged the longstanding problem of jobs data collection that pre-dated Trump but said, “All over the U.S. government, there have been people who have been resisting Trump everywhere they can.” Hassett, who has been talked about as a possible Trump choice for Federal Reserve chairman, also said, “To make sure that the data are as transparent and as reliable as possible, we’re going to get highly qualified people in there that have a fresh start and a fresh set of eyes on the problem.” Ironically, the weak jobs numbers bolster Trump’s case for the Fed to cut interest rates. Jim Cramer said Monday that he is not here to opine on whether Trump is doing the right thing or not. However, Jim said he is here to help Club members make money. He concluded that the jobs numbers point to a weakening economy and suggest the Fed should not wait any longer to cut rates. If the Fed cuts rates at its September meeting, as the market expects, Jim said the stock market should go up, even ahead of the move, and investors should make money. Keep on spending: The generative AI boom isn’t slowing down anytime soon, according to Morgan Stanley’s analysis of capital expenditure (capex) plans. In a note to clients, analysts said the 11 largest hyperscalers — including Club holdings Meta Platforms , Microsoft , Amazon and Apple — are projected to significantly increase their spending on cloud computing and other AI-related infrastructure into next year. Analysts expect the global capex from these companies to grow 56% year over year in 2025 and 31% in 2026. The estimates are based on second-quarter earnings reports from the aforementioned tech giants, along with those from Alphabet -owned Google, IBM , CoreWeave and Oracle , along with the Chinese tech firms Tencent , Alibaba , and Baidu . Additionally, Morgan Stanley analysts said they wouldn’t be surprised to see 2026 capex commitments “move materially higher” by this time next year due to the continued growth in AI model output and cloud providers still mentioning that demand for compute is outstripping supply. “This earnings season, most management teams highlighted the need to accelerate infrastructure deployment timelines/address tight supply and support increasingly complex cloud/AI workloads, and executives across MSFT, META, AMZN and GOOGL signaled: (1) greater confidence in generating a return on these investments; and (2) a willingness to sustain elevated levels of spending into 2026,” the analysts wrote. This is all promising news for the generative AI trade. As these hyperscalers pour billions into AI infrastructure, it signals that management teams are taking the technology — and the demand for it — even more seriously than before. We hope this means improved AI offerings from our portfolio companies, too. Apple, in particular, is in desperate need of one, which is why we were pleased to hear CEO Tim Cook say on the conference call that the company is “significantly growing” its AI investments. Apple has comparatively spent much less on capex in recent years compared with the likes of Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. The iPhone maker has had a lackluster rollout of its suite of AI tools called Apple Intelligence since last year. Buzzy new AI features could mean more upside in device sales and revenues in its high-margin services unit. With Apple, “we’re actually trying figure out what they really want to do,” Jim said during Monday’s Morning Meeting. As for Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, we’ve been largely impressed by their AI plans. “The market wanted to see a lot of [AI] spend because that’s where the return is,” Jim said. He continued, “You may think they spent too much money. That doesn’t matter. People want to see a lot of spend.” It’s not just Big Tech and their cloud customers that benefit from all the AI outlays. Industrial stocks and Club holdings like Eaton , GE Vernova and Dover all benefit in their own ways from the continued construction of data centers and the electricity infrastructure needed to fuel the power-hungry buildings. Earlier Monday, we published an in-depth look at how GE Vernova’s gas turbines became such a hot commodity in the AI race. Up next: Club name Coterra Energy is among the companies reporting earnings after the close Monday, with its conference call set for Tuesday morning. We’ll wait for the call before publishing our earnings analysis, given management’s comments, particularly on its planned fix for problematic wells in part of the Permian Basin, will help shape our thinking on the results. Some other notable companies reporting Monday night include high-flying Palantir , obesity drug compounder Hims & Hers , Taser maker Axon Enterprise , e-commerce marketplace MercadoLibre and non-opoid pain medication maker Vertex Pharmaceuticals . On Tuesday morning, we’ll get results from Club names DuPont and Eaton. Economic bellwether Caterpillar, private-equity giant Apollo Global Management and hotel operator Marriott International also are on the docket. It’s an overall quiet week of economic data, though on Tuesday the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly look at activity in the U.S. services sector is due out at 10 a.m. ET. (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.
If you live in or develop apartments in California, there’s fresh cash on the table to get Level 2 EV chargers installed. The Communities in Charge project, backed by the California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program, just opened a new funding lane worth up to $56.5 million for multi-family housing and nearby spots where tenants can plug in.
How it works
Who can apply? California property owners or stakeholders ready to install Level 2 chargers at multi-family and adjacent tenant-accessible sites.
When? Applications opened today at 9 am PT and run through January 9, 2026, at 5 pm PT.
What’s covered? Up to $8,500 per Level 2 port. Starting in October, the program will also kick in $2,000 per publicly accessible Level 1 port. Extra “plus-ups” are available for Tribal communities.
Equity first: An equity-based scoring system bumps projects that serve disadvantaged, low-income, and Tribal areas to the front of the line.
The project is run by CALSTART (with GRID Alternatives and Tetra Tech riding shotgun). CALSTART already oversees more than $1 billion in national clean-transportation incentives.
“This funding wave marks a critical step in making electric vehicle charging accessible to more Californians, no matter the type of housing,” said Stacey Simms, CALSTART’s senior director of clean fuels and infrastructure. “By dedicating funding to this housing sector, we’re ensuring that infrastructure barriers are broken down so that multi-family housing residents can go electric at home.”
What happens after you click ‘submit’
Applications roll in through the Incentive Processing Center and get reviewed as they arrive:
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Readiness Tier 1 (projects that can basically start tomorrow) snag an immediate “Notice of Final Award.”
Readiness Tier 2 candidates get a “Notice of Conditional Award” and 90 days to hand in extra paperwork before they secure their final green light.
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Rivian just posted its more recent letter to shareholders outlining its progress and financial numbers from Q2 2025. We have already covered much of Rivian’s Q2 achievements outlined in the letter. However, we have gained a clearer understanding of where the American automaker stands on production numbers, revenue, and gross profit through half the year as it continues to gear up for the start of R2 production next year.
While Q2 2025 is by no means the worst report from Rivian, it’s not the most exciting from a financial outlook. However, the American automaker does point out several impressive milestones and investments it solidified the previous three months.
For example, Rivian shared news of a fresh equity investment of $1 billion from Volkswagen Group, part of a larger $5.8 billion agreement joint venture between the two OEMs.
As we pointed out in July, Rivian has been expanding its global footprint, announcing a new UK office in addition to a shiny new East Coast headquarters located outside of Atlanta, not far from where its second EV manufacturing facility will eventually operate.
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Q2 2025 also marked Rivian’s initial sales of its second-generation Quad Motor R1 models. Speaking of new models, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe shared several progress updates of the new R2 throughout Q2 2025, and today’s letter to shareholders continues to detail steady progress for the highly anticipated EV.
Let’s dig into the full report, shall we?
Rivian R2 midsize electric SUV (Source: Rivian)
Rivian expects higher Q3 2025 deliveries compared to Q2
As announced before the full Q2 2025 report, Rivian’s BEV production was way down, completing a mere 5,979 vehicles in Normal, IL, compared to 14,611 a quarter prior. That said, Rivian deliveries were up in Q2 (10,661 vs. 8,640 in Q1 2025).
Rivian cited the reason for limiting production last quarter as “primarily due to a variety of supply chain complexities partially driven by shifts in trade policy.” Despite the lower production numbers, Rivian said it is staying pat on its delivery guidance for 2025 and expects to have an even better Q3 2025. Per the shareholder letter:
We are maintaining the range of our delivery guidance to 40,000 – 46,000. We anticipate the third quarter to be our peak delivery quarter of the year across both our consumer and commercial vehicles. Due to some of the recent changes associated with regulatory credits and our second quarter performance, we are increasing our guidance for adjusted EBITDA losses to ($2,000) million – ($2,250) million.
Total revenues were up in Q2 2025 by both quarter and year-over-year, but Rivian’s total cost of revenues increased, leaving gross profits at an (unaudited) plateau. Same as last quarter, Rivian still expects its 2025 capital expenditures to land somewhere between $1.8 and $1.9 billion.
Aside from the financials, which you can view in their entirety here, Rivian continues to put a tremendous amount of future success in its upcoming R2 model. Per Rivian, R2 development and launch remain on track. The automaker has essentially completed construction of a new 1.1 million square foot plant expansion in Normal, with production tooling equipment for component manufacturing installations now underway.
Rivian expects to commission the new R2 line in Q3 2025 en route to equipment and production processes validation. As we’ve covered plenty this year, the American automaker is assembling validation prototypes of the R2 on a pilot production line in California.
To make room for R2 production, Rivian will shut down its existing production footprint in Illinois for about three weeks in September. After that, Rivian’s manufacturing capacity will increase to about 215,000 units per year. Per the shareholder letter:
During the second quarter we made significant progress towards our development of R2, and advancements in AI. Due to our sourcing efforts and contracts we have in place, we are confident R2 will launch at an advantaged cost structure as compared to R1 and expect it to have a quick path to positive gross profit.
As always, Rivian will host an audio webcast this afternoon at 2:00 PM PT/5:00 PM ET to discuss its Q2 2025 results and provide a business update. The link to the webcast and shareholder letter is available here.
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All Tesla vehicles are now capable of bidirectional charging (V2X) thanks to an impressive Powerwall competitor, Sigenergy, which can include a universal bidirectional DC charger.
V2X, or bidirectional charging, is becoming a fairly common feature for electric vehicles.
Whether it’s in a reasonably low capacity to power tools and other equipment on the go (V2X), or with higher capacities to power a home (V2H) or send electricity back into the grid for money (V2G).
As a leader in electric vehicles, Tesla was long seen as being reticent in adopting the technology.
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Today, Cybertruck is the only Tesla vehicle that officially supports bidirectional charging and it only works with Tesla’s own Powershare home solution, which still has limitations years after launching. For example, it still doesn’t work with Powerwalls.
And yet, I was surprised to see yesterday a Tesla Model Y send electricity back into a house for the first time.
My friend Sylvain Juteau, President of Roulez Electrique, was showing me the latest addition to his Trois-Rivieres charging station: the Sigenergy DC charging and ESS system. You can watch our video of our full walkthrough of the system here:
I had already heard a bit about Sigenergy and how they were gaining a foothold in the home energy storage market in countries like Australia.
Tesla has been dominating the home energy storage system for years with the Powerwall, but now its supremacy is being challenged, and I’m starting to understand why.
This device is what the Tesla Powerwall was supposed to be.
Tesla is currently on the Powerwall 3, which features some significant improvements in power capacity and solar inverter integration, but it doesn’t have an integrated EV charger.
Sigenergy’s device combines all components into a single, stackable, and expandable system with an incredible user interface.
For a few years now, the industry has had the ISO 15118 international standard for vehicle-to-grid (V2G), and Sigenergy has built a fully certified bidirectional DC charger module that fits with its modular energy storage system.
The system consists of stackable 8 kWh battery modules, with a top module that includes a solar inverter and serves as the brain of the system.
Between them, you can fit this new bidirectional DC charger module. With 3 battery modules (24 kWh), it looks like this:
The system can provide up to 25 kW DC fast charging, allowing you to charge at a rate of 25 kW at home.
It bypasses the onboard charger in your electric vehicle, just like public DC fast-charging stations.
At 25 kW, which is achievable with 3 battery modules and solar, it is certainly not as fast as most public fast-charging stations, but it is a lot more than the generally ~7 kW capacity of a level 2 home charging station.
And the killer feature is that this module is capable of bidirectional charging so it can not only DC charge an EV, but it can also pull DC power from an EV.
The device is available with both CCS and NASC connectors, but bidirectional charging utilizes the CCS protocol.
It means that even Tesla cars with NASC connectors and CCS modules (2019-2021, depending on the model) can use the bidirectional. To be clear, this is unofficially supported by Tesla – meaning that it works, we have tried it, but it’s not something that the automaker officially supports.
Sylvain tried the system on a dozen electric vehicles, and it works perfectly with most of them.
However, not all automakers have adopted the new bidirectional charging standard. In his tests, he found that Ford’s EVs are the ones that work best with it. Most Tesla vehicles tested performed well, but a few would cut off after approximately 5 minutes.
GM’s vehicles were notoriously hard to make work with the DC charger.
Sigenergy’s system is the first to be fully certified to the ISO standard, and they are a bit ahead of the curve. Now, automakers need to fully support the standard to unlock all that potential energy storage capacity.
Electrek’s Take
Can you imagine the value in energy capacity we could unlock if this were widely available? All battery systems become interconnected between cars, homes, and the grid.
You can always have energy go to where it is needed the most.
I think that’s the future of a decentralized energy infrastructure.
I thought that this was Tesla’s plan for the Powerwall. Elon had hinted at this for a while. It would have made a great deal of sense, given that Tesla is both an automaker and a leader in energy storage, but it never happened.
Kudos to Sigenergy for leading the charge here. This is a fascinating product that enables complete control over your energy assets from your electric car to your solar panels.
Take a look at the user interface in Sigenergy’s app:
This is a treasure trove of stats for energy nerds. The first screen is very similar to the Tesla Powerwall app, but the rest provides much more detail. You can see where the energy in your batteries are coming from and where they are going exactly.
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