This industrial play has been a quiet winner in 2026. Why the stock has more room to go

Here is a story making headlines in the economy: 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. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq on Wednesday are struggling to snap their two-day losing streaks. The S & P 500 climbed as much as 0.

86% before reversing course and erasing its gains. The S & P 500 is slightly lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq , meanwhile, is solidly in the red.

Economic Details

The indexes are struggling despite oil prices continuing to drop, with U. benchmark WTI crude briefly dipping below $70 per barrel. The decline in energy prices is easing inflation concerns, which has helped push the 10-year Treasury yield down roughly 9 basis points.

Falling oil prices and lower interest rates make for a good recipe for travel, leisure and housing-related stocks, which are leading the market in the session. We're seeing the strength reflected in Club name Home Depot's shares, which have climbed back to their highest level since April. Technology stocks were mostly lower with profit taking in semiconductors and other AI names ahead of Micron's earnings report after the bell.

Club name Corning was an outlier for unclear reasons. The stock is surging roughly 7%, making it the top-performing tech name in the S & P 500 despite weakness in the theme. Linde shares are on the rise after analysts at Citi raised their price target on the industrial gas supplier to $600 from $585 and initiated a "90-day positive short-term view.

Analyst Views

" In a note to clients, analysts wrote that their call is "driven by a potentially more constructive setup for estimate revisions on incremental upside from volume growth in North America from broad-based strength in manufacturing, metals, refining, and electronics and Asia industrial activity possibly inflecting. " Citi also called out the company's high-quality backlog, which is becoming more exposed to faster growing verticals like electronics and the space industry . Notably, Citi reminded investors that Linde has not baked any benefit from higher helium prices into its guidance.

That matters because helium prices rose after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz created a supply shortage. As we've explained before , we do not believe management is chasing a one-time earnings benefit by selling into the spot market. Rather, we suspect Linde is leveraging its excess supply to win new long-term contracts, a strategy that should support stronger volumes and earnings growth over time.

Linde is quietly having a strong 2026, with shares up over 21% year to date. That is ahead of the S & P 500's 7. 5% advance and the index's materials sector, which is up 13%.

Economists are analysing what the news means for the markets.