This stock is our favorite way to hedge against the pickup in inflation

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 overcame a softer open and rallied to new record highs on Wednesday despite another hotter-than-expected inflation report that nudged long-dated U.S. Treasury yields higher and renewed concerns about future monetary policy decisions. The producer price index (PPI) rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% in April, lifting the annual rate to 6% — its highest level since 2022. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hovered near 4.48% in afternoon trading following the release. The renewed inflation fears prompted investors to rotate out of consumer stocks that could feel pressure from weaker spending power and back into AI-related names. Semiconductor and data center-related names rebounded after Tuesday's dip, helping offset weakness in more rate-sensitive areas of the market. Shares of Club holding Nvidia rose roughly 3% to an all-time high. Fellow Club names Eaton and Corning gained about 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, recovering some of the prior session's losses. As the market grapples with what comes next after back-to-back hot CPI and PPI reports, one portfolio stock to consider as a hedge against inflation is the industrial gas giant Linde . Linde distributes gases like oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen a few different ways. …