Apple is a notable outlier in Monday's drubbing of mega-cap tech stocks

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. Stocks were lower on Monday, with the S & P 500 and Nasdaq giving up their earlier gains. Real estate, health care, industries, utilities, and energy traded solidly in the green, while communications services and consumer discretionary were the laggards. It was interesting to see energy stocks move higher while consumer discretionary slipped, even as WTI crude was on pace to close below $75 per barrel for the first time since March 4. Technology was mixed. The major hyperscalers were weak on Monday. Amazon shares fell more than 4%, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms dropped between 2% and 3%. Jim Cramer discussed some of the challenges facing these mega-cap tech companies in his Sunday column . Apple was a notable outlier, outperforming its Magnificent Seven peers during the session. We know Apple's AI strategy looks very different from the rest of the group. Rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars per year building AI infrastructure, Apple is leaning on partnerships with model developers, including Google's Gemini, to deliver new AI features across its lineup of devices. Alphabet was the worst-performing of the hyperscalers and one of the biggest drags on the market, with shares falling about 6%. There may be several factors in play. The first concern is about AI researcher turnover. …