Cramer’s week ahead: Falling oil could help stocks but Fed is the next big test — SkimNews
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- Stocks rebounded Friday as oil prices retreated, with the Dow up 509 points (0.98%), the S&P 500 gaining 0.86%, and the Nasdaq rising 0.96%, snapping a four-session losing streak.
- Jim Cramer credited falling oil and positive after-the-bell reports from Adobe and Oracle for reviving beaten-down enterprise software and data center stocks, naming Dell, Vertiv, Cisco, Marvell, GE Vernova, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise as potential beneficiaries.
- The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday is the biggest scheduled event of the week, with consensus expecting a rate hike to combat persistent inflation, according to Cramer.
- Cramer warned that if Iran attacks a U.S. carrier group with drone swarms, oil would spike, interest rates would jump, and "the stock market will get clobbered."
- Cramer will interview Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco starting Monday, and cited recent strength in Salesforce and ServiceNow as evidence investors are less willing to dump established software stocks over AI fears.
- Cramer said he is watching the 30-year Treasury yield post-decision, noting it could actually fall if bond investors read the hike as evidence of greater inflation discipline from Chair Kevin Warsh.
- Lennar reports after Wednesday's close as housing demand remains weighed down by stubborn mortgage rates, while Brinker International and Intuit hold analyst meetings Thursday; Cramer's Charitable Trust holds shares of GE Vernova and Salesforce.
Why it matters: The Fed's Wednesday decision will determine whether Friday's oil-driven relief rally holds or reverses — Cramer warned investors not to fight the Fed and urged selectivity, while a renewed Iran escalation could spike oil and rates again, keeping pressure on housing demand and broader borrowing costs.
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