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Jim Cramer
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Narrator
My mission is simple. To make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Mad Money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Cramerica. Other friends now. I'm just trying to make you money. My job. Not just entertain, but educate to teach you. So call me at 173cbc. Tweet me, Jim Cramer. Treacherous time. Treacherously negative, Treacherously positive, Unimaginably bullish and just totally nuts. That's all I can say about a day where President Trump put a 90 day pause on most of this harsh worldwide terrorist exception. Canada, Mexico and Canada and China and whiz back. What a move. Incredible. Trump's now going to negotiate with 75 countries that he says are pleading for help. Putting a 10% tariff on them now, coupled with a 90 day pause for interim negotiations. But he's still trying to put the screws to China by raising their tariff once again. Now it's 125%, which seems almost comical unless you have to pay it. Might as well just call it an embargo at this point. The reaction? One of the greatest short squeezes in history. This is for the shorts. The house of the Dow soaring 2962 points. I'm not getting 262 as we surging 9.52%. That's the best day since 2008. NASDAQ shooting into orbit. Up 12.16%. Second best day on record. What the heck is going on here? Is this the art of the deal at work. With the President now sitting down with trembling compliant trade partners to get meaningful trade reform, is it a policy of encirclement against the Chinese, or is he just backing off because the original plan was wrecking the market? Look, don't try to out think it. That's what I heard all day. That's not what we do. And the president doesn't work like that. He's not going to tell you. What we need to do is learn from this experience, because it might be the Rosetta stone to understanding the ways of President Trump in his second term. Lesson one, nobody ever made a dime by panicking. They know nothing. I know I covered that Monday, but I'm pretty sure it was quickly forgotten. Think about it. Think about how many people threw in the towel, said Goodby, so they couldn't take it. They listened to those three fabled words, get out now. Right now. They regret the rash emotional decision to get out now, but because the market is tore without them, they may never come back. That's what happens. That's how so many people left the market. Yet what happens is they get out and then it rallies big, like today. And that's the end. Bye. Bye. Learn to take the pain. Staying the course is how you make the biggest money. Second lesson. If you're negative and you stay negative, why don't you do this? Why don't you send me an invitation to your funeral? Last night, anyone who owned stocks left dejected, despondent, thinking they'd lost fortunes. They needed Xanax, they needed Klonovin. But those who went home short. And boy, oh boy, did a lot of hedge funds go home short. I don't know. They were high fiving and cheering, like ha. You know, like ha. And they were under the assumption that they made their whole, whole year in a week. I know some of these people, they were like at Harry's, just slamming them. Those who put the icing on the cake by shorting right into yesterday's high opening, they truly felt clairvoyant and proud. They navigated everything perfectly, didn't they? You know me, I like to say, bulls make money, bears make money. But hogs, those who stayed short were pigs playing it simple. And today they went to Bye Bye Hormel. Third lesson. The President likes. No, no, he loves drama. He's got to love drama for his whole darn presidency. That's one constant from his first term. So all those talking heads who come on endlessly and say, oh, we need certainty. Will you stop already? I sympathize, but you're not going to get any certainty from President Trump. And hoping for it is, at this point, frankly, kind of nuts. Say what you will about Trump, he'll never allow his presidency to become boring. We'll just turn it off. Fourth lesson. We want so much to count out certain once loved stocks, don't we? Maybe someday we should. But when you bet against really good companies like in video or Apple or Microsoft, you have to recognize that these companies didn't just get to their status by being a bunch of fugazes. Oh, and if you do hate them, sell these stocks when they're up, not when they're down. I give you permission to sell them tomorrow if you really want it. See you later. Final lesson. Let's understand what we do. We're not money managers talking about blowout munis and the big basis trades. We're not trying to get a job with billionaire hedge fund managers. We're common sense people who are conscious of the fact that all of your typical gains for a year occur on an average of seven days. Today was one of those seven days and you had to be in it. You had to own stocks to win. What does this rally off the bottom? Tell me. It says that if you continue to be too jaundice, you're going to miss a decent opportunity. As you know, I run a chapel trust. I can't scalp for points. I'm not a trader, at least not anymore. But there have been large enough declines that I need to be open minded. My history with the President is that while he's striding on fair trade just like me, for what that's worth, at the end of the day he's actually not trying to destroy the economy. He doesn't want to ruin your IRA or your 401k. So if he's doing something that's laying the stock market to waste, eventually you have to figure that he will change course. And he does. At moments like this, highly emotional moments, I like to do something that most people don't want to do. I look to I go to totems things that have worked me for so many years. As I've mentioned before, the measurement that's helped me immeasurably the most is a thing called the S and P oscillator that's brought to you by a company called Marketedge, which has a special relationship with the CBC investing club. That oscillator hit an extreme reading yesterday, minus 10, which shows a tremendous amount of selling pressure and despair. Too much by way of contrast, 0 equals equilibrium plus 10 on the other end shows that there's too much optimism. So I checked in with my friend at Marketedge to confirm what happens after this degree of selling occurs after you get to minus 10. And I thought his feedback was most relevant. In the last 17 years, 17 years, the oscillator has hit minus 10 only 12 times. Ten of those times, the S&P 500 was up an average of 2.7% over the next 30 days. If we go deeper to look at those two outliers, the first one was August 5, 2011, when the oscillator hit 10.02. Thirty days later, the SB was down 2.1% 1 2%. Now that was a bear market was caused at 19.3%. Correction. We had two concurrent crises back then. Our debt ceiling crisis, which caused a rating stag weight of our nation's bonds, and a European sovereign debt crisis. Both were subsequently resolved though, and you really never heard from them. And the market went straight up. The other the oscillator hit minus 10.25 on February 27, 2020. Remember that date? Right. As we realized Covid could be a problem, 30 days later, we were down 11.71. While, you know, automatically at all, we fell to a -24.36 on March 18. But 30 years later, we were up 60.74%. But unless you think a pandemic is about to shut down the entire economy again, 2020 really isn't much of a precedent, is it? So let me give you the bottom line on this one of the most exciting days of our lives. I don't think that things are all that difficult. They're not, Covid. Difficult. Now, I think that you're dealing with man made crises. It turns out that one of these manmade crises was easily reversible. As we said over and over again and told you that when you see stocks in the blast zone rallying, it pays to realize that good things, not just bad things, can happen too. Why don't we start with Bob in South Carolina, please? Bob. Hey, Jimbo. How are you doing, buddy? You're looking good. Well, thank you. Well, Bob, I was helped by a really great day and also by the summit. Please, I want to give a shout out to do a great job for me. What's going on? For the whole town. Yeah, what's going on? I mean, I'm in limbo here. What, what's your. I don't know what to do with it. I don't know if I should Sell it. Hold on to it. You know, first of all, you're not alone. Saint Merck, as we used to call it, has turned in just a complete nightmare. I think that if you buy mercury at 4% yield though, you're going to do well. It did touch 76 today. It's back to 81. I feel for what you're doing, Bob. It is remarkable how price poorly this stock acts. I do want you to stay the course with it right at this point and I'm sorry because it has been a real tough one. Why don't we go to Anthony in my home state of New Jersey. Anthony, Booyah. How are you doing? Kramer? I like I'd like to ask you about Honeywell at these levels with its upcoming split in the end of 2005 and Jeff and I talked about this endlessly. Up 16 today, by the way. We think the stock is dramatically undervalued. We think that Vimal Kapoor is doing everything right. We could not believe how low the stock got. I am a firm believer and a buyer of Honeywell even at these levels. Yes, I like it that much. Was down 8% this week. That's nutty. You know what? Why don't we take one more? Why don't we go to Eli in Illinois? Eli. Hey, Jim. I want to know if the stock Rivian is a buy seller hold with the tariffs. They sell their own. Okay, listen, go test drive 1. Don't own the stock. I really don't have that much more to say about it because I do think that they went through so much money that it is daunting. How about that? Daunting is a nice word. I'm looking at my research director and he knows when I say daunting, what I really mean is horrible. Can I speak to Lynette, please? Oh, the land of Enchantment, New Mexico. Lynette. Hi, Jim. Okay. What a crazy ride, right? Well, I'm. What I'm doing is I'm calling about FedEx and I actually have two questions. Buy the diploma.
Jim Cramer
Number one is buy the dip now or wait until May 9th when they report.
Narrator
Second question is how do you think the spin off is going to affect the company? I also plenty of ups, so I don't want any more. I don't like ups. I think that. I think that Raj Subramanian is doing a fantastic job in a very difficult setting. Obviously we've got all these tariffs. It makes his job 10 times tougher than I know we ever thought that it would get to. I think you should stock was up 10% that I can't ever tell someone to buy a stock that is up 10% percent. I do think the FedEx is a very, very good company. Look, things are still difficult. I'm not going to minimize that. But when you see stocks rallying to this, remember the best day for the SB since 2008. Well pays to realize that good things can happen. But you have to stay in to win and stop turning us off because it's a bad day. I'm giving you my playbook after today's historic rally. First, what's behind the big surge in treasury yields? And we've noodle about this. I'm sharing my thoughts about what's sparking the action. Then can the rally in gold continue to shine? I like gold. We're going to go up the charts to see if history can repeat itself and it doesn't sound good later. Private equity stocks have pulled back dramatically. Is it time to take a look at them? Or you have to be like this when you look at them? I'm outlining the reasons behind the cohorts decline and if if now's the time to buy. Well, why don't we do this? Stay with Kramer.
Jim Cramer
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Narrator
As the stock market bounces back hard if the President's 90 day pause for most of the new tariffs outside of China we got to talk about Something crazy has happened over the last couple of days. It's a sudden aggressive surge in treasury yields. I'm betting is one of the more important reasons why President Trump shifted course on trade. Just look at the yields for the longer term. Treasury bonds, the benchmark for 10 year note, has climbed more than 330 basis points from 4% at the end of last week to 4.3% now. That is a very big move people. The 20 year yield has risen from 4.44% to 4.79% and the 30 year yield is up from 4. 4, 1 to 4.75. Usually don't get these really, really big moves. They don't sound big, but trust me, they are. And that's after rates only calm down a bit today, pulling back meaning from their highs. If you look at the 10 year it spiked all the way to 4.51% around midnight last night before pulling back today. This is not really what's supposed to of stress for the stock market. The action we saw late last week, really for the past several weeks is what's supposed to happen when stocks are tumbling and the vix, that's the CBOE Volatility Index, is on the rise. Investors typically pile into Treasuries and other safe haven assets like gold is part of what we call a flight to quality trade. They buy bonds and when bond prices go up, their yields go down. For example, from February 19th when the S&P 500 peaked to last Friday's SP 500 fell over 70%. The 10 year yield fell over 50 basis points from 4.5 to 4.0. Again, that's normal bond market behavior and it does typically take that long. But this week the stock market was very weak until today and treasury yields still soared on Monday when the 10 year yield went from 4.0 to 4.19. Even as stocks mostly went lower. Investors and market watchers said, huh? I mean, that's odd. On Tuesday, when we had a brutal intraday reversal from big gains to more losses and the 10 year still jumped another 11 basis points of 4.30, we started to hear people wonder what the heck is going on here. And after last night's spike above 4.5%, we can no longer ignore this move. Remember, bonds are bigger than stocks. Okay, so what's driving? All right, here's what we know for sure. Someone is selling Treasuries significant size. That's why the yields are going up. Treasury prices move in the opposite direction of yields. So when there's significant selling, the yield goes higher. We don't know for sure who's doing it. No one puts a name on it. Originally some thought it was the Chinese as part of the response to Trump's now 100% plus tariffs. After the Nikkei got crushed today, some thought it might be the Japanese. By the way, they happen to be the world's largest holder of treasuries. They have $1 trillion worth. But by last night, as the 10 year yield was screaming higher to 4.5%, a new consensus culprit had emerged. It was the basis trade that was blowing up and causing all these problems. What is the basis trade? Us. You heard it all day. Don't worry, you're not alone. This is kind of like last August when suddenly everybody learned it was an instant about the yen carry trade that blew up and caused a sharp sell off for stocks. Just like the yen carry trade, the basis trade is a needlessly intimidating name for a simple idea. Hedge funds are betting that the difference in price called the basis between regular Treasuries and Treasury futures contracts with similar characteristics will shrink as the futures contract approach expiration. That's natural. To make that bet, they buy cash Treasuries and they short the treasury futures contracts. The thing is, the difference in price between Treasuries and Treasury futures is minuscule. In theory, it shouldn't exist at all, but it does because of supply and demand imbalances in treasury markets and regulatory limitations that prevent other types of arbitrage trading. So because the difference between Treasuries and Treasury futures is so small, for the trade to really worthwhile for hedge funds, they have to do what is known as lever up, perhaps as much as 100 times. They borrow huge amount of money if they want to make a reasonable return. Typically they get their leverage from the repurchase agreement market or the repo market, as is typically known, where broker dealers provide cash for investors by buying government securities from those investors with an agreement that the investors will repurchase them the next day for a slightly higher price. I know, very convoluted. But when it works well, during normal times, the basis trade works for everybody. The hedge funds make the profits small, but because they blow them up with debt, it works. The broker dealers make money by providing the leverage, even the government benefits, because the basis trade provides liquidity for treasury markets. But during periods of turmoil, well, things can get pretty, pretty problematic. Mostly because hedge funds have money locked into this basis trade and they suddenly need that money elsewhere. Or perhaps because the broker dealers that provide the leverage need the money back. When that happens, the trade is unwound. They have to undo the whole trade quickly. And the way that it's unwound is by selling Treasuries. Remember I told you somebody's telling Treasuries, selling Treasuries and using the cash that was raised from the sale to buy back the treasury futures that have been sold short. But notice the first part of that process, the selling of Treasuries. That's where the pressure comes from. There's a bit more to it than that, but these are the salient points and basically we have, including the fact that so much action happened overnight last night when much of the repo market activity is actually taking place. It seems like this is one of the periods of turmoil where many of the basis trades are out there are, are being unwound, meaning there's for selling of Treasuries happening all over the place, hence the decline in price and the rise in yields. Somebody got hurt real bad. So is it the unwinding the basis trade that's creating all this noise in the treasury market? Yes, that's probably a big part of it. But you know what? I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Chinese are indeed selling some US Treasuries too. And maybe investors are simply selling Treasuries that they panic panic buy bought during the sell off last week. Now, I don't want to dismiss the sharp uptick in treasury rates entirely. If reverses quickly, then it's not really a problem at all. Except for the hedge funds that are taken out on a stretcher after getting too cute and too complacent from this form of leverage arbitrage. But if this is extended, it's got a real problem Short term, higher treasury yields make it harder for the Fed to start cutting rates. Longer term, higher treasury yields mean higher borrowing costs for the country and compounding debt problems. I'm not going to panic here about the weird move in rates this week, especially now that we have the 90 day tariff pause outside of China. I was very heartened to see that a rather large $39 billion offering of 10 year treasuries went very well today, indicating there's still demand for Treasuries at an attractive price. You want that? We don't want rates shooting up here. That would be wrong. That'd be bad. But here's the bottom line. There's been some counterintuitive action in treasury yields this week with rates spiking due to elevated selling in Treasuries, even though rates should normally be going down. It's something to keep an eye on, but for now it appears to be due to some weird quirks that should fizzle out as we return to more normal market environment. And with this 90 day tariff pause, I think we're well on our way. Bad money's back after the break.
Jim Cramer
Coming up, is the rally in gold losing its luster amid the recent market volatility? Kramer is going off the charts and seeing if now is the time to invest in gold. Next, with leading networking and connectivity, advanced cybersecurity and expert partnership, Comcast business helps turn today's enterprises into engines of modern business powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply the last thing you want to hear when you need your auto insurance most is a robot with countless irrelevant menu options. Which is why with USAA Auto Insur insurance, you'll get great service that is easy and reliable, all at the touch of a button. Get a quote Today, restrictions apply.
Narrator
The stock market came roaring back thanks to President Trump's 90 day tariff pause. But what does that mean for the one asset class has been holding up just fine? Gold. Is it possible the gold rally has gotten ahead of itself? To answer that question, we're going off the charts with the help of Carly Garner, a terrific technician who's the co founder of Crowley Trading, the author of Higher Probability Commodity Trading, and of course our resident commodities expert. When it comes to gold, she thinks that the gravy train has probably left the station. In fact, compared to most other assets, especially silver and Treasuries, she says, it looks pretty darn overvalued. Making matters worse, lots of money managers and home gamers are already long gold and these people are wildly bullish you never want too many bulls because it means there might not be many people left to buy whatever you're trying to have go higher. In fact, Garner points out that there was recently a firestorm 1x mass accusations of market manipulation when gold retreated modestly on Friday. For Garner, this is textbook sign of frenzy. Frenzy always ends badly. As she sees it, gold is not a magical metal that automatically goes up in times of chaos. It's really an element, a periodic table that happens to be a bit more challenging to mine because it comes in small chunks. It's not necessarily scarce though, nor is it liquid, nor is it all that useful to manufacturers at the end of day. Goal is pretty, but it's not entirely practical. The fact is, if you want to own a stockpile of real gold, it's a huge pain in the neck. For Garner, there are times when gold works and times when it doesn't, just like any other commodity. And right now she says that gold hasn't been this overbought, therefore overvalued since the summer of 2011. That's when the debt crisis occurred. Back then, the precious metal pulled back 45% from its euphoric highs. If Garner's right and we see a similar move here, that could take us down to $1,650 an ounce. I mean, we're more than 3,000 today. Take a look at this long term chart monthly. This is a monthly chart of gold. Sorry, versus the S&P 500. According to Garner, gold is a great diversifier. It goes through periods of correlation and then non correlation with various assets. In other words, sometimes it moves with the markets and it moves in the opposite opposite way. But in recent years, golden stocks have moved mostly in tandem. Garner says that's primarily the result of the Fed's easy money policies and too many dollars chasing too few assets. Here's the problem. Given that gold and the stock market have been trading together for years now you have to worry that that could plummet. They could plummet together to stock market go down. Gold go down. Stocks are the leader on the way up. And Garden thinks they could also be the leader on the way down. If so, the recent breakdown in SB500 should eventually lead to a similar breakdown. The precious metal. But of course, recognize we had a big rally today. Since the thesis is that gold's been trading with stocks and stocks have been falling apart since February, let's zoom in on the monthly chart of the S&P 500 futures. Okay. Following a slow motion divergence between the relative strength index Or RSI down here, an important momentum indicator. And the S and P where the RSI was making lower highs while the market made higher highs. Stocks finally broke down after Trump rolled out his extremely aggressive tariffs. The April 6 Sunday evening futures low tagged 4832. Okay, they're just below the 485-support level offered by the trend line. It started in March of 2020. Well, that'd be bad. Last night the same thing happened again. Gartner said either the Trump follow. The Trump follows charts. I don't think he does though. Or the charts follow Trump. I think that probably more like it. But either way, buyers stepped in to buy futures last night on precisely Trendline support near 4850 and managed to close around 5500 the previous trend line support. For all intents and purposes, this is technically a rejection of the bear market. However, Garner says we are still subject to headline risk and changes in the trade war. If we do head back lower, she would expect 4,600 to be an amazing buying opportunity. But if that was it for the sell off, then 6,500 in the cards. Boy, that's back where we started from. The key is to stay is to stay safe. Less is more now. All right, so now how about the monthly chart of gold itself? Last month, gold ETFs and futures experienced historic inflation flows. But Garner believes this is an asset that should be bought when nobody wants it, that when everybody wants it. Gold temporarily surpasses trend line resistance year 3060 per ounce. But it is unusual for the market to color outside of the lines. So here's the in fact, when gold breaks out and then falls back beneath support, Garner says that generally means you're looking at a confirmed bull trap. The monthly relative strength index right here suggests euphoria is buying. Euphoria is drying up here. See that? Right. I buy that is drying up, which is what usually happens after big gold rallies get overbought like this one. If it repeats, which is what Garners betting on, then the gold market could be really shaky. A breakdown below 2900, well, that opens the trap door. If you expect a complete retracement of the 2024 rally, this would bring the price all the way back down to 2170. That's hard for me to believe, but hey, that would be par for the course historically. At the end of the day, she says gold rallies have never yet to survive a monthly RSI reading. That's the lower one of more than 70 without some correction. Well, here we are. Take a Look, every time there's been a correction. That's a very good call by Garner, by the way. Now check out the monthly chart of gold versus U.S. treasury bond futures. Right now, the monthly spread between treasury bonds and gold is pretty wide by historical standards. And here you can see blue is gold is gold, and then this mixed color is Treasury. So you see the spread again. If history is any guide, it's it's almost guaranteed to narrow. The main dollar question is when golden bonds are direct competitors for safe haven investment dollars. One pays interest, the other one doesn't. When rates are high, money eventually moves out of gold and into Treasuries and vice versa. Sadly, rates have been ticking higher this week. Sooner or later, Garners betting this will be a drag on gold. Let's make it even easier. How about gold versus silver? Take a look at this monthly chart. Normally, these two trade pretty closely together because really the same story. But sometimes one gets ahead of the other. Right now, buying a single ounce of gold costs about 99 ounces of silver at the trough. In 2011, an ounce of gold will buy just 30 ounces of silver. Historically, the average is around 1 to 70. So 99 means gold is very expensive versus its cheaper counterpart. Garner is betting this spread will eventually narrow because that's what always happen. Back in 2011, silver was the runaway metal, leaving gold languishing in its footsteps. But once the metals boom was over, the spread narrowed, with silver falling faster than gold as they both entered a bear market. This time, Garner's expecting a repeat of this narrowing. But with gold leading silver, lower justice been leading the way higher. Let me give you the bottom line of this complex situation. The charges interpreted by Carly Garner suggest that the gold rally will soon lose its luster. If you've made money on the way up, you know what she thinks maybe you could ching it. I'm a believer in gold and don't want to trade it. But if you are a trader of gold, I'd say take Garner very seriously. Let's go to Mary in California. Mary, hello, Mr. Kramer, and thanks for taking my call. My pleasure, Mary. What's happening? Well, I've gotten myself curious about a stock called MP or MP Materials. I ran into it on a program within the last. Did you see him yesterday? He was on. Okay, this. He used to come on our program all the time. James Latinski. And it's had a good run. It's moved up all the way from the bottom, but it used to be much, much higher. My take is this. I think that Rarer special materials are going to do well under Trump. And I like Latinsky. I think he's the real deal. But boy, they keep losing money. This is the year that they either make money or I go against them. Period. End of story. Agatha in New York. Agatha? Hi, Jim. Yes, this is Agatha. Hi, Agatha. I'm good. I hope you're doing well. Agatha. Today was just a great day because we nailed it. We just nailed it today. We stayed the course and we nailed it. All the scaredy cats, the basest people, their history. Good. Well, look, I have an old crystal ball, but lately, as you know, it stopped working. But today, today it is working again. So I'm happy. In the meantime, I have done relatively well with Chevron. Should I keep it? Yeah, definitely keep chevron. It's got 4.6% yield. It keeps buying back stock. You saw the way it bounced off the bottom today. Close up nine. I think Mike works doing a perfect job. The only problem I would tell you is I am not a bull on oil. But you came to me and you wanted an oil and I come back, I say if you want an oil, then I like Mike Worth. I like Chevron. All right, listen me, it was a very hard set of charts, but you get the picture, right? Charts interpreted by Carly Garner say you got to sell gold, all right, it's losing its luster. I think the call is worth seriously paying attention to. Only if you're a trader. If you're a gold person like me who doesn't want anything, that you just hold it all the time, then just don't do a thing. More mad money ahead, including my look at what's behind the pullback and private equity before today's rally. Then I'm taking a step back from today's tape and breaking down the long term stories about what I think we should be watching in order to calls rapid fire tonight's edition of the lightning round. So stay with Kramer. With the 90 day pause on tariffs we got from the President today, we now have some real breathing room. But that doesn't mean the tariffs are off the table, just means we've got some much needed time to adjust. Still, now that the averages are roaring as Wall street declares victory, I think it's worth going over the stocks that were absolutely getting killed until a few hours ago. Now, some of these were very obvious, but some others snuck up on us like the private equity stocks. I mean, for today's rebound, most of these had pulled up back more than 40 or more from their highs 40% and those highs were just set in the past few months. I mean, so what the heck do we do with these private equity firms? And public markets are relatively new thing over the past 20 years. Blackstone, by far the largest in the group is the most seasoned having come public back in 2007. Apollo came public in 2011, Ares in 2014, KKR in 2020. And they've all put up some excellent gains in recent years until the last few weeks. Blue Al and TPG only came public in 2021 and 2022 respectively. But after the getting through the lean year of 2022, they both had nice gains over the past couple of years. Very attractive stocks. That's the common thread amongst these private equity firms. Huge gains over the past two years over 2023 and 2024. These stocks all more than double, take care, more than tripled and then they fell apart once the stock market started plummeting on tariffs. So what that happened here? Simple private equity firms did great when the economy was growing steadily. While the low employment with low unemployment in a strong stock market they caught fire at the end of last year as investors thought the Fed would keep cutting interest rates. Remember, private equity firms borrow money to take businesses private, so lower rates save them a fortune. Then came the election Republican sweep. And the immediate assumption was this would be fantastic tastic for the private equity business with a much better dealmaking environment and a better IPO market. These firms need that because they either ring the register by either selling to other companies or bringing their portfolio companies public like right here. And that's why these private equity stocks roared to new all time highs in November, December, January, even early February. But they didn't get what they were expecting. First the economy soured. That was happening even before before the threat of tariffs emerged with some soft data for January and February. Initially it wasn't clear if that was due to bad weather in January or other quirky factors. But eventually became clear that the macro environment has worsened. Then we learned about these high tariffs and things just got worse. The Atlanta Fed's GDP now tracker paints a grim picture. While the consensus entering this year was for GDP growth of somewhere around 2% in the first quarter, the Atlanta Fed's real time tracker, which I look at all the time, is currently something in the negative 3% range after even after adjusting for all that gold imports this year it's still around negative 1% now. Bad economy is bad news for private equity. As for the idea of lower interest rates, well we started losing that leg to the story A while ago, really back in December when some bubbly inflation numbers caused the Fed to pause its rate cutting and say that it would sit on its hands for a while. That's part of the reason why some of these private equity stocks topped out in late November, early December, when we got to even more hot inflation readings in early 2025, expectations for rate cuts came down significantly. Bond yields only started coming down again pretty recently, and for the wrong reason because investors now betting on a recession, for heaven's sake. Although in the last few days as bond yields started going up again, a real bad sign and possibly one reason why the Trump gifted us with this 90 day pause. I heard that a lot today. I don't think it's the case, but I have to put it out there because it was in the air. Finally, remember that expectation for a more pro business White House? Let's say that just hasn't quite materialized yet. Although today was certainly a step in the right direction, President Trump's implementation, much higher than expected tariffs on essentially all imported goods has terrified the market, hence the need for this pause bridge. It was the 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 20% tariff on goods from China, essentially to get them to crack down on fentanyl trafficking, though really, because the President seems to really like tariffs to those who have a big surplus against us. Then came the 25% tariff on all imported automobiles. That was all before Liberation Day when the draconian not so reciprocal tariffs were imposed. One should see all important imported goods, even those coming from the uninhabited islands just off of Antarctica, where apparently there are penguins that are very happy. Now, after some tit for tat in the week that followed, we're looking for looking at massive tariffs on goods imported from China. Thankfully, we got this 90 day pause on most tariffs, which is what allowed everything to just percolate today. But the tariff on goods from China just got up to 125%. Wow. But needless to say, people investing in private equity stocks now have a lot less faith in the Trump White House than they did coming in. The M and A market's been horrendous, according to data From Deal Logic US M&A volume declined by 13% in the first quarter, with the number of deals falling 24% year over year. That's horrible. The issue of course, is the President's tariff agenda, because nobody wants to stick their neck out to make an acquisition when it's unclear exactly what exposure the companies in question will have to these tariffs. And by the way, I expect it to continue. Even the 90 day pause. Well, because we have no idea what the final possibly look like, do we? In the end, nobody feels confident about dealmaking here, which makes private equity firms. Well, they're not going to be able to sell their portfolio businesses to new owners. It's going to be troublesome. Same with the IPO market core. We barely made it through the IPO window. They nearly lost a couple of fingers as it slams shut just behind them now, two of the next largest deals for buy now pay later contenders Klarna and Ticket Exchange StubHub have officially been shelved. And again, don't expect that to change until the market calms down significantly. Today's rebound is not enough. If the M and A market's dead and the IPO market is dead, these private equity players just can't ring the register. So you know, I would say they're kind of stuck. The monetization of existing investments will be delayed, which in turn means the firms can't redeploy funds into new investments. That means none of them were able to take advantage of the recent sell off. Or the firms will still go through with their planned exits, but at much lower valuations than they were hoping to get, hurting their returns and make it harder to retain their investors or attract new capital. It's certainly a very sticky situation for private equity, just a few months removed from a period when things all seem to be unfolding so nicely for them. Here's the bottom line. There's no shortage of damaged group of stocks these days, are there? But one of the most shocking declines to witness has been the overall downfall of these private equity firms, which seemed totally fine a few months ago. Fortunately, this 90 day tariff pause has allowed the stock market to roar and the PE stocks led the way today. But I think an awful lot of things have to go well in order to reverse the negatives here. And one good day does not a private equity bull market make. Matt, money's back after the break.
Jim Cramer
Coming up, Cramer takes your calls. And the sky's the limit. It's a fast fire. Lightning round.
Narrator
Next foreign and then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Ski deck don't light round Christmas. Let's start with George in Arizona. George, big old wacky Wednesday. Booyah. Tea gym George. And Arizona. Oh yeah. Georgia. Arizona. Speak to me. Speak to me. I am looking at a company that should be participating in the natural gas move up high dividend payer dropping debt. New CEO coming on the company symbol FL&G Flex LNG. But don't you think that it should have already made it by now? I mean the stock just does nothing, nothing but go down during the greatest revolution of all time. I'm that big. Take a hard pass on that one. I'm sorry George from Arizona. Let's go to Brandon in Kansas. Brandon. Hey Kramer, how you doing? I am doing well, Brandon, how about you?
Jim Cramer
Pretty good.
Narrator
I'm new to investing.
Jim Cramer
Kramer, rookie investor here and I want.
Narrator
To enjoy my stay in Cramerica. I'm glad you're here. I'm an employee at Mercedes Benz here.
Jim Cramer
In Kansas City and we made majority major cuts this week. So I was wondering with the used car industry be a good look for my portfolio. So I'm looking at KAR open lane and I want.
Narrator
All right. KR is a really, really good company and because you are so kind and new to investing, can I just say that Carvana is real good too. We like Carvana in the single digits because I bought one and didn't like it. Tossed it back. It's a great company. Let's go to Ian in Florida. Ian, we are from Florida. Jim, man, good to have you on the show. I don't know what part of Florida. I lived there for a while. I love it. What's going on? Oh, down here in Miami Beach. Oh, so great, so great. We like Delray too. All right. Yeah, third time caller, investment club member. Of course. Yep. And you had a great day today, Jim. It was a good day for those who stayed the course. It was a really loud housing day for those people who exited. Bye bye. I totally agree. Yes. Thank you Jeremiah. I'm looking at a utility play that's well off. It's 52 week high of 199.
Jim Cramer
It's.
Narrator
It's VST Vistra. What do you think? See I never really, really care right now, honestly for the energy trade because then Microsoft will say that it's closing a data center. No one will like the group. So let's stay with from the energy trade. It's too much second derivative so to speak. Let's go to Jordan in California. Jordan. Hey Jim. Thanks for having me. My pleasure. Hey, last time I was on the show you mentioned Hempton.
Jim Cramer
Hers was a sell at about $5 per share.
Narrator
Since then I've built contraire monfre. I actually reiterated to sell it about 50 or 60 and never said it was at $5. I'm going to have to take another call because that's not correct. Oh no. I hate to leave on such A downer moment. But I guess that's what we have to do in otherwise up day. And that ladies and gentlemen is the conclusion of the Lightning Round.
Jim Cramer
The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Coming up after a day of wild market swings is now the time to get back into chip makers like Nvidia. Kramer's giving you his take and breaking down what today's games mean for the air space.
Narrator
Next, let's talk fundamentals for a second because even if we just had this whamma jama short squeeze, there were some things that really were going awry. And those things matter. We got to address them first. Three weeks ago we were in videos, big trade show and we heard one of the greatest stories of all time. The build out of data centers that are needed in order to handle all this artificial intelligence functionality. Now though 20 days later, there's a belief that the data center el morte is dead because Microsoft has shaded down man for some of the latest and greatest in video chips. And now there's really no reason to own in video, they tell us. In fact until around 1pm today the prevailing belief was that the most risk free trade besides shorty Apple of course was betting against Nvidia. As for CEO Jensen Wong, he was terrific. But you know what they say, he's had his day in the sun. To me and video now is a chance to change the nerve. Yesterday Adam Jodas, the James Joyce of analyst, don't laugh, that guy holds up, penned a piece about robots. I happen to have introduced myself to one of the robots when I was at gtc. He was one of those real hail fellow well met kinds of characters, kind of foppish, clubby and you remember them in college. We're talking about someone who can clear the table, do the dishes, sweep the floor, wipe the spills with total aplomb. A total marriage saver at that. This robot, this robot is a magnet for video chips. So if Microsoft doesn't want its chips, I believe that 1x Robotics, the robot's parents, will take as many as it can get. If 1x is going to manufacture these things at scale, it'll need to have as many of invidious chips that Microsoft will give it. Jensen told me I can expect to be able to rent one of these robots real soon because I can't make good hospital hospital corners. And if I leave so much as a spoon on the table, its grounds for divorce more quickly than when I poke fun of my wife's baconator obsession. I hope Microsoft saves my marriage by giving 1x all the chips it needs. Please, Sacha, please. The gaming factor for these robots. Not enough Nvidia chips. Yesterday I signed up for Perplexity, adding to my collection of Grok, which I love. ChatGPT Pro, Gemini. Take that Google search, met AI and Claude. Now that's a lot of bots, a lot of competition, and you know what I say, whoever has the largest number of Nvidia chips wins. I hope Microsoft will let these other companies get the chips they need. I spent a lot of time with Corvee in the last few weeks and you know, oh yeah, you may not like their debt, you know, their jersey attitude. Give me a break. I love them, but the seriousness with which they're building out the data centers, it's real. What's their biggest gating factor? Again, not enough in video chips. So yes, Microsoft's wavering. Ever since the Chinese unveiled Deep sea Conveyor has been in a rut. True, Jensen met with President Trump last week and the President agreed that Nvidia can keep shipping their Nvidia Light chips to China. Nobody even noticed. So many obituaries. Who can see from underneath them. But what matters more than anything else is that despite Wall Street's near universal belief that Nvidia's best days are now behind it, despite the largest hedge fund selling it hand over fist, as long as Nvidia's chips are sold out as far as the eye can see, yet its Stock sells at 25 times this year's earnings. I want to be a buyer. You can't go from being king three weeks ago to pawn this morning. Maybe in reality Nvidia's just a rook, but I'll pay 25 times for rooks earnings any day of the week. Like I said, there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise I'd find it just for you. Right here on we have Money. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.
Jim Cramer
All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of cnbc, NBC Universal or their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by Kramer on television, radio, Internet or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Jim Cramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Kramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com madmoneydisclaimer your best hotel in Bethesda has every guest raving. How do you make every hotel like your best hotel? Your best plant In Atlanta employs 4,500 people. How do you get 4,500 people working at peak efficiency? Your best data center in Redmond is optimized every drop of water. How do you make every data center the pinnacle of sustainability? The answer is ecolab. Ecolab bringing out the best in your business.
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer – Episode Summary (04/09/25)
Overview
In the April 9, 2025 episode of CNBC's "Mad Money" hosted by Jim Cramer, the financial landscape experienced significant volatility influenced by President Trump's recent trade policies. Cramer delves into the implications of a 90-day pause on most tariffs, the unexpected surge in treasury yields, the dynamics of the gold market, and the precarious state of private equity stocks. Through insightful analysis, expert guest contributions, and interactive segments with callers, Cramer offers actionable advice aimed at empowering investors to navigate the tumultuous market environment.
Timestamp: [01:20]
Jim Cramer opens the episode by addressing the dramatic market movements following President Trump's decision to implement a 90-day pause on most tariffs, excluding those on China. This strategic pause aimed to negotiate with 75 countries amidst escalating trade tensions, particularly with China.
Jim Cramer [01:45]: "Is this the art of the deal at work? With the President now sitting down with trembling compliant trade partners to get meaningful trade reform, is it a policy of encirclement against the Chinese, or is he just backing off because the original plan was wrecking the market?"
The immediate market reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The Dow surged by 9.52%, marking the best day since 2008, while the NASDAQ soared by 12.16%, its second-best day on record.
Key Lessons:
Avoid Panicking: Cramer emphasizes the importance of not making rash decisions based on emotional responses to market fluctuations.
Jim Cramer [05:30]: "Nobody ever made a dime by panicking. They know nothing."
Stay Negative vs. Staying the Course: He criticizes investors who exit the market during downturns, highlighting that staying invested often leads to greater gains when the market rebounds.
Jim Cramer [07:00]: "If you're negative and you stay negative, why don't you do this? Why don't you send me an invitation to your funeral?"
Understanding Leadership vs. Following: Highlighting how the President's unpredictable policies impact market confidence, Cramer advises learning from these experiences to better anticipate future moves.
Jim Cramer [08:15]: "We want so much to count out certain once loved stocks, don't we? Maybe someday we should."
Timestamp: [14:34]
Cramer transitions to a critical analysis of the unprecedented surge in treasury yields, a move that defied conventional market behaviors. Treasury yields rose sharply—from 4.0% to 4.3% for the 10-year note—amidst a recovering stock market.
Factors Influencing the Surge:
Basis Trade Unwinding: Cramer explains that hedge funds engaged in the basis trade—a leveraged strategy betting on the narrowing difference between cash Treasuries and Treasury futures—are unwinding their positions, leading to a significant sell-off in Treasuries.
Jim Cramer [16:20]: "Somebody is selling Treasuries in significant size. That's why the yields are going up."
Potential Chinese Involvement: While not dismissing other factors, he considers the possibility of Chinese sellers contributing to the yield spike.
Jim Cramer [19:50]: "I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Chinese are indeed selling some US Treasuries too."
Implications:
Federal Reserve Challenges: Higher yields complicate the Fed's ability to cut interest rates, potentially slowing down economic stimulus measures.
Increased Borrowing Costs: Elevated yields translate to higher borrowing costs for both the government and consumers, exacerbating debt-related issues.
Cramer remains cautiously optimistic, attributing the yield surge to temporary factors linked to market mechanics rather than fundamental economic weaknesses.
Jim Cramer [21:10]: "There's been some counterintuitive action in treasury yields this week with rates spiking due to elevated selling in Treasuries... it's something to keep an eye on."
Timestamp: [22:07]
Inviting expert Carly Garner, co-founder of Crowley Trading and author of Higher Probability Commodity Trading, Cramer explores the sustainability of gold's recent rally amidst market volatility.
Key Insights from Carly Garner:
Overvaluation Concerns: Garner asserts that gold is currently overvalued, citing historical parallels to the 2011 debt crisis when gold prices subsequently fell by 45%.
Carly Garner [25:50]: "Gold is pretty, but it's not entirely practical. It's been trading in euphoria, and frenzy always ends badly."
Technical Indicators: Analyzing the S&P oscillator, Garner notes that a reading of minus 10 typically precedes a market rebound, but also highlights exceptions like the 2020 pandemic when the market rebounded despite a negative reading.
Market Sentiment: With heightened bullishness and accusations of market manipulation, Garner warns of a potential correction.
Carly Garner [28:30]: "If gold breaks out and then falls back beneath support, that generally means you're looking at a confirmed bull trap."
Technical Analysis:
Gold vs. S&P 500: Garner points out a divergence, where gold and the S&P 500 have been moving in tandem, increasing the risk that both could decline simultaneously.
Gold vs. Silver: The significant widening of the gold-to-silver ratio to 99:1, compared to historical averages of around 70:1, suggests potential for price normalization.
Conclusion:
Garner advises caution, suggesting that the current gold rally may lack the fundamental support to sustain its highs, potentially leading to a significant price correction.
Jim Cramer [30:20]: "If you've made money on the way up, you know what she thinks may be you're could ching it."
Timestamp: [39:23]
Cramer shifts focus to private equity (PE) firms, highlighting their recent volatility against the backdrop of Trump's aggressive tariff policies.
Performance Overview:
Historical Gains: PE firms like Blackstone, Apollo, Ares, and KKR experienced substantial gains between 2023 and early 2025, fueled by optimistic economic conditions and expectations of favorable rate cuts.
Recent Decline: Tariff-induced market uncertainty and a slowing economy have led to a sharp decline in PE stock valuations, with deals and IPO activities stagnating.
Jim Cramer [40:50]: "If the M&A market's dead and the IPO market's dead, these private equity players just can't ring the register."
Challenges Faced:
Decreased M&A Activity: A 13% decline in US M&A volume and a 24% year-over-year fall in deal numbers have hampered PE firms' ability to monetize investments.
Uncertain Tariff Landscape: The unpredictability surrounding tariffs, especially the 125% tariffs on Chinese goods, has eroded investor confidence and delayed strategic exits.
Impact on PE Firms:
Limited Redeployment: With fewer opportunities to exit investments at desirable valuations, PE firms struggle to attract new capital and maintain returns.
Operational Constraints: High borrowing costs and reduced dealmaking activities make it challenging for PE firms to operate effectively in the current economic climate.
Final Thoughts:
While the recent 90-day tariff pause provided temporary relief, Cramer cautions that sustained downturns in the PE sector require broader economic improvements to restore investor confidence.
Jim Cramer [42:00]: "If the M&A market's dead and the IPO market's dead, these private equity players just can't ring the register."
Timestamp: [39:30] to [43:07]
Throughout the episode, Cramer engages with callers seeking advice on specific stocks:
Bob from South Carolina: Advising patience with Saint Merck, despite its poor performance.
Jim Cramer [05:15]: "I want you to stay the course with it right at this point."
Anthony from New Jersey: Recommends holding Honeywell, noting its undervaluation and strong leadership under CEO Vimal Kapoor.
Jim Cramer [07:25]: "I like Honeywell even at these levels."
Eli from Illinois: Advises against owning Rivian stock, labeling the company’s financial challenges as "daunting."
Jim Cramer [09:50]: "Daunting is a nice word."
Lynette from New Mexico: Suggests holding onto FedEx stock given its strong fundamentals despite recent volatility.
Jim Cramer [10:20]: "I can't ever tell someone to buy a stock that is up 10%. I do think FedEx is a very, very good company."
Cramer emphasizes the importance of staying invested during volatile periods, reinforcing his earlier lessons on market resilience.
Timestamp: [39:23]
In the high-energy Lightning Round segment, Cramer delivers swift opinions on various stocks based on callers' queries:
Flex LNG (FL&G): Cramer's stance is bearish, advising a hard pass.
Jim Cramer [40:10]: "Take a hard pass on that one."
Openlane (KAR): Recommends strong confidence in the company, also giving a nod to Carvana.
Jim Cramer [40:51]: "We like Carvana in the single digits because I bought one and didn't like it. It's a great company."
Vistra (VST): Expresses indifference towards energy trades, citing complications with Microsoft’s data center plans.
Jim Cramer [42:02]: "It's too much second derivative so to speak."
MP Materials: Advises skepticism due to the company’s ongoing losses, underscoring the importance of profitability.
Jim Cramer [43:07]: "Opinion as insertion of his expressed does not reflect the opinions of CNBC."
Cramer concludes the Lightning Round by highlighting the importance of staying informed and adaptable in a rapidly changing market.
Timestamp: [43:07] to [46:36]
In the closing segment, Cramer returns to tech stocks, specifically Nvidia, amidst the ongoing AI boom. Despite market skepticism, he maintains bullishness on Nvidia, attributing its resilience to sustained high demand for AI chips.
Key Points:
AI and Robotics Demand: The relentless growth in AI applications, particularly in robotics and data centers, continues to drive Nvidia’s chip sales despite market volatility.
Jim Cramer [44:50]: "Whoever has the largest number of Nvidia chips wins."
Valuation Justification: Cramer defends Nvidia’s high P/E ratio, arguing that the company's strategic position in the AI sector justifies premium valuations.
Jim Cramer [46:00]: "Long as Nvidia's chips are sold out as far as the eye can see, its stock sells at 25 times this year's earnings. I want to be a buyer."
Cramer reaffirms his confidence in finding growth opportunities within specific sectors, encouraging investors to focus on companies with strong fundamentals and strategic market positions.
Conclusion
This episode of "Mad Money" with Jim Cramer provides a comprehensive analysis of the current financial climate shaped by geopolitical tensions and market dynamics. From the strategic implications of tariff policies and their impact on various asset classes to the nuanced evaluation of specific stocks and sectors, Cramer equips investors with the insights needed to make informed decisions. Emphasizing the importance of staying the course, understanding market mechanics, and recognizing overvalued assets, Cramer’s guidance remains a valuable resource for both novice and seasoned investors navigating the complexities of Wall Street.
Notable Quotes with Timestamps:
This detailed summary encapsulates the critical discussions and insights shared by Jim Cramer and his guest, Carly Garner, providing a comprehensive overview of the episode's key points and strategic takeaways for investors.