After making it through the weekend’s political woes — from Trump’s retaliation on Syria to former FBI Director James Comey’s ABC interview to the turmoil brewing around Trump lawyer Michael Cohen — CNBC’s Jim Cramer still harbored some concerns.
“The market breathes a sigh of relief and rallies today,” the “Mad Money” host said on Monday. “But here’s the problem: none of these issues is actually resolved.”
So, what does that mean for investors?
“I’ll tell you: it means we’re going to have to deal with this backdrop against earnings every day, and twice on Saturdays and Sundays,” Cramer said. “Yep, I think it could be an overhang because the stock market hates chaos.”
And while Cramer hoped that Friday’s earnings windfall would offset the weekend jitters that threaten the market layout, he admitted that hope was no investing strategy.
“I’d love to be proven wrong here, but for the moment, let’s assume … every Friday is a tale of woe and every Monday rolls back some of those losses as the market breathes a sigh of relief if nothing catastrophic occurs,” the “Mad Money” host concluded.
As earnings kick into full swing, Cramer needed to address the unexpected weakness in the big bank stocks.
“Bank of America reported a spectacular quarter this very morning with fantastic earnings growth. It came right on the heels of the amazing numbers we heard on Friday from J.P. Morgan and Citi[group],” Cramer said on Monday.
“And what happened? No one seemed to care,” Cramer continued. “I read over every bit of info, just like I did for J.P. Morgan and Citigroup, but I kept thinking, ‘Wait a second, this is ridiculous. These are precisely the kind of quarters that I dreamed of.'”
Given all of the tailwinds in the banking business, Cramer was stunned that shares of the banks still sank after their reports.
“The issue is simply that these stocks, all the bank stocks, ran going into the quarter. They’ve been fantastic performers,” he explained. ” So when they reported, we just said, ‘So what? Thanks for nothing. We needed every item to be better than expected after these moves.'”
Since Newell Brands acquired Jarden, Cramer has watched things get much more complicated at the Rubbermaid and Sharpie maker as the two consumer goods giants merged.
“But you know what’s even more complex than Newell Brands? The proxy battle at Newell Brands,” the “Mad Money” host said. “Right now you’ve got a bizarre situation where two groups of investors, one led by Carl Icahn, … the other led by Starboard Value … [are] fighting for control of Newell’s future.”
Cramer said Newell’s situation started going south when the company spent $15 billion buying Jarden, the company behind an assortment of brands including Mr. Coffee and Yankee Candle.
Coal is becoming a less competitive energy source with cheaper options like natural gas and other renewables on the market, Vistra Energy CEO Curtis Morgan told Cramer on Monday.
“I don’t believe [coal] is going to have a renaissance,” Morgan said in an exclusive “Mad Money” interview. “I think it’s on its way out.”
“As much as I believe it is going to be part of the energy infrastructure around power, I believe that other sources are now catching up with coal in terms of the overall costs,” Morgan said.
In Cramer’s lightning round, he shared his take on some callers’ favorite stocks:
Alkermes PLC: “Oh, my. I thought the stock was up 5 [percent] and it was correct. [CEO] Richard Pops has got a major medical depression drug and I think it’s worth – definitely, because the FDA is going to review it – it’s worth a buy. I really like it here. By the way, let’s just understand each other: [Johnson & Johnson], which reports [Tuesday], has a new ketamine drug that is past Phase 2 and I think that is going to be remarkable. You know I like J&J.”
AbbVie: “They had one major miss and they took the darned stock apart, not unlike what they did to Bristol-Myers this morning. That’s why I want to stay away from controversy. I think Merck’s the big winner over this weekend and I’m going to stick with Merck. And by the way, I know everybody hates Eli Lilly – I mean, despises it – except for me. I like what they’re doing in so many different drugs. It’s at $80 bucks. That’s why the charitable trust owns it.”
—CNBC’s Kellie Ell contributed to this story.
Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Eli Lilly.
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