CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday said that the economy is headed for a soft landing thanks to new inflation data that came in below Wall Street’s estimates.
The report kicked off a market rally. By close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.43%, the S&P 500 rose 1.91% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.37%.
But to Cramer, much of the easy money has already been made when investors were fearful about the Federal Reserve’s ability to calm inflation. He said he thinks the market can continue to go higher, but investors who did the best were the ones who kept calm while others were panicking and selling towards the end of October.
“Don’t think you can get in on the actual plane’s landing. To mix metaphors, that plane sailed in late October when so many investors decided it would crash, so they jumped off without a parachute,” he said. “That was the miraculous buying opportunity.”
Cramer said stocks that did well Tuesday were ones that had been crushed by soaring interest rates, such as real estate investment trusts. But he said the day’s biggest winners were homebuilders, which have a brighter future now that long rates are coming down.
He advised investors to “find aberrations” and lean into companies that will benefit once inflation is more under control.
“Look for attenuated situations like companies that might benefit from a weaker dollar — which suddenly is weaker, by the way — or from a possible thaw in our government’s relationship with China now that Xi’s visiting San Francisco,” Cramer said.