CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday urged investors to watch out for the week ahead, although the market was fairly calm amid expectations that the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday meeting would not end with a rate hike.
“No surprise to regular viewers, I don’t trust a benign market like this,” Cramer said. “Too many things can surprise you, too many things can make you panic and of course to sell because when you get to those levels – you started buying today, for example – you probably won’t have much conviction when that…” The market suddenly swoons.
On Monday, Cramer will be watching for software company Oracle’s earnings report, which is expected after the market close. He suggests buying a portion of the stock beforehand, but waiting to see if it goes down after the report, and buying more if so.
Home Depot is set to hold an analysts’ meeting on Tuesday, and Cramer believes that will be important as the company is currently in the “Christmas season,” with spring and summer gardening dominating.
“I think we’re going to hear that handymen are increasingly buying things, that’s a change, and fixing their own houses that they couldn’t or wouldn’t sell — why?” asked Cramer. “Because they don’t want to lose the low mortgages they’ve taken out over the last five years.”
Wednesday will bring news from the central bank and Cramer is not convinced that Chair Jay Powell has completely lost his hawkish stance. Florida-based homebuilder Lennar is also set to host its conference call that day, and Cramer expects to hear about a “witch’s brew” of inflation with rising labor, home and material costs.
Thursday will be all about retail, with investors hearing about supermarket chain Kroger trying to merge with Albertsons against the wishes of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.
Investors could then get a clearer picture of consumers’ minds on Friday with the release of the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index, Cramer said.
“Please don’t be lulled into complacency like so many people are now that we’ve come back – there’s still a lot of things that could go wrong in the market, a lot more than I thought, and certainly still can much more than when we were much lower,” Cramer said.
“I would be very surprised if Wall Street were excited about next Wednesday’s Fed meeting. So prepare yourself, even though I’d love to be wrong here,” he added.