Powell’s inflation remarks a ‘green light’ to stay in stocks

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s inflation remarks the day before confirmed that inventors shouldn’t exit the market over recession fears.

“Unless the super hawkish Fed heads who want to raise short rates to 5% to 7% are silenced, we must be ready with a quarter of one foot out the door,” he said, later adding, “Yesterday, Powell … muzzled the hard-liners. To me, that’s a green light to stay in stocks.”

Powell said on Wednesday that the central bank could start slowing down its pace of interest rate hikes as soon as December, sparking a rally that fizzled out on Thursday ahead of a key labor report.

Nevertheless, reading the “Fed tea leaves” will continue to be critical for determining which areas of the economy will be crushed by the central bank’s tightening and which will remain intact, according to Cramer.

He called on Powell to crush speculative stocks that became inflated during the height of the pandemic and to discourage investing in crypto. 

“It is touch and go until we get some indication as to whether he’ll be willing to declare victory after he crushes speculation, hoarding, profiteering and inefficiency without ruining the rest of the economy,” Cramer said.