Cramer's Morning Take: Retail Sales 9/17/24

Jim Cramer (0:02)

I'm Jim Cramer, and you're about to hear a sample taken directly from today's CNBC Investing Club morning meeting. Now, I've got to tell you, we've got a couple of numbers. And Jeff, the August retail sales, they're actually strong. XO Auto and Gas, they're still strong. But I really want to comment on the fact that I'm out here, and you feel like not only should there be no Fed rate cut, but you begin to think maybe business is so strong because you still can't get enough people to do regular work that technology has. There's just not enough engineers being produced. So I find it unreal, Jeff. The world where the consumer is is definitely weaker. The world where the hiring is is not weak at all, at least out here.

Jeff Marks (0:48)

Sure, it definitely can feel a little surreal, right? We're about to, the Fed's about to start cutting interest rates, and we have the S&P knocking on the door of an all-time high. The Dow made a new high yesterday, again today. But I think just going back to the retail sales, yeah, they were pretty good. I mean, if you drill down electrons and appliance stores, we look at that for Best Buy, it actually was down 1.1% month over month, but up 1.9 year over year, you had building material, garden equipment that squeezed a small month over month gain. But I think everyone's really looking ahead to the rate cuts, right? Because if you have resilient consumer spending and interest rates are about to fall, that's going to give a boost to a lot of retailers.

Jim Cramer (1:32)

I think it's important for people to understand us having Best Buy, TJX, Stanley, and Home Depot. That's because we have been playing the rate cut, and those who haven't are going to come in and play, and ours are going to get a lift. Now, we're not traders, but I've got to tell you, Jeff, the housing place we have have been on fire. I mean, incredibly strong. In anticipation of, I hope, just a quarter, because if it's 50, if our stocks are up because of 50, then they will give up some of these gains.

Jeff Marks (2:06)

And we don't know if it's going to be 25 or 50, right? That's still very much a debate. It's kind of like why you said at the end of Mad yesterday that if you're not a trader, maybe it's just best to sit on your hands, because we're not exactly sure how the market react. Maybe if it's 25, there'll be a rotation back into tax, some semis are weaker today, but if it is 50, maybe you see an extension of the rally. But I think that as we have it set up now, we'll definitely have stocks that work in both environments.

Jim Cramer (2:36)

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SPEAKER_3 (2:51)

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