Fed Meeting Begins, Big Tech on Deck, Live: SoFi CEO 7/30/24

Jim Cramer (0:00)

It's Jim Cramer here. You're listening to the opening bell of CNBC's Squawk on the Street. Don't miss a minute of the action.

David Faber (0:08)

Good Tuesday morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm David Faber with Jim Cramer. We're here at Post 9 at the New York Stock Exchange. Carl has the morning off. Let's give you a look at futures. We begin trading a half hour from now. Eh. Yeah. Eh.

Jim Cramer (0:21)

Mixed.

David Faber (0:21)

Yeah, mixed. All right, let's start with our roadmap. It begins with holding pattern. What is next for the Fed? Of course, the rate cut path as investors await key results from the next batch of mega cap tech earnings. Plus, we're going to have pharma in focus this morning. Pfizer and Merck both lift their outlook, but the shares kind of moving in opposite directions ahead of the open. And SoFi is showing strong guidance, boosting its 2024 outlook after a second quarter earnings beat.

Jim Cramer (0:51)

Think it'll matter? Hasn't mattered.

David Faber (0:53)

No idea. We'll ask Anthony Noto. He'll join us later in the hour. Let's start with the markets. Of course, Fed begins its two-day meeting ahead of tomorrow's decision on rates. Of course, most expect that it will just remain the same, setting up for September. Did hear a little discussion yesterday. Ooh, could it really happen? Could they go for a cut? Highly, highly unlikely, Jim.

Jim Cramer (1:17)

Yeah, look, there's always an element. Imagine this, let's say I came out right now, and I said, I think they're going to cut tomorrow.

If on Thursday, I would come in, and if they had cut, you would say I was genius. But you'll forget that I said they're going to cut, if they don't. So it's asymmetrical. You could look like a hero, or no one remembers. And I think that what's better is just to say, look, it's highly unlikely, and then move on from it. So that when we watch the press conference at 2.45, and someone says, well, this is a big deal, we can say, no, it's not. Look, I think...

David Faber (1:53)

I mean, isn't that the tell there, there anyway? 4172, it's like, all right. I mean, we're down, we're down. You can see what's happened there, in terms, take a look where that chart was, even in early May.

Jim Cramer (2:03)

It's a win. J-PAL is winning. I mean, you can make some comment that says it could be a little different, but sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's Aaron, Aaron Judge. He's incredible.

David Faber (2:19)

He's incredible. He is.

Jim Cramer (2:21)

Well, I think J-PAL is incredible. I'm just saying, I'm using a benchmark, that we can foment a story that J-PAL may be doing something wrong, but I'm trying to figure out how he could do it better, and I can't come up with.

David Faber (2:33)

All right. So, but you are in the camp along with everyone else, I guess, since September.

Jim Cramer (2:38)

Yeah. I mean, look, there's a lot of things that are going not that well for the consumer, but they're better than they've been. We're not seeing a lot of bankruptcies. I would have thought we'd seen that by now. We're seeing some slowing in auto. We're seeing that we're waiting for housing prices to break. The supermarket, we get rollbacks at Costco and rollbacks at Walmart. TJX sales are good. I mean, it's kind of what should be happening. I think that the mystifying thing is when you cut rates, people want to sell the Mag 7 and buy, not small cap. That's wrong. That's just like this rubric. I mean, you want to buy things. I just say you want to buy smaller than big cap things.

David Faber (3:19)

Although yesterday, we had a halt in the so-called historic rotation. But the Mag 7 showed some life, and the Russell was down.

Jim Cramer (3:31)

I think that's because there was an absence of news. Now, Microsoft, the way you play it, for those of you who are quick to overgrow traders, you can't do anything until Amy Hood speaks. Amy Hood, you have the CEO speak and then you have Amy Hood. Amy Hood either drops the bomb or says things are better. Last time, the stock roared because she said, and co-pilot, people are buying it and they like it. And that was it. So if you watch after hours, the stock's going like this, and then it's.

David Faber (4:00)

Right.

Jim Cramer (4:00)

So that's what you have to look for. I know a lot of people can't wait and they read the release, but that's not what's.