Inflation Surprise, Trump's Tariff Threat Against EU Alcohol, Intel Surges on CEO Pick 3/13/25

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Jim Cramer (0:59)

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.

Carl Quintanilla (1:06)

Good Thursday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla with Jim Cramer at Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. David Faber's on assignment. Futures are not benefiting from that decent macro data. The surprise drop in core PPI. Jobless claims down a touch, but the president does issue some more tariff threats, and we do have the looming prospect of a government shutdown. Our roadmap, the president threatens a new 200% tariff targeted at the EU. We're going to talk to the Treasury Secretary next hour. Intel appointing a chip industry veteran and former board member as its new CEO. And Big Tech in the crosshairs. The FTC says it will not back off Microsoft, Amazon or Metta. Let's begin with the markets and this taper than expected. The PPI number, Jim, second month on month drop on core since 2020

Jim Cramer (1:53)

Yeah, look, I think that if you had gotten this number not long ago before the tariff fracas, you would say, you know what, the Fed has really got an opportunity with the consumer slowing down to cut and it's probably going to be on tap. But because things are so convoluted and we keep reading these articles about how scared everybody is, I think you can scare people into scare, we're taking it as if it's not significant. It's incredibly significant and I think that the president doesn't make it easier because there's just news constantly and you do get a very inflationary thing that was just mentioned about wine and champagne. But these numbers are very calm and they should make us calm but we're anything but.

Carl Quintanilla (2:34)

Yeah, you point out some of the corporate commentary about the consumer. Today the Journal tries to tally the, I don't know if we call them warnings, but certainly comments about the consumer from Delta, Walmart, McDonald's, Costco, Foot Locker, Lowe's. And they argue, I mean, if you're looking for someone to save the economy, maybe it's not going to be the consumer this time.

Jim Cramer (2:55)

All those companies have been downbeat. It's one way or another they're talking about smaller sizes. Talking about the word that was used on the Costco quarter, which I found disturbing, frankly, was choiceful.

Carl Quintanilla (3:06)

It's become a bit of a meme actually.

Jim Cramer (3:08)

Yeah, well, because choiceful means, you know what? I'm going to take a look, and if Scott paper towels are 30 cents more than Kirkland Signature, I'm going to buy the Kirkland Signature. I think that one of the things you're never going to hear anyone say is, you know what? Consumers have become very profligate. Consumers aren't really looking at prices.

Carl Quintanilla (3:29)

There was a point where we were like, they'll pay anything to go on a cruise.

Jim Cramer (3:31)

Well, there was, and travel was at any price. But I will say, we got to get a little back to the idea that when you question someone, you can make that question done in a way that makes you feel that things have gotten tougher. Now, I would love Walmart to come out and say it's business as usual, and I don't think they're going to say that. So I'm not, it doesn't make you bullish. There's this outfit, American Eagle Outfitters, and when you read the comment today, the commentary from the analyst is just a disaster. If you read the actual conference call, almost everything is really great. But you can easily pull lines.

Flip that over, dollar gen, there's really nothing really great, and people decide, well, that's a good one. That's because they're finally closing some stores that are underperforming. I warn people that I could very easily make a positive call on almost everything that's being called negative.