Markets on Jackson Hole Watch, Snowflake Melts, Paramount "Importance" for Bronfman 8/22/24

Carl Quintanilla (0:00)

Market moving insight and analysis. Join Jim Cramer, David Faber and me, Carl Quintanilla on the opening bell hour of CNBC Squawk on the Street. Good Thursday morning. Welcome to Squawk on the Street. I'm Carl Quintanilla with Jim Cramer, David Faber, host of the New York Stock Exchange. Futures fairly steady. S&P within about a percent of all time highs. Jackson Hole begins. Jobless claims in line. The 10 year yield recovers a bit after falling to near one year lows yesterday. Our roadmap begins with the markets on this Jackson Hole watch day. As the Fed minutes yesterday, do indicate a September rate cut is likely.

David Faber (0:32)

On the earnings front, Snowflake shares down sharply. This despite the company raising guidance, it also posted results above consensus. We'll also have the latest on Paramount, that company special committee confirming it is engaging with Edgar Bronfman's group. That is over that new last minute acquisition proposal.

Carl Quintanilla (0:50)

Let's begin with the markets and the Fed ahead of Powell and Jackson Hole tomorrow. A little bit of a relatively hawkish comment out of Schmidt has the yields up a bit.

Jim Cramer (0:58)

Yeah, well, I saw it and then they went down, they go up, boy, this day has become very important. It's a sleepy August day, but we all know from the last few years, it does matter. You can be hawkish pretty easily because I've seen a lot of retail quarters that are quite good. But the ones that are good are the ones that are discounted. So I tend to think that I've been going on the idea, forget about the consumer being frugal, consumer shopping where the prices are rolled back, and the pressure to roll back everything is pretty great. So anyone on the Fed who is really, really worried has to recognize, David, that there are places that the prices have not come down. The most important one, because we saw from Toll Brothers, housing, not coming down at all.

David Faber (1:43)

Right.

Jim Cramer (1:43)

Not.

David Faber (1:45)

Still not. No. We've talked obviously a lot about retail in recent days and weeks because of earnings from the likes of Walmart or Target. Obviously, we always talk Costco as well. They seem to be, though, the beneficiaries, Walmart and Costco certainly, of this trend in terms of the consumer.

Jim Cramer (2:03)

Well, and Target lowered 5,000 items, Walmart 7,500 items, Costco, everything. That's where the buyers are. I mean, it really is rather extraordinary how smart the consumer is like, hey, listen, you give me a good price, I'll buy. If you don't give me a good price, if you give me a fuller price, Urban Outfitters, Williams Sonoma, Wayfair, which I thought would be more discounted, I'm not buying.

It's not that the consumer, the consumer senses something that I think people don't understand in the government, which particularly Vice President Harris, when they talk about price gouges. Carl, there's no price gouges when it comes to the biggest retailers. They're very smart and they roll prices back and they stuck it to the suppliers. That's what has to happen. You have to stick it to the suppliers who raise prices big.

Target did it, Costco did it, Walmart did it, really very, very impressive.

Carl Quintanilla (2:54)

You can see what's happening to Urban down 15 this morning as comps were down more than nine at Urban, although anthropology was better. The mystery today is BJ and why that's not benefiting from the dynamic you're describing.

Jim Cramer (3:06)

No, and I looked at their, they did the low end, which was surprising and the consensus was much higher, but low end 3.75 down four. I thought that BJ spent a huge amount of money on marketing. And I was surprised. Much, about my SG&A, you look at a Costco, they just get leaner and leaner and leaner. This was the quarter that made me feel like maybe BJ's moved too far. Maybe it's been too strong. David, I don't know about your BJ's. My BJ's, I'm just not impressed.

David Faber (3:37)

Haven't been. I don't even know if there is one that I would qualify as mine.

Jim Cramer (3:41)

I mean, to be honest, they're up against, they're up against the greatest, maybe the second greatest retailer of all time, Costco. I'm going to give Walmart that because I don't guys have been reading about Sam Clubs in China. They've crushed it. They're the only retailer in China that's doing well, and they do so.

Carl Quintanilla (3:57)

They don't need JD anymore, that's for sure.

Jim Cramer (3:58)

They sure don't. And the number of, I mean, if I were the people at Amazon, I'd be saying, wait a second, how could they have done so much same day? Sam's Club same day. So Walmart is just, I mean, I'm waiting for Walmart to rescue those two astronauts. Is there anything else they can't do? Right?