‘I’m sick and tired’ — Cramer bemoans talk of a Fed-induced stock market bubble

[CNBC]

KEY POINTS

• “I’m sick and tired of hearing that we’re in a bubble, that the Fed’s overinflating the price of stocks by printing money to keep the economy moving,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said.
• “Believe it or not, there’s more to the economy than just the Federal Reserve, and there’s certainly more to the stock market,” the “Mad Money” host said after the Federal Reserve left the benchmark interest rate range in place.
• “You can call it a bubble if you want” but “I call it the Fed choosing not to destroy the entire economy for no good reason,” he said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday defended the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates in place. 

The central bank earlier that day announced that it would maintain the benchmark overnight lending rate in the 0%-0.25% range.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said his agency would continue to “use our full range of tools to support our economy” as the monetary policy committee determined that economic activity remains “well below” levels at the start of 2020.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing that we’re in a bubble, that the Fed’s overinflating the price of stocks by printing money to keep the economy moving,” the “Mad Money” host said, pointing his ire at bearish money managers Cramer said wanted to see rates go back up. “Believe it or not, there’s more to the economy than just the Federal Reserve, and there’s certainly more to the stock market.”

The comments come after Wall Street turned in another positive trading day as investors weighed more earnings reports, an antitrust hearing into Big Tech in Congress and the Fed’s latest reading of the economy.

The Dow Jones moved up 160 points to 26,539.57 for a 0.69% gain. The S&P 500 rallied 1.24% to close at 3,258.44 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite grew 1.35% to finish at 10,542.94.

Last month, Cramer railed against bearish billionaire bubble-callers for scaring retail investors out of the market as it continued to recover from the March lows. One of those money managers he called out was Jeremy Grantham, the co-founder of GMO who called the 2008 financial crisis, who warned investors to reduce their U.S. exposure in a “Closing Bell” interview.

“They are talking their book, people. Hey, I was a money manager” and “I know what they’re doing. They missed out on the rally and they need stocks to go down, or else their hedge funds will go out of business. It’s about marketing, people. End of story,” Cramer said Wednesday. “There’s no rational reason to raise interest rates with double-digit unemployment and paltry inflation.”

Stocks of companies posting substantive quarterly earnings growth and strong forecasts are powering the market higher, Cramer said.

“That’s what’s causing this rally. Reinstated guidance, confidence, not Jay Powell with low-interest rates, but American companies with higher forecasts … including profits from a weak dollar,” he said.

“You can call it a bubble if you want” but “I call it the Fed choosing not to destroy the entire economy for no good reason,” he said.