CNBC’s Jim Cramer said that lower oil prices and Treasury yields are fueling a broader stock market rally.
Brent crude tumbled 7.63% Monday to close at $104.77 per barrel, sending the 10-year Treasury yield to its lowest level since Sept. 10. That helped lift shares across the healthcare, financials, retail and travel sectors. Cramer said the improved market backdrop has prompted investors to revisit strong earnings reports they initially overlooked and accelerated the shift toward growth opportunities beyond tech.
“Never forget what this market’s really about: oil, inflation and interest rates,” the “Mad Money” host said. “Oil plummeted overnight … which sent interest rates lower and caused a host of stocks to soar.”
Cramer pointed to Amazon, up 2% Monday, as an example of how falling rates can change investors’ perceptions of a stock. Shares recovered after initially struggling following the company’s quarterly report last week. Cramer argued that Amazon’s results were stronger than the market initially recognized, and “sure enough, with a better rate backdrop we saw Amazon return to where it was in late September.”
Similarly, Waste Management gained 1.8% as investors finally gave the company credit for the strong quarterly results last week, which Cramer said had been overshadowed by rising rates.
Still, Cramer cautioned that the magnitude of these moves may be difficult to sustain. “You just have money piling into stocks at the same time,” he said. “They aren’t sustainable.”
But with investors continuing to move money out of technology while remaining invested in the broader market, Cramer said companies in other industries could increasingly take the lead. “These are the new proxies for growth as tech continues to lose its luster,” he said.
The rally extended to medical device makers, which Cramer said are emerging as attractive alternatives. Medtronic gained 3% Monday, while GE HealthCare rose 4% and Intuitive Surgical climbed 1%. “If you can find a growth stock that’s not a tech stock, you can really clean up,” Cramer said.
Financial stocks also rallied as worries about consumers’ ability to repay debt eased. Capital One jumped 3% after struggling last week amid worries about higher gasoline prices and credit delinquencies.
The gains lifted consumer companies, with Walmart and Costco each rising roughly 3%. “Rates lower and gasoline lower means more [money] to spend inside their stores,” he said.
Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio run by CNBC’s Investing Club, owns shares of AMZN, COF, COST.
