Overview
- U.S. indexes jumped after the pause was announced, with the Dow up 2.85%, the S&P 500 up 2.51%, and the Nasdaq up 2.8%, while West Texas Intermediate crude fell over 16% to $94.41 and Brent dropped about 13% to $94.75.
- Following Wednesday’s rally, Jim Cramer highlighted Sherwin-Williams, Caterpillar, Home Depot, and Goldman Sachs as leaders that tend to climb when borrowing costs are expected to fall.
- The 10-year Treasury yield, which helps set mortgage rates, slid the same day, reinforcing bets on a pickup in housing, construction, and deal activity that could aid those cyclical names.
- Cramer pointed to laggards such as Chevron and Diamondback among oil producers and noted weakness in Salesforce and Workday as investors weighed ongoing risks from lower crude and AI-driven shifts in software.
- Insider coverage of Cramer’s stock calls flagged ONEOK as a preferred pipeline play, praised Walmart’s value push in an inflationary stretch, and defended Meta’s heavy spending as a moat-building plan, even as the five-week Iran crisis that closed the Strait of Hormuz still leaves ceasefire durability in doubt.