Jim Cramer’s Top 10 Things Thursday: Jobs, Fed, Crypto

1. The Dowit S&P 500 and Nasdaq is set to open higher after two days in a row as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said interest rates are likely to be higher for a longer period of time. The 2-year government return falls but remains above 5%, a level topped earlier this week for the first time since 2007. Weekly jobless claims come in weaker. On Friday comes the next test for the market: February’s employment report.

2. The spread between 2 years and 10-year government interest rates this week reached its steepest inversion since mid-September 1981. Looking at history, it was a pretty good time to buy stocks. The Dow continued to soar from late 1982, the beginning of an incredible bull market.

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3. Bitcoin and ether prices drop on Thursday after crypto banking Silvergate capital (SI) announces that it is closing operations and liquidating. Silvergate shares, which have already lost most of their value, are plunging again early Thursday, but remain above $3 each.

4. Startup lender Silicon Valley Bank sells $21 billion in securities at a loss of $1.8 billion. Raises capital. Proportion of parents SVB Finance Group (SIVB) drops 30% early Thursday.

5. Scott Sheffield, CEO of Club Holding Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), says refining capacity and inventory problems mean the oil industry won’t be able to boost U.S. output much more than it already has. Sheffield sees today’s oil price as “rock bottom”.

6. Club team Eli Lilly ( LLY ) says trial results show its older Alzheimer’s drug failed to slow cognitive decline. Lilly shouldn’t have even cared. This is not the newer Alzheimer’s drug that is promising. JPMorgan says it’s time to buy given recent weakness in the stock. What we are really waiting for is the approval of Lilly’s new diabetes drug to also treat obesity.

7. Oppenheimer says Club team Meta platforms (META) has figured out how to give more data to advertisers, and that increases the shares. Analysts raise their price target to $235 per share from $220. UBS, meanwhile, is laying out a bull case for Meta, with an upside PT of $331.

8. General Electric (GE) confirms the earnings outlook on Thursday morning at its investor day. Aviation is still incredibly strong. Free cash flow is coming strong.

9. Jefferies double downgrades Etsy (ETSY) to an underperform sell from buy, with a huge price target cut to $85 a share from $150. The stock closed at $113 on Wednesday. Sure, there’s less spending on goods, but this downgrade is a little hard to understand unless consumers just stopped and marketing ramped up. That’s not what I hear.

10. Citi increases the price target to FedEx (FDX) to $250 a share from $240 ahead of next week’s quarterly earnings report. Citi continues to buy rating. People like this stock.

(Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PXD, LLY, META. See here for a complete list of the stocks.)

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