Don’t panic over rampant inflation, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers Wednesday. The seeds of deflation have already been planted, Cramer said, and they will be self-evident soon enough.
While it’s true that the consumer price index was the highest we’ve seen since 1991, the market’s rebound by the close shows that something good is bubbling under the surface. Indeed, the bond market also responded positively to Wednesday’s news, with prices rising, sending yields slightly lower.
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Cramer reminded viewers of Tuesday night’s segment with Carley Garner, which outlined how crude oil was likely to peak this week before heading into a steep seasonal decline. Corn prices also dipped Wednesday on news of a bumper crop. And most importantly, Cramer’s go-to metric, container board prices, are also signaling that packaging prices are head lower going into 2022.
Cramer added that many of our inflationary pressures will self-correct. Wednesday, the White House took steps to help free up our overloaded ports, mandating they run 24 hours a day until the backlogs are cleared. As for the shortage of truck drivers, Cramer said CEOs will learn soon enough that if they want to survive, they need to pay their drivers more, and perhaps a lot more, to increase the size of their workforce.
All of these positives aren’t visible in the stock market quite yet, Cramer concluded, but if investors are patient, they’ll soon start to bear fruit and curb our inflation fears.
Labor Shortages and Your Portfolio
The labor shortage is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean it has to affect your portfolio, Cramer told viewers. Over 4.3 million workers quit their jobs in August alone, but that has created clear winners and clear losers.
If your job is physically demanding, then there’s a pretty good chance you’re losing workers at an unprecedented rate. Some of the hardest hit sectors include hospitality, retail and healthcare, but they’re not alone. FedEx (FDX) – Get FedEx Corporation Report, J.B. Hunt (JBHT) – Get J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) Report and Deere & Co. (DE) – Get Deere & Company Report all pointed out labor shortages on their conference calls.
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But on the bright side are companies like Paychex (PAYX) – Get Paychex, Inc. Report, which helps businesses recruit and retain workers. There are also small business enablers like Intuit (INTU) – Get Intuit Inc. (INTU) Report and…
Read More: Cramer’s Mad Money Recap 10/13: FedEx, J.B. Hunt, Costco, Starbucks