Jim Cramer says ‘the existential threat is gone for J&J’

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Wednesday’s key moments. Investors focus on slowdown Stick with J & J Watch Eli Lilly 1. Investors focus on slowdown Stocks were mainly lower Wednesday morning — the S & P 500 was down 0.42% — with investors focusing on fresh signs of an economic slowdown. Private sector hiring rose by just 145,000 jobs in March, down from 261,000 in February, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. The ADP data comes a day after the U.S. Labor Department reported job openings fell below 10 million in February for the first time in over two years. While the Federal Reserve has been trying to cool job market growth through higher interest rates, investors appear to be now be more concerned with the growing possibility of a recession. As a result, they’re targeting defensive stocks in consumer staples and health care, including Club holding Procter & Gamble (PG). Meanwhile, the market will be closely watching the results of the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report for March on Friday. 2. Stick with J & J Shares of health-care company Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) rose more than 3% Wednesday, to nearly $164 apiece, after the company said it would pay out $8.9 billion to settle thousands of claims that its talc products caused cancer. The lawsuits have been an overhang for the company and have weighed on the stock, which is down about 7% year-to-date. Jim Cramer said Wednesday that J & J’s proposal could mean, “the existential threat is gone for J & J.” The pharmaceuticals giant is preparing to spin off its consumer health unit this year, separating it from its pharmaceutical and medical technology operations. 3. Watch Eli Lilly Club holding Eli Lilly (LLY) will report a key phase-3 data readout of its Alzheimer’s drug Donanemab in the next one-to-two months. And JPMorgan said Wednesday its base-case scenario — with a 60% probability of success — is that the data should be largely in line with competitor Biogen ‘s (BIIB) Leqembi’s phase-3 data and Donanemab’s phase-2 results. Such a scenario could see Eli Lilly’s shares climb by up to 10%, according to JP Morgan. Eli Lilly “has been one of our big winners,” Jim said Wednesday. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PG, JNJ, LLY. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE…