‘Black Monday!’ CNBC’s Jim Cramer Says Trump-Fueled Stock Market Plunge Could Be ’The Big Kahuna!’
CNBC host Jim Cramer ratcheted up the doomsaying after President Donald Trump’s tariff policies cratered the stock market last week, raising the specter of a “Black Monday” to open the week.
The stock market dropped like a boulder as soon as the opening bell rang last Thursday morning after Trump announced his tariff program, and closed almost 1700 points in the hole — and that was before China announced reciprocal tariffs that sent futures crashing again.
At Friday’s closing bell, the Dow was down another 2200 points. Futures and foreign markets plunged over the weekend, setting up anticipation of another selloff at Monday’s open.
On Friday night’s edition of CNBC’s Mad Money, Cramer went from using the “C-word” to combining it with a “BM” — Black Monday, the nickname for the 1987 stock market crash:
It might be The Big Kahuna! That’s the one of October of 1987, where the market went down hard for three days, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then it went even harder on a day we call Black Monday, where the markets fell 22%.
If the president doesn’t try to reach out and reward these countries and companies that play by the rules, then the 1987 scenario, the one where we went down three days and then down 22 percent on Monday, has the most cogency.
We will not have to wait out too long, will we? We’ll know by Monday.
Fortunately, we had an excellent set of employment numbers today. At least it makes it less likely a crash will necessarily lead to a recession.
But if President Trump stays intransigent and does nothing to ameliorate the damage that I saw these last two days, I’m not gonna be constructive here. I will contain my anger, but only because I lived through 87, and in the end, I came out okay. I was in cash for the crash. I know what this feels like.
Oh, and if Europe moves against our fabulous tech companies next week, then I will be furious. That, I promise you. Because it should not happen.
None of this has to happen.
Which brings me to the game plan for next week. First, if the president does nothing and the Europeans create reciprocal tariffs against our tech companies, we have a very good chance. I want to be very methodical and not unemotional. We’re very chance it will crash. It could be like Black Monday, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t.
But if President Trump realizes it would be best to help our companies, especially the ones that are hung on tariffs, then we could have a rebound.
Watch above via CNBC’s Mad Money.
More on Trump Tariffs
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- Joe Kernen Brutally Roasts Trump Adviser Over Tariff Policy Amid Global Financial Panic: ‘Universally Derided’ as ‘Non-Serious’
- Reporter Asks Trump Straight-Up If He’s ‘Crashing the Markets on Purpose’ on Air Force One
- Maria Bartiromo ‘Would Not Be Surprised’ If Market Turns Around TODAY as World Fears ‘Black Monday’
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