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 Thursday’s key moments. 1. Stocks plunged Thursday morning in response to President Donald Trump ‘s new round of tariffs on American trading partners. The various duty rates facing imports from countries including China, Vietnam, and Cambodia are much higher than anticipated. Jim Cramer and Director of Portfolio Analysis Jeff Marks both agreed that labeling these “reciprocal tariffs” doesn’t quite capture the situation, given the formula that was used to calculate the duty levels. Jeff pointed out that the White House has signaled it is not willing to negotiate just yet, so it makes it difficult to determine how long these tariff levels will be in place. 2. Even with the Nasdaq down nearly 5% at the time Thursday’s meeting started, Jim urged investors to keep a level head and be willing to determine which stocks deserve to be down, and which are being unfairly wrapped up in the selling. “I’m going to say something very bold here. I think we are down 5% in the Nasdaq. You have to start picking. You have to start looking,” Jim said, noting that companies with a high percentage of domestic sales such as Texas Roadhouse are good places to look. Jim also mentioned Costco as relatively well-protected. “I refuse to be negative as [bond yields] go down, because my advice to people is when rates go down, that trumps everything, including tariffs,” Jim said. The 10-year Treasury yield on Thursday touched its lowest levels since October and traded around 4.02%. Lower yields typically translate to lower borrowing costs on key loan types such as mortgages. 3. The selling extended to commodities such as oil, with U.S. crude benchmark WTI falling 7.5% to roughly $66 a barrel. In addition to tariff-related demand fears, a group of producers in the so-called OPEC+ alliance agreed to speed up their output hikes, which added further pressure to prices. Club name Coterra Energy was getting hit on this one-two punch, down about 5%. Jim noted that Coterra’s natural gas business gives it the flexibility to change its production mix toward whichever commodity is more favorably priced. The stock “shouldn’t be down” as much as it is Thursday, Jim said. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long CTRA, TXRH, COST. 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 INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
