On Wednesday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer addressed the market’s reaction to the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady, a move that left many investors and even President Donald Trump frustrated.
“See, there’s this camp, I’m going to call them an ill-informed segment… that somehow expects a surprise from the Fed, like a rate cut when it’s least expected… How can they be disappointed about something we saw coming?”
READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Recently Talked About These 19 Stocks and Jim Cramer Highlighted 8 Potential Winners From the US-EU Deal.
Cramer reflected on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s caution and noted that despite acknowledging weakening signals in the economy, from a cooling consumer to underwhelming housing data, Powell opted not to act. He mentioned that Powell’s reluctance makes sense, saying, “By historical standards. It would be kind of crazy for the Fed to cut rates here.”
Cramer emphasized that the uncertainty about the future is precisely why Powell avoided making any strong forward-looking statements. He pointed out that even the Federal Reserve does not seem confident enough to take decisive action yet. Meanwhile, he noted, the pressure from Trump is unlikely to ease.
Cramer then asked, “What does all of this have to do with your portfolio?” He answered that in his view, the Fed’s stance acted like a damper on roughly three-quarters of the S&P 500. He added, “If the broader market’s going to keep climbing, and we want it to so badly, I think we do need lower rates.”
“The bottom line: I think this market fell apart today because the Fed seems reluctant to give us that rate cut backstop. I didn’t get the sense of the so-called inevitability of rate cuts that I felt from the last two Fed meetings. Judging by the action, not many others did, either.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 13 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episodes of Mad Money aired on July 30. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the first quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 1,000 hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
13 Stocks Jim Cramer Shared His Views On
13. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 78
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer shared his views on. Cramer discussed the stock in detail during the episode, as he said:
“Everything’s changed since COVID, but we just keep acting like it hasn’t. We always seem surprised when we hear that higher prices are hurting demand and a company isn’t doing that well. That’s how I felt about the plummeting price of Chipotle stock. I was checking it out after talking with Brian Niccol, the current CEO of Starbucks, who came over from Chipotle about a year ago. When Brian left, the stock was at 56. The S&P 500 was at 5,648. Now the stock’s at 43 and change. Well, the S&P’s at 6,362. Well, what’s happened here? It’s not the in-store experience. Chipotle’s the same place it was always. It’s just gotten a lot more expensive…
Look, I’m not trying to pick on Chipotle, and I recognize those prices are all over the map given their crowdsourced nature. So many restaurants, so many kinds of stores, so many homes, so much entertainment… the same problem. But to not relate Chipotle’s stock price to what’s happening with the prices, well, that’s just fanciful. The consumer’s just paying a lot more, and nobody likes that.”
Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) operates fast-casual restaurants serving customizable Mexican-inspired meals, including burritos, bowls, tacos, and salads.
12. KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 46
KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer shared his views on. A caller asked if Cramer thinks that the company will be bought out soon. Here’s what he had to say:
“You know what? That’s an interesting question, but we had Chris Gorman on, and Chris was also on another show recently. I don’t think they’re in any, I think they’re in expansion mode. I don’t think they’re in sell mode, and, but I don’t mind owning the stock at all, especially with that 4.5% yield.”
KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) provides retail and commercial banking services, including lending, investment management, and wealth advisory solutions. Moreover, the company offers capital markets, institutional trust, and investment banking services through its KeyBank brand. When a caller asked for advice on the stock in a February episode, Cramer responded:
“Okay, so Jeff Marks and I were kicking things around. I said, we gotta own more banks… and I said, how about Key for the Charitable Trust because of that dividend? You’re onto something. I like your thinking. We had Chris Gorman on. Seems like a terrific guy.”
Since the above comment, the company stock is up around 7% at the time of writing.
Hedge Fund Resource Center