CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday that the stock market is on the verge of entering a holding pattern as the Middle East conflict continues and other uncertainties emerge.
“Until then, the bottom line is we have to face the fact that the market is stuck,” Kramer said on “Mad Money.” “I hate limbo, but I accept that there will always be a lot of limbo so far in 2026. To get to the promised land of higher prices, we have to learn to live with it. And if we want to get there, we have to stay there.”
Cramer’s comments came on the heels of a volatile session on Wall Street. of S&P500 There was a brief reprieve during Wednesday’s trading, with the market-wide index rising 0.8% before falling 0.5%. At Thursday’s low, the S&P 500 index was down about 1.4%. of Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Although the stock hit its low, it closed lower.
Stocks struggled in the face of higher oil prices on Thursday, with the price of U.S. oil soaring above $80 a barrel as traders feared a prolonged disruption to global fuel supplies due to the war between the U.S. and Iran. Oil prices were even more subdued in Wednesday’s trading, when stocks rose.
“However, it’s easy to see why this happened,” Kramer said. “Earlier this week, Wall Street thought a war with Iran wouldn’t cause too much economic damage, but today, (West Texas Intermediate) oil prices have soared above $80 again. … This kind of behavior is too hard on people, and even though I’m saying they should stop, they’re being sold. Stay.”
Making matters worse for investors, Kramer said export policies for artificial intelligence chips could become even more restrictive. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is developing plans to give the U.S. government more control over exports of these chips. The rule could ban international shipments of AI chips without White House approval, much like a Biden-era policy that the Trump administration abandoned last year, Cramer said.
“The market lost a major leader during the day because of this rumor,” Cramer said of the subsequent decline in semiconductor stocks.
As an example, he cited stocks of major AI chip makers. Nvidiahis charitable trust holdings, a portfolio used by the CNBC Investment Club. The world’s most valuable stock rose in morning trading but then managed a small gain after falling as much as 2.8% on the report. advanced micro deviceanother AI chip maker, also closed 1.3% lower.
“Nobody wants to mess with the semi-finals when the entire addressable market is about to be squeezed by the government,” he said.
Overall, Kramer presented a complex picture with the market grappling with many unknowns.
“Now, the good news is that oil prices may fall and semiconductor-related prices may rise,” he said. “The bad news is that the war is still going on and we are not in as stable a position for the rally as we thought.”
