Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday: Jobs, Fed, crypto

My top 10 things to watch Thursday, March 9

1. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to open higher after two straight days of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell saying interest rates are likely going to be higher for longer. The 2-year Treasury yield dips but stays above 5%, a level topped earlier this week for the first time since 2007. Weekly jobless claims come in softer. Friday brings the next test for the market: February’s employment report.

2. The spread between 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields this week reached its steepest inversion since mid-September 1981. Looking at history, that was a pretty great time to be buying stocks. The Dow went on to soar starting in late 1982, the beginning of an incredible bull market.

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3. Bitcoin and ether prices sink Thursday after crypto bank Silvergate Capital (SI) announces it’s shutting operations and liquidating. Silvergate shares, which have already lost most of their value, are plunging again early Thursday but still holding above $3 each.

4. Startup lender Silicon Valley Bank sells $21 billion in securities with a $1.8 billion loss. Raises capital. Shares of parent SVB Financial Group (SIVB) sink 30% early Thursday.

5. Scott Sheffield, CEO of Club holding Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), says refining capacity and inventory issues mean the oil industry won’t be able to grow U.S. production much more than it already has. Sheffield sees current oil prices as “the bottom.”

6. Club holding Eli Lilly (LLY) says trial results show its older Alzheimer’s drug failed to slow cognitive decline. Lilly should not have even bothered. This is not the newer Alzheimer’s drug that’s showing promise. JPMorgan says it’s time to buy given recent weakness in the stock. What we’re really waiting for is approval of Lilly’s new diabetes drug to also treat obesity.

7. Oppenheimer says Club holding Meta Platforms (META) has figured out how to give more data to advertisers, and that’s driving shares higher. Analysts raise price target to $235 per share from $220. UBS, meanwhile, lays out a bull case for Meta, with an upside PT of $331.

8. General Electric (GE) on Thursday morning reaffirms earnings outlook at its investor day. Aerospace remains incredibly strong. Free cash flow coming on strong.

9. Jefferies double downgrades Etsy (ETSY) to an underperform sell from buy, with a huge price target cut to $85 per share from $150. The stock closed at $113 on Wednesday. Sure, there’s less spending on goods but this downgrade is a little hard to fathom unless consumers just stopped and marketing ramped. That’s not what I’m hearing.

10. Citi increases price target on FedEx (FDX) to $250 per share from $240 ahead of quarterly earnings report out next week. Citi keeps buy rating. People like this stock.

(Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PXD, LLY, META. See here for a full list of the stocks.)

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