Fed meeting and earnings from Big Tech

As Wall Street approaches the heigh of earnings season, CNBC’s Jim Cramer pinpointed the most important events happening next week — including the Federal Reserve’s meeting and earnings from Big Tech.

Earnings are especially important as the government shutdown delays macro economic data, according to Cramer. He added that Friday’s gains make him fairly wary.

“I wouldn’t be fretting so much about next week if it weren’t for today’s incredible rally that took tech to the moon,” he said. “But the unrestrained nature of the move makes me feel that there has to be a trick to go with today’s treat — otherwise we might as well abolish Halloween next week and call it an early Christmas.”

Monday brings earnings from steel giant Nucor, and Cramer said he thinks management will praise President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but he said he can’t expect a blowout from the company. Cramer suggested tariffs help keep other countries from dumping steel in the U.S., which means selling government-subsidized product at a much lower price than domestic manufacturers can.

On Tuesday, UnitedHealth, SoFi, Celestica and UPS will report. Cramer said UnitedHealth might reveal whether the government’s investigation into its billing practices is detrimental. Digital bank SoFi has had such a large run that Cramer said he wonders if anything could justify a move beyond where it currently is. He suggested Celestica can keep climbing, saying the company is a great tech manufacturer whose products are in demand. Cramer said UPS’s quarter presents a “decent risk reward.”

Consumer names VF Corp and Royal Caribbean are also set to report on Tuesday, along with Visa and Seagate. Cramer said he expects strong results from apparel maker VF Corp, even as its last quarter “was not up to snuff.” He praised cruise line Royal Caribbean, saying the stock has been a great performer post-Covid. Cramer called Visa a “clockwork stock” that never misses, while disk drive company Seagate could report a blowout.

Wednesday brings a slew of big name earnings, including CVS, Caterpillar, Boeing and Starbucks. Cramer said he thinks the retail pharmacy giant’s quarter will be better than expected, and he suggested investors take profits in Caterpillar even if the quarter is great, because it has seen a lot of gains recently. Boeing should offer “a restrained set of positives,” he continued, saying he thinks the airplane maker is positioned well amid the ongoing trade war. Starbucks’ results could come in a little stronger than expected, Cramer added, but the “humility of Brian Niccol will be the order of the day.”

Major tech players will report on Wednesday, namely Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta. Cramer predicted all three will post great results and suggested Microsoft could be the strongest of the group. He said Alphabet’s quarter will be fueled by its Waymo, YouTube and search businesses, while Meta will key in on advertising and discuss its Ray-Ban glasses.

Chipotle, ServiceNow, Carvana and Agnico Eagle are also set to post earnings on Wednesday. The Mexican food chain “can’t seem to deliver,” Cramer said, and this quarter could be “make or break in terms of maintaining the company’s growth status.” Cloud software outfit ServiceNow might have the best quarter of the week, he said, and Carvana could “blow the doors off” when it reports. Cramer recommended owning gold stock Agnico Eagle over peer Newmont.

The Federal Reserve will meet on Wednesday. Cramer said he thinks the central bank will make a quarter point rate cut, saying it seems the economy is starting to stall, and the consumer price index was benign enough to justify a borrowing rate decrease.

Mastercard and Eli Lilly will report on Thursday, saying he thinks the former should post solid results while the latter has “become luckless.” Cramer suggested the pharmaceutical giant needs to announce a new use for its GLP-1 drug or reveal when the pill form will be released.

Thursday also brings earnings from tech megacaps Amazon and Apple. Cramer said Amazon needs to see its web services division grow, or the stock won’t be able to rally. He said Apple should have “a good multi-year story to tell” and maintained that investors should own, not trade the stock.

Oil giants Chevron and Exxon will report Friday. He called both stocks “laggards” that are linked to the price of crude, so it’s hard for them to gain traction.

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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust owns shares of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Starbucks and Eli Lilly.