Stocks were rising on suggestions that President Donald Trump plans to leave the hospital Monday, and on optimism over a coronavirus relief package.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 341 points, or 1.24%, to 28,024, the S&P 500 was up 1.29% and the Nasdaq rose 1.62%.
TheStreet’s Katherine Ross discussed breaking news in the stock market on Street Lightning. Cramer spoke about movie theater chain Regal, stock valuations and NYC shutdowns.
Regal Entertainment Suspends Operations
Cineworld Group’s Regal Entertainment Holdings said it will temporarily suspend operations at all its American and British movie theaters as crucial sales from expected fall and winter blockbuster movie releases like the next James Bond epic have been postponed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Cramer said it’s time to sell shares of Regal. “It’s sad and I feel the same way about AMC. I thought AMC could get their way out of this because they have got a better balance sheet and raised a lot of money. But these are not cruise ships which raised fortunes. I don’t think movies can (survive) because they are much less capitalized,” Cramer explained.
Shares of (AMC) – Get Report were down 10.43% on Monday.
Stock Valuations Linked to Politics and Covid-19
Cramer said that the individual stock has so little to do with the actual fundamentals in terms of valuing them. The P/E is directly related to politics and related to the coronavirus disease. “So, if you’re not trying to work on the disease or the testing and medicines that are needed and you’re not paying attention to the President and the stimulus and Speaker Pelosi then all you’re doing is trying to figure out what a company might be worth in the abstract. And that is valueless,” Cramer explained.
NYC Shutdowns Cause For Concern
The U.S. death toll has climbed to 209,725, and the number of people infected by the coronavirus in the U.S. was 7,418,107 on Monday.
New York City plans to close non-essential businesses and schools in nine neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens that have seen a surge in virus infections, said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday confirmed the closure of schools in the hotspots in an afternoon press briefing on Monday and added that New York state will take over COVID-19 hotspots within New York City.
Cramer said it was concerning that parts of New York City will likely be shut down again referring to some of the areas where the orthodox Jewish community resides, who are also at high risk of getting the coronavirus, and other precincts in Brooklyn. “It’s all 100% craziness. It’s very arbitrary and capricious. If you’re a responsible business person, it’s sayonara. It’s very hard to run a business when you don’t know whether you’ll be shut down any minute,” said Cramer.
