Jim Cramer on the new COVID variant

According to Jim Cramer from CNBC, the sharp stock decline that happened on Friday, due to the concerns over whether there would be a new Covid variant, doesn’t mean you should start buying.

On “Squawk on the Street,” a CNBC segment, Jim Cramer said:

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We’re going to wake up next week and find one [case] in this country, and I’m not going to recommend anyone buy anything today until we’re sure that isn’t going to happen. And I can’t be sure that it won’t.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Drop

The Dow Jones Industrial Average went down by 800 points when the opening bell was sounded on Friday, representing a 2% loss. The S&P 500 dropped by about 1.3%. The sell-off was driven by the WHO (World Health Organization) warning released on Thursday stating concerns about a new Covid-19 variant in South Africa.

Jim said that he understood why names like Pfizer and Regeneron moved higher. However, he believes that other areas should be avoided. 

Cramer said:

I’m reluctant to say this is the time to go buy a retailer, or go buy a cruise ship company because there will be people who are much more risk averse than you and I and then refuse to believe that the scientists can get this under control, so not a buying opportunity.

The attractive areas of the market

Even though Cramer was warning people from buying just yet, he pointed out a few areas of the market people could consider on the sell-off. One of the areas he mentioned was Chevron. 

He claimed that Chevron would be an attractive place to look into if you wanted to start buying today. He contended that oil demand is still high, and there’s travel as of the moment. He also said that Amazon stock was also likely to do well when the opening bell rang on Friday as its stock went up by 1%. 

However, many others didn’t agree with Cramer’s predictions and believed that there was a buying opportunity in Friday’s sell-off.