Cramer sees rough week ahead for market: 'Let stocks come down a little and then do some buying'

Published Fri, Jun 18 202111:09 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Jun 18 202112:33 PM EDT

CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday he would not advise investors to buy the recent weakness in the stock market — yet. "I'm not eager to jump in here and buy stocks," Cramer said on "Squawk Box," before equities slid at the opening. "Let stocks come down a little and then do some buying." In addition to this week's decidedly skittish market reaction to the Federal Reserve pushing up its timetable for interest rates hikes, Cramer said seasonal factors are also at play. Cramer reiterated a warning he raised two days before the Fed's post-meeting announcement Wednesday. "If history is any guide, next week's gonna be ugly," Cramer said Monday on "Mad Money." Citing Larry Williams, a technical analyst he follows, Cramer said Friday: "The numbers say today and Monday are weak. And then the next four or five days are weak." It's not all bleak: Cramer does see light at the end of the tunnel, predicting a rally in July. However, when asked by CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin what he would advise investors to buy in the meantime, Cramer said, "Nothing," stressing he would wait and see how things shake out. "I think it's early to buy stocks," he added. Cramer on Friday morning continued to praise the Fed for walking a fine line this week on hot inflation and rate talk even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average appeared headed for its first five-day losing streak since January. The "Mad Money" host believes that tougher talk by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on "Squawk Box" early Friday, which accelerated a decline in Dow futures and led to a sharply lower open, is part of coordinated messaging led by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to get the froth out of the market. "I say stay the course with Jay [Powell]," Cramer said. Bullard, a nonvoting Fed member this year, revealed himself to be one of the central bankers who sees rate hikes beginning in late 2022, earlier than the median forecast for two in 2023. "The commodities collapse is so evident that you could argue Powell did everything he needed to do to shake people up," Cramer said, referring to a widespread pullback this week in raw material prices, following recent government reports showing wholesale and consumer inflation soared last month at year-over-year rates not seen in a decade. Fed critics have been saying that policymakers are not acting quickly enough to stamp out rising inflation in an already-stronger economy that'