Cramer advises stock investors who want to buy to wait until after the Fed news conference

Published Wed, Sep 22 202110:59 AM EDTUpdated Wed, Sep 22 202111:36 AM EDT

CNBC's Jim Cramer urged stock investors who want to buy Wednesday to wait until after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gets done fending off media attacks at his afternoon news conference. Cramer called out reporters, accusing them of trying to make Powell "look bad" at these post-meeting briefings. "Let's just keep peppering him and pestering him with tapering. Let's challenge him on the guys trading back and forth. Let's really make him look bad. And by the end of the Q & A you want to sell stocks," Cramer said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." He was referring to two major lines of inquiry: when central bankers might start tapering their Covid-era bond purchases and Fed officials' trading activity during the pandemic. "They just heckle him forever. He's got to get rid of these press conferences because all they do is make a mockery of a very good public servant," Cramer said, who has praised Powell's actions to support the economy throughout Covid. "If you want to buy, wait until after they make a mockery of him and look like a fool, and then buy." Cramer also reminded investors about the back half of this month being the weakest during the already historically weak September and early October stretch for the stock market. He's been warning about buying on early strength in the market because it has recently been petering out by the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced more than 350 points shortly after Wednesday's open, as concern about possible market contagion from embattled Chinese developer Evergrande eased. However, the Dow had been sharply higher Tuesday but closed lower for the fourth straight session. On Monday, the Dow suffered its biggest one-day drop since July on concern about Evergrande as well as the outcome of this week's Fed meeting and Washington's debt ceiling brinkmanship. The Dow lost 614 points that day, or nearly 1.8%. Ahead of Friday — which was seen as the start of this really weak period for stocks — the "Mad Money" host said: "You're better off keeping some cash." On Monday morning, when stock futures were indicating the carnage ahead, he advised investors to sell stocks . For the month , the Dow is down 4% as of Tuesday's close. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq have fallen 3.7% and nearly 3.4%, respectively, in that time period. The Dow's last record close was in mid-August. The most-recent record closes for the S & P 500 and Nasdaq were early this month. Turning back to the Fed, Cramer said Powell should stop doing news conferences, adding the Fed chief "created this monster" in 2018 when he decided to hold media briefings after every policy meeting . Powell's predecessor, Janet Yellen , held quarterly news conferences. Yellen is now President Joe Biden 's Treasury secretary. The Fed concludes its two-day September meeting Wednesday, releasing its latest policy statement along with quarterly economic and interest rate forecasts at 2 p.m. ET. Powell is scheduled to brief the media 30 minutes later. The central bank is widely expected to indicate it's getting ready to announce a timetable for paring back its $120 billion in monthly purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. No change in near-zero rates is expected. Powell has said that raising borrowing costs will be considered separately from tapering.

Jim Cramer

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

CNBC's Jim Cramer urged stock investors who want to buy Wednesday to wait until after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gets done fending off media attacks at his afternoon news conference.