Here are Cramer's pros and cons on the state of the market in 2023

Published Thu, Jan 19 202312:40 PM ESTUpdated Thu, Jan 19 202312:46 PM EST

My worldview is a lot more positive than most of you hear or read about. I like to look at checklists — something drummed into my head by my late Pop, who taught me to take that yellow legal pad, draw the line down the middle and get those pros and cons down. Here's what I come up with when I do that for the stock market and broader economy in 2023. There are a lot more pros than cons. Pros 1. Sooner or later the Federal Reserve is going to have to stop raising interest rates. And when the rate cycle is finished, you're no longer going to be fighting the Fed or the tape. That will make all but the permabears bullish, and you need to be in ahead of them. Not yet, but maybe soon. 2. We have already been put through the ringer. We have been in a fairly relentless downturn since November, 2021, which is unlikely to be repeated. But we are going to continue to buy stocks of companies that make things, do stuff and sell their wares profitability, while returning capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. I have not changed my view; it's too soon. 3. China is reopening its economy and can mean a great deal to world trade if it comes back online fully. It could mean jacking up oil demand to an all-time high in 2023, with perhaps 2 million additional barrels a day of demand. What a great reason to be long Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), Devon Energy (DVN), Coterra Energy (CTRA) and Haliburton (HAL). 4. It's really hard to have a true downturn when you have consumers with strong balance sheets, companies with minimal amounts of debt and unemployment as low as it is. Our banks are well-capitalized, the best on Earth. Plus, hate them or like them, Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen and Fed Chair Jerome Powell know how to use the levers to prevent a mild recession from becoming a horrendous one. 5. We talk too much about Communist China and not enough about Capitalist India. The latter is set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation this year. And as a result of a slowing birth rate and an acceleration of death by Covid-19 , it could happen in the next few weeks. India will have 1.4 billion people, with half the population under 30, and will become the next major force in the world. It's going to be a major market for our American companies. 6. Wars end and when Russia's war in Ukraine ends there will be a huge boost to the global economy. The pernicious Russians can be beaten. It just takes one strong western leader with the guts to give it a try. Okay, Pop, let's see what's on the other side of the ledger. Cons 1. The pessimism, as dictated by the strategists and buttressed by the bond market, is extremely difficult to overcome. There's no getting around it, the scaredy cats are winning. They ignored all of the tremendous bank earnings, they ignored the airline earnings, and they focused on Goldman Sachs and the wild action in the 20-year Treasury , which saw interest rates move down too far and too fast. These folks will be hard to dislodge, as they have a following who live in 2-year Treasuries that provide a 4% return. That's a cushy seat on the sidelines and it's hard to get those people back into the equities market. 2. There's still plenty of price increases, or at least higher prices, than we would like. But that's because people are still willing to pay up for pretty much everything. The only thing that will shift that is layoffs. But we have so many strong companies that the layoffs simply haven't been significant. I think that's why Powell will have to take rates higher until big companies fail and layoffs aren't just the province of well-heeled tech companies that are making up for over-hiring. 3. About 27% of the S & P 500 is still made up of technology companies, including some megacaps that we still own. I would like to see that number come down to about 20%, though I'm not sure it can come down just because other sectors are doing better. Big Tech has taken a drubbing, including Club holdings Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL). But unless they get their costs in order, this will be the year we move on from these two great companies we have owned for so long. So, it's 6 pros versus 3 cons — the bulls have it. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Jim Cramer on the set of Mad Money, August 18, 2022.

Bryan Bedder | CNBC

My worldview is a lot more positive than most of you hear or read about.

I like to look at checklists — something drummed into my head by my late Pop, who taught me to take that yellow legal pad, draw the line down the middle and get those pros and cons down.