CNBC anchor Jim Cramer responded to the latest inflation numbers on Wednesday’s broadcast of “Squawk Box” — and he made it clear that President Joe Biden’s economy was not getting better.
Cramer reacted to the numbers released Wednesday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — which saw the Producer Price Index tick up 0.4% in September, after falling 0.2% in August.
“Prices for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services advanced 0.4 percent in September, the largest rise since increasing 0.5 percent in May,” the BLS report read. “For the 12 months ended in September, the index for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services moved up 5.6 percent. … Most of the September increase is attributable to a 0.6-percent rise in the index for final demand services less trade, transportation, and warehousing.”
An additional breakdown of the numbers from BLS showed that “a major factor in the September increase in prices” was the result of a 15.7% spike in the index for both “fresh and dry vegetables.” Other items that saw marked increases in September were pork, chicken eggs, heating oil for homes, and natural gas.
Cramer’s response to the numbers was certainly not positive: “It was just plain bad. There’s absolutely nothing to say about it other than it was bad.”
“A lot of people were hoping this number’s going to be good, maybe accepting that tomorrow’s going to be bad,” Cramer continued, adding, “The only thing that’s actually even remotely positive about it is that there’s nothing that’s really shocking to the upside, it’s just kind of as bad as it’s been.”
“There’s no relief here,” he concluded. “There’s just nothing good here.”
The BLS data and Cramer’s response come just one day after CNN aired an interview with President Joe Biden, hosted by veteran anchor Jake Tapper, in which Biden appeared to insist that the United States was not facing — or already in the midst of — a recession.
WATCH:
Q: "Should the American people prepare for a recession?"
BIDEN: “No…I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession."
We’re in a recession. pic.twitter.com/Ie1k0fCI5k
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 12, 2022
“Should the American people prepare for a recession?” Tapper asked.
“No,” Biden replied, saying that people predict recessions every six months and it “hasn’t happened yet.”
“I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession,” he said.
By the technical definition — which the White House has distanced itself from in recent weeks — the United States already entered a recession after posting negative GDP growth over two consecutive quarters.