Friday’s sharp decline for stocks, spurred by concerns over a new Covid-19 variant, is not a buying opportunity, according to CNBC’s Jim Cramer.
“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,” he said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
“No panic. Let others panic. We’ll profit Monday,” he added.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 800 points at the opening bell, for a loss of 2%. The S&P 500 declined about 1.3%. The sell-off followed the World Health Organization warning on Thursday about a new variant that’s been detected in South Africa.
Cramer said that it makes sense for names like Regeneron and Pfizer to move higher, but that other areas of the market should be avoided.
“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,” he said.
That said, Cramer did say there are some areas of the market that look attractive on the sell-off, including Chevron.
“If I had to start buying something today, I would be looking to buy Chevron,” he noted. “There is demand for oil, there will be travel…I’m trying to distinguish between my being concerned about what’s going to happen and what people are doing on the very same day where they may just decide ‘you know what, I can’t take it anymore.’ And I would rather buy from those people on Monday than I would buy from them today,” he said.
Cramer added that Amazon will likely do well on Friday. At the opening bell the stock gained 1%.
Others, however, said Friday’s dip is a buying opportunity.
“Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, probably not as many traders on the desks with an early close today. So potentially lower liquidity is causing some of the pullback,” Ajene Oden of BNY Mellon Investor Solutions said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “But the reaction we’re seeing is a buying opportunity for investors. We have to think long-term.”
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– CNBC’s Jesse Pound contributed reporting.