Jim Cramer: The pandemic led to ‘one of the greatest wealth transfers in history’

The Bigs and their minions—think every RIA pitching a cap-weighted index fund à la the S&P 500—have indeed dramatically widened the wealth gap between not just the haves and the have nots but between the haves and the haves not nearly as much.
I think at last count American billionaires are up something like 3/4 TRILLION dollars during the pandemic lockdowns. More on this tomorrow.

From CNBC, June 4:

• The coronavirus pandemic has produced “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said.
• “The bigger the business, the more it moves the major averages, and that matters because this is the first recession where big business … is coming through virtually unscathed,” the “Mad Money” host said.
• “I think we’re looking at a V-shaped recovery in the stock market, and that has almost nothing to do with a V-shaped recovery in the economy,” he said.

The coronavirus pandemic and corresponding lockdown made way for “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday.

The stock market is rising as big business rebounds from state-ordered stoppage of nonessential activity, while small businesses drop like flies, the “Mad Money” host said.
“The bigger the business, the more it moves the major averages, and that matters because this is the first recession where big business … is coming through virtually unscathed, if not going for the gold,” he added.

The comments come after Wall Street took a breather during a mixed day of trading in the midst of hopes of a quick recovery from the pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up almost 12 points to 26,281.82 during the session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both finished the day in the red by less than 1%.

Investors reacted to worse-than-predicted economic data ahead of the May jobs report Friday. The Labor Department reported on Thursday that new jobless claims the past week came in at 1.877 million, while experts expected a read of 1.775 million claims.

Despite the ongoing economic woes, the S&P index of 500 large-cap companies, which is considered a benchmark for the stock market, is within striking distance of its levels from the start of the trading year. Since bottoming near 2,191 in March, the index is up about 42%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 has recovered all of its losses from the coronavirus meltdown and set a new high on Thursday. Many investors are betting on a V-shaped economic recovery, Cramer said.

“I think we’re looking at a V-shaped recovery in the stock market, and that has almost nothing to do with a V-shaped recovery in the economy,” he said....

....MUCH MORE