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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that the market could find a bottom later this year now that stocks have come down and Wall Street’s optimism has waned. 
“The charts, as interpreted by Tom DeMark, suggest that with just a little more weakness, this market’s finally got a legitimate chance to bottom,” he said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that the market could find a bottom later this year now that stocks have come down and Wall Street’s optimism has waned. 
“The charts, as interpreted by Tom DeMark, suggest that with just a little more weakness, this market’s finally got a legitimate chance to bottom for the first time since everything started rolling over last November. … I hope he’s right, and more importantly, I think he is right,” he said.

The “Mad Money” host said that DeMark and his team have a 13-step buy-or-sell countdown model that helps them find highs and lows in the market. The trend eventually exhausts itself when there is a certain number of sessions going in the same direction, he said.
He added that the key to finding a bottom is to identify when sellers have run out of steam, and everyone who planned to sell already has.
To start his explanation of DeMark’s analysis, Cramer first examined the daily chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Arrows pointing outwards

According to DeMark, the Dow hit 13 on the buy countdown on June 17, but there’s a secondary countdown that’s still at 12, Cramer said.
“That means the Dow may have bottomed last month or maybe there will be one last downdraft that takes us to a lower low,” he said.

According to Cramer, DeMark also believes there are parallels between the Dow’s performance this year and in 1973, represented by the blue line on the chart.
“He was using the same 13-step countdown even back then, and it worked just as well as it does now. They believe the relationship is noteworthy and, if it holds, we see some more choppy trading for the Dow over the next couple of months, followed by a strong rally in September and October … but then a large decline into the end of the year,” he said.
“If DeMark is right, then right now we could be looking at an incredible trade,” he added.
For more analysis, watch the video of Cramer’s full explanation below.

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Traders on the floor of the NYSE, June 16, 2022.
Source: NYSE

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Wednesday night as investors digested the most recent meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 26 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.1% and 0.1%, respectively.

Shares of GameStop popped 8% in extended trading after the video game retailer said a 4-for-1 stock split was approved by its board. Shareholders at the market close on July 18 will get a dividend of three additional shares for each of GameStop’s Class A common stock, the retailer said. The dividend will be distributed after trading closes on July 21.
Earlier in the day, the S&P 500 posted its third straight day of gains following the release of the June meeting minutes from the central bank. The broader market index added nearly 0.4%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained more than 69 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite rose close to 0.4%.
Stocks climbed after the release of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes. Central bank officials reiterated a tough stance against inflation, saying another 50- or 75-basis point move would “likely be appropriate” at the July 26-27 meeting.
Still, many investors found it challenging to trust those gains as recession concerns continue to loom on Wall Street, and as market participants looked ahead to what many expect will be a volatile earnings season this month.
“Everybody is both emotionally and sort of market level exhausted,” Alli McCartney, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management, said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” “So, I think we still have a summer of watching for what the Fed does, watching for what happens in international policy, watching for the directionality of CPI.”

On the economic front, traders will parse through the latest reports on weekly jobless claims and international trade that are due out Thursday before the bell.
Meanwhile, Levi Strauss is set to report earnings Thursday after the bell.

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that the clashing forces roiling the market could lead to stagnation, which could then turn into an economic reacceleration that causes stocks to go higher.
“At these levels, many stocks already reflect a recession, so if we merely get a stagnant economy that will then reaccelerate, then stocks could go much higher,” he said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that the clashing forces roiling the market could lead to stagnation, which could then turn into an economic reacceleration that causes stocks to go higher.
“Everybody’s worried about either a brutal recession or rampant inflation,” he said.

“At these levels, many stocks already reflect a recession, so if we merely get a stagnant economy that will then reaccelerate, then stocks could go much higher. But if the Fed disagrees with me and hits us with more than just one last big rate hike … the market will have even more downside,” he said.
The major indices made slight gains on Wednesday, bouncing after the release of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting minutes showed the central bank’s dedication to tamping down inflation. Commodities, which were a major driver of skyrocketing inflation, have come down recently, with the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude dropping below $100.
Cramer acknowledged that the future of the market is unclear right now, with some investors dead set in their beliefs that there will be a recession while others believe the Fed will engineer a soft landing.
However, he reminded investors to consider the damage that has already been done to stocks, rather than the pain that could be coming.
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More than half of Americans are now concerned about their emergency savings, up from 44% in 2020, according to a Bankrate survey.
Experts cover how much people at different stages of life — including single and dual-income families, small-business owners and retirees — should set aside.

designer491 | iStock | Getty Images

With the threat of a recession looming, more financial experts are sharing how to prepare — including how much cash it may be smart to set aside.  
The end of June marked a turbulent six months for the S&P 500 Index, which dropped by more than 20% since January, capping its worst six-month start to a year since 1970.

The future may be unclear, but stock market volatility, soaring inflation, geopolitical conflict and supply chain shortages have weakened Americans’ confidence in the economy.  
More from Personal Finance:5 steps to take now to prepare your finances for a recessionExperts see a recession coming. How to prepare a portfolioS&P had its worst half in 50 years. But this investing strategy isn’t deadIndeed, more than half of Americans are now concerned about their level of emergency savings, up from 44% in 2020, according to a June survey from Bankrate.
Many are concerned about falling short: Nearly one-third of Americans have less than three months of expenses in savings, and almost one-quarter have no emergency fund, Bankrate found. 
Although rock-bottom returns made cash less attractive over the past several years, that may be changing as interest rates move upward. And experts say there’s a value in the peace of mind savings brings.
Here’s how much in cash savings you need at different times in your career, according to financial advisors.

Dual-income families: Save at least 3 months’ worth

The typical recommendation for dual-income families is savings worth three to six months of living expenses, said Christopher Lyman, a certified financial planner with Allied Financial Advisors in Newtown, Pennsylvania. The reasoning: Even if one earner loses their job, there are other income streams to help the family keep up with expenses.

Single earners: Put aside 6 months or more

However, households with a single earner may benefit from boosting savings to six to nine months worth of expenses, Lyman said.
For both single earners and dual-income households, some advisors say it’s better to have higher cash reserves to provide “more options” and added flexibility in case of a job layoff. Recessions typically go hand in hand with higher unemployment, and finding a new job may not happen quickly.

Catherine Valega, a CFP and wealth consultant at Green Bee Advisory in Winchester, Massachusetts, suggests keeping 12 to 24 months of expenses in cash.  
Personal finance expert and best-selling author Suze Orman has also recommended extra savings, and recently told CNBC she pushes for 8-12 months of expenses. “If you lose your job, if you want to leave your job, that gives you the freedom to continue to pay your bills while you’re figuring out what you want to do with your life,” she said.

Entrepreneurs: Set aside 1 year of expenses

With more economic uncertainty, Lyman recommends entrepreneurs and small-business owners try to set aside one year of business expenses.
“Taking this advice saved quite a few of our business owner clients from shutting down due to the pandemic,” he said.

Some people are uncomfortable having that much money ‘on the sideline’ and not earning anything, especially right now when stocks look to be providing a great buying opportunity.

Christopher Lyman
certified financial planner with Allied Financial Advisors LLC

Retirees: Reserve 1-3 years of expenses in cash

With soaring inflation and relatively low interest for savings accounts, large amounts of cash may be a tough sell for some retirees. However, experts suggest keeping one to three years of expenses readily available.
“Having a sufficient cash buffer is a critical element to making your money last in retirement,” said Brett Koeppel, a CFP and founder of Eudaimonia Wealth in Buffalo, New York.
Having enough cash on hand can limit the need to sell assets when the market is down, a misstep that could drain your retirement balances faster.  
Of course, the exact amount of cash to keep on hand in retirement depends on monthly expenses and other sources of income.

For example, if your monthly expenses are $5,000 per month, you receive $3,000 from a pension and $1,000 from Social Security, you may need less in cash, around $12,000 to $36,000.   
“This allows you to maintain your longer-term investments without the risk of selling when the stock market is down,” Koeppel said.

How much to save is a ‘very emotional topic’

There’s some flex in the “right” amount. Money is a “very emotional topic,” Lyman admits, noting that some clients veer from his savings recommendations.
“Some people are uncomfortable having that much money ‘on the sideline’ and not earning anything, especially right now when stocks look to be providing a great buying opportunity,” he said. 
Others were “cautious” before and now feel “thoroughly worried about the market,” which motivates them to save significantly more, Lyman said.

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Washington currently heads Denver International Airport and previously led public transportation systems in Los Angeles and Denver.
If confirmed, Washington’s challenges will include helping the FAA improve its reputation after its approval of the Boeing’s 737 Max, two of which later crashed, killing 346 people.
The agency is also tasked with reviewing new Boeing planes.
More recently, the FAA and airlines have pointed fingers over the causes of flight delays.

An American Airlines plane lands at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport November 23, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Phil Washington, the head of Denver International Airport, to lead the Federal Aviation Administration.
Washington’s nomination to run the agency, which has roughly 45,000 employees, comes after Steve Dickson left the post about halfway through his term, at the end of March, citing personal reasons. Billy Nolen, the FAA’s safety chief, was named as acting administrator. Washington has headed the Denver airport, one of the country’s busiest, for about a year and previously was CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for six years.

If confirmed, Washington will head an agency that has been working to improve its reputation after two fatal crashes of Boeing’s 737 Max planes, which led to legislation that tightened federal oversight of new jetliners.
The FAA is also tasked with reviewing new Boeing jets like the 777X and the largest model of the Max, the 737 Max 10.  It hasn’t yet cleared Boeing to resume deliveries of its Dreamliner planes, which have been paused for more than a year due to manufacturing flaws.
The agency has also been working with airlines to bring down the rate of flight delays and cancellations amid staffing shortages and other challenges. Tensions between the FAA and airline executives have escalated lately as they have blamed each other over an uptick in flight disruptions that has upended the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
Airline executives have called out the staffing of air traffic controllers, which the FAA oversees, as causes for delays.
“The reality is that there are more flights scheduled industrywide than ATC staffing system can handle,” United Airlines Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Roitman wrote in a staff note Wednesday, calling out congested parts of New York and Florida. “Until that is resolved, we expect the U.S. aviation system will be challenged this summer and beyond.”

The FAA, in response, said that its staffing is not the cause of most of the delays and cancellations, and instead attributed the issues to air traffic control capacity, airline staffing, weather and strong traffic.
United recently trimmed its schedule at Newark, New Jersey, to help avoid delays. Other carriers including Delta, JetBlue and Southwest have also cut flights so they aren’t overwhelmed when routine disruptions happen.
In a statement, the FAA said it appreciates the steps airlines are taking to improve performance, but that more clearly needs to be done to reduce cancellations and delays.
“It is unfortunate to see United Airlines conflate weather-related Air Traffic Control measures with ATC staffing issues, which could deceptively imply that a majority of those situations are the result of FAA staffing.”

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Space tourism company Virgin Galactic on Wednesday announced a deal with Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to build two additional carrier aircraft.
Virgin Galactic currently has one carrier aircraft, or “mothership,” called VMS Eve.
The company declined to disclose the financial terms of the contract with Aurora, but the first of the two aircraft is expected to enter service in 2025.

A conceptual rendering of the company’s carrier aircraft, also known as a “mothership.”
Virgin Galactic

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic on Wednesday announced a deal with Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to build two additional carrier aircraft to support its coming spacecraft fleet.
Virgin Galactic currently has one carrier aircraft, or “mothership,” called VMS Eve that is about 14 years old and is undergoing a lengthy refurbishment. The jet-powered mothership plays a key role in Virgin Galactic’s flights by carrying the company’s spacecraft up to about 50,000 feet altitude to launch.

The company said the new motherships are an evolution of the VMS Eve design and will each support up to 200 launches a year. Virgin Galactic currently has two spacecraft in its fleet, VSS Unity and VSS Imagine, and says the former can launch 12 times a year and the latter 26 times a year. But the company’s coming “Delta class” of spacecraft would fly as often as once a week, necessitating multiple motherships to support launches.
“Our next generation motherships are integral to scaling our operations. They will be faster to produce, easier to maintain and will allow us to fly substantially more missions each year,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement.
A Virgin Galactic spokesperson declined to disclose the deal’s financial terms. Aurora began designing the motherships with Virgin Galactic early this year and will start production immediately. The first carrier aircraft is expected to enter service in 2025.
Like that of other development-stage space companies, Virgin Galactic’s stock has been hit hard in 2022, with its shares down more than 50% year to date. Earlier this year Virgin Galactic delayed the beginning of its commercial space tourism to the first quarter of 2023, with the company’s refurbishment program expected to be finished in about two months.

Carrier aircraft VMS Eve is seen in the background shortly after releasing VSS Unity, which is firing its engine and acclerating during the company’s fourth spaceflight test, Unity 22, carrying founder Richard Branson on July 11, 2021.
Virgin Galactic

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Rivian confirmed that it’s on track to build 25,000 vehicles in 2022, in line with the lowered guidance it issued in March.
Rivian delivered 4,467 of its electric trucks and SUVs to customers in the second quarter.

Production of electric Rivian R1T pickup trucks on April 11, 2022 at the company’s plant in Normal, Ill.
Michael Wayland / CNBC

Electric-vehicle startup Rivian Automotive said it produced more than 4,000 vehicles in the second quarter and that it remains on track to build 25,000 vehicles in 2022.
Shares of Rivian opened sharply higher and held on to the gains, ending the day at $29.66, up 10.4%.

Rivian said in a statement that it produced 4,401 of its electric R1T pickups and R1S SUVs in the quarter and that 4,467 vehicles were delivered to customers in the period. The company didn’t break out production or deliveries by model.
The company said last year in its IPO roadshow that it expected to build 50,000 vehicles in 2022. But it cut that guidance by half in March, saying that ongoing global supply-chain issues had “added a layer of complexity” to its efforts to ramp up production. The company said Wednesday it still expects to make 25,000 vehicles this year.
Although still small, the market for electric pickups is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. Ford Motor said Tuesday that it sold 1,837 of its electric F-150 Lightnings in June and that it has sold 2,296 in total since beginning production in late May.
From the beginning of production in late 2021 through the end of June, Rivian produced a total of 7,969 vehicles.

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The changes come a little more than five months into Barry McCarthy, a former Spotify and Netflix executive, working to boost the morale at Peloton as part of a turnaround push.
The moves will allow eligible employees to access their equity grants earlier.
Instead of an equity grant, Peloton’s hourly workers will be eligible for a one-time cash bonus.

In this photo illustration the Peloton Interactive logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen.
Rafael Henrique | LightRocket | Getty Images

Peloton sweetened incentives for its workers with one-time cash bonuses and changes to its stock compensation plan as it fights to hold onto employees and fix its struggling business, according to internal memos seen by CNBC.
The changes come a little more than five months into Barry McCarthy, a former Spotify and Netflix executive, working to boost the morale at Peloton as part of a turnaround push. McCarthy was named CEO in early February, replacing founder John Foley, as the company’s expenses spiraled out of control and demand for its bikes waned from a pandemic peak.

At that time of the C-suite shakeup, Peloton announced it was slashing roughly $800 million in annual costs. That included cutting 2,800 jobs, or about 20% of corporate positions. Now, investors are waiting to see if McCarthy can grow sales and win over customers as surging inflation squeezes budgets and a competitive labor market makes it harder for companies to hold onto employees.
Peloton shares on Tuesday hit an all-time low of $8.73, down more than 70% year to date, amid a broader market selloff. The stock had traded as high as $129.70 almost exactly one year ago.
Shari Eaton, Peloton’s chief people officer, said in an interview Wednesday that the company is taking the actions so employees can benefit as the company works on its turnaround efforts.
“The extraordinary circumstances that we find ourselves in now really give us that chance to pause and look at what it is that we can do to ensure future success,” Eaton said.

Unlocking equity

In one of the internal memos, Peloton told employees that eligible team members will have their post-IPO options repriced to Peloton’s closing price on July 1 of $9.13.

As an example, Peloton said options granted granted on March 1 had an exercise price of $27.62, meaning they were “underwater,” and employees were not benefitting financially until the stock passed that threshold. After the repricing, Peloton employees will be able to exercise their options after the price passes $9.13.
Peloton said it does not have plans for any future repricing events.
The company is also accelerating the vesting requirement by one year for eligible unvested restricted stock units that have more than eight vesting dates left in their vesting schedule. That lets employees access the value of the stock units sooner, Eaton said.
The change does not apply to hourly employees or C-suite executives, the company noted.

Cash bonuses

Not every Peloton employee owns or wants stock in the company. Instead of an equity grant, Peloton’s hourly workers in September will be eligible for a one-time cash bonus to be paid before the end of February, according to one of the internal Peloton memos.
Many of the company’s hourly employees have said they would prefer to receive cash compensation over longer-term equity grants, Eaton said in a phone interview.
Peloton said people who are employed on an hourly basis as of July 1 will be eligible for the one-time bonus as long as they stay with the company through Jan. 23. The amount of the bonus will vary for people across the business, Eaton said. Any equity awards granted in the past will remain unaffected.
Peloton also told its employees Wednesday that it recently finished conducting its first pay equity study with Aon, a third party consultancy.
The company said it identified less than 4% of its workforce, or 206 people, had a base pay disparity relative to peers that could not be explained by factors such as level of work, geography or tenure. Peloton said it took immediate action to eliminate the disparities.

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