Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Wednesday

1. Stocks were headed for a lower open after the August consumer inflation report matched expectations at the headline level. Traders are now overwhelmingly expecting a traditional quarter percentage point interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week. We’ll discuss navigating this moment in markets during our September Monthly Meeting for Club members at noon ET on Thursday.

2. The consumer price index for August rose 0.2% month over month, putting the 12-month inflation rate at 2.5%, its lowest since February 2021. That is slightly below the 2.6% estimate. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, came in a little hotter than expected, though, at 0.3% month over month versus the 0.2% estimate.

3. Banks are under assault. Warren Buffett keeps selling shares of Bank of America. Goldman research analysts issued a gratuitous downgrade of Morgan Stanley despite high yield. Nobody likes this Club name. It has no champions. People think it is strategy-less. Goldman tooked price targets down for the whole group.