CNBC’s Jim Cramer wonders just how Federal Reserve governors interact with members of the real world and the signals they are picking up – or ignoring – about the economy and fears about recession.
"When you look beyond the market's tight linkage to the price of oil, the idea that we could be headed into a recession has become a powerful theme, a whispered undercurrent in this environment that surfaces whenever oil takes a dive," the
"Mad Money" host said.
"I almost wonder if they live in a vacuum. Who are they talking to? Don't they at least have some buddies who are concerned about a recession? Don't they know some people are pulling back from investing?" Cramer said.
“Cramer also spoke with Ford CEO Mark Fields, who basically said his biggest fear is that investors could talk themselves into a recession,” CNBC reported. “And if autos are peaking and starting to slide down, that could also be a slowing driver of the economy and a real reason behind a recession,” CNBC explained.
“Cramer thinks the Fed is making a mistake, and maybe those bullish officials of the Fed that think the economy is ready for a rate hike should get outside more because they aren't in touch with what's on everyone else's mind,” CNBC reported.
As long as the Fed governors remain upbeat, Cramer expects more days on the market ahead that will be down, not up.
To be sure, Citigroup Inc. says the chances of a global recession are already high and only going up.
"In our view, global growth is at a highly precarious point, after 2-3 years of relative calm," the team of economists led by Willem Buiter said in their note, which is likely to exacerbate concerns about the world's ability to withstand a pause in China's stunning economic growth.
"The long-standing fragilities in the world economy relate to the structural and cyclical slowdowns in China and its unsustainable exchange rate regime, the excessive level of debt across many countries and sectors and ongoing regional and geopolitical uncertainty," the economists said. The economists have accordingly revised their forecast for growth this year in advanced economies, from a 2.4 percent in January 2015 to 1.6 percent currently, and warned that the 2016 figure "could well be lower."
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).