Top 10 things to watch in the stock market Monday: Banks, Nvidia, Starbucks

Top 10 things to watch Monday, March 20 1. Wall Street looks steady to start the week and ahead of the Fed’s post-meeting interest rate decision Wednesday afternoon. The market puts about 60% odds on a quarter-point rate hike and 40% odds on no hike as policymakers watch of the unfolding banking struggles. Here are the two Fed scenarios we favor. The Dow , S & P 500 and the Nasdaq see relatively flat open. Sign up for my Top 10 morning thoughts on the market email newsletter for free 2. In a sign of encouragement, sentiment in European markets improved throughout the morning, with stocks bouncing off their early lows. European banks are under pressure after UBS (UBS) agreed to acquire its troubled rival Credit Suisse (CS)for $3.2 billion, a deal facilitated by Swiss authorities and regulators. On Sunday, the Fed and other central banks set a joint liquidity operation . 3. The Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America asked regulators to extend Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance to all deposits for two years. Why the FDIC won’t insure all deposits is beyond us. We think it’s necessary to ease this confidence of crisis. 4. If you want to try your hand with the regional banks, which still face a great deal of uncertainty, you still must pick and choose. Shares of First Republic (FRC) are lower premarket after S & P cut credit rating to B+ from BB+. New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) upgraded to an outperform (buy) rating at Wedbush and KBW. NYCB bought from the FDIC most deposits and loans of failed Signature Bank. 5. PepsiCo (PEP) upgraded to market perform from underperform (hold from sell) at Bernstein. Analysts admit to being wrong about the beverage and snack company, citing category growth that has surprised to the upside over the past two years. 6. Nvidia (NVDA) price target raised to $300 per share from $230 at Baird ahead of this week’s GTC developers event. It’s a bit of a confusing note because analysts add NVDA to Fresh Pick Bullish list on data center momentum for the second half of the year but keep neutral (hold) due to concerns about China building data center GPU inventory and valuation. 7. Carnival (CCL) named a Catalyst Call Buy Idea at Deutsche Bank. The catalyst event is the cruise line’s March 27 earnings report, which analysts believe will drive a positive reaction in the stock due to weak sentiment and a low bar for the full-year outlook. 8. Club holding Starbucks (SBUX) says Laxman Narasimhan takes over as CEO on Monday, about two weeks earlier than expected. Narasimhan replaces Howard Schultz who brings to an end his third stretch as CEO of the coffee giant. 9. Dow Inc. (DOW) and LyondellBasell (LYB) both get upgraded to buy at Deutsche Bank. 10. Deutsche Bank shakes up its price targets and ratings of U.S. consumer package good companies, upgrading Kimberly-Clark (KMB) and Conagra (CAG) to hold from sell but lowering PTs across many in its coverage universe due to higher discount rates. Club holdings Procter & Gamble (PG) stays a buy and Constellation Brands (STZ) stays a hold. (See here for a full list of the stocks from Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

1. Wall Street looks steady to start the week and ahead of the Fed’s post-meeting interest rate decision Wednesday afternoon. The market puts about 60% odds on a quarter-point rate hike and 40% odds on no hike as policymakers watch of the unfolding banking struggles. Here are the two Fed scenarios we favor. The Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq see relatively flat open.

Sign up for my Top 10 morning thoughts on the market email newsletter for free

2. In a sign of encouragement, sentiment in European markets improved throughout the morning, with stocks bouncing off their early lows. European banks are under pressure after UBS (UBS) agreed to acquire its troubled rival Credit Suisse (CS)for $3.2 billion, a deal facilitated by Swiss authorities and regulators. On Sunday, the Fed and other central banks set a joint liquidity operation.

3. The Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America asked regulators to extend Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance to all deposits for two years. Why the FDIC won’t insure all deposits is beyond us. We think it’s necessary to ease this confidence of crisis.

4. If you want to try your hand with the regional banks, which still face a great deal of uncertainty, you still must pick and choose. Shares of First Republic (FRC) are lower premarket after S&P cut credit rating to B+ from BB+. New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) upgraded to an outperform (buy) rating at Wedbush and KBW. NYCB bought from the FDIC most deposits and loans of failed Signature Bank.

5. PepsiCo (PEP) upgraded to market perform from underperform (hold from sell) at Bernstein. Analysts admit to being wrong about the beverage and snack company, citing category growth that has surprised to the upside over the past two years. 

6. Nvidia (NVDA) price target raised to $300 per share from $230 at Baird ahead of this week’s GTC developers event. It’s a bit of a confusing note because analysts add NVDA to Fresh Pick Bullish list on data center momentum for the second half of the year but keep neutral (hold) due to concerns about China building data center GPU inventory and valuation.

7. Carnival (CCL) named a Catalyst Call Buy Idea at Deutsche Bank. The catalyst event is the cruise line’s March 27 earnings report, which analysts believe will drive a positive reaction in the stock due to weak sentiment and a low bar for the full-year outlook.  

8. Club holding Starbucks (SBUX) says Laxman Narasimhan takes over as CEO on Monday, about two weeks earlier than expected. Narasimhan replaces Howard Schultz who brings to an end his third stretch as CEO of the coffee giant.

9. Dow Inc. (DOW) and LyondellBasell (LYB) both get upgraded to buy at Deutsche Bank.

10. Deutsche Bank shakes up its price targets and ratings of U.S. consumer package good companies, upgrading Kimberly-Clark (KMB) and Conagra (CAG) to hold from sell but lowering PTs across many in its coverage universe due to higher discount rates. Club holdings Procter & Gamble (PG) stays a buy and Constellation Brands (STZ) stays a hold.

(See here for a full list of the stocks from Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.)

As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER.  NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.  NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.