Investors all face the same four hurdles right now, Jim Cramer says

There are four main hurdles all investors have to navigate right now, but anyone who does so effectively will see a payoff, Jim Cramer said on Tuesday. 

“If it were just one hurdle, we’d be fine,” Cramer explained. “But with four of them, everybody suddenly wants to sell in May and go away.” 

For starters, there’s Wednesday’s Fed meeting, which will likely lead to a quarter-point rate hike — but it’s unclear if the Fed will slow down on its aggressive tightening after that, he said. 

There are also upcoming employment numbers from the Labor Department, which need to stay steady or come down for the Fed to stop tightening for good, Cramer says. While that might happen eventually, he doesn’t see it happening on Friday. 

Then, there’s the debt ceiling crisis: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress on Monday that the U.S. could default on its debt by early June. Cramer expects the crisis to be resolved in due time, but there could be a hangover for the market over the next few weeks. 

Finally, there’s Apple, which reports earnings on Thursday. Apple’s stock has moved dramatically, and the quarter will likely need to be stellar for it to keep moving the same way, Cramer added. 

“Now, all of these issues would be much easier to put to bed if stocks were lower, and that’s what’s happening,” Cramer said. “It’s not a bear market, just an interlude, and you have to recognize these four hurdles are a gauntlet, a real gauntlet, that must be traversed.”