Jim Cramer takes Costco's big dividend increase as a sign the stock could go higher

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here's a recap of Thursday's key moments. U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday as Wall Street digested another batch of fresh inflation data. The producer price index for March came in below estimates, but it wasn't enough to recover from Wednesday's big market selloff on a hotter consumer price report. The 10-year Treasury yield initially ticked down after the PPI but then crept higher again. Jim Cramer said the “market's got its mind made up,” and investors are too short-sighted on the Federal Reserve's next interest rate move. Instead, he told Club members to watch quarterly earnings, which are a better gauge of a company's health and long-term growth prospects. Club holding Costco posted strong sales across the board for March – figures that Jim described as “extraordinary.” There was also a big quarterly dividend increase, up nearly 14% to $1.16 per share. This is a bullish sign for the stock, Jim argued, because it shows management's conviction in Costco's business. Plus, there's typically a correlation between dividend increases and the future share price performance, he said on Thursday. Costco announced a special cash dividend last year, but we're still waiting for the retailer to hike membership fees, which is historically overdue. Amazon rose on Thursday after CEO Andy Jassy published his annual letter to shareholders . The tech giant is not done lowering cost to serve, Jassy said. This comes after the company reduced the figure last year for the first time since 2018. The CEO also touted generative artificial intelligence as perhaps “the largest technology transformation since the cloud.” Jim described Jassy's remarks as “very, very positive,” citing the firm's commitment to cost-cutting and AI integration. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AMZN, COST. See here for a full list of the stocks.) 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.