Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 04/15/25

Summary

Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer – Episode Summary (April 15, 2025)

Hosted by CNBC’s Jim Cramer, “Mad Money” offers listeners an in-depth look into Wall Street investing, featuring expert opinions, stock recommendations, and market analysis. In the April 15, 2025 episode, Cramer delves into various sectors, regulatory impacts, company performances, and engages with callers during the popular Lightning Round.

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1. Market Overview

Jim Cramer opens the episode by discussing the current state of the stock market, highlighting the mixed performance of major indices and the unexpected resilience fueled by strong earnings from leading banks.

• Cramer: “Dow dip 156 points, SB declined 1.7%, Nasdaq inched up 0.05%. Right now, we have a stock market buoyed by the results of some individual companies.” ([01:00])

He emphasizes that despite a lack of new IPOs and mergers, banks like JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo have reported solid earnings, keeping the market afloat.

2. Banking Sector and Regulatory Challenges

Cramer expresses frustration with the ongoing regulatory oversight of banks, questioning the effectiveness of deregulation efforts promised by the administration.

• Cramer: “It’s incredible that an administration committed to deregulation won't deregulate when a bank has done everything it could to act clean up its act.” ([03:30])

Using Capital One’s attempted acquisition of Discover Financial as an example, he criticizes the Federal Reserve and the Office of Comptrol of Currency for delaying approvals, arguing that such regulatory hurdles stifle growth and competitiveness.

3. Trade Policies and Domestic Manufacturing

The discussion shifts to the challenges of revitalizing domestic manufacturing in the U.S., where Cramer highlights bureaucratic obstacles and community resistance as major barriers.

• Cramer: “Our laws make it easy for all sorts of constituencies to block a new factory in their neighborhood... It’s a heck of a lot easier just to build plants overseas.” ([15:00])

He underscores the complexity of building factories in the U.S. due to stringent zoning laws, environmental regulations, and the lack of a skilled workforce, despite presidential commitments to bring manufacturing back home.

4. Company Spotlights: Nvidia and Boeing

Cramer examines specific companies facing significant challenges:

• Nvidia: He discusses the impact of new export restrictions on Nvidia’s AI chip business, questioning the administration’s arbitrary rulings and their effect on the company’s profitability.

  • Cramer: “It's crazy capricious... we have enough enemies already.” ([06:30])

• Boeing: Cramer assesses Boeing’s outlook, citing cash flow issues and geopolitical tensions with China affecting deliveries.

  • Cramer: “If we don't respond correctly to help Boeing... then Boeing's going to be a tough stock to own.” ([09:34])

5. Legal Battles: Johnson & Johnson

Highlighting Johnson & Johnson’s ongoing legal issues, Cramer criticizes the judicial system for enabling prolonged litigation that hinders corporate accountability.

• Cramer: “Where are the capitalist instincts here?... It wouldn’t cost the government a penny.” ([07:45])

He advocates for regulatory reforms to prevent companies from being held hostage by endless lawsuits, emphasizing the need for balance between victim advocacy and corporate responsibility.

6. Retail Sector: CVS and Dollar General

Cramer lauds CVS and Dollar General as standout performers in their sectors, attributing their success to being the last major players standing amidst industry consolidations.

• CVS:

  • Cramer: “CVS just seems like a big unwieldy operation where all of the parts were underperforming.” ([27:10])
  • He discusses how CVS benefits from Walgreens’ strategic store closures, positioning itself as the dominant player in the drugstore space.

• Dollar General:

  • Cramer: “Dollar General could actually be a relative winner... Most of their goods are food and consumables facing lower tariffs.” ([28:00])
  • He explains Dollar General’s resilience amidst competitors like Family Dollar exiting the market, allowing it to capture increased market share.

7. Technical Analysis with Fidelity’s Jessica

Cramer presents a technical analysis of key market indices, referencing insights from Jessica, Fidelity’s Director of Investor Research.

• Cramer: “The S&P has made a series of lower lows and lower highs, creating a new downtrend line.” ([20:00])

He discusses the significance of moving averages and resistance levels, noting bearish trends but also identifying support levels that could contain further downside.

8. Audience Interaction: Callers’ Questions

During the Lightning Round, Cramer addresses several listener inquiries, providing tailored investment advice based on current market conditions:

• Boeing’s Outlook:

  • Caller: “How do you see or assess Boeing's outlook over the next 12 to 18 months?” ([09:34])
  • Cramer: Advises caution, citing Boeing’s cash flow issues and geopolitical risks.

• Starbucks Performance:

  • Cramer: Shares insights on Starbucks’ recent stock fluctuations and his faith in the company’s leadership and strategy. ([10:09])

• Accenture Investment Potential:

  • Caller: “Is Accenture a good buy for productivity tools?” ([10:45])
  • Cramer: Suggests looking into alternatives like Palantir, emphasizing a capitalist approach.

• Micron Investment Strategy:

  • Caller: “Am I crazy to stay invested in Micron?” ([30:50])
  • Cramer: Recommends a cautious approach, advocating for partial investment and waiting for price drops.

• Salesforce and Stock Decline:

  • Caller: “Is Salesforce’s stock decline due to poor sales team performance?” ([29:37])
  • Cramer: Criticizes Salesforce’s inability to monetize its product effectively, hinting at continued stock struggles.

9. Bonds and Interest Rates Commentary

Cramer critiques the overemphasis on bond market movements, arguing that fluctuations in interest rates should not trigger panic among investors.

• Cramer: “If the sky was really falling when the 10 year was at 4.5%, shouldn't we therefore be thrilled? Now it's back to 4.3%? Did we just dodge a major bullet?” ([45:00])

He emphasizes historical contexts where higher interest rates did not derail bull markets, urging investors to maintain a balanced perspective.

10. Conclusion

Jim Cramer wraps up the episode by reinforcing his mission to educate and empower investors, encouraging a focus on long-term strategies over short-term market noise.

• Cramer: “I never thought I'd say this to a Republican government, but hey, why don't you guys try a little capitalism here? Capitalism works much better than statism.” ([15:30])

He reiterates the importance of understanding market dynamics and staying informed to make sound investment decisions.

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This episode of “Mad Money” provides listeners with comprehensive insights into market trends, sector-specific performances, regulatory impacts, and strategic investment advice. Jim Cramer’s analysis equips investors with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of Wall Street, emphasizing the importance of both fundamental and technical perspectives.

Transcript

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[Jim Cramer]

My mission is simple to make you money. I'm here to level the playing field for all investors. There's always a bull market somewhere and I promise to help you find it. Man, Money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Add Money. Welcome to Cramerica friends. I just want to try to make you some money. My job is not to entertain, but to educate, to teach. Put it in context. Call me 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Cramer. It's very hard to come up with an optimism per share number when we talk about the averages. We don't point out that a rally was fueled by a positive view toward America or positive view toward the world. But optimism does matter. So do a few plastic days to catch your breath. They give people hope they can get through a tough transitional moment like we are having. That's true even on audibly flat day like this one. Dow dip 156 points SB declined.17% Nasdaq inched up 0.05%. Right now, we have a stock market buoyed by the results of some individual companies. JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citi bank of America and Wells Fargo, all six big banks reported excellent numbers. Some better than others, of course now, but these numbers were good, despite a dearth of IPOs or mergers and acquisitions. That's incredible. When President Trump was elected, we figured that the banks would be big winners from deregulation. There would be a new wave of IPOs and new mergers. So far, there's been nothing like that. We have had only a few notable IPOs to speak of, in part because the stock market can't sustain it. There's just too much pessimism. Very hard to take your business public when you don't know what the future will look like. How about mergers? Right now, at this very moment, Capital One is trying to buy Discovered Financial, which could offer the first meaningful competition, a MasterCard, Visa. But the regulators, they just want to this deal, even as justice has said it's fine. State of play. Justice blessed it. But the Federal Reserve and the Office of Comptrol of Currency. Yeah, they got to check off on. Sure. Have yet to sign off. Should all of these agencies have even the right to check off on it? And shouldn't we have a level of transparency? I don't see the difference between this and Biden's outright hostile approach to mergers. It makes no sense to me. How about deregulation? February of 2018, the Fed decided to punish Wells Fargo by putting an extremely punitive asset cap on it that has severely constrained the company's growth. Back then, Wells Fargo was a serial lawbreaker. But since the bank got rid of everybody involved and brought in a new CEO who's cleaned everything up, the result? Nothing. Nothing at all. It's been seven years, for Evan's sake. CEO Charlie Scharf has broomed all the old leadership, but regulators just aren't budgeting. It's incredible that an administration committed to deregulation won't deregulate when a bank has done everything it could to act clean up its act. Where is the business friendly Trump administration that Wall street was so excited about November that people voted for a choice when it came to regulation, not an Echo Habitat. It's terrific. Nvidia is getting some love from the White House for its commitment to build AI supercomputers domestically. Oh, a half a trillion dollars worth. But why not suspend an arbitrary ruling made in the last hour of the Biden administration called the Air Diffusion Rule, which limited the export of AI chips to certain countries. Biden's regulators 18 countries. As friends they can get as many chips as they want. But if you're not on the list, you got much more limited access. Sadly, the list is crazily capricious. It cuts off a huge number of friends for no discernible reason. We we have enough enemies already. Why not ease up the restrictions so we only block our most ardent and vicious of our enemies and don't let them buy Nvidia's best chips. There are so many countries that are our friends, including the very leaning Israel and I. Both of which somehow didn't make it under Biden's list of friendlies. What the heck is that about? Neither did a big chunk of EU countries. This is just needless red tape that's holding our country back as a place that dominates AI around the world. Why is the White House rolled that back. Today we're getting news that the Chinese might be holding deliveries from Boeing. The president today should have said, all right China, you want that? You're out. You can't have our planes. Planes are hard to get by the way. But for every other country on earth, we should be offering them financing to buy those particular planes from Boeing through the US Export Import Bank. Great opportunity to take the initiative in the trade war and teach the Chinese a lesson that they better start learning soon. They are cutting their noses off despite the faces. Johnson Johnson Amazing company reported today trying to resolve a gigantic number of lawsuits involving talc that may have caused cervical cancer. The company had offered more than $8 billion to settle the cases. Some 83% of the plaintiffs accepted the deal. But a small group of plaintiffs convinced the judge to throw out the settlement. Now J and J is going to fight each case individually in the same old system. Jackpot justice. We're so used to very bad for a lot of victims. And JJ is now willing to settle. The administration could easily weigh in and end this plaintiff supremacy. Issue an edict banning jackpot justice. Where are the capitalist instincts here? Where is the recognition that the tort bar has held drug companies hostage for ages along with so many other industries? Isn't that the kind of deregulation that the president was talking about? It wouldn't cost the government a penny. It can't just be about China and business. But I see nothing to the White House that says the corporate defendants can defend themselves fair and square. The administration has ruled the big defendant lawyers. Hey, you know what? Why don't they roll the plaintiff's bar? I'm not a big fan of how they've approached the legal profession, but if they're going to lower the boom of lawyers, they might as well try to accomplish something useful beyond settling scores. Equal opportunity roll. What else does the government have? Nothing else to do except they keep prosecuting Meta for having too much market power. If Meta had so much darn market power, why is TikTok the Chinese Chinese TikTok kicking their butt running rings around them? What's the point of hobbling this one? Social media that can compete with the Chinese? I don't get that. Waste of time. And what's the deal with this national Samsung promotion program? Is Korea more American than us? Oh, I see. It doesn't matter that Apple our best companies being browbeaten behind the scenes for doing too much business in China, they'd be rendered totally uncompetitive against Samsung. If they're forced to move too quickly, we will all be buying Samsung phones are going to be half the price. I get that Apple has played a game that helps China immensely, but it's also committed to spending $500 billion to build things here over the next four years. What did the administration want? Maybe a trillion? Was there some that matter? Is there a schedule that Apple could follow to pull out of China in orderly fashion? Is there anything that China could do to make it so Apple could stay? I don't know. I think the President could extract so much from China if you were just willing to make some kind of a deal like he's famous for. Instead, he settled for tariffs alone. I Look, I got to tell you, I'm going to try a Samsung phone out so I can join the four strapped migration. You want to help the oil industry and build up a shipping business? Get rid of the ridiculous Jones act, the law that makes it so that ships that transfer things between US ports have to be US built, US owned, US Crude. Never mind that we don't have much of a maritime industry anymore. Most kids these days don't even recognize the little hook from the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. So of course the oil companies use foreign crews and foreign flagships to send our oil overseas rather than shipping it from one domestic port to another. If we got rid of the Jones act and start making ships here, that could be a game changer. We did build a ship in 2017 in Philadelphia. Maybe a couple of not much of track record. Bottom line so far this administration is endless. Big stick, small carrot. I like the small carrots in my salad. I don't like them when it comes to business. It has stifled the bulls. Not one of my ideas costs a fortune. As a matter of fact, they're all as free market as it gets. I never thought I'd say this to a Republican government, but hey, why don't you guys try a little capitalism here? Capitalism works much better than statism. You just got to try it. You got to give it a chance. Go to Jacob in Alaska with Jacob.

[Caller]

Oh yeah, Jim listener, proud investment club member.

[Jim Cramer]

Love it. Big meeting tomorrow. Go ahead. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[Caller]

I followed your, I followed your thought on Boeing for a while. But given everything that's unfolded recently, including today's China news, how do you see or assess Boeing's outlook over the next 12 to 18 months?

[Jim Cramer]

Well, I just think that if we don't respond correctly to help Boeing instead of just picking all the time and the old regime did do some things wrong, then Boeing's going to be a tough stock to own. But they do have a lot of cash. They don't have great cash flow. I think it's okay. I'd rather I'm picking other ways to play aerospace now because Boeing seems to just had its snake bit. What can I say? Hey, why don't we go to Brian in Victoria, in Virginia. Brian the goat.

[Caller]

Jim Cramer.

[Jim Cramer]

How's it going? Oh man, it's going well. You Brian? Good, good. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. I was asking about today would be Starbucks.

[Caller]

In the last month and a half.

[Jim Cramer]

It'S been taking a big hit. Yeah, it has. Now we bought some for the Chapel Trust at great price. We let it go up. We sold some. We did not sell enough. Sometimes that happens. People think that the Chinese business is going to be written down badly if they try to sell it. I have so much faith in Brian Nicol. I am a buyer of Starbucks at $83. Tina in Florida. Tina.

[Caller]

Hey Jim, thank you. Thank you so much for being someone who is consistent and trustworth and reliable for all of us.

[Jim Cramer]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Caller]

Crazy. I am crazy Turbulent up and down times. I'm looking at a stock that I think might be tariff proof. I think with companies trying to reduce costs and replace or get in some productivity tools, I'm wondering if Accenture would be a good buy for the.

[Jim Cramer]

You know, Accenture got. Apparently the way that people are looking censure is that Accenture is being hurt by the Doge crowd. And if that's the case, you can't go against Doge. I'll take you with this. Better by Palantir. Also known as Palenter by people who don't know how to pronounce it. Anyway, I just like us to go all in on capitalism. It's just an idea I had. Hey, don't get me wrong. I mean, I know socialism, communism, Marxism, Trotsky, they're okay. I like capitalism. We ought to try it. As Trump pushes to bring business to the States, could process and procedures delay companies from having a firm foundation here? I'm looking at the road ahead. Then, could Trump's first term give us a playbook for the market action ahead? I'm turning the charts to give you my thoughts and technicals. And later, how did CBS and Dollar General jump from slump to stand out? Don't miss my check in on these consumer names after the very strong start to the year. And of course, stay wet. Kramer.

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[Fidelity Representative]

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[Jim Cramer]

If you want to bring back domestic manufacturing like the President's trying to do, you have to grapple with a much more serious problem than unfair competition from our trading partners. You have to recognize it's very hard to build anything big in America. We're a process oriented country and process is a huge pain in the butt. Our laws make it easy for all sorts of constituencies to block a new factory in their neighborhood. That puts an immense burden on the builder. You need architects, environmentalists, lawyers, zoning specialists, and people who know what to do in hearings. Worst of all, you need to grapple with local communities who almost never want a new plant nearby because it wrecks their property values. It's a heck of a lot easier just to build plants overseas, pretty much anywhere but in America or certain parts of Europe. There are a multitude of reasons why we can't get things done fast in this country. We're suspicious of anything that could cause environmental hazards. We have strict zoning laws that often block new construction. We have three layers of government, federal, state, local. That means three sets of hoops to jump through. Most communities simply don't want a factory nearby. And that's why it's never easy to make a commitment to build a factory in this country and expect it will break ground in even a year or two after you find a site for it. There are an immense number of hearings and planning meetings and council meetings and zoning sessions that just get in the way. In fact, in all my years following business, the only company I've seen consistently announce a factory and then get it done on time is Nucor. It's one of the greatest strengths of the steel company. They select towns that truly welcome them. Towns where steel mill provide a bunch of good jobs that raise the standard of living. They understand that a Lot of this comes down to location. The communities are well apprised of the multiplier effect and believe me, the towns they pick need to be multiplied. What we do know well in this country is how to close plants. We know how to tear them down, we know how to build parks, we know to convert rails to trails. We even know how to remedy soil and remediate soil water. Nobody knows more about converting an abandoned factory into a craft beer hole than we do. Which brings me to the fundamental flaw in the plans of so many politicians who want to re industrialize America, including the current administration. They somehow think that they're dealing with a bunch of new course companies that know how to quickly put up new factories. But most companies simply don't know how to do what Nucor does. Now, it's absolutely true that because of globalization, we closed endless numbers of mills and moved them to countries with cheaper labor. We allowed China to set U.S. subsidized merchandise and steamrolled our domestic operators. Both Democrats and Republicans were happy to let it happen because it meant we got tons of cheap stuff. And there's nothing wrong with cheap stuff in the aggregate. They thought both parties thought they were getting a good deal, even if it meant throwing a bunch of industries under the bus. This administration quite admirably wants to bring the factories back home, but there is no home. The workforces are all gone. The constituencies that want the plants are too disparate, the process just too daunting. Listen, we don't run a command economy here. The federal government can't site and build a plant in a year, and the workers who have the expertise to build complex tech factories don't even exist. We don't have enough engineers here because there wasn't much demand for them. Our colleges don't emphasize engineering. We simply aren't set up to do what the Trump administration wants us to do. We need to import callous engineers. And you know how the White House feels about immigration. You can hit our trading partners with all the tariffs you want, but it's not going to bring back the factories because the process makes it borderline impossible to build them. Case in point, the pharmaceutical industry. Right now, the Trump administration is trying to figure out how to tariff drug companies that do their manufacturing overseas in order to make them develop plants here. Again, admirable. In theory, noble. But consider the history here. In 1976, Congress wanted to encourage investment in U.S. territories like Puerto Rico, so they gave companies certain exemptions from federal taxes if they established subsidiaries in those territories. Many drug companies took Advantage of the tax benefit building facilities in Puerto Rico. In 1996, though, Congress phased out those tax incentives. With the benefits gone, the drug companies gradually moved the production overseas, chiefly to Ireland, China and India. They saved a lot of money in the process. Without the pharmaceutical plans, Puerto Rico's manufacturing base was decimated. Good jobs went overseas. So did a lot of the important chemicals. Now we hear that the Trump administration might want to put put big tariffs on the drug companies. Something across the stocks for the big short squeeze pushed everything higher. As has been the case throughout this period. We have so little information that traders just machine gun all the pharma stocks that have factories overseas. Unlike Nucor, which seeks to build plants here and knows how to train workers and safe transportation cost. Remember, these are big steel flanges were sending around. These drug companies have very little idea of how to build plants in America. They know it's just too expensive and very few towns want a pharmaceutical plant nearby. Too many potential environmental hazards. Of course, it can still be done. Eli Lilly put a used plant to handle the production of GOP1 drugs in Concord, North Carolina. A development that went pretty smoothly. Knows what it's doing and does what right contractors. But man the Selecting, siding and building still took two and a half years. But normally you know what it takes in this country. 5. So even when you handle it perfectly, it takes a very long time. The idea that we could all at once bring the pharmaceutical industry back here is downright fanciful. All pharma tariffs would do is punish our companies, punish our consumers who really don't like higher drug prices. Most business people I speak to are aghast at the idea that they're now expected to select site and build plants in this country at any time or any streamlining. Unrealistic. They all know it's just much easier to build overseas for just about anything. And even if they could build the plants here, we don't have enough educated workers in the country who want these kinds of jobs. There are places to build, of course, but not within any worthwhile time frame. The robots need to screw in the parts and close cases. They aren't even ready yet. So what has happened? How about a constructive approach that gives companies time to move here? Perhaps by gradually raising tariffs on each industry that recognizes, with a timeline that recognizes that all the plants are not the same. How about tax regimes like what we created in Puerto Rico in 1976? How about some, maybe some carrots with the stick? How about having a task force that can help streamline and cite in a reasonable time frame. We don't want the companies just to pay the tariff, right? We don't want the people to pay a tariff. We don't want to pay the tariff. No one wants a tariff, but we can't move them here fast enough. There are many reasons why we don't build many factories here anymore. But you know what? It is not just about the money. Bottom line, if you solve the process problem, you can change things. But first you have to recognize that the problem exists. Right now that doesn't seem to be allowed. Unfortunately, you're never going to bring back domestically added factory unless you strong arm state and local governments into making it easier to build factories. End of story. Net money's back here from the break.

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[Jim Cramer]

Over a month ago, before President Trump's trade war really kicked into gear, I wanted to get a sense of what happened to the stock market during his first term trade wars because I thought it could help us figure out the current moment. That's why we went off the charts with Jessica, the first woman on the active trader desk at Fidelity, who's now director of investor [e-mail] as well as co host and founder of her market Make Her Podcast. Her take was once when she looked at the trade war that kicked off with China in January 2018. The market actually got hammered. Over a few months it bottomed and over the next couple of years, well, stock strategy worked its way higher again. Short term though the pain was brutal. And Inscape made some dire projections from where the major averages might be headed. In fact, every key support level she mentioned has now become a new ceiling resistance. Why don't we take a look at it now? Because I got to tell you, I think it's pretty intense. It's the only way I can describe it. Take them one by one, starting with the weekly chart of the S&P 500. Okay, right here, Inscan points out that this is my textbook ugly chart. All right? The S and P has made a series of lower lows and lower highs, creating a new downtrend line. At the same time, she says it's now has a bearish trading cycle. Remember, Inscript likes to watch the 13 week, the 26 week and the 40 week moving averages because 13 weeks equals 1/4 and quarters are the basic unit measure of business right now. All three of these key moving averages are sloping downwards and they're all hundreds of points above where the index is currently trading. Meaning they become ceilings of resistance here. See that big, big gap that makes it much harder for the SB to rally. The first ceiling is the 13 week moving average, right? And that kicks in at 5747. And that's up about 350 points from here. Before that's even in the realm of possibility though, Inscom says the S and P needs to break out above its lower low from the week of March 10, which is 5504. And that might be a toll order too, because estimate's got very little mojo at the moment. You saw that all day today. As this comes season, all major defensive lines have been breached and they've now become barriers in the way of higher prices. In fact, the 13 week moving average is now below the longer term 40 week moving average. That's a very bad sign for chart watchers. It suggests that we're looking at more downward pressure going forward. Now, when we consulted with Inscriptive a month ago, she told us that yes, we might be able to make a reversal once the stocks started getting much closer to the lower Bollinger bands. Bollinger bands reflect the level of volatility. They're the purple lines here. Okay, well, sure enough, when the S and P got below the lower band, it bottom. And Skip doesn't think that's a coincidence. The White House put through the 90 day pause on most tariffs, at least in part because they could see the carnage in the markets and they wanted to stop. Of course, if you want a more holistic view of the stock market. The regular S&P 500 really doesn't tell the full story because it's known as being market capital weighted by market capitalization. It's very dependent on a couple of megacap tech stocks even after they've gone down a lot and they've been awful performers of late. Although they were better nicely the past week. To get a clearer view of the rest of the market, Inscript likes to look at the S and P even equal weight where every stock in the SB is the same exact impact on the index. Check out the weekly chart. Obviously the SB equal weight hasn't do that great either but Inscript notes that it found a nice poor of support at the two at the 200 week moving average. That's another one two in a week. That's a long time. This is a level where the S P equal weight has bottomed many times in the past. It happened in October of 2023. You can see we have these longer term time frames in October 2022, both of which were major turning points in the market. So it happened again last week. I like that. However, the S and P equal weight also closed below 6691 on Friday, which is where the index peaked In January of 2022, right before the Fed started raising rates. Oh man. After this week's rebound it's still a bit below that level, basically wiping out three years of gain and says that the equal weight SB equate needs to get back above that level as soon as possible because as long as it lingers down here it's going to paint an ugly picture that I thought was new for me that it mattered how much time it spent. Because I say that because today the market did absolutely nothing and that is part and parcel with unfortunately the bad sign that she's giving us. Finally, how about tech which led us higher for so long then let us much lower starting in February and getting much worse after the trade war kicked in. Skip place Watch the technology Select Spider Fun and that's known as the X L K. Everyone calls it that and it's. It's talked about a lot in the business. Even though it's been bouncing over the past week, it ain't pretty. See the pattern here. Like the others, the has fallen below its 13 week, 26 week and 40 week moving average, all of which are are tilting lower for her. That means we have a bearish trading cycle on our hands for INSCIP. The key here is that the Tech ETF has found its floor of support at its 200 week moving average, just like the last one. Okay. That's currently around 172, down roughly 30 points from where the XLK is now trading. Pretty much exactly where it bottom intraday last week. When we talked to Inscrib a month ago, she said that that's where she'd be willing to start buying on weakness. That was a good call. For now, the XLK stands at about 201 and INSE points out that it's facing a ceiling resistance at 205, which represents the trend high from March of last year, the higher low last May and the gap up last August. This is another tested and tried level. A month ago inscript said it would be a nightmare if the XLK broke down below 205. Well, she was very, very right. Here's the bottom line. A little over a month ago we checked in with Jess Skinsk who warned us that the major averages could go much lower if they breach key support levels. While we didn't have much detail on President Trump's tariff plans, you don't need that kind of detail to read a chart. And that's the great thing actually about technical analysis. Now the charts interpreted by Inscribe show that the S&P 500, the S& P equal weight and the XLK Tech fund are all being propped up by the 200 week moving average. None of these is pretty, but for the moment the downside looks contained. Let's go to Merrill in Washington DC. Merrill.

[Caller]

Good evening Jim. And thanks for taking my call. Of course you believe that one should do their homework before buying a stock. And in that vein, I'm very happy that you do a lot of homework for me.

[Jim Cramer]

Well, thank you. Thank you very much. I sure try. I like homework.

[Caller]

You do a great job. You really do.

[Jim Cramer]

Thank you.

[Caller]

Now that said, I think I know quite a bit about machine learning. But my question is I believe in Salesforce is a great company and that their sales team should be able to sell sales agent. But apparently they've not been able to do that in a meaningful way. Is that the reason their stock has materially gone down in the last six months 100%.

[Jim Cramer]

Right. They've got the best product of which there is no doubt had they been able to monetize the best product not to date. Is the stock indicating that they won't do it this quarter either? Yes, but the good news is we have until the end of May. Maybe think it can turn things around. But this stock, as I said to to Jeff Marks today, my partner for the Job trust. This stock just acts so badly. And the enterprise software companies were beginning to act better. And this one's not one of them. Only up 38 cents today. Got to stay very close to this. Let's go to Mike in Louisiana. Mike. Hey, Jim. Hey, Mike. How you doing?

[Caller]

Oh, I'm doing pretty good.

[Jim Cramer]

We got a beautiful day down here in Louisiana. Good for you. I love that. I love Louisiana. My daughter went to school too late. Love it down there. Oh, good deal.

[Caller]

What you think about Micron right now?

[Jim Cramer]

You know, micron is 10 times earnings. I really wanted it 6, 7 times earnings. That said, Micron is a one way stock. It has a great year and then a bad year. The stock has been more than cut in half. I'm willing to venture that. More than cut in half. You put a quarter position on no more than that and then wait for it to drop back down. It's at 71. It traded 61. I would buy another quarter if it traded 61 and then wait and see. But it is not an up stock as much as I like it. All right, the charts is interpreted by Inscip so that the SB500, the SB equal weight and the XLK Tech Fund all being propped up by their 200 week moving averages. The downside here looks contained, at least for now. Much more map on the headquarters, including my deep dive on two consumer names that I think have a path for growth and even market share. Then as interest rates fell. Today, I'm giving you my take on the tape's reaction. And of course, all your calls. Rapid Fire, tonight's edition of the Lightning Round. So stay with Kramer. It's hard to find reliable winter stories these days. Looking at what's working. You know what? There's some really surprising names here. Do the best performing stock in the SB 500 this year is CBS, up more than 53%. Meanwhile, Dollar Generals in the top 25, up more than 17% for the year. So what does CBS Dollar General have in common? They were among the worst performers in the SB last year, down 43% and 44% respectively. Even coming into 2025, both companies were supposed to be in such terrible shape that no one wanted them. Things got so bad at CBS this year that the company ousted its CEO Karen lynch in October. The front of the store part of their business was sluggish. The pandemic era boom had long faded away. As the COVID vaccine business dwindled, traffic slowed. At the same time, everything's locked up in the drugstores. An associate has to be found to open them. So the ultra convenient Amazon has been eating their lunch. But the biggest challenge for CVS was their Aetna health insurance business. Like a few others in the industry, Aetna mispriced its Medicare Advantage plans and ended up with much higher than expected medical costs. Last August, the old CEO fired the head of Aetna and vowed to personally oversee the unit going forward. But she never got the chance because she was pushed out a couple of months later, replaced by a fellow by the name of David Joyner who previously ran CVS pharmacy benefit management subsidiary Caremark. So put it all together and it seemed like all of the company's plans since the acquisition 2018 hadn't really paid off. CVS just seemed like a big unwieldy operation where all of the parts were underperforming. As for Dollar General, the case against this one's more straightforward. If the company is already doing so poorly last year, what that was going to do with all these, especially these tariffs. Especially in China. I mean the $2 store, here we come. So how on earth have these two losers become some of the hottest stocks in the entire market? There's a lot that goes into this, but at the end of the day I think CBS and Dollar General both benefit from their newfound sole survivor status. Investors are probably into these two because their top competitors are falling up part, leaving CBS and Dollar General as the last men standing in their respective industries. Let's start with cbs. On the fundamental front, it doesn't hurt. The CBS textbook recession proof stock, right? Plus back in February the company managed to report better than expected numbers with a very nice revenue beat, stronger than expected retail, same store sales, a booming pharmacy business and a sizable earnings beat. Wow. Better yet, CBS issued solid earnings guidance for the full year. Importantly, they sounded confident they've got net back on track saying specifically at the medical advantage business. That's what really sunk them was much better position this year. Management even started to say positive things about some of the recent medical care acquisitions, noting accelerating patient growth for their Oak street business. It almost given up on that darn thing. Hey, by the way, after the company disappointed investors by cutting its earnings outlook multiple times last year. I mean like time after time. It's worth noting CBS just reiterated its full year forecast last week alongside some leadership changes. Oh, and it doesn't hurt by the way. Got a 3.9% yield even after its phenomenal run. I see why people keep coming back to the stock. However, the most important thing here is that CBS is Indeed, the last man standing in the drugstore space. Their chief rival, Walgreens Boots alliance, has agreed to a deal to be taken private by a private equity firm called Sycamore Partners. And when a company like Walgreens gets taken private, they typically close a lot of their underperforming stores, gifting market share to cvs. In fact, back in October, Walgreens announced plans to close 1200 of its then 8000 locations over a three year period, with 500 of those closures coming before August. At the same time, they said only about 6,000 stores were profitable. Now Sycamore is going to be running this show and I think, by the way, they're very good. And I think they're going to be even more aggressive at cost cutting, including many more store closures. If it's really true that only three quarters of the stores are profitable, then I wouldn't be surprised to see sycamore close all 2000 of the money loser locations. I think that's a huge reason why CBS has caught fire here. Rite, a bankrupt Walgreens is likely to close thousands of stores. They're the last man standing, right? It's good to be the last man standing. By the way, just watch that Bruce Willis movie of the same name. Excellent Fistful of Dollars remake set during Prohibition. Speaking of last minute standing, Dollar General's got the same sole survivor status going, even though the company reported mixed numbers with underwhelming guidance a little over a month ago. These guys are turning themselves around. They say they're on track to deliver double digit earnings growth starting next year. And that was enough to get the stock running ever since. You might think the dollar stores would be major victims of the tariffs. But last week Citi published a piece arguing the Dollar General could actually be a relative winner. Why? Most of the peers were facing tariffs of 50 to 100% on the merchandise. But for Dollar General is really more like 10% because most of their goods are food and consumables. But honestly, the real story is that in late March, Dollar General's chief competitor, Dollar Tree finally threw in the towel on its failed acquisition, Family Dollar. Oh God, we broke that story years ago. They're selling the business for just over $1 billion. After buying for about 9 billion a decade ago. The buyers of Family Dollar, Brigade Capital Management and macellum, two sharp investment firms, well, versus struggling retailers. Brigade teamed up with a real estate focused investor at Arkhouse Management. We see them attempt to take over Macy's last year. Ultimately proved unsuccessful. But they wanted Macy's because they loved the value of its real estate. That should give you an idea about how Brigade operates. They're looking to extract value by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Masala's made a number of runs at struggling retailers over the years. We've introduced them to you at Kohl's, Big Lots, Bed Bath and Beyond and the Children's Place. So the assumption here is that these new bottom line focused owners of Family Dollar will be aggressive with store closings after they take control of their business, like within the next 90 days. Given the Family Dollar is more than 7,000, 7,600 locations, we can expect many of these to vanish. And that is just terrific for Dollar General because of the proximity they have to so many of those Family Dollar stores. Here's the bottom line. CBS and Dollar General have caught fire this year because there's recession proof businesses that are moving in the right direction. And they've both got key competitors that are likely to close many stores after being taken private. Any time one of your top rivals goes into retrenchment mode, that's a win. CVS is the last man standing in the drugstore space. And Dollar General only has one real competitor left. They both have tremendous opportunities to take market share and you know what, maybe even raise prices. No wonder their stocks are roaring. Their money's back. After the break, it is time to stop the white round country. Well myself just put my step and then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Ski deck time. Light round craners everybody. Let's start with Todd in California. Todd, hello gentlemen, this is Todd. Todd, what's up? Always your time. I, I love your show. I want to know what's up with Nvidia. I have a good fight of core weave and Nvidia and I just want to get your thoughts on that. Sure. I mean I put out a piece yesterday that was quite painful for me to write to the club members and it was, I do a big Sunday think piece and it was about how you could no longer trust the government in Nvidia. You could just no longer do it. So therefore you can't own it like you used to. Meaning you have to trim. And I said I'm going to have to sell some. And one of the reasons I did it, well it turns out just this very evening without any notice different from even when I talked about at the top of the show, the government decided, you know what, we're going to put new restrictions on the H20 which is the dumbed down version of the latest and greatest Nvidia Trip. Trip. And it's really kind of shocking, but is it really? I wrote that piece because I expect stuff like this to happen and it is going to have a big charge. It's a different world. Nvidia gives a huge amount of money, decides to build as much here like Apple. It buys them nothing. It is a. All that I know is that if you do a lot of business in China and if you're a club member, you know this, then your stock's going to suffer. And that includes now Nvidia too. Why it's so different now? Joseph in Washington. Joseph. Hey, Jim.

[Caller]

Love the show. I'm a math major in college and last August I put 700,000 of my inheritance into a stock planning to hold for a decade after I used Beyond SDX to verify qualitative Strengths. After its Q2 earnings stopped, I took a 250,000 loan to buy more on average down. I still see potential in its domestic manufacturing and AI Push. Am I crazy to stay in on Intel?

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, you took a loan to buy stock? No, we don't allow that on our show. These are not homes. We can't live in stocks. We do not borrow money. I don't care how great the stock is. Do not borrow money to buy a stock. That's wrong. Let's go to Beth in Pennsylvania.

[Caller]

Beth, hey, Bim. From one eagle sand to another. Thank you for taking my call.

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, thank you for calling.

[Caller]

Hey, here's my situation. I am heavy in Deluxe stock and Deluxe has been talking about diversification for some time now. But I am in the house of pain. I'm in the house of pain to stock.

[Jim Cramer]

You know, Beth, you said it right. They have been talking diversification for as long as I can remember. They came on the show once. They have an 8% yield. That means that something's very wrong when you get a deal that's well above all the others. It's not good. I'm going to have to say Ex Nail Deluxe. I wish they had been able to one of the great growth stocks of the 80s. I don't usually. I use Zell. Oh, whoever she is, she works. Let's go to Bill, New Jersey Bill, Jim Cramer.

[G]

This is Bill Daniels. I was interested in the lightning round, but this is her perfectly. I was. I was. I've been watching your show since 2014 a lot of times with my dad, whom I was caring for medically. And for about three years he used to watch and ask you what your show was about. I said, well, he's not like the Other news commentators. He tries to teach you about buying stock.

[Jim Cramer]

Thank you. That's my cold man. I'm just trying to teach.

[G]

I just want to let you know that it's been a joy to watch you and one time you did it on the stock. I'm asking about today. I wanted it on the lighting ramp, but it doesn't matter. I. I was. I'm asking about the stock Run Solar. It used to be Vivint Solar. I bought the stock as Vivint.

[Jim Cramer]

This president. This president is not. I'm not saying he's not a fan of solar. I mean, he doesn't like the way windmills. Look, I don't know how he is like on hydro, maybe how he is on like sticks rubbing against each other in flint. But I will tell you that Sun Run is not in that purview. It's not in that area that is. That's a sweet spot. How about that? It's not a sweet spot. I like that. It's very. It's very congenial, you know? Very congenial. Let's go to Matt in Washington. Matt.

[G]

Hey, Jim.

[Caller]

Boo Boo Yah.

[Jim Cramer]

Excellent. How can I help? Hey, longtime fan of the show and your books.

[G]

We should write some more books.

[Jim Cramer]

Oh, thank you. I'm working on. I'm getting on it. Go ahead, Go ahead. Cool, cool.

[Caller]

Hey, got a question on a company I'd been in for about two years.

[Jim Cramer]

Trying to decide should I say or go Planet Lab. Okay. We're not. Ever since President Trump came in, we're not recommending any stocks that are losing money. It's just life's too short. That's a whole new category. Long short. Life's too short. Planet Labs is in that third category. Let's go to Jake in. In New York. Jake. Hi, James. How are you? Couldn't be better. Other than Nvidia. Thank you. What's up?

[Caller]

You said it's a little second derivative.

[Jim Cramer]

But I'm not too sure, so I wanted to double check. Sure thoughts on nrg? Very good Utility. What can I say? I like it. I mean, it's nice and boring. Boring is very good. Exciting. Not so hot. This market's like Pharaoh's Fury, which I once threw up on my daughter. That's a bad thing. Let's. She was sitting next to me. Is her fault. Let's go to Mark in Texas. Mark. Mark, that's Ferris Fury. Mark, you there? You know what? I think we should. Mark Haven. Hey, how you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you.

[Caller]

Thank you for everything. You do? Long time listener and been following you for years.

[Jim Cramer]

I got a question for you. Sure.

[Caller]

What? What do you know about Telefonica?

[Jim Cramer]

SA Good company. Good company. Used to be bad. But I'm big. I'm gonna give you two for. I like that one. And I. And back of Santander. By the way, Anna Boutine turned out to be the best bank in the world. Well, she still is. And it's a great start. And that, ladies and gentlemen, conclusion of the Lightning Round.

[Empower Representative]

The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab.

[Jim Cramer]

Long term interest rates plunged today. But did you hear word about it? Nobody paid any attention to the interest rate decline. I never heard anyone talk about. Especially the very people who kept warning that ever higher rates were signaling that our financial system was in real trouble. Get rates up. It's a crisis of faith. A generational moment. You're going to see the global reserve status of the dollar going away. Hyperinflation, stagflation are on our shores. We're finished as a first world nation. Let's get some ex Federal Reserve people or even some live ones to tell us that the party's over. It's time to call day. They love spreading gloom. Have at it. The rates go down, who knows, who cares? Big deal means nothing. That's how this issue has been covered for ages. But it's only gotten worse since Trump was sworn in. Look, I'm well aware of our $36 trillion national debt. I don't blame anyone for worrying about treasury yields. But if you're going to worry then that they go up, you should feel relief when they go down. At least talk about it. I bring this up because we dwell on bonds endlessly around here these days. Like you and I trade them, but we don't. When they go down in price and up in yield, it's a national emergency that makes people tremble and drives them from all instruments except short term treasuries. There's always fear now because this administration is so unpredictable. But when rates go down. Well, you, Honor, I will never denigrate the imports of the bond market. When it comes to the stock market, it's bigger. It can be a potent enemy. It can demonstrate a crisis with a flight to quality. It can flag inflation. It can flash red ahead of recession. And at times the bond market can bore you to tears unless you try to overdramatize it. Every little move by blowing them out of proportion survives. It's time for a very short history lesson. With the 10 year Treasury 4.34 rates are pretty low by historical standards. There have been many times when rates were much higher here, much higher than since I started investing professionally in 1982. We had hideously higher rates when the big bull market began in the early 80s. Rates were very high in the great 90s bull market hideously high. We had a whole bear market region when our bonds were downgraded back in 2011 and then we took off. Yet not once did I detect the bond hysteria I've seen ever since the 10 year went from 4% to 4.5%. Last week it was now back to 4.34%. Oh, and during this entire bond journey, the Dow what it do went from 1,000 to 40,000. I'm getting a little steamed about this bond obsession as it's the kind of abstraction makes people want to sell stocks because they've been frightened out of the wits by people who are screaming about bonds. What's the point of yelling fire in a crowded theater stock owners when there is no fire? Look, I'm not telling people to scale back on stocks if I feel they're going too far too fast. I do that. I don't mind saying that things can be a little confusing in Washington. That situation is definitely worrisome for the stock market. But like yesterday when I opined about Chicken Littles who tell us that a weak dollar means a weak country and a terrible stock market, I'm going to demand that people stop making treasury mountains out of treasury molehills. If the sky was really falling when the 10 year was a 4.5%, shouldn't we therefore be thrilled? Now it's back to 4.3%? Did we just dodge a major bullet? Or maybe, just maybe, it's no big deal that the 10 years back down to 4.3% because it was no big deal when it went to 4.5% in the first place, Alex said, as always, bull market summer at problems I found just for you right here made money. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow.

[Fidelity Representative]

All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Kramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal, or their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by Kramer on television, radio, Internet, or another medium. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Jim Cramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Kramer's opinions are based upon information he considers reliable, but neither CNBC nor its affiliates and or subsidiaries warrant its completeness or accuracy and it should not be relied upon as such. To view the full Mad Money disclaimer, please visit cnbc.com madmoneydisclaimer trading@schwab is now.

[Empower Representative]

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