Transcript
Empower Representative (0:00)
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Bank of America Representative (0:33)
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Jim Cramer (1:04)
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. Mad Money starts now. Hey, I'm Kramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Cramerica. Other people want to make friends. I'm just trying to save you a little money. My job is not just to educate, but explain how days like today can happen. So call me at 1-800-7-RADO CNBC or tweet me Jim Cramer. Look, these are hideous, depressing days for the bulls. I know that, you know that it can really get you down. I'm not used to seeing a White House that doesn't seem to care that it's causing the decline. It's dazzlingly counterintuitive to see a Republican in particular be so callous toward the shareholder class. After all, historically the that constituency has been very pro Republican. It's a total blast zone out there. And ground zero is tech. The staggering losses among these once loved stocks have turned off the oxygen for shareholders. Turn off the oxygen, that's toto. They're devastating. Led by Tesla of all ironies, but also Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, they're all. They've been terrible. The former Magnificent Seven have been down for five straight days, contributing mightily the brutal decline in the average. Entire dow tumbling down 72 points today. S&P plummeting 2.36%. The NASDAQ nosediving 2.5. 5%. Five straight down days. Gobs and gobs of points and no end in sight unless you got some hope from a late day rally from even further depths. Now look, it's not just the magic. There are plenty of other losers all over the place. But the most visible stocks have also experienced the most visible losses. And those losses have been nothing short of relentless. This morning my colleague David Faber asked me as how I felt about two stocks in particular that I've long championed Apple and Nvidia. He heard that I violated my own long standing discipline to own them, don't trade them. Something I have said repeatedly to members of the CBC Investing Club and that I told people to do some selling. I told him that indeed at the beginning of last week I did advise people to sell some Nvidia and Apple every Sunday. See, I do this think piece for investing club members. The Sunday before last I did this gut wrenching piece. I said that I could no longer stand by and have these two fantastic stocks be eviscerated. So people had to sell some. In retrospect, it was a great time to sell. I mean hindsight, I know, but these stocks have been crushed in the interim. Then last Wednesday, in a heartfelt emotional talk with investing club members, I reiterated that Apple Nvidia had to be parted with because I couldn't see a path to avoid big declines portion. If you listen to me, you just avoided the latest declines. Unfortunately, there's been some serious damage to these stocks. I mean Apple stocks now down 22% percent for the year. Nvidia stocks down 28%. Now I have to ask what did I miss here? Did I foolishly fall in love with these two stocks? Look, over the years, people don't extremely well owning Apple and video. With me, whenever I travel, I'm always looted for both, especially Nvidia. There are so many people who told me, for example, when I signed my wife's phosphoro mescal bottles that they're in video millionaires that I feel terrific. I love hearing that. But after still one more miserable day, let me expand on what I told David Favor this morning. First, the President is hectoring Fed chief Jay Powell in a very derisive way. We're in some unfathomable territory here. We could be in for a constitutional crisis. President Trump tries to fire Jay Powell and you may need some cash. If that happens, Chairman Powell could conceivably say this isn't worth it. But that doesn't seem to be him. Nor should it be because he made a principle. And to me, I always was under the impression that the President can't fire a Fed chair. Others shared that impression. It's a shame that there's not a fraternity of economist types that could be candidates that simply say, listen, we couldn't consider being Fed cheap because we already have one. Plus, it's not like the President's calling for pals firing that it can help the market. It's real bad for stocks. We know that along with the tariffs, this talk has done immense damage, crushing certain stocks beyond recognition. I know it might not be that important to the President right now, but these losses could easily accelerate from here if he keeps trashing Powell without a good tariff deal. Somewhere in particular, I explained that I fear the government is incredibly biased against both Apple and Nvidia. Nvidia is simple. I think the White House believes that Nvidia doesn't do enough to stop the Chinese from getting its latest and greatest chips. I fear that Trump will endorse the Biden rules that allow only 18 friendly countries to get unlimited access and amounts of Nvidia's best merchandise. It's a pretty arbitrary thing. Many countries that are friends are not on the friendly list. I had hoped that the administration would realize Nvidia is not just a good actor, but it's a great actor, a national champion that's done everything it can to live by the letter and spirit of our rules. I can no longer justify that level of hope. I think the White House cares more about cutting off China than it does about advancing our own interests. And that's made in video. Very hard stock to own, but not as hard as Apple. You know me, I love Apple's products. They make the greatest consumer products on earth. Are they late on AI? Oh, do I really care? I mean, they're going to get it right in the end. That's what they always do. That's what they've always done. Unfortunately, Apple does a ton of manufacturing in China. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the government of the People's Republic of China. That should be obvious to anyone who watches the show. However, I always felt that as long as there was commerce between our two countries, there was hope that the people, not the government, but the people, would make it untenable for the Chinese government to be as anti American as they might otherwise be. Until Trump became president, our policy was peaceful coexistence and commerce with China, even if they didn't play by the rules on trade. I didn't like that. I wanted to play by the rules. But now our policy is nothing but scorched earth without military confrontation. And Apple's caught in the crosshairs. As I see it, this administration believes that Apple selfish that Apple wants to have its cake and eat it. To the White House app to the White House. Apple should either make its products here or not at all. Now, here's what's really important. It seems like there's no one in the administration who says, look, Apple's one of the best companies in the world and we don't want to hobble it. We want to promote it. We want the government of China to know that we make the best phones, not the Chinese. And the Chinese people want ours, not theirs. But that's so off message for Trump's trade team that I sound like a rube for even floating the idea. I am not a rube. I just don't think there's anything particularly selfish about Apple's approach to China. In fact, it's kind of brilliant for everyone in this country, from the White House to Cupertino. In the end, Nvidia and Apple are emblematic of what's happening right now. There are stocks, and stocks are going to go down if the White House triggers a constitutional crisis by trying to fire Fed Chairman Jay Powell. Can you imagine a day when, say, Kevin Marsh, someone rumored to be a potential Fed chief, is named chief with Powell still as chief and he shows up at the Fed. I mean, they get a wrestling match with Powell. I mean, that's where we're headed. WWE at the FT. In that world, it's hard to imagine the SB staying above 4805-the- intraday low we hit two weeks ago. In the interim, I can get behind some companies with weaker earnings. But you don't want to bet on companies where the government's mandating weaker numbers. And that's what it's doing to Nvidia and Apple. If you're a member of the investing club, you would have known that we only trimmed these stocks. We did not jettison them out. We didn't blow them out. Why? Because I believe there will be a moment where the pain gets so great that the White House walks back the most puter parts of its of its financial agenda. There has to be some sanity here. If not, I'll be wrong. And the stocks. But the bottom line, nothing's etched in stone with this president. It's possible to realize that a strong Apple with business in China is very much in our nation's interest. That a rule bound Nvidia is Worth supporting. It doesn't have to be this way. Then again, maybe he never comes around and the stocks keep getting pummeled. It could go either way, but only one way makes sense long term to back great American businesses that want to dominate and can do so unless our government won't let them. Jerry in Missouri. Jerry.