Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer 04/15/25
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The U.S. and China are competing for global leadership. The country who wins will define the world we live in. U.S. international assistance is vital to our national security. It helps prevent terrorism and avoid costly wars. It fights diseases and saves lives. It helps keep America as the number one economy in the world. U.S. international assistance protects our interests at home and abroad. If America doesn't lead, China will.

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 Kramerica. Other than winning a friend's, I just want to try to make you some money. My job is not just to entertain, but to educate, to teach, put in context. Call me, 1-800-743-CBC. Tweet me at Jim Kramer.

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 placid days to catch your breath. They give people hope that they can get through a tough transitional moment like we are having. That's true even on an audibly flat day like this one. Dow dipped 156 points. S&P declined 0.17%. NASDAQ inched up 0.05%.

Right now, we have a stock market buoyed by the results of some individual companies, J.P. 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's trying to buy Discover Financial, which could offer the first meaningful competition in MasterCard and Visa. But the regulators, they just want to okay this deal. Even as Justice has said it's fine. State of play. Justice has blessed it. But the Federal Reserve and the Office of Comptroller of Currency, yeah, they got a check off on insurer, 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? In 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 boomed all the old leadership, but regulators just aren't budging. It's incredible that an administration committed to deregulation won't deregulate when a bank has done everything it could to clean up its act. Where is the business-friendly Trump administration that Wall Street was so excited about in November? The people voted for a choice when it came to regulation, not an echo. How about that?

It's terrific that 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 AI diffusion rule, which limited the export of AI chips to certain countries? Biden's regulators are known in 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 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 AI-leaning Israel and Iceland, both of which somehow didn't make it onto 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 doesn't the White House roll 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 U.S. 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, an 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&J is going to fight each case individually in the same old system of jackpot justice. We're so used to very bad for a lot of victims. And J&J is now willing to settle. The administration could easily weigh in and end this plan of supremacy, issue an edict banning jackpot justice. Where are the capitalist instincts here? Where is the recognition that the tort bars 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 in the White House that says the corporate defendants can defend themselves fair and square. The administration has rolled 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 on lawyers, they might as well try to accomplish something useful beyond settling scores. Equal opportunity role.

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 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 the U.S.? Oh, I see it doesn't matter that Apple, our best company, is 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 that 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 a sum that mattered? Is there a schedule that Apple could follow to pull out of China in an 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 he were just willing to make some kind of a deal like he's famous for. Instead, he settled for tariffs alone.

Look, I got to tell you, I'm going to try a Samsung phone out so I can join the forced draft migration. You want to help the oil industry and build up a shipping business? Get rid of the ridiculous Jones Act, a law that makes it so that ships that transfer things between U.S. ports have to be U.S. built, U.S. owned, U.S. crewed. 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. All right. Maybe a couple of them. Not much of a 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 free markets 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. Let's go to Jacob in Alaska with Jacob.

Booyah, Jim. Booyah. Proud Investment Club member. Love it. Big meeting tomorrow. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 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?

I just think that if we don't respond correctly to help Boeing instead of just picking on 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 OK. I'd rather I'm picking other ways to play aerospace now because Boeing seems to just hit its snake bit. What can I say? Hey, why don't we go to Brian in Virginia? Brian, the goat, Jim Cramer, how's it going? Oh, man, it's going well. But you, Brian.

You're good. Thanks for taking my call. Sure. The stock I was asking about today would be Starbucks. In the last month and a half, it's been taking a big hit. Yeah, it has. Now, we bought some for the Chapel Trust at a 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. Hey, Jim.

Thank you. Thank you so much for being someone who is consistent and trustworthy and reliable. Thank you. Thank you. Crazy, 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 interest,

productivity tools. I'm wondering if Accenture would be a good buy for the AI tools. You know, Accenture got apparently the way that people are looking at Accenture is that Accenture is being hurt by the Doge crowd. And if that's the case, you can't go against Doge. I'll tell you what is better to buy Palantir, also known as Palantir by people who don't know how to pronounce it.

Anyway, I just like us to go in on capitalism. It's just an idea I had. Hey, don't get me wrong. I mean, I know socialism, communism, Marxism, Trotskyism. They're okay. I like capitalism.

We ought to try it. I mean, by the time 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 and give you my thoughts on the tech tools. And later, how did CBS and Dollar General jump from slump to standout? Don't miss my check in on these consumer names after the very strong start to the year. And of course, stay wet, Kramer.

Don't miss a second of Mad Money. Follow at Jim Kramer on X. Have a question? Tweet Kramer. Hashtag Mad Mentions. Send Jim an email to madmoneyatcnbc.com or give us a call at 1-800-743-CNBC. Miss something? Head to madmoney.cnbc.com.

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The U.S. and China are competing for global leadership. The country who wins will define the world we live in. U.S. international assistance is vital to our national security. It helps prevent terrorism and avoid costly wars. It fights diseases and saves lives. It helps keep America as the number one economy in the world. U.S. international assistance protects our interests at home and abroad. If America doesn't lead, China will.

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 nearly 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 will 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 how to convert rails to trails. We even know how to remedy soil and remediate soil and 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 reindustrialize America, including the current administration. They somehow think that they're dealing with a bunch of new cores, companies that know how to quickly put up new factories. But most companies simply don't know how to do what new core 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 allow China to send us subsidized merchandise and steamroll 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 countless 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, absolutely.

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 to production overseas, chiefly to Ireland, China, and India. They saved a lot of money in the process. Without the pharmaceutical plants, 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 big tariffs on the drug companies, something that crushed the stocks before 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 save transportation costs. Remember, these are big steel flanges we're 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 built a huge plant to handle the production of GLP-1 drugs in Concord, North Carolina, a development that went pretty smoothly. Lilly knows what it's doing. I'm not sure if it's what right contractors, but man, the selecting, siting, and building still took two and a half years. But normally, you know what it takes in this country? Five.

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, cite, 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 to happen? 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 site 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 the 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 domestic manufacturing unless you strong arm state and local governments to make it easier to build factories. End of story. We have money back after the break.

The U.S. and China are competing for global leadership. The country who wins will define the world we live in. U.S. international assistance is vital to our national security. It helps prevent terrorism and avoid costly wars. It fights diseases and saves lives. It helps keep America as the number one economy in the world.

U.S. international assistance protects our interests at home and abroad. If America doesn't lead, China will.

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A little 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 Inska, the first woman on the active trader desk at Fidelity, who's now director of investor research at Stockbrokers.com, as well as co-host and founder of her Market Make Her podcast. Her take was nuanced when she looked

that the trade war that kicked off with China in January 2018, the market initially got hammered. But within 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 InSkip 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 of resistance.

Why don't we take a look at it now? Because I've 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. OK, right here. Inske points out that this is my textbook ugly chart. All right. The S&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, Inske likes to watch the 13 week.

the 26-week and the 40-week moving averages, because 13 weeks equals one quarter, and quarters are the basic unit measure of business. Right now, all three of these key moving averages are sloping downward, and they're all hundreds of points above where the index is currently trading, meaning they become ceilings of resistance here. See, look at that big, big gap. That makes it much harder for the S&P 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, InSkip says the S&P needs to break out above its lower low from the week of March 10th, which is 5504.

And that might be a toll order, too, because SMEs 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 InScape a month ago, she told us that the S&P might be able to make a reversal once the stocks start 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&P got below the lower band, it bottomed. Inskeep 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. I mean, it's very dependent on a couple of mega cap tech stocks, even after they've gone down a lot and they've been awful performers of late. Uh,

although they were better and nicer in the past week. They had a clearer view of the rest of the market. Insight likes to look at the S&P equal weight, where every stock in the S&P has the same exact impact on the index. Check out the weekly chart. Obviously, the S&P equal weight hasn't been doing that great either.

But InSkip notes that it found a nice floor of support at the 200-week moving average. That's another one. 200-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. And October 2022, both of which were major turning points in the market. So it happened again last week. I like that. However, the S&P Equal Weight also closed below 6.691.1.

On Friday, which is where the index peaked in January of 2022, right before the Fed started raising rates. Oh, man. Even after this week's rebound, it's still a bit below that level, basically wiping out three years of gains. Inscombe says that the equal weight 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 let us higher for so long, then let us much lower starting in February, and getting much worse after the trade war kicked in. All right, and skip a place to watch the technology-selected spider fund, and that's known as the

XLK. Everyone calls it that, and 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 XLK has fallen below its 13-week, 26-week, and 40-week moving average, all of which are tilting lower. For her, that means we have a bearish trading cycle on our hands. For InSkip, 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 bought them intraday last week. When we talked to Inskeep a month ago, she said that that's where she'd be willing to start buying on weakness, and that was a good call. For now, the XLK stands at about 201, and Inskeep 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, InSkip 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 Jessica InSkip, who warned us that the major averages could go much lower if they breached 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 Interskip 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, D.C. Merrill.

Good evening, Jim, and thanks for taking my call. Of course. I do believe that once you do their homework before buying a stock, and in that vein, I'm very happy that you do a lot of homework for me. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. I sure try. I like homework. You do a great job, Jim. You really do. Thank you.

Now, that said, I think I know quite a bit about machine learning. But my question is, I believe that 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? One hundred percent right. They've got the best product of which there is no doubt.

Have they been able to monetize the best product? Not today. 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 it can turn things around. But this stock...

As I said to Jeff Marks today, my partner for the Chappell 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? Oh, I'm doing pretty good. We've got a beautiful day down here in Louisiana.

Oh, good for you. I love that. I love Louisiana. My daughter went to school too late. Love it down there. Oh, good deal. What do you think about Micron right now? You know, Micron is at 10 times earnings. I really want it at six, seven 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 can put a quarter position on. I know 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 InSkip so that the S&P 500, the S&P Equal Weight, and the XLK Tech Fund are all being popped up by their 200-week moving averages. The downside here looks contained, at least for now. Now, much more may have gone ahead, 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 for average parts tonight's just a blighting round. So stay with Kramer.

It's hard to find reliable winners these days. But when you're looking at what's working, you know what? There's some really surprising names here. Do you know the best performing stock in the S&P 500 this year is CVS? Up more than 53%.

Meanwhile, Dollar General is in the top 25, up more than 17% for the year. All right, so what does CBS Dollar General have in common? They were among the worst performers in the S&P 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 last 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 and 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's pharmacy benefit management subsidiary, Caremark.

So put it all together. And it seemed like all of the company's plans since the Aetna acquisition in 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 is more straightforward. If the company is already doing so poorly last year, what the heck was it going to do with all these special needs 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 CVS and Dollar General both benefit from their newfound sole survivor status. Investors are probably into these two because they're top

competitors are falling apart, 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 gotten Aetna back on track, saying specifically that the medical advantage business, that's what really sunk them, was much better positioned this year. Management even started to say positive things about some of their recent medical care acquisitions, noting accelerating patient growth for their Oak Street business. I had almost given up on that darn thing. Hey, by the way, Aetna, 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 four-year forecast last week alongside some leadership changes. Oh, and it doesn't hurt, by the way, they 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 CVS 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, practically gifting market share to CVS.

In fact, back in October, Walgreens announced it plans to close 1,200 of its then 8,000 locations over a three-year period, with 500 of those closures coming before August. At the same time, they said only about 6,000 of their stores were profitable. Now, Singapore's going to be running this show, and I think they'll—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 2,000 of the money losing locations. I think that's a huge reason why CBS has caught fire here. Rite Aid's 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. Hey, 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 that 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 their peers were facing tariffs of 50% to 100% on their merchandise, but for dollar

Dollar General is really more like 10 percent 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 of Family Dollar. Oh, God, we broke that story years ago. They're selling the business for just over $1 billion after buying it for about $9 billion a decade ago.

The buyers of Family Dollar are Brigade Capital Management and Masellum, two sharp investment firms, well-versed in struggling retailers. Brigade teamed up with a real estate-focused investor at Arkaus Management. We've seen them attempt to take over Macy's last year, ultimately proved unsuccessful. But they wanted Macy's because they love 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, Macellum has made a number of runs in struggling retailers over the years. We've introduced them to you, like Kohl's, Big Lots, Bed Bath & Beyond, and The Children's Place. So the assumption here is that these new bottom line focused owners of Family Dollar will be aggressive in store closings after they take control of their business, like within the next 90 days. Given that Family Dollar is one of the 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.

Anytime 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. They have money's back after the break.

It is time. It's time for the lightning round. And then the lightning round is over. Are you ready? Let's get it. Let's start with Todd in California. Todd. Hello, Jim. This is Todd. Todd, what's up? Hello. It's your time. I've, uh...

I love your show. I want to know what's up with NVIDIA. I have a good bite of Corweave 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 and 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 something.

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 H-20, which is the dumbed down version of the latest and greatest NVIDIA 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 isn't. 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.

Oh, you took a loan to...

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. We do not borrow money to buy a stock. That's wrong. Let's go to Beth in Pennsylvania. Beth.

Hey, Jim. From one Eagle Stand to another, thank you for taking my call. Oh, thank you for calling. 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. 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 X-Nail Deluxe. I wish they had been able to. It was one of the great growth stocks of the 80s. I don't use it. I use Zelle. I don't know. Whoever she is, she works. Let's go to Bill, New Jersey. Bill.

Jim Cramer, this is Bill Dynas. I was interested in the lightning round, but this will serve 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 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 stocks. Thank you. That's my goal, man. I'm just trying to teach. That's my goal. I just want to let you know that it's been a joy to watch you. And one time you did hit on the stock I'm asking about today.

I wanted it on the lightning round, but it doesn't matter. I'm asking about the stock run solar. It used to be Vivint Solar. I bought the stock as Vivint. 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 on hydro. Maybe he's how he is on sticks rubbing against each other in Flint. But I will tell you that Sunrun is not in that—

Purview. It's not in that area that's a sweet spot. How about that? It's not a sweet spot. I like that. It's very congenial. Let's go to Matt in Washington. Matt. Hey, Jim. Booyah. Excellent. How can I help?

Hey, long-time fan of the show and your books. We should write some more books. Oh, thank you. I'm working on it. I'm getting on it. Go ahead. Go ahead. Cool. Cool. Hey, got a question on a company I've been in for about two years trying to decide should I stay or go. Planet Labs.

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 New York. Jake. Hi, James. How are you? Hey, Jake.

Couldn't be better other than NVIDIA. Thank you. What's up? You said it's a little second derivative, but I'm not too sure. So I wanted to double check. Sure. What are your 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 swore up on my daughter on.

That's a bad thing. She was sitting next to me. It's 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. Thanks very much.

Thank you for everything. Thank you for everything you do. Long time listener and been following you for years. I got a question for you. Sure. What do you know about Telefonica SA? Good company. Good company. Used to be bad, but I'm going to give you two for it. I like that one. And back with Santander, by the way. Anna Boutin turns out to be the best bank in the world. Well, she still is, and it's a great stock. And that, ladies and gentlemen, conclusion of the lightning round.

The Lightning Round is sponsored by Charles Schwab. Long-term interest rates plunged today, but did you hear a word about it? Nobody paid any attention to the interest rate decline. I never heard anyone talk about it, 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 it a day. They love spreading gloom. Have at it. Will rates go down? Who knows? Who cares? Big deal. Be solving.

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 that they go up, you should feel relief when they go down, or at least talk about it.

I bring this up because we dwell on bonds and indices around here these days, like you and I trade them, which 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 interest, except short-term treasuries. There's always fear now because this administration is so unpredictable. But when rates go down, well, you know what I'm saying?

I will never denigrate the importance 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 over-dramatize it every little move by blowing them out of proportion. So perhaps it's time for a very short history lesson with

With the 10-year Treasury at 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 did it do? It went from 1,000 to 40,000.

I'm getting a little steamed about this bond obsession as it's the kind of abstraction that makes people want to sell stocks because they've been frightened out of their wits by people who are screaming about bonds. What's the point of yelling fire in a crowded theater of 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 at 4.5%, shouldn't we therefore be thrilled that 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-year's back down to 4.3%.

because it was no big deal when it went to 4.5% in the first place. I like to say there's always a bull market somewhere. I promise I'll find it just for you right here on MadMoney. I'm Jim Cramer. See you tomorrow. All opinions expressed by Jim Cramer on this podcast are solely Cramer's opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBCUniversal, or their parent company or affiliates and may have been previously disseminated by Cramer 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 follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. Cramer'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 forward slash madmoneydisclaimer.

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