Cramer: These Companies May Take a Hit

Developments on Thursday have Cramer watching for some stocks to sell-off. "Internationals and banks are going to be uncertain for some time to come," said the Mad Money host.

That's because Cramer no longer has confidence that the economic woes of Europe are a thing of the past for investors. That is, he no longer has confidence that Europe won't generate nasty ripples that pull down at least some US stocks.

From late summer until now, that was not the case. "And that was the right call," said Cramer. However, new developments that surfaced on Thursday have changed the dynamic.

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Here's why:

On Thursday morning, "ECB President Mario Draghi talked about how the euro is too strong and how it is hurting European competitiveness. He did not, however, cut rates," Cramer said.

"By acknowledging that European economy had stayed weak but by not cutting rates, Draghi succeeded in freaking out the world's markets," Cramer explained, because he confirmed the market's worst fears yet he took no steps to address them.

That leaves investors with a two-fold problem. The economies of Europe are weaker than expected and therefore demand for goods and services may wane. And if the ECB feels the euro is too strong, then a significant headwind just developed for those American companies that sell products to Europe. (If the euro grows appreciably weaker, as companies repatriate profits from Europe they will get less US dollars.)

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Cramer believes these two catalysts will wield significant influence over the market in the weeks ahead. Therefore he feels investors have no choice but monitor overseas developments very carefully.

Source: Chipotle.com

Chipotle restaurant

So what happens next?

"I suspect multinationals will take hits again," said Cramer, "as will the financials, such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, that are tied in to Europe. That's what happened before and it will probably happen again," Cramer said.

"And because the statements issued by Draghi spooked investors, the whole S&P 500 will probably come down too."

Of course Cramer is never without ideas. And he doesn't think developments should keep you out of the market all together.

Instead, he says wait for the market to sell-off broadly, then identify companies that are mostly domestic plays and pull the trigger.

"Perhaps the best thing to do right now is to default to what happened in the tail end of the crisis and distinguish companies that benefit from our domestic economy," he said.

But make no mistake, "You simply can't be as aggressive now as you might have been in January."

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