The market on Thursday was so wild and out of control, Jim Cramer was surprised it even did anything. There are so many wildcards floating around at this point that investors are perplexed.
The first wildcard is the Iranian nuclear deal. There are so many investors' questions swirling around at this point; Cramer just wants to see a decision made. Is it good for the economy? Will Iran flood the world with oil when sanctions are removed? Will it sponsor fewer terrorist groups, or does this mean nothing at all?
"To me when I see these situations I always think that the conclusion, even a bad conclusion, eliminates uncertainty," the "Mad Money" host said.
Thus, any sort of an agreement would indicate to Cramer that the world is a more certain place. And if the world is a more certain place, he is more inclined to buy stocks than sell them.
Another wildcard out there is Friday's employment number. Predictions are all over the place for this!
"I think anything that shows we've created less than 300,000 jobs will be viewed as a positive by the market," Cramer said.
Cramer reminded investors that this isn't the same old Fed that is just looking at hiring numbers. They are taking into consideration various endpoints, thus the numbers are up in the air at this point.
As we enter the second quarter of the year, Jim Cramer wants to circle back to one of the best performing groups of the year—retail.
"Why not? Largely domestic, no dollar worries and a big beneficiary of the collapse in commodities of all kinds, especially gasoline," the "Mad Money" host said.
Stocks within a given sector don't necessarily trade in lockstep with one another. Instead, a group can now consist of a jumble of winners and losers all mixed up.
He looked at the same-store sales, or comps, of 45 top retailers in the United States. Some 32 stores reported an increase in same-store sales for the fourth quarter of 2014. But just because a retailer posted strong results didn't mean that the stock rallied.
So what translated into higher share price? The strongest retail stocks were those that had been delivering disappointing numbers, and then suddenly posted good ones.
Kohl's and Dillard's were perfect examples of this. Dillard's is a quiet Arkansas-based department store that had previously reported a 1 percent decline in sales growth, and then unexpectedly wowed investors with a 3 percent increase the next quarter. As a result, the stock is up more than 10 percent since then.
Yet the company with one of the worst same-store sales reports last quarter had one of the best performing stocks. Coach had a 22 percent same store sales decline, and yet somehow found a way to rally 15 percent since before the quarter.
So while Cramer still finds same store sales growth to be a key metric for retail, he reminded investors to pay attention to trends—and he's not talking about fashion trends.
The current environment makes it increasingly difficult for investors to get behind companies that are competing overseas. Especially with such a healthy job market in the U.S. and much lower prices at the pump. Thus, Cramer is focused on domestic companies with exposure to the consumer and a healthy dividend.
One of those companies is Federal Realty Investment Trust, a high-quality real estate trust that owns 87 shopping center properties in wealthy populated areas within the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, California, Florida and Texas.
Cramer has liked this stock for years, although it has been on fire lately, up 11 percent since the beginning of the year. Can it keep roaring, or is it due for a pullback? To find out, Cramer sat down with Federal Realty CEO Don Wood.
"During the recession we were setting up for a development pipeline of great mostly mixed-use, but also shopping center developments over the next 10 years. We are delivering on them now," Wood said.
And while domestic stocks like Federal Realty are staying strong, even Cramer has to admit—sometimes the stock market is dumber than a bag of hammers.
This is exactly what he was thinking on Wednesday night when Micron reported an upside surprise and the stock immediately rose. But then as soon as the conference call began, management lowered numbers on account of sluggish chip sales. Investors quickly realized there was more homework to be done, and it went right back down. Yet somehow the stock ultimately stabilized, closing down just 40 cents on Thursday.
Cramer saw the same actions occur with Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble when BMO downgraded both stocks due to currency exposure. But what the heck are they supposed to do?
That's exactly what happens when your company is located in the country with the strongest currency in the world, and they got hit hard translating overseas earnings back into dollars. They are also competing with foreign goods that can be offered at cheaper prices made in countries with cheaper currencies.
Judging by the fact that these stocks seem to react fairly positively amid negative news, Cramer thinks that investors could be in for a few positive surprises ahead even if they report negative earnings.
"That's why you have to stay close to all of these international stocks before they report," Cramer said.
Ultimately it's a strange process, and sometimes the market is just plain wrong. But in the meantime, Cramer expects further declines in international stocks and he thinks there will be a reluctance to sell the stocks even if the earnings are hideous.
Read More Cramer: The trick to trading international stocks
In the Lightning Round, Cramer gave his take on a few caller favorite stocks:
Hasbro: "I like Hasbro. I think that Hasbro's taking it to Mattel."
Altria Group: "This is at the right level, because of interest rates. So I say if you can stomach a tobacco stock, pull the trigger."