While the state of U.S. manufacturing has been in the spotlight under the Trump administration, CNBC's Jim Cramer thinks that this attention is misplaced.
"Two thirds of our economy is based on consumer spending," the "Mad Money" host said. "In other words, we spend far too much time worrying about our trading partners and far too little time talking about what our economy is really about: shopping for goods and services."
Cramer pointed to several retail names that have beat earnings expectations in recent weeks, including Target, Lowe's and Kohl's. He believes that Wall Street analysts have been "dead wrong" in their evaluation of the retail sector, which has led to such large discrepancies between earnings estimates and reality.
Here are Cramer's three main areas where analysts have missed the mark on retail:
1. Housing
Cramer believes that analysts conflated a lack of home-buying activity with a lack of spending within the industry overall.
"The refurbishing and renovation business is off the charts," Cramer said. Although people may not be buying homes at the same rate as in the past, Cramer pointed to Home Depot and Walmart's strong performance as evidence that people are still spending money on their existing homes.
2. Amazon
Amazon, or the "Death Star" as Cramer refers to the company, hasn't overtaken traditional retailers like analysts expected, the "Mad Money" host said.
"Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods is starting to look like a big fake out," as evidenced by by the recent bump in Kroger's stock, Cramer said.
Discounted and off-price retailers, such as Walmart and Burlington, also haven't suffered due to Amazon. "We have a red-hot job market, the consumer's feeling fabulous, a lot of people just got a tax cut. In this environment, Amazon can only crush the retailers that are already hobbled," Cramer said.
3. Millennials
Cramer believes that millennials are the "most misunderstood cohort" when it comes to predicting consumer spending.
As an example, Target reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat Wall Street's expectations, bolstered by growth in its home category. "Millennials love to fix up their apartments. That's driving the incredible growth," said Cramer.
Cramer's bottom line
Consumer spending decisions "themes are the real narrative that helps you make money, not the Fed, not the ten year, not the inverted yield curve, not President Xi, not soybeans, not the sock tariffs, or the corrupt Facebook pages," Cramer concluded. "If you want to understand this market, you need to worry less about the trees of trade and focus more on the forest of consumer spending."
WATCH: Cramer explains his views on the retail sector
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Kohl's, Amazon and Facebook.
Questions for Cramer?
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Want to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up!
Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Vine
Questions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com