FEATURED SLIDESHOW
Who Is The Worst CEO?Mad Money needed new inductees for its
Wall of Shame, so we asked viewers for
nominations.
RECENT POSTS
- Remorseful Regulator Leads Reform Fight
- Lightning Round: AT&T, Verizon, Novartis and More
- Lightning Round OT: Alcoa, Weight Watchers and More
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Nordic American: Sinking Ship or Titan Tanker?
- Cramer: What Monday’s Housing Number Really Means
- Cramer: Buy These Banks, If...
- Time to Buy Treasurys?
- Lightning Round: Las Vegas Sands, ADC Telecom, Satyam Computer and More
- Lightning Round OT: Knight Capital, Ebix and More
MAD MONEY FEATURES
PODCASTSWatch the Lightning Round whenever and wherever you want.
OFFICIAL MAD MONEY WIDGETGrab this all-in-one application and get recaps of the show sent right to your desktop or blog.
CRAMERS SOUNDBOARDAdmit it: You've always wanted to hit the "They
know nothing!" button. Here’s your chance.
CHECK OUT OUR PHOTOSCheck out Cramer on set, back to school, behind the scenes and more.
SHOP FOR MAD MERCHANDISEBuy Cramer books, bobbleheads and other Mad Money merchandise.
RING TONESPick up the phone! It's Cramer! New Mad Money sounds for your cell phone.
TEXT MESSAGE ALERTMad Money's mobile. Get show highlights sent to your phone.
Text Size 
“The consumer is alive and pretty well,” Cramer announced Thursday, no matter what the pundits say.
The better-than-expected retails sales numbers that surprised Wall Street today, and helped push the Dow up 61 points, were met with jeers, as analysts spoke of a “mixed picture,” a “subpar performance” and a tough business environment.
 |
That’s funny, though, because all 13 of the key retailers that Cramer follows reported big increases. And the results were the same across the board: at high-end Nordstrom [JWN
Loading...
()
], low-end Ross Stores [ROST
Loading...
()
] and middle-of-the road Macy’s [M
Loading...
()
] and Kohl’s [KSS
Loading...
()
].
Look at how the analysts reacted to Target [TGT
Loading...
()
]: The company beat expectations and upped its earnings guidance, but management did say that it remained cautious. The bears jumped all over this, completely ignoring TGT’s surge to a 52-week high thanks specifically to its sales numbers.
All of these retailers said that business is better than expectations, and those expectations were created a month ago during a time of rising unemployment. How could someone call that a mixed picture?
Cramer chalked it up to the human condition: People just don’t like to admit when they’re wrong – analysts included.
But the facts can’t be denied. The consumer, while not at full strength, certainly is getting stronger. Whether it’s because of government stimulus, a rising stock market, housing stabilization or a renewed confidence that their jobs are safe, people are once again opening their wallets. That’s why Amazon.com [AMZN
Loading...
()
] is so close to its all-time high, and a good portion of retail stocks hit their 52-week highs today. Cramer even went so far as to predict that we’d see “the most profitable Christmas selling season in years.”
Here’s the takeaway for viewers:
“If you can’t admit when you’re wrong, then you can’t win in this game,” he said. “Maybe the talking heads can afford to fudge the facts over and over again, but the market’s less forgiving.”
Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Questions for Cramer?
Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes