It's tough to figure out what's more important next week, Cramer said Friday: surging oil prices or the start to earnings season.
After all, the "Mad Money" host has long said he would become less bullish should oil surpass $110 a barrel. On Friday, oil prices jumped to new records amid attacks on Libyan oil fields and the sinking dollar. U.S. light crude rose $2.49 to settle at $112.79 a barrel, which is its highest close since September 2008.
When oil soared in 2008, the U.S. economy plunged into a downturn that it's only recently started recovering from, Cramer said. So with oil again surging into dangerously high levels, he recommends being cautious and raising cash.
With that in mind, Cramer outlined his "Game Plan" for the week of Monday, April 11.
MONDAY, APRIL 11
The week begins with an earnings report from Alcoa . Some Wall Street firms have cut estimates ahead of this quarter, Cramer noted. He doesn't expect a blow-out quarter from the aluminum maker, but he does think its outlook is improving because of a new aerospace cycle. After all, the Pittsburgh-based company makes screws for airplanes. He thinks it is also being helped by the resurgence in gas plant construction, which has great demand for aluminum.
TUESDAY, APRIL 12
Of the many initial public offerings this week, Cramer likes Zipcar, a car sharing service. He likes that Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are involved and expects a lot of growth out of this name.
Arcos Dorados will also go public. The world's largest McDonald's franchisee, it has 1,755 locations in the Caribbean and Latin America and boasts $3 billion in sales, Cramer noted.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to report earnings before Wednesday's opening bell. This stock has been on a big run lately, so Cramer's not sure what executives could say to drive it higher. With the price of oil continuing to climb, gas prices will also rise and act as a tax on consumers. For that reason, Cramer can't be bullish on JPM now.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14
Internet giant Google will report earnings on Thursday. Although this stock trades at roughly $580 a share, Cramer thinks it's actually cheap. Just back out the cash and look at its growth rate, he said. Still, he's not sure he would invest in GOOG right now. He doesn't like to buy shares of companies that have recently made changes to management.
FRIDAY, APRIL 15
Finally, Bank of America will release earnings ahead of Friday's market open. Cramer wants to know why the company has never announced plans to sell a dividend.
When this story was published, Cramer's charitable trust owned Alcoa and Bank of America.
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