Wall Street has almost made it through a "hell week" of stock selling and investors can begin to pick through the rubble, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday.
U.S.-China trade turmoil and Uber's looming IPO laid out a tough week for the markets, and now the last trading day of the week is here.
"The great thing about today's list of winners is that if they can survive hell week, they can survive just about anything," the "Mad Money" host said.
The markets took a beating in morning trading, but President Donald Trump eased the pain by suggesting that the United States and China could very well come to a trade agreement, Cramer said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 139 points, while the dipped 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.41% during Thursday's session.
Without progress on negotiations, tariff rates on Chinese goods are set to increase at midnight as Trump proposed over the weekend — taxes could rise from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of imports.
The Dow has shed more than 650 points so far this week, while the S&P 500 has fallen about 2.5% and the Nasdaq is down 3.1%. Each of the major indexes are on pace for their worst week of trading since December.
"When a sell-off goes into its third day, the buyers just stand there and absorb the market's body blows. And then stocks start rallying like nobody's business — just a handful," Cramer said. "That's what we saw from the morning right through the afternoon: the buyers simply couldn't be kept down from a handful of stocks."
The host perused the market for winners as hell week nears its final day:
Cloud kings
The stocks of ServiceNow, Workday and Splunk defied gravity to rise 1.70%, 1.74%, and 0.50%, respectively, during the trading day. Companies that help businesses digitize are immune to trade relations, Cramer said.
These three names are secular growth stories, which explains why they made gains as the broader market had losses, he said.
"These particular cloud kings have no meaningful Chinese exposure, and if the global economy slows down, courtesy of the trade war, well these companies will probably go even faster," Cramer said. "More importantly, Wall Street is full of believers. People who believe in their stocks and will buy them into any market weakness, like they did today."
Roku
Roku shares surged more than 28% and touched a new all-time high. Cramer said Roku is the best way to play the cord cutters — consumers who are dropping traditional cable TV packages for subscription streaming services. Many investors worry it's a matter of time before Roku gets dominated by similar products from the likes of Amazon, but the company seems to get stronger even as other traditional powerhouses such as Disney, Viacom, and CBS announce new services, he said.
"It's not just a gadget play anymore, which means Amazon and Google can't simply just displace it," Cramer said. "That's why the stock could rocket up 18 points on a hideous day, thanks to much better than expected earnings."
T-Mobile
T-Mobile climbed 2.23% Thursday. As the phone company pursues a $26 billion merger with Sprint, some investors are betting on it to fall apart, Cramer said.
"The thinking is that the T-Mobile stock will be able to zoom on its own, because the company's taking so much share," the host said. "Even as it tries to conduct a game-changing merger, T-Mobile hasn't skipped a beat through the whole process. I can't say the same for Sprint, which seems to be a slow-motion train wreck."
WATCH: Cramer reviews Thursday's winners among the rubble
Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Amazon and Disney.
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