CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday told investors he sees a lasting change in the market, not just an ephemeral rally. Despite a down day for the Dow, Cramer said he sees more fun on Wall Street.
Cramer knows the market can't be positive every day, adding that "the fun and games" ended Thursday when interest rates spiked. But he said he sees several great companies on the market worth investors' time and money beyond the Nasdaq's tech stocks — Cramer's Magnificent Seven comprised of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft and Tesla — that are currently leading the market.
"I think it is time to recognize that something has changed with this market, and I think it's a change for the better. For the first time since the 1980s and let's say early to mid-1990s, we have a lot of legitimate stocks belonging to many companies with amazing balance sheets and terrific prospects that are flat out doing very well," Cramer said. "Sure, the Magnificent Seven are so big relative to everything else that it is tempting to only watch them, but there are tons of other excellent stocks, belonging to companies with amazing stories to tell, including a couple that I've got on tonight."
Cramer shared his experiences trading on the market in the '80s and '90s, saying it was a recession-free period where investors made a lot of money without facing punishment for being "giddy." He said he feels the past few months have been similar, with the market seeing strong numbers come out each day even as the Federal Reserve tries to tighten.
"I just think it means that we may be back in business-as-usual mode, not back to pre-covid, not pre-financial crisis, but back to the '80s and '90s when stocks were really indeed so clearly the best asset class and everything else just seemed like a waste of time," Cramer said. "But maybe, just maybe, maybe there are enough companies with good sales and orders and gross margins that we can return to a period where owning stocks didn't make you feel like a pariah or a daredevil."
But Cramer emphasized that only time can tell if his theory proves to be correct.
"Look, here's the bottom line: stocks can still be dropped by a spike in rates like today, and there can be some big-cap stocks that disappoint," he said. "But the joy, and I use that word carefully, but the joy we felt about stocks for so long? We had it for two decades before the century mark. Maybe, just maybe, we can have it again."
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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Amazon.
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