Cramer: Don't Let 'Cliff' Distract You from This

Lately, the fiscal cliff has been grabbing all the headlines. And chances are it's distracted you from these late breaking market developments.

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"On Thursday, NYSE Euronext, one of the oldest financial companies in the country, agreed to be acquired by IntercontinentalExchange, a young upstart with not even a dozen years of public trading," said Cramer.

Cramer said the deal is noteworthy for a couple reasons:

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First the implications for the financial industry are profound. "Separately these companies were part of a dog-eat-dog universe of exchanges in an industry with way too much capacity," said the Mad Money host. "But together they become the global powerhouse that can dominate futures trading."

But perhaps more important, "it shows that there's a desire in Corporate America to stop the paralysis, stop focusing on the endless and fevered wrangling of Washington, and get busy growing their businesses, not through new sales or better products, but through acquisitions," Cramer said.

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And the trend is widespread.

As an example, Cramer pointed to Oracle, which just bought Eloqua, a cloud computing play for $23.50, a 31 percent premium to Eloqua's Nasdaq close on Wednesday.

"That's extraordinary, just amazing," said Cramer. It's another example of a company getting more aggressive, via M&A.

But it doesn't stop there. Published reports suggest Gardner Denver, a maker industrial machinery, is on the verge of selling itself to SPX for more than $4 billion.

"Again, SPX is doing what a company has to do to grow in this business, make an acquisition to get bigger," said Cramer. "It's a match made in heaven."

In addition, two relatively unknown insurance companies merged, with Merkel buying Alterra. (No, not German Chancellor Angela Merkel!)

Cramer's Takeaway

The Mad Money host said all these deals demonstrate that things are percolating.

"The acquiring companies aren't waiting around any more, they are moving, taking their cash and stock and putting it to work regardless of political concerns."

Considering Corporate America has been immobilized by fiscal cliff concerns, "That's a huge change," said Cramer.

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