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Hey, I'm Cramer. Welcome to Mad Money. Welcome to Cramerica. Other people, my friends, I'm just trying to save you money. My job is not just to entertain — very little of that tonight — mostly education. Call me 1-800-743-CNBC. Tweet me at @JimCramer. There's something happening here. And yes, what it is ain't exactly clear, but I'll tell you this: I don't like going mad. You can see in the averages, Dow sinking 953 points, just losing 1.62%. NASDAQ tumbling 1.98%.
That was easy. That's why I want to walk you through the stocks that actually made it onto the S&P 500's exalted new high list at some point during today's action, to go over what people are actually still willing to buy in an increasingly tough tape. Tough being a synonym for horrible. Because you ever notice when people say volatility, that's just another synonym for horrible. I want to be constructive about what's going on right now when everyone finally wants to dwell on what's gone wrong. Now they want to tell you. I hope you think I told you earlier, because I did. Nobody likes a guy like me when I say that. But I have to tell you, it's been killing me. You know that. So I've communicated.
Remember, we have all sorts of crazy inputs. We got that inflation number. I thought today's was surprisingly soft. Uh-uh. Others thought it was alarming enough — alarming enough to trigger rate hikes. We have the on-again, off-again war with Iran. And we've got brokers trying to line up buyers for SpaceX, with the takers having to sell lots of their marginal holdings like gold or Bitcoin in order to raise money. The speculators, the darn speculators. That's why I want to do something that's different. I want to study what people still want in this miserable environment. So when things get better, we know what they're going to go for. So what managed to hit the new high list at one point today or another in spite of the very tough backdrop? Yes, I'm being constructive even with Oracle down 6.6% after the close of the market.
First is one that's typical of this market, at least until this week. It's Applied Materials. We had them on recently. We know there's a huge semiconductor shortage, especially for chips that handle storage and memory. That means we need more semiconductor manufacturing equipment from Applied Materials. We had CEO Gary Dickerson on recently. He's well aware of his company's importance in the food chain. That tells me, you know what, things clear up, I'll go for AMAT. Next feels like a bit of an anomaly. Frankly, I'm talking about Citigroup. Now, I am a believer in the great man or great woman theory of management. And CEO Jane Fraser certainly belongs in the pantheon. She's cut costs, rationalized the bank, and made Citi a perennial pick of the litter. The stock made a new intraday high even if it closed in the red. Very bullish, one to write down, one to go back to.
Third, here we go into the new world: Healthpeak Properties, which is a gigantic real estate investment trust that specializes in healthcare facilities like outpatient medical buildings and continuing care retirement opportunities. Stock yields just under 6%. I guess that's the good calling card. Next is Federal Realty. You know, I've introduced this company to you probably maybe 18 years ago. That's the perfect shopping center. Don Wood, the longtime CEO, has steered the company toward mixed-use and shopping centers that can be a magnet for tenants. It's got that good 3.66% yield, which I'll tell you is safe. Uh, it used to be higher. What happened? Well, because the stock went up 23%.
Fifth is one you may not know: Fortive. It's an industrial technology company known for precision instruments that was spun off by the now-nerd-du-jour Danaher a decade ago, and since then it's nothing special. Frankly, caught me by surprise. Then I thought that this was when I saw a new high, said maybe it's Veritiv, not Fortive. But no, it was Fortive, not Veritiv. Next, we go back to sleep because the next one's a financial services company called Globe Life, which sells supplemental health insurance and life insurance products. Used to be known as Torchmark. Stock sells for 10 times earnings. Globe Life represents what I call value. That's why the stock finished the session up 2% despite the terrible tape. Another one maybe to write down. I don't know. Just one to note. How about that?
Next is an odd one: W.W. Grainger, industrial distributor of all sorts of prosaic mission-critical equipment that I've got to tell you, contractors need this stuff. They go right there. This one's beyond me. I mean, shouldn't it be hitting — it shouldn't be hitting a high. Maybe good housing data. Maybe some big retailer's going to try to buy them. I couldn't figure that one out. Then back to defense. The giant health insurer got a cut — got a huge break from the Trump administration not that long ago when it lifted Medicare Advantage premiums. Unexpected gift for Humana for 2027. Those reimbursements look even better. This is a textbook safety stock. Then we spring back to the data center again this summer with Johnson Controls, heating, ventilation, air conditioning. A lot of those companies are still doing well. It makes a host of things for the data center. That's only the second data center play on the list, and a lot of data center stocks today.
Awful. Kimco clocks in next, and now we're talking about a REIT that owns actual strip malls as well as some mixed-use properties. Yields 4%. Very defensive. Then we go back to the semiconductor space. Here it is: KLA. That's the second one. Too risky. KLA and AMAT on the way down after we've — well, after we bought them. How about that? Now get this. This is one. This is what I'm talking — I'm trying to see. I got to get this point through because this is not what we usually do here, but sometimes the market's bad. You want to do that? Coca-Cola. Okay. Now, I don't drink Coca-Cola. I don't drink soft — I can't even drink the stuff. It makes — I can't — I mean, like, it's — it's like I can't — I mean, it's like drinking — it's a science experiment now for me. But it was pushed down hard. Uh, it's been going down, down, down, and then since this market got bad, it has been nothing but net. It rallied nearly 3% today.
Under the previous CEO James Quincey, whom I love, the company reignited his growth. His successor, James Quincey — uh, he's continuing the ignition. This is a quintessential defensive stock. New high. You know what? You can probably continue to buy Coca-Cola tomorrow morning. If the S&P is down, I want you to reach for Coca-Cola and then just keep buying. I'm not kidding. This was quite a testament to how good the stock's doing and how great the company is. You have to go down the list to find a stock that we own for the charitable trust, and I found one. It's called Linde, and even that only made a new intraday high because it gave up its gains in the afternoon. This is an industrial gas distributor that has performed nicely. Why? Okay, because it makes rocket fuel for SpaceX. Thank you, SpaceX, for everything. Then there's MetLife, solid conservative-run insurance company invested in the right things.
When I wrote How to Make Money in Any Market, I studied the next stock called Monster Beverage, which is one of the greatest growth stories of all time. Since its inception as Hansen Natural at the end of 1985, this stock's put in some of the most incredible gains ever. Defensive, small-juice energy drink maker going global. It works. Buy it. Buy it into the tsunami. It'll work. It will. Next is Principal Financial. Another boring story. 3% yield. Next is Simon Property Group. The late great David Simon put together the best collection of shopping malls in America. The stock now yields 4.15%. Terrific record. Buy it.
What else? Okay. We own TJX for the charitable trust, and it's an ideal place to shop for value. Held up very nicely today. Not dollar stores, but a pack of three pair of underwear that's so much cheaper than where they got it. I love that. Every time I go there, I always find the one thing I'm looking for, like this belt, and then I find a half dozen other things that I don't really need. Some of them I throw away when I get home because I'm such a jerk. All right, finally. Just telling it like it is, looking at the staff. Finally, we have — I was a jerk today. Believe me, there's things that just upset me. Finally, we have UnitedHealth. It's another managed care play that's up for the same reason as Humana. The stock pulled back this afternoon, but the legendary CEO Steve Hemsley's back, and he's so good. A brutal stretch of bad management before he got there. He's turning it around. UnitedHealth, buy it. I mean, by — am I being glib about this? No. My whole life is like this. I remember buying UnitedHealth in 1988 and crushing it.
Anyway, so let's look at what we have: these stocks that have made new highs at some point. First, we have five real estate investment trusts. What does that tell you? Five REITs, defensive as they come. Then we have five insurers. Those are built to last no matter what the environment. Three classic defensive stocks: Coca-Cola, Monster Beverage, and yes, I'll call TJX a defensive. Yeah, I like those. Okay. We have a turnaround bank, Citi. Two semiconductor capital equipment companies. Those are bought after SpaceX. Linde Industrial Gas. Thank you, rockets. Along with parts wholesaler — don't know why — and industrial precision instruments company — don't care. But those are outliers. Most of the names on the list are slow-down stocks. Slow-down stocks. You know what that says to me? This market is in flight. It doesn't want a lot of risk.
I was listening to former Goldman Sachs kingpin Gary Cohn today on Squawk on the Street. He was saying that we had FANG and then we had the M7. He wanted to know what was next. I told him boring is next. Boring. Yield. That's right. Yield. The bottom line: if you look at this list of what was working today, all I can say is that the people have spoken. They want safety. They want yield. And maybe they're just sick and tired of the data center and the fast growers that now grow more slowly and represent too much risk because we're out of money. In short, this is a market that's lost its appetite for danger and it's lost its money. And I, for one, as a manager of a charitable trust, am thrilled to move on. I got to go to my home state. I'm so down. I got to go to Mark in New Jersey. Mark,
Mark, I am trying, you know, trying to keep my head above water. Trying to keep my head above water.
I'm a longtime fan, longtime listener, club member, read all your books. You are the god of financing, I have to say.
Oh, you're nice. I don't feel like it today. Feet of clay, but go ahead. I'm sorry.
You made my retirement so much more enjoyable. You are. You take — you take responsibility on the rare times you make a mistake, and you've been there for us, and you've been a great mentor and teacher.
Thank you. You know, you get down on yourself. I — you know, I don't like being negative, and then it comes out like it's negative, and I'm like trying to figure out, should I have the second bagel? I'll eat the second bagel. Next thing I know, I'm fat. So, what do you have for me?
Hey, um, I got a question for you on DraftKings. I know they had a couple of good days here, and I've got a cost basis on it for like about 69 bucks, I think. So is it time to dump it, or you think —
This is — this is just a great — this thing finally has momentum. So what we do is there are people all over the world, Mark, right now, are saying, you know what, I've been staying away from that DraftKings forever. Suddenly it's step by step, inch by inch, it's going higher. Darn it, it's going up, and not without me. And that's what's going to happen. I don't think you sell DraftKings. I actually think you buy DraftKings because there have been people waiting to buy DraftKings for years, and it's finally showing that it's going up. Take the over.
Today's new high list shows the people have spoken. The market has lost its appetite for danger. They know nothing. On Mad Money tonight: with inflation hitting a three-year high, how is the consumer holding up? I'm going to get some color from our friend Rob Pace at 100x. Oh, he's got good stuff tonight. Ben, has this market run up too far? We're going to go off the charts, and it's just doomsday, and I feel really bad about it. And AI and storage stocks are all the rage right now. So I'm taking a closer look at a little company called Backblaze. Yeah, it's time. Is it time for Backblaze? I don't know. I forgot to put the — the suntan — I couldn't put the suntan lotion on. I got the Backblaze. Stay with Cramer.
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Look, you know me, I'm always looking for an edge, some kind of opportunity to learn something that's not yet fully baked into the stock market. That's why for the past couple of years, I've been working with a data and insights firm that I love. It's called 100x, to help spot interesting new trends that I think can help you make money. 100x polls consumers, but they have an unusual methodology. They don't ask about past purchases and extrapolate forward. They just ask people about their purchase intent — what they intend to buy more of, what they intend to buy less of. And guess what? It works. Let's check in with Rob Pace. He's the founder and CEO of 100x, who's brought us some really interesting data on the leading AI platforms that we talk a lot about, among other things. Mr. Pace, welcome back to Mad Money.
Okay. So, Rob, I'm looking at a chart that is Claude and ChatGPT and the — well, let's call it the coming last, Grok, and what I see is a love for Claude that seems unmatched versus anything you've shown me.
Yes, you're right. It's extraordinary. So this number of 40% of people who currently use it saying they're going to use it more — that's 46% of people, 46% who currently use it say they're going to use it more, only 6% less, Jim. The second highest score we have across thousands of brands is 17 versus —
And that's actually Ray-Ban's Meta.
So an average — an average brand has a 1% more versus less. This is 40.
Well, you know what that says to me? A lot of people are talking about how they're going to be able to raise the price. I have felt the product's so good, I think I'd pay more. This would indicate that I wouldn't be the only person to pay. That's the kind of indication where if someone is at that company, wouldn't they be saying, you know what, maybe we're not charging enough.
Yeah, the value scores are great, right? The value score, as we've talked about, you know, and so I think you're right. Now, I will say that they're going to have to have very high EQ because you can go from darling to pariah if you get too aggressive. But the data would say they could raise.
All right. And that is Anthropic, people, which, you know, I've been saying over and again, that's the deal I want you in on. Look, SpaceX is fine if you want to do it for keepsake. OpenAI, I'm worried, but that's the one you want. By the way, OpenAI didn't look all that bad in that — in that last chart. Just —
No, you're exactly right. Their 10% would put them in the top 10% of all brands.
Now, I want to talk about something that has become politically charged, and it needs not be. And you're going to help me with this. I've been saying that there's a group of people who had been doing okay and were pretty much going along, getting along in this economy, and now they've stalled. And they're not just the underclass. There's this group of people who could go either way, and they're going away, which says they're not happy or they're very worried. So let's look at a chart about the U.S. consumer. I'm going to use the phrase running out of gas. It's possible, isn't it?
It is, because if you look at our May data, this is one of the biggest drops we've seen over the last few years. And as you know, I've been on your show saying the consumer's resilient, the consumer's resilient, right? Everybody here at this level — let's excuse my back here — was saying, you know what, we're going to go into recession, and you came on, you said, you know what, there's surprising strength. And I went with your view. I have not talked with you since then, but my data of the different retailers all says the same thing.
Yeah, the caution flag is out. And for the first time, we're seeing the middle class tell us they're tapped out.
So, what do you think? Was it gasoline? Was it just a sense that things have gotten overwhelming in the news?
Yeah, it's all the above. What we have found — and these numbers are very striking — what we found is almost there's this point where people just say enough. We saw it with the lower-income consumer. Just to give you one data point: Casey's, who had a great — great quarter, their favorability on gas prices are down 15%. So the consumer's buying, but a lot of that — a lot of that spending is going there.
See, it's interesting because I was recommending Casey's very hard because I think they represent great value. Uh, and Cracker Barrel, too. At least they didn't blow up. But, uh, TJX is doing well. That's good value. But that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for a consumer that isn't thinking about value as much as thinking about, well, I like that. And that seems to be going the way of what I don't want to see.
Wow. Okay. Now, uh, a lot of people got very excited about these kind of predictive sites and online gambling. I know the predictive sites benefited by being able to be in California, Texas, and Florida. And the gaming says, 'Ken, I swear to God, your charts are showing exactly what I am hearing from my friends. I keep losing.' Isn't this a chart of people who have been losing at gambling?
Yes. Now, in fairness, some of it's the economy.
Okay. Fair. That's right. Because if you lose $50 when the economy is not that good, you're more accurate.
And media and entertainment is the area that we're seeing the weakest. But where we see this playing out, Jim, is the lines and odds feedback, which says that the participants are saying, 'Maybe this isn't as fair a fight as I thought it was.'
Wow. Well, I'll tell you what's interesting about that is I know that the predictive markets — from the people I speak to at DraftKings — the predictive markets used to dominate in Europe, and they went away. People felt that it was rigged. They felt that you couldn't win. I'm wondering if we're not seeing the same phenomenon here.
Yeah. Our trust scores are very low for the — for the predictive markets.
And explain to me a trust score. I mean, in other words, like there will be people who say, I think that that's fair and this one's not.
Yeah. So you go through and you say, simplistically, is it — do I trust them, do they not? And those scores are negative, meaning more people are leery than positive.
If I were running one of those companies, I'd be very concerned about that.
Yeah, they've got to address it.
They have to address it. Now, uh, I happen to love the Waymo, the — the robo-taxi, because it's a novelty, right? Is it wearing off?
A little bit. So, as you know, there was a big pop. There was a wow factor. They got over the safety issue. People got comfortable, but actually this is all of the — the robo-taxis here in terms of future demand. This is Uber and Lyft, which are stable. What's going on is now that you're in them, there are some practical issues of can I get a driver, what are the wait — quote — driver, what are the wait times, and, you know, if I have problems with my route. It almost reminds me of EVs, where there was this huge enthusiasm, but then like range anxiety kind of hurt them. And it's almost the same thing we're seeing here in the — in the robo space.
