Oil is a beast. It is not the fact that it has been declining that is so frightening to Jim Cramer, it is the velocity and speed at which it has been doing so.
The crude animal finally took a breather on Wednesday and stopped its decline. As a result, the market responded in a rally. Whew!
It is just a matter of time until the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. Yet Fed Chief Janet Yellen chose to be patient about raising rates, a prudent move at a time where employment numbers and retail sales are doing better.
So, while oil did go for a run with the bulls on Wednesday, Cramer still wants oil to decline. There are just too many positive implications for the U.S. consumer for cheaper oil.
The key is that while Cramer wants oil to sell off, it has to happen gradually. He spelled out the reasons why it is so important for oil to decline slowly.
"The bulls rejoiced while the bears got caught short in a rip-your ursine face off rally that will last as long as oil stabilizes or even goes higher, before resuming its decline again," he said.
The dark orb of oil has had a grip on the market lately, and they seem to be working hand in hand. When oil goes lower, the stock market is hammered. When oil goes higher, stocks are finally able to rally.
Cramer thinks this is hogwash! After all, cheap oil is great news for most companies who will have greater earnings and the benefit of consumers with extra dough in their pocket.
So, as long as there is this ridiculous linkage between the S&P (^GSPC) and the price of oil, Cramer is going to try to explain the relationship between the two. What better way to predict the direction of these two elements, than to consult the charts?
Cramer spoke with Bob Lang, a technician who is the founder and senior strategist of ExposiveOptions.net. Lang calmed fears when he explained that he agrees that the recent action in oil has been absolutely hideous. But the downward slide of black gold is not unprecedented and not the end of the world. Especially when he looked at what has occurred in history.
The good news is that even though oil will be ugly for a while, that doesn't necessarily mean the stock market will be ugly too. Lang believes that there is a good chance the market does have the potential to go higher, even when oil keeps falling.
Yes, there was a nice rally on Wednesday. But would the averages really have been up if oil hadn't been up too? Probably not. But have no fear, it is possible to break this linkage!
But what if crude cracks again? What is the game plan then?
To answer that question, the "Mad Money" host relies on history and patterns. That is why he thinks the best thing to do is to take a look at what worked during Tuesday's tsunami of selling. He uncovered the five stocks that rallied during a time when the rest of the market was getting hammered.
He pointed out that CVS (CVS), Clorox (CLX), Hain Celestial (HAIN), Monster Beverage (MNST) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB) all could have a great buying opportunity on the next bear-market day.
Another stock that Cramer has on his radar is R.R. Donnelly & Sons (RRD), the world's No. 1 commercial printing company, which has been around for 150 years.
Though the stock has come down 25 percent year-to-date, Cramer thinks it could actually be a good buying opportunity at this level.
Not only does the stock have a fat dividend yield of 6.6 percent, it feature a wide array of capabilities, stretching anywhere from the digital world, where they transform writing into e-books, and a translation technology business to a business preparing financial statements.
To find out if the declining price of oil could have a positive impact on R.R. Donnelly's stock, Cramer sat down with CEO Tom Quinlan.
"As oil comes down, consumers are going to have more disposable income...Print is a doorway to digital, and digital is a doorway to print," Quinlan said.
Just as the market rallied on positive economic sentiment on Wednesday, KapStone Paper & Packaging (KS) made a bullish move when it instituted a regular dividend at 10 cents a share. Cramer knows that a stock wouldn't start paying a dividend unless it believed that the future is bright.
Could this popular paper company continue its upward sentiment with the stabilization of supply and demand? Cramer sat down with CEO Roger Stone to find out.
"My philosophy is that if you can't sell it, you should make it. Historically, the industry made it without selling it, built inventory and then to move it, created price competition," Stone said.
In the Lightning Round, Cramer suggested stocks to buy into on the strength of the economy, when he gave his take on a few caller favorite stocks:
Sanofi (Euronext Paris: SAN-FR): "May I suggest that you buy either AbbVie (ABBV) or Bristol-Myers (BMY), which I feel more confident about."
3D Systems Corporation (DDD): "The 3D system is saturated. Don't forget, a year from now we are going to be watching Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)'s spin off HP, that we really like for 3D printing. I do not want you in 3D Systems."
