Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, said Thursday that consumer-focused stocks pushed the market higher even as major technology names dragged on performance.
“The consumer cavalry got here just in time to give us what looks to be the beginning of a Santa Claus rally. That’s the only way to describe what worked today. Everything involving consumer spending couldn’t come at a better time because tech’s been faltering. We needed something big to replace it… Let me set the scene. For most of the year, we’ve had oh woe is the narrative consumer, right? I mean, oh, consumer’s doing so poorly. Higher unemployment. True. Inflation kept the consumer on the sidelines. We kept thinking that they were just decelerating.”
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Cramer said he was pleased that market attention shifted away from data center valuations, which he said have become difficult to understand as artificial intelligence trading grows more speculative. He added that Wall Street does not respond well to valuations that are hard to explain. He noted that the consumer price index fell to a four-year low. He explained that inflation had been draining consumer confidence and punishing stocks tied to spending. The latest numbers suggested that price pressures may have peaked and are now easing in a meaningful way. He went on to point out that gasoline prices have dropped sharply, used car prices are down by high single-digit percentages, and many goods are now priced at levels that allow sales to move again. He also mentioned that while not captured directly in the CPI, home prices are falling as well.
“The bottom line: The CPI number was terrific this morning. Consumer spending looks to be alive and well, and it’s a huge win for the stock market. Best of all, it’s a reminder that we can still rally big without tech, thank heavens. And when we get tech rallying, and OpenAI gets its money, so that story’s out of the way, it’s going to be all the sweeter.”
Our Methodology
For this article, we compiled a list of 8 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on December 18. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the third quarter of 2025, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 978 hedge funds.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
Jim Cramer Talked About 8 Tech and Consumer Sector Stocks
8. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 166
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is one of the tech and consumer sector stocks that Jim Cramer talked about. Cramer mentioned the company during the stock, as he said:
“Apple might be hurt by higher memory prices from Micron, as we heard just last night… but a wealthier consumer may also buy more phones.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) manufactures and sells devices such as the iPhone, Mac, iPad, along with its line-up of wearables and accessories. The devices are supported by the company’s app ecosystem, AppleCare, and cloud tools. Cramer called it a “buyback monster” during the December 17 episode, as he remarked:
“Second, don’t forget that Apple, the second-largest company in the world, also happens to be a buyback monster, having shrunk its share count by 33.7% since the end of 2015. The stock’s up 933% over that same period. I always say own Apple, don’t trade it, so tonight, I just want to point out that this is a $4 trillion company that still managed to repurchase more than a third of its shares over the past decade.”
7. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 332
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the tech and consumer sector stocks that Jim Cramer talked about. Cramer made a note of his appreciation of the company’s e-commerce business, as he commented:
“Let’s not forget there’s a lot of consumer in tech. Amazon, for example, is more than Amazon Web Services, even though Wall Street only seems to talk about that. Remember, they still have this e-commerce website that you’re on every minute, and that’s a huge, giant tailwind in this backdrop.”
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) sells consumer goods and digital content through online and physical stores, provides advertising and subscription services, operates Amazon Web Services for cloud computing, develops electronic devices, produces media content, and offers programs supporting third-party sellers and content creators. Cramer discussed the company during the December 17 episode and stated:
“These days, we’re constantly hearing about what I call these Lazy Susan deals, except they’re being celebrated as good news for both parties. Today, for example, we learned that OpenAI is in some talks to raise at least $10 billion from Amazon, some of which could be spent on Amazon’s AI chips. We heard applause for this all day. Basically, Amazon’s giving OpenAI at least $10 billion, even as OpenAI has a very stretched balance sheet with huge obligations that dramatically exceed its ability to bring in cash.
In return, OpenAI will spend that money on Amazon’s chips instead of maybe using NVIDIA’s. Doesn’t that raise some eyebrows?… Amazon’s a serious company. I don’t know why it would pay OpenAI to use its own chips. I found the whole thing quizzical… I know that Amazon Web Services and OpenAI had an existing partnership from early November, where OpenAI committed $38 billion for a multi-year deal to run its workloads in AWS. Does Amazon’s $10 billion payment to OpenAI help OpenAI pay for that agreement, too? Now, it’s entirely possible that people want to be involved with Sam Altman’s OpenAI so badly that they’re willing to invest in that company to get the money right back. But I’m growing ever more concerned that these kinds of deals… I’m starting to think that OpenAI is not that special with no moat around ChatGPT, and the deals are bad.”
