Jim Cramer’s second-half playbook for investors is all about getting back to the basics. On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Cramer had a straightforward response when asked where investors should put their focus in the coming months. Choose stocks in companies that are “doing well,” he said Monday, shortly before the opening bell, as the S & P 500 looked to build off Friday’s first record close since February. His comments came in the waning hours of a wild first half of 2025 — driven by on-and-off-again tariffs and, more recently, concerns about a broader regional conflict in the Middle East. Monday is the last trading day of a strong June and a strong second quarter. Cramer acknowledged that his advice might seem almost too simple — but he said he is trying to cut through the noise that might distract everyday investors. In particular, he took issue with the near-constant debate about the Federal Reserve’s next move on interest rates. His remarks echo what he wrote in his weekly Sunday column for CNBC Investing Club members. Cramer said Monday he is trying to push back on “the idea that we’re supposed to think about getting out of stocks, the Fed is not going to ease enough — instead of looking at companies that are doing well and buying them.” Oracle is a prime example of this, according to Cramer. Shares of the technology giant with a booming cloud-computing business surged in response to earnings earlier this month. On Monday, the stock jumped another 5% after Oracle disclosed in a regulatory filing that it signed “multiple large cloud services agreements, including one that is expected to contribute more than $30 billion in annual revenue” starting in fiscal 2028. “That’s not Oracle trading with the Fed,” Cramer said, referring to Monday’s stock gains. “That’s trading with Oracle having a new business model that took it from $110 [a share] to $223. That’s of great interest to many of our viewers because they made a lot of money.”
