>> steve. >> sam sarah, iot, great trading names, stock chart looks like an ekg, i'm long. >> dan. >> these semis are hot to go. i'd be a sell zbler hot to go trend. >> all of our viewers knew that. >>vc. >> "mad money" with jim cramer starts now. my mission is simple. to make you money. i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there's always a bull market somewhere, and i promise to help you find it. "mad money" starts now. hey, i'm cramer. welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. other people want to make friends. i'm just trying to make you a little money. my job is not just to entertain about educate and teach you. call me at 1-800-743-cnbc. tweet me @jim cramer. this market might actually be at a fulcrum here. lately we've seen relentless selling in the large cap technology stocks that had

previously led us higher for years, combined with a tremendous infusion of cash into the small cap largely domestic companies. this rotation's been agonizing for anyone -- >> buy buy -- >> sell sell sell! >> -- who stuck with the long-standing winners including today but it's anyone nah for the worst performing stocks the stocks buried in the russell 2000, the s&p small cap 600 index. today after a vicious crescendo selling in the morning we saw the large cap techs actually trying to rebound from the woes and it boosted the entire market. even if we gave up much of those gains in the afternoon. dow was able to finish the day up 81 points. s&p dipped .51%. and the nasdaq filled with software, internet and semiconductor stocks once again got ugly and it shed .93%. sometimes it just comes down to who do you trust. this brutal change in market leadership started on july 11th. we got a cooler than expected consumer price index number for june. decline in inflation that makes it possible for the fed to cut rates terrific, maybe sooner than we thought. was that weak inflation number really the cause of the switch,

though? i think it started that way but it's gained momentum during that period where former president trump seemed like the prohibitive front-runner in the race for the white house, a moment where he doubled down on his protectionist economic instincts by picking j.d. vance as his running mate. this gop tandem is incredibly hostile to companies that move their manufacturing overseas and they've been adamant about wanting to slap tariffs on any and all imports. this rotation out of large cap tech into the small cap went into overdrive nine days ago when bloomberg published an interview in which former president trump questioned whether it was defending taiwan from china even though taiwan manufactures most of our advanced semiconductors. he seems to believe they stole that business from us and he doesn't want to give it away and he doesn't want to protect them. unless they pay up. with that trump poured gasoline on the large cap bonfire immolating the king of the tech rally nvidia because nvidia, well, all the chips made in taiwan. obviously the presidential race is in a different place now the democrats have changed candidates but this remains a major consideration. since then the market's upended

the entire leadership cohort questioning the so-called mafbt seven as wall street began to question the future of artificial intelligence doubting whether all these big data centers are ever going to pay off. i know i'm concerned about our government's policy toward tech you know that, especially the semis, which are at the heart of accelerated computing and artificial intelligence. those are the two most important tech themes on earth. that's why we need to go to the person in the administration who understands the sensitivity of these issues, the person that can articulate where this country is right now on the semis, on taiwan and on trade with china, which used to be a major market for american chips but now seems to be hated by republicans and, yes, democrats alike. and that's why i'm thrilled to have gina raimondo. she's the u.s. secretary of commerce. with us tonight to figure out the lay of the land, the state of play. secretary raimondo, welcome back to "mad money." >> hey, jim. great to be with you. >> madam secretary, until ten days ago i thought that what could happen in this country is we would always defend taiwan as our ally. they may not have -- they may have usurped us when it comes to

high-end semis, but it's so important that they be our friend in terms of the military, in terms of what we can do with our supply chains that it would be difficult to -- you don't want to endanger it. and yet i felt that the president -- let's say president trump really when he said that taiwan might have to pay for protection put that relationship in jeopardy. did you feel similarly? >> you know, look, i know that my boss, president biden, has been crystal clear on this topic. and i think there's no place to be reckless here or play politics with this. right now, jim, you know 93% of our chips come from one company in taiwan. you just mentioned nvidia. every single ai chip that nvidia designs is made in taiwan. and we need those in our cars, in our phones, in our military equipment. so to be sure, it's time to get serious and have serious solutions to these issues, which is exactly why we passed the chips act and exactly what we're doing in implementing it. >> at the same time we know that

the highest end chips require tremendous capacity for particular specialized businesses. the at the same time we're building as you said with the chips act lots of foundries here. but can't there be that mixture? don't we need some in america and some made in taiwan if we're going to be safe as a nation when it comes to being a military power versus, say, the chinese? >> yeah, absolutely. but right now it's nearly 100% in taiwan and zero in the united states. and that is untenable, unsafe and makes us vulnerable. so our goal, i set a goal, jim, to have 20% of leading edge chips made in this country by the end of the decade. and i hope we also have some made in our allied countries, for example, in japan. but that you know, there will always continue to be production in taiwan. we have to get out of this place of extreme vulnerability. >> do you think taiwan stole those jobs? and did they steal the business from our country?

>> no. those were choices that american business people made. i mean, this didn't happen overnight. you know as well as i did. american businesses were in search of cheap capital and cheap labor and profits. so everything went overseas. china, taiwan, et cetera. except we wake up now and we find that whether it's chips or critical minerals or components we're vulnerable. not everything's about short-term profits. you have to also have national security in your lens primarily. >> if i were running taiwan semi and there is a country that is 110 miles away from me and they would like my production run and i felt that another country, the united states, would not protect me, i would call president xi and say listen, we've got to make a deal, we've got to give you more of our capacity. isn't that what's at risk here while we figure out how to make as many chips in this country as we can? >> yeah, that is at risk.

but i will tell you i have had an excellent relationship with the executives at taiwan semi. first of all, it's an amazing company. and second much all the they're deeply committed to their investments in the united states. they want to be here. the u.s. leads the world in ai. and so i feel really great about where we are in implementing the president's chips act. >> and you're okay with the recent shipment, the h-20 nvidia chip that's still cleared? that's the chip that's going to go to china with your blessing? >> i don't know that specific chip, but nvidia's been a great partner and they only ship what we bless. >> let's talk about what you've done in the united states. where are we in terms of the buildout? where are we in terms of production? >> we're steaming ahead, jim. by the end of this year we'll have deals done with all the major players. intel, samsung, tsmc. tsmc's ready to start having chips come off the line next year. so as i said, we're right on path if not ahead of schedule.

we're also working on the supply chain. it's not just the factories. it's the substrate, materials, et cetera. we're working on training. that's the other thing. setting up training partnerships. so we're right on path, and it's an audacious goal to have 20% of the chips made in the u.s. by 2030 but we're going to make it happen. >> there are people that i hear from the other party that are critical of the idea that you've anointed industries. i have looked at the people who do the picking and do the choosing and do the working with companies. i'd like you to just fill in, just fill in the american people, who is working with you within your team and their backgrounds? because these are people that i know and i've worked for and work with and hired, and they're really good. >> yeah, absolutely. by the way, this is -- there's no one political on the team. right? so i have someone who was a partner for 25 years at kkr. folks who've come from goldman and jpmorgan, intel, tsmc,

project managers from hp and ibm. we've put together a gold star team totally committed to the mission to get this done. and by the way, we hear from companies, every single company i've spoken to has said their interaction with our team has been top notch professional and actually helped these companies make their plans better. >> i have checked with almost everybody. i keep hearing the same terms. two words. trusted adviser. trusted adviser. we usually don't get that from the government. now, we have had a change in who's at the top of the ticket and i'd like to know whether it's all systems go for chips or is it going to be -- is there another plan in mind? >> all systems go. so the president said last night in his beautiful, honorable address, we've got a lot of work to do in the next six months. before the ebbed of the year we're going to sign our deals with all these major companies. and that is a biden-harris initiative. and i have absolutely no doubt

that a president harris would continue to be strongly behind this initiative. she's been very involved in this from the beginning and i have no doubt she'll take it home. >> now, there are two companies that i'm trying to figure out where they stand with you these days. one was texas instruments. they were asked on the conference call about where they are with you. and the other is micron. micron has spent a fortune in this country and hasn't -- and they did it without u.s. dollars. everyone else moved away. okay? and that did not happen with sanjay morotra. he was committed to the united states. what do you say to the guys who moved away and are getting a handout now when you have sanjay say invented here in the u.s.? sometimes i feel like they're not getting a fair shake. >> micron's getting a very fair shake. we have a very generous deal on the table for them. and because of that, you know, tens of billions of dollars they'll be able to expand in the united states, which is good for america. we need memory made in america. texas instruments is a great american company. you know, i talk about intel as our u.s. chip champion, and they

are. so is t.i. it's understated. it's under the radar. but it's a great american company. i don't have anything to announce today on that, but you know, we are working closely with them. >> i'mtrying to get to the state of play with china right now. do you think we have to do more in this country to teach them a lesson? i know that a lot of the semiconductor capital equipment companies have told me wow, they keep slapping us down, they keep -- we don't know exactly what we can and can't sell to them. when you talk to the klas and when you talk to the lams, that's a little more difficult conversation than it is to talk to one of our american semis. what are the conversations like? >> difficult. exactly as you say, jim. look, i never want to deny any american company any revenue. not a penny of revenue. i want them to have the revenue and reinvest the profits in research and development. but sometimes national security, you know, has to take a front

seat and profits have to take a back seat. and so they're tough decisions. i try to be surgical about them. i do want to say omething. this isn't about teaching china a lesson. not at all. it's about protecting americans. it's about protecting americans. china will do what it's going to do and i need to protect the american people. >> see, a lot of times i feel like the intellectual property that they put out is really the guts of technology and i feel like they have to be -- i don't want to say you have to treat them better because that sounds like listen, you're a parent and they're kids. but these are great american companies and they are really committed to being great citizens of our country. and sometimes i feel like it's not their fault but it just doesn't matter, does it, we have to worry about defense and military and what the chinese do. >> exactly right. by the way, we love those companies. we do help them and i want to support them in every way that i can. but not at the expense of getting advanced technology into the hands of the chinese military that they can use against america. that's not in those companies'

interests or the interests of their employees or their families. >> okay. dialogue between you and all these great american companies about vice president kamala harris and what it means, she's more pro business, less business -- i'm sure these people give you some scuttlebutt. how are they feeling? >> i think they're feeling good. i mean, she is -- i've known her for 3 1/2 years. it's been an honor to work with her. she's energetic. she's brilliant. they know that she will be interested in working with them, listening to them, and most important she'll bring stability which every business leader wants stability and predictability. >> is it fair to use the word sophisticated, she's very sophisticated about the ways of silicon valley because of where she's from and that makes the dialogue all -- let's say worth even more? >> yes. i have worked with her on ai, on broadband. she is sophisticated. she is smart. she grasps the issues. and she's a great listener and learner. >> that's terrific. i'm so glad you came on. i'm very concerned about this

taiwan situation as you know, and you are too. and you're really -- well, i don't have to till you're more in the thick of it than anyone in america. u.s. commerce secretary gina raimondo. thank you for coming in. good to see you. >> thank you. >> much more "mad money." don't miss my exclusive with the heads of dow, hasbro, plus i'm sitting down first interview cracker barrel ceo. listen, this is a brand new story. stay with cramer. >> announcer: don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on x. have a question? tweet cramer. hashtag madmentions. send jim an e-mail to madmoney @cnbc.com. or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com.

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on a tumultuous day like this one to say the least you may not have noticed but hasbro the iconic maker of toys and games they reported just a dynamite quarter, substantially higher than expected sales alongside a monster 44-cent earnings beat off a 78-cent basis. not bad, liu? on top of that management raise the fum-year forecast for the consumer products division and gaming division which includes everything from stuff you know, monopoly to magic the gathering to dungeons and dragons, video game licensing. that was the big driver this quarter. in response hasbro stock rallied 3.5% today. but given it's already up more than 20% for the year you might be wondering if it's got more room to run. let's take a look with chris cocks, ceo of hasbro. mr. cocks, welcome to "mad money." >> jim, thanks for havingme. >> we had your predecessor on. he was a great man, did great things. this is a different company from that. so if you don't mind, give our viewers a look at since the big transformation you've had since

2022 because this is a very different company than many people might be used to. >> well, i think what's the same is we really care about play. we really care about bringing joy to consumers. and we really scare about bringing people together. i think the biggest changes you might see is the growth in our gaming business. we have one of the biggest gaming businesses on the planet. whether that's physical games or digital games, we're one of the biggest licensers in entertainment. we're the third biggest licenser in all of entertainment behind only disney and warner brothers. and we're thebiggest in digital video games. and we're one of the largest toy companies with literally board games and toys found in almost every home across the u.s. >> i think that -- i mentioned at the office because i'm a little older than you, i'm not a kidult, i'm sorry, we'll get to that in a second, but -- >> everyone is on the inside. >> okay, yes. i'm laughing on the inside about being a kidult. i do think monopoly go is something i guess i should have known about. everyone has it. everyone's downloaded it. when i looked at it i said this

is really cool. tell us about how $100 million fell into your lap but not really because you had the wisdom to know thiswas something big. >> we've been in digital licensing for decades. you know, when you think about all the projects that we have in the hopper on digital, there's over 150 that are either active in the market or in development, which i think is a big reason why we're so big in the space. monopoly go is the latest collaboration we have with scopely, which is one of the biggest and best mobile game developers and publishers on the planet. they've done games for us for scrabble as well as yahtzee. and monopoly go i think just really hit a chord with consumers. it's a really fun game. it's a ubiquitous brand. and i think the team at scopely just did a terrific job really capturing that iconic play that monopoly's known for. >> at the same time a lot of the big retailers have told me that their toys are really a very bright spot. now, people know these. apparently they're selling well. i'm talking about furby, g.i. joe, play-doh.

these are just iconic brands that keep making money. >> yeah. they're great anuty businesses. the funny thing about toys, the toys that stay the most similar are the ones that tend to do the best over time. the scent of play-doh is the same today as when we were kids back in the '70s and '80s. >> well, i have to tell you that i see some of these brands and i just think, you know what, i saw transformers, there's another movie coming out, there's one last year, another business. you just keep making money off the transformers franchise. >> oh, yeah, that's fantastic. really that's the genius of my predecessor. brian set the transformers franchise apart with the first transformers movie with michael bey and steven spielberg. and it's, you know, i think one of the top seven or eight blockbuster movie franchises of all time. and literally just like separated that from just a mere kid's toy to truly a blockbuster franchise. >> all right. well, give us a little knowledge that you have from more than anyone i think in the whole world about wizards of the coast, magic the gathering, some

of these franchises that didn't exist when we were growing up that are really now bread and butter for you guys. >> yeah. well, i'm lucky enough to have been a long-time fan of wizards products. i started playing d & d when i was a kid back when i was 10 or 11 at my best friend's house. i started playing magic when i was in college back in the mid '90s. and this is just a wonderful business. i mean, 40%, 50% operating profit margins, huge fan bases. like tens of millions of people around the world. a play system that has literally over 20,000 cards associated with it. and it just keeps growing. it's grown for 14 out of the last 15 years. and just in the last four years alone it's doubled in size. you can't say that about too many brands that have been around for 35 years. >> most things are down unfortunately because it's 2019. but i do know one thing that happened is people worried about the consumer. i'm not worried. i think we have a frugal, discerning consumer and i think they think that your products

represent great bargains because they're used and used and used and you do have kidults. you age up. these are all things that have changed, haven't they? >> yeah. i think hasbro is unique inside of the toy space in that 60% of our sales go to consumers over the age of 13. we're really positioned where play is going, whether it's aged up consumers and collectors, mega games like magic the gathering, or increasingly digital which i think everyone is playing. >> well, i've got to tell you-i think these things have tremendous gross margins and we didn't even mention theme parks. and i have to do that because i would partner with you if i were doing a theme park. >> well, you'd have to get in line behind universal studios and merlin entertainment. but i think we'd be up for the "mad money" theme park. >> i'm part of universal. maybe we can make it happen. who knows? anyway -- >> all right. synergies. >> yes, why not? chris, you've done a fantastic job, and i think it's very early on in the transformation. i want to thank chris cocks, ceo of hasbro. really great to have you on the show.

>> thanks, jim. >> absolutely. "mad money's" back after the break. >> announcer: coming up, an old country chain going after a new look. can cracker barrel serve hungry investors? stick with cramer. (office chatter) is it me...or is work not working? at least, not the way it could work. your people are buried in busy work. and you might be thinking...

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back in may i answered a question about cracker barrel old country stores off highway restaurant chain. i felt optimistic about the new ceo's turnaround efforts but also warning you to stay away from the stock because it seemed destined for a nasty dividend cut. and sure enough a couple weeks later cracker barrel cut its dividend. stock instantly lost 15% of its value before spending the next two months trending lower. by the time it bottomed out two weeks ago this thing was down more than 30% from where i covered it in may and down 50% for the year. keep your bat on the shoulders. been the right call so far. but what about now? cracker barrel's got the dividend cut out of the way. we've learned more details about the turn around plan. it's real. store remodel program and menu refresh. while it could take two to three years to play out the story doesn't mean the stock won't rally ahead of time in anticipation of the comeback especially after the pullback. don't take it from me let's go straight to the source very exciting for me julie massino president and ceo of cracker barrel. >> it's such a pleasure to be

here. >> everyone knows your chain. i have mine on clinton in new jersey, 78, really good one. and all we know is we want to preserve but we also want it fixed. difficult to do both, isn't it? >> it is. that's our goal. our goal is to take what people love about cracker barrel and open the aperture a little bit so more people love cracker barrel. we want to appeal to all generations. >> the greatest turn i've seen in restaurants was panera where ron shake legendarily said -- came on the show-i thought he was going to cry. by sunset my place say mosh pit i can't look at my own place, we're redoing everything. how's it going? he went to charlotte. you're doing something similar when it comes to your company. >> as you mentioned, we're in the beginning phase of our three-year plan. 25, fiscal '25 which starts for us in a couple weeks is going to be an investment year. and we're investing around a couple of key pillars. one as you mentioned is the remodels. we've got four right now -- >> four different -- >> four different versions of

it. because we want to get the algorithm right for our shareholders. >> tell people what the algorithm is because they're not in the game. >> we are spending different levels of money on those remodels to make sure that we can understand what level of investment is going to drive the right return. very, very important. we've got four remodels and i'm so excited to share that not only are sales and traffic up in all four of them but people are loving them. that is so -- not only are guests loving them and they're saying things like lighter, brighter, fresher, feels like my cracker barrel, but they're also saying it's still the warm hospitality, it's still the food that i love, the decor is still on the walls. they love it. and our team members love them as well. we're super optimistic. >> you're going all in in indianapolis. >> oh, sure. >> i checked the notes. plus i've done my own work trying to get that. so i go into a cracker barrel, and i see -- well, i still see on my menu my -- >> your meatloaf? >> or my pie with vanilla ice

cream on top? >> yes. >> and will they still have that -- okay. a slice of cheese too. >> well, you can put cheese on anything pape lost people add it to their eggs. >> i know. it's just when i went they always looked at me and said you can use a slice of cheese. i'm just saying is it that same kind of -- we'll play with it a little? >> absolutely. >> i always liked the fact they'd make the dish for you. even though it's on the menu. >> we still do that. absolutely. one of the things people love to order the most doesn't make our operations team happy but our plain hash browns. we're known for our hash brown casserole which is one of our signature delicious items but you can order plain hash browns. not on the menu but you can get it. >> you've done some testing of the menu in texas. can you give us a sense of how people tastes have changed? i thought cracker barrel needed to catch up a bit not just with the glp-1 thing but it's not necessarily known for things

that are fattening -- cheesecake factory has a lot of stuff that's not fattening. so i figure you guys have room. >> the menu innovation we're focused on right now is really about things we've heard from guests in the research for the last year. we talk to people who love cracker barrel, people who've never been to cracker barrel. that's really the foundation of this plan we put together. how do we make sure we appeal to people who love us because we want them to keep loving us buzz r but how do we welcome more people into the brand? we embarked on the largest menu test in the history of the brand. over 20 items, jim. huge shout out to my ops team for learning those items, getting rid of some items and really welcoming them into the cracker barrel family. some of them are such great successes that we're actually going to go ahead and launch them on august 6 th companywide. >> really? >> yeah. things like -- we've got a delicious chicken and rice. we've got a wonderful savory pot roast dish. and then a signature hash brown casserole shepherd's pie riff on that hash brown casserole. >> do i still want to walk through merchandise and get to it -- >> of course. >> and that still works, right? you've been able to keep the price points correct.

everything got so inflated in the last four years. >> one of the things cracker barrel is known for is our great value. and all that research that we did to really build the plan, one of the things that resoundingly came back is people said you actually have great price points. and not only do you have great price points but we get an abundance of great delicious quality food for that price point. and that's actually the most important thing to them about cracker barrel, is that quantity and quality of food at that great price point. >> you've been in your -- you've been at yum. you've been at starbucks. these are restaurant -- yum had a big transformation. i mean, this is a gigantic transformation. and it is going to take time, right? >> it is. >> we are not starting to look for numbers from you in the next six months that are going to surprise people. >> no, we've been really clear, and thanks for bringing that up. it is a three-year plan. fiscal '25, which starts for us in another week or two, is really an investment year. we've got five pillars in our plan. we're really bringing those together, starting to get those

rocking and rolling. and then we'll start to see the benefits in the back half of our fiscal '26 and into '27. >> how much money do you have to spend on technology? i did think cracker barrel hadn't kept up with a lot of the different things people started doing about pickup and -- where were you? >> that's a key pillar in our plan. pillar 4. we are really focused on making sure that we're taking the friction out of that to go experience. about 20% of our business is to go. and we can be so much better at that. we're working on missing item rates as well as the technology behind that. the other key part of that pillar is our digital and loyalty program. for me our loyalty program is off to a great start. i'm so excited about that. but i'm also even more excited about how we'll be able to use the data to better market to our guests and really meet their needs. >> okay. you did not have a loyalty program. >> we did not. >> how did you stay in business without a loyalty program? everyone else has got a loyalty program. you know from starbucks, they've got a few people in their loyalty program. >> that is a good loyalty program, yeah. but ours is great. literally it hasn't even been a

year and we've got over 5 million people. >> that's really good. >> yeah, it is. again, it just -- this is a brand that people love, jim. i have been so overwhelmed in the last year by how much people love cracker barrel. it's so rewarding to work on this brand and to really help usher in the next chapter of growth because 5 million people signing up in less than a year, we serve almost 200 million guests a year across our three day parks. >> they got the right person both from execution and enthusiasm and i'm really thrilled you came on our show and you brought both. >> well, thanks for having me, jim. >> julie masino. she's president and ceo of cracker barrel. cbrl. remember what she said, it's going to take a while. don't jump the gun. i did that with panera. ron shake was furious with me. i say give her time. that's how money is made. "mad money" is back after the break. >> announcer: coming up, the investors faced headwinds aplenty. global challenges in focus, next.

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they can help you create a comprehensive plan for your full financial picture and personalized money management with the right balance of risk and reward. doors were meant to be opened. today we got a surprisingly strong groems domestic product number suggesting that the economy's holding up well, which is not necessarily what we want to see when everyone's hoping the fed's going to cut. but i think you get a better sense of the economy from great american industrial companies like dow, the giant commodity chemical outfit that reported this morning. dow delivered a top and bottom line miss. net sales were down a little bit 4% year over year. but a slight uptick in volume was overwon by weaker pricing. management's qualitative outlook for the rest of the year it made me feel that things are sluggish. but here's what did inspire confidence. every dow stock dropped roughly 5% at the open.

i awave of buyers came in finishing the day nearly flat. i'm wondering if all the news can be baked into the stock in the low 50s. litsds check in with with jim fitterling, chairman and ceo of dow. welcome back to "mad money." >> great to be with you, jim. thanks for having me on. >> oh, i'm thrilled to be with you. one of the things that happened today is people are beginning to realize if the fed is coming to the rescue and we get cuts then what you want say quality industrial that has a very big dividend. and the dow might be fitting the bill. is that too pat or is there more to it, do you think? >> i think we've got a lot of positive signs. as you mentioned, volume. we've seen in three of our leading growth businesses, our plastics and specialty packaging business, our silicones business, our industrial solutions business, very solid consecutive growth numbers. it is our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year volume

growth. and when you look at the derivatives demand downstream, those numbers are in the 4% to 7% range in those businesses. so that's good. i'd say the biggest drag on the quarter and the miss was on the basis of consumer durables and the housing market, which we know has been slow. and i think we need to see mortgage rates get to something with a 5 handle on them so that we can see people being able to get mortgages and being able to move into that market. when that happens, the part of the business that's slow will pick up pretty quickly both from construction and then all the knock-on effect from appliances, carpets, and other things that go into the housing market. >> can we get a good read from china for you? it seems like china -- maybe i'm a little optimistic. but china's not getting worse but maybe getting a little bit better? >> yeah, i'd say for us china's been good. in a couple of our businesses

ch china was up again this quarter. industrial coatings. plastics was a little bit muted because pricing's come off there so the volumes did not move as much into china. and china's been focused on obviously moving exports out of china, especially electric vehicles into europe and into the u.s. and canada before tariffs take hold. and that kind of clogged up the ports. i think we're working through that. but exports are flowing well from the u.s. gulf coast. and you know we're very cost advantaged. so we continue to see a strong cost advantaged position, high operating rates and good export markets from the u.s. >> for those who aren't that familiar why don't you talk about what natural gas prices mean and the cost advantage versus the rest of the globe because it sure didn't exist when you first got in this business. >> well, natural gas, natural gas liquids, our main feed stock advantage. and when natural gas production is up like it is today, almost

105bcf a day, more liquids get extracted and that's the feed stock for us to convert to chemicals. natural gas has been good. it's been a strong lng export market because the world needs more reliable power and more reliable electricity and natural gas is what they turn to. and the united states is a world leader in low-cost natural gas production. canada also a very advantaged position. when natural gas is low, obviously the frac spreads to get the ethylene out are low expect and the only thing that's been really causing some slowness there has been freeport lng being out due to hurricane beryl. but with that being gone freeport lng will come back and we'll start to see lng moving around the world. >> jim, you're the leader when it comes to net zero ethylene, catch one, things you're trying to do to make it so we fight global warming. ever since you took the job. does it matter who's president

or is that just a mission that you feel or your board feels is important regardless of who has the white house? >> it's a no regrets move. it's definitely something that's going to continue to be driven by the consumers and by the brand owners. they're responding to the market ne needs. and the globe is pulling for that change as well. and both sides of the aisle i think are looking at how to deal with this issue but also deal with it in a cost effective manner. and the way we're dealing with it with circular hydrogen from our own production and being able to do it at the lowest possible cost makes this an early win for us when we start up in 2027. >> i think what you're doing is quite elegant in how you're approaching. at the same time if i were a shareholder i'd say look, why doesn't he just cut that out and give me a big dividend boost? because the dividend's been the same. what do you say to a shareholder who says look, i know i have a

bond but bonds don't raise their coupon but dow could? >> yeah, what we're trying to do is bring our mid cycle and our peak earnings to the point that we can get into that position to do it. as we spun out from dow dupont, you know, our big mantra was cash flow generation and being able to support that large dividend. we need to continue to build that capacity in plastics, get the margins with in our silicones business, bring those industrial solutions products to light. and when we bring that floor ebidta up and bring that mid-cycle from $9 billion up then that's going to give us the capability to be able to do that dividend raise in the future. >> well, when that happens and the fed's cutting your stock will be a rocket ship i think to go up very, very quickly. but jim, thank you so much for coming on the show. to me you're being paid to wait for the big turn.

thank you. >> thanks, jim. >> that's jim fitterling, chairman and ceo of dow inc. if you think the economy's going to come back, mortgage rates are going down you get a very big gain. "mad money's" back after the break. >> announcer: coming up, you call the shots. a fast-fire "lightning round" is in the forecast. next. you are bountiful. your skeleton can support two times your weight. it's in your nature to stand strong. supplement your bones with high-absorption magnesium. nature's bounty. it's in your nature. i'm sam, i have a three and a half-year-old puppy. levi is rambunctious, he's very active. so, levi's had to go to the vet because he was coughing a bit,

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it is time! it's time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad money" -- say the name of the

stock -- buy buy buy -- play until you hear this sound. are you ready skee-daddy? i'll start with joe in new jersey. joe. >> caller: hello, mr. cramer. thank you for taking my call. and i like the segment that you did on explaining cyclical and secular stocks. i have them both in my portfolio. thank you for that. >> excellent. that's what i want. i want diversity of growth and what it's levered to. how can i help you now, joe? what's going on? >> caller: with dell off its recent highs of 180 and with it being a great brand, is it a buy? >> yes. absolutely. you know, when i saw the stock today and i was telling my office i cannot believe this thing has given up so many points. it is such a great company even without most of this ai. so the swesh is yes, joe, you want to buy. edna in new york. edna. >> caller: hi, mr. cramer. they say that sometimes we need to take a loss. is it now time to move on from five below? >> i am very mystified by five below. i don't know what happened there. i know there were many

operational problems. ceo leaves. they don't really explain what's going on. and i've got to tell you, i think that they rushed open stores. until they get their act together i have nothing good to say about them other than the fact they are located in the building where my mom sold hats for lits. let's go to bill in massachusetts. bill. >> caller: jim bo, a boston boo-yah from our friend up here in the north. >> and you are my friend, bill. and it's great to have you on the show. how can i help you? >> caller: jim, as a club member you already prepped us a month ago about what was going to happen here. a healthy 10% correction is very good for the market i feel at this point. i don't want to see a dotcom bubble. so -- >> you're absolutely right, bill. we want shakeout. we want people who think it's easy money to go. we want people to start looking at the alphabets. how can i help? give me a stock. >> caller: i've got your toyota, my man. >> look, i don't really want the auto stocks right here i've got to till. they've become way too dicey.

prices are coming down. let's say no to the autos. other than gm. i don't regard tesla as an auto company now. it's more technology. and i like it for tech. richard in florida. >> caller: this is richard from nature lz. i'd like your view on crowdstrike. >> i think crowdstrike's going to bottom here. they're 97% through this problem. george kurtz is doing an admirable job. i don't want to write this company off. kurtz is too good. there i go. tom in new york. >> caller: hey, jim, good evening s&p. >> what's going on, tom? >> caller: hey, jim, i've got a question for you on aten networks. >> it's network security. if you're going to do network security i'm still going to say palo alto. palo alto's stock is not even up now since what happened with crowd strike and yet they are chief rivals. that seems wrong to me. i know sentinel's been the winner so far but i do like palo alto. let's go to jerry in illinois. jerry. >> caller: hello, jimmy. love your energy and love the

show. >> try to bring it every day. how can i help? >> caller: about 15 months ago my son nick opened up a decent sized position for us in dream finders homes, dfh. we're currently -- >> you know the it kind of interesting it's a single family home and i like that business very much. i think your kid's got horse sense. and that ladies and gentlemen is the conclusion of the "lightning round"! >> announcer: the "lightning round" is sponsored by charles schwab. coming up, how ford lost its way. cramer is devastated in dearborn. next.

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this business is not about making friends. it's about making money. that's how i feel about the disaster that is ford motor company i've championed for ages. i'll be the first to admit i got it wrong. i kept thinking this was a new ford, one that had put its warranty issues behind it. a ford that could finally make money on every vehicle they manufacture. and what's happened? as of last night it's clear that the warranty issues are very much a thing of the present, not the past. still a major problem. ford is not making money on every vehicle either. they're being crushed in the ev category. all disappointing. extremely disappointing. but you know what's really infuriating? management clearly doesn't believe the stock's worth buying here and i know that because ford's not willing to repurchase its own shares. they said on the conference call there are other things they'd rather put their money into.

oh, i guess it's an expensive stock. excuse me? if your stock is one of the five lowest price to earnings ratios in the s&p 500 like ford and you don't want to buy it back aggressively then i don't want to buy it either. in fact, i want to sell it. sell it for my charitable trust as soon as we're unrestricted meaning as soon as the rules say we can get rid of the darn thing. i can't hide my disappointment here about what i thought was i acheap stock but obviously i was wrong because i couldn't have imagined a better investment than the stock at 12 bucks. my bad. you might ask yourself is that too tough, am i being too tough? no. let me tell you something. i'm not. i'm not being tough at all. i'm being realistic. i want to make this clear. the problem with ford is not they let me down. that's a given. the problem is i believed them. i trusted them. i wanted to trust. i was hopeful and had nothing to base that hope on because the company, well, they think they're doing well. when management's words don't match up with their actions you should believe their actions. that i invested in ford for my charitable trust is an indictment not of them but it's of me. which brings me to the concept of culpability. whenever this charitable trust, the thing i run, owns a stock

that's down this big, i ask myself how the heck did i believe? what was i doing wrong? wrong? what were the clues? what did i miss? with ford i blew it and not just because the stock plunged 18% -- 18%. this is very different from the recent dliebz of alphabet or nvidia. both those stocks had long-term winners. they'd been huge winners. they'd been hit by a bout of profit taking. nvidia is still the second best performer in the s&p 500. should i have known alphabet would sell off an a bad quarter? no. the quarter was amazing. sellers just didn't want to see so much money spent on data centers they didn't want to see so much money going to nvidia which is the expensive guts of the data center but those stocks they've been roaring for ages they're winners. they can sell off and i can still hold my head high because they're still huge winning positions for the charitable trust, ones i am proud of and ones we've taken prochts of on the way up locking in big gains. but there's no such vindication

for ford, though. i screwed up. i made the mistake of buying this one and now i'm mad as hell and i'm not going to take anymore. small solace to those who listened to me and i feel i should have known better. the answer is they're right. i like to say there's always a bull market somewhere i promise to try to find it for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer. see you next time. sharks. if they hear a great idea, they'll invest their own money or fight each other for a deal. this is "shark tank." ♪♪ my name is tony devine, and i'm from bristol, pennsylvania. my product is going to revolutionize the way we train for basketball. finish! finish! oh, let's go. use that left hand! i've been a basketball coach my entire life... let's go! and i always felt like there was something missing, and that was the realism when you practiced.