Stock Market Today With Jim Cramer: Avoid China Stocks

Stocks were mostly higher Monday as Wall Street prepared for what is expected to be a robust earnings season, particularly for big U.S. banks as the economy improves.

The three major stock indexes on Friday closed at records as worries about spreading COVID-19 variants and their impact on global growth eased. The S&P 500 has closed at a record 38 times this year.

Avoid Chinese Stocks, Cramer Reiterates 

TheStreet's Jim Cramer on Monday reiterated why he is not a fan of Chinese stocks amid news that the Communist Party is tightening its grip on the world's largest economy. 

"President Xi is a dictator" and "he has determined that the rich people in their country should not be as rich as they are," Cramer said from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. "He's afraid of billionaires. He's afraid of American billionaires. And he is doing his best to make it so that these companies don't leave China. He wants them to stay in China so he can harbor, he can strangle them."

Didi Global's  (DIDI) - Get Report U.S.-listed shares fell after the Chinese ride-hailing company said the Chinese government’s shutdown of 25 of its apps would dent its revenue.

Spotting a Pump and Dump

AMC Entertainment  (AMC) - Get Report and GameStop  (GME) - Get Report not included, Jim Cramer says, meme stocks like China's Sgoco  (SGOC) - Get Report look like pump-and-dump efforts by investors. 

Shares of Sgoco surged on Monday as investors continued to push so-called meme stocks higher. They expect momentum as well as sales-and-earnings potential to raise the valuations of lesser-known, lesser-proven companies.

"The ones away from AMC and GameStop appear to be cooking. They seem to me to be pump and dumps. ... It's beyond me that this stuff is allowed. It's beyond me that you can have a Chinese stock that could be ramped like this. But they're ramping it. There's no reason for it."