TheStreet.com TV Recap: British Bank Invasion

Call it the second British invasion -- only this time, banks are being targeted.

British bank HSBC (HBC Quote - Cramer on HBC - Stock Picks) is cutting into business at JP Morgan (JPM Quote - Cramer on JPM - Stock Picks), Bank of America (BAC Quote - Cramer on BAC - Stock Picks) and other U.S. banks while igniting worries about the mortgage market, said guest host Gregg Greenberg on the TheStreet.com TV's Wall St. Confidential video Thursday.

HSBC and ING (ING Quote - Cramer on ING - Stock Picks) both made the decision to get in this country big and they did it, Jim Cramer said, and it's interesting to compare their approaches.

While ING has "the best, most sophisticated online" approach, HSBC "is trying to buy your business by being the lender of last resort, and that's a bad game," he told Greenberg.

When Greenberg asked why HSBC chose not to buy another big American bank to get in the game, Cramer said it should have, and he believes HSBC made a "major mistake" to think it could grow here.

Meanwhile, people are worried about New Century's (NEW Quote - Cramer on NEW - Stock Picks) 25% yield and the probability that Accredited Home Lenders (LEND Quote - Cramer on LEND - Stock Picks) is going to have more defaults than generally thought, Cramer continued.

However, he still believes Countrywide (CFC Quote - Cramer on CFC - Stock Picks) is "right." But because the whole group is coming down now, Cramer said he'd wait a couple of days before picking a stock to buy.

Moving on to retail and same-store sales, Greenberg pointed out that the numbers have come in little bit better.

Cramer said it's "interesting to see that the winners keep winning here, with the exception of J.C. Penney (JCP Quote - Cramer on JCP - Stock Picks)."

He said Saks (SKS Quote - Cramer on SKS - Stock Picks) had a "monster month" and has been turning around. And although Cramer had written off Federated Department Stores (FD Quote - Cramer on FD - Stock Picks), it seems the company has fixed its problems.

Further, he said he believes that J.C. Penney is a good opportunity because the retailer "has a lot of things going for it."

Other higher-end retailers, such as Nordstrom (JWN Quote - Cramer on JWN - Stock Picks), Ralph Lauren (RL Quote - Cramer on RL - Stock Picks) and Saks, are "on fire," Cramer added.

Even though there are big short positions in Ralph Lauren, Cramer said he has always felt its brand is "fantastic." He advised people who don't believe in this story to take a look at its accelerated revenue growth. "This is a story with tremendous momentum in 2007," Cramer said.