Cramer's Take on Top-Searched Stocks

Updated from 6:59 a.m. EDT

Oil prices finally moved up, nearing $120 a barrel after a four-week slide in oil prices. Of course, this put the market on its heels a bit. The market also had to digest some tough earnings news.

AIG(AIG Quote - Cramer on AIG - Stock Picks) posted a huge second-quarter loss, sending shares almost 20% down.

Meanwhile, the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart(WMT Quote - Cramer on WMT - Stock Picks), reported a 3% rise in sales at U.S. stores open at least a year in July, slightly below Wall Street estimates. An increase of around 3.4% had been expected by some pundits. Wal-Mart had forecasted a gain of 2% to 4%.

So it was another tough day for the financials, including Washington Mutual(WM Quote - Cramer on WM - Stock Picks), Wachovia(WB Quote - Cramer on WB - Stock Picks), Bank of America(BAC Quote - Cramer on BAC - Stock Picks), Merrill Lynch(MER Quote - Cramer on MER - Stock Picks). And the retail sector also struggled.

So which way is the economy headed?

With this in mind, we thought we'd take a look at Thursday's most-searched stocks on TheStreet.com, including General Mills(GIS Quote - Cramer on GIS - Stock Picks), Ford(F Quote - Cramer on F - Stock Picks) and Johnson & Johnson(JNJ Quote - Cramer on JNJ - Stock Picks), and see what Jim Cramer's had to say about them recently.

To read the rest of the story and find out what Cramer's been recommending lately, please click here.

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A note from James Altucher:

Every weekend I send an email to Jim Cramer and several hedge fund managers about the most interesting portfolios posted on Stockpickr that week. Usually those portfolios not only list stocks according to a theme but also offer significant analysis as to why the stocks are cheap.

Here are some examples:

• Stocks related to drilling the Marcellus Shale
• MLPS with yields above 7%
• Microcaps trading for less than tangible book
• Stocks that do well after Hurricanes

Here's the challenge: Build a portfolio at Stockpickr.com with great analysis, and send me the link. Each great portfolio (with analysis) will get posted on TheStreet.com with your byline (as a "Stockpickr Guest Columnist") and will be included in my email I send to Jim and the other hedge fund managers on my list.