Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Positives in a Bear Market

Click here for an archive of Jim Cramer's Mad Money recaps.

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Are things really better off now than they were three months ago? That's the question Jim Cramer posed on his "Mad Money" TV show Friday.

"Not really," said Cramer, who noted four things that are going right in the market.

Cramer said the first thing going right is retail. Some retailers, he said, posted some better-than-expected earnings this week. If things were still getting worse, companies like Wal-Mart (WMT Quote), a stock which he owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, would be posting negative same-store sales, instead of positive ones, and companies like Family Dollar (FDO Quote) would not be making positive comments.

The second thing going right was semiconductors. He said he sees some price firming in that sector and companies like Qualcomm (QCOM Quote), another Action Alerts Plus name, should indeed be better off now than three months ago.

Third, copper inventories are continuing to fall and metal prices across the board are starting to rise. He said this bodes well for the mining and mineral stocks.

Fourth, while some companies are cutting their dividends, like Wells Fargo (WFC Quote), others such as Coca-Cola (KO Quote) and Kimberly Clark (KMB Quote) are raising theirs.

Since none of those four trump increasing job losses, staggering bank failures, an incredible 40% drop in auto sales and the appalling destruction of wealth and optimism being caused by Obama, Cramer said he's staying in the bear camp for the time being.

Cramer also discussed the potential bear case for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In a worst-case scenario, he said the index could fall as low as 5320 because he's no longer hopeful about a second-half recovery.

In order for the Dow to fall to that level, however, a number of things will have to go wrong for the industrials. (To read a detailed account of Cramer's take on the Dow 30, please click the following link. Cramer: Worst-Case Dow View.)