Cramer looks to the pandemic era to understand today’s market [Video]

CNBC’s Jim Cramer told investors on Thursday they should consider the performance of stocks during the pandemic to better understand today’s economy.

“If you want to understand this economy, it’s all about knowing what happened in the past and then looking for ways to extrapolate it to the future,” he said. “The pandemic may be over, but we are just now finding out how our habits have changed — some permanently, and some, in retrospect, not at all.”

Cramer said he believes considering the past is necessary to best analyze market action in the present. According to him, stocks are still heavily influenced by Covid, even though it can be difficult to figure out exactly how.

For example, Conagra, which makes packaged and frozen foods, had been doing well before the pandemic. Consumers appreciated the company’s inexpensive meals, but they turned away when Covid inflation drove up prices, Cramer said. However, the stock has …