Jim Cramer reflects on 30 years of ‘Squawk Box’

As CNBC’s “Squawk Box” celebrates its 30th anniversary, Jim Cramer reminisced about the mood on Wall Street back then. He said more investors at that time were excited about individual stocks and optimistic about making money in the market, but he suggested that attitude is returning to today’s landscape.

“Those early days of Squawk Box feel a lot like the market we’re in right now, and it’s a welcome return to form,” he said.

Cramer recalled when he was a contributor the show — years before he became the host of “Mad Money” — saying it was a program that “democratized” stocks, making market information more accessible to people.

But market excitement in the 90s turned into “pandemonium” when the dotcom bubble burst, Cramer said. Investors who didn’t “ring the register” on any of their gains weathered devastating losses, he continued. After that, he said, there were many who felt that owning individual stocks was too risky, and it was much better to invest in index funds.

Cramer said he feels that today’s investors are realizing there is money to be made on the market, saying such a sentiment is “not about greed, it’s about awareness.” Large individual stocks are seeing immense gains in a short time, he continued, and mentioned one of the market’s most continually lucrative themes, the data center.

“I think enough time has passed that we can recognize that, with stocks like an Oracle or an Nvidia or a Palantir, and so many others, we should be talking about single stock reward,” he said. “Because it’s back, and people are making fortunes.”