Jim Cramer with the specific reasons for the sale on Thursday

August has been a month where we have unexplained or inexplicable, sudden sell-offs, including nasty ones like today."

As the Dow Jones Industrial average fell more than 250 points intraday, experts blamed the decline on everything from President Donald Trump's tiff with the CEOs on his now-disbanded strategic councils to the earnings report from Dow component Cisco.

So Cramer decided to go over the market's many reasons for the decline and explain his reaction to each explanation.

Trump's CEO Problem
The first was the most obvious: investors were selling because they saw Trump's rift with business leaders as an obstacle to the president's economic agenda and thus to the bull market.

"If you're selling stocks because so many CEOs are getting off the Trump train, I've got a news flash for you: you need a better reason," Cramer said. "Trump's economic agenda is stalled because Congress can't get its act together. It can't even pass a debt ceiling bill. If the executive council dismissals is what makes you want to sell, you should've gotten out months ago."

Cramer argued that while the CEOs were in favor of some of the Trump agenda's key points, like tax reform and repatriation, they were more concerned about their shareholders and backing the president's highly controversial comments about the violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Gary Cohn
The second-most cited reason for selling has been the rumor that one of Trump's top advisors, former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn, is preparing to step down from his role as head of the National Economic Council.

Cramer said that while his departure would justify investors taking profits, the White House's unequivocal denial of the rumor effectively erases any reason to sell on the reports.

"I certainly can see that Cohn's important enough to Trump's economic agenda that his leaving would really hurt the stock market," Cramer said. "But then again, the White House issued a statement saying he's not going anywhere, so it's not a particularly cogent reason to sell."

Earnings
The market may have shrugged off earnings from Cisco, but Cramer said that really only justified investors are selling their shares of Cisco. The tech giant's success hinged on how shareholders viewed its execution, not because there was a lack of demand for its products, he said.

Shares of Wal-Mart also slid after the retailer reported. Cramer thought it delivered an excellent quarter, and attributed the stock's decline to the market's already-high expectations.

Spain
The fatal terrorist attack in Barcelona where a van plowed into pedestrians, killing at least a dozen and injuring more than 50, may have shaken investors, but Cramer pointed out that if markets sold off on every terror attack, they would be below zero by now.

"I also believe we'll get a bunch of sell-offs like this one over the next six weeks because that's what happens every year at this time."

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

Jr Trader Petar Milanov

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