Tech Needs a Catalyst By Jim Cramer RealMoney.com Columnist 3/31/2008 1:58 PM EDT

Apple (AAPL) and Research In Motion (RIMM) have some heavy lifting to do.

I say that because the destruction of capital in the Nasdaq is pretty shocking and only these two appear to be going higher. I don't know how sustainable RIMM is; that's tomorrow's report and I feel that it will be overwhelmed by the gloom. Apple? Feels good but overextended.

Of course, you can rely on Intel (INTC) and Cisco (CSCO) to not go down a lot. Intel's all share-take off of the implosion of AMD (AMD) .

Microsoft's (MSFT) doing well but mired in the Yahoo! (YHOO) takeover. If the Yahoo! takeover happens, it will crush Google's (GOOG) margins. Google's trying to bounce. Emphasis on trying.

It doesn't matter, anything that even comes near the Web goes down indiscriminately and has to be avoided, as advertising in the country is in free fall and taking a big share of declining dollars doesn't cut it. Cisco? It didn't have a good quarter but it hangs in.

I think that it is being buoyed in part by comments from Ciena (CIEN) , which does act well -- a rare earnings surprise. But I don't like to get too comfortable because Juniper (JNPR) , another in the segment, acts awfully.

You take stocks that used to be important, stocks like SanDisk (SNDK) , and Sun Micro (JAVA) , or IAC (IACI) and Marvell (MRVL) and you can't believe the declines. They are stunning.

This decline in Broadcom (BRCM) is ferocious. Tellabs (TLAB) , ADC Telecommunications (ADCT) , they are actually doing OK, but no one cares.

There's no theme beyond the iPhone here. The only big increases come from a periodic takeover or from a lawsuit victory, a la Tessera (TSRA) or a Rambus (RMBS) . Those feel like short-squeezes anyway.

Now the incredible collapse of anything educational -- all of these schools that needed cheap student loans -- is shocking in its tailspin. Why should we think that Apollo Group (APOL) bottoms or DeVry (DV) or Strayer (STRA) or Career Education (CECO) ?

Does anyone want to bottom-fish in those, especially when First Marblehead (FMD) and Sallie Mae (SLM) seem to be disappearing.

Garmin (GRMN) ? Please. The only thing it has going for it is a possible blocking of the Nokia (NOK) -Navteq (NVT) deal by European regulators.

Meanwhile, we have so little actual industry in the Nazz: Paccar (PCAR) , Joy Global (JOYG) , Steel Dynamics (STLD) . It is almost as if they have to do all the real lifting because tech can't work.

Same with Gilead (GILD) which works well. Celgene (CELG) seems out of steam; Biogen (BIIB) needs a takeover.

Now I know we should beware that people are all so negative. That's a big plus. But it is the only plus from where I see. And just being against the gloom doesn't cut it.

Not at all.

We need some sort of catalyst or demand that hasn't existed. We don't see it. Which is why everything that's good seems like a short squeeze.

Not much more.

Random musings: Didn't think the market would react this way to Fortune Brands' (FO) losing of Absolut. I would sell the stock aggressively into this ramp.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in stocks mentioned in this post.

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