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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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Gasoline Plunge Puts Funds in a Big Squeeze

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist

7/23/2008 11:47 AM EDT
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OK, I will say it, this is the greatest short squeeze I have ever seen, and it is based on the coming dramatic drop in gasoline. There's just no place for it, no place to put it. And it is entirely unexpected. No hedge fund was prepared for this.

 
The stocks that are rallying here are the stocks that have been the most heavily shorted in every segment: banks, savings-and-loans, brokerages, and then all the gasoline users: retailers like Kohl's (KSS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Macy's (M - commentary - Cramer's Take), airlines -- any airlines -- appliances, stocks like Whirlpool (WHR - commentary - Cramer's Take), all brokerages, and autos, casinos -- anything that does well with gasoline lower. Throw in HMOs, so shorted, which rallied on an inline number for UnitedHealth Group (UNH - commentary - Cramer's Take)! Incredible.

The stuff that is down, which has no bottom: ag, oil, gas, oil service, coal, minerals, steels.

We are seeing the unwinding of everything that has been going on for the last year. It is vicious, and it overwhelms the fundamentals like Washington Mutual (WM - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- a really bad quarter -- or Costco (COST - commentary - Cramer's Take).

These are gigantic moves, and they relate to a hedge-fund community that has completely and utterly been on the wrong side of the trade.

I have never seen anything like it. So much money, so wrong, so poorly positioned, producing an exact inversion of the gains that were made for the last year.

Just repealed.

Random musings: This tech world is totally upside down, too. Research In Motion (RIMM - commentary - Cramer's Take) is now viewed as worst-is-over situation, aided by AT&T's (ATT - commentary - Cramer's Take) good numbers. But ADC Telecommunications (ADCT - commentary - Cramer's Take), which had been doing well, is a disaster.

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






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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

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