Cheap Gas Means More Pocket Money

Are people positioning themselves for lower gasoline prices? You can see a nascent rally developing in the restaurants and retailers, the plays that people reach for when oil's headed down.

I am seeing Yum! Foods (YUM - commentary - Trade Now), Brinker (EAT - commentary - Trade Now) and Darden Restaurants (DRI - commentary - Trade Now) moving slowly higher. Those were the three stocks that led the big rally. They are the spare change plays, the ultimate discretionary income plays that come from feeling a tad richer.

The trend seems to be spilling into some retail like Kohls (KSS - commentary - Trade Now) and TJX (TJX - commentary - Trade Now), although not in a stock like Polo Ralph Lauren (RL - commentary - Trade Now), which is the opposite of the two winners in the segment.

Sometimes I get angry when the things that are supposed to derail the economy -- higher gasoline and higher mortgage rates -- don't "rail" the economy when they return around.

I know Darden did not have a blowout quarter, but it sure could with any decline in gasoline to below $2.50 a gallon.

I would watch that and buy some Yum! too.

Random musings: Some great stuff on the site today -- Don Dion's ETFpiece on natural gas, sideways market from Doug Kass, big trigger-pulling from Ron Insana and Rick Bensignor. All must-reads -- go there!

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Yum! Brands.

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