Dow Down 50: Just What the Bull Doc Ordered

Down 50 points on the Dow. Sweet. That's right, we need to knock off a few points. We need to build some worry. We need some hand-wringing to go with my arm-waving, to glom on to a great Bill Fleckenstein term.

Look, I am not getting carried away. I spent the Danger Zone portion of my radio show pounding away at Tyco (TYC - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Footstar (FTS - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- Herb Greenberg derivative, for sure. And I see some disconcerting action here and there.

But for the most part, I liked today's session. I like the fact that stocks are enjoying a breather. We need to bring more people into the market, not fewer. The old up-500-down-1,000 pattern scared so many people away that it will take a long time to rebuild trust. Days like today make people a little more skeptical. That's OK, too.

Yeah, I like down 50. Just what the bull doctor ordered.

Oh yeah, Applied Materials (AMAT - commentary - Cramer's Take) reports tonight. It's going to pull a Cisco (CSCO - commentary - Cramer's Take). I would do nothing on this in-line number. Next week, some yahoo will upgrade it and it will work.

Or as one disgusted but rigorous hedge fund manager just emailed me: "AMAT stinks, we go higher" -- with a little smiley face to boot.

Random musings: I'm told that the CenterPoint (CNP - commentary - Cramer's Take) convert's very hot, for those who like that kind of stuff.

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James J. 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 by clicking here. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to [e-mail]. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Click here to buy Cramer's latest book, "You Got Screwed!" Click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict."