Hunker Down on Battleground Day

Mark up vs. freak out. Tariffs vs. desire to do well for the quarter. Iran and, well, Iran-contra.

You know what that means: battleground. And battlegrounds mean "step away from your computer or be hit by enfilading fire that could really cause you to do the wrong thing."

We should not have gone up Thursday, but you know my "theory" -- I'm stressing theory because these days merely mentioning a corrupt practice with the intent of blowing it wide open gets me blown up! -- that the markups, which do still go on, happen the day before the quarter end, and then the markers just bid underneath to protect the gains.

But the bidding, like some of the hapless buybacks, got blown away from people fearing trade war, real war and subprime Armageddon (what a bunch of jokers those H&R Block (HRB - commentary - Cramer's Take) people are to say things are going badly in dumping subprime; that just marked their portfolio down even further) without any Fed cavalry to save the day.

My friend Dave Peltier reminded me that this is historically a really crummy day, so maybe we should just wait it out and research things, as Cody Willard suggested later.

Is it a trade war? I don't think so. We have to act like we are tough with China or the people are not appeased. Is it a real war with Iran? You can see the Brits doing some caving this weekend, which is why oil drillers are getting hit. Is the Fed oblivious to subprime? No, but unlike the stooges -- and I use that term stringently -- at H&R Block, the Fed governors know better than to ignite a panic. Remember, in the end, the Fed wants sold homes, not foreclosures.

In other words: It's business as usual after a really big run last week and a big markup day Thursday.

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

ALL JIM CRAMER BLOG ENTRIES | POST A COMMENT | READ COMMENTS  

---

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. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order his book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here.

TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Traders' Library under which it receives a portion of the revenue from Traders' Library purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.