Don't Be Confused by Tech's Pin Action

You get one good tech number, Texas Instruments (TXN - commentary - Cramer's Take), and the pin action's so typical as to be nauseating. Of course the buyers come back in Qualcomm (QCOM - commentary - Cramer's Take) immediately. They simply cant resist.

National Semi (NSM - commentary - Cramer's Take) runs immediately. Applied Materials (AMAT - commentary - Cramer's Take) has to go up.

KLA-Tencor (KLAC - commentary - Cramer's Take) rallies. So does Hewlett-Packard (HPQ - commentary - Cramer's Take), for heaven's sake.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Tellabs (TLAB - commentary - Cramer's Take) make a move, too, and both of those reported bad quarters.

True, Altera (ALTR - commentary - Cramer's Take) actually propelled itself and didn't feast off the pin action of others. And IBM (IBM - commentary - Cramer's Take) shocked with that dividend boost, especially when there was such ennui about the quarter.

I don't trust tech at all, but obviously others don't either, which is why we are getting the rally we have today.

There are some real issues here: the inventory glut and whether it is over. Avnet (AVT - commentary - Cramer's Take) said it, so did Arrow (ARW - commentary - Cramer's Take), but it matters tremendously to everyone that Texas Instruments says it -- even as Texan has hardly been a great barometer in the past.

No matter; it's simply the fact that hedge funds, again, were way too negative. And with the exception of Lexmark (LXK - commentary - Cramer's Take), you just didn't get enough negatives to make people cautious or fearful.

I can't endorse tech here. I would rather buy Whirpool (WHR - commentary - Cramer's Take) up $12, or anything from the cohort of Honeywell (HON - commentary - Cramer's Take), United Tech (UTX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Caterpillar (CAT - commentary - Cramer's Take), given the foreign exposure.

But if I were short the group, I would understand the angst.

And the need to cover.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar.

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.