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If you don't need money, you don't feel this one. If you don't need the credit markets, you don't feel it.
If your company is liquid and your stock is high, you can pretty much do whatever you want. You can pick and chose among the derivative chaos. You can stand there and buy your stock as the futures take it down. The world is your oyster. Consider companies like Intel (INTC - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Microsoft (MSFT - commentary - Cramer's Take). They have the capital to stand there and buy everything and they do. So does a Coke (KO - commentary - Cramer's Take). They must sit back and laugh in Atlanta that they are even part of the S&P futures meltdown that seems to go on every day. Exxon (XOM - commentary - Cramer's Take) must feel the same. They can stand there at the post of the New York Stock Exchange and every time it looks bad they can say, "We will buy 10% of the volume." And then the stock bounces right back with supply taken out. Microsoft is the best example. This behemoth has just put on 7 quick points in an uncertain time because it has taken out so much stock and its earnings are accelerating. It doesn't know what to do with all of its cash. Contrast that with Washington Mutual (WM - commentary - Cramer's Take), which was returning the very cash to the shareholders that it needed for reserves. The futures, of course, treat these companies exactly the same way, which is just kind of ludicrous when you think about it. It is why the futures have created such opportunity of late, you simply buy the ones that don't need cash and sell the ones that do, and you have a winning hand. It's such a great litmus test that you can pretty much determine stock price performance by it. Consider this pattern today as the futures want to take everything down. They will be throwing out the Cokes and the Pepsis (PEP - commentary - Cramer's Take) with the Citigroups (C - commentary - Cramer's Take) and the Washington Mutuals. You just have to figure out the right levels. The companies themselves have it even easier. They want everything they can get their hands on. Random musings: RAIT Financial (RAS - commentary - Cramer's Take) with a huge loss. I would normally think "goner," but these bad ones have lives of their own! At the time of publication, Cramer was long Citigroup.
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. Brokerage Partners
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