We're Mired in an Up-and-Down Market

The market never seems to want to hang out at one level. We either get a rumor-punctuated downdraft, typically based on a financial rumor that has credence because there is so much out there; or we get a sense that the Fed could do something intra-day, and we take things up.

Very rarely is the market moving on earnings. It would be so easy, for example, to say, "I just heard that Ambac (ABK - commentary - Cramer's Take) caused an emergency meeting with the insurance commissioner." Who could think that's positive? Or how about a Fed governor who says he is "quite concerned" about the new down leg off of the ISM service number -- would you want to be short?

Every now and then, the market gets levered to an earnings report. We liked Time Warner (TWX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Disney (DIS - commentary - Cramer's Take), both of which showed little economic sensitivity, so the bulls could make a case of "the recession won't be that bad, because if it were, these two companies would see it" and do some buying. But that's not sustainable for a full day, and it is too easy for the sellers simply to come back on talk that there's no bottom in housing and some group of CDO Squared -- a bunch of BBB-rated bonds grouped together -- is about to be downgraded, which could really hurt Merrill Lynch (MER - commentary - Cramer's Take).

That's the market we are in. I would not trust it when it's higher. That's been a sucker's game.

When it's down 200 or more, though, that's been a great point.

Sit on your hands.

There's not much cooking.

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

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