Retail Is Dead To Me

Is the trade in retail over? I think it is. I didn't see much that impresses from this month besides Wal-Mart (WMT - commentary - Cramer's Take), as the others, including my faves -- TJX (TJX - commentary - Cramer's Take), Costco (COST - commentary - Cramer's Take) and BJ's (BJ - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- have now made huge moves in anticipation of exactly what we got.

I know that the tax rebates are now in our hands or getting into our hands, but I know that any trade off of those is behind us. The market discounted this news quite effectively (as it can do when things aren't so convoluted by the shorts, as Fannie Mae (FNM - commentary - Cramer's Take) was the other day).

You can really tell how things are exhausted to the upside by looking at Aeropostale (ARO - commentary - Cramer's Take), which has already reversed off of great numbers, and Kohl's (KSS - commentary - Cramer's Take), which is headed down after a decent performance.

Now, though, we just have higher oil prices, no more big benefits from the calendar, and a sense that the lack of home equity is really about to hit home. So what would I do? I would sell select ones: Home Depot (HD - commentary - Cramer's Take), Kohl's, Macy's (M - commentary - Cramer's Take), VF Corp. (VFC - commentary - Cramer's Take) (for now) and Phillips-Van Heusen. I would let them come in and wait for the bears to push them down further before I would look at them again. I would sell Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY - commentary - Cramer's Take), too, as I think that Linens & Things can flood the market with goods. I would sell Best Buy (BBY - commentary - Cramer's Take) for the same reason, because I think Circuit City (CC - commentary - Cramer's Take) is in real trouble, and if Blockbuster (BBI - commentary - Cramer's Take) wakes up from its stupidity, that company would have to come clean on its supplier problems.

This group, which enjoyed a nice rally, is now truly dead to me for a while.

Keep buying Wal-Mart. Hold on to Costco and Urban Outfitters (URBN - commentary - Cramer's Take).

Sell the rest.

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

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