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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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Drugs and Steel Both Up? What's Going On?

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist

7/9/2008 1:23 PM EDT
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The unholy duality of steel and drugs moving up in tandem is freaking out most of the hedge funds I talk to. These two groups, logically, cannot go up at once. In fact, as I have been demonstrating all week in the Cramerican Marine Field Manual for Recessions, you would buy the drug stocks because of the decline in commodities.

But how about if they are both right? Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF - commentary - Cramer's Take) raised numbers dramatically, and if the iron producer can do that, hasn't Nucor (NUE - commentary - Cramer's Take) collapsed beyond all reason? Isn't U.S. Steel (X - commentary - Cramer's Take) a buy, as I posited last night after speaking to the Sims Metal Management boss, given that the world demand greatly exceeds supply, regardless of GM's (GM - commentary - Cramer's Take) build?

I think that the world-falling-off-a-cliff theory is way too negative, even though I am extremely negative on the U.S. economy. Given how nation-centric we are about the U.S. vs. the rest of the world, you can see how the rest of the world focuses on Cleveland-Cliffs while the domestic buyers focus on the plunging oil futures.

If both are right, we could be in for a couple of days where we just flit from group to group. That's what it looks like today.

The market remains oversold, we have more bears than anytime since 1994 -- amazing -- and we have people like Ken Heebner, my favorite mutual fund manager as mentioned in Stay Mad For Life, saying this is a great moment to buy because of the pessimism. You have Byron Wien consistently saying that things are about to get better.

Against all of that, you have the possibility of a collapse in Fannie (FNM - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Freddie (FRE - commentary - Cramer's Take). But those aren't going to happen in the next couple of days.

So the tug of war is right now on the side of the extreme bulls -- the steel buyers -- and extreme bears -- the drug buyers.

What an odd time!

Random musings: T. Boone Pickens has come out with a series of pro-windmill ads. Obviously it is lost on people, but those will most likely be using Trinity (TRN - commentary - Cramer's Take) castings and be installed by Quanta (PWR - commentary - Cramer's Take), two stocks I like for Action Alerts PLUS that have been just clobbered. ... Sorry, I can't accept that natural gas stocks will be down every day on nickel and dime or even quarter trades in nat gas futures. To repeat, nat gas is a play on our "hole" in energy, meaning how we need something to bridge our nation while we come up with cleaner alternatives.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Trinity and Quanta.






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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. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

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