Forget Tech

The stunning declines in Cisco (CSCO - commentary - Cramer's Take) and VMware and its parent EMC (EMC - commentary - Cramer's Take) remind us that we have been whistling past the tech graveyard for a very long time. Think about it --Seagate (STX - commentary - Cramer's Take) at a new low. Incredible pain in Oracle (ORCL - commentary - Cramer's Take) after that quarter. Nvidia (NVDA - commentary - Cramer's Take) on a real blowup. But it is Cisco that really should concern those who are hanging onto a group that has become a really difficult sector to own.

I find the whole round trip that Cisco made after its lukewarm quarter to be astounding. Here's a company that reported a so-so quarter and so-so outlook and immediately plunged to $23 from the mid-$20s, then rallied to $27 and change on sentiment that the market was too negative on the networker, and now it comes more than full circle to $21 on fears of declining IT spending. You can't blame the fears, VMware's fall from grace has its roots in declining IT spending. So does the drip-drop decline in Hewlett-Packard (HPQ - commentary - Cramer's Take), although I think that's an opportunity.

I want to reiterate that there is nothing really exciting about tech -- hence my focus on new tech, companies like Flowserve (FLS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Robbins & Myers (RBN - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- other than Research In Motion (RIMM - commentary - Cramer's Take), Google (GOOG - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Apple (AAPL - commentary - Cramer's Take), and I have been a buyer right here only of RIMM and GOOG. I just don't like tech. Why? Because of a decline in consumer and corporate computer spending.

Suddenly, with one whisper about Cisco from an analyst and the collapse of a dysfunctional VMware, it is all upon us.

Tech's not in season. Never has been in the summer. It only rallies when oil goes down -- again, I have said what a silly intersection that is -- and when oil's not going down and the truth about IT spending is focused on, you get what you have today. PAIN! Don't forget, tech is a "sell in May and go away" story. I would continue to stay away.

Random musings: This Freddie Mac (FRE - commentary - Cramer's Take) is bringing us down again today. The government is still offering no solution to declining home prices, which is the real reason for the recession, despite attempts to blame it all on oil.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long EMC.

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