Dow Chemical Shakes Things Up

Just when you thought it was safe to short anything, particularly anything with any commodity exposure, Dow Chemical (DOW - commentary - Cramer's Take) comes along and inexplicably pays a gigantic amount of money, $78 in cash, for Rohm & Haas (ROH - commentary - Cramer's Take)? My first thought was that it must be a joke. That is inconceivable. A hoax. Something perpetrated by frustrated longs to spook the shorts.

I mean, a chemical company? Two chemical companies? Ground Zero for slowing economic activity and raw costs? People unsure if Dow could even pay its nearly 5% yield? I mean, even last night on my show, I made fun of the idea that people are confusing Becton Dickenson (BDX - commentary - Cramer's Take), a medical supply company, with a chemical company because it uses resin.

Amazing.

So now, the whole market re-evaluates for a second and wonders whether Dow thinks oil's gone up enough or sees an economic recovery, or whether stocks are just too darned low and they wanted to take advantage of the declines, which they regard as cyclical and almost over. I say that because ROH's lineup is deeply cyclical and is therefore considered deeply history.

Stunning.

Will it matter? Maybe. But remember Mars and Buffett bought Wrigley (WWY - commentary - Cramer's Take), and for a couple of days we had chatter that stocks were too cheap, and where did it get us?

In Mars' defense, that deal marked a near bottom in the defensive stocks. Have you seen where they are?

Maybe this deal will mark a top in energy? That's what Dow needs. Stranger things have happened.

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

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