This Irrational Market Scares Money Away

The exaggerated moves here, nat gas slips 50 cents, the nat gas stocks get wrecked, nat gas up 50 cents, they soar, the incredible swings in oil -- down $8 as I write -- simply are more signs of the ills of this market, ills that are so glaring, that are so ludicrous, as to make anyone think that the whole darned market is phony.

Brazil says it is pumping like normal, Bernanke says the economy is slowing -- no kidding! -- and Devon (DVN - commentary - Cramer's Take) goes down $5, and Transocean (RIG - commentary - Cramer's Take) which just signed a huge deal with Brazil, goes down $3.

The temptation is to say that this is all "topping out," but the issue I have with that is that the thinness of this market and the lack of any serious market-making have turned many stocks into pieces of paper that are all just too risky to own.

I like natural gas. It's been a big win. I think that its decline is positive for its use, but I also think that there is a secular shift toward natural gas that never seems to get reflected, as all decisions are made off the next futures tick.

Why this matters is that as long as we get massive gyrations, we will lose more and more people to this market, and right now what we need more than ever are more players.

I am buying these energy stocks on the way down to sell them on the way up, yesterday trimming National Oilwell Varco (NOV - commentary - Cramer's Take) after it rallied 10 points in three days. I bet that it happens again.

Random musings: Lots of gutsy calls going on right now on the site: Doug Kass going long Lehman (LEH - commentary - Cramer's Take); Robert Marcin pressing his anti-coal bet. So much to digest. ... Still stocked at an 8-point decline in Eaton (ETN - commentary - Cramer's Take), but the quarter was squishy.. Kimberly-Clark (KMB - commentary - Cramer's Take) back to reality. How weird was that decline?

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Devon and National Oilwell Varco.

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