Soft Goods Are Hit Hard

Here we go with the slaughter of the soft-goods consumer stocks, the killing of the smoke-eat-drink-wash stocks that we get over and over again as people imagine a quick recovery and don't recognize that a recession, short or long, gives us better compares. We have to hear about the strong dollar and how it hurt them, and then we take them down because they have been so-called leaders and are so-called immune, even though you can hardly call them leaders and I don't know a soul who thinks they are immune.

The simple fact is that defensive is not going to go out of style, although the stocks ebb and flow with the futures and with those knuckleheaded enough to believe that all is going to accelerate with the economy.

A combination, though, of low petroleum prices, lower raw costs and a consumer who has to buy necessities will always buoy the Procters (PG - commentary - Cramer's Take) and the Johnson & Johnsons (JNJ - commentary - Cramer's Take) and the Krafts (KFT - commentary - Cramer's Take) and the General Mills (GIS - commentary - Cramer's Take) right back.

These stocks react poorly either to rotations like we are having into infrastructure or to inflation, which everyone has decided we are going to have because of all of the money that is printed.

I like to buy these stocks on any weakness because we have rampant deflation that still can't be cured by what we have printed, and because in the end, year-over-year compares here will be better than for just about any other industry group.

So go join the selling, as long as you buy them back when you are finished.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Johnson & Johnson, Kraft and General Mills.

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Know what you own: Cramer mentions infrastructure. Companies in the industry include Foster Wheeler (FWLT - commentary - Cramer's Take), Shaw Group (SGR - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Jacobs Engineering (JEC - commentary - Cramer's Take).

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