The Market Just Kills Consumer and Health Stocks

The results are in on the stress test: Abbott Labs (ABT - commentary - Cramer's Take), Procter & Gamble (PG - commentary - Cramer's Take), UnitedHealth (UNH - commentary - Cramer's Take), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - commentary - Cramer's Take), Pfizer (PFE - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Merck (MRK - commentary - Cramer's Take) have all failed! They are the six banks that don't pass muster.

Of course, they are "banks" only in the way they throw off cash. Same with the regional banks of Bard (BCR - commentary - Cramer's Take), Becton Dickinson (BDX - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Baxter (BAX - commentary - Cramer's Take).

The selling in these stocks -- daily, relentless, all-consuming -- is a continual reminder that there still is no new money coming into this market. Just the opposite -- money is flowing out. You know that because the stocks that are going up, like Caterpillar (CAT - commentary - Cramer's Take), 3M (MMM - commentary - Cramer's Take), Ingersoll-Rand (IR - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Emerson (EMR - commentary - Cramer's Take), don't require a lot of capital to move and are part of a very small cohort of the S&P, and the stocks that are being sold are behemoths and huge parts of the S&P 500.

This is a historic selloff in this group, I believe. It is as endless a selloff as I have ever seen. It has driven down stocks like Abbott, incredible growth stocks, to levels that are absurd, but of course they are getting more absurd every day. Look at the yields on some of these growth pharmas! They are huge!

I cannot possibly push these stocks on people. They are too WRONG. I am not buying them for Action Alerts PLUS, although I am loath to sell them down here. I did let some Celgene (CELG - commentary - Cramer's Take) go this morning but I was reluctant and it felt terrible given that it is down from $70.

But there is a point where people have to recognize that as the economy improves, these stocks are only going to go down more, and the economy is improving. Worse, if it improves "too much" then people will be worried about stagflation and this group will just be punished some more.

It's a hard group to buy. But down here -- and down lower from here -- you have to believe you could be in for some historic buys for at least some of the more growth-oriented names.

Random musings: I am very much still on the other side of Doug's expanding short book, and I continue to like the market here as an opportunity if it sells off between now and the bell, which I think it will.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Abbott, Caterpillar, Celgene, Emerson, Ingersoll-Rand and 3M.

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