Using Insurers as a Barometer

If you are on the lookout for "tell" stocks that give you a perspective on when the market's awful or great, look no further than the insurers, which seem to give you the skinny from the get-go.

If you monitor Lincoln (LNC - commentary - Trade Now), Genworth (GNW - commentary - Trade Now) -- wow, that one's something -- Hartford (HIG - commentary - Trade Now), Principal (PFG - commentary - Trade Now) and Prudential (PRU - commentary - Trade Now), you pretty much get the best read possible because of the potent combination of poor reserves (always denied), terrible portfolios (especially commercial real estate, which is always harped as great by the companies) and underwater annuities (always presumed by the companies to not be a worry).

The rally today seems counterintuitive because Protective (PL - commentary - Trade Now), which didn't bother to purchase a savings and loan to get some sort of government protection, is doing a stock offering. Maybe people think that these companies all have windows to issue stock and get more liquid -- even as they have done offerings to death in the sector?

This group is so key that if it is getting hit, I often think the market can't rally.

Today it is flashing green, perhaps a sign of the market stabilization necessary to get any further advance.

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

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