Walk Higher on Wrongfooted Bears

It is often the case with big moves that they occur because people are poorly positioned for the next set of events.

Last week, lots of hedge funds turned violently negative on the market because of its failure to hold the gains of Wednesday's key reversal day.

To me, that was nonsense, just quintessential options expiration shenanigans. And we had seen that there were many positives underneath that action, including some good tech and financial earnings, and excellent reaction to both.

No matter; the bears were all over the tape shorting into Friday's action.

They figured, I bet, that the irrational oil sellers would be back -- no way, they were Refco (RFXCQ - commentary - Cramer's Take), and Refco finished selling on expiration, as I said it would -- and that we would have more subpar earnings this week.

Of course, the bears didn't figure that someone who favors higher stock prices like Ben Bernanke would be named to the Fed. Now, with Refco out of the way and no new negative earnings news, you get no new supply. Plus, you get a good number from Arch Coal (ACI - commentary - Cramer's Take) that reminds us about how much money these resource companies are really making. If you question that, take a look at Schlumberger (SLB - commentary - Cramer's Take). It reported last week in the midst of the Refco selloff and went down; now it's rallying well past where it was when the quarter was reported.

Plus, as oil comes down, people are gravitating to the cyclicals. That group is enjoying a classic oversold move.

To me, as a short-term bull, the key will come with Texas Instruments (TXN - commentary - Cramer's Take), which I believe will be strong, validating the bottom in the SOX and, in part, rallying the tech complex off the confusion that was Broadcom's (BRCM - commentary - Cramer's Take) decline matched with Analog Devices' (ADI - commentary - Cramer's Take) advance.

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At the time of publication, Cramer was long Cendant and Sears Holdings.

James J. Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for ActionAlertsPLUS. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" at 6 p.m. ET weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." Cramer appreciates your feedback and invites you to send him an email by clicking here.