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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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Let's Play 'Spin the Headlines'!

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney Columnist

11/4/2009 9:33 AM EST
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I'm donning that intellectually bearish hat this morning to be able to put the positive news I see this morning in its place.

Let's run things through that otherwise would seem bullish to me:

  1. Instead of viewing Chris Christie's win over liberal Democrat Jon Corzine as a referendum of the terrible job the Democrats are doing to create jobs and a message to Washington, Corzine's loss is strictly local -- property taxes.
  2. Instead of accepting that the October retail sales are strong, we simply acknowledge it is against easy comparisons.
  3. Instead of accepting the basic fact that the world's foremost investor made a major commitment at an extremely high price for an equity that's incredibly cyclical, the bears can dismiss it as "not his style" and therefore an aberration.
  4. We are supposed to be worried about a commercial real estate crash, but today the worry -- in both the Times and the Journal -- is an "asset bubble" that includes commercial real estate. Ah, the beauty of being a bear ... you can have it both ways!
  5. Strong auto sales for the month weren't supposed to happen. We were supposed to be stealing demand with "Cash for Clunkers." What happened to that thesis? Just forgotten?
  6. Housing was supposed to stall because of the end of the tax credit, but it is not going to expire, so are housing sales going to stay strong?
  7. Truck orders are very strong. That's a sign of confidence, but I am sure it will be explained away as some sort of statement about environmental regulations that might be coming.

This exercise gets performed every day around here, and its rigor is undisputed even though I think it represents terrible analysis that refuses to see good things for what they are -- good things. It also rankles me when it is done in the press, because the press has no accountability whatsoever. Did you ever read that back-to-school was strong even though they predicted it wasn't? Today I have. That was in the "October was strong" articles we saw today. Did those articles mention that October was supposed to be weak? No.

It's all pretty ridiculous.

The lack of money being made by this kind of nonsense is staggering me. Think about where these retail stocks, for example, have run to. They have been phenomenal. That's because the data's great. It's because people get it, even if the bears and the heavily influenced press keeps up this front.

There's no winning. Which is, again, why it is so much fun to be a bear. Every headline goes your way. All the commentary goes your way.

It just makes life so easy. I should go to Build-a-Bear after the session!

Random musings: My bear hat makes me scramble to figure out how to put a negative spin on Becton (BDX - commentary - Trade Now) and Time Warner (TWX - commentary - Trade Now), but give me until 10:00 a.m, OK?

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


Special note from Jim: You can learn my time-tested ways to trade smart, even in this market. All my latest thinking is in my brand-new book, Getting Back to Even, which I'll send to you as part of a special promotion when you sign up for my Action Alerts PLUS service for a limited time. So if you sign up now, you'll get to see how I'm playing these stocks in my portfolio today, plus, I'll teach you how you can play these stocks to help your portfolio get back to even.

Cramer's Upcoming Book Signings

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 7 p.m. Barnes & Noble, Manhattan (33 East 17th St.)





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Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman 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 Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

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