Traders Take the Hammer to Industrials

The industrials are so hated right now that I find it unnerving. Should Eaton(ETN Quote) have been down 10 at one point because it guided down by 20 cents off an $8 number? Should Parker-Hannifin(PH Quote) have been down 4 at one point because of Eaton? Should Honeywell(HON Quote) be back under the $50s even though it said things are OK?

I believe you have to go back to the notion that until May we didn't see a worldwide slowdown. The market anticipated it and started selling off all of the industrials, but this market is very unforgiving, and the same reason why people had already sold Eaton down 10 was another good reason to sell it down another 10.

To me there's no opportunity here for now. I am watching Foster Wheeler(FWLT Quote) get hammered after hours because of Chicago Bridge & Iron(CBI Quote). I see United Technologies(UTX Quote) below $60. Boeing(BA Quote) may not be able to hold this level. Emerson(EMR Quote) getting crushed.

And I say to myself, wait. Let all of the numbers be cut. Wait until they are low enough to be beaten and then, and only then, can you go back in. It's that grim out there.

They aren't the banks. They have a ton of cash. They can buy back stock. They are capable of having a turn the moment business even stabilizes. But when business has just turned down as it has in places like Spain and Britain, it is too early to buy the stocks or, if you own them, to buy more of the stocks until the numbers have been sliced and diced and until expectations, which are now too high, become more realistic.

Random musings: I think Intel(INTC Quote) is the snoozer I was afraid of. How sickening was it that at one point the Nasdaq was up over a percent and no one even knew why! ... James Altucher doing some great stuff over at flagship, that's all must-read. Some explosive names!

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Foster Wheeler.