Jim Cramer's Best Blogs

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Retail -- Yes, Retail -- Gives Us a Telling Rally
Posted at 12:18 p.m. EDT, June 25, 2009

Retail? Now there's an unsung leader. Who would have thought it? We have Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY) finally reacting to the loss of Linens & Things. How about JCPenney(JCP) moving? And isn't about time that Home Depot(HD) reacted to the huge number of sales -- remember it is the number of sales that matters -- and started going higher?

This is a much-maligned group because of the rising price of gasoline, even if, as Kroger(KR) told us, gasoline prices are down 41% year over year. It's a welcome rally that is suggesting that the selloff is rotation-oriented and that this selloff did begin with some really awful retail numbers.

But that's not the only goodie. As I said yesterday, this FedEx(FDX) tell is a huge one, and it is signaling that we should ignore unemployment and accept that things are going to be better in the second half.

My take: A mixture of end-of-the-quarter markup and a suggestion that, as Bed Bath, even as it was done with expense control and a modicum of better sales, can take us higher and that we would have gone higher if Darrell Issa hadn't attacked Ben Bernanke yesterday. It was not the Fed's statement after the meeting, which was good, but the attack on Bernanke that caused the selloff, which, remember, never hit the Nasdaq.

Random musings: I am so repulsed at the attack on Ben Bernanke, who, of course, is the reason why we averted a second Great Depression. Do these guys know what MAC (material adverse effect clause) means, by the way? ... Really like the new guy from Zimmer running Boston Scientific(BSX), a stock that I think can go much higher. ... Utilities on the move after the Goldman Sachs call. Pecking order: Dominion(D), Exelon(EXC) then Con Ed(ED). Least cap-and-trade problems of the majors. ... Sallie Mae(SLM) is not done. It is worth double figures. Hold on to it!

At the time of publication, Cramer was long HD.

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