Jim Cramer's Best Blogs

Jim Cramer fills his blog on RealMoney every day with his up-to-the-minute reactions to what's happening in the market and his legendary ahead-of-the-crowd ideas. This week he blogged on:

• a bullish sign for steel;
• an end of the Wall Street madness; and
• how natural gas is floating to the top.

Click here for information on RealMoney, where you can see all the blogs, including Jim Cramer's -- and reader comments -- in real time.

---

Bullish Sign for Steel

Posted Wednesday, June 2, 9:38 a.m. EDT

Do you sell all of your steel stocks when the smartest steel company in the Southern Hemisphere, Gerdau, goes and buys Gerdau Ameristeel (GNA), its U.S. affiliate, for $1.7 billion? It already owned 66.3% -- why bother, unless you know that the stub is cheap? The Tampa-based company is at the heart of the worst construction market in the country -- Florida -- and the Brazilians are making their move.

We have seen endless articles about how the steel markets in the West are contracting and pricing is not holding up (from the bulls) or pricing is crashing (the bears). The stories have driven U.S. Steel (X) down 25 straight points from $69 to $44 and at one point cut AK Steel (AKS) in half. Nucor (NUE), one of my absolute favorites and an Action Alerts PLUS name, has been hurt much less, but it has been dinged all the same.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

I think that Gerdau, which has a great call on the growth region in Latin America -- it dominates the continent -- has a cooler head than they analysts. It is taking advantage of the negativity and the pessimism to scoop this one up at a 20% discount to its high -- not all that far from the top, again, but still off sharply lately -- at a hefty premium, something that you could argue it didn't need to do because it owns two-thirds of the company.

It is a bullish sign in a sea of steel negativity and worth thinking about as the stock trades through $11 on the bid.

Random musings: Vegas may be hurt but the preliminary May numbers from Macau remain very strong. Great for Wynn (WYNN) and a reminder that Steve's tirade against our government may have resonance.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Nucor.