Bill Meehan
Time magazine's 1999 Man of the Year appears to have had yet another epiphany. And who could possibly be surprised? He's proved time and again to be a prolific dreamer of dreams and spinner of yarns, all delivered with a confident smile and a strange, irritating cackle.
Jeff Bezos's latest next big thing, according to The Wall Street Journal, is a plan called "Get the Crap Out." In another brilliant stroke of genius, he outlined this latest "plan" in a companywide email, and it's based on the novel notion that Amazon (AMZN Quote - Cramer on AMZN - Stock Picks) will stop selling unprofitable products. The company is also planning to offer higher severance packages to employees being laid off if they'll sign a "nondisparagement" agreement. As I stated on Wednesday morning, "it's mighty tough to make the case that it's reasonably valued for a retailer."Shadows of a Recession
Thursday's economic data, with the exception of December construction, were Groundhog Day-like in the sense that they continued to show that at least the manufacturing sector is in a deepening recession. The National Association of Purchasing Managers report continued to slide, and its 41.2 reading was the lowest in almost a decade. It's never been this low unless the overall economy was already in a recession. However, despite all the talk that inflation is dead, the prices paid index rose to 65.7 from December's 62.2 reading. Combined with a larger-than-expected increase in initial jobless claims
, the data bolstered the notion that Alan Greenspan will unleash another 25 basis-point rate cut before the March 20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. This morning's
employment report is also apt to show that the economy is weakening. While it's tough to say if the oversized rat will see his shadow or not, the shadow of a recession is hanging over the market. Perhaps more important today will be the University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading, as perceptions of how bad things are will dictate future spending patterns. While economists remain optimistic that further rate cuts will lead to a rebound in the second half, there may not be any measurable improvement in the economy until clear signs emerge that consumer sentiment has improved. In addition, should the dollar continue to falter, the Fed will be faced with greater inflationary pressures and the market will be faced with a significant reduction in overseas inflows. In any event, after swinging within a relatively narrow range, the market ended on a positive note, especially the Dow. The stodgy old market measure soared 120 points in the final two hours to end the day up 96 points, its best close in four months and less than 17 points away from 11,000. The S&P 500 also closed at its high, up a more modest 7. While unable to close at their highs, the Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 both finished in the green. The positive close on the Naz prevented a sell signal from being generated, but the marginal gains still leave those indices perilously close to turning me negative on the tech-driven Naz. We shall see, but I'll be focusing more on nontech stocks for trading opportunities. 
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