Jim Cramer's Stop Trading! Avoid the Brokers

Avoid the brokers till Friday, after the first round of earnings is out, Jim Cramer said Tuesday on CNBC's "Stop Trading!" segment.

Cramer said the subprime lending meltdown shows why it's important to sit out trades in Goldman (GS Quote), Lehman (LEH Quote) and Bear Stearns (BSC Quote) till after they've all reported first-quarter earnings this week. Goldman was off modestly despite a strong quarter, and the other two were down more than 5% amid worries that they'll be hit by bad loans to homebuyers with poor credit histories.

Cramer noted that the only two Dow Jones Industrial Average components to be up Tuesday are 3M (MMM Quote), which he called a "stalwart" on down days because of its longstanding stock buyback, and AT&T (T Quote), which he called a "classic defensive play" with its 4% dividend yield. ...