Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

Morning Prep

By Ken Wolff
8:53 a.m. EDT

The jobs numbers was both good and bad ... good in that we lost fewer jobs than expected, bad in that we have a higher unemployment rate. ... We popped on the

PowerShares QQQ

(QQQQ)

from around $39.45 to $39.78 and have dropped since, to $39.63. It seems the market is uncertain which direction to take. ... The market recovered nicely yesterday, and that places the bias in the bulls' corner, so I will be looking for a mild pop close to the open, the QQQQ should drop a dime and climb 50 cents. ...

AIG

(AIG) - Get Report

is active and should do well after some initial selling. ... It's a holiday market and will probably get slow 'n low, so make your money early...

Positions: None

Sell the News

By Rev Shark
9:08 a.m. EDT

After a little initial confusion we are seeing a pretty good sell-the-news reaction to the mixed jobs numbers. The real test will come after the market opens and the flippers have taken their profits. I don't think we'll see a trend day, as volume should be extremely light, and that should keep things very choppy.

J. Crew Selling

By Tim Melvin
9:51 a.m. EDT

Insiders just keep selling at retailer

J. Crew

(JCG)

. I see on the tape this morning that the CEO just sold 500,000 shares worth more than $16 million in the open market. In all, insiders have sold more than 3 million shares in the company over recent months.

Although the company has navigated the turbulent waters better than most, I cannot blame the insiders for shedding stock. The stock currently trades at 47 times trailing and 21 times expected earnings. The stock is at 7 times book value and has an EV/EBITA ratio of 15. That would be too high if retail were perfect, and we are far from that.

I think this stock is worth shorting at these levels. As always, I am the biggest chicken short in the world and will be looking to take a small short position using put spreads.

Positions: None

Market Today

By Jim Cramer
10:16 a.m. EDT

If the employment numbers are that bad, why isn't the market down? Oil's down, and that has been a great determinant of direction...

China

By Marc Chandler
10:49 a.m. EDT

There are several noteworthy developments in China.

Despite a drop in bank lending, government officials say their focus is ensuring growth, not combating inflation. Earlier this week, Premier Wen said that government policies won't change, since the recovery was at a "critical" stage. Also this week, a senior official pledged to promote a "stable and healthy" equity market, leading to a 5.6% gain on Thursday followed by 0.8% Friday in the CSI 300.

On Friday, a senior China banking regulator stressed that it would strengthen supervision "to prevent credit from being illegally funneled into the stock market and the property market." Clearly, officials remain concerned about asset market bubbles.

This article was written by a staff member of RealMoney.com.