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:
- the folly of China "weakness,"
- an intriguing idea for a new ETF, and
- Apple's breakout.
for information on
RealMoney
, where you can see all the blogs, including Jim Cramer's -- and reader comments -- in real time.
The China Weakness That Wasn't
Posted at 3:04 p.m. EST, March 2, 2010
The hazards of selling off of China weakness that doesn't happen continue today. Look at
Cliffs Natural
(CLF) - Get Report
,
Freeport
(FCX) - Get Report
,
Vale
(VALE) - Get Report
and
BHP Billiton
(BHP) - Get Report
. These are minerals companies that are supposed to be going down because of the pricking of the Chinese bubble.
Oops.
Or the coal companies:
Patriot
(PCX)
,
Massey
(MEE)
,
Arch Coal
(ACI) - Get Report
,
Peabody
(BTU) - Get Report
. They are supposed to go down because of the Chinese slowdown.
Or the fertilizers like
Mosiac
(MOS) - Get Report
and
Potash
(POT)
and
Agrium
(AGU)
. They are supposed to be down as China orders less food.
All of these derivative plays are killing you today because, in reality, the Chinese "slowdown" isn't much of a slowdown at all.
As I mentioned last Friday after interviewing
CSX
(CSX) - Get Report
CEO Michael Ward, China's been ordering like crazy in the last month, and you can say whatever you want about what ultimately will happen in China -- it sure isn't happening yet.
Any of these derivative trades, whether they be off Dubai or Greece or the U.K, which many of us are writing about, can backfire. You may want to do them.
But remember to cover.
They tend not to work over the long term.
Random musings
: "Cash for Clunkers" to give us energy independence? How about putting a tax on imported oil so we switch to domestic natural gas? Which makes more sense?
At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.
An ETF for 2010: 'Stocks Obama Hates'
Posted at 2:42 p.m. EST, March 3, 2010
We need a "Stocks Obama Hates ETF." We can go short it every time we know he is going to come on TV, which he does quite regularly. And then we cover and go long it when he's over, because he can't keep a stock down to save his life anymore.
Let's see, we stock it with
WellPoint
(WLP)
,
Cigna
(CI) - Get Report
,
Aetna
(AET)
and
UnitedHealth
(UNH) - Get Report
, some
Goldman Sachs
(GS) - Get Report
and some
JPMorgan
(JPM) - Get Report
, and a sprinkle of
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
and of course
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
. After all, they all go down when he's about to speak and rally fiercely when he's done because he has made himself totally marginable. Obama's "big hat, no cattle," and everyone knows he isn't going to accomplish anything hard-left anyway -- that's how I view his policies -- because he doesn't have a supermajority after Scott Brown's election.
What else should be in the ETF? Natural gas. He can't stand it. He likes coal. Big oil. Perfect. Hates it. Drillers; can't stand them.
I like this idea because Obama likes to zing a bunch of stocks, not just one sector, when he comes on TV or is about to speak. Today he pushed the Volcker rule, sending JPM and GS down, right before he went after WellPoint, poster boy (or I guess poster girl) because of its California price increases.
Wouldn't this be easier and more profitable than just watching the guy?
Short/cover/go long.
This could be the best trading strategy ever. I just wish that we could have had this ETF earlier, as we could have put
Capital One
(COF) - Get Report
in it during the heady days of his bashing credit card companies.
Can you imagine how much money we could have made with just a TV schedule? More lucrative than a hedge fund dinner, for certain.
Remember, this strategy only works if you play the "Stocks Obama Hates" ETF because he can no longer inflict lasting damage, just fleeting pain, yet you can count on him to try do it on TV pretty much daily. Hence the virtue of this ETF. Gotta play it both ways. Too much money to be made too often for this not to be the most popular ETF ever launched.
I just wish I could own the rights. Hmmm, maybe I'll look into it after the show!
At the time of publication, Cramer was long Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
Apple Breaks Out
Posted at 9:24 a.m. EST, March 5, 2010
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
is on a breakout. The hoopla, indeed, has begun. Right at the top of the release about the iPad's April 3 availability is ... Wi-Fi.
I am telling you that Apple has been hurt badly by its alliance with
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
, because of AT&T's network quality. The idea that this one can be on Wi-Fi changes the equation and makes it so much bigger than it could be. It also makes it a natural corporate product and a great Trojan horse for the rest of the Apple lineup.
Amazon
(AMZN) - Get Report
has sold more than 2 million Kindles. This Apple product is supposed to be superior to that, and that's only one use for the darned thing.
I like the idea of lawyers, doctors, bankers and stock followers buying these. I like the fact that those who are subscribers to iTunes will download not just the songs, but the videos. I like the fact that is it the best TV device, especially for watching games like those that I have been watching on my PC (on MLB.com).
But for today, what I like is the breakout, something
Dan Fitzpatrick and I have been focused on ever since the Apple weakness from the beginning of the year.
At the time of publication, Cramer was long AAPL.
Jim Cramer, co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com, writes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's RealMoney and runs the charitable trust portfolio,
. He also participates in video segments on TheStreet.com TV and serves as host of CNBC's "Mad Money" television program.
Mr. Cramer graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was president of The Harvard Crimson. He worked as a journalist at the Tallahassee Democrat and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, covering everything from sports to homicide before moving to New York to help start American Lawyer magazine. After a three-year stint, Mr. Cramer entered Harvard Law School and received his J.D. in 1984. Instead of practicing law, however, he joined Goldman Sachs, where he worked in sales and trading. In 1987, he left Goldman to start his own hedge fund. While he worked at his fund, Mr. Cramer helped start Smart Money for Dow Jones and then, in 1996, he co-founded TheStreet.com, of which he is chairman and where he has served as a columnist and contributor since. In 2000, Mr. Cramer retired from active money management to embrace media full time, including radio and television.
Mr. Cramer is the author of "
Confessions of a Street Addict
," "You Got Screwed," "Jim Cramer's Real Money," "Jim Cramer's Mad Money," "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life" and, most recently, "Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even." He has written for Time magazine and New York magazine and has been featured on CBS' 60 Minutes, NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams, Meet the Press, Today, The Tonight Show, Late Night and MSNBC's Morning Joe.
