Paralysis Strikes
This is one of those Interstate 5 crashes, lost in the fog at the Grapevine. The destruction is palpable but it is not slowing down the traffic further south.
The silence is still deafening . Nobody is calling and asking for bids to get out of bad stocks. Nobody is panicking. The only thing we have seen so far are people wanting to buy the market.
We sense that the despair has become paralyzing. Nobody's doing anything because they are afraid. Everybody wants to be bailed out by the rally. Everybody figures that someone, somewhere will add cash or keep the balls in the air. Everybody seems to think that somebody will lend a hand or throw a life raft.
We are staying disciplined. We love our cash. Our fear is not of a whoosh up, but of the accident on the Grapevine winding its way down to the Santa Monica freeway. Maybe in time for
Ron Insana's
show?
We still have not taken out the 3250 level in the
NDX
that we touched a while ago. But we are in the process of buying May 3500 NDX calls to play a bounce when we get to within a few points of there. Oops -- there goes
Todd-o
. That didn't take long. And we are buying
Merck
(MRK) - Get Merck & Co., Inc. Report
and
TheStreet Recommends
Procter
(PG) - Get Procter & Gamble Company Report
and more
Amercian Home Products
(AHP)
and
Intel
(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation Report
and
Mellon Bank
(MEL)
.
Borrrrinngggggg.
James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long NDX calls, Procter & Gamble, Intel, Merck, American Home Products and Mellon Bank. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the positions that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to comment on his column at
jjcletters@thestreet.com.
