The Legacy of Rubin
The Net could give a %^# about Robert Rubin's resignation. While institutions and futures traders alike panicked the moment that Rubin left, Net lovers brought out the baskets, the trucks and whatever else they needed to scoop up armfuls of the Net.
What a contrast between the markets. The financials and the boring
S&P
plays took forever to snap back, if they have at all, but the Net faves had real snap. And why not? Never confuse Web trading with trading based on the macro. That can't make you much money.
Of course,
Lawrence Summers
will carry on with Rubin's brilliance, although I am told he could use some of Rubin's lessons in never being arrogant.
(I remember taking meetings with Rubin at
Goldman
(GS) - Get Report
where he would be lying on his back on the floor out of pain and yet was totally deferential -- and I was a lowly worm associate!! He carries his intelligence -- as well as his millions -- around very lightly.)
Anybody who didn't see this change coming has to be oblivious. If there was any doubt that it was time, Rubin dispelled it by appearing in the society pages of
The New York Times
last Sunday, the first time I can recall him appearing there since taking the job.
Rubin's true stock market legacy will be that he never did anything wrong -- even his departure. It was so smooth that the only people who made money were those who bought on his departure because Rubin had gamed that perfectly, too.
James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long Goldman Sachs. 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
letters@thestreet.com.
