The Trader, Reluctantly, Is Switching to Banks
Here's a switch. The bonds look good. Reluctantly, given the
PNC Bank
(PNC) - Get PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (The) Report
rally, we are trying to make a little money in the banks. We note that
Bank One
(ONE) - Get OneSmart International Education Group Ltd Report
is now above its price when it preannounced. That's monumental.
Join the discussion on
TSC
Message Boards.
And
Schwab
(SCH)
, unlike
America Online
(AOL)
TheStreet Recommends
, rallied off of its buy of
U.S. Trust
(UTC)
. Is it too dangerous to own the bonds and own banks ahead of
Greenspan's
talk tonight?
I think that's what is making this stuff so cheap to begin with. When two of the worst banks, in terms of perception, PNC and Bank One, rally, what does that say about the good ones like
Citi
(C) - Get Citigroup Inc. Report
and
Chase
(CMB)
?
I think it says they work here. They are boring. They trade in smaller increments than the
Nasdaq
. They haven't been that facile on the Net.
In other words, they are everything I want right now.
Chat one-on-one with me on
Yahoo!
today at 5 p.m. ET. Register for Yahoo! Chat at:
http://chat.yahoo.com. It's free!
James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long America Online, Chase Manhattan and Citigroup. 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.
