I read a scary book this weekend: the S&P chart book. It was frightening because there weren't more than a handful charts that aren't overextended, and many stocks have reached levels that I didn't like when their companies were doing well. Chart after chart in every business, but especially retail and industrial, have moved up so much that you have to feel like a chump to come in at these levels.
There are almost no stocks with growth prospects that have accidentally high yields anymore. Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) (Cramer's Take) and Paychex (NASDAQ: PAYX) (Cramer's Take) were the only two that I saw that seemed remotely appealing, and maybe Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) (Cramer's Take).
Many indebted companies, not just the banks, should be issuing equity here to fix their balance sheets.
Companies like Micron (NYSE: MU) (Cramer's Take) and Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) (Cramer's Take), which have been able to raise prices, have gone through the roof, as have companies like Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) (Cramer's Take), which haven't been able to raise prices.
It's something that, collectively, I think people feel because the futures don't seem to be heavy just because of overseas action.
Today's a day of caution. The week should be a week of caution. The spike in the overbought, the spike in the stocks themselves -- these all warrant no buying until we go lower.
I am willing to pass on the upside until something changes, significantly.
Have we seen the highs for the year?
Too hard for me.
Do I want to buy them here?
Not at all.
When I first started "Mad Money," I used to get these callers and they would ask, "Hold or sell?" and then mention their stocks.
I would ask, "What about buy?"
I think their old query is the appropriate one for the moment.
Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-21-2009 @ 9:15AM
Beltway Greg said...
Could somebody please put the caffeinated coffee back in the canister? Enough with the practical jokes.
9-21-2009 @ 6:04PM
ebrandler34 said...
Caution?....from Jim Cramer? Who hacked Jim's email account?
This isn't the rah-rah cheerleader I've been reading for the last two months.
What's changed?
I'm stumped...
Is this some sort of "rope-a-dope"
9-21-2009 @ 7:32PM
e.krabs said...
I think the assumption is that he is a permabull, which hasn't always been the case. Back in 2008, he was heavily criticized for being so bearish that it seemed to border the apocalyptic.
Perhaps he's another trader who reads the market data, interprets the data the best he can, and tries draw some meaningful conclusions as he goes along?
Seriously now, what's the point of constantly trying to tear him down? Just take what he and anyone else has to say about the market, and see if it's usable in your own trading strategies. No need for this to be personal.