TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we should watch them and Apache and Exxon -- these stocks will set the tone.You can always gauge rotations when some company that really misses, as Colgate (NYSE: CL) (Cramer's Take) did with its gross margins the other day, can still take off after a momentary hit. You can also gauge rotations by how many times an Apache (NYSE: APA) (Cramer's Take) or an Exxon (NYSE: XOM) (Cramer's Take) will get hit on the same margins miss.
Make no mistake about it, the Exxon quarter was ugly, and the Apache quarter, after all the hoopla, was barely a beat. But both of those companies are making a ton of money and will one day work their way back -- APA before XOM, because XOM has underinvested in oil and overinvested in its stock.
But Colgate was just out-and-out pantsed by raw costs. They had good revenue growth but simply got more killed by food and oil ingredients than even Tyson (NYSE: TSN) (Cramer's Take), which was ground zero for ethanol madness.
Yet it snapped right back yesterday as if it didn't miss at all.
For a quick-read on the U.S. economy, check the price of gasoline
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