OK, if you missed Cramer's head exploding on TV just before, you can see it here on CNBC's highly useful website. And you don't even have to pay for it!
What happened next was that when Bernanke got wind of the rant, he sent a couple "associates" over to Booya Central to have a little chat. But Cramer was ready, as the vid above shows.
Is this as bad as it gets? I mean Mr. Bull panicking like that (calculated as it may have been considering he popped out a much more sober post a few minutes later)?
Who knows. I am handling this by buying SPY's and IWM's against the long gamma I bought last week and selling out stale lousy positions I had. That's somewhat capitulatory in that I am simplifying everything. I don't have alot left on the table. Some long gamma in a couple stocks that still act well (like GRMN from yesterday), long gamma in the indices and a few stray naked short puts that have not exactly worked like a charm.
....And I should have looked here first, but RevShark counters Cramers rant.
I have to disagree with Cramer's view that the fate of this market is dependent on the Fed. Even if it does cut rates, that is not going to stop the problems that are already taking hold. The Fed might be a band-aid, but the market is going to have to work through these issues on its own. In fact, I think if the Fed rushes in to do something right away, it may spook investors and cause even more trouble for the market.
Just weeks ago, Cramer was saying subprime was a well-contained issue and that we should be buying stuff like Washington Mutual (WM - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating). Now we need the Fed to ride to the risk. Just as things weren't that rosy two weeks ago, they aren't that horrible now.
Looking to the Fed to bail out the stock market is not going to help us in the least. Focus on protecting your capital, and don't expend emotion over what the Fed may or may not do. We got problems regardless.
7 comments:
Did you see the look on Erin Burmnetts face ? I could see she was thinking this clown is totally insane what am I doing here ?
Everybody says the same thing - focus on protecting capital. With all dues respect, what the hell does that mean? Sell everything? If so, when do you get back in? People say protect capital, but isn't all investing risky?
"We have Armageddon."
Uh oh, Adam. That means we missed the Rapture.
I don't know if "the pain" is as horrible as Jimmy says. Fear is feeding on itself right now. We had some steeper corrections in the 90's bull that have been lacking in this bull until now.
Unless it is Armageddon. In which case losing all our money is meaningless compared to plagues, blood to the horse's bridle, and all that stuff.
they way erin played it was outstanding
if anyone ever doubted that cramers #1 goal is to protect his "friends"....this video should end it
For chrissake, the Dow for one is still 1000 points above the March low. Are all these panickers 11 years old? How will they react when a real bear market hits again?
Hey, gonna take some space here. I like your quote, and agree, I like this one from Hedgefolios as much:
Free Market Capitalism? Watch Cramer, Insana and Kudlow over the past few hours and you would think the sky is falling. Hey - aren’t these guys cheerleaders? Well, at least a few weeks ago I seem to remember some pretty hyped up commentary telling me how wonderful Dow 14,000 is was. Liquidity was strong, subprime was contained, earnings were going to be great, stocks were cheap, buybacks are at record levels, M&A deals were still getting done…..blah blah blah….BUY, BUY, BUY!!! As for bears like me - we don’t get it. We are morons - okay I got that. And as this week played out, I also got my fair share of spoon fed crap I was supposed to eat because of a few goofy closes.
So as I watched Bubblevision from 3:00 until 3:40pm (I am not a Bloomberg fan during that time slot), I was just passing time waiting for that big end of day rally. At one point, I think I might have even held my breath. But the reversal didn’t happen. Instead, we got dumped and I had to reflect on all this whining from the cheerleading crowd.
During Erin Burnett’s show, Cramer went ballistic (even more than usual) on the Fed saying that Bernanke is asleep and has no idea how bad things are out there…Bill Poole has no idea and is shameful…Bernanke needs to open the Fed window and stop being an academic and cut rates. It’s worth a watch so click here.
Then it was Ron Insana’s turn to tell everyone how the Fed needs to step up. Next up - Larry Kudlow chimed in that the Fed needs to make a statement to calm the markets and instill confidence. Hearing one of the great Permabulls of all time tell his viewers that the Fed needs to reaffirm its position as the lender of last resort and assure us that they are on top of this situation was very disappointing.
My version of “free market capitalism” is the same in good times and bad. I don’t need the administration to offer up Secretary Paulson or other officials on big down days and “calm the markets.” I don’t need to get quotes from Fed members to address subprime problems or inflation fears. And I certainly don’t want the Fed watching the market and intervening when they are told that we need a rate cut to prop up this market some more.
As for Fed Funds Futures, why the hell are people relying on this useless assessment of speculative oddsmaking? They have forecasted rate cuts on and off for the past year and the Fed Funds Rate has not changed. And in my opinion nothing should have changed. Bernanke is not asleep, Poole is not shameful and for much of the past year we have heard how great it is that they are not raising rates. By the way, the last time I checked the Fed’s discount window has been, is now and will be open. You may not like the rate, but it is open.
We are at Dow 13,181.75 - on the way up, that was a great number to cheer. If we had closed up today, I doubt there would be pleas for Fed rate cuts. Instead, the same crowd that told us a few weeks ago that subprime was contained are now telling us how terrible the credit markets are.
I am going to plead to with the Fed Reserve too. Except I am going to beg them to do whatever fits with their mandate regardless of the change in the S&P 500. If that means, the economic data suggests a cut, then cut…if a hike, then hike…if no change, don’t change. They were hired to do a job and should be left to do it. Investors should do their job too. If stocks are a bargain, the bulls should buy them. If it’s time to sell a stock, then then investors should make the appropriate decision. To me, that’s “free market capitalism.”
you wonder to what extent Erin knew what Cramer was going to do. She definitely looked annoyed she had to be part of it.
Totally agree with all your general points. Free market works great, so long as the Fed is solely concerned with propping up the stock market. It's just totally whiny to complain about them now and beg for help. Meanwhile, it's not like the market has crashed.
And yeah, Cramer's really looking out for the little guy here, the big bond dealer and mortgage trader, lol.
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