Opening Segment 1 Title: 'Cramer's Game Plan   For Next Week' .  .  .  .  . Featured Stock(s): Apple Inc. (AAPL) Citigroup (C*) Intel (INTC) Washington Mutual (WM) JPMorgan (JPM) Parker Hannifin (PH) Schlumberger Limited (SLB) See Opening Segment 2, below...

        
JJC:   This is a two day's forward, one-day-take-it-all-back kind of market.  After two solid up days, we practically trade right back to where we started, before the oversold rally... right back to the same dismal, depressing, declining market we had before... although we did hold those August lows which, for people who are technically inclined - meaning they look at charts - you might actually feel good this weekend...

At times like this, when I'm sure many of you are just sick and tired of looking at what's known as the tape underneath, and are hemorrhaging money, you're not interested in my Game Plan for trying to make money next week...  but the fact is, I believe next week could be the week when expectations have finally fallen low enough - particularly after the American Express (AXP) thing (dramatic decline) today - that we can create some genuine moneymaking opportunities...

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Why?...  Because the fickle Federal Reserve, in indicating that it was inclined to ease, also transformed bad news - meaning weak economic news - into good news!...

You see, the worst news we hear, the more likely we are to have big rate cuts...  More rate cuts could turn around a lot of stocks...

So, we're looking for the better chances for the Fed to cut, and that comes from bad news...

Particularly, by the way, when we hear from the banks next week... that's the fulcrum of the Game Plan...

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So, how are we going to play it?...

Well, first, we're betting that the Fed keep its word...  Bad is good... and that's going to be our mantra for next week and beyond...  the more negative news, the more likely we get big cuts... but one huge, huge, huge caveat...

If the PPI and CPI (i.e., producer price index and the consumer price index) - if we see inflation roaring - then everything that might be intriguing to buy in this Game Plan probably won't work...  because that means they'll stop Bernanke from doing anything helpful...  

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Now, let me tell you about the opportunities next week that this mantra of 'bad news is now good news' makes possible...

First, on Monday, MacWorld starts...  I have never seen such low expectations, going into MacWorld, in my life...  Steve Jobs (i.e., CEO of Apple Inc. (AAPL) is going to be talking... he's got new stuff maybe... no one's even focused on that...  I think you could take a shot... a shot at buying AAPL in the morning, if the market opens down, like I think it will.   MacWorld's on the west coast... It'll start later in the day, thanks to pacific time...  This stock's been clobbered.  And, even though AAPL won't unveil anything nearly as sexy as last year's iPhone, I do think we'll hear about soaring Mac sales, and we already know the iPhone is making boat loads of money from AT&T (T).

Low expectations... great speaker... Steve Jobs... means upside.

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Tuesday... Tuesday's big.

We've got Citigroup (C*) and we've got Intel (INTC), okay?...

These are both earnings reports.  I expect monster chargeoffs from C*, a huge dividend cut, and the possible announcement of an outside investor.  But, if Vikram Pandit, who's the new CEO, repudiates the legacy of one of the worst CEOs in the history of America, Chuck Prince, and says that, when it comes to selling, everything is on the table, including all that junk that Prince loaded up the balance sheet with, then I think that INTC bottoms.

Intel (INTC)...  INTC has gone from adored to hated in 60 seconds...  The expectations have gotten so low that it could really rally after it reports, even if it says nothing.  Remember, its competitor, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), is totally hobbled.  INTC should pay them to make sure that they stay afloat... if only to stop this ridiculous anti-trust investigation by the New York State Attorney General... 

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On Wednesday, JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) report.  Remember, I told you, it's chock full of banks...

WFC is a candidate to buy Washington Mutual (WM) before it limps into receivership... The network earlier talked about JPM doing it... I think both of them would be interested.

That means you want to start thinking about that stock, even though its quarter will be terrible.

As for JPM, last time, they got a pass...  They reported a so-so quarter, but everybody like it... and they got a pass because the CEO, Jamie Dimond, is perceived by everyone on Wall Street as the greatest - true or not.  And they'll do it again...

I regard Jamie Dimond as the Mohammed Ali of CEOs... you can't lay a glove on this guy.  If Citigroup (C*) goes higher on Tuesday, then I think you buy JPM mid-day Tuesday to play the thrilla in Manila...  

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Thursday is problematic, but since bad news is now good news, maybe I should call it encouraging....  We've got Merrill Lynch (MER) and Washington Mutual (WM)...

Okay... these are both going to be - without a doubt - two of the most horrible, ugly... house of pain quarters you are ever going to see... Now, many financials are in a desperate need of sheiks (as in Arab sheiks) to bail them out, but there just aren't enough sheiks to go around... a sheik shortage, if you will... and I don't know if they're going to bother with WM.  I think it's going to be some other bank, and it's certainly not going to be at this price... meaning lower.  But there could be some good news...  Even though they've got terrible, bad real estate loans, and they've got terrible disclosure, we have Kerry Killinger, the CEO, on the Wall of Shame... and you know how long executives last on the Wall of Shame...  and I think it's entirely possible that, as WM offers horrid disclosures and is clueless about how bad things really are, you've got to take it on faith from me that this could be the day (of reckoning) from Kerry Killinger's career...  he's got too many skanky loans that should explode later on.  I think Killinger's out next week... 

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The good on Thursday... is Parker Hannifin (PH)...

It's an industrial company that's firing on all cylinders that could announce a big buyback, and has upside.  It's down 20 straight points.  My money is on PH.

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Come Friday, Schlumberger (SLB) reports...

Last time that SLB reported, nobody like it, and they disappointed...  But this titan of oil service will be hungry to re-establish its pre-eminence.  That said, this trade only works if oil's up from its current price a week from now.

So, if oil goes up Wednesday, off the low inventory number, I think you buy it right then and there.  Otherwise, you've got to take a pass...

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But beyond all of these stocks, remember that earnings season is an awful time to try to make money.  Most of the market's gains happen away from earnings season.  There's too much confusion out there so, if you don't understand any of these trades, do the smart thing and take a pass.

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The Bottom Line!:    Bad news for the financials next week could mean good news for the market, because it means that the Fed may actually keep its promise, and offer
substantive easings...

[See Jim's 2nd Opening Segment stock picks below... ]