Monday, 04/28/08
Posted 04/28/08,  10:09 pm ET

(Scroll down to see Jim's comments below)

 
 
Today's date:  Monday, 04/28/08

  Dow Jones: 12,871   -  20
  NASDAQ:   2,424    + 1
  S&P 500:   1,396    -  1
 
 
 
 
 
First Segment
 
 
Opening Segment 1 Title: 'Fed Matters?'

.  .  .  .  .

Featured Stock(s): Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Pfizer (PFE)
Merck (MRK)
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)
United Technologies (UTX)
IBM (IBM)
Boeing Co. (BA)
Deere (DE)
Potash (POT)
Apache Corp. (APA)
Nabors (NBR)



See Opening Segment 2, below...
 
After this segment, you can see Jim's Lightning Round picks here...


JJC:   It is time... It is time to steel yourself... to strap yourself in... maybe put some cotton in your ears... to avoid... a Fed watch... This week, the Federal Reserve meets... and the two questions... will they cut interest rates? And, if so, by how much?... will dominate the headlines. You won't be able to get away from it... It will chatter so loud, it will blind you to any opportunity.

You'll hear that it's make or break... that this big boy controls all events... every direction of stock will be controlled by this. You'll feel like, if you only knew what the Fed was going to do, you'd know what stocks to buy and sell... What will go up? What will go down? Both before and after the meeting... After all, the Fed holds the magic key, doesn't it?...

Ohh... and if the Fed doesn't cut, the weak dollar will become strong... it will kill the rallies in natural gas, in oil, in infrastructure... What a momentous meeting! Nothing will be more important than perhaps the commentary with the cut!... Except, of course, the next meeting after this one! Oh, that's going to loom large!... to use the exaggerated lingo...

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you, that every bit of what I just said is completely and utterly wrong...

None of it matters... No matter how much you hear about the Fed's importance, none of it matters. It's off the table. In fact, with interest rates this low, I'm telling you right now that the Fed has become irrelevant to the future of what we talk about on this show... irrelevant to the future of stocks, and it doesn't even matter if they know nothing...

We've reached a place where, give or take a quarter of a point, the Fed's intervention through interest rates just doesn't matter.

Rates are low enough, and inconsequential enough, that now we need to focus on earnings... on valuation... and the momentum of the worldwide economy... all of which, with the exception of the financials... the retailers... and with the exception of the domestic restaurants (bear sounds for all)... are turning out to be surprisingly good! Even great!

That's why I've decided that, all week, beginning with the next segment, I'm going to highlight American industrial companies... businesses that make things and then unbelievably sell them... particularly to overseas...

I'm latching onto these stocks, because America has become the best manufacturer in the world, producing the best goods, and selling them at the cheapest prices, because of the weak dollar and our inexpensive workforce...

Right now, the Fed - which knew nothing - now means nothing to this industrial American juggernaut...

While everyone else is glued to their seats, watching the Fed, I want you watching these stocks... for an opportunity to buy them, when the market misinterprets or cares even what the Fed does...

When everyone else is insisting the Fed holds the fate of the equity markets in its hands, I have to give you some justification for my very contrary view about why I believe the moves that the Fed does will not determine anything... If they go down, you buy...

Cut, or no cut, I'm bullish!...

You see, other forces are now at work, positive forces, and they're creating a situation where I don't care if we get hit either before the Fed meeting, after the Fed meeting, after the statement... blah, blah, blah...

If we get hit (i.e., stocks go down), you know what I want you to do... buy, buy, buy!...

Now, it doesn't matter what the Fed does. It's time to buy everything but the hazardous trio of finance, retail and restaurants - those, of course, only with no international exposure...

I've got three reasons why you need to stop worrying, and begin to love the bull...

Reason #1... Almost all the stocks in the Dow are insulated from the Fed, and they're going to trade the way that they should irrespective of the Fed's actions. The vast majority of these companies are either recession-proof... Hey, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Pfizer (PFE) and Cramer-fave Merck (MRK), which is the best example... or the companies that sell to the rest of the world... we call them ROW-ers. They're not hostage to the Fed, but to the global economy, which is pretty darn good. Caterpillar (CAT), United Technologies (UTX), IBM (IBM), Boeing (BA)... These are great examples.


Reason #2 that I don't care about the Fed... The stronger part of the market... oil and gas, agriculture, minerals, infrastructure... these are not controlled by the dollar. And the dollar's not controlled by the Fed, despite every bit of misinformation you've been hearing. The companies I like are controlled by commodity prices set worldwide, not set by the U.S.,... which turned out to be a pretty marginal company, because of our lack of growth...

The dollar is controlled, not by all this nonsense you're going to hear on Wednesday (i.e., after the Fed's meeting), but it's controlled by our monstrous trade and budget deficits... not by short-term rates. These trends have a lot more to do with the high demand for, and lack of supply of, energy... of food, because of our ridiculous food-for-ethanol policy. That's why I like companies like Deere (DE) and Potash (POT)... I don't care if it's down... Apache (APA) and Nabors (NBR)...

The third reason you shouldn't get swept up in Fed watch... is overall earnings reports this quarter have been nothing short of fantastic! And earnings control stocks. I see them actually getting better and better, because of worldwide exposure, and because the weak U.S. economy has dropped off, as an important swing factor.

Beyond that, even stocks that have reported bad quarters, or quarters the Street didn't like... hey, they've been going higher... They take an initial drubbing, right... and then, even if the stocks with bad earnings are working, what do you think that means for stocks with good ones? Think about it... the disappointments... Remember Apple Inc. (AAPL)?... Remember Amazon.com (AMZN)?.... FedEx (FDX)?.... Ahhh.... Coach (COH)?... Scary... They're all up huge from the so-called bad news. The same with the homebuilders.

I think the Fed's cuts - are you ready skee-daddy - are actually working. Hey, has anyone articulated that view besides me? No.

Where does that leave us?...

Unquestionably bullish!... Bullish longer term... We're hoping the market comes down! (e.g., so that we have the opportunity to buy into stocks at lower prices) We haven't felt that way since the bottom, when treasuries solved the Bear Stearns issue, and gave us a template to avoid... yes... financial disaster!

.  .  .  .  .

The Bottom Line!:      Do not get shaken out, because you're listening to the swirl of scary chatter... In Cramerica, right now, what we care about is earnings watch... and maybe a scantily-clad Miley... but not the Fed. Sorry pal! Earnings are pretty darn good!


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

 

 

 



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Stock Snapshots - Includes all stocks mentioned above

 

 

 

Jim
Cramer's
rating on
this stock

STOCK
SYMBOL

Closing
price
that
day

Opening
price
next
day

Full Company Name/Comments
(see comments above for each)

JNJ

67.32

na

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

PFE

20.23

na

Pfizer (PFE)

MRK

41.44

na

Merck (MRK)

CAT

83.03

na

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)

UTX

73.04

na

United Technologies (UTX)

IBM

121.69

na

IBM (IBM)

BA

84.98

na

Boeing Co. (BA)

DE

89.53

na

Deere (DE)

POT

193.50

na

Potash (POT)

APA

137.90

na

Apache Corp. (APA)

NBR

38.38

na

Nabors (NBR)

 

       

 


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Second Segment
 
Final Segment 2 Title: 'Industry Standard'

CEO Interview:
Sandy Cutler, CEO

.  .  .  .  .

Featured Stock(s): Eaton Corp. (ETN)

See ETN's official website here.

See the Yahoo! Finance profile for ETN here.