This Hard Selling Smacks of Redemptions
By James J. Cramer
11/17/2003 03:25 PM EST
URL: thestreet.com
Relentless selling, no-lift selling, the likes of which we are seeing, is the hallmark of redemptions, not greed. I think that we are seeing some real drawdowns of the mutual funds now, and they are robbing us of the bull that we should be having.
Admittedly, I don't expect any real rally until next week, when we will have seen so much put-buying that we'll be ready for a bounce. But you have to admit, this sustained selling can only be from the scandals we have seen.
Remarkably, the scandals must have just reached some sort of tipping point. I now find the conventional, non-business press really focused on it. Ironically, the SEC, in its attempt to get the Putnam thing behind it quickly, may have created the exact nemesis it tried to strike down. Instead of reassuring the market that this scandal was past, the SEC perpetuated it by assuring the public that no heads would really roll.
The idea of a toothless SEC is what caused so much of the 2002 selloff. The certification, Sarbanes-Oxley tough love, pulled us out of that tailspin. The Putnam settlement seems to have brought us back in to that vortex.
More selling ahead. Keep staging those buys.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James J. Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS by clicking here. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to jjcletters@realmoney.com. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Click here to buy Cramer's latest book, "You Got Screwed!" Click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." |
