Here's a good one from Cramer on end of month markups by fund managers.
Work This Rally, Just Like the Portfolio Pumpers
By James J. Cramer
8/24/01 12:41 PM ET
Enjoy it, but don't ignore it. This kind of rally is a gift right now, a gift that most likely has very little follow-through and amounts to nothing more than an oversold rally.
But don't say this market doesn't give you a chance to reposition. Let's take Cisco (CSCO:Nasdaq - news - commentary). Ten days ago Cisco guided down severely. Today it announces that the company is tracking with those new reduced-orders patterns. And people are excited about that? Cisco's down a lot so it deserves a relief rally, but there' s no real improvement.
Same with Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - commentary). It rallies on the appointment of a new judge to the penalty phase -- a Clinton judge. Sorry, that doesn't make me too excited. And I am long it!
Housing starts are buoyant, terrific, we need that. But they have been great the whole time, and look at the carnage we have had away from them. They don't matter. Sorry, they don't.
So what is going on? I think we are seeing end-of-the-month portfolio-pumping. What's that, you say, still five days left for the month? That's right. These ne'er-do-well mutual funds all know that the government is now gunning for portfolio pumpers. The government has woken up to this crime against those who put money in funds based on overly-hyped end-of-the month performance. So the way to get around it and still get the job done is to come in a few days before the end of the month with guns blazing, move up the stocks big and then just keep them there. Takes more capital, but truly desperate measures are needed given the horrible performance these funds are generating.
Don't be greedy. Use the strength to get out of the same tech stocks I have been railing against for months. But you have a couple of days while the pump goes on before you bolt. |
