Stocks Scream All's Well in a Vacuum
By James J. Cramer
09/02/2003 11:57 AM EDT
URL: thestreet.com
Market Analysis BULLISH
Tech still dominates chatter even though it's not working.
GM's rise, a sign of pure strength, has been ignored.
Maybe as long as what's working gets ignored, it'll keep rising.
The lack of chatter about the stocks that are rallying mystifies me. Three years after the peak of the market, we still are talking about Oracle and Sun Micro and EMC and Dell.
Yet, the action in stocks like Best Buy (BBY:NYSE) and General Motors (GM:NYSE) and Ford (F:NYSE) and Caterpillar (CAT:NYSE) should be what's discussed. You are getting these fantastic moves in some of these stocks of late and they are signaling that all is well in the economy, and getting better.
The incredible vacuum of discussion about what's working drives me crazy.
Take this breathtaking run in General Motors. It gets a little comment at the margin -- the Goldman Sachs upgrade made it into the news, although the upgrade was labeled a downgrade at one point! But is that right? You may think that General Motors is a dinosaur. You may think that autos don't matter. But this rise off a $35 bottom is a pure sign of strength, and the way it's getting ignored is a sign that the people who talk about "the market" just don't get it.
For example, the idea that we place any value on some consumer confidence poll when Best Buy hits a new 52-week high miffs me, too. Stocks tell stories; stocks are screaming that all is well.
But it doesn't seem to matter.
I could just say "more money for us," but it is rather amazing to see the stocks of huge companies systematically ignored amid a flood of discussion about Oracle and PeopleSoft and Micron.
What can I say, other than: No wonder the "market" keeps going higher. No one from the conventional press seems to know it. As long as they don't talk about it, maybe it will keep happening! |
