"The Sell Call Still Applies"
By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist
9/22/2008 12:11 PM EDT
"My sell call loud and clear Friday was predicated on a couple of points worth going over. First, we were up the most: biggest two-day rally since the crash in 1987. That was one of my cues, because after that rally we did very little, and there was a great fear factor as the systemic risk existed -- as it does today.
Second, try as I must, I simply can't be bullish and must be bearish that Goldman Sachs (GS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Morgan Stanley (MS - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- synonymous with Wall Street's best -- were hanging in the balance. To take any comfort after that is just nuts. How can anyone feel good about anything financial -- and stocks, all stocks, are financial in the end -- after hanging on that capitalist precipice? Even I can't recover that fast.
Third, because of the short rules, we were too high. Who knows how low we would be without these? Like everyone else, I abhor what happened with this rule, but I also abhor the idea that the Western world's finance should seize up and die.
Finally, what's the point? Why not have more cash? Why not have some gold? What's so great about this moment to commit capital after the biggest rally in years? What am I missing? Is it a buy to take the systemic risk off the table when there is earnings risk? Is it a buy when we don't know if the package that I think is so necessary may not be approved? Is it a buy when I have no idea if we are going to have huge shortfalls and terrible unemployment?
The idea that we should have a pullback regardless of those reasons is reason enough to be negative here. And reason enough to wait for a better moment.
I would keep selling.
At the time of publication, Cramer was long Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. "
(in
www.realmoney.com)