This may sound anecdotal, but Cramer has what he sees as proof that money is flooding back into the market. It’s the number of people coming up to him on the street and telling him how grateful they are that he got them into stocks.
One woman had ridden Ford all the way up from $5. Another guy caught a $7 gain in Verizon . Still another got into Apple back when it fetched just $90. And then there was the man who thanks Jim for introducing him to NovaGold , as well as the Twitter folk who loved his call on Netflix. He told them to sell half their NFLX position and they did.
“You can scoff at it if you want to,” Cramer said Wednesday night, “but here’s the deal: Do you know the main reason why stocks have been going nowhere for the ages? Because money’s been coming out for ages. In other words, there’s been no fuel. That flow is now reversing, and that’s very good news if you own stocks.”
Cramer said there’s a virtuous cycle happening. Investors are once again making money in stocks, and that in turn is making them want to invest even more, which sends stocks higher.
Maybe you think this signals a top? That the move en masse of retail investors into the market means the run is over and not just beginning? Not so, said Cramer. Because he’s only been hearing these positive comments for a couple of weeks. That doesn’t constitute a move, not when these same people have spent two years struggling to get back to even. So if anything, the move is in its infancy, not on its death bed.
Cramer said the credibility of central bankers like Ben Bernanke, in addition to the growth we’re seeing in retail spending, autos and in pending home sales, coupled with the compromise on taxes and unemployment benefits he expects in Washington by year’s end, makes him think the run is far from over. Even if the Dow is up 10 percent for the year.
And what about 2011?
“Maybe it’s the year we all get started making some real money again,” Cramer said.
When this story published, Cramer’s charitable trust owned Apple and NovaGold.
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