Mad Money

The Next Big Madoff Story

Sins of omission in relation to what’s being called the world’s largest Ponzi scheme will be the next big focus in the Bernie Madoff scandal, Cramer said during Wednesday’s Stop Trading!.

“There are a lot of people in the end who will be in on this,” he said.

The Mad Money host explained how fund after fund modeled Madoff’s now famous split-strike conversion strategy, exposing its flaws, but still clients didn’t seem to care. The question now is, if these investors were told Madoff’s returns were too good to be true but they never cashed out or shared what they knew, are they guilty of fraudulent conveyance? And if so, are they entitled to their lost money? Cramer’s predicting that finding answers to these questions will be the next phase of this $50 billion unfolding story.

If you’re wondering which way oil’s headed, just look to the “Exxon tell.” XOM peaked long before oil began its plunge from $147, and we could be getting that signal again. As proof, Cramer pointed to Tuesday’s big move in the oil sector, everyone except Exxon, that is. The stock closed down $1.16, or 1.4%. That might mean crude has peaked again, though admittedly at a much lower level than before, and will begin another decline.

Cramer gave credit to BB&T Capital Markets analyst Frank Mitch for his call on Monsanto, which is up $13 and change Wednesday or almost 19%. Cramer called Mitch  “the chemical analyst.” Dow Chemical, however, doesn’t seem to be keeping pace.

Lastly, Cramer said he thinks this market is overbought. There are more bulls than bears, so investors should be cautious. Though not overly so because there are reasons to be positive. One thing that appears to be trending negative is President-Elect Barack Obama’s stimulus plan, which might end up consisting largely of unemployment-benefits extensions and state-level handouts.

Obama’s plan “does not seem to be what we’re looking for,” Cramer said.









Questions for Cramer?

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