Cramer is not one to say, “I don’t like this market,” but right now he really doesn’t like this one. The market can’t seem to get a lift, even with some very strong earnings' reports coming in from 3M and Procter & Gamble today, Apple and Boeing earlier in the week.
“We just keep getting hammered, with the S&P 500 off just 1%, and the Dow falling another 116," Cramer said, "although it’s worth noting that it finished well off our lows, as the Dow was down 181 at one point.”
Investors are looking for reasons to sell, and when that happens they will convince themselves that selling is the prudent thing to do. Some of the fear inspired dumping is that the President is not a friend of shareholders; some is that he might not be able to afford to be because of so many financial issues, and some of it is China.
Cramer said there was a sell-off today because of worries about the Greek bond market. This caused people to panic and sell various financial assets because of thoughts of a domino effect, as in Spain and Portugal are the next to fall.
Cramer challenges whether Greece really has a problem. The key here is that people are selling and not asking questions or doing their homework. In a case like this the best thing to do is get out of the sellers' way, unless you want to get annihilated.
When a place like Greece is a focus, it is not the focus at all. It’s the pretext. The real focus is on investors wanting to sell because they feel it’s awful out there. The Dow is still nicely above 10,000; it’s been a good run, so why get caught in the storm.
Now, Cramer is mindful of not doing things all at once. The State of the Union address did not describe the vast "Goldman Sachs conspiracy to rule the world,” Cramer said. President Obama didn’t push Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner aside, but instead he embraced him. No wonder the bank stocks staged a rally today. Cramer said it looks like with that embrace the worst of the attacks on this group may be over, and finally there is progress for Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Cramer said he didn’t want to get too negative. So, in addition to Boeing, Apple, 3M and Proctor and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive looked very good. Abbott Laboratories and Bristol Myer Squibb also delivered a fantastic quarter.
But, with a President who seems to think that what’s good for Wall Street is the enemy of the 401(k) and the 529, nothing could be further from the truth, and with a mandated slowdown in China, Cramer thinks that earnings just won’t be enough to get out of this mess.
The bottom line: investors need protection more than hope right now. "This is not a dip to be bought; the sellers are too powerful and too willing to embrace any pretext like Greece, which in any other moment would have barely been a sideshow," Cramer said. And, as Cramer has been saying since the Massachusetts special election, don’t sell everything, but lighten up into strength until the front pages stop running the business pages.
Cramer's charitable trust owns Apple, Procter & Gamble, Bristol Myers Squibb,
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