Are we due for a double-dip recession?
Cramer during Monday’s Stop Trading! said no. He’s seeing “a lot of signs … that things have bottomed” and the US economy is improving, whether it be a turn in both US housing and industrial production, gold and oil prices on the rise or strong company earnings reports.
The problem is that “people don’t feel it,” he said. Even with retail sales – a direct read on the consumer – showing strength, the burgeoning recovery hasn’t yet boosted investors’ confidence enough.
“I think that it’s the psychological that clouds the picture,” Cramer said.
But he did say that the Dow crossing 11,000 was a key confidence builder, that “people do feel better about themselves” when stocks go up. “And that can counteract a lot of negativity.”
Also, he claimed that housing at this point was a more of a glass-half-full situation than many people are talking about. He likes Huntington Bancshares and Synovus Financial as financial plays on the sector. “These have been the best,” he said.
Elsewhere in the market, Cramer pointed to an Advertising Age story that he said suggests a truce of sorts between AT&T and Verizon Communications . Both companies have been running ads directed at the other touting their respective US networks, Cramer said, but now it appears the “combative tone” of those ads is over. That’s a good thing, he said, because these campaigns “have been really destructive for the stocks.”
Lastly, Cramer reiterated his call on Altria , saying the company’s purchase of smokeless tobacco maker UST has been paying off.
Cramer's charitable trust owns Altria.
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