The whopping US rally that wasn't
If Wall Street hadn't been closed for Sandy, the market would have jumped on a bevy of positive developments.
What rotten luck we have. Tuesday was the one day when insurers, oil, banks and Italian bonds traded up in Europe -- and U.S. trading was closed? That's unbelievable.
First, the big reinsurers in Europe -- the ones that, in many cases, backstop our insurers -- all traded up as Sandy looked as though it would be manageable. This means, first, that they have the reserves and, second, that they can raise rates.
I'm also amazed at how well Deutsche Bank (DB) is doing. The investment-banking business is looking terrific, and the trading side of the ledger has been extraordinary, with only two down days this year. I always knew Deutsche was a great bank, but now it is truly ascendant.
At the same time, UBS (UBS) announced big cuts to its fixed-income desk. The bank is exiting the business, which means the long-awaited consolidation and shrinkage of the business are upon us. Analysts on the Deutsche Bank call were ecstatic about the move. U.S. international banks would be jumping, too.
Over in oil, BP (BP) not only released a terrific quarter last night but also boosted its dividend. This is the same BP that has had to fire-sale properties endlessly because of the Macondo disaster. It looks like the company's earnings power, despite its divestitures, remains more than intact.
Finally, there's the Italian bond market. Last year at this time, we saw Italian 10-year bonds trading at 7%. That move caused a major sell-off in the U.S. market -- the S&P 500 ($INX) lost 400 points on the day that the 7% line was crossed.
Now Italy is raising 10-year money below 5%. And it is real demand, in part because Italy is turning into a success story.
Any one of these might have, at one point, triggered a rally in the U.S. But all of these? Who knows how high the market would have climbed.
Just our luck.
Jim Cramer is a co-founder of TheStreet and contributes daily market commentary to the financial news network's sites. Follow his trades for Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust and has no positions in stocks mentioned.
More from TheStreet.com
Cramer, you are a complete moron ! You might want to think about all of the peple suffering because of this storm instead of making moronic comments.
The only reason the stock market rally is over is because the unending greed and corruption of wall street and our government can't get enough of the tax payers money. PERIOD !!!
This is killing any chance the working class has of saving ANYTHING for retirement !
I sure hope the American people wake up and kick Barrack, Barry or whatever the anti American imposter's name is and his corrupt bottom feeding administration out of the "Peoples White House".
Time to clean the slate and start with honest workig tax paying Americans who actually do give a crap about what happens to the country.
Classic....Lost o/e celebrates,when his Mom brings home Twinkies....
Although I do too, when Miss Lilly buys me some.
Someone, gas @the pump has been dropping drastically, but we had a slight increase this A.M.
Oil per barrel has been down, but there has been a slight glut of gas or fuel. Last fill $3.23...per
We bought hamburger @ $1.88 on a "Wild Wednesday" sale this A.M. (makes good chili)
Otherwise the past 2-3 weeks ground beef (chk steak) @ 2.79-2.89(sale)....I kinda think it's all about smart shopping; We don't clip coupons, but we do wait for deals...ANYONE CAN.
Mitt Romney on the wake of the devastation of the East Coast.......Here is a statement he made today in Florida.....about coming together after Sandy.....
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
STOCK SCOUTER
StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.
127 | 269 | 463 | 587 | 658 | 614 | 644 | 431 | 262 | 138 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
LATEST POSTS
All hail the bull market, which ended the week with a big rally. But it also is starting to look a little like 1987, which suffered an epic blow-out.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.