"Stay Off the Shorts' Overcrowded Side"
By James J. Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist
8/25/2004 8:17 AM EDT
"A lotta people are thinking something bad is going to happen. From the looks of the bull-bear surveys, the amount of puts being bought and the number of raids I hear people trying to mount, they all are positioning for something, some event that could be a crusher.
So what happens if we don't get one? What happens if all we have is forgiveness between now and Labor Day?
With this many bears, with this many put-buyers, I think we still will go higher. As usual, the rise will be based solely on sentiment, with a sprinkling of no news and a no-doubt defiant president who seems like he's done enough damage with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (or whatever the heck it's called) to actually give a confident convention. This president's record of speaking about the markets is decidedly mixed, but Wall Street loves tough talk on terror, and I am sure we will get it by the not-so-swift-boatload.
I know people want discrete reasons to buy, but I think that we have so many discrete reasons not to buy and so many people insuring their positions that you can bet the short side is way too crowded here. I say make sales, but shorting?
Too dangerous, unless you get that event. And I don't foresee one happening. "
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