Obama and Cramer Now Bullish on Stocks

In recent days it's been tit for tat between the White House and Jim Cramer the host of CNBC's Mad Money

Cramer’s claims: "Obama has caused the greatest wealth destruction I have seen by a president.”

“I’m not sure what he’s pointing to, to make some of the statements,” responded the White House via the press secretary. The secretary even tried to marginalize Cramer -- pigeon-holing him to a niche audience, while Obama's audience "is the whole country."

Cramer pointed to stock averages down significantly and associated "main street" savings and 401K plans suffering. Jim further pointed to the government's spending plans as the cause of such stock market depths.

But then get this. Amidst all this jousting, both men actually agree. Stocks are oversold.

President Obama: "Right now is a good time to buy stocks."

And Cramer followed up by publishing a list of 10 reasons why!

1. Treasury Secretary Geithner addressed the "current crisis." Cramer claims that when Geithner speaks, "we all feel more confident", with stocks respondng positively on Tuesday to the Geithner address.

2. The Fed Chairman proposed a new "Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility." Private investors may indeed be enticed into that asset-backed security market, further boosting credit. Beyond government backing, Cramer thinks that is just what the market needs. (Don't miss this good news: Cramer is actually supporting a goverment program proposed by the Fed!)

3. Two chip companies, Altera (ALTR) and Xilinx (XLNX) both announced "that business wasn’t as bad as people say." That gives some stock traders hope that indeed the dire commentary that the majority of the herd are claiming is overblown. Those semiconductor strength claims should help support stocks like Intel (INTC) , Microsofts (MSFT), and Cisco (CSCO).

4. Copper inventories in London are falling. That alone points to increased economic activity. Cramer claims that there is a major China infrastructure project that is spurring demand for those stockpiles.

5. And China’s markets are solid right now. The Chinese Shanghai Composite Index is up about 14% so far for 2009. The Baltic Freight Index is also up, this probably indicates that China is actually growing demand for natural resources.

6. Cramer claims that stocks U.S. Steel (X) and General Motors (GM) are oversold. Jim: "How much further could they possibly go?"

7. Cramer believes that oil markets are finally stabilizing and that alone strongly signals that indeed "we’re suffering through only a recession and not a depression."

8. Houses are more affordable now than at any other time on record. Have you heard that before? Cramer sees a housing bottom at least by June.

9. Many companies have now raised their dividends to yields between 4% and 5%. Company leadership would not raise those yields if they planned to cancel them quickly in upcoming quarters.

10. And finally Cramer has never seen people more negative than they are now. The market looks so oversold that "a sharp snap back is likely". When everyone is hopeless, Cramer said, that might just be the one time when "being optimistic pays off."

So now even Jim Cramer sees reasons to be positive. (Adding 10 more to our list of 101 others)

Cramer believes from here the market goes higher. And Obama of course agrees.



(Thanks to faithful reader John C. for alerting me to the Obama/Cramer mania. Keep those good news stories coming.)