On Feb 5th, I saw Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money.” For the record I think Jim’s show is great (that’s right we are on a first name basis). It is rare to find a financial show that can educate and entertain on a consistent basis and Jim has clearly mastered this.
During this episode he talked about the current earnings season results and how many of the companies were blowing away the estimates. My sentiment is analysts have been watering down earnings estimates, since the economy is such a tough spot. This watered down effect makes it much easier for companies to surpass earnings estimates. In my opinion the majority of companies that are surpassing their earnings estimates are doing so because of deep costing cutting and productivity gains, and not so much from top line growth. But this is not the focus on this post.
What I was most shocked by during the show was Cramer’s statement, “Earnings this week will overshadow Europe and the unemployment figures….” My jaw dropped! Nothing could be further from the truth! Unemployment is a central theme in economics and politics at this critic juncture. The unemployment rate is at its highest since the early 1980s. We have roughly 10 million people unemployed. That is not a modest figure! The employment situation made the President do an about face and shift his focus from purely health care to JOBS and health care.
Across the Atlantic, the PIIGs (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Greece) debt situation has the entire world’s attention. Today the EU stated that they will aid Greece with their debt problems. Unfortunately, the details of this aide are sketchy at best and there was no mention of any assistance for any of the other debt-laden EU zone nations.
The employment and EU debt saga has totally eclipsed every aspect of the investment community. Sorry to say it, Jim was wrong about this one!
Tags: cnbc, investing 2010, Jim Cramer, mad money, MadMoney, markets, stocks, thestreet, TheStreet.com
