Jon Stewart Brings Down Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart Interview with Jim Cramer -Not often does a fight live up to the hype, but it most certainly did last night on the Daily Show as Jon Stewart hammered Jim Cramer last night in a much anticipated meeting between the two “entertainment” hosts. What has been built as “war of the words” over the past two weeks went into full blown Defcon 1 as Jon Stewart repeatedly chastised the “Mad Money” host for putting entertainment above journalism.

Once Cramer came out for the interview, Stewart wondered: “How the hell did we get here?” Cramer, his sleeves characteristically rolled up, said he was a “fan of the show.” But the humorous tone quickly changed as Jon Stewart hammered on the unethical behavior of Jim Cramer and the manipulation of stocks via his TV program and the loose teachings of how to legally take advantage of the markets and among other unethical trading to fly under the radar of SEO’s guidelines on short selling stocks. 

Jon Stewart had clip after clip of documented footage of Jim Cramer speaking about the duplicity of the market. “Roll reel 210″, “Roll reel 211″, “Roll reel 212″ Jon repeated as he lambasted Jim Cramer and his manipulation of the markets. In case you missed last night’s showdown, I’ve included the hightlights below:

Interview Part 1

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c

For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but mostly acknowledged that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse: “We all should have seen it more.”

Cramer said CNBC was “fair game” to the criticism and acknowledged the network was perhaps overeager to believe the information it was fed from corporations. Jim went on to blame most of everything on being lied to by the CEO’s of the companies he was touting or had interviewed.

“I, too, like you, want to have a successful show,” said Cramer, defending his methods on “Mad Money.” He later added: “Should we have been constantly pointing out the mistakes that were made? Absolutely. I truly wish we had done more.”

Cramer insisted he was devoted to revealing corporate “shenanigans,” to which Stewart retorted: “It’s easy to get on this after the fact.” Come on Jim! Aren’t you supposed to be an expert- I thought you would know better harped Jon Stewart? 

Interview Part 2

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c

At one point, Cramer sounded the reformed sinner, responding to Stewart’s plea for more levelheaded, honest commentary: “How about I try that?” said Cramer. “I’ll do that.”

Interview Part 3

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c

By the end, the two-segment interview went far beyond its allotted time. Comedy Central said the on-air version would be cut by about eight minutes, though the entire interview would be available unedited at the DailyShow.com.  Just in case you missed it please do me a favor and watch this segment in its entirety as upon viewing you will hope to hell that you never see Jim Cramer on TV again. Jim Cramer is finished after this invterview. No doubt about that and will be banished from TV, as I can’t see any network taking a chance on him after this lambasting, and rightfully so. Good riddance to Jim Cramer and his Mad Money. Now how about an indictment please.

For the full Jon Stewart Daily Show Interview visit DailyShow.com

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Economy Makes for Mixed Market

Major indexes came off earlier lows Friday February 20th after the Dow reached a six-year low in the previous session. Big banks remained in the spotlight amid nationalization fears. U.S. stocks were mixed in early trading Friday amid market volatility as February options contracts expire. Major indexes came up from earlier lows following Thursday’s skid in the Dow Jones industrial average through its Nov. 20 bear market low to a six-year low. The Dow is off 47% in the 16-month slide.

Today the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average was lower by 44.21 points, or 0.59%, at 7,421.74. The broad S&P 500 index fell 5.66 points, or 0.73%, to 773.28. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 1.81 points, or 0.13%, to 1,444.63.

On the NYSE, 21 stocks were lower in price for every six that advanced. Nasdaq breadth was 14-8 negative. Trading was relatively active.

The financial sector remained in the spotlight Friday amid concerns that big banks may be nationalized. Bank of America (BAC) Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis told Bank of America executives at a senior leadership meeting on Thursday that Washington policy officials have assured him that the possibility of nationalizing the largest U.S. bank by assets is not on the table, the newspaper said, citing a person at the meeting.

Separately, Lewis was subpoenaed last week by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating whether the bank violated state law by withholding information from investors, the Wall Street Journal said. Investigators took testimony all day Thursday from former Merrill Chief Executive John Thain, the newspaper said. Thain was asked about $4 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill employees, and in particular why Bank of America’s merger agreement with Merrill contained a nonpublic attachment outlining the maximum Merrill could pay, the newspaper said.

The troubled newspaper industry remained in the headlines. The New York Times Co. (NYT) said its board voted to suspend the quarterly dividend on the company’s Class A and Class B common stock. In November, 2008, the company reduced the payout level of its fourth quarter to $0.06 per share from $0.23 per share in the 2008 third quarter. Let’s further look at the analysis of the US Economy here below:

Shares of Chiquita Brands International (CQB) tumbled Friday after the company posted a $0.74 fourth-quarter non-GAAP loss per share vs. $0.02 EPS on flat sales, higher costs including flood impacts, a weaker euro, and lower performance in salads. The company expects to deliver improved full-year results in 2009.

In recent economic stock news, U.S. CPI rose 0.3%, with the core rate up 0.2% in January. That follows a revised 0.8% decline in December headline index (was -0.7%), and a flat reading on the core. Gains were widespread following several months of declines and should help unwind deflation fears. Energy prices rose 1.7%, rebounding from a 9.3% December decline. Gas prices rose 6.0% after a 19.3% drop in December. Food prices edged up 0.1%. In the housing sector, the owners’ equivalent rent measure rose 0.3%. Apparel prices rose 0.3%. Medical care costs are up 0.4%, and tobacco prices are up 0.8%. The data are close to expectations and should have little effect on the markets.

The euro headed lower vs. the U.S. dollar Friday as worries about trouble in Eastern Europe encouraged investors to flee to safer assets. Traders were nervous about damage to the European banking industry from struggling economies on the euro zone’s periphery and in Eastern Europe, says S&P.

Stock Market News