An indicator is a piece of data that tells you information. Some common examples would be the CPI, GDP, or yield curve. These would be economic indicators. There are also technical indicators like moving averages or relative strength indexes. Investors use indicators to make sure their investment is on track.
So whats a ‘contra’ indicator?
Contra means opposite, against, or contray to. This means a contra indicator would show an inverse relationship to its data.
Over in the twitter verse, Tucker Carlson shared the below clip of his show last week.
He hammered a certain CNBC personality in this clip. Tucker came with the receipts and replayed Jim’s Bear Stearns plea right before the bank’s stock went to 0. Tucker was using this as a point to show that Cramer’s view of the economy is opposite from what is actually taking place. A contra-indicator.
Now I can respect the position Jim Cramer was in here. If he had announced on national television that Bear Stearns was a sell, there would have been a bank run. He then could have shared in the blame of Bear Stearns’ demise. It is tricky to navigate the perils of saying a stock is a sell when you have a large audience. However, his buy recommendations haven’t been so hot either.
Twitter user @TheWuhanClan posted Jim Cramer’s stock suggestions and where they are for the year.
I’m sure some of this data could have been cherry picked. Even if that was the case, it would be hard to view some of these companies where they stand today and consider them cheap.
Here’s the full list:
Ouch. Now I don’t feel so bad for the recent slump in uranium.
So does this make Jim Cramer a contra-indicator? I would say it is a definite maybe. If this is the case, we would want to know what is Jim suggesting to his audience now?
Yikes.