“People are missing this retail move. They are missing it because the market is deciding right now that the guidance companies are giving is just plain wrong given the $3.50 at the pump (although premium's a lot more expensive). They are also recognizing that the strong are surviving and thriving and taking share in a radical fashion -- witness Lowe's (LOW), which must be killing Sears (SHLD) and the mom-and-pop shops out there. When I met with Lowe's last year, they told me that they have picked up share in every downturn. They did not know when the downturn would end or when you would see the results, but they were confident that the longer the downturn lasted, the more likely they would be to have pulled away from their competition. It looks like this is the breakaway quarter. Why else has there been so much dismissal of the management's negatives that you could see such great runs in a Kohl's (KSS) or a Buckle (BKE) or a Macy's (M) or JC Penney (JCP) from the bottom? Inventories. Many of these companies repeatedly made the mistake of thinking that the turn was almost over, and they kept their merchandise flowing in, meaning severe markdown on existing merchandise. That didn't happen this quarter, so the companies may not have had great sales, but their gross margins didn't fall apart, and instead were much better than expected. That's why people are ignoring so much of the downbeat projections, aside from the obvious gasoline declines. Now, here's another piece of the puzzle that few are talking about: It looks like the runs in these retailers might mean the housing crisis is winding down. People are getting their heads around the notion that Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona are responsible for the lion's share of disappointment, and they are seeing the declines in prices in real estate in those states and recognizing that the rate of rate of change has started to stabilize, and the bargains are bringing out the pent-up demand. We are in the very early stages of this, but the homebuilder stocks also represent a call on this change. The lower gasoline's percolating in, but the leveling off of housing declines is being obscured by ever-higher foreclosure numbers. Those recognize the demand side, though, not the new supply side, which has dropped dramatically. As we annualize the height of the defaults -- the bulge of 2-and-28-year mortgages with little money down and home-equity piggy-backed on top of it -- we will see things get better and better nine months from now. Why then? Work it through: The worst loans were made from the summer of 2006 to the spring of 2007. We are now almost past the summer of 2006, that gives us seven more months until the really bad mortgage companies, responsible for the really bad loans -- the Novastars and the Fremonts and the American Home Mortgages -- went under or had to withdraw from the market. After that, the tightness began for all but Ditech and Washington Mutual (WM) and Wachovia (WB), which persisted in making some really bad loans until the summer of 2007. All of these positives explain the extraordinary run in retail -- a run, as is typical to the market, that you had to start buying July 15, when we got the peak in oil and the trough in banking worries. Just spoils for those who bought at the bleakest moment.”

From a recent Mad Money show: "RIO is complicated. It's raised money to make an acquisition and ever since then I've been skeptical."

From a recent Mad Money show: "The biotechs are going to be flush with money. We like the medical device companies. I think they've bottomed. I want to buy it right here."

From a recent Mad Money show: "I got this wrong. I think it's got value and I'm not giving up on it. Every mineral company has been hit, but I'm sticking by this one."

From a recent Mad Money show: "It's got pipeline construction; it's natural gas distribution. The more I think about it, I want to own this stock myself for my charitable trust. "

From a recent Mad Money show: "Listen, that one's too hard for me. Every raw cost in there is difficult. I like Yum! Brands (YUM). It's too hard to own Dominos."

From a recent Mad Money show: "Listen, I've hated it ever since it became public. I feel strongly that it shouldn't have gone public. I don't like the company."

From a recent Mad Money show: "These are all bad and every one of them has cost people a fortune. I'm not recommending any of them."