“Is it profit-taking, or is there more to it? We've been having some benign up days followed by yesterday's pleasant ramp, so it is possible we have nothing more than the pullback that refreshes. In fact, we are seeing companies owning up the downturn this quarter, towel-throwing and kitchen-sink-throwing, so I can see how the hammering is deserved. What I don't want to see is a wholesale repeal of the financial rally, because if we decide Wells (WFC) was phony -- pure short squeeze -- and the insurance run was bogus -- tempted to agree given Allstate's (ALL) blowup that has been now translated to the most volatile group of all, the Pru (PRU) / Met (MET) / Hartford (HIG) / LNC (LNC) contingent -- then we are just going to repeal everything and start over. In some ways, this start of the year reminds me of other years where the cyclical companies own up to how bad things are -- obviously worse this year -- while the consistent growers, the Krafts (KFT) and the Cokes (KO), again remind you why you like them. In other words, we have seen this pattern before, as the cyclical like to tamp expectations and this time they annihilated them. The good news is that this was always supposed to be a second-half year. If the Congress comes to its senses and actually delivers a real stimulus bill, and the president and his advisers actually are committed to creating some sort of bank plan that cordons off bad assets, we will see our way through. If not? More of the "one step forward, one step back" -- except for the financials, which is "one step forward, one-and-a-half steps back"!”

From a recent Mad Money show:"Bulls make money, bears make money, hogs get slaughtered. But I like RIM and I think its sales are strong. Both Apple (AAPL) and RIMM are buys."

From a recent Mad Money show:"They're doing a great job, but it doesn't matter. I've had it; I don't even want to talk about any bank stocks right now."

From a recent Mad Money show:"I used to like this company, but I now regard it as too speculative for this market."

From a recent Mad Money show:"The tangible book value of Goldman is $88. This is the only company that took TARP money that could actually pay it off. I like it."

From a recent Mad Money show:"The coal business is good, but the rest is not that good. It doesn't have the yield I want. I want to sell that one, along with Norfolk Southern (NSC)."

From a recent Mad Money show:"I like the accidentally high yielding Caterpillar and I want to own it."

From a recent Mad Money show:"I can't find a reason to pull the trigger. I think it's somewhat intriguing, just because it's so low, but that's not enough."