Jim Cramer continues to see strong headwinds for U.S. stocks. He believes the next major crisis for the markets could come from the insurance sector, and he is worried that Warren Buffett is selling America, which contradicts Buffett's October 2008 op-ed piece in the New York Times that said it was time to buy America when the S&P 500 was at 950.

Cramer thinks a “fear bottom” will not happen in the stock market until we determine the fates of names such as General Motors (GM), Citigroup (C) and Allstate (ALL). Despite all of these issues, Cramer is still spotting places to put money to work.

Recently, he found opportunities in stocks that could be big winners off of China, fertilizer stocks and stocks that could be removed and added to the Dow. Here are some Cramer highlights from over the past week as aggregated from his "Mad Money" TV show, the "Stop Trading!" segment on CNBC and his RealMoney blog posts (these blog post require a RealMoney subscription).

Cramer’s China Play Winners: Cramer sees some big stock winners off of China. In a Feb. 13 blog post, he wrote: “Caterpillar (CAT), a hated stock, could soon be seeing some China gains, as the Chinese can buy these machines on the cheap.” Cramer’s China Play Winners include Terra Nitrogen (TNH) and Qualcomm (QCOM).

Cramer’s What’s Working & What Isn’t: Cramer has started to separate what’s working from what isn’t in the stock market. In a Feb. 13 blog post, Cramer wrote: “Banks? Really bad January with loan losses continuing to soar and mortgages disastrous. No sign of any of the initiatives from Washington working. More insolvency coming due to Geithner stress-testing.” Cramer’s What’s Working & What Isn’t portfolio includes Apple (AAPL) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT).

Cramer’s Buffett Sells American Stocks: Is Warren Buffett selling America? In a Feb. 18 blog post, Cramer wrote: “He sold more than half of his 52 million shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and he sold it at a 20-year low relative to its yield. That doesn't sound like 'Buy America.' That sounds like 'Sell America.'" Cramer’s Buffett Sells American Stocks include Harley Davidson (HOG) and U.S. Bancorp (USB).

Cramer’s Extreme Dow Makeover: Is it time for a Dow makeover? Cramer thinks so. In a Feb. 16 blog post, he wrote: “With the prospect of General Motors (GM) filing for bankruptcy looming this week, it might be the moment for the keepers of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to do the housekeeping that we all know is coming.” Cramer’s Extreme Dow Makeover portfolio includes Goldman Sachs Group (GS) and Google (GOOG).

Cramer’s Big Banks the Shorts Can’t Break: Cramer does not believe that the big banks will be nationalized. In a Feb. 13 blog post, he wrote: “You must understand that the government wants the Citis and the Bank of Americas to work out their situations themselves. They have no desire to seize or run these banks.” Cramer’s Big Banks the Shorts Can’t Break include Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

Cramer’s Fertilizer Plays: Should investors look to buy fertilizer stocks? On Wednesday’s “Stop Trading!” segment, Cramer told viewers that Monsanto (MON) is now a very large-cap stock and he doesn’t like it. Cramer’s Fertilizer Plays include Potash (POT).


(Editor's note: At the time of publication and/or original publication of his posts and shows, Cramer owned Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Qualcomm, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)

Posted on Feb. 19, 2009