By Stockpickr Staff
Posted on May 4, 2009

Stocks were on the rise on Monday, bolstered by better-than-expected economic data, such as a 3.2% increase in pending home sales in March and a 0.3% increase in construction spending, where a 1.6% decline was expected.

Bank of America (BAC) was up 5.6% to $9.19 at midday on Monday, General Electric (GE) was up 3.3% to $13.11, and General Motors (GM) was up 2.7% to $1.86.

Overseas energy demand is rising , too, and oil was pushing $54 a barrel on Monday.

With this in mind, we thought we'd take a look at some of today's headlines and related stocks and see what Jim Cramer's had to say about them lately.

These stocks could be in the news for a number of reasons. Some require immediate attention; while others may not. Regardless, it never hurts to hear what Cramer (or any of the other professional investors on the site) has to say about them. The key is to gather as much information as you can in order to make the most informed investment decisions you can.

In a recent post to his RealMoney blog, Cramer had this to say about oil and oil stocks:

"How high is oil going to go? How strong will the comeback be?

"Given that rig count has been cut literally in half, given that prices for natural gas are at multiyear lows, the answer is that the rebound must be spectacular -- or at least spectacular to sustain these jet propulsions.

"Transocean (RIG) and Schlumberger (SLB) are cases in point. These were the first to sell off on swine flu given that we were supposed to see worldwide demand of oil crimped by it -- or at least that was the talk of some commodity pundits.

"Of course, that means hedge funds shorted them and the Oil Service HOLDRs (OIH) as natural plays on this epidemic even as it seemed pretty extraneous -- which is why I pushed the integrated oils so hard here and on my show. Also, I have been a big believer in Schlumberger as a cost-cut play.

"But when you see companies like Halliburton (HAL), a nat gas play, or Transocean, a deep water play, trading higher, and when you see the natural has stocks trade up so well, I am now convinced that we are betting the trough is here.

"They also could be saying war, most likely with Iran, but I don't know enough to make that judgment. Either way, I am not fighting this one any more, not after the horrific Chevron (CVX) quarter that produced no selling and the so-called technical breakout of crude.

"We are in oil heaven. The group is rolling. And it can only be a sign that oil's about to go up more than expected -- I thought we were range-bound at $45 to $55. Drilling budgets will be renewed and grow larger, and nat gas - particularly Dow Chemical (DOW) or International Paper (IP) -- should be locked in for years at these prices because they aren't going to stay here much longer."

(Editor's note: At the time of publication and/or original publication of his posts and shows, Cramer owned Chevron and General Electric for his Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust.)