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TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stock prices may roll back, but techs and financials should be fine.

The pain of the aftermath of mark-ups never goes away. We knew what was in store for us, as the mark-up folks don't like to play on the last day, especially with the newly vigilant Securities and Exchange Commission. I have to believe that this SEC will now become more interested in "the tapes," which would show clients asking brokers to take stocks up as much as they can, something that we know is against the law.

What comes up from mark-up must come down, and the most important "come-downs" should be in the industrials, because we have the least visibility in them. I do not believe the techs have as much to worry about, nor the banks, because both have excellent earnings prospects for the coming quarter. Why sell Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) here? Why sell Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) (Cramer's Take)? And why dump Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) (Cramer's Take) or Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) or JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) (Cramer's Take) when those have the best possibilities of good news ahead? I can see locking in some Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) (Cramer's Take) gains, but that's going to be the best quarter of all.

Billions of investment dollars are sitting on the sidelines for fear of entering the market at the wrong time and losing more money after taking a bath last year. However, the market seems to have hit bottom last March and many investors missed the 40% gain from that point to now.

Market prognosticators are spewing out opinions faster than the public can grasp, or understand. I choose to stick with basic fundamental value propositions and ignore the noise.

I have been buying for the past eight months and riding the market waves, good and bad, to huge gains -- so far. Maybe I will be giving some back, maybe not, but I have also been encouraging readers to take something off the table, in several recent posts.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says they make the most sense in this vicious market.

It didn't take long, but the accidental high-yielders are back. There's PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) (Cramer's Take) back at 5%, where it was before it told us that March was a good month and April better.

There's Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) (Cramer's Take) over 4% even though last week it said orders lately had been better than expected. Or Honeywell (NYSE: HON) (Cramer's Take), so close to 4%, amazing, given that it reaffirmed earnings last week.

Some of you may have heard this before if you have been in the stock market for a long time: The cheapest place to find oil is on the floor of the New York Stock exchange!

With the price of oil moving up faster than the price of oil stocks, and the high cost of exploration and developing new sources, I have been surprised that there have not been any mergers or acquisitions by the major oil companies. I would think now would be a good time to add to their proven reserves with far less risk than looking for new sources.

It also seems to me that the risks associated with exploration and developing new product would be easier to absorb by larger entities.

Despite the U.S. stock market's recent run up, the decline in the U.S. dollar and inflation fears have investors searching for safety in these uncertain times. A popular strategy that has emerged is to hedge market and currency risk with commodities, namely gold, oil, and uranium. What specific stocks and investments in these sectors are likely to outperform?

ETFs like the US Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) and the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) will obviously track any rise or fall in these commodities to a T, but perhaps individual companies in these sectors are a better fit for you. Below are some industry giants, as well as speculative plays that are also drawing attention from investors.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says opportunities will arise, but it's still too early.

You can't fight the unseen. Whether it be a local E. coli outbreak for Taco Bell or Chernobyl or SARS or swine flu, you have to let the epidemic run its course before the obvious buying opportunity. What do we know about this swine flu now? 1) It is not under control, and 2) We haven't had fatality counts yet in this country that will freak people out.

Does it matter that the president says it is not out of control? Not to investors. This is a convenient excuse to sell everything consumer, including anything that needs people to go out and do something that is not at home.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) Q1 profit edged past expectations despite lower sales of Humira.
• AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) posted a smaller-than-expected Q1 loss, sending shares sharply higher.
• Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, sending share higher.
• BP (NYSE: BP) and other oil companies were downgraded due to higher environmental costs.
• Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) Q1 earnings declined but still topped analysts' expectations.
• Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) said Q1 earnings would be lower due to a weaker dollar and lower oil prices.

Today was just a day of selling the news. We had weak retail sales and we had lower than expected PPI data showing no inflation. But after a 5-week straight rally, investors were selling into earnings despite many estimates looking excessively easy to hit.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 7,918.11 -139.70 (-1.73%)
S&P 500 841.87 -16.86 (-1.96%)
Nasdaq 1,626.40 -26.91 (-1.63%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Analyst upgrades:

• Banc of America/Merrill upgraded Gymboree (NASDAQ:GYMB) to Buy from Underperform and raised their target to $33 from $15 following the company's Q1 comparable store sales guidance.
  
• Oppenheimer upgraded Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) to Outperform from Perform after channel checks indicated the company's shipments are gaining momentum. The firm raised their price target on the stock to $35 from $20.
  
• Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse. The firm upgraded shares but lowered their target to $45 from $46 citing underappreciated earnings growth and valuation.
• Albermarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Protective Life (NYSE:PL) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  
• Maxim (NASDAQ:MXIM) was lifted to Buy from Hold at Canaccord.

Today felt like a down day with most of the index levels being down until the very end. But a late day rally came in and took most of the averages higher in the last hour. Financial stocks mostly rose. Word that the Obama administration was going to lift at least some sanctions and some limitations against Cuba actually gives us an investment play for American investors.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,057.81 -25.57 (-0.32%)
S&P 500 858.73 +2.17 (0.25%)
Nasdaq 1,653.31 +0.77 (0.05%)

Top Analyst Calls

Chevron (NYSE: CVX - option chain) stock is falling today after the company warned Thursday after market close that its first-quarter earnings will be lower than previous quarters, due to a weaker dollar and lower oil prices during the period. CVX reports earnings on May 1. Also, not helping are crude oil futures, which are sliding by more than 5% on the session after the International Energy Agency forecast slowing demand. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on CVX.

This morning, CVX opened at $67.45. So far today the stock has hit a low of $66.52 and a high of $67.74. As of 11:40, CVX is trading at $67.17, down $2.06 (-3.0%). The chart for CVX looks bullish and S&P gives CVX a positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy ranking.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) closed at $70.48. CVX interim Q1 2009 earnings are scheduled to be released on April 9. WTI Crude futures are recently up .93% to $53 according to Bloomberg. CVX April and May option implied volatility of 41 is below its 26-week average of 52, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

United States Oil Fund (NYSE: USO) is recently down 12 cents to $30.81 in pre-open trading. USO unit net asset value reflects the performance of the spot price of West Texas intermediate light crude. USO April option implied volatility is at 69; May is at 62; near its 26-week average of 67, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

While the whole world is scrambling for money, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) is trying to figure out what to do with $31.4 billion every day.

Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson told his treasurer to count every penny before he goes to bed each night. That's how careful Exxon Mobil is of losing capital in this time of financial chaos.

Exxon Mobil is very secretive about where the money is invested, but executives do say that some of it is used for funding capital budgets -- about $1 billion a week. The rest could be used for acquisitions.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says economic fundamentals haven't changed enough to make last week's rally a lasting force.

Stocks are the tools to tell the tale, and last week made you want to own stock. The banks showed you they need not be wards of the state, GM (NYSE: GM) (Cramer's Take) acted as if didn't need to be a ward of the state and oil held its own. Drug companies, among the enterprises with the best balance sheets, decided to "give up" and combine in the face of diminishing returns courtesy of changes in governments worldwide, but particularly in the United States, that would impinge on long-term profitability.

Most important, the backtracking of Obama in his position toward business, something that would never be articulated but most surely occurred as the stock market was no longer ignored -- a Bill Clinton moment in a tone-deaf White house -- set a better tone for risk-taking.

With the price of oil trading in the high $40's, most oil companies are cutting back on exploration expenses. But oil giant ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is actually looking to boost its spending.

The company announced last week that it expects to see its capital spending rising over the next few years as it continues to search for new sources for oil.