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Jim Cramer: Profit-Taking Is Healthy

Retailers are taking some hits after recent gains, which is a good thing.
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Finally, some profit-takers have emerged.

The retail group's owners have come in with a vengeance to take something off the table. That's actually healthy. The idea that there can be no selling that they can go up every day is unrealistic and I regard some register-ringing as healthy even as you don't think that if you own Burlington (BURL) or PVH (PVH) or Kohl's (KSS) .

At a certain point enough is enough, as we told club members of ActionAlertsPlus.com in our monthly call. We had bought a lot of Kohl's when the stock took a header after the quarter and went down to $60. So even with it down a couple of bucks it seemed reasonable to take some of the table. Remember, bulls make money, bears make money and hogs get slaughtered.

There's profit-taking in the Chinese stocks -- the stocks that seem to do well when it looks like our talks with China are going positively and do horrendously when the talks go bad.

So Caterpillar's (CAT) stock is going down even though its monthly report today was very good and Boeing (BA) is headed south despite endless wins.

All of this could be related to issues with NXP (NXPI) , which still hasn't been able to be bought by Qualcomm (QCOM) . Or it could be ZTE. Or it could be tariffs to be announced Friday.

Or, in the case of Boeing, it could be because of a possible cancellation by Etihad, a flagship Emirates carrier, of a slew of 777s.

I know there's a lot of talk going around that the market's just gone crazy.

Netflix (NFLX) won't quit, galloping higher off of a Goldman note about it being at an inflection point for profits. Tesla (TSLA) is just steam rolling the shorts, this time because the layoffs are supposed to be good, not bad, because they are white collar.

Still, I get it. Rationality dictates periodic selling. When it happens, it is not a cause for panic. It is simply a cause for reflection and prudence as an M.O. on a difficult Fed day and a gauntlet of world trade obstacles that only the most steely-eyed can thread.

At the time of publication, Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, was long KSS.