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Note:    During the two week period, 8/11-8/22, Jim Cramer's 6pm show has been replaced by Olympic games' coverage. Therefore, CNBC is airing special abbreviated half hour segments, called "Mad Money At The Half"... as well as the normal Mad Money, full-hour shows, at 11pm.

Given this later schedule of only an 11pm showing (vs. the normal 6pm showing), all full show recaps will be posted as soon as possible on the following business mornings.

Beginning of the 1:30pm show comments...

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'Pulse of the Market'...

Jim:   Oh, DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV)... it was a better than expected quarter... Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK)... everybody likes natural gas all of the sudden it held the $8 level... Anything resources like Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (PCL)... Goldman Sachs (GS*), are they going to show a loss?... I mean, that's what the stock is showing... it's showing a loss... Nabors (NBR), that's all nat gas... Big coal upgrade... it's working big... I've got to tell you, coal, we saw the Chinese are short supply... Do you really want to own a restaurant turn in this environment with oil up $5?... You get the picture... Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) going lower... And by the way, Freddie Mac (FRE), oh please, stop trading already... It's so obvious that some guys know the answer... There was some guy talking in plunge, that's what you call power axe... who was saying, wait a second... you shouldn't stop trading... No, you stop trading because not everybody knows everything, all right?... Not everybody knows everything, but some people do...

We all know what happens in this business happens from the floor up... the trading floor... We're going to Bob Pisani, as we have all week from the New York Stock Exchange... Bob, what are you seeing what are you hearing?...


AFTER conversation with Bob Pisani:    You've got it Bob, you're absolutely right... and it's good because when we have them all we should temper our enthusiasm because the stock (Heinz (HNZ) has run up indeed... Thank you so much...

Speaking of energy... I have to say this... I've got to tell you... You can't do these moves in oil anymore... These futures are starting to get a little ridiculous... You can't move oil up $5 and expect us to think it can go right back where it was at $148... There was ample supply up there... We know that the terrorist actions, whatever they're talking about won't amount to a hill of the beans... We know if it goes up much more, OPEC will look, OPEC will flood us again... And we know enough to realize the headline writers are busy, again, giving us misdirection... They're saying Russia, today we care about Russia... Someone give me a break...

I like Bob Pisani's notion that the dollar going down gives people to buy oil, but I also think let's face it... I think someone is trapped here... Notice though, the oil stocks, which were factoring in $80 a barrel oil last week do react to quarterly, not to $120, but to the fact that we're not going to $80... All week we've been referencing the fact that there was strong demand here for natural gas... Industrial demand... Thanks to Jim Hackett... He came in on Monday, the CEO of Anadarko Petroleum (APC)... told us the truth about the futures and how they're lying... His stock and the rest of the group... they're up for real...

I have been using $110 a floor for oil and $8 a floor for natural gas... they're holding... But we're beginning to get a sense that these futures' prices... maybe they're just not that reliable... Because we know that oil, for the moment, is pretty plentiful... I think what's happening here is we're establishing a range in oil... We don't want to go below $110... but I don't think we're headed back for $148... That's because the swing factor here is you, the American driver... and we know that American driving gets curtailed at $4 a gallon... In other words, this time the assault on oil will be stunted and stopped and turned back, because we know there is a point there isn't much demand... Far more likely explanation... Some trader was caught short and everyone was wise to it...

This week has been catch up week to the oil stocks... for Exxon Mobil (XOM), for Chevron (CVX), for ConocoPhillips (COP)... They touched levels that were out of synch with the commodity... The estimates for the oils are for prices below here... so if you have no refining options to speak of, you're going to blow away the numbers...

The far more interesting market to me is natural gas... where the futures for quite a long time were simply not indicative of anything other than a small market prone to manipulation, as we know from Amarith, the busted hedge fund from last year... Now it looks like the short selling that's softened traders has been stemmed by that industrial that Anadarko is talking about... Natural gas lives right here... We've been plagued by futures markets that are thin and not realistic... I am along with saying ignore them, but the stock market is on a tear here ever since oil hit $5, we've been coming back... and I'm listening to stocks, not a couple of yahoos in the oil futures pit...

Bob Pisani mentioned that we caught a great quarter this morning from Heinz (HNZ)... Now, because we're real time here, HNZ is up $.40... Many of you might have thought it should be up $1.40, maybe $2.40, because it was such a beautiful quarter... You know what?... I leave these issues until I listen to the conference call, which I had the good fortune to, and until I get to speak, because I am Cramer, to the Chairman, President and CEO of HNZ... who I was proud enough to meet last year... we went to the University of Texas...

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Jim's comments BEFORE the interview:
Well, Mr. Johnson, congratulations on a beautiful quarter... Talking about a lot of things that are working with Heinz (HNZ)... There's just one question I've got to ask Bill Johnson, who delivered a remarkable number...

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Jim's comments AFTER the interview:
Bill Johnson, HNZ, great quarter... up $.40... consumer down tape... Bill Johnson you delivered a great quarter, congratulations... The stock's a buy... appreciate it... always good to talk to you sir...

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Jim:    All right, look... There is some things that are just outrageous to me... I'm sure they're outrageous to you... You hear about them all day and I say Lehman Brothers (LEH)... I mean, come on LEH... Make something happen... Something... Just get off my radar screen... Go private, get sold... Hey listen go Bear Sterns, I don't even care... Do something now!... Get off my front page!... Isn't that how we really feel?... I mean, isn't it?...

I mean, we know this has become a lurking black hole like the other crises... General Motors (GM), Ford (F)... we were doing a little tape watching earlier of Washington Mutual (WM)... that stock is obviously... stocks can't go to minus $3... American International Group (AIG), Citigroup (C), Fannie (FNM) and Freddie (FRE)... though show the quintessential insiders... you don't know what's going on though people are buying millions of shares and selling it who actually do...

We're all tired and burned out... We want some resolutions... We need to see something happen... We need to get it so the big sores are fixed... We are to the point that if LEH disappeared, just disappeared off of the face of the earth, other than the people who work at LEH, I think it would be a God sent...

The uncertainty is killing us... Look, we know business is bad... We know Goldman Sachs (GS*) could very well report a loss for this quarter... I've owned it for my charitable trust since the day I started it... I'm going to continue to own it... But it may report a loss... We know there is know there is no real bottom yet in the securities business... but it's the day to day chaos that needs to be put to rest before we even find anything like Terra Firma, okay?...

The SEC gave us a chance to catch our breath by not allowing such a quick demise of institutions at the hand of aggressive shorting... It ruins confidence... But that went away because the SEC decided that with the academics and the laissez faire attitude, hey, let's see what happens...

Now, it's the dead of summer with no one around but the shorts to push stocks down... We are staring at the abyss of LEH and management fiddles just like Bear... just like Bear.

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Jim's comments BEFORE the interview:
When we think about companies we should buy because of worldwide growth, but also companies we should buy because of great management... We think about a company we have championed on Mad Money literally since the first week of the show... and the company is CSX Corp. (CSX)... Why?... Because the Chairman and CEO and President of CSX had delivered, since he came on board 5 years ago, 335% profit to you if you banked with Michael Ward... On the line now is Mr. Ward, Chairman, President and CEO of CSX... How have you been?

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Jim's comments AFTER the interview:
Michael Ward, you have continued to deliver for people who watch Mad Money... I thank you very much for coming on... next time in person...

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[ End of 1:30 "Mad Money: At The Half" Show Comments ]