Cramer says it's 'crazier' to short the market than to buy Airbnb, DoorDash at current levels

Major stock averages have rallied double digits from early November, but CNBC’s Jim Cramer said this is not the time to bet against the stock market or some of the best-performing components on the market.

“The backdrop is too positive to bet aggressively against anything here. If you own something that’s up huge, I think, maybe, you ring the register on part of the position,” the “Mad Money” host said. “Shorting, though? That’s even crazier than buying Airbnb and DoorDash at these levels.”

Among the many reasons he advised against shorting the market — a trading strategy predicting a significant decline in stock prices — are both domestic and foreign matters. Those include protracted stimulus negotiations in Congress, a stay on interest rates from the European Central Bank and projected economic growth in China.

Meanwhile, after Thursday’s close U.S. regulators authorized a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency use, a development that will give investors more hope for a domestic economic recovery.

“I wouldn’t want to short anything in that environment,” Cramer said. “You definitely shouldn’t short them. Betting against these high-fliers is too dangerous.”

The comments come after a mixed day of trading on Wall Street. It was also debut day for vacation rental company Airbnb, which surged 112% on its first day on the public market, giving it an $86.5 billion market cap. DoorDash came public the day prior, soaring 85% to $189.51 on Wednesday before pulling back 1.85% in Thursday’s session.

The Dow Jones slipped back under 30,000 after closing down almost 70 points. The S&P 500 dipped 0.13% to 3,668.10, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.54% to 12,406.81.

Since the start of November, all three indexes are trading about 13% higher.