6 Stocks to Play if the Market Tanks

It looks like I might get my wish, courtesy of JPMorgan Chase(JPM) .

Michael Baron of TheStreet offered a pretty solid assessment of the situation Thursday evening. Here's his take on how the market might react:

From a big picture standpoint, this is a spectacular piece of bad news coming at a time when the broad market's trend is clearly negative so it may be wise to look out below. Thursday was a breather session without a tremendous amount of conviction behind the gains in the Dow and S&P 500, but the two preceding days each saw more than 4 billion shares change hands on the New York Stock Exchange, suggesting some real churning.

Nobody knows what will happen during Friday trade. However, I expect, barring an extraordinarily bullish development, stocks to be down considerably. While a 200-, 300 or even 400-point drop in the Dow would not surprise me, it's never a shock to see the market recover from a serious plunge and turn green.

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European contagion takes a backseat to worries that this latest derivatives debacle goes beyond JPMorgan. While I acknowledge and comprehend concerns that the sky is falling, the dust will settle just like it always does. I've been around long enough to know that.

As such, I want to keep my eye on weakness, assuming we get some Friday and even into next week, for buying opportunities. During times like this, I want to load up on the stocks of strong companies with plans for the future that the latest crisis simply will not derail.