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'Fast Money' Recap: It's in the Charts

Stockpickr Staff

Chartology with Barry Ritholtz

Barry Ritholtz, Director of Research at Fusion IQ Research, joined the "Fast Money" crew to discuss what a technical analysis of the market tells him. According to Ritholtz, the trend is your friend on the 5-year chart of the S&P 500. Until it breaks the trend line, he would stay long. Ritholtz likes the charts on State Street(STT Quote) and Stanley(SXE Quote). Guy Adami agrees with Ritholtz on State Street.

(Read more by Barry Ritholtz at Real Money.com Five Stocks for Playing a Recession Safely.)

Gartman's View

Dennis Gartman, author of The Gartman Letter, was a guest on the show and shared his take on the markets. Gartman was very impressed on Monday that gold went up even as the dollar got a bit stronger. He suggests that investors buy things that are going up when the news is bearish. An example of that right now would be gold.

Gartman is also worried about American oil firms getting hit with new taxes after the 2008 elections. He disclosed that he is short ConocoPhillips(COP Quote) and Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote) and long Petrobras(PZE Quote).

Gartman is long grain and grain companies like Monsanto(MON Quote) and Potash(POT Quote). On the other hand, he is very short retail stocks like Coach(COH Quote), Tiffany(TIF Quote) and Harley Davidson(HOG Quote).

Consumer Mind

If you're looking for the winning stocks in the retail sector, the best way to figure out which companies is by going inside the consumer's mind. Jeff Macke suggests looking for companies that build a relationship, connect and earn respect with consumers. He feels that companies like Target(TGT Quote), Costco(COST Quote), Disney(DIS Quote) and Wells Fargo(WFC Quote) are very well connected with their customers.

Karen Finerman thinks Wal-Mart(WMT Quote) meets Macke's criteria. Guy Adami favors Saks(SKS Quote) and Tiffany's(TIF Quote). Pete Najarian likes the way that McDonald's(MCD Quote) is run.

Word on the Street

Vivendi(VIV Quote) cut a deal to take control of Activision(ATVI Quote). Macke wishes that ATVI would have held out for a better premium. Also, he offers looking at Take-Two Interactive(TTWO Quote) and THQ(THQI Quote) as potential takeover targets.

Agrium(AGU Quote) announces its buying UAP Holdings(UAPH Quote) for $2.65 billion. In Najarian's opinion, this deal took the entire agricultural sector higher and demonstrates that the global growth story is still alive.

Najarian noted unusual options activity in solar stocks like LDK Solar(LDK Quote), Trina(TSL Quote) and SunPower(SPWR Quote). He disclosed that he bought call options on Trina Monday after noticing the heavy trading in the options.

Chico's(CHS Quote) and Guess(GES Quote) are set to report earnings after the bell on Tuesday. Macke warns investors not to pick the bottom on specialty retailers like Chico's. Teen retail is the hot place to be for a speculative trade and he would get long Guess.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway(BRK.A Quote) announced plans to buy $2.1 billion in TXU junk bonds from Goldman Sachs(GS Quote). Najarian remarked that these are not junk bonds and Buffett will do very well.

(Take a look at Buffett's holdings on Stockpickr.com Warren Buffett.)

Speculation hit the market that Nike(NKE Quote) might be looking to buy Adidas. Najarian thinks that Nike would like to get into the soccer market and Adidas would be a great way to do it.

General Motors(GM Quote) falls 4% after November sales disappoint. Adami declared the car industry is a mess. The only stock he would play in the space is BorgWarner(BWA Quote).

Genentech(DNA Quote) falls 4% after the FDA looks to get a second opinion on breast cancer drug Avastin. Najarian says the problem is that Avastin slows cancer but doesn't extend the cancer's patient life.

Happy 52-Week High Deckers Outdoor(DECK Quote)

Pops & Drops

Pops - Netflix(NFLX Quote) traded up 3% after Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock. Macke advises investors to sell the pops on NFLX.

Novo Nordisk(NVO Quote) traded up 4%. Najarian pointed out that this stock continues to pop on positive news for one of their diabetes drugs.

Sears Holdings(SHLD Quote) traded up 5% after Chairman Eddie Lampert defended the company. Macke declares there's no reason to own SHLD because they just aren't good retailers.

Lennar(LEN Quote) traded up 6% after the homebuilder sold land for $525 million that was originally valued at $1.3 billion. Adami commented that there are better homebuilders to own then LEN.

Drops - E*TRADE(ETFC Quote) fell 11% after a Bank of America analyst cut the stock to a sell rating. Per Macke, run away.

Research In Motion(RIMM Quote) fell 8% after a Morgan Keegan analyst downgraded the stock based on valuation. Najarian noted that RIMM has gone up too fast and now analysts are downgrading it.

Verifone(PAY Quote) fell 46% after the firm reported account errors that took profits down 80%. Adami predicts PAY will be on the drops list all week.

Big Lots(BIG Quote) fell 6% after a Wedbush Morgan analyst cut her price target on the stock. Finerman loves being short Big Lots.

Fannie Mae(FNM Quote) fell 6% after a Goldman Sachs analyst cut the stock to sell. Finerman remarked that Goldman is being mean because they can.

Final Trade

The team gives its best trading ideas to viewers.

• Macke would buy THQ(THQI Quote) off of the Activision takeover.
• Adami suggest shorting the Dow with Short Dow30 ProShares(DOG Quote).
• Finerman recommends retailer Kohl's(KSS Quote).
• Najarian prefers U.S. Bancorp(USB Quote) as a play on Warren Buffett.