'Fast Money Recap': Lehman's Expensive Move

The U.S. stock market finished a bearish first quarter of 2008 Monday. For the day's session, the Dow was up 0.4%, the S&P 500 added 0.6%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.8%.

On CNBC's "Fast Money" TV show, the crew discussed Lehman Brothers' (LEH Quote) decision to raise between $3 billion and $4 billion in capital. The company had announced that it was raising the money because of investor interest. Karen Finerman expressed skepticism, saying that the move would be expensive for Lehman. She didn't believe a company would take such action simply to put rumors to rest.

Jeff Macke said companies should not announce the way Lehman did. The company is paying a huge amount in terms of reputational risk, because the move will stoke further rumors about the company, he said.

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In spite of a difficult quarter, where even the best sector finished in the red, Guy Adami said there are still stocks that are working. He pointed to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI Quote), citing the stock's enormous rise. He also recommended Westinghouse Air Brake (WAB Quote) on a $100 million New York subway deal and Trinity Industries (TRN Quote) on a buyback.

Returning to the Lehman news, Pete Najarian said there has been heavy put-buying in Lehman and Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) ever since news of the JPMorgan (JPM Quote) takeunder of Bear Stearns (BSC Quote) broke. He said the names are very volatile right now.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson proposed a plan to expand the Federal Reserve's power in regulating the financial markets. Finerman said that whatever the plan looks like now, it will change substantially by the time laws are actually passed. Jeff Macke said that the government is doing what it can to buy time to let the free market sort itself out over a reasonable time frame.

Shares of Merck (MRK Quote) and Schering-Plough (SGP Quote) were badly beaten today on bad news for their drug Vytorin. Pete Najarian said that a panel of doctors found that the drug doesn't do anything more than generic Zocor, another drug. He said investors should look to Eli Lilly (LLY Quote) for its anti-clotting Effiant drug

Because of that, take a look at Eli Lilly (LLY Quote) with a new anti-clotting drug. Also keep an eye on Genzyme (GENZ Quote).