'Fast Money' Recap: Icahn Lifts Yahoo!

The U.S. stock market equivocated Tuesday. The Dow slumped 0.3%, and the S&P 500 was largely unchanged, while Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) helped the Nasdaq shore up gains to the tune of 0.3%.

On CNBC's "Fast Money" TV show, the traders observed that Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) shares had a great day, and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote) got beaten down.

Karen Finerman called Carl Icahn's actions in Yahoo! "Carl 101." She said that with an irate shareholder base that's ready to skewer management, Icahn is well positioned to implement change at the troubled Internet company. If Icahn can get Gordon Crawford at Capital Research on board, then he'll be set. If not, he'll have a hard time.

Jeff Macke said he wouldn't re-initiate a Yahoo! position on this news. He said he's interested in the upcoming battle because he believes Yahoo!'s management was actually destroying value at the company even before Microsoft (MSFT Quote) launched a takeout bid.

Pete Najarian said he will take off half his Yahoo! long on the strength the stock showed today. He said he still believes in the Microsoft takeout story, and he says a deal will eventually get done.

Adami said the trade off the Yahoo! news is to get long Google (GOOG Quote). He said the stock probably could trade with a $700 handle, and on a valuation basis it's cheaper than Yahoo!.

Wal-Mart Wins

Moving on to Wal-Mart, Macke said he bought shares on today's dip. He said he liked what the company said on its earnings report, displaying that it is in touch with the consumer and executing on all cylinders.