'Fast Money' Recap: Whale Watching

Finerman mentioned that she might entertain getting long American Eagle Outfitters(AEO Quote) and short Abercrombie as a hedge. Seymour said he is short the Retail HOLDRs(RTH Quote) against some emerging-market exporters to the U.S. Finerman told viewers she is short Family Dollar Stores(FDO Quote) because it trades a premium to Wal-Mart. Macke says "short Sears Holdings(SHLD Quote), they are the worst merchant on earth."

Seymour explained that retail in emerging markets is a much better place, because wage growth is up 20%. He said you can play it with names such as America Movil(AMX Quote), China Mobile(CHL Quote), Vimpel-Communications(VIP Quote) and Mobile TeleSystems(MBT Quote).

Ratigan switched the discussion to the banking sector. Finerman expressed surprise that Goldman Sachs Group(GS Quote) hasn't felt the need to say something to address the slide in their stock price. Adami says "you have to believe that in conversations with the partners, Goldman is talking about taking the company private." Macke says "Goldman trades like a stock that is going to zero."

The traders spoke with Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, about how to invest in this wacky market. Yardeni told viewers that we need to stimulate the economy. He said the government has to do something a little smarter, like bringing mortgage rates down. He says "you don't get a recovery without a recovery in housing." He said he hopes the Congress doesn't give the administration another $350 billion. He says "they gave the first TARP tranche to a bunch of banks that didn't even need it." Yardeni told viewers that its almost good news the TARP bailout isn't working.

Obama's Pick

The traders discussed who could be appointed by President-elect Barack Obama as the new secretary of the Treasury. Ratigan pointed out that according to the prediction market at Intrade.com, Tim Geithner has a 48% probability, Larry Summers 16% and Jon Corzine 10%. Macke said he likes Corzine because he used to work at Goldman Sachs(GS Quote).

Adami said he believes Geithner will get the job. Finerman told viewers that going with another Goldman Sachs guy isn't the way to go. She says "Summers is best for the job." Seymour explained that Geithner is good at getting people together behind the scenes, as he did with the Long Term Capital crisis.

Cash Is King

The traders spoke with Frank Aquila, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, about anticipating hostile takeovers. He said right now a lot of companies that want to do hostile bids have a lot of cash on their balance sheets. He says "the credit markets will open up to the companies with investment-grade credit." Aquila told viewers that he anticipates the most hostile activity in sectors such as retail, real estate, homebuilders and travel and leisure. He says "these areas will see the most activity, because their share prices have fallen dramatically."

CEO Action

The crew spoke with Lon Juricic, president of Streetinsider.com about the increased insider buying activity for corporate CEOs. Juricic said the insider buying action this week is incredible. He says, "Normally in a week we would track 15 notable buys; this week we saw 47." He mentioned that CEOs were buying at names such as Citigroup(C Quote), General Electric(GE Quote), Dow Chemical(DOW Quote), Lear(LEA Quote) and Corning(GLW Quote). Adami said Corning is the most interesting one.

Final Trade

Adami recommenced ConocoPhillips. Finerman said to short Capital One Financial(COF Quote). Seymour picked Tenaris(TS Quote).