'Fast Money' Recap: Taking Profits on Goldman

Led by Goldman Sacks(GS Quote), the financials staged a late rally Monday in a mixed day of trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 25.57, or 0.32%, to 8,057.81, but the S&P 500 added 2.17, or 0.25%, to 858.73. The Nasdaq nudged up 0.77, or 0.55%, to 1,653.31.

Melissa Lee, the moderator for CNBC's "Fast Money" TV show, devoted a lengthy opening segment to Goldman, which blew past the Street's estimates and announced a $5 billion stock offering that will be used to pay back TARP.

Jeff Macke said Goldman has returned to the price level where it was in December, adding it's time to start "dumping" stock after the 50% rally.

Tim Seymour said the company's confidence that it will be allowed to pay back TARP might be misplaced. "It's amazing to me that the government would let them out when everything is so good."

But Karen Finerman said she couldn't imagine Goldman going through with the secondary offering if it didn't have more of an inkling that the government would allow them to it.

Pete Najarian took issue over Macke's use of the word, "dumping," saying Goldman is trying to use the offering to demonstrate its strength.

Finerman said Goldman wants to give back the TARP money because it can't live with the compensation restrictions.

Seymour attributed the rise in Goldman's shares to the performance of its investment banking business, sales and trading and asset management division.

Najarian cited the sharp growth in options activity in the financials. For instance, he said 2.2 million contracts in Citibank(C Quote) traded today compared to 900,000 on a normal day while there was more than 1 million contracts in Bank of America (BAC Quote), twice the normal flow, with a 2-to1 bias toward calls.