'Fast Money' Recap: Ken Lewis' Last Act

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of America(BAC) has reached agreement with the federal government to pay back all the $45 billion in TARP it owes, Charles Gasparino reported on CNBC's "Fast Money" TV show.

Gasparino, an online editor for the network, said the TARP will be repaid with $26.2 billion in excess capital and $18.8 billion from a preferred stock offering as soon as Monday.

He called the deal was the last thing retiring CEO Ken Lewis wanted to do before leaving his position at the end of the year. He also said Greg Curl, the bank's chief risk officer, whose team negotiated the deal, stands in good position with the board to become the next CEO as a result of the deal.

For a breakout of some stocks from a recent "Fast Money" TV show, check out Dan Fitzpatrick's "3 Stocks I Saw on TV."

3 Stocks I Saw on TV

Karen Finerman expressed concerns about the huge equity offering and whether it would be dilutive to shareholders. Melissa Lee, the moderator of the show, said the repayment of TARP would clear the way the board to choose whomever they wanted for CEO and not be hampered by any pay restrictions imposed by the government.

Joe Terranova said he would want to be a buyer at the offering because he believes Bank of America is among the leaders in what he called the "race to normalized earnings."

Pete Najarian said the deal puts pressure on Wells Fargo(WFC) to repay the TARP it owes.

Credit Suisse analyst Craig Seigenthaler agreed with the panels' concern about equity dilution from the massive offering. He said most regional banks are not in the same position as Bank of America because regulators want to see a decline in non-performing assets.

Terranova and Finerman pressed Gasparino about the timing of the repayment. Terranova said he didn't think it was a near-term event, while Finerman said the bank's announcement could be a roadmap over the course of next year. Gasparino believed the deal was imminent and later said in the program that sources had told him that the preferred offering would be Monday.

For the day, the markets finished mixed Wednesday after a Fed's beige book report noted a modest improvement in economic conditions.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 18.90, or 0.18%, to 10,452.68, while the S&P 500 rose 0.38, or 0.03%, to 1,109.24. The Nasdaq added 9.22, or 0.42%, to 2,185.03.

Finerman took aim on an ADP report that showed 169,000 jobs lost in November. She said the ADP reports have generally been unreliable and that the extent of job losses is probably less than what was in the report.

Steve Grasso said equities started to weaken after the S&P struggled at the 1,112- to 1,115-level and the dollar started rallied. He said that's when a lot of traders tried to get out of equities. "There were a lot sell programs," he said.

Terranova characterized the dollar rally as a "modest recovery" ahead of the jobless report on Friday.

Najarian said the volatility of the market is saying that "we may be flat-lined for awhile."

Grasso advised against being short the market ahead of the jobless report. Finerman said a better gauge on where the market is headed is the money on the sidelines.

Lee shifted to steel stocks, one of the best performers of the day. The sector had received a bullish note from Goldman Sachs. Dan DiMicco, CEO of Nucor(NUE) declined comment on the report. He said the domestic steel industry is experiencing difficult times, with just a 60% capacity utilization rate.

He said the industry has a benefited a little from Cash for Clunkers and higher scrap prices. He said the outlook for 2010 isn't good, with a forecast for 70 million tons compared to 60 million tons this year. "It's going to be a slow recovery for the steel industry and the economy," he said.

DiMicco, who is going to jobs summit forum at the White House Thursday, said he was going to tell Obama to focus on creating jobs and getting the economy going again.

In a "trading the globe" segment, Tim Seymour said one way to play the Dubai debt crisis is to buy emerging market sovereign debt. He had two suggestions: Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Debt Fund(MSD) and Morgan Stanley EMDD(EDD).

In a brief segment on chartology, Todd Gordon, Forex.com senior technical analyst, said to take profits if the S&P hits 1250.

In the final trades, Terranova liked Bank of America. Grasso said to sell Nucor if it goes below $43. Finerman liked CVS(CVS). And Najarian liked Cliffs (CLF).

-- Written by David Tong in San Francisco

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