'Fast Money' Recap: Citigroup Play

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The markets closed higher again Wednesday as shares of Citigroup(C) and AIG(AIG) surged.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.95, or 0.03%, to 10,567.33, while the S&P 500 moved up 5.16, or 0.45%, to 1,145.61. The Nasdaq was up 18.27, or 0.78%, to 2,358.95.

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

Pete Najarian said on CNBC's "Fast Money" TV show the options activity in Citigroup and AIG soared today as investors piled into the two stocks.

Guy Adami said the move in AIG, which was up 10.6%, was due entirely to a short squeeze and warned investors to get out of it on Thursday.

Joe Terranova said Citigroup was the one stock in what he called the "Treasury portfolio" that one could invest in for the long term for fundamental reasons.

Melissa Lee, the moderator of the show, said the cost of shorting 100 AIG shares jumped to $3 a day.

Brian Kelly called Citigroup a "different animal" than AIG because it is a real company, now that it is selling off its parts, has a good commercial bank and has good management.

Lee disagreed strongly, saying that Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit has shortchanged shareholders with its actions on the dividend and sold off Citi's assets at the market lows.

Steve Cortes said the financials had been too frothy and took some profits on these stocks, including Goldman Sachs(GS), which he said was up 10% in March alone and "looked a bit extended."

Gary Kaminsky said he had spoken earlier in the day with a "senior person" at Citigroup and came away with a sense of its game plan. He said Citigroup has to deliver an earnings surprise and a reverse stock split to attract institutional investors. He said Citigroup is not big enough as a standalone entity to compete with other global banking players like Deutsche Bank(DB).

Shifting to M&A activity, Najarian commented on the flurry of deal-making in the commodities space and noted it's going on as well among regional banks like Huntington Bancshares(HBAN) and Regions Financial(RF).