Fast Money Recap: Best Volatility Bets
Volatility returned Wednesday with the Dow dropping 177 points after having climbed nearly 100 points on Tuesday, and the crew of CNBC's "Fast Money" provided their near-term predictions for the market.
Pete Najarian says volatility likely will be with us for a while. Karen Finerman believes the market has another drop to come, so be very defensive right now.
The crew also gave their quick take on the headline stocks of the day.
Word on the Street
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Report
CEO John Chambers reaffirmed the company's guidance Wednesday. Najarian says Cisco is a play on the global economy, along with
Hewlett-Packard
(HPQ) - Get Report
,
Dell
(DELL) - Get Report
,
Juniper Networks
(JNPR) - Get Report
and
IBM
(IBM) - Get Report
.
Retail sales are off to a bad start as
Costco
(COST) - Get Report
delivered disappointing numbers. Jeff Macke would be a buyer of Costco on weakness. Finerman advises letting the stock come down more before buying.
J. Crew
( JCG) fell hard after hours on weak revenue. Finerman said she'd be a buyer of J. Crew.
Apple
( KFT) pulled back from near-record prices after the company announced plans to cut the price of its iPhone. Najarian says he'd buy the stock into the news. Adami doesn't like the stock here and Macke agreed. (
RealMoney
Take: Tero Kuittinen said recently, "How unusual is Apple's decision to cut the price of the 8 GB iPhone by $200 to $400?" To read more on what Kuittinen said,
.)
Kraft
( KFT) traded higher on Wednesday after raising forecasts. Finnerman and Najarian both like the stock and expect it will continue to rise.
Najarian is spotting unusual options activity in
ImClone
(IMCL)
. He is seeing large buying of call options and he believes the stock will climb much higher.
Smith & Wesson
(SWHC)
will report earnings after the bell tomorrow. Adami warned not to chase this stock here even though he likes the name.
Rail stocks continued to fall despite some positive M&A news in the sector. Adami believes that Warren Buffett might raise his stake in
Burlington Northern
( BNI) to 25%. He would be a buyer of the railroad stock with a stop below $80.
New York City cab drivers are protesting an order to install credit-card readers and global-positioning system (GPS) devices in cabs. Najarian likes
Garmin
(GRMN) - Get Report
,
Navteq
(NVT) - Get Report
and
Research In Motion
( RIMM) off this news.
Rate Cut?
Many investors and traders are speculating that
Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke will cut interest rates at the Federal Reserve's next meeting on Sept. 18. Will a rate cut mean that the economy is weak and actually hurt the bulls?
Macke believes a Fed rate cut will not solve the credit problem. Adami says the less we see from the Fed the better for the markets.
Pharma Plays
Technology has been the recent safe haven in the stock market, but another sector is emerging as a possible safe haven, Big Pharma. Najarian recommends
Merck
(MRK) - Get Report
,
Bristol Myers
(BMY) - Get Report
and
Eli Lilly
(LLY) - Get Report
.
Najarian also believes that
Amgen
(AMGN) - Get Report
,
Genentech
( DNA),
Biogen
(BIIB) - Get Report
and
Amylin
( AMLN) are all getting ready to take off. (
RealMoney
Take: Adam Feuerstein recently said, "There has been quite a buzz about Carl Icahn's interest in Biogen Idec. The financier received FTC clearance last week to buy more stock in the biotech firm. This has led to speculation that Icahn will try to push Biogen Idec into accepting some buyout offer. Biogen Idec shares are trading near their 52-week high as a result." To read more on what Feuerstein said,
.)
Global Growth
"Fast Money" has delivered viewers a host of global growth picks, but Karen Finerman believes she's discovered a new one that few investors know about in terms of its global presence. Her pick is
Estee Lauder
(EL) - Get Report
because the cosmetics company has a 52% exposure to Asia.
Bear Week With Dennis Gartman
Dennis Gartman, publisher of the
Gartman Letter
, joined the crew Wednesday to discuss his bearish take on the markets. Gartman is very concerned about the resets on a large number of mortgages that won't occur until next January or February. He believes that this will put
Countrywide Financial
( CFC) in a very tough position and the stock could have more room to fall even from current depressed levels.
Gartman advises shorting
Wachovia
(WB) - Get Report
or almost any of the financials. The trend is clearly down for this group and the charts all look the same, he says. (
RealMoney
Take: Jim Cramer recently said, "Frankly, we need another Countrywide, another something that is just about to go bust, to put the fear right in the faces of the Fed and show that the weaknesses in the system are not abstract." To read more on what Cramer said,
.)
Final Trade
The show's members offered one trade each in this rapid-fire segment:
- Macke likes Short Dow30 ProShares (DOG) - Get Report.
- Finerman recommends Kraft( KFT).
- Adami likes Biogen (BIIB) - Get Report.
- Najarian says buy Nokia (NOK) - Get Report.
(
RealMoney
Take: Garry Morrow said recently, "Nokia is up another 2.5% today as it pushes further into new high ground for the year. Last Wednesday the stock gapped higher on the open, taking out its previous yearly highs in the process." To read more on what Morrow said,
.)
Pops & Drops
Pops --
Sirius
(SIRI) - Get Report
traded up 4% on positive merger news. Macke advises buying Sirius but not chasing it.
Forest Labs
(FRX)
popped up 10% on a favorable court ruling for a top depression drug. Najarian likes the stock.
Drops --
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
fell 3% on news the company might have exposure to off the books pools of commercial paper. Finerman believes more bad news is coming for Citigroup.
Crocs
(CROX) - Get Report
dropped 6%. Adami still likes Crocs even after this drop. (
RealMoney
Take: Dan Fitzpatrick said recently, "CROX is dealing with $60. I'd be a buyer on any move above resistance." To read more on what Fitzpatrick said,
)
KB Home
(KBH) - Get Report
fell 5%.
Tyson Foods
(TSN) - Get Report
fell 13%. Finerman say something doesn't smell right at TSN.
Warner Music Group
( WMG) dropped 5% after Doug Kass said he was shorting the stock. Finerman says stay away.
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