'Fast Money' Recap: Financials Strong

Karen Finerman was pleased to see to see the return of the financials to a position of strength.
By David Tong ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The markets closed mixed Thursday as the tax cut deal ran into strong opposition from House Democrats.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

dropped 2.42, or 0.02%, to 11, 370.06 while the

S&P 500

added 4.72, or 0.38%, to 1,233.00. The

Nasdaq

gained 7.51, or 0.29%, to 2,616.67.

Guy Adami said on

CNBC

's "Fast Money" TV show that he was cautious about today's action, adding 1,220 appears to be the support level.

With volatility low, Finerman said investors should be buying protection. Brian Kelly said the market held on despite worrisome overseas news.

Karen Finerman that she was happy to see the return of the financials to a position of strength. She said she was starting to see real value in these stocks. She said good economic activity will translate into loan and earnings growth for the banks.

Stephen Weiss said the yield curve is benefiting the banks and providing strength to the sector, but Adami was reticent about applying a buy-hold strategy to the sector, arguing there are still headline risks.

Brian Kelly, though, dismissed the idea of headline risks, saying the financials should benefit from an improving economy.

In the ear to the wall segment, the panel discussed the 11% spike in

Eastman Kodak

( EK) on takeover rumors. Najarian noted the strong options activity in the stock, while Adami said there was a 30% short interest in the stock. Adami said he was hard pressed to get into the stock.

With cotton and lumber surging today, Kelly said the way he would play it would be in

Monsanto

(MON)

,

Plumb Creek Timber

(PCL)

and

Rayonier

(RYN) - Get Report

.

In the trading the globe segment, the panel discussed the rise in auto sales, with China reporting a 27% increase in vehicle sales. Finerman said the sector looks strong, with many auto stocks up, demand strong and plant utilization up.

She liked

Daimler

(DDAIF)

as a trade. Adami went his favorite

Borgwarner

(BWA) - Get Report

, and Kelly went with

Goodyear

(GT) - Get Report

.

Stephen Weiss offered up a derivative trade with

Stillwater Mining

(SWC)

, a play on platinum which is used in the manufacture of catalytic converters.

Switching to silver, John Stephenson, the author of

The Little Book on Commodity Investing

, said he thinks silver is heading to $50 an ounce. He said the growing level of debt in the U.S. is debasing the dollar and making the metal attractive.

For trades, he liked

Pan American Silver

(PAAS) - Get Report

,

Hecla

(SYMBOL)

and

Silver Wheaton

(SLW)

.

Lee brought in Herb Greenberg,

CNBC

senior stocks commentator, to comment on the plunge in

Green Mountain Coffee

(GMT)

.

Greenberg pointed out some oddities in the trading of the stock. After three days of negligible call activity, there was a huge pop on Nov. 19 when the company announced the results of an internal audit, he noted.

He said there were a lot of questions that need answering from the company, which he said has pulled disclosure of its K-cup shipments. He said it also reported first-quarter guidance that was below Street expectations and a 100% increase in inventory.

With so little information coming from the company, Kelly said he would just move on. Adami said he would also pull the rip cord because "no one seems to know what is going on."

In a segment called "smartphone smackdown," Lee noted that

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

had said today it had reached 300,000 Android phone activations a day.

CNBC

reporter Jon Fortt noted that Apple's Steve Jobs had been questioning the numbers from Google.

While Apple has been transparent about its iPhone app business model, Google has been less clear, he said.

Lee interrupted the show with a report that

Community Health Systems

(CYH) - Get Report

was making a bid to buy

Tenet Healthcare

(THC) - Get Report

. Finerman said there is a likelihood of other offers, noting Tenet stock was trading above the offer price.

Najarian said the move caught him offguard. He had there were other companies on his radar, including

Allscripts

(MDRX) - Get Report

and

United Healthcare

(UNH) - Get Report

.

Shift to the health care sector, Weiss said the sector has been a chronic underperformer except for one stock that he likes: Allscripts. He said the company, which specializes in electronic patient record keeping, should benefit from the lavish amount of stimulus money the federal government has doled out for it and the 2013 deadline for that stimulus money to be spent.

In the final trades, Kelly liked

Molycorp

(MCP)

. Adami liked

Diamond Foods

(DMND)

. Finerman liked Daimler, and Najarian said to buy puts on soybeans.

--Written by David Tong in San Francisco.

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.

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