'Fast Money' Recap: Financials Strong
NEW YORK (
) -- 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
(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.
To contact the writer of this article, click here:
David Tong
.
To follow the writer on Twitter, go to
.
To submit a news tip, send an email to:
.
To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC
.
Follow TheStreet.com on
and become a fan on