'Fast Money' Recap: Few Investors

The trading panel wondered where all the investors in today's thinly traded market.

Author:: David Tong
Publish date:: Mar 8, 2010 8:08 PM EST

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The markets were flat Monday on thin volume.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 13.68, or 0.13%, to 10,552.52, while the

S&P 500

dropped 0.19, or 0.02%, to 1,138.70. The

Nasdaq

was up 5.86, or 0.25%, to 2,332.21.

Steve Liesman led off

CNBC

's "Fast Money" TV show with a report that a New York Fed official had said that the

Federal Reserve

will leave the balance sheet alone in the early part of its exit strategy while it lets its interest-rate policy "do the work."

Joe Terranova saw little new in the report, saying the Fed had said all along that it would remove liquidity in an orderly way.

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 onTV
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Shifting to a discussion of today's market, Melissa Lee, the moderator of the show, noted today's trading volume was the lowest for the year.

Karen Finerman

and Pete Najarian expressed concerns about the thin volume and lack of investors.

Terranova said investors are waiting for the S&P to break out above 1,150 before getting back into the market. "They want that technical confirmation," he said.

Najarian said investors should use the opportunity to get into

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

, which has bounced back and traded above $170 during the session.

Adami said it was time to take some profits in

Ford

(F) - Get Report

after a cautious article in

Barrons

over the weekend. Najarian, though, said investors can actually buy calls in the stock because the volatility is so cheap.

Terranova said

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

would be a good stock to get into, with everyone having given up on it. Najarian and Adami thought

Dean Foods

(DF) - Get Report

could go higher.

Lee brought in Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital, to comment on today's market. He said the U.S. markets, though up considerably since the lows a year ago, are lagging markets in other parts of the world.

Schiff said the U.S. economy is in much worse shape than other economies because of what the Fed has done to debase the dollar. He said investors should be moving to gold or foreign stocks.

Shifting to technology, Lee noted

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

, which received an upgrade ahead of its analysts meeting Tuesday, where a big announcement is expected.

Najarian speculated the announcement might be an explosive move by the company in the data area. Adami said investors should be taking profits in Cisco, which has had a great rally.

Najarian noted that

Research In Motion

( RIM) is starting to make a big up move to the upside and considers it a smart direct play on smartphones.

With the bull market birthday Tuesday, Mike Khouw, director of the U.S. equity derivatives trading desk at Cantor Fitzgerald, said it's not difficult to contemplate taking profits on

Ford

(F) - Get Report

after its big move in the past several months. Khouw talked about selling calls in Ford to finance put charges against a long position.

Lee brought in Zachary Karabell, president of River Twice Research, who tried to put the nation's debt problems in perspective. He said the service on U.S. debt, in terms of its percentage of GDP, is not much different from what it was in the 1990s. He said the current debt service is about $500 billion compared to $300 billion to $400 billion in the 1990s.

He said the concern should be really be directed at "intrinsic" growth rather than interest rates.

He told the panel that a move by China to revalue the yen higher would benefit multinational U.S. companies because it would increasing the buying power of Chinese consumers.

Shifting to Goldman Sachs, Steve Cortes said he was bullish on the stock and sees it going to $200. He said Goldman will benefit from the pickup in dealmaking.

Lee brought in Steven Leer, CEO of

Arch Coal

(ACI) - Get Report

, to talk about his sector. Leer said he's beginning to see a turn upward in the business cycle. He also sees rising demand as the stockpiles of coal are burning off faster than anyone expected from a harsh winter.

Lee brought in Mike Huckman, a CNBC reporter, to talk about a big decision Friday by the FDA on a "first ever once-a-week" drug for diabetes. He said the decision would benefit

Eli Lilly

(LLY) - Get Report

Amylin

( AMLN) and

Alkermes

(AKS) - Get Report

He said

Roche

will be reporting the results of its once-a-week diabetes drug in three months.

In the final trades, Terranova was for

Yahoo!

(YHOO)