'Fast Money' Recap: Market Uncertainty

The trading panel said the markets are wrestling with a lot of uncertainty, from Greece to the impact of an interest rate hike in the U.S.

Author:
David Tong
Publish date:
Feb 10, 2010 7:46 PM EST

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The markets retreated Wednesday as

Fed

Chairman Ben Bernanke laid out plans for a rate hike and Europe wrestled with a rescue plan for Greece.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 20.26, or 0.20%, to 10,038.38 while the

S&P 500

dropped 2.39, or 0.22%, to 1,068.13. The

Nasdaq

dropped 3.0, or 0.14%, to 2,147.87.

Pete Najarian said on

CNBC

's "Fast Money" TV show that investors shouldn't read too much into today's action because there was simply a lack of trading volume.

Joe Terranova also advised investors to stay away from the dollar trade because the Greece bailout situation is riddled with uncertainty.

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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Tim Seymour said tonight's PPI and CPI reports are important because they will provide a better idea of what impact China's stimulus withdrawal is having on its economy. He said the dollar will move higher if there are signs of inflation.

Steve Grasso said all eyes are the 1,060 support level in the S&P. He said there needs some closure on sovereign debt before the S&P can get back to 1,080.

Gary Kaminsky said the markets won't move up until M&A activity and the IPO market heat up.

Seymour said Bernanke didn't say anything new about a shift in interest-rate policy that had not said earlier. He said the markets reacted appropriately to Bernanke's comments to maintain the status quo.

Bob Pisani, the moderator of the show, noted that 47 companies on the S&P have raised their dividends between Dec. 1, 2009 and Feb. 9, 2010. Najarian said there are companies are there like

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Free Report

(BP) - Get Free Report

and

Teva Pharmaceutical

(TEVA) - Get Free Report

that have strong balance sheets and growth that are in a position to reward their shareholders.

Terranova said investors shouldn't repeat the mistakes of 2009 and go after high-beta names. Rather he said they should focus on names that are fundamentally strong like

Walt Disney

(DIS) - Get Free Report

Pisani noted that commodities have been on a "wild ride" and asked the panel how they would trade in this space. Seymour said steel companies have been taking it on the chin, but he still likes

ArcelorMittal

(MT) - Get Free Report

, which is 25% off its highs. He said the company guided lower because of the higher input costs in producing steel. He said he would buy it at $36.50.

Terranova said oil is the one commodity that will remain strong. He said he's seen a pickup by institutional investors in oil futures.

Pisani brought in Dennis Gartman, of the Gartman Letter, for his thoughts on the Greece bailout. Gartman said he believes some sort of rescue plan will be worked out, whether it be in the form of taking loans off the book or loan guarantees.

However, Gartman said the real problem will be the other countries behind Greece like Portugal and Spain that will seek help.

Pisani said Germany is in a difficult position of having to defend the euro, but Gartman said he's not convinced that Germany will go "the full length" to bail out Greece. "The EU is at a crossroads," Gartman said.

Gartman said he's been long the Australian and Canadian dollars for some time, and short the euro and Sterling.

Todd Gordon, of Forex.com, said the daily Euro-USD charts are showing a short-term bounce in euro coming off the news of a rescue plan.

Pisani noted that the financials did very well today. Grasso was cautious about the financials, however, because of the proposed bank tax and the uncertainty around the financial regulatory reforms that Congress is working on.

Seymour said the European banks are in dire straits from a dip in GDP over the sovereign debt crisis. Gartman said that while the positive slope of the yield curve will work to the benefit of U.S. banks, they still face the unknown when it comes to the regulatory reforms down the road.

Pisani asked Tom Lydon, editor of etftrends.com, for his thoughts on his favorite ETF picks in this market.

Lydon said he sees the

PowerShares DB USD Bull Index

(UUP) - Get Free Report

moving higher on the strong-dollar play. On the other hand, he sees its counterpart, the

PowerShares DB USD Bearish

(UDN) - Get Free Report

, struggling after it broke below its 200-day moving average.

Lydon liked the

iShares IBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond Fund

(HYG) - Get Free Report

for a corporate bond ETF play.

He said the

CurrencyShares Euro Trust

(FXE) - Get Free Report

is getting crushed because of the decline in the euro. He said he expects the U.S. dollar and yen to gain strength in the coming days.

Gordon, of Forexcom, told the panel that

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Free Report

is still struggling to break out of its current trading range of about $156. Grasso said the markets can't move higher until the financials get healthier.

In the final trades, Seymour liked

Vimpel-Communications

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and

Turkcell Iletism Hizmetleri

(TKC) - Get Free Report

. Grasso liked

Ford

(F) - Get Free Report

while Terranova said to buy

Yahoo!

(YHOO)