CNBCfix - Fast Money Review

[CNBCfix Fast Money Review Archive — October 2014]
[Friday, October 31, 2014]

Guy Adami says Kim Kardashian could be ‘irrelevant’ in 6 months

GLUU chief Niccolo De Masi paid a visit to Friday's Fast Money and explained that besides Kim Kardashian, his company has a Deer Hunter game, for all those who can't wait to see Christopher Walken staring down De Niro at that Saigon table again. (That's only a joke — we think.)

That wasn't good enough for Mel, who tried to bully De Masi into admitting that his company is tied to a fad that is already passé.

De Masi rattled off rankings and metrics and insisted, "This game is retaining very well."

Guy Adami didn't seem to recognize the value of the Kardashian brand and said he was "respectfully" declaring that "signing her to a contract through 2019 is madness."

Pete Najarian, as usual, wouldn't say whether he likes GLUU or not but the only way he'd play it (Drink alert) is through options (Drink).

Meanwhile, Brian Kelly bragged, "I had a great day today."

Steve Grasso said he's "worried" about the market "correcting a little bit."

Pete Najarian hung a 120 on AAPL. No. 386 said to take profits in FDX. Guy Adami said to buy CELG (Drink).

Guy Adami said SNE isn't his favorite stock, but it's ownable. Steve Grasso said to sell the EXPE pop. Pete Najarian for the 2nd time in the day said he likes SBUX.

Pete Najarian said November 47.50 calls in DOW were hot.

Guy Adami admitted he has "no clue" about what next week holds.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was GS. No. 386 said BBY, Brian Kelly said DXJ and Guy Adami said C.

Mel was smokin' in Halloween red with her big day just around the corner.

Gerspach’s job apparently safe

Mike Mayo on Friday's Halftime Report said, like a child who misbehaves, he still loves C despite the latest write-down, because it's "directionally ... going to the right place."

He claims he sees the stock at $107 in 4 years and that it's like "free candy" at Friday's price.

Judge made only a feeble, decrepit, token push toward the real issue here, which is, whatever happened to Mayo's call on March 27 for Citigroup to fire John Gerspach.

But Judge, who doesn't even remember what his guests talk about and holds utterly no one accountable for anything no matter how inaccurate, ill-informed, ill-advised or downright shoddy the call, didn't even mention Gerspach by name, only said Mayo was "ready to ground" some executives "for like 2 weeks," and windmilled through Mayo's euphoria like Bud Harrelson following Ray Knight home in Game 6.

Pete Najarian actually was heard to say that BAC might hit 20 by year-end.

Meanwhile, Dan Kozlowski told Judge his Janus Contrarian Fund isn't "macro-driven," but "macro-aware." He likes UA and ENDP, and insisted the latter is not "overcooked," but he got knotted up with Judge clumsily because of the satellite delay.

Pete Najarian said UA is in his "Player Playbook" (sic).

Alex Gauna told Judge that GPRO is not "anywhere close" to maximizing its potential; hence his 105 target.

Mike Murphy was unimpressed by GRPN's prospects. Doc predicted XOM and CVX are going higher. Pete Najarian said the same for SBUX.

Pete Najarian complained that Microchip (Drink) was the "duck in the coal mine" and then suggested (Drink coming) that we shouldn't have been listening to the $7 billion company but Intel instead (Drink).

Doc said he bought Danaher (DHR) calls on the December 85 call-buying. "I'll probably give this one 2 or 3 weeks (Drink) Judge," said Najarian.

Doc endorsed BHI, Mike Murphy backed GT, Pete Najarian said the pain in VLO is "done" and Mike Murphy added HTZ (Drink).

Josh Brown stumbled and fumbled at the top of the program in an attempt to say something constructive about the markets, reverting to his usual advance/decline/internals mumbo jumbo, but at the end, he did have a good line, suggesting FCX change its name to "Freeport McMoron."

Jason Collins, who mentioned his iPhone, said he was "very supportive" of Tim Cook's declaration.

Joe-Josh bust: S&P 500
virtually at 2014 high

It was barely 2 weeks ago — Wednesday, Oct. 15 — that Mr. New World sat in with Kelly Evans on Closing Bell and declared he would be "amazed" if the stock market eclipsed its high on Alibaba IPO day (2,019 on Sept. 19).

Even worse, Josh Brown contended just a week ago, Oct. 24, a day of a close at 1,964, that "it's more likely than not" that the S&P 500 high is in for the year.

By Halloween, as of midday, the S&P had already touched 2,017.

And we haven't even gotten to November yet.

[Thursday, October 30, 2014]

You should only worry about Puerto Rico if you happen to have one of its bonds

Michael Pachter wasn't asked on Thursday's Fast Money whether AMZN management cares about stock price, but he did say that YouTube videos are proof that GoPro has a "broad, broad addressable market."

Steve Grasso said the barriers to entry for GPRO aren't high and asked Pachter if Google would want to buy it. Pachter said GOOG can be unpredictable but sure, it's something that's conceivable.

No. 386 said he feels "bored" to keep talking about how great DPZ is, and contended the improving job market is actually a "catalyst" for LNKD.

Alexandra Lebenthal said her muni strategy is short duration, short maturities. Mel clarified that "short" in this case doesn't mean selling, which was in fact a good clarification; Lebenthal praised it and pointed out that muni bonds can't be shorted.

Lebenthal didn't give much of an answer to Brian Kelly's question about whether people should worry about Puerto Rico. "People should only worry about Puerto Rico in terms of whether they have it in their portfolio having existing Puerto Ricos, or in their mutual funds," Lebenthal said.

Dan Nathan said someone bought a bunch of BMY November 55 puts.

Mel has everything clicking — clothes, hair, etc. — in advance of Halloween/birthday.

No matter what the news is, Tim Seymour is determined to recommend C

Kayla Tausche on Thursday's Fast Money did a nice job of improvising a C report while some document appeared in her inbox.

Tim Seymour, beginning a trend for the day, initially lukewarmly called C a buy on the dip. Dan Nathan said no need to jump in, and Steve Grasso said to buy a WFC pullback instead.

Later, Charlie Bobrinskoy called C's disclosure "strange."

Tim Seymour, grasping for an excuse to talk, asked Bobrinskoy if litigation is really in the rear-view mirror for other big banks. Bobrinskoy indicated he likes GS and MS better for that reason but acknowledged "it is the big, big banks (sic as opposed to U.S. regionals) that seem to have more problems internationally." That artficial question allowed Seymour a chance to restate that he likes C regardless.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was C (Drink).

Sales will take 6-9 months, except the ones that happen right now

CEO Rick Smith on Thursday's Fast Money told Missy that Taser got a "10fold increase in inquiries," apparently for its camera system, after the Ferguson situation.

Smith initially said it takes between "6 and 9 months" to see the effects of a situation like Ferguson have an impact on orders.

But then moments later, he said a Missouri department called him after Ferguson and said "We gotta get cameras out NOW. And we had 70 cameras live within a day."

Dan Nathan said TASR "looks like an interesting story." Steve Grasso said it's cool for Taser to be partnered with Oakley.

Dan Nathan's Final Trade was to sell LNKD Friday morning. Brian Kelly said TLT and Steve Grasso said MBLY.

Whew — a day without a reference to Microchip’s warning

Paul Richards told Judge on Thursday's Halftime Report he's so bullish, it "hurts," largely because the U.S. is doing fine, and Europe is looking at a "hint" or "start" of QE soon, and "this macro market's gonna love that trade."

Mr. New Land wondered if a rising dollar would hurt earnings. Richards said U.S. companies manage exchange rates pretty well.

Joe said regional banks will be "great" in 2015.

But Joe said "the biggest story about today" is that oil is down and stocks are up, which is proving a "nightmare" for the "algos."

Mohamed El-Erian said he wouldn't call the Fed's stance "more hawkish" but "more open-ended."

Josh Brown again warned that REITs are a "crowded, overbought, over-excitable sector" that are destined to lose if there's a "sharp rate rise."

We probably shouldn’t run a hot photo of Jackie DeAngelis every day, but what choice does she give us?

Tech investor Ken Allen told Thursday's Halftime crew that Amazon is "pretty controversial" among investors.

However, Allen asserted that we're early enough in the online shopping era and move to the cloud as to expect serious revenue gains.

That didn't fly with Dr. New World, who grumbled that he started hearing the AMZN story "many many years ago." Josh Brown suggested that by buying AMZN, you could get a knife plunging into your back (seriously). Steph Link suggested AMZN as a contrarian play on sentiment, and Doc also endorsed the name in a "50/50 split."

Allen also said VIPS "has a really strong niche" defensible against BABA and sees LNKD as "really promising."

Doc said he would "tend to be a buyer" on GPRO's dip.

Joe didn't say anything about SBUX that would help anyone toward buying/selling the stock; Josh Brown likewise had no advice for GRPN.

Stephanie Link observed that TWTR has had a "huge, huge decline" this week.

Now that’s an excited crew

Jon Najarian on Thursday's Halftime said he was "coattailing" Mark Cuban on NFLX and congratulated Cuban for a "heckuva call."

Josh Brown called FSLR a "severely misunderstood stock" and a "no-brainer" as a buy.

Doc in a clumsy argument referencing solar suggested big oil is around a bottom. Josh Brown really had no bear case other than "cheap for a reason" and the dividend yield can get bigger.

Mr. New Land said the "foundation" of URBN, which includes brands not worn at CNBCfix HQ, "is beginning to decelerate."

Joe's Final Trade was KORS as well as buy big oil. Jon Najarian said DPS, Stephanie Link said ALSN and Josh Brown offered DFS.

[Wednesday, October 29, 2014]

YHOO apparently doesn’t
have to pay taxes

Steve Liesman said on Wednesday's Fast Money that the market was "perfectly prepared" for the Fed's termination of QE.

He also said something about the Fed's outlook, but in fact most of his appearance and aftermath were dominated by age jokes (Zzzzzz).

John Jannarone suggested the improvement in YHOO is based on the belief that it could complete a divestment of BABA without paying taxes, which perhaps means Marissa Mayer is going to do an inversion with an Irish drugmaker (that's a joke). Jannarone's mother was on the set and hammed it up for the camera even more than Pete Najarian or Guy Adami typically do.

Dan Nathan said someone put on a November protection collar on BABA.

Nathan blurted "who cares" that Facebook is spending so much money, then told Mel he wouldn't really buy that stock or TWTR right now, but he does like TWTR in the high 30s.

Pete Najarian predicted 145 for FFIV by year-end.

Karen indicates that owning a stock at the end of the day is equivalent to buying it at the end of the day (Drink)

Sherri Scribner contended on Wednesday's Fast Money that the 3-D printing space is still "nascent" and not at the point where there's "cannibalization" just yet.

Scribner told Dan Nathan, "Probably some of the smaller players get bought." Her favorite name in the space is SSYS (Drink). Pete Najarian said "it's Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard." (Drink-Drink-Drink)

Kathy Lien, who is cute (see, the whole "Money in Motion" thing really dwindled after the sponsor bailed), advised selling euro/dollar and predicted 125 will "give way."

Karen Finerman reiterated she likes NNA because she owned it at the end of the day.

Karen Finerman pointed out that WTW's big quarter is right after Christmas when everybody starts trying to lose weight (Drink).

Dan Nathan said not to chase V.

Mel getting ready for birthday with chic black dress

Guy Adami said on Wednesday's Fast Money that "maybe" TRLA will hold around 41 after its after-hours slide and advised viewers to buy it with a 40 stop.

Guy also said he's a buyer of DWA on its quarter. (This writer is long DWA, a disastrous stock in need of miracles (sic plural) to do anything.)

Pete Najarian said no need to buy SNY.

Guy Adami said he's not sure where the PNRA opportunity will be.

Dan Nathan suggested 30 might be a good spot to buy TRN.

Pete Nardashian said November 41 calls and January 45 calls in KO were active.

Karen Finerman said she's long DIS and not long NFLX.

Pete Najarian said to look at GILD around 105.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was GS, Dan Nathan said short QQQ, Karen Finerman said BAC (Drink) and Guy Adami said HPQ.

Doc gets long FB on the dip

The Halftime crew on Wednesday only sort of addressed FB, a marginal improvement from the big whiff on the stock courtesy of Tuesday night's Fast Money gang.

Jon Najarian explained that his upside calls offset the out-of-the-money FB puts he sold, but he got long the stock Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Otherwise, traders sat on their hands, as Mike Murphy trumpeted how he dumped FB from his Playbook Playoffs portfolio just before earnings. Steve Weiss suggested FB's drop was linked to AMZN's stumble.

Josh Brown touted TWTR as a "broadcasting play."

Bob Peck said analysts will be looking to see if Dick Costolo can "articulate" a long-term strategy.

Grasso: Beware test of 200-day

Judge opened Wednesday's lackluster (that's putting it kindly) Halftime stating "Stocks mostly up again today," even though 2 of the 3 indices were in the red and the Dow was up a mere 5 points.

Jon Najarian said, "I don't know why you wouldn't put some protection on," given the market's climb in 2 weeks.

Doc said someone sold a batch of November 201.50 calls in the SPY.

Steve Grasso warned of selloffs after Fed meetings. "I think we need another test of that 200-day," Grasso said, adding he would "think about trimming."

But moments later, No. 386 reiterated his point that money managers will look to energy names to catch up.

Josh Brown contended that market participants have been "widely derisking" all year long.

Suni Harford said people are more concerned about more QE than no QE.

Stephen Weiss explained how great it was to buy the stocks at the October bottom a couple weeks ago but said he's down to 3 core positions: C, AAL and GILD.

Josh Brown said banks' era of litigation is ending (Drink).

Judge fails to ask anyone if the market is ‘rigged’

Eamon Javers reported (this is fertile ground) on Wednesday's Halftime that the SEC has outsourced preparation of a lot of its data to a firm that sells a faster feed to subscribers.

Doc was on the set and asserted it "doesn't make any sense" that this "unfair distribution" occurs this way. Steve Weiss agreed it's "ludicrous," but Josh Brown dismissed it as a "molehill."

Brown asserted, to Doc's protests, there has always been a "timing and information edge" in the stock market.

Still haven’t heard anything about Bill Nygren’s $400-plus ‘premium’ on AMZN, whether Jeff Bezos cares only about stock price as Bob Peck says

Capping off one of the sleepiest TV programs in weeks, Jon Najarian on Wednesday's Halftime was Fast Fired on SSYS and admitted he got "flushed out" of that one, prompting Judge to follow up with Josh Brown, who said "I have no comment on Stratasys."

Stephen Weiss said X has room higher, but then it's going the other way. Mike Murphy said if you're long the name, trim some on the pop.

Doc gloated that he was tipped to GT's move by the recent "unusual activity" in options.

Mike Murphy said "160 should hold" in PNRA.

Josh Brown said there's no reason to buy the HSY dip.

Jim Iuorio told Jackie DeAngelis (in orange) that gold "trades lower" on the Fed release. Jeff Kilburg, as always, likes buying gold. By asking DeAngelis about the Scott Nations-Peter Schiff showdown, Judge ensured Jackie got another refreshing moment on camera.

Stephen Weiss' Final Trade was M (Drink). Doc said C. Mike Murphy said BWP. Josh Brown really didn't make a trade, other than avoid "REITs that you've never heard of," pointing out that "2nd- and 3rd-tier brokers" loaded up clients with ARCP, which gives his profession a "black eye."

[Tuesday, October 28, 2014]

Mel’s birthday is Tuesday

It's our favorite early notification of the year.

Next week, Melissa Lee is celebrating her birthday.

This page is always aware of phenomenal gift ideas, but journalistic ethics preclude us from shipping birthday treats to Mel lest people think we're biased.

But, enough important folks see this page and respond to that particular news as to convince us that spreading the word is absolutely the right thing to do in this case.

Please, for the sake of avoiding the show's monstrous cliches, don't get Mel an iPad, iPhone 6, a driverless car or any of that brandy from Flavien Desoblin.

The big day isn't until Tuesday, so you've got plenty of time.

Mel borrows Phil LeBeau’s line, ‘apples and oranges’

In a discouraging development, Melissa Lee on Tuesday's Fast Money tried like Judge at Halftime to keep a scorecard on this loopy Elon Musk September sales issue.

David Zoia basically said he backs the WSJ's version, telling Mel he's "pretty confident" in WardsAuto's year-to-date sales number, even though he's "much lower" than Musk's own numbers, "so there is a magnitude."

Karen Finerman said that, like Tim Seymour, she was surprised that Elon Musk would comment on such "granular data." (See, now there's a way we could tie in the TSLA conversation with the TWTR conversation, but Mel whiffed.)

Guy Adami predicted a "ramp up into earnings" for TSLA.

Brian Kelly did a Patty Edwards-esque "that being said."

Brian Kelly: ‘Nobody
knows how to use’ Twitter

Brian Kelly on Tuesday's Fast Money pounded the table for TWTR then played Dick Costolo for a moment. "What I would do if I were Twitter? I would teach everybody to use it. It's a phenomenal platform that nobody knows how to use," Kelly said.

Guy Adami said "the story's still intact" at GILD.

Tim Seymour said he bought a quarter-position in BABA on the IPO and added since.

Guy Adami said YHOO longs at this point are "flipping a coin."

Tim Seymour referenced "Chipulte" (sic pronunciation).

Guy Adami said X's quarter sets it up to approach 50.

Paul Hickey, who improved upon his bumbling and stumbling from last week, asserted that "Falling oil is only bad for people who are selling oil" and asserted that every sector, except energy, benefits from the slide, especially consumer discretionary.

Karen Finerman mentioned for the first time in a while she likes NNA (Drink).

Mike Khouw said GT January 23 calls were popular.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was FCX. Brian Kelly said HYG and implied he was shorting, but the screen graphic said he is short puts. Karen Finerman said NNA (Drink) and Guy Adami said HIG.

Stephen Weiss on using Twitter: ‘Why am I doing this?’

It wasn't worth the build-up.

Herb Greenberg, trying to do a video hook-up with Tuesday's Halftime Report, first was forced into a Shields & Yarnell routine, then later in the program established a cell connection to state TWTR doesn't need to be public and should be owned by someone else, even though it's a "tremendous brand," because it needs to be allowed to do what it needs to do "behind the scenes."

How they can do different things as a part of another company that they can't do right at this moment was not explained by Greenberg.

The usual suspects were rattled off as potential buyers. Kate Kelly said someone, inaudible, can't afford to buy TWTR because of "an increasing burn rate;" presumably she meant AMZN.

Pete Najarian said the TWTR selloff presented an "incredible opportunity."

Doc said he doesn't think Peter Thiel is "exactly right" in his assessment of Twitter.

Anthony DiClemente said he upgraded TWTR earlier in the year when all of the "key metrics" were accelerating, but as soon as there's a deceleration in such a high-valuation name, "you really need to get out of the way."

DiClemente, who has a 45 target, said that to buy the stock, "It's gotta have a 3- 3-handle on it for me."

Stephen Weiss was equally pessimistic. Weiss said he was using Twitter the other night for the first time in a while and said, "Why am I doing this? There's so many better things I can do with my time."

CNBC chap possibly reading Shakespeare script drowns out Pete on SUNE

Reacting to a story that some of us viewers were unfamiliar with, and not providing enough details as to what he was talking about, Phil LeBeau on Tuesday's Halftime Report said "we don't know for sure" about Tesla's September sales; only Elon Musk has the data ... but both Musk and WSJ are right.

Phil insisted Musk was talking about September worldwide and the WSJ was talking about year-to-date in U.S. through September, so it's "apples and oranges."

Mike Murphy said Tuesday indicates there's support under TSLA and he thinks it can go higher. Obviously not heeding Dennis Gartman's warning from a day ago, Paul Sankey told Judge there's a "good chance" oil has bottomed. Sankey said he likes EOG, HES and COP, as well as VLO, WNR and Joe's occasional favorite, DK.

Pete Najarian said SUNE November 21 calls were active.

Stephen Weiss:
COH in ‘death spiral’

Kate Kelly, in glasses, said on Tuesday's Halftime Report that the $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers "sparked a lot of conversations" among JAT and others about MSG unlocking value. But Kelly said Nelson Peltz doesn't own stock in MSG and it's "not clear" if he intends to buy.

In a progressively bigger call, Stephen Weiss said he's not buying MSG on the move, then Mike Murphy actually said "sell the news today," then Pete Najarian called it "an absolute sell."

Steve Liesman said "the average" in the Fed survey is looking for a July rate hike, which differs from Jens Nordvig and his recent victory lap that everyone is starting to make March the consensus.

Anthony Grisanti said that as long as stocks creep higher, rates should creep higher. Judge tried to give Jackie DeAngelis marching orders as to what to ask Peter Schiff about on Futures Now (supposedly Schiff's prediction that the economy's a disaster), but at least it gave the cameraman another chance to show Jackie's chic new zippered dress.

T-Mobile chief John LeGere touted his quarterly numbers and guidance and told Julia Boorstin, "AT&T and Verizon are offering various forms of trickery to lock their base in." Judge and the gang didn't bother to address the interview.

Doc read the news about BWLD without making a call.

Pete Najarian is "disappointed" in PFE and likes MRK better.

Mike Murphy said you can buy COH with a stop "right below where it's trading now." But Stephen Weiss said the stock is in a "death spiral," though he doesn't think it's going out of business.

Stephen Weiss said why would you own KSS or anything in the retail space besides M (Drink).

Tyler Mathisen mentioned the "Skins," and Judge didn't question the team's nickname.

Stephen Weiss' Final Trade was AAL. Pete Najarian said UAL and Mike Murphy said HTZ.

[Monday, October 27, 2014]

Tim Seymour: Dennis Gartman’s
oil theory is ‘crazy’ talk

He'll probably be back in a week to say he was wrong.

Dennis Gartman joined Monday's Fast Money to predict a death spiral for crude.

It can go "a lot lower," Gartman said, but Melissa Lee wanted to know why Dennis didn't mention $10 on air after apparently speaking to his daughter a Fast Money booker.

"You already told our producer 10 bucks Dennis so I mean, come on," said Lee.

Gartman contends the SPR is keeping 245 days worth of crude oil and the White House figures to start unloading some of it, "why they haven't begun to do that is beyond me."

In his most curious point, Dennis cited not-very-heavily reported news that LMT is predicting an operative fusion reactor within 5-10 years, which according to Gartman will initiate the phase-out of oil from the world.

Gartman even likened crude oil to whale oil and explained that energy sources over time have superseded each other into oblivion.

Gartman noted the LMT story hasn't been the talk of the water cooler and speculated, "Could Lockheed Martin have lied?" Then he suggested the White House "probably shall" start selling from the SPR, which usually gets Guy Adami in an uproar (but not this time for some reason).

"There is no future for crude oil in the coming 15, 20 years," Gartman insisted.

Yet, Dennis suggested he "should be more retrospect (sic) when I speak with, uh, our producers."

Melissa Lee said whale oil "is nowhere now."

Tim Seymour was practically aghast at Gartman's thesis.

"Replaced by nuclear energy? Entirely? That- that to me is a crazy thing to say," Seymour said, after Melissa insisted on a narrative that monopolized the conversation.

Guy Adami suggested XOM might've put in a double bottom.

Steve Grasso predicted money managers will try to play catch-up at year-end with SLB, HAL and BHI.

Shocker: Melissa interviews
another biotech CEO

RNA chief Hans Schikan on Monday's Fast Money told Melissa Lee that in the rare-disease space, "We are all in this together" and expressed empathy to Sarepta and its patients for the setbacks in its muscular dystrophy treatment.

Otherwise, we didn't get much more from this interview other than Schikan believes such treatment is worth pursuing and he doesn't want to offer a timeline for FDA approval.

Guy Adami admitted TKMR didn't hold 23 as he predicted.

Guy also insisted WEN isn't cheap.

Steve Grasso said to wait until TSLA climbs over 224.

Mike Khouw said there was a big buy of November 59.50 puts in TGT.

Mel wonders how much Karen’s
shiny bracelet cost

Even after a 10% drop, nothing was settled.

The folks on Monday's Fast Money who have been bullish on TWTR (that would be Steve Grasso) were just as bullish after the lousy earnings/MAU/logged-off-users report, and those skeptical (that would be Karen Finerman) remained skeptical.

Much was made by Melissa Lee of Twitter's changing metrics; Bob Peck conceded that it's confusing and tossed in an "at the end of the day."

Steve Grasso claimed the changing metrics are fine; "I like the fact that there's something to buy it for," Grasso said.

Karen Finerman said that changing metrics sounds "fishy" to her.

Guy Adami said a couple times, "I think you buy it at 43."

Steve Grasso predicted FB goes "another 5-10% higher." Guy Adami affirmed he thinks the stock goes to 85, then you sell. Karen Finerman asserted that the Facebook lockup isn't an issue.

Tim Seymour said to wait for GPRO to reach a valuation "that makes sense" (snicker).

Karen Finerman said utterly nothing helpful about MU. #that'sDomChu'sjob

Still wondering if Jeff Bezos cares only about stock price, or ‘not a whit’ about stock price

Tim Seymour was given enough time on Monday's Fast Money for a defiant buy-Brazil speech but said rather than EWZ, "I would be looking at banks."

No. 386 lamented that with CLF, "Every buy on the dip has been a wrong buy." Tim Seymour said he's staying long CLF but predicted iron ore supply will "overwhelm" the market.

Karen Finerman explained the pressure on MTW and said she's long and might buy more on Tuesday.

Karen called RGC "worth taking a look at."

Guy Adami said BWLD can go even higher than its afterhours gains.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was to sell NKE. Steve Grasso said to buy TWTR. Karen Finerman said to buy M at 57 or lower. Guy Adami said FB ahead of earnings.

Joe caught flat-footed
on Judge’s reasonable question

It should almost be by definition that a Fast Money trader is willing to share an opinion about the immediate direction of the stock market.

Which makes the utter botch of Judge's relevant opening salvo by Mr. New World on Monday's Halftime all the more startling.

Judge asked Joe, "Can the stock market go up if oil continues to go down?"

Fair question; the answer is surely "yes," although the odds would probably lean toward stocks following oil.

But Joe chose to entertain a different, unasked question and responded, "Um, well, the next 50 points in the S&P I couldn't tell you where they're gonna be."

Judge persisted, "Is that answering the question?"

"It is," Joe wrongly decided, before shrugging "I don't know" if the "speculative appetite" will return to stocks.

Jim Lebenthal, meanwhile, who used the term "modus operandi," suggested stocks could indeed rise on falling oil if Goldman Sachs is right that oil is merely falling on supply issues, but Lebenthal thinks the decline is more attributable to slowing growth.

Matt McLennan offered that historically higher oil is linked to weaker stock markets, so recent sluggishness is a bit "counterintuitive."

But McLennan said the bigger problem is that "there's too much debt in the system."

McLennan suggested gold is a useful hedge and said he likes "entrenched technology."

Citizens Financial chief Bruce Van Saun conceded his bank is ready for the "lower for longer" era of interest rates to end, and (unlike Elon Musk) said he doesn't think his stock is "priced for perfection."

New hairstyle for Jackie DeAngelis

Mike Murphy said on Monday's Halftime Report it was "kind of harsh" for Jim Chanos to label PBR as a "scheme" rather than a stock and insisted "there's value there" at 10 or 9.

Murphy said he has no interest in SODA because he doesn't like the business model.

Murphy (no) and Stephanie Link (yes) tangled over whether, if you like NKE or FL, you have to like the other.

Stephanie Link said not to chase MRK.

Jim Lebenthal likes GRMN. Joe said he wouldn't buy SRPT but endorsed XBI (Drink).

Judge thinks Halloween costumes and promotions for unrelated NBC Universal shows are relevant material for Halftime Report

Mark May said on Monday's Halftime Report he expects a bigger surprise from FB, based on video, than from TWTR.

May helped everyone out by mentioning Twitter's World Cup comp (Drink) and said Twitter raised cash just to tap an "attractive, you know, convert market" so it has the ability to be "opportunistic."

Stephanie Link called S a "zombie" stock after Judge introduced an intern who couldn't/wouldn't speak. Jim Lebenthal offered oil drillers, Mike Murphy suggested CLF and Dr. New Land said SHLD.

Joe Terranova's Final Trade was TEVA. Stephanie Link said PCL, Mike Murphy said BX and Jim Lebenthal said MPC.

Joe: If oil doesn’t recover,
Tesla’s ‘gonna implode’

It suddenly occurred to us over the weekend that we haven't heard anyone on Fast Money/Halftime articulate whether Tesla might be a sell on plummeting oil.

That drought was broken on Monday's Halftime when Dr. New Land, who got off to a rocky start with curious opening game face while trying to tackle Judge's opening question on the oil-stocks link, caught fire in wondering — with absolutely no follow-up from Judge whatsoever — why anyone would buy Tesla if oil doesn't rebound. (Gosh that's a long, clumsy sentence.)

"It looks to me like it's gonna implode," Joe said.

Kate Kelly reported that most hedge funds are definitely bearish WTI but are "uncertain" about Brent and consider it a "coin flip."

Scott Nations said "it's absolutely a lock" that gasoline futures will trade below $2.

Jim Lebenthal (yes) and Dr. New Land (no) tangled over whether refiners are a buy.

More from Monday's Halftime and Fast Money later.

[Friday, October 24, 2014]

Does this person care about his stock price ... or doesn’t he?

Honestly, one of these days we're gonna start billing Judge for the free research material we're giving him.

On Friday's Halftime Report, Bob Peck told Scott Wapner that Jeff Bezos told analysts he doesn't care about any metrics except "maximizing the net present value of future free cash flow. And obviously that's the stock price, right."

Judge, whose recall was obviously a bit lacking Friday, didn't address the remark.

But it set off an alarm bell around here, because — and man, this required some digging in the CNBCfix archive — back on the Jan. 30 episode of Fast Money, Karen Finerman asked Michael Pachter if Amazon's management cares at all about its stock price.

"Not a whit," Pachter asserted. Whether it's $100 or $500, "they don't care."

Hmmmmm.

Now, on one hand, these are humorous semantics; on another hand, this is one of the world's most popular stocks, kind of controversial because of the multiple, and it tends to make outsized moves on earnings reports.

So presumably, it should kind of matter whether the leader of this company DOES care about stock price, or does NOT care about stock price.

This page said in January that we didn't believe Pachter's assertion.

Peck's comment, purportedly straight from the horse's mouth, does require an interpretation (that anyone enrolled in Finance 101 could make) but bolsters that observation.

So, we know that 1 of 2 things is true:

Either both analysts are right, and Jeff Bezos has changed his mind about the importance of stock price in the last 9 months.

Or, one of them has no clue about this subject and was dispensing mumbo jumbo on television.

After Judge addresses that, he can remind viewers that Bill Nygren told the Halftime Report on July 14 that AMZN deserves a "premium" north of $400 because unlike steel companies, which take 30 years for investments to pay off, Amazon's investment "goes through the income statement immediately."

Socializing.

It actually does happen.

Melissa Lee revealed on Friday's Fast Money, "I was last night at a party and I was talking to a C-level executive at a major bank, here in New York City."

An episode occurs without one of the Najarians mentioning Microchip

John Jannarone, who does his best not to smile, asserted on Friday's Fast Money that investors are "fed up" with Amazon but that they can't really agitate much because Jeff Bezos owns 18% and this is "Bezos' baby."

In a bit of a howler, Jannarone said the stock "hasn't been this cheap in 5 years."

Guy Adami, the only panelist on Halftime/Fast Money who endorsed the stock Friday, predicted Amazon will bounce to 315 or 320.

Guy said every GPRO slide has been a buy and he thinks the same is true Friday.

Guy predicted 1,970 in the S&P will be resistance.

Pete Najarian said he has been loading up on banks and airlines this week.

Tim Seymour said he'd sell the XLE and the OIH.

Tim Seymour argued that Brazil is trading "cheap to itself" and that often investors sell going into elections and then buy afterward. Brian Kelly insisted "Brazil has a huge economic problem" and whatever it's trying won't work.

Tim Seymour made an uninteresting case for FCX. Guy Adami predicted 85 for FB after the "huge quarter" he sees coming. Pete Najarian likes WHR.

Tim Seymour said he'd buy F. Guy Adami called SODA a buy. Pete Najarian conceded the DRIV trade is basically over.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was EWZ, Pete Najarian said GS, Brian Kelly said to short EWG and Guy Adami said MS.

Josh Brown on AMZN bear case: ‘What is their infrastructure, UPS?’

Even though viewers of Friday's Halftime Report could hear Bob Peck loud and clear from the outset, Judge and the panel couldn't, setting up a clumsy, bumbling, stumbling introduction before Peck attributed the bad AMZN quarter to a lot of "1-timers" and claimed, "it's actually an in-line quarter."

That came after Josh Brown said he's not sure people understand the "magnitude" of the AMZN miss, and after Pete Najarian stressed that "people have gotta put up the right numbers" or face punishment from the Street.

Jon Najarian trumpeted how his short worked Thursday but said he had covered.

Judge struggled to reconcile Peck's enthusiasm for the stock with his panel's scorn; "You guys look like you just came from a funeral."

Doc offered feeble middle ground, saying he'd be willing to make a move to the long side but only with a "derivative" (translation: call option).

Even less enthusiastic was Eric Jackson, who told Judge, "I have no interest ... in owning Amazon," but "I'm a huge Alibaba bull."

Jackson told Brown that Alibaba can compete with Amazon but allowed that the latter still has a "defensible moat."

Pete Najarian indicated he likes BABA and "Microsonce" (sic) better than AMZN. Mike Murphy trumpeted FB.

Doc knocked Josh's contention that AMZN is a "leadership" stock, then the group tangled over whether IBM is a "blue chip" stock.

Doc brought up "that Microchip thing" (Drink) (thankfully it's Friday so 2 whole days ahead without a Microchip reference).

Josh Brown lukewarmly said that "at some point," somebody should buy Pandora.

Brown contended that "it's more likely than not" that the S&P 500 high is in for the year.

$40 a barrel?

Morgan Downey told Judge on Friday's Halftime there's a "battle going on" between U.S. frackers and OPEC, and until there's a U.S. cutback or an OPEC cut, "we're gonna see much lower prices."

Downey made the argument that the Saudis, with so little debt and so much cash, "can take U.S. frackers down to 50, 40 dollars a barrel," which seems a reach but a provocative comment nonetheless.

Downey contended that falling oil, while great for consumers, could be offset by its impact on the drilling industry responsible for a lot of job creation recently. Interesting point; we'd have to think the American public would accept that trade-off.

Anthony Grisanti told Jackie DeAngelis (in sharp green) he expects low nat gas prices for 4 to 5 weeks. Jeff Kilburg told DeAngelis he doesn't see nat gas reaching $6 this winter.

The parabola’s over

Interesting, but underwhelming.

Judge on Friday's Halftime hyped up Andrew Uerkwitz's sell call on GPRO, but Uerkwitz merely said it's partly a valuation call and partly "misunderstanding of what, of how investors are viewing the market opportunity."

Which sounds like it's really a valuation call.

Uerkwitz insisted a couple of times that GoPro is great for action but is going to face massive competition in regular camcorder-type business.

Judge, with a look of serious skepticism, questioned if GPRO isn't yet to the "difficult" Act II predicted by Uerkwitz but in fact is still "scratching the surface on Act I." Pete Nardashian pointed to Asia potential and said he agrees with Judge that Act I is still in progress.

Jon Najarian's Final Trade was FTNT. Pete Najarian said MRK, Mike Murphy said F, which he said he bought, and Josh Brown said to sell any bounce in AMZN.

[Thursday, October 23, 2014]

Shocker: Guy Adami back in the game, shakes up years-old portfolio

Evidently, he's re-engaging.

Years ago this page noticed that — according to the disclosures (snicker) at CNBC.com — longtime trader Guy Adami actually apparently stopped trading.

Every day Guy was on the show, his disclosures were listed online as long these 7 stocks: C, GS, INTC, MSFT, AGU, NUE, BTU.

So we were startled to hear Guy say on Thursday's Fast Money that "I got out of my Microsoft I think about a week or so ago."

That sent us scrambling to look up recent show disclosures. In late September, he was still listed with those 7 stocks; by the end of the month he was not, although most of those names aren't actually mentioned on most programs.

According to Thursday's disclosures, Guy is now long at least CELG, EXAS and INTC.

The original portfolio of 7 was long a dog; somewhere on this site we recorded when it was first posted but C, GS and BTU never took off. However, INTC, MSFT and NUE caught fire in the last 12 months; the issue is how much damage BTU did to the rest of the group.

It's always been a bit odd that a program about stock trading has long been anchored by an individual, despite great credentials, who isn't even performing active trading, a factor to keep in mind when absorbing TV advice. Yet, this page has always found Guy's calls to be 100% authentic and his own accountability to be at the highest levels of the show.

Guy: Buy AMZN at 280/277/278

He likes it so much, he couldn't stop saying it, even in a truncated 40-minute program.

Guy Adami asserted on Thursday's Fast Money that now's the time to buy AMZN, around 280, even though the quarter was an "absolute disaster."

"I say you buy it at 277," said Guy, even though "this is gonna come back and bite me, I know."

But he was just warming up.

Karen Finerman said Amazon's "valuation is just sort of way out of control" and even suggested people are starting to think "the emperor has no clothes."

But Guy cautioned the AMZN critics that people were saying a week ago that NFLX was dead, and look at the rally in that name.

For a Final Trade, Guy said to buy AMZN at 278, add more at 285, pull the ripcord at 315 and take a loss below 270.

Time for Fast Money panelists
to stop news-reading

You see it basically every day.

Either Mel or Judge does a "Pops & Drops," and the panelists tell you what analyst research note sent a stock up or down.

That's Dom Chu and Courtney Reagan's job.

If the "traders" want to do that, they should ship a résumé to Nik Deogun.

The traders' job is to tell you whether to buy or sell the stock based on the news/move.

Thursday's goat was Jon Najarian, a typical culprit, who could only say YELP had a bad day (as if we couldn't figure that out) and was stumped as to a trade.

Karen Finerman helpfully explained that Ebola had maybe a little bit to do with RCL's day.

At least Tim Seymour was able to suggest that YNDX is running into resistance, and Guy Adami could offer that LMT seems like it wants to go higher.

Time for the annual picture of Tim Seymour drumming at Rocktoberfest

Karen Finerman, whose performance on Thursday's Fast Money was a bust, actually said, on a day the S&P 500 rose 23 points, "I thought the market held in pretty well."

Jon Najarian said "the guidance forward (sic redundant) is pretty decent" for Pandora.

Karen Finerman scoffed that Pandora's multiple was too high to accommodate a miss. But Tim Seymour revealed he likes the stock, then pushed back that he wasn't ready to buy it immediately.

Dan Ives told Melissa Lee that "it's hard to find anything negative" in the MSFT report (except the fact women aren't supposed to ask for raises but just let them happen through "karma") and suggested Satya should frame a copy of the earnings in his office.

The Rocktoberfest concert has become something of a Fast Money cliche, but of course we wish the best for the charity and its recipients.

Mel surfs Web immediately after show ends to see if anyone noticed spectacular hairstyle

Melissa Lee on Thursday's Fast Money asked NXPI chief Rick Clemmer about the "line item" in the balance sheet attributed to a phone rollout, but all Clemmer did was give an overview as to how great the business is.

Doc brought up the Microchip warning (Drink) for the 2nd time in the day (Double Drink) and said he still likes NXPI. Tim Seymour said the stock probably is "capped" at 72, which makes him surprisingly "neutral" given that he sees another 12% in the name. Guy Adami predicted you'll get an entry point at 59½.

Mike Khouw identified a big buyer of XLF December 21 puts.

Doc said January 87.50 calls in PRU were hot, and he bought PRU calls.

Tim Seymour said his Final Trade was to sell UAL but the screen said it was sell AAL. Doc said buy NBR and Karen said FINL.

Doc says people with 2-week option holding periods have a lot more conviction than people who own $39 stocks

Yes, we know they run an options business and are constantly talking their book.

But occasionally the Nardashians' salesmanship is so nutty, it requires being called out by Judge, who could stand some brass on this matter.

Witness Thursday's Halftime Report, when Doc said AMAT November 21 calls were hot, then beat Pete to the punch in mentioning the Microchip downgrade (Drink).

Doc told Judge his AMAT holding period is "probably 2 weeks" (Drink).

Fair enough (groan), but then this numbskull generic remark: "You have a lot more conviction to stick with it when it's an 89-cent option vs. a $39 stock."

Huh??????

Options have "time decay." That means they expire. Often worthless.

A $39 stock doesn't expire. You can sell it in seconds, or hold it for years.

To say that a holder of an 89-cent option in general has "a lot more conviction" than a holder of a $39 stock makes not an ounce of sense.

Then again, the Nardashians wrote "an entire (sic redundant) book" on the subject, so there must be something we're missing.

Doc trumpets a trade that was awesome if you made it a week ago

Pete Najarian claimed at the top of Thursday's Halftime Report that "the economy is better than people have been saying."

Ed Yardeni said the market was enjoying a relief rally from another one of its "panic attacks."

Doc trumpeted how GBX went from 46 to 61 in 4 days.

Christine Short said it looks like banks' litigation era is coming to an end (Drink) and said there are still "bright spots" for the consumer.

Jeff Kilburg contended that "from here," we have a buy in gold. But Brian Stutland said gold's failure at 1,250 is a sell.

Pete Najarian said he saw an "unbelievable opportunity" in UA and bought some under 63.

Mike Murphy said KKR has 20-25% upside.

Doc at least a couple times in the program trumpeted DAN.

Stephanie needs to refocus her time and energy

Stephanie Link actually said on Thursday's Halftime Report that UTX's last quarter was such a mess, "it took me 3 days to figure out what their bottom line was."

The panel's airline discussion with Phil LeBeau really went nowhere.

Mike Murphy said "don't be afraid" to trim IBB.

Doc said he doesn't own CLF but would "love to put together a little basket" of that name and WLT and a few others.

Stephanie Link stumbled to explain what's going on with SKX but said its product cycle is in "early to mid-innings."

Pete Najarian hinted BABA has other targets besides Sony/Viacom but wouldn't reveal what those are.

Judge curiously Fast-Fired Pete for a mere 5% drop in LULU. "It's not killin' me yet," Pete said.

Judge pointed out the natural beauty in the Jane Wells scenery.

Doc's Final Trade was PRU. Pete said UA, Mike Murphy said IR and Steph Link said FTNT.

[Wednesday, October 22, 2014]

Good thing he didn’t try Lee Cooperman’s list of 9 reasons as to whether the selloff is over

Sounding like Ronald Reagan at that first 1984 debate with Mondale, Paul Hickey on Wednesday's Fast Money stumbled and bumbled to explain what he was actually measuring regarding October volatility, then stumbled and bumbled even further to recite the percentage results of what his crew found.

Evidently, according to Mel, Hickey's conclusion is that we're due for another pullback but that such pullbacks are typical so it doesn't change Hickey's optimistic outlook.

Guy Adami insisted we're still in this "huge, deflationary period" (Drink).

Dan Nathan said he's short the DIA.

"The volatility is volatile," said Pete Najarian.

Meg Tirrell, in leathery black

Regulus (RGLS) chief Kleanthis Xanthopoulos visited with Wednesday's Fast Money crew and credited Meg Tirrell for a "very good question" as to whether RG-101 (not to be confused with RG III or, for that matter, IG-88) is a "front-line treatment" for Hep C or whether it's for the more difficult-to-treat patients; he said they're going to evaluate the possibilities.

Jokes about the name aside, of course hopefully RG-101 will prove a game-changer.

Mel demanded Xanthopoulos tell her who are the "likely partners" to team up on RG-101. Xanthopoulos listed 5 names, and unfortunately 3 is our limit.

Welcome back

A day ago, this page expressed relief that we got a break from Dan Nathan for at least 1 day on Fast Money.

In an amazing turnaround, Nathan showed up Wednesday, and instead of delivering grandpa-type pessimism actually put together a helluva show of relevant trades and observations.

Nathan pointed out that DDD is "mis-executing obviously" and said it just made a "Triangle of Death."

Pete Najarian claimed the 3-D names were "overhyped, overbought, overvalued" (sic all kind of the same thing) and then ... you knew it was coming ... suggested HPQ (Drink) as the answer to the space.

Guy Adami said $30 will be the place to buy DDD.

Nathan predicted YELP bottoms out at 50 "near term."

Nathan said to wait another 10% before jumping into VMW.

And, Nathan said a trader sold a bunch of November 50 calls in YHOO.

Pete surrenders to
Mel’s hot outfit

This is an absolutely phenomenal joke.

Pete Najarian on Wednesday's Fast Money again mentioned the Microchip news (Drink) while explaining that the November 2.50 puts in AMD were active.

Later in the shortened program, Pete said to wait on BRCM but again mentioned Microchip (Drink).

Which, combined with Pete's appearance on the Halftime Report, marked 3 references to Microchip in 1 day (not counting whatever he tweets on OptionMonster).

Get. A. Life.

Pete and Brian Kelly tangled over DAL. Kelly, who’s due for a break like Tim Seymour refreshingly took Wednesday, said to look at the scoreboard from Wednesday and Pete said to look at the scoreboard from last week.

Guy Adami said he didn't like how his previous Final Trade, RIG, acted Wednesday but that he finds XOM interesting.

Dan Nathan bragged that he owned T but "sold it before the results today."

Pete Nardashian said BDBD is getting to a buy stage but he can't do it now. Guy Adami said he likes HAIN.

Guy Adami predicted IRBT sees 42-45, then you sell.

Dan Nathan's Final Trade was to sell HD. Brian Kelly said HYG puts, Pete Najarian said MRK and that he actually owns the stock and Guy Adami said AMGN.

Analyst: HLF would trade in mid-$40s even if U.S. business were shut down

Judge made it clear from the get-go he wasn't buying a word of this.

Noted HLF watcher Tim Ramey, now at Pivotal Research Group, explained on Wednesday's Halftime Report he has a $110 price target on HLF because if the FTC actually "closed Herbalife in the U.S.," a mid-40s price still would be justified.

Instead, Ramey says he sees "extremely high odds that they'll come to a nice settlement."

Judge dripped with skepticism on at least 4 subjects, that Ramey could have a "buy" at this moment with the regulatory overhang, Ramey's connection to Bill Stiritz, Ramey's "bias" against Bill Ackman, and how Ramey could "justify" a "buy" rating if the U.S. business was shut down, but that wasn't exactly what Ramey said even though Judge made that interpretation.

"It's just not a pyramid scheme," Ramey said.

However, Wapner took seriously Ramey's opinion as to what HLF would do if cleared by the FTC. Ramey suggested a possible "50% kind of day."

Herb Greenberg predicted the FTC would issue a "reset" of multi-level marketing rules.

Stephen Weiss said HLF had the same issues when he helped take it public, and he thinks HLF's Michael Johnson is "reaching out of desperation."

Another Halftime Report endorsement for the airlines (Drink)

As fresh material proves elusive on the Halftime Report, Pete Najarian on Wednesday resumed his tirade against the market's reaction to Microchip's outlook (Drink).

Stephen Weiss asserted, "You wanna buy the airlines" (Drink).

Mike Murphy reiterated his support for HTZ (Drink) and made it his Final Trade even though it sank after Carl made a move; also he backed IP on REIT potential.

Scott Nations told knee-buckling Jackie DeAngelis that "this is certainly the bottom" in crude. But Jim Iuorio said crude is due to break out from its triangular pattern, in either direction, but he suspects it will go lower.

Pete Najarian called DVN "oversold." Mike Murphy trumpeted HAL.

Steve Weiss says nothing about Family Dollar shoppers’ transportation

Yaron Werber, whom we sort of regard as the Clovis Guy or Intercept Guy on Fast Money, visited Wednesday's Halftime on Wednesday to tell Judge his top pick in large cap is GILD and small cap is MDVN.

Werber said the downside to AMGN is "not much," but that a split "could be a little difficult."

"I bought a little Amgen off Loeb's call," said Stephen Weiss.

Josh Brown said he's "not really sure what's going on" at BIIB but he wouldn't be buying the dip.

Seems like the only 2 people on any given episode who care about the Playbook Playoffs are the people in 1st and 2nd place

Pete Nardashian declared on Wednesday's Halftime Report he's not a bull nor bear on KO but praised its stake in MNST.

Mike Murphy said he disagreed that the MNST stake was a good idea because he thinks MNST is a "fad."

Stephen Weiss said he's not interested in KO because of the "extreme valuation."

Meanwhile, Murphy, who's now running 2nd to Dr. New Land in the Playbook Playoffs, said he exited FB in his Playbook Playoffs portfolio but still owns the stock personally; evidently he's looking for a bigger burst from something else.

Interestingly, Murphy said "Joe is out of trades," which is surprising to us because we figured everyone heeds Doc's thesis that you own retailers from Labor Day through Black Friday and Steve Grasso's thesis that you own steel in late November at the Goldman Sachs conference and then ditch in December and surely Joe and others would try to maximize those boosts this year.

Stephen Weiss said the OCN lesson is, "You don't fight with the government."

Nobody says they agree with Einhorn that picking stocks in October has been ‘fun’

Josh Brown, who a while back used to trumpet 3-D printing names in the early innings, admitted on Wednesday's Halftime Report that "I haven't been in these names for a while."

Brown said YHOO's spike is starting to "melt away" and he wouldn't buy north of 40.

Pete Najarian said weekly 37 calls in GPS were trading "way over the open interest."

Mike Murphy advised waiting for BA to "settle in" before buying.

Stephen Weiss joked that the show's producers "woke up" when Judge mentioned them.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was DVN. Steve Weiss said M. Josh Brown said to sell KO and Mike Murphy said buy HTZ.

[Tuesday, October 21, 2014]

Either 25, or 75: David Einhorn faults the media and doesn’t fault the media in same sentence

He was sooooooooo waiting for the question.

David Einhorn joined Judge for an impressive chat at the Robin Hood conference on Tuesday's Halftime Report (details of Fast Money and more Halftime are below), and it didn't take long for Judge to uncork the "bubble" question.

Judge showed a quote from a Greenlight letter on April 22 stating, "Now there is clear consensus that we are witnessing our second tech bubble in 15 years."

Simple, straightforward, pretty hard to misquote that no matter what Dennis Gartman (see below) might say.

Einhorn leapt at the chance to tell Judge he wanted to "clarify it a little bit," because "we said it clearly in our letter, but the way that it's been taken out into the media, which isn't the media's fault ... but it's not really the context of the 2 paragraphs around it" (sic grammar).

So somebody took this statement "out into the media," but it "isn't the media's fault" that the context of the 2 paragraphs around it weren't included.

So, how does "our second tech bubble" imply something other than what it seems to imply?

Einhorn explained that it's "maybe 25, 50, 75 stocks in the market" that have "completely disconnected from fundamental values, still, in the same way that they did in 1999 and 2000."

So, there evidently is "clear consensus" about a 2nd tech bubble, but it's maybe not as explosive as the media has suggested ... because it either applies to 25 stocks ... or maybe it's 75 stocks ...

Einhorn re-affirmed to Judge he thinks ATHN has much more downside because "The company doesn't earn any money." He also said he hopes to meet Jonathan Bush soon.

CNBC botches Robin Hood acoustics; bystanders apparently sound like herd of elephants to star guests

So, Carl Icahn did actually appear on Fast Money on Tuesday rather than the Halftime Report.

But the appearance was exclusively with Halftime host Scott Wapner, who topped off a tremendous afternoon of Robin Hood interviews with the 78-year-old investor/trader/raider/good governance advocate.

Honestly, while a fine chat, about the only thing groundbreaking in it was the confirmation that CNBC producers bungled the makeshift Robin Hood studio that was completely vulnerable to foot-traffic-noise from folks exiting and entering sessions.

Icahn suggested AAPL "literally owns the- the- the smartphone, uh, business, at least the high-priced smart phones," and made the "annuity" argument.

Tim Seymour later questioned the description of "annuity" and said he hasn't "ever really heard" that term in regard to AAPL.

Judge asked if Carl had bought any more AAPL since his last letter. Carl first said "I really don't wanna say," then said, "I don't remember because uh, you know we buy so many things and do so many things."

Judge pushed as to whether Carl should leave Tim Cook alone. Carl asserted that he was influential in "accelerating the buyback."

Karen Finerman said she was "disappointed" in how AAPL traded on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Carl, after first being assured by Judge in the latter half of the conversation that viewers could hear what he was saying, said the high-yield market "might be in a bubble," and claimed the S&P would be "meaningfully lower" without the Fed's help.

Carl added he's "certainly happy" that Marc Andreessen is exiting the EBAY board and faulted John Donahoe for "a lot of errors" despite the fact Donahoe means well.

Marissa continues to get the credit for Jerry Yang’s deal

Tim Seymour on Tuesday's Fast Money took what seemed like 5 minutes to make an ultimately lukewarm case attributed to other people for YHOO, saying you should worry about the company only if you think there's a "very value-destructive acquisition in the cards," otherwise, guys who are analyzing the remaining Alibaba stake are hanging a 50 on the stock.

Martin Pyykkonen said YHOO has "no pricing power" in display ads and recommended viewers "stay on the sidelines."

Pyykkonen said he's "a little skeptical" that Tumblr has been accretive to Yahoo.

Melissa Lee referred to the CEO on a first-name basis, "Marissa."

Karen Finerman explains
her investment goals

Karen Finerman, citing what she saw as "indiscriminate" buying of Tuesday's stock market, revealed on Fast Money she played a bit of contrarian; "We try to buy when things are low and sell when things are high."

Tim Seymour said, "After this rally, you have to sell."

Guy Adami admitted his prediction a day ago of a failure at 1,904 "clearly" didn't happen.

Guy called the risk/reward in IRBT "a little dangerous."

Tim Seymour prefers KO to MNST.

Guy Adami said the "awful" quarter is actually a "good thing" for McDonald's in forcing it to re-evaluate its "hubris." Tim Seymour was asked to consider LOCO but instead knocked CMG.

When was the last time you remember waking up to learn oil had doubled?

Foxy Meg Tirrell joined Melissa Lee on Tuesday's Fast Money in an interview with NewLink chief Dr. Charles Link, who said he's "super excited" about his partnership with Genentech and expressed optimism about his company's work on pancreatic cancer and ability to ramp up Ebola treatment.

Guy Adami uncorked a famous one we hadn't heard for a long time, saying if you're still long NLNK, then "you're in the deep end of the pool" (Drink).

ETF advocate Mike McGlone visited the set and made this curious observation: "If oil doubles when you get up in the morning, then it's gonna be major impact on everything."

But while that requires some oil exposure, McGlone contended, he prefers the precious metals ETF because you don't have to worry about contango or backwardation.

McGlone suggested "value investors" are getting into oil.

Mike Khouw, thankfully giving viewers a break from Dan Nathan (it should be about time for Brian Kelly to take a day off from television also), said a buyer bought a 50/65 November strangle in LL.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was YHOO. Brian Kelly said to buy DIA puts. Karen Finerman said to sell DIS calls. Guy Adami said to buy RIG.

Hedge fund great says October has been ‘fun’ at the office

David Einhorn told Judge on Tuesday's Halftime Report that in the selloff last week he was able to pick up a "bunch of things" he was interested in, and — viewers will be glad to know — it's been "more fun" recently picking stocks than early in the year.

While this page found some things in Einhorn's interview to have fun with (he's got a lot more money than we do, but we've got him beat on "Road House"), in fact it was a snappy, high-quality interview in which, among many things, Einhorn made the case for Greece.

"A lot of its problems are behind it," he said.

Einhorn said that when you add up the pieces of SUNE, "it's pretty easy to get to $32 a share."

He told Josh Brown that he's not worried about rising rates for solar financing because "the costs keep coming down," and plus he doesn't think rates will rise that much anyway.

Einhorn made the ecosystem argument for Apple but said he didn't want to "quibble" with the buyback the way Carl is.

Joe Terranova tried asking a question remotely, apparently as to whether hedge funds created all the volatility (gosh, how long ago was it when Judge and Doc would always claim it was the "machines" taking over), and interrupted himself when Einhorn seemed to indicate he couldn't hear, which only led to chiding from Judge throughout the program that Joe wasn't speaking loudly enough even though it sounded like the same decibels as Josh Brown was using.

Einhorn told Joe that hedge funds "could easily be" driving the recent volatility.

Einhorn also told Judge "the lawyers" told him not to discuss his fund opening, and he contended that the Fed has given the economy "too much of a good thing" and is actually "slowing down the economy even though they don't realize that they're doing that."

Pete Najarian went on another tirade about the "exaggerated" selloff based on what Microchip said and mentioned "hedge funds getting blown out" last week.

Stephen Weiss insisted hedge funds aren't getting "blown out" but admitted the numbers from last week are the kind he hasn't seen since 2008.

Joe, who eventually referred to "David Eihorn (sic missing 'n')," lamented how some big investors have been spurning hedge funds and pointed to Einhorn as a guy who's "clearly winning" and someone you want to invest with.

But Josh Brown pointed out, "The typical person that's viewing this TV show cannot call up Greenlight Capital and give them money." (Whether they can call up Barry and make a deposit, we don't know.)

Weiss: Cuban right on NFLX

Stephen Weiss said on Tuesday's Halftime Report he thinks "Cuban's right" and that NFLX goes higher, though he was wishy-washy on the name last week.

Pete Najarian referred to CMG's "forecast going forward" (sic last 2 words redundant) and suggested now's not a bad time to nibble.

Keith Meister told Judge that Judge's description of Corvex's $9 billion assets was about $2 billion overstated, prompting a rare hearty laugh from Judge, then he made the case for CCI. "These are good actors who wanna listen to shareholders," Meister said.

Meister, who made Carl Icahn sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread, said he's happy to be on Ackman's side on AGN as long as the company brings the highest value possible. He predicted Valeant "ultimately" will raise its bid.

Guest: Expect WWE takedown

You see a guy like Nathaniel August and you think, "If only I was doing what that guy's doing at that age."

In another crisp interview from Robin Hood on Tuesday's Halftime, August told Scott Wapner he uses a "special situation style" where he hedges market risk and takes long and short positions.

August's top short case is WWE, because he expects it will "earn nothing at a corporate level" from its over-the-top network.

August likes FIG on the long side because of the always desirable margin of safety, and that after doing a sum of the parts, the portions that are struggling, such as liquid hedge funds and traditional private equity, are like a "free option."

Pete Najarian said he likes the WWE's product but agrees with August on the stock.

Josh Brown said he doesn't like WWE's product and apparently doesn't agree with August on the stock because a bigger entertainment player might try to scoop it up.

Brown also dislikes FIG, calling it an "also-ran."

Steve Weiss' Final Trade was AAL. Mr. New Land said WLP, Pete Najarian said CMG and Josh Brown said SPWR.

[Monday, October 20, 2014]

Missy demands Guy explain why he trumpeted IBM’s $20 EPS and 12 multiple and 240 price target for the last several years (sorry, wishful thinking)

Honestly folks, from about 2010 to 2012, this was one of the most annoying cliches on CNBC.

Guy Adami, who had spent years on Fast Money trumpeting IBM's $20 EPS in 2015 and 1) hanging a perpetual 12 multiple on the stock and 2) hanging a perpetual 240 price target, conceded the "horrible quarter" and then rationalized it as "they no longer have the same visibility" (sic as if they ever had it 5 years ahead of time).

"Now it feels like technically, it wants to trade down to 160," Guy added.

Tim Seymour stated that IBM's miss isn't an "indictment" against all old tech.

Karen Finerman wasn't plunging into the shares. "I don't think you have to get in right now," said Finerman.

Guy evidently no longer
in the 88 camp

Karen Finerman called the reaction to AAPL's quarter "subdued," and that's quite an apt description for the opening conversation on Monday's Fast Money.

Guy Adami admitted (for the 17th time) that he thought AAPL was going to see 88, but now apparently thinks it's going higher. "Good for them," he said, congratulating the company for its "fine quarter."

Colin Gillis, who always seems to be a curmudgeon about the stock, said Apple payments are going to "take a long time to ramp up," but he likes the "annuity component" of it.

Brian Blair agreed with Mel that Apple wants to "hide" the watch from analysts; Blair predicts "small units" of sales in the watch "out of the gate."

Mel called Blair "Blian" (sic) at one point.

Jane Wells handles bad audio connection with grace

They say confidence is so sexy.

Jane Wells on Monday's Fast Money inadvertently did a Shields & Yarnell routine when commenting on the CMG earnings call; Karen Finerman wondered if Jane was "messing with us." Mel said she didn't think so.

Moments later, Jane said, "I was speechless, apparently," and then delivered her report — after ditching the earpiece, in which she was hearing herself talk too loudly.

Wells spoke about various droughts and expected shortages affecting CMG but perhaps most significantly said it's considering putting Apple payments in its app, but that's undecided "because there's a lot of technical difficulties."

The sexy portion occurred afterwards, when Jane nonchalantly tossed her head back and flipped the earpiece back in.

"You handled it like a champ," said Mel.

Wonder if Steve Cortes still thinks the solar space is a joke

Mel should've warned us we'd need our Solar 101 textbooks for Monday's Fast Money.

SUNE chief Ahmad Chatila joined the set and immediately got hit from Melissa with a question about yield co, a subject that quite frankly wasn't foremost on our mind watching football over the weekend.

Chatila said it's "fair" to expect a yield co for OECD and one for emerging markets, but beyond that, it'll take time.

Chatila told the gang "We are not a module player," because that's a commodity-type situation.

SUNE holder Karen Finerman asked "how early" we are in the adoption of solar by commercial properties.

"Very early," said Chatila, citing diminishing 80% diminishing costs in 5 years.

Karen even said SUNE needs to reduce costs quickly before the "ITC, uh, tax change" in 2017 and asked Chatila if he can get there. "The answer is yes," said Chatila, warning that "pure utility" companies are "gonna get crushed."

Tim Seymour suggested that by sum of the parts based upon TERP, SUNE is a $25-$30 stock. Guy Adami called the stock "pretty interesting."

Mel was compelled to trumpet Judge's scheduled Wednesday interview with David Einhorn.

Tim Seymour unable to answer viewer’s simple BHI/SLB question

Don't say we didn't warn you.

Guy Adami said on Monday's Fast Money that Tuesday would be a "great tell" for the S&P 500 and predicted it would fail at 1,904 and approach the "1,820" levels again.

CMG watcher Stephen Anderson thinks "the stock could see a little bit more of a pullback" and he'd actually like to see the shares below $600. But Guy Adami said "I don't think it happens" and told viewers to buy the dip.

Dan Nathan predicted CMG's ultimate demise won't be pretty; "we know how this movie ends" (Drink).

Guy Adami said you can stay long NLKN against 30.

Karen Finerman predicted HTZ will "get it together," and "I actually kinda like it."

Tim Seymour said not to sell CSX based on whatever news happened on Monday.

Karen Finerman said the ABBV breakup fee with Shire is "not so out of line" but that Shire shareholders are ticked.

Dan Nathan identified a big buy of weekly 75 puts in FB. That's curious, because "there is no event this week," Nathan said.

Tim Seymour was asked whether BHI or SLB has more upside but merely said you can stay long SLB.

Monday was a banner day in that Mel wore the No. 1-ranked dress in her closet, looked dynamite and hopefully celebrated with a big night of dinner and dancing (but we've advocated for that before to little avail).

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was MCD. Dan Nathan said happy birthday to his wife and advised selling IBM. Karen Finerman said FINL, and Guy Adami, invoking Rick Rieder from last week (see below), said he's "sanguine" about FB and likes the stock.

Guy Adami has been saying for years, ‘Put a 12 multiple on the $20 earnings, you get 240’

Herb Greenberg, making the rounds of CNBC on Monday to decry, or trumpet, IBM's ditching of the 2015 road map, started off his Halftime appearance with a victory lap.

Herb claimed that when he was at CNBC "several years ago" full time and IBM executives came in pitching their 5-year road map, he told them, "What are you guys thinking?"

Herb took the occasion to knock all company guidance, saying it's "almost irresponsible" to "dangle" such a scenario in front of investors.

Pete Najarian, citing Meg Whitman's plan, insisted, "The plan is not the problem; it's the focus on execution." But Judge pointed out that Meg has already backflipped on not breaking up the company.

Steve Milunovich implied everyone knew the IBM revision was coming. "A lot of this was inevitable," he said, stating it was "too much weight to drag."

Judge pestered Milunovich about his hold on IBM; "why not just sell it at this point." Milunovich said it's got "limited downside" but is "probably caught in a range for a while."

Lee Cooperman sort of too-well-prepared for Monday’s Halftime interview

The star guest of Monday's Halftime Report was Lee Cooperman.

We went up and down our makeshift transcript of the things Lee told Judge ... and honestly we're still struggling to gin up a "hook."

CNBC.com chose the headline "Cooperman: Buy stocks, not bonds," which has been Lee's point for what, 2 years running.

Judge tried, and sort of succeeded, to finagle a declaration from Cooperman that the bull market's still intact, but even that was couched in qualifiers and conditionals and what-ifs.

Lee offered a "checklist" for determining if the correction's over ... but that checklist, by our count, had 9 things (generally we can only handle 3 of anything), which along with the exhibits likely accounted for Lee not looking into the camera, but down at his notes, during much of the 20-minutes plus.

Lee conceded bonds have outlasted his predictions but insisted they're yesterday's trade. "Believe me, they make no sense," he said.

He stated that recessions sow the seeds of recovery and that expansions sow the seeds for recession, and also that bull markets die from "excesses" rather than old age.

Aside from the Fed, Coop said he doesn't see much in the way of excess, but he warned that the 4 (generally we can only handle 3 of anything, but we made an exception) most dangerous words are, "It's different this time."

Cooperman shrugged off those who have harbored concerns about rising rates (assuming those people are still around after last week). "Fear that they don't rise," Cooperman advised.

As for explanations of volatility, Coop contended that "the structure of the market has changed dramatically," and later added that the Shire breakdown "unequivocally" had an effect on psychology.

Lee said the "majors" in the oil space "have difficulty" covering dividends at $90 a barrel, so he thinks capex will be trimmed before dividends and predicted "a level of support" in oil "not far from where we are presently" (sic last word redundant).

And, he made yet another push for SD, after making a push for QEP to take a billion of its $2.5 billion to buy back stock.

Judge pressed Lee over the outlook for Monitise. "We've had a round trip here," Cooperman admitted, insisting its technology is still coveted.

Cooperman insisted, "I bid Visa for their entire block" of Monitise but found, "They're not a seller at these prices."

At one point Cooperman cited "Exhibit 7," then explained how his professor Dr. Roger Murray pointed out that 1958 was the "year of the yield reversal" when bonds started yielding more than stocks.

Gotta give credit to Lee; he made the most of his presentation.

After it was over, viewers got an endless batch of commercials.

Joe expands timeline in the span of 1 sentence

Josh Brown and Stephanie Link might as well have not come in Monday, but it was Mr. New Land who opened Monday's Halftime Report re-upping his own sentences.

"I think we're out of the woods potentially for a couple of weeks or so. I think overall, we're out of the woods for 2014," Joe curiously said, predicting a market that goes "sideways to slightly higher."

Josh Brown called European stocks and oil "the same exact (sic redundant) trade."

Joe said of AAPL, "maybe add, but not sell."

Pete Nardashian called HAL a buy. Josh Brown said "if you're technical in nature," you stay long HAS.

Joe predicted AGN's price goes higher.

Stephanie Link likes VFC.

In a clumsy, twisted closing mishmash of under-the-radar stocks and Final Trades, Stephanie Link made a case for LII and later called AXP her Final Trade. Pete Najarian said he owns CRUS calls, but "options only" in the name for his Final Trade. Joe said to let NCR settle before buying, but his Final Trade was BPL. Josh Brown's Final Trade was PFF.

[Friday, October 17, 2014]

Dummy type in new graphics

It happens to the great ones.

Every TV outlet, magazine and newspaper has standard templates full of dummy type.

The trick to making sure the dummy text doesn't get into production is to make it so obvious, no one would mistakenly air/post/publish it, which means instead of the straightforward words above, just put "Xyxyxyxyxyxyxyx" or "Lorem ipsum lorem ipsum."

Evidently the crew behind Judge's Halftime Report Friday was so excited about Steve Liesman on the Fed, they couldn't figure out what to say.

Obviously CNBC has some glitches to iron out, but no heads need to roll over this chuckler.

Brian could’ve added that the Najarians in August 2012 said Facebook was capable of going all the way to ‘zero’

Viewers of Friday's Fast Money learned that the gang evidently doesn't take outsiders' stock calls seriously unless the outsider has a perfect track record.

John Jannarone delivered an instant dis to Mark Cuban, "it's not like Warren Buffett bought the stock."

Jannarone said he talked to a couple of hedge fund managers who see permanent weakness for Netflix and are short, but Jannarone couldn't specify where they initiated those short positions other than "afterhours."

Also, Jannarone couldn't explain what profound insight these hedge fund managers delivered that others haven't, only that Netflix "really whiffed" on subscribers, which "could be a sign that the model is really in trouble."

"Netflix doesn't really have good movies," Jannarone added, in nearly a complete redo of the Len Brecken bear case heard at Halftime several years ago.

Brian Kelly pointed out that Cuban was a bull on Facebook shortly after the IPO. (Brian mentioned that "BK" makes bad calls too but didn't explain why those don't taint his current calls as they apparently do with Cuban.)

Perhaps a fan of "Charles in Charge," Mel pronounced the pay cable channel as "H-Bay-Oh."

Hopefully no one ‘misquoted’
Dennis Gartman

Steve Grasso on Friday's Fast Money clung to his already tired thesis about the S&P needing to spend a certain amount of days above/below key indicator levels before everybody knows where it's going.

Tim Seymour observed, "When politicians start panicking, markets stop panicking."

"I don't know that I trust this market," said Pete Najarian.

For trendy picks, Tim Seymour trumpeted NKE, No. 386 trumpeted MBLY, Brian Kelly said to sell the IYR and Pete Najarian called DVN "way overdone" but "sellable" around 75.

Meg Tirrell delivered a recap of how people in the Dallas health-care system have made a lot of trips despite being exposed to a person with Ebola. Then, Pete was able to declare again how much he likes the airlines.

Pete obviously didn’t confer with Karen before making a point about MSFT

Pete Najarian on Friday's Fast Money declared of Satya Nadella, "He's doin' everything right."

Pete said the recent AAPL reports are "nothing but positives." Mel brought up the notion of whether AAPL needs a "benign tape" (Drink).

Steve Grasso said he's "still long" YHOO but didn't say if it's only a 50% position.

Tim Seymour said of IBM, "At best, you're neutral."

Pete Nardashian said a bunch of October 14.50 F calls were bought.

Pete said AKS is "goin' higher."

Steve Grasso said he wouldn't sell URBN but he would only buy about 10-15%.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was DEO. Pete Najarian said GS, Steve Grasso said F and Brian Kelly said IWM puts.

Steve Weiss can’t figure out if he wants to own NFLX or not

Nothing on Wall Street this week is more polarizing than NFLX (cont'd).

Mark Cuban dialed in to Thursday's Halftime Report to tell Judge he couldn't resist the stock because "it's just so far undervalued" as to be "amazing" to him.

Cuban said he's long "a lot more than 50,000 shares."

But in his most curious comment, Cuban told the crew, "My target is to never sell it."

At one point, Mike Murphy said he'd be long NFLX and use Thursday's low as a stop.

But the most schizophrenic call came from Stephen Weiss, who said he bought NFLX on the plunge after the earnings came out, but after hearing from management, "I immediately sold it for a slight loss."

Weiss said it may or may not be cheap, but you can't own it for a takeout.

Yet by the end of the program, it was his Final Trade.

Apparently unimpressed by Cuban, noted short Brad Lamensdorf declared NFLX a "disaster."

Cuban didn't sound worried about the broad market. "I'm always hedged," he said, explaining he's got a tail hedge which goes up "exponentially" when downside volume accelerates.

And, "I have no concerns" about Ebola, Cuban said.

Didn’t hear anything from Judge this time about ‘it’s tradeable. It’s uninvestable’

Mike Murphy opined on Friday's Halftime Report that the S&P could reach 1,930 as some still have to cover.

Doc said the bottom may not be in, but you're "really foolish" if you push shorts at these levels.

Steve Weiss said the market's problems aren't over; the ECB is still needed in a "big way" to set things straight.

Steve Liesman insisted the train's "left the station" for the Fed ending QE.

Before answering Judge's question about where the market's going, short-selling impresario Brad Lamensdorf made sure to advertise his Web site, then allowed, "Short term, we deserve a bounce."

In some ominous commentary regarding inflation, Melissa Otto said she was recently "kicking the tires" in Europe and saw reminders of her time in Japan when "very basic products" started to creep down in price over months.

Stephen Weiss avoids commenting on Family Dollar shoppers’ automobiles

Mike Mayo dialed in to Friday's Halftime Report to gush about Morgan Stanley, saying we've had a "reset" of rate expectations this week so he likes restructuring plays such as MS and C.

Josh Brown contended that "a lot of the easy money's been made" in MS and that "more than half" of the wealth management is generated by lending to clients rather than providing advice. But Stephen Weiss said the lending is "collateral-based" and not subprime and thus is a "great way" to stand out among the banks.

Jon Najarian said URBN's slide is typically when you'd buy it, but he's not ready for that yet. "I'm tempted, but I'll give it a couple of days," Najarian said.

Stephen Weiss said he'd prefer more beta than GE provides.

Mike Murphy (bull) and Josh Brown (bear) tangled clumsily over INTC.

Doc's Final Trade was RLGY, Josh Brown said DXJ and Mike Murphy said HAL.

[Thursday, October 16, 2014]

Rich Greenfield performs damage control on NFLX bull call

It was Defend My Prediction Day on Thursday's Fast Money and Halftime Report.

Thursday's Fast Money brought Rich Greenfield, who had to wriggle through his NFLX blunder the same way Barry Bannister (below) finessed his rosy S&P forecast.

Mel applied the pressure immediately to Greenfield, telling him that being early is being wrong.

Greenfield first said he "kicked myself" for not calling NFLX a buy at $60, a deft way of pointing out the stock has had its skeptics.

Then, pointing to Warner Bros.' decision to license every episode of "Friends" to Netflix, Greenfield asserted, without noting 1) that the relevance of such a show (exception: "The Brady Bunch") fades over the years and 2) the reruns are already on basic cable systems roughly 24/7, "The content keeps getting better and better."

And forget about the competition concern. "I think HBO going direct is probably the best news that's happened in a long time for Netflix," Greenfield added.

He contended that by separating itself from a $75 bundle, HBO allows the consumer to get HBO and spend the leftover money on NFLX.

Brian Kelly indulged again in buffoonery, repeating to the gang, "It's over for Netflix. This is AOL in the '90s."

Doc, who referred to himself as "JN," said he'd be interested in NFLX around 300.

Pssst: Karen likes banks

Steve Grasso said on Thursday's Fast Money that for S&P bulls, it's "crucial" to be over 1,905.

Jon Najarian said he was "buying selectively."

Karen Finerman said she bought "Bank America (sic)" and GPS and MTW on Thursday. "I feel like the worst is over," Finerman said; the "panicky feeling seems gone."

Later, in the 2nd of her bank references on the day, Karen Finerman said she bought some banks Thursday because of the "excessive reaction" this week.

Finally, for her Final Trade, Karen Finerman said "Bank America (sic) calls" and predicted it will be a "$20 stock" next year.

Chart-watcher Mark Newton — at least that's who we think he was; he wasn't identified on the screen despite a 2-minute presentation — said the S&P 500 has gotten "short-term oversold," but his target is 1,757 as he expects a prolonged slide.

Newton told Steve Grasso he'd have to see the S&P back over 1,940 to erase his extended-selloff prediction. When Melissa Lee asked Newton to clarify that 1,940 was the number, Newton wouldn't say anything but merely nodded to Mel's "Yes?"

Brian Kelly invoked one of Patty Edwards' favorites, "that being said."

Flash: Google has a ‘relatively healthy business’

Neil Doshi contended on Thursday's Fast Money that GOOG is a "relatively healthy business" and seems to be "closing the gap" between mobile and desktop cost per clicks.

Steve Grasso said he, like Karen Finerman, already owned GOOG and "averaged a little bit" in adding more and predicted a 600 handle, "if the market cooperates."

Karen Finerman said AAPL holders kind of have to "wait" for a move but that the stock has seemed "impervious" to recent volatility.

Jon Najarian said he was "happy" to say on-air that the new iPhone is "enormous."

Doc said he really likes what he sees in Xilinx.

Guy Adami in the day-off camp (Drink)

Carl Quintanilla, making his first visit on Fast Money, overpromised and underdelivered regarding his chat with Lloyd Blankfein, who did say he's not worried so much about the Ebola virus, but the "virus of fear" associated with it.

Greg Peters said Wednesday was an epic day for 10-year volatility, but he doesn't see rates moving much higher.

"I do see a bias towards lower yields than higher yields," conceded Peters, who asserted high-yield now "is really a good value."

Steve Grasso said he wouldn't be a buyer of MAT.

Mike Khouw said there was a big buyer of November 62.50 calls in HAL.

Steve Grasso's Final Trade was GOOG. Doc said AMBC, Brian Kelly said GDX.

Bigwig impresses Judge with semantical mumbo jumbo

It's one of those slogans that makes not an ounce of sense ... but that doesn't stop folks such as Judge from using it anyway.

Scott Wapner claimed on Thursday's Halftime that some hedge fund manager told him "the market's uninvestable. It's tradeable. It's uninvestable."

What the heck does that mean.

Mr. New World contended that "today is one of the more confusing days," despite asserting, "For me, the last couple of weeks have been great trading."

The star guest was Barry Bannister, who joined the recent parade of Tony Dwyer and Adam Parker forced to get defensive about their recent S&P year-end upgrades that all begin with a 2.

Barry claimed he started the year with an 1,850 target, so "we probably should've stuck with that" before upgrading to 2,300.

Nevertheless, Bannister expects a "strong November-December rally" and thinks we'll "hit the 2,300 in a reasonable time frame."

Much later, Judge got to Larry Altman, who made an intriguing suggestion on Oct. 1 that the market typically bottoms around the 2nd week of October.

Altman on Thursday reaffirmed that this is the "typical" time of year for stocks to bottom and indicated a bounce is due but contended that longer-term, "I think the S&P will eventually finish at 1,600, 1,580, somewhere around there."

"Every chance the market rallies, you wanna sell into it," Altman said.

Doc: NFLX may have
another $50 to go

All it took to bring a parade of NFLX bulls onto CNBC was a $100 drop.

Mark Mahaney turned up on Thursday's Halftime to tell Judge, "We didn't see the miss in the subs," but nevertheless, "We like this entry point ... We like this stock right here right now."

Jon Najarian was skeptical, saying NFLX could see "another 40, 50 bucks of downside here," citing HBO and CBS announcements.

Mahaney also called AMZN a buy. "Love this entry point," he said.

Mahaney said he downgraded EBAY because "there's a lot of valuation support here but there's not an upwards catalyst."

‘Sort of at the bottom’

Oil watcher Ed Morse told Judge on Thursday's Halftime, "It's hard to pick a bottom," but "we're sort of at the bottom."

Former airline honcho Gordon Bethune said, "I think it's business as usual" for airlines while admitting that flying is a "confidence thing" for the public.

Bethune said airline CEOs are happy about oil's slide, "They're high-fivin' it."

"I have not felt uh even the slightest qualm about flying," added Jon Najarian.

Mandy Drury handled Futures Now and elicited rising-rate predictions from Jim Iuorio and Brian Stutland.

Mr. New World questioned why anyone would be short oil now.

Joe tells Kelly Evans about talking to the ‘old ladies’ in the oil markets

He got more time on Closing Bell than he generally gets from Judge.

It came to our attention on Wednesday that Dr. New Land got the treat of the week in being asked to pull up a chair at Post 9 near foxy Kelly Evans (Judge was also present) (that is not an image of Kelly Evans from Wednesday but rather Thursday and by no means is this page implying that Kelly is one of the "old ladies" rather we're just pointing out that this is the individual Joe spoke with); Joe said he was buying names such as CXO and EOG and said, "I think oil has found a bottom ... As I go around and I talk to all the, the old- old gents and, and ladies that I know that traded oil for 25 years with me, everyone's short oil now."

Joe predicted that Ebola will be stopped in the U.S. because, "We have the ability to arrest what's going on right now."

Joe pointed out that if you bought the market last week when up 274, "you never had a chance."

Joe eventually told Evans and Judge he would be "amazed" if the S&P high on Alibaba day is surpassed in 2014.

On Thursday's Halftime, Joe's Final Trade was BABA, Stephanie Link said USG, Pete Nardashian said HPQ and Doc said AGO.

[Wednesday, October 15, 2014]

President sure says ‘uh’ a lot

Helane Becker told Wednesday's Fast Money that airlines to this point aren't reporting Ebola-related cancellations.

Rather than adopt the Dan Nathan-Guy Adami air travel headline/gloom thesis, Becker said airlines stand to benefit from "huge margin improvement" from 2.50 jet fuel that hasn't been seen since 2010.

Dan Nathan called GOGO "probably a buy" if it signs up some carriers.

Dan Nathan actually suggested waiting to buy AAPL at 75.

Guy Adami said he's still in the AMZN "285 camp" (Drink). Tim Seymour said AMZN has a "780 current multiple."

Guy said "I'm still in the camp (Double Drink) that every rally needs to be sold."

Guy called SPHG a buy for a bounce.

Brian Kelly says ‘Netflix is over’

With NFLX in free fall on Wednesday afternoon, Melissa Lee on Fast Money turned to the stock's most prominent CNBC critic.

But, impressively not bragging (probably because his price target is too low regardless), Michael Pachter told Mel he's a "blind squirrel" who found a nut in NFLX's slide.

Pachter attributed the fall Wednesday to slowing domestic subscriber growth.

Guy Adami, who made Netflix his Final Trade, said he thinks you can buy the stock against 315 and, if the May low holds on Thursday, it's a "huge opportunity" for a bounce.

Dan Nathan predicted NFLX's slide potentially could be a "seminal moment" for the market. Brian Kelly uncorked the knuckleheaded comment of the week, declaring "Netflix is over."

QE4!

Just a couple weeks ago, Jens Nordvig was grinning about predicting a rate hike in March 2015.

Wednesday, Fast Money viewers got Axel Merk telling the gang that Janet Yellen has been "aloof" to markets but that we might have to start thinking QE4 next year.

Merk said he likes gold, but "there are very few places to hide out there."

Tim Seymour suggested buying the EEM at 38 but warned "it may not be a smooth ride."

Tim Seymour said Guy "should be taking a victory lap" for predicting a lower 10-year yield.

Brian Kelly thinks the economic data "severely deteriorated" in the last month.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was BAC. Dan Nathan said long INTC put spread and Brian Kelly said to buy the TLT.

Doc says owning stocks
is like delivering a baby

Adam Parker on Wednesday's Halftime Report dismissed Judge's suggestion that he got bullish at the wrong time and said being greedy when others are afraid and being afraid when others are greedy is "Investing 101."

Doc said he never looks forward to corrections and told Parker that Morgan Stanley has "16 million (sic) brokers" who don't want to hear from scared investors. Then, Doc suggested that money managers who don't think this type of market activity is going to happen would be like a doctor telling a woman in childbirth that "this is gonna be really easy." (Parker and Judge said nobody really got that one, although actually it sorta makes sense.)

"I think ultimately we're heading towards 1,800," said Steve Grasso.

"Some guys are talking about 1998," said Steve Liesman.

Josh Brown said he's "not happy" to revisit his point this week that he thinks the 2011 Draghi-led uptrend is over, but ...

Mohamed El-Erian not as ‘sanguine’ as Rick Rieder

Rick Rieder, whose recent interest rate forecasts have been a little high, said "sanguine" about 3 times on Wednesday's Halftime Report, as in people are pretty "sanguine" about U.S. growth.

Bill Nygren, who tends to tell Judge that he's not a Fast Money guy but looks for 5-7 years of value (and did it again) (Drink), touted ACN, and then said he likes WHR because even though it's riskier, the price is low enough to negate that risk.

Nygren told Judge he thinks bonds have been in a bubble for a couple of years. "I don't understand why somebody would lend long-term money to the government at 2-3%," Nygren said.

Taking a cue from Melissa Lee (who wasn't on this particular show), Mohamed El-Erian used his hands as a visual aid to describe the gulf between stock prices and fundamentals (in between is the Fed) and protested Judge's suggestion of a "bazooka" in Europe, saying Draghi needs "government to start spending on infrastructure," and a more dovish Germany.

Judge said El-Erian's voice is "one of the most well-respected."

Michael Boyd told Judge he doesn't expect polio-like travel restrictions on Americans because of Ebola and even said that with oil falling, "this is gonna be bonanza city" for airlines, as the show faded to a CDC update.

[Tuesday, October 14, 2014]

Fast Money struggling for good Twitter questions, addresses AAPL question that Karen doesn’t understand

Melissa Lee on Tuesday's Fast Money brought in Mark McLaughlin, chief of recent Guy/Joe favorite PANW, who said customers are moving away from "panic buys" and into "strategic" purchases.

MELI co-founder Marcus Galperin said ecommerce represents "less than 5%" of retail sales.

Karen Finerman said "nothing" is going on with AAPL and seemed surprised that someone would ask what's up with the stock.

GWPH chief Justin Gover couldn't say what his "total addressable market" might be for his epilepsy treatment.

Karen Finerman said she prefers the "wimpy way out" in biotech, which are ETFs.

Pete: Don’t plunge into MBLY

In an episode of Fast Money on Tuesday that was just as sleepy as the Halftime Report, Guy Adami reaffirmed he expects 1,863 on the S&P.

Karen Finerman, whose black dress was anything but sleepy, struggled to say she agrees with Tim Seymour that the oil sector has bottomed, making a dubious point that OIH seems to have stopped going down.

But Pete Nardashian said the options aren't telling him to jump into energy yet.

Mike Khouw said December 20 NBR calls were active.

Chris Roland said he likes INTC and QCOM.

Karen Finerman said it's "probably not a bad place" to buy airlines.

Pete Najarian said May 37 calls in COH were hot, though Tim Seymour (who managed to go an entire program without carping about TSLA's valuation) questioned going all the way out to May.

Pete Najarian said to stay away from KING.

Guy Adami gave a shout-out to "386" for endorsing DPZ, but Guy called the stock "rich."

Guy Adami uttered "benign tape" (Drink) when speaking of the transports.

Guy Adami predicted 28½ holds in BX upon earnings.

Pete Najarian said he'd "stay away" from MBLY for a while.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was XLE, Pete Najarian said CP, Karen Finerman said SOXX and Guy Adami said COH.

Grasso: Watch 1,874

In a quiet Halftime Report on Tuesday, No. 386 called 1,874 the new "eyeball level."

Utterly dodging a call on "bull market" or "bear market," Josh Brown contended that the "uptrend" starting with Draghi's comments in 2011 is over and we're in a totally normal consolidation phase.

Pete Najarian said it was a "big statement" that a bunch of VIX calls were sold.

Mike Murphy floated the notion of a "V-type recovery."

Paul Richards said the strong-dollar trade has "a lot further to run."

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera presented an excellent chart of oil well costs, per barrel, in each significant drilling region.

Flash: C has been ‘value trap’

Fred Cannon joined Tuesday's sleepy Halftime Report to express a lot of blahs about the banks and push back against Judge on C, stating it's been a "value trap" for a couple of years.

Judge defined "NIM" for Stephanie Link, as Cannon tossed in an "at the end of the day."

Josh Brown said his difference with Cannon is that you have to buy the bank stocks before the stocks turn, not when the good news has happened.

Kilburg: Gold taking off

Mike Murphy on Tuesday's Halftime admitted he got "beat up" in HTZ but still likes it.

Murphy called the move in NBL "overdone," but Steph Link said to wait until the price of oil stabilizes.

Pete Najarian said November 38 calls in AAL were active.

Jeff Kilburg told Jackie DeAngelis, the definition of stunning, that the stock market slide has ignited a run in gold.

Sarat Sethi said he's buying auto parts suppliers and airlines, while conceding we're in the "7th or 8th inning" of the auto-parts story.

Pete Nardashian once again knocked the description of the XHB.

Mike Murphy's Final Trade was AAL. Josh Brown said BAC, Pete Najarian said EMC and Stephanie Link said ABBV.

[Monday, October 13, 2014]

CNBC can be pioneer:
Dump the Dow

Monday apparently marked the official rollout of CNBC's new graphics.

Every channel must occasionally do this; stuff tends to look dated fairly quickly.

So far, pretty benign. But there's at least one bust.

As you can see above, CNBC has decided to split the averages' percentage moves into a separate graphic from the point moves, which requires too much concentration. (Not to mention, the type is small.)

However, there's a bigger issue — what's the point of the Dow?

Of all the information displayed in this feature — stocks, gold, WTI crude, yen, etc. — the Dow is the only superfluous element.

To most people watching the channel, it's needless gibberish.

Oddly enough, the Dow and S&P indexes are owned by the McGraw Hill-CME-News Corp. joint venture.

People on CNBC seem to agree that the S&P 500 is much more representative of how the typical stock has behaved.

Yet, the Dow undeniably has the impact of the larger nominal number, which is more headline-friendly.

As one of the leaders in financial media, CNBC has a pioneering opportunity to make a declaration — one that likely would be widely adopted — in dismissing one of those 2 averages as unnecessary.

Karen Finerman suggested months ago on Fast Money that when CNBC gets around to celebrating its next 25 years, the Dow will be gone, irrelevant.

For now, showing both the Dow and S&P 500 at every opportunity is equivalent to airing the Golden Globes and Oscars simultaneously, with one group of voters choosing the former and a subset of those voters choosing the latter, and letting viewers decide which one is relevant.

It points to an absurdity of business media. For such an extremely specific endeavor — the posting of stock prices — the media can't even decide which number truly represents the "market."

So just pick one ... before someone else does.

If he said it ... how is he ‘misquoted’ ... apparently he’s afraid of misquoting himself

Guy Adami, who's basically wrong about every S&P prediction these days, said on Monday's Fast Money that the day's price action was "not very encouraging" and predicted the S&P finds 1,863.

"This is all Ebola right now," said Steve Grasso.

Karen Finerman took both sides in stating, "there are tons of things now that are really interesting; it's scary to step in."

Karen said that when stocks trade in "integers," that suggests "something else beside (sic) rational thought is going on."

Dan Nathan actually claimed, "We don't have that Fed put right there."

Dennis Gartman said "some news has come out" that sank the dollar in such a short time.

Gartman, who first said he's "95%" in cash, then said "I don't wanna be misquoted" and changed it to "north of 80%," said viewers should be "demonstrably less long" than they have been.

Karen Finerman questioned how many viewers can trade on the spur of the moment as Gartman can and asserted that if you have long-term gains, it's a terrible strategy. "If you can be that nimble, fantastic," Finerman shrugged.

NFLX vs. old media

Rich Greenfield visited Monday's Fast Money to explain upping his NFLX target to 600 and had the audacity to say NBC Universal and others "need to figure out new ways to make money." (Translation: Erasing Maria's salary isn't enough.)

Greenfield said any Netflix gains are pegged to the prospects of "robust" success in Germany, France and elsewhere.

Dan Nathan said not to touch NFLX until 350 or maybe 300. No. 386, on the other hand, contended that "Netflix is easier to get to" than Apple is.

Couldn’t Karen have said the same thing about Ron Johnson & Apple?

Matt Burns told Monday's Fast Money crew that GPRO is trading at a "rich valuation," so any news will "cause waves" in the share price.

In the wake of the Michael Schumacher controversy, Burns said putting warning labels on trees would actually be more useful than putting warning labels on GoPro cameras.

Burns said "transising" when he meant to say "transition."

Issuing a Brag Trade, Dan Nathan said he sold TWTR last week at 55.

Karen Finerman, who donned a new baby blue outfit as CNBC's new graphics kicked into high gear, said that given the reputation of HD execs as "fantastic," she would just "assume" that Marvin Ellison is one of those.

Guy Adami said he'd pick KSU, as did Josh Brown at Halftime, in the rail space but suggested CP might be worth a play.

Wouldn’t comment, but he did

CNBC's Phil LeBeau, whom you all know as a guy who bought his first car "for $400 And. A. Case. Of. Beer," joined Monday's Fast Money set and said Sergio Marchionne said he wouldn't comment on Tesla's valuation but still managed to say "it's ridiculous" that Chrysler/Fiat's valuation differs so widely from TSLA.

Guy Adami said TSLA is around his 225 "pivot level," so get long here.

Steve Grasso called VALE a sell.

Wonder if Mel knows what happened to Duane Allman

Matt Burnell visited Monday's Fast Money gang and said his favorite banks are C and JPM.

Dan Nathan said some options trader no longer sees SPY below 184 at November expiration.

Mel suggested that the Lynyrd Skynyrd story involves a "plane crashing, something like that," then called Guy Adami "Rain Man."

No. 386's Final Trade was AAPL. Dan Nathan said long MSFT puts. Karen Finerman said GOOG. Guy Adami said FB.

Tony Dwyer doesn’t respect analysts who nix their S&P targets at first sign of trouble

It's not even getting mentioned.

Larry Altman told Judge on Oct. 1 that markets "usually bottom" around the 2nd week of October ... which means, depending how the rest of this week goes, this could be an instant contender for Call of the Year.

Meanwhile, Tony Dwyer told Judge on Monday's Halftime Report that he's "not a big fan" of people who "back away" from their S&P targets as soon as the market gets a little jittery.

Mike Murphy said we're in a "pullback in a bull market to buy."

Pete Nardashian said he bought BAC on Monday.

Paul Meeks said he's "very interested in the go-forward guidance (sic redundant)" of the chip stocks.

Meeks also said Microchip sees "a (sic) industry-wide inventory correction."

Mike Murphy, who like Tim Seymour with TSLA feels obligated to comment on MU daily, claimed again, "They've already told us ... what next year looks like."

"Always buy protection when you have the opportunity" (Drink), said Pete Najarian.

Brokers, play your CARDS right

Eamon Javers reported on Monday's Halftime Report that the machines are taking over that FINRA is planning a "big, controversial program" called CARDS that apparently seeks to identify if brokers are up to no good before they actually ruin someone's account.

Richard Ketchum said, "Think of this as rapid-response regulation."

Hardeep Walia endorsed the tactics and downplayed the notion of government overreach. "I think they have rights to this information already."

Uh oh — Josh Brown called MBLY's slide "a gift" and said he'd buy it.

Pete Najarian called AN "a good opportunity."

Stephen Weiss said, "I'm not touching GoPro." But he is interested in AMBA.

Psst: Betsy Graseck works
for Morgan Stanley

Judge said on Monday's Halftime Report he would "bing (sic) in" Betsy Graseck, then corrected himself, and introduced Graseck as the No. 2 analyst for large cap banks in Institutional Investors' 2014 survey and the No. 1-ranked commercial stock picker by StarMine, which harkens back to the era of the Sooners and Bama in the AP and UPI college football polls.

Graseck said she has a $23 target on BAC, partly because "they are benefitted (sic) from rising rates on the front end of the curve."

Graseck also likes BLK and AXP.

Mike Murphy uncorked an "it'll be interesting to see" (Drink) about the Russell.

Judge said of Steve Weiss, "He's barely earnin' what we're payin' him."

Steve Weiss' Final Trade was NFLX. Pete Najarian said PFE, Josh Brown said PFF and Mike Murphy said IP.

[Friday, October 10, 2014]

Grasso: 200-day breach awaits

He's been wrong quite a bit lately.

But it's worth noting that Guy Adami said on Friday's Fast Money that he thinks we're setting up for a "face-ripper" rally on Monday.

Steve Grasso said we finally tested the S&P 200-day but we still have to "break through" the level.

Pete Najarian said the VIX is actually on the "low end" given the moves this week in the stock market.

Rajvindra Gill said Microchip was revealing some slowness and "double-ordering" in China, then issued a Brag Trade; "we actually downgraded the sector heading into earnings."

However, Gill likes SYNA and even hung a 150 on the stock.

Mel, who sported a sharp, brand new green/black ensemble, remembered the Tesla rider telling Jane Wells he nearly wet himself except Mel said the guy really did wet himself.

Guy Adami said to hang onto EXAS despite the huge move Friday.

Steve Grasso called BUD a buy.

CUDA chief BJ Jenkins insisted his company is "doing very well" in some "very dynamic" sectors, then tried to horn in on PANW's success.

Guy Adami said the short interest in CUDA means it will eventually be a buy, but that day's not here yet.

Pete Najarian said December 20 calls in DRIV were hot.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was GS. Steve Grasso said SO, Brian Kelly said (snicker) bitcoin and Guy Adami said INTC.

Steve Weiss forced to ‘take back’
slam of Family Dollar customers
(odd, because he likes being known as an elitist anyway)

He's no George Carlin.

(Actually, he's obviously not even capable of writing humor for this page, which means don't extend that guest-editorial invite anytime soon.)

Stephen Weiss tried to make a joke on Friday's Halftime Report and after a commercial break quickly was compelled to take it back ... which is sometimes a badge of honor, except in this case the joke was a bust anyway.

Weiss said lower gasoline helps a name such as FDO, but, "unfortunately, most people that go to Family Dollar don't own cars."

Frankly, if you want to make it actually funny and worth regretting, there's a choice of several keywords you would substitute for "cars," but that's only a general humor tip; this page unlike Weiss is not knocking this particular company's clientele whatsoever.

After the commercial, and probably after a warning from Judge, despite the fact there is utterly no constituency that is about to call CNBC and complain about this remark and demand a retraction from Brian Steel, Weiss said Twitter is "blowin' up" over that comment and added, "I'm taking back the comment. Obviously I didn't mean it, it was something that was said in jest, and, it's not really how I feel."

One of Judge’s finest hours: Scoffing at Nardashians for defending ludicrous Colin Kaepernick fine

Dan Greenhaus said on Friday's Halftime Report that buyers on Friday were getting more aggressive since Thursday and suggested signs indicate we're closer to the end of the selloff than the beginning.

"I wanna see a flush; I wanna see volatility pop," said Jon Najarian.

Pete Nardashian scoffed that people were overrating Microchip's warning. However, Cody Acree contended that "Microchip has a history of calling market turns."

Dan Dicker said crude's in free fall is because hedge funds are raising cash in anticipation of large redemptions, and also because "marginal" shale players are being "forced to do some hedging."

Steve Weiss said that of his morning priorities, dealing with his Playbook Playoffs portfolio is "50th" on the list.

Pete Najarian admitted his "1 big beta play," BZH, has gone the "wrong direction."

(And we gotta ask, if the traders don't even take their own profession seriously, 1) why did Judge launch the 2014 Playbook Playoffs in the first place, and 2) why are they being paid to opine about the financial markets on television?)

Jon Nardashian said January 37 calls in MS were hot.

Mike Murphy said if he were looking for yield, he'd turn to KKR or BX. Stephen Weiss offered CVEO but he said its customers don't drive.

Pete Najarian, and then Jon Najarian, actually defended the NFL cracking down on Colin Kaepernick's headphones while Judge expressed disdain.

Jon Najarian's Final Trade was HCP. Stephen Weiss said to avoid auto stocks. Mike Murphy offered GBX and Pete Najarian suggested INTC.

[Thursday, October 9, 2014]

Blogger chooses to skewer Judge’s golf-course interview with Colbert Narcisse

It came to our attention this week that Dan Solin, who to our knowledge is kind of a CNBC/Cramer/stock-picking critic and writes on Huffington Post or elsewhere, put together a review of Monday's CNBC programming.

Honestly, if we were to review Solin's review, we'd point out that it's startlingly generic, lacks basic specifics (such as which people were making which arguments), and suggests Solin didn't watch much more than the opening minutes of every hour.

But it's notable nevertheless that from Monday's Halftime Report, Solin chose to pick on Colbert Narcisse, a Morgan Stanley Wealth Management honcho, and the setting of the show's interviews — a golf club.

"I find it interesting that CNBC interviewed him (and others) at the Celebrity Golf Classic at the Liberty National Golf Club," Solin wrote. "It reminded me of Fred Schwed's classic book, 'Where Are the Customers' Yachts?' I didn't see any interviews of investors attending this golfing event."

Well, he's got 1 decent point and 1 loopy point.

It's true that these events featuring the super-rich suggest the way to really get ahead is to be the money manager, not the investor.

But how many investors does Solin see hovering at Post 9, or lounging in the Englewood Cliffs cafeteria?

Solin knocks the fact Narcisse is from Morgan Stanley, suggesting bulge-bracket guests are preferred because their firms advertise on the channel.

The fact that these are the titans of Wall Street with (in general) the most expertise on the financial markets, whose employees are all watching this channel, apparently is lost on Solin.

Solin's argument is similar to declaring that MSNBC and Fox News are in bed with the political establishment by accepting interviews with John Boehner and Harry Reid rather than (apparently) seeking out state Senate candidates in Kentucky and Maine.

Solin apparently would prefer CNBC list on its ticker 24/7 "Put all your money in a diversified passively managed low-cost index fund" and watch the viewers roll in.

He could suggest the same for every football game, something like "Get off your butt/stop watching football and exercise you'll feel better and be healthier."

The truth is that some bulge-bracket guests are good; others suck.

Like we said, Solin's review is a bit thin. But it gives us another chance to display Pete Najarian's quirky 1-legged golf hug from Monday (below).

Mel botches ‘ironic’

A day after expressing amazement at the S&P monster Wednesday gain, Guy Adami on Thursday's Fast Money affirmed, "I still think the 1,904 level's in play" (Drink).

Guy also expects the 10-year yield to drop; "I'm in that camp" (Double Drink).

Meg Tirrell, who is good-looking and doing a bang-up job on Ebola, recapped the moves made by Ebola stocks while Harvard-educated Mel wrongly said it's "ironic" that the Ebola treatment is just a "small part" of what the stocks moving on Ebola news are about.

Guy Adami said TKMR is "probably worth another shot" (Triple Drink).

Guy said not to fade the (Zzzzzzz) SYMC split after Dan Ives was credited for the prediction.

Guy also suggested Joe's recent favorite, PANW, as one to watch (Quadruple Drink).

Carl, son were ‘grandstanding’

Alex Gauna on Thursday's Fast Money wasn't impressed by the goings-on from the Halftime Report.

Gauna said Carl's AAPL agitation doesn't matter "in the big picture of things," and "it just looked like a lot of grandstanding to us."

Guy Adami said of AAPL, "The longer it stays here at this level, the less I'm inclined to believe my 88 level is correct" (Drink).

Questioning buyback results, Dan Nathan said CAT's chart has "round-tripped it," and he knocked PEP as well as IBM.

Hardly astounding if you’ve been paying attention to the financial pages recently

Dan Nathan, who always calls big selloffs the turning point to a bear market, contended during Thursday's Fast Money that the market on Thursday figured out that the Fed on Wednesday is really worried about global growth.

Tim Seymour knocked the notion that the Fed "tipped their hand," asking "what is different" about Fed policy.

Anthony Grisanti suggested 78 is possible for WTI, and even, "you could see this market trade down to $70."

Dan Nathan said he was "astounded" the previous night to discover how many stocks have gone from 52-week highs to 52-week lows in the last few months and warned against picking bottoms.

Guy Adami predicted a possible "relief rally" in RIG.

Dan Nathan supplies viewers
with his TWTR cost basis

Dan Nathan said on Thursday's Fast Money that January 40 calls in AAL were popular, then said that Ebola fears could continue to hit airline stocks and explained he was trading UAL the other way with a put spread, though he's not doing this "to incite any fear whatsoever."

Bob Peck called AMZN a "really interesting company" and said his target is 380.

Guy Adami said RVBD might be a "safety trade" for a couple of days.

Dan Nathan said he'd buy TWTR under 50 and needlessly informed viewers (Brag Trade warning) that he "bought it below 40."

Tim Seymour said he would own TOT.

Brian Kelly said GG and other gold names gave up Wednesday's gains.

Jack Nerad told Mel that Elon Musk's "D" tease is "all positive."

Tim Seymour said of TSLA, "No way to justify this valuation" (Drink-Drink).

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was to short TSO. Brian Kelly said buy TLT, Dan Nathan said to take profits in PEP and Guy Adami said to buy SYMC.

Carl says Marc Andreessen ‘stole’ Skype but sounds like he’s weary of another Ackman-like war

A day earlier, Marc Andreessen blistered Carl Icahn in a chat with Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC's Fast Money.

Icahn returned fire on Thursday — not on Fast Money, but his preferred CNBC venue, Scott Wapner's Halftime Report.

Carl first revealed a pre-chat, saying Judge had already clued him in on Wednesday night as to Andreessen's comments, which described Icahn as (PgDn a few times) someone who takes part in "bomb-throwing ... lies ... slander," among other things.

Thursday, Carl told Judge, "You mentioned that to me last night ... I'm no great fan of Andreessen. I tried to listen to him but he talks in that high, squeaky voice, and you know, only a dog can really hear him in my opinion."

That was fairly tame, and nothing about being bullied in Bronx schoolyards, though Icahn a couple times accused Andreessen of "literally stealing Skype from eBay."

"I believe he's really mad at me for doing this because I really believed he was planning to steal PayPal just like he, uh, stole Skype. I mean, that's what he does. That's the kind of guy he is," Carl added.

Perhaps it's because his son and son's associate also were on the line, perhaps it's because he already got his way, or perhaps because he fears Judge will hand him another T-shirt (below), Carl sounded like he wasn't interested in carrying on a feud with Andreessen.

Those hoping to hear from Brett Icahn were likely disappointed

It was a statement so profound, it got picked up by all the high-brow media outlets sensitive to market-correction pronouncements.

"It's definitely coming, it's just a question of when," Carl Icahn told Judge on Thursday's Halftime.

Wow.

"I can't pick when it's gonna happen, but it will happen," Carl asserted, admitting he owns a lot of stocks but has hedges too.

Note that it took follow-up pressure from Wapner to prompt Icahn to make those comments; initially Carl merely grumbled that stocks are slumping in part because a lot of corporate managers are bad.

Take it all for what you will.

Carl: Tim Cook thinks AAPL
is ‘very undervalued’

You know what they (sometimes) say on Fast Money/Halftime: CEOs shouldn't be talking about their stock prices.

Perhaps that should include conversations with Carl Icahn.

The reason for Icahn's appearance on Thursday's Halftime Report was for Carl to uncork his 1-man good-cop/bad-cop routine over AAPL's cash pile.

Icahn gushed praise at Tim Cook and his gang, saying they performed "greatly" and "I'm their buddy," and that the company "reminds me of IBM in the old days."

At one point Carl "analogized" his interest in AAPL to wagering on horse racing.

"I remember being a young guy and going to the OTB window and taking a lot of money and bettin' it on Secretariat ... I really equate that to Apple," Icahn said.

But then came the issue as to why shares aren't already at 203, as Icahn explained his goal would be a "massive tender offer."

And then — inadvertently or not — he drastically elevated the bar for Tim Cook, stating he talked to Cook about the share price, and "he thinks it's very undervalued."

Judge in fact asked Brett Icahn why the stock, if it's worth 203, is not trading at that level. Brett Icahn, who sounded like he was speaking from a barrel, told Judge that's a "good question."

Judge suggested to David Schechter that AAPL is "underowned," which Schechter sort of acknowledged.

Carl allowed that he's not a gadget engineer but that his "expertise" is in shareholder value, "as far as the finance goes."

Nevertheless, Carl claimed, "It really is a software company, not a hardware company."

Toni Sacconaghi said "Apple is still overcapitalized" but said he's "not sure" about Carl's tender offer.

Judge hasn’t said anything about the machines taking over

We spent most of Thursday's Halftime Report wondering if Judge would ever get to Joe.

It used to be that during every wildly bad market week, Judge would summon Doc and those 2 guys who monitor HFT and everyone would declare "the machines have taken over" and how there's a difference between real volume and phony volume and thus retail investors can no longer be confident in the market.

Thursday, it wasn't until near the end of the program that the subject was even partly broached, as Dr. New World, given a rare opportunity to speak, said this is the environment where HFT can "really take over" and in fact insiders he has spoken to have dubbed the last couple days "some of the best trading days that they've had in many, many months."

"The fact that you have, right now, the U.S. 10-year Treasury going to its lowest level of the year, that diminishes the potential for you to see equity inflows," Joe opined.

During a week with several 200-point Dow moves, Doc predicted October would be "far more volatile" than September.

Josh Brown said the top 20 biggest Dow days in history occurred while the market was in decline.

"Oil is a crash, period," Brown said.

Dr. New Land predicted, "I think the Republicans are gonna take the Senate," then suggested CXO and EOG as belated Rich Pzena energy plays.

Brown said XOM, and Doc offered BTU, "if you're lookin' for overdone."

Joe said it looks like the S&P wants take out 1,918.

Jon Najarian's Final Trade was TSLA puts while Joe said long MCK. Judge gruffly refused to give Josh a chance after Josh's "run like hell" joke purportedly because Power Lunch was starting when in fact Judge was merely introducing a couple minutes of end-of-the-hour commercials.

[Wednesday, October 8, 2014]

Marc Andreessen says Carl lies, hasn’t been notably smart

Bomb-throwing ... lies ... slander ... and that's just part of it.

Marc Andreessen threw the proverbial "kitchen sink" at Carl Icahn during a chat with Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday's Fast Money, launching this description:

"Starts out bomb-throwing, he lies, like he just makes stuff up, he slanders ... his inner 6-year-old comes out ...

Andreessen then related a comment purportedly from Michael Dell indicating Carl didn't know whether Dell made nuclear reactors or french fries.

Sorkin countered that Icahn is "smart enough to figure out something."

Andreessen responded, "I don't know that it takes some super high IQ to say that it might be a good idea to break companies up under certain circumstances."

Andreessen twice said "literally," including how Carl Icahn is "literally the exact opposite" of Ralph Whitworth, citing the "Star Trek" episode with "good" and "evil" Captain Kirk.

Melissa Lee said to her panel, "We all looked at each other in shock at what he said about Mr. Icahn."

Andreessen on bitcoin:
Bank stocks fluctuate too

Andrew Ross Sorkin took a crack at bitcoin during his chat with Marc Andreessen on Wednesday's Fast Money, noting the price has dropped "precipitously."

Andreessen shrugged that off entirely, claiming, "This is like saying, judging the Internet in 1994 based on the price of domain names."

Later, after protestations from Melissa Lee, Andreessen repeated that the bitcoin price will fluctuate, but it's a "huge thing" in China.

"Prices of banks bounce around, and yet, banks are still standing, so I'm not that worried about it," Andreessen actually stated.

Brian Kelly claimed support in bitcoin "around 300."

Andreessen told Sorkin he was "completely mum" at both the EBAY and HPQ board meetings in which splitting came up.

Buy, Robyn, buy

Melissa Lee on Wednesday's Fast Money impressively flagged Robyn Karnauskas' recent 20%-downside-max call on ARWR; Karnauskas was "unavailable to join us," Lee said, instead bringing in Alethia Young to defend the call and deem the stock "oversold."

In a shocker, someone (Brian Kelly) recommended XBI or IBB (Drink-Drink) instead.

In a further shocker, Pete Najarian suggested using options to play biotech (Drink).

‘Search before purch’

Viewers of Wednesday's Fast Money got a new slogan from Neely Tamminga, who has a $46 target on GPS and said that in the retail space, "It's all about digital right now — search before purch."

Tamminga has a 13 on JCP and said despite the panel's skepticism that "their gross margins are actually solid right now."

Guy Adami said risk/reward in JCP is appealing. Karen Finerman couldn't wait to argue on behalf of Macy's (Drink-Drink-Drink-Drink-Drink) and insisted JCP is not cheap.

Karen Finerman said SHLD reported "no significant impact" on its business, which she interprets as, "There has been impact on our business."

Karen tries modestly to point out she was right about selling puts

Guy Adami admitted on Wednesday's Fast Money he was wrong (Drink) on the S&P hitting 1,904 and said the reversals Wednesday were "unbelievably strong."

Karen Finerman detected "panicky" selling early Wednesday and observed that 17 has been a turning point in the VIX.

In a crisp, strong program that ranks as one of the show's best of the year despite being light on trades, Adam Jonas said there needs to be more "balance" in the debate over Ford's new F-150, which he said accounts for 90% of Ford's global profitability.

Jonas said automakers are opening up a "helluva (sic) lot of numbers of plants" (sic clumsiness) that will lead to a "brutal" path to profitability.

"We think Tesla's worth $320," Jonas added.

Paul Hickey suggested RIG has most or all of the bad news priced in, and that oil's slide may be nearing its end. He also likes LMT for possible surprise.

Mike Khouw said NUAN October 15 calls took off after Carl Icahn's tweet.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was C. Brian Kelly said GLD, Karen Finerman said GOOG and Guy Adami said GPS.

Mary Barra stiff-arms questions
from Judge, Julia, Phil LeBeau

They got a star guest, and got swept away like so much debris.

Mary Barra agreed to take questions from 3 CNBCers in the span of 5 minutes on Wednesday's Halftime Report and deftly said not a thing.

Notably, Barra didn't even address Phil LeBeau's question about the analyst who thinks GM's guidance is way too lofty.

Judge asked Barra, dubbed by Time as the "mechanic," whether GM needs an oil change, or a "complete engine overhaul."

Barra didn't answer except to say that people say changing GM's culture takes 10 years, and she wants to do it in 5 with a "multi-pronged approach."

So much for the "Next" list.

Mike Murphy called the auto selloff "overdone." Josh Brown said GM has a "pretty textbook head and shoulders."

Judge offended by Pete’s suggestion that BABA-as-top question is ‘ludicrous’

Stumbling and bumbling through his worst show in months, Judge spent much of Wednesday's Halftime backpedaling on his ongoing loopy suggestion that BABA signaled some kind of undefined top in the stock market.

Pete Najarian reaffirmed that such a notion is "ludicrous," while Josh Brown questioned whether Judge was defining "top" by short-term, for the year or all-time.

Judge bristled at Pete's characterization, insisting he's not suggesting that BABA "caused" the top but that the IPO perhaps "marked" the top. (And you thought Bill Clinton could parse.)

Josh Brown contended that "real" support for the S&P is 1,900 to 1,905.

Kenny Polcari lamented that the big "flush" didn't happen Wednesday morning.

Pete Nardashian trumpeted banks. Chris Hyzy said there's a "massive decoupling" in global markets but that the U.S. is the destination and should be bought on the dips.

Desperately grasping for an Ebola trade, Josh Brown said LAKE "is up a hundred percent since the beginning of August," but he didn't say that it's a market cap of $64 million.

Gemma Godfrey, who tends to be about as specific as Mary Barra, called Europe a "binary trade."

Josh Brown said he likes DFE for when European regulators start uncorking the stimulus. Doc pointed out German stocks are down sharply even as the euro has weakened.

Pete Najarian trumpeted COST and TGT.

Pete Najarian said he'd buy options in GPRO because "I do think there's upside."

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was DAL. Jon Najarian said DUK. Josh Brown said DIS and Mike Murphy said GBX.

[Tuesday, October 7, 2014]

Tim Seymour opines that GPRO is a risky long if the S&P falls 100 points (then suggests stealth ‘health move’ in China dining)

Charlie Anderson, the star guest on Tuesday's Fast Money, admitted he downgraded GPRO $40 ago and conceded to Mel he can't say where the stock's heading.

Anderson didn't share Mel's concern that AMBA might be the next GTAT, asserting it's a "totally different story."

Guy Adami said if you're long GPRO, "pull the ripcord."

Tim Seymour had this helpful pearl of wisdom about GPRO: "If you think that the market is going down another hundred S&P points, I would get out of this stock."

Rachael Rothman, who delivered an impressively patient assessment of YUM's struggles in China, nevertheless offered an "it will be interesting to see" (Drink) regarding David Novak's upcoming chat with analysts.

Rothman told Karen Finerman that Olive Garden "absolutely" can be turned around.

Tim Seymour advised viewers, "Do not underestimate the Novak effect," even though Tim went on to suggest that Novak and YUM might be missing a subtle "health move" in China.

Nothing said about how much money Karen could’ve made by holding GTAT another day

Karen Finerman said on Tuesday's Fast Money she's "sadly" still long CMLS; "it's really been a terrible trade."

But she didn't say anything about the GTAT she unloaded Monday for 99 cents.

Actually, Finerman said that if she had "cojones," she'd be shorting S&P puts.

Finerman said she bought "a little bit of Macy's." She admitted it's a name she talks about "all the time" (Drrrrrrrrrrink.)

And, she also singled out ETN as a name to watch.

Finerman called the SODA selloff "somewhat overdone."

Guy Adami, who has bungled several important calls recently (but that doesn't stop him from repeating them at least once an episode), admitted he's been "dead wrong" on SODA.

"I'm still in the camp that rates are going lower" (Drink-Drink-Drink-Drink-Drink), said Guy, at a later point in the program.

Grasso: ‘Wishy-washy month’

Steve Grasso predicted on Tuesday's Fast Money that the S&P was headed toward a test of the 200-day while October proves to be a "wishy-washy" month.

Tim Seymour actually tried to bicker with Mel over whether September or October is more volatile.

No Nardashians were present (somehow; yes that really can happen), so no one mentioned the VIX.

Meg Tirrell, who is pretty good at this (not to mention pretty good-looking at this), explained why CMRX rose and TKMR didn't.

Tim Seymour said he'd buy weakness in PEP, around 89.

Harold York said $70 a barrel is about break-even in the shale plays although he said it differs by area. (Luckily Joe Terranova wasn't on, or York would've gotten a run-on question about differentiating between the services and E&P and refiners and integrateds, ending with AAPL.)

Steve Grasso said he thinks the long-term run in PXD has "come to an end."

No. 386 predicted there'd be another day of MBLY gains but cautioned possibly not; nevertheless he made it his Final Trade.

Karen Finerman said of AGN, "Something will work out at the end of the day" (Drink).

Guy Adami said to buy UPS at 94.

Jonathan Litt said "typically" when REITs sell off on rising-rate fears, it's a great opportunity to buy. He likes PEI.

Mike Khouw said November 11 JBLU calls were active both Monday and Tuesday.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was "extreme value" GM. Karen Finerman said YUM, if it trades down. Guy Adami said IR.

Stephen Weiss says he sold
a ‘good chunk’ of Floyd's outfit

On Tuesday's Halftime Report, Steve Weiss was finally called to account for his bone-headed Floyd Trade call on HK and claimed he sold a "good chunk" of his position but despite that went on to sing the company's praises, "things are going very well."

Much of the program was spent with Weiss' friend, Rich Pzena, who told Dr. New World that there's decoupling "to a small extent," then suggested there's a couple ways of defining "decoupling."

Pzena likes the integrateds, specifically Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

Pete Najarian asked Pzena a simple question, whether Pzena's avoiding refiners and service names and "just sticking" with integrateds. Pzena said "it's a very hard question to answer" because the integrateds do a lot of things.

Pzena called offshore drillers "spectacularly cheap" but said he's not in them because of the volume of new rig deliveries.

Stephen Weiss said Pzena has been a "phenomenal" bank investor and has "made a fortune" since the 2008 collapse.

"All the bad news is priced in" to the banks, Pzena said.

Pzena said HPQ's split "makes sense, for 2- for 2 or 3 reasons."

Josh Brown: No one
wants to brew soda

Joe Terranova, who had a very quiet show on Tuesday's Halftime Report, thinks this is the "prove-me moment" for the market.

Stephen Weiss said "it's nervous time if you're a European investor."

Weiss said he'd still be selling TCS even amid Tuesday's slide because the company pays too much per square foot.

Weiss said not to own SODA. Dr. New Land said "it's much stronger than a rumor" that private equity took a pass on the stock. Josh Brown said he's been negative on SODA since it's "been on my radar" because he doesn't think anyone's looking to brew his or her own soda at home.

Anthony Grisanti said "there's a fungus" in Central America limiting coffee supply, while Brazil has been "mired in a drought." Brian Stutland predicted coffee retailers will be hiking prices in 2015. Pete Najarian likes SBUX.

Michael Peltz said 3,600 individuals take part in choosing the All-America Research Team. One of those top analysts, Matthew Boss, predicted we'll see a "stable" holiday but not a "blockbuster." Boss likes M (Drink) and JWN, plus NKE and FL.

Pete Nardashian said MRVL November 14 calls were hot but admitted "I am not in yet," (snicker) though he claimed he'd try to get in after the show (when he's not getting ready for his likely appearance on Fast Money; we'll see if he's in by the time that program airs).

Josh Brown said "I have no idea what's going on" with Barclays' GPRO price target.

Pete Najarian predicted "far more upside" in NDLS.

Joe said Samsung is a popular choice for hedge funds.

Stephen Weiss called YUM and MCD "old, tired concepts."

Pete Najarian made AMAT his Final Trade while Josh Brown said MBLY. Stephen Weiss said PZVLX and Dr. New Land said SNDK.

[Monday, October 6, 2014]

Seema Mody pronounces Stacey’s last name as ‘WIDE-litz’

She's perfect — but then again, not quite perfect.

Seema Mody introduced Stacey Widlitz on Tuesday's Worldwide Exchange as "Stacey Wide-litz" (sic).

Stacey, who looked sharp in red and demonstrates again (above) why she's a strong candidate for our Mount Rushmore of CNBC Hair update (don't dare go there you know what happens when we compliment Stacey's appearance), told Mody and Wilfred Frost that "I'm not necessarily sure" she believes that retail margins will rise in the 2nd half of 2014.

We didn't hear Stacey bring up "pivotal" this time. (Stop it. Stop it right now.)

Wilfred Frost correctly pronounced Stacey's surname at gotta-leave-it-there time.

Knockout: Karen flips GTAT
for 21% stunner

So much for that long-term capital gain tax rate.

Karen Finerman revealed on Monday's Fast Money she actually flipped a stock.

Finerman conceded it's "usually not my thing," but she scooped up GTAT Monday around 82 cents ... and sold it later in the day at 99.

Guy Adami, the last person on the show to recommend the shares, said his Sept. 22 long GTAT call was "100% wrong" but insisted "a lot of people were blindsided."

That even sort of includes Pavel Molchanov, who correctly has been bearish on the stock in his recent show appearances but last time suggested there was downside to $8-$10.

Meanwhile, Dan Ives said Symantec investors want to see a spinoff of the storage unit. He also suggested CTXS could do a split before returning to the old standby of EMC needing to get something out of VMWare.

Karen Finerman argued that MTW is the next that needs to do a split.

Colin Rusch said there's a "structural change in the cost of capital" in the solar sector.

Pete Najarian said November 23 calls in GT (that's correct, not GTAT) were active (while the screen graphic said DD).

Knockout: Mel scores
with retro ’70s look

Dan Nathan, without making much of a point, opened Monday's Fast Money saying there's not much left for "Mrs. Whitman" to "wring out" of HPQ.

Karen Finerman said she sort of reluctantly agrees with Nathan that HPQ's move seems more like a sign of what conglomerates do when things aren't going great.

Meg Tirrell delivered a recap on the Ebola drug sitation and said the Dallas patient is getting a product of CMRX. Guy Adami said TKMR is buyable again.

Mel said at one point, "A tale of 2 Ebola drugmakers."

Tom Ridge was not asked whether the creation of another bureaucracy, which he was the first to head, actually made America safer (what happened to those color-coded terror alerts), but he did say Lloyd's of London has developed a unique "methodology" for companies to buy cybersecurity insurance.

Guy Adami predicted a flush coming in TCS that will provide a "tradeable bottom."

Karen Finerman likes Macy's (Drink) much better than JCP (Drink).

Dan Nathan said Z is down 30% since the Trulia deal.

Pete Najarian predicted LOCO is "off to the races."

Dennis Gartman said Aecio Neves "has no chance whatsoever" to win Brazil's election.

Dennis called Dilma Rousseff, 66, a "young lady."

Gartman endorsed steel, as did Guy Adami.

Dan Nathan said someone sold a bunch of October 82.50 FB calls.

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was EMC. Dan Nathan said XLE calls. Karen Finerman said MTW and Guy Adami said XOM.

There were already 5 balls on the green when the chipping contest started

Max Levchin hesitantly told Judge on Monday's recreational Halftime Report that he wonders if being named to CNBC's "Next" list makes him a "rebel or uh, or otherwise."

Levchin spoke of how Glow has helped to create 30,000 pregnancies worldwide for women who had previously been unable to conceive, although it wasn't clear how Glow's data accumulation accomplished that.

Judge complained to Rob Manfred about the length of big-league baseball games. Manfred said "there are things that can be done" without identifying what any of those "things" are. (But Bud Selig's formed a committee about it.)

Mark Teixeira was given a moment to promote his investment projects.

Mike Murphy's Final Trade was IP. Josh Brown said BAC. Pete Najarian said GOOG, and Steph Link said WHR.

Mel complained recently about introducing a negative segment on GTAT

They left their (stock) game on the fairway.

Mike Murphy on Monday's Halftime Report did another one of those "if you believe" trades, suggesting if you're into the "global rebound," mining names could get interesting. (Isn't the issue what Murphy believes, not what his viewers believe? Or do the traders need viewers to tweet them trades because they don't have their own?)

Pete Najarian called HPQ's decision a "great move." Mike Murphy said he wouldn't buy HPQ but suggested CSCO as a better alternative.

Josh Brown said Brazilian stocks are "pent-up" (Drink).

Stephanie Link made the case for MCD. Pete Najarian, uncorking as many "if" mulligans as possible, said MCD could approach 100 again if it does things right.

Mike Murphy contended that GTAT "brought the whole market down" but predicted stronger earnings this week.

Morgan Stanley's Colbert Narcisse contended "there are a number of people who think that equities have been overvalued."

David Blitzer said "the U.K. is, is housing short."

Pete Najarian said he and not Stephanie Link was supposed to talk about BDX, except he really had nothing to say other than the stock went up.

More from Monday's Halftime and Fast Money later.

[Friday, October 3, 2014]

Mel finally takes our call!

She had us with the glasses.

That was important, given that nothing else on Friday's Fast Money (or the Halftime Report) had us with anything.

Melissa Lee on Friday's Fast Money purred over issues with the Apple Watch and iPhone hair seams, while Brian Blair defended a possible watch delay, instantly stressing that such a product is really difficult to make (Zzzzzzz).

The lunkheaded nature of the program came when Brian Kelly SHOUTED "the Russell is where it is," then proceeded to explain that he bought "somwhere" around 109 and enacted a 108 stop.

Doing so, he somehow claims with no challenge from his host/colleagues, means that in Kelly's mind he's taking "a dollar, dollar and a half risk to make 10, I'll do that every day and twice on Sunday."

How is that any different than, say, putting a stop $1 below Friday's close on every stock in your portfolio, and claiming each has $10 of upside?

Tim Seymour, with hair that looked like it was matted down by the stuff they use to blacktop roads, referred to whatever Kelly was talking about as "Portable Alpha."

Pete Nardashian, when he wasn't repeating everything he said at Halftime, said the VIX failing to close above 17 all week "tells me a lot about the sentiment right now."

Guy Adami referred to "Chipulte" (sic).

Tim Seymour said "some of it" about 15 times when explaining SPWR's day. Guy Adami said to take at least half off in TKMR.

Pete Najarian really did say of Pamela Anderson, "I'd pump her."

Guy Adami thinks PANW goes higher.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was KR. Pete Najarian said EMC, Brian Kelly said XLE and Guy Adami said MDT.

Judge claimed to be taken aback earlier in the week when people downplayed Hong Kong; subject ignored on Friday’s Halftime Report or Fast Money

It'd be hard to identify another television program as sleepy as Scott Wapner's Halftime Report on Friday.

The highlight, if you want to call it that, was Jon Najarian protesting that he "didn't say" on Thursday that Nick Woodman should be "crucified" for GPRO's foundation move, only that some traders seemed to be privy to this sensitive information.

Mike Murphy also whined like a 2nd-grader that FEYE was getting pounded Friday "completely without warrant," even while he insisted he'd rather own that name than Joe's favorite, "Palo Alto" (PANW).

Josh Brown contended that TSLA goes to 215, but Doc argued it hits 275 first.

David Miller, who identifies hot stocks based on insider buying, likes MTDR and CLR and CONN.

Pete Najarian uncorked some cockamamie rationale for the guacamole pricing at Qdoba.

Mike Murphy said a "large, independent oil trader" told him 78-80 is the bottom in crude.

Josh Brown said he'd buy SPWR.

Doc jumped into the FL trade after seeing the November 57.50 calls were hot. He'll "probably be in it for 3-4 weeks" (snicker).

Pete Najarian's Final Trade was FL. Doc said he shorted GNRC, and Josh Brown and Mike Murphy said buy BAC.

[Thursday, October 2, 2014]

Tim Seymour puts words
in TSLA analyst’s mouth

Karen Finerman said on Thursday's Fast Money that she usually sells protection around VIX 17 even though it "feels horrible."

Karen said long S&P vs. short IWM has experienced an "extraordinary" move of "11 and change"%.

Karen said she's "not thrilled" and "not delighted" about the JPM breach.

Lori Calvasina is "very, very worried about the midcap space at the moment." She said research has found that health care does well in a rising-rate environment.

Ben Kallo sidestepped to ridiculous extremes what the "D" is (eventually suggesting "all-wheel-drive Model S") but said Elon Musk's "cryptic" tweet is a good example it's hard to short TSLA.

After Kallo signed off, Tim Seymour said Kallo is "not necessarily in belief" of TSLA's valuation.

Paul Sankey said he's "convinced" the Saudis will "protect" the price of crude.

He lukewarmly called EOG and HES "top names."

Meg Tirrell greeted an impatient Mel with "how are ya." Tim Seymour called Tirrell a "great reporter." Steve Grasso actually claimed AMZN is a play on Ebola.

Dan Nathan said the RIG chart is possibly one of the worst he's ever seen.

Dan Nathan said he wouldn't "step into" GRMN. Karen called W "a little expensive" for her.

John Jannarone, who 1) does his best not to smile and 2) is working on a Nardashian-like ponytail, said Starboard wants to "take the core Yahoo out of Yahoo."

Steve Grasso said you buy DE if you think corn prices have bottomed, but use an 80 stop.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was buy "way oversold" EEM. No. 386 said MBLY, Karen Finerman said NNA and Dan Nathan said QQQ puts.

Twitter is ‘getting smarter’

Despite being baited by Judge, Thursday's Halftime crew wasn't exactly in a race to declare a market meltdown.

Doc said he wanted to wait until Friday; Steph wants to wait until the next earnings season.

Bryant VanCronkhite said the market is going through a "shakedown"; he likes WDFC.

Mike Santoli refused to take a "right or wrong" position on GPRO's lockup loophole, only calling it something a shareholder would "definitely not wanna see them do."

"This thing was a pass-the-crack-pipe-type of stock in the last week here, OK," Santoli said.

Both Santoli and Stephanie Link slammed anyone who bought GPRO in the "last week" or 2.

Doug Anmuth said Twitter users "are getting more comfortable" with whatever Twitter's doing, hence his buy call; he actually said "I think the company's getting smarter."

Jim Iuorio suggested "another $10 move" down in crude, to 80.

Chris Marangi said RLD is "probably worth more" to another buyer.

Brennan Hawken said he likes BAC best of the big banks and thinks Brian Moynihan has done a "great job" and is "one of the more underrated CEOs on Wall Street."

Judge aired footage of last year's Giants team while making a point about the current tight end.

Doc's Final Trade was AAL, Josh said TWTR, Stephanie said MCD and Pete Najarian said TEVA.

[Wednesday, October 1, 2014]

Individual recently in Liberia tells hospital he’s got fever and feels sick; no one seems to think it might be Ebola

JPMorgan's Jamie Baker told Wednesday's Fast Money he doesn't think investors or passengers have much to fear from Ebola.

Baker contended that while people afraid of catching Ebola on a jet may cut back on leisure travel, they can't tell their bosses they're refusing to go somewhere and say, "I can't resist the temptation to manhandle the bodily fluids of the passenger sitting next to me."

Baker predicted a "healthy rally into year-end."

If nothing else, Baker's flight point succeeded in cracking up Melissa Lee for a virtually perfect screen grab, look at that beautiful new perfect haircut and beautiful smile.

Inovio chief Dr. Joseph Kim said his Ebola vaccine delivered "100% protection" for 2 animal species. Guy Adami said he wouldn't buy INO on Wednesday but might buy it with an 8 handle.

Tim Seymour said that "if you thought" airlines were selling on Ebola (apparently regardless of whether they actually were or not), then the shares are a "gift" (last time we heard that was Doc's advice to OptionMonster wealth management clients who had GPRO at 31).

Seymour later said that the market's linkage of airlines to Ebola reminds him of the Tesla battery fires.

Bust: Karen Finerman announced EBAY short on Sept. 10

Mark Mahaney revealed on Wednesday's Fast Money he has a clever new way of identifying longs: Facebook is the "consensus long," Google is the "complacent" long, Netflix is the "controversial" long and Amazon is the "contrarian" long with the "inflection point" coming in 2-4 quarters.

So, he thinks the winners and losers in mega-tech are all going up, a point that confounded Mel.

Mahaney initially singled out NFLX and FB as his top picks into year-end.

But he said if you get AMZN "anywhere close to 300, it's really just a back-up-the-truck buy."

Doc threw in YHOO to that bunch.

Mike Khouw said someone sold a Nasdaq 100 put spread.

Brian Kelly predicted "still more upside" in EBAY.

Doc basically is saying buy the VIX at 17

Tim Seymour said on Wednesday's Fast Money, "I just don't think the market had any reason to sell off 300 points today," which was like petting a cat's fur backwards in the presence of Jon Najarian.

Doc, who got Pete's usual assignment of a Halftime/Fast double shift, reveled at least a couple times in claiming there was a "kitchen sink" (Drink) tossed at the stock market Wednesday and challenged Seymour on that subject.

Ron Kruszewski called it a "normal correction" and a "buying opportunity."

Guy Adami said to stay long SF against 44.

Guy singled out the transports for disastrous trading.

Doc at one point congratulated himself on recommending a VIX call spread last week and assured, "I'm not saying, 'Buy the VIX at 17,' because a bunch of you come running at me next week when it drops back down to 14 and say, 'What did you do to me.'" But he nevertheless advised buying one call and then selling another at a higher strike.

Brian Kelly scoffed at buying into fear on Wednesday; "You should be doing your protection ahead of time."

Kelly also contended the market is at a "very, very critical point," then later unleashed the howler of the day, suddenly claiming that with the Dow down 250 points in 1 day, people are "starting to speculate" that QE4 might be needed.

Mel orders tweeters
to get to the point

Mel actually suggested on Wednesday's Fast Money that gold is a "safe haven" trade.

Guy Adami said AGU's guidance was not good, and not anything he saw coming.

Guy said there's a "lot of protection" of COST into earnings and made it his Final Trade.

Guy didn't make a call on ANGI but did say YELP might have some interest.

Jon Najarian said he likes INVN and wishes he owned it.

Doc reiterated that October 34 calls in PTEN were hot.

Doc said he'd buy ATVI.

Mel twice said Twitter allows "120 (sic) characters" before correcting herself and offering a public service on CNBC's interest in tweeting: "We are here to help you, so, you know, let us," Lee said.

Tim Seymour's Final Trade was PF. Jon Najarian said OXY and Brian Kelly said NIB.

Larry Altman: ‘Market’s getting oversold on a daily basis’

While Judge tried to paint Wednesday's selloff as extraordinary, it was Larry Altman who made the most relevant observation on the Halftime Report.

Altman said markets "usually bottom around the first week and a half, 2 weeks in October, or the first week or 2 weeks in March."

He also contended "the market's getting oversold, sort of, on a, on a, on a daily basis."

Most of the panel seemed to concur. Doc stressed that the market was only down 1% despite a "heckuva lot of bad news," and he thinks stocks are "consolidating" rather than plunging.

Mike Murphy chimed in, "I would sharpen up my pencils and look for a buying opportunity," such as CMI or HTZ.

Rob Sechan even indicated that the selloff was a disappointment — to the down side, saying, "I would love to see a pullback that we could buy into."

Steve Weiss said it comes down to whether the Russell or S&P is right. "It's all pretty ugly out there," said Weiss. But, "I think rates go up sooner rather than later."

Only Dr. New World was preaching short-term grim death, asserting the market "should have gone higher" on the BABA IPO, and "I don't think this correction ends until we have a down-500 day."

No one was as fascinated by Bendergate as Doc

Jon Nardashian said on Wednesday's Halftime Report he's short AAPL and assured he took off 50% last week on "bendergate," then insisted that by owning the 100 put and selling the 95 put, he's only "defining" risk of about $5.

Doc carped about Apple's inventory being larger than expected, then insisted he tweeted out some Samsung problem this morning so he's an "equal opportunity hater."

Kate Kelly reported that AAPL, as well as GOOG and MMM, have invested in auto securities, a sector experiencing some subprime encroachment.

Doc employs visual aid to report that Heat Seeker® detected the same volume in FNMA/FMCC that you can find for free on Yahoo/Google/CNBC finance (but how come he didn’t mention those Nov 55 EBAY calls that were hot on Sept. 19?) (PgDn a few times)

It's been ages since we've seen Dan Dicker on Halftime/Fast Money.

Which means, it's been ages since we've seen someone regularly touting RIG.

Dicker from the NYSE visited with Judge and predicted "a much higher price of oil," reaching "at least $125" over 2 years, "on its way to 140."

Anthony Grisanti thinks there's weakness left in crude. Scott Nations said falling gas is good for consumers.

Joe said he bought RRC for his Playbook Playoffs portfolio.

Kate Kelly spent a moment discussing the horrid day of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac sphere, and Judge gave Doc the floor to explain ... that a lot of shares were bought/sold on Wednesday. (This writer ... omg ... is long FNMA.)

Judge noted the amount of hedge fund bigwigs who have dabbled in the names and asked Steve Weiss, only after the stocks cratered and not last week, why these investors would take such "outsized risk."

Weiss said this is what investors do with certain portions of their portfolio and asserted, "This story's not done."

Joe Terranova's Final Trade was RRC. Jon Najarian said PTEN. Stephen Weiss said CVEO and Mike Murphy said SUNE.

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