microsoft hoping its new zune music playing device can finally take away market share from poly's ipod. it's been a long day. expected to hit stores amid september, the new zune hd comes with a touch-screen internet browser and high definition video output capability and hd radio. but, more importantly, microsoft is undercutting ipod's price. the 16-gigabyte model will cost $219, $80 below the 16-gig ipod touch. the 32-gig will be $90 below the comparable ipod.

but the zune has a long way to go to get market share. the zune -- in june the zune has 2% of the market compared with ipod's whopping 73% share. do you know anyone who has a zune? i don't. everybody i know has an ipod. but good luck to them. here's a look at the day on wall street. the dow having a good day, but bouncing well off the lows of the session. had been down 140 points at one point. closing down 76 points, 9321 the last trade. "fast fire" is coming up next. thanks for watching i'm melissa francis in for maria bartiromo. have a great night and a great weekend. warren buffett's berkshire hathaway has cut back on home depot and carmax and eaton and raising stocks in johnson stakes and adding 1.2 million shares of beck t becktin dickinson. that's "cnbc.com news now."

i'm julia boorstin. "fast money" with melissa lee starts now. is the summer selloff finally here? not on this desk. we've got your correction covered. welcome to "fast money," we're live from the nasdaq market site. i'm melissa lee and these are your "fast money" traders. a big show tonight. we'll show you a correction next week. and later a company that's helping america and its profits recover from giant job losses, and breaking all night, new holdings from warren buffett and george soros and other investment whales that you may not believe. what we may find. a word from the street, a nice rebound from the session lows. what was that? a technical bounce there? >> i think there were late guys coming in to cover shorts and it was working for them. nail biting. i think people were watching 992 and guys were expecting a sloppy monday if we broke that. today's recovery was i think encouraging. i don't think any of the pullbacks are going to be that steep. i've been saying that and i think the data today should not

be, you know, i think empasized from the consumer side, i think the consumer confidence number is -- the consumer is out of work and strapped for cash, but i think the number reacted to walmart. >> each pullback may not be steep, but you can have the case of dying by a thousand paper cuts. >> it was about technical battling fundamentals. last week unemployment was ten 16 on the s&p. we spent the entire week technically trying to recover above that level. but the fundamental data points were somewhat disappointing. today early in the session it gave way to some significant selling. we broke below 1000 on the s&p. i agree, i think the corrections are going to be shallow. but now you look, you look in terms of the fundamental catt cataly catalysts, we're beyond earnings and unemployment. >> what does it mean? >> what is the catalyst to elevate the market higher? >> we'll be treading water until third quarter earnings season, that's a long time.

>> 2005 had such a huge run, i wouldn't be shocked if we treaded water. the consumer confidence number to me is one of the least relevant pieces of data that we see. it gets a lot of headlines, but really it's not a question of what inventories, the builds or purchasing or anything like that, so i don't put a whole lot of faith in that. 21 other thing that rally was really just the very last few minutes. i don't know if it was on a ton of volume or not so -- >> i would -- >> this has been a slow week. this has been a slow day and a slow week. all things considered. we had a pretty sharp move early, but i don't necessarily see a whole lot of volume to back it up. not a lot of our colleagues are working today like we are. >> at the end of a week on friday, you see asset allocation. i believe that's what it is. it probably comes from the mutual fund space, end-of-of debuting propelled by just that. >> the end of the debuting in bank of america. that was a pronounced move. and bank one capital had a pronounced move at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. that's what helped the markets

move higher. that could be perhaps technical buying on the weakness. >> maybe. i was wondering what it was about. i did see a story. i don't have it confirmed that it was master trust data was leaked and it was positive in terms of credit losses and that's why it went higher. i don't know. i'm not sure if i really believe that. but, boy, the stocks went higher. >> even the depth of the selling this morning in terms of the financials, i don't think bank of america, citigroup, jpmorgan, morgan stanley or even goldman sachs there was that much significant selling pressure. so you could tell that the financials were somewhat supporter in what was a horrible tape, and, yes, in the afternoon the tape itself, the broad market tape kind of recovered. and it was the financials that led that tape higher. >> i want to present to you one case being presented by bank of america's chief strategist as to why we should expect a summer rally. he has a number of bullet points but these are the highlights. global equity market cap really soared in the latest quarter. chi that, emerging market banks and tech rolling over and every

country index is above its 200-day moving average which really shocked me. >> it's an important number. but the other number you left out, because he also said that the s&p is trading 1.8 times price to book which is 1.3 times stand are a deviations below where it's traded on average over the last ten years. he doesn't think the market is expensive. he thinks technically it's i a difficult place, i think we all do. but i don't think there's a lot of people saying that the s&p is terribly expensive. i think they are wondering where the next round of growth comes from. >> it goes back to the chart on the short open interest. you hit it. the short open interest has to come down significantly further before you can say there's probably a top in the market. because you know what, there are still some linger shorts out there that have to get squeezed out. >> i also think we're getting -- moving -- cash is kind of not -- it's no longer satisfied with being in treasuries or being in cash. i think that's the most power thing that's going on. i think people are putting money to work in credit and equities where there's normalization, not necessarily across the board in

earnings, but at least in the system. >> want to look ahead to some of the events happening after the bell which could give us clarity on what to expect on monday and that is the 13-f filings which have been coming in at the end of the day. let's do whale watching. karen, you've been watching them come in. we've got interesting headlines when it comes to soros. what stands out so far to you? >> the ackman thing is interesting which we talked about before the show started, the mcdonald's position. if you are the management of mcdonald's you were like, oh, my god, i cannot believe that this guy is back! i mean, he's finished with target now. maybe halfway, who knows? i don't know. he sort of sold half his position or expired, i guess. you just don't want -- you know, it's just going to be a thorn in the side. >> but sooner or later he's going to be right. >> he's been right a lot. he's been right a long. he's been long in target and right. he was right in mcdonald's going back several years, remember he thought, well, he could split it up and do it an operating company. >> he had a pretty tough time in a tough market, number one. and maybe the nature in which he

made some of those bets were levered in such a way that he didn't really work it in a way that he was going to win. so, i mean -- >> i agree. i'm a little cautious about chasing after these guys. i don't think karen is saying that, she said yesterday. with a guy like ackman, he's taking positions that are an activist situation, i don't know if it's happening at mcdonald's. but certainly target. sears, he was way off on that one. i would be careful. >> i want to add lone pine, mandel was a very smart investor. he it looks like has a new position in mcdonald's of some size, so you're getting a lot of interest in the mccafe. >> and it comes off of warren buffett divesting himself of conoco phillips. what does that do? number one, that's natural selling pressure, him constantly getting out of his shares and now that he's out and he's out of the space, that's a classic trade, i think, right here. you go in and you buy conoco phillips. >> we should point out that there are a lot of headlines out there and pos being change.

so, we're touching on the highlights. in addition to ackman another thing that is interesting, he's out completely of visa, a stock that has seen a nice run. he's you out of food in general, wendy's and arby's he's out as well, but he's in mcdonald's. >> i like them to follow themes and with paulson and ackman you are following guys following themes. also paulson, his gold theme and with einhorn at green light, the gold theme is alive with these guys. the first quarter they had huge holdings and paulson added gold and it tells me they expect inflation down the road. and increase stakes in the gfi and harmony and the gld, and they are big players in the names and i think it goes higher. >> absolutely. warren buffett is raising his stake once again in johnson & johnson, i don't know if it makes you more positive, because it's a stock you're following. >> one of the things at johnson & johnson we are looking at names that have not participated as much in the rally, some of the consumer names, the classic investments that were defensive plays in '08 and did a lot better than the broader market but they were a

lot sharply lower. this is one of the names i think where it might actually provide buying opportunity. >> right. >> at long last. >> we are getting headlines courtesy of dow jones. soros is cutting his walmart stakes to 89,000 shares instead of 1.5 million. basically in half. we'll continue to bring you updates as we get them. these are the s.e.c. filings all as of the end of the second quarter. keep in mind a lot of things could happen between june 30th and today in terms of those positions. next right here consumer shares one of the few losers in today's session. latest round of consumer confidence but we got readings out of jcpenney which disappointed investors because the expectations were ratcheted up so high. >> expectations were too high. we talked about it a lot. the retail index down about 2 1/2% today. they have come so far still i think there's more downside here. i like the trade. long walmart even with soros getting out. long walmart, short the xrt. i think we'll see more convergence on that trade.

>> any other buyers of retailers on this desk? >> go ahead. >> go right ahead. >> i was going to say i think you saw with the retail sales number and people talked about cash for clunkers drawing money away from the consumers. the penny numbers were disappointed because they guided slightly different. abercrombie & fitch guided differently. they are disappointment. i don't think it's a real surprise. swatch, which is the largest watchmaker -- >> they still make those? >> not the plastic thing that joe's wearing. just kidding. it's the nicest watch on the desk. >> and it's not from china town. >> they see recovery in demand. and there is activity in the consumer space. >> mohamed el erian, the ceo of pimco made his case for why the best times have passed for the u.s. consumer. >> the key stimulus has come to -- into the consumer. disposable income has gone up because of all the stimulus. but the real income of people is stagnating. so, don't underestimate how much

stimulus has already made it to the consumer. and that has helped enormously in the last few months. >> uh-oh sounds like trouble ashed head f ahead for the retailers. >> i believe it's one of the reasons the market kind of pulled back off the highs because he definitely believes, you can tell from what he said, that prices have reached a valuation level that are way beyond. but you have to go back. we had robert shiller on the show last friday and we talked about a second stimulus. you look at what mohammed said today and you have to wonder are we eventually going to have on go down the road again where a second stimulus is actually needed to get the consumer spending to where it needs to be. >> the thing i find interesting there's no disputing his prowess here, but while good numbers are coming out, everybody's now looking for the bad numbers. we had terrible numbers in the first quarter. we're getting good numbers on industrial production today, on the auto numbers. we've seen it and a recovery. and yet people are looking forward for the fourth quarter to be down. >> that's a good point.

we see it happening all the time coming out of recessions. everybody is sort of looking for the bad news when you come out of it and i think that's what they'll read into it here. i wouldn't be surprised if we see a little bit of a pullback. some of the market activity we saw today would be a little bit reactionary because not all the market participants are in there. but i don't buy it. i'm willing to go along with the good news. >> abercrombie is a bright spot in today's market. it doesn't deserve the premium it had today. >> no. >> what are you saying? >> bright spot is a relative thing. we're talking about a company whose revenues are off, what, 39%? and obviously they lost some money. but there were a couple of bright points that came out of it. they were closing the rural store which i think was obviously a failure and i think a lot of people read some good news into that. if you exclude the expenses that were related to that, they actually two have had a much better number. they would have beat the street expectation. so the market responded very favorably. i think that the responsiveness of a lot of the retailers in an environment where the revenues

have just absolutely been slashed and how they managed to hold it together is a credit. they leverage to the upside if we get a turnaround. >> but what they said about the pricing going into the fall seemed to be troubling. they are expecting further price reductionis going into the fall and the back-to-school season. >> but the inventories were down. and they managed them effect capitol hill they are very sensitive to the market. >> i know you are disappointed to see the ad campaign go by with the buffed-out, wax-chested men. maybe -- >> the jamie dimon campaign. i think at the price level anything good is priced in. the only thing you can say about it is they are 20 some-odd percent short interest. other than that -- >> why not pick a name up 150% instead of this one up 50% this year and maybe you get short one of those? >> let's move on to the next. oil breakout fail today as the commodity halted at four

herself. it was the biggest single dollar in percentage decline since late july. >> let's set it up. the oil trade has been a very active trade over the last couple of weeks. oil shifted lower towards 60 bucks. i think everyone base got short there. i think john milloy in inglewood has a classic chart. the double top looks like this. this is the a high in oil. last week, $72.84 the high in oil. we tried to get up there. couldn't do it. $72.21. what does that tell? that tells you that the technicals right now cannot match the fundamentals which remain overwhelmingly bearish. contango, you have steep contango in the marketplace. a lot of the oil services tried to rally. they rolled back over again. i think the trade in oil right now is to be flat. >> the equities pulled back. mike, you are looking at the integrateds. >> i think you can use that as an opportunity. this has been one of the weakest spaces across the market this

year so far. i mean, seven of the last eight years they've obviously been a big part of some strength and they have not this year. if i'm going to look for the market to broaden out a little bit, this is one of the spaces i'm probably going to look for it so, i'd actually be a buyer of the integrated these pullb k pullbacks. >> the name that i am concerned about that had a great run is petrobras. they don't look good on the headline and the big issue for them is not only that we know the prices are down and the margins are down and the efficiency is really the key. also there's a political struggle for the company's assets. this is what happens with the emerging market assets that are the state national champions and a lot of people are trying to grab on to them, so be careful. >> look at chevron which trades at a lower multiple. it doesn't have the natural gas exposure with a high beta name in the space like conoco. it pays a nearly 4% dividend and gives you a backstop there. that's one of the names. >> all the trades high to the dollar are tied to china and as

long as china, which is beginning to pull back, pulls back and you don't have the emerging market strength, you are not going to be able to have oil move higher. >> in fact, let's talk about that. >> great idea. >> the slide we're seeing. time for trading the globe. timmy, what was behind the pullback? >> hang high was down almost 7% this week and 12% this month. this had been kind of the relentless rally that would carry the other markets higher and i think it did. but there are two concerns, cutting back of liquidity and monetary policy tightening. two of the same things almost. and if you get that, people think that china will then be slowing down as an engine for growth. i don't think that's going to happen, people. but i do think that there's a lot of fluff in that market and i do think we saw that trickle throughout the emerging markets this week, so i would say note to the wary that this market is not a one-way ticket up, and i would be very careful on the chinese assets. right here i'd be most careful on chinalco or ach and petro note china. they are state companies.

they've had a huge run and i do think china looks wounded here. i do. >> what looks good, though, tim? with the pullback, are there opportunities? >> well, i think you are safe in the mobile phone space. i think china mobile, chl, china unicom, chu, are places and china life. the reason i like china life here is because, in fact, sadly this is a short-term view but that 30% of their revenues come from their investments in the mark the et which has gone up 80% in three months. the numbers are good. i don't know how sustainable that is. but these are places getting pokesve exposure to the chinese consumers and that's what everyone is trying to do. they look good. >> time for the chartology. the markets retreated from the nine-month highs. could this be retreat for the corrections that everyone has been talking about? let's go to greg. greg? >> hey, melissa. >> you are looking at the 21-day moving average is your favorite.

what do you say? >> absolutely. absolutely. a lot of things that joe and tim said are very relevant here. we talked a lot over the past two weeks about this consolidation. we are within a 15-point range here for the last 12 trading days. you can see that the fundamentals are bumping up against the technicals. the technicals will keep you honest. tim's level here on the support side at around 992. we're following the september. it closed below 989 would bring the market down towards the 950, 960 level. >> we've gone through that number today, where do we go, then? where are the elevator stops? my thought is it's okay to ride it down to 980 before they lose their stomach. >> i think we come down to 950, 960 and still not lose your stomach. if you close below that, there's a gap under the market here that dates back to around 903ic were 905. and even 950 and 960, people can

keep the perspective. we haven't had that much of a drastic correction. >> guys, cool as a cucumber. look at that. >> absolutely. >> i've been bearish so many years in the market. >> greg, let's talk treasuries, ten-year. >> the thing with treasuries, my spin on it is that, number one, you know, the rally from march to june as the equity market was going up, we had the inverse happening in treasuries, people were selling treasuries. yields went from 2.5% to 4%. and we tried to test to 350 today and we're holding in that area. the stocks come off and the yields will come off a little bit, they'll buy some treasuries. my spin is that we hold 3% going forward. i don't think we break below 3% for years to come. kind of a bold move because we're only 57 basis points above it, but i think we hold 3% going forward. >> greg, years to come. that's a long time. >> bold call. >> it is a bold call. >> greg, great to have you with

us. have a great weekend. >> thank you. coming up next, we take out the trash. as the markets stall, which stocks should be taking profits? >> and we have the interview with the ceo of devries. here's what else is coming up on the show -- is the market going up because obama's poll numbers are going down? joe terranova breaks down the obama trade. and americans are going back to school. but will that be this school at the head of the class? the ceo at devry opens up "the teacher's addition" and we grade the trade. first the intestones met the brady bunch. and tv history will be made when america's post-market show al continues. ♪ we come together ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh?

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♪ talk out out the papers and the cash or you don't get no spending trash ♪ it's time to take out the trash or you don't get no spending cash. before the rally stalls further, where should you be taking profits? where should you stay put? joe, let's start with you. what are you doing? >> i tell you what, this is getting short here.

you look at who has the longest road to recovery right now? i think you have to look at the reit space and the home builders, and then you have to break that down even further. i got short this week avalon bay. you get exposure there to apartments in terms of real estate, the reits and then if you look at kbh they have a california tax credit that has basically been exhausted, so the valuations that the names are trading at right now and the challenges moving forward in terms of them needing credit and the availability of credit right now, i think when you look at home builders and you look at reits, you actually want on go short here. >> i agree with joe on that and i would think about the guys that actually do take out the trash and i would talk about the rails and the guys that ship stuff and, guys, if we believe this is not a sustainable rally and the transportation stocks which usually lead us out and have gone 40% in the last couple of months with rail volume down 20% to 80%, you want to get out of the trades. they are cyclical trades if you think it's a false start, they have runway too far.

they are great companies. they're not trash companies. they're very important companies, but i think they're overdone. >> i agree with joey on the reits. we're short again on them. this is a supervolatile sector and the cnbx market has been really getting hit the last two days. that's important. for me, i disagree on the home builders, though. >> mike? >> we talking about the retailers earlier. some of the names have really shot up. we've talked about 150% some of these things, if you're looking to take profits, it's probably a good place to do it. you haven't seen the consumer come to the rescue yet. that's the next leg we need. but if you don't see it, sell those. >> the run on the retailers has been staggering. i got a note from s&p's capital iq and there are 100 some-odd retailers and only -- >> when i was doing the comps, it was up 50%, one of the lowest in the space. >> right. >> i think that says a lot. >> let's move on. next trade. time for your earnings edge.

devry was up and are they poised for more growth? joining us is daniel hamburger, the president and ceo of devry. always a pleasure to have you with us. >> thank you, melissa. >> how does the average investor understand your business in terms of the schools and programs that you have versus cyclical or noncyclical, tied to the economy or not tied to the  economy? >> sure, most of our schools ar actually not tied to the economy, so they are very steady and perform well in bad times as this as well as good times that we hope to see around the corner. like our medical school. people don't wake up and have  lost their job and say i want t go to medical school. it doesn't happen. that's a long-term prospect. and then we have the larger  school, of course, is devry university including the keller graduate school, so a very larg mba program.

and then we have a professional education segment, the becker  cpa review, for example, which is cyclical and it's hurting a little bit right now. it's still growing but a little bit slower than it was before. >> mr. hamburger, this is karen, how many of your students need funding, need loans, to attend your universities, i guess, i'm sorry if i don't know the proper lingo -- >> university. university. >> and are they finding any trouble getting access to that  credit? >> right. like most universities, the majority of our students are  getting financial aid, whether they're loans or grants, scholarships and so forth. and, no, they're not really having any problems. while the private student loan market is a little tighter than it was, just like the mortgage market or the car loan market, there's more money actually from the federal government. >> mr. hamburger, any concerns the obama administration kind of changing the rules for profit  educators like yourself? >> not at all. in fact, this administration, actually this congress, too, is

extremely support identify ive education and they've increased the funding for schools. and because our schools are  accredited, they are eligible for the same grant programs and many of the colleges and universities are eligible for. >> have you seen much in terms of dropout rates from students because they can't pay the loans? >> actually, it's the opposite. it's very interesting. our retention, the students staying in school, is actually up. perhaps that's because of the economy a little bit, because, you know, the job market is scarce, people need to stay in school and get retooled. that's what we do, we help students get trained for the  jobs of today. in fact, that's really what we're best known for is being a career university, over 90% of our graduates, since 1975, have been employed in their field of study after graduation. and that's -- we're probably number one of all universities. >> daniel hamburger, thanks so much. got it. ceo of devry. an interesting side note here,

mr. hamburger's first job was at general motors and, of course, as you know devry has replaced gm in the s&p 500. a nice little twist there. >> you tied that one together. >> i try. we try here. >> the harvard education. >> next trade here, hewlett-packard to report earnings following yesterday's price target. upgraded by jpmorgan, will they help keep the tech rally alive? mike, what do you think? can hewlett-packard move the needle? we've gotten omani reports about business spending and technology. will this make a difference? >> well, i think it will make a difference. i think hewlett and dell's upcoming earnings, i'm interesting in watching both of those. we've seen affirming statements from cisco's ceo, but i'm neutral coming into it, i have to say. >> i think you can buy hewlett-packard here, about $27 billion in revenue, 90 cents eft. they got an analyst date september 24th. look ahead to that. they will give you guidance on

fiscal year 2010. the hardware sector right now is beginning to see the benefit of the pc supply-chain strength from the 70s working its way through and also the asian demand is there. i think right here, hewlett-packard, although it's trading 43 bucks, i think you would still buy it. >> in the chip space, they think that fourth quarter utilization for taiwan semi and umc which are the two biggest asian chip players are over 80% which signals the order book is very strong. so for people that think it's a temporary blip in the road, the guys see real things. they are bringing people back to work. >> would you buy hewlett-packard? >> i'm long hewlett-packard, so the answer would be yes. >> would you add to your position? >> three people that want to be long it and one who doesn't so -- >> we'll see what happens. >> whoil se'll see what happens. coming up next, one trader makes the case for what will be the hot play for the fall. and why the stocks on the bottom of your screen made the list of "pops and drops" today.

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gates foundation and what they're holding as of the end of the second quarter. mary thompson is at the breaking news desk. >> the gates foundation is very involved in trying to eradicate certain diseases but in the second quarter they basically eliminated all their holdings in the major pharmaceutical companies. selling their holdings, abbott labs, baxter, johnson & johnson, eli lily, merck, pfizer and the generic drugmaker. coming from a 13-d filing issue -- or filed, i should say, this afternoon. back to you. >> thanks very much. karen, you follow these things and you were making comments about whether you follow bill and melinda gates. >> we actually never follow them. >> why? >> for a couple reasons. they don't have the reputation of being particularly successful investors. and i don't think they're in any way involved with the running of the foundation. >> of cascade. >> right. >> right. okay.

>> so, there you go. >> okay. let's move on. after a hot week, gold, sugar, oil all dropped along with the markets. is it time to buy them on the dip? dennis gartman joins us today. >> hi, melissa. >> are you buying on this market? >> no. this market is awfully overbought. everybody his dollar is short the dollar and long the commodity market. you need to have a correction. it's all today was. it may last for a couple of days. you've taken copper, what, up 50% in the course of five weeks. you've taken obscure commodities higher. you've taken orange juice higher. you've taken sugar to the point where it made the front page of "the virginia pilot" this morning, when you get those sorts of things, it's probably due to a pretty substantive correction. >> all the things moved higher like you said, but what has not happened the contango has not come out of the market. is that the lead going to the

end of the year, we need to see the shift from contango to backwardation to work off the inventories for the market to get higher? >> you are talking about what is going on with the crude oil market with the contango, the carrying charge, inord natalie high, at high prices, to teach the public, when the contango, it's telling the market or the market is saying we don't need this commodity. there's more than ample supply and the commodity has to bid for storage facilities. normally you don't get bull market in large contangos. so, what you have to see is those inventories worn down and the market, as you said, move from contango to a backwardation. i'm not sure you're going to see that in the course of another month or two. it may take some time. it will take a stronger global comel and a much stronger domestic economy to wear into those inventories. >> dennis, do you realize you've taught regis philbin, the word contango. he understands it now. >> i understand regis is talking the show and he's taking you to task. >> in fact, he didn't know joe,

but he called joe to say he didn't need his help. >> it takes two to contango, right? >> dennis gartman, always witty and insightful. have a good weekend. let's go to "pops and drops." the weekly edition. boeing down 4%. >> the dreamliner. it's ridiculous. ridiculous. >> all right. a pop for regions financial. it was up 14% this week. mike? >> well, you know, i had actually mentioned before that there was some regional names i might be interested in taking a look at and then i had a hard time finding them, because there's a lot of them where you can't figure out what's left on the balance sheet when you take a look at some of the nonperforming. this is one of the ones that i think actually might make it. >> all right. las vegas sands, a pop here. 6%, tim? >> if you think there's no disposable income and you think the consumer is dead you take your chips off the table. after a big run, i would. >> a pop for bb & c.

joe? >> it took over colonial bank's balance sheet. asset growth up 6%. i like bb&t here. >> united health care was up 6%. careen? >> i should have seen it coming. timmy did. with congress out of session and the less fear of the obama administration doing health care reform. up for hmos not surprising. >> a big pop for cheese, pawrm sawn. the regional bank is accepting pawrm sa parmesan as controls. they hold 1,000 wheels of cheese worth $187 million. >> i may have to take delivery on that. >> well, do you know what's interesting -- >> a grilled cheese sandwich. >> a thief actually broke into one of the holding warehouses and they caught the thief. and do you know what the bank said? we caught the thief just in time before they started grating the

cheese. >> that's securitization. >> exactly. it's the moment you've all been waiting for. the options action traders invade "fast money." tv history in the making. don't miss it. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance,

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welcome back to "fast money," we're live at the nasdaq market site in new york city's times square. yes, that was a big pile of chairs you see on the corner of your screen. people are wondering, right? the chairs are out there on broadway. >> when did you do that? >> in my spare time. all right, we spend a lot of time here giving you the ins and outs of chart analysis and breaking down the analysis and points of support and resistance, but there is one chart indicator we have overlooked and that is the obama factor. in fact, take a look at the chart of the day. joe, this one you brought up. >> yeah, it's all about obama resistance. go back to when obama was elected. tuesday night, november 4th, the market got to vote on obama. the new policies of the administration. the next morning, opening at 9636. we broke down that day. and this is why it's so significant. we went all the way down to 9125, and the market has not yet recovered back above that level of 9626.

where we opened on that wednesday, we've gotten as high as about 9450 now. if the market was to elevate above 9625, you got to think that's a great referendum on the market strength and the market's interpretations and fears of the potential obama policies working through that. that would be a phenomenal sign. but until we get through that, it still remains obama resistance. >> we'll keep a watch on that resistance level. >> ooh, what would that be? >> ooh? >> does it bring back fond memories? >> it does indeed. >> the theme to "melrose place." we're joined by the options traders. >> is heather locklear coming? >> in your dreams, tim. no one has been pushed into the pool yet. it should be noted that my other trading show has been moved to a new slot, 8:30 p.m. eastern time, beginning here tonight. mike already on the desk, but we're joined by stacey gilbert in philadelphia and scott nations in chicago. two other options actions

traders. you're watching the vix in relation to the selloffs. but we didn't see a spike, though. >> we have to know what the vix represent, they represent volatility. i should say hello to the "fast money" gang. good to see you again. hello, melissa. now i go on to business. going back to the vix here. let's think about what the vix is representing. it's representing movement in the market. it's a good representation of the s&p, the volatility, what's expected to happen. if you look at it right here, we're not moving like we used to. we were averaging intraday moves into the s&p 500 much closer to 5.5% in january. we haven't even seen a move close to 3% so far this month, in august. and honestly, just looking at what the market's implying, we might see one 3% move. the vix isn't really suggesting that things are going crazy, and we're moving, just like the vix are suggesting we should. >> hammer, it's joe. let's get business out of the way first. your eagles have no shot against my giants this year.

keep that in mind. but fundamentally i agree with you 100%. the fundamentals of the economy approve. and look what john paulson did with his bank of america stake. what does that tell? that tells you the validity of the stress tests and stabilized the financial institutions that we were so worried about. >> joe, you got to believe in second chances. we like vick. >> okay. >> then why did they boo santa claus? they didn't even give santa claus a -- >> that's long ago. long ago. >> all right, scott, since we have you here, let's talk about citigroup. >> well, first of all, the "melrose place," "90210" is way too gen-x. i would go back to "the happy days," "mork and mindy." i will not go there. you know, whatever happened to them?

that's another story. yeah, you mentioned some of the second-tier names. citigroup in particular i think is really interesting and the fact that, say, goldman sachs and jpmorgan have kind of stopped rallying and some of the second-tier names like citigroup and bank of america have kind of picked up the baton and are moving forward. i think that's good. but i also think that it means that some things have -- that we're running out a little bit of momentum. in citigroup there's an interesting play, since people were reaching to buy upside calls, i like buying at the money call and selling one of the upside calls to create a call spread to participate in any upside. you can do that in the $4, $6 call spread, i think you can buy it for that. i think that's a logical way to play the rally in second-tier financial names. >> i think "mork and mindy" went back to ork. >> maybe, i think at least one of them ended up in rehab. >> what, on "mork and mindy"?

>> yeah. >> don't forget to watch scott, stacy, as well as mike and me on "options action" friday nights beginning at 8:30 p.m., starting tonight, very exciting night. coming up next, earlier today we received an e-mail from jerry in baltimore would any of the traders be looking at lows ahead of the results next week? karen has got jerry's answer when we come back. [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically.

welcome back to "fast money." we're live at the nasdaq market

site in new york city's times square. time to answer your fast messages. we've got a message from jerry in baltimore. he writes would any of the traders be looking at lows ahead of results next week. karen? >> i think lowe's is lukewarm. the p/e is expensive. if you want to be in the home builder space, centex would be the trade. >> time to highlight the best calls of the week. take a listen. ♪ the heat is on >> as the scorching summer rally turned into a month-long heat wave, the "fast money's" traders hottest trade kept you quicker than the ticker. >> i'm worried most about aluminum going up and i think it's a great-looking chart. i own alcoa and i do. >> the ambassador seeing a move afoot in alcoa. as the price of aluminum jumped alcoa followed jumping 10%. >> i think the centex/pulte merger was a watershed event.

two guys with strong balance sheets coming together. several months of positive data coming in, i am long centex. >> shares of centex up 10% after a competitor saw net contracts for new homes climb for the first time in four years. >> this is one of the names that i think you have to own it, it's not a crowded trade. what you want to avoid in this environment. it is in the scenes what is much better than wells showed today. >> the liquidator calling a bounce on u.s. bank kocorp. >> and finally? ♪ some guys have all the luck ♪ >> the negotiator still managing to make you money while on vacation. >> the las vegas sands, looking at what is going on with those guys. they might spin off, i would rather own it above $lov11.50. it might make sense. >> after reporting better-than-expected results and

amending its credit pac, the stock soared 19%. leaving us with two words to sum it up, "fast money." my favorite is when we paste people's heads on other people's body. >> would we have done it her? >> absolutely. >> you put that white suit on him, he wishes he could dance like that. let's go from the best to the worst. we grill our traders on calls gone cold. the first victim is the ambassad ambassador. in late july he told us to stick with this trade. >> ung, nat gas is coming back eventually. >> fell 7%. >> i think i was out dancing with guy that night. not a good call. it's been a challenging play to own. there are technical reasons why the trade is not working. around 12 bucks i think your downside is limited. it held the level over the last nine months. i would stay there. >> on august 3rd the chairwoman bet against this retailer. >> i'm actually short whole foods and the valuation at 32 timeses is very, very stretched.

i don't see how whole foods can come in and beat earnings and have a significant run in the stock. >> oh, but it did. and it happened. >> yes, it did. >> it beat estimates and the stock was up. >> i was absolutely wrong. i really was looking at data from other supermarkets and they -- they outperformed way more than i thought they would. the only thing i can say for myself is i had puts, so i knew exactly what i could lose going in, and, in fact, i lost it all. sorry. bad call. >> jewel 28th the liquidator telling you to get off this trade a little too early. >> the rals have had a huge boon. i don't know if you can stay with the raid. csx reported better. they've moved a lot here. i think you pull off, get off the rails. >> but the rails continued. nsf was up -- >> yeah, they sure did. got up to $48 yesterday. and, again, right now these valuations i don't know if it pays to be long up here. probably would avoid them. >> all right. >> i am going to try to do the guy adami stare.

how does he do it? i can't do it. he's got it perfected. >> and mike, our guest tonight. he'll get a pass tonight. but next time we'll get him. "final trade" right after this. people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

time to reveal who made the most money today. steven schwartzman received $702 million in compensation, making him the highest paid executive in the u.s. but $2.1 million in salary, some

of it came from a quarter of the equity he got upon the ipo of the company. >> i thought he had -- >> all right. before we get to the "final trade." this quick programming note on august 20th do not miss nfl legend john madden right here on "fast money." >> the madden team. the business people. yeah, we can throw our pens and do the whole madden thing! >> is he driving here on his custom -- >> he doesn't fly. >> he's getting in the motor home. >> probably coming now. >> welcome. "final trade." >> monsanto guided higher. price is in line. >> i got to thank regis philbin, gave me the idea of freeport-mcmoran. bought the puts and sold them. thank you. >> karen? >> baby boomer stocks. >> and mike? >> you own the japanese index eft you might look to sell some calls against that thing. the vol looks high compared to its trading. >> i'm melissa lee, thanks for watching. catch the instant replay of "fast money." and don't miss "options action"

its new time slot 8:30 p.m. eastern time. set your tivos, don't miss it is. we'll see you back here monday, live at 5:00. have a terrific weekend. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t.