'Fast Money' Rewind: The week in review
From Wall Street to Main Street, Beltway battles to eventful earnings, our traders had you covered in a big week of "Fast Money."
On Monday, as D.C. dysfunction reached a fever pitch, the "Fast Money" crew tackled fresh optimism that drove stocks higher four days in a row. StockMonster's Guy Adami said that the markets are "now impervious to everything," and said to watch for more upside to the 1,730 level on the S&P 500. He also said to look for upside in Exxon Mobil. "I think you can trade that from the long side ... into their earnings release at the end of the month," he said.
(Read more: 'The market's impervious to everything': Guy Adami)
RiskReversal.com's Dan Nathan agreed with the bullish call on Exxon Mobil, but the two traders later sparred over Yahoo. Adami made the bull case, saying that the Alibaba IPO may "surprise people to the upside." Nathan came out clawing as the bear, saying Yahoo needs to improve its core advertising business or risk falling to $30 per share.
Also on Monday, Wells Fargo Chairman Emeritus Dick Kovacevich joined the team to break down the debt threat. "We just can't have a default. It would be horrendous if we did," he said. "We've never had this before ... if you really start getting into the details of this, you get very, very scared of what could happen."
(Read more: Wells Fargo's Kovacevich: DC default would be 'horrendous')
The fear of a default continued on Tuesday as the clock ticked ever closer to the debt ceiling deadline. With more back-and-forth in the nation's capital, and with a new negative watch on the country's credit rating from Fitch, "Fast Money" welcomed FBR's senior financial policy analyst, Ed Mills, to detangle D.C.'s web of dysfunction.
Mills struck an optimistic tone: "We know that we will not default. We know that we will reopen this government." But despite the positive outlook, Mills did note that there were a growing number of debt ceiling deniers eager to test the Oct. 17 deadline.
(Read more: Congress needs 'a violent move' in the stock market: Dick Bove)
As Washington lawmakers failed to reach a deal, Twitter announced that it had come to an agreement with the NYSE, choosing the exchange over the Nasdaq for its initial public offering.
Brian Kelly saw the announcement as a trading opportunity, saying, "I think you can actually short the Nasdaq off of this news … I do think you're going to start to see Nasdaq lose a couple more listings." CNBC's Kayla Tausche also broke news that the microblogging site is eyeing Nov. 15 for a potential IPO date.
Wednesday brought Day 16 of the shutdown, but it also brought a bipartisan agreement to reopen the government and temporarily raise the debt ceiling.
With a deal on the table and a fresh surge in stocks, the traders tackled the key question of what to expect next. Stuart Frankel's Steve Grasso said that stocks aren't out of gas, suggested buying any pullbacks and "err on the side of higher markets." Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management agreed, saying, "This is the last tackle, we've broken it ... think about the market finishing strong, and how you can do the best in the next two-and-a-half months."
(Read more: Err on the side of market gains: Steve Grasso)
Larry McDonald, Newedge senior director, stopped by to weigh in on the Treasury trade, recommending that investors shift some of their asset allocations into bonds. "I think you have decent risk/reward because bonds have a good chance at 5 to 7 percent in the fourth quarter," he said.
(Read more: Move into bonds for fourth quarter: Larry McDonald)
Earnings took the spotlight Thursday as the government shutdown finally came to an end.
Disappointing reports from IBM and Goldman Sachs weighed on the , and also brought up questions about what to expect from the rest of earnings season. But OptionMonster's Jon Najarian said that the drop in IBM was a prime opportunity. "I would buy when there's blood in the streets," he said.
(Read more: Don't sell Google on earnings pop: Karen Finerman)
Despite a down Dow, the S&P 500 index managed to hit fresh all-time highs. Google followed suit in Thursday's after-hours session, soaring to record levels after beating on both the top and bottom lines for the third quarter.
RBC Capital's Mark Mahaney phoned in to discuss Google's big quarter, and specifically growth in markets outside the United States. "They've really set themselves up well for that international recovery. There's a lot of good to come for Google over the next 12 months," he said.
(Watch video: Google set up well for international recovery: Mark Mahaney)
Mahaney also gave his other top picks in the Internet sector, saying "We still like Amazon, we still like Priceline, Netflix and Facebook ... all of these companies seem to be executing really well now." Each of those highfliers reports earnings in the coming weeks. Whether or not they can maintain their monster momentum remains to be seen.
Catch all the action on "Fast Money," weekdays at 5 p.m. EDT, only on CNBC.
—By CNBC's Michael Newberg. Follow him on Twitter: @MikeNewberg.