afford health insurance. by the way, dr. benjamin, talking in the oval office described the demographics are very interesting, because you have got whites, blacks and asians in this community, a lot of lay observedens and cambodians that move this and part of the shrimping town, a diverse but very poor rural community. like so many other communities, doctors an hospitals are hard to come by. she could have left the state to make more money as a specialist or a doctor in a wealth a community, regina benjamin returned to alabama and opened a small clinic bayou la battery. people couldn't pay, she didn't charge them. when the clinic wasn't making money, she didn't take a salary for herself. when hurricane georges destroyed the clinic 1998, she made house

calls to all of her patients while it was rebuilt. when hurricane katrina destroy it had again and left most of her up to homeless, she mortgaged her house and maced out her credit cards to rebuild that clinic for a second time. she tended to those who had been wounded in the storm and when folks needed medicine she he asked the pharmacist to send the bill her way. when regina's clinic was about to open a third time and a fire burned it to the ground before it could serve the first patient, well, you can guess what dr. benjamin did. with help from her community, she is rebuilding it again. one disabled patient brought her an envelope with $20 inside. another elderly man said simply, maybe i can help. i got a hammer. for nearly two decades, dr. regina benjamin has seen in a very personal way what is broken about our health care systems. she has seen an increasing number of patients who have had health insurance their entire

lives suddenly lose it because they lost their jobs or because it has simply become too expensive. she has been a relentless promoter of prevention and wellness programs, having treated too many costly and diseases and complications that didn't have to happen. she has witnessed the shortage of primary care physicians in the rural and underserved areas were she works. for all she has seen and all the tremendous obstacles, benjamin represent what is is best about health care in america, doctors and nurses who give and care and sacrifice for the sake of their patients, those would do anything to heal fellow citizens, floods and fires and severe want, regina benjamin refused to give up. her patients refused to give up. we were talking in the oval office, she said the one thing i want to do is make sure that this surgeon general's office gives voice to patients, that patients have a seat at the table.

somebody's advocating for them and speaking for them. we in washington across america have refused to give up on the goal of health care affordable and accessible for every last one of us. we don't have to deal with hurricanes, don't have to deal with floods and don't have to deal with fires. all we have to do is pass a bill to make sure the american people have a decent shot at getting the kind of choice and high-quality health care that supports. i know that dr. benjamin is going to help us get there as the next surgeon general. and i am truly honored to nominate her for that post and secretary sebelius is equally excited, even though she is just standing there. with that, let me introduce the next surgeon general of the united states, dr. regina benjamin. >> all right. we will follow those comments for you and a little bit later on "power lunch," welcome to "power lunch," by the way, we will be talking about the president's very ambitious agenda as we head into the latter part of the summer and find out what he can get

accomplished before fall, if anything at all. welcome. stocks are surging right now in this volatile trading sessions, financials the best performers at the moment, s & p financials up 4% today, all of this as we face the most important earnings season in quite some time and kick nothing high gear this week, michelle. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. bill is off this week with. auction traders positioning themselves ahead of this parade of results, goldman, intel, j & j, the list goes on and on. >> i'll brian schactman, forget about wall street bonuses for a second, a megadeal for an "american idol," making ryan seacrest the new king of reality tv show hosts. the numbers, pretty amazing, the impact straight ahead on "power lunch." but also what else is on the menu? i'm jane wells in los angeles, most banks have stopped cashing ious, we are minutes away from an interview with the california state treasurer. i'm jim goldman in the

silicon valley bureau. the net book sector will double shipments to 33 million units, one of the key reasons we are seeing a huge he is school lathe lation if the war between microsoft and google with both companies trying to seize the market in two decidedly different ways. more details coming up. i'm john harwood in washington, president obama moments ago said health care reform will happen, time line under pressure, i got off the phone with a house leadership aide, says the democratic bill will be unveiled not to today as planned but tomorrow, insist they are going to pass this bille by the august recess but becoming a real long shot in the senate. get to the markets, mary thompson kick it is off at the new york stock exchange. all concerns about cit, a strong day? it is, financials are passion the decline, despite the weak tons cit. lender to small and medium-sized businesses basically asking for help from the government now and also reportedly hired a lawyer to explore bankruptcy, but again financials are the story today, strength across-the-board on a

couple of reasons, first of all, a number of them will be reporting their earnings in the week ahead. goldman kicks it off tomorrow. analyst meredith whitney raising goldman to a buy from mute tral that helped give a lift to its stock and making positive comments on cnbc about bank of america which she says looks cheap now. it thank is giving a lift to the financials a number cough components among the financials moving higher, jpmorgan as well as bank of america. also there is one other thing at play here, a technical bounce for the s & p 500 off 875, supported there, pushed through resistance at 890. that, too is giving a boost to the markets, right now. back to you. >> mary, i will pick things up from there i want to start out with the overall technology sector, seeing things higher but some chatter in the sector has griffin up shares, 4.6% to the upside. the chatter was saying essentially that amazon could be making a bid for netflix. i spoke with web bush's michael pacter and said no chance in hell a deal would get done a

direct quote because amazon doesn't want to have physical points of sale, they have been shedding physical points of sale because with those physical points of sale, it has to pay state taxes, this is something, the supreme court established years ago it is the reason he says underlies the fact that the deal won't get done. amazon shares up 4%, intel, also in the green. over to sharon epperson for more on oil. >> equities are higher, the dollar is weaker. oil prices below $60 a barrel. they are being let lower by gasoline and by diesel or heating oil there is a flood of fuel on the market. keep in mind as we look at these numbers, the fact that gasoline

supplies are adequate, demand below where it was eight weeks ago. oil unable to hold around the $60 level, we could see prices headed to 50 in the next few days. back to you. >> scott cohn right now, detail on this breaking news, scott working it and got more for us. scott? >> james davis, the chief financial officer of stanford financial, in a plea agreement we first reported here on cnbc july 1st now confirmed in federal court before a magistrate, in at least procedurally, he has entered a plea of not guilty will be free on $500,000 bond so they can alert victims who want to speak at his plea proceeding that is what happened in the madoff situation. madoff would plead guilty, then did he so. aim same thing here, the key witness in what the government says is an $8 billion ponzi

scheme scheme and sets up a dynamic so often in these cases, chief financial officer testifying against the chief executive officer alan stanford, pleaded not guilty, behind bars pending his trial. we will see james davis out here shortly and have more as we get t back to you. >> thanks, scotty. earnings season under way what can we expect as the real question? joining us is jj burns, president of jj burns and company. good to see you at a decent hour. not a salacious comment. used to seeing him at "worldwide exchange" hours. people are buying today on financials, you are not necessarily a buyer here? >> i think when it comes to financials, you are right on the spot i think finance as will do well, i think the leakage of goldman sachs will be stellar. any type of financial firm involved in the capital markets will likely have a really, really good quarter n addition, those doing loan restructurings or financials, but we just don't see new fruit on the tree.

what we see is redoes. >> you say all the green shoots have been hit by a weed whacker say it ain't so. is that why you have 60% exposure in high yields and agencies and things like that? >> yeah, again, sue, our business is refined to producing a lot of income for our baby boomer client, preservation of their assets is a key component to going forward with that that said, it doesn't mean we don't like stock, we like the very megaconglomerate global large cap companies. you know, sue, you remember way back when, this reminds me a lot of when the inventory processes came out, viagra announced with pfizer, then looking for the second quarter, had how are things going to go? thosed orrers to viagra never amounted to a lot. that is where we are at. >> cit, dow triple digits, suspect that a good sign? >> it is cit and crisis? >> they are on the verge of

bankruptcy but a triple digit gain for the dow, be this sure we can do that in the face of a financial company? six months ago what would that have meant? >> i think without question, michelle, that having some level of stablization, perhaps we have turned the corner but we have done it with a rickety wagon. not say thaefrging is all good and ready to put my clients back into stocks when i'm getting such great yields and preservation of capital and more bonds and stocks which as you know, michelle, a lot of high yield bonds have direct core legs to equity components. >> sure. sure. all right, thanks, jj. >> pleasure. straight ahead, california is in crisis, the state's budget deficit closing in on $30 billion. no deal in sight what impact will that have on the nation's economy? a first with the state's treasurer. the president says his stimulus package is doing its job. his top economic adviser says the worst isn't over, more jobs will be lost. is the stimulus really working?

then the option faction ahead of the first week of earnings seasons. what does it tell us about what the markets are expecting? melissa and the gang coming up, 12:45 eastern, the "halftime report." thththththththththththth

the dow is up 118points. take a look at the leading members to of the dow, mostly financials, bank of america higher by 7%. american express, jpmorgan up 4%. ge, parent company of this network, big financial component as well, higher by roughly 6%. across le board. financials are leading wait today. california is being hammered by the deep recession and rising unemployment. the state's budget deficit at a staggering $26 billion and the clock is ticking, the golden state enters another week without an agreement on how to balance its budg. w jane wells jns us with the w latest to on thisstory.w >> they are meeting today inw sacrento, a quick update, mostw banks are not cashi theious but citibank is and l.a. national bank, caed $40 w million in iouhanded doubt small andid siz clients contractors for the state. i asked russ goldsmith at city national resell the ious to the

secondary market? >> there is no reason to do that and there are some complexities and challenges as to whether the statwill honor them if being sold. are not into this to w speculate on ious from the stat of california. the risk of default remains low. joining us now is the treasurer of the state of california, bill lockyer, i'm sure would second that motion. treasurer, are you with us? >> yes. hello. >> at what point is it a month from now or september, does the risk of default on the ioust, not the general obligation bonds but ious become something other than low? >> always money coming in, there just suspect enough to cover all of the promises that the sacramento politicians have made but there is enough to cover the high priorities, which include debt service is a very high priority. >> treasurer, there is a state commission that is trying to come one recommendations to reform our sort of whacky tax

code. it may come out with a recommendation to create a flat tax or a flatter tax in california, which could raise taxes on working class californians but not so dependent on the 150,000 wealthy californians, do you support a flat tax here? >> i haven't seen yet any analytics that suggest how the various taxes, cuts or increases proposed. for example, they suggest abolishing the corporate income tax but instead having a vat tax on goods and services. we haven't seen how that distributes yet and whether it is fair or not. i think it is best to veer of judgment until the analysis is complete. >> sue? >> seems to me we are well into

this crisis and you don't have the analytics to help you make a decisionmaking process as the best way to overcome it? >> no this is a long-term proposal to completely restructure the california tax system, a very different problem than the immediate cash flow problem that we have. our bullet, like 29 other states, has been late. it's terrible it has gone so long and they need to hurry up and get it done. that's our immediate problem cash flow to pay the summer bills. the budget fights go on every year, taxes is one component of that but only one component. >> there are automobile inform analysts we have talked to is a ho say, you know, the general obligation bonds could be attractive longer term, but many of them are saying wait for the next downgrade, that they are anticipating a significant downgrade once again. do you agree with that? do you see that on the horizon, given the state that the state

is in? >> we don't know. if the rating had to do more with the integrity of the debt and whether it is good credit, virtually no risk of default, that would justify a higher rating. if iton the on theics. >> saying the rating agencies are not looking at the appropriate the metric of your state? >> i this thank you is generally true with municipal debt they he overvalued a corporate derivatives and other things that got in a lot of trouble have underrated municipal debt in terms of the risk of default for a number of years. >> mr. lock year, brian schactman what do you need to get the cash flow up? what is going on here?

tax receipts aren't going to get higher any time soon. >> for us and state governments, we borrow in the summer and early fall, short-term borrowing in order to pay the bills in anticipation of the big revenue month around december and april. >> what did if they don't pan out the way you project? >> if they don't pan out, they will have to make additional round of cuts early in the year. >> treasurer lockyer there are two untouchables that work against each other, prop 13 which limit property tax growth and prop 98, minimum spending on education. do you support suspending either one of those? >> well, we have a problem, i don't, but we have a problem with initiative legislating, where people decide to spend money, cut taxes by initiative

ballot procedures without sufficient understanding of what the consequences may be. hopefully, there will be a reform of that process is someday. meanwhile, both are deeply embedded in california culture and i don't anticipate any change. >> treasurer bill lockyer, thank you so much for joining us today. michelle. >> thanks, jane, good interview. financial analyst meredith whitney says it is due for another spike, larry summers believes the worst is yet to come but mr. obama, president obama saying stimulus is working we just need to be patient. who is right? who is wrong? a power grid debate. speaking of battles, microsoft ramping up its battle with google, of course, we will take you to the next front on the fight, check out for the moment shares of both companies, google dipped under 400 less than a week ago. mook crow soft, of course, can't seem to get toward 42 strong. "power lunch" will be right back.

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low double digits to low mid double digits. >> talking 13, 14. i think 3% unemployment. >> that is influential bank analyst meredith whitney predicting the unemployment rate that will hit 13% before the worst is over. she is not the only one saying the economy is going to get worse. what does it mean for president obama's stimulus plan? is it not working? joining us now for the power grid debate, democratic strategist chris and republican strategist terry. you know he how this works. you both get 20 seconds to make your case. terry, you say it is not working. why not? >> the money isn't going out in ways that people see it there was short-term tax relief but also the so-called shovel-ready projects. theeg respect getting up to speed. of the $29 billion spent so far as of late june, most of it had again out in medicaid pages some to obscure thing called the stabilization fund. [ buzzing ] >> chris, 20 seconds to say why

it is working. >> an economy in free fall, losing about -- on average, 700,000 jobs, now declined to about 450,000 mark zahndy said unemployment would be 2% higher, wasn't for the stimulus n terms of the state aid, other elms of the stimulus, i think it has helped make a pretty bad situation worse. in terms of turning things around, we have rooms to go. [ buzzing ] >> critical about the medicaid payments, regardless of the kind of jobs, regardless where the money has gone, you can say maybe the money is used for state governments to balance and keep workers in jobs is that not job preservation in some form or fashion? >> the american people are going to judge this president and this economy based on whether or not they can create jobs. as long as this economy isn't creating jobs, the political weight will get heavier on this situation every month.

>> chris, president obama was talking about this over the weekend, had an op ed piece, obviously trying to make the case they are still working to on this when he was in a radio program over the weekend. weekly radio newscast, delivered 45 billion in tax relief to american working families and businesses. do you see that in effect coming through the economy at all? >> i think it is starting to bleed down, i think the problem here is how bad this economy was and how bad it got in terms of how many jobs we were losing, the stimulus where it has been successful is stemming the bleeding, definitely helped in terms of safe jobs, states in a far more perilous position if they had to lay off police officers, teachers, social workers, et cetera. >> not what we are doing, chris. that is not where this money is going, most hasn't gone out yet and -- >> that is not true, it has gone to state aid. >> the places where the money is supposedly going to be spent on

shovel-ready projects are going twice as frequently to places that supported barack obama than they did to john mccain, so politics has also taken to over this so-called stimulus money. >> you know, i think that is kind of a rid lick douse argument, the notion it has again to certain states that gave order bama. >> certain projects and districts where barack obama had some political gifts to give back. so politics that have taken over the stimulus bill shouldn't surprise anybody and it would have been better if we had written everybody a check. that would have been far more stimulative than all that's gone to government spending. >> states that needed help, look at states like michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, those are obviously democratic states. >> should the people of indiana be paying for the state government of california? i think that is a crucial question? >> our next debate. i like that. >> chris and terry, we are going to have that next debate about one state should subsidize

another. good power grid debate. >> political side, obama cares about more how it looks a year from now going into elections not necessarily right now. talk more about this market because it is a blockbuster week for earnings and the options action is fast and furious. how are the options traders playing the upcoming earnings season? stick around to find out. >> minutes away from the fast money "halftime report," talk about options actions. melissa what are you watching? >> one of the reasons behind the gains, goldman sachs and meredith whitney, second upgrade in as many trading sessions with all the the amount mitch pile nothing goldman sachs, now the time to sell the stock if we will ask our fast crew. also options action on net ap, tell you which way the option is betting on that name. on the "halftime report." first, more "power lunch" ri after this.

"power lunch," a triple digit rally under way at this hour. here's what's happening, senate hearings under way to the supreme court nominations of

sonia sotomayor only took 19 minutes for "wise latina" to come up. shares of cit plunging, down 20% as the lenders scramble to put together a survive strategy. as you judge says the notion delay the ubs tax case has been beganed. over to brian and sue in this cool new -- >> look at. this. >> stand here since "squawk box." >> i go away for two days there is a new set. wow. >> there is a reason. earnings season. kicking up with a vengeance this week, the stakes, they are always high but even higher for the markets, people looking for any indicationthe economy is recovering, someone take a weed whacker to green shoots a few minutes ago. cnbc, of course, has you covered from he have angle at earnings central, which talk about the financials, goldman sachs reporting tomorrow, you should know that probably haven't been under a rock, jpmorgan thursday, citigroup and bank of americon friday. >> all right. then now techs this week, intel reporting after the close tomorrow, thursday hear from ibm and google. so, there is a all right on our

plight, earnings season shifting into full gear this week with marquee names like we mentioned, goldman, j & j, google, all set to post their results what about the optionsarket? what is it foreshadowinin companies?xpectations r this ing us is the chief derivative strategist at sink or swim andn analyst atharles schwab. go to see you as always. >> hi, sue. >> randy, i will start with you, if i could, although you don't necessarily have specific strategies would you put in place, your client base is telling you that they are pretty much on the bullish side of things from the latest survey that you took s that a correct read? >> we do the live customer events, educational events on a frequent basis, the last survey is the month of may, when we compare the results to the survey that we did in february we find itch cease in bullishness among our customers that makes sense. you look at what the market did in mid to late march, april,

cash back into the market. right now, come into this earnings season, i'm reading the tea leaves in the options markets a bit, i see a solid increase in financials and technology, as you mentioned, high profile financial and technology companies coming out this week see what sets the pace. >> bring in joe and talk about goldman sachs specifically, talk about what the options action is on the stock. in some ways, it seems poised the news of a sell on type reaction. pricing, look at the options, a 9% mov one way or the other based on whas happing there, one interestinthing about goldman, it seems, as you ioned coming energ the enthusiasm been gettg greater and greater and greater for it now it seems to they are at the point they have to hit a home run for us it to go up. >> possibly please t streets? i mean they are on the front page "the new york tes" for

goodness ses. going to be difficult, too. put it that way, tt being said, people want to buy goldman it is a great company, but i think one of the things people might want to lack at is rather than just going out and buying the stock at this lofty level of almost 150 now, earlier this morning, we saw the august 125 puts trading at $3, now because of the rally at 2.25, but that is a better way if you are going to get into the stocks, sale put below rather than te stock up here, give youelf some wile ro f they do miss on the earnings, could see a 10% retracings. >> outside financials, focusing so much, maybe people are looking for a nugget elsewhere don't want nobody a crowded trade. what has your attention? >> one of the sectors i mentioned a moment ago is tech noll, don't see quite as much excitement about technology and looking at the option activity it is interesting, in the financials, i see a lot of movement in both directions there is definitely an expectationses that the financials will move sharply but

unclear, based on the activity which direction they are going to go. with technology, seems to be more of a bullish sentiment, into the move but more to the bullish side. >> talking like sort of the growth segment or thinking like an ibm, which joe has an opinion on as well? how do you separate out? you can't lump sum tech together as one big family anymore. >> more on the side of the big bellwethers, where most of the activity that i'm talking about i have seen. certainly small companies the potential for surprise. right now, i'm looking at the activity on some of the big bellwether stocks, the most part there looks to be activity that looks like people are expecting a potential outperformance. again with he know the expectations have been set but looks as though the par has been sufficiently low, some of the traders thought are taking position there is are some surprises. >> you agree with that, joe what ecific trades would you recommend in the optionsark th's put put on ahead of the key earngs? >> one of the things iould like t re-force a litt bit at randy said, people often hedgesing the s & p related

inde we have seen rectly a much heavier put activ in the s & p inxes than call activity, which is actually really bullish if you look nquarterly expiration, nontrie witching expirations, go back the last six years,65% of the time, many more pu than calls we lly, expiration week. this san expiration week. i think one of th traps people have to be careful abo isot getting caught o ptions. ibm is pricing in a 5 move. the options may look cheap, they are cheap because they areot expecting muchf a move. >> further out? >> people have to avoithat trap i would not recommend going out and trading july options, august instead when you have time to work four. >> expiration, very high data, going to lose enormous am of time value throughout the week and when the earnings come out, volatility drops like a rock you want to take the positions looking at theugust contract >> cheap for ran, look at august, not july. gentlemen, thank you very much.

>> thanks. >> appreciate it. >> good to see you again. coming up on street signs 2 p.m. eastern time with erin burnett getting all the attention with goldman. find out what you need to know ahead of the numbers. >> sue, up next on "power lunch," didn't think microsoft was going to take the software challenge from google lying down, did you? jim goldman will tell us how steve balmer and company are ramping up the software smack down. in a few minutes, why goldman is golden again. telling you about goldman sachs, comes out tomorrow. buzz about a blowout number, we just talked about whether or not they are in a no-win situation, talk about that when we come back. dow up 117 points.

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microsoft is turning up the heat on going well a bold move. cnbc's bureau chief jim goldman joins with us more. jim? >> good afternoon to you. microsoft unveils bing, its search engine. and google unveils chrome, it was a shot against microsoft, a year away. microsoft fires back with gazelle. unlike google's chrome, gazelle could be a far more immediate threat to google. the gazelle browser from motorcycle crow soft was detailed in a company white

paper two weeks ago for engineers. browser as operating system is how the software was characterize that sounds familiar, exactly what google announced last week, trying to move software to a service with everything stored online as opposed to living on your personal computer. both companies trying to take advantage of stunning growth in the net books sector, those stripped down, inextensive net-connected laptops. this morning, display search news says the net book sector will double in size to 33 million units this year, accounting for 20% of global laptop sales as traditional notebook sales will be flat. analysts say microsoft might have a better shot at dominating the is sector even as windows 7 gets ready for its release in a couple of weeks because it already has the struck truck in place to support a new os release for both enterprise and consumer customers. google coming at this pretty much cold. none the less, an interesting battle to follow. michelle -- >> providing plenty of fodder, thanks, jim. >> chain store sales on the

slump, how is the high end holding up? >> apparently pretty well. not that i would know. unless you are talking high end big wheels. talk luxury consumer spending with someone in the know. first on cnbc, the ceo of lieu which vuitton. >> up next, the "halftime report," melissa and the gang with what the traders are making of this weak's earnings barrage, right after this.

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welcome to the fast money "halftime report." stocks a rally at the heart of the earning season, companies can on dock threat week. the real driver, financials, goldman sachs a big upgrade ahead of its report tomorrow. get to the word on the street now. our fast money crew today, river point research and others. kick it off with you. the financials are on fire today. they are doing pretty well on friday as well. if i were an investor out there and unsure about financials, it was going to be a noisy quarter, which it is going to be, this would be my cue to sell as a contrarian, what is your take? >> let's welcome to the new set, mid july and new setup. >> shake it up here. >> i have been fighting a lonely

unilateral battle against cliches but i will unroll one which hasn't been used before. >> go for it. >> even though there is a huge amount of concern out there where the financials are going and how they are going to do this is a rally based on the anxiety about what's happening, not necessarily rally based on strong fundamental conviction. everyone has been talking about meredith witny's call. that in and of itself is not things are great, it is like the tallest midget at goldman. >> do you sell or hold onto the tallest midget with a gain of 5% right now? >> i think --th there are traders trading well, i think if you are a fundamental investor, these are really difficult stocks to get into it is very difficult to know exactly what is going on. >> dr. j, what so you day about goldman sachs, we had the upgrade saying trading revenue does exceed the record revenues in 2007. today, whitney saying it is going to benefit from the debt i shall wang, governments out there. is this your cue to perhaps buy

some protection? >> thank you, zeke, as well as melissa, we have seen from call activity already tay implying this could be another 5 or 10% in the afterhours tonight. if you have afterhours access, i would take advantage of it. >> so, strong call activity on goldman sachs. mike that is a good sign for the markets if you are a believer that the biggest segment will lead us higher. how do you position yoursf at this p seeing the positive actity in the goldman sachs? >> the first thing i would say referring to goldman sachs as the taest miet, i don't know if they are a midget, talking about them, people forecasting pretty extraordinary trading revenue there not sure i would refer to them as a midget. any case, i don't know they e necessarily good bellwether for the whole sectore did see

llish tivity in the the xlf today, near ded to upside. 2001 bought 00,000 of the july 12th calls. with the bet like that climbing the wall of worry that is is a bullisbet that really wants to be hedged. i think a lot of the people making bullish bets are doing it with an eye toward what if i'm wrong, i'm going to protect myself. >> move on to the next position, entell, earnings out tomorrow after the bell. dr. j, how are you setting up for this one? >> i like it a lot because i think intel has the big industry conference in san francisco going on today for the next two days. i think that will be strong. i think the deal with google that and so forth could be another driver. i don't see any reason to believe that guy adammy's support at that 15 line we bounced along isn't going to continue to hold i would use weakness as a buying opportunity

into this microsoft os 7 a monster. every other sector but technology increased short interest, this one i think is a pop. >> intel not going to kill you but i don't think it will reward if you you have a more beta higher-moving market. entirely true the key to the economy is doing well, segments of the economy that they serve into are not the same as are being eviscerated by unemployment. i used eadvice rated again. i think in fact that is true why think as a stock this is where you're going to get a lot of pop. >> move on, oil, $60 a day. not participating on the rally. you have been dead on in terms of forecasting oil. what is the next stop here? >> on the charts down to $56 or $55 without too much trouble, we have had a steep selloff the past eight or nine sessions down

10% or more. you know, only natural right now that we see some sort of a correction, stabilization or stabilization in the market place and a pause to see exactly what's going on. i will say it's interesting that crude continues to fall despite the boy apt s&p. >> also we keep touching on this proposal of living in the futures activities. is this weighing on the market at this point? barrons said this might be reasonable because speculators are at work. >> speculators make money in an up market and down market. to your question, i don't think this is something weighing on the markets yet. traders are looking and saying it will take a long time for new edge slagz to be put into place and in the meantime the rules have not changed. there is a free playing field for everyone to keep going. unless there real specifics, i don't think it will impact the

market. >> are you buying the equities and we have that higher even with crude trading lower. >> there a couple of crude names we agree with and i don't want to fade this guy. we can test 55 to 56, i won't be an aggressive buyer until we do that. >> cco phillips isa name you have been potive on and they are more exposed for the compression margins because of the natural gas side of things and are you construct identify this name? >> i am. i am taking a look at the multiples lative to some of the larr tegrated oil. it's the fouh largest and the caveat is that it historically ades at a dcount and we take long exposure and i will probably do it when it's trading five times actual the 2010 earnings and more expensive. >> we are moving on to the trade with "options action"s.

tech and financial. let's start off with network appliance. >> a lot of strong activity and seems that they have lost the battle for data domain. there is a lot of speculation in july and august calls. i like it. i am in full disclosure. >> bearish activity on interactive brokers. >> you have to wonder, they had a lot of activity in all the months. not just the front months, but august and further out down the curve. somebody is looking for it to correct further and that's not a good sign. >> didn't the ceo come out with negative comments about what new regulation might do. >> you are right, michael. he did and that's one of the reason people are looking for protection today because like adson, if they change the rules it impacts their margin. >> let's move on for fast and furious. heading into the close today,

jnj, the consumer reports tomorrow morning might you buy or ll? >> i wouldean on the bullish side and upsid call buyers and downside sellers and they had to lay out premiums to do that. they like it. >> the stock is reporting after the bell today. do you bet on this? >> we might be a lot more bullish or less so and i have a slightly bullish outlook. >> oil is below $60 a barrel and adson, what is the best play for oil? >> i don't hear my clients think they want to get long oil and too short. being flat and cautious is the way to go. >> buy intel. the world's largest chip makers is out tomorrow. >> deja vu all over again. if you are feeling defensive buy bonds. look for things that have more of a pump than intel. >> we will take a break, but on

tonight's fast money, an earnings press with tech and financial giving you the strategy ahead of the numbers. to first on cnbc interview,a i man with his hand on the pulse of the luxury market. be back in a minute. >> a stormy earnings season ahead and some trays won't make it back. our riders on the storm sele you where to seek shelter until the clouds clear. google is great according to this analyst. we'll will map out in search for our own trade. these stocks pack a wal up. american toast market shows tonight. p. american toast maet shows tonigh p. american asmarket shows tonight. lp. americatoast market shows tonight. op. american toast market shows tonight.

time if the the "power lunch" trade to go. you have a trade in honor of

bastille day, french independence day. >> should you nod in that direction. one of the largest global water infrastructure plays with a disappointing quarter that sold their assets and that's a good sign of where they are going to head in the future with places like india focusing on infrastructure and china. they are everywhere, all the time. >> we have to wait to get my personal view on that. we are sitting on the sidelines. >> good point. what do you say? >> i have to watch how oil closes. this is the low so far and the weakness will be too much for people to stand in front of. >> are you ag gnostic? >> no, but i am looking for the

market to trade up into the close. >> zeke? >> it's a tough day. >> your complete earnings playbook tonight at 5:00 on fast, but first on "power lunch," morgan stanley has a new mvp and you won't believe how young he s. >> i wouldn't believe. >> we will bring you that and coming up on "power lunch," not only the triple-digit rally and the ceo of louis vuitton. president obama's economic agenda. is it stalling and how do we get it back on track? see you at the top of the hour. stocks in three weeks. positive comments on cnbc by meredith whitney. ford is bankrupt to the auto

supplier, vift yon. they are calling the plan too rich. moody's had troubled financial company cit group saying the possibility of default and the ownership change has decreased. i'm julia boorsten. welcome to the secretary hour of "power lunch." a triple-digit rally for the dow and with financials and caterpillar, they are posting strong gains. >> i'm michelle cabrera. sonia sotomayor is on the house seat and we will look at what her in addition to the high court could mean for business. >> i'm bill sh and it's not my line, it's his. don't bet against us in his push for health care.

he still considers key to reviving the economy and there signs the economic agenda may be stalling. we will have the view from d.c. >> breaking news about bernie madoff. he is on the move. the man sentenced to 150 years prison for theargest ponzi scheme in history left the center and on his way to an undisclosed prison where he will lilypend the rt of his life. madoff's attorney requested otisville in upstate new york, but it will not be known where he is sentenced. >> julia boorsten is working a story from los angeles. >> dst digital is a russian firm that invested $200 million in facebook, giving it a 2% stake in the company and they are beginning the offer to buy shares for about $14.50 per share. this is moving forward with a plan they invested $200 million,

but they were interested in spending another $100 million to buy shares from facebook employees. this will relieve pressure because they may have a significant stake and will be worth something and relieves pressure to go public. this allows them to cash out. this was detailed in the relationship that they established in may and they are moving forward with that plan. back over to you. >> interesting story we will be following and the story at the market is fascinating given the fact that you have a number of key components reporting. sharon epperson joins us to talk about i nymex, but mary thompson starts us out with more on the triple-digit advance. >> 121-point gain and a light volume day at 478 million shares having changed her.

the big week for earnings and 31 numbers of the a and p reporting results am one stock that reports is goldman sacks. the reason for this is raising stock to a buy. the shares are very close to the levels they were at in september before the financial crisis trading at about $4 or below where they were. they were expected to report below and analysts are looking for $348 a share. >> a tale of two companies to small and medium businesses to seek ways to avoid bankruptcy. secretary geithner had the authority to s sift with the situation today. the dow jones up 123 points and all of this with weaker energy prices. we go to sharon epperson at the nymex. >> oil prices are below $80 a barrel, but off of the lows by about $1 or so. we are key whether they are

close to the $2 level which was the low of the day. we have seen the sharp rise and drop in prices by about 10% or so. at the same time the commitments of traders before telling us that long positions have been liquidated over that period of time and we have seen more selling. we are looking at the positions down about 60% in the past week or so. we look at where prices have been in the last month and seen from that $73 high, that was a bubble a lot of folks are saying. we are not able to hold at the $60 level. look for what some say prices should go as low as $80 a barrel. >> the federal judge in miami agreeing to postpone the hearings to allow more time for a possible settlement. usb,the u.s. government and the swiss requested a delay. the irs wants the names of

52,000 americans accused of hiding in secret ubs accounts. whether this is on the news or general financial sentiment, tough to tell. >> also in the financial sector, they are waiting for goldman sacks to release earnings tomorrow. a banking analyst meredith whitney upgrading ahead of the firm's results. here's what she had to say earlier. >> i upgraded goldman. >> the first buy rating you ever had on a bank. >> it's a bearish call, but bullish in the stock. >> let's bring in steve eater. his banking kor respondent. good to see you. >> it seems that goldman sacks is darned if it does and darned if it doesn't. analysts are expecting them to make $2 billion in profit which we think would be a good thing. at the same time do they risk

from congress when all the people figure out they are making a ton of money. >> that's a good question. it's an interesting period here where they look to be bucking the trends and going ahead of everybody else in terms of earnings. at the same time it is. it's a good question. will they try to manage things that don't look too good and draw the attention. >> how are they making so much money so quickly. >> if you take a look at the financials, you will see that they are trading and the profits will be handsome as well as the other businesses and they have seen better underwriting. remember it's not quite as good as a year ago. >> doesn't that speak to the pedigree? whether you are talking about the fact that perhaps they have the best traders and the minds on the street, if you do business, you go with the guy with the golden touch, no pun intended. >> absolutely.

the analyst that i'm speaking to are saying these are the best. they are known for being the best and that's what people want to put in their money and deals. it continues that way and at the same time you also wonder about where thingings as are headed we rest of the market. >> they wonder it's basically tripled and how much do you see in the numbers? is this a quarter that they can sustain this top line growth? >> it's possible. a lot depends on the economy and level of risk they will take. >> the economy sputter and they have not. you read about the high frequency trade and people don't understand what that is and how to leverage a profit out of it. can you get into the detail on that? >> sure. is is a company that will tell you they are best at managing risk when others don't. maybe others will follow what

goldman has done, but they could be doing that to their own peril. >> they politically in trouble here if they have this great number when you know if the government hundred stepped in when it di in the fall, we wouldn't have a bank left standing. >> that's something that is a very difficult public relations battle that goldman sacks must fight. they are known for the contributions and known for being tied into government. >> government is the joke. >> exactly. that's a publicelations issue and you are see together more with articles and people want to talk. >> difficult to say. they are a bit of a different breed right now. >> for they get punished regardless of how they do with the bar so high for them, does it in turn drag the rest of the sector down?

>> earnings that don't live up to what people are hoping for would be a difficult day. it will be a difficult day for the banking sector and would pose a lot of concerns going forward. >> thank you, steve. >> thank you so much. >> on the downside i think it will be interesting to see. what you said earlier is the bar is so high, you can come in with stellar earnings and be punished in washington and punished on the news. >> the "options action" was interesting because it's bullish and seems poised to sell on the news. them sharing the profits with their employees is fine. already been there, done that. >> and they would argue they didn't want to take the money. >> absolutely take the money. >> they were forced to take the money. none the less, they took the money. >> we are not talking about

goldman sacks for no reason. the reason is because they have the first on cnbc interview with the ceo of louis vuitton north america. these are not our bags. >> the perfect value that you fingerprint are on it? >> i hope not. it's out of my budget. good luck with that. you just bought temperature. >> that's why i can. >> the supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor is before the nominee. they are in recess right now. as we head out, best buy is on the move, up greated to perform at oppenheimer. see you on the other side. not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

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tiffany on the upside as is coach and sacks getting a little bit of a hit. they had trouble in managing invento inventory, et cetera and we will talk more about high end retail and luxury. louse vuitton, one of the largest and most successful in the world and first on cnbc, it's brand-new and consumer spending and recessionary assignments and many more things. louis vuitton's north american ceo. welcome to "power lunch." nice to have you here, sir. lovely to see these beautiful

examples of what the company manufactures. we were talking about the fact that you make everything you produce and sell it only through the stores. that's a significant change from everybody else in your space. >> that's what makes louis vuitton very unique. since 1854 when the company started we basically controlled all aspects of our business. we only sell through our stores and we produce everything we sell and also never go on sale. there is never a great time to buy or a bad time to buy. you know that it will never go on sale so that gives you control. once you are ready to buy a product, it's something that will look great today, in five year, in 10 and 15 years. often people pass them to generations and i think it speaks to the value.

>> we are speebiaking high end people view them as an investment. >> what are is the state of a luxury consumer. they were dismal. what about the luxury end? >> i think it's tough to comment on the luxury market. i think you have some brands that do okay and some are not. it's a mixed bag. regarding us, we are lucky enough to have been resilient in this climate because of the values. the heritage of the brand going back to 1854 and being extremely consistent and more importantly, the craftsmanship we have in each product is bar none. >> is that because your clientele even if they lost money from super wealthy to just wealthy? by the same token, if things slow down and you can't

discount, what do do you and what are the internal conversations you have to try to spur? >> we are an extremely consistent brand in terms of values and we have a very, very long-term vision. >> what if people stop buying? >> we stick to the things that made us successful since 1854 where we are a strong, strong believer in creativity and we are constantly innovating our product in shoes and ready to wear and accessories. for us what's very, very important is the trade of touch and our director said that's what we are obsessed about. >> we are aware of what sacks fifth avenue has been through, struggling so much. some people accused sacks of ever tarnishing the luxury buyer

because they got used to deep discounts. do you share in that sentiment and think there has been an imprint? >> that's a good question and consumers have been confused by some of the discounting approaches. again, i can speak since we have stores within sacks since we control the stores as well. we have been consistent on our business model which is no discount. customers have been reassured that if you are going to buy something today -- >> it won't be cheaper tomorrow. unlike the stock market. >> it will look great 15 to 20 years from today. >> tell us about the ad campaign that features icons and it's a beautiful ad. >> what were the inspirations behind it and what's the message? >> thanks for that question.

since mark jake obvious enjoying the brand 11 or 12 years ago, we have been strong in communicating the fashion as pecks and if you go back to the roots, we are essentially a travel company and the spirit of travel was our founding value. what we decided a couple of years ago was to go back to that message and the dna of our brand and manifested to the physical side of travel and trips and journeys, but in terms of iconic people who had rich journeys and voyages in their lives. they are not seen in campaigns or a little bit surprising. >> i love that one. >> the copeulas and shawn connery. now fabulous with buzz aldren and sally ride. this is a big one. timing is perfect because of the

40th landing of the moon is on july 20th. we are having an event with buzz and jim. that's at the museum of natural history. i think it's unexpect and goes back to the roots. >> we are glad to hear something is holding its value. that's hard to find. thank you very much. >> even if we don't own any. >> we can aspire to it. >> i think that for a guy. >> president obama was riding high in the polls, but the economic agenda may be selling a little bit in congress. we are talking health care and energy and what it means for your mone. >> the 15-year-old wiz kid to

see the least wrote a media research report for morgan stanley and fund managers are begging for copies because it's the key to where the business is going. >> as we head out, shares are higher and the company added by the conviction buy left. higher by 4%. mr. evs? this is janice from star. i have received an automaticignal you'veeen in a front-end crashdo you need help? yeah. i'll contact ergency services and stay with you. you ok? yeah onstar. stdard for one year on 14 che models.

>> insurers and financials on the move and they have been the outperformers. met life 5.5% on the trading session. a number to key financials also moving higher. cap one is good enough for 4.75%.

all contributing to a significant gain in the s&p. let's go to rebecca at the nasdaq and what's moving in her markets. >> absolutely. tech is tracking the overall markets higher and novella shares to th upside. after "the closing bell," meantime san disk staying with that, up 5%. the store's chip maker on deck and intel on deck to report tomorrow, they are up 2.7%. we will hear from the dupe late or this week and we are hearing microsoft, google and the operating system battle that continues to heat up and the shares are up 2.2%. is president obama's economic agenda stalling?

washington correspondent is at the white house with more on the crisis with the president. >> she going right to work on his domestic agenda and the message for those who have seen the media reports. the message is don't believe it. >> i want to put everybody on notice. there was a lot of chatter during the week i was gone. we are going to get this done. in action is not an option. for those naysayers and cynics who think that this is not going to happen, don't get against us. we are going to make this happen. because the american people desperately need it. >> they have multiple questions on health care and they press both chambers to pass a bill and the senate will have difficulty or have more time to negotiate. on cap and trade, does he side

track that portion of the bill and press without it or keep trying to get that through the senate? finally, what do you do about the calls for the second stimulus because unemployment is 9.5% and rising. the democrats want it, but the president is concerned about the size of the deficit and the backdrop for all of this is the president's poll numbers are coming down a little bit that gives him less cloud than when he left on the trip to europe. has he lost the ability to get stuff done? >> he has not lost it, but the president is more of a political mortal like the rest of us. he has been soaring. his poll numbers have been high and a number of huge successes and it's only a matter of time before the honeymoon wears off. the question for the white house is how do you get these huge sweeping agenda items done in a

realistic washington. already you are seeing people like the democratic senator from missouri on cap and trade that she wants america to be a leader and not a sucker in the world. if he doesn't get it done, is it true he won't get it done and he sounded like bush for a second. it was odd to me. >> the conviction runs deep in the obama white house that this first year is when they have to get things done because once the calender turns and the record of past presidents, clinton, reagan and others affirms that judgment. that is not an absolute judgment. they believe they can get a bill out of the house by august. it's not impossible, but it's tough. what they are concerned about is

the longer this drags on, it's difficult to pop things in sequence. they hope it will have turned around by then. they think he need the sequence rapidly. >> how do the members go back and sell these various plans, many of which will require tax increases at mostly against the wealthy americans. >> the president's weakness that is opening up and how much it will cost. there is a sense that the american people are getting sticker shock from the obama agenda and when they talk about passing the items, there is a huge price tag associated with a lot of it and you are starting to see the poll numbers and even as unemployment hits, one of the

big criticisms of o bam is that he promised that this unemployment was not going to hit. suddenly we are seeing it there, what happened to the deficit. they just said the house proposal last week for a tax on the wealthy is a non-starter in the senate. even if that passes the house, don't expect it to come out of the final package. >> good discussion, see you later. >> he is aemocrat on "squauk box" this morning and said obama needs to be a magician. >> some of the tax increases will be on wealthy americans, i heard the phrase tax fatigue. >> if the energy bill goes up

because of cap and trade, it's a tax on everybody. >> it will be interesting to see how it plays out. we arecoming up on e half hour and head to e flooro take the pulse of the market. >> we have a new idol. ryan seacrest and y will not believe the deal he jusgned to contie hosting amecan i toll. he has whitehair. >>e wor like a dog. radio a this and that. withhahe is getting paid, he better. we would work that hard if we got paid that much, i'm sure. as we head out, here are the retailers. we were talking about luxury retailers and here are the others racking up gains in today's trading seg. urban outfitters, bed, bath and beyond. today there's a way save more for retirement,

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welcome become to "power lunch". here are the other stories we are following. the confirmation hearings for sonia soto mayor and the senate is now in recess and she is expected to make comments later. shares of intel joining ahead of

the chip maker's earnings due out tomorrow and moody's cutting ratings further into junk territory on concerns for liq d liquidity and ability to survive. despite that story, six months ago with the market reeling, we have a triple dimmingit rally. for more let's go to the floor of the new york stock exchange. isn't that impressive that in the face of the rally, they have this? >> it's incredible. has anyone questioned the fact that she was a catalyst? >> you are talking about the upgrade in goadman sacks. you are suspicious and there was another bear out there and called me a experience theorist and i wopd for they weren't whispering in people's ears. it's a whole run. >> the street had a buy rating and the fact that she has been

such a bear. she got this right. >> she maintains. we give her credit. it's amongst a macrocell. what we have to focus in on is tomorrow. the earnings rise is based on the trading. i want to see what they have to say on the global economy versus on straight trade. >> i worry about the following. what do you think congress will say? >> the i hate wall street and i think that puts president obama and gone are the ways they make the money they once made. that makes him wrong and presidents don't like to be wrong. >> instead of imbracing the fact that part of it is fixed, congress will complain and be angry and once again, you will have focus on the financial

sector. >> a day late and a trillion dollars short. i hope it's not the case. >> let's enjoy the rally while we can. shall we in. >> we should put a smile on our face and hope it lasts for the rest of the week. the problem is this. we trade back up to 900 and get into the back page versus the front page, people will worry it will slip back down. >> last time we saw 6% movement to the plus side, i'm happy. >> you might be biased, but i hear you. >> just a tad. just teasing. >> have a good day. >> on air editor is back from las vegas. i don't want to know. >> you do know that i reported the stories from the locker room from the bellageio where i was

taking a sauna. this is first reported in deal breaker. the towel boy threw me out and it was a very interesting scene to say the least. >> the ubs story, you broke it friday. they will come up with a deal here? >> there is two things. per are i cannot concentr when you are dng this. >> i'm sorry. >>hey wand handle all the names for t purposes. they haven't decid to hand it over and there is a threat and the government can shut them down while that is going on and they are trying to pick ahead of the broker's department. one of the top positions and it's unclear given that and this

is what i hear is happening. bob mccan is a smart guy. former head of the brokerage department andas the inside tracof that job. i find very difficult to think he will be reportg and will probably be running i and he wl be eased out and ybe buyers. he was also ing intrude. she did try to s found tt out andhatuts her behind becausofhe issues that went on with that negotiation. if you ask me right now, it's mccan. >> what's the story with goldman sacks? >> that main story, they traded at a high and check me on this,

$250 a share this october of 2007. falling during the height of the financial collapse after lehman brothers bankruptcy. goldman sacks was toast for a lot of reasons. even if you include that, they help those covered by aig insurance and they were still been and starting to pull lines of credit and they have a bailout and what's interesting about this is we talk about fixing the system. they are embracing more risk as a bank. they are not a hedge fund or equity firm or the old goldman sacks. they are doing it as a

commercial bank with the access to the fed window that lowers the st. >> and puts theaxpaye at risk >>his is an extremely scary situation. this is the question i have. they run aroundnd the are alwayscreaming aboutthe agreed on wallstreet and wan to raiseeverybody's taxes. the most plugged in firm in the rld toovern. pow are they getting away with this? they haven't returned my phone call yet. with those guy, i'm not holding my breath. >> i wouldn't either. thank you. glad you are back from vegas. >> in one piece. >> baktly. peeking of one piece. >> one thing we don't have is a slide show at the bellageio.

>> why would you do a job for nothing? you can say i have been working for charity for months. that's the hot story on the website and you have a featured look at what's going o. there is a downside to that as well. if everybo was working for free, nobody is going to hire. of this is $5 steak. times are tough and you don't spend money and you stop buying the steak and there is meat supply and they start lowering the prices and good for me. i love steak. finally the hottest story right now is you were talking about it. it's meredith on the network. we wrapped up her comments so people can check them out. she is good about the banks in the short-term. you have to listen to it all. it is a long-term versus

short-term call. >> sonia sotomayor befor the juciary. a lot more m be expect from washinon and why invests d businesses a watching th process closely. >> eck out the nasdaq movers that are climbing and falling today. maybe not. we will have them for you after the break. we neeto send an expert. a walkg, talking... expert. know-. a guru.

where to? first stop.. peru. vincenwu to katmandu. what's next? timbuktu. so, timbuktu, katman, peru, and 212. all by half st 2:0 not a problem. [ fema announcer ] need an exrt? push a button. that's the human . learn more at cisco.com/newwa. phew! right now, 1.5 llion people are on a conference call.

750,000 wish they weren't. - ( phones chirping ) - construction workers are making 244,000 nextelirect connect calls. 1 million people are responng to email. - 151 acdentally hit "replall." - ( foghn blows ) th's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network bringing you t first wireless 4g twork. sprint. the now netw - ( whooshou ) deaf, hard of hearing and ople with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. confirmation hearings under

way and soniasotomayor will be ç answering questis. anxious hear her views on issues with concerns for the business community. joining us now is our columnist at "the washington post" and the supreme court reporter for "the washington post". nice of to you join us. one of you is with the "wall street journal," i misspoke. you are with the "wall street journal". >> last i checked. >> good to know and i'm sure that will continue. what can business expect if she is put on the supreme court? a lot of the supreme court dockets depending on how you define a business case ends up being of interest to business. >> one thing business can expect is those that are concerned with the business concerns. before she joined the bench, she was a corporate litigator and she dealt with copyright, trademark and contract. she has the perspective of

someone who is a trapractitione. this is important to wall street and important to big companies that have offices located there. they are getting someone who is experienced with these types of questions. >> didn't a lot of her decisions get overturned at that level? >> they did. somebody threw out the number this morning that as many as 80% of the decisions that the judge participated in got overturned by the supreme court. that is simplistic. if you want more detail, it's more nuance than they think she is wrong all the time. >> if i'm a corporation, do i embrace her and is she good for me or not? >> if i'm a corporation in america, she would not have been my first pick, but i don't think there is reason for tremendous here here. she authored 150 decisions with

business rammive situations and tar 'tis pated in several hundred more. when the law was not clear or she can exercise more judgment appropriately, there is no question she leans left. she not an extremist here. >> does that necessarily mean we rely on what has been in the past and can we prosdwleakt in the future. we have seen justices change dramatically or were not what was expected. >> you have to look at which area. some have little idea and one is punitive damages. they have been leaning towards the damages on a constitutional basis and the justices have not

fit into the tradition al left and right. if there is ambiguity in the statute, she should be replacing and probably inclined to gift plaintiff alleging discrimination the benefit of the doubt. >> we have the case recently and what about the stance on labor? a lot of issues. >> most are a straight reading of the law and not controversial. in the new haven case you are talking about, probably the most controversial case of note. that was controversial. if you don't like that decision

basically, you need to go back to lawmakers, not judges. the lawmakers say fix the civil rights laws. they had to take a second look at that once they got the results that were so lopsided seemings against minorities. thank you both. we appreciate it. >>ifferentob it'ot the hardest b in the world and you are in that performance. ry seacrest is staggering payday to do his job. what he is going to make to keep hosting "american idol." >> look at the dow jones. 141 points and a gain of 1.75%. edq is 87. seyou on the other side. ♪ look at this n ♪ so blesd with inspiration ♪

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"american idol" host ryany is kreaft signing a brand-new

$45 million contract, the richest ever deal for a reality host and triple his previous salary of $5 million a season. if he is the luckiest host ever, would that make brian dunkleman the dumbest in television? he was the season one cohost until he decided in a career move to ditch the show to pursue a career in stand up comedy and acting. we haven't heard from him since. his boss just listed his mansion for $12.8 million. dolly has the credential that is out on long island. brad and angelina are spending the summer there. is he worth it? >> it's all relative in this situation. the $45 million might be eye of

popping, but if you look at the amount of money, it is a global brand. this is something that turned off hundreds of millions in profits for the producers of the show and everyone involved with idol. it's not that amazing when you very the context. >> you don't think it raises the bar for other hoves or anyone in that particular area of the television and media business because idol is a spectacular success it stands alone? >> it does stand alone because it's television's top-rated show. the host of other shows like dancing with the stars and survivor will look at this and raise eyebrows, but the key is to look at what simon cowellens up making. he is very public about saying he doesn't necessarily need to come back. some of the british press said he is demanding $100 million to come back. i don't know if we will get to

that number. if seacrest is making $45 for three years, look for simon to make much more than that. >> is it the kind of thing in pro sports, it's like a pay back and is this for all of these people like a bonus like seinfeld or latent friends? >> you can see it that way. they are becoming much more expensive because you have to keep the people on the show who the audience expects. it provides exclusivity for him to be on a show that is produced by the producers whether it's idol or whether it's something else. even if "american idol" tanks and nobody watches it, they have him for two more seasons to put how many something else. >> got it. good to see you. of course it's crucial that the business model is "american idol". >> they make money from all of them. >> i wondered whether it raises

the bar or not for the rest of the industry. $12 million for the home on long island? that seems cheap for that neck of the woods. prices have come down, not that that's cheap, if you for that area. >> moving on to somebody who can't buy a home. i don't know if he can drive. 15 years old and published more than i have, but a research note by morgan stanley intern, the hottest in the london financial world. >> we are watching for a triple-digit rally on financials leadg the way higher and we are back in a moment.

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