fair, straight-forward pricing. that's what td ameritrade stands for. think about it. why pay investing fees you shouldn't have to? or account fees that aren't clear? like inactivity fees? or maintenance fees? it's not right. and you know it. and the thing is, the other investment firms know it. but they do it anyway. and that's just not fair or straight-forward. td ameritrade. independence is the spirit that drives america's most successful investors.

okay. welcome back to the floor of the new york stock exchange for today's closing countdown. looks like we're going to go out off the highs of the day but nonetheless a strong rally today. the dow right now up 92 points or so. dr. doom, nouriel roubini, speaks and the market definitely moves higher. he says the worst looks to be over in terms of the u.s. economy. that sets up big things after the bell today.. tech led the way again today. seven straight up sessions for technology. google and ibm after the bell today there's only one place to get that number and analysis, and that's right here on "the closing bell" with maria, which is going to continue tomorrow. a huge day. bank of america, citi, and ge. the bell's going to ring, and then maria's going to pick you

up. and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to "the closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. busy day on wall street today. gains across the board for the most part. stocks rallying here. let's tell what you we're following at the close today.y. comments today by long-time bear nouriel roubini from nyu. he says "the worst is behind us." this from dr. doom? the recession will end this year, he said. he's known for predicting the weakness and the upset in the markets and has been nicknamed dr. doom. it turned the market around today. as a result the dow jones industrial average and the s&p 500 stretching their winning streak four. nasdaq hitting seven straight wins. up next any moment we are going to see what may very well set the tone for tomorrow's trading session.

earnings from ibm and google for the quarter. the numbers, you will have them the moment we do. we'll give you analysis as well as check the stock and tell you how investors are reacting right out of the gate. dow jones industrial average tonight up 94 points. 1.25% higher. off the best levels of the afternoon but still above that 8700 mark on the dow. s&p 500 up eight points. volume on the light side. 1.1 billion shares. but still, the nasdaq held on to gains tonight.t. up better than 1%. 22 points higher, now at 1885 on nasdaq. we get all the action right now, bob pisani our eye on the floor of the nyse. bob? >> a sideways day, quiet until the middle of the day and then -- >> 5.37 on go6 on google, bob. 50 5.09 the estimate. >> more google in a minute.

sideways most of the day. jpmorgan, some of the other big tech names. but look at what happened at 1:20 eastern time. that's when nouriel roubini came out with some comments. the headline is pretty simple. he came out and said that the worst is behind us in terms of economic and financial conditions. and believe it or not, that was the important thing for what happened here. the dow rallied almost 100 points on that news here. industrials and techs rallied.. what's going on here? have you noticed, folks?s? the markets jump whenever you hear a little sign of good news and doesn't really go down that much on bad news. that's a very important sign. and that's why the bulls are feeling increasingly more confident at this point. the s&p 500 up 7% this week. when was the last time that happened? i'll tell you, it was the march bottom. that's get people a little excited here. when i say no move on bad news, take a look at cit. you know the story. the government basically walked away from them. $2.3 billion into the company and said no more money. you would think the market would be rallied by that. but the market largely yawned..

how about financials? of course we got the big news on jpmorgan. they beat. but there was lots of concerns on credit issues in the morning about credit cards, about commercial real estate. but guess what. look at these numbers. they barely moved to the down side despite those concerns. doesn't drop despite issues still out there. the big industrials names had a great day. big names like ups, the transports m h. transports had a great time. caterpillar, 3m. google intraday, google popped $10 in the last half hour in expectations. came down a little bit. >> tell you what, bob, we've got the revenue out at $3.07 billion on google. and the estimate was a revenue estimate of 4.06 billion. we're looking at about a billion dollars short on revenue, but let me not misspeak and get to jim goldman.n. he's got all the details behind the numbers. jim, what do you see? >> maria, that is the story here. as much as we normally will focus on earnings per share on almost every company that we

follow, and google beat and beat handily, the story for this company this quarter around was everybody was watching the top line because it's a good barometer as far as ad sales are concerned as to how this company as well as a broader indication of how the economy is doing. and ad sales were widely watched and very important to this company's report, and to come up almost -- well, over -- almost a billion dollars short is going to take a lot of people by surprise and not in a good way. and it almost completely eclipses that non-gaap eps you were talking about at 5.36. because that $3.07 billion compares to the 4.05 billion as far as revenue excluding those track acquisition costs are concerned. if you go a little deeper into the earnings release the news is fairly good. non-gaap operating income of $2.1 billion. that's essentially in line with the $2.1 billion. the google site revenues, this is the sites the company operates. 3.65 billion. again, in line witit3.62 on

the street. the network revenues, a little better. 1.68 billion against a $1.59 billion. paid click growth another key metric to model this company's success. up 15% during the quarter, compared to 13%. and that 13% is what citigroup's mark mahaney was looking for. so beating his xpgsz. the cash last quarter was 17.8 billion. that has increased to 19. -- okay.. i'm now haerk in my ears 4.07. $4.07 billion now i'm being told is what google's revenue is excluding tac. that is in line with expectations. so basically, just forget about everything we were talking about earlier because it's clearly an addition error here at the company. but nonetheless, google is reporting $4.07 billion in revenue, excluding tac, which again, now is actually a little ahead of the 4. 05.

we'll see that stock turn around here because this company is doing fairly well here as far as these metrics are concerned. we'll get to the bottom of these numbers a little bit more clearly, maria.a. i apologize for that error. we'll see -- >> what about the revenue? >> the revenue is $4.07 billion exclude the traffic acquisition cost. that compares to 4.05 billion, which is what the street was anticipating. >> all right, jim. thanks very much. that's a horse of a different color, isn't it, david gary? david garrity is gba research principal, and we're talking about google and ibm here. google with a revenue number of $4.07 billion on earnings of 5.36, that looks like a good number. >> it is a good number. as we went through the course of the second quarter you saw that search query volumes were growing very strongly but the main question was how well was pricing on keywords holding up. we've seen a 14% decline year over year. in the first quarter we don't have the numbers yet in terms of the details but it certainly looks promising with respect to the second quarter. what's more important to look at going forward is we start to see

signs from advertising agencies that search ad budgets for the second half of the year are going to be opening up. and what the company was able to do on the bottom line in terms of margin improvement, 5.36 versus the expectations, shows that they're actually doing a very good job of converting. >> the most important question here for some investors is what do you do with the stock? we're talking about a stock that's come all the way down from 750, close to $800 a share. would you put your money to work in google today in this advertising environment because of these numbers? >> from the standpoint that you're going to be seeing nice leverage to the up side if you get keyword pricing improvement in the back half of the year, it's obviously a good stock to own. they're going to have nice up side leverage coming for google. we think $500 between now and the end of the year. >> now, the stock here is at 437 and change. and it closed in new york at 442. so you actually are still seeing a negative reaction. even though on the face of it these numbers are better than expected. >> before the conference call you're going to have a two-step with the stock -- >> it's going to be a noisy situation. let's switch gears to ibm.

we'll get to jim in a minute. the estimate was 2 -- we got earnings of 2.32 a share. revenue estimate 23.59 in revenue. $23.5 billion. got the actual revenue of $2.25 billion. very close. >> what's going to be important for ibm is what the numbers are in terms of long-term contract signings. the street's looking for stability in their services business to support the stock. a number of about $12 billion or better. one thing about ibm and going back to what they said before the close is that ibm right now is at its lowest discount relative to the s&p 500 in the last ten years. when it's gotten to more than a 20% discount you usually have 25% outperformance by ibm versus the market over the next six months. ibm's set up to be a leader in terms of a tech rally in the back half of the year. >> i want to ask you about putting money to work. but let me get to jim goldman. he's got more details. jim. >> we'll be a lot more solid on

ibm shares in ibm's report than we just were on google. again, apologies to that company and the company's shareholders for the addition error. but nonetheless, ibm's numbers are absolutely blockbuster. that $2.32 that you're reporting there as far as eps versus the 2.02 that the company anticipated as far as wall street is concerned, that is a 30% beat, and that is the biggest beat eps-wise, in the company's history. this is really just a stunning report on basically an in-line number as far as revenue is concerned.d. global technology services 9.1 billion against the $8.89 billion some on the street were anticipating. global business services a little lighter than expects, 4.3 versus the 4.45 billion. but look at this gross profit margin. 45.5%. the street was at 44.2%. and really raising this full-year guidance here. we are seeing ibm shares off to the races. $9.20 was what the company reiterated just last quarter, raising it to $9.70.0.

the company also closed 17 services deals on the quarter over $100 million.n. if there was some concern that the i.t. and enterprise spending was continuing to slow down, well heroi well, here's one company that is certainly not feeling it. and if there was one company that's certainly not feeling and is important, it would be ibm. this is very good news. >> looking at ibm trade higher, are you going to be putting new money to work in ibm? do you want to own this stock after these numbers? >> i think ibm's looking very strong and certainly has the leverage as well as their hardware business comes back.. but going back to what we were talking about earlier, we think that google's also very well set up. there is one ris wk google which is you're starting to see display advertising become less expensive than search advertising, more effectively targeted. there's instances of retailers like skechers doing campaigns with companies like interclick where they're getting a very high return on ad spend. you may not see a complete rebound in search ad spend in the second half because of

greater competition from display. but we'll get better information on that when we get yahoo next week. >> and display business they bought doubleclick for that.. but they're still wait informing really derive significant revenue from that part of the business. 95% of the business coming from search. >> google's built on one thing, spaech obviously it will expand over time but it just hasn't happened yet. >> david, great to have you on the program on such an important night for earnings. we appreciate your insights. coming up, we'll see how the numbers could impact tomorrow's trading session. setting the tone. we should tell you that ibm obviously a dow component, google an important member of the nasdaq and s&p 500. this may very well set the tone for tomorrow. later on getting to the root of the financial crisis. i'll be talking with the head of a new commission charged with solving that very issue. he's former california treasurer phil angelides. he has some thoughts on california's crisis as well. he'll be my special guest this hour. back on "closing bell." come here. yeah, good boy.

here's your treat. ♪ ( neighing, whimper ) ♪ show off. ( neighs ) ♪

welcome back. we want to recap these numbers on google. the stock is now at 429.65. the company reported earnings of $5.36 a share for the second quarter. the revenue coming in at $4.07 billion for the quarter. and that is actually fraction liu better than tly better than the 4.06 billion analysts were looking for. 509 was the estimate and the company reported earnings per share of 5.36.6. nevertheless the stock is trading down in the extended hours on the report. we will look and try to get more analysis as far as why the stock is trading down despite the fact the numbers do look good. ibm just breaking and the ibm shares are actually rallying here in the extended hours. the company reported earnings of $2.32 a share versus an estimate of $2.02 a share p and the revenue coming in at 23.25 billion versus an estimate of 23.5 billion. ibm shares up about 5% here.

stocks extending their winning streak to four straight days on the dow industrials. can they make it five in a row? how should you be positioned?? we're joined right now by hugh whal whalen, managing director and portfolio manager of the hartford allocation fund. ron insana cnbc contributor and the street.com's market movers portfolio manager. ron, let me kick this off with you. tell me what you think is behind this most recent rally. a lot of people talking about short covering. but it can't be short covering forever. it feeds on itself after a while, particularly when you're getting some good evidence of earnings turning a corner here. >> yeah, maria, you're getting evidence of earnings coming in, far better than expected in most cases. google notwithstanding. you're also getting economic numbers that are less worse, increasingly less worse if you will over time. interest rates are tame. oil prices are better behaved. you've got a bull market in force. the question is have we gone too far too fast from an oversold condition just a week ago to an arguably overbought condition today? >> hugh, how do you see it? >> i would agree with ron's comment, and i would say we're a lot closer to overbought.

principally because really what has rallied most severely are typically what does rally in kind of a pro-growth cyclical recovery in the market.. and we just think that's a misplaced view of the future. we see slow growth going forward. so no question we'll come out of the recession but the real question for investors is how quick will earnings growth be as we come out of that? we see fairly slow growth because of the amount of restructuring that still needs to go on in the economy. >> how do you want to be positioned, hugh? how are you investing in this environment? >> two things. one thing is surprisingly there are sectors, for example, in consumer discretionary we like which would sound counterintuitive, but the sectors we like are sectors that would benefit from consumers switching demand from things like high-end retailers, expensive restaurants, those e kinds of things, to online education, home entertainment, discount retailers. you just have to be very careful with stock selection in that

sector. >> and ron? >> i would take a slightly y different view, maria. as you already know, i'm very heavily tilted toward early cycle interest-sensitive stocks, the banks, the home uilders, and others. and i think that over the long run that's still the best play to make. although i've broadened the portfolio out to include some tech and some retailing recently.. what i would also add is i'm only concerned about the market in the short run. i mean, we've really had a phenomenal five-day period or four-day period. and i think we're entering into a period, august, september, october, which seasonally can be a little bit dangerous and you can take protective action of some kind. but i think the economy's going to prove better than expected for a while, even though i'm still in the double dip camp and the think the stock market's still in a bull phase even though it can correct at any time. >> what do you want to be avoiding in an environment where you could have a correction around the corner? we've got real momentum on the up side and we know there's a ton of cash on the sidelines, but we're getting to a point where there's not a lot of room for error. >> agreed. i think particularly technology is one sector you have to be

very careful, particularly in the large cap area.. that sector has run very hard. i think there are pockets like in the semiconductor area that you can still find attractive investment. but in tech really we see more opportunities in the mid-cap p area than we do in the large cap area. >> all right, gentlemen, great conversation as always. we appreciate it. and we'll talk with you soon. hugh whelan, ron insana. meanwhile, former treasury secretary hank paulson on the hill today under attack. we'll have more on the hearing and mr. paulson's defense of his response to the financial crisis. stay with us.

you have questions. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that's why we brought together two of the most powerful names in the industry. introducing morgan stanley smith barney. here to rethink wealth management. here to answer... your questions. morgan stanley smith barney. a new wealth management firm with over 130 years of experience.

welcome back. we want to recap google here. the stock is at 429 and change. the company reported earnings of $5.36 a share versus an estimate of 5.09 on revenue they're coming out with $4.07 billion in revenue versus an estimate of just about 4.06 billion. looked better than expected on a per share and revenue number here for the second quarter out of google. the company is going to look at revenue up 4.5% here for the second quarter. as you can see there, we'll wait for more headlines. the stock is under fractional selling pressure in the extended hours. ibm, on the other hand, is actually trading higher tonight. the company also reported better

than expected numbers, much better, as did google. 2.32 a share on second quarter for ibm is the number as far as earnings on ibm. and the stock is up better than 5%. the estimate was 202. the company reports 2.32 on revenue of 23.25 billion versus 23.5 billion. slightly light on the revenue there for ibm. as you can see, the number on earnings per share basis much better than expected. bipartisan beating of former treasury secretary hank paulson on capitol hill. mary thompson is here with the latest. i was watching it, mary and certainly he was on the defensive. >> that's right. he was taking the charges from both sides of the aisle about his actions last year, actions that paulson called abhorrent given his belief in the capital market system here in the u.s. but he said the consequences would have been much worse if those actions weren't taken.n. >> our responses were not perfect. but i am confident that they

were substantially correct and that they saved this nation from great peril. >> paulson said preventing great financial upheaval at the time required that bank of america complete its deal to buy merrill lynch even as merrill's losses were mounting. paulson also acknowledged he told bank of america ceo ken lewis as his regulator the fed could fire him if bank of america backed out of the deal. >> i was attempting to send a very strong message to ken lewis in terms of how strongly the fed and treasury viewed this matter. >> but it wasn't just this deal paulson took heat for. with his former employer goldman sachs reporting billions in profits and having received billions in bailout funds as a counterparty to the insurer aig, lawmakers wanted to know if paulson as treasury secretary favored wall street over main street. >> is some of this money their

money? >> mr. cummings -- >> i just want to be able to answer them when i go home tonight. >> two things. first of all, i want you to know that i had no role whatsoever in any of the fed's decisions regarding payments to any of aig's creditors or counterparties. the people that are paying the price had nothing to do with the problem. >> paulson said it was the big banks and regulators who were behind the problem, a problem that needs to be solved through regulatory reform. maria, back to you. >> all right. thanks very much, mary. and a new panel is now responsible for examining the cause of the financial crisis.. just ahead, we'll take an inside look at what's being planned with the head of the panel, former california treasurer phil angelides, in the job, with us next. undefeated professional boxer floyd "money" mayweather

has the fastest hands boxing has ever seen. so i've come to this ring to see who's faster... on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can browse the web faster, email business plans faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than floyd mayweather. (announcer) switch to the nation's fastest 3g network and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free. with annuities from fidelity. turn your savings into income -- guaranteed, and get a retirement "paycheck" for life -- guaranteed. call... to get started, and learn how to secure retirement income that won't go down -- guaranteed.

call fidelity at... for details about guaranteed income for life, and change the way you think about your retirement savings.

. in addition to very

important earnings news coming out of the tech sector, home builder sentiment spiked in the month of july. the national association of home builders, housing market index coming in at a reading of 17. that's better than what analysts were looking for. and it is the highest since september. the move coming because of improving sales for new single-family homes. the housing market still has a long way to go, though. readings below 50 indicates more builders have a negative view on market conditions. meanwhile, foreclosure rates keep climbing. data from realtytrack indicates foreclosures jumped 4.5% in june. foreign demand for long-term u.s. treasuries fell by the largest amount in four months in the month of may. the treasury department said foreign investors sold almost 20 billion more in treasuries than they purchased. that's a big jump from -- a big drop, rather, from the 11 1/2 billion in net purchases for the month of april. as congressional committees

continue to drill down into specific moments of the financial crisis, a new commission will soon begin to put the entire puzzle together. from causes to shortcomings and solutions. joining us in a cnbc exclusive right now is phil angelides, chairman of the newly formed d financial crisis inquiry commission. he's also the former treasurer for the state of california. mr. angelides, good to have you on the program.m. welcome back. >> it's good to be back with h you, maria. >> well, we've heard very little about the financial crisis inquiry commission. who called for the commission to be established? who's on it? tell me what you're looking to achieve. >> sure. earlier this year congress passed and the president signed legislation to create a ten-member, bipartisan financial crisis inquiry commission to pursue a mission of great national importance, which is to dig in and find the facts about what brought down our financial system. so there are ten members, six appointed by the democratic leadership of congress, four by the republican leadership. people who have experience in

financial and business and government regulation.n. and our job is like the 9/11 commission, to seek the truth and to get to the root causes of what caused this financial meltdown. so hopefully it will not happen again in the foreseeable future. >> and how will you get this information? are you planning to subpoena information, people, hearings?s? how will you get the info? >> well, we have been given very broad powers by congress and by the law signed by the president. we have the ability to subpoena witnesses. we have the ability to refer matters for criminal prosecution. we will have a ample budget so we have the resources to conduct a thorough inquiry in the best interests of the american people. i mean, this is a very important task because as you know millions of americans have lost their homes. people have lost their life savings. hard-earned pensions have been wiped out. and our economy has been shattered by this freefall in our financial system. and as the pakorah commission

did in the 1930s, looking at the 1929 crash, and as the 9/11 commission-d we are going to undertake a bipartisan panel examination in a non-partisan way, and we will leave no stone unturned. so we will have staff resources. we will hold public hearings. we will use subpoena power if that is necessary. >> so what does your gut tell you? we know some things about how we got there. the risk taken on by some of the investment bankers. the lax business practices in terms of some of the lenders, non-bank lenders. and of course individuals who took on perhaps some mortgages that they couldn't afford. and then of course there's congress who said, look, let's open up the housing market, everybody should have access to a home, right? >> well, look, all of us who are citizens of this country have some notions, having read the paper and watched this collapse of our financial system, about what happened. but i come into this with my

fellow commissioners with no preconceptions. we have a very strong panel. bill thomas, former head of the ways and means committee in congress is the vice chair. brooksly bourne, who is head of the commodities trading commission, who did try to regulate overt-counter credit default swaps, is on this commission. we have a lot of expertise on this commission. and i think what we're going to do is come at this for example, we're going to pursue the truth, and we've been asked to look at a range of what happened here, fraud and abuse in the marketplace, lending and securitization practices that got out of hand, regulatory mechanisms that failed. we're also, maria, charged very specifically with looking at why the major financial institutions that failed, why did they fail.. and also we're being asked to look at those institutions that would have collapsed but more massive federal intervention. and as you know, we're a trillion dollars plus in in terms of taxpayer money and trying to right the ship.

so finding the truth so that these kind of problems can be avoided in the future is elemental. and there's been some, you know, worry that we might not -- this might become partisan. but this is not going to be a witch hunt. my view is there's no partisanship to the fact that millions of people have gotten affected by this and if we just pursue the truth and the facts we'll do a great service for the people of this country. >> mr. angelides, let me ask you this. as treasurer of california from 1999 to 2007, did you see any problems brewing in the financial sector at the state level? >> well, i mean, two things. first of all, i know because you were kind enough to have me on your show many times, as treasurer at our pension funds i was very active in pushing the s.e.c. to be more active in regulation and pushing back against excess executive compensation. if you're talking about the state of california, yes, i saw tremendous problems brewing.

i consistently opposed the deficit spending, 7 to 8 billion dollars a year that was happening even during the boom. and the state's excessive borrowing. so look, i'm not one of those guys who's always right, but i saw a financial system nationally that was out of control, and i saw a state government that was borrowing and spending well beyond its means, even when times were good. >> yeah, you certainly did. and you talked about that a number of times on the program. so as a microcosm to what we're seeing on a national level, do you believe that's what we're doing right now as a country? >> well, let me just say, again, i'm not going to prejudge, but i will say that what we saw in california, for example, the state, there was excessive borrowing. and you knew that the minute the market turned down the state would be in deep trouble. and clearly, we saw a tremendous excessive leverage all throughout our economy. but i really want to, in deference to the charge we've been given by congress, really want to come at this fresh, hear the brightest minds, the voices

of ordinary people, dig into the facts, subpoena if we must, find the truth. and in talking to my fellow commissioners like the vice chair, bill thomas, i think we've agreed that if we pursue the truth we will do a great service to the american people and the american economy. you know, in the wake of the 1929 crash the dow jones industrials did not exceed its october 29 peak until 1954.. people were shaken. they had no faith in the public markets. we can't let that happen again. but it will only be rectified if we really expose the truth, know the truth, don't cover it over, don't sweep it under the rug. >> so as far as the financial reform on the table right now, do you see that as somewhat of a solution here? i mean, i know you don't have the answers yet, you've got a lot of due diligence to get to in terms of knowing what happened here. but you've got new reform on the table. the industry is going to change, no doubt about it, in terms of

the regulatory powers overseeing the industry. >> well, two things. first of all, our report is due in december of 2010. but all along the way we'll be holding public hearings. we'll be finding facts. and as we know things, we'll make those available to the public and to the policy makers so they can factor those into their reform efforts. i'm not going to sit here and advise the president and congress just to hold up. i do believe they ought to be examining and moving forward on reform. but i hope that once we have produced our report and the facts are on the table we will produce a guidebook, if you will, for the regulators because as you know, maria, there was an s.e.c. there were regulatory agencies. the structure may be important. but what's equally important is to know what the heck happened, why it happened, so we can hopefully avoid it again.. so i believe our work will be very, very important in fashioning reform. but as importantly-n guiding the regulators for years to come.

>> for sure. mr. angelides, very quickly, the last question, the state of california issuing ious. what is the -- you know, the bet here that they won't be able to pay and make good on those ious? what do you think? >> well, i just want to say, this is a tragedy.y. it's the eighth largest economy in the world, a very wealthy society, gross state product of $1.5 trillion. this should not be happening. this is a political failure, not an economic failure.e. i have every hope and belief that my state can pick itself up, honor those ious, and begin the real work of rebuilding the state of cole cal's government. >> we'll leave it there. philip angelides, thank you for being on the program. >> it's great to be with you. >> good luck with your upcoming endeavor. we know the financial inquiry commission is going to be valuable. up next, the ceo of insurance broker willis group will be my special guest.t. he gives us his take on the current business environment. and we'll talk about his

company's 15-year lease of the sears tower in chicago. the new name, willis tower. we'll be right back. could someone toss me

an eleven sixteenths wrench over here? here you go. eleven sixteenths... (announcer) from designing some of the world's cleanest and most fuel-efficient jet engines... to building more wind turbines than anyone in the country... the people of ge are working together... creating innovation today for america's tomorrow. thanks! no problem!

one of the best employers for healthy lifestyle. thanks to not just intramural sports but programs that help workers stop smoking, manage weight, and even classes on preand post-natal help. though monica azar, a senior vp, says during the game the focus is on healthy competition. >> i thought i'd play because i enjoy the game and the sport. but the guys play to win. >> monica's a good player, too. i'm not going to say anything bad about anybody. access to favorite courses

chef's meal with pommes frites perhaps a night at the theater with extra special seats additional hotel night, our treat you world in perfect harmony: priceless look for world on your mastercard to get rewards and offers that matter to you.

welcome back. it is an icon of the chicago skyline and the country. the tallest building in the united states. but don't call it the sears tower anymore. it is now the willis tower. named after london-based insurance giant willis group holdings. and while the cost of the naming rights hasn't been disclosed, willis will spend $17 million to renovate three floors for its own offices. for more now i'm joined by the man who made the decision.. a "first on cnbc" interview with joe plumeri, chairman and ceo of the willis group. joe, great to have you on the program. welcome. >> hi, maria. how are you doing? >> congratulations. so you buy the naming rights to the sears tower. you call it the willis tower. why buy the naming rights? what's in it for you? >> my job is to make sure the world knows as much about willis as possible. branding is a big deal. name recognition is a big deal. as a consequence of an acquisition we made a year ago where we bought a company called hrh. they have four offices in chicago. willis had one. they had five offices. one of their offices is located

outside the city. and what we needed to do was to integrate the people. we needed to sinnar jooiz the people and get them under one roof. so when i asked to see what space was available, we needed about 140,000 square feet, one of the available spaces was the sears tower. it was the tower that obviously after the world trade center had become unpopular because of the fear factor of large buildings and the economy. and so there was a lot of space available. i said, you know, it makes a lost sense as a part of symbolizing the revitalization of our society, the revitalization of our building, what a great idea if we can get in there. so we started to negotiate, and somebody asked me yesterday. they said sears has been out of that building since 1993. how did you get the naming rights to the tower?r? and i said i guess i asked. so part of the negotiation, we got the call, willis. and it's just been a great day today, maria. we had the naming with mayor

daly. and we had thousands of people. it's just been a terrific day for chicago. because with all the stories, they're so negative today. such a positive story of people moving in and more employees and making an investment instead of taking investments off the table and trying to energize things. so it's a great, popular story.. my grandfather from sicily told me i should dream big, and he was right. >> well, it certainly feels that way, yeah. and i'm sure it was a very proud day, all the celebrating. so you're going to be moving new people in there. so i guess you will be actually creating jobs or putting new people to work in chicago. so -- >> well, we're moving 100 people from lombard, which is outside city, in the city. and we'll have 500 associates. we'll have about 3% of the space. and obviously, we have to build the space out. so that will cost us money. that was the 17 million that you'd made reference to. but to have your name on an iconic building, the tallest building in the western he

hemisphere, is just not about being tall but it's about the energy that creates. it's about the business it creates. so many bad stories today about people pulling in their belt, downsizing, and here we are expanding. it's a nice story. it's a positive one. >> let me ask about the acquisition you just mentioned. hrh, $2.1 billion deal. how's the integration going? and there are analysts who say willis assumed quite a bit of debt. analyst expectations put the first quarter '09 debt at 2.6 billion. in retrospect was the acquisition the right move during this very, very tight credit crunch, taking on all that debt? >> when we made the decision in june a year ago, the world was in different condition than it is today. we bought the company for ten times ebidta.. i figured that the company made $200 million, we could take 100 million of synergy, which means we'd get the purchase price on a net basis to seven times ebidta. and that's a good deal, as you

know. well, we did a $1 billion bridge. we had 2 billion financed. one was permanent financing. at libor plus 2 1/4. when you think about those days, maria, that seems like ages ago. and then we have a billion dollars of a bridge out there. and obviously the credit markets collapsed, they closed.. in the meantime, that bridge has been totally closed. we've gotten the thing refinanced. and so that part of the balance sheet is going well. we've got plenty of cash flow to be able to continue to grow the balance sheet. so that's great. as it relates to the synergy we couldn't be more pleased. we had been originally projected 100 million of synergies, and i think we're going to wind up with 140 plus. i told the analyst that in the last quarter. the last quarter in north america as a result of acquisition we grew 1,100 basis points in mairnlg becaurgin bec

synergy's been so successful. we did the deal because we wanted to be in all the cities in the united states that do business with the middle market and small commercial clients because you've got to be there.. so that's what's so great about that acquisition, which is going terrifically, and which is so great about today. >> joe, let me ask you about the middle market here. today we see the unfortunate story that cit teeters possibly needing to declare bankruptcy unless it gets the $3 billion it's looking for from private equity, government's not going to be there to aid cit. what are your thoughts on that? and a lot of small and mid-cap companies tell us they can't get access to credit. what is it going to take to get credit flowing again in that part of the market? >> i think cit is unfortunate. and i i that that's a problem we're going to continue to have. i think credit's a problem we're going to continue to have. i will say, though, maria, as you know, the credit markets have opened a little bit. you can still get deals done. it depends what price you want to pay. so from a positive point of view, i think the credit markets

have opened enough if you've got a decent balance sheet and you're willing to pay. so that's a green sprout, if you will, that's i think positive. but it tells you that there's a little ways to go as it relates to the economy growing a little bit. i'm still concerned about unemployment. i'm concerned about the fact that where we have to focus the government's attention is on the economy and getting people back to work. if we do that, then a lot of the health care problem gets solved and not exacerbated. if i don't have to lay off employees and i haven't done a lot of that, thank goodness, then therefore they have health care. if people get laid off some more, then they don't have health care anymore, and then you're added to the -- adding to the 40 million that are already -- don't have insurance. so that's a bad deal. i wish we'd concentrate on the economy, which therefore would lead to the credit markets getting better. and the psychology of people would improve.e. the last time i think we talked we were talking about 3%, 4%

savings rate. now it's approaching 8%. >> it's do with the psychology of people.e. they have a job, they're not excited about the future so i'm going to save money. if i don't have a job, i'm not going to spend it. so the focus has got to be on the economy. >> yeah. they're hoarding the cash, certainly the numbers show that. joe, great to have you on the program. congrats on the willis tower. see you soon. joe plumeri joining us. up next, the latest on what's happening on capitol hill. d#: 1-800-345-2550 "i'm rethinking everything...

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 including who i trust to look after my money." tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 "the dust might be settling... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's great, but i'm not." tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 "i guess i'm just done with doing nothing, you know?" tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 "oh, i'm not thinking about moving my money. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i am moving it."

welcome back to issues in washington taking center stage today. we just spoke to senator chris dodd. give us the highlights. >> he's also just finished work on a health care bill in committee. most striking, though, was our discussion about financial regulation. he dismissed complaints from business against the new

consumer protection agency, the appreciation has proposed. senator dodd says business just doesn't get it. >> the industry, i find somewhat -- i don't want to use the word arrogant, but i'll come close to it. these institutions created a lot of this mess on their own because they allowed brokers and others to sell products that could never be met or paid. so to turn around and say we don't want to set up an agency that protects the very people that have been most hurt by this, we're spending billions of dollaring ins of taxpayer doll prop up these businesses, which we must do, but to turn around and say, don't you insist upon getting additional protections and forget what happened to you over the last four or five years. >> do you think business is tone deaf on this? >> completely. i find it amazing. what planet are they living on? when you get 10,000 foreclosures a day, 20,000 jobs being lost a day in this country, health care, people wiped out for

retirement incomes, 401(k)s disappearing at warp speed and then turn around and say you have no right to insist on protections from a sector that abandoned you in too many instances. >> so a pretty strong signal on the fact that the consumer finance agency is going to stay in reform. and on health care, the senator said i'd like a bipartisan bill, but the most important thing is for us to get a result. democrats may do this alone, maria. >> what is the date on this that we're going to get this done before the august recess? >> it's going to be very difficult for the senate to pass a health care bill before the august recess. they'll come back in september and get that done. the house is likely to get it done, however. >> all right. john, thanks. see you later. up next, we'll look at what could move the markets tomorrow.

come on in. you're invited to the chevy open house. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models. you'll find low, straightforward pricing. it's simple. now get an '09 malibu 1lt with an epa estimated 33 mpg highway. get it now for around 21 thousand after all offers. go to chevy.com/openhouse for more details.