because it is this industry dominated by giants. >> yeah. and it certainly seems to be trending that way, certainly, with some of the big acquisitions we have seen of late. let me ask you, jim. in this kind of economic environment, are you finding that people are consuming more beer? and given that your beer is a bit of a specialty beer, how does their concern about their pocketbook affect their beer spending habits with your business? >> well, it's actually been good for us. i mean, we're finding that people view beer as, you know, a necessity. it's part of their food budget. it helps prevent obesity, because a good beer is very satisfying. and in these kind of times, trading out of high-priced wine and liquors, and they're actually trading into quality beer. so, you know, the craft brewers in the united states are wealthing these times quite well, and sam adams is among them. >> i wish you all the best of luck. i think you should be crusading for this. me? i just have my 14th sober

anniversary. but that's my issue. not the rest of americas. >> shouldn't have used your quota so early. >> well, you know, i had a little trouble a while back. but to help america, i quit drinking and doing some other things, as well. >> he's not own holding one. >> i know! i was going to say. >> i'm going to leave that to my colleagues. >> but i do think you should complain like heck, because they should have the local american beers. >> i would love to see it with these massachusetts guys. cheers. >> thanks so much. cheers to you. and melissa, you're going to have to do enough drinking for both me and larry, because as a pregnant woman, i can't do it either. >> that's it for "the call" i'm melissa francis. >> and i'm larry custokudlow, su tonight on "the kudlow report." "the power lunch" is up next. >> this is cnbc.com news now. >> freddie mac reports the average 30-year fixed rate is 5.25% compared to 5.20% last week. "wall street journal" says china

investment corporation has chosen morgan stanley and blackstone to oversee hundreds of millions of dollars as it enters the u.s. hedge fund business. shares of nbc universal parent ge are up 8% after goldman sachs upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. that's cnbc.com news now. i'm julia boorstin. faster than a speeding bullet, this stock market is back above 9200, everybody. what's the matter? >> a single bound. >> welcome to "power lunch" the summer rally is back. the nasdaq back above 2000 for the first time since the dark days of last october. while the s&p 500 takes aim at 1,000 right now, sue. >> indeed, it does, bill. and coming up, the results of that huge treasury auction in the next hour. it could add more fuel to today's surge, but remember yesterday's didn't go so well. so it's going to be tense times in a short while.

it may also tell us if the trillions of dollars in cash that we have been hearing on the sidelines is going to flood back into this market. >> >> and i'm michelle cabrusso-cabrera. what is the economic fallout for all of the layoffs? economists say we're in a man session. no, that is not an episode of "sex in the city." and why the report is the most important we have seen in many years. and here's what else is on the menu. >> and way up in minneapolis, minnesota. why? job losses. it's the new wave and the new worry, but it's providing new opportunities for buyers. no surprise, new data shows sales surging on the low end. >> i'm darin rivel, cable vision spinning off its $1 billion sports asset division. that news, and a solid quarter giving a boost to cable vision stock. we'll know cable vision investors -- seem happy with the move, but fans of the sports teams, not so much. >> i'm jane shamly, and in texas where the state is being

scorched by the worst drought in 50 years. so severe that new water restrictions could stop the serving of water in restaurants, and close car washes and ag losses could reach $4 billion. i'll have more on the financial paul fallout, coming up on "power lunch." >> yes, and those were boats and docks you see behind janet there, where there is obviously a dirt of water. the market is in full swing, the s&p 500 getting close to 1000, our parent ge leading dow higher. and good year tires facing gains on the s&p. bob pisani kicks it off on the new york stock exchange. bob. >> hello, it's very simple. attempts to short the market based on the belief that stocks are overbought have been unsuccessful the last few days and now they're getting really crushed on the short side at this point. now, we're getting real money buyers in. you could say oh, it's because of the china rally, dollar dropping, because commodities are going up, because of jobless

claims were in line with expectations. folks, there is money out there, and the bottom line is a lot of shorts are getting crushed. take a look at the material stocks, and the same story here. dow chemical i like everybody else, better earnings on cost cuts, but sales have been disappointing, volumes are down. doesn't matter. stocks have been under pressure reasonable. all of the big material stocks on the up side. same story with energy. volumes are down. demand is down. refining margins are dramatically under pressure. exxon, doesn't matter. exxon, royal dutch, bp, they have all been pessimistic this week, but the stocks still holding up here today. finally, i just want to note that we had a very interesting ipo this morning, and that's penny mac which is old countrywide people that buy distressed mortgages, the stock opened below $20. tradertalk.cnbc.com. scott, we have had one heck of a run in the nasdaq in the nasdaq 100. >> absolutely, bob. another big day for tech.

and how about this? while everybody is focused on 20 2000, the level we did touch as we have been telling how hot technology has been, the nasdaq alone is up 45% over the last five months alone. amazon, google, up today better than 2%. ubs starting both companies at a buy. rimm, microsoft, to the up side. yahoo still stuck in the mud with microsoft giving another 5.5% back today. wind resorts up 12% on better than expected e. meantime, ocami down 3%. their guidance below expectations. let's go to rebecca jarvis at the nymex. >> thank you, scott wapner. and we are seeing crude oil surging up more than $2.70, back above the $66 a barrel level. what changed since yesterday when prices fell more than $4? well, a lot of people would say, very little on the fundamental side of things.

of supply remains strong, demand remains weak. but what's also weak is the dollar, and that certainly has a bullish effect on oil, as well as the commodities complex on top of that.gx you have stocks strong, and right now, traders say it's a continuation of follow the leader. they are following stocks, and that creates bullishness for commodities. let's get over to rick santelli who has more for us at global hq. hey, rick. >> thanks, rebecca. of course i'm going to talk about the seven-year auction today, but you know, there are databases going on. exactly what are the higher rates telling us? in if you look at these half full, is it because there is more risk-taking going on? that's not the side i'm going to lean on. what i hear is the two-year auction, a given. when we always expect to do well, didn't do well. we are repricing the debt from the supply side. and think that's pretty apparent as you see yields creep up. look at the seven-year coming, at an elevated pace, but what we

really want to see in less than an hour is the longest maturity and all of the supply this week the short end disappointed us in the really short maturities. how will this turn out? as far as the dollar, yes, the dollar is weaker today, but let's be fair. look at the year-to-date chart, it held at all the right prices, and hasn't been a huge, hey, i can peg the dollar move based on supply, but this is the last leg of all of the supply for the week. sue? >> and we will see how it turns out. despite yesterday's auction disappointment, we have a triple-digit advance, 142 points, and earnings are coming in fast and furious today. matt nesto is listening in on exxonmobil's conference call, one of the losers today. stock down a little less than 1% at this hour. matt, what are you hearing? >> yeah, sue, that call wrapped up a few minutes ago. it was interesting, it was being hosted by the head of investor relations, david rosenthal. red sox tillerson, the chairman and ceo, not taking questions. so the majority of the call was

basically a re-read of the press release that was out there. so what we can tell you is that this is a company that is very aligned to the economy, and whether its good or bad, they try to, you know, maintain a steady hand. and we're hearing comments like that, that it's difficult to predict the economic recovery. we're going to continue to invest through this cycle. one of the headlines coming out of that conference call is going to be the fact that their $26 billion year-end target for capital investment may not be met. they may miss it. but underneath that, the reality, the reason for that, would be more in the lines of foreign exchange changes. but the big story, exxon, 84 cents a share versus 1.02, a 47% decline in revenue. also came in better than expected, but still nothing to write home about. the upstream, big business and oil and natural gas business down about 62% from a year ago. quick check on the credit cards here today. master card and visa, both

higher. i shouldn't call them credit cards, folks. i'm just a slave to that. they're data processors and that's the beauty of it, because they don't lend money. so if you're late on your bill, hey, as long as you keep using it. because they make their money on transactions. and their transactions were up 8%, bill. and that's a beautiful thing. >> coming and going, don't they? >> you got it. >> thank you, sir. welcome back, by the way. barney frank held a news conference a little while ago on his issues of the legislative agenda. the house kmnl services committee chairman talked about derivatives and also eased concerns about regulation of manufacturing companies that own financial businesses. cnbc's hampton pearson is in washington with more on that. >> hi, bill, the house financial services committee chairman barney frank was joined by colin peterson who chairs the agriculture committee, the two outlining a blueprint for possible derivatives, as a piece of overall financial regulatory reform. here are the key points as far as derivatives are concerned. contracts to be cleared and traded on exchanges, increased

capital and margin requirements for custom contracts, a possible fall on default swaps, but no agreement on oversight responsibilities. . >> the fundamental purpose here is to improve the regulation derivatives so that they continue to perform their important market function, but are less likely to contribute to a kind of irresponsibility that can cause a crisis. nobody here wants to ban them or even severely diminish them as an economic instrument. >> now, also, there is potential regulatory reform, good news for major businesses, specifically manufacturing entities, that also have financial businesses. barney frank is saying that industrial loan companies, ilcs, should be able to keep them without being subject to new oversight by the federal

reserve. that's a potential win for manufacturing firms, like harley-davidson and cnbc's parent, general electric. basically, he is saying there is not a lot of interest at the fed in getting involved in industrial activity. he says he and lawmakers are working with the central bank to iron that out, as they continue to craft financial regulatory reform. back to you guys. >> all right, hampton. thanks very much. so barney frank now realizes the importance of some of those derivatives contracts. >> yeah, sounded like he was stepping back -- remember when everybody was talking about, we've got to get rid of derivatives. now they acknowledge they play a role. >> ban them -- that's what they wanted. >> the nasdaq and s&p all at their best levels of the year, on track to close at the highest levels since november. is this a sign that investors are finally moving all of the cash we have been hearing about on the sidelines into the markets? we have a task force on tap to tackle that, coming up. >> and a check on the home front, the health of the home front, specifically. surprising data out of the state of foreclosure in america. and the president is firing back

to those who say he is anti business. >> and get ready for the "fast money" halftime report. i am in the chair again with the gang as melissa is on assignment. and this special edition summer rally of "power lunch" is back in two minutes.

the dow, the s&p and the nasdaq all at their highest levels for 2009. we are now above 9200 when it

comes to dow. gains of more than 1% all across the board. the weekly jobless claims, bill is going to talk about how important these are in a second. but it's giving a boost to the overall market, helping out consumers like starbucks which has just now hit a 52-week high. $72.75. bill. >> we were talking this morning, the jobless claims number better on the four-week moving average basis, and i was wondering how much of a correlation are we seeing between the jobs data and the stock market, and it was even more closely correlated than i thought it was going to be. this is the jobless -- the first time jobless claims number on a monthly basis. we're tracking here. and this is the dow. this goes back a whole year. but look at this. as the jobs were being lost, the market was going lower, and do you know that the -- on a monthly basis, the initial jobless claims report peaked at about precisely the time that the stock market bottomed out. actually, we don't have the correlation exactly perfect, but it was. and this is march when it

peaked, the jobless claims, and, it's of course, march 9th when the dow and the s&p and all of the major averages tanked. and hit their bottom right there. and since then, jobless claims have been going lower, stock market been going higher here, sue. >> yeah, and the question is, will that continue, bill. and with stocks and oil continuing to power higher, the s&p touching its highest level in nearly nine months, is this rally for real, especially in light of the data that bill just brought us? are all of those cash hoarders finally dumping their dollars into stocks? our task force is around the table for us. brent is the vice president at wells trust, arizona. bill o 'neill is managing partner at logic advisors to cover the commodity side of things. i start with you. you think this rally does have more to go. but on the other, this is within a bigger bear market, correct? >> well, the evidence shows that we're in a secular bear market. the rally that we're seeing is a cyclical bull, and these

movements can be very, very powerful. if you just look back a few weeks ago, we had some major resistance at 950 on the s&p. the market powered through that. hit some mild resistance at 980 and broke through it with conviction. and if you look under the hood, the market breadth indicators and the volume, it shows some quality behind the movement. >> would you encourage people to put on a short-term trade here? >> i -- think the market has more to go before we hit our next resistance level. and at that point, we're -- >> you know it when it's happened, i guess. >> yeah, stay on the trend while it lasts. >> bill, commodities? volatility reins right now, huh? >> it's a money flow game, bill. if i were to take the traditional supply and demand for example of copper or aluminum or oil, certainly, i wouldn't be too bullish. but the money flow has been

coming in. the currency movements. and that's really what we're dealing with. on the other hand, i think if you look long-term, i'm really quite bullish commodities. >> what do you think of the dollar going lower -- >> i see the dollar going lower and demand improving. demand is not great now, outside of china. but i think it's starting to discount some of the future demands, and some inflation. >> what about what bill pointed out and what a lot of economists are talking about with the weekly jobless claims signalling the recession, many believe is over, and wouldn't that be bullish for stocks and commodities? >> it is bullish. but my view is it may indicate the recession is over and we have bottomed out, but i don't see a heck of a lot of improvement there. there is a big difference between bottoming and -- i don't see a v-bottom. i call it a swimming pool type bottom. in other words, where it's very slow and in the recovery, long-term bullish. >> brent, if you commit new money, you like the asian markets and emerging markets better longer-term than the u.s.

market, correct? >> it is. you have to face the facts. we're going to be faced, even in an economic recovery, we're going to have some anemic growth going forward. but if you look at some of the other countries that are not as plagued with debt as we are, the growth rates are much better. we haven't seen a lot of decu e decoupling there, so there is some correlation factors that you have to be cautious with. but from a growth perspective, you have to have some of your money there. >> and for you, bill, do you just buy the commodities index, or are there some plays you think are better than others in what you perceive to be a bull market? >> some are long-dated bullish option strategies. for example, i like gold as an outright position. and i also think a big sleeper market is looming. and it did sleep for a while, and i think that one is ready to go. and i think oil is eventually going to go higher, as well. again, because i see long-term improvement in the demand picture. >> brent, are you nervous about this auction, at all, especially the weakness we have seen in the last couple days?

what happens if the bond vigilantes come back? does that happen in this rally? >> it could. what we're -- concerned with longer-term, is really devaluation of the u.s. dollar. and we think there's some opportunities there in both commodities as well as foreign bonds. >> okay. >> brent, bill, good to see you. thank you tore joining us today. appreciate your time. >> coming up next, lots of surprises in the new foreclosure numbers. the bad areas are getting better. but the good ones are slipping. it's all linked to jobs. >> plus, we'll take you on a bus ride with investors as they try and check out those foreclosure properties. we're back in a flash. but let's check out some of these dow 30 winners. our parent company is one of them, ge. and then there is dupont. bill, you mentioned aluminum, alcoa on the list, up 47 cents today, and at that time caterpillar up a buck 50. back in a minute.

take a look at the stock of expedia. it's up $2.81, 15 1/3%, that

stock more than doubling this year. it's up 37% in the past month alone. profit at the online travel site dropping, however, almost 60%. but that still beat the estimates. expedia's ceo is on the "closing bell" to talk about the company's property picture and outlook for the overall travel business. bill? >> we have some surprising data on the state of foreclosures in america. our diana olick is in washington with details on that. >> foreclosure rates are still high, in the usual suspect states, california, arizona, nevada, but surprising cities are seeing drops, and some big jumps up. take a look at a new report from realtytrack.com. it shows foreclosure leaders like stockton, california and ft. myers, florida posted declines in the first half of this year, while portland, oregon, minneapolis, st. paul and boise i'd idaho posted big

gains. why? job losses. but this is providing opportunities. >> some are in bad shape, but some are in better shape which is what we have been looking for for an investment. >> and that's why lisa watkins joined others for a foreclosure bus tour. some like her are real estate investors. others are just looking for their first home. >> you're going to buy many times 10, 20, 30% below market, maybe even more. >> and in today's market, price is everything. take a look at this data we requested exclusively from the national association of realtors. home sales at the lowest price points posted huge gains in june, while anything above a quarter million literally fell off a flif. as we talk about the housing recovery, it's important to understand where the action in sales is taking place, and it's not. for more, go to the blog, rea y realtycheck.cnbc.com. >> from what i hear las vegas is

a big foreclosure state. >> yes, we're seeing big surges? lag ves as and other parts, as well. but we always talked about stockton being the leader as poster child for foreclosure and you see the numbers going down. kind of interesting. >> diana, with the loan modification program being offered by the president, the making home affordable, when they announced the changes that were supposed to make it easier to get it done, they did it in nevada and in las vegas. do we have any sense yet of whether or not allowing loan to value to go up to 125% before you can do a re-fi? is that working at all? >> well, you have to remember, those are two different programs. there is a re-fi program, and then there is the modification program. the re-fi program is for people who are still current on their loans, and there is that offering of the 125% ltv. modification program, remember, is barely in its infancy, three months along. they are saying they are going to give the results of that program on august 4th, next week, so we'll be waiting to hear eagerly. so far, a lot of modifications but we don't know if they're redefaulting -- these are trial

modifications and we don't know how well they're working yet. >> thank you, very much. see you later. straight ahead, the president firing back at critics who say he is anti business. what's the deal? is he or isn't he? the sparks are going to fly and michelle has our power grid coming up. >> at 12:45 eastern -- wait just a moment, michelle, get ready for the "fast money" halftime report. michelle caruso-cabrera is still multitasking for us. >> the markets hitting their highest levels of the year as this summer rally kicks into overdrive. where are your best opportunities to ride this wave higher? plus, we're on deck to report earlier earnings after the bell today. so what's the trade ahead of the results? that's part of the "fast money" halftime report coming up here on "power lunch." today there's a way to save more for retirement,

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with a strong market day, here are headlines at this hour. motorola shares up more than 8%, cost cutting helping the cell phone giant beat wall street estimates. however, revenue fell short of forecast. international paper also up about 3% today, after

comfortably beating the street. profits fell 40%, but i.p. says the worst of the economic downturn has passed, and it sees improvement in some markets. and avon is up 8%. profits at the cosmetics company dropping 65% from a year ago, but still, that beat the estimates. president obama is firing back at critics who call him anti-business. in an interview with "businessweek" the president says those seem to forget it was three or four months ago when at great political expense we yanked them out of the fire. so is he or isn't he? let's fire up the power grid with democratic strategist julie raginski and j.d. hayworth. congressman, we start with you. do you think he's anti-business? >> well, by his standards, he wants government to take over a huge part of business. no, asking if president obama is anti-business is like asking

gee, is it hot in the arizona desert in late july. the answer is, of course! the guy is anti-business. he is all about using business to grow government. >> julie? you get 20 seconds to counter that. >> i'm sorry to say that the congressman hasn't given any specifics as to why he thinks president obama is anti-business. i will say he has gone above and beyond helping wall street recover, and we have seen the results in the last two weeks the market going up and up and up, and i think trying to bring us back, a rational profit motive and not just to make sure people make a ton of money. >> j.d., before you jump in, let's get to darin rivell, he has breaking news. >> thanks, michelle. a whole lot of talk about this 2003 major league baseball doping list, which was, of course, confidential. the "new york times" reporting david ortiz and manny ramirez who have been suspended, they

are both on that 2003 list. again, the "new york times" reporting that david ortiz and manny ramirez were on the 2003 list for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and that is -- according to "the new york times" and lawyers with knowledge of the results. the only other name we heard from that list before, was, of course, alex rodriguez. back to you. >> of course, they should be allowed to do it, but that's for another discussion. you heard julie. she wants specifics. name something specific that tells you president obama is anti-business. >> while he may play foot see on wall street with some of the big boys, the fact is for small business, he goes after them. let's take the case of the automotive dealerships, those who have the at the marity to donate to hillary clinton, they were put out of business. the fact is they were overtaxed and we can go into medicine where he decided that a surgeon who might perform a tonsillectomy was doing it for

profit. the fact is -- >> congressman -- with all due respect, if it weren't for the obama administration, there wouldn't be any cars for the auto dealerships to sell. he stepped in there and saved gm. >> maybe that's why ford is selling more cars than anybody else, because they didn't go with the corporate welfare. >> congressman, by your barometer, both chrysler and gm dealerships would have been out of business, because those two companies would have been out of business. so your rhetoric doesn't match the reality of what you're saying. the bottom line is this. the obama administration stepped into the worst crisis -- financial crisis we have had since the great depression. they have saved wall street to some extent and i will give the bush administration for doing that, as well. >> continued the policies of bush. >> and i will give both administrations credit for stepping in and doing that. i will also go so far as to say that he has tremendously helped small business through his stimulus program by providing jobs for small businesses through the stimulus program. >> small jobs -- hang on a second, julie. we saw some of those jobs, they didn't even last a week.

this is a bunch of hype, and it's not grounded in reality, julie. >> look at what the markets are doing and tell me what he has been doing for business. look at wall street the last 12 months. >> you don't repeal the business cycles. there are always going to be peaks and valleys. let me explain this to you, julie. let's understand what the obama administration is, it's a mutation of the ruth theless efficiency of the daily machine married to the radical policies and they've got their thumb on the scale. >> i'm not -- >> julie, i don't really agree with you, but you did well today. >> thank you. >> congressman, we'll have you back too. >> that's okay. she did a good job. >> exactly. >> ball street bonuses in focus as the new york state attorney general reports on how well employees at the big banks did in what was essentially a bad year for wall street. mary thompson on the alerts desk with more details on that document. >> that's right, bill. in the 21-page report, the new

york attorney general doesn't allege any wrongdoing by the banks. instead, basically just asking why wall street bonuses became undeathed to performance in 2008. the report focuses on bonus payments made by the nine original t.a.r.p. recipients and doesn't name individual names. take a look at this. they point out that a couple of big banks that lost a lot of money made significant payouts, including citi, which lost $27 billion last year, paying out 5.3 in bonuses. merrill, losing $27 billion, paying out 3.6. and wells, when you include the wachovia acquisition, losing 42.9 and paying out 977 casi$97n in bonuses, and other banks that reported a profit during a year. b of a, a different story. for employees at goldman sachs, jpmorgan or morgan stanley where payouts exceeded profits. but keep in mind, of course, that on wall street, traditionally, payouts are based on revenue, not on profits. and when you break out these payouts on a revenue basis, both

goldman and morgan stanley paying out 49%, which is a traditional level, and jpmorgan's payouts were 33% of revenue, again, that is slightly below the traditional level you see on wall street. as we said, the report doesn't name any individual names, but here is how many of the -- how many employees at these companies became millionaires last year, were paid basically more than $1 million. jpmorgan leading the way there, with over 1,600 of its employees earning more than 1 million in bonus payments in 2008, followed by goldman, citi, merrill and stanley. now, the report has been sent to the chairman of the house oversight committee. a person close to the new york attorney general's office said you should expect hearings on this report. also, the person close to the a.g.'s office says it believes the report shows insist see in variables used in determining pay. the report is not asking for government intervention, but asking the private sector to come up with a more consistent set of principles on bonuses and

compensation. sue and michelle, back to you. >> very interesting. >> thank you, mary. >> coming up next, cable vision is getting closer to spinning off its valuable sports properties. california away's profits are in the tank. darren rivell has all things sports business. and at the top of the hour, bomb's away. $28 billion worth of seven-year notes up for auction. it's going to be a market mover. yesterday didn't go all that well. so we're going to be watching for that. rick santelli will handicap it for us, too. back in a minute. announcer: some people buy a car based on the deal they get. - others buy the car of their dreams. - ( beeps ) during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. it's an opportunity today. it's a lexus forever. special lease offers now available on the 2009 es 350.

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. in the north of england to my new job at the refinery in the south. i'll never forget. it used one tank of petrol and i had to refill it twice with oil. a new car today has 95% lower emissions than in 1970. exxonmobil is working to improve cars, liners of tires, plastics which are lighter and advanced hydrogen technologies that could increase fuel efficiency by up to 80%.

as it happens, it's a busy day in the business side of the sports world. callaway plunged and cable vision is giving the go ahead to spinoff the madson square garden unit it owns. >> a lot of moves today, bill. let's start with cable vision. obviously investors are happy when they see what's called the unprofitable division spun off. that's the sports part of the equation that includes the knicks, the rangers, and madson square garden sports network. and the pops, better access to the media assets without sports in the portfolio, it's not likely that spin-off means anything for the sports teams. why? well the dolans aren't getting hid rid of the sports business

and may not free up anymore money for them to spend on the teams. both teams, let me remind you, play in a league with salary caps and both teams have pushed the payroll limit to the max and have had limited success. now let's move on to calaway. the golf business decimated by the recession, and huge discounts and freebies have hurt margins in the name of moving inventory. and although californiaaway said they're upgrading the stock to a buy on promises sales numbers in july and the belief in emerging markets like china, pasting demand. this is certainly a good indicator on my beat. there are not other -- there are areas that are not doing so well, but i'm not sure people thought we would see optimism in the golf retail business. this was one of those businesses that was the absolute worst. >> so this is your the recession is over call. >> well, it's one of them. it's the first positive i've had, i think. this is a big -- >> stocks up 17%.

>> yeah." i mean, emerging market in china much we haven't used that in a couple months. >> not for golf. >> before we go, poppy ortiz on this list. >> this is going to be another couple asterisks, potentially, if this "new york times" report is accurate. and cooperstown will have a tough time, you know, getting anyone in. b >> it's very simple in michelle's life. >> they should be allowed to do it. are you going to outlaw people sleeping in oxygen tanks? give me a break, outlawing bathing suits. >> the bulls are charging today and we're minutes away from the big bond auction of seven year notes. the results coming up. >> see you in a bit. eseseseseses

welcome to the "fast money" halftime report, getting to the heart of the action as it's happening. the market in full rally mode, hitting fresh highs for the year. is the summer rally back on, and if so, where are the best plays for profit. our "fast money" crew today, the liquidator, joe terranova a, and christopher zuk and brian setland, as well. mr. terranova, enough volume in this rally for you to believe it? >> i think so, michelle. there is enough volume. there has been enough volume i think since back in march. listen, we talked the other night on "fast", the market has digested a tremendous amount of bad newses and all you did was

consolidate the gains and now move higher. >> greg, do you agree? >> i couldn't agree more, michelle. joe and i talked about this monday night on the segments that around 1000 is where there may be a little bit of skepticism as the market tests that area. but i have no indication that we're backing off here whatsoever. >> brian, i see you needing your head up and down. do you agree, and are you looking at the vix, i understand? >> yeah, taking a look at the vix, trading around 25, the futures on the vix, people predicting where the vix might be somewhere down the line. september, october, november. that's trading around $30 a share. so that means people are going out, trying to buy some protection against this market. so any time you get a little bit of a bupullback, people already own the protection against a downward move. i think they were overpaying a bit, and that's why you start to see the rally move higher and the market continue to trend higher, because the protection is in place, and actually being overpaid right now for it, and the bulls can grab ahold of this mark and push higher. >> chris, a bunch of economists saying when you look at the weekly jobless claims, they're

telling us the recession is ending. is that why we're seeing this rally, do you believe that, and how do you play it from here? what's the trade? >> i don't think i believe the recession is ending, but i do think the market is doing exactly what we have talked about, which is ignoring bad news and really taking on good news and using it to its benefit and rallying as a result. we're looking at from here probably another lift, probably another couple of percentage points. i agree that 1000 will be a good test for the s&p. but i think the reality is going to set in. if this economy is not going to recover quickly, and probably pull back from here. >> chief investment officer, somebody is ringing you, what do you tell them to do? >> be patient. do not chase things just for the sake of chasing it. this market is being driven by cash and career risk. there's a lot of people out there that have cash and are feeling anxious, and there's a lot of people out there feeling they're going to get fired if they don't participate in this rally. >> next, oil rebounding back to $66 a barrel. the commodity being held by a

falling dollar, news out of china central bank, but they would maintain a monetary loose policy, plus the employment data helps, as well. joe terranova, what do you do here? >> well, laprincessa, i know you like dollars, but this trade is all about -- we talked the other night on the show, the geithner, chinese talks, they're over. the chinese are out of town, so the dollar doesn't have to remain supported. thus, you see the rollover commodities, energy resource trade, all boats rising again. oil, short trades better move to the sidelines. i don't know if you get long, but you don't want to be short. >> chris, you live in houston, you live, breathe, drink oil, sleep with it in your pillow at night, right? what do you think? >> not quite that, but yes, i agree, i would not be short, because i think the forces could drive this higher, i also would not be aggressively going along here. >> what about the -- are you worried about that wicked contango that if you want to buy oil today, it's a lot cheaper than if you want it six months from now?

isn't that a really bad sign? >> i agree with that. but you look at the underlying demand, it's just not simply there. >> okay. >> we've got a lot of supply. >> a great trade on that, michelle, the contango in oil over the next six months comes out of the market. >> ooh. that would be violent, wouldn't it? all right. that brings us to our chart of the day. the dollar decline, one of the reasons for the spike in oil but you think this is a temporary key decline. >> i do. obviously the trend is to a down side. we went into a nine-week consolidation and the euro broke to the up side. however, it failed. so at this point, i do think that the dollar, you know, can maybe find a little support somewhere around 135, 136, but i think the trend overall continues. >> all right. next trade, topping the take today, master card, shares of the credit card company up over 6% after reporting results that top wall street expectations. the company saying it saw higher profits, transactions, and is muted spending declines. what do you think of master

card? >> i think they had a great number, getting ahead of themselves saying the consumer will be back in the play. there are definitely people who think it's are feeling like it' save to spend money, but until unemployment comes off and we get away from that 10% number, i would not be a buyer of mastercard. >> we talked about interday reversals. search early. we will talk about it and it's rolling back over. >> you like the technicals there? >> i don't. i think joe brings up a good point and the fact that it had an early rally. i don't think this as a theme is out of the woods whatsoever. >> reporting earnings after the bell and should you buy ahead of the results, the liquidator.

what gets the stock above. bob eyeinger talking about the plan and 27% investment in humohumor humoru. you stay out of the stock until you see that. >> joe has got it right. i don't foresee the stock and you can sell some calls. it's a good buy and a way to move higher, i don't know about that. >> time to go outside the stocks for what could be the most anticipated event of the week. nine minutes away. treasuries are falling as the government prepares to auction $28 billion in seven-year notes and the auction is part of a dead offering totalling more than $200 billion. that's how much the government is trying to borrow. let's get more on the auction and bring in rick santelli. yesterday was a dog with a d. this is a longer maturity. this could be worse.

>> everything will be backwards and the try and true maturity will not be a comfort cap. maybe the long maturity with higher yield will be. i will tell you this, the when issued market and where the years are playing before they go to the public's hand in about eight machines. that has been creeping up and started out around 331 and ended around 339. that's the benchmark the grading will come from. whether it's higher, meaning weaker demand on the pricing side or lower. stronger demand will be a part of the grade along with how many dollars and the 28 billion are available. that is a cover. >> here's what i don't understand. if yesterday's auction went poorly, we would see a sell off in the market. the market held on fine. am i making too much of this auction? >> i don't think you are missing it at all. what's going on is people are looking at this and seeing a yield of 330.

why would you want to own treasuries with 3% dividend and get it to move higher. if you are the government, you have to be refinancing the debt at this level. i don't understand who is buying this stuff. i would rather owe stocks and not as they were months ago. >> we are back from the abyss? >> michelle, it will be big on august 11th, 12th, and 13th. a lot of supply, rick. >> ellioiot spitzer will be interviewed coming up next with the pride international and the

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welcome back and time for the "power lunch" trade to go. >> la princessa again it's all about the dollar. the chinese are out of town and we don't have to support the dollar anymore. the weakness has shaken a lot of people out of this trade. what you do here, you look at the natural resources and you go with the favorites and you look at coal and steel and energy. those are the names you want to

own. the dollar weakness. >> i love being called la princessa. let's go around the horn. the buy or sell. are you buying or sell something. >> i wouldn't be shorting, but i will be scaling down and benefiting. >> you selling or buying in. >> i would be buying and backed off the highs. we closed near the highs. >> greg and kudos to greg on fast money and everybody to buy general electric. that was the recommendation. >> i love you, michelle. >> what are would you do today? >> i'm buying into the close and we are near that psychological resistance near 1,000. >> what do you think of ge? >> you have to get off that horse ahead of next week's unemployment report. >> that's all for us on

tonight's fast money. erin burnett interviews eliot spitzer on the outlook of the economy and wall street. instant analysis and reaction to the treasury's seven-year note auction. we're minutes away. >> that are new name will stick. we will talk about the markets of course and the huge triple-digit rally and shares of pride international up almost 60% year to date. the company's ceo joins us to talk about the earnings and a male boomer is an endangered species from the workforce. we will talk about that and the latest on this market and health care. senators unveil a bill warning states to outlaw texting while driving. >> investors put almost $12 billion more into mutual funs than they took out and that followed the $18 billion info in may.

the details picked up since the cash for clunkers was launched. manny ramirez and david ortiz tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. that's the news now. i'm julia boorsten. >> oh, boy we hope the really lasts. for the results of the auction here. welcome to the second hour and the summer rally resumed today. the dow, nasdaq and s&p hitting the highest levels of the year. ge, du pont, caterpillar among the winners today. however, sue, they faded the stock market resting on the grade. >> that's exactly right. absolutely right. >> a d, c, or maybe a b. >> this one is expected to be a

tough sell. we will be following that. there is a lot for the market to chew on. not only the results of the $28 billion t note auction moments from now, but not only the numbers, but we also have wheeling and dealing going on. >> a lot more going on in congress right now when it comes to health care. the blue dog agenda has liberal lawmakers seeing red. we will speak on both sides of the aisle. >> steve leesman joins us and we can wait for results. the jobless claims providing an impetus that less bad is still good. >> three economists said this smls the recession is over. ending now. >> for went up and we knew it was going up because there was a lot of noise in the data from the auto layoffs coming earlier than expected. the thing is, it bounced back and kept the decline from the top levels of 660 in place.

give or take, we are down about 100,000. we need to go further to get job growth back and not much further to confirm that jobless claim are off the top which is a good signal for recession. >> a dump up in the jobless claims, but the longer term number continuing to decline. >> what do you think, rick? >> i will call this one a b. it's definitely a b. the wi drift friday 331. >> we spend time about an hour 1/2 ago. lower yield and higher price. definitely solid at 2.63. remember this is higher than average and not as high as last auction, but this is only the six and seven-year auction since

a 16-year hiatus. the only light part with a better great was the indirect bidding on the light side. those are the metrics to measure large institutions and that has been on the light side all week. i was tough on grading the curve earlier in the week. >> the uk, china and i think germany at one point or at least twice failed to sell the whole amount. i was hearing they maybe wouldn't be able to unload the whole amount. >> two ways to look at the auction. there many auctions available. japan has been to cover. barely over $1. >> before i say this. i know what's wrong and there different investors across the curve. i wonder given that they were light on the short end and came

in stronger on the heavy end or the longer end, were they maybe holding and maybe taking a play on the duration? >> you hit it. what does that mean? they have too many pockets filled with short maturities and the sensitivity to be adjust and they go to the longer maturity. >> this one got a good passing grade and a bump up in the market as well. >> for rick gives us a b plus, i'm giving the market an a. we are still going as my clients have said for the last couple of weeks. i'm not taking credit for it. they said we are going to 1,000 and we are almost there. >> you have the bond sell off

and it goes and it gets up in the 360 or 4% range and rallies down to the 350 or 360 range. there is a game going on where they let it go up to 4 and the chinese are not going to buy and they come in and bid it down. >> we call it a trading range you can profit from. >> they get tired. we bring the panic button and they say 1,000 on the s&p and you are only seven points away. >> they have been saying that since 900. for the goldman call at 1060, everyone said it's light as we are at 945, 950 when goldman made the call. they are looking at 1100 or 1200. a lot of stuff. the market is the best leading indicator out there. we have to read what they are telling us. >> we call it the bill in total.

it was sloppy in an area we didn't expect. that was the juice of the week. it will put us on notice and you can't take anything for granted when debt and deficit is the big picture. >> when they are able to borrow a lot of money at cheap rates and easily. >> let's listen to the ceos. they said we hit bottom and we pick up from here. let's listen to the ceo versus the people walking around. >> did you give us a segue?f >> the best thing you ever wanted to know about the axis of evil. >> they posted a 34% decline and more now from what the rigs are

telling us. we have the president and ceo of pride international. >> good to be here. >> it's a bull market and the company is involved in trilling and the finding of the oil. didn't have a great quarter. what happened? >> we are facing a decrease and the u.s. and gulf of mexico given what's going on with u.s. natural gas prices. the u.s. gulf of mexico we have only about 15 rigs working compared to 70 looking for work, down from about 150 rigs in the last upcycle and down from 100 rigs. >> your report as for the third quarter is not good either. you see a downturn there as well. >> we have a lot of premium rigs and it's unfortunate that you have to take an offshore rig into the ship yard every five years to do a survey and spend a lot of mone. for us we have that happening to a lot of rigs at

one time. it's happening to the business. >> you can tell us whether you see the same things that some of the other ceos we are talking to are seeing that basically things are getting better overall in the economy and the recession is over? i know your industry is having some interesting times to say the least, but overall are you optimistic that we are past the worst part of this? >> i'm optimistic that average prices are up about 40% over the and the closing prices of yesterday are up about 90% over the low experienced in the first quarter. >> why are you not optimistic that the crisis is over. we heard bullish comments from other ceos. >> they may be in different industries. i think we still have a lot of challenges facing us as a worldwide economy and the amount of money that the u.s. is

spending will have a hard time working into the system without having more weakness in the future. >> when are does it turn in your estimation? >> i'm not going to predict when a worldwide economy will turn, but the oil markets have turned already. as long as we can get rid of the volatility and look at something that is out of the barrel, i think that the oil drilling markets will be. >> speculators? you know what's going on with washington and the cftc and should they do that and would that help you when it comes to volatility or hurt? >> even the experts can't conclude if they are hurting or helping. i will tell you volatility is bad for the energy business and the world in general. we would be much more comfortable with the stable price we can plan around and customers can plan around. do we hedge? i asked you first. >> we do not hedge. >> should you hedge? >> we are in a business and have

7.5 billion that go up into the year 2017. i guess you can say we are well-hjed. >> to michelle's question, there is a lot of talk about putting certain types of limits on investors and positions. do you think that would go in favor of that type of move? >> anything that would curb because the markets are strong. with a commodity due to nothing other than completion which is getting more rapid. they are stable and strong and we don't need the volatility. that cause confusion and excess prices and it causes investors to not know whether to be in or out. >> appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> pride international. >> when we come back, record

high heat and low rainfall. a big chunk of texas in the worst drought they have seen in a half century with billions in crops and livestock. we will go live for the latest. >> with the market strong today, the financials participating. solid moves to the upside. stay with us. american express and bank of america and jpmorgan chase all to the upside. çw

the summer rally continues with all three averages strongly in positive territory. that's almost a 2% gain. the nasdaq up 1 and a third percent. as for the treasury, a big sigh of relief. off to a good start and treasuries are kind of mixed on the trading session. let's move from stocks and treasury to energy. we were just talking about that. rebecca jarvis. >> as people look at prices today, they will be seeing a huge swing to the upside as far as crude is concerned. it's up more than $3 a barrel and just yesterday we were seeing crude prices down $4 a barrel and if people were asking themselves what in the environment fundamentally has changed and the fact is prices

were down because splice were down. the reality here is that very little on the fundamental side of things has changed. what is different is weakness in the dollar and on top of that strengthened stocks. traders are watching for direction. it's not just crude that is getting that bump. >> thank you, rebeck a. >> a long hot summer in texas and suffer for example the worst drought and piling up losses. janet is in austin, texas with an impact on the business. >> michelle, it is back from agriculture and texas has taken a hit from the drought which is now in the second year. let me give you a look. down there you see docks and boats that are simply landlocked.

they are launching due to the levels being so low. texas is a big money maker. it's the largest cotton producer and they are at a 10-month high and much is a wash. corn crops are taking a big hit too. a lot of cattlemen had to sell early because there is nowhere for them to graze. the usda announced they will step in and offer relief to ranchers. the losses at $3.6 billion and reach four billion. we are under water restrictions and those could be tightening down the roads to the point of restaurants not even being allowed to serve water. we are not at that point yet, but it's not that far off.

>> we had a little sprinkle this morning. honestly it will take a week long deluge to start to make a difference here. anything is going to run off the park grounds. we're 17 inches below normal rainfall for last year. for this year 11 inches. a lot of ground to make up. >> and often that happens at tough economic times anyway. often a correlation between bad weather and bad economic times. stick around. you will learn something. >> the weekly guide to investing and a huge debate over inverse etfs in the last couple of weeks. here's the problem. you can make money and lose money. if it's 100, it goes up 10% and

say it goes up twice as much, the tracking error is on a daily basis. they may not understand what they are buying. suppose you have an index. it goes up 10% and it's at 100. it goes to 110. put that back up there. suppose you have a 200% etf and it goes up 20%. now your index is at 100 and goes to 120. congratulations, you made money on the first day. you go to the second day and you have the error. suppose the index drops and you were at 110. do 10% of that and that goes to 99. you have a two-day loss. this 200% lost 20% from 120 that. goes to 96. you have a loss of 4%. wait a minute. that's error. 1% loss in the index, 4% loss on the 200% etf. you can get an error that is significant. here's a quick example. look at the s&p 500 versus the

s&p 500. this goes to twice the performance. it's up 10% and see up at the top? the index is up only 15%. if you do it in just a month, it attracts just about perfectly. the s&p up 8% and that's what you would expect. you need to know what you are buying. back to you. >> that was a great prim or things that confusion a lot of people. >> conservative democrats and liberal dem dos not. they are not on board at all. how is it going to shake out? we will speak with one congress person about it. >> we are tracking the rally minute by monday and adding on to the advances. we are up 156 points on the trading session. meanwhile, win shares up 13.5%.

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call fidelity at... for details about guaranteed income for life, and change the way you think about your retirement savings. frontier airline his a deal to be sold to the parent and once again, southwest apparently trying to set up a deal to buy bankrupt funds and shares are higher by a little more than 1%. that's 12 cents. >> let's talk health care reform. the democrats struck a deal on the house with the blue dogs and conservative wing of the party

to keep it going as the talks continue in the senate. as you know, what it did essentially in this particularitiesration of the bill reduced the cost below $1 trillion over a 10-year period to $900 billion and raised the exemption for small businesses to keep those hard hit by the cost out of the package. will the consessions hurt the bill? joining us, we had a tough time finding a democrat who was not busy today. always good to see you. you have said in other interviews that you feel that the bill in the current form would actually cost or cause many americans to lose their health care coverage. how would that work?

they caused market reforms to lower health care for all americans, but this bill we believe would set us in the direction with nearly $1 trillion in taxes. the way you get to a government take over is this. once uncle sam opens the door at a government-run insurance plan it's available for every american in the worst recession in the last 25 years. there is not a business in indiana or the country that is not going to look at the employees and say i love you, but i think we are going to have to discontinue health insurance here and send you down the road. >> if in fact the company does decide to do that and take the employee off of the roles, the government is there to pick it up. isn't that what we are talking about? >> i don't think the point is to

drive over 100 million americans out of the health insurance program they have. most americans that have health insurance are pretty satisfied with it. suggest they can lose the health insurance they have and house democrats get their wish and launch the new massive government-run health insurance option. we ought to create more. >> the blue dogs said they have concerns about the public auction as well. don't compromise as to say we will do a bunch of nonprofit cooperatives with blue shield. does that not satisfy you or concern you? >> in the senate they are talking about the co-ops and in the house all they did was did trimming around the government-run plan. the bill they will report from the energy and commerce committee, they supposedly came up with $100 billion in savings.

it's a government-run insurance option. the co-ops are take about in the senate and as a coninstruct are intriguing, but senator harry reid put it well when he said we will have a government option, call it a co-op or whatever you want. we will have a government option. if it turns into the "wall street journal" today and said if we are launching a co-op essentially as a fanny med, the american people will not be too enthusiastic about the government involvement. >> a lot of people were saying the co-op concept might be the common ground. >> i do disagree. what it is common ground in the past for small businesses to utilize the high deductible insurance plans and put a little bit into a fund for their employees for first dollar benefit and it is other thing is, what a true co-op.

we have for federal employees. in congress, while associations like associations reforeigned across state lines and across the country and on a national basis, they are talking about exempting these co-ops from state regulation. why don't we bring the associations without a government involvement from those state regulations so they can create the new products. not a government-run insurance plan and not a subsidized fanny med plan, but really and truly allow them to emerge on the scene. >> wish we had more time, but thank you for joining us. >> coming up next, tomorrow's gdp reports an axis of evil.

>> they follow us from the middle aged men. are we in what's called. >> the summer rally, yes. >> the dow and the nasdaq. we are back with more. 

>>. >> the dow and nasdaq up almost 2%. rather favorable jobs data out this morning and a seven-year auction went well and a buy recommendation on our parent company, ge. among the favorable conditions and among the earnings, there was a state of earnings and a good year tire and dow chemical. doing rather well. >> whether it holes to the close, there is momentum there and everybody is watching. the economic report card could have major implications as to whether or not the triple-digit advance continues in the dow. tomorrow morning the government will release the highly anticipated gdp report in years. steve leesman is here to break

down the components. steve in. >> thanks very much. a lot of hopes this could be the last negative quarter of the recession. let's look at the estimates. the estimate of 1 1/2. significantly better than the 5 1/2 and the 6.6 we did in the first quarter. quickly what you see here is four quarters in a row of negative gdp and haven't done that in the postwar era. we will show you why this is the worst recession. >> let's look at the break down on how we get to this somewhat better number. these are estimates at action economics. this is on economics more negative than it was. inventory building comes back and less negative. net trades about the same and government goes to zero.

that's what that number is right there versus being a negative. less negative than we were and still negative. the next quarter that the inventory goes positive there. the government spending kicks in. that's how we get the positive. let's take a look at the historical nature of this. what you can see is the worst post recession on a four quarter to four quarter base. worse than 81-82 and much worse than the two mild recessions we had. now, could there be an outside surprise coming in this quarter? the next one if you look at the recessions. you end up having a big rebound that comes in the call here. that ends up being a big pop. you haven't had that in the most recent recession. you mentioned it yesterday.

the president of an outsized quarter that could be a typical snap back from a deep recession we had. >> let's talk more about this. the components of the economy and a new study that finds out that the older white males are among the hardest hit. it's being called a session. 6.5% in the second quarter. far above the 1983 high of 5.4%. let's talk more about this. they conducted the study. good to see you, brian. >> great to be on the show. >> we heard a lot about younger workers and college pit kids that are getting out and couldn't find jobs. what did they show you? how severe is this and why? >> we know that there certain demographic groups that are being more adversely affected than others and clearly if you look at the industries

specifically, automotive and construction which are heavily dominated. i hadn't thought about the idea that construction and finance and manufacturing would be the hardest hit areas, but let's face it. we cost more in the economy and will be the first to go if they are looking to cut cost. >> true every time. >> i would say that there is that part of it with huge reductions in unemployment and that does affect male workers more than female workers. >> i heard the line there, michelle. >> some people get pushed out every time. >> but in the passes from the younger workers, it speaks to

the nature of this. we saw this time around what was the first thing to go were the jobs. they weren't cutting expenses, but jobs. companies were sensing that we were going to be in this for a while. you cut in a more meaningful way. what do you think about that? >> right now, yes. >> steve leesman wants a question or a comment. >> comment i want to make is it's interesting to watch these numbers and it's unique. what happened there. we would be remiss if we didn't talk about the double-digit unemployment rates that exist among for example african-american teenagers. hispanics. the people on the lower end of the employment spectrum are

getting hit exceedingly hard. >> you are right. this is the highest in history and when you look at black men, it's 10.5%. that's better than what you have seen in other recessions. they haven't been as what you would normally see hit as hard. it's still very high. not only the statistics, but the story you put together. what are the implications for the economy and spending by what that key demographic used to spend may not be able to do right now. >> that's still an issue that is

going to play out and where i would disagree for example with bill that we are all of a sudden going to get a strong quarter here. certainly not in the cards when you look at the state of households and consumer spending and the rate of unemployment and the pressure that's on the financial situations of households. overall i think that it's going to restrain growth and we are not going to get a strong outbound quarter. if it does happen, i think it will be more where all of a sudden the industrialized countries in one quarter, all growth together and that creates an accelerator effect. i don't think that's likely until the middle of 2000. >> are time now for the dayy look. alan washler is here to tell us what's cooking. >> i have three interesting

ones. they all tie into one of the big stories of the day. the top beer drinking companies that ties in with the obama beer summit. usa is not number one. here's a hint. eastern europe. look there. it's fitting in and people are eat together up. the next one, we have the treasury auction. we put up a little ranking of you hear china is the third largest and accounts in switzerland. which states have the most millionaires. you will find there is a lot of new england presidents but think pineapples and ocean.

>> all on cnbc.com. those are the stories that people are following. >> disney reports after the bell. what are they telling us about the economy is disney best in breed in the media group? >> here's a look at how disney has done over the last six months. any moment now. there you are. up 2.5% today. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million.

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shares are up more than 15%. julia is in los angeles with the dow components. >> the economic downturn will likely take a toll across disney businesses. they expect third quarter businesses to be down to 51 cents per share and revenue falls to 8.8 billion. disney is battling the business. falling to $4 billion. it could hit disney's park hard. lower dvd sales are the revenue of 1.3 billion again. down from last year.

any indications are done. after "the closing bell" with the numbers. >> we know you will. we want to bring in analyst david with rbi market outperform on the stock. you are doing this tough economic times and we focused on media companies, there is part of your business which is what we consider toxic. they tend to be more local oriented and how many times have

we heard the hannah montana story and what is next in the queue. >> to get the male demographic. it has been a lousy economy. >> i think frankly we are not that focused on the quarter. that's the story behind disney and right now the parks are under pressure and surprised at how well they are doing. the reason they have been doing well and they cut you pay for

nights and get seven. they are pyred at the end of june and doing the dining program. in order to cover them. >> david, i think it's worth pointing out and the parks are showing there is demand for the disney theme park. once they are there they could hurt the division. i spoke to bob last week and he said they have done lots of prove that people will pay for the contents. with the disney channel and in the discussion about like this everywhere, including contents behind the fire wall and they charge extra because he thinks the brands have that value. that carries through.

>> they have been one of the few online brands to monitize itself. >> how high can the stock go? >> to be honest i think the stock is getting towards the upper end of the range. on a historical basis trading at the earnings. >> disney does not give guidance and they'll listen for indications of where they are going and doesn't give a true guideline. >> they are battering the bears. we have a nearly 2% gain for the dow and s&p 500. 1.5% for the nasdaq. >> there is a new bill in the senate that would force states to make texting illegal while driving. are we talking public safety or

talking about the nanny states? we will talk about it when "power lunch" continues. >> jeremy is a runner and may be able to run the san francisco marathon. he works at the silicon valley headquarters. the accupuncturist works here too and so does the doctor and pharmacist at the company's 38 million dollar state-of-the-art facility which serves 45,000 everyone e every dollar we spend on a dollar off the bottom line. >> they are expected to save $3

million by 2007. >>

. >> harsh words from nancy pelosi for the insurance companies during the weekly meeting with reporters. in washington, they were saying they were immoral. >> she was and this is the stress and strain of that final push towards getting something through the energy and commerce committee. the insurance companies are pressing back hard. they are trying to get that stricken from the bill. they are having success in the finance committee and watered down in the energy and commerce committee and she was lashing out as a reflection of the challenge the democrats change to keep progressive and rib lals on board after consessions get made for the.

>> the populous rhetoric, everybody loves to hate insurance companies. >> exactly. >> and reporters. >> when she uses the phrases or when any members use the phrases, speculators doesn't lend itself on the bipart anship. >> now to leave the opponents. >> wow, people are texting each other. >> they tell us about the texting bill and sponsoring in the senate that would force

states to. >> you face the loss of funding and there is a push in congress. after the report that showed you are 23 more times likely to have an accident if you are texting while driving than if you weren't. >> this is one of the stories that every american who drives or has a driver in their family and a cell phone which is just about everybody can relate to. people realize that this sort of distraction is going on all the time. i plead myself. it's a bad example for others, i know. the challenge is what's going to make all of us stop. >> it's a federal government that is always telling the states what it do. it's ridiculous. federal health care. >> people say that about seatbelts as well and that saves a lot of lives, the requirement of people that use seatbelts.

>> people who want to pass the laws, let them pass them. that's it. thanks, john. >> we will deal with you later. >> we have a cake tomorrow. >> i have a cake coming up tomorrow. we had cakes for birthdays and an verse easier. >> very special. we are back with more "power lunch". we get ready for erin burnett.