a well-known ceo is talking about where they will go. this shows you the power of cost cutting. they are talking about sales in 2012, three years from now. it will be about 32-34 billion. sales will be doubling. look at the earnings. he is talking about profit in 2012. they gave guidance to 225. 1.43, they are talking about going from 1.43 to $8-10. this is also a point for you as well. caterpillar is talking about a 100% increase in revenues in top line in three years, a six times increase in the bottom line. rick, that's the power of the cost cutting efforts that drops to the bottom line. caterpillar moved up throughout the morning. >> it is a great point.

there is so many dimensions to caterpillar's comments. the first is by being lean and mean because the crisis caused so many cut backs and sudden shifts in demand that what we were left with are entities that should the economy bumble, they will go exponential. caterpillar is up multinational at weaker currency and exports in how they are affected is another wild card there and we all know that one of the dark sides of things getting better may be higher interest rates and the lower dollar. all of these things factor in as far as home sales. i am getting so many e-mails about backlogs and higher instances of foreclosures that are not making it to auction. auction numbers and foreclosures are growing. hard to reconcile the good and bad news with housing. >> how does starbucks fit in? >> it's kind of fascinating. you have a situation where you have head winds and competition.

all across the board and mcdonald's coming up with a huge campaign with mccafe. you have a recession. savings is up, but what happens with starbucks? it's at a 52-week high. earnings were positive because of cost cutting and there was a fascinating article in the "wall street journal" that talked about how they are stream lining operations and like they had bakery goods and bring them into the store and took like an hour. they put the tray on wheels and made space for it and cut the time by 2 slash la/3. they put the coffee bens above instead of below and it made them more productive. there is a flip side. people are concerned that the customer service experience will be jeopardized at some point and becoming barista. the company is providing, but they don't want to kill the

culture. >> thank you very much. bob and rick and brian, appreciate it. the bells toll for the close of agricultural commodity tradings. tomorrow president obama returns to indiana. this is his third visit to the area. he will announce a manufacturing grant while speaking at an rv plant. ahead of the visit, we wanted to take a look at two of america's hardest hit cities to see if the money is working. first, the greater chamber of commerce president. that's an average annual unemployment rate of 16.8%, more than half the employees in the manufacturing sector. they got $12 million in stimulus funding. the mayor is with us. a familiar face. a lot of you were interested when he was on the program last time. the population is 2800 outside pittsburgh. they are allowed to hire 30 people this summer. thanks to both of you for being with us.

let's start with you since the president will be coming tomorrow. looks like you had successes and sweetish companies that makes refrigerators for example. 250 potential jobs. has the stimulus plan directly worked yet? >> the stimulus plan is certainly part of the recovery of our community. we just tomorrow for example or thursday we are going to cut the ribbon on a new runway overlay that was funded. there other projects that the president has promised. with stimulus funding i think to the tune of about $12 million so far in the community. i think it's going to be more of the private sector that is going to drive the recovery. obviously this is the president in the briefing room. i believe he probably has a knife.

she 89 and he is 48. he is just out there in the briefing room pretending to be a reporter. we wanted to give everyone a chance to see that. i had an opportunity to meet her. she was lovely. we will keep this picture up. mayor, let me ask you, have you seen impact from the stimulus? i remember last time you were on the show we were able to see the town and certainly there is in many cases a definition of urban blight. >> there is certainly been an impact, but not in the sense that things are rosy. the economic downturn that swept up much of the country over 8 to nine months has been an ongoing saga in our part of the country for the last 35 years. with respect to the condition

where we find ourselves now as it relates to stimulus dollars, they have been helpful, but at the end of the day, we are combatting many decades of deindustrialization and unraveling of the urban fabric. >> that are brings me to a question. is anything happening over the longer term? we are talking about summer employment and help in parks. stimulus money goes and what then? >> let me point out too that the two major bridges on opposite sides of town are under construction right now. the infrastructure in the valley which is part of the region that they find themselves in is crumbling. the bridge had a instruct early rating of 31 on a scale of 100. you can have an idea of the infrastructure and the bridge at the other end of town. there is a lot of changes that are being implemented by people above my pay grade.

overall we will benefit greatly from the dollars to our region. >> how would you consider that question? maybe the swedish company is part of the answer. what happens when the stimulus dollars are spent? do they have a future then? >> my heart goes out to you. they are a different dynamic. over a year ago, we were 3.5% unemployment and we could not find people to work in the plants. this has been the history of elk hart recession, recovery, recession, recovery. we reinvented ourselves many times. >> you talked about being green and alternative energy. are you seeing money for that that will have a longer term impact? >> i like to think that i have

been fortunate enough to testify before both houses of congress with respect to the clean energy bill and i hope that passes. and i think that ushers in a revolution. we have this large ban and the steel mill that has been followed for over 25 years and 140 acres that has been repurposed as this enterprise zone. we are going to be able to bring in all kinds of companies and offer a lot of incentives to help reenergize not just brad ok, butt region in general. long-term the prospects are better. they can only get better based on the metrics that we faced over the last several years. i think the notion that the stimulus is a short-term kind of sugar high, i think that will be proven wrong. without them, the infrastructure in many of the communities would not be able to be rebuilt let

alone become safe after a few years of use. >> would you also agree, the mayor raises a point that has been said by a lot of people that the stimulus dollars are a sugar high and it goes away. would you agree with him that in terms of elk hart, it really will last or are you circumspect? >> the money is being spent wisely and it is being put into long-term infrastructure improvements and that equates to economic development in the long run. >> you have to have good infrastructure and it's a big part of the recovery piece. >> thanks very much and appreciate your taking the time. it's very interesting to our viewers. especially when people are skeptical and they think it will last over a longer period of time. let us know what you think. are you seeing signs of continuable life? growth where you are. e-mail us at "street signs" at

cnbc.com. the commodity trade we know for a fact is booming. hope or hopeless. the government's hope now plan, the goal was to modify four million mortgages. they are nowhere near that number. we will keep going to ground zero of the economic cries. that means housing is coming up. (announcer) this is nine generations of the world's most revered luxury sedan. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested cars... this is the world record for longevity and endurance. and one of the most technologically advanced automobiles on the planet. this is the 9th generation e-class. this is mercedes-benz. if saving money happened

as automatically as everything else? at bank of america, it practically does. use the bankamericard power rewards visa credit card and earn rewards like cash back with every purchase. cash you can put into savings. or even use to help pay down your credit card balance. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier.

a few trades that we have not been focusing on. back from vacation, the managing director, you look toon and healthy. let's start with you. commodities are a big part of the story. you found a company that i love to hear about. what is the growth in the uranium market outside iran? i'm just joking on that. >> that's all right. canadian-based ttj is one of the largest uranium producers of the world. they could for 15% of uranium production. it can only be used on the fuel

for nuclear power plants. they provide about 14% of worldwide electricity. the reason that is of interest is unlike a lot of commodity plays where the under lying spot is set by not only the players in the industry, but speculators world over. u rainuous price is set in negotiated transactions and as such doesn't have the same correlations to risk taking and trading. therefore from whether you are an institutional or retail investment, that ought to have appeal. they have a portfolio of assets all over the world and had consumption outstripping production over 23 straight years. >> really quickly, we talked to the ceo, but the basic reason is i would assume not scarcity, but because of the multiple uses, right? >> that's right.

everyone said in the united states we have nuclear and it proved to be a poor decision by the energy company. utilities are the major player, but nuclear is not going away and uranium is not going away. you have 400 existing plants and 50 under construction and you have over 100 that are planned worldwide. china is one of the major plays in this. >> let's move to you and your headline is something focused on a lot. the hurricane forecast came in lower than expected. >> yes, erin and highlights one of the top picks. there is three reasons to buy. they decided the lower hurricane forecast based on el nino, they will probably do it any time. lower activity equates to lower

claims for insurers. we are starting to see in the autos. bmw and toyota are optimistic and of course we heard cash for clunkers a million times on tv. that is boosting domestic auto numbers. more auto sales and insurance shopping good for the top line of all state. finally despite that nice existing home sales data number, earnings for dhi, cent exhomes showed anemic new construction orders. limited activity means continued deflation for construction materials that lowers replacement costs for a company like all state. all state is due to report after the bell. >> thank you very much. all state, all and camicoccj. the housinging score card. only 400,000 mortgages modified. has the government's modification program failed?

and you see this little guy. she is happy and save and lucky she doesn't live in australia. we have that story and a lot more, coming up on "street signs." 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. it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle, and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back... on top of all other offers..

on a new, more fuel efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from - more than ford, toyota, or honda. so save gas... and money... now during the chevy open house. go to chevy.com for details.

>> are how is the mortgage modification program going? only 15% of eligible homeowners were offered a modification since the program was offered in march. is it even making a dent in the housing crisis? we asked not because the numbers came out, but you can't have a recovery without improvement in housing. chairman of the uc berkeley in real estate and economics professor at yale university. we get better than expecting sales and home builders are up and everybody is full of hope and prices are falling 17% year on year and the modification numbers, i think we have a screen here. jpmorgan chase is about the best there was. they had modified 20% of the

loans they had. bank of america 4%. wachovia 2% and national city 0%. is this because the banks are not doing this? the home modification program is stupid to begin with? what is it? >> the numbers are disappointing. no question. remember this is a complicated program. the industry does not have the capacity to do this complicated program quickly. they are all gearing up and the big banks are gearing up strongly. it's in everyone's interest to get it done. it's a complicated program. i think they need something more simple and in addition they are not addressing the two key programs out there. the under water mortgage problem and the fact that we had a massive rise in unemployment which is causing the big problem in the market today. >> i know that given what one thing ken said, the under water mortgages, you agree on one

thing. principal reduction should be a part of this. the banks have fought against this strenuously. they would rather give you 10 extra years than cut the value of the loan. is there a way to have our cake and eat it too. go back up and give the banks a piece and maybe they would be willing to do the modification? >> well, i think that principal reduction is critical and as you know, i was on your show nine months ago and i said that. >> you have been consistent. >> i predicted this plan would fail. fail not just because it would be hard to work out and fail because it was on the wrong track from the beginning. principal reduction is resisted for at least two reasons. if there is a servicer on a loan that is still paying, his fee gets cut in half. now the principal is so low, he

has equity in the house and sells the house. the servicer loses the fee all together. on the other hand, the banks that own the home loans directly if they cut the principal have to take a loss. we know because of the accounting changes and so on. they don't have to show losses now. the home is still paying and they don't want to reveal how badly off they are and they resist cutting the principal. i think that some sort of equity sharing might be a good idea. if you cut the principal enough to give the homeowner equity, they will make the payment and bond holders may get more money than otherwise if he makes the payments. if on top of that the house goes up in value, above the lower appraised value, you could share part of the equity rise with the bond holders or the bank. whoever is given that. >> if we are obviously -- this

plan is not working and part of a reform that would make it work. is the economy and if it fails it fails. we will have all the losses being taken in principal reduction. it has to be done in a simple fashion. try to do something. the program we have now is complicated. the industry doesn't have the appreciation component. shouldn't give something away. we should try to make sure we get the money back as house prices recover. the most important part of the plan is the tax credit. the low end is recovering strongly because of the tax credit. that is say big positive and the

fact that the fed is keeping mortgage rates low. both of those things are helping a lot, but foreclosures have to be worked on. in certain marks, it will take three to five years to recover in the next year which is what we need. >> what would you say is the bottom line? do we need to aggressively make modifications work and reduction would be on both of your lists or do we say at this point it might take time, but we are getting better. we put enough medicine into the market? >> we are getting worse and not better. many of the people are still in the houses and all still in the houses there have been moratoriums, but three million people are delinquent. these house fist we don't do something, they are all going to come on the market and things are going to get worse again. we need to do something.

>> thank you very much. we appreciate your taking the time and a sobering reality check for a lot of people. worth hearing. >> get ready to stop trading and jim cramer has trays on the real estate mark. leave it to darren and karl. they proved recreation trend. we will tell you what others say. that is not a sport. maybe that's part of the problem. we are going to explain. we will be back. he ran off with his secretary! she's 23 years old! - oh, come on. - enough! you get half. and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah. his and hers. - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion? - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( chirp ) joint custody. - dog: phew... announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. announcer: get work done now. communicate in less deaf, hard, hearing and peopith speech disabilitiesit .

welcome back to "street signs". i'm sharon epperson coming here in the oil rig and it feels like we have been treading water all day. this is probably about 18 cents or so. keep in mind they gained more strength today. they weighed on oil prices and equities lack luster. that played a role, but we are waiting for the oil inventory from the american petroleum institute around 4:30. that is expected to show a rise in crude oil supplies. the market is waiting for the

hdp data tomorrow and the jobs reports on friday. the impact that has could present some issue to where oil prices go from here. we are looking at the momentum continuing in the metals market close being an hour ago. all continuing their trend higher. back to you. >> time to stop trading. pow, we have a lot to get to. start with your real trade. >> yesterday a big article. look out. they are about to get hammered. how about boston properties. stocks up off the giant secondary. up gigantically. what are we talking about? this market is on fire. i'm tired of hearing about the bear saying the next big down is commercial. this is the commercial. the heart of it. >> you are saying it doesn't matter what you think. the momentum is going in one

direction. >> doesn't matter the lies people want to tell. >> just now getting better. >> 250 to $10 range.p we could earn $2 or $10. am i supposed to split difference and say $6? that's what people are doing. they say it will earn $6. this stock is going up literally 18 straight points and let's widen the range. a dollar and $15. this may be enough. i have been a big buyer of cat, but this is enough already.

>> enough for the cat and enough for the bear. there was still another drop. the binary nature this is, let's reach for whirlpool. resale homes. that's what people are doing for the cat. following right in line. i just felt today was enough. you can't just say okay, i'm putting it on $10 and taking the tock to 100. that's what people want to do. >> momentum is in control. >> sometimes you have to take a breath and say how many times have i brought the stock up. >> one final thing. the biggest is out of brazil and china, but you are seeing a lot of the pipeline. >> it's not going to happen. i have a number of friends. how is that possible? i'm ancient and everyone i know runs the firms and there so many

new deals about to be announced. the whole no more deals thing didn't jive. you have to do reporting and you have to be buddies. i will not tell you. there a lost deals in the pipe. >> they won't pursue it. there is a lot of deals. >> you are not trading on it. >> no. i feel like it's important to know that the papers are dead wrong about the commercial real estate. dead wrong. >> paper diagnosis not catch one thing at all. there is a serial killer and we will put his picture up. i don't know if you know him. he launched air strikes against camels. there a million that live in australia. the only place they live wild in

the world. they are slaughtering them. >> we're kill people over the snails. >> he is shooting them all. it's the camel farmer being submitted this morning to the authorities. it is pretty amazing. they are paying $foo to slaughter each one. but apparently there is $1 billion of meat out there. >> are they doing this? >> no, they are slaughtering them. the milk and the meat. >> i used to belong to peta. >> they have race there is and sell them. they export them and it's one of the more important exports. >> that's like genocide. >> i think it's a disturbing story. >> they are snapping their heads? like "no country for old men".

that's it. >> i wanted to tell you that. >> that's a horrible story. let's save them. >> yes. >> let's move them to someplace where it needs them. >> i'm glad you brought it. >> i know there was humor a little bit. >> this was a travesty. >> he's out. >> we will see about what happens. that is the man who approves it. >> slaughtering. they are like mouths. >> they are like house flies. i'm all over them. >> they are human when you see them in person. 6:00 and 11:00 eastern. i'm sorry to make the transition, but i top the cheer people up from camels to sports.

it's a tough transition. >> there was racing in there. mas gas car. >> i'm there. >> stop ripping his head off. we got this study that came out and there was interesting stuff. number one seems like the recession play for people in 2008 was sitting on their butts a little bit. 63% of this country did nothing. that might be instead of maybe drugs.

>> it's like -- >> that does not count. . >> the other thing was there were sports that look like economy play and the star of this report might be ultimate frisbee. it's a combination of football and lacrosse and frisbee. 2008, 4.8 million americans played the sport, up 20.8%, the most growth of any team sport. all you need is the regulation disk. only it $10 and you are ready to go. >> you get a scholarship? >> not yet. i will go and you might need the gym for pilates, but some people have their own mats. >> are you worried about your core? >> exactly. pilates. almost nine million people participate. 471% up since 2000.

>> let's talk about ping pong. they are known as table tennis. >> that's ridiculous. >> you see how much sweat is on my back. i am sweating. 17 million people. five million people played more than 16 days, up 35% and finally the hunting category. thanks in part to the new gun licensing laws with the new administration. they play up more than 170% year to date. up 7% compared to the first six months of last year. by the way, i have to bring this back. paint ball is down 6%. >> it is a fortune. >> you have to have the mask and all that stuff.

>> with fighter pilots. >> against camels. >> that's a big sport there in australia. >> to kill thecamels. >> 23% of americans do nothing. if i were to take out -- >> they don't admit to it. >> for i took out ping pong and another that was sketchy, i will keep ultimate frisbee. >> pilates i keep. >> walking counts. >> the people who really --- >> it's about 150 million and 280 million americans 6 and older. it's about half of americans do nothing. >> you are putting that. some people think fitness walking counts. >> that counts. that does count. >> that's cardio. that elevates your heart rate. >> the new erin burnett

standards. >> they should talk about that and ways for people to do it. suspending on health care. >> cutting down on diabetes. >> without having to increase spending. >> and queue. @d@@@@@@@@ i'm sorry. >> that's a great way to demonstrate it. >> all my australian friends. >> it is an upsetting story. >> where is peta? >> not just within the obama administration. they keep their agencies alive. who will win. how do you kill a clunker? it turns out they are put out of their misery with a chemical cocktail and even if you do not have a clunker, stocks you can buy that benefit from every clunker death.

me? find love on the internet? skeptical! oh, my gosh. (woman) find your perfect place at remax.com. (doorbell rings) you had me at "ding-dong." where do you want to be?

>> lulu shares have more than doubled. it came up with we were talking about pilates. enough is enough. the infighting has to stop. that is the message timothy geithner mentioned with regulators. it was reported that the meeting was an expletive-laced meeting which is very unusual for the treasury secretary. everyone was there and ben ber nank skpet chairs. hampton pearson has details. >> some of those top regulators in the room for the reported geithner rant did show up in front of the banking committee today. nobody came with transcripts, but it was a condit conversation and a lot of what has been reported is true. what senator richard shelby wanted to know is whatever it was, the treasury secretary may

have said through the independent regulators, would it impact their independence as far as criticizing the reform plan. does the come that you have provided not any way influence by secretary geithner's tirade against you? >> we do not clear our statements and we take that independent function very, very seriously. moving on, they continued to fire away at the obama reg plan in command of the committee. the target is the call for a single national bank regulator. >> we think having multiple choices can strengthen and guard against capture. if you have regulators, it won't be another one not having a higher standard or question that.

i think you lose that. >> geithner said he thinks a lot of this criticism is about all the respective turfs at stake if regulatory reform happens in a major way, a lot of these clear policy differences. open the door for lawmakers on capitol hill. >> we have another big issue. health care continues and we have the democratic leadership. confident something will happen bite end of the session. the latest on the battle for reform. the news is lunch between president obama and all of the members of the democratic caucus who could make it to the lunch. this is a critical meeting as democrats try to decide whether they will continue the tpain staking process. they try to use the votes and pass it at all democratic bills

and whether there will be a public option and what kind of employer mandate will come out and taxing will be raised and how lavish it will be for 47 million americans who lack coverage. president obama has a decent chance of getting a comprehensive health bill before the end of this year, but a major question is whether it's going to be both parties behind or some elements are only democrats. >> thank you very much, john. up next, auto assassin. we have the scoop on how to kill a clunker and if you don't have a clunker, how to profit from their demise. we will be back. eseseseseseseses

>> so what happens to all the clunkers that get urned into car dealers? death by poisoning. it turns out according to the program, and we'll find out why this was, five gallons of sodium silly cat, five gallons, which is cheap bug repellent is enough to seize a car engine in minutes insuring dealers don't flip the cars. what does that mean for the chemical industry. frank, so five gallons of this

sodium silly cat, what is this stuff? >> good afternoon, erin. it's a very cheap inorganic compound. the way you make it is you use soda ash and you and i have talked about it in the past. combine that with sand and you end up with sodium silly cat. a lot is used in detergents. that's the number one application. there is some use for sill cats in cars already as an adhesive product. this quite frankly, this morning, reading the bottom of page 1 of the "wall street journal" is the first time i've seen it can be used to kill cars. >> so i guess it kills the engine ensuring that the dealer can't flip the car and make money on it. does the soda, there's 250,000 at least, right? probably going to get a bigger program, probably up to 750,000 clunkers. how much sodium silly cat and soda ash is needed? are these companies going to have to up production and i guess increase pricing?

it would be nice if that was the way it was going to pan out, but i like you went ahead and did the math and found out about 250,000 cars are set to be assassinated if you will. what does that mean in terms of towns of sodium silicate? really, the market is about $2.5 billion pounds. and we're only talking about small numbers of millions of pounds with this one particular application. so i don't think it's enough to move the needle terrifically for a company like ppg which is one of the top three producers of sodium sicate although i'm sure they would like to see more cars turned over, in ppg's case, they make a lot of the oem paint that goes on cars. so the chemical industry in general is overjoyed by this program in terms of anything to help auto bids would be great. >> ppg benefitting from the death and birth of the new cars.

it sounds like from the math you're saying even if the program is tripled or quadrupled in size, just in terms of pounds, it wouldn't move the needle even then specifically, the soda ash itself? >> that's true. soda ash about 6, 7% of soda ash is currently used to make sodium silicate. because of the small amount that's required, the margin it's helpful. it gets another application out there. maybe people will start doing some more r&d with the product and seeing other uses that it has. i mean, quite frankly, when you talk about the chemical industry and new innovations you're talking about things in the electronic sector, things to make a smaller back berry with more gizmos on it. the chemical industry helps to do that. you never hear about a brand-new application with an inorganic chemical like sodium silicate. >> find out whether there is a trade.

sometimes no trade is more important than trading. so thank you. coming up, the top companies in the world. guess which country is number guess which country is number one. aflac! you really need it these days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills like gas, the mortgage... ...and groceries. it's like insurance for daily living. so...what's it called? uhhhhh aflaaac!!!! oh yeah! that's it! aflac. we've got you under our wing. a-a-a-aflaaac!

announcer: some people buy a car based on the deal they get. others buy the car of their dreams. 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 is 250.

good news for petro china, it is the largest company in the world. the bad news is that sits market cap is down 47% from last year. still though good for number one. you can see the other companies

on the list, exxonmobil 2, commercial bank china third, china mobile fourth, microsoft fifth. three of the five biggest companies in the world by market cap are chinese. that's certainly something we've been talking quite a bit about. in terms of prosprart around the economy, whether the stimulus is lasting over the longer term, bob in chester, california, yes, the stimulus is working. we have three road projects. the car dealers are selling and the state and county are getting tax money. i am glad to have the smart guys back in charge. how about cash for camels? we could start a fund to stop the camel cide. time for the "closing bell." >> senate majority leader harry reid says the senate will approve new fund for the cash for clunkers program before it leaves for the august recess. general electric is settling sec charges of improper accounting paying $50 million to do so. ge, the parent of nbc universal does not admit or deny guilt in

settling. mary schapiro says the commission is studying ways to eliminate inequities resulting from so-called flash trading. now first in business worldwide, cnbc, i'm mike huckman. stocks losing a little momentum in the homestretch. the dow dipping below positive territory as we enter the final hour of the trading day. welcome to the closing bell. i'm bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm michelle caruso. the markets right now, stocks seeing selling pressure in the last ten minutes with the major averages all now in negative territory. taking a look where we stands, the dow jones industrial average lower by three points. you can see we've been hovering around the flat line. ditto for the nasdaq lower by 6.5 points. 2002. still holding onto the 2000 level. the s&p 500 still holding onto the 1,000 level.

1.55. bob, what else is on your radar? >> we're getting nice moves up in financials and other interest rate sensitive stocks here today. even though we're seeing a dip in the bonds. let's take a look at some of the big movers here. real estate investment trusts. the background for commercial real estate, in general it's poor. we have nice moves up in office reits like sl green, kim coand even apartment reits like avalon bay. some people are starting to think they've got to own some of these because they're underowned by very important groups of investors. home builders, disappointing earnings results today. d.r. horton wasn't terrific. we did have stronger existing home sales, pending home sales contracts helping with the upward ward momentum. some of these percentage moves, many of them are sitting near multimonth highs here today. financials, important t