market. stocks staging a bit of a comeback today, oil systems steady. gold higher. bob pisani starts us out at the new york stock exchange. commodities and the dollar and a whole lot more. >> that's right. financials leading, too. i want to say this spdr, spy, eps, definitely a mood of caution out here today, and the last couple days. but why were they able to bring them down at the open? traders are really impressed by the fact that the market rally backed not long after we broke the low after yesterday's close. that's according to volume pick up as we moved up during the day here. let's take a look at some of the retailers, target, home depot, sax, very simple story. feed on the bottom line. did not feed on the top line. no cost-cutting, no real signs of strong consumer spending yet. stocks on the up side today. financials had excellent numbers yesterday on their credit card data for the month of july. american express upgradeded and

kdw, and jpmorgan and bank of america showing credit trends. how is the nasdaq? >> a third of the loss yesterday, up a full 1% now. flex electronic continues to be one of the strong tech stocks in the nasdaq. some of the financials like huntington bank also strong. research in motion on that triple call from rbc with apple, r.i.m. and palm all trading higher. interestingly, research in motion, one of only five stocks in the nasdaq, 100 that are now positive on a week to day basis. and joy global alongside many of the industrials, they're actually very strong. back to you. >> i'll take it, matty. down here at the nymex, i believe. we are had he highs of the session right now, up over $68 a barrel. of it's funny, we just are gaining momentum and in the last bit, we have been tracking equities. all relatively light. keep in mind, in terms of options, we have gone to october and those volumes are heavy,

although the generals still light. backing equities, yes, but api numbers coming at 4:30 eastern time and we'll talk later in the day what the estimates are, looking forward. i also want to touch on the rest of the complex, because we do have nat gas down now, there is no real threat. so that is part of the pricing there, even though it's hotter than normal now. and sugar, we are still tracking that. sugar is also near 30-year highs, but i also want to let you know, rick and the audience, coming up at 1:00, we're going to delve deep near the gold play, not just about the dollar, some other nuances going on. in the next hour. rick, what's going on? >> that weaker dollar has given up little today, definitely helping some commodities. but, you know, i watched a group of traders look at the following three charts, same three charts, and i'll give you what their views are. remember, keep it simple. they said we're going to go back to where the congestion and volume was on the way down. so maybe up towards the 80 to 81

area. second chart, ten year no fields. we know rates move up sometimes, but they think this chart for the near-term looks like lower rates. of and the last chart? well, the last chart is stocks. and no matter how you look at it, there is a roundiness that many think will give us more of a correction. that's the read by traders on the chart. back to you, sue. >> thank you very much, we'll check in with you later. and bill, you have new news. >> this is the news i was referring to earlier, just released in this hour, a new nbc poll issued, health care reform. one of questions got our attention. would you favor or oppose creating a public health care plan? the option that seems to be off the table for the administration. and right now, 47% of those who responded oppose it for the first time now in this poll. more oppose it than favor it. you can see how it compared to last month when 46% were in favor, 44% opposing it. in a first on cnbc jane wells

talked to a powerful senator from iowa, chuck grassley. she joins us from iowa with more on that. jane? >> well, we talked to senator grassley who is at the center of the health care tornado, if you will. he says that it did appear over the weekend that the administration was backing off from the public option plan, but yesterday he said he thinks there was some back-pedalling there. here is what he had to say about why he thinks there will be no bill if it includes a public option plan. listen. >> what's wrong with a public option is the think tank says 120 million people are going to opt out. 120 million people opt out, then 15 million people with private health insurance, pretty soon you don't have any private health insurance, and pretty soon you have what they have in other countries, where the government runs everything. and then you have -- and americans will not stand for rationing. when they want an mri, they want it tomorrow. they don't want it in three months like you have to wait for

it in some countries. >> so there you can see what is sort of playing out in that poll. you mentioned, bill, we're going to hear more from senator grassley in an hour, including the potential these town hall meetings are having. back to you. >> thank you, jane. and they'll have more of the results on this poll on nbc nightly news tonight with brian williams. we will have a debate on this issue, whether the president has been realistic on the health care option coming up in 30 minutes on "power lunch." meantime to the markets. i want to read the indicator we have been following here, the volatility index at the chicago board options exchange, known as the vix or the fear indicator. and here's what i have been looking at lately. this is a one-year chart of the vix, going back to last year at this time. of and what we have added are an indicator created by an old friend and former colleague, john boll inger. just simply and briefly, when these bands squeeze together, it often signals a breakout for the index that it's following. and you can see, last year at this time, a huge squeeze right

there. of the boll inger bands, and led to a big crease in volatility that we saw last fall for obvious reasons. since then, the bollinger bands have been holding steady, and we're back to right now, and we've got as much of a squeeze in the bollinger bands on the vix as we saw last year at this time. does it signal a breakout to the up side? that remains to be seen, of course. >> it does. and let's get some answers to that question. we're going to gather our task force. now joining us is roy williams, and agi shows us that the mo capital markets and also joined by bob pisani. gentlemen, thank you very much for your time. let me start with you. it's really interesting, after we got that second day in a row, the down side gets today, a lot of people are quick to say this is an overcorrection, let's hope make we can get more of a correction that some people who

missed out might be able to get in at a lower level. the question is, now that we're back up today, was it just a blip, or are we going to get a bigger dip? >> i think most of the major earnings are done right now, and we're going to have volatility to the down side, because some of the indicators, employment, and retail sales are still suffering. so i think, you know, the down side maybe to about 8000 in that range. but just like last quarter after earnings finished and leading and lagging economic indicators, and people are trying to make sense of what is happening. and i think the big thing we have to look at right now, everybody is afraid, the consumer is afraid of money, because they don't what their taxes are going to be, and health care costs. in vancouver last week, talking about health care, they're talking about putting off 5,000 surgeries, major surgeries. neurosurgerie neurosurgeries, because of budget shortfalls in their national system. >> and you know, that's a very interesting point, andy. but another factor that was

interesting trading yesterday and that is an undercurrent in today's trading session is the global economic recovery, and also the role of the dollar. and commodity prices. put it together for us, and tell us what you see in this market. >> you have to kind of bring it back to the united states and see the consumer is very weak here. and we've had an easy quarter as far as being able to beef earnings, because the expectations were still low, and people cut jobs, and they cut costs. so that's pretty much done. i don't see where we're going to give any top earnings anywhere from that. so looking global, one of the big drivers -- we also have numbers out of the uk and of course the german zoo investor confidence number was much better than expected. so those papers or some of the negative impact that we've had over the last two days of selling over the united states, that came from last week's consumer confidence numbers, and retail sales numbers from last week. and just one more thing. i just want to say, a great

interview with grassley, because he is the key man -- the senate finance committee is where you will see the break in any kind of health care deal, and i will tell you this. i will recommend to all of my clients to sell equities and sell u.s. dollars if they x include that public option in the health care bill. >> let me see what happens there. bob pisani, what's on the minds right now. are we heading into a dejavu of last year at this time, where there is an anticipation of a correction, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. showing on the vix there, possibly a signalling for this fall? >> and i think the vix is two standard deviations. i think the bollinger bands are two standard deviations from where we're trading right now. so the answer is we have had low volatility reasonable, and that's one of the reasons the bands were getting narrower and narrower. most traders now, definitely more cautious. most traders are expecting those kind of pullbacks. a 10% pullback would be 9, 10 on the s&p, only 80 points away. that's certainly not much. already at a 3% correction from

the high on august 13th. so everybody there -- i sort of take the opposite view. when everybody is positioned for a potential correction at this point, it's very easily for it to move in the other direction. this morning, the market should have moved down a little bit more. they tried to press them early on, despite the volume picking up, selling on the down side. but they couldn't hold it. moved up very quickly. >> and rick santelli, who joined us very quickly, the rush to the treasuries and overyields here, is that taking some of the risk out of the market here? >> i think it's making the market look exactly the way the bollinger bands do. everybody i'm talking to sees for a lot of higher dollar, lower equity, lower interest rate, and indeed those bands are going to show you a higher vix. that's what they're looking for over the next month. >> all right. thank you, gentlemen. all. of we'll see you all later. thanks for your time. we'll take a break, come back. this stunning cyber attack that we told you about yesterday, hackers stealing data from 130 million credit and debit cards.

how vulnerable is the entire financial system here in the u.s.? could the fed or the treasury be vulnerable to all of that? we'll have some experts coming up here. also this hour, we're focusing on major retailers from very different corners of the sector, all out with earnings today, and we'll zero in on the american consumer. and president obama's view on health care. is he being realistic? >> and the "fast money" halftime report for tuesday. back in two minutes. these days every penny counts with everything you buy.

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welcome back to "power lunch," i'm mary thompson at the breaking news desk. more information about this ubs probe by the u.s. government. a court filing said it is criminally investigating more than 150 u.s. clients of ubs, the swiss bank. additionally, a memo out that u.s. prosecutors or says that u.s. prosecutors are seeking a reduced sentence for its key informant in this ubs tax evasion case, that being bradley mercantile, the former u.s. banker who pleaded guilty to conspiracy back in 2008 basically is helping ubs clients evade u.s. taxes. prosecutors are citing his cooperation in their probe into -- keep in mind, back in february, agreed to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution for helping wealthy americans. back to you.

>> thank you very much. this known hacker who was indicted yesterday on the theft of a staggering ining 130 milli credit and debit card members,is the biggest they have ever unconferred. and they were in it to steal stuff using other people's money. what threat to these hackers pose to the u.s. financial system, the federal reserve, the treasury, all of those institutions? joe hagen is former chief technology office for the bush white house and now chairman of yes mobile. and the chairman of wire.com has been following this story for some time. and this was a classic hack using very sophisticated technology, wasn't it? >> be yeah. it's a pretty standard attack, a single injection attack. the secret here was that they managed to breach the corporate internet, and lurk there for months and months and months. learning how to plan their attack on the transactional

network, which came a lot later. and they learned exactly what defenses were there, they went back to the lab and tested how to defeat them. and then when they were ready, they went in and had fun. >> and joe, if he can hack or he and other hackers like him can get into a card verification program, a supermarket chain or something like that, how vulnerable are systems like treasuries or the fed or something like that? >> well, look, the exchanges and the financial institutions in this country, along with some of the sensitive government operators of these systems have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect the systems. that said, the threat is really evolving daily. this is a group of individuals, you can imagine what a state-sponsored attempt or a state-sponsored effort could do, where you have hundreds of people working on the hack. so there is a vulnerability. the systems really only as strong as its weakest link. of you've got people who are using little or no software

protection on wi-fi. of. >> so, joe -- >> very vulnerable. >> is it going to be people or technology or the combination of both that really protects the financial system like the fed, like the treasury, like the u.s. government? >> o it's a combination. i mean, you have to stay vij leapt, you have to have the systems in place, and you also have to have the leadership, both on the corporate side and the government side, to put the priority on the systems required. and it's not just the sensitive -- the sensitive financial systems or the sensitive government systems. we're really going to have to step up in the country and try and plug some of these holes, especially on the mobile side, for instance. >> john, it's interesting. no matter how many systems are in place, no matter how sophisticated the protective software is, at the end of the day, all this information, credit card numbers and et cetera, is all designed to be accessed by someone at the end of the day. so at the end of the day, are we therefore relying on the goodness of that person who is

accessing our information? >> are well, no. i mean, it's not the sort of situation where you have a retailer and their primary loss comes from their employees. this is not pilferage. this is determined people who actually know what they're doing. the take-away here is even this kind of attack, which is fairly common now -- is very preventible. and what's happened is that in-house, companies and departments have not taken all -- all of the preventative measures that they can in terms of updating mundane things we talked about checking their computer for viruses, updates, that sort of thing. they also don't maintain the sort of in-house defensive sort of teams. they rely on periodic audits that are provided, that are required by visa. >> right. >> from a list of certified auditors. >> so are you saying we're not likely to see a story down the road of hackers being able to penetrate sensitive data from treasury or fed or something

like that, john? >> well, i would be very surprised if that didn't happen. in other words, i would be very surprised if you didn't have a situation where a government or another important enterprise was not reached. it's always at arms' length, no matter what you do. >> i would agree. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. four retail stocks perform from different quarters of the sector. and results from home depot, target, sax, and we'll see what's on the mind of the american consumer. >> here's a look at how the stocks are doing right now. you can see the reaction in the stock. up 3 2/3 percent. target is back, and we'll be following that stock performance, as well. dow up 78 points on the trading session. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 if i'm breathing, i'm thinking about trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i always have my eye out for a stock on the move. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 doesn't matter if a company sells computer chips

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okay. let's take a look at the market. compared to this time yesterday, considerably better picture with the nasdaq up just over 1 cent, the same as the s&p 500 and the dow. and some of the most widely -- stocks on cnbc, american international, 3m, and apple. home depot among the major

retailer are earnings today. of beating estimates, and boosting its outlook. rebecca jarvis is on earnings central watch with details. >> it was a similar story that we've heard. sales plumping, but costs contained, that translating to the bottom line. more home depot, chairman ceo frank blake says he doesn't expect to see same-store sales growth until the second quarter or back half of 2010, a long ways away. the biggest home improvement retailer, the average ticket there, a couple hints of optimism. the number of customer transactions improving. >> plus, hd is gaining share over the competition. six of its thirteen departments captured a larger percentage of the apply. carpet, paint, hardware, plumbing. it's interesting to note, the professional business down 24%, whereas the consumer business down much less in contrast.

now 2 to 3%. so when you think about where their business is coming from, and a lot talk about the consumer being weak, if the consumer is down marginally less than the overall business, that some interesting news. >> people rolling up their sleeves and doing it themselves. >> exactly. >> let's talk more about the retail in general. can retailers shrug off the yea year-end rally? we have an analyst from goldman sachs. welcome back. pleasure to have you here. >> thank you. >> you said basically it's all about managing the inventory effectively. >> i think that's what we have been seeing up until now. the fact is, inventory wealth controls are expensive, and as a result, you're seeing the profitability picture a lot better. but now is really when the rubber meets the road, and we're going to have to start see sales improve in the back half to see this rally continue. >> so we're not going to have a big fire sale with sax this fall. of. >> unfortunately not. we are not. we are going to see -- the fact is, inventories are under

control, and as a result, the promotional cadence should be more rational. you're not going to have to see people below inventory. >> but the consumer has been kind of conditioned, if you will, to get that sales price. i mean, we even thought with cash for clunkers, there is a price point at which people will buy. is there any kind of pricing power on the retailers' front because the consumer is so used to the coupons and the sales and the like? >> that is still important, and as a result, you're seeing the off-mall value retailers gain share, tjx and gold are seeing traffic improvement and share in gains. so the consumer cares a lot about value, but the fact is, there is less inventory out there, they'll have to promote less. but i still think you are seeing this morning they are shifting price points, to more accessible price points, less of the higher end, more aspiration al price

trends. so i think the consumer is looking for good and better as opposed to best. >> on the earnings season side, doesn't seem to be a revenue earnings season. so i'm wondering with regard to the retailers, how much do these results -- the better than expected results today even cost cutting as opposed to real revenue and are there any stand out stocks where we are seeing real demand and real revenue growth? >> you're right. i think it's safe to say that for the most part, it has been driven by inventory and cost containment. the exceptions are the kohls, where the old fashioned fees driven by top line coming in better, and you're seeing that flow through to the bottom line. but for the most part, so far, it's been mostly inventory management, and expenses. but again, heading into the back half where we should start to see easy comparisons, hopefully the top line will start to show some improvement, and as a result, we should see better numbers.

>> thanks, adrien. nice to see you. >> nice to see you. >> and incidentally, thinking of sax and the ceo of sax will join us first on cnbc. he'll give us his profit picture, the outlook for the retail environment today on "the closing bell," 4:00 p.m. eastern time. >> thank you, rebecca jarvis. straight ahead, a firestorm over the president backing off the plan for a public option in health insurance reform. was he rolled by angry demonstrators, or is he just being realistic on what will get through? the power grid debate is coming up in just a moment. >> then it's the "fast money" halftime report. >> cold money. get that straight. >> the last of the dow component reports, and heat packed will take their position on this stock, and also where the options markets are setting up for the earnings after the close. and an aggressive call on the smart phone makers. is this the call you want to bu

into when it comes to apple, r.i.m. and palm. more "power lunch" after this. 

israeli it's really an issue of damned if you do, damned if you don't. hinting that health care reform may be dropped, an option not all that popular with the opposition. did he gave to attacks from angry protesters and from republicans, or is he just being politically realistic in this case? duking it out, democratic strategist rich masters and greg knapp, radio host of the greg knapp experience. 20 seconds. a lot to talk about here. greg, is he being realistic or was he just facing the heat and he rolled? >> first, obviously he caved. and didn't just cave for republicans or protesters. of he looked at the polls. people are against this government grab of the health care system. they don't want it expanded. it's also realistic, because he knows he can't get it through because even the blue dog democrats are saying, whoa, slow down, buddy. so this is kind of a victory, but still going to go to the

government plan. the co-ops have a different name for it. >> rich, what do you think? >> well, listen, i can't imagine. i guess it's because we had eight years of imperial presidency with george bush, where it was either my way or the highway. this is what the founders wanted. they wanted healthy debate. and that's what they've got. and i think the president is being brilliant in how he is handling this. much listen, we've got to get something passed. half a loaf is better than no loaf. and he has not caved quite yet, being a leader. >> our jane wells is in iowa with senator charles grassley. one of the key people in the senate on this issue. he is the ranking member of the finance committee, he does not want the public health option. here is why. >> so the bottom line of it is, if public option is resented by a lot of republicans and some democrats, because we feel it's a first step toward government takeover or health care. >> and just released in the polls just released by nbc news,

where we asked favor or opposed to the public option, and 47% now oppose it compared to those 43% who would approve it. greg, what do the republicans want? i mean, what kind of reform do they want, and do they want reform at all? >> well, i'll tell you the reform i want is a conservative. and i think most people i talk to on the radio want an idea of a patient-centered approach where it gets back to the patient and the doctor where you have free market health care insurance, where you can have a totally different thing. with the high premium, low deductible, and health savings account, between you and your doctor, except for catastrophic care, you can have all kinds of things competing across america and a real difference in this cost of care. that's true reform. >> rich, just this morning, two columnists who have been influential and very supportive of the president have been critical of the president for backing away from the public health option. and eugene robinson especially

was saying, the way the president has played this out, he only laid out objectives, he didn't lay out mechanisms. he said what he wanted, but not how to get there. was that a mistake in retro speck? >> well, i read gene's column this morning and he is right on very many things. and i think the president has staked out his plan exactly how he wants it. and keep in mind, i think at the end of the day, that liberal and conservative columnists are going to agree. gene robinson's column also says this morning that even if we pass something without a public option, it's better than what we have right now. and i think that is where we're getting off track here. for so long, we have had gridlock in washington, d.c., because neither side was willing to compromise or break down. and i think what the president is showing now is true leadership, because he really understands that we have got to have serious health care reform in america. >> here is where i totally disagree, because i don't think what we're doing is health care reform. i think it's another incremental step towards fully

government-run health care. >> hold on a second. >> you look at -- >> wait it out. >> if you look at the co-ops that they're putting in, even senator max baucus said the co-ops would have to be the same as a public option. harry reid said call it public option, whatever you want to call it. that's what they want. >> electric costs for america has been working for decades and decades. >> why do we need another one? >> we need one for health care. >> we have one. >> really, we don't have one. >> they're all across america right now. but they're not run by the government. >> the beat continues, obviously. >> hurricane bill -- >> thanks, guys. see you later. >> hurricane bill could be a big one. the winds are getting stronger, the storm is getting closer. could even hit the carolina

coast. we're going to have the latest for you. >> the dow up 74 points and hanging in there. of back with more "power lunch" after this.

the first hurricane of the season is gathering force over the atlantic. weather channel's nick walker joins us from atlanta with the latest. hi, nick. >> hi, sue, hi, mandy. take a look at a strengthening hurricane bill. very symmetrical system here. the eyewall has lots of thunderstorms in it, a very well-defined, large eye. obviously strengthening on the satellite. we may have a major hurricane on our hands by the time we get into later today or overnight tonight. right now, this is a category 2, 105 miles an hour winds in the center. in our, the u.s. air force hurricane hunters will be flying out into this later today. based on their findings, will determine whether or not we have that major hurricane. it looks as if it's getting closer and closer to the island here, but it looks like probably it's going to bypass the antilles, actually bypass most of the major land areas. an area of high pressure to the north, air flow around that high is going to be funneling it up farther toward the north.

and as we get toward the weekend. bermuda, you're right here, this area. so you very well could see a close pass by the early part of the weekend. the good news is, probably the only major effects we're going to feel in the united states will be some nice surf, lots of wave action here, for the latter part of the weekend. otherwise, should be a pretty good shape, at least that's our best guess scenario right now. sue, mandy? >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> hi, nick. >> hi, bill. hi, bill. >> ceo of pke restaurants and a bit of of a beast. we're going to talk business, the economy, and why it's a comp. for mickey ds. back in a minute.

welcome to the "fast money" halftime report. getting to the heart of the action it is it is happening. stocks rebounding over the 3% fly over the last two sexes. is it time to get back in the market or a head fake? let's get to the word on the street. our "fast money" crew today, jon najarian, options action trader. patricia edwards of store house partners and brian kelly of conundrum research. we are seeing the vix crumble today, 26.7 or so. and we are seeing -- how do you interpret this move? >> i think what you're seeing in

the vix is a reaction that people are wanting to use the vix to their advantage. they are looking for opportunities. we did not see the buyers come into the market yesterday that a lot of us expected. we're seeing some of the buyers return to the market today, and as they return, they want to use the volatility in their favor. in other words, they are selling up side premium against getting themselves into their position. as they do, you're seeing the volatility index really take it back rapidly, almost as rapidly as we jumped yesterday, we're pulling back dramatically. >> brian, what do you make of today's action? we are seeing two market leaders, what happens when the market leaders in the summer rally, financials as well as technology lead us higher today? would it be better if we sort of bottomed out and not had this snopback, as we were seeing today. >> yeah, you know, i would have much rather seen another capitulation sell-off today. i'm not sure i would call up 70 points on the dow a huge rally after being down 180 points. but i would say watching the financials is the key. and also, the last half hour of the day. remember, over the last couple

weeks, we have had these runoffs at the end of day. and yesterday it didn't happen. that would be a key for me as the day goes on. >> let's talk about the retailers, and set the table. in today's session. rebound today, home depot raining the skies for the year, target posting earnings above analyst expectations. patty edwards, the retail maiden amongst the group. is this good news? we are seeing lows most notably continuing today, down by almost 2%. >> well, home depot is apparently eating lowe's lunch. so i think that's part of what we're seeing today. home depot's numbers were good. you have to give them credit. once again, though, cost cutting is without revenue growth. guiding up right where it's treated now so i don't think it's that big of a deal. target, absolutely -- able to pull off a 13 cent number above what everyone was expecting. absolutely fabulous. that being said, once again, no revenue growth. and so, you know, i'm not that excited. >> but nobody was expecting revenue growth, patty, in this

quarter. real, let's be honest. in any industry, practically. setland, what do you think in terms of the options market and retailing today? >> well, last week, bullish activity with call buying, that was out for september, indicating the retailers' rally may continue for the next month or so. i was not surprised at all that target beat here, there was some bullish activity going on in this target last week ahead of this earnings play, so it's not uncommon that we still have retailers move higher and maybe they do move higher. however, if the market rallies and retests the high that fails to make a new high, the retailers and the financials are really going to feel the pain and the hit. and that's why there is call-buying going on, rather than outright owning the stock. limit your exposure and the amount of capital you're outlaying. >> brian, what do you make of this argument against the new normal. patty edwards is a fan this defensive retail play in light of the new economy. the consumer looking for value. at the same time, we haven't seen target stock move higher

this year. >> right. i mean, you know, what's the new normal? i think people talking about, you know, three-plus percent gdp growth over the next couple quarters, i don't know where it's going to come from. and i'm not a big fan of the reta retail stocks at this point in time. you're talking about a consumer saving money. you have seen all of the stimulus basically go into savings. you are seeing disposable personal income, lower over the last couple months. so that's a real concern for me. and the new normal is not a retail base trade. of. >> no matter who the retailer is. >> no matter who the retailer is. you're going to have some baseline traffic from walmart and target and that kind of thing. but, you know, i don't think that you're going to see massive growth at these companies. >> okay. let's move on to the next trade. patty edwards, the head shake is noted. we have to move on to the next trade. the credit card names rallying. yesterday we got the data. in a rational world that match of trust data could have been a spark for the rally in this group today when we are seeing that rally at goldman sachs

seeing the decline in delinquencies could benefit mastercard. pete najarian, we said yesterday that the masters trust data wasn't that bad. are you interested in any of these names? and are you interested in the names? >> they all show some interest. if you want to be on the safe side, you have to stick with visa and mastercard and if you are looking for bang for your buck, you go down and look at american express. even though it made a move, you have to like what you are seeing and the reaction. delink wensy is not as bad and the trend is showing some improvements. there things to look for there. discovery still offers the most bang for the buck, but you are taking more risk. the further you go down the train, the more risk you take and you get more rewarded when the moves, if we are seeing the improvement in the consumer and you get more bang for your buck. >> don't forget that we had stimulus come in for the social

security and retired military. part of that could be showing up here. i want to see what the next month looks like. as we start to see this unemployment snowball, things are going to get worse. >> let's talk about the financials more broadly because that is helping them move. the stock was upgraded at pali capital at $210 price target. the pressure will take off about 40% of compensation and that could be a nice wind through the sails of goldman sacks' fourth quarter. it is regarded widely as best in class. >> they continue to make moan in the trading profits. they were the last man standing in terms of going out and making trades and executing. they were best positioned to take advantage of the run off off the bottom in march. they were well-positioned to do well going forward. now i think they are losty in price right here.

some of the financials, i don't know how much higher they go. they are bullish and goldman sachs is one of the best in breeds and if you are going to play the financials whether you own the bonds or own the stock out right. watch for overexposing yourself. >> you like the regionals. two reasons why will be a skeptic. the etf you are watching up 90% since the march lows. they have more commercial real estate exposure which is the next shoe to drop. why would you be in on the trade? >> the commercial real estate exposure is the best shoe dropping i have seen. the whole world knows about this. i think after the fact, after the fed put tons of billion into the economy, they will not let the market go away and you have seen them be extended through march of 2010. there is support and the regionals have been priced for that arm get on of commercial mortgages blowing up. you get a good bang for the buck

and also with the steep yield curve of 240 basis points, it's difficult to lose money as a bank. >> good point there. >> if you are looking for an area where you are seeing an amazing amount of speculation, it is in regional banks all the way to bb and t. across the board, they are definitely one of the target areas people are looking for. looking for the big bang to the upside is where they are focusing right now. >> got to leave it there. we have the latest on hewlett packard. coming up next, an exclusive with restaurants and why he is talking smack about mcdonald's. fast money halftime report continues after this. >> after the bold moment in the sun, is the bear coming out of hyper nation. a wall street legend said the sun is going down on this summer rally. and a fortune teller and the flat panel tvs and mobile

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>> let's talk oil up by 2 plus percent. the commodity king joins us on the fast line. got a question for you. oil is rising along with the stock market and it is a proxy obviously for economic recovery. at the same time at what point does it become inflationary and a detriment to the rally? >> if you get wti above $75 which i have doubts that you will, once you get above 75 you change the psychology dramatically. gasoline prices get up above $3 and you will start to have problems above that and we are

used to something around 67 to $72 a barrel. we will see what happens. it is interesting. today's strength in the crude oil is because of the weakness in the u.s. dollar. the two have been absolutely tied, one to the other. >> got it. dennis. hewlett packard on deck to report earnings and we will be all over that. ahead of the earnings, what do you do? in the options pits, what are they pricing in? >> they are pricing in and looking at a 4% move on the stocks and through the expirations and through the friday. what you are seeing is a little bit of bearish activity of the 42.5 strikes and seeing that maybe the stock pulls back a little bit and tech had a nice run up over the last few months and you get profit-taking and i have to say there is also activity saying that we want to own this stock below 40. people selling on the 40 strikes saying if you get greater than 40%, it's okay to get hewlett packard at the $40 level.

>> on fast money tonight, wal-mart is for a break out to see what they have in store. coming up next, after three years of price decline why homeowners may be seeing the glass half full. finally. see what else. >> absolutely. a bit of good news. coming up, the home of karl's jr. and hardy's at base with mcdonald's. the ceo of cke joins us exclusively to unveil the new weapon. stocks on the rise and oil following suit are all the bases cover and taking the pulse of the markets. darren ra vel speaks to the world series of poker and fresh off of striking a big new tv deal. back in a moment with the dow jones industrial average posting a debt is gain. see you in a moment. >> movie studio mgm placed harry sloan with the team that included turn around expert and production boss mary parents. sloan will continue as chairman.

moody's removed the transportation authority from review from possible downgrades. the mta runs the biggest trend of system and the new revenue system wants to remove the financial system. after the dow beat estimates with the latest earnings. that's the news now. i'm courtney reagan. >> we welcome you to the second hour of "power lunch" and michelle caruso cabrera is off and mandy, we welcome you for the next couple of days. stocks are back in the green one day after the sell off and we saw globally, american express, home depot and b of a among the biggest winners in the dow this tuesday. >> speaking of those dow components, hewlett packard due out with the after the bell earnings and a day ahead of google's 5th anniversary. we take a look at what the future holds.

>> a new report out said homeowners are optimistic about the housing market. are they dilutional or do they see something we don't? >> let's chat about the market. we have this bounce and decent numbers from the producer price index and wholesale inflation is lower. housing was not such a great number. the housing number was down, but the retailers showed a better number than anticipated. maybe that's a result of cost cutting rather than growth. >> it seems to be a huge thing, the fact that we aren't seeing growth in revenue. it's the revenue earnings season and a jobless recovery that begs the question how sustainable it is. >> i was surprised that home depot got it the second half of the year. i found that -- >> as opposed to what lowe's did. they pointed out they picked up market share so maybe it came at

the expense of their arch rival. >> the inventory control is important, but the fact that earnings were better even though they showed a loss, significantly better than what it was looking at. we won't see the sales. >> they did take advantage of that. >> 90% sales off. i have never seen anything like this. you know how to do sales. >> yes, we do. bring an extra suitcase next time. >> i brought it. >> good. moving along, on a day in which the government announced a drop in housing starts, another report indicates homeowners are taking a more optimistic view of the real estate market. diana joins us from maryland with a bit of a realty cheak. hi, diana. >> let's start with housing starts. a mixed bag with single families bumping up and multifamily falling off a cliff. take a look at the numbers. single family starts rose in

july from june while multifamilies fell largely due it a lack of credit in the commercial market. builders may be juicing the single family pipeline based on demand and getting the last buyers in before the first buyer tax credit expires. back home as inventories of new construction are at a-month supply. single family permits rose 5.8% making permits up 34% since january. all better for the building inventory, but not the condition of the housing market. it is struggling under bloated supply and rising foreclosures. it begs the question, are we getting ahead of ourselves in the recovery and housing. a new report from zilo may say so, 60% of all homeowners believe their home lost value over the past year while in 8083% lost value. more shock suggest that 81% of homeowners believe their own home's value will not fall over the next six months while most analysts predict another 10 to

15% drop in prices nationwide before we hit a bottom. you have to ask why the homeowners believe things are turning around so quickly and positive on the market. it shows it may be difficult in the selling season going forward if they continue to price their homes too high. for more we are talking about it on the blog. realty check.cnbc.com. >> we will talk more about this and bring in the president of woodly park research. welcome. it's a pleasure to have you here. what do you make of that statistic. homeowners think their homes will no longer continue to decline in value. what do peg it to? >> americans are perpetually optimistic about the housing market. the university of michigan does surveys and asks the people is this a good time to buy. 77% think it is. even if you went back to the worst moments in the cycle, 2007 and 2008, the majority thought it was a good time to buy when prices were falling in most places at double-digits.

>> you don't buy a home expect together to go down in price. >> that's right, but what happens is people buy homes and they see their value rise over long periods of time. they are amortizing their loans and saving in a sense every month when they make the payments. the perception of housing performance exceeds the reality and this latest survey only confirms that. >> do you think the glass house reading on the fact that we saw the unexpected fall in housing stocks. one reading is the recovery may have some way to go. the other reading of course is that new houses out there means the market has more time to absorb the current inventory and support prices down the road. >> for does. we are approaching a bottom in housing prices and in spite of the uptick or it was down, but i call it unchanged. for new homes and existing homes is that inventories have been

declining and in some cases for just about six months. we still have a huge overhang. what's important is the overhang is diminishing. at some point in my opinion year end that will lead to greater stability in the housing market and we will see prices head north. >> do you agree? >> one thing though. i'm concerned about one thing. the tax credit. we did an interview with toll brothers who said he would be shocked if congress didn't extend the first time home buyer credit and increase it. i wonder if these builders are not starting the speck home or permitting for the speck homes in the hope they will see the push from an elongated tax credit. we have not gotten that yet. it's not a guarantee. we will wonder what will happen if we don't. >> right. i don't think the credit has been an issue so far. we don't attache lot of publici publicity. what i would argue is at best, what the home buyer credit is doing is offsetting some of the

reluctance people are having to move into the market. if we get the kind of economic recovery i expect and think the consensus view, the confidence is important not everywhere, but in the housing market will be in better shape in 2010 even if we don't get the extension, we will have people in a better frame of mind for buying houses and that will contribute. >> will they have paychecks to pay for it? >> what do you peg the survey to? people feel as though perhaps we reached a bottom at least in the decline in home prices. what does your gut tell you? >> as i say, home buying and homeowner owning is an investment and so many people refused to believe they lost the value they have on paper. when you talk to real estate agents which i do every day, sellers are still overpricing their homes. we saw last week it showed a huge number of people having to

slash prices not once, but twice because they are misreading the market. homeowners have an emotional sense. by itself would say why do you think? >> that signals a lack of a bottom right there. sellers are often in denial early in the cycle where as late in the cycle is when they throw in the towel and are willing to bring the price up. >> exactly and realtors are saying they have extreelly stubborn sellers and clients will not lower prices and won't price the way they should be. >> i agree it is less true than 1 and two years ago. you have seen capitulation. people are being unrealistic and everything that matters is relative and what we see is people have begun to capitulate and we are getting closer to the bottom in prices. >> a quick programming note, more on the housing market later today on the closing approximately, the chairman and ceo will offer his take in a

cnbc interview 4:00 p.m. eastern time. >> the burger wars are heating up. carl's is introducing a larger sized lower priced answer to the big mac and never one to shy away from a campaign, carl's jr. take a spice at mickey d's and a world exclusive sneak peek on "power lunch." take a look. >> i'm a big mac. >> i'm a big carl. >> i have a half pound of beef. >> i was born with a third bun. >> whoa. tmi, dude. >> twice the meat of the big mac for less cash. new at carl's jr. >> the ceo of cke restaurants and parties by the way. the home turf in chicago. >> glad to be here, bill. >> you are taking an issue that is taking a while with the angusburg they're copy what you have done in a while.

>> they have been taking it for a couple of years in the southern california market and we knew they would go nationwide with it and turn about was fair play and we came out with the big carl. >> again, it's what we hear from so many ceos. price is everything right now. people need to feel they are getting a good value for their money. >> absolutely. there is a misperception that you get a better burger and pay more. in fact that's not true. with the big carl, we are at 2.49 and mcdonald's is around $3 with the big mac. with the angus burger is around $3. our half pound burger is about $3.99. it's a misconception we need to clear up. >> yesterday we were having a chat about the strategies that retailers are using and food out rlts to get people through the door like giving free meals to kids and that kind of thing. what kind of strategies and

recession-busting strategies are working for you? >> we really focused on maintaining the quality position. it's kind of like mercedes doesn't need to compete with the focus. they still need to be mercedes. they need to be the quality burger place. they were making a genuine effort to educate people. they want to make the lower price or comparable to products we consider inferior. it's the value message. we don't do although i would love to do free meals for kids. there is a lot of food give aways and a lot of discounting and people selling 99 cent productions. that is not what we get into. >> mcdonald's picked up a lot of business in the recession. how is business for you? are you seeing the customer do perhaps go to your restaurants more than they might have done in the past because of the recession? >> we see a couple of things and

this is industry-wide. fewer people are buying combos. a guy who would have gone to a carl's and get a combo is just getting theburger and a glass of water. we are seeing a real competition for that 99 cent consumer. while our sales have been negative, our margins have maintained. when you are losing that 99 cent customer, you are losing a customer on which you are making a lot of money. it has not been impactful to the margins. we release guidance for second quarter and the margins will be close to what they were last year and sales are slightly negative. >> what are are you seeing yund that? can you anticipate and have been through a few cycles like this. can you see the light at the end of the tunnel? >> i think when the government backs off on this high taxes and regulation of business, we will start to see the economy come

back and see when it starts to come back, it will come back strong. >> are you more closely tied to the jobs? >> we will create jobs and businesses starting to grow. we are trying to grow and a lot of the new taxes and the universal health care where the money comes from, the corporations when you either grow or can pay more taxes and fees. with health care it will come from expansion and cut back on the growth and jobs. a lot of this depends on what the government does. when jobs start to come back, our business will flourish, particularly in california where you had high government regulation and very high unemployme unemployment. >> cke restaurants, good to see you. we will pick up on the markets here and come back with the all-stars and take the realtime pulse for you as the market struggles back. >> jane will be back as well on more with what chuck grassley is

saying about the future of health care reform. tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of google's big ipl. we'll talk about whether the internet giant will continue to soar. >> hang on to your feet. the world series of poker is getting plays in a deal to up the ante. we have a live interview with the commissioner here on "power lunch." stick around for that.

>> a look at some of the stocks are home depot. better than expected results and las vegas sands and alcoa and fannie mae. right now let's go out to the market reporters at the bottom of all of this. let's go to bob dasani of the new york stock exchange. >> everybody and their mother is expecting a sell off. where is it? where is the big sell off? we are at 3% below the august 13th highs yet they can't drop the market. today was a great opportunity and the bears couldn't do it. this is the spider where the professionals play and the etf. we opened just above last night's close. here is a great opportunity and short the daylights out early on and keep it down. if you are really getting

selling pressure, you ought to be able to keep it down. we couldn't. we were not in a half hour and moving to the upside. light volume. this is not a good sign for the bears. they can't keep the market down two days in a row. part of the reason is good news in the financial space. bb and t. successfully completed a secondary, 3.4 million shares and $46. just below yesterday. this was the second time this year. they were able to raise $1.5 billion and repaid t.a.r.p. money and bought colonial bank. the credit card delink wensy that came out yesterday is generally better. all the big names that bank of america is trading to the upside. where is the sell off? tradertalk.cnbc.com. >> close to the best level of the session and we recovered about 40% of the loss that we posted yesterday. the big gainers in the market

place, the apple is still buying in so says the analyst at rbc and apple and palm. having their targets raised as well. the retailers and the nasdaq strong and includes sears holding and urban outfitters. he was a pick featured last night and as well. the heavy truck maker strong here as well. goldman sachs no longer a sell and neutral-rate and a backhanded compliment. they pack shares moving higher. pointed out huron consulting is up 35, almost 40%. amazingly it is doing as much volume. this is the company like intel.

let's get out to rick santelli at the cme. everybody watching equities and looking under the same rocks as bob dasani looking for the sellers. how foreign exchanges think markets responded to an up equity market. the pound versus the dollar. not only did they make up the ground that they gave up yesterday, but an added bunch as well. the right side higher than the left. as far as 10-year note yields, a similar dynamic and neither of the markets today in the dog days of summer are finding anything outside of a down equity market exciting. we had a one-month bill option. this happens to be the lowest yield. does that mean anything? think about if. let's go to the nymex.

>> the gold trade situation where we talkeddale be the correlation with the dollar. it's tightly correlated, but there other factors you need to get educated about and involved in if you want to talk about the trade. i will give one example. india and year over year with imports down 68%. that's something that has to be factored in. rbc told me for the first time since he can't remember when, etfs are selling and they usually have been holding or adding and it's not only about the dollar. dennis brought this to my attention and said as it is denominated in the euro and done much better. as for today, we have to tell you, we checked the charts and volumes are light. if we are on pace to do half the volume on the same day last year. we are up and the dollar is weaker, but it's a situation where guys don't know what the next traction news item or inflation issue is going to be.

there is a quiet pit right now behind me. >> plenty of people who think we are in a deflation and not inflation. >> a powerful senator takes them back from all over the world to drum up trades. >> of course from iowa and the key player in health care legislation. jane wells left california for the cornfields of iowa and joins us from there now. >> actually they are soy beans, but up next, they talked monsanto and in between they talked turkey with u.s. senator chuck grassley. we will explain what he thinks may be the x factor in getting a deal done. after the break. some people buy a car based on the deal they get. others by the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. special lease offers now available

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the dow is up 77 and it was up early. the nasdaq up 23 and the s&p up nine. the most widely clicked. these are the most interested in ford all trading higher so far today. >> senator chuck grassley rolling out the welcome mat in his home state of iowa on a tour into drumming up trade in business in the hawk eye state. the ranking republican is of the power players on health care reform. a bit earlier, jane wells spoke with the senator and she joins us now once again from iowa with more on the conversation. hi, jane. >> hi, sue. this is where the health care

battle is being fought in the heartland. it came up under the most unusual circumstances. >> welcome to iowa. >> he is hosting diplomats to establish better trade with iowa. many from companies with government health care asked him about a plan and he told me the wild card right now in getting a deal done is the town hall meetings. >> is a bill going to pass? >> it is possible a bill will pass, but what i don't know now that i speak with more uncertainty is the fact that now we have these very contentious town meetings. i had some myself. i had relatively peaceful things compared to what's happening in maryland and pennsylvania and

missouri that i have seen on television. i don't know what sort of an impact that will make. >> here does plan to speak with other members of the senate committee perhaps as early as today. his feel suggest that this public option plan is heading for its own death panel. >> you hear from the other side that maybe it's back on the table and nobody know what is to believe. we have the poll out from nbc news asking the public their view of not only the public option plan, but what a public health plan would do in 45% with lower cost and 48% would limit access and for the first time in the polls, the public is against the public option plan right now. 47% were against it. 43% said they would be in favor of it. it would appear, jane, that the oppositions campaign to either confusion the public or put them against the plan seems to be working. >> and the town hall meetings are having an effect and gaining momentum in this.

we will have to see if it lasts by the time they get back into session. >> did he talk to you at all about the co-op option that a lot of people are saying prapgz might get traction if a full public option is taken off the season. >> even if the public option was off the table and the death panel was off the table, it depends. it's still too expensive the way it is sounding right now. the democrats want to have some kind of plan by september 15th. he is not sure the republicans will be ready it do it. they want to do it right. >> did he talk to you about how he thought obama was handling this and give him the score on the way he is doing this. >> i'm sorry, one more time. i had a break up. >> i wonder when the senator thinks obama is handling it is issue.

>> he called it trial balloons and waffling. so the white house was sort of caving, if you will, on the public option plan and there may be back pedalling and he used the phrase that in his continue they send up trial balloons and in his opinion, he is not impressed with that. >> they're have a way to go before they need to be harvested. >> they will be good to create a few young ones. they are doing well. >> glad to hear t. thank you. >> soy bean prices are plummeting on your report. thanks. >> thanks, jane. coming up tonight, the greening of the airline industry. biofuel maker ren text signs a deal with eight carriers and the ceo joins the program to explain how his synthetic fuels might help change the way we fly the friendly skies. that is after "mad money." >> i happen to be doing that and this could be the future of airline fuel.

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welcome back to "power lunch." government authorities are criminally investigating more than 150 americans suspected of violating u.s. tax law by consuming income and assets at ubs. this is according to report filings. general motors signing a deal with saab and the swedish car maker. this is the 5th in the series as it comes out of bankruptcy. getting an upgrade to a buy from mutual at goldman sachs. they see benefits from the huge

growth in the chinese banking market. >> right now we have a gain in the dow jones average of about 73 points or so. for more on the moves, let's go down to the floor of the new york stock exchange. good to see you again, steve. >> so was yesterday's dip a one-day event or do you think there was more to come? i was impressed by the market's ability to hang on to the opening gain. >> we said buying the dip is still in play and i see no other reason why you shouldn't be right now. if we lean on it every time we hear positive or negative news out of asia, we will have a long haul to go. let's remember how long they have been up. that's what took us down yesterday. today a little more positive news and the mutual funds going out there on any and all dips. there was a chase for performance.

>> that's what it will be for the foreseeable future. >> everybody thinks china will bring us out of the recession. do you buy that? >> i do to a certain extent and we have to be wary after what you see out of china. everybody treats the numbers as suspect at this point. >> do you have support levels right now? >> 970 in the s&p and 950 level is what everybody is looking for. on the upside, things that were supported and resistance on the way up. let's look back at 1,000. >> it seems to be increasing with people's consciousness that we might be in for a correction. we are seeing a mini correction and admittedly high levels up about 85 to 90% this year.

none the less, if the chinese authorities have to come down hard to in this liquidity they pumped into the economy. what will happen to the markets. what will happen to the global markets? >> we will take our lead to china and when people realize that it is what it is and you can't change it, we will get a healthy dose of the numbness. we may not see the volatility. you hit it right on the head. when you look at all the asian marks from anywhere from up 20 to up 90%, you have to realize there was a bubble there so maybe that was overdone. maybe ve to to thank god we were not that overdone here. >> we have an empty calorie sign of the times. did you see this story in the "washington post"? here's a woman who was far behind in her rent and lost her job and had credit card bills and a hospital bill and all of these things. she sold jewelry and a lot of

other assets and look for other things to sell and discovered she owned a cemetery plot. she put that on the market. they are worth $8,000 and got $4,000 for this thing. other people are discovering that maybe burial plots are something that you can sell off. it's a sign of the times. >> how liquid is that? how can you buy and sell? >> in the cemeteries themselves, they don't buy them back. they have to go on to the secondary market. she looked at selling her second car and found 16,000 used cars advertised already. that's a very competitive market. there aren't that many cemetery plots. >> she pointed out ahead of you. >> at this point she willbury herself in the 1980 nova. >> right now she has credit cards. >> i hate to be morbid, but with the baby boomers gradually

moving to their twilight years, i wonder whether or not and i hate to put it this way but if there is a buck to be made out of funeral homes and that kind of thing. >> there is a fair amount of bucks to be made out of funeral homes. you are right. you want to say it in a sensitive way, but they are getting a lot older. the health care system is put in question. and the death panel. >> we are not commenting on this. >> hey, you baby boomers. can you hear me? >> glad i asked you to stick around. >> really. thanks for that. >> geez. >> let's get the daily look at the widely followed storieses. our website's managing editor will tell us what's clicking. >> one of the hot stories today ties into the discussion steve had. it's four sign that is a correction may be happening.

>> okay. >> one of the staff writers wrapped up and took a look at earnings and insider buying and volume. what's it play in all four areas and how they might be working the market. people are eating it up and eating up anything with the word correction lately. >> we are worried that could happen. >> another word i can throw in is apple. apple is probing from explosions of the i phone in europe. these are isolated standards. >> urban myth? >> the commission is looking at it and because they looked at it, they have the reports and they haven't come to any conclusions, but apple and exploding iphone is likely to get attention anywhere. >> number one today -- >> let's shape recovery. triple u and square root and the double. mickey mouse. another market writer put it together side by side and you can check them out. >> complete with graphics. no doubt. see you tomorrow.

all that on cnbc.com. >> it is indeed. thank you very much for that. hp after the bell. will the computer and printer maker put up the numbers? we will bring you a preview. >> speaking of tech, it is years since the big ipo for google. what's next with the company? can they rock the tech world? we will talk about that? as we head out, american express is moving higher. it's the biggest percentage winner in the dow jones since they said earlier today. delinquencies for credit cards have been dropping and up more than 70% this year. we are back in a moment with the 66-point gain in the dow. people think that honda is always the most fuel efficient choice. well, this chevy cobalt xfe has better highway mileage than a comparable honda civic. this chevy traverse has better mileage than honda pilot. the all-new chevy equinox has better mileage than honda cr-v. and chevy malibu has better mileage than accord.

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66 points on the dow jones industrial. the nasdaq is up a full percent. we are almost up a percent on the s&p 500. it in terms of the most quick stocks on cnbc, the retailers are reporting, target among them. that stock is up $3. sirius is up as well as is freddie mac. tech is back in the earnings with hewlett packard due to report quarterly results after today. shares of the printer are up almost 20% year to date at 43.66 just today. jim goldman has a look at what to expect from ph. >> real mixed signals from the pc. investors look at hp as much more than a computer company. shares are in the green and saw

at tonight's report and analysts anticipating 90 cents a share. that is another eventful quarter and cost cutting will likely keep this company's bottom line performing nicely, but with so many ahead of it, the attention will turn to the top line to see if there was sales growth out there. hp is facing increased competition from the likes of dell and oracle and sun microises as well as cisco now that the company is in the server business. ibm seems to be the model. hp likely won't come out to save flatly and the bottom is behind us. they need to sing an optimistic tune and offer positive guidance to keep the rally alive and that of the broader tech sector much the pressure is indeed on. much more about all of this with tech check on cnbc.com. >> jim, thank you. as we noted, tomorrow marks the-year anniversary of google's first day of trading. the stock opened at $85.

everybody said that's way too expensive. who will buy this company? since then it skyrocketed to 24 cents at the highest point and today it hits in the $400 range if memory serves. this man knows. internet and senior analyst and you saw the stock. >> we just upgraded after the search hit. google is the real winner here. not only do you have an improving economy that will lift through prices and hopefully ignite growth, but you have a wide open window in which they will be side tracked as they try to integrate the search efforts. >> where do you think it can go and what time frame? >> great question. we have a 12-month price target near term. longer term, five years if you look at google's growth, they have gone down from the 118% on

the top line in 04 marching down to 56% and down to 3% in the june quarter. if you say okay, advertising is a tremendous pool of dollars and going into click to play video and chasing after the bigger brand dollars available, could this be a $1,000 stock in 2013? >> sounds like you think it could be. >> you play with the map, it's not unreasonable that you can have $40 of earnings and $40 billion in gross revenue at the end of 2013. you wind up with a $1,000 stock. >> the new york producer sent me a statistic that google in five years is up 426%, making the it 4th best performer of the s&p 500 index. what was number? apple up 930%, given eric

schmidt's in apple and he stepped down and runs google and kind of ironic. >> the irony is certainly measurable there. you look at that and that's an interesting kind of thing and speaks to where google goes from here. he is stepping down from apple's board is a good indicator that doesn't see itself necessarily as only an advertising aggregator over the next three years. getting into mobile withan droid and chrome with operating systems. the real question is how to monitize this as everybody wondered how they can monitize advertising. you can take that model and bring it to software on the desk top and the laptop and certainly on smart phones in your pocket. this will be a real challenge, but that departure is the best indicator yet that this is a company that will go head to head not with microsoft and yahoo, but apple too. >> what do you think about the threats from the likes of

microsoft, yahoo, apple, etc. >> it will be a microsoft, google, apple environment. yahoo is more of an entertainment-type company trying to engage the audience and trying to get them on television. they need to improve the stock. google has the best business model. great margins. >> i will go and google something. >> microsoft wants to turn it -- the advertisers never did that. jim is absolutely right. it's going to be head on. microsoft and google in terms of operating systems with apple. can google make money on most of the developing. they are giving it away for free. >> jim, we have to go at this point. darren needs you. >> we will talk tomorrow. >> see you later. >> when we come back, you know what they say. when to hold them and when it

fold them as jim goldman just learned. darren, we will talk to the commissioner about a new deal in a moment. >> we are watching the markets and we have a little bit of a pull back, but the dow is holding steady. up 72 points. back in a moment for more on "power lunch." some people buy a car based on the deal they get. others by the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 es 350. i felt amazingly boxed in. (announcer) joe uses the contour meter from bayer. (joe) my meter absolutely adapts to me and my lifestyle. i'm joe james, and being outside of the box is my simple win. (announcer) now available in five vibrant colors.

the world series of poker has exploded. not ohm in terms of the number of participants paying the $10,000 entry fee, but viewerships of the event as well. darren is joined by a special guest to talk about the latest broadcast deal for the harrah's own property. >> today harrah's is announcing they signed a new-year deal to broadcast the world series of poker through 2018. joining us now is jeffrey, the commissioner of the world series of poker. jeffrey, thanks for joining us. how big is this deal with espn and what does it say about the future of poker? >> it's fair to say that espn has gone all in. by every measure, this is truly

a major league deal. we extended our deal seven years. this will keep us on espn into 2018. by any measure in this economy. this is a significant accomplishment and commitment on espn's part. another great estimate suggests how popular the wsop is. when i was on cnbc last month, we had more entrants than ever before. today's announcement is another case and point that the wsop is doing incredibly well and this is a great foundation center for the future growth of the business. >> espn audiences can catch up and the network can air the winning hand it happens. how important is that delay and how important is that for the future deals? >> the delay has been a paradigm

shifter for us, but we changed the equation from who will win and espn does sports championships like no one else and with the new format that doubled our ratings last year, espn truly has the super bowl of poker to really around and promote and drive an audience to and it was successful last year. we think it will be successful this year and a key component of this deal. >> you mentioned ratings are down about 8% compared to the olympics. it's off. that's all expected to change by the time we get to the final table. a huge poker star has a chance to win it all. we have seen a relative unknown win. what would it mean for the sport for an icon to win some. >> i think this year's final table is straight from central casting. you have the person who is arguably the best poker player on the planet right now with

someone like darvin moon who is a complete newcomer. a logger from western maryland and part of what makes it so special is the fact that anyone can enter and anyone can win and an amateur can watch us and decide to enter the next year and end up sits at the same table as phil ivy. you cannot do that on any other property. >> so many people watch and the main event is debuting on espn. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> you got it. >> get this. it looks like france is turning its back on topless beaches. could it be possible? >> this is a classic case of empty calories coming right up. don't go away. yoecwfs

>> they are issuing summonses to those who go topless on beaches. the bikini is back. >> and the one-piece. >> they are wearing one-pieces. we are reminded that those who represent the eternal struggle for liberty. >> it's all about the economy. that does it for "power lunch." see you tomorrow. >> street signs with erin burnett begins in 30 seconds. >> the u.s. is investigating 150 ubs customers suspected of conseeming income and assets

according to court documents. the turn around expert and production loss will serve as part of a chief executive team for movie studio mgm. he will exit the position and remain as chairman. general motors reportedly announces increased production thanks to increased sales. the announcement is expected shortly. that's the news now. i'm julia boorsten. >> this is street signs. we are live from the new york stock exchange. we have a sea of green. american express, target and sacks among the winners. here's what else is on the radar. that's how much stocks have to go up from here to get back to where they were. can they do it before the-year anniversary.

we have answers and cash for clunkers. the verdict is in. a big success or short-term blip. you will hear from the woman who knows first here on "street signs." all that plus a man who can't stay retired coming up. we will explain. he has nothing to worry about. that's the only hint. first though to the recovery. not anywhere near making up what we lost yesterday, but i think bob has an interesting view as we get to the traders. it's the perfect day to start the correction, but they weren't able to do it. >> where is it? everybody and their mother down here is waiting for the 10% correction and supposed to go to 900 or 910. where is it? this was a great day to start. you started positive on the s&p and they tried to sell it off. here's the classic short attempt after the open and make money on shorting. it didn't happen here. the market moved up here.