at the end of july traders wanted stocks to go down to buy cheaper. there's the s&p 500. look at the longer term chart. it didn't happen. we're seeing the same thing now that happened at the end of july, the underlying strength in the market is frustrating to the bears and the bulls. people who want to see the economy recover should be happy about this. >> what's moving on the tech side of things? >> a lot of big tech names moving things forward, intel about half a percent. on top microsoft and cisco, up by 2%. dell is an interesting one, turned positive in the last couple of minutes, hp said they face stability and that is proving positive. one thing i want to point out, there is chatter about a settlement and we'll check in and bring you any news.

now to zain in for rick santelli. what do you think is most important, warren buffett warns we have a lot of debt, maybe too much of it? >> auction after auction and still we're seeing prices improve on treasury securities. a couple of important things, one inflation is not a problem. we're not seeing any evidence of it. people are unsure where the economy is going and the uncertainty allows them to put more money in fixed income. and foreign investment still likes our treasury market, especially sovereign wealth funds burned getting involved in more credit risk or direct investment in private equity. they've been criticize because some of those haven't worked out well. instead they are back into our treasury market, helping us lift prices and flatten the o curve. >> zane, brown, thanks very much. as we learned, we have $3.2

trillion in sovereign wealth money. credit card debt dlined 3.3%. there are a few places where kred itd card spending is up. that could be a sign of confidence or real weakness, they have to put it on credit cards. provo-o r.e.m., utah, durham, chapel hill, north carolina, og den, deer field, these are like lumpings of metropolitan areas, as you can see. we like the stats because they are reminder, there is not a single story about the american consumer. chairman of ing direct usa and said consumer are still cautious. >> americans are basically saying, i'm probably going to spend a little less. seven out of ten are saying, i would rather have money in the bank than spend too much. >> what's wrong with that.

hitting retailers in the bottom line. we may not even see signs of a recovery until next spring. what does that mean for the economy? two-thirds of our economy relies on that spending. laura, ceo of bj's whole sale, good touf to have you with us. i have the transcript from the conference call this morning. i thought it was interesting, area that's were the weakest in the second quarter at bj's included jewelry and trash bags. i don't know if there's anything particular about trash bags, do you see a real frugalty? >> those two commodities are completely different ends of the spectrum, trash bags are caused by deflation, driving trash bag costs up or down. jewelry is a form of discretionary spending which continues to be chal earninged.

>> have you seen any improvements at all, or do you go with along with the anecdote, people are looking for store brands to cut cost? >> people are continuing to seek value. back to school season is starting out okay on school supplies and desks and things, that's a relatively small part of our business. >> what about jewelry, it is -- not in all cases, it is a discretionary as one can get. >> in our second quarter earnings, erin, we've seen improving trends and i think what's different is that what's really working well for us is the engagement part of our business which is arguably less discretionary and the common theme is consumers are coming looking for value, doing the research and coming to blue nile and getting a great value. that's really what we're seeing. the discretionary part of the business has been not as strong

as the engagement part. >> to each of you, different parts of the market, what does it get better and what is the new normal. from your perspective, what is the new normal in this country? where people were spending in the summer of 2006 or 2007 or something ? >> the new normal for sure is seeking value. i think consumers at all income levels are looking for a better deal on their week to week necessities as well as whatever luxuries they choose to buy. i do believe there will be pent up demand come christmas, the consumer will be out there looking for the best deal and we're very well positioned to serve that. >> do you think there's pent up demand, versus last year which was in the height of the panic? >> we're cautiously optimistic, we're uncertain what will happen at holiday. begin what happened to the entire retail landscape after last september 15th, it's hard

to believe we wouldn't see better numbers this holiday. and i think value is in for the consumer. i think that mind set will remain and that's been a part of our model. and i think our mindselt is deliver more value to the consumer. consumers are smart and will go out seeking that. >> i know you benefit when people want to get value. we've been starting to tackle it though. the lack of real income growth in this country over the past decade is pretty stunning, people aren't getting more purchasing power when it comes to income. that something you think about or talk about strategically as a company? >> number demographics tends to be more affluent, overall income may not have grown, what we see actually is that numbers prefer to pay more and get more. for example, this year, our highest priced patio set was the best selling because they could see the great value.

for us it's a little bit different. they'll find the discretionary dollars for things they want. and once again, come to places like the club for those things. >> diana, final question to you, what best selling or among your best selling items may surprise our viewers? >> certainly the engagement ring, diamond ring is the number one seller, we recently did a sale over $300,000, a beautiful die nand ring not an engagement ring that was a special gift. the average ticket is $5,000. when people are in the market for a diamond they are looking for value, looking at all of the information and i think that's our model resonates with the consumer today. and i think people are saving up for things that have enduring value and things that matter. >> thanks so much to both of you. >> thank you, erin. >> thank you. up next on the show, electric cars run on batteries, batteries need lithium, we have the ce ost

of the second biggest lithium company here exclusively. >> should med school be free? one med school is trying that model and it's harder to get into than harvard or stan ford. could this idea help fix our health care system? i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet.

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the clash for clunkers program is working until we found out what we found out yesterday. maybe a lot of interest is already gone? is the government making good with the deal with the dealers? that's another question. what did you hear, phil? >> what we're hearing is a lot of frustration, we've heard this for a week and a half. the dealers have said the money we're owed from the rebates, $4500 rebates is not coming through. this is what mike jackson, the ceo of autonation had to say this morning. >> we're probably owed about 45 million at this point. but i'm a bit san gin about it. it's a little bit like you throw a drowning man at life preserver and complain about the color. >> even though cash for clunkers boosted business for many dealers, we found that none of them received their clunker

rebates. it's estimated little more than $1.7 billion worth of clunker deals have been submitted to washington. that's how much money washington still has to pay out. the dot is adding staff daily and clearly this is frustration not only from the dealers but also the secretary of transportation. >> dealers are not complaining about the fact that over 3 or $400,000 cars have been sold. they are going to get the money. we have the money, congress provided the money. they are going to get their money. >> and as they get the money, let's look at the top ten selling vehicles to the cash for clunkers program. eight of the top ten, foreign models, top five being the control la, civic, ford focus, toyota camry -- hyundai ee lan

tra. >> we're seeing so much paperwork that has to go to washington from dealerships because they have to, you know, clearly show that the vehicle is gone, that it's not going to be recycled. that takes a lot of paperwork. they need to add people before the money can start flowing out of washington. they think by the end of the week the rebate checks will start going out. phil, thanks very much. as part of our future, automotively speaking, electric cars are crucial. to make electric car batteries it could fuel another commodity boom. they haven't quite figured out how to use some of these batteries perfectly in cars. we still have some issues on the explosivety side but it's going to be a crucial component. ceo, good to have you with us sir. it's amazing, we started this discussion a few weeks ago.

you don't need a lot of lithium to make a battery, but you do need lithium to make a battery? >> that is correct. good to be here, thank you for inviting me. you do require lithium for a car. the amount of ridge yum you require is about 2,000 times more than the amount of lithium that goes into the battery for a cell phone or 200 times what you need in the laptop computer. you do need lithium, but fortunately we do have the lithium. there is plenty of lithium around the world to be developed. and as you know, we have a source in the united states that we are developing. it has been in production for almost 40 years. there is the raw material there to meet the demand is there. >> let's put up a screen here. where the lithium came from. and it is amazing when you look at reserves, the lithium is in -- the lithium as you can see this is where it comes from

right now. in terms of preserves though and perhaps that most important, bolivia is by far number one. united states has some reserves. can we build an electric car industry using our own lithium or will we have to import? >> it depends how many cars we build. we can build an industry based on what we have in the united states. the numbers that you show the in terms of lithium supply, when you look at the lithium reserves in chile, that's enough to power all of the cars in the world that we make for a long, long time. can do that almost 200 years. so there's no shortage of mole kuls. >> in nevada -- >> that's the only place in nevada, right? >> that's the only place we know. and it belongs to us and we have

been developing it for 40 years. >> you got stimulus money to do that. >> yes, we did. >> about $28 million. is that enough money to help you do anything? it doesn't sound like very much money, is that wrong? >> we asked for that amount of money to support the project. obviously as you know that is only 50% of what we need to invest. that 28 will give us the capacity to further expand what we have. because we have been investing in these resources for a long time. it isn't as if you're starting from scratch. the stimulus money will give us the ability to enhance the capacity and also to build a plant to make very high purity lithium which would be for the batteries of the future. >> a question on where this comes from, obviously you're seeing we could get a lot here

in the united states. countries like lg, very dominant in technology, they are through a subsidiary named compact, the provider for the gm volt. they are looking at going into bolivia, how do we prevent having the united states electric bat tri industry reliant on foreign imports. if they do care, can they prevent that? >> if i may make a decision on dependance on oil and dependance or lithium. right now we are dependant on oil. if oil stops, the cars stop running. but if the transportation system is all electric and running on lithium batteries, even if there is no supply of lithium the cars can continue running for ten years. >> because they are hybrid? >> no because the lithium is there, you just keep charging it

every night from the -- >> you don't have to keep putting new lithium in. >> absolutely, right now we have 250 million cars running in the u.s. if oil stops, our way of life stops. if we were running on lithium ion batteries -- >> you have a few years to figure your way out of the problem you're in with bolivia. >> there's a significant difference with being dependent on oil and being dependent on lithium. >> your plan, who are you selling to? the other major question, a lot of this technology appears to be dominated by asian companies. do you see that changing when you're looking at who is buying the lithium for the batteries, is there hope for american company snz. >> i think there is hope for the american companies and i'm very plee pleased to see the government game $2 billion in grants to

develop better development here. it would be nice to have that technology developed in the united states and very supportive of that. >> it's wonderful to meet you, we appreciate you tackling this issue. >> thank you very much. >> just ahead on the show, desperate times for magazines, one magazine throwing a hail mary pass. will it be enough? we'll talk about and the china touch to bear market briefly. and let us know what you think about mr. ga semi's point, if the cars stop running on lithium, you have ten years to deal with the problem. we'll be right back. a ask, what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family. for the kids, a better environment. for my wife, who commutes, no more gettin' jerked around on gas prices... and for me, well, it wouldn't be so bad if this breadwinner

brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening.

big dow winner today is merck up holding a patent for his best selling product. this one truly got our attention and the attention of our intrepid sports business reporter, espn magazine, $1 for a whole year. is it a good play or a last gasp

breath before death? >> it looks crazy on the surface and it's an offer that's hard to believe. current subscribers getting the chance to renew at 4 cents an issue and get the insider which sells for $40 a year for free. the premise, help draw attention to the magazine website come bow deal, get more people to use the website and convince them it's worth the full price a year from now. >> this is really not about retention of magazine subscribers, this is really about an aggressive attempt to get people who experience the insider in the way we've just upgraded it. we want them to get to know it within a year they are saying, wow this is worth more than a dollar obviously. >> espn the magazine, has 2 million subscribers is feeling effects. the rest of the industry has with ad revenue dropping 20% in the first half of 2009. and it's no wonder they are tieing the magazine with the

online marketplace on "power lunch," a discussion why fashion magazines had so few ads. >> when they are down they are look for radical new ideas and online media and marketing is the radical new idea. it is far more cost efficient and far more effective and measurable. >> espn won't know for a year if the plan works but they did tell us by the end of the week they will have already surpassed their end of the summer goals, trying to boost the web come would with the magazine, when you raise it up a year from now -- >> do they have espn for kids. >> not for kids. >> i purchase sports illustrated for kids closer to full price. >> this is a small issue it is on auto renew.

you do have to give your credit card in and maybe remember a year from now -- >> they say they'll give a warning but there is the auto renew, which everyone wants to do these days. >> that's clever. >> thank you very much to darren. jim cramer has his own china trade for american investors and we have an idea we wanted to test out to fix health care. what if medical school were free? would debt free doctors order fewer tests and treatment that's cause costs to surge? when thisc to compliment their benefits package aflac! it made a big splash with the employees yeaaaahhhh! find out more at aflac!... ...forbusiness.com (laughter)

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here he is, show the shanghai sinker. turned into a surprise here. >> remember, strange linkage between oil and our market versus the chinese market. and i've been thinking about this. 15% of our market that's through a mineral, machinery. oil that's directly related to

the drive of demand in china. if you can somehow delink oil from that equation, then you're starting to talk about 5% of the s&p directly related. when oil is up $3, it counteracts the major chinese trade. also even counteracts bizarre secondary trades like potash which should be down, there are important negotiations with china. it trades up as if its ethanol. it is a more complex linkage. >> then the simple china -- u.s. -- >> if oil had been down today, we might have been down a percent and a half. >> then i get to the issue, on one level, a very, very high level, going way up. that doesn't make sense. oil is above 70. that's bad for people. >> i have been pondering this over and over again. and it bothers me immensely because it counter intuitive.

85% of the -- needs it down. i come back and step back and say, that's why there's so much negati negati negativity among the professionals, oil being up three should send down percentages. that makes it so that you want to short sell and say, talking to ron insana. >> looking for about 3. >> but it's not rigorous to be only looking for 3 give the fact if oil is the main reason we're going up, that will delink as it did last year when oil went p. the issue is 67 to 70 -- >> that's got to be what it is. >> it's really hard. >> you get to the issue and i can't get a real answer to it. if real incomes haven't gone up and real prices have, huge

inflation with he heducation an. where is the purchasing power going to come from? >> i don't know if you got an e-mail from our favorite ceo in the steel business, but the chart he sent out yesterday and dan is very active in terms of trying to make people understand, guys like me. where we would be in a recovery typically in terms of employment and the jobless rate here just dif verging horribly. >> but if the take the politics out of it -- >> you're purchasing power eroded by some inflation, doesn't include housing, is also saying because of unemployment, we shouldn't be at these levels. there's a lot of what regard as technical reasons, some has to do if oil is up, maybe things are better than we thought. >> that whole kind of yo-yo

every day. >> what happens is if you're trying to figure out market -- >> right, then the economy and we know that natural gas can be manipulated, oil -- end up what ends up is it seems very wrong that the market is going up. yet people at home, we have to understand some things are not connected to china. retail is not connected to china. cars. and it's not just cash for clunkers. ford, i know phil has great contacts, his raising of autos monument monumental. >> did you hear about the edmunds piece? >> yes. >> purchasing is down and that is correlated with purchases, not a good sign. she did say that would take purchasing to between 10 and 12. which is profitable. >> gm said at 10 we could make

money. this gets to the lowe's versus home depot. home depot says they are bad but getting better. you have to look at it like lowe's or home depot. either case, why isn't the dow at 8,000. and the answer is there's a lot of managers that need to catch up and get performance, every dip like money, they put money in. we have an important wednesday afternoon, a flip from where we have. >> the psychology of wanting to get more money for next year is much more important -- >> thank you, erin. >> it's hard for people at home to understand that. when i was at my hedge fund, i would be saying i'm only up 4, i have to put money in any dip. >> now, you just explained it. i have a couple of trades to get to. first was this one. if you're in there trading,

congress will come back and health care is very confusing. is there really a trade in any -- >> i still think that gts is one i like. wellpoint is the most levered. it's a 12 times earnings because of the om bam ma discount, why shouldn't it go back to the historic multiple now that we know the companies won't be penalized. you'll still get another 10 to 15%. >> don't they benefit, medicare has done something amazing, which i found out from doctors, one in six americans end up back in the hospital within the next 30 days due to something that happened to them in the hospital. >> it's almosts same percentage of people who have to have the mortgage fixed. >> it's a shocking number. medicare used to reimburse, now they are not. if you're going back in, no reimbursement, to encourage

hospitals to focus on output. if that is something medicare can set as a good practice, the insurers follow suit, that would appear to give them premium power. >> you're absolutely right. >> another -- maybe i'm being too frugal -- i think that's a great analysis. again, we have to understand united health is way behind and cigna is very behind. i see the stocks still going higher. >> we're talking about whether medical school could be free. >> still hard to get into it. >> 6:00 and 11:00 eastern on cnbc is more of jim. hurricane bill, meantime, category 4, find out which first major storm of the season is heading. and the average doctor graduatewise $154,000 in debt.

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on what planet do you spend most of your time? trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. >> congressman barney frank firing back last night. just the latest example of how inflamed the health care debate has become. we want to look for solutions to spark new ideas and get beyond the rhetoric. one of them is what if medical school was free? the average doctor comes out of school with $154,000 in debt, putting pressure on them to pay it back.

the goal, might be to get more doctors into the primary care system, reduce costs and university of central florida in orlando, giving that model a try. dean of college of medicine is here along with nbc news, dr. nancy snyderman. so thrilled to have both of you here. let me start with you, we did share with our viewers, your school was the hardest to get into partially because you were giving people this opportunity to go for free. how does it work? >> well, we admitted 41 students, this is our charter class. this is the first class to be admitted to the university of central florida college of medicine. and we secured donors for each student so each student will have tuition and living expenses paid for all four years. >> and does this have any strings attaches, do they have to work for ab affiliated hospital or go through the residency system?

>> we have no string as tached to this opportunity. >> dr. nancy, is this something that might work? >> i think it's a novel idea and some people are watching. there are two ways to structure it like debra's program is or a place where you come and get you tuition free but you have to give back, like the public health corps or donate your time to a rural program. if we're going to step up to the plate and talk about resisting and reallocating health care dollars and putting physicians where they are needed, we're going to have to help these young people get out of medical school without being burdened for five or ten years with the huge debt. >> dr. nancy, jim cramer was being somewhat if a seeshs, he got on a real point, people end up having to choose the specialties to be paid a lot

rather than things like primary care. >> most physicians go into medicine for the right reasons but the reality is if you're a plastic surgeon, can you charge a fee for service and there are no insurance middlemen, a very lucrative way. some determinologdeterminology, surgery, a small percentage of physicians that want to be primary care doctors, how do you keep up? what does primary care look like in the increasingly complicated medical landscape? >> how do you reward subspecialties, a conversation we haven't it. >> who are these donors, are you confident, are they committed for the entire length of time? >> these donors are committed to the charter class and will be given for the four years they are in medical school.

yes they are committed and they are everyone. we have hospitals, banks, law firms, businesses, lady's groups, you name it, we have it. everyone wanted to make our medical school a success and contribute to this. i would like to pick up on something dr. snyderman said. she said and i believe this is the core of what has made us successful. when medical students come with dreams and altruism. many are interested in primary care and specialties. the realties of their lives kick in around the fourth year of medical school where they are at the age of marrying and having children, graduate with debts sometimes in excess of 2 $00,000. then they have internships and residencies to do.

if you think about it, when you're at that point in your career where you have to make a career decision and you have a family that's depending on you and a big debt, it's very hard to follow your heart. and i think our students will be able to do that. >> dr. nancy, how can we scale this up? it's inspiring to hear but on a broader basis, as far as as a country, is it something that should be part of the debate about health care reform as to some sort of -- we've been using the word government funding, may worry people. to make this work across the system, maybe that's where we put the public dollars? >> you're looking at the couple of different models, deb bra's program you have the cleveland clinic, donors, as the markets have taken a hit, you've seen medical schools sort of step back from that, sort of free-reed model. the should the federal government really say we're going to invest in the future of

health care in this country and this is what investment looks like? there are several models, i think there are pros and cons with all of them. if we're really going to, i mean really going to talk about changing the landscape, we have to talk about dealing with the indebtedness. >> thanks a lot. we appreciate you being with us. we'll continue to cover this story. you can see dr. nancy every day on her show on msnbc at noon eastern. we'll go back to the floor and . couple of names that stick out. in just a moment. every bite. every gallon. every shoe. every book. every cereal. well, maybe not every cereal. but every stem. every stitch. every tune. every toy. pretty much everything you buy can help your savings account grow because keep the change from bank of america rounds up every debit card purchase to the next dollar and transfers the difference from your checking to savings account. it's one of the many ways we make saving money in tough times a whole lot easier.

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hurricane bill, a powerful category 4 storm, appears, though, as of now to be veering away from the east coast. are we out of the woods yet? what are the risks? weather channel meteorologist nick walker has the details. and what is the latest location, nick? >> well, it is right here near the antilles. it's not going to affect the antilles with devastating winds. certainly not of that 135-mile-an-hour variety. it is a major hurricane. actually, it could gain some strength as it takes a turn toward the northwest, then eventually toward the north, coming somewhere in between the united states and bermuda. the big effects we're going to feel here along the u.s. coast

and in bermuda, most likely are going to be those pounding waves. we're also going to see rip currents. so just a bad, bad beach weekend shaping up. the good news is it's not going to be a devastating beach weekend. most of the winds staying well offshore. erin? >> bad but not devastating. i don't know what that means. until i get there. thank you very much. let's get down to the oil pits and brian schactman. brian, looks like this one's going to miss our gas tanks, but i know there are lots of storms forming. >> you know, it's just funny, we're up $3 today in crude. it has nothing to do with the weather. what a day. erin, i was talking to you on "squawk on the street" when the eia numbers came out, and we immediately popped a dollar. it was short covering, then we popped and went up another leg when equity started to turn as well. the whole conversation today is just like you had with jim cramer. oil boosting equities. you would think that weak dollar, high oil would be bad for the equity market. well, that's not the case today. so the question is is it a trade

or is it a trend? you really think that maybe some people think there's some underlying demand involved with a drawdown of 8-plus million barrels of crude in the last week, but you're not really -- nobody seems to know that. i just want to point out the whole complex was up. nat gas breaks a nine-day losing streak. a lot of head scratching here. but people definitely were scrambling to cover some shorts today. >> thank you, brian. this morning the chatter on wall street was all about what was happening in china. here now to give us an ypt, terrence dolan and phil dow. phil, let's start with you. i know you have to be surprised because you thought we'd get a pullback today and then pop back up. is it frustrating that the market keeps going up and we're not getting that pullback or something to celebrate? what do you read into the rebound? >> well, i've been pretty positive all the way along in expecting some kind of a pullback. today the way we started off it looked bad and the guilty party for why the market's up is apparently oil prices have

firmed. i wouldn't be surprised if people are focusing ahead to tomorrow and the leading indicators report that comes out in the morning. that's supposed to be a good number. my guess is maybe people might be anticipating that. but we always credit the market's move on whatever the current economic release is. today it's oil. >> right. but this is -- again, i get confused. and i don't know if you heard jim cramer and i talkeding about this. oil being up $3 is not something that should be good for the economy or for the market. so something is amiss. >> something is amiss, and the answer is it may not be the reason that the market's up. it may be most people are not invested in stocks and people are kind of hedging their bets now after a bit of a decline. i don't know. we'll know later. but my guess is that this decline may take more than just a couple of days. >> well, it's all right to not know. no one can do everything, right? especially in this market. what do you see, gerald, coming into the final hour? >> i see a rally from this point on to maybe the final half hour. and then i'm looking for a

potential final half hour failure which may take into tomorrow. and again, the number is expected to be pretty good, and i looked for sellers on the news, so to speak. so i would suggest that we're looking at a firm market into the final half hour and then we'll have to see how they play them. >> all right. well, we'll be watching carefully on that final half hour. gerald, phil, thanks so much to both of you. appreciate seeing you again. >> my pleasure. >> and coming up, the companies that are still growing despite the panic and the fear and the crash. so many arthritis pain relievers --

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every year "fortune" publishes its list of fastest-growing companies. this year cnbc teaming up with "fortune" for a primetime special profiling five companies that made the list. they are a fun five. cnbc managing editor tyler mathisen is here with a sneak peek. >> an interesting five. and given the year that financial services have had, you might be surprised to see one of the biggest in financial services, blackrock, on the list of fastest-growing companies. no financial services company grew last year, right? wrong. $3 trillion under management now, revenues over 5 billion last year. world's largest asset manager by far, not only surviving the economic downturn but thriving. big writedowns? nope. government handouts?

none. >> in a year when most financial services were anything but fast growing, your company was able to grow profits and hang in there better than practically anybody else. why is that? >> well, tyler, it's i think pretty straightforward. we focus on one business. and that's the asset management business. we have one mission, to be the most respected asset manager in the business. and we're a fiduciary. so everything that we do is on behalf of our clients. >> reporter: fiduciary, focused, and best of all in 2008 -- >> we have a small amount of leverage at blackrock. less than 1%. >> blackrock does not do proprietary trading. blackrock does not have any leverage to speak of. so in effect they avoided the crisis because they do not take positions. >> you know, bailouts, they didn't have any. handouts from the government, nope. uh-uh. actually, there are a handful of financial companies on the list this year, and you can see more

of that story and others tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on "the fastest-growing companies of 2009." and best of all, erin, these are companies that have actually made money for shareholders over the past three, five, and ten years. so if you've got a little spare cash in your swiss bank account that you want to move in there, then -- >> i was 4,401. >> client 4,401, huh? >> thank you, tyler. we got a lot of e-mails during today's show about our lithium battery segment. we'll share more with you because we're going to keep tackling the issue. tim in buffalo wrote this -- "as is the case with most rechargeable battery systems, they eventually lose their ability to take a full charge. how long before the $50,000 lithium ion powered car can only go 200 miles instead of the 300 miles per charge had it was new?" we'll keep covering it. we have a big final hour of trade. i'll hand it off to maria. about 200 new york-area dealers have pulled out of the cash for clunkers program,

blaming delays in government reimbursements. the food and drug administration has officially launched its new tobacco center following passage of a law that puts tobacco under the fda's jurisdiction. and the government says employers should prepare for a worse than normal flu season and be more flexible with sick leave policies to avoid outbreaks. that's cnbc.com news now. i'm mandy drury. and there's a live picture of the floor of the new york stock exchange. we enter the final stretch of trading on wall street, with the rally under way. hi, everybody. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm maria bart romeo along with scott wapner. nice rally under way, scott. and you know what the big story of the day is, oil prices. up better than $3 a barrel on crude oil, taking all the major oil producers with them. chevron, ex-conn both dow components really moving this market. >> on a day when you had warren buffett writing an op-ed in the "new york times" today about some of the side effects of all this stimulus that we've given

this recovery and also china. what the implications are of the bill pullback we've seen in the shanghai market. >> a lot of debate over the so-called china slowdown. mark hurd, chairman and ceo of hewlett-packard yesterday telling me late in the day that it was china really that lifted all boats for the company and helped the company beat on the earnings and the revenue line, saying that the strength in china really lifted all of the asian operations. >> interesting if whether what we're seeing in china is telling us something about perhaps what's in store for this market. the chinese market rebounded before we did, and it apparently has topped out before we did. so some people are looking to that as a sign of where we could head here. >> certainly from the look of commodities today you definitely see that demand. you've got inventories lower. that's one of the boosts behind the move in oil today. oil up right now better than $3 a barrel, back above $72 a barrel. check out where we are right now. the dow jones industrial average reversing an early decline at the open, actually, now all the way up