held up pretty well here today. there's a two-day chart. there's your chance. start off low, sell them at the open but they can't keep them down. look at this again. for the second day in a row stocks kind of keep moving up. see that move up in the middle of the day. that's partly due to some dollar weakness we saw here. the bottom line is the s&p is back in that trading range. 990 to about 1,110 is the range. the dollar index weak throughout the day and there's been a lot of debate recently. some debating whether that player, the dollar weak, stocks and commodities strong was not going to work anymore. we had commodities move modestly off their lows, that helped oil rally but so did the weekly inventory numbers the inventory levels showed a drawdown in oil rather than a build as expected so you can find a weak dollar with that drawdown. energy stocks were the big leaders today. that's really what moved things forward. energy and materials in general were all strong throughout the day. not such a great day with the agricultural equipment stock deere, earnings beat but the guidance for the current quarter

was well below expectations. the bottom line is equipment sales -- equipment, excuse me, sales are weaker than expected overall. they're great at managing this business but end market demand just is not there right now. i've got a lot of questions about china. maria and i were just talking about what's going on in china. excellent report out of the citibank analyst division in hong kong, talking about this today. nosing that while the index was down 20% in two weeks plausible explanation for the slowdown was bank lending. as banks have slowed their lending in the last month it's been less money flowing into the stock market which has gone to that observation that much of china's lending efforts have gone to speculate in the stock market. also, maria, i would note ipos, which were absent completely from china in the last year were now allowed to return in july. we had seven or eight really big ones. that's big competition for the stock market. there you see for the raft lear rallying well off the november lows but down 20%. >> a lot of new supply coming to market in the chinese retail area.

bob pisani there. the energy information administration reporting oil inventories unexpectedly fell by 8.4 million barrels last week. that was the largest decline in more than a year due to lower imports. economists were forecasting an increase of more than a million barrels. it's giving oil prices a big boost. crude up $3.23 a barrel tonight. nearly 5%. closing back above $72 a barrel at $72.42. that, folks, is a two-month high. mortgage bankers association reporting that mortgage applications jumped 5.6% last week due to interest rates on 30-year fixed loans falling to a five-week low. refinancing rising nearly 7%. while purchase applications increased by 3.9%. that is the third straight weekly increase. and the national association of realtors reporting its index of commercial real estate activity fell 1.3% to a reading of 101.5. that's in the second quarter. it is, by the way, the lowest reading in 15 years because of smumping demand for office and

retail space. the trade group also saying any meaningful recovery is not likely to occur before the second half of next year. well, that sell-off. >> china has some saying that markets here in the united states will be next to see a pretty good pullback. but would a market correction be a bad thing in this environment? joining me to talk about that is scott wren senior equity strategist with wells fargo along with linda duffel, with federated partners. good to have you both on the program. welcome. >> thanks. >> linda, how are you investing in this environment? we know september and october typically tough months for the market. are you expecting a pullback? >> we're expecting a pullback, but we're telling our clients that you know, you can't know from where the pullback is. what you just suggested is something that anybody who wants to know can't know. we're heading into the weakest month of the season, and so we've been saying to our clients if you believe as we do that it is a longer-term cyclical bull market then you'll want to peel into this market and that's what we're telling them. >> sow want to be peeling into this market? >> yes indeed. >> do you agree with that,

scott? >> i'll tell you, for us, maria, we've been trying to get our clients less defensive and more cyclical in the u.s. market for the course of the last year. so hopefully, a lot of our clients have positioned themselves and have benefited from this move higher here. but certainly we think that we're going to see some consolidation, some pullback. we're very close right now to our year-end 2009 target. right now we don't really intend to change that. it's just a little bit over 1,000 in the s&p. so i think we're in for a period here of some sideways to down action. saying that, though, the market stayed -- the market has had a good bid, obviously. >> where are the most sort of topee areas of the market, then, do you think? where should i start taking some chips off the table? >> let's just say internationally. on the investment strategy committee we just recently backed off a little on emerging markets. obviously, they've had a big run here compared to the rest of the world. but as far as the united states goes, i think what we're trying to do is rather than take money off the table we've been trying

to get our clients to look out over the next 9, 12, 18 months and position themselves more cyclically. in other words, look for opportunities in the industrials, in the consumer discretionary sector. you want to make sure you're not overweight health care, not overweight utilities, and even weight at best in staples. so rather than trying to trade into this thing, which may be a very brief pullback if we have one, we're trying to tell our clients look for opportunities to play this cyclical rally over the next 12 to 18 months. >> linda, what about that? emerging markets. you're hearing scott. do you think emerging markets have gotten ahead of themselves? do i want to be peeling back on any of dwlierz-n your view? >> well, china for sure has. and of course that's what everybody's talking about now, how it's down more than 20%. it's had such a huge run. there are a lot of emerging markets, and again, we tell our clients-f you're long-term investors you will like emerging markets as we do and you will peel into them. i agree with pretty much

everything scott said with the exception of 1,000 being a year-end figure. we're at about 1,000 right now. we believe we could bet up to the 12, 1250 level, which is actually the level we were at if you recall the weekend just before lehman fell off the cliff. if we say we're not in armageddon, then we can say that's not such a heroic number to get to, and we definitely agree with him on cyclicals, yes. >> so cyclicals you want to be owning. you can say veelt a cyclical. you can say ge is a sk lickal. what are the names i really need to be focused on? >> i won't speak of individual names, but certainly sectors, and one of our favorite sectors has been technology. we like the materials secondary. we know if we're coming out of a bear market historically financials and consumer discretionary are some of your big winners. but these two areas are in some pretty tough secular bear markets only for a bounce. and so not so much them for the longer term. >> scott, what about that? what are the cyclicals in your view that are must own right now? >> as far as industry gluroups ,

maria, construction and farm machinery, industrial machinery, general merchandise stores, air freight and logistics. lots of good quality big cap names in all of those industry groups, we think they're really going to do well here over the next 12 to 18 months. >> we'll see about that. we'll have you back to talk about it. thank you. meanwhile, swiss bank ubs agreeing to turn over the names of thousands of americans who are suspected of evading u.s. taxes. cnbc's mary thompson on the story. mary? >> well, maria, as part of the settlement with the irs ubs is handing over the names of 4,450 secret accounts held by u.s. citizens. those accounts said to at one point have held assets of $18 billion. the settlement stemming from what many consider one of the agency's most aggressive actions to date against a foreign bank. irs commissioner douglas schulman saying on a conference call earlier the information the agency's receiving is unprecedented. >> as this agreement demonstrates, the world of international taxes has

dramatically changed and people hiding assets and income offshore and from the irs need to get right with their government now. >> the irs says the account names it's receiving are the ones most likely involved in offshore tax evasion. the agency saying the accounts vary in size and type and include bank trusts and security accounts. and while the irs declined to say if it's currently probing accounts at other offshore banks and the banks themselves, the agency says the swiss government is helping it with regards to other institutions that have operations similar to ubs's. attorney asher rubinstein saying it won't be long before other banks and their clients are in the irs's cross-hairs. >> listen, ubs is just the tip of the iceberg. we know that this is going to be followed by investigations into other foreign banks as well. >> as for ubs, it says the settlement resolves one of its most pressing issues, an issue for which it will not have to pay a fine. as for how much money the irs expects to recover in back taxes and fines, it declined to say.

and as for the swiss government, which has historically strictly guarded the privacy of those holding money in its banks, it says the names were handed over in accordance with current law. maria, back to you. >> all right, mary, thanks very much. mary thompson. meanwhile, consumers have been hesitant to open up their wallets during the recession. our next guest has three keys that are at the core of getting consumers moving again, spending and supporting an economic recovery. we'll tell what you those keys are right after this break. and then later, the imf declaring an end to the goebel recession. where in the world can investors find the best buying snunts should you still be cautious with your money? some answers next.

welcome back. now a look at the other stories we're following on the "closing bell" ticker tonight. goldman sachs is downgrading alcoa. the analyst says it's a neutral from america's buy list. citing valuation, weak industry fundamentals as well as including -- as well as rather historically high aluminum inventory levels and a lack of positive catalysts. alcoa shares are up 40% since being added to that goldman sachs america's buy list.

the stock today down 3 2/3%. b.j. wholesale club reporting a second quarter profit down to $35 million. that still beat wall street estimates as cost controls were able to offset declines in food and gasoline prices. the nation's third largest warehouse club is also raising its full-year profit target because of improving margins. the stock today was up better than 2%. and drug maker eli lilly says it will not seek fda approval for its experimental osteoporosis treatment. the company is stopping development of the drug because it failed to meet a variety of secondary goals and because of potentially serious side effects. lilly is saying it will take a third quarter charge as a result of 3 to 4 cents per share for shutting down the development. the stock today up nonetheless. with the consumer making up 2/3 of the u.s. economy, getting shoppers back into the swing of things is one of the top challenges in this economic downturn. so what will spark consumers to get moving again and start spending again? richard hastings is a consumer strategist with global hunter securities. ron insana is thestreet.com's

market movers portfolio manager as well as a cnbc contributor. gentlemen, good to see you. welcome. >> thank you. >> so 2/3 of the economy obviously quite important to getting any kind of recovery under way, and yet they keep hoarding their cash. isn't that true, richard? what's it going to take? >> oh, it's going to take small business formation, they've got to clear up the red tape so that small business formation gets going. they have got to make sure that businesses and the household sector can believe that taxes will not be soaring out of control in the second half of next year. they've got to keep that under control. and then they have to see that there's going to be regular normal cyclicals, job creation in the usual sense. but those two actually come before the job creation cycle. you've got to have small business creation first and foremost right now. otherwise the housing sector is simply not going to rebound as would usually be the case. >> ron, how do you see it? >> well, maria, this is mostly anecdotal because the statistical evidence has yet to bear it out, but when you go around the country right now, i was at disneyland, for instance,

last friday in southern california. it was packed. as much as i've seen it in 20 or 30 years. when you go to the airports, they are busy and full. and you go to new york restaurants and it looks like people are out eating again, which you know, if you look back to last november and december or january, things were much, much quieter. i think consumers are going to spend and it's going to show up in the data pretty soon down the road. >> it's interesting. you tamake a lot of points. disney world. have they cut prices to -- >> no. >> the airlines, we know they've consolidated and we know they've stopped some routes. >> right. surely they've consolidated and certainly capacity is somewhat more constrained in the airline business than it's been, but you're talking still about full planes, even in a capacity-constrained business, where last winter, for instance, the business had shuttered capacity and the planes were not even close to half full in some instances. cities like vegas are beginning to pick up again. the speaking business and the convention business is beginning to pick up again. so i think there's less of a chilling effect on the economy, both for businesses and

consumers, than most people realize right now. >> so richard, you've got three keys. you talked about small business. walk us through those three very important keys to get consumers out again. >> the reason why small business creation is so important is because the home equity marketplace that was a humongous source of credit and capital for spending and investment in the household sector has been completely wiped out compared to what it was as a contribution to the household economy. so that has to get replaced by something. and in this case it has to be small business formation. of course, i really don't think it's going to come sufficiently from the normal job creation cycle coming from mid-size and large size companies. i wanted to also mention something regarding what ron was talking about that i think we should bring out. i notice from a survey of about 8,500 shoppers done by big research llc in july, and they were asking them, do you think there are going to be more layoffs or less or the same, you know, coming up very soon. and in july 42% said there would

be more layoffs. but that was compared to a 62% rate saying that they expected more layoffs back in february. so for the last approximately five months the expectation of layoffs being a big problem has been coming down quite a bit. so i think what ron is seeing is similar to what i'm seeing from some of the other surveys. and i see things similar to what ron is seeing as well. there is a little bit of a return of spending, and for those that still have their jobs they're a little more comfortable doing some spending. but i still don't see the normal structure of the household recovery that we would see like in 2003 or in, let's say, 1983. >> let's not forget about the stock market. the stock market has been doing so well. and it really has a direct impact on sentiment. you know, when the public sees the stock market rallying, they have a sense that perhaps things are improving. >> maria, it's african just the stock market rallying. and doug had just suggested it's not the same as 2003. well, that was a two-year lag between the bottom of the last

recession and when people actually began to feel like they were in a normal recovery. what's also interesting on wall street, not just the rebound in the stock market but if you look at how devastated wall street was in terms of job losses, what's also happened simultaneously is the development of some of these boutique broker dealers. so a lot of the individuals, particularly those who had a lot of experience who were displaced have formed their own companies and they have created small businesses and they're actually probably making as much if not more money now than they were when they were with their firms prior to lehman going under or bear stearns going under. and i think that's happening under the radar. >> real quick, red flags here. what turns this around? what could get in the way of a consumer recovery? >> oh, it's the biggest concern is regarding taxes. i'm very concerned about the stability of the fiscal condition of the states and what the states might have to do on state taxes to businesses and the household sector. and i'm very concerned about all of that for the second half of 2010 but not right now. >> we know that taxes are going up. so should we expect that the

economy recovery gets choked off? >> maria, i'm not sure that that's the case. the obama administration may have to make kind of a mid-course adjustment on their plans with respect to higher taxes. i'd be also worried about geopolitical uncertainty in the middle east sometime this fall. if we get another oil price spike, that could be problematic as well. >> all right, gentlemen, great conversation, we appreciate your time. thank you. we'll see you soon. >> thank you. >> up next, the flu season just around the corner. the government is telling businesses how they should be preparing for a potential outbreak. details on that next. 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 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 or, i don't know, fish and chips. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i'll look at all kinds of stocks before i settle on one. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 if i think i'm onto something i'll check it out,

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welcome back. the white house is announcing new federal guidelines to help employers and businesses prepare for the upcoming flu season and respond to the potential of an outbreak of swine flu. cnbc's hampton pearson in washington right now with the story. hampton? >> reporter: hi, maria. even workplace environments like our tv newsroom are not immune. top government officials today urging employers to plan for both a seasonal and swine flu outbreak this fall. at the top of the to-do list, get regular flu shots early, encourage at-risk employees to get the h1n1 vaccine as soon as

it becomes available. that high risk group includes pregnant women, health care workers, and younger workers with respiratory conditions like asthma. the heads of the commerce, hhs, and homeland security worry a widespread flu outbreak could impact the economy. more than a million americans have been infected with the h1n1 virus. >> let's not just play wait and see. let's be proactive. we are being proactive at the level that we are at. but we are now asking the business community to be proactive and do some planning too. >> reporter: some businesses already have action plans, like the windvale group, a fast-growing washington, d.c. i.t. consulting firm benefitting from a boom in government contracts. its 25-person workforce could easily be wiped out by the flu. but policies like telecommuting and flexible sick leave have been in place since they opened

their doors. >> what we do is we provide complete remote access to all employees to their complete work environment. so at any time if the employee feels ill they think they might have the flu, it's very easy for them to stay home. they have complete access to all of their work files and they can do all of their work from home. >> about 45 million doses of swine flu vaccine from several drug companies are expected to be available by mid october. when that happens, the federal government will begin shipping them to the states as soon as possible. maria? >> hampton, i guess my question is how do you know if it's swine flu or just a typical flu? i mean, somebody might get flu symptoms and not know if it's the more serious swine flu or just any old flu. how do i know the difference? >> well, in particular the swine flu, health officials tell us, is something that seems to target younger and/or at-risk persons whereas more of the general population is susceptible to so-called regular flu, if you will. >> all right, hampton. thanks very much. hampton pearson in d.c. tonight.

emerging markets have been red hot this year, meanwhile, but are they still as attractive as they were a year ago with a 45% run-up in '09? are you better off putting your money in more established economies? more mature economies? we'll check it out next. 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.

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the imf says that the global recession is over and the world economies are on the road to recovery. this is already evidenced in the positive gdp growth we've seen in china, japan, korea, france, and germany. or is it? where are the opportunities for investors across the globe? i'm joined by doug smith, regional head of research of the americas and standard charter banks and hayes miller, head of global asset allocation with bering asset management. doug, let me kick this off with you because i've got to tell you, we saw the positive gdp numbers out of france and germany but yesterday when i spoke with mark hurd, chairman and ceo of hewlett-packard, he said to me europe is still blah, his word, not mine. i'm wondering if we should be reading too much into the gdp positive numbers in france and

germany. >> well, i think the results for europe were very mixed. and when you look around the world, you see there's been enormous fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus. so the places you need to look are where the stimulus has taken place but then that has provided a launching pad for the private sector. >> right. so -- i'm sorry. go ahead. >> i was going to say in the case of here you have a cash for clunkers program, you have incentives to work on your house, things like that. so i think that that has provide aid good bit of the growth that we've seen so far in those cases. >> so hayes, what about that? compare with us -- for us, rather, the recovery in europe versus asia. >> sure. well, the u.s. has a more flexible structure per job, so we've been able to cut costs. that's where all of the q2 surprises have come from. the top line's been very anemic where as in europe you obviously have a much more difficult time in terms of cutting costs and therefore the growth, the earnings growth isn't quite so high. but on the other hand, you're getting two p/e points less that you have to pay for european equities.

so it's more or less in the price, and there's no difference between the u.s. and europe right now in my mind as a process peck for equity markets. >> so let's say hypothetically speaking that we are seeing actually the recession over around the world and we are looking forward to growth. what kind of a recovery do you expect? that i guess is the question of the day, doug. >> well, there are two places that we like a lot, where we think there's a pretty strong recovery. first is south korea. and the second is brazil. in both cases you've had significant stimulus but then when you look at what's happening in the private sector, korea, for example, you see very high business confidence, very high consumer confidence, even at precrisis levels. brazil you see retail sales are back at precrisis levels. so we think that in these cases -- of course they've been hit by the global slowdown as they're integrated in the global economy. but the domestic demand components have been important. and particularly in brazil's case the banks haven't been stuffed with all these toxic assets like many other banks in the world. so you're able to see more

lending, which of course is the impetus for the private sector growth that we expect. >> do you agree with that, hayes? >> yeah, these transitions from export-oriented to domestic are very long-term in nature. and there's just no way that these economies can switch from ex-port-oriented growth to domestic growth on a dime like this. so it appears to me as though the hope for some sort of domestic-oriented growth profile out of china, out of brazil is going to be a longer time coming, and so we have to anticipate that the economic growth profile that we're seeing globally is going to be more oriented toward government stimulus packages for a while to go. >> where do you think the specific growth will be? are there sectors you think will outperform others in any of these economies? >> you know, we think that sectors have been a stronger driver than geography now for about two years and may continue to be so. this year materials is up 45 --

or 40%. and telcos are down 2% whereas across the large geographical regions they're about the same. so i think that's going to continue to be the driver, and i think that we think that selectivity within sectors is going to be just as important. i think it's a stock picker's dream. i think it's an industry selector's dream. and i think it's a global macro -- not a nightmare but it's going to be a little bit tougher for global macro for the remainder of this year to make money. >> do you want to look at some of the resource-rich areas? doug, you were talking about brazil and china and korea. chile. do you want to look at the nations that are rich in resources because of an expectation of increased demand, particularly in places like china? >> sure. i think that's absolutely crucial. and the countries that have a wide range -- wide basis of trade, like brazil, for example. but i would also add that brazil's growth for the past four or so years has all been

domestic-led. net exports has actually detracted from growth in brazil because they've imported more in real terms than they've exported. sought commodities boom is good for them, great for the currency, great for the trade account. but growth in brazil has been a domestic-led story for three or four years now. >> okay, gentlemen. great conversation. we appreciate it. we'll see you soon. thanks very much. doug, hayes, we will talk to you next time. up next, talking financials with former salomon brothers ceo john gutfreu gutfreund. find out if he thinks the sector has fully recovered from the financial crisis, whether financial regulation needs a complete overhaul. he's next. 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 is 250.

welcome back. he was once dubbed the king of wall street, overseeing salomon brothers during wall street's last major crisis in the 1980s. here to share his thoughts on the state of the financial sector, the future of wall street, the new regulatory environment, john gutfreund. he's president of gutfreund & company. john, always nice to have you on the program. >> thank you very much. >> good to see you. so can you give me a sense of how things have changed? i mean, obviously you've seen so much in your career. what do you think is sort of most important coming out of this financial crisis? >> well, the previous

generations knew they had to operate within rules and law. and after mr. friedman and mr. greenspan the idea was you would do whatever you thought was appropriate. and that era led to some of the terrible problems we fell into by 2007, 2008. the question is you can't put it back in the box. you're not going to reregulate under the same terms. >> and obviously, stealth regulating being more -- >> self-regulating failed. it used to be when i went to school, long before you were born, you had three branches of government, you know, the legislative, the executive, and the legal. and there wasn't as much hard

feeling as there seems to be in the last two years. i can't understand these personal vendettas, excoriating the president for the southern republicans banding together seems such nonsense. i don't think they're getting it. but i don't think you can reregulate by the old rules again. we've been through a terrible problem. and you know, you can be critical of mr. bush and what happened with the previous secretary of the treasury because who would have imagined that you buy out bear stearns at $2 and a week later change it to $10? or you that let lehman go. >> or how about the government acquiring 80% of aig? >> all of which is beyond imagination. >> yeah. >> the question with that is how do you change the system? the behavior still is unchanged.

and i don't think that people are acclimated to the idea there are going to have to be rules. >> so what are your thoughts on how the government has handled this financial crisis right now? do you think that the policies coming out in terms of the federal reserve policies as well as treasury now are the right policies? >> i think they were concerned with saving the system. when you're concerned with saving the system, you may not adhere to policies that most people understand or believe in. they had to make up rules on the way. the money to the banks and where it was expended leaves something to be desired. but they had to save the banks. did it go into the public's hands in small loans? no. the banks made acquisitions. logically, that is the right way to do things. but again, i think that we're going to survive this and do very well.

the question is when and will this be a straight runway up the road? i don't think so. >> how will it look in the coming year, in the coming two years? in other words, when citigroup was getting bigger and bigger and bigger and then glass stiegel changed and -- >> do anything you want. >> exactly. how does the typical institution look in your opinion? >> the smart institution will find an area in which it excels and try to dominate. i think citibank being all things to all people is a huge mistake. >> it doesn't work. >> not only it doesn't work, how can you manage a quarter of a million people around the world? i think focus is very important. but that's not going to happen overnight. people aren't going to change their habits that quickly.

>> charles schwab wrote an op-ed, you probably saw it today, that brokers aren't responsible for the bad bets. this comes amidst an investigation into his company by the new york attorney general, cuomo, regarding the sale of auction rate securities. what's your take on that situation? >> well, chuck just went along with everybody else selling auction rates. and most of the guys, when they settled, they compromised him. so that when one of the swiss banks settled, when b of a settles, chuck is left hanging out to dry. >> even though everybody was in the same soup. >> that's right. well, the point is the assurance that they gave to clients was that at maturity you'd either get par or they'd roll it over. they haven't done that. it's been very unfair to the clients. and schwab is as guilty as the next guy. or as not guilty as the next guy. >> right. and as far as sort of too big to fail, you know, we talked about citi. you could probably make the same argument in gm. gm -- >> gm failed.

>> exactly. now it's 70% owned by the government. what's your take on government owning such big blocks of the largest companies in america? or formerly the largest companies. >> formerly. >> yeah. >> my take on that is when you're in an extreme situation and you have to keep the business of america alive you make compromises and do things that in normal times you wouldn't consider doing. the question is how do we extricate ourselves from the control of aig or general motors? >> is there an exit strategy? even citi is almost 40% owned by government. >> the exit strategy is not clear to me. maybe it's clear to cnbc, but -- >> i don't think it's clear to anybody. >> the problem with that, it's not clear to congress. and congress continues to go on hitting each other over the heads on a partisan basis, which is lunacy. seeking the answers is what it's supposed to be about. my thing is just i think obama

has been a very bright young man and he's tried to cover the waterfront and do everything. i guess that's his job, but you can't do it. >> it's too much. >> and without the cooperation of congress it's -- figuratively speaking it's a killing job. >> i'm just wondering if they need more business people in there. because you mentioned congress. you also don't really have a business person with operating business experience in government. nor do you have that really in congress. >> you've got a couple of smart people in the inner sanctum with the president. larry summers may not be mr. charm, but he's a very bright fellow. >> he absolutely is. i think he's the top guy there in terms of having his finger on the pulse. >> paul volcker's a very bright guy, but i gather paul is semi-listened to and summers is, oh, what do i know. but those are very bright people. but they aren't businessmen.

the combination, again, that's the executive branch. the legislative branch, i was going to say something rude, but i won't. they've deported themselves -- i'm not going to say it. >> you can say it, john. >> they leave something to be desired. they're so partisan, they're so vindictive, they're so mean-spirited, and these town meetings get every rabble-rouser in town to stand up and show his face on the screen. that's nonsense. >> well, i think you make a lot of good points. john, it's great to have you on the program, as always. >> good luck. >> we so appreciate it. well, we hope you're back with us -- >> my answers, they won't help you. >> they may very well help. hopefully, people are watching out there. john gut froound, always good to talk to you. former ceo salomon brothers, joining us here. throughout the day we've been revealing "fortune" magazine's top five fastest-growing companies. up next we'll tell you which company is at the top of that exclusive list. which company is the fastest growing in america? we'll tell you coming up. @@@@@@

welcome back. "fortune" magazine's annual list of the 100 fastest-growing companies in the world is out, and cnbc has teamed up with the

periodical to feature the top five names on the list. cnbc's managing editor tyler mathisen co-hosts the fastest-growing companies of 2009. he joins me now to reveal the number one company on the list. >> >> maria, i will guarantee you that you spend more time with this product than most of your family members. >> the number one company on the list is the maker of the innovati innovative, ubiquitous tech tool in business today. you probably have one. the canadian company research in motion, the maker of the blackberry. it is the fastest growing company of 2009. >> imagine what you guys have built here. >> i couldn't have imagined. i don't think anyone could have imagined where we're headed. what we did build is exactly where we envisioned.

>> that vision, home grown here in waterloo has turned r.e.m. into a tech titan. they're worth about $2.5 billion each. they're not the only ones who have grown wealthy. in the last two year, r.e.m. stock market value has vaulted from $96 million to $42 billion. >> at some point in not too distant future, the hand held will be a little plasma tv in your pocket. do you leave there or apple lead there? >> a simple comparison is who wins in the battle between the alligator and the bear. it depends on the terrain. the nature of the terrain is shifting. >> the nature of the terrain is shifting. there's much more tonight on research in motion. and on four other very fascinating, very fast-growing companies in our special tonight at 9:00 p.m. maria, it is a no blackberry zone at 9:00 p.m. i don't want to get any stunt work from you. >> no blackberry zone. i will be there, ty, thanks so

much. what an interesting piece to do to look at the best growing in such an environment. no recession there. that's for sure, tyler mattison, see you tonight. 9:00 p.m. eastern on cnbc. melissa lee is there with more on what's coming up tonight, "fast money" ten minutes away. >> we'll have the best plays for tomorrow. also, the trader training camps -- he's got a chalk board already. he'll get you in shape for the fall. the first on cnbc's interview, the first on gold corp. and where he sees gold prices to the end of the year. that and much more on fast money at the top of the hour. thanks. continue consumer spending continues to be weak. will the video game business give holiday shopping a boost? you really need it these days. how come? well if you're hurt and can't work it pays you cash... yeah to help with everyday bills

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8,000 to 550,000. we'll get the leading economic indicators as well as here from the philly fed. a fresh look at the consumers through two new sets of eyes. sears and gap round out the retail earnings. that's tomorrow. meanwhile, soni is cutting the price of the ps-3 video system to help spurn sales. will that move spark a price war? and could that save the holiday shopping season this year. jim goldman now with the thoughts. >> interesting move by sony yesterday releasing the ps-3, the ps-3 slim with the $299 price point. it will juice sales for soni, no question about it. this is not necessarily competition with x box and nintendo wii. this might be more soni competing with itself. the base of 132 million ps-2

users and 127 million ps-3 users. the sony needs to come up a way to migrate the ps-2 marketplace to the ps-3 technology. this might be the cutback the market has been waiting for. >> does a lot of people feel like if we were to see more companies cut the prices of them maybe that will spur sales but it won't do anything for margins. >> it won't do anything for margin. sony is losing money on the ps-3 to sell. it has the microprocess tore that drives the technology inside. the blu ray onboard already. that's a good sell point for soni. a blu ray player for $299 and a gaming system as well. margins are under such enormous pressure, sony looking at that

blu ray player and psp player as a loss leader but it will drive sales this holiday shopping season for the industry if this begins what many think will be a pricing war. that could be good. the bigger the installed base, the more games that are sold. the more games that are sold, the more are produced. all of this ecosystems leads to new consoles and new console sales. that's the plan. >> what does it mean for microsoft? >> this is going to be new competition for x-box 360 again at this price point. microsoft has been aggressive as far as pricing is concerned for the technology. microsoft announcing a deal with facebook to merge the technologies there as they try to become more of a social networking and a game console and platform. it will be interesting to see whether this sony deal will put added pressure on microsoft. right now, microsoft has the momentum. sony is playing catchup. >> jim goldman with the latest. look at the markets today, we say good night. the markets ended with the best

levels of the afternoon. oil was hot. it was one of the major drivers behind the rally given the fact there are major producer in the dow 30. 2/3 of 1%, 9379. nasdaq was strong. 1969 is where the nasdaq finished today's trading session. and the s&p 500 up 63/4 points at 996. oil prices, the story of the air that inventories were down for crude oil. oil finished up $3 a barrel at $ $72, back above $72 for crude. stay tune for melissa and the guys. thanks for watching tonight. this is the cnbc.com news now. the swiss government will sell the stake of ubs and discontinue the risk management. the situation at ubs has become more stable as markets recover. the federal government has chosen spain's bbva as the

winner and is a trouble of guaranteed financial group in texas. that's cnbc.com's news now. "fast money with melissa lee" starts right now. dow jumping 150 points off of the morning low. the fast money traders have your best ways to play live from the nasdaq market site. i'm melissa lee. these are the fast money fliers. the bear market will tell you how to protect your money from the fallout. the top internet analyst will tell you if it's a birthday buy. they're so tough they would make ray look flush. >> still a little fuel in the tank, folks. >> get to the word on the street, of course. behind the reversal today, oil

trading higher. joe, what was your screen like today >> what was my screen like today? today she loved me. she loved me. on the open. you came in with a bearish position. you were highly frustrated. the s&p futures looked like they were going to go down and challenge the 9 79 1/2 level. slowly rallied off of the lows all day. jim cramer came on. kudos to jim. oil kicked in as you said. we were off to the races to the upside. >> what were you playing on oil? long oil? >> we'll talk a little bit about oil as we move. the interesting part today is the incident grapted names for the first time since i could remember, the last couple of weeks actually participate in this rally, exxon mobile, chevron. those things came in to play as well. >> why were you able to take time off today? >> the oil numbers were interested. there were drawn inventories on the imports number. that was the reason oil took off from there. the problem is s&p took about an hour to react to that.