let's take a look at how the european markets closed, 1% pop across-the-board. for last call, talking about bernie madoff, new york post today on the cover saying do they have reports from inside the prison he does have cancer in the same time the bureau of prisons saying that is not the case. what we were wondering, reading his article, a lot of people wondering, is this the missing piece of the puzzle, explain if he did have cancer, did that explain why he is taking the fall, why he is not exposing anyone else involved, why he didn't file it? just the talker for the day? what do you think? >> a good theory isn't it? >> quite a bit of sympathy. all the prison gangs are trying to recruit him ton part of his

gang, clearly not shunned by the people in the prison. >> i will say, another rumor developing, imminent prosecutions on feeder funds that put it into madoff and that they were handsomely paid on investment returns, also out there. narc. is the big story. i'm melissa francis. >> i'm larry kudlow. see you at 7 p.m. for the kudlow report. now, "power lunch" is up next. this is cnbc.com news now. >> the bureau of prisons has pub blushed reports that bernie madoff is buying of cancer are "inaccurate," withholding further comment but says it is seeking madoff's permission to make health-related disclosures. stocks rallying for a fifth straight session, financial stocks leading the way. energy stocks also performing well. apple plans to start selling the leopard upgrade to their system on friday. that is cnbc news now, i'm

courtney reagan. welcome to "power lunch," i'm sue herera, bill griffith is off, carl is here. >> a couple fun hours. >> a lot on the plate. >> hoping the markets are looking good on a monday. >> fifth straight day of upside for the markets. investors are trying to build, as carl mentioned on that market momentum, financials among the big winners. >> i'm carl quintanilla, the great divide, oil prices soaring, but natural gas diving. what is behind the split and what does it say about the economy and the markets? we will drill down on that, the spread to which oil is trading. we haven't seen anything like that in a long time. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. is goldman sachs giving big tips to clients and rushing the rest? we will go inside what is called the trading huddle. here is what else is on the menu. i'm phil lebeau are you clunked out? if you are are you are not alone a lot of dealerships around the country are clunkered out, they are stopping clunker sales well

before the 8:00 deadline tonight. what are the implication for dealer stocks? talking about that in a little bit. i'm hampton pearson in washington. 81 bank failures and counting, fdic strategy for stemming that tide be a greater role for private equity firms in details coming up. i'm darren rovell, peyton manning's brother eli makes more in salary but peyton pulls in more in endorsements. next hour, we will ask the colts quarterback what that means? >> football, right? >> i love peyton manning. >> you were out of your seat. >> could you tell? was i blushing? >> a little bit. >> other kind of action, market action, stocks going for five in a row, s & p 500, 2003, bob pisani kick it is off at the new york stock exchange. bob? >> michelle, financials leading

in this very strange day trading, call it that, fanny makers freddie mac, 500 million shares of fannie mae have trade sod far today, more total volume of the new york stock exchange, fannie mae is 10%, i'm told, the total volume of trading on the floor here. freddie mac as well, strong heavy volume as well. again, the earnings came out a long time ago, primarily momentum trades at this point. there is credit cards, all up, positive comments from barclays, credit card dell lynx questioncies moving to the downside. as oil approached the $75 level seen the energy stocks be the leadership group, right across-the-board, talking about smaller companies, valero, medium sized companies murphy, ex-son mobile across-the-board, two, three, four% increases in the prices. trader talk.cnbc.com.

rebecca, nasdaq on the upside. >> nasdaq modestly positive, the case, bob, tech is lagging the overall markets seeing the nasdaq up .2% now. one of the culprits is dell the upside 3.6%. am tech out with a note, not only positive on dell but positive on technology saying corporations are bound to pick up on their it spending, can't hold out forever and look keating manned picking up by 2010. oracle shares a, big tech names to the upside, oracle up .8. we are seeing a bit of tech weakness is in shares of intel and the upgraded, their arch nemesthem at constituenty, shar down .7 for intel. brian shactman for more on the oil trade. >> thank you very much. i appreciate t one of those things were there is so much going on it comes to oil prices now about a month away from the opec meeting, rhetoric ramping up, iraqi oil minister says they shouldn't ramp up production,

like the prices, budgets better, 75 than 35. look at oil today. running toward $75, 7481, resistance there, past 75, smooth sailing to 80 and 85. i want it look at the rest of the con plex, everyone looking about nat gas, spread so wide historically, nat gas turned around a bounce off the lows, told it is just short covering, quickly at the metals, gold reacting to a firmer dollar, silver, copper, more of a global growth story when it comes to those two metals, more so than gold, tightly correlated to dollar. carl, good to see you after the noon eastern hour. >> come back to the office, clean out your desk. >> good thing coneson not here, move it out anyway. >> got that right. thanks, brian. more on the disparity between oil and nat gas on power. stocks continue to power forward but has the rally gone too far

too soon? get our task force. the chief strategist at mezumo securities, and adam bold, mutual fund store guys. good to see you. rubini in the. if it t saying a double-dip is on the way. journal says the guys that got the rally correct now getting tired and dick bove says we got hundreds more bank failures to come. naturally, we are at our highs for the year what is going on there? >> i don't think at this particular point that the economy has a major influence on the equity market, the factors moving prices, i think their liquidity should remain exceptional, all-time highs, individual participation, equity markets increasing, valuations are favorable, turned the corner, seen the low on earnings, so, i think there are a number of factors here very positive likely somebody ha have this market, having moved too far, too fast is the wrong perspective in this environment, the right perspective, remain invested until interest rates start rising. >> adam, you agree with that?

>> i don't agree with that. >> people sitting on the sidelines, individual investor and they may get in. go ahead. >> sue, i think that will be the catalyst for the next move up is, you know, when we went from 6600 to 75, people didn't believe it 85, 95, now people are starting, the average investor starting to go hey, i think this thing is real and as people move back in the market, there is going to be a lot of cash coming in and you know, when you have got more demand, prices go higher and i like the fact that there is skepticism out there. when everybody believes the market is going to go up. >> everybody is wrong. everybody is always wrong, right? adam, at what point do you get out? some point, you have got to look at valuations saying pricing earnings whatever for 2009 and 2010, some point, the market gets expensive, what point? >> we are not there yet. look, if -- >> when would we be there? >> we have come from 6600 to 9500 on the dow but a year ago today, we were at 11,950.

so, we have got a long way to go just to return to normalcy, think lot morse left. >> fee bob daal agrees with you, listen in what he has to say earlier. >> between here and the end of the year, at some point, a bump. i don't know what the cause will be plans economic growth isn't as strong as we thought, a concern over,it slows down in 2010. invest he is are will find an excuse to sell them off before the end of the year. >> take that, car mine. >> anticipating a correction is the wrong move so far. many investors moved to the sidelines, up 20 and 30%, i was say it was going too far, too fast. if you look at valuation, which is michelle's question, typically interest rates at today's levels, historically had valuations in the vicinity of 20 to 25 times earnings. today, if you base valuation on next year's operating profits it

is around 14 times. this is the lowest in 20 years why is everybody so bearish? >> car mine, why do you like consumer staples? i would think is that the is last thing you would want to be looked at now when everybody is talking about an economic expansion and market moving higher? >> basically, the economic expansion is likely to be very sluggish and these stocks not participated as much on the upside, lagged 20% damage points, i think there is value there. i tend to pursue value acres grows sive more with the technology sector in this consumer staples area there is value and inclined some point, maybe bob daal is correct, some concern about the economic growth not being as robust that is going to help the consumer staples. >> all right, guys work that, on a day where the markets are up yet again, thank you both. talk to you guys later. meanwhile, "the wall street journal" confirming that ponzi king bernie madoff is dying of cancer. still unclear what type of cancer it is. the prison bureau declining comment on madoff's health and

is looking for madoff's permission to disclose his medical information. we are going to have more on the fallout on that in the next hour and then check out cnbc.com, madoff and the cancer question, one of the hot stories at this hour. >> i think so. >> raises so many questions, too, about why if you were in his position, why you would not say that in advance of your sentencing? >> because it wouldn't have made that much of a difference. it still -- look, the report and the original report, it was what pancreatic cancer? if you were going to die very, very quickly from that getting ten years versus 150 years. probably pointless. >> we will talk about that still to come. it may explain a lot, actually, it may explain his decisions to to resist helping the government in any way, shape or form. absolutely. we come back after a short break is goldman sachs giving its best tips to only -- only its biggest clients and stiffing all the rest of them? we are going to tell you what is going on behind the doors at 85 broad. also this hour, the gigantic

split between oil and natural gas prices. what's behind what they are calling the great divide and what does it say about the market and the economy? plus, the health debate rages on, does obama care really control costs? get ready for the "halftime report." guess who is in the chair today in the great rick santelli. he is with the gang. we are back in two minutes. to stay on top of my game after 50,

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so far, so good for the bulls, dow industrial average announcing yet another advance of 58 points. nasdaq up about 8. the s & p is up 7 points on the session. some of the most widely clicked stocks in cnbc.com right now, citigroup, bank of america, ge, aig and ford a number of financials participating, going to give you some tips on what bank stocks to buy with analysts next hour. michelle. goldman sachs reportedly tipping off favorite clients with early analyst recommendations. that's what this article in today's "wall street journal" reports, goldman sachs reportedly offers trading tips to key clients and intermal traders during weekly meetings called trading huddles. suzanne craig wrote the story and she is with us. >> good it see you. >> those who haven't seen it give us the basics a meeting once a week, talked about short-term trading strategy, which climb yens get the information? which clients don't? >> each sector, to be a financial sector or retail

sector, the analysts and the traders meet, you know, pretty much once a week and from there they have a meeting, let's say after the close or before the open in the morning. and they chat about different stocks and from that will come, you know, various short-term trading ideas. some of them -- >> the key issue is what happens next, right? where does that information go? >> from there they, you know, the inhouse traders obviously hear it first. and from there it will be disseminated to various top clients of the firm, you know, a lot of it's based on not only on their strategies but of course on how much -- >> like who? like who? >> some of the names on the list that we saw are sit ta dell, sat capital, very large hedge funds familiar probably to most viewers. >> you know, the question is whether or not it is a violation of securities law, suzanne, a lot of questions, certainly, but that is one of the key ones if you don't manage billions of dollars, you don't get -- you get better information or different information than if you only have millions of dollars under management. any legal issues here? >> i think it is no secret if

you are spending a lot of trading commissions to any firm you are going to get better service. the question here is simply what is disclosed to the consumers at the long-term research. let's say our holder of apple stock and you filed followed a report at goldman that is a mutual rating an analyst with a short-term buy on it on the huddles, i think you may want to know the service is out there, one of the issues. as far as the inhouse traders getting it first, goldman says they don't act on it until after clients are told but certainly, probably things that may come up in terms of how the information is handled when it is given to clients that sort of thing. >> your piece is on the front page of the journal, already on the cover of new york magazine, we talked to rolling stone article to death. do you get the sense that they feel they are under siege or is this goldman's world and we just live in it? >> no i think they definitely do and probably think, you know, their crime is making money here and doing well in an environment and taking advantage of market opportunities and they are

getting -- >> unapologetic, right, no qualms about doing this they know how it will be characterized, at this desk or others. >> you think they will say we need to pull back to get better props. just try to ride it out. i definitely think there is an anti-goldman sentiment out there, any time rolling stone is weighing in with a huge article. >> heard they have hired an image manager that mr. blankfein has come out and said, you know, be careful how you spend your bonus, you are entitled to it perhaps but be care before being showy. do they need to worry about it that image and try to spin it in a more beneficial light? >> they have been in the market for brown manager for quite some time, i thank you is a separate issue. goldman is very conscious and always have been around their image and around sort of just being out there. i think that's always been a concern and continues to be, especially in this environment where they just got out from under the government thumb. >> did you -- did they try to get to you not run this article and what kind of resistance did you meet?

i can't imagine that they are happy about this story. >> no i mean, i think they met us full-on in terms of comment and in terms of being very rigorous on -- in their position about you know, various aspects of the story, i don't think they tried not to get us to run it. >> do you think they will lose clients as a result of it? clients who have 10 million or 20 million versus billions of dollars under management might think of pulling those accounts? >> i think that is always there i think what the article does is raises a concern that clients, you know, who don't have, you know, as much as these huge hedge funds under management have always had. to say they will lose clients, i don't know, but i think it certainly continues to sort of feed this concern. and goldman has a defense of it and i think it is a matter of reading it and decide where you can come out. >> so if one wanted to haesher hear what is going on in the huddle, your recommendation would be get 1 billion? >> or phone them up and say i want the short-term tips, i have a feeling you may get on the

list today. >> conveniently, a phone right here. suzanne, thank you. >> thanks. >> pleasure. coming up next, going to talk more about that story, oil prices the past few weeks versus natural gas prices nosediving. so why is this the great divide as we are calling it? will that continue? what does it say about the economy and the markets? talk about all that. >> look at how crude and nat gas are trading today. crude oil higher by 74 cents, 7463, near that high for the year. natural gas below 3 bucks, 2.91, seven-year low. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

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brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening. former new york state insurance commissioner eric dinallo sent out an e-mail says he does, indeed, init tend to enter the race to succeed andrew cuomo as new york's next attorney general in the event that mr. cuomo does decide not to seek reelects. this may not be a surprise. the "new york times" wrote a

story about him forming a campaign committee, a campaign county to be able to officially run but now he is sending out an e-mail indeed saying he is going to enter the race to succeed andrew cuomo's new york's attorney general, if he won't run there is speculation that cuomo will run for governor. >> some may argue that dinallo's stock is pretty high having seen us through the worst of the credit rating agency's mess, aig was largely on their turf. interesting to see what kind of race he puts together to go for ag. >> he was there for the whole eliot spitzer situation with the research, drama going on. mbna. a lot of people come back and say aig was under your watch, what happened? >> two issues to face there. >> the memories are short. let's talk more about natural gas. because as you know, nat gas and crude oil have been moving in opposite directions in a very decided watch the last week, oil prices up 11%, nat gas prices are down 10%.

what is causing the disparity? joining us, chris jarvis, president and founder of cap risk management and lisa from summit energy. chris, i will start with you if i could because one of the issues is structural. bob pigs sanny talked a lot about the etfs to deal with nat gas and energy, ung is one of them that has created a structural problem that's part of this greattive slide, correct? >> yeah, absolutely. i think if you look at the capital inflows early in the year, we had roughly 300 million, got up to as high as $3 billion in that etf. then they filed for another billion shares or units and with all the chatter about cutting down on speculation and the logistical problems that they are having, actually trying to mimic the natural gas market, i think etf as high as 10% premium, etf to have a low tracking error. way above what they should have been as far as threshold goes. >> okay. >> a lot of issues structurally with the natural gas market.

i think this etf is distorted, quite a bit this summer. >> is -- lisa is that all of it or also because natural gas tends to be domestic market, oil is an international market? how much that play as well? >> right, absolutely. crude oil is a global market, so it is typically driven by global fundamentals, whereas natural gas is a very regional market and regional fundamentals, north american natural gas fundamentals, the supply demand balance is out of balance. it is an inbalance. so i think that is really what's driving, especially the nearest months, natural gas for delivering september and october, they are very weak due to very weak fundamentals, a lot of supply in the market. >> so, chris, is the spread still in the process of widening and once that stops, once the spread comes in, it's going to correct based on what crude coming down or nat gas going up? >> i think if you look historically, 15 times the ratio, relative to crude oil, been about 15 two other times, i

think we got a hay of 27. so this event that we are seeing over the summer has definitely been well over what we have seen in the past. you know, going into the -- into the wintertime, i think weather, hurricanes, good heating demand could absolutely, you know, change that ratio back closer. pickup in industrial demand with an economic upturn in the second half of the year certainly would. another thing that people need to take a look at is switching. winter of 07 and '08, average amount of heating degree days but the highest withdrawal on record a lot has to do with the ratio between crude and natural gas, 10% pickup in demand, 400 bcf based on the relative valuation you grice highlights. i expect to see this going to this wintertime? >> how do you think it will resolve itself? you get disparities in marketplaces, you get resolution and frequently violent in the way that it occurs. >> the markets seem to work themselves out. i think we will see that again as we move through the winter and into 2010, i think we are

seeing that currently with the pricing being so much higher on those later contracts. so, i think the market knows that there is a much greater prospect to work through the storage overhang as demand comes back online, as the economy recovers. and as we move into the high demand heating season. >> chris, what's the trade? how do you trade this? >> if you are brave enough, the ratio at 27, you know, go long gas and short crude oil here, the problem, these things wind themselves out and get silly before they correct themselves. i think we are close to that level here, i think natural gas is, you know, obviously very much underval tude crude oil, i don't think it is reflective of the fundamentals york see natural gas staying a that the ratio much longer. >> thank you, guys, appreciate it very much. >> thanks for having me. the president is on vacation but the health care debate raging still around the country. obama care, does control cost or not? does it run up a huge deficit? sparks will fly in our power grid today. >> 12:45 eastern time, get ready

for the fast money "halftime report." "power lunch" on a monday is back in a flash.

welcome back. almost halfway through the

trading day. here are the headlines that the hour, stocks pushing higher, trying to make it five in a role nasdaq, s & p 500 on track for their best yearly percentage gain in six years. caterpillar among the big winners, coca-cola, one of the big losers now. mar clays capital bullish on capital stocks, group grading american express, capital one and they see three to five years of earnings growth from this year's depressed levels. nokia shares are higher, the world's biggest cell maker dialing into the pc business by offering a minilaptop. more on the fallout on that in the next hour. the white house out a few moments ago actually following up with something that we covered for you last week on "power lunch." the white house saying the current h1n1ny strain poses a serious health threat to the nation. we had health and human services secretary and commerce secretary with us on "power lunch" last week making a big push for business to do everything they

can to basically try and encourage employees if they do get is sick to stay home. we will see. hopefully won't be as bad as they think. hard liners for the public option pushing ahead on health care reform. here is what california congresswoman maxine waters said over the weekend. [ inaudible ]. >> youtube video, so the audio is a little unclear but saying we are talking about putting a tax on the richest people in america and you heard cheers after that. there's so much talk about how to pay for it and yet we don't seem to be hear anything about controlling cost his more. have the democrats abandoned the zbld firing off in the power grid, democratic strategist, liz shatter done and ron christie, former assistant to bush-cheney. you each get 20 seconds. ron, i will start with you. does it sound lake to you these democrats have abandoned cost

controls here? >> certainly does. when we first start the health care debate at the beginning of the obama administration, we heard they wanted to introduce legislation that was going to bring costs down, ensure that as many people as possible will be covered while making deficit neutral. we haven't seen a bill get coalesced all sides will been able to agree on, the house or senate, expensive, scored by the congressional budget office to me, seems like the democrats are shifting the debate away from keeping costs down. >> liz? >> well, i completely disagree. the whole point of health care reform is to try to get costs down for individuals and businesses, particularly small businesses. this is not going to be easy. everybody knows it we are trying to get a bill that in the end does this yes, do you have to spend a little money to make a little money? yeah, an old business adage, going to cost can us a little bit of money to reform this program but we are absolutely dedicated to lowering the cost of health care. >> how, biz? by what measures? >> you know this is not going to be easy, let's talk about this current system is broken, we all know it, it is too expensive for small business to provide health

insurance for their employees. >> the way to control costs now is what? >> i'm not a health care expert, but my understanding the way to control costs is make sure the insurance companies aren't overcharging the government when it comes to certain things like medicare to make sure that doctors are paid a fair rate that they are not charged by the number of procedures that they have. there are different ways to control costs but right -- frankly, pre-existing conditions. that is a big one, all right, taking people off insurance because they have pre-existing conditions? no that means people with health insurance are paying more to cover those without health insurance when they walk into emergency rooms. [ inaudible ]. >> the thing that i find most distressing about this, take one particular bill in the house of representatives right now, hr 3400, one of the ways we can reduce costs in health care is allowing people to purchase, employers to purchase insurance across state lines. the way the current laws and regulations are right now, you can't do that another way to bring down costs is tort reform

so many of our doctors and medical practitioners right now are very, very fearful of the high cost of medicine. i think when we have an honest swugs discussion to make sure we get as many people on the rolls as possible there are smaller, incremental steps that will allow people to -- [ inaudible ]. >> across state lines? >> i think buying insurance across state line once great. i would love it if i can go to programs cheaper in other states. i want to address tort reform real quick they always bring this up. tort reform would mean savings of less than 5% of the overall cost of health care in this country. it is not a major factor in reducing costs, is not a major factor anyone ceasing costs, nothing more than republican talking point and it means exactly nothing. >> agree far more individuals actually taking cell of their health care what we are really going to see?

>> an inaccurate statement to say tort reform has nothing to do with medicine, a reason why we have a number of people moving away from general practitioner, a reason moving away from having specialists, why? they don't want to go in due to the high cost of litigation. again, let's talk about covering as many people as possible. if you look at what the obama plan, claims the plan is, says we are going to bring more people on, reduce costs, waste and inefficiencies but still not going to cost anything or add anything to the deficit, i thank you is a very incongress rouse argument and democrats need to go back to the drawing board, let's have an honest discussion. >> good discussion. that was an honest discussion. liz, ron, we will have you back. see you later. >> take care. straight ahead, clunker "countdown," a couple more hours, cash for clunkers program ends just a few hours from now. so what does the auto business do for an encore in phil lebeau is going to tell you. in a few minutes, between football and endorsements, he makes almost $30 mall year, superstar quarterback peyton manning talks football and

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the clunker "countdown" is under watch the government's popular car program set to come to an end tonight, more than two months ahead of schedule. cnbc's phil lebeau goes behind

the wheel for us in chicago with more. what do we need to know going into the expiration of this  deal? >> if you haven't made a clunke deal yet it is going to be  tough, carl, a lot of dealerships have stopped doing clunker sales, stopped on friday, primarily concern about paperwork being filed by 8:00 tonight, also low inventory. here are the latest numbers from the federal government as of 7 this morning in terms of the number of actions. roughly 635,000 have been submitted by dealerships. the dollar value, about 2.6 billion. 3 billion was allocated for the cash for clunkers program, when it is all said and done with could be fairly close to 3 billion. many dealers, as i said earlier, stopped doing the clunker deals ahead of the deadline 8:00 eastern time tonight. combination of things, the lack of inventory, frankly hard to sell a car if it is not on the lot and processing of paperwork, just hit dealerships who had to bring in staff and causing a lot of delays, why they are suspending sales. the dealers divided on whether

sales will slump postclunker, not talking the next couple of days, talking about a month or two down the line and whether or not we might see some incremental sales growth from here. take a look at a couple of dealer group folks that have gotten attention. auto nation, mike jackson on a number of times talking about the success for cash for clunkers. in the last month, the stock is down, you know, a little bit, compared to where it was before that. there may have been a run-up for some of the stocks leading up to character for clunkers what we are seeing, however, others like group one automotive, while it is down today it has also shown a slight increase. over all, the dealer stocks, as you would expect, they are benefiting to a certain extent. they were benefiting prior to cash for clunkers in anticipates of greater sales.  one last thing, guys, we have heard some comments and e-mails that i have received e-mails that behind the wheel, about people who are stuck in what i call clunker hell, they have made the deal with the dealer but the dealer is not releasing the new car until the government

pays the dealer. >> even though it might be on the lot, right? >> it might be on the lot, but many time it is on the lot. guys, also against the rules that were set up by the federal government. so i usually don't do this but  today, we are doing this. send me your complaints. >> oh, no. >> oh, no. >> behind the wheel at cnbc.com wayant to see how widespread thissome i have heard a couple  of reports, this rumor was out there last week, now i'm  starting to hear about it from  across the country. and it makes me worry, the dealers were dying for this to  happen, for this program to tak place, well now, they don't lik it completely so maybe some of them are saying to the consumers, you are not getting your car. >> they don't want to sell the car at a loss, right? if the dealer doesn't get the money, they will lose money, right? >> well, that's correct. >> risk for them to take may be against the rules.  >> but then don't sign up for the program. >> agreed. >> or michelle, the other problem is that if you're looking at all of the paperwork and you believe that all of the paperwork is correct, you should

be fairly confident you're going to get that money eventually. >> another lesson behind the wheels of the government, behind the wheel at cnbc.com. send them to phil. coming up, talk to peyton manning. what more do you need to say? is it. >> fast money "halftime report" after this. "power lunch" at the top at 1. 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. was it really for fun, or to save money on heat? why?

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welcome to the fast money "halftime report," getting to the heart of the action right as it is unfolding, rick santelli here in for melissa lee. hey, the bulls continue their run today, market hitting new highs for the year. where are the traders putting their money today? where are they putting it to work? time for, guess what the word on the street. joe, what are you seeing today? >> rick, we will come aboard. excited to have you tonight, glad you are back in town from chicago. what am i seeing? tell you what i'm seeing, a continuation of the rally, rick, led by the commodities space and that falling dollar, which you love t is not going any where monetary policy remains the same, commodities hot, equities hot. >> you really like commodities or just don't like the dollar, joe? >> i really like commodities, we will get into the conversation tonight about the dollar but you also have to like commodities here and tough like that oil inventory report last week when we showed a significant draw down. >> jared, the technicals on the s & ps, tell us. >> i am. a couple of things. i think the dollar and commodities a big part what is

going on, you look at this chart, i got to point this out, you know and i both coming from chicago, talk about the technicals, statisticals, et cetera, you look at the s & p, right now, approaching that upper bolinger band. that means two-stare deviations of movement. something that doesn't happen often two or three times this  year, the chance was to happening less than 5%. i'm worries we are overbought here and i think we see a correction, at least in the next day or two. >> jack, you buying this? >> on the commodity front, just don't underestimate china. everybody last week was all over the, you know, china is a blip story, this is not true at any fundamental level. you got to really demand-driven commodity story. >> a blip in terms of how much they have accumulated, that a blip? >> you know, only so much iron ore you can store, so much of the base metals you can store, we know they don't have massive storage facilities pore pelt tropical storm yum, i don't think china is the story. on the overbought, oversold, tough look at this in the

context of the past 12 months a all right of standard deviations in the fall 2008 into march of this year so, while i agree their seeing a movement on the upside you probably shouldn't see, from a trading perspective no reason why this can't continue to go up and a really atypical fashion, coming on the heels of an atypical year. >> mike what do you think? >> i'm kind of inclined to, definitely see what jared is talking about, i mean, everybody has been waiting for some kind of a pull become after a prolonged rally, we haven't been getting t zack's point, i sort of think that might be a false expectation. i mean, you sit there and everybody is expecting, a good reason we wouldn't see one. >> excellent. >> i think the point here.  the. >> the one thing real quick, now you have ufundamentals in play, 19 times earnings now, how aggressive will we be moving forward? >> jarred, just on that 19 on this year, really ought to be trading a year out. no one know what is the e is going to be, that earnings picture is very cloudy. >> topping the tape today, hey,

credit cards, credit card companies are flying, a big upgrade from barclays, leading the rest of the financials higher. boy, have i said that a couple of times before. what do we think? >> rick, i tell you what, talking along the desk about being long capital one, long american express and consumer credit conditions, they are improving, that's the trade. what the trade might be going forward here is the transaction-based names, master card and visa. those are the names you probably want to move to the sidelines on there is a trade out there for you if you missed out on american express, capital one consumer credit. >> options action. hey, jared wha, what is going o with jp morguen? looking for big volitivity  moves? >> a trader out there thinks th stock is going to drop, buying volatilities, doing that with a call spread and 10,000 times. and again, kind of plays more into what i'm talking about i  think this is protection, jp morgue an great run, expecting downward move and big volatility to come. mark what do you think? mike?

>> first of all, i think it make a lot of sense for these guys to be stepping in, the things that jared is saying makes sense to me, largely because after you have seen really big moves, especially in the stronger names like goldman sachs and jpmorgan and morgan stanley, one of the smart ways to look at that would be either to collar up some of those gains if you wanted to stay in those names or look at a different way to stay exposed to the long side. i think we are a little long in the teeth in the financial rally in those ones. >> oil and commodities also topping the tape. hey, crude oil, $75, you think it is going to go there, joe? >> it is absolutely going to go there, rick. full force into the covers this week that we have been having on the desk with pete, guy, karen, cindy, myself and anyone that joins us on the desk. prices c move higher, does that choke off the potential recovery or is it an indication that things are okay moving forward. oil is going higher. if you look at the inventory drawdown, that tells us we are beginning the process of working

off that through and it's not going to be there to match what will be the rising demands. >> you can come up with the formula and that's less on the price of consumer spending. those have never panned out and no reason to expect the rising oil and gasoline prices are going to choke off. >> more "options action." mike? bullish in the health insurance side. >> john was talking about this, but we continue to see a lot of options in unitedhealth and well point in particular. we are seeing this at cigna and aetna and upside in october and both of those names and that's not surprising considering these names are recovered significa significantly after the obama health care plan was announced. you are seeing a lot of people looking at this want to expose themselves to upside on some of

the resistance that he is getting specifically with the public option. >> more than a recess rally, you think? >> i think so. >> you have to be careful on these. i would stay away except for the short-term. they will trade on the news. >> that's what people are doing. they would be out there buying the stock. this is exposure to the upside expressing it could be volatile and there is downside risk. >> something close to my heart. take your positions, $109 billion in surprises this week. are you setting up for it? >> whenever there is strength, i'm baffled. i'm a longer term guy and what goes on in the short-term, i don't think we will see everybody. perhaps the short-term bears shouldn't be. i am among them. >> me if the central banks will go on vacation like the rest of us. if they are, we will have a problem. >> the bankers haven't been on

vacation? >> haven't they? >> it's the foreign central banks and they are the ones that are buying. >> a quarter point from 50 to 75. it's not that big of a deal, but i was surprised how many found it from a strategic standpoint important. >> it's the things not to come. i don't think they are following israel any time soon. not that israel has been known for setting monetary policy. >> i agree. >> i hope that phil is not getting endless e-mails about complaints, but cash for clunkers ending today, should we stick with the trade or does somebody have a better idea. >> absolutely not. no way. >> pete? >> i can hear you, my brother. >> what do you think? >> when you are looking at ford right now, it's had its run and think long-term if you are looking long-term it t still has legs.

it is fuelled not just by the cash for clunkers. they have it moving in the right direction. as cash for clunkers goes away, you look at the trade and you have to look at the suppliers. they have a solid she'd to go along with the production. >> get ready for the wal up on wall street. big larry takes on an economic smack down you won't want to miss. you may not know it, this man had his hands on all things. the outlook and what makes goldman so good, we get the

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>> welcome back to the fast money halftime report. time for the trade to go. >> rick, you know how i feel about commodities and oil. if you don't want to play, take a look at the rails, unions and pacific to northern. whatever it may be. the rails will be beneficiary of a modest recovery and inventory moving domestically. >> the time of the show i like, let's call the close and go around the horn and see what everybody is thinking. are you buying or selling on the indecks? >> i am buying and the indeces a seller. >> buying or selling? >> i have been buying so long and increasing the short on the s&p. taking a little bit of each on the markets. >> mike?

>> i mean as far as what will happen at the end of the day, i will have to flip a coin. i'm an options trader. the rail might be a decent place to play and i look to overwrite that and volatility will continue to come out. we are looking at data that continues to back that up. >> everybody is looking at volatility trades. >> if you are talking about  volatility, i have been letting out as we climb. the calls are in order and would be a seller into the close and the market has come far and fast and i am a short-term trader. long-term, still bullish. >> those are the opinions that we need to make money. watch me duke it out and wonder who will be randolph and mortimer. it will be us on fast money. sue? what are you looking at on the "power lunch" show and what's the scene going to be talking about? >> must see tv. thank you, rick. we will look at which regional

banks might be worth your money. the analyst that covers that sector will unveil the picks and also ahead, business and football with one of the nfl's most marketable super stars. latest on an interview with peyton manning and reports say bernie madoff is dying of cancer. we will talk about an author who wrote about the scandal. >> a white house report said the h1n1 virus poses a serious health threat and likely to infect more people than usual. 635,000 transactions have been committed to the cars for clunkers program worth more than $2.6 billion. former major league pitcher todd sul meyer is starting a hedge fund. i'm julia boorsten.

. >> welcome to the second hour of "power lunch." we were talking football and baseball. peyton manning on in a few minutes to talk about the business of football. we are talking about stocks and making money specifically. the bull run continues and aiming for a 5th straight session of gains. b of a and next on leading the dow higher. as apple gets ready to ship the newest operating system, the maker of the i phone is the king of new york's 5th avenue. >> a possible sale of the dow jones index business and advertisers boycotting glen beck's show. an indication of rougher times to come for the empire? we will get one opinion on that. >> all that was is ahead, but a number of bank failures. you mentioned it last hour and it continues to mount. one of the latest to join that list and a prominent banking

analyst out with a note saying we may see 150 to 200 additional banks failing n. washington with more on what that might feign for the fdic. >> with 81 bank failures thus far this year including 17 in the month of august, the fdic is dealing with the biggest total number of collapses since 1992. during this current crisis, the fdic has been working with acquiring banks to share. the guaranteed bank collapse will cost more than $3 billion in an attempt to attract more buyers for failed banks wednesday afternoon and the fdic board is expected to relax on private equity firms buying collapsed firms. as far as replenishing, look for more special assessment. some risk an lives believe that may not be enough. >> i think it's fanciful to believe the industry can finance

in the short-term through assessment. fdicville to formally pull on the credit line with the treasury to keep the visible balance such that we don't cause public unease. that's the issue. they won't run out of cash. >> remember as we approach the one-year anniversary of the financial crisis, last year the fdic was dealing with the twin collapse of washington mutual with some $307 billion in assets and indy mac under $31 billion. the fdic inshirts at 8100s around the country and most are open for businesslike the rest of us waiting for the economy to recover. michelle? >> thank you. when you hear about the potential failures, what should you do? be worried about regional banks? are there winners in there? good to see you. >> this morning 160 to 200 more

bank failures. how should we think about that and should we be scared? >> not at all and the bank failure is a necessary thing and either if it comes through failures or through a sort of forced consolidation, the objective is to reduce the number of the 85 37bd 00 banks we have and that's a longer term for bank customers and the industry. >> that's the big overall picture and good for the industry, but how do you make sure you are not investing in one of the bank thaus think it's good to go out of business. >> you need to look at the business models and have a favorable position and they have enough capital to whether through and they can quantify what the losses are going to be. we have lost our way here with the rally in a financial stock and the momentum carrying the stock, but we have not looked at individual companies and those that are in a position to farewell. >> you have done that for us in

theory. people's united financials have been on your list. you stuck with that one and one of the worries for a number of these banks was exposure to mortgages as the housing market continued to soften. you still like it. >> we do and think in general the northeast held up better than the rest of the country and while we were skiddish about the impact they would have, we feel like we controlled that a little bit. the reemployment in the financial sector helped to keep the economy more stable than we would have thought last summer. i think from that stand point we feel optimistic, but specifically for people and one of the strong points has been the capital not only to cushion losses, but future growth and we think that will be key as we look out at the industry over the next two to three years. >> are you worried at all talking about the number much

bullets. is it okay to get down to below $10 billion? >> no. failure issa good thing for the industry, but the flip side is the expense to cover the failures. as you said in the past, this is coming from the large banks and good banks and every bank having to put up a fee to replenish that fund. that's the negative, but i look at that as a near term earnings drag where the necessity for the long-term will be better quality. >> this is a little off topic, but talking about the fdic and the amount of money they have, they started to open the door to private equity coming in for failed banks. would you be in favor of relaxation of the rules and think private equity can serve in a constructively role? >> that's a good question. i'm in favor of resolve for the banking industry. it's a temporary situation where there is a temporary infusion of capital, i am a supporter of

that. i think ultimately what it comes down to is who will run the company and the capabilities of the board or the management. >> if they are required to hold that position for three years, to go for you or not long enough? >> probably the right amount of time to bring stability back into the institution and confidence back into the shareholder base and the market aspect. i think that's a reasonable amount of time. >> the other two banks are first niagara and valley national. three more banks actually. >> let's get an update on the markets and bob dasani. >> off the highs for the day and look at the financial name and it is outliars. high beta names have been hot. fannie mae, freddie mac and citigroup doing fairly well. a 50% move up and fannie mae you see with the huge volume. 100 million shares on the

exchanges. 20% of the volume at the new york stock exchange. regional bank have been real weak here. dick came out with a note saying he likes most of the market in financials except for regional banks. bernstein came out and downgraded saying it's less attractive because they moved to the upside. the big mover on the upside and the financials and the energy stocks and the coal stocks and jpmorgan upgraded. that's doing well up 2, 3, our fore%. the oil near $75 and seen energy stocks basically outperform the sectors with the financials. back to you. straight ahead, the market is hot and we will talk options strategies.

what are the best plays in the dog days of summer. tips you need to know about coming up. >> here's what else is on the menu. >> i'm jim goldman in the silicon valley bureau. apple continues to hum along even as the business suffers. this company's flag ship 5th avenue store is doing like $350 million a year. >> julia boorsten in los angeles and trouble afoot in the murdoch empire and news corp selling the dow jones index business. the once untouchable fox news networkled with a boycott on one of its hottest shows.

powering higher and impaired and the dow up 18 and the is s&p up about a point and a half. take a look at the movers. fannie mae is the biggest mover. citi is the biggest mover on the dow. on the nasdaq, sirius xm radio. >> the market continues to sizzle and trading volume chilled offdramatically. what are the best options plays? let's hear from randy frederick and joe is senior market strategist. nice to have you here. joe, i will start with you. you can give specific strategies

to pure higher. we are in the august period where volume is low. if you want to put protection o in the market. what would you look at? >> you know, one of the more straight forward strategies is to purchase. in the dog days, the market is not moving and actually we had the grind and going through an  earnings season. surprises and one of the things we are watching is plays like aflac. there was a strategist coming i and picking up puts roughly around 14,000. mostly trading in the september 38 put range. looks like they have taken advantage of the opportunities that have come with the stocks rising since july. now maybe looking to hedge themselves in dog days. you are recommending protective

puts on the market and wide strike callers for protection. >> the truth is when you are an investor, regardless of the market, you should never leave yourself unhedged. at any moment in time, they can take a major down move and they ended up in good shape. they are a great way to protect yourself. the reason i mentioned the collar, that's where you cover the call and allow the two to offset each other and put them down at a low cost. the reason it might work well now is we had a 50 to 55% move since the march lows. most people if they invest have a nice unrealized gains, giving a little more downside and risk. by widening up the strike, they can allow for more upside. there is a lot of bullish indicators and callers can be restrictive as far as preventing the movement.

you take a little more risk to downside, but you give plenty of room to the upside and if we continue to rise, we have lots of opportunity there as well. >> people are obviously watching volume and volatility, but we know it's on light volume for  now. at what point do you think volatility is authoritative. >> as far as volume is  concerned, you would like to see right now we are significantly below where we are coming in. as far as volatility is concerned, you like to see where it starts to get meaningful around the 30 range. again, i think what you are seeing is individual names starting to raise their volatilities in september and october. i are starting to see 5, 10, 15, 20%. fannie mae where the calls were trading at a 130 and now we are trading at 173. these on an individual basis, you have seen those areas and

also in the general market in the 30 range, you are probably seeing more volume and more activity. >> before we let you go, we have about 30 seconds. you think there is significant upside to the market and we are close to the key targets on the s&p set by the big houses on the street like a goldman and others. what makes you convinced we have more room? >> have to take it in caution. a lot of firms expected us to be at this point and several months ago. as we continue to rise higher, you continue up the lines. how many of them predict we will be closer than march or april. be cautious about that. we have an overweight rating on industrials and technology. those are areas that have lots of potential to move. we have a number that come out to ton work better and much worse. there a lot of opportunities and they work in the market.

a little further up with the upside opportunity. they will work well. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you, sue. >> two years after apple expanded from computers to the i phone, nokia is saying two can play that game. they will start making laptops. that as apple is celt to unveil a new operating system and appears to be hitting a milestone. jim goldman joins us with a lowdown on apple. you have a lot going on on your feet. >> yeah. to see the least, good afternoon to you. a busy monday for the folks and when is it not busy for apple. let's begin with the threat from the rather unlikely source. nokia will release the new booklet 3 g. the machine will come with a 10.1 inch screen and only about two centimeters thick. this is all over you tube. it is a new competitive front from apple where it had been a smart phone maker trying to

blunt the only entry into the sector with the long-rumored tablet, mac. they will run the windows operating system. already involved in an extensive smart phone partnership and it seems to be deepening. apple may not have a lot to worry about as far as threats. if it's a retailing strategy, you are looking at that flagship 5th avenue store and a report suggests that this location is the highest grossing retailer on the world-famous street, generating an estimated $350 million in annual revenue. that's saying something in an economy like this. apple showed a 2.5% increase to $3 billion as broader retail continued to slump. apple continues to buck that trend. sales may see a spike and apple confirming the latest system will debut this friday. that is ahead of schedule and

beats windows 7 to the market place and that is come for example microsoft. >> the biggest selling retail outlet is per square foot or raw dollars? >> this is per square foot. apple is doing like $35,000 per square foot. you compare that to something likative any that is doing $18,000 or harry winston that is doing $12,000 or $13,000. >> you see the little blue box and now you want the white box or the square box? >> or aluminum box. >> something like that. wow. >> people said they couldn't make retail work. remember that? >> dollar it 3 billion. >> just stunning. >> i would rather have the diamond, but okay. count the endorsements. it is the highest earning player

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have a superstar. the sports business reporter joins us with the first on cnbc exclusive interview. >> i'm not the week's superstar. peyton manning was named the best player by sports daily. the indianapolis quarterback joins us this afternoon. peyton, thanks for being here with us. one of your many endorsement deals is with direct that pays $1 billion a year for the rights to show the gains. this year they are offering customers the ability to watch games on the laptops and mobile phones. how does that make it sell easier? >> it shows the commitment that direct has to taking care of the fans. they will be able to show 14 game this is year all on high definition. now it allows a person if he's not a home watching on the big

screen tv, he can watch it live on his computer or mobile phone. you can go to directv.com to tell you everything you need to know. fans need to get the football. the season is starting up and people want the football. i want my football. i will use it on my cell phone a lot. many times getting going on the plane after the game or being on the bus after the road game. i want to see the giants play and i will be able to watch games on the cell phone as opposed to watching the highlights and bringing the fans closer to the game. >> your brother signs a-year deal that i'm sure you know about averaging 15.3 million a year. your average at 14.1 million. why judge is your brother worth more than you. >> we don't get into competition certainly when it comes to that. i'm proud of eli. he worked hard to earn this.

what's more important, in my opinion he earns it again. it will not change hill him one bit. he had an outstanding work ethic and he lives there year around. he trains and he's a member of the new york giants and a member of the community. that shows his commitment. very happy this guy is done before the season. he will go out and earn it. i'm mighty proud of him. >> the collective bargaining agreement before the expiration of the league salary cap and the unkapd year and maybe a lock out. a lot of talks from the lawyers here. how much of the players are talking about it? >> the players certainly meet and we had the leaders address the indianapolis colts two weeks ago. it's a real issue. for so many years now, it's been a long way away. 2010 and 2011 are a long way away. here we are in 2009 and it's closer to closer. it's a real issue and it will go

down to the wire. it's a concern and i don't think any player does not want to be playing in a football season coming up in 2011. i know 2011 is the year that indianapolis will host super bowl. our fans are excited about hosting the super bowl. it would be a shame to be locked out and the owners and union leaders can reach an agreement and we have a great product. it's the greatest sport out there and fans love it and talk about it year around. hopefully no interruption in play. >> i'm a big fan as well and i second that. a couple of questions though for you, peyton. i was a huge tony dungy fan and wonder how you are doing as the season approaches and what do you think of bret favre coming

back? >> talking about coach dungy, there have been transitions and fortunately the new coach has been here years under the coach and he will coach from the same principals and same book as tony dungy as well as bringing his personal flavor. it won't be on the sidelines and his presence will still be felt. players will use a lot of technique that is the coach used in the individual careers and positions. we will miss him even though it feels like he will be with us. as far as bret favre, i have to say i'm not surprised that he's coming back. i don't know if anybody should be. last year was probably a little more of a concern because he was in the afc and now back in the nfc. he is eli's problem in the giants and the packers and the bears and those guys' problems. >> that's a nice handoff.

>> it's a little dramatic. i'm kind of the non-drama guy. i try to -- i have to be on tv, but usually by force and not by choice. it has been dramatic, but we will see how it all plays out. >> do you hear it from the fans when you don't draw a touchdown and handoff or you take a knee at the end of the game? fantasy football is a big business and i expect if you go into the streets, people talk about it. >> no question. that's another reason why the fans love directv. they can keep up with the fantasy players and watch the different features it has. i hear it. the colts will win a game, 10-7 and the fans go what happened? the great game and one of the last minute sizzles. you are stuck. i'm like well, my goal is to win the game. it's nice to throw a touchdown, but my goal is not pleasing your

stats. i tell you though, it does bring a connection though with the fans for the game. the fans are watching the players and watching their favorite teams. hopefully they are watching the game for the game and on the side they hope that reggie catches a lot of touchdowns or brandon jacobs have a lot of touchdowns. that's all i care about. >> thanks for joining us and good luck. >> thank you very much. >> we are coming up on the half hour and we'll go to the floor of the big board in a minute. the dow turned negative. >> it wasn't peyton's fault. nothing to do with it. absolutely. >> bernie ma dor may be dying of cancer. does that explain why he didn't mount a defense? "power lunch" is back in a flash.

the stocks have gone negative after being on positive territory. the s&p has been here and take a look at what's happening with treasuries. a lot of people were confused because we had stocks moving higher and treasuries moving higher. it didn't seem to make any

sense. the yield is down 7 1/2 points. you wouldn't do that unless you were worried about the economy. why would stocks move higher? the two have finally met up. >> let's go down to the floor of the new york stock exchange. weigh in on that. it's good to see you as always and what turned the market in your opinion? >> you look at good year and ford. when they started selling off, the market followed suit. one of the things before i go further, peyton manning graduate friday the university of tennessee after i did. it's important. we must make sure that everyone knows that. he also went to school. >> they do now. >> he is more successful, but hasn't got as much time as i have. >> very true. >> another thing i keep an eye on, he traded $75, $76 and if

oil trades over $80 or $85, that's a neve nit negative. >> more people will consume the oil. >> you need more oil and the economy is doing better, but everybody has to pay more. whatever they are going to try to put and whenever people feel like they get ahead, they are not. that's where i have to be concerned. we have a lot to work through over six months and right at this level, i think the market is fairly priced. if it goes higher, it might go higher on an ab rigz. we won't see a lot of movement. you will see a narrow trading range. i hate to say it, but this is the way i thought. >> never short a dull market.

a report that bernie madoff is dying of cancer. they confirmed it and the bureau of prisons said it's inaccurate. he is serving 150 years for committing the biggest ponzi scheme in history. the pan am bomber was out of jail because of cancer and could madoff get a compassionate release? the author of betrayal, the live and lies of bernie madoff. was this issue part of your reporting for your book and do you know any more? >> absolutely. let me tell you what i did find out in the course of researching my book. at the end of last year, bernie madoff was obsessed with his health. he started going to the doctor incessantly. i spoke with secretaries who were puzzled about what was going on. at one point he came in with a blood pressure monitor and started monitoring his blood pressure.

it does explain something about what might have happened at the end of last year. i interviewed his closest confidants over the last several months and asked his best friends and the rumors have been floating around for a while and whether he had cancer and both of them said to me no, he is not sick. we would know if he were. i also interviewed one of the secretaries in madoff's office who said that after bernie madoff was arrested, she went to peter madoff, bernie's brother and asked him about the rumors. is bernie sick? he said the same thing. no and i would know. >> does it explain any of the procedures and the way that they went when he was on trial when he was on progress when he didn't talk and turn evidence against anybody. does it make any more sense to

you now? >> sure. of course. it could explain why he turned himself in when he deform no question the economy was collapsing. there was a flood coming into his office and the ponzi scheme was collapsing. that was driving things, but it may have been a contributing factor to his thinking that he was going to turn himself in and plead guilty and he wasn't going to contest a 150-year sentence and suddenly if it's true t makes a lot of sense. >> the reports among many other things that he is taking part in the native american purification rituals and he is participating fences as part of a job and the gangs of the prison are trying to recruit him. does this seem reasonable to you or is the media having fun trying to embarrass him because of the heinous crimes he committed? >> you have to do it to survive in prison.

i don't know what he is doing with the native americans there. the one thing that didn't seem surprising, i made phone calls today to the people who used to be his closest aides who said they weren't surprised by one particular report that he is also kind of joined this gay inmates because madoff always felt extremely comfortable around gays. he had gay employees and he was not gay, but kind of liberal. he felt culturally comfortable with them. she wasn't surprised. >> some say we are about to witness a wave of fresh indictments, especially a feeder fund taking part and cooperating with prosecutors. do you think that will happen and when will we see that? >> frank ran the ponzi scheme down in that sweat shop he ran on the 17th floor.

there were people underneath who have been speaking to the feds and wouldn't be surprised if they were indicted in the next few weeks or months. the other question is about the bigger fish and the feeder funds in l.a. were making 300% returns. the question is going to be very difficult for the fed. it's not going to be necessarily did they know, but how much they knew and how much they should have known. they are making 300% and made $1 billion in fees and the guy was not an idiot and should have known and probably knew something that something sleazy was going on. >> you thought the story was over and it continues to be interesting. appreciate your time. >> over to michelle and time for a look at the most widely followed stories and the website's managing editor joins us with what's clicking and the story.

>> the bernie madoff story is burning it up on the website. we had it on and keep updating it. the "wall street journal" said yes and back and forth. people are fascinated and jumping right in. >> the second hottest story, but it's neck and neck. >> dr. doom did that and he is in the financial times and talking about the possibility of a double dip. people have been fascinated. people have been fascinated with the prog noftications throughout the crisis. the clear winner today is numbeñ one world safest banks. 2009 edition, global finance magazine gave us the exclusive to run this for 24 hours on the website before it's unleashed all over. people pile together in there. now it's done by country by country. the united states is way down there. our best bank is number 34. the best ones are in germany. >> wow. that explains the failures.

sue? >> thanks, michelle. see you later. advertisers boycotting the glen beck show and trying to sell the dow jones indexing business. signs of trouble in the news corp empire and tell you what it means for investors. >> corporate trading with the dow up about 10 points. back in a minute. businesses more efficiently,

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we have breaking news as it concerns the panels that the president put together that is taking a look at the potential impact of the swine flu as we get back into flu season this year. bob is putting a note in the nbc news saying the top panel of scientists say the swine flu this year will likely infect 30 to 50% of the u.s. population. it could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths. mostly in children and young adults and lead to as many as 1.8 million hospital admissions. obviously the white house is ramping up efforts to try to get people and hospitals and doctors as prepared as they can be to get back into the back to school seasons as they expect this to ramp up again. >> they said it's not that the virus is more deadly, but it will infect much more people who

don't already have the immunity and the worry is that doctor's offices will be in their words filled to capacity. >> 30% to 50% of the population. that will have incredible ripple effects economically and politically as well. there is a lot if that turns out to be true. >> it's close to the time where kid guess back to school. as we talk to the human services secretary making a push to get businesses ready to expect absences and to accept absences from people who are sick and may be in this environment be feeling pressure to come to work. >> the model won't be to shut down schools, but if your kid is sick to isolate them and keep them from coming to school in the first place. >> it's a story we will be following throughout the day and

when we get more information, we will pass it along. >> we will get more trouble. struggling with problems from an advertiser boycott and news. an ad downturn. what is murdoch doing next? >> the cable division is showing weakness. 16 companies like lowe's with the glen beck program. three dozen advertisers refuse to pot spots on the talk show. murdoch said tension in the newspapers were operating the profit drop by nearly half and murdoch was forced to post an ad in the free lont on paper. they are writing down the valley by 2.8 billion as it struggles with declining ad revenues, raising questions as to why he wants to sell the indeces with

profitable divisions. the media giant has the caps and it doesn't need the money. analysts say murdoch is simply eliminating distraction. >> it's a lot of challenges. the management needs to keep track of time spent on which business they will focus on. >> my space with huge write downs and significant layoffs is focusing on entertainment to distinguish itself from facebook. murdoch has his hands full. one thing that will be a problem if the cable network has to be afraid of offending advertisers. one footnote is jpmorgan has an investment banking relationship and an executive on news corp for t. back over to you. >> bringing in michael wolf, author of the man who knows the news, inside the world of rupert

murdoch. i was shocked when the news came out. the dow jones average is for sale. if you buy it, you can rename it. how desperate is murdoch that he would sell an icon of financial history? >> first my book is the man who owns the news and the corollary to that is who would want to own the news at this point? i think that's the situation that news corp and murdoch are in. the purchase may be one of the worst made in his career and he is trying to find a silver lining and get cash out of it and prove it was worth it. >> how much is it worth some. >> i don't know. they tried to sell various parts and haven't been able to. they went into the small chain

of local papers and no takers. he is as so often happens, up against a wall. >> this dow jones business is a very, very small part of the business. it is profitable and high margins, but if they are not looking for cash, why they want to sell. the most reasonable answer is they are not going to be competing with facebook. they will target media. they are not looking for the cash and they are not desperate for the money and there has to be a reason here. >> hold on. what do you make of the drama with glen beck and more and more advertisers withdrawing? >> don't see that as a news corp issue. this is the kind of thing that happens from time to time and what always rules if you have

the ratings and you are and it will pass. they are being picky about where they pool their money. >> if they have less money, they should spend on the guy who has the ratings and they will. >> he fostered this and the guy who brought us bill o'reilly. >> this from a business issue exthis is not for news corp and it will pass and not have a lasting effect. again, if you have the ratings throughout the history of television and if your ratings are weak -- >> geraldo is here and couldn't

get the ratings. i love my job, but the next guest may have the best job in the world. frank roone set restaurant critic for the "new york times." he gets to eat at the greatest restaurants. >> and get paid doing it. >> how do you survive and thrive in a recession if you are doing it? >> how they are doing it, they are largely down. we will be back after this. 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.

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welcome back to "power lunch." a u.s. appeals court has ruled that delaware's plan to allow sports betting violates federal law. if you remember, the state is hoping to have sports betting by september 1st for the nfl games. they were one of four states exempted from the sports betting rule and the law passed in 1992. theus court of appeals would

promote game fixing hoping to do this to bridge an 800 million dollar deficit. >> that are is a big blow to them, indeed. for all of you footies who dream of getting paid to eat the the best restaurants, frank broony might have the best job in the world. this is very compel reading. the secret history of a full time eater. interestingly enough that's about his love-hate relationship with food and joins us on "power lunch." congratulations on the book. you have a job that most people would absolutely covet. >> the stakes and there is so much responsibility that goes with that. you can make or break an establishment and this n this period of economic times, everybody would love you have

you eat at the restaurant, but they want a good review. >> you have to shoulder that carefully. one of the reasons at the time that we go to a restaurant at least three times before you review it and try to be as responsible as possible. >> give us this review. >> all restaurants, sunday night deals and monday night deal, you are seeing a lot of them go to smaller plates format to get the deals that are less expensive and coming down in price point. it has been a huge impact. >> you are well-known for the singers that you would give. it has been a positive and negative review. is it more fun to praise them? >> the writing of a bad review can have their own liveliness. it's neat to know you are giving deserving people attention that will bring business and money their way. >> we are showing people that the single thought to keep in

mind was glum. i wasn't sure to give her a tip. >> i didn't write that. >> you also wrote this. what drove to you write this book that talks about your history with food and your family and growing up and what made you want to put the pen to paper? >> those of us who write about food in a way that celebrates it. a lot of people have a tough relationship with food and we are not the wonders that eat whatever we want and go to bed happy and thin. that's about my struggle to find my relationship with food. >> welcome to the world of women. good it have you. we have breaking news. scott? >> apparently according to the bureau of prisons, bernie madoff does not have cancer. the new york post story wasn't specifically address all of them, but bernie madoff is not terminally ill and not diagnosed

with cancer. so much for that according to the bureau of prisons. >> that are does it for us on "power lunch." street signs with erin burnett is now. (announcer) we understand. you need to save money. 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, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know, see what other traders are up to.