china loves i keyia, but not for shopping. you can see this picture here. customers apparently hop on to display sofa beds and get under the sheets in the beds and take a nap. they posed for snapshots, enjoy the air conditioning and free soda refills. this is a story from the los angeles times where they

said they go to ikea toes cape the smog. looks like those guys weren't being disturbed at all. we go the a lot of e-mails on larry smerz, none we could air. merrill wrote this in on the issue of compensation. there are many things americans should copy the french. i'm not sure this particular pay package is one of them, not that a prove of u.s. pay. time for the "closing bell." >> a new report from the american cancer society says tobacco use now drains about $500 billion a year from the economy. toyota will reportedly cut global production capacity by 1 million vehicles or about 10% according to japan's nikkei business daily. a judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against citigroup. that's the cnbc news now. i'm julia boorstin.

and it's another tug of war on wall street today. the floor of the new york stock exchange. the market off the best levels of the session but nonetheless that, summer rally holds on. welcome to the close bell. i'm maria bartiromo along with scott wapner on the floor of the nyse where we see continuous buying in this market. >> you still hear that word resilient when describe the stock market. energy prices pulling back today. oil is down and yet the market is holding up fairly well. you know about the good news we got today on the housing front and certainly from the consume sneert case shiller report, better than expected on housing. we've got confidence numbers expected, as well. you make a good point on oil. yesterday, oil prices at ten-month highs pulling back today, taking some of the major oil producers down with it. that's not hurting the dow because you still have the double digit lows although it is off the peak with the dow up

50%. it was above 9600 early. check the nasdaq, we seimone moving into tech as well, though it is not necessarily one of the leadership groups on the upside. up about seven points or so holding above 2025 on the nasdaq. the s&p 500 looks like this with the standard & poors up four points. largely due to weakness in some of the oils today, the oil producers. >> and we'll send it around the horn. we begin with bob pisani. the other story we didn't talk about was bernanke. >> i think traders anticipated that he would be re-elected. certainly everyone thought so but it's still good news to get it early and to get that out of the way. the big news today was those case shiller home price numbers, that's what the traders were talking about. let's look at the big home building names. volume is has been pretty good recently. they didn't happen to be particularly great. but are playing off the home

building numbers coming out and the home price numbers. same situation with the building material stocks which have roared. owens corning up almost 100% in the last month. trex, some of the other ones black and dekker up 60% or so. there has been a lot of debate about the case shiller numbers here. while most people think two months in a row to the upside goodness, there are plenty of skeptics about the home building numbers here. they are distorted, the skeptics it argue by the amount of foreclosures and by the amount of programs out there, the foreclosure moratoriums out on the state level, the modification plans out there. by the first-time home buyer program out there. nobody's quite sure what to make of all the numbers. it's complicating the understanding when prices and sales are going to truly bottom because withdrawing government support from these programs can dramatically effect demand and cause a downturn in the market.

still being greeted as good news. deutsche banc and several other analysts were fairly skeptical when we're going to hit a home price bottom. they were talking about 12 to 18 months from now. retailers continuing to do well. this is a classic consumer discretionary group. chick co's one of the few with positive same-store sales, earnings report for the second quarter this morning here. finally the story of yesterday, also somewhat the story of today but not quite as big. these three stocks are 25% of the volume at the new york stock exchange. 25%. citigroup is going to do 1 billion shares once again today. did 1.2 yesterday. trader talk.cnbc.com. rebecca. >> and thanks in part to the semi stocks, you see the likes of intel shares up by 2%. san dose up by 2.4%. some of the other big tech names have given some of the earlier in the day gains at this point. yahoo! shares up .6%.

first off, they're buying mock tube, the first of the big internets to get into the middle east. that's something a lot of the analyst community is saying is a good thing as far as their display ad business, it's good to have that kind of volume and be ahead of it microsoft and google to the game. google shares to the upside by .6%. 4.71 is the trade there right now. apple, i don't know who read "the wall street journal" out there, the story about apple. an interesting one. shares up .6 of 1%. essentially what the story says is now that steve jobs is back on the job, he's being pretty hands-on. sounds live some folks at apple are saying we want to have a bigger role in the tabloid device. steve jobs september a letter to the "wall street journal" saying they didn't get all the details right. we'll see that one continue to unfold. staples shares to the downside, 1.7%. they were out with their own

earnings report. the big problem here at staples is they came in in line with estimates, but it's those big ticket business type items in their stores that aren't selling as businesses are really cutting costs wherever they can. one company that did the best with some of the worst of times, corinthian colleges is up 7.5%. company's revenues up 29%. 29%, folks, because a lot of folks are going to for profit educators with unemployment levels at these heightened levels as far as things go, people are trying to get a leg up on the competition and doing it by getting a little extra education. time to go do brian shactman for an education on the oil trade. >> i'll do the best i can in 60 seconds. it looks like long oil and long equity decoupled in a big way ! today. still positive in the market but a shellacking in the oil trade if you were long. take a look at the chart. we went positive on the consumer confidence number and it was a slow bleed and then a steady and fast say.

we got to 74.96 and that test was pushed down pretty hard. there's a couple reasons potentially for this. the resistance at 75 was pretty firm. the deficit warnings of 7 trillion in ten years definitely weighs on long-term recovery elements. china was weak overnight in the equity market and mining earnings. there's some talk around about inventory leak. if there's a real bearish number, somebody got it early. who knows? just look what the traders tell me. good old fashioned profit taking involved. the ap sy numbers come out at 4:30 p.m. eastern and 10:30 tomorrow the eia numbers. nat gas had resistance at $3. gold off the highs here. we did have weak dollars, stronger gold but it never held up in terms of traction. up more than ten bucks at one point. copper down 2%. it seems like closely correlated with china right now. back to you. >> well, i'll take it, brian. i'll tell you what, there's some

interesting credit market chatter today. start at the beginning of the story. whether it was $30 billion in one month bills, whether it was $28 billion, i'm sorry $27 billion in one-year built or $42 billion in two-year notes, the supply of 99 billion is out the door and it was pretty good all in all. we move on to tomorrow. 39 billion. five years. here's something interesting. rob sent me a little note. you remember that cpi year over year down 2.1? well, if you look at a ten-year yield currently around 3.45 and add 210 basis points for the negative cpi, does that mean a ten-year note is really at 5.55? a little food for thought. maria, back to you. >> scott and me, we will take it there. thank you so much. what's wrong with food for thought. here's some food for thought for you. the s&p up more than 50%, scott,

since we saw the bottom on march 9th. that has some people worried about valuation that the market could lose some momentum. that's the case with our next guest, one of whom says the s&p 500 will add on another 50% frrs current levels. vice chairman of beacon trust company and larry canter. you're the man with the prediction. >> i love calls like that. >> you -- we like that. what is behind this optimism for you? >> back of the envelope calculation where earnings are going and if you just do that over the next couple years, you can get to about $102 number and in the summer of 2011, they'll probably be putting a 15 multiple on that. that's 50% higher than we are today. two years from today, you could be up 50%. >> if you had to look at sectors, what are going to be the leadership sectors. >> one of the big surprises is going to be how strong export

business from the united states is to some of these fast growth parts of the world. you're going to be looking at a lot of people that make things that they can sell into asia and brazil and india and they're going to be growing very, very rapidly. >> that's where the fish are. fish where the fishes are, right? $1.33 billion people in china. >> larry, do you see a move of that magnitude over the next two years? i see growth, recovery, a little bit slow. the consumer may be out of the fetal position, but not really doing a whole heck of a lot right now. that's two-thirds of the economy at least. >> we're bullish. i don't know that we're that bullish. that's a lot to expect given how far we've come. i think you're right. the consume ser truliry weak. retail sales rely lousy. let me put it this way though you. need a weak consumer to prevent a real recovery. in other words, a few quarters of 5 or 6% growth but the

consumer comes after the labor market gets going. i think the risk is you get a normal recovery. people are surprised. that will keep this market going. down the road in a couple years, i think where you run into trouble, they've got at some point they have to withdraw some of the stimulus. we can't run these deficits. that's why i'm not so bullish to say 50% higher in a couple of years. >> that was the basis of the cautiousness yesterday. what happens when the fed dials it back and takes away some of that stimulus. >> we always make the assumption that the consumer has to be in at the beginning to get something. >> that's usually wrong. that's just not right. the big thing to watch right now is the labor market. i mean, there are a lot of signs that the unemployment rate has peaked. people receiving unemployment rates is coming down and credit card delinquencies coming down.

>> have we peaked? >> i think there's a good chance of it. everybody's looking for 10% unemployment. we may never get there. >> give may a break. >> but you know, ten or are we going down? >> the white house out today saying they see 10% now. >> for next year as average. if we see that, we're going to see more stimulus. >> you say the way you want to invest are those companies based on emerging market countries. you mean the brit countries. >> i'd leave russia out. >> even with oil where it is. >> they're not going to grow very quickly. >> which companies are those? give me it your recommended investment strategy in the next two years where you think the s&p gains 50%. >> a company like a feed the world company need all their agriproducts around the world, bunge.

cummins is a move the world and build the world company. those kinds of capital goods are going to be exported because we make them as well as anybody makes them and the dollar is relatively weak. one i like in the consumer area is yum which is feed the chinese kentucky fried chicken. >> larry, what kind of companies do you like? certainly much made this past earning season about cost cutting rather than growth in revenues. are you looking at companies that have the opportunity to grow their revenues say that they have something coming out, a microsoft for an example maybe with a new program. >> at ta lis. >> i think technology looks good. a lot of earnings we've seen so far have been based on cost cutting but we haven't seen the economy grow yet. once the economy starts growing, then the top line starts growing. that's the reason to be bullish in the second half. >> do you have a different short-term strategy versus long-term? are you investing differently in the coming six months as opposed to two years?

>> our posture is that you can have a correction at any time in that six months. if you did, we would take advantage of that as a big buying opportunity. but we wouldn't be extremely excited to dash into the market right now the with funds that haven't been put in so far. >> short-term versus long-term. >> i like stocks more short term. i think we're in a sweet spot. the fed is going to reap rates around zero. we haven't seen the consumer yet. that's probably coming. credit markets have rallied enormously and now look fully priced. equities are now looking more attractive relative to credit. >> looking for a tough 2010? >> i think later. there's enough momentum to carry well into 2010. >> we still have room to run. >> yes, we still have room to run. at some point they've -- >> great to have you on the program. we so appreciate your input. >> we have about 45 minutes to go before the closing bell on

wall street. we are holding on to gains. the dow is now up about 55 points. >> oil back to 71 and change. meanwhile, president obama today nominating ben bernanke for a second term as federal reserve chairman. is it really the right person for the job in we'll take a look at his tenure. what's next for him in the market likes the news. >> plus, how will a potential of the u.s. health care system impact medical device makersome the chairman and ceo of medtronic gives us his perspective. >> a cnbc excloosive with gary gensler and which investments will be impacted most by changes. >> first the most active stocks on the new york stock exchange led by citigroup, fannie mae, freddie mac, bank of america and the parent of this network, ge. carol, when you replaced casual friday with nordic tuesday,

was it really for fun, or to save money on heat? why? don't you think nordic tuesday is fun? oh no, it's fun... you know, if you are trying to cut costs, fedex can help. we've got express options, fast ground and freight service-- you can save money and keep the heat on. great idea. that is a great idea. well, if nordic tuesday wasn't so much fun. (announcer) we understand. you need to save money. fedex

let's take a look at widely held stocks. let's begin with the financials. it is green almost across the board though citigroup is a blip down a nickel or so. bank of america, jpmorgan chase,

wells fargo and goldman sachs to the up side. today general electric, the parent of this network. we mentioned how oil prices are lower today and energy stocks certainly a drag on the markets. that's why you see exxonmobil to the downside but pfizer, at&t, and verizon are all in the green. >> scott, president obama appointing federal reserve chairman ben bernanke to another second term. the president set the tone for change in the financial system in his speech. >> that's why even though there's some resistance on wall street for those who would prefer to keep things the way they are, we will pass the reforms necessary to protect consumers, investors and the entire financial system. and we will continue to maintain a strong and independent federal reserve. >> a long list of goals ahead and not everybody's convinced bernanke should have been reapoined. joining me is a visiting scholar at harvard university along with

roger altman, former deputy secretary under president clinton. welcome back to closing bell." >> thank you. >> marlin, what do you think about the reappointment of ber nan ski. >> i don't think this is change we can believe in to coin a phrase. bernanke was part of the greenspan federal reserve when they inflated the economy in 2004. he's been heading an organization that is now has lower esteem in the public eye than the irs. we've seen a comprehensive regulatory failure and i don't think looking forward, a, i don't think the job is doable by a human being. and to the degree that anybody could do it, i don't think this is the man to do it. it would be like ge being run by a strategy professor instead of

jack. >> what do you think, roger? >> i disagree across the board, maria. it seems to me that since the financial crisis erupted, the federal reserve under mr. bernanke's leadership has acted boldly, creatively, and effectively. and done really quite a heroic job in stabing off a near meltdown which we all saw and in steering us toward safety and now the prospects for recovery both on the financial side and in the macro economy. so i think he's earned the reappointment and i think the president made a wise decision and i think the majority the very -- the vast majority in the financial community agree. >> amar what, about that? would it have been a smart move to take the leader of arguably the most important institution in the world out of his job and an uncertain period for the global economy. >> let me address each of these

points. he's done nothing different than what greenspan would have done. he's done nothing different from what the heads of central banks all over the world have done. they have loosened the monetary spigot and anybody would have done that. capturing the confidence of the financial community is fine but the financial community accounts for less than half a percent of the american public and the federal reserve is responsible to the american public and the american public thinks that the federal reserve is doing a really lousy job. if the head -- if the institution is considered to be doing a really lousy job and it wasn't considered to be doing a lousy job some years ago, then the person running it is responsible. when chuck prince got let go from city bank, we didn't ask whether he was responsible or why he was responsible. the results of city bank had been awful and we let him go. looking forward, i haven't seen

a single fresh interesting idea coming for the of basic regulatory reform that we need. >> you haven't looked very hard. >> well, i have been following this fairly closely. all i hear from chairman bernanke is give us more power. and what we've seen over the last three or four years is that all the power, the extensive power that the federal reserve has had in regulating bank holding companies is completely messed up on. >> why don't we look at the record for a minute. >> go ahead, roger. >> first of all, the primary accomplishments of the federal reserve since the crisis eare upped in mid-owe 7 have not been just moving to an extremely accommodative monetary policy. that's been important but they've been the approximately $13 trillion of credit support in so many different tranches which the federal reserve has adopted. whether it's the commercial

paperback facility or the money market backed facility or talf you. said a minute ago you haven't seen a single creative idea. you might take a look at that record. it's been enormously creative and important to the recovery of the financial system. that's what mr. bernanke primarily has contributes and to say it isn't creative or new is certainly missing the point. >> well, amar, what would you like to see done? give us your creativity. >> my creativity is we need to break up the fed. the fed is a large convoluted organization incapable of being run by anyone. it accommodates responsible for regulating discrimination against housing and minority neighborhoods. it's responsible for the -- it's responsible for fair disclosure of credit cards. it's responsible for managing

large complex organizations like citicorp and it's responsible for monetary policy. >> what would a breakup look like? break it up for us. >> right off the bat, break up monetary policy from the regulatory function. then break up the regulatory function into pieces that make sense taking into account what the other regulators do. so when the fed was started in 1913, one of the hopes was that banks are being overregulated. there would be the controller of the currency that is regulating banks and state regulators are regulating banks, too. in 1913, people thought let's get the fed to do this. the fed become you the agency regulating banks, then the fdic got into the business of regulating banks. we have too many regulators with too many overlapping responsibilities and before we give regulators any more power, let's look at the whole pot and

divvy it up in a sensible way. what i see bernanke doing, just give us more power. we have weren't able to properly oversee bank holding companies. let us now take responsibility for. >> let me clarify this for a second. first of all, it's president obama who has proposed that the fed act as systemic regulator. that comes from the president of the united states. not from mr. bernanke. number two, just a moment, sir. number two, i think it's beyond debate that in light of the near death experience we all saw from march -- from september to march, that we need systemic regulation and today there is not a party which is responsible for it. i think that's beyond debate. therefore the question is, who, not whether. and there's not a party available or remotely available which has the experience or the

resources or is otherwise better qualified to handle this new assignment on systemic regulation than the federal reserve which after all, already regulates the largest banks, the bank holding companies. so this is president obama's proposal. it's the right proposal. and if you have an idea as to who would be better qualified than the federal reserve to assume this responsibility, kindly give it to us. >> can i respond? >> yes, amar, go ahead. >> first off, on the issue i would think that bernanke volunteered the federal reserve to regulate consumer credit. i was not talking about systemic regulators. that is sort of volunteered on his own. front of congress. secondly, i don't think whether we need a systemic regulator or not is beyond debate. let's say that we do need a systemic regulator.

why should the systemic regulator sit in an organization which has six other responsibilities? so why not break up. >> therefore, who would you suggest, sir. >> i would suggest that we break up the fed the way we broke up the standard oil company, the way we broke up ma bell. >> who would be that systemic regulator as you see it. >> you could have a piece of what is now considered the fed to be the systemic regulator. just as we broke up long lines and reasonable bell operating companies, i don't see why we couldn't break up the fed and have monetary policy being done by one entity. systemic regulation being done by another entity called fed 2. >> you agree that the resources and the experience and the talent to do this job systemic regulation currently reside in the fed. you agree with that. >> i do not believe that every single person in the fed is doing systemic regulation or is capable of doing it. >> i'm asking you whether the

center of expertise for this purpose currently resides in the federal obserreserve or it does >> there are people in the federal reserve who may be capable. that doesn't mean systemic regulation needs to be done from the federal reserve. >> roger, is that systemic regulation global? is it a global standard do you think? do we need a global of oversear. >> the president's proposal deals with u.s.-based institutions, not the entire global system. as you know, he has proposed that a series of institutions be designated tier one fhcs, financial holding companies and those us. >>s would be those whose size or who's leverage or interconnectedness could pose a threat to the entire system. it's those institutions under the president's proposal that would be overseen by the federal reserve board, both in terms of

their individual condition and. any potential threat to the entire system, so-called macro prudential supervision. that's the president's proposal. as to the idea ever a global regulator, i think the prevailing view in the central banking community or in the financial community as a whole is that it's impractical to do that. there are too many differences nation to nation and that's a bridge too far. >> gentlemen, great conversation. we appreciate your insight. thanks very much. we'll see you soon. >> thank you for inviting me. >> i want to bring you breaking headlines from the "wall street journal" saying that anheuser-busch inbev executive says the company will raise beer prices in most of the u.s. not bringing us in terms of what actual price increase would be, but it's interesting in that a week ago starbucks said did was raising prices by as much as 30 cents on these drinks.

apparently these companies think this is the right time in the stage of the recovery or maybe the consumer feels good enough about things that you can actually talk about raising prices. >> they're also feeling it on the producer level, right? you are seeing commodities on a bull run. look where oil is, look at copper, some of the foods out there. so they are at some point i guess needinging to pass it onto the assumer. but it is a sensitive time to be doing that in this slowdown. we've got what, 30 minutes before the closing bell sounds. we're holding on to a gain in this market. you've the oil exxonmobil down .66 percent an a handful of technology like microsoft, ibm, cisco weaker today. dow industrials up 45. >> up next, speaking of adult beverages, why investors in diageo are having their spirits lifted today. we're coming right back. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 if i'm breathing, i'm thinking about trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i always have my eye out for a stock on the move. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 doesn't matter if a company sells computer chips

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>> and taking a look at some of the day's research calls here are the latest upgrades and downgrades. diageo upgraded to outperform on the belief the company's declining sales could soon stabilizing and citing eing markets growing and more favorable exchange rates.

sherwin-williams downgraded to equal weight from overweight because of weakness in construction and industrial activity could pressure profits. rbc raising targets to 50 bucks from 40 because of higher prices, lower inventories and the company's reduced debt. >> the dow industrials right now on the upside in double digits to the tune of 37 points. we have given up some of the momentum. the market was much higher after the bernanke news today. still higher. technology is certainly a laggard today. but tech is up 28% year to date. >> the dollar has gotten pummeled since the market hit a low in early march. find out if the greenback is on the verge ever a comeback when the closing bell" returns. to stay on top of my game after 50,

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it is time now for the fast money final call. the dollar showing strength of late and coming back into play for investors. we look at what's behind it with a global asset strategist with empower global funds. one of the interesting things we noticed about the dollar today is you've got oil prices moving lower and the dollar's lower as well which you normally don't see. what's up with that. >> not that i want to reference

crude oil so much but there was a 200 week moving average in crude oil that came in at 73.38. without question, we reject that had level. that would have been a huge continuation for the same reasons we saw resistance on the sterling up at 170 and the euro at 144, a lot of anticipation is you're going to see a weaker dollar along with the same in crude. we're seeing just the opposite. that does set the stage for the way the equity markets are anticipating much profit taking in a bearish case scenario. i think the dollar could lead a lot of people in scenarios right now if we do not see that kind of follow-through. >> you think the dollar is going to strength? >> i am. i think reasons being that the dollar right now has started to see a lot of currency reserve formulations and for the same reasons that i think the fx cross you're starting to see from sterling into euro starts to equate into more demand for the dollar at these levels. canada is great example when we

saw 90 cents versus the dollar. big resistance. the sterling canadian cross was one of the reasons you started to see more allocations into the dollar. you're starting to see a formulation where more dollar demand will not be just export driven but the reluctance of the consumer to spend right now. what that's doing is building a base for the dollar. >> over the past couple weeks, we were asking if we perhaps were going to see actual strength not on the risk aversion trade but on actual recovery. >> well, again, i think what happened is that the boat was teetered too much and right now at least, there were many foreseeable future reasons why you would see the dollar start to fall even further. i think this is one of the roins why the economic recovery could stabilize at these levels and that's where the dollar could start gaining some momentum because there are some large unwinds starting to come into the marketplace. this has nothing to do with the summer doldrums. i think the full reason you're starting to see major resistance

levels not breached right now. from a technical perspective, the dollar index is starting to look cheap to most and other currencies are showing up more monetary reasons why they failed and the u.s. looks brighter. >> what does it mean for investing in stocks? >> i think the stock market as a whole right now has a very large hurdle to take into consideration. when i mention the equity markets, i'm really talking about the u.s. sicklily, this is a time when you see heavier vom volumes coming to the marketplace. we saw is the market stub its toe over the first quarter coming into this year with massive returns starting to giveaway. right now you'll see a dominance of profit taking. the question is where is that money going to get parked. the fixed income market has a glut of inventory right now. i'm starting to see more of an allocation into emerging markets but not necessarily looking at the bric nations but more conservative returns noose places like australia, south

africa and canada. >> michael, we'll catch you soon. thank you. coming up on mast money," former chairman of the president's economic council ed la zeer joins "fast money" to talk bernanke, the budget and rick santelli takes on howard dean on the obama care plan. can america really afford a government-backed plan. fast money is live at 5:00, maria. >> a lot of clapping because the energizer bunny is walking around the floor. the bunny will be ringing the closing bell along with the ceo ward cline and energizer bunny ringing the bell in celebration of the bunny's birthday. 20 minutes before the close. the market higher up 45 points. there he is. he's going and going and going. >> up next, we're talking health care reform with the chairman and ceo of medtronic to tell us how a potential public option could impact the medical device maker's growth. >> after the bell, a first on cnbc with council of economic

advisor christina romer. find out if she thinks ben bernanke is the right man to continue leading fedden a check on where we are in that economic recovery. stay with us.

welcome back. medtronic, one of the stories of the day reporting a big decline. net profit because of a one-time charge, profits are down 38%. the company made $445 million after the company made $400 million to abbott labs in a patent infringement lawsuit. revenue was up 6%" company generated $3.9 billion in revenue. breaking down the numbers in a first on cnbc is bill hawkins, chairman and ceo of medtronics. welcome. >> thank you, maria. >> can you characterize the quarter for news. >> a solid first quarter for us. we had a balanced performance across all of our businesses, you're cardiovascular business was strong, neuromodulation, diabetes, our searchable technologies and the cardiac

rhythm and spine business which in the last couple of quarters have been under some pressure. we saw good solid perform tlns. international was up 16%. so a good solid quarter. >> want to ask you about international for sure. but let me ask you about the payment to abbott labs, $400 million to resolve that patent infringement suit. is that situation fully resolved at this point? >> it is. it clear the way now for to us have freedom to operate in markets around the world. so this has to do with some outstanding litigation that came with the acquisitions we did a number of years ago. we're glad to have that behind us. >> which of your seven key businesses do you see as the major growth areas for the next three to five years? >> our diabetes business is very important, particularly given just the pandemic of diabetes around the world. neuromodulation which is the neu neurodegenerative diseases, parkinson's, epilepsy, diseases come with the aging of the

population is a growth area. cardiovascular has been doing well. a lot of our businesses are well positioned given the dem graphics and the overall aging of the population. >> the diabetes pandemic or epidemic really something to talk about given where we are with health care reform. a lot of people feel that there isn't enough educating going on in terms what have people are eating and many of these diseases are preventable. give me your sense of the health care debate and what you'd like to see changed or not changed for the health care reform on the table right now. >> well, i think we all agree that if we can create a world where we have all-americans have access to health care insurance that's important. i think there are some things we can improve in insurance markets whether it's dealing with people with pre-existing conditions or the issue around portability and as well other things we need to address, torts reform is an example in order to ensure that we're doing the right procedures and align the incentives around

some payment reform. but all of this we think is somewhat of a net positive for our industry as we really are positioned to be part of the solution here. >> so does that mean you support a public plan? >> well, we don't have an opinion necessarily on what the right answer is in terms of a public plan i don't remembor a n other than just basic reform and some of the insurance options. the insurance industry today is a very competitive industry. >> you pensioned the international business, sir. where is the growth coming from overseas? what's the most important market for you away from the united states? >> well, the biggest market today is in europe. but the growth markets are in asia. china has been a strong performer for us japan has been a good market. and we see now india and some of the other bric countries,

brazil, latin america are also very important markets and growing very well. >> where is the growth opportunity in china right now? tell me what you're generating there? >> if you look at our businesses, the primary growth is in the pacemaker side of our business and the cardiovascular with the stents, diabetes given the prevalence of diabetes in china. these three businesses are the strongest growth drivers for us and the spine business as well is a very good business for news china. >> mr. hawkins, thanks very much for stopping by today. >> thank you very much, maria. >> bill hawkins, chairman and ceo medtronics. >> ten minutes before we close it up here. market off its best levels of the day. the dow holding on to a gain of 26 points. the financials today. energy stocks are a drag today as we spoke about. >> how about the last six months in the market staging a historic rally. matt nesto is putting it into perspective.

which stocks could be the leadership group in the next six months. um bill-- why is dick butkus here? i hired him to speak. a lot of fortune 500 companies use him. but-- i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-- that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! you know business is a lot like football... i just don't understand... i'm sorry dick butkus. (announcer) we understand. you want to grow internationally. fedex express

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a look now at how some of the stocks are faring today. home depot higher along with

walma walmart. we mentioned how some of the consumer discretionary names have been strong. technology is definitely a weak spot today as hewlett-packard and cisco systems have moved to the downside along with a number of these techs are actually holding up fairly well. ibm is down. apple, google, microsoft all showing moves today. >> the stock market closing in on the sixth consecutive move of gains. the question is not can it last but is this the rally of a lifetime. mast matt nesto, saying by some measure it. >> 80 or above and you started investing in 1933, then it is the rally of our lifetimes for all intents and purposes. there's a couple things i want to point out here. numbers are magic. you can make them do certain things. i'll show you the difference of a since the bottom comparison of the dow and s&p versus the next chart which would be an actual six months. the difference is about a week

because march 9th is the low in the market. and that would take us until september 9th. we go six months. the six-month figure is about 15 percentage points softer if you use that comparison. another thing that you want to look at is the fact that the dow actually isn't on track for six consecutive months. did it have a breather into june down just a little bit. but the s&p managed to go positive. for longer term perspectives we'll take a look at the dow here today. so the real hum daddy six-month rally of them all is going to be the 1933103% move. that was unbelievable, that dow went from 51 to 104 in just the blink of an eye it seemed like. you know, there was no internet and no high frequency trading and a lot of things. there was buggy whips and all kinds of things. if you take a look at the next best prior to this we're going to let the calendar month close or if you want to look at it on a rolling six-month or a 26-week

basis, the numbers will have to settle. january to june '75 rally was an impressive one, the dow ending up at about 850. october was a big one, up 36%, october of '85 and '86. lastly, if you take a look at the '82, '83 rally, that one was interesting because it wasn't six consecutive. it was five of six months that were higher. but again, a strong move there today. just really quickly, some of the stocks in the dow that are really up huge since the trough in march, bank of america and amex, jpmorgan. >> nice. thanks very much, matt. the closing countdown after this short break. >> after the bell, is the strong case shiller home price index proof positive that housing is turning the corner, not just bottoming, turning the corner? some answers ahead at 4:00. access to favorite courses

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[bell ringing] the way the stock market's been acting lately you may wonder if you've been doing the right thing. is the advice you've been getting helping or hurting?