are the fees you're paying really worth it? td ameritrade's fees are fair and straight-forward. their research is independent and unbiased. their investment consultants are knowledgeable and there when you need them. so why not talk to one? announcer: call today to schedule a free investment check-up, or visit a td ameritrade branch. okay. welcome back to the floor of the new york stock exchange 37 time for the closing countdown. market off its best levels of the day but still a resilient stock market as the dow jones industrial average up about 30 points or so. energy stocks pulling back today, a bit i've drag, financial stocks, as well.

technology an interesting story today. what a day really. bernanke reappointed. consumer confidence improving. home prices have improved for the second straight month. home builders up strong today. toll brothers among the names trade together upside today. energy stocks to the downside and most of those financial stocks to the upside except for citi which was giving a little bit back today as well. the closing bell is going to ring in a second. you've got the energizer bunny. just like this rally, the bunny keeps going and going. here's the bell and the closing bell continues in just a second. and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange.

summer rally rolls on. stocks once again higher after strong readings on consumer confidence and home prices. the dow and the s&p 500 have now had the best six-month move since 1933. energy, however, weighing on the markets a bit taking some of the momentum out of things midday. oil prices down today more than $2 a barrel, pulling back from ten-month highs yesterday, that was about 3.1% on the downside finishing today at 72.05 a barrel on crude hitting some technical resistance at $75 a barrel. president obama today reapined ben bernanke for a sec term as chairman of the federal reserve. all those stories coming up plus an interview with christina romer from the white house on the economy. the dow jones industrial average up. technology a laggard and as i mentioned the oil companies also a laggard. nasdaq today up 6.25 points and the s&p 500 picking up 2.5.

all the action, bob pisani on the floor of the nys. >> it was enough to get us to new highs for the year. three to dow advancing to declining. financials leading along with retailers. >> $1.1 million shares. it's concentrated in a handful of financials. >> three financial stocks worth 25% of the volume for the second day in a row. the major movers, the day belonged to home builders. although mr. bernanke dominates the news on the top line, the case shiller home index coming in positive two months in a row that got traders talking here. you can see what's happening with the builders, many hitting new highs for the year. same situation with building material stocks. many of the big names are up 60 to 100% for the month here. you've got names like owens corning up 100 prers. trex on the upside. black & dekker also on the upside as well here. some of the other names, i want to point out the debate going on

with the case shiller numbers because there's a dispute about how much distortion there is going on in the numbers. some people are talking about the distortions around the foreclosures that are out there. and tenth other side of the issue, the foreclosure moratoriums and modify cases going on from the individual companies that are out there trying to modify some of the loan sidewayses. then you have the first-time home buyer programs. who cares? because if you take these programs away it, creates more distortions down the road. so there's some arguments how much we can put into all of these numbers. let's talk a little bit about the retailers, consumer discretionary stocks all strong here today. we saw chick co's with a great quarter, one of the very few companies that reported same-store sales growth. abercrombie and fitch did very well today also. talk about some of the big financial names. we saw all the big financial names do fairly well. but freddie, fannie and citigroup, those three 25% of the volume at the new york stock

exchange. citigroup once again did over 1 billion shares in a single day. $1.2 billion yesterday. with oil down $2.50, no surprise that we saw some declines in energy stocks here today. energy has been a real laggard in the last several months but particularly in the last month. one of the reasons, maria, despite oil at $75, many big energy names also have interests in national gas. you know what a mess it's been. big oversupply. >> going in different directions when it comes to supply and prices. meanwhile, as we mentioned a moment ago is, president obama taking a break from his vacation to renominate ben bernanke for a second term as fed chairman. john harwood now with the story. john? >> president obama told us the other day we could relax on his vacation because he wasn't going to make news. huh-uh. he chose this moment of political difficulty on health care, today's mid session, economic review are higher long-term deficit numbers to reassure major economic players

by reappointing bernanke saying for this moment, he has just the right combination of skills. >> as an expert on the causes of the great depression, i'm sure ben never imagined he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another, but because of his background, his temperament, his courage and his creativity, that's exactly what he has helped to achieve. and that is why i am reappointing him to another term as chairman of the federal reserve. >> chairman bernanke who was first appointed by president george w. bush didn't ignore potential critics either and said he and obama are both committed independence of the fed and that he wasn't going to ignore growing concerns about the possibility of inflation. >> mr. president, i commit today to you and to the american people that if confirmed by the senate, i will work to the utmost of my abilities with my colleagues at the federal reserve and alongside the congress and the administration to help provide a solid

foundation for growth and prosperity in an environment of price stability. >> now, the chairman's confirmation hearings, reconfirmation hearings before the senate banking committee haven't been scheduled. could occur perhaps in october. they may be interesting with some of the criticism and questions that he gets but prospects for confirmation look overwhelmingly good. one democratic leadership source told me that the nomination could get as many as 80 votes in the senate and there were endorsements from important republicans, judd gregg and bob corker today, maria. >> it's funny they both didn't wear ties. " president is on vacation but bernanke isn't. unless somebody told him not to wear a tie because the president isn't wearing a tie. it's unimportant. let me ask you about the next important challenge for the fed and that is the exit strategy, getting out of some of these programs. any sense of how bernanke will handle that, john? >> that's going to be where the prospect of an independent fed is going to be most tested.

may want to get out before the obama administration does. the signals we've gotten from bernanke indicate he's not ready to unwind that government involvement yet. president obama is happy about that with unemployment likely to go higher, he wants to let the economy get a little better. >> come on, if the president did not reappoint bernanke, he probably would have been criticized taking the leader of the most important institution in a global economy at a time there are still skeptics we're not out of this. >> exactly. there were other choices. larry summers has a lot of respect with some republicans as well as most democrats. he was a plausible choice. given the fact that obama wants to argue that his policies in dan tandem with the fed are now working by reappointing the guy there you double down on that message and say we're staying the course because this is a good course we're on. >> you're right. even though there is some debate, you have to hand it to bernanke. he has handled this at such an

extraordinary moment in time, led the fed during what many people say was the toughest time they've ever seen. >> my former colleague at "the wall street journal," david wessel has written a book that credits bernanke with making bold and creative moves. whatever the failures were before then. i think that's pretty widely accepted in washington that this is somebody that didn't have a rule book to go by. he made it up as he goes along and it looks like it's successful. >> breaking news right now at headquarters. mary thompson on it. about mashl lynch. >> we have some breaking news about this settlement between bank of america and merrill lynch you. might recall ta both sides along with the sec i should say, the sides being bank of america and the sec providing submissions to judge overseeing this case yesterday. the judge overseeing this says that monday's submissions raised a few additional issues about the case. essentially the judge has a

couple of questions specifically for bank of america and wants to know more specifics why the bank will spend $33 million to settle with the sec without admitting or denying wrongdoing if the proxy statement was not false or misleading, including whether it settled to curry favor with the sec. essentially when both sides, the sec and b of a submitted filings, they say that they relied on outside counsel to create the proxy statement. and rakeoff essentially says it is at war with common sense for a corporate officer who produced a proxy statement to say he relied on counsel and if the company does not waive privilege, meaning attorney/client, then the officer and council's culpability are beyond scrutiny. ray cough essentially ordering both the sec and bank of america to make further submissions by september 9th. this issue about the bonuses that bank of america initially denied publicly and then privately it was disclosed they did agree to pay merrill lynch employees this issue continues to drag on.

certainly a problem for bank of america, again those further submissions to be given to judge ray cough by september 9th. >> mary, thanks very much. for more on president obama's decision to reappoint ben bernanke, we go to the white house and joined in a first on cnbc interview by christina romer, chairman of the president's council on economic advisors. welcome back to "closing bell." >> great to be here. >> can you share what input you had in this decision to reappoint mr. bernanke. >> i can certainly tell you like the president, i've been very impressed with the work that chairman bernanke has done. i think he's shown real kret activity and boldness in dealing with what was unquestionably the worst financial crisis since is the great depression and i know that that played very much in the president's decision that he had the right person in place. >> was there any serious thought given to any other candidate for chairman of the fed. >> i think we don't want to go into those things.

the whole thing was about was ben ber nan kit right person and we concluded that he was. >> let me ask you this because many people the might say much of the work is yet to be done given the fact we are waiting on some exit strategies for the federal reserve as well as the government, certainly on the part of treasury. what is the exit strategy in terms of getting out of the economic upset and winding down some of these programs in place. >> well, the first thing i'd certainly say is we are really at just the very beginning of stabilizing, right? if you think of the crisis that we have been through, you know, we are starting to see some hopeful signs that we are bottoming out. so the first thing i would say is, we shouldn't be talking about any exit strategies just yet in the sense or certainly no exit just yet in the sense we do have, as you pointed out, lots of work left to do. you know, the american people willw this thing isn't over till people are back to work and

we really are seeing the economy recovered. >> but that said, obviously we need to have a plan for what happens as we go forward and once we do start to recover, once the unemployment rate does come down to more normal levels, of course you've got to be pulling back what we've been doing on fiscal stimulus, what the fed's been doing on monetary stimulus. i think ben bernanke has good plans for that. in our case, the fiscal stimulus naturally ends. it was set up to be a two-year program. and that is certainly that certainly is how it's design into in terms of exit strategy on the part of the white house and treasury, are there plans to unload some of the stakes the government has in business? >> the president has always said he didn't want to own a car company. when we had to intervene, the whole idea was how quickly can we get these things back in private hands. likewise, we've been with our intervention in banks, it was always how can we stabilize the

system and then get it back into the private hands that have served us so well for long periods of time. absolutely that is the part of the strategy. >> let's talk where we are right now. the white house making comments today in terms of what the rest of the year looks like, looking at contraction of 278%. can you characterize where we are right now and whether or not we'll see a worsening situation in the coming six months. >> what we believe is what we see in all of the consensus forecasts that we do anticipate positive gdp growth before the end of the year. so we certainly don't expect to see worsening conditions on the gdp output side. unfortunately, unemployment does tend to be lagging indicator. so until gdp really starts to grow robustly, you're likely to see the unemployment rate continue to rise. we are afraid in our forecast, is the unemployment rate is likely to reach 10% by the end of the year. before then, betting on the

trajectory that we want which is coming down, so if that sense, we are in for some more hard times. but we are encourage that had we are seeing positive signs that the trajectory is changing. >> so you're anticipating positive gdp growth by the end of the year? >> yes. >> where does that growth come from? can you give us a sense where the growth in the economy will be in the coming few months. >> i can certainly tell you in terms of sources. the absolutely the fiscal stimulus we think has been very important. most of the private forecasters are saying probably the american recovery and reinvestment act is adding somewhere between 2 and 3 percentage points to real growth. and a lot of the private forecasters and we too are thinking that the natural inventory psych is going to be a source of helping to turn us around. firms have been really running down their inventories and we're getting now to the point where we think they'll have to start producing to build back up those inventories. that's important because that tends to go throughout the whole

economy. all those inventories have been run down. we can expect to see kind of a bounceback. a lot of forecasters are talking even manufacturing coming back. we see construction coming back especially because of the fiscal stimulus and infrastructure. we think those will be important. i was very pleased last month when we saw state and local employment coming back. that's a real tribute to the recovery act and the way we've done the fiscal relief for the states. we think that's going to be important. >> really important. and certainly we've heard a lot about the state of the state. certainly our viewers care very much about progress there. miss roemer, today, the congressional budget office said the deficit will jump to $1.6 trillion this year triple where it was a year ago. what kind of implications does that have on the president's plans going forward? do you view any changes in terms of where the revenue comes from given these numbers? >> well, the first thing to say is also we put out our mid session review today and we had

almost an identical budget number to the congressional budget office for 2009. you know, the budget deficit is large primarily because of the terrible recession we have been through, that that we know lowers tax revenues. it also meant we had to take actions like the recovery act to try to heal the economy. that was absolutely appropriate. i can tell you the deficit would have been a whole lot worse if we'd let the economy go into freefall tlaus nothing as bad for the deficit as an economy where people aren't working and they aren't paying taxes. >> in terms of where we go from here, we have certainly always been concerned about the long-run budget deficit. and so we'll be working hard to put in place a plan to deal with that. we absolutely feel that health care reform is crucial, not just for dealing with the fact we have 46 million americans that are uninsured but because of the fact that health care costs are growing so rapidly. that is the number one thing

that is terrible for the budget deficit over the long horizon. so we are absolutely committed to do health care reform and doing it well in a way that slows the growth rate. >> you said so many things. real quick, a lot of people say 46 million americans are uninsured. that number has been up for debate. are we sure it's not lower than that? >> it is a number that is, you know, a lot of statistics. there are questions about. one thing i'll emphasize that's typically a number that says people that are uninsured at a point in time. if you look at numbers like the number of people that go without insurance for some period in the two-year period, we get numbers almost twice that. so the number of people that go through some period of uninsurance is even larger. so what we know is we certainly have a problem on that score. >> and real quick on that deficit, you said you're going to be working hard on that. does that mean there could be plans to cut back on spending in order to make a department into that deficit? >> we will be going into the

2011 budget process and the president has already told all of his cabinet secretaries to be thinking about ways to, you know, going through their budgets line by line. he's committed himself to pay as you go policies. we obviously are going to have to be thinking about what do we do to deal with this problem both in the medium run and especially in the long run when we really need to worry about those long-run budget deficits. >> we recognize these are complex situations and the white house is working hard to get the country out of this, and we appreciate it. miss roemer, thank you. we'll see you soon. christina romer joining us at the white house. more positive signs in the housing market. is real estate finally turning a corner? find out if the recovery is finally in the works. but first it, the new regulatory climate. which investment vehicles could feel the biggest impact all coming up.

welcome back.

low prices and low volatility. this is the commodity futures trading commission's goal as. but this could have a big impact on traders and how trading is done and ultimately investors. i'm join by gary gensler, chairman of the cftc. >> good to be with you. >> thank you so much for joining us. give us a sense of the timeline of this regulation and how you're expecting this to change in terms of the impact on investors. >> well, we're looking at making sure markets are fair and orderly. we're not an agency that sets prices or regulates prices but want to make sure they're fair and orderly and looking at whether to adopt position limits that congress has told us to do for many decades in the energy markets and if we go forward, we're looking at proposing rules in the fall. >> and what would those rules do to change the current scenario? how would they differ from things today? >> we set position limits to avoid concentrated or large

market positions in agriculture products. we did in the energy markets through the exchanges through actually just eight years ago, and we're looking at whether we should bring those back so there's not one trader that dominates a market. >> there's a bit of a debate about this on whether or not we should see more regulation or perhaps different regulation. what kind of a reception are you getting from this? >> well, we do think that the regulatory system of america failed the american public and so we've proposed to congress bold reform and comprehensive reform on over the counter derivatives but with regard to physician limits, i think it was a good reception from these various hearings last month. >> i want to ask you about the hearings you're getting ready to have next week as it relates to the securities and exchange commission. a lot of people said that the sec and cftc should be merged. >> they'll have historic hearings next week. we'll hear from a variety of market participants on how we

should fill in the grasp that we're not regulating like derivatives and also where we're inconsistent regulation where we bring them together. >> would you support a merger. >> what i think we need to do first and most importantly is to make sure that the american public benefits by more consistent regulation where it's appropriate and where there are differences have those matter to the american public. >> this is the first time you're doing these coinciding. >> that's right. we have a very good working relationship and thought it would be good to do it together and hear from the public and many market participants. the new york stock exchange is going to testify your next witness in the chair here is going to send somebody from the cme, as well. >> we've got terry duffy coming up, the head of the cme. legislators calling for greater regulation after we saw oil prices rocket the way they did last summer all the way up to $147 a bare rel. but other people will say look, you didn't have such interaction

when you saw prices all the way down to $32. what is the crux of the issue? >> we as an agency protect against fraud and manipulation but also congress asked us to protect the burdens that might come from excessive speculation. we're making sure that not one party so concentrates in a market that they put a burden on those markets. >> how will, though, that impact investors? >> i think it would bring greater liquidity to markets and make sure that markets even in rough times don't have outside positions. we do it in the agriculture markets. we in fact, with the help of the exchanges did it in energy markets through 2001. so the question is, should we go back to that. >> some people would say that you know fushs take speculators out of the market, you're left with the oil markets being run by oil companies. >> i agree. speculators are necessary for the markets. natural hedgers whether it's a farmer, whether it's an oil producer needs somebody on the

other side of the trade. we call those people speculator who's barrett risk. as the a question of whether they get too large in a market. >> so you're not worried about oil companies becoming too dominant? >> what we're wanting to make sure is that through the mandate congress has given us that, we make sure that into one trader gets so large in a market that it distorts those markets. >> tell me specifically how you do that. >> in the agricultural markets we set limits and traders have to live within those limits. it's set at about 10% of those markets and ratchets down after that. we work with the exchanges on that, as well. >> the anonymity going on, do you have a sense of if there's one body in the market actually having that kind of domination? >> we're fortunate as a regulator we get to see all the large positions and report on that on a weekly basis. we're actually adding transparency and hope in the next several weeks to promote

more transparency so the public can see a lot of the large trader positions, as well. >> tell me about the hearings next week. what should we expect. >> you'll hear from a lot of market participants that want to see more similarity in regulation. we're going to cover enforcement, how we raeg located products, how new products are overseen. the whole gamut. i think all options have to be on the table. >> do you think we need to see more oversight on a global basis? obviously, the last couple of years have taught us it's a small world and we're all connected. what about the global story? >> it is a connected world. and we're working with our friends and colleagues in europe and asia to do this on a global basis. last week we announced an agreement with the fsa to have more coordinated oversight of energy markets. i would hope that that stands as a template for other agreements in the future. >> and is there anything that we need to be looking at in terms of red flags. >> i mean, obviously, you've got all of the information in front of you in terms of large orders

and regulating all parts of the market. but what should investors be concerned about in terms of finding out where the upset might be or as you said, manipulation. >> i think investors should be watching whether their government and congress fixes the problems, whether we make sure that new regulations don't leave new exceptions and new loopholes as we move forward. >> because there are so many products, etf, etn and people should be more comfortable with the range of products out there. >> and the american financial system and the financial regulatory system failed the american public. now the test is are we going to cover the gasp that were so obvious in this last crisis. >> mr. chairman, good to have you on the program. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. >> gary gensler, chairman of the cftc. up next, a new report showing home prices showing their first quarterly rise in three years. we'll take a look at that, how it plays into the overall economic picture when we come

right back. opportunity sales e, you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 es 350.

here's a look at some of today's winners and losers. what do you think? hey, why don't we use our points from chase sapphire and take a break? we can't. sure, we can. the points don't expire... ♪ there is nothing for me... ♪ there's no travel restrictions...

we could leave tomorrow. we can't use them for a vacation. you can use the points for just about anything. i know... ♪ the way you look tonight ♪ chase what matters. get your new chase sapphire card at chase.com/sapphire.

welcome back. the latest s&p case schiller home price index sending strong signals the housing markets may be turning a corner. here's diana olick with the details. >> that's right. it's the first time in three years we've seen the prices turn positive quarter to quarter, but there are some red flags. take a look at the numbers first. the national index rose 2.9%

quarter to quarter. again, the first time positive in a long time, although the index is still down 14.9% year over year. even the index's inventor though is cautious. >> i didn't say that we've reached the bottom. i said that this is very suggestive of a major turning point, but we've seen other corrections like this that were reversed. notably a year ago in early 2008, we saw the rate of decline of home prices suddenly get much smaller, and it looked good, but then it collapsed again. >> now, here are the three red flags we see in the data. first time home buyer tax credit which adds $8,000 worth of purchasing power. next is the facts that case shiler is dmot seasonally adjusted and historically prices rise in the spring. finally, bang and state mora toria kept a lot of foreclosures from hitting the market in q2. that is all changing now. >> i do think we're in the

neighborhood of the corner. whether or not we turn the corner is going to depend on whether that tax credit continues and keeps first-time home buyers in. they're a big driver right now but their psyche is fairly fragile. if they see prices going down again, they pull back out. >> pretty much everyone in the market is pushing for an expansion of the tax credit and want to see it for all buyers. without it a lot are saying we could see those prices and the sales figures turn in the other direction. we're talking about it on the balk, realty check.cnbc.com. >> thanks very much, diana. city mortgage, the arm of citigroup issued its latest report on its own efforts to help troubled homeowners. the total number since the housing crisis began now to 625,000 helped. for more on the company's efforts how it's incorporating the government's modification program, we're joined by the ceo

of city mortgage. it had goode to have you on the program. >> good to be here. >> what were the biggest challenges in the last six months or so and what you're facing today to get mortgages modified? >> well, the single biggest challenge has been unemployment. with unemployment ticking about a half a percent up every month, the number of delinquent borers has substantially increase. to be able to deal with that on.slot at the same time getting the infrastructure in place as we did in the exactly quarter and implementing a new program that was very effectively launches by the government was an incredible amount of work. we are delighted we got to where we got to. we hired about 1400 new people, we had to create new call centers, put in new phone lines, a heck of a lot of infrastructure went in there to be able to answer all the calls and to be able to help 10 ,000 customers and refinance another

105,000 customers. so that was a huge challenge. but that's behind us and we look forward to be able to do more, which we are beginning to see in the third quarter. >> which is why there was some criticism that some of the modifications in terms of the number of modifications had actually fallen short, right? because there were so many needing to be done and you mentioned some of the challenges. just practical challenges. >> that's absolutely right. i mean, to hire you know, 1400 more people you need qualified people, you need to hire, you need to be able to train them, you need trainers to be able to train these people. you need technology to be able to put in tools so that on the desktops of these people that the reps so that they can answer calls effectively and seamlessly regardless of which rep customers are talking to, that requires a lot of work. and as i said, we are delighted that we focused on it and have gotten it done, and we're now in

scaling up in excuse mode. >> so what is the average time it takes from when a modification is requested to actually when that modification is done? >> well, it depends. but on an average, and i look at these metrics almost every day, on an average it takes about six weeks. it is impossible to do it in less than four weeks. but getting it done from six weeks to four weeks is where we are aiming at right now. it used to be about 8 to ten to 12 weeks not so long ago about, three to four months ago. we are on an average down to about six. >> based on what you're seeing with really a wonderful vantage point in terms of modifications and where people are in terms of paying their mortgages, prices of single family homes rose for a second straight month in june. where due feel we are in terms of this housing downturn? where would you say we are in this down cycle? >> well, for somebody who sort of faced the son lot in home prices for the last 12 months,

i'm delighted to see the numbers today. i would say i'm very, very cautiously optimistic. i think there are a couple of forces that are working, there are a couple of tail wind and headwind effects. the factors that are affecting home prices positively are clearly the fact that there are homes that are less than $250,000 range that have fallen substantially in the last 12 months. we should think about peak to trough on a national basis. we are down 32%. and so homes that are less than $250,000, we find that those are selling much faster than those that are above $500,000. that's one effect that might be causing the case shiler index to go up a little bit. the second factor is there are certain markets like california that have fallen even higher than the national average and there's a lot of investment activity that's going -- investor buying activity that's going on there that we are

seeing that is causing that end of the market to be picked up in that particular geography. on the other hand, well, and the other tail wind factor is we are doing a lot of modifications. that's a good thing. we are stopping the foreclosure velocity of homes going into foreclosure. i think the headwind effect or the opposing force on this is the fact that unemployment has gone up substantially in the last six months. the effect of that doesn't just disappear. unemployment causes people to have difficulty in paying their mortgages and that will cause the supply of distressed housing starts to increase in the market. it's rational to expect that. and we all have to watch very carefully where prime mortgages are going because i think the subprime effect is kind of behind us, not entirely but kind of behind us and the prime effect is beginning to take place right now. so i'd say that those are the two headwind factors which is

why i'm cautiously optimistic about this. >> it's interesting to note it's not a subprime problem only anymore. we are seeing even jumbos, right? you've got certainly prime and larger more expensive jumbo loans, as well. >> absolutely. and that's a whole new phenomenon. it's not just the number of loans that are delinquent anymore. there's a big behavioral shift that's going on in our borrowers and the way we have to treat them is quite different to the way things were last year. >> nice too have you on the program. we so appreciate you joining us tonight. >> my pleasure. >> we'll see you soon. san ji daas is ceo of citi mortgage. up next, we'll take a look at one of the firms regulated by our last guest and that is the cme group. terry duffy joins me coming up. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t.

with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically.

finally, good news for people with type 2 diabetes or at risk for diabetes. introducing new nutrisystem d, the clinically tested program for losing weight and reducing blood sugar. hi i'm mike, and i lost 100 pounds on nutrisystem d when i was first diagnosed with diabetes, that first step was more like a giant leap. till i discovered nutrisystem d. in a clinical study people on nutrisystem d lost 16 times more weight and reduced their blood sugar 5 times more than those on a hospital-directed plan. plus a1c was reduced .9%. choose from over 140 menu options, there is no counting carbs, calories or points.

i lost 100 lbs. and lowered my blood sugar level. nutrisystem d changed my life. mike is one of many who have lost weight and controlled their diabetes with new nutrisystem d. backed by 35 years of research and low glycemic index science nutrisystem d works. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back! new! nutrisystem d. lose weight. live better. call or click today. welcome back. just a moment to go, we heard from cftc chairman gary ginsler on regulation. the commission first said it was considering limits. since then, shares of the cme group have declined more than 9%. this is somewhat of a concern as

increased regulation could drive trades overspaepz we get the reaction from terry duffy, executive chairman of the cme group. >> i appreciate being here your. >> reaction to the commissioner's, the chairman's comments earlier. >> i was surprised when i saw the chairman here. i was going to say the only thing we have in common is red ties today. maybe we have a little difference of opinion. chairman againstler has done a really good job and we may have a lot more in common than one would think. we're looking forward to working with him and the rest of the commissioners to bring results to the market that the public deserves. >> what would you like to see different than what's on the table right now? >> i think it's important to know, maria, when we're talking about position limits especially as the energy complex, we have not seen excessive speculation have one impact on the price of crude oil products. not a government or academic study or any evidence to suggest that speculators are driving the price of energy up or down. you heard what the chairman said

today. speculators are a very important part of the composition of the market. we believe that also. we don't want to limit to participants. we think they will find exposure to energy products somewhere else. it they do that, it's only going to hurt the regulators model. >> what about the person who might say look, we saw the wild price swings and wild computer generated moves. in fact, that was speculation? >> we saw the dow from you from 14.5 to 6500 in the shortest period i've ever seen in my entire life. if you look at the oil markets they almost mimic the equity markets. it was clearly a supply and demand equation. the demand for energy was drying up. hins we go from 147 to $30, less people driving automobiles. >> let's say the plans on the table do materialize. what are you going to do to offset them. >> i think what we're prepared to do is coming up with hard limits that make sense for our business and work with the commission to propose them so we're not eliminating

participants but at the same time can give comfort to the commission we have hard limits and don't have what the chairman is concerned about which is one person controlling a lot of the oil trade which we don't. >> you're going to come out with these hard limits. should you set the limits or should the cftc set the limits. >> we've been doing it for many, many years. we have the risk management people that understand these limits. i don't believe the commission has the people in house to set these limitses and i don't think they would argue with that. >> it limits the number of participants in a sector that contributes 24% of our revenue. what do you do? >> first, i think that you know, the cme group is going to continue to build business. we have diversified our client base throughout the world. again, we think we can continue to grow our revenues in energy and other products lines. >> what other products lines. >> we're the largest interest rate equity commodity exchange in the world today and again,

we'll continue to build on those products. i think energy is going to continue to grow for us. >> the chairman moments ago talks about the hearing going on next week coinciding with the cftc and sec hearings together. your firm is going to be testifying, not you but your firm craig i guess. >> craig will do it. >> what case is he going to make? >> i think he's just going to clearly show that the cme and its regulated model have not been any problem from a systemic risk standpoint for the citizens of the united states. actually, we have been what someone would consider the poster child for regulation. we didn't have any defaults. none of our customers experienced what they did on the other side of the equation. so i would think you know, that people will understand that, they will see that our position makes the most amount of sense from a regulatory standpoint. >> what is the likelihood if we were to see the rules that he's proposing go into effect, that trades will go overseas and leave america? >> that's a real possibility, maria. it's not an idle threat.

there are other countries around the world that would open their arms up for this business. this is a very successful lucrative business for countries to have. the last thing i think we want in this country is to be an importer of financial services. if we continue down this path of overregulation, we'll be importing financial services and price discovery. and then we'll see what we'll pay for a gallon of oil or for an ear of corn. >> or gas. >> or gas. >> so in other words, which is the most competition if these trades are going to go international? what do you worry about where? >> dubai obviously is a place. i think asia could be a huge beneficiary from the regulation here in the united states. i think they are ramping up dramatically to accept more and more business from the united states and from the united states and from europe. i think asia could be a big beneficiary. >> last time we spoke we were in the middle of the economic slowdown. from where you sit, where are we right now? >> well, you know -- >> it is markets have been obviously vibrant.

what are you seeing in terms of the mentality on the part of investors and broad economic landscape. >> you know what i see? i see a trading community that's been truly out of step. people ask why are the volumes a little light? i think people are out of step. the markets have had about a 50% correction, i don't think much of the professional telephone saw that, and now they've been careful. so it's hard to predict where this economy is going, but i do see from our traders, you know, the volume is not quite what it was, because people are not as willing to put up these big bids and offers. >> partly because they're nerve usa? >> absolutely. that's another issue why we want to be careful about limiting the participants in our marketplace. the more, the less volume at this time. >> good to have you on the program. terry duffy, chairman of the cme group. even wage freezes are cuts employees may soon feel more pressure on the paycheck. find out more when we come right back. thank you.

according to a new study, costs for employer-provided health care plans are expected to rise an average of 10.5% in

the next 12 months. many workers can expect to see those costs passed along to them in the form of higher premiums or changes in coverage. transunion reports that the credit card delinquency rate fell by more than 11% to a rate of 1.17%. that's still up 12% on a year-over-year basis. general motors will begin phasing out the corporate gm logo known as the mark of excellence on the side of all its vehicles. the move part of the plan to start emphasizing the individual brands rather than the parent company. rick santelli is standing by, manning the show up up ahead on "fast money." what do you have? >> we have ed la cyr, who's going to join us. then i take on howard dean with obama health care and the plan. and as always we have the gang

here, the best players talking about the best plays in it tomorrow, maria. >> see you at the top of the hour, but before we do, we'll look at what could move the markets tomorrow.he stay with us. that's next. of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 es 350. 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. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when everything feels right though, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's when i get serious. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the minute i get into something, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i already know when i want to get out. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 of course, every now and then i'll talk with somebody

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 who knows what i'm trying to do. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 (announcer) switch to schwab today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you'll get the tools, the technology tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the support to trade your way. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 go to schwab.com/trader tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 or call 1-800-540-7304 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 right now. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 but opportunities can vanish like that... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...so most days, i'm right there tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when the market opens.