statement though, likely remains unchanged. the fed anticipates low inflation and will keep interest rates low for an extended period. the fed is trying to thread a need needle, talk about an improving economy and reducing easy money policies but making no significant change at least for now to policies. >> steve leisman, thank you very much. of course, steve will be with us through the decision. what does the street expect to hear from the imminent headlines? joining us, global ceo for equities and president of bianco research. steve leisman still here. bob dahl, what would make you happy in the statement today? >> i think that the fed acknowledges the improvement in the economy. i don't think they can ignore that. that would mean their head's in the sand. but at the same time, they provide assurances that these are the early days of recovery and they'll watch and wait and see some more evidence. we know historically the fed

rarely does much significant until they see improvement in jobs. we know we've got a ways to go before we get there, erin. >> that's one thing. the white house has acknowledged that, too. jim bianco, are you looking for any update on a lot of these programs that they have out there right now to try to influence interest rates for things like mortgages? >> i would like to see the update on some of the programs. i think there is a reasonable chance we'll get in on the mortgage program, though i agree with steve that it is most likely going to be at the next meet meeting we'll get the update on the mortgage program but as far as the other programs go, the fed has a history of holding on to those other programs and releasing a press release in the next couple of days telling us about some of the lending facilities. they did it with the last meeting, so i don't suspect we'll get those today but later in the week. >> i remember you said that last time, then indeed in a couple of

days it did happen. steve, do you think that's realistic we may not get a full update on some of the programs today? >> i think that's right. i think the fed is sort of at this place where it is trying to get operationally prepared for the piece but not readily to declare it over. it is out there, talking to the primary dealers talking about the idea of reverse repos, especially selling securities, soaking up cash in the economy. we know it is working from the interview we did with bill dudley on plans to raise interest on reserves. but we think it is stuff that it wants in its pocket but maybe it is going to be five or six months before we see any of that stuff. i'd like to point out former fed governor larry myer told us today he doesn't see any change in actual interest rates until -- the end of 2011. >> wow. bob doll, when do you think rates go up? >> i think we'll see by the end of the first half of next year we'll start to see something happening there. look, our starting point is not 2% or 3%. it is 0%. i think that the fed has so many

programs to unwind, they will begin some of those, then kind of the moment tuous, drum-roll interest rate occurs nine months from now. >> we found out today mortgage rates went below 5%. i think it was the first time since somewhere in may. does that show that the mortgage market is strong enough that if you took out the fed programs, you wouldn't see a big move in rates or are you not yet sure? >> i would say we're not yet sure. remember the mortgage purchase program started in january and rates throughout the first six months of this year moved higher. now they're creeping back down. it's unsure right now how the mortgage market would react to the end of the program. just last week we had a couple of rumors out that some consulting services were talking about the end of these programs. we had a very bad intraday reaction in the marketplace which suggests that market players are worried that taking these programs away too fast could be bad for the market. >> jim, i want to point out, it

is worth noting that since the fed reiterated the end of the treasury purchase program, yields have actually fallen, prices have risen, which is the opposite of what you think and sort of what you're predicting in the mortgage market. maybe there's other reasons why it would do that but it should be received well in the treasury market. >> but the mortgage market's a little bit of a different animal. the program is much bigger itself. it has a much different target audience. the inflationary implications of the program in mortgages aren't as great. treasuries i think sold off because they were worried about inflation and then relief rally because we weren't going to overdo it. >> final word, bob doll, your best idea as we go into the decision? >> i think that from an equities standpoint after the big run we've had, expecting the fed eventually to go the other way months down the line, you need balance in your portfolio. i like energy, sick ccyclicals,e health care, i'd own some

technology. >> thanks to all three of you. now you have a sense of what some of the faultlines are in the debate as we come into the fed decision which is just a couple of moments away. we'll have that, the market reaction an our next panel of all-stars. national car rental knows i'm picky.

so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro.

we want to bring in more of our all-stars.

phil gross, founder of pimco, manages the pimco toldle return fund. ken hebron, steve leisman. okay, so bill gross, you're saying in terms of when the fed raises rates, obviously not today, but history tells a very specific tale. >> oh, it does. when it comes to the fed raising policy or rates, it is not that hard to figure out. during mild recessions -- we have more than a mild recession -- they've waited an average of four months after unemployment peaks. pimco's unemployment peaks well into 2010 so that puts the benchmark well into 2010. >> what would you say to that, ken? you think in terms of rates,

that would put it even in the back half of 2010, at least? >> the economy has lost 7 million jobs so far in this downturn. probably will be another three on four months before we start seeing some job growth. i would expect the fed wouldn't tighten until we at least get 2 million to 3 million of those jobs back in the economy. some time late in 2010 at the earliest. >> ken heebner, you're an equity guy, as opposed to bill and ken. you're saying these programs, buying mortgage-backed securities, are very important to your stock trades right now still. right? >> well, i think what we're seeing is the government winds down, the program to purchase treasury securities, the long government bond, yield stays at 4.20%. >> it looks like we -- >> -- and this is a very

encouraging sign. >> sorry about that. doesn't worry about that, ken. it was just a little technical thing. we went to black for a quick moment. let's go to you, bill gross. on the second point i wanted to make, which is how much of the programs do you think they need to keep out there when you're talking about this whole fed balance sheet concept of a couple of trillion dollars. how big does it need to be? >> we think it needs to be very big. the talk about dominating the mortgage program and treasury program is sort of like a texas execution, i guess. if it's going to happen, sooner or later, why wait? and so the delay of the program to me means nothing. what they should do is continue the program because the fed needs to maintain at least a $2 trillion balance in terms of their own reserves at the fed in terms of the balance sheet. what we're fighting here really is asset deflation going forward. that's a new term. at least for the last three

months in terms of the green chutes that's the attitude. any move toward reverse repos, et cetera, that would reduce reserve balances at banks, in my opinion, should be discouraged. >> ken volper, if you'fuif you' regular person deciding whether to invest in bonds or stocks, what's a bigger concern? inflation or deflation? >> i think inflation is a bigger concern going forward. i don't think we'll have deflation over the next couple of years. it seems like the economy is definitely on a rebound. we'll see some growth over the next few years and that should feed into itself and actually result in more and more growth. also look at just the funding costs in the corporate market. industrials bonds, bond yields are down about 2.4% this year so far. financial yields are down 2.8%. that's going to help a lot with financing growth for corporate america going forward.

we would expect actually that the market should gain some steam and actually we should have some period of growth in a reasonably nice recovery, better than i think the market's expecting. >> steve leisman, when you look across the entire sphere of your contacts, which are very broad and have very different views on inflation/deflation, where do most people feel more concern right now? >> most people are in the disinflationary camp who i talk to. then maybe i'm not talking to the broad enough spectrum. respected people out there who are deeply concerned about inflation and deeply distrust the fed's ability to pivot. i would say to all of the things that our three distinguished guests that individual here, that investors need to be nimble and aware of a possibility in both the change in the results of the economy and the changes in the forecast. nobody knows how weak the economy ends up climbing out of

this, nobody knows the effect of the massive amount of stimulus the fed has put in. i will tell you, the fed is prepared to pivot relatively quickly if it feels a need to. i know bill is pretty competent that it won't need to, but it is possible, it needs to be out there, people need to be aware and nimble if that event should happen. >> what would you say is your bet right now, ken heebner, in terms of inflation versus deflation. where do you see the most opportunity in terms of specific stock? >> i done think there is going to be either inflation or deflation. but individual stocks, first of all i'd say this is a very good environment for investing. we have a lot of surplus capacity around the world. the global economy can grow for a number of years without the need for fed interdiction of the grow growth. two stocks i like the most right now are goldman sachs and ford motor company. i think in the case of ford, people are worried that the company needs to raise capital. at some point they'll need an

equity offering. what's happening is there's been a shortage of cars and the incentives are down by $2,000 per car. i think when they report their september quarter, earnings will be shockingly higher than people think. >> bill gross, as we come to the decision which we expect any time, is there any area you are concerned about buying right now? >> well, i think the mortgage area is a concern of ours, erin. we've heard that the fed is ending its $1.25 trillion program shortly. vanguard announced a policy change to exclude portions of agency mortgages that the fed owns from its own index funds. we estimate that will add 3 billion selling pressure at a time when the fed is exiting as well. >> no change in interest rates. no change in interest rates. information received suggests economic activity has pick up

following a severe downturn. commissions in financial markets have improved further and activity in the housing sector has increased. household spending seems to be stabilizing. but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, sluggish income growth and tight credit. businesses are still cutting back on fixed investment and staffing, though at a slower pace. they continue to make progress in bringing inventory stocks into better alignment with sales. although economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time, the committee anticipates that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, fiscal and monetary stimulus, and market forces will support a strengthening of economic growth and a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability. with substantial resource slack likely to continue to dampen cost pressures and with longer term inflation expectations stable, the committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time. in these circumstances, the

federal reserve will continue to employ a wide range of tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability. the committee will maintain the target rate for the federal funds rate at 0% to .25% and continue to say that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the fed funds rate for an extended period. mortgage lending and housing markets, to support them, and improve overall markets, the federal reserve will purchase $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion in agency debt. the committee will gradually slow the pace of these purchases in order to promote a smooth transition in markets and anticipates that they will be executed by the end of the first quarter of 2010. as previously announced, the federal reserve's purchase of $300 billion in treasury securities will be completed by the end of october 2009. the committee will continue to evaluate the timing and overall

amounts of the purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook, and conditions in the financial markets. federal reserve is monitoring the size and composition of its balance sheet and will make adjustments to its credit and liquidity programs as warranted. vote for the policy decision is unanimous. reporting live from the treasury department. >> quick market reaction here. treasury prices picking up slicely. stocks nearly doubling their gains, up 55. i'll dip through with a few main headlines. economic outlook looks as if it is a bit after change. in august they talked about economic activity leveling out. they upgraded that to actually having pick up. housing mentioned specifically this time. i don't believe steve was in there last time. the most important stuff, last time they talk about prices for commodities rising as of late. here deflation clearly much more of a concern, substantial resource slack likely to continue to dampen cost pressure and inflation will remain

subdued for some time. they kept that in there, but seems to me, steve, at least, that's a bit of a shift. in terms of the purchase programs, kept exceptionally low levels for federal funds rates. no change there. in terms of the federal programs, they pushed out the date for the agency-backed securities. total there was $1.25 trillion of agency, $200 billion agency debt. they said that would be the number by the end of the year. now they're saying first quarter. treasury unchanged. steve leisman, what else did you see? >> not much. i think the question becomes whether or not yesterday was the day for me to refinance my mortgage. looking at it from a totally parochial point of view. this thing is ending and they did exactly what they talked about doing. the term of art in the fed is this concept of "capering" which is keep the amount the same but

extend the ending of it and reduce purchases. it is, as we suspected, that's the most optimistic fed statement in many years going back for a very long time except for the one quarter i think it was the second quarter of '08 when the economy was growing. inflation remains subdued and i don't see any particular imminent change to policy other than those that are pre-programmed as the end of the treasury prchdz aurchases and e the mortgage purchases. think we're talking about low interest rates for a "extended period." >> rick and matt, rick, you first. futures apparently still targeting april 2010 for the first potential fed rate hike. you saw a little bit of a move in treasuries on this. >> i'm not buying the april 2010. the verbiage to me was highly uninteresting. here's the one thing i will continue to pay attention to, because on this statement, the dollar against the euro, the

dollar against the yen and the dollar against the pound went down. that's tangible. leading up to the statement, we saw a dead dollar trade. we saw interest rates were moving up and equities were moving down. but the party goes on, the punch bowl's still spiked and we see that equities are up, rates are down, dollar down. same dynamics. back to you. >> matt nesto, bunch bowl still there for stocks? we did hit session highs a moment ago. >> give or take here, we doubled, almost tripled the gain we had going into this. i was talking to joe over here, it is a little bit like a horse race. the jockey holds back on the horse coming up to the decision, then lets it go when the decision came through, pretty much as expected here today. one group that i saw really firmed up and liked what it heard, i can't tell you exactly what it was, transports. they were clear laggards here today. they've gotten back to an almost-even and unchanged position. those lagging going into it, health care stocks, continue to

seem to be weak. energy still continues to be weak but the strength today is really going to be in the techs, telecomes and consumer staples. those are not necessarily fed related. they were strong and got stronger. but again the big picture, the party, the punch bowl is that we are up now for the 12th time in 14 days since this melt-up began on september 3rd. about 8% and 600 points for the dow during that period of time. >> ken heebner, would you say the punch bowl is still there or if all of you weren't in stocks would you get into stocks as a whole, not just the names you mentioned? >> i think the stock market is the place to be. clearly you can't earn much on fixed income. neeldz a yields are non-existent. the key factor is that there is plenty of slack so that the global economy can ec. for several years. zero inflation an many years of growth is the best environment can you possibly have to invest in the stocks because you have time for growth to make your

investments work. >> bill gross, one thing they did on this whole inflation/deflation question, they mentioned substantial resource slack and obviously mentioned it in september. but in august they talked about the prices of energy an other commodities have risen as of late and they took that out this time. i mean in any way is that their way of saying, deflation is more of an issue? is that more than just a factually, prices have gone up in the last month kind of thing? >> i don't think so, erin. that's a nuance, and perhaps you're moving in the right direction because that's the way pimco feels. we feel that deflation is becoming -- it's not a higher probability, but it's becoming a higher possibility relative to the fears that the market has in terms of inflation, and that's because, yes, what they mentioned, the asset gap, tremendous amounts of employment that has to come back into the marketplace. unemployment levels at 10%-plus, compassivity levels below 70%.

all of that leads to inflation over the next 12 months close to zero in terms of a core inflation rate. the fed has to be concerned about inflation moving not only down to zero but in a negative direction in that type of context, treasuries do make sure at 4.25% and 3.5% for the ten-year. >> let me get ken's response to what you were saying as the decision came across. vanguard announced a policy change to exclude some of these agency mortgages that the fed owns. from your index fund. you thought that would add a lot of selling pressure. what do you say? >> yeah. the index has historically been slow to adjust. treasuries that were helped by the fed have always been withheld from the ago gra gant decks when it was with lehman as well as barclays capital but the rules didn't also include mortgage securities and agencies. barclays created a new index

that include those rules. we're really just going with the best practices and index construction in managing index fund and really reflecting the fact that $1.25 trillion worth of mortgages and $200 billion worth of agencies have been taken of circulation and may be with the fed for many, many years ahead an the index should represent what's investable for investors. >> erin, one point. rick took out the dollar and shows it weakened on the statement. the value of assets priced in dollars, both bonds and stocks, went up on the statement. so it is not entirely clear if it is a negative for the nation of a whole that the value of the dollar should fall when the stuff you'd buy those dollars with also went up in value. just trying to make that point. >> and a worth while one. thanks so much to all of you. appreciate seeing you all on sunday. we'll see if jim has -- we'll see what jim has to say about what he's buying.

back with that and 230 miles to the gallon sounds great. that's what general motors says the volt will get. will it really? and how much would you be willing to pay for anything even remotely close to that sort of mileage? we are going to ask the man behind the volt, very excited about this. the man building it. he is here on "street signs." and he is next.

so, jim, they're going to stay down low forever, prices aren't going up? stocks can keep going up, right? i mean -- >> if you wanted a statement that would suggest that the stock market should go higher, you just got it. you don't have to look through these things. today is a very important day. not because of the fed but because the oil is down but the market's up. maybe we're breaking away from the silly linkage that unless we see some sign the economy is strong, we go down. that's not happening.

it is very positive. >> what does cheerios on fire have to do with our segment is it. >> a lot of people doubted general mills could generate such an upside surprise that it would matter, particularly after conagra's number yesterday. this general mills number was bottom-line terrific. general mills goes from being a consistent grower to be an actually better than consistent grower. the stock's being ramped here. >> oh, no -- pabst blue ribbon. >> they're raising prices. ever since somehow the bush administration let bud go through with imbev, this beer company, even those volumes are not up, they've been raising prices and raising prices. there's this benign thing that's amazing. molsen is -- >> why would you say that's benign? a lot of people would say that's

rather malicious. >> i think if there weren't an antitrust department i would like into beer pricing. it probably, to me, the least -- went from being the most competitive beverage other than soda to being maybe the least competitive part of our food system. >> jim, have you tried the bud light with lime? >> no! this weekend i was knocking back -- no, i haven't tried that. >> pabst blue ribbon? look, i still have mine here from the imbev ceo. >> three brothers tequila. >> three brothers tequila. all right. so let's move on here to aig. >> i talked about it yesterday. charter onle did the street.com and on the show last night. i was being hit by a lot of people today saying, jim, there's nothing that would allow -- they're not allowed to do a secondary. i said you know what?

this is obviously the biggest short squeeze of all time. you can't bother row it. big article today in "the journal" about gunning a stock up. everybody knows you can shoot against aig because they don't have enough money in the bank. if you raise that quick bit of money at least it makes the next layer of sale go better. the stock market can handle 20 million shares and handle it right. >> now let's talk about -- there's a couple of things i want to do on this list. but earnings tomorrow for research in motion? >> yes. tomorrow after the close. stock is -- the internet is so powerful. i walked down wall street today, a guy hits me, rim, what's it going to be? i mean come on, think about it. palm reported a great quarter. they filed a secondary. the stock got hit. it was one of the greatest opportunities. i don't care what rim reports tomorrow. i just want a bad quarter,

whatever. whether it be the blackberry or pre, if you're trying to play this to the quarter you're making a very big mistake. people bought palm and bought it at $16. look where the stock is now. the internet tsunami is big enough to take out at&t. it's big enough to move the needle. our friend randall stephenson knows that. he's also welcome on my show or yours. >> yes, but he'd have to make a phone call from the show and see how many times it drops. >> being with my family has more dropped calls because we don't just have one plan. >> all right, thank you. we're at 9905, back above 9900 for the dow. sometimes people breathe and can

you get to dow 10,000 today. back to where we were in may of '99. a lot of guests tonight on ""mad money."" vf ceo eric wiseman and murray gerber, eqt's ceo. $4 million of your tax dollars spent on gm's volt. that's next. uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

auto stocks moving higher today. ford's ceo predicting u.s. sales rising 14.5 million vehicles in 2011. this yearer that hovering around 10 million. the peak was 17.5. before then automakers will have electric vehicles in their show rooms but how robust will the

growth be? phil lebeau has the latest. phil, you broke the news 22 peugeots were cashed in for cash for clunkers? i can't believe there were 22 left in the country. >> there were some strange -- small number of strange vehicles turned in. we'll talk about cash for clunkers another time. have you seen shares of ford today? this stock is turning in an impressive performance today. largely on the back of comments from ceo allan mullally over in india. he's over there for the introduction of a new vehicle. shares of ford, a stock's moving higher because he's saying the rest of this year we'll see sales in the 10 1/2 to 11 million range. after that it will move up. by 2011, sales in the 14 1/2 million range. shares of ford up today. all of this brings up the question, what are the automakers do. when you look at their assembly of vehicles, heading into the fourth quarter, they're all ratcheting up production because it was stripped down so low

earlier this year. as for hybrids, sales this year just under 300,000 here in the u.s. expected to be 465,000 according to jp power. that's the prediction for next year. hybrid sales will be 4% of all industry sales next year. just 4% for all the hype, they are a very small part of sales. but the electric vehicle, that's what's getting a lot of attention. they don't go on ael until 2011 in this country -- actually late 2010. nissan-renault has a whole lineup of electric vehicles that will be rolling into the show rooms. last week in frankfurt we saw the lineup. this week in new jersey i had a chance to drive a prototype of the nissan leaf. that's the shelf a nissan versa, impressive. just as impressive as the chevy bolt which i've driven a couple of times at the proving grounds in detroit.

the volt price is expected to be roughly $40,000, though there is some discussion chevy will have to come in with a lower price in order to sell a high number of these vehicles. 30,000 people have already told gm, we're interested in the volt. those are called hand-razors. they haven't put down a deposit, just simply expressing an interest in the vehicle. sales are going to be really low starting in 2010 and 01 -- 2011. you have to wait to 2015 to see if the numbers approach what they even do with hybrids now. gm is volt a -- betting big-time on the volt. you are obviously not volting from the volt. you're hand raising. as a general motors investors are doing well and also taxpayers are doing pretty well putting hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development. they want to know if the money is going to really pay off.

joining us, general motors director of fuel cell systems. he's worked on electric vehicles at gm since ed-1, gm's first attempt at an electric car back in the 1990s. thanks for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. you might call me the godfather of general motors evs. >> if you were the godfather, then tell me how big this is going to be? phil lebeau just said hybrids will be 4% of the global car market. what will electric vehicles be? >> maybe a better way to look at it is what is an electric vehicle? it's something that's not a hybrid. a hybrid still uses gasoline predominantly as you drive. electric vehicle uses grid power, electricity from the grid. the volt will give you 40 miles of commute every day with no miles per gallon, no petroleum. the whole idea behind the chevrolet volt was to get us off of our petroleum addiction here

starting with ourselves in auto manufacturing. >> obviously this isn't your problem so i'm not saying it that way, but if people hook their car up or go in to charge it, it is fully electric, our grid is still reliant on oil. >> well, depends on, again, where you're getting the grid power. but really we don't rely o@lot on oil. we -- relies a lot on natural gas and we're getting more of that. it is also a very clean way to produce electricity. we still have a very sizable component of hydroand nuclear and the coal plants themselves, very old cold plants are getting a lot of modernization and a lot of push to get modernized. >> reporter: with you going to price the volt? obviously it is a different car than the hybrid out there. but you've got prius and honda. honda insight are in the low $20,000s to buy the car. every number that's come out about the volt has but the it closer do $40,000. that's an exspesive car.

>> well, that's a number that's being floated around. we haven't made our final pricing decision. a lot of that will go into, as you point the out here earlier in your comments, hand-razors and how many and the interest we think it will draw. we're holding off on the final pricing. frankly, we're eastern thinking the go-to-market business model. should this be a car like all other cars, or indeed is this really a dramatic departure, a destructive technology, will you, and maybe the business model and well as the car needs to be polished. >> what do you mean in that you might market this differently than you ever have before? >> correct. you may have noticed here a few weeks ago, almost a month ago, we had a trial on ebay and basically selling cars via the internet. still threw our dealer body but you don't have to -- let your fingers do the walking on the keyboard as opposed to you physically going to visit dealers on the weekend. >> finally, could you have done this without taxpayer money? just adding up the numbers of

money you got from the department of energy at general motors along with the money that compact power, which is the lg subsidiary producing the lithium ion battery or cells for volt, could you have done this without the $91 million it looks like you got from taxpayers? >> we had already budgeted and set up the volt as a fuel stand-alone organization and stand-alone budget no matter what we felt was eminent with general motors, the corporation. so in that sense, we weren't reliant and aren't reliant, at least as far as the volt goes, on anything other than what we had already planned to do. we're well on schedule doing it for the november 2010 launch. >> and that is the final question. you're confident, this is going to happen, this is a real car, it is going to be on and online show room or in a showroom. there will be a volt? >> it is an exciting car to drive. electric cars are fun, they're peppy.

they're not golf carts. lithium ion battery is the soul of the volt dp volt definitely is the future of general motors. we' are building prototypes now. all the components that have to be engineered have been engineered. we're putting up prototype in a manufacturing facility and so far everything looks very solid. >> thanks so much. let us know what you all think about the volt, the technology, the taxpayer angle and whether you'd be a hand-razor like 30,000 other americans. goldman sachs spending $10 million on over 10,000 women around the world. coat of paint? a list of features? what about the strength of the steel? the integrity of it's design... or how it responds...in extreme situations? the deeper you look, the more you see the real differences. and the more you understand what it means to own a mercedes-benz. the c-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for special offers through

mercedes-benz financial.

the clinton global initiative is underway in new york this week. a who's who of america's power players are sharing ideas about how to jump start development programs worldwide. goldman sachs had a ceo talking about the $100 million

advancement. responsible for spending that money, head of corporate engagement. with her is the no left overnight, a graduate of the women's program. which is a quloebl effort to reach women. a lot of our viewers may be familiar with you, because they saw you in our program from legos. and you're catering. i want to start with you just giving us a sense of where you are. when we were there, and our viewers may or may not remember you, you had five full-time employees, and you said sometimes you hire 20 people to do weddings. have you grown? this was in may. >> so much has changed since the last time you came into my kitchen. right now we're handling 400 jobs a day. >> 400? >> yeah. and i've increased my staff strength. and when the big jobs come, like i said earlier with 25. the amazing thing also is that we have increased our clientele. we have corporate clients, and that's such a huge open door for

us. one phenomenal thing also is we're able to reach out to the community. i'm so excited that i'm able to reach out to the women around my area, and also to let them know the importance of economic empowerment. you know, spreading the good news. >> this is something that i know has been a passion for you. 10,000 women is basically management training around the world. you've said it's more than just charity for goldman. that you think this is a smart business thing to make this investment. >> yeah, i think so. lloyd talked about the fact that, you know, our investment in 10,000 women was one that really stemmed from our own economic research, which found that greater labor course participation like women in io has a boost to gdp growth. this investment also has another kind of return, which is the multiplier effect on families and these countries. and the children that are now

getting educated in this multiplier effect. so the roi made a lot of sense on this investment. and lloyd also talked about the recruitment and retention aspect. io knows the people in the firm are deeply involved in the aspects of this program. they're guest lecturing, really engaged. i think that's a really important investment that lloyd thought we needed to make. >> iou, you were invited by president clinton, you got to hear president barack obama speak. >> yes. >> you feel like it's real, their commitment? >> it's a privilege to be invited by president clinton. as i sat in the hall yesterday and listened to president barack obama speak about women, empowering women, i felt like he was speaking to me personally. and i know i felt what millions of women are feeling all over the world. because there are forgotten women and girls. it's such a phenomenal thing. i really think that the clinton initiative for spotlighting women and girls at this time.

>> it's so wonderful to see you again. it really is. i know our viewers are thrilled about that, too. dina, last question before we go. a challenging year for everyone around the world. but goldman during that time, even with all of the headlines, actually increased its investment to charitable giving, right? >> it was in challenging times when 10,000 women was launched. but we did stick with it. i think we're beginning to see tremendous results, not only in the 16 countries in which we're operating, but with now partnerships in the united states, with the united negro college fund, the spanish college fund to invest in a new generation of minority women in our own country who can be the great next leaders, here in business and in the important sectors. i think that, you know, the fact that, frankly, our people have been so engaged means we're really interested in sticking through it. with success stories like iou, it's wonderful. >> wonderful to see you. if you're not familiar with her, go to our website and look at

the dollars in danger program where we profiled iou, we found it to be an inspiring story. pleasure to see you here. >> thank you for having me. >> eric schmitt watches "street signs." we'll tell you what he learned yesterday. that's next.

today google's ceo eric schmidt said acquisitions are back on. he's ready to start buying. this is no surprise to anybody

who watches this show, because just yesterday, our friend james told us that google should go shopping. he gave us a shopping list in fact. and so we have a little free advice for eric schmidt. take a look at the possible acquisition candidates. open text, blackboard, and if you're really feeling good, "the new york times." we'll be right back.

tomorrow on street soins quig and squawk on the street, one of the legendary experts

julian robertson, he said two years ago that we were in for a doozy recession. we'll hear what he has to say tomorrow. it's time for the "closing bell." and the rally keeps on churning higher. as we enter the final most important hour of the trading day. there are the people on the floor of the new york stock exchange. once again, the market on the upside. hi, everybody, welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo coming to you live from the lobby of the sheraton. we have a number of people coming op the program in the next two hours from the clinton global initiative, looking at the global economy, inflation issues, as well as market activity and money moving around the world. we just heard from ben bernanke and company and the results of the federal reserve meeting on interest rates. no surprise, in terms of economic statements. but certainly inflation not

being ap issue going forward. also, one of the positives out of that report, the market, above 9900 as we enter the f stretch here. take a look at where the market is right now with the dow jones industrial average at the highs of the afternoon. the nasdaq as well. the dow right now up about 40 points. as you can see, jut shy of the highs of the afternoon, coming off of that 9900 mark a few minutes ago. interday was the high. about 15 minutes or so ago. nasdaq also strong. technology one of the leadership groups today with the nasdaq higher. as you can see by ten points. half of 1%. s&p 500 looks like this. similar chart pattern just off of the highs of the afternoon which were reached about 30 minutes ago. three points higher on the standard and poor's. also joining me for the hour, matt nesto on the floor of the nyse. what happened in the last 30 minutes or so as the market is creeping away from the 9900 mark? >> we're going to talk about this. there's definitely risk in there. most of the traders and investors i'm s