we are down about 2.25%. we haven't seen that much. a typical correction, about 2 or 3%. if this is a correction, it is about average. what about a real correction, 10%? have not seen it. the worst one was back in june or so when we were down about 9% from the highs to the lows. so far, though, no sign of any noticeable correction. we are down about 2% on the nasdaq as well. >> we down about a half percent right now. rimm is clearly not helping things. worse than expected outlook just covering about. down about 17%. downgrades coming on that as well. google is making it fraxally. you are seeing research in motion is the big story. i know melissa was talking about the flurry of m&a deals. i want to focus on shanda games,

the chinese internet company which trades here at the nasdaq as well. this is the biggest ipo in the u.s. that is significant in and of itself. a little after 11, and it down about six and a half percent. you have to focus on the fact that we have had a pick up in ipos as well. >> all right. thank you so much. before we go to our next story we want to bring you these comments coming from ahmadinejad, the irania-r irani president saying that they are completely legal. we are going to, of course, be on top of the story. you are seeing them at the bottom of your screen as well. google made headlines when it announced that the acquisition

s s spigot had been turned on in a big way. that could mean a deal bonanza in tech. >> the amount of cash out there is absolutely staggering. we talked about apple all the time because it's $33 billion in cash seems to be bigger than everyone els. apple does not have that robust of an acquisition strategy. wall street says there is something like $335 billion spread over the top 20 names. $25 billion. microsoft $26 billion. sis co-systems, even 133 acquisitions since 1993, it still has $35 billion on its sheets.

qualcomm with $15 billion. a lot of the companies have already done major deals. that deal just closed. microsoft dismissed rumors of potential play. they there is still talk of a possible tie up. with all the cash floating up, opportunities may only be just beginning. >> stick around. markets are up. companies are awash in cash. that means it is time to do a little shopping. which companies could be the buyers and which could be bought. joining me now with research product manager, we have the director of derivatives and trading. and jim goldman. stephanie, let me start with you. why are companies awash in cash right now? >> just looking at the report we just published, clearly companies particularly in the tech space has done a good job reducing expenditures so margins

have held in a lot better than what some people may have been expecting just six months from now. now they are poised to benefit. >> who do you think is out there shopping? >> any of the really big companies, some of which you just noted. dell is out there, but cisco, we think with $35 billion could be looking at software acquisitions. not necessarily in its traditional network infrastructure but companies in the web hosting space could be interesting targets. >> randy what are you seeing out there? >> all the companies that you have mentioned, they are the same company that i see a lot of activity coming on. they are sitting on pretty big size boat loads of cash. credit has been tied. a lot of acquisitions going the be driven more by cash

transactions. i see a lot of activity, specifically in technology and technology is a sector that you have a rating on for several months. and of course some of that is going on in the financials as well because of some of the turmoil well. but you also see the activity going on in pharmaceuticals. partly because they were unsure what might happen with the health care initiative. >> the only question that i have is about all the potential deals because case. it is still hard to get financed. so are we looking at mostly cash deals, mostly strategic. will it be that easy to get the deal done? >> you real will have to separate the strategic impairtive of companies. clearly we are getting into a tougher regulatory environment fl an anti-trust perspective. just looking at the imparative

of doing deals, i think it is pretty clear that certain sectors we are talking about consumers as well. the other guests mentioned the health care sector. we have seen better potential on the consumer side, for example. and clearly there will be the have and have notes. some companies have emerged from the downturn in relatively better shape and could really tlen leverage the strength. >> when you are talking about deals, i don't necessarily think that financing will be that big of a deal. i think you will see a lot smaller companies snatched up by a lot bigger companies. why deal with the credit markets if you have the cash on your balance sheet. when you are talking about a company like google. everybody is looking for the next big giant acquisition a billion dollars or more. i think you will see a series of much smaller acquisitions by

google over the course of the next 12 months. but that one big fish out there for google that might be interesting as it tries to bolster its apps opportunities is possibly a google tie up with sales force. a lot of people have been talking about that one for several quarters and now the time might be right. shares are up and they might be able to finance part of that with stock. and because of the rally that we have seen. >> do you think that companies are comfortable enough with the environment that they are willing to part with the cash they have on their balance sheet? they have to be secure to not horde cash. >> i think trends are highly cyclical. they are driven by the confidence of the board of directors. i would say one of the surprises ta came o that came out is that trends remain at historically pretty

low levels. and right now with confidence increasing and particularly with corporate free cash flow yields above corporate bond yields we are poised for significant activity. >> what is my best bet to make money? what do you think is my best play? >> i completely agree with everything these guys said. a lot will be small companies that are not pubically traded. you want to take a look at the company that is being acquired. one strategy that might work very well is the sale of a put auction on the i-quiacquiring company. they have a chance to take a stock hit. the whole purpose is to have a longer term benefit. this is a strategy where you might be able to take the dip at a decent price. that's a strategy that may work

very well when you are focussed on the company doing the acquiring. >> any specific ideas for me? >> cannot give you specific stocks. many of them, volatility is high enough that you can still make a decent premium. if you do think it is a pubically traded company, you can still buy call options. volatility is not too expensive but still enough value there to take advantage of it. >> would you say that the tech sector has turned the corner? is there any doubt? >> i don't think there is much doubt at all. you know, i talked earlier this week. there is no sign of a double dip at all. he says the worst is behind us and we will only see improvement from here forward. if you look at what they are saying as far as the higher asps. it will come towards the end of

the third quarter. the worst is behind skpus the key leaders and the stars are the ones that investors want to take a second look at. >> thank you so much for joining us. interesting information there. up next on street signs, bankers be ware. the leaders say they will crack down on banker pay. will they make -- will that make these protesters happy? and making deals in the energy sector. you are watching street signs. first in business worldwide.

is the $700 billion bailout a trap for taxpayers from regulating compensation to curving risk, g-20 leaders are supposed to be tackling the issues addressing the world today. we are live in pittsburgh with the latest. >> reporter: there are economic

headlines out of the g-20. china saying we need to keep stimulus in place. but it is really just noise when you compare it to iran. iran is accused of building a covert nuclear facility. iran has long said it deserves the right to produce nuclear material for electricity but the president said this goes well beyond that. >> iran has a right to peaceful nuclear power that meets the energy needs of its people. but the size and configuration of the facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program. >> the breakthrough here as russia and china, they have been simp thet nick the past. the news raises serious concerns. they did mention sanctions but if they come around to the u.s. point of view, that could make sanctions taken much more

seriously. iran's president responding calling this a mistake and saying that the u.s., britain and france will regret it. in the meantime, the police working to control a second day of protests. they have made about 66 arrests, mostly for failure to disperse. overall, some broad policy agreements drowned out by the iran news and we will get to do it all again next year in canada and in november they will meet in korea. >> does this throw the whole agenda out the window. is it that overshadowing? >> there will be big things but they are so broad. trying to rebalance the global economy. establishing frame work. they are not specific and the implementation of them will be a very long process nchl the immediate term, the iran news,

surprising it came out today because it will drown out anything else that would have made the papers. >> maybe they wouldn't get that much either. >> there is that too. >> thank you for joining us. the lion share of new jobs comes in small business. and legendary texas deal maker tom hicks owns the rangers, stars, and a football club and now he is buying an energy company. could someone toss me

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all right. it's a new deal for veteran deal maker but this wasn't isn't an lbo a blank check stock company formed to i-quire other companies is doing just that today. here now in a cnbc exclusive interview are tom hicks and more. thanks to both of you for

joining us. tom you had until the 29th to get a deal done. were you looking at other companies as well? >> we raised our money back two years ago. we looked at well over 200 opportunities over that time period. my good friend ken hurs called from there in dallas with this idea in dallas. we were able to get together very quickly. and he and nick had a great company. their legacy assets. oil reserves. and we did a good value for the shareholders and we are thrilled that it came together as smoothly as it did. >> 85% of the revenue comes from oil. where do you think the price of oil is headed over the next year? >> if i had the crystal ball on that one i would be very, very rich. but i think it will be stable in this range for sometime. >> do you think we will go back to triple digits? will demand come back?

give me color. >> i don't think it will come back to triple digits. a couple years from now that is definitely a possibility. i believe we have reached a point of somewhat equilibrium. >> tom, let me ask you, a lot of people have said that the deal market is dead. that's the very pessimistic outlook. but of course, leverage is a bit out of style. it is difficult to get financing. how is the deal process changing. >> there is very little data available. because our -- had nothing but cash. and now resolute energy will be a very little leveraged. that will allow nick and his team to really grow the company. >> nick, how do you think your company is going change now that you have tom involved? >> i think we will go on as we have gone on in the past. we have a history of managing

and operating a public company that added a lot of value for shareholders. going forward the board of directors will be made up with people, a relationship with them over 20 years and from hicks as well as management and independents. i feel that the company is going move forward. >> tom, i have to pester you with a loft sports questions because that is what everybody is wondering about. what about the texas rangers. you have groups that put in bids. do you have a buyer that you like? will you make a deal? >> we have a process andly participate in the process and lit be interesting other the neck few months. >> you can give us more than that. is there a front runner out there? do you have a time horizon? give me a little something. >> a lot of interest in baseball.

baseball is doing great and we will have something done before next season. >> you had to borrow $15 million from the mlb. how long can you go without making a deal? >> we only borrowed $6 million from them. we are doing good. >> do you think you will use the facility? how long will it last? >> as long as it needs to. >> you helped sell a 25% stake in your liverpool team? >> they are doing great. just signed the largest commercial sponsorship contract. $40 million a year. the largest in history of sports. so we are very bullish about liverpool. >> is it a tough time to be financially involved in sports teams? >> not if you don't have too much debt. we will lower the debt. but sports have done, we have --

everything is tough today. but family entertainment is still compelling. people wanted to go out and have fun and certainly with all the teams i am involved in, that has been the case. >> would you want to make new investments after you move on from these two? >> i am not necessarily moving on but we will see what happens. >> thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> get ready to stop trading. jim krcramer will be here and h thinks there is a deal afoot. you can buy anything. but what about a basketball ticket? one nba franchise is about to find out.

welcome to "street signs. what a day it's been. we all woke up to that piece in the journal from mr. warsh. major effects were flattening of

the yield curve. it didn't really sit with the statement. look at the charge. see for yourself. we also saw a completely dimpbl interpretation. even if you had an impression that mr. warsh was leaning in a direction they could understand, there were statements coming out saying maybe the u.s. would -- the same page, draw your own conclusions. we have talked technicals, breakouts and some of the formations from midweek don't seem to have the zing. now let's go back. >> the always insightful rick.

it is time to stop trading. jim cramer is here. i am not used to it. are you handcuffed to the chair? >> the whole thing is a nightmare. >> let me ask you about your read on all the housing data. >> what has happened is that existing homes as we know, existing homes have come down in price and that's driven down the price of new homes. new homes are therefore a bargain. point out a very small part of the equation. you have to remember that this is a count are where there are have few homes being built. inventory is going down. i urge people to recognize that we are in house price stablization. we are just -- >> what period of time do you think? >> i think housing will return

to up maybe one, two percent on the year. >> nothing wrong with that. >> one of the things that has happened is any time the prices go down 45%, that produced a bottom. that's why california bottoms. expired a couple months ago. i urge people to not get too negative. the housing companies will not make any money because they are giving homes away for the same price as existing foreclosed properties. >> rimm getting hit. >> that is an average selling price. the demand is very good. if anybody bothered to listen to the call, theual numbers are at the high end. but they are cutting price and that is because apple has a superior machine. the iphone is superior. i would love to see -- i would

like to have seen average selling prices that some analysts, one analyst might have had it. every analyst was wrong. nobody was expecting average selling prices to be this big. >> macaffee? >> when ever you have a security company that is working. i like ark site more. >> i like the stock still. i like the stock still. that has got a chart. >> i am not getting youzed to you stilling down. i am still very uncomfortable. i will ask about abbot. >> we could have a deal as

quickly as monday for the seoul based drug division which doesn't do much. abbott said they would be doing an acquisition. i am putting two and two together and expecting a merger. >> do you think we are really back to a merger monday? >> mutual fund monday? i don't particularly like this market right now. i have been saying get cautious. don't give up the ship. expect the three to five decline. and don't get bullish until maybe tuesday, wednesday. >> that has been a puzzling move. >> i have been thinking the 20% move and i recommend, i always say everyone should have gold. if you have bullion, keep knit the bank.

for small time players, there is nothing wrong with gold coins. >> 20% over a long time? i think every time we get through gold -- >> no, don't. the world is changed. there is a lot of reasons why. >> i want to bet you five bucks on the gold. >> over the next couple of years. i think it will give you a 20% return over the next three years. better than a sharp stick in the eye. >> it is significant. hop up and run away. thank you so much. >> you are welcome. >> we will watch your show tonight. jim has a special guest on "mad money" tonight. >> he is the real deal, that guy. john faraci. >> you feel better? >> much better. >> jim cramer. bill gates is the richest man in

the world but was once a small businessman. can gates create the jobs we need. we will be right back. >> and a quick reminder, all the recommendations expressed by jim cramer are solely his.

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all right, take a look at sarah lee. it is trading up 7% on the day. looking like it will buy several divisions. and apparently stockholders of sara lee like that very much. 90% of new jobs come from esmal business owners. very little of that money has actually reached them. is there anything we can do to jump start america's job machine? joining us from washington is bill rich, tax counsel.

we have carl shram. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> bill it sounds like you are pretty disappointed with the help you have gotten so far. >> i don't think the stimulus was stargted in a way that would help small business owners. the real issue that small businesses have had are lost profits and lost sales. those kind of problems. i don't think the stimulus was aimed in the right way. all the government spending and contracts, that really wasn't getting out the small business owners. that relief takes too long to get out of there. you have the lack that we got from the stimulus. what a lot of small business owners are really kind of scaring them. they are heading into possibly economic recovery. they are hearing about policies and they will increase the costs. they don't know where to land. >> people aren't out there going to restaurants and buying

things. >> part of what we are watching here is we are watching what looks to be a recovery without jobs. all job kreuation is less than 30 years old. in less than five years old. that is where the real job generation takes place. there is not going be spending in restaurants or in anything else. i think to some extent bill is right. it has been a recovery focussed on large firms but in fact, it doesn't appreciate the reality of economic facts and that is it's the small firms, the entrepreneurs that create the jobs. >> bill, what would you like to see the government do? >> we proposed a payroll tax holiday. oftentimes they are the biggest taxes a lot of small business owners pay every year and they

are not paid based on receipts but on payroll. so we got to slash the costs for six months or a year, put money back in the pockets of employees they could have spent at a local retailer that could have started to lift the economy. what we need to look at is that we don't start imposing policies like health care reform. we need health reform that drops down the cost. we don't need an energy bill that increases the cost of energy and we don't need higher taxes. business owners are having a hard time finding the capital. that's less profit, less capitol they have to run their businesses. we see you struggling market for loans and banks still struggling to find lending available. we got to make sure that business owners are able to keep their profits and earnings and really get things going again. >> seems reasonable.

carl you went out and did a study how to jump start small businesses. what did you find? >> the good news is 75% of americans that we studied just last week believed that we won't have a full job recovery unless we get new businesses started. this has been a very, very good week. the first in a long time. two things have happened. we started a website called build a stronger america where we will get entrepreneurs to tell their stories in the face of bad economic times. and there is another great development this week. yesterday secretary of commerce announced the creation of a new department, a new office of innovation and entrepreneurship. there will become a focal point in the government that accomodates and concerns itself. >> gentlemen, we got to leave it there. an interesting discussion.

>> small businesses may not be out of the woods but there is one clear winner from the stimulus program. the top agencies responsibility for spending stimulus money. the government has hired more than 25,000 people since december of 2008. that's a 1.3% increase in the federal work force. nearly 4 million people. if you are looking for a job, your government is still hiring if you want to work there. up next, the men and women of goldman saks are doing very well, thank you very much. coming up, we will be right back. (announcer) when you buy a car

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the goldman saks money weeks, that raises interesting questions for goldman. we have david here with a little bit more on that story. >> i don't know. that's all i got. >> that's plenty. we can talk. what do you do if you run goldman saks, a firm called the

greatest profit making machine wall street has ever seen. normally that would be a good thing but given the public's mood, goldman finds itself at the horns of a dilemma. how can it pay bonuses without rosing the american public and more importantly, congress. the ceo has made pronouncements on the need to compensate people appropriately in the industry. after speaking with a number of senior managers during the course of this week, there is a belief that the firm will need to do more than simply talk about pay. one thing making the rounds or theory making the rounds is that goldman will respond over its lavish compensation by trimming the compensation in the second

half of the year. they have accrued compensation at a rate of 46.7% of revenues. that's important. the dollar number has exactly tracked the percentage growth for profits for the firm in a given year. while some may believe it will substantially cut accruals, fastly increasing its profits it seems unlikely to deviate too far from the historical standard. they will not speculate on comp ratios other than to say that fourth quarter ratio is very immature. goldman has long stressed philanthropy and it should given their bulging bank accounts. i am hearing more talk about a potentially very large char ritable gift by the firm. that will come into play. but again that would be from the board's decision and the board

does seem to be this needle, or walking this lyne. >> it's going to be difficult. >> we've got to pay everybody. by the way, a lot of it is -- >> everybody's worked really hard. >> they've got $250,000 cash at most last year. most of it was deferred comp in the form of stock. people want to get paid at goldman sachs. they're expecting to get paid. they're going to have a record year. how do you perhaps not harm the business in the future by paying so much. >> goldman is noth totally alone in this. there are other banks doing well and grappling with the same problem. i don't know if you know the answer to this question, the bonus pool, do you have to pay out the whole thing in a given year? can you hold some of it over? is there a way to defer it? >> under accounting rules you are supposed to set aside what you expect to pay. but the payout ratio and the comp ratio can differ. however, they're normally very close. a lot of it is held back in the form of stock, but you're also going to be paying for stock that was granted in previous

years. it does typically approximate what they say they're going to. you can't deliberately accrue a lot more than you're going to pay, that would be a violation. >> are you hearing people grumbling already? >> they're worried in the sense if the ratio comes in well le lo what they anticipate, and worried at the end of the day perhaps more stock base than a year ago when they deferred. they understand the threat to the franchise if this overall concern about compensation continues with them at the heart of it. >> really in the crosshairs. the. >> charitable giving will be a good thing. we'll see if they actually -- >> thank you very much. as we head into the last hour of trading, we're all on pace for the measly loss in three weeks. here to give us an update, art hogan of jeffreys, and managing director at rosenblat securities. thank you for joining us. art, how are we going to finish

out the week? >> we actually had the pullback and catalyst to move us back. we had three relatively negative pieces of economic data. very difficult numbers to sort of sort out inso much as the july number was much larger. new homes sales, durable goods orders, we're finally getting a week to pull back. >> gordon, how are we going to finish the week and what do you think about next week? >> i think one of the things you need to take away from the week is the rimm disappointed. we had a pretty significant downside move. there's a lot of pressure on these companies to perform and their earnings at least reach what the expectations are, should they fail to do so i think we'll continue so see pullback down here. the question is what kind of wild cards will we see, and maybe now we're having to start to consider geopolitical package, which has been in the back burner for a while and

maybe that's ratcheting up. there are a lot of things out there to pay attention to. we may see more pressure toward the downside going into next week. >> we appreciate your insight. have a great weekend. coming up, the boston celtics are looking for new option to sell tickets. we'll explain.

as it exists today, you can either buy tickets to sporting events from a team or buy them on the secondary market. but the options market is now coming to sports. darren is joined by a special guest on that.

>> thanks, melissa. the options market has come to sport. teams deals with the company include the san jose sharks, bills, ravens and as of today the boston celtics. mark, let's get to business. tell us how this all works. >> first of all, thanks for having me on, darren. we're excited to announce our partnership with the boston celtics, one of the most iconic teams in all of sports. it allows fans to purchase options that are linked to actual tickets, given the fans the right but not the obligation to purchase the ticket at face value in a pre-determined date in the future. should their plans change, they could simply sell their option to someone else. >> or let the option expire, right? >> exactly, darren. >> how much cheaper is doing it this way than through a broker or stub hub? >> we use the secondary market to establish our pricing. but typically if you consider the option price, plus the face value of the ticket, we're about 30% less than the secondary

market. >> let me get this right. someone's going to pay the face value of the ticket immediately and then they'll pay a fee on top of that for the rights to this, you know, 50 bucks, $100, depending on the demand. >> they pay the option price up front. there's a window whether or not they want to purchase the ticket. it's typically two to one week off before the game. at that time they make their decision and purchase the ticket. it's a way to put a little money down to perhaps three, six or nine months down the road. >> why do the boss tick celtics want to do this? >> they want to give their fans flexibility and convenience. a brand-new way to buy tickets. it's unprecedented in terms of giving people options. that's why they're embracing the model. >> as an economy play, people who are scared to buy tickets, is that kind of one of your plays here, in that you might think you want tickets, but then you really don't when it comes time for the game? >> absolutely. you know how busy people are these days. their plans change, maybe they

lose their job. maybe they're uncertainty about the future, kind of the reserve now, deserve later notion makes a lot of sense to people. >> you're relatively new to the marketplace. what does having the sem ticks mean? >> an incredible opportunity for us. the most prestigious team in basketball. they've been great through this whole process. we actually started selling options on tuesday for the celtics. hopefully we'll get great results. >> pretty volatile of ticketing right now. what's your prediction? >> a lot of talk going on about the secondary market, the ticket master merger. the beauty of our model is we're not the secondary player, we're in the pre-primary market as we call it. we actually have the option to sell options sometimes years in advance of an event taking place. we're really in a different niche. >> mark, thanks so much for joining us. and good luck. >> thanks for having me. >> melissa, back to you. >> darren, rovell, thank you so

much. we'll look at the markets real quick. the dow has turned positive. you can see we had a big dip in the middle of the day. we are not quite back to the high of the session so far. but we're obviously well off the lows and in positive territory for the day. nasdaq, down almost a half a percentage point, a little more than 9 points. rimm has been a big weight on the markets. the s&p is trading down by a little more than .10%. about 1 1/2 points. thanks for watching "street signs." i'm melissa francis in for erin burnett today. "closing bell" is coming up next. we have michelle here. the fda has approved johnson & johnson so rye a sis drug given four times a year. twitter confirms it's gotten a significant round of funding from five investors, including t. rowe price and insight venture partners. some reports put it at $100

million. the centers for disease control and prevention said the virus is now spreading widely. that's cnbc.com news now. you're looking at a shot of the floor of the new york stock exchange. after spending most of the day in negative territory, stocks are now fighting back into even territory. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm bob pisani. hi, michelle. >> bob, good to see you. mixed day on wall street. let's take a look at how the major indices shaping up. making a move into positive territory here. momentarily, right now, lower by 3/4 of a point. 9706. holding on to the 9700 level. the nasdaq in negative territory as well. below the 3,000 level. dropping below by 9 1/2 points, 2,097. excuse me, the 2,100 level.

the s&p 500 lower by two points. 1,048 where it stands right now. also trying to come off the lows of the session. bob, a lot of moves responsible that kevin walsh was saying today. >> i tend to agree with steve liesman saying he voted for a statement, or the op-ed that he put out today and speech that he gave, michelle. the good news is we're even today. the bad news is we've had two tas of sort of downside economic news in terms of existing home sales, new home sales. and pressure on the economically sensitive stocks, two days of bad news, or disapointing news on the homes front, home sales numbers has really put pressure on housing stocks. we're seeing a bit of a downturn here. this is the one sector i can clearly see some selling. kb home should have earnings report out today. very cautious comments from the ceo.