and th a uch-needed boos vexcvewe'll detai on a rv cingup. >>michel cabruso re 'sorien, it' lori out ichresoda compieto bme forising obesity ratesp oristmerica are aren't gett en exercise. power lunch takes on the red-hot issue of the soda tax. here's what else is on the menu. >> everybody's focused on health care and the white house got good news from the congressional budget office yesterday. the democrats know as soon as health care is done, they've got to focus jobs and they're already working on it. we'll talk about that in a few minutes. i'm diana olick in washington. the government's loan modification program beat its own deadline, but can it stay ahead of new blink witnessies for long and the first-time home buyer tax credit. i'm julia boorstin, paramount was hoping to have box office gold as an unprecedented

release strategy for an indy horror film. i'll tell you how they're using the power to leverage crowds and minimize the risk on the marketing and distribution investment. let's get to the market action today. stocks are higher this hour on track for the best weekly gains since late july. abercrombie & fitch among the s&p 500's latest winners. chevron among the dow leaders and bob pisani kicks it off from the new york stock exchange. >> alcoa, big winner. initial jobless claim, better than expected. trifecta, three different parts of the markets, three different factors moving the market. take a look at the s&p 500, why am i showing you this? we may hit a new high for the year. 10.71, that was the old high in the middle of september. we're off of that right now, but folks, we're essentially knocking on the door of new highs here. sean same with the dow jones industrial average. bill was mentioning new highs. new highs are at the highest levels of the new york stock exchange in two years.

we got close to 250 new highs including some of the big retail names, kohl's, target, tiffany, nordstrom. tjx was at a new high. jc penney also hit a new high. a lot of them in the retail space and the same with energy as we've seen the oils moving to the upside and the energy names have been hitting new highs including apache and halliburton and anadarko as well. i noted a couple of days ago, the big correction in the home building area. many of them down 15% in the last week and a half. today, all of that's turned around. nice move here. look at this. 6%, 7%, 8%, no big specific news, but just getting a better look. >> how are we doing? >> pretty good. i want to stay on the theme of new highs off the bat today for four big cap and wildly-held caps. e may, and amazon all at new 52-week highs. i mentioned apple and gooing vel

been doing this every day when the nasdaq has been higher. amazon is getting a nice lift from better than expected retail sales numbers. ebay is up about 2 3/4%. adobe got upgraded today and the stock is to the races. comp store sales were down, but still better than expected. omeros is an ipo we're watching today. shares went out at ten bucks and so far not so good. shares down now about 10.5%, yet another ipo and there have been so many. yesterday here at the nasdaq we did have the biggest ipo in the u.s. year to date. let's go to sharon at the nymex. >> we also know the dollar is at its weakest levels of the day and it continues to play out with commodities higher right now and oil prices up by about $2. there's a lot of technical trading in the futures market. keep your eye on 7180, armstrong, and that's a key resistance level to watch in the

near-term after that 72.5. we're looking at oil prices that have been in this range now for ten weeks as of today between 65 and $57 a barrel, but are we starting to go toward the upper end of the range. we're definitely going into the upper end of the range for gold prices. gold hitting another record for the third day in a row, very close to 1060, $1.060 an ounce. the rally continues. rick santelli, to you in chicago. >> thank you, sharon. >> dollars are making me so much more productive. all i have to do to see what gold is doing is do it like this, upside down and look at the intraday of the dollar index. it's under pressure. how much pressure? expand it out to a two-year chart. lowest dollar trade since 8/8/08. if you look at one of the components of the dollar index and some say an undervalued component in that basket, it would be the yen. look at the dollar yen and look the at it for one year because

this their is the lowest dollar level against that currency since department december and a new fresh low for '0. the last chart, 30-year bonds, year to date they traded 3.59 and 3.98 is the lowest yield since april, but we have 12 billion of that will be issued today and i have a surprising feeling that there will be a lot of buyers left to wait and see. dennis, back to you. >> thanks very much, rick. retail surprise. that's the biggest year over year gain since august of '08. how is it helping the bottom line? cnbc's bertha coombs joins us with more. bertha? >> that's helping the bottom loin. getting the price right is also a big deal. the first year over year gains for retail, thanks in part to a later labor day pushing back shopping a week. the price is right is definitely the right game to be playing. the discounters and moderately priced retailers were the big winners and still struggling those that were trying to keep

their prices high. take a look at saks fifth avenue, despite some discounting that they did last summer and the 19% of stores that actually missed expectations, but cheap doesn't always win. stein mart couldn't get it right either and they missed estimates by more than a point. aeropostale, kohl's and american eagle posted the biggest upside surprises beaten by 6%, 5% and 4% respectively. american eagle the only retailer not posting negative comps. aeropostal boosted guidance as did tjx, but these stocks aren't getting as big a boost. take a look at these charts. they're already at full-year high with 80% of retailers beating estimates in september. one retail industry economist said hey, let the retail recovery begin, but remember, they were facing fairly easy comps. things fell off a cliff last year though they might be even better because there's one big player missing from the equation here.

walmart stopped offering guidance last spring. so if walmart were reporting and were reporting better comps the picture might be brighter today. it might be. we'll talk about that in just a short while. stay tuned because we will go shopping for some retail winners, not names that were ont all of bertha's list. some interesting picks coming up with our task force on that in just a few minutes. let's get to the markets in the meantime, the 30-year bond auction and we have the results next hour and we have earnings season under way in earnest and a lot for investors to keep an eye on. more on what's driving the marks and let's gather the power lunch market insider. larry rosenthal and kevin cook is peak 6 investments. good to see you guys. >> i keep seeing the calendar, it still says october and the market's going higher here, larry. what's going on? >> yes, sir. it's wonderful. i think it's anticipation of quarter earnings and i think it

will be the government handing it back to the private sector. >> what happened to the doom and gloom after last friday's jobs number that everyone said was a game changer, though? >> i think the jobs number -- i think we'll continue to see unemployment rise. i anticipate us seeing job creation happening some time next summer. so it will ebb and flow along and we're kicking to down to a better and stronger economy right now. >> kevin, we're also getting interesting signals from the bond market and we're getting strong demand in general from the options yet you have commodity prices like gold that are hitting new nominal highs. interpret it all for us. >> well, the stock market and the dollar are correlated and that's been the trade all year. it's been the trade for ten years if you look at the correlation. so last week it wasn't the jobs number that made the stock market sell off dramatically. we weral fled a sell-off and 1015 was a key level. so we found support there and that meant you had to buy commodities and you had to buy currencies against the dollar.

so that's the trade we're in. i'm calling the stock market trade the v recovery spread where fund managers, if you're managing 10 million or 10 billion, you have to be buying stocks here. >> if the dollar -- >> looking ahead to earnings. >> is the dollar close to a bottom though? that's what everyone is saying and does that then reverse the trade? >> not yet. you will see aussie probably get to 95 cents some time in the next six months. the euro probably won't get much above $1.50. even if gold goes higher. the euro has been the weak follower here. the aussie has been the strong leader and the british pound is certainly in a pickle. i don't see it getting back above 165. >> kevin, how closely is the -- how closely are you watching the auction today at 1:00 and how worried are you about the ability for the u.s. government to borrow money over a 30-ier period. >> i don't think you will see a yield above 4%. it's not a matter of -- the

world isn't engineering an orderly decline of the dollar and the federal government is not going to default on its debt. it's all about supply and demand. yes, there's a lot of supply out there in terms of dollars, but there's also a lot of demand if you can buy a treasury security with the backing of the u.s. government and get a 4% yield. >> all right. good to see you both. >> thanks for having us today. we love these surveys and so do you. this one's from maris. they asked americans what's the most annoying word or phrase in the english language in your view? some of the finalists that made the cut include whatever, anyway, you know, it is what it is -- >> i hate that. >> and at the end of day. i hate that one. >> you hate so few thins, sue. >> this was my favorite the last time around we were doing business phrases and it's still on my list. >> going forward is still on my

list. >> that's right. >> we spoke to viewers who sent in their favorites or least favorite, as the case may be. sean, says the most annoying word phrase i have been hearing a lot is "and what not." i was speaking with someone recently and they must have used the phrase 20 times in a matter of 10 minutes. >> he's running with a rather sophisticated group. >> i don't even know what that means and what not. >> and this is -- this makes me -- >> the prefix. >> irregardless means regardless. >> is it actually a word? >> yes, it is. >> it's the same as regardless. >> irregardless, we will move on and go forward. >> what i'm amazed is no one has said like, like, we say like too much. it's just, like, like. >> yes, it is. we'll be weighing in with more of our and we expect more from you. >> it's only 12:12 eastern time. >> over the next couple of hours. also coming up, it is all about jobs as president obama

getting ready to jolt the jobs market? our john harwood said they would on monday in "the new york times." we'll get to him in just a moment. >> we go shopping for specialties in the big box retailers in the market. >> plus the congressional budget office says the health care bill will be $830 billion, and it will reducedeficit. is the price right for healthcare reform. >> get ready for the fast money halftime report coming up in half an hour. "power lunch" is back in two minutes. ♪ yes, you're lovely... ♪ 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.

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it's an upside die in the dow jones industrial average. google, goldman sachs, freeport-mcmorran, diamond offshore and apple are all on the list. >> president obama is meeting with top business leaders today. job creation among the major topic was discussion. cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood joins us from the white house to tell us who's at the meeting. john? >> reporter: michelle, sometimes we get so distracted by the health care debate that's dominated washington this fall that we forget that jobs are issue number one for democrats and the president especially wants that health care debate over. so we have executives like jeff bezos is in talking to the president so is irene rosenfeld of kraft. you have the administration focused on this job issue and

yesterday house speaker nancy pelosi and senator harry reed were there and they're sifting ideas already. >> we have continued to have conversations with members about initiatives that work for them and their districts to create job, but we'll also be hearing from economists from trite left on the spectrum in the days ahead as to what really works the fast toast create jobs. >> we would hope that we could create jobs, but i'm not prepared to talk to you about a timeline. >> some in the administration have talked about a new jobs package for the state of union next year, but it might come earlier, especially, michelle, if unemployment tips over 10% sometimes this fall, increasing the pressure on democrats to do something about it. >> what do we know about the political affiliations of any of these arc tendees. do you think any will lobby for tax cuts for corporations or making the united states more

competitive when it comes to the tax cuts? >> i'm sure there are. there's an ongoing review process, tax reform under way that paul volker is involved with that will report back in december and certainly business leaders are trying to influence that process as well as the day-to-day workings of congress and the administration. >> thank you, john. >> you got it. >> up next, we have the chain store numbers. we've got them in and the picture's much better now than people expected. where am i? there i am. how do you get the money in retail? i think you'll buy stocks and we'll have the winners. >> some names you're probably familiar with, target, american eagle, jc penney and tjx turned negative. it is down 7 cents. another new nominal high for gold and the dollar takes i fall.

what we're focusing on retail sales today. look at these retailers hitting new 52-week highs today. kohl's, coach, limited brands, office depot, whole foods. a whole spectrum of retailers that have been doing well in the last several weeks here.

>> that's in part because we have chain stores reporting better-than-expected numbers for september. is it a sign of hope for the beaten down sector? joining us now we have the retail winners from brian tunic, the analyst at j.p. morgan and david strasser with hard lines, broad lines and analysts at gianni montgomery scott. so, gentlemen, what do you think about the latest retail surprise, brian? is there life in this consumer after all? >> basically going into the month we thought the labor day and back-to-school shifts would be two to four points and it turned out to be four to six points and i think that was really the big surprise. it was the first month in back to school where we saw some pricing inflation where you saw plaids were very strong and full price. you saw outer wear. we saw pricing inflation in just a couple of can the gories. what are the chances that all of the experts out there have underestimated the survival of the consumer?

>> think a lot of this was easier compares. i'm still struggling because i'm worried about consumer credit. consumer credit continues to contract, but as long as we have easy compares and that's been a big part of the opportunity here into the fourth quarter, but as far as the trends are getting a lot better. it hasn't gotten a lot better and it's been up against a much easier comparison. you're saying value is still the focus which is going to make it tough for the retailers going into the holiday season. correct? you're still expecting a tough holiday season? i think it will look okay, but i think a lot of that's priced in. i just think as long as the consumer doesn't have credit, that's the thing we've been focusing on all year has been keeping him back even if confidence continues to get better. it's how much resource the consumer has. >> it seems like specialty retailers throughout the entire slump have in many cases done better than the big, big box guys, am i wrong about that? if i'm right about it how is

that? >> our average retail stocks are up 100% year to date and basically what's happening here is investors are happening for the beta trade and they're looking to 2010. where can operating margins get the most bang for your buck and it will be in all of the soft line retailers that have a lot of leverage to the business models than the large cap names like the walmart, the jc penneys or the kohl's and you will see it from the urban outfitters and the chico's and talbots. >> the stocks you like, right? >> ross stores, tjx, alta and wet seal. how about you? >> david like petsmart, target and walmart. walmart isn't giving guidance, so what is it that you're seeing in that particular stock that makes you bullish on it with the lack of guidance. walmart's been a big underperformer and they've been hit by food inflation among other things and this is the worst of it for the food deflation and things are looking better there, and i think

everybody better keep an eye on wal-mart baz they have the ability to get aggressive on price into the holiday. >> haven't they already done that? >> there's a war between target and walmart. they've both cut toy prices by 50%. that's a start? >> yeah, you know, every year around this time there's always some big, one of them fires a big shot and walmart makes big noise about some cut. it's usually within a plan and it's not anything that much more dramatic. what they did so far doesn't bother me. i will be looking further ahead to be worried. a lot of that is pr and they're trying to drive the consume tore get excited about price. >> all right, gentlemen. thank you. appreciate it. >> did you see the headlines this morning? the senate health care bill will supposedly actually reduce the deficit. >> it didn't say supposedly. >> she's a doubting -- >> is it finally the right plan at the right price? sparks will fly in the power grid. >> at 12:45, get red for the

sparks in the halftime report, melissa. >> hi, guys, we're also watching washington, but in our special fast money sort of way, moving two sectors in particular, housing as well as the insurers. we'll give you the stock and the halftime. but first more "power lunch" right after this. bull market or bear, traders are always hungry for ideas. they find them at td ameritrade. trading's all about strategy. and strategy... is all about information. so i start my trading day... with td ameritrade's morning perspective. that's interesting... or, look at this... i can mine their weekly webcast for ideas. this is what i need. of course, ideas are just the start. so now i can drill down. heat mapping... heat mapping shows me where the money's moving. 2,500 stocks... one quick glance. cold... cold. hot! right there. look at this-- pattern matcher... pattern matcher spots technical patterns, automatically. wow, look at that. look at that head and shoulders right there.

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welcome back. we have a word now from senator chris dodd and the senate banking committee. remember this? ben bernanke has been re-a pointed, renominated to chair the federal reserve. that was a couple of months ago. his new term would begin in january and senator dodd says he does not see any problem or any way blocking the reconfirmation of ben bernanke to continue as fed chairman. michelle? >> bill, democrats are breathing a sigh of relief this morning because the congressional budget office says the new finance bill will not just be deficit neutral. it will actually reduce the deficit by $81 billion.

take a look at the headlines today. i read snarkiness in this one, but maybe i'm crazy. new math boosts health plan. next one, health care plan wouldn't raise deficit, report says, that's from "the washington post," do the democrats have the right price for a health kay reform? democratic strategist and former arz arz congressman david hay worth. you both have 20 seconds to make your case. julie, let's start with you. >> yes, in fact, this bill that was just introduced by the senate finance committee would not just increase health care and expand it to 94% of all americans. it would lower the deficit by $81 billion and i now hope that they'll join from the democrats as their concerns are exploding a budget deficit has been addressed and vote for legislation because it is important. >> j.d. hay worth. is it not the right price? >> a more accurate headline would be this. a senate democrats get there by cutting benefits and raising taxes. now, look, we've all heard that

mono set mother's milk of politics. now some democrat politicians want to take mother's milk included in this tax package, a tax on electric breast pumps for nursing mothers. it is the wrong idea and fraught with tax increes and democrats in the house oppose it. >> julie, i don't see anything that bends the cost curve which was been of the missions in health care reform. deficit neutral is very different. >> it lowers the deficit, michelle and it does bend the cost curve, which is something that peteror zag. >> how does it cost medicare? >> excuse me? >> it comes from wasting fraud and medicare which contributed a tremendous amount to medicare expenses and if this were not deficit neutral the congressional budget office wouldn't save us $84 billion. >> j.d. hayworth $404 billion in douts medicare and other government insurance. >> what they're going to do is cut benefits and they're going to raise taxes on insurance

plans. take a look. that's why 157 house democrats have come out against this idea of taxing insurance plans because a whole lot of union members have good health care insurance. so this is not settling anything. you are getting into a situation with higher taxes and less in terms of benefits. >> congressman, i understand you're running against john mccain. so i understand you have a lot of stuff to talk about that may be explosive, but the reality is you can't point anywhere that this in any way will cut any kind of benefits for the elderly. >> come o julie, it will cut benefits. >> 404 billion in cuts to medicare and other government insurance programs. you're saying that's all fraud? >> i'm saying that there's nothing in this legislation that anybody including the congressmen can point to that says that benefits will be cut for seniors. that's not accurate and that's the same scare mongering we saw with death panels and other

complete hyperbole that republicans love to throw around. >> since 2003, medicare has supposedly been told they've got to cut by 21%, but every single year congress says, you know what? don't worry about it. you don't have to cut. how do we than these cuts are actually going to happen? >> well, the whole premise of what they're trying to do by, quote, expanding health care coverage means they're going to be cut somewhere and the inescapable fact is in the $404 million cut, it is inevitable just as tax increases up and down the line are inevitable and julie, i'm honored that you're talking about a possible senate campaign. might you be looking for a new political consultant job? >> i wish you all of the luck in the world and i'm not sure i'll be getting involved in your campaign. i will, however, say that if you put away the scare mongering and you put away the campaign rhetoric, you and i both know that seniors' benefits will not be extended. it is the lie of a political

perspective. neither party or at least the democratic party will not touch it and what they will touch, what they will touch and you know is a waste in fraud and medicare. >> nice try, julie. benefits cut higher taxes. >> straight ahead. american express wants to know are affluent americans ready to spend and it's critical to the economy and it's the key to their business? we'll have the exclusive results of a brand new amex survey. >> another big treasury auction. 12 billion with the 30-year bond and results and market reaction at the top of the hour. "power lunch" back in a minute. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

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we're asking your favorite -- the words and phrases that most annoy you. there's a new poll out that listed five words and phrases that just drive people crazing including whatever, anyway, you know, it is what it is, at end of the day. those were the top five and we'll tell you which one finished number one later in the program, but what are yours? how about from allen? he says where are you at? we all remember what the sound of fingernails scraped along the chalkboard is. >> where are you? >> i hate this, my bad. >> my bad. elizabeth says get rid of it. don't say it anymore. my bad.

>> nobody says it. >> how about, dude! >> i say that all of the time! >> all of the time! >> i like dude. okay, well. >> this is one that you liked michelle. incentivize. what's wrong with encourage? since when do we turn nouns into ve verbs? all of the time. >> efforting that. powerlunch@cnbc.com. for the record i like incentivize. i don't know. >> let's see if consumers will be incentivized this holiday season. that's right. incentivize. the brand new just-released survey of of a fluence america shows an optimism in the america. joining us now in an exclusive interview, dr. jdimtai lor, vice chairman of the harrison group that did the survey for american express publishing. welcome, sir. >> thank you very much. glad to be back. i was looking at some of the data, if they made up to

$100,000 to $249,000, they'll spend the same, but above $250,000 they'll spend 21% less which i find interesting and the gifts are going to be a little bit more personal in nature, correct? >> yeah. we're looking at a christmas that's really framed by the search for quality and by the heart, and a little less framed by large, and the size of the pile. so we're looking at a very -- a kind of a very heart-warming christmas. >> the one question that got me was feeling guilty about buying luxury gifts. 54% said they would feel guilty back in the first quarter of this year when we were hitting the lows in march. now it's down to 42% who say they would feel guilty about buying luxury gifts. >> yeah. we found that perhaps it's the spirit of the times that people feel that they've earned what they've got and it is a little less concerned that others will judge them by what they've done.

>> but they're still budgeting. that's very important, is it not? >> we've got an economy now that's become resourceful at the household level and we like to say it's gone to i needs based. making decisions about their life. >> can you extrapolate from that that the impulse buys that contributory used to contribute heavily to holiday spending are going to be, if not eliminated, then certainly cut back? >> only about 18% of consumers are acknowledging doing much impulse buying in this economy. >> almost everybody is thinking very carefully about what to do with their dollars and pennies. >> here's what they're going to buy. there's no clear cut category in this case. 44% say apparel. 41% dining out. 40% of home electronics, 36% children's clothing and 31% accessories. it's across the board here. >> yeah, we think on the fashion side that people -- across the

category, people are trying to figure out what kind of gift expresses your feeling about the person. what's interesting is most people are for themselves asking for experience-based gifts from travel to gift cards. >> finally, the special gift plans for the holiday season, 32% say a special trip. 30%, special gift for the spouse. 28% special gift for the kids and i'm surprised it's that low. >> we were, too. we thought that the spouses of america, since they became sort of team finance years in the household would get a bonus and we were surprised it was that low. >> thank you, pleasure to see you again, sir. >> thank you. we'll see you next time. >> dell is getting into the phone business. dell is buying perot systems. is the computermaker on a new smart track or are they off track? plus coke's ceo is blasting the idea of a soda tax. he said americans need more

exercise not more taxes. >> you should go to "the wall street journal" and read his op ed piece. i want to be incentivized to exercise. >> he would agree with you in that particular case. good news on retail helping the credit card companies. will that rally continue? answers on "the fast money" halftime report. we have the 12 billion of 30-year bonds being auctioned off and we'll have the results of that at the top of the hour as well. see you then.

welcome to "the fast money halftime report." earnings from alcoa and the latest round of retail figures giving the mark a boost. we want to get to what's moving right now and right now the markets are at session highs this as surprise, surprise, the dollar is falling. let's get to the word right now. the fast money crew is the negotiator, guy adami manning the starship enterprise. j.j. can han and katie stockton of mkm partners. captain geek, we'll start out with you. >> good girl, mel. you look ridiculous. anyway, what do you make of

the -- not you yourself, but your backdrop. what do you make in the move in the market, but yet again, we have all these boosts to the markets and yet it is a dollar weakness that's giving us that additional leg higher. >> it's momentum. we used to say if you want to get hit by a truck go stan in the middle of a highway. you could be bearish for the right reasons, it doesn't matter. the momentum is higher, the money's chasing and the market will continue to go higher until someone wakes up and realizes the data that's out, quite frankly isn't as low as it seems and the path of least resistance is higher and it will go that way. >> dr. j., can you give us color on how the traders are betting on direction of the dollar or for that matter the ancillary plays and the commodity names? >> certainly in the commodity names, melissa, they've been buying them up like crazy. you see all of the gold stocks and they've been hot and getting hotter. there's basically no letup at all in the out of the money call buying in those commodity names. i think that continues for the

same reason guy said, and it's really just a frenzy in those areas right now. >> let's hone in on one area of the commodity space ask that is oil and that, in fact, is moving higher as well on the back of this intraday dollar weakness. j.j. can han, tell us about the activity that you are seeing when it comes to crude specifically and how people are positioning themselves whether they be in the oil services name or in the integrated. >> it's interesting. oil itself just seems to, every time we get below 70, it immediately rallies back up and it will be interesting to see the 73, 74 area here and if we can continue higher, to what john is saying right there, there seems to be such strength in commodity, and there doesn't seem to be as the dollar weak weakens, whatever it is. you don't want to stand in front of this train. we continue to go higher, gold, oil, whatever the commodity is, they just seem to be on the right path stp. >> trading higher today after hitting another record high earlier today and katie, you've been looking at the gold chart.

tell us what area you see resistance at? >> resistance on the chart right now is actually about 1080, that's based on the short-term target that occurred earlier this week. >> so, guy, tell me, the minors. >> so, mel. >> when will we see it? >> look, you know my view on gold. i've been wrong, but i won't get in because i've seen the movie to a certain extent. i'm pretty sure i know how it ends. it doesn't matter.minors work because people is chasing. frankly, it's freeport-mcmorran. we made a big deal of gold going to 150. look at freeport, a name we've been on, frankly, forever and that stock looks like it's broken out above 75 and that's the big play out of all of them, frankly. >> going back to you, katie. they're thinking 1080 in the short term and what in the technician's mind is short term. >> short term, that could occur

before october 23rd based on the measured move price target from this week's breakout, and i think the breakout's in the gold stocks are also very real. earlier in september we saw the price of gold break out from the long-term triangle formation and that's the theme we've been on internally for some time now and that yielded a long-term target of about 1185. so i think that this move continues. >> let's talk about another sector out there that is also in fuego, now at session highs. some indications that house speaker nancy pelosi that it will extend the home builder credit. keep in mind, too, the homebuilders took a hit after they didn't look like this thing would be extended. dr. j. shlts playing washington is a dafrmgious game, but at this point they're showing their hands. >> as john candy did in "stripes" whenever you have someone showing you their hand you have to bet heavily on that side and right now that play is the same as the obama care play was in the third quarter.

it will be a lot of volatility about does this get extended the first time home buyer sunset, november 30th or does it and not as that volatility plays out, there's going to be just fabulous opportunities to scalp these stocks the same way there was with united health and mckesson. in the third quarter we'll get that out of toll brothers and all the rest in this quarter. >> let's hone in on the other part of the trade you had mentioned that. is the insurers. that's another sector that's moving based on those same pelosi comments. earlier in the press conference she addressed windfall profit tax. the fact insurers as well as over players in the industry have more to bring to the table in order to reduce costs on health care for all. we're seeing that group all trading lower, practically at session lows. j.j. for some time we have seen the volatility low. the options were the smarter way to go. is that still the case? >> absolutely it is, even though

volatility has risen. the insurers are proverbial rented mule. everybody is kicking them and abusing tem right now. the better way to play them i would think would be to buy puts or sell upside call spreads. giving yourself a chance to be wrong and still make some money on them. and we're starting to see some of that activity as people speculate on the puts. volatilities are higher. take advantage of the volatility. allow yourself a little room for error. >> anything you like in this space? >> when the rhetoric that it's worse, which apparently is now, those are the names you want to jump in. when the rhetoric tails off, that's when you want to get out. frank frankly, that's worked on the way in, on the way out, probably going to work again. when it looks the worst is when you close your eyes and say i'm jumping in now. that trade works. unh frankly is cheap.

>> senate finance committee voting on its bill on tuesday. we should know. next retailers trading higher following better than expected same-store sale figures. a new 52-week high earlier today. interesting when you think about what has happened in the past year. where we were in terms of unemployment 52 weeks ago versus where we are today and where these things are trading. katy, what do you see in the spots for rth. >> i use the xrts as my benchmark. they're coming up into a zone of resistance in the mid-30s. i think that's a selling opportunity over the short term. i expect a phase of short-term underperformance in retail. >> dr. j, give me a name that you want to buy or want to short in the retail space. >> i still like target. i'm long it. i'm already long walmart, but i think target for the bang for the buck play is the best right here. >> okay. let's move on to talk about net app.

it's leading the nasdaq after an analyst meeting after which it raised its guidance for second and third quarter. for more on this we head to pit boss, pete najarian, on the fast line. petey, this name has had active calls in the past. was there any indication that perhaps this was suspected in the marketplace already? >> well, you know, all of this entire space, we've been talking about this for a very long time, the data storage space, this started back in march when everything was going to the downside. once we started to come out of that and it wasn't just stabilization, it was growth, this is the area where a lot of people pointed towards growth. it wasn't that long ago that net app was trying to bid for data domain. you talk about the barron's article this weekend, the ceo talking about everything has a price. that's probably why the price right now is up to 24 times. you take a look at that sector, you see sea gate trading about ten times next year, western digital, about the same.

very attractive names. this analyst date definitely a huge catalyst. september 21st it was added to the conviction buy list at goldman sachs. there has been momentum for a long time. target was 32. they're almost there today at $28 a share. incredible run in the entire sector. >> see you tonight on the jaria. we hit the streets to bring you really evidence why the economy is doing better than you think. up next, the coca-cola ceo out with an op-ed saying it's not to blame for america's obesity problem. is he right? "fast money" halftime report continues right after this. throw out the dreary daily data. the monster hits the street for his economic research. and charlie gasparino has been a busy man, and he's bringing the heat yet again. a wall street report you don't want to miss. plus, it's been an unstoppable force but could new competitors derail this tech

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welcome back to the "fast money" halftime report. time now to call the close. with the market practically at session highs do you buy in this rally? dr. j, what do you say? >> i don't think you fade it. like guy said at the top, the momentum is behind you, so i stay with it into the close. >> j.j. kinahan. >> i have to drae with tagree w doct doctor. >> i'm a seller into the bell today. only 13% of s&p 500 was oversold. i think that number geds to get above 50% before we get a really meaningful buying opportunity. >> ride the wave, mel, and get out of the way. >> ride the wave. ever since you broke up with debbie downer, haven't been the

same. >> that hurts. painful. kirk out, man, i'm gone. >> that does it for us at the halftime report. on tonight's "fast money" with go off the record for bank of america's ceo search. we have a lot ahead. i see you got the purple memo. >> yeah. >> we're together on that. hollywood's new movie model. a "new york times" david pogue garmin's new cell phone, gps, you name it, we've got it. and then your picks for the most annoying words. you've been sending them to us. we'll give you a bunch of the examples when we come back. >> this is cnbc.com news now. energy and commodity stocks are among the day's best performers on wall street as oil prices rise and gold suncrges ta

new high. and chairman dodd doesn't see any road blks to ben bernanke's confirmation. and nvidia halting development of chip sets for intel's newest micropros scesse microprocessers. we are awash in annoying words and phrases. >> yes, we are. >> boy, are you annoyed. so are we with some of those. we'll get to some of those coming up. welcome back to the second hour of "power lunch." i'm bill griffeth. stocks have been in rally mode. almost 70 s in the s&p 500 are at new 52-week highs. ibm, cisco, disney are among them. we're almost moments away from a potentially -- it says we're almost moments away. we are actually are moments away from a potentially market moving 30-year treasury auction. we'll have those results in just a moment. >> i'm sue her hara. is the diving dollar a threat to the american way of life? one well-regarded economist

seems to think so. we'll take a look at what it means for investors and for business. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. dell trying to expand beyond its core business recently made a deal to buy pirot systems. is dell on the smart track or getting off track? >> i'm dennis kneale. coca-cola's ceo out with an extraordinary op-ed saying don't blame us for rising obesity rates. so are soda companies to blame or lazy americans who just aren't getting out there and working out? "power lunch" takes a bite at this hot button issue. >> we have had pretty good auctions this week. the three-year got a b-plus from rick and the ten-year got an "a." >> which is rare. >> even as prices had been rising into these auctions making them more expensive, the fear was the demand might go down because of the cost of these auctions for people bidding on them. that didn't happen yesterday. >> this is also a lower amount of paper being auctioned off. >> $12 billion.

relatively small. >> i know. >> we've had $30 billion, $39 billion. >> part of a huge pie that's coming. >> we'll see whether or not they can get it off -- >> i think it's extraordinary knowing all the supply is coming, knowing that you have all these other companies out there issuing debt as well. >> let's see at -- almost 4% even, 27.5% came at the high of the trading session. >> bid to cover 2.37. >> what kind of grade does that get, mr. santelli? >> i think we have to give this one a hook. definitely a "c." you know, the more i look at it, 237 bid to cover, don't like that one very much. you have to go back a ways to see a consistent amount of bid to covers that are under 2.4 area. but the indirect bidders weren't strong. it was under 35%. and the yield just a tenth away from 401. the wi was trading around the let's say 397 area. three basis points, higher

yield, lower price. they're lucky i'm giving it a hook. i'm feeling generous. >> this may have been a case where it got a little too expensive forbidders the ebidde. >> well, yes. the wi, they were buying everything up. yields were moving down making the comps even tougher because when you decided how address sif you wanted to be with your bid just five or ten or 15 minutes saw the market's yields moving down. >> traditionally though, isn't the 30-year a tougher sell? obviously these are extraordinary times. it traditionally has been a little harder to sell. >> would i own a 30-year bond at these prices? not on your life. >> talk about the decision people have to make right now. they have to figure out what the inflation rate is going to be over the next 30 years. and the state of the u.s. economy. very, very difficult, especially when all of this paper is getting printed. >> exactly. >> which leads us to the dollar

and one of the dynamics in this is the fact that the dollar, as you have been highlighting for us so well, rick, the dollar has continued to fall on almost a daily basis. a 14-month low against a basket of the major foreign currencies. some people say it's bottomed. other people say it has not. a prominent economist penned an op-ed in "the wall street journal" today on why he thinks the weak dollar is a threat to the american way of life longer term and he was on "squawk on the street" earlier making his case. >> remember as the currency weakens, people want to be in the other currency. so, for example, in the 1980s, the japanese yen was strengthening against the dollar. the dollar was weakening supposedly to make it more competitive. i'm from michigan. you know what happened. all the money moved to japan in order to create factories in a rising currency country. so the weak dollar hurts our prosperity. it hurts our living standards here. >> and, rick, all of this comes

against the backdrop of some of the actions in washington that have kept interest rates low. it's record lows. and in addition the prospect of higher taxes on down the line. do you think it threatens the way of life longer term? >> absolutely. you know, listen, i can respect that. if my buddy here is making something that he could sell domestically or overseas, i certainly understand. as our currency weakens that overseas customers might be better customers. think about what we're saying. he's not selling it to me because really i can't afford it as well. take it a step farther, my paycheck to be able to make me afford it in a global perspective is going down in value. >> the one thing is the alternative -- but what's the alternative, guys, to the u.s. dollar? if it's driving capital away, where is it driving capital to, the euro? >> not lately. the yen apparently is getting

stronger. >> but rick santelli, if the dollar is down, won't investors come in and start buying dollars once they start feeling this is cheap here? >> it sounds great and as a trader there's a lot of logic to that, but the one difference with the dollar/reserve currency is we shouldn't look at it like trading a commodity market. it's down a lot so i'm going to buy it. the dynamics of why it's down are so obvious to everybody and nobody talks about it. >> and yet, rick, remember at the height of the crisis when the u.s. government was doing all of these things that were so in theory detrimental to the dollar, the dollar rallied. in the end the market told us it was still the reserve currency of the world. what in the end really drives the reserve currency? people are going to think i'm being a crazy neocon, but you have to very strong military, a strong defense.

europe hasn't got that. japan isn't allowed to have that. that leaves us and china, right? >> right. but think about how horrible of a statement that is. that the dollar is a safe haven when the world is a dangerous place. maybe geopolitics gets hot. certainly we have the best army and the best military, but void of anything catastrophic, the underpinnings of the dollar coming from washington are just deplorable and it makes every american's share in the cost of the bailout program because it's the printing to pay for those that's diluting the one -- >> it does give moral hazard to the u.s. government to keep printing because we're the only country in the world, think how lucky we are, everything goes to hell in a hand basket, and people run to our currency. our interest rates go down whereas in most countries in the world, their interest rates skyrocket. >> i think part of that is there's no other strong alternative. >> for now. >> i always want to add when i

hear congressmen and i hear others say where else are they going to go or we have the greatest currency, so far. >> that's exactly what we're saying. >> i lend credence to this notion that it's possible people like opec could meet in secret and at least just think about how they could reprise price their commodity in oil. >> the only threat right now would be china. >> china. >> 7 trl$7 trlt$7 trillion in d assets. >> and no debt. >> dell teaming up with at&t to distribute a smart phone with the google operating system. that comes just weeks after dell says we're going to acquire pirot systems and services. joining me is spencer from "business week." they tried flat screen tvs. i can swear they even tried the pda. does delano where it's going

here or are they kind of lashing about? >> dell has a strategy and clearly it's to move beyond the personal computer which mab thehas been their mainstay. this would be the first cell phone they would introduce into the market. as you said, there's reports that they signed a deal with at&t and the other interesting part about this is that they chose to not use microsoft's mobile operating system. instead, they're going to use google's android operating system. >> kind of the hipper choice, i guess. well, let's think about this. in one way a company should stick to its core, but i can understand if you're making laptops, you're in trouble. >> it's a grood strood strategy makes sense, but you have to execute and that's been their problem. they haven't been able to execute on new products and services outside their core market. it remains to be seen whether

they can execute on this strategy. >> and a commoditized market where prices fall 20% or 30% a year. look how nokia took it in the neck a year or two ago. isn't there a bit of apple envy going on across the entire industry? >> absolutely. with this deal with at&t, now every u.s. cell carrier has agreed to support android. even at&t, the exclusive carrier of the apple iphone is now supporting another operating system with google. at&t is even trying to hedge its bets against apple because they know chances are the exclusive arrangement they have to sell the iphone will probably come to an end sometime soon. >> let the fire fight continue. >> back to our survey, the most annoying words and phrases that grate on you the most. a survey of those words that made the top five or six list,

top five list among americans. we'll tell you which of those words, whatever, anyway, you know, it is what it is, at the end of the day, words and phrases that finish number one. what about yours? what are your least favorite or favorite as the case ma be. how about jim who says the fact of the matter is. >> i hate it. >> how about another jim who said, having said that. >> i said having said that. that's one of my finalists. >> here is one we all dislike i think. brent, if you will. >> make up your mind. >> mel says in point of fact. >> what does that mean? >> that's a lawyerly saying. >> this is one of my all-time favorites. nuclear. >> i hate that. >> president bush said that. >> it's nuclear. >> i just got an e-mail, and so on and so on he really hates. >> we will get to more down the

road. thank you for sending these. they're a lot of fun. >> they've been very accretive. >> another one on the list j time to rou. time to round up the all-stars. we were up 100. now a 78-point gain. we'll get to that in a moment. i'm david pogue, on today's "your digital life" a gps unit that becomes a cell phone. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i want everything right where i can find it. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 anything that makes trading easier. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i want to be right in the middle of the action-- tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know-- i have to see what's going on. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and when i pull the trigger... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...i've got to get the best price out there. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 (announcer) try the new schwab.com tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 for yourself. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-888-4schwab tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 or visit schwab.com/trader today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 'course a trade doesn't always work out my way. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 but when it does... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...man... do i love that feeling.

some of the home building stocks in an upside market today doing well. lennar is up better than 10%. kb homes up almost 9%. d.r. horton a 7.75% move to the plus side. >> treasury secretary is giving the housing bailout program a big pat on the back but warning we're not yet out of the woods. diana olick is in washington with more. >> as we speak the treasury department is releasing the monthly status report on its loan modification program, but it only goes through september 30th and officials wanted to note an important milestone reached two days ago. so on a call with a few reporters this morning, treasury secretary geithner announced the program now has half a million borrowers in trial mod. the program is now reaching 40% of eligible borrowers. in addition, borrowers using the government's refi program have saved so far an estimated $10

billion in loan payments. but geithner adds we're living with some risk that housing is going to be a source of weakness for the broader economy. we still face an unacceptably large number of families at risk of losing their homes. this as a new survey from trulia.com finds more than a quarter home sellers cut their price at least one, an average of 10%. a total of $24.8 billion if presumed hoke equity lost. what about the extension of the tax credit? a senior administration official says there are a lot of ideas out there about what to do. those issues are not yet finalized. for more go to the blog realtycheck.crealt realtycheck.cnbc.com. let's go to our market reporters. bob, was it the auction exchange that took some wind out of the

sails of the market? >> yes, it was. it is not very typical for the stock market to react to treasury auctions or has not been typical recently, but this did happen today. we lost maybe three or four points, i don't want to make too much of it, but that's a little bit unusual. so we got higher yield, lower price. the indirect percentage is way down. that was commented to me by several stock traders, and they don't normally comment on auctions, on treasury auctions. so we did lose a little steam here, and, of course, the concern here being what happens if auctions fail at this point. goes around with that editorial a little bit. let's talk about the new stocks, new highs. more new highs at the new york stock exchange than there's been in two years. we're approaching maybe 225, 230 new highs. many in the retail space. you know what's going on with kohl's, target, tiffany at a new high. would you have thought that 20 days ago? nordstrom and jcpenney.

meantime, it's not getting a lot of play, but the energy stocks as we have seen oil hold up and the commodity plays do well. we're seeing some big oil service names like diamond offshore and some of the exploration and production guys like apache also setting new highs. scott, we came off our highs on the nasdaq, too. >> we did, bob. we're up just shy of 1%. we're still having a pretty good day. really want to stay on that theme of new highs. we are seeing new highs across the tech space today. among some of the most widely held stocks. that's why i want to bring them to you. apple is higher, google. amazon, probably on the back of that better than expected retail number up 2.5%. ebay, 2.5%. net app sees a new high. even starbucks just recently rolling out that new instant coffee. starbucks is up 1%. whole foods even is up 1% as well. so a number of new highs today. let me touch an adobe as well. a stand out up 3% on an upgrade.

the stock is up 4%. let's go to sharon at the nymex. >> it looks like gold is poised for a new high as well, at least a new record high. if we close above $1,059 that would be very bullish. that was the overnight high. keep in mind we're looking at the third straight day for a record close here for gold futures and we're seeing a lot of activity in the auctions pit in terms of call and put activity that ranges from $1,100 to $1,000 for december contracts. it's not only gold, metals across the board. silver is at the highest level since july of 2008. and palladium at a 13-month high. >> thank you, sharon, very much. so this lunchtime meeting with the president with a number of ceos has apparently broken up and a number of them are

emerging. one of them is the ceo of florida power and light. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> what was for lunch? >> chicken salad, one of the best tarts i have ever had in my life, and a nice soup. >> what did you talk about? one of the things on the president's agenda, job creation. i imagine a lot of ceos would want to talk about that, yes? >> yeah. that was a primary topic. the president is interested in how he can stimulate more jobs being created. how he can get more investment back in the economy and he was asking a lot of questions along those lines. >> what would you tell him or what did you tell him? >> well, i told him for our industry, especially, that -- and as you know our company is the largest renewable energy producer in the united states, that we need clarity on an energy bill. preferably a climate bill as far as we're concerned, but i also urged him to see what he could do to debottle neck transmission in the united states. we have a lot of renewable

energy projects that are ready to go but are being constrained but we're not building enough in the united states. >> what about the tax credits as one possible way to help create jobs across a broad spectrum in terms of size of businesses? would you be in favor of that and do you think it's in general a good thing? >> i didn't specifically talk about that with the president, but in general i'm not really a fan of that. i think it sends a distorted economic signal. i think there's lots of other ways that we can stimulate jobs, and by having clarity on where we want to go as a nation. for instance, for us, if we have a clean energy bill that will send a signal to every utility in the united states to invest in cleaner technologies and things of that sort. those are more permanent. we don't want to send signals that distort the economics of various businesses. >> the other topic on the president's agenda, health care

refo reform, and the various incarnations being discussed in congress right now. in a perfect world, what would you -- what role would a company like yours play in the life of your employees in the world of health care reform? >> well, it's my understanding that most people who currently have health care provided by companies are generally very happy with their health care program. i, like many ceos, am concerned about the cost of providing that care, so we need to figure out ways to provide health care more efficiently, but i would urge the president, i'd urge congress not to mess with how businesses today provide. >> so you're happy with the status quo. >> that's what i was going to say. >> for the most part. i worry about the cost trend. so we are going to have to do things to reduce the cost. >> what about the issue of the public option? are you in favor, not in favor. do you think it would favor the

dynamics? >> i am not in favor of the public option. >> thank you for joining us. >> did you tell the president that. >> i think they were just talking jobs. >> remember, the president -- they were charging people -- >> give him a credit card for the lunch. >> is he still with us? mr. hay, are you still with us? no, that's too bad. >> thank goodness. that answer would have just upset me. up next, it's a phone, it's a gps, can it microwave popcorn? "the new york times'" chic geek thinks a gadget can't just do one thing at a time. new highs today. colgate palmolive, stanley works, illinois tool. tomorrow on "squawk on the street." the five star fund trade rolls

on. we're talking mid-capps that could be on the verge of a run up. also tomorrow, mutual funds you need to know about. we have the opening bell every single trading day along with everything you need to know to trade the right way. 9:00 1to 11:00 a.m. eastern.

i'm not content to let phones be phones and let cameras be cameras. today's consumer and the gadgetmakers, they want every device to multitask. today in your digital life, cnbc contributor and "new york times" tech columnist david pogue reviews garmin's entry into the

not just gps arena. >> remember those old reese's peanut buttercup ads? >> my chocolate is in my peanut butter. >> sometimes it seems like electronics companies work the same way. >> hey, you have clock in my radio. >> sometimes the result is an instant classic. >> hey, you got camera in my phone. >> other times not so much. >> hey, you got spoon in my fork. >> this week i'm reviewing the latest creative pairing, cell phone plus gps. it's the new moviefone 640. it can show you traffic and gas prices and movie show times, which it can then add to the calendar program and don't forget, it's also a phone.

every time you see something here, you can either go there or call there. unfortunately, once you pop the thing off and turn it back into a phone, that's when the drawbacks start hitting you. for example, that touch screen is really finicky. you really have to whale on it. also that flick to control business works only sometimes. there's an okay camera, but it doesn't record video. in fact, the thing doesn't even play video. there's wi-fi and e-mail and a web browser, but you have to zoom and scroll like this. and all those cool features like real time traffic, gas, and movie times will cost you $6 a month forever. that's on top of 300 bucks for the phone after a $100 rebate plus $70 a month for the at&t service. i hate to be like this, but for $100 less you could just get an iphone and blackberry and install a gps program on that. i'll admit, the garmin's gps is

way better than running a gps app on these, but these smart phones are way better at everything else. e-mail and web browsing and music and video and games and on and on and on. the garmin winds up looking like a very expensive two-trick pony. if a blackberry or an iphone is a swiss army knife, the garmin is like a spork. >> i think that sounds the death knell for this. you are a tech tart. if you don't like this, i wonder why any regular person would like it. >> it does the one thing very, very well. for $100 more than an iphone. i think the story behind it is the history. it's been kicking around literally around for years. >> and that's the problem. by the time it comes out, they've been outraced by an off the shelf competitor. >> buzz is building for windows

7. what are you hearing? >> coming out later this month. it's very nice. it's the best windows there has ever been. they took a lot of great stuff from apple's operating system, which they always do, but if you're going to have a model, that's the one to have. it's stabler, less intrusive. much faster. it will even run on netbooks. so -- >> how is it going to be with viruses? >> you know, it's essentially vista under the hood. it has the same malware protection as vista. have you heard about widespread viruses -- >> no, just other things. >> we look forward to that review in a couple weeks then. >> thank you, david pogue. >> thank you. >> we're coming up on the half hour. we'll head to the floor of the big board. get steve grasso's forecast for the rest of the trading day. >> bob mccann has a big gun over at merrill lynch but how big a player will he be at ubs.

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welcome back to "power lunch." here are some of the top stories we're following this hour. some good news on the jobs front today. jobless claims fell by 33,000 last week to 521,000. the lowest we've seen since january 3rd. pepsico's profits up in -- by 9%. pepsi shares have been trading lower by less than 2%. shares of liz claiborne have been up by more than 25% after the company said jcpenney will be the exclusive department store outlet for their two main brands. qvc will distribute their new york brand. let's get an update on the marketed which lost a little steam.

steve grasso is standing by. bob pisani was saying it's kind of rare that the auction would have this much of an impact on the market, but on the other hand we need to keep selling debt to keep this thing going. >> we definitely have to keep selling debt. i think that's been on the forefront of everyone's mind. the stories are the health care issues and the home builders today. both of them are inverse to each other. we see what's going on with the government. >> are the insurance companies still getting hammered after nancy pelosi talked about a windfall tax on them? >> didn't we try to do this with energy companies? what happened? >> we got less energy. >> whenever the government overreaches, but this is not what the segment is about. so you see the home builders rallying on extending that first time home purchase credit. that's what that's rallying about. so you see on the flip side of it, the hmos, it is amazing. i don't know how guys trade these stocks on a daily basis. it's nauseating to watch the

charts on them with every news headline that comes out of washington. >> thank you, steve very much. kudos on your brother for his gold call yesterday. >> did he say higher or lower? >> he said higher. >> i did put my mother in gld. he said not to buy it. it's $1 higher. >> i'm not going there. >> did you guys share a room when you were younger? did you share a room? >> yes, we did. and we had bunk beds. he fell on me a lot. >> and you lived to tell about it. see you later. contentious legal battle, bob mccann is in line for a major role with rival ubs. what job is he going to get? the wealth management title or something bigger? charlie gasparino, also author of "the sellout." joins us with breaking news. charlie, what's the breaking

news? >> from what i understand -- i'm going to wait until the music comes on. from what i understand, this is a done deal. bob mccann sources tell cnbc he's going to ubs and from what i understand he's going to run at least the wealth management unit. these are sources close to mccann who say that he is not going to be running the entire thing. at least that's how the deal is cut right now. when will it become official? when will we see a press release? from what i understand, it's going to come at the end of the month. the date i heard was october 23rd. from what i understand they're going to make this official at the end of the month. barring something -- remember, they do background checks on all these guys. i'm not saying bob mccann has done anything bad in his life, but barring something unusual he will be runninged wealth management unit. >> it puts him head to head with sallie krawcheck. >> that's what i was getting at. it will set up a major battle

between sallie krawcheck. bob mccann ran that unit for a long time. he's told people pointblank he wants to basically poach people out of that -- out of merrill lynch and there's a lot of guys that want to work for him. >> and he can pay them more. >> theoretically he could because ubs is not a t.a.r.p. bank. it's a swiss bank, right? but they generally have not done that sort of thing. they have generally not -- and bob mccann is not a guy that's known to pay huge up front bonuses to woo people. how much can he promise these guys and can he promise them this sort of deal where bob mccann has made no secret that he wants to spin off the wealth management unit of ubs which used to be walled painewebber into a company? can he get the swiss to agree to allow him to do that and to offer to brithe people he bring

over -- the chance to participate in that ipo. both sides know this is going to be a battle royale. sallie krawcheck is gearing up for it. she's reaching out to former merrill executives to try to tell them that she's going to keep the culture, try to maintain the old culture. sh she basically said that on our air. bob mccann is going around saying there's to way to keep the merrill lynch culture when you're working for a charlotte, north carolina, bank. >> what are you hearing about ken lewis' replacement? >> there's been a lot of talk about an outsider. i stand behind my report that the head of risk and brian moynihan, if they were going to go internally, are the two leading candidates and sallie is a distant third. people talk about outside candidates.

an interesting name floated out recently, greg fleming. remember greg fleming was the president of merrill lynch. in many ways he's the guy that brought -- he was. he's the brainchild of the merrill lynch deal to bank of america. he left bank of america sometime -- i guess it was earlier in the year. here is the problem with fleming getting that job -- >> all right, charlie. >> but here is the problem with fleming getting the job. two things. you know, while he didn't run risk at meryl lyncmerrill lynch was clearly involved in the risk taking. he bragged about it. i have a scene in my book where he's extolling the strategy of stan o'neal of taking risk. that's one problem and the fact that he brought the deal to b of a which so far has not worked out well. i think those are two major strikes against greg fleming getting that job. that said, auto he is a brilliant investment banker.

no one has better contacts than him, but bringing him to b of a right now, based on those are two huge strikes. it sounds nearly impossible. >> you've got a message on your cell phone, charlie. >> go listen to it. >> it's probably him. >> coming up next, the coke ceo comes out swinging. he rips the idea of slapping extra taxes on high food and drink. >> do we need more exercise or more taxes to discourage unhealthy habits. nearly one-third of americans suffer from chronic lower back pain. one of the most expensive nonfatal conditions. 12 million new patients seek treatment each and every year. >> i couldn't really work and move and had a hard time sleeping. it got so bad that i couldn't even drive. >> david is a small business owner who lives pain free

following an experimental laser treatment. >> this is really a minimally invasive procedure that requires very little time and so far looks very promising. >> only 17 people in the world have undergone this trial procedure where a surgeon ins t inserts a needle into the vertebrae to destroy the nerve believed to be a source of pain. >> it actually saved my business. i was able to do everything i was able to do prior to the back injury. >> relief for one patient and potentially millions more. that's today's "healthy horizons" report. i'm brian shactman.

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in an op-ed piece in "the wall street journal" today, the ceo of coca-cola rails against the idea of a tax against soda saying coke didn't make america fat. but some suggest it might help america get skinny. joining us now, jeff stire and dr. gotham row. let me start with you, doctor. >> sure. >> this all comes about when it comes to the talk of a soda tax. do you think that's a good idea? >> well, let me preface this by saying i think it's a good idea if it's structured correctly, and there are three basic requirements. i don't think that people should start taxing soda just to raise revenue, and i think the whole issue has come to light recently because of the financial crisis. secondly, i think the tax has to

be substantial enough to curve consumption. we know the small taxes applied by -- >> don't make a difference. point number three? >> i think the tax revenue has to actually go towards improving people's health. >> in the way they tax social security but then use it for everything else. >> everything else. >> mr. stire, what do you think? good idea or bad idea? >> the doctor has some good points. as its proposed it won't work. there are lots of little reasons. i prefer to see one big reason. they said we're going to put this money to health education on the tobacco tax and that didn't happen. obesity is complex. these little solutions, a soda tax, zone where fast food restaurants -- >> what about a higher health insurance premium on people who are overweight? >> i would love to see private market solutions. so if it's harder -- if you can get a discount for health

insurance if you lose some weight, i think that's a wonderful idea. free market ideas. but other free market ideas include i would say more positive approaches like food technology. instead of telling people soda contributes to obesity, everything you eat with calories krn contributes to obesity, how about talking -- >> let me ask you, doctor, soft drinks make up only 5% of the daily american diet. why don't we put a tax on cheeseburgers on doughnuts? why did we pick out soda? >> well, i think for a lot of good reasons. first of all, that's 5% of calories you definitely don't need. you could drink water and be just as much refreshed. >> this is exactly the problem. these are calories you don't need. this type of thinking is why we have obesity. we need it give people real solutions. for instance -- >> let him finish his thought.

>> i think -- >> in defense of capitalism, a couple major points. first of all, it was adam smith, a father of modern capitalcapit who stated rum, tobacco and sugar ought to be taxed. >> and they are. >> let's not forget corn fructose syrup contributes to that and -- >> exactly right. >> if you took away corn subsidies, you would see a rise in the price of soft drinks anyway. >> what about higher health insurance premiums for people who are overweight? >> i cannot support that at this time. jeff and i agree on one thing, obesity is a very complex issue. mr. kent, the ceo of coca-cola points that out. that's the first line in his whole editorial. i don't think you can support that. there's many different reasons people are overweight. i think people who enroll in weight management programs who make an effort to lose weight who make efforts to pursue a healthier lifestyle through

whatever means -- >> incentivize them. >> can i tell wyou what we shoud be talking about? how about technologist. there was an article in the l.a. times yesterday that the usda just came out with a type of rice that does not absorb oil as well. so if you fry something instead of using wheat-based frying, you can do it, you can batter something up -- >> gentlemen, eat less, exercise more. thank you very much. see you later. >> yummy. >> bye. >> it can cost tens of millions of dollars to market a motion picture and they often bomb. viacom's paramount division are thinking cheap, very cheap. think twitter and facebook. >> we'll tell you about the new way to sell paramoirparanormal on the other side of the break.

surging marketing costs are fo forcing many hollywood films to cut back on the number of releases they have each year.

>> this movie is called "paramormal activity." it's made for just $15,000. paramount was aiming to remake it, but now the no-budget flick's limited release has sparked a social media phenomenon and with midnight-only screening has already generated $1 million in box office growth. it's on track to be the next "blair witch project" for paramount which is letting consumers direct its distribution. instead of a multimillion dollar marketing blitz, the strud yo released a trailer. it's consistently selling out and starting friday it will run around the clock in over 150 theaters in 44 cities. paramount is deciding where to roll out the film based on moviegoers demands through its

websites. horror fans inputted their age and e-mail giving the studio a guaranteed audience. the studio promises if 1 million people demand the movie online it will open it nationwide. it already has nearly 650,000 demands. this definitely would not work for just any movie, but it's a huge marketing thing for paramount. they're releasing a movie they might not have either. it's a real paradigm shift in putting the hands for the first time of moviegoers. >> thank you very much, joule. >> what is the most totally annoying word? we'll talk about that and have some empty calories for you right after the break. 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.

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i can't believe we're doing this segment right after an obesity segment. the two free-spirited founders behind ben and jerry's started from nothing and tonight they give you the inside scoop yoo. now ben and jerry had to learn how to make ice cream. >> we took a $5 correspondence course from penn state university, since we were really broke at the time.

we split one course between us. it was $2.50 a piece. it was a good deal. >> in late 1977, the two fledgling businessmen moved to burlingt burlington. ben and jerry combined their meager savings with a loan from ben's father to start up their business. but they had no idea how to go about it. >> who is going to do the segment? >> the whole story of ben and jerry's tonight on biography on cnbc at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> we're not being paid to eat this ice cream. we are being paid to eat this ice cream right now. >> yes, we are. which one have you got? >> i have got chocolate chip cookie dough. most annoying words or phrases that came our way from you folks included, let's show some of these real quick, i couldn't care less. here is one from scott, circle back. aaron says he hates, to be honest with you.

dave says, no worries. can we just come up with something else from no worries? ginormous. >> that's got to be a made up word. >> i don't disagree. my boss says that all the time. here is my favorite from george. his most annoying phrase, dow 6500. >> hands down. >> in the survey, the most annoying word for americans by far was whatever. >> really? >> whatever, come on. >> that was really fun. >> thank you for your e-mails today. >> let's see if the dow can add onto its advances. it lost a little bit but it's still holding on to a double digit gain. we will see you tomorrow because that does it for us for "power lunch." >> what she said. >> watch ben and jerry's tonight. >> the dow is up 83 points. "street signs," erin burnett is back. she's live in london.

she begins in just a moment. we'll see you in just a moment. welcome to "street signs" live from london on this thursday. stocks here at the new york stock exchange are higher today on optimism globally about consumers. hello, everyone, i'm erin burnett. tomorrow we will be live from london. good news from retailers. just behind home depot and lowe's in size and the ceo is with us today. and then dubai was left for dead after the crisis. the real story for a city known for indoor skiing, big buildings, and debt. and then michael moore's "capitalism," the author of the secret