well, little more than an hour to trade for the week and indeed three days for the month overall. we have raised the gains that we had for earlier in the session, but it has been a great month for investors and you can look at the volatility and the volume, but the price action has been phenominal up 5.5%. yesterday up almost 7% at one stage and bear in mind that in the beginning of the month, the

median estimate for year-end was 1200 on the s&p 500. so things really change in the month or are we taken back from later in the year? the debate continues on "closing bell" with sue herera. for me, have a great weekend. you are looking at a live picture on the floor of the new york stock exchange. it is a mixed bag on wall street today as the stocks look to wrap up the week on another high note. the dow gaining 16 of the past 20 trades days and this is pretty good. we will see if the bulls can get through the session today. we have almost one full hour of trading day left. i'm bob pisani on the floor of the new york stock exchange. my old friend sue herera is here. >> so much fun to anchor with you. >> you and me, and i love that picture. >> my colleague maria bartiromo is on assignment and i am filling in here. as bob said, wall street kicked off with a modest rally with the

dow up 68 points before it surrendered the pains. stocks hit an 18-month high this week, and geo political concerns may have played a role in the selling following the news that a south korean naval ship sank near a disputed naval border near korea. we will look at that. but first, the dow jones industrial average is holding on to a modest advance 10,848.70. the nasdaq is showing down 4 points at 2,393. 24. and a fractional gain, basically flat on the session at 1,165.77. time for the "closing bell" exchange and my co-host for the hour, bob pisani is on the floor of the nyse. and sharon epperson is at the nynex where they saw big moves and rick santelli as well as rick leaseman joini gjoining ne

studio. some people say it is an excuse to sell, and others say it is a big play in the commodity markets. sharon, you said that we saw a move in the gold market? >> yes, at 11:25, we saw the highs of the session and gold popped above $1,100 an ounce and at that time we didn't know as the reports are coming in later today, we are learning that it was not a hostile action on north korea's part, but we didn't know it at that time, and there is still much uncertainty around it, which helped to keep the gold prices up ahead of the weekend. we had seen some fund buying after the imf and eu news on greece came in. and we are looking at technical levels for gold, but a lot of people wanted gold holdings before going into the weekend. >> well, no doubt that was a catalyst, and it is a relief to know that apparently the north koreans were not involved, apparently. we have to confirm that.

but, look, we have a bull market and big downside day yesterday which was a shock to the trading community and we haven't seen a reversal like that for a long time, and the traders were nervous. we are going into the end of the quarter with a lot of machinations that can go on, and we have a very, very light volume where modest buying or selling can move the markets either way, so not surprise that the traders are jittery going into the end of the month. >> well, sue, i take my cue from bob pisani on what parts of the economic news are priced into the market, and bob has said repeatedly that the better job news that is expected next week is priced into the market. and so when i have seen the market trying to do 60 or 100 points more, i am wondering on what basis? and frankly the fundamentals if bob is right, a better economic jobs report next week is already baked in, we need more from the data to justify a push higher. >> to that point, steve, a couple of things here related to the nasdaq and one in general. when the sell-off started the chip stocks, a lot of them

related to asia sold off more than anything else. i want to point out in talking to traders, next week we have the jewish holiday and good friday and if we think that volumes are thin this week, it is going to be thinner next week. so to bob and steve's point, they are totally on target. >> well, rick santelli, we saw a quote, in quotes resolution, pretty much to the greek crisis, but that doesn't mean it is all over. but what about this theory that the euro finally passed the test in terms of its ability to be the common currency for the euro zone? >> well, it was -- oh, i personally think that story is far from done being told. i think that there is a raft of issues that still will make it from the greek perspective that maybe they won't want the euro, and maybe they would like to print a bunch of their own currency and inflate the problem away as opposed to aus tear ri. i don't think it is over, and that is my opinion. on the jobs number, one week from today, i will be here on

good friday to release that number for early closes, but here the point, we know a lot of part-time and census and snow built into the number, but on that day when nobody is around, it still might push the interest rates up huge just on the shock value of the number. >> i think it is fair enough. sorry, sharon. >> on the euro point, the gold market agreeing there, and the gold saying, hey, this is a perfect opportunity for the central banks to move into gold. they are fearful of the dollar and want troe place the euro and looking to the gold market, so that may continue to lift the gold prices. >> here is the bottom line on the story, faced with the two evils, the euro zone chose both and chose to both bailout greece and do so with the imf, and there are long-term damage here to the euro's reputation, and when it comes to the status of the euro, as a challenge to the dollar as a reserve currency, i think that the euro took a step backward with what is decided

here. >> i would absolutely agree with that. that brings up the question, what is the next trajectory given the bump up in interest rates, rick, that we have seen in the last couple of days, the bad actions that we have seen this week. what is the, you know, the move for the dollar? how much higher can it go? >> well, i personally think that the dollar, the current dollar index level is the highest close since may of '82, and i would think that 83.5 or 84 is possible and room to go, but on the interest rate front, warning shots by the rating agencies and couple of small warnings in the auctions, and we will get a litmus test with the artificially inflated jobs number. i has not happened yet, because if you did, you would know to worry about it as steve liesman will bring up, but you need to be concerned about supply rates and god forbid that we get too good of a jobs report that might not be meaningful, but still a catalyst for higher rates nonetheless. >> just to pick up on that, sue, it is worth pointing out that despite the hammering on the

bonds this week and the auctions did not go well, and you don't want to sweep it under the rug here, but we are still trading at the top of what has been a fairly long-term range here of the 10-year, and the point is that when the bond market is really disgusted with deficits, when they are really choking on u.s. debt, you will know it, and you will know it in even bigger move thans this week. >> bob pisani, and excuse me, sharon, but we had jack avalon on with us for the "power lunch" 1:00 hour. >> i saw that. >> and he was debating in his head whether or not this movement to the upside in interest rates is a pivot point for the market, because of the worries of lack of central bank participation in the auctions, seemingly less appetite, although maybe not much less appetite, but less appetite for paper and we still have a lot of paper to come to market. are the traders down there viewing it as a key point or not? >> the rise in interest rates this week on the treasury yields absolutely caught their

attention. they were passing around the fact that mortgage rates, 30-year mortgage rates raised 11 basis points in two days according to bankrate.com, and that is a lot. 11 basis points in two days is an awful lot, and so, yes, it is getting their attention down here, and the issue they can't resolve is that we have seen the blip-ups before and trading very much toward the high end of the yield range here in the last several months here obviously, and whether or not it is going to go much further than this in the short term. >> well, a lot of the traders are watching the treasuries as well and it does not seem that rates are something that they are watching as closely, but they are paying close attention to what is happening in the bond market, and of course, also watching the dollar and even though oil has held up well in light of the relative strent of the dollar here, right around $80 a barrel, and if you look at the other commodities particularly the grain market, that got slammed this week. we are seeing overall the commodity indices lower because of the relative strength of the dollar, so that is something to watch closely. >> brian, you mentioned the fact that we have thin volume this week in some sectors and next

week is going to be worse, and now the focus is turning to earnings, but the tech sector has delivered on earnings. what are their expectations? >> what is interesting about that, sue, when they talked about how real the rally is, in tech, it has to be real, because of the stock going up. but take oracle for example, they didn't shoot the lights out, but the guidance was not as good as some expected, but the truth is that it is growing and soldoff today and maybe because of the news or not, but the concept of maybe buying on good reports may be over. i want to make one more point on the interest rates and the traders i talked to, it is hard to ascertain what is driving rates higher, but maybe with bernanke talking this week, we haven't talked enough about what life is going to be when qe goes away and that is a factor. >> five days and counting. five days is the last coming up next week is the last mortgage purchase, and they are about at the agency limit for the purchase of the agency. >> is that in the market, steve, with the 11-bid move in rates?

>> well, let me explain something. it is already in the market, in parts because of the way that the mortgage market works. for example, if you went out and locked in a mortgage rate 30 days ago or 20 days ago, your bank is going to go into the market to lock that rate in. so, rates coming up to the end of qe would reflect the expectations of the lenders for after qe. so there cannot be too much expectation right now, and there has to be a huge rise in rates, because especially, one of the things is yield compression where the mortgage rate is coming down closer to the 10-year. i have to say that the one odd-man out this week is the treasury and everything else has done better. >> well, steve, one point i'd like to make, steve. you are saying on the interest rates that hide the treasuries and when it is wild, you will eno it is not time to worry yet, because you could make the same argument on the mortgages crept up, but they are certainly low considering the ramifications of qe and both are similar and where they are in the time.

>> and maybe a minute on that or less than a minute. the argument is the stock and the flow. okay. what the fed believes is they have effective mortgage rates for a long time to come and many months because of how much they bought and not how much they are buying on a weekly basis. they believe that the effect is due to the stock to the 120 trillion they hold. >> well, they have a percentage of the market, and they are going to subsidize it by the holding. >> and they will hold it, exactly. that is the continuing subsidy. >> well, steve, how long is the compression between the 10-year and 30-year going to last? so maybe 120 basis points right now, and 130. i think that the spread used to be 150 or 160 basis points. now, it is a lot more compressed, and does this imply mortgage rates eventually have to come up rather than the yields on the 10-year coming down? >> well, yes, bob, but how much? a 30 or 50-basis move or 100 basis point move? let me throw this in.

how much does the mortgage market believe that effectively they have a put to the fed? that at some point in time if it goes too far the fed will come in again? so that is another issue that is out there. >> there you go. now we agree, because that is what they talk about down here that the qe's dead for now. >> well, yeah, it is dead until it isn't, right? >> well, they have said they are leaving it, but they have left the door to come back in, so the question on the minds of traders is there a put there or a level that the fed is supporting, and the fed frankly needs more transparency on policy in that regard. >> all right. thanks, everybody. that was so much fun. all right. we have 45 minutes before the closing bell. right now the dow trying to hold on to a modest advance and only up 3 points and the nasdaq isinn the red, bob. >> well, still up on the week. and the new plans on foreclosure for lenders to reduce principip of the homeowners, and wham pact will have that on the banks.

>> and glenn hubbard will join us, and he will tell us how the reform bill could hurt competitiveness. and remember n the new york stock exchange, it is a law that citigroup always leads. you are watching cnbc, the first in business worldwide.

for more on the obama administration's latest efforts to fix the housing market and the potential impact on banks, we welcome paul banks, and jared seaberg who is the managing director at concept catch tall. paul, let me start with you. this program was designed to prevent foreclosures, but they keep changing the rules here. it is a little confusing. can you explain to the viewers what are they doing now and what is the impact on the banks going to be? >> well, we don't know details of what is come out, and it is a lot of headlines and they had a conference call this morning. what they want to do now is to start to force the banks, not force them, but encourage the banks to start to write down the principle of the loans, and the other program came out this week is a failure.

so when you have a failure, the government tries to add another layer of bureaucracy to it. but the changes are working against the system rather than for it, because the services don't know the rules at this point. >> that 1 tis the point, and ca they handle the flow of this? this is unprecedented historically, and can servicers handle the volume they are asked to handle? >> no. i mean to put it in a simple word. the problem is that as paul mentioned, when you keep changing the rules, it takes months to reprogram these systems and train people, and we even heard the administration today basically admit that it could be a year until we see the real result which assumes that the program works, and based on the lack of success of all of the other programs dating back to the bush administration, i think that one has to really question whether you can get a lot of results out of this. >> well, jarrett why has tnt old programs worked and is there any chance that this one will help?

work more? or something intrinsically flawed with the entire idea? >> well, the original programs were all designed out of an fdic effort to address subprime mortgages that were resetting. and now we are trying to apply that concept to a very different program. this is a problem of people who don't have a job and can't afford the mortgage. so i do question the entire approach. >> paul, let's get back to the idea of whether or not the government should be involved in helping people just because they don't have a job, and not that that is not important or serious or they should not have our sympathies, but should the government be involved in resetting the mortgages for people who have lost tlar job? >> well, one ning is this hamp program, and it is basically a way for the government to stop foreclosures or to postpone it well into the future, because you have to apply all of the different hamp rules to foreclose on the property, so this will slow down the foreclosures by a government mandate and that is what this

program is about and i don't think it is anything more than that, and the government does not want to say, we won't let them foreclosure, but it is going to be so difficult for the servicers to do what they are paid to do which is to move the inventory through the system. but, you are right, when you have somebody who lost their job and you feel sorry for them and wish they could get on their feet, but once a loan is behind on this, there is not a lot to do on it, and it usually defaults anyway. >> well, that is a good point. you vague th you are saying that independent of whether we have an interest in helping people out, historically these loans will go bad regardless of the assistance we provide or could it go forward if we inject the assistance? >> well, injecting assistance is not popular and that is to write down the loans below market value and if i have a $150,000 home and worth $100,000 then you write down the other amount to have an incentive to have people

stay in their homes. it is not politically popular and the blogs today is running wild with the negative feedback from this treasury announcement already. >> paul, i want to go back to the question of the impact on the banks. obviously the cost is higher, but is it possible to estimate the impact of the bottom line? >> well, most of the hamp programs are hitting the nonmodified market, so most of them are doing it anyway. if you look at wells fargo, they are modifying their own loans without going through the treasury department, and a lot of this is happening through the servicing arena and freddie and fannie and that is the broader threat. >> and there is a broader threat here to the bank, because this is a political process, and now the members of the hill expects the banks to write-down negative equity and when the banks are not as aggressive as congress thinks, mortgage bankruptcy will come back with a vengeance which

will consume everything. >> and some banks said they will lower principle on a number of the loens, and will that put pressure on the banks irrespective of whether we have this legislation or this intervention that we are talking about from the obama administration? >> well, of course, there is tremendous pressure right now on banks to be seen as whether, as reducing principle, and helping people with negative equity, but i am not sure it is an achievable end. at the end of the day, the banks approach this as a business decision, and it is not always in their best interest to forgive massive amounts of principle. >> we are seeing the flash here and i wonder if i can get your thoughts of this, 3m is saying they are going to take a charge of $85 to $90 million the deal with the cost of health care. of course, we saw at&t earlier in the day talking about $1 billion charge. i wonder if either of you have any thoughts about the charges that the banks mite take as a result of the new health care legislation? >> well, go ahead, paul.

>> i don't really have an opinion about that. it is still too early to tell what types of hits these banks will take on that. >> well, you know, we have a pretty big health care policy team, and i think that as they look at the issue, you know, they are clearly expecting hits across the board, but it should be fairly even-handed, so it may be not quite as stick out quite as much for any particular institution. >> all right. paul miller and jarrett sieberg, thank you for your input. 40 minutes to go before the close of the bell, and the dow jones and the nasdaq about at break even. we saw it yesterday, and nasdaq down right now, but still up for the week. >> yes, and we have had unusually low options activity and that has led to low volume in some markets which has made the recent rally to be penned the unloved rally by some. but are there signs of picking up on the horizon? we will talk about that when we come back.

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with 35 minutes before the closing bell, the dow has turned negative, but some of the wildly-held stocks are posting gains today, and number of them are in the financials. some are attributing that to the mortgage write-down proposal being put forward by the

administration. other wildly held are our parent helds and our parent company general electric, and exxonmobil, and pfizer and at&t and verizon. bob? >> well, amongst traders, this is dubbed the loveless rally. why the trading markets and volatility are anemic. and here to talk about that problem is the head of the derivative sales, and tim quan over at the u.s. investment strategies. let me start with you, tim, the volatility is not a satisfactory answer, so why are we seeing the low volatility? >> well, we are seeing tremendous capacity in the money market, and a risk for assets, so that is certainly adding to it. generally speaking, we are seeing a lot of clients with

reduced risk to a large extent. >> tim, we want to change your mike here, because we are getting bad sound. well, would you agree with tim, because there is buying tension out there? >> well, equity funds are going well in 2009, and very good returns, and they are not scared anymore, and they came in to the new year, and everybody set the p&l to zero, and so less protection for the beginning of the year. when they start to make money, when they start getting good p&l -- [ inaudible ]. okay. you know what, we are having technical issues with the sound down at the new york stock exchange and we will take a break and try to get that remedied and come back to the market. oil settled above the $80 mark, and the nasdaq was negative as well. we are back in two minutes time. and will the recent tortoise rally head slowly higher today

notwithstanding, or we will see a pullback next week? we will talk about that next.

less than 30 minutes before the closing bell. another take on the market, and we turn to our cnbc investor network live via the webcam. tim smalls is head of the u.s. trading and execution for noble. good to talk to you. >> hi, sue.

>> and i would like to know what you think about the rally fizzling out, and granted we have gone pretty far pretty fast, but what do you think is behind the type of trading we have seen late in the afternoons? >> i think that what you have the take into consideration is where we are in the cycle, where we are in the week, where we are in the quarter. we have got, we have a market that is up 5.5% for the month of march. we have had a 30-day stretch, 31-day stretch where you haven't seen the market sell off 1% or more, and we haven't seen it happen in over a year. so what you have seen is with the extension of the rally, as we get towards the end of the -- towards the end of the week, there is a little bit more trepidation in the marketplace as we see the headlines coming across yesterday with mr. trichet's comments and that put smoke into the marketplace. we saw the headlines today with the korean situation, and that puts some more spook in the marketplace, so people are just being a little more prudent going into the weekend, and at

the end of the quarter. >> is the bump in interest rates this week sufficient enough competition for equitities? is that part of the equation or not? >> well, we are not getting there yet. it is something to put on the radar screen, and historically we have seen the interest rates above 5% become competition. as we get to 4%, it is there, but it is not enough to put a long-term dent in the market, but it is something to keep an eye on. >> and what about people who have to put money to work? i mean, i assume even though we have gone far pretty fast, you have to stick with the overall trend and bob pisani called pit melt-up market, and do you want to fight the trend? >> well, you can't right now, and one of the problems we have seen and talked about here is the lack of volume and the lack of liquidity in the marketplace as the driving force behind this move. as we see the money coming into equity funds, the lack of activity in the market has made it more difficult for the

managers to put the money to work n. contrast than we have seen in people taking advantage of the options or derivative markets to get exposure and increase in the etf volume, and that is a problem, because as the money goes back to the market and back to normalcy of a year ago, the managers have to put the money to work and we should see that over the near term. >> what do you attribute the low volume? part of the cycle, and nearing the end of the quarter, and we do have holidays coming in, and more to it than that or that simple? >> i think it is there more to it than that. we have seen the volume trend down since january. we saw the january volumes slightly lower than december's, and february's lower than january's and march and up and running below february's and what we have got is after we had the massive displacement of 2008, and into 2009. as the market has stabilize, i think that people made their bets early on, and we have teen the market trending higher on

lighter volume, as we get more into the longer-term horizon. the short-term trading mechanisms that we saw in '07, '08, '09, have taken a back seat for this cycle of the market. i think that we will get back to a more liquidity-driven market, but it will take a little bit of time. people are still licking their wounds over the past two years. >> understandably so. thank you, tim. appreciate it. have a great weekend. >> you too, sue. thanks. the dow is negative and the nasdaq is negative by eight points and now six points on the trading session. that unusually low options activity has led to low volatility and we will talk more about this unloved rally, but there are signs of activity picking up? we will talk more about that when we come back. then, after the bell, the ceo of the london stock exchange discusses everything from financial regulatory reform to stock market consolidation ahead at 4:00 p.m. eastern.

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welcome back. we want to renew our discussion about the lack of volume in volatility on the floor of the new york stock exchange. we will be talking with tim freeman and kor quan as well. gentlemen, there are traders who have less interest in buying investments, and why? >> well, it is the fed put, and we have been talking for years about the bernanke put, and the investor risk of a big downside move has been reduced drastically, and lot of cash has begun to flow through the equity market through retail and money market, and that is putting pressure on the options. >> well, that makes sense. if we have debt instruments and high-yield instrument giving me 40 cents on the dollar a year ago and now 80 cents on the dollar, i am less interested in buying protection and playing the interest market. >> well, that is true, when the

high-yield funds are trading at 40 cents per dollar, they were setting up the bonds and buying puts on the equities in case they went bankrupt, but now as the high-yield bonds and the high-yield market is recovering and they are trading 8 0 cents n the dollar, it is less need for the protection. >> and some traders are underperforming the benchmarks, so for example on the s&p 500, if you are an equities trader, they are catching up, and less worry about the potential downside at this point? >> yes. most people are worried about underperformance and a loath of the -- a lot of the clients have their risks tight, and fundamentally short, and if they are leaning long, slightly. the hedge to move longer is reduced. the other thing i want to point out is as the credit spreads tighten and interest rates are low, people will grasp for yield. how do you do that? you go into the equity market which again supports the money flows that we have seen as credit spreads have tightened and the bond yields have gone

lower. >> so, cord, a lot of the traders have reduced the risk last year and there are fewer big, big bets being made, and have been made for months, and the lower volatility does make some sense. >> well, we had funds 12 months ago buying a lot of protections and buying the puts against the portfolios and taking the protection to roll it from month to month and rolling it for 12 months. that is one of the biggest losing trades out on the street. they were losing half a percent per month on the portfolios and hence -- >> and still going out of business. >> yes, absolutely. so, the question is here is when is this going to change? what if we roll out to june or september? anybody out there saying, oh, i have to buy protection here? any sign this will change? >> well, we are seeing fairly large activity in the s&p 500 index options that is out in june and large hedges brought in the 1100 strike which is 5% out of the money option.

and i think that is in and around the time that we should see some language changes coming out of the fed when after the fed meetings. >> is this sort of -- would you expect to see a lot more protection buying out in june, september, when traders are thinking that things could change at this point or is that normal -- is this normal? >> it is -- we are not seeing abnormal activity and option volumes to your point have been very, very light. so, these are the higher the higher notable trades that we have seen, but still option volumes are very, very light, and not showing a big trend. >> gentlemen, thank you sow much. court gwon, and trent, you as well. well, we are on the downside, but still up . 05% here. >> and the bull will take the gains. we will see how you can make

some money in the market when we come back.

welcome back. bob pisani on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the tortoise rally is the subject of constant discussion here in the last several weeks. traders are miserable and not making a lot of money. these guys are making money, because they are strategists. let's talk to strategists from more again stanley and rick barney. let's go to the senior market strategist with execution noble. well, we may have light volume, and may have low volatility, but you can see the flooder this week. yesterday, kind of rattled investors. we had an outside reversal and closing below the prior day low and that is not a technical signal and you can see the jittery thing happening. >> well, two things good happen and one bad thing. two good things start with a letter c. consumer confidence up a touch. we will see if next monday confirms that or not, and two, the jobless claims were down 14,000, and number three, the countries, the third c is the dubai and greece looks like things are better.

it is not totally solved. the bad things are two things that did not go well, two sales. number one, the $118 billion of 2-and 5-year treasuries. and the other is the new home sales and existing home sales and if you take out the northeast with the snow, bob, it was rough all over the country. down 0.2% on the existing and down 2.2% on the new home sales. >> rick and steve santelli and the gang and i were talking about the higher rate, and it has the attention of the stock traders in the last couple of days, so the question is, how much more to the rally in rates that we have seen? >> well -- >> is this the beginning of something bigger or will we simply fall back down? >> well, 3.9 or 2.5 or so in the u.s. treasury is the major inflection point, and yesterday's high in terms of the yield terms stopped on the

down-turn line, and even if you push through 4.0 which is the 200-week moving average and if you push through, there are several numbers between 416 and 425 that says you could get a break out there, but a false breakout, and it won't be a clear case. >> if this sounds like mumbo jumbo, the point is that traders really do trade on technicals when you deal with things like commodities and interest rates as well. >> yes. >> and the economic news, as you were pointing out, fractionally better and consumer confidence has not been particularly great recently. >> should be much higher. >> and the recent jobs report, i have been saying for a couple of weeks that the traders seem fairly optimistic that the jobs numbers will show good growth and the street is 200,000. but we have seen some people who are at 300,000. >> that is where the morgan stanley folks are. 300,000, and 100,000 census, and 1 100,000 recovery from the bad weather and 100,000 from organic. the big thing is the kay

schiller home price, and consumer index is looking for down 0.6. if that comes through, it is more flutteryness next week. then we go to april for the quarterly earnings report. >> but let me stop you, we are not seeing what we need in housing. >> well, the three cs, credit and jobs and housing prices, and we haven't had those three people coming to the party. we are drinking kool-aid on the patio and no alcohol here. >> well, it is interesting, because you have not invited me, and that is the problem. go back to the jobs thing, and how the street is optimistic on the jobs report. what is going to happen? suppose we get 200,000 jobs, what will the street do at this point? what will it take to move to market forward if the street is optimist optimistic? >> well, di efer to the superstar here, but we want to see things coalesce. not one ingredient, but the consumer confidence higher, which will lead to the spending. you need to see the companies

start to hire organically and not census. people are looking through it, and it is a much-anticipated number, bob. >> and the quarterly earnings number will be essential, and not just census workers here. but real job growth. >> well, confidence is a lagging indicator, and if you talk to people,pecially the bull, and the fundamental bulls, they say that people are spending again, and they say that because the stock markets is up. their personal condition may not be better and they are virtually the same amount of people unemployed, and you still have potentially much more unemployment than even the numbers show, so you have a littlesh do you know, if you have a job and haven't had a job maybe you will go back to spend some money. >> well, we have an issue here with the move that the market has had on the upside, and suppose we get 300,000. you are at 300, right? >> yes, morgan stanley folks, yes, we are.

>> and suppose you get 300,000, and the market is right where we are going into the jobs report friday morning, what should the market do? >> well, i am amazed at the bi-furcation, and you have the s&p 500 up, and the s&p 400 are up 5%, and the emerging markets are flat for the year, but the emci frontier index which is the smaller caps, smaller countries, it is up 11%, so you could see further bifurcation, and if people get into a stock specific, and industry specific frame of mind. i don't know if it would move the market as a whole in a big broad rally, where it is so anticipated. >> well, the important thing is whether the jobs number comes in at the 200,000 number expected. and the markets will be closed that day. rick and david, the "squawk box" will be open, and they will be all over it. sue, over to you.

>> thank you so much, bob. it is time for the "fast money" final call. the interest rates are creeping up alongside the dollar. it could be a whammy for the stocks. here to explain it is an options action contributor. >> good to be here, sue. >> how much of an effect do you think that the rising rates are having on the market? i get both sides of the market. not high enough and we need to get above 5%, but they are creeping up to 4. >> well, it is a wet blanket. you can look at interest rates of sign of growth and people have better places to put the money, or you could say, ooh, this is not good. we are finally starting to see the beginning of the higher rates that we have been expecting for so long, and it is not necessarily a sign of growth, but a sign that things are get back to the new normal. unfortunately, people are focusing on the second and not the first. the first is good for the stock market, and the second not so much. i think that is why it is has

been a captive to the stock market. >> does it matter to you if the rates are going up? does it matter to you that the options are not going well or do you look at the net effect of that and move up of rates and the demand equation does not factor into your thinking? >> no, my thinking is that the reason that the options did not go particularly well this time is really important. i don't know if it was the chinese just sitting on their hands and saying, no we will demand more return or maybe a little bit of the chinese saying, we are really unhappy about the google thing, and we will show you who is boss. >> and they are up against the april 15th deadline and saying, you want to label us a currency manipulator, we don't buy your treasuries. >> and there are a couple of ways to yank our chain here and you have to look at the reason that the rates are higher and the options didn't do well, and you could say growth, but i don't think that is what is going on. >> so as an investor, what do you do then?

>> well, you talked about the dollar and the higher rates are good for the tlar. the dollar is stronger and that is not in general good for the stock market, but good for exexers like boeing and caterpillar who are great companies who might expect to do well internationally, because of infrastructure issues or just return of growth, those are going to face a little bit of a headwind. so there are ways to play it. you can sell calls in those, because, again, great names, but they are face headwind from an appreciating dollar. >> what about those companies that we have seen, and i don't mean to take a right turn on you here, but we have seen a number of companies just in the last hour or two, say they are going to take a bottom line hit because of health care reform and taking large charges, and at&t $1 billion and caterpillar and deere and 3m is the latest and what is your assessment of that? is it investable? how do you act on that? >> well, unfortunately, it is not investable for any of the

companies that you named i don't think. while it is a little bit of a surprise, and it is a kind of slap up against the head, because it is unexpected, i don't see any way to invest in that. there are other ways to invest directly in the medical sector depending upon whatever your thesis is. i think it is unfortunate, because the companies didn't expect that, but as we say, we have to start preparing those, for those write-offs, because we have to -- we just have to prepare ourselves. we know we won't be paying that money until the outyears, but unfortunately, it impacts the earning statement now. >> thank you so much, scott. you are a good sport and i threw that at you at the last minute and top of line and news, and you handled it well. >> thank you, sue. >> you can check options action and scott on that show tonight at 5:30 p.m. following "fast money" live at 5:00. we are coming back with the closing countdown and after the bell, we will look at the

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