takers. harvard law school recently named a bathroom after a man who donated to his alma mater. au penn has so-called bathroom ben efactors. i'm not sure that's what i would want on my epitaph. >> "closing bell" is coming up next. see you tomorrow, same time. today, on the "closing bell," bernanke speaks, but are investors listening. we'll break down what the fed chairman's latest comments for your money. plus, disney ready to report. instant analysis of today's big earnings results and an exclusive interview with ceo bob iger about the media giant's future plans straight ahead. live from the new york stock exchange, this is the final and most important hour of the trading day. here we go. i'm bill griffeth here at the new york stock exchange where there's more ticker tape outside than inside today.

one of those rare days. >> go giants! welcome to the show. i'm maria bartiromo. the markets right now, once again we're looking at a double-digit move for the dj. steady as we approach the home stretch. once again, the move coming on relatively low volume. we are looking at notable movers today, including a big rally in coca-cola shares. they beat the street with the latest earnings news. wall street erased the losses of the day on news that greek officials are inching closer toward those final austerity measures. more on this story coming up. later on the "closing bell," we will see if there are imminent signs of a resolution happening in greece. disney another big mover today, numbers come out after the close tonight. stock is up slightly. we talk about the company and whether or not it will be able to beat the street expectations for a fifth straight quarter. it has been a very good stretch for pinera.

is the stock too hot to handle now? bill? >> let's show you how we traded today on a sell-off on the open today. a turn-around on word that perhaps we were getting closer to a greek deal. which bob pisani will tell us all about in a moment. there it is, the dow heading sideways with a gain of 33 points. the nasdaq just now dipping back into negative territory. we had a high a short time ago, but now losing strength. the s&p is up at 1346. we still don't have a deal yet. >> no. we were hoemg that the -- of course, the coalition of the leaders would be meeting to sign off or indicate they approve of the bailout deal. but they have post-poebd it until until because they said they don't have the exact terms yet. you would think they would have a back of the envelope idea, at least, but no. >> this is worse, if it's at all possible, this is worse than the democrats and republicans last august. >> yes.

>> is it? is it? >> well, it's almost as bad. >> before we descend into farce, let's just say they've pushed the meeting off until tomorrow. hopefully they'll have something permanent in writing. euro rallied early. the euro rallied well before the stock market actually rallied. we started on the weak side on the stock market on hopes, of course, that something would be happening on the greek deal. we really didn't start rallying until after 10:00. started off poorly. some of it due to greece, some pointed out mr. bernanke did not rule out the possibility of qe-3. didn't say it was, but didn't rule it out either. that got the crowd going a little bit as well. we just have the incredible momentum that we've had. take a look at the major sectors so far this year. i can't remember when we've had a first five weeks of the year when you get double digit gains in the four most important sectors out there. financials, guys, today, just overtook materials as the biggest gainer on the year.

finally, we also had gold going earlier in the day. everything goes up here. of course, this may have been due to mr. bernanke's reluctance to rule out qe-3. there was vague talk, maybe the iranians would get involved in the syrian situation. so gold and oil both spiked up early. >> energy on that list, another winner on the year. >> a lot of new highs in energy. >> bob, thank you so much. meanwhile, behind the steady moves, brian shactman with that angle. over to you, brian. >> a very tight range today. i want to take a look at the realtime exchanges out there. at top, mcdonald's back above $100 a share. they report earnings tomorrow morning. microsoft holding up above $30 a share. financials, the weakest in the dow at least is bank of america, and jpmorgan. i want to drill down on coke. obviously still down year-to-date. getting a nice bounce after earnings today. north america, much better than

expected, coke, down almost 2% for the year. but 1% to the upside. other earnings stories, young brands touching an all-time high. still up 2 3/4%. toyota, sales growth was 17%. harman international beat on the top and bottom lines. we want to look ahead. obviously disney after the close, and looking forward to iger. because he gives insight into the global economy. hartford reports. western union just announced a dividend hike. that stock getting a .75% boost. bill, back to you. >> many reports to get to. thanks, brian. let's talk about treasuries

right now. yields going up today. there was the renewed optimism that greece may be moving closer toward a debt deal. we also have the three-year note auction out today. rick? >> whether it's the greek story or aftermath of friday's jobs report or just a market that is a little bit too long, we're seeing slightly higher rates. the three-year chart interday is really important. we're up a couple of basis points at 33. if you watched today, we had an auction. the notable part of today's auction was that dealers took 33% of the auction. that isn't necessarily a good dynamic. look at interday ten, they're up about half a dozen interbasis points. this is a new aches, so will the dealers with pockets full of threes, will that make the difference? we'll have to wait and see. since november 1st of last year, even though it seems we've moved around a bit, we're still in about a tight 25 basis-point closing range. the last chart, maybe the most

important chart of the day, believe it or not, the euro currency rocketing. maybe there will be news out of europe. but i'll tell you this, that's a two-month high whether there's news tomorrow or not. >> like to see that. rick santelli, thank you very much. ben bernanke spoke out for the first time since last week's surprising employments report. we have senior economic supporter steve liesman with us. steve, we heard a lot of the same, interest rates going to stay at exceptionally low levels until the end of 2014. what struck you about bernanke today? >> mostly i thought his comments on europe were newsworthy. i would suggest it was a lot of the same. it was so much the same, that he repeated the testimony from last week's appearance before the house budget committee, even including a jobs number out before the revision which happened the day after the testimony. so he was specifically not making any news on the economy today. he did say about europe that the

ecb said some countries already in a recession. he did suggest that u.s. banhav limited their exposure. if there's a european financial problem, it will wash up on these shores. on the economy, he was mostly asked about the budget. repeated dire warnings from last week. but did say the 8.3% unemployment rate does hide additional slack in the labor market from discouraged workers, and those working part-time for economic reasons. i didn't hear anything that made me think about qe-3 one way or the other, even though some suggest the markets took a cue there. i thought that was a big failure on the part of the senators not to ask that. >> isn't it interesting that we keep hearing rates will stay at exceptionally low levels until 2014, even though we've seen a change in the economic fundamentals. the data has been improving, yet no reaction. >> maria, i want to tell you a joke that one economist wrote to me. >> oh, i love jokes.

>> you've got to lower your bar here for laughing. he said he used to wonder whether the fed got the jobs report early. but after today's testimony, bob bernanke, he wonders if they get the job report at all. >> well done there. following on maria's question there, where do you think yields would be if we didn't have the intended low rates right now that the fed wants on the long end of the opener? where do you think they would be, with the economy doing what it's doing right now? >> well, that's a very difficult question to answer. but i would say a lot more than most. i would think a ten-year note rate would be 60 to 80 basis points higher, maybe a percent. but it isn't only our central bank that's potentially the reason why they're not higher, it's the coordination of many central banks. >> everybody, thanks so much. >> i want to thank groucho marx

for his humor there. >> steve, you've got to get out more. good joke, though. >> thanks. >> we could have a new high for the day here. that is in the offing right now. up 37 appointments right now for the dow. >> have you seen perina, popping 50% just since october. has this stock gone too far too fast. the earnings right after the bell tonight. >> speaking of earnings, disney reports after the bell as well. in talking numbers, we'll show you whether to buy or sell that stock ahead of the results. >> once those numbers are out, ceo bob iger will speak to us, before he speaks to analysts. >> first, here's how the s&p 500 is shaping up. about 50/50 red and green. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. let's get a rally going. >> all right, let's do it!

welcome back. we're in the final stretch of

trading for the day. 45 mists until the closing bell sounds. the industrial average near session highs right now. >> huh? right? okay. >> getting a rally going. greece is hoping to get closer to an agreement. up 43 points on the dow. some of the winners at this hour. mcdonald's doing very well. coca-cola, microsoft, american express, travelers all on the winning side. >> so is pannera bread. giving their investors a taste atreat. after the bell, we will find out if earnings rose to those expectations in the fourth quarter. joining us with their preview of what they're expecting from the company, nick is an equity research analyst covering restaurants, and robert darington is senior research analyst at morgan keegan. thank you for joining us today.

both of you are high on this stock. it's obvious that the market has been high on this stock. nick, do you think the stock -- the company will meet expectations after the bell? >> i think they've had a lot of sales momentum recently. i do think there's upside from transactions. i am afraid of inflation, taking a toll on earnings, however. we've seen across the board strants still having momentum. but coming in a little bit shorter on the eps side. >> food costs could be a problem for them in the near term? >> food costs and facilities, about 20% inflation for their fresh dough facilities. >> bob, what are you expecting from panera? >> not only will the fourth quarter be good, but the first quarter in 2012 will be a strong one as well. i think as we come into the first quarter, we're lapping

really record high tomato prices, lettuce prices, very high dairy costs. i think the likelihood is that beginning of the first quarter, we could see better than expected sales. lower than expected margins. excuse me, better than expected margins, and a good likelihood of a very strong quarter kicking off the new year. >> you have a price target of $160 a share. do you think it will hit that? >> if i remember correctly, i think the stock was there earlier today. i think the likelihood is that there's no doubt we'll revisit both our earnings estimates and target price, after the company reports today. again, like i said, i think they'll end the strong year on a very strong note, both sales and earnings. i think coming into 2012, i think there's a good likelihood as we go through the course of the year, that earnings likely, as the history has recently shown, likely to be well ahead of our expectations. and i think that will prove to be fuel for increase in our

target price. >> nick, your price target was $130. will you have to raise that now? it's clear it's exceeded that. but after earnings come out, are you going to rethink that? >> we will definitely have to revisit our targets and price target. but my worry is that most of the growth comes from the use of cash. there's very low visibility into how much shares they're going to buy back, in q-4 next year, and how many franchisees they'll acquire. i have a 20% growth target next year. it's difficult to get to those type of price targets when the company's growing at less than 20%. >> we are in a period, though, where companies like panera, mcdonald's chipotle, you name the fran cheese food companies, doing very well in the market. nick, are you wringing your hands a little too much at this point? >> i think expectations are very high. i think expectations are high

across the board. we are seeing accelerating positive trends. but i think expectations may have gotten a little ahead of themselves. >> bob, are you among those whose expectations may be a little too high right now? >> i don't think there's any doubt that this company, as well as many others, you know, some of the growth names in the industry are priced to perfection. but that being said, i clearly do believe there's upside potential based on what we're seeing early in the year, in both commodity trends, as we look at sales trends. we think -- remember, last year this time, we were measuring snow in feet, not inches. and as we lap that, i think the likelihood is that we're going to see a very strong underlying trend for the company's business. if you look at the fourth quarter trend, on a two-year basis, this company's been running double digits same-store sales. we could see comps well ahead of our ex peg tags, very likely in

an 8%, 9% range. >> we'll know after the close. they're expecting $1.41 as a mean estimate for the company. we'll see what happens then. nick, bob, thank you for joining us today. >> thanks, bill. >> thanks for having me. we are at the highs of the day. dow industrials up about 47 points right here. there are a handful of individual movers like coca-cola, and mcdonald's and the dow. no real trends in terms of the sector. >> should investors be buying or selling shares ahead of disney's earnings after the bell? >> bob iger joins us to talk about advertising sales. how it's impacting disney's bottom line. first, a look at how each member of the dow, including disney, have been trading so far today. today. we're back after this.

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welcome back to close g bel. i'm bertha coombs. traders say technology continues to show momentum. and buyers are moving in there. apple notching yet another fresh all-time high near $470 a share today. but that's not the only thing that is pushing the nasdaq composite today to a fresh 11-year high. microsoft mock the new highs today. some of the big tech stocks

starting to show momentum. we had a number of consumer stocks at new highs today, including elizabeth arden. o'charley's, now trading above the offer price from fidelity national yesterday. bill, if there's any indication those folks from the parade downtown, seem to be all up here in times square right now. and they look like they're spending money. >> yeah. i'll tell you, some of the restaurants around here downtown had specials going this morning during the parade. hopefully they left some money behind here. walt disney is the big name on the earnings calendar after the close of trading, as we mentioned. julia? >> bill, when disney reports, all eyes will be on advertising trends, theme park performance as well as subscription fees for the company's cable networks. wall street is looking for earnings of 72 cents per share, 5% more than last year. some hot topics on today's earnings call for plans turned capital to shareholders.

impacting the company's ten-year deal with comcast. we can certainly expect questions about disney's talks with union i vision to create a channel for hispanics. i'll be back to break down disney's numbers and we'll also be joined by disney's ceo bob iger. >> bob will join us before he even talks to the company's analysts. so he'll be giving you the first scoop on what's going on with disney before he gets to his conference call. look forward to that very much, coming up. >> 35 minutes until the close of trading. traders are in fact watching disney, the media giant coming out with those numbers right after the close today. making this hour your last chance to move on the stock ahead of the big event. let's talk about what the charts say, buy or sell on disney. on the technical side of things, we've got rich ross here with me. global technician strategist. and on the fundamental side,

vasilly for susquehanna. good to have you on the program, gentlemen. thank you for joining us. rich, look at the disney chart. what is it telling us is this. >> the chart is telling us disney is in an outstanding technical position. you want to be a buyer ahead of earnings. let's start with the textbook moving across. this is the price of admission in the red-hot market today. technicians know this moving average taken in isolation is not to be used as a buy/sell signal. but in an otherwise bullish cluster of evidence, it confirms you're on the right side. the lows tend to create enough inner c inertia moving higher. the pennant flies at half mast, using the highly scientific leg in, leg out measuring technique. $45 in disney, a buyer ahead of earnings. >> 40% move since october.

let's get into the fundamentals here. does the fundamental side of the story confirm what we're seeing in the stock? >> well, yes, definitely. and that's true for disney, that's true for the fall media stocks. the 2012 estimates did not change since october. it's the multiple that changed. disney fundamentals are as healthy as the rest of the company. >> what about oil prices? a lot of people worry that oil krimps attendance at the theme parks, one of the important parts of the business. what's your take on that? >> historically that hasn't been true. that's not the single drive over attendance. even if you drive your family to the park, the whole package costs so much more than just the gas. so the gas is just a fraction of the cost. and increase in the fraction is not enough to deter people. you've got to look at the broad economy. the company has to give discounts. >> that's a really good point. rich, you know, vasily made a

good point, it's really the media stocks looking at good fundamentals and their stocks are up. tell me about the overall technicals on the industry. you want to show a chart of time warner here? >> that's a great example. let's pull back to the glory days of 2007, to really showcase the strength of this chart, and reinforce the importance of the levels around the $38. a multi-year trading range founded by $28 on the low end, $38 on the high end. you'll get a projected target around $48. we think you're going to get a fast move up. we like fast moves up in bull markets. >> you think the media stocks have more room to run? >> definitely. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. great conversation. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> bill, over to you. >> heading to the last half hour of trade here. our next guest sees investor appetite for risk increasing. they believe that that will fuel the next leg of this market rally. that bullish call is coming up. as we head to the break, a look

at how some of the standout performers are trading right now. back after this.

bob pisani down on the floor of the new york stock exchange. a little more volatility than we've seen in the last few days. volume, it's better than yesterday. but still on the light side. a number of sectors that have been negative all day have now popped into positive territory, including the industrials, financials, consumer discretionary, even the technology group. energy's been strong throughout most of the day, once again, a lot of new highs in that energy group. after the close, still an earnings season. about 60, maybe 65% of stocks of the s&p 500 has reported earnings. we'll get a big giant after the close, walt disney, and pinera, that stock amading in the last few months. and per kinelmer also reporting after the bell. >> one of the next guests says the positive data is fueling risk ap tut among the investors. is it time to put money back in

the market. >> kathy jones, at charles schwab, along with hank smith, chief investment officer. you do think we see another leg going here, right? >> i do. i don't think we've done all that much. everyone's surprised because the markets have been pretty much in a straight line up with very little volatility. we don't have the external shocks we had a year ago this time. the arab spring leading to higher energy prices, followed quickly by the japanese tsunami. and the havoc that wreaked on the economy. we don't get these times of external shocks and don't view europe at this point as being in the headlines every day for the past two years. we might have a much less volatile, more north trending equity market. more confidence comes back. >> are we still seeing de-leveraging, risk adversity out there because of the challenges still to come? >> i think so. however you think the economy should be performing, it's not going to perform to that level,

because de-leveraging is still a factor. but the good news is, much less of a one than two years ago, or three years ago. >> kathy, you're in fixed income. you're keeping it close to the vest here. you aren't going to go out too far on the risk scale at this point, are you? >> we've seen a big pickup in risk appetite also. if you look at where yields are in corporate bonds, they're at the lowest levels in 30 years. even though the spread versus treasuries is still relatively -- i wouldn't say wide, but wider than the historical average. high yields, the financials, bonds and financials have done very well. i a tribute a lot of this to the change at the european central bank late last year. when they came in with the long-term repo operation, you could see the markets loosen up a little bit. so the risk appetite starts to come back. >> you've got the ecb doing a very positive event for the --

certainly the european banks. we saw a change. what about the fed in the u.s.? bernanke speaking today, reiterating low, exceptionally low rates until 2014. >> it's really tough. we work at schwab with smaller clients who are trying to earn some income off of their fixed income, and it's really tough. we're not advising to go long duration, because that's a really higher risk way to go at this stage of the game. so a little bit more credit risk. but people are definitely searching for yield wherever they can get it. >> the high yield bonds then? >> if you have that sort of appetite. i woint load your portfolio with the higher bonds. if we get a better economic environment in 2012, there's room for high yields bonds to do a little better. we like investment grade corporate bonds as well. i think this is the year youer the coupon. you're not going to get the price appreciation we've had the last couple of years in bonds but you earn the coupon.

for a lot of people, that's good. >> or i'd invite them over to the equity markets where we have plenty of high-quality companies with big juicy dividend yields that are not only better than the ten-year treasury, better than what they pay on their own ten-year debt. >> somebody said to me the other day that's a crowded trade. but i said, who cares, it's still got a dividend. >> thank, good to see you. thank you so much. thank you so much for joining us, kathy. we're in the final stretch here, just about 25 minutes away from the closing bell. and we are near the highs of the day. >> a bullish outlook for copper you ask? which has already been red-hot this year. we'll find out coming up in a moment. >> after the bell, stay with us. we've got an exclusive interview coming with bob iger, president and ceo of disney. >> how the media companies have been trading so far today. we're back after this.

but first, before we go to break, the "dividend." walt disney world in florida is about the same size as manhattan island, san francisco or st. louis? the "dividend" pays off after the "dividend" pays off after the break.

just before the break, as part of the "dividend," we asked, walt disney world in florida is about the same size as manhattan island, san francisco or st. louis? now, the payoff. san francisco. sharon epperson here at the nymex. we've seen about a 2% move here in u.s. oil prices, and the wti contract narrowing that spread with brent crude. earlier this morning i told you goldman sachs has come out of its position that was shorting wti brent spread. we're also very focused on what is happening with iran and the escalating violence in syria. traders focused on nigeria as well. we're also watching gold prices

here. this is a rally after two days of declines, and a rally above the $17.50 level per gold. a $25 jump in the gold price. 1769 is the next level. they're watching closely what ben bernanke had to say today. back to you guys. >> thank you so much, sharon. let's stick with commodities here. glen core acquiring the remainiremain ing 66% of estrada. it brings the total value to nearly $52 billion. that would be the world's largest ever mining deal. not enough, though, to jump-start what has been a weak beginning of the year so far for mergers and acquisitions volume. rich peterson said it's reached a total of $193 billion. that is the slowest pace since 2009. m & a volume lagging in both europe and the rest of the

world. which could have an effect on the financial services sector earnings going forward, bill. >> you would think. well, copper has been on a tear recently, jumping 12% so far this year. what does the huge glen core estrada deal mean. darren is keeping a close eye on that, among other things as we trade to the close here. darren, copper, what do you think? is it destined to go higher? that's a good indicator for the economy. >> i've been watching the 385 level on copper. 200-day move in average. i think we're going to close above there. i think there will be further upside. with china loosening rates in china, it is positive for the metal. we do expect further growth there. >> and there's a -- perhaps a little resistance level that we're citing right there at the moment. but that is for copper. we showed a moment ago a graphic of your view of the energy spider, the xle. that's been doing pretty well as well. >> we broke out above the

october 28th high. we're continuing to see money flows into the equities and energy side. some of the small and mid caps are to the upside. pxp is one, which is having a pretty strong day today. >> and what's the driver there? i mean, we've got a number of economies around the world that have been slowing down for the most part. here in the u.s., especially, inventories have been piling up. so why would we see an increase in energy prices, and the companies that go with it then? >> you've seen brent prices actually carry wti prices higher, as we've seen there. >> almost 20 bucks now. >> it has. what happens is a lot of these companies are able to export their product at international prices. so if you're buying a wti and selling it brent, that spread is still very profitable for you as an energy company. >> a bit of a rally here, such as it is.

what are you looking at before the close, and expecting to happen tomorrow morning? >> i'm watching the euro right now. i think a lot of the strength in the commodities today was really backed by the euro. we saw crude go from the $96 level through $98. that was largely when the euro reversed to the upside. that was on getting some sort of closure to the greece situation, which is very important right now. >> darren, thanks. see you soon. >> have a good one, bill. >> you, too. just 15 minutes away from the closing bell for the day. the market has been steady, climbing upwards. >> they may not be stealing the headlines, but up next we'll round up today's under the radar stocks that investors should be paying attention to, at least know more about right now. >> later, back into technology, the names of five technology names with a ton of cash on the balance sheet. no debt. two very important screens. no debt. tons of cash. technology cash cows coming up. >> but first, yes, all right, here's a look at how the big

names in tech have been trading as we head toward the close.

about 13 minutes before the close. the nasdaq, composite on pace for its fifth gain in about six sessions. that gain is one point right now. after tacking on as many as eight points at the session high. volatility index has been edging lower as stocks have been

creeping higher. the vix is down to 1675. maria, where are you? >> well, you know what, bill, it happens to be i'm at the post right now on the floor of the nyse. coming to you from the post of mcdomd's. the stock is showing real momentum recently. here we are at the post of the dow component. the stock has been up all day. just a couple dollars shy of the 52-week high. piper jaffray raising the comp store sales after conducting traffic checks on the fast food giant in january. let's check it out. what mcdonald's is doing right now, mcd, up 1.5% on the shares today. now, piper jaffray's analysts believes mcdonald's is well positioned to deliver consistent and strong positive results, despite commodity inflation and strong year over year comparison.

that is really behind this momentum. driving piper to actually boost mcdonald's price target. new target on the stock is $1.13. look at the chart here, edging out young brands, home of kfc, pizza hut and taco bell. that whole group getting blown away by mcd, bill. >> that's for sure. let's take a look at some of the other big movers that may have fallen under the radar today. brian schactman is back with those. >> some investors clearly still believe in the newspaper business. mclatchy up 20%. ad revenues continue to go down. aggressive cost cutting led to the feed, dipped under 20%. strong day there. ace touched an all-time high, just slightly below. insurance, not hardware. not deterred by the guidance on eps was below consensus. catching a strong bid there. leapfrog getting a buy initiation today.

i wanted to look into the stock a little bit more. i have kids, i see the stuff in the stores. it's up about 100% in the last six months. 7.25% today. not a lot of talk about sears today. but it's been the top performer in the s&p 500 for most of the day. now it's up more than 50% this year. 6% on the day. whether it's short covering or not, it was strong gains. >> yes, indeed. we'll take them. thank you, brian. we're coming back with the closing countdown, complete recap of the day so far. and we're just minutes away from disney's latest earnings. bob iger will break down the results here on the "closing bell."

coming up on the six-minute mark before the closing bell rings today, it was one of those days, you know, it creeps up on you. we're only a few -- maybe 100 points away from 13,000 now on the dow jones industrial average. my, how time flies.

we're heading back to a millennium number there. the euro, an eight-week high. that's the investment that everybody was keying on today. of the s&p 500 companies, we're at the point now where three-fifths of the way through the earnings season for the s&p 500, 300 companies have reported to this point. 60% have beaten the estimates. and that's actually lower than the average, which we'll talk about here in a moment. so earnings, while they have been good, the expectations may have been a little too high for some of those earnings coming in here. so as for today, the euro, that was the investment that everybody was keying on. it turned around and took off, got to an eight-week high. we learned that maybe we are closer to a deal with the greek government on a debt restructuring. they will vote on that tomorrow. we'll wait and see how that turns out. as the euro goes higher, the dollar goes lower. that means gold goes higher. that was up 10% year-to-date for

the price of gold. we're now at $1747.90 on that. oil moved higher, although the spread as i mentioned earlier, is still pretty high relative to brent north sea. our crude is at $98. they're at $116. so it's a very widespread right now. the premium put in between syria and the u.n. and iran as well. elsewhere, the ten-year yield, across the board, yields in the treasury curve were going higher today. prices were coming down as we go more risk on at this point. the yield on the three-year note was kind of mixed. the demand was soft. but we'll wait to see what happens with the longer ma turts. two more auctions for treasury tomorrow and on thursday. now, as far as earnings go, yes, the earnings reports have been coming in fast and furious. 60% have beaten to this point. the average going back to 1994,

the average beat rate at this point is 62%. we're a little on the light side here. this is the lowest beat rate we've had since the financial crisis back in 2008. not trying to panic anybody, but that's where we stand right now. earnings after the bell, we've got jive coming out. this is the software company that ipo'd in december at $12 a share. it's a social business software company. we'll see what they do. as you can see as we head to the close, this stock is coming off the lows. so somebody's expecting a little bit. the ceo of jive software will be on "closing bell" next hour with maria. you have panera, sitting right on that 1$160 level there. they're expecting $1.41 from that. disney will be out right after the close here. we'll see how disney stock is doing. bob iger himself will be joining us after the earnings come out. there it is, up 1 1/3%, now trading at $41.

hank smith, let's look at the sectors and how they've done today. generally speaking this was sort of a topsy-turvy day. utilities that lagged this year so far, but they were the leading sector this day. do you like the utilities? >> we like some of them. but not overweight in utilities, because there's not the growth we would like to see longer term. >> you want to go more out on the risk scale? you won't go with the safer utilities at this point? >> that is correct. more growth of income. >> energy, consumer discretionary, anybody in that category you like right now? technology? health care? >> well, sure. again, we like some of the energy names, exxon mobils, con ohco, phillips, chevron, home depot, mcdonald's, although i'm not sure that's a staple or discretionary. i think technically it's a discretionary. >> why do you think the franchise companies have done so well? >> i think they're really focused on the consumer, their

customer. they're delivering what they want. and they're getting global exposure, particularly mcdonald's. >> we're going to take a moment, we've got breaking news from jon fortt out in silicon value. >> we have yahoo! board members resigning. four board members are departing. and the chairman, roy bustok, is one of them. i've got the release here. they're explaining that they've appointed a new ceo. and in the process, several board members will be stepping down. also, the board today elected, it says, too highly qualified independent directors. so big shakeup at yahoo! here after jerry yang stepped down. i heard he would not be the last board member to resign in the shakeup. and indeed, more board members stepping down at yahoo! >> do you think this means they're less likely to strike a

deal with a buyer of some kind, that they will remain independent with this new management team? >> well, my sense was from the beginning that the board was not looking to sell everything, but they are still looking to try to spin off the asian assets, which is complicated to do in a way that's not very costly from a tax perspective, bill. >> jon fortt, thank you very much. as we head to the close here, the dow up 39, coming off the highs of the session. we are waiting for disney, and that has been a gainer today. >> disney, of course, one of the big gainers last year. the important thing here today is, the big mo is the real mover. still concerns over in europe. >> expectations a little too high. >> january has blown away everybody. a lot of the traders are still very much behind here. i think that's been a major factor in playing catch-up. >> thank you, sir. we'll get ready for the second hour. here come the disney earnings with bob iger s