year. forgive the commentary, some way a miracle return to growth in 2013, you'll forgive me for being a little skeptical about that. i'm sure "closing bell" will have much more on this. thank you for watching "street signs." "closing bell" is next. today, on the "closing bell," big stocks in focus. cisco reports earnings after the bell. we'll talk exclusively with ceo john chambers right after the numbers come out. plus, the first glimpse of grounon's bottom line since going public. the stock has been on a tear in the past month. is it too hot to handle. and we'll dig into whole foods stock and earnings story, straight ahead. live, from the new york stock exchange, this is the final and most important hour of the trading day. and we do welcome you to the bell on this wednesday. i'm bill grif eths. >> hi, everybody, i'm ma pri a

bartiromo. the markets right now, we are looking at a situation locked into a tug-of-war here as we enter this final stretch. the wall street looks at a mixed trade going into the final hour. strength in some chips today. the chip sectors providing some support. a barrage of after-the bell earnings tonight from names like cisco, groupon. some investors taking comfort in the fact that eurozone finance ministers will meet tomorrow in brussels to examine and eu imf rescue package for the troubled nation as they talk a tough austerity package aimed at securing a rescue. coming up, we'll break down the latest headlines in terms of what specific austerity they are going to have to embark on. and what you need to be focused on in terms of this eurozone crisis, bill. >> here's how things have been trading today, maria. sell-off midday, we've come back, turned positive, now we're

negative. we'll wait and see if the markets react to any of this in this final hour of trading. dow is down a little over a point. the nasdaq still the strongest of the major averages, up almost nine points as we await some important reports, the most important being from cisco. the s&p up two points. here's bob pisani. i hear something's going on in greece. >> so here's what's really interesting. one of the reasons the market has rallied in the middle of the day is the report you just read, that the eurozone finance ministers are being summoned to brussels. but what are they being summoned to brussels to talk about? they're looking at the terms of the bailout proposal. you see the s&p is rising now in positive territory. and the private sector deal. here's the problem, we still don't have -- i read the headlines, we have not confirmed any of these, but there may be preliminary agreements going on already. but nothing's been confirmed yet. so here's what's really interest bg it. the finance ministers are going ahead with a meeting to examine

the deal without the greeks. essentially the finance machinessters are saying we'll have a deal even if the greeks don't agree. we'll just go ahead with a meeting and have it. >> this is reminiscent of what the democrats and republicans went through last august. >> if we don't see greece swallow some of these austerity measures, all of these austerity measures, there's not going to be an agreement. i think they held the line pretty firm on that. >> obviously they're not going to do anything until they force -- the question is, how much can they force them to all go along with it, in a binding commitment to all the parties. i think that's going to be the hard part. regardless, i think we have a problem with tomorrow. the ecb meeting, and the worst possible thing happened in the middle of the day, the irish finance minister came out and said if mr. groggy gives concessions to greece, this will open the door for ireland -- >> i like your e-mail. drogy's worst nightmare. >> now, can you see them?

they're all in line now. first ireland, then portugal. they're all going to get in line. and that's going to be a major problem for him. >> make no mistake, the eu officials are not negotiating with the greek officials on this, they're talking to everybody else complicitly. not literally. but whatever deal they come up with for the greeks, everybody else is going to want some of that, if it's favorable. >> let's see if we can get confirmation on the points brian just read. there are unconfirmed reports that the politicians agreed they're talking about a 20% cut in the minimum wage, maybe about 150,000 jobs. the average greek citizen makes $12,000 a year. that's the minimum wage. 20% cut would be $9,600 a year now. that's significant. imagine if that happened here in the united states. >> really important point. thanks, bob. see you a little later. let's look at some of the movers and shakers that has the dow flat on the day. over to you, brian. >> we just did turn green in the dow. i want to look at the heat map.

gainers over decliners, on about a 2-to-1 basis here. disney had solid profits, espn, movie studio, disappointed a bit. it traded down in the pre-market. but you see it's completely reversed. people in the conference call think it was upbeat. on the flip side, mcdonald's, look at their chart when they reported their january sales to beat in every global region. they look poised for a 52-week high. the pre-market way up there, heading to $1.02. the most important thing to me, of course, when it comes to mcdonald's, shamrock shake's going national, big-time. computer sciences, best in the s&p 500, up about 20%. ralph lauren still up 9.5%. western union, cbre, down 6%.

here's the key names to report after the close. all in positive territory. cisco up half a percent. newskoerp is basically flat. whole foods up 2.5%. i looked at the chart, bill, whole foods since the march '09 low is up about 550%. >> later i'm going to show a ten-year chart of whole foods. they are dangerously close to a double top right now. because they're getting back to a high set six years ago. and if they don't exceed that high, and this earnings report could affect that, could be a double top for that stock. we'll get to that a little bit later. stick around, brian, we want to talk about the markets here in the "closing bell." we'll add steve liesman to this conversation. you wanted to talk about consumerer debt. you're sifting through the troika reports on greece. any thoughts or observations there as well? >> well, it just feels like we're back in that nether world. if there is a deal, isn't a

deal, it's not really quite clear. i'm looking here, for example, at the minimum wage cuts, which i know has been on the table. i'm not sure quite in that proportion of 20%. there is some deal here with the ecb. but the extent to which they will or will not take a profit, i know the market wants to get excited about this, bill, but i would just urge caution here, reading these headlines. go ahead? >> i was going to say, the market really isn't that exciting right now. we turned slightly positive. you would think if there was definitive news here, we would be spring loaded for that. >> i think the market's taking it right then. i know bob was saying the market was excited about it, brian, so i'm taking it off the argument with pisani, not me. >> what impact could this have, assuming this is the final deal? what in fact does it have on the greek economy? >> it's not good for the greek economy. what i like to focus on is the u.s. economy. if you think about the idea that perhaps the bleeding has been

staunched in europe through the long-term repo operations, refinance operations, which kind of has brought italy and spain, at least their yields under control, and if there is progress towards a deal here in greece, then maybe we can kind of move on with our nation, and weak recovery without concern that the bottom's going to drop out of it at any minute now with a greek financial event. >> that safety net that the ecb put in a couple of months ago has helped certainly in the near term. >> and you've got the other event, they're going to sell more money at the end of this month. and that could also be quite large. but it seems clear there was a need for that kind of liquidity, a kind of temporary quantitative easing, a tqe is the best way to think about it. >> brian, you used the term spring loaded. this market is hardly spring loaded right now. we have highs of about 110, which is a decent number, but historically speaking, it's not what we did last year or the year before in certain phases of this market. >> i get a lot of people asking

me questions, we're at such high levels, apple making another high, bank of america above $8, microsoft above $30. people are nervous, especially retail investors are buying in at these high points. i just made a few phone calls. on something like bank of america, if any of the financials are being held back by greek fears which for some could be unfounded, a lot of people think the fundamentals are there. they could double. they could go way higher. people were nervous about jumping in on apple at $150. if you like the fundamentals, you may want to ignore some of these things. >> the headlines are not unrelated, brian. you would think there would be a greener light on bank of america if, for example, greece were settled. that's one of the things that really unsettles the finance markets here. >> agreed. >> investment in those bigger banks is the possibility of a financial event related to greece and/or europe. >> do you subscribe to the jamie

dimond school, that really greek is not a big deal? >> i subscribe to that idea from an actual dollar point forever, but not from a sentiment standpoint. who knows in these markets what kind of fallout there is, if the headlines the next day say greece defaults, right? and i think the ability for things to cascade are not measurable. >> yeah. >> thank you, guys. good conversation. see you later. >> thanks, guys. let's take treasury rates. mildly higher today after decent de mapped for the government's auction for ten-year notes. rick santelli is in chicago with that story. >> thank you, maria. while i'm talking, keep in mind the substance of that last discussion that we had with steve and shact. aggressively unchanged. look at the last three months because it really has been in a 25-point basis range. right around 205 yield. all we've done is snugged up to

the top end of that range. if you look at a boon, the equivalent in europe, it's virtually unchanged on the day. look at the euro currency. also basically unchanged. what am i getting at here? i think when it comes to greece, and the stability that we're trying to get in lieu of a long-term solution, it's an asymmetric equation. maybe we all interpreted it ip corre incorrectly. it's the fact that if they didn't come up with something to stabilize the situation, it would have moved the markets down in stocks, and up higher in treasuries. back to you. >> good way of thinking of that. thank you, rick. appreciate it very much. we're heading to the close, about 50 minutes to go. hope you can stick around. right now, the dow is up a whopping 1 point. >> groupon has done so well since going public. the stock up nearly 40%, going public in november. we'll talk whether to buy or sell this stock.

that's going to be the next catalyst. >> there's more, speaking of earnings, cisco's turn-around strategy, is it working? john chambers will join us exclusively to break down those numbers at the top of the next hour. >> we have instant analysis on news from newscorp and whole foods. >> first, here's how the s&p heat map is shaping up.

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welcome back. 45 minutes to go. time for a dow check. a still stat check on the industrial average. maybe it is spring loaded, i don't know. we're sitting at the unchanged level pretty much. on the heels of yesterday's close near a four-year high. but volume remains light. maria points out. as greece decides on austerity measures in exchange for a second bailout tranche due next

month. right now the dow is down a third of a point. it was up as many as 15. down 61 on the open. maybe it does feel like it's just waiting for more news coming out of greece right now. the leaders among the dow components, b of a now above $8. if you thought that mid last year, it never would have happened, here it is another up 3-plus percent today. unite tech, hewlett-packard, walt disney and jpmorgan chase rounding out the top five. >> groupon getting set to deliver its first earnings report since going public. that stock has been on fire ever since going public. >> it has, maria, after falling slightly, now it's come up a good bit since the end of november. they're expected to announce earnings after the bell for the first-ever quarter as a public company. it's up more than 20% since november. analysts expect them to turn a 3 cents per share profit on almost $173 million in revenue.

the full year earnings, though, will show losses as groupon canceled out much of the earnings with marketing expenses. it slashed those, though, before going public, as investors did seek one quarter at least of earnings in the black. now, though, those investors want proof, not only that it's possible to grow without spending the big bucks, but that it's sustainable. maria? >> kayla, thank you so much. let's take a look at the stock. we've got both sides of the debate in the stock brawl. lou kerner founded the blog, and in the other corner we have managing partner at media tech capital partners. gentlemen, good to see you. thank you so much for joining us. >> great to be here. >> nice to be here. >> the market is telling us one story, lou, as someone who is bullish on the stock. where did you see the opportunities for this company and this stock? >> sure. well, i've been following groupon for a couple of years, and the nyers have been saying the same thing, that this is a fad. what's not a fad is people like deals and merchants like

customers, and groupon is dominating this new massive category, the fastest growing company in history. and we think they'll continue to grow at a rapid pace. >> you just think the growth is there and the stock follows suit? >> that's right. >> porter, you called group on an innovative disrupter that may not be able to justify a $15 million market cap. >> maria, i think groupon needs to go to greece, because the greek population really needs some of the bargains they offer. but the difficulty groupon has in staying in business in the united states and globally is that there's no real barrier to entry, other than the infrastructure that they've put in place to generate $125 million people who is stop by occasionally. you're not going to see a growth story when they announce their earnings, because they have yet to really tell you how many people have dropped out of groupon. >> maybe, but how do you -- i mean, how do you justify, or what do you have to say about the 40% move in the stock? >> well, there's a relatively small float out there, after the

ipo. and i'm looking at a real potential short squeeze immediately after their earnings. they've had a nice lift today. but their short position is pretty high. and i would run for the hills if i were short right now. >> lou, you heard what porter just said. how is groupon fending off competition in the daily deals business, including rival living social for one? and what about the fact that porter makes a good point, the float is small. you know, is that part of this huge move or is it really justified? >> sure. porter's first point about no barrier to entry is true for almost every business in the world. there are no barriers to entry to amazon. but amazon created, you know, tens of billions of dollars in shareholder value because of scale. and groupon benefits from that same benefit of having massive scale. and also, we're really in what i believe is the most transformative period of change in business in history, really led by the social media, and mobile. and groupon is poised to

leverage those revolutions. and i think we're going to see continued growth. i think not only local deals, but groupon is doing real well in travel. they just sbroised groupon goods where they're just selling goods. >> bottom line here, you would nut new money in this stock ahead of the earnings, lou? >> i think groupon's got a long way to go. >> porter, i know where you are on the stock. gentlemen, thank you very much. we'll see you soon. porter, lou, thank you. what a day, meanwhile, for caesar's entertainment. heavily traded today. the stock surging after pricing at $9 a share. something that some market watchers predicted because caesar's sold only 1.4% of the outstanding shares. many people thought the stock could get hit, though, because six times more shares were going to be offloaded by investors than were offered in the ipo. nonetheless, the strong showing put caesar's among the year's best performing initial public offerings. caesar's trails just guidewire

software, up 63% since its debut last month. bill, it certainly doesn't look like a slow quiet market based on those numbers for the ipos. >> today caesar's had to be halted a number of times as it kept running higher and higher. it finally found its equilibrium price there. the dow is down a point. should you have bet on cisco's comeback story before the company reports its latest earnings? we're going to break down the charts on cisco coming up next in "talking numbers." >> very excited to talk to john chambers. take a look at how the big names in technology, including cisco, are trading right now. still to come, ceo john chambers will break down cisco's earnings exclusively on the "closing bell" before he even speaks to analysts on the conference call. you are watching cnbc, first in you are watching cnbc, first in business worldwide.

i'm bertha coombs. wti nymex topping $100 this morning, as there was hope for the greek deal. then we got the inventory numbers. smaller than expected, bill, but it was still a fairly bearish report.

to the upside for crude. and we saw a bit of selling in wti nymex after it reached that resistance. then we saw more buying in brent. ironically, the most bearish part of the report was on gasoline. all the indicators saying that demand is down some 4% from a year ago. nonetheless, gasoline today, the outlier, and the big winners, traders saying that it's cracking these days that brent crude spread. and as it moved higher today, gasoline went right along with it, bill, as at the pump we are about 10 cents above where we were a month ago. >> that spread is widening. thank you, bertha. see you later. as we head to the close, traders are watching shares of cisco, set to report earnings after the bell tonight, making this your last opportunity to either buy or sell that stock ahead of the event. do you buy or sell it here. let's start talking numbers on the technical side with j.c. o'hara, and on the fundamental side is alkesh shaw who covers

the name for evercore partners. bearish, bullish? what are you doing? >> this stock has been extremely hard to value over the last year. but i can tell you this, looking at the earnings tomorrow, we can expect volatility. take a look at the chart, going back to 2010, around earnings, we saw a constantly downward gap, which is a very bearish sign. we're seeing one gap after another gap after another gap. and they were never filled. until last august, where we saw the first upward gap. it will be interesting to see how the stock reacts to the news. >> alkesh, that chart really embodies how it is as john chambers tries to turn it around. >> with $5 per share in cash and under ten times earnings, the

valuation is very compelling. in terms of, you know, what we're really looking for on this call is we think the commentary is going to be around three main issues, which can really keep the stock going. first is margins. second is growth. and third is competition. on margins, we think they're stable to up. on growth, the reason why the stock bottomed last august is they reset the growth part, so they can now hit it or beat it. and in competition, things like hp and juniper are distracted with changes or with product transitions. so that's giving them a window. >> all right. so is there a level you'd buy or sell it? there's a key number you're watching right now? >> i'll say this, if we see any sort of negative reaction in tomorrow's trading, i'm staying away from this. the last time a stock had a negative reaction it continued lower. but to see a positive reaction, i would be interested in buying at these levels right now. i think we could see 24 before 17. >> you'll watch the market response. >> exactly. >> good to see you both.

thank you. we'll have those numbers coming up. don't forget, john chambers will be breaking down the numbers exclusively just moments after the results are released. looking forward to that very much. >> we're in the final stretch here, about 30 minutes to go before the closing bell sounds. up next, barclays capital larry cantor with us, why returns on risk-free assets have fallen far below historical norms and why that could last for years to come. how he's investing today. take a look at some of the standout performers in the s&p 500. you're watching the "closing bell" on cnbc. back in a moment. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i'm a serious trader. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so, i want to trade at a place that really gets who i am tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and what i need. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and still gives me a great price. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, you get everything you need tdd# 1-800-345-2550 to trade your way. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 all for $8.95 a trade. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 here, it's all about trading. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 start trading with the intuitive streetsmart edge platform

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bob pisani on the floor of the new york stock exchange. i want to bring you up to date on the greek negotiations. a copy of the troika report is on the proposed deal with greece. that's what they're going to be discussing tomorrow at the eurozone finance ministers meeting. there's a discussion that greece will be pledging a 20% cut in the minimum wages, perhaps cutting 150,000 employees. other concessions. the issue is, the greek

politicians themselves have not yet signed off on this agreement. that's what we're waiting for. we still don't have confirmation that they have yet done that. nor do we have any confirmation they would agree to any kind of strict oversight that would be a condition of the bailout plan. that's what we're still waiting for. meantime, the dow industrial average is largely flat right now. most of the major sectors are on either side of positive or negative. energy has been the one notable decliner today. guys, back to you. >> bob, thank you very much. yes, the market is waiting for some guidance of some kind, probably from athens, or brussels, as the case may be. we're just down four points right now. >> it sounds like there's an enormous amount of money on the sidelines waiting to come into this market. there's been a fundamental shift in the markets that has taken a lot of safe assets off the table. making them more expensive and harder too find. the next guest highlights this issue in his report out today. let's talk about those safe assets. how you want to position

yourself in this high-risk environment. >> he's just come up for air after putting this report out here. larry cantor, the head of research at barclays. this report has been put out, what, every year since 1956? >> it has, yes. the longest-running publication. >> a long, long, long-term view of the markets right now. >> exactly. this is our opportunity to step back, rather than the usual shelf life of a week or so, and do something that actually should be out there for a couple of years. >> do you like the u.s. equities long term then? >> actually, the research we did, the first piece looked at the equity risk premium. so in other words, equity yields have been way higher than treasury yields. historically wide. and a lot of people have been interpreted this means equities are cheap. what we come out and say, actually the valuation of equities looks pretty fair. now, this is long term, not over the next year or two. >> over the next ten years? >> five years. it's fairly priced. you should get returns in line

with the historical returns. so it's a decent investment. the reason the equity risk premiums are so high is bonds are so incredibly expensive. bond yields are extraordinarily low. we looked into it and said, why is this. and is this going to stay that way. the main reason why treasury yields and other safe asset yields are so low is that there's a scarcity of them. in other words, we're in a heightened risk environment. everybody wants safer assets. the problem is, you think about all the safe assets that were there just a year or two ago, they're not there anymore. italian bonds, spanish bonds, mortgage-backed securities. you know, freddie and fannie were risk-free, not miami. >> they're rushing for income. >> it's a huge drop. so there's no -- it's no coincidence there's a huge bid for these things. what we conclude is, it's going to be there for a while. in other words, you're going to

have this very big, very low bond yields. it doesn't necessarily mean equities are cheap. >> so that's the bottom line. and this is, again, over the long term. i like the quotes that you have in the beginning. creditors have better memories than debtors. let china sleep for when she awakes, she will shake the world. let me ask you about the environment right now today. and i don't know if this person watching is talking about the next five years, or the next few months. >> of course. >> what am i supposed to do in an environment with such unbelievable uncertainty out of europe, and when volume is deadly day after day? >> let's say, we've been, as you know, maria and bill, pretty bullish on stocks relative to everybody else. not super bullish, but relative to the pessimism. so we put our global outlook out a couple of months ago and said it's time to reengage in risk. the things that have really been hitting the markets worries about a double dip. and the euro area debt crisis have gotten better. not a solution, but there's some good things like the ecb stepped in with all that liquidity. we've had political change in

these countries. they're trying to put together a fiscal frame. that's improvement. so i would say in terms of the next few months, now, we've had a big improvement, as you know. >> we started off strong here. >> what i'm noticing just what you said before, maria, there's not been a lot of participation here. and because we think the data will continue to do somewhat better, we think this has a little more legs. >> okay. >> that's the near term view, stay engaged with the stock market. probably going to keep doing pretty well. >> thank you very much. >> i'll pin him down on a few sectors coming up. the dow is flat. this is very interesting as we watch this market kind of maintain this unchanged level here, waiting for something. >> so we're getting ready for the close. we'll break down the charts to show you why the rally in technology, they still have room. look at that index in s&p tech. >> doing very well. that's because technology is doing well. cisco is set to report earnings

after the bell. who better to discuss the numbers and the industry, he's got the overview, ceo john chambers will join us moments after his report is released at the top of the hour. >> the dow is shaping up. 20 final minutes trading for the day. but first, before we go to break, the "dividend." which stock is the better performer so far this year, big lots, jcpenney, or ralph lauren? the "dividend" pays off after the "dividend" pays off after the break. ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement.

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just before the break, as part of the "dividend," we asked, which stock is the better performer so far this year? big lots, jcpenney, or ralph lauren? now, the payoff. ralph lauren. welcome back to "closing bell." i'm seema mody. the nasdaq up .3%. chip stocks continue to provide strength to the nasdaq. a lot of these companies are seeing a recovery in demand and optimistic on seeing increase in corporate i.p. spending in 2012. take a look at the chart, a very

clear spread. some of the movers in the semiconductor space, look at invidia, ending a patent dispute going back to 2008. the market always likes resolutions. bill? >> seema, thank you very much. we're heading to the close. about 19 minutes left here. time for a quick smarcheck on t nasdaq. a fresh 11-year high, on course for its sixth gain in the last seven sessions. up 9 points right now at 2913. it was down 11 at the day's lows around noontime eastern time today. volatility index has popped up, up 3% today. we're at 18 and change. unless it gets back to 20, you're not exactly seeing a yellow flag being waved. the last time it was above 20 was around january the 18th. maria, say hi to my friend warren.

>> he's right here with me. tech up better than 11%. as far as the s&p technology index. warren myers with us. he's keeping an eye on the charts for any signals of a pullback. warren, good to see you. thank you for joining us. >> good to be here. >> tech is where the money has been moving. what do you see? >> we've had a very strong first of the year in tech. it's outperformed by far. it caught up from last year, and went forward. the big names, best of breeds, apples, microsofts, ibms have all performed very well. that's where it's pulling a lot of this money. if you notice, as we were talking about earlier, the volumes overall have been drying up a little bit. where you've seen the money go is to the best of the breeds and all of that has been in tech. >> are people just taking to the sidelines waiting for a resolution out of greece? and do you think that there is a lot of money op the sidelines that could potentially come back to equities at some point? >> i think there's a ton of money on the sidelines. what's happened is we've had such a strong run-up to the beginning of the year, they're

reluctant to pile in at this point with a couple risks out there in the world. one being what's going to happen in greece. i think a positive resolution is baked into the market already. but i think everyone's just waiting for that confirmation we can put greece to the side now and go forward. when you get that confirmation, i think you'll see more money piling in. the leaders that have been leading so far will continue to advance forward. >> you're seeing the order flow. away from technology, are you seeing commitment in any other sector on the buy side? >> it's been really tough. it's been spotty. i think what you're seeing now is something i hope we see going forward, that is getting back to the fundamentals of individual stock picking. that's where i think you're starting to see money flowing. the good analysts are picking the top stocks. putting their money in the individual stocks. maybe not sector, completely in one sector but individual stocks amongst a number of sectors. those have been the leaders, and everything else has been dragging just a little bit. >> warren, great conversation. appreciate your opinions, as

always. >> thank you. >> we're heading to the close here. whole foods just one of many companies set to report earnings after the bell rings. we'll have a preview of what to expect straight ahead. and then later, an expected rise in use of health care services, will it have a big impact on cigna. as we head to the break, here's how the health insurers have been trading so far today. we're back after this. and still to come, ceo john chambers will break down cisco's earnings before he even speaks to analysts on the conference call. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide.

i'm back on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you're standing in front of the post where they trade shares of western union, one of the great names in american economic

history here, a company that's had to transform itself over the years. its shares down sharply. you see it under the ticker symbol wu. the company expects revenue to grow between 2% and 4% on a constant currency basis citing softness in europe. they're saying their margin outlooks are disappointing. jeffries warned initiatives created a head wind for those margins. right now, it's $100 million business. when you're trying to create that much extra market shares, maybe you're sacrificing profitability. shares at western union and money gram, one of the competitors, stuck in the negative territory in the last year. but the big competitor, american express, is up 10% in that time. maria? >> bill, thank you. they may not be stealing the headlines, but there are "under the radar" stocks making moves today. brian shactman, over to you.

>> we'll start with rejenneron. it reached a more than 20-year high. slightly off of that at this point. it's up 84% for the year. kodiak oil and gas on the move after getting an update. they have to drill on their leases or they lose them by 2013. the company says everything is on schedule. it's up 4.5%. guidance software, tops in the russell 2000. it had such a strong beat in raise, i thought it worth mentioning. up almost 35%. silicon graphics, down 23%. missed margin compression. the high end of guidance isn't even half of consensus. that's an ouch, down almost 23%. benny han a getting chopped up. couldn't resist that. the profits were down almost 50%. increased costs in ingredients

part of that miss. a slew of big earnings set to hit the bell tonight. jane has a preview of the numbers at whole foods tonight. over to you, jane. >> hey, maria. don't panic, it's organic. whole foods to the upside even in the economic downturn. many analysts think it will expect the earnings of 60 cents a share, almost 20% better than a year ago. on $3.4 billion in sales. same-store sales projected at 8%. last call the company guided for 2012 growth between 6.8 and 8.8% for the year. operating margins may even improve in the face of inflation, which is saying something. now, while many analysts expect a great report, some are causing that shares have appreciated over 40% in a year, and nearly 10% year-to-date. up again today. some think it may be a little pricey at the moment. kind of like the food. we'll have the numbers for you after the bell.

>> we'll be there, jane. thank you. the closing "countdown" after the short break. earnings out of cisco, that may set the down for tomorrow. john chambers will take us through the numbers before he speaks to analysts on the conference call. but first, take a look at the major averages as we head to the close. about nine minutes until the bell sounds. back in a moment. we want to have gold and oil because of the geopolitical risk in your portfolio. on the bond side, you want to concentrate your exposures seven years, and within, because that's what the fed can secure. >> you in essence have an investment community that is frozen. this is a debt by a thousand to the upside. >> we've had increased attendan attendance. i think that says a lot about the american consumer.

coming up in the five-minute mark before the close of trade here, when you do this long enough, you collect aforrisms and sayings on wall street. one is you're never short a dull

market. but i think there's something brewing for this mact market. whether it's waiting for some word out of greece or brussels or earnings or whatever it is, i think this market's getting ready to move one way or the other. we'll wait to see what that is. today it took a cue from the euro. you've got mixed signals there, because even euro traders are getting upset with what's going on in europe, as they try and hammer out this greek restructuring deal. no direction there. that pushed gold prices down. gold was higher yesterday in tandem with the euro. and while gold did open higher this morning, it then traded lower after that. and it is now down $12. ten-year notes, 2.20% was the yield off the yield a month ago when it was 1.9%. that's the old ten-year we're watching there. the new one was trading around 2.02%. demand for that note was a little soft. relative to what it has been for

the past year. i think it's because some of that money has been going in the stock market. they want to go out further on the risk scale. now, new highs, 123 stocks hitting new 52-week highs at the new york stock exchange. it's been growing lately. this is a five-year chart. it's nowhere near what we did in the mid part of the year in 2011. is this the beginning of a new trend for the highs for the new york stock exchange, or we ask is that all you've got? again, we're going to wait to see what the market does. earnings out tonight. four biggies we'll be covering for you, newscorp will be out after the close. this stock is near a 52-week high. in fact, it's near a four-year high right now, trading just below $20 a share. whole foods, i had the gang put a ten-year chart out here, because look at this, we're getting back to a level we saw six years ago at the end of 2005, beginning of 2006. around $80 was the peak.

if it doesn't get above that $80 level, you could see a double top for this stock. and today's earnings could have an impact on that. we'll watch that one very carefully. the most interesting report out tonight will be from groupon. this is their first report after going public in november. the stock now at $24. it's been on a tear since that low it hit a couple of months ago. the most important report will come from cisco tonight. as we've mentioned, john chambers will be maria's guest before he talks to analysts. so stick around for that. when those numbers come out, we have live team coverage for you of all four of the companies coming up at the top of the hour. larry cantor, let's look at the strength in terms of the s&p sectors. financials are the leaders again today. they have been the surprise so far in 2012. >> right. >> do you like financials at this level? >> they should go up. the economy's better. and there's less of a credit crunch in europe. however, we've still got the regulatory uncertainty hanging over the banks.

that makes us cautious. >> technology, perennial leader, a juggernaut? >> still like it. >> still like it? what do you do? >> actually, this is a risk on, risk off type of market. so market is sort of lifting all boats here. i think sector picking is less important right now. but we do like -- we think technology continues to do well. we like energy given all the tensions in the middle east. >> health care? >> we like that sector, too. mostly on valuation basis. >> among the ten sectors, they were a huge gainer last year. fewer people are looking for that kind of safety. they want to go more on the risk scale, is that what's going on? >> i think that will last for another month or so, as people digest the fact that the economies are doing better. and there's still a lot of money on the sideline. >> we think. >> we think. >> that doesn't mean it's definitely coming into the market. we'll wait to see what happens. >> sure. >> always good to see you. bob pisani, we have a slew of earnings out tonight. >> cisco, that will be john

chambers with his comments. set the tone for tomorrow. >> absolutely. >> they did have, as i recall from the earnings report this time last year, the stock dropped immediately after that earnings report. but john chambers, always one of the more interesting people. >> absolutely. ecb meeting tomorrow could set the tone for the day as well. depending on what mario dhaghi has to say. >> we're going ahead with the greek debt deal no matter what. this has momentum. the finance ministers, those referencing, are meeting tomorrow to discuss the greek debt deal. more on the other side of this thing. but mr. draghi will be discussing the economic situation in europe, which i think he'll be very cautious about. >> we'll see what that does then. thank you. >> all right. >> get you ready for the next hour of the "closing bell." still, again, i think it's setting itself for a move wan