arm, leg, and both, there you go. and ellie, 19, tweeted this, up to $4.29. and redmond, california, 4.01. stay safe, all of you. thanks for watching "street signs." "closing bell" with bill and mandy is up right now. today, on the "closing bell," return of the rally. can more positive news about the u.s. economy return stocks to multi-year highs? plus, back in black. for insurance giant aig, can it return to profitability. the company's ceo joins us to talk numbers in a first-on interview. and the crunch on consumers. the ceo of clorox talks about his company's bottom line in the face of rising gas prices. live from the new york stock

exchange, this is the final and most important hour of the trading day. >> and bill and mandy are here welcoming you to the "closing bell." hello, everybody, i'm standing in here for maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. >> and i'm bill griffeth. encouraging news out from germany this morning, keeping the averages on pace for the best january-february gains since 1991. one real potential threat, though, would be to the global economy, it continues to be oil prices. they surged again for a sixth straight session. settled precariously close to $108. we're at $107.93 right now. so far, that's supporting the stock market. but you wonder for how long, mandy. >> let's see how things are standing right now. about an hour to go in the trading day. the dow is currently up by .3 of a percent. the nasdaq, meantime, is sitting

about half a percent higher. and the s&p 500 is up by about four points at 13061. let's find out what the traders are buzzing about today. what's the buzz. >> oil prices are a real problem for the airlines. that's what people are talking about. the transports are -- have been very weak. but i think what's encouraging today is, remember i've been talking about looking toppy. a certain few key sectors. they're moving forward again today after looking a little iffy. so for example, the transports up today, even though the airlines were to the down side. we saw some other sectors, like the bank stocks that had been going nowhere for a couple of days on the up side. materials were up earlier today, they just turned negative. home builders on the bottom there, that's the itv, that has been moving sideways, down for a few days, that's also on the up side. encouraging activities, until you get to the oil sector. it's been ugly for the

transports, particularly the airline stocks. many of them are down. take a look. >> wow. >> that's just one week, how they've been moving in the last few days. particularly in the last three days we've seen oil really spike up. here's what's important, there's the airline index. going back since the beginning of the year, you see how it topped out for the last few weeks it's been moving down. the good news is, remember the airlines raised prices. have you flown recently? i couldn't believe how expensive it is to go anywhere right now. they raised then in january and again in february. so a lot of this is sort of covering the higher fuel costs you're seeing in the form of higher fares. bookings have been pretty good so far. the numbers for the airline companies are not that bad. but obviously, this week, there's a little bit of knee jerk, because oil's up. >> only so much they can raise prices at the end of the day. >> $10 in january, as i recall. and at least another $10 or $20 in february.

nobody backed off. >> they may start charging for the toilet use. that's been done. >> i just want snacks again. >> i just want a pillow. >> a bag of peanuts. >> thanks, bob. see you later. let's look at some of the movers and shakers. brian shactman is at the cnbc realtime exchange. >> i just want leg room. thank you very much. let's look at the heat map. i'm going to talk about a few in particular. how about microsoft, holding strong, above $31. see if it holds. the big names making big moves in the dow. not a lot of post-earnings optimism out of hewlett-packard. a huge move in that stock. procter & gamble, a little bit of a role here. slightly down for the year. but now we learn springles includes cutting 400 jobs. it's up more than 2.5%. ibm getting ever so close to $200 a share. earlier today, it hit $199.23.

off of those highs as you can see. the two most discussed stocks, probably, sears holding and viva sears. investors seem to like some of the plans with the assets. now up 18.5%. that seems like a trade. that's a scary one at that. we'll see where it goes tomorrow and the next day. it's had a nice little run. vivus, upgrades, up 81.5% today. unbelievable. qep and denbria energy, up 6.5%. dan bury up 37% year-to-date. qdp is up 8% on the day. first solar, safeway and kohl's, we'll delve more into kohl's in just a minute. subsidies getting cut in germany, and safeway on earnings, 8.5% on the down side. >> thanks very much, brian. stay right there. because oil is continuing to climb higher today.

closing in on $108 a barrel. we've got that angle covered in the "closing bell" exchange. john is joining us from the nymex. brian is once again still with us on today's big retail earnings. we were speaking earlier, weren't we, on power lynch, john, and we tried to work out, when you look at the price of a power of crude, how much is fundamentals, how much is geopolitics, namely iran, and how much is it speculators driving it higher? >> i think the speculators are feeding off the iran tensions. a few years ago john mccain said bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb iran. the development of the international inspectors leading iran, a bad development. it's taken us to the next level. we're now targeting $110 a barrel. this comes in the face of a weekly inventory report on our own crude oil supplies that showed total product demand is at its lowest level since april of 1997. so when you asked me that, what are the fundamentals, here's a

good $10 to $15. now, i say iran tensions in this market. and clearly, going higher. tomorrow, look for rhetoric out of the friday prayer services from iran's leaders. that will only probably push these tensions higher and prices higher as well into the weekend. >> john, if that is the case, and when we go to the pump for a weekend drive, how do we make coin in terms of stocks in this area? >> as we mentioned on "power lunch," i continue to say focus on those companies that have a significant oil production portfolio. stay away from the refiners, although they may rebound later. stay away from the companies heavily dependent on selling gasoline at the pumps. they'll get squeezed in this. eog resources, hess, occidental petroleum, they're the ones that have great international exposure that will do exceedingly well in this environment. even. >> i know you want to talk retail. i did some work in the oil services sector. that sector touching six-month

highs every day in the last couple days. there's a lot of names, whether it's neighbors and others that are really doing well right now. >> and brian, speaking of retail, if the price of gasoline continues higher in this country, all these retail reports this week are going to feel like ancient history. >> i talked about that yesterday. the guidance is really the big issue. it's such an unknown when it comes to fuel prices. that's why people are discounting a lot of what they see. there really seems to be a separation, it's one of those things in retail where we see bullishness and rising tide. you have kohl's and walmart this week sort of to the down side. tj maxx, target and macy's on the other side of the ledger. when one does well, it's sort of at the expense of others. kohl's a year ago was doing great and target wasn't, but it seems target is getting back in it. i went inside the kohl's report a little bit, and they said

women's clothes and shoes are lagging. i think it has to do with the emerging ecommerce trend. >> john, before you go, you know me. i hate these higher gasoline prices. i think sometimes -- >> he does. >> you do, bill. >> what drives me crazy is when we start having analysts and others start to forecast prices as high as $5 a gallon, and i know that actually there are some people paying that, in some parts of the country, but eventually it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, because retailers think that's okay, because we're expecting it. >> the markets have climbed these heights before so it's easier to take out the higher levels that we've seen before. but i think there is certainly some attention-grabbing statements that fly around these markets, and on the air here, too, that help fulfill that as well. i would say, though, as far as brian's point about the

retailers, look, these shocking prices are only just hitting now. you're not going to see the drag on these earnings, or worries about them start to manifest themselves over the next couple of weeks. you'll hear the summer vacations be curtailed and downsized, travel downsized. the real impact is going to come the next couple of weeks now as people pay $80 to $100 to fill up their suv. >> i'm surprised there isn't more consumer backlash here. gas prices are much higher relative to oil prices. i mean, we're not at $1.47 in oil yet. you know, the last time we were this high in gas, oil was at $120. so i'm surprised there isn't more backlash about price gouging and other things. >> in some ways there is a backlash, because demand is down. >> you have the u.s. refining industry to thank for that partly. they've been running at a low 82% run rate. they've been holding back on a

lot of their capacity in the past year now. >> thank you to both of you for joining us today. >> fixed income, session losses following solid demand for the government seven-year note auction today. rick santelli back in chicago from the cnbc group in chicago with the details. >> hi, bill. and definitely, i was there, and i graded it, it was an a-plus auction. would you lend your money for seven years to uncle sam for 1.41%? think about that. look at interday 10, this is the effect of the good seven-year. you could see yields fell five or six basis points. if you look, we settled at 2% yesterday. it's not a big change, but a big change before it was headed before the auction. if you open it up to november 15th to cover the entire range, it's still a big deal that we didn't trade higher than the range established by a close in early december with a 209 yield close.

right now, if we settle here, it's the lowest level in a week. last week we seeltd right about 198 as well. if you look at the euro, it's had a big day. you can see it on the chart. if you open that up, you'll see these are fresh highs going back to december. bill, back to you. >> thank you very much, rick santelli. >> you know what, bill, i'm not a brilliant mathematician, but i'm looking at the board and we're a little bit before we crack the 13,000. >> the stocks on the best percentage start to a new year since 1991. can this market possibly keep up this momentum. we have a bull/bear debate coming up. >> will the high gasoline prices force consumers to cut back on their spending even more? the ceo of clorox weighs in. >> it's aig's turn to break down the latest earnings report. a first on cnbc interview. >> this is how the s&p 500 is

shaping up. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. more green than red there.

44 1/2 minutes to go in today's trading session. time for a quick stat check on the dow. trading near four-year highs right now. closing in on the 13,000 mark. well, why don't we take a look at the bigger winners on the dow at this hour. proctor and gamble, ibm, bank of america, home depot and alcoa posting decent gains. >> after surviving a hostile push to sell the company, selling the stake in the company, now clorox is taking aim at new products and greater geographic diversity as it looks to an improving economy and hopefully a continued rebound

from the consumer. joining us in a cnbc exclusive from the consumer analyst group in new york, joining us today. good to have you back. >> good to see you, bill. >> how would you characterize what's going on in our economy right now? you've said, you feel the consumer is fragile, but getting better, yes? >> right. i think we're a pretty good canary in the coal mine, if you will, bill, in the sense that when you look at the categories clorox competes in anything from charcoal, to trash bags, to bleach, et cetera. when you look at those categories, about a year ago they were declining 2% there the historical ranges of 2% to 4% growth. we've at least gone from negative back to flat. we've seen some vitality come back. >> your exposure to international markets is not as great as some of your larger competitors, and ironically, that has worked to your benefit

now, given the weakness in europe, the slowdown in asia, right? >> that is correct. you know, we're about 22% international. so almost 80/20 is the rule of thumb for us. i would say that our tier one international markets are latin america. those cat goergs down in latin america are growing about 4% to 6%. we feel like we've got vitality coming back into the u.s. and in canada somewhat, and also latin america's continuing to show some strength. >> does this slow your efforts to try and grow in other parts of the world, like europe and asia? >> well, i think it clearly doesn't slow them. we have an objective of reaching about 25% of our mix of international by the end of next calendar year. so we're still pushing there, bill. i think our next priority after latin america continuing to grow there is the middle east. we've got a strong business in egypt, saudi arabia, throughout lebanon, jordan, the united emirates. we're continuing to push in the middle east as well as we're

looking at some new expansion into southeast asia. we'll continue to focus on those markets as well. >> you have said innovation will drive your growth. but you've also interestingly had pricing power. your volumes have increased even as your prices have gone up, as the cost of your doing business has gone up at the same time. how do you explain that? >> well, i think one of the things we've done differently this time around, bill, with the pricing is, we learned that we needed to marry innovation to that pricing, to try and soften the blow for consumers, offer them better value. i think we've done that a lot smarter now. i would say the reason we're a bit of an outlier in developed marks, our innovation is stronger. we'll probably hit an all-time high in innovation growth. probably about 3.5 points just from new items this year. >> give me a for instance on the new innovations you've got coming out here? >> brita on the go, for example. brita water filtrations, that has traditionally been the pitcher in your refrigerator.

we rolled out the brita on the go bottle. you can take it in your car. it will save you buying about 150 bottles of bottled water for $9.95 item. the filter's built into the bottle. you can just use your tap water. that's been a big success for us. we launched a new brand from burt's bees called good, that gets us into shampoo and body butters, the woman typically 25 and younger. so we're starting to see more broad scale innovation across all of our portfolio. >> before i let you go, i'm going to gently the hornet's necessary and ask about the carl icon. any lessons learned from the period of time from last fall when you first learned he bought the stake and all that you went through, until he sold it? >> well, i think the lesson, one of the lessons we learned certainly is we approached carl as our largest shareholder, not necessarily an activist. my team and i listened to what carl wanted to get done in the

company. his thesis was fairly simple, had ethought, you have done the right thing strategically, just put yourself in place, somebody will buy you. obviously the market said otherwise of the we didn't think that would work. we're back to focusing on the core of our business and driving it. >> and no sales in the offing? >> no. as i said during the time that this was going on, we're not opposed to a sale, just a steal. but i think what i said at the time, too, bill, is all of us being in the consumer packaged goods are focused on developing our world market exposure. i don't see people wanting to double down in the market now. in clorox, you're talk about a $14 billion acquisition. that would have taken a lot of those companies out of the m & a market for several years. i don't think they're prepared to do that for now. >> mr. knauss, nice talking to you. >> thank you. >> we're going to get a take of the state of the consumer. we speak exclusively to the chairman and ceo of diamond

restaurants at 4:40 p.m. today. >> looking forward to that. >> about 40 minutes to go. we're on 13 k watch all over again. we've only got 12 points to go before we get back to 13,000. >> stay tuned for that. can jcpenney produce big profits ahead of tomorrow's earnings report? that's the "talking numbers" trade coming up next. >> the ipo road show hitting the road today. what the business review website is doing to calm investor concerns about its growth. >> here's how each member of the dow, all 30 stocks, are faring now. now. back after this.

out there. unfortunately, we're stuck in here. about half an hour to go until we do the closing bell. watching the shares of jcpenney, in the meantime that stock is already up about 19% so far this year. but with the company's reported earnings before the bell tomorrow, is it ready to go even higher. let's see ha the charts are telling us. let's start talking numbers. on the technicals, and the fundamentals, i'm going to start

with the technicals. what are the charts telling us about jcpenney right now? >> this is a first example of the technicals and fundamentals coming together. on 45 million shares, one day, jumps from 34 to 42. it can only be good news. fundamentally it doesn't matter what it is. after jumping like that, you see on the daily chart, making a new 52-week high. it's a setup presumptively for yet a further gain. if you look at the second chart, it's a well-defined bottoming out formation. so the assertive/aggressive behavior just a few weeks ago when it jumped from 34 to 42, on 45 million shares instead of 5 million, that's a big tip-off day that in principle that things are getting juicy. >> it makes us stand up and listen. >> we think this is going as high as 50 really. plenty of up side from here. >> erica, you recently wrote in a research note, while you're

positive on initiatives, by ron johnson, you'll see limited up side, and also elevated expectations amid recent management changes. how much faith do you have in ron johnson to be able to turn this company around? retail turn-around is historically difficult. >> retail turn-arounds are notoriously difficult, but ron johnson is an impressive guy. i think he can improve the company. that said, i don't think his plan is a magic bullet. i think it will take a long time to play out. the changes he's made to the stores to date i would say are a mixed bag. >> do you feel investors are being overly optimistic about jcpenney's short-term prospects? >> i don't think overly optimistic, because i don't see down side to 2012 guidance. but i don't see as much up side. the large spike in the stock was from expectations going from very, very low to more expected levels. >> got it. fundamentals versus technicals,

thank you. >> toward the last half hour of trade, and we're slowly marching toward 13,000. the dow's up 50 points right now, about 12 points away from that mark. two different takes on where the market could be heading. one guest is bearish, the other says there is still plenty of room to rally. the bull/bear debate straight ahead. as we head to the break, here's some of the standout performers among the s&p 500 components today. back after this. 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 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and use its tools like strategy builder to screen for stocks, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 find opportunities faster and compare your strategies tdd# 1-800-345-2550 against other traders.

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welcome back. bob pisani down on the floor of the new york stock exchange. highs of the day, once again near 13,000 on the dow. i know we've been there before, but listen, we commemorate every little milestone down here. important thing about today is, you can thank ibm, thank you very much, ibm. i just did. 30 points of the 50-point gain we're seeing is due to ibm, because they just look a lot better against hewlett-packard. hewlett-packard's earnings down like 40%. ibm numbers, we've had them out already, but up something like 4%. home depot, better because i think target was doing better today. chevron up. oil stocks up on higher oil.

jpmorgan, better today, as the banks have been moving sideways for a while. jpmorgan on the verge of popping out a little bit here. weak day for the airlines, just a terrible week as oil has popped rather heavily. those more heavily exposed like us airways and united, ual, down noticeably. >> bob, thank you very much. as we nknow, the u.s. market ha seen good rallies this year. every party needs a poope. one of our next guests remains bearish on the markets. while our other guest says the stocks have not yet reached their highs. is there more room to run or not? >> joining us in his debate, we have the managing principal at land coal trading. and anthony valeri. hello, mr. party pooper, i believe that would be you. you are bearish. >> yes. >> what are you seeing that makes you bearish that investors

are not seeing? >> it's about earnings right now. so far, what we've heard reported, 64% of s&p 500 companies have beat their bottom line estimate. the historical average is 62%. remember, this is on a lowered expectations. that's a draw for concern for me right there. i have to wonder where are the earnings coming down the road. i don't see it. >> earnings is one thing, but backwards looking, guidance on the -- >> we've had two quality earnings reports, caterpillar and apple. what about the revenue figure. >> anthony, what's wrong with his reasoning? >> we agree that earnings did disappoint slightly for the fourth quarter of 2012. but on balance, good report. still seeing positive earnings growth. earning estimates have come down. as we look over the rest of the year, yes, we may have a pause for the first quarter earnings, but still see earnings growth of around 7% for the full year. we think that's positive for stocks. >> you don't think that's in the market then?

that growth? >> it's come a bit up quickly. we think a pause is in order. that's not fully priced in. we still have a cheap valuation on equity. >> are you looking for just a pullback, a correction? what are you expecting? >> the market's rallying so far this year on a lot of quantitative easing. let's be honest. incorporate all the other macro headlines out there -- >> you think that's built into qe-3? >> no, no, markets would have been rallying much more than this. we would be well north of the double digits right now. we heard hints of it. we've heard promises from the fed. but nothing has been obviously incorporated. >> what's the catalyst for you then going higher? >> i don't think it's qe-3. we think it's a favorable valuation. we have positive earnings growth. there's a significant portion of s&p earnings come from stronger growing emerging companies. >> so far the price of oil runs

commensurate with stocks at this point. but at some point you would think the price, if it continues higher, will run counter to stocks, right? >> that's right. anti-growth factor, would hurt earnings. i would actually point to the ecb. next year we have another three-year lending operation. that's been huge in alleviating the funding. it's still about europe and their success. >> february 29th, it says here on my little cheat sheet, that you are a fixed-income expert. did you ever doubt the 13,000, give or take a few points? >> given the risk, yes. we thought the risk assets have done what we thought they would do. and let's face it, we've gotten better news out of europe. that's a positive for corporate dealt. treasuries are still the best hedge against european worries. so there's reason for treasuries to sit tight at 2%. >> let's make it meaning for the individual investors with your call. besides of cans of tuna fish under the bed, what would you invest in? >> i would invest in oil right

now. i'm not a big believer higher oil prices will cripple the country right now. first of all, if you have a guy that has a job, he's not going to stop working because of that. people will curb their behavior. but i would stick with some of the big oil companies. >> would you invest in oil at these levels? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> couldn't iran and those political problems suddenly turn on a dime? >> erase that. look at basic supply-and-demand economics right now. human beings around the globe consume 85 billion barrels of oil a day. eventually the numbers can crisscross. when they do, oil goes higher. >> thank you both. >> thanks for having me. >> mr. bear, i'll see you on the countdown coming up. >> it's just a number, but nonetheless, psychologically, 13,000 is the number we look for. >> wouldn't that be tasty, though, to have them talking

about that number here? we'll show you which tech names you need to watch. >> after the bell, folks, the head of a drugmaker watson pharmaceutical is going to explain why his firm is cashing in on the expirations of some of the biggest selling drugs of all-time. >> a little more green than red. we're back with more "closing bell" after this. but first, before we go to break, the "dividend." which stock is the better performer so far this year? cisco systems, dell, or texas instruments? the "dividend" pays off after the break.

just before the break, as part of the "dividend," we asked, which stock is the better performer so far this year? cisco systems, dell, or texas instruments? now, the payoff. dell. >> thumbs up from an advisory panel today, giving a boost not just to the stock which is at a 14-year plus high, but also to biotechs in general.

its rival, one of the big gainers. two years ago also got an fda advisory panel not to be rejected by the fda and told to do more study on the heart risks. apparently the market now saying that is not likely to be as big of a deal for them. arena faces review in june. it is not getting as big a boost today. in fact, negative this afternoon. among the new highs today, ebay is one of the big gainers here, one of the big heavy listers. o'reilly automotive at an all-time high as folks hold on to their cars longer and use the replacement parts. >> thanks very much for that, bertha. about 20 minutes away from the closing bell. a quick market stat check. the composite is on check to snap a three-day losing streak. currently up by .8%. about the session high. it did drop ten points at today's low.

the vix has pulled back, down by 5%. it has not settled above 20 since the day after valentine's day. bill? >> let's keep the focus on technology here as we can down to the final minutes of trade. which companies should be on your radar screen right now. joining us with some thoughts here is the managing director, specializing in technology with credit suisse. hewlett-packard's turn was last night for earnings. they disappointed. the stock is down 6%. what do you do with a company lie hpq right now? >> i think it's just too early to buy the name. there are so many fundamental problems that the company has. they're losing market share in all of their key markets. and you've got services, businesses going through a two oh three-year transition of lease. while the stocks are seven times with mixed execution, it's just too early to step up. it's cheap, but it will probably remain cheap for some time in our view. >> you could buy it, but it

would be dead money in your view for a while? >> i think so. we're looking for meg whitman if she can execute. what we saw was very poor cash flow. lowest in the last five years. you also some them not execute very well given the shortages. >> and then there's the apple juggernaut, as it continues to power higher. you would buy it even at these levels? >> i think with apple, the stock is obviously very large. there are several catalysts ahead. we reported yesterday in which we highlighted the company's cash distribution is more flexible. they could distribute as much as $60 billion of cash, just from their onshore cash flows over the next four years. that's enough to pay for a $10 dividend or 2% yield and still do a $20 billion buyback. beyond that, the ipad 3 coming, this is a company that should grow the bottom line 25% and

trading only ten times. while it has performed well, it is obviously a very large company, we see further performance. >> amazing that it's still considered a cheap stock. even at these levels. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you. >> facebook is the 800-pound gorilla, no, make that 900-pound gorilla. what do you do if you're yelp that reviews everything from bagels to builders. with their ipo scheduled for early march, yelp is taking its show on the road. the details on yelp's road sho. hey, kayla. >> reporter: yeah, just about two hours ago, yelp wrapped up its road show to where it was presenting to about 100 potential investors before next week when it hopefully prices its ipo and starts trading on the new york stock exchange. a lot of investor concerns here. and ceo jeremy stopleman addressed google, who he said

was a friendly competitor to yelp, even though it accounts for as much as 75% of yelp's traffic. that's a big concern for investors. the other thing is the threat of niche competition, to which he said, they're not exactly trying to be a niche competitor, they're trying to be a broad one-stop-shop for all consumers in all locales. moving on, they also addressed the mechanics of policing reviews and content to which they said that about 20% of the reviews that you do see on yelp do go through a filter. which is a pretty high number there. but as far as the investor sentiment, it was a little bit mixed, with a lot of investors saying that they would put in for an allocation because they always do. others saying they were uncertain about evaluation of $1 billion for a company like yelp. and they would have to work the numbers and see ahead of next week's final book-building. but they have about another week on the road. tomorrow they're headed to boston, next week to the west coast and coming back through the west coast.

as far as investors here in new york, the sentiment was mixed. back to you. >> kayla, thank you so much. >> what do you think? we going to make it? >> i don't know. it seems to be quite a glass ceiling, the 13,000 mark. look at the s&p 500. it's held above the 1360 resistance level. pretty much all afternoon now. >> we'll keep an eye on all those averages as we head to the close here. >> we're going to take you to apple's shareholder meeting to find out what the company is saying about everything, from the labor conditions in china, to dividends. but first, brian shactman rounds out today's "under the radar" stocks. >> i have two stocks that have pretty much the same exact spike and president obama might be the reason for it. i'll have the stocks and the reason why next on "closing bell." the folks that are really compromised are the middle class that have been effectively de-banked and cut out of the credit system.

$2 trillion in credit lines have been cut since the peak of the credit crisis. >> you've got web access on it, wi-fi on it, we are marketing it as the ultimate portable gaming device. >> 92 cents, gang. 92, the expectation was 87. >> i've seen $30 billion even in revenue. revenue. >> cnbc, capitalize on it.

here in front of the post where they trade shares of safeway. you see it up there, ticker symbol swy, down sharply after the company reported a 6.1% decline in fourth-quarter earnings on, whatever, higher prices that pressured their margins. despite the company's efforts to boost those margins by selling the private label brands, they still have gotten hit in that area. in fact, their private label brands have outsold some national brands around the country, and the company's ceo says they want to continue that strategy of those private label brands, to try and grow the company for the coming year. they plan to issue guidance on march 6th. tough year for the safeway, for the supermarket chains overall. safeway, kroeger's super value have all lagged behind walmart, which is up about 10% in the

last 52 weeks here. mandy? >> thank you very much. they may not be stealing the headlines, but there are a handful of the "under the radar" stocks make a move today. >> a couple of interesting ones. this one courtesy of mad money. two stocks with midday pops. it looks like president obama is the cause. both of these are identical with clean energy, fuels and westport innovations. basically obama announced a program to explore natural gas-powered cars. popped to a new high of 1871, a little below that. you see it in positive territory. westport innovations is still down. but you see the pop right there. pretty impressive. exteron holdings up big. up 18%. earnings miss in oil and gas actually. energy doing well again. parker drilling disappointed on revenue. the stock down more than 8.5%. tyler technologies had solid earnings then, and upgrade to

buy at daugherty. touched a new high. just in the last few minutes, as you can see the spike here, while i was coming down here, it went to a new high. back to you, mandy. >> coming up next, we are right back with the closing countdown. and then after the bell, aig's ceo is going to break down his company's earnings, just moments after they are released. but first, this is how the major averages are trading as we head to the close. you're watching cnbc. ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained. the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer.

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just inside the five-minute mark as we head to the close of trade, the dow was teasing us, looked like it was going to hit 13,000. but it's pulling back again. be that as it may, the s&p and nasdaq are having gains. best percentage gains for a lot of these markets since 1991. big, big gains there. oil, up for a sixth straight session. and i'll get to that here in a moment. but the first two charts will look very similar. these are the two that are powering each other at this point. i want to start with the euro, which today is hitting its highest level in ten weeks against the dollar. and continues to power higher.

it continues to move higher. look what it's doing to the price of oil. remember, as the euro goes higher against the dollar, the dollar goes lower and the price of oil goes higher. we're now above $108 a barrel on that price of oil. that is a nine-month high. you would have thought with these benchmarks being hit, that the dow would then go to 13,000. but it's not. so are we getting to a point where we're just in the beginninging phases, where higher oil price will not be as positive for the stock market as it has been in the past? something will we'll have to keep an eye on here. nine points away from the dow 13,000. price of gold moves higher. sort of a muted gain today. we're off the highs, as you see there, pretty strong gains this morning. but now off those highs, up 9-plus dollars. the ten-year yield, back below 2% late today.

now at 1.99%. a very solid demand for the seven-year note auction earlier today. the de mapped there very hive. expectations for the lower rates there are pretty high. a look at the sectors today. i'll do this with todd here. the financials, the leaders today. so a lot of these risk assets, as you see there, are the leaders. telecom, consumer discretion technology, consumer staples are among the leaders today. what do you make of that? >> the discretionaries shouldn't be a surprise. obviously the discrepancy between higher gas prices and then you have the inventory numbers, that's a whole other story. when you look at the financials there, that is the concern. if you're going to have a bull market, you've got to get the financials behind you. >> they have been among the better performers so far this year. >> we're talking about economic recovery here in the united states, but you have to suspect

that the european debt concerns could still be that ticking time bomb. >> among the s&p sectors, the worst performers, here we go again. the utilities are the worst performer today. and health care is the next-to-the last. they were the best performers last year. we have the flip-flop from last year. >> you'll get into some of the higher beta names. >> with the risk back in the market here, you're still bearish. >> i just don't know where the earnings are going to come from, bill. when i see lowered expectations, that's a cause for concern for me. you still have macro headlines that are still poor. not great, not poor, just benign. >> aren't we just coming out of a period, though, todd, where the absolute worst was feared, and now we're seeing a thaw in the markets as we realize that maybe that's not going to transpire after all? >> could happen. there are still so many other issues here. the european debt crisis, you have a political year that we're going to have, we'll have a lot

of finger pointing going on. higher oil prices, there is a number there that eventually the american consumer is going to be hit. i don't think it's $5 a gallon, i think it will go a lot higher than that. >> todd, always good to see you. >> thank you. >> the courage of your convictions to remain bearish, even though it doesn't look like we'll hit 13,000. >> not today at least. but i'll tell you what's important, just the fact that we lived it all throughout the day, europe stayed down, and this has been the story all throughout the week. generally we are outperforming not just the last three or four days, but even for the year. >> i was noting earlier that the price of oil moving commensurate with the euro today. pretty strong, both of those. the u.s. stock market was not as strong. so you wonder if these higher prices of oil will start to take a toll on the u.s. stocks. >> you would have thought it would have by now. it's been up dramatically, but today we modestly moved to the