let's take a look at where we stand as we approach the final stretch on wall street.

stocks opening higher after the gdp report, that was brp expected gdp numbers, as well as manufacturing data, that helped put the nasdaq over 3,000 for the first time since december of 2000. by the way, we're having the round numbers that we are continuing to break 1300 on the dow industrials, 3,000 on the nasdaq. but the market erased the gains. ben bernanke, of course, speaking in washington today. dashing hopes that the fed in fact will implement another round of monetary easing. we're all waiting on any signal of qe-3. we did not get that today. that sent gold and treasury prices lower today. very, very high volume there as well. >> it was very high volume. unlike the stock market. let's see where we stand as we head into the final hour of trading for this wednesday. there it was, a little minor rally, tepid rally on the opening this morning. the sell-off right at 10:00 this morning eastern time as

bernanke's testimony was made public. for whatever reason the stock market fell out of bed. as maria said, the nasdaq briefly hit 3,000 on the open this morning. now at 2973. also a sell-off late in the day down 13.25 points. nasdaq down 14 points at 1368. not to be outdone by the dow, the nasdaq did hit the 3,000 mark. bob pisani is joining us as part of the "closing bell" exchange today. bertha coombs is standing by at the nasdaq. bob, 10:00 was the magic hour when everything changed. >> improving economy trumps virtually everything. yes, we had a drop. but not as much as you might think here at 10:00. did you see the beige book report? mr. bernanke said the u.s. economy is slowly improving. the baej book report came out and said this just an hour ago. look at this. hiring is higher, manufacturing

is expanding, consumer spending is positive, residential real estate is slowly improving. this is the beige book just an hour ago. mr. bernanke had comments out this morning. of course, the idea of supporting the economy is improving. yes, that means less qe-3. let me ask you something, would you take less qe-3 in a better economy? i sure as heck would. and i hope everybody else would. the dollar rose, gold moved to the down side, less inflation, less qe-3. we'll hear more about that in just a minute. the s&p up 9%. are you looking at this for the year? this is the best start for the s&p since 1998. 191 -- 1991, excuse me. 20% below the same period last year. >> the new normal. >> to what do you a tribute that? >> number one, individuals are

trading less. number two, the big corporate trades, the mutual funds are trading less. high frequency traders are trading less. right across the board. it's all asset classes. options are down as well. >> probably because of the uncertainty of the volcker rule. >> i'm sure. >> thanks, bob. >> bertha, the nasdaq, that's what we're going to be watching now as we head toward 3,000, right? >> it is. oftentimes we're not going to close the first time we pass the intraday. we also saw a little bit of energy lost after those comments from bernanke, people were worried about qe-3. when you look at the risk, i don't want to say this time it's different, but let's contrast. the first time the nasdaq was moving towards 3,000, boy, those were heavy days here. this was the cool place at the nasdaq. you had these ipos, you had microsoft was the big gun here. with all those concerns about w 2 k. microsoft was headed to an all-time high.

$600 billion market cap. one of the things i find very interesting, microsoft was the big cap driver back then, it was trading at an earnings ratio of 81 1/2. today a lot of this move, talking about apple, big move to the all-time highs this morning. almost hit $550 a share. that right now, apple, had $500 billion, give or take a few billion here, among friends, it's trading at 15.5 times earnings. that's really reflective of who is moving this market. you don't have as much retail participation this time around and you've got these fund managers who are really looking at these fundamentals. and they right now are not feeling like this market has topped out. >> i guess we could call it the big apple. once upon a time, it was big blue. let's not forget, ibm is sitting at an all-time high these days as well, or close to it. >> i think there are 40 trading days in the first two months of the year.

you know how much the s&p is up? 27. same number of days. >> i think not -- >> tom lee over at jpmorgan points out that apple has to be considered its own sector, within the s&p. at over 3.5% weighting, and i guess it's higher now, near 550, it's bigger than materials, it's bigger than utilities. and it really now becomes this big monster that is a problem, you know, it's bigger than microsoft and google combined. >> definitely. listening to a drum beat that none of us can hear otherwise. thank you both. we'll see you later. >> okay. >> thanks, everybody. let's look at the movers and shakers. seema mody at the exchange with that angle. >> less than an hour left in the trading day. investors are talking markets, murdock and bernanke. the roller coaster ride in tech continues with the nasdaq hitting 3,000. the first time in 12 years. the question is, can we close above that threshold. let's actually zone in on a

couple of stock stories. staples, earned 41 cents per share for the fourth quarter. 1 cents above estimates held by an increase in north american customer traffic. although the company expects slow u.s. economic growth this year. costco, the warehouse retailer reporting fiscal second-quarter profit of 90 cents a share, above estimates of 87, with revenue also slightly above consensus. the stock up better than 1%. and now, a look at first solar. never a boring day for that company. the company's fourth quarter earnings came in well below estimates at $1.53. revenues missing estimates by a wide margin. the solar xhimt company cutting its 2012 outlook. the stock down 11%. bill, back to you. >> seema, thank you very much. well, fed chairman bernanke's testimony to congress had an impact not just on stocks, but also on the bond market today. cnbc's rick santelli is in chicago with the details. hey, rick. >> thanks, bill.

it wasn't only ben bernanke not talking much about the twister extended beyond june, it was the bank of england. it was the fact that the calendar doesn't have an ltro marked on it for a third one. and bob pisani posed the question, would you rather have west qe with a better stock market. how much is tied up in qe. if you look at the interday 10s, it's up three or four basis points, but briefly touched 2%. it gives you an idea of how quickly we could see an interest rate adjustment should there become less interest rate liquidity. there were hints all morning of whether it was marvin king or others that they're going to stand down a bit on qe. hey, oil prices must be hitting all the central banks on this leap day to reassess. if you look at the euro, you can clearly see how it gave up lots of ground. probably ltro related to some extent. and the last chart, also ltro

related. up over 70 basis points. it's all about haircuts and being subordinated to the ecb whose positions always remain rather pristine. but no matter how you slice it, it's going to be very interesting to see if there's any follow-through in the world's quality fixed income market rise. >> rick, thank you very much. we have an action-packed two hours. hope you can stay with us here. we've got 50 minutes before the closing bell. the dow continuing to head back to the lows today, down about 35 points right now. >> we're going to check in with the largest asset manager on the planet. he says you should be 100% invested in equities. >> bob dimon is with us. he'll talk about the global economy and increasing legislation. >> philadelphia federal reserve president charles placer, telling us where he thinks

historically low rates are doing more harm than good. >> here's how the s&p 500 heat map is shaping up for this wednesday. a little more red than green right now. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. here comes larry fink. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ the the new spark cardnth from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game.

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welcome back. when larry fink told a group of black rock employees in hong kong that investors need to get off the sidelines and put all their money into equities, some eyebrows were raised around the world. the man who runs the largest world's asset management firm says investors are missing big opportunities right now. is he right? joining me now to explain those comments and his view on the markets is larry fink, the chairman and ceo of black rock. larry, great to see you. >> hi, maria. >> hi. let me first kick it off with what happened this morning in terms of the news. one of your overall themes, and

we talked earlier today about what was going on in the world today, and that's government de-leveraging. what did you think about the ecb's ltro facility? what kind of impact might this have? >> i actually said 100% equities on your show in october, first of all. >> yes, you did. and thank you for giving us the first scoop on that. >> i did it here first. if you look at the prices in europe, the prices in europe this past fall was a liquidity crisis. you had banks who were being forced into liquidating their assets, primarily sovereign wealth -- sovereign credits, and they were forced to start selling that. that was a snowball. as they were trying to get prepared for bassel 2, and ultimately bassel 3. it created a real panic. there was an absolute, you know, lacking of liquidity.

so what president dragi did, they started with the first ltro, which is a three-year term repo, and did it again last night, this morning. and they're stabilizing the liquidity in europe. and i think this is really essenti essential. we have seen italian and spanish yields decline over 300 basis points. a good indication of the stability we're beginning to see in europe. we should not think that this is a fix. this is a stabilizer. this procedure creates an atmosphere in which now the politicians can find ways to stabilizing their deficits, and most importantly, they have now two to three years to start fixing their economy towards growth. so i think what the ecb has given is europe time to fix

their problem. this is not a fix, it's a stabili stabilizer. >> i think some people would argue, look, part of this whole strategy is the ecb is having the banks borrow the money, and then the banks can buy the sovereign debt. but are we loading up these european banks with the sovereign debt down the road, and creating an even more risk? >> i don't think they're going way out beyond three years in maturity. so they're buying sovereign credits that they will meet the financing terms of the vehicle, that the ecb is creating. they're not out there buying ten-year debt. but we've seen a big decline in ten-year debt, because of the fear of rollover financing, it has been abated and now we're seeing long investors come in and buy 5 and 7 and 10-year sovereign debt. so it's not just the banks that are buying this debt, but the ecb has created a mechanism in which the banks, a, don't need to sell the assets that they had to because of the liquidity

issue, and b, if the banks choose to make a positive arbitrage by borrowing from the ecb money out to three years, they'll be matched funded between the assets and liabilities. >> this is a major issue as far as the back drop of the economies of the world, and the market. let me ask you about the federal reserve today. we had the beige book out. we've got rock-bottom interest rates. you're looking at this as a sort of real trip-up, a negative for investors who are thinking this is safe, and they're missing opportunities and higher yielding securities. >> i think the biggest risk for investors today is not whether the market's going up or down in the next week, or next month, i think the greatest risk for investors are not making decisions. we are all going to live longer. we all have so much science now in helping us translate -- diseases that were once deadly are now chronic diseases. so we're going to live longer.

in the united states, especially, we're not even prepared financially to finance the lifestyle that we're looking for, and now if we're going to live longer, we're going to have a bigger shortfall. at black rock, we're concerned about this gap. and we believe with our leadership role, it is our responsibility to speak up about this giant savings gap. and this giant gap to meet your retirement. we spend so much time focusing on our health care needs, and we want to live better lives to live longer, but we're not thinking about the financial aspects of living longer. and are we going to have enough financial resources to afford the lifestyle that we're used to. >> the longevity is a major issue. and i know that's one of the most important as far as you framing where we are right now. so let's answer that very simple straightforward question that you have put forth in terms of this branding campaign. what do i do with my money? how do you invest in this environment? >> we believe there are five

opportunities in terms of investing. so i may be 100% interested in owning equities myself. but obviously many people can't afford the volatility. many people have to be looking for other sources of income. so we have stated that we believe in -- because we're so constructive on corporations worldwide, owning dividend stocks is a great opportunity. owning high yield is a great opportunity to earn extra return, higher returns to meet those longevity needs. we also believe there's a role for active management and passive management. so we're not against either way. it's really a determinant on how much risk you want to take. we feel there are many ways to actually earn the returns you need. we believe individuals and companies need to be focusing more on alternatives, whether it is real estate or different forms of hedge funds where you're going to be able to provide those types of returns. so what we're trying to suggest are, there are many investment

opportunities to invest, but you have to have a time horizon that's not a week, not a month, not even a year. you have to think about what are your needs at retirement, and how are you going to get to that pool of money to meet those needs. the one thing that i think we're saying loudly is, there's a cost of owning cash. and so everyone thinks cash is risk-free. and definitionally cash is risk-free. however, the cost of inaction may be far greater. so if you're a 38-year-old or a 42-year-old, and are not investing for your retirement, that cost is compounded. and you only have a short period of time to build that nest egg. so there is a huge cost of owning cash. >> right. what about that, what about sectors, what about parts of the world? where do you want to be exposed to now? you're traveling all over the world all the time speaking to deep-pocketed investors.

where is the vibrancy. where are they placing their bets? and i use bets lightly, i'm talking long term. sectors and geoographies. >> you always follow where gdps go. look at the emerging world as a sector to be investing in of the you don't have to do that by investing specifically in the emerging world. own the ges and honeywell, jpmorgan, and the other stocks that are multinational that are earning returns worldwide. even at black rock, 40% of our business now is outside the united states. so you can be looking at multinational companies. >> that pay dividends. >> that pay dividends. look at multinational companies that have -- that have debt that's long dated, that may be earning 4%, 5%, 6% returns. >> what do you think the implications are of day in, day out, such low volume and low

volatility? what is that a symptom of or result of? >> i think low volume is, a, a concern of the future. so people are holding back. i also think low volume is also an issue of this fear of the future. and people are holding back. it's not just a function of low volume, it's a function of how much of a pool of money is sitting in cash. industrial s&p companies in the united states are sitting with $1 trillion in cash. this phenomenon is not just with investors, it's with ceos. they're holding back, too. so low volume is just -- is an indicator of this fear, this inaction. >> bottom line, get off the sidelines, get your money working for you again. >> i think you have a greater risk if you don't start acting now. >> larry, good to have you on the program. >> thank you, maria. >> nice to see you. larry fink, ceo at black rock. bill -- >> i've got it all figured out. i agree with larry. my wife gave birth to our two

nest egg suppliers. they're going to support us in our old age here. the market is heading back to the lows of the day with about 35 minutes to go. apple continues to hit new highs ahead of next week's ipad 3 launch. our next guest is going to break down the charts to show you why it may be time to take some profits from apple's record run. as we head to the break here, here's how each member of the dow has been trading this wednesday.

welcome back. i'm sharon epperson. the plunge in precious metals is definitely the big market story of the day. gold is now trading near the lows of the session, just around 1705 an ounce. keep in mind that we are talking about the plunge across the board in many commodities as bernanke steered clear of any stimulus talk, and that caused some of these long risk commodities to definitely take a breather and sell off sharply in some cases. look what happened to silver after the run-up we saw in the previous session. and keep in mind as well ha the ecb funding, the fact it was not as robust as some had suspected, caused some gold selling as well, according to rbc capital strategies analyst george jero. when you look at what is happening so far this year, bill, we are still looking at gold prices as they stay above $1700 an ounce, they are still maintaining the uptrend and silver is still the best performing commodity for 2012

despite the huge sellout in today's session. >> sharon, thank you very much. let's move on. legs than an hour in trading to go here. this week, the s&p at these levels is now at pre-crash levels. we're wondering if you missed the rally, is it too late to get in right now. joining us to talk numbers on all this, abigail doolittle, founder of peak research. you know, you talk about whether or not we're going to see this continue here. you want to look at the chart of the s&p itself and whether this rally can continue. >> yesterday's close was very impressive. when we look at the chart of the s&p -- >> there's a lot going on here. what do we have here. >> the s&p is pitting up against long-term resistance. the vix is held by long-term support. something's going to give. it's probably going to be a rising wedge in the s&p, as the vix spikes higher, target of about 50. it looks like the s&p is going to pull back. >> obviously the vix and s&p have gone in opposite directions. they were counter to each other. lows now on the vix as the s&p

has gone higher. you think that's going to reverse? >> yes. the s&p will likely pull back as volatility spikes up in the next three to probably nine months. >> your support on the s&p at that point would be -- >> right around 1075. that's the target we would be looking at initially. >> to which we would say, yikes, right? >> 20% decline, true collection. >> apple has just defied gravity forever now. where do you see it going now? >> apple's run has been impressive. much of it, however, has been on a bearish island reversal. or a potential for a bearish island reversal. that's a flee-floating island there. it's likely to reverse back down. it's supported by a gap right there at 577. target 420. apple looks bearish, and it supports a likely decline in the s&p and spike in volatility on the vix. >> you would take profits in apple here? >> i would look to take profits in apple. it's hard to judge when this would take place, but maybe in the next three months.

perhaps next week. >> you know it's not going to end well. >> just like that. big drop. >> thank you. abigail doolittle, talking numbers here. maria? >> all right, wibill, we have about 30 minutes left in the market trading today. we're looking at financials rolling over a bit as we approach the final stretch. coming up next, easy come, easy go, the dow losing its grip on 13,000. is this the end of the rally or a buying opportunity. our experts will weigh in, and we'll get you set up for tomorrow's trading session. we'll also get insight on the ecb's action. bob doneiamond is talking aboute tougher regulations. he will talk about the european central bank's latest ltro move as well. you're watching this edition of "closing bell" on cnbc.

welcome back. bob pisani down on the floor of the new york stock exchange. not far from the lows of the day, hewlett-packard and alcoa are the lag guards. but overall, we've had a pretty

darn good month and pretty darn good year so far. the s&p up 8.6% so far this year. that's the best start since 1991. dow's doing pretty well, not as good as the s&p, up 6% year-to-date. the best start for the year for them since 1998. you think that's good? this is nothing. you should see what's going on over in europe. germany's dac is up 16%. for all the problems, particularly in southern europe, the german economy is holding up really well and it's reflected in the stock market. i'll have volume numbers at the top at 4:00, guys, and you'll be surprised here. i've put together a whole bunch of stats for you. >> your favorite topic. you and maria are going to have a volume-fest -- >> i've got all the stats she needs. >> love it. >> coming off the lows for the dow, down 50 points a moment ago, failing to hold the 13,000 level. >> we keep asking these questions. joining us now to talk more

about how to invest right now is peter. he is head of institutional equity derivatives at cantor fitzgerald. and steve with bank of america merrill lynch. good to have you on the program. steven, you've been right on your small cap calls. small caps doing very well. up about 11%. >> right. >> just in the last several weeks. >> right. >> time for a pullback? >> you know what? we've had 11.5% as our target for the year. we've had a pretty big move here. it looks a little tired. the economic news was really strong right out of the gate. maybe a little bit more mixed now, and so i think you could probably see -- we could definitely -- we need a little bit of a pause here. look at what the fundamentals look like. earnings expectations are too high for us. valuations are attractive, though. so the market still looks pretty good overall. but i think we've kind of moved awfully quickly here. >> peter, what do you think? >> i think we're ready for a

pullback as well. largely the 9% on the s&p year-to-date has more to do than just liquidity in the system than any true fundamental improvement. >> you're a derivatives guy, you appreciate volatility which we are lacking right now. >> yes, we are. >> you think it's coming back. what would spur that, do you think? >> the catalyst is very hard to tell. we were wrong that the ball dropped down to between 15 and 17. we thought it had a floor around 20. but if you look back historically over a multi-year period, you would see 15 to 16 is the level which everyone is surprised that volatility spikes. >> what's your take on the latest ltro out of the ecb this morning? what is going to be the impact in 20 is? >> it's difficult to say. i think it will have a less of an impact than the last ltro. expectations were based into the market. we saw risky asset markets rally considerably, frankly, in expectation of ltro 2.

>> is it enough that you would want to take profits or just hang in there and buy on those dips? >> i think you can buy on the dips here, a lot of the valuation of those still attractive. balance sheets are really clean in getting financing. there's m & a activity that's picked up a little bit. i think it still looks pretty good to us. just the overall market exploding to the up side, also caught us by surprise here. >> what about, you know, sort of the regulatory environment. what ask your take on the volcker rule? will it be implemented in july ? will it have an impact on your business? >> it will definitely have an impact on our business. >> my question is if it's actually going to happen in july. >> you have to plan for it, though, right? >> you certainly do. >> what's the impact? what's the impact? >> i think it's like a lot of things. i think it creates more uncertainty, because more regulation creates more

uncertainty, especially with respect to implementation. there's a lot of uncertainty with respect to implementation. >> let's say you're both right, that we're headed for a pullback, at least over the near term. you're still bullish over the longer term, is that right? >> i'm not. less so. >> how do you want to invest in this environment where we could see a pullback? how do you protect yourself? >> cash is the best thing you can do. nobody wants to be in it because everybody lost last year being in cash. it's very hard to advise being in cash. but at this moment, given how much we've run, it may in fact be prudent. >> how significant pullback might you sea? >> i'm not very bearish in the near term. i think it's 1330 on the s&p when we pullback. >> we'll save that for a wonderful tease. >> we are worsening here as we approach the final stretch. just about 20 minutes away from the closing bell. 66 points lower. the financials, one of the

groups taking this market down. but it is technology and krugs as well. >> gold has also plunged today after fed chairman ben bernanke gave new news. >> how can the fed best increase transparency while maintaining independence. federal reserve president charles plosser is joining me for an exclusive at 4:00 eastern. >> as we head to the break here, look how treasuries have been trading today. a sell-off and yields going higher. back after this. but first, before we go to break, the "dividend." which company's market cap has never exceeded $500 million? cisco systems, ibm or microsoft? the "dividend" pays off after the "dividend" pays off after the break.

just before the break, as part of the "dividend," we asked, which company's market cap has never exceeded $500 billion? cisco systems, ibm or microsoft? now, the payoff. ibm.

i'm bertha coombs at the nasdaq. a milestone 3,000 for the first time in over 11 years. the nasdaq easing off. we're seeing profit-taking this afternoon. microsoft was one of the drivers to the outside today. now is one of the drags. it hit $32 for the first time since april of 2008. we're also seeing selling in telecom and chips as well. amazon also a big drive today. apple easing off of a fresh all-time high. near 550. it hit 547 and change this morning. this afternoon, though, it is on track for yet another new all-time closing high. bill and maria. >> bertha, thank you very much. we've got about 15 minutes left in the trading session. time for a quick stat check on the nasdaq itself. looking less likely to set a five-day winning streak. just off the lows of the session at 2966.

after trading above 3,000 as bertha mentioned earlier. the volatility index, let's see what it's going on here. yes, it is moving higher, now up 1.7%, as the stock market moved lower, the vix was moving higher. we were talking to peter about that a moment ago. now at 1827. we've not been above 20 since the middle of the month here, maria. >> bill, thank you. gold prices taking a beating today after ben bernanke stayed mum about the possibility of more easing coming our way. so if the rush to gold is over, where are the opportunities right now? we bring in ken marsh, head of u.s. quantitative trading at ubs. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me, maria. >> let's talk about the move in gold. what's the trade from your standpoint? >> i think the move in gold was representative of the move in a lot of risk assets around 10:00 today, when, as you said it, ben

bernanke didn't mention qe-3, or maybe even that the fed rates would be raised faster than people are expecting. you saw sort of a wide ranging sell-off in the risk assets. everything from stock futures in europe to copper futures, it was sort of across the board. >> do you think gold continues trading down here? have we seen the highs for this year? >> well, i think gold's an interesting trade in the sense that there's a lot of people that have made a lot of money in it. potentially it could be crowded. that's partially why it sold off more than some of the other risk assets earlier today. at the same time, if currencies are being devalued and they continue to devalue, gold will be a safe haven. i think there is gold going forward. >> when you look at what the ecb did with the ltro today, when you look at what the federal reserve did in the beige book today, you want to be an owner of gold? >> i think at this point, rates are going to stay lower for longer. people are sort of afraid of

when that inflection point actually happens. but i don't think today you can look at today's move at 10:00 and say that the world's changed on the snap of a finger. i don't think that's the case. so i think assets like gold will continue to do well. as well as equities. >> all right. good insight as always. good to see you. >> heading to the close here, maria, the dow down 44 points. james murdock is stepping down from the company's british newspaper edition over the expanding phone hacking scandal. we'll show you why the shakeup could actually be good news for that stock. and later, how will the british government's move to close new tax holes over there. the answers coming up in an exclusive interview. here's how the major banks have been trading so far today. only jpmorgan chase the one heading higher.

back on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you're standing in front of the post where they're making shares of pcs communications, which are moving lower today.

working very hard, the target price now from ubs from neutral to buy, they lowered it. they're below the price target now. we wonder what ubs will do after this. first-quarter results out three months from now, appear on track to disappoint from pcs. ubs says seasonal weakness in the second and third quarters give investors little to look forward to, interestingly enough. remember this popped on cnbc on friday, when they reported that sprint nextel is walking away from the talks of the takeover of the wireless company that we didn't know was in the offing with this company. pcs shares are running slightly ahead of sprint's, although both have been stuck in negative territory over that same period of time. >> they may not be stealing the headlines, but there are "under the radar" stocks making big moves today. seema mody with the details. seema? >> maria, that's right. a couple stocks on the move. worth taking a look at.

let's start with gentex. shares, a company which makes such equipment is down 13%, more than 13% actually. switch over to scientific games. maker of instant lottery tickets posted a surprising loss due to higher expenses. the stock down around 14%. lastly, biotech firm viva, up another 5%. up 5.8% behind their obesity drug. perhaps receiving fda approval which could be a major milestone in the weight loss market. since winning the backing on thursday, the stock has climbed 113%. can you believe it? back to sglu seema, thank you. big moves there. we take a short break. we've got the closing countdown right after this break. after the bell we'll get the global sector, and monetary policy in two exclusive interviews. barclays bob diamond is with us,

as well as charles plosser. both joining me in the next hour of the "closing bell." first, take a look at the averages as we approach the final few minutes of trading for the day. we're back in a moment on "closing bell."

four minutes left in the trading day, before the closing bell here. by the way, we haven't mentioned, happy leap day, everybody, february 29th, happens only every four years. so those of you born today, happy birthday. and we'll wait another four years. as we close out the month, we notice on this final day, the dow up for the montana, 3%. the s&p up 4%. the nasdaq up 6% in just the month of february. in fact, the s&p is having its best february since 1998. take a look at this. abigail doolittle was talking about taking profits in apple. she felt it was topping out. and she would take some profits here. look what happened while she was talking. coincidence while she was talking or not? i don't know. but probably didn't make many friends among apple shareholders. the stock tanked for a time and has come off the lows in just the last few minutes here. i want to go over this day here

as chairman bernanke was speaking to congress, and making his comments and implying that we're not going to get any more stimulus in the forms of a qe-3 or something like that, the dollar took off. the euro went down. look at the dollar, up pretty well today, now to 788 #. what happens when the dollar goes higher, you get a lot of risk assets that go lower. the price of gold down sharply today. the other day was knocking on $1800's door, and now it's below $1700. today down $93. a $5.25 move late in the session. silver, for a time, had an even bigger decline. silver has been performing better. it's down 7% in today's session with that higher dollar at $34 and change. a little change here, soybeans. you would think soybeans would go lower. but demand is so high, that the price has been moving higher here. in fact, we're at a five-month high. the biggest monthly gain for

soybeans in more than a year. here's crude oil. lower early on today on bearish sentiment. the inventory data showed a build. let me get this straight. demand is lower, and inventory levels are going up. so why are gasoline prices going higher again? i digress. up 40 cents right now off the lows at $106.95. as for the dow itself struggling today, it did get back above 13,000 for a time. but then fell back. we're down 50 points right now at 12955. the consumer staples, the lone gainer today. that speaks to a very defensive market at this point. let me talk to steve here, our small cap investor. we teased the fact that you'll tell us what you would buy here. i know you're expecting a bit of a pullback. but if the market pulls back, what would you buy? >> we still like technology and small cap.

attractive valuations. still like health care, another group that's very affordable in terms of valuation. good trend and estimates, conservative. we've been underweight materials, which gold prices are coming down. >> do you think that will continue? >> i think it's too high for materials, valuations are too high. not necessarily on gold, but just materials being the underperformer. we're also underweight financials. financials have not participated as much as small cap as they've done in large cap. i just don't think they're nearly as attractive as tech and health care. >> steve, good to see you. thanks for stopping by here. bob pisani, coming off the lows here. big moves today with bernanke's testimony. the dollar goes higher. and a lot of those risk assets in the commodities arena went down sharply today. >> this is very simple. if there is less qe-3, that's good thing. if that prospect is going away, let's take an improving economy over the sugar high of qe-3. i think that's why the