>> that's a good point. herb makes a joke. >> thank you very much for watching. another episode of "street signs." >> "closing bell" is coming up next. welcome to the "closing bell." breaking news from the federal reserve, the january consumer credit report, surging in january for the second largest gain since 2004. the december consumer credit is down from 9.3% to 7.9%. consumer gains were driven almost exclusively by student loans from the federal government. rising by $28 billion in january. that's the biggest gain since october 2010. revolving credit, that's your credit cards, declining by 4.4%. but non-revolving credit like your auto loans were up strong. but again, a lot of that is student loans.

banks reduced their credit to consumers overall while credit unions and the federal government boosted their consumer credit. the consumer is not necessarily back borrowing, but students are taking plenty of loans from the federal government. >> good insight there, as always, steve liesman with the breaking news. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. let's take a look at this market that's bouncing back after yesterday's pretty good drop for stock prices on wall street today. we're seeing gains on the back of the positive u.s. jobs data out this morning, as well as optimism that greece's restructuring deal will get done. a quick check on the major averages as we approach the final stretch, near the highs of the day. in fact, right at them with a gain of 90 points on the dow jones industrial average. 88 points higher. nasdaq composite bouncing back today after a steep decline yesterday. 23 points higher on the nasdaq. and the s&p 500 with a gain on the session of 92/3 points.

apple, big news today on apple. the lost a bit of steam. they announced details of the new ipad tablet. it features the high-resolution retina display screen, along with a faster processor. it supports 4-g wireless capabilities. it is featuring a new five megapixel eyesight camera. the price range will be the same as the previous ipad 2 model. talk about how investors can cash in later on in the "closing bell." i also want to look at where apple is taking market share. who is actually on the other side of that trade. and getting hurt by apple's new innovation that was announced today. we'll get into that later on in the program. let's get to the market catalyst. positive data op the jobs front today. optimism about greece helping to spark a pretty good rally on wall street today. we get into the labor story,

ahead of friday's big february jobs report as well. looking at the economy. first, kelly, you say a jump is spurring inflation concerns. what would you look for come friday with the big report coming out on jobs? >> it's interesting, maria, we saw a turn-around in the fourth quarter with labor costs and productivity so far in this recovery. one that may be encouraging for workers is perhaps they're getting a bit more wage inflation. but still a little bit of question about inflation, what this means for the fed, kind of dovetailing with some of the other rumors out with quantitative easing going forward. it would suggest a bright spot may be if workers are getting less productive, getting a little more of the income share, it may show employment is turning in their direction. >> steve, what's your take on this? we've been talking about the threat of inflation ever since the fed started all this easy money so many years ago.

how soon might we see this threat? >> you know, maria, neither side has been right in the inflation debate. not the guys who said we would have the runaway inflakes from the feds, money printing, and not the guys who said we'd have deflation because of the slack in the labor market. this report today that kelly's talking about is kind of a notch against the conventional wisdom at the fed, which suggested all of this slack in the labor market should not lead to unit cost pressure. i don't think it's a huge problem there. i think it's something that will moderate. i think kelly's right, the federal reserve is going to watch this, they're going to watch it carefully, and it's likely to stay their hand for future policy decisions. >> even investors are affected to the liquidity. it will be hard to wean off of this, right? >> step back and look at wh we're hearing in the "wall street journal" reporting the federal reserve may consider, quote unquote, sterilized quantitative easing. it's not clear what this means, what signal they're trying to

send to the market here. stocks reacting positively, perhaps this is going to mean more liquidity in the system. >> kelly -- >> steve, curious to your reaction here. important to see what happens going forward. does this rally continue to build on this rumor or not. >> i'm kind of hearing that this idea of there being an additional qe that sterilizes is not something that is high on the list of things the fed is going to talk about. i think that maybe something that's discussed inside the fed, but i'm hearing it is not necessarily something that's at the top of agenda, to consider even next week at their meeting. >> steve, what do you look for for the jobs numbers out on friday? we had several months in a row of pretty good numbers. what's the expectation? >> that's become a -- that's what everybody's expecting, 200,000 is the new 100,000. if we don't get it, buyer beware out there. today's adp report at 216,000 did very little to change people's expectations. the adp report and bls report

have been right on top of each other for six months' running now. they've been close cousins in terms of where they've come in. and i don't think there's going to be any change out there. i think 200,000, 215,000 is going to be the number out there, with the real wild card, how much decline we have in local and state government. >> that's the critical piece of it, the governments, state and local. that's a story, and you're sticking to it, huh? 200-plus, huh? >> it's going to get harder and harder for the people to get the number they want. >> kelly, steve, thanks so much. this market near the highs of the day. we've got banks on the upside today, all the major banks doing well. technology doing well. computers certainly among the winners. and a handful of health care names pretty strong today as well. courtney reagan is at the cnbc realtime exchange. >> we're looking at a different picture today than what we saw yesterday. stocks really turning around, at session highs. dow up by 91 points.

the s&p 500 above 1350 right now. the nasdaq, far cry from 3,000, but again, a tech-heavy nasdaq, returning to the power position again today. just a hair under .8%. the volatility index is red. this is one of our movers in the red after we saw that hit above 21 yesterday. now substantially pulled back around 19.3. gold higher, west texas crude higher after trading, slightly lower earlier in the session. and the dollar a little bit weaker. let's take a look at shares of apple. this is the big news maker today. you mentioned it earlier. they announced a new product called the new ipad. shares under a little bit of pressure, down about $4, or .8%. zag down about 1%. this company introduced the accessories for the new ipad including the invisible shield protectors and a keyboard case. earnings season is winding down, so are shares of pandora. take a look at this. they're down 24%, almost 25%.

their net radio site slightly missing estimates and giving disappointing first quarter guidance. shares of american eagle up about 6.1% after reporting earnings in line and from sales. total sales up 14% online, up 18%. take a look at home builders. green across the board. a 38% rise in net contracts. so you can see lifting shares across the sector. lennar higher by 5. >> court, thank you so much. treasury prices modestly lower today. let's get to rick santelli in chicago. over to you, rick. >> thanks, maria. if you look at interday charts, we're a basis point under, unchanged after yesterday's push down. rates moved up a bit, part of that might have been consumer credit. but it was underweight even

before that rather large number came out. if you think through to the day, traders still talking about the high productivity up .9%. productivity in many ways isn't a great thing if you're looking for work. unit labor costs at 2.8%, multiples above expectations. 216,000 adp, figures in as a good number. if you look back to november of last year, you can see, we are now four months running in a 30-basis point closing range on tens going nowhere quickly. if you look at the dollar index year-to-date, you can clearly see we're still down on the year. about midway through the annual range, and we continue to see things like layoffs affecting the markets, whether it's procter & gamble and gm. you want to blngs that with the cfo report today. they think they want to do some more hiring, which makes tomorrow interesting. the last chart, the favorite darling of the fx cross trades, the canada versus the yen,

continues to mostly improve. back to you. >> thank you so much, rick santelli. we are in the final stretch of trading. final hour of trading. about 50 minutes before the closing bell sounds. the dow jones industrial average holding on with a gain on the session. up next, one of the world's richest people coming up. chairman and ceo here with me saying why he thinks there may still be an upside to this market. with 50 minutes to go in the trading day. we're following the news on apple on the new ipad. are you actually better off investing in ipad suppliers and who's getting hurt by the increased market share of apple? keep it here. we're back with that. we'll take a look at which mobile application companies like zynga could be the big winners from the apple new device. as we take a break, take a look at how the s&p 500 heat map is looking right now. there's a lot of green on that screen. you're watching the "closing bell" on cnbc, on a wednesday, first in business worldwide.

welcome back. just about 45 minutes to go in today's trading session. let's get a quick market "state check" on the industrials. stabilizing around the highs of the afternoon. major averages reclaiming some of that lost ground yesterday. today on renewed optimism that the debt restructuring in greece will go through. the dow industrials right now at session highs, with a gain of about 82 points. the high was actually 93 points, just shy of it. the big winners, what's moving this market today, it is financials as well as industrials. bank of america, caterpillar, general electric, home depot, jpmorgan rising that the hour between 2% and 3.5%. a faster processor, 4-g wireless support, a high-def display and improved camera, these are some of the features on the apple new ipad. as we mentioned earlier, the new tablet will sell at the same

price point as the ipad 2. we turn now to another angle of the ipad story, with focus on the suppliers. whether or not investors can profit from the new ipad by betting on those suppliers. joining me now with their take is stephanie link, vice president of strategy with the street. and cnbc contributor. also with me is david gary, principal with gba research. good to see you both with us. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having us. >> stephanie, you like these suppliers? you think this is a good angle? >> i definitely do. you never really want to own these stocks just for one company. but the suppliers really have a substantial leverage. they've got a lot of growth. you want to find the ones that have diversified customer mix. i look at something like a broad com, which has 13% of its exposure is apple. but they also have five of their largest customers are 40% of their revenue. these guys have a superior chip. and they were in the ipad 1 and the 2, and i think they'll continue to be in the 3, and i

think they continue to have momentum. >> we don't know necessarily they'll be a supplier for the new ipad? >> we don't. until you open it up, you won't know who the winners are. >> sure. and david, what do you think about that? is it too soon to buy these names since we don't know exactly who the suppliers will be in as stephanie just said, the actual product is out and you open it and you know who's supplying? >> the point here is, it's certainly the time to buy the product is ahead of the product available for teardown analysis. once that's done, the element of speculation is off the table. so here, we can say, yes, there have been strong long-standing relations with apple suppliers, with broadcom, as stephanie mentioned, and there might be other names as well. >> you mentioned cirrus logic. >> i'm nervous about cirrus. it's growing to 80% by the end of the year. that's very concentrated. i think there could be risk. it's a great technology in

audio. but i do think that if they have market share loss, it's going to be a big impact to the bottom line. >> you want to sell cirrus logic? >> yes, i would buy quaulcom and skyward. >> tell us about neo node. >> they've come out with new technology that they had the patent announcement the end of february, with an interface with smart devices. they're not yet as a product supplier to apple but they're certainly a potential to be either in this product or with others. we think it's a name that the market hasn't had a chance to look at. neon. larger cap, as far as the camera supplier, also if we want to look at other names, qualcomm, you've got connectivity built into the new ipad. >> would you buy apple here on this as well? what about apple, david?

>> apple on a pullback, because clearly when you're looking at apple, it's not just a value of the hardware, it's really a value they're deriving by end spanneding the apple ecosystem. those who have the digital content into itunes and the iapps. to the sense you're deriving a greater base, having a larger installed base of devices here, just gives greater opportunity for apple to make more and more money. clearly this is a franchise-building introduction. apple obviously is going to pull back on the news of the product introduction. but certainly a name that is well positioned over the course of 2012. >> a lot of investable ideas around this product. do you think we'll see more product up cycles for apple? >> oh, certainly. i think this is one of the best product cycle stories in technology. >> it certainly has been. >> you'll get the iphone 5, and something about tv, and these are just more of what we already have. just better. so i do think that that's why you want to look at the suppliers and have exposure to them. not 100% exposure, but exposure

so you have the growth. >> stephanie, always great to see you. we appreciate it. david, good to see you. thank you so much for your time. we are in the final stretch here, 40 minutes before the closing bell sounds on wall street. nasdaq holding on to a double digit move. we focus on oil next, regaining ground after the big sell-off yesterday. how high will oil go? what is the impact on the market and the economy? we break down the charts in "talking numbers." later, james grant will be here to explain why the fed's move to keep interest rates so low is hindering a strong economic recovery. one of the really leading voices. as you can see, the weak spots, merck, among others, disney. we'll be back next.

oil bouncing back today on the back of those strong adp numbers, and also hopes for a greek swap deal. we had wti closing out above $106 a barrel today. in part, also because we had a little bit better than expected inventory numbers. a rise up less than 900,000 barrels.

that was well below the expectation. what's interesting is we have a worse than expected number in terms of a drawdown of gasoline. it was a smaller drawdown than expected. one of the things folks are watching that here on the east coast, which is what the futures are pegged to, east coast reformulated gasoline prices remain high. as far as the other rocket fuel, coffee futures, down to new low for the second straight day. a lot of concern we're going to see a record crop coming out of brazil. but i don't think your latte over on the floor is going to get any cheaper anytime soon. >> how did you know i just had a latte, bertha. >> because i know when i'm there, i always get one in the afternoon. >> i'm trying to keep the prices moving higher. moving higher was oil, as you made the point a moment ago. on part on the inventory numbers. let's talk numbers now with mary ann bartsels, chief u.s. technical market analyst. this is a serious title here.

mary ann, good to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> let's look at the oil chart. talk to me about it. what is it telling you, what is it telling you about where we go from here? >> sure. oil has had a bullish technical breakout. we call it a classic head-and-shoulders bottom. maybe we'll get a neckline in there. we've broken above that. as long as crude oil stays above $104, it's targeting $115, and maybe in later in the year we might see crude climb to $130. >> you see it possibly going to $130. necklines are very good this year, i'm told. >> yes. it's possible. first you've got to get to the $115 level. we may back off a little bit. but we haven't ruled out later in the year, in a couple of months, if the pattern really resolves itself to the highest level. we could see $130. >> so what is the implication of this, or that, for the s&p? for the broader market? >> sure. i think in the near term, it just adds to the wall of worry.

and we are in a market correction right now. we don't think it's a major -- >> really? you think we are? >> i think you're already in a correction. the market action yesterday, you had a 90% down day. we saw a little bit of a tick up in volume. but i think the correction's going to be very mild. for the s&p, we're only forecasting that we'll have a 3% to 5% pullback. now, in some of the higher data areas of the market like the nasdaq, transports we think maybe you get as much as 10%. but the good news is, half of the correction's already over. so if you're looking to buy, this is the pullback now to buy. here we are. what happened is the s&p got up into resistance. and we're respecting that. we're backing off. ooh, i made a spot there. there it is. it's okay. it's magical. so now you're into support range. we think around 1,300, we're going to hold support. and then we have to be cognizant of the fact that we're going into the end of the quarter. many fund managers didn't really have the exposure to the market that they wanted.

so i think in the back end of march, we're going to see the markets rally back up again. >> what is your thought for the end of the year on the s&p? >> i think this year we can see the s&p p around 1400 to 1440. >> not a huge move up from here, where we are today, in the 13? >> around here. >> so it's not a huge move. >> no. we're not looking for a huge move. obviously there's a lot going on in the world. there has been. there's a presidential election. >> i've heard about that. >> yeah, i think the markets will start paying attention to that more in the back end of the second quarter and the summer once we know who the republican candidate is. and see how that candidate is running against obama. >> right. >> personally, we think the markets would favor a republican over a democrat. and then maybe we get a little bit of a summer rally. >> mary ann, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> 30 minutes to the closing bell sounds for the day. the dow jones industrial average up about 90 points here. up next, we'll talk where to

invest today. calamos investments chairman and ceo john calamos here with me telling me why he thinks the biggest opportunities are outside of the united states. as we take a break, take a look at the standout performers right now in the s&p 500. back in a moment.

half an hour to go in the trading session. the session highs up about 92 points right now. we've been talking apple all day long. so let's take a look at some of the companies involved in building this 4-glte, or long-term evolution network that will operate on which the apple -- or new ipad will operate. analysts say this should give a lift in particular to verizon, vodafone and at&t. they think that investors will pay more, basically, for this kind of service in turn boosting revenues at both of these operations. so all of them getting a boost today. send it back to maria and tyler. >> mary, thank you so much. we've got a market at the highs of the day right now.

95 points higher. that would be the high for the dow. this, of course, on some signs that greece's restructuring is going through. we're getting good news on the u.s. labor market. of course, we are also talking housing. and there is a debate on whether or not housing has in fact seen a bottom. yale professor of economics robert shiller offered his latest take on housing. listen to this. >> in terms of housing, we might be at the end game. home prices are back to a normal level. they could just stay here. and that would be all right, right? housing is very affordable. interest rates are down, prices are down to kind of a normal level. they haven't overshot normal. maybe in terms of housing, this is it. >> very interesting. let's get reaction to that comment and investor advice with john calamos. he's chairman and ceo and cio at calamos investments where he helps oversee more than $34 billion. good to see you. i know you were an air force pilot in a prior life, so you

know about things that take off. one of the things that's taken off is apple stock over the past year. >> that's right. >> they've got a new product out today. is this stock still investable at these prices or is it too hot to touch? >> you know, we think so. we've been holding on to apple for many, many years. it's been a core holding of ours for many years. >> and good for you. >> you know, at one time, you have to remember that apple was trading at 40 times earnings. here we are with apple reaching new highs, and new growth is over 35%, 40%. >> what is it now, john? >> like 13%, 14%. amazing when you think about it. look at all the cash. when we first bought it, they didn't have that kind of cash. they had cash, but not that kind. it's been a core holding. it really kind of reflects the valuation, a gap between the market and, say, growth

companies. we think there's a big valuation gap there. >> that's why you like the broader market because of the valuations, right? with all that cash at apple, are you expecting a dividend? >> you know, i think they -- you know, we used to look at it as a positive with the cash, because as a growth company, they needed capital to come out with new products instead of going to the debt market. with the kind of capital they have right now, i think they have more than enough to continue. so they may pay a dividend. >> would you be putting fresh money into equities here? if so, what parts of the market globely would you be looking at oh, or some other alternative? >> i feel much more -- if you talk about it from an asset allocation point of view, i feel much more comfortable in the equities market than i do the bond market, especially the high-grade bond market. i think there's opportunities in the bond market, but not so much on the ve high grade or the government bond market. i feel more comfortable in

equities, on valuations. you know, from -- i've been doing this for a long time, and the debate in my head goes on, is this 1978 or 1982? what do you think? are we just going back and forth, back and forth? or is this going to be the breakout? >> what do you think? >> you know, i'm getting closer to being constructive going forward. i think we're in this volatile period that's going to be very tough to tell. it's going to be very tough to tell. but i'll tell you, if you miss it, like a lot of people missing 1982, there's no going back. >> it's fast, right. >> so you've got to be invested in here. and you've got to -- you know, for investors, you've got to live through the volatility. you've got to close your eyes to the volatility, think a little bit long term. because it will drive you nuts, no doubt about it. >> is this optimism based on fundamentals as well as valuations? you're talking about 13 times earnings which are obviously attractive valuations?

but what about the fundamental back drop? >> three things make bull markets work. one is valuations, and the valuations are attractive. the other is economic statistics growing. they've been positive. and the third one is liquidity. do we have liquidity out there? you bet. a lot of liquidity. so what we're worried about, of course, is just the slow growth, but kind of the muddle through, what's going on with the government and that. so, you know, it's not a clear, you know, up market. but it's -- to me, if you think long term, you've got to be -- >> we led into this segment talking about housing, mr. shiller saying maybe he thinks prices are where they belong, they're not going to go down anymore. do you have a perspective on that? and if you do, what does it mean for the overall climate? >> well, i think the housing market has seemed to be much better than it's been. you know, maybe that's a positive.

and i think the housing market's really a positive for the middle class consumer. you know, that's really -- people -- you know, when i was growing up, the first thing i wanted to do is buy my own house, pay it off and be comfortable. today young people just want to rent, you know? but if you see housing start to go up, there may be a shift in mentality there. >> yeah. well, what is the red flag that you're watching that would make you cautious? we know europe is a wild card. >> yeah. >> let's talk about the other wild cards out there. and how realistic it would be that there's a wrench in the ointment here. >> there's no doubt that there are a lot of things to be concerned about. the high debt load that the government has. what happens to that. what happens if inflation comes back, roaring back. >> and if these things happen, would you be poised to take money off the table? do you think that will affect the markets? >> we're watching it closely,

and we're trying to manage that risk. we think, obviously, being in equities here, and in bonds, is risky. it's kind of like playing airplanes. if you get up in the sky, you're in a risky situation. manage the risk. you can't avoid it. >> john, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> good to see you. and we'll see you at 4:00. >> 23 minutes left until the closing bell. and the dow is up a little more than 90 and the nasdaq by about 26. >> we'll check on the labor market next. >> first, get ready to trade the close, find out why our next guest said investors should be watching the euro to see where this market is heading next. >> as we take a break, look at the major currencies and how they're trading right now. we're back in one minutes' time. but first, before we go to break, the "dividend."

which home builder stock has shot up more than 50% so far this year? kb home, lennar or pultegroup? the "dividend" pays off after the break.

just before the break, as part of the dividend, we asked which home builder stock has shot up more than 50% so far this year? kb home, lennar or pultegroup? now, the payoff. kb home. welcome back to "closing bell." i'm seema mody here at the nasdaq. while apple might be posting negative gains -- is in negative territory, excuse me, we're still seeing the technology sector post gains. a nice recovery after yesterday's sell-off with microsoft and yahoo!. pandora, missing q-4 estimates, issuing weak guidance. that being a huge red flag for investors. two downgrades today.

raymond james downgrading that stock. we also have citigroup lowering their rating to neutral from buy. maria, the stock down 22%. >> thank you so much, seema. just 20 minutes before the closing bell sounds. nasdaq on course to snap a three-day losing streak today. renewed optimism that greece's debt restructuring will go through. that certainly put a floor and strength into the market this morning. the nasdaq near the highs of the afternoon, with a gain on the session of about 26 points. nearly 1%. the cbo volatility index sliding back below 20 today. the vix was pretty active yesterday. and it was closing above 20. but volatility has slowed down. that is the first time since february 15th we saw the vix move above 20. but we're pulling back today. ty, back over to you. >> maria, thanks. market volatility picking up again as maria just mentioned. the key question is, of course,

how should you be trading. to help us figure it sut is darren wolf. darren, good to have you with us. let's start by talking a little about the euro. a lot of focus as we look ahead to tomorrow and that debt resolution, i dare say, in greece. what are you thinking there? >> it's all going do come down to the percentage of people that convert to the restructuring. right now i think the range is between 55% and 60%. we need another 15% to 20% come in and vote yes. and with that, i think the euro is going to inch higher. >> and so where do you see it going? what is the level that you're looking at? >> i think we're going to shop around here for a little bit, but eventually i see it going back to the 135 level, assuming there are no surprises. it is positive for the euro area for this to get resolved and everyone to move forward. >> treasuries moved up in price yesterday, down in yield. where do you see the action

taking us in that market? >> i think the important thing in treasuries is we're making a higher low in the yield. so we're going to look to see if we can get through the 205 level. if we get through the 205 level, i think you would see a decent rotation out of bonds into equities. >> that's an interesting point. higher lows in treasury yields. still, though, below 2%. let's turn to the s&p 500. and whether you think ias one o our prior guests thinks, that we're in a kind of the middle of a mini correction. >> i think we are in the middle of a mini correction. chinese data spooked the market a little bit along with the psi. i think we could backfill this move today a little bit. on any weakness i would be a buyer. >> we're at 1354. where do you see us sort of landing in the s&p, and then at that point, i guess you would be even more of a buyer? >> yeah. 1335, to 1330 is really where i

want to back up the truck and get long the market. i think we are going to 1400. i think the rotation out of bonds and into equities is going to push us there. >> darren, thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it. >> thanks, tyler. have a good one. >> we've got 15 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. dow industrials up 95 points. up next, the new ipad game changer. >> i'm jon fortt in san francisco. later on the "closing bell," i'm here outside the apple event. it's over, the new ipad is called, the new ipad. we'll talk about what the new features are, how this changes the game for apple and its competitors. >> who's got game? we'll look at whether mobile app makers like zynga could be benefiters from the ipad. >> apple may not have a shiny new ipad, but if you have apple stock today you might be smiling. the dow down 128 points here

at the open. >> this is a booking on profits. >> the metals today are getting crushed. i'm relieved to see the pullback. frankly, we got overextended. >> we're getting more data on global growth. indicates a little slower than we thought. >> how about a correction. it's healthy. it's 200 points, 200%, a little bit less. so what.

welcome back. we're coming to you from the post of pandora, the symbol p is getting hammered right here in very heavy volume. >> we haven't seen this kind of volume since the ipo. >> you haven't seen this kind of volume since the ipo. 21.2 million shares. very heavy day. thank you so much, fabian. the stock wiping out about a quarter of its value. let's take a look, the internet company triggering a handful of

downgrades today. citigroup cutting pandora from neutral to buy. they are looking at higher expenses. jpmorgan also cutting pandora's price target to 17. it was at 22. pandora is a compelling long-term play in the space of mobile ads. ceo joe kennedy of pandora says he expects the company to become the biggest radio station in u.s. markets by the end of the year. the stock dropped by more than 40% since going public. you heard from the market maker in the stock, we're looking at the heaviest volume since the ipo. ty, back to you. >> they may not be stealing the headlines today, but there are some "under the radar" stocks that are making big moves that

you should know about. courtney reagan has been rounding ul all the action. >> apple's the one we're probably paying the most attention to today. there is money to be made in a number of names today. look at stage stores, up today. the department store did disappoint on its earnings. however, its forecast going forward was very optimistic. that's what's sending shares higher. investors really optimistic today. but stage stores isn't the only high-flying retailer today. look at all of these names. lowe's, dick's sporting goods, dillard's, ross stores, all trading at 52-week highs today. not all rosy in retail, it cast always be, right? are pull up shares here, we'll see realtime, lowering its estimates and target prices. shares down 10.2%. down as much as stage stores is up. it's not apparel, not

accessories, but how about data equipment maker, shares up 15.5%. earnings season might be over but the movers certainly aren't. >> when we come right back with the closing countdown, we'll wrap it all up for you. and after the bell, one of the most agile minds on wall street. james grant will explain why the fed may be doing more harm than good by keeping rates extremely low. but first, here's how the major averages are trading as we head into the close. you're watching cnbc, first in night-vision goggles,

let's bring you to the closing countdown with the dow up 87 points. that's roughly half of what was lost yesterday. nasdaq composite up about 26 points. one of the reasons is that there is growing hope, i guess you could call it, that the greek debt deal will actually bring parties together. let's look at european markets

today. at least buy some time there. as you see the ftse up a half a percent. italy stocks higher by a full full percent today. that probably reflecting a bounceback as we saw here. european bonds, there you see. how would you like to make 41% on your ten-year bond? that looks pretty good, doesn't it? compare that with the german bond, that tells you the story right there, the numbers as they always do tell you the story about where the market is assessing these various securities. let's move on. there you go. after a brutal day for the banks yesterday, across continents and around the globe, look at the moves higher, associated generale, barclays, deutsche. let's move on and join joe zuckerman, managing director of jw partners for thoughts about

where the market is today. how you see it playing out this year. >> well, i've been watching the market play out so far this year, sort of like a three-act play, with the first act being the great wall street cliche, the walls of worry. so the net effect of that has caused a lot of people to be very, very underinvested. and provide a cushion, with all the cash that's out there underneath the market. >> the market's up pretty nicely. >> yes. >> individuals may not have played so much. so we've gotten through act one or are we at the intermission? >> goldman sachs had a hedge fund report out last week saying just under 10% of hedge funds had outperformed the s&p, and the s&p metrics. we are, in my opinion, we're somewhere in the beginning of act two. everybody seems to have the same game plan. the market will retrieve 3% to 5%. we'll go back up the truck, buy stock and ride off into the sunset.

actually, yesterday i saw some amazing things. there must have been six people on cnbc, eight people on cnbc, talking about now is the time to buy, because the market has come in. the other thing is that where do we go from here. we will settle in the 3% to 5% -- >> and then maybe pick up? >> then the question is, you know, what happens from there. and there's another cliche that says great markets you can't get in and bear markets you can't get out. i'm just wondering if people are not going to get -- if we come down far enough, if people get their belly full, what happens if the market goes down further. >> many cliches with lots of wisdom. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> over to mary thompson. i thought of you last night, i'm watching the lady irish lose. >> i can't talk about it. >> but today, a better day for investors, i guess you'd say. >> it certainly was.

it was interesting yesterday, people were saying, has the focus shifted to growth. what's interesting today is really we've received a number of disappointing numbers from overseas, germany factory orders, spanish industrial orders. there was optimism they will get the greek del deal done. that provided the floor of the adp jobs report. and then talk about the potential qe-3 alternatives that the fed is looking at, kind of raises the optimism. the fed is at least looking to fill the arsenal, in the event it needs it. >> and keep long-term interest rates down, down, down. which certainly helps the financing picture for a lot of the governments, including our own which are so heavily indebted. >> exactly. >> a nice little bounceback today. >> interesting, tyler, again we're seeing the lack of volume. consolidated volume. aga the average year-to-date is $3.7 billion. it d't