but still pretty impressive that it's below 16. >> the fed edition of "street signs" is coming right up. that does it for "power lunch." that edition of "street signs" begins right now. indeed it does, ty. welcome to "street signs." i'm mandy drury. the countdown is on for the fed's decision on interest rates, the news and all the instant analysis just minutes away. how will the decision impact your portfolio and how can you make money in this low volume, low volatility market? two five-star fund managers are going to tell you. and betting some of your retirement dollars on foreclosed homes? you can do it. our diana olick will be here to tell you if the risk is worth the reward. in the meantime, we have a nice rally on our hands. a day of real double-take stats. the dow above 13,000, going for its highest close since 2007. over on the s&p, that index at

its highest since june of 2008. as for the nasdaq, it's taking aim at 3,000, which would be the first time since 2000 if it closes above that and if the major averages hold at these current levels, we'll see a market first, what is it? the dow closing above 13,000 and the nasdaq closing above 3,000 on the very same day. let's check in with bob pisani at the nyse. you've said it, bob. moan all you like about the low volatility and the low volume -- >> i'm over it. >> but we're sitting here at multiyear highs. >> i think the important thing is what side of the global growth story are you on? where are you? right now the people are arguing the global growth story is going to be a little bit better than expected are the ones winning today. the cyclical names, the transports, the cyclical index, have been underperforming the more defensive names like the consumer index and the pharmaceutical index. but today that's reversing. transports, cyclicals are all doing a little bit better. elsewhere, did you see what

happened? two things about the fed. did you see what happened with the nikkei today? the bank of japan came out and said they're not going to be adding to their quantitative easing program. look what happened. boom, right to the downside. the nikkei was up 1.5%. ended up just up fractionally. the other big question is inflation. gasoline prices have been up since then. i'd like to hear from you, steve. stock traders around here are passing this chart around right now, 2.07% on the ten-year. i think that's going to be the highest close all year. when stock traders start passing around these charts on the bonds, start paying attention. >> steve, you want to react to that. >> i think bob has his finger on the right chart which is as growth is going to experience and do a little bit better, the fed is going to have to start to react to that. does that take late 2014 -- does it make it less probable and does it scale it back? it's just one of the big issues on the table today at the fed. >> in terms of the decision and

the statement from the fed today, just minutes away, what are the key words we should listen out for? >> a lot of things on the table here. you have the economic improvement we were just talking about. i think that's very significant and whether or not -- how they're going to acknowledge that, what that does to exactly what bob pisani was talking about. how much slack is there in the economy? i think that's absolutely key. 8.3% unemployment rate, as we add jobs that bring people back into the workforce and make the fed more concerned or less concerned about inflation going down the road. the inflation threat from oil is on the table. and inflation reality versus the forecast the fed sees inflation coming down. it hasn't done so yet. for a quiet meeting, there's a lot on the table right now. this is the meeting before the meeting, april they're going to have to figure out what to do with twist which ends in june. >> that's probably more important, isn't it? april, what do you think they're going to do in terms of giving any indication about the future of o.t.? >> we're doing a fed survey. we're going to ask the street what they think about the possibility of continuing operation twist. it's all going to be about the

numbers. if we can continue back on a 2.5%, 3% gdp growth track, possible it goes away. if down towards 2% or even below 2%, i think twist remains in place. we have a visual representation. the second chart will show you what's going on with the balance sheet on twist. the problem is that they've b increasing, buying more ten-year yields. but they've been selling the short end. they're running out of short end stuff to sell. that's twist right there. president obama announcing the u.s., europe and japan are bringing a trade case against china. at issue, how china is exporting rare earth metals, minerals used in all sorts of electronic things such as tvs, smartphones, batteries and more. the president says china is not playing by the rules. let's ask u.s. trade representative ron kirk. ambassador, great to have you on the show today. are you confident this case is going to pressure china to repeal these export restrictions? >> well, mandy, we certainly hope so. and thank you for having me on the show.

you may not know, we filed a similar case on china's export restrictions on raw materials two years ago along with the european union and mexico. in january, the trade world organization ordered in a fairly straightforward opinion that china's actions were very much contrary to commitments that it made when it joined the wto. first of all, we have a very strong confidence that this case that we've sought consultations on today will be upheld. we're hopeful that china will engage with us and act to correct its behavior. >> mind you, china says that what it is doing is completely within wto regulations. so what alternatives do you have? >> well, china said the same thing in the raw materials case. they said the same thing in the five other cases that we've brought against china. and in every case, the wto has ruled in our favor. i want to make it plain. we do not seek a trade war with china. but we don't believe that taking

actions to hold china accountable to the covenants that it made when we allowed them to join the rules-based trading system to behave in a certain way. our trade with china has exploded over the last several years. but american manufacturers deserve a level playing field. they shouldn't be pressured to have to move their manufacturing to china to have access to these critical materials. and china shouldn't be allowed to distort the global supply. so we are hopeful working with the eu we can get them to behave the way they said they would. >> is the administration getting tougher with china because it's an election year and they're counter republican criticisms that the administration is too soft on china? >> no, absolutely to the contrary. the reason i gave you that litany of cases, mandy, we made enforcement of our trade rights for our workers and manufacturers a hallmark of the obama administration's trade policy.

we have brought cases against china over the last three years, about double the rate of previous administrations. not just china. we've sought to resolve disputes in agriculture with the european union and other markets because we fundamentally believe that made in america is still a very treasured brand around the world. but trade only works if america's farmers and manufacturers have the same unfettered access to these other markets as we've gotten to ours. >> quickly, with regards to russia, the trade agreement in congress right now, is it likely to be repealed? >> it is absolutely critical that we lift the jackson/vanek restrictions on russia so that american manufacturers have full access to all the benefits of their being a part of the wto. >> i know the administration is lobbying congress to repeal that amendment. ambassador kirk, thank you so much for joining us today on "street signs." coming up next, it is fed

time. we'll hear from them. the headlines, the instant analysis as well. pimco's bill gross and jpmorgan fund's david kelly will be with us. we have our very own steve liesman with us as well. or start cost me anything." "and i got a one-hundred dollar cash bonus for rolling over by april 16th." "i like bonuses." "plus at scottrade, there are thousands of commission-free investments." "and if i need help, i can find it online, by phone or at one of over five-hundred scottrade locations." "it's why more investors with i.r.a.s are saying.." "i'm with scottrade." ♪ [music] aflac! ha! isn't major medical enough? huh! no! who's gonna help cover the holes in their plans? aflac! quack! like medical bills they don't pay for? aflac! or help pay the mortgage? quack! or child care? quack! aflaaac! and everyday expenses? huh?!

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let's get to our all-star panel. joining us, bill gross, david kelly and our very own steve liesman and kelly evans.

quickly, bill, what are you expecting today from the fed? >> not much. i think april holds the key. i believe there's going to be a q.e. 3. i think there has to be, mandy. >> why? why does there have to be? so many great data points have come out lately. >> whenever the fed and other central banks have paused with their quantitative easing programs since 2009, stock prices have fallen and economies have slowed. it's my way of thinking there's little hope for the private market substituting for central banks anytime soon. >> we're sitting at multiyear highs in the markets. the equity markets, is there anything thefood fed could do or say that could derail that, david kelly? >> i actually completely disagree with bill in terms of what the fed should do. what they will do, i'm not sure of. i think the economy will be strong enough to avoid q.e. 3. but this policy of more and more liquidity holding on to rates down is not really helping. there's plenty of liquidity in the economy. the economy lacks for confidence. i think the best thing the federal reserve could do is actually lay out a road maup by

which they would bring monetary policy back to normal. that would convince investors things are moving back to normal and that would help the economy. >> bill, you want to respond to that? >> sure. we're not policy advocates. we're simply observers of the marketplace. to the extent that they should or shouldn't isn't really our prerogative. what they do do, however, affects asset prices going forward. i think to the extent that q.e. 3 must be on the table in terms of restimulating economies going forward that that's going to artificially suppress ten and 30-year treasuries and provide on exit perhaps for private investors that recognize and overvalued sector. >> i think what's interesting about what you just said, bill, you make a case for preemptive q.e. 3. don't wait to see the whites of the eyes of the slowdown. it begins with a belief that the private sector cannot stand on its own and the fed needs to act preemptively here. raising the question, how will you ever know if the economy can stand on its own if you keep

pumping stimulus out there without finding out? >> i think it's a very gradual process. i think a highly-levered economy, which is what we have, dictates a very gradual process in terms of retightening. i think ben bernanke know that is. he saw the problems of japan when they first tightened their policy and the slower economy and the recession that it produced. i think central bankers and especially bernanke will be very careful here in terms of taking off stimulative policies and tightening, which in effect is what the absence of a q.e. would do. >> what's interesting is we've actually seen less and less bang for the buck in terms of what happens with the market when they talk about q.e., the first round, especially once the extension was announced, there was a huge pop in stocks. the last couple of times, we haven't seen as much of a reaction. i'm curious what this means with regard to stocks. we've seen them now over 13,000 on the dow, high on the nasdaq and other parts of the market, too. >> kelly, hold on, i want to

push back a little bit on what you were just saying right there. in the bill gross view of the world, everything we've seen, the 200,000 we've seen on jobs is all linked back to q.e. may not be in the market but it is in the economy. and it's unquestionable that at some point in time relative to operation twist the job market turned around. >> david, what's your reaction? >> just on that point, if you look at where the economy is doing better, chain store sales, auto sales, hiring, these are things which should not actually be that intrasensitive. housing ought to be that sensitive. the very sector that ought to be benefitting the most from these extraordinary low mortgage rates isn't moving. what's happening ing iing is p demand is the fashgz. it acts as a damper on that very revival in confidence that's so necessary. >> david, isn't at this time case that this herculean effort to push housing back up to

reflate housing is having the effect of pushing up other asset prices but is filtering perhaps last into housing? is that not why -- what's your view on this? do we see the next round of stimulus if it comes directed more in mortgage-backed securities? >> first of all, we may see more stimulus, obviously like bill, we focus on what will happen. but the point is, as you follow the logic, you begin to think about the pressures in the federal reserve to avoid another q.e. 3. and you might see more focus on mortgage-backed securities but it's not a very good idea. if you push mortgage rates down a lot -- >> no change in interest rates. the target for the fed fund remains at 0% to .25%. and the fomc -- information received since the fomc last met in

inflation temporarily but the committee anticipates subsequently inflation will run at or below the rate that it judges most consistent with its dual mandate. also expects moderate economic growth over the coming quarters and consequently anticipates the unemployment rate will decline gradually toward levels the committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate. strains in global financial markets have eased though they continue to pose significant downside risk to the overall economic outlook. deciding to continue its program to extend the average maturity

of its holdings is announced in september. the committee is maintaining its existing policies of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities of the rolling over of maturing treasury securities at auction. the committee will review the composition seasoned is prepared to adjust the holdings as appropriate. there was one dissenting vote, jeffrey lacquer who does not anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the fed's funds rate through late 2014. hampton pearson reporting live from the treasury department. >> steve liesman, was there anything there outside of expectations? >> well, it was the inflation -- remember i said one of the key points was how they were going to deal with the inflation reality versus forecast. the reality will eventually meet the forecast even though for a time it will not. i think that's the best way to put it. is hampton still on the phone there? when they said continue

operation twist, i assume they meant through the allotted time in june and didn't extend it. >> the language around that did not change from the last statement. >> so it's exactly the same as it was? they're not going to continue it beyond june. i wanted to be clear about that. they upgraded the economy -- you see -- you can feel the language, mandy. it's a begrudging acknowledgment of the improvement and they don't really -- >> they're not giving much ground there in terms of optimism. >> it's not an all-clear. it's not even the light is yellow. it's still basically red. >> yeah. it feels like we're still on defcon 5 there. >> the inflationary expectations, they have not remained stable. what they call the break-evens, the expected inflation from buying inflation-protected securities has risen. it's at 2.2%, 2.3% as opposed to 2%, perhaps a month or two months ago. i think the fed is playing a

game with us to some extent. it's the same game that the bank of england plays in terms of writing lels of apology every three months to explain inflation for the past three years which has been far above target. i think the fed will continue to do this for a long period of time. and therefore subordinate investors in the bond markets. >> talking of investors, what are the investment implications of this, david? >> well, i think it should be positive because i think the fed is grudgingly acknowledging the improvement to the economy. i think they could have also nodded at the fact that we did have a budget deal which avoided a fiscal cliff this year. that's also positive. as bill says, inflation expectations are beginning to rise. unit labor costs rose notably in the latest report. i think they're understating the potential building of inflation pressures. i think they're understaging the improvement -- >> david, quickly, they might also have acknowledged what's

happened in greece and in europe. they continue to say, i think significantly, that risks are to the downside because of global financial strains and no nod at all to what's going on -- >> they did say they had eased. if you look at the text from the last statement, the word "eased" wasn't in there. they're acknowledging the fact that italying bond deals are down over 1% from their last meeting. >> we're down by 12 bucks on gold since the statement in light of the inflation. it's very interesting. i think we're near the highs of the day in terms of equity markets. kelly? >> looking at the reaction of the dollar and whether people are anticipating any further easing out of this, there's not a lot of big headlines from this statement. as we expected. i think the attention has to shift to april, the attention has to now shift to how they're going to do any further easing before the end of that period. but we're still an environment that's extremely data dependent. the data has been surprised to the upside. that's why we see the language talking about in inflation.

trying to fleck at some of their longer-term concerns. but it really -- what happens between now and the next meeting depends on the data -- >> if they end up not continuing twist, is that a serious sell signal for the long end? >> i think so. certainly from the standpoint of twist, it's not necessarily a sell statement from the standpoint of inflation. i think continued twist and continued q.e., steve, basically promote inflation. that's what the fed is trying to do. so it's sort of a plus and a minus, i guess, in terms of the current operation. but i think ultimately all central banks need to continue their operations because it's the policymakers. it's the central banks of the world that are substituting for private market leverage that is required over the next several years. >> i'm trying to figure out how the world adjusts to an environment where the fed is not pumping all of this liquidity

into the market, not depressing the long end. i'm trying to figure out in my head if this can happen in a gradual way or if this is a kind of cliff effect. i don't know, kelly, what you think. but when they detach the umbilical cord to this market -- >> let's go back to 2011. i'm curious what bill thinks about this. at that point, sort of saying, watch out, we're going to see a back-up in yields, see treasuries -- that yield curve react -- that didn't happen. if anything, bond yields moves lower. what happens this time around? >> the fed is basically buying all the treasury's long bonds. and most of the treasury's intermediate bonds that are issued and have been issued over the past six months, to the extent that we get to this cliff at the end of june and basically the private markets are on their own, then it's up to the chinese, it's up to the pimcos of the world to step in at these levels. are these levels attractive

relative to historic parameters? no, they're 2% lower than what they should be. the dependence -- >> what you're saying here is dramatic in the sense that you are arguing that the federal reserve is having a 200 basis point effect on the long end of the curve. is that what you're saying? >> not on the long end, on the short end. treasury yields have basically traded over the past 50 to 100 years, close to the inflation rate. and now of course they're 2% under. so we can argue about the curve. but certainly all of -- >> i'm not arguing with you, bill. i wouldn't do that. >> i think the timing is very important. for a long-term investor, do you really want to -- we know that long rates are too low. do we really want to try and sort of guess the exact month in which these rates begin to move up? if the fed doesn't do q.e. 3, then it's basically all just talk. as you can see, the talk is beginning to get less powerful in terms of depressing the market. they're having to upgrade their

assessment of the economy. i think this is a time to think about diminishing your exposure to the long end of the yield curve. >> in terms of dependence, you can see the markets are liking what they're hearing from the fed today. sitting around the highs, all 30 stocks on the dow moving higher. big names, materials names like alcoa moving higher, caterpillar, very economically leveraged, moving higher. disney is up there as well in terms of one of the biggest gainers on the dow. david, i would really like to know in terms of what has pushed us to where we are in the stock market, how much of that is predicated on this easy money, on the belief we're going to get q.e. 3 and what happens when it starts to get taken away? >> i don't think it's q.e. 3. what's going on is we had a big fiscal problem in the united states last year. we've come to a short-term compromise on it. we had a very big problem with the financial system in europe last year. and the ltro have reduced those risks. the risks have been diminished, causing people to look at relative valuations.

they say you ought to be long equities and short fixed income. >> what are some of the next levels we should be targeting now that we've broken above 13,000? we don't know whether that's sustainable. what's the next range to be tash targeting? >> i think it's very difficult to make a short-term prediction over the rest of the year. the one thing -- the big risk out there still is an israeli attack on iranian nuclear facilities. that is a big risk. if we avoid that risk, i think the market could have a very good 2012 and also a very good 2013. >> how good is the economy going to be this year, steve? >> i'm more in the 2.5% to 3% camp. i think people coming back to work is going to end up with higher gdp. there's a huge conflict right now in the numbers that we've talked about, which is that payrolls are saying it's a 4% world. the gdp, the demand side is saying it's a 2% world. i'm taking the in between with a

little bit more towards 2%. i think it's a 2.5% to 3% world. i think the better job market brings back discouraged workers. >> i think it's the same story that we've heard for the last couple of years. maybe 2012, now things are finally working, it's going to happen -- but how many times have we heard that you should be short treasuries after the fed's purchases and the economy's finally getting strengthened -- maybe now i'm being too skeptical. but there's so much of this -- >> two steps forward, one step back. >> i will say there will come a time when the fed will stop doing it. and you're going to want to be -- >> are you sure? in our lifetime, steve? >> you want to be on the right side of that trade when it happens. >> bottom-line it. bill, you go first. how do we make money? >> mandy, you basically protect against inflation from the

standpoint of bonds, that means t.i.p.s. and you get as close as you can to that 2014 period of time to which the fed has conditionally promised they will maintain the fed funds level at 25 basis points. four, five, six-year securities. corporates that can benefit from that 2% to 3% economic growth. stay close to home in terms of 2014 and avoid that longer-term sector that is inflation sensitive. >> what about you, david? >> i would agree with avoiding the long end of the fixed income market. but i think the key thing is look at your asset allocation. this isn't a question of which bonds to buy. do you have enough exposure in risk assets and equities? overweight equities, underweight fixed income. we've seen a very good rally in the stock market. so being overweight equities relative to fixed income has worked over the last two years. i think it will work going forward. >> to all of you, it's been a great debate. thank you for joining us today.

just ahead on "street signs," a trip to the trading floors, the market reaction to the fed's decision tick by tick. and a double dose of five-star advice on what to do with your money now that the fed's made their latest move. or i guess in this case, no move. "street signs" is back right after the break. w [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k).

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just minutes ago, the fed decided to leave interest rates unchanged, as expected. steve liesman put it right when he said it was a begrudging upgrade to the economy. let's get to bob, rick and seema. bob, i think we're pretty much back to where we were just before the decision and the statement came out. what are people saying on the floor in terms of reaction to the fed? >> i think -- i'm glad rick is here because i want to get his reaction. pisani's law of broadcast journalism. when stock traders start passing around bond charts and other things, start paying attention. the ten-year is approaching 2.09%, the highest levels we've seen in many, many months. that sort of is a big, important issue down here. traders have been waiting a long

time to see this break out of the range. i'd be interested to hear what rick has to say. i think steve's right. this modest upgrade, we saw labor market conditions have improved further. that's the modest upgrade. and the inflation comment on oil and gas will push up inflation temporarily. those are the two big statements that i saw. >> rick? >> bob is exactly right. you're looking at the highest yield closes of the year and you're testing the top of the range going back to mid november, a four-month range in tens. if you look at a 30-year in particular, up three basis points at 3.24% since the announcement, it is leading the way. there's a bit of curve steepening between the ten-year and 30-year part of the curve. but the down-and-out winner today, holding on to the moves after a fed announcement, just like last meeting, the dollar index up about 10. it's up about 25 to 30 now. it gained against both the euro and the yen. >> what about you, seema? keeping in mind if we close above 3,000 on the nasdaq, am i

right in thinking that would be the first time since back on december the 11th, 2000? >> you got it. exactly right. markets have been holding steady. the nasdaq holding steady. up around 33 points since that fed announcement. money continues to flow into tech. some of the winners include apple, hitting an all-time high. jeffries saying a dividend could be around the corner perhaps in the second half of the year. we're seeing strength in chip stocks. the semiconductor index continues to outperform the broader indices. gartner rapporting that d-ram pricing should begin to improve in the second half of the year. that seems to be where the strength is -- apple and chip stocks. >> to all three of you. thank you so much for joinings today. we're going to be back with two five-star fund managers who will tell you how to play the market and hopefully make some money. you always have homework, okay? i don't have homework today.

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so we've now heard from the fed. now how do you build your portfolio for profit in this market? we have two five-star fund managers with investment opportunities from stocks to fixed income to whatever. george young, portfolio manager of a five-star balanced fund and also scott kimble of tch

corporate income fund. they join us now. george, we are hitting in terms of numerous stocks, waves of all-time highs day after day. you have the indexes at multiyear highs. off fed clearly saying, we're going to keep that punchbowl in front of you for years to come, through to late 2014. what does this mean in terms of what you'd do right now? >> i think it's a great environment for stocks. as low as interest rates are right now, that means corporations can borrow money, continue to make the widgets, provide the services that they're good at making. this is very important. i think things are still wide open for growth in equities. >> what would you do with those highs? take the profits and look elsewhere? >> no, no. we're not traders. we don't think that's a good way to invest your money. what you really need to do is make sure you invest for the long term, don't worry about the volatility. volatility is part of investing in equities. long term, you can make a lot of money in the stock market. we have a number of favorite stocks we think are undervalued and will provide good returns over the long history.

>> we'll get to those in just a second. i want to bring in scott. what are the implications for you from what the fed said today? >> well, as was indicated, whenever you see a volatile market, what we've done here is take advantage of days where there's volatility to find attractively priced on a yield basis corporate bonds where the underlying business fundamentals are still favorable. we think the comments today from the fed although maybe refraining from using their balance sheet to suppress long-term interest rates over the near term presents a very good environment for corporate bonds which will benefit from improving economic conditions. >> bill gross just a moment ago stressed the need to hedge against inflation. what would you be doing with regards to t.i.p.s.? >> well, t.i.p.s. are an important asset class when it comes to inflation because they're the principal value of them will reset to the inflation rate itself. that's an important aspect. another important aspect in

addition to t.i.p.s. is the corporate bonds because the yield on corporate bonds can freely adjust even beyond that of the t.i.p.s. to adjust inflationary expectations. corporate bonds have had a negative correlation with the inflation rate which means they can perform quite well when inflation surprises us to the upside. >> george, you said don't get stuck to buying bonds just to get safety. if you want safety, what would you look for instead? >> remember, the dividend yield is very important nowadays. i recognize a lot of investors need income. we think that's very important. the difference between dividends and interest is that dividends can grow over time. if you buy a profitable company and it continues to earn a profit, it's going to pay a sliver of that income back to you as a shareholder. you can pocket that. and taxes are only 15% on dividends. >> but they could go up, right? they could be going up. there's a plan on the table to hike dividend taxes significantly. is that something you're worried about? >> they'd have to go up a lot.

taxes on interest hover about 28%. that would be almost double where taxes are right now on dividends. we still think dividends are a good way to go. dividends can increase over time. that's a huge difference between stocks and bonds. >> give us your three top picks, george. >> sure. poole, it's an investment in the swimming pools of america. they need to be replastered, constantly need maintenance. anybody who owns a pool knows you have to deal with them all the time. they can grow at 20%. it pays a 2% dividend. it has low debt. that's the number one. also important is 3-d systems. the name is 3-d printing. if you can imagine it, you can design it, you can build it. that would be anything from invisalign braces to prosthetics to next year's automobile. they can design what you need designed in an hour's time and

they can actually make the product. think about invisalign braces, you can have it fit to your teeth within the matter of an hour. >> scott, what would you avoid? >> i think the important thing to remember is interest rates have been low for a very long time. no secret to that. when you're looking at a company from a fixed income perspective, we take the perspective as our corporate income fund that we want to take a look at the statement of cash flows. you want to look for companies whose cash flow interest payments have decreased while debt on their balance sheet has decreased as well, indicating not only refinancing at low interest rates but reducing your debt burden for the future, should rates go higher. there's less refinancing risk. >> stick around for just a second. we have breaking news with sharon epperson. give us more on this and the first response from mbf clearing. >> reporter: this is an accusation that they are suing

mf global because of not segregating the accounts and that customer funds were placed in a nonsegregated account with jpmorgan. the statement we have says in in fact, yes, the complaint is correct that mf was informed that jpmorgan sent to the clearing corp that in a commodity customer segregated account. the complaint fails to actually say that clearing corp placed its funds into the jpmorgan government money market account two days after the collapse of lehman brothers. and for the sole purpose of protecting its customers' funds. it says that as soon as mbf clearing corp was notified by the cftc that the jpmorgan account might not qualify for segregation, they moved all of their customer funds out of this account and what occurred was not a nickel of customer money was lost. in fact, they made a point to

make all of their customers whole. again, this is the first statement coming from mbf saying that in fact they are very disappointed that the cftc has gone through this enforcement proceeding with dealing with this. but, in fact, they have taken the losses on themselves and made all of their customers whole. >> thank you so much for that, sharon epperson. we're going to get more from marc fisher himself. marc fisher will be live on "fast money halftime report" tomorrow to address those allegations. coming up, signs of housing hopium providing the heat for our sunshine stock of the day. and how to use your i.r.a. to invest in housing with profits tax-free until you retire. does it sound too good to be true? we'll find out more.

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i'm bill griffeth. coming up at the top of the hour on "closing bell," disney's stock is up 15% so far this year. but after that big box office bomb over the weekend in john carter, is it time to take profits on the mouse house? we'll have a stock brawl on disney coming up. plus, is the nasdaq eyeing any big acquisitions right now in the wake of the failed merger between the new york stock exchange and the deutsche boerse? bob greifeld weighs in. and the outlook for oil and natural gas prices, an exclusive interview with the shefen chairman and ceo, john watson. all that and more at the top of the hour for "closing bell." it is 70 degrees in new

york. we're bringing you a double dose of sunshine. today, it's all about burglars and booze. first up, fortune brands home security hitting a new high today. that stock up more than 70% since it was spun off from fortune brands back in september. and the other half of that spin-off, beam touching new highs for the year. that stock named, up more than ten since december. a hold over $1 trillion in assets, why community bankers are calling out washington for hurting small businesses and tightening the loan spigot. plus a little home economics, not the class in high school but a way to profit from distressed housing using all the benefits of your i.r.a. how dood it coming up. i'm freaking out man.

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ethan allen is up. setting a new 52-week high. another way to profit on the housing hopium using a savings vehicle to invest in distressed and foreclosed homes. our real estate reporter is here, live on the set, with a lesson in home economics. right, diana?

>> that's right. we've been talking about this all day today. one way to invest in distressed real estate using your retirement funds. your investment goes back into the fund. >> it's really an account that provides greater flexibility than what a third party administered 401(k), for example, would provide. >> and companies like pensco, and entrust offer these special types of i.r.a.s. the most important thing to remember is you must roll your retirement money directly into this i.r.a. don't take it out first because you'll have to pay all kinds of fees and taxes. you can then use this money to buy the home and do any renovations to get it ready for renting. you cannot use the home yourself, or even use it as a vacation home. it must be a pure investment. if you don't have quite enough cash in your retirement, you can also use the money as a down payment and get a mortgage through the i.r.a.

>> the mystery is simply that the loan has to be a non-recourse loan. it's a loan that can only seek the property, the collateral as its sole recovery, if the property goes into default. >> now, all the rental income from the property goes directly back into the i.r.a., and if you decide to sell the home at some point the money from the sale also goes back into the i.r.a., along with profit. you will pay taxes when you retire, and take the money out, as with any other retirement fund, but not while that rental income is coming back in. go to the blog, realty check.cnbc.com. >> thank you for that, diana olick. for housing to -- from housing to a true rebound, banks really need to start doing some serious lending. joining us from nashville is the president and ceo of the independent community bankers of

america. do you have a beef with washington? >> do we have a beef with washington? actually, we're very pleased right now in nashville, because we have a record number of attendees to our convention. over 3,100 community bankers are gathered here in nashville. and while we do have a beef with regard to regulatory burden, we're feeling cautiously optimistic that we've hit bottom and things are going up from here. >> what is your beef with regulatory burden and what do you think can be done without it? >> well, we feel very, very passionately that a small locally-owned community bank should not be regulated under the same regime as, say, jpmorgan chase, that there should be proportional regulation. regulation should be based on risk, and the proportional risk that that institution plays to the economy.

obviously community banks are local banks. and they don't present the same systemic risk that jpmorgan or citi or bank of america. so they should not be regulated in the same way. there are two different business models. community banks are a relationship, customer by customer model. and the wall street banks are a transaction-based model. volume and through-put is important to them. both are valid models, but they should be regulated differently. >> do you have any confidence at all that that could be something that's on the cards of the future, two sets of regulations, not a one size fits all kind of regulation? >> absolutely. congress has already taken some steps toward that type of a regulatory system. and of course, icba is going to be encouraging the congress and bank regulatory agencies to take more steps down that path. >> just real quick, what do you feel anecdotally is the state of

small businesses right now? obviously small businesses come to community banks like yours. >> i think small businesses have hit bottom. and i think they're on their way up. i'm hearing anecdotal stories from these thousands of bankers that are here in nashville that lending is beginning to pick up in many, many different areas. of course, there are still some depressed areas. but on the whole, there's a cautious optimism, both among small businesses and banks that things are improving. >> we certainly hope so. we hope that continues. cam fine, thank you very much for joining us today. >> thank you. coming up next on "street signs," the grime wave of booster tide bottles. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550

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a really bizarre headline caught our attention today. tide laundry detergent is becoming one of the most popular black market commodities. shoplifters are stealing the big orange bottles and using them as street currency. selling them for $5 to $10 a bottle on the street. it's forcing some stores like cvs to consider putting it behind lock and key. proctor & gamble is the maker of tide. the company says they're not sure what to make of the headline. proctor & gamble is lying flat today. modest upgrade from the federal reserve today. we've come off the highs of the