it is highly prized. the first batch of the tea is going for $180 an ounce. that's around, what? do the math. >> $13, mandy, a tea bag. thanks for watching "street signs." hi, everybody. happy monday to you. welcome to "closing bell." >> if you are just tuning in, this is one of the rare days where everything is going up. treasury yields are up today. gold is up today. oil's up today and stocks are up today. >> i'm wonder if it is a reflection of actually the fear factor moving lower and people are not as risk averse as they have been. so they are sending prices down, yields up and actually it is showing that maybe higher yields are not so bad, which bob will talk about momentarily.

>> so far they're not so bad. but i think they will get to a point where they might be and we will see where that level might be. right now, technology and financials among leaders. stocks continue to trade near multiyear highs. coming up in a few minutes, we will zero in on bank stocks and whether or not now may be the time to put more money to work in that sector. but first, a look at how the major averages are trading so far today. kind of a stutter step open this morning but then we took off just around nine time on wall street. and the dow, 21 points off the highs of the session right now at 13,253. the nasdaq's been positive virtually all day, in part because of the apple dividend. there it is, up 30 points right now. that is about the high for this session there. and the s&p is up eight point at 1412. >> bill, let's look at big name movers. er with entering the final hour here. bank ever america, shares are higher and earlier in the day, the company traded above $10 a

share, which is more than double the low, set exactly three months ago back on december 19th. apple shares are driving today's gains in the nasdaq. couple announcing the first dividend in more than a decade. they will put that hundred billion in cash to work. goldman just raising its 12-month price target on apple to $700 a share. it was at 500 two weeks ago, then hit 600 last week. now a new target of 700. we will have more on those stories and now you want to invest in those companies later on in the closing bell. >> ten-year yields rising to about 2.41%. we are close to that today as we mentioned, 2.37, 318 where we've been today. just how fast will we get to the 41 level? and what is it it mean for the economy? the markets, we want it ponder that. the very tall bob -- >> i'll squish down a little. >> yeah, a little.

yields keep going up but so do stocks so far. >> isn't that something. >> would you have thought, people have been saying, gee, you stop turning it off for had fed. stock qe3. as the ten-year was going up in the middle of the day, there's your ten-year, the stock market started rising at the same time. bottom line is you can get the stock market going up with yields, with interest rates going up. particularly the yield -- >> to a point. >> to a point. >> the yield gets high enough is starts to crowd out the market. >> are you going up on growth expectations improving? if you're not, i say have you problems. now if we can keep that going, stock market can keep moving up. >> steve, in many ways, other markets are playing catch-up to the stock market. the stock market has been forecasting recovery for the economy for a few months now. so what does the fed do about

this? they are keeping rates low on the yield curve but now they are rising on them. >> i think they are pushing on the string the other way. if you look at our cnbc fed survey, bill, when you will find when you look at skpegs tagss, is they have come down quite a bit. those who say they there is no qe the next 12 months, up to 63%. that's 19 percent point change. those who say there will be is down to 33. when we ask people, when will the fed first hike rates, remember the feds said it'll be in here and late in here. if you look here, 44 and 11, 55%. that's these two numbers here. are saying you won't get it until the second half. just real quick, i want to show you guys what the fed survey is showing about the stock market. basically saying, guys, we're done. the outlook here, 1397. down through june. and then take a look at the december call here. it's up only 2.3%. so what that is showing us guys, is that market experts that we poll say, we have the best games

of the year so far. party's over. >> steve, let me ask you this. the fed has been very, very clear in terms of saying we will keep rates at low levels until the end of 2014, given the developments. this improvement we are seeing in the u.s. slow but eventual move of money from fixed income into stocks. does that change? what do you think -- that would be a big deal for the feds to come out and say, we're not sticking to that 2014. >> maria, i would say at current levels of growth and unemployment, i don't think it's a big deal. i think the fed can certainly make it out of this year if we're going to do something like 2.5, even 3% growth. and gradual decline of the unemployment rate. frank lit fed is not going to be able to hold back if things start it move more quickly and in fact if inflation were to move, that would be really the key. remember, the fed forecast is for inflation to steb down. they just kind of push the head in the last statement, when they think it's coming down.

they have admitted to being a little early on that call. but that the forecast. if that doesn't come down, i think they will scale back a little bit in 2014. >> i want to get steve's opinion on this. higher rates, steve, are not necessarily an impediment to stocks. the yield curve can be in particular for stocks -- >> you and i were talking about this. this recovery is unique in the following way. among other things, the market rallied in general as inflation expectations have gone up. this is really unique for this recovery. that's because one of the big fears of the market has been deflation. another, recession. that's one thing. the other thing is when interest rates rise because of higher growth forecasts, that's different from the rising solely on inflation concerns or because say of default risk. that's not why rates are going up. market goes up along with the economy, along with interest rates. >> are we saying that if the fed even begins to gaze at the punch bowl, thinking, even just thinking about starting to move,

nudge it just a little bit, you don't think the stock market would go down on that? >> as long as they are expectations of growth in the economy and expectation is not out of control, i think steve made the right point there, no, not necessarily. i don't think mr. bernanke is necessarily going to be controlling this thing as much as he thought. steve's comment about pushing on a string there is the applicable phrase there. >> bond yields are at the highest level in more than four months. if yields keep going higher, that represents some competition to stocks, i think that's what you're saying, right, phil? >> right. >> but what bob is saying is absolutely accurate. even four-month high on yields are still talking about really rock bottom. >> remember a week ago, some traders were talking about the ten-year it wo could go to 10.25. now the next thing is, what's the next level where the fed, where mr. bernanke will really get nervous.

>> it is well to remember, there's a lot of money that's been in bonds that doesn't belong there because it is seeking safety. and i think that that -- that is still the issue right now. money comes out of bonds into stocks. you get a wealth effect. so i don't think that things happen in a vacuum. just because there are higher rates doesn't mean the rate can't go up and economy can't go better. >> steve, thanks for joining us on the closing bell here. heading toward the close here with 50 minutes to go, hope can you join us. dow, nasdaq, s&p and trading higher at this hour. >> next, will low trading volumes start to hit the bottom line at the big banks. we will talk with ceo of corporate and investment banking, jerry dell mis si er. he joins us next. >> and we will talk with the chief financial officer of wells fargo, timothy sloan is joining us. >> but first be the new ipad was released. now the first dividend in 17 years is unveiled.

profits on the news or put money to work? well talk numbers. >> as we head to the break, here is how the s&p heat map is trading. well, there's the dow heat map. lot more green than red.

well couple back to the new york stock exchange. with about 50 minutes of trading left in the session this monday, here is a quick stat check on the dow. industrial average off session highs, even as the market sentiment gets a little boost from apples dividend declaration this morning on the stock buy back. right new the dow industrial average is up 15 point at 13,247. was up 37 at the peak about an hour ago. here is a look at some of the biggest gainers among dow component led by alcoa. cisco and disney all pocketing gains. a good cross section of gains for the market so far this monday. let's get some movers and shakers at the cnbc retail

exchange. >> u.s. stocks, as you point out, a bull market. s&p 500 less than 10% away from historic closing high in 2007. as you point out, the dow and nasdaq also trading in positive territory. treasury prices continue to fall and yields hovering at highest levels in more than four months as investors pour money into risky assets. in terms of stories making headlines today, we're kicking off merger monday. now this deal makes the ups the largest suppliers or shipper, excuse me, in europe. also not just apple moving on dividend talk, take a look at dominos pizza. ordering up a special dividend of $3 a share after securing a new $1.6 billion secure advertised debt facility. stock higher by 3.3%. on the flip side, sprint declining in trade. down 6.7%. downgraded by bernstein amid the concern there won't be enough iphones sold. back to you bill and maria.

>> thank you so much, seema. coming to you now from the floor and post of barclay's. and barclay's is the leading market share down here, in terms of hosts where they are making markets in stocks. they have several posts. the company is undergoing a bit of a brand makeover. it gets nor competitive in the wake of global regulations. seeking to make more product to customer. lots of talk reisn'tly about deal flow including mf global, customer claims. one of the posts here is jerry del missier, co-ceo of barclay's investment banking. good to have you here. >> good to be here. you're i have thing the on the floor -- >> yes, we're very excited. >> let me ask you about the brand change or dropping the word capital. >> yes. >> why? >> since bob diamond took over leadership in the beginning of 2011, a key initiative of his has been to real e integrate the

bank. barclay's has traditionally been a loose confederation of businesses. we recognize the powerful synergies from really driving the whole organization. and so this rebranding dropping the capital is a lonl cal evolution. and representation of, you know, of the power that we see from the synergies of operating across the bank. >> i'm sorry. so you drop the word capital, but it is also another way to just be barclay's across the board. >> absolutely. >> consumer or corporate. >> that's right. >> let me ask you about the corporate scene here. you are running the investment banking, how is the year so far? >> you know, the year started out earnly better than 2011 ended. you know, we have seen increased deal flow, certainly what we saw in europe with the benefits of the, you know, ecbs rtlo, has had a very positive calming effect. and you know, we are certainly

very cautious. you know, we're not expecting this to be a very bouyant year. but certain lay good start to the year so far. >> everybody is talking about fixed income because we are looking at rates at such low levels and today seeing money move into stocks. what are you seeing in terms of fixed income? >> certainly the relief, again in europe, of you know, the situation in greece, at least resolving it self for now, has definitely brought investors back into the fixed income marveg et. credit markets in particular, high grade. very, very popular with investors. you know, companies rushing to take advantage of the low absolute yields. this is really a good environment for fixed income now. >> do you think we will see a lot of deal flow this year? what is your expectation in terms of 2012? >> yeah. we're certainly cautiously optimistic. frankly surprised we haven't seen more deal flow on the equity side. given the levels and positive

tone to the market. we suspect, as we sort of stabilize and continue to do better that you will see, increased ipo flow. i think there is certainly a lot of m & a. resources, technology will be very active. so, yeah, we're optimistic. >> resource and technology will be where it is this year. >> yes. >> what about volume? everyday we come in and see volume at such low levels. how do you deal with that as financial services company and meeting volume and volatility and you're not getting it. >> no, and that's a good question. three months ago, if you said, we will be in march and s&p will be up 1400, i think we all would have felt that there would be a lot more investor participation. clearly that has to happen, you know. i think that if we get a primary calendar, if we see some deal flow, that will bring volume in. in the meanwhile, it just underscores the importance of being a scale player. you know, of just really being

focused and discipline in how you manage your businesses. >> so what will you attribute this low volume? you think investors are just not participating? what's behind this? >> i think they've been slowly dragged into this market. >> but still a risk of verse. >> in an environment why we have a lot of event risk in europe, we've got elections, you know, the effective regulation as well, creating uncertainty that is keeping people on the side lines. >> and real quick on europe, you said the ltro and ecb action stabilized things. do you worry there are certain unknowables out there, like the risk and european banks that you are doing business with? there are unknowables out there, right? >> yes. and again, a lot of event risk around europe. what the politicians are now trying to do and they are going in the right direction, it is very, very difficult. and it'll play itself out over

years. you have to be very focused on managing your risk. >> you're checking on the program. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you, jerry del missier on floor. back to you. >> thank you. the dow losing altitude. we were up 37 points. now about 15-point gain. apple shares continue higher up nearly 50% this year. when we come back and talking numbers, we will break down the chart and show you why apple shares might may be a little overripe right now. or maybe not. later, he is running way back in the polls as you know. but as ron paul planning it stay in the race until the convention or will he soon throw support behind one of his rivals? we will ask him exclusively coming up at 4:30 p.m. eastern prices. first, higher yields we haven't seen since early september. we're back with more "closing bell" after this. any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process --

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we have a mixed picture here of the energy progress. heating oil lower but gas futures continue to rally. we are up 27% so far this year and today's close is probably the highest we've seen in about

a year's time. since april of 2011. one of the factors driving up gasoline futures, valero saying it'll close. you add it that the east coast concern that is being reduced down 610,000 barrels today in the last year or so and this adds what we are seeing in gasoline. the reason, maria, we are seeing an 8% rise from the pump from a year ago, it cost me 70 bucks to fill up my suv on saturday. >> that's expensive, sharon. thank you. meanwhile, apple's new eye spad costing newer to build thanks so the higher resolution screens and batteries. the 16 gigabyte wifi only pad cost there are 316 to manufacture. that's at least 21% more than it

cost to build the ipad 2. the most expensive model, the 4 gig verse cost about $4 '09 to make. the components may have been upgraded but the suppliers have not changed. trquimt provides semi conductor parts. st micro electron supplies parts. and cirrus logic supplies parts. bill, you got all that. >> i got it. i know how you pay for the apple ipad, you sell a stock and have money left over. we are talking numbers today. stock up 80% in the last year, up another 2% this day after the company compared the dividend of 2.65 a share for each quarter and $10 billion buy back as well over the next three years. but, is it time to buy this stock or is it time to take

profits here? joining us in talking numbers, lucky guy that he is, carter worth, chief market technician at oppenheimer. >> sure. >> it is an icon. >> an icon, juggernaut. just how steep the appreciation is in relation it trend and context is very important. we look at angles of the lines right now in the context. >> any time you have a stock that goes hyper bolic like that, you know it can't last orever but it is still going on. >> it is a question of timing. this average, we have gone from 425 to 600, up 40% above the average. so we went back and looked, for fun, how does apple do once reaching 40% above the average. that's happened only 12 times since the ipo in 1982. >> here it is -- >> here it is going back five years. bounces, bounces, bounces,

bounces. yet again, odds favor, and it does go higher. only two times of the 12 where it goes lower. we are taking the contraire rif better that this is one of the times. one of the very things that you referred to. long-term is -- >> go ahead. >> long-term is quite interesting. this is going back since the -- >> since 2002. >> right. ten years. and it shows you quite precisely this channel that we have been in. and how basically, we're moving out of that channel for the first time in quite sometime. and that's also border line too far too fast. >> now if you are bold and want to go against the odds, sell short. >> okay, so let me get this straight here though. the point of technical analysis, look at the chart, look at -- >> fly air lanes. >> everything says it is overbought. >> right. >> everything says it's too expensive. >> crowded trade. >> but we have goldman today

issuing another price increase, going to $700. and you're still not convinced it is time to take profit share. >> stats argue for higher prices. if you look at one in three months, every time this circumstances happen, 40% of that 12 times that happened since the ipo, nine out of 12 and 10 of 12 in the other, this is higher. this is make the bet where this is one of the rare times it is not sustained. >> we will see. >> we will see. >> carter, thank you for your bravery in trying to deal with that. when we do trade the close a little bit later this hour, we will get another view. in that case we will find out why you should be buying the stock right now, maria? >> all right, bill, we will watch that. also ahead, financials, leading the market higher. our next guest says there is still an opportunity to bet on the banks. he is putting new money to work right now. we have his picks and feelings for industry and elsewhere. wells fargo cfo tim sloan with me today, telling us how the

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on the floor of the new york stock exchange. still in the green territory but off of their highs, remember our theme for the day, higher interest rates still not hurting the stock market. dow went up even as yields the ten-year move to the upside. off the highs, maybe due to weakness in the bank sector. bank of america doubled from lows back in december, it was below $5 at one point. did touch around $10 range. just sort of run out of steam here in the middle of the day. that puts pressure on the dow industrials. want to note home builders, depends. the sentiment index is growing. the west showing weakness in kb home. that's where the strength is. reporting earnings on friday. i'll be all over that of course.

>> thank you. financials index leading wait. best performing sector today. >> again. >> again. >> and me, i'm just looking at some of the names. citigroup of 45% in the last six months. kbw banking index, steve is with us but manager at sun america asset management. saying they continue to have key catalysts that will drive the markets higher. >> there he is. along with anthony chan, chief economist. are we in a -- a position right now where the markets, some of them waking up to the fact that economy is in full recovery right now? >> not only is the economy getting better, but you're continuing to see incremental movement in that direction so that when people make forecast and ask, are the risks to the down side or up side, you will more likely hear the risks are in the up side. >> more for the financials then? >> we talked about this about a m ago, that there may be a melt up with bank of america,

citigroup. a lot of managers still underweight names. if you think of bank of america which might be a proxy for the group, trading at ten times earnings, more catalysts are coming as they increase dividends and share buybacks in terms of dividends citigroup would be the next company that would get approval to maybe issue a dividend later this year. >> what happens -- >> they have to pass the stress test first though. >> yeah. what happened that citigroup failed the stret test? so much money has moved into the names. have you bank of america up 57 percent in six months. you've got, what, citigroup up 45% in six months. j.p. morgan up 50% in six months. >> i was talking to carter before he was on, and many managers were choking on the names the last four years as they went down 15, 20 bers a year. if you look at longer term chart these are coming off their bottoms. earnings power doubled than the current expectations. >> there is a disagreement. i know you will find it stunning, anthony, among fed

officials. just today bill dudley, he does not yet feel the economy is on a sustainable path to recovery. it still needs more liquidity from the federal reserve. where as the great inflakes hawk, richard fisher, of the dallas fed, says enough liquidity. let the economy stand on its own. >> you will always have differences of opinion at the central bank. it is very difficult to have unanimous view. but the truth of the matter is there are two mandates, inflation and employment. employmenting with depending on what you pick is above the unemployment rate. until the mandate is satisfied, there are a lot of voices in the central bank arguing there may be more done. >> when do you expect the feds to move on rates? already receiving the market, do it its job. yields on ten yields now. money moving out of bonds, moving into stocks. pushing yields higher. when would you expect to move interest rates higher? >> if you tell me when the

unemployment rate will go down to 6, 6 1/2%, i will tell you when the federal reserve will raise rates. >> you think that's what it is, 6 1/2%. >> well if you don't tell me, i will tell you we have to take the fed at its word that somehow at the end of 2014, i think they will be visiting that issue with a more unanimous. view. can me move earlier than that? yes. we f we get surprised on the unemployment rate. but i have no reason to believe the unemployment rate will enough to 6, 6 1/2% in 2014 to the end. >> so if you are expecting rates to move higher, you have to believe that's a better catalyst, the banks. >> it's a great point. we have add lot of discussions internally. we think rates are going up. we think employment is returning. inflakes in goods as it comes through gasoline. a very high correlation to interest rates when they go up. >> i don't want it make much of one day's move but look at b of a today. touching $10 for the first time in a while.

then down, countered everybody else today. >> i think we add great run. partly short term traders are taking profit after stress tests. i would suspect that could pull back more. but i think a m from now, in the $11 area. >> up 72% in tlae months. >> that's a lot. >> yeah. >> what do you think happened at city in terms of that failing the stress test? did they ask for too much? what's your take on what went on behind the scenes? >> it sounds like they just fell below the limit. maybe the government was angry with management in terms of the balance sheet moves they made in the last few years. maybe they weren't giving them credit for things they do. but as the economy reflect their balance sheet will look better. i don't know if they have follow-up stress test in a few months but you've got to believe that citigroup will be able to raise dividends by year-end and stocks should work. >> you love the u.s. you love your multinationals and you like japan? >> i do. i think that now that japan is getting a little bit more anxious to raise the inflation rate, which is another way of saying they will have more

liquidity of different version of quantitative easing, that should be good for the market. >> good to see you. >> thank you so much. the final stretch, dow down 17 point right here with just about 20 min before closing bell sounds. >> we mentioned carter worth making the argument for why he thinks maybe it is time it take a few profits on apple even though it could still go i here. >> can't many people who say sell. >> can't find anybody selling apple. up next, find out why you should ignore carter's call and good up and buy apple shares. >> wells fargo testing at $7 checking fee is the company concerned it would face the same backlash that her bank of her ka. talk with cfo. tim sloan joins me in the next hour. >> into the break, here is a standout performers among s&p 500 stocks today. [ male announcer ] this is the network --

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just just before the break, we asked, which company's stock is up the most so far this year? bb & t? regions financial? or sun trust banks? now the payoff. regions financial. which is up about 50% year to date. >> with the nasdaq, for apple, volume today not as big as when it first traded at 600 last week but trading at 600 just before the announcement stock was halted. took a real dive down. bounced back to about 590s. looks like it is going to close to their number traders that it is psychological but if stocks trade back up after the plunge premarket, that certainly continues the bullish trend. meantime, price line trading,

slapping an $800 price target tp after the close, all eyes on oracle. expect to post 56 cents of share on 9 billion in revenuees. guys, back to you. >> i wonder if you can go to price line.com and tell them when you want it buy the stock and at what price. can you name your price for the stock? >> they might tell you a about place to get in. >> thank you. as we enter the close, about 19 minutes left. time for stat check on the nasdaq, which benefits from the likes of apple and price line, composite posting solid gains after apple's dividend and stock buy back announcement this morning. right now up 25 points. was up 32 at session high. now, the volatility intex. trading in positive territory though it is bouncing near the day's lows, about half a point now with 3.25% gain there. on pace it close 15 for a second day running here. maria? >> well, bill, sell apple stock. is that what i heard you say

earlier? no way says our next guest. he says apple shares still have a lot of room to run. recently upgrading his price target. senior equity research analyst, thanks g to see you, thank you for joining us. why so optimisting on apple? >> there are a lot of reasons. clearly today's decision will expand the investor base. a lot of investors are in -- dividends in being stocks, they are competitive around the country and will remain in three solid spots. >> so today, of course, we've got the dividend. first time looking at dividend in apple in 17 years. we got a stock buyback plan. you think there is also potential for stock split. how soon might we see a stock split? >> we don't think it will happen for another couple of years but we think it is different on the parts and the call.

we think as they won't expand, even if they want to fully expand, they have to look the stock splits. over the next couple of years, we should get one of those as well. >> why is apple blowing it away in terms of competitors. what would represent, from your standpoint, a change in market share dominance that apple has? >> yeah. a few things. i think on the smart phone side, clearly there was very strong market leader in that space there. defining the category. on the tablet side, no one has been able to come up with a comparable device, so that is helping them. when you combine this, on the platform, they have over 300 million devices out there. that is a hard system to compete against. that's why any has to compete against the eco system expensive devices any more. >> what is your opinion on the buyback? one analyst says it wasn't very meaningful. they were expecting some use of that hundred million dollars in

cash. what is your take on the dividend and buyback announcement today? >> a couple of things. one thing is we have to keep in mind that majority of the cash is overseas and over the next few years they will be a majority of cash overseas. unless we get some sort of -- >> we have to leave it there. good to have you on the program. i'm sorry -- >> if we don't think we will see anything more than that, within the constraint, they are down with the best they can do. >> great to have you on the program. thanks for weighing in on apple. see you soon. bill, back to you. >> thank you, maria. heading toward the close with the dow now still showing a gain. investors hit with a barrage. don't say we didn't warn you. >> i'm diana in washington. we start a heavy week of housing data on a sour note. what happened to home builder sentiment, we will talk about it coming up on the closing bell. >> when we come back, stocks may be modestly higher but there is one industry left in the dark

today. seema has that story coming up. seema? >> that right, bill. i have my eye on a couple of solar stocks not seeing the sun today. all those details after some short break. don't change the channel. you're watching the closing bell. the typical apple launch. >> the screen is beautiful. 4g. no hit on battery life. something no other manufacture has been able to o do. >> technology sector is up 19% with apple. without apple, 14%. >> let's move to broad com, makes a chip in the new ipad. 3795 the price. >> broad com is also a buy. >> size and hour of this company is just simply staggering. g. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future.

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okay, back on the floor of the new york stock exchange. shares of the sprint nextel.

downgrading the mobile telecom from underper fork to market perform, citing the bankruptcy over the next four years. sprint had no comment. but craig moffit says the company's five year credit swaps have priced in 50/50 chance of bankruptcy for this company. moffit says either the companies upgrades its network, stablizes its financial commission or 4g offerings for sprint may buckle with apple as it struggles to upgrade to meet newer broadband technologies. >> i think the real issue is whether customers are going to choose sprint or lt iphone, if their lt network is very badly disadvantaged realtive to verizon and at&t. there is at least some risk that lt features of the next iphone won't be enabled on the sprint network. >> sprint mex tell says it

offered the iphone will cost $5.5 billion over the next four years. sprint shares travelled a rocky road down over 40% in the last 52-week period here. maria. >> phil, we want it mention this mark set losing steam here. dow jones well off of the highs of the day. one of the reasons bank of america, there are rumors and speculation going on around trading desks right now that the company may do a secondary offering. i heard it earlier from one of the trading desks that that is what being talked about on the desk. we are calling bank of america right now to find out if in fact they are planning a secondary. we do not have confirmation on that, but that looks like the talk that pressured b of a. it completely reversed course on this speculation. spekd dairy offering to come at b of a. the stock you can see, negative. lbk solar lowering the revenue guide. that cast a dark shadow over the whole solar industry today. seema joins me now with the story. seema? >> tough day with solar stocks.

the second largest maker, solar waivers, lowering revenue guidance, the reason, declining market prices for their core product. now a couple other stocks are making a sympathy move on the ldk move. we have trina solar and ja solar. the obama administration is expected to throwity weight behind solar produces. with product from china and as we have seen before, chinese solar companies pose a major threat to the future of the solar industry here in the united states and obama is trying to do something about it. therefore the chinese solar companies, trina as well as ja, are both trading lower. now you would think for solar would be trading higher on this news, but there's a separate headline that this stock is trading on. pennsylvania base law firm filed a suit against first solar stating that company's executives have not communicated

critical information. we will be sure to keep you updated on any development. rate now that stock down 1.2%. maria? >> thank you so much. we have the short break then closing countdown. as we mentioned, the mark is is well off the highs looking at the sell off with bachk of america. lions gate shares up nearly 70%, with the release of hunger games. we will find out which other companies are cashing in on this film, set to be the next box office blockbuster. we are trading ahead of the close. just about 10 minutes before the closing game sound. you're watching cnbc first in business worldwide. 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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trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. okay, inside the four-minute mark. looks like the dow, s&p with trading right now, about 10% within an all-time high. we are starting to get close to those all-time highs for major averages and dow and s&p, it looks like the dow may finish negative but it's very close right now. but the eighth up day in the last two weeks for two major averages. here is the party popper right now as maria mentioned. she heard from sources that maybe b of a will make a

secondary offering. that took the glow off this stock which this morning hit $10 a share on the open this morning. one of the talks of wall street but now heading south and taking some of the market with it here. be that as it may, the stock market, s&p, has been looking at this economy and forecasting for months a recovery. sheer what today looked like but let me show you for the last three months performance for the s&p, better than 4% gain for average, up 4.36% in january. up 4.06% in february. and so far this month, it's up about 3%. now the rest of the markets are playing catch up at this point. oil for example, now knocking on $110 per barrel at this point, up -- almost a percent today to $107.96 on wti here in new york. the ten-year yield, now getting to levels we haven't seen since early september. today, 2.36%.

at 2.38 at the peak today and gold, we've been trying to figure out, is it a breath mint or candy? lately it acted like a hedge again. here it is compared to the price of the ten-year treasury. so it's been all over the map here but now suddenly in the last month or so, it's starting it track the price of gold with the price of the ten-year yield so as the ten-year yield goes lower and sees the yield go up, that brings the dollar down. moves the dollar higher, rather and that brings the price of gold down. starts it act like a hedge again. anthony chan, from j.p. morgan wealth management, how much higher do they go from here. >> i think can you see treasury yields go up another 10 or 15 basis points. can you see the higher yields on u.s. economic fundamentals and fact that economic growth and the environment is put getting safer, that puts pressure on yields. >> do you think it makes

competition for stocks if the yield is high enough? >> as we look at yields for the treasury rate north of 3%, i think it becomes a problem but the good news is, guess what? we still have the possibility of a lot more liquidity being thrown into the economy by central banks that tend to press yields a little bit. >> gold. is it a hedge right now? what is it telling us right now about the skpeg expectations for inflation? >> at the moment, we're not too worry about inflation. but it is an bad thing to have because it protect you against the unexpected. keep in mind that with the prospect of taking it easy and going down a notch, that is not positive for gold. that hasn't still been taken off the table. >> you don't think the fed is worried about inflation at this point? >> i don't think he are. >> okay. thank you for joining us today. that is going to do it for the first hour of the "closing bell." looks like the dow will finish higher. we will have our eighth upday in the last two weeks for dow and s&p.