that's what i call a happy ending. >> thank you for watching "street signs," everybody. ♪ look out, below. a true measure of how things are going in america is out, and it's not good. mcdonald's post it's worst monthly sales in nine years. what does this say about the health of our economy, and what does it mean for investors and your economy. that and more today on "closing bell." >> and welcome to the "closing bell," maria bartiromo will be here in a moment. the dow fights to close higher for a fourth straight day. are investors ignoring red flags like weak sales numbers from mcdonalds? let's look at where we stand with an our to go.

the dow giving back a couple points trading at 13166, the nasdaq down and the broader market a fractional loser today. are investors missing the point by betting on bailouts like mcdonalds posting the worst decline in nine years. we have a guest from maintain capital management, and mick santelli, david, the market may pause but it doesn't feel like it wants to go lower. >> i agree, it does not feel like it wants to go lower. we had a great rally over the last few days with the positive announcements from the ecb, mario draghi, hints at firth qe by another fed official this

week. the market doesn't look like it wants to sell off, but we'll give back a little over the next few days. >> and rick, it's because it believes bernanke and expressway put a floor under stocks. >> overseas in europe they were down six times as much. i think the stock market will continue to mostly appreciate. i think the dynamic is going to stay in place. i liked your lead in. i think from a lojic standpoint, fundamentals may catch up to many markets, but if the stock market is considered an oasis, is has to end up somewhere. >> so michael, what does that mean for treasury rates, they raise? >> they could, but we at pento

take threats from the central bank very, very seriously. >> eric rosengrin said things that are considered all out against us. we went all in on commodities. >> you think the dollar will weaken and the dollar will rise. >> i do just like the last qe 1 and qe 2. i the unemployment continues to creep up and gdp continues to fall because you cannot print your way into prosperity. >> paul ryan, what are you telling your clients right now? >> we're telling them to hold the course. a lot of clients are investing in large cap equities with good dividend yields.

>> you think the fed will come to the rescue? it certainly seems like the ecb is about to do something. >> it certainly appears like it but you never know. it will be a short-term blip. what will drive it long term is dealing with our expenditures and the revenue stream. >> rick san ttelli, you think t market will continue up for no reason, mcdonald's is no big deal, well get a rotation out of bonds and stocks and get a rise in rates. >> there is a good reason. the guys over there in that s&p futures pit would like to put money in their account, and if it means looking at a dynamic that doesn't make sense, that printing money will bolster some stocks, they'll go along with

it. does that mean he believes his family is better off in the entire u.s. global economy? it doesn't need to. we interest rates we're near six week highs. so you might start to see a decoupling of the oasis of stocks and the oasis of fixed income. >> what happened from the central bank is a threat. action from bernanke and company is good or bad for the stock market? >> short term it's obviously a boost. long term it's the economy. you can do these temporary things to keep the government running and the people confident. when the confidence returns you will see the stock market start to move. >> stocks are locked in a tight range but we have a few

outperformers to point out today. we have all of the winners and losers. >> we're going to seesaw between passtive and negative territory today. we're lower on the s&p a little bit. we're coming off a three day win streak. if we can close higher it would be the first time of four straight days in a row in over a month. in terms of some of the weakness we're watching consumer discretigressionar digressionary. one of the stocks leading the way is dean foods. the company earns five cents above estimates. he benefits from cost controls in the quarter. we're seeing that stock up 39.5%. in the meantime, materials are

trading flat right now, but they were trading higher for most of the day, and one stock there is getting attention. that's international flavors and fragrances. they had a six cent beat on the ups. and the company continues to be optimistic in it's outlook and shares are up nearly 10% on the day. and last but not least, i want to focus on some ipo's today. bloomin brands, and peregrine. back over to you. >> jackie deangles for us, thank

you. we're working on getting to a four and a half year high for the dow. stick around we're just getting started on this jam packed edition of "closing bell." coming up, safe at home, demand is up, supply is down. could this mean the housing market is finally get k back on track? we crunch the numbers straight ahead. and losing their shirts, two retail organizations raising red flags. they're warning the president and mitt romney that the industry hangs in the balance unless the fiscal cliff is addressed. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network. a living, breathing intelligence helping business, do more business. in here, opportunities are created and protected.

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>> hey, scotty, thank you so much. >> hi everybody, welcome back to "closing bell." >> the markets up again, maria. it doesn't seem like it wants to go down, 1379 that we're looking for. >> we have some gains, but you have to notice that we have had a pretty good sell off from the highs here. let's get to mary thompson on the floor right now at the nyse. >> it really feels like this market wants to go higher. i want to focus on the energy sector that has been a mixed performer today. recently pulling back now, it's turned up again mirroring the general market action we're seeing today. mixed picre in the oil services stocks and some of the

other oil based stocks. take a look at what coal stocks are doing. alpha natural had revenue weaker, and weak demand for the rest of the year. so added pressure on a group that has been under a lot of pressure already this year. the dow clawing it's way back up 14 points. >> thank you so much. we want to look at real estate right now. is smart money betting on real estate? we have data showing that smart or not, they're making the debt. >> the wealthy are pouring money into the real estate these days. about a quarter of them are in real estate right now, that's a huge jump from 17% last year. all of the foreign buyers, aversion to stocks, low interest rates, and potential for a

bigger boom in luxury real estate. the price here will no doubt be tens of millions of dollars, a big step up from how that building started. in miami, a waterfront manx told for $47 million in miami. it has a separate spa and six wet buyers. the buyer is a russian that loves to party with six wet bars. >> six wet bars? that's amazing. is much of the money in real estate coming from foreigners then? >> it's everything right now. it's like a convergence for high-end real estate. you have low interest rates for the wealthy that can get credit

right now, manx where the wealthy want to get these deals done this year. i think it will be at hot six months for the multimillion dollar properties. >> thank you robert frank. we think that prices stabilized but they might bounce a little bit or go down a little, but we're not expecting to see huge improvement going forward. we could over the long term, but in the near term we're not so sure. >> that was the fannie mae ceo. should he will more optimistic? >> core logic reporting that home prices rising more than 2% in the last year or so. is this evidence the housing market is turning the corner sooner than many think? fred glik is the president and is not so sure, but billie is

more optimistic. it sure seems like housing has turned the corner. >> i think the bad stuff is behind us and the numbers changed and i don't like to follow the numbers because you can't trust them too much in my opinion. housing prices and the volume has done up because of the robo signings behind us and now you have private equity coming up and buys thousands of houses at once. the houses bought in 2010 and 2011 have now been renovated and are coming out to the market. one of the things nobody gets about the housing market is mostly they are short sales, they're not renovated or in good condition, and the stuff that moved in '10 and '11 are renovated and are getting good numbers and the first-time home buyer will be the one to pull us hot of this market. >> the issue of supply keeps

coming up because of foreclosures and supply in the market. is that the case or are we slowly but surely getting better. >> first of all, i'm still working on the six wet bars. >> lay off the vodka so we can get through this segment. >> no problem. it's all over the place. you have tons of rentals now, you have first-time buyers coming into the market, but a lot of the problem is they're trying to buy a house and the appraisals get whacked or they can't qualify for some reason. fha, fannie, standards -- and the mortgages are hufrting and pushing things down even though people want to buy. i hate the media, not you of course, who says you have to

have a 20% down payment which is not true. there are so many little factors holding people back -- >> by the way -- you should really have 20% to afford a home. that's a fact. if you go back to the '60s and '70s, 20% is the right number. >> what's the number for you? >> listen, here is the problem, 100% financing based on an appraisal, if the appraisals were any good we would not have this problem. >> fannie mae and freddy mack need to get rid of the hbcc, that will open up the markets. >> is it easier to get a mortgage or not, fred? >> test tougher. >> no, it's stupider.

the underwriters are scared. >> is it easier or more difficult to get a mortgage. >> tougher, period. >> regardless of what you put down. >> i agree with fred, it is tougher. >> they are refis they won't do. >> they need to get a little better about the people that have done short sale that's have decent credit that should be able to buy a house again. the first time home buyer and the step up market, when they're buying a short sale, that person that sold and got out of the house were forced to not pay their mortgage even if they could. that's the buyer who really we need to look at and say how do we enable them to get a mortgage

to buy their next home. >> there were people who did short sales that made their payments to the end, perfect credit, but it's on your report as a short sale and you can't do anything for a few years. >> guys, we'll make that the last word, thank you very much. >> thanks. >> we have about 40 minutes to go before we close up this wednesday on wall street. 17 points to the plus side, the nasdaq is a fractional loser. >> investors are not loving mcdonald's today. who is buying mcdonald's on this dip? >> plus, higher and higher airfairs, more and more fees, but less and less airlines, and somebody here is connecting the dots and says it's bad for who else but consumers. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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corn prices continuing to skyrocket and impact your grocery bill. sharon epperson has those details. >> another big rally in corn today as they await friday's report from the u.s. department

of agriculture. it will be the one based on field surveys on how bad this crop will be, and analyst are frafting we're going to see a significant downside in corn yields. and already corn prices up 18% this month alone. >> all right, sharon, thank you. from corn to mcdonald's, they have disappointed july same store sales numbers. with the stock dumbling over 12% year today, is the biggest chain being a bargain. on the technical side of things we have ennis tailor. sarah, let me kick it off with you, what do the same store sales in your opinions tell you

right now? >> i think what you said is accurate. the macro environment is not very favorable. that's broadly true and it seems to be getting potentially worse. i think the u.s. saw this across a range of restaurants and retailers that it was something of a step down from the first four months of the year until now in terms of consumer demand. we're seeing that essentially the competitive environment has gotten tougher recently for mcdonald's because some of their competitors upped their game with new product introductions and promotional cadence. >> ennis, let's check the charts here. >> sure, the three-year chart first, this was the first month since 2004 thathey had sales lower in all three regions and

we see that in the chart as well. it broke a three year uptrend today, and if we look at a two-year child support, you can see we entered a new range for the stock. i think $90 is active resistance after the break down. >> i would rather wait for $80 to buy. >> wait, okay, thank you very much, interesting when the fundamental and technical sides match each other. >> about 30 minutes to go, the dow is holding on to a 19 point game. the s&p moving barely into positive territory. so you think second quarter earnings were dicey, red flags being raised about the next

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just before the break as part of the dividend, we asked which company stock has climbed the most this year. kohl's, lions gate, or nordstrom. the answer is lion's gate. >> the nasdaq is in jeopardy at this hour, bertha coombs has more. >> we have the parent company of outback steakhouse and bone fish grill are having a nice debut today, a week from today watch

facebook, the stock is due to see the ipo lock up exploration. a day after that apple will pay it's dividend and it's the last day you can get a shareholder record to qualify for the 265 a share. >> thank you so much. >> speaking of dividends, more and more companies are giving money back to shareholders. 402 companies are paying a dividend and that's the most science 1999. of those 226 have raised dividends, and for the dollar amount, they're expecting $275 billion in payouts for 2012. >> is that's what's happening this market? we have maryann bartels, thank you for joining us. does this trend continue, rich? >> i think so, corporations are

generating a lot of cash and they're under investing. so the question is what do they do with the cash. they're not in amendment a mode right now so they're paying out dividends. >> are you worried about tax policy changing? >> you know me like a book. >> it will. there's no doubt that the tax rate on dividends is going to go up. the only question is how much. the people that we listen to in washington are saying what will probably happen is the dividend tax rate will go up to about 20%, but we're probably not going to see it go up to 43.5% that the top wage earner wil ee get. >> that's crazy. they not that stupid. so maryann what are you seeing? >> one of the qualities they

have is yield, but they have quality and growth. and many of these stocks we found out recently are shorted 50% of the s&p 100 as a statistically short position. from a technician standpoint, that's bullish. when we look at the chart patterns, many of these are breaking out in a five to ten year basis. >> we called thisally in the last couple days the rodney dangerfield rally because it was getting to respect. you had dividends leading the way, utilities and telecoms have cheapened it. >> i though i people don't realize the bull market is now 41 months old. people don't believe there is a bull market still. it's not just rod any

dangerfield, but it has been for 41 months. i think that is amazing in terms of sentiment. >> is it good or bad though? if you don't have the sexy cyclicals leading the way -- >> 1995 will be a perfect example and was led by high quality stocks. >> do you think this has legs going into the rest of the summer? >> it's not only got legs, it's like a centipede. we're 41 months into the bull market, people till don't believe it's a bull market. merrill lynch said strategist are the most bearish since 1985, and valuation is good, i think it has legs to get us there. >> is it central bank action or

something out of europe. >> we're seeing sign that's this rally can go into correction in september the question is does qe 3 come in and put a floor on risk assets, our answer is yes. and in a presidential election cycle you hit new recovery highing into year end. the question will come hearing about fiscal cliff, will it impact stocks right now, the anxious is no. >> so the fiscal cliff issue is an issue after the year ends. >> correct. >> thank you we'll leave it there. we appreciate it we have a market flash for you right now with bryan shactman. >> kohls -- coal has been bet up good this year, alpha natural going down and pulling down most

of the sector. they're down almost 70% of the year, scott back to you. >> thank you, 15 minutes to go before the closing bell rings on wall street, the dow jones holding on to a 12 point gain, nasdaq fighting for positive territory. knight capital shares have been felling the pressure. >> samsung getting a heating reaction from herb greenberg. >> did you see this? forget the costco crazy, joan rivers went crazy at a costco. s from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks.

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knight capital shafrs gaining some ground today, but the stock down p 0% since the

trading glitch one week ago. the glitch cost the company more than $400 million and hit investors hard, but it was limited to knight, tax payer money was never on the line, it was just shareholders getting the impact. is this a result of letting a company work out it's problems and not rushing into saving it? >> i think of two things, they cancelled a half dozen trades and stocks, should they have done more? that's one of the problems that it's in trouble. the designated market makers, the specialist on the floor were hurt badly in all of this and it's inescapable when you walk down the floor and see the folks down here that make their living down here, because of a software glitch. >> tom joyce was fantastic,

handled this very well. he made a good point, they said you were very argumentative about nasdaq and bob greifeld and he said we made a mistake, we blew it, we pay the consequences, the shareholders too, and that's the bottom line. taxpayers should not be saying boo about this because it's a knight story, they have the consequences. >> we're just not nearing the last of the issue as to if there should have been more government involvement and only from the standpoint if more of those trades should have been cancelled. what is the definition of erroneous when it comes to a trade. we talk about it all the time, erroneous trades happen all the

time and it was a big and serious issue and nearly caused a firm to go out of business. >> that's my point. >> cancelling those trading would be insuring that we're not going to see a computer glitch able to take a firm down. that's better than taxpayer money. >> i just feel bad for the employees of the company that held stock, you know, they had 401 k or whatever they did, and they were let in a difficult situation because of a software problem. >> and this is the world we live in, computer generated technology and trading, and it's anybody's guess how that will go down. you know the documentary the costco crazy, joan rivers went

crazy at cost toe, they will not sell her back and she is not pleased. >> here we go. attention costco buyers, come buy my book. it's banned by costco. >> i don't know -- what's the comment after that? >> i bet she triggers sales, people saw the celebrity factor and bought the book. >> did she show her card to get in there? >> i'm going to bet no. >> we have a market up about 12 points on the dow jones industrial average and then we have the closing count down. >> somebody here says regulators are on a political witchhunt against british banks.

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away from that four and a half year high. >> i think the market feels tired. the volume has been deadly every day. i'm not reading much into this rally because you just don't have the participation you expect. >> what is it looking for next? what will that next catalyst be? and not much economic news this week, earnings continuing to in, that could be the near-term deliver now. >> there seems to be some more optimism over europe, nothing fundamental answer changed. the two-year in space has been seeing liquidity. that's where people are more optimistic. i can't pinpoint anything as far as what's holding up this rally. >> mentioned the change in

believability. and draghi will do something substantial over the next month or so. the eu summit, you may have to wait awhile before you get activity from the central banks. >> you also have a fed meeting in september and that's when the people are expecting the fed to do something. if we don't see an initiative for stimulus, i don't know what to believe. part of this is predicated. >> rich bernstein, what do you think? >> i think people want to keep hope alive and i'm not sure we're going to get there. on the other hand you mentioned earnings, and they are coming in reasonably well, more

importantly small company earnings are on the upswing. >> what leads you to doubt the fact that everybody now thinks they're going to and roseeroseed said he would like it. >> if we're seeing a ten year at 17 170, 180, or 192. if you're at 150 or 140 why would the rest risk their balance sheet. so where are rates coming from? >> this market is flat, what's gone on here at the end of the day. >> yes, we have seen this the last couple days, we drifted in, starting to see people close out positions, this is a risk over

knight, with what went on it's a prevailing theme. we'll look at retail earnings for guidance coming back in. >> i'm going to excuse myself, i'll see you at the top of the hour for "closing bell" two. >> this notion that the fed has your back as a market participant, that the fed does not want to market to go down, is that how you're trading things? >> there is a backstop there. i don't think the fed will do anything or that will is a need for them to do anything. we're at 13,000, i would rather save the bullets and see if they come in. >> i agree with that. >> richard, clearly more bullish than others, where would you be in this market if you want to ride higher here. >> if we're looking toward the end of the year, i think you want to