hello. welcome to the "closing bell." stocks are off to a cautious start this week. and as investors to continue to weigh the odds perhaps another fed bailout of the economy and ahead of a key federal reserve conference later this week. >> i'm mr. bill. stocks have rallied -- >> that's cute. >> work with me here. it is going to be a long week if you don't work with me. stocks rallied in recent weeks on hopes of more monetary stimulus from the fed. but will the reason for positive economic data put a damper on that? do we really need it? we will get into that later in the program. oil prices settling lower despite the threat of tropical storm isaac as it makes its way across the gulf of mexico. we will look at the storm's implications coming up on "closing bell." here is how we stand now. you can tell it is the last week of august before labor day. and even having london closed for the day puts even more of a damper on this market day.

we had a comeback around noontime today. down five points. right now on the dow, 13, 1, 52. nasdaq today is positive. you can guess apple is among the gainers there. after winning that patent suit late friday night against samsung. and apple has been up about 2% today. nasdaq is up eight points now at 3,077. s&p 500 index is up two points at 1413. >> so bill hinted why 7500 and -- the nasdaq are higher. there it is. apple, new all-time high today after winning the sweeping victory in the patent battle against samsung electronics we learned about late friday. later we are going to look at what apple's latest victory means for apple's rival google. $676 per share, bill. >> most expensive stock in the word. this week it comes down to the fed and to your open. as we mentioned earlier, friday's jackson hole conference, ben bernanke speaking there. we have europe to keep an eye on here with germany's angela

merkel showing signs she's even more determined to keep the eurozone intact in its current form. is that a win-win for various market watchers? >> let's bring the financial network groups nathan and ian, a member of our exclusive cnbc young president's organization. chief executive network. ron insana and rick santelli. ron will we hear something on friday from xwaern bernanke that will be decisive and move the markets? >> he has to say something that will move the ball down the field as we enter football season whether it is some incentives for banks to use the discount window to lend to individuals, particularly real estate or small businesses. whether they remove the 25 basis points that they pay banks for holding reserves at the fed. i'm not sure -- i have become less sure that a full-blown qe3 will come right away. it may or may not be needed. i would love to see them do it. the fed may hold the power to

see what happens in new york first and that's coming really just as the fed gets ready for the september meeting. >> right. nathan, what do you think will happen? >> well, i think you -- anything to disturb where we are right now. and we are definitely going to see some kind of a move by the time the federal open mouth committee gets to the in the middle of september. the statistic that bother meese the most is that over in europe, they spent $1.2 billion to prop up the system. they put $400 billion euros, excuse me, over to spanish banks who promptly turn around and bought spanish government bonds. in this country we call that a ponzi scheme. they call it stimulus. >> that's how it works. you can't take the money directly. >> that means that the negatives for the markets going where? bottom line is what? >> my bottom line is that germany is not growing. europe is in a lot of trouble. that's what -- >> u.s. investor, i mean. you are giving me a list of things people already know. that means what? for your money it means --

>> going to see stimulus and mark receipts going to stay flat because they have already baked it into the cake. >> ian, what will happen here? have you on put money to work. what do you do as we continue to wait and wait and wait? >> absolutely. this is one of the most extraordinary confluence of events we have seen in our lifetimes. there are tremendously positive things going on. despite the headlines we see out of europe. europe, euro is not going away. nobody is getting kicked out. it is a tempest and n a teapot and all it is doing is providing us with an extraordinary buying opportunity the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetime. this is the most bullish environment i have seen in 27 years because the fundamentals underlying it are fantastic. >> what are they? >> headlines are all negative. >> what are the fundamentals? >> i'm sorry. >> what are the fundamentals that are so positive? you heard the ones that are so negative. >> i don't believe those fundamentals are relevant. >> what are the positive ones?

>> we have valuations in the united states. companies like apple computer and others like boeing that are trading at 12, 13 shshgs times earnings and balance sheets that have never been so healthy, we an explosion of mna and best innovation in the world by far and i can list a hundred companies in silicon valley and yet we have tremendous negativity and doubt and consensus that's all negative. if you had to describe ideal environment under which -- if you had -- could describe an environment under which is -- the best possible scenario, virtually everybody is doubting and yet we have a stealth rally where the market is slowly but surely going up in the face of negativity, nothing could be more positive than that. on top of that you have uncertainty. >> got the point. lot of people here to talk. rick, what -- telling you right now. how much of the activity do we take with this major grain of salt because it is the last week of august and how much of it is a true anticipation of what the fed or ecb may do?

>> well, i think that -- i would take the following with a grain of salt. the fact that yields and italy, yields in spain and many of the -- dented, wounded and broken economies in europe, we still see they are on challenge after they drive the comments of july. when we look at the safe harbor trades we see a more proactive, light trade, yields moving lower. unlike our last guest, everywhere i look i see questionable fundamentals whether it is china, spain's close to 25% unemployment rate, what's going on with greece, growth rates in france, almost zero, and i do think that this week jackson hole, ben bernanke may talk up a big game but unlike the 08/20 everybody else seems to be sticking to, i think that politics is going to make it very difficult for ben bernanke to step out and given the cost benefit analysis i'm hearing from traders and step out on qe before the election. >> all right.

before you guys go, you want to respond to ian's bullish comments here? >> look, i -- i have been saying all year long that this is the dawn of the american decade. not just the innovation but manufacturing returning to the united states and i do think the underlying fundamentals are far better than most people would admit. the people who continue to suggest that the dow is going to 3,000 and we are going to have another crisis, another crash, missing what ian said and then some of the other fundamentals over the longer term, three, five years, they will play themselves out. i mean, can the market correct and we have a disruption with, can something go wrong, certainly. but -- underlying this and -- the -- way in which people consume negative headlines is interesting because the market is shrugging them off. our friend steve in the news response syndrome -- >> backed securities. >> can i throw in linithree mor positives? >> no, we have a commercial break. we have to pay the bills. you will be back. don't worry.

thanks, guys. >> love it. i would love to do that. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> you bet. okay. tech stocks outperformed the broader market today. mary thompson is at the real-timex change with details of that. >> hey there, bill. you know that outperformance in tech hitting the nasdaq 100 up sending it up to close at the best levels in almost 11 1/2 years. you can see right now it is up just about eight points but take a look at a 20-year chart here of the nasdaq 100. very close to its best levels since december of 2000. big reason for the tech rally apple. higher after friday's patent ruling against samsung. which now must pay apple just over a billion dollars for patent infringements and apple up over 2% food. news helping to make the s&p tech sector among the best performers in the tech sectors. up fractionally .4%. continuing with the tech theme, up ibm buying the company for

$46 a share. that's a hefty 42% premium that the company is enjoying there. up $13 on that news. checking out the other major indices today. mixed picture dow off just about 12 as we head towards the close. s&p holding on to a slight gain. bill and michelle, back to you. >> thank you so much, mary. all right. we have about 15 minutes before the "closing bell." dow jones is lower by 13 points. nasdaq is still higher by six. >> we are just getting started. you will not want to miss what's ahead on the "closing bell" today. >> over a barrel with isaac steamrolling through the gulf of mexico, should the obama administration tap into a strategic oil reserves to put a lid on prices? plus, easing up. is it a foregone conclusion the fed will take more steps to stimulate the economy? or on the latest economic numbers suggesting otherwise?

and heavyweight front. after apple's undercard wind over samsung is it now setting the sights on a heavyweight fight with google? we have the tale of the tape ahead. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

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welcome back. rally in oil, ran out of steam today. crude oil falling nearly 1% on speculation maybe the strategic petroleum reserve will be tapped in the wake of tropical storm isaac should there be a cutoff of supplies and so you see it there down dark new york crude down 83 cents a barrel today. >> there you see gasoline, however, rising. rallying 2 1/2% today due to the threat isaac poses to the gulf coast refineries. senior correspondent scott cohn with more on the impact of the storm. >> one of the big reasons that crude oil prices were down so much today is not necessarily the issue of the strategic petroleum reserve although that

comes into play but the fact that refinerys could be down and that's key source of demand for crude oil and so you see that supply demand picture being really confounded here as the forecasters are confounded about what exactly the storm is going to do. there is a great deal of uncertainty about where it is going to make landfall. particularly for about 36 hours out. this degree of uncertainty is a little bit unusual but what we do know -- the forecastlers always tell you, don't concentrate on the center of the storm. concentrate on the wider impact and tropical storm force winds which could go across hundreds of miles of the gulf coast and we know the tropical storm winds can cause a great deal of trouble and in our realm they could cause a great deal of trouble in refinerys because of power outages and that's why they begin shutting down the refinery society they can get them back up and running. the nearest is in mobile, shell refinery that seems to be running okay.

if it keeps its current track it will be. the impact at the pump is likely to be immediate. you heard about gasoline prices, gasoline futures, trading at five months highs to close the day today. and that could go quickly to the pump and we know price goes down a lot slower than they come up and there is no strategic petroleum reserve for gasoline to take care of that. and the -- latest forecast, again, has isaac coming over some of the key oil production levels and lets take a look at the impact that's already being felt. these are the latest figures now from the interior department, 78% of offshore oil production and 48% of offshore natural gas production now off-line as a result of precautions due to tropical storm isaac. and andy, our friend in houston, says 1. 1 million barrels of refine sing offline. here is something that just came up that could affect the trade tomorrow. that is the cap line pipeline which companies ghost from the gulf of mexico up to memphis,

where there is a refinery with about 195,000 barrelling per day of capacity. that's their sole source of crude oil. that could cause another problem with refining and more upward pressure on gasoline prices. heading to new orleans tomorrow. deja vu. back to you. >> be safe. thanks, scott. we will see you later. we want to highlight the fact that isaac is put thing strategic petroleum reserve front and center with many reports suggesting that the white house is thinking about releasing some of the reserves there to bring down oil prices but not everybody agrees that that's needed. >> no, absolutely not. international energy agency actually issued a statement last friday saying there is no reason to release stockpiles because, quote, market is sufficiently supplied. supplied or not, you can bet on a release because of the politics behind such a move. we are going to talk to him in a second. fidel gates couldn't disagree more and joins us on the phone. you say it is all political. you just heard scott say it is

not a matter of oil supply but refining supply. refine capacity. the white house must know that if they release oil, it is not necessarily going to bring down gasoline prices in this case. you think they think still release it anyways? >> absolutely. it just gives them a talking point. we have to keep in mind that voters have watched retail gasoline prices now since the fourth of july holiday increased four out of every five days. by this point over the last five summers, we have seen, that is the voters, retail gasoline prices fall two out of every three days. consumers are now paying $3.57. given the $10 rise in crude oil in the month of august the correlation r2, 92%, 30 days hence, ie -- >> your bottom line is you think he wants to look like he is doing something about it, right? okay. >> it is a win-win for the white house. they go ahead and release oil prices coming down and they take a victory lap. go ahead and --

>> what about had a? i mean, if you are -- if the bottom line is that you want the consumer to benefit from the release strategic petroleum reserves it is not going to have an impact because gasoline prices won't go down. right? >> absolutely. it is -- sense of doing that. gasoline pricing has nothing to do with today is having the oil market. the markets is looking at shortage of gasoline and in the event the hurricane or -- tropical storm will disrupt flow. in addition, we have the second largest refinery in the world being shut down now because of the fire happened over the weekend. that's why you are seeing some of the spots higher in anticipation of higher gasoline prices. no matter what the white house does, that is too little and too late. you cannot fight mother nature. way above sbr. >> do you get any -- give any

credence to what he says? the white house extremely political. but -- is there any validity to the idea that okay, gasoline prices have been rising and he doesn't release the sbr and -- looks like, you know, the president can say he is doing something. >> absolutely. people will know exactly that that is only for politics and not going to end up -- saving anybody any money at the pump. it basically -- dollar trying to do something the market will never buy. >> why would they do that if they realized the gasoline prices won't go down? if they release reserves and prices remain high for the consumer, they are going to look infective in that regard. how is that win-win for the white house? >> well, because -- to finish mine point if they go ahead and releases prices do not come down, if you see what's going on in the cash markets, in the midwest and gulf coast of gasoline, prices are surging now. but if you go ahead and release the barrels and prices do not come down, then what do you do? take another play out of the playbook we have seen over the

past couple of days and blame fat cat bank speculators. it is not my fault. i released the balance. i did what i was supposed to do. so politically -- fundamentally, look, it is a joke. interest shouldn't happen. but i think politically the odds are good it is going to happen either this week during the republican convention or over the three-day weekend next week going into labor day. really creates -- >> this is like an unnecessary -- it is just -- justified. it is not going to save his life, cutting the patient up. that doesn't make any sense. >> no, but it is politics here. it is politics here. >> don't you agree -- >> white house is a lot smarter than playing politics at this point, at this late in the guam. >> i disagree. >> the venezuelan situation. already burning. that doesn't make any sense. >> fidel bs september 22, 2000, president clinton did a timex change to 30 million barrels and

may -- made the announcement on the third week of september for barrels that did not have to get repaid until one year later. vote were going to the polls for five weeks after that. so i agree. it makes no sense but it has been done before. there's no reason that you can say it can't be done again. >> guys, thank you so much. >> we have a shortage, oversupply. shutting down the refineries. if it is shut down in a would create a lot. we don't need any more oil. we need more gasoline. >> the impact isaac ends up having in that region, we hope -- it is minimal. >> right now just -- potentially category i or 2 and theoretically those have the ability to withstand that kind of -- >> exactly. >> -- storm. >> that will be the case. >> all right. >> we will take a break and come

back and have 40 minutes left of the trading day. little bit lower here on light volume down 21 points on the dow. >> best buy is now allowing its founder to pursue his offer to acquire the electronics retailer. should you buy the stock before a possible deal is reached? >> we will look at the charts on that. will apple's billion dollar patent victory over samsung embolden apple to take on its ultimate rival google in the court system? or would that actually backfire on the pr-wise. [ male announcer ] let's say you need to take care of legal matters.

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35 minutes to go in tos trading session. time for a quick market stat check. dow jones industrials average 55-point range. right now the dow is lower by roughly 16 points. it has been down four of the past five trading sessions. 13, 1, 42. strength in techs and utilities pushing the markets higher as weakness and telecoms keeps them in check. >> best buy shares up 4% now. higher earlier after the company's board reached that agreement that could make it's easier for the company founder to move forward with his plans to take the company private. buy it out. should you buy best buy as a result? let's talk numbers on the technical side looking at the

charts. the managing partner at bell point. fundamental side, anthony, who follows the company. gentlemen, good to see you both. >> jeff good pop here as a result. it has been a tough period for best buy. what do you think? >> we take a look at the longer-term chart here p. you go back from april. downward trend here. this is an ugly looking chart. now you have to delve in a little bit closer because of this -- take this company private. >> if they do. >> if they do, you will see recentfully the chart we have a triple bottom where we got horizontal support here. so back over in may and in june and in august, this is the bottom. what we would like to do is get long and call this a basement window trade. very low risk and high reward. we have price targets here of 20/50 and then $22. $15 to 30% gain. >> can't break your arm falling out of a single story window. do you bet on richard schultz? they have a new ceo.

he hasn't been given enough time to figure this company out yet. and give them a strategy. you have a hold rating now. what's your view in light of the new development? >> well, we think that there's still some uncertainty about whether they will be able to ultimately raise the necessary equity and debt financing to take this company private. now -- >> he's convinced he can. you are skeptical. >> well, i mean, that's based on conversations we had with private equity and -- sponsors as well as with people in the leverage finance business. we are not saying that it is -- definitely not going to happen. we just think that there still are some question marks. we like -- the hiring of hugh. but there's a lot of uncertainty around the stock, particularly if the deal does not go through. number last week were horrific. and so, you know, from a fundamental perspective, we are just going to stay on the sidelines until some of the uncertainty starts to play itself out. >> so you are going to maintain the hold. you will look at it and just because that -- chart suggests that very low risk. >> you are out underneath the

$17 level. easy trade. >> all right. gentlemen good to see you both. thank you for talking numbers today on best buy. >> lower by about 17 points, nasdaq still in positive territory. we have about 30 minutes before the closing bell. to stimulate or not to stimulate the economy. that is the debate at the federal reserve. will it happen so close to the election? we are going to break down the odds next. there you see ben bernanke. big changes are in store for the raep party platform during the gop's convention in tampa. and including calls for auditing the fed and returning to the gold standard. will those policies translate into votes in november? tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 you should've seen me today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when the spx crossed above its 50 day moving average, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i saw the trend. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 it looked really strong. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and i jumped right on it. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 since i've switched to charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...i've been finding opportunities like this tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 a lot more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like today, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i was using their streetsmart edge trading platform

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all right. as we look ahead to the highly anticipated central bank meetings in jackson hole, wyoming, starting friday, the debate over the fed's next move just continues. it will be going on all week. markets seem to have made up their mind. they are betting there will be more kwan tative easing. is another fed bailout of the economy a sure thing? >> according to todd of the black bay group the answer is a resounding no. alan, decision economics, however, says easing of considerable size and scope is a

must right now. doesn't necessarily mean it is going to happen, though. both join us now to make their case. you say it is a must right now. but what you think they should do isn't necessarily what they will do. what do you think they are going to do? >> i think we are going to get plenty of signals, the fed is ready to ease that the september 1213 meet willing get some easy measures. >> you think -- you think on friday he -- >> should be -- you know, the statements, the minutes, have already told us where chairman bernanke and most of the federal reserve are. they are ready to do some more easing. they are way behind on the full employment objective and behind on inflation objective. they really have to. >> todd, you have to admit i know you are against this. they have -- they still waffle. a lot of the feds leading up to this does not shut the door on more quantitative easing, does it? >> no, it doesn't. there are a couple of things.

the economy is still -- evidence is just not there to support the fed to move right now. i mean, they just can't. i mean, you still have a gdp. it is sluggish and economy remains in quicksand but the evidence is not there for them to do anything now. not saying it will not happen later on. but right now they can't pull that trigger. it is going to disappoint everybody on wall street. >> alan just said they are missing -- got two missions in life always. right? to main inflation at a certain level. and running behind. also to maintain full employment and that's not working. in theory actually they do have a lot of -- >> that's right. with that dual mandate you are looking at real unemployment. looking at a 5.6% target. you are right about that. however, if we look at the past two rounds, michelle, we haven't seen anything from that. you get a short-term blip and you see a gdp pop, that's wonderful. it doesn't increase the demand and, therefore, doesn't increase hiring. therefore, why would you come out with a qe3 at this point? it doesn't make any sense. you are just buying time now.

>> how much ammo does the fed have left? i mean, they have gone through two rounds of quantitative easing and we are still in the same problems we have been mired in for the last few years. rates have gone as low as they possibly can. what possibly could they do to have a real impact on hiring and inflation right now? >> first of all, they have had an impact. recovery. to significant extent because of low interest rates and the household sector has cut down a lot of debt and that service -- in part because of lower interest rates. and consumers are spending more because of that. >> okay, so -- go ahead. >> it already has worked. what they have to do is to do more balance sheet increases. the balance sheet is their policy instrument now. not the federal funds rate. and if the economy is disape pointing and inflation is too low for the targets, what they are trying to achieve, they have to keep increasing the balance

sheet. i don't think they will do that. but that's what they should do on the research. >> no way. >> what happens -- how about the fact that so far europe doesn't seem to cooperate very much? i mean, the fed can do a lot and yet you still have this problem across the pond. do they need te cb to act in tandem? sit all going to be for naught? >> the world economy will be help ad lot if the ecb gets more aggressive on easing because -- europe is in a significant recession. that's affecting the whole world. but it is mainly affecting u.s. exports that's just 14% of gdp. it is all about the american consumer in keeping the american consumer going on a decent pace of spending. >> todd, what about the wild card that is europe? i mean, very slowly and i mean, they have been very deliberate, obviously, in trying to deal with their debt crisis over there. are they making progress enough that you feel that they can help us over here as well? >> no. they can't even help themselves, bill. they are not going to help us. you can't have the federal reserve coming in and save the day.

we should be shifting our attention from monetary policy to fiscal policy. you have to get congress to take care of this. if you want to stimulate the economy get the cats on capitol hill to do something about this fiscal cliff. that would get things rolling because you guys talk bit. trillions of dollars on the balance sheet. of these corporations. they are not spending the money and not going out and hiring. why -- it is because of the uncertainty factor. juan congress to get together and you want confidence to come back into the market. that's dash that's what's going to stimulate this economy. not monetary easing. >> you think -- i mean, if your hand just -- got one finger left before you fall over that fiscal cliff, you are going to depend on congress to save you, todd? >> well, look, i got to tell you, where are we going to lend on bernanke to save the day? he will play superhero again? if he comes out and does anything with an announcement friday or even at the two-day meeting in september, you know what will happen? he is actually saving the day for congress. he is punting and you have to punt the responsibility back to congress and get them to do

something on this fiscal cliff matter. >> i agree. whether it happens, that's another story. gentlemen, good to see you both. thank you for joining us. >> that's the model in europe. ecb keeps going back. you have to do more or we won't help you. >> where were we now? heading towards the close again. still holding steady down 20 points on the dow jones industrial average. >> merger monday. >> it has been. >> is this a sign corporate america may be in better shape than some people think? >> look at that. also after the bell, very interesting story. deutsche bank cracking down on paying, introducing new rules allowing to it claw backbone uses skwifs earned from their previous employers. what's about had a? legal implications of that coming up on "closing bell." >> before we go to break, the dividend. which check company stock has fallen the least this year? dell, hewlett-packard or xerox.

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just before the break, as part of the dividend, we asked which tech company stock has fallen the least this year. dell, hewlett-packard or xerox? xerox which has declined about 7% year to date. >> apple's big patent victory in the courts late friday night over samsung has given a lift to the tech sector overall today. bertha coombs is at the nasdaq with more on that story. >> basically we have a look at the nasdaq 100. it is all about apple's strength which is on pace now to close at a fresh record high. anything above $668.87. apple today filing for an injunction against eight samsung phones. mostly older phones. but the judge could decide that this should also extend maybe to the galaxy s3 which is the newer model that's out there and that

is weighing on some of the operating systems like the android from google. google is seen as potential big loser here if that's the case. but microsoft's mobile phone service, os, might actually get a boost. perhaps some asian manufacturers speculating may try the windows operating system and blackberry could also get a boost as well. maxim a chip in the new galaxy phone says they don't see any near-term material impact but the market sees differently. back to you. >> bertha, thank you. we will look at whether apple should go after like a google and which makes some of the software for like the android that will be next hour here. meantime, investors have been on vacation for the most part. corporations busy making deals and acquisitions, markets have a case of merger monday. today big time. >> it is often seen as an encouraging sign. should we look at it today . guys good to see you.

historically when you see a lot of companies doing merger deals, it is because they have confidence in the economy and confidence in a deal will help them grow so when you see all of these announcements that happen on the monday morning, are you encouraged about the market as a result? >> well, i think certainly have you to be encouraged about the outlook and the fact that businesses are willing to put some money behind acquisitions. on the other hand, i think that a lot of times acquisitions can roll up capacity within an industry and be for cost cutting and other sorts of things that are not necessarily the ringing endorsement of the economy we sometimes think. >> bob, i mean, it hasn't changed the tone of the market today as we head into the summer before labor day. >> month. we are stuck around 1400 until we get clarity from -- i think, particularly the ecb, more importantly mr. bernanke. let me comment on the mna michelle was talking about. i love the deal with ibm. this is a very offensive deal. it is not defensive. human resources software. that's not anything ibm ever was

associated with. they do databases and servers and this kind of stuff. now they are going into territory that would traditionally held by s.a.p. oregoncle. i think this is offensive. getting out into everybody else's face. >> does that speak to this idea when a company has confidence in the economy in the market, they do this kind of deal? right? >> it means everything -- it mean that -- in this area, they have to start getting into everybody else's face and everybody else's business to really find new ways to grow. they are going into areas software areas that are traditionally not been part of the ibm portfolio. i think that's a sign of the times. you have to get out of where -- glitches you are in to grow. >> bruce, you would think there would be more deals if anything because money is so cheap right now. and valuations are as low as they are historically speaking. i guess the one variable that's prohibiting more deals is just a lack of confidence in the future. right? >> or -- a lack of something

that looks like it offers the opportunity that you are looking for. you know, one of the things you find when -- when companies forage into related areas, it may reflect the -- lack of confidence in growth within their own. so it is -- it is a double-edged sword. it certainly is better than no acquisition or no attempt to grow. but it may not reflect a really strong, robust growth within the economy or those markets. >> but you are both talking about exceptions to the spirit of the conversation which is what we know in middle of a bubble, everybody is doing deals. everybody is positive. you see huge deals and you think oh, my gosh, here we are at a talk. we wake up on a monday and have six deals to announce. nobody said okay, that's a good sign? >> mna activity overall for the year is not particularly strong. >> i know that but today we have six deals. >> today -- one deal i -- i thought was most interesting, i thought said something about the software industry and where that business going. i thought it was very aggressive move by ibm. i think overall -- i'm not trying to make any broad

statements about the mna business. i like that deal. >> i am. >> i know. >> we are in a period right now where the -- we had so many ceos on this program that all tell us the same thing. they would love to put more money to work and love to do more hiring, uncertainty of, you know, pick your favorite bogey. fiscal cliff or europe. whatever it is, they are not willing to commit more dollars right now. that seems to be overhanging what she is suggesting should be a pretty positive element today. >> on the other hand, though, they were really pessimistic about the outlook they wouldn't be doing acquisitions at all. so it certainly reflects the confidence in the future and willingness to put money to work that i think says we are not on the verge of a -- some sort of precipice and going to fall off into oblivion. from that standpoint it is a good sign. >> we will take that. we will leave it on a good sign now. bruce, thanks for joining us today. bob, we will be checking back with you later. >> all right. >> 15 minutes before the closing bell. dow lower by 34 points.

nasdaq still positive just barely by one point. >> just barely. part of that because of apple. it may have just won that big patent lawsuit against samsung but we will hear from somebody who says apple might want to think wise before getting into a legal battle with its real rival, mainly google. >> plus, for the first time ever cameras were allow flood the stock exchange of the diamond world. don't miss an inside look at this very secretive place later on the "closing bell." at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

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we want to mention the documentary bob pisani is doing tonight on cnbc. realistically mish emwanted to enter an excuse to wear this 80-carat diamond. join us tonight for the diamond rush. bob did a terrific job earlier this year on gold. he turned his attention to the diamond market. this 08-carat baby is from sotheby's diamond collection. the question would have that will be answered tonight is how much do you think they will sell that for? 80 carats.

>> i have no idea. i will tune in tonight to watch to be sure. >> 9:00 they will reveal what that will sell for. if you want to get in it, there is a nice prize package that does not include -- >> does not include the diamond. >> make that clear. tweet them. at cnbc. hash tag to use is diamond rush. >> diamond story is really a wonderful story. right? >> fab us incredibly secretive. very controversial. now there is this effort to come ordertize them and you can trade them in way like gold. >> however, bob lifted the secrecy veil and goes inside the diamond market and up want to see had a tonight at 9:00. bob will be with us next to your to tell us about it. >> they blindfolded him to take him to certain place. >> i know. >> because they are so secretive. >> we will show you next hour here and michelle gets to wear the diamond one more time. we have lots much friends around us now. >> it is not that heavy, you know. >> she gives it back. looks very nice. >> thank you. >> we will take a break and come back with the closing countdown

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we are inside the five-minute mark. zinga down sharply. more than 6% to julia boorstin with the story. what's going on? >> there are a couple of things going on here. there's yet another class act lawsuit filed against zinga yesterday. i spoke to analyst michael packer. and he says what's going on right here, he thinks it is really concern about the daily active user numbers for the company's game. they record these numbers. looks like the daily active user numbers dropped 1.2 million to 4.4 million over the last seven-day period. he pointed out the numbers wildly -- there is a lot of volatility. he's concerned about how

accurate these numbers might be. it looks like a lot of the sell-off could be driven by concerns about those daily active numbers as well as yet another class action lawsuit. bill? >> all right. thank you. there it is. $3 and small change on zinga. a horrible stock -- the i po. here was the -- investment we were all watching first thing this morning. see what impact. you imagine oil would go sharply higher today because of the impact. isaac may have on the gulf platforms. but the markets got it -- together here. we already have a lot of oil on the market now. the white house already signaled they would release strategic petroleum reserve and down it comes. price of doyle down 58 cents today. what did go higher because of the refining capacity bottle neck we would have is the price of gasoline. this is where you are seeing the isaac impact today. and it is up 2.6% to $3.15. wouldn't it be nice if we would pay $3.15 for gasoline these days? quiet day. london closed. volume was lower today.

the euro little lower here. after it being higher in the session. and as the euro goes, so goes the stock market. the dow today is now down 38 points. it looks like we are going to have the -- 12 down markets out of the last 1. it has been a blue monday. even with all of the mergers announced this morning. we still have the markets heading lower for this monday. yield on the ten-year remaining pretty steady here at 165 or thereabouts as we await for the meetings at jackson hole and what ben bernanke and mario will say there this weekend. gold early on this morning hit that 4 1/2 month high. coming off those highs, though, down $6. everything is going lower in the afternoon part of the session. where the -- look at that. $1666.60. sectors for the day, utilities among the defensive plays but technology getting that boost

from apple, the patent win over the weekend, consumer staples there, health care, and energy and am an valdez. is there anything to be read from the market activity today? >> we had this merger monday. good boost this morning. no follow-through this afternoon. >> end of the month. we got long holiday coming up this weekend. of course, everyone is waiting for jackson hole. they are down 50 points. precursor to how the market will play out and it is weighing on the market now. >> transports are a good leading indicator in the economy. >> exact. >> i they would be going lower because of fuel costs going up? i don't know. >> lack of demand, fuel costs going up. >> tomorrow we get case shiller, housing. this has been a huge -- had a huge impact on the markets. highly influential. i guess we hope it is a positive number. if you are bullish, this market it had a big effect on the market but not long lasting. we don't get a sustainable lift out of it that happened -- keeps it going a day or would and

flattens out again. we are looking for a good number. >> apple, big win against samsung. it is lifted pretty much technology boat today. and -- continues to be the -- sector for all seasons. >> s&p 500. lifts them both. apple, whole market falls apart real fast. 100% right. this market will rally. we did have all apple. >> you are right. rest of the week is -- waiting on bernanke. isn't it? >> correct. >> you expecting them to say anything? >> no. >> i think he's just going to prolong it. i don't think much will come out of it. it is just -- unemployment has to move -- hasn't moved up enough to make a difference. >> that will do it the first hour of the "closing bell." we are going to finish down today. dow down 33 points. although the nasdaq will remain positive for the session. s&p down a fraction as well. stay tuned. lot more to come here. second hour of the "closing bell." look at