abt abbott labs. good value for yield. >> twi. >> natural gas. >> human tha. "power lunch" begins right now. >> announcer: halftime is over. "power lunch" and the second half of the trading day start right now. michelle -- thank you. a sluggish day for the markets. more down beat news from some big corporations. planned layoffs from names like colgate, zynga, dow chemical, dupont and others. they number in the thousands. it adds more weight to this dire warning from moody's today. it's going to be a difficult six to nine months for american consumers. things are likely to get worse particularly at the start of the year sp year. so what does this mean for these two men with the election less than two weeks away? what people think about jobs, the economy, and the looming

fiscal cliff may well decide how the voting goes. we'll tackle it all but let's begin with sue herera. sue? another day in the red for the markets. yeah, very much so, ty. we have a lot to get into in this hour, a very important discussion in just a moment. first a check of those markets though. the dow jones industrial average was in the red just a few moments ago and now it has bounced back up into the green with the dow jones industrials now up ten points. nasdaq composite up four, the s&p 500 up 2.77. we begin this hour with ceos on the fiscal cliff war path. chief executives of 80 very well known and large u.s. companies, like at&t and aetna, putting pressure on congress to cut the federal deficit by cutting spending and by raising taxes and changing the tax code. one of those ceos campaigning to fix the debt is nicholas kelio.

president of airlines of america. you have an awful lot of experience in several administrations in washington. so you know how the game works. how close are we, or perhaps better said -- how far away are we from some sort of deal on the fiscal cliff, do you think? >> i think right now we're probably a long way away, and that's the purpose of the fix the debt campaign. because it's -- part of its purpose is to provide support to members of congress who are willing to work toward the middle and take hard votes. in recent years it's been quite clear that congress has not been able to find the kind of compromise on large-scale issues that used to happen all the time. you could be partisan all day long but when issues that affected the economy, national security and things like that came up, members would get together and work through it. part of it might be the electora electorate. part of it is the way congress set up. but we need to find people

willing to take the hard vote because these are very difficult questions. >> you're giving them a little cover, is another way to put it. so the proposals that the ceos and you are putting forward differ from some of the other proposals that have been out there. you want to broaden the tax base, in essence. you want to reform the tax code, tighten up those loopholes. of those various proposals, which do you think will be the most effective in addressing the ills of the economy? >> well, i think you've got two sides to this story. first of all, we have large-scale tax expenditures that distort the market, disport how people invest their money and spend their money. then we have the entitlements. frankly, you've got to look at both. to fix the debt, you've got to find the large-scale dollars to do it. you can't go small ball. you can't put it off into the future. you've got to look at both of those. >> you worked in both bush administrations and you were called one of the most influential deal makers in washington at the time. you did manage to reach across both sides of the aisle. what reaction to this are you

getting from some of those people in congress that you're trying to help make those difficult votes? what has their reaction been so far? >> a very good reaction. people are concerned. they're very concerned about falling off the fiscal cliff and everything that would come from that. they're also very concerned about the notion that we really can't govern anymore. the united states always found the ability -- fif i may say -- to suck it up and do the right thing. we've led the rest of the world. we need to get back there. until we get our fiscal house in order we aren't going to be able to do that. i don't think we, the united states, want to go the way of europe and stagnate forever or the way of japan. we can be a leader, we can provide more jobs, we can provide better jobs for people like we used to and like we still can. >> you know, the fiscal cliff is one of the biggest talking points down here on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the reason is, congress has

taken the country to the brink several times before on key votes and that has created an enormous amount of market volatility. that's the worry down here. are we going to be taken to the brink again in this whole negotiation and discussions that are going on, or do you think they will be able to resolve it before the 11th hour? >> i think we could be taken to the brink again. you've got to have all sides come together. that's both the senate and the house. it is not just the congress. on any large scale issues like this, presidential leadership is required. the president has to jump in, get his hands dirty and lead the way and in a sense help provide the cover, take the hard positions that will lead others to be able to do so as well. again, it is a matter of compromise. what many policymakers don't seem to realize these days is that compromise is inherent and built in to our constitutional system. it is elementary. we're a big country, we have very diverse interests.

not everybody gets everything they want. >> people are talking about compromise now as a dirty word. you obviously feel differently. good luck. a lot of people down here hope you are successful. appreciate you being here with us today. in today's yahoo! finance poll, we ask what do you think is the best way to approach the deficit. go to finance.cnbc.com and we'll have the results for you coming up a little later on "power lunch." sue, let's go to kate kelly for some breaking news. >> tyler, david einhorn, the well known hedge fund manager, just finished speaking at the economist buttonwood gathering about his view on qe. essentially he hates it. he thinks the qe is slowing down our economy and that essentially what we need is a complete reversal of the current monetary policy. he spoke how briefly reducing rates to 0% may have been the right thing to do over the recession but over the course of years it hurts savers. finally he said while he thinks a reversal is needed, he makes the caveat it has to be done

carefully and with the proper messaging because if done too abruptly, it could blow up derivatives books. >> kate kelly, thank you. back now to the uncertainty over the fiscal cliff as it overhangs job creation. we notice this trend recently as companies report earnings. they're also announcing some big job cuts. today colgate laying off 6% of its workforce. 2,300 positions. yesterday dow chemical, 2,500 jobs. dupont plan 1ning 1,500 cuts. in a reuters article today, moody's says we think it is going to be a difficult six to nine months, if anything conditionses are likely to get worse particularly at start of the year. news like this not good news for a president trying to retain office.

when you have jobs being shed in 1 1,100, 1,500, 6,000-person chunks, it is hard to make much headway in this slow growth economy. >> worse news on the economy is bad news for president obama. this is one of the reasons why mitt romney has risen in the polls lately is that he has retaken the edge over president obama over who can best deal with the economy. i am skeptical that even high-profile cuts like this are going to change attitudes that have been baked in to the american electorate for quite some time. we saw recently that we got good news on the unemployment rate. went and fell below 8%. that didn't really move the needle all that much, just as bad jobs reports before didn't move the needle. i think this is certainly not what president obama wants. it is something that has the potential to help mitt romney but we haven't seen much evidence of it so far. >> this morning's news on jobless claims, not so bad.

improvement there. news on housing has been better. so there are signs that the economy may be -- or at least parts of it may be improving. but let's talk about the fiscal cliff and this push by some 80 ceos, among many different pushes, to get this solved. what are you hearing from your sources about the likelihood of a deal before the end of the year? >> when we look around and we see what's really going on, we have this push by these ceos and they're making it to the broader public, but it is not like they're down in the trenches of the campaign in ohio pushing this kind of deal and the need for this. in a sense, what really has to happen is lawmakers have to feel as though their re-election is tied to getting beyond the fiscal cliff. and right now that's not how this election's going. >> john, the candidates are basically concentrating on what appears to me to be four states -- iowa, ohio, virginia and colorado. is it going to boil down to them, and what's the

possibility, in your view, that we have an election kind of like 2000 where, number one, it is very close. number two, the winner of the electoral college may not be the winner of the popular vote? >> i think it is a low probability that we have a split between the electoral college and the popular vote but it is possible. if you look at the circumstances today, given the shape of the polls and the polls in the battleground states, you'd say that if it happens, it would be more likely to happen with mitt romney winning the popular vote, losing in the electoral college. these things tend to level out though because the country has its votes more evenly distributed than not and the battleground states are reflective of what's happening in the national mood so i would not expect it. on the fiscal cliff, i heard sue's interview with nick kalio. i've known and covered nick calio all the time. if washington were filled with nick calios, this thing would be done in an hour. it is a positive sign for corporate america that somebody like nick is available to help

push a solution. i do in the think there will be a solution by the end of the year but it is likely there will be one some time in 2013. >> john harwood, josh boak, thank you. >> i agree with john harwood, this is a man on a mission and he's determined to get some kind of deal brokered on the fiscal cliff. $29 billion of 7-year notes up for auction. rick santelli's tracking the action from the cme. the bid-to-cover ratio looks weak. what do you think? >> weak, weak, weak. yes, it was seven times weak. i'm giving this auction a d-plus. that's the worst of the three. we went from a solid a-plus to basically a hook yesterday, below average with a plus today. here's the inteshls. yield on these 29 billion 7-years -- 1.267. that's outside the range of the wi. 1.27, bid offered at 1.26.

2.56 bid to cover happens to be a 41-month low on the bid to cover going back to may of '09. rest of the inl ternternals wera bit light. look for the markets to maybe rally a bit according to traders. back to you. >> all right, ricky. thank you very much. well, jimmy buffett said it best -- there ain't no way to reason with hurricane season. it is almost november and the east coast has a significant storm on the way. her name is sandy and she has increased in size and power dramatically in just the last 12 hours. we're going to be taking a look at pictures from cuba, the southeastern part of the island was especially hard hit. reports from cuba say one person was killed, 55,000 people forced from their homes. and this was the scene in palm beach, south florida this morning. the waves are already running pretty high and forecasters say the winds will pick up in florida but the sunshine state

will be spared the worst of this storm. ty, get your galoshes out because i have a funny feeling it is coming our way. >> we just hope it gets through the whole area by halloween. >> oh, absolutely. >> my son will be crushed if we have to postpone it again like last year. when it comes to saving for retirement, many americans have a lot of catching up to do. whether you're a boomer or just beginning your career, we've got some sound and actional ways to boost your nest egg in this tricky market. plus, microsoft unveils its new windows 8 operating system today. will it be a make-or-break moment for the software giant? ceo steve ballmer speaks to us about it first on cnbc. as we head out, a look at the thursday movers on "power lunch." americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms.

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we are watching microsoft today and there is the stock chart. as you see, up a mere 7 cents. 007, mr. bond. windows 8 released today. there is a lot riding on this for the company and for the ceo, steve ballmer. jon fortt sat down with him first on cnbc. joins us in the studio with a new toy, the surface tablet. tell us about mr. ballmer first. >> we'll play with this a bit after, tyler. steve and i covered a lot. steve ballmer. one of the things we talked about was the competition. microsoft's flat chip new windows device, surface tablet, sells for $499.

amazon and barnes & noble are all selling tablets for around $200. none of them is making any money on the hardware, all hoping to make it up later through the sales of books, music, movies, other merchandise. i asked him what he thinks of the zero margin hardware game. listen. >> it is anybody's game. don't think even amazon can play that game for the long term. everybody wants to make some money. >> that's why the surface is $499. he doesn't think the kindle fire's model has much of a future. tablets are an incredibly important part of the windows 8 story though. here's why. this os works with a mouse and keyboard but it is really built for touch. if you want touch for less than $1,000 for the time being, the vast majority of your options are going to be tablets on windows 8. something i'll point out -- there are actually two different versions of windows here. the version on tablets with armed processors is windows rt and it will only run programs built for this latest version of windows. more expensive windows 8 tablets

with an intel processor will run the older windows programs. >> what does that mean? tell me what you just said. what does that mean? >> that means if you want to run your old quicken or whatever, you can't do it on this tablet because it doesn't have an intel chip in it. >> but there are some that do have an intel chip? >> there will be intel chip based tablets coming out in a bit. they'll be more expensive. >> what if i want to run my old version of outlook, of word, of excel. >> they got a new version on this. works pretty well but you can't run the old version on the ones with the arm chips. is there show the key bard bobo. >> it's cool. it is not just a cover , dsit's keyboard. >> talk about apple, transitioning to the other big dog in this fight. earnings after the bell. what are we looking for? >> a lot of analysts are saying these numbers don't matter that

much because the big holiday season is right around the corner. everything apple's been doing lately has been gearing up for this. you think about the iphone launch. most of those sales are going to happen in the holiday quarter. think about the tablets. the ipad mini we just got this week. those sales are going to be in the holiday quarter. apple even hinted -- at least analysts took it this way -- that ipad sales might not hit the number that they wanted for the quarter. >> i want to come back to this very quickly. this has ports for usbs and all kinds of other things. is that a big selling point, an advantage here, that's going to maybe do more stuff? >> i don't know if that will sell your average consumer that much. for your in-between business traveler type user, there might be some appeal. >> very cool. thank you. i'll get this back to you later. >> don't trust him, jon. americans are bracing for higher food prices. the usda's latest report shows food inflation could hit 4% next year. with higher prices and fears of

global shortages, so-called i brookneurs are looking to break free. >> the usda says organic growing in the u.s. last year topped $3.5 billion to feed a growing planet sustainably, we'll need new technologies and new land. >> one might be to put collard trees. >> farming start-ups like urban green are trying to bring down the higher cost of growing organic with lower transportation costs by being close to market. founder ricky smith has three mini farms tucked around los angeles. >> there's so much unused land, so much undervalued human assets, as well as land assets in our cities that urban agriculture can definitely create a new sector in the farming industry. >> reporter: at ucla this week, seedstock.com brought together investors, companies like whole foods and so-called agrapreneurs

to to form start-ups. >> in the initial stage $500,000 to $1 million. >> whole foods market has given out over $8 million since 2007 in local loans throughout country. >> there is margin to be had in go organics. >> reporter: michael dell's brother adam was also attending. it felt like a tech start of pc things but with farming you need a little bit of a longer view. >> indeed you do. sew ma mseema mody joins us. >> biogen, an eps of $1.91.

it now expects the 2012 earnings ever $6.40 to $6.50 a share. stock up better than 2%. speaking of earnings, nearly half of the s&p 500 companies have reported their earnings. we're analyzing the numbers on fulty group, procter & gamble and hershey next. today's some of the most actives. mixed bag. sprint, b of a and facebook are lower on the session. pss world medical though is up 32%! zynga's up almost 12.5%. back in a moment. [ horn honks ]

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where did you get that sweater vest? your ford dealer. let's get to earnings today. p&g, hershey, amazon, getting ready to report after the bell. jeff kilberg is here. let's begin with the home builder group today. pulte, better than expected earnings but fell short on revenue. there it is, pulte more closings and higher sale prices. do we like this one? >> we saw a nice pop initially. $117 million in revenue? that's 30 cents a share. they beat estimates by 10 cents. a year ago they lost $130 million. in the big picture, yes, investors liked it. as soon as the new home sales came out, it's down. >> p&g has been struggling.

>> this is the behemoth. this is the world's largest household consumer product. right now we've seen them take out four-year highs. it is encouraging. this was the catalyst that i saw move stocks up earlier when the s&p was up about 11 handles. >> moving on now to -- i guess hershey is next. beating estimates, raising full-year earnings outlook, creting margin improvements. eat those kisses, baby. >> you got do love hershey's, right? the stock is suffering a little bit because they had to take a one-time charge for pension costs and whatnot. but we are in the halloween season. they're very excited about it. they beat three quarters in a row. rumor is that you hand out the big bars! >> i'm a -- very big ones. killer, thanks. see you later in the hour. we'll talk about the irish and sooners over the weekend. most americans do not have enough money for retirement. in this market they have a lot of catching up to do. don't worry, we've got some smart ways to boost your retirement savings. plus, where do the 1% live? not park avenue.

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welcome back to "power lunc lunch". i'm bertha coombs in the gold pit. metals are about to close. we are seeing a bounce today in gold, silver and the precious metals after two days of losses. traders say technically gold held at $1,700 after hitting a seven-week low yesterday. they're also starting to eye next week's boj, bank of japan, meeting where there is expectations that the boj may take some quantitative easing moves. silver a big winner but the biggest winners today are platinum and palladium, one of the world's largest platinum producers saying that the r disruption and strikes in south africa could turn this into a deficit. copper the only one sitting out the rally with the strong dollar hemming in that move to the up side. trading action here steady as she goes. bob pisani is on the floor of the nyse with me. 12 points to the up side. sitting right there. >> about even on the

advance/decline line. sectors up .03, minus .03. starting off pretty well for the earnings season. it was about two weeks ago. there's the s&p for one month. you can see sitting near the lows. the biggest problem is not the earnings. earnings coming in roughly in line with expectations. basically flat. it is the revenues. 40%, 41% beating so far. that's why the market's down. that with a knot in the market a couple of weeks ago. historical average -- 61% beating. that's why we're down today. on the home builders, sue, we had generally great numbers on new home sales. great numbers on housing starts. this morning those pending home sales numbers were a little bit light, a little bit disappointing as the result most of the builders were down. ryland had terrific order growth. so did pulte but not quite as strong. >> the fed listened to, citing a

little bit of immoveme-- >> enthusiasm. >> you're still watching $19,400 level. we keep testing it. >> ook what we're doing. very quiet down here today. right? not a whole lot of buying. market's not going one way or the other because it really wants to see if the buyers are there. my sense is that they are. i think there is a lot of money to put to work. i think we are coming to the end of the year, people need to make sure they are involved. one thing on the housing numbers, what's confusing to me, yesterday the mortgage app number was down 12%. way off. yet pending hoped sales today, something is amiss because it is not reflecting -- how did pending home sales come in almost in line or new home sales are up? >> they're getting these commitments for weeks, weeks beforehand. there is a little bit of a lag. they're not overlapping perfe perfectly. but i agree, i think that's one of the reasons the market dropped a little bit. because they expected those numbers to get a little bit better. about your point, we have a real problem with the next two weeks.

the elections -- either side. can you make an argument on either side who is going to win this election very swrvery easi. i think the market is in a holding pattern at this point. there's strong feeling about whether romney wins, strong feelings about whether president obama wins. >> do you sit it out if you are a longer term investor and not deal with the volatility? >> no. if you're a long term investor, you would want to jump if on weakness. if we break $1,400, a chance to go to 1,375, i think you jump in and try to take advantage of that. we saw people who rang the bell here, ceos are coming together, they're going to march on washington. you have to believe that something's going to happen. if they come to any sense of a deal, the market's going to rally. >> it is the busiest time of day. did you see all the traders hanging around with those ceos gathering around hem? >> we had mr. calio on at the beginning of the show. he was mobbed off the set. >> people saying keep it up,

keep it up. >> i had a nice conversation with the ceo of honeywell. it is encouraging for someone -- for us or someone like me to see that, to be encouraged. >> still only 3% off recent highs. 1,400 your point. that would be the 5% pull-back. then you start seeing people stand up and pay attention. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it very much. ty, back to you. we're watching shares of dreamworks animation. there you see, up 7 cents at $20.58. major shake-up at the. company's board. julia boorstin in los angeles has details. julia? >> tyler, roger enrico previously chairman and ceo of pepsico has resigned as chairman of dreamworks animations board. that's a role he's held since the company went public in 2004. he's been replaced by melody hobson, a fellow board member. she also sits on the boards of starbucks and et ta lauder este.

she's also a frequent contributor to cnbc. on a personal note, she and george lucas have been dating for five years. legendary producer/director, now ceo of lucas film is a long-time friend of dreamworks animation's ceo jeffrey katzenburg. we've reached out but they have not responded. >> thank you, julia boorstin. ceos fighting back against the paralysis caused by the looming fiscal cliff. some are even willing to pay more taxes in exchange for spending cuts. how will all of this play out with just a handful of weeks left before that deadline? answers now from one of wall street's biggest dealmakers, chairman and founder of casablanca capital. great to have you here, don. ceos came together. they were ringing the opening

bell down here. it was a pretty impressive list of ceos. you think they'll have enough influence over congress to get it done? >> no. >> why not? >> i mean before the election? >> no, not before the election. before the fiscal cliff. >> i think there will be a deal on the fiscal cliff and on -- remember, the debt ceiling is there, too, before the end of the year, or lot of people are saying after the first of the year. but retroactive. i think that's very important. i think the fiscal cliff -- >> it's something you've been worried about. >> yeah. we've talked about it before. but i don't see any movement until the election. both obama and romney said they want to have some kind of deal before the end of the -- at some point. >> you think they'd take us to the brink though? congress has been known to do that. on a number of issues. >> there are ten senate seats open with the republicans leading in a couple of those

seats. we could have a republican congress and a republican house. i'm predicting any elections, but if the republicans have both houses and a republican president, i think the problem gets solved faster. if obama wins and he's got to deal with a hostile congress, you could take it to the brink. >> turning you to europe. you just grimaced. it certainly is a mess. but from your perspective, you're watching in particular u.s. corporations and what they're doing in europe. what is it telling you? >> well, if you look at the earnings report over the last week, last two weeks actually, caterpillar, you name it, kimberly clark, i mean over and over and over again. i think the average was 4%, 5%. everybody says europe is weak. i can't think of a company that reported robust earnings in europe. car companies are a disaster.

this morning even though i know they're just trying to get into the market, kimberly clark said they're shutting down europe. if that becomes something that u.s. corporations do as a regular thing, lose more jobs in europe, you'll affect operations in the united states. i mean you'd rather see europe in sort of a japan 15-year st stagnation and we'd bake that into our numbers and we'd deal with it. things in europe, europe is just -- the fd wrote a big article, europe is just basically broke. b-r-o-k-e. >> exactly. that i would think makes the u.s. look better. >> yes. that's why our market continues -- we're less broke than everybody else so you have to put your money somewhere. plus, as you say, we have a lot of u.s. corporations that are just u.s. corporations that are

doing better, mortgage companies, et cetera, that are just sew soly start doing bette. but if we don't start creating jobs in the u.s., pumping debt into mortgages isn't going to work. >> talk about the deal making environment. you would think, given the way the market is performing, this would be a good time to do deals. >> they're not doing it. people just aren't doing it. buffett said the other day he missed two $20 billion deals but can't wait to do deals. so why isn't he doing it? you just don't see deals being announced. someone said to me this morning, steve winn announced a special dividend. people think yahoo!'s likely to do that. instead of spending all this cash they have, maybe they'll give it to shareholders but they're not doing deals. partly because of europe. partly because of the turmoil in

the middle east. partly because of slowdown in china. you don't want to be buying a company that's international and not know what's going to happen to you. so people are sitting on the sidelines. it is just not a robust deal environment. >> not a good time. don, next time we talk to you the election will be over. we'll get your perspective on what's going to happen next. >> don drapkin. >> i'm not predicting. >> i know you're not predicting. >> are you saving enough for retirement? whether you are a boomer or just beginning your career, building your nest egg should get a little bit of a boost, thanks to one thing. and we will explain. turns out big bird has quite a nest egg himself. how much does sesame street's production company have saved up? it has do with the letter "m." we'll be right back. s with 8 ai, a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety.

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revenue of $449 million came in light due to weak ad sales. it's seeing its largest one-day percentage drop since april of 2009. take a look at the stock, it is down roughly 16%. sue, back to you. >> seema, thank you. in today's yahoo! finance poll, we asked a group of high-profile ceos that are urging washington to get a deal done on the debt and avoid the fiscal cliff, we asked what you think is the best way to approach that and the deficit. 37% say raise taxes and cut spending. 15% say cut taxes to boost growth. 36% say just cut spending. and 12% go off the cliff to force a resolution. yikes. be careful what you wish for there. let's see what's coming up on "street signs" at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. coming up at the top of the hour, folks, if you like tech, we have tech. not just any old tech. we have apple and amazon earnings out within hours and microsoft releasing its windows

eight. we asked what can that do for stock that's only up 6% in ten years. as more and more business leaders call on washington to stop wasting time and take action on the deficit, we speak to two ceos who have signed that open letter of congress to do something now. for the latest installment of our alternative alternative investing, ever thought of old maps or rare books from the hundreds of dollars to the millions, there's an investment in this space for everyone. we're going to talk about that and many more things. sue, ty, back to you guys on "power lunch." >> mandy, thank you. it is national save for retirement week. of course, many baby boomers, americans, have a lot of catching up to do. whether you are a baby boomer or just beginning your career, billing a nest egg should get a little bit of a boost thanks to new contribution limits for tax deferred accounts that come courtesy of the irs. sharon epperson now with to make a return on your investment. >> that's right, tyler. truth is many people just aren't saving enough but since the irs

raised contribution limits on 401(k)s and iras for next year, taking full advantage of these accounts could get you a lot closer to your retirement goals. if you haven't hit the max for the next two months, increase the percentage of pay that goes into your company's 401(k) plan. the maximum contribution for 2012 is $17,000 but it will go up next year. you can put an extra $500 for a maximum contribution of 1$7,500 in 2013. always make sure you are contributing at least enough of your pay to qualify for your company's match. 2011 study by fidelity found that roughly 40% of company matched dollars were left on the table and that's just free money wasted. put the max into a regular or roth ira, too, up to $5,000 for 2012, $5,500 for 2013. if self-employed, you can contribute up to $50,000 in a sep i.r.a. this year. $51,000 next year. remember, 2012 i.r.a. contributions can be made all

the way up until april's tax deadline next year . if you're 50 or older, you can take advantage of catch-up contributions. for a maximum contribution of $22,500 in 2012, $23,000 in 2013. for regular and roth i.r.a.s the catch-up contribution is $1,000 for a total of $6,000 this year, $6,500 next year if you're 50 or older. there is extra money compound over time and it can really help to give you the boost that you need to get you towards your retirement goals. >> sharon, so those numbers that i'm looking at there, that's the total -- you wonder why i'm asking for the 50-plus crowd. total is $6,000 for 2012 and the total is $6,500 from the standard amount. $22,500 compared to $17,000-something? >> yeah. >> what if even putting that extra catch-up amount isn't

enough to get me where i need to be? >> you've already saved more but now you may need to think about reducing your expenses. sometimes it just happens to be what kind of lifestyle are you going to have in retirement? are you still going to be on tv? are you still going to be doing what you're doing now? >> oh, i'm going to be on tv. >> or are you going to be doing something else. but people don't think there may be a difference in their lifestyle or even in where they want to live and it may be less expensive and they may want it to be less expensive in order to afford retirement and stay healthy. >> moving to north carolina. and you may have to work longer. >> delay your social security, for sure. that will help. it is national save for retirement week so check out retirement.cn retirement.cnbc.com for more on how much you really need for retirement. it is a lot. i promise you that. >> it is a lot. >> yikes. all right, thanks, guys, very much. you can always get what you want if you have enough cash, that is. tickets for an upcoming rolling stones convert selling for a six-figure price tag on stub

hub. but how much are you willing to pay to get some rock 'n' roll satisfaction? details coming up. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

what's this thing with trump and you? it's like me and letterman. what's he got against you here? >> this all dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> ha. little white house humor on the "tonight show" last night and in today's edition of the "power lunch," we're joined by bob pisani an kelly evans. weigh in, both of you, on that exchange between leno, and indeed the donald coming out yesterday and saying he would pay the president $5 million to give to a charity if he turned over his college application and his passport applications. bob, you first. >> well, i think this whole thing has sort of descended into a farce and the president's treating it with the seriousness it deserves. the birther thing floats your boat, fine. but i think it is kind of silly. next line was the best one. we had constant run-ins on the soccer field and he wasn't very good at it and he resented it. >> humor is often the best defense. >> best way to disarm an awkward

situation. totally agree with bob. what else are you going do with it as president? basically donald trump's serving him up a line that he can use to deliver some laughs. >> moving on to big bird and the golden nest egg. washington tooimt repo"washingte production company behind sesame street has an investment portfolio worth $100 million. how about that, kelly. that's a lot of dough for elmo. >> one of the creators of sesame street married pete peterson. >> i want to know, is big bird's hedge fund outperforming paulson's hedge fund. that's a headline for me right now. >> if they take away the bird's federal money, he's going to be okay, i guess. >> right. exactly. i think sesame workshop gets $1.5 million from the corporation for broadcasting. maybe that's controversial but many universities have these non-profit arms where they

invest all this money. goes to children's charities. >> but it does raise the question whether they really should have this evangelical when they're clearly able to be successful and draw down on them to fund the programming. >> if they were failures though i think we'd still be having the debate. the question is do you want to support it. i think it is worth supporting. let's move on to the rolling stones in convert. you can't always get what you want, it seems, unless you have a lot of money. apparently a pair of stones tickets is selling for $600,000 on stubhub. get this -- it is in the general admission area. you don't even get a seat or a backstage pass for that price. bob, are you going to see the stones? >> yes, i am. i'll tell you why. first of all, the highest priced tickets pre-sale are $750. that's a lot but it's not outrageous. two reasons. number one, you got 40,000 people going into two shows and you got 500,000 who want to see them. that's why the ticket prices are high. secondly, this may be the last rolling stones convert. we don't know but it could be -- ♪ this could be the last time

>> keith richards himself is saying there is no way in hell it is going to be the last tour. you should expect some more of it next year. it is just amazing that they continue to rake it in. amazing -- 50 years they've been together! 50 years. >> $600,000. that's a lot of money to see a concert. at any rate, if it's worth it to you, spend it. you got the money? why not. brian schactman has breaking news on the mba. >> the mba board of governors voted unanimously have to adam silver replace david stern as commissioner in 2014. that means david stern is retiring. he served 28 years to date so he'll get up to 30 years in that time. revenue has increased 30-fold. of course he brought the dream team to the olympics and he is an iconic figure in the world of sports and he will be stepping down in about two years. back to you. >> he's also an incredibly nice guy. thank you very much, brian. coming up in the next hour -- tracking hurricane sandy. it is a monster of a storm. it could have a major and unprecedented impact on the

northeast. we'll bring you up to the minute storm track when we come back right here on cnbc. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro.

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hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. the iconic painting "the scream" made its debut at the museum of modern art yesterday

in new york city. over 20,000 people filed in to catch a glimpse of the work which shattered auction records earlier this year. selling for $120 million. guess who "power lunch" bumped in to last night at the moma? it was hedge fund honcho leon black, the reported owner of the painting which he has put on loan for a six-month period of time at the museum. if you don't have billions to buy great works of art, you can get your own version of "the scream" like this one. it is a replica on a pumpkin from manicpumpkincarvers.com and it was apparently in the moma lobby. nothing to scream about on wall street. up about a half a point on the dow jones industrial average. hopefully that will hold. nasdaq composite is up about five points on the trading session. the s&p is up almost three points. gentlemen, back to you. jeff, we've gotten enough of the earnings season behind us now to draw some conclusions about where corporate profits are now and where they may be

heading. we've gotten enough of a sense of the economy overall. what do you think is next for the market? are we in a holding pattern between now and the year end or what? >> ty, i agree why are in a holding pattern until the election is over. right now i think we're in a very imperative spot looking at apple. like it or not, they are the market sentiment bellwether. after they report, we will see. yesterday at the 1,421 level, we tested this morning and failed. we'll see if the s&p can get above that. >> the last apple report, as i recall, left people a little bit disappointed. we'll see what they come out with. they're often very good and sandbagging estimates a little bit. so saturday, the sooners and the irish. your call on that big game. >> irish, baby. big national championship ramifications here, ty. in norman. it is a big game. >> big game. all right. >> all about the defense. >> good luck to the irish. if you're an oklahoma fan, i take no call -- >> two wonderful teams. >> two wonderful teams nap will