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a penny for your thoughts on this one. president obama gave his two cents on the fate of the penny saying he's open-open to the idea of getting rid of the copper coin. the president says it costs more for the government to make a penny than it's actually worth. the mint says it costs nearly it.5 cents to produce and distribute a single penny. tell us what you think on that one. meantime, let's take a very quick look at what's happening with the markets. the dow is down by 0.3%. walmart is down by 2.8% on the reports of that internal e-mail about february sales being a total disaster. the spokesman says sometimes these internal e-mails can be inaccurate. thanks for watching "street signs." have a great weekend. "closing bell" is next. >> hi, everybody. happy friday to you. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new

york stock exchange. the major averages in danger of posting losses this week though. >> if we stay right here, we'll see that. i'm bill griffith. the dow does not be able to look like it will avoid a second consecutive losing week. the blue chip average down sharply in the last half hour on those reports of an internal e-mail from a walmart executive indicating that a very slow sales, a total disaster were the words used to describe the sales so far. we've got the latest on this developing story coming up. >> amazing that interoffice e-mail getting out like that. >> once again. >> just as the individual investor is urged to get back into the market, more news of possible insider misconduct. the government looking into suspicious trades before cnbc reported the news before it was reported warren buffett was purchasing heinz. >> automatic spending cuts are set to kick in march 1st and congress is on vacation as the

cuts seem more and more likely to happen what, impact will they have on the stocks and economy? former fed chairman alan greenspan is joining us exclusively to weigh in on that. >> let's take a look at markets and where we stand with the dow jones industrial average near the lows of the afternoon, though just shy of them, down about 45 minutes on the dow jones industrial average and a third of a percent. nasdaq composite also negative today, double-digit move there on the downside. a decline on the nasdaq. s&p 500, decline of 5.5 points on the standard & poor's, now showing the level of 1515. let's get more on this developing story involving walmart. courtney reagan with the very latest details. court, what can you tell us. >> reporter: dell component walmart and other retailers reported that february was the slowest sales were the worst in

years. and the organization response. with any organization we see internal communications that are not entirely accurate and lack the proper context and individual opinionsch we'll release our first quarter earnings and we'll know for sure. walmart shares fell sharply but are coming back a little bit. walmart investors have been concerned about the retailers consumers feeling pinched since the company started rementioning the prominence of the paycheck cycle a couple quarters ago. add in the new tax increases and february sales become even more in focus for walmart. bill? >> thanks very much. reaction in today's closing bell exchange, lee munson and gene prony and doug cote from ing management and rick santelli. you don't work for an investment management company, do you? >> not yet. >> doug cote, it's this kind of

a story that still has you investing defensively right now, isn't it? what do you make of this? >> well, what's seen in retail sales that came out last week, kind of on the light side. and there is concern. it was mentioned the payroll tax hike, and we're more concerned with a general easing of fundamentals. fundamentals seem to be rolling over. you have japan data in recession. you have europe in recession, first negative quarter for the u.s., so we don't see the fundamentals supportive of continued market trend, and this might be a little overdone right now, i mean, the market. >> that's the issue, isn't it, lee munson, because you have a market that has been rallying since 2012, and new money coming into this market and earnings have just been okay. revenue has certainly been nothing to write home about. now this on walmart indicating we're looking at a slower period. is the market too high for

actual fundamentals? >> i don't think it is because we're still looking at potentially 8% to 10% earnings growth on the s&p for this year of 2013. but i'll tell you, maria, the walmart news is not good. the big thing is we've had spending stay up while people are getting a tax hike so what's happening is generally what american consumers do is they adjust their savings, and why not? last month the s&p was up 5%. so i think, if anything, the fundamentals are still there. people are making money in the market, in their 401(k)s if they can keep spending so when you get news like the walmart stuff. for me the fundamentals are there and this could be a great trading opportunity if we could really get people to panic next week, would love to buy into it. >> was going to ask you this question. with retail stocks heading lower, is this the kind of market move that makes you want to step in and buy and take some profits and step back for a little while? >> well, bill, you know, this has been a rotational market, and that's been one of the very

positive features, that the market continues to address the short-term excesses and we get these pressures put on consumer discretionary. i think the real store they year will be more of the business or the industrial-led sectors of the market. in other words, a focus on the global economic expansion, the industrials including the aerospace and defense, tooling and dye cops and so on. >> you're going to buy selectively is what you're saying? >> well, we're going to buy more rotationally. we'll focus more on industrials, technology and health care, more so than on consumer discretionary. >> rick santelli, a lot of supply coming into market this week. talked about it last week. what kind of an impact did you see? >> i think the market will speak for themselves, if you bought into the three-year note auction, you basically are

unchanged in terms of money, bought into the ten-year auction you're making dough, yields are lower than 204.6 and they were auctioned on the 30-year bond as a push. bonds were gobbled up, but it's not as easy as it was to recycle through the fed purchase programs, but here's something interesting, okay. when i look at walmart and i think about how i feel about the economy which isn't really represented by stocks, look at this chart starting in november for walmart stock and the dow jones. walmart is about at the same level it was in november. the dow is about 1,400 points higher. i think walmart has it right, and i think it's one of the reasons buying the fed into the treasuries aside where yields have remained stubborn about moving up even though it's the financial communities main antagonist. >> you think retail sales will slow down from here, is that what you're saying? >> absolutely. when i look at exports as less

than 10% of our gdp so why should scloeg slowing in the rest of the world hurt us a lot. that's a bad metric. think of all the multi-nationals and the overseas sales. that's tries the number of exports, and that's where the pain is going to come from. >> but, rick, you're going to see the lowering of the spending in the 401(k)s. rick, you have to understand, you know, we're out of 2008. people are going to look at their 401(k) statements whether they have a job or not and will see 5%, 6%. >> what do you want them to do with it, pull it out to live today? >> i want americans to buy more crap, and i think that this is a blip on the screen. >> i want them to get more money at their job, not through their 401(k). they need jobs. >> the thing is they are making growth. >> the 401(k) is a good story, i agree. >> let me ask you this. >> one of us will be right by summer. >> what about this walmart memo, gene, as a portfolio manager, you see an interoffice memo at

walmart where, you know, one of the managers says, look, this is disaster in terms of our earnings, numbers are coming out next week. what do you next week? do you move on it? this could indicate something bigger. how do you see it? >> to be honest with you, we don't have walmart in our actively managed portfolio. >> but it does say more about the economy and about retail sales in general. >> to some degree, but you look at the retail group, and there are a number of stocks trading near 52-week highs like ralph lornor dillard department stores doing very well so i think this is a general buying opportunity with a focus on walmart so i don't see this as a lasting longer-term issue. just like the google pre-announcement of the earnings, many thought that was a big problem and here is google right back up again. it's the same psychology. >> last quick word to doug cote. you thought this was overdone. would you buy walmart, is that

what you're saying? >> what we have to look at is the payroll tax, the driving force in slowing the consumer down or housing? housing is really picking up, and housing prices are going up, and if i'm a consumer, i care a lot more about my housing price going up, so i think this might be overdone. >> buy more crap, there you are. >> thank you, bill. >> thanks, guys. >> have a good one. 50 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. a market under pressure and walmart a big problem. down 3% and dow industrials down 44 points. >> have you seen this video yet of the meteor explosion in russia? watch it from left to right. it's reminiscent of the movie armageddon. could the u.s. experience a financial armageddon if congress

does head off massive across-the-board cuts march 1st? we transitioned from the meteor to sequestration. we'll ask barney frank and some very harsh words that senator elizabeth warren had to say at a hearing on capitol hill, i have a feeling that he'll echo some of what she said. >> and also is the u.s. dollar dying? some say yes and is the fed to blame? former federal reserve chairman alan greenspan joins me. >> and gold, why is it not glittering, a big down week. we'll get some info later from the ceo of gold corp later on "closing bell." at fidelity, we do it by merging two tools into one. combining your customized charts with leading-edge analysis tools from recognia so you can quickly spot key trends and possible entry and exit points. we like this idea so much that we've applied for a patent.

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makes it easy for anne to manage her finances when she's on the go. even when she's not going anywhere. citibank for ipad. easier banking. standard at citibank. welcome back. many expected and she did not disappoint. longtime bank critic elizabeth warren came out swinging in her first hearing as a member of the senate banking committee. >> reporter: banks and bank regulators got a taste of how their lives will be different now that massachusetts senator elizabeth warren is on the commit we oversight over their agencies. at her first banking committee

hearing a simple question for the simple head of the ftc, cftc, fdic and the treasury, among others. >> the question i'm real asking is can you identify when you last took the wall street banks to trial? >> i will have to get back to you with the specific information, but we do litigate and we do have settlements that are either rejected by the commission or not put forward. >> okay. we've got multiple people here. anyone else want to tell meet last time you took a wall street bank to trial? >> now the s.e.c. chair echoed the views of fellow regulators that trials are costly and time-consuming and settlements can achieve their goals, but senator warren wasn't buying it. >> there are district attorneys and u.s. attorneys who are out there every day squeezing ordinary citizens on sometimes very thin ground and taking them

to trial in order to take an example, as they put it. i'm really concerned that too big to fail has become too big for trial. that just seems wrong to me. >> now republicans on the committee held back from what had been expected to be criticism of too many dodd/frank rules and the power of the new consumer financial protection bureau, an agency ironically warren herself might have head federal not for republican opposition. maria? >> in many ways our next guests -- thanks, half. on. . >> barney frank is the co-author of the dodd/frank banking bill and joins us now in a cnbc exclusive exclusive. what do you think of her debut on the banking committee? >> i think it's expected. there is on the part of some republicans some filibuster

eseremorse, namely they were very vigorous in wanting her not to be the head of the cfpb. i think they wish they had that one back. i think rich cordray has done a very got job. what elizabeth should do is exactly what she has been doing. what kind of senate should she be doing? came to the senate with more legislative accomplishment than people believed and we worked very closely to set up the cfpb in other areas and what she said was exactly right. i would make this point though. it isn't fair, and wasn't saying this to just make it critical of the administration officials. part of the problem is that when the republicans took over the house, and people have said, gee, implementation of that bill, it's slower than you expected, correct. i had not anticipated the republicans winning the house and then denying adequate funding to the security exchange commission and the commodities future trading commission and that's part of the problem.

to go up against one of these big people is very expensive. they have been underfunded and they are caught in a double bind because conservatives who used to complain about activism now like to get the judges in there to overturn political outcomes they don't like so they have got judges in washington telling the s.e.c. and the cftc no, you can't do this. you have to do a lot more work and the republicans in the house denying them the funds. the only thing i would say is this. >> do you think that's why she is frustrated that no bank has gone to trial? i mean, she was very specific there, congressman. has anybody ever tried to take a bank to trial? just wondering what you think. should a bank have been prosecuted over the 2008 financial crisis? i mean, where was the fraud or wrongdoing in terms of -- i mean, you can put stupidity aside but in terms of breaking the law, where was it, congressman? >> that's a very good question, and one of the points that i've made is that one of the reasons that we had to pass a lot of

laws in 2009 and 2010 were things that were wrong by kind of a moral or even economic standpoint weren't illegal. so, no, i don't think you could have gotten everybody sued who did something wrong. on the other hand, it does seem to me there was criminal activity. there was deliberate misrepresentation, but the other thing that's deterring them, people have to go back to the accounting issue when they sued, you know, a big accounting firm and it went under. part of the problem is when you prosecute the bank, even when you fine the bank, the bank is -- the united states supreme court to the contrary, corporations ain't people. they don't bleed. they don't hurt and the hurt gets passed along. what i raised in a letter i've zend sent to the regulators and they haven't sent it. i should have sent it earlier. how come individuals haven't been prosecuted? frankly rather than pass the banks, instead of passing hurt on to oh, i would hope people would press that.

how come some of these individuals haven't been prosecuted? >> that's what i think our viewers are trying to figure out. where was the criminality exactly? can you name anybody or a bank that you think sort of bordered on criminality or actually broke the law? who? >> i will give you the examples. i believe in the libor case, if what i read is true. i never had prosecutorial authority and the committee i chaired didn't have jurisdiction and i had a hard enough time figuring out ceos, i did not get into it in detail. i will say this. the criminality came to me in specific misrepresentations. there is what people would look at. >> selling their customers a bill of goods, for example, those selling a product that they were shorting at the same time, or dismissing internally? >> but that's -- that's another blanket statement. i still don't know who you're referring to. >> i just mentioned the libor people. what does it matter with you?

>> so, in other words, are you s saying bob dimon should have been criminally prosecuted, he was the ceo at the time? is that what you're saying? >> that's not remotely what i'm saying. i'm saying that i was not a prosecutor and didn't have the authority to look at individuals and i'm not familiar with what individuals did. i have read there were individuals who misrepresented. i believe they should be investigated. it would be mccarthyite which i've never done to start naming names now. i'm explaining the policy, where there were individuals who misrepresented, as i am told they with with libor and elsewhere, where they reported facts inaccurately. now to tell you names, i haven't looked into it, but it doesn't mean you can't describe the kinds of activities that should be prosecuted, and i also say in my judgment, prosecuting some of these individuals would be better. >> but you -- >> people didn't have fiduciary responsibility, we've now given

it to them. >> you know how it works and this gets to the heart of the testimony today before the senate banking committee when she asked how many banks have you taken to trial. it doesn't work that way, when you charge a bank with something, they are quick to settle and the government is only too happy to settle and they take the bounty without admitting, denying guilt, and they walk away. doesn't that need to change? >> yes, but it's going to have to be accompanied by greater funding for the agencies. it is very expensive to take a major institution with all these high-paid lawyers to trial, and one particular trial can tie you up and interfere with your other enforcement activity. yes, they should do some of, that and i am very skeptical of allowing them to say we don't admit guilt, and i think they have begun to change that. that seems -- >> part of the reasons -- what you're saying then is part of the reasons we haven't seen prosecutions is because the s.e.c. doesn't have the proper funding. we don't have the resources in government to actually do these investigations and take people

down, as opposed to at end of the day there was no evidence of fraud. there was no evidence of criminality. there was evidence of stupidity, but that's about it. >> no. i'm saying in the first place that very few things in life are as simple as that question you just posed. things are complex. there are multiple factors. one is the fear you don't want to put a major business out of business and one is that the rules were ambiguous and it wasn't criminal. another is that it will take some resources to bring in. why would you bring a case and then allow people to say oh, i'm admitting i did anything wrong. it's not just criminal. it's even in civil cases where you should have people, but your presumed view, maria, that nobody ever did anything criminal in all of this i think is nonsense. >> all i want to do is see the evidence. this is a democracy and america, right, so let's look at the evidence. just show it to me.

>> that's what i'm telling you to do. i'm saying -- >> you were in charge. you could have done that. did you find any evidence? >> i'm sorry, you don't understand this situation very well. >> you're on the banking committee. i want to know what kind of evidence you saw in terms of actual evidence of criminality. >> i'm explaining to you in the first place the committee i chair had had no jurisdiction over criminal proceedings. that's the judiciary committee. secondly, we were focused on trying to deal with the crisis at first, at the request of the bush administration, and then to have new rules going forward. the committee i chaired did not have jurisdiction over past criminal behavior. our jurisdiction was over trying to move things forward and that's what i did. i am giving you examples, and you say it's a democracy. i agree. that's why you do not name names the way you are irresponsibly doing or trying to get me doing. >> i'm not asking you to name names. >> you asked me about -- >> this is issue. >> excuse me.

you're the one -- you're the one who threw mr. diamond's name in there which was an irresponsible name. >> because you said libor. you said libor and barclays. >> i didn't say barclays. >> you said libor. >> libor is not just barclays. there were a number of institutions involved in likor, and what i said was to the extent that institutions and individuals in the institutions, if they deliberately misrepresented, that could be criminal. you're the one who mentioned someone's name. i wish you hadn't done that. >> i absolutely 100% agree with you. if there was actual evidence of criminality they should be held accountable. the point i'm trying to make is when we throw out these ideas that the 2008 financial crisis and no one was put in jail. it makes the public, okay, the populace once again thinks there's all this wrongdoing going on in wall street and the banking sector and that's what i find irresponsible. >> that's not what i've done. >> this wall street/main street fight all the time and there's never any evidence, brush stroke

ideas that wall street is bad, and i have a problem with that. >> you have a problem. you're creating the problem. i'm not saying any of the things you just said. i said in the first place, and you don't listen, that there were ambiguities in the law, that we had to change the laws so that things that weren't right would be criminal going forward. i volunteered that. secondly, i am saying that there were some cases that i've read about of misrepresentation. i had no investigative powers. i had no investigatory staff. i wasn't subpoenaing these past activities, so, no, i did not have the ability or the responsibility to find those out. administrative agencies did, so, no, i have not said that there was massive criminality. on the other hand, i would disagree with what would seem to me that what you're arguing is no one ever did anything criminal. there were some people who violated the law as it then stood and i'm responding to the dilemma that people in the administrative agencies say oh, we don't want to bring down the whole institution.

i sympathize with that. to the extent that individuals misrepresented in a very deliberate way, i would look into criminal prosecution of them. >> i totally understand what you're saying, and i agree with much of it. the only issue is when you say i do think there was probably criminality and we have to investigate it, that's the kind of hot button issue that goes right to the populace and the masses and they say, you see, wall street's criminal. >> you have it exactly wrong. first place, the average citizen think there's much more done criminally than i've said, and i said i think most of it, much of it was ambiguity. some of it was criminal. your position that nobody in all of this did anything to violate the law, i think it's a fantasy, and i do not think -- i think you underestimate the people that you can't tell them what i think is the truth. >> you know, it's been fun having a front row seat watching you two go at it here. it's great. barney, you're the smartest guy out there in washington, and we appreciate you trying. thank you so much.

>> hopefully retirement is agreeing with you. good to see you. thanks for being with us. >> yes, thank you. >> where were we now? that was great. >> the market. we're down 28 points. well off the lows right now. the dow was down 61 at the top of the hour. we've got 30 minutes left to trading here. >> closely following the walmart story. will the retail giant be able to bounce back and help the rally? the stock is under pressure. down almost 3%. we're back in a moment on the "closing bell" with that. >> under armour is getting back into the stand-alone retail store business. the company is hoping to unseat nike in that area. up next we'll take a look at which stock is the better buy. >> the nightmare at sea is over, but is the nightmare for carnival stock beginning? the first lawsuit against the cruise liner has been filed. we'll get to that later on the "closing bell." command is locked. five seconds.

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welcome back. under armor is making a renewed push into retail and taking a battle with nike to a new level. brian schactman is at a brand new under armour concept store in baltimore with the story. over to you, brian. >> reporter: thanks, maria. they are using this 8,000-square foot retail store as a test lab focusing on women, focusing on shoes and maybe even setting themselves up for international expansion, and they have huge room to grow in all three segments and need, to actually, if they want to go after nike which is 25 years older as a public company and has a $49 billion market cap, compared to

ua's five. right now it's 75% abarrel sales and 13% shoes. more perspective. half of nike's revenue comes from footwear and then there's geography. 94% of under armor's revenue is for north america and for nike it's 42%. ua's international for the whole planet outside of north america is just 6%, bill, you can come down to the store in baltimore and get fitted from head, all the way down to toe, and i picked this one out because i think you would look good in the blue and gray. >> with under armour taking on nike, which of those stocks is a better buy? it's under armour versus nike. on the technical side, be a gal doolittle and on the financial side jeff kilberg, what's your view fundamentally, nike versus

under armour? >> i like under armour and brian did a great job talking numbers. i focus on the young blood versus the old blood. let's take a look what happened to apple when steve jobs passed away and stepped down. by no means can i bash nike. they are a great global brand, a global institution, but right now it's just a little too expensive. i would hike to see a 10% correction. focusing on under armour. hitting the nail on the head with the i will campaign. just launched i will, and i will be getting long here against this 50-day moving average for a variety of reasons, and look at the overseas expansion. only 6% of sales come in from overseas. really going to grow. this is a young, young company, bill. >> abigail, talking 50-day moving averages. he's in your territory, what do you think? >> very impressive. i agree. i also love the i will campaign but, unfortunately, investors are a little less enthusiastic. when we take a look at the weekly chart, under armour has

started to reverse its three-year uptrend. this shows the buyers are becoming less enthusiastic. as a result, the sellers have started to step in. we see a series of lower highs. the real test is ahead though. unless those lower highs can be broken to the upside, under armour is very likely to drop back down to a floor of support right around 44. buyers have stepped in there nicely over the last couple of months, but it seems likely that there's bearish pressures that could break to the downside as low as 30. under armour is bearish to neutral. the near-term up trend is explosive to the upside. there is a little congestion there and i think it will resolve to the upside. i think we'll see shares trade up. >> hang on, jeff. barney frank took all your time. i've got to go, my friend. sorry. see you later. >> that was a great battle. that was a great battle. >> that was fun. plus, we heard the return of a

longtime tradition. we thought it tied. the 3:33 woop-woops happen. monday we're closed for trading. >> a three-day weekend. 25 minutes before the closing pebble sounds on walmart. a market down 25 points on the dow jones industrial average. >> maria. >> yes. >> remember this dire warning on this program from boom, doom and gloom report publisher marc faber. >> i'm sorry to say, maria, you don't own any gold because you are in great danger because you don't own any gold. >> gold, however, is on track for its largest weekly decline in nearly eight months and we'll tell you why, coming up next. >> i guess i wasn't in such danger. >> and who better to talk to about the outlook for gold prices than the head of one of the largest's gold producers. gold corp's show will join us next on the "closing bell." 2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab...

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welcome back, bill. we've got the market showing a loss of about 11 points. >> remember that selloff, the walmart selloff, maria? >> that's over now. >> well, walmart is still down almost 3% actually. >> the dow, which was down 61%,

down ten. >> look at that. >> so we told you about the walmart selloff. never mind. 20 minutes to go here. >> gold prices on track for the largest weekly loss. sharon epperson at the nymex with that story. over to you, sharon. >> gold is holding above 1,600 an ounce and is still down nearly $30 today and more than 3% on the week. it's the biggest weekly loss that we've seen in the gold markets since june and we're seeing confirmation of what has been happening since november when the equity markets started to rally. a lot of investors rotating out of gold and into equities. we saw that confirmed by s.e.c. files that showed top fund managers are actually getting out of the gold holdings. that also contributed to the gold slide to a six-month low so the key is in the weekend ahead, whether gold will be able to stay above the 1,600 an ounce level. did dip below it earlier today, and we do have a holiday weekend

with the floor closed on monday and some halts in trading on monday as well electronic try so that could mean fewer participants and a lot of volatility in the gold market. >> thank you so much. >> shares of goldcorp trading down, reporting fourth-quarter earnings that were above analyst expectations even though they were lower than a year earlier. the company is bullish on what's ahead for 2013 though. there is concern that the precious metals price could take some hits. >> and goldcorp itself taking a hit. joining us now is president and ceo charles jeannes. >> pleasure to be with you. >> let's talk big picture first. what do you make of this recent selloff in the price of gold? i've got to tell you, you still don't understand gold, haven't for years, with the real and then the selloff and is it inflation and worried about political strive? what's going on in the world of gold, and why is it flirting with $1,600.

>> i think you hit it on the head. there's so many things that impact the short-term movements in gold price whether it's, you know, the risk on/risk-off trade moving into gold as sharon said into equities as we've seen in the last couple of months. i tend to focus on longer-term movement, and i'm still very bullish on the long-term fundamentals of gold, but there's no doubt that there's a bit of a move out of the safe haven portion of the investment in gold, and we've seen that certainly this week. >> let me ask you about that. i'm glad you mentioned the long-term fundamentals of goal, because recently we've seen gold really moving on talk of a currency war, interest rate movements. what are the long-term fundamentals of gold. >> well, on the supply side, the fact that it's getting harder and harder to find and build new mines worldwide. i think you're going to see very

flat supply over the next two, three, five, ten years and even declines in supply over that period of time so if you then look at the demand side it's been driven by two primary features, one, the rise of the asian economies and a tremendous amount of growth and it is demand from china in particular over the last five to ten years, and then the other side is investment demand, and that has come up dramatically over the last ten years, and it tends to be much more quick in moving in and out of the story. >> you know, we have this currency war that nobody likes to talk about, especially federal bankers around the world, but yet there is this rush to the bottton. now you would think that that would be bullish for gold, but it's happening precisely at the time when the price of gold has been moving lower. again, i ask. is gold necessarily an inflation hedge these days, or is it always about consumer demand?

>> i think it is an inflation hedge and absolutely. the currency war is very interesting because it depends on which currency winning at the time, frankly. >> right. gold is priced in u.s. dollars, so right now the u.s. dollar is seeing strength against the yen and the euro so we're having a positive -- sorry, a positive impact on the dollar and negative on gold. that has turned and can turn around very quickly, but, again, it's your long-term viewer, whether it's marc faber or someone else in terms of how you believe the ultimate solution to extremely high debt levels world wide is going to be resolved, and -- and there's, you know, a good argument that says the only way it's going to be resolved is through inflation. >> all right. leave it there. so good to have you on the program. thanks for stopping by today. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> heading towards the close. we've got about 15 minutes left. the dow trading now down 5

points, was down 61 points led lower by the retailers after the walmart story got out, but we've come well off the lows. >> we have. >> down five points. looks like it's going positive. the clash of the titans is heating up again. >> i do not, as a great investor, if that's what he's calling you, buy things just to get even with anybody. i am not buying this company and putting money into it unless i've done a lot of research on it and believe in it. >> carl icahn making a big bet on herbalife, a company his new arch rival bill ackman is shorting. that's next. >> great theater in that one. also, the s.e.c. also investigating unusual trading activity ahead of the $23 billion announced acquisition of h.j. heinz, and this, just as individual investors, of course, are tipping their toback into the market. we'll examine more funny business on wall street later on the "closing bell." my mother made the best toffee in the world.

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carl icahn stepping up hisfield feud with bill ackman in what is truly becoming the year of the activist investor. we're explain what they are applauding. >> why don't you do it now. >> we have a camera there.

>> staff sergeant quint on, the recipient of the medal of honor, annual tradition to have a medal of honor ring the closing bell. the folks at the new york stock exchange love their american heros, and he is truly one of them, and he is up at the balcony at the top of the hour ringing the closing bell. >> walking the floor and shaking people's hands as he makes his way over to the closing bell podium. that's what the noise is behind bill. >> i never get tired of this. the feeling of family on the floor of the new york stock exchange and the noise it creates. >> the camaraderie. >> the true camaraderie here at the big board and we do salute the latest medal of honor winner here in the united states. to kayla tausche now on icahn versus ackman.

>> reporter: tough act to follow. we are looking at activism. the days of simply rating a company are over. activists coming out of the woodwork with wide-ranging demand in two companies in the crosshairs of this trend. the clash of the titans of herbalife. ackman said herbalife is a period mid scheme and icahn bought a 13% stake and is talking with management. the company's future is still on the line. >> herbalife is at the center of a paradigm shift right now. multi-market leveling is here to stay. levels of multi-level marketing. that's what i consider to be a great way to retail products, and the reason i believe that it's doing well in 87 markets is that you have a secular change. >> reporter: herbalife, of course, is a $4 billion market cap. not to say the world's largest company is immune from activists. david icahn wants higher

yielding pension funds and the california pensions are backing their home state company and they are telling "the post" preferreds can be more harmful and those who say it's inane posturing, there's actually real money moving here. apple is down 3% this week as that situation is played out. tic cook called it a silly sideshow. herbalife soaring to 9 million shares alone, up 9% this week and 2% today. maria. >> all right. thank you so much. kayla tausche with the latest there. final stretch of trading, just ten minutes before the bell sounds for the day. a market well off the lows, down seven points. could go positive in the next 11 minutes, bill. >> the s&p and nasdaq are in danger of posting weekly declines for the first time this year. could internal memo indicating weak february sales at walmart spark a downturn in that stock?

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welcome back. we're just a few minutes away to closing out trading day and the trading week. >> the late day selloff may ruin the chances for the market to finish the week higher, though we're still coming back here. those internal e-mails from

walmart are the culprit. they reportedly say that february sales were looking bad. more reaction now from ann miletti and ladies, i don't know where the time went this hour, but we are running a little late on this hour. we'll cut to the chase here. does the possibility that the consumer is pulling back change your notion of what the economy is going to do a and when what we should do at the stock market here? >> we still feel it's temporary. we're still positive on consumer discretionaries, even though we have the 2% decrease that everybody is feeling right now. we think it's very -- it's just the initial shock, and overall the earnings haven't changed. consumer discretionary for the s&p 500, still looking at 12%, 13% growth for 2013. >> you still like that. >> i do. >> revenue hasn't been great. but one of the other big stories, the yield flow. a lot of people think the deals continue. is that going to help the stock market or is that a non-event? >> i think it will help, that

that ceos are willing to go out and spend cash has to help the confidence of investors that maybe things aren't so bad that they are letting loose some of the cash on the balance sheets. >> you think it continues all the deals. >> i think it's one way to get the revenue growth that we really haven't seen, and i think it does help from an investor standpoint, too. the only thing would i say is we've had a big rally so i'd be careful about moving in and looking for dips to move in. >> your college rich peterson has sent us the data in mergers and acquisitions. does that usually signal a bottom in the market or top of the market? >> i think we're looking at finally coming off the bottom. we're looking at the m & a activity. i don't think we're at the top by any means. i think we could easily see multiple expansions and the same thing on private equity. >> how are you allocating capital? do you agree with what erin is saying, that the market goes higher in 2013, and what do you want to be exposed to? >> i think it goes higher, but it could go down a little bit

before it goes up. multiples are expanding faster than fundamentals so earnings haven't expanded quite as much. we are interested and still looking at things that other people may not be paying attention to, ann taylor, they missed on the fashion but have really good things going on in the background. the rest of the market is ignoring and that's where we're interested. >> we do have to go. sorry. thanks for joining us. we're coming right back with the closing countdown, and we'll be closely watching how walmart is trading on a report of slow february sales. >> and don't miss my exclusive interview with former federal reserve chairman alan greenspan. >> and forget higher taxes. an overwhelming percentage of millionaires say they are just better off or are they just well off as they were before the financial crisis? what's the difference? i don't know. details of the surprising new survey are coming up. you're watching cnbc. first in business worldwide. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments.

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