picks. very good indicators of how the academy's 6,000 members will vote. they analyze minions of websites and calculations to calculate the critic picks and the public picks and crunches that data and p predicts that "argo" will win best picture and steven spielberg will take best director and daniel day-lewis for his portrayal of lincoln and the best actor's role is tight. jennifer lawrence is expected to win for her role in "silver linings playbook." >> looking at very, very precise from that huge amount of data that we start out with, and so we use those analytics really to identify what public opinion is and then also what the critic's choice is. >> now, when filling out your ballot, remember that the academy tends to be more male and a little bit older that be the average movie going audience so don't vote for what you think should win but what you think will win. remember, that's why "lincoln"

brought home more nominations than anyone else. mandy? >> who do you think is going to win best picture? >> i think it's "argo." i do think it will be. i'm with brandwatch on that. >> so pathetic, i've barely seen any of the movies up for an oscar so i can't even comment. very quickly, let's take a look at what's happening with the market. we were down for a couple of days on the back of the fed minutes that really spooked the market, but the dow is coming back to the tune of 96 points. the s&p back above 1500 and the nasdaq up by 0.7% of 1%. we'll count you all the way down to the end of the closing day on "closing bell." meantime, thanks so much for watching "street signs," everybody. keep safe, keep warm. hopefully we'll see you the same time on monday. "closing bell" is coming up next. >> hi, everybody. the rally rolls on. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. we are ending the week with a

boom. >> i'm tempted to say that the correction has officially been cancelled, but those would be famous last words, wouldn't they? i'm bill griffith. we do need a 100-point rally for the dow to avoid a third consecutive losing week. we're close to that right now. it's up 94 points. it was up 115 so we'll see what happens this final hour. >> big hour coming up. stocks gaining even as the government is warning of more doom and gloom scenarios if the automatic spending cuts kick in. one week from today is march 1st. market seems to be ignorings predictions. stanley druckenmiller telling me yesterday it's no big deal. who is right, wall street or the white house? >> and the markets, they are voting right now. later, canada is angry. the canadian ambassador is here. he's letting loose about the long delayed keystone pipeline project as gas prices continue to spike higher. this story is getting hotter. you're looking for that interjew view. >> it's a great story.

>> the keystone story is real job creation potential. we'll get into it with the ambassador. let's see where we stand. the dow jones industrial average up 97.5 points, as you can see there, just shy of the high of the afternoon. bill just told us it was up 115 earlier. nasdaq composite showing gains today. check it out. we've got a double digit move here as well, shy of the high with a gain of 22 points on naz daxx damage, and the s&p higher by ten points, bill. >> two things to watch. will we finish higher for the week in the dow? we need that 101-point gain for that, and will we finish above 14,000? all things to watch for in today's "closing bell" exchange. let's speak to our guests. michael, what do we make of this week, two different mood swings this week, what's going on? who is right? >> yeah. no. i think this is consistent with

how corrections start. behaviorally everything that leads in a question is starting to outperform, dividend sectors and bond yields back below 2% on the ten-year, a lot of weakness in the emerging markets and cyclical trade so while on an absolute basis the dow isn't moving anywhere, internally in the market there's a lot of defensive ne defensiveness. >> and all this is completely inconsistent with the recovery. >> what do you see in terms of flow at the end of the day? >> i'm seeing a lot of cautious flow at this point. a lot of mixed signals in the market this week. economic data i think overall was bad. earnings reports helped the market. dividends, buybacks, m & a activity has helped. i'm happy to see the market has recovered from the last two trading sessions but this leads into a lot of uncertainty and a lot of economic data coming out next week. i think that's going to move our markets. will you see some profit-taking come off the table. >> what does that mean, cautious

flow? >> a market that's up 100 points. are you not seeing conviction? >> i'm not seeing conviction. what i am seeing is investors buying stocks earlier in the week are starting to sell them out now and paring down some of their portfolios. >> bruce mccain, you think this market needs a correct, don't you? >> giving it a firmer flat platform for gains into the end of the year, but i think at this point there's some things investors can do and looking at where they want to be, particularly if you want to move money overseas you're getting a pretty good relative attractive price in moving into the emerging markets, for example, and for those who still need bonds, selloff in bonds, clearly gives you an advantage if you're take money out of equities, so knowing where you want to be and structuring for it is the key right now. >> and we have been watching the currency markets, rick santelli. i mean, when the dollar backed off a bit, that's when the stock market started to pick up speed here today. >> no. that's absolutely true and i think, you know, the currency markets have always been a bit

rigged, obviously, or there wouldn't be printing presses aloud or new dovish countries or governors like japan that's getting it in a weeks or so. in the end, bill, yesterday when he said it's hard to talk about treasuries when the fed and the treasury's thumb is on the scale. >> right. >> i always look at treasuries, and i believe that they can still reach a tipping point. just think, at the end of last year and early this year we had one jump, from 175 where we settled last year to the new range, so we're basically up a quarter point, a little bess. but even though they can sell off and the inflows were debated for that selloff, you know, i wish we could have talked to mr. bullard more this morning about it, because in the end i just don't think we can overcome the purchases and the presence of already owned securities by the federal reserve, and we forget about that. it isn't just that treasury's respond with movement and equities.

it's very difficult to ascertain how bad things really are when the volatility is getting crushed out of the treasuries, mostly due to what the fed's programs are involved with. >> michael, what do you make of these sort of mixed signals we get from the fed? on the one and they are suggesting that they are considering pulling back at some point on qe and james bullard on our air is saying qe is in for the long haul. >> the fed is going with a mandate of confuse and conquer. confuse the marketplace as to when qe will be pulled back. the biggest embarrassment now is if the stock market goes vertical and the economy doesn't, the fed in a way has to temper the pace of equity gains. >> don't want any bubbles anywhere? >> what about the suggestion that the federal reserve is going to start winding down qe3. you know, what does that create in terms of disruption in the market? are you expecting that to create a selloff? this is all coming together at a time when we're also worried about rates beginning to spike

over sequestration and a credit problem this country has. >> it has to happen at some point. let's say sequestration does happen. that's bond bullish and might replace the buying that the fed might over-wise do. while you might have concern over the exit plan, we don't know what the supply is going to be. in other words, could you see yields go nowhere. >> bruce, we were talking about how defensive issues are relatively speaking outperforming right now. what do you want to buy if you're convinced that we're going to go higher here through the end of this year? what will lead us higher, do you think? >> we think a lot of strength out of the emerging markets, and we've been moving money back not only into those markets directly, but the industries and sectors that benefit the most in the domestic markets. so looking for the names that have overseas exposure that may have run up a little bit on any sort of correction as they pull back, add those into portfolios where they don't already have that exposure.

>> yeah. and speaking of outperforming, jonathan, what about hewlett-packard having its best day intraday since 2001. >> it is. technology is lead being the sector here today, and when you take a step back and look at the overall sectors helping this market move higher and higher, that just adds some confidence back into this market, but i think it's more on a short-term basis. the numbers we're getting out of earnings season has added confidence here but we'll have to look at the numbers coming out next week. the initial claims and reoccurring claims will be very important because i don't think people are truly convinced that the unemployment is moving in the right direction. >> bruce, real quick. would you be putting new money to work in this market right here? >> we would drag our heels of putting money back in at this point. we think you'll get better opportunities, but against the risk of everybody looking for a correction, i don't think you wait and hold everything back for that to come about. >> all right. gentlemen, thank you all. have a good weekend.

take care. >> meanwhile, the s&p 500 in danger of posting the first weekly loss of the year. the dow could close lower for the third straight week on a weekly basis, but right now we're showing a weekly gain with the market up 106. let's get to josh lipton, a closer look at what it will take for the averages to have a winning week. >> let's take a quick check of where we stand. the dow, 13,987. now, for the blue chips to finish the week in positive territory, you have to hit 13,981. the s&p 500 at 1513. your benchmark gauge in order to finish in positive territory, you'll have to hit 1519, and finally the nasdaq at 3155. that tech-heavy gauge will have to hit 3192 in order to finish the week in positive territory. the nasdaq down about 1% on the week. maria, bill, back to you. >> all right, thank you, josh. >> gott got those numbers all written doubt. heading towards the close and here we go again. market powering higher and a gain of 106 on the dow jones

industrial average right now. >> legendary hedge fund manager stan druckenmiller issuing a dire debt warning for our country on the "closing bell" yesterday. >> if we don't deal with it in the next four or five years, the same thing is going to happen. we're going to wake up. interest rates are going to explode, and the next generation, they are going to have a very, very tough time. it's so unfair. >> we hear from one economist who says the debt doesn't matter and rick santelli will be back to chime in. the debate coming up. >> disney shares have skyrocketed since bob eager took over the company so why are they trying to strip iger of the chairmanship role in the ceo of the pension is here to explain next. >> and a look into suspicious trades, like the ones we saw right before hewlett-packard's better than expected earnings. the former s.e.c. chairman harvey pitt will join us later on the "closing bell." stay with us. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently

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system wants disney to strip iger of his chairman status and weror have two different executives. >> the ceo of calsters is here. the stake is about 5.3 million shares. we reached out to disney and they declined to comment on this issue, we should point out. mr. enos, thanks for joining us today. appreciate it. >> good to be here to talk about this important issue. >> we point out the tremendous gains the stock has seen. you know, using that as a barometer he's done pretty well as chairman and show of the company. why do you want to separate those roles for him. >> first of all, if you hadn't point it had out, i would have pointed it out because as a pension fund we made a lot of money the last years off of disney. that is a good thing and they want to recognize that very much. that isn't just to say because of that performance we anoint someone the chairmanship of the conditions and you also need to recognize when corporate

governance issues start to emerge the best time to look at those are in fact when you have time and ability to do that when the company is not under high duress, so our point of this is, and we want to talk through the issues very clearly. we want the company to stay strong and to continue to perform. we certainly don't want have -- we're concerned about what's happened the last few years financially, but governance is, in fact, a very important foundation of a company's ultimate performance long term, and we're going to be one of those long-term performers -- long-term investors like other institutional investors in this company. >> okay. >> but sir, i really -- i don't understand this. >> sure. >> because when you look at all metrics of disney, they have done extraordinarily well with bob iger at the helm. >> right. >> as chairman and as ceo. >> absolutely. >> stock up 76%. earnings soaring. the net income increasing 18% just in the last report. >> right. >> revenue increases as well.

by all accounts this company has done very well. >> absolutely. >> is this a waste of your time at a time when you actually have much bigger problems at calsters and having to foot that bill? >> i would ask the opposite saying this would be the most important time ever to make sure our portfolio is as strong as it can be and continues to perform. the idea around this, and let's go back to 2004, when i personally, along with other institutional investors, met with the board of directors of disney. we talked through the corporate governance issues with the company, and i think we reached a very good point of conferensc that it was an important chair that is not the show and that clearly was a conferensensus be institutional investors and the company. >> what would those two people have done differently and better than bob iger? look at splitting these roles up, chairman and ceo.

what would you have liked to have instead of the 76% in the gain and instead of the earnings that continued to do well. >> right. >> where are the holes? just explain what you would like to see better. >> the holes are this. corporate governance is about making sure that you have the right business structure for decision-making in the long term. so just as things did go astay in 2004, let's go back to the record, exactly, we're saying as long-term investors you want to make sure looking out that there is in fact a sound corporate governance. look, i'm the ceo of a $160 billion pension fund, and i can assure you i have very vibrant conversations with my board. now, if i was suddenly made chairman of my own board, i can tell you calsters might be the happiest place on the earth for me but not the most accountable business structure for our 850,000 members. >> i guess what we're looking for. >> it's the job of the ceo to manage the company and it's a

job of the chairman of the board to represent shareholder interests. >> right. >> that is common sense. >> i guess the question we have is specifically what's wrong at disney on the governance issue that you're looking to? for example, just jerod or a couple days ago -- we had the new york comptroller here john lew upset about jpmorgan chase chairman and ceo jamie dimon in the wake of the london whale thing, and as a result of that they want to separate chairman and ceo on that board because of that problem, so is there a problem at disney that you can point to is what we're asking that prompts this discussion? >> well, clearly there are warning signs developing around the compensation, executive compensation. if you look at the say on pay vote over the last two years, the vote was 77% that supported that, and now it's dropped to 57%. we only have about 55 companies in the entire russell 3000 that have actually had less than 50%, and this company is approaching

that strong boundary. the average vote on say and pay in america for russell 3,000 is 91%. so it isn't just calsters a voice here. you have a wide body of shareholders saying there's warning signs developing. again, you're looking back and saying, well, what could have been different the last three years? absolutely the financial performance is strong, but you want a continuing strong corporate governance structure that goes into the future so that in fact there is that continuing protection of governance. >> where's the accountability of calsters? you're deep in the red. you've got unfunded liability of how much, $64 billion? >> yes. >> okay. so there are feelings out there, you know, that this could partly be mismanagement, so who is accountable there? >> well, first of all, as you know, the reasons for all pension funds, where they are, is the last ten years of the market, and that is something

that is a long-term passive investors primarily we have to endure so absolutely calsters, like any other investors, like your personal i.r.a. and my personal ira all of us suffered those same losses, so i would argue strongly with you that is not the determinant of our financial condition. >> there are other major conditions as you well know, and you hold many of those shares as well, like exxon and ge where they have a joint/chairman ceo role. are you going after those companies as well? >> this is a fundamental principle of corporate governance. common sense, should be separation between the chairman of the board and the ceo so we're not launching a campaign against all companies, but this is a company, we have a $260 million investment in, and it has a history of some problems going back ten years around governance that were fixed, and the company has done a good job, but now you see investors asking questions about their executive

compensation, asking questions about proxy access and asking questions about that governance and frankly they can be responded to and that company can continue to be a success so that's what we'd like to see. >> you're not going to highlight apple and exxon mobile as far as making sure they also split those roles. it's interesting that you're highlighting disney and you've got these other major stakes in major companies with the same person as chairman and ceo. >> as i said to you, the particular reason here is we've had quite an involved history with diss anything, good and not so good over these corporate governance issues, and that's what we try to do. keep the company going. we've met with the company and other investors have met with the company and there is a shareholder initiative on this issue that we support. >> fur don't get victory and don't necessarily see a change in the executive suite, you're going to sell the stock? >> of course not. that's not how large

institutional investors invest their money like this. that is why we're active on this issue. if it was simply a matter of selling stock i wouldn't waste my time or yours with the conversation. the point of it is that we will be with this company for the long term, and that's when you want to make sure you're vigilant. i mean what, did we learn from the last ten years by not being vigilant to a lot of economic issues? now we're saying obviously that this is something that need strengthening again, and there needs to be a conversation with shareholders, just as the company had indicated back in 2004 if there was need for changes, and that hasn't happened. >> all right. >> do you still like having exposure to stocks the way you do in this environment. would you continue to put money the way you have into the equity market, seen, given what we've seen. >> we think the u.s. economy is showing signs and we continue to invest in the equity markets. >> thank you for your time today, sir. >> really appreciate that.

there is a debate though about whether or not splitting up the chairman and ceo role is appropriate, and there's a fair amount of people out there who say when you have one person in charge, it actually works because they are in charge of all, you know, aspects of the company and that's why the company does so well, but i can understand the other side, too. >> it works until it doesn't work. >> yeah. >> and then it's time to split it up. >> a company that blows away all expectations on disney and you question why. >> exactly. >> 40 minutes before the closing bell sounds on wall street. a market that's up 92 points on the dow. >> a 90% chance of failure, what one wall street firm is predicting for the newly launched blackberry 10, and find out if it's time to hang up on this stock after it's had a huge run-up over the past few months. >> what happens in vegas stays in vegas but that doesn't apply to rome. what happens there may hit every investor hard on monday morning. we'll tell you about that coming

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one wall street firm is throwing cold water on hopes that blackberry with complete its turnaround. se seema mody is live with more. >> reporter: mkm partners downgrading blackberry shares to sell. the analyst lowering his price target to 10 bucks a share, writing that this reflects the lower probability of success we attribute to blackberry 10 following our own testing of the z-10 and the momentum stallout in the uk after two weeks.

further concern if blackberry can really hit the ball out of the park with its line of smartphone devices. the stock is down about 6% on the week. maria, back to you. >> seema, thanks so much. was blackberry a buy on weakness, or is the new phone a disappointment? is that all she wrote for the stock. on the technical side of the story j.c. o'hara with phoenix partner group and on the fundamentals zachary karabell. good to see you both. zachary, first you and the fundamentals. what do you think of blackberry's prospects? >> the new phone may be as great as everyone says, i haven't seen it, but it is a really, really, long, hard and uncertain road for blackberry to climb to recapture a mind share and market share enthusiasm. i gave up my blackberry six months ago and got an iphone. you know, the fact is it is really rare for a company to go

down as quickly as blackberry did with basically one product, right? they did not diversify and then reverse course and go up again. people point to apple in the 1990s, but for every one of those there's a palm which, you know, we all remember and died a quick and ignominious death. >> good analysis there. j.c., what about the charts? how do they look to you? >> the charts are showing there's real indecision between the bulls and the bears. i could give you five cases for the bullish and five for the bear. the charts are at a very interesting point. looking at a longer term chart, a gigantic run up to 18 which acted as resistance and then we pulled back. we stopped on the 50-day moving average. the bulls need to vigorously defend this 50-day moving average. we've seen historically if we break to the downside the prayers will break and take over the stock. right now the shorter term trading pattern is falling into

a wedge shape and that's basically a gigantic battle between the bulls and bears right now. they are fighting for control of this stock and the two levels that i'm really watching are 13. if we break below 13, the bears have control and if you go above that, the bulls will take over. >> you haven't decided? >> i think there's a lot of burlish and bearish talk. i'll follow the break and i'll trade that. >> go ahead, zach. one of these cases where there may be a really volatile high motion trade because it's such a binary outcome, but how this stock does will depend actually on whether or not blackberry actually sells phones. short term, options window where you trade volatility, but just from a fundamental level, it's very hard to think it a this is like a long-term commitment investment given all the

negative trends for blackberry right n.o.w. now. >> we'll leave it there. gentlemen, thank you so much. see you soon. >> 30 minutes to go. what do you think? will we do it? the dow needs to be up 101 points to finish higher for the week. we're up 96 points right now. it's pretty close. >> i don't know if we're going to do it, i don't know. as we first pointed out yesterday, there was an unusual spike in hewlett-packard's shares a minute before they reported the better than expected quarter. former s.e.c. chairman harley pitt will join us. >> and danica patrick making history becoming the first woman to capture the pole at the indy 500. winning the race would seal her financial future. what exactly is at stake for danica patrick and the multi-billion sport later on the "closing bell." tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 this morning, i'm going to trade in hong kong.

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boy, a big portion of this rally today has been attributed to hewlett-packard having its best day in more than a decade after reporting that better than expected earnings last night. it's been up almost 16% today.

it's up 13 plus right now, but what's also, of course, raising eyebrows is the spike we saw in the stock and in the volume just minutes before that report was released last night. josh lipton breaks it down for us. >> hey there, bill. action in hewlett-packard. we want to highlight for viewers and that we have flagged for regulators yesterday as we headed into the close. we suddenly saw that stock pop, and that move on solid volume. volume really picking up in the final hour of trading. now, this was before hp reported quarterly earnings. jon najarian, options monster co-founder reported we saw heavy volatility in the options and then the stocks surged higher and rocketed up. the pc-maker reporting better than expected quarterly results and forecasts. najarian said somebody thought there would be a bullish report or somebody knew there would be

a bullish report. cnbc has contacted the s.e.c., alerted them to the action. their response, no comment. bill, maria, we'll keep you posted. >> all right. thank you, josh. an expert on what happens when there are suspicious market movements with us next. >> harvey pitt, the former chairman of the securities and exchange commission. mr. chairman, good to see you again. welcome back, harvey. >> thank you, good to be with you. >> what do you think? does this look fishy to you? >> well, in my experience usually people aren't lucky this way. i think it definitely looks very suspicious. >> so what happens now, harvey? i mean, when you're at the s.e.c. and they see something like this, what's the protocol? >> well, the first thing is this probably got kicked out of the s.e.c.'s market data computers that watch how the markets react and corollary market reaction to

an announcement of a transaction or event, so i would suspect that people are looking at this, and the s.e.c. staff will then go to the various brokers that executed these trades and get their information about who actually put these orders in for which the brokers executed them. >> just executing an order though, that's not illegal. you have to figure out the intent. you have to know whether they had inside information at this time. how does this work in this 21st century of ours with all the presumably great technology at your fingertips at the s.e.c.? >> the s.e.c. will probably get from hp a chronology by e-mail or electronically in which every person who knew about what was going on will be listed. they will then look at the people who are behind the trades and go to the brokers and try to

find out not just who place the the orders but who was behind the placing of the orders. there's a lot of leg work that has been down by the staff has developed a real expertise in doing this over the years so they are quite capable. where are we these days in terms of crime moving higher, trying to push the envelope and get an edge fraund lengthy? can you compare this moment in time to others? >> yes. and i think what we've seen, maria, is we've seen a move away from wall street which has learned a lot of lessons and now what we're seeing is these are either hedge funds that we've seen a lot of recently or it's corporate america. people who had access within a

corporation and abused the trust of knowing that data. >> are penalties just not strong enough? i mean, people are still doing this. you look at this story with hp. you look at the h.j. heinz story before warren buffett announced the deal, the whole thing. is the rirk osk/reward balance,n the bad guys decide to do the insider trading, is it more profitable to do it and worst the risk because the penalty is not all that strong? >> the penalties have been ratcheted up over the years, and while you can always have them stronger, i don't think the problem here is the severity of the penalties. i think it's simply in bad economic times people are looking for whatever advantages they have, and it's a triumph of hope over experience. >> wait a minute. bad economic times, i get that, but this was going on during the dotcom boom. those were great times, else

especially on wall street. >> it goes on a lot, and the only thing i can say is that there are a lot of people who believe that maybe, maybe they have come up with a way to get away with that kind of crime and eventually the government will watch up to them. it may take a while, but the government will get there. >> that's a good point you make. it may take a while. how do you feel about the s.e.c.'s resources today? we've got a new commissioner coming in likely, mary jo white, what's your take on her, and do you think that the s.e.c. has the wherewithal and the resources to actually do what needs to be done in a world where they are taking on many, many more situations with dodd/frank? they are overseeing many more institutions. do they have enough power to do so, and when i say power, i mean resources, people and know-how >> i think the new chairman when she's confirmed, mary jo white, is going to be sensational. she's smart.

she's creative. she's effective. i think she's a wonderful choice. with respect to the s.e.c.'s resources. the s.e.c. has been understaffed, undermanned for a long time, and dodd/frank has exacerbated that situation. >> i've never met a chairman or a former chairman of the s.e.c. that said, you know, we're fine. we've got enough money. >> but i think in this case they really have been really desperate for resources. >> so we hear, again. >> thanks, harvey. >> thanks, harvey, very much. >> always good to see you. in the final stretch for the week. 20 minutes before the closing bell sounds on wall street. hey, looks like we're going to do it. >> think we will? >> up about 105. >> that's to end positive for the week. we're in the green for the week right now. by the way, did you see, the dow has been positive every single friday this year so far. >> wow. fridays are good. >> this very resilient market

despite all the sky is falling warnings due to hit in a week from now. why is wall street ignoring those dire predictions? sxwlnd a huge event overseas that can impact our investments. michelle caruso-cabrera here with the latest. >> the first elections in italy since the first financial crisis. what depositly need to do in order to keep the financial system stable. the answer is live next on the le bel live from rome. 's number? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. [ male announcer ] to hold a patent

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welcome back. mary thompson is stepping in now with some breaking news on that fight between greenlight capital and apple. mary. >> reporter: that's right. it's a victory for david einhorn's greenlight capital. judge richard sullivan ruling in favor of greenlight capital. einhorn had sought to block shareholders from voting on proposal two of apple's proxy. the judge basically granting that injunction, and had a this means is that apple is blocked from allowing share holders to vote on whether or not the firm should issue preferred shares. now, for apple this shouldn't change anything because the company had no plans to issue preferred shares, something david einhorn proposed yesterday in an hour-long conference call to his investors. he wants apple to use the

preferred shares he referred to in order to unlock or distribute some of the $137 billion in cash that apple has on hand. the next date in this case is march 1st, the judge saying that at that point both parties should submit a joint letter outlining the next contemplated steps in the case as well as a joint management plan and scheduling order. back to you, maria. >> the stock has done nothing so apparently it's had no material impact. >> meanwhile, elections matter. this weekend's election in italy could have an impatient here. michelle caruso-cabrera is joins us to tell us why. >> just the stability of the european financial system. what investors need to see is a leader or leadership team that knows how important it is to right italy's finances so interest rates stay low.

if you owe a lot of money and the interest you have to pay on it starts to rise a lot, it gets a lot harder to pay it back. if you look at italy's interest rates over the last week and last couple of weeks, they have started to rise because investors are nervous that the outcome of this election might be very unclear. let's show you the four candidates and what investors are hoping for. left to right, hoping that the candidate on the left, luigi brusani, appears to be in the lead, comes out number one as the polls suggest. he doesn't have enough to control the entire government so investors are hoping he might form a coalition with the man on the far right, mario monti who is the current prime minister, not elected, a technocrat and has done a lot to try to improve italy's finances. the problem is that may not happen because you have two disrupters. silvio berlusconi, the former prime minister, three times now making an incredible comeback, despite all kinds of issues with the law, and also a comedian who

has also suddenly skyrocketed into the polls, really capitalizing on all the discontent here in the italian so seat because they are angry abo about. >> wow, what a story. talk about a comeback. silvio berlusconi. >> back again. >> thanks, michelle. >> up against a comedian. >> when in rom. all right. >> there are so many things we were saying but we won't get to them right now, but we are watching this market very carefully. 15 minutes left. the dow up 106 points. if we were to close there we'd be positive for the week, and we certainly weren't thinking that was going to happen. >> i don't know if you want to answer this question, bill, but has the fed been holding this market back? sounds a little nuts, but our next guest says reducing economic stimulus could spark a bigger and a stronger rally. >> wow, can't wait to hear that

reasoning and canada's ambassador to the u.s. is blasting the media for biased reporting on the long-delayed keystone pipeline as gas prices soar. of course, this issue takes center stage, and he'll be here later to defend his position later on the "closing bell."

welcome back. the conventional wisdom is that this market has been artificially propped up but our next guest says the market doesn't need the fed right now, is that what you're saying? >> definitely had an influence up to this point. i think the marginal small returns going forward is actually going to hurt it. it carried it and helped and now it's time to take off the training wheels and let the economy. >> what did you make of the selloff we saw the last two days that occurred precisely after the fed's minutes came out suggesting that they were thinking about reducing the quantitative easing? sdmt market has to adjust to the reality which means they don't need that going forward but thinking about two, three years down the road.

if the fed starts to raise interest rates which is the right reason, economy is getting better and inflation is contained that's a god point for equities. >> there's so much debate about the downside risks of the fed and the potential for unflakes. what do you think. andres is right on when he says this market is being propped up about the the fed, but now should they be stepping out of the way? would that be a positive? >> it's a sign of health, a sign that the patient is able to walk out of the helicopter without -- europe came in with bad pmi minutes. china and we had the pmi numbers in the states. they have not come in good. now the last three, quester

risk, you and maria have been talking about. gasoline prices are up 50 penalty, 47 cents in the last month, and finally the -- the gasoline prices. >> i knew you were going to forget number seven. it's in there somewhere, david. >> the sequester, gasoline prices and payroll taxes going up. >> the tax thing. >> you threw me off. >> you're talking about the challenges, so you think the market gets through all of this. >> market has acquitted itself well. it will be eight weeks in a row and that was a negative the market had run too far too fast, and if this market turns like this, that's a good sign. >> aren't we due for a correction at some point? >> i think at some point you're due for a correction. i always worry when markets go up in a straight line, either downside or the upside, not too good. some of this is probably healthy but for long-term investors equity is still the unit.

>> a's earning, they will raise the dividend, the china mobile contract possibility, the low-priced iphones. pie some apple. it's come down, 13 to 15%. >> and right now the stock is trading and it's up not even 1%. as bill mentioned earlier, hasn't really done anything. how much do you want to be exposed? >> drug stocks, maria, johnson, pfizer, abbott, buy those stocks, up 9%, 10%. they are leading the market. defenses, a sign of looking for yield. >> would you take financials then if you think that the fed when they reduce quantitative easing presumably rates go up and that could be good for the financials. >> also on the back of housinging right, if housing prices continue to go up higher, it helps lending as well as prices and overall the wealth effect starts to take concern.

>> will we sit with unemployment at a high number and a jobs number comes out nextied. next friday is st. frances day and we want to danica patrick a very fast finish in the daytona 500. >> more on that coming up on danica patrick. you mentioned earlier this industry overall is like so popular, and so i think people will love what we've got coming up on that. in addition to the apple meeting, you also have the gdp report out next week. last time we saw a contraction. we'll see if that actually goes positive or goes contraction again. >> buy japan on a hedge basis. >> the entire company. >> we're going back with the clothing countdown for thisied. millions. americans have an error in their yesterday report and worse than

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