psa. see your doctor, and for a 30-day free trial, go to axiron.com. a a canceled tv show with a big cult following is coming now to the big screen thanks to its generous and clearly die-hard fans. julia boorstin, to me, with all the problems this country is facing, this is kind of a baffling story. >> oh, brian, you make fun of it, but this is great for hollywood. this is the first time the studio has been able to actually charge big fans nor see a film, and it's all about leveraging the power of crowd funding. about 45,000 fans of "veronica mars" are putting in more than $2.7 million to turn the old tv show into a movie. in less than 24 hours, "veronica mars" creator rob thomas and actress kristen bell reached their goal on kickstarter, a new record. warner brothers agreed to do the

film if it could demonstrate sufficient crowd interest. and they're not doing it for a return, they're doing it for the content. a $10 pledge by the pdf of the script the day the movie is released plus e-mail updates on the shoot. $35 buys a digital version of the movie plus a t-shirt. 100 people paid $500 for kristen bell to record a voice mail message for them and another 100 people spent $1,000 for tickets to the movie premiere and after-party. one devoted fan pledged $10,000 for a speaking role in the film. this is certainly a big win for warner brothers. it's effectively free financing plus the promise of a truly devoted fan base. brian, we'll have to see if other studios take a lesson from this and try to find out ways to profit from the power of crowd funding. >> julia boorstin, maybe you sold me. we'll find out. thank you very much. as we wrap it up here, 115 s&p 500 companies are trading at

new 32-week highs. that's about 23% of the index. 52 of those are at all-time highs and we've got an hour left of trading, 1565 is your big number, all-time closing high, s&p 500. hope y'all have a wonderful day, "closing bell" is next. take care. hi, everybody. good afternoon. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. the historic lunge for stocks continues. >> this time it might not be a nail biter for the dow, but we are solidly higher as we enter the final hour of trading. this would be ten straight up sessions, eight consecutive all-time highs for the dow jones industrial average. just incredible. >> it could be a photo finish this time for the s&p 500. that index now knocking on the door of its all-time closing high. that high is 1,565.15. will it happen before the bell?

we are on it as we are watching as history may be unfolding on the stock market on a few different levels. we'll tell you. all right. another day of huge interviews here on the "closing bell." we have treasury secretary, jack lew, in his first sit-down since taking the post. and the chairman and ceo of i.c.e., the intercontinental exchange is here. if all goes as planned, jeff spreker's firm will soon earn this place here, being the new york stock exchange, and he has some very interesting things to say about this rally, of course, as does jack lew. >> that's pretty amazing. spreker took his company public in 2005. it if goes as planned, he'll take that company to a $20 billion firm. let's show you the markets. up 62 points on the dow jones industrial average, sitting at 14,517. nasdaq composite also higher, up about ten points on the nasdaq.

take a look. technology mixed to higher, at 3,254. and the nasdaq higher at 1,650. >> much to talk about. watching for the s&p all-time high. the dow's winning streak still in place at this point. let's talk about in it our closing bell exchange. >> to heather hughes we go. also with us is cnbc contributor greg ip and rick santelli. heather, let me kick it off with you. what are you seeing in this market? cous does it surprise you that we continue to hit all these new highs and do you think it's warranted? >> maria, thank you for having me. there are three quick reasons i think that investors are still flooding cash into these markets, is that, number one, valuations are still compelling. p.e. ratios are low. number two, there's a lot of cash still sitting on the sidelines. the bursting of that old bond bubble may finally happen. and number three, the fed is

still easing, as we all know. so those are some positives to look at, going forward. >> speaking of the fed, mr. ip, the always analytical greg ip. there your standpoint, economically speaking, the lack of negatives is a positive right now, isn't it? >> oh, absolutely, bill. it's all about the dog that didn't bark. we had a huge tax increase on january 1st of this year. here we are, more than two months into the year, and we have yet to see any sign that that tax increase has had a material impact on the consumer. retail sales coming in for february, stronger than expected. today's jobless claims number suggesting that hiring is actually doing better than people expected. so you're seeing two things. number one, people growing more confident in their numbers for 2013, and a couple of people actually raising their numbers. barclays, for example, now looking at 2.5% growth in the first quarter, up from 1.9%. so you have a little bit of positive activity. >> we're going to hear from jeff

spreker in a moment. he said his exchanging the new york stock exchange is basically making a bet that q3 is going to end. because he's expecting a lot of action around interest rate-related products. when would you expect qe3 to wind down? >> right now, most people are expecting it to wind down around the end of the year. and i think that's a pretty good call for two reasons. number one, we haven't hit the trigger point yet where the fed says enough is enough. but i think we could hit it in six to seven months. plus, the very fact that the stock market is the doing so well today, risk assets are doing so well, is making a couple folks at the fed antsy that there's a bit too much reaching for yield going on, and that will start to raise objections within the fed about continuing. >> yeah, that strength in the equity markets, michael guyed, you were famously calling for a correction, now you're on board. >> we went from sucking wind in february to the market getting its second wind. our models flipped last friday at the very last moment, given

inter-market improvement. now, i think what's interesting here is in terms of our own inflation rotation report, we're getting farther away from another bump bonds. the most bullish thing from a technical basis would be if emerging markets come from deeply oversold levels to lift global risk on sentiment. we've had this juncture where basically qe countries have completely decoupled from every other country equity market. if you see that contraction start in the second quarter, i think that's a very healthy sign. >> that is very interesting to note. that emerging markets, they are undervalued, compared to the s&p. and i think it's key, you're right, that can we stay decoupled from, say, the big elephant in the room, china. i'm not sure, going forward. if so, if china or europe begins to play a role in the headlines again going forward, then we definitely, perhaps, will see some sort of pullback. and that's completely healthy. >> rick, jump in here. let's talk about the 30-year

bond option. a little soft today? what do you know? what was behind that? >> yes, it was. and i just find it so fascinating that 80% of the discussion about stocks is how the fed's programs are boosting the price. but when it comes to the actual area that the boost is coming from, buybacks and quantitative easing, where the fed now owns arguably 20% of the treasury market, there's still a lot of anxiety, when you get up to these resistance levels of significance. 3.25 in the long bond. that was the kiss of death. so can the treasury market truly reflect what is perceived to be a good or bettering economy, or is it just the fed. remember, 20 years ago on that chart that i'm showing, in '94, when the fed had its tightening cycle, that was the last time we saw 8% in the 30-year. what would stocks do today if you saw 8%? it would be, what, about $500 to

$ $ 700 billion. >> the fear is when the fed does start to pull back on quantitative easing, we'll get a spike in rates and the stock market will fall, unless they come up with a way to ease this out, some kind of exit strategy. what do you sense they're going to work on? >> i'm going to shock you today and actually agree with ric santelli on something, which is i think that there's way too much attention to the fed in terms of trying to explain this rally. to me, the most interesting story of the last two or three months is how policy, whether it's monetary policy or fiscal policy here in washington, is receding, that's a big story. now, tomorrow on the cover of our magazine, "the economist," we have a story called the "the america that works." and i think the theme that comes through in a lot of our reporting is just how well the private sector is doing, in spite of all the shenanigans that are going on in washington. that's why you're seeing earnings holding up. it's why you're seeing private employment continuing to gather

steam, even as public employment drops out. i guess i'm just not as worried about some folks about the day that arrives that the fed takes its foot off the accelerator. >> but you said we'll probably start unwinding this at the end of this year. does this give a disruption in stocks, because right now they're sort of the only game in town for any kind of return is stocks. do you think we see a disruption in stocks when the market starts realizing the fed is going to ease it up? >> if you look back to the 1960s to the '90s, we were highly correlated to that money supply and the easy money. for example, in the 1970s, the average stock market return at the end of the year was 70% correlated to the money supply. in '09 and 2012, we've seen withdraw from that money supply, yet the markets continue to rally. so greg brings up a good point, that if the fed starts to

normalize, we may still be able to rally without that easing. >> thank you all for your thoughts today as we head into this final hour of trading. good to see you. take care. well, the s&p 500, tantalizingly closer to its all-time closing high level. josh lipton has more on that. about four or five points away. >> green across the screen today. major averages rising in today's session. the dow poised to extend its winning streak here to ten days. that would be the longest winning streak since november 1996. if we get another update tomorrow, by the way, that would take us all the way back to 1992. but, of course, all eyes on the s&p 500. your benchmark gauge hit a new five-year high today. remember, the all-time closing record of 1665. so points away as we head towards the closing bell. maria, back to you. >> points away, josh, let's see, we are right now at 1561.23. we've got 50 minutes before the

closing bell sounds and this, a rally rocks on. remember, as josh just told us, we need to close up more than ten points, 1063 for an all-time high ton s&p 500. >> we have it all written down there. up next, jeff sprecher, ceo of intercontinental exchange tells us what he thinks will happen with stocks when the fed starts to pull in on the liquidity. >> have you take a look at amazon? down 3%. the worst trading day in more than a month thanks to a jpmorgan downgrade. you were warned about this stock on the program last month. we'll update you on that and find out who thinks today's decline actually is a buying opportunity. then, our steve liesman interviews the new treasury secretary, jack lew, is practicing his signature right now for the dollar bill. it's the only interview with mr. lew that you will need to hear. steve covers it. that's coming up right here on "closing bell" at 4:15 eastern time. stay tuned.

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welcome welcome back. so, the dow is on track to close at yet another record high. all we need is a positive close

there. it's the s&p we're watching there, getting ever-closer to its own all-time high. we are about four points away. bob pisani, how are changes looking in this rally right now? >> i think the amazing thing, and you're going to talk to jeff sprecher, maria, in a couple of minutes. i want to point out the exchanges are all hitting new highs today. the volume has been light. i.c.e., new high. i think people are starting to understand the synergies there. cboe, that's a new high. they locked up the s&p options contract for at 14 years. they just announced that. that's a big steal. but nasdaq's at a new high as well, cme, chicago merck, also at a new high. virtually all of them. but on stocks, the volumes keep dropping, and that's the primary driver that we're looking at here. so here's your average daily volume, so far. 6.4 billion, for the first quarter of 2013.

last period, 6.8 billion. and first quarter of 2012 was lower than the first quarter of 2011. finally, that s&p 500, i want to point out, there's your 12-year chart. this is a triple top. 1565 would be a new historic closing high for the s&p. but we were here in 2007, a little bit below that, and also right near it as well in 1999/2000. guys, back to you. >> thank you so much, bob. and our next guest is still grabbing headlines with his acquisition of the new york stock exchange. here's my interview with jeff sprecher, th then in charge at the intercontinental exchange. we spoke yesterday at the conference down in boca raton, where we kicked off our conversation about what we should expect when this acquisition is finally closed. let's talk about the nycu, your next deal.

what can you tell us about where you are, when you expect it to close, and what are your new opportunities? >> we announced a close before the holidays. the anti-trust regulator has already approved the deal. we're now moving our attention to europe. there's a lot of independent regulators in europe we're working, and the last piece of that will be to apply for european anti-trust approval, which we hope will be done in the third quarter of this year. >> now, there are, what, four exchanges in europe -- >> there are four on continental europe. and one in london. >> so in total, five other exchanges in part of this. you want to spin those out into one company. tell me how you're envisioning this. >> we had this view if you look at europe right now, you see the banking system coming together. you see the european central bank really taking a center role, beyond what it had done in the past. and our view is that the exchanges have to find a way to deal with all of continental europe. you have individual exchanges there in every country, four of

which we have on the continent. and our view is that those exchanges need to find a way, with their colleagues, to have a federation or organize for cross-border trading in a way that the banking system and the regulatory system is going to demand. we felt the best way to do that was to organize them as a continental entity, put european management in place, and give them their own capital by listing the company on a continental stock market. that way, they can do joint ventures, they can do acquisitions, they can do deals. whatever it will take to help really organize through the continental europe. >> so in just over a decade, you have completely changed, transformed an oil exchange in london to the world's second largest futures market by volume, once this deal passes. it's pretty extraordinary, what you've done. you started your company in the year 2000? >> in 2000. >> took it public in 2005. >> correct. if you think about what was going on in year 2000, it was

the year that you and i and most people adopted the internet. and we had the great fortune of starting an exchange in the internet era. adopted online trading, adopted access through browsers, and historically, in the commodity space, you had the big exchanges with people in the funny jackets that were flashing hand signals. it was that technology shift that allowed us to grow very, very quickly. >> let me ask you about volume. obviously, for a long time, given your focus was the commodity side of the business, i've heard you talk about the equities business, just being not a good business. what happened to the equities business, over the decade? >> you know, people wanted more competition. i go back in my mind to say the exchanges themselves were probably not serving the broader public. there were people that felt advantaged and disadvantaged, and as a result, lobbied government to change regulation. to create more competition. and that, you can understand, it was a good thing. but some of those regulatory changes have really led to

dramatic fragmentation. with the competition now has come a market that is so fragmented that it's unstable. and that's what we saw in the flash crash. every day, you can see stocks that trade in bizarre ways and there are now better regulations and systems to stop that. but we haven't actually prevented it. and so, we need to bring the pendulum back and get rid of the fragmentation, get all the market participants thinking about how we can better serve the next wave of entrepreneurs that want to raise capital. and large corporations that want to issue equity and debt to fund their businesses. and take away some of the risk in the markets. >> you told me, this is in some ways a bet on the end of qe3. >> it is. >> let me ask you about that. because the fed has been there, really driving this market. so you think quantitative easing, at some point, obviously, goes away. but your deal is partly a bet on qe3 going away.

>> it is. because ice is really a commodities business, oil and agriculture, which has been growing because of global change/demand by emerging countries and the like. the interest rate business is very much driven by central bank policy. so i think it's at a low. it's hard to think about our interest rates, you know, much lower than they are today, close to zero, around the world, or around the western world. and so the neat thing about this deal is that duncan nniederauer and i are going to work together to decrease distribution, and during that period, we're hoping that we'll start to see some interstate change. we don't have to see them go up, but we need the market's prediction that they are likely the to go up. and we see that now. i mean, we all focus in the u.s. on the fed minutes. we're reading every word, you know, and looking for nuance and

shape as to what's going on inside the u.s. bet. the smallest little glimmer of what they may do has driven huge interest rate volume trades around the world. so it looks like it's right for a lot of increased activity. it's just going to be, when can we get those signals? >> given this run-up that we're seeing in stock prices, are you seeing a rotation out of fixed income? everybody's talking about this great rotation, but then there's an argument that's been made that this new money is coming from cash. so is it coming from cash or is it coming from bonds? >> you know, i only have limited visibility, but what we've seen is that it's not a rotation yet. it doesn't mean there won't be one. right now there's a lot of money sitting on the sidelines. as a public company, we've been thrilled to watch just our own stock price performance, as well as the pieers that i follow in y industry, but it doesn't really seem to be coming out of the fixed rate markets. trading going on right now on

interstate exchanges, in places where people hedge fixed rate is up as well. so it does appear to be new money. >> jeff sprecher, ceo of ice, who's buying the new york stock exchange. heading towards the close, about 40 minutes left in the trading session, the dow is up 64. that record rally continues there. it's the s&p we're watching, which right now is about four points away from its all-time closing high. >> that's amazing, ron. when the markets were beginning this historic run last month, famed mutual fund manager bob olstein was warning on this program about one very big stock. >> amazon is a -- has a business model that's great for customers, it's great for its executive, but investors are generating no free cash flow. their business model is to sell goods a little above cost and their earnings are wiped out. >> and now others are taking notice. jpmorgan downgraded amazon today. the stock feeling it. the trade, next. >> we'll look at that very

carefully. also, the nation's largest banks are about to find out if the fed will approve their plans for dividends and buybacks. shelia bair reacts to that as soon as it comes out. [ male announcer ] i've seen incredible things.

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1561 is the last trade on the standard & poor's. the all-time high at 1565.15. amazing run so far for the s&p and the dow industrials, which today is on track for another all-time high, bill. >> yes, indeed. >> one of the biggest banks downgrading one of the hottest stocks. shares of amazon losing almost 3% on an otherwise up day today, after jpmorgan lowered its rating on the internet rating from neutral to overweight. the move cited growth concerns, something we were warned about on this program nearly a month ago. still, amazon stock is up roughly 50% in the last year. so should you buy on today's weakness or stay away? let's talk amazon in talking numbers today. on the technical side, it's ennis tanner and on the fundamental side, joe greco on the floor of the new york stock exchange with meridian equity partners. joe, let's do the fundamental side first. do you share jpmorgan's concerns right now about amazon?

>> let's be clear, first things first, the analyst there did not go to sell, just went to neutral. the stock has had a great run, as you said, and it's still near all-time highs and they only lowered the price target to 300, but fundamentally, this stock is still sound. >> so you like it? >> i do. i would be a buyer. >> i agree with mr. olstein in the sense that amazon, to me, the the best not for profit company in the world. but it doesn't make a profit. >> ouch. >> and having said that, though, the stock has appreciated for years now, despite the fact that it hasn't made a profit. that's where the charts important. and we're starting to see signs of weakness. amazon broke out above its september 2012 high in january, but it had a failed break out. it actually came back below that breakout level, which to me signals relative weakness in this market. on the long-term chart, if we look at a five-year chart, you can see the strong up trend over time, and that's still in tact, but trend line support doesn't

come until 225. i think amazon is very vulnerable to a 10% to 15% pullback. >> what do you think, joe? you know your way around charts. >> i do. but net income rep bounded very nicely. you know, poor numbers in september, horrible loss, real strong here this last go around. book value and price to book, both increasing incrementally. very nice, very strong story for the stock. still a lot of room to the up side on most of the street's price targets. >> the trends are in the right direction. the problem is the absolute level of these ratios are way too high. the earnings projection for this year is $3 a share. the stock's trading at 260. even if you go out three, four years, it still looks expensive to me. >> so let's jump in, as a trader looking at a motion, the consumer has two things in its benefit. one, it seems like there's an endless amount of change in the sofa cushions that they keep finding and they keep going out to the stores to shop. they don't have to go out. amazon brings it right to them.

and then the second one is the magic hat of credit. the debt that's increasing, the household debt that's increasing gives them the ability to go out and shop. so i think those two things bolster a little bit. and one final i'm going to throw in. if you go back and look at the middle month activity, the middle of every single month back since last june, you've seen a sharp drop in the stock, followed by an immediate spike up in the price action. i think, if i had to go on a trend, nine months in a row, the next month, right now, we're going to see that there's actually a pop in the stock price a month ahead of earnings. >> amazon is a fantastic company. i think it's a terrible stock to own. >> there you are. very concise. thanks, guys. good to see you both. appreciate your thoughts on amazon today. samsung, by the way, just hours away from releasing its highly anticipated galaxy siv fanfa

fanfare. seema mody takes a look at what it means for samsung and apple. >> they do have a buy rating on shares of apple. now, if there is one feature that will get the crowd excited about the siv, analysts at forrester research says it will be on the software side, not on the hardware side. perhaps something around eye scrolling or a new touch interface. now, none of that is confirmed. that is just speculation. there is no way to play the samsung stock. it is not an ad-r. but if you are looking at ways to play this stock or a story, william plair says look at the semiconductor players. qualcomm would likely be a key component player to samsung's galaxy siv. qualcomm shares have had a pretty nice run this year, up about 8%, outperforming the s&p tech sector. back over to you. >> seema, thank you so much. hey, bill -- >> yes, maria.

>> how would you like to be the computer and peripherals industry year-to-date? >> well, probably wouldn't want to be, right? >> no, you don't want to be. they are down 11.5% year-to-date -- >> even as the market sets records. >> they're down 11.5%. metals and mining down 7% as well. so stnzn't beit hasn't been acr board. >> what's the best performing sector? >> real estate management and development, 27.5% higher year-to-date, from rich peterson. >> mr. statistics there from rich. thank you, much. heading towards the close, 30 minutes to go. going to be a record, looks like, unless we get a sharp sell-off before the close. the dow is up 60 points, any positive close is a record. the s&p, still about four points away from the an all-time high. and ibm hitting an all-time high today. up next, top executive will explain why this might be worth billions to ibm. then, steve liesman goes one on one with our new treasury secretary, jack lew, in an interview you'll only see right

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welcome back. ibm hitting an all-time high today, proving to investors the 102-year-old company is still spry, as it continues to open new business channels, such as working with business institutions. this week, ibm signed a deal with mexican bank for $1 million to overhaul customer service and back office operations. >> part of the deal where they're reinventing themselves again. joining us to discuss this new venture, bridget, senior vice president of global business services at ibm. and we back you to the new york stock exchange. as your ceo said recently, you know, data is -- should be considered a natural resource. and that's sort of the basis of this new venture by ibm, right? >> correct. we are basically bringing analytics and data and research to ceos. so for the first time, ceos will have r&d that they can use around analytics for their organizations. >> that they didn't generate themselves. >> and the way we're doing that is by fusing massive research

capability together with our business consultants, without the industry and the business consulting skills, in order to bring this research into real top practices. >> so how do you do it? what's the practical work here? i mean, data, nothing is going as fast as data that needs to be organized, secured. what is the value brought to this mexican bank? >> yeah. so the value of the mexican bank, you can think about around a couple of key dimensions. and actually, they're analogous to what we're going to be focusing on in this customer experience lab. the first thing we're focused on is big data. how do you classify all the data that you have. the data that the organization earns, but the data it doesn't earn. how do you utilize that to get greater insight to your clients? and how do you deepen the personalization around your clients. so buenorte is trying to segment around individuals. and finally, how do you think about engaging your own

employees with that particular insight? so how do you get your employees to act and behave in a way which makes your clients. >> so you're incorporating things that ceos have to be mindful of these day s includin social media. that's all part of this lab, right? >> correct. and what we're seeing, and part of the aim of this lab is we are seeing a shift of technology into the world of what we call front office. so technology used to be back office automation. and as the data proliferates, we're seeing that every profession, chief marketing officer, sales officers, are all doing their jobs with data. so we're helping them, essentially, engage with their constituents, employees or customers and serve their markets better. so we're seeing a shift of technology into the front office and aiming at that. >> how do you stay as a leader here? big data is a buzz word we hear all the time. a lot of people recognize this opportunity. why would a company choose ibm

over another, given the fact that everybody wants all these big data opportunities? >> right. so we believe this fusion of skills between research, which is very forward thinking, analytical, predictive, with business consultants, who help you manage change, drive delivery, and drive programs, that you can get things done, we believe this fusion is very unique and distinctive, very different, and that this new era requires quick experimentation, because clients have got to move very fast with these new capabilities they're putting forward. so what we are doing is helping clients speed and we're also, for the first time, scaling research. we do lots of projects with clients with using research, but this allows us to scale it around the world. >> before we let you go, let me ask you a personal question. as a woman in corporate america at the level of leadership you're in right now, what do you think of sheryl sandberg's view that women are being held back by a multitude of things, as she begins in lean in program here? >> well, at ibm and, personally, we are very focused on diversity

and supporting the advancement of women in all sorts of minorities. it's very important to us. and we've got a long history of doing this. and we take the view that we support women's development very strongly. we've got a very strong track record around it. >> but she said the woman's movement is stalled. >> i think that the woman's movement is working really hard and, you know, there's lots of new evidence in the world around us that women are moving. >> that it's not stalled. >> did the culture change when miss romney became the ceo at ibm? >> our focus has always been execution focused. we try to be clear and try to be execution focused. and i think that has carried on with equal intensity. >> good to have you on the program. >> thank you for having me. >> we'll be watching that big data. >> thank you. >> the dow industrials set to close at a new all-time high

today. the s&p 500, just now over three points away from its own closing high. >> yes, indeed. the dow on the verge of a ten-day winning streak. the s&p, just points away from a new high. market history continues to be made here on wall street. we'll take you through the final few minutes here. so as betty davis famously said, buckle up. >> buckle up! and then the big banks just minutes away from learning whether the fed will approve their capital plans, allow them to raise dividends and buy back stocks. we'll have the report the moment it's released and exclusive reaction from former fdic chairman shelia bair. this could be big-time market-moving news. stay with us for that info off fed. my mother made the best toffee in the world.

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it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. will we or won't we. s&p 500 closed at a new high today. we are just a couple points away. josh lipton watching the market like a hawk. >> maria, another day of green arrows. the dow set to extend its winning streak to ten days. that would be the longest winning streak for the blue chips since november 1996. as for the s&p 500, it hit a new five-year high today. the all-time closing record for the benchmark gauge, 1565. so we're right there. as for some individual movers in today's session, a few names to highlight. in the dow, leaders included

hewlett-packard, now up some 50% so far this year. ibm also gaining in today's session. big blue hitting a record intraday high. coke also edging higher. analysts at clsa raising that stock to outperform. as for the s&p 500, leaders included names like wpx energy, chesapeake energy, and pulte, which has rocketed up. laggards today, e*trade dropping hard, cliff natural resources, and intuitive surgical. also amazon, cutting amazon to neutral and taking down their price target to 300 bucks. finally, the nasdaq. notable movers there included sears, which enjoyed a nice pop. oracle and jds uniphase also higher today. bi bill, back to you. >> we're keeping an eye on those green arrows. we have about 15 minutes left. the dow gaining 75 points.

this is the second best rally of the year for the dow right here. and the s&p, just a couple points away right now. >> skperand everybody's wonderi there's this great rotation going on. is there any real signs or evidence that investors are moving money out of stocks into bonds. kathy jones is here next to weigh in. and next, this historic rally is widening the nation's wealth gap. we're not talking about the gap between rich and poor. why millionaires are distancing themselves from the merely affluent, because millionaires are in the market and the others are not in it. that's later on the "closing bell."

well, there's another reason we've got the s&p very close to an all-time high. the closing high is 1565.15, and we're now a point and change away from that. we need to be up 10.63 points to reach that number and we're up 8.5 right now. there's another reason we've got green today. they're commemorating the st. patrick's day parade. so you're going to be hearing the bagpipes. we'll have a little musical accompaniment here on the floor of the new york stock exchange while we are talking today. >> what did you say earlier?

buckle up! the s&p 500, just two points away from its closing high. our next guest says even though investors are moving cash into stocks, don't expect a big move out of bonds this year. >> joining us -- let's do it this way, we'll call you kathy o'jones of charles schwab joining us to make her case, and jim swanson who says this market rally still has some room to run. you know, we've been making much lately, jim, of how the market just goes up maybe 20 points a day. we hit singles. today we're hitting a double or a triple with this rally. even on the tenth day of the gains here. what's going on? >> its fundamentals that are still supporting this market tremendously. good balance sheets, high cash flow, margins are still running abnormally high. these companies are doing a pretty good job out there. >> there's a point to this market. we are just about at the highs of the day. we are off 81 a few minutes ago. just below the highs of the day now.

kathy, we basically say, this is money coming from cash, from pension funds, not from bonds. you're not seeing that great rotation that everyone's talking about. >> right. we've heard a lot about it, but on the retail side, money is coming out of cash, not out of bonds. and we're also seeing within the fixed income area, what we're calling a duration rotation. so instead of coming out of bonds and going into stocks, people are moving down in duration. >> but do you think that shows that we've got all this potential, that once they do start moving money out of bonds into stocks, that gives equities a whole another leg up. or you don't think they're going to touch their money in bonds? >> i think they have a lot of good reasons to stay allocated to bonds. we're not looking at over allocation. when you look at the broad household numbers, people aren't over bonds in their portfolios and people are getting older, and the demographic trend is to have -- >> if we start having more losses in the bond market, i think you will see bond money. >> they're losing money in the bond. >> if they move down in duration, that i have already

been aware that there's some risk and that their managing that risk, we think, intelligently. >> you have to believe, at some point, we're going to see a correction of some kind. >> usually do. >> wii two points away from the all-time high in the s&p. could that be a trigger point for people to get out? >> i wouldn't, because there's so much cash on the sidelines, that money is going to be funneled back in. i wouldn't wait for that correction to get back in this time. there's so many people offsides on this market rally, that they're just waiting, and at a 2% down market, they'll be back in. >> what are you buying? >> i like american big cap stocks. i think they're very interested. and sectors, very interested in tech and health care. >> rob said to me yesterday, maria, so what, let's say it's a 10% correction, then a $20 stock goes to $18 and i'm expecting it to go to $30 over the long-term. so he's still bullish on this market because of the fundamentals, like you say. how does an appropriate portfolio look like today in your view? i know you have to think of a lot of things, risk tolerance,

age, but, you know, bonds and stocks, what does it look like? >> you know, maybe instead of the traditional 60/40, you'll have something else, like some alternatives or some other sources. we think you have to look at it sort of holistically when you're lacking at income from your portfolio. you'll get some from dividend paying stocks, get some from bonds. there are other places to get the income. but we don't want people to rush from one sector to another, from one asset to another. that's what got them into trouble last time. >> and i think growth is cheap. i'm looking at growth. >> growth is cheap, by the pe. >> yes. >> 14, 15? >> and typically market peaks, we get up to 18, 19. >> growth represents value to you, huh? >> yeah. >> dot-com, pe, built 27 in the '90s. we're up 14, 16. >> thank you both. >> we'll be back. we've got the closing countdown. could we hit that all-time high? we'll find out. and future earnings coming your way. first, steve liesman going one on one with new treasury

secretary jack lew. that's ahead, 4:15 eastern time. and former fdic chairman shelia bair will react to the federal reserve's decision on whether to improve the plans by the big banks to raise dividends, buy back stock, we're going to get the capital plans, coming up. you're watching the "closing bell" on cnbc. >> buckle up! >> buckle up, bill! [ male announcer ] the lexus command performance sales event has begun. ♪ featuring the powerful gs. ♪ just when you thought you had experienced performance

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mark here. and this is a market that just doesn't want to give up here. we had the buy-in balances, tremendous buy pressure going into the close here. and let's not forget, tomorrow is an expiration day. so we might see some volatility. and i would think you're going to see some indices that gravitate towards zeros, numbers that end in zero and five. that's where a lot of the options trade, the futures trade at that point. so, right now, let's look at this here. any positive close for the dow, that's a new record. and that looks like it's going to happen. i'll go out on a limb with three minutes to go and say it's going to happen. >> i think you're safe there, bill. >> but the s&p needs to be 1565.15 for an all-time closing high, so we're about 2.5 points away from that. nasdaq, that's not going to happen anytime soon. >> 5,000 was the all-time high on that one. warren myers, do you just stay with this? >> there was stop for sale, so five minutes before the

deadline, and all of a sudden, now we've got more than $1 billion -- >> and again, that was fun money coming in for the end of the day and rebalancing and all of that. >> and that's happening, lately. >> it just shows you that there's more and more, i think, average investor money coming into the equity market. and that's just been pushing this momentum that we've been seeing over the last month or so and just continuing this trend straight upwards. >> let me ask you about financials. we'll get the capital allocation plans from the federal reserve in about half an hour. we'll know if a lot of these big banks will be able to pay increased dividends. do you think this will be a market mover for some of the banks tomorrow? >> i think only if there are a handf fuful or a couple of nega surprises. >> i'm hearing that things are a little more conservative for the banks. they're not necessarily going to be raising dividends across the board, because the fed has been so conservative. so i wonder if it's going to be a negative, is really where i'm getting at. >> the thing i'm focusing on now, something you mentioned, i haven't heard much talk about is the expiration tomorrow. i think that's really a part of this push-up, or the strength that we've seen. t