bringing the power of investments to people's lives. invested in the world. bny mellon. hi, everybody. happy tuesday. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. this market has moved to the upside once again this afternoon. >> i'm bill griffeth. now, if it's tuesday -- >> we should have expected it. >> if it's tuesday, what does it mean, maria? >> rally day! >> 19 consecutive tuesdays we've been trading -- i have traders coming up to me, reminding me of that. we go back to january the 15th. i was tweeting earlier that this has become the joe dimaggio stock market. i mean, he had 56 consecutive games where he hit safely. the dow up 19 consecutive tuesdays.

i have no idea what it means, but it is significant. >> it's interesting. a couple big stories of the day, a win-win for jpmorgan's jamie dimon today, but what about apple's tim cook. jamie dimon retains his ceo and har chairman roles, in a vote that was not so close. and apple faces senators about legally avoiding billions of dollars in taxes in a very creative way. >> and after yesterday's devastating, tragic tornados in oklahoma, at this hour, we now have a new set of tornado watches in the dallas, texas, area. we'll be monitoring that throughout our program today. >> what an unbelievable event. let's check the markets as we approach this final stretch. meanwhile, the dow jones industrial average, just shy of the high of the day. we had been up at 99 points earlier. the dow now up about 76 as we approach this final stretch at 15,411. nasdaq and s&p 500 also higher, but they are off of the better levels of the afternoon. nasdaq showing a gain of 9.33

points, and the s&p 500 off the better levels of the afternoon for the standard & poor's. the dow trying for an astounding 19th day of gains on a tuesday. >> and my friend adrian miller called this a one-two punch from federal reserve officials. the dow jones industrial meandering around for a good part of the day, and we had mr. bullard on from the st. louis fed speaking. 1:00, we had mr. dudley from the new york federal reserve speaking. and basically, they're not so sure they're going to be tightening anytime soon. mr. dudley said he might enthere's the pace of bond purchases up or down. he's not sure which way it's going. and he said that risk markets are overreacting to tightening. i groo with that one. mr. bullard in st. louis said the recovery has been slower than expected. this is dovish, overall.

this is what's moving the market to the upside here. let's move on to a big story on the day. and i think it's saks. look at saks right now, up 10%. people have been e-mailing saying, what the heck has been going on here? they had an earnings report that was good, but not that good. same-store sales up 5.9%. that was three times what anybody was expecting. and that is way above everybody's peers. macy's did about 3.8%. everybody loved that. nordstrom did 2.7. folks, if you have no topline growth, if you have big topline growth like this, you are the king of the hill. and bill and maria, all these companies that weren't getting any top line. if we get some kind of liftoff in the economy, second half of the year or 2014, all of those earnings will go right to the bottom line, that's item number one right there for an economic recovery. >> that's for sure. and that's an anomaly for this earnings season. >> it is, exactly. i think that's why it's moving so much. it was so outside the zone of what was anticipated. >> yep, retailers did well today

with their earnings. thank you, bob. see you later. let's get more reaction to today's market. we've got in our "closing bell" exchange, richard bernstein, a cnbc contributor from richard bernstein advisers. quincy crosby from prudential foundation. our friend warren myers trades on the floor here for dme securities. and chris gerch from altimist capital. mr. bernstein, people are waiting for a correction, you still consider that an opportunity here? >> bill, you used the key word and that's uncertainty. uncertainty for an investor is the same name for opportunity. when people are certain, that's when you have to worry. but as long as people believe there's all these uncertainties out there, it means that stocks aren't fully valued. it means there are plenty of opportunities for investors. i love the word "uncertainty." >> you love the word "uncertainty," but it is stopping companies from hiring and actually changing the course of action in terms of an anemic

dwro growth story? >> of course it is. think of what's also happening. slow growth, although to a politician or an economist is really not that good. to an investor, slow growth means sure and steady. it means that things don't overheat. you don't get overinvestment. you don't get everything heating up. you don't get bottlenecks. you don't get the fed having to tighten, which you just heard before from bob pisani. that's all very bullish. slow growth is wonderful for an investor. >> quincy, we've talked a lot in the last few weeks about this transition that people are making from the defensive stocks that led the rally in the first quarter to the cyclical stocks. you're kind of hanging in there with the defensives, aren't you? >> well, we like the defensives as a hedge, if you will, as a bellwether within the equity space. if you see the defensives, the high-yielding stocks selling off, we would suggest adding that to the more cyclicals. so that you have a nice balance. you don't know, i mean, the fed, it's open mic season at the fed.

we listen to bill dudley, to mr. yellin, and of course ben bernan bernanke. but you saw what happened last year, let's start tightening or pulling back. we need to have defensives in that portfolio. >> warren myers, what are you seeing as we approach this final stretch? how do you see this market closing and what do you think the catalysts are ahead? >> today we're going to continue this upward trend and end up a little bit. early look on the market on closing balances was 60, 65% to the buy side early. so that's going to give you a little more push into the close on the up side. going forward, you know, we have bernanke speaking tomorrow, the fomc minutes tomorrow, we have a couple housing numbers the rest of the week. i think those are all going to just show exactly where the fed stance is. and as bob pisani said earlier, it seems like it could be in either direction. and i think ultimately, as long as it stays there and this fed

stance is going to stay status quo for a while, that's very good for this equity market and will continue the upward mome momentum. >> we get the other trader perspective from chris. you're of the opinion, we talk to traders all the time here in new york. and they know at some point, the market is going to turn and they'll have to be short this market or sell what they've made or so forth. but you're still of the opinion, traders just don't want to be short this market yet. >> no one's going to hit that bid. you're right, bill, as far as in the s&p, we are down about two points, three points today, and all of a sudden, we had some decent news come out of europe. all of a sudden, we have a weaker dollar. that boosted the commodities, and right now, really a safe haven are those laggards. i think some of those mining stocks have been lagging, obviously, with gold taking a huge hit. silver down at two-year lows. i think if someone wants to find a return, and especially if there's some monetary, you know, the fed come out with any sort of news but bullish, that you

can go into those and still have a decent return. >> rich, what are you expecting in terms of catalysts on the economic front. next week, or in two weeks, we have the jobs numbers. that's going to be the most important indicators as far as where we are in this economic cycle and what the fed is going to do when it starts taking its foot off the pedal? >> exactly. i think the combination -- you know, you have to think like the fed for a second and, you know, the fed's worried about inflation. so, clearly, we want to continue to see very moderate the, benign inflation numbers. and more importantly, we don't want to see the inflation expectation numbers begin to head up. that combined with a gradual improvement in employment, gradual improvement in consumer confidence, and i think that's a very bullish backdrop. what would change that -- >> i have to disagree, i have to disagree. i don't think that the fed is worried about inflation at all right now. i think that -- >> exactly, that's my point. my point is, what would get them worried would be, you know, over too-strong inflation, too-strong growth. then you have to worry.

but in the environment we're in right now, where we have moderate inflation and moderate growth, i think the fed is basically on hold for a while with obviously gradual purchases, but they're not going to go wild in either direction. >> i want to ask the traders what you think of this statistical anomaly we've got going here with the dow up 19 consecutive tuesdays. warren myers, what is that all about? >> as my good friends always called it, turnaround tuesday, and it's been holding the true for 19 weeks in a row. and a lot of times, just statistically for some reason, i can't give you the reason why, if monday is down, tuesday tends to turnaround. we've had a very strong tuesday forever, it seems like forever, but i think that's part of this whole momentum. >> chris, 83% of the dow's gains this year come on tuesday. all you had to do was work one day a week this year. show up on tuesday, buy it, and then take the rest of the week off. >> there's an institutional desk

that's getting billions of dollars loaded on tuesday. someone's going to find out who that desk is. we're the best house on a bad block, you know? everyone's come to our house on tuesdays. >> that doesn't give me much confidence to put money into the market? the best house on a bad block. is that how i should be looking at this market? >> i disagree with that. i think this is the best out of everybody, but not in a bad block. and i think if you look at where money has been flowing into the equity markets over the world, the majority has been coming here and that's the impetus that's pushing this market up. >> thank you, all. 78% of the dow's gains have come on tuesday. but it's early. we'll see. and of course, we are all keeping tabs on the aftermath of the horrific tornado that occurred yesterday in oklahoma city. rescue teams continue to search for survivors following that devastating tornado. jane wells is on the scene with the latest details. jane? >> reporter: hey, bill. i'm at the city hall in moore,

oklahoma, where governor mary fallin has been wrapping up a news conference here, updating us on 24 dead, four of them in oklahoma city, 20 in moore. the count now down from 51 earlier, because some of those deaths, they believe, were double reported, double counted through the use of cell phones. one of the interesting developments here, is we are hearing, the public resources will be augmented by private ones, energy companies in oklahoma are contributing over $6 million to the effort. we knew about chesapeake energy, but now the oklahoman is adding devin energy, continental resources, and oeg energy, also pledging money to top at $6. the big source of concern today that be plaza towers elementary school. i'll show you pictures of before and after, what the school looked like, flattened. seven of the nine children killed in this tornado were in that school. but the mayor of moore now tells us that while they are still searching there, they are still using cadaver dogs, they do not expect to find anymore bodies in

that school. they've done thermal imaging and now they have the dogs and that will be the last step. but as we show you some of the latest dam of what was the moore medical center, despite this horrific tornado and just these awful fatalities, people here are amazed that moore didn't die. they credit construction. they credit a social media and media and technology and first responders getting the word out early, that the deaths didn't go higher, at least so far. and we are, i must remind you, not done searching yet. but they do believe the 48 peep that were unaccounted for 24 hours ago have pretty much all been found. >> jane, thank you very much. heading towards the close. 50 minutes left in the trading session. the dow off the highs. the bias is to the upside, but very, very marginally, but still with a gain of 72 points right now. this next story, one of my

favorite of the day. apple ceo tim cook getting grilled on ceo for avoiding taxes, but legally avoiding taxes. is it the company's fiduciary responsibility to pay as little as possible in taxes within the law? we'll debate that, coming up. and will the dow finish in the green for this 19th consecutive tuesday? up next, we'll find out what's driving the dow's favorite day and how you can get in on the action. that and much more coming up on the "closing bell." [ musick ] i knew there were a lot of tech jobs available out there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university,

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welcome back. lawmakers are grilling apple ceo tim cook for what they claim is the company's strategy to avoid paying billions of dollars in u.s. taxes. eamon javers on capitol hill right now watching it all. >> apple ceo tim cook emerged largely unscathed from this hearing today. that was against the expectations of many here in washington, who looked at the report that the senate subcommittee put out last week and thought it could be a much more damaging hearing for tim cook and the other apple executives. there were a couple of uncomfortable moments for all three apple executives who testified today, but maybe the most uncomfortable moment happened before they testified, and that's when rand paul, the senator from kentucky, sort of called into question the entire purpose and function of this hearing, really getting under the skin of senator carl levin,

the chairman of the committee, who called the hearing in the first place. take a look at this exchange. >> frankly, i'm offended by the tone and tenor of this hearing. i'm offended by a $4 trillion government bullying, berating, and badgering one of the america tease greatest success stories. if anyone should be on trial here, it should be congress. i frankly think the committee should apologize to apple. i think that the congress should be on trial here for creating a bizarre and businessyzantine ta. >> you can apologize to anyone you want. this subcommittee is not going to apologize to apple. we did not drag them in front of this subcommittee. >> reporter: and some of the toughest moments for apple themselves was when they drilled down into specifics into why apple had set up a system in which they set up three

different entities around the world that aren't tax resident in any country around the world. they're legally registered in ireland, but don't pay taxes there or here in the united states. and they haven't paid taxes in one case in five years in any country around the planet. that was something they drilled down very hard for a couple of moments for the apple executive. >> so does apple have a responsibility to its shareholders to pay as little in taxes as possible, within the law? >> let's talk about that. gene palway thinks so but bob mcentire argues that it's wrong for a company to behave that way. thank you both for joining us today. gene, i'm going to start with you. have you ever heard of a structure like apple has set up overseas, where they don't end up paying taxes to anybody on a lot of those profits. >> so it's a good question. i don't represent apple, but i have read about it in the paper, and we represent a lot of multi-national corporations. and this structure is not that

unusual. it is, i think, fair for multi-national corporations to minimize their taxes is and i'm not the only one that thinks so. learned hand was one of the most respected justices on the supreme court and he said in 1935 that everyone, everyone is allowed to arrange their affairs to minimize their taxes. and he said that no one has a patriotic duty to pay more than the legal amount of taxes. i don't think it's particularly unusual. >> bob, isn't that true? don't we hear this from over and over and over again from multinationals, why would we bring the money to the united states when we're getting double taxed and getting a 35% rate in the united states? they're not stupid. why would they -- why not be smart in terms of organizing their profitability in a way that pays as little as tax as possible, under the law. >> well, it's the law that's the

problem. we have a congress that's so craven that it allows apple and companies like it to pay almost nothing in taxes on their profits. so who do you blame? congress, sure. but what about the companies? they're the ones that lobbied these laws into place. they're the ones that persuaded the congress not to crack down on them. so you've got -- >> they've actually been fighting -- the companies have been fighting for a long time. what i said at the beginning of the question was, every day, i mean, a lot of times, very often, we hear multi-national companies talk about repatriation not happening because of this double taxation. so the companies have been aggressively pushing the to get this law changed. >> no, they want to pay no taxes on their u.s. profits by shifting them to foreign -- >> well, they don't want to be double taxed. >> well, double taxed? we don't double tax. that's a silly thing to say. we have a foreign tax credit that you get a credit for any taxes you pay to a foreign country. when there is no possibility of double tax. right -- >> then why are they not -- why

are they not bringing it to the u.s.? >> they do bring t u.s. where does apple have its securities? the stock market here in the u.s. only for tax purposes are it sitting -- >> exactly. we're going in a circle. >> jean, what do you advise your clients to do? >> we advise our clients to comply with all laws around the globe and pay the legal amount of taxes they owe. multi-national companies are paying taxes in the u.s., they're paying hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions of taxes in the u.s. and around the world. >> some of them are, but look at the ones who aren't. general electric hasn't paid taxes in a decade. apple pays a tax rate of about 10%. >> apple reported today that it paid $6 billion in u.s. taxes. $6 billion -- >> but their profit in the united states was about six times that. is the reason why the tax rate

is low. >> the tax code was set up in the 1950s, under a very complex system that assumed that most u.s. companies were doing business only in the united states. and that's not the case today. these multi-nationals are performing around the world. >> they are doing things around the world. some of that quite legitimate. and some of that totally illegitimate. >> you seem to be suggesting that there's a more equitable tax percentage that a company should pay. what is that? >> i think they should pay the same rate as if you're an unincorporated business, which is in the mid-30s. and that's for small business, you know, the rate can be 28 or 35 or even 40. apple ought to be paying 35% regular corporate rate. they certainly can afford it. they have $102 billion that they say is offshore. and you could take the $35 billion they owe on that and they'd still have more money than god. >> so in other words, you're comfortable with it. you're comfortable with the current tax law, then, bob? >> no, the current tax law needs

to be fixed so companies like apple and microsoft and dell and so many others are paying tax on their u.s. profits other than moving those profits to foreign tax havens. >> that's what congress -- congress passes the law. the irs and the courts enforce the laws. and if the laws need to be changed, then the laws should be changed. but in the meantime, corporations that are legally compliant with their legal obligations should be allowed to do that, and i think, should do that for the benefit of their shareholders. meanwhile, they are selling their services around the world, which is what we want them to be doing. >> obviously, if apple is not breaking the law, and they may not be, then they are allowed to do it. but the law needs to be changed. and to get the law changed, we need a better congress that resists the lobbying of companies like apple, to keep the law the way it is. so there's fault on both sides here. and the victims of the ordinary american taxpayers. >> very good. right there, that's the debate we've been having all day today,

as we watch tim cook testify before that senate panel. thank you both for your thoughts today. thank you very much. heading toward the close. hanging in there. you know what, usually the day before you get testimony from a fed chairman, you'll get a market that wants to go sideways waiting for what he has to say. >> meanwhile, there are a couple of highlights within the dow. jpmorgan shares higher. that's one of them. activist investors failed to set up jamie dimon's ceo and chairman roles. someone says you should bank on this stock as a result. >> and speaking of jamie dimon, we'll look at whether his victory will solidify his power at that financial giant and if that's good or bad for the bank. we're coming back after this. [ female announcer ] there's one thing

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welcome back. jpmorgan shares are higher today after shareholders narrowly failed to strip ceo jamie dimon of his chairman title. kayla tausche at the annual meeting in tampa right now. >> maria, an endorsement for

jamie dimon, if not a ringing one, still only 32% of shareholders in a preliminary tally voting to approve that split of the chairman and ceo role. that didn't go through. of course, we have 68% preliminarily that did not approve that. so, definitely, a win for jpmorgan and for dimon, who will keep both of those roles. today, dimon struck a conciliatory tone with shareholders, likely because the bank already knew the results of the vote and because the issue became a referendum on the leadership of jamie dimon. fear became in recent weeks that if they couldn't have him in both roles, that he would resign from both of them instead of serving in one. but he answered questions from shareholders today on issues like operations, management turnover, the operating committee, libor, foreclosures, a lot of regulatory reviews. but where questions about the board composition and board activity were concerned, he deferred to lead director, presiding director, lee raymond, really striking a tone that raymond is a foil to dimon's

brash personality, that he can stand up to him, and raymond definitely taking strides to make it seem that he is not a pushover and that he is really, at the heart of it, in charge of the board. you can see jpmorgan shares are up to a high that jpmorgan hasn't seen since february of 2001. and any fears that a move to split the roles could expedite a succession plan are allayed. investors are glad to see dimon keeping both of those roles, at least for now. the one concern that is on the mind of lee raymond going forward is making some changes on the risk policy committee. three top drerks on that committee had approval ratings in the 50 percentage point range. that is not good. they said there will be changes. stay tuned for those. and that they are listening to shareholder concerns in the meantime. that's the latest from tampa. maria, we'll send it back over to you. >> thank you so much, kayla. >> so with jamie dimon keeping both jobs, should you bank on shares of jpmorgan chase right now? let's look at the charts and

start talking numbers on the technical side with rich roth. and on the fundamental side, it's enis taner. good to see you both, guys. you heard the superlatives, rich. it's a 12-day intraday high for the stock. it's ready to close at a six-year high today. it's had a great run. do you like it here? >> bill, clearly this is a case where life imitates chart. this is a compelling buy. let's bring up that long-term chart and i'll show you what i mean. we see this decisive breakout to a fresh 12-year high above $53, that kayla alluded to. but it's not the breakout that has us excited, it's the way that we got here. you see this well-defined up trend. you see the emergence from a 6 1/2-year base of support. absent a false breakout here that takes the stock below $50. we see upside to $60 in the near-term, potentially as high as $64, to test that 2000 high.

we love the stock here. >> enist? >> i really don't like this company. i think there's a lot of systemic risk built into these large banks. i think regulators and congress are going to be coming after them. i think there's a lot of fraudulent activity that's occurred that should be punished. but putting all of that aside, what do i think about the stock? i think the stock will go higher. the fundamental evaluation is nine times earning. versus the rest of the market, it's a steal. and i think investors like that. >> so you'll take what you think is a moral stance on this? >> well, my moral stance would be that i wouldn't buy this stock -- >> well, that's my point. that's my point. >> do i think the stock is going higher? yes, i do. >> bill, i would add, you have to be playing from your bull market playbook right now. as tough as it may seem with the market making a new high, as you point out, every tuesday. the fact is, banks and brokers are breaking out. if morgan stanley with push out

through 25 and jpmorgan can push out towards 53, you have to be a buyer of the financials. >> guys, good to see you both. for more in-depth look at that company, you can check out the new online edition of "talking numbers" at cnbc.com/talking-numbers or just look for sully's face there on cnbc.com. all right, we're in the final stretch. off of the best levels of the day. the dow jones industrial average up 66 points right here with just about 30 minutes before the closing bell sounds. >> and the dow is going for this 19th straight record gain on a tuesday, going back to january 15th. coming back, we'll take a look at the stocks driver this super tuesday streak. and the fad has been a major factor in this historic rally, but has it also helped to create substantial improvement in the labor market? a big question for when the tapering will begin. and it also depends on what your definition of substantial improvement is. we'll talk about that when we come back on "closing bell." tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 opportunities are waiting to be found in faraway places.

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welcome back. investors seem to be exnoing on whether the fed will taper its

economic stimulus. but lost in the shuffle is a more important debate at the federal reserve. steve liesman explains that. >> i think this debate about tapering loses the debate about whether or not there's been substantial improvement in the unemployment situation in america. and i think that is the real debate going on inside the federal reserve. is substantial improvement compared to what. and what i want to show you are both sides of this debate. let me begin with how the hawks see the world when it comes to unemployment. their view is, let's compare it to what we knew in september when we decided to implement this qe3 policy. and what they see as unemployment was 8.1%, now down 0.6. a pretty strong move over a seven-month period. claims are fallen pretty substantially and average payroll growth over six months, the fed was looking at 141,000 when it decided on qe3 in december, now it's up over 200,000. not so fast, say the doves, who say, you know what, let's look at where we are compared to where we need to go. the 7.5% unemployment rate compares with the long-run estimate, what they believe is

the right number for america of 5.2 to 6. a wide range, but still a point and a half higher now. then they look at the broader measure of unemployment, 13.9%, and say, you know what, compared to the 2003 peak, which was 10.3%, and that's the peak, so we're not even on the chart when it comes to the broader measure of labor. and then also, long-term unemployed. 4.3 million, again, the peak, 2.1 million. that number is down from 5 million at 4.3, but still a very long way to go if you get back on the chart. that's why the doves also looking at some of the weak inflation numbers. i don't think they're ready to flinch just yet, maria. >> steve, we want to bring in cnbc.com senior writer jeff cox, who says the real economy is not feeling the effects of the fed's policy. we are looking at an kbrooucht in unemployment, we are seeing a better showing in housing. do you not attribute any of this to the fed's action? >> i think a lot of it is the fed, to some extent, some fed officials kind of taking credit

for -- the rooster taking credit for the sun coming up. i think richard fisher was on cnbc yesterday. he's made a very important statement, said, what we've done is we've made rich people richer. and i think when you look at what they have done with the wealth effect, with the qe, with the pumping up of the stock market, is they have widened the wealth gap. a gallup survey out a few weeks ago showed stock ownership at the low point in the history of their survey, especially amongst middle and lower income workers. they're pulling out of the market, 66% of middle income people have interest in the stock market six years ago. down to 50% now. so when you talk about that wealth effect, i don't think it's made it through the real economy. >> i guess the real question we should be asking is, and this is unknowable, but the question could be posed this way. you can imagine what the economy would be like if we didn't have any quan at a timetive easing by the federal reserve.

>> that's the big case made by the federal reserve and most people, and still to this day, is that it would be quite a bit worse. what i have yet to hear is the other side of this debate explain how the economy would benefit from higher interest rates. and that's really been something that's missing from the argument. if you grant them that, yeah, fed policy hasn't worked as well as the policy makers had hoped, or as well as anybody had hoped, how does the alternative improve the situation? that's not been answered. >> and i think the problem the that we've gone so far down that rabbit hole of the planned economy that steve's point actually is right at this point. if the fed did come in and did something to raise interest rates, the results would be catastrophic. i would say, you know, if you want to argue counterfactual, let's go back and say, if we didn't go to a centrally planned economy and let the free market work, let the economy work, i don't think we would have -- >> what do you mean by centrally planned economy? >> when you take and create

money -- it's not even real money, when you create electronic funds at a level we've never seen before -- >> would you prefer that it be bills, that it be cash? is that your problem, is that it's electronic? >> no, here's what i have a problem with. we have the fed come out and talk about consistently that we need the handoff from fiscal policy. and they're bemoaning the fact that washington doesn't come through. the fact of the matter is that the fed is an enabler of fiscal economy -- >> you mean social engineering other than central planning. what they're trying to do is push people along to greater risk assets rather than going with these income-generating instruments that are paying nothing right now. >> it's birds of a different feather, but i think you go back to the basic fundamentals of price discovery -- >> let's follow the argument to its conclusion. the federal reserve, a creation of congress, should step outside of its mandate and keep interest rates higher so that the congress does not run high

deficits. where in the fed mandate is that part, jeff? >> the fed mandate is to control prices, to establish some level of price control, and to also try to maintain full employment. they're certainly failing at maintaining full employment. when you look at the fact, just trying to levitate an economy, through artificial interest rates, i'm not saying, geez, let's go to 5% interest rates. i'm saying, let's -- i mean, we should have gone back in time at some point and said, enough already. and we just keep -- okay. but we're talking about an economy that should have been allowed to heal on its own and it wasn't. >> we got it. got to go, guys. good conversation, though. see you later. appreciate it. in the meantime, rescuers are still wading through the tragedy of yesterday's deadly tornados in oklahoma city. a tornado warning has now been issued in the dallas-ft. worth area, with children being released from school early there as a result. that storm prediction center in norman, oklahoma, says that golf

ball-sized hail, powerful winds, and strong tornadoes could also strike parts of arkansas, louisiana, and oklahoma. joining us with the latest from moore, oklahoma, is weather channel meteorologist mike seidel. hey, michael. >> reporter: hey, bill. here in bill, the rain has ended. the storms we had earlier have moved through without any additional serious weather. we hadn't expected any tornadoes today, it was more of a hail threat. we had some lightning and rainfall. in the past ten minutes, we've seen again the search and recovery come right on through this neighborhood. as far as the eye can see, it's piles and piles of damage. all these houses have been leveled. so far, it's a preliminary ef-4 tornado and the weather service did say winds, peak winds estimated at 190 miles an hour. the top range of the f-4 range is 200. we've seen a lot of bathtubs out there and heard a lot of survival stories of people hopping in bathtubs and covering their loved ones. right next-door in that bathtub, the husband covered his wife in

the tub, tornado came through, the husband was picked up by the tornado and thrown out into the field. he's in the hospital, he survived. luckily, a few minutes ago, the moore fire department came through here and out of the rubble, they found this big old muddy cat. the cat is fine, needs a bath, but he's fine. or he or she is fine. better weather topper, sunny skies, temperatures instead of being in the 50s will be around 80. but they've got a long way to go. i've never seen anything this bad, even worse than what i was here for f-5 tornado back in 1999. >> amazing you have to go back to moore and they're hit twice like that, that badly, in a 12, 13-year period. mike, thanks very much. >> how extraordinary. bill, i know art cashin came over a minute ago and told us now the bias has turned to the sell side. we're off the best levels of the afternoon, but these drug stocks are on fire. merck is whipping. take a look at this stock. up 6.5% in the last six months.

today we're looking at a gain of 4.3% on merck. but art cashin said that's where the sellers are piling into the drug stocks right now. but this is the group to own today, certainly >> there's merck right now, with a gain of 4.33%. heading towards the close, the dow is off the highs, up 66 points. and the irs scandal, another explosive hearing. this time in the senate and the answers were scarce. we've got those details, coming up. flying is old hat for business travelers.

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wow, we're on our way. off of the best levels. we have 52 points on the dow. the dow minutes away from a 19th straight gain for a tuesday. >> josh lipton is taking a closer look at this super tuesday streak. realistically, if i bought every tuesday at the open since the run began on january 15th and sold at the close, how would i be doing, josh? >> well, bill, you would be up about 11%. not bad, but not as much as if you had bought the dow on january 15th and held your long position. in that case, bill, you'd have made about 14%. but the big question, at this

hour, as maria talked about, will this be another positive tuesday for the dow? remember, we've already seen 18 consecutive tuesdays in the green for the blue chips. ryan detrick over at schaifffer pointing out the dow has gained some 1,400 points on tuesdays. the consecutive record. in the dow today, some of those names moving higher. home depot, first quarter earnings rose 18%. that stock up some 27% this year. barclay's, credit suisse all raising their price targets. as for the s&p 500, they are 126 names hitting new 52-week highs today. today, about one quarter of the gauge. auto zone heading higher. the auto parts retailer. their core earnings rising some 7%. on the other hand, though, best buy, reports and disappoints swinging to a first quarter loss. revenue fell, stock down today, but still up more than 100% so far this area.

and finally the nasdaq, gainers included biogen, activism. and regeneronfalling. maria, back to you. are >> we're in the final stretch. 12 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. 54 points higher on the dow. >> when we come back, mike santoli explains why one of the biggest risks to this historic rally may be overbullishness by investors. >> there's a lot a fair amount of skeptics out there, right, bill? >> also, kkr had a global asset allocation. henry mcvey in the house. he's constantly traveling. we'll find out where he's going now and where are the hot spots in the world. back in a moment. en in a second. with fidelity's guaranteed one-second trade execution, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price -- maybe even better than you expected. it's all part of our goal to execute your trade in one second. i'm derrick chan of fidelity investments.

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we're about ten minutes away from closing out what could be the 19th straight tuesday of gains for the dow jones industrial average and nothing seems to be getting in the way of the bull market right now. although yahoo! finance's mike santoli says that this overbullishness could be what brings the market down at some point. >> but why. let's ask mike. he joins us along with rich peterson. overly bullish, a lot of euphoria, that's your problem with the market? >> i think when we get to it.

i don't think it's an acute situation right now. starting to seem too easy. >> what do you watch for, for that? >> i think when you start to see a lot more of these stocks that just take off, these hi high-velocity upside moves. i think it's starting to seem a little bit too easy. most of the evidence against this market is circumstantial. it's not behaving in a way that makes you say, aha, that's going to be its own undoing. >> everyone you talk to is looking for a sell-off around the corner. and that's why they say it's going to continue to go higher. >> it's been a methodic revaluation of stocks. it's really just been about, stocks are priced here, let's patch them up. >> you're the ultimate market sta statistician. have you ever seen anything like this? >> this is unprecedented. march in '09, we put out almost 1,000 points on the s&p 500.

what's key for tomorrow is if we had a lookout to the newspaper headlines for the fmoc or chairman bernanke's testimony. we can find out whether he's cautious or if he's more optimistic about the direction of the economy. the fact is, i think we've seen, i said to mike before, about a third of the s&p 500 have underperformed the 17% benchmark. there's a lot not being made yet. >> let me ask you about what has changed up until to point. because we speak to you quite often and we have spoken to both of you throughout this bull market. but today we've got a valuation that's changed. what is the pe now? 16? okay, 16 versus what we saw in the last bull market, 27, 28. that's obviously still low. and we've got corporate cash on sidelines. those are two positives. where are the negatives? >> also, europe, still being in turmoil. money that's invested in europe being driven into the united states. the fact is, we're seeing strong merger activity, up about 50%

from a year ago. a lot of tech deals. mike's very happy about that from yesterday. earnings are still very strong. we talked in april, about first quarter earnings, we're looking for under 1%. getting 5% for the first quarter. >> i would point out one thing. if you talk about how much upside on top. look at home depot today. nothing wrong with that report. a beat, a raise, the stock's been strong, they're buying back stock and raising the dividend. it's up 2.5, 3%. a lot of it's just been built in. i think you've gone a long way. >> 25% up in six months. >> and go back to 2000, we're near those valuations. >> so we're not to the dot-com boom valuation yesterday. thank you, both. see you later. we'll come back with the closing countdown for this super tuesday. and then i want to talk about apple. finding at least one supporter today on capitol hill. >> i frankly think the committee should apologize to apple. i think that the congress should be on trial here for creating a

bizarre and byzantine tax code. >> so is senator rand paul right? is congress really to blame for companies keeping profits overseas to avoid u.s. taxes? we'll debate later on on "closing bell." stay with us. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion.

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market. i'm just showing you this chart. this is a chart of each day. the average daily performance of the dow in 2013. so on average, tuesday, by far, has been the best-performing day for the dow. friday's second. wednesday, third. thursday, fourth. and monday is typically a down day. there's how you trade, right? >> take mondays off. >> exactly? >> we're still going -- >> i've been cautious for the last three or four weeks. and getting hints from things like fed president in chicago, who's been a big proponent for qe2 and has been sounding it every time he's been on tv is now in a neutral policy, saying our policies are in effect are adequate enough. i saw -- >> you feel like you're grasping at straws because the market keeps going up? >> i feel like there's some significant headwinds coming. you know, you have china's reserve management team came to new york to diversify away from

bonds, anticipating the fed is going to unwind. >> all right. >> there's a lot of other things out there that we can't get into in 30 seconds. >> and terry is not alone in that regard. a lot of people still waiting for that correction, but not today. the dow, the 19th consecutive tuesday with a gain of 53 point, another record high for the dow and s&p. hour number two of the "closing bell" with maria right now. i'll see you tomorrow. and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. stock closing at another all-time high as the dow posts a gain for the 19th straight tuesday. in fact, 15 of the dow's gains have come on tuesdays. take a look at how we're finishing the gain on tuesday. the dow jones industrial was up as high as 99 points at its best, finishing at about half of that, but still a new all-time high of 88