5k in november. >> you're look you're about to break into a cantor or maybe even a gallup. great prancercising. you've got to be very fit. >> that's fantastic. we'll come up with some variations. thank you for watching "street signs". >> prance away, pony, prance away. "closing bell" is next. hi, everybody. the rally rolls on! welcome to the "closing bell," i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. some stocks are defying gravity today on wall street. >> you know, i've had traders asking me, what is going on with this market today. i'm bill griffeth. it is a rather surprising up day for stocks, and that is the focus of today's program. when you consider that japan was down 5% overnight, economic data this morning was rather soft. so why is the market up 90 points right now?

>> where are we going to put it, bill? where we going to put the money? >> i don't know. under your mattress. >> very few alternatives to companies paying dividends. that's behind this big rally. and in a few minutes, a major exclusive coming up with the ceo of sony, kaduo hirai. that stock is soaring. we'll get the reaction directly from the ceo of sony coming up on this major development. >> and you will not believe in the last ten years what has been the most profitable division for sony. not going to tell you. we'll get to that. also, linking into what jami dimon is thinking right now, the jpmorgan chase ceo posting a very bullish take on america and our stock market on linkedin. we have the details and a closer look if you can invest in dimon's unique insights to the u.s. outlook. >> interesting he did it on linkedin. that's also part of this story. >> exactly. >> take a look at where we stand. one hour to go and we're in rally mode once again. the dow jones industrial average up about 88 points, two-thirds

of 1% to 15,390. check the nasdaq, double-digit move here. technology certainly one of the winners. up 35 points on nasdaq as we approach the final hour. about 1%. 3502, last trade. and the standard & poor's, up two-thirds of a percent, 1270 higher, bill. >> let's talk about this surprising day on the street, with cnbc's josh lipton who's been here all day at the big board. and our own rick santelli in chicago. josh, what's the buzz on the floor. why are we higher after everything else that's happened today? >> bill, you look at the dow right now and session highs, racking up another 87 points. as you guys were talking about, the economic data this morning, not so great. jobless claims, gdp, pending home sales. traders down here saying, listening, if you were worried about qe, if you were worried about what dr. bernanke's next move is going to be, you don't mind some slightly softer economic data. of course, other traders are also looking at volume on the big board around 400 million shares trading hands. they'll call that uninspiring. tomorrow, though, look out, we

have the msci rebalancing. that's going to mean some big volume at the close. let's check out some sector performance today. we'll start off with financials. some of these names making 52-week highs today. you have goldman sachs trading at levels we haven't seen since april 2011. wells fargo trading at levels we haven't seen since september of 2008. and goldman sachs upgrades defense to attractive. take raytheon to neutral. they add lockheed martin. >> that defense group really on fire. but the banks really breaking out as well. brian, let's look at this market here. we're at the highs of the day right about now, just shy of it. and we've got financials and tech in the lead. what does that tell you about this market? >> well, i think they hit the nail on the head when they said, you know, as long as we get the kind of weak economic data and it looks like the qe is going to continue for a little while, i think, you know, it's basically saying that you kind of need to start weighing in on some

equities and rotating out of the bond market and really get some risk exposure. >> rick santelli, we mentioned, japan was down 5% last night. it's down 15% in the last week, and the yen continues to rise suddenly. is the japanese central bank losing control of the situation? and could it affect us here? why hasn't it so far, do you think? >> well, i think it hasn't so far, because there is no inclination by the investment community to acknowledge that the emperor has no clothes and he has an army of tailors. why challenge it? the checks are ringing, the register's ringing. the data sometimes that matters most of the times is outside of the jobs reports. it doesn't matter. i don't see the incentive for investors to kick the tires. the incentive is to put your head down and stay long. and i think that will continue to occur. as for japan, i think there's very little doubt from the likes of kyle bass to mohammad al aryan, myself, many, that's

where the focus is going to be. and i think today we learned that one of their giant pension systems is going to change its rules before its five-year window that allows them to do that, at least, suspicions are they're going to, so they can buy more equities and not necessarily buy more jgbs. that sounds normal on the surface, but once again, jgbs market's a huge market. if these start to trade above 1%, the carry implications for the leverage that all the hedgies with their great relationships, with all the too big to fail banks, those transmission lines are going to start to get severed. but it doesn't seem like it's an imminent danger, so we look the other way. >> brian, would you put money in japan right now? >> certainly, i think japan is a great story. i think with the yen where it is, it poses a good prospect for japanese companies doing more exporting and we really do like japan. >> and josh, with the fact that

rates are rising here, that's hurting some of the interest-sensitive sectors, utilities have suddenly been hit. they've been in correction territory suddenly. but as maria pointed out, the financials are doing well right now. so we're seeing a definite response to our treasury markets with yields rising right now. >> that's absolutely true. look at those rate-sensitive sectors. and our own bob pisani has certainly been all over this. utilities are less attractive as rates rise. popping a little bit today, but they've been whacked over the past months. reit also. financials, though, betting that rates rise. >> let's take a look at that ten-year yield. because rick santelli, what's your take on the ten-year where it is right now. a little creeping up of that yield over the last couple of weeks. is this enough to get that rotation out of stocks, at 2.12%? >> i think it might be enough to get the speculative trade and the institutions, day trading it more, or maybe some inventories, or maybe the convexity guys selling a little bit more.

but i think the great rotation is a giant myth like climate change. i think in the end, it's all about the final decision for the launch back to earth with these programs that will officially either launch or not launch a great rotation. and i think that if we look back to 2011 and 2012, probably around 239 to 240, just from a technical vantage point are the last major spikes for traders that are speccing to focus on should rates back up much more. >> brian, would you buy any bonds here? >> i'm an equity guy, so i'm going to say no. >> no, i understand, but at what point do you think a yield is going to be more attractive in the fixed income market than it will be in the equity market? >> well, i don't really know, but i think what they're missing is, you can get a high-quality dividend-paying company that's yielding more than the ten-year u.s. government, and you know, still wind up with the kpral appreciation of underlying asset. i would rather own that as a way

to get income than into the bond markets at this point. >> you don't think some of the interest-sensitive dividend payers would suffer if rates would continue to rise in the treasury curve? >> they possibly could, but i think a lot of them have enough room to expand their dividends and really increase that yield. and we've seen a lot of companies being rewarded by giving that money back to the shareholders in the form of higher yields. and i think that that trend continues. >> all right. gentleman, thank you. josh, don't go anywhere. we'll be checking back with you as news warrants as well. see you later. >> bill, meanwhile, the death of a prominent texas money manager continues to reveal more startling facts and it is impacting the investing community. we want to get more details on this story. senior correspondent scott cohn has been investigating the case in austin, texas. scott? >> maria, stanley mark powell was an investment adviser at atlantic trust here in austin. at 53 years old, it seemed like he had everything to live for, a happy family, a $3 million home,

but then just a few weeks ago, he turns up dead in an apparent suicide and the parent company of atlantic trust, invesco, says there were unusual transactions in his account. we found that he had been borrowing money, lots of money, or at least lots of loans, 13 loans reported with the texas secretary of state in the month of may alone, but we don't know how much that money was for. he was also involved in a number of charities, all of them say he was not involved in their investments, was not involved in their investments. they include first tee, which is an organization that teaches some 8,000 at-risk youth in the austin area life lessons through golf. the executive director of that organization says she met with powell just a few weeks ago. he also was on the board of the dell children's medical center.

also, not involved in the investments there. he had actually been the treasurer of the foundation at dell children's medical center and his term as treasurer ended in early may, just days before his death. we'll continue to look into this, maria, as questions continue to pile up. so far, a lot more questions than answers. back to you. >> scott, thanks very much. scott cohn with the very latest there. we're in the final stretch of trading for the day. meanwhile, we have a market that is up, on fire, once again. up 85 points on the dow jones industrial average. >> for those of you keeping score, the dow needs to be up 107 points today to hit an all-time high. so we're 22 points away from that right now. the s&p needs to be up 20 points to get to an all-time high. not there yet, but we've got time. sony in the news big-time today, exploring activist investor dan loeb's suggestion, to put it mildly, to spin off its entertainment division. the stock has been on fire. we'll get to the bottom of it all when we talk to sony's ceo kazuo hirai exclusively in less than 30 minutes.

>> but first, facebook getting a good pop today. after the break, we'll talk to the analyst who made the call and why he sees this stock going higher when not a lot of others do. that and a lot more coming up on the most important hour of the trading day, the "closing bell." back in a moment. (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. voted "best investment services company."

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welcome back. another up day wall street. technology stocks leading this stock higher. >> it's literally a chirp day. the philly stock index hitting another historic high. one of the biggest movers today in that group, avaga. this is a supplier to apple. and not only did it beat on its second quarter, it raised its third quarter outlook, saying it has big orders, which also gave apple a lift. meantime, other chips in terms of the solar stocks, solar players, who also play in the chip space, moving higher today as well on an upgrade from goldman that see stronger earnings going into 2014. an upgrade as well moving facebook into the winners today, here at the nasdaq, raising the stock, putting a price target of $32. and maria, that's where facebook topped out in january this year. back to you. >> bertha, thank you so much.

what a chart there. thank you. bmo capital markets, mean, upgraded facebook stock today from an outperform to a market perform. the stock is up about 6% partly on that big upgrade. >> joining us now, exclusively on cnbc, here at the new york stock exchange, the analyst behind the call, dan salomon. this is a company that couldn't get arrested last year on wall street, and now we're getting a few more buys and you've got this upgrade on the stock with a higher price target. why, did something change? >> well, i think what has changed recently, most importantly, has been investor sentiment. it's turned quite negative over the last month or so. and largely around concerns around young people leading the platform. and i think that's a really fair risk and people need to examine that. i think and what investors are underappreciating is, for example, a lot of those young users are going to instagram, which facebook also owns. they have their small mobile apps. so one of the things we talked about in the note is a portfolio of social networks starting to

unfold at facebook. >> the stock is down about 30% since the ipo. how much higher can this stock really go? what's your target expectations? >> right now it's 32. >> we raised it from 32 to 33 last night. so just a marginal bump. you know, it's not the high-flying stock that linked in is, in the sense of valuation, that's up president 80, 90 times. at the same time, this is a stock that does trade at least by target at 42 times next year's earnings. so it's not necessarily one that you can argue for margin -- or excuse me, multiple expansion, without seeing the estimates getting accelerating again. so that was the primary catalyst we talked about, was the potential rollout of an upgraded video advertising platform on the site. if you start to see the estimates heading up, this type of stock can get the multiple going as well. we'll wait and see how the year plays out. >> is the executive team the one you want to see for the long-term? the questions surrounding mark zuckerberg were loud last year after the ipo. is he still the guy?

>> well, first of all, he's going to be the guy. it's a controlled company, like google, and more importantly, i think it's going to take wall street a little bit more to warm up to him. but i mentioned this idea of portfolio of social networks. it sounds a lot like our business is about. so i think you're seeing facebook trying to reconcile the management team's interest in creating an experience that's excellent for users, some monetization across a few different bets and try to create a company over time that has a consistent cash flow profile, rather than the ups and downs we've seen from various social networks in the past. >> one of the reasons for your upgrade was advertising, right? what's your sense of advertising right now? >> so we spent the last week, you know, as the stock's been pulling back, just chatting with some advertisers, both agencies, ad technology companies, and the attitude remains good. it's been pretty good all year. the two things that a lot of

people highlighted were better customer service. it matters in the advertising industry. we've got to have somebody at the end of the phone there when you have a problem. >> you did a survey of advertisers? >> a little ad hoc survey, checking in with some contacts. and we do that pretty regularly. what we were looking for was, has something gone wrong. and that's not what we're hearing. that things continue to get better. the question is, will we continue to see new ad products. we'll wait and see on that. >> does it risk alienating the users though? we've got used to no ads or fewer ads off the periphery. now it's starting to hit the timeline. >> and they don't know what the content is going to be. >> that's the big question, what will it look like, are people comfortable with that many ads on that? look, nobody understands that more than facebook. they've got the data, they see what we're doing, when we're leaving the page, when we're not. i think we've got confidence that they'll try to find the right balance, for monetization, and still making it a good usage experience. but, again, i go back to some of the other bets that we've got

out there to fall back on eventually. >> all right. we'll leave it there. great talking with you. >> thanks, guys. >> thanks so much. we're in the final stretch of trading, 40 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. we're shy of the highs with an 80-point rally. tomorrow we've got that msci rebalance. that's going to be big volumes. >> look out. >> gear up for it. >> get the popcorn. what a ride it's been for tesla. shares of the electric carmaker up 200% this year. when we come back, we'll find out if there's still time to get behind the driver's seat of that stock. a look at the charts, coming up. >> and what's the deal with sony? working with morgan stanley and citi? the stock is on fire. coming up, we're talking to the boss, kazuo hirai here exclusively to explain in an interview you can't afford to miss. back in a moment.

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tesla certainly has been super charging investors' portfolios recently. it's doubled this month alone. it's up an astounding 200% year-to-date. now the company is planning to super charge america to help fill up its own car sales. >> a few minutes ago, tesla unveiled its plans for its super charger network over the next couple of years. let me show you a map of the united states, and you'll see how this network, which is basically six super charging stations, or eight right now in the u.s., mainly in california and the northeast, how it's going to grow over the next couple of years, gradually with chicago, texas, and colorado being added, and eventually you will see a super charger network, according to tesla,

going coast to coast, so that by the end of 2015, the idea is that you will be able to go anywhere you want in the united states and will be able to find a recharging location close by. and there's what it's going to look like by 2015, according to tesla. it's also rolling out new technology, cutting the charging time in half at these charging locations. it will give people three hours of driving time in a 20-minute charge. here's tesla's ceo, elon musk, just 20 minutes ago. >> we don't want people to feel constrained that because they have an electric car, they won't be able to drive where they want, where they want, and how they want. so we will do whatever it takes to show that they have the same sense of freedom of travel, in fact, a better one, really, than with a gasoline car. >> take a look at shares of tesla over the last month. we've had a heck of a run. think about this, at these super

charger locations, they will have battery packs built in to provide power they're taking from the solar systems there. bill, according to elon musk, these super charger stations will still be able to provide power, even if the national grid goes down. bill, back to you. >> wow, phil, thanks very much. by the way, don't miss an exclusive interview with tesla ceo elon musk. that's tomorrow morning on "squawk on the street." and i know what you're wondering, maria, will cameron diaz also be there? inquiring minds want to know. >> so will tesla put your portfolio in the fast lane? let's start talking numbers. on the technical side of this story is richard roth, and on the fundamental sigh, zachary karabell is with river research. rich, tell us about those charts. tesla has had an incredible run. what does the chart tell you? >> the chart tells me that there's a lot further to go with this stock. i'm super fired up about both the company and this stock chart. let's pull up this longer term chart. you see the stock really does nothing for almost three years

after the ipo. we know now it was just charging its batteries there. we get that fantastic breakout from a multi-year base of support around $40. this stock ripped another $50 and then consolidates around that $90 price range earlier this month. we think there's another $50 upside from there. that takes us to our $140 price target. look, this is a bet on the man. this is tony stark, this is the next steve jobs. you're getting it at $12 billion, not the $400 billion that apple trades for. >> what do you think, zach? >> i have to say, that's a particularly compelling case. look, i happen to love tesla. i have every intention of absolutely buying the car and no intention of buying the stock. you may ask why that be the case when given that the car will almost certainly lose half of its value. and while the stock may do the same, it is always possible that it will, as rich says, increase by 50%. but first of all, you can't drive a stock, whereas you can, apparently, drive a tesla. and the other thing is, there is

so much momentum money in this particular name right now that while it may, indeed, become a major tony stark story going into the future, it also could well go down $40, simply because something unexpected or a blip happened, given the momentum in the stock, rather than the fundamentals of the actual company. so i would rather sit on the sidelines. >> momentum is not a four-letter word. and you know, i think this is one of those cases, zach, where the risk/reward is never going to be favorable all the way up. sometimes you've got to say, you know what you've got to say. and this is one of those cases. you want to be a buyer of this stock right now. >> momentum is definitely not a four-letter word. tesla is a five-letter word. buy the car, don't buy the stock. >> appreciate it, guys. for more "talking numbers," logon to cnbc d.com on the web. >> that's where it is. the dow is up 66 points. we've just heard word that the bias is to the downside towards the close. that seems to be what's happening right now. we'll see what's happening in

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welcome back. sony a big winner today. better than 4%. the company hired morgan stanley and citi to review a proposal to spin off the company's entertainment assets. david faber now with the very latest details on that angle. over to you, david. >> thanks very much, maria. no big surprise here. when you get an activist in your shares, the first reaction of many large companies is to go out and hire some investment banks. it does not mean that sony is planning to embark on some of the plans that mr. loeb has described in his letter to the company. that said, citi and morgan stanley, while they won't confirm it, have been hired. but they're going to be advising the board. and don't forget, this board is going to change significantly in complexion as of june the 20th. when you get three new members and four people stepping off, what i believe is a 13-member board. only then, in fact, will they

even begin to review mr. loeb's suggestions about a subsidiary ipo of the entertainment business. and that does not mean, by any means, that it actually is going to be something that will be embraced by that board of directors. in fact, at this point, at least, from what i hear, the idea of a subsidiary ipo of the entertainment business is not thought to be something that has a lot of support within sony. we shall see. time will, of course, pass here, and that's an important component of this. it's going to be quite some time until we learn anything, if, in fact, they do decide to go, perhaps, down some other roads to try to create value. one key here for why the stock may be up is simply because people are focusing on that entertainment business. and realizing, perhaps, as they have not in the past, that there is a good deal of value there, even if electronics continues to struggle. maria, back to you. >> david, thank you so much. let's find out what's really going on right now at sony. >> maybe we'll get answers s those questions right now. jon fortt is live right now with

sony ceo, kaz hirai. >> thanks for sitting down with us. >> sure. >> this proposal, it is correct to just spin off part of the entertainment business, two-part question. one, would you even consider spinning off all of it. and two, what's your process right now for handling this proposal? how are you deciding the merits of it and at what stage are we in terms of gathering advisers, talking to members of the board. so two parts. first, would you consider spinning all of it, and two, where are they? >> let's first start out by looking at the facts. the proposal is that we look to spin off about 15 to 20% of our entertainment assets. and the process really is as was described earlier, a discussion that needs to happen really at the board level of the organization. and we want to make sure that we have a thorough discussion of the merits of the proposal before we come to any conclusion. so it's a little premature at

this point in time to speculate one way or the other, but it's most important that, again, the board really takes a look at this, the proposal very seriously. >> just to put a finer point on it, in terms of gathering advisers, you, yourself, educating yourself about the pros and cons of this, where are you? who are you talking to, figuring out where you stand on this? >> well, we obviously want to make sure that we look at outside advisers, if you will, to be able to assist us, you know, objectively, reviewing the proposal, and to make sure that we get, you know, advice on all the aspects of the proposal. >> i've got some questions back in new york. guys? >> mr. hirai, let me ask you, maria bartiromo here. in terms of the splitup, do you think investors would be interested in the company without if entertainment division? in other words, as you see it, how would the breakup look? we've been talking earlier about how successful, for example, the insurance business would be. talk to us about how you would

envision the two separate companies looking like. >> well, i think that if you look at the value of the entertainment properties for sony, it's been a great contributor to the bottom line of the group numbers for us. and, you know, we definitely want to make sure that we are able to continue a very successful business in the entertainment space, and that, to me, is first and foremost, the most important priority, you know, that we continue to be able to work with the entertainment properties, so that they can provide a lot of great content to really support our electronics business, and that's a combination that other electronics manufacturers do not have. >> i mean, we were just looking at the numbers there, for the past decade, electronics has lost an aggregate of $8.5 billion, kaz. that's become such a commoditized business. it is so broken that you can't turn it around? why not just let that go and go

with where the strengths are in sony? >> i've been the ceo for sony now for about a year, and i visited a lot of different parts of the organization, both on the electronics side, as well as on the entertainment side, certainly financial services. and my conclusion, based on all the time that i spent in the field, is that given the proper focus, given the proper strategic prioritization of where we need to be in the business, and really focus on executing these priorities, that, we can, in fact, turn the tv business around, or the electronic's business around. a great example is the tv business, where as we had committed two years ago, we have halved our losses last fiscal year and we're ahead of plan in turning that business around. so again, it's a matter of focus and it's a matter of execution. >> putting a finer point on focus and execution, i believe that you've turned over all of

your direct reports, but two, in the past year. tell me, why have you done that and what different results, execution wise, have you been getting? >> one of the reasons why i did that was to make sure that the senior management team that i have in place are people that were hand-picked by myself, that are aligned with the kinds of priorities and the focus and the execution that i talked about and that they're ready to really get stuff done. and, you know, i think that team that we have in place has really been able to execute on that, and you can see that the company is now on the electronics side, really headed in the right direction. we are minimizing our losses, and we have some great products that really resonate with our consumers around the world. for example, the latest example being the smartphone, which is getting rave reviews from everybody. and something that we're

bringing -- as a matter of fact, i have it right here. this is something we'll be bringing to the u.s. market very shortly, as well. six weeks, consecutively, number one in japan, for example. so that's the kind of focus that we devote to our products and make sure that we are really executing to bring those products. >> you mentioned products. i want to jump in with a question here on the ps4, going up against xbox one this holiday season. that's a big deal for the holidays for consumer electronics in general. how are you going to be able to position that to be a better gaming experience than the xbox one and get ahead of them, futures wise? >> well, i think that with any playstation platform launch, and certainly with playstation 4, we want to make sure that we have the best and compelling games that we bring to our consumers and fans, through both our first party studio products as well as from our third-party partners. and that, obviously, you know, in this generation of software and hardware, is going to include a lot of social aspects,

a lot of network aspects as well. but i think we've been synonymous with bringing compelling gaming experience to customers around the world and ps4 is no exception. >> many hirai, we've been watching what's been going on in japan, of course, and the new policies coming out of the prime minister abe's office there. can you characterize what you're seeing in japan right now? of course, overnight, a little more nervousness with that 5% sell-off. how would you characterize the economic landscape there? do you think those policies are going to work? >> i think it's a little too early to tell at this point. and, you know, i think the abe administration and the government is really, they're saying the right things, they are really pushing the right agendas, and i think it's just a matter of making sure that they really stick to their policies and give the opportunity for the policies to really take hold,

and make sure that some of the things that they've been saying really turns into a real opportunity and real growth opportunity for japanese industry. and i think, there, it's a factor of time that we really need to make sure that we consider. so it's not going to be an overnight change, but i think we're heading in the right direction. >> and what kind of an impact have you seen at sony as a result of the movement in the japanese yen? >> well, at sony, interestingly enough, versus the u.s. dollar, we actually is at a disadvantage, as we have a weaker yen. certainly, with the euro, a weaker yen does help us, so net/net, we do have a positive. but i think that the pre-conception that a weaker yen is good overall, unfortunately for us, versus the dollar, it goes the other way. >> let me ask you, on the -- i'm

suddenly mr. electronics here. i'm asking all the questions about that. but the phone you have, that you bring into the united states. you know, this is a very crowded market here. even apple is struggling against samsung with the galaxy line that they've come out with here. so the question is, you know, in order to gain access into this market, how much money are you actually going to make if you're trying to gain market share? are your margins squeezed as a result of all of the competition in this field? >> i think the most important thing for us is to make sure that we are bringing a compelling product to the u.s. market, and as a matter of fact, markets around the world. and the smartphone is actually the first product that we designed from the ground up, after we dissolved the joint venture with erickson last year. and what that actually means is we have packed in the best of sony's technologies, from digital imaging to image

quality, to audio quality, into this particular smartphone product. and i think that, especially in the high-end market, this kind of phone, with a lot of features packed in, will get a lot of appeal and certainly traction here in the u.s. market, as it has done in japan. >> yeah. finally, from me, when we looked at the breakdown of what has made money and what's lost money in the last ten years, the thing that stuck out to me was the insurance, the financial services business making $9 billion for sony in the last ten years. what kind just jettison everything else and just write insurance, if it's so profitable? >> i think the company is obviously very famous for the financial services in japan. i am very proud of the entertainment properties that we have. it's a very profitable business. and as i mentioned before, given the right focus on execution, i believe that we can turn the electronics business around as well.

so between the electronics, the financial services, and electronics, i think it's a fantastic combination of businesses that we're in, as a sony group, and we want to make sure that, you know, we continue on the right path. >> kaz, you're a globally minded ceo at a japanese company at a critical time. i've talked to a few other japanese executives who say, we recognize that our companies, our culture has to change in this global economy. the idea of lifetime employment, the idea that we're going to do things just our own way has to shift. i know sony's been a bit different from that for a long time. but what more do you have to do at sony to really succeed long-term in this global market? >> i think one of the things that we need to do as a company, whether it's electronics or the other businesses that we're in, is really to make sure that our employees, whether they're japanese or non-japanese, really have an international perspective, and to be able to

really understand the individual market needs of countries and territories that, especially that we need to be in growth markets. and so, you know, it's making sure that we have a lot of the younger people spend more time outside of their home country, for example, sometimes outside of their comfort zone, in working other parts of the business. those are the kind of things that we need to focus on. >> mr. hirai, let me ask you quickly, we've been talking a lot about activist investors here, and sort of the reemergence of them. dan loeb said he had underwrite a rights offering for sony in the entertainment unit, that would give shareholders the opportunity to participate. he said his firm, third point, would be willing to buy up as much as $2 billion of the offering if there isn't demand elsewhere. are you planning to do that. >> again, it's something that was part of the proposal, and we, including the board, need to give it serious consideration, and then come to a decision and

move on. >> all right. we'll leave it there. good to have you on the program, sir. thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks, kaz. >> thanks, jon. >> jon fortt, thank you so much. we appreciate it. we have 15 minutes left before the closing bell. i thought that was such a gad point we made about the insurance business. >> why not just write insurance, making that much. >> by the way, we did lose ground. we were up 46 points a emt mome ago, coming back a little. two top money managers still see some big bargains. their top picks when we come back. >> and why the fast and furious rise and fall of japanese stocks this month could be a red flag for this market. back in a moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] every car we build must make adrenaline pump and pulses quicken. ♪ to help you not just to stay alive... but feel alive. the c-class is no exception.

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a quick glance, and you can see if you're on track. when the conversation turns to knowing where you stand, turn to us. wells fargo advisors. welcome back. after yesterday's selling, the market rallying today, putting major averages on track for a fourth gain for the week, in the last five weeks. >> seema mody breaks down today's big movers for us. a lot of them, seema. >> absolutely, bill. financial stocks leading this market higher, perhaps on anticipation that interest rates may move higher. bank of america hitting a new fresh 52-week high. jpmorgan also hitting a new all-time high. you can see up about 2% on the day. now, shares of the exchanges also in the green today. nasdaq's european futures

market, called the nlx launches tomorrow. up about 2% on the day. gold stocks surging on the back of that weaker dollar. bear gold, ken ross gold, and new month mining in the green today. and two big movers on the dow, that you've got to take a look at. ibm, the biggest gainer, despite a negative report from idc on server demand, and then there's walt disney, shares lower by about 2.5%. eoc catching the shares of winners. increasing its share buyback program to $6 billion by the end of 2015. also upping its quarterly cash dividend as well. and cit, gaining ground after it announced the termination of a written agreement by the federal reserve bank of new york that it has been operating under since 2009. this will free the company to start returning capital to shareholders. and lastly, here's a mover to the downside. take a look at big lots, shares getting hit. the discount retailer's forecast

for the current quarter and full year came in short of street expectations. stocks down about 9.5%. bill and maria, back to you. >> seema, thank you so much. the bias is to the downside here. >> it's a billion. >> to the sell side. we're seeing that in the markets right now. the dow really losing steam here quickly. >> we were negative on the open this morning, but this is about the lowest of the afternoon here, with a gain of just 39 points. >> we are certainly giving it up going into the close here with just ten minutes before the close. that bond collapse we keep hearing about, well, maybe not. a strong treasury sale today. charles schwab's kathy jones will talk to us about that next. stay with us. n: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed: the official retirement age. cnbc 0530 ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years.

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welcome back. the dow trying to close at record high today, although well off of the lows, the highs right now. look at what's happening as we approach this close. we had been up 90 points, just about an hour ago. we're talking about a decline from the highs, now up just 30 points on the dow jones industrial average. meanwhile, the move has been -- that's not coming at the expense of bonds. a lot of people thinking that it's going to come at the expense of bonds. but we're not seeing. treasury prices well off of their lows after a strong action of seven-year notes today. we want to talk about whether or not this is dampening all the

talk about a great rotation. >> is this the great rotation out of bonds and into stocks? kathy jones, fixed income strategist with charles schwab is back with us. what do you make of the demand for seven-year notes when the two-year was so weak. >> i think at the time, we were still dealing with the shock of what was going on with the fed, hinting, and then by the time the seven-year came around and we found the demand, because yields are back up, but i think people settled down and realized that bond yields still aren't going to go shooting up anytime soon. >> you're not expecting a big rotation of money coming out of the market? >> what we're seeing, really, is a lot of money coming out of cash and going into both stocks and bonds. >> that's been going on since november. we're not seeing this money coming out of the bond market. >> we are seeing a shift within the fixed income market. we're seeing people shift out of longer term bonds, into shorter term, into shorter term bonds, or the bond funds with shorter duration, or the things like

preferred shares or a little bit higher yields. we're not seeing people just abandon the fixed income market. >> you think corporate bonds are the way to go, if you're going to go for fixed income right now, right? >> yeah. we think fixed income still plays an important role in the portfolio. you can't substitute equities for bonds, right? but corporate bonds give you a little bit better yield than the treasury will. you don't have to take an extremely long duration position against the yield. >> and that's really where the yield is, in fixed income, in the corporate sector. let me ask you your take on the bernanke question. are you expecting the tapering to begin this year or next year? >> i think there's a good chance it starts, so they probably will tell us at the september meeting. we've had six months, where the average payroll is about 200,000, but it has slipped a little bit in the last couple of months. so we'll have to watch the revisions, see if it picks up again. if it picks up again and we're getting decent enough traction, i think they'll start to say, okay. they will start to go maybe from 85 billion a month to 65 or something like that later in the

year. >> so then there's money coming out of stocks and going into bonds. the opposite rotation. >> and i think one of the risks is, to the extent that quantitative easing is losing risk assets, you might have people coming out of risk assets after quantitative easing starts to taper down. but this is all really hypothetical. they haven't even started to taper down. they're only hinting at the possibility of maybe tapering down later in the year. >> playing a game of chicken. we'll take a break and come back with the closing countdown. >> jpmorgan's ceo jamie dimon says america may be in a better position today than it has ever been. our jeff cox warns of dark clouds on the horizon. why he doesn't share dimon's optimism. we'll talk about that coming up on the "closing bell." mine was earned in djibouti, africa. 2004.

vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999.

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[ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experienced pros with dedicated chats and daily live webinars. and trade with papermoney to test-drive the market. ♪ all on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. welcome back. heading toward the last minute of trade. this is what everybody is talking about this morning. japan last night, down 5%. it's down 15% since last thursday. just panicked selling in the equity markets there. so with 5% down last night, we should be lower too, right?

wrong. up 96% at the peak on the dow today. now we're starting to give it back right now. keith, what do you make of that? what happened? why the buying today? >> well, what i was saying before is that economic analysis really doesn't matter anymore. seemingly, this is the oddity of the equity market and what makes it so difficult to analyze and predict where the market the going to go right now is bad economic news is good for the equity markets. i mean, because of the fed backstopping every bad economic data point that we get. >> having said the that, though, you are closely watching tomorrow's personal income and personal spending numbers. >> because here's what's happening in the u.s. economy. one of the reasons that companies are still making money is the wealth effect has firmly taken hold with the u.s. consumer. that's only going to last so long. we have not had real wage growth in this country amidst many industries for a couple years now. at some point, that's going to have an effect. it doesn't matter what the equity market is doing. >> thanks, keith, very much. see you later. lately, the strength in the market has come during the last hour. the last few days, it's been the

other day around. we're well off the highs going into the close with the dow up only 25 points. we losing momentum? we'll know tomorrow when we get that first spending number as well. stay tuned. second hour of the closi"closin bell" with maria is coming up right now. i'll see you tomorrow. it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? the market rebounding after we saw yesterday's sell-off, however we saw a pretty good sell-off at the end of the day and the market closed well off the highs of the afternoon. take a look at how we're settling out on the street. the dow jones industrial average, having been up 90 points finishes up 23 points. nasdaq, up 23 points. it, too, off of the best levels of the afternoon. over the s&p 500, which finished at 1654. a fractional gain of six points on the session.