certain extent of 58 points. the winner of today's trading session, intel, walt disney, advanced micro, lennar and randgold. "street signs" begins now. usually we talk about tough love, the car, not the band. it's a good opening for our show today, folks, because everything is on the move today. stocks are soaring. many are calling it the bernanke rally. maybe it is, but we're going to show you how it could be simpler than that. gold is on the way up, oil back down. the dollar back up again. and a country that is addicted to debt, we've got a guest with three points on why

higher interest rates might actually be good for us. a little counter intuitive study there. by the way, speaking of points, that's what this is called. interactive digital street sign, the signs can move. we'll show you how it works and talk to the people who invented it. i've got breaking news. not to be a debbie downer, radio shack shares, they are getting hammered today. there is a report out right now that radio shack may have hired advisers in preparation for potential bankruptcy filing. again, this is coming from debt wire. so again, one source on the story. take it with a grain of salt, but you can see in the last few moments a big move in radio shack. again, one report they may be hiring advisers to explore a possible bankruptcy. we'll have more as the hour develops. >> brian, let's take a look at those markets because we've got records being broken all over the place today, including possible record closers for the dow and the s&p.

the year to date point gain for the dow that i have here behind me is already more than for any year on record. that's for points, folks, but nonetheless, a pretty impressive stat regardless. the nasdaq behind me up 11.4%. while it's not muas much as the 2000 high of 98. they're hitting it out of the park for the new all-time high for the fourth consecutive day. rick santelli and bertha and bob standing by. bob, you put out an interesting note this morning. you said this rally, whether it's bernanke inspired or whatever, there are a lot of traders who are kind of annoyed. why? >> they're annoyed because they're progress sefl shoively

bonds and they got blown out by bernanke yesterday. i want to explain what i think is going on here. it's certainly true mr. bernanke isn't saying anything different yesterday, but the psychological impacts is certainly very real here. and i think this highly accomodative comment he made is taking the edge off taper talk. everybody knows while tapering can still occur while the if he had remains highly accommodating. they can still taper, but it's taken the edge off that. you could just see the money coming into emerging markets. huge volume today in emerging markets. they wouldn't be doing that if they weren't feeling a little bit comfortable. bonds are up. i would love to hear what rick thinks. this is hardly a rally in the bond market overall. take a look at what's moving today. we get unusually heavy volume in the eem. big volume today. base metals, ddb. that's been a disaster the last two months.

homebuilders, doing very well. one group not doing well is banks. there's two reasons for that. tomorrow we start earnings season with wells fargo, jp morgan. almost invariably you sell going into the banking season. they have outperformed so there is another reason. finally we get a little yield curve flattening going on because of what mr. bernanke was saying, and i think that may be weighing in as well. back to you. >> rick, to bob's point a moment ago, it really does seem like bonds are not latching onto those bernanke comments the same way the stocks are. >> no, and i know bob said he didn't agree it's market manipulation. i'm sorry, i know there is negative connotations to that, but what else could it be? did the fundamentals of every stock change in the last 24 hours? it's manipulation, but it's government manipulation which is different than private sector manipulation. their new word for this is macro

prudential. look it up. he mentioned it last night. look at a two-day chart of 30s and a chart of 5s. it's really interesting because we're getting some curves steepening. bill gross of pemco has been tweeting for a while that if you want to go long looking for yields to fall, the five-year sector is the place. maybe his location isn't where it ought to be. i don't know where he is or isn't in. but his concept of the yield curve was definitely correct. there was too much flattening. five years moved the same amount of basis points in the last quarter as the 10s. we're normalizing that a little bit. the five-year is about six basis points away. >> thanks, rick. we're going to talk about whether or not we're giving the fed too much credit in terms of its market-moving abilities. but let's get the update on what's happening. commodity got oil trading but moving high. >> very different reactions to

the weaker dollar today. we did see imex crude top $107 a barrel, but it stalled out there and really sold off hard. in fact, what we have seen in the last couple days with the big move up at the front of the curve, we're really flattening today. that's where the selling was taking place. the september-october contract less so when you look out towards december. gold, very different story. gold moving up today strongly. a number of traders saying they were caught short and the shorts were squeezed on those dovish comments from bernanke, and we see silver moving near $20 again. mandy? >> over to you. >> let's talk about controversy here. when you talk about the fed in the market, watch out, because everybody comes out with their guns blazing, especially yesterday when i said going forward, that's the key, the fed

may be relevant. everybody knows the fed is pulling back, and there seems to be some confusion between what bernanke really said and what's going to happen. let's review. because there's something very important here, folks. the difference between tapering and tightening. with regards to tapering, winding down of qe, the fed has used terms like, we're going to step down the asset purchases, right, may 22nd. we're going to roll it back if the economy continues to improve. moderate is another word the fed used. if the economy gets better, it could moderate purchases. nothing has changed here. now, last night bernanke spoke. everybody got freaked out. but let's be clear. bernanke was talking about interest rates. that's tightening. they're only going to tighten if unemployment goes below 6.5%, if inflation runs above that 2.5% mark, right? from everything we've heard, it likely will be until 2015 where

interest rates actually go up. that's according to the feds' own market productions. again, no change. the bottom line is, according to bottom pesani, according to john hilsenrap, according to everyone we talked to, not much change last night with bernanke in terms of tightening and tapering. typeerring will end, tightening will likely not happen for two years. the difference between the two is very important. steve, if i'm wrong, i'm wrong. is this a fed-based rally? >> no, we think it's not, although clearly today it is just because everyone was so bearish about where the fed was going. but we think it's a rally based on fundamentals. growth will be coming through in the second half. maybe the market is starting to sniff that out. we think we're transitioning from the world is not ending tomorrow to the next phase, which is that, gee, we're actually going to grow again.

the fed is simply reacting to that, and we think the market may be smarter than people think it is, and the market is sniffing that out, too. >> we're finally moving on fundamentals. for the longest time, fundamentals were kind of pushed to the back burner. do you agree with steve, dave, that now we're finally moving on fundamentals getting better? >> i think it's 40% fed, 60% fundamentals, so i would be more in agreement, and specifically on the fundamentals. valuation, i think, is still more positive than not. as of today, the median company, median company in the standard & poor's 500 has a pricing ratio of about 15.5. i think that's pretty compelling. the typical company is generating a 16 to 17% return on equity, and briefly, when you talk about fed tapering, i'm in michigan, i'm in detroit, so it's the fed that was going at 80 miles an hour tapering to 65 miles an hour. that's not putting the brakes

on, it's simply a deceleration on a moderation. interest rates will still stay low, and the bond markets seem to have stabilized in the near term. >> nobody is saying the fed has not played a role in the last few years. in fact, i would argue myself the fed has been maybe 60% of this market the last few years. the point we were making yesterday is perhaps the fed's time has come and gone. i'm a pundit, mandy is a pundit, who cares what we think. you guys run money. are you anticipating any crazy changes from the fed in the next couple yeerars, or do you have idea what they may do? >> we think the tenure goes to 4.5% over the next ten years. we think it will do it gradually, and it will be doing it in the face of better economic growth and better earnings. we've got the s&p over 2,000 by

the end of next year. >> do you believe ben bernanke would like the 10-year to be that number in the next five years. >> if you've got his inflation target of 2%, which he hopes to achieve, you're at 4.5. 4.5 is not a crazy number for the 10-year, it's just that we've gotten so used to crazy numbers that it seems crazy now, but it's actually pretty normal. >> whatever, 60-40, 50-50, whatever the percentage makeup in terms of the feds here, what i get nervous about is these record highs. we hit these record highs and it seems very difficult to convincingly and sustainablely break through and hold higher. is there anything you see that could allow us to do that at this stage? >> i think back to the fact that stocks for the long term -- i'm talking about in the last few years, the longer term -- still being a mistrusted asset class

by both individual, and at times, institutional investors. i think that can be one of the key catalysts that will get stocks higher. as long as we continue to get good capital discipline out of corporate america, good return on investment capital, and i'm seeing that very much today, that can get the stock market to meaningfully higher levels, maybe the one -- >> what's meaningfully higher and a time frame? >> in the next year that we still see better than 10% returns in the stock market. if you compare that to the 3% or so yield in the investment grade stock market, that's still a compelling sign to stocks, i think that's a compelling to the alternative asset classes, especially given the liquidity in the stock market and a liquidity as an investment. i think one caution is this morning i saw individual investors, about 5% of them were now bullish.

less than 20% of them were bearish. i want to see the high yield bond market rally -- >> i was feeling bullish until i just heard that. >> that's at least in the near term. that's one note of caution. but absent that one note of caution, i think the very good performance of corporate united states, i think, and the mistrust of stocks is still, i think, the most compelling case why stocks would be the preferred asset of choice even though we've had this big sharp run in the last week or so. >> if earnings drive this market, steven, i hope they do, because i would love to get back to plain and simple fundamentals. how do you think the fed plays a role in manipulating earnings? >> not a lot. where they're going to manipulate earnings is where they can get this economy growing at a top line level of 3.9%, which we think will happen next year. these companies have really cut back on their cost structure, so

there is enormous amount of operating leverage right now in corporate america. if you do get some gdp growth and a little bit of nominal growth through inflation, that's all going to flow through the bottom line. i would say near term we have to get through this earning season. i don't think it's going to be a great earning season, so we may tread water for the next few months, but we're a buyer on dips in this market, and i think once those earnings start really powering through, the valuation on the market will also go higher. so you get kind of the kick of both valuation and earnings. >> so the bar is quite low. you see the s&p, steve, at 2,000 in 18 months. to both of you, thank you so much. >> my pleasure, thank you. as the markets march on the way to a record, we'll have a special tonight hosted by maria bartiromo and bill griffeth. get ready for higher gas prices. is there really such a thing as tipping point in prices anymore,

or have we all just collectively learned to deal with higher prices? and king dollar is having a bad day. the worst drop in six months. is that a good time to get in? tweet us and give us your thoughts. you can also check us out on facebook. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data.

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oil touching its highest level since march of 2012.

it has since turned down a bit, but still, either way, oil is up, and guess what? gas prices are going to jump right around the corner. phil labeau is in chicago where they're already seeing $4 a gallon. a couple years ago, we would say $4 a gallon is going to destroy the economy. here we are again, i know inflation is probably equivalent to five years ago, but why aren't we talking about that impact now? >> because we've become accustomed to it, brian. that's basically what's going on. when you look at the national average for gasoline prices right now, it's up compared to last year. according to aaa, the average on a nationwide basis is 3.51. out west there are parts going for $5, but that's to last you nationwide. analysts do expect gas prices to spike anywhere from 10 to 20 cents in the near future. let's say the next week to two weeks as the near future. analysts say the spike in gas prices is due to that surge in oil prices that you touched on in the very beginning, brian.

the higher gas prices, however, is not expected to hurt demand for crossovers and suvs. it's all about becoming accustomed to those higher gas prices. most in the auto industry believe you would have to see the gas industry hit nationwide $5 a gallon to hurt demand, and take a look at sales this year. i think a lot of people are surprised when you say, suvs, crossove crossovers, they're selling like hotcakes. look at suvs and cuvs, that's up 12.9%. i want to show you shares of ford because this stock hit a new 52-week high of $16.98. it's near $17, and we have not seen it at $17 since 1998. >> that's a good segment. it also leads to the question, if hotcake sales do well, what do we compare them to, phil? don't answer that. >> i won't.

let's find out where gasoline prices are going. let's bring in president and ceo of brightman oil and gas. steve, i want to get to you first of all. it is getting a bit of a reprieve, but is the trend still higher? >> the trend is absolutely still higher right now. yes, we have it pulled back today but we had a massive spike yesterday and that's been the trend now. we have three key drivers pushing oil prices high. first and foremost, it's good old-fashioned supply and demand at this point. over the past four months, we've seen more than a $2 a day increase in the throughput, so the amount we're pushing through our refineries is significant. that's our fourth highest demand on record. what this is reflective of is the forward curve in prices. given the structure of the market, it's gone parabolic

where oil today is more expensive than tomorrow. you want to dump those barrels into market, and hence, over the past two weeks, we got a $20 mill million drawdown. then you put in that disaster in quebec, and the eastern refineries are now in doubt. so there are serious concerns with regard to the underlying supply and demand. now you add in the speculators who recognize this pending impala long with reallocation. for instance, from the start of the year, we've seen a mass si shift out of the natural gas market from wall street money and into the wti market. so they're clearly fueling this pending imbalance. then, of course, we have a potential black swan with egypt. there are a lot of headlines, a lot of underlying fundamentals that are keeping prices high. can they stay high?

yes. >> you got supply, speculators, swans? chris, do you agree? we're going higher? >> i do agree. we're seeing a 10% spike over last month. oil remains pretty robust even with the comedown today. the reality is we're moving oil around the united states more fluidly, so the idea of drill, baby, drill is now ship, baby, ship. we're moving oil from the backlog and getting it to ref e refineri refineries, and i think what you're seeing with the disappearance is our oil is syncing up a bit with the global market. you talk about egypt, egypt is not moving a lot of oil. they have the suez canal where 4 billion barrels of oil moves every day. i think the reality is here the united states, wti decoupled because of infrastructure complaints, and we saw that big

delta improving over the last couple years. you're seeing the refinery inputs at an all-time high since 2007 because of demand of gasoline going through the summer, so a number of things happening positively on shore, too. >> i want both of you to tell me your targets for oil. chris, you go first. >> i think we'll see oil at about $100. i think it's still a 95 to $100 commodity going into the end of the year. >> steve, ten seconds. >> i agree with that 95 to 100. i think we're overpriced right now because the consumer can't stand the spike in prices, but we can easily get another 10 to $15 out of this market. >> trend is high, according to both of you. coming up next, it is a good day to be a gold bug. and is his long rein coming to an end?

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and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. pretty good day to be in gold, for once. it's up 33%. gold over $100 since its

all-time low. frank, what say you? >> hello, brian. i'm feeling much better that we got the wind behind our back as we go into what i like to call the love trade demand, the season that comes out of asia. right now we're in romodon. it started last week. >> china is slowing down, yet those were the cases they made on the bull side, so why are they going to bring us down on the bear side? >> that's a good question, and what you've seen is gold assets have been liquidated. physical demand has picked up, so gold is going into very strong hands. you'll see it in india and all the milddle east and china. physical demand has been very robust. in fact, shanghai delivery of gold contracts is basically 50% of all the gold production year to date. so there is strong demand for

the physical element. >> okay, so where do you see gold going, then? >> well, what i always look at are two factors, the fear trade which we often focus on here on negative interest rates and m monetizing at the debt. the other part is the love trade. it picks up steam around july and august and runs to the chinese new year. will it be as great as previous cycles? i don't think so because the gdp in china is flat. it usually has a very strong love trade dynamic to it. i remain bullish, but i instruct investors just have a 5% in gold and rebalance. the u.s. dollar is down today, but it is up nearly 5% this year. is now the time to buy the dollar? let's ask managing director at

bk asset management. is this king losing its crown or is it time to double down on it? >> i think it's a great time to go long dollars, mandy. i think we've had a nice little pullback, and even today while the dollar is down, you've seen some really significant reversals which tells us investors are not ready to give up on the long dollar trade yet. i think they look at this as an opportunity to come into the greenback at lower levels. i like it quite a bit and i would be a buyer at current levels. >> so against which particular currencies do you think you would get the most bang for your buck? >> i like against the euro, against sterling. i think those are the nicest opportunities, and the reason for that is the largest monetary diversions are beginning to happen in those parts of the world. we have a story of not only growth moving in different directions, but the u.s. economy for the most part, good data tells us recovery in the labor market is intact even though we did have a bump in java's

claims, so i think if we stick to the euro/dollar, i think that's the trade to be in. >> why not buy the dollar in the commodity currencies? they're coming apart at the seams, and as commodities go higher, the dollar goes lower, no? >> the reason i'm a little concerned about that is there are record amount of shorts right now, so i feel like everyone who wants to be short is already short. the question is, when will the real money players come to market? it's still expensive for them to sell money terms in the long term because they're still potentially higher than the u.s. yield. i think from that perspective, you're not necessarily going to see as much downside opportunity as the euro/dollar, for example. we get 1.26.

>> thank you very much for that, kathy. nokia unveiling a new version of the best smartphone that, brian, i think you said is one of your favorite smartphones, but unfortunately, no one is buying it. we're doing a little myth busting on higher mortgage rates. while slightly higher, though historically low interest rates should not impact housing. do you agree? good. tune in. we're back after this. she knows you like no one else.

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before we get to "street squawk," amazon is currently at $300.33. it is crossing $300 a share for the first time and it is up year to date. let's get to stock number one, which is black rock. >> an overrate rating. they see plenty of long-term revenue growth. driving management fees, black

rock up 24% year to date already. stock up 1.5% on the day. >> take a look at stock number 2, which is young brands. china is always the key for this stock. >> always the key because they've had a real disastrous times with food safety concerns. they beat revenues, though, slightly shy of consensus. however, the restaurant operator does project positive comps for china in the fourth quarter. goldman sachs agrees. they see a turn. let's hope so. >> and walgreen's, everybody loves a big dividend, don't they? >> the new dividend payable the 12th, but you have to own a stock buy. i just checked before i came out here, i believe it is the single best performing stock in the s&p 500 this week. >> stock number 4, which is

steinway music hall. >> $35 a share, 33% premium. you can see the stock above the average price. that's what makes this an interesting story. who would have thunk it? the stock went like this even before the offer. >> launching their latest version of the lumia smartphone today. >> some people are calling this a camera that just happens to have a phone on it. the camera, 41 megapixels, i'm not kidding. sells exclusively in the u.s. about $299. lumia for nokia. you need basic applications. people with smartphones aren't going to buy it. there you go. before we go to break, let's check this out. this is a hovercraft for a golf course in a club in ohio.

they just bought two of them. so soon, if you golf at the springfield golf course, you're going to be able to rent those babies. they were originally made famous by a viral video starring golfer bubba watson. it will cost golfers $200 per round to rent. the company won't say how much they paid for them, only that it cost about 10 times more than a regular. still abide by golf rules, though. don't go over sand traps. i wouldn't even golf. >> that whatever you call it, bladder of rubber or whatever. okay. >> i believe that's the hover. >> that's the hover. >> in the hovercraft. >> is the name called the hover? you hover, i hover, they hover. on deck, moguls and mergers and media, oh, my. jack dorsey all atwitter. here's a hint for you.

don't say we didn't warn you. could rising rates in mortgage rates actually be a good thing for you? our guest says yeah. he'll make the case in a moment. long day for bill griffeth, by the way, with a special today, too. >> aits special on wall street so we have a special tonight, but first we get to what's coming up on "closing bell." an all-time high for the dow as we enter this final area of trading. big rally today on its reorganization plan. we're going to look at the charts and see whether it's time to buy this, still, or is it time to take profits? also, the big banks kick off their earnings tomorrow morning. we'll look at whether the results will fuel the next leg of this rally. and just because we could, he have ultra bear harry dent to explain why investors should be taking profits now before the market crashes. we look forward to seeing you at the top of the hour, and on the

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dramatic incident in china where heavy rain triggered flooding. this happened in the southwest part of the country. as you can see there on your screen, whole buildings have been just swept away in the fast-moving waters. at least 40 people have been killed. elsewhere floods washed out bridges and caused landslides. this all happened in the same area, by the way, that was hit by a massive earthquake just five years ago. >> that is tough. wow. earlier this week, we told you that three of the best-performing s&p 500 stocks happened to be media companies. we asked whether consolidation, more of it, is in the cards. that is exactly a big talk at a conference in sun valley, idaho where tough titans are rubbing elbows with the moguls. julia, welcome. >> reporter: well, brian, if liberty's john malone has his way, the cable industry is about to see some major consolidation.

he says that is absolutely necessary. he says that comcast is big enough to be okay, but time warner cable and other cable companies like charter, of which he owns 27%, need to merge or create joint ventures. >> scale economics in the media business drives down costs and makes it possible for larger investment. so to me, in order to improve the services to the consumer, you need larger -- i'm not saying monopoly players, but you need larger players who are able to make bigger, longer term investments. >> with deep-pocketed traditional media companies here from disney to rupert murdoch, everybody is wondering which start-up will catch the eye of digital media. >> i believe all the media

companies will move toward this space. it's already happening. you hear about investments day in and day out, but the time warner studio is not the big one. >> reporter: this morning the president peno is speaking and there was a talk on growth by mark zuckerberg, mike bloomberg. the digital techs i've been speaking to both tell me they're op optimistic. >> let us bring in amy young. she covers everything from cablevision to dish to comcast which, by the way, is the owner of our parent company, nbc universal. i notice your price is below the price at which cablevision is currently trading. does that mean you think media's

run is done? >> i don't think so at all. i think all the companies in the stocks are going to continue to work into this wave of cable consolidation. now that you have malone back in the industry, there is going to be a lot of talk on m and a, and i think there will be increased confidence that he can actually consolidate the industry further. so i think the stocks are only going up higher. >> so which do you think have the most likelihood of being combined or merged or acquired or whatever? what combinations are we looking at? >> i think there are a lot of combinations. you could look at a time warner-cable vision, and also dish and dtv. there is a lot of different combinations that can happen. >> which would be first? which would be best? >> i think malone now owns a steak in chart stake in charter, he's going to use that as an acquisition charter. probably the first one to go is charter and time warner cable. >> amy young, appreciate your time today. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you.

up next, we have to face it. we are addicted to debt. why americans' urge to splurge might be setting the stage for a credit crunch again. "street signs" back right after the break. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine.

as we showed you yesterday, we are apparently seeing proof that high interest rates have an impact on the housing market, but in a minute we may show you just how ridiculous that may be. a slow upswing now. it was doing this and now it's doing this. >> rates moved higher last week and last night after we heard from fed chairman ben bernanke, but they have apparently edged off last night's highs from where they were during the day. he has a fixed for the week ending today at .08 points up front or $800 for every 100k of financing. that's up from the past week. last year it was at 3.56%. if you don't want to pay any points, you're looking at about

4.625. how is this jump of over a full percentage point in the past six weeks affecting housing? well, some say it's causing a near term rush to buy. and you can actually see that in these weekly sales numbers from dataquick. they past 30 days of sales. you can see, it has been rising steadily. and in the past four weeks, you can see the median price coming down year over year. we expect to see this as higher rates take away from how much you can afford. so some buyers may be opting for lower priced homes which would skew that median lower and again, the median year over year. one interesting note from red fin, a real estate company in california, they say the number of bidding wars trailed off in the last month after rising pretty dramatically in the first part of this year. so a lot of very differing reactions to all these rates. it is quite an argument, brian. >> it certainly is. thank you very much. the question is why though slightly higher, very low

historic rates impact housing. take this hypothetical. put 20% down, $320,000 mortgage. if you have 3.5% mortgage rate you pay about $1437 a month. if rates good to 4.5%, you pay $184 more a month. if you make about a hundred grand a year, which you should to buy a $400,000 home, by wait, that's only about 3% of your post tax income. right? and if 184 bucks a month will make or break you, you might want to rethink buying that home because as homeowner, i can tell you, stuff happens. sometimes drains back up. with us now, david castillo and shar sharon. david, why is this good for us. >> we are multigenerational lows as far as interest rates. and we have seen the economic activity that has come as a result of that. through the qe funding that's

gone on. so in my opinion, as we are moving forward and rates are rising higher, clearly bernanke is looking at the economy improving. people go back and look at revisions coming up and personal income and gdp. unemployment rate dropped significantly. clearly higher rates are indicative that we have higher inflation rates and that is good for economy and for housing. >> also as rates go up, wouldn't you also say there is a possibility that we could see lenders ease up to compensate for the fact that rates are going up. they don't want to see everything dry up. >> that's exactly what will happen, mandy. you hit the nail on the head. refinance business has been about 75% of the business. and mortgage brokers and bankers are sales people. they are paid to sell loans. that is going away because rates are going up so what they are

doing is figuring outweig ways buy. >> sherry, lesson, i'm sure i tick some people off with that analysis that we did but do you agree that if 150 or $180 bucks a month will break you, rethink the purchase. what if your air conditionser goes out, hot water heater, leaky roof. if that's the difference, you are stretching yourself too thin. >> not so much, broi an. >> what do you mean, not so much. >> it is not like a mercedes. you have to live somewhere. it is a matter of buying an affordable home. as more and more investors have jumped in and driven prices up, rental rates are up too. so rental rates are up more than -- >> but if $184 a month is going to decide whether you can afford the home, you can't afford that home. >> well you buy a less expensive home like diana said. that's why we are seeing more

movement in the lower priced homes now. you have to live somewhere. i'm cautiously optimistic that most average americans who are moving off the fence now, are looking to lock in their rates instead of maybe looking to adjustable rates. but i'm optimistic they have learned over the last few years that this time period you should use to increase credit score, save your down payment, educate yourself about finance. and that's how you make sure you qualify for the absolute best rates. so hopefully you can save yourself some of that added spread. >> so you maybe just down size a bit. david, you have been in agreement on sherry. >> completely. >> there is greater availability, lots of alternatives these days, right? >> tremendous amount of alternatives. remember, when we think about who is originating mortgages and what we have in the process, u.s. banks are in better shape than they have been in a long time. the financial system is in bet are than than it has been in a while. right now is the time to begin opening up credit. after we have come through this almost reset button through the

crisis. >> you were out there a couple years ago. you were right. do you think we have learned anything in seems we are just inching our way back to 2007 here. >> i totally disagree. >> why? how dare you! >> how dare me? the american finance industry has done more to create credit opportunity for americans and american businesses than any other system in the world. [ inaudible ] >> seems like we are all employed here. all working. so it is my opinion that, i think it is a good thing. i do think it is a good thing. >> okay. >> then there are other things. think about it, with rising rates with mortgages, you will attract other outside investors. other investors participating. >> so bottom line, don't fear rising rates but what about quick rising rates and is that a possibility? >> that is painful and only helpful for the i goes on wall street. >> does the higher rate hurt the investor buyer? if you rent your place out, have you a portion that knocks out

those that don't just want it rent. >> the prices they are paying are going up faster than rents they can gather. >> thank you very much. and we are going really high-tech right now. the story behind this. my mantra?

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what's more fitting than a street sign for "street signs." this is the most advanced sign on earth. it is called point and it is from founders of breakfast new york. we have michael lipton, andrew and matias. i hope i'm pronouncing that correctly. michael, who would want one of these? who is buying. >> i think a broad range of people. making sense in downtown where tourists want it find their way but also in airports where you want it know where flights are and delays. theme parks. what are the attractions and waits. >> have you had any demand. >> quite a reaction. few honey mails the last few

weeks since we went live. we are very excited to talk to client about potential uses for it. >> i just played with the point stick. anything you program. the bar, city can program it and point you into that direction. >> right and not just any bar but the trending bar. >> ma sassage parlor, anything. done. >> i hope you do these here in new york. thanks, guys. good luck. >> thanks. >> thanks, guys. >>. . hi, everybody, welcome to "closing bell." we're at the new york stock exchange. this market on track for a record high close now up better than 1%. >> all 30 dow components have been trading higher so far today and s&p's in the green for the sixth straight day. the dow and s&p a