row, all-time highs. >> i think we'll have to resuscitate the honey badger rally. remember, we said it's the honey badger stock market? >> yes. >> it doesn't give up -- you know, whatever. this is now officially honey badger. while you're getting the turnish bath, i'll be hosting the report 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. >> it's an australian bath. >> bye. hi, everybody. happy monday. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. the dow, s&p 500 trying to keep it going, a third-straight record high close. bill, the rally rolls on. >> so far, happy twinkie day, by the way, maria. >> and to you! >> i'm bill griffeth here at cnbc global headquarters. the banks have been leading the gains such as they are today after the better than expected earnings from citigroup. even though we are in unchartered territory -- we're in all-time high territory -- there doesn't seem to be a lot of excitement about this rally.

we'll look at whether this now will officially be called the most unloved bull market ever. >> it has been, that's for sure. let's check where we stand as we approach the final hour for a monday afternoon on wall street. the dow jones industrials average is now sitting at the highest levels of the afternoon with a gain in the session of 38 points. .25% higher. 15,503. yes, unchartered territory. nasdaq still 13-year high, up 8 points, .25%. and the s&p 500, where it is also rolling around the record books here with a gain of 3 points, unchartered territory, as well, at 1,683. bill? so will the records continue into this week? the dow and s&p 500 on pace to close at all-time highs for the third day in a row. joining us to break it down is danielle hughes that divine capital, michael and stan from s&p capital iq and our own bob pisani. >> welcome, everybody. >> sam, let me kick it off with you. we're at the beginning of a week that will be very, very busy in

terms of earnings. what's your latest status check? >> the profit picture continues to creep its way higher. at the beginning, s&p capital iq thought we'd see 2.8%. now it's 3.2%. and historically, basically you add four percentage points to the original estimate, and you'll come up with what is the actual number by the end of the quarter. so probably 6% to 7% range when all is said and done. >> the bottom line is the fundamentals are supporting this rally? >> so far, yes. >> bill. >> danny, you like this market. we've talked about that a lot. but why doesn't the public in general like -- why is this an unloved rally in your view? >> because the economic news has been bad. the economic news bad equals good for the stock market. so that dichotomy is just not playing well with investors, unfortunately. look, retail sales for june were a disappointment. china, even though they came in at expectations for their gdp at 7.5%, still people want to see

more. and they're just not seeing it in their hometown, and i think that's why it's not equating very well. >> it's interesting. everybody's looking around the corner for the next sell-off. and that's one of the reasons that ralph, one of the leading technicians out there, says the rally has legs continuing. michael, would you put new money to work here? >> yeah, i probably would. i'd probably put it to work in stuff that hasn't worked. jeff cox has an incredibly, i think, wise article on cnbc.com right now talking with this unloved rally you've been talking about. the things like emerging markets, like dividends, diversification it has not worked in this rally. and i think that what you need to do is buy things that haven't worked. this reminds me a lot of the tech rally when the s&p was essentially dead compared to technology. everybody said you pile everything into tech. that's not going to last forever. the low quality is not going to lead this market forever. so i think you do put money in. but you put it in more defensive assets. >> speaking of emerging markets, bob, the chinese gdp number was right on the button, wasn't it?

>> thank you for that opening. 7.5% was exactly what the chinese government was predicting it would be. of course, a lot of question on friday when the finance minister appears to have come out and said the number could be closer to $6.5% to 7%. and people were saying he was sent out to lower expectations. the chinese news agency corrected him and reminded him the official number was 7.5%, and that's where it came in. the emerging markets, just quickly, a lot of people argue that materials, which are the big underperformer on the global slowdown, that's actually the group you want to consider on a second-half improvement on the global economy. i know defensive names -- i heard michael mention them -- are hot now, but materials have underperformed. and it's buy low, sell high, remember? >> bob, in terms of valuations. what are folks telling you after this pretty good move to record territory? at this point, you're still talking about a market that is not overvalued compared to past years, right? >> ye

>> yeah, 14, 15 times forward earnings. sam will tell you that. the problem is figuring out how do you feel about global growth in the second half of the year and about the u.s. economy? we've had a lot disappointment with retail sales today. that's a bit of a problem. some people are lowering their estimates in the second quarter. i think the bottom line right now is, if you can answer how the global growth situation, you have an opinion on that, then you can invest accordingly. if you're bullish on that or feel it will improve, like i said, materials are the undervalued group right now. >> let's bring in another guest, a guy i have known since i was in junior high school, it had to be about that time, john rut len -- rutledge, you are, what, chief investment straight jeff at, what is safand? >> in geneva, switzerland, private equity, real estate, all sorts of securities anywhere in the world. >> cool. what are we to make of china right now? are they with us or against us economically here? >> well, you know, i think

probably the issue is that we have become overdependent on chinese growth. 7.5% in china is slower. it's not a crash. the retail sales there are doing fine. the consumer's doing fine. a little less fixed assets, real estate's strong. the problem is more than half of the s&p earnings are offshore, and the emerging markets, or a lot of it, the fed ending quantitative easing is jerking the rates up, pulling capital flows back from emerging markets, and hurting their currencies, their economies, and their stock market. it's a dangerous market to invest in. >> right. >> but i don't think it's the end of the world. >> so what are the catalysts now for this market, you think? is it earnings? is it more commentary from the fed? what would you say, dan ni? what will be the next catalyst to move the market? >> i think jobs is a big, big, big, big story. i think if we can see more jobs -- not just temporary jobs, though. we want to see big companies investing in longer-term jobs, everywhere in america, globally,

that i think is the big story to move this market. >> sam stovall, how do you guys view china? i mean, since we got a china expert here with john, and we were all on friday focusing on what the gdp number would be, they had retail sales, all kinds of data coming out of china, and its impact on our economy and our exports. what role does that play in the numbers that you guys at s&p capital iq put together? >> well, knowing that they come from the government, it's sort of hard not to assume that those numbers are going to come in as expected. i think we also have to decide, you can't ignore them either. i would say that the key word that you could look toward china, emerging markets, and europe is troughing. the expectations are for troughing gdp sometime this year. and slowly working our way higher, and so, i would tend to say, as dani has just mentioned, the expectation, we could see an improvement in global economic

growth. growth insight is looking at about 2% in the fourth quarter for the developed nations around the world. 5.3 on both quartering for the emerging markets. so still, the possibility of improving economic growth this year. >> what did you make of that china gdp number, bob? we were waiting for the china number. there's still a debate out there whether or not we can believe these numbers. >> yeah, there was a lot of, shall we say, skepticism, because when the finance minister made his comments, he appeared to be lowering expect igs as, instead of 7.5%, more towards 7%. over the weekend, he was corrected, the chinese news media simply announced that it's actually 7.5%. they literally changed what he said. >> right. >> i'm not joking. they literally changed what he said. >> yeah, the media changed what they said. >> that's pretty amazing. and remarkably, it came in exactly in line with expectations. here's the point, and i think john had a good point herement

the idea is buy low and sell high. so emerging markets have dramatically underperformed so far. materials have dramatically underperformed. if you believe, as sam said, the second half global improvement, that's the place to go. if you think it's nonsense, and a lot of people don't think there will be growth, then stay away from it. the defensive stocks have had a great run. you're not buying low on defensive in any way. >> john, what kind of monetary policy should we expect from the chinese going forward? they have a debt problem like everybody else does these days. they have a growth problem right now. what do you expect them to do down the road? >> well, i don't think they're worried about debt. they worry a little -- they worry a lot about corruption. they're worried a lot about the regional economies or the provinces. but i think that the pullback of capital flows from emerging markets at the end of quantitative easing is really taking the pressure off of the currency, which means i think the currency will not appreciate going forward.

and that china will continue its efforts to redeploy its foreign reserves into real businesses, which they call going out program. so it's investing outside, buying companies outside, and so forth. the improvement in the developed countries is really the u.s. europe is still going nowhere. japan is sputtering, and the u.s. improvement is real. but what people have not focused on, we talked about this recently, is that the end of qe is not just stopping buying. the fed has to sell $3 trillion worth of securities sometime in the next few years. that's going to make people choke when they hear it, push the rates up higher, pulls capital back out again. >> why do they have to sell any securities? they've already indicated, mr. bernanke has already indicated that he may hold to maturity. >> holding to maturity does not stop the fact that when the securities leave their balance sheet, even at maturity, it will shrink bank reserves, so that's a sell of a security. the fed has to sell $3 trillion

worth of balance sheet sometime in the next few years. >> hmm. all right. we'll leave it there. thank you, everybody. >> thanks, folks. good to see you, john. before we go, we take a look at the food stocks, whole food, general mill, tyson foods, all hitting all-time highs today, maria. all-time highs on the food stocks. >> a big move. >> that's a defensive play, that would be. >> a defensive play, but you have some of the growth stories on the move. the dow jones industrials up 45 points. unchartered territory. about 45 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. and shares of citi up slightly thanks to the better-than-expected earnings, but there's more to the story than the headline numbers. the real scoop on citi is coming up next on "closing bell." and then, don't tell the kids, but it's already the back-to-school retail season. coming up, our retail experts will grade each school's back-to-school plan. and the question again. is this the most unloved rally in history, as they go to new music? major indices hitting new ehigh

again. where is all of the excitement? it's right here on the "closing bell." ♪ satisfaction

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>>. >> welcome back. the banks have been leading the charge today on wall street. citi became the latest financial giant to beat earnings expectations. kayla has the details for us. >> reporter: bill, city's new management made new promises in the back half of last year, and today's report is seen by investors as delivering on those promises. two quarters of consistent earnings and already near some targets set for 2015. the bank's bottom line in q2 got a boost as fewer loans and mortgages went bad and the value of its existing portfolio rose. the bad bank citi's holding nearly five years old shrunk by a third. profit in the investment bank jumped on trading revenues and

the investment bank is or near regulatory capital ratios thanks to deals that closed in the quarter. it wasn't all rosy, though. citi cautioned on the u.s. consumer and investors questioned the bank's mix of exposure to emerging markets that make up roughly half of the bank's revenues. in the emerging markets, the growth slowdown was front and sent ert on the company's earnings call, especially in the wake of china's gdp number. they say it will weigh on earnings. growth in mexico will be weak. the macro concerns aren't small. but they did pale in comparison to the bank's strength in executing its own strategy. paring down branches and shaving exmenti expenses, and the shareholders will win shares, 2% intraday, so executing on being boring if that's the goal. halfway through bank earnings, bright spots. goldman sachs, bank of america, morgan stanley still to come. an interesting start to the week. bill and maria, back to you. >> kayla, thanks very much.

let's zero in on citi. does the good outweigh the bad that she just highlighted on the banking giant? joining us, a couple of bulls on this stock, anton and fred. anton, why do you like citi? are they back? can we just say citi is back? >> well, citi was a tremendous value, and they've, you know, obviously delivered on some of the operational issues, getting the bad bank holdings down, getting eck pences in line. those were important metrics. and capital has been built off the lows. back to where they're almost compliant with 2018 regulations. so the real, you know, juice is yet to come. and showing us earnings power that citi can earn over $6 a share in the future in 2015 or beyond really makes the stock very cheap. and it still trades at or below tangible book value. >> fred, what about you? i mean, for a long time we were talking about how the ceo was separating good bank from bad bank. where are they in terms of their

strategy and what do you think needs to be done at this point to keep this momentum alive? >> well, stay boring, i think, is the right term. really, there's two stories at citi. there's the restructuring story that anton is focused on and then the exposure. we believe the restructuring trumps the emerging markets. and they're executing on what they need to do. get out of businesses that don't make regular returns, control cost, get credit better, which is good, because home prices are improving in the u.s. and good -- address the deferred tax asset, which is a hidden problem at citi. we can't ignore it. >> all right. guys, like you said, both of you are bulls on this stock. we beat the bushes all day today. looking for a bear on this. i mean, this is sort of ironic, because a couple of years ago, we couldn't find anybody that liked this stock. now we couldn't find anybody that doesn't like it, except for zach care bell, who's out there somewhere driving around, so we had to have him call in to tell us why he doesn't like citigroup.

zach, i hope you have your earpiece and you're not holding your phone as you're living along. why don't you like citigroup right now? >> i've pulled over. i'm in witness protection because of it. >> oh, yeah. >> i had to flee the city. no pun intended. you know, my issue with citi is similar to with any of the large mega banks. you know, the financial services industry had a massive expansionary period from the mid-1980s through 2008. these stocks were then priced for an implosion, a collapse, the bankruptcy, the nationalization of 2009 into '10 and recovered with the recognition they'll be with us as steady, necessary performers in our economy. but they are in no way going to be an expansionary period, nor should we hope they are for the sake of financial health for the -- for the economic system as a whole. so i don't see why would you buy one of these large companies whose stocks have recovered massively. these were great trades in 2010. when they are tethered to what i

believe is an industry that is at very best going to flatline and still likely going to overall consolidate and shrink. >> all right. >> all right. zach, thank you very much. >> thank you, zach. go back to your drive now. >> and, fred, your commentary on what, you know, zach just told us, because, anton, aren't we talking about a different industry today than just five, six years ago, given the regulatory pressure, given the capital pressure? >> requirements, yeah. >> how do you respond to zach and the larger regulatory question? >> zach is right about some of the points, and very strongly right about some of the points. but these stocks are incredibly cheap to where they've been, and they're incredibly cheap to where they're going still. you know, citi clearly will never earn upper teens returns again given the capital it's going to have to carry. but midteens returns are possible, and cost cutting will get it there. you know, the interesting thing is the big banks are reporting very strong earnings without a

lot of loan growth happening. they've all been restructuring stories. if we ever get this economy growing, i mean, gdp this quarter is a disaster in my opinion, you really are going to get earnings. the yield curve isn't going to help until libor starts rising. so a whole bunch of stuff to come here and the banks don't have to do anything heroic to get the earnings into the future. that's why the generalists are buying the stocks now. by the way, i've been recommending citi for a few years now. so at least i was one of the few who liked it thin and actually i still like it now. >> yeah, you have. we'll give you that. fred, what about you? part of zach's feeling is that it has had quite a ride. all of the good news may be in this stock already, and maybe from now on if it's overregulated and having to meet too many capital requirements, it is going to be boring and not return that much to the investors. >> well, i think that -- that is certainly true, per anton's point. they won't be earning 30% returns with a 2% capital base anymore. but if they can continue to make the progress, the stock's good -- yes, it has quite a run,

but it's still below tangible book value, it has a long way to book value, and can get to a reasonable returns in a regulated environment, there is still upside for the stock. >> anton, real quick, what other bank stocks should we keep an eye on during the earnings season? >> well, i think the ones that can outperform may not be this earnings season. i think it has to be over time. i like regions and mmt a great deal, and those are regional banks with a lot of wind in their sails. you know, mmt with the closure of hudson city coming down the world and regions with a lot of credit leverage to housing. >> all right. thank you, guys. >> thank you, gentlemen. >> pleasure. heading toward the close. about 40 minutes left in the trading session. the dow and s&p positive. all you need is a positive close. we'll still be in record territory for these major averages, maria. >> it looks like, bill, from down here, the traders, art cash, it's to the buy side. looking at interest going into the close.

both indices traying for the third straight record close. where is the excitement? meantime, hewlett-packard is beefing up its board by adding three big-name directors. we'll talk to a market expert who says this will keep the year's hottest dow component in rally mode. plus, it's a home page makeover. check out the new and improved cnbc.com. >> it is awesome, by the way. >> "closing bell" comes right back. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪

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? >> the nasdaq trying to close at a fresh 13-year high. high, seema. >> hi, maria. let's start with blackberry. the price at q-10 has been cut in half, now selling for $99. blackberry says with the recent arrival of the q-10, now is the right time to adjust the price of the glchlt. >>-10. shares of blackberry higher. other tech stocks getting a bid. google, microsoft, amazon, hitting all-time highs. and tesla replacing oracle in the nasdaq 100. oracle, which moved its listing from the nasdaq to the new york stock exchange is trading higher by around 2% on the day. and lastly, apple in focus. channel checks from jeffries analyst indicates the iphone 5s production will start later this month. they believe it will be available late september or early october. bill? >> all right, seema, thank you very much. hewlett-packard announce three new board members.

they are robert bennett, ray ozzie, there they are, and james skinner. and there are plans to continue to search for additional directors in the coming months. now, shares of the tech giant are up 85% so far this year. it is the best performing dow component of 2013 so far. the question is, can that rally continue? let's talk numbers on hpq. on the technical side, abigail and the fundamental side steve cortese. steve, this is a classic day of the dog of the dow. it was last year's worst performer in the components, and this year, it is the best performer. can that continue, do you think? >> bill, i don't think so. and exactly as you say, with the dog of the dow, the time to buy it is when it's a dog, not a high-flying racehorse, which is what this has been. i don't think it's justified. is it good they're adding board members? yes. but let's remember this board is so dysfunctional and has acted so poorly with rekrim nations and back biting and private investigators for years, that it

would take an entire episode of "dr. phil" to get these guys to start cooperating again. i think the board is generally not to be trusted. more importantly, hp is in the wrong business. this is still a pc company operating in a tablet and mobile world. >> how does the chart look, abigail? >> the charts are telling a different story than steve. they are saying that the worst is behind for hpq, and that investors are looking forward toward the results of the ongoing turnaround. we could see shares climb up toward 30 by the end of 2013. when we pull up a two-year chart of hpq, we see that its brutal downtrend is reversing. buyers are wrestling successfully for control from sellers. behind this reversal and move up, a bullish falling wedge. it is slingshotting shares up towards its target of 50. maybe we see that within two, three years. behind the actual reversal, inverse head and shoulders pattern, and most recently, a bullish continuation pattern telling us buyers are very much

in control right here, now in the near term, and that they could -- >> abigail -- >> -- take shares up above 30. >> abigail, i can see the chart has looked great lately. in terms of where we go from here, and we've seen this many times, it's trading exactly where it traded 15 years ago. so the story of the turnaround is long in the tooth. when i look at the fundamentals, the most important thing is revenues. we've seen seven straight quarters of declining revenues. and that's because it is still too focused in the wrong businesses which are pc and printers, which are commodityized and deflationary businesses. in the wrong place. they've been stumbling in tablet, and largely irrelevant in mobile. >> all good points, steve. the charts are telling us that investors are truly sympathetic to the idea that we're in a fix and rebuild year, and the results will be next and beyond when we see reacceleration to growth. we've been negative for many quarters on the bottom line, but we're scheduled to go positive in the future year. and i think this is actually telling us investors think that maybe they will successfully

make some kind of move into the world of tablets and smartphones. these charts are telling me investors are pretty positive about the future for hpq. >> got to go at this point. good discussion, though. this has been a very interesting company to watch the last few years. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> by the way, maria, before we get going. i have to mention, why am i sitting here at hq? i'm doing "nightly business report" tonight, tomorrow, wednesday, with suzy. join us on pbs. >> pbs, bill, and you're live at 7:00? >> i am. >> you're live at -- >> i'm live? no, on at 6:30 eastern time. >> 6:30 in new york. i know in some area, it's at a different time, in new york, it's 6:30. >> i believe so. >> okay. >> your results will vary wherever you are, somebody. >> all right. >> watching. >> all right. you'll be looking at this market, of course, with a market in record territory right here, the dow jones industrials average up 28 points, 15,492 last trade, about .25%. >> i just know when i tape t i don't know when it airs.

believe it or not, back-to-school shopping is already under way. when we come back, the experts give us the report cards on which big retailers are best positioned for this huge shopping season. and while you are buying those backpacks and school clothes, some retailers are be traing your every move through your cell phone s that invasion of privacy or benefit to retailers and consumers? that debate is coming up on "closing bell." ♪ they're watching you watching you ♪ i've been doing a few things for a while that i really love-- tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 playing this and trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the better i am at them, the more i enjoy them. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so i'm always looking to take them up a notch or two. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and schwab really helps me step up my trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 they've now put their most powerful platform, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

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welcome back. back-to-school sales, can you believe we're talking about this, but they are kicking off. and this year is critical for jcpenney. courtney? >> it will be the ceo's first big test since returning to the helm of the retailer in early april. it's the first true period with his stamp, the closely watched revamp of the home department this spring, largely launched under ullman's leadership, but the vision of former ceo ron

johnson. today, the kids' merchandise is set for back to school, including the exclusive joe fresh kids' product. kids is 12% of the total sales. the retailer doing its best to reach moms after disappointment during last year's back-to-school season, pushing 360-degree marketing approach from tv to social media. >> we've heard that, you know, directionally it's been hard to shop, which is why we're adding navigational signage throughout the whole store. we heard it was hard to check out, so we're adding mobile p.o.s. to make it easier to find a place to check out. >> that was betsy schumacher in charge of jcpenney kids' department. jcpenney also increasie ining bh and the depth of the inventory, bringing back sizes and stocks, reversing some of johnson's decision to declutter and cut the brand offer from 400 to about 100. now, jcpenney hasn't gotten a passing grade on having the right product at the right time in a while. but the retailer has been doing

its homework. back to school will show if ullman passes the test. bill? >> there's always a test, courtney. >> always. >> stay there. let's talk about that. we want to know which retailer will make the grade in the back-to-school season, right, maria? >> we do. with us, paul from morningstar and patrick from mkm partners. good to see you both. thank you for joining us. so which retailers are poised, do you think, to capture this back-to-school season? in terms of what you know their specialties are and in terms of the demand out there? paul? >> well, i guess i'd have to go with macy's first, just because they are doing a lot of things -- just regular merchandising things where there's localization, better merchandise, better product. i also think there's been a little bit of bad weather at the beginning of the season. but again, i don't think the consumer is down and out. i know that, you know, some of the macro quick numbers are slowly getting better. so i think macy's is going to be the beneficiary here. unfortunately, the stock, though, has gone up a little

more. i've got it slightly overvalued, so if you wanted to bet on an underdog, you have to go to jcpenney, i think. >> patrick, same question to you. who will make the grade this time around, do you think? >> sure, bill. well, within my group, i cover discount retailers. so if you just take a look at the big guys, walmart and target, i think target is better positioned than walmart is this season going into this back-to-school season. they're keenly focused on design. even if you look at, let's say, a 50-cent pencil sharpener, it still has a nice target design element. it's one of their private labels, up and up. so they're focused on design, fresh merchandise and freshness in general. price is important, as well. but i like target over walmart going in back to school. >> you know, it seems to me that one of the real important components to the federal reserve, either beginning that tapering or not pe ginning that tapering is the retail sector. so how important is the shopping season not just to the retailers

but to the broad economy to give us that window into what the fed is going to do? and even if the tapering is a 2013 affair -- maybe it's not, maybe it's a o 2014 affair. what do you think, patrick? >> very important, certainly. and we saw the retail numbers this morning. they were light of expectations. so it has been kind of a ho-hum lackluster year-to-date period so far. walmart had close to neglect live 1% comp in the first quarter. of course, they're the biggest retailer. some of that has been related to the weather. but, you know, the consumer is in a little bit of a funk here, and as -- you know, there's some positives from a big picture standpoint in housing, the stock market, and some other things. so i think we'll see a pickup in sales across retail as we move into the back half of the year. the comparisons are easier, as well. you know, everyone's jockeying for a good back-to-school season. it's very important, and oftentimes it kind of mirrors what happens over the holidays. so it's key. >> courtney, you and i spoke friday night during our special on the markets about the, as you

put it, the crummy period that walmart's been through. they probably are welcoming back to school. timing couldn't be better. >> i think so, too, and especially for walmart, where a mom can go to walmart and stock up on everything from the snacks to the lunch boxes to the backpacks to the shoes, the clothes to the pencil cases. and i think that is going to be a strong suit for walmart. because that core consumer is still very shaky. unemployment is still a big, big problem for them. watch the rising gas prices. they're going to get hit before anybody else does. they're going to feel it. the commentary out of walmart the past quarter was not real promise going forward. it will be interesting to see what happens in a macroeconomic environment and how that impacts the core consumer. it is the biggest one out there for walmart, of course, the world's largest retailer. >> let's do the grades. the grades, paul, for jcpenney and macy's. >> i'm going to give macy's an a-minus, and i think that they've got a lot of good things going for them.

they're reinvesting in the stores. i think that's going to continue to carry through. i'm going to give jcpenney a "b," but that's just for this summer, because i think they fixed some of the things, but they've got more things to fix. especially their online presence is getting better. it has a long way to go. >> patrick? you kind of tough on your guys, huh? no "as." >> well, not too tough. right, i'm giving walmart a b-minus. they are early. as they always are, but they're a little bit earlier even this year than they were a year ago. they're in stock and sharply priced. and i would give target a b-plus for some of the things i mentioned earlier, having a nice, a key word in retail now, cure rated assortment, an eye zone design and the fresh factors are very much there for target this year. they're going to be doing these popup shops, five popup shops in universities, very focused on back-to-college, not just back-to-school. so i give target a b-plus.

>> so let me ask you what you think the hot item will be. for a long time, we've been talking electronics. all students wanted electronics. what's the hot item going back to school this year in. >> besides the pencil sharpener. >> the hot item -- >> yeah, anything you think is going to be the popular -- the most popular item out there that kids and parents want? >> i mean, it's apple, certainly, very important. >> one of the things i'm seeing -- >> paul, you first. >> yeah, no, one of the things i think is important is that a lot of people are going out and getting apartments or getting houses, the auto sales people are getting loans. even if that's just corresponding or correlated to the same period, i think people have a lot of spending to do around that. so i think there are going to be some larger household or automotive or just general related purchases coming up this fall. >> okay. >> that will make the overall back-to-school season a little stronger than last year. >> quickly, patrick.

>> yeah, maybe for back to college, probably something just iphone, ipad, that sort of thing, tablets and whatnot on the electronics side. there's still a ways to go. not every college student has one just yet. i think if you migrate lower down into back to school, it will probably be in the apparel space. i frankly don't know. it's a little bit early in that area. we'll have to wait a few more weeks. >> thanks, everybody. >> thanks, courtney. see you all. >> appreciate it. speaking of retailers, did you know -- this is the part of the story that scares me -- did you know that many of them are tracking you while you shop? it's done through your cell phone. we'll debate if this is an invasion of privacy or a chance to get personalized deals. that's coming up. take a short break here on the "closing bell." bill? >> yes, we will. courtney was just telling me how they've been tracking us for years at the retailers. we'll get to that in a few minutes. dow up 31 points. dow, s&p, any positive close, that would be an all-time high. >> and after plunging 5% on

friday due to a fire on a dreamliner jet in london, boeing is leading the dow to another record close today. up next, phil lebeau explaining why the stock is on such a roll, back in a moment. er, you or your car? i would say my car. probably the car. cause as you get older you start breaking down. i love my car. i want to take care of it. i have a bad wheel - i must say. my car is running quite well. keep your car healthy with the works. $29.95 or less after $10 mail-in rebate at your participating ford dealer. so you gotta take care of yourself? yes you do. you gotta take care of your baby? oh yeah! see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% testosterone gel. the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy increases testosterone when used daily.

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from the dow and s&p's third-straight record close, assuming these things hold. josh lipton. >> reporter: bill, heading into the close, let's review what flashed green and red. in the s&p 500, your leaders include first solar. and can you pin that on china, which raised its 2015 target for solar power capacity. and, also, la czar, reports calling this a net positive for the entire sector for solar. now up more than 60% so far this year. tiffany also heading higher. analysts upgrading it to a buy. their price target is 92 bucks, saying they're looking for same-store sales growth in the americas to pick up and gross margin to get a lift from falling precious metal costs. your worst performer in the benchmark gauge, that would be alex onpharmaceuticals. some are worried roach's bid. homebuilders are also not working today. dr horton, lennar, pulte posted nice gains on friday but heading lower in today's trade.

the sector has been under pressure on concerns about rising interest rates. among the blue chips, boeing leading the charge. fell nearly 5% on friday after reports of that 787 fire in london. today, though, it's your top performer in the dow. up today, up some 40% so far this year. maria, back to you. >> all right, josh, thank you so much. we want to get the latest on boeing's dreamliner fire in london. phil has the story. >> reporter: maria, we're probably still a couple of days before the u.k. investigators pinpoint a cause for the fire that happened on friday. but we do know today from talking with a number of sources that increasingly investigators are focused on the role of the plane's emergency locator transmitter. that's one of a number of components located near the rear of the airplane. now, in the 787, the elt is manufactured by honeywell. we should stress here they're not saying the elt is the cause of the fire. they are simply looking into what role the fire -- or the elt had with the fire. we reached out to honeywell. it says it's been invited to

join the investigation. a spokesperson tells, we've sent tektsal experts to assist with the investigation. however, at this time, it is premature to speculate on the cause of the fire. we will continue to work closely with boeing and the ntsb and to await the analysis and output of the investigation before drawing any conclusions. take a look at shares of honeywell. after we first made the report, and there were other reports the middle of the day, that's where you saw the sell-off in the shares. they have started to come back. i want to look at shares of boeing going back to friday from the very first report where it dipped all the way down to 98, 99. maria, go from there all the way now, the stock has come back 7%. increasingly, people are looking at this and saying it does not look like it was a systemic issue at the root of the fire. still, we're a couple of days before a determination is likely to come from investigators in britain. maria, back to you. >> what resiliency there, phil. thank you. >> one of the guys on the floor told me on friday, this was off

camera, he said, i think buying -- being able to buy boeing under $100 is a steal. good call. you know who you are out there. >> and the flow is there. these are long-term investors, and they've got confidence in the company. so we see these, you know, near-term issues that obviously are terrible issues for the company, but the stock keeps rebounding. it feels like people want to own boeing. >> exactly. >> in the final stretch of trading. about 11 minutes before the closing bell. look at dow industrials. up 26 points in record territory once again. >> could be the third straight record close, as a matter of fact. when we come back, two market experts tell us why -- how much higher the rally can go. to treat my low testosterone, my doctor and i went with axiron, the only underarm low t treatment. axiron can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied

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welcome back. we're on the close of the dow. joining us now to break it down is chris from u.s. trust. bill's at the headquarters today. chris, how does this market feel to you? once again, record-setting material here. does this surprise you? >> you know, i'd like to say, yes. it really doesn't. what surprises me is a little bit of the lateness of it after that 5% pullback. we're starting to see money movement at the high net worth level and even the lower level,

seeing money from fixed income and cash. there's a consistency to it, which means it has legs. it's driven by a great normalization of yields, rates, multiples and flows. >> bill? >> i have jonathan here. you're a technician. you're skeptical of this rally we've seen here. why? >> well, in the short term, there's a couple of reasons to just think we're due for a little bit of a pause here. one of the things we look at is the percentage, a way of certain indexes are from the moving average. russell 2000 is now 15% above. it's the most we've seen since april 2011. and if you think about it, the nasdaq 100, for instance, has been up -- today would be the 14th day in a row. we go back to 1990, the longest streak, since 1990. >> so you think it's due. >> it's due for a little bit of a pause. >> a little bit of a pause. i should tell you, art tells me now that the money has moved to the sell side in terms of the end balances as we approach the

close. he said $125 million now for sale. >> okay. >> you mentioned high networth clients are, in fact, moving money. where are they moving money? where's the conviction from your audience? >> the conviction is back into equities now. as we mentioned in weeks past, it was a little bit from cash into equities. now from fixed income into equities. the great normalization of yields and rates is on. this takes time. that means investor flows will be consistent in our opinion into the equity markets, and that's why you're seeing strategists across the globe raise their allocations or raise their targets. >> how do you do it? when you say equities, what groups? >> financials and technicals are the great beneficiaries. as rates normalize, they benefit the most. and cyclicals across the board to match the defensive movement we saw earlier. >> for you it's sell oil and buy gold. >> yeah. >> you think oil has peaked? we had a great run. >> i think near term, it's probably due for consolidation when you look at the

positioning, i think a lot of traders got too long oil, too short gold, sow might see a reversion back to that. >> it's interesting that you say that about oil. do you think, chris, oil becomes an issue for equities? jonathan's over there at headquarters saying you have to buy oil, you also want -- i mean, gold is a story now. do you think that oil above $100 a barrel is going to be an issue for this market? >> i really don't. i think it's a catch-up from lost time that's going on. commodities in general are pressured from the stronger dollar. that's going to maintain itself pretty much throughout the year. let's have that question a little bit posed as we head into 2014 when you start to see the economic sensitives rise a little bit more, because pmis are rising around the world. that will feed into the overall economy. so that will be muted effect from the rise in the price of oil. >> all right. bill? >> thanks, guys. jonathan, good to see you. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> come back when you can stay longer. see you later. thanks, chris, very much. we'll come back with the closing countdown. then, after the bell, it's not just surveillance cameras

watching you at the mall. some retailers are tracking your every move through your cell phone. do we have any expectation of privacy in public anymore? that's coming up. ♪ that's me... i made you something. ♪ i made you something, too. ♪ see you next summer. ♪ [ male announcer ] get exceptional values on the highest quality cars at the summer of audi sales event. ♪ [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t

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gain in the dow today. it's added 29 points to the dow. remember, boeing on friday took as many as 50 points out of the dow. i mean, it's been an incredible volatile period for that company. peter is on the floor. i know you're a disciple like i am, and he was telling maria on friday he likes the skepticism that's out there as the market sets new highs. he thinks it goes higher because of that. do you agree? >> yes, i do, bill. it's funny you even mentioned ralph, because i was going to say the exact same thing. i am an accolite, if that's the right word. i listen to him. i believe that this market has another 5% to 10% left in it. and i have no problem putting the costa family fortune back into the market or continue to put it into the market. >> oh, dear lord. >> yes. >> i don't know if mrs. costa knows about that. what groups are you going to put in there, very quickly? >> well, i'm going to listen to ralph again. you staurt putting into

small-cap stocks, very good companies in the small-cap, the midcap indexes. i think there's some room on the upside with them. [ bell ringing ] and i think you can't lose. >> very good. thanks, peter. see you. we hope you don't lose. the dow is finishing higher, all-time highs. here's maria with the second hour of the "closing bell." 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. this market closing at another record high. third-straight session of new records for the dow and the s&p 500. take a look at how we're settling out on the street. at the end of the day, we had selling of consumer names. that's where the selling was happening, going into the close today. that's why this market did end off of the best levels of the afternoon. nonetheless, at an all-time high. the dow at 15,485, a new closing high for the industrial average, up 21 points on the session.