today, one of the questions they asked is where are stock prices in six months. a little -- only 1.8% more people think the storm's going to be higher than lower over the next six months, and as those people become convinced, that's where you'll get your multiple expansion in the market going forward. >> well said and perfectly timed out. paul hickey, great job today. thank you. thank you, robert. thank you for watching "street signs." "closing bell" -- there you go -- next. hi, everybody, we enter the final stretch. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm ma receipt ya bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. >> something's different. >> so silly, bill. >> doesn't her hair look great? nice haircut. >> shh. >> there you go. i did not get a haircut, by the way. busy show today coming up. two huge interviews just ahead. we have oracle president mark heard to ring the closing bell, because they'll be listed today at the new york stock exchange. he'll talk in a few minutes --

he will talk about his earnings and the outlook for the company. in a few minutes, the ceo of aetna will be back with us, mark bertolini, aetna is on the front lines dealing with healthcare, and they are in high-profile fashion pulled out of the state of california. we'll talk about that. >> talk about that and the impact that the affordable care act mandate is pushed out. also, investing icon is with us. he has two stocks he will name. he says there's money to be made with both of the companies. he'll be along telling us about that. plus the market may have speed bumps ahead. he'll tell us what to watch for. >> he's apparently already started talking. by the way, have you seen facebook today? >> oh, my god, back to the ipo front. >> almost. we're almost there. $38 is when -- what it came out at and never saw that price again. it's very close right now. it is knocking on that door.

another big move today after last week's huge move. since they reported earnings last week, facebook stock is up 40%. >> and much of that, in that one day. >> exactly. >> how much of that is short covering, you wonder. >> yeah. >> we'll look at that. >> let's look where we stand as we apreach the final hour. the dow down about 10 1/2 -- almost 11 points, a fractional loss, at 15,511. nasdaq positive, that's where the strength in the market is today. technology all the way. 14 points even on the nasdaq. 3,613. last trade there, looking realtime, obviously. s&p 500 also, as you can see, really flat on the session at 1,685. >> all right. let's talk about the market today giving up some early session gains. joining us in the "closing bell exchange," ron weiner, from the -- i don't mean that politically -- steve grasso from stewart frankels, wandering the floor here, and rick santelli is here. ron, i guess this market right now just waiting for the fed, per usual, right? >> yeah, i guess so.

i don't think that matters a whole lot. there's just so much cash on the line. the markets go down, they're going to bid it back up. so i think it's fed or no fed, it will have some effect. at the end of the day, where you going to put your money? >> you don't think people will be repositioning if there's more of a signal tomorrow that they're going to start tapering sooner rather than later? >> i think it will come more on the pick side and the equity side. >> that's a good point. it is about the fed, but in this week in particular, it's about a lot of earnings as well as a lot of economic data. >> yeah, it's fine. >> the jobs numbers, gdp, so, steve, let me hit you up with that. what are you seeing in terms of conviction ahead of all of the economic reports coming out this week that will likely give us another indication that we're in an anemic grower? >> i think to ron's point, when the market sells off, there's always hands to catch the market. because there's such a lack of new ideas coming out in the marketplace. because everything has rallied so hard and so fast here that people, if you own a stock, you

can't -- you can't find value in buying it at these levels right now. so you actually want to see a sell-off. but as soon as that happens, they get excited and the market is bought right back. so i wouldn't read too much into it. i don't think the market sells off that much. >> yeah, andre, maria and i have made the comment often, this is a market that wants to go higher. it just feels like it wants to go higher. >> at times i feel like a broken record saying there are no other options, but that's the case still. right? outside of equities, you have cash basically yielding nothing. you have bonds with 2.5%, inflation at 2%, not a lot of upside there. and earnings have been okay. right? earnings 3%, 4% year-over-year growth. it's important to remind investors it's not about the growth race but the visibility. you think about the last four years, this is the best visibility on earnings, and for that reason, it makes sense why multiples would rise, because there's more clarity going forward. >> what's your take on the emerging markets at this point? clearly, this has been an area that everyone has been fleeing. do you see a bottom there? i mean, relatively speaking on

valuations, is that as good an opportunity as the u.s. right now, or no? >> i think in the short term, there's probably going to be more pain there, especially because china is implementing short-term pain on their own economy to try to cool it off. longer term, you're thinking three to five years, i think these are good spots to start accumulating some assets in the emerging markets. >> yeah, you know, just to jump in -- sorry to step in, but just to step in on what the other guest said, is it time to step in with steel, coal, the metal stocks, because everyone is trying to bottom fish. and every time they bottom fish, they get their heads ripped off. if they're looking for some type of return to beat the averages -- because all these funds are trailing -- is now the time to start buying steel, or coal or things like that? >> things that have been lagging here. >> right. >> exactly. rick santelli, what are you guys talking about in chicago? i handicapped that fed meeting for you. you expecting any news out of that meeting, or will it be the same ole we've had for the last few months? >> i think the latter would probably be the camp down here. of course, whether you agree or disagree with anything the fed's doing or may continue to do,

traders will be glued to the activity. but they don't really suspect much will change. if you look at interest rates, i find it fascinating -- you know, our guests said, you know, i hate to keep saying this, but there is no substitution, there are no alternatives, in cash you earn nothing. earning nothing may be a really great return at some point over the next two to three years. and i think that's why so much money, trillions of dollars, are still trapped, what, 2.6 trillion in money markets. so we're hovering at a 2.60 yield. the dollar's getting a breath of fresh air here. it's finally getting a little bit of bounce. it's on 1 1/2-month lows, and i think a lot of that is the china story's affecting the psyche of german output and, of course, while we're looking at our gdp number tomorrow, which will be so hard to handicap, they're going to be looking at their employment data, and that's going to be a biggie. they're looking to continue at

this record level of 12.2%, and that's the aggregate number for the euro zone. >> what about his point, maybe it is smart money sitting on the sidelines earning nothing, but at least it won't lose anything. >> the worst asset class the last ten years has been? cash. 1.7% annualized return. so in the short term, cash seems like the easy solution. for a lot of our client, they're trying to retire one day. the biggest fear should be they're going to outlive their money, not necessarily they're going to miss out or they're going to, you know, save some money by being on cash. >> and most people are not prepared at all for retirement, and when you need that money. brian, what do you want to be exposed to here? how do you allocate capital? >> first of all, you want to be vested -- for us, we like smoother ride. so we're mostly u.s. in fact, in our history -- this is the most we've been all u.s., only because we can see it better. i can't see the emerging markets. i got gurus that are taking one side and as vehemently others take the other side.

unclear. s&p is 40% foreign. so you're playing the market by buying pepsico. you play the market by buying all of the technologies. so we like technology. we like the financials. and we like the mlp space a lot, especially for our clients. >> master limited partnership. >> oil and gas pipeline. >> for income purposes -- >> both. both. i mean, they've tripled the s&p in the past 15 years. but the point is that they're -- you can understand it. you can understand the business. it's not going out of business. and they've raised their dividend higher than the cost of living every single year. >> what's the story with the financials right now, because, you know, when you look at the earnings growth -- let's say we're at 5% or 4.5% on s&p 500 earnings so far -- it's largely financials. is it because they have such profit moves because they're coming from such a low base? >> yeah, that's certainly part of it. >> that's part of it? >> but things are smoother. they're lending for the first time. interest rates are going up. that's actually good for them. so i think -- i think the financials are more solid and more -- you can see them down

the road as a clear winner as long as there isn't a bump in the road. and if there's a bump in the road, which is happening in europe on their banks -- we read about that the past couple of days -- that will also benefit the u.s. banks. so they're in good shape right now. >> all right. gentlemen, thank you all. >> thanks so much. >> sure. investors are remaining cautious as they wait on any word for the federal reserve. >> reporter: take a look at the dow jones industrials today. we went positive once again a few minutes ago. we got some of the verizon, at&t, tollycom a little on the weak side. look at the sectors. bright spots. good earnings reports from the industrials today. tech is up. materials and energy, they're just getting killed on china, base metals like copper, nickel are down again today. day after day, just poor performance out of the particular sector. look at the industrials. old-school names.

pitny bows, rockwell, cummins, you know the companies, all old-school technologies, reporting good numbers today. look at the percentage moves to the upsides. that's what's lifting the industrials. semiconductors, they're okay. not a lot of news. they had a lousy week last week. but look at some of the names today. they're helping to lift the semiconductor index, and that's been making a comeback. finally, i want to note boyd came out, i watched some of the gaming stock, 18% move. i read the report, i don't understand that. in line with expectations. maria, i would note they did have fairly good results with the borgato in atlantic city, and that might be because the rub rebel, declared bankruptcy. that's an impressive move there, 18% on the upside. back to you. >> thanks, bob. heading towards the close, 50 minutes left. we're about the middle point of the range today. up 71 on the dow at one time, down 42. as you can see, we're up 12 points as we head toward the close now. >> the earnings continue flowing.

aetna reporting better than expected earnings. the stock up almost 40%. how will the rollout of obamacare affect the company? we'll talk with the ceo after the break. and a man who manages almost $40 million. he'll be here in a cnbc exclusive to tell you where he's putting his money to work right now. plus, making some similar investments to another big wall street name that we all know. we'll tell you who that is and why, coming up. and then, keeping an eye on facebook today. the stock is almost back to the $38 a share ipo price after an amazing run since earnings came out late last week. you're watching the "closing bell." we'll be right back. yeah, i'm married. does it matter?

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welcome back. stocks are struggling overall to hold on to early session gains, but how about that facebook, josh lipton? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely, bill. a few stocks on our radar. let's start with facebook here, getting closer to that offering price of $38. remember, the intraday low here was $17.55. that was back september 2012. since reporting last wednesday, facebook now up some 40%. and how about potash, global

prices for the fertilizer ingredient expected to drop hard, after mosaic being dismantled, all down hard in today's trade. on the other hand, western union marching higher. reports and beats expectations, also affirmed its full-year financial outlook. also in the green, goodyear, the tiremaker, reporting a higher quarterly profit, getting a boost from lower raw material prices. also seeing signs of volumes stabilizing over in europe. and we'll end on aetna, the health insurer, reporting higher second quarter earnings and revenue. that stock up some 36% so far this year. guys, back to you. >> all right, thank you so much, josh lipton. >> all right. more now on aetna's latest results, but how are changes in healthcare laws going to affect the nation's third-largest health insurer, something we want to talk about here? >> joining us now in a first cnbc interview is mark bertolini. good to have you back on the program. >> welcome back. >> hi. >> thanks for joining us. talk us through the quarter, the

coventry healthcare acquisition seems to be a big positive impact. what can you tell us about your quarterly report? >> sure. we had record membership at 22 million members, record revenue at 11.6 billion in the quarter, and revenue earnings at 583 million. driven largely by the coventry acquisition, but also lower commercial utilization still across the sector, driven by the weak economy. and when you consider the acquisition within the context of what we borrowed the money for at 2% to do the acquisition, we've got a lot of return on investment associated with the coventry acquisition. >> mark, your stock has been on a tear over the last few years. in fact, a lot of the healthcare companies are at all-time highs right now. you're just off your all-time high. why is that? is the market trying to tell us that there -- that the obamacare, for example, will be a positive for your industry, some of the changes in healthcare laws coming up? >> i think it's that -- i think what it's telling everybody is

that we're still relevant, that there's still a lot of market out there, that the affordable care act will drive some business, but there's still a lot left to do to get healthcare costs under control and to get americans insured. so i think, you know, we're still relevant, still part of the economic mix, we're not going away anytime soon. that was a concern a couple of years ago. >> you announced would you stop selling individual health insurance policies in california. 50,000 existing policyholders will have to find new coverage by january. talk to us about this. what's behind this? i mean, the california insurance commissioner said it's not a good news -- not a good move and it's not good news for california consumers. what's behind the decision? >> well, given that we only had 50,000 members in the commercial -- in the individual marketplace, it was difficult for us to be competitive at the rates that the california exchange wanted us to be at. and so, therefore, we thought it would be better for us and for those consumers, where they'll get a more affordable policy on the exchange from carriers who believe they can be competitive

in that market. >> the cost of acquisition -- the cost of acquisition of patients was going to be that high, is that what you think? >> just the underlying cost of healthcare to be supported by the premiums that the exchange could afford. and so, as we look across the country, we're making this decision virtually every market. as we look at the changing fundamentals of both the small group and individual marketplace, it's not the last place we will no longer provide individual insurance. >> so walk us through that thought process, and, i mean, you're saying that if -- look, what, a handful of companies in california that had, like, 85% of the market. you were a small company in that regard there. so you're going to just write that one off and go where you feel you can make -- have a better profit margin in writing policies out there. you know, the whole idea behind obamacare is to spur competition and lower rates, but if you're not going to go after the competition in some states where you don't feel you can compete,

is that saying something about the competition that we will not see? will we see lower rates in the long run for this -- for healthcare? >> well, it's not just about the rates, bill. it's actually about the underlying cost of healthcare. healthcare insurance premium has risen on average 7% to 8% over the last decade. underlying healthcare costs have driven by 7%, 8% each year over the last decade. so if you look at that condition, you need to have a good cost structure with better provider rates in order to offer a competitive insurance premium in that market. and fortunately or unfortunately, we're not competitive in every market in the united states, and in marketing where we are, we'll be very active on the exchanges. we'll offer an affordable product. but in the end analysis, if we can't be competitive, we shouldn't be there. it's not worth our time and energy or investment to be in that market. >> so was it a good move, then, that part of the mandate is pushed out? you know, talk to us about that,

the impact, and then the impact on rates once the law takes effect, when the virginia state corporation commission asked about how rates would change, aetna said the most popular policy for a 29-year-old man, once the law kicks in, the rate will nearly double from $118 to $225. is that right? >> yes. and, actually, what we've been seeing all along is there will be a significant increase in rates across the marketplace based on what people used to buy. a big piece of it is that their benefits will have to go up. there's a minimum benefit required by the affordable care act, and where most americans in the individual insurance market are below a 50% actuarial value, they're paying half of the cost out of pocket, the affordable care act requires at least a 60% actuarial equivalent. that in and of itself is a 20% increase in rates. so -- go ahead. >> let me ask my question, and the same question maria is asking, the whole idea behind

obamacare was to make insurance a buyer's market. what you seem to be suggesting is it will still be a seller's market, and that seems to be what the market is saying right now by pushing all of your stocks to record highs right now. >> i think it still will be a buyer's market. it just will be more expensive. i think there will be a number of plans competing in most markets and people will have a choice. however, if the underlying rates that we pay to hospitals and doctors don't change, we can't impact insurance rates. and that's where we have to leverage our local market share in order to provide an affordable local product. >> all right. we'll leave it there. mark, good to have you on the program. thank you very much. >> good to see you both. >> we'll see you soon. about 40 minutes left in the trading session. right where we were 10 minutes ago, up 12 1/2 points on the dow jones industrials average. >> have you seen coach today? the stock getting crushed. very disappointing earnings report. word two more executives are headed out the door. should you be following their lead, getting out of the stock, down better than 8% today, or is

this an opportunity to buy the stock at this big sell-off price? >> maybe coach needs a fix from this guy. >> look, i don't know if you thought this was my first rodeo, but my job here is to make money for myself and for you. >> that would be marcus. he puts his own cash on the line to help fix struggling businesses. it's the latest show from cnbc prime called "the profit." coming up, he'll be here, and we'll -- he'll tell us why this gruff style of his may not make him popular, but it does make him a lot of money. that's still to come on the "closing bell." in today's markets, a lot can happen in a second. with fidelity's guaranteed one-second trade execution, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price --

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welcome back. the market's up 22 points on the dow. let's get over to josh lipton. >> we're watching madison square garden here, msg. the headlines just crossing. member, msg acquired the forum in englewood, california, that was in june of 2012. now, msg saying that it plans to invest $100 million into that venue, that's ahead of its anticipated opening in january 2014. the opening will be with a performance by the legendary eagles. so listen, investors and fans, i guess, of the eagles, bill, have cause to celebrate this afternoon. back to you. >> the original home of the l.a. lakers, once called the fabulous forum, and it's coming back. i know people in l.a. are probably very excited about that. thank you, josh. meantime, shares of coach sinking today after the company reported disappointing earnings. the big concern, sales were

short of estimates. that's pretty concerning. outgoing ceo lou frankfurt, as you know, usually comes on this program on the day his company reports earnings. but this time, coach told us that mr. frankfurt was unavailable, because he was on vacation. so is this dip a buying opportunity? or is it a signal that something bigger is wrong at coach? let's talk numbers on coh today, on the technical side, rich, and on the fundamentals side, mark of the oxford club. good to see you both. thank you for joining us. mark, start with the fundamentals. i mean, even ladies' handbags, their bread and butter, saw a dip in sales. >> yeah, it's not been a good quarter for coach. usually coach sells stylish merchandise. but the stock reminds me of a pair of sensible shoes. not a lot to excited about here. you had same-store sales growth negative in the quarter. flat for the year. and they expect it to be flat going forward for the next year. they lowered guidance significantly for the fiscal year. you have a management team in

turmoil with two executives quitting. so other than a cheap p/e ratio and cheap for a reason, so other than that, there's not a lot to be excited about here. you sell it. let somebody else take on the risk for waiting for this thing to turn around. >> rich, i was looking at the price chart for the past year. and there it is. this thing's been all over the map in the past year here. what do you make of it? >> bill, you know as well as anyone, trading is like fashion. one day you're in and the next you're out. for the past year, this chart has been a hot sideways mess. when you pull it up, you can see this very well-defined trading range. for the past three months, the stock's been under distribution. it's being sold into the key resistance at $60. today, we get the big breakdown through the 200-day moving average. now, we are testing critical support here around 52.50. that takes us back to the neckline of the head-and-shoulders bottom. i want to bring up the weekly real quick to give you context here. for the past three years, you see a multiyear complex head-and-shoulders -- top, which the stock has been wearing.

you rarely get the breakdown below the plunging neckline around $46. if you own it, hold it. if you're flat, look to get in a little bit lower. but i'm slightly more optimistic here than mark. >> mark, is there a price if it gets down to it that you would buy coach? >> not really. i mean, i want to see some turnaround in the fundamentals. you know, when i look at the chart, as rich mentioned, there's a lot of resistance at $60. so to me, there's not enough reward there to take on this kind of risk. so there's nothing really at this point in time that would make me get interested in the stock. >> you like anybody else that's competing, michael kohrs, kate spade, any of those companies? >> i like -- i would rather -- >> michael has been -- >> hang on, rich first, very quickly. >> no, sorry, i would rather own anyone in the retail space. keep if mind, this is one of the hottest sectors in the market. i like retail. just coach, like mark, not so much. >> okay. mark? >> yeah, and i agree with richard. you know, michael kors has been

doing well from a fundamental and technical perspective. it's expensive, but pretty much anybody but coach at this point. >> all right. thank you both. lou frankfurt, if you're watching, enjoy your vacation. >> yeah, i'm surprised he cancelled on us. then again, you see what's happening at the company. i guess it's understandable. >> we're disappointed that you're not here with us to talk about it, lou. >> in the final stretch here for the day of trading, 30 minutes before the closing bell sounds. we have a market that's up 18 points higher on the dow. up next, an investment idea close to my own heart and legendary -- legendary investor we call him, mario gabelli thinks bourbon stocks are attractive. he'll tell us why. and why is oracle partnering with two of its biggest competitors? mark herd answers investors' questions later on on "closing bell." i've been doing a few things for a while that i really love-- tdd#: 1-800-345-2550

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welcome back. carl icahn has been known to shake up the executive suite.

we've seen it with yahoo! and now his pursuit of dell. but for mario gabelli, having him as a fellow shareholder may not be such a bad thing. >> is that right? >> mario joins us now. >> you know, bill and maria, we like to follow individuals that are also very good at service and values and have a high slugging percentage, means they make good returns over a period of time. john is one. carl icahn and mark. carl icahn has been buying navistar and he owns about 16%, our clients own about 9.5%. and that stock's around $33. class-a big trucks. and five years from now, four years from now, maria, they'll earn about $6 and he'll find a way to harvest that. >> you didn't buy it because he did. >> no. we've been in it for a while. >> yeah. >> in it about 19 -- you know, a long time. and another one is federal mogul where he owns 81%, and the stock is 14. next year, fdml, they'll earn $2.40. so the stock's going straight up

over time. and they will split up the company, have aftermarket oe, so carl is very good. >> we're back in the period of activist investor and carl is a prime example. bill ackman, everybody, is that a good thing? are they stirring up the right kind of dust? >> well, you go back to the '60s when i first came down to this place, what you had was bootstrap financing, someone who would look at the sum of the parts, figure out how to break it out, and in quotes the corporate raiders. charlie bluedawn, gulf & western, jimmy lings of the world. so this dynamic of the free market changes overtime. and when you give money to individuals or organizations, 1 in 20, they're absolute return oriented. they don't want to beat the market. they'll be active. >> you're talking about what navistar will be able to earn, really looking at earnings. give us the most important screens you look at when you're picking stocks. >> well, we like to look at how much we'll lose first. >> the downside risk. >> -- they only had one engine

and certain way to meet epa requirements, didn't have the backup we thought they did, and we blew that one. on the other side of the coin, how much can they earn on the upside of the cycle and what money can they -- is there a risk, maria, having a financial challenge on the downside, and what carl icahn did with federal mogul is brilliant. he had a rights offering and basically raised $500 million, so eliminated the downside. after that was done, it's moved from 9.50 to 14.50. so that's all in about a month. >> right. >> so that's one screen. what are your other screens that are most important when you pick stocks? >> we don't believe in prince like bill, kiss a frog and it's a prince. we like a good manager. in the case of john malone with tom rut leledge, he backed him well as the industry of which he's a part. so the moon, the sun, the stars said when you have a good industry, good company, good management, and america's very blessed with good ceos -- >> you've long been an investor

in media. you talk about john malone, viacom, you pound the table on that still, right? >> i look at companies with cash flow that are buying back stock, bill. when they split up and spun off cbs, they had 722 million shares outstanding, down to 470, and in three, four years, down to 350. so some of the redstone will be the last person standing, and we'll be the second person behind him. viacom is selling at 72. probably worth in a mark-to-market model basis, three years out, over 100. >> are you -- >> but there'll be air pocket. >> are you surprised we haven't seen more m&a, in an environment where you have rock-bottom levels? you also look at marriages and love like you call it in business. >> you're going to make me blush. notwithstanding that, it's financial engineering, spinoffs. spinoffs are an important part. maria, for example, roll corp. it was taken over by conagra. post is a cereal company that's run by a gifted ceo by the name of bill, and he will make us a lot of money and already has.

in addition to that, the old-fashioned company a buys company b to grow, and that we'll see a lot more of in the next 12 months. >> rates are at such rock-bottom levels. are you surprised we haven't seen more? >> i think the ingredients are there except one. >> confidence. >> the ability of the ceo to walk into his board and say, i've got visibility over the next three years, and that requires changes in the way government is approaching this antagonism towards business. >> i love watching you work. you haven't looked at a note yet. you have all of the numbers off the top of your head. years ago, i remember we were sitting down with jim rogers and during a commercial, you leaned in to him, and you uttered one word. you said, coffee? >> yeah, he should have bought it. single-serve. >> you weren't asking for a cup of coffee at that point. you saw that coming. now the word you're saying is bourbon? >> well, american bourbon, spirits, alcohol, about a $600 billion business on a global. bourbon is only $8 billion.

so to the degree you buy jim beam, brown foreman, and wild turkey, you have a strong tailwind of those companies and those consumers around the world that want to buy this product. >> consumer tastes are fickle. that can change on a dime. >> slowly. >> okay. >> you walk into a bar tonight with me and we can have a jack and coke and see what everybody else is drinking, and i'm not knocking anybody else's product. i mean, you know wild turkey is your preference. notwithstanding that, there are a lot of other stocks that we like, like malone. why did he buy into cable, what does that mean for cablevision? chuck dolan has an opportunity, maria, to take cablevision at 18.50 a share and put that into time warner cable, cluster up new york, and then have malone with rutledge do something. it's a lot of interesting dynamics -- >> interesting characters. look, i know you're a stock picker. mario, what do you think about the market? we're still waiting on this great rotation, all of the money that came out of bonds -- >> it's happening, maria. we see it now. we see it now with individuals

through their intermediaries, the investor/advisor is saying, listen, the bond is 2.60, going to 3, 3.25, and at some point, the t-bill -- the 30-day goes up, so we've got to move you into equities, start off with a baby step like training wheels and utilities, and that's how to run. but they'll do other things over time. and not only that, why did warren buffett buy heinz? he bought it in part because he wants a cash-generating business that will be inflation indexed and he can maintain the multiple on his exit strategy down the road. there's a lot of reasons to preserve capital by owning equities. at the same time, i can't knock anything else anyone else does. >> yeah. >> let me hit you with one more. fracking. are you making a bet -- are we going to see a revolution in this country where we become much more energy independent? >> well, our bill -- our balance -- bill, our bill -- our balance of payments is about $300 billion. >> right. >> so as we try to not give as much of our wealth to the

non-americans, countries that may not be friendly to us, like cline that and other parts of the world over time, fracking is a technology that's been around. so can we become energy efficient? no. we have to hug the planet, be environmentally sensitive, but we a the bridge that god shave us to find the shale and deliver it to the right price. so natural gas. the other day, maria, the other day as part of financial engineering, one oak, a utility company, took the local distribution business, ldc, selling gas utility, and spun it off to the shale. other companies have taken their midstream business and monetized it. national fuel and gas sells at 62. the day they announced that, it's 82. mean while, it's a loaded laggard. >> rich in natural gas in this country, so you would expect there's investment ideas around that. >> there are. plus equipment. there's a company reporting this afternoon called weatherford. i was not down recently visiting with the management, you know,

some time ago. there's a company that jeff bought called luf kin. they lift the liquid and/or gas out of the ground through artificial lift, after the shale works on it. the stock is 13 1/2. wft is the symbol. 800 million shares, a good business and a bad business. we would like to see them sell the bad business. monetize some aspects of the good business. you have a stock that could be doubled. they have some issues, a lot of warts they bring to the table. but it's worthwhile looking at, and today we'll know -- >> the stock has come back here ahead of the earnings as you saw there. >> well, what we're looking for is a cleanup in the foreign corrupt practices act. they made blunders offshore. they've had accounting issue, some tax issue, but though have some fairly wonderful businesses. and just get an activist -- not me, but an activist to focus on it and you can get a fairly significant lift in the stock, not artificial either. >> got it. the mind is always working, isn't it? >> thank you, mario. great to have you on -- >> you guys are inspirational. >> get him started, he's going to make -- by the way, how come

you don't have a check mark on your twitter page either? what do we have to do to get a check mark -- >> chase a checkmark? >> you should know what that is. >> i had somebody set it up and hit a button. >> thanks, mario. >> delighted to be here. >> 20 minutes left in the trading session. still up 14 points. kind of a wait-and-see market ahead of tomorrow's fed announcement meeting. president obama meanwhile proposing a grand bargain to reform the corporate tax code, but use the money for more spending. will republicans really agree to another stimulus program? one of canada's top officials says president obama is severely underestimating the number of jobs the keystone pipeline with create. he takes on the president's math later on the "closing bell." s in hidden fees on their 401(k)s?! go to e-trade and roll over your old 401(k)s to a new e-trade retirement account. none of them charge annual fees and all of them offer low cost investments. e-trade. less for us. more for you. and all of them offer low cost investments. "first day of my life" by bright eyes

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♪ welcome back. president obama offering to cut the corporate tax rate today, but there is something in the proposal he wants in return. eamon has the details. >> reporter: he toured a center in tennessee and used the opportunity to tout what he and the white house are calling a grand bargain on taxes and spending, what the president would like to do is lower overall tax rates, broaden the base, and use some of the additional revenue to beef up

infrastructure spending in this country. here's how the president put it in chattanooga earlier today. >> here's the bottom line. i'm willing to work with the republicans on reforming our corporate tax code as long as we use the money from transitioning to a simpler tax system for a significant investment in creating middle-class jobs. that's the deal. >> reporter: but, maria, republicans up on capitol hill said that they didn't think this was so grand, and they didn't think it was much of a bargain either. republicans pretty much shooting down the president's idea right out of the gate here. so why is the president making this proposal? well, a lot of politics here. presidents generally like to be perceived as the person who's offering up new solutions and then they can let the bad guys on capitol hill be the ones knocking it down. that's the politics of it. that's why it may be a win for the president, although you won't see any policy emerge out of this thing. >> all right. thank you very much. i'm taking it because we're watching facebook very carefully. can it close above that $38 ipo

price, josh lipton? >> reporter: yeah, bill, obviously watching facebook very closely here. what do we get back to the $38 offering price? right now, you're around $37.94. remember, you hit that intraday low of $17.55. that was in september 2012. you finish 2012 around $26. but right now, right near session highs, up about 7% at $37.92. maria, back to you. >> all right, josh, thank you so much. we're in the final stretch of trading for the day. about 12 minutes left before the closing bell sounds. we have a market that's fractionally better on the day. up 16 points on the dow. >> the stocks may be struggling to hold onto gains, but when we come back, joe quinlan explains why the rally could head higher. and could facebook stock get back to the $38 ipo price? it looks like it's headed there. up 7%. back in a moment.

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well, welcome back. we're up against the close here. about 10 minutes before the closing bell sounds. we heard info from art cashin, a lot of stock for sale going into the close. all high caps, looks like more

than $1 billion of stock for sale. although, he was pretty confident they would get pared off. >> that's a lot though. >> yeah. >> anything is possible. we're talking big-liquid caps. we'll see what happens. as we head to the close, joe and jeff from cnbc. you still like this market. we're still in the throes, without a correction, without any -- >> i would like to see a correction, because it's set up again for another move up. i think, bill, we're still going to grind higher. not much higher. we're close to the target ends. there's some value in the cyclicals when it comes to the globals, industrials, energy. there's places to put money to work. >> at this point, what's driving your thesis here? is it earnings? is it the fed? is it the fact there just are very few alternatives? all of the above? >> all of the above, maria, but i would add global growth. i'm probably the only one, i think the old world europe is coming back. it will come in 2017, we'll price it in early. >> you still a skeptic? >> always a skeptic.

we've seen seven months in this market of the good, the bad, the ugly. the market seems to have weathered everything. except we seem to have come over the past couple weeks a little bit of slowness, coming up against the wall here. still a slight upward bias. one of the things that's intrigued me a lot about earnings so far is the companies that have missed have been penalized a whole lot more, twice as much, in fact, as the companies that have beaten. so you sort of start to get the feeling that investors are wanting more, and as we go forward now, with gdp, probably not going to be very good tomorrow. tapering. sequestration. a lot of obstacles out there that the market will have to overcome. but very good at doing so so far. we'll see. >> you smelling the cheshshire cat as he's talking? >> we've listed the obstacles in the past, and we've surpassed them. if we get talk of taper, we'll grind higher. it will be a grind, not a straight shot. >> how do you want to be exposed? >> the emerging markets, everyone hates them. >> right. >> my inclination is, let's look at a mexico, south korea, maybe even poland.

don't jump head first, but start nibbling. >> outflows have been enormous. >> right, but longer term, three-year horizon, this is a good buying opportunity for emerging markets. >> and? >> i think it's a stock picker's market going forward. just the easy money has been made already. you're really going to have to find the companies that have really good growth stories, and i don't think it will be sector by sector. it will be real company by company type story. >> and do rates go much higher? is the bond market, you know, this great rotation we keep talking about, is that going to evidence itself that much more as we see the tapering begin? >> it may, bill. i think there's -- it's not great rotation. you know, we're seeing more money come out of cash, fixed income into equities. it's a trickle, which is what i like, not a flood. >> yeah. so a minor rotation? >> call it that. >> -- came out of bond funds in the last month and a half or so. do you want to avoid bonds? >> shorter duration, high quality. everyone has to have fixed income in their portfolio, but right now, be very careful. >> all right.

>> i think this notion of the great rotation, the market should be careful what it wishes for. if this outflow continues and rates start to go higher, i think that puts a whole -- paints the market in a different light. i really think earnings have driven the market, but lower interest rates have driven earnings, and if we lose that, look out. >> all right. thanks, guys. >> the rate of the 10-year, is that the rate you're looking at for the most part? >> we look at that, maria. we'll see how it moves in the next couple of days. we don't see much more up from here in terms of the yield. >> see what the fed does tomorrow. >> that's right. >> thanks, guys. appreciate your time. >> we'll come back with the closing countdown. we're heading toward the close and not seeing a sign yet of a drag on the market here with all of the money -- the stock for sale right now. we are up 10 points on the dow. meanwhile, oracle president mark hurd about to ring the closing bell and he will join me on how he's planning to get the software giant's sales back on track. and we'll also talk about the move from nasdaq to new york. you're watching the "closing bell" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. mine was earned in djibouti, africa. 2004.

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♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ about 2 1/2 minutes left here. let's show you the dow before we head to the close. we did talk about how there was a billion dollars for sale of big-cap stocks on the close here, but they have been matched, apparently, right, terry dolan, it would appear that's the case? the dow is still up about 17 points. nothing to write home about, but it's not a sell-off here either.

>> no, most often when you see the imbalance in the earlier stages, it gets offset, either closer to the bell or right on the bell. they don't want to show both hands. so -- >> before we get too close to the end, let me see what facebook is doing. we've been watching whether it can get back to its ipo price of $38. it's been -- the last i saw, the high was $37.93. if we can show facebook, then we'll move on here. but while you're doing that, what do you expect the fed to do tomorrow? are you expecting anything market-moving? >> i think we've seen a little bit of what the fed is saying, tempered rates downwards, giving us an indication that they may be re-evaluating their jargon, if you will, on tapering. you know, there was a comment from bernanke not too long ago that said we may be looking at 6% employment rate instead of 6.7%. he also used great verbiage in saying the 6.5% was not meant as a trigger when things would start moving right away, but rather as an indication of a range of where we're interested in taking a second look.

so those types of things are tempering the market, realizing the fed is still on our side. with or without the fed, the market seems to be the place to play, as money moves back into the market one way or another. >> are you putting more money back in this market? >> at this point, we are, because we saw a little downdrift in june, and we didn't get much out of it. >> yeah. 5% is what you got. >> yeah. that's right. >> you came back. you're inclined to be more bullish than shorter term here? >> right now -- right now, there's no reason not to be, because the market's not allowing us to have any type of a sell-off, because the money's on the sidelines looking for opportunities, especially money that missed in march. it's now looking to say, okay, where will i see my next opportunity? couple that with the fact that the interest rates are moving slowly higher, more money coming onto the sidelines. and then, of course, the technical factors are pretty impressive, to me, the moving averages are still positive. i like the way the dow is moving along its tops here. >> it is moving higher. thank you, terry, very much. >> my pleasure. >> we'll see you later. we'd head toward the close with mark hurd, the president of oracle ringing the closing bell

of the new york stock exchange, getting a big fish for the nasdaq today. they lift at the new york stock exchange for the first time, and mark hurd will be maria's special guest coming up on the second hour of the "closing bell." i'll see you tomorrow. [ bell ringing ] and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. stocks closing modestly higher. investors remaining cautious ahead of word from the federal reserve tomorrow. that will likely set the tone. let's look at how we're settling out ahead of the fled. we did have selling at the end of the day, which took some wind out of the sails. up about 15 points. nasdaq was the winner. technology getting a bid today, up 17.30, finishing at