"closing bell" is next. thanks, everybody, you're watching "street signs." and bob, you have a beautiful car here. >> thank you very much. and we welcome you to "closing bell." i'm bill griffeth here at the new york stock exchange. the stocks, at least the major averages, just can't seem to get things in gear so far this monday. >> that's right. i'm kelly evans in for maria bartiromo. coming up on the program, it hasn't been a full-blown sell-off, but it does feel like a steady drip for the stocks. the dow down 250 points. >> and today, we haven't been down 250 points, but we have been down 65. also, a tale of two phones. first reports that apple will unveil its new iphone a month from now on september 10th. we will look at what to expect and how that stock could react.

and then, there's blackberry. we had some tweets from viewers saying, do people still own blackberries? >> you and me both. >> we have them right here. the once dominant player in that area, now basically forced to put itself up for sale, and we'll have some questions about that. of course, one of the big questions is, who would want to buy blackberry? >> and how much is it fundamentally worth at this point? this is one, right, people who visit disney didn't count on, condos at resort near disney swallowed into a sinkhole. >> bizarre. >> remarkable pictures. fortunate no one was hurt. we'll have a live report. let's get you caught up on the markets. lately, we've had a downdraft on the open in the mornings, and then it comes back in the afternoons. the other way around today. first, the sell-off. but then it did come back in the morning. we were actually positive for a little while, up 17 points. but drifting lower since then. down 16 right now on the dow at 15,409 after a pretty tough week last week. apple and blackberry are boosting the technology stocks

today. so the nasdaq is 7 points higher. right now at 3,667. and the s&p 500 index is still back below 1,700 today. we're down 3-plus points at 1,688. so august/summer slowdown continues today. bob pisani, how far off the record highs are we? you know, it was only august 2nd we were at that new all-time high. >> reporter: yeah, put up the s&p. we're 1.3%, 1.4% off the high, and everybody acts if the market is falling apart. it's august, folks. here's what i think has to happen for the stock market to advance. put up the full screen. to be honest with you, we may have a shade of underperformance for the next few weeks. down 2%, down 3%. historically in the last six months, that's been enough to bring the markets back. just a buying opportunity. here's two other things. what's going to happen after tapering if we go from $85 billion to $65 billion. my own sense is maybe the market drops 3% in a few days, but then comes back. but determining that is big

issue. the european stability. german elections, they have a lid on everything now. can they keep spain, portugal, everything together? if they can, the market can take off in september, even though it's not traditionally great month. meantime, why is the nasdaq outperforming today? because of apple. for a company that nobody cares about, nobody thinks has innovation, a leak they're having the iphone 5, that's helping the market outperform here. apple is right near a three-month high. some other ones, western digital, near a historic high. all you need is $70 on western digital. why is it performing? big oil is a drag on the dow. ever since august 1st, when exxon came out, these stocks have been down almost every single day. they're down about 4% since the beginning of the month. that's a major problem. they cannot grow. production levels for the oil companies just aren't there. guys, back to you. >> all right, bob, thank you very much. let's talk about today's market action as we look ahead to this

week. joining us is ron weiner, anthony chen, who also, by the way, has a blackberry. vadim from alliance bernstein, and downtown josh brown from fusion analytics. josh, would you be -- what are you doing with this market right now? >> we're in. we think the market's okay. we would actually expect a little bit of a gyration here given all of the political things that will happen in september. but that's fine. only a deranged lunatic needs another 5% this month and then another 5% after. let's digest the massive gains that we've seen virtually uninterrupted since last november. so i think the message right now is a little bit of a rotation going on beneath the surface. advance the timeline, calmed down a little bit. we've seen the expansion slow. the financials are off and not leading anymore. you are seeing some of the catch-up trade work. the materials coming from behind. but the action is muted. we're in the midstle of august. i'd say all of that is okay. there's no reason to expect

more. >> anthony, is it deranged to expect 5%, 10%, more, before the end of the year? >> i think we can continue to see further appreciation between now and the end of the year. certainly with the price index up close to 18.3% on the year to date, you can, in fact, experience a little bit of a pause. some people might say degegs of all of the gains and make a rotation from some of the underperformers. certainly we think that the cyclical stocks are probably going to do much better between now and the end of the year than the more defensive stocks that led the rally in the early stages. >> ron weiner, we've gone 5 minutes and 14 seconds. we haven't mentioned the fed yet. you think year overdoing the fed thing, all of us on wall street, right? >> you know, i still don't understand how people invest in the fed. if they say they're going to trim the buying, that means they think the economy is good. it's good for stocks, not bad for stocks. same thing when interest rates go up, they think it's bad for stocks. it's good for stocks. the fed is noise.

i'll take the fed tapering as an opportunity to buy because they think things are getting better, and so do we. >> at the same time, the multiple has expanded for stocks so far this year. so there's some concern that that is because of the fed's role in this market. if they start to step back, do you think the multiple contracts and we face headwinds for equities here? >> i don't think the multiple expands from here for sure. there is possibility of contraction. for that, you'll need to see significantly stronger growth. the earnings growth will determine the path of the market, which means 3%, 4% is possible. >> 3%, 4% for what, stocks, you mean? >> for nows between now and the end of the year. >> josh, to your point. that doesn't sound like a lot of pickup. there are people wary moving into the market at all-time highs. can you blame them? >> i can't blame them. i think it's probably the wrong conversation for anyone to have, is today the day to buy? the right decision is to modulate your exposure up and down. if that's what you need to do. but this idea of being able to dance in and out, based on the

fed's qe, is, frankly, lunacy. i don't know anyone who's able to do it. none of the data suggests it can be done. the way people should think right now is that if we get market consternation based on bernanke's replacement or the cessation of $85 billion a month in bond buying, or the german elections, or any of the geopolitical things you want to have keep you up at night, that's probably when you should look at your exposure and say, do i have enough given my timeframe? not worry so much about trying to game the things that are tough to game. we can look at earnings and say, they're somewhat predictably okay, but nobody can game what the multiple on those earnings are going to be on a consistent basis. >> yeah, well i -- i think josh is right. i think the other thing is, there's no other game in town. are you going to invest in bonds now? i don't think so. are you going to put it in emerging markets? you have to have more tolerance. europe, more tolerance. the u.s. is a fair place to put money. just maybe not as everybody's

been saying, maybe not with two months, three months. but there's really no other place to put money that makes sense, at least for the next couple of years going forward. >> yeah, but is that the reason to invest in stocks, ron? i mean, is it the reason to ask the girl to the prom, because she's the only one left? >> well, that's a good point. >> what if you don't like her? >> i agree. there are places to put money within u.s. stocks. >> guys, i would argue that you could also -- we're not confined to u.s. stocks alone. in the year 2013. >> are you going to buy emerging markets? >> well, we've been buying europe all spring. people looked at me like i was crazy. i had a producer ask me if i was joking before i went on the air. it's outperforming over the last four weeks. emerging markets now, i'm not saying this is the big bounce, but they've been stabilizing. you don't hear a lot about it just yet. so the answer is, you don't have to pick and choose only u.s., only emerging markets. build a portfolio, add where markets are weak, subtract where markets have gotten carried

away. do you want to buy the russell 2000 at 20 times earnings right now, or do you want to buy some areas of asia under 10? >> no, josh, a great point. antho anthony, what are you doing? >> we are getting more excited about europe, as it goes from six consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. probably when we see the next gdp, it will show in the second quarter, europe exited recession. that's exactly the places you want to be, where things are getting -- moving from bad to less bad. that's when the equity market is going to reward investors. emerging markets, perhaps a little bit later in the year. >> what about china? you like china here? >> china, we're very excited. the data is coming in very strong. when we see exports getting stronger, that gives us encouragement. when we see imports getting stronger, it tells us that the transition from an investment or manufacturing-based economy towards a consumer-based economy is starting to gain traction. so china, we've been very excited about for quite sometime. and i think now the market is starting to get excited. >> keep in mind the s&p -- yeah, keep in mind the s&p is 40%

foreign in terms of earnings. >> right. >> you could be the u.s. and be a little less volatile, or you could take the foreign markets and have a longer time horizon. >> when you see the price earnings ratio at 8.4, 8.5 relatively to the s&p 500, you have to be somewhat excited. >> 8.4. >> and that get as nod from the man downtown. thank you, guys. appreciate it. >> thanks. let's see, 50 minutes left before the closing bell. the dow is down about 17 points, the s&p 500 down by 3. bill, we're at 1,687. a lot of people watching the 1,690 level. >> and we heart from art shin, a sly buy side bias as we head toward the close. we won't get excited like anthony is about china. is splitting a stock only a gimmick, or could it be what the doctor ordered to get the market moving again? someone here will make the case for splitting stocks coming up. and cover your ears if you own apple products, because we're wondering if the company could actually be neglecting the consumer in favor of its shareholders. we'll find out coming up on the most important hour of the

trading day. >> yes, it is. >> be right back.

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could you imagine paying close to $10,000 for one share of microsoft stock? according to our next guest, john ogg, of 24/7 wall street, that could be the price if the tech giant stock never split, and he said some stock splits may be just what today's bull market needs to help bring some excitement back into equities. >> is he right? and which stocks are topping his list? he'll join us now, along with gene, who helps manage over $7 billion in today's market. guys, welcome. >> thank you. nice to be here. >> thank you. >> john, a fascinating point here, that microsoft could be at $10,000 if they hadn't split. why is it splits have become less common, and should they be something that boards consider here? >> well, i think that apple and

google probably have more influence over that than any of the others. google has always said they didn't really want to, although they're involved in the share split that's more for control right now. and who knows what the -- what the verdict's going to be on that -- on that situation. but as far as apple, i mean, they've -- who's excited about apple now? everyone's talking about the new iphone that's coming out on september 10th -- >> well, sure, this isn't an apple-specific issue. if you look at the s&p 500, the average price of a share has risen to something, like, $70. and it was only in the 50s during previous cycles. so there is a fundamental change under way. why do you think that is? >> well, it's over the last 10 years. and i don't know, maybe everyone has berkshire hathaway envy or something. >> yeah, what is that about? >> you can buy -- you can buy that for $175,000. but even buffett decided at some point to go with the "b" shares and now investors can buy in for

$116 a share. is it a gimmick? yes. >> gene, splitting a stock doesn't change its value. i mean, it doesn't change anything except the nominal price itself. does it necessarily make a stock that much more attractive when it goes from, say, $100 to $50 if they split it 2 for 1? >> well, first, bill, let me just say, i think we're in a bull market with or without stock splits. but what stock splits do is, as john mentioned, they do allow putting some of the shares -- these pricey shares -- into the hands of retail. my concern is where the stock splits begin to accelerate more and more. if we're toward the end of a cycle and we're getting more stock splits like the 1990s, then you have the risk of retail distribution, the investors stepping and that would be my concern, but here at this juncture, i think stock splits would be helpful but not necessary to see higher levels

as i expect. >> john, i was curious if you could pick your top-five candidates for stock splits right now. what would those be? >> one of them is google. one is apple. again, for the same reasons i mentioned. you know, what i worry about is the people that are buying apple products, in most cases they can't even go out and buy a single share of stock. >> right. >> i mean, look at priceline. it almost hit $1,000 the other day. it would be the first s&p sto stock -- >> right. >> -- to hit $1,000 under these circumstances. >> right. >> that's incredible. >> you have to remember -- yeah, but remember priceline's last split was actually a reverse split. >> reverse 1 for 6, right, exactly. >> so they're -- they're probably not too eager to do it. but at the same time, you know, what do you do when none of the customers can actually buy any stock? we're not going to get a bull market just with odd lots. again, just like gene's talking about, splits aren't going to make a bull market, but there's been no excitement about stocks

from anyone that -- there's no new investors, so there's no new wealth being created. it's all -- >> now, wait a minute, john, what is interesting, and i wonder the extent to which the people who are buying has changed. i mean, is that what's happened here? we've gone from a retail-dominated market ten years ago to a more institutionally dominated one that's less price-tag sensitive today? >> we've lost -- i mean, we've lost a generation of equity investors. most people still -- people actually still come up and ask, "is the market going to crash on me again?" and -- >> well, i have reservation about that, to be honest with you. i don't think the stock splits are all that critical for the bull market. i mean, you point to priceline, you point to amazon, you point to apple, google, others. these stocks have had huge run-ups and the retail investor, based on john's thesis, has not been involved. but they have been involved through retirement programs, mutual funds, and so on. so it might not be that they can be in the hands of the retail --

>> right. >> -- but it doesn't mean the stock can't move up. the stocks go up because of interest rates and earnings, basically, not because of stock splits. >> and we do have a number of people who buy exchange-traded funds. they don't buy individual stocks anymore. so you've got that phenomenon that's playing out right now, too, john ogg. >> yeah, that's all -- look, that is all correct. the difference is is that you -- people don't really get the same excitement that they used to get in the stock market. so if they're buying etfs, great. etfs, still buying one share at a time of the other companies when they make their changes. and, you know, my whole thing is, i've always said that a stock split's just a gimmick. it's just there's no excitement in the bull market whatsoever. we have lost a whole generation. and it might just be nice to see younger people be able to actually even buy more than one or two shares. >> and that lack of excitement, gene -- >> -- aren't going to drive up

the market. >> -- i've known you long enough to know the lack of excitement is a good thing for the long-term prospects of the bull market, right? >> well, as they say, bill, never sell a dull market short, so if john believes it's a dull market, i would not be going short. i disagree. i do think there is a young generation of investors coming along here. and the fact that it is coming along moderately slowly, there isn't this great urgency to come off the sidelines and buy stocks just yet, has led for an orderly advance, still very attractive valuations in this market. i mean, i think this market is going a lot higher before we hit the cycle peak. toward the cycle peak, we'll get a great acceleration in stock splits as john has -- >> hey, gene, just curious. almost as a sidenote, this issue about etfs. there's more and more attention on how reliable and safe these products are. are you concerned that a lot of people have been playing this market, this generation just generally speaking, through etfs instead of through individual shares? >> no, not greatly so. i mean, at our company, we're

largely involved in define trust unit investment trust, and we've seen a lot of pickup in terms of activity in these passive products. so i think that, you know, there are a number of ways to par tuiasosopo 't -- participate in the market. i think investors will continue to seek out individual stock holdings as well as the young generation develops. >> it's a lot more complicated than it used to be. >> gene, i hope -- i hope to god you are right, gene. >> all right. we'll all gather again in ten years and see what happens. thank you, all. >> i look forward to that, bill. >> yeah. me, too, gene. see you later. by then, you'll still be at which high school -- >> 20th. >> yeah, right. where were we? 40 minutes left in the trading session. >> look at that. >> down 4 points. we are coming back. the buy recommendations are starting to kick in. >> maybe it's you, bill. in the morning, it's the sell-off session. and now maybe a comeback here. apple reportedly set to

unveil the next iphone next month. the question is whether the company is focusing enough on what consumers want or paying too much atoentention to shareholders. and apparently more fraud going on behind the scenes of madoff's firm. the work of his love triangle later on the "closing bell." it's something i never thought i'd say on the "closing bell." but i did. >> lucky you.

we have a market flash now

from josh lipton on open table. what's going on? did i lose my reservation? >> reporter: bill, you're looking at open table moving sharply higher now. near session highs. the news that opentable is working with facebook allowing people to book a table via a restaurant's page on mobile. so more opentable integration here. that stock up today, up some 50% so far this year. bill, back to you. >> all right, josh, thank you very much. you know, they're getting sneaky about that, too. if you book a table through opentable, and you don't show p up, they call -- they call you out. they will -- they will tweet out that you didn't show up for your reservation. >> i kind of like that. and it's harder to give a fake name when you have to use your e-mail. >> yes, it is. numerous reports that on september 10th, mark that date, apple will break out its latest version of the iphone. it will be a closely watched event, of course, because some critics say that the company that at one time could not turn off the innovation spigot cannot seem to create the next big thing, just incremental

improvements on pre-existing products. ashton kutcher, who plays steve jobs in the new movie that opens this friday, here's what he had to say to maria about that last week. >> you obviously studied apple, as well as steve jobs. do you think that without steve jobs, they're still going to have the momentum they have had over the years under his leadership? >> he consistently and constantly sought innovation, spent a lot of time and effort in r&d. created leapfrog products. and had the ultimate compassion for the consumer. and at the same time, had a complete disregard for the stockholder. however, the stockholder ultimately benefited from his compassion for the consumer. >> it's a good point. is apple's innovation rut now too much focus on the shareholder lately and not enough on creating new technology? joining us now is bill, seen overresearch analyst covering technology for edward jones. thank you very much for your time. does ashton have a point here?

>> yeah, i think the point is that innovation is hard. and that steve jobs lulled us into believing that it was easy. and let's be realistic. he had a limited amount of time. he pushed forward some very innovative initiatives. and we were left believing that this was going to extend out in perpetuity, and i think we're all realizing now that innovation is very difficult. >> james brim is joining us, senior strategist and consultant with compass. james, what about that? we're at a point now, so many companies get caught up in the quarter-to-quarter cycle where they feel they have to please the shareholders and wall street, and they lose sight of the bigger picture. has apple gotten into that rut, do you think? >> you know, bill, that's a good question. i think that it's really hard when you get so big to continue to innovate. you do lose focus, and you take a look at what the shareholders want. you look at what the analysts want. you try to please everybody. and you kind of lose focus

there. so maybe they have to use some of the cash that they have and buy some innovation and buy some of the small companies that are really out there innovating. and use that hoard of cash to continue to innovate. >> you know, james, it's an interesting point, because it's tough -- it's extremely difficult to find the next great product. it's hard to blame apple too much here. i guess what you could say is that if they realized they didn't have it right, perhaps they should have been more aggressive in identifying who does. who would you say is the innovation engine out there right now? >> you know, samsung's done a very good job being an innovation engine. but let's look outside of that, and let's look at the things that we're talking about as analysts, and as technologists today. we're talking about the internet of things, the machine-to-machine communication, or devices talking to each other. we're also talking about big data and even some big companies are, you know, very similar to apple, like cisco and s.a.p. and oracle are finally getting their stories around innovation in

those spaces. so it's mainly the companies of 50 employees or lower that we consider them the true innovators, guys you've never heard of. and a big company like apple needs to go out there and bring those guys into the apple family and bring that innovation in. and they've done a little bit of that. they bought a few companies along the way. >> right. >> but, man, with the amount of money they have, they could really fuel a true innovation engine. >> bill, how do you think this new -- the latest version of the iphone -- we hear it will be the 5c. >> ooh. >> when you consider the competition that's out there from samsung and everybody else who's innovating these days, what do you make of what apple's doing here? >> well, i think what's happened is apple went from dictating the trajectory of technology to playing catch-up, and in pretty short order, this is a situation where the product cycles continue to shorten, particularly with multiple

vendors and ecosystem of google. and apple has their one year which is beginning to seem stale. if this product is less than stellar, consumers are left waiting for another 12 months, which could be even longer if you think about technology and the way that preferences shift. >> are you folks recommending apple right now? >> we're not. we're neutral on the name. after the first quarter results, we decided to step away. and we do like the capital allocation plan. we think that they can be innovative and good stewards of capital at the same time. that kind of put a floor under the stock around $400. but going forward, it's going to be new products that really drive this stock. >> all right. good to see you both. thank you. james, we'll let you get back out into traffic. i hear it's a lot of fun out there today. >> thanks, bill. >> thanks. >> see you later. there's some, what we call it, a pileup, a slowdown here. stocks are struggling to get out of the mud today. josh lipton taking a look at the names on the move. josh? >> reporter: yeah, listen, kelly, some of the movers on our

radar. let's start with apple rising today, it's after reports that the tech giant will unveil its next generation iphone on september 10th. ahead of the holiday sales period. also watching the miners. gold hitting its highest level in nearly three weeks. by the way, the gld recording its first inflow in two months. baric, newmont, all moving sharply higher today. do dole food agreeing to be taken private by its chairman and chief executive who lifted his officer to $13.50 per share. and pinnacle foods buying inin unilever's wishbone sald dressing, and also tesla, lazard cutting the rating to neutral, telling clients the risk/reward here is less compelling after the recent price appreciation. and we'll end here on blackberry. the smartphone maker saying its board of directors has formed a special committee to explore

alternatives, including going private. kelly, back to you. >> all right, josh, thank you very much, sir. also coming up, who could buy blackberry? we'll look at some of the potential suitors when we come back. and the market, yes, it has timely turned positive, bill. >> wall street trader just walked by a little while ago, before we went on the air, and threw out a name very intriguing on who could buy blackberry. i'll mention it to you, and we'll do that -- >> tease. >> -- yes. looking a the market one more time. the dow basely positive. the s&p 500 still trying to reclaim the 1,690 level. you know the touches at bank drive-throughs that suck your transactions at light speed? you seen those? >> i used to know them quite well. >> you could soon be traveling in something quite like that if billionaire ilan musk has his way. we'll have the details of the inside plan to revolutionize the way we travel. that's coming up. also, it seems like everybody is ganging up against bill ackman and his board room brawl over jcpenney.

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welcome back. he's taken on electric cars and space travel. now billionaire ilan musk wants to revolutionize high-speed travel in america. phil lebeau joins us now. we understand his announcement, more details in maybe an hour's time. >> we'll hear about the hyperloop, or at least his vision of it. the hyperloop hoopla is what we're looking at, because we don't have an indication of what he's going to tell us. he told us it's a theory. not a company he's forming. it's his vision of the future. it will be solar-powered and have the cost lower than what it would take to take a comparable trip in planes or trains. he tweeted a few hours before he pulled an all-nighter developing his hyperloop plan. the hyperloop will have an open architecture, so in other words, if other technology companies, other software engineers, if they want to add to the hyperloop that he throws out there, that's a possibility. i want to show you the animation, because this is the vision of a company out of

colorado. et-3, it's developing tube transport technology. it's already issuing licenses to technology partners, similar to what musk has talked about, an open architecture. et-3 says tube transport costs will be lower than planes and trains. here's what the founder of the company told us yesterday when we talked to him about how this will work. >> the tube is the guide way, and it is a tube that goes from -- you know, just like along a freeway network, two tubes, that would be right down the median, for instance, that these car-sized vehicles that are magnetically levitated operate inside the tubes that have all of the air removed. since there's no air, there's no friction. so once the vehicles get up to speed and merge into the flow of traffic, like a car merging onto a freeway, they are coasting the whole trip. using no additional energy until they get to their destination. >> interesting stuff. quickly look at shares of tesla.

despite the sell-off today, the stock is up more than 390% in the last year. bill and kelly, we'll hear from musk in one hour, and at 5:00 eastern, he'll have a conference call where he explains his vision of the future with the hyperloop. guys, back to you. >> yeah, more evidence that we are not in the 20th century anymore, toto. thank you, phil. yes, tesla falling today. about 5% after getting a downgrade to neutral by lazard. so is this a sign that tesla's shares are about to break down, or just a bump in the road? let's start talking numbers on tesla. on the technical side, rich ross, and on the fundamentals side is steve cortese with tjm. good to see you both. steve, would you rather buy the stock or drive the car? >> well, bill, i'd like both. by the way, i like the carment even more than that, i like the driver. i'm glad we're talking about ilan musk, because this man is a visionary entrepreneur. and listen, i would bet on musk if he told me he were going to beat hussein bolt in the

100-meter dash, because he is the bolt of start-ups and he's shown us that time and again. his leadership and his vision and his execution. as far as the car, the car is not bad either. it just recently scored a 99 on "consumer reports'" review of the s model. that's the highest score in its history. you have incredible leadership and an incredible product. is it expensive? yes, both the product and the stock. but i think both worth it. >> rich, what about that chart? after a while, it looks like half dome. would you buy it at that point? >> bill, i love this stock. look, admittedly, if you're spending your summer discounting cash flows and building excel spreadsheet models, maybe tesla is not the product for you. if you like breaking down charts and making money, it's exactly the stock for your portfolio. i would be a big buyer here. as we look at the chart, keep in mind $17 billion market cap. compare that to a stock like facebook at 93 billion. tesla could triple. i would still buy it. you could look at this chart, it has the trappings of a typical growth momentum stock undergoing

a binary shift in sentiment, well-defined trend line, holding the 50-day moving average, good support down at 133. i like the chart. i like the story. i'm a big buyer here. >> all right. let me play devil's advocate sort of here for just a second, steve. i mean, i'm reminded that pigs get slaughtered on wall street. you know, the bulls and bears make money. but there's only -- i mean, 390% gain on a stock in one year? how much more can you expect here? >> no, bill, listen. i think it goes significantly higher. and here's one of my main reasons. i don't think wall street's paying enough attention. they're all talking about how many cars tesla itself can produce and then they break down the market cap divided by the cars brings you to an extravagant number. they're not paying enough attention to how important tesla is becoming to the supplier to the much larger old-school companies -- toyota, mercedes benz, also partial owners of tesla and also part of the technology. so it's not about the finished

cars, but the status as a supplier. i think tesla can go much higher. >> all right. >> bill, if i can add real quick, keep your head on the swivel and think outside the box. at one point, home depot was just a hardware store. at one point, starbucks just sold coffee. you have to think big picture. look down the road. this is the stock you want to own. $17 billion market cap, that's a joke. i'm a buyer. >> okay. you made your point. both of you. very well. thanks. meanwhile, for those that depend on cars that run on gasoline, oil prices are well above $100 a barrel. cnbc's chief international correspondent michelle cabrera is highlighting ways for americans to invest in oil. >> reporter: there's a huge announcement from the president of mexico, meaning more production and investment possibilities for american oil companies. he announced it's a big deal for the oil industry, that for the first time in 75 years that country will allow private investment and foreign investment in its oil industry.

up until now, and if it gets through congress -- that's a big if -- pimex controls the oil production, a state-run oil monopoly, incredibly inefficient, poorly run, in desperate need of cash, know-how, et cetera. production has declined 25% from its all-time high in mexico. they don't have the technology they need, nor the money. they need deep, deep reforms in the structure of the company, et cetera. that's what he announced today. it's going to be tough, because the oil industry in mexico is something that is very close to the mexican people. this video is from 1938. this is the mexican people demanding that the government nationalize 17 different oil companies, british and american mostly, and when those british and american companies demanded that they get paid back, mexicans handed in all of the wealth. they handed in jewelry, chickens, cellos, et cetera, in order to pay them back.

this is a big change. if it gets through. it will mean companies like chevron, et cetera, can now invest and get more revenue out of a new country in latin america. it's also an investment opportunity for america, and perhaps, bill and kelly, as well, a better mexican economy. >> yeah, michelle, the best-performing market, i think, over the last -- i think the week, maybe a couple of weeks, is mexico. people are getting -- >> reporter: in anticipation of this. hedge funds in particular, highly anticipatory of this event. they think it's a game changer for the mexican economy. >> i cannot tell you the number of hedge fund guys that came through here on this program, it's one country they mention a lot. >> reporter: yeah. >> mexico, these dies. >> not just for the tequila. >> exactly. >> reporter: but it's good, though. >> it is. >> thank you. heading toward the close. 15 minutes left in the trading session. the dow may finish positive. >> yeah. we'll see. we've got about 15 minutes left to go. keeping an eye on the markets and talk about a turnaround. it's taken five years but financials are finally on the verge of reclaiming top sector

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♪ this is the pursuit of perfection. so we all know bernie madoff ran the largest financial fraud in u.s. history. >> now, we're finding out that madoff wasn't busy cooking the books, he may have been just getting flat-out busey with an employee. robert frank has the details of the triangle. >> reporter: there was an explosive paragraph buried in a new filing from prosecutors in the madoff case. it said all but one of five defendants set to go on trial in october were at one time in a romantic or sexual relationship with each other or witnesses. it revealed that, quote, one of the defendants was involved in a love triangle with bernie madoff

himself. the defendants have been charged in connection with that $65 billion fraud madoff himself, of course, serving 150-year prison sentence in north carolina. the mystery is who else was involved in this love triangle. the five name include joanne kruppy who worked in the investment advisory business, handling a lot of the funds. annette bongiorno. perez, and daniel bonventre. there's speculation the love interest could be the wife of one of the male defendants. of course, it's not the first time that madoff has been accused of infidelity. cheryl weinstein wrote an book about her alleged one-year affair with madoff. maybe there are more books on the way. >> you know, prosecutors can sometimes use those kinds of relationships as leverage, if there's a revenge factor that could play in. are we talking about the possibility of that happening?

>> reporter: well, it's a little unclear why prosecutors submitted this. on the one hand, they want the witness' testimony to be accepted and they don't want this issue to come up and discredit the witnesses. 1 on the other hand, this could sort of bring down some of the case, and it's just unclear how to read why they're filing this. the defendants don't know what to make of this. some of the defendants themselves saying, we don't know what they're talking about. so the mystery just deepens here. we may find out in a week or two when there could be a secondary filing that names the names and we might get a clear understanding as to why the prosecutors decided to disclose this. >> right. i think a lot more people will be reading that one closely, robert. thanks very much for that. >> reporter: thank you, guys. >> five years later, we're still talking about the -- them building a case against bernie madoff's company. unbelievable. >> it's not the only instance it's taken years and years. we'll keep following these stories. there are just about 10 minutes left to go before the closing bell. the stocks trying to stay

positive. it's been up and down within a narrow range for the last several minutes. >> it has. john is still a believer in this market. when we come back, why he says the great rotation from bends into stocks has yet to begin. later, "shark tank" star and real estate investor barbara corkran says there's an opportunity for start-ups. find out where it is on the "closing bell." ♪ this summer was definitely worth the wait. ♪ summer's best event from cadillac. let summer try and pass you by. lease this all-new cadillac ats for around $299 per month or purchase for 0% apr for 60 months. come in now for the best offers of the model year. (announcer) scottrade knows our and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online

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coming up on the seven-minute mark heemplt art cashin handed us the sell side of bias, $90 million to the sell side, and most of that to the gold stocks. they want to sell gold at the close. >> that's an interesting one. john and james join us now with some of the thoughts as we head into the close. john, you first. >> you buying or selling here? >> we're still bullish. we've been bullish for obviously some time now. i think that right now we see china coming in a little bit better overnight. that actually helped gold stocks, material stocks. we have our eye on the aussie dollar. aussie dollar valued up to 92. using that as a pivot to see if the commodity trade will continue. we're seeing stock-specific stories. apple up $12. obviously, we saw facebook last week, tesla down. so we're seeing different stocks

dominating, but the volume, like you said, has been light so far. >> taking it with a grain of salt in that regard. dan, what do you see here? we still haven't had this proverbial 10% correction. >> we haven't had the whoosh down, have we, that shakes out all of the weak sisters. we are cautiously trading at these levels, kind of expecting the possibility of somewhere in the neighborhood of a 4% to 6% retrenchment or pullback, if you will. again, very much of the mind that it's within the context of a secular bull market. >> well, i just wonder at the same time going back to this point about china, is china turning -- you know, caterpillar, one of the stronger names today. i imagine we have to watch that. and gold to some extent. if we don't get the confirmation here, you start to wonder about that. >> silver was up 4%. gold is lagging. platinum. industrial metals started to rally last week. on the china news, the export data was obviously very good. the numbers continue to print well. i think if we look at in the macro sense, we're thinking of as japan trumps china. we're thinking of it as the e.u.

trumps emerging markets. so the fact that germany came out today, said they might organize the gdp figures higher, you know, if you start to get germany printing 1%, you know, that brings everybody else up. greece was up 10%. i think things are getting better. we don't really -- the only thing the bears have now is the taper in their favor. and if the taper, if they rally on that, then it's all over to the year end. >> best investment idea going into the -- the end of the summer here. what do you think? >> raise cash and stay on the sidelines. >> really? >> august is -- we expect it to be very slow. volatility increase. we are starting to see a little bit more of a sentiment on the sell side. the sell-offs seem strongerment fewer buyers around. people seem to be waiting. august has been historically very slow, september historically weak. >> he's not the only one raising cash. thank you for your thoughts. >> thank you. up next, back with the "closing countdown," and after the bell, a sinking feeling down in disney world.

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directions. blackberry putting itself up for sale essentially today, gaining 10%. we'll talk next hour about who might buy that company. and tesla motors down 3% on a downgrade today, but we will hear more from the founder eron musk next hour. keith, a lot of people are talking about raising cash here, thinking we'll finally get the 10% correction. what do you think? >> they may be a little early. it's tough to discern a day from anything like today. as you were pointing out, sloppy, back and forth. we've not gone anywhere. the volumes are tepid. the bias for august expiration week is negative. you have seasonality factors. this is just a market that's a little exhausted right in here. people may raise cash and take profits? >> are you? >> we're not. we've not violated any technical attributes on the downside. i'd wait here until we see the economic data this week. >> okay. got to move our way out here as

the traders make their way past us. thank you. 15 seconds left with the dow down 4 points. looks like we will finish slightly lower. we have a lot to cover here. who could buy blackberry? what is the futuristic transportation system elon musk has up his sleeve? we'll find out on the second hour of the "closing bell." it's 4:00 p.m. on wall street. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm kelly evans in today for maria bartiromo. bill will be joining us in a second. the stocks are struggling to find direction today. here's how we're finishing the day. it looks like a down day for the dow and s&p 500. we're still waiting for things to settle out. the nasdaq, though, managing perhaps a small positive here, helped by the performance of tesla and apple, to some extent, i'm sorry, not tesla, but by apple to some extent. we'll keep an eye on the components of that index, as well. we've come off a week where just 10 days ago, we were at record highs, the dow jones industrials average, and