on the end of everything, is improves every word. >> i can't believe you did the duck face, though. i was just slamming the duck face. >> i didn't even know what the duck face was. i was told that's what you have to do. anyway, thanks for watching, everybody. >> have a great day, everybody. "street signs" is over. >> "closing bell" is next. hi, everybody, we enter the final stretch. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. hi, bill. >> i'm bill. how are you, maria. i'm bill with maria, at least for a few more days. we'll make the most of it on friday. we'll enjoy that and send you off on style. let's get to the news today. a lot to cover here. stock market continues to trade at or near highs. we've been hovering at or below the unchanged level. we're wondering if dow can close at all-time high, above 16,000

for the first time ever. >> we have a big show coming up. huge ceo interviews coming up. exclusive talks with united airlines ceo, jeff smisek and he's announcing a $2 billion cost-cutting initiative at a time when passengers are calling for an upgrade to his fleet of planes. also do you pontdupont's ceo el. join us for these two interviews coming up. yet, more to do about bitcoins amid a second day of hearings on the virtual currency on capitol hill, wild fluctuations continue. look at the action in the last few days. it hit $900, after you and i did that segment yesterday. this is not normal behavior for anything like an investment. if they want to call it that. is it safe for anybody to put their money in bitcoins? we take a very hard look at that

coming up in a little bit here. also, let's take a look at the market. a lot of action even though the market isn't far where it began the day. dow jones industrial average with a fractional move, four points at 15,980. down 15 points on the nasdaq, 3933. s&p 500 looks like this with a decline there as well. down two and change at 1788. joining us on "closing bell exchange," meg green, leo kelly, tim holland and our own rick santelli. good to see everybody and thanks for joining us. meg, let me kick it off with you. not a lot of activity in terms of price movement today. would you put money to work in these markets at these levels? >> that to me? >> yes, meg. >> would i put new money? yes, of course. this is not a bubble in my opinion. good value.

when you see the real sign of a bubble, that's when you go to the cleaners and the ticker tape's on, that's when the doorman is giving you stock tips. there's not enough confidence to have this as a bubble. it's just starting to come. >> breaking news. we want to split over to the jpmorgan settlement just to come. kate, what can you tell us? >> reporter: we finally received word from the justice department moments ago they have, in fact, reached a historic settlement with jpmorgan over mortgage-backed securities packaged and sold to investors prior to january 1, 2009. the settlement is for $13 billion in total and breaks down as expected. about $2 billion will be a civil penalty to the justice department. $4 billion or to the fh/fa, $4 billion in consumer relief. that was a last-minute issue that involved assistance from h.u.d., housing and urban affairs department in washington. also, it's the largest fine known for a single entity in

u.s. history, according to the justice department. as part of that jpmorgan acknowledges it misrepresented the quality of certain loans to investors. that's an important statement of facts, although arguable whether it's tantamount to an admission of wrongdoing which is important to companies, because if they do it, it could usher the way to additional litigation. >> there's no admission of wrongdoing, then? >> reporter: there is a concurrence with a statement of facts, that there were some risky, low-quality mortgages that were issued and packaged by jpmorgan. whether or not nair going to say, we actually did something wrong, we actually committed some sort of fraud, i have not finished the documents yet. my understanding is they won't be saying so explicitly. >> a concurrence with a statement of fact. i love that. some lawyer -- >> reporter: this is what they did you guys. >> some lawyer was up late at night trying figure that one out. go ahead, finish it up. >> reporter: you may recall the $410 million settlement they reached, i believe it was september or late august, with

federal energy regulatory commission. this was in connection with alleged power manipulation in a couple of states years ago. they paid a large sum of money and they acknowledged certain facts. but they didn't go out and say, we committed fraud, we committed wrongdoing. they did not say it was manipulation. my understanding is it's a similar kind of language here. >> kate s there any evidence that the major legal issues are now behind jpmorgan? i mean, this is -- this has been a never-ending thing for its investors. so, do you have any clarity in terms of, you know, has the low-hanging fruit been picked or more to come in terms of -- >> reporter: been picked off? >> yes. >> reporter: i'm going to give you a double-edged answer and i don't know what shares are doing as we speak but they seemed to rally leading into this long-awaited announcement. i think investors like clarity. there's still a raft of legal issues jpmorgan is facing. pr right now they have reserves of $23 billion. they added more last quarter.

they're more than covered for this settlement. analysts estimate they could have $8 to $16 billion yet to come in mortgage litigation costs. in addition, they have a wide series of issues they're still grappling with, ranging frommen inquiry the way they hired chinese sons and daughters 6 oe -- of officials. a lot of things they're still dealing with. i think they'll be talking to investors later today. exact timing to be determined. cfo mary ann lake and jamie dimon will be answering questions over the phone. >> those on satellite radio, shares are fractionally higher. off the highs but up 0.75%. kate kelly, thank you, on what has been a very long, tense settlement between the bank and jpmorgan. tim holland, this is the

financial sector. as they stay pay penance for financial fiasco of five, six years ago. would you buy the big major banks right now? >> i think the sooner the big banks can put these issues behind them, bill, the better off for credit, the better off for lending. but where we've positioned the diversified equity fund and our small cap fund is more toward smaller banks, below the $10 billion in asset threshold. the less touched by dodd/frank and regulatory regime that all these banks, especially the big ones, are now living under. we just see greater opportunity still down on balance than up, the cap spectrum. >> does everybody agree with that? what about you, leo? what's your take in terms of what we heard from jpmorgan and this settlement? if there's more to come and whether you want to start buying this stock again after all of these legal issues. >> well, i'll concur with a statement of fact. that statement of fact is that the banks are going to do it again.

they continue to go through one problem, find another one to get themselves wrapped up in. what you look at is the economy's improving. their balance sheets are much better than they were back in 2008-2009. dividends will come back. it's a reasonable investment. do we overweight the banks? no. is this the end of trouble or the last headline we'll hear or the last interaction with an attorney general? i would be shocked if that was the case. >> rick santelli, what do you -- you know, what are you looking at right now? we've had a pretty calm market the last few days overall compared to the volatility we had recently. what are you looking at these days and what are you anticipating down the road here? >> well, you know, let's run through it. as i look at interest rates, they're up a couple basis points but the salient feature is interest rates are sticky. stocks continue to break into new territory. my guess is they'll be unstuck at higher levels. foreign exchange, dollar index has been following long rates. that makes some sense.

especially as we monitor the end, the only country doing more stimulus than we are. last but not least, when it comes to bitcoin, i harken back to, i believe it was april 12th, when bitcoin traded up to 266 and within an hour it was trading at 104. i'm all for free markets and free men. i think bitcoin should be allowed to exist but it is certainly a ponzi scheme, in my opinion. what comes to with what happened with jpmorgan, i guess, you know, $15 billion, another $10 billion and we'll arrive at the figure jamie dimon didn't want to take when he was forced to take the $25 billion. i think all of these exercises really make my head spin. i want to know what happens with the notion of civil litigation moving forward with regard to some of the big bank. >> right. there's a lot going there, too. >> it's true. >> thanks, folks. appreciate your thoughts on today's market action. let's get a check on stock

making big moves today. >> first up, let's talk about home depot, posted better than expected profits and sales and boosted its guidance. the company cited improving housing market. also best buy shares taking a dive after the company expressed concerns about profit margins heading into this holiday shopping season. earnings did beat expectations but the company says its competitors are spending a lot on holiday promotions this year, so they have to do the same thing. also, magellan health services down 3%. toward session lows after an arizona judge ruled against the company over a contract dispute with the state's health services department. they were trying to challenge a $3 billion mevenlgts health and substance abuse contract awarded to one of their competitors and the judge dismissed the appeal. >> thank you so much. we're getting some headlines out of charlie evans from the fed but not moving this market. up six points. he says bountiful accommodations still needed.

qe purchases may be $1.5 trillion. fedex panded the balance sheet in an extraordinary way. it's phenomenal. >> we'll see if it moves it as we head to the close. 50 minutes left in the trading session. dow is up 20 points. it needs to be up 25 points to close at 16,000 or higher. we'll take a break and united continental planning to cut costs by $2 billion a year. this just after the carrier missed wall street expectations. find out what cuss mean to passengers when we speak to the ceo, jeff smisek coming up. also ahead -- >> what a great movie. jpmorgan shares higher after announcing $13 billion mortgage settlement, but is this stock safe to invest in? we'll look at that further. are the legal issues finally in the rearview mirror? both sides on the jpmorgan story later on the "closing bell." stay tuned.

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the dow is trying to do what it could not do yesterday, close above 16,000 for the first time, bob pisani. yesterday carl icahn spoiled the

party. charles evans of the fed is doing his best to spoil the party. >> take a look at the dow. a heard a lot of hang-wringing about overbought conditions. i don't see a lot of action. i don't see a lot of selling going on. this has been a pretty small move in terms of the dow. about 60 points on the day. high beta stocks. again, your groupons, netflixes, yelps, zillows. they're under pressure. very little room for error in any of these high beta numbers. whole cloud computing group under a little pressure. same with 3-d printers. this group was not among high beta names hit recently and all of a sudden today, kaboom. all stocks are to the downside. i haven't heard anything from the traders i've talked to. finally, united continental ceo, i understand, coming up. great year. they got an investor day going

on today. talking about cutting spending. the stock is up 4 .5%. look at how the stocks have done this year. airline is traditionally a loser investment for many years because there were too many airlines, too much capacity. delta up over 100%, united up 61%. what's power them, lower fuel costs, higher capacity, higher demand, higher ticket prices, throw in consolidation and you have a terrific year. i want to know, just ask him, he's not going to raise prices anymore, is he? please? >> he's right here. you just did his whole segment for him, thanks. >> united couldn't negligence telling investors today in investor day is will cut $2 billion in costs every year going forward. first united investor day since united and continental mergeded. the stock is up 4.5% on ual. >> joining us here at post 9 of

the new york stock exchange, president and ceo of continental, jeff smisek. >> hi. >> you said the airline is not growing. does it still have growing pains from the merger? >> it does. with the $2 billion annual cost saving program and minimum of $7 million ancillary revenue we'll be generating and growth in passenger revenue, we're confident we'll be performing well financially. we expect to earn multiples of what we're earning today. >> when you say $2 billion a you're, how many years? >> over a four-year period we'll ramp up the $2 billion a year. >> where do the cost cuts come from? job cuts? walk us through where you can -- >> about $1 billion a year is in fuel alone. we have a very modern and fuel efficient fleet. we're continuing to modernize the fleet. we're putting split wings on

747s. $500 million will come from product improvement out of employees, $150 million from procurement, completely across the organization. we're becoming more efficient and improving the quality of everything we do. >> number of fliers drop precipitously after the financial debacle of 2008. you cut capacity. have you found the right balance yet? are you there? are you going to cut more capacity in the future? >> we intend to grow at less than gdp. that's very important. capacity discipline has been valuable in our industry. it's permitted us -- that and consolidation permitted us to become a business as opposed to just an airline. so, we'll continue to keep our capacity growth below gdp. we expect united to grow between 1% to 2% a year for the foreseeable future. >> interesting. >> bob just mentioned passengers and how they're going to be impacted. are you expecting to raise prices? how does the flier get impacted by all of this?

>> the capacity discipline permits us to better management the airline, manage the mix of passengers on board. we can achieve higher passenger revenues and -- we have the highest unit revenue of anyone in the industry today. we intend to grow that premium to the industry by having a better mix of passengers on board airplanes. more high-yield passengers, fewer low-yield passengers. >> you've found a way to monetize the experience, though, with access to the gate more -- >> of course, yes. >> buying this or that when you get on the flight. candidly, it makes it less fun to fly than it used to be years ago. i think you've heard that before probably from passengers. what do you do to try -- it's this intangible that can improve the experience for the passenger going forward. not just you guys but the whole industry. you know what i'm talking about? >> i'll tell you what -- >> we need you -- >> we're focused on making sure that we deliver a consistently excellent customer service. we've trained all of our customer service agents at airports.

all of our flight attendants. all of our customer care folks in customer service. we're going to have recurrent training. we're borrowing from the hospitality industry. we've worked with a third party to help us define specific service elements that we're going to train to and we're going to audit and we're going to hold our folks accountable and deliver a quality -- high-quality, very consistent customer service, because it's the experience of flight that matters. >> sure is. what do things like like to you now? can you look at bookings going forward? what are you expecting? >> business is good. bookings are good. i think that 2014 for us will be an excellent year. we're really excited. we explained to our investors today all the foundations we have been laying, whether it's in the fleet or our technology or our people or product. we're very excited about the future of united. >> what does us airways/american merger mean to you and the industry? it was left for dead and now it's going to happen. >> i've been consistent. i think consolidation is very, very good for our business.

we for too long had too many business plans chasing too few customers. driving down yields to blow the cost of the service. no business can make money if you sell for less than it costs you to sell your product. and consolidation has stabilized our business, capacity discipline has been good for our business, and our own investors holding our feet to the fire, demanding we turn cash to shareholders. that's what we'll do as united. >> how do you return cash to shareholders? >> we announced today we begin to return cash to shareholders in 2015. as we get close to that date, we'll talk about how we do that. >> jeff smisek, we see you on every flight before they tell us -- >> yes, we do. >> thank you for flying. appreciate it. heading toward the close, 40 minutes left in the trading session with the dow, we're up 13 points now. maybe some of what charles evans of the fed said by keeping rates low may be helping this market as we head toward the close. >> headlines just crossing. talk about volatility, bitcoins have traded in a range of $9 00

to $500 in the last 24 hours. we'll discuss if any investors should sign up for that kind of wild zid take bitcoins on united? yeah i didn't think so. remember when jack welch criticized the big decline before last year's presidential election? listen. >> let's talk about how we get to 7.8. this election is too important to let one number that might be corrected next month determine the outcome of the election. >> well, as it happens, a new report is renewing interest in those claims. what's the real story behind a story that the jobs report was doctored? steve liesman's been digging into that all day. he brings us his latest findings still to come on the "closing bell." i'm beth...

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welcome back. well, there has been a lot of talk surrounding the bitcoin mania. what exactly is a bitcoin? >> i'm glad you asked. we put together a little explainer. watch. >> what is bitcoin? it's a payment system that uses completely virtual money for online transactions. the digital currency is called a bitcoin.

it's like cash for the internet, transferred between people via mobile app or a computer program. users request and send bitcoins to pay for goods and services. but the identities of users in the transaction are kept anonymous through complicated encryptions. unlike real money, bitcoin has no centralized bank or authority that runs the system. it operates on an open source platform that can be accessed by anyone and controlled by the people who use it and, ultimately, the power of supply and demand. which brings us to the value of a bitcoin. since its creation in 2009 it's fluctuated dramatically from pennies to over $800. >> yes, and actually since he did that, it went to $9 00 last night and has since pulled back. >> and then to $700. >> you got that now? bitcoin roller coaster hit new heights and depths in the last

few days and continues to get a lot of attention in washington. mary thompson has been monitoring the bitcoin. what's the latest? >> today marks the second senate hearing in two days. today it's the senate banking committee taking a stab at understanding the ins, outs of digital currency. today's witnesses we'll talk about how virtual currencies can disrupt the banking system, have a need for legal clarity, how they're defined and need for added regulation. this followed yesterday's hearing where there was talk about digital currencies, and the bringing millions to those who don't have millions in banks closer to the mainstream. there were words of coins like these from bitcoin's general counsel. >> it's still very much an experimental currency and should be considered high-risk environment for consumers and

investors. >> driving that home, repeated warning from law enforcement oe fishlts who say digital currency is criminals' favorite form of money. added attention from washington driving the bitcoin to $900, before it plummeted to $200. it's recovered since then. virtual currency's worth is determined solely by supply and demand making them vulnerable to wild swings. >> thank you very much. bitcoin investors buckling up for a bumpy ride. it's up 4,000% so far this year. the virtual currency has gone from $4000, spiked to $900 during the senate hearing and today back down to $600. >> i love our graphics, too. with the volatility we've seen, can bitcoin survive as a legitimate currency? let's talk about it with a pair of our cnbc contributors, my twitter buddy carol roth with us here in new york and michael n

santoli from yahoo! finance is here as well. it's a mania, right? like the tulip. >> the second coming of beanie babies. only difference is when the market crashed, its something you could hug and make you feel good when you had all of these sorrow. i think this is a complete mania and frenzy. the only thing that's worse than having a few people control a currency is having absolutely nobody control a currency. the fact we're having having a legitimate discussion about this with senate hearings is mind-boggling to me. >> that's what people said yesterday, the senate hearings are legitimizing everything. >> in terms of speculation, obviously it's in a fevered state. no reason it should be worth 0, $900, $1 million, it's arbitrary. it's currently unstable, illiquid as an investment. the reason you had senate saying hands off, it's going up against all kinds of electronic payments. these e-mailing cash to one

another, square, and they don't -- >> paypal -- >> -- they don't want to schoek it off. it's two things. it's an electronic payment system that's ingenious how it's created and this quasi currency people want to speculate in that i think people can ignore. >> you're not dismissing it outright as many of us are. the concept is there. but it's the execution and -- >> exactly. and i don't think -- >> -- lack of regulation. >> you said supply and demand is governing this. very important. supply is going to be capped forever at 21 million bitcoins. >> if you believe that. we have no idea who's behind this. >> it's already loaded into the computer system and they can release them? >> says who, michael? says who? >> one thing that came up yesterday that i hear from people is bitcoins enable a person to be anonymous. i'm wondering if this is one of the real positives we're missing.

i've been a skeptic as well. i say, do you want to be paid as a bitcoin? >> they see it as a positive because they want to do things without being tracked but you could say it's a negative because it's impossible to keep track of these things. there have been so many robberies online and it's difficult to say who owns this and doesn't own it because it's anonymous. it's based on encryption. you can look at it from one side, but i think in reality the fact it's anonymous makes it more dangerous than helpful. >> we have to go. breaking news on the other side so we have to get to that as well. i'm sure you understand how that works. >> appreciate that. 30 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. a market that's fractional. up five points on the nasdaq. >> risky business when we come back with the market hoverering around market highs. how at risk are stocks for a steep selloff? we'll name names when we come back. we'll take the pulse of the economy when i speak to ellen

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we have this breaking news now on jpmorgan chase.

nbc's pete williams spoke to attorney general eric holder. he joins us with details. what did you find out? >> reporter: a couple things about this. first of all the justice department says this isn't just for conduct by bear stearns and washington mutual, the two banks jpmorgan bought. in the court documents filed today just now, the justice department also says jpmorgan was doing the same thing, overpromising what was in these packages of home mortgage loans that were then sold as securities. the jpmorgan knew well, executives knew, there were a lot of worthless loans in there. he says this $13 billion hit, even though today doesn't have any criminal charges, is still a big hit on the company. here's what he said. >> this was something that was hard fought. it was something that we decided in terms of the amount had to be met, otherwise we could have simply filed our lawsuit. this was not simply something that jpmorgan simply signed a check and smilingly said, this is a good deal for us. this inflicts pain on that institution.

>> reporter: now, the subject of whether criminal charges could still be filed, the justice department emphasizes, yes, they absolutely could be. i asked him today, isn't this your best shot? if you know they committed fraud and you're not charging them criminally, doesn't that mean there are no criminal charges? he said, no, that's something they'll still looking into. >> thanks, pete williams. when the stock market keeps hitting record highs, concern crops up that the market or some stocks are priced to perfection because of this historic rally. dominic chu breaking down the risky businesses. >> let's talk about some of these big stocks we've been talking about for months now because names like facebook, you think about names like pan doria, internet radio, other big names like netflix have had market cap surges. we to want frame for you how big the market cap surges were and how much they can lose in one single day. take a look at netflix, for

instance, because netflix was down 2.3% yesterday. that means it lost about $473 million in value. to put that in perspective, that's about the size of rut's hospitality or the owners of ruth christ steakhouse. another big one we'll take a look at is other ones as well, you take a look at pandora, an internet radio company, worth $5 billion. it lost $318 million in market cap. for perspective, that's about the size of 1-8 00-flowers.com. it loses that entire company in terms of value in one day. maybe showing signs of weakness. of course, the big one here. that's, of course, facebook. that particular stock is worth a lot of money. about $100 some billion. it lost $7.7 billion in market cap. that's about the size, maria and bill, of a hyatt hotels chain.

that's how big a one-day move in facebook can be. back over to you guys. >> that puts it in perspective. >> but nothing compared to bitcoin moves. thank you. are there many stocks that fit this description he was just going over, priced for perfection? and are you at risk for any kind of a selloff at some point? >> talking with us jon najarian, a "fast money" contributor and peter sorintino. thank you for joining us. we heard from dom, do you think they're too risky? >> don't think any stock is too risky but i think you have to quantify or at least address that there is risk in holding some of these high fliers. we've seen the big turn that happened in tesla. you guys have talked about it for weeks. now you take a look at some of the stocks like an amazon.com or a gamestop, these are stocks that might be priced for per fectionz. again, if the market turns, i

think you'll see people exiting stocks like that very quickly, maria. >> peter, you look at a stock like google, which is at 46 % year to date. also, you look at jpmorgan chase, don't you? >> do. that stock has had a great run in the last 52 weeks. as your previous report point out, their legal troubles are far from over. and we're just not seeing the kind of growth in the money center banks. here's a stock that's had a great return. it's been a stalwart coming out of the base of the market selloff. and you ask yourself, do i really want to own it at these levels or should i move someplace where the pasture is greener, better earnings momentum, better valuation? it warrants, you know, taking a real close look at it. on the google side, still a great company. but just when you see a price move, especially in the last three months the way that stock gapped up, i remember back to last year with apple and kind of wonder, is this deja vu and maybe it's time to pull money off the table and, you know, look for something with a little better valuation on it because

the tech sector is better of better valuation now. >> what are the metrics you're looking at in terms of overvalued situation? are you just looking at the pe? are you looking at a big move the way you mentioned, the gap we saw in google? what are the most important metrics you would look at. >> want to drill into the underlying operations of the company. if they're operating at peak margin right now, i'm getting peak return on equity, there's not much left to go. so, if the stock price is up and company is running flat out, there's only one way to go. that's probably down. it may be a great company. i just don't have to live through price volatility. when you look at jpmorgan and a google, you can say, well, how much better can that story get. probably not much. so, let's take it and go someplace elsewhere the trade's not so crowded. >> you highlighted amazon and gamestop. you at option monster will measure the sentiment on stocks like that by seeing the option activity. is there too much euphoria for

stocks like that or is the smart money already betting that these guys are going to pull back at some point? >> lately, bill, we've seen a lot of folks that are just, as you say, protecting their positions, buying a put to set a floor on the market. because they've seen situations like, again, tesla most recently. but i think stocks like amazon, stocks that are in that same comparative sphere with tesla, as far as are they making some money? do they have significant revenue? yes. but just like netflix, is it justifiable? are they something that for the long term can justify this price right now? no. these are momentum stocks. and sooner or later things like kindle and the fact that amazon does have real competitors coming after them, now that they're starting to pay taxes in various states across the country, that is, i think, something that could hold them back. >> that's a great point. gentlemen, thank you very much. >> thanks, guys.

>> we'll see you soon. breaking news on that alleged fake jobs report just ahead of last year's presidential election. steve liesman with the story. >> we finally have a statement from the census bureau. w50e we've been waiting all day about this report in the new york post, that there was faking of jobs data in the household report. the bureau says the allegations were reported immediately when they learned of them to the inspector general. it has no reason to believe there was systematic data manipulation. it goes on to say when these data come in from interviewers that are out there, 60,000 interviews done every month, that there are systems for checking this and monitoring how good the data is and making sure that it's not a problem, maria and bill, back to you. i'll be back with a fuller report on this new york post story. >> thanks. >> it's been developing all day. heading to the close with 128 18 minutes left in the trading session. a lot of volatility not on a wide range but one minute it's up 15, now down 15. we're pulling back further from an all-time high but that 16,000

level we've been watching today. >> the tone was set positive this morning. home depot out with impressive earnings no matter how you splice it. why, then, could that mean good things not just for home depot investors but the entire economy? we'll take a look. also jpmorgan finalizing that $13 billion mortgage-related settlement. coming up, we'll hear from somebody who says this stock is not out of the legal woods. if $13 billion doesn't clear the legal decks, what would? we'll talk about it coming up on the "closing bell." my mantra? family first.

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welcome back. home depot shares touching record high after strong third quarter earnings. diana oe li looking at how much has to due to a surge in home remodeling. >> reporter: really all of it. there was a big beat in home depot, thanks to home remodeling. home depot hit $1.4 billion, up 7.4% on the back of remodeling. what's interesting here is that people are now spending more on

their average projects. take a look. projects under $10,000 surged first back in 2009. even before home sales and prices began recovering. now they're dropping. higher priced renovations are surging. that may be because investors who had to do cosmetic fixes on distressed homes are moving out of the market and real owner/occupants are moving back in. you're seeing the surge on online as design websites are seeing a gain. you can see which contractors are working in your neighborhood and peek inside the projects as well. >> we know who your neighbors have specifically used and we can search the projects that have happened near you. you're not viewing projects that happened across the country or projects that are millions of dollars completely out of your price range. >> reporter: now, home remodeling has also gotten a boost, of course, from the return of home equity. that's where we need to look to 2014. if home price gains moderate and

if sales slow, we could see a slowdown in remodeling. for now, it's really going gang busters. back to you. >> diana, thanks. we're in the final stretch of trading. ten minutes before the closing bell sounds. a market that has worsened in the last few minutes. down about 20 points on the industrial average. >> we're struggling to close in record territory but steven wood thinks this market still has more upside. we'll get his bullish call when we come back. also ahead, don't miss my exclusive interview with dupont ceo ellen kullman coming up. was her decision to split the company up determined by activist investors? we went out and asked people a simple question:

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ten minutes left. doesn't look like famous last words. we'll get a record today. you know, still ten minutes left. we're down 17 points on the dow industrials. steven wood, chief market strategist with russell investments. what do you see going into the day? >> quiet day, a lot being priced in. we're looking at 2014, growth will happen in the economy. earnings seems to be something like a confirmation. the fundamentals haven't changed that much. maybe a quiet sideways chop. 2014 let the market grow into those valuations.

>> we were talking to some traders about these stocks that are priced to perfection, high profile momentum plays, the amazons, even a jpmorgan chase which is up 30% so far this year. you feel that we could see even more growth in a lot of the stocks like that or -- >> again, i can't comment on specifics -- >> no i know. we're at a point where triggers are starting to question the valuations we're seeing of the companies that have brought us to this point. >> are you questioning the valuations? >> of course we are. we always question valuations on the downside, on the upside, when they look a little stretched. we run a lot of great quantitative work. when you look at the models we're running, the market looks fairly valued. in the statistical significance range, it doesn't look overpriced, or overcheap. we're neutral valuations but we understand momentum. sentiment can be very powerful. a lot of cash on the sideline. retail investor is yet to participate. there could be this

effervescence going into 2014 but these are globally diversified portfolios, looking at emerging markets, europe. you trim rich valuations and you look at that attractive valuations and find the bt names in there. i think it needs to be globalization. >> so you are looking at europe and em? >> oh, yes. >> where? >> north of the alps, but germany doing quite well. we've been saying for well over a year, europe looks attractive. there's a lot of europe up-risk, so managing it stmicily but letting symptom picking take place. they have great access to credit still in europe. for the longer term or disciplined investor, three, five years up, still attractive. >> we've established the alps are the value line of europe, is that it? >> i have to get there. >> that's it. >> i have to go find these values. >> you know what's south of the alps there. you've fwln a few times.

>> yes. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we'll come back with the closing countdown and see what can happen with the dow down 16 points. >> after the bell we talk about activist investors. nelson, was he behind dupont's move to spin off the chemicals unit? ceo ellen kullman will be with me, she tells me if she has any plans to meet with pelts.

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>> there were some stocks on the move. home depot to the upside. diana olick pointed that out. best buy was down sharply. they had a profit but the outlook for the next quarter was not all that on good. >> j&j did well even though the market is flat on the day as well. >> is it a day of individual stocks where the daily averages masked a lot of what he was going on there. terry dole lan, we were saying during the break, what do you with a dull market? >> don't short it but i think it will have headwind heading into the holiday season. i think you'll see a bit of vacillation at the tops and then you'll see that final year-end

rally to bring it up above 16,000. we think 16,200 bit end of the year. >> not enough to short it or buy on the dips -- >> i would say if you shorten it, it's basically a short-term play to see if you could get a couple days of downside, a little correction to cover them back again. simply a trade. not necessarily a position. >> we're always looking for catalysts. what is your next -- an earnings report, some data point on the economy? >> i think as we come into year end, you won't see as many datapoints but key focus is how the rates start to move and how quickly they move, if at all. that will sustain the rally or make the rally fail into the first quarter of next year. >> it's all about rates. >> i think it will be all about rates for the first quarter of next year. >> in terms of where the rates are here, we've seen a pretty good tick up but you're talking about relatively low numbers. what kind of expectation do you have going into the new year in terms of a potential spike?

>> that's a great question. by midyear next year, the ten-year being although least around 3%. i see the real rate of interest being 1.5% as you factor in inflation, which still makes them historically cheaper over the long run. >> i'm going to jump. we have ellen kullman, ceo of e dupont. thanks. >> traders, do you pay attention to that at all? it's just another benchmark but is it significant to you at all? >> for the true professional, it really isn't. it's more of a number. the psychology behind the number is often what drives the market beyond where we are and makes people's confidence increase and participate more than normal. certainly more than a declining market. >> it can become a resistance level for a while. we've tried for a few days now to get above this 16,000 number and then fall back. >> sure. if you go back to dow 10,000,

dow 8,000 on the way up, all those numbers became vacillated. they never broke through. they always gave us trouble in there. >> thanks, terry. we're going out with what looks like a minus sign, but you never know. we could get some late buying here with the dow down about four points. stay tuned. the ceo of dupont coming up on the second hour of the "closing bell" with maria bartiromo. 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 on the stock of the new york stock exchange. closing in the red after the dow closed at an all-time high. dow industrial average down just about nine points at 15,966. we're about -- closer to 16,000 there. the nasdaq gave up 17 points. technology rolling over and the s&p 500 down about a quarter of a percent at a level of 1787.