incredible video of the day. brian gillespie got sideways. he did get hurt initially. 11 days ago. suffered a collapsed lung, some bruises. happy to report, he's okay now. scary scene. testament to modern safety. hauthank you so much for watching "street signs" today. >> "closing bell" is next. cheers. >> hi, everybody. we enter the final stretch. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. another assault being mounted to close above 16,000 for the dow for the first time. we're there, bill. >> we're there. >> question is do we stay there? >> they approved janet yell en t the senate banking committee. things are positive. mr. bullard said a little while ago he sees more room in the fed's balance sheet. meaning they could move along with more purchases before they begin tapering. the market likes to hear that as

well. >> just yesterday right before the minutes came out, bullard said we should be considering beginning the tapering next month. now he comes out and says you've got room before we begin to taper. >> market goes down. market goes up. that's how it works. >> one week before thanksgiving, eight days before black friday, an exclusive retail reality check with william sonoma ceo laura alber. the stock is off to the races after the company boosted its outlook. high end retail is doing well. lower end might be another story. >> very interesting developments for williams-sonoma. here's some suggestions. return christmas gifts you don't need for extra cash. sell unwanted possessions on craigslist or ebay. and my favorite. break your food into smaller pieces to help you feel more full. now, these are tips from mcdonald's employees on the company website called mcresource. this not a joke. it's not being made up. in fact, i didn't believe it

when i saw it this morning. >> you said, is this legit? >> our producers had to convince me. they showed me that it is the real thing. as you can imagine, it's sparking a new debate about low pay at mcdonald's and other fast food chains. we will have a full report on this coming up. >> here's a tip from me. do not get me a gift card. i do not want a gift card. >> she doesn't use them. >> i put them in a drawer. it is never to be seen again. let's check where we stand as we approach this final stretch on wall street. dow jones industrial average in rally mode, thank you very much. triple digit move. up 102 points. 16,003 last friday. nasdaq composite also doing well. almost 50 points higher. the s&p 500, also very strong today. very broad based move. we are at the highs right now. >> i know which drawer to go to in your desk. >> i got a whole bunch of gift cards. joining us now on our "closing bell exchange" to talk more about investing, heather hughes from sunamerica.

john doyle. keith fitzgerald. good to see everybody. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> john, let me kick it off with you. would you buy into this rally right here? very strong day. broad based rally. you want to put new money to work? you think this goes higher going into year end? >> i think the fed has been giving us a little mixed signal. i think moving forward we're going to be looking at a very accommodative environment for a number of months. we don't think that tapering is going to happen in december. we're looking at at least march if not later. i think that buying into this rally is not a bad idea at all. >> heather, you're looking all the way to january at this point. which is not that far away. you think we'll see a change in the market tone at that point. why? >> well, tone and as far as change in the markets, i guess we grind higher over the next month. if we did taper in january. but then again, as you and maria went over, yesterday we might taper 6.5% unemployment. now 5.5%. they're kind of like moving

targets, right? tomorrow we may change our mind again. not quite sure on the january tapering yet. but it definitely may not -- stock markets kind of shrug their shoulders right now. but the bond markets will throw a temper tantrum. especially on the long end of the curve, we're not really seeing a dramatic impact today. but when you look at a 20 year, 30 year bonds versus 2 and 5, you're going to see that yield curve steepen. advisers are looking to tighten up on duration going forward ahead of that move. >> mark spellman, you've been more cautious on this market just most recently. >> yes. the biggest worry, i think, we're not horribly bearish. my biggest worry is the multiple expansion. and the fed tapering kind of being two big tailwinds that we've had kind of dissipating. if you do get tapering come -- i don't think it's going to happen before january. at the beginning of the year we started the s&p at a 14 multiple. we'll end the year at a 17

multiple. we're bouncing up toward the high end of the range. it doesn't mean there's imminent danger. but it does mean a big, big gain like 20%, 25% next year is pretty remote. >> keith fitzgerald, you want to see more stimulus. do you think it's possible that janet yellen, when she becomes the fed chair, takes us beyond $85 billion a month in purchases by the fed? >> uh-oh. >> i have made that argument before. and i'll make it again. i think she's going to have no choice. i say that because the soft end of the retail spectrum is the lower income component. that suggests to me the economy is still struggling. that suggests to me that millions of americans have still got to make up the gap. employment picture is a mismatch between skills offered and skims sought. i think they're going to have to actually increase stimulus, something janet yellen has hinted to in the last few weeks. >> the floor is all yours, heather. >> seems like qe forever, right? no inflation right now according to their gauge. personal consumption expenditure, pc at 1.2%. you saw ppi and cpi lower this

morning. keith, i hope you're wrong and we can start trading off natural fundamentals of supply and demand in this market. it seems like based on their numbers which, they may be just moving targets, so not quite targets at all, you know, i guess we're not quite there. that's your point, we may taper. the economy is not strong enough yet even with the jobs data this morning that looked a little better, huh? >> well, that's exactly my point. we have not got the fundamentals we need. the market is a forward looking animal. we've got to have the fundamentals in place if we're going to have real growth. i simply don't believe we're there yet which is why i think yellen is not sure how to spell taper let alone the implication of what's going to happen if she does, in fact, try to pull back. then we're going to get a taper tantrum which is even worse. >> yes, yes. >> what do you want to be exposed to? let me turn my attention back to you. in terms of actually putting money to work in sectors, what do you want to be involved in

going into year end? >> we're looking for reasonable priced stocks that are -- have just reported decent fundamentals in the third quarter. there's a bunch of them out there. i look at some of these asset sensitive financials. because i am on the other side. i think the 10 year is going to be closer to 3.5% next year rather than 2.5%. a name like charles schwaub. i look at another name on the financial side like hartford financial. it's been a bit of a basket case. it's extremely inexpensive at 85% of book value. they've had a good quarter. pricing in their book. it's a bit of a reclamation project. i think you can buy valued companies that have decent fundamental exposure right now. >> john doyle, where would you put money to work right now? >> i'm the currency guy. the stock guys take advantage of it. like i said before, we expect to be in a pretty accommodative

environment for a while. that way we think equities at least in the united states have a ways north to go into 2014. >> all right. we will leave it there. thanks, everybody. appreciate your time today. see you soon. so which stocks are pushing the market towards 16,000? want to get to those names. dominic chu rounding them all up. >> retailers are definitely a focus today. shares of target, let's start there, are as red as its logo today. company reported earnings that were below some analyst estimates and it cut its full year profit forecast. on the lower end of the price spectrum was dollar tree. stock lower after reporting comparable store sales less than expected. america's biggest video game retailer, game stop, lower after beating profit and sales estimates but forecasting full year results that disappointed investors into into the holiday shopping season. green mountain coffee also beat estimates for profits and sales and announced a $1 billion stock buyback program. those shares are soaring on that news despite forecasting current quarter profits that fell below some estimates.

we'll cap things off in the kitchen. cookware and home goods retailer williams-sonoma boosted full year guidance and customers spent more at its pb teen or bahtry barn teen stores. laura alber said the company is well positioned to head into the holiday season. stay tuned. she's going to be in the "closing bell." later on this hour. we're in the final stretch of trading for thursday. 50 minutes before the closing bell sounds. we've got a market that is on fire. above 16,000 on the dow industrials. even if just barely. 101 points higher. can the market keep heading higher? fundament ams say yes. technicals maybe teming a different story. we'll look at fundamentals and techny cams in a moment. mcdonald's telling its workers to return christmas gifts to make ends meet. then at the same time advising them to take two vacations a year to help cut heart attack risk. is mcdonald's toned after the

financial state of its employees? that's coming up. also ahead -- >> there she is, candidate 17! the girl on fire! >> the second "hunger games" film hitting theaters at midnight. coming up, we'll find out if this potential blockbuster could continue helping shares of lionsgate catch fire. stay tuned. we went out and asked people a simple question:

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we have some breaking news right now. "the wall street journal" is reporting that the fcc is about to propose allowing passengers to use their cell phones on airplanes. >> i never believed it that you had to turn off your cell phone. i never, ever bought into that. >> wait a minute. you will not be able to use them, according to this proposal, on takeoff and

landing. and below 10,000 feet. okay? once you get above 10,000 feet, then they will let you use them. okay? now, i'm with you on all that. >> with the whole takeoff and landing thing, i'm always skeptical. why am i turning off my -- i can't get texts or e ma-mails we we're taking off and landing. i don't believe it's interrupting anything. >> please, please, please tell me there'll be a quiet car section of the plane. i don't want the guy behind me yelling in his phone while we're on the plane. because i'm stuck there. anyway, that's the word from the "wall street journal." bob pisani. and the dow is up 103 at 16,004. mr. pisani, you wouldn't use your cell phone on a plane, would you? >> what, bill? i got a call, bill. i'm sorry. talk to you in a minute. i'm with you. absolutely. i want a quiet cabin somewhere. take a look at the dow industrials. dow is up for i think all the wrong reasons. we had a lousy philly fed report at 10:00. the stock market went up because it decreases the chances for tapering. you don't think that's why? take a look at the 10-year

yield. the 10-year yield was moving up until 10:00. and then boom. this moved down on the philly fed news. reducing the chances for fed tapering. let's look at the markets for the week. the markets overall this week, you know there hasn't been a lot of buyer interest. but there's nobody who's selling. interest rate sensitive groups like utilities have been weak. nasdaq has been a little bit weak because there's been high beta names, you know, your twitters and some of those stocks have been weak. look at the s&p. the russell 2000 is on the upside. let's call it largely a flat week. as for the retail, you heard earlier about williams-sonoma. target is a very interesting question. traffic down 1.3%. same store sales only up.9%. below expectations. declining traffic. that's not good. obviously the company wants to protect their margins. they don't want to have any fire sales at all. you can see target has done that well this year, guys. it's been not even up 10% on the overall market up more than 25%.

that's a stock that needs a little bit of a refresh at this point. guys, back to you. >> it's funny. maybe the fcc is going to let us use a phone on the plane. the airlines will allow it. will the passengers allow it? >> we're getting viewer mail. great. now i'm going to sit next to somebody on the phone. how annoying is that? >> i'm for the text to be used. listening to movies. not people yammering next to me. we already have screaming babies is enough. we don't need screaming cell phon phones. >> thank you, bob. can this market sustain the momentum we've been seeing so far this year? it is hot. it could be the first close above 16,000 ever today as we see it up 104. tech nny ca nnicals could be po a top. >> walter zimmerman tells us what the technicals are saying. cnbc.com's jeff cox, we're not trying to give you a clue about that, but he's here to talk fundamentals. jeff, fundamentally.

what do the fundamentals tell us about this side of the story? we hear about valuations. >> when you look at fundamentals, the fundamentals are good. they're not great, but they're good. the economy's good. it's not great, but it's good enough. i think that, you know, when you look at -- we got through earnings season. it was pretty decent. i think the forecast going forward is pretty decent. companies are holding tight here. to me, this market this year was all about headline risk. it was all about the things that were going on in the news. sequestration. fiscal cliff. the debt ceiling. europe. the middle east. everything else. we've kind of gotten through that. i do believe now it turns to fundamentals and we continue on this sort of slow growth track that's backed up with $85 billion a month from the fed and zero interest rates. you know, i think the path is pretty clear. >> all right. walter, what do you think? how do the technicals look to you? >> technicals continue to give warning signals. not sell signals. for instance, record high margin

debt. as the upside momentum slows, you're getting waning upside momentum. bearish momentum divergence. you have a bullish sentiment extreme unlike any -- that has not been seen since the bursting of the nasdaq bubble. you have a situation where as the warning signals continue to proliferate, the market continues to chug higher. but the warning signals persist. so it's a situation where you know this won't have a happy ending. but from where? so what we've been focusing on is making sure that each new corrective retreat is consistent with a bull market correction and no more. so, for instance, coming into yesterday in the s&p, we needed 1773 to hold. and we very much absolutely needed a rally today. well, it held 1776.

and then it rallied. but you still have waning momentum. >> right. >> you still have decreasing breadth. record high margin. there's some background influences that we don't like. we think the longer term trend is up in interest rates and up in the u.s. dollar. we think both of those markets have bottomed. and we think those markets are going to come back to kick the stock market. meanwhile, it continues to go higher. yes, it's a bearish rising wedge. but it's rising. so our suggestion is, nobody should be in this market without a protective sell stock. nobody should be in here without an exit plan. >> right. >> not just in your head, but tell your broker, hey, i want to be out if such and such a level breaks. >> got it. >> makes sense. >> we got to go, guys. sorry. breaking news, jeff, you'll appreciate that. thank you both for your thoughts. more on the possibility --

sorry. put that cell phone down. we're in during a television show. we're not flying an airplane. phil lebeau has more. >> a statement from the fcc and commissioner tom wheeler in regards to the possibility of allowing phone calls to be made on airplanes if they change the rules. he essentially says, modern technologies can deliver mobile services in the air safely and reliably. and the time is right to review our outdated and restrictive rules. technologically speaking, it may be time to review those rules. i should point this out, bill and maria. when they change the rules within the last month in terms of allowing people to use their devices below 10,000 feet, there was overwhelming evidence that people do not want other people to use cell phones on the planes. in fact, in one survey, people were more opposed to allows cell phone use than they were to allows passengers to be overintoxicated on flights. that gives you some indication of just how much people are against the idea of cell phone calls being allowed on

commercial air flights. >> how would you like to be the guy that's sitting with everybody around you, using their cell phone at that time. i mean, they're making the change because they can. i mean, because technology has changed? why would they want to do it, then, if nobody wants us to do that? >> i think what they might ultimately do, bill and maria, is they will change the rules technically speaking and then leave it up to the airlines. in other words, the airlines would have to decide for themselves. you know there's going to be immense pressure by passengers and consumers to say, allow us to be able to text and to send e maims. but stop it with people being able to make phone calls. >> flying is such a pleasure otherwise. anyway. >> thank you, phil. 40 minutes left in the trading session. here we are in record territory for the dow and above 16,000 with a gain of 107 points right now. >> we're looking at dividend payouts. they are on track for a record year this year.

also, mcdond's teald's tells workers, suggesting to them they sell unwanted possessions to bring in cash and to break their food into smaller pieces to save money. it's all a nightmare on this website. up next, we'll hear from somebody who says that kind of mcadvice wouldn't be necessary if the fast food giant paid its workers better wages. coming up. [ male announcer ] this is brad.

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i love logistics. so here we go. mcdonald's offering some controversial financial advice

to its employees. that is creating a backlash and giving the fast food giant some pr indigestion today. >> a group called low pay is not okay, has pilloried some of the advice mcdonald's gives employee. suggest employee take two vacations when the group says needing two jobs is more like it. singing away stress for health reasons. also it says break food into small pieces to eat less and feel full. the part getting the most attention is the suggestion that to dig out from holiday debt, workers might want to sell unwanted possessions online for quick cash. mcdonald's tells cnbc, quote, this is an attempt by an outside organization to undermine a well intended employee assistant resource website by taking isolated portions out of context. the company says it will be

reviewing the content with a health and wellness firm it hired to create it to make sure it's useful. though it seems there will be little mcdonald's can do to make the folks at low pay is not okay quit complaining. bill and maria? >> i mean, i know there are always two sides to a story. and maybe some of them are being taken out of context. yes, it's been brought up by this pro union organization. but, still, come on. break your food into smaller pieces? >> i don't know what the point of that was. >> go to ebay to make more money? i don't know. let's talk to one employee at mcdonald's who is very familiar with this program. >> joining us now is erica perez. she's a cashier at a mcdonald's in chicago who says the program is insulting. erica, thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me here today. >> so, do you use the mcresource program that mcdonald's offers? what kind of assistance does it provide? can you tell us about this program? >> well, the program is assisting for employees to give us advice on, like, how to break

down our food so we don't waste too much money. or that you could apply for food stamps. but i think that's ridiculous. because, i mean, not everybody can get on food stamps. and they're just proving that they're not giving us enough money. and they're just giving us poverty wages. >> do you think this is a well meaning website that just lost its way? or are you just purely insulted by what you see on this website? >> i'm very insulted. because i can't believe they're actually asking us to sell our stuff away. that's our belongings. how are they going to expect us to sell our stuff away if we wasted so much money, we worked so hard to buy our things. they know, they're aware of what they're paying us. they're aware we're suffering. they're just telling us that they simply don't care about us. >> what are they paying? what is your hourly wage at mcdonald's? does your wage cover basic needs to live? >> no, it doesn't. i make $8.25. i can't even pay my school

loans. >> you're 21, right? >> yes, i am. >> you started college. but you had to drop out because you couldn't afford it. >> yes. >> are you living at home? i forget. >> yes. i am living at home. i can't afford to pay my bills. i can't pay my cell phone bill. i can't pay my hospital bill. i still owe for my tuition. so i have that and i have back pay for all the things that i aren't paid for my loans. so, yes, i can't afford it. >> this job at mcdonald's -- you haven't been there that long, but is this sort of a holding time for you before you look for a better paying job? or, you know, what's your situation right now, erica? >> my reality is that i have to live on mcdonald's. i can't find another job. i'll find another $8.25 job. that's all there is out there right now. i can't go back to school because i can't afford it. >> i see. in terms of getting a better job, a higher pay job -- >> you need schooling, right? >> how would you go about doing

that? >> i mean, i want to go back to school. but how can i go back to school if mcdonald's doesn't even bother to pay us more than what we deserve? i mean, making $8.25 is not enough. and it will never be enough. $15 is not like we're asking for too much. it's a living wage for everybody. not just for me, but for my other co-workers. >> have you spoken to your bosses about this? do they know you're on television today talking to us? >> actually, they do not know i'm on television right now. >> well, they do now. >> oops. >> yes, they do. >> erica, we certainly wish you well. we hope you get to keep your job. more importantly, we hope you can find that better job and get yourself back to school as well. good luck. >> thank you. >> stay in touch erica. good luck. final stretch. 30 minutes before the closing bell sounds on wall street. a market above 16,000 on the dow with a gain on the session of 106 points going into the close. consumers rejoice. stores already forced to offer deep discounts this holiday season. when we come back we'll find out

if high-end retailer williams-sonoma will take that route to win shoppers. we'll talk exclusively to ceo laura alber. console wars officially on to get their hands on the xbox tonight at midnight. these are not people lining up to see "hunger games" tonight at midnight. the man who developed the original xbox says despite the hype it's game over for the consoles. i'll explain why later on the "closing bell."

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welcome back. tis the season for discounts. deep discounts. leading the way are gap and sister stores banana republic and old navy. courtney reagan keeping an eye on the 40% off. >> big sales are as much a tradition as santa claus sliding down the chimney. this year discounts are deeper. they're further reaching. they're running longer than they have in years past. retailers could be paying a hefty price. it's critical for retailers to please shareholders with higher traffic and sales. deep discounts or promotions attract consumer attention. naturally, the further the price is slashed the smaller the profit margin becomes. discounts are a necessary evil and basic tenet of retail. doing it too much trains the shopper not to buy at full price. many think the financial price

is permanently changed consumer habits and what they expect from free shipping to extreme discounting. ron johnson learned the lesson the hard way calling coupons a trug. in that case, gap, banana republic and old navy brands are an addiction. take a look at these that came into my e-mail inbox. many of the analysts covering gap are calling out the uptick in the breadth and depth of promotions. 30% to 40% nearly consistently for these retailers. in store, online or both. wall street will know much more about how margins suffered from the seemingly incessant sales when gap does report earnings after the bell. jeffries says promotions have hurt gap's margins but expense -- >> thank you very much. we're going to look at one retailer that has been firing on all sidcylinders. williams-sono

williams-sonoma. stock up 7% just today after reporting a 16% rise in quarterly profit. the home goods retailer also raised its guidance for the year. >> let's get right to it and talk exclusively with the ceo, laura alber. laura, good to have you on the program. thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks so much for having me. >> we had a report about retailers really being forced to discount this holiday season. are you falling into this category? how would you characterize the discounting? >> you know, it's been promotional out there for a couple years now. and it's a reality that we've embraced. we know that the most important thing for a customer is to buy products they love. but they also want great value. and that's what we do. we offer them great value and high quality products with probably the best service i would say in the malls. that's why i think they come back and build great connections with us. >> all right. ms. alber, if you could just wait just a moment. we are live television. we've got news. breaking news right now. we'll be right back with you. something on apple and samsung.

>> bill, a jury here in san jose, california, just now deciding how much more samsung owed apple for infringing on apple patents. remember, apple said it was owed $380 million. samsung put the number around $52 million. a jury just now deciding samsung owes apple $290 million. now, just for background here, remember, it was a year ago that a jury awarded apple $1 billion. that was one of the largest patent cases in history. but the judge then cut about $450 million out of that $1 billion. said the jury miscalculated. damages, 6$600 million, wasn't n question. she ordered a partial retrial on the damages. the jury just now deciding that samsung owes apple that $290 million. you can expect a now appeal of this entire case. it's at that point, experts say, you might see some effects and

impact on the broader smartphone industry depending on the verdict. maybe it's ultimately decided samsung did not infringe on apple patents. or maybe it's decided apple is going to be awarded even more. could be the first battle here in a long war. guys, back to you. >> wow. >> and the stock right now is trading up, actually. >> apple? >> on apple, yep. thank you so much. there's apple. >> back to laura alber. we apologizapologize. appreciate your consideration. for years, williams-sonoma, the retail store, not just the company itself, had a head start on high-end kitchen goods, kitchen items, gadgets and things. you've got a lot of competition out there right now. does that hurt your margins? you call this a promotional period. but you've got a lot of companies out there gunning for you with cheaper items that many people look to instead. >> you know, we have multiple brands. we're so fortunate to have so many of our brands that we

developed exclusively with the same team over a large period of time. and we offer a lot of products that we design ourselves. pottery barn is close to 100% designed inhouse as is west elm. exclusives they do with different designers and collaborators are not found anywhere else. and so that has been the recipe that we've had in each of our brands, that it's allowed us to compete over the years. it's the same strategy we're now taking with the williams-sonoma brand as we transition away from goods that other people carry into more exclusives. >> what are you seeing from customers right now? are they opting for less expensive items than they were before? what are people gravitating to and what are you expecting to be the big sellers this year? >> you know, it's interesting to look across multiple brands. we have brands that serve different demographics and life stages, also. from pb kids to pb teen and pottery barn and west elm.

mark & graham. the existing thing is exciting fresh product, great value, great quality. now that we're in the gift giving time of year, they're looking for things that are very thoughtful gifts that they can give. hence our focus on personalized gifts this holiday. >> one other question before we let you go. i keep harping on the competition thing. i'm sure that's what keeps you up nights. it never occurred to me until i read something today that people might go to your stores the way they go to a best buy. to see what's on sale. what products are out there. then they go buy it on amazon or some online retailer. i mean, that's another area that you've got to compete with right now, isn't it? >> it sure is. but we also have such an important direct business ourself. close to 50% of our sales are online. so what we see is people come to our stores. we build great connections with them. then we ship them the product to their home from our -- from our distribution center. they can really count on us to

stand behind our products and give them that great service. >> all right. we'll leave it there. laura, nice to have you on the program. thanks very much. >> thanks for having me. i appreciate it. happy holidays. 20 minutes left in the trading session here. market just hanging on. right at the high of the day. up 106 points. comfortably above 16,000. above 16,000 and in record territory. >> we're on 16,000 watch. up next, baltimore known for its crabcakes, its harbor and a hub of science and technology research. soon it may be known for financial ruin. the latest installment of critical condition, saving america's cities. our bull and bear hit the screening room again today. hunger games is on the marquee. lionsgate is on the table as a candidate for your portfolio. stay tuned. americans take care of business.

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what a market. on fire today once again. triple digit move. dow above 16,000. we sort of have steadied. there was a small imbalance on the sell side that art came by earlier. very small. i don't think it's much of an impact. >> high of the day we were up 111. just getting back to that now. in the city of baltimore,

meanwhile, it is economic life blood. that is the the water that surrounds the city from the harbor to fishing. and the gap and its sister stores -- we talked about that earlier in retail. really we want to zero in on what's happening in terms of the economy in baltimore. >> it is the city of baltimore's wa water system that's having an economic impact affecting businesses and homeowners. scott cohn, critical condition: saving america's cities. >> reporter: we're in baltimore on day four of our critical condition: saving america's cities tour. this is the potapsco waste water treatment plant, a facility that dates back to the great depression. by some standards in this water system, in this system, it's young. that's the issue. they are struggling to improve the system. they have budgeted about $3 billion for capital immateri improvements. they say they need $6 billion.

nationwide the need is closer to $700 billion. it's not just infrastructure that's suffering from budget cuts. some cities are cutting to the bone in terms of basic services including police. tomorrow we'll be in trenton, new jersey. they've cut the police force there by a third. and the results are predictable. we've got a lot more about this in our special report online at cnbc.com/cities. we want to hear from you on twitter. use #savingourcities. all right. we're in the final stretch of trading here. we are going to be looking at the state of cities across the country throughout the rest of the week here. we're in rally mode, bill. >> how much longer can it last, maria? >> i don't know. this market is poised to crack that magic 16,000 mark at the close. how did it get here and why? we've got full analysis next. stay with us. >> don't go anywhere. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 trading inspires your life.

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12 minutes left here in the market and hanging on. triple digit gain on the dow. up 103 right now. trading at 16,003.

if this holds we have a record and we're above 16,000 for the first time ever. >> yes, we are. joining us now to talk more about it is rob and dan. good to see you guys. thank you so much for joining us. let's talk about this market here. would you put new money to work right here? i know you've got some stock picks in terms of real specifics, dan. let's talk about this broader market. you want to bite here? >> it's a little tough after the run we've had. i would actually put money in the market. there's still a lot of money sitting on the sidelines. a trillion dollars more in money market funds than the average before the crisis. i think it's going to come in the next 12 to 18 months. we're still early. >> rob? >> i agree with dan. the answer is you can't look at the next quarter or next 12 months in trying to value a company. you have to be willing to have a three-year time horizon. as long as you've got the conviction sustainability of that growth there's some great values out there. >> could be values. but three-year time horizon, you've got to figure at some point in that three-year period the fed is going to start

tapering. rates are going to go up. that's going to crimp the sil of the stock market. >> you got to have conviction that these are companies that control their financial destiny better than their peers. couple examples. pandora going to report in five minutes. three years from now they're going to earn two bucks. that's a company that we've got a lot of confidence in as an internet radio company. >> what about you, dan? is it that much more important for the market above 16,000, is it that much more important to find selective opportunities? really stock picks? >> it is definitely time to be more selective. the market has gone from cheap to fairly valued. time to spend time on the fundamentals. examples of that we're finding are things like fifth and pacific. the owner of the kate spade brand which we see as one of the fastest growing fashion names. we think it's going to emerge as a major brand over the next three to five years. earnings power of $1.50. kate spade alone the stock is at $30 now. management is doing the right things to clean up the company. they just sold off juicy

couture. we like the focus there. >> you guys are obviously classic stock pickers. i think what you're suggesting is we're going -- we're transitions from a time when you could pick the whole market, basically, to being more selective in wanting to pick individual stocks. >> absolutely. you have to have conviction. >> do you worry about a sizable selloff here? what do you think? >> we haven't had one in a while. >> we haven't had one. we had one a couple months ago. >> 5%. >> 5%. then it was the buy on the dip. >> right. i mean, i think the real story is that the last ten years have been a gigantic bond market rally. the last five years a recovery from financial crisis. u.s. equities have been out of favor for essentially a decade. we have only just gotten back to, i think, some normalcy. i think it is buy the dips. i would buy now. but i think there will be a lot of nervousness around the tapering. likely to come next year. i think it will be probably the last great buying opportunity if there is a lot of nervousness around that. >> okay. >> we'll leave it there. good to see you both. thank you so much. heading toward the close. we'll have the closing countdown. dow starting to lose a little

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4,000 on the nasdaq. 1,800 on the s&p 500. we're getting up there. >> it's been close all day. we had kind of a quiet, quiet rally on the open this morning. we've got sideways. we're finishing near the highs. if we stay right here. we're up 140 at 16,005. keith bliss, you guys follow the s&p more. you'd rather talk about 1,800 and all. psychologically does 16,000 in the dow mean anything? >> it's always a big number. it gets published out to the world, the broader market. retail investor, they've come back into the market. we think they're chasing it a little bit here. 16,000 on the dow, that's what they'll see tonight on the nightly news headlines. and they'll still stay in here and chase it. i mean, from our standpoint the short term posture in this market is still bullish. we see no reason why it would go down here. >> who's buying out there? is it institutional largely? >> it's not institutional at this point in time. we sense that the institutions started pulling out a couple weeks ago because there was so much for the year.

why play with fire. here's the thing that could happen. as long as these averages keep moving up and they start getting further and further away from their benchmark to relative performance, they may come back in. the week before thanksgiving according to the trader's almanac is typically a very bullish week. 15 of the last 19 years it's been up. we'll see what kind of movement we have. one thing people need to bear in mind, since earning season began, alcoa, s&p 500 is up about 9% in that short amount of time. institutions could come back in and start chasing a little bit because they have to for relative performance there. >> i learned long ago never to say it's different this time. something that's different right now when we were at 10,000, say, on the dow. when we crossed back for the first time, that made the nightly news at the top of the show. >> that's right. >> if we close above 16,000 tonight, that won't be the top of the show. it'll be somewhere down where they usually put the stock market news. my point is this public is still not enamored of the stock market

even as we continue to set all time highs. >> for this year they're almost desensitized to it. the s&p 500, this will be about the 40th all time high we've set in the last year and a half or some statistic like that. it's every night. the market just keeps grinding higher. it's what we call a melt up. there's nothing real compelling catalyst pushing it up. but there's money coming in. there's been a lot of inflows into equity mutual funds in the last two weeks. outflows out of the bond funds. everybody wants a nice christmas present the end of 2013. >> what's most vulnerable here in terms of a selloff. >> you've always got the usual suspects. financials and tech. they always can get whip sawed pretty quickly. i tell you what, you look at things like the exchange operators, sme, ice, cibo, even nasdaq. they are getting to overbought levels. they're really pushing this market higher. i think people are favorable on the financials. it's a little tenuous right now what's going to happen with interest rates. but they're coming in, they want to chase some risk stocks again.

that's what we're seeing. >> that's the other thing. even as long rates continue higher -- we keep saying, boy, if we get to 2.5% on the 10-year, that's really going to crimp the style of the stock market. we get there but the market keeps going higher. we get to 2.60, the.70, 2.80. here we are up 113 points. it seems the stock market doesn't care about interest rates right now. >> what we've seen is any time the 10-year gets close to 3% the fed will put the 10-year where they want the 10-year to be. that's the fact of the matter. we just got clearance on the impending fed chair janet yellen. janet yellen is the most dovish over there. when she gives her confirmation speech, i'm sure she'll say we're keeping policy the same. i really don't see them pulmoing back any time before march. this market is going to rally based upon that fuel. >> all right. i want to jump. we're on 16,000 watch for the next hour. good to see you. >> that'll be the top of your newscast. >> for sure. >> see you tomorrow. are there any head winds you see right now for this market? >> the only thing that could

stop or cap this rally? >> not for the remainder of 2013. the only thing that i can see possibly at the beginning of 2014 is we have a looming budget battle that may come to pass inside of congress. especially with what happened today with the nuclear option happening in the senate. they could be a real battle in january. >> that's been undercovered. we were talking, some of the traders and i earlier today, that is a historic event. where the senate essentially ended the era of filibusters. >> that's right. >> the ability to stop a presidential nomination. >> when we get to 2014 and we have these more esoteric fiscal debates or even out in the open fiscal debates, that could really lay the groundwork for some, you know, knockdown, dragout fights that could really rattle the market a little bit. >> we would like to think that they don't have the appetite for that much angst again in washington come january. but then we're always surprised, aren't we? >> sadly, we are on that score. >> thanks, keith, very much. appreciate it. let's see if we go out above 16,000. it's very close.

we got 20 seconds left and we're starting to lose steam just a little bit. we'll wait and see. stick around. second hour of the "closing bell" with maria bartiromo. please do join us for a special edition tomorrow. we'll see you tomorrow. a historic day on wall street as the dow industrial closes above 16,000 for the first time ever. 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. we are finishing strong on the street. markets melting up. up 109 points at the close at 16,010. just a fraction above 16,000 but we'll take it. volume on the light side here at the big board. nasdaq composite also strong. technology oneth