of mine it, pay people with it. very volatile. some think it will go to the millions of dollars per about itcoin. because only 20 million will be produced but no one knows who produced them. >> if you can hold them in your hand and look at them and whose face is on them. and if you can't -- >> thank you so much for joining us. thank you for watching "street signs." >> take care. and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange where the markets trying to end the week on a winning note but looks like we'll be down for the second straight. >> yes, it does, kelly. we're in one of those moods today. friday the 13th. whatever it is, what's going on here? the rough week for stocks, the dow on track to finish lower, which is a rare occurrence as we know recently. we've seen this market head south in the last hour of trading a lot this week.

you don't want to miss this last hour of trading here and see whether we can finish positive or negative. >> the dow is up 28 points. the s&p 500 adding just about a point, the nasdaq is barely above the 4,000 mark. a lot will come down. given the redemption numbers we've been hearing, a lot will come down to what we here in the next session. >> this would be you. >> all right. have you heard many -- you've heard many warnings about bitcoins. an alarm bell is being sounded about the digital currency. a cashless society, get this, will jeopardize our freedom. will the government really track everything you buy right down to a pack of gum? that's his concern. his argument to lay out why he's very worried. >> what's interesting is he runs a bank. >> might have a stake in the game. >> that's very interesting. if you google the term "world takeover," you might come up with two words -- amazon and google.

amazon is expanding even more, looking to take some of costco's market share and new plans from google indicate that, if we didn't know it already, that company is much more than just a search engine. could two companies wield too much power? and what do these plans mean for their stocks? we'll look at that coming up. >> and to check the markets here. we've got small gains across the major indexes, but they're poised to be down about an eight or nine-week op winning stretch. they've only been up twice in the last ten sessions, although we're 2% off the closing record highs. >> let's jacques abotalk about action. rich peterson, andress garcia, and our own rick santelli. danny, we're all looking ahead to next week's fed meeting. you think this could be a nail-biter. you actually think they possibly

could talk about tapering at that point? >> everybody's anticipating that. it's been a nail-biter for the last week. what will happen at ben's last open market committee meeting. there's a chance that something could happen but we're not seeing the volatility run-up like we did in september. that's something everybody's got their eye on which could be why there's not a lot of action today. three things we're watching. the telecom stocks have been volatile, which has been pushed by regulators that allows customers to actually break, after their contracts are over, break their phone out and be able to contract with another -- people change phones every couple of years anyway. i don't know why that's such a big deal. looks like we're going with a european model that you can buy a phone and go with whatever you want to. >> about time. >> there's a lot of yields in these big ones. verizon 4.1%. and at&t just increased their

dichb dend today. >> rich peterson sitting about a 2.68% level and it hasn't moved around that much, what are you watching here in terms of how to gauge what the market is pricing in right now? >> from our perspective between the two year and the ten year obviously as we're on the road to 3% whether that comes in the first quarter or earlier on the calendar, that's indicating more risk will be taken on by banks and more lending. and we're seeing that in the consumer household numbers where there's a bit releveraging. so that should help the economy going forward, helping earnings. next week we have a stocking full of economic data from industrial production on monday, we've got the philly fed on thursday and gdp on friday. a lot to pick and choose from. the 2% pullback is enough to go

rally towards the year end. >> i kid you not, kelly and i before we went on the air were giddy about friday is a quadruple witching day. that kind of show, folks. steve, this market obviously has lost its upward momentum. ironically in a month that is usually its best month out of the year, one of the best months out of the year. are you thinking of taking profits now? >> we're seeing a little bit of profit taking in this market. and that's evidenced by the better performance over the last week or so by small cap or midcap relative to large cap. at the end of the day when you look at the broad fundamental picture and you look at the type of pullback we've had, very shallow, lighter volume, just 2% off the highs and large cap, most of the other sectors still performing quite well, that's all it is, profit taking, this market is very constructive from an equity perspective, but the first quarter still plays out

very positive. >> if you wanted to look for a contrarian sign you can look at the equity outflows from the mutual funds. 6.5 billion. the biggest reception since 2009. some will go to etf, but there's been a move into cash this quarter to the tune of $30 billion. what do you take from that? >> people are taking their chips off the table. a lot of people had a great year. leading into a week like next week, everything we discussed, so many catalysts, that would make sense why so many people who are focused on the short term might take some chips off the table. for long-term investors as we look into next year, we still favor equities, but we do see opportunities overseas in europe a little more appealing than here in the u.s. just from the sense that they have so much catching up to do to the performance that we see here in the u.s. >> are you worried about the fact that people seem to be go long and go short emerging

market story, talk about a consensus, that's a consensus move right now. >> i missed that. i'm sorry, can you repeat it? >> are you worried about everybody is on that side of the boat? >> i think the courageous thing right now is actually to say, you know what, the developed world is picking up an aselleration of growth. i don't see why things would dramatically change because of the end of a fiscal year. emerging markets do have pockets of opportunities but the biggest headwind for them is a stronger dollar given that commodities don't tend to perform well in that type of environment and i don't see that changing any time soon. >> rick, let me go back to how we started this frgs ko, what percentage do you guys in chicago put on the notion that the fed could actually talk about tapering next week? >> you know, it's a hard question for me to answer, but as i look at the ten-year note, basically unchanged on the week, a flattening of four basis points between the five-year

which is the beloved contract to be long and tens, i would say that at this time's probably 25% that there is going to be specific taper information and that's just my read on the fact that reates have been sticky an we've seen equities drifting lower, which means you get a rally pushing rates down. the biggest thing i'm looking at, it's a number. maybe we have it on the screen. $3.994 trillion with a "t" because 22 hours ago we learned that's the size of the fed's balance sheet. that's a pretty compelling reason to look for some specific taper information on wednesday. >> yes, the fed's cup does runneth over at this point. >> that's a darn big cup, bill. >> what do you thing? do markets seem to suggest -- i mean, equities have been losing their momentum, is that a fair

tapering? are you looking at the market mechanisms that suggest why you feel like we really could talk about tapering next week? >> a combination. it does have to do with the possibility of a taper, but i also think that investors specifically institutional investors are kind of wanting to sit on their hands because performance has been so phenomenal this year and they really want that to continue on until the end of the year. >> pigs do get slaughtered on wall street, don't they? >> it's true, but we haven't seen that yet this year. >> what about some of these ipos? because we're just getting the numbers in as we head towards the finish here. best finish for ipo listings in dollar terms since 2000. we look at the closing bell today, hilton did okay yesterday. the sentiment with regard to the offerings seems to be surprising everyone to the up side. >> yeah, no, absolutely. if you look at all the ipo data we've seen this year and i'll though another stat at you,

another smart trader at goldman sachs had a great piece out talking about $4.4 billion of private equity money that's in cash. that's a theme that continues to play out not only obviously this year, probably for the next several years. that's one of those catalysts, one of those underlying fundamentals of the equity markets that's getting discounted. as we look back start reviewing 2013, that ipo data will become very important and that m & a theme plays out to a great dreel. >> what the point of that $400 billion in cash? is that that's going to be deployed towards huge new deals? >> it is. but then again you look at the shape of corporate balance sheets globally. >> yeah. >> three years ago, just a u.s. story, now that corporate balance sheet and that corporate cash number is a global story. that's going to be the driver of that m & a activity going forward. return of shareholder value,

dividend, stock buy back and m & a activity globally going out. >> at least when it's not destroying shareholder value. that's the hope anyway. >> that would be the hope. >> have a good weekend. enjoy the snowstorm here in the northeast. heading toward the close, about 50 minutes left in the trading session here. a minor move higher. don't even want to call this a rally. kind of floating up at this point with the dow up 32 points. >> as soon as you do, it will elaborate. >> rumored to be in the hunt for microsoft's top job. will that give qualcomm shares a boost? we'll have a stock brawl coming up. bitcoin could be putting us on the road to a cashless society. something that our next guest says is a huge threat to our freedom. chairman of signature bank explains why. >> and later the star of the hit tv movie "sharknado" is here. >> the shark is here? >> coming fresh from the storm

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bitcoin is up 20% this week alone. >> the digital currency making gains as it gets a vote of confidence from a big silicon valley investor despite skepticism by regulators. the vote of confidence coming from marc andreessen. his firm investing $25 million in coin base. coin base operates the digital wallets to store bitcoins in an exchange for buyers and sellers. less enthusiasm from the european banking authority which issued a warning about the lack of regulation among virtual currencies like bitcoin. it can't be defined as real money so it plans to tax them as a real asset. fidelity quickly shuttered a program to allow investors to

put some of their iras in the bitcoin trust. one homeowner says he'll accept bitcoins for the estate in las vegas he's trying to sell for under just $8 million. >> first, the tesla, now a mansion. >> why not? >> no one is sure if bitcoin can wipe out paper money in the future. >> but according to the op-ed by our next guest, a cashless society would be a huge threat to our freedom. joining us with more scott shay, the chairman of signature bank. you're looking at the intervention by governments and other institutions in the ability to see into our lives if we're using the electronic method of payment. >> already we're very used to fraud alerts that will screen transaction, credit cards, you've probably been turned down from time to time when a transaction seems a little suspicious. it wasn't our bank. but we are all used to it, it's

very benevolent. but these same technologies essentially allow any government agency that wants to to have a total view as to what we're doing and ultimately what i'm worried about is it could mean also control. the invisible hand could become a very visible hand. >> which is ironic because everyone talks about this being the currency for anonymity and for transactions that are illicit and illegal. you say that's not the case. why are you worried that everyone will know what you're doing with your bitcoin. >> bitcoin i think is very interesting technology. the transfer technology of bitcoin is actually more interesting to me in the financial world than the actual means of transactions because, as we've seen, it's very volatile. the first rule of a good means of transaction currency is a lack of volatility. that will still remain.

however, in terms of anonymity, i think the fact that the u.s. regulators and others aren't objecting to bitcoin as much as one might think, i don't think -- i think they believe that it can be monitored, regulated and someone might not know a specific transaction that you're doing but they could know that you're doing a transaction on bitcoin. >> part of the reason bitcoin is seeing this rise is the desire by some people to avoid this sort of surveillance that can occur in transactions at some point. but if it does come under the purview of the u.s. government and other governments out there, it's no different then, is it? >> no, that's why i'm really worried about a cashless society because the totally cashless society -- >> you're a banker. it's more efficient. your profit margins are better in a cashless society, i would think because you're able to move all your transactions electronically without human beings being involved to some

degree. that's less labor involved. >> yes. >> that's less time involved, that's more profitability for a company like yours. >> not only have the banks can in favor of this, but to a certain degree central banks have a positive regard to this paus they can control negative nominal interest rates. it's very hard for a central bank to do that. but i think there's a big price that we're all prepared to pay to have economic freedom. that's the invisible hand that can go away if everything can be monitored. >> i get what you're saying. bau what's the alternative? isn't the toothpaste already out of the tube? you can't turn back? >> to a certain degree you're right. we couldn't have had this conversation on the floor, we would have been trampled on when everybody was doing transactions in prap aper. i do think there is a place for cash, there's a place for noncyber means of transfer and those are very important. we're seeing that happen in certain societies where we're

quickly going cashless. stockholme is one example where they actually give beggars card readers because no one's carrying cash. >> that's a totally different issue than the one about liberty and transparency that you're bringing up. because if no one has cash, there has to be a way to give people those payments. >> that means everything you do, every single cup of coffee you buy can be monitored. we've already seen in the united states where the regulators caused visa and mastercard not to allow transactions for online gambling. now, one thing that i mention the article on cnbc.com is they could also theoretically, the government could decide that, gee, i'm a little overweight, maybe i shouldn't be buying 16-ounce sugary drinks. my transaction will be denied. >> but since we know we're going to operate on a slide rule to some extent and we shouldn't

conflict bitcoin with cashless society, but take the cashless society piece of this, this has been going on not for ten years but for 40 years, 50 years in the same way that the gold standard isn't practical neither is a cashless so it. >> i'm saying the cash should stay part of our means of transaction portfolio. it's not going to go away. but i think we should preserve it. i think it's extremely important. >> before i let you go, what is your view of bitcoin overall? i'm in the camp that says this is a fad, this is a bubble that's going to end badly. there are even some who look to the book of revelation and say it in some ways signals the end of times. >> i'm not quite ready to signal the end of days. and that's not in my bailey

wick. i will say bitcoin is interesting. i think the means of transaction that it does is very interesting from accounts to accounts. i don't think they're there yet in terms the of a cyber currency that has backing that people can rely on. it could be a little bit more tulips than cigarettes in post world war ii displaced person camps where you had a good physical means of transaction but it was relatively stable. prices changed in terms of cigarettes where we're seeing the opposite occur with bitcoin, bitcoin does have a lot of speculative flavor from my perspective. >> when it goes from $400 in one month to, what was it, $1200. >> then falling by a couple hundreds a day. >> good seeing you. >> nice to be here again. >> people can read more of that piece online where it's already been lighting up the charts. >> indeed.

>> we have 40 minutes to go before the markets close. we're up about 40 points on the dow, 3 points on the s&p 500 and 7 on the nasdaq. >> did you know it was friday the 13th? >> yes, i did. >> maybe considered an unlucky day to many, but actually been a pretty good day historically for the markets. up next seema mody warns off any hex with interesting data. >> today could be somebody's lucky day if they win the mega millions. what would you do with all that money if you won? americans take care of business. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future. your retirement. ♪ ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you.

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considered an unlucky day, but investors have found it to be a lucky day. seema mody has the data to back it up. >> friday, the 13th. while it may be seen as a spooky or unlucky day, it is generally on average positive for waumt. since the early 1900s, the dow is positive 59% of the time, the s&p positive 57% of the time and the nasdaq positive about 59%. during the last friday the 13th, which was in september, the dow gained half a percent, the s&p 500 posted fractional gains and the nasdaq ended the day in positive territory. today history might repeat itself. the dow, s&p and the nasdaq in the green on track to break a

three-day decline. the big movers today, twitter shares hitting a record high for the fourth consecutive session. rbc said the social media company is just scratching the surface with advertisers lifting its price target from $33 to $60 a share. look at honeywell moving higher as well. authorizing a stock buy back. the stock up about 0.8%. and general electric gaining ground on news it was raising its dividend. that amounts to an annual yield of a 3.3%. open table losing ground on a report that apple has filed for a restaurant reservation patent. the stock down 1.37%. and qualcomm replacing paul jacobs. the stock basically flat on the news. bill, kelly, back to you. >> a bit of a surprise there. coincidence or not. he was being discussed at

microsoft and now will get the top job at qualcomm. let's debate it in a good old fashioned stock brawl. our bear is cody achery from williams financial. welcome. ross, you like qual com here. do you like this promotion? >> i love the promotion. they've got a young guy who spent almost all of his career there at the company and promoting him to take over at this time makes a lot of sense. you lose a guy like him to microsoft, it's really painful because it's hard to groom high quality ceos these days. a great move for the company. >> cody, why don't you like qualcomm at these levels? one of these classic situations when you invest in war, you don't invest in the guys who make the gun, you invest in the guys who make the ammo. these are the guys that make the ammo in the chip wars for years. >> the problem is that everybody

knows how strong qualcomm has been and how much dominant market share they have. in 2014 there's not much room for them to go except down in market share. a lot of competition coming in, all the growth shifting to china with cheaper hand sets and all that could mean much less slower growth. >> ross, he has a point. >> i don't agree with that point at all. in fact, their business is exploding. if you look at china mobile adding 4-glte next week. all they do is make chips for the mobile platform. everybody's worried about these low end phone, but what about the high end phones? people in china are making a lot of money right now and they want an apple phone a high end smartphone. it's all about mobility. and that's where qualcomm dominates. there's no competition as good as the snapdragon chip. it works on every handset maker and tower out there.

they've got a core product that everybody uses and needs in their mobile platforms. i think their business will continue to grow. >> cody, what do you say? >> ross, the problem is that a high end phone in china will only be $200 and you're the third of a price of a phone in the u.s. your loyalties are 3 1/2%, you have to sell two or three times the as many to keep your head above water. the chips you're selling will be far less pricey. you have a lot more competition. prices will erode. and unfortunately, the handset prices just are not going to stay even with the u.s. and europe. >> ross, just a quick question as well. qualcomm came out with a smart watch. kind of an interesting move to go completely into the consumer device space. what does that tell but the company? >> i think what they're trying to do is show a lot of the companieses what they can do with their mobile chips. they want to develop more wearable technology.

i don't look at it as really a product they're trying to sell, more like a prototype. hey, samsung came out with a watch. i'm personally not a big fan. i've used the pebble. i don't need it. i like my ewc just fine. but going back to the point about everybody's worried about low end phones, but if you go to china and you have an iphone, you're considered wealthy. and that's what they care about. they want to be like americans and they want to have things that display wealth. the high end in china is growing incredibly fast. >> it's a very small piece of the overall market. >> it's growing very rapidly. you got about a billion people. >> one to two is a big growth rate, but unfortunately that's not where the mass market is going to be. it's sub-200 phones. >> what would have to happen for you to change your mind? >> you'd have to actually have market share to gain and unfortunately qualcomm's topped out. >> thank you, guys.

appreciate it. >> thank you, guys, have a good weekend. >> heading to the close, 30 minutes left in the trading session. the dow subpoena 50 points. i didn't notice the trading range today. >> feels like we're adding a point every couple of minutes. how the fracking boom will affect oil next year. we'll talk to one of the men people in the industry call fracmaster. chris faulkner joining us next. >> there's one movie to rule them all this weekend. >> i will not risk this quest for the life of one. >> the second hobbit movie expected to be one of the year's biggest hits. are you planning to see it this weekend? could you get out of your house this weekend, the people in the northeast? tweet us. there's a saying around here, you stand behind what you say.

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in case you hadn't heard, big winter storm making its way from west to east. the demand for heating fuel pumping up prices. how energy has been faring. >> good afternoon, bill.

the energy complex actually depressed despite the cold temperatures outside and that pending storm. three reasons for that that i want to highlight. the first being the stronger dollar today but also concerns about the fed meeting next week and the potential for a december taper. finally traders telling me after west texas intermediate peaked this week they were taking some money off the table. wti closing at 96.60 today, down about 1% for the week. meantime, i want to talk about nat gas ral holding above that $4 level despite this storm coming our way. it was ticking down. it hit a seven-month high yesterday and for this week alone nat gas up more than 6%. back to you, kel and billy. bill and kelly. >> i kind of like it. i'm not sure if you like it so much. with nat gas prices popping and crude prices sliding lower this week, what's the best way to play energy going into the new

year. >> chris faulkner, ceo with breitling industry. the man they call frac master. >> they call me that, i don't call myself that. >> i don't call myself billy either. first of all, everybody thinks this is transformational technology that we're seeing that will make us masters of our own domain when it comes to energy in this country. >> i think it will, it already has. >> how long? >> we're producing 8 million barrels a day. we've upped 20% just in one year in our production. saudi arabia, for example, which is king of the hill, if you will, produces almost 10 million barrels a day. but they're a huge exporter. we're a huge consumer. we can't export oil in this country, but that will have to change. fracking has changed our industry. we'll import 60 billion feet of gas from qatar. within five years, this whole thing has turned up on its ear. >> such a volatile business. you know this firsthand.

a lot of it depends on how regulators respond. >> sure. >> how can people who are involved in this development and infrastructure gain some clarity or confidence in the extent that investors should go along with them? >> i wish i could predict the real price of oil, it would be much easier on my job. we've got headwinds happening in the first quarter, the libyan production coming back online, iran's a wild card. they said last week they'll sell oil at 20 bucks a barrel if they could. iraq production is coming back on. we'll have a little bit of price oppression on crude going into the 2014 year first quarter. nat gas unfortunately will have to come back down after we see that seasonality price push coming back out of it. $4 gas isn't great but i'm happy about that compared to the start of last year. the pricing will range going into 2014, oil will come down, a 90 dollar plus commodity here. >> we've been waiting for oil to

come down because there is so much going on here but it hasn't done that. >> oecd countries starting to see some economic turnarounds. we're seeing a push/pull on oil. the price of oil should be at $70 or 75. >> so i hear. >> you guys have what, about a quarter million acres of mineral rights, you've got stuff in mississippi. if all these prices are heading lower? >> i was in the middle east just this week and just got back yesterday. in the middle east they're always talking about one thing, what makes the party stop in america, what's the number that america cannot produce oil at this level? and that number is about $65. at 65 bankers get nervous and don't want to led us the money for us to drill. for them, the good news is that they can't push oil down to that level, so i don't think they can control stopping our party. >> do you then look to that price to determine when you guys

might pursue a public offering or raising more capital. >> absolutely. >> how much does it rely on oil being at x. >> we don't hedge. for us it really is spot pricing. but at 65, that's not a whole lot of margin to capture. that's why it gets concerning at a 85, $100 level. but as you deploy capital like in 2008 when natural gas was $15 within six months it went down to 2 or $3. if you're employing that kind of downfall, you're left holding the bag. you have to be able to plan this stuff i don't think oil is going to move very rapidly down toward the $65 number because saudi arabia and opec need to stay in a much, much higher price than that. >> potential ipo, this week you bought a tiny little publicly traded company. does that preclude you. >> potentially we're looking at doing a merger with that company

and doing the transaction in 30 days. >> no ipo for breitling? >> potentially, that's correct. i'll come back on and give you full details. >> i'm sure you will. >> shoot. >> we all figured it out. transformational technology. i heard this many times before. but then something goes horribye wrong. what keeps you up nights? >> for me, there's the unknown epa regulation in the back of my head. because fracking has been regulated by the states. but there's also this rumbling that there's going to be more and more and more. for me more cost. it's very expensive oil to brew. saudi arabia is 20 bucks to pull out of the ground, ours is 50. more and more cost does concern me around additional unneeded regulation. i won't say anything negative. >> i didn't realize that was the cost differential. >> saudi arabia that's cheap oil

that's why they can make so much selling it and pay all their budget needs. but fracking is not cheap. >> have a great weekend. >> you too. >> 20 minutes left to go here. closing down on the closing bell. we've got the dow down off the highs of 50 points from a few minutes back. we're watching the nasdaq up about 4, the s&p 500 just barely higher. and you're in a christmas spirit already. we are officially into the 12th day of christmas today. after a few downward moves the upward move could be the start of the santa claus rally. the naughty and nice to tell us if santa will be coming to town. >> then after the bell -- >> less than a month ago, it was like any other town. people with nothing but problems, then out of the sky came a solution. >> google and amazon have been creating a wide solution of products of late.

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as we look to the start of the new year, what's in store for short sellers? >> it's been a tough couple of years getting crushed on the short side often. we're breaking down which heavily shorted stocks may be ready to shine. >> hey there, kelly. forget about tough, it has been just downright painful if you've been betting against the market. the dow jones industrial average has been up for the past five years in a row the s&p up for the past two years. that has meant that a lot of short-only shops have in fact gone out of business. but now the tide does seem to be shifting a little bit. we do see some of the short sellers talking about getting back in the market again. a lot of people saying how much higher can the market go? so there are people who see opportunities for the market to go down. one of those short sellers is well known bill fleckensteen. he told cnbc i got out of the short business when the fed started printing money but now i think that the fed is starting to lose control of the bond

market, so he wants back in. he said capital is being misallocated everywhere and the price of nearly everything is out of whack. so with that in mind we thought we'd take a look at the short interest stocks these days. at the new york stock exchange the short is at the highest level since june. keep in mind this isn't completely unusual since the market is also hitting new highs but there are six stocks out there that have a short interest of more than 20%. those include cliffs natural resource, u.s. steel, lennar, tesla, green mountain coffee and equinix. they all have a short interest of over 10%, a third are consumer discretionary. but here's the thing, short selling is not for the faint of heart. this is a tough, tough business. in fact, a lot of short sellers will say it themselves. of some of the three top most heavily traded shorts in the market this year they're up

250%. it takes a very, very tough stomach if you want to be in the short business, definitely something to keep in mind if that's your plan. >> thanks very much. bill flexenstein is coming back into the picture as a short seller. 15 minutes left in the trading session here. art cashman just came by and said no pressure either way. buy or sell. we're up 30 on the dow. >> will investors ever see a santa claus rally this year? some say he's leaving a lump of coal. ia has a lot going on in her life. wife, mother, marathoner. but one day it's just gonna be james and her. so as their financial advisor, i'm helping them look at their complete financial picture -- even the money they've invested elsewhere -- to create a plan that can help weather all kinds of markets. because that's how they're getting ready, for all the things they want to do. [ female announcer ] when people talk, great things can happen. so start a conversation with an advisor who's fully invested in you.

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welcome back. about ten minutes left in the trading session here. could this be our big up day. we've been waiting for? >> kaboom. >> yes, bob pisani. let's talk about where we're heading here. are we going to get a santa claus rally this year? what do you think, paul? ironically, this is the best month of the year for the dow typically, and this has been a very tough month for the markets. >> it has been. well, you think about it, we've had such an unbelievable year. the market is up 25, 26%. normal to take a little breather. plus you have the fed meeting next week which everyone's anticipating. people are taking some chips off

the table in anticipation of wait and see what's going to happen next week with the fed. >> we have a very busy week next week. >> we do. not only has the fmoc, but the confirmation is out, we'll get the budget. there's thursday the fed will be buying bonds, the day after the fed meeting, they want a little bit of insurance. you were right, bill, all the old rules were wrong. sell in may go away, wrong. december a great month, well, so far not really. so the point is a lot of these old rules don't necessarily apply here. what's interesting is everyone wants the market to go down but for different reasons. the bulls want it go down because they want to buy 5% to 10% below where the market is now. the bears think the market will have a big problem when the market starts to taper next year. >> you're in the first camp, i guess, you want it to go down to buy i again? >> i would love to see it go

down as a buying opportunity. as long as the fed continues to accommodate you'll continue to see the markets continue to advance. >> they'll have to taper at some point. rick santelli was just pointing out their balance sheet is at the 499.trill dollars. >> they will need to taper. what needs to happen is a well thought out deleveraging of our balance sheets. a trillion dollars they put into the market. the market has created $4.5 trillion of wealth. hopefully a balance when they start to taper and the market being able to support itself. >> if you're in the bullish camp, i'm neutral on this, but if the economy really does need a little improvement next year, we should see better revenue numbers. >> 3%. pretty modest. that should be supportive of stocks.

that's the main bull argument, that the -- we can withstand tapering because there will be a modest multiple expansion higher revenue growth and cost cutting will kind of go away. that's a little bit of a stretch. i understand that. but naes the argument being made right now. >> that's correct. since 2011, the earnings have been flat. yet you've had multiple expansion because of the fed and the fed stimulus. you're right, we do at some point need to see true revenue growth and true earnings growth. >> paul, good to see you, thanks for joining us today. we'll head to the close here with the dow up 34 points. the closing countdown coming up in just a moment. and then -- we love this story. why does actor ian ziering decide to star in "sharknado."

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dow. a sell-off here, then we came back again. just been that kind of a week. up 28 points as we head towards the close. for the week, the dow, we had that small follow-through on monday from the monster rally a week ago after that jobs number. for the week we're down 1.6%. we've come quite a bit lower here. warren meyers, and next week we were just discussing is going to be a very busy week. bob pisani. but next friday should be a big day as well. >> it's a quadruple witching. everything expires. you expect quite a bit of volatility in the days leading up to that. i would anticipate wednesday, thursday being very volatile. on top of that, the december 18th fed meeting. you're really looking for a potential lot of movement in the markets. >> do you think the fed could announce a tapering on wednesday? >> is it possible? certainly it's possible. i don't believe they will. they'll push it off till the end of the first quarter and next

year. but the specter of that rising and happening after the latest jobs number. >> the ipos lately are strong, aramark, so did hilton, both did well and we have others. >> nimble is one today that did very well. nice to see that. especially down here on the floor, it seems like we've been getting our fair share of them and they've done very well. >> investor demand is pretty strong. >> it really has been. across the board, that gives you a little positive input going into next year that maybe the overall demand, the wider market demand is there and maybe that will get the individual investor back in this market full bore. >> i know we've talked about buying the dips here lately. that's been truly a huge theme this year, but this market doesn't act like it's in that mode right now. we've lost the momentum. >> we've got a little switch in momentum probably right around after thanksgiving and we've held so far, instead of that end of the day buying, it's been end of the day selling and appears that's still continuing. we're going to need something

positive to turn that back around again. >> rest up, watch out for the snow this weekend, be safe. we'll go out here with a little minor gain on the dow jones industrial average and for the rest of the major averages as well. that's it for the first hour of "the closing bell." have a great weekend. stay tuned now for the second hour with kelly evans and company. we'll see you monday. >> welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans. stocks are ending a rough week. it was an interesting last hour here on wall street. here's a look at how we're finishing out the day. the dow up about 16 points, 15755 is the level there. the nasdaq adding about 3. look at that. just on that 4,000 mark. whatever that's worth. and the s&p 500 turning negative at the end of the session, 1775 is the level there, some are watching the independence figure of 1776. we didn't quite hold. but get straight to it with today's panel. joining me are zachary karabell

and our own courtney reagan and we've got lee munson standing by, plenty of traders who will join us here in just a moment. wanted to start with you guys -- welcome, by the way. >> thank you. >> you look at this market and think what? >> i like the mr. karabell, i'm like who is that? the fact that it feels so placid. yes, a not good week, but selling off 2 1/2% from your high hardly constituting a particularly negative week. and a lot of people -- and i'm probably in that as well -- you know, when you don't really want to mess around with a year that's been extremely good without any particular catalyst over the next -- >> can we use you as a little micro study here? >> i don't know. >> zach karabell portfolio had some equities, maybe you're up, what do you do next year? >> in terms of a news story, there will be a lot of programmatic rebalancing. a lot of bond portfolios plait,

asset allocators will be relocating back into bonds because their allocations have gotten out of whack. the read is that investors are coming out of the markets, no, no, meaning they're worried about equities and moving out of equities and flows out of equities. i don't think it is a case of that. people are being forcedllocatiof a model even if that's not the thing to do. >> if you have a portfolio and exposed to stocks 30% this year, some of the funds up 40%. the retail names high fliers what you're saying is that will force people out of the market. >> right. but force people not because oh, my god, you should be out. simply because there's a longstanding assumption of what these allocations should be and that stocks will be the volatile thing and bonds he about the stable thing. going into 2014, that concerns me. >> we're talking about some performers that are up 30, 40%

this year. for all the concern about what we're hearing out of some of these holiday commentaries, some of the earnings as well, i guess you look at a day like today, what do we learn? >> there's a lot of wait, too, we've got a lot to go until christmas. retail stocks are on the shelves, we've had a decent run-up. look at michael kors, i don't know that i'd jump into michael kors at these levels because it has run so far so fast. there is still waiting on the sidelines. we saw a nice surge in the beginning, then we've fallen off a bit. >> we have breaking news in the telecom sector. seema mody, what can you tell us? >> back here at headquarters, dow jones reporting that sprint may make an offer for t-mobile in early 2014 which would set the stage for a major telecom merger. dow jones reporting that the

deal could be worth $20 billion. we can get a look at how shares are reacting after hours. sprint shares up 2.4% on this report from dow jones. if you take a look at t-mobile, that stock down just half a percent after hours. >> this just got very interesting. i mean, talk about where were we before when it was t-mobile, at&t. now at&t and sprint. sprint's up 2%. lee munson from portfolio asset management, kenny valcari joining us as well. take a look at the shares of sprint on the news that t-mobile will make a bid here. 2 1/2%. what do you make of this? >> when the at&t deal was announced everyone thought sprint was really going to be the severe loser in that. the antitrust issues came in, that deal got scuttled. i mean it's certainly not going

to be -- i mean, at&t's not going anywhere, verizon is not going anywhere, but this would potentially add at least a third major international player. there is t-mobile international as well. but that's just part of you're going to see some negative deals. we've been talking about time warner. the same cheap cash, lots of opportunities, time to do these kinds of deals. >> if you think about the deal at the time, it was blocked partly because of the concern it would be bad for consumers. it would lead to upward pressure on pricing across this space. lee munson, i know you're just joining the conversation here. but any thoughts about is this the kind of progression from that deal being blocked? >> crumbling like a gingerbread house. what's important for consumers

is a cell phone that works. if you're not in a major metropolitan area it doesn't. isn't that what you talk about in the market, you want to see more cap-ex spending? i think it's a good deal for people. >> you want to comment on this one as well? >> listen, i think it's clearly exciting. i came in on the end so i missed what the news one way or the other. it's certainly an exciting development. t-mobile service is spotty at best. anything that helps t-mobile will be a perfect -- >> the reason why t-mobile is interesting is that they're extremely innovative. you got to give a john ledger credit. they're doing a lot of things in this space, allowing you to get a new phone without having to reup the contract or extending different rights across the globe and bringing up the international point about where you can make calls. now exercising some of the

muscle, their shares have benefited quite a bit and we're seeing the impact that's having. steve grasso joining us here, "fast money" contributor extraordinaire. this just happened but thoughts here on this one? >> i'm actually long sprint and i did buy t-mobile off of that one. we've talked in the past, all about spectrum. this is the only way these guys can compete with the like of at&t and verizon. extremely exciting. but you have to remember you saw that headline earlier on the day where verizon and t-mobile were swapping some spectrum. so it's long been discussed. the headline gets people really excited. >> going back to the earlier deal being blocked, you know, is this what happens then? you're going to wind up with the same consolidation just in kind of a different form? >> that always happens. but you know what? if you're happy right now,

there's no one who can compete with at&t and verizon. you need some consolidation on the smaller bit players and to make them at least start marginally impacting pricing for the big boys. if you look at the marketplace here, the market needs information like this. so it can continue to rally higher. >> and steve, one thing that's been a total failure of the u.s. cell phone market unlike european countries is this is an industry that benefits from a few real capitalized players. a massive amount of capital spending you have to do. the u.s. is an incredibly developed nation and all of us have experienced better cell service on the great wall of china than wall street. >> so true but to kelly's point t-mobile has done such great things. people don't want to be attached. i've had at&t for years now and i'm afraid to move from it. but t-mobile lets you come and go as you please because they want to offer traditionalliy a better product. >> if the earlier deal was

blocked because this was ultimately read as bad for consumers. will it come down to the consumer and how much this will change the game? >> and every time i hear about consolidation in the industry, i think about prices and know that consumers are going to worry. once we get some of those answers, consumers can feel better understanding options that he about laid out for them. it does seem to scare consumers. we'll be trapped. they can charge us whatever they want. >> depends on whose mensching. if you have at&t gobbling up smaller players, that's anti-competition. >> kenny? >> we won't know yet until you see that happening until you see what pressure they put on prices. >> zach, what do you think? >> competition when you have a dysfunctional delivery system does no one any good and a certain degree of consolidation, three major players, is hardly monopolistic, two major players is, by definition, duopolistic.

i'd rather have that three a burchl of atommized players. >> lastly on this point, is there anyone outside the telecom space and the more kind of traditional cable broadband space who you think moves around here as you're talking about spectrum. >> i don't know talking about spectrum, but the other m & a is time warner. that's in place. who knows where comcast, i know we're sitting on their network right now, but that's an interesting story for me as well when you get consolidation in that space and you start to see a bidding war hopefully for time warner holders. >> time warner shares have been moving all around on this speculation that seems to vfb going on for weeks. steve, thanks very much for now. you can catch steve grasso on "fast money" coming up. the rest of the panel is stuck with me. red arrows dominating this

december. will santa be skipping the street altogether this year? two money prost duking it out. the budget deal passed by the house and extended unemployment benefits for 1.3 million people. will this put a dent in the economic recovery? peter orszag will speak with me in a bit. (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade 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 so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates.

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the dow snapped a three-day losing streak today. a lot more to go before the so-called santa claus rally. will investors get handsome returns or a lump of coal? ron insana saying we're not going to get the rally. he actually thinks a correction is on the horizon. meg green says she believes santa is coming to town. meg, first of all, i mean, the santa claus real, just to be clear, are you talking about december being a good month or the days after where we see upward pressure? >> well, december historically has always been a good month. december attracts about 1 1/2% since 1929. but the santa claus rally that they talk about is usually after

christmas until new year's. and yes, we're in a bull market. this little correction is a nice little correction, but there's no reason for it to stop. tweak age little, but i see thi going. >> this isn't even a correction, this is a move downward 1 or 2% off all-time highs. how much higher do you think? >> yeah. well, i mean, one day we're going to see an 18,000 dow, a 20,000 dow, just what the tlrip is going to be in between. we've got a lot of money chasing about coming into the markets. there's a lot of things going on, tax laws harvesting. a lot of portfolio managers want to show the good stocks on the portfolios and maybe show the losses on a bad one. i'm a wealth manager. we deal with very wealthy clients. we're doing a lot of tax harvesting right now. they want to come out of their bonds a little bit. they say why should i sit in bonds? i want more in the market. i am seeing a lot of risk and confidence coming back to

players. that's not a place where you see a major correction. >> maybe a little swagger. mr. insana, why is the collection looming? >> i've been bullish since 2009. this year was quite a good year. it would be prudent for people to take some profits, but we're going into a transitional 2014 that might look like 1994/'95. markets getting comfortable with the idea of tapering but that doesn't mean it won't correct. we've not had a 10% correction as of yet. 2014 we'll transition in a variety of ways. leadership might change in the market. i don't think we get the santa claus rally in the typical sense given how much we've already come up. we've had the santa claus rally effectively all year long. >> do you think the reason we're seeing the numbers, the losses heading into the close, the upward momentum for the first couple of sessions has people positioning now for what, as you say, may be more of a middling

performance next year? >> i do. i also think there's technical deterioration, not that i'm a technician, but we've seen new lows exceed new highs. averages have confirmed the recent run-up, but the underlying market has not. but that sets the stage for an intermediate term pullback. i'm still a secular bull. as we move towards 2014, this will be the year we have to deal with a variety of things. >> that's so dangerous. can the average person afford to be out of this market on the chance that you're wrong? >> first of all, i'm not giving anybody specific at vice at this moment. we could have a 20% correction. if you're an index trader who is trying to catch swings in the market. i'd like to see stocks come in, mcdonald's, disney, starbucks, i'd like to see them come down and i'd buy them again. people should be cognizant of the need to prune their portfolios and take some chips off the table and come back in.

>> if you want to talk about valuation for the market, you can go back and forth on it. the names that ron just mentioned their numbers are high by historical standards. >> some of them, yes, but there's still value in the market. you threw out the 1990s. let me throw out 1954, the eisenhower rally. if you take a look at that, 1954 was first time since 1929 that the markets came back to their value. this year has been tracking 1954 i mean, 0.95, 1% is perfect. if you look at 1954, we're talking about a santa rally here, it was up 5% in december. >> just to bring that back to 2013, we're tracking anything this year, it's at least for the last couple of months, it's the yen. that may surprise some people but the correlation between the s&p 500 and the japanese yen over the last let's say december to date is upwards of 70%. so meg, i guess that's something

for people to keep in mind that they're betting on japan succeeding next year as they're betting on u.s. stocks going higher when it comes to abenomices. >> if you want to go long, the japanese stock market short the japanese yen, however you want to play it. maybe the u.s. takes a breather while japan takes over. i don't think that's a trade. that's a secular play. it may look meaningful on the surface, but we're still in the secular market. in the short run -- >> it's been five or ten days since we've had a 10% correction. i think santa will be really good to us. >> only about ten days to find out. people asking for a lot if they want a santa claus rally along with everything else that's happened this year. coming up, science fiction coming to wall street. the storyline of world domination reading like a pad

1950s sci-fi flick. amazon.com and google, new products in all facets of our lives. whether these two companies are taking over the world. the panel debating the two web giants. "sharknado" was the high sci-fi movie of the year, but the reason even ziering took the role, was to get health insurance. he'll join us later. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. with fidelity's options platform,

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welcome back. so there are two companies that just can't seem to be stopped. google with its monopoly on search and amazon talking to the skies with amazon prime air and shopping with amazon fresh and word is there's a pantry in the works that will take on costco and sam's club. google a leader in communications and technology. kind of makes you feel like these two companies are poised to take over the world or something. we want to ask our panel for thought on these guys. >> analyst david eggers which envisions a time when basically google, microsoft, amazon all become one mega future big brother company. and i think that's always been the fear. that's been the fear since the beginning of the 20th century when people were worried about the big brother sci-fi. >> everyone on wall street is reading this book. i can't tell you how many people have mentioned it. >> to be fair, i'm not reading it, i'm just mentioning it. >> amazon will deliver it to

you. >> and they'll give me a kindle, an actual copy. these fears are somewhat overblown although with the nsa revelations -- >> what are we afraid of, of what they're doing or the extent to which these two companies are involved? >> i think it's a fear of an invasion of privacy. just at the very core level. an invasion, they know exactly where you are at every moment of the day, where you went, where you didn't go, who you called. >> are you and kenny arguing for a breakup of these companies? >> i'm arguing that you have to take a step back. i yearn for days gone by. >> simpler times. >> clearly we're not going back there, but people have to really be concerned about what this really means. >> lee sounds exasperated. >> my favorite movie outside of wall street is network, 1976 and mr. beale gets a lecture that the world will be one ecumenical company of which everybody gets a share and everyone's desires

is assuaged. this whole thing about amazon taking over the world, they've tried to do this with other things and failed. >> tried to do what? >> the pantry, trying to get the grocery items packed to you. my wife loves this stuff, loves to get stuff on this auto thing, but then you've got all this stuff in your house. people need to remember -- >> what are you saying? >> to get a deal. >> people love stuff. and amazon is just chipping away sector by sector even if they don't make any money, the stock goes higher, you get your stuff cheap fast. i mean, it's just a model that almost can't be broken. >> but we are being conditioned -- >> sure. >> as if we need it in ten nints. i don't need it in ten minutes? >> of course you need it in ten minutes. i need to get the transaction done. the transaction has to take ten minutes because i'm busy. i have to make sure i get the purchase in ten minutes. i don't want to sit in costco in a big line with the rest of the unwashed masses. >> the convenience of this separate from the unwashed masses which sounds like a fox

news thing. we really are benefiting from the convenience of these things, but the trade-off is we lose some of the privacy that we think that we value. at the beginning of internet stuff said the famous, you have no privacy. get over it. >> right. >> as consumers we see vast amounts of information to these companies which we worry about giving to the government and we easily give to these companies for the ease of our lives. >> we've focused the issue around amazon and googp, in europe they have an acronym, goathol. which is google, amazon. >> that is major concern. i'm out here in new mexico where a lot of my clients work for dod and this is where we have los

alamos labs. where you see these futurist books writing, we do worry about the wrong hands getting involved. most of us would agree that we're trying to get a google search and google kind of knows where you are trying to help us, that's one thing. but the idea that the government can easily get in there, most importantly people out here, we're worried about outside hostile people getting that information. >> you know, kenny, this reminds me almost of the opt-out movement from big bank people saying opt out. >> but you can't opt out. that's the problem. you can't opt out. so i think the fear builds, right? people think that -- >> and courtney, hard to tell a consumer that they shouldn't buy something from amazon if it's the cheapest thing. >> the cheapest, fastest, easiest. my dad is a small business owner. part of me doesn't love it when these big companies take over the world. i want to see everybody have a chance. but at the same time when you're

the consumer and that's fastest, cheapest, easiest, makes it. >> they actually make these small businesses to distribute because they've become a massive distribution network. >> so what happens? everybody just stays in house, points and clicks, gets everything delivered, you never go out, never socialize, that's part of the problem! especially with these kids on the internet, they don't know how to socialize. >> that's completely off base. no, we're doing this so we can go out and do other thins than shopping. i want to socialize and have beers with buddies and not go to costco. >> we'll all have a drink after the show. up next unintended consequences. how much can the economy really slow down when people stop receiving unemployment checks? peter orszag tackling that issue next. keep it right here. plus "sharknado" alert, ian ziering will give us a tell hen all about why he took the role.

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welcome back. the website heating up like a yule log this afternoon.

allen wastler keeping an eye on what's on the hot list this friday. allen? >> kelly, today we're looking at pensions and asking the question is 3% the new 8%? that's a feature we've got leading the site right now. people going into it at the rate of 45 readers a minute. takes a look at pengs when figuring how much they have to pay out. they've always assumed an 8% rate on their investments but they haven't done that in the last few years. so they're having to revise backwards. >> huge potential implications, even if they move it to 7 1/2 or 7. but i digress. >> congress, the budget deal, we have a look from ben white of politico. he took a look at what could happen to mess it up. yes, there's chatter in the senate about a filibuster, some cloit yur votes and maybe he can deep dive with it. they took a look at gold and how

some experts actually think it could have a bounce in first quarter of next year. that's basically an inflation play. you look at bonds creeping up on the yield a little bit. thinking gold, people get concerned about inflation. >> if gold is still bouncing, that means there's still room for it to move lower. >> always up and down. >> allen wastler, have a great weekend. >> you too. >> allen mentioned the budget agreement in washington. will it be tripped up as it heads to the senate? no better person than to talk to peter orszag. now vice chairman for citigroup. thanks so much for being here this afternoon. >> great to be with you. >> what do you make of the fact that we're now potentially headed towards the first budget in four years if it's not tripped up next week? >> it's better than not having a deal but we shouldn't get too excited. the big deal is we may have 12 to 14 months in which washington dysfunction doesn't get in the way of the economy, that would be great. but let's not celebrate too

much. this is a very small board deal. >> at the same time, though, the fact, the improving economy, the improving budget situation frankly has made all this seem a lot less pressing. the real pressure now probably coming from things like the debt ceiling, which hasn't been reckoned with and will loom again in february or march. >> we won't have another debt limit debacle. what i expect is a short-term extension through the end of the year, early 2015. at that point we may have another problem, but i don't think we're going to have it this spring. it's just too soon. both sides, it's not the right -- i don't think we'll have another big fight in the spring of 2014, which again is one reason why look out 12 months u.s. economy actually looks moderately constructive. less fiscal drag from the federal government, low probability of any big, you know, imbroglios and the nonfederal sector which is growing at not a great clip but at a decent clip could carry the

rest of the economy along to perhapses a 3% growth rate. >> there's a quote on the screen here for people who can't see it, but this is potomac research group talking about the deficit, the tax receipts are so strong and yes, they're helped by fannie and freddie, which they'll continue to be helped by, those receipts are so strong, the deficit could fall blow 2% of gdp by 2014 and could have a small surplus by 2016. is that part of the reason why the markets are suddenly thinking gee, this could be the reason that the fed tapers? >> more that the economy's recovering that leadses to fed tapering but the deficit story is quite good, there's a massive story in medicare. medicare spending in the first two months of this fiscal year, october, november, was in nominal terms lower than last year. that's unbelievably rare historically and it follows up several years of very slow

growth. if that trend continues, everything you think you know about the long-term fiscal picture facing the united states is wrong. >> yet, there is one troubling spot for a lot of people and the fact that the extended unemployment benefit program, which gives people benefits for up to 99 weeks will not continue past the end of the year. not necessarily the length of that program was ever going to be extended, just the program itself. that means 1.3 is about the figure people who will lose access to jobless benefits come january. how much of a hurdle, how much of a headwind is that? >> 1.3 million in january, then more over the course of 2014. look, unfortunate because unemployment benefits in a weak economy when we still have elevated unemployment both helped unemployed families but just as importantly helped to boost demand which is what we need. in my view, better if we extended that program, but again even if we don't, i hope we do, but even if we don't, 2014 is shaping up to be a better year than 2013 in the previous years.

>> do you think if it's not part of this deal that extending unemployment benefits for those affected people who we were just discussing could still crop back up? >> possibly, but unlikely. there are various machinations going on to try to introduce an extension into different bills, possible. but i wouldn't count on it. >> peter orszag, thank you for your perspective this afternoon. the interview you've all been waiting for. "sharknado" star ian ziering in the house. as the hobbit sequel hits theaters, we're asking if you're going to see it. you can tweet us at cnbc closing bell or anything else you've heard on the program. my customers can shop around-- see who does good work and compare costs. it doesn't usually work that way with health care. but with unitedhealthcare,

i get information on quality rated doctors, treatment options and estimates for how much i'll pay. that helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. i don't like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. if every u.s. home replaced one light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, the energy saved could light how many homes? 1 million? 2 million? 3 million? the answer is... 3 million homes. by 2030, investments in energy efficiency could help americans save $300 billion each year. take the energy quiz. energy lives here.

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and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. (aaron) purrrfect. (vo) meee-ow, business pro. meee-ow. go national. go like a pro. sci-fi "sharknado" was the summer's most tweeted-about movie gaining more than "game of thrones" even. but what do we mean by that? here to explain in an exclusive interview is ian ziering, yes, the star of "sharknado" among many other projects. >> very exciting to be down here on the floor. >> have you can here to the stock exchange? >> never, never. >> you missed most of the action. >> not as far as i'm concerned looking at you. >> "sharknado" everyone thinks

about as this summer cultish hit never thought that you would have taken the job for health insurance. >> as an actor, i get my health insurance from the unions and you need to make so much every year to qualify for the plan one, the type one insurance. if you don't make it, there's the second tier, which is a bigger deductible and a bigger co-pay, but in early january, it was just the beginning of the year and i hadn't met any quota as of yet. and as i read the script, i was really very concerned. there were a lot of moments where you have to suspend belief and trust that the visual effects would fill in the blanks. and when you get a low budget science fiction movie across your desk, you have to wonder is it going to be gumby or "avatar." >> it didn't have a name on it at the time. >> it did. "dark skies" which madae at mad palatable. but the week of production we're

changing the name to "sharknado." >> you thought you were doing a vampire remake. if you had known that you could at least have attempted to sign up for obama care come november, would you not have made the movie? >> you know, i've been very lucky in my career. and i haven't -- i guess not until now worried about it. having a family now changes my focus. >> changes the picture. >> where it was always about me whenever i was doing something and having been fortunate to have worked in this industry. health insurance, type one or type two, i've always been healthy, but now as a dad of two little girls, failure is not an option. i would have gotten into it a little bit more carefully, learned about it more if it wasn't for this. but -- "sharknado" came along. >> they're talking about making the sequel. are you thinking of being involved? >> we're in talking right now.

the science fiction fans are the biggest fans. >> apparently there are a lot out there. i hate to say this again, i didn't know what "sharknado" was. i'm going to have to google it. now i have to go home and watch it because it gets rave reviews. >> look at that. can't get away from it. >> interesting because the point that you make is kind of the very thing that i think obama care tries to get at, the more money the actor makes the less expensive his health insurance is, the less money you make the more expensive it is with regard to the deductible. >> it is a big problem because in my industry there are far too few jobs and too many actors. to be an actor is the dream of so many people. i want to be an actor, i want o be a star. have a plan b. because you know what? it's tough. it's a very cut-throat business. i know before i got "90210." it had been 18 months since i

had any work. i went in for the audition, there were a pile of scripts and just an empty sign-in sheet. i'm looking at this sheet, looking at 50 scripts thinking all these people are going to be auditions for steve sanders. hello? is anyone here? someone in the back office said, sign your name and take a script. looking at that and thinking i'd been unemployed for 18 months. i wrote my name, ben dover and i took all the scripts. not the most ethical thing, but the end certainly justified the means. a very competitive business. in retrospect i think they hired the right steve sanders. >> america thinks so, too. congratulations on your new family. >> thank you. >> thank you for coming here and sharing your perspective. "sharknado" there he is ian ziering. we're getting some e-mails from bernie madoff. scott cohn has all the details. >> if jpmorgan and u.s.

authorities can come to terms on the settlement they're working on over the bank's role in the madoff scandal, could some of the government's leverage have come from bernie madoff himself? that's the latest claim from bernie madoff in a brand new series of e-mails that he sent me from the federal prison in north carolina where he's living out his life. he said he has provided key information to the treasury inspector general's office which is among those investigating jpmorgan which, of course, was madoff's primary bank for decades. the ig's office confirms that it heard from someone saying they represented madoff but they haven't said if that information was of any use or even if they received any information. for months madoff is claiming that he was instrumental in pressuring those who were complicit in his scheme to return the money. picard has recovered millions but his business says no thanks to madoff. >> i think he would like to turn his image around by suggesting he lass something to do with it. as far as irving and i know and everyone on our team, he's done

nothing to assist us. >> you might ask why sheehan had no interest in the info i offered threw peter chavkin regarding jpmorgan which the ig of the treasury department eagerly accepted from me. he's not responded to our repeated requests for comment. bernie madoff is quick to add, i'm not looking for any type of credit for my assistance, just their honesty. nothing at this point i could do would help my image. he's got that right. he says i live with the terrible, guilt, shame and remorse for the pain and suffering i've caused to everyone. that proposed settlement with jpmorgan could be wrap up in weeks. was it with madoff's help? we don't know. mega millions fever sweeping the country. next, the head of the grocery chain checking sales and if they boost foot traffic in his stores.

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welcome back. well, you still have time to get a lottery ticket because the mega millions jackpot has surged to $425 million. the drawing, i believe, is tonight. morgan drawing, i believe, is tonight, morgan brennan at a liquor store in new jersey where the last ticket was sold. and morgan, does that mean more people are going there or fewer do you think? >> i think we're seeing major foot traffic here, we're at eagle liqueurs. they were the sellers of the winning powerball ticket. $338 million back in march. they actually sold other winning tickets, notably scratchoffs since then we've seen right now, as you can see here, 1,064 tickets sold. to put that number in perspective, a mere 45 minutes ago, the number was 850 tickets, and around lunch time, that number was 400 tickets. seeing a lot of foot traffic, what is notable here, the store

owners tell me, that power balls always had a huge appetite regardless of the size of the jackpot, megamillions. the jackpot being this big, it's now got just as big an appetite among ticket buyers. >> wow. morgan, by the way, am i right, it's tonight, the drawing, yes? >> the drawing is tonight at 11:00, $425 million, the cash buyout is 220 million, before taxes. and i've got my ticket right here. i'll see if lightning strikes again. >> yeah. we know, if you win, you're spreading it evenly with all of us, right? >> we'll see. we'll see. i'm not going to say anything on the record. i'm going to check out the article on cnbc.com before i make promises. >> very smart. morgan, thank you. seeking out that spot where they won big last time. maybe they will do it again. have a good night our next guest bought tickets today but sold more. he's on track to sell about five

to 10,000 tickets today alone. joining me the ceo of the supermarket chain that bears his family's name, stu great to have you with us. >> thanks, kelly, nice to be here. >> you have of that gated your store many a time, you do a great holiday display, always a lot of fun. i'm surprised, actually, you're selling lotto tickets, why? >> you know who recommended this to us? a great family friend, that we have, danny wegman of wegman's, we were visiting him, he said you have to start selling lottery tickets, so we did. i have my ticket today, too. >> well, we hope you'll share that with all -- no. kidding. when it comes to selling lotto tickets, do you stop and go, wait a minute, i'm running a grocery business, we all joke and have fun playing with the megamillions, but we know over time, stu, this is a tax on the mathematically challenged, tax on stupidity, so to speak. >> i was with a customer today, standing right at our store, and i was in the line, you know,

waiting to get my ticket. and a customer looked over at me and said, are you crazy for waiting in line? it's the odds are better that you'll be struck by lightning. >> right. right. by the way, it's not just the odds, there's also something unsavory about -- it's gambling. you're basically saying to people, we're okay with using gambling to get people into our stores. >> well, you know what, those are tough questions, we also sell wine and liquor and food like steaks and things unhealthy for you supposedly, chocolate chip cookies and fudge. so at some point, it is a legal thing, and customers love it, there's a frenzy at the store right now. over buying these tickets. and it's fun. i had a good time today. >> yeah. our panel is trying to get in here. >> i just think it allows people to dream, right, when they think about being able to win $400 million. wherever they are. so do i think of it as a vice?

i don't. i think it gives people an opportunity just to dream what life could be like. >> stu, couldn't they dream otherwise in your store? they see the disz play. >> it is, everybody has one of those tickets today, that's a great point, has a dream. it's nice to think about what would happen if you walked away and somebody gave you a check for over $200 million at 11:00 tonight. >> and five to 10,000 tickets ain't shabby, sure you're enjoying the foot traffic. thanks very much. have a great weekend. thanks for being here. >> thank you. enjoy the snow back east here. >> we'll try. be safe out there as well. >> okay. thank you, kelly. >> thank you, sir. we'll put the best tweets on air, coming up next, lots of stuff, that people are still talking about, our segments earlier, what happened with the sprint deal, all that coming up when we come back. keep it right here. of the yearand some s [ ding! ] at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection.

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[ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of true artistry and some of the best offers of the year at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection. welcome back, you've been tweeting all day, here are the ones we found most apt, whoever thinks santa is leaving coal in stockings this year doesn't own high pe stocks without profits. i like that. then regarding tonight's lottery pick, if he won, he would move to a state with no income tax. this is for you, kenny, and remove himself from all social media. then we asked, who is going to see the new hobbit this weekend,

we are staying here in middle earth until after the flakes fly. which is an interesting point. the extent to which the storm keeps people in. >> in a certain set of markets. >> are you going to see it? >> you know, my son certainly expects me to go see it with him. >> does he? what about moving to the middle of the country? >> we're going to go to chicago, win the lotto and see multiple showings of the hobbit. >> that's a pretty good plan for the evening. wanted to give you a chance to jump in with a final thought. >> well, you know, i think the things we've talked about this year, we start to wrap up and look towards the past couple weeks all investors out there need to remember, we have to be more patient about trading, we can't get caught up in the santa claus rally, in how everybody will allocate, there's a lot of risk appetite, a lot of people look to get into stocks. >> what's the only -- what tells you we're all going to be okay?

>> the thing that tells me it's going to be okay is that we have international merging markets next year that will pick up the pace. bottom line, if you take your glasses off and look at the fuzzy trend, we still have the job trends, you know, the jobless numbers are trending down. and also, government spending versus gdp, it's getting crushed, we have stealth -- >> we talked about how we could have a small surplus. kenny. wasn't sure if you were about to jump in and disagree. i know you're thinking about the lotto ticket. don't you think there's something to be said about this being a tax or a penalty on those who can't really afford it by this perpetuation? >> absolutely. you go to atlantic city, plenty of people can't sit in front of the one armed bandit, and they are sitting there doing it. i agree. for certain -- but people -- it's their way out is what they think. right? >> all right. thanks so much to everyone for joining us this weekend. stay inside. if you're trying to avoid the weather, see the hobbit. fast money coming up in just a

few seconds. talking to one of the year's hottest ipo ceo's, is that right? >> absolutely. it is scott winger from channel advisor, it's going to be interesting interview, every single retailer out there needs an online presence and is trying to beat each other out to get online. we'll ask about what that means for his growth trajectory. it's a friday night in times square, lots of people out there, a great holiday mood here. >> feeling festive. >> we're feeling it for friday night. >> we hope you have a lot owe ticket. >> i have to go get one. i got to go get one. you too as well. thanks so much. fast money starts right now, and i said, we are live from times square here at the nasdaq market site in new york times square. i'm sitting in for melissa lee. this is tonight's lineup. watch out intel, google is looking to move in on your turf. all those details coming up. and going against goldman,