>> titanic crossing, no brainer. theme park? what's next. >> they're going to plunge you in icy water until you freeze. >> these people were terrorized. most of them dies. >> s&p on track for a record close. thanks for watching, everybody. >> wow. and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange on this wednesday, bill, where the rally we saw yesterday continues. >> i'm bill griffeth. monday's sell-off seems like a long time ago. so we had a big sell-off on monday, worst in three months. then a big comeback yesterday and an even bigger move today with the dow and the s&p flirting with all-time highs. the nasdaq at multiyear highs once again. i mean, i'm having traders coming up saying why is the market higher today? >> 1848 i believe was the close.

we're at 1849 on the s&p 500 right now. we're ever so slightly back above water and we're going to keep an eye on how the rest of the month plays out. it's the worst start to a january since 2001. >> but we are in the midst of earnings season and the earnings have not been horrible. >> no. >> and the beige book today was constructive. >> bank of america. >> and b of a's earnings were pretty good. >> single digits feels like a long time ago as well. >> that's a victory, yes. >> also on today's show, 30 people that could change the future of amazon. they are 30 amazon employees in delaware who are voting today on joining a union or not. they would be the first unionized workers of the giant e-tail e-tailer and they could change the business model. get a reaction from the biggest union leader in the world today richard trumka. >> small group but big story. big implications. and he doesn't like the dollar but he does like bitcoin. he doesn't much care for janet yellin or ben bernanke or

anything having to do with the federal reserve, but, of course, i'm talking about former congressman ron paul. he will be here. you do not want to miss this. always entertaining and enlightening intrerview with ro paul. >> let's look at the markets. the dow 126 points just sitting at that 16,500 mark. the nasdaq is adding 30 points above 4200. the s&p 500 is up about 10. that weak start in 2001 for the first half of the month that we mentioned also saw a rally in the second half. we'll see if recent experience holds. >> let's kick it around. what's going on today? joining us in the "the closing bell" exchange aaron gibbs, keith fitzgerald, peter anderson from congress asset management, gerard fitzpatrick from russell investments and we welcome back rick santelli. glad you're feeling better. welcome back, pal. >> erin gibbs, you're the

earnings maven. the market is obviously liking what it's hearing right now. >> i think now after some of the cash flows coming out of the beginning of the year, we're starting to focus on earnings. right now for q4 we're looking at 5.6% eps growth which brings 2013 to 5.3%. all in all, a good year, but i think what we really focus on and why we can look at these -- the market, what it's doing today is that right now earnings estimates for 2014 are almost at 10% eps growth. so we still have a possibility of double digit gains for the year. >> peter, i want to know where the 10% correction everyone has been calling for is. >> well, i don't think you're going to see that in a while. you know, i'm still optimistic. this time last year i was optimistic going into that year, and this year i still feel the same way. you know, history shows that people are concerned a little bit about overvaluation versus perhaps even a bubble. but history shows we can have a sustainable rally here given

still the accommodative policy and also the relatively high unemployment. those two things together can give us a good foundation for more upside, and i'd say 10% a looking pretty good for the year. >> keith fitzgerald, obviously the fed is getting ready to taper this month, and there goes the free candy, the beginning of the end for the free candy for the stock market, but the market is still going higher, and you're still puzzled by why the ten-year is not above 3% right now, right? >> well, i am. traders are not letting go of this, which means they're suspicious. i know, i used to be one of them. i still am in a lot of ways. this says the fed is going to put liquidity in. until we take $30 billion or $40 billion off the table, we still have an artificial market. inflate everything, who knows when it's going to end, but i'm going to go along with the ride with 8% to 10% this year.

>> dance while the music is playing. gerard, do you agree this is an inflated market? >> i think it is somewhat inflated. i think if you look at where the market would be in the absence of the fed, quantitative easing would be much lower. you have a very supportive fed. we have had fantastic equity returns and you still got treasury yields at 2.9% right now. we'd expect that they go up to 3.4%. so a slight increase consistent with a stronger economy but not a dramatic increase in treasuries. why? it's because the fed wants those interest rates down lower. they're likely to be supportive and they'll manage taper carefully making sure that the economy is strong, interest rates are low, mortgage accessibility is strong and the housing is strong. i expect treasury yields just modestly higher. >> rick, you have been saving it up for a few days. what do you make of the rally we've been having in equities and the fact the long yields are still holding steady here? >> i found it a bit gratifying that at least, you know, the

equity market seemed to have paid a bit of attention to important data points. you know, we didn't have a terrific day on monday and that was after a very not terrific employment report, but retail sales wasn't bad. we had some data today, empire, not a lot may be made in gotham, but it still was pretty decent. inflation picked up a bit and that isn't a horrible thing as well. if there wasn't the balance sheet issues, if there wasn't the training wheels issue and we just looked at things on the surface and blurred our eyes, things don't look bad. i'm dealing in the world and dealing with the cards that were dealt. if you look at an intraday, fives, tens, and 30s, you learn everything you need to know. 5-years are still a bit elevated. the flattening i think is important. the markets are saying based on some of the data the fed is a bit behind the curve. that makes sense. you look at the hyg, the etf for the high yield market, and it's basically at the highest levels since the end of october.

so the whole risk on, everything is moving along. we're just going to have to wait and see how it plays out as we continue to reconcile the economy with stocks, with interest rates. >> keith, i understand the point about this being all just the fed's hand in the market, but you have to acknowledge there are some important -- some transformational developments right now going on in the u.s. economy. i mean, we've got an oil deficit that's fallen considerable in real terms just in the last couple years. we have a current account deficit that has collapsed. there's going to be a lot of upward sort of secular pressure on manufacturing in this country, on some of the related industries that are supporting all this. you can tell a story about strength that's going well beyond what the fed is doing? >> yeah. now you're getting into my ballpark because one of the things people have forgotten about in this entire mess is the chips may be down, but you don't bet against america. we've got clever, resilient people here. we have a brilliant manufacturing base, and we've got a tremendous technology

insight. so all of those sectors, particularly when you get to medical tech and high-tech and protective tech are going to be very, very good if the capital stays available. there's an underlying current here that really is actually very exciting and very appealing not just one year out but three, four, five years out. >> weren't you just saying this was all inflated and you have to grab on and hold on for dear life? >> no, no, no, no. you go along for the ride. the situation is such you want to pick the best companies. that never goes out of style. if you have good management, good products, and real services selling into global markets, that's never a bad bet. the question is whether the fed is inflating the overall markets because those companies are not only defensible but they are things you can use to get ahead when the markets really do recover in earnest. >> never enough time but thank you for your thoughts on this, another rally day in the markets. >> investors will get another reading when railroad giant csx reports earnings after the bell.

morgan brennan joins us with a preview. >> thanks, kelly. the street is looking for earnings of 43 cents for csx, looking for quarterly revenue of $3 billion. that would be up about 4% over a year ago levels. overall for the entire year looking for the entire year looking at slightly higher earnings than 2012. now, we've seen csx top estimates in each of the first three quarters of 2013, but the company did caution that q4 could be, quote, more challenging. so a few things to keep in mind. first, intermodal expected to be a bright spot in earnings. intermodal growth for rail traffic hit record highs last year, especially in eastern markets where csx has been benefiting. that segment offsetting years' long decline in coal volumes. that's weighed on csx. several analysts telling me that decline may be flattening out. other factors to consider, a banner crop year could bode well and, of course, the energy boom.

which has meant crude by rail but also more transport of materials like fracking sand. and don't forget, csx ceo michael ward will be on "the closing bell" at 4:00 to discuss the numbers. back to you, kelly. >> all right. thanks very much, morgan. he certainly will, bill. >> yes, he will. we look forward to that. we'll have the numbers for you as soon as they come out. now, look at the market. rally day. this feels very much like 2013 again. >> all over again. >> here we go. they bought the dip that was created on monday and haven't looked back so far. the dow very close to the highs of the day. we're up about 130. we're up 125 right now with 50 minutes left. walmart may be beating amazon on one important front and that's staying free of unions. amazon employees are holding union collection electielection. who better to spoke to the vote than afl-cio president richard trumka. that's coming up next.

also, seaworld stock has been down roughly 20% since the controversial documentary "blackfish" was released in july. coming up ceo jim acheson will lay out his strategy for countering this pr nightmare. also ahead -- ♪ >> can you tell who is who? >> i was going to say, it took me a second actually. jimmy fallon and bruce springsteen lampooning chris christie's bridge scandal. we want to know what impact you think that parody could have on prolonging bridgegate or does it seem less serious? your best tweets on this subject coming up. keep it right here. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. [ male announcer ] this is betsy.

her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪ and shift through all eight speeds of a transmission connected to more standard horsepower than its german competitors. and that is the moment that driving the lexus gs will shift your perception.

this is the pursuit of perfection.

bulldog: out with the old out with the old and in with the new! mattress discounters' year end clearance sale ends monday! puppy: what's this red tag mean? bulldog: through monday, save up to 40% on clearance mattresses. puppy: oh, here's another. bulldog: that means up to $300 off serta, posturepedic, even tempur-pedic. puppy: i found another red tag! bulldog: what! where? puppy: right here, silly. ha-ha-ha! bulldog: tickles! mattress discounters' year end clearance sale ends monday. ♪ mattress discounters there's a group of employees at amazon that are trying to do something that employees at walmart have been unable to do, and that is unionize. >> jon fortt, what's going on

here? it's only 30 people right now, but how important to the company potentially? >> well, kelly, it is very important i would say. mainly because of what's to come. i was able to speak to a spokesman from the machinist union this morning. he made it pretty clear, this is just a first step. if they win here, they're going to look at other workers in that delaware facility to organize, other workers elsewhere beyond that also. this is all happening with amazon growing really at breakneck speed. amazon's full and part-time workforce more than quadrupled from 2008 to the beginning of last year. if amazon's moving into areas like grocery, well, that's an industry that tends historically to be pretty union heavy. take a look at safeway, a major grocery chain based in california. it says about 80% of its employees are unionized. you can contrast that with costco which has only 10% of its workforce unionized. costco tends to cover no-- theye

flexibility to change things on the fly. amazon tells me i should check in with them in a little less than four hours to see if we've got a final tally on that vote. they also say their warehouse workers make 30% more than typical retail plus benefits. we'll see if that helps them get their way in this case, kelly. >> such an important one. amazon shares under pressure today. we have reaction to that and a lot more with richard trumka, the president of the afl-cio. he's speaking at the united nations today as well. joins us here at post nine. welcome. >> good to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> we'll get to the u.n. but let's talk about the state of workers in this country first. amazon potentially seeing some of its employees unionize. what role, if any, are you guys playing in that? >> we support all of our affiliates when they're trying to organize workers. this is an indication that workers in every sector, whether it's the new sector, the old sector, blue collar, white collar, pink collar, no collar really do need representation

and they want a union at their workplace. in this instance, a lot of it is about rules they do. they jerk people around for vacation, don't let people have adequate vacation. they don't give them the adequate respect they deserve and so they wanted a union, hopefully we'll get it for them, and it will be the beginning of organizing amazon so we can make it a stronger, better company. >> i was going to ask you what you could offer that amazon can't? i'll read the full statement, it's not long, from amazon. in addition to the highly competitive wages, comprehensive benefits on day one, bonuses, stock awards. we offer innovative benefits such as career choice program. we prepay 95% of tuition fees so associates with pursue their aspirations whether they're at amazon or elsewhere. so what are you going to do if they end up use -- unionizing? >> let me give you this example of what a union does. my son when he was 3 years old

came to me and said, dad, i want a quad, one of those recreation vehicles. i said no. what was my son's recourse? not much. he had no power. my wife comes to me and says i want to buy a new car. i say, let's sit down and talk about this. of course, we end up getting a new car because we're a relatively equal bargaining power. what a union does is it gives worsee a strong voice and lets them approach the table with relative equal strength to their employer. without one, you're like the 3-year-old with no leverage. >> you're quite right, your son has no recourse because he's your son, but an amazon employee has a recourse, they can find another job. >> oh, come on. >> i'm just saying. >> that's one of the most nonsensical arguments i have ever seen. you have a bad job, an employer is bad, doesn't give you good conditions. instead of trying to make them better and help your fellow employees, you should leave? we've heard that for centuries. it doesn't work. what you should do is try to make the job better so every

employee has some respect and dignity and everybody has a chance to get ahead. all the nice verbiage that amazon says there doesn't fly when it comes down to application to those employees and they will tell that you. >> there's typically a business cycle aspect to the success people have at organizing a union. i wonder if the movement here with regard to raising some minimum wage and other states and other parts of the country doesn't tell us perhaps labor market is improving enough that workers feel confident, more confident today than in recent years certainly about organizing, about agitating for what they would like to see in terms of improved conditions. >> there's no time when a workers organize. sometimes it's easier, but that he organize in good times and bad times. when it's good times, employers say what do you need a union for, i'll give you everything you want. in the bad times they say i'm taking it away from you. so they organize at both times. is the market getting a little better? well, we're 7% unemployment. unemployment -- insurance hasn't been extended.

we just dropped 1.5 million people off the rolls. they got no buying power, no job. so it's not getting better for them. it's not getting better for most americans. we're at 7% now, and that's higher than it was in the peak of the 2001 recession. so it's toufgh for workers to sy it's getting better when we're still seven years later, we're still above where we were at the peak of the someone recess. >> your feel something that democrats need to play the populist card, if you will, right? that's what's going to resonate with those workers who are feeling this income inequality that we hear about in our economy today. >> well, what they need to do is create jobs. they need to invest in infrastructure. look, our country has fallen apart. >> and this is what you were talking about at the u.n. today, correct? >> absolutely. and i made one important point when you want to compare where we are and what happens. i went to china a few weeks ago,

all right? china and the u.s. both decided a few years ago that they would have -- invest in high-speed rail. in 2007 we start our austerity program, we have not one mile of high-speed rail. china right now has high-speed rail that delivers more passengers than our entire domestic airline industry. they invested, we didn't. they're getting more competitive, we aren't. the society of civil engineers gives us a d-plus. it's a drag on the economy. it hurts us. so what they should be doing is investing in our country, creating jobs in the process, and we can take on -- >> who? american -- who is they? >> everybody. the government especially, business, everybody needs to invest in the future and the nonsense we can't afford it. what we can't afford is austerity. when you don't invest in your country, you fall behind. >> before we go, we're running out of time but i must ask you

about the rollout of obamacare and it's impact on those workers who would be unionized by affiliates of afl-cio. you're not pleased with the rollout so far. >> there's been mistakes made and whenever i say mistakes made, i say all of us because i think we've all made mistakes. yeah, we need to do things better. look, when we first started social security, it wasn't perfect. when we first started medicare, it wasn't perfect. all i know is this -- our health system was not working for americans. millions and millions and millions of americans didn't have health care. they'll now get a shot at it. does that mean that obamacare was the last step? no. it means it was the first step. now we have to work to improve the areas that have shown that they're bad, that they don't work, that they need changing, they need a sharper edge put on them and we'll work with them to do that because we believe every american should have health care and the old system didn't work. >> mr. trumka, good to see you. thank you for stopping by the

new york stock exchange. richard trumka joining us. the dow was up more than 100 points, now about 96. still a strong ral yea fly for day. >> inevitably we ask, is this two-day rally for real or is there still danger we could be in for a sell-off of some kind? jim cramer will be joining us plus his new book "get rich carefully, "reque" a must-read individual investor. bank stocks leading the rally after bank of america's better than expected earnings this morning. one of the topba bank analysts the street tells us which banks you should be betting on. you don't want to miss it. we'll be right back. she loves a lot of the same things you do.

it's what you love about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow.

cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial.

welcome back. back of america reporting better than expected results this morning. joining wells fargo and jpmorgan on the list of big banks so far beating the street this earnings eason. >> tomorrow we'll get results from citi, then goldman sachs, blackrock reports on friday. we'll hear from morgan stanley and bny mellon so it just keeps rolling out this week. can the earnings strength continue and which banks are the best buys for investors right now? we asked anton schutz, one of the top banking analysts on wall street. welcome back.

>> always a pleasure to be here. >> what has struck you about the reports we've gotten so far? >> i think the real big win is costs are coming down both human costs, credit costs, occupation costs in an environment where there's not a lot of economic growth. these companies are really making hay with what they have. >> even a name like wells which there are analysts who suggested to us yesterday who said they would have liked to see them do more on the cost front. >> i think wells have more room. i think the fact mortgages dropped so precipitously, there's more catch-up to getting the costs aligned. it's not been the revenue. if we have a robust economy, there's really a lot of upside to these names. higher interest rates could help a lot. higher short-term rates in particular. it would help a lot of the lending side. and certainly more robust economy would continue to help the ipo pipeline. >> why haven't we seen that do you think at this point, the rate rise that would be expected with the fed talking about tapering at this point? >> it would, but we've had such

a tremendous fiscal drag. i mean, we've been impacted at least 1% on gdp last year simply from the fiscal drag. i think the fed is the only game in town. we'd love to get congress to do something. we all know the answer to what's going to happen, they're not going to do anything. it's really janet yellin continuing the trajectory. >> it was interesting with bank of america because they managed to post better net interest margins. they had decent improvement in noninterest income. is it partly because bank of america had an easier period given its weakness in the past so everything kind of looked better for them? because they're still not generating earnings the way jpm and wells are. in other words, to boil it down, who do you like here? >> i like citi. so citi's numbers will be interesting tomorrow. i like bank of america. we do own it. those two, both bank of america and citi, had the most room to improve. they still really have the big cost story. citi has a lot of costs to cut, a lot of credit problems to continue to eat at citi holdings and we saw some good numbers at

jpmorgan on some of that bad credit. >> anybody you're worried about? >> i'm not worried about anybody. i think, you know, some of my funds are long short, really hard to short in this market, hard to short last year. >> real quick because there was an improvement in the investment banking side, is that a read through to goldman? goldman in particular rallying today. what do you think we should be looking for? >> i think the quality of earnings go up. we will be looking for comp ratios, looking how much did lending contribute? last quarter it contributed a lot. people didn't like that. i think the pipeline is really robust for all of them. >> good to see you, anton. and it's not your imagination, you are seeing various fish move by behind us here. >> sparkling fish. >> it's because of the ceo of seaworld entertainment ringing the closing bell today and he will join us in a little while but in the meantime, they're setting the mood, the atmosphere, on the floor of the

new york stock exchange. >> it certainly is more festive than on monday as the dow adds 107 points. we have a half hour left before the closing bell. seaworld stock is sielling sinc that controversial documentary debuted. jim acheson will tell us how he plans to turn the stock around. >> former congressman ron paul is with us today. he says bitcoin could make the dollar irrelevant. you should see what anton schutz just did with that. we'll ask him about the latest revelations that the nsa has placed software on computers around the world allowing it to spy on users. ron paul not happy about this. you do not want to miss this interview coming up on "the closing bell." stay tuned. [ male announcer ] this is the story of the little room over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95.

♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.

welcome back. take a look across the indexes. some big moves today and our dom chu tracking all of them today. who are some of the big movers today? >> let's start off with comcast which is the parent company of nbc universal which owns this network cnbc. morgan stanley's upgrading the stock to an overweight from an

equal weight rating. the company is announcing it will build the $1.2 million tech innovation center in philadelphia which will be the tallest building outside of new york and chicago. meadwest meadwes meadwestvaco, cost cutting efforts is expected to save $125 million in that range. netflix falling. analysts say the company could be hurt by the federal appeals court ruling that struck down the federal trade commission's rules on delivering net content. and we'll end on a delicious piece of moving data today and that's hersheys. the company is going to go head to head with nutella after announcing it will introduce its own line of chocolate spreads and hazelnut flavored chocolate spreads will be one of the offering. >> taking on nutella. wow.

thanks, dom. >> thank you very much. seawor seaworld entertainment is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. the company has seen a rough patch ever since a documentary called "blackfish" was released last year. it raised concerns about the treatment at seaworld venues of killer whales in captivity. >> despite that, the company expecting record revenues on strong attendance for the last fiscal year reiterating that this week. joining us is seaworld's ceo jim atchison. welcome. >> great. thanks for having me here. >> so such a difficult period for your company. your shares are down since this "blackfish" documentary which has almost gone viral. i can't tell you how many people have come up to me, friends, families, have you seen this? you have to watch this. i don't know if i can ever go to seaworld again. so even though you dispute the way that the animals are treated in these parks, you do recognize this is a massive pr problem for your company, is it not? >> no. i'll say with respect to the film, we take great exception with the film. we're very proud of the work we

do and the care we provide for your animals. we're celebrating our 50th anniversary of the brand. we've been at this quite a long time. the film we see is really an animal activist's agenda behind the film. we take great exception with it and couldn't disagree more with the premise of the film. >> we get that, but off pr problem on your hands. willie nelson and other entertainers have canceled their concerts at various venues of seaworld because of this. southwest airlines, a partner since 1988, is already making these noises they're watching carefully, listening to what's going on. it's possible they could cancel this partnership with you at some point. what do you do to counster that problem you have? >> it's unfortunate that the activist community is targeting some of these sponsors and talent and people with whom we're conducting business. you know, that's troubling to us and it's unfortunate, but what we're trying to do is talk to our partners, talk to those with whom we affiliate with our business and assure them that

the company and the brand they've known for a long time. so in that respect the sponsorships that we've had for a long time, these are people who have been to our parks, know us, have known us for a long time. i'm sure there's not any ceo around who wants to deal with pressures from petitions and that nature, but it doesn't change what we do. having said that, you know, we sent out the release a couple weeks ago. we've racked up a record year for the company. we have millions and millions of visitors in our park. our fourth quarter attendance was a record for the seaworld branded park. despite some of the chatter and noise and some of this pr, it's not reflectsed in our performance or the demand for our parks. >> that's what i was going to ask. you have come out and said when -- you're still on track to achieve record revenue for the year for 2013. you did actually have some attendance issues anyway for the year being down relative to 2012 but those were looking better in august and september. this quarter when you report in march will fully capture this period around the timing of the

cnn airing of this documentary in october through the end of the year. are you saying that attendance has since turned positive? >> yeah. what i'm saying is the attendance for our seaworld branded parks in the fourth quarter was a record for us. so, look, you know, the film has been out for a year, premiered at the sundance film festival when cnn prmp epurchased it and theatrical release. the fourth quarter arguably reflects the greatest intensity of coverage we could have had and it hasn't affected our business. doesn't mean we like it, doesn't mean we don't take exception, but it's not affecting our business. >> i get that and we get you're in a very difficult position. you've got to move on. you have to continue to run this business. but i'm not sure that the answer to the pr problem that you have when people hear seaworld, they think of "blackfish" now and your response seems to be, well, business is good. is that the response? >> no, no.

business is good. as we sit here in the new york stock exchange, i want to make sure that's clear for the investment community who follows the show. to those who are kind of attacking the reputation of our company, we point to our 50 years as really the pre-eminent caregiver for these animals. we have one of the largest animal collections in the world. last year we rescued -- we got to 23,000 animals we recued and rehabilitated. the science we do is tremendous. go to seaworldcares.com. you can see testimonials, videos from other former trainers, things we do that give a fuller picture of the assertions made in the movie. >> real quick, tomorrow morning the oscar nominations are going to be announced in california 5:30 a.m. pacific time. "blackfish" could be documenomi in the documentary category. >> i don't think it makes a

difference. the film has been well followed. we've down our bedone our best communicate the truth. whether it gets to a nomination, ooirl defer to the voters in the academy that shepherd that along. >> for the record, your position is you do not mistreat the killer whales. >> not at all. i started with our company as a teenager. i have lived personally much of the history of what we're talking about within this company and there's -- i have not one bit of hesitation or doubt about the care we give for our animals. it's exemplary. >> mr. atchison, good to see you. let you get up there and ring the bell. >> thank you so much. bye-bye. >> you can stay right there for a second as we head to commercial because we are heading toward the close. about 20 minutes left and we're holding steady here. art kishen wcashin was saying t buy/sell market not having an impact but the dow up 120 points. >> you wouldn't be surprised by

this rally if you listened to jim cramer. he's coming up next. plus we'll ask our friend and colleague about his new book "get rich carefully." and then it's big wheels that are turning at csx. they're out with earnings coming up at the top and ceo will take talk to the ceo michael ward on this issue coming up. ' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ [ male announcer ] the beautifully practical and practically beautiful cadillac srx. lease this 2014 cadillac srx for around $319 a month with premium care maintenance included. ♪ you stand behind what you say. there's a saying around here, and then it's big wheels you make commitments.

and when you can't live up to them, you own up, and make it right. some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where it's needed most. but i know you'll still find it when you know where to look. (voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro.

afghanistan, in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

rally day on wall street. the major average on the dow and s&p close to all-time highs once again. we're pretty close now obviously to being positive for the year after a rough start. >> that's right. who better to make sense of the swings we're seeing this week up and down than our own jim cramer. author of a great book called "get rich carefully." welcome. >> welcome back, buddy. congratulations on the book. >> can we start with bank of america? what is that stock up, 10%? >> if you're jamie dimon don't you have to sit back and think how did they beat me? this was a better quarter. i think this is one of the things that happened in 2014. the ones that aren't supposed to

really be killing it do. bank of america had great net interest margin, kelly. i know you know the banks very well. there are certain lines you really want to see. it's not the mortgage line. that's a commodity business. but what it is is how much money they make off your deposits and the scenario where the deposits are growing and the expenses are coming down, you have a nirvana quarter. this was a nirvana quarter. >> geez. >> let me ask you the big picture question here. we had such a rough start to the year but now the last couple days a rally reminiscent of 2013. which one is right? what are you expecting here as we go into 2014? >> i do think, bill, that the sell-off was uniquely connected to how much the market had run up and it's worries about retail and retailing which is perfectly normal to have after you have the big holiday season. but the rest of the market is pretty darn good. look at the semiconductors. the philly conductor index is breaking out. i can't recall the last time

that group was a leader. and that's very meaningful, too. >> helps the nasdaq, intel. what do you think of intel right now? >> i'm in shock. i was getting nervous because every day it's got more and more -- today was bmo recommending. on fast they had the analyst from jpmorgan who i thought had some sort of personal hate thing going with intel upgrading the stock. the stock is getting love but then again, those of us who rather it during the heyday, it still could go up a great deal. >> to talk a little bit about what's happening in the economy and how you trade a name like caterpillar, which is doing well today, is this no longer a commodity china story and more of a commercial real estate in the u.s. story? >> exactly. it's a caterpillar inventory story. when i saw the inventory dealer surveys, every time you get the survey, just kind of throw it away because it says there's just too many machines. that has been the kind of like -- it's a central casting release, too many machines.

suddenly it looks like inventories are lower. the one thing that no one who has been a bear on cat ever thought could happen is that the american side of the equation could actually lead the business. we're so used to china and chinese mining and how screwed up cat pill serpillar is in chi. but what happens if the united states get better? the rally is unique about the idea that commercial and residential could be doing well. not something you necessarily got from bank of america's call but it does seem to be the case for a lot of other banks. >> not to give away the ending of the book, but how do you get rich carefully? >> well, you know, getting rich carefully is about, look, i can say this about watching our shows, but it's about the idea of take out the noise. stop worrying about the day to day. you're not going to beat the guys anymore. it's the rise of the machines. they'll just drive you crazy. day to day you have to forget that risk on stuff. forget it. don't even worry about a given session.

don't even worry about a given week. try to find stocks you believe in with ceos you believe in and own their stocks and when you get these extraneous downturns, be a buyer, not a seller. stop buying high and selling low because you don't fear and you don't trust the actual -- because you fear and you don't trust the actual process of stocks. bill, you have been around. you have been here for -- has there ever been a period in your career where people have more contempt for the process of stocks? that's what i'm trying to get at. >> i get it. you have to look past all of the day-to-day nonsense and movement and things and really pick up a portfolio that's going to work for you and stick with it, right? >> yes. it's got to be tailored for you. you have to like it. you have to say, wait a second, when intel goes down, i like that yield, i believe in that new management, they seem to have religion, they know they missed cell phones. maybe they'll get it together or apple. apple was at $530 on monday and everybody hated it again. you can't have the bipolar

swing. this is medicine for the bipolar nature of so many investors who are shaking out constantly. >> i agree. wise words from the wise man himself. jim, good luck with the book. it's going to do well. >> thank you. >> tune into "mad money" at 6:00 p.m. eastern. jim cramer will be joined by incoming en link ceo barry davis. >> we have ten minutes left to go before the close. 108 points higher on the dow. it looks as though the s&p is sitting pretty much at level that is would bring us flat for the year despite the tough start we've had. president obama readying reforms later this week for the nsa, but some internet users are not waiting. the search engine duck duck go which guarantees privacy, they guarantee privacy, they have seen an explosion in usage since word of how invasive our government is getting on its own citizens. we'll talk to duck duck go's ceo coming up. say that ten times. stay tuned.

in today's market, a lot can happen in a second. with fidelity's guaranteed one-second trade execution, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price, maybe even better than you expected. it's all part of our goal to execute your trade in one second. i'm derrick chan of fidelity investments. our one-second trade execution is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. there's a new form of innovation taking shape.

at a company that's bringing media and technology together. next is every second of nbcuniversal's coverage 0f the 2014 olympic winter games. it's connecting over one million low-income americans to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment

in ways you never thought possible. welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. welcome back. about eight minutes left in the trading session here and the rally continues. just coming a little off the highs here, but we're almost positive for the year now for the major averages. let's see, yeah, the nasdaq is

still the best performer to the upside today so it's about a 13-year high for that right now and the dow is up 111 points. joining me is steven reese from jpmorgan private bank. i will just ask you, what's this rally about the last couple days here do you think? >> i think the recent economic news that we received has been quite positive. as we look out throughout the course of the year, we're still very constructive on u.s. equities. last year was much more about multiples moving higher. i think this year it will be con fourped in better earnings. >> you think earnings will justify the price increases we saw last year. >> i do. so far, so good. we've been pretty impressed with what we heard from some of the financials. i think as you move throughout the year you will get an earnings growth probably somewhere between 7%, maybe 8% which we think will drive the bulk of the equity market return. >> even with tapering coming? the thing that moved this market higher the last few years was all the easy money. >> yeah. >> now they're going to begin the process of removing that. wouldn't it make sense that the market would want to come back

some degree? >> well, i think it's always prudent to expect small pullbacks in the market, but i think the tapering is something we've been talking about for a long time. it is happening, and i think it's important to point out that it's happening for the right reasons, right? the economy is improving. corporations have record amounts of cash. earnings we expect to pick up. i think all these things will contribute to deposit performance. >> you mentioned the financials. they've done well. where do you see growth you want to invest in? >> i think picking sectors is critical this year. you have to be more selective. we have a bias towards cyclical sectors. financials is a big call. we see a lot of opportunity in the technology sector. we'll look for signs throughout earning season that corporate spending is bottoming out, particularly in things like the pc channel and traditional technology spending. >> health care has been on fire. >> we've been there for the last two years and we still like it. it's the one defensive sector where you can get yields at a reasonable valuation.

i like the exposure to aging demographi demographics. there's a lot of exciting drugs in the pipeline that aren't reflected in many of the companies' valuations. >> always great to see you. we'll take a break and come back with the closing countdown for another rally day with the dow up 110 points and after the bell, we'll be riding the rails with csx ceo michael ward. find out if the company's earnings can take this hot stock to new highs. that will be coming up in just a little bit. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide.

before you settle for another ordinary mattress, isn't it time you discovered the sleep number bed? the only bed clinically proven to relieve back pain and improve sleep quality. and right now, it's our lowest prices of the season. save $300 to $800 on our newest innovations. plus, 18-month special financing on all sleep number beds. only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.99. sleep number. comfort individualized. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

of the dusty basement at 1406 35th street the old dining table at 25th and hoffman. ...and the little room above the strip mall off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ tires screech ] chewley's finds itself in a sticky situation today after recalling its new gum. [ male announcer ] stick it to the market before you get stuck. get the most extensive charting wherever you are with the mobile trader app

from td ameritrade. two minutes to the close. here we go again. second day running of this rally on wall street. the dow up 102 on the close. we were up 130 at the high for the session. one of the stars of the day was bank of america with their earnings out this morning. knocked it out of the park. up 2.25% today. as jim cramer said, this has to be giving jamie dimon a little stock envy right now wondering what bank of america did that they could have done better in the fourth quarter last year, but that stock is doing very well today. the one we're keeping an eye on now, csx will be announcing earnings at the top of the hour. they're expecting a profit of 43 cents on revenue of $3.01 billion. crazy day here, and it's up a% right now. kelly will be talking to ceo michael ward in a few minutes

here. bob pisani, here we goes again. it feels like 2013 again. >> that's a very good point. what happens in 2013 was a series of shallow pullbacks. we've seen it again. all throughout 2013, the best we got, 1% pullback, 5% at the very most and the market rallied. this year we had a 1% pullback. we closed at historic highs on december 31st. we dropped 1% down. everybody said what happened to the stock market? now essentially we're back. we're a half a point away from closing at a historic high on the s&p but the midcap index historic high close. the russell, historic high. the transports, historic high. now the dow. and the s&p is essentially flat. we're at historic highs. >> it also feels like 2013 because there's a lot of skepticism about the rally. i have traders coming up says what's this about? >> it's the best friend the market has. we look for a little more volatility. the s&p, the vix is now sitting at 12, even dropped below 12. it's the lowest level since august. people are notpanicking.

beaten up groups, metal stocks, telecom stocks all were among the rallies. >> thank you, bob. see you later. stay tuned. csx announcing earnings momentarily. kelly talks to the ceo michael ward and ron paul on bitcoin coming up on the second hour of "the closing bell." see you tomorrow, kelly. >> and thank you, bill. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans. at this hour the rally is back on after a rough start to the year. take a look at how we're finishing the day on wall street because it's been another strong one. the dow adding 109 points. the nasdaq a strong performance as well. the s&p adding 9 points. after today and after yesterday, we're pretty much flat for the year despite a rough start so let's get straight to it with today's panel. i'm joined by our very own eamon javers. dani hughes, steve liesman and nathan backrack from the financial network group.

welcome to all of you. nathan, what do you make of the market? >> it told us today some things we've always known. when financials do well, the rest of the market does well. i have to tell you this whole thing, steve may feel differently, we manufactured this thing on friday when we got the jobs number and there was only 74,000 jobs. there was also 270,000 people who said they couldn't get to work because of the weather. that's double what it used to be. >> you mean what happened was we manufactured the sell-off friday and monday and then everyone realized maybe it was just the weather and everything is really okay after all. >> and we're so proud of yourse ourselves on wall street because if you take half of those people and add it to the 74,000, you have 210,000 who have jobs. everything is doing fine. financials are showing they can throw away all the mortgage officers and still make money and that is a big thing. >> dani, what do you think? >> we still need a catalyst for forward growth, so we're going to see an awful lot of back and

forth. volatility is good, particularly for the brokers like myself. so i like to see this up and down and craziness and people pulling their hair out. the fact is we really want to see that growth catalyst going forward. we're going to see it in m&a i think because, you know, big companies have huge balance sheets. for them to get growth, it's not going to be organic. it's going to be by buying other companies. >> do you think this is a market in search of a catalyst to move higher? is that what you're saying? >> it will be. >> people are waiting to pounce? >> it will be going forward. as i said before, kelly, i really think that first quarter earnings, so this is a little further in the distance, that's really going to be where we're going to see what our mettle is. >> we're getting some of that. that's what nathan was saying. we talk about the financials. steve, bank of america, granted they're coming off a tougher year relative to some of the others, but the big banks, jpmorgan, wells, bank of america are telling you a story that's more consist weent with an improving economy. >> not as consistent as it

should be. i was interesting in the lack of lending on the part of jpmorgan. as a economics reporter, that troubles me. as an investor it gives me scope for optimism in the following way. there's a lot more profit, i would think, in the bank actually lending money and taking advantage of what should be a huge net interest margin gap than there is in whatever else they're doing with their money right now. the idea that they're stoked for further profitability through the old get your hands dirty business of lending money makes me relatively optimistic about that. >> there's just that much demand there. >> sorry? >> is it sort of a where's the demand story? >> i think there's going to be a demand story, a regulatory story in there, and i think there's going to be a story about confidence, and confidence in the economy on the part of those borrowing money and those lending the money. those are the two things that are important i think. >> eamon? >> we saw the president of the united states down in north carolina today, and it makes me wonder, he's talking manufacturing and how the federal government can help stimulate manufacturing job growth, but you wonder coming off this lousy jobs report whether or not we've entered into a phase of this recovery

where we're seeing output really increasing but jobs are not there in manufacturing in particular, and you wonder what the federal government can actually do to really do something about that. are their hands tied at this point? have they done every stimulative thing they can do and noup we're in a face where it's going to be anemic jobs growth in manufacturing. >> but how lousy is it? if we look at that report and we go there were some skewed factors, a lot of other parts of the economy have been doing better lately, moving in the right direction. so eamon, i guess the question remains, still how much of this needs and should come from washington? how much of it is going to happen organically? >> i can tell you what the pl president feels. the political pressure is he has to do something. because every week boehner goes out and says the american people are saying where are the jobs? that's the pressure on the president. he ultimately gets the blame or credit. my view has always been presidents don't really have all that much to do with the jobs

market. there's no magic dial in the oval office -- >> or they would have discovered it. >> if we get infrastructure going, that would move jobs and that would add something different to the economy. i think that's the one thing that's missing and we have $2 trillion worth of projects to do. right now if we don't do infrastructure in five years tractor trailers will be moving as fast as they were before eisenhower -- >> you sound like richard trumka. >> i don't know who -- >> head of the afl-cio. he outlined every reason why the infrastructure in in country is a shame, it's in shambles and china is doing it all right. >> kelly, you were with me at the american economic association meeting when larry summers said the following. he said with interest rates at 3% and unemployment at 7%, if it's not the time to upgrade and reconstruct kennedy airport, then when will it ever be. >> that's right. >> but it makes you want to go back to the president's stimulus back in the beginning of the term in 2009. it's so controversial.

billions of dollars. it was supposed to be all shovel-ready programs that were going to be creating this infrastructure boom in this country. where did that money actually go? we have a detailed accounting of it -- >> it went out to the economy. the notion it had no effect i think is right only to the extent it did not have a lasting effect but we very quickly began to peel off that federal spending. we had the greatest turnaround in gdp from negative to flat that we've ever had in this country before. >> a lot of that money went to states for state spending but we don't see a lot of big bridges that say stimulus 2009 on them. >> i'll give you we need a shovel but i'm not sure it's for the projects that were ready. i think it's for what was getting spewed out of washington. we have bridges around -- you can't get over the i-75 bridge from ohio to kentucky -- >> the eamon's point that that stimulus program undermined the confidence of the public in such stimulus programs is well taken and very important. >> hold that thought for a second. tim seymour is going to join us

now with some thoughts as well on this market. tim, we did, i believe, close at a new record high for the s&p 500. i guess that's -- if it's a record, it's a record. anyway, look, what's going on here? >> we'll take it. >> what he was drivi >> what's driving the markets? >> at the risk of what we've been talking about, this is ultimately good news. today's beige book also i would focus on and steve probably can speak to this, but seeing wage growth is a very good thing, and you also talked about 7% unemployment with 3% inflation. you know, goldilocks exists but it only exists so long. you're in an environment where if corporate spending, this is where washington will help ease the confidence of corporate america and that's the catalyst for this market. and this is the time to do it because wage growth equals inflation growth. be careful what you wish for but right now i like what we saw today. i think people overreacted to -- >> when you see stuff like the minimum wage movements across the country, when you see the

amazon workers potentially unionizing, you have to admit that's all part of the same story, isn't it? >> it's a complicated story. we know that a lot of people need to make more money in this country. in fact, we're going to talk about that on "fast money" with an analyst who has been very outspoken about this, but ultimately wage growth if you see consumer spending levels and consumer savings levels, they're moving in the direction you want to see for this economy. the world bank upgraded the global economy today saying it's the first time we've seen synchronized growth since the crisis. >> we don't need to be so complicated about this. growth in the second half of the year was 3.7%. there are tens and hundreds of dls billions of extra dollars out there. the idea that the market -- the market should not be surprised if it'smacrodata. >> wage growth is a contradiction in terms.

we wonder why it is people distrust wall street. you can't get the economy moving any faster than america can whip out their credit card until i finally say i'm done. >> you don't need the people anymore. we're so efficient that we don't need all of these workers anymore. and, unfortunately, that's really the story. >> andrew -- >> while we have this liquidity, while we have this liquidity and we can do all these things, now is the time. because as the government pulls out, as the fed pulls the plug on this, liquidity is just not going to be there. >> and we saw a glimpse of that. steve? >> there's a great joke out there that the factory of the future will have a man and a dog in it. the man is there to feed the dog and the dog is there to make sure the man doesn't touch anything. so it is -- >> that's devastating. to the middle class. it's devastating to america. you wonder how you can have a society based on a job market that looks like that. >> tim, final word? any way to trade on that and,

yes, i'm being facetious. >> look at the banks. consumers can actually make money investing and saving. we need to do that in this country. it's going to be painful but for the market in the second half, it's going to be powerful. in the second quarter, not so good. >> catch more of tim on "fast money" at 5:00 and that conversation will continue. we've got some breaking news now on jcpenney. dominic chu, what can you tell us? >> kelly, here is what we got. we got jcpenney shares on the move about 2% right now jumping up or down in the afterhours session here. jcpenney has announced as part of its turnaround efforts, the company will be closing 33 underperforming stores across the country to focus its resources on the highest potential growth opportunities. these actions are expected to result in annual cost savings of approximately $65 million beginning this year, 2014. remaining inventory in all these stores will be sold over the next several months.

the result of the closings will result in the elimination of about 2,000 jobs. so 2,000 jobs will be cut at jcpenney. ceo mike ullman saying in the statement, as we continue to progress toward long-term profitable growth, it's necessary to re-examine the financial performance of our store portfolio and adjust or national footprint. they're trying to get the turn around in place. they're cutting jobs and slashing some stores. those shares at jcpenney up slightly in the afterhours session. back over to you. >> dom, if you would, do you have a sense of where those locations are going to be? which stores are affected here? >> they are not saying right now what those stores or locations are. you have to imagine that if there are certain locations that they're keying on, it's going to be because they really feel as though they need to be out of those particular markets. again, in their statement they haven't exactly said what they are going to be, only that as a result of these cost savings, they're going to see charges of about $26 million in the fourth quarter of this year and $17

million in future periods. so as they take a look at these portfolios of stores and underperformers, we don't exactly know where they're going to be as of yet, but, of course, we'll bring you more details as they become available. >> just want to see if the panel here has any reaction to this news. we saw, for example, the cost of insurance for, say, a sears holdings higher than jcpenney. jcpenney by no means the only retailer challenged in this space but perhaps with a big move like this, you wonder whether verse take it as a net positive or as a sign of kind of how deep the structural challenge goes. >> it's a weakness again, kelly. i really think that in the entire space. sears is not immune. my job as a citizen is to be a shopper, so i shop at all of these stores, and when you go into jcpenney's and i will say sears and to some degree -- >> only in the u.s. would that be the case, by the way. >> exactly. if you're not impressed, if you don't find the deals that impress you and you don't find anything to buy, you're not going to shop there.

i have not had any confidence in jcpenney for many years. it's just not anything to go there for for me as a shopper. so as a citizen and as an investor, it's just not a store i'd be interested in. >> you land from the hail of macy's. >> yes, i do. >> macy's was extremely aggressive this holiday season. do you think pressure there from kind of the big -- seen as one of the stronger retailers in the space is responsible for this announcement. >> if macy's is laying off 2300, i can't imagine how many will come out in body bags from jcpenney. >> i hope not body bags. >> a reduction in force, i know it sounds a little nicer, but it's not going to be pretty but they're going to have to right size and learn how to mark prices up and discount them so it's not low price every day. it's, oh, wow, i got my macy's card and 15%. they have to go back to blocking and tackling. i think then they'll be fine but they're too big for the footprint they have. >> is it a bigger story of there being oversupply in the retail market? people are shopping and the line

is so blurred. am i shopping at best buy or shopping at best buy.com? i don't know anymore. it's all the same to me. stores more and more, kelly, are warehouses. a place where you're going to go pick up the thing if you don't want to either pay for the shipping. it doesn't need to be in a central location or a mall. it can be out in the industrial area now. >> exactly. >> in a couple years you can go drone hunting. shoot down the google drone and go i got a this or i got a that. >> nothing i buy will ever fit in one of those drone machines. >> jcpenney shares down 1% after the company announcing they will close 33 locations. the s&p and dow are at record highs again. is this necessarily a good thing for your investments? we'll talk that out with wall street's money pros. some would like to see a bit of air let out of the tire before the next leg higher. and later, given his trades against the federal reserve, one would think you would never see

former congressman ron paul talking on a currency. but his face is on a new bitcoin. plus issues he has with his former colleagues about their failure to check government spying. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. before you settle for another ordinary mattress, isn't it time you discovered the sleep number bed? the only bed clinically proven to relieve back pain and improve sleep quality. and right now, it's our lowest prices of the season. save $300 to $800 on our newest innovations.

plus, 18-month special financing on all sleep number beds. only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.99. sleep number. comfort individualized.

welcome back. another rally today powering the s&p 500 to a new all-time closing high, and this despite a rocky start to the month. let's check in now across the exchanges. bob pisani, sheila at the nasdaq and rick santelli at the cme. bob, were people caught flat-footed by this one? >> three things matter, the first one historic highs. midcap historic high, small cap historic high and the transports at a historic high. the second thing that's important is volume picked up dramatically. we will do close to 3.8 billion shares at the new york stock exchange. that's the best in two months. historic high was a big pickup in volume. that's like technical analysis heaven. and with a lot of the beaten up groups, the metal stocks have

been bad, on china, telecom stocks that have been poor performers, all powering ahead. a very strong rally now. remember something, only 1% off of the highs where we were as we came into today. >> and sheila, same question. over at the nasdaq where yesterday was really a standout, today there were some of the bigger names maybe holding things back a little bit, but what are people saying about what's responsible for this sudden change in sentiment? >> yeah. traders tell me, look, there's a lot to like about this rally. there's a lot of market participation. in fact, about 90% of the nasdaq 100 was in the green today. as bob was talking about, volume has been good. the technicals have been good. there is one big point of caution. everybody is acting like earnings season is already done. it's just getting started. we're barely a week into this. at least in tech land the big one is other, intel, it will kick things off. that's going to be a bigger sign of what lies ahead at least at the nasdaq and whether that rick on mentality will surge ahead. >> how much goes back to the individual names that are

reporting and how much is the green light from the macropicture where the ten-year is starting to picture, the dollar looks a little stronger. is that all sustainable? >> we're up one basis point on the day, we're down 15 basis points from where we settled last year at 3.03%. i think that's very telling. if you pay attention to the fixed income markets, you get an october tiff read. the economy has improved, no doubt about it. to the extent its improved and how many quarters it will take to get all the sectors on the same page is undecided and that usually means equities win. we're unchanged on the year now on the s&p. we're still down a bit in the dow. we're up a bit in the nasdaq. if you listen to all the rules of january, it's going to be a decent year for stocks, but probably not the year it was last year, and on interest rates, i'd be surprised if we don't settle up higher on all maturities than we did at the end of last year. >> i think sheila's point on the earnings is well taken. what we need to hear is some comment on what's happening overseas. the corporations have been

saying europe is looking very shaky still. they didn't have a lot of positive things to say. this time a lot of people are anticipating corporations to give guidance that's much better on europe and certainly on japan as well. if they don't do that, i think that's going to be a bit of a problem. >> all right. sheila? >> i want to pick up on the undecided point. there are a lot of hot sectors that drove the nasdaq last year that this year a lot of people are weighing in. biotech a huge winner last year. this year a lot of people questioning valuation. >> bob, sheila, and rick with our exchange wrap around. thanks very much. have a good evening. now, we warrant to talk about csx, the railroad name just out with results. looks like a slight miss on the earnings side, perhaps a match on the revenue line, but shares down after hours. we will be speaking with the ceo of the company. the biggest railroad, in fact, in the eastern u.s. keep it right here. "the closing bell" is back after a quick break. [ male announcer ] we could say a lot

about the most track-tested is ever... but the truth is... we don't have to. the experts have spoken. now it's your move. ♪ now it's your move. (voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style.

(vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. see, i knew testosterone could affect sex drive, but not energy or even my mood. that's when i talked with my doctor. he gave me some blood tests... showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% testosterone gel. the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or signs in a woman, which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are or may become pregnant or are breast-feeding, should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep,

and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. in a clinical study, over 80% of treated men had their t levels restored to normal. talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. get the blood tests. change your number. turn it up. androgel 1.62%. welcome back. take a look at shares of railroad csx. they're down after hours. the railroad operator posting fourth quarter earnings just moments ago. 42 cents a share. that was a penny shy of estimates. r revenue came in at $3 billion. joining me now is michael ward, the ceo of csx. michael, thank you for being here. welcome. >> thank you, kelly. it's great to be here. >> and what can you tell us about the quarter. first of all, a little shy perhaps of what the street was looking for. what can you tell us about the

trends that you saw during the period? >> well, i guess two things. one, we did research in the quarter some to make sure we continue to provide the high level of service to our customers that they expect from us to allow us to grow the revenues. but when i put perspective, we made 42 cents a share. last year we made 44 cents a share. but included in that were 6 cen cents' worth of real estate gains that did not repeat this year. we grew at eps about 10% in the quarter. >> and what about your projections for 2014? what do you hope to achieve on the earnings and revenue side? >> we think there's going to be some -- we'll have some modest growth. we're still facing some of the coal challenges we faced this year. we're down about $300 million in our coal revenue this is year. we expect there will be continued headwinds next year, but we will have positive growth for the year 2014. >> the tougher thing for a

railroad is it's harder to be nimble and adjust to shifting demand patterns, in other words, being on the east, being more exposed to coal as opposed to taking more advantage of the intermodal container shipments happening out west. what do you guys do when you're faced with that kind of environment and how long do you think that will persist, by the way? >> if i look at this quarter, we grew our revenues about 6%overall and that's with coal revenues being down 5%. you mentioned intermodals, we were up 11%. our chemicals business was up 18%. fueled by the strong harvest we were up 16% in our agricultural shipments, and what's really encouraging to me, forced product was up 7% which was being driven by growing strength in the housing market. >> you're one of the biggest railroads in the country. thinking about how you might

have to piece together different pieces geographically, are you convinced an independent future is the right future for csx? do you think there will be any or consolidation or change of ownership in the rail space in the near term? >> no, kelly. i think if we all look at our portfolio businesses, about 83% of our business is not co-related now. it has great growth opportunities. we grew at more than twice the rate of gdp in those markets this year and we will grow faster than gdp again next year. so i think when the railroads look at the portfolio of businesses, we think we can create lots of shareholder value with existing portfolios we have, especially as our service product is the best it's ever been. >> and talk to us just a little bit about some of the risks as we continue to see train derailments related either to the carrying of oil or other fuels or just because the infrastructure in this country is aging. you know, what are you guys doing to make sure that your railroad is safe, that you're avoiding incidents, and that the regulatory picture isn't going to change in a way that hurts

investors in your company? >> well, actually the rail infrastructure in this country is in very good shape. we invest 16% to 17% of our revenues every year in upgrading our infrastructure and it's in excellent condition. we work to continue to be safe. we are a very safe industry but we're constantly working with the various agencies at the department of transportation to improve upon that already excellent safety record, so we really don't have the infrastructure challenges we may see in some of our highways and waterways. >> what about the business structure? we're talking a lot on the program about the extent to which companies, even as demand comes back, starts to grow a little bit, need to hire and expand. what's your workforce look like today? do you see wage pressure at all on the upside? do you expect to expand your workforce or are you still pushing hard on the cost line? >> we will hire this coming year about 2,000 people. a large portion of those are to

replace people that are leaving for various reasons. one of the things we do is a lot of hiring from the military. 25% of our hires are veterans of our military services. so we're constantly hiring, as you probably know. we're about 90% unionized. we have very good relationships with our union as we work to create a better service product for our customers. we are in the midst of a five-year contract with our labor unions, so there's no issues as far as wage inflation or any potential disruptions in 2014. >> all right. sounds like a little bit of a move forward from the status quo that we saw last year anyhow. michael ward, amid that difficult environment, increasing earnings as you mentioned at least if you strip out that sale last time around. thank you so much for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you, kelly. congress and janet yellin. former congressman ron paul has choice words for both of them but high praise for bitcoin. he will join us when we come back.

we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there ar24/7.branches? i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

that it's given me time toabout reflect on some of life'seen biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. female announcer: get beautyrest, posturepedic, female announcer: even tempur-pedic mattress sets, at low clearance prices. and through monday, get three years interest-free financing on selected models. don't miss sleep train's year end clearance sale. ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

welcome back. president obama reportedly ready to announce nsa reforms in the wake of the agency gleaning user search information from the likes of google and yahoo!. but some hughese eruse are taki

rife si into their own hands. look at this chart. it's showing the amount of queries duck duck go has seen since 2010. you can see huge gains especially around june of 2013 around the same time details of the program were leaked. joining me now to talk more about the search engines surge is the ceo, gabriel weinberg. >> thanks for having me back. >> how are you able to guarantee people using duck duck go to look up information are being prukt protected in a way google currently does not. >> it's quite simple. when you do anything on the internet, your computer is sending information across that can track you. we throw that information away right away so we don't store or log anything. when you're on duck duck go, you're 100% anonymous. >> is it the case that what you're doing though still uses google search results, sort of

takes advantage of the search engine but handles the privacy aspect in a different way? >> no. we're a hybrid search engine. we don't use any google apis. >> i wanted to be clear. i want to bring the panel into this discussion. after not only of course the nsa stuff this summer but a lot more recently about google getting in, for example, to your home with this purchase of the smart appliancemaker nest, gabriel, a lot of people have started to say whether it's the nsa or a company like google, maybe i just don't want all of this information to be out there, and are you seeing trends -- are you seeing more people coming to your websites as a result of that as well? >> yeah. if you look at that graph, we actually did over 1 billion searches last year. if you look at it closely, you can see us steadily increasing over the last few years and a huge uptick last year like you mentioned. but what's most interesting about that is, you know, people

are seeking out private alternatives but then they really stayed up. our graph stayed up which means people perceived us to be a compelling alternative and they're pretty serious about seeking out alternatives. >> the trouble is duck duck go doesn't have the same ring as i'm going to duck duck go it. does everybody here use google. >> i'm thinking duck duck goose and my kids. >> exactly. >> i would like to ask a question here because you guys might not be storing this information, but you wonder who else is or who else could potentially have access to it given all the hacking that we've seen in recent years and if you are the repository of people's most sensitive possibly nefarious searches they don't want anyone to know b are you worried about hackers trying to get access to the secret searches people are trying to do. you're kind of a honey pot for a hacker trying to embarrass somebody. >> we take security pretty seriously and we're doing similar to the things you see the big guys doing. part of the way around that is we literally don't store

anything. so a lot of this hacking is about getting information that exists on servers but we literally throw it away so it's all ephemeral. >> here is the question. we have had the anti-virus wars. are you just canary in the mine shaft of what i guess we'll call the privacy wars and is there somebody out there right now in a garage figuring out how -- who used to work for the nsa who doesn't want to live in russia who said i think i have a way to defeat them and everything else and this will be where the great competition is? >> i think there is certainly an arms race in security, but, you know, there are tons of people who want private alternatives and so i think you're going to see a lot more companies like us offering private alternativesenalternative s and other services. >> that's my question. is private -- is venture capital now gravitating towards the anonymity business and what are the next frontiers there and things you guys are working on that are other ways that could make me disappear on the internet? >> gabriel?

>> i think you could argue that snapchat which i know you guys report on a lot is in that same vein of ephemeral, throwing away information. you're seeing similar other things being offered in e-mail and texting and phone calls. so i think you're going to see this increasingly on venture capital. >> i just wonder, too, how much this affects -- the cloud has been such an important development in silicon valley but also for american businesses over the last five-plus years. do you get the sense that this isn't just obviously a consumer side issue but one that could affect this whole industry much more broadly? >> absolutely. i think you're seeing already companies overseas questioning their use of, you know, u.s. cloud services, and you're going to similarly see private cloud offerings popping up. >> dani? >> do you think there might be a particular demographic that actually uses something like a duck duck go and then maybe

there's another demographic that could care less? obviously you wouldn't really know, it would kind of be a guess but i'm wondering if you have a guess? >> yeah. we're seeing surveys in pew and "the wall street journal" have done the best of, you know, vast majorities of people are really concerned about tracking and it's not gist the government. i'm sure everyone on the panel has noticed ads following them around the internet. that's a direct result of click and search history. often times when you go to a retailer, you're getting charged a different price, often higher, just based on your profile history. those are mainstream issues. it's happening to everyone. >> i went -- i was looking at a coat. i searched the internet for the coat and then an ad from that retailer showed up in my facebook feed. >> that's been going on for a while though, steve. >> that freaked me out. >> they knew you already bought a bmw, they know you will pay more for that coat and they might show you a higher price.

>> gabriel, we have to go but thank you so much for joining us on this important issue. hope you'll come back. >> thank you. >> it's gabriel weinberg from duck duck go. >> we can find him. >> i want to know who is going to make steve liesman disappear from the internet. >> not going to happen. >> former congressman ron paul is coming up next. we'll talk about his love for the fed as well as bitcoin. plus what do you think about last night's jimmy fallon spoof with the boss about chris christie's bridgegate ♪ some day, governor, i don't know when ♪ ♪ this will all end ♪ but till then ♪ you're killing the working man ♪ ♪ who is stuck in the governor chris christie ft. lee, new jersey, traffic jam ♪ >> is that parody good for bad for chris christie. tweet us and we'll put your best

responses on air. before you settle for another ordinary mattress,

isn't it time you discovered the sleep number bed? the only bed clinically proven to relieve back pain and improve sleep quality. and right now, it's our lowest prices of the season. save $300 to $800 on our newest innovations. plus, 18-month special financing on all sleep number beds. only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699.99. sleep number. comfort individualized. who found a magic seashell. it told him what was happening on the trading floor in real time. ♪ the shell brought him great fame. ♪ but then, one day, he noticed that everybody could have a magic seashell. [ indistinct talking ] [ male announcer ] right there in their trading platform. ♪ [ indistinct talking continues ] [ male announcer ] so the magic shell went back to being a...shell. get live squawks right in your trading platform with think or swim from td ameritrade.

over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ welcome back. news just now about a big departure over at yahoo!. jon fortt joins us now. who is leaving? >> henrique castro is leaving. he was over at google. marissa mayer brought him over to do sales at yahoo!. clearly with the flat revenues, actually declining in the main display ad revenue, he did not get that job yet and this year

as attention turns to yahoo!'s core business, apparently she's going to look to someone else to get that job done. effective tomorrow, he is out, kelly. >> ad week had previously indicated there was some tension there. >> he had a presentation before a bunch of ad big wigs that did not go well. yahoo! shares are down a third of a percent in afterhours trade. my next guest railing against the federal reserve preferring the gold standard and would like to see our currencies, maybe bitcoin, supplant the u.s. dollar. he's ron paul, and now he's got his very own currency, the ron paul coin. there is a picture. joining me now in an exclusive interview, the former congressman, now host of the ron paul channel.com. our senior economic correspondent steve liesman is sticking around as well. thank you for being here. >> thank you. nice to be here. >> is the ron paul coin your idea? >> no. somebody else created that. during the presidential

campaign, some would make coins out of silver and gold but this is a new one, and, no, i don't have anything to do with this. so it's fascinating to me. >> do you support it though? do you support these alternative or krip tcrypto currencies? >> yes. and i think that's why they named it the ron paul coin. i have been advocating the competing currencies because i'm not too high on our currency. i think alternative is a good method. we're supposed to have a government that protects our privacy. same ning in money. the government is supposed to give us honest money and prevent counterfeiting and penalize any government official that we counterfeit or anybody else. here today the government is the counterfeiter. they create $75 billion, $85 billion a month out of the clear blue, and now this is a private alternative to the abuse of government, and i don't

understand all the computer technology of the bitcoins and the other alternatives but as long as there's no fraud involved, i'm all in favor of competition. >> look, i understand if you're not happy with the u.s. dollar, but to say that something like a bitcoin, which is predicated on a completely different system that itself has no backing by, for example, a taxing authority, is somehow a better way to distribute money or to sort of run an economy i find a little hard to believe. >> well, i'm not buying bitcoin or any of the coins because i think your concerns are justified, but then again, see, my qualifier was nobody can commit fraud. i could issue certificates like the government used to, certificates and say they were backed by gold, and then they had no gold. so if they're fraudulent and they're worthless and they go up to $1,500 and down to 5 cents, then there's something going on there. but i'm arguing the case for

choice and freedom of choice and competition, and this is what we need because i'm confident that the dollar will not remain a reserve currency of the world. today it happened to be pretty strong -- >> well, if it does not that might be because the u.s. -- the position of the u.s. dollar in the world is changing. our budget deficit is rapidly eroding. >> yes, but i just don't think the dollar is going to last. i don't think any fiat currency lasts forever. they all self-destruct and right now the world is engulfed with paper currencies. that's one of the other reason why the dollar holds up. what are you competing against, the euro and the yen? if you look at what the fed has done to the dollar, look at what gold did from the time the fed took over the dollar. it was $20 an ounce. now it's $1,200 an ounce. so that's the long-term devaluation and the destruction of currency that's going on and it's very, very dangerous.

and the end stages go very rapidly. as long as they go smooth and steady, nobody cares but end stages of certain events are rapid just like the collapse of the economy in '08. it was -- it's panic, and that's what -- >> that wasn't a finite event. i want to bring steve liesman into the conversation, congressman. >> it's good to talk to you. we've gone back and forth on this issue many years and i have enjoyed every time we've done it. i would just ask you this question, the fed has increased the money supply like four or five times since the level of 2008. the dollar, you know, kind of up, kind of down, not a big decline at all. in fact, it remains the world's reserve currency. my question to you is as follows, why hasn't the market glommed onto your view of the coming collapse of the dollar? is the market stupid or is there some other reason why the valdor seems to hold value? >> i think it's a good question, but it's not my view that i know

where it's going to go. if you understand austrian economics there's a subjective value placed on everything and so subjectivity has to do with velocity. there's a lot of money sitting out there in the banks, but the velocity is way down which is decided by, you know, sentiment and the mood, and right now this money isn't going in to anything productive -- >> there's no velocity, there's no decline really in the value of the dollar because there's no increase in the supply of the dollar, right? >> currently that is the case, but they're never going to quit printing the money and eventually what you do is destroy the confidence in the dollar and the economy and there will be a rush out of this and you're going to see interest rates go up and there's going to be a grand panic. and, you know, it almost happened in 1979. you know, they had to save the dollar by taking the interest rates up to 21%. so we're not immune from that. this whole idea that we're complacent. interest rates are going to be low forever and the government can print money, they don't have to worry about deficits, we're

the king of the hill and things are going to be okay. no. what we're doing will have consequences, and there still is a lot of inflation. i mean, what about a price of a bond? do you consider that high? do you think the prices of stocks right now seem to be very high? i think they're very inflated. >> unless the fed can take it back before it becomes a problem which is what the fed believes it can do for what it's worth. >> yeah. that's a dream. they can't do it. they can't do it. i mean, they had -- just think of the reassurance they had to give -- can you believe they thought at one time $75 billion a month was cutting back? by cutting from 85 bl$85 billio 75 bl$75 billion threa, they ha guarantee you -- >> i agree with you, at 75 they're still breaking the speed limit in most states. do you think injure your son

should run for president? >> i taught him to be pretty i want. he ran for senate without asking my permission and i'm glad he did it and i support him. i think individuals make those decisions. all candidates make those decisions. i would think he would he would good job, both as a candidate and as a president. >> congressman ron paul. thank you for being here this afternoon. appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> cnbc's interview with apple ceo tim cook, heating up our website. and keep your treats coming. we asked about jimmy fallen and bruce springsteen's parody. we're at cnbc closing bell. your tweets, coming up. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open.

open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.

at a company that's bringing media and technology together. next is every second of nbcuniversal's coverage 0f the 2014 olympic winter games. it's connecting over one million low-income americans to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment in ways you never thought possible. welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. was looking at our website right now. allen wastler joins us for a look at the hot list. >> our big number one pull is president obama. he spoke earlier today, talking about manufacturing jobs and a plan to try to get them going again. so, that inspired our john shone to take a look at what the manufacturing sector is doing in the country. we lost 5 million manufacturing

jobs since the recession. our readers are very interested in the situation. so, they're driving in. i have two things that are of interest to our readers. number one, millionaires. robert frank, of course. he looked where the millionaires are. and you know where they are? maryland. that's where they are. he broke down all of the states where they're moving to, moving from. fascinating read. if you put millionaire in our headlines, people dive right in. jim cramer, he talked about apple's latest move with china mobile. and he implied wall street has been asleep at the switch here. a lot of analysts not realizing how significant a move this is to apple's stock. and he says wall street's going to have a wake-up moment here. people love jim cramer on our site. this story is getting more every minute. >> apple shares were up today. when they listened to the fact there's been millions of preorders. the debate about how expensive

that phone is. and how much penetration they can be in that country. they're getting sympathetic to apple's argument. >> it's a huge market. and that's the point jim made. >> allen wastler, thank you. jimmy fallon and bruce springsteen having some fun at the expense of chris christie. you'll hear the twitter chatter on whether the spoof is good or bad for the governor. stick with us. (vo) you are a business pro.

seeker of the sublime. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro.

welcome back. you are listening to a little bit of the rendition jimmy fallon had last night on nbc's "late night" along with bruce springsteen. the two putting on quite a show. collaborating on a christie bridgegate rendition of "born to run." we want to know what impact that performance will have on the shelf life of chris christie's political career. christie screwed up not being in control of his people. he apologized. get over it. parody, perhaps simon garfunkel should have joined fallen for a parody of "bridge over troubled water." >> every time i'm on television. >> i mean the liesman parody of

it. we know about your musical skills. >> a parody of the parody. >> i'm playing this weekend at garcia's. >> you're not doing a promo. >> i'm plugging my gig. absolutely. four sets of grateful dead all weekend, if you want to come out. >> look at bruce springsteen. look at what condition the guy is in. he's in great shape. and the guns on him are incredible. and jimmy fallon. he's been hitting the jim, that guy. looks great. >> thoughts on his political career. is this a net positive for christie? >> christie needs to explain how it is these underlings took such a drastic action. was it normal operating procedure? it still defies understanding. >> if he doesn't change the environment, something else will happen in the future. when they say it goes to character. if nothing else happens, this is fine. but if all of a sudden something else comes up, people will start to say, that goes to character. >> but it's not going away. this is really highlighting this issue. answers have to happen.

>> i wonder when it comes up on "saturday night live." >> i'm sorry about this. i want to see a centrist republican run. >> okay. we'll come back and talk about that one could be. thanks, guys. "fast money" is coming up in a few seconds. melissa lee, what's ahead on the show. >> have you ever had a secret you were dying to tell somebody but didn't have the guts to? >> yes. >> there's an app for that now. whisper. we have the ceo coming on. supposedly, it's the next big, hot social media site. we're going to talk to the ceo about whisper. >> sounds good. looking forward to it. over to you guys. "fast money" starts right now. at the nasdaq in new york city's times square. bank of america, netflix, apple, all on the top of our agenda tonight. you may remember ronnie moas, who downgraded apple to a sell. causing controversy for some of his clients. >> i'm willing to drive my business into the ground, as