biggest winner in terms of percentage moves on the day, up 1.6%, almost 19 points, ty. so a strong day so far. >> strong day and looks like another record day for the s&p if it holds on. and now this day, for the dow as well, if it holds on. and that will pretty much do it for this edition of "power lunch" for a thursday. >> have a great afternoon, ty, and i'll see you tomorrow. "street signs" bee beggins now. high for stocks but it is certainly not just another day. because one of the most historic experiments in financial history is about to kick off. hi, everybody. bill gross is here with his reaction to europe's incredible move. gm in crisis. is the company making a bad situation even worse? and mandy, a real-life rags-to-riches story you've got to hear. it is truly inspiring. >> indeed it is. the american dream. okay. seven. that is how many times the s&p has hit an intraday record high

out of the last eight sessions. so 7 out of 8, folks, near record highs for the dow as well. i get it. it's been grinding, but we're now on pace for the third straight week of gains for both, dow and s&p. it's notable because it has not happened so far this year. you've also got 15 s&p 500 stocks that are up 5% or more so far this week. the week is not over! and it's all been led by broadcom. but brian, there is something else notable out there. and in honor of the nasdaq's 100 13.5-year high today, let's go all the way back to march 2000 when you were probably still wearing acid wash when the nasdaq set an all-time high. >> by the way, i was broadcasting from the nasdaq that day. >> in acid wash? which nasdaq stocks have clocked up two biggest percentage gains since then? >> the two that are left? >> yeah. >> that's a mean one. i have no idea. >> they really stick out. one is a fruit company. >> apple. >> apple. >> thank you. >> up 2,156%.

>> i have no idea the other one. >> and the other one will get your day caffeinated. >> starbucks? >> starbucks. >> you got me. you got me. you got me on an historic day for global finance because for the first time ever the european central bank has gone negative on interest rates. it's complex but in very broad terms basically it means it will actually cost banks money to save it with the ecb overnight. all designed to stimulate lending. but could it ultimately do more harm than good? joining us is pimco's cio bill gross. bill, before that, we've got to get your reaction to the ecb. what do you make of it? a good move? what's it going to do? what's the impact? it seems huge. i'm surprised there's not more reaction to it. >> well, it is big, brian. i mean, draghi promised us a few years ago he would do whatever it takes, and that. as that, you know, the eurozone and euroland is in the midst of a minor deflation or a near deflati deflation.

and so draghi is doing things that are rather extraordinary. you know, making sure that banks get a negative interest rate when they lend to their central bank, minus ten basis points. there's actually not too many hundreds of billions of dollars that go there. you know, it's significant in terms of its shock value. secondly, though, and perhaps most importantly, they devised this program, a $500 billion program, would banks can borrow at 25 basis points for four years. you know, from the ecb. you know, if they promise to buy bank loans and asset-backed securities. and so this is the big one. you know, it basically lowers interest rates because banks can borrow at 25 basis points for four years and lend it out hopefully at 1 to 1.5%. it's rather extraordinary. is it called for? probably in the case of europe, they need an inflation rate higher than 1, and it's moving closer to 0. this probably has been called for. >> but do you think it's actually going to work? do you really think it's going

to encourage those banks to get out there and lend small businesses to the consumers and get the economy going? or could it maybe backfire a little bit? i know they want inflation in the system, but at the same time, if you're going to get a negative return for packing your funds at the central bank, maybe just go out and search for higher yield and take riskier bets and create more asset bubbles. >> well, that's what the ecb wants them to do. the asset bubbles, no. and they don't appear to have the asset bubbles yet in terms of spread or in terms of equity prices. yeah, if the bank can borrow 25 basis prices and lend into the loan market or asset-backed market which pimco did today in terms of with a we're buying, and a bank has basically a spread of 150 basis points, it's not guaranteed because they're taking risk with the asset-backed securities. but it's a way to basically recapitalize banks as opposed to inflate assets. you know, to the extent that it's successful, then the euroland economy can grow as

opposed to stagger. >> talk to us about this concept that you wrote about today, bill. and i impressed you, please, to put it into plain english for us simple tv anchors, which is the real rate right now. we talk about the fed. we talk about what the federate is. but when you factor in some equations through the work you've done, what is the real cost of borrowing right now? >> well, the real interest rate, the real fed fund's rate is an historic type of concept. it is the fed fund's rate minus inflation. and so today the real rate would be 25 base poiis points minus 1. you know, obviously, the fed is going to adjust that rate higher over the next few years. we think it's critical to try and determine what the new neutral will be going forward, not today, but in 2017, '18, '19 and '20, those are the prices -- those are the yields that basically price other assets.

if the new neutral is low, we think it's close to zero on a long-term basis. and that would mean 2% when you add back in inflation. if it's low for a long period of time, then stocks and other assets are less bubbly than they would be if the new neutral, if real fed funds were much higher. which is what it's been historically. >> i have got to ask you about this. i know you've seen the headlines and you probably hate being asked about it, but nonetheless, 13th month of outflows, bill. i mean, may, you even actually saw a gain and a return fund of 1.25%. but the outflows continue. so what are you doing to try and stop those outflows and obviously ultimately reverse them? >> well, we're outperforming. you know, looking may and early june, and watch our 12-month numbers, mandy, over the next week or two. they're going to be in the 75th percentile. basically, pimco, you know, had a rough patch, i guess, towards the end of 2013.

now it's not a rough patch. we're moving ahead. i couldn't be more confident by the end of this year, you know, that pimco will be close to the top of the pack in terms of the bond market. and those that are taking money out, you know, hopefully they'll be putting it back in pretty soon. >> bill gross, hey, always a pleasure to have you on the program. thank you so much. and we'll you next time. meantime, breaking news out of washington, d.c. let's go now to john harwood. >> brian, we have the senate just wrapping up the confirmation of siylvia mathews burwell. a smattering of republican opposition including from the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell up for re-election in kentucky. he said today that he wanted obamacare repealed and couldn't support sylvia mathews. by and large, people agree that she is a person of character and

skill and integrity. and so she has moved forward, and she's going to be replaced as omb director by shaun donovan who's now the hud secretary. his confirmation hasn't yet taken place, but that's also likely to go through without a problem, brian. >> john, thank you very much. are the europeans ignoring better ways to spur growth? why is it always about interest rates and cheap money? plus, gm in damage control. what does ceo mary barra have to do to fix the dented brand? ♪

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s.e.c. chair mary jo white announcing plans. let's go to bob pisani who spoke with her. bob, what was said is this >> reporter: bottom line is, she gave a comprehensive review of market structure. what she thinks is right and what she thinks ought to be changed. i caught up with chairwoman white as she was leaving the conference. she insisted to me, the markets are not rigged. >> the clear message, the parkts aren't rigged. we have the strongest, most resilient marketed in the world. men, doesn't mean they're perfect and we're constantly working on them to make them fairer and to better serve all investors and companies, trying to raise capital. >> do you think a more forceful statement would have been appropriate given the amount of coverage this man's comment that the markets were rigged got?

>> resilient in the world and not rigged and not broken and trying to improve them at all times is a pretty strong statement. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. >> there you go. absolutely not rigged. but the bottom line is this. she had a very spirited defense of the current market structure. she said investors are better off today than they were 20 or 30 years ago. she said the circuit breaker rules they put into effect after the flash crash have made the markets more stable at this point. but she said certain things are troubling to her. so she is proposing the creation of a market structure advisory company. that's what she's calling it. to advise on things like what they should be doing on high-frequency trading. she's also proposing -- and this is very interesting -- what she calls anti-disruptive trading rule. very vague on this. but she says it would apply to high-frequency traders and other types of proprietary traders during periods of high volatility. sounds like she wants to try to put brakes on that trading, but she was very vague on exactly what she meant. i think you'll have a lot of discussion on that in the coming weeks. she also said she'd like

high-frequency traders to register with the s.e.c. so they can keep track of them more carefully. about what's coming in the near foug future, she wants uniform standards for testing technology for all of the exchanges. that rule, brian's, been sitting around for a year. i think they're probably going to adopt that. and that's good news. standards for technology means fewer technological glitches out there. very interesting speech. i'll have more out on "trader talk" shortly. guys? >> at least that's the theory. thank you very much, bob. let's look at the s&p 500 once again today. stocks moved higher at the open on the news that the ecb cut rates below zero. more on that in just a second. but stocks really took off around 11:00 a.m., just as our own kate kelly came on the air with details of a conversation that she had with david tepper. tepper, you might remember, last month said he was getting nervous about the market, that spooked the market. but he told kate kelly today that his chief market concerns have been, quote, alleviated.

and as you can see, stocks reacted very clearly to this. and i who hope that david is cognizant that he's having this kind of influence on the market and he needs to be careful with what he says and who he says it to if the market's going to take this kind of reaction. >> we talked about the fed taper. the taper tantrum. is this the tepper tantrum? >> i think it is. it's going up in which case it's the tepper clapper. i don't know. >> this is the tepper taper. either way, the dow is up 300 or so points since he said that back on may 14th. it's kind of funny he's alleviated from just a couple hundred points. the dow -- that was my first impression. >> absolutely. what's really changed from then apart from the ecb? there were a number of things he said. more on your top story that ecb unprecedented move to make overnight lending rates negative. let us bring in cnbc contributor rick santelli. first to you, sir. was there any shock and awe on the floor of the cme in chicago, or was this pretty much expected

like david tepper talked about? >> reporter: let's play a game here. negative interest rates on deposits of excess euros overnight. that would be important. how many excess euros do you think were deposited last night? >> based on your tone, i'm guessing not much. >> reporter: about 32 million. >> chump change. >> reporter: okay. i rest my case. and in terms of purchases, what type of asset-backed market do they have right now? >> not much. >> reporter: not a very advanced one. but i think bill, always hitting the salient point, i think the ltro in the 400 billion is something important. but you can't force banks to loan. my guess is they may do the same thing they've been doing. take that money at 25 basis points, buy their own securities like the spanish central bank and buy spanish securities and the game goes on, creating low interest rates that aren't really real. >> we're calling this the grand experiment by the ecb. and just by saying experiment suggests that it could end very well or could end very badly. so jimmy, are they moving into dangerous territory?

>> we've already had a natural ongoing experiment. we had two huge economies. the united states and the eurozone. both underwent a huge financial shock, an economic shock. they both had austerity. one is growing. one has a falling unemployment rate. the other does not. the difference, a very active central bank. what the ecb should have done today is begun a massive quantitative easing program. they didn't. i don't think it's going to happen this year. i hope it happens next year. >> why? >> pardon? >> why? why not go further into qe? >> i looked up in the dictionary. the word hubstrobber. it means helicopter. i know the germans know about helicopter drops but they continue to be against aggressive monetary action that they need. >> blame the germans. >> jimmy p., rick santelli here. do you think they're legally allowed to truly buy directly into the securities markets? there's still a lot of legal questions in that regard.

>> there are legal questions, but the entire eurozone economy, look, they have very low inflation, nearing deflation, low growth, and a huge sort of political earthquake. and that is a very volatile combination. austerity has had a huge effect on the political process of these countries. if they do not get that economy moving, it's only going to get worse. you could have a reignition of the whole eurozone crisis. they need faster nominal growth, higher inflation, more demand. >> but you think central bankers could create that? >> do i think a central bank can create inflation in it wants to? there is no record in history of a central bank being unable to create inflation if it wants to. >> real growth, they can't create growth. >> just a second, guys. brian? >> what you must understand about the euro crisis, that it was a nominal growth crisis. that created the debt crisis. because it had a huge drop in nominal growth which made those debt levels unsustainable.

they need to get nominal growth up as soon as possible. qe would be a great thing for them to do. but again, it doesn't appear to be on the near horizon. >> very quickly, ricky, why is the euro higher? explain to me. >> reporter: because it agrees with me, i think. i think it's higher because they did things that look a bit shock and awy, but basically they're not. >> i agree. >> and the point i want to make, guys, they're half powerful. japan and our federal reserve are one organization for one country. this is one semi organization for, what, 23 or so different count countries. >> all represent a failure of the entire experiment. >> all with different goals and long political histories which are not always, you know, aligned. >> 18 countries. a lot of different goals. but rick counterand jand jimmy, words that they ended on the words "i agree. >> i love cnb because it's says the only network you can have a fiery argument about that about eurozone deposit rates.

>> so much so we can do it every day. gm ceo mary barra holding a conference call after the company released an internal investigation. but was this more about pr than anything else? later on, rethinking housing. is own the home the best or maybe the worst investment that you can make? we're going to get both sides. big argument coming up. stick around. revolutionizing an industry can be a tough act to follow, but at xerox we've embraced a new role. working behind the scenes to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done.

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gm ceo mary barra released an internal investigation into the faulty switches. let's get to phil lebeau. what more have we learned, phil? >> reporter: mandy, this was strictly about the financial implications of the recalls, the investigation, et cetera. a couple of highlights, gm ceo mary barra told analysts that the company could have additional recall-related charges in 2q. keep in mind, the company has already taken $1.7 billion in recall-related charges. they do, however, say that they do not expect those charges and the additional ones in the second quarter to be material. general motors also expects to set costs for the compensation plan by the end of q2. remember, the compensation plan is for victims of those accidents involving defective

ignition switches. by the way, the compensation criteria will be established by ken feinberg, august 1st is the deadline that's already been set for that compensation plan to be in place. and also general motors has raised the number of accidents now linked with the faulty ignition switches to 54. 54 is the new number. that is an increase from 47. guys? >> phil, thank you very much. in fact, stick around. let's bring in also david johnson from strategic vision. david, welcome. clearly gm wants to be perceived as getting out in front of this issue. but in some ways, could gm be doing more damage to itself by basically admitting, as mary barra did today when she said no high-level executives were even aware of the issue, that this is a company with serious, cultural and communication issues? >> thanks for having me on. yes, you could actually be doing more damage. number one, if anything comes out that contradicts what she said and what this report shows, she's damaged goods and will have to be replaced. as will other senior-level

management. but even more troubling was the lack of specifics that we saw today coming from general motors. she's trying to say that it's a new general motors. yet she came across as the same old general motors. >> you know, i don't want to hammer the point, but phil, to what brian was saying, if you've got top executives who have largely been spared from blame in all of this, but you also have mary barra saying that there was essentially like incompetence going on and carelessness, doesn't that kind of trickle down from the top? i mean, at least if that was going on, shouldn't the top stamp on it? it seems very, very strange that no one at a high level is getting the finger pointed at them? >> reporter: well, it's not strange from this standpoint, mandy. they made clear in this investigation -- and by the way, this is it, 315 pages. and when you read through it, some of the passages are pretty stunning. when you read through it, it is also clear that this was kept in an area where engineers, legal and other people, not at the top levels of the company, were not

aware what was going on. so it was kept in that level with the engineers and the legal staff. and so i understand what people are saying about the lack of specifics today. but those are going to be coming out, especially as reporters like myself and others go through this. i mean, some of the examples that you see in here, you're looking at it going, are you serious? this is how a company is running in this day and age? pretty stunning examples. >> that's it, david. i think the american public has shown with toyota, with the ford rollover problems, it will forgive car companies over time. what it may not forgive is a company where they've got a serious problem, and some mid to mid-high-level manager decides, i'm not going to tell anybody above me. i don't want to get in trouble. >> oh, exactly. americans will forgive a lot. they won't forgive incompetence. and that's basically what mary barra said today. what mary barra has to do is really show that this is a new general motors. she needs to address the fixes in specifics. she needs to go beyond just, you know, there was incompetence.

you can review the report. had had i been advising them, i would have got everything out all at once. yes, it's going to be damaging to general motors. but it will also show transparency because today's consumer compared to the previous recalls wants transparency when a company is caught in trouble, as general motors has. and today, we didn't see that transparency. remember, the report now is public. but it was released by federal investigators. not by general motors. that, to me, was a mistake in crisis communications. >> david and phil, thank you very much for joining us. microsoft getting a big upgrade today. so should you own this stock? we'll be talking numbers on it ahead. later on, how one hockey fan got iced in a major stubhub flub. stick around. greenline do for you?fidey just take a closer look. it works how you want to work. with a fidelity investment professional... or managing your investments on your own. helping you find new ways to plan for retirement.

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the performance review. that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization.

i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. ♪ love that. you may recognize that guy. that is boone pickens, our buddy, owning that hill. looks like san francisco. the 86-year-old posted the video to instagram with the caption "i challenge president obama to a one-hour workout. my cardio is better. will work out an energy plan for

america. #nosweat." this follows video posted on the web of the president working out at the hotel gym overseas. boone challenging him. i guess they could work out and talk energy policy. >> i love it. let's get to "street talk," we have to start with lifetime highs for this one. this is verint systemsystems. >> they do sort of job compliance-type stuff. were you on the job, time clocks, stuff like that. based in new york. the company upgraded. target on verint to 57 bucks. stock's already up 40% this year. >> and you've got stock number two discovery communications is not the deadliest catch for investors today, getting an upgrade. >> deadliest catch. >> deadliest catch. >> you threw that in there? >> i think you might have thrown it in there. >> discovery not leaving shareholders naked and afraid.

recently completed the acquisition of a controlling interest in euro sport international. atlantic equities raised their target on discovery to 98 bucks. so about 20% upside. low valuation and strong ratings. somebody call the amish mafia. >> okay, another company trading at a new lifetime high. this is united rentals with jeffries reiterating its buy. >> they expect united rentals' upsk upcoming earnings to show solid pricing trends for what they rent out. target has been raised 15 bucks to $125 for uri. stock is now 136% from its lows of june of last -- that has been a big moneymaker. >> it really has. and as always, our last stock is your under-the-radar name of the day. it is jeffreys telling investors to pound sand. literally. because the name today is hi-crush partners which pounds sand. >> there you go. that was good. aclp is the ticker. they literally make sand, folks. their target, $59.

so about 10% of upside. stock's already up 137% over the past year. just something to note there. the ticker, hclp. they also pay a 4% yield. >> can't they just go to the beach and scoop it up? >> it's like steven wright said, the worldest largest seashell collection. you might have seen it. i keep it scattered around the world. fbr capital upgrading microsoft. rich auerbach. rich, i'm going to start with you technically because i've been hearing from people that microsoft is becoming more of a technically driven stock. if that's the case, what are you seeing right now? msft, a buy or a sell? >> brian, it's actually a buy. old tech like microsoft has been a real bright spot this year. the stock's almost up 10% with the nasdaq composite up 2.6%. that's outstanding relative strength. in addition to that, look at this trend line we have here,

brian, takes us back over a year. we've held that 200-day moving average and finally that cup and handle formation that we love to talk about here at the end. that's a bullish continuation pattern. we've struggled a little bit with resistance but we should move higher. but brian, what i really like is the longer-term chart of microsoft. the stock had moved sideways for some time. but we really established a very nice multiyear base of support on that weekly chart. that takes us all the way back to 2009. we've broken out. we've moved higher and settled into another bullish continuation pattern in ascending triangle. so the combination of that ascending triangle, that bullish cup and handle and that outstanding relative strength sets us up for more success. i think you can buy it here and still make some money. >> i'm going to drink a cup of tea to that. what about you, steve? all that bullishness we've been talking about technically? >> mandy, i don't think so. i'm glad rich mentioned it's old tech because it is old tech. that's the problem with it right here. this is still essentially a pc company in a world that's turned

into anything and everything but pcs. microsoft, for instance, is stig struggling to get any real footing in the smartphone market. only 3% of all smartphones that have been shipped have windows installed. this is still very much a company stuck in the past. and listen, i've been on your show several times. i loved it in the low 30s, but it's rallied 25% since the new ceo was announced. like the band air supply, i am all out of love. >> oh, wow! that's a good song. isn't it an aussie song? ♪ all out of love >> is air supply australian? >> i have a feeling they're australian. >> to quote reo speedwagon, we're going to roll with the changes. because we built this city. >> since march 2000 at the highs, microsoft is down 8.5%. by the way, you can also check out the online edition of "talking numbers." coming up on "the closing bell," we've got the ceo of

medtronic. what makes this interesting is the company has been dealing with investigations and settlements. what do you think the ceo is going to say about it all? >> hi. omar is coming up. we're definitely going to ask him what's going on with the bid. so much happening in that space. does it have to do with taxes? does it have to do with their global expansion plans and pressure from obamacare? >> okay. we'll look forward to it. thank you very much, kelly. >> see you top of the hour. still on this fine show, a real-life rags-to-riches story of the american dream. a guy comes here from then-kmoounist russia, $26 in his pocket, drives a limo. he's now worth hundreds of millions of dollars. his incredible story and new company next. we're also turning "street signs" into a game show. which billionaires have enough money to buy all of the real estate in a big city? you're going to find out when we play "who wants to buy a city?" tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 there are trading opportunities

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welcome back to "street signs." breaking news on the netflix/verizon battle. verizon sending a cease and desist letter to netflix, saying the fact that netflix posted to

some of its customers on the verizon network that during buffering that the verizon network is crowded now. adjusting video for smoother playback is unfair -- unfair business practices and could have potential harm to verizon's brand. this letter says there is no basis for netflix to assert that the issues are attributable solely to verizon. there are many different factors that can affect traffic on the internet including how to connect to its customers and deliver content to them. interconnection between multiple networks such as wi-fi and device settings and capabilities could also be a factor. so this is a battle between netflix and verizon heating up. it comes just the day before a big netflix show hits the airwaves, "rorange is the new black." the stakes are higher than ever. >> indeed. thank you very much for the breaking news, julia boorstin. shares of twitter have lost nearly half their value this year. it's been in talks with

audio-sharing website sound cloud and considering buying spotify or pandora. but is this just another example of twitter maybe forgetting their main mission? i say yes. our next guest joining us now with an inspirational story. and a very cool company. get this. he came to america from then-communist russia with about 25 bucks in his pocket. he drove a limo. today is -- romania. what did i say, russia? his fourth company is called tidemark. christian is founder and ceo of the start-up company tidemark joining us now with his story. christian, thank you so much for joining us. i read about it, there's no way this is real, coming 20 years ago with 20 bucks, now you're worth millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars. can you offer words of advice? basically how can we get hundreds of millions of dollars? >> well, thank you so much, brian. it's a pleasure. it's been 25 years for this five minutes. so just a very humbling

experience and journey. at the root of it is really freedom. i just wanted to be free. living in communist romania, which was a very, very totalitarian state and trying to understand what is going on around myself and started to learn english from records and pink floyd records. and the more you read about, you know, "another brick in the wall" and the government, you start understanding that everything around you is not really real. i decided to really look for freedom and arriving here in new york city and starting everything from scratch. and so this journey of transformation has been just an incredible journey. and it's all about freedom and the power it has in allowing folks like me to drive towards something that matters for myself and the team that i'm building tidemark with. >> that is very, very, very well said. i imagine, you know, you come over here and you say "is anybody out there?" was probably the first thing you said in the united states based on that. christian, in all seriousness,

we've got a lot of people struggling in this country just to make ends meet. you're a smart guy that was educated in romania. unfortunately a lot of degrees aren't recognized. you had to drive a limo. how did you go from that to where you are now? are there things you did to offer aspirational advice to our audience? >> really it's just about courage. courage to not give up and just keep going. the other day i counted 97 trips that i was doing on the limo, picking people up from newark, new jersey, close to where you are now and on 97th street a gentleman said what do you really want to do? i said i like to write software. that's all i want to do. he said why don't you come over and gave me a chance and we became partners and built the first company. it's really about courage and never giving up and just in a wonderful country and having the tree dom to pursue that. it's something that was not really possible in a country like romania. >> and that's the thing, right? you had a first company, then a

second, then a third company. you're working on your fourth start-up which is incredible. what's next for you after tidemark? >> tidemark, it's in many ways the combination of a lot of the things that have been shaping my life with freedom. and it's really helping cfos to get visibility and transparency in their operational and financial planning and forecasting. it's a domain that's very, very important as companies are changing right now into this digital economy that we are all seeing, and giving ceos from whole foods and netflix the ability to empower everybody in the organization to make decisions when it matters in the now with everything that's going on around us. so it's just really a combination of a lot of things together with my team i believe in which is freedom and empowering everybody in the organization to make decisions. it really, in many ways, freedom is at the core of everything that i've done. and that has really guided really my journey here, just an incredible and very humble experience. >> christian, it was a real pressure to have you on the program. thank you so much. thanks for sharing your story.

thanks for sharing tidemark with us as well. we appreciate it. you're welcome back any time. any time. >> thank you so much. very humbling. i really appreciate the opportunity. from that story to this next story. get this. how's this for a transition? maybe a new york rangers fan thought that he was going to get something, i don't know, on the cheap. get this. he bought four tickets to the game six of the stanley cup final on stubhub. the cost, $1 per ticket. he paid it, got the confirmation e-mail and everything, but then stubhub yanked the tickets back saying the seller clearly meant to list them for more. in fact, likely $1,000 each and maybe simply put in a decimal instead of a comma. stubhub offered the fan a $300 voucher, but he's insisting the site's title allows him to the seats. mandy, he did pay and get confirmation. does he deserve the tickets or not? >> i don't think so. i think anyone who thinks they're entitled to anyone, when it was clearly a mistake. i also get there was a lot of pressure now on companies, if

they make the mistake, right? it's their mistake that they therefore have to compensate people. but i don't know whether that's right or wrong, quite frankly. >> pricing, in my legal mind, pricing errors aren't enforceable if they are clearly erroneo erroneous. >> clearly wrong. $1, surely a mistake. >> how's that from the interview of that guy, complaining? >> his life is worthy of a disney movie. we'll see. we debate this controversial statement made on this network. buying a home is a terrible investment. what do you think? we've got experts on both sides coming up. she keeps you on your toes. you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right.

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built for business. i don't care whether you pay $2 million for your home or $200,000 for it. this is going to be a crappy investment for the next five to ten years. there will be no capital appreciation on this asset. rising rates are going to kill real estate. rent. do not buy any of this stuff. >> that was "shark tank's" kevin o'leary earlier this week on "closing bell," saying home ownership is a bad investment. every american is paging you on line one right now. but is he right? the debate needs to be had. let's have it.

joining me, morgan howsel. i'm going to start with you first. kevin o'leary could not have been more clear. he is a very successful guy, but is he right? >> well, look, if you're into it for speculative gains, if you want double-digit returns, last year was the year to be buysing housing. if you were blackstone, you got it done. so i'm not disagreeing that we're not going to see -- can't count on double-digit returns. but when you buy, you don't buy only for these kind of returns. you buy because it's a stable way of staying in the community. investments are also hedges. and owning is a hedge against rent increases. for that, you need to own. >> yeah, you absolutely can't put a price, can you, on the so-called investment in, as you say, the community. and just for your emotional stability of actually having a place that is yours, right? >> unless it's going down in value, in which case your emotional stability -- >> but at the same -- >> actually, that going down in value is actually a hedge.

it's going down in value, but at the same time, your costs are also going down. if you're buying for investment return, yes. but if you're buying to prevent being priced out of that neighborhood by rent increases, represents are going up across the nation. the way to neighborhood by rent increases, rents are going up across the nation. way to avoid being priced out of your neighborhood is to own. no other way. >> do you think though, professor, i'll play the bear a little bit here. listen, when you factor in interest, which is front-loaded. most people live in a home i think the average is seven years, which is why you tend to pay all your interest in that time, do you think we're kind of sold a bill of goods in america about housing in general? if you stay in a home 40 years i'm sure it is a great deal. but do you think we are kind of misled about house's financial -- not emotional but financial value? >> well, if indeed the selling point is that this is a better investment than a diversified

stock portfolio, bonds, sure. but i don't think that's why people are buying. i think households are buying because they want to stay in that neighborhood. that's not to say that in 2006 there wasn't a lot of spe speculative buying because you thought you could get in now and in fact get out. in fact, there were flippers who made money prior to 2006, then they lost big time. if you're a single family buying into that market in 2006, you're going to get killed buying in for investment purposes and buying in with a mortgage that is in fact going to increase your costs going forward. that's going to blow up on you. well, that's a disaster and we saw that disaster play out. so i'm not against the argument that you should not be buying for investment gains. that's not buying for sustainable home ownership. we saw that disaster movie and it was a pretty scary one.

>> unfortunately, morgan could not join us but susan, thank you very much for all of your comments. >> my pleasure. coming up next, a look how drew carey and alex trebek. robert frank will post the billionaire city "match game." brian, you and i are the contestants. you probably know xerox

as the company that's all about printing. but did you know we also support hospitals using electronic health records for more than 30 million patients? or that our software helps over 20 million smartphone users remotely configure e-mail every month? or how about processing nearly $5 billion in electronic toll payments a year? in fact, today's xerox is working in surprising ways to help companies simplify the way work gets done and life gets lived. with xerox, you're ready for real business. and life gets lived. (man speaking chinese)

all right. well, just how rich are the world's billionaires? enough to swoop in and buy and entire american city. redfin looked at billionaires' net worth and the cities they could buy. let's play "who wants to buy a city?" contestants brian and mandy today. let's start with the richest family in america, the waltons. can you guess which city they would buy? seattle, boca, or dallas. mandy. >> okay. >> mandy! >> okay. let's say dallas. >> wrong. brian, your chance. >> boca raton. >> wrong. >> i meant seattle. >> seattle! $111 billion would get you all the housing stock in seattle. >> you could buy every home in seattle for only $111 billion. >> just the city though. you don't get bill gates' house. let's go to number two.

the koch brothers. would they buy philly, napa, or atlanta. i'll give you a hint. they're worth $86 billion. >> they wouldn't be allowed to buy in california. >> that's true. >> c, atlanta. >> you are correct! >> yay. >> sullivan one, mandy zero. >> now that bill gates is homeless since the waltons lost seattle. where is he going to live. st. paul, boston or new york, new york. mandy. >> st. paul. >> wrong! >> boston! >> yes! bill gates. bill gates could buy all of beantown for $77 million. now warren buffett, our favorite, where would he go? he could buy several omahas. charlotte, nashville, or san fran. brian! >> nashville. >> you are wrong! mandy! >> charlotte. >> yes!

warren buffett buys charlotte. he likes banks so he would go to charlotte. >> you are making this up? >> i am making this up. >> do i lose a point for being wrong? >> sore loser. just move on. >> last one. and for the win. who will it be? michael bloomberg. imagining him in any of these places is kind of funny. durham, laguna hills or anaheim. >> laguna hills. >> wrong! mandy. >> durham? >> wrong! >> anaheim. >> anaheim is correct! >> i've never even been to one of these places. when are the australian billionaires coming up? >> we will do an australian version. >> what is perth? what is perth? what is perth? and the winner gets killed, what is darwin? sorry. loser would be killed. >> two things people love to talk about, rich people and real estate. it is all here on one show."

who wants to buy a city?" >> fantastic job, thank you very much, robert frank. let's take a look at what those markets are up to, guys. of course we had the ecb cutting rates to record lows. so we had a nice start at the beginning of the day. we got an extra special little bonus around 11:00 a.m. when david tepper came out and took out all that spooking he did he in may. we've got record highs there for the dow and for the s&p 500. >> we got to go but i would just like to see a little more volume, little more enthusiasm about this market to confirm these high things. that you what yyou hear. don't just stand there -- >> this is my tv duty. >> here is the thing about the markets. if you are a mom and pop at home and you get your 401(k) plan at home and at the end of every quarter it is higher, do you care if volume is low?

no. but market participants are complaining. >> it suggests a lack of conviction. let's look at what gold is up to. gold today has gained 1% on the back of the ecb's moves. right? they want a little inflation in the system. the interesting thing that -- there you go. gold is up by $9, $1,253. >> didn't have you a stat about gold from 1933? >> yes. fdr, on this day in history, on this day in 1933, took the u.s. away from the gold standard. >> there you go. >> there you go. >> nixon did similar thing. >> rich people still like a lot of gold. >> they do. there is an amazing amount of action still around gold. this is what we call stalling before closing bell comes up, guys. we have a very, very solid market day, market be darned. people at home, their stock values continue to go up. i really appreciate you watching "street signs," everybody. >> thank you as well, robert frank, for throwing a little fun into the mix. >> i think you won. >> did i?

by default, "closing bell" is . see you tomorrow. hi, everybody. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm scott wapner at cnbc headquarters in today for bill fiscal cli g griffith. a bullish hedge fund manager makes a bullish comment , david tepper saying he's no longer looking for a sell-off. market takes off just before noon. got to over a triple-digit gain. the dow and s&p barreling to new highs. we have an all-star lineup to sort this all out. >> yes, we do