upside. currently up -- oh, we are looking at the s&p there. the dow is now wiped out the december losses and the dow utility average hit an all-new high. thank you very much for watching requests street signs." "closing bell" coming up next. have a great weekend. thank you, mandy. welcome to "the closing bell," everybody. i'm el i can evans at new york stock exchange. bill is off today. stocks are rally again. take a look at the s&p 500 currently in record territory. we are at 2076. pretty much. a point above the prior record close. we have had an incredible week, one of the strongest of the years with 3% across the major averages and here's an hour to go in the trading session today. the dow after more than a 400-point gain yesterday and

about 300 the day before that, continues to the upside. up 83 points or half of 1%. the s&p 500 mentioned right now up 14 points in record territory closing here and the nasdaq composite adding 27 and half of 1%. let's get right to it with our "closing bell" exchange on this friday to wrap up the week. gerard fitzpatrick. steve sax. pat ty edwards. and kenny pulcari. patty, questions to the women today seem to be the theme here, what do you think happens? is this a santa rally? have we just put it in and seen the gains? all rebalancing and a quad witching effect? what do you think is going on in this market? >> i think there's a whole lot of things going on. you know, we have got people doing window dressing for the end of the year. tax loss selling that seems to dissipating. you take all that into

consideration and then the fed comes in and says, wait a minute, we don't need to have anxiety about things. we are logical about how we proceed and i think that the fed has just really put a bottom under this market and we think that we'll probably go high sbeer the new year. >> kenny, quite the reception for patty's comments here. >> there's half a dozen or so employees retiring at the end of the year and hear the clapping in the background and cheering their service in the exchange and certainly for the community. >> yeah. we applaud them here, as well. >> we do. i've worked with a lot of these people for 32 years and so it's a day of mixed emotions for them and for a lot of us. >> what about the markets? >> i think, listen. what a day for a daydream, right? how zbraet this? last week all gloom and doom and look at this today. busting out through new highs and everyone is feeling positive. all the negativity from last week whether it was russia or oil, north korea, the movie, all that panic is certainly kind of

a distant background at the moment and investors and traders are focusing on the much broader u.s. economic and global picture. >> and what theme the market breaking free from the move in oil? is this all a fed-induced effect back to janet yellen? gentlemen regard, you first. >> i think if you're looking at going back to janet yellen, this week, a week of super volatility. the market was fearing a barren end to the year. clearly we saw that on the ruble. market concerned particularly the likes of high yield, high exposure of energy. valuations got cheaper, though. christmas came early. wall street got three welcomed gifts. number one, cheaper oil can be great for the economy. cheap at the pump is great for the consumer. number two, the fed gave the gift of keeping the considerable manage wage to keep the music playing longer and the fed gave another free gift effectively

extending the volcker rule and ultimately the market loved it and we see the rebound. >> i don't know how encouraging, steve, that is, though. especially the point of the volcker rule. are we rallying for the right reasons here? >> i think so. looking at the underpinnings of the fed, clearly the macroeconomic backdrop and talking about this all yearlong, unemployment is dropping at a fairly rapid clip. gdp growth is increases. earnings growth is solid all yearlong and looking at it from that perspective, it is the fed story and it's the economic story and i think those are the right reasons and this week in particular if you look at the volume and the flows, particularly as it relates to domestic equity etf flows there's been a massive amount of inflow in the markets not just this week but ultimately the back half of the year and tells me that it is the right reason.

we were rallying on fundament fundamentals. >> do you think it's a jack bogle phenomenon. there's a lot of reasons to keep your money here in the u.s. forget trying to invest oversaes and would that have anything to do with it? >> i think that absolutely for some people resonates loudly. like people that are just either they're afraid or concerned and don't understand and they want to invest in what they know and that's america and so therefore they stay in america. right? not such a bad thing but a well rounded portfolio to include kind of a -- certainly, international exposure. >> by the way, barclays with a note as everyone is turning attention to 2015 citing a couple of reasons why they think the market rallies and one of them that stronger income growth they think some is diverted into the stock market. >> listen. we can only hope so, right? steve, i want to ask you a question. can i? you made a comment and i struggle with this idea of unemployment. 5.8%. is it really 5.8%, is that number in your mind realistic in

terms of when you talk to your neighbors and the guys on the street or people that you know and still frustrated in this country that don't feel like what the numbers are telling them. and frustrating to me when the administration or the government says, unemployment's at 5.8% and i'm scratching my head going, people i talk to are just not feeling it. >> hey, look. it's a fair point. right? but the fact of the matter is that the long-term average unemployment rate in this country is 6%. that's a 20-year average and the number is calculated same way for 20-plus years and from a statistical perspective, absolutely. the unemployment rate is where we need it to be. i don't disagree with you. but it's like inflation. the government tells us no inflation. clearly you and and the rest of the feels that on a daily basis and what does the market care about? statistic. not main street at the end of the day. >> that's an interesting point, as well.

gerard, i thought i saw break-evens turning negative. when's the deal with the inflation expectations of the market today? oil has rebounded a little bit here s. that helping? >> yeah, definitely with regards to the low inflation expectation and the future. we think inflation rates pick up next year. we forecast around 2% for u.s. core cpi and we think that some of the extra improvements in the employment story should start to lead to some increase in the wage inflation. so that's an uplift on the inflation numbers and also looking at the oil story, we don't expect that stays down low for longer. that's from supply side dynamics and demand side should be strong and uplift on inflation. what does it mean for treasuries? going up. towards 3% of the end of next year. we have an underweight duration and expecting inflation to rise somewhat and then higher treasuries next year. >> patty, no one is really talking about russia-ukraine situation and, north korea, are

we overlooking geopolitical risk factors into the end of the year or is all of this a wait until january phenomenon? >> yeah. it's a total cliche but the market loves to climb a wall of worry and there is some worry out there. you know, we have all of these thing that is the guys have mentioned going for us. and look at the price of oil here. there's only one producer who's not hurting at this point in time and that's the saudis. everyone else has got a problem either a recession problem, it's an income problem or it's a debt problem with oil at these levels. there's impetus to get that level on oil back up. and i think you are going to see some changes and that's going to, you know, be a little bit of a help for oil side of things and hurt for the consumer. >> recommendations for how to play this? because there's split opinions right now of those sniffing for opportunities and others saying, steer clear. >> you know, i think if you're going to layer in over time, you can probably start to play there. you're not going to see any broad-based buying until after

the first of the year. you've got the window dressing for mutual funds and heard from manage earls that january 2nd they start to get interested in. you want to be in there before them but not the whole position either. >> kenny? >> last you think that, though, the energy sector is setting itself up for great m & an activity next year? i think big guys are sniffing around. >> look at "wall street journal" today and bought into the names anticipating it. >> xhaexactly that. >> maybe 2015 is the year. >> we are only a couple of months into it. right? 2015 like she said, i think that's where you start to see people sniffing around. >> patty, would you -- are we framing this correctly? do you think that's a place to buy in here, small cap energy names for next year? >> there are so many small cap energy names hurt who are struggling with the debt service they have got and absolutely going to be looking at deals that they wouldn't have looked at six months ago. >> steve, you guys doing the same thing? >> totally agree.

right? m & an activity, overall, domestically, 2015 is a fantastic year and spot on. energy sector is a highlight from m & a space in particular. >> gentlemen, patty, everybody, good to see you on this friday afternoon as we close out what's been historic week here in the market. we have 50 minutes to go until the close and the s&p 500 trying to close believe it or not after the couple of weeks that we have had at a fresh record high. a point short of that level at the moment and anything could happen here. the dow up 66 points staging a late-day rally on this quadruple witching day and rebalancing day and could have volatility into the close. the s&p 500 adding .6%. the market's blistering rebound this week may be running ahead of the economy right now. when does the economy catch up? our panel of pros including steve liesman and rick santelli hash it out next. also, ahead, president obama speaking out on sony's decision

to cancel the release of "the interview." >> i'm sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. >> a mistake. we'll get reaction of what the u.s. government should do next. plus, china, cuba, russia. none of the above. where would you rather invest in take part in the live poll at cnbc.com/vote, the results and pros weighing in after the break.

welcome back. keeping a tight eye on the s&p 500 two points of going out on a record high. we are slightly off the highs of the day. oil prices have moved a little bit higher. there's speculation as to why that's happening. might have knocked a little bit of wind out of equities. still a pretty song session building on a strong two before that and president obama defending his decision to take steps towards normalizing diplomatic relations with cuba today. john harwood at the white house with the latest. hi, john. >> reporter: hi, kelly. the decision to reverse the

50-year policy criticized by republicans and the democrats who said that the president did not secure democratic reforms in return for lifting the isolation imposed in 1961. but the president said at some point you simply have to change when a policy doesn't work. here's president obama. >> this is still a regime that represses its people. and as i said, when i made the announcement, i don't anticipate overnight changes. but what i know deep in my bones is that if you've done the same thing for 50 years and nothing's changed you should try something different if you want a different outcome. >> reporter: the president said there's speculation about whether or not he himself would visit cuba in the wake of this change. and he indicated that was not likely. he said there's no target for a

presidential visit before he leaves office. although he noted that i'm a young man and some point before it's all said and done i would expect to visit there but not probably as president. >> all right. john, a lot in that press conference, thank you very much. cuba getting attention at the long press conference. the island nation with china and russia the big three that stirred conflict and concern in the cold war and now all three countries becoming a hot topic with investors around here. many are wondering if they should get in on the action and invest overseas. is it a risky move? what do you think? where would you rather invest given the choice of cuba, china, russia or none of the above? go to cnbc.com/vote and we're joined by michelle caruso-cabrera from cuba and here at the new york stock exchange eunice yun and ben willis. michelle, first to you, are there already discussions about

more capital coming into cuba here? >> well, it's really hard to know, kaelly, because i can't access the internet all day long. i couldn't hear the president's speech because i can't see international television while i'm here. communications are incredibly difficult. if you want to invest in cuba, put aside the fact that even with these changes, under the still existing embargo, u.s. businesses cannot put foreign direct money into cuba. if you're from another part of the world and permitted to, it's really incredibly difficult to do so because the infrastructure here is lacking. they're still using equipment we got rid of the in the '70s and existed in the 1950s. to hire, it's through the cuban government. may have thaed small, tiny free market changes they don't call free market but updating the socialist model and still so many hurdles to actually running a business here and n a way that's profitable. >> wow. >> i don't see it pouring in here. >> makes you wonder, ben, with

the people buying into the cuba etf, the ticker is cuba, what they're buying into it. would you invest in cuba here if you could? >> absolutely. without a doubt. i'm probably only one on panel that remembers richard nixon going the china and people were taken aback. doesn't look like a bad move now. i would look at cuba same way. i have good friends over the years who the brothers that jumped off a boat in miami with a $5 bill and ransom of the largest fortune 500 countries. there's a work ethic of people in cuba and when the -- >> they're here in the u.s. >> yes, they are. and they're retired. >> and that's the system -- can they thrive in the cuba system of today? >> when the free market and what mr. obama did is the wisest choice, the free market will have the influence to force the change of the society that exists now, the same way it happens in china, the same way around the world. you have to give it a chance. am i going to put my retirement

money into cuba right now? no. it's risk capital if you get the chance. we don't have the chance yet. the movement in the cuba etf is premature and the fact of the matter is out of three discussing, i would be -- the hottest money in cuba right now. >> eunice talk about the experience of china and it's still barely open to foreign investment. >> well, yeah. it is one of the biggest recipients of direct foreign investment. >> we should say to -- stock market investment. >> right, right. but one of the interesting things is when i saw the news about cue barks i really felt like this is china 1980. this is a regime that is dictatorial, communist party. it's, you know, same time, closed economy trying to transition into an open economy and that's what we saw in china and one of the lessons i think cuba could potentially learn from china is china was able to capitalize on the fact all of this foreign money coming in. they didn't have the capital.

they took money from multinational companies that were able to really build up factories, create jobs, bring in the money that -- and the deep pockets that cuba -- sorry, that china didn't have at the time so that's something that i think cuba could learn or kick start that upcycle for rapid growth. >> kelly? >> michelle, before we go here, people picking cuba by a 2 to 1 ratio over the others but should you stick with u.s. companies that might have exposure, for example, over time or should you try to invest and if so how do you invest in cuba? >> well, right now, you can't as an american invest at all. despite the changes that have been made. and i would point out when nixon visited china mao was in power and not until many years in 1987 decided to open the economy. the cuban government doesn't want to open the economy. they tell that. i've spoken with members of the

government here who's like, no, no, no, no. we are still going to run this economy. this is still a socialist economy. when the walls do come down, the guest is right, it will be fabulous. we're not there yet. >> and, ben, from a moral, ethical point of view, to invest in a cuba, even in a china, russia, are you endorsing the status quo in those countries or believe that the capital is moving them towards more economic liberalism? >> use of capital in the country will drive it to where it's supposed to be. you're ethically -- it's a beneficial to their economy from an ethical point of view. you are not stealing from them. it's a situation same way of china. right now cuba doesn't have a hong kong. you have to remember that that's how this whole system was started using hong kong as a test market for the rest of the chinese nationalist system. russia, not too long ago, still

functioning and trying to create a socialist system around a capitalist system and what's winning is currency war without firing a shot and crushing vladimir putin. that's a same kind of methodology that will be used to take down the cuban regime as it exists now and won't be able to stop it. >> eunice, do you agree? >> one of the disadvantages i think of cuba is that just doesn't have the bodies. chinabodies. 1.3 billion people and why you see a lot of companies especially with consumer goods wanting to be in that market and willing to take on some of that risk. >> because it's just simply so attractive. >> too big. you can't ignore it. >> thank you. 27% of people, 26% picked cuba, michelle. 12% said china. 12% russia. 50% of the viewers said none of the above. thank you, everybody. thank you, michelle v. a great weekend to all of you. eunice, great to see you down

here again. 40 minutes before the closing bell. yeah. that made sense. up about 80 points on the dow. look at the s&p, sitting right about at a record close leer at 2075 and change and nasdaq adding 27 for its part again. some of those leading the rally today are the exxons, chevrons as oil made a little bit of a co comeback here. alibaba investors can sell some shares today. the pros debate if it's a must have stock for your portfolio when we come right back. stay with us.

welcome back. dominic chu is back at headquarters for us tracking the movers winding down this wild week, dom. >> let's say it. one point away from closing at a record and getting there is a nice move today and let's start with carmax, the nation's largest used car seller moving higher after posting a stronger than expected 16% rise in third quarter sales. those shares up by about 10%. juno therapeutic soaring after the cancer drug developer priced 11 million sharyls at $24. you can see there it's up at 36.73 right now. the finish line lower after the shoe store operator retailer posted weaker than expected third quarter earnings. shares down by 20%. and we're going to end with alibaba falling after agreement preventing shares held by insiders from being sold actually expired today and that lock-up sort to speak, those

shares ticking higher marginally by a third of a percent closinging out today. >> shrugging it off for the time being. thank you for now. should investors be making bettings on the giant of china. betting against alibaba is plain madness here? nicole sinclair joins us a bit weary and thinks there are still some risks in the name, andrew, first to you, make the case for alibaba from here. >> yeah. i would say looking to the future for alibaba i would say let's look at mobile. the internet in china is very mobile. the internet in africa is very mobile. and on the numbers, these guys are crushing it. they had i think 54% of all the paypal-type mobile payments done on mobile phones this year. the year before that, 22%. a huge lift. i think 188 million mobile users in june. september was 217 million.

on mobile they're crushing it. a good indication of the future. >> nicole, to what extent is it priced into the name already? >> no question that alibaba is a huge winner, so much opportunity. the sell side analyst, you have to be weary of some of the potential risks near term. 8 million shares come together and 400-some coming in march. 1.6 billion next september. so i think that's important to remind ourselves when we have this influx of supply. i also think that we are having revenue acceleration right now and large numbers and want to be weary of that. margins in question, as well. could margins come off a bit. 50% came in last quarter and investors are going to be willing to give alibaba a break for now but i think that especially you have a long-term positive view and need to be

weary of near-term slip-ups that could be opportunities for more shares over the long term. >> in other words, if you like the name, wait for a pullback out of 10%, 15% or 20%. >> we are at 110 right now. that's not cheap. we are getting toward the end of the year. we have a catalyst coming. we'll see how the company performs but if you have a long-term view, you have to take it in stride. >> andrew, do you think perhaps risks around the first couple of earnings periods are there? something investors in this name now thinking of getting in this name should be cognizant of? >> i view it as a bet on alibaba as a bet on china and the internet outside of the united states. i think that this company's very well positioned to execute in countries like malaysia, places outside of the united states. war chest of $25 billion in a currency of $200 billion plus to buy companies in the u.s., again, i just see the growth is

there. killing it on mobile. >> nicole? >> moving in markets outside the united states. there's a big internet outside the usa. >> there's no question china's a huge opportunity. that is absolutely the bull case. china's only country supporting north korea and there will be pressure on china there. and any china data negative will impocket the stock that is are levered toward china and not questioning the long-term large opportunity in china but pay attention to the risks. >> andrew, before you go, where do you think alibaba could be trading here? how much upside? >> i don't want to call a number but i would say that last time i was on the show talking about alibaba the internet market was overtook the u.s. internet market. now the chinese market is bigger than the u.s. it's the number one economy and -- >> let's not start -- we have

another debate of purchasing power parody. i take your point that the numbers will keep growing and a catalyst. thank you, andrew. nicole, more mshled here. thank you for being here. we have half an hour until the close now and been a strong week on wall street. one of the strongest we have had this year and despite a gain of more than 400 points on the dow yesterday, we are looking to add 85 here heading into the clouds and half of 1%. s&p 500 having a stronger day up 0.7% and adding 14 points and closes at this level of 2076 it will be a new record high. up next, are stocks moving way too fast ahead of the economy and does the economy have a hope of catching up here? the pros weighing in for what promises to be a spirited discussion. and president obama isn't pulling punches with north korea and the sony hack. in his news conference last hour he said sony made a mistake pulling the controversial film

"the interview" after threats of hackers. we'll have the latest details on this move when we come back. ♪

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rally. two points above where it needs to close for it to be a new record high. by the way, the 50th record high this year. averaging almost one a week. up three quarters of 1%. nasdaq up about 30 points. last week stocks selling off, cnbc contributor made a bold prediction right here on "the closing bell." >> i got a feeling sitting here next week talking about the markets moving right back towards the all-time highs. if you have noticed the quarterly expirations, each one over the course of the year made a new all-time high. it's not a coincidence. >> all right. jackie, we are here to let you take a victory lap. jack, along with our senior economics reporter steve liesman and thinks it may be time to reassess the rallies we have seen and rick santelli to round out the discussion. jack, is this all about the expiration today? >> well, you know what?

you can give a lot of reasons for it. i heard people talking about a janet yellen rally. a strong dollar rally. a republican victory in november rally. the bottom line is this. equities are good. they're not overvalued. multiple is digestible. corporate america has a strong balance sheet. you couple that with a low interest rate scenario and that's a bullish scenario. not everyone is as smart as you, rick. and out of the stock market and another reason that stocks keep going up because it's so disrespected. all right? as long as it stays that way it keeps going. >> rick, what would you assess the reason for the rally? all janet yellen or fundamentals and technical supporters here, as well? >> first of all, let's allow jack his lap. it doesn't matter why it's up. he said it would be up.

i personally think about 95% janet yellen and 5% option expiration and definitely always has an impact. much of the time in a bull market the hedges are you don't have a bull market so it ends up as you reverse those to trend direction. i remember the years where the s&p moving down. protection to the upside and exact opposite when everybody settled up with the market and downward pressure so good call by jack. as far as interest rates, you still have the thank the boon for that. once again, said it a million times, if you want to understand about 40% of what's moving 10s you have to consider the relationship, how many basis points, i say 150. and it gives you very good clues as to what the pull down in yields were today pushing prices up. it was the boon settling at the same price it did tuesday which is their all-time low at 59 basis points. >> i ask, steve, because i guess the question here even suitable

to pose it this way is a good or bad stock market rally? >> i thought the better jack quote is one gave after the fed meeting which is that the market is up because it should have never gone down and that's the issue of the fundamentals. >> that's right. >> what is interesting here is it seems to me, look. usually the market in one way or another is leading the way of where the fundamentals are going and sometimes yawn when the fundamentals come in the way the market predicted and this time it's different in the sense that the market is chasing the fundamentals. it got distracted with an oil story. and the issue of that oil weakness being one that was the thing that was going to determine price and growth in the u.s. and around the world. i think if yellen did anything, which i don't think she did very much, she maybe redirected us away from that fear that oil was going to bring down the -- oil prices to bring down the entire economy. i wouldn't have made any money on the rally because i wouldn't have sold anything before. i think we are talking about an economy that probably long run

rate is running 2.5% to 3%, a bit better than we were running and i feel pretty good that 2015 is a year when we start to see wage growth come down to the middle class and finally feeling the effects of this recovery. >> steve, let me interrupt. there's an alternative universe here. okay? that said that the market believes the data, believes in the correlations between 0 interest rate policy and current spat of data is incorrect and thought not current fmoc market normalize rates and then saw yellen listen to the press conference and thought, hey, why would we worry? doesn't sound like she's convincing. that's the way they described it down here. >> i think they're making a mistake, rick. >> it doesn't matter if they are not because -- >> yes, it does. >> the fed didn't say we're wrong. they have come out -- >> one at a time. >> what's the mistake, steve? >> if it's a mistake, hit it as an investor.

simple. because i think the fed is very clear and all i can do is take it from the commentary i hear. >> clear as mud. >> and surveys we do. >> come on, steve. listen. i love surveys but come on. you can't run an economy with surveys. when you're at zero interest rate policy. >> rick! >> hang on. jack, get in here. >> you run -- >> very simple process. >> you run an economy and market by looking at companies and look at what they're earning and you have got corporate america making money, rick. all right? >> exactly! thank god for zero interest rates! whoo! >> you know what? the company that is are making money could not care less the interest rates are. >> we'll see. we will see in 2016 when they tighten. >> rich, rick. they're sitting on more money than ever before. >> and they -- >> bond traders. >> why don't they normalize rates? >> this is an equity market looking at a low-rate market and

low inflation. corporations making money. the best of all possible worlds. >> i have no problem with that. i love it. >> steve, are there risks that you see hidden in the system because of the support of the policy and what are the risks that the fed itself talks about? >> i think there are, kelly. good time after a strong rally like that for people to think about what those risks are and assessment that they have. there's three of them to come up with. the idea of global weakness. i think when the market rallies 700 points in a couple of days and saying that tidal wave of weakness of europe and possibly of asia, as well, the u.s. will withstand that. deeper problems than benefits and the markets looked through that and i think the third thing is this issue of weaker usda that. i don't think the u.s. has to perform 3% or 4% in order to justify these levels but i think it does have to be 2.5% to 3%. 2% gdp numbers, start reporting sub-200,000 job growth the market feels like it's out over

its heels. >> rick, would you admit the market is fueled or built on a foundation of an improving economy? that that much at least we know to be the case or do you disagree? >> kelly, what country are we in right now? >> united states of america. >> how many years after a recession is it? >> about six. >> would you expect anything less than the discussion to be having is how much better off we would be if the programs of dotd-frank to energy and keystone, the president and keystone and fracking in that infantile it doesn't mean anything manner and look what it's done. you look at 5 points ago and fracking -- >> if this is all the financial industry is underperformed and still doing all right. the energy price is at $100, $50. there are always problems and progress isn't what we'd like to see is saw payroll number of

121,000. >> it is america. we grow. despite what the politicians do and the federal reserve does and to that i agree with you. just make sure who you afford the positive accolades to. >> yeah. >> it is america. not the people running it. >> all right. rick, we'll let you accept it on behalf of the people today. jack, steve liesman, thank you. good to see you v. a great weekend. pick it up next week. 15 minutes until the close. 76 points on the dow. 17, 854 the level there. still about 100 points off the record closing high and not the case for the s&p 500 and closing here would be the 50th record close of the year. the nasdaq with 31. if you thought it was a hot year for ipos, wait until you see what the new year could bring. we have a preview. stay tuned.

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for that moment, where right place meets right time. and when i find it- i go for it. (announcer) at scottrade, we share your passion for trading. that's why we give you the edge, with innovative charting and trading features, plus powerful mobile apps so you're always connected, wherever you are. because at scottrade, our passion is to power yours. welcome back. this year will go down in the record books as the best year nor initial public offerings since that banner year of 2000 and next year could be even bigger. bob pisani zwrojoins us.

>> you get to see on the floor new companies coming into existence and 2014 was just a terrific year. i had a lot of fun down here. let's just show you the numbers. the 275 ipos in 2014. most since 2000. 85 billion raised. a quarter of it was one company, biggest ipo ever, alibaba. 22 billion. a quarter of all the money raised this year. 2015, trying to name a few names here. company that is people are talking about or made indication. uber, pinterest, yodle, palantir, airbnb, box, spotify and others floating around for a while now. first data, electronic payment processor, roku shlg, univision ferrari is out there, too. that's a spinoff of chrysler. we are ending the year with a

bang. juno therapeutics, they love cancer treatments this year. i covered dozens of bio teches in this area. listen to this. 11 million shares at 24 and the price talk earlier 15 to 18 but they priced at 24. $36 right now. this is a bit of a misprice but up 50%. this may be the best ipo first-day trade. >> i don't understand what replaces alibaba? do you think 2015 we can top it or need a company of that size to do it. those 15 or 20 companies, you had them up collectively, there's a number of companies that 5, 6, 7, 8 billion dollars and we could have a potential banner year next year. >> bob pisani having fun on the floor. thank you. >> the dow off the highs. 57 points. still good enough.

s&p at 2074 and need 2075.37 if we want to go out on, yes, the 50th record high of the year. the nasdaq adding about .6%. anything can happen in the final moments of the trading day here and right to the close on the rebalancing day coming up. president obama taking a hard stance on sony and the decision to pull the film "the interview." he said he wished the company wasn't intimidated by threats and promised to respond to north korea's actions. we have that story later. also ahead, sodastream shares down about 60% this year. the ceo speaks with us about pumping new life into the home soda machine maker. stay tuned. protecting my future. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them.

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welcome back. seeing if the s&p can go out on the 50th record close of the year. about 2 points below that level. the dow adding about 51. joining me now is david darst and donald mcdonald. david, can you believe this snapback? what do you make of it? >> last year, you're on top of this like nobody, last year, the market in december was up over

5%. i'm talking about the dow jones and then don't forget last year in january with the very cold winter it was down over 5%. so this is an end of year relief santa claus rally. you want to get ready to position yourself and be very careful watching china, watch oil. you want to watch greece and europe. you want to watch ukraine and venezuela. both of those financially, kelly, are things that could upset the market. so looks good. profits. u.s. the final thing to watch, kelly, is u.s. dollar, how's that going to affect the profits of the multinationals bringing it home in the weaker currencies? surprised how strong the dollar is. >> exactly. david, i'm glad you brought it up. having one of the strongest levels of several years. larry, how's that going to affect the market next year? headwind, potentially? >> that's the whole thing, kelly. the fed is trapped because if they become aggressive and

exiting 0 interest rate policy in the next quarter of next year, the dollar will strengthen and put more pressure on oil. there's $3 trillion of global debt because of six years of zero interest rate policy tied to energy and that's sovereign and corporates so you want to be very careful of companies exposed to the oil sector. 35% of cap x in the s&p this year is tied to oil. that's up from 10% ten years ago so this is a sector you have to watch out for. >> that's a point. by the way, art cashin saying we're paired off for the close and not a factor heading in and losing some steam, though, on the dow. stay right there. we'll be right back with the closing countdown and after the bell have stocks decoupled from the oil market or not in the pros about will bat it around. keep it right here. they're still after me. get to the terminal across town. are all the green lights you?

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quarter. at about -- in the mid-50s just around these levels and then starting to lift. that having been said, many of the oil analysts, i know very few who were calling for it to fall the way it has this year. it's going to be very much the supply to handle better. the unknown to me is the demand side of it. that's the thing to unsettled markets ten days ago, a week ago when you saw the iea, opec, you saw these energy agencies saying that the demand is slipping. >> right. >> i think -- i personally believe that china will recover and their demand will pick up and help tighten the oil market. libya losing 350,000 barrels a day from terrorists stomping out an export terminal. >> you mentioned the risks. we are in a market day where exxon and chevron are the

biggest gainers on the dow and people sugare confident? >> we told clients on monday is that when you get these bear market rallies from high levels of capitulation and that's what we have had. etfs in the energy space, these are bear market rallies and look at, kelly, the coal names in a bear market for about three years. the oil names in a bear market for three months. so i think going into 2015 the first quarter i think the coal names could be the place to be. >> try to catch a falling knife. >> that's what people are saying. how do you know if it's falling or not? >> you want to basically see everybody start to get very, very bearish on it. >> which they are. >> might be another $5 or $10 down from here. listen to saudi arabia. listen to saudi arabia. that's the key. >> another $5 or $10 lower,

larry? >> i think a base of 45 and then stabilize next year and going down to touch 45 in the next 6 months. >> thank you, gentlemen! heading into with the closing bell. third time's the charm on this friday afternoon. welcome to "the closing bell," everybody. i'm kelly evans. here's the session on wall street. after back the back gains and some of the strongest in years for the major indexes, we are still seeing green arrows today. off the highs of the session, though. earlier last hour, the dow up 93 at the high. looks like a gain of 28. s&p 500, not going to do it. not going to close in record territory which it needed to close at about 2075 to achieve. only 9 points here. closing at about 2070. nasdaq up 16 points for its

part. talk about it now with the panel. joining me today, chris whalen, contributor natalie morris and jon fortt and "fast money" trader brian kelly. brian, what amounted for the loss of momentum into the close do you think? >> options expiration obviously today. i don't read a lot into either a big update or a big down day with the cross currents. see what happens on monday. i thought it was interesting after the oil markets closed, the pits closed, saw a big ramp in oil and that potentially has ramifications for monday if it continues. >> we did see a move higher there, chris. what do you make of it? is it just a technical bounce? is it a sign we have put in the bottom? >> i don't think we know about oil prices per se. clearly the stocks were oversold and panic selling in the bonds in high yield. those spreads starting to come

in and good news and getting out of danger territory and when that 30 and 10-year spread versus high yield is too wide and that's a bad sign. it even suggests that the fed might have to change policy so, you know, we'll see. your earlier guests were saying, oil will stabilize in the 60s simply because of demand. we know about the supply problem. and i'm really skeptical about the china story, too. they're pulling credit. credit drives demand in china so i think we are looking at pretty stable flat demand next year. >> jon? ideas here on seeing strength in the market lately. >> well, i'm taking a look as you mentioned bigger picture and the week and which tech companies, i watch tech, were up the most. red hat up 17% this week. oracle 15%. vm ware and sales force 9%. on the downside is gopro down 5% just today. 10% for the week. other consumer names were down.

so i think we are seeing an interesting surge in enterprise. part of that due to red hat and oracle's outperformance and a broader story. >> what is it? >> i think certain companies have some strength in north america in particular. which is doing well as emerging markets are weaker but oracle in itself i think is diversified enough that despite the fact of emerging markets or overseas business that isn't as strong and currency headwinds, still making a transition to the cloud quickly enough that it's not totally disrupted as people thought and i think you will see that story line. >> natalie, you agree? >> yeah, i do. it is an interesting time now of tech companies behaving rationally and geopolitical issues moving non-tech companies and hard to know what the geopolitical nature of this kind of perversion of the market is going to have on consumer behavior. what do you think of that? >> well, look. people are saying we are going to talk about this later in the show that we're going to see some benefit from the, you know,

oil prices, clearly. right? but i think in terms of investors, there's two stories. large cap energy stories sold off reflexively with the big move in energy and then the smaller emerging companies, shale company that is have credit problems which are another matter entirely. i think you will see the majors recover. i don't think -- >> we are seeinging it already today. >> smaller firms in the leveraged loan market and the focus of a lot of more aggressive lending i think they have to work this out. >> we have been talking a lot about how this will trickle down to consumer behavior. will people buy bigger cars and drive more and adjust back. >> you know, it's like airlines. i don't think airlines are going to stop buying fuel efficient aircraft because oil prices come down but put the money in the pocket and consumers -- >> f-150? >> great vehicle. i think people buy it because it uses less fuel and lower costs. >> yeah. >> i think in a lot of ways

businesses, consumers have been suffering because cost of living still goes up. right? >> something else is co commoditized items. apple shown that the mode of software doing better. same thing with oracle. not leveraged to infrastructure as a service. storage. . they're pushing things like platforms and java and other things to get margin and look who's really got leverage in the way they're doing r&d and the property to get the profit and drive sales in this market. >> let's get another perspective here from "shark tank" investor extraordinaire kevin o'leary joining us. what do you make of it? >> i'm sort of looking at 2015 with two themes, two options in which to approach investing in

equities. one is to go into try to pick the bottom on the energy sector. 18% to 20% of the s&p and decide when to catch that falling knife and there's lots of optimism with the spike in oil maybe it's 60. i prnlly think in january it will end up in the mid-50s which i like. basically 50% from the highs. so here's the other option. >> why? >> do you mean you like oil at that level or like -- >> i like oil at that level. no, no. because i'm going to just avoid the oil story and not try to pick the bottom or invest in the 18% of the s&p. i'm going to forget about it for 2015 and going to go into to the other nine sectors of the s&p where we have had a huge response and i'm giving credit to this fantastic couple of days because people are starting to figure out that the lower oil costs is fuel of upside to every other sector and go long, more equities. i'm going to stay out of energy. >> one headwind to bring up and curious to get your take, kevin,

and then everybody's here, what about the strong u.s. dollar? what kind of impact will that you have? we are not talking about relative strength. this could be, you know, a real period of sustained dollar appreciation against a lot of other countries including canada. >> i agree with that and taken the toll. the canadian dollar is down to to 85 cents. ka nad yanls lost almost 25% of their value. that is the power of productivity. king dollar lets american companies that i own go and buy technology and services with a powerful currency. our dollar is the actual stock of america. i want it high. i'm a bull on a high dollar price lets my companies be powerful in being able to buy in productivit productivity. i'm all right with that. >> brian kelly, do you agree? >> in the short run, sure. like the oil price, though, there's a point when the strong dollar is too much.

we don't know where that is. i would suggest u.s. dollar-japanese yen, 1.25 is too much to handle and then i get concerned. i think real short term, 60 to 90 days there's a risk that the dollar comes in and the dollar's had a tremendous run. no reason why the dollar couldn't sell off and then be a buyer. >> chris? >> thing is, you know, lower oil prices are good for the united states. but i don't think it's good for the rest of the world because commodity prices generally are off and i think emerging market story, a comment out today on the web that was talking about this. that's going to lower overall global growth and be concerned about that because really the u.s. is looking like the only part of the world where we do have solid growth and by solid i mean somewhere between 2% and 3%. people talk about china but i'm a big skeptic of the statistics there. >> jon? >> i wonder if the strong dollar is a problem later on next year and emerging markets pick up and the companies i cover i notice

they have got all the currency headwinds and growth largely in north america. right? and so it doesn't matter as much right now because the dollar is strong, the growth is here. but in the periods where you have seen growth in emerging markets and the dollar being strong then they're having trouble showing the amount of growth. >> what's the catalyst for growth in the emerging markets? >> i don't know. >> commodity is flat. >> later on next year if it happens because i don't know the catalyst. >> hey, brian, you have any ideas before we go? >> i would think, you know, strong dollar's the second half of the year story without a doubt and that's the question of how strong we get at that point and more importantly what the reason for that strong dollar is. if the economy's cooking along and rates are going up and the fed's hiking rates, hey, fantastic. let the dollar go strong and if it's a flight to quality, a devaluation of the chinese and could come next year then i would be concerned. >> final word to you, kevin. curious, canada so strong and such a strong source of dollars

in the u.s. and real estate investments and web sides about canadians in phoenix and whatnot. what happens here now that the currency fallen so precipitously and oil looks like it's settling in around these levels? >> canada's basically three provinces, alberta, slaughtered by lower oil prices, ontario is a manufacturing base and quebec. two out of three benefit from the lower canadian dollar exporting to you, kelly, a much lower price and many enjoying this collapse in the canadian dollar and very, very competitive. it's not all bad news story and the canadian dollar in two days decoupled from oil prices and decided it's not going down anymore and settles in at 85 cents, not a bad compromise but it's a bad road and economy based all around resources. and any time it's continues to slide. i think january will see a new $55 handle on oil.

i'm sorry that's where it's going. >> thank you. we'll keep you for the next discussion. brian kelly, thank you. catch him coming up with the rest of the crew on "fast money" at 5:00 giving their top trades into year end. ahead here, crude oil is making a big comeback today. have we seen a bottom in prices or will the commodity continue to get crushed? president obama blasting sony's decision not to release "the interview" in theaters after threats of cyber attackers. we have a report of d.c. and details. ♪ my baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. ♪ ♪ my baby drove up in a brand new cadillac. ♪ ♪ look here, daddy, i'm never coming back... ♪ discover the new spirit of cadillac and the best offers of the season.

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welcome back. what's happening, mary? >> update to a report of staples issued on october 21st and said a possible data breach and now confirming that data breach which took place between the months of july and august of 2014. the company said that malware in the stores and as a result various customer data including cardholder names, expiration

dates and codes were accessed by the malware affecting 1.16 million cards. now, staples says it will offer free identification services and monitoring and et cetera to customers impacted by that and stock down in the after hours on this news confirm iing of octob 21st, the subject of a possible data breach and confirming that did happen. back the you. >> thank you. jon, another day and another data breach. >> yeah. this reminds me of what the fbi said in their statement of sony and within a week or so sony invited them in and made public that the ham happened and very important to do. this is concerning. now that it's front of mind to let consumers know. >> that's exact lit it and

reminding seeing banks after target saying that they're liable. do banks assume the costs getting the cards and notifications that something happened. >> of course. >> every single time, we spoke to the lawyer involved and said not much legal precedent here. >> and look, businesses are under attack every day. it is an optional risk and widespread and almost not even news anymore and every day. >> we need a standard to say, you must let people know within a reasonable amount of time or else your identity is at risk an tempted to make that was easy joke but i won't. >> that was there for the taking. >> breach, first thing is kill your card. >> right. we have learned this. >> vendors have to tell the

financial institution we have a breach and kill your card. >> we'll move on for now. following that story can shares down, the recent plunge sent the average price for a gal listen of gasoline below $2.50 for the first time 5 years. but is cheaper gas reinvigorating the housing market? diana olick has a look for us. what did you find? >> reporter: kelly, the short answer is, no. folks here in maryland at comp stockholms say the flight from the exurbs is about social change and a migration to urban cores but they are seeing a change in their buyer traffic here in the suburbs of d.c. thanks to that drop in gas prices. >> people are feeling far more comfortable with that extra money in their pocketbook and, yes, our traffic has been very high and sales are quite good, especially in the typically slow december season. >> reporter: so how much extra

money is it really? deutsche banc ran the numbers with gas prices down 23%, they estimate that adds about 100 bucks in monthly income to the average american. that translates into a 11% boost in purchasing power on a starter home. not to mention mortgage rates have fallen in response to lower oil prices and adds more purchasing power. for the building materials, the smaller builders like comstock, they don't expect it to trickle down to them and bigger builders say if gas prices stay low for a long time, they will have more power to negotiate lower prices. kelly? >> that's a point, diana. thank you very much. diana olick. for more, dennis gartman joins me now. the panel, as well, with kevin o'leary. dennis, a lot of people will say that the drop in oil prices is positive reverberations and maybe not so fast. i guess the first question is,

does oil stay down at these levels? what is your latest thinking on this? >> i think probably oil does stay down here and might go a tad lower. i've been very bearish with the manner of the term structure moving. but all of a sudden in the past couple of days the term structure's beginning to move the other direction. i think the time for being overtly bearish of crude oil is probably past. think the time for bullish of crude oil lies a long way into the future. i'd like to think that crude oil will stabilize down here and can't imagine that people go out and rush out and buy a new house with the fact of crude oil prices fallen. but i bet they do go out and buy a bit more as far as christmas presents are concerned and going to happen so let's just say it's been a great thing for the economy, no ifs, ands or buts about it and not seeing a great good deal lower on oil prices are here. the vast majority of the move

probably well behind us. >> chris? >> dennis, what was driving the change and so much latency in the market. was it the changes in the estimates of demand? you know, it kind of reminds me of sometimes treasury prices will stick around a number for a while and then move a lot. what drove this change over the last four months? >> i think there were a number of things. one, clearly, we see demand weakened a bit. obviously, we have seen supply is increased a good deal. we are seeing the usage, the better use of technology in the united states ability to get more gas mileage, technology to drive the amount of energy required to drive a dollar's worth of gdp. the fact that you had for a while the libya coming back on the market. a couple of the other areas especially out of the curd stan coming back to the market being able to move crude oil through the pipelines there out through iraq, turkey and the

mediterranean and a lot of things incumbent and people say it's just demand or supply, i think it's too simple. this is complicated. >> i want your take and kevin's, as well. what impact because we heard the president today, would approving the keystone xl pipeline have? >> amazing response. i think it is exactly what needs to be done. think i the president belittled it, den grading it as if it increases jobs by i think 35 jobs in the long run. that's utter and complete nonsense. it can only be beneficial to us and to our canadian friends in the north. >> kevin? >> i think ultimately it won't get approved during obama's lame duck period and wait until the new incumbent, whoever that is going to be, looks at it. there's no upside to driving it through. towards his legacy. he's worried about other things and assume it's dead meat for

two years. >> well, the latest -- >> makes a lot of sense. >> there's a lot of people saying that one of the things to happen out of the new congress is the passing of keystone xl and a rare areas where democrats may vote in favor for it once it's tabled. do you think, kevin, the president then if he signs it because it's -- there's popular support for it, you know, that this becomes law? what kind of impact does that have then on oil next year do you think? >> i don't see that. i don't see that coming. what i see is republican base that wants to gate president in there and wants to avoid this issue. there's enough people upset about this thing even though it's misguided concern. i think it's just stays dead for two years and what the canadians do over this is move their pipelines east and west so they can sell to asia and europe eventually. they're kind of indifferent. the end of the day they want to see the spread tighten on the oil sands oil. they're actually getting 20% less than tweet crude anywhere else landlocked and build pipelines and east and west.

eventually, and maybe south if eventually a president says yes in the united states. >> kevin, thank you. dennis, thanks, as well. love getting your latest thoughts on oil prices here. we have a news alert on walgreens and mary thompson. >> they're walking away from the nyse. it is going to be filing to list shares of the company once it merges with alliance boots to trade on the nasdaq. currently trading under wag at the new york stock exchange. it will file to trade under the symbol wba on the nasdaq and happening after it completes the merger with alliance boost and it's the country's largest pharmacy chain. back the you. >> all right. thank you. sony is facing tremendous backlash of washington and hollywood after canceling the release of "the interview" around an assassination attempt of north korean leader. president obama addressed the issue in the last news conference of the year and bring

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you don't need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. because we do. we're exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. because boiling an egg... isn't as simple as just boiling an egg. life takes energy. energy lives here. welcome back. breaking news on sony with julia boorstin. julia? >> that's right. the ceo responding to the president's comments in which he said that he thought it was a

mistake for sony to cancel the december 25th release of "the interview" and wished that sony called him. here's what the ceo said in an interview for this evening. >> i think, actually, the unfortunate part is in this instance the president, the press and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened. the movie theaters came to us, one by one, over the course of a very short period of time. we were completely surprised by it. and announced that they would not carry the movie. at that point in time, we had no alternative but to not proceed with the release on the 25th of december. and that's all we did. >> so you have not caved in your view? >> we have not caved. we have not given in. we have persevered and we have not backed down. we have -- we have always had every desire to have the american public see this movie.

>> now, he stressed several t m times they want to get it out to the american public and they don't own the pipes but he said not one major distributor said to distribute it. that's the question of would a netflix or youtube put it out there? this is different than what we heard several days ago, we heard that there was no release planned. now it sounds like they're looking for the potential to do that but that would require a cable company or an internet content company to decide to release the film since sony does not own the pipes. back over to you. >> that's right. thank you very much. julia boorstin with the latest there. let's get more on the white house' rea x ction this afterno. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. one of the story lines we'll want to follow here is what exactly was the contact between sony and the administration before the decision to pull the movie?

sony there clearly saying they had no choice. the question is what advice did the administration give them behind the scenes about this if any? the president said sony made a mistake here and said this. take a listen. >> i wish they had spoken to me first. i would have told them do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks. >> reporter: so one of the questions here, kelly, is going to be whether or not they did speak to the president or somebody on his team before they made this decision or whether sony did this kind of unilaterally on their own. the other point of contrast here today is fascinating and that's between the fbi which earlier in the day was praising sony as a great partner in this investigation and the president himself who really criticized strongly sony from the white house podium. that distinction probably bears on the fact that the fbi really needs to be joined at the hip here with sony in this investigation and the fbi really

at pains to encourage other companies to come forward, disclose the cyber-attacks and work with the federal government here. now we are seeing a little bit of a split between the fbi and the white house and the white house and sony. it's fascinating, kelly. >> that's for sure. thank you. for more on the president's comments and how sony should have handled this hack, let's bring in representative brad sherman on the committee of foreign affairs and represents california's 30th congressional district with the homes of cbs and stud yos and several television executives. thank you for being here. was this the right part on sony's part first of all and secondly what role should the u.s. play effectively when a corporate, one of our companies is threatened? >> well, i think that exactly what happens christmas day is not that important. when's important is that this movie be seen by the american people, that the movie theater owners step forward, that sony

steps forward, that local and national law enforcement step forward. and that we demonstrate to the world that we'll go to see the movie. we are not going to be deprived of what's good or bad movie just because of threats from north korea. >> i want to bring in the panel in a second, congressman, but how should the public get to the public? you heard what sony said. executives said they were told to be quite cautious, they heard concern of law enforcement officials themselves. so in other words, if there's a public american duty to show the film, what kind of resources should we marshal to show this film? >> we should marshal the resources necessary so that people feel safe taking their families to see this movie at movie theaters and then when it's appropriate we should marshal whatever security is necessary so that cable companies can distribute it. it should reach the public through the pipes just perhaps a

month later than was planled. although you couldn't ask for more intense publicity campaign before you opened up a movie. the key thing is america needs to be free to see this movie. it's the government's role to provide the additional security so people feel safe and it's the role of these -- of corporations, not just sony but the theaters, to step forward and say, this might not be short term profit max mization but as patriotic parts of the world we're going to stand up to this kind of threat, this kind of terrorism. >> jon fortt? >> who would have thought the people to bring washington together after the midterms is seth rogan and james franco. when's interesting here is that the head of sony pictures is coming out after the president's statement saying we haven't had anybody come out and offer to stream this. well, normally, there would be no offer to stream it. this close to a release. so my question is, have apple

and google said they won't do and sony knocking on the door? with comments of him out now, the conversations are going to take place. i'm concerned about this. we don't own the pipes statement because have you ever heard of playstation network? sony? you do own some pipes. how about your own pipes? >> crackle. >> yeah. are they afraid if they do this it breaks the traditional distrue bugs mod snell. >> chris? >> as i said last time i was here, i think sony did this whole thing. nobody would have gone to see it. >> you think this is staged? >> no. i'm kidding. the other thing is, sore slerio why did they say no? afraid of security issues. we are making fun of one of the most irrational dictators in the world. we should cut them off. >> most of them are not on the internet. >> no. they're hackers. >> they're on the internet. >> chris, what is the point about the movie theaters? a rational business decision or

no? >> what caused them to say no? afraid? >> they were threatened. >> a security concern? >> are you aware of a credible threat and does that matter for their decision here? >> i think they may have responded to the public's concern. not only those people going to see this movie but their metroplexes so they don't want to see their entire facility adversely impacted but when we can calm down, take a deep breath, recognize that north korea does a lot of things but they never attack americans on american soil, especially when they're now deprived of plausible deniblt. >> are you say they have never or would never? what did you say about north korea? >> they have never and i think that they wouldn't, especially if china understands that we hold them responsible for their sponsorship of this rogue regime. so i think that it will take us a few weeks. we'll need to get organized but

we'll be able to see this movie. we'll be able to get local law enforcement as involved as they need to be. and the fact that they started off calling themselves guardians of peace and so the north korean government had plausible deniability. the fbi pointed the clear finger at the north korean government. they don't have plausible deniability. if anything happens in the united states, it is the north korean government and that is hitting americans on american soil. the last outfit that did that was mr. bin laden and he is on the bottom of the indian ocean. not hearing from the constituents and not many people have called my office or sent me an e-mail about this. >> they might be concerned about what's in those e-mail messages going forward. >> yeah. >> i can guarantee you my constituents, north korean

government is not reading the e-mails you send to me and you should feel free to express your opinion. >> an you'll be hosting a private screening of "the interview" in your home on christmas day, won't you? >> i think that sony should make it available to congress and i think we would want to screen it right there in the rayburn building across the street from the capitol. >> all right. >> and i think that's a good idea. >> there's an idea. tabled by our congressman friend joining us now for sony now to respond to. thank you so much for being here this afternoon. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. north korea one of the many foreign affairs concerns on president obama's plate today. how's handling the sony attack and relations with cuba and fall yac fallout of russia? chuck todd joins us. sodastream with a partnership of pepsi. had they had any takeover talks? dan burnbalm joining us when we come right back.

welcome back. there you see it. final days of the holiday shopping season and staple of the gift giving last time around and sodastream, the company making moves recently into the health arena to turn around the

ailing share price. stock's down 62% this year and the ceo dan birnbaum with a look at the holiday season. when's up your sleeve, dan? welcome! >> hi. how are you doing? what's up our sleeve? well, americans want to drink more water and we are here to help them do just that. research of a global research agency discovered that homes that have a sodastream in the home people drink about three glasses more of water every single day. that's 43% more. that is exciting. that's a discovery that doctors will be talking about and nutritionists and sport trainers and that's where we are positioning. >> do you think it's hard to speculate on your own company share price and going on for sometime. do you have a place in this space now that they realize the benefits or been one big fad and that perhaps we are coming off its popularity? >> no.

i think sodastream is misinterpreted by the street. that's okay. it's an international company in 45 countries of the world. 85% of the business is outside of the u.s. but yet, analysts or investor's going to go into a store into walmart and decide if we're hot or cold. sodastream on fire. we have a six-year of 35%. we had a disappointing third quarter this year and reporting $125 million of revenue. that's more than we did in an entire year of 2007 and this company is on fire. we missed the expectations by a little bit but that says nothing about the potential and how hot this company is right now all over the world. >> you know, this is natalie morris, panelist. i could not have survived by pregnancies without sodastream because i lived on the carbon e carbonated water getting morning sickness and i can vouch that

you could drink more water with it but the ceo of pepsi said that it doesn't actually really taste like the consumer grade soda so are you seeing consumers buying this and revert to the can because they think it's not the same? we know that coke and pepsi and cola drinkers are very particular of the taste of their co cola. >> well, we are a water company and our job is to help americans drink more wert and sparkling water and a platform for other brands. we work with ocean spray and v8 splash and kool-aid and the comments misinterpreted. i spoke to her people and i read the transcript of the comments. what she said was that one cannot expect a homemade version of a pepsi to taste identical to the one that you would get out of a can and we never intended it to be so. developing the pepsi product it was intended to be different.

it's a completely different level of experience and excitement that you would get from popping a can. and that's okay. it's naturally sweetened. fewer calories. a wonderful product. that was her point. >> dan, i hate to bring up a touchy issue but you're an israeli company manufacturing base in the west bank. harvard university dining services being an example, they're getting rid of the sodastreams and board room you have to decide whether to move the company or not. is it up for negotiation? >> well, let's distinguish of an israeli company and we have a factory located in the west bank. disputed west bank. recently we announced the growth plan and we did that about a month ago and part of it is consolidati consolidation. we have six facilities and grown so much that we have really had to expand with other factories and co-packers and now building a wonderful state of the art facility in non-disputed area in

israel, south of tel aviv and moving production lines to that facility. and that's happening so we'll no longer have this facility in the west bank, we're exiting that in the course of next year and harvard university made a poor decision. hopefully they correct it. they're misinformed and want to send the palestinians into unemployment faster than i need to do that. i can't see how it promotes human rights or peace. >> understood. we have to go. will any of the factories be in disputed territories when the moves are completed? >> could you repeat the question please? >> will any of your factory bs in disputes territories once the moves you mentioned are completed? >> no. all of our factories in israel are consolidating into a particular facility next to a village and employment to the communities that desperately need it and i might also tell you that the factory that we will be leaving is in an area which is not -- which everyone recognizes will remain within

the area of the state of israel even after a palestinian state established. there was a talk about that today in the media. >> dan? >> what's going on is whole ant ant anti-israeli trying to pick up israel and using sodastream to do it. that's not our business. >> understood. thank you for addressing the r areas where it does affect your business. thank you so much for being here this afternoon. appreciate it. president obama holds his year-end news conference today tackling everything from the sony hack to working with the republican-controlling congress. we'll get the latest from chuck todd. stay with us. (trader vo) i search.

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president obama delivering the last news conference of the year. he's hit on topics ranging from cuba to the north koreans hacking sony today. joining me from washington is nbc's "meet the press" moderator chuck todd. we have gotten the interview with the sony ceo and fires back at the white house and frankly for the president's message was a little bit inconsistent with the fbi. what do you make of it all? >> i tell you. the president was unequivocal and blunt in cla what he had to say about sony and then the boston marathon comparison and let on twitter of #sonyweakbostonstrong and not just criticizing the sony decision we embarrassing them on

a national stage and i think they're -- i'm not surprised that sony feels the need to fire back in response there but i think it -- part of that motivation for the president was because there had been some question, did sony base its decision after talking with the government, after talking with homeland security? the implication from the president was, no. >> and, chuck, we heard from representative brad sherman of california on this saying he's willing to marshal the resources necessary to protect people and allow them to watch this film, but frankly, it is a case of too little, too late, isn't it? there needs to be a strategy for everybody laughing this off. u.s. identifies north korea as the source of the attacks can take more significant steps here. >> that's the question and being debated with the national security staff of the president. there's a reason why they're using this phrase proportional response and the president did not want to define what that meant because the real tricky

situation here, kelly, do you fight a cyber-attack with another cyber-attack? do you start or do we -- does the united states government bless the idea of cyber warfarer warfare? as one level of response, and that is a debate that is taking place among some national security experts and you start going down that road. if you don't do that, what's the other responses? is it pressuring china? they know they need a response, but they don't have a lot of good options. >> chuck, the thing that struck me about this, as you said, the president's blunt criticism of sony. can you call a u.s. president criticizing a company over an issue like this that doesn't directly involve human rights abuses or national security? >> i don't, but this is sort of a, we're in some unchattered waters here a little bit. look, i do think we need to

remind people and folks reminded me of this. sony is based in japan, less than a thousand miles of north korea. north korea more of a direct threat than them. we can't forget that aspect of this. sony has its own japanese politics to worry about, security issues to worry about. but let's remember, the president is the president of the united states, defender of the constitution, freedom of expression. there is some basic american values that if the president is not defending those basic values, who's going to? this is one of the cases i think sony is doing what's in the best interest of sony. i think the president of the united states is doing what's in the best interest of the united states of america and what the country should stand for and in this case, it may be in conflict. >> we have to go, chuck todd. thank you for joining us this afternoon. be sure to tune in to "meet the press" everybody. president obama coming off a

defeat for the 2014 midterms responding with bold action on immigration, the so-called normalization of diplomatic relations with cuba. check local listings for the news time. breaking news on chrysler with philip lebeau. what's happening? >> reporter: chrysler is known in the united states is expanding its recall of vehicles with takata air bag inflaters, now recalling 3.3 million vehicles worldwide. most of those built between 2004 and 2007 to ultimately replace those faulty air bag inflaters made by takata. what's significant about this, kelly, is that before this, chrysler and a number of other automakers did a regional recall for the high humidity states in the south. now it's everywhere. after being pressed the national highway administration safety. most of those here in north america are recalled by chrysler.

kelly, back to you. >> our philip lebeau, thank you very much for the latest on that story. we'll be right back with some final thoughts. stay tuned, we're back in two.

well, we have to hit the hot list. alan wasler.

>> three, one, how obamacare spiked medicaid sign-ups. two, the west coast port problems have taken one importer's bills from $5,000 a container to $68,000 and finally, l.l. bean is riding lumber jack chic. great weekend, kelly. >> thank you for the mental image. panel's final thoughts, we are back in two. no. it's called grid iq. the 4:51 is leaving at 4:51. ♪ they cut the power. it'll fix itself. power's back on. quick thinking traffic lights and self correcting power grids make the world predictable. thrillingly predictable.

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squeezing in a final thought now with our panel, john for your first-up. >> consumer attack, we see if it gets stronger closer to christmas. >> okay, i'll be on bit torrent. >> are you going to watch it? >> probably not. my thought for 2015 is deflation, not inflation is the issue. >> what happens, what does it mean for investors? >> weak commodity prices. weak demand. not looking to raise rates. >> stock market keep rallying? >> anytime they want to, every time they talk about rates but i see no higher rates next year. >> that's final thought of the year. fast money coming up in a few seconds. time for crosswalk with melissa

lee. >> i know you've been noticing the underperformance of google. since november, down about 8%, the xl tech is actually up a few percent, what gives? we get to the bottom of this with the top rank analysts and trader here. it is fast money friday. new york's time square. i'm melissa. brian kelly and giadani. is the doom and gloom nearly over? stocks nearing record highs but the dramatic decline in oil spooked the broader market. s&p and dow erased losses for december. oil up 4% alone and the sle energy up nearly 10% from the lows it hit earlier this week. is this the all-clear into the end of the year? pete najerian take it off. >> i don't know but i like