for example, the capital weights on mortgages, the rules for securization and so on, and, again, our objectives in writing the rules, are, of course, the primary purpose of dodd-frank and basal accords to achieve greater financial stability, we have to take into account the aspects there. on the supervisory side, as one of the banks supervisors, we have made an ongoing effort to promote mortgage lending by, first, encouraging banks to take an appropriate balance between prudence on the one hand and making loans on the other hand. we do not take the view that tighter is always better. i think there's an appropriate balance, and we encouraged that. we've done a variety of things to try to help on the margin. for example, encouraged banks

rather than selling empty foreclosed homes in the market to rent them for a period if that's appropriate. part of the outcome of that is that banks have been working hard to increase their modifications to reduce foreclosures to assist homeowners who are unfairly treated in the past and so on. from a supervisory, regulatory perspective, we are trying to help, but in that republic, we are like other regulatory agencies who are addressing this issue. finally, and i don't want to underestimate this part. analytically. analytically, we studied the issues from the beginning of the crisis to before, influential in talking to other agencies, the treasury, and talking to the congress in providing ideas and

approaches. for example, you put out a year ago, a white paper describing the key issues and approaches and provided analysis for things that can be done to improve mortgage lending. we've also been very supportive of steps like those taken by the financial -- the housing oversight, gse oversight body to take steps like clarify the conditions under which mortgages would be put bag to lenders, so-called put-back risk or creating programs that convert empty houses into rentals so we've had a lot of influence, i think, in -- from an analytical and intellectual point of view, and we'll continue to try to do that. bottom line is these are challenging problems, and the barriers to more mortgage lending and rapid growth in the housing sector are many and

diverse, and there's not a single magic bullet as i know you appreciate. we're trying to work on every margin that we can. >> in discussions of unconventional monetary policies of which you discussed several, the question of lowering the interest rate on excess reserves often comes up, and i'm often asked why doesn't the federal reserve do it? i usually thumb for some sort of an answer, which i don't think is a good answer, but i think you could do better. what would be your answer? >> well, i hope i can do better. i don't know. [laughter] so here's the question. the question's the following, so the federal reserve is the repository, so to speak, of a very large amount of reserves that the banks hold, you know, with the federal rereceiver, --

reserve, and we currently pay interest on excess reserves of 5 basis points, one-forth of 1%, a very, very low interest rate that we pay. now, i say paraphernalia -- it's important in the future because when the time comes to raise interest rates, one of the tools we have to do that will be this interest on excess rereceivers which -- reserves which we can raise in a period of time which is in the interest of the board of governors to raise, and by raising it, we will make -- we will cause short term rates across the spectrum to rise because banks, obviously, are not going to lend into money markets at a price lower than they can get from the fed. this is a very important instrument for us, and we'll be using that at some point, at the appropriate time, to begin to tighten monetary policy. now, you're talking about the other direction, why not just cut it to zero, pay no interest

on excess reserves, and thereby, get more accommodation? well, it's something we've considered repeatedly, and we continue to consider, and i don't rule it out as an action in the futtre, what we do is the following. if we were to cut the interest rate from 25 basis points to 0 #, our estimate is it affects short term interest rates, like overnight rates, on the order of eight or nine basis points, extremely small amount, in turn, having a smaller effect on loans like housing loans or auto loans ect.. the stimulated agent -- act of that action is small, but on the other hand, the concerns we've had or some have had is that if there is no return on

institutions, money market funds, repo markets and so on could be liquid because there's little incentive to act in the markets when interests pay zero, why not just hold cash or fallow reserves? so the concern is that, perhaps, the federal funds rate itself is less informative because it's determined in a less liquid market. those are the kinds of concerns we've had. now, we've seen interesting experiments, and relatively recently we've seen in europe, for example, that an interest rate is cut to zero, and it's hard to judge what the effect of that really is because the interbank markets in europe are not working very much anyway. there's a bit of a question what effect that had. those are the tradeoffs we're looking at. it's wrong to think of this as a major tool unused.

i think if it were used, it would have some effects that would probably be at least marginally disruptive in terms of market functioning. on the other side, there's a few points of accommodation. it's a small cost benefit calculation. that's what we come out to this point. >> good morning. well, ben, you mentioned the fiscal cliff, and i think everybody here and a lot of people who are not here are very worried about what happens if we go over the fiscal cliff with estimates that the combination of higher taxes and spending cuts takes some 4% of an otherwise relatively weak gdp, but even if we don't, and some deal is struck, the complication of eliminating the payroll tax reduction, which seems to be something that the administration supports, that,

together with base broadening would probably be 2% of gdp, and if there's going to be a deal, it would involve spending cuts as well. even if we avoid going over the cliff, it looks like there would be substantial fiscal contraction impacts next year. so in that environment, what can the fed do to try to offset that to make sure that it doesn't take us to the edge of or over the edge of a recession. >> so we'll see what kind of deal comes out, and i think there's a range of possibilities, but you're correct that even if the extreme scenarios are avoided that some plausible scenario's still involved relatively contractionary fiscal overall.

no matter what happens next year, that the tightening of federal fiscal policy will outweigh the stronger, more expansion state and local fiscal policy we're getting. all of that is right. it's up to congress and the president, of course, to figure out how they want to make the tradeoffs between getting budgetary improvement n the long run and providing additional support for the economy in the short run. we're going to see how that goesment i think, -- goes. i think, again, my advice on this is sort of do no harm, and in that respect, what i'm particularly concerned about is that we avoid the full force of the cliff which would be substantial as you point out. if there is some federal tightening. tightening at the federal level, offset by state and local government, that would be an on going head wind on what i

described in my remarks, but, again, i think in that situation, the economy will be growing, all be it, you know, not necessarily at a rapid pace. what the federal reserve can and will do is continue its stated policy which is to do additional asset purchases and do whatever actions are appropriate to try to ensure the outlook for labor markets improves in a sustained way and a substantial way. we will continue to do our best to add mop tear policy support to the recovery. a appointment i've made, though, and i just want to reiterate this is that the ability of the feds to offset head winds is not infinite. we have certain tools. we used our easiest tools, and

we can certainly have a meaningful contribution to supporting recovery, but, in particular, in the worst case scenario, where the economy goes off the broad fiscal cliff, the largest fiscal cliff, which, according to the cbo and to our own analysis throws the economy into recession, i don't think the fed has tools to offset that, and that's why it's important to address the fiscal issues soon, and in a bipartisan way, in a way that achieves the necessary long term stainability concerns, which i know you've talked about frequently, but also takes into account exactly this issue of how much restraint we'll be experiencing in the next six months to a year from the fiscal changes. >> why don't we is jan hopkins ask a question from the audience. jan? >> you talked about the

uncertainty of businesses because of all of the things you also mentioned, and that impacts decisions on investments, ect. how much growth is loss because of that do you anticipate? >> well, that's neither here nor there, but when i was a garage -- graduate student 30 years ago, i wrote a dissertation on how uncertainty affects investment spending, and i concluded that it's not a good thing. [laughter] they gave me a ph.d. for that. [laughter] so it seems pretty clear. i mean, one of the benefits of the way the federal reserve operates, you know, we have 12 # reserve banks around the country. bill dudley is here, president of the federal reserve bank in

new york, and at the fomc, we have folks from all over the country with different experiences and backgrounds talking to their boards, local citizen, and others, business people, bankers, trying to get a sense of the economy, and so we hear an awful lot around the fomc table of an antedoteal nature is it's true they are concerned about uncertainty and that's a drag on investment spending and hiring decisions. in fact, i think it's kind of striking that right now consumers seem to be, actually, doing a little better, consumer sentiment has risen. consumer spending has been a bit stronger, but businesses, probably in part because they are exposed to the global economy, in part because they are aware of fiscal issues directly connected to the issues, business confidence has been low, and investment responded to. that it's been quite weak. i think uncertainty is an

important factor. i'm sure it's retraining particularly longer term investments, leading businesses to wait if the resolution of urn -- uncertainty before they make commitments to new hirings, new products, new markets. it's clearly a negative. what's difficult is a couple things. first, you asked for how much. you know, i think it's probably significant, but very, very hard to assess in a rigorous way how big effects are. they are meaningful because we see businesses being cautious and conservative, particularly lately. another question that's important is uncertainty about what? there's a lot of uncertainties in the world now. there's uncertainties in europe. there's uncertainties in the fiscal policy. there's uncertainties about the stability and strength of the recovery. it's a little bit hard to separate all of those different factors when you ask business people what are they most

worried about? what we'd like to do is attack the issue on all fronts. i think fiscal policy has a role to play. we hope our european colleagues take necessary actions to create state on the continent, and as for the federal rereceiver, we'll do what we -- reserve, we'll do what we can to support ongoing recovery and demand for growth and jobs and demand for firms' product that removes uncertainty about the future and sustainable of the recovery. i hope we help restore confidence that we need to see a strong recovery. i really have a sense that there is a lot of unused capability, not just in terms of unemployed workers, but in terms of potential products, new investments, new technologies, things that are just on the shelf are not utilized to the full extent because people wait to see how things evolve. i think there's an important

potential for the economy to strengthen significantly if there's a greater level of security and comfort about where we are going as a country so i hope very much that's what's going to happen. thank you. [applause] >> all right, breaking news right now. listening to that, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke wrapping up comments in the economic club of new york. a lot of interesting things there. he talked there at the end about uncertainty holding back business investment. i don't know that "uncertainty" is the right word anymore. it was uncertainty about obamacare, the election, and then the fiscal cliff. it's not uncertainty more as pessimism and depression on businesses. >> taxes, slow growth, and quickly, then off to peter barnes, interesting he said solving the fiscal cliff could

be a good year for economic growth putting it all on washington and congress to get the fiscal policy in order in order to avoid the fiscal cliff. we have not talked about this, raising the debt ceiling, pushing it again, and he warned that a default could be crisis for business opportunity and actions so with that, i guess we're ready to go out to peter listening to the federal reserve chairman as well in washington with a recap and what stuck out for him. hello, peter. >> hey, that's right. i thought the comments in the end in particular saying the potential for the economy to strengthen significantly exists out there if washington can get its act together and do something to fix the fiscal cliff because he said while the fed, of course, is standing by to provide help for the economy to help keep the economic recovery going, quote, "i don't think the fed has the tools to offset that" ie, the country

going off the fiscal cliff, the economy going over the fiscal cliff, but he did say, repeated the fed is standing by continuing to do all it can to keep the economy going, even if the fiscal cliff occurred, but that there also will be some potential contraction in government spending regardless, for example, the expiration of the payroll tax cut so the fed willing to continue to use the tools that has to try to keep the recovery going if washington does not fix the fiscal cliff. >> all right, so as the federal reserve chairman stock, peter, stocks sold off. not a lot of new news. he addressed the question of why not cut interest on excess reserve to force banks to lend more, but your take as well, was it like is victory lap on the state of housing and the recovery we're seeing with

housing better than expected as well? >> well, no, he said while there's improvement in the housing market and has been improvement in housing prices, there's still head winds in the housing market. for example, lending standards continue to be tight, and he talked about the role of the fed as a bank supervisor and how it's trying to work with banks to find the right balance between loosening up standard for credit worthy borrowers and prudent in the lending so we don't get into another housing bubble, another crisis. he -- i don't think he was ready to declare victory yet. >> fair point. i thought he was spending so much time on housing it was an easy area to talk about. >> no, no, you're right, you're right. >> it's a great conversation to have. always appreciate your input, peter barnes. >> okay, thanks. >> fox business stock alert, shares of hewlitt-packard after the giant, trading down $15 #.

layed about -- lied about its financing, and we have the latest on this. seems like there was not enough due diligence on hp's side here. >> that's the key question, melissa. spent $10 billion for a company taking an $8 billion charge. go through the players simply. mike lynch issued statements telling "wall street journal" that they are wrong, we have not been given details about what hp says it uncovered. well, what whitman says in the press release this morning is more than $5 million is linked to seriousing thing improprieties, misrerptions, and disclosure failures. the sale took place during leo, the former ceo's tenure at hp. he had to leave a month after that. a lot of people on wall street felt hp way overpaid for atonomy

and bearing responsibility for that is shane roberson, the former chief strategy office. whitman saying those two people who should be held responsible are gone. she's giving a pass to lloyd and kpmg, the accounting firm that did the due diligence. the auditor at the time is not held responsible for that. final quote, a willful effort to mislead investors, buyers, and impacted hp's ability to impact atomomy. in april, 2011, oracle said no thank you, way overpriced. they passed on this one. >> interesting. i'm sure we'll hear more about the story. adam, thank you so much. >> yep. >> maybe the largest insider trading scandal ever, more details on the $276 million scheme with charlie next.

>> stocks down big heading out to the new york stock exchange selling off listening to ben bernanke here, down 52 points on the dow, and how the dollar is fairing as well headed to break. it is stronger against the euro. we'll be right back. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligatio. i need to reink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

>> could be the largest insider trading case in history. the department of justice charging former hedge fund portfolio manager with conspiracy to commit securities fraud. the fed alleges that 276 million dollars scheme was carried out from 2006 to 2008 after he met a doctor involved in alzheimer's disease drug trial and obtained confidential information related to the final results of the drug trial. he worked for cr intrinsic investors out of stanford connecticut. during the alleged misconduct and walked away with 9 million dollars. >> so that insider trader scheme unveiled by federal prosecutors today involves a former sac capital money manager. what does that mean for the high-profile hedge fund and its chief steven cohen? charlie gasparino has the latest with a special guest as well.

>> former fbi agent who is not a stranger here. >> no. >> we should point out this is interesting this case because this is not just some subsidiary of sac capital, this is sac central. a major money manager there. not only that, the money is astronomical. >> right. >> and we're talking about someone with direct ties to steve cohen and steve cohen isn't named by name, but it's pretty easy to find out what that they are talking about him from reading the charges. explain a little bit. >> going over the complaint, and it is probably the most brilliant complaints i have ever read the government and fbi agent are to be commended for their work. painstakingly correlated e-mails, ims, phone calls along then with public disclosure documents by sac capital, put orders trade orders sell orders etc. etc. all the correlation, they have made their case to show a conversation with the

cooperating witness with martoma led to a purchase by sac capital or a sale. they don't mention sac capital. they don't mention mr. cohen, but they do say is that mr. martoma had a conversation with hedge fund owner, had a conversation with his boss, and it also -- >> only one hedge fund owner at sac capital. >> they haven't named it, but you and i can both infer that's what it is. more importantly the government is very very key in this to put in the complaint the nondisclosure part of martoma's employee -- let's say his agreement. no insider trading information can be used and moreover they put in the complaint his nondisclosure statement part of the networking firm he worked for. what did the government do by this? it is a great psychological game. they're putting all the weight to bear on martoma. >> to do what? >> to get him to flip. >> on who? >> on his boss.

i'm not going to condemn anybody right now because his name is not in there. what the government is doing, you are martoma reading that complaint, you are his lawyer saying wait a second, you are putting this all on me? i'm the only one you are mentioning? no, no, no. >> we should point out that one of the problems that government has had and they have been looking at steve cohen now for years. i though this for a fact. i have spoken to a lot of government investigators. he kind of takes himself out of the mix of the stuff that goes around him. there's lots of interesting stuff, people around him have been charging ongoing insider trading case, he takes himself out. this time we know whether it's illegal or not, we know that he's involved somehow with this guy martoma; right? it is in the complaint. >> i'm eating my words from the last time i was on the air with you, we talked about michael steinberg. we thought that was the biggest. i thought it was. this is bigger. now what you are having is a direct link, someone charged for the crime, having conversation

with someone who should be an unindicted co-conspirator correct or indicted conspirator, but they are leaving that person's name out. why? they are trying to get martoma to flip. that's what they are trying to do with that. if i'm martoma i'm not going to take the fall for anybody. >> this is a huge amount of money. i'm dubious about insider trading, i don't think it's the worst crime in the world. you and i have disagreed on that. 250 million dollars. this guy is looking at how many years in jail? >> 10, 15, whatever, charlie. it's high. >> the number on raj was like -- i think it was like 40 million, and he's away for 11. >> 11, that's right. >> this guy could spend 20 years in jail. >> what if you are doing martoma? what do you do if you're michael steinberg? what do you do if you're steve cohen? >> a lot of lawyers look at this and say -- they are having a

hard time, you know, finding stuff on him directly, finding stuff on people around him a lot more easily. >> they won't when martoma says what happened. >> is it possible they are looking to show this is an enterprise sac capital that just doesn't play by the rules and can you charge the firm for being a criminal organization? >> i don't know. that possibly could be it. that would blow everything away that we've learned -- >> we should point out to the viewer, some of this is supposition. we don't know if steve cohen did anything wrong. we know he's being investigated. you believe martoma is the guy that could -- >> he could bring it down. if i was martoma i would serve my own best interest and now come in and cooperate and tell what happened. >> i think we're going to leave it there. guys back to you. >> compelling stuff, charlie. >> definitely. thank you very much. violence along the gaza

border entering the 7th day now. will secretary clinton be able to broker a deal to end this violence take a look at some winners and losers here on the s&p 500 as we see the dow count to go down 88 points. we will be right back. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 this morning, i'm going to trade in hong kong.

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 after that, it's on to germany. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 then tonight, i'm trading 9500 miles away in japan. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with the new global account from schwab, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i hunt down opportunities around the world tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 as if i'm right there. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and i'm in total control because i can trade tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 directly online in 12 markets in their local currencies.

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i use their global research to get an edge. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 their equity ratings show me how schwab tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 rates specific foreign stocks tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 based on things like fundamentals, momentum and risk. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and i also have access to independent tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 firms like ned davis research tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and economist intelligence unit. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus, i can talk to their global specialists 24/7. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and trade in my global account commission-free tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 through march 20. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 best part... no jet lag. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-866-294-5409 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and a global specialist tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 will help you get started today. >> time for stocks now. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange. our own nicole petallides is standing by. nicole, dow right near session lows right now after bernanke's speech. nicole: that's right. so ben bernanke our fed head comes on and obviously doesn't say a lot of great things. on the contrary he shows concern about unemployment housing bank lending. you put that all together and that certainly weighed on this

market. you can see the dow right now is down over 1/2 of 1%, much like the nasdaq and s&p 500. so we are seeing for example drug stocks are pulling back. we watch energy pulling back as well as a cease-fire has been established over in the middle east. we have watched oil pull back. but certainly ben bernanke and not being optimistic there weighed on our markets. back to you. >> nicole thank you very much. >> speaking of the middle east, secretary of state hillary clinton is headed to jerusalem ramallah and cairo to help hopefully calm tensions in the region. her trip comes as a senior hamas official says no cease-fire deal with israel is in place but an agreement is close. how close is a cease-fire, if at all? >> lori, close doesn't really count very often at these kinds of deals. either you got a deal or you don't, and right now there is no confirmation from anyone officially that there is a deal.

everyone says they are very close, but still in the past couple of hours, we've seen an almost unprecedented amount of artillery fire and then rocket fire coming back from the gaza strip that hasn't happened since this conflict began. in some ways that's a bad sign obviously it is more fire. in some ways it is a good sign because typically before there is a cease-fire deal, you often times get everyone trying to fire as much as they possibly can right up until the last minute. and that may be the case. so far today in israel, at least 20 people injured, an additional one person killed bringing the death total here in israel to four. over on the palestinian side more than 100 people killed as we head into the night hours to figure out if this cease-fire deal is going to get announced or will have a ground offensive by the israeli army. back to you in n-- in new york. >> amazing. we see you with your helmet and bullet proof vest. be careful.

we appreciate it very much. >> not one single barrel of oil has been affected by the exchange of fire between israel and hamas, but that doesn't mean that energy markets aren't reacting. oil backing off today on hopes of a cease-fire. but only after climbing to one month highs yesterday. our next guest is joining us now. welcome to the show. in a very basic sense, people make the point that israel does not produce oil, gaza -- >> there's no transportation points. i was asked yesterday well what about the suez canal? egypt is not going to jeopardize all of its relations with the u.s. by closing the suez canal. >> i mean, you're very optimistic to think that this sort of instability in the neighborhood isn't going to spill over. i talked to people about this every day, and i got to tell you, you're alone. >> yes, you can build a model that has this all the way going out to let's say iran and closing the strait of hormuz, but this would take a real series of reactions, one after

the other to imagine the supply of oil being reduced as a result of this. it's a very complex model to imagine that. >> do you think, john, perhaps we're not seeing a direct impact in the price of oil, in your view, because we are in supply of oil right now? >> i think the market is fundamentally very bearish right now. in the fourth quarter of this year, where you normally draw world inventories of crude, you are going to build world inventories of crude. right now all the models into next year show a build basically all yearlong. opec is going to meet i think in two three weeks in vienna. i think the idea this is going to be just a cake walk meeting is not necessarily true. i think that some of the countries are going to look out over next year and they are going to see the possibility of a real sharp decline in the price of oil. i think that the u.s. is having a big factor on that. the u.s. keeps beating everest mat -- every estimate of what it's producing. >> where does the base price of soil stabilize? >> -- where does oil stabilize?

>> i want to see what opec does. if they come out and they do nothing and then these models show that essentially there's going to be continued surplus all through next year, i think that could put a significant bearish push. the market has been held up a little bit by the fact that product markets are fairly tight, but eventually that works itself out because refining margins get so good, you buy the crude. >> john, i totally disagree with you because there are a lot of people that see the hand of iran behind what's going on here. you talk about opec. we are seeing iran flex its muscle there as well. i think that kind of goes back to the stability in the entire region and obviously, you know, they are a major oil producer and they could really royal the whole -- i mean if you look at the map, it feels like there's a new set of neighbors out there that sort of the teams are lining up different than they had before. and this could be a new era. >> they have been significantly weakened, the iranian exports are down probably about a third. the sanctions have worked far better than anybody anticipated.

largely because all the oil coming out of the u.s. has given the western countries room to maneuver that they wouldn't have had four or five years ago. iran is definitely a weakened member of opec right now, weakened actor. remember, the iraqis because they are not enemies anymore, the iraqis are tacking about 100,000 barrels a day every single month to their production. that's strengthened their hand too. i don't think they are going into the market in general with as strong a hand as they had recrer recently -- recently. >> we appreciate you coming out, john. >> we have so much supply and we need the infrastructure more than ever before. a bipartisan group of 18 senators thinks this is important, they are pushing president obama to get the keystone pipeline done. republican senator of north dakota is leading the group and he's going to join us with his latest moves on this coming up

next. you can't afford to miss that. take a look at the 10 year and 30 year as we move out to break here. you can see the yield on the 10 year rising 3 basis points. we will be right back.

>> i'm cheryl casone with your fox business brief. news corporation has acquired a 49% stake in yes network. news corp. can buy additional stakes in the network up to three years that could bring its ownership up to 80%. newscorp is the parent company of the fox business network. apartment building owner and developer plans to raise 3.45 billion dollars in initial public offering that would make it the biggest u.s. commercial real estate ipo ever.

arch stone has been cited as one of the primary causes of lehman's collapse. the holidays are a source of financial strength that 45% of those surveyed by think finance say they'd rather skip it. the survey also showed that 41% planned to use lay away programs as a way of handling the financial burden of the holidays. on that happy note, that's it, from the latest on the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

>> all this talk of crummy economic growth, horrible unemployment, what else did bernanke say? just tight lending standards, just fiscal cliff looming. >> they don't have the tools to save us from destruction. >> right. so it's really killed the markets, down 77 points. let's get more detail with nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: i just saw that headline there about how people would skip shopping right because they can't afford shopping for the holidays, 45% of the people said

they would do so. it turns out people aren't really hitting some of the stores including best buy, lori and melissa. we came in here and we looked at the same-store sales numbers for best buy, for the ninth quarter out of ten in a row, we've seen them coming in with same-store sales that are weaker. and so we're looking at best buy here which is down over 12% and moving to 10 year lows. i also see we have the dow jones industrials up there for you, traded as low as 12,701. so we still are under some pressure here for the dow. but certainly people are not out there buying televisions, at least not at the moment. back to you. >> that's a great point nicole. thank you very much. merely a year after being put on hold, the keystone pipeline project continues to sit in limbo. but now a bipartisan group of 18 senators is taking action requesting a meeting with president obama in hopes of convincing him to approve the project. joining us now by phone is north dakota republican senator john hoeven. thank you very much for joining

us. >> good to be with you. >> you put together a letter urging action. i understand you have nine republicans and nine democrats banding together. what's the response been so far? >> we haven't had a response yet from the administration. but we do anticipate hearing from them very soon. senator baucus and myself put together a bipartisan group and it reflects the strong support in congress for the keystone pipeline project which has now been put off for going on five years. and so it's time for the president to make a decision to approve it, and we're going to continue to push it until well get it done. >> you know, senator, you are always really optimistic about this. when exactly did you send the letter? >> pardon me? when did we send it? >> when did you send it? yeah. >> last week. >> did you think you would hear by now? >> well, not necessarily, but i tell you what, there was a demonstration on sunday, and so we wanted to make sure that we let the administration know, look, the american people want

this project o approved so don't be continuing to delay because of a special interest group, let's get this done. look, the state of nebraska has done their reroute. they should have the approval up to the white house by the first of the year, and then the administration needs to make a decision. and again, we want to demonstrate that there is strong bipartisan support in congress to get it done, and the congress should act, needs to act, if the president won't. >> no i hear you. i talked to you the day after the election, i think it was, and you were super optimistic that he would embrace this pipeline now that he was back in maybe now that the political hurdles were out of the way. i don't know if that optimism is totally founded. what are you going to do if you don't hear back? what's your next step? >> no, no, i think when you and i talked, i said obviously well governor romney indicated he would approve it in the first day of office. i said with president obama, it could take us six months if we

have to get congress to do it directly in case he won't. so i do believe we're going to get it. just because on the merits, we're going to win. we're going to win this on the merits. but if he won't take action, congress will have to. i think i told you it could take up to six months. >> okay. no, thank you for clarifying that. you think you have the support to go around him if you have to is the bottom line? >> i tell you what, the bill i had that would have approved it directly i had 56 votes in the senate and i was missing two republicans -- i was at 58, you know, this past year. and i think if the president punts this thing again, i think that we'll get the 60 we need to pass it. it's already passed, you know -- a similar version has already passed the house. so yeah i believe if he doesn't step up for the american people now and continues to cater to special interest groups, i think we can muster the necessary support in congress to do it. >> good for you. senator, thanks for coming on. we appreciate it. we will follow this story closely. >> much appreciated.

>> you are so clearly his favorite interviewer. >> no, i love him. >> so obvious. just my impression. what a difference a few days make. wal-mart is moving the day it will pay out its dividends, saving shareholders on taxes. one of the last few holdouts headed for itunes. having you ship my gifts couldn't be easier.

well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and my daughter loves the santa. oh, ah sir. that is a customer. let's not tell mom. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office.

so nothing so focuses the chief executive's mind like looming tax hikes and that's why more companies than ever are giving out special year end dividends early holiday cheer as dividend taxes are set to soar next year. elizabeth macdonald is here with her bottom line. it is like a flood. they have opened the floodgates. >> 109 companies are expected to issue special dividends. it is not just wal-mart or tyson. it is companies like carnival corp. everybody is piling in here. december dividend bonanza. because tax rates to going to go up the, dividend tax hikes. steve wynn, the ceo of wynn resorts, he's coming out, not just today but he said already in october, about the dividend tax hike, and here's what he said, take a listen -- rather read what he said here. he said dividends:

>> when we saw this happen, when the capital gains tax rate was cut, remember that dividend taxes rather stayed the same, companies, the number of companies issuing dividends dropped by 20%. and then when that was reversed in 03, what happened? in other words dividend taxes were cut in 03, 20% more companies issued dividends. >> the government is not going to get the tax. it is just not going to happen. >> that's right. >> everybody is going to suffer later. >> that's right. >> without those payments. after holding out for years legendary rockers ac/dc have agreed to release their music digitally for the first time. apple and columbia records announcing the band's entire catalog, will now be available exclusively on the site. apple will be selling the entire

studio album collection. ac/dc was one of the last main holdouts you might know that from taking their music to itunes after the likes of the beetles and kid rock joined in. now garth brooks and the band tool remain the biggest names still grasping on to the cd. name one ac/dc song. >> [inaudible]. >> there you go. coming up, muni bonds are they overvalued? john miller weighs in on the recent run-up in munis. he joins tracy byrnes next on fox business. and his new boss told him twongs -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before oning a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest.

he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

welcome back. i'm tracy byrnes. all right so we've got a dire warning from fed chief ben bernanke. he says no deal on the fiscal

cliff will actually cripple the economy in the new year. so wall street is listening. is washington? plus, if you thought things couldn't get any worse with hewlett-packard, think again. coming up, how the tech giant managed to spend 10 billion dollars on a company it now says was riddled with bad accounting. and could it be the most lucrative insider trading tip-off of all time? former hedge fund manager is charged with helping investors make more than a quarter of a billion dollars in illegal trades. we're going to have more on that. but first it is top of the hour. stocks hit session lows while ben bernanke was speaking. let's go to the floor of the new york stock exchange as we do every 15 minutes. nicole petallides we sold off while he was talking about fiscal cliff and what it could do to the economy. nicole: that's right when you talk about the economy and you hear your fed head and he doesn't sound optimistic that weighs on the markets. our low of the day was about 42 points below our current levels right now. we have recooped some of the

losses. but still down almost 1/2% for the dow jones industrials. we are seeing it weighing. ben bernanke talking about a tough economy, talked about housing, unemployment, obviously that was a big one. and that it remains well above its long-run sustainable levels, that's not good news there. that's what we were seeing. this all comes on the heels of a day where we're following hewlett-packard very closely. that too has been weighing on the dow jones industrials. hewlett-packard has sold off, at the lowest levels since 2002. this is all about accounting and they are now calling fraud, basically saying the financials they saw for a software, which they bought last year a software company weren't what they expected or anticipated. we are seeing hewlett-packard taking a 8.8 billion dollars writedown and the stock being impacted greatly. back to you. tracy: a lot of people scratching their heads on that one, nicole. see you in 15 minutes we have more now on ben bernanke. he says the fiscal cliff outcome

will make-or-break the economy in 2013. peter barnes is in washington with more. peter, i mean, it's more idle talk, though; right? we are not seeing any action. peter: well, he's trying to push all the politicians down here to action with these warnings, tracy, no doubt about it. he did say that depending on the outcome, he is prepared to help provide more assistance to the economy, more monetary easing, potentially in the form of additional quantitative easing, expanding qe 3, making it bigger, but he says that what the economy really needs is a fix to the fiscal cliff. he says that's causing a lot of uncertainty out there along with europe. but he said the fiscal cliff problem is especially causing uncertainty and said quote, it seems to be weighing on spending decisions of households and businesses as well as on financial conditions. so he said the politicians in here could help to strengthen the recovery significantly if they avoid the cliff, but if they don't, he said, don't count on the fed to save the day.

>> in the worst-case scenario, where the economy goes off the broad fiscal cliff, the largest fiscal cliff, i don't think the fed has the tools to offset that. peter: but he said the fed is continuing to stand by to help do what it can with the tools that it's got. tracy? tracy: oh, yeah, keeping those interest rates low has been working like a charm, peter barnes, down in d.c. we will see you soon. peter: okay, tracy. tracy: so the fear of the fiscal cliff has driven equity investors to the side lines, but believe it or not, there is one sector seeing a rally, and it's municipal bonds. and it's all because of the taxes or potentially the lack thereof. joining us now john miller, nuveen asset management chief investment officer and co-head of the global fixed income fund. you know, john, i'm so glad you are here because i'm still hearing rumblings that the interest on muni bonds could be

taxed it is still on the table in some shape or form. >> well, i think that they have said repeatedly that everything's on the table. tracy: right. >> so that is an important thing to consider long-term in 2013, there will be a debate about tax reform and municipal bonds and the tax-exempt interest will in all likelihood fall under that debate. that doesn't mean it's likely that they will become taxable because of certain strengths and benefits that they provide i think to infrastructure and to the economy. but it's something that is important for municipal bond investors to follow and be aware of. tracy: taxing the interest could clearly hurt the states that are already struggling to come up with money. do you think we'll see something maybe grand father the old bonds in and going forward see something like the build america bonds where that interest will be taxed? >> i don't believe so. if you go back and look at what president obama has done during his first administration and how

that has affected municipal bonds, i believe that he is sensitive to the need of state and local governments and this is where infrastructure in the united states has been financed for more than 100 years. tracy: yeah. >> and there's certain amount of reciprocity between the states and the federal government in terms of not taxing each other's bonds. so if you look at the american reinvestment recovery act, for example, early 2009, that funded -- that was when municipal finance was impaired to some degree, municipal state and local governments were in trouble, and he funded over 220 billion dollars in state and local government fiscal relief and created the build america bond program. so i think the white house and the democrats are pushing more for a higher tax rate than they are making municipal bonds -- tracy: right for changing the taxbility on the bonds. let's talk about this. so many of them are struggling.

it is really all that safe to go out and invest in the cities where they need the money? >> sure, well, the credit research and individual bond selection has become a bigger and bigger issue within the municipal bond arena. this is a very very diverse area. in particular, as you mention, the specific cities, towns, counties in many cases could be struggling, if their real estate market has not rebounded yet, if they have underfunded pensions, for example, are two areas where we see stress. however, essential service bonds that fund large infrastructure projects in the water and sewer area, electric power, airports, toll roads, those have tended to be pretty resilient, but they still require individual bond selection. tracy: okay. with that being said and i agree with you there, i mean they are

hot commodities right, they are difficult to come by these days. so how do you advise someone wanting to go out there and buy them to find them? >> that is a very tough question. what we have seen is -- we have seen municipal governments have actually slightly reduced their total amount of indebtedness outstanding by approximately 1% over the last 12 months. very unusual in that they are calling away and maturing more bonds than what they are issuing on the other side. municipal bonds are issued by underwriters and they are actually issued across the country by in some cases over 100 different dealers, both major firms and smaller firms. so working with financial advisors is key to get access to bonds and get access to products that are already invested in some specific segment, either of the yield curve or the credit spectrum or the region of the

country in which you are most focused. tracy: john miller, a lot of muni bond traders are saying from your lips to god's ears on all that. john miller with nuveen, thank you sir. >> thank you. tracy: breaking news, new york's attorney general suing credit suisse over alleged fraudulent sell of mortgage securities. robert gray has details. robert: he says he's going after credit suisse using under the martin act here over this alleged fraudulent sale of mortgage securities residential mortgage backed securities. these are prior to the crisis. in fact, going back to before 2008, these are 06, 07. they have had about 11.2 billion dollars in losses thus far. he says he is seeking investor damages to recoup those losses, so again, looking to recoup some 11.2 billion dollars in losses. it goes on to say here that he -- the credit suisse the due

diligence was compromised by its ties to the loan originators, tracy, so this will be interesting to follow. again, we're going back pre-crisis 06, 07, residential mortgage backed securities that were sponsored and underwritten by credit suisse, again in 06 and 07, about 11.2 billion dollars in losses seeking under the martin act to sue to recoup some investor damages there. back to you. tracy: robert gray, thank you very much. there's a ton of news today. all right, so we have so much more ahead, including what prosecutors are calling the most lucrative insider trading case ever. details on the alleged 276 million dollars fraud next. but we've got a 9 billion dollars headache for hewlett-packard to talk about. how could it buy a company that hp now says lied about its books? where the heck is management is what i want to know. we're looking for answers ahead. but first as we do every day at this time of day, let's take a look at how oil is trading. it is down on a potential cease-fire, $86.71 a barrel.

we will be right back.

tracy: it's time to make some money with charles payne. this hour he's ranging from my morning cup of joe actually to it solutions with a follow up and brand new recommendation. first one, i have to tell you, use it every day. charles: green mountain?

maybe you are one of the reasons the stock popped. they have real good management in there. i had it on your show october 2, 23 and change. hit 30 bucks this morning. i continue to like to buy it on dips. i hate shorts. any time there's a stock they short a lot that i think maybe they are wrong on, i always go in there. it is risky obviously. tracy: you are talking about it being shorted, killing it at one point. charles: crushing it. still down. from since your show went up 25%. anyone who watched and bought it that day, it wouldn't be bad -- tracy: i have been drinking a lot of coffee too. charles: really. tracy: just kidding. charles: networking stocks haven't done that well. this is a company i just don't know why this stock has stuck in the mud. tracy: because they are called river bed. charles: look at that, that's the coffee. that's the coffee. look at how smart you are.

you are so much sharper than me. i was thinking of an album or something, could be a name for an album. record gross profits, record, record, record, by the way they made an acquisition that i think will be a fantastic deal for them. i'm looking for the stock to get above 19. i think that sparks a huge run. ultimately could take it to 22, 24, however, i would use 16 as a stop loss. tracy: 16 as a stop loss. what is it now? charles: river bed. tracy: no, the stock price. charles: right now it is -- i'm not sure. tracy: would you get in it right here? charles: oh absolutely. tracy: okay. charles payne -- charles: i'm going to have a cup of jo now. tracy: as we do every 15 minutes, we check on the markets, nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you have a couple big movers, believe it or not with the dow down 45. nicole: do i need to separate

you two? [laughter] nicole: let's take a look at some movers where we have covered some earlier losses. the dow jones industrials now down about 44 points. but one name that has come under intense pressure here today is best buy, the electronics retail. they came out with same-store sales which completely missed the analyst estimates and profit miss. this is the ninth same-store sales decline in ten quarters. they did well with appliances, tablet computers, e-readers and mobile phones. the areas of weakness include television, notebook computers and gaming products. that's where best buy is seeing its weakness as far as products. then we'll take a look here at the next one. what's interesting about this is when you talk about the gun maker, it certainly had an unbelievable run, but also that they are now giving out a payout, a special divvdend before the end of the year and this comes on the heels of what we heard from wal-mart. very aware of the fiscal cliff and just trying to get in those

special dividends ahead of the fiscal cliff and higher taxes in 2013. back to you. tracy: nicole petallides, rich edson was talking about earlier, bring all your income into this year because who knows what's going to happen next year. it could be the largest insider trading case in the history. department of justice charging former hedge fund portfolio manager martoma with conspiracy to securities fraud. martoma met a doctor involved an alzheimer's disease drug trial and he obtained confidential information related to the final results of the trial. martoma worked for cr intrinsic fl investors, a division of sac capital. martoma took in 9 million dollars during the alleged misconduct. we will have more on that for you and more on hewlett-packard, man, shares are plunging on the

latest drama at the company. how could it possibly have spent billions of dollars on an acquisition with questionable accounting? we're going to have details next. but first, let's look at how the dollar is moving right now against its foreign currencies. it is down against the euro, canadian dollar and the yen. up against the pound and the mexican peso. we will be right back. with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see wh criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks.

then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an aount. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline.

and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro.

>> at 21 minutes past the hour, i have your fox news minute. egyptian officials say cease-fire talks between israel and palestine are on going hoping a deal can be reached later today. this as rocket fire continues to batter both sides of the border. the israeli defense force says over 162 rockets have been fired at israel today alone. 51 intercepted by the iron dome. israel has countered with more than 100 attacks on gaza. a 13-year-old girl fatally shot by a fellow student on a school bus today. according to miami dade police, eight other kids on the bus at the time of the shooting including the victim's 7-year-old sister. police now questioning a male student, but not releasing his

age. kevin clash is facing allegations from two accusers. those are your headlines. get you back to tracy now. tracy: thank you. we have more breaking news on hewlett-packard, one of the company's auditors is responding to hp's claim of massive accounting problems at a company it bought last year. adam shapiro has the details. that is the first thing i thought of, where were the auditors? adam: what meg whitman and what hp are saying is when they acquired this company, that management at autonomy and these are their words, there was serious accounting improprieti s improprieties, misrepresentation and dischllosure -- dischloe thur -- disclosure failures.

who did the due diligence? meg whitman said don't blame the accountants or deloitte or kpmg, she said neither of them saw what we now see after someone came forward to point us in the right direction. that someone is a senior member of autonomy who after the founder of the company allegedly came forward to hp and said here are the problems. we have a statement from deloitte, they were the auditor for autonomy out of the united kingdom. this is the full quote, deloitte u.k. notes the allegations made by hewlett-packard that some former members of autonomy's management team used serious accounting improprieties disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations to inflate the financial metrics of the company. prior to autonomy's acquisition by hp and that these allegations have been referred to the sec and sfo. we cannot comment further on this matter due to client confidentiality. we will cooperate with the

relevant authorities with any investigations into these allegations. there's a simple question, what good is a million dollars accountant if they can't find accounting improprieties? back to you tracy. tracy: i asked myself as a former auditor, i asked myself the same question. at the same time, as the auditor, you don't prepare the financials necessarily. you just check them. so if someone's trying to do something wrong and hide numbers and your chief accountant is not giving you everything you're supposed to have, sometimes unfortunately you can't blame the auditor. adam: the other question, though, why is meg whitman, why is the ceo of a publicly traded company giving them a pass? what does she know? what does meg whitman know and why is she giving the auditors the pass on this? tracy: that is a great point. adam shapiro thank you very much. adam: bye. tracy: our next guest says she too had questions about hewlett-packard's 10 billion dollars autonomy deal from the start. joining us now the vice president and senior analyst at

fort pit capital group. kim, i'm glad you are here actually today because you too thought these valuations didn't add up. >> well, when you look at what they delivered, as a product, which is making unstructured text searchable within a whole company, a very important idea to be able to manage your data -- or your knowledge assets. i was looking at this and i just couldn't get my head around why people would pay for this, because it is not a quick project. it is not high roi and that's what businesses have been doing the last couple of years. i just couldn't get the growth for this. there's a company that was very similar that was private and based here in pittsburgh, and their growth was kind of slow, and i just couldn't get these two halves together, and now we know. there wasn't that growth. tracy: you were dead-on then. let's talk about the nasdaq in general. i mean it's really getting basically since around september 19th kind of corresponds with

apple's demise. nasdaq is down 8%. apple's down 20%. where do we go from here? >> well, i think we're going to bounce around somewhere between 13850 -- 1350 and 1450 and it's going to be driven on news of the day. when we woke up this morning, i'm sure we didn't know hp was going to have this autonomy fraud. the sac news, you know, nobody other than, you know, if you're some kind of prosecutor knew that was going to happen. but more than that, we're looking to china for news about growth from that country, as well as europe, all of their troubles, and then again the fiscal cliff. so we have a lot of news that we think are going to drive the markets, but not necessarily be meaningful fundamental issues. tracy: but i know you still like telecom. you have four times amount of telecom in your portfolio than the s&p. >> yes. tracy: they give out a dividend though. are you still loving dividends? >> loving dividends. what's taxed out is kind of

secondary. especially if you have -- this is going into your 401(k) account, you really don't care at this point. so it's just money in. that's all good. tracy: that's a good point. i know you still like intel as well even with otellini leaving. >> we're thinking that the emerging markets in the next three to five years are still going to have more people in the middle class and as the middle class people are going to want to fly and see places beyond where they live now. tracy: i wish we had more time with you because you make sense. >> thank you very much. tracy: she is with fort pitt capital group. coming up, hostess is back in talks with union workers over a deal to save the company while wal-mart is bracing for more walk-outs this weekend. what is going on? gerri willis is going to tell us next. before we head out to break, the dow is down 39 points. let's take a look at some of today's winners and losers on the s&p 500.

pulte group up on top. you don't see this very often, jc penney up almost 3.6%. we will be right back. twins. i didn't see them coming.

i have obligations. cute obgations, but obligatio. i need to rethink the core omy portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

now we need a little bit more... [ male announcer ] at humana, we understand the value of quality time and personal attention. which is why we are proud to partner with health cae professionals who understand the difference that quality time with our members can make... that's a very nice cake! ohh! [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] humana thanks the physicians, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists and other health professionals who helped us achieve the highest average star rating among national medicare companies... and become the first and only national medicare advantage company to achieve a 5-star ting for a medicare plan...

your efforts result in the quality of care and service we're able to provide... which means better health outcomes... and more quality time to share with the ones whmatter most. i love you, grandma [ male announcer ] humana. ♪ >> it is 30 past the hour. a check on the markets as we do every 15 # minutes. nicole's on the floor of the new york stock exchange. i think you have ben willis. there he is. >> we are off the lows we saw earlier with ben bernanke's speech and q&a, part of the reason we sold off. what do you make of the market, ben? >> still in the bottoming out phase, but as we talked earlier, it's a time for investors to be adding to the long positions. traders buy the volatility looking for the ups and downs.

this is the bread and butterment love when it happens m investors should be looking, finding prices they want to add to what they own or starting a position. that's what you do. >> talked about the fact yesterday we gained over 200 points and talked with our buddies there and just saying what's the trend between now and the holidays, and it seems that consensus while we're in a bottoming out process, it may be higher. >> i believe by the end of the year we'll be higher, and market, gray wolf says possibly above the september 14th highs seen earlier in the year, but that's volatile. keep that in mind. traders setting up for that. what traders hold in the product that buy volatility are aalong those. it's like the sales, that's when you buy when you're an investor. >> it's inbelievable. there is a disconnect between the economy and what we're seeing here on wall street.

all right, ben willis, thank you so much. >> pleasure. >> you always have hot tips. back to you. >> one day he will sing for us, nicole. see you at the top of the hour, actually, in 15 minutes. what am i talking about? wal-mart, bracing for a possible walkout and protests outside the stores on black friday. tradition thally the busiest shopping day of the year. wal-mart filed a complaint with the relations board to stop the protests organizedded by labor union backed organizations. makes you wonder if the folks watched the news about what's happening with hostess filing for bankruptcy after, well, its employees went on strike. gerri willis is here to open their eyes. >> let's review. what is black friday? why is it called that? that's the day retailers operate in the red to operating in the black. it's critical. the season is very, very

important to all retailers, even wal-mart. the nation's biggest employer with a million workers, and, of course, they are charged with treating people unfairly, paying them too little, not giving them enough time off ect., ect., but when you have an example of a company like hostess choosing to liquidate rather than negotiating with unions, why would you go on strike now? you know, we have unemployment at unprecedented levels for the longest time in this country, and people saying, at a thousand locations, apparently, saying we will choose to protest instead. >> i don't understand it. i mean, all the people out there that would kill for jobs, and you're basically being selfish saying, oh, no, no, i want more. >> it's okay to want more, but how are you going to get more? are you going to get more by getting experience and qualifies for better and better jobs, or walk off and sit on your

keester? >> i know they were angry they had to work thanksgiving night, but go to any er around the country. >> nurse doctor, emergency personnel, firefighters, cops, people in tv will be working. >> i think people don't actually have holidays on their calendars. they just work. don't miss the "willis report" tonight here on fox business network. all right. investing in north america's energy boom is the strategy behind the energy independence fund. publicly traded fund investing crude oil and natural gas producers in the canada and u.s., and the team lead, rob, joining us now. rob, i'm glad you're here because so many people say the next big boom in the u.s. is going to be an energy boom. >> hi, and thanking for the opportunity to talk to you.

we believe that. we watched the energy sector really gain momentum over several years. in particular, over the last couple years, crude oil production in the united states grow by over a million barrels, and that's really significant. we really think energy independence in the u.s. is not only viable, but it's achievable and it's really real. >> do you worry -- >> it's driven -- >> do you worry about political complications, though? there's a lot of backlash from washington unfortunately. >> absolutely, and what you are talking about is regulation and of of the industry, and the oil and gas industry has been regulated for years, and the oil and gas industry adheredded to energy regulations, but it looks at safety making it its top priority. it invests in the people, in the communities where the properties of the oil and gas companies are located. what that means today, and the best example of that today is these companies are hiring people. they are hiring americans. they are doing it today.

>> exactly. >> we expect these oil and gas companies to hire between one and two million people over the next decade as the oil and gas energy independence theme plays out. not only that, but these oil and gas companies also pay income taxes, billions in state, federal, and local income taxes. >> good for the economy all around. what, in particular, are you investing in? $9 million in management, seven funds. your funds invest in a lot of infrastructure; right? >> we do. what you referred to in the beginning, it's focused on the producers on crude oil in the u.s.. it's unique. there's no other fund that focuses on the producers of crude oil and natural gas in the u.s.. we really like that fund because we're -- that fund is investing -- all the companies really driving the u.s. to energy independence.

now, we have a variety of other funds. those funds invest in the energy infrastructure aspect. the pipelines that are transports crude oil and natural gas across this country. in general, our theme is that we look to provide investors, investment products that strive for high levels of total return with an emphasis on current income. we have funds providing yields of 5.5% and 7%. >> no coal though, how come? strictly gas? >> we like the aspects of gas over coal for these reasons. natural gas is cheaper, cleaner, and it's just as abun adapt as coal. >> all your funds trade on -- publicly traded, people can go and invest. the holdings, though, the companies you own, pioneer natural resources, and what people are getting, they are getting a basket of companies in

the one share of stock. the stocks down though, slightly this year. do you expect it to get better next year? >> yeah, absolutely. the u.s. energy independence theme is really resulting in increased production, and an example of the company is this. pioneer has a great land position in the bay sip in west texas. they will be drilling for decades in the basin. they will grow their production by 25% a year for several years. that means they will double the size of the company in three or four years. generally, the market likes companies with these growth profiles. >> how could you not? you got to come back, update us on what's going on. you are not the first person to say we have an energy boom on our hands. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> coming up, chevron accusing a high state profile official of a

breach. as we do every day this time of the day, look at the 10 and 30-year treasury and how they are trading. your 10-year up five basis points, and 30-year moving as well, up five basis points 2.81%. we'll be right back.

>> i'm lori rothman with the fox business brief. the dreaded fiscal cliff, speaking in new york, ben to do so could alexander acostas more than the debt debacle of last year. u.s. prosecutors charging the hedge fund manager with insider trading and it's called the most lucrative case ever. it's alleged he made more than $276 million in us liz sit profits. the butter ball hotline is open

ready for your holiday catastrophes. entering the 32nd year where a staff the cooking experts field calls from distraught cooks like me during the holidays. that's the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

>> all right, in a rare move today, chevron files an ethics complaint against an official accusing of him of breaching his fiduciary duty. this is like politics gone way bad. >> this is is 5 nasty fight, tracy. acquired texaco, accused of a massive oil spill, bigger than the size of rhode island, 50% bigger than the exxon-valdez

spill in ecuador. they invested nearly $800 milliont( in chevron. the chief has been attacking chevron saying you got to settle. it's like a hammer over the heads of the pension fund saying now these accusations coming from chevron, and ethics complaint filed by chevron against thomas accusing him of taking 60 -- $60,000 in campaign donations on the other side of the fight offering access to free airplane rides, not saying he took the rides, but they are saying he was offered them. he has come back out, and this is what he's telling fox business that they are baseless attemptly big oil to intimidate me. the allegations without merit. they refuse to settle the battle for polluting the amazon, and denied responsibility and distorted the fact.

what's interesting is he's put out press releases saying chevron created a spill the size of rhode island and industrial cancer zone. chevron is now attacking him. it's a fight playing out in the media because it's a big headline today. >> dirty politics. >> that's right. >> liz, thanks. >> sure. tracy: closing down, $2.53 at $86.75 a barrel, a loss of 3%. all right. it's quarter till. time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. nicole's on the floor of the new york stock exchange, down 50 points, but man, more bad news. >> right. so we're talking about jcpenny, fighting the battle working on a turn around plan. they are talking about shops within the stores and moody's now is cutting and downgrading jcpenny. why are they doing this?

four credit metrics, significant level of operating losses so basically, while they think the new shops ideas is compelling, moodiy's is moving forward from the downgrade. this is one thing we're following here with jcpenny. you see the stock, though, up 3%. it's hardly a bad day for jcpenny. it's good news. the downgrade here has not crushed the stock. on the contrary. stocks nice on a day with down arrows. tracy: nicole, thank you very much. charlie brady pointing out stocks again because the dividends. more on that for you. three weeks after superstorm sandy hit, folks are still struggling with the massive task of rebuilding their homes. up next, angry's list co-founder tells us how her website is helping to track contractors with homeowners in need and

prevent the fraud. looking at today's winners and losers going to break, though. dow down 46 points. green mountain coffee up top on the nasdaq up 4.3%. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ d feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant ♪ [ male announcer ] they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. and at this special time of year, they shine even brighter.

come to the winter event and g the mercedes-benz you've always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer lease a 2013 glk350 for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

tracy: oil prices tumbling on hopes for a cease fire in the middle east. sandra smith following the action from the pits of the cme in today's trade.

>> i grabbed chris on this note. this is a hiewng selloff, chris, after a big rally yesterday. the president said he's confident they'll come to a decision on this. commodities rallied, gold, oil, everything and now they are selling off. what's the trade? >> it's a tremendous buying opportunity. ben bernanke came out, a lot of people negative on what he said, but, you know, they are going to stop kicking the can down the road in washington, get the fiscal cliff taken care of, and it's a great opportunity if they do. buying on these 2% pull back in oil is a great buy. >> you say it's a buy. what are you talking about? $9500 oil? we've been talking about this this week. >> $100 oil is definitely there. peace treaty between israel and people getting at them right now is on the table, but it's not going to happen. that's a thousand year war more or less, and i believe that this is a buying opportunity for oil. it's going to only get more volatile when it comes to commodities. >> gold rallied big yesterday,

sold off today. gold, where's it going? >> big in profits, a stronger dollar today. again, a great opportunity to buy gold. >> all right, chris, there you have it. tracy, an extremely volatile couple days here. traders figuring out what the trade is, where it's going, and in diswrnl, they see the selloffs now as a buy so down day, buy them, they say. >> chris' quoted at a hundred, and today at 95. clearly, a bunch of people think it's going higher. sandra, thank you very much. >> thank you. tracy: hundreds of homes to be demolished in new york and new jersey in the wake of sandy so finding a contractor who is not out to take advantage of you is no easy task. joining us is angie's list co-founder. we have to worry about crooks, but there's a lot out there, aren't there? >> there are. it's app unfortunate situation,

especially when a storm of this mag magnitude goes through an area. it brings out those looking to take advantage of you. it's important you are your own advocate making sure you know exactly who you are are working with and question, question, question. tracy: what am i looking for, though? i know your membership is up, up 68% year over year. what can i get from your site to help me make a decision? >> sure. we collect reviews on local service companies to tell you which roofers, which tree service companies have had a good review from consumers in the area, have a good reputation so you can find someone to provide good service, can also direct you to information on insurance, extremely important in these scenarios. what else we are doing is working to bring in more supply into the area. unfortunately, you know, the demand is so great that it might actually exceed the spliel.

tracy: sure. >> we are looking for contractors in other markets that are nearby that would be willing to send crews into the area to help with the rebuilding. tracy: that's right. there's going to be a shortage. agnie, how does your company make money from the contractors coming to your site? >> so angie's list, collect fees to be a member, and then companies highly rated, a rated or b rate the advertise with us, but they do not pay to be on the list. tracy: marketing expenses up. i presume the push is to get the name out there. you need membership up to offset it; correct? >> so we're continuing to invest in growing the business, and that will, you know, lead to revenues in the future. tracy: i hope you might be one of the few people that benefit from superstorm sandy as more and more contractors come to you because people in the area need

them. agnie hicks of angie's list. >> thank you. tracy: medical device makers tell us what the new medical device act means for its bottom line. can't be good. plus, which country means finding the most opportunities in? liz claman taking you through the next hour of trading. dow's down 43 pointsment don't go anywhere.ngs we'll be right back. but he'll wk his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and me from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, nd he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

liz: good afternoon everybody. i'm liz claman. it is the last hour of trading. countdown to the closing bell begins right now. what happened? if you're long the market, you began today making money but right now not so much. let's talk about the macro picture. the dow trying to make a comeback. we go to the data wizard. you can see that just about nine