lori: a very good afternoon. i am lori rothman. melissa: i am melissa francis.

we need a deal before christmas. neither side has talked with the other in nearly two days. towns are bracing for the fallout. tampa mayor tells us what the fiscal cliff means for his city. lori: all talking and no advancement towards a deal. frustrating. on and on and on those politicians go. we will bring you an update. tom corbett saying going over that cliff would be "absolutely frightening for the keystone state." he will join us later. melissa: president obama has been named person of the year. go figure. [talking over each other] lori: was i on the list for

rock. melissa: on top. lori: let's get you updated on the markets. lauren simonetti is covering stocks for us today. >> we go break a two-day winning streak. for the s&p, it has been the best two days in more than a month. we are still a little bit more positive. traders kind of sitting on their hands digesting what we have recently had. if you look at, i say risk on because the sectors that are doing well today are once again energy and thanks. utilities not putting in a good performance today. gm shares are up tremendously right now.

they took out their highest level in 19 month old little bit earlier today. this on news that gm is flying back 200 million shares from treasury. back to you. lori: exiting their interest in gm. thank you, lauren. melissa: president obama coming out and saying there is no reason to come over the fiscal cliff. how are we going to get a deal done before christmas? peter barnes is that the white house with more as the clock ticks down. peter: take the deal. take the deal the president said. the president claims he has met the republicans have weight in these negotiations. he wants to have something done by christmas.

boehner has conceded on the issue of higher tax rates for wealthier americans. the house will vote tomorrow on increasing those rates only on people who make more than $1 million a year. something that the president would veto if it got to him. the president is puzzled as to why republicans just will not negotiate more on that. he suggested that maybe 700 or $800,000. the president also offered some political analysis as to why the republicans have not gotten to that point saying that some house republicans are simply worried about the politics of it. worried about challenges from tea parties in their primaries. take a listen. >> the country deserves folks to be willing to compromise on behalf of the greater good. not tangle themselves up in a whole bunch of ideological positions that do not make sense. peter: the president also said

that any deal must include an increase on the debt ceiling. he said he will not go through what he went through last summer, last year, with trying to get the debt ceiling increase. melissa: thank you so much. while the president is hopeful a fiscal cliff you will get done in time, mayor bob buckhorn is concerned at how higher taxes will affect the tourism throughout the state. this has an interesting twist. we know that local mayors across the country are worried about the fiscal cliff deal. i think this is one that not a lot of people are talking about. >> melissa, what i do think is if this tax bill is not passed and middle-class folks do not get sick -- do not get the tax exemptions that they normally get, my concern is not raising

taxes on the 2% and it is even much less. the 98% of the people who need those middle-class taxes extended are the people that i represent and those of the people traveling to florida for vacation. melissa: i hear you, but you represent and that of those other folks also. there are a lot of wealthy people that live in the tampa bay area and in gorgeous homes on the gulf coast area. you are real estate market has been among those of the most deep rust. why would you want to raise taxes on your wealthy citizens either? >> i think it is a fairness issue.

it is a moral issue. the president campaigned on it. the country spoke loudly that they are in favor of his proposals. we have to balance our budget every year. we cannot kick the can down the road. melissa: absolutely. last year you did not balance your deficit. going back to the other issue, i am just wondering, where housing market is finally recovering. you want to take money away from your wealthy citizens. the idea of fairness in your mind is worth hurting your community? >> well, you have to weigh the numbers. talking about 1% who can afford it versus the other 98 or 99% of people that i represent as well that need these extensions of the tax breaks. melissa: why would you want to raise taxes on anyone in your area to fund the government for

eight days? >> well, it is more than extending it for eight days. do we craft a deal that is sustainable in the long run? we cannot continue to bounce from crisis to crisis to crisis. people need stability in the economic system. they need to know that the politicians in washington, d.c. are doing what we sent them there to do. if there's rid the world, we would not have these problems. we cannot continue to kick the can down the road. melissa: mayor buckhorn, thank you for coming on. happy holidays. lori: he answered questions with a smile on his face. melissa: he is a great guy. lori: and you grilled him. losing our aaa rating. just another possible result of

no deal on the fiscal cliff. melissa: as we head to break, let's take a look at metals. you can see gold trading lower. down three tenths of a percent. we will be right back. ♪

♪ lori: let's make some cash with charles payne.

he is looking at a retailer. charles: lori loves that. michael kors, we have had a tremendous amount of progress with him this year. my wife sent me her christmas list. she mentioned, first of all, when i looked at the list, i went down and got a hotdog from a hotdog stand. she had some of the usual things on there. the burr berries and the louise, but she said a watch with a lot of bling. that is a michael kors watch. when was the last time you heard

of the same store sales being up 45%. lori: that is jaw-dropping. i think wall street sometimes things they cannot keep doing it. if they do keep doing it -- that helps. the businesses grew almost 100% in europe. the stock breaks out at 57. lori: we will take it. charles: relish is on me. i am taking it one step at a time. it is my third job. [talking over each other] charles: i have to make money on the side. did you see the christmas list? lori: let's do stocks based on your wife's christmas list. [ laughter ] charles: you got it.

lori: let's check the markets. it has been 15 minutes since we last checked in with lauren. >> fedex shares are doing well today. they are up by just under 3%. if you took out the impact of hurricane sandy that hit in late october, fedex would have reported earnings better than expected. that would be the good news. they are keeping an outlook for the full year and also their expectations for overall u.s. economic growth. what is interesting about fedex is there air expression, they're more expensive way to ship things. if you wanted to use fedex ground, monday was the deadline. tomorrow is the deadline for ups regular ground shipping if you want those gifts in time for christmas. melissa: i did not know that.

good stuff, lauren. the united states is at risk. the agency says it is a lack of a deal that could erode growth potential for the company. the united states was already downgraded from aaa status last year. lori: i think it is fascinating. everyone blew past the first downgrade we had. interest rates actually fell. now, a second downgrade, where do you default to. it is really troubling. we have to keep a close eye on it with this fiscal cliff. that is what we are here for. melissa: we will stay on top of

it. charlie gasparino broke the story. knight capital going to getco. lori: hope you have some extra cash to spend if you are flying. there you have the dollar. weaker against the dollar and the yen. back after this. ♪

>> it is 21 minutes past the hour. i have your fox news minute. president obama announcing a effort on gun violence. >> this is not something where folks will be studied the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. this is a team that has a very specific task to pull together for right now. >> the president calling on that group to come up with a concrete set of proposals by no later

than january. president paying respect to six for victims of the tragedy of sandy hook elementary school. those are your latest headlines. lori, back to you and melissa. lori: thank you. we are just devastated every day. our hearts go out to those families in the community, of course. melissa: taking a turn now to charlie gasparino. knight capital is going to getco after an extensive bidding war. charlie: i think now is when the cutting comes. knight capital employees were

prepping. i think there were about 1100 of them. what makes this deal or any deal work is this. basically you share everything. if you are a retail investor, you buy a stock. it is probably being touched by night in some way. other retail brokerage send them to my capital. they are looking at it -- getco management. employees of my capital are going all over the place. lori: what does that mean? it is an easy and. they match buyer and seller commodities.

they know what they are doing. i am sure they will do it orderly. tom joyce will be around, at least for the transition, i believe. he has been transitioned to chairman. nonexecutive chairman. that is not his correct title anymore. capitalism, there is a degree of destruction that goes on. knight capital is in this trouble because of its own mistake. they have that trading mishap that cost the firm and lot of money. people will be laid off during christmas. there will be pretty massive

layoffs. that is not something to celebrate. i will tell you this, the market likes the deal. the market was up yesterday. pretty much all day. big investors were saying that getco would get it. getco came in with a heightened bid. they moved their bid up to that level that tom joyce always wanted. he wanted a four dollar bid. they moved it up to $3.75. pretty close. you know, one of the. things about virtu, i never got much disclosure on exactly what it was. i heard they were ready to raise it to $3.30. that is a lot of money. to get financing for that, they were backed up by goldman and barclays. they allegedly had service behind them.

i wish i had more, sort of, feeling about that that i knew getco put out a press release. you are not lying. lori: when you say that wall street likes this deal, does that mean they are looking for additional consolidation or is it just a simple knight capital story? charlie: it is up $0.20. it is up fairly significantly from yesterday. i think right now, what we are looking at with knight capital is a special situation. nicholas has been buying up there on a buying spree. there is some consolidation between midsized firms.

these are people who want to cash out on their bid. one of the bailout partners was getco. their partner in crime, i should not say crime, jefferies, they had another seat at the table. it was very difficult for anyone with virtu to win. i love covering these mergers. it is like battleship. it is a war that goes on. melissa: there were a lot of people that passed that up. charlie: he may have even have the sole opportunity to do it and he did not. melissa: charlie gasparino, thank you so much. lori: president obama is "time" magazine's person of the year. the looming fiscal cliff, to the

president deserve this honor? lou dobbs will give us his opinion next. melissa: jcpenney trading up about 6.5%. we will be right back. ♪ i always wait until the last minute.

can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christs delivery.

melissa: breaking news right now. house speaker john raynor will speak at 215 eastern. i am sure he will come out and say the whole thing has been fixed. they have done a deal. you will want to watch no matter what.

lori: boehner does not believe if you pay $900,000 that you should have to pay taxes. let's get an update on the markets. lou dobbs is here. here is lauren. >> it is a mixed market. ultimately, a market that is trading a pretty tight range. we also got a mixed report on the housing sector. housing permits, which is a more future indicator, this is the reaction among five of the homebuilders we like to look at. three of them are negative today. if you take a look at sector, it is one of the best performing sectors of the year. of almost 50%. sometimes we like to track those things. this report is not the best that we have had. back to you.

lori: some noise, some economists may say. he was elected to be president for another four years. for that reason, president obama has been elected for "time" magazine person of the year. you may recall, there he is, lou dobbs. he was robbed. absolutely. lou: i have to be pretty careful today that this does not sound like sour grapes. i have to say that the choice is just fine. i mean, i was hoping for a different nobel prize winner to be the man of the year. a couple of folks come to mind. the lead scientist, he would have been quite an interesting fellow to put forward because he led the mars probe. i thought that was worthy of,

perhaps, being a man of the year. cellular, microbiology, to actually get down to the gene level in talking about how to treat some of these diseases with the information that only they could discover. [talking over each other] lou: you would think the only thing that happens is a negotiation over something termed by the national media is a fiscal cliff. the only thing that happened in this country is, everything that child. these are scientists who have wrought great child to mankind. i do think that within the

pathetic terms that constitute our time and media, particularly, for the liberal national media, obama is as good of a choice as any other. he is a man who won against considerable odds. he triumphed on november 6. that is were the. melissa: that is true. lori: that is a brilliant way to put it. melissa: emotionally, it has been a tough year. what about the teacher who gave her life trying to save the students at sandy hook. what about all the emergency workers. also, hurricane sandy emergency workers. lou: our hearts go out to all who lost their lives, who have suffered so much.

whether it be in newtown, connecticut, or new york were so many still suffer. we are a nation that seems to be, whether it be by the leadership of our elected officials, whether it be the president or others, we seem to be focusing on victimization. we seem to be focusing on victims rather than those who are prevailing. we are focusing less on what we do with honor and great, great sacrifice to achieve much. instead, we seem to be focusing on those that would limit us and that that which is the worst among us. lori: you have focused any times about leadership and lack thereof. interesting that time .2 a leader. lou: i hope not too many people

are. lori: my point is, we do not have a choice at this point. lou: well, we do. the president, after all, is just the president. the speaker is just a speaker. we are fundamentally americans. americans are despite all still a classless society. people are trying to divide us. they are trying to segregate us. i do not mean that in a civil right way. we are a nation when combined. we will stand up to any challenge. we will prevail. unfortunately, our leaders and the national media want to construct something else of america right now. to a point, they are succeeding and we have to fix that. lori: it is a lot to chew on. thank you very much. here is the promo for you. catch lou at seven and 10:00 p.m. eastern.

art laffer on the fiscal cliff. melissa: such a horrible reference. lou: so much better than the fiscal cliff, don't you think? >> [talking over each other] lori: absolutely frightening. that is how pennsylvania governor tom corbett characterizes the economy and the state of pennsylvania is the country goes over that fiscal cliff. melissa: will this latest blow ruined the swiss bank's earnings. you can see the yield on the ten year pulling slightly one basis point. we will be right back.

♪

>> im adam shapiro with your fox business brief. kodak selling its digital contents at rpx corporation for $525 million. it is a key step for the company's effort to emerge from bankruptcy. shopping flows from the thanksgiving weekend. the company now expects sales to be up 2.5% from its previous forecast. super storm sandy and discounted merchandise for the lower forecast. mark zuckerberg announced his biggest donation to date. it is valued at half a billion dollars.

that is the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪

lori: pennsylvania is taking steps to prepare this tape from a loss of federal money if the country falls off the fiscal cliff. welcome, governor. >> thank you, lori. lori: what program specifically stand to suffer? >> across the board, we will have to take a look at two primary areas of education and the welfare areas. they take up almost 80% of the budget.

[talking over each other] lori: there is a surplus throw in the state budget. could state dollars fill that gap? >> there is not a surplus in the state budget. [talking over each other] >> what happens is that will be taken up by the cost of government going up. lori: i see. that predictable budget scenario is absolutely frightening. how are you going about trying to put together a current budget? >> we do not have to reduce our budget until february.

what programs would have to be cut to stay at the certain level. the big unknown also, though, my understanding 1.3 billion in defense spending in pennsylvania that would be reduced, that would be a lot of jobs that we would lose. right now there is a great unknown. i think all governors across the country are facing this. we are starting to grow. this probably could not come at a worse time. what will it do to the businesses as to whether they

grow or just do not make a decision to do anything for the next six to 12 months. it could not come at a worse time. lori: what is the best case scenario? >> that they get the decisions made now so that we can all start planning on it and not go over this, as i call it, federal cliff. lori: well said, governor corbett. thank you. melissa: it is a quarter to. as we do every 15 minutes, let's check the markets. lauren, you are looking at tech movers. >> the nasdaq has turned lower. it has nothing to do with oracle. it is up almost by 4%.

they did note that while software has fallen, their hardware sector continues to show a little bit of weakness. we have a little more analyst coming out backing applelike jpmorgan this morning as well as jeffries. the american household has $400 of apple products in it. lori: u.s. justice department slapping a criminal charge on ubs japanese unit marking the first time in a decade a big bank to faith federal criminal charges. here is elizabeth macdonald on online. >> it is more than three times what barclays paid. it is the second biggest fight ever and to former personnel

have been charged. here is eric holder just this morning they defrauded millions of dollars. they did so primarily to increase profits and to get bigger bonuses for themselves. >> 45 workers were involved in the scam. they found 2000 they are saying that it was at risk of being improperly influenced at that time. i will tell you something, when you look at the e-mails, though, that e-mails are so telling. look at this e-mail on a

$50 billion deal. traders collided and you see that the one trader wrote to a broker saying i need you to keep the rate as low as possible. [talking over each other] >> there you have it. this case, for the first time, the libor case has been characterized as a way to protect the banks to show that they are not in trouble. they're borrowing costs are low. we have seen that the libor rate was rigged higher. more than one dozen banks face libor charges on three continents and we are finding in this case with ubs that other banks may have colluded with ubs to rigged libor. we could see more heads rolling at ubs. we certainly saw three tough guys being pushed out of the door out our glaze.

melissa: good for you, liz. apple, nokia, samsung. shibani joshi has the winner. lori: just what the doctor ordered. doctor pepper making changes to its formula. look at some of the winners and losers on the wall street trade as we head to break. back right after this. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is amy. amy likes to invest in the market. she also likes to ride her bike. she knows the potential for making or losing money can pop up anytime. that's why she trades with the leader in mobile trading. so she's always ready to take action, no matter how wily... or weird... or wonderfully the market's behaving... which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. get the mercedes-benz on your wish list at the winter event goi on now through december 31st. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 e350 for $579 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

melissa: after 14 straight years know via is not from the top spot of the number one cell phone brand. shibani joshi has the details. shibani: all good things must come to an end.

the top smartphone makers out there, there is a new king being crowned today. it is no longer nokia. it is now samsung. it has a 29% market share around the globe. nokia is now at the number two spot. apple comes in at 10%. cheap phones and high-end phones, you have phones that cost $500, for the cost nine dollars. melissa: and they look good. shibani: this news came out a little bit earlier today. they are fighting against each other and then they can play nicely at the same time.

$569 million. they will basically license digital camera technology. again, they play nice sometimes and they don't play nice and other areas. that is the way it goes in silicon valley. melissa: when it comes to calories, doctor pepper things ten is a lucky number. they are also offering options for other beverages. the secret to these low calorie drinks is a combo of artificial sweetener and just enough high fructose corn syrup to get rid of that diet soda taste. they are trying to combat a steady decline of soda in the last 20 years.

melissa: i was trying to figure out why ten. why 10 calories? lori: save them where you can. melissa: i know. lori: do you know what the best diet soda is, they have diet tonic. melissa: going off a totally different area. coming up tonight on money, the chief investment officer, he will join us to discuss what a kill switch for the markets is a terrible idea. this is a new thought about the trait that gets out of hand and take the whole market. lori: it sound like a no-brainer for me. i guess we will have to tune in and find out why. following up, still sometime before the "the closing bell." you want to keep it here. house speaker john boehner

expected to speak at 2:15 p.m. eastern. tracy and ashley will have all of the latest information. keep it right here. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use ottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

thesey i am tracy byrnes. ashley: i am ashley webster. tough talk on the fiscal cliff, president obama calling on republicans to take his new author and threatens to veto john boehner's plan b. republicans call that threat bizarre. john boehner expected to speak in 15 minutes and we will bring that to you live. tracy: name calling now. corporate dealmaking into the pfgbest. will be just another dead? the head of the mandate, ernst and young will tell us about factors that will shake the market next year. ashley: time for stocks as always as we do every 15

minutes. let's head to lauren simonetti on the floor of the stock exchange. the fiscal cliff keeping investors on the edge as well. >> definitely an issue. a lot of these going on, being digested with two strong days of gains here. in the u.s. we're taking a little bit of a breather, and down invests 13 points off of session lows. tracy: what about the housing report? a lot of mixed news out there. >> these are up today, and they were better than expected. it is 2-2/3%. >> just as confused as we are. tracy: president obama saying he is eager to get something done on the fiscal cliff before

christmas but are both sides any closer to reaching any deal? peter barnes joins us from the white house. we are all confused. what is going on? peter: clearly the negotiation continues. the president putting pressure on republicans today. in a briefing with reporters he said he has met them halfway towards getting some kind of agreement that he is, quote, right there in the middle and there's no reason why they can't wrap this up. he said republicans have conceded that tax rates need to go on the wealthy because they're going to vote tomorrow on a bill that would increase tax rates on people making $1 million and he wants to see the threshold come down and revenues come. there are a few hundred million dollars apart and spending cuts so he thinks they should have a deal by christmas. here is what he said. >> at some point there has got to be a recognition on the part of my republican friends that --

take the deal. they will be able to claim that they have worked with me over the last two years to reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction factor and we will have stabilized at the ten years. that is a significant achievement for them. peter: he also wants stability on the debt ceiling. that has to be part of this agreement that republicans have to agree to increase the debt ceiling once again. tracy: could i ask you quickly, a couple days ago, last week we were talking about how if they did not get this, the protocol in order to get it before the end of a year was we were cutting it too close. now it seems there will be no time to get this in. in peter: there is a process. the house technically has to consider a bill for three days. has to be posted so members can read it but remember this is off

of on menu of provisions and ideas and proposals, we already have legislative language for a lot of this already. i did talk to a top lobbyists yesterday who thinks despite what the president said today that he wants to have a deal by christmas which would then get the clock ticking, he did not think the bill -- they will vote on anything before december 28th. they come back from christmas on the 26 in theory, then have their three days to vote on something by that friday. that is the time line. tracy: that is a close timeline. hairpin close. peter barnes, thank you very much. ashley: looks like both sides were close to a deal but now that the white house has respected john boehner's latest proposal can lawmakers come together to get a deal done in time? as we know it is so close but

here to discuss it is congressman from california john -- we were supposed to be joined by republican congresswoman marcia blackburn. she couldn't make it and all sorts of things going on behind closed doors when it comes to get something done. thanks for being with us. you have said that you are willing to make sacrifices. does that include reforms to entitlement programs? >> there is room for reforms but you don't need to throw seniors of of the fiscal cliff to achieve those. there are very significant savings available in medicare from the drug prescription issues, the issues of how you pay for medical services, fraud and abuse, on and on, all of which the president put on the table and we ought to take those but you don't throw seniors off of the cliff by changing the age to 67. that is bad public policy, bad for seniors and doesn't save money. tracy: we don't have to do for our existing seniors.

for people like me, you could raise it easily to even 70 at this point and save the country lot of money. >> you wouldn't save much money because your cost when you get to 65 is going to be part of the health care system with their you are in medicare or private insurance and the chances are you won't be able to get decent insurance policy or none at all. when you get to the 65, because as healthy as you are today when you get to the 65 you begin to get health problems and it just doesn't make sense in the nature of insurance it sells, you don't want to limit the pool of any insurance program to very risky people and you certainly do that if you change the age to 67 or even 70, not a good thing to do in any insurance program so don't go there. you don't save much money but you can save a lot of money in the medicare program by providing patient visits to keep the medical issues under control.

one other thing that is out there is trying to bring social security into this issue is not necessary. it is not part of the deficit. is an issue we will have to deal with over the next eight years but right now it is not a deficit issue at all, it is not part of the fiscal cliff. don't throw seniors off of the cliff to solve a nonexistent problem in social security. ashley: let's get to the other side, the revenue side. president obama has been quoted many times saying it is time millionaares and billionaires pay their share. now all of a sudden it is $250,000 and up and then $400,000. what is wrong with a proposal in plan b from john boehner that says okay, million dollars and up can pay more in taxes? what is wrong with that? >> there are several problems. you don't solve the revenue side of the equation. that is 1-third the amount of money john boehner offered four days ago to put on the table. you are down to $300 billion of

money you would collect so you are not dealing with a balanced approach or what will ultimately be necessary to solve the deficit problem. the president's proposal, hundred thousand dollars and below would continue to have our tax cut and you're giving away a lot of revenue but nonetheless you still have enough to be able to provide for the revenue side of a balanced deal. tracy: problem is it is auld roker. the security is broke, the tax code is broke, nothing is working the way it is supposed to be working, nothing is being funded the way it is supposed to be funded. two thirds of everything that comes into this country goes out the door. we have too many allegations. that needs to be addressed and it seems we are working on the surface here. >> you are correct that we stand part. the reform of the corporate and personal tax codes really hasn't been discussed in this issue and it needs to be discussed.

there are loopholes, tax giveaways, various deductions that make no sense in the modern world in which we live and others are absolutely essentials, for example research r&d tax credit which gives the future economy the opportunity. there are others that have been with us for a century that you go wire we continuing to subsidize the oil industry, the wealthiest industry in the entire world? why would we do that when there are other things we must do like moving towards clean energy? shift to those subsidies around but none of that seems to be discussed right now in your quite correct. it is a problem. we ought to be dealing with that. is not going to happen in the next ten days, 12 days unfortunately. ashley: thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. good luck getting something done. >> thank you. ashley: all right. the oil companies -- tracy: we are exploring new

options. ashley: guess what? much more of the fiscal cliff coming up, john boehner expected to make a statement in the next few minutes. responding to president obama's comment the little earlier. tracy: government motors no more. more of the stake in general motors. looking at what is next for the stock straight ahead. as we do every day this time of day let's look at how oil is trading, it is moving up 2%. eighty-nine dollars and $0.67 a barrel. we will be right back.

ashley: john boehner will speak within moments, two minutes away. we will bring that live. tracy: until he is out we are talking to charles payne, general motors and the treasury department announcing selling departments and the government getting out of gm. you buy it, in the auto world? charles: stock is up huge, einhorn has taking the victory lap. i would not change it. i am really concerned about general motors. the only thing i would save from a valuation point of view is

toyota is at 11 and honda at 10, look at the trends in this goes back to november. year over year they were up 3% and month over month down 5%, on the motors is probably the best stock to buy in that space. they're on fire. there year over year sales are up 35% and month over month 9%. fairly valued and has inauguration there and coming non nicely and i like toyota as well. toyota has little exposure to europe. general motors will lose billions of dollars of this year in europe alone. toyota of course, maybe a speed bump because of the fight over these ireland and sail doon significantly. ford is the one you want to love that take the bailout, they're not growing as fast as i like. last month their sales were up 6% and that less than half of

the industry. it is a lot better from a valuation point of view than general motors but purely without putting the patriotism aside and looking at all of these things purely for the company that is doing the best have the most upside potential, at this moment i will look at honda. tracy: i have been driving a hondas and acuras for years and they are great cars. they last long and for the money -- tracy: doing extraordinarily well. i had a conversation with dagen mcdowell, she did point out the reason there are so many -- tracy: waiting for the next one. [talking over each other] >> the president's offer of $1.3 trillion revenue, $850 billion in spending reduction fails to meet the tests the president promised the american people a balanced

approach. i hope the president will get serious soon about providing and working with us on a balanced approach. the house will pass legislation to make permanent tax relief for nearly every american. 99.81% of the american people. the president will have a decision to make. he can call on senate democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. [talking over each other] tracy: that was john boehner. ashley: basically saying the house will vote tomorrow on plan b which will give higher tax rates to those making above $1 million, 99.1%. a decision to encourage senate democrats if not he is responsible.

tracy: we will go to rich edson, the president saying, john boehner saying it is time to get serious. what have we been doing all along quite frankly? peter: the negotiations of stopped since john boehner made his introduction of what is known as plan b. it makes current income-tax rates permanent for income amounts of less than $1 million, keep the capital gains rate the top rate, 15% for amounts of less than $1 million. twenty% would be the rate for more than $1 million and makes permanent the alternative minimum tax that prevents tens of millions of american taxpayers having to pay the alternative minimum tax and sets the estate tax at 35% with a $5 million exemption. there are really two have the. of the house does pass that bill tomorrow when john boehner is promising that it will it kicks this all over to the senate.

the president and the speaker can be negotiating some type of grand bargain, $2 trillion deal we have been talking about the last couple days or senate democrats can make some tweaks, lower that threshold come add something like the medicare doc fix that prevents medicare doctors from getting a massive pay cut beginning in january and kick it back to the house for the house to vote on again. it would be like the mini fix to the fiscal cliff. would not solve those tens of billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts that are supposed to happen in 2013 and every year for the next decade. there are a couple different route second happen in washington. we are nearing a end game. we are sold on avoiding the fiscal cliff, there's still a chance, a very real one that we could go over it but we're getting to the point where the final end game is becoming apparent and right now everything is focused on the plan that the house will be voting on tomorrow which we should you on screen.

john boehner says that could pass the house, the senate says as constructed, senate democrats, it will not pass the senate and white house is threatening to veto it if it ever got to the white house which it probably won't. may be some changes to that. it will be of to the senate after tomorrow's folks if the house contests that. ashley: how damaging would be tomorrow if the house does not getting of votes to pass this? there are republicans out there who are adamant, no tax hikes that all regardless how much money you're making. if that happens john boehner is in a difficult position, isn't he? rich: if that plan, the smaller plan which allows tax rates to stay the same for those earning $1 million, it sets the estate tax at that particular level, the president right now is offering $400,000 of tax increases if you make $400,000 a year. $1 million and above can't pass the republican controlled house, $400,000 and above with an

increase in the debt ceiling definitely won't pass the house. tracy: thank you for recapping for us. and again this is just a band-aid until they pass the problem which they won't do until next year. ashley: the press conference is getting shorter and shorter. tracy: everyone is fed up. even the speaker himself. fedex says its customers the still shopping for bargains. what does that mean for the overall economy and its investors? we will take a look next. ashley: we are live from one company bracing for fallout from the fiscal cliff, jeff flock has a preview. jeff: listen carefully to what just transpired in washington, a generator they are testing now, you can almost hear it. we are going to hear from the ceo on this subject of the fiscal cliff and what he hopes will happen and won't happen. stay tuned.

tracy: the world's largest producer of gasoline powered engines seeing points for strong growth. we get past the looming fiscal cliff at the end of the year.

jeff flock joins us with the company in wisconsin. jeff: is a huge fear and companies like this all over the country but particularly this one in wisconsin, a force for huge growth. these generators are home powered generators. sandy kicked up demand for this. what is their biggest fear? that the fiscal cliff gets gone over and next thing you know, we have problems. listen to the ceo talking exclusively on the fox business network. >> when you look at the fiscal cliff, everything that impact the economy and for us is housing and unemployment because that has a big impact in consumer confidence and a piece of equipment. having said that, the grass generally doesn't know that there's a recession or fiscal cliff out there so the grass will grow. there will be power outages.

jeff: and there's the snow fall forecast in wisconsin and that is good for business. there's a lot of activity here. what plans do you have been placed if you go off of the cliff, and specific plans in place? >> really rightsize the business. and economic conditions, do we go over the cliff and there's an impact on the economy, and we can obviously right size the business accordingly. jeff: wall street seems to like that. stock has done pretty well, taking strong steps to make sure if we do go over the cliff they don't kill all the way to the bottom with it. companies all over america doing the same sort of thing. tracy: i don't think he is gone. i would forsake the vacation for

the generator and lawnmower. jeff flock in wisconsin. >> need a lot of juice, girl. ashley: john boehner making the brief, short and sweet statement on the fiscal cliff, get serious soon, gerri wiln both plans and tells us why neither one will be the solution anyway. tracy: but first let's take a look at today's winners and losers as we head to break. look at this, on the s&p 500, the big winner up 4% and oracle, we will be right back.

tracy: we got to get a check of the markets every 15 minutes. lauren simonetti on the floor of what the exchange. we are selling off all. >> we were watching or i was watching the markets of hole 56 seconds john boehner was speaking and we did move lower, now down 37 points to the dow for the nasdaq and 5.5 for the s&p 500. and slightly negative before turning positive. we have the dollar down and oil up before the save haven. >> we are down 30 points, cu in 15 minutes. ashley: with the big central banks set to pump billions more

into government bonds, monetary policy purgatory is over. investors sitting on the sidelines are missing out. michael jones, chairman and chief investment officer of riverfront investment group, thank you for joining us. are you from of purely investor's standpoint saying it is time to jump in the market? >> for equity investors what the fed is doing is a good thing. from the time we first learned a phrase counted for -- quantitative meeting in february and march by 2009 the market is up 25%. we like the fed policies from long-term inflationary prospective but when they print money equity markets like it. we have a saying at riverfront, don't fight the fed, into the market.

ashley: critics will argue flooding the system with a liquidity essentials means we know the price of everything but the value of nothing. how hard is it to get a sense of where is the stand? >> what you want in this environment, it is clear it is not just the federal reserve, you also have the ecb committed to a limited support of spain and italy if they sign to oversight and japan talking about printing money until they get a 2% inflation rate, every central bank in the world defect of the lowering interest rates or expanding balance sheets so everybody is flooding the global market with liquidity and in that environment you want assets that can scale their cash flow to the decline in value of the currency, equity, real-estate, not fixed income, tragically that is where investors are putting their money. ashley: what happens when they take the punch bowl away and if

that happens all the sudden? the fed says it will signal clearly but that has got to be a concern. >> i have a feeling that ben bernanke has dusted off the fed's post world war ii playbook. people think we are in unprecedented policy environment we are not. we were deeply indebted after world war ii and the fed cut interest rates to zero and could compare for 14 years. every time the ten year treasury popped above 2 bling 5% they printed money and bought the ten year treasury for 14 years. the result of that was slowly over time we rode away and inflated away the debt burden left over from world war ii. we sort of stole from bondholders overtime. that is exactly what we are planning now. ashley: finish your thought. >> why do they have to do it now? the cbo says if they raise

interest rates to 3.5% by 2017 it adds $1 trillion to the annual deficit. the thing congress and the president has $1 trillion in cuts, rising interest costs. the fed has been painted into a corner. ashley: we are overtime. which sectors the light? >> we like banking, a free capital for more stock buybacks and dividend increases. ashley: very good. it was a riverfront investment, thank you so much, we appreciate it. tracy: out of time all around. speaking about of time, the fiscal cliff. john boehner apparently doesn't have a lot of time. he responded to the president moments ago in a very, very brief statement. here is what he said. >> republicans continue to work

toward avoiding the fiscal cliff. the president's offer of $1.3 trillion of revenue, in spending reductions. fails to meet the test the president promised the american people, a balanced approach. and providing and working on a balanced approach. tax relief for every american, 99.81%. he can call on senate democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in american history. tracy: 50 seconds or so. here with more including whether either side is enough to fix the debt problems gerri willis of the willis report, he didn't

take questions or discuss. he spoke, he left. gerri: the president of questions but it was really a soliloquy. ashley: every word. gerri: the sides are so far apart from each other it is amazing. i was mostly interested in the two plans. what will it mean for this country? specifically in terms of the death, a couple full screens, obama's plan, he wants to raise taxes by $1.2 trillion looking at $1.2 trillion in spending reductions over ten year period for $2.42 trillion. john boehner tax increases $1.63 trillion, spending cuts $1.4 trillion, $2.63 trillion, backing a little bit, total savings from the plan where obama, $4.62 trillion for john boehner, $4.63 trillion over ten years, look how closely, how

close these are. look at this. what is that going to be? the national debt ten years from now, either of those plants in play, doesn't matter which one it is, pox on both your houses, $21 trillion in government debt, the burden on the back of the american people, no matter whose plan goes into play. i get upset about this because we have this serious -- people calling each other names on tv and at the end of the day you are doing nothing for us. thank you very much. tracy: data. two years from now, every christmas basically we will have this conversation. gerri: we should be and we should fix it now. to make some fundamental changes, so that it is fair and people understand it making changes that makes sense down the road, ducking and running because this is what people

muddling. ashley: that is so true. tax reform, my goodness, real tax reform. gerri: term limits are your problem. that is far for another day. [talking over each other] gerri: that will solve thousands of problems. tracy: don't miss the willis report at 6:00, 9:00 eastern. would you have on the show? [talking over each other] ashley: a good question. [talking over each other] tracy: a question gun-control. [talking over each other] tracy: the president looked none too happy. [talking over each other] ashley: clearly wasn't pleased. thank you so much. all right, breaking news. oil closing up $1.58 up to $89.51, zeroing in on that $90 a barrel gaining 2% overall so far. keep an eye on oil getting lots. coming the ubs a an eye-popping

one$.5 billion, it might be the tip of the iceberg. liz macdonald breakdown next. tracy: let's take a look at the 10 and 30 year treasuries. we will be right back. with fidelity's new options platform, we've completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies... to get a list of equity option.. evaluate them with our p&l calculator... and execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. i'm greg stevens and i helped create fidelity's options platform. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

shibani: i am shibani joshi with your fox business brief. the treasury department moving forward with a plan to unload its remaining stake in general motors in the next 15 months. as part of the agreement the automaker will pay $5.5 billion to two hundred million shares of its own stock. the other three hundred million shares will be sold out on the open market. hyundai is recalling 13,000 of its 2012 models with sunroof that could potentially shatter while the car is moving. seven of 11 consumer complaints filed said they were driving

with the glass shattered. housing starts slowed more than expected in november after three months of gains. on the upside building permits rose at their fastest clip since july of 2008. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

tracy: a criminal charge on ubs's japanese unit marking the first time in a decade a big bank has face federal criminal charges. further fallout from the swiss banking giant's massive $1.5 billion sweeping case, here with more, liz macdonald but the bottom line. liz: breaking news from the wall street journal, parter publication, and published report from our regulator for fannie mae and freddie mac estimating $3 billion in estimated losses at fannie and

freddie, and the unpublished report urging fannie and freddie to sue banks involved in the rigging so we have the government which owns fannie and freddie stepping in in a big way. this is on top of their colder announcing criminal charges and the sentiment of the one$.5 billion with ubs which is basically three times the barkley's mind and the second biggest penalty ever to hit a bank. >> they defrauded the company's counterparties of millions of dollars did so primarily to increase profit. bigger bonuses for themselves. tracy: the liz: the manipulation conspiracy and other traders with other charges but you know what the issue is? how widespread this fraud was

and the u.k. financial regulators saying it would be routine manipulation. 45 workers implicated 3 dozen have already left the bank. all of the submissions which were 2,000, risk of having improperly influenced which in 2005-2010, when you dig into the e-mails you can see them, i will tell you something interesting. this is a trader talking to a low as possible, if a man of te my word. we heard about this case that has been downplayed and dismissed, this is just markets color. what we have seen, it has been rated higher to break money not to protect themselves that their

borrowing costs. ashley: it was put in actual e-mails. [talking over each other] liz: heads rolled over this. and we will stay on top of this. ashley: let's go to lauren simonetti, night capital getting a boost today. >> the market is pushing lower. shares are up as the company confirms, $1.4 billion deal, buying nice at $3.75 which is a nice premium on the current 353 we are trading at right now with 6% pop and back to you guys. ashley: thank you very much. will 2013 be another blockbuster year for mergers and acquisitions? the head of and mandate is not

holding his breath. tracy: 2012 was a blockbuster. let's take a look at today's winners and losers on the nasdaq as we head to break. oracles to laptop almost 4%. they're a sign is right behind it at 12.68%. we will be right back. you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps bck stomach acid from splashing up- relieving the pain quickly. try fast, long lasting gaviscon®. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a longhappy life together whe they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be ae to focus on other things, like each other,

which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

ashley: barkley's is out with a bullish view so should you be as upbeat? sandra smith in the pits of a cme. sandra: barkley's is basically saying there will be an oil shortage globally and this will push prices on these major oil service companies up in

particular. is underperform the broader stock market, down 15%, they like it and also they like halliburton, a stock that is flat for the year, underperforming the broader stock market and in his recent note, we remain bullish on the service and drilling companies and expect the group to significantly outperform the equities market over it and next several years. this is at now player or 2013 place, that will last the next several years. saying, quote, the world is increasingly short of energy and something we saw in today's trading session if you look at oil prices, a few pennies shy of $90 a barrel. a very bullish inventory report showing bigger than expected drawdown in those supplies, nice time to make that plan as barkleys are suggesting. ashley: you know something other

people don't. tracy: big news today, get go has agreed to by night capital for $1.4 billion. are there more deals to come or will and activity stay quiet on the sidelines? joining us now, the vice chair transaction advisory services for ernst and young americans. i kind of thought everyone has all this cash on their balance sheet and once this deal is done we are off to the races and we will buy stuff. >> they want to. there is clearly a large pent-up demand that they are cautious. the fiscal cliff, instability in europe with the euro zone slowing, they're sitting back and waiting it out and until you have serious resolution to the cliff, further sign the euro zone is stable, you will not see much of a move. you will see that drop. tracy: as vice chair of the services group you survey your clients, you talk to them and this is what they're saying.

>> private equity investors all the time. until they see signs of stability, much like 2012, smaller deals about the same, down double digits again this year. tracy: below $500 million -- >> maybe geographic play. i don't think you will see too many blockbuster transformations. tracy: product will be bill be the bright spot? >> private equity as has the flexibility to operate outside the public scrutiny. not be the short-term accountability, a longer-term bet on acquisitions. tracy: let's look at pictures you might see activity. we have been hearing about start ups, will see start-ups' here. >> you will see activity in

financial services, maybe consumer products and consumer products are great interest in the emerging market, as the middle-class emerges we are expected to add three billion people in the next 20 years, they want stuff and they want consumers stuff and financial services continue to be disaggregated because of the dodd-frank rule and getting recapped so there should be some activity as well. health care and life sciences will continue to converge. elections settle the issue about what regulatory regime we are looking at and you will see activity and how to capitalize on that. tracy: are we talking more investments than mine america? >> brazil and china will be great destinations and that is where populations are. tracy: what about us at home? we see more money coming to us? >> we have. the u.s. is projected based on capitol confidence arometer ernst and young twice a year, the second most popular

destination point for inbound foreign capital. it is happening because we are a more stable economy and have population growth, currency is cheaper and the overall strength of our sovereign sort of picture gives investors more confidence. tracy: we don't want to take a shot, the only way to grow a companies to build something buy something. we are not doing that. >> organic growth is tougher today. you do see u.s. corporate and investors investing in the emerging market so there's a lot of interest in china and india and brazil. focus on the trends, where there will be the best economics. tracy: i wish i had better news. and stan young america's vice chair, thank you. ashley: liz claman will take us through the last hour of trading. she has the ceo of cantor fitzgerald and neo city's largest pension fund, new yorkers to bail on gunstocks given tragic events in

connecticut. first on fox count down to the closing bell is next.