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tracy: good afternoon. i am tracy byrnes. ashley: and i am ashley webster. but dow 140 points away from an all-time high. tracy: china fighting back. ashley: check the calendar. spring has not sprung, but gasoline prices are already in high gear. tom kloza on what is to blame. tracy: lou dobbs take on the new simpson bowles reduction plan. is there any chance that washington will stop squabbling and actually do something? lou dobbs will join us in a few minutes. it is top of the hour. time for stocks now as we do

every 15 minutes. lauren, we are starting the week on an up note. >> this u.s. stock market rally really started in europe. the u.s. market has of arrows across the board. a really tight range for stocks. volume clearly to the upside by about two-one your advance to the client line. really pushing closer to those all-time highs. 14,198. we are not far from there. 1576, we are not far from that either. we are getting there. hopefully, we can keep this winninn streak live. ashley: healthcare provider stocks taking a hit. proposing lowering medicare rates next year.

peter barnes joins us now from inside the beltway with the details on this story. peter: they are proposing a cut of about 5% or so in payments to insurance companies that offer medicare advantage is. about a quarter of all seniors in medicare, about 15 million of them, are enrolled in medicare advantage. they could have added benefits. patients have to stay in their healthcare network which helps insurance companies, in theory, manage their costs. private insurers are reimbursed for all of this by the government. the administration has long argued that the government overpays insurance companies in medicare advantage, but some analysts note they have read and

done that before. >> back to 2009 when the industry was hit with a very unexpected 4.5% rate cut. it really shook the stakes quite a bit in the weeks after it took out. humana actually grew its margin in the face of backup. >> the administration has it in for medicare advantage. peter: this is a proposal. it is out for public comment for 45 days. there is an opportunity for the insurance companies, the healthcare companies to come back and try to mitigate some of this proposal. ashley and tracy. ashley: peter barnes. thank you very much. tracy: some cyber attacks on the

u.s. traced to the doorsteps of a chinese military unit. chinese hackers stole massive amounts of data from more than 140 companies. ceo of cyber security firm joining us now with the latest. i have to believe this does not surprise you, but it really is not just china we should be worried about is it? >> no, tracy. this is an ongoing thing for both our commercial organizations and government for some time. they steal our data, steal our intellectual data. sometimes they just sit and wait until they can get management control and capability or quite possibly steal more data to gain an advantage on us. tracy: the report showed that china has been doing this since

at least 2006. it seems kind of amped up lately. what is happening? why now? >> interestingly enough, it may not have amped up that much. a lot of organizations out there are really spending more time on concentration with this issue. all of a sudden, we are seeing a lot more extractions of data and a lot more attacks on our system. i do not know if that is true. i think we have a more advanced capability of monitoring and looking at this now. tracy: what is it that they are going after? what is the goal here for these guys? >> the answer is yes. it is a fiscally responsible way to pay intelligence. i can break into a system and extract data.

i do not have to spend the money on research and development. i can understand your plans. i can understand everything that is going on with your organization. tracy: you are saying we are more aware of this now. what can businesses do, then, to protect themselves other than go and attack the hackers? >> this problem is multifaceted. you have to get the right people. you really need to spend the time and money to really enhance the skills of your organization to understand when these types of attacks and indicators are going on in your organization. tracy: it seems so easy to be behind the hacker a ball. >> it is one thing to understand you need to hire for both aptitude and attitude. you have to go in with it

knowing that it will be a long-term issue. you have to understand that you have to continually learn. tracy: we certainly need to start finding agent and get our military involved in this as well. some people do not even know how to find it. ashley: president obama pointed the finger at congress again today. urging lawmakers to act. >> congress allows this meet cleaver approach to take twice. it will jeopardize our military readiness, it will eviscerate job readiness and education and medical research. ashley: while the president surrounded by first responders

asked congress for a short-term fix. if the sequester were to take waste, hundreds of thousands of emergency personnel would have their jobs in jeopardy. if congress were to take action, it looks like it would be down to the wire. just eight days to go until the cuts hit. the president prodding coming just after deficit talks. lou dobbs coming up in just a few minutes to wait in on that. tracy: i guess this is their fourth in three years. office depot and officemax in talks to merge. could staples be the big winner

here? ashley: new details in the multibillion-dollar diamond heist in belgium. this story straight out of the movies. cheryl: it is like oceans 11. let take a look at metals. gold, silver, copper all down today. ♪ all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. ♪ tracy: it is time to make some money with charles payne. he is talking about a restaurant industry stock. steak for dinner, charles. charles: let talk about the hotel. graduated from high school. went to lsu. graduated college at 19 years old. she had honors and chemistry and

physics. she ended up getting married. that is what women back then bit. she sold drinks out of her house. she went back to work as a lab technician. one day, a few years later, there was a classified ad for a restaurant. it was open the same day that she was born. she goes into the air and buys the restaurant. she buys it with no experience at all. it is ruth's steakhouse. it got hit hard during the recession. eleven consecutive quarters of same sale increases. looks really cheap to me. they are trading at a 13 pe. it is at a 52 week high. it was as high as $23 back in 2006. i think it could go to at least $13. tracy: this is high end restaurants basically.

you think people are going back out and eating? charles: i think it is looking phenomenal. on sunday, i think they are going to bring back the rifle -- i think it will be on the oscars. it is hard to ignore this. everyone has sort of said left them for dead. i love companies with great legacies like this. this is a great american success story. tracy: where do you sell it? charles: the target of $13. tracy: charles payne. ashley: i love it. the next story. fascinating. a plot straight out of the movies. armed robbers breaking into the brussels nationnl airport. making off with diamonds.

they held the crew at gunpoint while forcing security to open the planes cargo door. once inside, the robbers selectively pick the package of diamonds. the bandit fled without firing a single shot or injuring anyone. they are not commenting on the value of the diamonds. someone estimates they are worth at least $350 million. tracy: it made me think of "oceans 11". ashley: belgium style. waffles. [ laughter ] tracy: crazy. it is that time of day. time for the markets. >> talk of mergers. it is really propelling the overall stock market today. reports say that they will come together in and all transaction.

that could happen as soon as this year. what does that mean for staples? those shares are also of today. this will be good news for staples. as officemax and office depot begin to close stores caught that will happen if the merger does in fact happen, those consumers will shop at staples. ashley: we have some breaking news for you. yet another cyber attack. apple now the victim. apple says it was attacked by hackers who impacted a small number of its mac computers. there is no evidence that any data left. they are trying to identify the hackers. they will release a software tool today to protect customers. this is almost daily now that we

talk about the latest company to get hacked. tracy: that one worries me. ashley: of course it should worry you. tracy: if the king of computers get hacked -- does that mean if your phone is affected? ashley: hackers always seem to find a way. if at first you do not succeed, well, try, try, try again. the latest bipartisan attempt to urge washington to cut the deficit. lou dobbs weighs in next. tracy: let's take a look at how the dollar is faring. we will be right back. ♪

>> at 21 minutes past the hour, i have your fox news minute. four people are dead including the gunman following a 25 minute shooting spree in orange county california.

police responded to a report of a carjacking. when stopped by police, the suspect shot himself. though blade runner is denying he shot his girlfriend. he shot his girlfriend four times through the door. he says he shot her by mistake thinking she was a robber. the olympic committee is planning to drop rustling in 2020. two unlikely allies, iran and the u.s., are finding that decision. they sent a protest letter. the u.s. olympic wrestling coach calls the sport and imported ambassador. those are your headlines. ashley: compromise. not a lot of that in washington these days.

the plan by mr. simpson, a republican, and mr. bowles, a democrat. they are aiming to reduce the deficit over the next decade. just the latest attempt to galvanize washington. the question is, will it work this time? it is time for lou dobbs. whatever they come up with-- lou: if experience is any indicator of performance, they will not accomplish a thing. i do give alan simpson credit saying straight up to the president, you will have a failed presidency if you do not deal with runaway entitlements. the american people have heard this four years now. they have to just stop with

these deficits. he spent a lot of money to back up his view and his warnings. they do not want to hear abstractions like a budget deficit. they want to have the opportunity to feed their families. they do not want to hear about abstractions like that. frankly, neither the republicans or the democrats, but certainly not this administration, is providing the opportunity for people to work in this country. it is almost as if president obama has taken every fiscal lesson out. i will not worry about opportunity. i will not worry about jobs. this is crazy.

he is focusing more attention on illegal immigrants than 23 million americans who are out of work. this administration is upside down. i think a failure will be mild to the conclusion that history will reach on his administration if he does not come to his senses a leadership that until just recently, speaker boehner was playing the part. he has only now begun to stand up and assert itself. remember, this is the president's idea. now, with his customary

disregard for reality and truth when it comes to these political issues, he is saying, what are you talking about? i never said that there wouldn't be a sequester. i just cannot make time for it. this president has just spent three days golfing with a controversial character, tiger woods. he insisted that the press would not be there so there would not be a picture of the two of them. this is a transparent president. the bush administration, this is a president who says there is no spending problem. you do not have to have a phd in economics. it is a spending problem and americans understand it. he continues this nonsense.

we are in a surreal moment. when these kinds of moments occur and there are voice of responsibility, what really results is usually something very, very unfortunate for people who are in no drug fall. ashley: you think that they will more than likely just go ahead. lou: i do not think there is any way out of it. he is neither strong nor positive. he does win, but that is not a sign of strength in this case. he is avoiding the biggest and toughest issues. ashley: all right, lou, thank you so much. lou: great to be with you.

ashley: 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern tonight, you can catch lou dobbs. do not miss lou tonight. tracy: that is good stuff. google stock topping $800 in today's trade. ashley: is filling up the tank draining your wallet? yes, it is. tom kloza is here. why he thinks the worst of prices. tracy: let's take a look at the dow right now. mostly green on the screen. alcoa being your biggest loser. we will be right back. ♪ alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone.

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ashley: time for stocks now. as we do every 15 minutes let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange where our very own lauren simonetti standing by. lauren the dow is climbing back closer and closer to its all-time high. >> the level now is 14,025. the closing high, october 2007, 14,165. so we're really close to the historic territory. homebuilders are down today. we'll show you hovnanian. down off better than 5% the news the housing recovery might have a crack in it. the national association of home builders index fell for the first time in ten months in february. so that is weighing on the sector. as you can see other stocks like lennar, toll brothers,

kb home all down one and 2%. so we do have a selloff in homebuilders which have been really strong this year. back to you, ashley and tracy. ashley: lauren, thank you so much. tracy: well oil prices are trading in a tight range today. concerns about the seaway pipeline outweighing some of the economic data we've been getting. fox business contributor phil flynn of price futures group in the pits of the cme with all details. the how, are you doing, phil. >> it is a bullish and bearish fight. that is been the story pretty much all day. earlier we got the german confidence number. everybody got excited about that. but that came after mario draghi said growth in the e.u. would not be that great. so that offset each other. then the seaway pipeline story that the oil stuck in cushing, oklahoma, would not get out of there quite as quickly as we hoped. it will take a lot longer. so the refineries in the gulf coast get prepared to refinal the crude. so you have all of that.

then you have natural gas. it is getting cold again. natural gas is up on a lot of nuclear power maintenance and increased demand expectations. we're probably getting to a historic low on the gas market. keep your eye on it, tracy. turn your heater up because it is heating up today, 12 cents. back to you. tracy: yes, i keep it a balmy 72 in my house. ashley: you look like that in the studio too. we fight it about it every day. thank you, phil. gas prices are up 13.3% in the past month alone according to aaa. even as oil prices remain pretty much flat in the same period. so what gives? no one better to ask than tom kloza, the chief oil analyst for opis which provides aaa by the way with gasoline data. right from the horse's mouth, he joins us by the telephone. tom, thank you so much. okay, so crude has been pretty much in the same range as phil flynn just said. the bulls and bears kind of

hashing it out and the price has stayed, 95, 97 bucks. but gasoline has been taking off. why? >> well, i think that the trading community is anticipating all sorts of imperfect shuns at the end of the first quarter for gas. there is a lot of maintenance that is underway with refiners. there is a switch that comes later in the quarter between the winter gasoline and the summer gasoline but the money is pouring in and it is pouring in to support gasoline futures and to a certain extent crude oil futures and it tends to anticipate all sorts of different calamities and probably calamities that won't exist. we're on an earlier trajectory this year. we've seen this movie before. this movie climaxed last year an april 1st. we may be on a similar path. ashley: you're saying we could see more in the way of pain in the gas pumps and then for the rest of the year you say we'll pay more st. patrick's day than we will on memorial day, is

that right? >> that's what i agree with. i think we'll see prices peak early this year as we did last year. last year we dropped tremendously between april 1st and july 2nd. there is incredible, incredible motivation to run refineries right now. when you talk about crude oil prices you're talking about gasoline and diesel selling for 30 or $35 more than the price of crude. even $50 if you run canadian crude. ashley: it is interesting because opec, from what i can understand, it is always hard to believe what they're actually doing but apparently they are cutting back on production even as we're getting forecast for greater demand this year. those two items alone, seems to me would push up the price of oil? >> they might. except for the fact that the u.s. is in the middle of an oil shale revolution and, we recently passed production numbers that we haven't seen since december of 1992. we're going to see a lot more canadian oil come to the market. actually at the gulf coast

by the end of this year, we probably won't be importing any light foreign sweet crude at all. so, we do have a singular edge here in the u.s. and in north america. right now it is not manifesting itself in lower gas is froms but i do suspect that it will in the last three quarters of the year. ashley: tom, quickly you say there are two other factors that are creating some gas price spikes. firstly one that involves the east coast? >> yeah. actually the east coast is kind of a victim of two things. number one, european refiners don't have the edge that u.s. ones do with natural gas cheap and we're not getting those imports. and secondly, and something i think is more sinister, even though we have this tremendous output at the gulf coast it costs three times as much money to move it by freight from the u.s. gulf coast to new york, philadelphia or boston than it does to move it to south america or west africa. ashley: that is crazy. you say midwest could be hit by high prices this spring?

>> i think the hot spot in the country will be the upper midwest and the great lakes. we have two of the biggest refineries in the country, if not the world will be overlapping in down time in april. watch out if you're in chicago, detroit, milwaukee. ashley: we've been warned. tom kloza, thank you so much. >> thank you. ashley: i hope he is right we'll peak early on the gas prices and when we get into the busy driving season maybe prices will come back down. we'll see. tracy: maybe the midwestern refineries should talk before they shut down, right? that's a little scary. when rock-bottom prices don't necessarily mean a good deal, there are some rare rock hunters out there getting burned by scammers after last week's meteor hit in rush share, more on the breaking news story on apple. hackers are targeting the company. details after the break. let's look at the 10 and 30-year treasurys. ♪

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customers ahead of the critical home buying season. the philippines environmental regulator has given estrada conditional approval to develop what will be the nation's largest gold and copper mine. the $6 billion mine which is a seen as bellwether investment has been held up on a ban because of open pit mining impact on the development. returning for a moment of oscar glory. after a 16 year hiatus the mustard that mocked its stuffy image will hit the airwaves during the academy awards on the 24th. that's the latest from the fox business.

tracy: what should investors expect to hear from herbalife as the company releases fourth quarter earnings of after the bell?

charlie gasparino with the latest as the saga continues. >> i think after the bell you get the earnings report and 10k tomorrow, conference call tomorrow, the rubber meets the road where you hear from the ceo of herbalife. this is what i hear coming at least out of the company. they have a very carefully scripted conference call with investors. now why is that? as you know we have a short seller in bill ackman, raising a lot of heat on the company. basically saying it is a per a mid -- pyramid scheme on one ebbed. carl icahn purchase ad 13% stake in the company. says it has long-term growth. i say one thing about carl icahn's stake in the company, people knew it was coming, right? the night before he went public with it, then he did some tv shows. when he started talking about the company, shares went down. it was he have interesting. the night before he disclosed it, a spike in the stock. that next day, last friday when he started talking about it, shares of herbalife went down. this is kind of an interesting part of this

battle. people are really questioning whether, whether carl icahn knows anything about this company or his animus, long stated animus with bill ackman the short seller. michael johnson ceo of herbalife will be on the call. it will be heavily scripted. they want to keep him on message. at least the body language coming out company officials means it will be pretty good earnings they announce after the bell. ackman will scour the 10k, that is the report. he will look at it. he will check it out for any inconsistencies. i know it for a fact, sources close to ackman tell the fox business network. watch for him putting out a statement tomorrow morning to sort of upset their little party when mr. , when mr. johnson gives, talks to analysts. it will be really interesting. like i said he is heavily scripted. he is under guard. we interviewed dez walsh, who i thought was a pretty good spokesman for the firm couple weeks ago. it is funny, bill ackman

gave a speech or gave some commentary. he mentioned my interview with him, carried by the other business networks, much to their dismay i'm sure. you know, look for this thing, look for him to throw a little bit of a monkey wrench and look for them because michael johnson isn't as smooth as des walsh. i thought he was pretty good. he was pretty much on message. michael walsh, the ceo generally not. i'm not saying he is a bad ceo. two different skillsets. he is not good at presenting the company's line sometimes. seems just, just doesn't seem right. look for them to heavily coach him. don't be rattled by anything ackman does. i can tell you ackman will be looking at that 10k. ashley: i'm sure he will with a fine-tooth comb trying to find something in there he can latch on to. >> like i said. if you think about it, he started shorting the stock at 50, right? i can't remember what that chart said. i think in the 40s. he is still making money.

the stock has come back, went down to 20. but it's still at point, this guy is a guy that stays long, stays short for a long time. there it is at 40. it's an interesting --. ashley: so you really believe icahn, purely because of his beef with ackman has jumped into the fray instead of a his belief in herbalife? >> i heard carl speak. i would conduct the interview differently. but, maybe that's why he won't come on with me. but, he didn't convince me that he -- i don't have have a horse in this race. i do know bill ackman is generally, not perfect in his calls but, you know, when he sees something he, he, he has a good nose for b. and he doesn't like a lot of stuff coming out of this company. when i listen to carl, he did not sell me. he sounded like he didn't understand the company and its business model. sounded like he was in it to

screw bill ackman because he hates him over prior business dealings we don't have the time to go into here. they despise each other. tracy: play it out. what happens? >> i don't know. i'm, listen, like i said, des walsh came in here answered every question. generally frauds don't do that, right? that said, you know, you could call, mbia wasn't quite a fraud but it went down to almost nothing in value. and i will say this. you know, throwing around those terms, bill ackman is a pretty careful guy. i still don't get how you have a business model after multibillion-dollar company based on selling protein shakes. as someone who s would out a lot and does those things, i just don't know. but maybe i'm wrong. what do i know? that is what is great about this story. i don't have a horse in it. i can tell you i know bill ackman's record. people at herbalife would say ackman has not done so well with retailers, right? is he long jcpenney i

believe? not a great investment. screwed up on his retail investments. maybe they're right. he, herbalife obviously is retailer. that is both sides. fair and balanced. ashley: there you go. tracy: charlie will be on the story i'm sure, charlie gasparino. ashley: conference call is will be interesting. tracy: i'm with charlie. i use protein shakes. i don't know. >> is it worth a gazillion? what is the market cap? pretty big? ashley: huge. a lot f shakes. let's check the markets. lauren simonetti on the floor of the new york stock exchange. rainshower ren, you're watching dell reporting today as well? >> no shaking for dell shares right now. they're completely flat. this action will happen when the company reports its latest earnings after the closing bell. this will actually be the first time we hear from major shareholders and michael dell on the deal to take dell private. we're expecting revenues of 14.12 billion on earnings of 39 cents a share. that would be a decline in terms of sales by 12%.

obviously dell has come under hard times. the end of last year, final three months, global pc shipments down 5%. there is the problem. over last three months, nice job for dell. up 51% for shareholders. ashley: lauren, thank you very much. don't forget for full coverage of earnings today, tune into "after the bell" starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern time right here on the fox business net work. tracy: i love this story. forget for panning for gold. meteorite hunters going to the russian town that are looking for fragments could be worth thousands of dollars. be careful before you start bidding for one on ebay. experts warn you could be buying a fake. no kidding. worse, even if you buy a bonafide meteorite it could well disintegrate into stardust before your eyes. many space rocks are

unstable on earth and can decompose or even melt. this is, this is so easy. ashley: it is ripe for the scammers, isn't it? tracy: go find rocks in the backyard and put them on ebay. ashley: didn't know they were worth that much. let's find a large meteorite. tracy: i love the disintegration. that is my paycheck. apple hacked. shibani joshi with more on the breaking story and what apple is saying all about it next. ashley: okay look at some of today's winners and losers on the nasdaq. we'll be right back. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site.

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tracy: we have some breaking news. apple computers were hacked

by what appears to be the same hackers who targeted facebook and our very own shibani joshi is on the story with the details. shibani, what's going on? >> let me give you the statement. we have breaking news and we actually have a statement from apple which goes against the grain of what apple does. it doesn't tend to reveal information particularly about hack attacks. but the company is admitting it was hit with a malicious attack the same way facebook revealed it was on friday night. here is what the quote says. it says, quote, apple has identified malware which infect ad limited number of mac systems through a vulnerability in the java plug-in for browsers. the malware was employed in an attack against apple and other companies and was spread through a website for software developers. we identified a small number of systems within apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. there is no evidence that any data left apple. we're working with law enforcement to find the source of the malware.

today the company is releasing a update to java malware removal tool and will check mac systems if the malware was found. that is a big chunky statement. here is what happened. on friday facebook was hit with a series of malicious attacks. we now know they're coming from china the company revealed it did not impact data. the data in fact was secure but they did allude to other companies being infected. now we're learning just who some of those companies are. it is apple. apple has come out and said they were also hit by the same attack. no breach of data. the at cacs probably coming from china the same way they did attack facebook. they were hit through employee internal computers. apple said they seemed to have contained the spread of this malware and for anybody existing, for any existing marc users out there they have released a patch -- mac users. this virus was spread through the use of java

systems, java software. if you have java running on your mac you can update with a patch and make your computer safe based on that is what the company is telling us now. we're learning from reuters the company, apple and facebook are working with law enforcement agencies to get down to the bottom of the situation. on monday, guys, i told you facebook said it was not enonly one that was it had. it is apple today. there could be more. we'll be following the story closely. tracy: shibani, thank you very much. we're getting new details that jeep's twitter account has been hacked. we're working on a comment from jeep as well. we'll bring that to you as we get it. ashley: like every five minutes right now. coming up in the next hour pennsylvania's capital is struggling to pay for critical infrastructure repairs because of massive debt. the manhattan institute's steve malanga telling us what is next for harrisburg. don't miss it. we'll be right back. ♪

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tracy: welcome back. i'm tracy byrnes. ashley: i'm ashley webster. another positive push for stocks, lifting the dow and s&p 500 to within reach of record highs but after weeks of gains some strategists are now urging caution ahead. one of those is here in moments. tracy: and china's rising threat, a shocking report links hacking attacks on u.s. companies and the government directly to china's military. so what does it mean for the already delicate relationship between washington and beijing? plus apple confirming in the last hour it too has been hacked. and jeep's twitter account being hacked as well. we'll have details on both coming up. ashley: yesterday it was burger king and it goes on. gas prices jumping another two cents a gallon overnight and what is causing the spike and whether drivers will see any relief anytime soon. tracy: it is time for stocks. lauren simonetti on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the dow is trying to reach

the higher record. >> it is 140 points away from the all-time closing high of 14,165. look at s&p 500, i don't think it moved off 1527 the last three hours. it pretty much has found this range and it is trading pretty much in a tight range today. apple is the target of another another hack attack. later today apple should release a software tool to protect customers against malicious software installed during the hack attacks. finally google shares hitting a new milestone, $800 and then some actually. now just four stocks are worth 800 bucks or more. you have nvr, the homebuilder, seaboard as well as berkshire hathaway class-a shares. google certainly one of those members in the new club. back to you. tracy: lauren, we'll see you in 15 minutes. >> all right. ashley: health care provider stocks are taking a hit following a new report out

of washington that proposes lower rates for one popular medicare program more than expected next year. peter barnes joins us from inside the beltway we details on this story. peter? >> ashley the proposed cuts involve medicare advantage, the popular hmo version of medicare. on friday the government proposed a cut of about 5% or more, depending on the analysts. in its payments to insurance companies, that offer medicare advantage, about a quarter of all seniors in medicare, about 15 million, are enrolled in medicare advantage, instead of regular medicare. for some seniors medicare advantage can be a better deal with added benefits like vision care and dental but patients have to stay in their network which helps insurance companies manage their costs. now the private insurers are reimbursed by the government and the obama administration has long argued that it overpays insurance companies for medicare advantage but many so analysts note that the companies rebounded from a big reimbursement cut in

2009. though some supporters of the program aren't as optimistic this time around. >> i think it was just a great endorsement how the medicare advantage program and the companies that operate within it are just so much more sophisticated today than they were, you know, say a decade ago. >> reducing medicare advantage payments at a time when they're facing new cuts and new taxes will only result in seniors facing higher out of the pocket cost, reduced benefits and fewer health care choices. >> now there is a 45-day comment period before the government decides to finalize this proposal or to soften it, which is what the industry is going to lobby for. ashley? ashley: peter barnes in d.c. peter, thank you very much. tracy: we have some more breaking news. let's update you on jeep's twitter account being hacked. chrysler says they're aware of the situation and the agency that manages their twitter feed is trying to retake control of the page. we will let you know if they have any further comment but apparently the hackers put a

cadillac on the jeep page. ashley: like someone is going down the list, who should we pick on next. tracy: and being a little silly about it and it is weird. markets nearing record highs but our next guest says that is it is overly optimistic and has calls for concern. she has one of the lowest s&p 500 targets on wall street. joining us jena adams, equity strategist at wells fargo go. ashley: she is happy though. that is okay. tracy: i'll let you say it. >> my target is 1390 on the s&p 500, just under a 10% correction from today's levels. that is interesting, there is sign of optimism in the market that my forecasts are drawing so much attention because we had a 10% correction each of the last several years. tracy: why? >> my biggest reason is earnings. we lost a lot of earnings momentum on the index over the last six months. companies are guiding us to actually expect lower earnings in the quarters ahead. second-quarter earnings estimates are coming down a bit. even third quarter earnings

estimates are coming in. so we lost a lot of our earnings push which is typically the primary driver of stocks prices so that's a concern. and in the short term it is just technicals and sentiment and we've gotten to points of fairly optimistic extremes for advisors, investors and traders. ashley: right. >> they all, it is all rosy and good times ahead and that usually suggest that is a shock could take prices a little bit lower. ashley: so you think stocks at this level are overpriced? >> a little little bit. we're trading more than a standard deviation of long term downtrend. if you talk about the p-e ratio from 2008 and considering we're in longer term downtrend we're trading at a pretty large extreme over that trend. it is no the that stocks are massively overvalued on a long term scale. it is just in the short-term we're reaching sentiment extremes and earnings are not particularly supportive while prices continue to kind of reach to new highs. tracy: why do you think sentiment is that extremes though? because we've been seeing decent economic data.

we have actually seen some decent earningings reports as well. companies are solid with cash. you could do the glass half-full story too. >> yeah. we measure with sentiment, there are organizations that measure advisor sentiment, the percentage of advisors that they're bullish and bearish, sentiment investors, percentage of investors the very same and all those surveys are suggesting that the consensus of investors right now are bullish and they're bullish to an extreme level that typically is associated with tops in stocks as opposed to bottoms. ashley: so as a strategy, i would imagine you would a little more defensive in your approach? >> a little bit. ashley: what do you like? >> we like health care stocks best for 2013. there i think you've got the best mix of fairly steady earnings growth, high dividend yield available, still low valuations critically. we also generally like value stocks over growth stocks. value stocks should show faster earnings growth on a relative basis in comparison to growth stocks. so you can find some opportunities in financials,

maybe a little bit of utilities even. we like consumer staples right now. some pretty strong m&a trend in the consumer staples we saw last week with nice earnings growth opportunities. tracy: we're hearing more and more, ashley is talking a lot about europe coming back on the radar. do you worry about europe as well? >> i do. it is very slowly coming back on the radar. nobody is really talking so much about it yet but we're quite concerned about europe and the economic data is still fairly dicey. you've seen a little bit of recovery in some of the sentiment surveys and we saw that in 2012 and it proved to be fleeting. i want to be pretty cautious with respect to europe. the financial markets reached their top in late january. they're trying to test that again with today's rally. it still remains to be seen in europe. i think caution is the way to go until proven otherwise. ashley: staying overseas quickly, china can be such a driver of the global economy but you're not convinced all things are well there? >> i would think if china were really getting a head of steam and really starting to grow at a faster pace we

would see it in the commodities markets. that is where i'm missing my cues. copper prices and oil prices are in a swayed ways trading range refusing to burst higher like equity prices have. i suspect if china is getting ready to grow at as faster pace commodity prices will show that and we can get on board the commodities theme. tracy: you need to come back and we need to hear both sides of stories. gina, thank you. ashley: a shocking new report linking a wave of cyber attacks in the united states states linking it to the chinese military the a military firm said the attacks targeted u.s. agencies, companies in aerospace, energy and more. they said they linked the hackers to the very building in shanghai. guess what? it is a headquarters of a unit in the people's liberation army. >> we looked at the totality of the circumstances and the mission of the unit, the amount of ip addresses or computers used to attack the

u.s. out of this region and the fact it is a sustained effort for seven years using thousands of computers led us to the conclusion that unavoidable. it is in fact the government is in fact behind these intrusions. ashley: the government says it is not involved in any of hacking and says it too has been a victim of many cyber attacks. we'll have more on the story ahead. fox news senior judicial analyst, judge andrew napolitano will weigh in on the relationship with beijing. tracy: of course they will deny it. ashley: i'm sure u.s. haxs, i'm sure everybody hacks to be honest. tracy: ex-boyfriends hack. girlfriends. everybody hacks everybody i think at the end of the day. right, josh? all right. also ahead, simpson and bowles are back with a new plan to cut the deficit. does it have any chance of survival in a deeply divided washington? ashley: plus gas gas prices are rising every day for the last month. you may have noticed.

how much higher will they go? energy expert consent moore is here. first let's check how oil is trading talking about those gas prices up 25 cents at $96.11 a barrel. we'll be right back. the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone but her likes 50% more cash, but i have an idea. do you want a princess dress? yes. cupcakes? yes. do you want an etch-a-sketch? yes! do you want 50% more cash? no. you got talent. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on every purchase plus a 50% annual bonus on the cash you earn. it's the card for people who like more cash.

what's in your wallet? i usually say that.

tracy: it is time to make some money with charles payne. this hour he is looking at a stock that will get you some pretty profits. >> before we do that, guys we did the last week the russian internet stock. tracy: yes. >> it wasn't good. they're paying too much money to acquire new customers. down two points. we took a loss on it. no sense riding that one trying -- listen the concept is good. ultimately maybe it will do very well but in this kind of environment they're paying too much. it is down two points. avon on the other hand is a stock that made a huge reversal. haven't pulled the trigger

on it get yet but a great story on management. the management, andrew young, chinese dissent, nothing but pure mismanagement. they beat the street by a large margin but last year was an unmitigated disaster in terms of revenue, gross margins. the stock has come back pretty nicely. they gave good guidance. obviously cautious guidance. they have three-year plan and 6 million salespeople around the world. the stock is trading with 6 pe. if it can get through 21 you might see more nibbles. i'm watching options activity on it. very, very interesting options activity. ashley: yeah. >> we have not pulled the trigger yet. this is one everyone should put on their list because this stock has been significantly higher in the past and they do have a lot of potential. they're in 100 countries. if they can get it together. ashley: the problem the nurm per of representatives went up 1% but sales dropped one

percent so that is huge concern. >> that is huge concern. amazing they couldn't pull off the business model in south america and asia and --. tracy: that is international play. it is not an american play. >> international play and empowerment play. you go to africa you go to women without any real economic opportunities but the continent is coming to life a little bit it is amazing opportunity. brazil, chile, all the places around the world. we haven't pulled the trigger. i'm waiting for volume to tell me when to pull it. tracy: thank you, charles. >> see ya. ashley: thank you, charles. coming up to quarter past the hour, time to check on the markets with lauren simonetti where we go every 15 minutes. the dow is still up 53 points, lauren. >> we still have a higher market and we're watching three stocks a trio of earnings happening after the bell. dell, shares are flat in the regular session but after-hours it should be exciting following conference call. we'll hear from michael dell after the $24 billion bid to

take pc-maker private. herbalife getting a nice boost. herbalife shares are up 4% during the session. they report after the bell. we have the whole ackman versus icahn and what herbalife even means these days to investors. they're certainly watching that stock. mine al -- finally marriott they report on the q4 of at bell. shares are down a little bit. back to you. ashley: thank you, lauren. we'll check back with you in 15 minutes. don't forget stay tuned to fox business for complete coverage of today's earnings coming on "after the bell", that is 4:00 p.m. eastern time on the fox business network. tracy: all right. president obama yet again calling for tax hikes to stop automatic defense cuts which are now less than 10 days away. and no surprise republicans are blasting back. we're going to have details ahead. ashley: plus the gas price spike hitting hard. jeff flock is live in chicago with a preview. jeff? >> why are these cabs parked in chicago? not because it is 16 degrees although i point out it is indeed 16 degrees. i will tell you why these

cabs are all sitting idle when we come back. maybe you can guess? all stations come over to mission a for a final . this is for real this time.

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>> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm arthel neville with your fox news minute. four people are dead including the gunman and two people are injured after a 20-five minute shooting spree in orange county, california. police are processing six crime scenes throughout the county. the motive for the shootings unclear. police say they could have been random. when stopped by police the suspect shot himself. north korea is threatening south korea with, quote, final destruction and warned it could take additional steps after last week's nuclear test. the tough talk came during a debate at united nations disarmament conference. south african olympian oscar pistorius is denying he murdered his girlfriend. prosecutors say the double amputee track star shot reeva steenkamp through four times through the bathroom door of his home while she was hiding. his pour just -- pistorius says he shot her by mistake thinking she was a robber.

those are the headlines. back to ashley and tracy. tracy: you want to shake your head when you hear that. arthel, thank you very much. >> yes. tracy: drivers across the country are feeling pain at the pump, no kidding. gas prices have gone up the past 33 straight days sending prices up 13%. how are consumers and businesses dealing with the rising prices? jeff flock knows. he is home base of chicago's carriage cab. jeff, i can't imagine how they handle this? >> it costs 300 plus dollars. look at this one, got a carwash at the cab. frozen. on a day when it is 16 degrees in chicago. look at all the parked cabs. that is what happens when you say you pay 300 plus dollars for a cab rental for the day. and you pay $100 maybe for gas now? tough to make money. take a look at rbob gasoline. you maybe look over the course of the past year. look where it is now. doesn't get much higher than

that or maybe it does. mark zandi says if it gets around $4 the economy really starts to sustain some serious damage. where is it best? well, go west, folks, but don't go too far west. start out in billings, montana. that is the lowest. tell you all the metros average well over $3 a gallon for gasoline. santa fe and albuquerque, average 3.28, 3.29. 3.31 in spokane in washington. california is ground zero, where it is as bad as it gets. santa barbara, l.a., san diego, that tops $4 a gallon. that tops chicago which most recently was the worst. that has impact on economy in general. if you're spending that kind of money on putting gas in your tank, you're not spending it on anything else you like to spend it on. that doesn't say anything

more than the picture of the chicago carriage cab lot. you can't afford to make money and drive a cab, you leave it parked. >> it makes you cranky, jeff flock. i was not happy this morning. i paid 3.70. i guess i should be thankful still. >> you got a break.% tracy: you should get warm, jeff. thank you. ashley: tracy cranky, that's terrible. my next guest says there is no relief in sight for the pain at the pump. sorry, trace. tracy: i know. ashley: he says price are headed back to record levels in july 2008. when prices were $4.11. we have professor at duquesne university, consent moores. professor moores, i wish you had better news. why do you think we'll see these prices move even higher? >> there are a number of elements going on here and the first of course is the rising cost of crude oil. despite the fact we're actually securing more of our crude oil domestically than we have in the past

years especially because of unconventional shale and tidal oil, those oils are still more expensive to develop and they're more expensive to process. so those prices are adding to the sense that our added onto the gasoline that we're buying at the retail level. when it comes to the imports however, the difference between the brent price and the price for wti in new york is once again expanding. and when that spread expands, it always results in refinery margin improvements in the united states but increased prices when it comes to the regional level. so everywhere we look the prices are going to be going up. we're also seeing a return of demand. right now we're seeing a return of selective demand. but as the real concern over another recession begins to subside in the united states, we're going to see a rise in the demand and that demand will translate into an additional increase in price. finally we have to remember, just around the corner, is the epa mandated movement from winter to summer blend

in gasoline, and that summer blend is more expensive to put in your car. ashley: what about the seaway pipeline? if we get up and running at full capacity, will that have any impact? >> if we have it at full capacity it is likely to increase the price even more. one of the basic reasons that has kept prices down in the united states aside from the overall demand considerations has been a glut of crude oil at cushing, oklahoma, the principle pipeline interchange in the united states. actually where nymex determines its daily prices every day. the seaway retrofit of the pipeline was designed to move more of that crude oil to refineries on the gulf coast and reduce that grut. to the extent that the glut is reduced the price of oil products are likely to be increasing. now, we have realized over the last couple of days it's going to take seaway longer to get to its ultimate capacity than was originally

anticipated but both seaway and several new pipelines are coming online between now and 2015 and each time that that through-put increases to the gulf coast, we're likely to see a marginal increase in gasoline prices. ashley: plus the refining capacity is not that great in this country. so i guess that also adds to the pain that we see at the gas pumps? >> absolutely and there we have a decision over which distillate cut is to be emphasized. if we emphasize the light distillates and high octane gasoline, we do that at the expense of low sulfer heating oil, jet fuel and diesel which is why diesel is now almost permanently expensive in the united states, than it is, for example, proportionally in europe where they produce more diesel than they produce gasoline. so diesel prices are actually lower in europe than gasoline is. ashley: it will be a long hard year ahead for motorists out there. thank you so much, kent moores with duquesne university. thank you for joining uz.

appreciate it. not good news, tracy, i'm afraid. >> know. oh, well. president obama calls on congress to act in order to avoid $85 billion in automatic spending cuts. with only 10 days to go can they actually come to an agreement? we'll have the latest from the white house. ashley: take a look at some of today's winners and losers. the dow trying to hit the record number. we have some winners along the way on the s&p. we'll be right back. dad, i'd put that down.

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united health care down at the bottom. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange and lauren is standing by. hey, lauren. >> tracy, we are talking health care right now. humana, one of the steepest seller in the group, down 6.5%, and i have mark newton with gray wolf securities joining me talking about the proposal, mark, the government proposal for medicare advantage rates next year, will be lower than expected. this is bad. >> it is bad for the insurers over all, not good news. they expect flat growth, negative, and particularly the companies that give up leverage towards medicare is not good in 2014. >> could be lobby gwen this, though? >> we have a couple more weeks for them to leadership until it's a done deal. the second is a lot of it depends on the quality that the health care plans achieve, and so a lot of the companies are affected in different ways. it's not set in stone, but in general, for the group, it's got a big run, it's not going to be that positive. >> we talked about that earlier.

the health care sector year to date is up 9%, the fourth best sector over the past year, better than 20%. back to you. thank you, mark. >> my pleasure. >> thank you, lauren, see you in 15 hins. >> breaking news on another hack attack against apple. the company confirming its computers were attacked by what appears to be the same hackers who targeted facebook. we have details from the news room. >> hi, ashley, let's get everyone up to speed. apple revealed it's become a victim of a malicious cyber attack announced hours ago on the heals of news of facebook, mentioned it yesterday, on air, telling you about a cyber attack that facebook revealed late friday night, revealing in a blog post that it was a victim of chinese hacker attacks that was staged in sophisticated attacks over in the month of february. it eluded to the fact that other companies could be involved, and now we know apple is one of the companies. here's a statement we just got within the last hour about the attacks from apple saying,

quote, apple has identified malware that infected a limited number of mac systems in a as a vulnerability in the plug in. we identified a small number of systems within apple that were infected. isolated them from the network, and there's no evidence that any data left apple, and we are working closely with law enforcement officials to find the source of the malware. to big take aways, no data left apple and found a fix for the bug. let's talk about the long list of very influential very prominent and important u.s. companies who have been hit by chinese cyber attacks, just literally in the last few weeks. apple was on the list. facebook, twitter, "wall street journal," the "new york times," very troubling, and, certainly, something that president obama eluded to in his state of the union address as being a top priority now for any mac owners out there, if you want to protect yourself from this, app

m said they have installed java. there's an updated java malware tool to check the mac to keep it up to date. mac users watching, go home and do that first thing. >> all right. indeed. we should, everyone, thank you so much. >> thanks. >> yeah, i certainly will. all right, breaking news now, oil closing up 880 cents at $96.60 a barrel, a gain of nearly 1%. all right. we've been talking about this all day, president obama says his door is always open, and he's willing to work with anyone in order to avoid the 85 billion dollars in automatic spending cuts that's scheduled to take effect in just over 10 days now. now, this as simpson and bowles release yet another plan to reduce the federal deficit by 2.4 trillion. fox is at the white house with more. boy, these guys keep coming back with plans, don't they? >> they do, and the president

comes back with pressure, tracy. reaching an agreement by the end of the month to cut $1.# trillion from the deficit as the so-called sequester requires or buy some more time to reach that agreement. now, republicans have been grum ling that pressuring them is not the same thing as negotiating with them, and lay makers say their have not spoken personally with mr. foreman obama for months, but the white house, however, says the staffs are in regular contact with the firms on capitol hill. today's event intended to show the faces of some of the people who will lose their jobs if the government has to cut aid to the state and local governments that pay their salaries. >> these cuts are not smart. they are not fair. they will hurt our economy, and add hundreds of thousands of americans to the payroll. people will lose their jobs. the unemployment rate make pick up again. >> mr. chairman --

mr. obama's aids say they obliterate the idea that the deficit can be reduced by spending cuts alone, but asks for $600 billion in health care savings, which is about $200 billion more than the president wants, and there's no indication he's willing to budge on that. plan also asks congress to agree to $600 billion in new tax revenue which republicans want to use to lower tax rates instead of lowering the deficit. they say if the money's used to lower the deficit, it's not available for tax reform. former senator simpson says if the two sides don't agree, the markets will reagent. >> the markets will come out of the weeds and they don't care about republicans or democrats or presidents. they care about their money, okay? we already owe $16.4 trillion, and next month takes it to $20 trillion in ten year, and they'll say, hey, you are dysfunctional as a government. you've prune that.

you're addicted to debt. you've proven that. we lope you money, but we want more money for our money, and when they do that, inflation will kick in. find a compromise to put social security and medicare on sustainable paths, he will have no legacy at all. tracy? tracy: thank you for all of that. ashley: all right, the chinese government linked to a wave of hacking attacks against u.s. companies. how should america respond? fox news' judge napalitano weighs on that next. try -- tracy: how the ten and 30-year are trading. the 30 year is up as well, three points, 3.2%. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ what?

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>> i'm sandra smith. the hackers targeting facebook last week are taking a bite out of apple. tech giant says they are working closely with law enforcement and not only a small number of employee computers were actually breached. no data appeared to have been stolen. macy's and jcpenny argue over martha stewart, and the ceos both listed as possible witnesses. bmw recalling nearly 570,000

sedans and sports cars in north america after finding an electrical problem that could cause cars to stall. the luxury maker notifies customers next month. that's the latest giving you the power to prosper.

ashley: more in a report linking the chinese government against u.s. companies. u.s. security firm says attacks originated from this building in shanghai, the headquarters, by the way, of the people's liberation army. fox news senior judicial analyst hear with his take on this what the chinese have been doing since computers were invented. >> one of the reasons we have a federal government is to provide for the common defense.

this is not war in the traditional defense that, but it's foreign government against corporations and individuals in the united states being assaulted in a way that we probably can't defend ourselves. this happened to any of the three of us or anyone watching us or fox news or the new york norksz one thing thinks this is what we have a government to protect us againstment what can the dwoft do? can they bomb the building? can they retaliate in a measure? can they negotiate something? with the chinese government so own agents and employees stop doing this, or would we trust such a negotiation? i don't know the answer to that, but i do know that the federal government should be doing something, and they don't appear to be doing anything. tracy: you're always behind the hacker. you're always behind the eight ball as far as the hacker is concerned; right? always a step ahead of you. if we are just going to be reactive and not proactive, we're never going to catch them. >> what would the proactive be?

do the same thing to them? that's not right. ashley: what's to say we're not already? >> i don't know. we have 16 that i know of, federal government agencies, and i don't know what they are doing. i think it's not going to work. i think that something has to be done to and with the chinese government to get this to stop. it's just as unfair for our intelligence agencies to do what chinese business people what their military has done to american business people. this has to be government to government now. they don't believe in freedom of the internet. i don't think the obama administration believes in the freedom of the internet, even though the internet as we have it in the united states today is an utter marketplace of freedom. it's unregulated, untaxed, uncontrol by the government. i hope it stays that way, but we need the protection of the government so that foreign governments can't assault it, which is apparently what's happened. tracy: talking tariffs?

there's no way to rain the guys in. >> probably not. i think the mentality of the chinese military, one would guess, is that this is a good thing that they can stop us in our tracks. tariffs, you know, tracy, create tariff wars and make prices expensive for everybody and cause unemployment to go up and inflation to kick in. we know that from the great depression. ashley: the price of the freedom we enjoy on the internet is we leave ourselves open to the times of attack. >> also the federal government should do something. i don't know if it's technologically or diplomatically, but they need to do something. the president spoke to the country at 10:45 this morning and didn't say anything about this. tracy: right. you're right, security is part of the constitution. defend us. where is it? >> they are supposed to provide for the common defsz, not just defense against missiles, bullets, but defense against cyber war, which, today, can be as painful and just as disabling

as bullets and missiles. tracy: probably worse. ashley: thank you for being here. tracy: scary stuff. quarter till, time for stocks as we do every 15 minutes, back to the floor, lauren, dow's up 52 points, that's good. >> it is good. investors are certainly applauding the what if scenario if office max and office depot got together. shares up just about 22%. this combination would still be smaller than industry leaders, staples, staples sales soaring in the "wall street journal" and several reports say office max and office depot in talkings to merge would be an all stock transaction creating a bigger player in the office space. back to you. tracy: see you at the top of the hour. ashley: pennsylvania's debt ridden capital can't afford to fix dangerous sink holes. the manhattan institute's steve

is here next with what's next for harrisburg. tracy: today's winners and losers on the nasdaq heading to break. lauren mentioned staples early, up top, 13% rise in that stock today. we'll be right back. ♪

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- ♪ from sea to shining sea tracy: residents in pennsylvania are experiencing that, well, sinking feeling. the problem is there's nothing they can do about it. the city is covered in 41 sink holes.

there's these sink holes all over the city, and they already defaultedded on their debt. they are unable to afford repair work to fix the problem. they have no financing options vail at this point. they are forced to search far and wide, including potentially selling wild west memorabilia to make ends meet. cleaning out the closets here. here to discuss the state of the municipal bond market, steven, glad you're here. all right, so, you know, i was reading the article, this woman on new year's eve, hears a noise, out the window, bam, a sink hole. tons of them all over the city. >> the city's essentially insolvent, wanted to throw itself in bankruptcy away while, but the state of pennsylvania prevented it. basically, you know, what's behind this as you eluded to it without realizing, but they have wild west memorabilia. basically, for 20 years, there was a mayor who borrowed heavily, borrowed to build a civil war museum to make --

borrowed to make a minor league stadium. when the team threatened to leave, borrowed money to buy the team and borrowed $350 million for the plant that was supposed to bring in all revenues and never did. they essentially borrowed for the wrong things and are now broke. tracy: legacy issues basically? >> yes. tracy: sink holes k don't have the money to fix them, so the town is sinking, financially and literally. what happens? >> well, you know, it -- the state in the -- pennsylvania is actually one of the states that rather than let the cities go bankrupt is aiding the cities, a disstressed cities program, but the state and city have been in conflict. the state has a bailout plan to require raising taxes and cutting spending. the city council in harrisberg doesn't want to go along with it but want bankruptcy, a painful process for cities. there's no good options here,

but part of this is the conflict between harrisberg and the state which wants to bail them out. tracy: the state wants city taxes to pay for this? >> and cut spending. tracy: nobody wants to cut spending anywhere in the country, it seems; right? why would they rather than go into bankruptcy, because to your point, i mean, while, sure, easy to say, forgive all our debt, it could bring the state to its knees. >> they are hoping that in bankruptcy, a bankruptcy judge would give them a better deal than the state would give them. it's unlikely. bankruptcy judges in chapter 9, which is municipal, it's not like a private bankruptcy where a judge imposes a ruling because that's almost taking his options away from the taxpayers. a judge acts as a referee. i don't think they get a better deal anyway, and bankruptcy for cities is painful, but they think something different. tracy: shut out of the market. >> right. tracy: how do they -- play it

out, what happens? >> here's the thing. detroit is another city that's insolvent, but its state, michigan, is backing it using its borrowing power to borrow to keep detroit afloat. that could happen here, but right now, because there's a conflict, it's not happening. tracy: if the council is lost, state helps? >> yeah, exactly. tracy: steve, this is like open opera stuff, thank you. out the council. ashley: need a new cast, that's for sure. bad news. all right, the battle between cable networks and broadcast channels may be all by over. dennis kneale has that story. >> you know, two new tv shows underscore the time fragmentation of the tv dial and how the big four broadcasters are becoming just another cable channel. cbs just canceled a new show after two episodes, "the job," a reality series in which the

standard crew competes for dream jobs. cbs promoted the show heavily to no avail. the job now joins the unemployment line. the go cable channel droa draws the biggest audience in history with "killing lincoln," it's stunning for a channel that runs reality shows and doomsday fraidy cats. it hired actor tom hanks to do on-camera narration, and this chart shows diverging forchips of old broadcast and newer cable. tiny nangeo got 3.4 viewers for the lincoln movie, larger than cbs could muster, but, also, they performed better than cbs at reaching the target audience to advertisers. cbs aims at under age 50. cbs fairing well in the stock market in the past year. that stock up 50% in 12 months,

and when advertisers want to reach a truly massive audience, nothing beats live, premier events like the super bowl and oscars on the old broadcasters. nat-geo is owned by the national geographic society and fox, our company, and the fox news prime time star, synergy, baby. ashley: whatever helps, a little bit of synergy, baby. tracy: you hear liz claman laughing in the [background ashley: interesting take. tracy: very. you heard her. he's here. liz claman going through the last hour of trading. talking about the impact of the cliff and what it means for the bottom line, one of the largest generic drug makers, and "countdown to the closing bell" is next. don't go anywhere.

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