wall street celebrates as the the dow reaches into new record territory above 16,000. in today's cover story....the government sheds its stake in gm... plus...this mega mansion goes on the auction block today... which sports legend is feeling "bullish" on the housing market. and...looking back at the economic policies of john f kennedy. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning!i'm angela miles. it's party time on this friday- november 22nd... the dow closed above 16,000 for the first time

ever at 16,010 after racing up more than 100 points thursday. the nasdaq pushed up 48 points, and the s&p 15.gold continues to lose shine drifting down $17 yesterday. and oil was unchanged. apple wins $290 mllion from samsung after a jury agreed samsung copied various iphone features. the fcc considers allowing cell phone calls in- flight and reports say ups will raise rates on most ground and air freight shipping by 4.9% next year. chris gersch of altimus capital joins us on the show now. dow 16 thousand. chris, where do we go from here? > >good morning. i think right now, although this is the top, i think that we are going to have a great position this morning to cash in. i think that there has been a lot of momentum coming from asia and we've seen the yen continue to weaken and that's carried momentum all the way into yesterday. i believe

unless we have a continued buying spree by the fed, there's more talks of tapering and i think that's really gonna put a top here around that 16 thousand mark in the dow. > >what else would you do with your money? > >suprisingly enough i've had 3 calls by major investors in my fund asking about bitcoin. so i actually flew up to canada to bitcoin embassy and i talked to them. actually a programmer of mine went to work for them. this bitcoin thing seems to be real. so i'm looking at it as potential but right now i'm putting it in cash. > >what do you think about the latest jobs claim showing us this level we've not seen for years. > >i think this is all positive. i think the jobs number itself can be convoluted into being a political tool. but

i think in itself it's giving a lot of encouragement and momentum to the year end. but the higher we go the lower i think we're gonna fall. so i'd be wary about putting any money to work in equities right now. > >thanks chris. > >thank you. it's on to the senate for president obama's fed chair nomiee-- janet yellen... "the ayes have it, the nomination is therefore reported favorably to the full senate" the senate committee voted 14 to 8 yesterday to move yellen forward in the confirmation process. she could become the first woman to lead the federal reserve. 3 republicans broke ranks to vote in favor of her nomination: bob corker of tennessee, mark kirk of illinois and tom coburn of oklahoma.one democrat, senator joe manchin the third of west virginia cast a no vote.yellen is likely to continue the fed's current economic stimulus of bond buying.she should breeze through the senate.yesterday the senate set new rules that will mean fewer fillibusters that

block nominations. the treasury department's announcement that it'll sell off it's remaining shares of general motors stock by the end of the year marks the end of a government bailout begun during the depths of the recession.our cover story looks at whether it was money well spent or good thrown after bad. the treasury department plans to sell its last 31-million shares of g-m stock, two-point-two percent of the company, between now and years' end...finishing a controversial chapter in american business. "they couldn't compete with japan." in 2009, g-m was nearly out of cash. the obama administration directed a nearly 50-billion dollar bail out. dubbed "government motors," a task force overhauled g-m's management, dropped two- thousand dealers and closed plants. "we're a better company now." "they are more profitable now." but some say the bailout violated financial darwinsim. "who's to say what would have

happened had toyota gained market share. we might have better cars." in a statement, the treasury department said "had we not acted to support the automotive industry, the cost to the country would have been substantial--in terms of lost jobs, lost tax revenue, reduced economic production, and other consequences." some think one of those 'other consequences' may have been elections lost in michigan, ohio and elsewhere. "it was political." overall, taxpayers will have lost about ten-billion dollars in the g-m bailout. the company will no longer have restrictions on executive compensation or dividends to investors. "we haven't decided whether there will be dividends."

reuss says g-m can be profitable if its u-s sales are between 10-and-a-half-to-11- million vehicles a year. bank of america is fighting to avoid penalties in the countrywide mortgage fraud case. the us department of justice wants $863 million for mortgage losses that fannie mae and freddie mac incurred from buying bad loans from countrywide in 2007 and 2008. the agency says countrywide - which b of a bought in 2008 - rewarded employees for the quantity of loans sold in process called "the hustle"bank of america says the government could not prove losses came from the loans. it's payday for a major high- interest lender. the consumer financial protection bureau is accusing cash america, owner of u-s pawn shops and payday lending ships, of"robo-signing" documents, issuing improperly high loans to military members,

and destroying records.more than 14,000 ohio consumers targeted in debt-collection lawsuits from 2008 to jan. 2013 were affected.cash america is cooperating and will pay $19 million.it's also required to strengthen its legal compliance procedures. private companies are being invited to bid on the chance to destroy syria's stockpile of toxic agents and chemicals. the unprecedentant move follows the august 21st chemical weapons attack on a damascus suburb that killed hundreds of people.a global chemcial weapons watchdog group is posting a request for companies that want a role in the treatment and disposal of hazardous and non- hazardous chemicals. the usda wants to make meat safety more transparent. new rules going into effect this saturday will require meatpackers to list not only the country the meat is coming from , but also the livestock was born, raised and slaughtered. consumer advocates and some u.s. beef ranchers say the labels are beneficial for food safety and domestic sales.

opposers call the rules wasteful and costly. the usda estimates that new compliance will cost the meat industry between $53 million and $192 million. retailers are crunching the numbers going into christmas and holiday shopping is not exactly in the bag. during targets big reveal on earnings the company warned its facing intense competition and cautious consumers.target's missed the mark on earnings and is trimming its forecast.sears reported deeper losses ahead of the holidays while also missing estimates. at dollar tree sales increased as more people shopped the stores- but the discount retailer is bracing for a slight sales slip for the year. despite peta protests, the macy's thanksgiving day parade is keeping its seaworld float up in the air. the recent documentary "blackfish" sparked controversy over the theme park's treatment of whales. macy's traditional position is to stay out of politics. the retailer said in a statement:

"the parade has never taken on, promoted or otherwise engaged in social commentary, political debate or other forms of advocacy." seaworld says the blackfish film and peta's criticisms have "absolutely no basis." the stage is set for a new round of gaming wars. microsoft's new xbox one game console hits stores today. it goes head to head with sony's playstation 4, which launched last week.ps4 sold a million units in a mere 24 hours.though playstation has a bit of a head start, analysts say xbox one will also score big. " they (mfst) too will probably do very well this holiday season. it's probably going to be neck and neck. we'll see where nintendo finds itself but definetly the attention is on xbox and playstation as the two key players. and its going to be a tight call i think." that was tech analyst marc saltzman, who says don't discount nintendo as a major player.its new handheld 3ds also hits stores today. meanwhile... the battle for "top tablet" is also getting aggressive. dell is out with its tablet called the "venue 8."

the company says it hopes to click with consumers who want a tablet for work. dell went private in october.company exec neil hand tells us that aside from tablets, the company is continuing to focus on the pc market. " the pc market has been challenged for the last few years, we actually think the pc market continues to be really strong though. its still almost a 300 million unit industry every year. that's still really big, and nobody really has stood out and become the biggest leader out there so there's still alot of opportunity for new sales." unlike yahoo--- dell is pushing for more employees to work from home...it wants half of its global workforce to work remotely by 2020. microsoft is going after google with "scroogled campaign" microsoft is selling shirts, mugs and hoodies that slam google on privacy. a couple of examples: a t-shirt with the words "i'm watching you" and mug that reads "keep calm while we steal your data." a google spokperson says it's no surprise-- the competition in wearables space is really

heating up. google is the latest company to launch a prepaid debit card. the card will connect to the google wallet application and will work at stores and atms. google says the card does not come with extra fees.its the latest phase for google wallet, which lets users organize finances online. tesla's model s gets a glowing review. the electric car maker was awarded a near perfect score by owners in a consumer reports satisfaction survey. its the highest satisfaction score seen in years. it follows two electric car fires which have ignited a government probe. now comes word tesla's top sales executive, is retiring. tesla shares have taken a tumble over the past month and are now trading near 122 dollars. now is your chance to be like mike. basketball star michael jordan will auction off his chicagoland mansion today. the home, located in highland park illinois, once held a listing price of 30 million dollars. and in case you were wondering, jordan's home does have an nba sized basketball court.

a university in cyprus is accepting bitcoins for tuition payments. the university of nicosia, the largest in the mediterranean, will accept the virtual currency online or directly to the finance office.it's also planning a master of science course in digital currency.the school wants cyprus - still reeling from its bailout from the european union - to become a hub of bitcoin development. still to come: what the vix is signaling about the bull run in the market in traders unplugged... why the guys are ignoring a "retail warning" this holiday season.... but first...as the country remembers the life of jfk today, we are looking back at some monumental moments of his presidency. we'll be right back.

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as the world pauses to recall the assissination of john f. kennedy 50 years ago--this morning --we are taking a look at how his economic policies effect our nation today. we are joined by professor richard schmalens-ee professor of economics and dean "emeritus" at the m-i-t sloan school of management. wonderful to have you here. > >pleasure to be with you. > >as the president was taking

office-- unemployment was high at 6.8%.what was his proposal to fix the labor market? > >well its a little bit through the looking glass. his proposal was to cut taxes to stimulate growth. the republican opposition was worried bout deficits. it was another time. > >and he did manage to move the needle. by the time he left it was closer to 6%. he also had a lot of dealings with unions. for instance there was a famous battle between the president and the president of u.s. steel over an increase in steel prices. kennedy won that showdown. but what did that signal to big business? > >it signaled that this young president was going to be tougher than they might have thought. and that he was not afraid or unwilling to take them on. > >he was also a champion of national healthcare. did he make attempts to change healthcare in this country? > >no, he didn't do anything serious in that direction. i

think everyone sort of expected at the time of his administration that like other rich countries we would soon have universal healthcare. but he didn't move that needle. > >kennedy's assasination also shook the stock market. the ny stock exchange closed at 207 eastern the day he was shot. what happened after that? > >the market dropped by about 3% quickly. and it quickly recovered. the other interesting thing that happened---a later study found that stocks that might have been expected to benefit from a transition from kennedy to johnson like defense stocks, texas based companies, rose slightly. not too much but they rose. > >and quickly before you take off---what lessons can we learn from his administration. > >that's a hard question. i think one lesson is that style matters a lot. another lesson is that it takes more than style.

many of the legislative initiatives that he launched really didn't come to fruition until johnson was president. but his launching them had a powerful effect. > >thank you for your time professor. we hope to have you back again. coming up...why our pro traders say the fed doesn't influence the market as much as you'd think. and later in chart talk...will a new record in the dow make a bearish trader turn bullish?

time now for some friday fun! joining us now from the floor of cme group...our pro traders alan knuckman and james ramelli. topic one:yellen sellin'? will a new fed chair change the bullish market momentum? alan: i think people have got it so wrong. the reason the

markets have moved up is because of earnings growth. the fed, obviously they're always trying to expand the economy and make things better but you can't just flip a switch and turn it off and on. bernanke was appointed under a republican in 2006 and guess what? the economy went straight down. it's not the fed chair that drives the market. james: exactly, i don't think that the fed chair has too much to do with this market heading higher. obviously qe has been a huge boost to equity and equity prices. i don't see the market selling off...because yellen comes in and changes policies. if we get a taper it won't be until next year and it's gonna be very gradual. alan: it's gonna happen but we don't know when. someday. angie: topic two: retail lame game. target, walmart and dollar tree have all expressed concerns about consumer spending this christmas... would you but retail stocks? james: i would not go out and buy retail. retail has been very tricky this year. dollar tree, walmart, target, sears--- those are all the bad retailers. discount retailers, not working out.

alan: did you mock me last week when i said williams sonoma? williams sonoma was up 6% yesterday. james: williams sonoma, coach, i will agree with alan those high end retailers are the plays i want. alan: you want to be really selective or you just want to trade xrt which is the retail index. that is a flawed sector. it's really hit and miss. angie: topic three:gold in toilet -- jet blue made news this week after more than a million dollars in gold bars were found in the jet's restroom-- is time for traders to flush their positions in gold? alan: i feel like it sometimes. 1250 is a very important pivot point in gold. it was the lowest in august and here in november. sometimes when things look the worst, that's when you have to start looking at them for the long term anyways. james: any rally in the gold market has been a sell this year. i'm currently not long gold and have no plans to get long gold even at these depressed levels here. we've seen it fall through every one of these key pivots and find sellers aggressively. alan: the dollar is the key. if the dollar gets back below 80 we could get some life in gold.

and at somepoint if anything happend with the stock market--- any pullback it's gonna have some safe haven value. right now it's just a forgotten stepchild. angie: here is your bonus round question. with thanksgiving in mind, name the first president to pardon a turkey. was it a) richard nixon, b)john f. kennedy, or c)harry truman? james: richard nixon. alan: ok. angie: c. harry truman. alan: you sounded like you knew! angie: i made that tricky. first business news continues right after this.

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dan deming of stutland equities joins us now to talk about that milestone in the market. good morning dan. > >good morning angie. > >you've been bearish on this market. but it's been good to be a bull. does this change your mind at all dan? > >short term i think we talked about this last time i was on. short term i still think that there's some potential for this market to push a bit higher until the end of the year. right now you're seeing the market deal with the fact that this taper talk is back in the market. initialy it was a

little detrimental to the market but yesterday we saw the market rally significantly. it's getting a feel for some of the talk and chatter that's been out there. i think right now you're seeing---at least short term---the market being able to handle it at this point. > >what's happening on the floor with vix trading? > >yeah, the vix under pressure again. now we're seeing it back down toward that middle 12 area. i think 1260 around that area is where we closed yesterday. so pressure on the vix. basically some seasonality pressure in the minds of market participants and traders. you typically see the vix reach the low end of the spectrum in december and it feels like that's what's taking place here as well. also with the fact that we did see the market push to new highs yesterday and many of the major indexes really gained some ground after losing ground the first part of the week. i think that also played in the minds of traders saying for the next short term it looks like----is gonna be under pressure. > >dan good to have you on the show as always. > >thanks angie. that's a wrap for today. as always feel free to follow us on facebook and twitter. or send us an email. we look forward to hearing from you. from all of us at first business.. thank you for watching and happy

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