hi, everybody. welcome to "the wall street journal report." i'm maria bartiromo. hopes say the long-running greek drama is over. a framework is in place but the devil is in the details. what it means for america's markets and economy. is italy next? my exclusive interview with the the italian prime minister. and my conversation with the largest holder of the stocks and where this toward investing now. and i will go one on one with basketball great kareem abdul-jabbar. he is taking a shot at a new career. "the wall street journal report" begins right now. >> this is america's number one

financial news program, "the wall street journal report." now, maria bartiromo. >> here's a look at what is making news as we head in to a new week on wall street. hopes that a deal has been reached for a greek bailout are fading. an apparent agreement among greek political leaders on a package of toughs asterty measures sparked protests in athens. now there is word that the deal maybe blocked by eu finance ministers. it requires wage cuts, and slashes defense spending. the markets yawned at the debt deal on thursday though the index hit multiyear highs in the middle of the week. the technology sector sizzled this week. three dow components reported earnings this week. disney, cisco and coke all beat expectations and mario monti is receiving praise for lifting

them out of their crisis there. i spoke to him about his focus on growth. >> we needed to have spending cuts and higher taxes, but we have done this in a way that preserves very much labor income and profits from firms from increased taxation, and we shifted part of the tax burden on to property wealth. then we rely very much on the opening up of the markets through liberalization through competition. >> standard & poors downgraded 34 of the 37 italian banks that standard & poors rates. they are saying that italy is vulnerable to external finance iffing risks. can you characterize the banking system in italy? do you agree with this downgrade by s&p? >> it's not a matter of agreeing. thooe these decisioning by the rating industries are largely the mechanical affects of

previous decision and are objective facts. the high public of italy is a well known fact of life. what matters more is movement at the margin. mainly is a government puts its house in order, and the rating agencies themselves are very appreciative of what the italian government is doing, but by and large, italian banks have been less hit by the financial crisis than the banks in many other european countries. >> my thanks to mario monti. the markets edge higher. america's economy strengthens a and my guest says it may be the beginning. my next guest is liz ann sonders with charles schwab. we will see the off and on talks in greece. we are waiting for a resolution. what's your take? how do you think this resolves itself? >> i don't know.

i think in the near term we can avoid disorderly default. i think all parties would like to see that happen. the fact there needs to be parliamentary approval in implementing this. this is what we have to see whether there is actual desire on the part of the people to do this. i think that there is still a lot of uncertainty between now and march 20th when the bond payment is due. >> if greece gets off of the main page of the big headlines, do the concerns move on to portugal, spain, italy? is that the next big issue for europe and the world? >> that's the problem. we seem to be fairly myopic. we are seeing yields. portugal being a perfect example, starting to ratchet up. the focus is on greece. that's the risk throughout this whole crisis is that we move on to the next station. the only good news is the benefit of a two-year process that we have been in of kicking this can down the road is a lot

of financial institutions toward have been able to position for this. this is not coming as a great shock to anyone. >> on the other side of the world, the u.s. seems to be doing better. is the u.s. the best story in town right now given what is going on in europe and how do you -- >> there was a lot of possess schism about the u.s. economy last fall. not that i shared but i think what we are realizing is the u.s. is the world's largest economy and has the ability to help out the rest of the world when the growth rate is exceeding the rest of the world. i don't think that the u.s. growth rate will pull it out of a recession but help it to be less severe. i think frankly that's what the stock market has been telling us since its low last october. >> ob. so, the housing market is one area you have talked about. you said we have in fact seen a

bottom. >> i think broadly. what we have to do with housing is look at housing at a local level. that's always the case in housing, excludeing the bubble period. i think we will start to see divergences among regions and stronger regions will be stronger because there is less inventory problem or strong local economic conditions. i think that prices tond tend to be the last thing to turn. i think if you look at housing nationally the worst is behind us. by that i mean it is likely to be a net positive contributor to gdp. that dunn mean that universally -- >> what do you attribute the stren nth the market. look at the money nufing in to technology this year. the nasdaq is up 12% or so in 2012. what's behind this? >> i think it is a reflection of the economy doing better. i think concerns of a double dip that became so pref plant the september/october period caused the market to discount something

worse. now i think it is coming to the realization that a lot of the weakness we saw in the first half of 2011 were short-term factors that have started to ve verse themselves and we are seeing the best growth in manufacturing and even manufacturing jobs that we have seen in over 30 years. i think the market is coming to the realization the economy is producing thing again opposed to paper profits and engineering. >> that sound very positive. >> what kind of year to do you expect for the markets very strong begin. does it last. >> i think if the economy doesn't bring any surprise. the path of least resistance is up and the next wave would be money coming out of fixed income. most of the money has been money from cash or professional toward, kind of changing asset allegation. the individual investor is not in yet. pension funds are under exposed to equity and hedge funds are under exposed to equities.

the next big wave could be a reallocation from the fixed income. >> let's talk retirement. in general are americans saving enough today? i know we had a negative savings rate for sometime and then it went up to 6% or so. >> there is concern it is coming down because it is the only way for consumers to fund their consumption. i'm not sure about that. we have to put savings in the context wherezom interest rates are. it i think a lot of the money that would be classically seen as savings has gone to places in an attempt to find even the slightest bit of yield. i think retirees are better than four years ago. they are well up from where they were because we had eck quickty and significant bond appreciation but not across the board. there are plenty of toward, consumers and retirees that need

to do more even to beat inflag. >> we will leaf it there. great advice as always. liz ann sonders. charles schwab with. next up, alwaleed bin talal will join me on i ran, oil and where the renowned investor is putting his money now. he was the nba all-time scoring leader and a master on the court. kareem abdul-jabbar tells me what he discovered about being good in math and science. a look at how the stock market ended the week. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down.

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the world with a net worth of $21 billion. i spoke to him about his new investment in twitter. the price of oil and the arab spring. >> no doubt that the revolution took place in countries like egypt, libya tunis and to a certain extent yemen and what is happening now in syria, is a wakeup call to many countries to try to have a peaceful revolution rather than violent revolution. i believe that many began to get the message. >> tell me how you see saudi arabia looking different in this evolution as you say, five, ten years later. how long does this evolution take? and how does saudi arabia look different? >> saudi arabia under the leadership of king abdullah is taking major moves at the social, economic and financial level which has helped the saudi people a lot. more has to take place on the political front to involve the people and have them participate

in the system. >> let me ask you about the happenings. more news of the day, if you will, your highness and that's about iran. president obama tightening sanctions on rye ran, freezing all iranian government assets held or traded in the united states. do you believe this is appropriate? >> i think putting pressure on iran from the united states or the european union or the world in general is very important. iran is a renegade country. it is fortunate put pressure on them before we think of military action. i believe -- we should engage antalk to them and see if we can reach a solution and i think a solution is possible with them. >> let me get your take on oil supply in the world today. saudi arabia is in a wonderful position. how much does it take to produce in your country, $3, $2. >> average is 5 to $6. >> here we are at $97 a barrel.

do you believe that price would be appropriate given the supply in the world today? >> well, there's an element of fear. we have seen the world economies are diminishing in growth. demand went down but the price is still high. what may happen with iran and closing the hormuz strait. in the vicinity of $100, both consumer and producers are at that price. >> have you been investing your none the united states last year. >> most of our deals are announced -- we are always looking for opportunities in the united states. they are down but not out. having said that, the united states has to keep their house in order. republican democrats, president and congress have to put the house in order and meet together and come to a solution for the united states. >> let's talk about the money you put in to twitter.

$300 million you invested in twitter. what's so attractive about this country to you. >> usually we don't enter in to venture capital opportunities. but i believe the company is beginning to mature. there are 100 million users. more than 10 million tweets a day and that's a beginning. i believe the potential for twitter is big. this company is a for to be reckoned with and i believe the future of twitter is very promising. >> what's the business plan of twitter. today you met the ceo and cfo. do you have confident dense they will make money? >> i have full can can have confidence they will have revenues and good income in the coming years. otherwise would not invest there. >> how is citigroup right now? >> it is doing very well really. as the company and have the company they made more than $11

million last year and i best believe the best days of citigroup are yet to come and the full potential could come back to the previous expectations of around $20 billion profit. >> as an investor you surely want the dividend back. do you have any city of when citi will pay a dividend the way you were enjoying that dividend for so long. >> i believe that citibank will return money to shareholders with dividends or buy shares back. i believe all of the banks including citibank have submitted to their request to the reserve and it will happen soon. >> my thanks to alwaleed bin talal. up next on the "the wall street journal report" it's not all business when i'm court side with nba great kareem abdul-jabbar. how retirement helped this former history major find his inner educator.

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welcome back. with 20 nba seasons, six championships and more career points than any other player in basketball today, my next guest was a dominant force at the center of the court. kareem abdul-jabbar retired from his legendary sports career more than 20 years ago and has reinvented himself as a coach, author and historian. i spoke to the state department's new global cultural ambassador about finding the words to write his second act.

>> kareem abdul-jabbar! >> it took me a couple of years to deal with the burnout from player. i had a very intense career. it lasted so long, 20 years. once i got over the burnout, i figured what i needed to be doing and i started writing. i always had the ambition to write but never had the time to write. only had the team to read. but the more i read the more it intrigued me. >> i probably would have been a history teacher or something like that if i had to have a real job. >> reporter: 15 years after his first history blook, black pro-fiels and courage became a "new york times" best seller. kareem abdul-jabbar is promoting a project for children "what is the color of my world, the lost history of african-american inventors". you write about two american kids named ella and her by who hear this is more to our history

than sports, civil rights. >> this has to do with my experiences when i was in grade school. the only time black americans were mentioned in were in conjunction with the issues of slavery and civil rights and the black experience in america is so much broader than that. >> are you jaden. >> yes. >> jad-a-d-e-j-a-d-e-n. thank you. >> it is important for me, especially for black kids to read this book. the only time they see black people being successful has to do in two areas, sports and entertainment. >> why did you choose inventors? >> these invento are scientists and mathematicians and engineers. people that young kids in the inner city did not look to as being heros and achieving extraordinary things. >> finally, something i really

care about. thank you. >> did i know brook washington carver. >> no, i am not that old. >> no one raises hair hand and says i really want to be an engineer they want to be a superstar basketball player. >> if you talk to young kids they want to be lebron james or jay-z. >> born louis in new york he rose to national prommen innocence playing under legendary coach john wooden. >> you as a ki kid were a city kid in catholic school in manhattan. what was your experience like? >> my experience was in learning about the general culture of america. not african-american culture. my dad was a jazz musician. in my household, duke ellington and louis armstrong were heros but i didn't learn how broad

african-american achievement was until i took part in a program in harlem that was designed to show the kids in harlem how to make it a better place. that's when i started to learn about the harlem -- >> on the shoulders of giants, a documentary kareem abdul-jabbar released last year tells the story of a black basketball team that won the first integrated professional tournament in 1939 long before championships came with product endorsement deals. >> black americans have never been given credit for the things they have contributed to american life. it's always seen as something that happened in the shadows and in the corners. i wanted to shine a light on that. >> 7'2" kareem abdul-jabbar is still the nba's all-time lead scorer with 38,387 points. and his place in american sports history is ensured with his signature sky hook.

for those that don't know, what's a sky hook? >> it is just a hook shot on the basketball court. i put my own little stamp on it. you want the ball to come down through the hoop. up and over and down. that's it. perfect. >> so what did you learn in sports that helped you in life? >> oh, jeez, you learn so much. team work. you learn perseverance and preparation. one of coach wooden's favorite sayings was failing to prepare is preparing to fail. corny saying. >> you have to be lucky as a kid you have to have influences that are positive forces. >> i was really charmed. i have had a charmed life in that sense. perfect. perfect. >> my thanks to kareem abdul-jabbar. up next on the "the wall street journal report," a look

at the news this upcoming week that will have an impact an impr money and find us on facebook. look for wsjr with maria. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

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for more on our show and our guests, check out our website. hope you follow me on twitter an google+. look for me @maria bartiromo. look at the moves that may impact your money.

the president sends the next budget for the fiscal year to captiol hill. and valentine's day and retail sales for the month. minutes for the latest meeting 0 the federal reserve open market committee will be released. on thursday the first of the monthly inflation indicators with the release of the producer price index. and consumer price index comes out on friday. that will do it for us for today. thank you for joining me. my guests next week, leading bioethics scholar sikh emmanuel. the doctor that played a key role in the health care reform debeat bait. see you again next weekend.