hi. welcome to "on the money." i'm becky quick. the fed speaks and boy did the market listen. a record for stocks and what it means for your money. >> fixing america's educational system. my conversation with the biggest teachers union. the big business of holiday window. sparkling lights and scrolling displays and the sounds of cash registers ringing. plus, monday is new health care enrollment deadline. what you need to know before the deadline rolls around. "on the money" starts right now. >> this is america's number one financial news program. "on the money." now becky quick. here is oo look at what's making news as we head into a

new week "on the money." the fed reserve is taking the first step of unwinding its massive stimulus policy known as quantitative easing. it's down from $85 million to 75 billion. it's helped strengthen the housing and stock market. ben bernanke says the fed can still reverse course. that sent stocks skyrocketing. the dow and s&p closing at record highs closing the biggest daily gain in two months. the nasdaq closed at a 13 year high. the markets continue to climb later in the a week. america's economy is growing faster than first thought. the final reading shows an annual growth of 4.1%. that's up from 3.6%. this is the first time that gdp has topped 4% since 2011. gross domestic product is very

important. it's the broadest measure of the strength and size of america's economy. we have big earning news. oracle beat analyst estimates. u.s. home builders broke ground at the fastest pace in over five years increasing 23% over october and on jennifer anastasoff -- on an annual pace. joining us are barbara marcin and alan blinder. he's author of the book after the music stops. thank you both for joining us. alan, what do you think? were you surprised by the news this week. >> i wouldn't say shocked. everybody knew that tapering was coming. i didn't think it would come this week. i thought it might come in january or even march. the timing, to me, was a

surprise and suggested that the fed is pretty optimistic about the outlook for the economy. >> what about you? are you optimistic? do you think the economy is strong enough to stand on its two feet. >> i'm optimistic. the fed is forecasting about 2% next year. to me it's a stretch. the numbers that just came in on friday about the gdp revision is good news. >> what concerns you the most? the jobs picture. >> yes, it's definitely the jobs picture. fiscal policy is doing nothing for the jobs picture. it's a negative. it's less than a negative than it's been before. that leaves the ball in the fed last and the fed has been doing what it can. as ben bernanke and everybody realizes it's limited. they keep buying and buying but

the effects of that are limited. >> the market, i thought, might be able to take it in stride. i was surprised by the huge run. a gain of almost 300 points on the dow. what happened here? >> it was quite a surge even though the market has been strong all year. i think that we have been so much set on, sort of a platform by the holiday miracle of the week which was the bipartisan budget passed by the house and senate. i think there was the thought of some optimism that government might work a little bit better going into the next year. that combined with the federal reserve saying we can start our taper. i think the two of those come beaned to make that surge in the dow. >> is this the santa claus rally? is this the end of it or the gift that keeps on giving? >> there's still going to be

tremendous stimulus. they're starting to get some confidence return. if the government works better. bec we can do projects at home but we don't have the confidence. you can see growth better than 2.5% over the next year or two. >> that's a really interesting argument. i talked to some people this week saying by the fed giving the confidence that might create confidence and the thing that breaks us out of it. do you put any faith in that? >> not a lot. i think if the economy grows faster than the confidence will come back. we have a 4.1% reading on the gdp. if we get a couple in a row i don't think we will. the one thing i would add is in

addition to the corporations, the banks are sitting on a ton of unused cash. if they would be more confidence then they would lend more then i think we could get the engine revving up. >> the fed has talked about cutting the interest rate at the federal reserve. would that help? 25 basis points isn't a whole heck of a lot. >> not at all. i'm pushing that idea for almost four years now. i'd like to see them cut to minus 25 points. >> charnl it. >> make it a charge. >> that would get them to get the money away from the fed very quickly. >> i think so. >> i think so too. barbara, let's talk about what you see for 2014. are there particular sectors that you think are poised at this point to take off or out perform other areas? >> i still think that court holding for individuals. dividends show indication that a company believes in the cash

portion of its earnings. also dividends accounted for 9% on the market. i think for individual i would still say it's pointed in that direction. another area that we've been looking at is something that the last few years we've had our energy revolution. eventually going to be an exporter of energy. we'll have lower energy costs with abundant supply. announced to put their plans in. we're looking at energy companies and some industrial manufacturing companies that will benefit from this. it's been available at the last few years. >> thank you so much for coming in today. >> thank you. >> alan it's great to see you. we'll see you both again soon.

>> thank you. up next, we're show show. are american students making the great internationally. the ahead of the american federation for teachers will join us. led screens, motion detecting camera, 3-d projection, it's the department store. the big names in window shopping pull out all the stops. right now, take a look at how the stop market ended the week. [ laughter ]

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nothing calls them to the table faster. make breakfast pop! we spend half a trillion dollars each year to help american students race to the top but many of them are being left behind. the scores of u.s. teens ranked well we low their peers. that's an issue we'll be talking about right now with american federation of teachers president

randi weingarten. thank you for being here. >> it's my pleasure. >> it seemed that american students were staying steady but a lot of our competitors in other nations, particular asian nations were doing much better. what happened? >> it's been there for the last ten years. what's happening is that the stuff that business does, which is so successful in business, really kind of using the market, actually doesn't work in education. that's what the other countries of the world know. you can't have -- what they're focused on is how they help call kids become winners, which mean they have to address the equity issues and poverty issues in real way and have to make sure all kids have great teachers. >> happening inside the schools or outside? >> it's happening some ways in both. places like finland, germany,

shanghai, they're trying to say this is what the poverty is. this is where we are. how do we adjust it? what we have done in the united states is no child left behind, race to the top. we said let's fixate on the test score to adjust it. they don't do that. they say let's make sure the teachers are well prepared and valued. let's make sure we have interventions that offset poverty such as early childhood education or tutors or multiple path ways to graduation. >> it seems the education issue has gotten so politicized in this country it's hard to talk about it without putting on a republican or democratic hat. you're both saying this is something we need to stick with. what is the common core? >> a lot of people are shopped

because he was a republican governor of michigan. i have been a democrat my whole life. he's the head of the business round table and i'm the head of the american federation of teachers. we both believe in the common core because the transition to the common core in schools throughout america would mean a transition from memorization as way to learn to thinking and applying facts. >> what does that mean? >> you have to start thinking about not two times two equal four but how many different ways can you get to four. >> two plus two. >> well, no, it's like four ones. three and one. what happens with kids in elementary school is they start using blocks to say what are the different ways to get to four. then they explain it to you instead of just memorizing a multiplication table. you have to trust teachers. give them to time to do this transition. >> that makes sense. if you're looking at standa

standardized tests, stuff like this might not ever show up. how do you measure how students are doing? >> this is the big debate that america has to embrace in the next few years. all these countries that out compete us don't test every student every year. these are the three things that we have to be accountable for. how you create trusting relationships with kids because kids have to learn how to trust. number two, how you create critical thinking skills and number three, how do you teach persisten persistence. we all trip and fall. how do you know how to navigate to success and get up again? what i would push on congress and states is how we create accountability systems for schools around those three things. once we do that we'll out compete our competitors throughout the world. >> how do you create accountability for schools and

teachers because that's part of what the politicalization of the argument around teachers. how do you protect good teachers and not protect the bad teachers? >> at the end of the day the biggest problem is keeping good teachers in the profession. it's a really hard job and we don't support the good teachers. we have policies and practices that do this. if somebody is prepared and if somebody has gotten the help they need and still can't teach, they shouldn't be there. due process should be about fairness. it's not to have -- it's not a cloak of incompetence and not an excuse for managers not to manage. >> thank you for coming in. up next we're sh"on the money." how putting on one of the biggest shows in town put retailers at the sweet spot of the traditional and cutting

edge. >> go like that. you can really stir it around.

. this is where you have rockerfeller center. all of these speak to you as a

traditional time in the city. it's at new york stores where they hope to turn the foot traffic of consumers into sales. more than 100,000 people a week walk by sak's fifth avenue. the store is dressed to impress. >> the branchs overahead have been a part of sak's dna for years. >> it was acquired this year for 2.5 billion dollar. it's not just the store here. it's 41 stores around the country that you're responsible for. >> we take elements from new york and put them across the country. that's what we're about. we want a consistent theme. >> it looks beautiful. why don't you explain the theme behind the look. >> we love the snow. >> the design team added to the christmas characters with an original creation, the yedi. >> it's this guy that lives on the roof and makes it snow.

the window tells how he got here. >> he has a little something. >> he's got that funny smile. >> it's told in six animated windows. a mix of old fashion showmanship and the latest in digital even interactive technology. >> we love seeing the kids come through. >> what happens when the kids come through? >> the way to tell the best window is the one that's dirtiest with nose prints. >> which one is it? >> it's up in the air. we clean our windows every day because they get dirty. >> when the lines are long you have to have something for the people to do. >> we do. you come in and put your name into your app and converts your name to a yedi name. my name becomes harrick goldburg. i'm going to throw the snow flake by swiping across my phone

and it will show up in the window. >> i see it. >> you can create another one. >> will you do one for me? >> your new name is blanca quintry. you got to be in the sak's window today too. >> total holiday sales should top $600 billion, 4% above last year. online sales could see a 15% increase going as high as $82 billion. prove that engaging is a long term strategy for retailers. even when it starts with a miracle on 34th street. >> our broadway windows are fixed and total. fixed large by broadway shows that we put on. >> six shows that you put on. >> right. we have animators, hair and makeup people, costume people, set designers. >> it features dream, believe. >> we decided to tell a story of a little boy who falls asleep on

christmas eve. he has this dream of this magical, mystical place with mysterious people. >> what are some of the new pieces that you put in this year. >> we replaced the back wall with a scenic painted theme and painted them with giant led screens. we used one of those screens as an interactive piece where if interactive part finds you. by standing in front of it you can effect snow and northern lights and have a lot of fun. it's all about joy. i wanted the audience to feel the joy too. >> macy's operates more than 800 stores in 45 states. new york's flagship is the chain's most popular location. >> how many do you think come through and see these windows? >> about 7,000 people an hour.

it's mind boggling. when you see how many people are wanting to see them is the greatest feeling. >> we want to say thank you and happy holidays to the visual team at sak's and may sees. up next, we look at news that will have an impact "on the money." what you need to know about signing up for insurance by december 23rd. we'll be right back.

for more on show and our guests you can go to our website. >> healthcare.gov has extended the deadlines. what are the deadlines and consumers need to know, joining me now is bertha cooms. what's changed? >> if you want coverage that starpts on january 1st, you have until december 23rd. if you're procrastinating on your christmas shopping and picking your health plan you really want to get on that. you have until the 23rd to get your health plan. you get through that and you can pay and in some cases you have until january 10th to pay to make that first payment and it will retroactively have your coverage starting january 1st. a lot of people have gone through the process. they have gone the enrollment

application. they just haven't selected a plan. some of the folks just need to go ahead an pick plan. for a lot of people it's complicated to figure out what's the best for them. >> if i'm having problems with the website, is the best idea to call healthcare.gov or the insurer? >> depending where you are. california has its own website. they say if you're picking until december 23rd, give us a call. they're saying even if you're just starting we'll help you get through it. they're seeing huge volumes in california, more than 20,000 people a day. they want to give people as much runway room to make it through. >> you have a bit of leeway. good luck. thank you. finally, the other stories that may move the markets and impact your money this week. on monday the bureau of labor sta tic tixs will release income

and outlays for november. we'll see how consumer feel about the economy when the university of michigan reports its consumer sentiment survey. on tuesday durable good will be due. wednesday is christmas day and the markets will be closed for the holiday. that's the show for today. i'm becky quick. thank you for joining me. next week we have new year's rez lugs for your mind, money and health. keep it here each week. we're "on the money." i'll see you next weekend. wouldn't it be nice if there was a wireless company

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>> ben becomes batman. miley puts twerking on the map and the year of jennifer lawrence and adam levine and that is just the beginning of the wild ride of 2013. welcome to a special year in review of "access hollywood." i'm shawn robinson bringing you the best and worst of what 2013 had to offer and we start with the most high-profile people of year. for that we go to billy. >> all right. thank you. this year had a little bit of everything. joining me now to talk about news maker are holly robinson peete. ben affleck, the guy wins