. >> all that and a lot more coming up, but first let's get with bill griffeth. he's got a look at headlines this week. >> here's a look at what made news as we head to a new week and a new year on wall street. wall street ends 2011 just about where they started, ironically, despite all the volatile activity we saw this year. the dow industrial average had the best performance this year, up by about 5%, followed by the s&p 500 and the nasdaq, when all was said and done. turmoil and uncertainty in europe, although the u.s. economy did show signs of improvement and growth as the unemployment rate fell and the growth grew during the year. >>> on-line shopping was on fire this year, consumers spending more than $35 billion between november 1st and december 26th on line. that's an increase of 15% compared to last year. elsewhere, pending home sales rose to their highest level in 18 months, climbing by more than 7% in november, much higher than expectations and yet another sign of improvement in the housing sector partly due to pent-up demand. but it was a blue christm

." >> i'm in for bill griffeth. thank you very much for joining us. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera in for maria bartiromo. stocks are lower in the final hour. the dow is now poised for its first down week of the year. prior to this week, the blue chip index had been up for the past three weeks. we had disappointing names from ford and chevron, along with the profit reports showing that the u.s. economy grew at a slower pace than previously expected in the fourth quarter. also making headlines, the "wall street journal" reporting facebook could file papers for an ipo as early as wednesday. and that the social media giant is close to picking morgan stanley as the lead underwriter. we'll look what the long-awaited move could mean to the technology and ipoland scape. don't miss maria's special interviews from the world economic forum in davos. she'll talk about what's ahead for greece, and the eurozone's economic commissioner. >> let's have a look at where we are. this could be the first weekly decline we have so far th

i'm simon hobbs in for bill griffeth. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera in for maria bartiromo. the nasdaq is set to close higher for the third time in the last four sessions. the dow, however, in the red and set to pose its first weekly loss of the year. disappointing earnings from chevron. we did come off the lows of the day, however, following the "wall street journal's" report that facebook could file for an ipo as early as wednesday. coming up, we've got all the angles on the facebook ipo covered including whether valuation as much as $100 billion is justified. and the ripple effect that could be felt across other social media stocks. we'll get the outlook for the eurozone and impact of potential greek default, what it could do to europe. and jean-claude trichet, and wolfgang schauble and olli rehn. >> the nasdaq is inching higher. fortunately we're above 1300 on the s&p 500. mary thompson is our eye on the floor of the new york stock exchange. we've been above the 1300 on the s&p all week. that is positive. >> we're closing above 1315 for the week, meaning it finished the

. >> i'm bill griffeth. the nasdaq has turned positive. modest declines in the home stretch. we are off the lows of the session right now. earlier equities fell on weak reports on the u.s. economic data. however, stocks are still poised. get this, for the best january we've had in about 15 years. that's kind of hard to believe. but that's true. a couple of high-profile names are under pressure in the final hour. shares of netflix lower following news that sky is planning an internet movie streaming service of its own in the uk. that movie seen as a negative for netflix, which launched its own streaming service in the uk and ireland just three weeks ago. also under pressure right now, shares of sears holding. that stock down on reports that cit group is once again cutting off loans to sears suppliers. we'll have more on those stories straight ahead here. >> let's take a look at these averages here. we've got a great month of january. not a great day today, though. the dow jones industrial average down about 31 points. it is off of the worst levels of the afternoon. but nonethe

. >>> i'm bill griffeth at the new york stock exchange.our on "closing bell," it's all about metals mania. we look at where the biggest opportunities may be in the metals, both precious and industrial. all of them have seen big gains so far this year. plus, we'll get the inside scoop on the new $1.5 billion venture capital fund from co-founder ben horowitz. and here comes amazon's earnings. can the kindle fire, fire up the company's numbers? see you at the top of the hour. >>> check this out, who says presidential town hall meetings are boring? >> why does the government continue to issue and extend h1b visas when there are tons of americans, just like my husband with no job? >> that was jennifer waddell of texas. she got a rather surprising answer from the president. >> we should get his resume and i'll forward it to some of these companies that are telling me they can't find enough engineers in this field. >> there you go. mr. president, the head hunter in chief, if you will. the president doing his part to get americans back to work one