harvey schwartz will become the cfo as of january 2013. there is a conference call going to take place at 5:00 p.m. mr. vinyer and mr. schwartz will both be on that one. >> as that news is coming out, we see the stock moving lower. >> it did move lower. it's off the lows now. i don't know if that's an immediate reaction to say what kind of executive change is coming. >> coincidence or not, exactly. >> keep it here. >> we have much more ahead on this jam-packed tuesday edition of the "closing bell." >>> coming up, hitting the fannie. the mortgage giant overpays for assets. is the organization reverting to bad business practices? >>> plus, putting it to a vote. chicago teachers decide whether to go back to work. we'll bring you the very latest from the windy city. >>> and cliff notes. the house ways and means committee tackles the fiscal cliff. can anything be resolved before election day? that's all coming up on the "closing bell." >>> big news out of a widely held stock. microsoft increasing its def dend by 15%. >> i guess is it not trading

he is going to be replaced by harvey schwartz who is the co head of securities at goldman sachs. he will become a non independent director and the company plans to appoint some non independent directors. mr. vinier is the longest serving executive and one person called him the best of the best. the conference call with mr. vi vin vinier starts right now. >> thank you. shares are trading slightly lower. i thought what mary said was that david vinier was the best of the best. who was harvey schwartz? hum? >> this doesn't change the uncertainties hanging over goldman though. if you look at where goldman has gone in the last six weeks, this is a stock that is priced in a fair amount of good news. a wall street legend who is retiring is not going to be appla applauded. the stock gets pressure but not a disaster. tim has it right. going into this. we have everything and i bet you have somebody who is an expert on that area of the law. >> it is an interesting exit point. this has not been a non violent ride. back to 120 does the guy want to deal with his all over again? probably not. 12

replacing him harvey schwartz who currently serves as goldman's. >> tom: the narrow trading ranges continuedith the major stock indices in a relatively quiet session. the s&p 500 was in negative territory the entire session. it made one unsuccessful run toward the unchanged line in the late morning. the index finished down a fraction. 629 million shares traded on the big board, 1.7 billion on the nasdaq. the consumer staples stock sector put in the best gain, up 0.5%. the energy sector saw the biggest drop, down 0.7%. kraft foods was one of the best consumer staples stocks, trying to recover some of what it lost last friday when it was announced kraft would be leaving the dow jones industrial average. shares were up 1.8% today, closing about $2 below where they were before the dow jones exit announcement. shares have been climbing as it prepares to split into two separate companies next month. the lower earnings outlook from fedex that erika reported on earlier was felt throughout the transportation sector, and a drop in oil prices couldn't help. air carriers delta and united continental fel

the question is whether harvey schwartz can do it. harvey schwartz was all a client guy. he did trading, but the risk is a whole different -- >> he's like a schmoozer? >> he started as a schmoozer. >> golfer? >> i don't know if he's a golfer. >> but less of a numbers guy. >> started less of a numbers guy. david has tried over the past couple years to really institute a system around himself. but here's the question. there's a treasurer and a chief accounting officer who could have been him. could have gotten harvey's job. >> why didn't they? >> the question is will those people stay. >> they could have gotten the cfo job? >> yes. and the question in the market is if they stay, all is well and good because they understand what david was trying to do and there's really an infrastructure. if one of them decides to go, i think the story changes and people start talking about what it really means. that's not to say harvey can't do this. he's a very qualified guy. but that is sort of the underlying central question. >> but instead of the other two -- >> that is true, too. that

over at goldman, retiring as you may know, after 12 years on the job, 22 years on the firm and harvey schwartzecome the new cfo at the end of 2013. schwartz considered to take over when ceo lloyd blankfein will step down. he's helped the firm manage through the crisis and he will become a non-independent director of the board. david, i'll toss this straight to you. what does this mean? what is schwartz like? >> i don't know schwartz particularly well, he's well thought of and respected in the company. as the goldman way he's had a senior role in a lot of different parts of that company. they almost always promote with him for this position. this is a position that's been held for quite some time by mr. viniar, i think it was 12 years as company cfo and he's not going to be easy to replace and always communicated very well and clearly certainly with wall street. many of us will remember when he was in front of whether it was the senate or different investigating bodies during the financial crisis. his ceo, perhaps, did not perform particularly well, but mr. viniar was almost always on message a

he's being replaced by harvey schwartz, who will not only be responsible for the company's finances. that that is a significant underperformance. >> can we say that he voluntarily walked the plank? >> yes. >> he voluntarily walked the plank. >> how many more pirate references. >> as many as we can get in today, folks. meanwhile -- i was trying to think of a pirate talk for the fed chairman. they're expected to discuss economic policy and the fiscal cliff. bernanke has reportedly warned the fed doesn't have the tools to offset the economy. all the tax hikes go into effect at once in january. >> perhaps we should name the fiscal cliff the fiscal plank. just for today. >> fiscal plank. >> let's take a quick look at what's on the agenda today in the u.s. what may perhaps start to turn sentiment around this morning, or at least wake up traders. august housie ining starts at 8 this morning. building permits are expected to drop 1%. at 10:00 a.m., we get august existing home sales. they're expected to show a small increase from an annualized rate of about 1.65 million. jeffrey lack ser sayi