we have some investment in aetna, but on the medicaid side, which i think is a very durable theme of expansion. one that i'd throw out there for viewers, again, volatile, but i think as a multiyear play is cnc. the idea here is that you're just going to continue to see medicaid expand and this is a company that's very much focused and leveraged to medicaid expansion over a multiyear time frame. >> can i get your brief thoughts on cigna? david einhorn made a big tale out of it yesterday. c do you like it? >> we're pretty sanguine towards the managed care group in general. i know that's not the common view because if obama wins, the view is hospitals up, managed care down. but our view is longer term. we like cigna, but the one that i really have a soft spot for is the 800 pound gorilla, which is united healthcare. and the reason i think that way is that in the dna of this company is a commitment to lowering costs and improving outcomes. and if you were to ask me what are the two issues that have to be most addressed for the next many years, it's throttling back the rate of health care

maybe i use aetna -- just using a name. i try to negotiate with them and sort of go back and forth, whatever. now i would go to your exchange -- >> that's right. >> basically put in what i'm looking to get, how much coverage for my employees, and there would be competition? >> you would come in to the exchange, your employees would see five standardized plan designs. ranging from bronze to platinum. there's a range of plans that would meet any of your employees' needs. then you have aetna, cigna, united, blue cross and kaiser, all of those plans competing for your business as a consumer. >> one of the things that's been out there about using these exchanges, whether it is either a state exchange or private exchange like yours, it might be one way of the employers pushing the costs on to the employees. is that a myth? >> i think it is a myth, because employers have had to share costs with employees for ten years. they don't need an exchange to do that. what we're trying to do is reverse that trend through competition and dri

our burners are being asked to come into centers of various cities for aetna. -- right now. whehowever, as soon as things gt better, they are escorted out. but we might begin to break that cycle. it is just wonderful to walk out on the street and see the world walking by. >> are you giving the twitter deal? >> yes, we are. we just founded a new nonprofit. black rock arts foundation, which is dedicated to spreading interactive, a collaborative art throughout the world. now we have founded but we call the burning and project. -- what we call the burning man project. it eventually leads to the event itself. this is a wonderful opportunity. the thing about burning man, when you look at the variety of people that go there, when you look at this environment, where all the normal boundaries are down in every department of human knowledge and endeavor. if you ask what possible application that we have created that may be useful loud in the desert, -- what would it have an application to? education, urban planning, disaster relief. needless to say, we are ambitious than we think we c

why didn't we buy aetna? why didn't we buy aetna for the trust in let's go to janice in pennsylvania. >> caller: boo-yah, jim. hartford financial? >> goes higher. >> buy, buy, buy! >> i know becky had a big interview. i want to see that interview. john in virginia, john? >> caller: i got crm, november 145 calls. >> wow, you know what? keep them. keep them. you're playing that bounce, playing that bounce. carol in florida. carol? carol? >> caller: hello? >> hey, how are you? >> caller: i just want you to know -- >> no, no, it's chris berman. >> sell, sell, sell! >> dell, no. they don't have it. they're on the populist. bring the cart. and that, ladies and gentlemen, the conclusion of the "lightning round"! >> the "lightning round" is sponsored by td ameritrade. >>> coming up, sale in aisle 4? the brands of b and g foods probably have a room in your portfolio. don't miss cramer's exclusive with the ceo. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still

high on citigroup's buy list-- aetna, csx, goldman sachs, and google. shares of safeway bagged a loss. it's third quarter earnings met profit expectations but sales declined. analysts say grocery store chains like safeway are finding it challenging to compete against big-box retailers. >> as long as household budgets continue to be constrained, consumers are going to look for the cheapest prices, and the cheapest prices are still at the walmarts and costcos, and it's going to be very difficult for them to compete. >> susie: shares of safeway ended down 3.5%. dollar tree is also blaming the cost-conscious consumer for its profit warning. the discount retailer says third quarter results will come in below earlier estimates because consumers aren't spending as much. it also blames higher gas prices. shares of dollar tree slid nearly 8%. rivals family dollar and dollar general posted more modest declines. ruby tuesday also getting hit by a slowdown in consumers eating out. the restaurant chain posted quarterly earnings which matched wall street expectatns b

. >> susie: from aetna to honeywell and goldman sachs, more than 80 chief executives from some of thenation's biggest companies are calling on lawmakers to cut the federal deficit. they're working with a non- partisan group called "fix the debt," which rang the opening bell here at the nyse today. the group's mantra-- "inaction is not an option." the c.e.o.s want congress to get a plan in place to deal with the debt as soon as the election's over, or risk a further loss in business confidence. fix the debt is chaired by former senator alan simpson and erskine bowles, the same men the president tapped to lead the national commission on fiscal responsibility. it's a very important issue for their businesses. >> tom: many months ago they were reprimanded for to the being more vocal about the fiscal situation in the united states. and here at the are on the eve of the presidential election getting their voices heard, certainly. let's get going with tonight's "market focus." the major indices squeezed out some small gains after the sharp losses since late last week. the s&p 500 started str

coventry and aetna had no comment. it is all about manufacturing today on wall street. a contraction. that is for a fourth straight month. that is not good news. manufacturing makes up tall % of the overall economy. we did have a lower close back on friday -- manufacturing was makes up 12% of the overall economy. crude oil prices are falling from may 1 week high. have you bought a car lately? banks are offering the lower rates and has pushed vehicle sales up 9.5% last month. that is the fastest pace in three years. at the new york stock exchange, i'm jane king, bloomberg news, for wbal-tv 11 news. >> some folks are starting their holiday shopping. the nintendo wii will be a hard to find item. >> it better try to your hand down one now. preorders are on fire. possibly baby diaper shortage. >> thank you, jane. >> 5:23. 50 degrees at the airport. the washington tavern is set reopened. >> don't forget to e-mail us your response to our water cooler question of the day. now that they're in the playoffs, do you think they have what it takes to win it all? >> you can share your

you can imagine if trying to get it, aetna is unlikely to be alone. there's crossroads gps, all that meat of these groups. so you can imagine there's a lot of corporate money going in and we as americans have no idea what this corporations are expecting for those contributions. >> we wouldn't have any idea if we knew either. and i think, let's step back a bit. corporations spend about 100 times as much money every year on charitable contributions as they do on all political spending combined, right? what do they expect from the? what did they get from that? what's their agenda? we don't worry about it. corporations effectively a lot of money because they think will make for a better society for get better long-term policy results. and i have to say a word or two about this. i'm pretty sure i know mitch mcconnell position on disclosure a lot better than melanie does. nobody in the republican party has proposed any legislation rolling back any disclosure laws at the federal level. and the question has always been what disclosure should be required, and

i would rather be long aetna.he hospitals are overworked. >> healthy week coverage continues. check it out. >>> silicon valley better watch its back. there is a new kid on the startup block. and it is luring tech entrepreneurs. >> new york may be known as a financial capital of the world but is it close to being the startup capital, too? 127 new startups have set up shock in the last 12 months. newcomer the founder of personal finance site the decision was obvious. >> the media and finance capital of the world. it made a lot of sense for us to be here plus most of the smart talent we wanted was right here. >> did you feel like you were in any disadvantage by being here? >> in my opinion we are equally. we are right on what is silicon square. >> it is not just small startups calling new york home. etsy began as a website for people looking to buy and sell home made crafts. it has raised over $91 million in private equity funding. >> we are one of the first tech companies to build in new york that grew up in new yor

in a rare show of unity, companies as diversified as goldman sachs and cisco, boeing, aetna and manyers are ringing in the alarm bells. and it's not in a partisan way. they want to make sure we are also making much-needed and sensible spending cuts. and above all, we cannot go over the fiscal cliff. the cuts and tax reform must be thought out and effective. not blunt and damaging. but isn't the it interesting that it's business that is pressing congress to act? they say it is urgent to put a plan in place to cut america's debt load. in the here and know, the uncertainty about tax rates and government contracts is throwing a monkey wrench in their budget plans for 2013. in the long term, these leaders of business all know that a trillion dollar annual deficit piled on to an already unimaginable debt is simply not sustainable. this group reflect and responds to the economy. businesses create jobs but they will not commit to adding heads to the payroll in the face of so many questions out there. in fact, if congress fails to act and reach an agreement by year end, automatic spending cut

seismologists say mount aetna on the island of sicily has seen a slight increase in volcanic shakingbut they are not predicting an eruption. the volcano has had several small eruptions in the last two years including one that closed an airport back in january. >>> the time right now is 6:51. up next on news 4 today the specially trained golden retriever that is taking a major load off a little girl and her medical problems. >>> plus the jolting ambitions by a celebrity dar >>> there is a little girl in virginia named noelle. she relies on an oxygen tank to breathe but now has a new friend to carry her oxygen on his four legs. he is only the second dog in the country trained for this specific purpose. 4-year-old noelle michaels is learning man's best friend can be a girl's best accessory. noelle's parents say she was tiny at birth, under 2 pounds, a premie who arrived before her lungs could fully develop. >> she's been on oxygen her entire life and we're thinking she'll probably be on it for quite sometime if not forever. good job. >> reporter: noelle is constantly tethered to an oxyg

aci, btu, and i'm also along aetna.if you look at this, people are really waiting till the last possible moment to bet on this election which their vote basically and with their pocketbook. you want to be betting on the guy that you think is going to move the economy forward. now the s&p is the greatest leading indicator of them all. i think it really does matter and it's going to matter immediately. >> stephanie link, what do you think? are you doing anything based on the outcome of the election or doing anything ahead or after the debate? >> no, a, it's too close a call anyway to make a decision on who is going to win right now. >> because they're neck and neck. >> yeah. we look at fundamentals and the financials. there aren't that many names on this list, although morgan stanley and citigroup are on the romney list. there are other financials i would own based on fundamentals, based on what we learned because they reported okay earnings. actually as bad as tech has been, financials were better. and especially given t

aetna, wellpoint, cvx, northrup grumman and discover financial.o ! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! a . >>> welcome back to "power lunch." i'm sharon epperson at nymex where gold prices are closing right now, down more than $20 below $1,740 an ounce. right now it looks like it is going to be around $1,737 for the close today. we are looking at nearly a one-month low here in dpoeld pri gold prices. rbc capital market said there are a couple of factors. the bailout situation in the eurozone not going very well. a fed official talking about normalizing interest rates. a technical breakdown as well. not only in gold but in other commodities. silver and other commodities as well. in fact when you look at gold prices since the fed actually talked about more qe3, we saw that big run-up. now we're back to where they were before they made that announcement, giving back all of those gains. silver extremely weak in t

companies, like at&t and aetna, putting pressure on congress to cut the federal deficit by cutting spending and by raising taxes and changing the tax code. one of those ceos campaigning to fix the debt is nicholas kelio. president of airlines of america. you have an awful lot of experience in several administrations in washington. so you know how the game works. how close are we, or perhaps better said -- how far away are we from some sort of deal on the fiscal cliff, do you think? >> i think right now we're probably a long way away, and that's the purpose of the fix the debt campaign. because it's -- part of its purpose is to provide support to members of congress who are willing to work toward the middle and take hard votes. in recent years it's been quite clear that congress has not been able to find the kind of compromise on large-scale issues that used to happen all the time. you could be partisan all day long but when issues that affected the economy, national security and things like that came up, members would get together and work through it. part of it might be the electora electo

i like their acquisition strategy and one name i like on the hmo is aetna.isition announced with coventry and i think the balance sheets are strong and underappreciated. that's one on my radar screen to buy. >> and take a position on either side of the portfolio, energy names, traditional, if you will, phillip morris as part of the romney portfolio and not really mentioned as part of either, obviously, the bank stocks or energy on the other side of the aisle. >> i like the long energy side of this. i think energy is one area where it's a significant amount of global growth slowing. valuations are quite cheap. chevron plays a great dividend. >> jamie dimon is speaking, the jpmorgan ceo speaking in washington before the council on foreign relations. i believe he's in washington. and he seems to be speaking on the fiscal cliff. let's listen in to the always colorful jamie dimon. >> -- this is bad and they start to make decisions the margin, don't higher, don't build, don't buy. let's wait and see. let's not do that with ourselves. >> it'll be a slope going into

a great quote from aetna's ceo.thmetic a million different ways, even if you do all the spending cuts you could, it's not enough. have you to raise taxes. their opinion. >>> hundreds of families forced from their homes by a wildfire are on edge right now. crews think they know what started this dangerous fire. >>> plus, listen to this. do you know any 12-year-old that can play like this on the accordion? she has a real good shot at becoming the world's best. [ male announcer ] this is the story of billy and charlotte, who shared the same great love, stargazing. so what better holiday gift for charlotte than a few million billion stars? with his ultrabook™, inspired by intel, featuring intel® core™ processors, billy captured the entire cosmos in all its glory and sent it to her. happy holidays charlotte. [ male announcer ] so now the stars could come out whenever charlotte wanted. [ female announcer ] get billy's inspiron 14z ultrabook for 599.99 or charlotte's xps 12 for $1199.99. free shipping now at dell.com. ♪ so

and the aetna guy has really got a lot of play here.hasn't been ceo for that long. >> he's come in a couple times. he's been actively involved in making acquisitions, changing the composition of the company and speaking openly on the fiscal cliff. >> i think we he definidefiniteo make -- most people assume we'll kick the can down the road, but we have the grand -- >> right. >> exactly. we need to rise above to fix. >> we'll check on the markets this morning because yesterday the markets did end down again. dow back done at 13,077, but this morning the futures are indicated higher. up 56 for the dow. s&p 500 and nasdaq futures indicated higher. in europe, they have some green arrows. the cac up by and a half a percentage point. the ftse in london up by a quarter percentage point. in asia, markets ended mixed. big gainer was the nikkei. oil prices are rebounding slightly. 86.28. the ten year note, yield above 1.8%. 1.82%. and the dollar is a little bit weaker against the euro and swiss franc. euro right at 1.30. dollar stronger against th

corporations from aetna are banding together to pressure congress to reduce the federal deficit withcuts. and a couple more lines from this, the ceos who signed the manifesto deemed that tax increases are inevitable. no matter which party succeeds, there is no possible way you can do the arithmetic, a million different ways to avoid raising tacks says the ceo of aetna. you can't tax your way to fix this problem and you can't cut entitlements enough to fix this problem. their point in getting together to do this is to try and create a climate in which compromise is possible, something that we haven't seen in washington. >> well, it would be nice for them to step up and do this publicly, not just now, but at the time those negotiations are under way because there needs to be some countervailing pressure here. if this debate is pulled over by those folks who say you cannot touch any piece of this, whether it's taxes or anything else, it's not going to go anywhere. nice to have some grown-ups in this discussion. i would say where were they before when there was a deal on the table, when

united health making this deal and seeing the other names, aetna, sought coventry health for 5.6 billion other one wellpoint, a purchase. stuart: we'll give it to you fast this monday morning, oil is down, gold is down. stocks are down and time is money. watch out, nicole, in 30 seconds, here is what we've got for you today. how convenient, a survey of 60,000 households shows 873,000 people found work and the jobless rate therefore came down to 7.8%. we will talk to economist doug holtz-eakin about what people are calling the real jobless rate. that's at the top of the hour. american airlines, labor disputes, loose seats, delays, cancellations, would you fly american? with pr like this, can american stay in business? we will ask seth kaplin from airline weekly. and earning season kicks off tomorrow. alcoa traditionally the first out of the box, but some analysts are expecting this to be the worst profit performer since 2009. we'll talk to keith fitz-gerald about that. the dow is down 48. send your e-mails right now varney@foxbusiness.com. seven early movers this monday morning, disappoin

we also heard of aetna, buying controversy -- buy buy coventry health.ere's really consolidation in this industry. let's take a look at dow s&p nasdaq. the dow is down about 35 points right now. the s&p 500 down just under 1/2%. the tech heavy nasdaq down 3/4 of 1%. dagen and connell? dagen: thank you very much nicole. here is the number most debate watchers have been waiting for. gallup shows that some historic results developed after americans watched last wednesday's presidential debalt. -- debate. 72% gave it to governor romney. only 20% of those who watched thought the president did a better job. romney's 52 point win is the largest gallup has ever measured after a presidential debate. if you look at the latest reading from real clear politics, this is an average of all political polls. it puts mitt romney in a dead heat with president obama in the race for the white house. doug schoen and john leboutillier are with us. doug used to advise president clinton. john former republican congressman from new york. doug, to you first. how does romney mainta

aetna is bipartisan on the face of it a partisan in the countries. it is new is that there really are some downsides of putting money into super packs. there used to be considerable downside. you cannot control the message. now you can control the message. getting is you're not the lowest rate, at the fact that the super pacs and not able to buy air time at the same price shows that the romney super pacs were paying six times as much for the same time. that is an interesting development. and may make people think differently. do small donors still mattered? clearly. they are still a very significant part of at least the obama campaign. it'll be interesting to see how many congressional candidates are able to build a base of small donors. that extends to what is one of the most interesting areas of reform. can we use that to build reform initiatives that enhance the value of small donors and encourage candidates to sneak out small donors and enhance this for small donors. there was a great system in minnesota that has since been defunded that gave peo

annette is bipartisan on the face of it and partisan -- aetna is bipartisan on the face of it a partisan in the countries. it is new is that there really are some downsides of putting money into super packs. there used to be considerable downside. you cannot control the message. now you can control the message. the fact is you're not getting the lowest rate, at the fact that the super pacs and not able to buy air time at the same price shows that the romney super pacs were paying six times as much for the same time. that is an interesting development. and may make people think differently. do small donors still mattered? clearly. they are still a very significant part of at least the obama campaign. it'll be interesting to see how many congressional candidates are able to build a base of small donors. that extends to what is one of the most interesting areas of reform. can we use that to build reform initiatives that enhance the value of small donors and encourage candidates to sneak enhancell donors and and ho this for small donors. a lot of people have moved to thinking it is a really

but when organizations donate -- when corporations like aetna is making a nearly $4 million donation to the american action network bay are doing it because they have an agenda. it is a business decision. we only found out about them because they filed a paper with the national association of insurance commissioners by accident. somebody inadvertently reported their donations to the american action network. we got this window. was the first time we found out what they were donating to a 501(c)4 . the american action network gets hundreds of millions of dollars. there's a whole litany of the scripps. you can imagine there's a lot of corporate money going in. we have no idea with those corporations are expecting. >> we would it have any idea if we knew either. and i think that, let us to step back. corporations spend about 100 times as much money every year on its charitable contributions as they do on all political spending combined. what they expect? what is their agenda? we do not worry about it. corporations give away a lot of money because they think it will make for a better soci

involved in a great story the times did about the fact they are going through the c4 with groups like aetna accidentally leaked the fact they've given money to the chamber of commerce, which is a trade association, which melanie was mentioning earlier. so you are not seeing the money coming from the corporations reported. it is most likely, at least according to experts coming into the anonymous menu. >> i wanted to bring up something you wrote about one of your articles that said the democratic super pac money is coming from trial lawyers, unions and hollywood. i thought that was the next summary. >> all answered very quickly. rich, white, man, new york, texas, california, kansas and las vegas. that's where the money is coming from. >> there you go. >> i spent which you much time looking at fec reports. and actually, one thing about the ads and again, doesn't tell us about the tax exempt groups, and there is evidence that is the main conduit for corporate money and not super pacs. the super pacs have made a country more and more diverse have more of the money in politics that we know about

quickly on the citi note, looking at some of the top global stocks because it is an interesting list -- aetna, bhp, china mobile, csx, goldman sachs, google, qualcomm. if we can show people where they see the growth around the world for 2013. it wasn't just a u.s. call. it was a global call. in part this call was an underweight of japan. curiously though, they see the topix in japan rising 25% even though they moved to an underweight rating on the stock. so that's curious. we do have an e-mail in to citi to ask about that, how can you be underweight and see a 25% gain over the next year-plus. >> worried about japanese banks, too many bonds, machine tool numbers out last night. >> and automakers. >> if china shuts its market to japan, the political implications of this new cold war between the two, you're not going to be able to sell in to one of the greatest markets that everybody's hoping for. it is political but the chinese in the end just like they did to google -- the chinese have -- they care passionately about political issues. >> yeah. absolutely they do. >> they trump even money. >> a

aetna filed a paper at the national association of insurance commissioners by accident. they were supposed to reveal lobbying donations and summoned inadvertently reported they are donations to the american action network and the chamber of commerce. so we got this window is the first time we found out that the corporation was donating. you can imagine if admitted that comets unlikely to be alone. the american action network is not alone. there's a litany of these groups. you can imagine a lot of corporate money going in and we as americans have no idea what those corporations are expecting for those contributions. >> we wouldn't have any idea if we knew either. bush is a step back a little bit. corporations spend about 100 times as much money every year on charitable contributions as they do on all political spending combined, right? what did they expect from that? what do they get a mac? what is their agenda? we don't worry. corporations give away a lot of money because they think it will make for a better society for better long-term policy results. i have to say a wo

aetna, csx, google, qualcomm, aes, the top. >> and if you look at a few of those, that will fit withing, as well. where we think that those are better positioned. i would add, one last point on this. the aspect about the european exposure is important to understand different ways, because materials in the u.s. is 70% chemicals, only 20% metals and mining. and if you were going to europe, asia, it's much, much skewed towards ls.i actually think met mining is looking interesting. it's more the chemical, that 70% component dragging down what's going on in materials. >> and you feel good about being in semis and semi equipment at a time when we're getting negative data on pc sales. intel and amd a month apart. >> the story for us there is what's happening in semi capital equipment demand. semis are fairly commodity-based. if i ask how many chips are sitting in your smartphone, you couldn't tell me or who is in your particular phone. >> she might be able to, but go on. >> it's a commodities issue. these chips are fairly replaceable. in that sense, commodity businesses, are you adding capa