. >> oh, no, talk about apple now.ork, right? you want starbucks to take you to duncan dkin' donuts? >> china remains a major issue for apple and tim cook seems to have a ready answer for it. why can't you be a made in america company? >> this iphone, as a matter of fact, the engine in here is made in america. and not only are the engines in here made in america, but engines are made in america and are exported. the glass on this phone is made in kentucky. so we've been working for years on doing more and more in the united states. next year, we will do one of our mac lines in the united states. >> let's say our constitution was a little different and barack obama called you in tomorrow and said, get everybody out of china and do whatever you have to do, make these, make everything you make in the united states. what would that do to the price of this device? >> honestly, it's not so much about price. it's about the skills, et cetera. over time, there are skills that are associated with manufacturing that have left the

you were mentioning apple. huge volume. 30 million shares of apple. that's a full day's supply of apple already. of course we're hearing on rock center tonight, brian williams, tim cook telling him they're going to spend $100 million to do some mac production in the united states. talk more about that later. >>> perfect segue because that's what ty's going to talk about it. >> apple ceo's tim cook's announcement saying apple will bring back some mac production to the united states. it was part after wide ranging interview we'll break down with our reporters and analysts. we will look at the logistics of his proposal. tim cook as a leader and where the stock, which has been suffering in the past couple of days, most especially past couple of months really, but first let's listen to nbc news anchor brian williams' interview with apple's ceo, tim cook, in a rock center exclusive. >> why can't you be a made in america company? >> you know, this iphone, as a matter of fact, the engine in here is made in america. and not only are the engines in here made in

here's my view on apple. i so want to buy this stock because i think that long term it's a great performer, selling at a discount on next year's earnings, and it's growing two to three times as fast, even under the most conservative estimates, so what i'm likely to do before the end of the year is buy a little position and then what i said yesterday, the quarter coming up on january 22nd is going to be one of the most important quarters in the company's history. >> six months from now, a stock that sits at 534, 535 bucks, are we talking about a stock that's back over 600 bucks, $650, that's approached eed $600, any the naysayers, are you going to kick yourself? >> those hypergrowth days are behind us. let's say it's been 2 1/2 years since the stock acted like this, which means there was probably a same conversation going on 2 1/2 years ago but if you bought it, you made a lot of money. >> i don't understand how apple is actually trading. as john points out, it's a proxy for the fiscal cliff. that's exactly wh

when china deals with apple in a way that's reasonable for apple, apple is going to i think take over china. i respect samsung but apple still has cache. >> i think the bottom line from the stock perspective and getting away from the company a little bit -- because we all know all of the size of it and how much cash and all of that. just looking at the stock itself, this thing is up 8,000% the last ten years. don't think that anyone should be looking at it as having that opportunity or anything even remotely close to that going forward. so when tony says the story's changing, it is changing, but changing doesn't necessarily mean it's going somewhere negati negative. it's just going to be a different type of opportunity. >> well said as always, josh. but you also probably made the case for the capital gains sale excuse that a lot of people have been throwing out there. >> it's up 40% this year versus an s&p that's up closer to 10%. don't be shocked. everyone owns it. >> tony is right, ecosystem is worth a great deal of money. if you split up the iphone, i-mac, the iphone, it wouldn't b

, what's apple going to do to revolutionize tv? "make it a big iphone" brett writes make a tv in which the sound does not go up for commercials and i'll be the first is a-to-say google will copy apple if they are successful, samit bhatt. now we have scott wapner and "fast money." >>> welcome to "the halftime show." four hours to go until the close. green arrows across the board. 13,041 the dow jones industrial average, all of the major averages in the green. here's what we're following on "halftime" target practice with its prediction for 2012 now within reach, jpmorgan's tom lee on the market's next move. net gain, netflix shares up again as the company rides the halo of its disney deal. where is the next stop? one stock, two opinions in a halftime debate. first our top story the sudden sell-off in shares of apple, after posting its worst trading day in four years, the stock is rebounding but has still lost more than $35 billion in market cap over the past few days. jon fortt is in silicon valley with the latest, the worst perform

apple has the cool factor, apple will have products in the pipeline, apple will deliver? >> there's a few things going on there. the pe side there's not much incompetent kremtal down side because of the cash they're generating. in terms of the technical side, i'm a fundamental analyst and did a lot of calls with analysts there. i feel like a got a master's on technical analysis based on an earful from technical investors. that's a big earful. that's a huge issue on investor's minds. that would say the stock can dip back to 500. that's a multiple day event. the fundamentals are strong. two of the topics that people are talking about, the digitimes and at&t, both of those comments had very positive things to say about apple that people looked through. >> gene, it's tim. there's positive things being said about microsoft and google. when you look at alternative operating systems, whether it's microsoft and their own hardware, this to me is the issue and has always been their issue, they're not going to be able to stave off hardware which becomes indistinguishable. and when y

on apple, just a quick note on apple here, there was as many notes out as there were analysts on applee main point on it is that most agree is that concern on iphone sales are the number one problem. att made a comment yesterday, that basically sales were the same as last year than the first sales of the --. a lot of t back to you guys. >> actually, i would be encouraged if i were an apple shareholder that the stock actually opened down today. if there's any hope. italian bonds getting hit today too. of course worth keeping track of. okay, let's shift the bonds into dollars. >> we're going to stick with that european theme and when bob pisani says central banks and activism in the same sen tes, i still have good bumps, they're not good goose bumps. many say that -- if you look at intraday chart of the euro currency, you can see clearly it been affected by his comments whether it's slowing growth, which-all know but he's putting a face on it. or there was discussion about lowering rate, look what happened in this country, we have lowered them down to zero, i don't think the issues have

we've got to talk about apple because it's not just apple. obviously apple has an impact on nasdaq and certainly on the supply chain, various components and chips that feed into the i products here. >> qualcomm is a name that's a very well liked stock on the street. there's 50 analysts who cover it. 42 buys, five holds and a couple sells. here is the thing about this company, they sell to a lot of people other than apple. if you look at the chart, the two stocks have been very coordinated. all of a sudden, today, qualcomm is down 5%. let me tell you something about qualcomm, there's a $100 billion market cap. $26 billion. they pay a $1.67 dividend yield, expected to grow earnings, 16% next year and sales 23% and trades at a market multiple of about 15 times next year's earning. this is a company that gone thrown out, baby with the bath water today. i think it's worth taking a look at. >> the key stat was 6% of revenues come from apple. >> fairly simple strategy but always good to open the playbook and review. it's a bullish strategy where you

liz: apple has an 18% waning. if they continue their slide, looking ahead about 1% today, but if apple continues a pretty dramatic slide, watch this etf, you could suffer bigger losses. david: nicole talk about bank of america. seeing a bump topping $10, the first time that's happened since july 2011. whether it is directly related to what happened to citi, almost 8% jump, but they may be something going on with bank of america by itself. we will look into exclusively in the next hour. liz: the biggest copper producer taking a dive today after saying something that usually helps the company. the move lower sent two material etf down. this is 8% of the fund invested, and also more than 8% of the fund invested. moving just a bit higher. david: let's take a look back at los angeles, we have people returning to work at the port of los angeles. after very costly strike costing a billion dollars per day. coming up, the mayor is going to be joining us live, talking about the ports, the drive to bring a football stadium b

apple will manufacture. some see apple's decision as a pr move. one user says it's right for the times. >> i hope it's something tangible. they should intentionally think of their shareholders but also stake holders. people on the ground working on the apple phones. >> reporter: low worker wages and low shipping costs were some of the reasons companies moved their manufacturing overseas. fuel costs are up and worker wages in china have risen 15 to 20% in recent years. >> after doing some downsizing starbucks is back to brewing up expansion plans. they include yet another san francisco store at market and sanchez. cbs 5 reporter mike sugerman tells us some are trying to grind that to a halt. >> reporter: there are 85 starbucks properties in san francisco. could we 86 the 86th? >> it will change the character. >> ity it will be a good addition. >> reporter: starbucks wants to add 1500 new stores in the u.s. over the next five years. neighbors are stirring up trouble for another one planned near the castro district. >> if you're against it signing up

tonight apple's pain your gain. shares of apple continue to fall but dan nathan has a trade that can triple your money in one month and help you get your money back. he'll break it down. >>> plus talk about a blockbuster netflix trade. carter and coe are teaming up for a trade that can make money if netflix shares go up, down or nowhere at all. they will show you how you can make money, too. >>> and which of these stocks do options traders see paying a biggest dividend? scott nations goes digging for more dividends. the action begins now. >>> live from the nasdaq market site in the heart of new york's times square. i'm melissa lee. these are the traders here in times square. the dow closing at the high of the day and finishing up for the third straight week. the s&p also in the green. the only stock america is watching tonight is apple. the national nightmare continues. apple is lower in nine of the last 11 sessions. it is in bear marketer torrey. it is below the death cross. people are panicking. mercury is in retr

and jobs said to me, "that's the beginning of apple. when we started doing that blue box, i knew that with wozniak's brilliant designs and my marketing skills, we could sell anything." >> that was still a few years off. jobs enrolled at reed college in oregon at a time when timothy leary was telling students across the country to turn on, tune in, and drop out. jobs did after one semester. >> the time we grew up in was a magical time. it was also a very, you know, spiritual time in my life. definitely taking l.s.d. is one of the more important things in my life and--not the most important but right up there. >> he eventually drifted back to his parents' house and became one of the first 50 employees to work for the video game maker atari. but he was not a big hit with his coworkers. >> never wore shoes, had very long hair, never bathed. in fact, when he went to work for atari, they put him on the night shifts because people said he smelled so bad that they didn't want to work with him. >> you know, he believed that his vegan diet and th

>> apple, specifically.ou need continued earnings growth performance out of that name. >> i would look differently. if those ten stocks pull back, those are the ones you want to be buying. i think you want to be focusing on the companies that had good third quarter earnings and who have better visibility in 2013. i would also, though, say if he's right in terms of the earnings trajectory for next year, your trough is sometime in the first quarter, and maybe we can actually start to anticipate better earnings in the second half of the year. >> let's talk retail for a moment. a market flash on sears. bertha coombs is tracking that one today. bertha, what do you see? >> strength in retail today. and this afternoon, we're seeing sears take a little bit of a kicks-up. sears, one of the worst performers last month. actually, the last three quarters it hasn't done well. the speculation that it didn't do so well perhaps the beginning of black friday of the season. but getting a tick up here today. the company also t

maybe people won't defect to apple. apple isn't as good as samsung.t allows research in motion to sneak up. people at one point said, apple storming the enterprise. now we think that apple's losing the enterprise. >> wow. we should mention a big coffee deal just announced. it's big in the sense of who is buying it and what they bought already. ben kaiser is buying caribou coffee at $16 a share. a 13% premium over friday's closing price. keep in mind that ben kaiser already did a coffee deal not too long ago. they bought pete's coffee and tea last summer. that was almost -- it was a $970 million deal. they're going big, doubling down in coffee at this point. >> one way to look at this. i was thinking, starbucks is in a position, i had a great meeting a couple weeks ago. maybe this is just a sign that this coffee bull market continues. if there's enough room for all these different brands, i find this rather surprising, but there are a lot of people who have not cut back on coffee for certain. and it's still an expanding market. starbucks billed its tea

in a lot of areas they're out-innovating apple and outmarketing apple, apple's bread and butter for auart: mark, we'll get you more on the microsoft surface tablet. hold on a second i've got this for you. you want cool? take a look at this house, a mansion this miami on the market more than six months and get this, it was bought by a foreign investor they're everywhere and sold for under asking price, guess how much? we'll be telling you that, how much it cost and other properties, too, at the top of the hour coming up. here is what we have next. the new microsoft tablet. we have one right here on the set with us. what makes it so cool? should apple be worried? [ male announcer ] this is steve. he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common

more out of apple.aw kind of that capitulation in my opinion that we saw about a week-and-a-half ago. so, that $505 to $515 level seems to be the area that holds. i like it anywhere down around the $525 to $530 range, certainly. > is there ever a chance that the charts are wrong on a stock? > > always a good chance the charts are wrong. remember, charts vs. fundamentals, charts, for a very short-term traders, certainly seem to be something that they look at, whereas charts for a long-term buy-and-hold guy really are fairly unimportant, because you really don't know a year-and-a- half from now what that chart is going to look like. so, your perspective really defines whether a chart is that important to you or not as a trader. > thank you tim, and happy weekend. > > you too. thank you angie. that closes out our show for this week. coming up monday, how people are turning to google for christmas gift ideas. from all of us at first business, thank you for watching, and happy chanukah! >>> tragedy at last n

. >>> you can call him an apple genius. mike's trade made money whether the stock went up, down or nowhere at all. how did he do it? find out when "options action" returns. approximate >>> time for pump up the volume. the names that were heating up options traders sizzle index this week. one stop shopping this holiday season, this giant wholesaler sells everything from electronics to pudding pops. and this week stocks surge off better than expected november sales proving that size really does matter. who is it? the answer when "options action" returns. ke a high-speed train. and you don't want to miss it with thinkorswim by td ameritrade. you get knock-your-socks-off tools, simple one-click orders, real-time paper trading to hone your skills, plus anytime you need it support. ♪ stocks, options, futures, and forex. get your trading on track. thinkorswim by td ameritrade. trade commission free for 60 days, plus get up to $600 when you open an account. >>> where were the options traders pumping up the volume this week? costco.

you think about apple. for them to achieve this deal the people are talking about and then maintain price point and the margins, that is going to be a difficult thing. the concern is that china is one of the fastest-growing markets for smart phones. apple is not taking their share that many people have. liz: of the chinese are over, what are they buying? >> android. in fact, co-chairman went so far as to say it's over. android one. liz: i know. >> three out of four. north of a million today. three out of four phones sold are running the android operating system. as prices come down, this is the situation. liz: what is your call? >> i have a hold rating on it. finally, the stock is into a territory where we find -- we start to find it interesting. it is not a broken name. this is a stock that clearly is going to appeal to many people. a great name talent, and if you want to own and we suggest you use equity ops. liz: richard anthony, we decided to pull up all of the names of of the nasdaq. by the way, down 5

what's eating apple? fresh off its worst week in 2 1/2 years, where does the beaten down stock go from here? page turner, are barnes & noble shares ready for a breakout? one underperforming stock to overachieving traders square off in a halftime debate. but first our top story, pick 'em. we're scratching off the best stocks to own right now with the fiscal cliff looming. there's your lotto ticket right there. our traders for the hour, simon baker, stephanie link, joe terranova and jon najarian are trading the markets for the hour. joe terranova what are you scratching off? >> he's got to look at the consumer space. what's the fiscal drag going to be, in particular, on the aspirational consumer. i think e-commerce will continue. mastercard, i think it's going above 500 bucks. it's a name i would own. you do get the compromise. american express, again, catering to the aspirational consumer. and lastly, look at whole foods. the company that's actually cited the challenges looking ahead of the potential fisca

apple is part of the nasdaq. apple down $14 a share. another 2.66% today as scott mentioned a moment ago, $50 billion in market value shaved off of apple this week alone. >>> let's begin with those comments just 24 days to go until america confronts the fiscal cliff. house speaker boehner coming out earlier today and saying no progress has been made in the negotiations. our chief washington correspondent john harwood is here with the latest. >> reporter: we ended the week with a fairly perfect, simple, clear, elegant expression of the partisan differences in this fight. speaker boehner came out and gave a press conference where he essentially said president obama has done nothing to compromise with republicans. here's the speaker. >> four days ago we offered a serious proposal based on testimony of president clinton's former chief of staff. since then there's been no counteroffer from the white house. instead, reports indicate that the president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow-walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal c

now virnetx is going after apple in federal court. on february 6th a federal jury ruled in favor of virnetx and ordered apple to pay them 368 million smackers for past patent infringement. next week we're going to get verdict from a judge that could increase or decrease the damage and also details on the payment for apple. this post-trial judgment's important because virnetx has litigation's in works against apple. it filed a new lawsuit against apple for willful patent infringement on a public of products including the iphone 5. the itouch. the last ipad, the ipad mini. ordinarily it's very difficult to bet on litigation. it's like betting on, some people would say, not me, betting on a coin toss. but given they just won a case against apple based on these same patents i think it's more likely they will once again prevail. and winning could mean virnetx gets not just a lump sum but a royalty in these super apple products and that would be a potential windfall. that's not the only thing virnetx has going for it either. in march it's s

what about apple? nicole: let's look apple.8 but back in the green so shareholders who were worried, not at the moment. there are a couple things headlines have been hitting apple, it hit that market where it crosses 20% below september highs. you remember when it was at 705 in the middle of september and traded as low as 518 but when i talked to traders on the floor, pull back the buying opportunities at these levels and so we do see it now back up $7. we should also note a couple things about the iphone for example slipping in china. also another point is there creating mcintoshes in the united states. they face intense competition with the ipad. a lot of little headlines and always the patented samsung and china mobil land all kinds of things. right now apple is that $7.50 on the day with the dow just turning into the negative. cheryl: good point about the iphone, relation to revenues, thank you very much. my favorite bear is back and she is save apple doesn't rebound soon, it will be the elephants running for the doors in t

the apple really did come from the orchard.y. i want to talk to you. do you know what the word habit means? not exactly. well, let me try and explain it. a habit is a pattern of behavior. you do something over and over again and you form a habit. you mean like doing my chores every morning. yes. i understand. well, when you do your chores right, you're forming a good habit, but when you tell lies, you're forming a very bad habit. now i want you to understand me. this habit that you've developed of telling these whoppers as you call them, has got to be broken. and right now. or else i shall have to ask your father to take a hand in it, and you know what that means. used in the right way. the way authors do in books. it can take you to another world, a world that exists only in somebody's mind. yes sir. like robinson crusoe exactly. but when daniel defoe wrote robinson crusoe, he wasn't trying to hurt anybody was he? no sir. now suppose he'd used his imagination in another way and written a book saying that your friend flip was a

finally there's apple. we've become addicted to apple. we are deeply focused on its decline which continued in the a.m. today, taking out $500 right before the opening, while it rallied with the rest of the market into the bell. i'm sure some people feel it's now washed out. i for one welcome the shakeout. apple had gotten too hot. apple had become the only stock that people talked about, a sure sign it was overheated. the summer soldiers, the sunshine patriots, they're now headed for the hills. aided by analysts who can't take the pain and are anxious to distance themselves from a stock that they perceive to be a loser so they cut the price targets and their numbers. i don't know if their numbers are right. as painful as it might be, it's a cathartic move. one that should end in the tax year is over. no one stock should be able to reign over the others that are publicly traded. apple's reign is now ending, and that's good news, not bad. including only good news for apple as a sustainable run does not ever include a parabolic move. here's

apple slammed but the dow doesn't care.ndexes are higher as some break-away republicans are giving investors hope that a deal will get done. but will apple win the online music battle? >>> why pandora is being boxed out today. >>>ed unintended consequences of all these one-time dividends. mandy's off today so let's welcome in courtney reagan. >> thank you very much, brian. >>> blue chips are ruling the roost on wall street today. the dow bouncing back from morning loss to post triple digit gains. travelers, caterpillar and chevron accounting for a big chunk of that advance. >>> apple having its worst day in four months. pushing the nasdaq into negative territory. >>> bob, apple is lower than 4% -- we're going to toss it back to brian. >> courtney, hold your horses. >>> but first we've got to get a big development on the fiscal cliff negotiations. at this point we are still just a quarter way to a deal. eamon javers, though, some republicans, call them defectors, call them break-aways, call them independent thinkers, whateve

a place for each product in the apple repertoire?> i think in this case, it's significantly different that they're probably not going to see cannibalization. they need to be very aware of the ipad mini and the typical ipad. i don't think the television will do that. >> okay, and gene, just so i get this straight, you are modeling 6% increase in what for 2014, based on the tv? >> well, we -- it's not in our model today. >> right. >> but we've done a sensitivity if they get 10% share, the connected tv market, that would add 6% to our 2014 revenue. >> 2014 revenue. that's based on a tv that doesn't have a big content deal around it, that's just form and function that's better? >> form and function that's better, exactly. >> not bad. gene, got to leave it there. great to see you. gene munster. >> thank you. >> oh, man. that seems so 2012, to be talking about when the apple tv is coming in. especially now that we hear it could be 2014. i mean, listen. here's the thing. this company just refreshed, almost their entire product line. if we'r

your fair value on apple is $770.t says in your notes you would consider selling at $1,039. >> yes. that's the methodology. we have a target and a considered buy price. apple right now is below our buy price. if the stock were to get to that level, that's our selloff. >> where'd you get the 39? >> $1,039.50. where'd you get that? >> that's just a morning star value. we look at the pure number in terms of the fair value of the stock and based on a percentage either lower or higher. that's kind of how that turns out. >> thanks, guys. we'll see you soon. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> to a fine point there. >> it's what they're paid to do. >>> the dow is up 80.64 points. now 81.25 as we are moving to the highs of the day again. >> inches back up here. after the bell rings today, we have only nine trading sessions left in the year. as we speed towards the fiscal cliff, how do you want to position yourself for 2013? we'll look at options next. >> and after the bell, mcmansions are back. and so is another housing bubble. co

the nasdaq continues to be dragged down by apple. >> apple's had a tough week. we'll get into that coming up. we're still looking for a deal on capitol hill, surprise, surprise. all to keep us from going over the fiscal cliff. just in case, though, we've got some experts on happened to help you protect your money. here's how we stand right now, though. it's been a generally positive day for some of the blue chip averages. the dow among them. up 57 points right now, near the highs of the session at 13,003 and change. the nasdaq continues lower. you can blame apple. technology suffering as a result today, down 12 points right now at 2977. the s&p is up 2.25 points at 1416. with less than an hour to go in the trading week, another week without a deal to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. while today's positive jobs report did give markets a boost early on, it wasn't enough to get a significant rally going and to continue it on. so what's it going to take to get some conviction back in this market? >> that's in today's "closing bell" exchange. gentlemen, great to ha

tim cook's apple? >> absolutely. >> is that why we've seen this 23% decline in the stock recently as some of that is starting to dawn on them? >> absolutely. i'll do you one better. it's a great question. i think analysts still think they're forecasting and following steve jobs' growth. the bad news is that it's the wrong model. that era has ended. there's lots of exciting things to do. the story is not over. the future is potentially very bright. folks need to move away from maintaining the margin and benchmark everything against steve jobs. the margin is not defensible. >> it's snot just steve though. it's the talent steve attracted and whether or not thatt atalen is leaving or if it's still there. what are you shaking your head about? >> i think johnny ive is certainly as much of a talent magnet as steve jobs. this person has an aura about him. i think a lot of people at apple and surrounding apple are very exciting when tim cook did a good job of selecting johnny ive instead of scott forestall. you

and are apple's hot-selling products cooling off? is the competition winning over even apple's loyal fans? that and more tonight on "n.b.r." john boehner is pushing for his "plan b." this is the latest twist in those crucial fiscal cliff negotiations. the house speaker offered a back-up plan today to avoid falling off the cliff. he promised to bring a bill to the house floor this week that would raise income tax rates for people earning more than $1 million a year and no new spending cuts, for now. the white house immediately rejected it. darren gersh reports. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner says the president is asking for about half a trillion dollars more in taxes than he is willing to cut from spending. that means the two sides have narrowed their differences, but the speaker says not enough progress has been made to call it a deal. so he is making other plans. >> our plan b would protect american taxpayers who make a million dollars or less and have all of their current rates extended. >> reporter: while the speaker prep

certainly what's taking place with shares of apple? let's throw up apple right here.ounding a bit but apple shares having their worst day in about a year. a significant loss for that stock. $24-plus for shares of apple in the losing column today. let's hit the biggest "pops & drops" in midday trading. hp. it's popping. >> yeah. this company was the victim of hate bashing party a couple of weeks ago on the autonomy acquisition. i think it was the sentiment low in the stock. it's up here. i prefer dell over hp though. >> waste management. >> if you're looking for a pe that is appetizing, it is a 15-year. dividend is 4.4%. goldman sachs actually cleaning dawn in the trash area from conviction buy on one of the names also lifted this thing as well. >> veriphone. >> jbs upgraded this to a $39. they will be strong. it is a strategically challenged situation. company was formerly very big into payments but now they've got competition from all sides. i would take this gain, walk away. >>> up next on halftime report, final trades. try running four.ning a restaurant is hard, fo

one quick look at apple here. just keep an eye on it as we get closer and closer to the 505 level which of course was the november low. over at ubs milanovich will be on halftime talking about how his sources don't expect the 5 to be quite as strong as the 4 s in china. let's get to the fast money halftime back at hq. >>> and, thanks very much. welcome to the halftime report. four hours to go until the close. here is where we stand on this friday on wall street, read arrows across the board the dow down 17. s&p, nasdaq negative as well. here is what we're following on halftime. face lift, facebook shares up 40% in the past two months and one of goldman's newest partners tells you where it is going next. debate it. walmart shares down 4% this week. taking a bit of luster out of what's been a good year for the stock. now two traders square off on whether the retailer is ready for another run. first our top story, apple's freefall. shares sinking to their lowest level in nine months today after ubs cut its estimates

back to apple.sn't stock price, a huge drop due mostly to the tax situation, that's my opinion, but there's also some serious competition out there now. we have the ipad and the iphone, are they less cool? joining us is steven beck, a branding strategist with management consulting firm. cg 42. >> good to be here. stuart: is apple still cool in your branding opinion? >> the interesting thing. last time i was here we were mentioning research around the holiday season and i predicted they're going to be fine. stand by that pre dictionpredic there was an interesting undercurrent particularly around smart phones and tablet and the undercurrent was who was interested in buying? and who was interested in buying some of the competitive products, specifically products like samsung or kindle from palm son and there's an interesting age skew. older, more apple. >> you're kidding. >> younger, a little bit more other. stuart: older goes for apple, younger goes for other. samsung, kindle, really? >> they still ha

i would buy apple. i just think apple is the best position. they own hardware through software through services and i think their vertical integration across all of that is really their corps strength. >> no matter how much this stock rises or even falls, rob, it is almost impossible to find an analyst that does not like apple. can this stock do absolutely no wrong? >> well, the stock's been doing lots of wrong recently. so there are ebbs and flows in sentiment. right now people are starting to worry that maybe things just can't get any better for apple. but i think these are the kind of opportunities you have to take advantage of. i'm not saying apple's always going to be perfect but when i look at how they're executing, how they are still coming out with i believe the best products and again ownership of that whole hardware through software chain, i just think they continue to be the best positioned company. >> anthony, you beg to differ a bit. you would prefer google. make the case, sir. >> well, i think that apple is a company that goes th

no one wants to buy apple here at $510. you'd rather miss apple for the first 20 or $30.sounds silly, but you'd rather miss that momentum one way or another until it proves itself. but the money has to go someplace so you start to look at a stock like google which i'm personally along, as apple sinks you wind up having google above $700 again. it stands to reason a lot of these high flyers, these fund managers have to be invested someplace. >> there isn't a lot of selling pressure and there's certainly not right now a lot of buying enthusiasm. >> right. >> are there areas of the market that you think ought to be sold right here or individual company names? >> it depends. if you think that growth is going to be sluggish and we're just going to muddle along here, you want to be selling the manufacturing space. you want to be probably selling the energy space. there's been a bid in energy that we haven't seen in some time. if you look at the refiners. the refiners are making new annual highs in some parts of that sector. yahoo has been on fire along that one. a lot of these

so are fears about apple overblown? president obama says he will use whatever power he has to prevent another massacre like the one in newtown, connecticut. what can be done, if politics is the art of the possible? where does the possible reside in america? we talk solutions today on "power lunch." my partner, sue herera, sue? >> let's look at where major averages sit right now. just a second ago, we were up 80 point on the dow. we are close to the highs of this session so far. nasdaq composite is up 29 on the trading session and s&p 45u7b is up 13. it is that optimism over the fiscal cliff which increased over the weekend after house speaker boehner edged ever closer to president obama's position. indeed, the speaker met with the president at the white house this morning. eamon javers is at the white house. eamon? >> previous meetings between the president and speaker had been telegraphed a little bit. this one was not today. this is an interesting development but a grim-faced speaker bainer who arrived back up on capi

without apple, the dow rallied.but the nasdaq and s&p 5 were weighed down thanks to apple's weakness. the s&p 500 hit its lowest leve of the session just after ale stronger than expected report on the services sector before 11:00 a.m. eastern time. it bounced into positive territory and closed up 0.2%. volume picked up a little on the big board with 757 million shares. 1.8 llion move1.on the nasdaq. the technology sector was the mobig drag on theg road market. it fell 1.3%. the utility sector saw the best gains, up 1.6%. apple put the brakes on the broad market, selling off on heavier than usual volume. apple fell 6.4%, with the stock closing at a three-week low. there are plenty of trader theories behind the weakness in apple. they include apple not announcing a special shareholder dividend; reports of traders facing higher margins if they borrowed money to buy apple stock, leading them to cut their positions; and worries about new competition from nokia. speaking of competition for the iphone, nokia announced a de