b. riley highlights three names to watch -- integrated device technology, intersill and cavium, companieshat they argue all boast valuable technologies and competitive mothers. they say the trend of consolidation will continue in the chip sector. big players like intel and texas instruments, she says, need to get bigger, while smaller companies will find it increasingly tough to compete on their own. for "nightly business report," i'm josh lipton in san francisco. >>> on wall street, the major indexes closed near their lows of the session, dragged down by concerns over earnings. the dow jones industrial average dropped 48 points to 17,168. nasdaq down 40. s&p 500 dipped 11. and despite the pullback today, stocks have moved higher in october so far. look at those numbers. gains of roughly 5%. seema mody tells us why this month is bucking the historic downtrend for stocks. >> reporter: it was supposed to be a scary october, but so far, this month hasn't been terrifying at all. the s&p 500 is up nearly 6%, and earnings, a mixed bag of tricks so far, haven't weighed down stocks. so, what's be

b. riley. he gives us three names. integrated device technology, intersil and cavium saying they boast value technologies. >> josh, thank you very much. he's one of the most high-profile activist investors, carl icahn, now taking his activism to a new level into a new realm forming a super pac to push for corporate tax reform. scott wapner broke the news. he spoke with mr. icahn in the last hour and he's here to fill us in with the details. >> and a whole new arena as well. you know carl icahn, usually taking on some of the biggest companies in this country. now he is taking that fight to washington, d.c., forming his own super pac, $150 million of his very own money to take on dysfunction in d.c. says he wants to end so-called tax inversions, which he says are hurting the country. we spoke just a moment ago about it. here is carl icahn. >> i'm putting a pac together and i'm committing $150 million of my own money to that pac, and that money is going to be used to make congressmen and senators accountable. they're just

b. riley starting coverage. >> pretty interesting. >> you did not get a schmidt name from me like you did. >> not this again. >> not this again. >> quick check on the currencies, sarah? >> sure. the dollar, that's where the action is. it is surging. what's interesting is that stocks are climbing back off the lows. even though you do have the dollar stronger and treasure yields higher, signaling that the fed is very much putting this number on the table. >> all right, thank you. "closing bell" starts right now. >>> we do welcome you to "closing bell" for this wednesday. very busy day. i'm bill griffeth at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm kelly evans out here in boulder, colorado. we are just two hours away from our coverage of the gop debate here on cnbc. we've got plenty on the candidates coming up. and how their plans could impact your money. >> a selloff in stocks early on. oil has staged a