. >> ben lichtenstein of traders audio says that the nasdaq starting to show signs of slowing. since it has been leading the overall market, it could mean stocks may develop a sideways trading pattern to consolidate all the gains. >> here within one out of every 10 homeowners struggling with their mortgages, ineligible to take advantage of uncle sam's modification program have actually seen their programs drop. several lenders haven't changed even one payment since the programs began. here's how big lenders have been performing. of the # hundred thousand mortgages held by bank of america, only 12% have been helped. six percent at wells fargo. despite the slow start, the white house still thinks the program will help up to four million homeowners by 2012. >> it's another test for the nation's retailers on thursday when they report just how much the registers have been springing up last month. the latest data on seem store sales show that most major retailers will continue posting poor results which they blame on cool and rainy weather this summer. they are forecasting july sales

standing by at the cme this morning is ben lichtenstein. n, we've been talking this morning about what to expect from ben bernanke. probably a lot of people are not expecting big surprises, but will you be watching the words and his gestures very closely? >> most definitely. anytime bernanke is speak, we're definitely focused on the words. we're seeing the market digest a lot of information we've been receiving. and a little bit of housing data coming out today. the market right now is trying to touch on to these levels that we've seen, these upper extreme levels that we've seen, 1015 in the s&ps. we had a wide range in the overnight trading session here. so there's a lot happening right now and the market is poised for a move one way or the other at this point and it seems to be pointing towards the upside direction. again, it's anyone's guess whether or not we'll test those levels or kind of retrade ask pull back at this point. but the market is set for a move one way or the other, big time. >> ben, a lot of people have watched it carefull

ben lichtenstein is the president of tradersaudio.com. ben, this jobs number today, there have been so many expectations that have bmt in. 270,000 jobs lost, that's the consensus at this point. but what is going to be the number that disappointed the number and what's a number the market can live with? >> well, i think mid 300s would be a major disappointment at this point and i think anything below 250 would be a real crowd pleaser. we're also focused on the rate. if you look at 9.7%, 9.8% possibly. it wasn't very long ago that we were looking at 4.6%. fundamentally, unfortunately, whether it's a v bottom, a w bottom, the market has a lot to prove and a long way to go to get back to sustained acceptable levels at this point. i'd like to see the dow up above 10,000 and see some gains from there. where we're finally seeing positive territory on the year, we saw major hurdles to overcome. the market has been acting much like a sprinter since the beginning of march. stro strong, you know, nice run to the up side. but, you know, sprinters aren

joining us this morning, ben lichtenstein from the cme.tory is not so much how the market reacted, but how it would have reacted if the news had been otherwise. >> i think if we had heard news that we were looking at somebody new, that would be a major concern for the market and probably bring us off these extreme levels we're trading at right now. other than that, i think the market is relatively flat on the news here. we had a big day here, though, with the gap higher and the sell-off rejection in those prices. everybody is waiting and seeing right now what that means, whether that's the beginning of the end of this mow that we just saw, the extreme rally that we just saw, or whether things are slowing down a little bit. but that rejection of those prices up above and the ability for the market to attract any initiative is what the market is focusing on. >> how much of it do you think is a volume thin week and how much do you think maybe is the reaction in asia overnight? >> well, i think some of it you can attribute to the volume at thi