to bertha coombs now. >> freeportmcmoran came in ahead of expectations, revenues ahead of expectations, and it also said on the call that controversial $9 billion deal for the two energy companies sthash that it will not be put to a shareholder vote and they expect the deal to close in the second quarter. >>> sales of existing homes down in the recent month? what does that say about the health of the housing market now? diana is in washington, d.c. hi. >> tyler, the story is what you are not seeing on this street behind me, that's a for sale sign. home sales are falling because the number of homes for sale are falling. we're now at 1.82 million homes on the market, that's down 22% from a year ago. at the current sales pace, that's a 4.4 month supply. the lowest since may of 2005. in raw numbers we have not seen this few homes for sale in over a decade. 2.7 million borrowers are still underwater on their mortgages, investors have also eaten up most of the distressed properties. and builders, while they are ramping up, they are still at less than half the starts they were during the hous

thanks, guys. >> okay. >> yes, we have to go to bertha coombs with this news break. wells fargo shares if phil does, might be getting a bigger paycheck. the company is increasing its quarterly dividends three cents, 14% to 25 cents per share. the company said in a statement that the increase is part of a capital plan that received approval by the federal reserve back inform 2012. 2013 plan is currently being looked at. as you can see there, wells fargo raising its dividend by 14%. bill? >> bertha, thank you very much. sticker shock at the emergency room. hospitals may get hit with higher taxes thanks to states trying to figure out ways to expand medicare under obama care. and guess who is going to get stuck paying for it at the end of the day? our heated debate on this touchy issue is next. >> later, leaner and meaner. with federal spending cuts in the offing, our jane wells runs through defense company earnings that are on deck. don't miss it. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going s

i'm bertha coombs and we have a lot of retailers looking good.ed bath and beyond got an upgrade by oppenheimer. these are some of the best performers today in the s&p 500. discretionary, in fact, the best sector. >> thank you very much. appreciate it, bertha. dow and s&p 500 marching to all-time high levels. already at levels we haven't seen since october of '07 and the airline sector has had some stellar performances within that time period. phil lebeau is taking a look at those high flyers. pun intended, florida. >> three airlines reported earnings. take a look at united. smaller than expected loss. on a conference call, jeff says they stand by the dreamliner and are expected to get it back some day. then south beats the street by a penny. telling squawk box, some day they could change the baggage charge policy. finally alaska, coming in inline with estimates. when you take a look at all of these stocks, going back over the last year, heck of a run particularly over the last five or six months. look at that. all of them moving substantially hig

. >> let's get to bertha coombs. temper peddic on a big bead on the eps. >> it was a beat on the eps and revenue, but this one -- well the shorts may have gone to the mattresses on this one, but they're getting beaten this afternoon. a huge squeeze. 9 1/2% short position on this stock. they were up 9% during this session. sealies results were better than expected. they still expect that sealy deal to close in the first half of next year. we'll see if they say anything in the conference call on the timing of that. it is right more or less in line actually lower when it comes to earnings, but nonetheless, a huge squeeze here. a lot of those shorts today may be in pain. >> thank you, bertha coombs. this seems like a move you want to fade. >> this is exactly what keith just described. this is a stock that's an expensive stock, getting more expensive partly because they're feasting on those shorts. our system found this unusual activity about halfway through the day today. and for the folks that got on it, that was a doub

. >> let's send it over to bertha coombs. >> to the mattresses. 9 1/2 position on this stock.pedic stopped expectations after a 9% move higher. they are the up another 18% here after hours. a multi-year high. back to you. >> wow, 17% bounce is good. >> will the s&p kick off the final day of the week above 1500? >> market pros will weigh in on friday morning's action next. >>> all right. with 30 seconds on the clock all next guests will tell us how to be prepared tomorrow. >> noah hammond, brian evans. you're both on the clock. noah, 30 seconds. what are you watching? >> tomorrow we're looking at the housing start numbers. last month they were up 4.4% to 377,000 new home purchases. the prior months, october was revised down by 7,000 home starts. and so as we look at the consensus estimates for december's numbers, the number, consensus numbers coming in at 388,000, but that's a range of 374,000 to 406,000. so all the consensus estimates seem to be on the high end. for us that's important, the cycle is looking for inflationary environment ahead. >> got it. brian, you're up. 30 se

bertha coombs has details for us now. bertha? >> 48 states are stating widespread flu levels.is season started earlier, it may be peaking sooner as well. hospitals climbed to a high epidemic level, particularly with the elderly. the total number of reported children's flu deaths now at 29 for the season, up from 20 last week. a lot of those in that really intense red area there in the middle of the country. the cdc also says in handful of states like florida, you can see here activity levels seem to be easing off. a key indicator moving in a positive direction. there are a portion of flu-related doctor visits now down two weeks in a row. looking at red line here on the chart as we come up, you will see that it has moved down at this point to 4.6 frers that peak of 6% a couple weeks ago. during comparison during the swine flu, you see during the gray line and blue line, the peak is around 7.5%. but the cdc says a lot of people will still get sick. >> what we expect to see is a lot of cases. as people get complications of flu or become more ill, after the cases peak, then comes

. >> joining us for the rundown, bertha coombs, robby voor house. >> forget 66, 67.e the retirement age to 70. they say that these medicare changes is an easy way to fix e entitlements. do we agree or disagree? >> depends how old you are. if i were 25, i would say absolutely not. if i were 65, i would say, yeah, sure, i can still run a triathlon, let's do it. >> i was on the call. it's not like they were saying let them eat cake. there are big daunting deficits in both of these entitlement projects. 701 the new 65, we're all living longer. even randall stephenson going as far as saying you know at at&t we're actually going to need people to work longer because we're not going to have many people coming up to fill in the ranks. >> my view is on the one hand it's easy for ceos to say go ahead and work until 70. they're not, working in a coal mine. on the other hand, when social security began at 1935, full benefits kicked in at 65. we're paying more benefits to more people longer today. >>> boeing, 787 is grounded worldwide. battery issue being investigated. is the faa

bertha coombs with a preview. bertha?porter: maria, going to hear from state street and sun trust tomorrow but definitely the last of the big banks. morgan stanley is going to be the big headline. the vest bank is expected to post earnings of 27 cents on $7 billion in revenue, though the recent mortgage settlement will weigh on net profit. mortgage regulatory settlements were big themes in today's earnings, bank ever america's fourth quarter profit fell 3% and bank of america weighed down by declining revenues in its consumer banking and citi revealing the federal consumer watchdog is reviewing its retail bank but top banking analysts like mayo liked what he heard in terms of what they are doing to revamp. he's upgrading the shares of sitty to a brice target. reach nage fared pretty well, pnc financials up after revenues topped financials and writing off fewer loans while bb&t setting aside lower reserves for bad loans and saw profits up 29% year over year. maria? >> thanks, bertha. shares of regional bank bb&t gaining 5%

bertha coombs. >>> talking to one of new york city's most exclusive real estate agents next along withitor robert frank. plus an exclusive look at some of the city's most expensive apartments. >>> later on, earnings on parade. first thing tomorrow morning. we'll tell you which could catapult to new heights. back in a moment. obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal. i'm only in my 60's... i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical ex

i'm bertha coombs. we are watching valero spike. it is boosting its dividend to 20 cents.cember with a lot of accelerated dividends. we are seeing companies starting to give money back it shareholders this month. >> thank you, bertha. did you know it is national pie day? with a pie council? yeah, there is such a thing. declaring this to be the day to celebrate all things pie. a million dollars in pies are sold in grocery stores every year. that does not include restaurants, food services or price clubs. only grocery stores. everyone has their favorite. mine is an aussie foreign 20-meat pie. the most popular is apple. and next is pumpkin. which dot us thinking, who ate the biggest piece of humble pie? lance armstrong or beyonce for lip syncing at the inauguration or manti teo? >> let's talk about david iron horn, one of the most successful hedge fund managers in the world. however, he did not have such a hot fourth quarter. the green light here at cnbc shows his investors add lost of about 5%. actual actually, the net loss was about 8%. dl was something inside that that got

bertha coombs with us. the season is turning out to be brutal. >> the worst in 10 years. please don't stand so close. i love you but don't stand so close. >> google track is making it a highly watched realtime indicator on wall street. all north america is colored orange for high or intense red for intense activity. overall flu searchers are up 200% from the three-year average. asi analyst told me this morning as a key provider of flu shots walgreen's is seeing a modestly outside benefit for this high demand for immunizations but drugstores benefit from the other things we buy when we get sick. this is prime season for tissues. all that nose blowing. kleenex maker, kimberly-clark, lower tissues last year because of the mild season. sales should bounce back big this year. cold and flu season also big for helen of troy which makes vap vaporizers and thermometers. jason thinks diagnostic firms like whole logic, quest, should see strong demand for doctors who order tests. and up sharply compared to last year, hospital volumes could be strong this quarter. health management as

bertha coombs, i know you've been monitoring this. what are the headlines so far?ce again, chris christie is really giving it to washington, expressing his disappointment. he starts out on a very magnanimous note thanking everyone from first responders, everyone in new jersey saying legislators in new jersey all came together putting partisanship aside, because he said that sandy is and should not be something political. something he says is not the case in washington. listen to what he had to say. >> we have our congressional delegation here and i thank them for being here. we look forward to what we hope will be quick congressional action on a full sandy aid bill, now, not next week. >> that bill expected to be voted on on the 15th. he also said new jersey will never forget, never stand silent while their citizens are, in his words, being shortchanged. brian. >> that's my governor, bertha, i like to hear it. thank you very much. appreciate it. >>> still ahead, cutting the chord, why you might catch a break when others just say no to cable. >> the web is all atwit

i'm bertha coombs. rough difor 3-d systems. and stratasys limited. there is a third company offering shares for 14 to $15 a share. not sure when it will happen but take a look. investors worried there are too many in the mark pept back to you. >> absolutely. thank you are very much. >>> let's look at the market. we paired our losses. down about 20 point. right now the dow is down only four point on the trading session. s&p is almost unchangeed. down more than 1 3/4 point on the day. the nasdaq is still positive. up almost 6 points on the trading session. ty, transportation session is down about 4 points on the session and a number of traders are watching that closely. they would like to see a positive close. >> they certainly would. i think one of the interesting things is nassim taleb saying he was in stocks. but he was it stocks because he hated bonds. specifically government bonds so much right now. that will do it for this hour of "power." sue, see you when you get back home. >> you got it. "street signs" starts now. have a great afternoon. >> so

meantime, let's check in with bertha coombs for market flash. >> shares have been on fire so far thisctation they would have whopping fourth quarter results. it did, topped expectation with real strength particularly in their industrial area. however, they are lowering their forecast for 2014. nonetheless the stock today at an all time high. sue. >> bertha, thank you. harley davidson out with its third quarter results, missed the street's profit expectations by just a penny. but the shares of the motorcycle maker are rising on guidance and hitting levels not seen since 2007. right now up 1.25% at 5387, up 20% on a year-to-date basis. joining us in a cnbc exclusive on "power lunch," president and ceo keith wendell. thank you for being here. nice to have you back. >> thanks, sue. >> tell me about the earnings. as i understand it, the miss is because of the upgrade you're doing at one of your manufacturing plants that's part of this big restructuring, correct? >> first of all, the real headline is earnings per share, we're up over 29% in fourth quarter and 16.5% for the year. in our sale

bertha coombs has the details for that on us. bertha. >> reporter: very big winners.&p reported. fourth-quarters, expected to be up 2.5% according to thompson reuters. down from a nearly 3% estimate at the start of the year. morgan stanley's result underscoring why financial earnings results are expected to post the strongest sector earnings growth. the investment bank's results topping estimates handley and pledged to return capital to investors very soon. that sent shares to a 52-week high. ge's earnings beat by a penny and saw revenues top as well and chairman and ceo jeff immelt says ge is well-positioned for double-digit growth though the outlook in countries remains uncertain. johnson controls first-quarter results and tops the expectations and the company lowered guidance after a big drop in auto-related demand after a drop which has seen a 9% drop in auto production. softness is expected to continue through the first half of the year. a big loser today, off about 3%. looks to be off of the lows right now, bill. back to you. >> all right, bertha, thanks very mu

over to bertha coombs with a quick market flash. over to you, bertha. >> reporter: the s&p and dow both up 1% this year ending at five-year highs, and when you take a look at the dow jones industrial average, five stocks are closing at new highs for travelers, j&j and also 3m, they closed at historic highs. 3m, the best performers, up 2.5 this week. >> thanks so much. the fed knows everything. transcripts from our 2007, pour cold water on that. shocking details of what was said and what wasn't said as the financial crisis was unfolding, and later, which batmobile would you buy in the one from the 1960s tv series. goes up for auction this weekend. tweet us @cnbcclosingbell. we'll air your favorites in the back half of the program. back in a moment. in a first of its kind partnership with walmart, humana medicare plans now include 5% savings on great for you healthier foods at walmart! it's part of the vitality healthyfood program... and one more way humana medicare can help you choose what's good for your health and your wallet. so yo

bertha coombs is here with the session's big movers, winners and losers. bertha, what can you tell us? >> reporter: leading the way higher today, some of them getting a little bit of a boost perhaps from the jpmorgan health care conference. in the spotlight, a lot of them. take a look at that sector, the s&p health care sector hitting a 52-week high and danaher after an all-time high after pre-announcing strong fourth quarter earnings. vaccines and medical products mckesson a fresh all-time high and seagate, meantime, led the s&p percentage gainers after pre-announcing better than expected fiscal second quarter results and hospira at a three month high. today we're seeing stronger volume, and closing the day at the highs. pe perkinelmer announcing a new innovation on a downsyndrome test. bank of america was downgraded over at credit suisse, though the analysts did raise the price target from $11 to $12. cabot, oil and gas and wpx energy both down today along with those sectors which were the losers. maria? >> all right. bertha, thanks very much. looking at

to bertha coombs now. >> already it's traded three times its average daily volume over the last ten dayssail of safeway canada has been discussed for years but speculation is getting even louder with the recent announcement in the area. of course we know super value, sue, is selling off a lot of parts, folks looking for consolidation in this sector. back to you. >> indeed, thank you very much. >>> to kate kelly now. she has breaking news on david einhorn. >> a couple of details about david einhorn's challenging ideas in 2012. i want to correct what we said earlier about being down 5% in december. in fact he was down 4.9% in the forth quarter. the trouble lay in his short book. there is speculation when he says in a cryptic way in his investor letter that iron supplement didn't go down smoothly, perhaps he meant to herbalife within the multilevel marketer, that he has rumored to have short for some time now. david einhorn won't comment whether he has a thought of herbalife, long or short. but i did speak to an investor. he said einhorn alluded to that iron ore, not herbalife, damaged the

. >> to bertha coombs now. >> the wealth management firm this morning posting earnings that missed thehe top and bottom line. but taking a line down with fitch coming out with a report saying that they expect that revenues will continue to be tough for them. they also said that their expenses continue to be too high. back to you. >> thank you very much, ber that. if you have an idea and you would like big money behind it, don't move. we want to see how it comes together because the power pitch is coming up next. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve great rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ]

bertha coombs.f these declines in the after hours session in this apple ecosystem a buy here? we've talked about names like a broad com and qualcomm. which aren't necessarily all apple. >> exactly. specifically talk about qualcomm. this has happened before when people used qualcomm as a proxy to getrt apple, because they think they missed the move on the down side. and that didn't work either. and you can go back and look at what happened to the stock when qualcomm reported last quarter, rallied 3.5, 4 bucks. i'm telling you, i believe if you're getting short qualcomm to be proxy short apple, you are making the wrong play. there are other reasons to be short. i don't think it's the right play. but that's clearly the wrong one. qualcomm is much of bigger than apple alone. >> listen, broadcom is another. 13% of their revenues from apple. apple down 6, 7% year over year. they're going to have to squeeze their own suppliers. this is something that will trickle down the supply chain. and think about it a

put the teleprompter aside and let me go to my pal bertha coombs. you've got some information on hillary clinton. >> that's right. she's been in the hospital. she had that blood clot that they were monitoring. secretary of state hillary clinton, though, has been released from the hospital tonight. she and her husband were seen outside new york presbyterian this afternoon and her spokesman says the medical team advised her that she's making good progress on all fronts. the fbi says it conducted a record number of instant background checks for people wanting to purchase guns last month. just under 2.8 million checks. that's about a million more than december 2011. for the full year, the fbi said it processed 19.6 million checks, almost 20% more than the prior year. and "the new york times" reports tonight that current tv led by al gore is being acquired by al jazeera. al jazeera has tried for years to get broader distribution for its english language channel and according to "the new york times" will create a new new york channel based in new york. >>

checking with bertha coombs for today's leaders and laggards. >> bill, a day for notable milestones. the dow starting the year up over 2% for only the tenth time in 100 years, the nasdaq's best one-day gain in over 15 months, the s&p starting the year with a sizable gain for the fifth straight year. that's never happened and the russell 2000 hitting a new all-time high. zipcar was the russell's biggest percentage gainer on a $500 million cash deal to be acquired by avis which today hit a five-year high on that deal. on the s&p, u.s. steel the biggest peersage gainer on an upgrade from credit suisse and metlife seeing big cliff relief rallies today. j.c. penney bucking the trend in new year starting the year with a bick bounce after losing 40%, alexion and other biotechs rallying and consol energy and natural gas players among today's decliners with forecasts calling for warmer weather ahead. kohl's and other retailers lower after likely disappointing sales. and emc, disappointing fourth-quarter earnings, and continued pressure for watson phrma after the fda approved a generic version

bertha coombs has more of the details. ber somewhat?chelle, one of the things that the bulls and dow theorists look for when you get the dow jones industrial average hitting a new high, make things, followed by services along with transport, people that move people and thing. the best percentage gainer, kansas city southern. fresh all-time high for the stock after its earnings were much better than expected. new highs as well for delta. up 18% year to date. southwest, up 12% year to date and j.p. hunt, historic high along with union pacific railway. bill? >> what a transition. thanks you very much. delta shares hit a new solid two-year high and airlines one of the hottest sectors in the past years so should you get on board with delta, for example, or are you better off with a discount carrier like southwest which is pushing the boundaries with new fees? now introducing this new $40 charge if you would like to board early and make sure you have room to store your carry-onbag. today on the technical side, carter worth, chief market techn

earnings from goldman sachs and jpmorgan giving the earnings sector a boost bertha coombs joins us nowith more. >> reporter: this is being called a make or break week for the financial sector. we've got two banking giants reporting tomorrow. bank of america and citigroup. b of a expected to report two cents a share on news of $21 billion which would be about a 16% lower set of revenue numbers than we saw a year ago. at citigroup analysts are looking for about a 10% increase in revenues with earnings of 96 cents per share. results from pnc and bb&t also on tap. on friday, we'll hear from morgan stanley. consensus estimates have come down over the past months, the street now looking for 27 cents a share on 7 billion in revenue. while regional banks state street and sun trust will be reporting. the earnings bar set high. jpmorgan posting a blowout quarter, earning $7.5 billion in the quarter. though ceo jamie dimon took a hit on his bottom line. his bonus chopped in half because of the $6.2 billion loss on that infamous london whale trade, but, still, he did get a $10 billion bonus. goldm

one member of the tech sether seeing very big gains and with that i want to get to bertha coombs withtheir historic highs just after the opening this morning. over 284 shares there. shares have come well off that level. still analyst investors seem to reach for the "silver linings playbook" on this one. they're reporting better than expected margins despite earnings and guidants. the firms are actually lowering their estimates on amazon while raising their price targets. that like the stock. >> i always love that move, yes. thanks so much, bertha coombs. >>> some are calling today's blackberry event a make-or-break event. joining us exclusively on cnbc is the former ceo of apple, john sculley. john, good morning to you. >> hi, carl, how are you? >> i'm good. i imagine you've been watching this launch with interest as we all have. does it ring any bells? is it familiar at all in the context of an apple story? >> well, i think it has the potential of a really exciting turnaround story. it all depends what the roadmap is ahead. for example, david pogue did great job of pointing out the f

as cnbc's bertha coombs reports, there are also opportunities to profit from the virus. >> reporter: disease control's most recent report shows 41 states with elevated flu levels around new year's day. a lot of analysts watched google's flu tracker which looks for searches related to flu terms for real-time indicator. overall, flu searches up some 200% from the three-year average this time of year. search activity is most intense in north america, as you see, in the u.s. in particular. lots of red and orange, that's high to intensity, to really intense intensity. uals moderately high in the -- also moderately high in the eurozone, as well. as a key provider of flu shots in the u.s., walgreens is seeing a modestly outsized benefit from higher demand for shots. drug stores also benefit from higher flu medication sales. sales are strong for roche's tamiflu. influenza anti-viral treatment. the drugmaker is having trouble keeping up with demand. in canada the government announced tuesday it was releasing stockpiles from the nation's emergency supply because of shorjs. lots of -- shortages

bertha coombs has the details on that. >> now 48 states reporting widespread flu activity.iatric deaths of children 29, a week ago, up from 20 the prior week. a lot of those deaths coming in the southeast, the middle and in the midwest. as far as the rate of doctors involving the flu, a little sign of hope there. that rate continues to decline. it seems to have peaked in the week that included new year's eve. and it has peaked it appears at 6% for the second week. it remains lower in the 4% range, 4.6% for last week. so perhaps a little bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. back to you. >> that is good news. by the way, bertha, we'll talk to the president of the new york presbyterian about those trends and the flu season going forward. >>> norwegian cruise line awaiting their trade. simon hobbs live at the nasdaq. >> they're still trying to pair up the initial trades here. i have to say, on the indicative price that we have, remember, it was priced at 19, the indicative opening trade is $25 a share. that would be a 30% leap at the open. we haven't gone through that proce