relatively wide between brent and wti. do you expect that to remain there, or are we going to get a narrowing? and if so, who has to move the most, do you think? >> i think we have to move the xl pipeline the most is what we have to do. until we have that on board, you're going to continue to have the problem where there's not enough -- there's plenty of oil, but we just cast get it where we need it. that's a big issue going forward. i think it will be a big issue in the fall. >> so your targets then for oil. let me keep it to brent. that's what affects our gasoline prices here in the united states. what do you see happening to brent in the near term? what are you going to do with it? >> i think right now we're going to watch it. i think at the moment, we have an election coming up. obviously gas prices are a big issue. we had schumer on cnbc just the other day saying saudi should increase production, they should raise their production levels, which would help a lot. we had some news out of israel last night that said that

the one market we watch carefully is the brent market. brent north sea crude.n talk that maybe we're going to see a coordinated release, as the strategic petroleum reserve among major countries around the world, just on talk. you saw that decline there. when you had the denials of any deals in place, the market came back a little bit. you know how skittish the oil market is right now at these levels. here's something i'm watching very carefully right now. the dow transportation average, very strong in the last few days, and especially today. in fact, with a 3% gain today, it's having its best day of 2012. this would be very bullish for the market overall. there's the oldest technical indicator out there. the dow theory, which couples the industrial average with the transportation average, and if they can move in tandem to new highs, that would be very bullish for the market. you see the transports have been sort of underperforming relative to the industrial average. now it's starting to play catch-up at this point. to the sectors, what was strong today, the fin

as you can see, brent crude coming down by 1 it the $24 on the barrel.t is trading perilously close to that $125 a barrel mark. >>> now, we've heard about fuel price hikes in china and the u.s. and now indonesia could join the list of countries pushing prices higher at the pump. and consumers there are ready -- are really going to notice the difference. the government in jakarta plans to raise subsidized fuel prices about i a third from april 1st, causing huge public protests. you're looking at pictures there. protests in the capital jakarta, protests around the country. now, the proposal still needs parliamentary approval. they do need to cut subsidies to ball and the country's budget. it's a very, very sensitive topic, subsidies on fuel prices in indonesia. it was a spark for an uprising which eventually led to the downfall of sohoto back in 1998. this is politically a delicate thing to do, nina. >> it certainly is. there were uprising about two, three years ago, weren't there, andrew, when they tried to lift the subsidies again. nissan's ceo is still

check out brent up another 2% at almost $126 a barrel. going to check in on the nymex in just a moment's time. in the meantime up next on "street signs," facebook's $3 billion tax break. how the social media giant may be losing friends over a loophole. and then america's happy at work another facebook, you're going to be shocked when you find out where they work. >>> the recovery of the u.s. economy continues. we have seen some positive developments in the labor market. >> this is the effect on european equity markets of ben bernanke not really mentioning further easing qe-3. >> big ben steering clear of stimulus talk certainly caused commodities to crumble. particularly gold. >> the euro just completely collapsed here. even apple dropped at 10:00 eastern time. r told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was

just come off it as brent trades. we'll be talking a lot about oil as we go through today's session particularly post the iranian elections and with israel and the u.s. to discuss iran and nymex priced at 106.31. we'll take a short break. still to come, putin secured a historic third presidential term. beccy is in moscow. >> reporter: plenty more to come after the break on the russian elections here. >>> vladimir putin is facing a fresh round of protests after declaring victory in the preside presidential election. the win will see a return to the kremlin for a historic third term but there are complaints of widespread corruption. beccy is in moscow with the latest. what's it been like? >> reporter: we got the results everybody had expected putin declaring victory. it looks like the number was about 64% or so. putin needed 50% plus a vote in order to avoid a second round of elections and it certainly looks like that's what he got. if you look at what some of the independent electoral watchdogs are saying, it is more l

. >> i think prices can go into the 130s this summer. 130 brent. think gasoline prices will follow suit. yes. >> so where do you think the top is? are there any catalysts on the horizon that you think changed this situation or are you just expecting the driving season to really accelerate things here? >> i think it's more like global demand. i'm not for sure it's going to be u.s. gasoline demand. but the floeb balance emerging market, in particular, demand growth, is phenomenal. >> and we're seeing more drilling in the united states. that hasn't translated into lower gas prices at all. you say the global demand story is sort of the driver here? >> i think so. and the united states's upstream market doesn't help. >> which stock do you think benefits given that is what most people are ex peckin. >> well, in general, high gas prices are due to high oil prices. the two stocks i would focus on, from an investor's standpoint would be valero and conocophillips. valero is a very strong operator and i think you'll see good profits in 2012 and 2013. conocoph

really it's all driven by brent. we keep telling you that. it's driven by geopolitics and yes oil is down $2 today but it did not break below the level, $104.50. there's still a lot of risk premium. there's concern about what is going to happen and what we know will happen in july. keep your eye on the middle of april. april 13th and 14th when we have the tops starting again about iran's nuclear program. >> oh, boy. >> whatever comes out of there that can be natural gas in iran. >> thank you, bob. >>> let's take a look at moves and shakers. stock skyrocket, and brian shactman at the cnbc real-time exchange. >> first, i want to look at the s&p 500. we're at 1402. at one point we were below 1400. it's bounced off the lows. the bio max index is up 48, 49%. there was a report that the company rejected an offer from bristol-myers. the assumption could be a higher bid coming. a trade worth investment, lower oil and getting a boost from optimism that the euro zone and carbon max, southwest 1.5 and jetblue despite the disaster with the melt down. wea

brent, good to talk to you.. >> we'll have instant analysis and reaction to oracle earnings coming up at the top of the hours on the "closing bell." in the meantime, as we head towards the close, market holding steady. dow down 50 points and not showing any signs of wanting to move one way or the other. but the next guest uses this as a pullback opportunity. straight ahead on cnbc.com, jeff cox gives us his call on why he sees an ominous cloud. coming up when maria and i come right back. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 checking the charts. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 looking for support, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 resistance, breakouts, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 a few other tricks that i'll keep to myself. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that's how i trade. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and i do it all with charles schwab, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 because their streetsmart edge platform tdd# 1-800-345-2550 helps me trade quickly, intuitively. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 staying on top of the market is key! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and the momentum tool, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 it lets me

with these days you really have to watch the brent price.hat's the international price, the price where all the gee owe political risk is priced in. and we're above $125 for brent, which is a one-week high. the interesting thing is that gasoline futures continue to outperform the rest of this market. true today with gasoline looking like it's going to settle at a new 2012 closing high. but if you look at it as well over the last month, it has really accelerated. in fact, the most recent report from the cftc shows that the net positions, the open interest on gasoline futures and options, is at a record high. and a lot of that is to the long side when it comes to managers, mandy. >> okay. thanks very much, bertha. >> well, with oil on the brink of a possibly huge breakout, analysts and hedge funds are already positioned for profits. kate kelly -- i am off my game today. kate kelly joining us with that side of the story. >> i feel like i'm in third grade again. >> you can call my brian shactman, big ears, whatever you want. >> call you lots of

former senator edwin must must key of main and brent scowcrt.s is about 12 minutes. >> my fellow americans, i have spoken to you from this historic office on many occasions and about many things. the power of the presidency is often thought to reside within this oval office. yet, it doesn't rest here. it rests in you. the american people and in your trust. your trust is what gives a president his powers of leadership and his personal strength and it's what i want to talk to you about this evening. for the past three months i've been silent about the revelations about iran and you must have been thinking, why doesn't he tell us what's happening? why doesn't he speak to us as he has in the past when we faced troubles or tragedies? others were thinking what is he doing hiding out in the white house? the reason i haven't spoken to you before now is in the white. well, the reason i haven't spoken to you before now is this. you deserve the truth, and as frustrating as the waiting has been, i felt it was improper to come to you with sketchy reports or

we will hear from juan williams and brent boszele how biased the media coverage really is. glad you are with us. ohh, no no. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my head. this is made for pain. [ male announcer ] bayer advanced aspirin enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes extra strength relief to the sight of your pain. feel better? yeah...thanks for the tip! and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. when i'm on the night shift. when they have more energy than i do. when i don't feel like working out. when there isn't enough of me to go around. ♪ when i have school. and work. every morning. it's faster and easier than coffee. every afternoon when that 2:30 feeling hits. -every day. -every day. every day is a 5-hour en

brent prices higher. bank of america, merrill lynch says they see technically the situation is bullish for oil. particularly with wti. they see it taking out last year's highs and taking on 2008 highs. remember, that was near $150 a barrel. wti they think will catch up with brent. gasoline today has been under pressure in part because of some profit taking really looking at the rest of the market. but what people continue to worry about is the retail gasoline picture. at oil price information service they say it's now been 39 straight days that we've seen national prices rise. we're now at $3.76, tyler. and that 411 record looks like it's in jeopardy. over to you. >> bertha, thank you very much. let's switch on the "power lunch" power surge and drill down on some of the stories driving the day. it looks like the republican establishment is beginning to line up behind mitt romney, now ahead of super tuesday's voting. our chief washington correspondent, john harwood, joins us. he's in the house with the lat

the numbers kind of say it all, don't they, brent? williams ought to be embarrassed he didn't have the courage to call out his own colleague but yet spent all this time on rush limbaugh. >> and if you listen to the words of ed schulz and the controversial things he has said in the past. >> sean: rip dick cheney's heart out. >> the slut comment was about the least offensive of them all. if you look at the coverage of it, it look the networks nine months before one of them made a mention of what he had done and it is the only time it has ever been on television. one story in the entirety of the whole segment on ed schulz versus 46 in ten days on rush limbaugh. if you look to bill maher. again the statements that he has made about sarah palin, far more offensive, so offensive we can't even say what they were on this network. pick a scenario here. michael savege the far right conservative talk show host was hered by msnbc and then fired after a company o couple of wee he made antigay slurs and deserved to be fired in my book and i said so

the numbers kind of say it all, don't they, brent? he didn't have the courage to call out his own colleague but yet spent all this time on rush limbaugh. >> and if you listen to the words of ed schulz and the controversial things he has said in the past. >> sean: rip dick cheney's heart out. >> the slut comment was about the least offensive of them all. if you look at the coverage of it, it look the networks nine months before one of them made a mention of what he had done and it is the only time it has ever been on television. one story in the entirety of the whole segment on ed schulz versus 46 in ten days on rush limbaugh. if you look to bill maher. again the statements that he has made about sarah palin, far more offensive, so offensive we can't even say what they were on this network. pick a scenario here. michael savege the far right conservative talk show host was hered by msnbc and then fired after a company o couple of wee he made antigay slurs and deserved to be fired in my book and i said so at the time. what do you think w

the price of brent crude has risen every single year since 2008.december that year it was just at around here, $38 per barrel. today though it's trading at this much, nearly $126. this year is a surge of more than 228% in just over three years. andrew, i understand we're going to have cathay join us. >> we'll be speaking to john saucer in the next edition and we'll be asking him about that as we head into the uncertain times as far as fuel prices are concerned. nina? >>> andrew, let's stay with the commodities theme here. it's an issue that's got some of the world's biggest trading powers lining up against china. the united states, japan, and also the european union have filed a complaint with the world trade organization and their beef is about beijing's tight restrictions over the export of rare earths. they're a mineral that is needed for cell phones and electric cars. leaders in washington, europe and tokyo are saying china's export laws are hurting their production of these specific types of goods. the u.s. trade representative ron kirk was te

the numbers kind of say it all, don't they, brent?e embarrassed he didn't have the courage to call out his own colleague but yet spent all this time on rush limbaugh. >> and if you listen to the words of ed schulz and the controversial things he has said in the past. >> sean: rip dick cheney's heart out. >> the slut comment was about the least offensive of them all. if you look at the coverage of it, it look the networks nine months before one of them made a mention of what he had done and it is the only time it has ever been on television. one story in the entirety of the whole segment on ed schulz versus 46 in ten days on rush limbaugh. if you look to bill maher. again the statements that he has made about sarah palin, far more offensive, so offensive we can't even say what they were on this network. pick a scenario here. michael savege the far right conservative talk show host was hered by msnbc and then fired after a company o couple of wee he made antigay slurs and deserved to be fired in my book and i said so at the time. what d

show are familiar with the discount between west texas, the crude of west texas intermediate and the brentwhich we pay our gasoline off of. your company's doing something about it, isn't it? >> yes, we are. we're working in conjunction with our partners enterprise to reverse the seaway pipeline which operated from the gulf up to cushing in order to take cushing oil south. and 150,000 barrels a day of capacity on stream by mid-year and by the end of the year, over 450,000 barrels a day at capacity to help clear that glut in cushing. project's going very well. >> will that do it? or is it about 1.5 million to shift? >> well, you know, it's a very good point. i think it will take more than that. and as a matter of fact, we have an open season out right now in order to probably twin that seaway pipeline. that open season closes on the 2nd of march, and we're most likely to build a twin to it going south because there is demand for a lot more than that volume. >> brent's probably correctly priced and west texas is underpriced because your pipeline's not working yet, right? >> that's right. that

them or. >> bill: brent bozell does? >> yes. >> bill: i'm not aware of anything on that web site that does that. can you be specific about that? >> well, i know that if you look at his research council organization. >> bill: he doesn't run the parents research organization. he is involved with the organization which watches the media have you got to be careful about this. we don't know any threats leveled by brent bozell. is he coming up after you on hannity tonight. we are not aware of any threats except for msnbc. he is saying that you fire these guys and we don't think that's right. his web site doesn't do. this i'm not saying it's threats, bill, the motivation of the groups, whether it's on the left or the right to use this as a vehicle to fund fund raise and raise money off of that medial matters, george soros, we know they are hand in hand. they have the freedom of speech to do that when the threat comes, if you don't do what we say, we're going to pick it -- picket outside your-that's what jessie jackson was doing

them or. >> bill: brent bozell does? >> yes. >> bill: i'm not aware of anything on that web site that does that. can you be specific about that? >> well, i know that if you look at his research council organization. >> bill: he doesn't run the parents research organization. he is involved with the organization which watches the media have you got to be careful about this. we don't know any threats leveled by brent bozell. is he coming up after you on hannity tonight. we are not aware of any threats except for msnbc. he is saying that you fire these guys and we don't think that's right. his web site doesn't do. this i'm not saying it's threats, bill, the motivation of the groups, whether it's on the left or the right to use this as a vehicle to fund fund raise and raise money off of that medial matters, george soros, we know they are hand in hand. they have the freedom of speech to do that when the threat comes, if you don't do what we say, we're going to pick it -- picket outside your-that's what jessie jackson was doing

we will check in with brent bozell. our countdown to election day continues, hannity starts right here right now. former vice presidential nominee sarah palin is perhaps the most vilified woman in all of politics and despite the relentless barrage of personal attacks that she faces from the president's friends on the left governor palin is among the many outspoken conservative women who barack obama is unwilling to defend. however, as we have seen in recent weeks, things are much different when one of the administration's political allies come under scrutiny from the right. when that happens the president is quick to tell the entire world exactly how he feels. take a look. >> you know, the reason i called ms. fluke is because i thought about maliyah and sasha and one of the things i want them to do as they get older is to engage in issues they care about and i wanted sandra to know that i thought her parents should be proud of her. >> sean: that's how he treats people who happen to agree with his political views. when o

bank of america raising brent this morning.ability with b of a's head of global commodity research, francisco blanch when squawk on the street returns. let's -- let's start over from the beginning. we were just driving along, comin' back from the lake, and all of a sudden, ka-plam. it blindsided us. what is it? our college savings account. how do you think it happened? not sure. i think something we bought a while ago turned out to be something else, annnnnd, i remember a lot of other stuff in there had the word "aggressive" in it. is everyone okay? well, now, yeah. who knows later. ♪ >>> >>> brent crude is at $114 a barrel and the price gains will prove unsustainable and could create risks in the economy. francisco blanche made the call. he's head of bank of america, merrill link. he joins us now. good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> this is a good move for you. you were at a projection of $80 a barrel and now you've increased, what, 20%? >> we had a projection of $110 a barrel for brept and $103 for wti.

>>> it's worth pointing out we have markets hitting session highs of brent over 125. gold back over $1,700 a barrel. i don't know what you think of gold. we're in a stage where people are wondering whether price rises are as much a result of liquidity as about whether earnings will be stronger this year or growth will hold up to forecasts. >> yeah, i mean, for me the world is very indebted, right, and i think that is going to mean ultimately policymakers and interest rates will stay low and they'll tolerate inflation because inflation will tend to, of course, weaken the debt problem that you have out there. and i think the gold crisis is going to, on balance, tend to reflect that over the next few years. of course in the short time as well we have all the political pressures which suddenly could push up the oil price further from here. i do think you know that inflation is a little bit underappreciated now in europe. i think if you look at the consensus forecast for eurozone inflation for this year it's 1.92%. our forecast is 2.4%. we think the ecb today will be raisi

. >> i watch brent go up. this meeting with netanyahu and obama, i think it's fair to say a lot of people -- our producer put a great idea in my mind. people that know what is going on, talk. those that don't are blathering. and brent going up every day says, please be careful if we can get out of this with a real confrontation. it's one thing to talk about $4 oil and i think we're fine. i think we're fine at 4.50. north of $5, we're not fine. >> of course, it moves up as we get closer and closer do spring and then the summer. let me be the first to say it -- >> i go to downtown and i go -- >> that's a lot of miles. think about it, jim. how much more money you spend per gallon of gasoline for all those miles that you drive? >> look, i went to fill it up and, you know, now it's $94 and i'm thinking $94 it was $75 not that long ago. am i be moaning that? >> why are we seeing a decline in brent as well as t.i., in your view? was it the meeting between obama and netanyahu, was that bearish oil? i mean -- >> i thin

but the big story of the moment right now is brent crude because brent crude has been popping. it's up about $2. it topped $125 a barrel. and a lot of traders reading more of the positive data from the u.s. in support of brent crude prices as well as the positive pmi data from china. keep in mind as well there's more focus today on gasoline exports because we did get data yesterday from the energy department showing a big increase in gasoline exports from this country. in fact, the highest on record. and big increases in exports to south america. particularly mexico and venezuela. venezuela used to be a net exporter themselves, now they're importing a lot of gasoline from the u.s. this is the reason some are also saying that we're looking at higher gasoline prices at the pump. $3.74 a gallon, seema, now is the national average. over to you at the nasdaq. >> sharon, you know the nasdaq breaking 3,000 threshold yesterday. right now about 10 points shy in terms of technology we have advanced microdevices being the outperformer in trade. the company announcing the acquisition of c

and on the brent side futures in what's called backward ation.other kind of weird data point, you guys, despite the long positions out there. >> joe, you're the guy who watches oil as close as anybody i know. >> watches oil, traded oil in the past rather aggressively. i think what's important to understand here is also the incorporation of high frequency trading within the oil futures space. and it is significant. and it's problematic because when you get the sharp spikes like you did a couple weeks ago on a tuesday afternoon at 2:30, it goes up $3, that's a high frequency trading model. so the vulnerability in oil trading itself really is the inclusion of hfts and it's not being discussed nearly enough. >> this is a combination of futures and options, the data i was showing about the speculative longs. to you guys, what's the better way to trade, futures or options? >> always options because the futures gap. if they gap and have options, you could take advantage of it. that's what i would say. >> always in the oil space always futures because wh

the nymex and brent are putting back today. brent up by 0.6%. gold lost yesterday, continuing in a downward movement. christine. >> back here in asia, struggling. a lot of investors are worried that greece might not gain the support of private investors. that's weighing on sendment. that attitude and negatively as well. off point 0.6%. lower mostly because of the stronger yen. the topix down 0.6%. else wr elsewhere, the shanghai market filtering over. it comes at up 0.65%. those outlook for weaker earnings coming from chinese companies dranking down hang seng 0.9%. the australian market down. 1.5%. gdp quarter grew at a slower than expected pace. that put pressure on the banks. not to mention the miners were also weaker as a result of weaker metal prices, boosting the case for eeasing from the rba. the sensex trading to the upside. 0.7%. not a pretty picture here in asia, becky. >> okay. well, u.s. markets yesterday suffered the biggest percentage drop since november of last year. the dow fell over 200 points. the quarter of the gains it's seen

traders say look at what happens to brent crude prices. they only sell about $1 or so on these comments, and that leads them to believe the iranian risk premium is still in full effect. back to you. >> all right. many thanks to sharon eperson. higher oil prices, a political hot potato here in the u.s. of course. the bad boy, is he trying to rig prices higher? here now to explain is dina, international politics for examiner.com. welcome, dina. putin, does he need higher oil prices to get more money, because he basically bought the election promising pensions and wages and salaries and whatever. is that what's going on here? >> i like how you introduce him as the bad boy of russia. >> bad boy. he is the bad boy. >> i guess if you have your photograph taken once or twice without a shirt on, you are automatically the bad boy. absolutely, he needs oil prices to be very high. he made a lot of promises throughout the campaign. he said he would increase wages for doctors and teachers. he said he would refurbish the military arsenal and he would pa

in the oil markets, we have seen a steady run up in recent weeks on brent. over the past three months, that adds up to gains of 14% p but that trend has just switched around in the past few sessions, currently trading down by 0.6%. so brent is at $123.14. >> here in asia, of course china pmi day it take was front and center. but somehow the japanese market shrugged off the weak pmi data, up 0.4%. a the nikkei up some 20% it this year, all in line with the policy easing coming from central banks. over in china, the falls were kind of limited because people were starting to say that maybe pmi data is starting, won't help to spur more policy easing and that could be a positive sign for the market. the hang seng a lot of people don't want to push this market too high. aware of the china risk, up 0.2%. he is where, the taiwan weighted index. aussie dollar is in focus, china pmi data drove the aussie dollar to a two month low and that in ht end was positive for the equity markets because people are saying it could mean it could be good for earnings. and the sensex

brent barry an alum watching with a sweep reverse. beavers up by 7 at the half. arizona takes in the second half. kyle 22 points. in the fog, arizona advances to the pac-12 title game. to be more accurate. bill clinton on hand for cincinnati and syracuse with 5.4 seconds left. he was trying to make the freethrow and justin jackson on the other end. cincinnati stuns number two ranked syracuse, 71-68 and somewhere there is a news director in tears. >> despite the worst shooting game of the season, stanford advanced to the title game of pac-12 women's tournament. head coach starting early. arizona state player of the yeek year. she is just tremendous. shanay 12-8 cardinals. and here is one with a smack in the face and hit 24 for nekka. olivia cuts it down to 8. what a move on the baseline and a strong finish. cardinals only shot 29 but they move on 52-43. >> cal trying to advance washington state against stanford. they are not cooperating. here is a dues. lady bears clamping down. the steal, now in front by 1. starting to pull away jennifer brandon, 15 rebounds and

the other item was the brent walker litigated claims. i have noted before with this board, and bill note again, this is yet another settlement for a former employee. i do not know the nature of the claim. i do recall that as one of her final acts as acting director, i believe that ms. johnson approved a change in organizational structure that resulted in eliminating the position that ms. walker was in. i recall seeing an e-mail from last summer. i do not recall the details around this. as i understand it, this person was serving in an at will position, and it is those that will positions that cannot be used for organizational restructuring in a way that one just decides we do not want that person any more. if the city has to pay these kinds of claims in damages for this and other past actions, it has ultimately cost us a lot of money. i would hope that you would look carefully again at these kinds of employee settlements, how much this costs, and what we can do in future to avoid these costs. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> motion to conv

. >> oil brent up 126. nat gas so low. with this mixture are you able to grow a lot this year? because nat gas just seems to go down every day even as oil goes up. >> you know, we've spent -- or set our spending plans for 2012, and we're going to spend about $800 million this year on our growth aspirations here. and a lot of that's going to be spent right here in the u.s. couple of key plays for us. the bakken play in north dakota where we've built out our position there. and we will continue to invest in the marcellus gas shale play in pen. >> how much of the marcellus has to do with contracts you have to fulfill? because that's largely nat gas, isn't it? >> it's dry natural gas, which is a little bit of a tough play right now. if you go back when we got into it, we actually did a structured deal and we had a carry obligation. so we will satisfy the balance of that carry obligation in 2012. so we'll continue to expand to hold the acreage position and add some reserves and production. but in the interests of a longer-term value build through the natural gas. >> in the conferenc

let's go to brent in ohio. >> caller: jim, booyah. >> booyah, brent. >> caller: calling on mga magna, cars flighting off the lot. wondering if that's a win per. >> you bet it is. that was the one i really should have pushed. i mentioned it but that one is just doing terrifically and i'm a buy, buy, buyer right here. bill in delaware. >> caller: hello. >> bill. >> caller: cramer i'm calling from delaware. the stock i'm calling about is ipg met tron iks. they initiated a secondary share offering a couple of days ago that has got me uneasy. >> the secondary's okay but i got to tell you, i was doing a lot of work on j.d. issue and they have a terrific laser issue and i think it's better than jurors. >> jonathan in texas. jonathan. >> caller: i have a dividend question for you, the old environmental, stock symbol is ve, where do you see this company future wise? >> i looked at that and said maybe they're out of the woods but it's just too, too hard for me and i'm not going to buy it, i'm not going to try to think they can get that thing. they still had a very, very big loss, sir. i am not

we've got $125 per barrel brent crude now. how big an impact is that going to have on global growth? >> people who buy oil it will affect them. but it helps a lot of people, canada, the middle east. it helps a lot of countries benefitting when the price of oil goes up. yes, but other people are going to suffer. >> the global economy will be hit, though, it has to be, do you think? >> what you have to do is watch cnn and figure out who's going to benefit and who's going to suffer. that's how you invest. watch you. >> we'll keep getting you back on the show to watch you, jim. always great to have you. >> thank you. >> jim rogers, legendary investor, always good to it get his words of warning and advice. >> it certainly is. i've got a memory like an elephant as well. he certainly told me about the farmers driving the ferraris about four years ago. haven't seen any yet. >>> i'm glad you addressed the issue of oil because we're going to be talking about oil and a controversial process to get it out std ground when we return. >>> so

it's not the natural state of affairs for brent is what he was alluding to. of course he mentioned the volatility and this is one of the discussion points here, jackie. of course, how do you mitigate that volatility? and there are, of course, different ways of going about that. do you bring in more regulation to get under control certain aspects of financial markets, how do you keep speculation under control and reduce the impact of that? and then, of course, brings to the table a completely different conversation, what drives prices of oil. how much of it -- or is it the physical fundamentals and how much is the financial markets so that is another term that will be discussed as well. and then, of course, investment in the industry. you need $1.5 trillion every year according to the iea to ensure that increasing demand around the world can be met. >> okay. and certainly here in the yunitd states we're talking about israel and iran very closely. some saying israel could strike before the november election. what are the powers that be on the ground saying abou