cnbc's challenge to lawmakers to rise above partisan politics, seem compromise and find the solution. the clock is ticking down. the stakes are getting higher. now, we are turning up the pressure. this is a cnbc special report, "mission critical: rise above d.c." >> welcome back to our continuing coverage, mission critical: rise above d.c. we've been here all morning long. while we've been here on capitol hill, we've been talking to lawmakers about rising above gridlock and reaching a real deal on the fiscal cliff. in the last hour we sat down with grover norquist saying no one should strike a bad deal, and that there is no better reason to raise taxes now than there was in the past. he also added he thinks house speaker boehner has been a good leader during the fiscal cliff negotiations. and then we were joined by bob corker and bob conrad. corker said we need to focus

you will see it first here on cnbc. >>> here are investment take aways. fixed income. they feel there is danger in what many people consider a safe play. commodities, they have a long view there in many of those sectors. equities is kind of a global shorg an board, if you will. but they like the u.s. best. and in currencies, blackrock is all about being a dollar bull. so where specifically are they putting all that money to work in light of fiscal cliff? take a listen to what bla blackrock's robert casid 0 to me. he manages the firm's $3.7 trillion in assets. >> does this mean we good over the fiscal cliff. >> it is a very high likelihood it does or 11:59 on december 31st with a lot of hoopla. but tax rate are going to go up. there is a going to be a conclusion to this. even if it waits until the last minute. even if it is in january, what it is going to mean is slow growth. it may mean that we lose the entire first quarter because everybody is still worrying and talking about the issue. and here we go, clients again, investing in a time when they need to be invested.

welcome back to "street signs" everybody on cnbc. there's herballife stock down 14.6%. noted investor shorting this stock according to cnbc's own kate kelly, and right now we're joined by the ceo of herballife michael johnson. he has called in. we do appreciate it. we know it's a tough day. you don't want this kind of news to come out, but you heard what kate is reported and what ackman is claiming. refute his claims or address them, first. >> first of all, guys, this is not about herballife's business mold. this is about bill ackman's business model. this is wrong, totally wrong what's taking place. where is the s.e.c. protecting the individual shareholder right now? this is blatant market manipulation. appears to be another attempt to legally manipulate the market by another group of short sellers. here's what we know. an extraordinary number of puts on our stock were due to expire this friday. we previously learned this activity was pegged at some kind of, quote, significant event. mr. ackman suddenly announces he will make a presentation on herb herb herbalife this

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cnbc chatted with jpmorgan la sards, as well as morgan stan think. there are no plans to raise the margin requirements on apple. of course, investors keeping the watch on -- which would push apple below the 200-day. apple down almost 4%. scott, back to you. >> do you buy this? is this the reason, because of the margin requirements, or is this profit-taking as you near the end of the year. the fact they haven't announced a special dividend? what is it. >> time is starting to run out, but i do think a lot has to do with the records about some of these margin requirements. i think this would be a huge problem for apple. whether or not that's actually true and something that will go through the try is a different question. i haven't seen a reason yet necessarily to buy the stocks. >> steve wise, what do you do with apple? at least it's bounced a bit off that intraday. people throwing around the death cross as well, so everybody seemingly has a reason for why the stock is in trouble today. >> it's so much fun to argue and disagree with him, but i don't th

when "60 minutes" on cnbc returns.tch ticking) ♪ it's so important to make someone happy ♪ when you give a child a toy, it has to work. ♪ make just one someone happy and when it's a toys for tots child, well, what could be more important? so this year, every hasbro toy donated to toys for tots will be powered by duracell. happy holidays. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. duracell with duralock. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. (watch ticking) >> stahl: the ancient wisdom that there's a sucker born every minute has been especially pertinent given the financial disasters of the past few years. so it's time for a short and painless test. are you sometimes just too trust

see you on cnbc 2:00 p.m.rn time. >> number one threat to the economy, what are the top economists saying if we don't reach a deal. steve liesman with results of our cnbc fed survey. what are they saying? >> sue, i'm afraid it's not good news. our survey, they think the probability of recession is going up. most of that is because of fiscal cliff. can you see here the current probability, 28.5% we'll have a recession in the next 12 months. we had a low in march of almost 20%. that compares with a high. remember the debt ceiling debate of 36%. that chance going up. i want to show you in detail what dan greenhouse wrote in with his response in the survey. if the cliff is triggered and the cuts/tax increases remain in place for several weeks or worse, several months, it's hard to construct a scenario where the u.s. economy is not in recession. this is what's interesting here. recovering from that recession is not as simple as fixing the cliff's issues. the u.s. economy is not a light switch. you don't turn it bac

so you can stay with cnbc. we will follow that story. we're also following the market for you, and as i mentioned, michael yoshikomi has been with us all week. we're going to do some analysis. there were some very bold calls on the street. good to see you again, michael. >> good to see you. >> going to start out with jan nghi capitol. starting with oracle. their notes say we believe oracle is the best way to play the current cloud computing trend. what do you think, do you agree? >> i agree with the general call to buy oracle. i think it makes a lot of sense. cloud, there are other ways you can play cloud besides oracle. you can play enc, you can play amazon. i like oracle in terms of a good global name. i think it has great cash flow. >> it's up 7% year to date. better than a full percent. you would still step into it? >> i would. i would. >> let's move on with goldman sachs downgrading exxon mobil to neutral to buy noting as we tip back towards higher beta energy they look for equities over exxon. i think you disagree a little bit with

or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something?ead to madmoney.cnbc.com. [ woman #1 ] i can't believe it's finally here! [ woman #2 ] it's the real deal! [ man #1 ] turn it around! turn it around! [ woman #1 ] over here! over here! [ woman #2 ] turn around! turn around! [ woman #1 ] i love you! i can't believe it's not butter! neither can i. turn the tub around! show us the back! [ man #1 ] turn the tub around! [ female announcer ] with zero grams of trans fat per serving, i can't believe it's not butter is a superstar! ♪ turn the tub around, and become a believer. [ female announcer ] one drop of ultra dawn has twice the everyday grease cleaning ingredients of one drop of the leading non-concentrated brand... to clean 2x more greasy dishes. dawn does more. so it's not a chore. to clean 2x more greasy dishes. i played a round of golf.id in the last five hours? then i read a book while teaching myself how to play guitar; ran ten miles while knitting myself a sweater; jumped out of a plane. finally, i became a ping pong master while

welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm lesley stahl. we'll be exploring the world of science in this episode. later we'll bring you morley safer's story about the human genome patents being awarded to biotech companies and the proprietary control they now have over part of who you are. and then my report on a ubiquitous chemical called phthalates, which is in everything from perfume to children's toys, but which may also be causing birth defects. but first, steve kroft's story on the enormous amount of money being spent to treat people as they approach the end of their lives. how much money? well, in 2009, medicare paid $55 billion for doctor and hospital bills for patients as they approached the last two months of life. to give you some perspective, that's more than the budget for the department of homeland security or the department of education. and as we reported in 2009, most of those bills were paid for by the government with few or no questions asked and with an estimated 30% of the treatments having no meaningful impact. >> ms.

cnbc's phil lebeau joins us with not just a first on cnbc interview but another first on cnbc interview >> phil? >> thanks, andrew. we are joined by mark reuss the president of gm north america joining us from detroit, where in a little bit they're going to be showing the new chevy civil aud dough and gmc sierra. i know we're going to get a bit of a sneak peek first. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you very much, phil. it's great to be here. two new trucks. just very exciting. >> we've got a lot to cover. i know you want to give us at least a sneak peek. is this the silverado we're going to show you the front end of? >> i don't want to ruin the surprise for anybody else in pontiac. there are a lot of people here, some show biz here today, too. i am going to give you a little bit of a sneak peek. so here we go. >> and tell us what stands out here? >> the beginning of the reveal. >> what stands out to you with the redesign? >> i think the redesign, phil, is really, it's a gorgeous truck. this is going to be use ten tashs. it's going to be highly engineered. highly thought out

. >> welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm lesley stahl. investors always hope to be on the ground floor of the next big thing. that's why venture capitalists risk fortunes developing new inventions and new products that sometimes transform how people live. we begin with snus. with cigarette sales falling, the smoking industry is going smokeless, introducing new tobacco products such as snus that are nothing like your granddaddy's chew or dip. companies like r.j. reynolds and phillip morris say this new generation of smokeless products helps tide smokers over when they go places they can't light up anymore because of smoking bans, like restaurants and offices. the smoking rate is half what it was 40 years ago. and as i discovered in april 2010, companies are investing heavily in developing smokeless and in changing its image from hillbilly to hip. think smokeless tobacco, and you probably conjure up something distinctly unappealing: a bulging mouthful of wet, brown goo that's smelly and spitty... [spitting sounds] brown and drooly. not anym

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>> more madoff when 60 minutes on cnbc returns. [ticking] [ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. >> the basic concept of wall street... >> andrew madoff says he thought his father was a financial genius. there were suspicions about bernie madoff's remarkably consistent returns, but the s.e.c. repeatedly cleared him of any wrongdoing. what troubled andrew was his father's refusal to discuss any plans for a succession. >> his plan was that he had no plan. and he would say that when he dies, his end of the business dies. and again, it was always the same response, "that's the way it is, and it's not gonna change." >> in the fal

>> no. >> that's ahead when 60 minutes on cnbc returns.ing] [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios what starts with adding a friend... ♪ ...could end with adding a close friend. the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection. you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our supp

eastern time here on cnbc. here's the second hour of "the closing bell" now with my dear friend maria bartiromo. i'll see you tomorrow. >>> and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to "the closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. stock prices on wall street modestly higher today i did spite no sign of a deal on the fiscal cliff. take a look how we're settling out this thursday afternoon on wall street. the industrial average at 13,074. the s&p up just a fraction. will the markets get a boost from another cash infusion? ben pace says he's expecting the federal reserve to announce another round of stimulus at the meeting next week. is that what the markets really want right now? ben pace joins me along with chris heize and rick santelli. ben, let's talk fed policy. you think the fed announces qe-4 next week? >> i think it's the fact the twist operation is ending at the ends of the year, and they don't feel compelled to incre

thank you. >> cnbc's coverage begins 12:15 p.m. >>> still to come on "squawk box," we will hear from the ceos of two iconic companies and michael dell the ceo of the company that bears his name and jamie dimon, chairman and ceo of jpmorgan. his company is rated highest among the big banks. why are we playing norah jones? robbie shankar's daughter. >> come on! >> he passed away. according to the satisfaction index, that's where jami is. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and

. >> welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm bob simon. in this edition, we look at the life of tech titan steve jobs, the cofounder of apple, and we also examine the unexpected impact that one of his inventions, the ipad, is having on children and parents living with autism. in 2004, jobs asked walter isaacson, a former editor of time magazine, if he would write his biography. isaacson thought the request premature since jobs was still a young man. what he didn't know at the time, and only a few people did, was that jobs was about to undergo surgery for pancreatic cancer and was feeling his mortality. in 2009, with jobs already gravely ill, isaacson began the first of more than 40 interviews with him, the last being conducted a few weeks before his death. as steve kroft first reported in october 2011, the result was the best-selling book of the year. >> when walter isaacson first began working on the book-- which is published by simon & schuster, a division of cbs--steve jobs' wife, laurene powell, told him, "be honest with his failings a

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. >> welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm morley safer. in this edition, we look at the hard times faced by millions of americans during the economic downturn. we begin with american families falling out of the middle class. the combination of lost jobs and millions of foreclosures at the end of the first decade of the 21st century saw a lot of families homeless and hungry for the first time in their lives, and as scott pelley reported in march of 2011, one of the most disturbing consequences of the recession was the record number of children descending into poverty, the largest american generation to be raised in hard times since the great depression. >> in seminole county, near orlando, florida, so many kids have lost their homes, school buses now stop at dozens of cheap motels where families crowd into rooms, living week to week. 11-year-old destiny corfee joined the line at this motel. >> i never really noticed what people were actually going through until now. until we're actually going through it too. >> david and theresa corfee neve

first we want to show you results of our december cnbc all-america survey.ed about the fiscal cliff. the first thing we wanted to establish is do people know about this thing? we looked at some of the other times we've asked this. what we'll see right here is other situations where they knew it, where other main stories that were out there. for example, the trayvon martin shooting. 91% of americans knew about that. occupy wall street, 80%. going forward what you have here, facebook, 72%. all the way down to 70%. you can look at this a couple ways. here's the greek financial crisis. 30% of the public not really paying attention to. inside that 70% number, 36% have know a lot about it. we'll compare with other stuff we asked last time about when they had a debt -- big deficit debate. we find first, 17% back in november thought congress and the administration could come to a deal. now 44% say it is unlikely. current results -- 48%. put those two blue columns together. 48% to 44% is that a solution is likely. let's come over on this side and look at who believes

a cnbc exclusive. >>> would you get a mortgage from that girl? no, from walmart. a lot of people say they would. what's that all about? we're going to run it down later on "power lunch." >>> we start with my partner sue herera in the center of the action downtown at the nyse. >> stocks are slightly lower right now despite those fiscal cliff anxieties. they've been pretty steady throughout the day. the s&p 500 broke above its 50-day moving average, believe it or not. earlier in the day it's backed off a little bit. economic news and new data shows u.s. manufacturing falling to its lowest level in three years. and there is a little nervousness about the president taking to twitter at 2:00 p.m. eastern time to talk about the fiscal cliff negotiations that are going on. but it is the first trading day of the month and some on wall street are getting bullish for year end. it is going to be a december to remember, i predict it. >> i think this is one of the reasons we're holding up so well, because december is the best month of the year and we roll into january which is

call 1-800-743-cnbc. in the face of crushing declines and a glorious rally and even sometimes plain jane garden variety days in this market, there's a "mad money" toolbox to help you through and to help you become a better and wealthier investor. tonight i'm cracking it open, so listen up! if you're going to manage your own money, you have to recognize the value of maybe one of the most important issues out there, the value of humility, so, please, repeat after me. sometimes, i'm going to be wrong. come on, say it. sometimes, i'm going to be surprised, and one more. sometimes my stock picks just won't work out. look, i of all people understand that humility doesn't come naturally to everyone but staying umble is important y.? other than greed nothing has cost more people more money than arrogance. if you own stocks, you have to accept the fact that you're going to be wrong perhaps even often. as the past three years have taught you painfully -- >> the house of pain. >> -- your portfolio will get hit with

. >> welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm steve kroft. by some estimates, gambling in this country is a nearly $100-billion industry. it attracts everyone from flamboyant businessmen to nefarious conmen. while the odds are heavily stacked against them, for millions of americans, gambling remains enormously popular, even in these hard economic times. in this episode, charlie rose will profile steve wynn, who many credit with the resurgence of the las vegas strip. and later, lesley stahl will take us to the world of internet gambling, which is against the law, yet is thriving in this country. but first, my report about one of the biggest scandals in the history of online gambling. a small group of people managed to cheat players out of more than $20 million, and it would have gone undetected if it hadn't been for the players themselves, who used the internet to root out the corruption. as a joint investigation by 60 minutes and the washington post revealed in 2008, it raises new questions about the integrity and security of the shadowy and

he tells cnbc he feels a responsibility to run. >> feel the need to return to the political arena to prevent the country from being delivered into the hands of a leftist party. >> and the crowds are out, the stores are ringing up those sales, but u.s. shoppers may be running low on holiday spirit. and analysts say that they're spending less, as well. hi, everybody. welcome. merry christmas out there. thank you for joining us here on the show. what we're looking at today, we've got slightly quiet markets ahead of the u.s. open. what we're seeing, though, that all the markets are being called lower across the board stateside. the dow is being called a bit lower, nasdaq is being called a bit lower and the s&p 500 being called down by a bybit, as well. we saw markets coming off on friday stateside. pretty significant drops, as well, given that we now seem to be a clashing of heads between the republicans and the democrats in regards to moving forward on the fiscal cliff issue. it does seems as though they're running into logger heads here slowly before the last couple of days before the

tune in to cnbc this sunday night. yep, we're working the weekend at cnbc, 8:00 p.m. eastern time for a cnbc special report "america's economy held hostage" because remember house of represent representatives called back into session sunday night. don't be too depressed. we did get good news today and it was important. a major strike that could have crippled the economy was at least delayed. we'll have those details coming up. she knows you like no one else. and you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressu

this is a cnbc special report. "mission critical: rise above dc." >> welcome to the second half of our special all day coverage "mission critical: rise above dc." we are in washington holding lawmakers' feet to the fire on the fiscal cliff. it had been quite a busy morning. here's what we now know. we're expecting house speaker boehner to give us an update on the fiscal cliff negotiations at any minute. in have been sberp rating the previous silence from the administration and speaker's office as a good sign real progress was being made. from what we have heard from our guests so far this morning there's a general sense of optimism a deal will be reached. perhaps not in a forum that's widely expected. that optimism seemingly reflected in the markets. we are up more than 100 point ossen the dow. >> i'm maria bartiromo along with brian sullivan. representative patrick mchenry, republican from north carolina. good to have you on the program. thanks for joining us. let's talk about where we are. what would you say? whe

or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com. [ male announcer ] this december, remember --

welcome back to "squawk box" on cnbc.along with joe kernen and steve liesman who is in for andrew ross sork been. the futures are weaker this morning. the dow futures only down 15 points right now so they've shown some improvement. s&p futures down 1 1/2 points. investors focused on the november jobs report which is out 90 minutes from now. the dow jones forecast is calling for 80,000 new nonfarm jobs for november with the unemployment rate remaining at 7.9%. reuters is expecting 93,000 jobs. >>> there's no deal to resolve the fiscal cliff but there are indications of inside-the-scenes talk. the white house told reporters that lines of communication remain open not sure exactly what that means but a spokesman for house speaker john boehner used a similar phrase. maybe that means call me? i don't know. analysts say there are some suggestions that there's real progress that can be made. >>> a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit the northeastern coast of japan this morning, the same area as the devastating march 2011 quake. but the

we are doing that with an exclusive calculation run by cnbc by lending tree. who gets the most category? taking into account mortgage size and income. borrows in hawaii and washington, d.c. get the greatest benefit. from 3 to 5%.

. >> welcome to 60 minutes on cnbc. i'm bob simon. in this edition, we examine two very different kinds of fraud. bernie madoff's wife and surviving son break their silence about wall street's most infamous criminal. and later, we visit a high school con man who figured the best way to make the grade was to cheat the s.a.t.s but first, in december 2008, bernie madoff confessed to running a $65-billion ponzi scheme, the largest financial fraud in history. while madoff is serving 150 years in prison, his family had to deal with the consequences of his crimes. his wife ruth divested of most of her great wealth and derided by a suspicious world. their son mark dead, driven to suicide by shame and accusations of guilt. their other son andrew isolated, trying to live with the disgrace. are they innocent or willing partners? in october of 2011, ruth and andrew gave their first interview since bernie madoff's arrest. they sat down with morley safer to speak out about crime, punishment, and the shame of being a madoff. >> it's a tough name to

cnbc's melissa lee.erything was going fine until i can only assume the nbc peacock got a little fiesty off camera. >> they either have to raise taxes or cut some other spending. that forces the congress to think about the mix between taxes, spending outside of the entitlements and spending on the entitlements. that's just not something that our framers thought about because we didn't have a welfare state in those days. >> first of all, i love how he continued on, making his points. that, ali velshi, is what you call a pro. second of all, you will not see cnn guests running into that problem. that's right, we do not waste our money on fancy, dangerous signs for our remote locations. all david gergen needs is some lip gloss and a lava lamp and he's good to go. that being said, cnn anchors have actually encountered some onset mishaps, and it turns out it is a global problem. [ speaking foreign language ] >> loosely translated, that was damn you, wolf blitzer. of course there are a lot of potential hazards f

. >> in fairness -- >> cnbc said it many times after the deal. >> just reporting why the stock is down today. >> it's interesting. its stock did move up.

we're watching the markets very closely all day here on cnbc and for that picture i've heard of judy garland. i've never heard of mika in garland. but it is not bad. not bad. >> all right. brian, thank you so much. >> happy holidays. >> have a merry christmas. happy holidays. "morning joe" will be right back. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. at usaa, we know military life is different. we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help.

with us now from the new york stock exchange, we have cnbc's mary thompson.good to have you on this morning. first of all, how's wall street? i mean, we're preparing for whatever the reaction might be to whatever the pitiful little plan that might happen today is. >> you know, right now what we're setting up for is probably a lower open here on wall street. if you look at how the markets reacted over the last five sessions, they've had a five-session losing streak, so it looks like we could be on track for a sixth. what this reflects is the growing expectations, obviously, that a grand bargain on the fiscal cliff won't be reached. now, there still remains some hope here on wall street that maybe a band-aid measure will be reached by day's end. nevertheless, a number of traders told me, they say you know, even if we go over the cliff, they'll probably do a short-term fix at least in the early days of 2013. the problem is is that they don't expect the uncertainty that overshadows how we are going to address the long-term deficit issues here in the u.s. they exp

welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen. andrew ross sorkin is out today. he'll be back tomorrow. president obama and speaker boehner are not commenting about their meeting yesterday, but me members of the parties are continuing the public debate about taxes, spending and the fiscal cliff. republicans want a melt on xwiemtment and tax reform from the president. democrats insist this will not happen until the gop agrees on a tax hike. senator dick durbin saying no deal on the debt without a tax hike of the wealthy. >> i can't tell you, i don't want to do it, the president doesn't want to do it, but we need to solve the problem been we cannot allow the reckless position to drive this economy into another recession. >> some suggesting that it might be better to cave to the president now on taxes and keep up the fight on spending. >> if we were to pass, for instance, raising the top two rate and that's it, all of a sudden we do have the leverage of the debt ceiling and we haven't given that up. >> meantime, one influential

we updated that on twitter at cnbc options.hen the other day on the weakness i turned it into a vertical. now i own the put spread for less than 20% of the width of the spread. let me tell you what i'm hoping to happen. the stock closed a little below 97. i want the stock to go to 95. i want a nice profit in it. i want to take it off before the earnings event and move on. if there's any good data or commentary about chinese sales, stocks going up towards 100. >> is that what you would do? >> one way you could conceivably take a look at a bearish bet might be to sell a call spread on it. so you're looking to collect some of the premium after the event takes place. i agree wholeheartedly and also agree with the bearish action on nike. >>> a reminder as we head to break, be sure to follow us on twitter. if you're on facebook, stay posted throughout the week at facebook.com/optionsaction. >>> the phone lines across america are burning up. right after the break you make the call. we are taking your calls live. if you want to partici

big headlines here on cnbc, and let's wrap it up with this. it is time that things that make you go hmm, and today's story is really out of this world. actress kate winslet is reportedly headed to space courtesy of richard branson. winslet recently married branson's nephew, and you may remember last year winslet rescued branson's mother while on vacation. virgin galactic is going to launch flights. other celebrities on board ashton kutcher. no idea if she will hang out of the front of the spacecraft and say i'm king of the world. my mind is blown. mandy drury and bill griffith are up next. have a great weekend. >>> welcome to "closing bell," everybody. very important hour right now. over at white house lots of things going on. we'll keep you updated as it all happens. i'm mandy drury sitting in for maria bartiromo. >> i'm bill griffith. we're just three days away from the new year. still no fix on the fiscal cliff, but there are developments right now, as you know. brian just mentioning there. various congressional leaders and the president ge

. >> ceo of destination wealth management and cnbc contributor. always good to see you, michael. >> good to see you. >> you believe we will get the ultimate issue. how do you work with that backdrop? >> you need to invest on the i sumgs, in my view, that there is some sort of deal but don't go all in. you have to hedge your bets. people's net worth are at stake. >> absolutely. >> so you invest in cash oriented assets. yes, dividend stocks, even though they get hit because of tax increases. maybe buy gold. you look at companies that have tail wind. companies like costco for example with an economic tail wind. in other words, we all have less money so maybe we are shop awning a discounted basis. and a company like qualcomm. capitalize on what is happening with tablets and smart phones. >> what is your assumption about where capital gains tax rates will end up in 2013 and dividend tax rates and what are you doing between now and year end to take advantage of that presumed gap? >> our assumption is capital gains rates will go up. they probably will go

don't forget cnbc has extended coverage today in europe for that bank of england rate decision. that's at 12:00 london time. >>> apple mad its worst stock drop in four years and we see their market share in china declining, as well. is this reason for investors to lose their appetite for the tech darling. having you ship my gifts couldn't be easier. well, having a ton of locations doesn't hurt. and a santa to boot! [ chuckles ] right, baby. oh, sir. that is a customer. oh...sorry about that. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. fedex office. yep. the longer you stay with us, the more you save. and when you switch from another company to us, we even reward you for the time you spent there. genius. yeah, genius. you guys must have your own loyalty program, right? well, we have something. show her, tom. huh? you should see november! oh, yeah? giving you more. now that's progressive. call or click today. >>> timothy geithner says the white house is ready to go over the fiscal cliff if tax rates on the wealthiest don't rise. investors looking for ecb guidance when draghi

man, i'm glad you're a cnbc contributor? make me feel bad about myself. >> what? you're taking this -- don't cry. >>> have very low self-esteem. >> huge ego but low self-esteem. >> a wicked combo. >> usually ends up in a 12-step program. >>> universal "les miserables" was the top movie. that's good. >> i thought you were going. >>> will see that one of these day, a movie that opens on christmas day, stars hugh jackm jackman, anne hathaway, and russell crowe, took in $17 million in ticket sales above industry projections and the second best christmas day opening ever. apparently only sherlock holmes that came out on christmas three years ago and quentin tarantino's django got a lot of pre-opening controversy. i like quentin tarantino, a lot of controversial issues. >> the s&p index is down after its loss in 2008. money invested in commodity funds is up 86%. lang joins us with more on what we're calling the great commodity correction. >> we can call that. despite the index is looking to be down next year, we saw a lot of stron

he's up in new york and joins us first on cnbc. mr.ood to see you as always. >> good to be here, scott. >> this seems to be a pattern that's developing. hsbc avoids prosecution, deferred prosecution, keep their act clean, pay a fine and they move on. it's a big fine but all of about six weeks worth of revenue for this country. are you comfortable with the way this is playing out? >> scott, this is a very, very historic resolution. hsbc is not simply walking by and shaking its hands and saying we're done. they are being held accountable in a way that's almost never been done before. first the entire management in leadership involved at the time these crimes or this conduct because going on is completely gone. their compliance program has been increased dramatically. whether they had 70 or 80 people doing this kind of work, they have over 800 people, probably a couple dozen consultants, now they have probably 250 or 300. for the first time ever, a foreign financial institution is going to have a monitor. that monitor is going to be invol