. >> then simply, the federal reserve's open market committee released its statement from the previous month's meeting. and said that the tapering of purchases could come as early as june. that spooked the markets, which sold off big-time on wednesday, and recovered on thursday, in spite of a huge decline overseas in japan. the markets were mixed on friday. retailers were in the earnings spotlight this week. staples and lows fell short of analyst expectations, while home depot and technology giant hp beat expectations. hewlett-packard shares up 12% on that news. yahoo! opened up its wallet and buying tumblr for $1.1 billion. tumblr's founder and ceo david carp, who is 26-year-old and a high school drop-out walked away with about $200 million. he said the deal made long-term sense, and it would keep tumblr independent. >> the structure, the organization, the company that we're building, for me it's been about the mission. and this is an incredible opportunity to serve that mission for a long time. >> ben bernanke and the federal reserve's open market committee had a lot to say this week

everywhere financial markets are becoming too buoyant according to some members of the federal open market committee as expressed in today's at the mc minutes it seems junk bonds are on the rise as investors are chasing yields beyond the zero point two percent offered by their local banks but wasn't that the point mr chairman careful what you wish for and speaking of chairman bernanke you spoke today in front of congress it didn't take much to move the market when he softball the possibility of so-called tapering later in the year this would be the much anticipated wind down of quantitative easing and the final act of coogee for the day was a john hilton raft the fed spokesman wall street journal reporter it did a one hundred eighty from his prior views just a couple weeks ago previously you said the fed had mapped out a strategy for the mystical tapering process well today you simply stated the process will not be predictable great job after twelve speech is one major f o m c release and at the w.s.j. planted story the markets are thoroughly confused and finally after tempos testimony on the hill y

. >> then separately, the federal reserve's open market committee released its statement from the previous month's meeting and said that the tapering of purchases could come as early as june. that spooked the markets which sold off big time on wednesday and recovered on thursday in spite of a huge decline overseas in japan. the markets were mixed on friday. retailers were in the earnings spotlight this week. staples and lowe's fell short of analyst expectations while home depot, builder toll brothers and technology giant hp beat expe expectati expectations. the internet giant buying blogging site tumblr for $1.1 billion. tumblr's founder and ceo david karp who is 26 years old and a high school dropout walked away with about $200 million. he said the deal made long-term sense and it would keep tumblr independent. >> the structure -- the organization, the company that we're building for me has been about the mission and this is an incredible opportunity to serve that mission for a long time. >> ben bernanke and the federal reserve's open market committee had a lot to say this week and to put

. >> the federal reserve's open market committee will meet today. starting today, the smithsonian will close some exhibits due to the sequestratiosequestration. the exhibits will be closed at least until september 30th. >> we are following a story out of pakistan. also ahead nothing sweet about it. what is sneak heing it way into the food that is we eat. >> plus after speeding into a curve without knowing what was >>> we put a link to this on facebook page. nobody was seriously hurt. amazing to see that happening. took the turn too quickly. down near 50 degrees. near 70 light northeast breeze. chilly tonight. back down to the 50s by midnight. weekend forecast in ten minutes here is a look at traffic. this is choppier on the way down to i-95 southbound. as you are traveling northbound i-95 accident there allowing just the right shoulder lane to get by. we are seeing delays in stafford. only the right shoulder lane is getting by. netflix customers listen up. >> also ahead. think our weather switching to progressive could mean hundreds more in your wal

thanks so much for joining me so exciting things happening today the kind of yeah well the federal open market committee released their announcement today said the labor markets have shown improvement some improvement there preparing to encrease or reduce purchase a hits so what does that mean they're going both ways you know they like to do that they don't like to scare the markets too much so what they've done here ben bernanke and some of the other governors and epilepsy voting members have hinted that they're going to finally raise interest rates we're going into your five near zero interest rate policy but they might do it by the end of the year so this little sentence series but inserted into their announcement which comes out about every six weeks and so we might see interest rates rising later in the year and that has tremendous consequences for the markets and that's one of the things that we're going to be covering here of course while i have great news for you ok i know how much you love the fed ok you can now live at the fed and where is this antenna thing the downtown fed building a private

everywhere financial markets are becoming too buoyant according to some members of the federal open market committee as expressed in today's at the mc minutes it seems junk bonds are on the rise as investors are chasing yields beyond the zero point two percent offered by their local banks but wasn't that the point mr chairman careful what you wish for and speaking of chairman bernanke you spoke today in front of congress it didn't take much to move the market when he softball the possibility of so-called tapering later in the year this would be the much anticipated wind down of quantitative easing and the final act of kuki for the day was a john hilton raspiness the fed spokesman wall street journal reporter it did a one hundred eighty from his prior views just a couple weeks ago previously you said the fed had mapped out a strategy for the mystical tapering process well today you simply stated the process will not be predictable great job fed after twelve speech is one major f o m c released and at the w.s.j. planted story the markets are thoroughly confused and finally after tempo's testimony on t

thanks so much for joining me so exciting things happening today the kind of yeah well the federal open market committee released their announcement they said the labor market has show improvement some improvement there preparing to encrease or reduce or just say his so what does that mean they're going both ways you know they like to do that they don't like to scare the markets too much so what they've done here ben bernanke and some of the other governors and epilepsy voting members have hinted that they're going to finally raise interest rates we're going to year five of near zero interest rate policy but they might do it by the end of the year so this little sentence here is been inserted into their announcement which comes out about every six weeks and so we might see interest rates rising later in the year and that has tremendous consequences for the markets and that's one of the things that we're going to be covering here of course well i have great news for you ok i know how much you love the fed ok you can now live at the fed and where is this antenna thing the downtown fed building a private r

everywhere financial markets are becoming too buoyant according to some members of the federal open market committee as expressed in today's at the mc minutes it seems junk bonds are on the rise as investors are chasing yields beyond the zero point two percent offered by their local banks but wasn't that the point mr chairman careful what you wish for and speaking of chairman bernanke spoke today in front of congress it didn't take much to move the market when he softball the possibility of so-called tapering later in the year this would be the much anticipated wind down of quantitative easing and the fine.

thanks so much for joining me so exciting things happening today the kind of yeah well the federal open market committee released their announcement they said the labor market has shown improvement some improvement there preparing to encrease or reduce purchase a hits so what does that mean they're going both ways you know they like to do that they don't like to scare the markets too much so what they've done here ben bernanke and some of the other governors and the voting members have hinted that they're going to finally raise interest rates we're going to year five of near zero interest rate policy but they might do it by the end of the year so this little sentence syria's been inserted into their announcement which comes out about every six weeks and so we might see interest rates rising later in the year and that has tremendous consequences for the markets and that's one of the things that we're going to be covering here of course well i have great news for you ok i know how much you love the fed ok you can now live at the fed and where is this antenna thing the downtown fed building a private retai

president of the boston fed exactly eric rosengren is currently a voting member of the federal open market committee or a forum see the regional food bank presidents wrote. as voting members so there are five voting and five non-voting alternatives in any given year and new york by the way is a permanent voting member because they're the ones who are actually doing all the fed's buying and selling of bonds anyways back to eric rosengren he's been a career boston fed up for a beginning in one thousand nine hundred five and to his voting record we were unable to find a single instance of him voting against a monetary easing not once. over two thousand and seven rosengren made a financial presentation to the f o m c this was the dow and the s. and p. five hundred actually set their high before the market collapsed in two thousand and eight he said in fact our forecast for residential investment has become sufficiently bleak and that there may actually be some upside rest to it so where's the attendees. according to the reports that we got this wasn't long after bernanke he himself was still talking up

because they think the fed is going to keep doing it based on the last minutes of the federal open market committee and speeches by various fed officials i think it's possible we might see short term interest rates rise towards the end of this year what do you think. to be the net effect of that was that the economy can't handle it for a number of reasons the banking system can't handle a big increase and raids the mortgage market the housing market can't handle an increase in mortgage rates the us government can't handle the increase in interest rates because it doesn't have the money to make the payments i mean look at all the pain that we have because of the sequester which were tiny tiny reductions in the rate of increase in government spending can you imagine if short term interest rates rose just a little bit and the government needed an extra one hundred billion or two or three hundred billion a year just to pay the the added interest on the national debt i mean i would not be a real disaster that's going to happen eventually but i don't think there's any way the fed is this going to allow t

because they think the fed is going to keep doing it based on the last minutes of the federal open market committee and speeches by various fed officials i think it's possible we might see short term interest rates rise towards the end of this year what do you think are going to be the net effects of that was that the economy can't handle it for a number of reasons the banking system can't handle a big increase and rates the mortgage market the housing market can handle an increase in mortgage rates the u.s. government can't handle the increase in. interest rates because it doesn't have the money to make the payments i mean look at all the pain that we have because of the sequester which were tiny tiny reductions in the rate of increase in government spending can you imagine if short term interest rates rose just a little bit and the government needed an extra one hundred billion or two or three hundred billion a year just to pay the the added interest on the national debt i mean i may not be a real disaster that's going to happen eventually but i don't think there's any way the fed is this going t

everywhere financial markets are becoming too buoyant according to some members of the federal open market committee as expressed in today's at the mc minutes it seems junk bonds are on the rise as investors are chasing yields beyond the zero point two percent offered by their local banks but wasn't that the point mr chairman careful what you wish for and speaking of chairman bernanke you spoke today in front of congress it didn't take much to move the market when he softball the possibility of so-called tapering later in the year this would be the much anticipated wind down of quantitative easing and the final act of coogee for the day was a john hilton raspiness the fed spokesman wall street journal reporter it did a one hundred eighty from his prior views just a couple weeks ago previously you said the fed had mapped out a strategy for the mystical tapering process well today you simply stated the process will not be predictable great job fed after twelve speeches one major f o m c really used and at the w.s.j. planted story the markets are thoroughly confused and finally after temko is testimony

because they think the fed is going to keep doing it based on the last minutes of the federal open market committee and speeches by various fed officials i think it's possible we might see short term interest rates rise towards the end of this year what do you think are going to be the net effects of that was that the economy can't handle it for a number of reasons the banking system can't handle a big increase and raids the mortgage market the housing market can handle an increase in mortgage rates the u.s. government can't handle the increase in interest rates because it doesn't have the money. me to make the payments i mean look at all the pain that we have because of the sequester which were tiny tiny reductions in the rate of increase in government spending can you imagine if short term interest rates rose just a little bit and the government needed an extra one hundred billion or two or three hundred billion a year just to pay the the added interest on the national debt i mean i may not be a real disaster that's going to happen eventually but i don't think there's any way the fed is this goin

. >>> the federal open markets committee wraps its two-day meeting today. economy not growing as quickly as hoped. we saw that in recent gdp numbers. inflation certainly not an issue. it's not impossible. the fomc will announce further strong action to try to jump start the economy. the committee in charge of such things will hold a hearing about the use of twitter on financial markets. u.s. commodities trading commission responding to the report by the associated press saying there was an explosion at the white house. of course, there was not. ap says they were the victim of a hack. traders have instant access to twitter on their phones and also in their bloomberg terminals these days as well. the ctfc says we need to take a closer look at this. >> and how reactive things can happen. >> intriguing to watch how that pans out. 5:55. the weather outside has been very nice. christina loren telling us the wind is blowing hard. >> it is. the wind is pumping out there. we've got this dry heat. as a result that red flag warning stands for elevations above 1,000 fe

ben bernanke hinted that the federal open market committee won't keep buying debt forever.was speaking before congress where he said pretty explicitly, it is mostly the government's fault that is holding the economy back. what economists want to see is a strong stock market, a strong economy as well. those aren't the same thing, remember. the economy is people trading money back and forth. if all of us are saving because we are uncertain or nervous about jobs or under water on our houses like john was talking about, well, that's going to be a big problem. with all that in mind, let's check in with seema mody. she is live at cnbc world headquarters. good morning. >>> good morning, scott. as you pointed out, futures are sharply lower after stocks fell on wednesday on comments by fed chairman, ben bernanke suggesting that they could start tapering the economic stimulus programs. it is a sea of red when you take a look at the global hamarket picture. japan's nikkei index, take a look. dropping 7%, the biggest decline in two years. in terms of other data that the traders will re

thanks so much for joining me so exciting things happening today the kind of yeah well the federal open market committee released their announcement they said the labor markets have shown improvement some improvement there preparing to encrease or reduce purchase to his so what does that mean they're going both ways you know they like to do that they don't like to scare the markets too much so what they've done here ben bernanke and some of the other governors and epilepsy voting members have hinted that they're going to finally raise interest rates we're going to year five of near zero interest rate policy but they might do it by the end of the year so this little sentence here is been inserted into their announcement which comes out about every six weeks and so we might see interest rates rising later in the year and that has tremendous consequences for the markets and that's one of the things that we're going to be covering here of course while i have great news for you ok i know how much you love the fed ok you can now live at the fed and where is this antenna thing the downtown fed building a priva

everywhere financial markets are becoming too buoyant according to some members of the federal open market committee as expressed in today's at the mc minutes it seems junk bonds are on the rise as investors are chasing yields beyond the zero point two percent offered by their local banks but wasn't that the point mr chairman careful what you wish for and speaking of chairman bernanke you spoke today in front of congress it didn't take much to move the market when he softball the possibility of so-called tapering later in the year this would be the much anticipated wind down of quantitative easing and the final act of coogee for the day was a john hilton around.

. >> we heard a lot of the nonvoting members of the federal open market committee. individuals. 12 people have the votes. ones speaking this week, they didn't have the votes. they're nonvoting members. what they're saying it may be important but not necessarily will shape policy for the rest of this year. i think there is plenty of party left in this fed. tracy: you look at housing starts, if rates start inching up they might even buy more, right? >> actually i think that's what we're going to see, if we see mortgage rates beginning to go higher, which they already have moved higher week on week, that if the fed is going to take credit for somehow stimulating this housing recovery, they're going to have to take responsibility for keeping mortgage rates low. i think that probably by look at whether or not mortgage rates have moved up higher and if that is going to serve as a damper on the housing market, they might intervene and purchase more mortgage-backed securities. tracy: in your notes, you wrote, the stock market depends on corporate profits. i get that. that i

again expanding the latest fed stimulus, currently one of the nonvoting members of the federal open market committeeld be all talk and may not really have a huge impact anyway. carol. >> alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. >>> up next, a grayer and much heavier o.j. simpson returns to court more than four years after his robbery and assault conviction, hoping goat a new trial. anncr: and many of the tornado's victims are... without homes tonight. girl: first, i saw it on cable. then i read about it online. i found out how to help. i downloaded the info. i spoke up... and told my friends... and they told their friends... and together, we made a difference. anncr: and tornado relief has been pouring in from... across the country. girl: we might be hundreds of miles apart... but because we're connected, it's like we're all neighbors. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military mem

. >>> the federal reserve's open market committee is meeting today and will decide in the next two days whether to raise interest rates. most economists expect the fed to keep its main rate where it is and until the unemployment rate drops a little lower. >>> right now, some museum exhibits are closed for the summer because of sequestration. the smithsonian must reduce the budget for $42 million as part of congress' across the board budget cuts. closures include the smithsonian common room, african mosaic art gallery. the exhibits will be closed from now until september 30. you can absolutely start making your fourth of july plans right now. fireworks show on the national mall will go on. the show was in jeopardy because of the federal budget problems. national park service is doing hiring freezes, delaying maintenance, making other changes to be sure that the $250,000 fireworks show goes off without a hitch. >> you can check out some of the relics from george w. bush's presidency starting today. the george w. bush presidential center opens to the public down in dallas. the library and

this monitoring informs the policy decisions of both the federal reserve board and the federal open market committees our work with other agencies. >> the step-up in our monitoring is motivated importantly by a shift in financial regulation and supervision toward a more macro systemic approach, with the microprudential perspective focused on mainly on the help of individual institutions and markets. in the spirit of this more systemic approach to oversight the dodd frank act created the oversight council known as fsoc comprised of regulatory agencies. the fsoc has fostered greater interaction among agencies as well as a sense of common responsibility for overall financial stability. council members regularly discuss risk to the financial stability and produce an annual report which reviews potential risks and recommends ways to mitigate them. in fact, we just put out that report just very recently. the federal reserve's broad-based monitory efforts have developed important collaboration with other fsoc members. ongoing monitoring of the financial system is vital to the macro prudential approach to t

also chairman of the federal open market committee. dr. bernanke was chairman of the council of economic advisers and previously served the federal reserve system is a member of the board of governors and the academic advisory panel has a distinguished teaching and educational career. i welcome chairman bernanke and look forward to your testimony. you're recognized, sir. >> chairman brady, vice chair klobuchar, i appreciate this opportunity to discuss the economic outlook and policy. economic growth has continued at a moderate pace so far this year. real gdp is estimated to have risen at an annual rate of 2.5% in the first quarter after increasing during 2012. economic growth was supported by continuing expansion in demand by u.s. households which was announced that the drive from government spending especially defense spending. conditions in the job market have shown improvement recently. the unemployment rate is 7.5% in april has declined more than 1.5 percentage points since last summer. gains in payroll employment have averaged more th

. >>> the federal reserve will continue purchasing $85 billion a month, meanwhile, of treasury securities in mortgages. it says the open market committee also hinted it may vary the size of its monthly purchases depending on whether the job market improves. they could increase it or decrease it, they said. the european central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record half of a percent. that was a record low to boost the struggling economy in europe. >>> and the oracle of omaha is now a tweeter. warren buffett, third richest person in the world, has officially joined twitter. his first tweet on thursday said "warren is in the house." >>> plus, the sequester budget cuts. everybody is talking about them. but are they one of the reasons that we are seeing weak gdp numbers? this week i spoke to the republican house majority leader eric cantor about the sequester's impact on the american economy and washington's reaction. >> the sequester in terms of across the board cuts, i don't think anybody chooses that way to go with spending. but over and again, the house has tried to get the president to try to come along and join us with cuts

we fully expect the federal reserve to pull away from its bond-buying program soon and will parse every word from its open market committee statement tomorrow, looking for clues about how all of this must end. and, of course, we dismissed any of the possibilities that mayday may not be a combination of a communist holiday and call to abandon ship. yes, they have doubted all the way up. if you so much as say a good thing about this market and the next couple days it goes down, you will be lambasted in a thousand different venues, especially @jimcramer on twitter. here's the bottom line. in a world where you can get skewered for being positive, is there any reason why so many have missed these gains? only the positive people are pulleried, so even though every bit of empirical evidence says don't bother to take the sell action, maybe we should, indeed, just mouth sell a day, and, well, you get the picture. james in pennsylvania. james. >> caller: hello, cramer. how are you? >> i'm real good, partner. how are you? >> caller: i'm fine. i'm calling to ask about las vegas sands. i understand that their auditor has resigned, and