fed, but knows what's going on inside the fed. it was that idea, when the notes were issued today, that there's a lot more inviting the fed than before, as to when to end the printing that markets like. liz: markets love. back to nicole on the accelerated losses. >> when i think about that and talk to the traders, as soon as the minutes broke, we saw the dollar beginning to rally even more so. the ten year yield accelerate, and we've seen gold selling off. we continue to sell off and the vix higher as well. david: talk about gold specifically, down $40, obviously, as a result of what happened at the fed, but there was also news about inflation. inflation picking up a little bit, and that worried people a bit. bottom line is gold went down and gold stocks with it. >> right, and all of those factors are exactly correct, dave, and i would also add in south africa where they have labor problems and some say those are overblown, but others say, no, that stock, for example, down 7%. liz: high end lek try car maker tesla going to report

not when the fed raises rates but can the fed. about what do we spend, $150 billion a year in interest. a every little. >> the fed will hate you for saying this. they insit, pushing economic growth. now we have just how is said that what they are trying to do is enable deficits. and i think they would reject it. but i think you're right. they are trying to enable large deficits and help with it and that is going to be a problem for the federal government when rates go higher because their interest costs will go up dramatically. >> let me say something quickly here. i know we are focused, this gets a lot of talk on the network. this is secondary entirely compared to what the feds will do tp right now the fed makes great headlines. sending 80, 90 billion a year to the treasury which reduces the deficit. they might lose 30 billion a year. you want to talk about people freaking out about the federal reserve. wait until they need a bailout from the treasury. >> dan, i'm just wondering, back it brian's point, it pits the fed against it

the fed. the fed. we want to talk about that and what happened in the markets yesterday and what's happening today. but, let's talk a little bit about dow chemical. a federal judge, a jury, actually, has ordered the company to pay $400 million on a price fixing case. that will teach them. dow was one of several companies, chemical companies named in a class action lawsuit alleging conspiracy to fix urethane chemical products. >> what is that? >> that is used to make cars, furniture and packaging. but it was the only defendant not to settle. >> take you on the dwoft. >> dow plan toes seek to dismiss the lawsuit in a post trial motion. the national future's association is going to discuss a plan to ban -- john, i saw corzine and i almost thought that was another chemical, but it isn't. we're talking about the guy, jon corzine. he is toxic to investors. from the futures industry for life at issue is whether the former ceo of mf global protected the failed brokerages customers. spotted a few times in the h

louis fed.all my children. i love all the fed guys. >> we love you, too, joe. >> there are two favorites i have. fisher and you. and it's such an honor for us to have you -- >> i'll see if i can move ahead of richard. >> i want to start out, because i have been accused of being cynical about things. and i hope it's not rubbing off on my young co-anchor sorkin who you've already heard what our line of questioning is going to be. and that is, that because there's a microphone, and you know there's a microphone, at the minutes, and you know it's going to come out, he's characterizing it as some type of reality show, where all the people on the show know it's going to be on tv so they don't act like they'd normally -- that's basically what you're saying, isn't it? >> and there's this loop. there's a feedback -- >> you know it's going to come out. so you could be using us, knowing the microphone is there, to start -- >> no, no. >> to start saying look, eventually the punch bowl will be taken away so

campbell criticize the fed because he hears people saying that you shouldn't fight the fed, and it's hard to price risk. i'm pretty old. i've seen your predecessors carry out just about every kind of fed policy i can imagine, and everybody's always muttering, "don't fight the fed," and the only time it's easy to price risk is when they are wrong. the mutterings that the gentleman from california hears are not just consistent with your monetary policy, but every other monetary policy that you could imagine. it was pointed out how important fannie and freddie are and fha. we heard testimony from moody's analytics that if fha had not been there, we would have seen another 25% decline in home prices. this, in my view, if that had happened, america would look somewhere between greece and thunder dome, so it's fortunate that we have those institutions. we've got a lot of capital on the sidelines as the gentleman from california pointed out. investment needs funds, but it also needs people willing to take a risk. some criticize that as reaching for yields, but if everybody is only willing t

>> the fed, first of all.had, call it six weeks this year, as people talk about rotation from bonds and other somewhat less risky assets is number one. then we get the fed minutes, everybody said, oh, wow, the fed is out. there might be deflation. this is a bad environment for gold. that's the condition. when you have a lot of fringe players and they have momentum guys and today we talked about the macro trades. very big. gold has been apart of that. that's why it's oversold. i think that's created a pretty interesting opportunity. >> you like it at these levels. tim, thank you. very quick break here on "fast money." back in two. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up c

former fed governor will respond to the fed minutes and earnings from tesla in the second hour of the "closing bell." >>> and welcome back to the "closing bell," everybody. boy, what a last hour we've just had. i'm mandy drury sitting in for maria bartiromo. bill griff sit coming back in just any moment now. meantime, stocks are sinking after a relatively hawkish fed minutes. that kind of spooked investors, and as you can see we're just settling up now, but it looks like the dow is down by 110 point and the nasdaq off 49, 1.5% less and the s&p 500 down by 1.2%, sitting there at 1511. as you can clearly see in terms of absolute numbers, 14,000 no more. we're now below that mark on the dow. bill? >> so, the question becomes was the day's downturn just a fluke, or is it the beginning of a much anticipated correction? let's ask peter sorrentino from huntington asset advisers, allen gale, michael jones from riverfront investment group and our own rick santelli. everybody is in the water at this point. what do you think? i mean, you know, everybody has been scratching their heads as the mar

as what the fed actually does. and what's clear is the emerging debate over how long to continue buying assets known as quantitative easing and whether the costs outweigh the benefits is causing to reassess the outlook. maybe part of today's selloff. all of this makes the selloff more important. investors will be watching to see if he gives a hint to an early end of qe. quote, we expect the chairman's monetary policy testimony this week to offer a very robust defense of qe 3 and we would be amazed if he were to say anything that would be interpreted as a hint that the fed will slow its asset purchases any time soon. that fed actions today buying assets could lead to losses tomorrow and the hiked rates. that means a huge decline on what the fed gives to the federal budget every year. this year it totalled $80 billion. and while congress may not care so much about the details of monetary policy bill, they're going to care when it means they getless money. >> and in fact, you think this selloff -- i was just telling e

fed's intentions. melissa: thanks so much. ben bernanke spoke before the senate today as you just saw but tomorrow facing questions from the house financial services committee. congressman michael grim is a republican from new york and a member of the committee and joins us from the capital. thanks so much for joining us. what is your first question? >> first question for the chairman is what is the exit strategy? putting it in context that we have increased the balance sheet of the fed by $2 trillion over the last five years but a lot of that is not what the fed has done traditionally. normally the fed buys a lot of short-term bills. we have a bed that is buying longer-term debt and as interest rates eventually rise what is the exit strategy? we don't know what that is and that is extremely dangerous for the u.s. economy. melissa: absolutely and a lot has been made of that lately, when you get out and we see the market turned against the fed as everyone realizes they're getting out a lot of estimates

we know it's the fed. that's an old stale thesis. >> it's obviously the fed. >> now the question is if behavior changes and animal spirits are actually here for the first time and the wealth effect from housing actually is a sign for the stock market, the question is can this continue, and would i say i'm not 100% convinced of that, but the signs look better than they did six months ago, a year ago. >> absolutely. completely agree. >> i agree. >> how do you see it, mark? >> i would agree. i think it's primarily fed-driven at this point but i wouldn't undersell the individual, at least moving forward from here. i don't think it's a rotation out of fixed income. haven't seen the spike in yields. this is cash coming off the table, maybe a little bit of gold from people that bought at klar 1,800 or $1,900 thinking it was going to 2,500. it's a combination of everything. fed at the top of the check list. housing is part of it. consumer confidence is part of it, and a slight rotation that's starting to move out

>> i'll tell you, the way the fed is running the money this has a long way to run. >> this is the fed. >> the news out of europe, the stronger dollar, but at the end of the day without the cheap money from the fed this market goes flat. >> it's not about the sequester that could kick in a week from today, not about the elections in italy or the currency wars going on right now, it's about the fed? >> at the end of the day, yes. you'll see little bumps in the road like the last two days but they will disappear like they did today. up 115 points. >> have a good weekend. >> you too. >> the market is going higher and higher, the dow up 115. looks like it will go out positive and every friday this year. that's it for the first hour. stick around for the second hour "closing bell" with maria bartiromo. >>> and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the dow snaps a two-week losing streak and the s&p 500 is posting the first losing week of the year. take a look at how we'r

we'll see if it can stand on its own. >> philly fed wasn't. that was ugly. >> oh, that number was just who are ti-- horrific. that didn't help any at all. as soon as i saw the number, i sold more s&ps short as soon as that number came out and i'm feeling okay with that. yesterday's action and today's action in the currency market, in the gold market, in the copper market, in the energy market and in equities all tell me better to go to the sidelines. since i speak to traders and that's what i do for a living, i'm actually quietly a little built net short, having been ove overtly bullish for a long time. >> it's josh brown. i wanted to have you clarify. a lot of viewers are people invested in the market for retirement, not necessarily for the potential of a 7% correction. so how will you know if this call of yours is not necessarily something that turns out to be quite a 7% correction? is it price? so if things run away from you, you might change your mind? what will be the decision point that has you shift? >> i change my mind a lot, josh. >>

the markets spooked by the fed minutes that showed in the last meeting fed governors and bank presidentse discussion of when to pull back on some of the monetary easing that they have been going through for the last several years. >> looking here at the tweet from bill gross. many participants concerned about further asset purchases. >> macy's and j.c. penney duking it out in court over which department has the right to sell martha stewart branded products. find out which retailer's stock you're better off shopping for. >> and speaking of fashion, mandy, would you like to dress like a postal worker? the post office is betting that you would. that's coming up. [ kitt ] you know what's impressive? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ [ whirring ] [ creaking ] [ male announcer ] trophies and awards lift you up. but they can

the fed is the thing that's lev stated this market so it's the fed that could bring it down, and that'shat spooked the markets yet. what are you going to buy here? what do you think will lead this market higher if it's destined to go to 1600? >> the fed's game plan is to-to-stimulate the market through housing. the supply of existing homes is down to almost historic lows. the fed is force feeding mortgage liquidity to the marketplace so it seems to reason that the home builders are in a great place as long as the economy stays -- >> even on the day that stephen nicholas says it feels the housing market has peaked and they are downgrading like the home depot and lowe's. >> if the housing market peaked the market has a bigger problem meaning quantitative easing and the fed has failed and we could be headed for recession. >> down lower, down 53 points on the dow jones industrial average. gentlemen, thank you very much. >> thanks, larry. tight on time this time. >> got the closing countdown right after this short break. >> and then we're just minutes away from a pair of very big earnings th

>> yes, sir. >> you studied the fed for a long time before you ever came to the fed.pe of balance sheet close to that? >> i don't think so. >> no, okay. does it concern you not how you put on -- add to the balance sheet but how you might have to deleverage the balance sheet? will that be a challenge to the fed or could it be? >> well, senator, i should comment that although the fed hasn't had a balance sheet this size, other central banks like the japanese, for example, have. >> and they've paid for it, too, hadn't they? >> well, it depends on your point of view. the current prime minister thinks they haven't done enough. >> what do you think? >> i think that they should try to get rid of deflation. i support their attempts to get rid of deflation. in terms of exiting from our balance sheet, we have put out a couple years ago we put out a plan. we have a set of tools. i think we have belt, suspenders, two pair of suspenders. we have different ways that we can do it. so, i'm not -- i think we have the technical means to unwind it at the appropriate time, of course, pic

let's play a little fed pepper. first of all, what did you think of the fed minutes yesterday?sing. you obviously have fed members that want to continue the qe, you have some that want to stop it and some that want to alter it. i think overall they probably added to the confusion of the market and added to the uncertainty. i'm going to say it was not a good fed minutes and i look for more clarity as the next meeting goes on. >> you know, when i talked to some of my sources, a big fixed income fund managers, the opinion is almost 100% that they don't believe the fed's going to stop, at least for the rest of this year. your thoughts? >> i think the fed will indeed stop sometimes this year. once you get past the sequester and you see what the fallout is and if there is no fallout from the sequester, which is what we think, we tend to think the federal will say, well, why am i at these low rates? why am i continuing to add to things? the fed exit strategy is unclear. in fact, we don't think the fed has clue as to how they're going to exit from the $3 trillion or possibly $4 trillio

but that is what the fedded bought. since the crisis those have risen substantial limp that's what the truss are you did with aig, buy low, sell high. the answer is, -- first of all, the senate is still holding that stuff, the -- but now if the fed -- actually the fed is marking that stuff to market. showing a huge profit on that. it doesn't want to sell yet for the reasons we spoke of earlier but if the fed was going to sell it, it would be making a profit -- in fact, here is a fact that is barely believable but i have it on good authority that it's true. it's not only the case that the federal reserve total portfolio is showing a big profit on these purchases, but it hasn't bought one single loser. i compare that my portfolio. imagine if i didn't have a single loser in my portfolio? the fed doesn't have one single loser in the portfolio. and the reason it bought at the bottom when nobody else would buy. that's why it did that. came in and bought this stuff, in some cases at ludicrously low value. >> hello. i'm eleanor

the market that the fed is still committed to the qe game.ments seemed aimed at least as much at his colleagues on the fomc as the senator on the hill. >> as a long period of low rates could encourage excessive risk-taking an continue close attention to developments is certainly warranted. to this point we do not see potential cost to the increased risk-taking in some financial markets is outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more rapid job creation. >> economists at ihs said it stopped short of being a vociferous defense declared after the testimony. in the end it was enough for us to stick to the understanding that asset purchase will continue into 2014. the proposed review of asset purchase scheduled for the march meeting will likely be a non-event. bernanke on the hill defensed qe. as we said, he urged no sequestration and said that they should really push that into the future, and he responded to senator corker who made comments about whether or not the fed was overly helping banks saying quote, none of w

if you felt that the fed minutes, you sold stocks on the fed minutes that were a month old, that's clearlyrong. there's good reason to take a profit maybe, but it was certainly not a rational reason. >> right. >> a lot of pressure on him yesterday, jim, to lay out, how are you going to unwind $3 billion in portfolio size. this committee on the house size, a little more aggressive, for releasing documents that would lay out how that exit happens. he didn't give away any clues yesterday. >> no. at some point someone said are these bonds safe. their treasuries and mortgages. but are they safe. it's like, wow, you could be -- you could kind of play a larger skeptical word game and say no, they're not safe because you bought so many of them. but obviously the credit's safe. does he have to tell more? i think that until he gets this employment somewhere near his level, i think he's going to play it very close to the vest. >> interesting, fitch out today with a note saying if the sequester happens, even if there's a shutdown, that in and of itself is not enough to bring a aaa down to, say, a doub

the fed is still holding the envious but the fed is marking it to market for good doesn't want to sell yet but it would be making a profit. here it is barely believable but i believe it's true but not only is the big portfolio showing a profit profit, but it has not bought one single loser. compare that to my portfolio [laughter] imagine not one single loser the fed doesn't have one single loser. because it bought at the bottom that is why did that. some cases of zero and ludicrous low value. >> hello. i describe myself as a fiscally responsible democrats and it is in knowing if the helladic me year after year but virtually all of the bush should fenestration but they didn't even go to the first day of economics 101. so now the democrats have to work out counter cave that to overlook that but my specific question in is the issue of interest rates that they have to rise at some point* and i am concerned the increase of debt service could wipe out or hamper the others. >> you are right to be concerned the interest-rate now held by the public and is one pot paying another but held by the

pehohe fed would continue its easy efforts to stimulate the economy had u.s. markets seeing green.pe the dow gained 116, the nasdaq is up 13, and the s&p rose nine. washington bureau chief darren gersh has details on the fed chairman's strong defense of his aggressive policy to support the economy. >> reporter: sure, there are risks when the federal reserve is buying almost $3 billion worth of bonds every day. but chairman ben bernanke told congress basically, "we got this." >> although a long period of low rates could encourage excessive risk taking, and continued close attention to such developments is certainly warranted, to this point, we do not see potential costs to the increased risk- taking in some financial markets is outweighing the benefits of promoting a stronger economic recovery and more rapid job creation. >> reporter: with unemployment stuck around 8% and inflation subdued at 1.5%, there are no economic red lights flashing. so bernanke gave no signals he was ready to change course or back away from his aggressive program to get the economy back

either we talk about the fed stopping or the fed stopped, and i think once the fed stops we'll have another 10% correction, so as long as things stay so-so they can keep the foot on the gas as long as europe doesn't look completely apart. >> what are you watching, jim benco, you've been so prescient on these markets so far. what do you watch to make you feel like, okay, we could be seeing a reversal in sentiment, that this market doesn't want to go higher anymore. what are the key metrix you're focused on? >> i think europe is going to be the first one. never been in the camp that europe is fixed. never been fixed. just goes away for a while and the same problems arrive and if that comes back with a vengeance that could be a problem and the other one is inflation. we have to define inflation. the fed defines it at 2%, 2.5%, not 10 like we had in the 1980s. all the forward measures of inflation are starting to creep up to the highest levels of the year, and if they continue to creep higher, that can really put the kibosh on the rallies as well because the force would be forced to step. >> ri

it's certain i don't think the fed is evenly divided. i think the chairman still has strong support for qe to go through the end of this year, but it is certain there is a vocal minority and that minority goes beyond just the typical hawks and that's why we have to pay attention to it. >> but minority is the operative word in that discussion, right, you got from bullard the other day certainly a more dovish tone from him. >> that's right. >> and now the fed chairman himself. >> that's right, it is a minority. and, by the way, you want to be very careful, i hope the traders can write this down, members and participants, right? so, the participants are the guys who are voting and the members are the ones who are on the committee and right now he has an 11 -- or whatever it is, an 11-1 vote on the committee right now. >> steve, you're sticking around on the other side of the break. >> sure. >> we'll talk to the traders as well as to what the market heard today. did it hear what it wanted to? again, the traders coming up just after this brea

but some fed members appear now to trump the economic gels or concern opt street is that fed can endfore it sees substantial improvement in the labor market and that total purchases could can come in below what is expected. vince reinhardt and morgan stanley write the knee jerk of the markets and participants could move and pull back in qe could kul back the date for the onset of tightening. that's the whole purpose of the statement in september so convince the market that fed would maintainity policy even amid improving jobs. bringing forward future gains. now the question is whether fed chairman ben bernanke uses the testimony to put the policy back on track. sue? >> yes, steve, stay with us. mary, what about that. what is the market expecting from bernanke tomorrow? and what about mr. reinhardt's comment. seems like we have been climbing that ladder based on the fact that the feds will be there. >> that the reason we have seen this very long run on it. i want to pose this question to steve. what they are saying is what they like it hear from bernanke is some better sense of the ti

the fed speaks, the markets tremble. what the fed said, what it meant around is the market's winning streak over? >> the hype is a joke. >> spending cuts are just days away, but how much do they matter? what a hedge funds legend says is an even bigger problem. and how one major city wants to put those old phone booths back to work and how high-tech can make a big city run better. "on the money" begins right now. >> this is america's number one financial news program. "on the money." now, maria bartiromo. >>> as we head into a new week, the fed spoke, the market shook. the federal reserve releasing minutes this week showing it is considering a slow down of the bond buying program. fed members were concerned about the possibility of inflation and of expanding its balance sheet even further. the markets did not like that. the index is having one of the worst days of the year on wednesday. the dow falling triple digits. office depot and office max will be walking down the merger aisle. the two announced a merger to create a

but the fed doesn't trust it.ng faulty forecasts to set those rates. right now the market isn't bothered by it but at some point in the future it might be. >> all right. jim, you have a great weekend. any thoughts on the super bowl real quick? who do you think is going to win? which harbaugh is going to walk away a victor? >> jim. 49ers. >> i'll take issue with that. a discussion for another time. thanks, guys. market is in full rally mode. how do you play it? we'll have a guest after the break to guide us through these levels as we sate shade below dow 14,000. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... whi

>> well, i think, you know, you live by the fed, you die by the fed. and clearly, you know, that's been the big overriding bullish theme, not only in the u.s. we have japan piling on. we've got europe, maybe, you know, getting in on the act. so, this record global liquidity has been pushing investors into riskier assets. and even though today is not, you know, a death knell for qe, it certainly gives people the sense that there's a little bit more disagreement on the committee than maybe people realized. we're starting to see more vocal concerns about the qe that's going on, and the conditions around unwinding it. so, i think that coupled with the fact that we had one of the most overbought markets in recent memory, i don't think you can be too surprised by the big pull back here. >> what's your bottom line directional view of the market at this point in time? is it lower? >> we think -- we've been saying that we thought we'd get back to 1550, 1575, retest of the all-time highs and then we were looking at a pull-back from that level. it may be that was

about signal value of the fed.nk that the fed's saying we're not in crisis anymore, have a huge -- >> i think becky hit a key point which is -- >> bad 1994. 2004 after they pulled a considerable period you had a 10% correction. you never make that transition smoothly but that's a major buying opportunity. >> and everybody will say jump in if you see that. jim, thank you very much. >> thanks. >> coming up next, a deal for dell. how close is a deal and is $23 billion too much to pay? we ask private equity deal watcher dan primack next. follow the show on twitter. send us your thoughts. >>> welcome back, everybody. the futures have gotten a little weaker through the course of the morning. the dow futures down by about 45 points below fair value. s&p futures off by about five points. this is coming after five incredibly strong weeks for the market. and coming after friday when the dow officially crossed above 14,000 for the first time since october of 2007. got a few individual stocks today. research in motion will off

we know we got here because of the fed. the fed helped us get to these levels.t we're looking for is for the fed to prop us up enough so we can go on our own, take the training wheels off. look at housing, consumer confidence, the durable orders, the chicago phi. you' pmi. if you look at earnings reports we're getting, it's a stock pickers market. the companies performing are being rewarded. >> joe makes a good point, right? >> the fed got us. we can agree on that. it's where we go from here and we're going to need the fundamentals to kick in if we're going to go anywhere from here. >> sitting here thursday afternoon at 12:00, my estimation right now and i'll tell what you i'm doing. one name i'll reveal what that was later on. but today's rally can be categorized as really more of a defensive rally. utilities are leading the charge. 16 of those are consumer staples. i am long smucker's and johnson. >> playing a little bit of a role? >> a little bit of a role. >> we're getting some cooperation from a sector like materials, not exactly the most defensive play. >>

maria, remember, this is a fed-driven market. you said it.earlier today that tom mcclellan sent us. if you don't think this is all about the fed, then you're clearly not paying attention. >> gary, at some point -- >> i agree. >> at some point the hope is going to be that it's a fundamentally better economy that drives the market, right in the data is incrementally improving. >> yes. >> and if the fed does pull away it will be because the economy is in a place. the labor market is in a place where the market can perhaps stand on its own two feet. >> scott, the same strategists who come on air and tell you that all day told you in 2007 not to be wary about what was happening with securitization. when the fed closes the spigots, you will see a down market, and you will see a reaction in the stock market, and i don't have any idea, and i bet bob doesn't either in, terms of when that will be. >> give me the level on the ten-year that would scare you are. >> good question. >> ten years out and then we'll get out of here. what is the level on the te

david: jason, while we thought we had the fed security until 2015, they are worried the fed moves earlierd fed members hint, hey, we could move early, we could move early. undercutting upside impact of the commitment to stay low because they warn until not to stay low? >> you know, it's a balancing act for him. it's a communications issue for them. they need to both convey that we're -- that they are there to do what's necessary to do in order to keep the economy moving in a positive direction while also kind of tapering off the concerns of inflation bubbling up and getting out of control. david: yes. >> what you'll see is you'll see them balance that sort of communication. they'll do it through different players within the group, you know, allow different fed speakers, the ones that are more hawkish to speak up louder when they have to make sure the message is there a little. they'll try to balance it. it's a communications management issue. david: i'd like for a more harmonic greek chorus there, but thank you very much for being with us, jason pride. >> thank you for having me. >> the s

we only know what the fed is telling us at this point.arles: during that whole occupy movement, big crowds showed up at big bankers homes, they shouted add bankers and the banker's kids, they are. were vile, it seems that will be used for something we will not be able to brush off, ultimately from real dire consequences? >> absolutely, that information will be used by cyber criminals to further attack the other banking institutions. that is why this is of such concern. charles: so what do we do as an expert, you know, you talked about basic simple things. but i have to tell you, i don't necessaaily feel secure. i have like i guess my thing is about 12 letters, a some bolle and a cup -- a symbol and a couple numbers long, is it this simple we come up with a creative password and we're okay? >> no, no, actually for banking applications, you should be using a hardened computer that is -- has been made immune or preveprevent the cyber threats,g your general home computer, which could be infected could lead to the issues. charles: at the end o

that's bond bullish and might replace the buying that the fed might over-wise do. while you might have concern over the exit plan, we don't know what the supply is going to be. in other words, could you see yields go nowhere. >> bruce, we were talking about how defensive issues are relatively speaking outperforming right now. what do you want to buy if you're convinced that we're going to go higher here through the end of this year? what will lead us higher, do you think? >> we think a lot of strength out of the emerging markets, and we've been moving money back not only into those markets directly, but the industries and sectors that benefit the most in the domestic markets. so looking for the names that have overseas exposure that may have run up a little bit on any sort of correction as they pull back, add those into portfolios where they don't already have that exposure. >> yeah. and speaking of outperforming, jonathan, what about hewlett-packard having its best day intraday since 2001. >> it is. technology is lead being the sector here today, and when you take

the fed, the new fed is the employment report, and the ability to most markets.f you get 190 or 200,000 on march 1st, two weeks from tomorrow, that's the february jobs number, you're going to see the market lift. you want to see profits, production. you want to see personal income, and you want to see politics. that's one thing that could stall the market if you've got a fiscal sequestration. >> why are you so hot on japan? i know japan has rallied so much? why do you think it's going to continue? >> mr. shirakawa will leave room for mr. abe to put in a person that will gradually weaken the yen and stimulate the economy and get it the into inflation of a 2% target. we like the japanese exporters. they don't want to get the other countries upset with them. >> right. >> and come after them for a better thy neighbor's policy. our view is the yen which is 93 now can go to 100. these stocks have another 25% plus in dollar terms, maria, ahead of them still. >> we'll leave it there. gentlemen, thank you very much. we want to get to breaking news. julia boorntsin is all

the fed.ief financial officers from top companies will be part of the cnbc cfo council. these business leaders will bolster our coverage of earnings in the broader economy. we'll kick off our series today with the cfos of family dollar and td ameritrade as the third hour of "squawk box" begins right now. >>> welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm andrew ross sorkin along with joe kernen. becky quick is off today. our guest host jason trennert, chief investment strategists at strategas research. we're going to have more from him in just a minute. but first, got your morning headlines with joe. i think you're watching some tape, as well. >> watching macy's reporting $2.05 a share. that is excluding items versus expectation. of just $1.83 -- sorry, expectations $1.99. six cents ahead. sales number was $1.35 billion versus $1.3 billion. fourth consecutive year of double digit growth in earnings. >> an then i've got a longer fiscal 2013 view of $3.41. and revenu

yesterday, of course, the fed beat down the market. they were concerned about whether the fed was going to stop quantitative easing leading markets overseas to go down, particularly, in asia and europe. we fed off their down day, and we are going triple digits. dow down 52 appointments, off the day's lows, but it's still down, nevertheless, jcpenney getting a big boost today, up 7%. why? >> right. so jcpenney, the deal with macy's, battling over the martha stewart products, and the low was 13834 today. we came up off the lows. still worries that the fed may cut off the cool laid in stimulus. petroleum, and higher and so was -- [inaudible] david: bells are ringing as you can see. after we go through trades with various traders. it's negative territoriment you can't put a lipstick on the pig, but you can say it's been worse today. it looked at one point like the dow was going down in triple digits, a little repeat of what happened yesterday. didn't end the day that way. nasdaq, all day, really worrying investors. it's down just over 1%.

>> don't fight the fed. >> okay. fight the fed. >> therein lies part of the equation. what happens if we're doing so well in the economy, if we end up doing well in the economy borrowing gdp that interest rates rise? >> so who else is skeptical out there? have you talked to a lot of others who are skeptical of this rally? no doubt about it. it's been a fast and furious -- >> been a party of one. >> never a party of one. the permabear rally continues. look at this list. you've got former senator alan simpson, concerned about the quarterly quarterly impact of things. the vice chairman of blackrock, one of the most highly regarded guys and marc faber of the gloom, doom and boom report, green krenette and david rosenberg, quite a team of people, a few who have been around for quite a while. >> rosenberg is a permabear. >> faber, didn't faber tell maria this week he doesn't like it but he's still buying stocks. >> he says i'm in grave danger because i do not own gold. >> you're in grave danger. >> yes, yes. >> right. beca

the fed has a balance sheet which has grown extremely large. fed puts out its balance sheet every we. every weekday updates what is in their holdings. that is something no american corporation does. the fed was criticized rightly for being too secretive during the crisis for its disclosure of the banks that for getting its loans. one of the things that changed after the financial crisis of the dodd-frank act, but the fed acts to disclose all the banks that got loans from it during the crisis. if the fed was worried it would cause a stimulus problem if they disclose who their lending to as a lender of last resort, that it could destabilize the banks and then people would think there was something wrong with the banks. so what they have done is now they are putting these out with a lag. but there's a lot more disclosure than they used to be. there might be areas returnee to be more. i think they need to get some credit for having made progress in the last few years. host: terry on the republican line in minnesota. caller: thanks for taking my cal

borrow at zero, lend at 3%, if you have the fed to get you out of trouble. >> that is what the fed isto do, and it is a great mistake. creating a risk-free market. constantly bailing out, propping up, medicating stimulating wall street is exactly the wrong thing to do. david: so there is no hope? >> there is hope if we suddenly get the people of america to wake up and elect some different people to the government who will clean house at the fed. as long as we have bernanke there, who by the way was put in that job by republicans. david: yes he was. >> the rest of the fed, we have no hope. they are ruining the free market in this country. david: liz, if that doesn't depress you i don't know what will. over to you. david stockman. thank you. liz: stay away. thank you, david. and david, what were are the best markets for apartments and where should you buy instead of renting? up next we get answers from one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the country. find out what their latest report reveals. you need to see this. this is first on fox business. david: hersh's your fox bus

that fed speculation about demand from apple and h.p.apple shares fell 2.2% since the plant freezing hiring makes the iphone five, but foxconn said its decision to stop hiring was not related to making the iphone. an analyst at investment bank u.b.s. thinks it could be because of less demand for hewlett packard desktop computers. h.p.q. shares were down by 1.1%. hewlett-packard reports its latest quarterly earnings tomorrow after the closing bell. independent energy companies devon and anadarko updated their shareholders on their strategies, but both were greeted with selling. anadarko petroleum was down 4.5%. it's energy production outlook was less than expected while it's forecast for capital spending was more than anticipated. it expects to be among the most active deepwater drillers this year. devon energy fell 6.6% after saying it may try again to spin off its pipeline and processing businesses. it tried that six years ago but stopped after the economy weakened. four of the five most actively traded exchange traded products were low

> > you know, i think that the fed artificially built this market. for the average joe, i don't think the fed has any effect one way or the other. what they are doing is more helping the banks in bailing out toxic assets and more helping the big companies where they can borrow money at cheaper rates. for the average guy, i don't think it really matters what the fed does. > people are concerned about the big budget cuts, the sequester. what is the market telling you? is the vix giving us any signals there? > > the market is not worried one iota. as you looked yesterday, the vix was up 15% the first big move, but we were coming off of six-year lows. the market says that they are going to cover and be able to solve all the problems. as they always do, they will come walking in arm-in-arm at the 11th hour and say, "see, we solved your problems once again." > the market is very smart. thanks for being on the show today. > > thank you so much. it could be a name changer for jp morgan ceo jamie dimon. a public pension fund is attempting to strip dimon of hi

you're a fed watcher.ernanke couldn't have been clearer the last 48 hours it's been easy money, easy money, easy money and i'm saying easy money with some profits is very good for the stock market. >> look, go back to september 15th or september 13th when the latest qe round was announced. the stock market is less than 2% higher today than it was then. so what's he going to have to do, buy 185 billion a month to make any difference? honestly we're so deep down the diminishing returns curve as far as fed action is concerned it doesn't matter. you want to look at great central bank policy look to japan. there's a country that's been in deflation for 15 years. they are bringing in a new central bank governor, a new deputy governor. you got to love this deputy governor. talk about rules based monetary policy. he wants to set inflation targets and have a law that the govern of the bank of japan will lose his job if they don't hit the targets. that's accountability. when you start with 15 years of deflation and

is it just the fed? >> i think it's just the fed. volume is still very light today. i think it's going to take it up tomorrow. >> all right. we'll see. thank you very much, and we are moving lower here, but as allen points out, volatility has been with us the last week or so. one day you're down 100 points and the next day you're up 100 point. let's see what happened. stay tuned. richard fisher from the fed will join us in a moment as well as we get under way with the second hour of the "closing bell." 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. no all-time high today. in fact, sellers coming in the final minutes of trading taking the market further youaway frome record. we had a severe selloff at end of the day with the market giving up all of a 70-plus point rally and then some, ending in negative territory to the tune of 21 points. we did have a rebalancing today that. created a lot of volatility and cer

the fed would say the politics doesn't matter. we all know it does to least some extent. we're not hearing the heat, scott, from the republicans when it comes to the qe policy right now. >> steve, we can go to the traders and bring them into the discussion. i guess if we were going to get a follow through on yesterday, you would want it to be more about actual fundamentals of the economy, rather than just bernanke backing up his conversation from yesterday, right? you had a pending home sales number which was positive and durables strong as well. >> very strong. the durables headline number was not good. you break out transportation you have strong underlying numbers. i'm actually surprised at the resiliency of the market here. i didn't expect to trade down, but i didn't expect this kind of move yesterday and today. so that shows to me that more people were on the sidelines, betting that the fed was going to get more hawkish in terms of rates. the proof of that is in the bonds. despite the strength in the economic numbers, we have the bond market trading down today. >> st

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