hank greenberg, the former ceo of aig who, of course, was the great creator of this company. he current ceo is quite simply this. ignore the government strategy of liquidating their major businesses. just ignore it. instead, do not sell the assets. what's more, build up the assets, particularly the global, life, and property insurance companies and the global and domestic commercial real estate companies as well. they're in good shape. they will turn profits and they will move in a worldwide basis. in fact, these sources told me that mr. greenberg is telling them even the airline leasing company which has had its difficulties can, in fact, be worked out. now the financial products company, the source of all the derivatives, that's going to be run off. there's no question there. however, aig has a $70 billion tax credit that can be used as another profitable weapon and, in fact, according to these sources who were close to mr. greenberg, greenberg is telling them you can work through this. you want to build the company back up, it has great profit potential and the american tax

and then of course we heard yesterday about the fact that he is in fact talking to hank greenberg. now, what factor, what play does greenberg get -- >> listen, i've known hank for a long time. i've reported on him. i wrote a pretty long profile of him in "forbes" that sort of detailed his concern. this was in 2007. his concerns for the company. he actually called -- in many respects called the company's implosion, saying it didn't have the management. hank's a smart guy, but i don't think you buy this stock just because hank greenberg is talking to him. this is a fundamentally -- this is a company with a lot of fundamental problems. you know, huge ties to, you know, toxic mortgages, big problems. and i think if you're -- i'm just giving you caution. i'm just saying listen, there is another reason why these stocks are flying, particularly the three i mentions, fannie, freddie, aig. and it's more of a technical factor than it is a real, real bet that these are companies coming back anytime soon. citigroup, this is a wild card. and i would be cautious with them too, because they're a b

hank greenberg is not going to get involved. but bond holders, i take my cue from bonds, and that's why i take a lot of my cues from bonds when it comes to dealing with stocks. it's pretty clear, if there was any substance to this, you see aig bond holders not being down 50%. >> so what happens? when does this trade reverse? because what i'm hearing, if it does reverse -- exactly. but it will be pretty ugly. >> i would venture to say i'm just going to hypothesize this. that the first bad asset they sell is just going to be selling that news. and i think that's going to come sooner rather than later. >> what do you think happens, bill? >> yeah, i think we could get some poor economic data. that's a possibility. we could see some m & a that happens at less favorable turns, no question, some consolidation. if it happens at depressed levels, maybe that turns over high beta stocks like citi and aig. >> all right. thank you, bill fitzpatrick, see you later. >> thank you. >> coming up next, we focus on tiffany. they raised their guidan

got themselves a new ceo, he's consulting with hank greenberg. maybe aig has got some value in there. >> good. but this is for speculators, not for traders. this really -- why take that kind of risk when you can own high-quality names both in the financial sector and outside the financial sector. >> you know what? the thing is, it's not what you own, it's where you own it from. >> yeah. i mean, it's always about where you buy it. but can i just follow up with that? what would you be buying then? >> right now, away from that, i would be buying health care, but in the financials, i -- i like -- i like all of those. i liked city group, i liked aig, i liked fannie and freddie, just because the market likes them. but this is a trade for me. it's certainly not a long-term investment. i think in 2010, we're going to have a clara peller economy. >> what would be the trader for you, what would be the indication you should get out? >> you know what? about 15% on the up side, i would be flipping them. >> oh. now, that's good. okay. so you're -- so this baby

robert benmoshe has reached out to hank greenberg. shares trading yesterday, and extending today. aig declined comment but a person close to the firm says that benmoshe respects what greenberg built, and his knowledge of the firm. greenberg who was fired in 2005 remains a shareholder in the company, though he and the company see runs are in a variety of legal tussles with aig. greenberg critical of the government bailout, and the fair sale of assets that followed. benmoshe echoed those comments saying he won't sell until the time is right. he does favor a smaller aig, saying the firm greenberg built is too unwieldy. all in all, a stellar month for aig. its stock up over 80% on the news of its first quarterly profit. and rally truth comments that the problem at the firms stem from regulators, not employees. reports say also the obama administration's pay czar is set to approve benmoshe's $10.5 million compensation package. calls from not returned. given the firm's owned by the government, itsis said it's reasonable. the company talking with the government after the package. >> the g

benmosche was in fact talking to hank greenberg, also helped move the stock up in the last day. i hope you heard what we were talking about in the last hour, mr. greenberg calling in to cnbc and saying those recent rumors on the chat boards that he might be leading an investor group to try to take over aig not true here. take a look at citigroup. you can see citigroup moving forward here throughout the day, over 1 billion shares there as well. finally, second leg of this whole rally occurred when the dollar dropped around 1:30 eastern time. that had a dramatic effect on some of the big commodity names. that helped more everybody forward as well. there's a big drop in the dollar. murphy, you can see a move up in some of the oil names. they have been lagging throughout this week. finally the aerospace maria bengsed boeing they're xpth first flight of the 787 dreamliner by the end of 2009. as a result not only all the aerospace names but the sparts suppliers that are influenced by boeing like goodrich and precision casting had a very nice day. i want to emphasize what good numbers

said he will take his time to sell assets and reached out to one of the company's former ceo, hank greenberg one who saw it bullish. do you see any positive in this stock at this level? >> if you're looking at aig thinking about investing, you ask yourself, i do want to buy shares of the u.s. government that owns that company. the answer is probably no because private business has the mandate to create value whereas government has the mandate to redistribute that value. i think it's unattractive given who owns 80% of the shares. >> that this is next thing we want to talk about given aig wouldn't be where it was if it wasn't for government help or citi or bank of america, those who repayed t.a.r.p. money, was that a good thing or bad thing? we start with peter. >> they were bad any way you look at it. there's no constitutional authority for the government bail out these companies and sets a terrible precedent for more ral hazard, punish the successful to prop up the unsuccessful. bailouts have basically interest feared with a genuine recovery. we need to restructure our economy. in order to h

even . >>> mer he was reached out to hank greenberg for advice. berg says he has the best chance to succeed in rebuilding aig. aig shares were up yesterday by 15%. >>> new fdic rules broadening the pool to make it easier, some say, for private equity firms to make deals. john kanas' private equity firm bought bank united, former ceo of norfolk. >> good to see you. >> some would say, it could be worse. you don't see it that way? >> it's good news for large strategic banks, obvious competitors in this business. it requires private equity to hold roughly double the amount of capital that their competitors will have to hold in the same situation. it singles them out as a category. and it's not going to make it any easier. it's certainly not going to access more capital from the sector for what we think is an ongoing problem and going to continue on. >> is it enough to sq uchl elch om deals? >> i don't think so. i think they'll continue to look at this sector but it will be refrequented in the price. the fdic in order to see higher capital level will se

and hank greenberg actually predicted a lot of this stuff that actually would happen at aig.k fuld is widely regarded as, you know, by his peers and by employees as someone who, you know, didn't work hard enough, didn't do the right things. and listen, i kind of unfold this thing in my book that's coming out in october, "the sellout." his decisions leading to the demise of lehman brothers. >> thanks so much, charlie. 20 minutes to go before the "closing bell." dow held up by a few names. but most of the names in the red. now, the weaker dollar's been helping the recent stock rally but will the dollar remain under pressure and which stocks will see the biggest benefit if it does? we'll get to some answers in a moment. then after the bell jpmorgan's chief u.s. equity strategist thomas lee calling for the s&p 500 to hit a range of 1043 to 1053 by labor day. he's going to tell us why and where the markets will head from here ahead at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. some people buy a car based on the deal they get. others by the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sal

the sec may sue hank greenberg as early as today. he built aig into the world's largest insurance company before being pushed out in 2005. a probe accused him of inflating reserves. the government is waging a reorganization of fannie mae and freddie mac. -- the government is weighing a reorganization of fannie mae and freddie mac. no decision has been made to go with the good bank, bad bank issue. that is your business news. live at bloomberg headquarters in new york, i am linda bell. doug and alison, back to you. >> thank you very much for that. 72 degrees. the news continues. >> as the virginia race for governor heats up, one candidate is scheduled to get some presidential support. >> hundreds of documents are released and the show marion barry for outspends his colleagues on the council when it comes to outside contacts. >> live in the weather center, we are watching some showers >> live in the weather center, we are watching some showers pursue the every head. every bite. every gallon. every shoe. every book. every cereal. well,

once markets open, as well. >>> hank greenberg tells cnbc there's no truth that he's leading an investmentompany aig. the new ceo has reached out to greenberg on tips for how to run the company. mochee is willing to wait as long as three years to sell off life insurance units to get a fair price. >> carrefour had a worse than expected net loss in the first half of the year. operating profit was down 28% farther year ago. the group's domestic market is suffering, but business in asia and latin america is still pretty robust for them. >>> polls point to a massive win for opposition party on sunday. deflation continues to dog the world's second biggest economy. and no relief for job seekerers with the unemployment rate hitting a record high last month. >> give us your views on japan. the new party comes in, they suggest they'll try and come up with new ways to put more money into people's hands. people carrie spoke to last week said, if i get more money, i'm just going to save it. how do you crack that? >> there are no easy answers in the japanese case. the political environment is full of th

hank greenberg doled out a whopping $15 million to settle fraud charges with the sec. don't feel too bad for old hank. he still has plenty of cash lying around. well, all right. >>> "final trade" here, timmy. >> if you are concerned about oil prices, petro is in a lot of trouble down in brazil. >> look what it did today, traded up $18.10. >> how could you not buy imax understanding -- just understand this for a second. meagan fox was in those earnings. >> if i had a dollar for every time you said meagan fox on this show, i'd be a rich woman. >> chase after that dividend yield. these guys are giving you almost 5%. you've got to like ppl. >>> that's our show for tonight. we'll see you tomorrow at 12:45 for the halftime report and tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and midnight for more "fast money" here on cnbc. have a terrific night. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train.

hank greenberg doled out a whopping $15 million to settle fraud charges with the sec. or old hank. he still has plenty of cash lying around. well, all right. >>> "final trade" here, timmy. >> if you are concerned about oil prices, petro is in a lot of trouble down in brazil. >> look what it did today, traded up $18.10. >> how could you not buy imax understanding -- just understand this for a second. meagan fox was in those earnings. >> if i had a dollar for every time you said meagan fox on this show, i'd be a rich woman. >> chase after that dividend yield. these guys are giving you almost 5%. you've got to like ppl. >>> that's our show for tonight. i'm melissa lee. we'll see you tomorrow at 12:45 for "the halftime report" and tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. and midnight for more "fast money" here on cnbc. here on cnbc. have a terrific night. >>> announcer: the following is both cost the same, but only the new pringles superstack can makes everything pop! ♪ same cost but a lot more fun. ♪ everything pops with the new pringles superstack can! has the fastest serve in the history o

the "wall street journal" reports former aig chairman and ceo hank greenberg is paying $15 million to settle s.e.c. allegations of improper accounting issues. former aig cfo howard smith will reportedly pay $1.5 million to settle the charges against him. >>> and ford says it is on track to break even or become profitable on a pretax basis by 2011. the automaker says it will be able to do that in part because it will achieve 14 to 15 billion dollars in structural cost reductions by the end of the year. >>> meanwhile, the senate voting to confirm judge sonia sotomayor to the supreme court. in a 68-31 vote largely along party lines, sotomayor becomes the third woman and just the first hispanic to serve on the high court. democrats have praised her as a moderate, while republicans accuse her of bringing a liberal agenda to the court. >>> the government reportedly paying wall street firms around a billion dollars in fees to break up aig. is that a good deal for your tax dollars? does the move signal a return to business as usual on wall street? we'll have this-some answers in just a moment

ben mosh has reportedly reached out to former aig chief hank greenberg for advice.greenberg tells reuters he believes ben mosh has the best chance to succeed at rebuilding aig. aig shares rose 4% in after hours trading yesterday. you can get more news, videos and blogs as ross mentioned at cnbc.com. >> absolutely. still on the program, another twist in the opel drama. could the german government be forced to refinance? investors will be looking at a u.s. revised gdp data due out today. >>> a mixed association right now for global equity markets. adam will wrap up the asian session for us, stephane is in paris, sylvia is in frankfurt and first, becky is in london. >> it has been a bit mixed today. ierpan markets did open a little lower. let's check, as well, on some of the earnings news that we've had out this morning so far as we watch the ftse going higher by about 0.2%. we are tracking biaggio particularly. that company came out with figures showing earnings rose by about 10%. they cut their outlook and that move does seem to push the shares lower. we expect to th

is going to be settling civil fraud charges with hank greenberg who is the former chairman of aig.s according to the "wall street journal." cnbc has called in to mr. greenberg's lawyers. they have not yet been returned. keep in mind that mr. greenberg was involved with a reassurance deal in 2000 that eventually led to his ouster at aig in the wake of this, a number of executives at the company that was on the other side of this deal, a unit of berkshire hathaway, ended up going to jail. under the terms of the settlement, greenberg will pay the s.e.c. $15 million to settle past accounting issues. also, aig's former cfo howard smith is going to pay $1.5 million in a settlement. the "wall street journal" saying an official s.e.c. announcement is expected as early as today. a call to the s.e.c. earlier today, agency responding in a no comment to cnbc. but again, former aig ceo ken greenberg settling with the s.e.c. over civil fraud issues that occurred back in 2000 or 2001. back to you. >> i'll take it from here at the nymex, mary. we're watching mixed trade in the energy trading. and

there was talk hank greenberg, the founder of aig that left several years ago, may be brought in. the ceo acknowledged in an interview wi interview reuters that he was talking to greenberg giving credence to theorys that somehow maybe mr. greenberg can find a magic formula and be brought back in. i know, it's a long shot but that's how the stocks are played. momentum trade. tradertalk.cnbc.com. scott, how are we look agent the nasdaq? >> bob, we've pulled back rather considerably frst last time i saw you a half hour ago. the is now half by 1 1/2%. you can see the pullback in the big caps which opened mixed but dell was higher by 1% ahead of earnings after the bell today. it's now down by almost 1%. a big swing there. intel lower by 1%, as is apple, microsoft, starting to get the drift here. microsoft cutting the price of its top line xbox elite by 100 bucks to $300. 3/4 of 1 mrs down. yahoo! is under pressure though. some of the stocks opened to the upside, dollar tree came up the earnings yesterday positive. the stock upgraded today. you'll see a gain now which is mostly a fracti

to the fleet use by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have -- "the financial times," hank greenbergformer chairman of aig, to pay $15 million to settle a case with the sec. he agreed to settle as the sec investigated his role in accounting fraud in the company from 2000 to 2005. toledo, ohio, you are on the line. caller: hi. i would like to know, why is there no money for jobs? i know they did not burn the money, so what happens to all the money? why is it going? if we could get the money, follow the paper trail and find out where the money is, maybe we could get some jobs back. thank you. host: langley park, maryland. what is your situation? caller: i have been unemployed since last may. i work in the apparel business working for a manufacturing company. what i wanted to say is a lot of jobs that are being created are going to non-english speaking people or people who speak little english. and you being in the maryland area -- i mean, i do not know if you want to attest to this or not -- but if you look at the construction jobs around, many of them are non-english speaking people,

also very pleased to be here with hank greenberg who as you heard is a representative from aarp whichurse, is the nation's largest group organization representing senior citizens and also very pleased to be here with my very dear friend and former colleague in the maryland state senator glen titlebaum. glen, thank you for your service to your state and also to our country. i'd also at the outset here like to say a word of remembrance about senator kennedy. senator ted kennedy i think we all know was a giant in american politics. i think he will go down in history as one of the great u.s. senators. if you look at his legislative record and from the comments that you hear on a bipartisan basis i think people would agree with that assessment. you may not have always agreed with the positions that he took, but senator kennedy was absolutely passionate about pursuing the issues he cared about, a fair deal for working people, making sure everybody got a fair shake in life, for civil rights, for education, public education in this country and a whole range of other important issues. he was p