mario monti has put italy back atop the power table. in berlin, monti's calls for growth, overall austerity for euro bonds and more aggressive ecb, all fall on dead ears. makes no mistake, italy remains a major potential fault line of the heart of the single currency. if italy fails, if mario monti fails, the euro fails with potentially cataclysmic consequences for investors here in the u.s. >> thank you so much, simon hobbs at headquarters. now we turn to the man in charge of turning italy around, prime minister mario monti. thank you for joining us today. >> pleasure. >> let me start with your meeting with president obama. what was your goal, and did you achieve it? >> yes. the goal was to explain to the president what italy's doing in terms of budgetary discipline, but also in terms of preparing the conditions for growth. and also what italy is doing at the table of the european union to achieve more growth and a safer governance of the eurozone. and the president was very interested and very, very supportive. >> do you feel the unite

mario monti joins us in an exclusive today at 4:00 p.m. eastern, bill. >> let's look at the major averages, sell-off first thing this morning. they haven't really looked back yet. the dow down 129 points at 12,761. we're certainly not talking about down 13,000 anymore. the nasdaq's down 25 points to 2,901. we were talking nasdaq 3,000 not too long ago. now the s&p is down about a percent, or 12 points at 1,339. i guess we know what traders are talking about today, bob pisani. >> they're talking about mario monti being down here on the floor at 4:00. we'll all be watching tonight. here's the man who has brought some confidence back to europe, in some sense that there might be some way out of this. still a long way to go, but it's very important, his contribution already today. the other thing, of course, is greece. the parliament, the greek groups in parliament control them. the coalition controls the parliament. there's a feeling there coalition may fall apart this weekend. that's why we're weak today. take a look at the big winners and lo

what else did mario monti say? i know he talked to maria about the labor markets, that is still the sticking point in the italian economy. >> reporter: it is indeed. this is one of the key challenges, mario monti is trying to achieve. he's already brought about reforms to competitiveness in industries such as taxes by issuing more licenses, allowing more pharmacies to open up, changing fees that lawyers charge. these are the key initiatives and this is what monti took with him to washington and also to wall street last week as he went on the offensive to try to convince politicians and investment bankers that he's doing enough to restore italy's credibility on markets and we know that funding costs have been coming down across italy thanks largely it to the ecb's ltro operation, just how much time that buys the likes of italy, that's the big question mark for markets. if we take a look at some of the comments the italian prime minister has been making because last week we also saw a down grade to 34 of the 37 itali

mario monti has made some very difficult, necessary reforms to try to deal with italy's debt.ut also cut regulations to spur economic growth. that's the formula they're hoping is a way out of the crisis in europe. and just as greece appears to be edging closer to a settlement in advance of the meeting in brussels, the administration wants to do everything it can to encourage what it believes are responsible actors in europe trying to get on top of a problem that, of course, if it blows up, could threaten not only the economy in the eurozone, but also the united states economy, and the president's own re-election, bill. >> a reminder as you saw graphically, mario monti will be our guest on the "closing bell" tomorrow at 4:00 eastern time. countdown to another big slate of earnings after the bell. brian shactman standing by with that right now. >> let's start with nuance, up about 4% as we head into earnings. maybe you'd like nuance communication. a nice run. if they beat 36 cents a share and $392 million, it could keep going. yesterday we had groupon. today linkedin. the stock

angela merkel has canceled her meeting with mario monti. christian wulff is going to resign over a financial scandal. press conferences are due in the next hour. >>> tokyo stocks sprint to another high as the yen drops on hopes of a recovery in the u.s. and bailout in greece. the boj also hints it will keep policy ultra loose for some time to come. >>> and the deal for greece by monday. i've said that before. looks increasingly likely as reports athens will be given more breathing room by germany and the ecb. plus, lehman brothers subpoenas geithner as questions continue to be asked about the activities at jpmorgan in the days before lehman collapsed. >>> and we have data out of the uk. january retail sales include 9% on the month, better than the consensus forecast of minus 0.42%, looking for a number, the highest increase since april last year in 2011 excluding the month. a bit of consensus minus 0.4. the sales deflator was 2 1/2. the latest since 2009. retail sales including sales at 1.2% on the three-month. the point is it's better than

and so, again, mario monti is the ideal leader. in addition to all his enormous professional accomplishments, mario has been a great friend of our peterson institute and think tanks more broadly. he has been a member of our board of directors for six years. he was the founding chairman of our partner and close friend, institute in brussels. and he's its only person, he may not know this, he's its only person ever to have delivered the two big annual lectures that we have in lecture series here at the institute. and whether he gave the second of those in 2006, his title was does europe have an economic future? his response was an unequivocal yes, but, he cautioned, only if europe did several important things to keep its forward momentum toward integration going. and he stressed in particular the need for structural economic reform. now prime minister monte is in the most important position possible to make that happen. it's, therefore, a truly great honor, privilege and personal joy to host the prime minister and to introduce him to

disney, cisco and coke all beat expectations and mario monti is receiving praise for lifting them out of their crisis there. i spoke to him about his focus on growth. >> we needed to have spending cuts and higher taxes, but we have done this in a way that preserves very much labor income and profits from firms from increased taxation, and we shifted part of the tax burden on to property wealth. then we rely very much on the opening up of the markets through liberalization through competition. >> standard & poors downgraded 34 of the 37 italian banks that standard & poors rates. they are saying that italy is vulnerable to external finance iffing risks. can you characterize the banking system in italy? do you agree with this downgrade by s&p? >> it's not a matter of agreeing. thooe these decisioning by the rating industries are largely the mechanical affects of previous decision and are objective facts. the high public of italy is a well known fact of life. what matters more is movement at the margin. mainly is a government puts its house in order, and the rating agencies themselves are

she's due to meet mario monti there. she will also be making a statement after the president. with me here in the studio is our berlin correspondent, stephen evans. you know better than anyone, this has been, in some respects, a long time coming. it's been building a head of steam. >> yes, and as ever with these things, it's the coverup which does the damage. the allegation was that he took a holiday with a friend, it was paid for by the friend, he was then asked by local lawmakers in his territory at the time, was there any business connection between you and the friend, and he said no. he then made the mistake of calling up the editor-in-chief of the country's biggest selling paper and leaving, according to with a paper, built a very threatening message on the voicemail of the editor-in-chief. of course, they take things like democracy and freedom of the press very seriously in germany, and he didn't like being told what to do by the president, so it then took against him. what's now changed -- what's now changed is the prosecutor is basically saying there are initial suspic

that you know the greeks would like mr barber the most as a prime minister and the would like a mario monti as a prime minister you might have a very different result there and it looks like there is a trend develop we mean in some other southern european countries like spain and portugal we've seen the results of the elections in spain that's completely changed what was happening in the prime minister role so i think having him having a union means that you need to think about all your members and you need to be inclusive and at the moment the problem with the european union is that although stages in its inception was going to be an inclusive union giving to the less developed member states opportunities to develop sort of structural funds through the financing that the commission of the law established back in the eighty's and we now move to a union which is basically dominated by two if not one country doing whatever they want keeping the common currency low because we need to put that into the equation germany right now has significant exports because their currency the euro is a is a

report from athens on greece's troubles, plus margaret warner talks to italy's prime minister, mario monti. >> the euro-zone cris has indeed brought about the reemergence of old phantoms about prejudices and a lot of mutual resentment. >> ifill: and we close with jeffrey brown's conversation with photographer annie leibovitz, whose latest exhibit offers portraits, without the people. >> it's a journey. i certainly didn't realize it until i looked at >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: a three-judge federal appeals panel ruled 2-1 today against banning same-sex marriage in california. the decision upheld a lower court that found the ban, known as proposition 8, viola

in italy, italian prime minister mario monti will join me tomorrow here at the new york stock exchange. please join us as well. president obama, meanwhile, calling the $25 billion settlement between the five biggest mortgage lenders and 49 states on foreclosure abuses, a landmark deal. all have agreed to pay to reimburse homeowners and overhaul the industry. hud secretary shaun donovan my guest at the bottom of the hour. hope you'll join us for that. the house passing a bill banning congress and the executive branch from insider trading. yeah, just today this is happening. it now goes to a house senate conference where some lawmakers are expected to push for a provision that would require so-called political intelligence firms to register as lobbyists. we'll have the details on this controversial provision in the next half hour of the "closing bell." the fbi has released a dossier on the late apple co-founder steve jobs. those files were compiled for presidential appointment by president bush. they said he experimented with drugs while in college. they question his honesty saying jobs

>> mario monti is as strong as papademos is in greece. the deficit situation is nowhere near as bad in italy. so i think things, look up there. i think the democrats are well. and i think mario in the ecb. all three came in in november and all three are doing a good job. >> harvard professor jeffrey frankel, we appreciate your time very much. next up on kudlow, a supreme court justice got attacked. we'll get the latest on his condition and the other news stories coming into the cnbc newsroom right after the break. please stay with us. >>> apple hits an important milestone only two others have done. jonathan dienst in the cnbc newsroom. >> apple is the world's large of the company in terms of market capitalization. a labors rights group has begun auditing conditions where apple products are made. there have been reports of suicides among chinese workers. >>> stephen breyer and his wife were robbed on the caribbean island. he took $1,000 in cash and justice breyer? his wife were not hurt. >>> it looks like voting may have lost out on a $4 b

it's gotten a in-depth piece on italy's new prime minister mario monty and his work to fix europe's economy. it's a very important story. all while maintaining his cunning disguise as a man in a stock photo for a heart disease ad. (laughter) it's actually cover story in thyme's european edition and their asian edition and their south pacific edition and, of course, right here in america it's... you know what, i don't recall that being the cover. what was this week's u.s. edition again? i can't remember. (audience reacts) you're right, i'm sorry. who's a terrible cover story? you are! you're a terrible cover story! yes, you tier worst! you're the worst cover story. i'm not saying "time" has a low opinion of it american readers but when the "highlights" for children got pitched the same they said "itis a little soft, isn't it? our readers are kids but, you know they've got heads." "time's" been on a roll with this (bleep). two months ago, december, 2011, international editions do the arab spring. dramatic, historic. the u.s. issue: why anxiety is good for you. apparently, anxiety isn't good e

. >> in other news, mario monti says his government will not support rome's bid to host the 2020 olympicmes due to the difficult financial situation. he told reporters that there was a unanimous agreement that doing so would put taxpayers' money at risk. he has been under pressure from rome's mayor to support the bid. the duchess of cambridge had a warm welcome on one of her first official visit. >> that is right. large crowds turned out in liverpool to greet the touches on a valentine's day and visit to the city's, this second solo visit she carried out. she visited a charity devoted to helping recovering addicts. she certainly made a lot of people very happy. >> her husband may be posted 8,000 miles away, but the duchess of cambridge is still celebrated a valentine's day. her suitor was an 8 year old called jackson. prince william sent a card and flowers to his wife. first stop, an alcohol free bar in the city center. we shot -- should be shown how to make a non-alcoholic cocktail called the duchess. ♪ there was also a performance by this choir of recovering addicts are run by the char

coming up on "closing bell," a big interview with this guy, mario monti. italy's prime minister. maria's going to talk to him about the news, s&p downgrade of nearly all of the banks. that's today at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. big interview. >> okay, let's get to the trading floors. bob and rick are standing by. bob, i want to start with you. sure, okay today, it's down. but we've been kind of spoiled, haven't we? it's been a really good year. we haven't exactly had a down day to the tune of 1% or more for a long time. >> we haven't. and i think the big problem here is people are kind of shocked to see the markets this weak. i think it's about time. and we've been waiting for this day for a while. i think the reaction is certainly justifiable. i want to comment on the volume. again, today, even though we're getting a big down day, we're not getting a huge volume day. i think the key point here is several reasons why we're not doing anything. low volatility we've seen up until today means high frequency traders are less active. these prop desks are getting dismantled. and institution

postponed a trip to rome where she was to hold talks on the crisis with italian prime minister mario monti. >> the resignation is a blow to chancellor merkel, who had hand- picked christian wulff for the post in 2010. >> with his resignation, german president wulff has placed his office, his service to the people of our country above his own conviction that he acted in accordance with the law. i explicitly respect this move. >> the chancellor told the opposition she would seek a presidential candidate by consensus and syrian-backed >> we want to lead talks in the situation with the aim of finding a common candidate to propose for the next election of the german president. >> the opposition has welcomed the move. >> the aim now must be to find a president who has broad support among the parties in parliament but also among the people. we would be well advised to avoid any premature decisions and public speculation. that, however, has not stopped and the discussion of who will potentially move into berlin's presidential palace. one potential candidate could be the president of the bundestag.

and mario monti, as you know, as we happen to have him on the 4:00 hour of "closing bell," he'll be speakingmaria bartiromo. it will be very interesting to get mr. monti's reaction to s&p's move. all right. that's coming up at 4:00 p.m. seema mody is up now. she's joining us from the nasdaq -- or actually the realtime exchange. you're right behind me. >> let's reset the markets. concerns over greece definitely weighing on our u.s. major indices. we have the dow witness triple digit losses. the s&p down 10 points. and the nasdaq down .7%. remember, it's been technology that's been the bright spot for this year and for the year currently down 21 points for the nasdaq. taking a look at our fear index, it's up right now 9.5%. the highest level year-to-date at 20. also seeing money flow out of commodities. take a look at oil trading at $98 a barrel. and gold also witnessing pressure. taking a look at some of our winners and losers on the s&p 500. take a look at shares of salesforce.com currently up 2% surging on a batch of analyst reports saying the company closed some significant deals. on the l

we're we have to defend is italy and that's really going to fall on the shoulders of the technocrat mario monti government and this is going to be our cataclysmic event during the course of the latest april does the euro survive at the moment i think probably a shrunken euro it's sixty forty it can do but ultimately we're going to see swinge in recession even worse of the recession read out of we've already been receiving for the course of this week through why do european union and that's bad for everybody in the world regardless of what happens today regardless of what the voters ultimately within the next maybe a weeks greece is going to be forced to default and that's going to be quite cataclysmic. it without the sour. despite mounting civilian deaths and while it was drawled the number of nato airstrikes in afghanistan could actually be increasing and we explain what i mean in just a few bob. around here of this town bill and bob is the uighurs army private accused or washington of treason receives a nomination for the nobel peace prize. and transparent that's how people in russia want to

president obama will meet with italian prime minister mario monti. will discuss economic affairs in his country and neighboring greece. >>> closing arguments are set for today regarding whether john hinckley jr. should get more visitation time away in his mental hospital. 55, he's been institutionalized ever since trying to assassinate asas president ronald reagan in 1981. >>> next, what doctors say was wrong with a man and what ended up costing the city of henderson. >> plus, a group of nuns are fighting the opening of a new business. why they say it's bad business for the community. >> and a board takes to the streets in one miami neighborhood. a boar. what neighbors had to do to stop this runaway animal. >>> testimony continues in the trial of george huguely, accused of killing yeardley love. who takes the stand today. >> and caylee anthony was gone for months before she was ever reported missing. today, a bill in annapolis changing laws about when you report when children disappear. >> i'm linda so live at the baltimore auto show. lots of fun com

we're we have to defend is italy and that's really going to fall on the shoulders of the technocrat mario monti and this is going to be our how to clinica bent during the course of at the latest april does the euro survive at the moment i think probably a shrunken euro it's sixty forty it can do but ultimately we're going to see swinge in recession even worse of the recession read out of we've already been receiving for the course of this week throughout the european union and that's bad for everybody in the world regardless of what happens today regardless of what the vote is ultimately within the next maybe it weeks greece is going to be forced to default and that's going to be quite cataclysmic. government president hamid karzai accused nato cutting a stroll down and asked truck on wednesday officials launched an investigation after claiming foreign forces are wrongly tang's hit civilians after receiving an incorrect report that all men who were preparing an attack in the area the bombing came just a week after the united states announced its might stop combat operations in afghanistan earli

mario monti also put his finger on the wound as it were and i know it. i've been in a number of talk shows on german television where we had the same kinds of problems and issues. it's the divisionalism as it were. the germans say why should we pay for the greek pensions and the greeks are saying why are the germans dictating what we do? a very difficult path to go down on to point fingers at one or the other because that doesn't solve any of the problems and it clutters up the reform process in many of these places and if you look at greece, if the greeks and, indeed, greek politicians worry more about what the germans are saying than pushing their reforms ahead, that's not very helpful. if the germans are more worried about saying whatever you do, it's not enough. it's not very helpful. so i think mario monti is right, we have to get back to the point where everybody is saying, hang on. we're all europeans. we're in this boat together although some have to pay in money and some have to pay in it terms of pay cuts. but it's very difficult to pull this b

again, mario monti, is the ideal leader.l accomplishments, mario monti has been a great friend of our peterson institute. he has any member of our board of directors for six years. he was the founding chairman of our partner and close friend institute in brussels. and he is the only person, he may not know this -- he is the only person to have delivered the two beattie annual lectors -- the two big annual lectures we have here. when he gave the second in 2006, his title was, this europe have an economic future? -- does europe have an economic future? he said yes, but he cautioned, only if europe did several important things to keep its forward momentum towards integration going. he stressed, in particular, the need for structural economic reform. now, prime minister monti is in the most important position possible to make that happen. it is a great honor and privilege in personal delay to host the prime minister and to introduce him -- to host the prime minister and to introduce him. super mario. [applause] >> thank you very

. >> my thanks to mario monti. my next guest says it may just be the beginning. joining us is liz ann saunder. >> thanks for having me. >> so, of course, here we are over the weekend. we're going to see the on again, off again talks in greece. we're waiting for a resolution. what's your take? >> i don't know. i think, ultimately, at least in the near term, we can avoid disorderly default. i think all parties would like to see that happen. the fact that there still needs to be parliamentary approval and implementing this. and that's, i think, what we still have to see, whether there's any actual desire on the part, certainly on the people to do this. i do think there's still a lot of uncertainty between now and march 20th when that big bond payment is do. >> let's say -- and this is a big if -- if greece gets off of the main page, the big headlines, do the concerns just move onto portugal? spain? italy? is that the next big issue for europe? >> that's the problem. and we do seem to be fairly myopic because we're already seeing yields in the other nations, portugal

. >> my thanks to mario monti. >>> the markets edge higher. america's economy strengthens a and my guest says it may be the beginning. my next guest is liz ann sonders with charles schwab. we will see the off and on talks in greece. we are waiting for a resolution. what's your take? how do you think this resolves itself? >> i don't know. i think in the near term we can avoid disorderly default. i think all parties would like to see that happen. the fact there needs to be parliamentary approval in implementing this. this is what we have to see whether there is actual desire on the part of the people to do this. i think that there is still a lot of uncertainty between now and march 20th when the bond payment is due. >> if greece gets off of the main page of the big headlines, do the concerns move on to portugal, spain, italy? is that the next big issue for europe and the world? >> that's the problem. we seem to be fairly myopic. we are seeing yields. portugal being a perfect example, starting to ratchet up. the focus is on greece. that's the ris

we're we have to defend is italy and that's really going to forward the shoulders of the technocrat mario monti and this is going to be our how to close make a bent during the course of at the latest april does the euro survive at the moment i think probably a shrunken euro it's sixty forty it can do but ultimately we're going to see swinge in recession even worse of the recession read out of we've already been receiving for the course of this week through why do european union and that's bad for everybody in the world regardless of what happens today regardless of what the vote is ultimately within the next maybe it weeks greece is going to be forced to default and that's going to be quite cataclysmic. going to be a little earlier let's now talk to a great journalist who's in there is any of the results of this is expected in less than two hours from now tell us about what you're seeing at the moment there are enough and your understanding of what's happening at the moment. even though everything behind me in front of greek parliament seem to be quite quiet. on our air here everything was tota

we're we have to defend is italy and that's really going to fall on the shoulders of the technocrat mario monti government and this is going to be our how to close make a bent during the course of at the latest april does the euro survive at the moment i think probably a shrunken euro it sixty forty it can do but ultimately we're going to see swinge in recession even worse of the recession read out of we've already been receiving through why do european union and that's bad for everybody in the world ultimately within the next maybe it weeks greece is going to be forced to default and that's going to be quite cataclysmic but artie's cross-talk program also focuses on greece's financial predicament coming your way next hour hidden costs of the bailout rescue. the exchange is clear in germany you give me the cash to survive given my debt problem i'll give you my sovereignty but will the public actually comply will they agree to accept the pain of this austerity and will they agree it is to men the most important sovereign aspect which is your first school your budget to technocrats in brussels th

twenty twenty summer olympic games in rome because of the country's financial difficulties premier mario monti said it would be a responsible use of taxpayers' money the cost of hostin the other big syndrome has been estimated at all was still believe you or is five cities is several tokyo and madrid will remain in the race to host the games. and that ballot ministration is reportedly considering new cancer to the u.s. nuclear arsenal and eighty percent reduction in the number of weapons already deployed is among the potion proposals so no final decision has been made about several options for constables below the limit with pride in the treaty are believed to be under consideration such a move would be in line with president barack obama's two thousand and nine pledge to try to eliminate nuclear weapons. are central to the channels have come under criticism for alleged appropriated buyers ahead of next month's presidential election a group of activists standing for a third elections as reports about the current prime minister and presidential candidate but in a person or two positive which un

have to defend now it is italy and that's really good of forward the shoulders of the technocrat mario monti and this is going to be our cataclysmic event during the course of up to later see a problem does the euro survive at the moment i think probably a shrunken euro it's sixty forty it can do but ultimately we're going to see swinge in recession even worse of the recession really down to we've already been receiving through why do european union and that's bad for everybody in the world ultimately within the next maybe it weeks greece is going to be forced to default and that's going to be quite cataclysmic. coming up later today on talk program focuses and what's behind the international drive to save greece. the change is clear in germany you give me the cash to survive given my debt problem and i'll give you my sovereignty but will the public actually comply will they agree to accept the pain of this austerity and will they agree to submit the most important sovereign aspect which is your this goal your budget to technocrats in brussels that are not answerable to your population throu

interests of the greek people or the interests of the bankers we have a similar situation if we were mario monti is the european president the chairman for the trilateral commission and the second question matt is who is all this money owed to i mean this sovereign debt crisis as i said happens time and again our banker is that stupid that they always make the mistake of lending too much money to countries and are governments that stupid that they take loans much more than they can pay back or i insist is this part of a model where like shylock's pound of flesh you ability of the solver and this is literally used to control the entire country the parliamentary elections are due in april but with the current coalition government set to make written commitments to implementing these reforms do you think a new government will have no choice on how to deal with the debt crisis. well a new government will have no choice because it will probably be a new government that is in one way or another subordinated to a global power masters so to speak to the money powers because in a way all governments whet