back to you. >> matt nesto, thanks so much. we've got about 25 minutes to go before the closing bell. here's how the markets are shaping up. the dow had been losing a little bit of steam but now it's fighting its way back toward the highs of the session. up 145 points. that's about 1.6% on the day. and sitting above 9,400. that would be the first time it would close above that level since november. take a look at the nasdaq as well. it is charging higher at this hour, up 1.6%, also off the highs of the session but above 2,000. 2,004 the last trade. and the s&p is trading to the up side by about the same percentage. 16 points. 1,013. >> time for the "fast money" final call. chinese indicating it could be pulling back on the purchase of hard metals. how can you make some money on this? here to dell us brian stultland trader at stutland equities and a "fast money" contributor. i've got to till china says we're monitoring the stock market. and shanghai sells off. china is making these sort of nebulous comments about asset bubbles a

we are back in a moment. >>> i'm matt nesto with the "closing bell" realtime flash. well, this one could be a sell, sell, sell, if you will, in the words of -- the parlance of cramer. but i'm talking about prison cell. corrections corporation up 9% here today. one of the top ten gainers in the russell 1000. the stock's up 20% in a month. it is earnings season. it is what they do. and they came out with better than expected results. demand is there. their man days are up. the money that they get for keeping people behind bars is on the rise. and they're holding strong at about 90% occupancy. corrections corp., cxw. back to you. >> got it. thank you, matt. we've got 30 minutes left until the closing bell. let's show you how the markets are shaping up so far today. right now the dow jones industrial average is lower by 22 points. 9,258, a decline of a quarter of a percent. there may be some nervousness ahead of this big jobs number tomorrow. what's it going to tell us about employment? the nasdaq is lower by 15 1/2 points. 1977. it was a great year. the s&p 500 lower by

>> thank you, matt nesto. short-term vulnerabilities, long-term upside, that is what the charts are telling us about the direction of equities. jordan kotick, global head of technical strategy at barclays capital joins us now in our regular "tick by tick" segment. it's great to see you, jordan. and i'm curious to know what chart you're looking at to understand that right now we might see a little vulnerability but over the long run things are looking a lot better. >> a couple of things. in the month of august we were still quite bullish the equity market but heading into september we're starting to see some warning signs that are a little bit of a discouragement to us and wanted to point those out today. back in the fourth quarter when the world was falling apart there were a couple of things that looked good and that made us get quite bullish in the first quarter. now it's the opposite 37 the world seems to improve but some of the things are starting to fall to the down side. let's start with china. as we kno

. >> i want to run to matt nesto and some breaking news here. matt, what's up? >> all right, bob, thanks very much. i'm at the breaking news desk here. we've just gotten word from the s.e.c. they have issued their first charges, their first enforcement charges against option trader broker-dealers for a violation of the naked short rule. the s.e.c. charged new york city-bas city-based hazan capital management and the principal trader there steven hazan with violations. also chicago-based t.j.m. proprietary with trading violations. they say, in quotes, "the traders and their firms engaged in short selling tactics that circumvented regulatory requirement through complex options transactions." the document goes on to state that the violations or alleged violations at hcm occurred between january of 'o'5 and october of '05 and they had ill-gotten gains of at least $3 million. and then the second firm's violations took place between january '07 and july '07 with about a million in ill-gotten gains. sought first time naked short violation charges have been laid down by

matt nesto, thanks so much. we keep wondering if you bail on it now at this point, because of that -- >> well, it has been a heck of a trade. and you guys are absolutely right. way, way up. >> it worries me. >> sent me a list yesterday of where all these stocks have traded, and some of them -- home depot or office depot, i think, is a good one as an example. it's been just way up since march 6th. anyway, we're going to be right back with the last call. >> you're watching cnbc. we are first in business worldwide. when this shoe store added aflac to its employee benefits package at no direct cost to the company... it was a perfect fit. find out more at aflac!... ...forbusiness.com so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates.

. >> matt nesto, what is on your list? >> you know when a doctor puts you on that treadmill and stress test you to see how strong the ticker is. i've got a couple stocks that are holding up in the face of a weak market. i'll give you some losers, too, some truth. but coming back, we give you some stress-test nesto picks. back after this. imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm dan weston. we're experts at getting you the scooter or power chair you need. in fact, if we pre-qualify you for medicare reimbursement and medicare denies your claim, we'll give you your new power chair or scooter free. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today

we're talking about bullish guidance and cnbc's stocks editor matt nesto has a look at how much investors are willing to pay for it. matt? >> i know that you're pretty active out there socially. this is the ticket to the crystal ball. and if you get invited to the crystal ball, my friend, you have got the ticket to the big-time. you just saw bob mention harris. it is one of the stocks that is actually seeing things out there. remember that crazy spooky movie that kid said "i see things." of course he saw dead people. these guys can see into the future. and they're confident enough even though a lot of ceos might have a hunch, these guys are talking it and the market is pushing the stocks up. 5%, 6%, 7% harris. and what's interesting too, harris of course is a technology company. they're in the telecom equipment, broadcast equipment. dr. pepper is a consumer staple, a beverage company, a soft drink maker, and watson wyatt technically is an industrial but it's a human resources firm and a financial consulting firm. three different companies and three different sectors all going on here. i c

matt nesto, thanks so much. up next we're coming back with the closing countdown. >> after the bell maria bartiromo's exclusive interview with the president of the philippines. find out how that nation has been able to maintain steady growth throughout the global recession. that's ahead at 4:00 p.m. eastern. professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free". ever want to look over the shoulder of a seasoned stock trader? well, here's your chance... i'm running strategy desk from td ameritrade to set up a trading strategy based on how i think the market's trending-- right now i'm looking at a 20-80 stochastic cross. now, i could be running multiple strategies... my own tweak or some com

let's head to matt nesto. happy friday, matt. >> love that. >> how do we interpret these unemployment numbers today? what's it mean? >> you know, there's a trend, and that is that the monthly decrease in jobs has been improving. this fingerprint, minus 247,000, is the lowest loss rate we have seen since last august. the trend is improving. the number is still bad, 9.4%, 9.5%. they could be seen as opkipeooor ler fheng t people lking for the indition that e worst is over. >> we had good housing numbers recently. the stock market has been rallying the last couple weeks. is it safe to say we turned the corner? >> i would say, no, it is not safe to say. there are definitely indications than the thing we do have working in our favor is old age. this is already the longest recession we've had since the great depregsz, if not the worst. you will never know until after the fact when all the dust settles. all the stimulus, all the talk, all the clunkers, all the joblessness, really those tend to fix themselves dpingiven

cnbc's matt nesto has a look at that situation. matt? >> yeah, you know, if i was french, melissa, i would call this assignment impossiblebecause today it is the trillion-dollar question right now, is this rally going to keep going? and if it is, where the heck do you get on board? where do you catch the train? if you take a look at just history-f you just go back, and i'm only going to take this thing back a month. i know we can go back to the bottom in march. but we had that dull period, remember. this thing really caught fire in mid-july. but just in the past month sectorwise materials and financials are clearly outperforming on the sector level versus an s&p that's gained about 11%, 11 1/2%. same for the dow and the nasdaq. during that period of time. but if you take a look at where this market might run and you take a look at getting involved and who's going to chase the momentum here today, the reality is history tells us that momentum favors winners. any financial professional worth his or her weight in salt will tell you that sto

matt nesto, thanks so much..p next, we're coming right back with the closing countdown. >> and after the bell, will bank of america's rejected settlement with the s.e.c. have a major impact on the future of both the bank and ceo ken lewis? some answers ahead at 4:00 p.m. every sunday, lasagna at mom's was a family tradition. when she started forgetting things, i was hoping it was nothing. grandma! what a nice surprise! mom, it's sunday. that's when i knew i couldn't wait. mom's doctor said these were signs of alzheimer's, a type of dementia, and that prescription aricept could help. he said it's the only treatment proven effective... for all stages of alzheimer's. studies showed aricept slows the progression... of alzheimer's symptoms. it improves cognition... and slows the decline of overall function. aricept is well tolerated but not for everyone. people at risk for stomach ulcers... or who take certain other medicines... should tell their doctors... because serious stomach problems... such as bleeding may get

cnbc's matt nesto is on the case. >> i said viewer discretion, mandy. if you look at the discretionary group today, lots of things working, up 1.7%, far and away outpace the market and beating financials. that's today, sort of this week sort of story. but if you step back to a month or so, all about financials. but for this report, we're going to take a look at some of those discretionary names, particularly some of the best performers in the s&p 500 today. you can't not enjoy a big 8% move in big lots. check it out. up almost 2 bucks a share here today. that stock is up 78% on a year-to-date basis. they beat, they guided, they divided as all looking positive here today, the company's lower expenses, lower payroll, lower advertising is giving that leveraged operating leverage that analysts have been looking for, where a little bit goes a long way. if you take a look at harmon, harmon benefitting from an upgrade. they came out with a smaller than expected loss about a week ago, but jpmorgan out today waiting it overweight, saying harmon will go to $44, i

joining us now is cnbc reporter matt nesto. matt, sometimes it feels like we are getting mixed messages that one minute we hear that the jobless benefits claims jumped one week but we also hear unemployment rate generally looking better. can you interpret this for us? >> this is cash this is like psychology. i'm on my couch and we live day to point to data point. this is exactly what we had today. you are referring to last week's monthly jobs report. the nonforeign payrolls, the unemployment rate slip down a bit. that's the job creation or the -- in this case, the pace that we are losing jobs on a monthly basis. of course, every single week, we get the same -- numbers in terms of how many people are filing initial jobless claims. which is what we got today. every thursday and the number was slightly worse than expected. a volatile number, weekly number. economists tend to want to look at these things over moving average, four-week average. and, you know, give or take. the number was more or less in line where we have seen it and

mark, back to you. >> thank you, matt nesto.n though several analysts this morning are raising their price targets on shares of vertex pharma, stock trading lower on the back of the company reporting a bigger than expected loss. cnbc's pharma reporter mike huckman back at hq with another first right here on cnbc. michael? >> good morning. despite the stock reaction, vertex pharmaceutical is less of an earnings story and more of a drug development story. drug for hepatitis c. what's referred to is the silent epidemic because the symptoms are sneaky and this disease is little talked about ppt joining me live from boston for a cnbc exclusive and in his first interview with taking the helm with the company is chairman and ceo matthew emmens. good morning. and thank you for joining us. >> it's great to be here. thank you for having me. >> sure. while you're going to have some data at a scientific conference coming up, your key test results really aren't coming out until sometime in the first half of next year. but for those who aren'

let's get the latest now from matt nesto. he's live at cnbc world headquarters in new jersey. >> hi. >> last month, matt was a record-breaking month for the dow. we're hearing it was the igbeest july point gain in history. so my question is does there appear to be enough momentum to keep that trend going? >> well, you know, so far, day one of august certainly a very strong start and a broad-based rally, too. i would say we don't want to confuse people, it was the biggest point gain for the dow in july ever. over 700 points in terms of percentage gains for july. the dow was the best since 1989. so just a little mathematics at work. as far as today, the nasdaq with a big push above 2,000. the s&p 500 above 1,000 again. all three of those benchmarks higher. led by strength in the materials stocks, the mettles, the mining names, things like that, the commodities also very strong. we saw the price of oil pushing higher yet again here today, but pretty much everything was working all ten economic sectors were on the rise on this mon

matt nesto is putting it into perspective. which stocks could be the leadership group in the next six months. um bill-- why is dick butkus here? i hired him to speak. a lot of fortune 500 companies use him. but-- i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-- that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! you know business is a lot like football... i just don't understand... i'm sorry dick butkus. (announcer) we understand. you want to grow internationally. fedex express others by the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. special lease offers now available on the 2009 is 250. i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's. >>> a look now at how some of the stocks are faring today. home depot higher along with walma walmart. we mentioned how some of the consumer discretionary

cnbc's matt nesto explains. >> i got a new thing for gdp. it's growth domestic profits. it's hard to say. it's easy to spell. the reality is we are in for some humdinger of a quarter in the fourth quarter. it is what it is in the second quarter, but take a look where we've come. if you look at the first quarter results, we are now 35%. we were down 28% so far in this quarter. that's actually better than expected and the reason why we're rallying. but it is the eighth consecutive quarter that's been a loser. and then the third quarter right now is forecast to be down 21%. look at that figure. that is not a typo, folks. 185% rebound. mind you, the fourth quarter a year ago was down 67%. so yes, i understand mathematics and easy comparisons on a year end basis. but the fact is that numbers not only inched up higher this month but steadily for the past 30 days or so. so there is a bullishness in terms of expectations and earnings improvement creeping into the marketplace. so that's oddity number one. remember that, the fourth quarter earnings been up 185%. ness toe told me.

up next matt nesto breaks down the other weekly big winners and losers. we're coming right back with "the closing bell." >>> four weeks and counting as stocks continue to build on the latest winning streak. cnbc's matt nesto looks at who got us here as well as whose invitation got lost in the mail. >> you like that? >> i do. >> i'm a bit of a nut job, but this is 22 weeks and counting, up 16 of the 22 weeks. i don't have any big weekly superlatives or four-week superlatives, because this is sous of middling performance, i'd like to play on the next level down, the industry level. interestingly, if you look at the financial index, 77 of 79 members managed to post a positive week, only intercontinental exchange and e*trade couldn't done it done. the real strait industry up 16%, all four industries in the financial area were higher. that's real estate, banks, diversified financials and insureds. if you look at the big gainers on the week in terms of percentages, of course ai giismt with 100% move. kodak with a 44% move. interestingly, all these are earnings

cnbc's matt nesto here to tell us why we should care. tt. >> i've got to tell you this is one of those situations, michelle, we're going to call it mind over matter. materials. and the truth of the matter is this, folks. this ways big day for materials. they were up we'll call it 3-1 versus the s&p 500. 2.1% gain on the day. the best of the ten sectors by a pretty good margin. and if you take a look at the breadth in the group, 26 of 28 members were higher. and even if you back it back to the trough of the market in march, they're the second best performers with a 68% gain second only to the financials, up more than 100% during that period of time. the problem is they just can't move the markets. but that only matters on the big picture, but it does matter. materials as a leadership group is a loser of a proposition because they just can't move the market. they account for 3 1/2% of the s&p 500. their weighting in terms of a sector ranks them ninth out of ten. alcoa, for example, in the dow, the second best performer today only 1%, has th

up next, matt nesto on stocks to watch. >> hi, mandy.you thought it was safe to go back in the water, earnings season behind us, no, some of the biggest are movers are earnings-related, pro and con and you heard about eddy lampert what he's going to do with sears. i'll take a look at that, as well as key research calls, and then a little quirk in the biggest of the big cap names. some of the wildly held stocks, who is working and who is not. of all coming your way, right after a quick break. . >>> well, let's check out jetblue and see what it's doing right now, up 2.4%, the discount airliner which began offering unlimited travel for a month or $599 last weekended the promotion early due to its overwhelming popularity. the stock is currently trading at $5.19. >> a lot for 599. time for our call to action, the stocks you need to be watching for the rest of the trading day. and none other than mr. nesto, cnbc's matt nesto is here with a look. >> yeah, trish, appreciate it. of obviously, the big call of the day is the google call

matt nesto, thanks so much. what does that tell us about the holdings. >> wells fargo, american express, these are core holdings for them. >> general electric. >> also the drivety bets he has placed went his way with the markets going higher. >> and that was the word on the street. coming up next, pops and drops for the street. the gold delta skymiles credit card... from american express... it's the official card... of the world's largest airline. and it's the only credit card... that earns miles on delta. miles that take you... to more places than ever before. over 350 destinations worldwide. so switch today. get up to 25,000 bonus miles-- good for a free flight. call now to apply. there's no annual fee for the first year... and you can redeem... with no blackout dates or seat restrictions. these are just a few of the benefits... of carrying the official card of delta air lines. switch now and you can earn miles... on delta with your purchases: groceries, gas, entertainment, and more. get up to 25,000 bonus mil

let's say hello to matt nesto for a look at the futures. good morning. >> good morning, good day or good evening depending on where you are. if you take a look at the u.s. futures, remember, you have a three-day winning streak as we closed out on wall street. a little bit of strength in the futures if you take a peek at the fair value here today. the dow, nasdaq and the s&p, little change in the fair value. if you take a look at the bund in germany, first we'll take a look at the ten-year bund. set the peace. 3.27% is the yield there and you go home with, viola, 3.42%. we'll call it 20 basis points in your pocket. and the price of gold at this time of the day is going to sell for $940 an ounce. little changed on the session. becky, take it away. >> i want to get back on those euro zone august flash services pmi. it was a reading of 49.5, that is a significant increase from july. still, just fractionally below that 50 par level, if you like, and well ahead of the forecast, as well. 46.5 was what the analysts were looking for there. manufactu

i'm matt nesto. crazy stocks moving today. i have been talking about genworth because it is up 900% from the march lows. downgraded from sell to hold at citigroup they sadie tooror eighting fundamentals. tenant health care. super hoty. up 400%. it is being raised to outperform from neutral at rw bear. fading during the day. it was a five a four, three. now about 2%. about 12 cents. and barnes & noble, talking up their acquisition of their college book seller and bringing that under one roof. credit suisse this morning says it raises the risk profile and eats up the free cash flow and they are concerned about that one. taking to underperform from neutral, down about 7%. back to you. >> thank you, mr. nesto. industrial production, talk about this. more than expected in july. and it was the first monthly increase since october. what does this tell bus the health of the economy? and think upside that we really could be seeing in industrials and manufacturing? joining us is jim sweeney. matthew christie, standard & poors analyst. m

mark, back to you. >> thank you, matt nesto. notable numbers out of gentleja overnight. total number of jobless people in that country jumped more than 40% last month. japan also logging a record drop in its own cpi. fresh fears of dedplags. the market reaction overseas, the nikkei higher, hang seng and shanghai composite lower. guy johnson, what's happening in london? >> we are higher, mark. we have broken a two-day losing streak. we are hearing earlier about the light volume, that continues to be very much the theme running into the end of the week. london is up 1 hoin 4. frankfurt is up 1.7. cac is trading up 1.8%. let me show you the last week in terms of the stoxx 600. as you can see really doing nothing for the bulk of the week. this tidy little rally we're putting on at the end of the week fiends that the ftse 100 will end up probably at the current level up 1.4. cac up by 1.2% on the week. so another positive week for these european markets. let me just show you that commerce bank is one of the reasons why frankfurt is doing so well today. this is a stock that is

. >> matt nesto is following the ups and downs. >> it's amazing. these con sense sus estimates are median numbers. they're averages. if you look at the range, the fact that it missed by 4,000 or moved, you want to look at that moving average as still around 600,000 and change. there's still a lot of people, hundreds of thousands of people filing for initial claims and also the bigger number, the 6 million figure still continues to be steady. >> those retail numbers, they were not good either. walmart came out this morning with better than expected numbers, then we got the rest of the retail numbers which are not great. >> walmart had good earnings. they're one of the few retailers that don't give us their same store numbers anymore. now, you have to guess. but that stock is one of the few strong retailers rising here today. home depoet is doing pretty well today. and car max. they didn't get any bang if you will, from the cash for clunkers program. >> thanks so much for joining us. >>> a memo contains a secret deal by the white house and pharmaceut

let's get more on the fed's decision and talk to matt nesto. >> it's interesting because typically when see a holding pattern. but today, we are unusually strong before decision. investors looking to buy into it ahead of it and then we've softened up afterwards. still strong, a positive across the board. it's up about 90 points right now. you mentioned the fed's statement and reaction to it. they're also saying not only is economic activity leveling out, but they say that consumer spending is going to remain tight and constrained by ongoing job losses for the foreseeable future. that low rate range of zero to a quarter of a percent, they're going to anticipate to stay in place and is warranted to be low for an extended period of time. that is the same as before. so the market, in terms of the stock market, softened up. we saw treasuries get weaker on that as well. >> do you think that the taste this you have in music is just a reflection of how old you are? >> no, i do not. that's a good question. >> you think that's a trick question, don't you. >> i think how old one is, maybe you coul

matt nesto, thanks seech. >>> as reporting, housing starts fell unexpectedly in june by 1%, as did new building permits. single family home construction rose for the fifth straight month. >>> producer prices also fell in july. so here to tell us what it all means for a recovering economy is diane swan, chief economist at messer owe financial, and real estate expert herly oel after son, and diana olick joins us, as well. diana, what do you make of today's news? >> i'm sorry. >> i'll take it for a second. first, we did see the unexpected drop in housing starts but that was driven by multifamily which was having all kinds of problems with credit, and unable to get loans for the large buildings. we did see a bump up of 1.7% in single family housing starts so that's an improvement, and we have seen a bump up in january of this year. good news on single family versus multi. diane? >> i agree 100%. that's exactly what is happening. the condo market not getting any funding in the commercial real estate. we saw them being able to fund commercial mortgage-backed securities, extending the program

. >>> matt nesto has the latest on berkshire hathaway. >> thank you very much. it's interesting to see hoar warren buffett does. if you look at their operating earns, which includes about a billion dollars in investment gains, it gets you to $1147 per share. the estimates are out there for $1238. that arguably could be a disappointment. the company also pointing out that they have over $24 billion in cash on hand, and they are also talking about the fact that their book value increased to 73,806 per class-a share, up about 5% from yearend and 11% from the first quarter. the net earnings appear to have gone up, but if you break it down, underwriting down sharply. investment income, as i mentioned, a big jump there, almost 50%. non-insurance businesses down about 50% to 574 million and other we won't even talk about it, because it's so minuscule. the big picture there is that operating income, the operating earnings at 1780, which is a pretty strong figure. >> okay. matt, once again, investment income was up 50%, so that is what in their portfolio essentially. >>>

i'm matt nesto. last week it was, hey, who is hotter than you, baby, for the retailer. today it's, uh, i don't want to know you. 34 out of 35 members trading lower. none worse than best buy. it is cut from u neutral to buy at goldman sachs. urban outfitters down at citi group. the best and only gainer in the index, barnes and noble. berkshire hathaway reported results after friday, missed not lot of estimates but $1147 a share. downgrade at ftm this morning. stock is at $103 a share. boeing, second worse performer in the dow. down 2%. am membe amex is the worse but reiterated to sell at ubs. they say this company is going to burn cash like jet fuel for years to come. their credit has been lowered and they're going to continue to borrow. they say sell the stock to $30 a share. merck was higher here, second d best performer in the dow. behind mcdonald's, it is resumed a conviction buy. buy it with conviction, goldman sachs this morning. it was neutral before.e. let's get over to david faber now for the very latest faber report. >> thanks, matt nesto. all right. yeah, let'

. >> thank you, matt nesto and jim cramer hoo here for stock trading zeechlt to get through a punch ofames. citigroup's latest tarp report. there is interesting nuggets in here. the bottom line is that they increased lending. the stock has been red hot. i recommend the stock. i believe this is an important pr initiative. when your citigroup that is public enemy number one, we need to see it and the head of the fdic from remove together which i don't want and the government, we want them to register their stock on september 10th to clear the overhang. i think citigroup has a terrible pr problem. everyone knows it and the mets play at city field and feel strong 3 this is smart. you have to issue these things. >> stocks are going to be within the next 18 months. there is jim on the record. clearly you go on the other side. >> let's catch it. >> we were just looking at the president. he is in a town hall. much more gentile than the other ones we have seen. your point is if we look at cigna, we have a signal about where health care reform is going. unitedhealth, cigna, well point. u.n. h. t

let's go down to matt nesto at the nymex. >> thank you very much, scott. we're up for a second day in a row here. crude will have to get back to almost $74 a barrel if it's going to turn in a positive week. it's also worth noting the price of natural gas is the lone loser here today, heating oil and gasoline, as well as crude all trading higher, all be it fairly modestly, 1% right now. if you look at the natural gas contract, testing 302 with about a 5% decline. we are off about 6%, just from intraday high, the first day of trading for the october, as the front month contract. and it looks like it could be a real test on whether or not it can hold that $3 level or not. let's get -- i'm sorry, i didn't hear you -- to rick. i hope. >> yeah! you have it right, mr. matt. you know, i like looking at the kpren currencies, one of the areas i pay attention. currency versus the dollar is interesting, up a little bit on the day, up a little bit more on the week. up just a bit, because it has some ground gain against things like the canadian dollar and the yen. but,

. >> thank you very much, matt nesto. let's make sense of what's going on. off 166 on the backs of the breaking headlines. can we turn it around by the end of the day? steve is with us from red bush morgan and with me at the open and all the way from the other side of the world. covering the asian mark for cnbc. we are lucky enough to have her for a couple of weeks.s. it started in asia and let me start with you. there is so much skepticism about the chinese rally and now it started to pull back. you cover it every day. do people believe the strength in asia is for real? >> i don't know. i think the problem here is that chine acted like a global leading indicator. when things started to get better, they are on the skins on the terms of the market. maybe it will be the leading indicator and not without foundation. there was a massive lending in the first half. so much of the recession is speck ulz in stocks and real estate. what happens when the lending is turned off. that's what speaks here. >> i know you have been focused in on how long will all that lendin

. >> matt nesto. how is the nasdaq. >> we have been zigzagging around and got a burst. we are back up stronger than 1.2%, close to if not at the high of the session. a couple of themes we are watching, is big name upgrades. we talked about apple and palm and rim all being upgraded. that continues to help. joy global is a rebounding theme. we have seen the industrial stocks bouncing back like that. also upgraded by goldman sacks and strong here today. coat tailing on the home depot and a bid in the retailing like seers and urban. jim cramer up and a goldman play and upgraded again and we are seeing some of them coming in again. it is neutral-rate and huntington bank pounded 8% and giving back half of that. financials are not part of the nasdaq. they are in the nasdaq composite, but one of the strongest here today. first solar was stronger earlier in the day. solar has been a real tug of war. we had capacity and oversupply issues that put these stocks under pressure. they signed the deal with southern california edison. that is to build more plans. that's what we are trac

. >> matt nesto. stick right t, matt.. don't go anywhere. shares of mgm are getting a bit of a boost this morning. are the tough times over for this casino operator? joining us now, david cash of oppenheimer and el nesto grande at hq. what do you think, tough times over? >> i don't think the tough times are over. i think the remainder of this year is going to be under pressure.. you have a national ban on any kind of fund of business travel. >> i know. >> we need that to lift in order to get things better.. i would poupd r point out that there was slight or sequential for the first quarter. >> all right. so would you buy the stocks? >> we're in knew tlal neutral o. i think you have a potentially great stock call on a rebound in las vegas. that ban on funds starts to ease next year, which i think it's reasonably assume for they might. it's going to open in december. and some things for mgm that they need to deal with, in particular, 2500 condos under contract and now we don't know how many are going to close. that's a lot of money and those ar

let's go down to the nymex and matt nesto with a close on energy. >> about four minutes ago, we saw atllowing the dow for lack of a better index and stock markets in general throughout the session we bottomed out after lunch and have been kurnlging back. we take back a little bit and looking at a losing week and entered at 7389 a week ago. barring a real sprint, we will have a losing week, but up for the second day in a row. checking on natural gas, it has been the weak contract and down about 5%. it's the first day of trading as the front contract is often weak. it is up like the west of the commodities from earlier lows. maybe a nick you will off the bottom so it did have technical support holding that $3 level for natural gas which was the discussion of so much as they were here in the throws of hurricane season even though danny appears to be quite the boy. back to you. >> thanks so much. in 2007, the biofuel industry received more money to nuclear, solar and any other energy source. it's all a big waste. here to discuss is an independent oil trade and street.com contributor and th

first up, we have matt nesto taking a look at the hottest winners in the summer rally so far. hello, matt. >> thanks, larry. cit and aig are in the headlines, but dozens of stocks are beating them. trw at an 11-month high after rebounding 1100% or jen worth going from 80 cents to more than 8 bucks. and of ais budget is up 2800%, leading the russell 2000, on the back of a million-dollar market cap again.n. in fact, no less than 20 other financials are beating aig back from the abyss, including fifth third, bank of america, hartford financial, and hunting ton bank. >> great stuff. thank you, matt. so is it a new bull market or is it a summer correction? let's go to our gurus and get quick, easy answers. we have a cnbc contributor, and ltl financial. you were writing about the life of the correction. i want to ask you the flip side. why can't we go right to s&p 1100? all of the forces are in play, because all of the bears wanted corrections. wouldn't this be the great time to see another unexpected surge? >> sure. i don't have a problem with that. but i think the problem is the to

let's see how the trade is going down at the nymex with matt nesto. >> the trade here saw the price of oil falling for the fourth straight day. we almost broke through $68 a t barrel. we firmed up as the dollar weakened today. it looked like we're going to have a strong dollar. as that trade turned it, so did the oil trade. we finished down about $1.25 today. the fourth consecutive down, the lows for the month for the price of crude. natural gas weak today. the first reminders that hurricane season is approaching. the national hurricane center citing a tropical depression way, way way out in the atlantic ocean. and they're keeping their eye on that. just a reminder to traders that hurricane season will be coming. we also saw heating oil weaker here today. the standout, the star of the commodity patch here is going to be the price of gasoline, doe analysts coming out and actually trimming their forecasts for the third quarter, fourth quarter and for next year. but those reduced forecasts are still well above the current price. that saw a big u-turn interday for the rbob contract and tha

matt nesto joins with us details. >> just very low key here.want to bring this to your attention. the reits, my friends are flying. we take a look today at the performance versus all the other 24 industry groups out there, it's reits and reits by a mile and pulling away at the pack 4.5%, 4.5 lengths at the wire as we come down to the closing bell. clearly a strong move. it's one of four sub industries that makes up that monster we call the xlf or the financial sector index. if we take a look what's going on in this property play, there's a number of reasons why 62 of 64 reits in the supercomposite reit index are higher today. they're burying the street. if you take a look at some of the results out there, and i'll give them to you in a minute, they show things like the stabilization of the occupiescy rates and respects. we just needless worse. they're still down from a year ago in many places but appear to be coming back to some degree. some of the prime retail and office and commercial and apartments are not going away. they're not empty. if t

i'm maria bartiromo, today along with matt nesto. how are you? >> great, great, happy to be here.at's interesting, maria, i'm looking at this marketplace, we're up for what, the third day in a rope. clearly financials are leading us. but if you you just step back a little bit, folks, you can see the financials are not the leader on the week, it's still the health care stocks. pretty much everything is working today, but if you step back a little bit you can still see there's a defensive whip in this marketplace. >> that's a good point because health care has been the place to hide certainly in this most recent rally. we have some very important things out today. economic data, private research group saying the forecast of economic activity rose for a fourth straight month. you had pretty good numbers on the factory order side of things for the mid-atlantic region. the philadelphia federal reserve survey. and of course the financials as matt just noted, rather. we had citigroup up 6% today. richard bove at rochdale securities saying this is a triple. we've got money moving into cit

matt nesto looks at the haves and the have notes in health care. i can't wait to see where the opportunity abounds. >> yeah. and you know, the thing is it's well known, melissa. the health care sector has clearly been an underperformer alongside of the utilities and the telecoms and the staples, these defensive stocks. but if you take a look at that underperformance from the bottom, it's pretty stark, man. 20 points underperformance. it's going to take a lot of catching up to catch up. but go beneath the sector level, my friends, into the industry level, or the sum industry level, and you'll see things like biotech. check out this performance. they're not up just 27% from the bottom. in fact, in the past month alone a 32% move for the amex biotech. look at the rally just in the past couple days or so. very, very strong. so that's just one area. as we say, you go to health in a handbasket. let's take a look at some of the subindustries, industries that are actually doing very, very well. biotech. facilities. suppliers and equipment. all doing better

. >> and matt nesto. >> i want a cash for me program. everybody spend it how it suits their needs. and look at the crazy market today. we are on a bull market on a day when we nourmly want to circle laguardia waiting for a clear landing making sure the fed doesn't do anything funky. i have five key market-moving themes to show you when we get back. >>> i'm bob pisani. just like stocks, etfs can be shorteded. when shorting, you borrow a security from a broker and quickly sell. at a later date you buy the security back and return it to the broker you borrowed from. to profit from this strategy, you hope the price falls so the cost of buying back the security is lower than your initial selling price. you buy low, sell high. but be aware when shorting the stock or an etf, you must pay the dividends to both the person you sold the security to and the broker you borrowed it from. that's this week's etf 101' 23 y! - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) ev

matt nesto manning the shop at nasdaq. >> it's interesting if you look at two-day loss. it's over 3.9%. a two-day decline that we haven't seen since the end of march. interesting also because we've fallen 4 of 6 days. so the weakness in this market place has been pronounced. you can see down 2 3/4% here today at 1,930. we threw the weekly streak overboard on friday, and now with a negative month to date reading for the nasdaq we are also on track to throw the five consecutive monthly streak overboard as well. names worth looking at here today, erts, electronic arts, the worst performer in the nasdaq down over 7% today. wynn resorts also a terrible day, down 7%. 8% the final print. the interesting there is the second worst performer in the nasdaq 100 today. it's the best performer over the two-month period that started july 1st. also liberty media very weak here today. the only strength as we saw on the list of stocks is health care. we saw names like express scripts up and also ceflon some of the few. in fact, only four stocks in the nasdaq 100 able to make a go of it he

i'm matt nesto. welcome to "the closing bell." we're live here at the new york stock exchange. happy to have aw along as we count you down here for the final and most exciting and important hour of this business day. this trading day. >> it is exciting. i'm melissa francis in for maria bartiromo at cnbc global headquarters. in the markets right now, worries about the economy and consumer spending are weighing on wall street. stocks are down as we look to close out the week. take a look at the major indices here as we go with one hour of trading left. you can see the dow is down triple digits, 128 points, about 1 1/3%. the nasdaq right now trading to the down side as well. it's down better than 35 points. almost two percentage points. about 1 3/4 percentage points p and about 1.4% on the s&p sitting below 1,000. matt. >> thanks, melissa. appreciate it. lots of things going on eyre. let's get to the numbers. let's get to the action. we've got you covered on all fronts here today. we begin with our market reports right here on the new york stock exchange with mr. bob pisani. >> he

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matt nesto standing by over at the nasdaq. >> thanks, bob. appreciate it very much. you know, where is that lift? we'll see. we've got 60 mirnz to nutes to . but we're still down 2 1/2% at the nasdaq, our biggest single-day decline we've seen since july 2nd. if it goes to minus 2.7 it takes us back to late june-b a two-month decline we haven't seen in two months.s. take a look at erts, electronic arts, down 7 1/2% here today, the worst performer in the e nasdaq 100. interestingly, it as well as wynn and liberty media all have been very hot and boy, are they cooling off in a fast way, discretionary stocks. express scripts, on a defensive day, it is one of the few gainers here today. also noticeable is microsoft. nobody's happy about a 1.7% giveback, but relative outperformance is real on wall street and it's what it is. it's not falling as much, nor is intel. ceflon, another drugmaker, strong here today. biotech stock up .7%. dell looking to get into the crowded handspace market via a deal with china mobile. with their new mini i-3 coming out later. interdigital down

i'm matt nesto with your "closing bell" realtime flash. want to draw your attention to pet smart, petm. the stock's up 3 1/2%. and i tell you this because that's good but also because this is ahead of earnings. you can see it's building momentum as we go into the close. earnings coming up after the close. look for 29 cents on 1.3 billion plus positive same-store sales comparatives north of 2%. it's in the mid-cap index, russell 1000. it's one of the top five performers in the greater retail industry group. but it's had a pretty good run, and it's strong ahead of earnings. the same can be said for limited and hot topic, both up 3% and 2% respectively. maria, back to you. >> thanks so much. so to correct or not to correct. that is the question investors are asking these days. the market's been up the last two trading sessions and certainly on a roll recently but according to a new report by bank of america merrill lynch september and october are the months when a correction is most likely, and certainly we've seen that in the past. we get th

let's go to matt nesto down at the nymex. >> hey, scott, thanks so much. one of the big questions here is why. we know the dollar weakened but there's not a clear indication of why it happened. i can tell you what happened when it did. we did see the energy markets and the equity markets taking off. energy traders here have been looking over at the dow all day long, and we're trading almost in line with it. so it looks like the equity belief in the recovery story is at least leading energy markets for now. but as far as belief goes, people's belief in this rally is as tentative and as queasy, if you will, as it is in the strength and the veracity of this recovery. but the truth is nobody wants to get in the way of clearly a momentum trade. if you look at the intraday swing in the price of oil, snapping a three-day losing streak and having almost a $3 intraday swing from the low of the day, which breached 70 and took us back up to as i said almost $3 on the session, finishing down on the nymex here today at 72.62, a 1 1/2% gain on the session. we also saw h

let's go down to the nymex and matt nesto. >> yeah, we did rise for a second day. but wow, what a battle. add 25 cents to the price of crude. we were up, we were down, we were sideways and finishing, yes, as i said, higher for the second day here today. you step back a little bit, you look at the five-day picture, you're going to see a price of oil that touched 75 and never got back there again. but still, intermediate term in that $70 to $75 trading range. traders telling me you look at the board here, you look at gold is up, the dollar index is stronger, the dow is k weak, and oil is up. so there's really people are looking for a reality leader in this marketplace. economic data is being received way shrug of the shoulders in many cases. but we did see the price of oil managed to pare losses and get back to touching $73 a barrel and getting close to that at the finish here today. the natural gas story continues to be one heading south. new contract for october starting trading here today, and it was down around 4 1/2%. down also for the week. rbob gasoline was do

i'm matt nesto, checking the markets with my magic hole ograph. dean foods down about 7%, one of the worst performers in the s&p 500 today. their second quarter in line on a per-share basis. the revenues a bit soft, but their third quarter forecast and full-year forecast, even though they tweaked it higher, is still lower than the street, and the sell siders are beating it up this morning. baker hughes, bob had mentioned some of the oil services names out there today, both weaker here today, baker hughes down about 6% or 7%. the second quarter earnings five cents short. the dpee does say that the second quarter for them marked the bottom in north american profitability. there's always a caveat, isn't there? say that the second half of the international markets will be down due to concessions made earlier in the year. >>> the stimulus darling, foster wheeler, is up 11%. the construction conglomerate coming in with a blowout quarter, makes you wonder if it's even comparable. the revenues in line, but the margins are improving, and the company's back

matt nesto is on earnings central with details. matt? >> mixed news, bill, a steady reaction. morgan stanley retail index, i like it because it includes walmart, kind of important. 31 to 35 members are down today. almost two to one negative in terms of agivebacks. retailers have been % ez a group. and within the discretionary sector. but today definitely seeing a retreat. as we showed you, jcpenney and nordstrom both down 5% here today. and it's interesting, if you look at nordstrom met their inline and raised their guidance. this is a stock up 40% since july 1st and over 100% on a year to day basis. historically, tends to surprise and pretty cautious there. jcpenney down on old fashioned forecast the third quarter. and lastly, barnes and noble the worst performer on a downgrade today. abercrombie, smaller than expected loss. gap with a positive -- some positive comments out there. and then tiffany also very, very strong. so it's definitely a mixed bag, steve, but all of these stocks have had a pretty darn good run in the short term. >> hey, matt, mixed earnings just like the