meredith whitney expects investment banks to report earnings well ahead of street estimates. cnbc earlier today saying bank of america is the cheapest among the big banks. that has given a lift or gave a laft to its start in the free market. it was up just about 4% or so. keeping with the financial scene, we also are watching shares ubs trying to reach a settlement of ubs turning over names of u.s. citizens that have secret swiss bank accounts with that bank. the two of them delaying a trial that was supposed to start today. again working on the settlement right now. lastly we just want to add with philips electronics, the duj electronics company surprising the market with a second quarter profit ahead of the opening bell the stock was higher in the premarket. let's get a check on tech with rebecca jarvis. >> thank you so much were marion. a number of big tech names on deck to report this week. the nasdaq composite opening to the positive side two-tenths of a percent higher. 1.6% higher. the important thing here, folks, they make the machine that makes computer chips. that wil

and meredith whitney is as about as important as it gets.ves to be relentlessly negative, has a lot on her -- let's say her questionable analysis, for such a long time that when she changes her tune and joins the land of the thousand bull dances forgot to cue that song, the press may just have to follow. you have to understand, this is much bigger than just a call about goldman sachs, the best of the banks, with a positive remark about bank of america thrown in, something we predicted meredith whitney would have to do. ... we said she'd have to cave a month ago. she has given the bearish media aid and comfort with pushing its relentless view of your house as a tar pit. the media needed her for its legitimacy, her negativity on the banks was the biggest prop for the bearish view. now it is gone. now it might come tumbling down! at last, we might be able to put the problem of housing into context. here's some numbers, we should just use the motions. what the heck, why should we be empirical, just make up stuff, no, can't do. there were 14 mill

of meredith whitney advisory group.ncials. across the board the financials have been indicated higher this morning, whether it be goldman sachs, the call you made, or just other stocks from bank of america on, based on some of the xhebts ycomments you were makin. when you see the consumer, you're still worried about a lot of of things you're worried about. >> none of what goes on this quarter impacts the consumer on main street. consumer on main street is having lines pulled on at least a consistent basis. it was accelerating. it may accelerate again. at least it's on a constant basis. there's nowhere to hide. there's no optionalty for that consum consumer. what you know, i divide things into a chart, what i know and don't know. what i don't know is what the government is going to do. i do know banks are not lending on a net basis. there's runoff, particularly with the sub prime portfolios there's runoff and less available credit to the consumer. the consumer is going to spend less. banks underwrite loans with two basic

you meredith whitney, that's why bank of america was up higher. >> all right. a drop here for dell, it was down 1.5%. >> aside from what they said, a tepid article over the weekend. i like dell here, it's been a widow maker for me, but i like dell. >> we've got a pop for bruno, the flick popping the box office this opening weekend bringing in $34 million in ticket sales. the universal studios film about a gay austrian fashion reporter. "transformers" held the top spot for the last few weeks. >>> well, near the support level, nice big 4% move today, you've got to like the weaker dollar as far as caterpillar, 56% of their revenue coming from overseas. good pop. >> dropping like a stone down 45%, tim. >> a massive move of this large, the provider of essentially infant formulas in china. the guidance was about 40% below expectations, but it did not warrant this move in the stock. >> are these the guys -- >> i have no idea if they're the melimine guys. >> nice, you pulled that off. >> all right. >> drop here for the cubs. bloomberg reporting that the story chicago m

additionally, of course, meredith whitney raising it to a buy from neutral. jpmorgan will be reporting on thursday, followed by earnings from bank of america and citi on friday. on a different -- on the different end of the financial spectrum, though, we have cit under pressure once again today as the lender to small and medium sized businesses scrambles for ways to improve its short-term liquidity. we did have treasury secretary tim geithner saying treasury has the power to assist cit, which has already received over $2 billion in tarp funds. as you can see, though, the company is a possible contender for bankruptcy filing. its shares down an additional 10% today. the markets also received a little bit of a boost on the technical front today when the s&p 500 earlier in the session bounced off near-term support at 875. it then broke through near-term resistance at 890. and that actually helped to accelerate the market's gain later in the session. take a look at a couple of story stocks we've been following. american dairy is under pressure after the company s

the stock upgraded yesterday by meredith whitney, a special guest on "squawk." break, take a listen to what she told us 24 hours ago. >> i updated goldman last night, this morning. >> first buy you've ever had at whitney advisers on a bank. >> it's a bearish call but a bullish call on the stock. most states underfunded. you'll see a tsunami of debt issue answer. where you think goldman would be a true play equity trade it's actually the number one underwriter of build america bonds, a top underwriter in munis, playing heavily in the mortgage-backed market. in the first quarter they played heavily in the agency market. you have questions. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that's why we brought together two of the most powerful names in the industry. introducing morgan stanley smith barney. here to rethink wealth management. here to answer... your questions. morgan stanley smith barney. a new wealth management firm with over 13

but first, stocks jumping the most in six weeks today after meredith whitney turns bullish. on goldman sandwiches. goldman sachs. let's get to the word on the street right now. s&p 500 closing higher by 2.5% above the 900 level. good leadership from tech as well as the financials. welcome back. >> welcome back, it's good to be back. we've been looking and struggling for a long time now looking for somebody to lead us. we've been talking it wasn't going to be energy. energy led us for a while, now we've got a leader potentially coming back. it starts off tomorrow, starts today a little bit with goldman sachs, the financials, then you started to get, tech started working. that's what hit us back in march, started to move us in april. if this earnings season can give us a catalyst, that's what everybody's been waiting for and goldman sachs is going to kick it off. >> i'm going to put my skeptics cap on. this seems like a bounce, a reflex ahead of earnings season. karen, what do you make of this? right now it did just seem like a little bit of a bounce on really nothing, it was

the e that mov the rket, thne that matters was meredith whitney's about face on goldman. does her opinion matr so much more than anyon else' not because sheeen righ she's bee dead wrong, stayi bearish on the nk even goldman, by far of th best of them f far too long. 's not because it's anything neeither. whitney's the only analyst who isn't positivon goldman. there was nothg new or noteworthyn r change of heart. all she diwas say what we already know. i've been guying goldman for m charitable trust for year and on this show we've consistently stood behind this bestf breed banks l along what's her attitude ee r attitude on goldman has en that -- ♪ ♪o one can tells we're wrong ♪ >> and we' been right on .s. already. now refencing pat benitar, nowhere near american idol-winning sparks. meredi wtney so late to the party on goldman, she's even lagging the front ge of the "new yortimes." online thiweekend i saw this th tked about the possibility of a blowo quarter when the cpany reports tomorrow. i wonder if that's where whitney's getting her information. if it's notecause she'

a banking analyst meredith whitney upgrading ahead of the firm's results.ere's what she had to say earlier. >> i upgraded goldman. >> the first buy rating you ever had on a bank. >> it's a bearish call, but bullish in the stock. >> let's bring in steve eater. his banking kor respondent. good to see you. >> it seems that goldman sacks is darned if it does and darned if it doesn't. analysts are expecting them to make $2 billion in profit which we think would be a good thing. at the same time do they risk from congress when all the people figure out they are making a ton of money. >> that's a good question. it's an interesting period here where they look to be bucking the trends and going ahead of everybody else in terms of earnings. at the same time it is. it's a good question. will they try to manage things that don't look too good and draw the attention. >> how are they making so much money so quickly. >> if you take a look at the financials, you will see that they are trading and the profits will be handsome as well as the other businesses and they have se

the catalyst of course financials are up, meredith whitney's call, very specific call, though, on goldman. not a bullish call on the global economy by any means but just that goldman will participate in all the trading involved in some of the big global u.s. securities. tradertalk.cnbc.com. you know the closing bell. you know maria bartiromo. >>> and it is 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? hi, everybody. welcome back to "the closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange. we've got a rally under way at the close here on wall street. here's what we're following right now. 4:00 p.m. on wall street. financial stocks lead the market higher after an upgrade of goldman sachs, sending the dow jones industrial average and the s&p 500 to the best day in six weeks. financials leading the way. oil continues to spiral downward, falling today to an eight-week low. bankruptcy concerns for the nation's largest lender to small business. the i.t. group. that's all on our agenda right now. let's look at how we finished the day on wall street with the dow

goldman sachs got a shot in the arm from meredith whitney, who has been quite bearish on the financials for a while. she's pretty positive on the earnings which come out of the group in the session. cnbc also heard from meredith whitney personally, who said that bank of america looks inexpensive given the assets on its book. elsewhere, johnson & johnson, intel, they'll all be reporting. other data, producer price index and business inventors as well. ahead of the session, the asian markets managed a very good performance. the nikkei in japan was up 2%, that's 184 points. not all good news though. elsewhere, cit, the number one lender to small and museum-sized businesses is holding talks about receiving emergency federal assistance. parents are spending less money on back to school gear this year according to a recent survey. the average family with children in kindergarten through 12th grade is expected to spend $548. that is down 7.7% on last year. disgraced lawyer mark dryer was sentenced to prison after stealing fake promissory notes. >>> if you're a french holdmaker, pierre et vacan

when you take a look at this, meredith whitney, with all due respect was the late to the game. dick bove upgrading, and basic of america merrill lynch upgrading july 9th. . >> that's not fair. i work with mer di, frankly, but when she started her own shop, it takes a long time to roll out coverage. she started a new shop, she did her homework, had people working for her. so to say she's late is just not fair. there's a lot of reason to criticize her. that's not one of them, though. >> $20 in earnings for the year, if that's really the number, which is about $4 or $5 than anybody else on the street, she's not late, probably early. at ten times a $200 stock, just like difficult bove said day, maybe she's late later, but au guy said, she's on board and plenty of up side. >> spot on. >> but we're just raising the charts, because if you are a listener to this show, and we highlight dick bove's called in april, if she's not late to the game, he was right on the money. >> are we talking about whitney being right on you goldman being a great stock? and they're figuring out how to make

yesterday, we talked with meredith whitney. she said you're watching the municipal bond business as states and localities have to raise money to do these things. when you talk a dick bova and jeff hart this morning, they both say over the long term, it could be fits and starts but they're positive on this stock. jeff was saying $1.8 o dick bova was talking about 200, maybe up to 250. >> maybe the only bank in the country that can change its business model from quarter to quarter and is nimble and some say paranoid enough do that on a revolving basis. well see what happens later on, but certainly not a bad way to get the earnings season under way, right? >> also johnson & johnson, the dow component out with its earnings today, that's a stock to watch today as well. company came in with earnings of $1.15 a share. 4 cents ahead of expectation. revenue is going to show you right in line with revenue. this is a diversified health care company.y. also talked about how it's reaffirming its full year outlook. it's been very important t

this morning, meredith whitney upgrade it had to 5 with a price target of 186 bucks. joining me at earnings is central is "squawk box" host becky quick and carl quintanilla. hear what was said on your show this morning because it moved the market. >> you never feel like you know how goldman makes money because they change every quarter. the next couple of years it will be debt market focus. >> "the call" one of the reasons, if i understood correctly, not about the bank so much as the muni market, right? isn't that what she said? >> a lot of activity. the local municipalities and the states have to raise money now. >> issuing debt. >> they have got to do it. >> cut spending? no, why would we do that? sorry, a little commentary there. >> [ inaudible ] a lot of debt underwriting, a big story. overall, her call is not great about the economy at all. >> no. >> unemployment. >> problems of the consumer going to continue. she said once she figured out the model for goldman, the model, once she got her head around it they will be making money. interesting thing, tomorrow, the

of course on monday they had already received a big upgrade from meredith whitney which sent the stocks higher. intel with fantastic numbers really. shares up 7% after hours. they're closely watched target top estimate by a long margin. but the outlook sent their shares to the highest level since october and, boy, the rest of the sector. some remains pretty tough out there. that led to bigger than expected retail. inflation at the producer level. if you strip down gasoline sales and rebound in autos, actual .2 of 1%. also, we're looking at 1.8% rise in wholesale prices. that is double what analysts had expected and the biggest gain since november 2007. elsewhere, general motors chief executive is saying july auto sales were tough. they were weak compared with the same month last year. once again, the industry across the board will fall below the annual rate of 10 million vehicles this month. us airways, i'm afraid, saying they will reduce airport stock by 600 jobs this fall because of weak demand in business travel and declining revenue as well. i've had a few expensive meals around the

. >> and then meredith whitney came on our show. >> right. goldman sachs. then also, you know, yesterday what the biggest winner was. >> what? >> 3m. >> and you know why. >> respiratory medicine? >> lcd tvs. >> and respiratory medication. >> and it was the unanimous buying lcd tv. good times, bad times, recession, booms, tv. >> because a pandemic is on the way? >> no. a table, a remote control, a place for your beer and -- >> and then respiratory drugs. >> no. you don't need the respiratory medicine because you don't need to go out. >> oh, that's true. >> 3m is one of the major dow components that outperformed and did so well. but if you look at the earnings season as a whole, everybody is down, but the earnings season overall has been much better than expectations. according to thompson reuters, 76% of companies have beat expectations. that's the highest on record. >> before we go shopping champagne bottles, shares of three big names were hit hard. revenue missed the mark, the company posting its first ever annual drop in sales. microsoft says business co

meredith whitney upgrad em a buy. >>hereou think that goldman will be a pure pla e equity trade, it's a actually the numu onenderwriter of buildmerica bonds, a t top underwrwriter in munis, playing ttifily in the mortgagage-bacd markets. they played heavily in n the agency rket. >> that was medithwhitneney, of coururse. joining g us now is richard ate from a atlantic uitieses and charles ebel is remaininingwith us frorom nomura, ststill witu as well. chard, so meredithh whitney cos out yesterday andnd makes a big call? where was she on june 5th wheh you made the callll? >> that't's rit.t. we upgraded t this stock ovever montnth ago and put out very hi numbers. i mean, i think t the whole mart now knowsws cleay goldldman is going have an extremely goodd second quararter. so i thihink upgradiding the st one daday before the result is perhaps a littttle late. but everybody knknows the fixed income tradi performance of goldman willll be extremelyly sg in t the secd quarter andnd tha will drive thehe overallnumbers. >>>> i

meredith whitney talked about earnings, but the most interesting thing she said about the economy was on unemployment. here's her prediction. >> unemployment continues to drive higher and the banks are not prepared for double-digit unemployment. that won't go away for the next year and a half. >> the action trader along with brian kelly, good to have both of you with us. let's start off with meredith's prediction that obviously is higher than what a lot of people are publicly saying, perhaps not a shock to anyone to think of unemployment to 13 percent per or higher. is there a trade that it goes there or worse in. >> yes, there is. my unemployment trade is your water company. you can debate that it's 14% or 11%, but the recession is not over and not going to be over for sometime. the legacy it will leave behind is the consume they're is more conservative and driven by fear. the rotation goes from things we want to things we need. water has to be on the top of that list. this company is a vertically integrated company and they own the reservoir and the filt rag to the home. wateis not

. >> meredith whitney just spun off her own company.i'm an advocate of research being their own entities. do you think that's where we're headed? would you be an advocate of that as well? >> the whole problem we had with research a few years back and still today is content is free. once the information gets out in the marketplace, how do you get a revenue stream attached to it, and that's how the analysts became kaecattached to the investment bankers and made the whole thing tainted and not eñ trustworthy. >> thank you very much. we appreciate you being with us. elliot spitzer, former governor of new york. we've got more "fast money" coming up. ♪ ♪ (tucci) only at&t has the best selection of full keyboard phones. like the lg neon, just $29.99 after mail-in rebate. announcer: some people buy a car based on the deal they get. others buy the car of their dreams. during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. it's an opportunity today. it's a lexus forever. special lease offers now available on the 2009 is 250. >>> how to

. >> meredith whitney just spun off her own company. i'm an advocate of research being their own entities. do you think that's where we're headed? would you be an advocate of that as well? >> the whole problem we had with research a few years back and still today is content is free. once the information gets out in the marketplace, how do you get a revenue stream attached to it, and that's how the analysts became attached to the investment bankers and made the whole thing tainted and not trustworthy. if you can design a business model that creates a revenue stream that goes to the research, that's fantastic. that's what the people are looking for. >> thank you very much. we appreciate you being with us. elliot spitzer, former governor of new york. we've got more "fast money" coming up.no for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle, and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back... on top of all other offers.. on a new, more fuel efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more elig

this analyst just like meredith whitney a year ago went cautionary on the financials. you got to like what's going on right now for bank of america. write-offs are huge but going forward -- >> all my buddies are texting me today, they were talking about that offering, ten-year offering, the coupon. maybe it's also look at debt side. >>> let's go outside stock. lease demand in the five-year auction, it was a "d" for dog. put a tail on that auction and call it lasscy! >> it is all about indirect bidders. we nedden is tral banks to step forward. we talked about the this before the show. august 7th you'll get unemployment. what follows that? august 11th, august 12th, august 13th. a lot of supply coming in. from august 7th to august 14th it is a tough week of sledding. >> what's interesting, we speak of goldman when we speak of the treasury market, they said u.s. treasury funding will be much less of expected because of financial recovery is under way. they said it is going to be 28% less at $2.9 trillion. that's very good news. one of the reasons people are starting to thi

their biggest single day gain since june 1st and this after meredith whitney told cnbc she is upgrading goldman sachs to a buy with $186 price target, and is this ahead of tomorrow morning's second quarter results. other notable banks on the move today include bank of america, jpmorgan and american express. the financials together up 6%. elsewhere, ge was up 6% after an analyst at goldman sachs flagged the possibility of a positive surprise when the company reports friday, and kraft added 3% after being raised to outperform at bmo capital. all 30 dow industrials were higher, though hewlett-packard notably trailing the pack. and after hours trade, shares of dell under pressure, after the cfo warned of margins getting squeezed, although demand looks to be stabilizing. and take 2 interactive getting pounded after cutting its forecast for the next three quarters. besides goldman sachs tomorrow, be on the lookout for j & j and intel coming out, as well as yum brands, and later in the week, other big names include google and ibm on thursday with citigroup and ge on friday. larry? back to you.

. >> and meredith whitney had a great call yesterday. she said, i'm not upgrading because i think the global economy is doing better, which would be the traditional way you upgrade goldman sachs. she said, we're upgrading because they're masters of training and with the environment of oceans of treasury becoming available, they are masters of trading, as well as the derivative products. and indeed we saw that in the numbers. record revenues for fixed income trading and over the top line of $13 billion. >> always goldman. and i used to at goldman -- work at goldman. and praising goldman.n. that said, a lot of other firms out there too that should get their just due. morgan stanley. >> morgan stanley will probably also do great numbers. but if you are expecting blowout numbers from everybody else, i think it's somewhat unlikely. bear in mind that the estimates from these companies, the analyst estimates you can drive trucks through was about $2.50 to $4.50 for goldman sachs. that was the analyst range. so nobody has a clue exactly what som

by now, the queen of doom's day forecasting meredith whitney put out a positive call and that put the market up. but let's get the real deal. the real deal is this, all right? the real deal is, brace yourself for the p pious backlash. how dare goldman sachs declare a $2 billion profit when it reports tomoow morning -- nine months o, this econo s in crisis. how da goldman pay bonuses to the very people who earned that $2 billioin the black when the1 federal government pumped10 billion into the firm to put it under the t.a.r.p. we fort that the feds forced some strong bas to take that cash, which, by the w goldman has paid back, okay? can't we just be happy for them? what is -- i mean, what's good for goldman is good for america. you want a piece of goldman's success? buy their stock. it's up 70% since january. and it rose another 5% or so today. last time i checked. those goldman bonuses, moreover, they're good for apartment sales in new york. for new car sales, retail sales. they're good for the taxes paid to the feds. and to the new york city and the states of new jersey and new yor

you had on your network meredith whitney came out and said she likes goldman sachs and several other banks. that began a turn that has lasted pretty much right through here. it's the feeling that the review of the health care thing maybe means nobody's got an absolute rubber stamp down in washington, and i think the market likes that. >> peter, what about you? do you think this is short covering or do you think this is real money on the sidelines, coming off the sidelines and going in? >> i think shorts are definitely covering stock here. i don't think this is all short covering. you know, you're looking at earnings, like arthur said. it's a combination of a lot of different things. and the short covering is part of it. i think last week there was some short covering early on. and now that the market rallied again, they kicked in in certain points and that's what we saw. but we're also seeing a lot of positive feelings from the earnings. >> you're seeing real commitment? >> you were starting to see some real commitment, yes. >> let's bring our own sue herera into the conversation. s

by the way, this analyst, just like meredith whitney, a year ago went cautionary on the financials. she said they went to an attractive back in map you've got to like what's going on right now for bank of america. write-offs are huge but going forward -- >> i'm with you. i'll tell you why i'm with you. all my buddies are texting me today, they were talking about that offering, ten-year offering, 6.75 coupe okay. if you kind of like the stock, it's also maybe let's look at the debt side. speaking of the debt side, let's go outside stocks. weak demand in the five-year auction. it was the d. it was the d for dog. as we say put a tail on that auction and call it lassie. >> you know what? it is all about indirect bidders right now.w. we need the central banks to step forward. we talked before the show about this. august 7th you'll get unemployment. what follows that? august 11th, august 12th, august 13th. threes, tens, and 30s. a lot of supply coming in. from august 7th to august 14th it is a tough week of sledding. >> what's interesting, we speak of goldman when we speak of the treasury

ge concerns, the big ones are really the major ones and just like when we saw earlier, with meredith whitneyn, upgraded major firms of the street, that has a very, very positive effect on the market and the meltdown effect that we talked about before. >> hey, doug, what about a lack of participation in the bond market, is china to blame? >> i think right now it's a question of indigestion. you have a lot of coming into the market in a short period of time. you also -- there's also, i guess, uncertainty as to what the chinese are doing. i think we saw that with the equity markets overseas right now where there was fear of chinese tightening. but as soon as that dissipated, the markets started to go up again. so we're having a similar expectation with the treasuries. but right now since you're seeing a series of treasury offerings, it's kind of as somebody breathes a sigh of relief with the -- the first one, tier worried about the next one. >> thanks so much for joining us at this hour. that does it for us. i'm bertha coombs here in the u.s. >> i'm ross westgate here in europe. >> and here in

we've got meredith whitney for an hour. beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. the middle of summer. is there a storm on the horizon for motorists? it may have nothing to do with speculators. we'll talk about that plus a new challenger in the coffee wars. earnings season off this week. we had a little last week with alcoa. the axes begins today and tomorrow. we'll cover it in ten minutes. >> thank you. >> it will be exciting. >> coming up next, how will markets position themselves for all of that news on earnings for banks and technology firms? we look at the trading day ahead on wall street. >>> let's get a look ahead to the u.s. trading day and bring back dodge dorland, the chief investment manager of capital management. we had the s&p fall and seems to be hanging around the 880 range. if we get disappointments, how much lower could we get? >> we're at a level that's very critical. we've had a pullback from a technical point of view. retracement is very normal. it can be supported with a new move to the upd. we had moving averages which reflect longer-term inv

>> when you say unemployment go up, are you in the meredith whitney camp we're at twirn?i think 12 and 13 is highly possible. you could argue it right now, already 16 1/2. apples to apples, we're at 9 1/2. i think 12 is a possibility. i think gdp growth is higher equity prices. we all heard about the high frequency tradeses, they're momentum based. 3/4 of the volume is seemingly pushing it up. >> why wouldn't the positive vibe coming from a rising equity market, why would that not result in ameliorating the jobless problem? >> i think eventually it makes sense if prices go up all the companies behind that should start to do better. i think the process is going to be a long time because they were wounded. inventoriwise, employmentwise and what may look like productivity is just two guys on assembly line, they're going to have to work harder because they're not going to hire anymore. >> caterpillar said, we can bring production back without bringing back the people we've already let go. >> that's not a tie nam midynamt to hear. my buddies in chicago called me up, median pri

. >> yeah, unless you're like a meredith whitney and you start your own firm and do your own consultingut that's really an out liar. that's true. it's very scary for an analyst to be very negative on a company and then never be allowed to talk to them. that's an issue. the big issue here, however, is they're just not good at forecasting a productivity profit to start at the cycle. that happens every time at the start of a business cycle. and they don't do it until three or four quarters after the top line has started to strengthen. that's when you see dramatic increases in earnings estimates. unfortunately they should be doing it now because the cost associated with all of the layoffs are showing up in productivity increases. >> fred, would you say you're more well equipped now to make a call outside of the land of lehman and gs than you were while you were there? >> there's no question. just being older and having lived through a number of cycles you learn things that maybe you didn't know at the start of your trek. but i do think that it's more than that. if you look at the economists

meredith whitney one of biggest analysts on wall street, she's overbearish on the broader sense, say it has side stepped most of the crisis and will continue to make money. so some people saying, needless to say, it's a contentious numbers, when you have others still deep amidst the problems here. tim geithner is currently in saudi arabia, saying the stimulus plan starting to work, trying to reassure saudi investors. little bit left field, 20% in the annualized gdp. >> steve, thanks so much. >> coming up next, harold ford jr. joins the conversation, plus mika's must-read opinion pages, you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting 5% cashback bonus at the pump. >>> in the past month many senators have asked me about my judicial policy, simple, fidelity to the law, the task of a judge is not to make law, it is to apply the law. >> that is the headline on most papers this morning. here with us now, msnbc, harold ford jr., your title as professor, does that still stand? >> it's still standing. >> we have a couple

that's what meredith whitney and doug cass and some others -- >> doug cass is some bullish comments.y had to move him to a different column because he was -- he said positive things. >> he did say positive things. ableson had the best column he's ever written. i learned from -- >> this week was not ableson. >> it was randy. >> that explain something. >> it was randy foresyth. >> i learned something. i learned something. it wasn't just flowery language signifying nothing. we planned this, didn't we? i sold you -- >> you and ableson have a love/hate relationship. >> yeah, there's a lot of love there. >>> meantime, quarterly survey of forecasters out today finds the recession's grip on the economy appears to be easing but likely hasn't ended. the national association for business economics report suggests profitability remained weak in q2. 45% of the polled economists say the worst is over for the economy while the other 55% argue the low point has not yet been hit. >>> batten down the hatches, strap yourself in. the race is on for congress to bring a health care reform plan to vote bef