fail we know what happened to lehman happened to bear we're not to let it happen to merrill lynch and let's john things our guys so we're definitely not going to let it happen to merrill lynch who can take well j.p. morgan to just you know agree to take bear stearns citigroup was a disaster it had to be bank of america and in that process whether ken lewis knew or didn't know or was subtly or not so subtly implored to not disclose the true condition of merrill lynch i think there was a lot of people involved with that information being withheld from from shareholders who approved the merger and that it was irresponsible the fed to allow the merger to take play. of course they pushed it so a lot of a lot of people a lot of culpability here when we come back i want to talk a little bit more about some perverse incentives at play too we will have more nomi hang on right there we'll have more with nomi prins author and senior fellow at demos after the break also still ahead forget grex it and specs that some have called for a camel exit but where the california turn for a currency wil

bank of america merrill lynch for four russians here. very nice to see there so how important do you think is this confirmation of russia's rating a triple b. by u.s. and b. . what of course there is nothing bad. related to the fact that the rating was not reduced or was not kept of course seven hundred fifty other countries russia is much more protected against the potential adepts allied to the idea that if i do it on the markets and of course it is stable outlook is also a good development and basically just reiterate the best and great breaking for russia is always a good thing to have in the greater part of it by some of to the work of your colleagues from bank of america merrill lynch and they basically saying that russia's demographic problem the aging population is somewhat of an attractive competitive factor when it comes to economic growth is that right. yes in fact i would i would say that they are for according to kinetic theory as it is indeed that the adverse demographic trends he's a negative development long term trend ne

without the $29 a share deal from bank of america which valued merrill lynch at $50 billion.ote, without that deal merrill lynch was goinging to bankrupt. >> eliot: and they were hosed up the-- >> eliot: they were the ones tell us about. >> georgia it seems to me that wactel has never failed to rationalize what it's client wants it to do. am i right about that? >> look, lawyers are very good at doing what their clients want. wactel, don't forget in the jp morgan bear sternes i would not be surprised if wactel was doing what they were told to do. >> eliot: that's what lawyers do. they paper over what rational people would want to know and provide a back stop so when people are sued, they say well, my lawyers told me. >> that's what a cynic would say, based on the number of things that you see over and over again, yes that way ken lewis can say, don't blame me. i was just doing what advice of my council told me to do. >> eliot: the treasury department and federal reserve both pushing to get this deal done did they know about the magnitude of the merrill lynch's losses. >> again

that merrill lynch had all of the numbers out there.t's a big surprise to anybody with the merrill lynch stuff. but why the stocks are trading down is not so much the big news, but the curve sitting around 150, that's going to weigh on these names big time and that's what i think is driving these names down today more than anything else. >> and they already have of course driven these names down. given the level of yield, very tough to make money. let's look at technicals carter. what does the chart tell you right now? >> very weak today and weak since the market peaked in early april. the weakness is a simply a reaction to the great preceding strength. financials are so strong in q1, up almost a hundred percent or more so moving from 5 to 10, perfectly normal on the way to have a third give back, back to seven. so we would say that th is down to support. >> you want it put money right here. >> right. meaning weakness is a reaction to the grate preceding strength. double and perfectly entitled to pull back after doubling in q1. >> it is

our guest is a former ceo for merrill lynch wealth management. but on the screen we can begin to walk-through the ideas that you put forth. the first one with says pay executives with bonds as well as stock. what do you mean by that, and why is that an important idea, do you think? >> the debate that we've had as a country has really centered on, first of all for causes of the downturn grief. and the debate around compensation has centered around bringing compensation down. so rather than add to that debate or expand on that debate, what i looked at was the form of compensation for executives, and for whatever reason, as we came through the downturn, we immediately went to pay executives more stock. think about it for a second. if you were buying a stock, you are not -- you are looking for up side. you understand you could lose your money on the down side, you're not looking to protect your money. you really are thinking about, how can this company grow? how can it take on risk in order to grow. in other words, in order to look for a stock to go

we gave that order to merrill lynch and they traded out of that.e landed with a $10.7 million profit. that was on the sunday after may 18th. as part of an accommodation, our customers will get that distributed back to them in cash. as soon as we get approval from the s.e.c. the components of the accommodation is we get $3 million on the existing poll tea and 10.7, customers get that in immediate cash as soon as we get approval by the s.e.c. >> i want to ask you about this $40 million fund in a moment. but where were you at this point? who is in charge here? you were in california. we saw shots of you at the opening bell with all of the facebook people. you're second in control, he was in philadelphia. this was the biggest ipo in your history. >> certainly people who run the operation day to day were in charge. we have several open lines going. one is an open line to our customers, a separate open line internally to nasdaq and there was rampant communication going on through both lines. that was the way to do it. >> understand, it's important to not

it was a $50 million purchase and they did not tell them the real merrill lynch numbers. secretary said, wait a minute, this could be a criminal offense that we're not sharing the real numbers with the shareholders. in other words, the owners of the company. the next time we could be talking through a glass wall over a telephone meaning, of course, in prison. that's not all. ken lewis, the ceo at the time has admitted in an indictment earlier this year, i'm sorry, in deposition earlier this year that, hey, yes i did not give the same numbers as i had internally to the shareholders when they were voting on whether to approve that merger with merrill lynch. on top of that the general counsel wanted to object to this as well. when he found out about the numbers, he was immediately fired and escorted from the building. he could not even clear out his papers. that appears to be fraud. are they going to do anything about it? was the treasurer right in saying, hey wait a minute, this could be criminal. the obama administration hardly does anything about it. let me show you the n

will be many many vacancies according to wealth management division of bank of america that's merrill lynch claims that there will be nine a million job vacancies in the next decade and all of this is because of russia's them or graphic problems and that's because there aren't enough people available to replace the aging workforce in the country the banks out of less expect local employers to raise salaries by roughly six and a half percent a year to prevent their employees from looking for another job and by twenty twenty this could more than double the average salary in the country however merrill lynch also expects russia to keep raising taxes increasing social spending. but and this is how business looks for now back to marina in the studio all right thanks very much in the arena for this update on forecast looking forward to more next hour in the meantime have lines are coming your way stay with. there hasn't been anything yet on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact. before source material is what helps keep journalism honest we talk. we want to present. something else. the

job and by twenty twenty that could more than double the average salary in the country however merrill lynch also expects russia to keep raising taxes due to increasing social spending. and stand for the agency has a nice surprise in store for russia this time around is raise the country's short term foreign currency raid. aid to the agency says the country's outlook is stable it says and i quote here vulnerability of the budget and the economy to fluctuations in key export prices are offset by low government debt levels and the country's slight net external asset. so basically that's very very nicely time to given that we're seeing sovereign debt problems over in europe russia indeed has very little levels of borrowing are to mature as a pleasure good timing indeed cheers. just a moment of the headlines here on r t then we're back talking to a pulitzer prize winning author on what the future holds for iran as a new wave of sanctions are looming on the very near horizon. from. the. line russia would be so much brighter if you knew about someone from fire.

another job and by twenty twenty this could more than double the average salary in the country merrill lynch also expects russia to keep raising taxes due to increasing social spending. and standard and poor's had a nice surprise in store for russia this time around that raised the constant short term foreign currency rating to a new the agency said the country's outlook is stable and i quote here according to the vulnerability of the budget and the call in the mood to fluctuations in the export prices are offset by low government debt levels and the constant slide let's accept the last of possession so there you have it finally some optimism coming from me henri took long enough right now thanks very much. back to the headlines in a moment here on out to produce a with us after that period of well crosstalk. culture is that so much of an oldish musician has the power to find the part where the downing of a turkish military jet by syria may prove to be the tipping point allowing nato to force regime change in damascus the. machine would be soo much brighter if you knew all about sound from p

at merrill lynch, we understand the importance of your goals.our financial advisors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. >>> and >>> and today on power lunch, counting down to dimon, look ahead to tomorrow's key hearing and tell you how to look at financial stocks today. after the great decession, expert advice how to rebuild your portfolio. if you took a big hit in the financial crisis. the law that was supposed to help in the foreclosure process may be making recovery slower. the story on power, now back. >> shares of starbucks quite volatile right now. we're going to get back to boone pickens in a moment. starbucks updating its guidance a the a conference, william blair conference, taking their outlook down by a penny, earnings outlook down by a penny, below what the street was looking for. they cite increased commodity preciou

will be many vacancies according to the wealth management division of bank of america which is merrill lynch will be annoying million jobs up for grabs in the next decade now that's because of russia's there are graphic problems there aren't enough people available to replace the aging workforce in the country and the banks analysts expect local employers to raise salaries by roughly six and a half percent per year and that's to provide their employees from looking for another job and by twenty twenty this could more than double the average salary in the country botts merrill lynch also expects russia to keep raising taxes due to increasing social spending. so i guess very aware and there i can point out. thanks very much indeed for this update and of course looking forward to more next hour and headlines coming your way here on r.t. . there hasn't been anything good on t.v. . it is to get the maximum political impact. before the source material is what helps keep journalism honest we. we want to present. something else.

. >> in business news, the merrill lynch acquisition was troubled. >> it pays to be facebook in turn. >> good morning a worldwide sell off investors are pulling their money out of the stock market after disappointing economic news from around the world. the chief among them was the u.s. jobs report which indicates economic growth here may be slowing. bankamerica executives apparently knew in advance that the company's acquisition of merrill lynch would create huge losses that they did not tell shareholders. that information was disclosed in court documents filed last night as part of a lawsuit by shareholderss. "snow white and on huntsman" did better than expected this past weekend. intern's @ facebook are paid almost $75,000 per year. that is america's money. >> if you go through that ever to land that internship and you make that money what do you do when you get a job after that? >> what do you do with the job pays you last? maybe they will pay you inexperience. >> we bought into that. >> let's talk about the weather. a beautiful sunshine this morning, a gorgeous day today with a r

as its population is aging and therefore there will be more vacancies in fact bank of america merrill lynch suggests that nine million vacancies will be available in a decade now that's because of russia's demographic problem starts enough people available to replace the aging workforce in the country the banks analysts expect local employers to raise salaries by roughly six and a half percent a year to prevent the employees from looking for another job this in fact will also increase rush's g.d.p. per capita as the population declines now in by twenty twenty this could more than double the average salary in the country also merrill lynch expects russia to keep raising taxes due to increasing social spending. well that's up from from this edition of the business news article i'll be back in around an hour with plenty more super so you then thanks very much. i just a moment of the headlines here on r.t. then we'll be having a close up interview with a pulitzer prize winning author and what the future holds for iran all amid a new wave of looming sanctions this is art. you know how sometimes

jack in the back, bank of america, merrill lynch doing a full reversal.hat stock and they turned all the way around to a buy, raising the price target to $32 from $21. the stock is at the highs of the day up almost 5%. i have never had a jack in the box burger, tyler, but it must be pretty good. >> i never have, either, i don't believe, and that's saying something. >>> coming up, plug in your engines, the first tesla car hits the road and we'll talk more about that and other things as we wrap up the week on "power lunch." and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness... man: great job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life. so get the insura

that's merrill lynch. our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel.smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to. welcome to the uppernet. >> welcome back to fast money. look at the pop. david's green light capital revealing that it has increased the stake to 23.1 million shares. that's 5.4% of the outstanding shares in the stock. it only has flash, which is not good. >> he is determined to put more into this. it was 3.4%. david sees something that a lot of folks obviously are not seeing out there right now in the data space, especially in the disk space. when you look at the names you look at some of the numbers. the problem is are they going to be obsolete? >> making money by going short. that is the strategy of the active bear etf which makes only negative bets. green mountain coffee and juniper networks among the notable shorts. here with more on bearish bets and big returns, who co-manages the active bear etf.

that's merrill lynch. >> announcer: just before the break we asked you which tech stock is this year'sperformer. now the payoff. microsoft, which has risen over 9% year to date. >> is that a full moon? we have some move going here today. >> oh, yeah. >> another down day for facebook but the stock down below $26 a share. off nearly a third since going public. seema mody is at the nasdaq. >> a new reuters poll shows that 34% of users spending basically this reaffirms investors' concern ability to advertise effectively. also in the spotlight, shares of apple writing that they anticipate apple will gradually lose smartphone share until the iphone 5 launches in october. reducing the iphone estimates to 27 million units this quarter, down from 35 million last quarter. guys being back over to you. >> seema, thank you very much. energy is the worst performing s&p 500 sector down more than 10%. >> oh, really? so why does he want to buy the stocks right now? >> why is that? >> steve is with us. wonderful to see you both. >> welcome back. >> oil prices moving down. you want to buy oil stocks but

new york times" reports baker of america alleges bang executives knew about mounting losses at merrill lynch but failed to inform them before they approved the $50 million purchase back in 2008. >>> "the wall street journal" reports that facebook is working on technology that would allow children younger than 13 could use the social networking site with parental vision. >>> all the latest video gadgets will be on display. >>> and it's that time again. the bidding has begun for you and some of your closest friends to dine with warren buffett. last year's binner shelled out 2.6 million bucks and later land add job with the billionaire investor. all proceeds go to charity. >>> coming up foul trouble puts out the heat's fire and a monster win at the monster mile. plus tiger woods shoots his way up the all-times win list. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> and there looks like a line of severe thunderstorms. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports last night in the nba's ea

at merrill lynch, we understand the importance of your goals.r financial advisors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. >>> finally, my observation on the interview we just saw with president bill clinton. someone made an interesting remark when comparing president clinton to president obama. the difference between the two, when clinton walks into the room when half of the room is republican and half is democrat, he will walk to the republicans and they will be fans of clinton. barack obama will go to his base. the the last time he came to wall street, he refused to get pictures. clinton was a uniter and obama is criticized for being a divider. he was down the middle. to fix the economy a couple of things need to happen. he believes you need to fix the whole mortgage mess. number two, tax reform. that means lower corporate rates, b

that's merrill lynch. >>> welcome back. stocks having the worst day since november due to a large part of the disappointing jobs number. the news pushing interest rates lower, leading some to predict mortgage rates will hit new record lows in the coming days. will that matter if the jobs picture is bleak? meanwhile, home building stocks getting hit hard again. tough week for the hopmebuilder. joining us is diana olick. housing activity, pending home sales weaker than expected. we've got some activity picking up recently. but not as strong as some people predict it should be at this point in the cycle. how would you characterize the market? >> number one, there's too much concern about the future of where things are going economically to motivate anyone into a long-term investment. >> so, in other words, we got into the spring selling season. well, it was okay? >> so-so. >> no urgency. >> and the big question is, how long does this bottom? there's a strong indication we're at the bottom of the housing market. the question is

♪ at merrill lynch, we understand the importance of your goals.visors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. >>> finally today my observation on what will no doubt be pure theater in washington tomorrow. jamie dimon testifying on the big trading loss jpmorgan announced three weeks ago. the hearing is entitled a breakdown in risk management. what went wrong at jpmorgan. it's reignited the debate if the big banks need to be broken up and if they are too big to manage. those would be worthy discussions. if this goes like virtually every other hearing in the past where a so-called fat cat a ceo is hauled in front of congress dimon will serve as a wealthy pinata. >> mr. lay, i have concluded that you're perhaps the most accomplished confidence man since charles ponzi. i'd say you were a carnival barker except that wouldn't be fair to carni

dollars. >> albert wong is a reporter in hong kong. >> it was competing with goldman sachs, merrill lynch all the big ones. >> on the first sunday after halloween, 2003, a close friend and colleague of rob's called to discuss an important conference call on the bank of china deal later that night. he said kissel sounded sleepy, out of sorts. >> not making sense? >> exactly. >> at first, the friend didn't make much of it. when kissel missed the conference call that night and was a no-show at the office the next day, the friend called nancy kissel. she told him she and rob were dealing with family issues. but as days passed, the friend suspected something more sinister at play, and filed a missing person's report. police inspectors later knocked on mrs. kissel's door. she let them in and explained her husband had walked out on her after a fight. >> they didn't suspect anything until they go into the bedroom. and he says then that it is a gut feeling just from experience. >> meanwhile, another team of inspectors was investigating reports of a strange smell coming from the kissel storage unit

documents show just days before the vote, both companies determine merrill lynch's losses would be $14 billion before taxes. the bank's former treasurer reportedly warned another executive at the time that failing to disclose the losses could be criminal. and occupy wall street protester says he has gone on hunger strike in a stopped taking his aids medications to stop -- protest trespassing charges against activists who were arrested at new york's trinity church on december 17. jack boyle, 57, has been on a hunger strike and without medication for roughly two weeks. protesters have as the church, one of the city's largest landowners to "forgive us our trespasses" a reference to the phrase in the lord's prayer. the arrests occurred when protesters scaled a fence on the the church owned property after trinity refused to give them sanctuary following their eviction from zuccotti park. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the countr

a passionate belief and the foundation on which merrill lynch has been built.visors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. >>> welcome >>> welcome back. we are live at the nasdaq market site. i know you have been waiting, waiting to find out what's behind the old red velvet curtain. josh brown, tell us the trade of the day. >> so i came on and i put you guys onto walmart on the breakout. we're seeing the same thing now with target. the two are very similar. i think target might have even more room to run. so $58 was the breakout level. $58 and change. it got up to $59 and change, pulled back. right here is so perfect. basically the risk reward, 55 is major support. if you want to pull it back and look at a five-year chart you're talking about a run to 70 not being out of the question. 12 points up, four points down. you have to love it. the fundame

at merrill lynch, we understand the importance of your goals.nancial advisors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. [ male announcer ] olympic tennis players bob and mike bryan do a lot of sending... and receiving. sending...and receiving. sending...and receiving. sending...and receiving. sending...and receiving. [ bob ] i got the tickets. [ male announcer ] and with citibank popmoney, it's even easier to keep sending...and receiving. let me get you back. no, it's on me. i insist. no way. yes way. well let me chip in. [ male announcer ] send money from one bank account to another, with citibank popmoney. easier banking. every step of the way. >>> welcome back. data out of china, spain and mcdonald's sales among those that is on everybody's radar for tomorrow. 30 seconds on the clock. my next guests tell us why they think they will

that's merrill lynch. >>> okay. >>> okay.ke a look at the stocks talked about most on the social stratosphere and use it to your trading advantage. sema modi is with us for more. what can you see? >> let's get to the stock heat map. the bigger the box, the bigger the chatter on twitter. technology grabbing the headlines as it always does. a lot of speculation around microsoft and if the company is looking to buy a bb2b firm. shares of jive are up sharply today, jumping nearly 10%. if microsoft is willing to pay for yammer, jive with a similar business model is worth more so and simon, how do you trade the basket of tech stocks? >> thanks. let's ask for that. open ended question, mike. >> yes. exactly, simon. you look at it. there's been a lot of deal making in the social media space and one way to trade this is rather than guess who's next is realizing that this is a space that's going to be -- >> mike, i have to interrupt you. forgive us. we have breaking news. eamon javers joins us. >> the house committee holding a hearing

bank of america, merrill lynch likes it. morgan stanley with a $75 price target on petsmart.abbit cage did not pass thanks to my dog. >> steel dynamics blaming recent steel prices. >> now 15 to 20 cents a share. i think the street's around 23. more imports hurting prices a. few weeks ago a private steel company filed for chapter 11. tough times. >> really tough times. and now the last stock and it is leaving us with a bit of controversy. >> controversy. yes. buckeye technology. never heard of it. they're not a tech company. they're like a pulp and paper type company and closed a florida plant because a steam drum failed. no injuries the company said. sounds like it really let go when it let go and the point is buckeye technology having to shut down one of the florida plant. stock's down. >> okay. great. >>> we have some news on facebook. julia boorstin with the headlines. julia? >> purchased facial recognition company for an undisclosed sum. facebook shares up sharply today. now the acquisition is small and shows the commitment to photo sharing following the acquisition of in

that's merrill lynch.h schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of -- fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank, like no-fee atms, all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. >>> all right. welcome back on day we saw stocks lose steam in lay-day portion of the session. here are stocks we are f

that's merrill lynch. >>> i'm bill griffeth.the top of the hour on "closing bell," will renewed economic fears force the fed to step in with more easing? steve liesman and rick santelli go toe-to-toe. it proves to be another epic match upcoming up. with interest rates as low as they are, larry summer says the government should be buying more, not less. is he right? or would that speed up the nation's fall off the fiscal cliff we've been talking about? and the senate votes tomorrow on a bill aimed at closing the gender pay gap. we will hear from one woman that says this is actually bad for both business and female workers. maria and i will see you at the top of the hour for "closing bell" as we turn positive here. anything's possible during that last hour. we'll see you then, mandy. >> sure is. i'll join you at the top of the hour as well. the sharp pullback in stocks recently has investors seeing red. should you be hanging your money on the wall instead? last month you might remember "the scream" sold for a record breaking $120

shareholders have filed a lawsuit alleging banks' executives knew about mounting mortgage losses at merrill lynch, but failed to inform them before they approved the $50 million purchase back in 2008. >>> "the wall street journal" reports facebook is working on technology that would allow children younger than 13 to use the social networking site with parental supervision. >>> all the latest video game gadgets will be on display this week at this year's electronics entertainment expo in l.a. >>> and it's that time again. the bidding has begun at $25,000 for you and seven of your closest friends to dine with warren buffett. last year's winner shelled out 2.6 million bucks and later landed a job with the billionaire investor. all proceeds go to charity. >>> well, coming up, foul trouble puts out the heat's fire, and a monster win at nascar's monster mile. >>> plus tiger woods shoots his way up the all-time pga win list. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> and it looks like active weather is going to continue in the form of thunderstorms. your forecast is coming up. you're wa

that's merrill lynch.

a passionate belief and the foundation on which merrill lynch has been built. today, our financial advisors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. >>> welcome back to "street signs." we're watching shares am amylin. bids submitted above $25 a share. look at that stock price. popping today intraday. >> thanks very much, jackie. walmart shares trading at highs bouncing back from the mexican bribery scandal, the world's largest retailer is holding its annual meeting in arkansas. they really thrived as shoppers searched fe lorer prices. ceo discussing the company's recent performance at today's annual meeting. >> every segment of our company had a great first quarter. so let me tell you about it. walmart u.s. stores delivered the best comp sales in more than three years. i've said this several times. and i'll say it many more times. walmart is the best

one responded to our tender was solyndra who identified bank of america and merrill lynch as their financial partner. we selected them in 2010 and jointly responded to the utility. that utility selected us in july of 2010 to provide them with solar power, a project that became known as project to ton. we applied to support a nationally scaled program which we called prolodgis amp. we completed smaller scale roof top insulation projects before, mostly financed by utilities, a larger nationally scaled project required a different approach. we applied for the loan guarantee to reduce the cost of our project financing that makes our roof top project more economical. working with bank of america as our lender and nrg energy as the equity partner, we sought to develop a multiyear, multiphase project that would generate power in up to 28 states. project to ton that was progressing was anticipating to be the first phase. in july of 2011, after receiving a conditional commitment from the doe, we began work on the roof tops of 15 buildings in southern california at a cost of just over eight million. i

that's merrill lynch. >>> welcome back to "the halftime report."realtime one from steve weiss. welcome to the show. >> thanks. hi to jim rogers who's in my new book, "the big win." >> what's your trade? >> i added to my short in steel. basically what you have is largest publicly traded steel company in china again cutting prices. this is eight weeks of price declines. there's one thing about an economic slowdown is that steel does not slow down at all. so there is a lot made of the fact that steel did not guide lower at their analyst day last week. that's actually a big negative. because they refused. i listened to the call. they refused to talk about the quarter or guidance whereas they typically do give a mid-quarter update. so, to me, they have, i would say, cole vesolvency issues in f bankruptcy. huge debt, not as much equity and prices are collapsing. >> if you're short, put on before the trade today. certainly looks like a successful one thus far, weiss. thanks for calling in. >> thanks. >> steve weiss with the trade today. you wanted to wrap

. >> and i was stockbroker for merrill lynch ntsb since the '80s so i've been in the private sector as well. >> we'll definitely learn a lot from all three of these gentlemen. join me in giving them a welcoming round of applause for joining us. [ applause ] >>> we'll start off with questions for our panelists and i'll turn the microphone to you so you can ask your questions when the time comes because we are being taped. please do hold the microphones close to your mouths and state your name and if you can please make sure if you can state your question as a question and not as a statement that would be great. first, let me turn to greg for our first question and ben and jim, please chime ins as well with, if you like. >> i think you wrote the current weakness in the economy is getting harder to identify. that we see culprits like gas prices, gdp, job growth, but what we're hearing is pretty mixed. so is there going to be a tipping point? >> yes. i think the point i'm trying to make there is three years in a row now we started that the economy started with a head of steam and that pete

b-of-a reportedly is talking with a swiss private bank about its merrill lynch international wealth management business. it could bring in $2 billion for bank of america. after microsoft introduced its challenger to apple's ipad late yesterday, we saw shares moving up. microsoft continues trading over $30 per share, up almost 3% today. volume was heavy after the company unveiled its tablet computer called surface. we will have more on that in a mont. and we have a closer analysis of microsoft's stock chart from michael kahn. it's under the "blogs" tab on nbr.com. fedex has a unique perspective on the economy. it has seen volumes of certain types of cargo shipping fall for two quarters in a row. still, earnings per share were better than expected as revenues were higher. fedex's ground shipping business has been growing while express shipping has been weaker. shares delivered a 2.8% rally, even though its focastas weaker than expected. instead, investors focused on the company's plans to cut costs. more details aren't expected until october, though. j.c. penney is in the midst of a big restruct

their actions several times since 2007, including the 2008 weekend when lehman brothers collapsed, merrill lynch was sold and a.i.g. hustled to raise money. >> i'm suzanne pratt in new york. tonight, we kick off our special series on the fed with a look back at how it got its start. "nightly business report" is brought to you by: captioning sponsored by wpbt stocks were higher on continued hopes of more economic help as soon as next week from the federal reserve. the dow rallied 115. the nasdaq was up 36. the s&p 500 gained almost 14. for the week, the dow gained 1.7%. the nasdaq was up half a percent. and the s&p 500 rallied 1.3%. the rally came despite more evidence of a slowing economy today. consumer sentiment, industrial production and new york-area factory output all were down in the past month. >> susie: as we reported, greek voters head to the polls on sunday and all indications show this will be a close election. so close, the results may not be known until late sunday evening. as darren gersh reports, greeks know the stakes are high. >> reporter: unlike last month's loud, angry electio

shareholders have filed a lawsuit alleging the bank's executives knew about mounting mortgage losses at merrill lynchfailed to inform them before they approved the $50 million purchase back in 2008. >>> "the wall street journal" reports facebook is working on technology that would allow children younger than 13 to use the social networking site with parental supervision. >>> all the latest video game gadgets will be on display this week at this year's electronics entertainment expo. in l.a. and it is that time of year again. the bidding has begun at $25,000 for you and seven of your closest friends to dine with warren buffett. last year's winner shelled out 2.6 million bucks and later land him a job with the billionaire investor. all the proceeds do go to charity. good return on investment there. >>> coming up foul trouble puts out the heat's fire and a monster win at nascar's monster mile. plus tiger woods shoots his way up the all-time pga win list. you're first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer.