legislation will be more focused, properly screws nysed and constitutionally examined. committees, once bloated, will be smaller with a renewed mission, including oversight. old rules that have made it easy to increase spending will be replaced by new reforms that make it easier to cut spending and we will start by cutting congress' own budget. but above all else, we will welcome the battle of ideas, encourage it, engage it, openly, honestly and respectfully. the house works best when it is allowed to work its will, and i ask members of this body to join me in recognizing this common truth. and to my colleagues in the majority, my message is this -- we will honor our pledge to america built on a process of listening to the american people. we will stand firm on our constitutional principles that built our party and built the great nation. but we will do these things, however, in a manner that restores and respects the time-honored right of the minority to an honest debate, a fair and open process. and to my friends in the minority, i offer a commitment -- openness. once

trading volume picked up from yesterday with a billion shares moving on the nyse and just over double that on the nasdaq. fed policy makers apparently can't agree on what to do about the economy. minutes from the final meeting of last year show some central bankers think the economy will pick up on its own without more money pumped into it. the minutes suggest the fed is in "wait and see" mode. and you've got a few more days than you thought to get your income taxes in to uncle sam. the irs today pushed back the deadline from april 15 to the 18, due to a holiday in the district of columbia. >> tom: still ahead-- sending your portfolio to the dogs. tonight's word on the street: "dividends." we'll looks at the best dividend plays among the so-called dogs of the dow. >> susie: our guest tonight says 2011 looks great for stocks, not so great for bonds. and the economy will pick up sharply by the second half of the year. robert doll, the chief equity strategist of blackrock, is out with his annual list of ten predictions and he joins us now. >> susie: hi, bob. happy new year to you. >> and

as for volume-- a billion shares on the nyse; two billion on the nasdaq. investors also turned cautious ahead of tomorrow's employment report on word jobless claims rose by 18,000 last week to 409,000. last week, those claims dropped below 400,000 for the first time in two years. a belt-tightening at the pentagon as the defense secretary calls for the biggest spending cuts in a decade. robert gates wants to cut $78 billion in spending, going to the heart of the budget process. >> my hope and expectation is that, as a result of these changes over time, what has been a culture of endless money, where cost was rarely a consideration, will become a culture of savings and restraint. >> susie: meanwhile, president obama offered an olive branch of sorts to the business community. he named former commerce secretary and j.p. morgan chase executive william daley as his chief of staff. the chamber of commerce, a critic of the administration, welcomed daley's appointment calling it "strong." still ahead, where best to invest? this man says index funds. our interview w

. >> susie: a new ticker symbol trading here at the nyse: b.k.u. bank united went public today raising $786 million. its top executives marked the occasion by ringing the opening bell at the big board. today's i.p.o. marks a dramatic turnaround for the miami-based bank. it was shut down by regulators in 2009, after collapsing under a pile of bad mortgage loans. private equity investors including wilbur ross, the carlyle group, and blackstone bought it for $1 billion. it now has $11 billion in assets and its profitable. so why should investors take a fresh look at bankunited? that's what i asked the bank's c.e.o. john kanas. >> we've completely restructured the company. it is-- it is structured today with new employees and new technology and new products and services geared almost exclusively to small business people and local consumers in the florida market. so it's, in our view, a far more profitable strategy, a far safer strategy. >> susie: john, what time of bank do you want b.k.u. to be? >> if you're running a small business in the outskirts of

a billion shares moving on the nyse and nearly two billion on the nasdaq. >> susie: so now what? is this the time to make some new investment moves? suzanne pratt reports. >> reporter: it's a new year. it's a new decade. so is it time for a new portfolio? experts say radical changes are unnecessary for most investors. there is room for serious tweaking. tweak number one, market pros say investors should put more money into the stock market in 2011. and decrease their bond holdings. financial planner lew allfast is telling clients two-thirds of their portfolio should be in stocking and only one-third in bonds. it's what he calls a more normal allocation for more normal times. >> most people are still overweighted in bonds. that's the wrong decision to make for the new year. >> reporter: while stocks are expected to outperform bonds this year, it won't be all stocks in all sectors or sizes. some financial experts suggest investors up their holdings of large cap names, in particular those that pay attractive dividends. prudential financial strategist quincey crosbie says big u.s. co

exchanges, the nyse market closed the year on a good note. >> you had the dow up 11%. nasdaq up 17%. it was a good year for investors. >> reporter: the dow average hit its low in march of 2009. it began this year at 10,428. it hit its high two days ago and ended today 11% higher than a year ago. but way under its alltime high of three years ago. head of a stock trading firm says it was a good year for investors. >> for the first time since 2005 that all of the different groups were up this year. commodities were up, stocks were up, bonds were up, and had been dollar was up. >> i got good stocks at depressed value. so they turned around and rebuilt my portfolio up pretty well. >> i'm getting older faster than i'd like to but i hope i still have 10-20 years to recover in the stock market. >> it was certainly not a very good decade for being when you normally except and have seen in the past 9% returns a year on average although the last 30- 40 years. >> reporter: for every thousand dollars you had in the dow industrial ten years ago, you made only $70 over the entire dec

exchanges, the nyse market closed the year on a good note. >> you had the dow up 11%. nasdaq up 17%. it was a good year for investors. >> reporter: the dow average hit its low in march of 2009. it began this year at 10,428. it hit its high two days ago and ended today 11% higher than a year ago. but way under its alltime high of three years ago. head of a stock trading firm says it was a good year for investors. >> for the first time since 2005 that all of the different groups were up this year. commodities were up, stocks were up, bonds were up, and had been dollar was up. >> i got good stocks at depressed value. so they turned around and rebuilt my portfolio up pretty well. >> i'm getting older faster than i'd like to but i hope i still have 10-20 years to recover in the stock market. >> it was certainly not a very good decade for being when you normally except and have seen in the past 9% returns a year on average although the last 30- 40 years. >> reporter: for every thousand dollars you had in the dow industrial ten years ago, you made only $70 over the entire dec