. >> the fact that this man robert shiller is cautiously bullish today is quite something. everyone that the housing market was bad news and predictedcocre closely watched case shiller price index. >> we have seen prices go up, now two months in a row. nationally. home prices have been falling for almost three years before that. e.rarka>>>>rbl it may not be enough to say the housing bust is turning into a boom. but for the second month in a row, home prices rose in 18 of the nation's 20 largest cities. what do you think accounts for the fact that they're going up for the first time in three years? >> well, i think it's the general recovery of confidence. the stock markets of the world are going up as well. and we have a president that has a new plan, which was announced in february. so we started to think more positively. >> the two stubborn bleak spots are economicalldepressed detroit and overbuilt las vegas. but on the bright side, seven cities showed prices climbing by a respectable rate. boston, cleveland, minneapolis, denver, san francisco and in san diego where we met

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. >> thank you, professor, robert shiller, one half of the kay shiller index. horton added to goldman sachs conviction buy list. the home builders have been on fire of late. so there's some belief that perhaps a bottom is in for the housing stock. >> other even resource space like vulcan materials. 6 i think there's been a big run-up. you don't have to go straight for the builders. these guys that are related to building materials and building blocks literally are the guys you want to own. >> cement, copper, you go all the way down. you start to see that momentum pick up even more, right now copper is moving off china. it has nothing to do with us here. when you see copper move in a different manner affecting the housing here -- >> the problem is in the marketplace right now, everything is trending higher, so even though i'm still bullish, you have to be careful in a lot of these spaces. >> and the next shoe to drop is that first-time home buyers credit drops in the fall. >> and why just first-time home buyers? >> i notice. i can't use a tax credit. >> just lik

we had robert shiller on the show last friday and we talked about a second stimulus. you look at what mohammed said today and you have to wonder are we eventually going to have on go down the road again where a second stimulus is actually needed to get the consumer spending to where it needs to be. >> the thing i find interesting there's no disputing his prowess here, but while good numbers are coming out, everybody's now looking for the bad numbers. we had terrible numbers in the first quarter. we're getting good numbers on industrial production today, on the auto numbers. we've seen it and a recovery. and yet people are looking forward for the fourth quarter to be down. >> that's a good point. we see it happening all the time coming out of recessions. everybody is sort of looking for the bad news when you come out of it and i think that's what they'll read into it here. i wouldn't be surprised if we see a little bit of a pullback. some of the market activity we saw today would be a little bit reactionary because not all the market participants are in there. but i do

the economist robert shiller, you know him. tells us if improving jobs will translate into improving housing. mr. shiller's been right lately. that's going to be at 5:00 with melissa and the traders. >> we've got about 25 minutes before the close. the dow is up 135 point at last look, trying to hold on to the gains. >> employers cutting far fewer jobs than expected last month. is the labor market finally making a recovery? up next the ceo of careerbuilder.com tells us what he's saying. >> then coming up after the beshlgs remember when congress blasted those auto executives for flying to washington on private jets? well, guess what. we'll discuss whether congress's $500 million purchase of eight planes smells like hypocrisy. they got some gulf 5s, i think three of them. i can't believe that. that's coming up at 4:00 eastern. we'll be root back. 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 o

robert shiller said the other day he thinks real estate is actually rising. that plays to aig's favor. >> okay, ron? >> and how much of these swaps have worked their way off the books? >> that's a brilliant question, ron. and i don't know. but it seems that the pain has abated, and it's reflecting itself in the shares, not only citi, but aig, and we're long both today. and we're quite happy with the results. >> isn't your point, though, daman, if we were going to see it crateterring in the swaps market, it would have happened already? >> i haven't made that point, but i think you make a good point by saying that. you're right. i think there's a good chance the worst may be behind us. we didn't implode. we didn't. >> all right. daman good to see you. good luck. >> you too. >> see you later. ron, we'll be checking back with you in a moment here. >> we've got to follow this one. a great page-turner, isn't if? >> great story. >> coming up, high stakes investors when the japanese heads to the polls. the world's second biggest economy has been stagnant for 20 years