sharon epperson has the latest on the oil prices. and we start with michelle caruso-cabrera in jerusalem with what iran may be capable in terms of an attack on the shipping complex. >> israel is about 950 miles from iran. and iran is believed to have solid fueled rockets, that means they can be hidden in silos and fired very quickly. they also have missiles by all accounts, that can hit all american troops in the middle east, all over israel and parts of europe. some of the most dangerous missiles are long-range, which can be used to attack shipping in the persian gulf and straits of hormuz. the range, 125 miles. iran has small ships that practice swarming techniques. the goal would be to overwhelm the u.s. navy with speed and numbers. bashar al bassa is capable of attacking israel. then there's lebanon, also north of israel. southern lebanon is almost wholly controlled by hezbollah. hezbollah is armed and financed by iran. there are 35,000 missiles aimed at israel, and ready to go in southern lebanon. israel does have perhaps the wo

weaker dollar, we'll get to gold and sharon epperson in a minute.ut a big move today, we need explanations whether it's just dollar-focused. the three major indices slightly to the upside. but we are off of the highs. we began down, reversed it. now we're just easing back just a little bit. i want to talk about something that hasn't gotten a lot of exposure. xstrata and glencore's partnership is a concern. these are names that might be out there looking for acquisition. iron ore looks to be the target here. if a collective set of investors think there's a bona fide set of possibilities, you'd see them looking into this. cliffs natural getting a pop. but 2% is not the kind of pop that people think maybe taken out anytime soon. alpha natural is another one. down 4%. and consol down 1%. you see a lot more money flowing into these names if they were bona fide targets. speaking of commodities, gold about to shut down. let's get to sharon epperson at the nymex. >> big interview today and a close right near a key psychological level here. gold prices here

david bach, founder of finish rich.com and author of "debt free for life" and sharon epperson, cnbc's personal finance correspondent. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> we're going to justina from bloomington, indiana, on skype. good morning. >> good morning. >> what's your question? >> hi! i have three separate 401(k) accounts from past employers. now that i'm in school i would like to roll them into one account. i'd like to know what to look for and also how can i now save for retirement? i already have a roth ira. >> what should she do? >> for administrative purposes, i think you should just take the 401(k)s, roll them into a rollover ira where you already have the roth. that way you can access everything by logging in one time. it will be simpler as long as the fees aren't outrageous. you probably want to put it in a traditional ira rather than a roth because you're in school and you don't want to come up with the money to pay the taxes. does that make sense? >> how does she do it? >> contact a financial services firm, the one where you have your roth and ask for an ira roll

and sharon epperson, personal finance consultant from cnbc. we have karen on the line from wisconsin. good morning. what's your question? >> caller: good morning. my ex-husband opened credit cards without my knowledge. can i contact the credit card companies and/or the credit bureau to have them removed from my credit report? >> what do you think? >> this should not happen in the first place. the thing that all people, but particularly all women who are not keeping an eye on the finances need to do is check your credit report at least a couple times a year. then you will know what credit exists in your name. so as for you, by all means go to the credit card company. they will very, very likely start a dispute process. they will go through an investigation, hopefully get it removed. you may want to make sure the card is closed so nothing else could be attached to your name. and they may likely ask for copies of your divorce decree. get everything in writing. please, check your credit car reports. annual credit report.com is free. >> joanne chec

. >> we want to talk more about inflation sentiment -- i think sharon epperson is is joining us from the nymex as well. sharon, you have to believe even with the consumer sentiment number we're getting right now as gasoline prices go higher, the next report probably won't be quite as high, yes? >> consumer confidence from the university of michigan, that is a lagging indicator. gas prices are up on a six-month lead on that report. and so we're likely to see, as we see gasoline prices moving toward that national average above $4 a gallon, we're likely see consumer confidence drop significant significantly. as people are getting ready for the holiday season, the consumer confidence will be at a real low. >> rick, where do you see in the fixed income arena the greatest sentiment of expectations for inflation? would it be in the inflation protected securities, the tips? they've been bidding those up so high, yields are so low right now, would you say that they are expecting high inflation because of what's going on with oil and gold and other things? >> yeah. no, i think if you take the t

sharon epperson takes a deep dive on the ways to catch up. g, sharon. >> all right, sue. the h.r. consulting firm towers watson did a survey and found that 39% of workers plan to delay retirement. now, the findings in this survey mirrored what we found when we talked to a roundtable of financial experts. that is, for those delaying retirement, they plan to work an extra three years. >> if you have a job. i think part of this we need to recognize, for the boomer today that's 55 or over, they're not receiving any income appreciation whatsoever. b, they're at serious risk of not keeping their jobs. when we look at today's boomer, if income is not a variable that they can control, if they're reassessing their market returns, the only other variable that they can control is their expenses. >> when you are close to retirement or if you're working, quote, in the retirement age in your late 50s, early 60s, maybe you don't put as much money in a retirement account, you use that money so the money in your retirement account continues to grow but you're

back to you, maria. >> thank you so much, sharon epperson. qualcomm and chipotle just two of the stocks making big moves in the after-hours trading session. brian, over to you. >> let's start with the two actually. qualcomm, of course, very strong. almost 4.5-plus percent right now. guidance well above consensus. chipotle, a huge stock market darling. a mixed trading report. trading down about 2%. the one element a little weaker, selling on that news. tractor supply, unfortunately eps guidance was below consensus. right now, down 2 1/3%. haines celestial missed on the top and bottom lines. coming in at or slightly above the range. las vegas sands, strong revenue. also instituting a dividend of $1 a share. the stock trading down close to 2%. zoomies, more than double estimates. january revenue up almost 20%. the stock up 5.5% in after-hours. look at allstate, it's up 3.75%. 148 a share. caci, beats the boost. up about 8%. 5 cents profit. for some reason gross margin went from 49% from 11. that's on a quarterty quarter basis and it's being rewa

we start with sharon epperson at the nymex on the big commodities selloff. sharon. >> tyler, big ben steering clear of stimulus talk certainly caused commodities to crumble particularly gold. where i'm standing right now, this pit has been so busy in the last hour and a half. keep in mind that we are looking at a selloff that really started with the gold market. that's what a lot of people have been paying attention to. but look at the downdraft in silver. an $80 range in gold is huge, but a $4 range in silver in one day is also very big. and we're looking at silver that's been a very volatile commodity up about 33% year-to-date before today's selloff. again, we're looking at the accommodative policy. well, now stepping away from that, that has caused the selloff not only in the precious metals but in other commodities as well. but silver and gold definitely the standouts. we are looking at the worst day for both in about two and a half months. turn it over now to bob pisani at the new york stock exchange. bob. >> sharon, we were all parsing mr. bernanke's wr

. >> i'm sharon epperson at the nymex. the wholesale price is what we're seeing traded here in the futures market. more coming up on the "closing bell." >> later fda commissioner margaret hamburg joins us to explain what the agency is doing to address the ongoing prescription drug shortage in this country. it's her first-ever broadcast interview, so be sure to stay tuned coming up. before the break, some highlights from other guests who have appeared today on cnbc. >>> we're locked into this with what appears to be an end game with iran in some form or another. and the sanctions really start to kick in over the next several months. and the whole aim is to choke off iran's oil revenues, and that means cut off its exports. >> it's going to push oil prices higher. it's obviously a bad thing for consumers. i think ultimately, the pressure on iran will be too p for them one way or the other. >> there's no quick fix, no short-term fix of this. the best strategy for the country is to continue to make some long-term investments to

crude and gold we'll get to sharon epperson in the a second. i'll leave that to her. i want to point out again tech outperforming almost 1.5% in the nasdaq. earnings not named amazon, start with et na up about 4% now. numbers were strong although guidance was a bit below consensus. investors don't seem to mind. eps blowout, but revenue was light. they're managing their business. guidance also light. market again unphased making money today. maybe it's a rising tide. boston properties very similar story up only 1%. good q-4 but tepid guidance and the stock is up. insert whatever dialup joke you want but aol, beat and street love it. hershey not getting a lot of love today. eps in line, hiked the dividend, not enough to catch the bid. hawaii air down 8.5%. a lot of good news in airlines, numbers were solid but two downgrades today, cost control seemed to be an issue with one analyst. let's go to sharon epperson at the nymex. >> brian, you know who's probably a little giddy right now is anyone who's invested in gold particularly in the last month. gold posted its best ja

sharon epperson tracking all the action at the nymex and so much more. sharon, back to you. >> courtney, we're looking at a pullback across the board in the energy complex, but we have seen wti oil futures come off of their lows significantly. brent still under pressure. of course we're seeing more exports from saudi arabia and nigeria. that might be pressuring global prices a bit. keep in mind we're still looking at gasoline futures at their highest level in zempb months despite the brief pullback we've seen today. a couple factors for the rise. we know about the rise in oil due in large part to the geopolitical risk from iran. add to that gasoline is rising on its own merit due to the loss of refining capacity particularly on the east coast. about 860,000 barrels per day of gasoline that we've been counting oncoming to the east coast either with our own refineries or key refinery in the caribbean are now gone. that is contributing to what we're seeing in the spike in prices on the east coast for sure. but the national average as well. we're also looking

bob pisani at the nyse, sharon epperson at the nymex. but we begin with bob and the question whether will this hold, bob? >> the improving u.s. economy makes it more likely than not that we will hold. we've had a great run. the s&p's up 8% since the beginning of the year. we're at multi-year highs in the s&p. i want to concentrate on the dow for the moment over 13,000. what's important about that is since the last time we were here back in 2008 levels, there's been some real biefr kags. notice ibm up 57%. remember that number. caterpill caterpillar's been a monster. coke has been very impressive. i would not have coke in the top five, but there they are. now flip it around. look at the losers since may 2008. the financials no surprising, alcoa and poor aluminum prices. ibm up 43% and hewlett packard down 40%. ge and at&t taking up the rear. a lot of different -- this is not everybody moving in one direction at all. finally, i want to make a quick note on what's happening today. big cloud computing ipo. all these cloud computing ipos are

c cnbc correspondent sharon epperson is outside a gas station. what kind of prices are we talking about now? >> reporter: we're talking the highest prices ever seen in february. here at this gas station near westchester county, near $4 a gallon. what we're seeing across the country is an average $3.54. keep in mind for all of 2011 the average was $3.50. so we're already higher than the average price for all of last year. there's been a wide divergence in prices and that has a lot to do with where you get your gasoline and where you get your oil from. on the coast we're looking at a lot higher prices. california, new york seeing much higher prices than in the middle of the country. if you're talking about colorado, idaho, some prices may be below $3 per gallon. there is a wide divergence in prices and consumers should expect to pay a lot more than they did a year ago. >> you always see this around memorial day because demand goes up. what's driving this hike now? >> reporter: well, the high price that we're seeing globally for oil is one of the re

i'm sharon epperson. the plunge in precious metals is definitely the big market story of the day.old is now trading near the lows of the session, just around 1705 an ounce. keep in mind that we are talking about the plunge across the board in many commodities as bernanke steered clear of any stimulus talk, and that caused some of these long risk commodities to definitely take a breather and sell off sharply in some cases. look what happened to silver after the run-up we saw in the previous session. and keep in mind as well ha the ecb funding, the fact it was not as robust as some had suspected, caused some gold selling as well, according to rbc capital strategies analyst george jero. when you look at what is happening so far this year, bill, we are still looking at gold prices as they stay above $1700 an ounce, they are still maintaining the uptrend and silver is still the best performing commodity for 2012 despite the huge sellout in today's session. >> sharon, thank you very much. let's move on. legs than an hour in trading to go here. this week, the s&p at these levels is now a

david bach, author of "debt free for life" and sharon epperson from cnbc and cnbc.com.il an hour ago wearing the same dress as jean chatzky but changed. >> you gave away our secret! >> that's okay. david and i are wearing the same pants. we'll start with an anonymous e-mail from los angeles. i'm newly divorced and have a nest egg from the sale of my home. if i marry a man without money and a lot of debt am i responsible for his debt? who's responsible? >> that's a good question. he's responsible for his debt. the problem is as you build this life together, as you start mixing finances the fact that he has the debt may prevent him from contributing as much to your household and because you live in california, if there are debts incurred after the marriage they are in a community property state. that could get messy. so i would say try to clear it up before you get married and then try to maintain some semblance of autonomy financially. >> keep it separate. >> that's the most important wedding planning they can do. >> she said, if i marry. >> she's not sure. >> next -- >>

and sharon epperson, good morning to you all. >> good morning. >> stacy writes my fiance's credit is pretty poor. he's convinced if he can continue to avoid the creditors the debt will eventually fall off his credit record. i'm not in agreement. we have joint checking and savings accounts. before we get married i want him to get his own checking account and manage it responsibly. i'm not sure how to discuss this with him. >> there is so much that worries me about this question. i don't know where to start. yes, he's right on a technicality. eventually they will go away. i have visions of this couple at dinner. >> they won't be married long enough. >> i see them at dinner sitti sittinging there and the phone ringing. are you going to marry a guy in the habit of avoiding problems? >> she's smart enough to identify the problem. >> sit down with a financial planner. get these issues out ton table. have a serious discussion and make sure he's ready to take responsibility for his financial life. otherwise you go to buy a house, a car, anything major together, you are going to be miserable.

i'm sharon epperson.uro certainly weighing on commodities pretty much across the board, although we are off of the lows of the session. there's still a great deal of concern about sovereign debt issues in the eurozone, whether we're talking about the optimism that has now faded in terms of the greek deal situation, as well as what's happening with the italian banks. we're also looking at what's happened over the course of the week to some of the metals, particularly the precious metals, and the fall that we've seen there. some traders saying taking risk right now, even gold as a risk asset, is just not palatable at this time in what may happen over the weekend. we're also watching energy prices. when you look, despite the sell-off that we saw in today's session, we are looking at a week of strength for energy across the board, whether it's crude oil or refined fuels. look what's happened to gasoline futures over the course of this week. that is why the national average is right now $3.50 a gallon nationwi

i'm sharon epperson. silver soared today.precious metals across the board, getting a lift from another cash infusion from the european central bank. that's anticipated tomorrow morning. this ltro 2. keep in mind as well, we're looking at gold prices to test that $1800 an ounce level as well. but silver really has been the outperformer. it's up 33% year-to-date. really, it's just making up for the fact it was underperforming last year. kept playing catch-up with the gold market. back to you. >> sharon, thank you very much. less than an hour of trading to go here this tuesday. investors watching the home builders this morning. still saying that the housing recovery has a ways to go at this point. and donald trump said this morning, he's a famed investor in the housing market as we all know, he said real estate is a buy. listen to this. >> housing is one of the great investments right now. i tell people all the time, go buy a house. you can make an unbelievable deal. >> warren buffett said the same thing yesterday on "squawk box

. >>> sharon epperson here at the nymex. we've seen about a 2% move here in u.s.nd the wti contract narrowing that spread with brent crude. earlier this morning i told you goldman sachs has come out of its position that was shorting wti brent spread. we're also very focused on what is happening with iran and the escalating violence in syria. traders focused on nigeria as well. we're also watching gold prices here. this is a rally after two days of declines, and a rally above the $17.50 level per gold. a $25 jump in the gold price. 1769 is the next level. they're watching closely what ben bernanke had to say today. back to you guys. >> thank you so much, sharon. let's stick with commodities here. glen core acquiring the remainiremain ing 66% of estrada. it brings the total value to nearly $52 billion. that would be the world's largest ever mining deal. not enough, though, to jump-start what has been a weak beginning of the year so far for mergers and acquisitions volume. rich peterson said it's reached a total of $193 billion. that is the slowest pace since 2009. m

. ♪ >>> sharon epperson here at the nymex. natural gas is back near a ten-year low.ural gas prices falling toward the lows of the session. keep in mind, we have natural gas down over 5% right now. and we already have here in terms of natural gas supply in the u.s. about 25% more natural gas than we historically have this time of year. we'll get numbers coming out tomorrow morning from the energy department showing the weekly decline in natural gas supplies. it's expected to be far less than we normally see for this week of the year. we're looking at 1.23 to 1.27 bcs. keep in mind as we look at the fall in natural gas, a lot of traders are waiting to see if natural gas prices will approach last week's low, and very soon perhaps to the $2 level for natural gas. back to you guys. >> warm weather right now, i just now how karma works. we're going to pay for it somewhere down the road. we'll have an april snowstorm or something, i'm sure. less than an hour of trade to go. traders watching shares of viacom, the media company reports its earnings tomorrow before the bell. m

sharon epperson at the nymex. hey, sharon. >> hey, brian.d is getting a bit of momentum here going into the close as we've seen some key trading around a technical area of 1765. bringing in the buyers. but we're also focused on what happened to platinum today because that's really where the power was in the metals complex. platinum at a five-month high up 2% on the session. some big concerns about production in south africa. of course that's where the biggest platinum mine is. and we've seen some work stoppage there. that is contributing to what we may see as a production deficit for 2012 according to logic advisor's bill onl. look at this gold and platinum, it's been a key trade for years and historically platinum has outperformed gold. we haven't seen that in the last couple years, but maybe we could start to see that because the discount of platinum to gold has come in tremendously just in the last month. tyler, back to you. >> sharon, thank you very much. today's power player is robert michael, jpmorgan's fixed income and currency group.

. >>> i'm sharon epperson at the nymex. have you been watching natural gas today?rices have surged 7.5%. amid data this morning showing a bigger than expected decline in natural gas supplies. but some traders say that still, even though it's the second week in a row that we've seen better than expected expectations here in terms of more bullish expectations, there are still below-average withdrawals ahead and the $2.23 level january low, they're still keeping an eye on it. other traders saying, this could be a technical bottom here for natural gas. bill, we're also watching the sell-off in oil. maybe we've seen some spread trading here with folks buying natural gas and selling crude as a result. back to you. >> i'm sure the report on the oil didn't help either. >> absolutely. >> thank you, sharon. >> sure. >> less than an hour of trading to go. gold has gotten a boost on comments from fed chairman bernanke with bouillon breaking out on highs. let's look at the charts as we start talking numbers on the technical side with rich ross, global technical strategist at gr

i'm sharon epperson. oil prices extending their losses in electronic trading. oil prices just above the $106 mark. keep in mind that even though we've seen consumer conferred at a one-year high, the high prices for oil, for gasoline, are certainly taking their toll on demand. gasoline demand has dropped 7 #% in the last week, as prices have risen up about 11% from where they were a year ago. that's according to the latest data from mastercard spending polls. we're looking at consumer confidence data that came in february 15th, since that time we've seen gasoline prices at the pump rise about 20 cents. we could see more pressure ahead for oil prices, because at 4:30 we'll get the petroleum institute's report on supply. and the expectation is for gains for both crude oil supplies and gasoline supplies. back over to you. >> sharon, thank you so much. we all knew it was coming. and now it appears that the ipad3 will be unveiled next week. jon fortt has the details. over to you. >> keep in mind how the ipad fits into the broader apple story. the ipad is typically wh

sharon epperson at the nymex joining us now. . >> brian, with nearly $110 a barrel here at the nymex with the final trades coming in and keep in mind this is the high of the week, the high of the month, the high of the year, the highs that we've seen since may and a lot of course major factor contributing to what we've seen at the nymex. u.n. watchdog group about nuclear international atomic energy saying it has stepped up uranium enrichment more than earlier thought. there are other factors contributing in addition to iran and that is the fact that we are looking at a weaker dollar and momentum buyers that have been piling into this market. we're going to find out the exact statistics in a couple hours from the cftc. suffice to say we have seen record long positions across the board in the petroleum complex and that is likely to have continued in this week. when you look at the type of geopolitical risk that is in this market and you go into a weekend, traders do not want to be short of course in this marketplace. in fact, we ex

now, sharon epperson at the my next. >>> a lot of giddy trade openers the floor after the giants win focus on what is going on in greece and that is what has impacted gold prices today. saw gold prices tacking very well what the euro has done and in light of the fact that there's a great deal of concern still about a possible greek default, we are looking at lower gold prices for the moment. but the chief global strategist at city index said you should pay attention to the fed affect, because that is what has influenced gold prices this year, taking them up 10% year-to-date it contributes to the big jump january 25th with fomc announcement through 2014 and bernanke speech with the high of the session. all of the central bank decisions coming up this week, a lot of interest on what they are going to say and the impact that will have on the gold market. >> we will be watching, sharon, thank you so much. how much more stress can iran put on the oil market, and how should investors be contemplating the next move is inside threats of kyle cooper, at iaf advisers, good to have you on the p

let's go to the commodities and sharon epperson, over to you. >> the reason gold is higher is due ton part to bernanke's statement about the sluggishness of the economic recovery and that has sparked some buying. we're looking at gold prices at a new high for 2012. above that key 1750 resistance level. and the next target is likely to be 1805, traders tell me. we're also looking at the tense selloff here in the oil market. after we got those very weak demand numbers for gasoline from the energy department in the previous session and gasoline's falling as well. the story to watch though is definitely natural gas. the pop we're seeing there after that storage report that showed a greater than expected decline in the storage level. let's see if this bounce continues for natural gas. back to you guys. >> thank you very much, sharon. so facebook pulls the trigger, now comes the hard part. here to talk about the latest ipo filing, the largest ipo filing in internet history, and how it's going to shape the digital economy is jon fortt, our tech correspondent. along with menlo ventures manag

let go to sharon epperson. do we have sharon? i guess not. as melissa said, it's a beneficial day for us on the news set. goldman sachs chief u.s. equity strategist david kostin is out with his quarterly hedge evened reports that tracks the activities of major hedge funds. one of our first guests. it's good to have you today. i'd love to get your elaboration on your 12-month target, which i think pivots somewhere around margin expansion in some cases and contraction in some others with various companies, right? >> we have a price target for the middle of the year at 1325 and forecasting that will fade in the second half of the year to 1250. it based on the expectation there are significant risks weighing on the economy and the markets. a number of those have receded, the ltro, coming up later this week. we've had increasingly positive macro news and very weak earnings results, sales and earnings forecasts for every sector of the market has been falling for the last 30, 60, 90 days and we've had no money flow. those are the issues positive and

. >>> i'm sharon epperson at the nymex.d started to shine into the close today mid afternoon, continuing to soar, topping $1778 an ounce, the highest price on record so far this year. and we're looking at momentum buyers that are adding to the gains. you heard about platinum. platinum at a five-month high. and it was the best performer in the metals complex today. a lot of concerns about unrest in south africa, and the impact on production there. adding to the gains to the platinum market. oil prices also on a tear today. we're looking at the highest prices since may for wti and for brent crude. that has to do with iran, of course. we'll have more on that coming up at 4:30. back to you. >> sharon, thank you. we're going to talk more about this spread that exists now between brent and wti that has widened considerably in the last few months, as you saw brent is now at 123-plus dollars with wti sitting at about $106. what does it say about the future price of oil? and joining us to talk about it is ann cameron, energy researc

sharon epperson joins us with expert suggestions on how to combat the prices in the new retirement, sharonayla, student loan debt massed by parents is growing faster than by the student. it's doubled in the decade exceeding $100 billion. that's 10% of all student loan debt. >> parents of every income level are increasingly borrowing for their children's college educations. it doesn't matter whether the parents are low income, middle income or upper income. there's been dramatic growth in the percentage of parents who have been borrowing. >> for many parents their need to borrow has grown as their savings have declined and home values plummeted. many households can no longer tap what was once a common financial resource and that's the equity in their homes. parents have about $34,000 in student loans on average. and that figure rises to about $50,000 including interest over a stan standard 10-year loan repayment period. the federal parent plus loan is fixed at nearly 8%. so the return on parents' investments needs to be at least 8% just to break even. >> parents should borrow no more than t

sharon epperson for us at the nymex. >> courtney, we are looking at gold and silver prices.hat final trade coming in right now with gold right around 1740 an ounce and silver just above that $34 level. keep in mind though we've given up quite a bit of the gains as the euros come off of its highs. we've seen the metals do the same. of course a lot of traders still looking at what potential shoe could drop in europe may be and also waiting to see what is next in terms of u.s. economic data. i'm joined now by lou grasso. we are looking at silver prices that are the best performing commodity year-to-date up over 20%. why is there so much momentum in silver? >> silver really got trashed at the end of the year. it sold off from a high of about $35, $36, got pounded down to $26. silver's been a great performer year in and year out. so i think what happened is money just rushed back into it. i think it might have gotten a little bit ahead of itself right now. i do expect silver to probably go and test $37, $38 some time by mid-year. but i think we're poised for a bit of a pullback d

sharon epperson at the nymex. >> how are you doing, brian? we are looking at gold with final trades around 1720 an ounce. gold has tracked the euro and there's been some profit taking here with concerns about greece and possible default. keep in mind george at rbc capital markets says we're in correction phase right now. we could see prices perhaps dip to 1700. there's another factor at work that's really supported the gold market so far this year 10% year-to-date and that's the fed effect. look at what's happened to gold prices and what's happened to the fed, the chief global strategist at citi index pointing out there we can see the significant runup we've seen since january 25th in the gold market. and the biggest one-day jump of the year on that date and then another big jump on february 2nd with the bernanke speech. what is interesting is that we have several other key central banks coming out this week that will make decisions that could impact the gold market. look ahead for australia, england and the eurozone and if we see any inactio

sharon epperson joins us from the nymex. >> seema, the s&p downgrade of the italian banks happened right the floor trading here at the new york mercantile exchange. we're down about $17 for the price of gold. the weakness has much to do with the fact greece was unable to secure that second bailout package. yet we are looking at that situation very carefully because the reaction that it has to the euro, to the dollar, definitely influences gold and other precious metals as well as other commodities. you'll notice copper down sharply today. almost 3%. in terms of the bull/bear case, traders are very missioned here. in terms of the bull case, of course you can add stability to that. lift the euro way on the dollar and help gold prices. if there is this deal, that lessens the fear factor or the safe haven factor. the other factor traders are watching the fact it's rallied some $175 since the start of the year. so it's due for somewhat of a pullback. the psychological level to watch next is $1700. and we're trading right around 1725 in the final trading. back to you guys. >> thank you very mu

my friend sharon epperson says paying 40% more heating oil because she locked in 2011 at the low.ul a wash, mandy. pay more for gasoline but our heating bills are low, although today it is kind of cold. >>> it is a bit of an offset. jape, making us look bad. tomorrow, me and the gang, the gang being, of course, herb, we are going to do our whole show via skype. >> yes. >> jape, going to turn now to phil, for a look at who is gaining, not just the hurting but the gaining from the high gas prices. phil? >> jane and mandy, you know, we hear from people all the time, detroit must be freaking out over these high gas prices. the fact of the matter is detroit and the auto suppliers in particular are not freaking out. companies that are primed for what we are seeing in the industry now. start with board warner, these guys are one of the leaders when it comes to making turbochargers. turbochargers are incredibly popular for vehicles, they improve fuel efficiency 15% while lowering emissions. the important thing to keep in mind here the global demand for these is going to double by 2017. wh

sharon epperson at the nymex. >> hey, brian. gold prices closing right around 1725 an ounce.e're basically holding steady here in the gold market. we're talking gold priced in dollars or in other currencies, but traders are looking ahead to what lies next in the eu and here in the u.s. in terms of on the economic front. we are watching what is happening to gold prices technically as well. the fact that gold remains firmly above the 1650 support level is key. dennis garman says the greek resolution definitely supported the gold prices and gold just a little below 1730 right now is another sign we could see more upside momentum in gold. longer term, a month ago gold was trading right around 1650. so that is the solid support level and gold prices firmly above that. some traders say make it poise today go towards 1780 or 1800. keep your eye on silver versus gold. silver's outperformed gold so far this year but right now silver's in a rather neutral range, traders are waiting for the fomc minutes on wednesday to determine whether there will be some form of quantitative easing and

about treasuries, what's behind the move there, rates move lower, today's closing bell exchange, sharon epperson at the nynex. jim, i kick this off with you, talk about the move in elongated treasuries and the stock market higher, do you see a relationship there? >> the relationship obviously is normally if bonds run, stocks are down. today, i spent most of my day trying to figure out why the bonds are ral flying conjunction with the stocks, not 100% certain on, in your honor, every week that passes, we get new news, more liquidity being added. right now, u.s. probably represents the best place for that money to go and it's escaping europe and going into bonds and stocks and that's why we are seeing a rally in both. not sure how long it will last but why it is going higher today. >> what about oil, sharon? taking a bit of a breather today but who cares about a breather when you talk about $108 a barrel? still an issue, right? >> the damage has been done. >> the traders still talking about this level. >> tell us about gasoline. >> oil is going to take a breather now, but it it is a breather aroun

welcome back, i'm sharon epperson here at the nymex floor, and we're seeing a lot of price action inil market, the spread between wti prices is the widest it's been in about 12 weeks time. but it's not necessarily the strength in red that is the story, it is the weakness in wti futures and what these guys are trading right now at a six-week low, the supplies that we're seeing, the increase that we saw and the weak, weak demand for gasoline. gasoline is also under pressure and the gasoline demand at the weakest point we have seen in almost ten years. 10:30 is when we get the report on natural gas storage levels and keep in mind that target of 2.$2.23 the previous low, that what traders are looking at as the potential downside for the day. >> we're the stories we're squawking about. strata and glencore international. glencore currently owns 34% of exstrata. and the number of employer jobs -- >> chain store sales being released this morning. joining us with a closer look at the numbers this morning, adrian shapira. in the context of the broader calendar, not as important as some other m

back to you guys. >> thank you very much, sharon epperson. >>> markets are trading higher this morning of the worst weeks in the two months for the market. betts bring in brian belski with oppenheimer and company for his view on the markets. brian, great to have you with us. >> thanks for having us. >> i want to start off the conversation with apple which crosses the $500 mark this morning. you're overweight technology. at this point, do you feel like this is a sector that's being driven largely by apple, just by its sheer market cap and weighting in the indices? >> the stock clearly has a big impact on the sector. it's our largest holding in our large cap core portfolio that we manage for oppenheimer private clients. we're happy with the performance. one of those stocks that everybody wants to bet against. you talk about climbing the wall of worry, apple is that wall. but apple has the kind of innovation that really speaks to the structural change that we've seen in technology the last few years. so that stock in particular is still very important and we think continues to be quite st

i'm sharon epperson here at the nymex.asury secretary tim geithner telling our steve liesman there's no quick fix to higher oil prices. in fact, we continue to move higher here at the nymex with traders piling into this rise that we've seen. the longest winning streak for crude prices that we have seen since january of 2010. up for more than a week and above $108 a barrel for nymex crude. brent crude futures also moving toward that 124 mark. keep in mind the strength we've seen in this week has seen a reversal in wti futures playing catch-up here and momentum buyers piling into this market. of course, it is the renewed optimism now over europe and iran. the supply issues there that are causing prices to rise. and it is not, of course, only oil prices. gasoline futures continue to move higher as well. prices at the pump, 12 cents higher than a week ago. the national average at $3.65 a gallon. we'll talk more about the divergence in gasoline prices around the country. >>> 5 1/2 minutes until the opening bell rings on wall st

sharon epperson live with breaking news.06. >> we're looking at a little question for oil prices after the energy department has reported that supplies rose in the last week by 1.6 million barrels. now this is less than supply increase than what was reported by the american petroleum institute last night. they reported an increase of 3.6 million barrels. keep in mind rise in supplies definitely pressuring the wti price a bit. we are also looking at gasoline supplies that rose by about 650,000 barrels and distallate fuel supplies that were actually down by 200,000 barrels. i should say gasoline supplies were actually lower by 650,000 barrels. we are looking at prices right now right around the $106 barrel mark but the key number that many traders are watching is the price of brent crude which remains above $122 a barrel. keep in mind, there we are looking at tight supplies globally whether talking about iran or other middle eastern countries and also looking at what is happening in the north sea as contributing to the brent p

cnbc's personal finance correspondent sharon epperson is here with the most overlooked tax credits andch is this ultimately costing americans? >> we're talking about 45 million americans who itemize deductions on 1040 forms. they can claim deductions up to $1 trillion. we are talking about a lot of money you can save my bi putting in the right itemizations for credit. >> you say you want to talk about tax deductions and credits. what are the differences? >> a deduction comes off the top of gross income. when it's subtracted you have your adjusted gross income. a credit is actually dollar for dollar reducing your taxes. so that's a bigger bang for your buck, or it can be. that's what to look for as well as deductions. >> starting with deductions, because it does add up to real money, state sales tax. that's something we can deduct. >> you have a choice between deducting state and local sales tax or income tax. for people who live in states that have no income tax this is a great thing you will want to look into particularly in florida or texas, washington state. what you want to conside

i'm sharon epperson.he saudis want to keep oil under $100 a barrel, but he must not be referring to brent crude, because it stopped $117 this morning. iran a big factor in the rally in brent crude, and saying that despite sanctions -- and they are vowing to ban crude exports before the eu embargo even takes effect. as it approaches the goldman saks was short. they are closing that position and taking the new position. wti times spread sees further pressure. meanwhile, gold prices replain rather flat right now, even more than greece. a lot of gold traders focused on ben bernanke. back to you guys. >>> about 5 1/2 minutes before the bell. time for cramer's "mad dash." yesterday it was earnings that actually beat plus. >> what's incredible to me about coinstar is 12 million short. notice, i understand that people felt coinstar could be blockbuster. it's been adopted by a lot of people. it's a generational thing. there's a lot of younger people that know hoses to stream, and a lot of parents want to pop in th

. >>> we have breaking news with sharon epperson at the nymex. >> just dropped below $99 a barrel hereil as we're getting the information from the energy department. increase of 4.2 million barrels, far greater than what analysts had anticipated. crude supplies up 4.2 million barrels in the past week. gasoline supplies also increasing by much greater than expectations, up by 3 million barrels. of course we know gasoline demand has been extremely weak recently. we're also looking at distillate fuel supplies down fractionally, down about 100,000 barrels. we're looking at a selloff right now in the oil complex with oil prices below $99 a barrel. we're also watching what is happening with the refined fuels. the march contract, the front month contract. but make sure to keep your eye on natural gas as well because natural gas prices continue to fall. we are hearing from some traders we could approach last week's low, right around $2.23 for natural gas and perhaps fall to $2 in the next couple of months. we know that scenario. it's 62 degrees out here in new york. that's a big reason why wit

sharon epperson is at the nymex. >> i'm standing where the market is in the metals market. keep in mind, we have seen all of the injections of liquidity, quantitative easing, since the beginning of the year. gold is up $180. silver price up 25% and they are about the biggest gainers in the market today as well in anticipation of the ltr. keep in mind as well, copper is at a two-week high. we're also watching, of course, the pullback in the energy complex for the second day in a row and a lot of it has to do with the high prices and impact of the global economy on demand and that coupled with the tact that we haven't heard a lot of rhetoric over the last couple of days. that is prices here seem like 110 with a bit of a ceiling here for oil prices in the u.s. we'll see if that remains for long. david, back to you. >> all right. thanks very much, sharon. shares of cable vision with a rare update of the provider here in the new york area and other regions of the country. up 4%. the company reported earnings this morning, fourth quarter earnings and they were earnings. cable rev

. >> what's interesting to note, too, want to go to sharon epperson with some eia inventory data. >> the number very interesting. last night from the industry we got a very big draw when it came to oil. today we've got really a very small build in terms of crude of about 300,000 barrels. that's well below the expectation of about 2.7 -- or about 2.5 million, let's call it, that a number of analysts had been looking for in te. in terms of the gasoline, we did have a build more in line with expectations of about 1.6 million. right now crude coming off a little bit. still, it is holding in there at $99. that smaller than expected bill quite likely because we've seen some import numbers. over the last few weeks, imports were growing. refinely utilization was also fairly flat. refinery utilization went up about 1% here. that's a huge move. so that may have helped in terms of the drawdown. what's very interesting, a lot of traders are also talking about the backdrop that we continue to have here that is likely to be supportive of oil prices of the saber rattling between iran and the u.s. w