we have jack bouroudjian and steve cortes. steve, there's two things going on.s dom reported, the retail story, thanksgiving, black friday, pretty mixed back and maybe more negative than positive. on the other hand, we had a very strong ism manufacturing, with an orders component that was very strong and an employment component that is very strong. is the economy going up or down? i think it's going to be more of the same which is a mixed bag. does the economy grow? yes. but grow gangbusters? no. gold has been dropping like a stone lately. gold is getting so cheap that i don't think that baby jesus would accept gold as one of the gifts from the magi because it's not worth anything. retailers don't have pricing power. i think we saw that over the thanksgiving weekend. was there a lot of traffic out there? absolutely. but santa demands a bargain this year. the stores don't have pricing power. and because of that -- that's a part of why i think gold and most commodities are trading so poorly lately. because i think retailers are in for a tough christmas. >> it's a

steve cortes, barry ritholtz, what you make of this?rom a broader perspective, i do not think it is something to be proud of that a federal prosecutor is 82-0. that kind of record belongs in north korea or iran. >> but he is doing his job. >> my point is federal prosecutors are overzealous and federal laws are so broad that they could ensnare most any sophisticated businessman if the government puts his guns -- it's guns on them. >> you do not believe it is insider trading? >> i do not know the specifics of this case, but in terms of , they have spent 10 years investigating him and it has turned into a one witchhunt. >> this was -- into a witchhunt. >> as was the only guy they could get. >> you wonder what it means going forward. >> understand the sac model. cohen is trading about half of the companies money, and then he has dozens of portfolio managers that are under tremendous pressure to perform. you have a bad month there, and you are out. you are out with a bad month. [closing bell] >> the market is up, the strongest rally we have