american airlines and usair rays were looking at plans to merge. the merger may not happen. that is unless pilot groups from both carriers can agree on interim contract terms. pilots are concerned about seniority if and when those airlines merge as they determine compensation, work schedules the type of aircraft flown. if there were to join forces and would become the world's largest airline based on passenger traffic. next expert tips on avoiding car collisions. and just ahead what you may find in the produce aisle that could curb the effects of a hangover. and live music this midday from bryan white. he's on stage tomorrow night at seven, at the woodstock opera house. >> [music] hello, i'm alex trebek. for over 10 years now, i've been representing the colonial penn life insurance company and i'm here today to talk with some of their insurance representatives about their guaranteed acceptance life insurance. that was a really good point. hi, alex. hi, everyone. i thought it'd be interesting to hear from you what your customers say are some of the things they like best about

not just on the delta news but increased speculation that the usair a mulmr merger will happe the futures been some developments over the last few days. that's why you see the airline stocks bidding higher. >> one thing about this deal, you talk about a $360 million deal. a week ago people were talking about or last week talking about $1 billion plus. what's the difference between -- that is a huge difference between the ultimate deal? >> very huge difference. i think ultimately you look at singapore airlines, it needed to get out of this arrangement. it was not making money. it was struggling to figure out how it could tap into that heathrow market. they have those long hall flights from singapore. the traffic from there versus united states, delta sitting in the catbird seat here. >> thanks for that, phil. we've got to leave it there. coming up next, all signs pointing to a housing recovery but will the cliff bring that to a screeching halt. we'll ask chief economist and the man behind the biggest dirty money crackdown in history. ♪ [ male announcer ] you build a reputation by not brea

makes the fact that a lot of usair line stocks were at 1 1/2 year highs yesterday. >>> a u.s. federal jury has found martel in patent violations. carnegie mellon sued marvell in 2009. the company is now hopeful the judge will reverse the verdict, but says lit plan to appeal. marvell shares were down 15% in frankfurt today. you can see investors are not sure they'll be able to appeal that one. shareholders could face high losses, but the so-called frob does not specify just how much the equity would be diluted. it is expected to inject 18 billion euros into bfa before the end of the year. but, wow, down 13% there. when you're talking about 60 cents, it probably doesn't take too much. eu leaders recently agreed on a european banking union could would make the ecb the single supervisors for european banks. stephane pedrazzi caught up with the former president of the ecb, jean-claude trichet and asked if he was happy with the plan. i think as you'll remember, it was decided because after a certain moment, the idea that the fund could directly recapitalize the banks appears to be i

all the airlines to the upside except usair just turned negative.watch these, last week i did this, folks. look what i put up on tuesday. the main reasons we're going up on the airlines for a couple weeks, more consolidation is coming. booking trends have been stronger. there's been a minimal impact on business travel, jet knew prices have been dropping. all this has been happening for several weeks so the airline index has been moving to the upside. another strong sector today, again this may be a little bit on the fiscal cliff issue, are the big home builders here. ryland is up 5%. that's a nice move, standard pacific, hovnanian, toll brothers to the upside. these stocks have been strong through the year. they've been sideways since their earnings reports came out several weeks ago. i think you've got a little bit of optimism on the fiscal cliff. >> and we'll get more housing. >> the sentiment indicator is coming out tomorrow. some other numbers on wednesday. >> bob, thanks a lot. bob pisani. kayla tausche has the market flash. >> carl, we've been

. >> some people would say, buffett for example, never do it again after usair. >> i mean, look.ticize warren buffett but that opinion was formed before the industry transformed itself back in 2008. he's been burned on airlines and he's done. a lot of people, institutional biased against investing in airlines. >> i'm old enough to remember, you know, with my parents, we would try to go to fly in the '70s, and it was like $700 round trip. it's still cheaper than it was in the '70s. and the only other thing i can think of are computers. don't they need to charge more? >> the industry was deregulated by jimmy carter in 1978, right? so the government was setting the pricing back then when you were flying in the mid '70s. so the difference now, and deregulation worked. on an inflation adjusted basis airfares are down about 40% since 1978. >> unbelievable. >> it really is. it's the best deal, still. >> even on a nominal basis. >> even with all the hassles that you have to put up with. is it worth more? i mean it's hard to say what, you always talk about fairness, what's the fair price