shares but valero is not alone in what we're seeing in the refining industry. it this is bellwether up 30% so far this year. look at western refining, up 75% year-to-date or holly frontier, up over 45% and marathon, up 45%. and we're looking at the refining index as well beating not only the energy sector but the broader s&p 500 by a significant margin. it really comes down to the price of the raw material, the oil itself and the big discount we're seeing in wti or u.s. oil prices versus the london-based brent crude. that spread has averaged 15 bucks for the year and near $17 a barrel today. that has a big part of what is happening here in the refining industry. the fact is refiners outside of the u.s. that process the brent crude are at a serious competitive disadvantage to the u.s. refiners. in the u.s., we see the refiners using the wti, west texas intermediate are truly cashing in and seeing big gains like we are seeing today in valero. >> thank you. >>> market flash with mary thompson. >> we're watching shares of the own other of appleby and i-hop and anno

. >> i like valero and it is an environment that is hard to build new refinery.est in a company that already has them. >> what do you think? >> oil is not expensive and dollar is cheap. they will go down in coming years. >> john, what do you have got? >> google. one thing on the internet that is indespencible. and they have not scratched the surface. n this is an empire and they have their seeds of their own destruction. it is where rome was. thank you for watching. number one business block continues with cheryl casone and cashin in. >> president pushing for tax hikings. 56 percent of the americans want the across the board cut in spending. i am cheryl casone, welcome to cashin' in. we have wayne rogers and johnathon and tracey burns and jay layfield. and christian is with us. wayne, who is right on this, the president or those who say we need to cut spending? >> i think the president is wrong in the following sense. i think the whole philosophy has not worked in three and half years. the government is spending and we haven't had a spur in the economy and unempl

. >> i like valero and it is an environment that is hard to build new refinery.est in a company that already has them. >> what do you think? >> oil is not expensive and dollar is cheap. they will go down in coming years. >> john, what do you have got? >> google. one thing on the internet that is indespencible. and they have not scratched the surface.

all of our valero employees are still on the job, still on the payroll. we consider these to be temporary halts in production and we expect those plants to be back up and running in the next couple of weeks and making ethanol. we've kept all the employees on the job. they are still being paid. we haven't laid anybody off. >> got it. bill day, thanks so much. according to the oil price information service the fourth quarter ethanol fetching a price of $2.51 a gallon. ♪ you can't wish your way onto the podium. ♪ you can't buy it or hope for it. ♪ it's not enough to dream about it. ♪ luck didn't get me to london. i swam here. ♪ i swam here. juicy brats grilled up on a thursday. the perfect use of the 7th inning stretch. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. >>> ron say

you can look at the refiners like valero and marathon, all of them on the upside today.hurt sing big industrial names. tied to the global economy. that's where we were talking earlier, general electric, most important name this week. i want to hear what they say about the global economy on friday because the china and asia slowdown as a concern. finally, not to bring up europe or getting anybody into a bad mood. deutsche bank hit a new low for the year today. that got a lot of commentary on the trading desk. talking about the biggest bank in the biggest and best performing economy in europe now. back to you. >> good point. are we on the cusp of a bear market? we may be if you follow the so-called ultimate death cross. >> that's from the 15-month moving average falls below the 200-month moving average. it is not a good thing for the bulls. the s&p 500 is now on the verge of hitting that mark and last time we have come this close was back in 1978. it is with that into context, japan suffered a death cross in 1988. and 14 years later we are still in the firm embrace of the

>> given his thoughts on crude, i'd be a buyer of valero. that's where i'm in. the refiner space.s a lot of talk about lng going a different rout there. i'm long both lng and vlo based on crude prices sfwl quickly, joe. i shortchanged you last time. >> quite all right. chevron, listen for the story in brazil next week. i agree with grasso. like at the refiners. that's the trade in 2012. wnr. >> coming up on "halftime," our traders are fast but they're not always right. we're learning from their mistakes, after the break. >>> barnes and noble soaring 30% in three months after a rough few years. is it officially back from the brink? our series continues as well when we come back. a passionate belief, and the foundation on which merrill lynch has been built. today, our financial advisors lead from a new position of strength. together with bank of america, they have access to more resources than ever before. a steadfast commitment to help you achieve your financial goals in life. that's the power of the right advisor. that's merrill lynch. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of

valero. >> they said we can't take it anymore. splitting up. >> humana missed medical losses here. what a shame. the best hmo. >> deutsche bank said it's time to sell. >> dendreon. sales that not good. >> masco. >> a really bad quarter. i didn't like the quarter, though. >> that water polo that carl talked to yes, he liked masco. >> seagate. >> did not see the strength that western digital saw. good dividends. don't write it off. >> humana, i didn't notice that it was down that sharply. again, we have wellpoint last week which was bad. >> and equity was good this morning. humana has been the most consistent one. i would love to talk to the ceo, it's a good company. this is competition for the first time in hmos. >> i don't know. but it's definitely something worth watching. of course something worth watching is "mad money." >> i'm talking a about the food chain, it's going to bring big inflation in the fall. i'm staying focused. corn does not quit. could corn go to 10 bucks? 10 bucks. this is a food chain. if we start burning for