of wellpoint, the big health insurer. her departure comes after a disappointing second quarter, and a cut in guidance from the company. wellpoint is in the process of taking over amerigroup, and analysts say that company's c.e.o. could be a potential replacement for braly. wellpoint stock surged on the news: up more than 7% to $61.80. tom, otherwise in the markets very, very slow, quiet day. either investors and traders are on the side line waiting for that jackson hole speech of ben bernanke, or they're just on vacation, so these are the summer doldrums. >> tom: it really was a day of individual stocks making individual news and individual moves as opposed to the broad market. >> tom: let's get going with tonight's "market focus." >> tom: flat and thin best describes stock trading over the past several sessions, including today. the market has not had much conviction as the summer winds down. it was another directionless, and narrow trading range with the s&p 500 ending with a fractional gain. the index hasn't made a clo

let's move on from facebook and look at health insurer wellpoint and soaring on a management shake-upandard and moody's says will not be a rating action. >> not an ego booster when your stock rises because you're forced out of the company and the ceo stepping down. some reports say she was basically fired. under investor pressure. and lead board director saying, quote, now's the time for a leadership change and looks like she was forced out. exactly. jim carlson, the current c eo of amerigroup seen as a likely ceo and if multiple analysts saying the move not likely to impact the purchase and wellpoint upgraded to outperform of market perform at bernstein with a 73 target. >> okay. let's move along and look at mining equipment maker joy global. i think it's terribly strange name for a mine equipment maker but let's look at this. it's a rosy picture for coal demand and therefore the stock is higher. >> yeah. you know, it's an interesting story. i know it's up your wheelhouse as an aussie because it's part of the australian economy. joy global shares turning around after being lower here

wellpoint, number two insurer in the nation. big gainer today.ber two best performing stock in the s&p 500 all day. their ceo, angela braley resigned after a lot of issues with the board and the stock performance year-to-date. the stock is it down 13%. in fact on this news you have an upgrade coming from sanford bern see-- bernstein, post-the resignation from ceo braley things are positive for the stock. it is terped as a positive. they have to figure out who will run the company permanently. back to you. tracy: lauren, you're awesome. see you in 15 minutes. ashley: market up 29 points. wall street has been hoping for more fed stimulus, we all know so will federal reserve chairman ben bernanke boost the hopes or crush them in his critical jackson hole speech? cumberland advisors david kotak talks about that next. tracy: sure does. look how the dollar is doing right now. the dollar is up against the euro. ashley: that's exactly right. tracy: i can read a chart. ashley: you've got it. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i cano anywher

wellpoint is an hmo, veterans demanding better results for years.broke after the bell yesterday, so the stock is what? >> surging, number two performer on the s&p 500 up more than 6 points-- 7% right now. and investors are liking the ceo resignation. stuart: that's extraordinary, a very big gain for a very big company just because the chief executive officer takes a hike. remarkable. lauren, thanks very much indeed. the dow is up 16 and i'm going to call it dead flat and please, remember, everybody, we want to hear from you, lots of contentious stuff on the show today. varney@foxbusiness.com, that's how you reach us. seven early movers, a computer glitch at united delayed hundreds of flights nationwide yesterday. the stock is barely moving and the big move came yesterday actually. and profits disappoint as the telecom services company. taking it on the chin. down 16%, as you just heard. wellpoint's chief braly, stepped down and the investors love it, the stock is up 6%. s&p places costco on review for a potential upgrade, not good enough. the stock

wellpoint agreed to by amerigroup corps for 4.6 billion last year. >> that's right.cigna agreed to buy health springs. we're seeing consolidation in the industry, right? at the end of the day does that mean less choice, higher costs for us at home? >> you have it exactly right, tracy. we tried to go after this, raising more competition to try to keep prices competitive but doesn't take much to figure out exactly what you said. when you start consolidating the market and you don't have much choice anymore and start creating monopolies, then they start to dictate price. so this is what they're doing by forming, you know, small, bigger insurance companies by some of them coming together. the insurancee companies themselves are out there acquiring either hospitals for doctors practices. for the average consumer watching today, while we're pushing them to get more choice, in reality in a few years they will have less choice and more costs. >> you mentioned paul ryan's plan to give vouchers for private carriers. do you think that will work? >> a study published in the "jou

insurer wellpoint rose 8% after its ceo resigned. >>> food packager sealed air jumped 12% on news thattet a former dow chemical exec will take over when its current ce o'retiro retires. >>> yelp jumped up. clothier joseph a. banks jumps up. zaels increased after a return to profitability. >>> and finally while many worry about facebook privacy and home computer security perhaps we should all be more concerned about work. a 2011 survey found over more than half of u.s. employers are monitoring computer use. >>> coming up, a grand slam, replacements remain and words from a fallen champion. >>> plus, the washington nationals' cocky rookie shows why he has a right to be. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> starting on friday isaac will bring beneficial rains to the drought areas. i'll tell you who comes up. you're watching "early today." . you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports unable to notch consecutive wins since mid-august, the yankees continue to lose their grip on first place yesterday with

insurer wellpoint rose 8% after its ceo resigned. >>> food packager sealed air jumped 12% on news thatdow chemical exec will take over when its current ceo retires. >>> yelp zoomed up 23% as investors held onto the stock despite the stock being its first day the buyers could sell. clothier joseph a. banks soored 14%. zaels gained over 5% after a return to profability. >>> and, finally, while many worry about facebook privacy and home computer security, perhaps we should all be more concerned about work. a 2011 survey found over more than half of u.s. employers are monitoring their employees' computer use. time to stop playing solitaire, everyone. >>> coming up, a grand slam, replacements remain and words from a fallen champion. >>> plus, the washington nationals' cocky rookie shows why he has a right to be. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> starting on friday isaac will actually bring some beneficial rains to the drought area. i'll tell you who coming up. you're watching "early today." it's time to change the way we clean. it's time to free ourselves from the

. >>> bertha cooms is keeping an eye on shares of wellpoint. >> the ceo abruptly resigning last night, under pressure from shareholders. she is out now. over at stifle, they think this will not inpact the deal with amer group. and i'm told that john canon who is temporarily the ceo, he doesn't want the job permanently, he's been integral in that deal. that should mean no bumps in the road with regard to that merger. >> thank you, bertha. dr. jay, how would you trade this? >> in particular i would trade wellpoint, i don't know the lady personally, but obviously she was not well liked by an awful lot of shareholders. and that was what everybody was looking for weeks. and months, was her departure. now that they have got it, the stock pops. it continues to pop quite frankly. this is probably an outsized pop today, could it pull back a little bit? sure. i'd like it from this point on because i think the sentiment has clearly changed about this particular name. >> i know the story pretty well, i've been say shareholder, one of my large positions, i sold three-quarters of my position today.

. >>> insurer wellpoint rose 8% after its ceo resigned.ood packager sealed air jumped after news a former dough chemical exec will take over. g yelp jumped up. >>> clothing chain joseph a. bank soared 14% after posting strong sales and revenue. >>> jewelry retailer zales gained over 5% after forecasting a return to profitability. >>> finally, many of you may worry about facebook privacy and home computer security. perhaps we should all be more concerned about work. there was this 2011 survey that found over half of u.s. employers are monitoring their employees' computer use. so you have been warned. >>> coming up, a grand slam replacement ref remains and word from a falling champion. a rookie shows why he has the right to be cocky. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. insuring that stuff must

. > >>> angela brayly resigned over wellpoint.ompany has taken big losses on medicare plans in california and recently cut its full year earnings forecast. wellpoint's board says it will look at internal and external candidates for replacement candidate. stock up today 1.4%. >>> john paulson is reassuring clients investors aren't fleeing his firm even though his funds have flagged. last week citigroup's private bank decided to stop investing with paulson. he says he's disappointed by the move but notes fund withdrawals haven't been unusually high. down nearly 13% this year. >>> nj services in new orleans have reported hurricane isaac topped a levee in the southeast part of the city. cnbc's senior correspondent scott cohen is in new orleans and joins us for more. it's going to be an interesting connection. where is this levee, how far away from the city is it? >> reporter: the levee is in plaquemine's parish. plaquemine's parish is southeast of here. it is not part of the new orleans $14.6 billion flood renovation/repair after hurr

the first one is wellpoint.n and the share price has been stuck all year, down 13%, nice here 8% gain because she's resigning immediately and good news for the board and investors in wellpoint. and sealed air, similar situation, their ceo is retiring, and an executive at dow chemical is coming in. and stocks overall. we're seeing flat markets, but a lot of individual stocks moving pretty big time right now. i want to point out the utilities. not only are they one of the weakest sectors, they're weakest for august, for the second quarter and for the entire year and as we talk about names like entergy and exelon, everything going on in the gulf. they're important, back to you. dennis: thank you, lauren. the time to make money with charles payne and following up on a nutritious retailer we'll call it. >> gnc. we know the company and they make the vitamins. 7,000 stores around the world and just absolutely amazing story and recently reported the earnings and blew them away the stocks, reverse head and shoulders form

let's go with david eihorn, he has taken new stakes in a number of health insurers including -- wellpointhe also added a nice stake in chipotle mexican grill, hess, and he dissolved his stakes in dell, hospital corp of america, and research in motion. greenlight increased holding ngs seagate and general motors, but decleared holdings in best buy, apple. one of the things is apparently a big reduction in his holding in hewitt-packard. >> okay, innovation in the heart land, can high-tech seeds rescue us from the worst drought in nearly half a century. jane wells joins us live from iowa. >> our top money pros will bring you up to speed when we come back. with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an accou

and wellpoint is a stand out.hey're up 7% on the news that the ceo is stepping down, and seres holders within discretion, let's take a look at oil, we have been talking about that lower after bearish inventory numbers. gasoline down for the second straight session. lastly, dollar index higher on the back of the seent economic news. pushing the yield on the ten year a little higher. >> mary, thank you. meantime, shares of yel p have been surge despite a share of new shares coming to market. now, yelp's surge stands in contract to other social media stock that's suffered big declines after their lock up period ended. so how do you play yelp? that's what we're talking about today. we have max wolf. what do you make of this, max? is it short covering or what's going on? >> i think we see two things here. a seller's strike and a short squeeze. the company did sell off fairly aggressively, and we didn't see a lot of shares made available. this isn't the story like we have seen on zynga, groupon, or facebook. it's better

health care, of course, led by wellpoint with some interesting moves there at the helm of that particularess. sue? >> you know, the market's picking up steam, simon. we were pretty flat for the morning as you well know. ahe of the beige book and the minutes, what are your thoughts heading closer to jackson hole? >> okay. first of all, traders blow the beige off with no hard number the look at but pay attention because the fed pays attention to it. look for anecdotes of broad-based strength of jobs and housing. as far as jackson hole, i'm not confident of bernanke to do anything because you have basically one bullet left in the chamber. not going to use it if 4th doesnhe doesn't have to. >> would he later on in the year? >> very possible. i think he'll want to see more employment reports. >> hang on. >> 1.7 -- >> simon? >> isn't europe the big wild card here? >> i think it is. >> depending on the ecb a week tomorrow massively depletes the market, you could be in a different situation within seven or eight days. why commit yourself now? >> exactly. you shouldn't now but in addition to that,

. >> one of the smartest people in the industry had to do this for wellpoint. i like the fact that aetna recognizes the future. a lot of people thought that maybe they didn't get it. they didn't get that obama care is the law of the lamb when justice roberts, who privately is telling people, listen, dint want to deny 50 million people health care. he didn't want to be the chief justice that took that law back. >> a couple other names to watch are sentine. they could possibly be out there. they are certainly talked about with targets with commercial insurers getting deeper into insurance. those are number names to watch. >> i hate to recommend when they don't have the fundamentals. >> there were huge drops, texas problem, i think, down 30% in one day. >> dogs won't eat that one. you can put any label on it. dogs won't eat it. >>> coming up, aetna chairman mark bertolini in his multibillion dollar deal to buy coventr coventry. more "squawk on the street" straight ahead. control. [ engine revs ] during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some o

and shell wants benefit manager wellpoint to oust the ceo. they want her out and the stock is up, i'm sorry, the stock is down i should say, get it on the screen if we can. ap reporting that lexmark is is going to cut 1700 jobs and stop making ink jet printers, and lexmark is up a little bit. and better than expected profit at the closing maker, and the company raises outlook again. and they make calvin klein and tommy hilfiger, up 6%, wall street journal reports that boeing is adding a third line to the dreamliner assembly and that's down a little. denny's ink add deal to open ten new restaurants in chile. not much reaction to that. watch maker no varto, up more than xhekted and it's up 17%. movado. and if mitt romney markets himself at the convention, how should he do it. play up the family man angle like the keds did? we'll ask another one of our markets pros next. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, we believe the more you know, the better you trade. so we have ongoing webinars and interactive learning, plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 l

i remember the old insurance companies that were fee-for-service but united health care and wellpointe are largely paid in our medical center by those big insurance companies for everything we do per click, per procedure, per operation. >> what about all of the capitation rates? >> capitation was much more in the '80s and '90s. i expect it's going to come back but going to come back differently because they're going to ask us to manage very p p populized medications. i'm arguing that medicare, which charges you three cents on the dollar for administrative costs is more efficient than insurance companies that, until the affordable care act, were getting 25 and 30 cents on the dollar. >> the other side of that says some people argue medicare is not a long-term viable business. >> right, nor is anything else in health care. >> but you got the fraud and waste and everything else that goes along with medicare that offsets the savings and administrative costs. >> there are pervasive costas cross the entire system no matter who pays. >> my question on "the journal" piece that talks about bot

you saw it earlier this year, wellpoint but ameriprise. the interesting part of this from what i understand is there's a real sense in wash that somehow the republicans are going to roll back obama care. that roll back may not happen the way some people talk about. >> we have peter orzon talking to us about medicare, paul ryan's plan, problems he has with paul ryan's plan. that gives us more to talk about coming up at 7:10 a.m. >> former barclays chief executive bob diamond lashed back at british lawmakers who claimed he gave highly selective evidence about the libor scandal in a report that was issued saturday very early saturday morning. lawmakers accused him of holding back information when they questioned diamond last month. diamond who resigned last month said he answered every question truthfully and candidly and he refuts any suggestion to the contrary. one other piece. mervin king looks like he is singularly responsible for the ouster of bob diamond. they said that the government should not be trying to manage, if you will, who is