Currency pits as the u. S. Dollar weakened on optimism over greek and chinese data. The move cement the euro to a sent the euro to a six week high. David lets talk copper for the moment, of course, thats really tied into world growth. It climb today a six week high. This is on signs that there may be some more demand coming for the metal from china and the u. S. As well. As both of our economies begin to churn a little more than expected. The top two copperconsuming countries. And following auto sales today, a number of derivatives plays hitting 52week highs. Cooper tire and rubber, genuine parts and carmax taking a hit in todays session. David all right. And we told you about that breaking news on jpmorgan whale trader, a 5 billion loss for the company. The senate has been investigating. Peter barnes with the latest on that investigation. Peter . Reporter well, thats right, david. The senate, a Senate Investigation subcommittee has questioned more than 80 people in its probe of 5. 8 billion in trading losses in may by jpmorgan chase, the london whale trading losses, according to two people familiar with the investigation. Now, according to the sources the people according to one of the sources, the people include current and former jpmorgan employees as you would expect. Now, reports of this probe first surfaced in the fall. Now we can report that investigators are casting a wide net in their review of those trades. Now, sources emphasize that all of this does not mean that the subcommittee will hold formal hearings on the banks trading losses o or that or that it will issue any scathing report on them. But if the subcommittee ends up doing either, it could be more headaches, problems for jpmorgan here in washington. Senator carl levin, one of wall streets toughest critics, criticized the bank in may when it announced the loss saying, quote it made a very big and complicated bet that now has gone very wrong. The Senators Office did not immediately respond to our requests for comment on details of his subcommittees probe, and the bank has declined to comment. But all of this could mean headaches for jamie dimon, the ceo of the bank. Just ask Goldman SachsCeo Lloyd Blankfein who left have you been ripped levin ripped at a hearing in 2010. Peter, this could be a big setback considering that the Company Announced it plans on buying back 3 billion worth of the companys sock stock in the new year. And you really wonder if this is going to be a step backwards even though we were starting to see signs of healing. What this means is this problem is not just going to go away for jpmorgan. It has this subcommittee looking at it up on capitol hill. Jamie dimon testified at two hearings about it in june, and, of course, the regulators, the sec, the cftc, they also continue to look into the matter, so it is not going away. David our own peter barnes has been looking into it, he will burst in at any particular moment. Thanks, peter. We also have news coming up on republican plans to avert the fiscal cliff. Were going to be talking about that, but first lets get to todays data download. Stocks unable to hold on to early gains with the dow and s p snapping a threesession winning streak. The blue chip average crossed the unchanged line 23 times before finally dipping into negativer territory. Materials and industrials were todays worst performers while telecom was the only one of the s p sectors to post any kind of gains. U. S. Construction spending seeing a nice bump in october, the Commerce Department reporting spending rose 1. 4 last month. This was well above what was expected. The analysts said it was going to bump. 5 . Private construction, spending rose 1. 6 while spending on public projects rose. 8 . And the u. S. Manufacturing sector slipping into contraction last month. We got good news bad news. Falling to its lowest level in nearly three and a half years. The ism Manufacturing Index cropped to 49. 5 in november from 53. 7 in october, a reading below 50 indicates contraction. Not necessarily recession, but contraction. Anty . Weve got Mark Sebastian in the pits of the c mentioner e, Charlie Smith telling us why going over the cliff doesnt mean automatic recession, and Michael Gibbs says its time to get out of technology. Lets start first with mark at the cme. Mark, dwi us some color from the Trading Floor as we hear all these fiscal talks continue. The market sells off, ends the day in the red, the dow below 13,000. Where do we stand as far as what markets believe are going to happen here at the end of the year . Well, i think what you saw today was hoo when we dont have a catalyst, these important Technical Levels matter. So we actually topped out right at the s p 500s 50day moving average, right around 1421. Then that ism data came out, and we eased off that. So this morning before the market, decent catalyst, Nice International economic news. Then we look like weve got a shot at breaking that 50day moving average. Negative catalyst comes out, we ease right off that technical level. So i think until we see some real, some real news either on fiscal cliff or possibly nonfarms on friday, were going to have a tough time breaking that 1421 level. On the downside, youre going to see some resistance at 1400 and at 1385. Thats kind of what i think happened today, is that, you know what . Traders looked at those moving averages, said we have no reason to really shoot higher, so theres more risk on the upside than the down david hey, mark, weve got some breaking news. I believe robert gray has it on oracle. Go ahead, robert. Yeah, david. Weve heard of accelerated and special dividends, this is something of all of this combined. Oracle, interestingly enough, theyre going to pay their second, third and Fourth Quarter dividends, accelerating all three quarters into one lump sum this calendar year before the proposed tax hikes would kick in for shareholders. That will be a total of 18 cents per share. Again, their fiscal second, third and Fourth Quarter dividends that would have been all been paid in calendar 2013 will be paid out on december 21st. The next opportunity for the board to consider and approve a dividend will be after the Earnings Results for the fist quarter disturb First Quarter, and that will be on august be 1st 31st. Again, theyre going to fast forward three quarters worth of dividends, pay them out to shareholders now against possible higher dividend taxes in the new year. Very interesting. David its taken at least threequarters of a year e and putting it into this year. Let me go to Mark Sebastian again. You have telegraphed that a lot of this thing was going to happen, but theres one stock that you very tantalizingly suggest may be about to do the same, and that is apple. Tell us about what youve heard that apple might be dealing with dividends this way. Absolutely. Well, you know, its interesting, david. In my hand i just ran a scan of stocks that have 10 or more of their value in cash, have a market cap above 10 billion and a pe below 20. And guess whos on that . Apple, microsoft, cisco, analog devices, dell and oracle. So i think were looking at a lot of these Major Players that have a ton of cash. Apple, for instance, has about 24 of its value in cash right now. I mean, if youre one of these companies sitting on this much cash ahead of whats going to be a massive increase in dividends at the end of the year, youre looking youre almost irresponsible not to declare some sort of special dividend. So im hearing hisser ifs that all of whispers that all of these major, major top ten market cap firms are looking at the same thing oracle just did. Now, how do you play that . Well, we still have major systemic risk. What you can do is buy these big, heavy caps where just on speculation they might declare a dividend are going to catch a little bit f rally and then collar it using s p 500 futures options. Look at like the 1375, 1450 collar. Thats a real play for december expiration, i think. All right. Mark sebastian live from the Trading Floor of the cme group, and wed better get to our market panel. David Charlie Smith, hes a principal and cio, and Michael Gibbs is Raymond James cohead of equity trading. Charlie, this news from oracle, have you heard anything as our cm etrader has about apple, that they might do the samesome. No, i really havent. I think this is just another indicator that tax law changes do change behavior, theres no doubt about it. David wait a minute, youre disagreeing with the great Warren Buffett . [laughter] its easy to do on this case. The evidence is pretty clear. David it seems clear this year, thats for damn sure. Yep. So, charlie, i mean, folks have to do something with their money. What do you expect to happen with the markets in the very near term as we approach the end of the year and after we have some sort of decision or no decision after the first of the year . Well, i think well get some sort of a decision on the cliff between the 18th and christmas. I guess president obama is scheduled to go to hawaii later in the month. I think he probably has a deadline before that date, but well get some sort of a decision. I have a feeling that were going to go over the cliff. Its not going to be the end of the world for the economy. I think business has been talking for years now, a couple years now about the need for certainty, and if this, the fact that we do go off the cliff provides a certain amount of certainty for business. And a 500 billion down payment on the deficit and the debt, i think, is actually a nice piece of certainty for business so that they can plan for 2013 and 2014. It will mean an exceedingly weak First Quarter next year, but i think throughout the Year Economic growth will get stronger. David well, but, michael, on the other hand, sometimes if im certain somebodys dead, that wont bring them back to life. Sometimes certainty is not necessarily good news. You say that the market is rather than on the negative side rather than on the positive side, and if we do go over the fiscal cliff, you see possibility of negative figures as low as 4 , right . Well, lets put all this in perspective. I think what i mentioned earlier was the fact that the s p is up about 6 since november 16th, and weve run into technical resistance with some the previous people mentioned, and i think the markets just in a period now where it could easily pull back a little bit. If you listen to the rhetoric coming out of washington, we had the everybody gave your hugs after the election, now theyre throwing out their plans. You had obama last week, you had the republicans counter that today. Theyre a mile apart david michael, hold on a second. Let me make sure that we get you straight here, because i think i might have misread your notes. Youre not saying were going to have a 4 contraction in the economy, you think a 4 pullout in the market . Oh, absolutely not. No, im not making a call like that on the economy. Im saying the market could back up that amount in a worst Case Scenario if it gets contentious in the next few weeks. But unlike the others, i do think they will come to an agreement. I do think right now youre seeing the negotiating process play out, and when you have this play out, the market thats already run up, i think we could go sideways and trade like we did today. Today wasnt disastrous. Volume was very light. Yeah, we went out on the lows, we had some negative Economic Data points, and i think thats what were in for until we get some clarity on what happens with the cliff. All right, charlie, folks have got to put their money to work somewhere, you think the back half of 2013 will be strong. What stocks do you like today that could prosper later on . Well, i think some of the Aerospace Names have, you know, air traffic continues to grow around the world. The fleets are old. The replacement cycle is going strong. Boeing Just Announced that theyre going to take their build rate on the 787 to ten aircraft a month by the end of next year, and theyre well on the way to that. So i think the aerospace area has some upside to it. I think in item come, you know, the wireless Growth Continues to be very good, and you get the bonus of a 4. 55 dividend yield there. So aerospace and telecom are areas we like. David gentlemen, thank you very much. Appreciate you coming here today. Thanks, guys. All right, well, the clock is ticking away to going over the fiscal cliff. Have we hit the end of the road on a compromise . Were live in washington next. David also, after retiring from blackrock, one of the most legendary investors is back at work. Bob doll is here to join us, find out why he thinks were going to get a deal on the fiscal cliff and why the tax increases and the cuts in the government wont be as severe as a lot of people are fearing. Sounds optimistic. And a new report showing more Small Businesses are putting a for sale sign on their doors. Whos selling, whos buying, and why . Its the internets largestsell, marketplace for buying and selling Small Businesses. [ male announcer ] this is steve. He loves risk. But whether heslimbing everest, scuba diving the Great Barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with peoplee trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesnt nick and dime him with hidden fees. So he can worry about other things, like what the market is doing and b ready, no matter what happens, which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense, from td ameritrade. Can i still ship a gift in time r christmas . Yeah, sure you ca great. Wheres yr gift . Uh. Whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Ship Fedex Express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. You know how painful heartburn can be. For fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. Only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that helps block stomach acid om splashing up relieving the pain quickly. Try fast, long sting gaviscon®. David well, shares of Health Management associates falling into the red today. Lets head back to Lauren Simonetti on the floor of the new york stock exchange, find out why. Whats going on, lauren . Yeah, Health Management associates closing at 7. 50, thats down more than 5. 5 on the 60 minutes report last night that doctors at hma faced pressure to admit patients from the emergency room to fill hospital beds. The hospital administrators say their numbers are in line with the broader industry, but investors dont seem to agree, and i suppose many think that further investigations are now ahead for this company. So hma, big loser. David who do you believe, the company or 60 minutes . Thank you, lauren, good to see you. Now we have a counter offer from the gop. David so what is being proposed now . Fox business rich edson joining us. By the way, im holding in my hand the counteroffer, and, again, they say were clear on specifics, but its hard to find the specifics in this stuff whether its the gop plan or the president s plan. Reporter right, david. Broad numbers here from the republicans. Theyve just countered the white house with a plan aides say saved 2. 2 trillion over the next decade and on top of the 1 trillion in cuts they agreed to last summer. This offer includes 800 billion in revenue increases through a tax overhaul. Republicans are still opposed to any tax rate increases. 900 billion in cuts to mandatory spending programs. Those programs include medicare, medicaid and social security. And 300 billion in cuts to other Government Spending. In the letter to the president , republicans write this is by no means an adequate longterm solution as resolving the longterm fiscal crisis will require fundamental entitlement reforms. Reporter before receiving that offer, the white house said it was looking for more specifics than republicans have just put on the table. Making vague promises about achieving revenue through capping deductions or closing loopholes simply doesnt add up to a serious proposal. We havent heard which deductions they would cap or which loopholes they would close. Reporter erskine bowles, the cochair of the president s Debt Commission and the former chief of staff of president bill clinton, floated a similar plan last year. In embracing it, republicans are claiming bipartisan ship, and its now up to the white house to respond. Back to you. Getting very interesting. Thank you very much, rich edson. David thanks, rich. Well, washington doesnt seem to be get withing close to a debt deal, but one top investor believes they actually will get it cone and are get done and are getting close to it. Bob doll joining us with his investing strategies. Former Lehman BrothersVice President larry mcconald whos now with new edge also believes a deal will be reached, but what will it be, and who ends up on the winning end . Find out what he thinks next. David while the president is tweeting his short answers about coming tax increases, wall streets holding its collective breath with the rest of the world for some kind of resolution to the fiscal stalemate in d. C. Trillions of dollars hang in the balance not just in government revenue, but also in nonallocated cash. Its just been sitting on the sidelines. That cash could either go towards investments in the u. S. Or, perhaps, to some tax haven like the cayman islands, fending on how these depending on how these negotiations end up. For an idea, we turn to larry mcdonald, senior director of new edge, a former Vice President at Lehman Brothers and author of this book, a colossal failure of common sense, which is a colossal hit all over the world. Its now in 20 languages or something, isnt it . I tell my wife, we sell a million books, well break even on our lehman stocks. [laughter] david all the focus is between the president and boehner, but youre looking at another negotiation thats happening between the Vice President and eric cantor. Tell us about that. Well, if you think about 2010, there was a ton of political damage done to the president and to the speaker. They failed, and i think really theyre trying to spread out the risk here. If you notice, the last ten days the Vice President s been mysteriously quiet. Keeping him quiets a little bit like trying to quiet the arab spring, i might say. David thats a good point. If the Vice President is quiet, somebodys sitting on him. So he is negotiate withing now with cantor . Are they coming up with deals that we havent seen in the press yet . They have accomplished a lot more than we think or know in the press. I think whats happening now is as we saw in europe last year, the most dangerous thing for the markets is when politicians start communicating through the press. And investors watchings right now are hope, theyre getting whip sawed left and white. But i think behind the scened theyve accomplished a lot more because the plans are miles apart. Behind the scenes, the inside game, theyre actually a lot closer. David so was tim geithner yesterday with his real,tworks hardcore plan the one issued on thursday night which essentially doubled the amount of tax increases from the private sector than they had talked about before is that just a subterfuge . The real stuff is very different in. Theyre all trying, david, to appease the base, right . Theyre really their collective caucuses. If you look at the republicans, i dont think the gop caucus, all the congressmen and senators in the house and senate, they wont really believe that boehner has got them a deal until around december 20th. In other words, this is all just posturing to really appease the bases. David but it all comes down to what the president wants here, consistent doesnt it . Hes the guy who said four years ago, look, i won the election, when he was talking to paul ryan. Because i won i get what i want. He had some twitters today, he was tweeting with people all over the country, and some very revealing answers, i think, even though tweets are pretty small. This is one from somebody named hunter. The president answered, theres not enough revenue unless you end charitable deductions, etc. Less revenue equals more cuts in education, etc. But what hes not mentioning, this is him from program in from the white house. Yeah. David he wants to both raise the rates and end deductions in order to get to that big amount, 1. 6 trillion over ten years. And thats the problem. My greatest fear is were going to have near term tax increases, and the cuts are going to be baked out over five to ten years. That doesnt work. Thats really whats david if we get those cuts at all. We have tons and tons of fresh data. Ive been going back and forth with people, europe weve got tons of fresh data on. Near term tax increases with longterm spending cuts equals pain. One of the things ive been talking about on my web site is when you raise taxes on a money supply, its the lowest since 1968. Weve never raised taxes, david, ever in a money supply that low. In other words, theres a big difference between the democrats love to say, oh, during the clinton years they raised taxes, it didnt hurt Economic Growth. The problem is if you raise taxes on an economy growing 1 , that is devastating. David okay, but the fact is that they lowered tax rates during the clinton area. They lowered the Capital Gains rates from 28 to 20 in 1997. That had an enormous impact on increasing product it, brought in twice the amount of revenue from Capital Gains they were getting with the higher rates. Actually, the president answered a question related to this. Mike says, mr. President , why wont keeping tax rates low across the board encourage hires and, therefore, more tax revenue . Now, listen to what the president answers. He says highend tax cuts do least for Economic Growth and cost almost 1 trillion. Extending middle class accounts boosts consumer demand and growth. But, in fact, as i said, when they lowered tax rates and Capital Gains, you had increased growth. Yeah. David so the concern is if you increase rates right now, you will cut down on the growth in the economy. Weve seen it in europe. Whenever they increase rates on the near term on slow growth economies, devastation david and they just did it in france. They just did it in spain. They just did it in the u. K. They did it in greece. They raised the addedvalue tax four times. Its devastating consumer spending, and were heading down the same road. David larry mcdonald, new edge senior director. Good to see you. Thanks for coming in, appreciate it. Sandy . Ford recalling nearly 90,000 vehicles. Did your car make the list . Weve got the details coming up. Plus, the chances of falling off the fiscal cliff, its not stopping one top money manager from buying. Bob doll, he sells us where hes putting his money to work now. Thats next. There is no massproduced human. Every humabeing is unique. And ther one store that recognizes it. The sleep number store. The only place in the world ull find the extraordinarily comfortable sleep number experience. An exclusive collection of innovations that totally individualize your sleep. Perfectly comfortable pillows that adjust to your size and shape. Dual warmth comforters. All designed around the sleep number bed a bed with dualair technology that allows you adjust to the support your body needs. Each of your bodies. In theame of human individuality the sleep number collelectn. Discover h our sleep professionals can individualize your sleep experience. 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Strikes at ports of los angeles and long beach continuing for a sixth day over a dispute. 10 of the 14 cargo terminals are closed. United airlines giving employees bonuses after reporting the best on time performance of this year last month. Buds buzz. That is todays speed read. David i think it was within the that period the bell was ringing. David deadline to reach a deal on the fiscal crisis is fast approaching. It is causing some investors to play it safe. We have a legendary money manager says it is time to take risk. The gridlock in d. C. Is not stopping him from putting money to work sandra we have bob doll. Senior portfolio strategist. We saw market selloff. There is so much uncertainty. People are putting money on the sidelines. They dont know what to do as we approach all the uncertainty by the end. Year. Will we get a decision from both parties by the end of the year . Look the uncertainty is certainly driving volatility in both directions. As you know, watching the last bunch of days. I think that continues. We dont know when were going to get a deal. Heres my view. Call me the cockeyed optimist. In my view this fiscal cliff is so big they almost have to do something. They do not want to preside over a major recession. Probability of recession goes up a lot if we do nothing. So i cant tell you who, when, how. It is going to be a matter maybe we get something done by december 20, 21. Maybe we go off the cliff the beginning of the year for a bit. We make some things retroactive. I dont think they will twiddle their thumbs now until we have a recession. David now, bob, some people say, companies dont make decisions based on taxes. Yes they do and they are right now with regards to dividends. Were seeing them push Dividend Payments out this year because they know taxes will go up on dividends next year. So people do change their behavior in business. Some of the sense and nonsense weve been hearing about tax policy adds up. Folks dont know what to make of it. Let me read some sensible stuff to you about tax policy and ask you to guess who said it. Principles for tax reform. It is very short. Lower tax rates. The tax system should be simplified and work for all americans with lower individual and Corporate Tax rates and fewer brackets. Now our viewers can see who said this, would you be surprised that was barack obama speaking back in 2011 . Lets replay that tape. I would like to hear that again. He is talking some sense. David what happened, bob . He is exactly the opposite today, saying that we need higher taxes. What happened in the course of a year . So what youre pointing out is uncertainty. I think people and businesses can deal with tax rates different from what they are. Where they cant deal is when we have no clue. Uncertainty is one of the worst things for markets and thats why, as you reported a few minutes ago, companies are sitting on this massive amount of cash. They just dont know what to do. We need to give them the rules. Sandra so bob, if we can all agree that taxes in some form are going to go up in the new year what do you do with your money . Are we going to all of a sudden see a reallocation of funds . Will people avoid the stock market and look elsewhere . What might that environment look like . I dont think thats what happens. Were not talking about taking tax rates from 35 to 50 or 60. Were talking a few percentage points. So its uncertainty, well do i get my deductions, do i pay a hayer rate . What is my mix and until then i sit on my hands. Bringing up the again the uncertainty factor. I think we get to a point where we get some sort of compromise around these things. Well get back through a muddle through economy. Not a great one but good enough one. David the president s comments of last year notwithstanding where he was for lowering rates. Rates go up in one way, shape or form. Rather than spending money in the stock market where people get taxed more they think of more direct investment . More vehicles that avoid the stock market entirely and get cash directly to the companies . That could happen and would be good for the economy which in a perverse way would be good for the stock market as well if you see my logic. Getting people to move off the dime. To say i dont need this hoard of cash frankly earning almost nothing. I need to put it to work some way, somehow. Give me a reason to do that and the rule back is often a good reason for people to say, oh, i figure out how to get the job done. David bob doll . Is nuveen working out for you. Were used to bob doll from blackrock. Thank you. David thank you very much for coming in. Bob doll from nuveen investments. Sandra the amount of Small Businesses being sold is rising. Really interesting story here. Is the thread of higher taxes down the road for these guys . Up next we have head of biz, buy, sell. Com a marketplace for businesses for sale. He will join us with his valuable insight on that. David there could be a dark side while special dividends are announced. Liz macdonald telling us what that is. Intriguing stuff. You dont want to miss that coming up. Want to try to crack it . Yeah, that the way to do it now we need a little bit re. [ male annncer ] at humana, we understand the value of quality time and personaattention. Which is why we are proud to partner with Health Care Professionals who understand the difference that quality time with our members can make. Thats a very nice cake ohohh [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] humana thanks the physicians, nurses, hospitals, pharmacists and other Health Professionals who helped us achieve the highest average star rating among National Medicare companies. And become the first and only National MedicareAdvantage Company to achieve a 5star rating for a medicare plan. Your effos result in the ality of care and service were able to provide. Which means Better Health outcomes. And more quality time to share with the ones who matter most. I love you, grandma [ male announcer ] humana. You know, one job or the other. The moment i could access the retirement plan, i just became firm about it you know, itsike it just hits you fast. You know, you start thinking about whats really importantere. Im robert gray with your fox business brief. Oracle is accelerating the payment of 3 4 worth of dividends of 18 cents a share. The largest shareholder Larry Ellison recused himself from the boards decision by will collect 200 million payout. By moving payments up to 2012, ellison will save 56. 5 million bucks in taxes. General motors is having production of chevy cruze in ohio because of supplier issue. The automaker wouldnt give specifics but only said they would restart production as quickly as possible. Automaker ford is revving up production in the First Quarter. Another down day for the markets. At the closing bell the dow is off, 59 call it 60 points. That is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper. Having you ship my gifts couldnt be easier. Well, having a ton of locations doesnt hurt. And a santa to boot [ chuckles ] right, baby. Oh, sir. That is a customer. Oh. Sorry about that. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Fedex offffice. David sales of smail businesses gaining momentum in the Third Quarter despite uncertainty over tax, Government Spending and regulation. Sandra our next guest says were in a buyers market for Small Businesses but that could all change after december 31st. Biz buy sell. Com group general manager mike handles man joins us from san francisco. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Sandra could you give me the idea the type of companies were talking about here . Your site lists 45,000 businesses for sale worldwide. What kind of businesses are these . We really refer to them as main street businesses. So the majority are made up of retail shops, restaurants, service businesses, smaller manufacturing businesses. Most are selling for underra million dollars. Sandra sorry, go ahead. David who is buying, mike . People that are buying are largely, you know, the unemployed workforce. Unemployment is still relatively high, about 8 . Often in our economy in past recessions when the Larger Companies cant pick up the slack to increase employment people turn to entrepreneurism and those are people that buy Small Business. Give us an idea, Small Business has been part of the national conversation, a big part of it as we talk about the tax hikes approaching at the end of the year and the fiscal cliff. What could this do to the sale of Small Businesses youre saying right now are doing quite well . Weve seen certaiily a slow and somewhat choppy recovery over the last two or so years since the big recession in 2008. The Small Business transaction market we track tends to move in the right direction. In q3 of 2012 Small Business transactions were up 2. 8 versus the prior year and were very concerned if we do hit the fiscal cliff with the decrease in Government Spending and increase in taxes that will dramatically affect the first the health of Small Business which in turn makes them much less sellable and will impact the transactions of Small Businesses. David we were talking about cap gains or business taxes likely to go up in 2013. That might work in favor of people thinking to buy Small Businesses. Folks skiddish about putting cash in the stock market might take over a Small Company and invest in the long term, actually own a company. Are you hopeful that might happen . Well i think the way we look at it is when Small Businesses is thriving that is when Small Businesses can change hands. 54 of the jobs in the our economy are private sector jobs in this economy are provided by Small Businesses. So when Small Businesses are thriving they can hire people, they can invest in the economy and also turn over and that turn over is what creates additional investment. When people who are unemployed decide to buy a Small Business they will offhen hire one or two people and invest in the business to get it to grow. That is the cycle that gets us out of the recession and into good economic times. Sandra when i hear it is a buyers market for Small Businesses what can i do as a Small Business to make myself look good as we head toward the end of the year . One of the challenge with selling a Small Business it takes time to prepare. We looked at the data recently to see if the pending fiscal cliff impacting the Small Business market is it creating a environment where people are looking to sell real quickly . Unfortunately you cant package up and sell a business in four to eight weeks. In general sakeses six to 12 months to prepare and sell a business. For people looking to buy it is a good market. Valuation a are down 20 where they were in 2008 fryer to the recession back then. So it is good time to buy. The challenge is in liquidity. There is not a lot of funding available for potential entrepreneurs to get access to capital to buy Small Businesses and what that means Current Business owners are often having to fund the transaction or provide financing to make the transaction to happen. That is favor of buyers as well. David estate tax is likely to go up as well. Might that mean sort of against your interest, but that mean a lot of kids expecting to get property from their parents whether a small farm, Small Business, whatever they were thinking about turning it over and selling it but because of hike in cap gains and estate tax they may decide to get into the business themselves instead of selling it . It is possible. As we look at the market at the end of this year over the last month or two we were surprised to see there wasnt a surge in people closing business transactions. We still we may see a little bit of that next four weeks, as deals close to closing decide to make the deal happen, so they pay assumedly lower taxes this year. The other thing we felt the pending increase in taxes seems to be outweighed by the fact that the broader economy is having a big factor. So i think people are more inclined to say, do i want to get out of this business now or not versus am i going to have to pay 5 greater share of capitalgains taxes next year or pay slightly higher tax rate. David bizbuysell. Com is the name of the company. Mike, thanks for coming in. Appreciate it, mike. Thank you. Sandra all the special dividends that keep getting announced thanks to the threat of the fiscal cliff could have a downside for companies and possibly the investors of those companies. Up next Liz Macdonald tells us what it is. David we knew it was coming. The white house released a response to the republican counteroffer that came out from the president on thursday. This is what the white house says. The republican letter released today does not meet the test of balance. The response goes on to say, quote, until the republicans in congress are willing to get serious about asking the wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates we will not achieve a significant balanced approach to reduce our deficit, our nation needs. It goes on. Sandra sounds like were still nowhere is what that says. David right in the middle. More and more companies are issuing special dividends in fear of potential tax hikes in the new year. Theyre borrowing lots of money to do it. That is the most shocking part. David it is incredible. The person knows all about this is fox businesss Liz Macdonald because she gets into these geeky details. Very geeky. What is really interesting about this the Credit Rating agencies, off to the side are downgrading these guys. Theyre saying wait a second, you cant swamp your Balance Sheet in debt to issue special dividends as early chris presents in advance of the tax hikes coming in the fiscal cliff. So we have booz allen already downgrade. Costco downgraded by fitch. Brown foreman was slapped around by s p with a downgrade. Carnival got hit with a credit negative rating from moodys so on and on and on. Heres the deal. Were seeing 173 Companies Issuing dividends. This is and indicator taxes could be go up. 2 1 2 times the rate we saw of Companies Issuing special dividends in 2010 when bush rates were threatened to be revoked back then including dividends. Interesting part of the story executives who championed fair share, americans should sacrifice like the cofounder of costco, jim senegal is getting a special dividend and saving 4 million in taxes along with the rest of the board. The board overall is saving eight million bucks on early 29 million payout. The 1 , corporate insiders who see the cash on the Balance Sheet, see the tax hikes coming are saying you know what . Give me the special dividend now so we dont have to pay increased tax. Costco hitting a alltime, 52week high today. Thats right. 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