up arrows. some of the names that have been helping the dow is proctor and gamble -- we continue to get earnings. back to you. dagen: thank you. connell: the second presidential debate in the books. the action was so much more contentious than maybe anything we have ever seen in a presidential debate. we loved every single thing. peter barnes on the scene. he is still out at hofstra university. he is joining us with more. peter: no question about it. they are calling it fight night in long island. president obama and governor romney going at it for 90 minutes. back and forth. stomping on each other. calling each other liars. every political trick in the book on policy and the politics of it. however, the president can't pardon me, mixing it up over taxes, jobs, healthcare, energy, even china investment in the retirement program. >> i did not get a chance when he was describing chinese investments and so forth -- >> hold on a second. >> mr. president, i am still speaking. [ talking over each other ] >> governor romney, if you can make it short. >> any investment i have made over the last couple years have been made over a blind trust. i understand they do include companies out of the united states. mr. president, have you looked at your pension? mr. president, have you looked at your pension? >> no, i have not. it is not as big as yours. i do not check it that often. >> let me give you advice, check your pension. >> we are getting way off topic. peter: hold of the candidates back on the campaign trail today in key states. obama and iowa. sorry about that slip their. it has been a long night. connell: no problem. give us some more analysis from last night. the president over and over again challenging mitt romney on the details of his economic plan. let's take a listen to a little bit of that and then we will talk about it. >> governor romney was a very successful investor. if somebody came to you, governor, with a plan that said, here, i want to spend seven or $8 trillion we will pay for it, but we cannot tell you until maybe after the election how we are going to do it, you would not have taken such a sketchy deal and neither should you the american people. the map does not add up. peter: the math does not add up. romney said, of course, it adds up. the president scored some points there in the way he framed his argument last night as opposed to the first debate. >> there is no question that president obama did better. it was kind of a low bar after the first debate. he kind of exceeded expectations. connell: let's talk specifically about the economic plans. what the president is talking about there is that governors tax plan. i think he may have exaggerated a little bit in terms of the dollar amount. the point about the loopholes and how it will be paid for is still there. governor romney has not answered the question yet in specifics. here is how i am going to pay for it. here are the loopholes i am going to take out. >> the challenges he has because of the political season. the obama campaign will jump on him with both feet. his concept, though, is solid. that is we will reduce the tax rates. make it a more business friendly environment here in america throughout the country. he has talked about reducing the tax rates and he said very specifically, the rich, the wealthy people, still pay the same portion of the tax revenue they are paying today will close loopholes, which is, in fact, a tax increase. there are loopholes that should be close. why are we subsidizing corn and having a bigger carbon footprint? there are a number out there that ought to be looked at as far as closing loopholes, protect the middle class by helping them retain their money. empower small business. that is the backbone of our economy. have them create more jobs. connell: governor romney was the most effective last night when he went piece by piece on how obama had failed with his issues. i know the romney campaign has already come out with a 32nd ad on that, i think it was 30 seconds. here is where you failed. the next debate -- president obama you may say have the upper hand on that. next week, does it hurt romney that they are changing the topic away from a potential weakness for obama to form policy? >> i think there is a lot of concern about the current administration's foreign-policy. it does not seem to be working well. president obama went on and apologized around the country. we need to walk softly but carry a big stick. there is no question that he has not come forward, at least in a for strike manner, when he sent out susan rice and talks in terms of youtube. this is a spontaneous uprising here. connell: couldn't he have done last night on the libyan discussion. >> i think he could have. again, if you look at the moderator, she kept interjecting herself into this thing. [ talking over each other ] connell: she gave a chance there at the end. it did take two weeks. he could have jumped on that more. >> again, i think there is a lot of confusion on the timing. for that complaint about who is watching the clock, president obama gets an additional three minutes. he had four minutes more in the first debate. i just want some fairness. some fair and balanced in the debate. i think governor romney could have done better. i think all of us are talking about it today. i think we will find the current administration's foreign-policy is not working very well. connell: they should have 90 minutes at the next debate. the whole deal will be about foreign policy. terrific to have you on today. thank you very much. >> thank you. great to be with you before googles ceo, larry page, speaking for the first time in public for the first time in months. he did not go into detail about his absence. they said he had lost his voice and would not be able to speak publicly. they declined to go any further with it. best buy meantime jumping into the very crowded tablet wars with one of its own. planning on selling and android -based tablet. it cost $239-$259. it will hit shelves at best buy november 11. when it comes to lowering cholesterol, americans seem to be getting the message. a new study finds cholesterol levels dropping an average of ten points in the last two decades. it is contributed to cholesterol lowering medication. the levels are down and authors note that american saturated fat consumption has not declined in 22 years and progress in boosting physical activity remains slow. you take these drugs, it keeps her cholesterol from going up and you eat like a hawk. eat whatever you want. connell: we have covered this in detail before. this whole issue that we have in the country. dagen: obesity. high cholesterol. maybe if your cholesterol is high and you are worried about yourself, you would eat less. connell: words by dagen mcdowell this morning. bank of america squeaking by. sports city still reeling from a management shakeup. dagen: we could have a tight in the race for the white house. a president romney would be working with vice president joe biden. and dogs and cats are in hellmac just waiting. connell: how is your cholesterol? ♪ connell: markets now. heading back to the cold. nicole: taking a look at bk. not too far off from one year highs as well. let take a look at bank of new york mellon has a comment with their numbers. fees really helped the bank along here. they reported an 11% rise in their third-quarter earnings. they did beat analyst expectations. the climate has been tough. they did see the profit margin pension by historically low interest rates. that is something they have noted. certainly a great day for bank of banc of new york mellon. dagen: you have citigroup in the middle of an executive shakeup. what is going on with the financials? hey, anton. great to see you. let's start with bank of america. if you look at their business, in terms of loan origination, deposits, it seems to be on the right track. >> absolutely. bank of america is on the right track. they are building capital, cutting costs, they have a very strong mortgage engine. i think they have held margin in line. the biggest thing for bank of america, the biggest worry has been their balance sheets. how much capital they have or they do not have. dagen: you look at the stock, though, 71% gain so far this year, anton. are all the good things going on already factored into it? >> i think it was artificially low last year. it may have been around five dollars in the month of december. there was a lot of noise. a lot of mortgage litigation risk. you hopefully have a company that will be able to start buying stock back. i think they have made it through the valley of death. i think this company is slowly healing. dagen: in terms of healing, there is a lot of healing that needs to be done with citigroup. do you like the company and the new management? >> i knew vikram pandit and i like him. i do not know michael, but he comes pretty well recommended good the regulators like him and i think that is very important here. the regulators did not appear to like vikram pandit. i think you are stronger than any regulator in the room and i think that intimidated them. he works well with the board and the regulators. he plays nice. will allow the company to return capital. i think that is kind of a game here. vikram pandit really did a lot of stuff. he shrunk the balance sheets. dagen: anton, can you give me a couple word answer of the areas of financials where your regional banks, your big banks, the few investment banks that are left, which do you like right now? >> you have to like that investment banks. there is some good volume out there. fixed income and underwriting. we would like to see equity pick up a little bit. the markets are stronger. morgan stanley, goldman sachs, and obviously the companies that have capital markets within their balance sheets. bank of america has had one of the weaker numbers. morgan and strong, citigroup and strong. dagen: we will see you soon. you are welcome back anytime. connell: the ticket that gets into the white house. a romney biden white house is a possibility. dagen: lance armstrong gone from his own -- look at the world currencies. hey, the pound. connell: what is wrong with you? ♪ >> at 25 minute past the hour, i have your fox news minute. a new judge gets to hear how close lawyers are to get ready to go to court in the trayvon margin case. the former judge made remarks about zimmerman. nike terminating its contract with lance armstrong. the apparel giant said it is due to unsurmountable evidence that armstrong participated in doping. it must not terminate its contract with him. the news coming after armstrong stepped down earlier today as chairman of the restaurant charity. drought, cold and hail causing the worst harvest in century. it is expected to slump by 20% from last year. the wine quality will be better, but the prices will go up. that is your fox news minute. when i get connell and dagen a glass of wine will we all go out, it will cost me a pretty penny. connell: when are we all going out again? >> anytime. dagen: the last time we were together, it was free. connell: thank you. dagen: you look amazing, by the way. election day just a few weeks away. though polls revealing it is close. edson joins us now from d.c. to talk about this. rich: how about president romney and vice president biden. it could happen and there are several realistic election scenarios where it would happen. florida, ohio, virginia, colorado still up for grabs. if they fall into one of a handful of combinations, president obama would have 269 electoral votes and governor romney would have the same. the decision on the next president falls to the newly arrived elected representative. the romney biden administration could begin in late january. one constitutional law professor says this election is the closest he has seen where it is possible. >> i think an electoral tie is more likely than any time i can ever remember. it will be very interesting. rich: a lot has to go right or wrong for the romney biden administration. back to you. connell: it is not likely have something important we need to work on or anything. thank you, rich. dagen: walt mossberg coming up to tell you about windows eight. it just sounds wacky and we cannot wait for walt. connell: if that is not enough, the judge is coming on. calling into question the social security program in this country. that is a big discussion, if i ever heard one. speaking of markets now, here are your winners on the s&p 500. ♪ nicole: i am nicole petallides live on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the adapter then negative territory. let's take a closer look at intel in particular. it has been weighing on the dow. cautious for the fourth quarter. the profit dropped 14% in the third quarter. with an outlook that is a tough one, we are seeing the stock, under pressure. the stock is that a new low. it is a 52 week low. pc demand has certainly been under pressure. back to you. connell: thank you. nicole petallides. dagen: the biggest face lift in 17 years. not connell. microsoft and windows. specifically, windows eight and the new operating system. connell: walt mossberg joins us now. all things digital. live from d.c. today. dagen: speaking of facelifts -- connell: she is sitting at the computer just typing and smiling @hat she changed the script. >> it is a faith left. who does not like facelifts? look, here is the deal, windows has been around for as long as any of us can remember. it has kind of fallen out of the entire conversation the last five or six years. they did not have a tablet operating system. they did have a phone operating system, but it is separate. they had a choice. what they decided to do which was kind of novel was to make all of windows work for any kind of device. they put a tablet touch oriented slick, i think, very nice front end on windows. but, the downside is, they now have two different user interfaces inside of windows. people who are used to windows, seeing the desktop in the normal apps, will have to learn a new way to use it. dagen: walt, it is a little confusing. >> yes. they do not like it at microsoft when i have pointed that out. they tend to think of it as a short learning curve that people get over and they may well be right. four a while, this will be confusing. the desktop does not come up when you start windows eight. this new slick sliding tile interface comes up. the desktop is launched like and app. you click on anything then the desktop comes up and then you can run your old apps. there is another twist. some of the windows computers running windows eight will let you able to run your old apps on the desktop. those computers work on a different chip. they are calling that windows rt which is really windows eight running on a different chip. i want to stress, i think the new design is very well done. connell: okay. on balance, do you think the strategy is a smart one? apple and microsoft are going about this in different ways. you have different operating systems for different devices. this is all in one, is that a good strategy, do you think? >> i think it is a good strategy in the sense that they are able to give you things like microsoft office, full-blown microsoft office even on a tablet. that is something that apple and android cannot do. on the other hand, generally intact, if you try to do everything at once, you sometimes find you lose flexibility. microsoft thinks it has designed this and they may well be right in a way that it won't have that penalty. i think only time will tell. dagen: walt, great to see you, as always. we will see you next week. while mossberg. >> neither of you need a facelift. connell: neither do you. dagen: you only need to have them done every 15 years. i still have eight years left. connell: the judge comes up next. why he thinks fdr had something more in mind than just helping retirees. dagen: and the wealthiest people of all time. warren buffett is listed with the last emperor of russia. the stock market surged triple digit yesterday. the dow 179 on the ten year period. ♪ ♪ >> i am lori rothman with your fox business brief. the largest group of new flight attendants. the airline plans to bring on more than 1500 new flight attendants and the next year. acer -- finding that one out of three homeowners now expect their adult children or aging parents to move in with them. multi generational housing is at the highest level since the 1950s. a failed green energy company has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. it was awarded a total -- aside from the late factory and batteries is that americans are not buying electric cars. that is the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪ connell: date discussion on social security and the increase of cost to living. dagen: our next guest is deathly not holding back when it comes to his opinions. judge andrew napolitano. people get very upset. >> the government has built a dependent on itself for those receiving social security, medicare or medicaid. when fdr and the democrats first came up with the idea of social security, fdr promised we will be holding this money for you. it is a nest and we will give it back to you. in their argument they said to the court, it is not the people's money, it is the government money and it does not have to give it back. the supreme court agreed with them. there is no contract between social security contributors which is the three of us and everyone who is watching us and works and social security recipients. that money is given by the political will of congress, not by any legal capability to do so. the money deducted from our pay here every week is that immediately. the money paid to our parents and grandparents is far. if that is not a ponzi scheme, i do not know what is. connell: you are making an argument. basically that this whole thing is a ponzi scheme. >> yes, yes it is. political pressure from social security recipients. they can say, it will automatically kick in. it will kick in for inflation. when one plus two plus three is added up, some calculation. connell: what is the purpose of making that argument now? anyone who talks about social security, should we raise the entire retirement age? >> very few people are saying that. paul ryan has suggested getting rid of it or reducing it talks not for current recipients of it, but for people like us who are not yet recipients of social security. people who are, forgive me, dagen, younger than the three of us, would be given a lot of options at the beginning of their work years. among those options would be to keep the money yourself and to care for your cell. the reason congressman paul ryan has advanced this, he knows and acknowledged that it is a ponzi scheme. it will eventually go bankrupt. at some point, it will not be able to make ends meet. dagen: we are talking about social security. very easy to fix our security. it is just money. it has nothing to do with anybody's health. >> a budget should, you should spend just what you take in. he is one of the few politicians in the country willing to address the fact that you are right, and just one generation from now, they will not be able to make and meet. they will not be able to borrow enough money to make the obligations. the time to address that is now before it is too late. dagen: easy fix for social security and then you try to take on medicare and you take on life and death issues. connell: thank you, judge. thank you for coming on. taking one step at a time. back to nicole petallides now. nicole: we are taking a look at harry winston diamond. the stock is up about 7% right now. certainly a winner. we are looking at harry winston on the move today because they are looking to sell their watch and jewelry business and concentrate more on their mining business. it is up nearly a dollar 14. the analysts are talking about the fact that they are looking to sell these assets. i was looking further into the notes and findings on them, they started as a small jeweler back here in new york. diamonds are a girls best friend. there you have it. one of the people they are looking at is lbm h. connell: thank you so much. dagen: the presidential debate last night. let's take a look at how commodities are reacting. connell: jeff flock is live at the cme today. jeff: also commodities are up. oil is up, gold is up, silver is up, obama must have won the debate? >> the way it is supposed to work is if romney one, it goes up, if obama won, it goes down. this is terrific. it is in other piece of the puzzle that shows that this economy is growing. it will come to, it will take a well. jeff: you think it does not matter who gets elected, the economy is poised to rebound. >> i do. the problem in the question is, will whoever take stewardship and continue that? there will be some compromise with the obama administration and romney administration in order for it to keep going. jeff: obama could screw it up, romney would likely not screw it up. >> yes, i do believe that is the case. he could if he does not start compromising. there is a possibility that the far right gets in there. i think there will be compromise on both side this time. jeff: i do not care who gets elected, i do not care who is doing what, straighten this thing out. connell: jeff flock. he gets to the bottom of it, as always. dagen: the hits keep coming for plant armstrong. we will give you the details. connell: the winners today over on the nasdaq. green mountain coffee. the two of us have had enough coffee. whatever it takes. we will be right back. there are some losers two.he ♪ th us with real advice, for real goals. the us bank wealth management advisor can help you. every step of the way. from big steps, to little steps. since 1863 we've helped guide our clients, so they can take the steps to help grow, preserve, and pass along their wealth. so their footsteps can help the next generation find their own path. all of us serving you. us bank dagen: celebrity net worth taking a look at the world richest people of all time. warren buffett and bill gates did make the list, but they are nowhere near the top five. number five, the last emperor of russia. andrew carnegie and rockefeller came in number four and number three. european banking dynasty the rothchild family came in second. and number one, king -- the first was worth $400 billion. connell: it was worth every penny. the tigers had a victory over the yankees last night. they lead the series now. they will play game four and detroit tonight. not in a good position, lance armstrong. nike drops the former tour de france champion. they said he participated in doping and misled the company for more than a decade. radioshack also severing ties. he also says he is dropping down as chairman of live strong. he will still be on the board, though. dagen: at the report came out a week ago. armstrong still denies that he ever used them. another big day for quarterly earnings. bank of america out this morning. connell: let's get the trade. sandra smith has it for you. sandra: not helping to bring the dow into positive territory. all the major averages are in the green. you will see where bank of america falls. it did beat expectations and reported an unexpected profit. the stock hitting a slight bump of about two pennies. what is important, if you are an investor in the stock and you have been owning it for a while, it is important to look where bank of america stock has come. it has come a long ways. the average rating is a hold with a price target of 9.51. bank of america shares topping out at this point. they beat expectations. the one-time charge that they made, 1.6 the gonzales, there is some hope that they will be able to continue this performance. bank of new york, shares up 5% today. analysts really liking the fact that profits were up 11%. they increased their assets under anna schmidt. they did note that profits have been pinched. they say it will go back up 25.50. next hour, same time, i will have a look at ebay and american express. they are reporting after the bell tonight. connell: okay. a lot of green right there, sandra. thank you very much, sandra smith. they will talk a lot more about the debate coming up. dagen: it was awesome. connell: sometimes you fade off in these debates. i did not see that. dagen: i was pacing like i was watching college basketball. connell: it is not even that far off. it is kind of like a sport. far more important. certainly more important than fordham. homebuilders through the roof. there they go. and the green. dagen: cheryl and dennis are up with a housing analyst. you do not want to miss that. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. connell: "markets now" with a lot going on. we talked about the debates and the lance armstrong story is one that a lot of people talking about it. dagen: i'm fascinated with it. cheryl: what does connell do for fun? kids soccer? connell: i do enjoy soccer. cheryl: it is hard to be cool, we struggled how cool we are. homebuilder stocks through the roof today. housing construction at a four-year high. but we have an analyst who says don't buy these stocks, she just downgraded two big names. they face off as the candidates take gloves off in round two of the debate. the congressman taking on repetitive, and we'll "cavuto" joins us on where we go from here. cheryl: and we were just talking about this at the fallout continues for lance armstrong. nike has just fired the cyclist saying he misled the company for over 10 years. cannot believe it. dennis: top of the hour, stocks every 15 minutes, nicole petallides on the new york stock exchange. nicole: giving it a go, but with ibm, it will be a tough day. the dallas down seven points, and i will get to ibm in a moment. the numbers weighing on the dow, 76 negative dow points come from ibm alone. right now the dow is down seven points. the s&p and nasdaq squeezing out gains up a quarter of 1%, s&p 500 at 1460, so pushing the upper end of the range, up over five points right now. now let's get to ibm as i said worth 76 negative dow points. they came out with their numbers, revenue drops. we talk about business spending. businesses have been cutting back on their spending and ibm is feeling the brunt of that. the stock is down over 4.5% right now. ibm 201.21. cheryl: thank you very much. i want everybody to take a look at the homebuilder sector. a lot of these stocks are jumping. after new numbers came out showing home construction last month hit the highest level in over four years, but we are joined by an analyst who said now is not the time to buy these stocks. he just downgraded some stocks. these are incredibly strong performers, what is going on? >> that is why we downgrade, they anticipate a move in the fundamentals let's not forget these stocks are up more than double in the past year. we are not a bearish on housing, we just think the big move has already happened. cheryl: kb homes, 129%. at the same time to keep on getting the data from the commerce department showing stronger construction starts. why wouldn't that continue. >> yea year-over-year growth wil continue. you will see it start to accelerate a little bit. over the long-term, the key predictor is the growth rate. the fall is when we started to see this move up. we don't see anything else coming up to take its place like growth and margins, really boost the stock further. for the next six months or so we could see it fly snout. cheryl: you had a broker research, what are they saying in the front lines across the country when it comes to housing? 25% of brokers say third-quarter traffic was heavier. that was actual positive saying they had deals that were canceled. credit is still the real issue. >> it actually went up from last quarter, we asked how they cancel. cheryl: i have to say that piece of data really surprised me. >> i don't think it is really getting much better. i don't think it is easing at at all. we are seeing is basically flat, not getting much better and we need that in 22013 if you want to buy these stocks, you need that. cheryl: 64% of brokers say homes closed below the listing price. 54%, the prices will still be down. >> that was new data. cheryl: thank you very much. we will be watching. dennis: a contentious debate last night right here, take a look from a president obama, mitt romney going after each other on jobs. romney: we have not made the progress we need to make to put people back to work. that's why i put out a five point plan that gets america 12 million new jobs in four years and rising take home pay. obama: governor romney doesn't have a five point plan, he has a one point plan. and that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. dennis: two members of congress join us with who won. congresswoman and democrat representative. did obama win this debate last night simply by not doing as horribly as he did in the first one? >> that is an interesting way to put the question, but he did win the debate. he really did. most analysis would give that scorecard. really you get down to the issues, he is strong on the issues. frankly romney's five-point plan is a repeat of what got us into trouble in the 2000-2008 at time. dennis: representative blocks, do you think romney came close to being too aggressive with the president? >> he came up with what he needed to do, so the president is a leader. the independence and the decided said governor romney made the debate. dennis: what was your moment for the best obama victory? >> certainly the closing. in what is now called the rose garden or the libya situation about the facts that the president said it was a terrorist attack the day after the attack. those are two very important points. dennis: i heard him say no terror attack, blah blah blah. what was your favorite exchange that was good for your guy? >> my favorite one was when the governor prosecuted president obama on his record. we know his record, to look back to his record in what he promised, that is not what he brought. 23 million americans struggling for unemployment, we know the price of gas has doubled, so if you look at the broken promises and instilled policies, the governor showed how he could be a leader. balance the budget, work with a democrat legislature, had the number one education in the entire country in his state, he also brought the olympics back from the deficit surplus. just all those things he has done he showed he is a proven leader. dennis: go ahead. >> massachusetts had the second slowest growth in the nation. you look at the gas price, that is the month of december were the great crash was well underway. you go back nine months before that and gasoline over $3 per gallon throughout the united states. the fact of the matter is we have had 32 straight months of private-sector job growth and we were in one very deep hole when this president came into office. he has turned it around, we're making progress. dennis: we heard obama talk about the top 1%, but he has been saying this for a year and is down in the polls rather than up. do you think that had a good appeal to the crowd last night? >> i think again what we're doing is seeing the destruction from the truth. he talked about millionaires and billionaires but his plan is to raise taxes on small businesses. $200,000 as an individual or $250,000 as a couple. we know this hits the small business sector of the hardest and it is a loss of 700,000 jobs with this plan. it is not selling very well. dennis: do you think obama did a good enough job not to make us trust this new guy? >> he did very well. 97%, 98% of small businesses will not see a tax increase, certainly some of those happen to be the wall street venture funds. they will get a tax increase and frankly already have one. dennis: they're facing a major tax increase is a tax their games rather than the kerry. 25% of all the workers of this country work for 2% of small businesses that will see a tax increase. i appreciate you both being here with us. best of luck, appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. cheryl: want to let everybody know at home ill "cavuto" anchor the coverage of the big debate and will be here in about 20 minutes with his insight. what is next? dennis: plus, lance armstrong gone from his own foundation, fired from nike and radioshack. and let's take a look at oil. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. the years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. i'i invest in what i know.r. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sure. but, there's no reward without it. i want to be prepared for the long haul. i see a world bursting with opportunities. india, china, brazil, ishares, small-caps, large-caps, ishares. industrials. low cost. every dollar counts. ishares. income. dividends. bonds. i like bonds. ishares. commodities. diversification. choices. my own ideas. ishares. i want to use the same stuff the big guys use. ishares. 8 out of 10 large, professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. introducing the ishares core, etfs for the heart of your portfolio. tax efficient and low cost building blocks to help you keep more of what you earn. call your advisor. visit ishares.com. ishares. ishares. yeah, ishares. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. cheryl: it was one of the highlights in last nights debate. the drilling for oil controversy turned into a heated exchange. who is right? let's make donald is here with the bottom line. >> the debate moderator basically asked the president is this the intent of the department of energy secretary to keep gas prices high in order to encourage green energy alternatives. we see gas prices right now trending at about $3.75 or gallon. up from $1.84 in 2009. this is where the debate got pretty intense and heated. here is governor romney the president. speak with increase oil production highest level. as a matter of fact, oil production is down 14% >> here is the data. you can see, oil permits have been cut under the administration. down from 2007, down 33% since 2009. yes, oil and gas production are up, but it is a permit issue at issue. permits to explore on federal land. the response was use it or lose it is the issue, oil companies have the permit, and now the debate on the oil industry sector is what do you call it how do you define inactive because it takes anywhere from five to 10 years to get an oil well up and running. are you calling them and under what definition. back to you, cheryl. cheryl: governor romney made his point, the facts are showing it. thank you very much. dennis: let's get to the stock now. you have apollo group. nicole: apollo group is weighing heavily on the s&p 500, the biggest decline of the day. down 19% on this, given the weak outlook for 2013. we talked about the fact they are for-profit college and the largest one of its kind. we are cutting jobs, shutting down 25 campuses, they are not seeing the enrollment a i've missed the profit. looking at levels we have not seen since the 2001 for this company and is taken on the other names as well. devry, other colleges, all the names in that group are lower. the s&p and the nasdaq are higher, the nasdaq down 11 points thanks to ibm. dennis: thank you, nicole. the dow is a mere flesh wound right now. the most famous cyclist in racing has taken a final fall from grace. nike has terminated contracts, disgraced user with the performance-enhancing drug. they keep posting a blunt statement this morning saying due to seemingly unsurmountable evidence lance armstrong but stated in doping and misled me keep for more than a decade, it is with great sadness we have committed our contract with him. radioshack doing the same thing this morning. armstrong denied the charges for years that an investigation at which hunt and sponsors have stayed with him, but a detailed report out this month said armstrong was the ringleader and had testimony from 11 teammates saying they had used banned drugs. cheryl: i think i feel worse for the u.s. postal service. it is a good group. the dividend tax hikes striking fear in the hearts of investors and corporations alike. pse and she ceo joining us next. dennis: first, how the world can see is faring with the u.s. dollar. with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see wh 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 account. >> 22 minutes past the hour, this is your fox news minute. u.s. officials confirming a cia operative was one of the two americans killed in the bombing in afghanistan. attack happened saturday and we're learning that is a 24-year-old specialist. afghan officials are denying it. french president providing heat for supplying the government at war with the citizens in syria. saying today only the u.n. security council can restrict the sale of russian arms abroad. his comments appear to be in response to the criticism he's getting now. and where is most responsiv expe neighborhood to live? the upper east side of manhattan. 10065. i showed alpine, new jersey to grab the top spot. the median asking price for a home in a section of new york city north of $6 million. maybe cheryl will invite us over to see her place. cheryl: i just blew six windows only place a couple weeks ago, you can come over, absolutely. yeah, right. thank you very much. here's what is rolling in washington. in 75 days we will hit the fiscal cliff and among the very real threats to investors, a tax hike on dividends. january 1 dividend tax rate could jump from 50% to over 43%. new jersey energy company paid out a dividend for 105 years, fearing the tax hike will ride them of investments. great to have you back, caroline. >> thank you for having me back. cheryl: what is the company going to do if this tax goes through? would you scale back or dividends and d and to a bad bak instead? >> thank you for the chance to be on and chat about this a little bit. we're spending a lot of time helping folks understand in washington and helping our investors understand how important this issue is to all of us. the rates going up from 15% now to as high as 33% depending on your income is a real hit for our investors, many of whom are individuals, retirees, former employees of the company: many reside in new jersey. cheryl: that is 40% of your shareholders depending on that dividend. speaker that is definitely how they consider their retirement income. they're not always the rich, obviously. we and other utilities have a payofappellate ratio from 50 to% or more. we have many individual investors across industry at all spectrums of the income levels, i am sure. cheryl: 10,000 employees coming must have some allies in washington right now. many american companies share the same concerns. >> have a lot of people willing to listen. the two points that are most important to keep in mind, the right as you pointed out i and e potential increase and impact not to our bottom line because we are not taught in our income, for talking to individuals who see the dividend from us and the second text that gets applied. if you look at what is potentially the happen of the fiscal cliff occurs, it is a differential rate between dividend and capital gains. right now both are taxed at 15%. if things don't change in washington by the end of the year capital gains will go to about 23% in the dividend as high as 43%. then you have a differential impact in terms of the government signaling different winners and losers depending on if your earnings are given out as dividends or if they are realized by your shareholders. cheryl: you have 100 plus years paying a dividend, your stock up about 6% over the last six months. are you and the ceo concerned about stock performance? if you have people like vanguard, these are etf looking for investments in your fund. if they pull out of for stock from you have to be concerned about that. >> to the difference in rate, my net is different for $1 of earned return from the companies. a different kind of return because of the tax system. we think. he is important, so there is a level playing field so winners and losers at based on what we do in the marketplace, not of the tax code. cheryl: thank you for the update. dennis, over to you. dennis: real "cavuto" is next on who one round to let's take a look at the winners and losers. 4g lte is the fastest. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? n't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a differt chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more an the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined. dennis: stocks every 15 minutes, nicole, you have strong third-quarter numbers. nicole: let's take a close look. both names are moving higher. actually hitting a new 52-week high. look at these names, they came up with the quarterly results and investors will than what they are seeing. up 5.3%, u.s. bancorp 1.7%. looking closer, rbc capital noting it was outstanding. looking at the perspective, talking about revenue and expense and credit perspective solid performance all the way around so these banks are doing well. lots of the bank doing it quite well. the dollar is lower, some major market averages, the dow down 13-point, nasdaq composite up one third of 1% and the s&p 500 pushing the upper end of a range we have seen for some time. back to you. dennis: the candidate taking the gloves off at the presidential debate. member this over mitt romney's investments in china. romney: any investments i have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust. and i understand they do include investments outside the united states, including in chinese companies. mr. president, have you looked at your pension? have you looked at your pension? obama: i've got to say - you know, i don't look at my pension. it's not as big as yours, so it - it doesn't take as long. romney: well, let me - let me give you - (laughter) - let me - let me give you some advice. obama: i don't check it that often. romney: let me give you some advice. look at your pension. you also investments in chinese companies. you also have investments outside the united states. you also have investments through a caymans trust, all right? cheryl: were either ineffective? >> as i said last night, it is hard to say who wins these things, can kind of be an issue here, but because the president showed up he gets the advantage. i always wondered if the debate were reversed, if denver were the second one, how would the media coverage be? it was a surprise he was engaged in by default he was every bit as effective as he was in the first debate, the president was just engaged in this one. dennis: what is wrong with investing in a chinese company? >> i don't know. we were trying to say to be tough on china that means you can't invest in china. that would be like saying in the late 50s and early 60s when this country couldn't invest in america because of what was going on with racial segregation in mississippi and alabama would be stupid. it would be nonsensical. these are the type of issues that come up that trivialize big issues. you have to be able to separated. i did think it lent a trap on mitt romney on monday and all about the mighty dollar and even put your political viewpoints aside to scrape up more dollars. there is a complete disconnect there. i noticed candy interjecting to say this is stupid, we are going to stop. that would've been a good one. but i thought it was silly. cheryl: one of the things that was interesting was when governor romney came out, i have balanced budgets as a ceo and governor, ran the olympics, didn't the president accurately kind of responded to that, rebutted that if you will? >> another president cleverly used the 47% for his closing remarks for there was no chance of a rebuttal. which is pretty smart. having said that, i think mitt romney is being judged on what his plans are, and the fact of the matter the president has a record and should be judged on his record. saying your plans don't add up but mitt romney i think lacked that he showed a little bit more in denver, don't think it is said as effectively. wait a minute, here is your record, your numbers clearly don't add up. dennis: hearing obama talk about the lack of specificity from romney. he was the most vague in history. speaspeed of the slowest recovee have had ever. i can give a lot of specific examples if you want. but inevitably the challenge pressure was put on the challenger to be specific. dennis: did he get to specific on libya and what he said in the rose garden was a terror attack or not, and did romney go too far? >> i think the moderator went too far questioning terror or terrorists. he was referring to an act of terror, something clearly a terror event, but he did not say terrorists and that is what mitt romney was getting at. for candy to say let me be the fact checker. i worry about that because you're a moderator, already breaking the rules of what we do for this debate, and now you're playing fact checker. cheryl: very quick, let's look ahead to the next final third debate, what do they need to do? >> weapons, they bring weapons. a very rich area, now i know mitt romney doesn't drink, that night i suggest he try it. and i think go for broke. i think they both realized they are already calling this a rubber match, don't know if there's any truth to that, but the pressure will be on both to hit it out of the park. when you're under that kind of pressure, you get nutty. cheryl: neil cavuto, thank you very much. he needed a nap, but here he is. u.s. stocks caught between positive data and disappointing earnings report but there is still a good reason to be positive on equities. can you say the market is still has yet to fully price in improving data and also to e3, but doesn't the market, kimberly, haven't we already had to e3? >> yeah, i agree, but i think the positive earnings are not as strong as we would like them to be. the growth in the service sector and manufacturing, and the housing numbers that came out today being positive 15%, these are all positives and i am not sure because people are so nervous about the fiscal cliff and about who is going to be in the white house, not everything is being priced in. that being said, you should be fully invested in the market and my clients are all fully invested in the u.s. market and that is why we are enjoying the positive run ups. up 15% from june 1, that is a coupling that you e3 affect. i still think there is some upward mobility in the market until the end of the year. cheryl: at the same time we will expect some volatility in particular because the fiscal cliff. you raise taxes and you cut spending, that has got to mean job cuts and that hurts the economy, is that on your radar at all? >> i'm cautiously optimistic for the future. long-term the stock market is the greatest wealth creation, and it is available to the average 401(k) investor and to warren buffett. so long-term you should be fully invested in the market and your allocation should be. however in the short term you will have that volatility and the euro zone has not gone away. still pain in spain, so we have to keep that on the radar as well. in regards to the fiscal cliff, it is very difficult to kind of plan for small businesses for the future when we don't know what will happen. and for us to expand long-term and empower the small business, we need leadership to say look, this is what we will do for taxes so the small business can go ahead and expand. cheryl: did you watch the debate last night? >> i did, absolutely. cheryl: what did you think? >> i think, i felt, obama had to come out stronger. he certainly did do that. romney gave him a run for his money and honestly i think if i was a betting person, and i'm not, would have to give a slight advantage to romney. i am a little more enthused and more positive about what's going to happen in november. cheryl: we will have to check back in with your investments once we get the results. thank you. >> absolutely. dennis: hailing a cab in new york just got harder, we will tell you why. suspending use of the app in the big apple. cheryl: i have this, google ceo speaking for the first time since june, literally he spoke out loud. details coming up in the west coast minute. and they look at the 10-year treasury. >> i am tracy byrnes with your fox business brief. investors are eating up shares of dean foods after they filed for an initial public offering for the spinoff of their foods unit. planning to offer roughly 20 million shares at 14-$16 each. and the soft drinks giant teaming up with french pharmaceutical company to sell the drinks in what they're calling a small-scale pilot. have you started your holiday shopping? for in 10 americans said they have a plan to start before halloween according to a survey for the national retail federation. the average shopper will spend $749.51 this year. versus $740..57 they spent last year. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper. cheryl: european markets trending higher today, but could relations threaten the good news? ashley webster with details in the global market. >> this is interesting, french president was talking to the media in the uk and talk about the simmering feud getting worked between france and germany. and he really went after angela merkel saying he is more interested in domestic policies, she is dragging her feet and that she has to get on board with france and spain who say look, we have to get a banking union in place by january 1. this is the euro zone, it is not going to happen. but they say it needs to happen. quality over speed, come on, we need to get this right. beginning a two-day summit where they will hash allow the political and difficulties in the unions out. he cannot get them to see eye to eye, that is a problem. cheryl: and never had a deadline they couldn't miss, but spain has a little positive news today. >> it was widely rumored yesterday in fact movies would downgrade spanish debt to junk status, that would really push the issue for spain wanting a bailout. they put it on a negative outlook but it gave the market some today, that is why we saw some games. cheryl: we will see you at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. every 15 minutes stocks now, you have black & decker reporting. nicole: this is a name if you're a power tools fanatic you're very familiar with this name. look at the stock right now. coming under some pressure. it posted week results and now the profit outlook also has been cut. the stock down 5%, so under the black and decker name, the power tools, security products, they cut their outlook and lower-than-expected quarterly profit. analysts saying one of the reasons the earning came to fruition is because the european industrial security segment are business continues to be a challenge. back to you. dennis: small business took center stage at the obama-romney debate. mitt romney spoke out of what he would do if elected. >> or party has been focused on big business for too long. i came through small business. i understand how hard it is to start a small business. that's why everything i'll do is designed to help small businesses grow and add jobs. dennis: joining me now for small business big ideas is president of payroll services serves a lot of small businesses. big companies, but i'm small company, had not heard that idea before, had you? >> head and father talking about small business. it is about time. too much rhetoric for the big business republicans we are talking about. romney made it clear he will help put jobs on the map, i was thrilled to hear it. most exciting part of the debate was hearing about small business. dennis: do you think they get the idea that president obama understands their burdens? >> i don't understand that. there were some cheers and jeers, but the reality is there was quite a bit of quiet talking about this. i don't think he understands what is going on in the mind of a small business person in america. it counts for something but what affect did it have? we don't have jobs for americans, creating 12 million jobs in a very short period of time. effect of the matter is who is testing a bomb on his record and his record has failed, it is that simple. dennis: president obama says it will not raise taxes on 90% of small business in this country and romney says the other 2% employs 25% of all workers in this country so you're basically raising taxes on them. >> the more that it is talked about on programs like this that people will wake up and realize i need to vote for the people that will get them back on the map. it is the engine that runs the small business owners. dennis: president obama a big comeback last night did a good job compared to his first performance. did romney get too aggressive with the sitting president of the united states? >> there was a point where he was borderline disrespectful to the president. i didn't quite appreciate it, but i know why he did it, he wanted to be clear he was a strong potential candidate and i think he took it a little too far. the reality is that i called the whole thing a draw. romney did a good job. dennis: appreciate you being here. cheryl: larry page and spotted in public for the first time since june. google ceo speaking for the first time since june. dennis: take a look at the winners on the nasdaq. bob... oh, hey alex. just picking up some, broches, posters copies of my cceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. cheryl: it is time for your west coast in it. google ceo larry page speaking for the first time since june in phoenix, arizona, at a conference with a raspy voice. giving details about the mysterious illness that took him out of the public eye. he did say i am here and i'm happy about that. california health insurance program that covers more than 860,000 children is going away. kids for low income families will still be covered and switching over to medicaid will be seamless but child advocates are worried california doctors won't accept additional medicaid patients. the founders of dreamworks have made a $90 million donation to the motion picture and television fund which provides health services to seniors and the disabled in the entertainment industry. that is your "west coast minute." dennis: earnings season in full bloom with bank of america reporting this morning. meche express and ebay do later today. sandra smith watching all the action with "the trade." sandra: i am literally watching all the action. american express right now not enough to put us into the greens of the dow slightly lower on the session but american express reported after the bell tonight along with ebay, two companies that could paint a picture of overall consumer spending and spending habits by consumers right now taking a look at what we are expecting, american express shares up three quarters of a percent but these are two companies that have gained a lot of momentum this year over the past year american express shares up significantly. jpmorgan, richard shahin said spending trends will be of interest to investors. heading into the holidays, do we want to listen to that, it will be called bluebird. ebay profits expected to be up 13%, company has a ton of momentum, the stock basically doubled over the past year, so both of these are expected to be pretty hot earnings out after the bell tonight, both stocks are in the green so we shall be watching all of that for you guys. dennis: energy front and center of the presidential debate, but fox business is fact checking to find out if what they said is really true. cheryl: former shell oil president john hofmeister will be joining melissa and lori coming up next. 4g lte is the fastest. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't thathe exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. stilsticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks mbined. dennis: the dollar is down ten points but the chart we saw showing all the green box turns up by the end of the day. cheryl: we will be talking about last night's debate. one of the most fascinating moments was when the president said the oil companies were going to be writing mitt romney's energy policy. that took me aback. i am sure didn't take melissa frances back. melissa: there's a lot to chew on from the debate and we will go over all of it. cheryl: very heated for a down all. a lot of fact checking going on as well. we will check on that literally just ahead. i am lori rothman. melissa: i am melissa frances. high-energy but low on facts. we are digging through last night's presidential debate and looking for the truth. lori: this holiday season looks cutthroat for retailers. new steps of her property concerns over big names you know. melissa: nike dropping was armstrong on dopeing allegations. is it time to come clean? what back housing rising at the besttlevel since july of 2008 providing more support that the housing sector is coming off of the bottom and recovery may be under way but several earnings reports keeping the markets