s&p up by two and the nasdaq gaining 22 points. facebook shares rose nearly 5% to finish above $31 a share. it s slowly climbing back to its $38 a share. sentiment rose in june to its highest level in five years, however, the confidence index is still far below where it was five years ago and shares of gr grupon soaring to over 11%. welcome back to hardball. after emotional testimony this morning from a mother of an alleged victim of san ddusky, t prosecutor cougs rested its case against the coach. the defense began calling him to speak recessed today.
i m here. i m with you. and you are the hardest working man in showbiz and in politics, i have to tell you. that always is reserved for lester holt. you re right, him too. there s a few of you up there. let me tell you about the markets right now. we are looking to open flat. you might take that as a victory lap already this morning. because if you look at the first week of january, the markets hended higher, we saw the dow up and the s&p up. this is the january effect. the first week of january is how the first month goes, and that is how the year goes. we re already dodging some bullets. there was a meeting earlier this morning between angela merkel. and they issued a press
opening bell. time for the market rundown. we have our big sponsor back. i m here. i m with you. and you are the hardest working man in showbiz and in politics, i have to tell you. that always is reserved for lester holt. you re right, him too. there s a few of you up there. let me tell you about the markets right now. we are looking to open flat. you might take that as a victory lap already this morning. because if you look at the first week of january, the markets hended higher, we saw the dow up and the s&p up. this is the january effect. the first week of january is how the first month goes, and that is how the year goes. we re already dodging some bullets. there was a meeting earlier this morning between angela merkel.
stand on the president s american jobs act which is scheduled for a vote tomorrow and will republicans find the middle ground that they seek? the occupy wall street movement enters its fourth week. is it right for republicans to call these protesters mobs when they supported those tea party demonstrators. all of that and more ahead in the next half hour. thomas, thank you. take a look at what s going on on wall street and we re getting commentary from europe for the reason why we re doing so well, angela merkel and nicolas sarkozy say a response to the debt crisis will be finalized in a month and you re seeing the reaction sharply higher on the dow, the s&p up and the nasdaq as well. throughout the day we ll be watching that for you. today s tweet of the day comes from the dalai lama with a reminder during these rough economic times and rough political climate. whether or not we follow any
and the s&p up by nine. a 33-point gain with the nasdaq. the number of people living in poverty has climbed to more than 15% and the heightest levels since 1983 in close to home numbers. that means in six is poor and uninsured. that is it from cnbc. back over to you. thank you, amanda. for more on the economy with stung new figures revealing a depressing sign of the economy. america s poverty rate reaching an 18-year high. now standing at 15.1%. the news hasn t been much better on wall street. it was bank of america announcing the layoffs of 30,000 employees. every day the market swings wildly with so many families struggling to rebound and with stand this economic crisis. what can be done to protect our economic future. the next guest has written a book that examines the big picture. how we got into this mess and