Services produced across the economy, grew at just 0. 2 a massive deceleration from the Fourth Quarter and much worse than expected. A downgrade of the assessment of the economy leaving more questions about when the central bank will raise rates. Hampton pearson has more on the Federal Reserve statement, but we begin with Steve Liesman and the economys slow start to the year. The First Quarters weaker than expected gdp has ignited a debate on wall street and at thee over whether the economy is slowing more seriously or just working through some temporary setbacks. Severe Winter Weather in the east and port shutdowns in the west were the obvious temporary factors. But the negative effects of a stronger dollar and the decline in Oil Prices Also played a role and no one knows how long they will continue to hurt the economy. What we do know is that it was another weak First Quarter in a string of them. Its kind of a deja disaster the same thing we saw last year. We came into the First Rele
To 2. 7 , bill. Safe to say expectation are high for that number tomorrow. Were also continuing to monitor what might be the stock story of the day, at least to the downside. Take a look, of course, at shares of twitter. Down more than 20 . Wheresthegrowth . This is the question investors are asking. During the show yesterday we talked about that. Hes had a big track record in social media lately. Ill be interested to hear what he has to say. Also with us exclusively, aetnas ceo mark bertolini. The insurance giants stock is lower today. Well find out what happened during the quarter, plus follow up on his bombshell out of davos last month where he told cnbc aetna might not be able to stay in obamacare. Stay tuned for that important part of the story coming up. Thats right. Again, lets look across the levels, where we are as we enter the final hour of trade. The dow up 0. 7 . Lets look im sorry, the dow is now up 1 . Its up 166 points. That will make it the first time weve moved 1 to. U
They were buttoning that up. The house went into session this morning, that is to say, the Republican Caucus met. The speaker came up with a plan, or the leadership presented to members a plan, that was different, had more provisions going after obama care in it. It was divisive within the caucus. They did not have a consensus. The speaker came out and said, we havent decided what to do. Were still talking about it. But that had the effect of causing Mitch Mcconnell to hit the pause button on his talks with harry reid because the republican leader in the senate has little freedom to maneuver when the Republican House is working on an alternative to what hes negotiating with reid. I just got off the phone a few moments ago with the democratic leadership aide who says this hasnt collapsed but its on pause until we find out whats happened to the house plan. The house plan, because it didnt have the votes, when they left the meeting, may never get off the ground, but until that is determin
For allegedly opening up customer accounts without consent, forging signatures. I mean is your identity safe anywhere . Well look at that story coming up a little bit. The rally continues on wall street today. I mean in this you know after we saw what happened, bill, with the fed, the 300point move we had after the fed decision to taper, you know the aftermath still remains pretty solid. Were adding another 70 points on that index today. The dow was 97 at its peak today, light volume. As we always say, can you make money light or heavy volume, or lose money at the same time. It still reveals a bias. The bias appears to buy the index. The s p 500 adding almost ten points at this hour. The nasdaq strongest performer of the day. Take a look at some components of facebook in particular as its added to the s p 500. Up better than 5 . That index again, sitting about 1827. Lets talk to our Closing Bell Exchange gang joe tanney dick from Rmb Capital Management joe duran, hes also by the way, t
We are now going to go to wolf blitzer who has got the very latest and all of the updates on the fiscal cliff. Wolf . Deb, thanks very much. Happening now, a fiscal cliff hanger. The Senate Bipartisan bill faces a very uncertain future in the republicanled house. Our speaker has said, when senate acts, we will have a vote in the house. That is what he said. That is what we he can be pekt. That is what the American People deserve. But is a sudden rift in the Republican Leadership putting it all in jeopardy . Also, were breaking down the deal on the table right now. Were going to show you how it impacts view your bottom line. And what about the secretary of state . Her dangerous blood clot. What could that mean for Hillary Clinton and her political future . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Right now were following breaking news. All eyes are in the house of representatives where lawmakers are weighing the future of a bill thats now effectively a fiscal cliff fix. No vote has