The cable sector heating and began. Reporter a few names to take a look at. Up about half of 1 . Charter communications up. And this is as big news. A story we have been following. Charter communications preparing an offer letter for time more time warner cable. Now, those companies have declined to comment about what may or may not be happening. The offer is reportedly expected to be less than 135 per share. We will see whether or not that comes to fruition. Time warner cable up nearly 40 . There is a oneyear charter both of them. And i nice performance over the last 52 weeks. Lori thank you. He is stepping down. That will happen in march. Replaced by steve malenkov, the chief operating officer. This was interesting. The changes coming after reports that he was being considered to takeover. Microsoft. Shares cruising up. Adam bill will may be stepping into a new tech arena. Adam a potential partnership. Among the largest buyers of server processors and the world. Intel dominates. The
And half with kraft in the middle there. At this hour, stocks still remain at five year highs. Good afternoon, on this friday, im liz claman. Count down begins now. Its a quiet orderly day. Trading in a narrow range. Investors not willing to place bets ahead the weekend, but right now, on the screen, at least the nasdaq and dow are slightly above the flat line. S p just slightly below it, and the russell 2,000 pulled back by 1. 73, but, look, the russell has been on a tear the last couple weeks hitting record highs at one point. The financials, are you one of those who put your money in the big financial names at the start of the year because they did so well last year . Well, financials are noticeably weak today, perhaps profit taking going on in the slew of earnings. Wells fargo in a second, they kicked off earning season for the financial names. Bank of america, down one and three quarters percent. Citi down nearly 2 . The significant factor though is the third name on the screen. T
Why did the stocks rally . Why . Sometimes it is pretty calculable, simple, because the biggest driver on earth, china, reported a blowout export number showing the countrys plans to reignite growth are, indeed, working and we believe in that. When that happens, buyers swarm in, they buy commodities, thinking how could they not roar now that chinas spending. They buy the industrials because china relies on a lot of our companies to power their electricity and buy our Consumer Companies that have plunged deep into the retail fabric of the peoples republic. Thats why investing in china is one of my huge themes for 2013. Oh, its not just china, the dollar got clobbered versus the euro, something that our International Companies just love to see. It puts them here. House of pleasure. Why else . How about the fact that ford, one of the best bellwethers of Economic Growth out there doubled its dividend last night. Something i said was a possibility earlier this week when we recommended it as
Nyse. Thank you very much for having me. Lets start with the nervous side of that trade. Those retail sales figures which will disappoint so many people. Lets bring in steve liesman, our senior economics reporter. Steve, this is a huge disappointman after weve tried to get this economy going for so long. I think thats right, and i think when you put it in context, simon, what were talking about is two of the last three quarters look like they are on track to have been below 1 . Guys, we just calculated some of the incoming. This eats data right there. Can you see there 177 and the one below at 1 2013, the First Quarter there and it looks like if we draw the jennings one it would be below 1 . Guys, we just calculated using about eight estimates that have been changed today. The current gdp forecast for the Second Quarter, its now below 1. 0. 9 . It should actually be a bit lower in there because one guy in there, ubs, up there 1. 12 , thats the prior, and that is now down below 1, with
Tax now, promises of entitlement reform later and ignore the debt. Thats the fiscal cliff deal of the day and the market likes it and the numbers are 5, 16, 22, 23, 29, and the powerball is 6. You lost. The government won. Varney company is about to begin. [ male announcer ] this is steve. He loves risk. But whether hes climbing everest, scuba diving the Great Barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with people he trusts,. Stuart its a modern day tea party. Its a revolt led by corporations. The wall street journal reports 173 Companies Announced theyll pay special dividends for shareholders before the end of the year because a big tax increase on dividends could be coming next year and Many Companies moving up regular dividends to save their taxpayers, to save taxpayers a lot of money. Start with disney. Its raising its dividend and paying it out on december 28th. Thats 1. 3 billion dollars paid out in total, paid out under the current tax rate. And Las Vegas Sands