data consumer price index flat, proof price inflation not a problem for now. very interesting number when it comes to inflation. we ll have details from steve in 30 seconds. plus, weekly jobless claims falling slightly last week for the third straight week, but we re still not at a point where we ll see job gains. and fedex came in better than expected. it hasn t really helped the stock so far, but you know, interesting, mark, they came out and said they re going to put some of those employee benefit programs that had been cut during the crisis, they re going to start putting them back, which big picture for the economy may be a positive that would outweigh any hit to profits that might mean for fedex. one would hope so. futures right now are blah. i mean, really blah. right at fair value, no real impetus coming from the futures on the markets at all. all right, let s get to bob pisani, start with our market reporters. bob? and stocks are very overbought, but ther
the street. good morning, everybody. i m mark haines. and i m erin burnett. and front and center on a monday morning, senator dodd s financial regulation bill. it s going to move forward this week. it s going to be introduced with great fanfare and announcements today. and the big question is, what is actually in it and what got cut? i ll bet you i know who knows what s in it. mm-hmm. house democrats admit they are still short of the 216 votes needed for health care reform, but democratic leaders remain confident they will have the votes when the time comes. and citigroup this morning upgrading walmart, the largest non-government employer in the united states. citi upping walmart to a buy from a hold. mark? here s a look at where walmart shares are in the premarket. well, no, actually. here s a look at the futures. it s monday morning and they re throwing us curves already. down 2.70. we get a little bit of a break here because we close 1.31 above fair value, so,
it might. trebec was in when he still had a moustache. i begged him to be on. someone else did go on. you can find it on the web. yes, you can. the federal reserve i ll tell you about what paul said later. but the federal reserve rising in the last week, hitting its highest level in nearly a year. it declined earlier this year, but since then, the balance sheet has been growing amid the fed s asset buying program, the central bank s holding of agency debt and mortgage-backed securities has groan to more than $1 trillion. there s an interesting piece in the journal today about a great chart. i don t know if you saw that chart of what the fed balance sheet looks like at this point. but you go from 2008 to 2009, and you get a pretty good look at what the fed is going to have to orchestrate. it s going to be a little bit scary. page 3? yeah, page 3. look at that. i know. we were down under $1 trillion. and now we re it s just completely every part, every metri
investors go to riskier trades. right now the dollar is looking healthier, although off of its best levels of the day against the yen. i mentioned we re seeing weakness in energy and take a look at the energy stocks and broad based weakness across the energy sector today and we got numbers for home prices which were up slightly and seasonally adjusted on a month over month bas basis. it s not doing anything which is down once again today and higher mortgage rates in the years ahead keeping pressure this group. now let s get a check on the tech sector and for that we go to mike huckman at the nasdaq. yes. the nasdaq is lower today in what has been a pretty choppy trading session thus far, but depending on what happens for the rest of the holiday shortened trading day. it is putting pressure on the market today is big-cap tech and internet stocks and the chip stocks in particular. google up more than 5.5%. and all of these stocks and sectors have been trading recently at new
the strength in disney, general electric, coca-cola and 3m. gains in consumer staples and discretionary stocks. when you look at the broader markets that offset the weakness in the energy sector. we saw slight gains in crude oil. energy stocks have been down throughout the session. another group that has been weaker throughout the session have been the airlines. you might recall yesterday they came under pressure on concerns about that failed bombing attack. they are lower once again today. the transports have rebounded from yesterday s decline, up 28 points. nokia has filed a complaint with the international trade commission alleging apple has infringed on a number of patents. nokia s smart phones have seen market share taken away with the popular iphone. nokia s stock higher on that. dow jones industrial average up 19 points. now for a check on the nasdaq. the nasdaq is looking like it wants to go positive. down only half a point. the nasdaq remains on track to have its b