Hedge fund manager. He said it is wrong. It is easy to borrow herbalife shares right now and the cost to carry is not that bad. So was icahn wrong on the short . One Hedge Fund Manager says perhaps he was. Meaning ackman wrong . No. Icahn was wrong on the short talking about how to short the stock and whether it is too difficult. This guy says i could find it right now. Great job. Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a great weekend. Thanks for watching street signs. Closing bell with bill and mandy now. Happy friday everybody. Welcome to closing bell. Well revisit the ackman icahn brawl weve been talking about in the last few hours. Were also on top of the markets that just wont stop right now. Take a look at where we are right now on the dow. And the alltime high from 2007. We get ever closer to that number. Were not that far away at all. Absolutely right. Hello everybody once again. Im mandy drury of course. And weve got more huge interviews including bill gates, right, bill, would he ever return to microsoft as ceo . Well ask him that. And a whole lot more. And you see Christine Lagarde will join us as well from davos even as the overall markets keep marching toward alltime highs. Apple continues to be rotten today. Another down day for apple. Is this truly a broken stock . We have a bull bear debate coming up. Down 12 this week. In the meantime lets look at those markets. You have the dow which is sitting up by about 50 points right now. In fact, its ontrack for the best january since 1994. The s p for its part is poised for its longest winning streak in over eight years. Also moving to the upside right now and theed nasdaq despite t fact apple has been dragging on thane decks the nasdaq has been defying it and managing to have its best day today in three weeks. The s p 500 flourished with the 1500 mark all day today. Looking to close above it for the first time in more than five years. Meanwhile jim paulson from Wells Capital management is still looking for the extra reach. A high of 1700 this year. What would be behind that bullish call we asked . Okay. Lets ask him. Weve got a lineup of market pros. In todays Closing Bell Exchange jim foalson is joining us once again. Larry blazer, and jonathan corpina. Quite a lineup. Jim, we were just mentioning your name a moment ago. You get to go first. What is behind your call . I think the biggest driving force is that the growth rate not only in the United States but around the globe is turning out to be better than expected. We came into this year expecting 2 growth for the United States. I really think well end up closer to three. China is coming back to life. Europe is calming down. Weve got a lot of positive economic momentum. And in addition to that, you got confidence at fiveyear highs and people are starting to settle down and think maybe this is going to be a multiple year recovery so they can increase their valuations on the earnings streams. Were seeing mobiles rise. A lot of good things. Starting to see people come back into the equity markets a little bit finally reaching alltime record highs. I think a lot of these forces will take us higher this year. Okay. I dont know who is directing, liz, dan. If you could show me the 4 box again ill take a poll of our guests. How many see 1700 on the s p . Raise your hand. Anybody . By when . Anybody . Glazer is sitting on his hands there. No, larry . You dont see that . You know what . I hope jim is right. Let me just say. What concerns me is not so much that bullish sentiment as essentially doubled since november. It doesnt concern me as much that the Freight Train is leesk the station and investors have to jump on or theyll miss it. What concerns me is the sense of entitlement among investors and traders to the fed to support their bull market rally. Thats great but the entitlement is very dangerous. That is a cop out Investment Strategy in this market. We need sentiment and fundamentals. We need them in check. Curb your enthusiasm here. Larry, do people really feel that entitlements, when you take a look at the diminishing returns in terms of how much the feds, you know, easy printing money, is actually helping stock markets recently dont you feel that kind of complacency is gone . No question, mandy. The fed has been the adult in the room. Theyve done everything they can to support this market and rally. I would say the fed cant act alone. We need the fundamentals to come along. And right now we may be ahead of those fundamentals. The sentiment is way out in front. That can be very dangerous. In case were just over our keys too much. I think you agree dont you, joe . I think i would echo a lot of jims statements to be quite honest with you. You think about a lot of the drivers of the markets last year and all the uncertainties. Sort of the year of the uncertainty premium. You had europe. Whats going to happen there. You had of course the election here in the u. S. Who is going to win that . You had the fiscal cliff. As you kind of peel back through the layers weve got now a lot more clarity and at the end of the day multiples in the equity markets are still quite low. And you didnt put your hand up when we asked who also sees 1700 in the market. Directionally i agree and i think 1700 certainly is within reach. The question is will it happen in the next 12 months . Im not sure. Earnings growth is clearly tapering off but i think the real key driver and the opportunity for investors in the u. S. Equity markets of course is going to be multiple expansion. Jonathan, theres been a lot of skepticism on the floor of the exchange among you guys as the market went higher. I dont know if you are among the skeptics but here we sit within a stones throw of some alltime highs for the major averages. Where do you see us going here . Are we getting ahead of ourselves . Not just yet. Were moving in a nice, slow pattern. Okay. Yes, every day everyone is looking at the markets and were seeing green on our screen. But i dont think the volatility is in this market and continuing to move our markets. What do i mean by that . Were getting nice, slow steps moving this market higher and higher. Thats healthy for our markets. I agree with what jim was saying earlier. Do i think 1700 is a realistic number . I dont. I think another 100 points over the next 8 to 12 months is something a little more realistic. Nothing has derailed on markets so far. We spoke before. Europe, elections. Economic data. Earnings season. Weve seen a couple bumps here and there but nothing has hit us back. Are we going to see a pullback at some point . Yes. 10 , 15 . I dont think so. A couple steps forward. One step back. Move that a little higher and higher. Would it be healthy to have a pull back though . When you think about it weve kind of been trudging high melting up for quite sometime now. Maybe it would be a Good Opportunity for people to get in. I think so. That is very healthy for our marx but when you say pull back we need to define pull back. Some days on tv with you guys and the market is down a hundred and were saying is this the correction . Is this the pull back . Right. When we see pull back it has to be real steady movement, a flow that is going to continue over a period of time. We might see a couple down days here and there that will start a short correction but i dont think were getting into double digit corrections. In our time remaining lets make it meaningful for the individual investors. Put your money where your mouth is. What is going to take us to 1700 do you think . Well, you know, i think that the biggest thing is rising valuations because of rising confidence, bill. All right. Sector wise i mean. Which groups, which stocks are going to take it to 1700 . Id be over tilted to merging markets and manufacturing in the United States, industrials and materials. I like the financials again for a second year of out performance. What do you think, joe . I think, again, i echo some of his comments. Looking at emerging markets valuations look attractive and in particular looking at the asian emerging markets. Here in the u. S. I continue to favor cyclicals. I think they look much more attra attractive. If i were to pick one sector id tell you technology. Certainly china has been making quite the comeback since the leadership handover went quite smoothly. Not a hitch there. I think since december weve been really seeing the shanghai make a comeback. This is the year finally that the shanghai market is going to give us some returns . I think you will see some returns and broadly speaking when we look at Economic Growth remember youre making the slow transition from an investment expert driven economy to consumption. So youre probably not going to see double digit growth but i think 8 is in the cards. Is the u. S. Still the best place . Yes. To invest, guys . Mandy, what is frightening here is that we all agree that some of the best opportunities are overseas. Perhaps those markets need to play catch up here. I would also add that commodities have been an area left in the dust. If the fed is very successful, igniting inflation, which may be in the cards in the future commodities would be a place to hedge someones portfolio as they get out of bonds into equities right now. Very quickly were noting today apple is, let me put it this way. Exxon is close to overtaking apple as the most valuable stock in the world. Significant at all . Are you guys watching that at all . We are watching it. It is old schools coming back to modern day trading markets that are here. Weve all watched apple. Weve seen the run in apple. Everyone is very familiar with the stock and the products. It just got to prices that were way too lofty for Retail Investors and when we start getting targets, price targets on it up in the thousand range i think people got a little crazy and scared about it. A lot of profits coming off the table there. This is going to get very cheap very quickly. I think well see a move back to the upside again soon. Jonathan, real quick. Youre down on the floor of the Stock Exchange right . Yes. Earlier today on fast money halftime scott wapner was the adjudicator of the hedge funders going at each other. You had bill ackman on one side and carl icahn on the other and we could hear lots of cheering or booing or commentary going on on the floor there. What were people saying . You were hearing all of that. What was going on is that we have tv screens down here and the buying is always down low but when something comes on the tvs get in sync and volumes come higher. Everyone was watching and hearing on tv and also seeing the interview happening right in front of us on the cnbc set right down here. Who were people generally backing did you feel . Im sorry . Who did you feel generally the traders were backing . I think if youre looking at the comments made back and forth and the clarity we were hearing i think ackman was making a pretty good case for himself whether you believe him or not. All right. Good stuff. That was quite a moment. We were all watching very carefully there earlier today. That was great tv. Great tv. Yes it was. It was. Good job, scott. Thank you for your thoughts on the markets. Thank you. The stocks remain red hot on wall street. Mary thompson puts this rally into historical perspective. Thats right, mandy. Were seeing levels we havent seen in quite sometime. Lets start first of all for the dow with the Dow Jones Industrial average. The dow and s p and nasdaq all ontrack for a winning week once again but the dow also ontrack for its 11th gain in the last 12 sessions and its best january since 1994. So lets take a look at the dow leaders so far this month. Familiar names leading the pack here. Hewlettpackard which was actually the worst performing dow stock last year. Home depot, united technologies, disney, and travelers which just reported some blockbuster earnings. So who are the dow leaders back in january of 1994 . This list excludes any of the dow components no longer publicly traded companies. Caterpillar was up 17 followed by dupont. United technologies also in the list. Lets look at the s p 500. Its ontrack for its eighth straight gain. A winning streak that we havent seen since november of 2004. What we couldnt get the s p 500 numbers that were leading the s p that year, in november of 2004, these are the ones that have led the s p rally over the last eight days. Netflix of course coming out with a very strong Quarterly Report up 60 . Genworth and kla out today with strong numbers as well. The dow looking strong into the close up 49. Back to you. In fact yes. We are ontrack for the best january for the dow since 1994. A little bit later well remind everybody what happened to the markets in 1994. But right now the dow is up 49 points just off the highs of the session. Okay. Is the rally sustainable . Harry dent does not think so and actually says this is a market on crack. Hell be here to back it all up. Also it is said that individual investors are often last to come to the party. Is this rally pulling more people into the world of stocks . Well look at that. Plus, Christine Lagarde is one of the most powerful women in the world and has a dire warning for the United States. The u. S. Authorities, u. S. Members of congress have to consider the leading role played by the u. S. Economy in the world is at stake. Up next do not miss the first on cnbc interview from davos with madame lagarde. Watching cnbc first in business worldwide. Do stay with us. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isnt a thing at all . Its lots of things. All waking up. Connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. Its going to be amazing. And exciting. And maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. Were going to wake the world up. And watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. Cisco. Tomorrow starts here. [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the worlds best sport sedan. People noticed. The allnew cadillac ats 2013 north american car of the year. For a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the allnew cadillac ats. Exceptional offer itbut sleep trains huge foryeais ending soon. Models for a short time, save hundreds on tempurpedic mattresses. Get the most highlyrecommended bed in america at closeout prices. Plus, get interestfree financing and free sameday delivery. Why wait for the new models . Sleep trains year end clearance is ending soon. Superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. Sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep well the world is watching. Thats what International MonetaryFund Managing director Christine Lagarde says in a nutshell about how the u. S. Addresses its debts problems right now. Here is maria with lagarde in the first on cnbc interview. Let me ask you about the United States. You know, weve been talking about this dysfunction in washington and so many executives come on the program and they say we have money on the balance sheet. Were ready to go. We want to hire. We want to put money to work and yet they dont because of the uncertainty. How much of an issue has this dysfunction been in terms of policy makers unable to come to compromise, stopping the progression of business . Its a big issue because it is a big economy and its a big uncertainty. I believe, however, that up until now there has been the sort of underlying confidence that the u. S. At the 11th hour will cut a deal. Thats why you havent really seen in the spreads on the markets either a sign of great distress and concern. But confidence is something that is really fragile, can be eroded gradually, or broken down. I think if we are seeing anything at the moment its a very slight erosion and risk of further erosion, which in the long term could possibly threaten this sort of role played by the u. S. Markets by the u. S. Currency, by the u. S. Treasury bonds. I think it is a real issue, but the u. S. Authorities, the u. S. Members of congress have to consider the leading role played by the u. S. Economy in the world is at stake. And too much uncertainty or uncertainty for too long will erode confidence. Thats factor one. Factor two, there is plenty of liquidity around. Thats what the bankers im sure are telling you. Thats what Corporate Leaders are telling you. And they want some yields. They want to invest and they cannot sit on cash forever. So theyre going to look for higher yield. Theyre going to take bigger risks. And that can be good for some countries, good for some categories of products, good for some commodities. But it can be also quite dangerous and we certainly dont want to see Huge Movement of capital going in uncertain directions or on uncertain products. We dont want that to happen again. Meanwhile, yesterday i spoke with eric cantor the House Majority leader and we talked about congress extending the debt limit. He said basically we had to extend the debt limit because we dont want it to be hostage on the economy. We want to have time to think this out. My question to you is was that the right move . How worried are you about the 16. 4 trillion dollars that the, in debt that the u. S. Faces, and is it the right move to move this limit three months or are we just making things, kicking the can down the road making it worse taking on more debt and giving us more room to borrow . Did he tell you what would happen in the three months . I think thats the trailer. If they take the advantage of those three months, to really sit down quietly, confidentially without too much focus on what is going on, to discuss the longterm program for debt reduction, the way to reduce deficit as the u. S. Has, you know, already done in the last few years, how to deal with, you know, health care and welfare systems that are really the cause for a significant increase in the deficit, if they do that and in three months time having discussed the budget in the meantime, they come up with a proposal, then thats great because, you know, things are negotiated under pressure sometimes at the 11th hour as we discussed earlier today. But if they take the time to really sit down rationally, sensibly, putting a little bit of their respective ideology on the side to really focus on what is good for the economy and what is going to be good for the rest of the world, thats great. But if its only three months to kick the can down the road a little bit longer, a little b