Transcripts For CNBC Closing Bell 20131213

You dont want to miss this last hour of trading here and see whether we can finish positive or negative. The dow is up 28 points. The s p 500 adding just about a point, the nasdaq is barely above the 4,000 mark. A lot will come down. Given the redemption numbers weve been hearing, a lot will come down to what we here in the next session. This would be you. All right. Have you heard many youve heard many warnings about bitcoins. An alarm bell is being sounded about the Digital Currency. A Cashless Society, get this, will jeopardize our freedom. Will the government really track everything you buy right down to a pack of gum . Thats his concern. His argument to lay out why hes very worried. Whats interesting is he runs a bank. Might have a stake in the game. Thats very interesting. If you google the term world takeover, you might come up with two words amazon and google. Amazon is expanding even more, looking to take some of costcos market share and new plans from google indicate that, if we didnt know it already, that company is much more than just a search engine. Could two companies wield too much power . And what do these plans mean for their stocks . Well look at that coming up. And to check the markets here. Weve got small gains across the major indexes, but theyre poised to be down about an eight or nineweek op winning stretch. Theyve only been up twice in the last ten sessions, although were 2 off the closing record highs. Lets jacques abotalk about action. Rich peterson, andress garcia, and our own rick santelli. Danny, were all looking ahead to next weeks fed meeting. You think this could be a nailbiter. You actually think they possibly could talk about tapering at that point . Everybodys anticipating that. Its been a nailbiter for the last week. What will happen at bens last open Market Committee meeting. Theres a chance that something could happen but were not seeing the volatility runup like we did in september. Thats something everybodys got their eye on which could be why theres not a lot of action today. Three things were watching. The Telecom Stocks have been volatile, which has been pushed by regulators that allows customers to actually break, after their contracts are over, break their phone out and be able to contract with another people change phones every couple of years anyway. I dont know why thats such a big deal. Looks like were going with a european model that you can buy a phone and go with whatever you want to. About time. Theres a lot of yields in these big ones. Verizon 4. 1 . And at t just increased their dichb dend today. Rich peterson sitting about a 2. 68 level and it hasnt moved around that much, what are you watching here in terms of how to gauge what the market is pricing in right now . From our perspective between the two year and the ten year obviously as were on the road to 3 whether that comes in the First Quarter or earlier on the calendar, thats indicating more risk will be taken on by banks and more lending. And were seeing that in the Consumer Household numbers where theres a bit releveraging. So that should help the economy going forward, helping earnings. Next week we have a stocking full of Economic Data from Industrial Production on monday, weve got the philly fed on thursday and gdp on friday. A lot to pick and choose from. The 2 pullback is enough to go rally towards the year end. I kid you not, kelly and i before we went on the air were giddy about friday is a quadruple witching day. That kind of show, folks. Steve, this market obviously has lost its upward momentum. Ironically in a month that is usually its best month out of the year, one of the best months out of the year. Are you thinking of taking profits now . Were seeing a little bit of profit taking in this market. And thats evidenced by the better performance over the last week or so by small cap or midcap relative to large cap. At the end of the day when you look at the broad fundamental picture and you look at the type of pullback weve had, very shallow, lighter volume, just 2 off the highs and large cap, most of the other sectors still performing quite well, thats all it is, profit taking, this market is very constructive from an equity perspective, but the First Quarter still plays out very positive. If you wanted to look for a contrarian sign you can look at the equity outflows from the mutual funds. 6. 5 billion. The biggest reception since 2009. Some will go to etf, but theres been a move into cash this quarter to the tune of 30 billion. What do you take from that . People are taking their chips off the table. A lot of people had a great year. Leading into a week like next week, everything we discussed, so many catalysts, that would make sense why so many people who are focused on the short term might take some chips off the table. For longterm investors as we look into next year, we still favor equities, but we do see opportunities overseas in europe a little more appealing than here in the u. S. Just from the sense that they have so much catching up to do to the performance that we see here in the u. S. Are you worried about the fact that people seem to be go long and go short emerging market story, talk about a consensus, thats a consensus move right now. I missed that. Im sorry, can you repeat it . Are you worried about everybody is on that side of the boat . I think the courageous thing right now is actually to say, you know what, the developed world is picking up an aselleration of growth. I dont see why things would dramatically change because of the end of a fiscal year. Emerging markets do have pockets of opportunities but the biggest headwind for them is a stronger dollar given that commodities dont tend to perform well in that type of environment and i dont see that changing any time soon. Rick, let me go back to how we started this frgs ko, what percentage do you guys in chicago put on the notion that the fed could actually talk about tapering next week . You know, its a hard question for me to answer, but as i look at the tenyear note, basically unchanged on the week, a flattening of four basis points between the fiveyear which is the beloved contract to be long and tens, i would say that at this times probably 25 that there is going to be specific taper information and thats just my read on the fact that reates have been sticky an weve seen equities drifting lower, which means you get a rally pushing rates down. The biggest thing im looking at, its a number. Maybe we have it on the screen. 3. 994 trillion with a t because 22 hours ago we learned thats the size of the feds Balance Sheet. Thats a pretty compelling reason to look for some specific taper information on wednesday. Yes, the feds cup does runneth over at this point. Thats a darn big cup, bill. What do you thing . Do markets seem to suggest i mean, equities have been losing their momentum, is that a fair tapering . Are you looking at the Market Mechanisms that suggest why you feel like we really could talk about tapering next week . A combination. It does have to do with the possibility of a taper, but i also think that investors specifically Institutional Investors are kind of wanting to sit on their hands because performance has been so phenomenal this year and they really want that to continue on until the end of the year. Pigs do get slaughtered on wall street, dont they . Its true, but we havent seen that yet this year. What about some of these ipos . Because were just getting the numbers in as we head towards the finish here. Best finish for ipo listings in dollar terms since 2000. We look at the closing bell today, hilton did okay yesterday. The sentiment with regard to the offerings seems to be surprising everyone to the up side. Yeah, no, absolutely. If you look at all the ipo data weve seen this year and ill though another stat at you, another smart trader at Goldman Sachs had a great piece out talking about 4. 4 billion of private equity money thats in cash. Thats a theme that continues to play out not only obviously this year, probably for the next several years. Thats one of those catalysts, one of those underlying fundamentals of the equity markets thats getting discounted. As we look back start reviewing 2013, that ipo data will become very important and that m a theme plays out to a great dreel. What the point of that 400 billion in cash . Is that thats going to be deployed towards huge new deals . It is. But then again you look at the shape of corporate Balance Sheets globally. Yeah. Three years ago, just a u. S. Story, now that corporate Balance Sheet and that Corporate Cash number is a global story. Thats going to be the driver of that m a activity going forward. Return of shareholder value, dividend, stock buy back and m a activity globally going out. At least when its not destroying shareholder value. Thats the hope anyway. That would be the hope. Have a good weekend. Enjoy the snowstorm here in the northeast. Heading toward the close, about 50 minutes left in the trading session here. A minor move higher. Dont even want to call this a rally. Kind of floating up at this point with the dow up 32 points. As soon as you do, it will elaborate. Rumored to be in the hunt for microsofts top job. Will that give qualcomm shares a boost . Well have a stock brawl coming up. Bitcoin could be putting us on the road to a Cashless Society. Something that our next guest says is a huge threat to our freedom. Chairman of Signature Bank explains why. And later the star of the hit tv movie sharknado is here. The shark is here . Coming fresh from the storm to explain why he did the move e not for money but for Health Insurance. So you can have a getaway from what you know. So you can be surprised by what you dont. Get two times the points on travel and dining at restaurants from chase sapphire preferred. So you can taste something that wakes up your soul. Chase sapphire preferred. So you can. To help secure retirements and protect financial futures. To help communities recover and rebuild. For Companies Going from garage to global. On the ground, in the air, even into space. We repaid every dollar america lent us. And gave america back a profit. Were here to keep our promises. To help you realize a better tomorrow. From the families of aig, happy holidays. Bitcoin is up 20 this week alone. The Digital Currency making gains as it gets a vote of confidence from a big Silicon Valley investor despite skepticism by regulators. The vote of confidence coming from marc andreessen. His firm investing 25 million in coin base. Coin base operates the digital wallets to store bitcoins in an exchange for buyers and sellers. Less enthusiasm from the European Banking Authority which issued a warning about the lack of regulation among Virtual Currencies like bitcoin. It cant be defined as real money so it plans to tax them as a real asset. Fidelity quickly shuttered a program to allow investors to put some of their iras in the bitcoin trust. One homeowner says hell accept bitcoins for the estate in las vegas hes trying to sell for under just 8 million. First, the tesla, now a mansion. Why not . No one is sure if bitcoin can wipe out paper money in the future. But according to the oped by our next guest, a Cashless Society would be a huge threat to our freedom. Joining us with more scott shay, the chairman of Signature Bank. Youre looking at the intervention by governments and other institutions in the ability to see into our lives if were using the electronic method of payment. Already were very used to fraud alerts that will screen transaction, credit cards, youve probably been turned down from time to time when a transaction seems a little suspicious. It wasnt our bank. But we are all used to it, its very benevolent. But these same technologies essentially allow any Government Agency that wants to to have a total view as to what were doing and ultimately what im worried about is it could mean also control. The invisible hand could become a very visible hand. Which is ironic because everyone talks about this being the currency for anonymity and for transactions that are illicit and illegal. You say thats not the case. Why are you worried that everyone will know what youre doing with your bitcoin. Bitcoin i think is very interesting technology. The transfer technology of bitcoin is actually more interesting to me in the financial world than the actual means of transactions because, as weve seen, its very volatile. The first rule of a good means of transaction currency is a lack of volatility. That will still remain. However, in terms of anonymity, i think the fact that the u. S. Regulators and others arent objecting to bitcoin as much as one might think, i dont think i think they believe that it can be monitored, regulated and someone might not know a specific transaction that youre doing but they could know that youre doing a transaction on bitcoin. Part of the reason bitcoin is seeing this rise is the desire by some people to avoid this sort of surveillance that can occur in transactions at some point. But if it does come under the purview of the u. S. Government and other governments out there, its no different then, is it . No, thats why im really worried about a Cashless Society because the totally Cashless Society youre a banker. Its more efficient. Your Profit Margins are better in a Cashless Society, i would think because youre able to move all your transactions electronically without human beings being involved to some degree. Thats less labor involved. Yes. Thats less time involved, thats more profitability for a company like yours. Not only have the banks can in favor of this, but to a certain degree Central Banks have a positive regard to this paus they can control negative nominal interest rates. Its very hard for a central bank to do that. But i think theres a big price that were all prepared to pay to have economic freedom. Thats the invisible hand that can go away if everything can be monitored. I get what youre saying. Bau whats the alternative . Isnt the toothpaste already out of the tube . You cant turn back . To a certain degree youre right. We couldnt have had this conversation on the floor, we would have been trampled on when everybody was doing transactions in prap aper. I do think there is a place for cash, theres a place for noncyber means of transfer and those are very important. Were seeing that happen in certain societies where were quickly going cashless. Stockholme is one example where they actually give beggars card readers because no ones carrying cash. Thats a totally different issue than the one about liberty and transparency that youre bringing up. Because if no one has cash, there has to be a way to give people those payments. That means everything you do, every single cup of coffee you buy can be monitored. Weve already seen in the United States where the regulators caused visa and mastercard not to allow transactions for online gambling. Now, one thing that i mention the article on cnbc. Com is they could also theoretically, the government could decide that, gee, im a little overweight, maybe i shouldnt be buying 16ounce sugary drinks. My transaction will be denied. But since we know were going to operate on a slide rule to some extent and we shouldnt conflict bitcoin with Cashless Society, but take the Cashless Society piece of this, this has been going on not for ten years but for 40 years, 50 years in the same way that the Gold Standard isnt practical neither is a cashless so it. Im saying the cash should stay part of our means of transaction portfolio. Its not going to go away. But i think we should preserve it. I think its extremely important. Before i let you go, what is your view of bitcoin overall . Im in the camp that says this is a fad, this is a bubble thats going to end badly. There are even some who look to the book of revelation and say it in some ways signals the end of times. Im not quite ready to signal the end of days. And thats not in my bailey wick. I will say bitcoin is interesting. I think the means of transaction that it does is very interesting from accounts to accounts. I dont think theyre there yet in terms the of a cyber currency that has backing that people can rely on. It could be a little bit more tulips than cigarettes in post world war ii displaced person camps where you had a good physical means of transaction but it was relatively stable. Prices changed in terms of cigarettes where were seeing the opposite occur with bitcoin, bitcoin does have a lot of speculative flavor from my perspective. When it goes from 400 in one month to, what was it, 1200. Then falling by a couple hundreds a day. Good seeing you. Nice to be here again. People can read more of that piece online where its already been lighting up the charts. Indeed. We have 40 minutes to go before the markets close. Were up about 40 points on the dow, 3 points on the s p 500 and 7 on the nasdaq. Did you know it was friday the 13th . Yes, i did. Maybe considered an unlucky day to many, but actually been a pretty good day historically for the markets. Up next seema mody warns off any hex with interesting data. Today could be somebodys lucky day if they win the Mega Millions. What would you do with all that money if you won . Americans take care of business. They always have. They always will. Thats why you take charge of your future. Your retirement. Ameriprise advisors can help you like theyve helped millions of others. Listening, planning, working one on one. To help you retire your way. With confidence. Thats what Ameriprise Financial does. Thats what they can do with you. Ameriprise financial. More within reach. I wanna spread a little love this year [ male announcer ] this december, remember you can unwrap craftsmanship, inspiring capability, and some of the best offers of the year on our most versatile luxury utility vehicles at the lexus december to remember sales event. Lease the 2014 gx 460 for 499 a month for 27 months. See your lexus dealer. Considered an unlucky day, but investors have found it to be a lucky day. Seema mody has the data to back it up. Friday, the 13th. While it may be seen as a spooky or unlucky day, it is generally on average positive for waumt. Since the early 1900s, the dow is positive 59 of the time, the s p positive 57 of the time and the nasdaq positive about 59 . During the last friday the 13th, which was in september, the dow gained half a percent, the s p 500 posted fractional gains and the nasdaq ended the day in positive territory. Today history might repeat itself. The dow, s p and the nasdaq in the green on track to break a threeday decline. The big movers today, twitter shares hitting a record high for the fourth consecutive session. Rbc said the social Media Company is just scratching the surface with advertisers lifting its price target from 33 to 60 a share. Look at honeywell moving higher as well. Authorizing a stock buy back. The stock up about 0. 8 . And General Electric gaining ground on news it was raising its dividend. That amounts to an annual yield of a 3. 3 . Open table losing ground on a report that apple has filed for a restaurant reservation patent. The stock down 1. 37 . And qualcomm replacing paul jacobs. The stock basically flat on the news. Bill, kelly, back to you. A bit of a surprise there. Coincidence or not. He was being discussed at microsoft and now will get the top job at qualcomm. Lets debate it in a good Old Fashioned stock brawl. Our bear is cody achery from williams financial. Welcome. Ross, you like qual com here. Do you like this promotion . I love the promotion. Theyve got a young guy who spent almost all of his career there at the company and promoting him to take over at this time makes a lot of sense. You lose a guy like him to microsoft, its really painful because its hard to groom high quality ceos these days. A great move for the company. Cody, why dont you like qualcomm at these levels . One of these classic situations when you invest in war, you dont invest in the guys who make the gun, you invest in the guys who make the ammo. These are the guys that make the ammo in the chip wars for years. The problem is that Everybody Knows how strong qualcomm has been and how much dominant market share they have. In 2014 theres not much room for them to go except down in market share. A lot of competition coming in, all the growth shifting to china with cheaper hand sets and all that could mean much less slower growth. Ross, he has a point. I dont agree with that point at all. In fact, their business is exploding. If you look at china mobile adding 4glte next week. All they do is make chips for the mobile platform. Everybodys worried about these low end phone, but what about the high end phones . People in china are making a lot of money right now and they want an apple phone a high end smartphone. Its all about mobility. And thats where qualcomm dominates. Theres no competition as good as the snapdragon chip. It works on every handset maker and tower out there. Theyve got a core product that everybody uses and needs in their mobile platforms. I think their business will continue to grow. Cody, what do you say . Ross, the problem is that a high end phone in china will only be 200 and youre the third of a price of a phone in the u. S. Your loyalties are 3 1 2 , you have to sell two or three times the as many to keep your head above water. The chips youre selling will be far less pricey. You have a lot more competition. Prices will erode. And unfortunately, the handset prices just are not going to stay even with the u. S. And europe. Ross, just a quick question as well. Qualcomm came out with a smart watch. Kind of an interesting move to go completely into the Consumer Device space. What does that tell but the company . I think what theyre trying to do is show a lot of the companieses what they can do with their mobile chips. They want to develop more wearable technology. I dont look at it as really a product theyre trying to sell, more like a prototype. Hey, samsung came out with a watch. Im personally not a big fan. Ive used the pebble. I dont need it. I like my ewc just fine. But going back to the point about everybodys worried about low end phones, but if you go to china and you have an iphone, youre considered wealthy. And thats what they care about. They want to be like americans and they want to have things that display wealth. The high end in china is growing incredibly fast. Its a very small piece of the overall market. Its growing very rapidly. You got about a billion people. One to two is a big growth rate, but unfortunately thats not where the mass market is going to be. Its sub200 phones. What would have to happen for you to change your mind . Youd have to actually have market share to gain and unfortunately qualcomms topped out. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you, guys, have a good weekend. Heading to the close, 30 minutes left in the trading session. The dow subpoena 50 points. I didnt notice the trading range today. Feels like were adding a point every couple of minutes. How the fracking boom will affect oil next year. Well talk to one of the men people in the industry call fracmaster. Chris faulkner joining us next. Theres one movie to rule them all this weekend. I will not risk this quest for the life of one. The second hobbit movie expected to be one of the years biggest hits. Are you planning to see it this weekend . Could you get out of your house this weekend, the people in the northeast . Tweet us. Theres a saying around here, you stand behind what you say. Around here you dont make excuses. You make commitments. And when you cant live up to them, you own up, and make it right. Some people think the kind of accountability that thrives on so many streets in this country has gone missing in the places where its needed most. But i know youll still find it when you know where to look. Maestro of project management. Baron of the buildout. You need a permit. To be this awesome. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. aaron purrrfect. vo meeeow, business pro. Meeeow. Go national. Go like a pro. In case you hadnt heard, big winter storm making its way from west to east. The demand for heating fuel pumping up prices. How energy has been faring. Good afternoon, bill. The Energy Complex actually depressed despite the cold temperatures outside and that pending storm. Three reasons for that that i want to highlight. The first being the stronger dollar today but also concerns about the fed meeting next week and the potential for a december taper. Finally traders telling me after west texas intermediate peaked this week they were taking some money off the table. Wti closing at 96. 60 today, down about 1 for the week. Meantime, i want to talk about nat gas ral holding above that 4 level despite this storm coming our way. It was ticking down. It hit a sevenmonth high yesterday and for this week alone nat gas up more than 6 . Back to you, kel and billy. Bill and kelly. I kind of like it. Im not sure if you like it so much. With nat gas prices popping and crude prices sliding lower this week, whats the best way to play energy going into the new year. Chris faulkner, ceo with breitling industry. The man they call frac master. They call me that, i dont call myself that. I dont call myself billy either. First of all, everybody thinks this is Transformational Technology that were seeing that will make us masters of our own domain when it comes to energy in this country. I think it will, it already has. How long . Were producing 8 Million Barrels a day. Weve upped 20 just in one year in our production. Saudi arabia, for example, which is king of the hill, if you will, produces almost 10 Million Barrels a day. But theyre a huge exporter. Were a huge consumer. We cant export oil in this country, but that will have to change. Fracking has changed our industry. Well import 60 billion feet of gas from qatar. Within five years, this whole thing has turned up on its ear. Such a volatile business. You know this firsthand. A lot of it depends on how regulators respond. Sure. How can people who are involved in this development and infrastructure gain some clarity or confidence in the extent that investors should go along with them . I wish i could predict the real price of oil, it would be much easier on my job. Weve got headwinds happening in the First Quarter, the libyan production coming back online, irans a wild card. They said last week theyll sell oil at 20 bucks a barrel if they could. Iraq production is coming back on. Well have a little bit of price oppression on crude going into the 2014 year First Quarter. Nat gas unfortunately will have to come back down after we see that seasonality price push coming back out of it. 4 gas isnt great but im happy about that compared to the start of last year. The pricing will range going into 2014, oil will come down, a 90 dollar plus commodity here. Weve been waiting for oil to come down because there is so much going on here but it hasnt done that. Oecd countries starting to see some economic turnarounds. Were seeing a push pull on oil. The price of oil should be at 70 or 75. So i hear. You guys have what, about a quarter million acres of mineral rights, youve got stuff in mississippi. If all these prices are heading lower . I was in the middle east just this week and just got back yesterday. In the middle east theyre always talking about one thing, what makes the party stop in america, whats the number that america cannot produce oil at this level . And that number is about 65. At 65 bankers get nervous and dont want to led us the money for us to drill. For them, the good news is that they cant push oil down to that level, so i dont think they can control stopping our party. Do you then look to that price to determine when you guys might pursue a Public Offering or raising more capital. Absolutely. How much does it rely on oil being at x. We dont hedge. For us it really is spot pricing. But at 65, thats not a whole lot of margin to capture. Thats why it gets concerning at a 85, 100 level. But as you deploy capital like in 2008 when natural gas was 15 within six months it went down to 2 or 3. If youre employing that kind of downfall, youre left holding the bag. You have to be able to plan this stuff i dont think oil is going to move very rapidly down toward the 65 number because saudi arabia and opec need to stay in a much, much higher price than that. Potential ipo, this week you bought a tiny little publicly traded company. Does that preclude you. Potentially were looking at doing a merger with that company and doing the transaction in 30 days. No ipo for breitling . Potentially, thats correct. Ill come back on and give you full details. Im sure you will. Shoot. We all figured it out. Transformational technology. I heard this many times before. But then something goes horribye wrong. What keeps you up nights . For me, theres the unknown epa regulation in the back of my head. Because fracking has been regulated by the states. But theres also this rumbling that theres going to be more and more and more. For me more cost. Its very Expensive Oil to brew. Saudi arabia is 20 bucks to pull out of the ground, ours is 50. More and more cost does concern me around additional unneeded regulation. I wont say anything negative. I didnt realize that was the cost differential. Saudi arabia thats cheap oil thats why they can make so much selling it and pay all their budget needs. But fracking is not cheap. Have a great weekend. You too. 20 minutes left to go here. Closing down on the closing bell. Weve got the dow down off the highs of 50 points from a few minutes back. Were watching the nasdaq up about 4, the s p 500 just barely higher. And youre in a Christmas Spirit already. We are officially into the 12th day of christmas today. After a few downward moves the upward move could be the start of the santa claus rally. The naughty and nice to tell us if santa will be coming to town. Then after the bell less than a month ago, it was like any other town. People with nothing but problems, then out of the sky came a solution. Google and amazon have been creating a wide solution of products of late. Amazon will take on big box bulk retailers, he said. But does this head toward a world ruled by google and amazon . How could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact Life Expectancy in the u. S. , real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 70 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. With investment information, risks, fees and expenses stick with innovation. Stick with power. Stick with technology. 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Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Make the most of every moment. Ask your dermatologist about humira, today. Clearer skin is possible. As we look to the start of the new year, whats in store for short sellers . Its been a tough couple of years getting crushed on the short side often. Were breaking down which heavily shorted stocks may be ready to shine. Hey there, kelly. Forget about tough, it has been just downright painful if youve been betting against the market. The Dow Jones Industrial average has been up for the past five years in a row the s p up for the past two years. That has meant that a lot of shortonly shops have in fact gone out of business. But now the tide does seem to be shifting a little bit. We do see some of the short sellers talking about getting back in the market again. A lot of people saying how much higher can the market go . So there are people who see opportunities for the market to go down. One of those short sellers is well known bill fleckensteen. He told cnbc i got out of the short business when the fed started printing money but now i think that the fed is starting to lose control of the bond market, so he wants back in. He said capital is being misallocated everywhere and the price of nearly everything is out of whack. So with that in mind we thought wed take a look at the Short Interest stocks these days. At the New York Stock Exchange the short is at the highest level since june. Keep in mind this isnt completely unusual since the market is also hitting new highs but there are six stocks out there that have a Short Interest of more than 20 . Those include cliffs natural resource, u. S. Steel, lennar, tesla, Green Mountain coffee and equinix. They all have a Short Interest of over 10 , a third are consumer discretionary. But heres the thing, short selling is not for the faint of heart. This is a tough, tough business. In fact, a lot of short sellers will say it themselves. Of some of the three top most heavily traded shorts in the market this year theyre up 250 . It takes a very, very tough stomach if you want to be in the short business, definitely something to keep in mind if thats your plan. Thanks very much. Bill flexenstein is coming back into the picture as a short seller. 15 minutes left in the trading session here. Art cashman just came by and said no pressure either way. Buy or sell. Were up 30 on the dow. Will investors ever see a santa claus rally this year . Some say hes leaving a lump of coal. Ia has a lot going on in her life. Wife, mother, marathoner. But one day its just gonna be james and her. So as their financial advisor, im helping them look at their complete financial picture even the money theyve invested elsewhere to create a plan that can help weather all kinds of markets. Because thats how theyre getting ready, for all the things they want to do. [ female announcer ] when people talk, great things can happen. So start a conversation with an advisor whos fully invested in you. Wells fargo advisors. Together well go far. [ bagpipes and drums playing over ] [ music transitions to rock ] make it happen with the allnew fidelity active trader pro. Its one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. Get 200 free trades when you open an account. Welcome back. About ten minutes left in the trading session here. Could this be our big up day. Weve been waiting for . Kaboom. Yes, bob pisani. Lets talk about where were heading here. Are we going to get a santa claus rally this year . What do you think, paul . Ironically, this is the best month of the year for the dow typically, and this has been a very tough month for the markets. It has been. Well, you think about it, weve had such an unbelievable year. The market is up 25, 26 . Normal to take a little breather. Plus you have the fed meeting next week which everyones anticipating. People are taking some chips off the table in anticipation of wait and see whats going to happen next week with the fed. We have a very busy week next week. We do. Not only has the fmoc, but the confirmation is out, well get the budget. Theres thursday the fed will be buying bonds, the day after the fed meeting, they want a little bit of insurance. You were right, bill, all the old rules were wrong. Sell in may go away, wrong. December a great month, well, so far not really. So the point is a lot of these old rules dont necessarily apply here. Whats interesting is Everyone Wants the market to go down but for different reasons. The bulls want it go down because they want to buy 5 to 10 below where the market is now. The bears think the market will have a big problem when the market starts to taper next year. Youre in the first camp, i guess, you want it to go down to buy i again . I would love to see it go down as a buying opportunity. As long as the fed continues to accommodate youll continue to see the markets continue to advance. Theyll have to taper at some point. Rick santelli was just pointing out their Balance Sheet is at the 499. Trill dollars. They will need to taper. What needs to happen is a well thought out deleveraging of our Balance Sheets. A trillion dollars they put into the market. The market has created 4. 5 trillion of wealth. Hopefully a balance when they start to taper and the market being able to support itself. If youre in the bullish camp, im neutral on this, but if the economy really does need a little improvement next year, we should see better revenue numbers. 3 . Pretty modest. That should be supportive of stocks. Thats the main bull argument, that the we can withstand tapering because there will be a modest multiple expansion higher Revenue Growth and cost cutting will kind of go away. Thats a little bit of a stretch. I understand that. But naes the argument being made right now. Thats correct. Since 2011, the earnings have been flat. Yet youve had multiple expansion because of the fed and the fed stimulus. Youre right, we do at some point need to see true Revenue Growth and true earnings growth. Paul, good to see you, thanks for joining us today. Well head to the close here with the dow up 34 points. The closing countdown coming up in just a moment. And then we love this story. Why does actor ian ziering decide to star in sharknado. It wasnt for the money, it was to keep his familys Health Insurance. He explains why and why hell star in the sequel coming up later. Honestly, im not looking for fivestar treatment. I get times are tight. But its hard to get any work done like this. Then came this baby small but with windows and office. It runs my work stuff. And i can use apps like flipboard for news, or xbox video to watch the shows im never home to see. And i can still get work done at the same time. Excuse me, do you mind if i. Yep. Honestly, i wanna see you be brave [ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of exacting precision and some of the best offers of the year [ ding ] at the lexus december to remember sales event. This is the pursuit of perfection. At the lexus december to remember sales event. Does it end after youve expanded your business . . After your companys gone public . And the capitals been invested . Or when your companys bought another . Is it over after youve given back . 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Up 28 points as we head towards the close. For the week, the dow, we had that small followthrough on monday from the monster rally a week ago after that jobs number. For the week were down 1. 6 . Weve come quite a bit lower here. Warren meyers, and next week we were just discussing is going to be a very busy week. Bob pisani. But next friday should be a big day as well. Its a quadruple witching. Everything expires. You expect quite a bit of volatility in the days leading up to that. I would anticipate wednesday, thursday being very volatile. On top of that, the december 18th fed meeting. Youre really looking for a potential lot of movement in the markets. Do you think the fed could announce a tapering on wednesday . Is it possible . Certainly its possible. I dont believe they will. Theyll push it off till the end of the First Quarter and next year. But the specter of that rising and happening after the latest jobs number. The ipos lately are strong, aramark, so did hilton, both did well and we have others. Nimble is one today that did very well. Nice to see that. Especially down here on the floor, it seems like weve been getting our fair share of them and theyve done very well. Investor demand is pretty strong. It really has been. Across the board, that gives you a little positive input going into next year that maybe the overall demand, the wider market demand is there and maybe that will get the individual investor back in this market full bore. I know weve talked about buying the dips here lately. Thats been truly a huge theme this year, but this market doesnt act like its in that mode right now. Weve lost the momentum. Weve got a little switch in momentum probably right around after thanksgiving and weve held so far, instead of that end of the day buying, its been end of the day selling and appears thats still continuing. Were going to need something positive to turn that back around again. Rest up, watch out for the snow this weekend, be safe. Well go out here with a little minor gain on the Dow Jones Industrial average and for the rest of the major averages as well. Thats it for the first hour of the closing bell. Have a great weekend. Stay tuned now for the second hour with kelly evans and company. Well see you monday. Welcome to the closing bell. Im kelly evans. Stocks are ending a rough week. It was an interesting last hour here on wall street. Heres a look at how were finishing out the day. The dow up about 16 points, 15755 is the level there. The nasdaq adding about 3. Look at that. Just on that 4,000 mark. Whatever thats worth. And the s p 500 turning negative at the end of the session, 1775 is the level there, some are watching the independence figure of 1776. We didnt quite hold. But get straight to it with todays panel. Joining me are Zachary Karabell and our own Courtney Reagan and weve got lee munson standing by, plenty of traders who will join us here in just a moment. Wanted to start with you guys welcome, by the way. Thank you. You look at this market and think what . I like the mr. Karabell, im like who is that . The fact that it feels so placid. Yes, a not good week, but selling off 2 1 2 from your high hardly constituting a particularly negative week. And a lot of people and im probably in that as well you know, when you dont really want to mess around with a year thats been extremely good without any particular catalyst over the next can we use you as a little micro study here . I dont know. Zach karabell portfolio had some equities, maybe youre up, what do you do next year . In terms of a news story, there will be a lot of programmatic rebalancing. A lot of bond portfolios plait, asset allocators will be relocating back into bonds because their allocations have gotten out of whack. The read is that investors are coming out of the markets, no, no, meaning theyre worried about equities and moving out of equities and flows out of equities. I dont think it is a case of that. People are being forcedllocatiof a model even if thats not the thing to do. If you have a portfolio and exposed to stocks 30 this year, some of the funds up 40 . The retail names high fliers what youre saying is that will force people out of the market. Right. But force people not because oh, my god, you should be out. Simply because theres a longstanding assumption of what these allocations should be and that stocks will be the volatile thing and bonds he about the stable thing. Going into 2014, that concerns me. Were talking about some performers that are up 30, 40 this year. For all the concern about what were hearing out of some of these holiday commentaries, some of the earnings as well, i guess you look at a day like today, what do we learn . Theres a lot of wait, too, weve got a lot to go until christmas. Retail stocks are on the shelves, weve had a decent runup. Look at michael kors, i dont know that id jump into michael kors at these levels because it has run so far so fast. There is still waiting on the sidelines. We saw a nice surge in the beginning, then weve fallen off a bit. We have breaking news in the telecom sector. Seema mody, what can you tell us . Back here at headquarters, dow jones reporting that sprint may make an offer for tmobile in early 2014 which would set the stage for a Major Telecom merger. Dow jones reporting that the deal could be worth 20 billion. We can get a look at how shares are reacting after hours. Sprint shares up 2. 4 on this report from dow jones. If you take a look at tmobile, that stock down just half a percent after hours. This just got very interesting. I mean, talk about where were we before when it was tmobile, at t. Now at t and sprint. Sprints up 2 . Lee munson from Portfolio Asset management, kenny valcari joining us as well. Take a look at the shares of sprint on the news that tmobile will make a bid here. 2 1 2 . What do you make of this . When the at t deal was announced everyone thought sprint was really going to be the severe loser in that. The antitrust issues came in, that deal got scuttled. I mean its certainly not going to be i mean, at ts not going anywhere, verizon is not going anywhere, but this would potentially add at least a third Major International player. There is Tmobile International as well. But thats just part of youre going to see some negative deals. Weve been talking about time warner. The same cheap cash, lots of opportunities, time to do these kinds of deals. If you think about the deal at the time, it was blocked partly because of the concern it would be bad for consumers. It would lead to upward pressure on pricing across this space. Lee munson, i know youre just joining the conversation here. But any thoughts about is this the kind of progression from that deal being blocked . Crumbling like a gingerbread house. Whats important for consumers is a cell phone that works. If youre not in a major metropolitan area it doesnt. Isnt that what you talk about in the market, you want to see more capex spending . I think its a good deal for people. You want to comment on this one as well . Listen, i think its clearly exciting. I came in on the end so i missed what the news one way or the other. Its certainly an exciting development. Tmobile service is spotty at best. Anything that helps tmobile will be a perfect the reason why tmobile is interesting is that theyre extremely innovative. You got to give a john ledger credit. Theyre doing a lot of things in this space, allowing you to get a new phone without having to reup the contract or extending different rights across the globe and bringing up the International Point about where you can make calls. Now exercising some of the muscle, their shares have benefited quite a bit and were seeing the impact thats having. Steve grasso joining us here, fast money contributor extraordinaire. This just happened but thoughts here on this one . Im actually long sprint and i did buy tmobile off of that one. Weve talked in the past, all about spectrum. This is the only way these guys can compete with the like of at t and verizon. Extremely exciting. But you have to remember you saw that headline earlier on the day where verizon and tmobile were swapping some spectrum. So its long been discussed. The headline gets people really excited. Going back to the earlier deal being blocked, you know, is this what happens then . Youre going to wind up with the same consolidation just in kind of a different form . That always happens. But you know what . If youre happy right now, theres no one who can compete with at t and verizon. You need some consolidation on the smaller bit players and to make them at least start marginally impacting pricing for the big boys. If you look at the marketplace here, the market needs information like this. So it can continue to rally higher. And steve, one thing thats been a total failure of the u. S. Cell phone market unlike European Countries is this is an industry that benefits from a few real capitalized players. A massive amount of Capital Spending you have to do. The u. S. Is an incredibly developed nation and all of us have experienced Better Cell Service on the great wall of china than wall street. So true but to kellys point tmobile has done such great things. People dont want to be attached. Ive had at t for years now and im afraid to move from it. But tmobile lets you come and go as you please because they want to offer traditionalliy a better product. If the earlier deal was blocked because this was ultimately read as bad for consumers. Will it come down to the consumer and how much this will change the game . And every time i hear about consolidation in the industry, i think about prices and know that consumers are going to worry. Once we get some of those answers, consumers can feel better understanding options that he about laid out for them. It does seem to scare consumers. Well be trapped. They can charge us whatever they want. Depends on whose mensching. If you have at t gobbling up smaller players, thats anticompetition. Kenny . We wont know yet until you see that happening until you see what pressure they put on prices. Zach, what do you think . Competition when you have a dysfunctional Delivery System does no one any good and a certain degree of consolidation, three Major Players, is hardly monopolistic, two Major Players is, by definition, duopolistic. Id rather have that three a burchl of atommized players. Lastly on this point, is there anyone outside the Telecom Space and the more kind of traditional cable broadband space who you think moves around here as youre talking about spectrum. I dont know talking about spectrum, but the other m a is time warner. Thats in place. Who knows where comcast, i know were sitting on their network right now, but thats an interesting story for me as well when you get consolidation in that space and you start to see a bidding war hopefully for time warner holders. Time warner shares have been moving all around on this speculation that seems to vfb going on for weeks. Steve, thanks very much for now. You can catch steve grasso on fast money coming up. The rest of the panel is stuck with me. Red arrows dominating this december. Will santa be skipping the street altogether this year . Two money prost duking it out. The budget deal passed by the house and extended Unemployment Benefits for 1. 3 million people. Will this put a dent in the economic recovery . Peter orszag will speak with me in a bit. announcer scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. With scottrades smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. Their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in realtime. Plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. Because they know i dont trade like everybody. I trade like me. Im with scottrade. announcer ranked highest in Investor Satisfaction with selfdirected services by j. D. Power and associates. He loves how he can click on it and get specific actionable trade ideas with their probabilities throughout the day. [ male announcer ] open an account and get a 150 amazon. Com gift card. Call 18883303136 now. Optionsxpress by charles schwab. The dow snapped a threeday losing streak today. A lot more to go before the socalled santa claus rally. Will investors get handsome returns or a lump of coal . Ron insana saying were not going to get the rally. He actually thinks a correction is on the horizon. Meg green says she believes santa is coming to town. Meg, first of all, i mean, the santa claus real, just to be clear, are you talking about december being a good month or the days after where we see upward pressure . Well, december historically has always been a good month. December attracts about 1 1 2 since 1929. But the santa claus rally that they talk about is usually after christmas until new years. And yes, were in a bull market. This little correction is a nice little correction, but theres no reason for it to stop. Tweak age little, but i see thi going. This isnt even a correction, this is a move downward 1 or 2 off alltime highs. How much higher do you think . Yeah. Well, i mean, one day were going to see an 18,000 dow, a 20,000 dow, just what the tlrip is going to be in between. Weve got a lot of money chasing about coming into the markets. Theres a lot of things going on, tax laws harvesting. A lot of Portfolio Managers want to show the good stocks on the portfolios and maybe show the losses on a bad one. Im a wealth manager. We deal with very wealthy clients. Were doing a lot of tax harvesting right now. They want to come out of their bonds a little bit. They say why should i sit in bonds . I want more in the market. I am seeing a lot of risk and confidence coming back to players. Thats not a place where you see a major correction. Maybe a little swagger. Mr. Insana, why is the collection looming . Ive been bullish since 2009. This year was quite a good year. It would be prudent for people to take some profits, but were going into a transitional 2014 that might look like 1994 95. Markets getting comfortable with the idea of tapering but that doesnt mean it wont correct. Weve not had a 10 correction as of yet. 2014 well transition in a variety of ways. Leadership might change in the market. I dont think we get the santa claus rally in the typical sense given how much weve already come up. Weve had the santa claus rally effectively all year long. Do you think the reason were seeing the numbers, the losses heading into the close, the upward momentum for the first couple of sessions has people positioning now for what, as you say, may be more of a middling performance next year . I do. I also think theres technical deterioration, not that im a technician, but weve seen new lows exceed new highs. Averages have confirmed the recent runup, but the underlying market has not. But that sets the stage for an intermediate term pullback. Im still a secular bull. As we move towards 2014, this will be the year we have to deal with a variety of things. Thats so dangerous. Can the average person afford to be out of this market on the chance that youre wrong . First of all, im not giving anybody specific at vice at this moment. We could have a 20 correction. If youre an index trader who is trying to catch swings in the market. Id like to see stocks come in, mcdonalds, disney, starbucks, id like to see them come down and id buy them again. People should be cognizant of the need to prune their portfolios and take some chips off the table and come back in. If you want to talk about valuation for the market, you can go back and forth on it. The names that ron just mentioned their numbers are high by historical standards. Some of them, yes, but theres still value in the market. You threw out the 1990s. Let me throw out 1954, the eisenhower rally. If you take a look at that, 1954 was First Time Since 1929 that the markets came back to their value. This year has been tracking 1954 i mean, 0. 95, 1 is perfect. If you look at 1954, were talking about a santa rally here, it was up 5 in december. Just to bring that back to 2013, were tracking anything this year, its at least for the last couple of months, its the yen. That may surprise some people but the correlation between the s p 500 and the japanese yen over the last lets say december to date is upwards of 70 . So meg, i guess thats something for people to keep in mind that theyre betting on japan succeeding next year as theyre betting on u. S. Stocks going higher when it comes to abenomices. If you want to go long, the japanese stock market short the japanese yen, however you want to play it. Maybe the u. S. Takes a breather while japan takes over. I dont think thats a trade. Thats a secular play. It may look meaningful on the surface, but were still in the secular market. In the short run its been five or ten days since weve had a 10 correction. I think santa will be really good to us. Only about ten days to find out. People asking for a lot if they want a santa claus rally along with Everything Else thats happened this year. Coming up, Science Fiction coming to wall street. The storyline of World Domination reading like a pad 1950s scifi flick. Amazon. Com and google, new products in all facets of our lives. Whether these two companies are taking over the world. The panel debating the two web giants. Sharknado was the high scifi movie of the year, but the reason even ziering took the role, was to get Health Insurance. Hell join us later. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u. S. . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 70 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. With fidelitys options platform, weve completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies. To get a list of equity options. Evaluate them with our p l calculator. And execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. Im greg stevens, and i helped create fidelitys options platform. Its one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. Now get 200 free trades when you open ccount. [ male announcer ] heres a question for you where does the United States get most of its energy . Is it africa . The middle east . Canada . Or the u. S. . The answer is. The u. S. Most of Americas Energy comes from right here at home. Take the energy quiz. Energy lives here. Welcome back. So there are two companies that just cant seem to be stopped. Google with its monopoly on search and amazon talking to the skies with Amazon Prime Air and shopping with amazon fresh and word is theres a pantry in the works that will take on costco and sams club. Google a leader in communications and technology. Kind of makes you feel like these two companies are poised to take over the world or something. We want to ask our panel for thought on these guys. Analyst david eggers which envisions a time when basically google, microsoft, amazon all become one mega future big brother company. And i think thats always been the fear. Thats been the fear since the beginning of the 20th century when people were worried about the big brother scifi. Everyone on wall street is reading this book. I cant tell you how many people have mentioned it. To be fair, im not reading it, im just mentioning it. Amazon will deliver it to you. And theyll give me a kindle, an actual copy. These fears are somewhat overblown although with the nsa revelations what are we afraid of, of what theyre doing or the extent to which these two companies are involved . I think its a fear of an invasion of privacy. Just at the very core level. An invasion, they know exactly where you are at every moment of the day, where you went, where you didnt go, who you called. Are you and kenny arguing for a breakup of these companies . Im arguing that you have to take a step back. I yearn for days gone by. Simpler times. Clearly were not going back there, but people have to really be concerned about what this really means. Lee sounds exasperated. My Favorite Movie outside of wall street is network, 1976 and mr. Beale gets a lecture that the world will be one ecumenical company of which everybody gets a share and everyones desires is assuaged. This whole thing about amazon taking over the world, theyve tried to do this with other things and failed. Tried to do what . The pantry, trying to get the grocery items packed to you. My wife loves this stuff, loves to get stuff on this auto thing, but then youve got all this stuff in your house. People need to remember what are you saying . To get a deal. People love stuff. And amazon is just chipping away sector by sector even if they dont make any money, the stock goes higher, you get your stuff cheap fast. I mean, its just a model that almost cant be broken. But we are being conditioned sure. As if we need it in ten nints. I dont need it in ten minutes . Of course you need it in ten minutes. I need to get the transaction done. The transaction has to take ten minutes because im busy. I have to make sure i get the purchase in ten minutes. I dont want to sit in costco in a big line with the rest of the unwashed masses. The convenience of this separate from the unwashed masses which sounds like a fox news thing. We really are benefiting from the convenience of these things, but the tradeoff is we lose some of the privacy that we think that we value. At the beginning of internet stuff said the famous, you have no privacy. Get over it. Right. As consumers we see vast amounts of information to these companies which we worry about giving to the government and we easily give to these companies for the ease of our lives. Weve focused the issue around amazon and googp, in europe they have an acronym, goathol. Which is google, amazon. That is major concern. Im out here in new mexico where a lot of my clients work for dod and this is where we have los alamos labs. Where you see these futurist books writing, we do worry about the wrong hands getting involved. Most of us would agree that were trying to get a Google Search and google kind of knows where you are trying to help us, thats one thing. But the idea that the government can easily get in there, most importantly people out here, were worried about outside hostile people getting that information. You know, kenny, this reminds me almost of the optout movement from big bank people saying opt out. But you cant opt out. Thats the problem. You cant opt out. So i think the fear builds, right . People think that and courtney, hard to tell a consumer that they shouldnt buy something from amazon if its the cheapest thing. The cheapest, fastest, easiest. My dad is a Small Business owner. Part of me doesnt love it when these Big Companies take over the world. I want to see everybody have a chance. But at the same time when youre the consumer and thats fastest, cheapest, easiest, makes it. They actually make these Small Businesses to distribute because theyve become a massive distribution network. So what happens . Everybody just stays in house, points and clicks, gets everything delivered, you never go out, never socialize, thats part of the problem especially with these kids on the internet, they dont know how to socialize. Thats completely off base. No, were doing this so we can go out and do other thins than shopping. I want to socialize and have beers with buddies and not go to costco. Well all have a drink after the show. Up next unintended consequences. How much can the economy really slow down when people stop receiving unemployment checks . Peter orszag tackling that issue next. Keep it right here. Plus sharknado alert, ian ziering will give us a tell hen all about why he took the role. Hint, it has to do with health care. On the sunny side of the street [ male announcer ] for every late night, every weekend worked, every idea sold. You deserve a cadillac, the Fastest Growing fullline luxury brand in the United States. Including the all new 2014 cadillac cts, motor trends 2014 car of the year. Now during our seasons best event, get the best offers of the season on our Award Winning products, like the 2014 ats and srx. Welcome back. The website heating up like a yule log this afternoon. Allen wastler keeping an eye on whats on the hot list this friday. Allen . Kelly, today were looking at pensions and asking the question is 3 the new 8 . Thats a feature weve got leading the site right now. People going into it at the rate of 45 readers a minute. Takes a look at pengs when figuring how much they have to pay out. Theyve always assumed an 8 rate on their investments but they havent done that in the last few years. So theyre having to revise backwards. Huge potential implications, even if they move it to 7 1 2 or 7. But i digress. Congress, the budget deal, we have a look from ben white of politico. He took a look at what could happen to mess it up. Yes, theres chatter in the senate about a filibuster, some cloit yur votes and maybe he can deep dive with it. They took a look at gold and how some experts actually think it could have a bounce in First Quarter of next year. Thats basically an inflation play. You look at bonds creeping up on the yield a little bit. Thinking gold, people get concerned about inflation. If gold is still bouncing, that means theres still room for it to move lower. Always up and down. Allen wastler, have a great weekend. You too. Allen mentioned the budget agreement in washington. Will it be tripped up as it heads to the senate . No better person than to talk to peter orszag. Now vice chairman for citigroup. Thanks so much for being here this afternoon. Great to be with you. What do you make of the fact that were now potentially headed towards the first budget in four years if its not tripped up next week . Its better than not having a deal but we shouldnt get too excited. The big deal is we may have 12 to 14 months in which washington dysfunction doesnt get in the way of the economy, that would be great. But lets not celebrate too much. This is a very small board deal. At the same time, though, the fact, the improving economy, the improving budget situation frankly has made all this seem a lot less pressing. The real pressure now probably coming from things like the debt ceiling, which hasnt been reckoned with and will loom again in february or march. We wont have another debt limit debacle. What i expect is a shortterm extension through the end of the year, early 2015. At that point we may have another problem, but i dont think were going to have it this spring. Its just too soon. Both sides, its not the right i dont think well have another big fight in the spring of 2014, which again is one reason why look out 12 months u. S. Economy actually looks moderately constructive. Less fiscal drag from the federal government, low probability of any big, you know, imbroglios and the nonfederal sector which is growing at not a great clip but at a decent clip could carry the rest of the economy along to perhapses a 3 growth rate. Theres a quote on the screen here for people who cant see it, but this is Potomac Research group talking about the deficit, the tax receipts are so strong and yes, theyre helped by fannie and freddie, which theyll continue to be helped by, those receipts are so strong, the deficit could fall blow 2 of gdp by 2014 and could have a small surplus by 2016. Is that part of the reason why the markets are suddenly thinking gee, this could be the reason that the fed tapers . More that the economys recovering that leadses to fed tapering but the deficit story is quite good, theres a massive story in medicare. Medicare spending in the first two months of this fiscal year, october, november, was in nominal terms lower than last year. Thats unbelievably rare historically and it follows up several years of very slow growth. If that trend continues, everything you think you know about the longterm fiscal picture facing the United States is wrong. Yet, there is one troubling spot for a lot of people and the fact that the extended unemployment benefit program, which gives people benefits for up to 99 weeks will not continue past the end of the year. Not necessarily the length of that program was ever going to be extended, just the program itself. That means 1. 3 is about the figure people who will lose access to jobless benefits come january. How much of a hurdle, how much of a headwind is that . 1. 3 million in january, then more over the course of 2014. Look, unfortunate because Unemployment Benefits in a weak economy when we still have elevated unemployment both helped unemployed families but just as importantly helped to boost demand which is what we need. In my view, better if we extended that program, but again even if we dont, i hope we do, but even if we dont, 2014 is shaping up to be a better year than 2013 in the previous years. Do you think if its not part of this deal that extending Unemployment Benefits for those affected people who we were just discussing could still crop back up . Possibly, but unlikely. There are various machinations going on to try to introduce an extension into different bills, possible. But i wouldnt count on it. Peter orszag, thank you for your perspective this afternoon. The interview youve all been waiting for. Sharknado star ian ziering in the house. As the hobbit sequel hits theaters, were asking if youre going to see it. You can tweet us at cnbc closing bell or anything else youve heard on the program. My customers can shop around see who does good work and compare costs. It doesnt usually work that way with health care. But with unitedhealthcare, i get information on quality rated doctors, Treatment Options and estimates for how much ill pay. That helps me, and my guys, make better decisions. I dont like guesses with my business, and definitely not with our health. Innovations that work for you. Thats health in numbers. Unitedhealthcare. If every u. S. Home replaced one light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, the energy saved could light how many homes . 1 million . 2 million . 3 million . The answer is. 3 million homes. By 2030, investments in Energy Efficiency could help americans save 300 billion each year. Take the energy quiz. Energy lives here. Maestro of project management. Baron of the buildout. You need a permit. To be this awesome. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. aaron purrrfect. vo meeeow, business pro. Meeeow. Go national. Go like a pro. Scifi sharknado was the summers most tweetedabout movie gaining more than game of thrones even. But what do we mean by that . Here to explain in an exclusive interview is ian ziering, yes, the star of sharknado among many other projects. Very exciting to be down here on the floor. Have you can here to the Stock Exchange . Never, never. You missed most of the action. Not as far as im concerned looking at you. Sharknado everyone thinks about as this summer cultish hit never thought that you would have taken the job for Health Insurance. As an actor, i get my Health Insurance from the unions and you need to make so much every year to qualify for the plan one, the type one insurance. If you dont make it, theres the second tier, which is a bigger deductible and a bigger copay, but in early january, it was just the beginning of the year and i hadnt met any quota as of yet. And as i read the script, i was really very concerned. There were a lot of moments where you have to suspend belief and trust that the visual effects would fill in the blanks. And when you get a low budget Science Fiction movie across your desk, you have to wonder is it going to be gumby or avatar. It didnt have a name on it at the time. It did. Dark skies which madae at mad palatable. But the week of production were changing the name to sharknado. You thought you were doing a vampire remake. If you had known that you could at least have attempted to sign up for obama care come november, would you not have made the movie . You know, ive been very lucky in my career. And i havent i guess not until now worried about it. Having a family now changes my focus. Changes the picture. Where it was always about me whenever i was doing something and having been fortunate to have worked in this industry. Health insurance, type one or type two, ive always been healthy, but now as a dad of two little girls, failure is not an option. I would have gotten into it a little bit more carefully, learned about it more if it wasnt for this. But sharknado came along. Theyre talking about making the sequel. Are you thinking of being involved . Were in talking right now. The Science Fiction fans are the biggest fans. Apparently there are a lot out there. I hate to say this again, i didnt know what sharknado was. Im going to have to google it. Now i have to go home and watch it because it gets rave reviews. Look at that. Cant get away from it. Interesting because the point that you make is kind of the very thing that i think obama care tries to get at, the more money the actor makes the less expensive his Health Insurance is, the less money you make the more expensive it is with regard to the deductible. It is a big problem because in my industry there are far too few jobs and too many actors. To be an actor is the dream of so many people. I want to be an actor, i want o be a star. Have a plan b. Because you know what . Its tough. Its a very cutthroat business. I know before i got 90210. It had been 18 months since i had any work. I went in for the audition, there were a pile of scripts and just an empty signin sheet. Im looking at this sheet, looking at 50 scripts thinking all these people are going to be auditions for steve sanders. Hello . Is anyone here . Someone in the back office said, sign your name and take a script. Looking at that and thinking id been unemployed for 18 months. I wrote my name, ben dover and i took all the scripts. Not the most ethical thing, but the end certainly justified the means. A very competitive business. In retrospect i think they hired the right steve sanders. America thinks so, too. Congratulations on your new family. Thank you. Thank you for coming here and sharing your perspective. Sharknado there he is ian ziering. Were getting some emails from Bernie Madoff. Scott cohn has all the details. If jpmorgan and u. S. Authorities can come to terms on the settlement theyre working on over the banks role in the madoff scandal, could some of the governments leverage have come from Bernie Madoff himself . Thats the latest claim from Bernie Madoff in a brand new series of emails that he sent me from the federal prison in North Carolina where hes living out his life. He said he has provided Key Information to the treasury Inspector Generals Office which is among those investigating jpmorgan which, of course, was madoffs primary bank for decades. The igs Office Confirms that it heard from someone saying they represented madoff but they havent said if that information was of any use or even if they received any information. For months madoff is claiming that he was instrumental in pressuring those who were complicit in his scheme to return the money. Picard has recovered millions but his business says no thanks to madoff. I think he would like to turn his image around by suggesting he lass something to do with it. As far as irving and i know and everyone on our team, hes done nothing to assist us. You might ask why sheehan had no interest in the info i offered threw Peter Chavkin regarding jpmorgan which the ig of the Treasury Department eagerly accepted from me. Hes not responded to our repeated requests for comment. Bernie madoff is quick to add, im not looking for any type of credit for my assistance, just their honesty. Nothing at this point i could do would help my image. Hes got that right. He says i live with the terrible, guilt, shame and remorse for the pain and suffering ive caused to everyone. That proposed settlement with jpmorgan could be wrap up in weeks. Was it with madoffs help . We dont know. Mega millions fever sweeping the country. Next, the head of the grocery chain checking sales and if they boost foot traffic in his stores. Every victory this evil will grow. If youre going to see the new hobbit movie this weekend. Expected to be one of the years blockbusters. The American Dream is of a better future, a confident retirement. Those dreams, theres just no way were going to let them die. Like they helped millions of others. By listening. Planning. Working one on one. Thats what Ameriprise Financial does. Thats what they can do with you. Thats how ameriprise puts more within reach. 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Call 18883303136 now. Optionsxpress by charles schwab. Welcome back. Well, you still have time to get a Lottery Ticket because the Mega Millions jackpot has surged to 425 million. The drawing, i believe, is tonight. Morgan drawing, i believe, is tonight, Morgan Brennan at a liquor store in new jersey where the last ticket was sold. And morgan, does that mean more people are going there or fewer do you think . I think were seeing major foot traffic here, were at eagle liqueurs. They were the sellers of the winning powerball ticket. 338 million back in march. They actually sold other winning tickets, notably scratchoffs since then weve seen right now, as you can see here, 1,064 tickets sold. To put that number in perspective, a mere 45 minutes ago, the number was 850 tickets, and around lunch time, that number was 400 tickets. Seeing a lot of foot traffic, what is notable here, the store owners tell me, that power balls always had a huge appetite regardless of the size of the jackpot, megamillions. The jackpot being this big, its now got just as big an appetite among ticket buyers. Wow. Morgan, by the way, am i right, its tonight, the drawing, yes . The drawing is tonight at 11 00, 425 million, the cash buyout is 220 million, before taxes. And ive got my ticket right here. Ill see if lightning strikes again. Yeah. We know, if you win, youre spreading it evenly with all of us, right . Well see. Well see. Im not going to say anything on the record. Im going to check out the article on cnbc. Com before i make promises. Very smart. Morgan, thank you. Seeking out that spot where they won big last time. Maybe they will do it again. Have a good night our next guest bought tickets today but sold more. Hes on track to sell about five to 10,000 tickets today alone. Joining me the ceo of the Supermarket Chain that bears his familys name, stu great to have you with us. Thanks, kelly, nice to be here. You have of that gated your store many a time, you do a Great Holiday display, always a lot of fun. Im surprised, actually, youre selling lotto tickets, why . You know who recommended this to us . A great family friend, that we have, danny wegman of wegmans, we were visiting him, he said you have to start selling Lottery Tickets, so we did. I have my ticket today, too. Well, we hope youll share that with all no. Kidding. When it comes to selling lotto tickets, do you stop and go, wait a minute, im running a grocery business, we all joke and have fun playing with the megamillions, but we know over time, stu, this is a tax on the mathematically challenged, tax on stupidity, so to speak. I was with a customer today, standing right at our store, and i was in the line, you know, waiting to get my ticket. And a customer looked over at me and said, are you crazy for waiting in line . Its the odds are better that youll be struck by lightning. Right. Right. By the way, its not just the odds, theres also something unsavory about its gambling. Youre basically saying to people, were okay with using gambling to get people into our stores. Well, you know what, those are tough questions, we also sell wine and liquor and food like steaks and things unhealthy for you supposedly, chocolate chip cookies and fudge. So at some point, it is a legal thing, and customers love it, theres a frenzy at the store right now. Over buying these tickets. And its fun. I had a good time today. Yeah. Our panel is trying to get in here. I just think it allows people to dream, right, when they think about being able to win 400 million. Wherever they are. So do i think of it as a vice . I dont. I think it gives people an opportunity just to dream what life could be like. Stu, couldnt they dream otherwise in your store . They see the disz play. It is, everybody has one of those tickets today, thats a great point, has a dream. Its nice to think about what would happen if you walked away and somebody gave you a check for over 200 million at 11 00 tonight. And five to 10,000 tickets aint shabby, sure youre enjoying the foot traffic. Thanks very much. Have a great weekend. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Enjoy the snow back east here. Well try. Be safe out there as well. Okay. Thank you, kelly. Thank you, sir. Well put the best tweets on air, coming up next, lots of stuff, that people are still talking about, our segments earlier, what happened with the sprint deal, all that coming up when we come back. Keep it right here. Of the yearand some s [ ding ] at the lexus december to remember sales event. This is the pursuit of perfection. At the lexus december to remember sales event. announcer at scottrade, our clto make their money do more. 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[ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the Aerospace Industry in the u. S. . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 70 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. [ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of true artistry and some of the best offers of the year at the lexus december to remember sales event. This is the pursuit of perfection. Welcome back, youve been tweeting all day, here are the ones we found most apt, whoever thinks santa is leaving coal in stockings this year doesnt own high pe stocks without profits. I like that. Then regarding tonights lottery pick, if he won, he would move to a state with no income tax. This is for you, kenny, and remove himself from all social media. Then we asked, who is going to see the new hobbit this weekend, we are staying here in middle earth until after the flakes fly. Which is an interesting point. The extent to which the storm keeps people in. In a certain set of markets. Are you going to see it . You know, my son certainly expects me to go see it with him. Does he . What about moving to the middle of the country . Were going to go to chicago, win the lotto and see multiple showings of the hobbit. Thats a pretty good plan for the evening. Wanted to give you a chance to jump in with a final thought. Well, you know, i think the things weve talked about this year, we start to wrap up and look towards the past couple weeks all investors out there need to remember, we have to be more patient about trading, we cant get caught up in the santa claus rally, in how everybody will allocate, theres a lot of risk appetite, a lot of people look to get into stocks. Whats the only what tells you were all going to be okay . The thing that tells me its going to be okay is that we have international merging markets next year that will pick up the pace. Bottom line, if you take your glasses off and look at the fuzzy trend, we still have the job trends, you know, the jobless numbers are trending down. And also, Government Spending versus gdp, its getting crushed, we have stealth we talked about how we could have a small surplus. Kenny. Wasnt sure if you were about to jump in and disagree. I know youre thinking about the lotto ticket. Dont you think theres something to be said about this being a tax or a penalty on those who cant really afford it by this perpetuation . Absolutely. You go to atlantic city, plenty of people cant sit in front of the one armed bandit, and they are sitting there doing it. I agree. For certain but people its their way out is what they think. Right . All right. Thanks so much to everyone for joining us this weekend. Stay inside. If youre trying to avoid the weather, see the hobbit. Fast money coming up in just a few seconds. Talking to one of the years hottest ipo ceos, is that right . Absolutely. It is scott winger from channel advisor, its going to be interesting interview, every single retailer out there needs an Online Presence and is trying to beat each other out to get online. Well ask about what that means for his growth trajectory. Its a friday night in times square, lots of people out there, a Great Holiday mood here. Feeling festive. Were feeling it for friday night. We hope you have a lot owe ticket. I have to go get one. I got to go get one. You too as well. Thanks so much. Fast money starts right now, and i said, we are live from times square here at the Nasdaq Market site in New York Times square. Im sitting in for melissa lee. This is tonights lineup. Watch out intel, google is looking to move in on your turf. All those details coming up. And going against goldman,