All know. This storm that made its way through the south and up the east coast this week may have been the harshest one so far. Freezing rain, snow measured in feet, not inches, and weve already gotten about a foot here in the northeast. The Economic Impact cannot be denied as hundreds of thousands are without power and about 20 of all flights in the u. S. Have been canceled this week. We will have complete Team Coverage of that coming up. Yeah, we all seem to be wearing our meteorologist hat lately. Bill, i also have to tell you, aig ceo Bob Benmosche is making it to the New York Stock Exchange today, despite the snow. Earnings for his company are due in about an hour. Well have those numbers first an exclusive reaction. Thats coming up in about an hour. And of course more on the deal of the day, the business story of the day. Comcast, our parent, moving to buy Time Warner Cable for 45 billion plus. We will hear exclusively from a man who rarely gives interview these days, former time warner ceo gerald levin. Get his take on this deal, which should be very interesting because it is the content providers who some say could pose an obstacle to this being approved. So a lot of folks will be listening closely to gerry levin in a few minutes. Now lets look across the markets. We started the day negative. We had weak sessions overnight across europe and asia. Some worries about earnings. The yen was stronger. Right now, as we stand and head into the last hour, things have turned around. The dow is up about 66 points. Its back above 16,000. The s p 500 adding several points. Same with the nasdaq, which is also green at this hour. By the way, in case you really are paying attention, today janet yellen was supposed to testify before the Senate Banking committee. That has been postponed because of the weather. Lets talk about the markets in our Closing Bell Exchange with Patty Edwards from u. S. Bank, jim lowell, david sourby, and dennis garteman. Patty, maybe its your maternal instincts kicking, in but you see the relationship as a parentchild relationship between the fed and the markets. I have two boys. Theyre both very different. Youre seeing it throughout the world, markets are reacting differently. If you look at some of the emerging markets that are different, theyve been overspending the past few years. Those are the ones kicking their feet ae remember belling. If you look at the u. S. , weve been better behaved. Were starting to get our house in order. Youre starting to see it in the stock market and the numbers. Mark, why the turn around, especially after the early numbers like the retail sales report, were a miss . Kelly, i think its a function of its really tough to keep a good market down. You know, weve had this corrective phase in the equity market here early on in the year. I think largely because as much as anything, there was an absence of buyers and sellers who were looking for an excuse to sell. They had one form of weaker comparable Economic Data along with some concerns about emerging market currencies in related countries. Now were starting, i think, to attribute a high probability to the weatherrelated impact on these economic statistics. Were looking back on track for a better economic climate on a goforward basis in the u. S. Equities remain the asset class of choice for most investors given the lack of alternatives in bond land and in cash. Dennis, you have said youre quietly bullish. Not anymore. Now that were mentioning it on television. Are you skeptical on this rally . Was the pullback we saw in january and february it for the time being . Or is there more to come . What do you think is happening here . Ive been around for a long time, but that break last week scared the bejeepers out of me. But this is still a bull market. We have to remember that fact. Todays activity, i thought, was very impressive. Every reason to sell stocks lower this morning. They tried to break them. They cant. Its still moving upward. Its still a bull market. You can only have one of three positions. Really, really long, pleasantly long, or neutral. Youve got to be at least pleasantly long. You have to own stuff. Or longer, bill. If you go back to the 1940s, more than 60 years of history, years after stocks significantly beat bonds, such as 2013, stocks can beat bonds by as much as eight percentage points, especially it you dont get a recession. For this recent turnaround, you had the average stock down 10 from its 52week high last week. They were still down about 8 as of midday today from their 52week high. I think thats inviting buyers into the market and thats why weve seen this turnaround. Because 2014, i think, can be surprisingly good for stocks, even after an incredible year last year. And jim, i want to talk a little bit about this megamerger we have. Its a merger thursday, in fact. The comcast time warner deal, the tenth largest deal on record, the Third Largest deal in the media and entertainment sector of all time. Do you think that has anything to do with the reaction weve seen today . It probably has a lot to do with the fact that money is still relatively cheap for corporate borrowers. Now more than ever it makes sense to true and pursue a merger and acquisitions strategy, which may or may not find good grace with the regulators. Overall, its days like this i miss Rick Santelli the most. Unfortunately, we seem to be in agreement that flat is about exactly where we thought these markets would be at this stage. But the longterm prospects are for, we think, reasonable gains. Who was jumping in there . Well, let me bring dennis in. I want to ask you about your favorite investment, gold, which has been flirting with 1300, even as the stock market goes higher. So, you know, that would suggest a hedging position, even as the riskon position picks up here. Whats going on . It really is. I mean, that is the trade of the year, is to own gold and own stocks. It would seem to be antithet call to one another. But thats whats going on. I guess the markets are expecting the fed to continue to follow the same policies, to expand reserves into the system, moneys finding its way into the gold market. Im not a gold bug, but gold is going higher again. Its interesting to watch gold and to watch the stock market move together. If you feel like you have to hedge something, buy stocks, buy gold. I would not be a buyer of gold in any way shape or form. The best way to purchase god and use it is to put it around the neck of someone you love. The reality is that gold is a broken trade. Id much rather own even a tenyear treasury etf than gold if i was looking for a way to counterweight my blue chip equity position. Gold is a diversification in portfolios. In portfolios where correlations have gone higher, gold is still a low correlated asset. Maybe not in 2014. But long term its a low correlation, ill grand you that. But the volatility of its price behavior renders that, i think, inoperable. Theres going to be a time we want an inflation hedge in our portfolios. May not be this year. Always will be. Patty, on gold . You know, i think that you want to have an asset diversified portfolio. We like having gold as part of that diversification, but its not a large piece of the pie. What you have to bear in mind is that its not just the u. S. Buyer going in there and buying gold. There are a lot of places around the world where currencies are devaluing. I think thats part probably where were seeing some of the buying on the mar jen. Emerging market buyers are basically shying away from food, let alone gold. I dont think that holds water. Mark, can i ask you quickly about your earnings . Weve had so many in the last 24 hours. In fact, a lot of notable misses again, whether youre talking about some of the european players or cisco yesterday. Kind of a soft report. We had some key earnings coming up after the bell today as well. Does any of that matter here . Are earnings driving the market . What are you looking for . Well, i think some of the companies that have reported earnings that missed expectations were somewhat unique to that particular company as opposed to being an indictment of an industry or the market at large. We know that actually earnings beats are running at about 65 , 75 , which is decent. R revenue is also at 65 to 75 , which is particularly good, which means you dont have to purely manufacture earnings. In addition, the Earnings Growth rate on a yearoveryear basis is coming in around 8 to 9 , which is better than expected. All in, i think the market is feeding off the mothers milk of corporate profits, as larry kudlow is renowned to say, as opposed to necessarily trading up and expanding valuations purely on the come. I think thats good news, even accounting for those companies that have come in and obviously disappointed investors. And add in that the mirk cyclical small caps are running earnings 13 to 14 compared to yearago levels. Revenue, 7 or better. I think the earnings story is still well intact. Were about threequarters of the way through. So far, so good. Thank you, all, for your thoughts on the markets today. Good to see you all. Appreciate it. About 15 minutes left in the trading session here. About 160point swing for the dow from bottom to top. The dow opened down 90 points. We were up 70 a while ago. And weve got fed chair janet yellen speaking on tuesday. The market rallying back from what had been a dismal start to the year. But is the fed the only thing thats keeping stocks afloat now . We want to talk about that next. And remember, its the nasty Winter Weather that canceled her testimony today before the Banking Senate committee. We want to know if you think the market would have done even better if she had spoken again. Your best tweets on that issue. Its cnbcclosingbell on twitter. Later, insurance giant aig set to report earnings just after the closing bell. Ceo Bob Benmosche will break own the momenumbers moments after theyre released. Keep it here. Youre watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. So were up early. Up late. Thinking up gamechanging ideas, like this dozens of tax free zones across new york state. Move here. Expand here. Or start a new business here. And pay no taxes for 10 years. With new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. Theres only one way for your business to go. Up. Find out if your business can qualify at startupny. Com where you think youre gonna go when your times all gone . [ male announcer ] live a full life. The new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. The further you go, the more interesting it gets. Lease the 2014 ct 200h for 299 a month for 27 months. See your lexus dealer. For 299 a month for 27 months. 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 . You never stop achieving. Thats why, at barclays, our ambition is to always realize yours. When fed chair janet yellen speak, the market listens, and so far it liked what she had to say on tuesday. The dow finished up nearly 200 points after her first congressional testimony. While the markets have come back a bit, the dow was down more than 90 points at its low this morning. Thats right. We have had a substantial comeback today. The question is whether markets will be trading even higher if the massive snowstorm hadnt postponed yellens testimony today. How much impact, in other words, is she having on these markets . With us now, greg ip from the economist and our own Rick Santelli. Great to see you both. Greg, first to you. There are people here who are saying on trading desks that it feels like every time whether its yellen, if theyre speaking the right language, the dovish language the market likes to here that bolsters stocks, they start speaking and support goes. I dont follow that logic. Janet yellen basically said it would take a notable beklein in our forecast to change our tapering plans, and we think everythings fine. Im not worried about the last two bad payroll numbers. Therefore, we infer from that nothing is going to change in terms of tapering. Why would you get bullish over that . On the one hand this morning, we had these awful, awful retail Sales Numbers, and you have so on the one hand, you have the data getting worse on the economy and a fed chairman telling us shes not going to do anything about it. Soy dont see why thats reason to be bullish. I think the best spin you can put on it is she knows something we dont or she has a better fix than we do. And her optimism is going to be vindicated. Rick, are we making too much of a correlation between a fed chair speaking on any given day and the Market Movement on that same day . Well, i think in many ways, in this particular instance, the answer would be yes. I do agree with most of what graeg said. I do think the perception that the house vote the evening of her testimony was pretty much a lock or they wouldnt have called the vote. Had a lot to do with the rally. Yes, on the debt ceiling. Clean cr. I also think that the negative cycle that was going on between china and its trust issues and potential default there in the notion of what was going on in the emerging markets all played into the storm so that Janet Yellens timing was good. Im not so sure anything she said was largely responsible except for one thing. As i talk to traders, they still thought that the way she framed it, maybe not even much different than ben bernanke, but that they could go either way, okay. If the data happened to slow dramatically, they could actually extend quantitative easing. I think that theres a half of ben bernanke left. I think thats one of the main issues i have. I think we need normalization much faster. Greg, theres, what, let me see, seven meetings left. Were at 65 billion. 10 billion a meeting means in october, the second to last meeting before december, which is the last, wed have 5 billion. Its going to take the whole year at this pace to get rid of qe. That doesnt even address other issues. We need to normalize. I think the markets will get a whole lot more impatient. Greg . I think its actually valuable were going to get this big gap between her testimony and her senate testimony. Shes got to be asked more closely about what these bad numbers mean. This morning, Morgan Stanley took their tracking number for First Quarter gdp growth down to 1 . Now, the fed is out there with a 3 forecast for all of 2014. At some point, how do they reconcile these two facts . I want to hear the senate its the weather its the weather, greg. Come on, its the weather. Rick, come on, please. Explain to me why the weather caused Internet Sales to fall 0. 3 in january. Was the weather keeping you off of amazon. Com . No, im just teasing you. The weather excuse is wearing thin. Im completely in agreement with you. The weather is just an excuse. And granted, its going to definitely play in effect. But it isnt going to play to the extent that i think some investors think. And therein lies the rub, greg. Here we are again. In 2011, 2012 s we had a lot of bumps in gdp that fell flat in subsequent quarters. Youre talking about a one handle on First Quarter gdp. Even if you look at some of the other estimates, i believe goldmans at 1. 9, were going to see the second revision shortly for Fourth Quarter gdp. Thats going to be under 3 . Weve seen this movie again. Their programs dont have efficacy. We shouldnt be penalizing savers anymore. Richard fisher, where are you . Rick, for those who think that zerv may be a bad guy in the star wars movies, what is it . Zero Interest Rate policy. Sorry. Let me make a quick point. Rick has touched on something important here, and it pains me to say so. The issue is can the economy actually grow faster than 2 or 3 year after year s . We keep expecting a year of 3 growth and keep not getting it. But look at the unemployment rate. Year after year with this crummy growth, it keeps going down. At some point, the fed and the rest of us will have to grapple with the possibility that the economy cannot grow faster than this. That only happens if the inflation rate starts to move up. Thats the only time in which the way no. Because look. If thats the case its not about the inflation rate. Youre not going to have inflation until you have velocity. No. Youre not going to have inflation until you have ve loss itty. Youre not going to have velocity until all those excess piles of money get to work. With all the stock buybacks i see, thats not going to happen any time soon. I think the real issue here is simple. Were going to turn into japan potentially. Greg, the price weve paid to not have disastrous outcomes around the world in 2007 and 08 and subsequent years was through efforts that are going to shave growth in the long term. Thats the way it looks. I dont think theres any doomsday scenarios out there like many do that are looking at that 1929 chart for stocks. But i think weve sacrificed future growth by all of these programs that have wasted a lot of time, money on strategies that dont work and created longterm deficits. Were going to have to service for a very long time. Very quickly, greg. I disagree with that, but lets forget about the past, look at the future. Kelly made a good point about inflation. Interestingly enough, yellens staff said they dont think the drop in inflation weve had is fundamental. They think its more related to the dollar and commodities. They dont see anything strange going on with wage inflation. Theyre starting to come around to the point of view theres less disinflationary slat in the economy than we used to think. Thanks, guys. I never cease to be amazed that we all hear the same testimony, hear all the same words, but we can never agree on what it means when it comes to fed policy. Thats what makes a market. Thank god were in the tv business, bill. Thats a good thing. Got it. Thanks, rick. Thanks, greg. We have 40 minutes left to go into the close. The dow losing ground a little bit, but were still up 50 points. Its a turnaround from earlier. Nasdaq and s p also green. Lets talk about this massive deal in the cable industry. Our parent, comcast, moves to buy Time Warner Cable. The deal is procompetitive. Its proconsumer. Were going to be able to bring better products, fast