.75%. and the stand & poors down 10 points. red arrows on wall street. red sectors in the lead on the downside. bob, what was it all about? >> the important thing is, a little bit of fed speak and a little bit of economic news that didn't add up for anything positive overall -- thank you, william. getting ice cream from william here. let's look at the key point here. a couple of fed speakers -- will lockhart said the fed could begin tapering anytime this year. mr. evans in chicago would not rule out a september tapering. that was interesting, because he's a big -- it may have weighed on the market. it came out in the middle of the day. overall, more technical in nature what was happening, maria. the market leaders looked tired. biotech and the homebuilders and the transports. there's been a high level of complacency with the vix very low. and the u.s. outperforming the world for months and months, and that will continue, because the economic numbers are still pretty good overall. the trade deficit, narrower than expected. that's a beat. the other day, ism services, nonfarm payroll, the only real outlier we've had so far in the july economic numbers. individual sectors today, retail stocks were very noticeable, because certain stocks were up and certain were down here. michael kors and fossil had great commentary on the rest of the year. you'll notice the companies, the same thing they have in common, accessories -- boots and jewelry, all doing well. look at teen retailers, american eagle, very negative guidance, and it weighed on that particular sector. a great interview with ashton kutcher and looking forward to the second half of that this afternoon. >> oh, thank you so much, bob. we'll talk about the movie, "jobs." joining us now to break it down, amy wu, david from hightower and michael and gordon, just finishing up the trading and gordon will join us in a moment. amy, let me kick it off with you. what does today's market action tell you about what's ahead? >> hi, maria. you know, i think part of it is is the doldrum of the summer months. it's not telling you as much as we would like, obviously. life after taper is on everybody's minds. from an options perspective, we really didn't see a ton of hedging. we saw some volatility being botched through the vix call spreads, a little bit of hedging. again, really not as much as you would suspect. i think a little bit of it has to do with the low volumes during the summer. >> and the low volumes have been an issue pretty much for the year. i mean, does it bother you that volume is low even when we're going up? in other words, you don't have that kind of participation on the upside or the downside? >> yeah, no, it's definitely been an issue, and we've had this consistently low implied volatility regime. and i think one of the things that happened is people who own volatility, owned hedges earlier in the year, got so burned because the market continued to go up. they're not willing to do any more hedges, and you know maybe this time around it's the boys cried wolf too many times and this may be the time when you need it. >> right, right. gordon, you finish your trading for the day. you're with us from rosenblatt securities. tell me what went on at the end of the day here. what does this market tell you, down about 93, about what could happen tomorrow? >> it's an interesting market, maria. some of the guys were thinking they were taken down harder at the bell. they stabilized a little bit. it was a particularly ugly close. it's a funny market now, because we have a situation where you have people that seem to be afraid there will be tapering. you have people that are afraid because they think the economy is slowing down. so you don't get the sense people are afraid, and they're not sure why they're afraid, but the market's at an all-time high, and, therefore, there's a reason to think it will back end. overall, though, it's starting to feel like a summer. a lot of guys would be happy to see this thing take a little bit of a breath over the next three, four weeks. unfortunately, i don't necessarily think that will be what's happening. you have things in the fall that people will be planning for, some forward-looking events. you'll still have the debt debate down in d.c. you've got german elections. so there are a lot of stock-specific things happening today, over the next month or two, so it's going to get interesting here. but the trend right now is just to back in a little bit. it's not a correction. it's a healthy retracement on sort of a minimal level, and, you know, about what you would expect considering where we've been, how we've gotten here. >> in fact, we haven't had a correction, pretty much this entire bull leg. the worst we saw was down 3% or 3.5%. david, does that frighten you? do you want to put new money to work here? >> yeah, no, we're not really inclined to put money to work here at these levels, maria. i mean, we're a long-term investor, and we're bullish on the u.s. economy long term. but after a 20% year-to-date rally on multiple expansion, not a lot of revenue growth to go with that, and then a heavy, heavy dose of fed monetary medicine supporting the market, we think maybe a little bit of taper fears are coming back into the market here today. so we're not inclined to commit new capital at this point in time. our biggest fear as we look ahead, qe 1, qe 2, and those programs ended, we had precipitous declines in the markets right after that occurred. so here we are, you know, a third time at bat, so it reminds us of a scene from "charlie brown" where bernanke plays the role of lucy, the football is our monetary policy, and our concern is investors chasing the market are charlie brown, expecting a different outcome, and probably going to end up flat on their back if they chase the returns at these levels. >> good analogy. lucy and charlie brown. i like it. mike santelli, what about that, in terms of bernanke and the fed? have the expectations changed for tapering beginning in september, given the economic data out there? >> i think september's still the odds-on favorite. i honestly don't think the stakes are quite as high in terms of exactly when the reduction in bond buying is initiated. by that, charlie brown/lucy analogy, how will we define what the end of qe 3 is, when they start to cut back, is it when the sun sets entirely? i honestly think it's probably not as big a swing factor. i want to say the bond market reacts to the prospect, and i guess the anticipation of september assuming that remains a target is going to be a perfect excuse for this market to maybe back off a little bit. august and september are the time when is it might do that. even in the best years we've had, and by the way, this is one of the best years ever, the best since '97. you've had some friction in august, as you digest the game. so to me, it makes a lot of sense. i want to see how sentiment responds to every little dip, because in the past, 2% dip, people start actually having the little mini-panics and that has almost thwarted the downside. that's why we haven't had a full-blown correction. >> yeah, it's true. you know, some might say we've seen corrections in a handful of sectors as the rotation has evolved. gordon, technology has been underperformer today, and today we're looking at ibm to be a problem for the dow. where are you seeing the most sellers in terms of industry? >> i mean, each one is specific. i mean, that's what you see in a market like this, where volume is down. you know, ibm, some analysts i think downgraded, and that precipitated the move we've seen lately. look, some of these things are were high flyers and they maybe got ahead of themselves a little bit. the question remains, is this going to be a market that people feel the performance squeeze and anytime it backs in, they'll be there to buy them through the end of the year, or is it going to be a full-turn reversal or correction? i'm sort of from the former on that. it seems to me what i'm seeing, guys are still sitting there waiting for their opportunities to pounce, and it just doesn't feel to me like, you know, we really have that sort of sense that -- of gloom and doom. i think we'll be okay. you're going to see a little bit of a sell-off. you know, every time that these guys get an opportunity, particularly as they try to chase returns into the end of the year, they'll be there with the buy orders. >> when does that change? when does the buy on the dip mentality no longer work? is it when interest rates are at considerably higher levels? >> well, you look, there are a couple of things at play, and certainly interest rates is one of them. the fed tapering. look, they taper, how much will they taper. they go from 85%, take it down 10%, billion, not million, sorry. how far will they go? so they'll fine tune it up there. it won't be that they just stop. they'll adjust it as they think is necessary. the market seems to be stage. europe seems to be picking up or holding its own. we're grinding along okay. there's no reason to suspect we'll have some sort of full-blown correction or reversal here. >> all right. we'll go to john. we're watching earnings and fox is out. getting to julia boorstin now with the 21st century fox results. over to you, julia. look at that stock. >> maria, yeah. this is the first earnings report since 21st century fox spun off from news corp. and revenue came in better than expected at $7.12 billion. expectations were $7.12 billion. now, that's up 16% from a year ago. now, earnings per share are coming in less than expected. adjusted earnings per share for fox is 31 cents for the quarter. wall street had been looking for 34 cents. so that's three cents less than expected but the company gives the comparisons to the year-ago period, up from 27 cents a year ago. this is fox's fiscal fourth quarter and the company says that the 10% increase for annual revenues nearly three-quarters of this reflect s growth at cabe network programming and television. the real growth was ad cable network programming. and we saw an improvement in filmed entertainment and also improvement in direct and broadcast satellite television. so, maria, this is the company that's free of the newspaper assets and it seems to be making progress. back over to you. >> all right. thank you so much, julia. the stock up almost 1% right now on fox. breaking news. president obama is outlining a proposal to overhaul fannie mae and freddie mac. diana olick is monitoring the president's speech happening now in arizona. diana, over to you. >> reporter: that's right, mar e maria, the president is at the podium in arizona. this is a part victory lap and part call to action. the focus, mortgage finance. he will say private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market and advocate winding down fannie mae and freddie back, which back two-thirds of all new loans, the president's plan to make investors pay up front for limited guarantee of mortgage securities mirrors a bipartisan bill now in the senate. >> we're really at a critical time for housing finance reform. if they can't get a bill through the senate banking committee this fall, you may be able to write off housing finance reform for the entire obama administration. in many ways, it's now or never. >> reporter: the concern is that now amid rising mortgage rates, winding down the government mortgage giants will inevitably make loans more expensive, this as low rates have been credited with the recovery. in addition to overhauling mortgage refinance, president obama is calling on congress to allow borrowers who don't have government-backed loans to refinance through fannie, freddie and the fha. that would, of course, transfer risk to taxpayers yet again, and it's something congress is unlikely to do. maria? >> all right, diana, thank you very much. diana olick. we'll take a break. disney magic on the line with the latest earnings. we'll have the numbers from disney in just a moment with instant analysis. they are expected to report momentarily. don't miss the second part of my exclusive interview today with ashton kutcher. we'll find out the extreme measures he took to become steve jobs for the new movie "jobs." we'll be right back. stay with us. uh-oh! guess what day it is?? guess what day it is! huh...anybody? julie! hey...guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike? ha ha ha ha ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day. whoot whoot! ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? i'd say happier than a camel on wednesday. hump day!!! yay!! get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. welcome back. disney earnings due out any moment right now. let's chart with barton with a preview. joining me right now, barton, good to have you. >> happy to be here. >> tell me the headlines you're expecting out of disney for this quarter. we're waiting on the numbers right now. the third quarter is the quarter they're reporting. $1.01 is the estimate on $11.64 billion. what are your expectations in terms of what drove the business? >> i'm expecting they can miss that a little bit, take a $200 million writedown on "the lone ranger." outside of that, i expect things to be good. there will be seasonal skews in parks that will slow down the growth there. cable networks, expect to them to have good ad growth. the affiliate fee story will look solid, although it will be slower in past quarters because of accounting issues. the big picture here these guys are getting paid well for their content across multiple platforms on tv, cable networks, broadcast, you know, so i think it's a good company and i like the stock. >> barton, the numbers are out. let's get to julia boorstin and then get your take on it. >> maria, disney's earnings per share at $1.03, two cents better than wall street. also up two cents from the year-ago period. disney's revenue for its fiscal third quarter coming in at $11.5 billion. this is just a tad shy of the $11.64 billion that wall street had expected. but it is up from the 11.08 billion in the year-ago period. now, looking at what's driving the results this quarter, maria, it's no surprise. it really is the media networks. that is that area of strength there. the media networks really driving the strength. we did see parks and resorts revenue at 3.68 billion. that is just a hair less than expected. the studio saw only 1.59 billion in revenue, so that is a hair light on the studio, and looking at the quarter, we are going to expect to see in -- there doesn't seem to be any comments in here about "the lone ranger." the company did have to take some costs from "the lone ranger," but no comments here on whether or not they're going to be taking a write-down. we do expect to hear comments on that on the earnings call. it did seem like the real strength here, maria, is the cable networks, 8% growth in cable networks revenue on the quarter. and, also, we saw growth in the theme parks division, as well. we'll continue to dig in here and get back to you with more. >> all right, julia, thank you very much. the stock, of course, looking lower in the extended hours on that third quarter report. back with barton crockett, talking about disney here. you heard the headline numbers, barton. you like the stock here? >> yeah, i do like the stock here. yeah. we're arguing that the stock could be up 15% or so over the next year. we think really powered by the cable networks, which sounds like that was kind of the highlight of the quarter. >> isn't it always, though? isn't espn really the dominant force in the quarter? >> yeah, you know, i think it's almost silly that they call themselves disney. they should change their name to espn, because that drives the majority of the products. >> it's turned around. it's trading up. we'll check in again with julia. over to you, julia. >> yeah, maria, i wanted to dig into the media network numbers. it grew 5% from the year-ago period. the media networks is what grew 8%. now, parks and resorts also showing similar strength, 9% increase in parks and resorts operating income while the parks and resorts revenue grew 7%. now, digging in here, maria, no surprise this looks like this is on strength of the cable networks from both advertising and fees. they don't break that out. the cable networks grew 8% in terms of revenue. broadcasting and contrast was flat. when it comes to operating income, the cable networks grew 12% while broadcasting lost 21% in operating income. really seeing the strength in cable networks outweigh weakness in broadcasting operating income. back over to you. >> thank you very much, julia. the stock at 67 and change right now. we're talking with barton on disney. what else is working, barton, away from the cable networks? >> well, you know, i think that disney's really in a great margin expansion cycle for their theme parks. this will vary quarter to quarter, but they've made great investments in california, in florida. they're letting them take rate -- attendance is solid. margins moving back to prerecession highs, which is great for the story. beyond that, the broadcast segments, industrywide, has had difficulties with declining audiences on tv. you're getting paid more for carriage, from cable companies. cbs and time warner cable are in a blackout. cbs, i think, will get a lot of money there. disney will benefit from that in their broadcast segment as they get paid for the abc stations over time. the big picture here is that, you know, good content, there's more distribution for it than ever. that creates more competition, that increases the value of the content. disney's kind of the king of content right now and they're benefitting from that. >> all right. we'll leave it there. you would put money to work in this stock at 67 and change, then? >> yeah, absolutely. >> all right. we'll leave it there. barton, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> president obama, meanwhile, laying out plans to overhaul fannie mae and freddie mac. will those changes make it harder or easier to obtain a mortgage and what will happen to mortgage rates? we'll tell you all you need to know when we come back. and later -- >> i think that the way that steve jobs sought after people is to create products that people loved. >> hollywood star ashton kutcher plays the title role in the new bio pic, "jobs," which hits theaters next week. his insights on one of the most innovative businessmen in our time. keep it here. by the lumineers love" did you get my email? i did. so what did you think of the house? did you see the school ratings? oh, you're right. hey babe, i got to go. bye daddy! have a good day at school, ok? ...but what about when my parents visit? ok. i just love this one... and it's next to a park. i love it. i love it too. here's our new house... daddy! you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. so you want to drive more safely? 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>> reporter: look, this is what we expected to hear and a lot of what the president has already been talking about, that is to wind down mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac slowly, to take the government out of the mo mortgage market and put private capital back into that. you can't do that overnight, of course. there have been many proposals on capitol hill. the one he's talking about is a very transparent, limited-government backstop, and it mirrors a proposal that's now in the senate on capitol hill, with senators corkran and warner, and so there's really a push now -- it seems as if he might -- although he's not saying he is -- he might be pushing that bill which would come into the senate -- the floor this fall. so again, he's talking about the same thing. he wants to get government out of the mortgage market, bring private capital back in. and he also wants to streamline and simplify the mortgage process for home buyers. now, they've already done a lot of streamlining, but he says they need to do more. >> all right, diana, thank you very much. joining me now in a cnbc exclusive from the white house is gene sperling, the director of the president's national economic council. gene, great to have you on the program. welcome. >> thank you. >> simplify the president's plan. what is at the core of what he'd like to see happen with freddie and fannie? >> he did lay out four principals. one you heard, to put private capital front and center right now. we have almost 80% guaranteed by governments, obviously not sustainable. so when you put private sector capital first, but also make sure that secondly, the second principle, that whatever we do, we never return to the heads you win, tails taxpayer loses model, meaning private capitalists are first, has to be wiped out before there's any government involvement. when there is any type of government-backstop remote insurance, it needs to be remote, transparent, actuarially estimated. the third, that you are making sure that we do provide the protections for things like a stable 30-year mortgage in good times and bad times. and, four, that we maintain our commitment to affordability, particularly for first-time home buyers. and so, that's what the president has laid out as his fundamental principles in judging and working with members of congress on both parties on getting housing finance reform this year. >> isn't it true, gene, that fannie and freddie still control, i mean, 90% -- or hold 90% of the mortgages out there in this country? that is a big number. how do you get these guys out of the way and into the private sector -- i mean, this can't happen overnight, because the fact that they're still dominating the market. >> yeah, no one's suggesting this happens overnight. but one of the things that the president did was not just talk about what his legislative proposals would be, but also talked about what we could do right now, that we could continue to -- with the idea of winding down their existing portfolio by 15% a year. we could continue with the experimentations on risk indication, mortgage insurance, other things that, again, help look for ways to put private sector capital first before the government. work on a common platform. so the president laid out both a legislative vision, but also steps that can be taken right now to start that process of a stable and sound winddown as we start to move private capital back where it should be first and center in our housing finance system. >> so what is the impact on mortgage rates and the availability of credit if, in fact, the role of fannie and freddie is limited? >> well, i think you have to look at everything the president's doing. obviously, you are taking away an implicit subsidy that everybody agrees was not good for the system. but the president was talking about other things today such as refinancing legislation that could lower refinancing by $3,000. we also see a big problem with a certain amount of uncertainty in the market that is leading people to deny mortgages to people who traditionally would have the fico scores, the credit to get them. there's too much what they call put-back risk. people are worried they'll make innocent mistakes and will n not -- and will get that guarantee lost and put back to them. so i think what you've seen with the qualified mortgage rule, i think what's happening regulatory right now, on qrm, i think we have the potential to have much more clear, simplified, single system going forward. and i think when you look at everything together, you'll have a more affordable, safe, and simple system than we've had in the past. >> so that you said that part of the president's plan calls for a limited-government role to encourage the return of private capital. can you walk us through how that might work? what is an example of a limited-government role, and how is this going to be slowly by surely wound down, fannie and freddie, that is? >> well, again, that is our plan to wind down. you know, right now, we take -- we wipe out all the profits. we'll continue. so this is winding down fannie and freddie, make no mistake about that. obviously, they have talented people and other assets that you'll want to deploy in our housing finance system going forward. but i think that you want private sector capital to be first. you want people to be making basic market decisions. but you also recognize that for things like the 30-year mortgage, having, you know, continuing that kind of really -- the liquid, robust mortgage-backed security market we have, does mean providing some security for those who perhaps want to take long-term interest risks without the credit risk, want to make sure that the government is capable of playing a bigger role in those crisis moments while they can play a smaller role when things are going well. so that's, i think, the type of remote backstop, kind of a catastrophic reinsurance that only steps in after the private sector has been -- capital has been completely wiped out. i think we think that'she appropriate mix. again, i think as you were saying before, in your conversation before me, i think that you're seeing a willingness, a bipartisan willingness to have this type of system that puts private sector capital first, but recognizes there is a very limited and remote role for government as well. >> gene, let me ask you about the timing on this. what would be success, in your view, in terms of when you would see the mortgage market controlled largely by the private sector? i mean, is that five years out, ten years out? what's your goal here? what would you deem as success? >> well, you know what, i think what i -- what our hope is that, first of all, if the market sees a really sincere bipartisan effort, they see the support for the type of administrative wind-down plan, i think that itself will start to encourage private sector capital come down. we're in the middle of a scene -- i think a good bipartisan effort in the united states senate. we see the chairman johnson and the ranking member crepo want to take leadership. you're seeing corkran and warner pull together a bipartisan group. so there is a lot to work with. we think there's some good things there. we do think it needs to do more on the affordability side and the president makes that clear today. but i don't want to start, you know, going through the exact details, because right now, what's important is that we -- we try to take advantage of what so far has been, i think, a good faith bipartisan effort in the united states senate. >> i just want to mention one thing, because i'm getting e-mails from viewers about it, gene. and we just, of course, reported about the doj suing bank of america for defrauding investors in connection with the sale of $850 million in residential. so one trader's e-mailing me going, going after bank of america for 2008 helps get private capital? how do you figure? >> well, you know, obviously, i can't comment on enforcement mechanisms. but what i would say is that obviously we've had -- we had a significant settlement that we thought helps provide clarity, brought relief to tens of thousands of homebuyers. obviously, enforcement for, you know, things that have happened is a piece of what's out there. i think you're also seeing a message from the president today that he wants more clarity, that he thinks there's been an overreaction, that there is too much -- too tight credit for many creditworthy homeowners. we recognize that having regulatory simplification is important to that. we recognize that many companies legitimately think there's too much putback risk. so i think we're sending a pretty strong signal that we want there to be a simpler and safer system for the lenders as well, so that we can get more credit to people who traditionally would have had the creditworthy scores to get mortgages. it will be good for the economy as a whole. >> i think most people would agree. that certainly would be good to have more of the mortgages held by the private sector. no doubt about it. gene, good to have you on the program. thank you so much. >> thanks for having us. >> we'll see you soon. gene sperling. ashton kutcher turns into an iconic billionaire nerd for what may be the role of a lifetime. find out what it took for kutcher to play legendary apple founder steve jobs in my exclusive interview, next. for over 125 years, we've been bringing people together. today, we'd like people to come together on something that concerns all of us. obesity. and as the nation's leading beverage company, we can play an important role. that includes continually providing more options. giving people easy ways to help make informed choices. and offering portion controlled versions of our most popular drinks. it also means working with our industry to voluntarily change what's offered in schools. but beating obesity will take continued action by all of us, based on one simple common sense fact... all calories count. and if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you'll gain weight. that goes for coca-cola, and everything else with calories. finding a solution will take all of us. but at coca-cola, we know when people come together, good things happen. to learn more, visit coke.com/comingtogether in a we believe outshining the competition tomorrow requires challenging your business inside and out today. at cognizant, we help forward-looking companies run better and run different - to give your customers every reason to keep looking for you. so if you're ready to see opportunities and see them through, we say: let's get to work. because the future belongs to those who challenge the present. welcome back. a bunch of earnings hitting wall street today. josh lipton rounding everything up. over to you, josh. >> reporter: maria, a lot of earnings reports hitting the tape after the bell. let's do a quick recap here. disney reports eps ex items of $1.03, a beat, just shy of estimates. media networks, parks and resorts, and studios reporting income that beat estimates. also heard from 21st century fox. adjusted eps here of 31 cents. that's a miss by three pennies. but revenue up 7.12 billion, which bee estimates. the company talking about the ownership in yes network and impending launch of fox sports one. and solar missing on the top and bottom, items 39 cents. remember, analysts here were looking for 52. on the top line, $520 million. analysts expected more than 720 million. first solar also lowering its full-year eps and revenue guidance but the company and ge did announce a technology partnership. ge getting 1.75 million shares on fslr as part of the transaction. zillow reporting, as well, reports a loss of 30 cents. the street thought we'd see a loss of 11 cents. revenue up 47 million. did beat. costs and expenses, though, did more than double. and we'll end here with avis, reports eps in line. revenue basically in line, and that's 200 million stock buyback, but guidance for the full year was weak. maria, back to you. >> all right, thank you, josh. in 2011, the number-one selling book on amazon.com was the biography of steve jobs. now a movie, "jobs" a movie about the life of steve jobs, with ashton kutcher in the title role. we talked about jobs, the man, and jobs, the movie. the film "jobs" out next week. how did you decide to take on this role? >> the decision to take it was a tough one but an easy one. first of all, i'm an admirer of steve jobs. i have been for a long time. when he passed away, i kind of had an emotional response to his passing, because i had this realization that all these relationships that i have in my life, all of the important relationships -- whether it be work or personal -- are kind of held together by glue that's a foundation that really he laid down with a lot of his products. and i have a lot of friends that are in the technology space that are -- were either co-workers of his or friends of his that loved and admired him. when i saw the film, i read the script, i really -- i wanted to honor this man that we admire, and i wanted to honor him in a way that the people that loved him remembered him. secondly, it terrified me. and i've usually found the greatest rewards in my life come from taking on things that are a little bit scary. and lastly, i love what the film stands for. the current state of jobs in the literal sense of jobs. you know, there are a lot of kids coming out of college today, and they get these educations, and they can't find a job that is applicable to the education they've received. and what this film is about is the notion that life isn't just something that you live in, it's something that you build. and for these kids coming out of college and looking for work, you know, could just be that they may have a friend and they may have an idea and they may have a garage, and they can build the most powerful company in the world. >> it's amazing. actually, i get when you say terrifying, because here's a guy who really was a game changer. created one of the most valuable companies in the world, if not the most valuable company in the world, and did it while changing all of our lives. we are the generation that grew up on apple products. how do you prepare for such a role? >> steve jobs was a pretty complicated character. and somewhat psychologically complicated guy. and in order to maintain sort of his ethical opinion base and his characteristics and his mannerisms, i think because he was such an iconic figure, and people already have a preconceived notion as to who he was and how he was. and it's usually the guy wearing the blue jeans and the black turtleneck and the new balance and the round glasses and the shaved head. but understanding that steve jobs wasn't always that guy. that he became that guy. and we're constantly refining ourselves and our personas throughout our life. and so, in an effort to honor his -- who he was and how he was, and based on the mere fact that i knew any scene we did, somebody could probably find something online where they could compare day and date to the things we were shooting, i felt like it was important to sort of really live in his shoes. >> what a lesson in life. it just basically tells us that we could change and become someone else, or change and achieve goals, by really stepping into and understanding what we're trying to do. so talk to us a little about the darker elements of steve jobs, because they were, you know, in the film, as well. i was reading that you made a ten-hour sound file of his voice. >> yeah. there is a part from sound cloud, and all of the audio files, and they have this great index of steve jobs' content over the years, from when he was 22 years old over till he was 45, 50. and i just compiled them and listened to them while i was sleeping and driving in my car, 24 hours a day, just trying to understand, like, the themes of his ethos and the themes of his persona. there were things i was able to find that were patterns that he repeated he said again and again and again. and if he said it publicly again and again and again, he was probably saying it privately ten times as much. he was complicated in so much as he was a very aggressive leader. and he had a brutal blunt honesty that a lot of people, i think, are afraid to have. i think it was his strength, but it was always -- at some points, it was also his fault. when he gave feedback to people, he didn't care whether or not they liked him. he cared whether or not it was -- what it was they were doing was making his product better or whether it was that they were doing was making their life better. and so, his feedback was often extremely bluchbt. -- blunt. but it was in an effort to service his innovation and creativity. >> so you like him, after learning all about him, do you like him? do you feel like he's that complicated, really, was that complicated? >> i love him. you know, while he was a great guy and extreme leader and achieved a level of genius and greatness that a lot of people try to attain to, he was still a person. and what makes people beautiful is their flaws. and i think he had a scar from childhood, from, you know, being -- my guess is he felt like he was rejected by his birth parents. and he was rejected again by the very company that he created. and i think that the way that steve jobs sought after love was to create products that people loved, and when people loved his products, in turn he felt like they loved him. >> you obviously studied apple as well as steve jobs. do you think that without steve jobs, they're still going to have the momentum that they have had over the years under his leadership? it's hard, right? i mean -- >> well, so here's -- here's the, i think, the gift of steve jobs was, as a guy running a business. he consistently and constantly sought innovation, spent a lot of time and effort in r&d, created leapfrog products, and had the ultimate compassion for the consumer. and at the same time, had a complete disregard for the stockholder. however, the stockholder ultimately benefited from his compassion for the consumer. so because he cared so much about creating a beautiful, brilliant, innovative, wonderful, exacting product, an experience, and he made it magical and powerful -- and he also understood the power of vertically integrating his hardware -- i think in turn the stockholders benefited. but i don't think it was ever his goal to please the stockholders. the stockholders were a result. they were an effect, and the cause was he cared about the consumer and cared about the consumer experience. i think the danger that apple has is becoming risk averse at this point, because they have capital, and they have money, and they have a stock that's sort of having a little bit of tumultuous time, and they have real competition. and i think companies like google, who's actually doing extraordinary innovation in the software space, and creating vertical integration with their software tools, it has a real market opportunity right now to come in and some ways supplant the momentum that apple had. but that being said, i don't know what's happening behind the closed doors. they could be creating the next innovative leapfrog product that sucks you back into their ecosystem. >> and our thanks to ashton kutcher. the movie opens a week from friday. $2 billion, the amount of waste for afghanistan reconstruction. $2 billion of your tax money. he'll speak with me exclusively about what he unearthed and how this kind of thing happened. stay with us. ♪ [ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ] ♪ [ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experienced pros with dedicated chats and daily live webinars. and trade with papermoney to test-drive the market. ♪ all on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. otherworldly things. but there are some things i've never seen before. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪ suddeand you wouldn't have don'tit any other way.e.. but your erectile dysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. welcome back. as the u.s. winds down its mission in afghanistan, a new report from the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction has uncovered almost $2 billion in questionable spending on projects, some of which will go unoccupied, and one that even pose as health and safety hazard. in one instance, this country spent $34 million on an installation that we never used and never will use. so how does this happen, and what can be done to fix it? jane is joining us now exclusively with the special inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction. thanks for joining us, sir. jane? >> maria, thank you. inspector general, thank you for joining us. i don't know where to begin here. you have found so many things. what is the most egregious example of waste you believe you have uncovered so far in afghanistan? >> you know, to answer that question, i'll answer in two parts. i think the most egregious was the recent purchase of almost $1 billion worth of russian helicopters and airplanes from -- for the afghan counternarcotics program. the afghans aren't capable of handling the equipment they have now, but the pentagon rushed in to buy new equipment. we told them, wait, wait till the afghans can handle the equip they have now, otherwise that equipment will sit in a tarmac and rust. and the second, although the amount wasn't as bad, the second most egregious event we uncovered had to do with the covert denial system. these are steel plates and steel mesh put under culverts on the highways. they were to prevent ieds from being placed where our troops were traveling on the highways, and we found bad management led to the death of american and afghan and coalition forces. so that's another horrible example of fraud and waste. >> let's put aside we're buying russian helicopters for the afghans, but as you say, they can't find pilots. how does something like this happen? how does $34 million building that we said three years ago apparently we didn't want continue to be built? how does this happen when we're trying to cut back here at home? >> well, we're trying to find that out. we just opened up the investigation on that. we're tr that out. we just opened up the investigation on that. but a number of people told me including a couple generals out in afghanistan in my last trip that this is indicative of what happens with military procurement and military construction. if you procure it, if you appropriate the money, we will spend it. there seems to be a mad rush to spend the money, whether we need it, whether we can even use it. if we're trying to find out who is responsible. >> meantime as we furlough people at home. finally inspector general, it seems a little late for this to come out. it's 2013 and we've been in afghanistan for 12 years. why are we learning about this now? >> well, i've only been in office for a year, so we're fieng out about it now. but it's not too late. there's $20 billion in the pipeline right now that's been appropriated, authorized but not spent and we need to spend that money wisely. secondly, even though our troops are leaving at the end of the 2014, the reconstruction will continue. we actually are seeing an increase in the budget request for reconstruction. so it's important for us to keep looking, keep pointing out what the problems are and improve how we spend that money. >> special inspector general, john sofko, thank you for joining us. maria, back to you. >> we want to take a short break and then will stocks get back on the plus on wednesday. we'll give you a leg up on tomorrow's action. back in a moment. love this guy. okay, does it bother anybody else that the mime is talking? 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[ male announcer ] you wait all year for summer. ♪ this summer was definitely worth the wait. ♪ summer's best event from cadillac. let summer try and pass you by. lease this cadillac srx for around $369 per month or purchase for 0% apr for 60 months. come in now for the best offers of the model year. >> welcome back. 30 seconds on the clock for our next guests to tell us what we should be watching tomorrow. i'm joined by steven rosen. steven, good to see you. >> how are you doing. >> let's talk tomorrow's trade. what do you want to do? >> we saw vix call volume spike today. i think we're going to start to see a lot of investors setting up the smart money setting up for a fall tapering, for a possible government shutdown. the cost of hedging, i don't believe we're going to see it come down further. so we're watching the vix and i think it's time for investors to hedge their portfolios. >> are you a seller? >> buying vix calls would be a way of hedging. buying s&p puts. what really -- the fear we really have though is very thin liquidity, people taking profits. >> good to see you, steven. thanks very much. we will see you soon. up next what the future of newspapers looks like in the wake of jeff bezos surprising purchase of the washington post. stay with us. oh, he's a fighter alright. since aflac is helping with his expenses while he can't work, he can focus on his recovery. he doesn't have to worry so much about his mortgage, groceries, or even gas bills. kick! kick... feel it! feel it! feel it! nice work! ♪ you got it! you got it! yes! aflac's gonna help take care of his expenses. and us...we're gonna get him back in fighting shape. ♪ [ male announcer ] see what's happening behind the scenes at aflac.com. before their gift helped preserve the point... before a credit solution was used to expand their business... before trusts were created for their grandkids' educations... they chose a partner to help manage their wealth... one whose insights, solutions, and approach have been relied on for over 200 years. that's the value of trusted connections. that's u.s. trust. a lot can happen in a second. with fidelity's guaranteed one-second trade execution, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price -- maybe even better than you expected. it's all part of our goal to execute your trade in one second. i'm derrick chan of fidelity investments. our one-second trade execution is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. >> finally tonight my observation on the value of your newspaper. i'm not talking about the newsstand price. we all knew that the digital age has completely changed the game and the values of traditional print publications. even with so much noise about it being a dying business because of the digital revolution, buyers keep snapping up properties. five years ago rupert murdoch acquired the "wall street journal" for $5 million. also the chicago tribune was kwierd. john henry acquired the boston globe from the new york times company for $7 million and late yesterday we learned jeff bezos is acquiring the "washington post" for 2$250 million. the level of interest in these can dying newspapers is stunning. whether black and white print or digital type on your ipad, content remains king. the media business will continue to evolve and change. even with so much free content out there and new forms of distributing it, people pay for quality content and they will pay for franchises that they trust. there is very little room for error in this new crowded space for bloggers and websites and tweets today are chock full of news and careless errors. they need to keep up that excellence or lose credibility. one of the best things is there really is accountable. if something is said in print that is wrong, the online community will be all over it. while a lot has changed in media, i would not count out print. that will do it for us tomorrow. i'll see you tomorrow on "closing bell." have a great night. "fast money" begins right now. live from the nasdaq market site in new york city's times square, i'm melissa lee. our traders tonight are guy adami, karen finerman, tim seymour ond stephanie link. brace yourself for a special edition of "fast money" tonight. it's not a bear. it's not a tornado. at "fast money's" bear nad

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