Far this year. The dow has advanced 8 in total. The s p 500 up almost 14 . The nasdaq has jumped 16 . Its been a good year. The end of the year also means we are just days away from the fiscal cliff, however, and thats the bad news. And looming tax hikes, spending cuts, all of that. Both sides warning a very big deal becoming a bit more unlikely. And my one bit of advice to Speaker Boehner is this. You cannot pass a bill with just republicans. On a broad thing like this, you need both. And he has put himself with plan b and sort of an impossible position. He has to get these hard right goes to go along with him. And he and the president were going to say were going to pass a deal with the majority of republicans and the majority of democrats in the house and senate, we would get a mainstream deal. I think were going to fall out of the fiscal tree. The big deal for the big deal is at the debt ceiling. Thats when we will have leverage to turn the country around. Congress is now out of session for the christmas holiday. But expect it to be back thursday. Joe, we talked to some of the senators and Congress Last week saying will you come back from vacation . Some of them pretend like they werent going, but i think they really were. If boehners leadership is in question now, chuck schumer, theres an angel on one shoulder and theres a devil on his other shoulder, he would lose it. Chuck wants us to do a deal like obama care where you bring in both sides and you think about all the you know, all the ideas from the republicans, all the ideas and then you adopt a bipartisan plan. Did you read the wall street journal over the weekends . I did. Boehner says ive given you 800 billion. What did it remind you of . Thats some caddie shack. Where spalding walks up to the shack and said i want a cheese birg, milkshake and fries. And his grandfather says, youll get nothing and you will like it. You know what it reminds me of . Elections have consequences. I won. Its not a nice tack to the center where im going to govern for all of you. Are you coming back . Im going to. The jacket is coming off, though, right . Christmas eve and im celebrating. As you know, we had the tree going this weekend with the lights on. Thats so nice. Theres one other thing i sought on that thing over the weekend that you brought us that i was going do oh,no. Did you see mitt romney did not want to run . I saw that. That was in the boston globe. That was a great piece worth reading. Then he found out how bad things were going on his ipad. Yeah. But maybe he didnt want to run because there were times i really kind of thought it looked like he didnt want to run. Yeah, but towards the end, i thought he did. He tried hard. Thanks. Okay. Come over here. In other news, a dock worker strike on the atlantic and coast could be just days away. Port operators have been negotiating with the long shoreman Association Since march. But the two sides are said to be far from closing on a deal that would cover Cargo Handling at 15 ports, a 9d 0day extension to an employment contract. The union has said 15,000 long shoremen could strike a day later. Rick scott sent a letter to president obama asking him to invoke federal law in order to invoke a cooling off period. I dont know what the likelihood of that is. I dont know what the president might do. Do you think he would wow. Thats a lot of red. You step out. You like to step out. You like to make statements, right . Its the holidays. Im aware of that. Youre wearing a red tie today. A shirt and a tie. Thats usually what i go with, some type of shirt, some type of tie. No bells and whistles. This is your thing. Whether you have bracelets one of those things is measuring your heart right right now. How is it . Its measuring my your calorie intake . My pressure goes up when im with you. Well, no, this is the jaw bone. Is it a measure of calories . Calories, walking, sleeping, rem sleep, how much i shept last night. And calories. Calories. If you wore it on your left wrist, would there be less calories, do you know . I will test that for you. Test it out. Gasoline prices. You know what i want to ask you . Do you employ lobbyists at all . No. Not at all . No. But were going to talk to you about what the prospects are. Yeah. In these big deals, people are always throwing muni bonds. And i just wonder, well get to that in a second. Gasoline prices falling more than 10 cents in the last two weeks. The lundberg survey finds that the average price for a gallon of unleaded is 3. 26. Price res expected to rise from here because crude has risen slightly and refiners havent passed all the increase he through in the wholesale gasoline. Its the season for going to the movi movies. The hobbit earning the top spot fokt second weekend in a row. Its domestic total is over 150 million after ten days. And tom cruises action thriller, jack reacher debuted in second place. He kicks a 15. 26 million he got. So we went to the movies this weekend. And we saw this is 40. Not great reviews. Almost dpred depressing a little bit. Almost too realistic. Thats what happens when you return 40. You get a little depressed. Then you hit 50 and then you realize 60 is the new 40. And then you realize any of the alternatives to aging are much worse than aging and you kind of come to grips with that. I had a mixed feeling. Were the reviews actually lousy . Yeah. I wish i had known that before. Paul rudd and and apatose. She has to watch paul rudd make out with his wife constantly when this is all going on. I was thinking about that. And all the kids in the film are appatos kids. Oh, really . Yeah. Hes making the film with his family and its all about anyway, all with his family. Watching you know, i dont know what hes into, but so hes got his wife making out with this guy a lot. Theyre married in the film so, you know, you can hope, right . Dont bring this stuff up. We do have to talk about some other films later. Lets see whats going on with the futures overnight as we set up this trading day ahead of christmas. Dow looks like it will open down 5 points, a little more than that, actually. Nasdaq would be off 8 points, s p 500 off 4. 5 points. Lets check the oil boards for a quick s. E. C. Lets take a look quickly at the 10year note. The yield, 1. 768. I dont know. I dont know. I rephied that mortgage. So im happy at this point. A quick look at the dollar. You can see it there against the yen. 84. 42. Against the euro, 1. 322. And against the pound at 1. 6. Finally, a quick look at gold and were at 1,663. 9. Time fou for the Global Markets report with Louisa Bojesen standing by in london. What can you tell us, louisa . Well, weve got light volume today as anticipated. Happy holidays, everybody. What were seeing here on our european markets map, many markets already closed. You have the euronext markets closing at 12 30. The nordic markets all closed for trades today. Italy closed for trade. The smi closed for trade. Weve got the ftse 1100 a couple of points higher. The cac and the ibex 35 just off marginal marginally, as well. I would like to show you what type of performance weve had on a yeartodate basis. Rising somewhere in the region of 15 since the beginning of this year. You will note that we have had had a bit of a rally heading towards december. The question is whether well see that continue into next year. Looking at a slightly broader base, the 600 index here, yeartodate higher by 15 , as well. Europes largest economy, the German Market seeing some pretty significant gains as well as the dow jones stocks 50 up by 50 . So this brings its up, can it really continue next year . Thats when you want to glance at barons, indicating over the weekend you could be looking at a rally. 20 next year. They singled out a number of stocks that they mentioned next year. By the way, andrew one look like one of the little elves in denmark dressed in my parents garden. Its very sweet. Do you want to look like an elf . I think so. I asked you do you want to look loot like an this. I thought waits a good dwrd, but i dont want to look like an elf. You know what it is . After a while, a blue shirt is boring. You dont want to wow people with the strength and insight of your ideas . I have to do it with my wardrobe. You know, i think he looks fabulous and people say i know any fashion. So you get a thims up umbs up f. Alexander, thank you. Shes focused on the fiscal cliff while many are worried about a yearend selloff which i think youve argued is already happening a bit. Definitely. So where are we . In the last couple of weeks, muni yields have risen. Its start to go change. But what happens is that the latest round of the proposals not only had this 28 deduction, but it would be retroactive. So all mini bonds outstanding, which would be a sacred cow that you would never touch. Throwing the market into real turmoil. And so whats your sense right now, in terms of whats on the table, whats not on the table . Exactly. If there were a table right now, i think people are probably getting away from the idea that there would be this retroactive taxation, essentially. But it still is very, very likely that that 28 cap on deductions will include municipal bonds. And joe asked the right question off camera. This is setting up a right fight between the states and federal government. Yes. We would prefer to sell tax exempt funds when we preferred not to have the value of our bonds go down when were holding them. But its real the governors, mayors and city states who are going to say, hey, this is going to increase our cost of borrowing. Were barely coming out of recession. You cant do this to us. Is there a municipality right now that you know is planning on an issue later in 2013 saying this is going to screw us up in a real way . I dont know of any specifically, but theyre basically all saying it. New york city comes to market multiple times a year. All the old bonds will be type. Is that right . Im going to make the stand and say that they will. But in the last then they become more dear, wont it seems to me. Yeah. But what had happened is that last week and the week before, all of a sudden there was this thought because it had been thrown about that it wouldnt be retroactive. On top of that why wouldnt that cause him to go up . Because that means that the tax, the cap on deductions would be retroactive to all bonds. It wouldnt be retroactive. No. What happened two weeks ago was that had been on the table. That it would be retroactive . Exactly. How can dow that when speak right. When people bought it on the expectations. On top of that sending the market into the additional turmoil, you have all the Brokerage Firms saying, you have huge gains. You have more coming into the market. The question is, given that weakness, given all that selling, are you telling investors get in, get out . What is the message that youve got . There is this strange thing that happens every year called the roll. What is a tenyear maturity that becomes a nineyear maturity on january 1st. And so the yields adjust to 245 nineyear maturity. So the yields absolutely go down. Basically overnight. Is there a muni thats been stellar this year, an absolute winner . California. California . Yeah. This is interesting. A couple of years ago, i was coming on every show and talking to people and people werent touching it. I cant tell you exact yields, but illinois is still hanging in there. Theyre a major issuer of debt. Have you got a loser for us . A little coal in the stocking . Puerto rico. Puerto rico . Puerto rico is just its a sad situation. 67 billion in debt outstanding. Their debt to gdp approaches greecelike levels. And they went so far as to bond out their debt service. Issuing bonds to pay their interest and that is just a true muni bond person. That is like a knife in the heart, pain. Dont go anywhere. Stick around for the rest of the hour. Thank you for being here on this holiday. Glad to be here. What are you looking at . Nothing. The red. Its like orange on camera. It is a little orange. Is this a holiday . You keep saying that. Weve been doing all sorts of holiday things. Really . So it is the holidays . Yes, it is. Ive got to get with it. Anyway, coming up, how much you pay for something online could depend on where your computer is located. First, though i know. Attention, boys and girls and santa fans everywhere. In a holiday tradition in north american air Space Defense demand or norad is ready to help you track the jolly old elf and his reindeer. The funniest line in vacation, the movie, christmas where theyre at the dinner table and clark says that santa has been spotted coming across the border up north. And his cousin had to go, are you serious, clark . Do you remember that part . Cousin eddie, randy quaid, says, are you serious . Go online and track the sleighs progress at norad. Org. When you have diabetes. Your doctor will say get smart about your weight. Thats why theres glucerna hunger smart shakes. They have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. A smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. What starts with adding a friend. Could end with adding a close friend. The lexus december to remember sales event is on. This is the pursuit of perfection. Welcome back to squawk box. Making headlines, this is pretty interesting for those who need to do lastminute christmas shopping. The amount of money you pay for an item online could depend on your location. The wall street journal reporting investigation this morning that it found that the staples website displayed different prices to people after statementi i establishmenting their location. Among other things, the center appeared to consider the persons distance from a rival brick and mortar store. Offering different price toes different people is legal with a xu exceptions. Some sites give discounts based on whether or not a person was using a mobile dwees, for example. Orbitz says a person searching for hotels from a web browser or android phones would see discounts for as much as 50 off the list price. Basically theyre saying if youre at staples and youre 20 miles from the next guy, its harder for you to get there, were going to charge you more. Orbitz thinks that if you have an iphone, youre going to be more willing to do discounts or less willing. Hopefully its whatever its going to be market based, hopefully. And i think of one example would be housing prices. Theres no way that you can expect housing prices on the east coast or the new york city area. Youre going to buy a 1 million house for 200,000. Its just the money people make a lot more money in certain areas than in other areas. I got laura an iphone for christmas this weekend. A 5 . A 5. I hope shes not watching. No, she probably isnt. Maybe she is. One of the first apps she downloads is called the amazon price checker. Do you know what this is . You take your phone up to a bar tag in any store. And then theyll match it right there. Its a price match thing. So a price match. But how that really changes retail, right . And the internet has been a huge, you know, its been a marketplace enhancer for everybody. Its driven all prices lower. And i think that will help keep down inflation. Theres so much online sales that we dont know it, tracking our behavior, if youre sent from a certain site, that site gets a payment for sending you there. Its kind of amazing. You know, andrew, i was do you remember last week when i said i would consider buying a blackberry 10 or whatever it was because i said i because i like the keyboard. Theater. The guy was in waterloo. I made one joke about it. It turns out that the blackberry types now are as bad as some of the and the appleoonians, the iomegans. It was a 140 stock. So these are the people that buy like 100 shares when it drops. And if they perceive anything, they go on this concerted thing. I looked at twitter and there was this one guy who aggregated all of his friends and he has a crackberry. And then they bombard it with you know, and thurston was fine. Remember when he first came would be he said he wasnt going to change anything. So even though i said im not going to switch to an iphone, they dont take that part. They take the reference that ive said that he was coming from waterloo where no pole leeanns last but i sense the same type of nastiness as in the past. As they cling to i dont know. Whatever. Not very smart. To write in and then theyve got to hear about it. Im going back to the iphone now. Are you . Yeah. Forget it. Im not going to get a blackberry 10 now. In sports news, the baltimore ravens. Man, if you saw this game. They look so good. Either they look good or the giants are bad. Afc champions, the ravens beating the giants, 3414. Watching eli, theyre going to be Getting Better at this time of the season. I dont even know if he completed he barely completed a pass. They were dropping passes, they were sacking him. The giants got 186 total yards. I think the ravens had like 500 yards. The giants are out of contention for the nfc east title. Now theyre going to need a lot of help to make the playoffs. Not so with the bengals. Did you see who they beat . Tony frattos team. Tony will be on later for the steelers. Seattle earning a playoff berth. This was interesting, routing San Francisco 4213. Seattle can win the nfc with a win and a San Francisco loss next week. The niners are already in the playoffs. And the Indianapolis Colts and rookie quarterback andrew luck will also going to the playoffs. Luck broke the nfl single season rookie record for passing yards yesterday throwing Fourth Quarter touchdown to lift the colts over the chiefs. As i mentioned, in the most important game of the day, cincinnati earned a playoff spot with a 1310 win in pittsburgh. This was amazing. Ben roth hisberg were just a couple of seconds left threw an interception. Cincinnati got it back to where they could kick a field goal. Can we mention the i dont know why you would. I went to this is games. And it was awful. Awful. Mackelroy was awful. I saw you on tv at the game because you were the only one in the stands at the game. It was pretty empty. Did you get a 50 discount on the tickets . I do not. My friend has season tickets. Oh, man. Hes thilg thinki hes thinking what did i the giants looked just as bad as the jets. You go to a lot of jets games, dont you . Ive been to one. But tebow i saw tebow. He was not a happy camper. They just wont use him. Ira joins us from the cme. When are you going home today . Youll be there until like 1 00 or something, ira . 12 15. Is that a twohour thing in chicago . One hour. I thought the markets closed at 2 00 today. Im going to go home and watch Kenny Anderson and bob thumpy. And chris collinsworth. My dad had season tickets and thats who we used to see, bob trumpy and Kenny Anderson. Great cook. Remember him from university