important for every company that exports to that country. if they slow down exports to that country will slow down. that s why it s so important right now. and underlying a lot of this is this debate about liquidity versus fundamentals. here is how we stand in the markets. the dow is near session lows off 256 points at this juncture. i believe the lows today were 262. and we re heading back to that right now. look at that. decisively below 16,000. speaking of at least round numbers, the s&p 500, 1797. so we are below 1800 having given up about 31 points today or 1.7%. we cannot emphasize too much that 1800 number what that means to traders. it s very important. they re watching that very carefully on the close today. and finally a look at the nasdaq which interestingly enough is the laggard today. despite juniper doing a little better. we have the composite down 71 points. let s talk about this sell-off and put it in perspective with our guests today. we ve got qu
marked to march 9th, 2009, five years ago this coming sunday, so happy pain s bottom anniversary. a new report that shows americans have never been wealthier, but there s a catch. you had to be in the stock market to the benefit. michael farr will be with us to make the case that you have to be in it to win it. that s especially true for young people. we have the facts and statistics to back that up for us. something he says is the case even at these levels today. if you missed out five years ago or five months ago, he ll make the case for today. could the crisis in the ukraine still end up being a speed bump for the market? both sides digging in ahead of next sunday s vote on who will control crimea. the current prime minister saying he will allow russia to take it back. if no one blinks, will is the stock market look vulnerable again? also, what could be a game-changing lawsuit in las vegas. it sounds frivolous. a gambler, he dropped half a million dollars, is suing t
that has not hurt the stock market at all today. of course, the question is, does this bring on tapering? or is this just one month and we go back to further weakness signs next month. big question. we ll see about that. terrible images out of the philippines in what might be the strongest storm in reporteded history to make landfall. damage, devastation and sadly death from this extraordinary typhoon is only now becoming apparent. we have a live report. we ll take you there with the latest. 200-mile-an-hour winds as it made landfall. to put it in perspective, last year sandy was 80-mile-an-hour winds. that was bad enough. also we re following developments in the ongoing health care law saga, a day after the president s apology to those people who cannot keep the plans they would like. after all, word today the administration is now begun the process of giving many unions a huge break in a fee that was supposed to reduce premiums for everybody else. we have a live rep
141 points. the question is why do you embrace it? also, more reaction and fall out after the merger between comcast, our parent, and time warner. if that deal will be approved, it has to get past the objections of minnesota senator al franken, and he will be here to tell us why he wants the government to stop comcast from buying another large cable operator. forget all the flight delays and the cancellations due to the weather. it may only get worse even when there s not a cloud in the sky. why? well, there s a shortage of pilots here in the united states right now, and that could mean that you ll be paying a lot more to fly. we have a pilot here to tell us why it s happening right now and it could make you angry because it is really avoidable. people wondering why we re at a 25-year high cancellation for flights. now let s take a look at the markets. the dow is up 142 points at this hour. that s a little less than 1%. 16,170 is the level there. take a look at the nasd
citi just initi initiated cover apple. just now? they didn t have coverage before? maybe the previous analyst they had a new analyst. yes, he likes it. anyway, s&p is down almost five points, off its lows at 1404. fears of the fiscal cliff taking center stage once again, driving stocks lower after last week s 3% surge. that big gain friday, 172 points. we lost a third of that right now. how can you protect your for portfolio? we have chief washington correspondent john harwood, bill from coors state capital advisers who has a review of the new lincoln movie, lee munson and senior economics reporter steve liesman, plus mary thompson. we re going to be here for a while. john, let s start with you. any signs of progress on the hill? reporter: nothing tangible. we saw it at the initial meeting between the president and congressional leaders. we saw it over the weekend when some republicans again repeated their openness to being willing to raise taxes, which is somet