3 points. it was at another historic tuesday. the dow gains ground for the 9th straight tuesday. bob pisani, what can you tell us? >> 19th straight tuesday. an absolutely remarkable record. take a look at the dow industrials, up again, but off of the highs as we went towards the close. important thing is, fed speakers moved the day. we've become fed analysts these days. take a look at the two fed speakers, mr. dudley ahead of the new york federal reserve came out earlier and said they might adjust the pace of bond purchases up or down. he's not sure, it could go either way and he made a point of saying that. mr. bullard, the head of the fed in st. louis also came out and said that the recovery has been slower than anticipated. both of these were basically dovish comments, indicating the fed may continue to keep the pace of bond purchases just the way it is, into the near future. so some doubt about whether they're actually going to cut back or not. in terms of sectors, take a look. sort of an indeterminant day. health care led throughout the day, merck was strong, consumer discretionary and financials. energy was slightly to the downside after a very strong day yesterday. three stocks of the day i want to show you. saks, stock of the day. that's my number one choice. excellent earnings, but blowout top line. that was two to three times better than anticipated. look at that number, up 10.9% for saks. that's what you get when you get strong topline growth in an era where nobody has got it. home depot, excellent numbers. comp store sales growth up. raised from 3% to 4%. earnings per share guidance also raised. a good day for home depot. dragged up a few of the home improvement stocks. finally, merck, interesting day for merck here. i think what's going on, and what i'm hearing, maria, is that there is an insomnia drug that is up for a new drug application at the fda. there will be a hearing on that tomorrow. i think there is some speculation that that may go in favor of the company. i don't know, but that's certainly the speculation. maria, back to you. >> bob, thank you so much. another tuesday marking another day of gains for this market, the dow setting a record 19 straight tuesdays on the up side. wrap up today's action with bill nichols, and cnbc contributor, ron insana. good to see you, guys. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, maria. >> keith, how are you viewing this market in terms of valuation and putting money to work. what are you up to? >> well, you know, what -- the key thing to look at is money flows out of the bond market, into the stock market. we estimate that about 10% of the entire market capital of the stock market are value to equal 10% of the market cap of the stock market is going to mature between now and may 31st of this year. the average coupon on that debt is the 3.9%. that money will continue to find a place in dividend-paying stocks, reits, somewhere that provides a yield. >> and that's the bottom line. i mean, you're looking for yield in a market that there just isn't in, with the record low interest rate story. bill nichols, you agree with that? how are you allocating capital? >> i agree with that as well. at the end of the day, with this wig market move to the upside, there's no reason to change the formula. people are looking for yield, get a little stock performance on top of that, that's going to be a formula for success. >> so do you want to be putting new money to work right here? >> i'd a little cautious short-term. a little bit overbought. you know, rsis on both the nasdaq and s&p are at 74, 75. if you're looking at it over the next couple of weeks, pimight g a better entry point. >> ron insana, valuations, you've got to look at them as attractive still. talking about a 16 pe, right? >> maybe a 16 pe, maria. because revenue and earnings estimates are going up on a going-forward basis. and so we may be overbought in technical terms, not only the rsi, but we're trending at the very top end, so we can be overbought, but not overvalued. we need a new book called "tuesdays with money." and then maybe we're due for some sort of pullback. right now it's a hated secular bull market. not everybody's in. but we're just grinding higher. and there are really no catalysts. i think what we heard from the fed today, maria, is actually quite bull herish. i don't think that's what's going to happen anytime soon. >> gary wedbush is joining the conversation as well from wedbush securities. gary, what do you see on the trading desk today? do you still see the kind of conviction, the buy on the dip mentality that we've been seeing lout this bull market? >> i'm sorry, maria, what kind of mentality? >> what are you seeing on the trading desk, gary? >> yeah, obviously, we're still seeing bonds for a period. back in march, i kind of labeled myself an uber bull. i still have the same exact outlook. the s&p is a really setting up nicely. it looks a lot like mid-1995, 1995 or mid-90s. and you know, we're seeing a lot of bullishness, but with a nice level of nervousness as well, with the vix still trading up above 13. >> so the market continues higher. are there catalysts on the horizon that would change your opinion in terms of those, that conviction on the buy side? >> well, you know, the fundamentals are all still in place, the most important being accelerating earnings. really, the past few quarters, earnings have been accelerating because of expense reductions, increased efficiency at companies. i think we're going to start seeing growth in revenues here soon. if we don't see that, that might change my outlook. but i don't expect that to happen at all. we still have a reasonable valuations. increasing m&a activity, both from financial buyers and strategic buyers. it's all fueled by cheap money. a reason for pause might be the fmoc taking their foot off the gas, but that's going to create a buying opportunity for the equity markets in the u.s. >> interesting. everything creates a buy opportunity at the end of the day. does anyone on the panel here think that the fed starts to slow down on the bond buying program this year? the tapering begins this year? anybody? >> i do, maria. >> i think it's very important. >> and i think when they start, somebody has to be the buyer of last resort for the bonds as they roll over. i mentioned that 10% of the stock market value is rolling over every year. as that money leaves the bond market, as the matured bonds, that money leaves the bond market and goes elsewhere, somebody has to step in and replace that lost demand for bonds that need to roll over. right now it's the fed to the tune of half of that amount. when they signal they're going to change, and i expect for that to happen some time this year, it's going to be very interesting. the markets will become volatile. >> there's an important piece of math we have to consider. with the deficit falling to $645 billion this fiscal year, the fed is more than two-thirds the demand for treasury. if the deficit keeps falling, we don't necessarily have the requirement for a buyer of last resort since the supply of bonds is actually coming down. the fed could back off or keep buying and rates will stay low under a variety of different circumstances. i don't think it's quite as important right now with the deficit falling as it would be if the definite were continuing to get larger. >> so you don't agree with keith that when the fed stops the buying, we're going to see a re real sell-off or a volatile market? >> i don't think they're going to stop buying this year. i don't know when they're going to start tapering. i would go with bill dudley, he doesn't know which way their going to go. he could say they could buy more. if they buy more, they'll buy all of the available supplies. i would be a little careful at pre-judging what the fed is going to do. i would agree that when they say they're going to change policy, which is before they actually do anything, that will be the correction that's worth buying. >> all right. keith, final word there? >> no, i agree with that. and i agree with ron that all i would expect him to do is is talking about a change in policy before this year is out. but the markets will get out in front of that, and it will probably trigger a correction. >> absolutely. all right, gentleman, thank you very much. great conversation. i appreciate your time tonight, and we'll see you soon. while business goes on, it has been anything but business as usual today in oklahoma. in the aftermath of yesterday's devastating tornado. jane wells is live in moore, oklahoma, right now and she has the very latest developments. jane, what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, maria, just one sign of normalcy here, neither rain nor sleet, we're seeing the mail delivered in this block, as power slowly starts to return. and they are beginning to wind down the recovery part of this disaster, as officials here are pretty confident, but not completely so, that all the missing have been accounted for and what the mayor of oklahoma city calls the storm of storms. though the governor says, they still don't have a firm handle on the final count of fatalities. >> we don't have any firm numbers on the number of deaths that we have experienced. we know that there are people that -- bodies that have been taken to the medical examiner's office, but we have also heard that there may be bodies that have been taken to local funeral homes. so we are working real hard right now to try to get a more accurate count. >> the official count from the coroner is 24 dead, four in oklahoma city, presumably, the rest here in moore. and now, an army of national guardsmen, fema, and others are here in the recovery. they're being helped from the private sector. volunteers with extra supplies from lowe's. home depot is letting first responders use its store as a command center. water trucked in from walmart. portable cell towers from verizon, wireless, and other cell companies waiving certain fees. and the energy companies based in oklahoma, so important to oklahoma, have together reportedly offered more than $6 million to the recovery effort. back to you. >> how devastating. jane, thank you very much for that. we'll keep following it. meanwhile, back in tampa, jpmorgan shareholders wound up making a solomon-like decision and chose not to split jamie dimon's job up. so does this challenge hurt the chairman and ceo's street cred or make it even stronger? up next, the experts weigh in. and then a heated debate on capitol hill over apple's legal avoidance of u.s. taxes. it has the whole code being questioned. who's to blame? the company or the system? we'll find out. that and a lot more coming up on "closing bell." stay with us. c'est aujourd'hui♪ ♪ ♪ et toujours ♪ me amour ♪ how about me? [ male announcer ] here's to a life less routine. ♪ and it's un, deux, trois, quatre ♪ ♪ give me some more of that [ male announcer ] the more connected, athletic, seductive lexus rx. ♪ je t'adore, je t'adore, je t'adore ♪ ♪ ♪ s'il vous plait [ male announcer ] this is the pursuit of perfection. available out there. i knew devry university would give me the skills that i needed to make one of those tech jobs mine. we teach cutting-edge engineering technology, computer information systems, networking and communications management -- the things that our students need to know in the world today. our country needs more college grads to help fill all the open technology jobs. to help meet that need, here at devry university, we're offering $4 million dollars in tech scholarships for qualified new students. learn more at devry.edu. makes it easy for ann to manage her finances when she's on the go. even when she's not going anywhere. citi tablet apps. easier banking. standard at citibank. helps him deposit his checks. jay also like it when mother nature helps him wash his car. mother nature's cool like that. citibank mobile check deposit. easier banking. standard at citibank. welcome back. the rally train keeps on going. both the s&p 500 and the dow industrials hitting new record levels today. plus, a list of stocks hitting 52-week highs continues to grow, with a total of over 100 new 52-week highs today. henry mcvey of kkr says there are good reasons we're seeing these moves. he joins me now in a cnbc exclusive to tell me where he sees opportunity, here and abroad. henry, good to have you on the program. >> thanks for having me. >> first, let me get your take on this rally. we have our share of skeptics out there saying this market has moved too far, too fast. what's your take? >> our base view is we're only in the midcycle of the economic recovery. and i think housing, autos, energy and manufacturing are going to drive us for the next couple of years. we're still seeing things to do. the other thing i would say, i just got back from asia, people want to bring money to the u.s. rule of law, housing is recovering, energy revolution, so i think the trend towards a stronger dollar and a stronger u.s. economy is going to be with us. so that makes sense. to me, the stock market is sniffing out that earnings are going to reaccelerate in the second half of the year, less government dysfunction going into 2014. so tactically, are we ahead of ourselves, probably so? but we still think this cycle is in tact and there are things to do out there. >> so at this point, do you think we need earnings to sort of come up a bit and sort of create the idea that, in fact, valuations are not over-justified? >> and we do a lot of them. most of our capital is very patient, so we take a long-term view, but on the short-term base, i think there are three things we're focused on. one is housing, two is tighter credit spreads, and three is gas prices. so from a macro standpoint, that's the overlay. when we think about what's driving this cycle, those are things the we're very focused on. >> you said what your travels, what people saw is people want to put money into the u.s., partly because of the rule of law, et cetera. tell me what you saw. are you talking about european money, talking about money coming from asia? >> i would say, one of the things i see when i go to brazil, chooina, india, or othe big emerging markets, eventually the governments are intervening into those economies. private investors are bringing money back to the u.s. so i think that is a trend that you see. i was in indonesia two weeks ago and there's a great growth story going on right there. but everybody's feeling a little bit of the ripple effect from china slowing. so it's as an investor, you have to think about, where is that not happening? from our standpoint, there's really three areas. one, southeast asia, where i think things are pretty insulated. you see markets like indonesia, malaysia, philippines still doing well. two, i think what's going on in japan, you've got to bet with that. i think that, while probably structurely, they have issues, gdp is recovering and the earnings are going to recover. and the third spot, i would say, is the u.s. i would say, i've been doing this for 20 years. i feel like going around the world right now, i've never seen a point where there's so much equilibrium. everybody has some issues, everybody has some advantages. people don't want to touch europe right now. i heard the same thing in asia in 1998, 1999 after they had their crisis. if you can get in the right capital structure or find things, export oriented, in places like spain or ireland, there are things to do. as a firm, we have 17 offices globally. i would say we're very local in terms of what we're trying to do. and we're having to turn over a lot of stones, but i think you can find opportunities. but there's not -- in the 90s, you could buy the u.s. early 2000s, you could buy the brics. it's a much more volatile world out there, where you've got to have local expertise and you've got to have a broad, what we call, be a solutions provider, where sometimes you give them equity, sometimes you give debt, but you want to be a fiduciary and be a good provider of capital. >> a lot of the money you're talking about, coming from international areas into the u.s., it's gone into real estate. we know we've seen a ton of money from asia and europe coming in and buying real estate. it's also coming into u.s. stocks. does it continue, though, to come into u.s. stocks? >> yes, it does. >> you think it does? >> from our standpoint, absolutely. and it just say that low inflation, increased strong private sector, governments, you know, a little bit dysfunctional, keeping the fed on hold, and i think it's a fairly decent backdrop for u.s. equities. and another thing is, people in the emerging markets, there's been a huge wealth creation and i think some of these people just want to diversify. so the u.s. has been a place where for the past couple of years, particularly after the financial crisis, people said, are our banks going to make it? and i think right now you can say, we've got some of the best capitalized banks, at a time where we're quite constructive on what's going on with housing. i think the central bank is unequivocal that they're trying to get stock prices to move in the right direction and housing to move in the right direction, to overcompensate from some of the lack of wage growth that we haven't seen to date. and you know, they're all in. and i think we'll hear more of that tomorrow, which is, they want to make this thing recover. they've gone all in, and i think you have to be respectful of that. >> you come to the investment world from an interesting place. for a long time, you were a bank analyst. >> brokage. >> when we first met, you were an analyst in the brokerage business. let me ask you about some of the news items today. that is jamie dimon winning a vote to keep the chairman and ceo roles. from an investment standpoint, do you care if a company splits those two roles? does it matter? i mean, obviously, jpmorgan stock up today. i don't know how you feel about that specific, but what about the overall -- >> when i think about the big, traditional, you know, we call them wholesale financials that do trading and lending and all those and m&a, and all those different things, look, the government, the regulatory authorities have been on top of them for some time. i don't think whether you're the chairman, the president, and the ceo, that's not what's important to me. what works in financial services building culture, keeping and retaining your best talent, and making sure you are where the opportunity is. and i would argue right now, a lot of the opportunity that we're seeing is where banks have had to pull back from re-regulation, we're trying to put ourselves in a position that we can step in. so, you know, jpmorgan, i think at some point, this, too, shall pass. we've heard, every year, there's something else. goldman one year. >> you hit on an important point. that is, regulation is creating a whole new environment for these guys, and there probably will continue to be deleveraging. what you're saying, i think, is that as a firm, you're trying to figure out how you can buy some of these assets that are going to be for sale. >> yeah, and we see that in europe. we see that in parts of the u.s., and we're starting to increasingly see that in asia. which is a lot of small and medium-sized businesses around the world can't get access to credit. a lot of the big financials have pulled their footprint in, and that's created a demand for capital. in many instances, we step in and we provide that. but, look, these are big, massive banks that have very strong businesses. but, again, i covered financials for a long time. culture ends up making a huge difference in having a game plan that people follow and having everybody on the same side of the page. what usually kills you in financial services is leverage and arrogance. and that's time and time again, you can look at every cycle, that's usually what kills you. >> really good stuff. henry, thank you so much. really appreciate your insight. and i love the idea it actually has become an opportunity for certain private equity firms out there because of what's going on in financial services. we've talked a lot about the changing landscape there. henry, come back soon. henry mcvey joining us. let's send it over to josh lipton and get a market flash. >> maria, we're watching saks, which is racing higher here in the after-hours. and that's on a report from the "new york post." "the post" saying that saks has hired goldman sachs to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. "the post" saying that it tapped goldman in recent weeks, likely bidders include private equity firms including kkr and leonard greenhamm partners. that's according to the post. the stock right now up nearly 19% to 1626. that's the highest level, maria, with since february 2008. all right, josh. thanks so much. 250 higher on saks. take a short break. then jpmorgan's chase chairman and ceo jamie dimon wins the battle. does that mean he's ready for war? up next, we'll debate what it means for his power base, the banking giant's future, and the stock. later, as apple ceo tim cook is defending the technology giant's tax tactics at a senate hearing, how much should congress be held accountable for what its tax code allows companies too company s to do. we'll talk about that touchy issue. 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we are joined right now by anton schutz and steven stephen learner, a cnbc contributor, bethany mclane. anton, you own shares of jpmorgan. you say dimon is still the best ceo in the business. what's your attractireaction to went down today? >> i'm cheering. i like the music that was appropriately played, that it's still the same way, it's the way it is. jamie dimon is one of those that comes around in the banking industry. he corralled himself and helped preserve the value of jpmorgan during crisis. every other large bank could have used a jamie dimon. the last thing you want to do is risk losing him. the value of this company is much greater with jamie dimon at the helm than without jamie dimon at the helm. >> barbara, what do you think? >> well, i'm in agreement. i wrote in a column today, i would rather have jamie than jamie lite and trust in his ability to manage the company on behalf of his constituents more than somebody else's ability to rein him in. and i think what issues jpmorgan has experienced are a result of systemic problems in the financial industry, not so much a result of the problems specific to jpmorgan. i think they are problems that are banking systems wide, rather it's the risk in the derivatives business, the problems with too big to fail, and the lack of lending to small and medium-sized businesses. >> i just wonder if we are going to see asset sales and sort of a change in the business, really not related to the chairman and ceo roles, but just related more to regulation. >> i think that's a great point. and the regulators still haven't made up their mind what kind of financial system we want. you had all these decisions made in the wake of the financial crisis and now you have this constant jawboning about more capital, about too big to fail, about bills being rolled out the senate. . the issue clearly isn't over and it's a constant cloud of uncertainty over the big financial institutions. >> anton, would you put more money to work in jpmorgan right here? >> jpmorgan is still cheap. i'm a continuing shareholder and i would pull back and absolutely buy more of it. it's the cheapest big bank on forward earnings. trades about 8 1/2 times forward earnings. it will return a ton of capital to shareholders over the next few years in dividends and buybacks and they've got top market share across every industry. and maria, to your point about these companies potentially getting smaller over time, i agree that as the markets continue to heal, you've got a very strong capital market s environment, some of these banks may decide to get smaller and sell off businesses, now that the market may be more accepting and able to do a large transaction, such as taking a merrill lynch public, such as taking a large credit card public. >> steven, it sounds like you're on the other side of this. you say the fact that there was a vote proves the lack of confidence in banks and jamie dimon. you say he's -- go ahead. >> no, i'd say, i come on the show, i guess i can be the contrary voice here. i think that he's wounded that that many investors, more than last time, have a lack of confidence, is really important, and that's an ongoing question, whether it's theon going investigations, the fines, we don't need to re-do the list here. and i think it's something bigger going on here, despite the stock market booming, all over the country, people are increasingly concerned about banks that are too big to fail, too big to jail, that they have too much power in this country. and that's why today and yesterday, 25 people were arrested, sitting in at the justice department, saying how come we haven't investigated and prosecuted the banks. but the most interesting thing that happened is when they were taken to jail, instead of giving their names, they said, my name is jamie dimon 1, my name is jamie dimon 2, and 25 people are refusing to bailout, and they're saying, the only way we'll ever really have an investigation of the banks is the we bring attention to the ongoing crisis that still exists. and folks are in jail and plan to stay in jail. and they're saying, my name is jamie dimon and let's investigate what the banks continue to do to mess up people's lives. >> anton, what do you say to that? >> i think you've got to take a look at the regulators and what they won't let the banks do. the banks want them to carry more capital. well, that means they can't lend. the banks don't want them to lend to anybody that's got any little bit of risk. by the way, i'm refinancing my mortgage right now. you ought to see the documents identify got to fill out for fannie and freddie just so i can refinance the mortgage. that has nothing to do with jamie dimon or chase. that has to do with the regulators, with the lack of amount of capital they're able to put out in the system. it has to do with the fact that they get slapped if they make any loan that looks even in the least bit risky. and i can tell you those people who are this jail probably experience some pretty tough lending and the ability to access money. >> what they're actually experiencing is that the banks still haven't fixed the mortgage fraud, that they still haven't gotten money that they're supposed to get into the settlement. what they're experiencing is the new california litigation where jpmorgan did robo signing on credit cards. i think there's this sort of historical and economic anesthesia fuseizing the countr fuelling the stock market surge, that sort of acts like none of those things happened, and continues -- >> so what would you like, to see, stephen. what more would you like to see from the banks? >> i think that we need to break up the big banks. i think they're too big. and as long as -- >> and why are they too big? and why as a former director of the seiu private equity project would you know what's right for the banks? >> why do you mean, why would i know -- that's clearly -- >> why would you know -- >> what kind of question -- >> -- for you to make that statement? >> because i live in a country, just like you do, that has experienced a financial crisis that grew out of the hubris and the greed and the size of the big banks. because like every american, i can read the newspaper and i can talk to people who haved th edh their drives destroyed by banks that are so big -- everybody talks about regulation, that the capture is so great, that we don't have the regulation we need. we don't have the supervision of the banks we need. so when you say, how come banks are too big, they're too big because they're too big to fail. they're too big because the attorney general of the united states said we didn't investigate them because we were worried that it would be bad for the economy. >> and do you have any idea what's gone on in terms of capital, in terms of leverage, in terms of asset sales in the last four years? do you have any idea what has gone on? >> what do you mean, do i have idea what's gone on? >> do you have any idea that capital has been raised substantially, that leverage has been cut down substantially, that there have been so many asset sales that already many of these banks have become smaller? >> the thought -- actually, if you look at the five biggest banks, they now control a greater part of the banking market than they did before -- of the total banking mixture than they did before the economic -- >> that's absolutely right. i want to say something about that. this is important. jpmorgan stood there and took on bear stearns. jpmorgan stood there and took on washington mutual. it was critical to have an institution of that size and capability to take on that risk, where the american taxpayers did not get punished under that. and again, what's really important here is that t.a.r.p. was incredibly profitable for the american taxpayer, if you exclude the auto companies. are you going after the auto companies? >> there's two points i want to make shehere that i think are really important. one, maria, where i feel like we always have a disconnect, everyone's so enthusiastic about the stock market, they forget for most people in this country, things continue to be terrible. that, in fact, wealth is more concentrated in fewer people's hands than it was before 2008. >> but you just said that there are so much regulators out there. and you know, we know that we've seen an enormous amount of regulation from, you know, that's continuing to be written as we speak. dodd/frank hasn't even been implemented. so are you -- you're still blaming the banks rather than the people who are actually overseeing the structure? >> well, i would say two things. i think, one, that the banks with their full-time lobby have been incredibly effective in delaying regulation and diluting regulation and delaying that. but i want to just come back to this point that i feel is important. one is the notion that this was just about t.a.r.p. and that t.a.r.p. refunded is silliness. that the banks were given multiple subsidies, they continued to get subsidy, we talked about it a couple weeks, the too big to fail subsidies. so day get money cheaper. the discount window, we can go on and on. but i think what i ask of people in the business community to think about is, we are going to have growing conflict in this country and growing protests if we continue to have more money and wealth concentrated at the top, while people's wages decline. and i heard earlier, the guy from kkr said, well, we'll make it up in housing and other ways, the fact that there's not wage growth. that's exactly what got us in this mess, is that wages have been flat, and that encouraged people to take out more debt to keep the economy going and it's not sustainable. until we start paying people decently, until we have full employment, until people aren't underwater, you'll have this continued drag on the economy that's both bad for people and bad for the country as a whole. >> so you think wages should go up and you probably think benefits should go up too? >> i think wages should go, absolutely. they've been in decline -- >> so you don't think medicare is a problem then? >> we call it the jaws of death, which is the increase of productivity, that famous chart that goes like this. productivity is up and wages are down. that's core to why the economy doesn't work. most people in this country, hay hear the stock market is going up and they say, what does that have to do with me when i don't have a job, i can't afford my rent, i've lost my house. nobody has pensions anymore. there's this divide between the world that people in new york city on the east side and greenwich live and the rest of the country and it's stirring anger that i think folks are going to be surprised about. >> absolutely. there is a real breakdown, for sure. thanks, everybody. we went on lots of tangents there, but it was certainly an education. up next, sharp words hurled on capitol hill as two former irs officials get grilled. >> you dent mention any of this in your responses to me, to the senate, or to any other congressional body. mr. miller, that's a lie by omission. >> we'll take you live to washington for the very latest developments in the irs targeting scandal next. then, apple ceo tim cook defending the technology giant's legal offshore tax penalties before a panel. we'll discuss the controversy, next. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm so into it, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 hours can go by before i realize tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that i haven't even looked away from my screen. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that kind of focus... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's what i have when i trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...helps me keep an eye on what's really important to me. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 it's packed with tools that help me work my strategies, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 spot patterns and find opportunities more easily. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 then, when i'm ready... act decisively. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can even access it from the cloud and trade on any computer. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 with the exact same tools, the exact same way. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the reality is, with schwab mobile, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 i can focus on trading anyplace, anytime... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...until i choose to focus on something else. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all this with no trade minimums. and only $8.95 a trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 open an account with a $50,000 deposit, and get 6 months commission-free trades. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 call 1-877-656-8748 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and a trading specialist tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 will help you get started today. new developments in congress' investigation of the irs tax. >> it was a frustrating, you had for the first time testimony from doug shoalman, the former irs commissioner who completed his term in december. he provided essentially no new information. was reluctant even to apologize for what happened. and steve miller, the acting commissioner since he left, got into it with orrin hatch about the issues of disclosure, but didn't budge from his earlier statements that none of this was motivated by partisanship. orrin hatch was not very pleased about it, because he'd been asking the irs for information about these practices in 2012. didn't get an answer. here's how he responded. >> you didn't mention any of this in your responses to me, to the senate, or to any other congressional body. and mr. miller, that's a lie by omission. there's no question about that in my mind. it's a lie by omission. >> mr. hatch, i did not lie. >> you what? >> i did not lie, sir. >> you lied by omission. you knew what was going on and you didn't -- you knew that we had asked, you should have told us. >> now, maria, we've just gotten late word that lois learner, the irs official who's going to testify tomorrow before a house committee, plans to plead the fifth amendment. this is probably the worst possible outcome from the white house point of view, because the inspector general had said, he did not see evidence of criminality in this scandal, but when she stands there, takes the fifth and says to protect myself against self-incrimination, i'm not going to answer your question, that is the last thing the white house wants to see on television tomorrow. >> why would she plead the fifth, you think? >> well, eric holder, the attorney general, and the president have announced that they are conducting a criminal investigation. this is part of their attempt to say that they were being very aggressive in responding to this situation. well, the flip side of a criminal investigation is that anybody involved, even if he or she doesn't believe they've committed any crimes, and that's what her lawyer said to the committee, we don't believe she committed any crimes, when you plead the fifth, people draw conclusions from that. >> right. all right, john, thank you so much, john harwood with the latest there. while the irs remains in the hot seat, apple ceo tim cook remained cool under fire today about his company's taxes. he was grilled by a senate panel over the technology giant's legal tax avoidance strategies. but tim berlaw joins this mess on congress. and also with us, ed klinebert, he points the finger at apple. he's also a former chief of staff at the congressional joint committee on taxation. good to see you, gentleman, thanks for joining us. john, why do you blame congress for this problem? >> well, i really think for the reasons that ron paul laid out, i mean, congress should be the one that's on trial. how dare they have this show trial against a successful american company and -- for trying to lower its taxes and the returns that it has to shareholders when they admit there's nothing illegal. but i think the good news is because of what senator paul said and because of the forthright testimony of apple ceo, there really was more light than heat, unlike some of carl levin's hearings, and you got to hear about how we have the highest corporate tax rates in the world and we're the only country that taxes foreign profits at that same tax rates when they return to foreign profits here. >> ed, you say apple has a big responsibility for what's happened. wait a second, you're the former chief of staff for the congressional joint committee on taxation. did you have any role in outing this tax code together? >> none that i'm going to take credit for today. >> okay. >> it's a nonpartisan job and it's very much a staff job. the members of congress drive the tax code, not the staff or the joint committee. >> because you blame apple? >> i think that apple bears some responsibility. of course, it's the case that this is not a morality play. i'm not that knife. and it's not a criminal matter. and it's not a show trial. what this was was an effort to shine a light on business practices to inform the congress of the united states about those business practices. the real audience for this kind of a hearing is not the public, it's the senate finance committee and it's the rest of the congress. it's, in effect, putting pressure on congress to do something. where apple, i think, deserves some responsibility is in a couple of areas. first, it did not, at any point acknowledge what is self-evident, which that under any tax system you can imagine, whatever you call it, under any sensible tax system, apple's profits should be taxed somewhere. in fact, apple has tens of billions of dollars a year of profits that are taxed nowhere in the world. not in ireland, not in the united states, not in the foreign countries in which it does business. there is no sensible policy that could possibly justify that. and second, apple did not, in effect, acknowledge, so the baldness of his own structure. a scrap of paper, which by fortuity they signed in 1980 is entire reason why they can claim that these tens of billions of dollars are taxed nowhere. there's no economic distance to their structure. they know that there's no economic substance to their structure. unlike their competitors, they made no effort to even cite some creative work in ireland. >> right. >> you know, their facts are actually at the more egregious end of the spectrum. >> it's all legal, what took place, so that's why there's this debate. that's the only issue. so, which is why i think, you know, we're having this debate on whose fault it is. >> apple paid, and i don't think the committee -- i don't think senator levin disputed this, $6 billion in taxes. most of their earnings are in europe. and they're subject to all the -- the v.a.t. and all the taxes in europe and that's sort of the problem with the american tax system, is that we have a worldwide taxation. we not only have the highest in the world, but at 35% and they said they would be for tax reform with lower corporate tax rate and a reduced rate for repatrioting the profits here. >> we've got to jump guys, we've got to jump. we'll keep following this, and obviously, a real debate, a conversation to have, and we'll continue having it. thank you, gentleman. meanwhile, there has been tragedy in oklahoma. more deadly tornados are threatening the center of america once again at this very hour. we'll get the very latest forecast from our sister network, the weather channel. 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. with the innovating and the transforming and the revolutionizing. it's enough to make you forget that you're flying five hundred miles an hour on a chair that just became a bed. you see, we're doing some changing of our own. ah, we can talk about it later. we're putting the wonder back into air travel, one innovation at a time. the new american is arriving. in oklahoma, wireless service has been vital in communication. to save battery power, at&t, verizon, and sprint are recommending sending text messages over phone call. how can you keep your cellular lifeline operation in times of national disaster. jon fortt is at the ctia conference with some answers. >> maria, very important topic. as a matter of fact, the american red cross is here with a prototype of their new emergency response vehicle. it's got wi-fi on board and power strips to help people charge up their phones. that's how essential this kind of communication has become in situations like this. they have 300 vehicles total. these prototypes are just beginning to roll out. a couple things i want to point out. one, there are solar options for charging your phones in an emergency. of course, that wouldn't help in a tornado-type situation where you don't have a lot of sunlight, but those are less than 200 bucks. you can get a charge from the sun. i talked to a duracell executive here who talked about exactly why this is so important in the age of gadgets. take a listen. >> because batteries are so limited and limited and the gap between the phone's performance and what the battery isable to provide is only increasing, then having actually an infrastructure, think of it like atm machines, for example, or gas stations. >> duracell's looking to get charging stations in places like starbucks and mcdonald's both here and in europe. and of course all over here you've got these backup batteries, they'll hold a charge for several weeks and they'll charge your phone two or three times. probably a nice addition to the emergency kit, maria. >> all right, jon. good information there. thank you so much, jon fortt with the very latest. so what could take stocks to new heights tomorrow? wall street's best money pros will give you a leg up on wednesday's action just ahead. back in a moment. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. but we can still help you see your big picture. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelity's analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next. all in one place. i'm meredith stoddard and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. the ocean gets warmer. the peruvian anchovy harvest suffers. it raises the price of fishmeal, cattle feed and beef. bny mellon turns insights like these into powerful investment strategies. for a university endowment. it funds a marine biologist... who studies the peruvian anchovy. invested in the world. bny mellon. welcome back. it's all eyes on the fed. bernanke and the markets. another day of record gains tomorrow. 30 seconds on the clock for each of our next guests. our panel is here to tell us what else we should be looking at for tomorrow. with us right now paul dietrich from fairfax global markets and brad friedlander from angel oak capital. good to see you guys. paul, you're up first. 30 seconds on the clock. what do you want to be prepared for for tomorrow? >> with the stock markets, the s&p and the dow at record highs, everyone's asking me where are the undervalued opportunities in this market? and i think they're in commodities. i mean, we're at 2 1/2-year lows in commodities. china drives commodity prices. they haven't been buying for the last two years. they are now starting to buy with their new five-year infrastructure economic plan. they're starting to buy. commodity prices are going up. for tomorrow i would look at the energy sectors, especially the refiners like tesoro, phillips 66. >> all right. we will leave it there. thank you so much. brad, you're up. over to you. 30 seconds. >> thanks, maria. yeah, with the big fed day on tap tomorrow i think chairman bernanke is going to mellow out some of the hawkish rhetoric that's been circulating recently until today. so i do believe that there are still opportunities right now to step in. i think that the -- in both bonds and stocks right now. in particular right now we also have a release tomorrow with -- on housing coming from existing home sales. that's the figure for existing home sales should march toward about 5 million homes with the strength in housing we continue to favor non-agency mortgage bonds. and floating rate credits. >> we're going to leave it there. gentlemen, thank you so much. we'll be watching that tomorrow. big day for the markets for sure. when bernanke speaks. the markets at all-time highs zpont there is a ton of cash that has not gone to work. may that mean the rally has legs? stay with us. my observation comes next. ♪music plays continually music plays continually♪ 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 ♪ [ laughter ] ♪ [ female announcer ] each one of us is our own boss. ♪ and no matter where you are in life, ask your financial professional how lincoln financial can help you take charge of your future. ♪ and finally today, my observation on that pent-up demand that still exists for this rip-roaring stock market. once again today we saw more money moving into stocks. even as so many question the sustainability of this rally, after what has been a record-setting performance so far this year. but that skepticism is one of the key reasons to believe the rally has legs and should keep going. late last week i sat down with credit suisse ceo brady dugan, who told me some 30% of his clients in the private bank are still sitting in cash. similarly, joining us here yesterday was blackrock's rob caputo, the president of the largest asset manager with close to $4 trillion in assets under management. he said the same. listen to this. >> yes. they still have a significant percentage in cash. so we've seen some of that move into equities. we've seen them maintaining their allocations to fixed income, actually. so i think that there is still room for money to flow into the equity markets, which i think, you know, gives you the view that perhaps the market certainly has further to run. >> so brady is right. there are people that are sitting in cash. but it's the wrong thing to do. they need to use this longevity to work for them, start investing both in the equity market and longer-term in the bond market. >> and then of course there's the fact that the federal reserve is continuing its bond buying program to the tune of $85 billion in bonds every month, creating an environment where there are just very few alternatives to finding returns without buying companies that pay dividends and are growing all over the world. that of course is nothing new. but hearing the 30% of clients remained at least partially in cash in a market that has already gone up so much this year reinforces what's proven true so far this year. buying on any dip could pay off. because there is enough potential sidelined money that is just waiting for the opportunity to do the same. that'll do it for "closing bell" tonight. thanks so much for being with me. i'll see you tomorrow. stay with cnbc. "fast money" begins right now. live from the nasdaq marketsite in new york city's times square, i'm scott wapner in tonight for melissa lee. here's what we're following on "fast." safety bubble. why one of our guests says it's time to avoid the stocks that have led the rally before it's too late. next frontier. how a $50 smartphone could change the industry forever. stop digging. the gold miners can't seem to get out of a hole, but should the markets trash be your treasure? we're tackling the post-game analysis and setup for tomorrow wour traders theeng. steve grasso, tim seymour, karen finerman, dan nathan. mike kuo.