we'll get into that but first a look at averages. the dow was up about 100 points at the high of the session. we're up 75 now at 13,404. the nasdaq, which has been the laggard recently, up a quarter of a percent at 3ishgs 052 after the stutter stup opening this morning. the s&p is up 1435. >> it is a big week for earnings. they're kicking into high gear this week. certainly in terms of banks. we have the results from citi today. we'll get numbers from bank of america on wednesday. as well as goldman sachs. plus tech numbers from bell weathers, tech and ibm. google and microsoft out later in the week. >> a lot more as well. let's dig into "closing bell exchange "with jeff, michael of poerlt foal yoe family of funds, our own jeff cox and our own rick santelli. michael, you're looking at uncertain time. you want to stay defensive and stay as diversified as possible because you're not sure what the earnings will produce, is that true? . >> while that's true with equity market, cautiously optimistic with stocks. a lot of liquidity on the sidelines and a general negative sentiment among a broad swath of investors, that's a good point to get into equities and be there for the long term. if corporate earnings fall down, we don't get the right political environment, the wrong forecast in growth stories, then stocks could fall from here. they're very reasonably priced right now. >> jeff, what about the momentum behind this market, do you really want to get in front of this train? we've already had some downdraft on fundamentals last couple of weeks. what do you want to do at this juncture? >> at this point, the momentum, we are to keep it in perspective. we have very low expectations on earnings. with low expectations, i don't know if this is going to be the momentum we're looking for. i anticipate that with all the uncertainty ahead of us, it's going to take a lot more than just an okay quarter. so, the expectations are a big key to this -- >> does that mean you want to sell into it? >> absolutely, sell into it, because the uncertainty, the fiscal cliff, everything we have ahead of us, i think at this point you just have to be extremely extremely cautious because this is extended beyond what a lot of people anticipated. >> meantime, jeff, you're tracking analyst estimates and they keep coming down, don't they? >> yeah. and we're actually at a low point, 11-year low point. we have five positive revisions from analysts with their earnings outlook. for every four positive revisions, negative/positive ratio, not looking good there. most recently i've seen energy revisions have turned around, they are now negative. just a long way of saying analysts remain pessimistic even though we're off to a pretty good start so far. >> bill, what do you think of this pimco tweet. bill gross tweeting today saying, even with high octane qe, asset prices, that including bonds and stocks, have plateaued. find satisfy carry and be conte content. >> bill gross was early on, as soon as quantitative easing was announced, he was saying get into basic material assets. he thought it was inflationary and gold took off. gold has been coming back to earth here lately. rick santelli, what are traders talking about in that regard right now? >> traders on the floor are pretty much meat and potatoes. they look at june, looking for s&p 500 earnings to be positive for the quarter to the tune of, what, 2.7, 2.8%. now they've flipped negative. they think it could be the first quarter of negative earnings in almost three years. they're going to pay particularly close attention to the interest rate to maybe divine any changes. even with the fed managing interest rate and equities to some extent, we've hunkered down, we've been in a narrow range for treasuries. once you see closer to 2%, i think they'll operate on the notion that stocks are paying a whole lot more attention to the future reflation. >> i think earnings quality is so important here. when you look at bank earnings, a lot is hocus pocus, loan loss reserves taken out to bolster their balance sheets. jpmorgan, wells fargo, investors weren't buyingit. sounds like inside baseball but i think it's very important. asset-backed securities are at the non-aaa rated, at highest level since 2007. that means the less than great quality assets out there have risen up to extremely high level. actually, and the greatest growth has been through student loan receivables which have increased more than seven-fold year over year. it's an amazing point. you have to start to look at what the quality of some of these things are here. >> no doubt about it. >> that's called reaching for yield. that's what this is all about. >> reaching for yield, quality as well as guidance, the two items we focus on. michael, let me ask you to stick your neck out here. knowing what we know about financials, is this a group you want to get behind going into further numbers coming out or if there was a group that you wanted to get behind or a company you you wanted to get behind, knowing google, ibm, all these companies, bank of america, goldman sachs coming out this week, where do you want to be placing some bets? >> in the short term, i mean, i still think that we would probably be diversified with gold and we would be in u.s. names, levered for growth but also with healthy dividend yields and strong supportable businesses. you know, we like energy. it's not going anywhere. we like the u.s. refiners. i do like financials in the long term although, you know, i would argue that if the positive, if you will, effects of qe, if there are any, are diminishing. the laws of diminishing returns. i think that's also doing -- that subsiis reducing the net earnings banks are seeing in earnings and i think that's why we've seen bank stocks slow down. >> jeff sica, anything you're buying in equities? >> right now i like energy. i think energy has probably the most potential going forward. some of the agriculture companies. i'm in it to win it. i'm not just sitting on the sideline waiting in every area. there are stocks that have some potential because they're backed by things like commodities. they have the ability to increase in value. as we start to see this inflationary trend start to pick up. >> all right. gentlemen, thank you all for your thoughts today. appreciate it very much. see you later. >> thanks. heading toward the close, we've got about 50 minutes left in the trading session. the dow was up almost 100. we're up 78 now. >> we have a lot more to come on the jam-packed edition of the "closing bell." >> announcer:g murdoch, two of the nation's largest pension funds voting to oust rupert murdoch as chairman of news corp. are investors better off without him running the company he built? plus, jim rogers, the indiana jones of investing, warning of financial armageddon. find out exclusively how he's preparing for the next financial meltdown. and fiscal cliff fallout. >> this uncertainty is going to increase as we get closer to year end and it is a concern. >> announcer: imf managing director christine lagarde joins maria for a one-on-one interview you can't afford to miss. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. unchecked sleep train's best rest event is ending soon. don't miss your chance to get sleep train's very best mattresses at the guaranteed lowest price. plus, pay no interest for 3 years on beautyrest black, stearns & foster, serta icomfort, even tempur-pedic. and rest even better with sleep train's risk-free 100-day money back guarantee. but the best rest event ends soon at sleep train. superior service best selection, lowest price, guaranteed. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ . welcome back. about 50 minutes left in the trading session. if you're just joining us, it's been an update so far. major averages buoyed by citigroup. right now the dow is up 84 points off the highs of the session. it has risen as many as 100 points early in the day. health care, consumer discretionary among best perform be sectors today. telecom, after last week's huge declines, they are the laggards again today. health care hitting the highest level in about a week right now. on the eve of news corp.'s channel shareholder meeting, scheduled for tomorrow, two of the company's most powerful shareholders are looking to give rupert murdoch and his sons the boot. >> the california state teachers retirement system, say they want rupert out as chairman and they will not vote to re-elect murdoch or his son it is to board. is it possible to oust the family from a family-run company? >> let's talk about that with vasili, senior media analyst and matthew ha matthew harrigan. you're not buying this, are you? >> it is, after all, a family-controlled company. they control 38% of the voting power. previously there were attempts like that. i think last year we had a lot of noise going into the shareholder meeting and the board is still very heavily representative of the murdoch family. >> math thou, what do you think? >> no, not with prince's involvement and very good stock and operating performance over the last year. you know, i think some of the issues in the uk at least perceptionwise is invariably avoided. he ceded to the publishing spin but i think over the longer time frame he certainly created a lot of value. i think sometimes he's bucked the trend doing things like starting fox news on an organic basis, which wasn't popular on the street. over the long term there certainly is a discount in the stock. and i think the stock would go up if there is management changes. >> that's what i was going to ask you about. you feel that if chase carey became the ceo the stock would take off. >> he's more of a technocrat. he would like to focus on entertainment and sports. the issue is more politicized in the uk than here. i think chase could ultimately be ceo on an interim basis but i think in the long term there will be a murdoch that leads the company. and you have to remember, you know, rupert's mother, dame elizabeth, 103, 104, still alive down in australia -- >> he has good genes? >> good genes. >> does it matter if they hold board positions? the murdochs already control the company with almost 40% of the stock. so, you know, does it matter if they're on the board or still controlling the board? >> visaly? >> i think it's a matter of semantics here. if we have chase go from chief operating officer to chief executive officer, it's still the murdoch family that holds the major shots. on the margins people care historically if they see the family has less of a hand than day-to-day operations and chase has more room to execute his vision, the stock usually responds favorably to that. for example, last year. but ultimately, when i say that, it is a family-controlled business. once shareholders buy into it, they're buying into a family-controlled company. >> haven't the distractions of the last couple of years hampered their growth strategies and the fact they aren't able to enact any strategies because they've been so obsessed with what's going on in the uk and wiretapping and all of that? i mean, has there been a cap on earnings, es sshlly, over that time? >> not at all. actually, the company has seen very good operating results. the newspaper segment, publishing, is a fairly small percentage of their earnings. their biggest earnings machine is capable networks. and those are firing on all cylinders no matter where you look. domestic channels, regional sports networks, international. it's a very, very healthy situation there. i wouldn't say that operating performance for the company as a whole was somehow impacted by what's going on in the uk. >> we'll see what happens tomorrow. thank you for joining us today. appreciate it zoom thank you. the final stretch, a pretty good rally holding up. 45 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. the dow up 83 points. banks leading the way. gold coming under pressure. gold companies in the neglenega today. you remember microsoft's zune? >> i do. >> i don't. it failed to compete with the ipod. we'll see if their new push into online music will take a bite out of itunes. you could be looking at the next fed chairman if mitt romney wins the general election. would glenn hubbard cut back on fed stimulus? i'll ask him. i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park service units across the united states. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter. [ male announcer ] how do you turn an entrepreneur's dream... ♪ into a scooter that talks to the cloud? ♪ or turn 30-million artifacts... ♪ into a high-tech masterpiece? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. welcome back. microsoft has not had the best track record when it comes to music, that's for sure. the company is now doubling down on the biggest music venture yet. julia with the story. >> reporter: we remember the zune disaster but now microsoft is launching four different music services under the umbrella of xbox music, tying them to its successful and popular video game console brand, as it builds an entertainment ecosystem to take on apple. xbox's global catalog of 30 million songs will be available for free streaming with occasional ads, on xbox with computers and tablets loaded with windows 8 software. microsoft is hoping budgeteding xbox music with windows 8 products will make those gadgets more appealing. xbox is taking on every major digital music service out there, competing with spotify, itunes and google and amazon stores and a $10 subscription service is similar to spotify. xbox's smart deejay has a customizable playlist like pandora. xbox music will be available for apps for android and apple ios operating systems. we'll have to see if microsoft's lure of free music can really compete with apple's itunes. >> thanks so much. bill, over to you. >> the question is, is microsoft making the right move or is it a bad move given apple itunes continue to dominate in that space? let's talk numbers on apple versus microsoft today on this issue. on technical side is carter worth, on fundamental side is maxwell wolf. max, i'm going to start with you. does this new service by microsoft have a chance? >> yeah, i think it has a chance. i don't think it has a chance to take over what will be an increasingly crowded market but has a chance to push back on microsoft as uncool and yesteryear. a chance for them to push out a new group of products, the tablet that's coming, the smartphone they're licensing or putting out with windows 8 and to find another revenue stream to do something that's social. i'm surprised they didn't talk more about social. i don't think it's a bad idea but the weight of history is against them so they have a lot to prove and not a ton of time to do it. >> i'll ask you which you like better, but let's look at the charts here, carter, and see who you like. >> it's not even close. >> i know. but i asked anyway. >> if you draw a trend line, what charts are all about. we've been right on trend. the last four months apple has been quite aggressive and has risen with the market. microsoft, same chart, same one year, same low in november, and microsoft has broken trend. then this. imagine being unchanged the last four months. stocks are literally surging. microsoft is unchanged. where are the buyers? just for fun, a little long-term chart, which is really -- this is quite remarkable. if you were to have bought apple or microsoft the day microsoft ipo'd, of course, apple was out in business -- >> 1986 we're going back to. >> microsoft has doubled the performance of apple, which who would have thought. >> some catching up to do for apple? >> you wonder. >> max, who do you like right now? >> up through the apple earnings about two weeks away, we like apple better. we think it will throw off more money. in the longer term, i think microsoft has a second act. it remains to be seen. if they get it half right they'll outperform apple in six months and longer. >> thanks for the history lesson, carter, max for joining us as well. >> we're picking up some steam here, bill. just about 35 minutes before the closing -- yeah, jim rogers is in the house. we'll talk to him in a minute about investing around the world. dow up 49 points. 35 minutes before the bell sounds for the day. before the bell president obama touting his support for small business is on the campaign trail. >> folks who create most new jobs in america are america's small business owners. and i've cut taxes for small business owners 18 times. >> wow. one of our next guests says that's not entirely true. the devil is in the details. commodity kings jim rogers says it doesn't matter who wins the presidential election because neither candidate knows how to fix the economy. he joins me next exclusively straight ahead. falling off the fiscal cliff is nothing compared to falling from the edge of space. like this guy just did. he landed on his feet. can our economy land on its feet if we go off that fiscal cliff? lots to come to the "closing bell." do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. 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[ all ] i'm with scottrade. it's another reason more investors are saying... mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, who's having a big tire event? your ford dealer. who has 11 major brands to choose from? your ford dealer. who's offering a rebate? your ford dealer. who has the low price tire guarantee... affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of tires? your ford dealer. i'm beginning to sense a pattern. buy four select tires, get a $60 rebate. use the ford service credit credit card, get $60 more. that's up to $120. where did you get that sweater vest? your ford dealer. welcome back. u.s. stocks not only the ones getting a vote of confidence from investors today. take a look at china. inflation falling for the month of september. exports were up 10% for the month in china. good news when so many have been sounding the alarm. is china really given in the clear given the warning by multinationals and luxury retailers? we've got exclusive for many call the indiana jones of investing, jim rogers. jim, good to see you again. >> i'm delighted to be here. >> nice to have you. >> a lot of people being negative on china, makes me think i should buy china. i was wait fog are a big collapse but maybe i should buy now. >> you're just back from singapore. what's going on, from your standpoint, in items of china. are things cooling down? >> yes, they've raised interest rates many times, doing their best to kill inflation and kill property. i wish their central bank would wouldn't loosen up if i were china, but i'm not china. >> don't loosen up. are you investing in china right now? >> no, no, no. >> staying away. >> whenever china collapses, i buy. i've only bought china three times in the past 10, 15 years. >> you're short we can it'ses in the u.s. and you're not going to touch equities in the u.s.