Delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. After all, whats the point of talking if you dont have something important to say . How to harlem shake your way out of a job. A group of australian miners were fired after posting their version. They say they violated safety standards. They said they werent because they were wearing the helmets. It has taken over youtube. Proves what i think we already knew. Which is. Everybody in australia is a jerk. Okay. Bring those people back. Mining, company. Jerks. Why dont we on that happy note take a quick look at the markets which are currently edging higher and higher towards their alltime closing high there. Up by 30 points. Thanks for watching street signs. Closing bell is next. Hi, everybody. Happy monday. We enter the final stretch. Im Maria Bartiromo at the stock exchange. A lateday coming back getting close to record highs again. Hi, maria. What do you think . Im bill griffith. On the closing bell today, the dow had been down 59 points earlier in the session. Now we are on pace, perhaps, to snap its losing streak of five straight down mondays. We got one thing going for us. One question is whether this will be the day the dow closes at a record. We need to be up 74plus points to be at an alltime high today. Last hour trading has been pretty wild lately. Weve got a lot to cover over the next 60 minutes here. Meanwhile, a lot about buffett today. Buying stocks not with the same enthusiasm as before, however. Hes explaining that. And also he has a warning about what happens to stocks if and when the fed eases off the gas pedal. What do you mean if . Its going to happen at some point. What if we told you top earners are paying a bigger chunk of their paychecks to the federal government than at any time in the last 30 years. The author of a new report says just that. Hell be later here on the program. Ahead of all that, lets check where we stand right now. Rally underway yet again. The dow industrial average up with a gain of 35 points. About a quarter of a percent. 14,125. We are watching that average. Nasdaq composite looks like this. Al gains. Technology mixed to higher today. Up 31. Were keeping an eye on the dow today. Nearly 40 points away from 234e alltime report level. As always, anything can happen in this final hour. Lets get to our exchange with danny hughes from devine capital. Neil hennessey of the hennessey funds is out there in the ether world. And weve got rick santelli. Da dani, is today the day . It could happen today. But is the excite just isnt there. I dont feel the excitement as we did a couple years ago. Its not there because the volumes not there. Its been abysmal in that department. December was terrible with 60 billion shares trading. Last month was not so great either. We havent seen the final numbers for february. But january was abysmal as well. Its interesting you bring up volume. Some people might say thats why were going to a record. Because its just not there, the euphoria. Neil, what do you say . We look at volume and wonder who the heck is doing all this buying sending this market up if we dont see the numbers in the volume . I think its been a slow growth market. Its going to continue to be a slow growth market. If volume picks up, it picks up. But youre not going to see any euphoria for a long time. Climaxes today or tomorrow, it doesnt matter. Compare to dow jones with a yield at 2. 5 versus 10year Government Bond at 2 . What would you rather own for the next ten years . And simply so, when you look at the market i still think the markets undervalues anywhere between 2,000 and 5,000 points. Keith bliss, what do you make of this lack in the market . And you think the next move is to the downside dont you . Yeah, i do. Theres no conviction in the market from what we can see. Theres trends that tell us that. For example, you look at this grind higher and you have dividend payers and defensive stocks moving with it. Generally you dont see that. You would see those defensive stocks moving the opposite directions. Its the Consumer Staples and utilities. That is bizarre behavior for a market trending higher. I think the bias for this market is down. Were trending. If we get above 1530 on the s p, we could have the alltime highs. But if we break below 1495 look to go down to 1450 and lower. Theres a debate whether were on the edge of a bill fall or an extended bull market. Let me ask you, rick santelli, to jump in here. What happens to fixed income if we do see this rally accelerate . I think as the rally accelerates, theres a very good chance that logic would dictate rates should go up. But im not going to bet the rank on them going up very much. I think the reason theres no excitement is investors are saying riddle me this. If everything is so good in the economics and the fundamentals are so good, why are 12. 5 million americans out of work and why is the fed doing all these programs . Well, you know, maybe the answer lies in japan. Now that theyre following our example, you see that their Interest Rates are moving down lowest in their 10year rates in probably close to a decade. And we see their stock market even with currency adjustments is up about 5. 5 . So i think that traders before the 2000 tech wreck felt pretty bold as well. Dani, would you sbie International Securities like japan . Not japan. Emerging markets, yes. We see a lot of mna activity, actually, coming out of europe and the United States. Thats heating up a lot and well continue to see that as well we think Going Forward into the next year, year and a half. Because theres so much cash on the sidelines and everybody wants to achieve more growth. How do you do that . You cant do it internally. Youve got to go out and buy something. Why not japan . Because this seems to be the moment after what . 20 years of not doing anything, theyre doing down. All this new money moving into japan. Youre against it. Weve seen japan fall on its face. A couple years ago this happened. Were cautious about japan just because of the environment particularly in this. I know you like our market here in the market. What about the japanese market . I like the japanese market. I think its an untold story. Its a gateway to asia. So much is going to happen in japan over the next three to seven years that people are going to be dumbfounded. Theyve had so many negatives over the last 20 years that you can count them. You cant count them on your hands, but essentially things have changed. Corporations are in great shape. Its a great story probably for another time. Dani, whats he got wrong here . I just think, again, it could happen once again that japan could fall on its face. Theres not been a case for japan in 20 years. So wed like to see that start to overcome itself before we take action in japan. Keith bliss, whats the catalyst youre looking for in this market that would send it lower, do you think . Theres anything that could happen. Were just waiting for that match to light the fuse. You saw it last monday with the italian elections where we had a steep selloff. As we trade through the month of march and the next disaster that may be looming in washington is just the thing that could do it. Or the Economic Data turn south. Well soo a buildup in the excitement of the market. Maybe not positive, maybe negative as the week goes through. And some of the other data. If that job reports just a bit to the downside, we could assess that level. Thats a key level in the s p. Theres no reason to think we cant go down to 1450 on the s p. What about the developments in china overnight . We continue to see the Chinese Government tightening the screws, making it tougher in erm thes of Real Estate Development there because theyre afraid of a bubble. Does this tell us anything about whats to come in china and perhaps indicate a bigger impact around the world . I agree with you 100 . If you watch any of the news and chinas been denying a bubble for several years. But you need two things for a bubble. You need a lot of money and you a need people to experience cognitive dissidents. If that bubble were to leak out a bit, youd have mass unemployment in china, social revolution in china, the Chinese Government would do everything they can to stem that off. That may make them to selling our own bonds. And youd see inflation skyrocket throughout the globe. Not a pretty picture. That would be amental impact on the global market. Its something everybody should keep an eye on. Its not that far away from happening if they dont maneuver this thing correctly. Words of caution there from keith bliss. Thank you for joining us, all. Here we are closing in on our all utime high possibly for the dow. There it is with the dow up 33 points. We need to be up 74 for 74. 87 if youre keeping score. Can we do it . Looks like the momentum is there today. As we approach this close, the dow higher with just about 50 minutes before the closing bell sounds. Congress could not agree on a solution for spending cuts. But there is growing bipartisan support for breaking up the big banks. We have senator david vitter with us to tell us why hes reaching across the aisle to try to end too big to fail institutions. Also are some banks too big to jail. They want to know whether theyre holding back on bank prosecutions because of fears it would rattle the stock market . Details straight ahead. And senator vitter will be with us to react to that as well. Plus capping executive compensation. A lot of ticks out there that just kicked in. The trend is starting to take hold. Now the unintended consequences that well get to later on the closing bell. Stay tuned. Much more to come. announcer at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. With scottrades online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login. To easily move my money when i need to. Plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. Because i dont trade like everybody. I trade like me. Im with scottrade. announcer scottrade. Awarded fivestars from smartmoney magazine. Certainly weve all heard the term too big to fail. But now theres a new phrase being thrown around in washington about the big banks and it is too big to jail. Eamon javers here to explain. Hi, bill. The phrase too big to jail means the big banks may have gotten so big that the department of justice is worried about prosecuting them for fear of the Economic Impacts downstream from taking any action related to crimes that the banks may have committed. Two u. S. Senators are very concerned about this. And their concerns were peaked by comments made by the department of justices lanny brewer on the untouchables. If i bring a case against institution a and as a result of bringing that case, theres some huge economic effect. If it creates a ripping effect that suddenly counterparties and other institutions or companies that had nothing to do with this are effected badly, its a fact we need to know and understand. Senators Sherrod Brown and Chuck Grassley of ohio and iowa sent a letter to the department of justice. Theyre concerned about this. They say our markets will only function efficiently if participants believe laws will be enforced consistently and violators will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. There should not be one set of laws that apply to wall street and then for the rest of us. Heres what the department of justice said. No corporate entity no matter how large is immune from prosecution. But also said prosecutors must determine whether there would be disproportion gnat harm to investors wsh pension holder, customers, employees and others who were not culpable. They did not like the response they got there. They called irt evasive. And said the department of justice didnt respond to a series of questions the senators asked about how often theyve actually deferred prosecutions based on concerns about economic impact. Thank you so much. Reaction now from republican senator david vitter. Yeah. Hes been working with democratic senator Sherrod Brown on a bill to make sure the taxpayers never have to bail out the big banks again. That too big to fail issue. Well get to that in a moment. First you just heard eamons report on the too big to jail issue in washington. Whats your reaction to that . I think its yet another aspect of too big to fail. More evidence that this is, indeed, a continuing problem. And we need to do something to solve it. I think doddfrank has obviously not solved it. I think it has made it worse because they give advantages. Do you just want to boost the capital that banks have . Or do you want to break these banks up . When you look at the legislation you have been working on, youre requiring banks to hold much more higher capital levels. We all know there are unintended consequences. Even the fdic would say the banking capital is at or near record levels. If this is going to hamper the banks abilities to lend to Small Businesses, how is that a good idea . Well, the specific idea that Sherrod Brown and i are working on is somewhat higher Capital Requirements for the mega banks. We think thats necessary to even the playing field. I dont think its going to dry up lending. Most of the Small Businesses youre talking about are already very frustrated, dont get a lot of lending opportunities that theyre seeking from the megabanks. I dont think its going to change lending. It may change the mix of bank size in the market and whos lending. But i dont think its going to dry up or decrease lending. Speaking with a high level executive, im going to be coy about this because he didnt want to be named. In a financial business, its not a big bank but he knows that industry well. We were talking about your bill. And he said the problem with too big to fail bills to break banks up is youre not doing this on an international level. Because bank bs compete on an international platform. And when you if you try to break up u. S. Based big banks, then they lose their ability to compete internationally. What about that . Well, a couple things. First of all, we cant congress cant pass laws that will have international impact. But the United States can certainly lead. Secondly, when you really compare apples to apples and have the same accounting systems, the evidence is that our megabanks are even much larger than european ones on average. So i think we have some room to decrease that size and not be at any competitive disadvantage. Third, were a market leader. So i think if we lead, we could positively impact the development of basel iii or whatever is going to be done. Isnt it legislation in a box because of the issue bill raises here . Even if you look at what european regulators are trying to do now, theyre trying to cap salaries for the bankers. Lets see the swiss banks get those caps. How are the credits of theorld going to compete effectively with jpmorgan . Same thing on this side of the ocean . How are jpmorgan and citi going to compete overseas if theyre being split up and the europeans are not . Can we ever get there . First, lets back up. Were not forcibly splitting up any institution. We would require somewhat higher capital standards for the megabanks. And then they can make a choice based on that. Do they want to absorb that cost which would only equalize their costs with smaller institutions. There are a lot of studies as you know including bloomberg thats quantified a too big to fail. But ultimately thats their call. The logical of your extension is we cant do any of banks because not every other country on the world market is going to do it. Im not willing to, you know, just completely wash our hands of any regulation particularly when they are benefitting from too big to fail and have essentially a taxpayer subsidy right now. But one other thing. Would you be inclined to go along with european regulators and consider caps on salaries . No, i would not. Ive never supported that in this country. I tweeted about this earlier. A viewer responded with a question for you. He said when does the too big to fail end . We got the living wills that the banks had to submit as part of the stress test. We got resolution authority. So he wants to know when does all of this drum beat on too big to fail end in congress . I think too big to fail ends when the market says it ends. And the market is saying right now as you know, through subsidies and lower costs to the megabanks that too big to fail is alive and well. I think thats the ultimate test of whether it still exists or not. And i think clearly the market objectively is determining that its alive and well. Senator vitter, we appreciate your time, sir. Thank you for joining us. Thanks, bill and maria. Thank you so much, sir. Weve got 40 minutes before the bell closes. Weve come off thinker highs. Now the dow up about 16 points. Getting tougher and tougher to reach the alltime high level as we get close. Its like trading through molasses right now. Yahoo shares up more than 40 since marissa bear became ceo. Someone here is with us coming up next with an interesting call on yahoos stock. Then president obama says the countrys wealthiest need to pay their fair share. But a new study says theyre paying higher tax rates than when jimmy carter was in office. Thats coming up in the clb. But at xerox weve embraced a new role. Working behind the scenes to provide companies with services. Like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. Reducing document costs by up to 30 . And processing 421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. Helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. Hows that for an encore . With xerox, youre ready for real business. Hows that for an encore . Its not what you think. Its a phoenix with 4 wheels. Its a hawk with night vision goggles. Its marching to the beat of a different drum. And where beauty meets brains. Its big ideas with smaller footprints. And knowing theres always more in the world to see. Its the allnew lincoln mkz. Welcome back. Weve got a market thats losing altitude. Lets go to jackie de angelo. Weve been following pockets of trent today in this market. The dow transports have climbed to a new alltime high. Were also watching s p retail Index Trading at a new alltime high as well. Weve got target and home depot, some of the strength were seeing. And also the top five dow components were watching driving this little bit of a rally, the turnaround year to date. Weve seen hpq, disney, travelers. Thats led the strength from january 1st until now. Bill, back to you. Thank you very much. Well, first sh