And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above. And still pay the midsize price. I could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. Yes, you could. Go national. Go like a pro. A talking car. But ill tell you what impresses me. A talking train. This ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what its carrying, while using less fuel. Delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. After all, whats the point of talking if you dont have something important to say . On this day in history, dr. Seuss beloved children book, the cat in the hat, was published. So today we picked out some seusslike stocks. Cat in the hat, red hat, one of the worst performers, green hegs and ham, smithfield foods, oh, the places youll go, expedia, and priceline. Im going to vegas. See you tomorrow. Tractor riding, here we come. Well, here he comes. Closing bell is next. Hi, everybody. Good afternoon. Welcome to the closing bell. Im Maria Bartiromo at the new york Stock Exchange. An historic winning streak for stocks hangs in the balance in this final hour of trading. Its looking close here. Im bill griffeth. It would be eight Straight Days for the dow and the s p, six consecutive alltime highs for the dow. But right now, we are lower, although were well off the lows of the day. I know a little rally going on right now. A little tease this last hour. Also coming up in a few minutes, a huge exclusive interview with disney ceo bob iger. His stock backing off of an alltime high today, but it has been on a tear now for a while. We will talk to him about whats next for disney, the reason activist investors fight to get him to split his ceo and chairman titles, and try to find out if harrison forest, mark hammel, and Carrie Fisher are really going to be in the next star wars movie. Say its so. Wed love that. And also here today, ceo of chevron, john watson, well get his take on the fight over shale and fracking, that controversial Keystone Pipeline all very critical to the Energy Future of the United States. But before all that, lets take a look at these markets. Trying to keep a winning streak aleiv. So far, close but no cigar. Down just 15 points. We are well off of the lows, however. Well see if we actually get some buying interests taking us to another alltime high today. The nasdaq composite, also looking at some selling today. In fact, technology, one of the weaker spots of the day, down 16 points on the nasdaq and the s p 500. Looks like this, a similar chart pattern, decline of the session right now of 5 and change. Lets get to todays closing number with four very smart people. We have carol roth, brian bellski, michael holland, and our own rick santelli. Welcome to all of you. Ladies first. Youre getting some of your merger activity, carol, that youve been looking for, even as this market goes higher. Absolutely, bill. As weve been saying, buyouts are going to continue and theyre going to continue. And i think that this really is a stock pickers market. And if im going to put my money anywhere, and i have, the one that i really like is bed bath and beyond. I mentioned this on the program a couple weeks back. It has now been validated in a number of publications. You have a company thats trading at a very reasonable valuation. Its got a net cash position and a very High Historical return on invested capital. So to me, that creates a really good recipe for a potential buyout, and i think that that name and potentially others in the luxury goods sector, as well as throughout consumer, could be great buyout candidates. Does this kind of activity, a pickup in mergers, does that signal, usually, near the bottom of a market or the top of a market, in your view . I think the market is going to continue to do what i call a dosy doe. A few step forward, a few step backs, swing your partner round and round and probably end up in the same place. I dont really look at it in terms of the broader market, i look at it in terms of very specific stock opportunities. And i think the Consumer Sector and also potentially health care. Brian, you have to look at this as a victory. Yes, we got a decline, but this markets down just 12 points. How do you read whats going on today after this seven Straight Days of gains for this market . Well, especially how you opened show about the markets up from the lows and this buying kind of coming in. The credibility of making new highs for so many days in a row really helps people feel better about moving back into equities and were starting to see that. This is the little engine that could, though. This market is going to continue to kind of climb higher and its looking more and more like a goldilocks nursery rhyme every day that we go on through this. So equities in general, and u. S. Stocks specifically still look very, very attractive. So you still want to put new money to work . Sure. Because at the end of the day, were investments, not market timers. Our forecast for the market is still 1575. Were still bullish. We may have some upside to that, given what we anticipate could be a surprising second half of the year in terms of the macroside of things. So lets get the pace of job growth continuing on. Lets get the manufacturing recovery going on. Lets get capex going and the market will continue to go higher. Michael, this negative psychology the market has faced for months now, you feel is actually a positive, dont you . Absolutely, bill. After four years of bull markets, its interesting that brian used a phrase, people feel a little bit better about things when theyre going up like this. And people generally dont feel anything right now about the stock market. One week ago, as you guys were sitting down there, and the market the dow hit a new high, there werent any champagnes popping or headlines going on. People after ten bad years in the stock market, up until four years ago, just got so beaten up by the market, they dont care. That means that stocks like disney, and thank you to bob iger, when you interview him in a few minutes, Great Companies have done so well, but they are still trading at relatively attractive disneys a great microcosm. 36 , yeartodate, past 12 months return, and the stock is still trading in the midteens in terms of a multiple. People dont believe stocks are an attractive place to be right now, and carol roths idea about Companies Buying other companies is going to be one signal that people are going to finally get the message. Do you want dividend payers . I love them, maria. I love to get paid while i wait. And the last four years, weve been getting paid and made money as well. But, yeah, there are so many Great Companies paying fat dividends. Why not . You know, to mr. Market now, rick santelli, the message youre getting these day, it occurs to me, rick, that lately we havent had any really big up days as we set these records. Were only getting singles. Were not getting home runs to get to these records, just hitting singles every day. Not a lot of volatility. What do you make of that . Youre right. Its the joe dimaggio trade and definitely it starts to add up after a while. Well, its made a more palatable path for have interest rates, which already are going to have a hard time moving higher. But whats fascinating is, even with the feds thumb on the scale, a point youve made many times, we still see a year and a half wide on the difference between our yields and tenyear boon yields. And one side bar, fixed income market doesnt usually have things that go, oh, my gosh over, but several hours ago, a story eked out that chesapeake energy, whos had their fair share of bad press, failed to recognize a window to call back some of their bonds issued in 2012, 1. 3 billion. So everybody was kind of talking about that. It might have even briefly impacted the price of the stock. And in terms of that great rotation that we talked about, let me get your thoughts on that. Weve been talking about money coming out of treasuries forever, but it looks like the money coming into the stock market is the largely from cash. Are you expecting a big move out of bonds . This negative psychology that was born in that ten ugly years in the stock market, i dont see people watching now who havent participated in this doing a wholesale sale. No, i dont see it, maria. I think these things take years, and thats one of the reasons im kind of constructive for the next several years, because, youve had a 30year bull market, as rick knows better than anyone, in the bond market, and weve had a tenyear awful time in the stock market. Were only four years into this bull market. These things take a while. Carol, im very curious. We get people like brian bellski or my colleague who come here, and theyre not alone, who talk about the valuations, what they perceive to be cheap valuations of this market. You dont see the that, though. What metrics that youre looking at that theyre not looking at or vice versa . I think it, obviously, depends on a casebycase basis. There are certainly some values out there. But ive talked about before the quality of earrings. Sometimes the earrinnings are f in terms of their real longterm quality, because they have been injured in terms of overhead cuts or share buybacks, things that are not sustainable in the longterm. If we dont have that topline growth, then we dont that valuation that can grow over and over and over again. So if you want to command a growth valuation, you have to have growth, that means growth at the top line. Otherwise, to me, it means those valuations dont hold up over longterm. Quickly, are are those earnings fake . No, the quality of earnings have actually improved dramatically. What shes talking about has already happened over the last five years. Its the institutional crowd that are starting to feel better. Mom and pop in topeka are squarely in the bunker. But thats going to be a potential . That will be the big trade. Thank you all. Appreciate it very much. See you guys later. Heading toward the close, 50 minutes left in the trading session, what do you think . Can we finish positive today . Its so hard to say, bill. Im optimistic, given the fact were well off the lows right here. Down 19 on the dow. If it finishes lower, first time we will have broken that sevenday winning streak. Up next, an interview you wont see anywhere else. Disney ceo and chairman bob iger is here exclusively. Lots to talk to him about as his stock has had an amazing run. Despite that, hes had to fight off attempts of shareholders to strip him of his chairmanship. Ill also ask him the question on everyones mind. You dont want to miss his answer coming up on closing bell. And from star wars to smartphone wars, new phones from blackberry and samsung getting the kind of buzz usually reserved for apple. But is the iphone really in danger of losing its reign as the king of smartphones . You know my heart burns for you. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. 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[ male announcer ] with citibanks popmoney, dan can easily send money by email right from his citibank account. Nice job ben. [ male announcer ] next up, the gutters. Citibank popmoney. Easier banking. Standard at citibank. To deposit checks from anywhere. [ wind howling ] easier than actually going to the bank. Mobile check deposit. Easier banking. Standard at citibank. Welcome back. Looking at the markets here, even though the dow is down ten points, one of the standouts today to the upside is general mills, gis, just announcing an increase in their dividend today and as a result now, the stock is up 1. 4 at 46. 34. Otherwise, though, the blue chips are trading a bit lower. The question is, can the dow get back into positive territory to make it eight straight up days and another new alltime high . Thats something well be watching very carefully. Something else were watching today for obvious reasons, disneys stock. And we take you back eight years to when bob iger took over as chairman and ceo. And in that time, the stock, as mike holland was pointing out a little while ago, up 103. 76 . That would be called a double. And shareholders thank him that are. Maria . In fact, under my next guests watch, the stock has nearly doubled since october of 2011. Bob iger has engineered special acquisitions including pixar, marvel, and most recently, lucas films, which of course is the star wars franchise. His portfolio also includes abc, espn, theme parks and a lot more. Despite all of this, he recently fended off activist investors who wanted him to split the chairman role from his ceo role. We welcome to the program disney ceo, bob iger. Bob, so nice to have you on the program. Nice to be here. Thank you so much for joining us and congratulations on that performance over such a long period of time. Thank you. I want to begin on the buzz around your latest movie, the great and powerful oz, has pulled in 150 Million Worldwide in the debut weekend. Why did this oz prequel succeed, while disneys 1958 attempt, return to oz, not so great at the box office. I dont think theyre comparable. I guess they share a name or part of a name. A great legacy, obviously, a classic movie, done well, beautiful film to watch, well cast, and just captured the imagination and our team did a great job marketing it here and overseas. Does that typically sort of dictate what happens next, when youve got such a fantastic open weekend, then youve got a lot of buzz around it. I guess it sort of feeds on itself, doesnt it . You hope that it does, yes. In todays world, word of mouth is a big deal. People hearing that a movie is a success is a great thing. You also want them to like it. Thats very important too, but a weekend like that is a great thing. Can we assume this will be another franchise that eventually includes dorothy a sequel . Too soon to tell. Let me ask you about another sequel, such a powerful theme and that is star wars. A lot of talk around star wars, particularly the old cast, harrodson forest, mark hamill, Carrie Fisher. Are they going to reunite . George lucas was quoted as saying they would, but we dont have any official announcement right now. We have a team working on the film right now, j. J. Abrams is going to direct it. We have a writer whos working with some of the folks who were involved in some of the earlier films. And when the story is quot quote unquote broken, then well make decisions about the cast. Is this something that youve talked to them about already . Talking to the the actors . Yes, there have been discussions already. Let me ask you about star wars and the lucas acquisition. That seems so perfect for disney, given that you have all the fantastic characters out there in terms of animation. What do you envision the biggest opportunity with lucas on top of marvel, on top of pixar . Well, it is perfect for disney. Interestingly enough, weve had a great relationship with star wars for years. We have star warsbased attractions at a number of our parks, here and overseas, in japan and paris, in florida and in california. Theyve done very well for us. This is, you know, perfect for disney, because we manage great character franchises, starting with mickey mouse, who was introduced first in 1928, all the way through to the great pixar characters and the marvel characters through today. So this fits into, you know, that great franchise category really well. And with franchises, what we do as a company is we manage them very effectively, or leverage them, issued say, across businesses, all of our businesses, across territories, meaning the world, and if you have a really solid franchise that youre feeling with great creativity, over a long period of time. So its multiple business, multiple territory, multiple year. And thats what this is. This is one of the biggest ever, the biggest franchises ever created. And so were thrill to have had the opportunity to be associated with it and to actually bring it into its future. And loved by consumers. I want to talk to you about mickey mouse. I know you have news on mickey mouse as well today. Well get to that in a moment. Let me get to some of the other news of the day. We know theres a suit over viacom about bundling practices. Espn such a great brand for you. If cablevision prevails, do you worry that Entertainment Companies like yourself are going to find it harder to sell, you know, these big packages of cable channels, where people are really paying for espn ander th theyre taking some of the other channels that perhaps they would not have paid for. In our case, i cant comment specifically about that lawsuit. Im not familiar with the details. I havent been fully briefed yet, but we have great channels. Espn is one that you mentioned. The Disney Channel was another, number one with kids 2 to 11 this past year. Very successful. For the distributor, for the viewer, and of course for disney. Abc is another channel. Weve managed to have great relationships with distributors foreign wide, cable operators, satellite providers, and have cut longterm deals with many of them, without roadway rancor, without having to resort to saber rattling and the like. And one of the reasons weve been able to do that is, these deals are mutually beneficial. Were providing them with great values to sell to their consumers and theyre paying us the right price, fair price, for these channels. How we offer them to these distributors and what price they pay is not something, you know, we get into with you publicly, except to say with espn and with abc and disney, you know, its a great collection of channels for them and for the consumers and were going to continue to invest in. Look, the bottom line is, they pay out because they want it. They want espn and they want the Disney Channel