Frank blake, weighing in on the housing market, state of the American Consumer and well hear from fdic sheila bair. Find out why she believes yellen is the best join over larry summers. Looking at the dow up about 23 points, almost 24, at 14,954. Nasdaq this morning talking about someone who normally does the morning show up 13 points at 3664. S p, a close eye on the final hour as it is up 4. 5 or so. David koogal, rob wiener, chris rough key from bank of tokyo mitts bushy and our own rick santelli. Thanks for joining us. Great to be here. Today is quiet given the jewish holidays. David do you use this to buy into the market or do you think theres trouble ahead given the events to come. We have plenty of events to come in the next couple months, in september and october with taper talk, the debt ceiling discussions that will go on and what will come about with syria. Hae had an august where a lot of the taper talk has been factored, we think investors can look through points on selloffs that they can add to positions or establish positions because this stock market has further to go on the upside as the market digests and takes in this rise in rates. Ron, what happened today at 10 00 with the ism . Why is the market looking more at the prospect of a taper more than the idea that the economy is grabbing a real head of steam . You go through this every cycle. Interest rates start going up, people get scared. Its good for the economy. They taper if they want to taper. That means its good for the economy. There may be bumps in the road, but the long term is theres a reason theyre cutting tapering. Its because they feel things are better. I dont care what happens for an hour. It seems like things are Getting Better for sure. Ron, last time we spoke, we were talking about the u. S. Verses the international story. Where are you on that at this point . You were firmly in the u. S. Camp at that time. We talked about it off camera. I got beat up pretty good, people saying youve got to be in the emerging markets, its all coming back. So far it looks like the u. S. Is still doing better. However, youre going to be happy with a 24month hold of an emerging market, probably a basket. Too many individual things going on that i dont want to call a country. I think youll also probably do better 24 months in the u. S. And europe. However, europes got a lot of banking issues. A lot of political issues. Its not as easy a bet to us as the u. S. Were still going to stay mostly in the u. S. , but were leaning a little more to foreign markets. Rick, obviously a lot of eyes today on the tenyear as we hover beneath the 3 level. How easy will it be to get there . What happens when we do . I think markets always do what i call the dance when you get to key levels, whether its stocks, the fixed income market. Today what i found interesting, carl, is whether you look at fives, tens, thirties, that once we escalate up toward the higher end of the range, close to 3 for a ten, it stayed in a very tight range, bumping right up against it. My own personal feeling is that the dance isnt going to last long. I think were going to go through 3 like a hot knife through butter. Its interesting you say that. 3 was something i think scared investors and people have been expecting, but not so fast. How were you surprised when we hit 3 given that we havent seen that number, rick, in so long . No, no. We havent closed above it since july 25th of 2011. I personally think that, as our guests pointed out, things are Getting Better. He likes stocks. I dont disagree, but i dont have a gps. Once we start winding down these programs, i think well have a much better sense that with the best ism Service Sector since december of 05, should stocks have been up more . Well, maybe stocks should have been at 12,000. The fed put it up at 15,000. So we dont know. I do think things are improving. The question of how much theyre improving or the sustainability can only be answered when we see the markets for what they really are. Rick, i think your point is that things are improving. And Interest Rates are moving higher for that reason. Absolutely. For the fed to taper and to normalize Monetary Policy as a natural thing to be happening over these next several months. I dont disagree. I think the unnatural thing is that the fed is the 800pound gorilla in the marketplace. I think that chapter needs to be closed, personally. But bonds are not the place to be right now. In fact, ive been on record now about nine months about bond funds. Scary as can be. The easy trade was the bond trade. I think people are stuck about where to go because when they look at their bond funds or bonds every month, its going down. Those are the skittish investors to start with. Thats the levels of the onion that will come off no matter what the data says. You nailed it. Redemptions are going to go up every threshold when they see three, 3. 25. I think its almost an involuntary reaction to whats going on. Chris, we still have to get through tomorrow. Some looking at the Employment Index today in ism and saying it implies 250 or Something Better than 200. Do you think its going to be that good. If it is, do stocks suffer this taper fear again tomorrow . I think stocks will eventually get used to the taper. Its coming. The market tends to discount these things. It is a difficult day to talk about the market because were less than 24 hours away from the most important economic status nick the world, payroll jobs coming out tomorrow. Theres some evidence given the employment part of the services and initial employment claims down at 323,000. It could be something like, if the trend is 200,000, it was 160 below trend last month. Maybe it catches up and does indeed go 240,000 tomorrow. But, boy, theres going its a difficult call right now at this stage. Always a difficult number to guess and make sense of after the fact. David, would it be really weird, almost perverse to have a good number tomorrow, something above 200 and watch stocks sell off . If we go back to good news is bad news, weve been moving into this environment where good news is good news again. I think we expect to taper in september. We think its 10 to 15 billion. Its a matter in how much of treasury verses mortgagebacked securities. Thats where we get started. I think thats what the market is expecting, not that its all priced in, but i would like to see a good number, stocks continue to do well and just a recognition that its time for Monetary Policy. Were beyond the crisis. We move back to a normalized Monetary Policy. Thats a tenyear that continues to move above 3 . There are sectors and there are sectors, not just the market. There are places in the market that even in tapering you can do okay. Real quick, whats the trade as Interest Rates go up. What do you want to own . Technology i think. Theyre an underprize v priced sector. If the world is Getting Better, theyll be cap x. If you pick them all, thats probably the one place and probably a basket. Nobody knows which one is going to make it. In this case instead of an individual stock, id probably go with a bgt or something and play that for a while. Thanks everybody. Appreciate your time. Speaking of the stocks, sheila breaks it down for us. We have some mna action driving todays gains. Louisiana pacific, one of the big winners of the day. That stock up. The price tag 1. 1 billion. Louisiana pacific played a 30 premium. As for why its buying ins worth, more importantly about getting access to asia. If you take a look at ainsworth, about 12 goes to japan. Retail and consumer stocks added to the gains as well. This morning we got august same store sales number. Good news as folks head back to school. One of the big winners, in fact, was costco, up more than 2. 5 on the day august same store sales rose 5 , handily beating expectations. Walgreens was another bright spot, stocks up 1. 5 after august samestore sales also beat expectations. I want to stick with this theme of strong august numbers. We did see how that helped fastenal today. They sell industrial and construction supplies. August sales jumped 2. 5 helping out todays rally. Maria . Sheila, thanks so much. Well check in again. Weve got the final stretch here, a market higher with about 50 minutes before the closing bell. Meantime bit coins could be used for Campaign Donations if supporters win a vote on capitol hill. Isnt the general use of bitcoin being investigated by state governments . Well get to the bottom of this with former president ial candidate howard dean. Dont miss our interview with home depot ceo frank blake. Well find out what hes doing to appeal to female customers and if he regrets the decision to leave china. That and more coming up on that and more coming up on closing bell. [ male announcer ] staying warm and dry has never been our priority. Our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the american people. So we improved Priority Mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. Now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to 50 all for the same low rate. [ woman ] we are the United States postal service. [ man ] we are the United States postal service. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. Go to usps. Com® and try it today. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. announcer at scottrade, our cexactly how they want. T 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. [ male announcer ] some things are designed to draw crowds. Others are designed to leave them behind. The allnew 2014 lexus is. Its your move. Welcome back. Bitcoin a Virtual Currency that continues to grab real headlines. Last month it garnered unwanted attention. New york states top banking regulator issuing more than 20 subpoenas to bitcoin businesses due to concerns about the black market use of bitcoins. Today its back in the news. The federal Election Commission is nearing a decision to allow bitcoins as Campaign Donations. Governor, how would this work given it can fluctuate in value . Well, the fluctuation in value is not an enormous problem if they spent the money in a timely way. You can make some regulations about that so that that shouldnt be the problem. The problem, concern i would love to hear what david has to say about this, the potential for laundering money this way. That is something new york state is looking into. What id mostly be concerned about is using bitcoin as a way to get foreign money into american campaigns which is against the law. Im generally in fave vosh of bitcoins. I think its this is an at stemt by the fec to get ahead of the curve. I want to be really careful we dont make whats already a pretty shaky Campaign Finance regulation thanks to the Supreme Court even more shaky. Thats a great point. David, how do you respond to that . You think its a good thing, right . I think governor dean brings up a good point. Theres a real place for this. Especially the real problems are the soft money loopholes. If you wanted to distort politics, thats how youd turn. I think bit coin is just impractical for largescale manipulations. The only real practical effect is to allow small individual contributors who frankly feel disenfranchised by the current system. I think theres a place for politics as well. This is a good thing to get more people to contribute on small donations. I completely agree this has to be done in a way that anticipates the problems and resolves around them. You think the Election Commission is doing this because they see this as a real possibility, that this is going to happen in time . I dont know why theyre doing it. I was very, very surprised to be honest to get the call of the producer of this show to come on and talk about this so soon. I do believe bitcoins have come a long way in a short period of time. Theres going to be fallout. Theres fallout for the traditional currencies when people try to corner the market in various krern sees which theyve done taking a run at the malaysian ring and things like that. So its not unreasonable to suspect that at some time somebody is going to figure out how to manipulate this market and drive it in certain directions. Market manipulation isnt so much the issue. I would say trying to understand how this sort of impacts the ability for new donors to come to the market who currently feel that, due to sort of buying with a traceable currency, that that puts them on sort of a list for contributing and expressing their political affiliation. I think this is the ageold dilemma is, is Campaign Contribution as corrupting influence or a constitutionally protected free speech . It is definitely a complex issue. The question i have based on what you just said, you really arent supposed to be able to conceal who you are under the minimum Campaign Finance laws we have left after Citizens United basically shredded all that. Does this mean theres going to be less transparency if we use bitkoins and people can go on and make minimum contributions . Some would argue thats a good thing. I think the key goal is to keep large amounts of distorting money out but encouraging small donors, even in a small way is anonymous support. Ive got real problems with anonymous donors. Lets talk about that for a second, governor. David, you have donated to president obamas campaign. Would you do that using bitcoin . I think the goal of this isnt so much to enable people who are open about their affiliations, but recognizing that some people feel uncomfortable. I understand that even if not our goal isnt necessarily to do this just because we support it. Its about supporting those people who cant really support themselves. We asked david if he would contribute in bitcoin. If you were still running, if you were running this fall, would you be accepting bitcoin . Oh, sure. Are you kidding . This is an invention of 23yearolds. 23yearolds came of age in our campaign. It was the First Campaign of this new generation. Of course wed try to figure it out. I would be very uncomfortable taking a lot of anonymous donations. The reason you dont want to make donations anonymously, i think its fair for the public to know who is backing candidates. My great fear is actually that the Koch Brothers would figure out how to give tons of money anonymously and thats the perversion of the system. Thats the real concern right now. Thats where our echl fa sis would be, is identifying and preventing this activity while allowing small, individual donations. Well leave it there. Great analysis. Thanks so much. 40 minutes before the closing bell. Dow is up about 19, 20 points or so. A andp is up 3 1 2 points. Blackberry trying to speed up the sail of the company. Well hear from somebody who says that could speed up a rally in the stock. The nfl season kicks off tonight on nbc. Coming up well get predictions on both the season and the markets from a pair of former nfl players who have taken their skills to the streechlt dont forget to watch Opening Night of nfl tonight, nbc, the super bowl champion ravens take on the broncos. Weve completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies. To get a list of equity options. Evaluate them with our p l calculator. And execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. Im greg stevens, and i helped create fidelitys options platform. Its one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. Now get 200 free trades when you open an account. Amelia. Neil and buzz for teaching us that you cant create the future. By clinging to the past. And with that youre history. Instead of looking behind. Delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions. In everything from the best experiences below. To the finest comforts above. Were not simply saluting history. Were making it. Blackberry is a big winner on the street. Seema mody is here to explain why. Blackberry, the struggling phone maker is still on the hunt to find a buyer. Reports indicate it has narrowed down possible bidders which includes canada pen investment more, as well as lenovo. The wall street journal reports theres no guarantee this will materialize into any serious bids. The blackberry is said to be wrapping up the auction process by november. Shares hovering close to the 11 mark. Since blackberry announced that its exploring strategic alternatives, shares have gained 19 . Maria and carl back to you. Is blackberrys for sale sign good for invest. Abigail doolittle with the sea port group. Steve cortez is with vary cues tjm. Steve, lets talk fundamentals first. Are you a buyer or seller . Im a buyer. The only berry hotter than blackberry right now is halle berry. This stock has really been moving lately and for good reason. It got down to fundamentally Intrinsic Value pricing. The patents this Company Holds are worth a conservatively estimated 2. 5 billion. When you throw in the cash and shortterm cash holdings, thats another 2. 5 billion. Thats a market cap of 5 billion. The company is trading just north of there. You essentially get the phone business for free. I think you get in a sense a free call option on anything that does well in the phone business. One thing i would point out about phones, i know theyre losing market share. Those are known knowns. For organizations that really care about security, for instance, u. S. Government, pentagon, blackberry is still the goto phone provider. I think a lot of value here. Abigail, lets talk charts. Im with steve. Im a buyer of blackberry. Blackberry is going higher. When we pull up a threeyear weekly, we see how rough its been for this stock over the last few years. But i love this chart. Why . Its putting in a longterm base. Buyers stepped up to support the stock after the disaster of its last quarter, sending shares toward the top of a trading range. I would sa