Maybe buying s ps is not that crazy. Bobs all for it. Do you want to run the dow up to 30,000 . 100,000. 100,000 . Performance would be phenomenal, right . And wed all be rich. The japanese have the equities, reits, they bought a whole bunch of investments. Why are you such a stick in the mud . I guess im a traditionalist. Look at the wealth creation. Yeah. Ill leave it to bob to thank you. It might not work, bob. Weve got to get back to the real economy. Weve had too Many Companies report better than expected earnings, revenues that have been this much better, and give negative forward guidance. Thats got to turn. We complained of a lot of things. We havent put the earnings on the table. In the meantime, weve got low inflation and a Global Economy thats growing moderately, and Central Banks that are, back to your point, giving us all kinds of ammo. Thank you. Weve got to go. Squawk on the street begins right now. It was a year ago that this vision youre looking at right here became reality. Were talking about our home at post 9. The first set on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Back when the dow was about 1,000 points lower, ushering in a new era for cnbc, nyse and squawk on the street. Im carl quintanilla, with melissa lee and jim cramer here at the New York Stock Exchange. Faber is off today. Bernankes on the hill again. Durables were a miss. The cap x component was a blowout, the highest in a year. Italy had a not bad tenyear auction. Nikkei had a second straight day of loss, but otherwise mild gains in asia. The day after the second tripledigit gain in three sessions, helped by the fed chairmans assurances that the qe is here to stay. He continues the second day of testimony at 10 00. Well that live. The agenda may look like a snoozer, but will shareholders demand answers of what apple will do with the cash. Target shares trading lower premarket. Confusion on whether to include or back out the cost to launch in canada. Priceline shares soaring with Revenue Growth better than expected in latin america and asia, and resilience in europe. Wow. Believe it or not. We begin with a big question, where are the markets headed next after the 216point drop. The rally coming after fed chairman ben bernanke told a senate panel he supports continuing the bond buying program. Bernanke returns to capitol hill in about an hour from now for part two of his semiannual testimony on the hill. The testimony is expected to be largely the same as given yesterday. Of course, its q a that will yield different responses, maybe different nuances on qe, and the cost of qe. This is a tough bernanke. This is a bernanke that basically said listen, guys, i did my job. What have you done. Im trying to get employment to rise. But at the same time you may worry about inflation. But the lowest inflation since any fed chief since postworld war ii. Very sure of himself. Not afraid to take on anyone down there. If you felt that the fed minutes, you sold stocks on the fed minutes that were a month old, thats clearly wrong. Theres good reason to take a profit maybe, but it was certainly not a rational reason. Right. A lot of pressure on him yesterday, jim, to lay out, how are you going to unwind 3 billion in portfolio size. This committee on the house size, a little more aggressive, for releasing documents that would lay out how that exit happens. He didnt give away any clues yesterday. No. At some point someone said are these bonds safe. Their treasuries and mortgages. But are they safe. Its like, wow, you could be you could kind of play a larger skeptical word game and say no, theyre not safe because you bought so many of them. But obviously the credits safe. Does he have to tell more . I think that until he gets this employment somewhere near his level, i think hes going to play it very close to the vest. Interesting, fitch out today with a note saying if the sequester happens, even if theres a shutdown, that in and of itself is not enough to bring a aaa down to, say, a double a. That there will be a deal to make it necessary to keep the aaa. I have a aaa car in my wallet. Theyre very reliable. Really . Usually it takes a couple of hours. No. Youve got to get jersey to play. Theyre there in a jif. Honestly, i think its an overrated issue. The market sold off 19 the last time we went there. I remember going to the eagles training camp. They were obviously not focused on winning. I said, you ought to be worried about the redskins and cowboys. The giants won the super bowl that year. I do want to emphasize as much as you might want to make that an issue, i come back and say, where do you want to put your money . In french bonds . Grab some of the italian bonds . How is that comedian doing . I didnt think he was that funny. Do you speak italian . Thats probably the problem. Lost in translation. Im a cross between lennon and on the one hand you have what fitch is saying. Some people say why do you care about what fitch is saying. And what bernanke said yesterday. Sequestration will be a headwind for the economy, consumers faced the headwinds with the gas prices at this point. That is first and foremost in terms of the markets minds and how you treat stocks. At this point, jim, with the fed chairman saying we stand by qe, were here to stay, at least for now, does italy, does whats happening there come more center stage at this point . I used to tray started trading treasuries they were 13 for the 30, 7 was the when rubin was treasury secretary. So i dont want to go for the scare tactic. I dont want the euro going down, because when the euro goes down, the dollar goes up, oil goes down, and people say theres a recession. I tend to focus on what home depot says. Frank blake, that was some quarter, and hes going over the different divisions that are doing well. Ill go to target and im like, wow, theyre headwinds there. Shares of target falling in the premarket. Some confusion about the results. It all comes down to canada, and whether the costs of launching there are included. Sale of credit card receivables. Even thompson reuters, analysts are not in agreement on what the numbers are supposed to be. People might say, how is target at 65, the initial number that came out was, it had items in it. Its funny, because its like, stop, theres items items meaning it did look better than it thought. The contrast to me is between target and dollar tree. Yes. Dollar tree, the previous time the Dollar Companies all reported, they said theres going to be margin pressure. Margins expanded 70 basis points. Suddenly youve got a group thats beaten down. And theyre rising from the ashes. Coachlike, but thats a whole other story. Target has run. And if youre going to run, you better deliver. And target did not deliver. Walmart, by the way, did deliver. I think its important to point out walmart, home depot, standouts so far this quarter. You said the 70 basis point increase driven by increase in gross margins, 15 basis point increase in gross margins. Sba expenses coming down by 55 basis points. Theyre selling items at 1 or less and are still able to bring down sg a. Thats a strength for Dollar Stores in general. Its funny, because of late people are questioning the strength of the Dollar Stores with walmart. Now we have dollar tree, a very good quarter. These were heavily rated stocks by short funds. They said, if dollar tree says this, then Dollar General will say it. Then Dollar General actually said it, and that kiboshed the whole group. There has always been a strong sector here. But they did start taking food stamp. A lot of chatter is food stamps would be curtailed. Maybe that will hurt them. Tobacco wars, these stocks have a lot of room to go higher, if dollar tree goes tonight, limited tonight, some crazy rumors going around about coach. I dont know if we want to say it out loud. The stock is moving the stock is sharply higher premarket. In that way these rumors, its a takeout target. But, you know, so what. I struggle with it. I thought i struggle with the dimension. Because its so unfounded. That even if you mention it, perhaps it gives it credence . I dont know. Like journalism 101. Do you participate or observe. Thats the problem. The stocks down a lot. Its been a horrendous performer. I mean, i think that our sort of thinking is if the stock is moving in response to something, and its circulating the street widely, then you have to address it. But, you know, again, we dont know. Anybody could be floating this rumor out there. We do know that that high end, ive been calling it the gatsby index, that theres lots of fire power among the highend companies, especially in europe when they decide they want to come over and buy coach. Does frankfurt want to sell . It dont know. But this has got to be the most hideous stock of the year. And it was just ripe for rumor, if not for reality. Well, its got some competition in apple. The Shareholder Meeting getting set to get under way in about three hours. This, as the stock has fallen more than 35 from the september highs. The watch is on to see what tim cook might say about that cash hoard and re leading some of it to shareholders. There have been analysts who say theyre going to double it. Although its the the meeting is not generally where news gets committed. No. Tightlipped obviously. Big reversal interday. I do point out there was also a decision in an east texas court. I point out east texas because its historically an insular area. Thats driving apple down in premarket. Because i dont want people to know, well, someone knows what tim cooks going to say. The decision came down late yesterday, no one was focused on it. I saw frenetics spike up and apple go down. Dont necessarily read that the stock is telling you what apples going to do today. It hasnt been that long since the goldman conference where cook was interviewed. He defended their cash strategy. I wonder, does he double back on any of that today . Do they try to keep this as by the book . Wouldnt that be an incredible misdirection play, if you will, in there. And basically changed everything and said, look, were going to double the dividend. Obviously the lawsuit, if that happens, einhorn could declare victory. I know he wants the preferred. I want growth. I keep hoping for the bid for netflix. Twitters worth 10 billion. They tried getting that for 10. Wheres apple social initiatives . They need to be more social. If they come out and at least increase the dividend, jim, do you think that transitions between a growth stock and provide a floor for the stock and accelerate that transition so its in stabler hands . I think its the level. Theres a lot of talk that intel might be coming back. Intel yields, every time it yields, stocks go down. Maybe this is going to sound a little dire, and i dont mean it to be, but maybe it makes apple stop going down. Its got a lot of people very beleaguered. People say whats happened in this market this year that has really started to make it better. It is the huge number of days that this thing is below the moving average. I think if it stops that, stops the little bit of the salami cutting go to the doctor, hitting my head with the hammer, it hurts when i do that, stop doing that. I used to throw a chair every day. Every day. And my doctor i went to my internist and said, listen, every time i throw the chair, my back hurts. Well, guess what he suggested. It never happened again. On a related story, since we have a minute left here. Google, price target sounds awfully familiar now, 9. 20. I was hoping for 9. 22. That is less than expected of this target boost. A buy at this point . Come on, thats the first thing i said. Give me a break. This is not you want to say to the guy, hey, listen, partner, whats the secret . Timing. Timing is bad. Im sure the persons a nice person and im sure the person probably gets it correctly, had a nice dinner last night and comes and does this. I want to say, come on, man, face it, this is not the time or the place to make that target increase. His bonus was probably good, since were back to the 20 billion level of bonuses. Which well talk about in a bit. How about that. Fewer people. Even as theyre laying off workers by the thousands, jim. More money, more problems, carl. After jpmorgan yesterday which got spicy for other reasons which well talk about later, too. As we celebrate the anniversary of post 9, we mark the milestone. Building footlongs and businesses in this economy. Well talk live with the man who doesnt talk a lot. One more look at futures as we begin this wednesday morning. Mild losses here. Squawk on the street live from post 9 when we come back. Shares of priceline. Com rising premarket. Reporting better than expected fourthquarter earnings. This is International Bookings just 40 . Priceline showing strength in the rental car and Hotel Bookings businesses. Simon hobbs will have an exclusive interview with jeffrey boyd later on today on power lunch at 1 00 p. M. Eastern time. Strong quarter. The highlight, International Bookings increased, but it also showed a sequential increase, first time in about a year where they were able to do that. This was a monster quarter. I think people keep thinking this thing has to end. But its an emerging market play. In europe, they dont have the hilton and double tree and windham. They have disparate brands. People have to look up and get the best price. I know from the summit, when the europeans come, theyre so price sensitive. Why did you pick our inn . Well, youre 10 less than the other guy. And got 30 discount through the currency . Its amazing. Theyre very price sensitive. Bookings. Com has been a big win. This was quite an impressive quarter. And europeans are still spending. It made me think the downgrades for starwood symbol were hot, premature. Marriott vacation, thats also i think premature. This is a hot industry. Very hot industry. You would think they would be able to sandbag easily, given so much of their business is done in europe. But the Revenue Growth guidance was strong, above consensus, even though they did say the variability on guidance was wide because of the uncertainty in the Global Economy. I think when you go through this, youll see numbers like, youre just not used to seeing. Gross, 43 gross bookings, 46. 2 Million Worldwide hotel night reservations. People are traveling. Theyre just traveling. Nothings slowed down among european travelers. They are still holiday makers to the nth degree. Youve got to wonder, we had confidence better than expected. Results up to the past couple of weeks. Not including italian elections. Youve got to wonder what now happens in europe in terms of the traveling, and the confidence among a lot of oneway tickets out of italy. Priceline will tell you that they still take their vacation, its just that theyre even cheaper and chintzier. They just cant they have a lot remember, they work a different schedule from what we do. They work like a 42week work week in some of these countries. Right . We are like a 362day work week. Were incredible slaves to capitalism there. Theyre in the era of socialism. Try to take a sick day around here. When are you coming back . I know. I promise tomorrow. Monday was the worst trading day for stocks. How can you profit from todays session . Cramers mad dash is coming up next. Apple shareholders tell us what they want to hear from ceo tim cook at the annual meeting. Lets look at futures one more time setting up for the wednesdays session. But we can still help you see your big picture. With the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelitys analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next. All in one place. Im Meredith Stoddard and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. Its one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. Now get 200 free trades when you open an account. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. Oh what a relief it is lets get the mad dash here a few minutes before the bell. Relatively bullish calls on dri. Red lobster, olive garden, the Company Reported not such a great number last week. You thought the stock should be down a lot. Then they had a twoday analyst meeting. They said the worst is over. Theyre making some changes. But the overall theme of the meeting was, listen, we hear you wall street. Weve got to make changes in olive garden. Were going to do it. Its an inexpensive stock. New uniforms at olive garden. Thats right. When i go to olive garden, you cant get in. Its always crowded. And ive got to tell you, if they get it right, youve got a real rocket ship. Jpm. A lot of people say, listen, we really liked what jamie dimon said. I wasnt as sure, because i like growth. Obviously theyre cutting a lot of peoples jobs. I never like to sew that obviously. But Credit Suisse is taking estimates up, reduce credit risk and the extremelining. This is a great company. Also its been a winning stock from since this was the captain ahab period. Youve got the whale thing going on. Thats all past. What i want to see is all the banks have been soggy here. We cant mount a serious advance unless wells fargo goes up, jpmorgan goes up, Morgan Stanley goes up. Maybe something happens here. I was encouraged to see people did raise numbers. Interesting, too, one of the takeaways from the bernanke hearing was Elizabeth Warren asking why banks like this dont pay more for the protection that some believe they actually have. That was a little you know what. She is she remains a firebrand. Ive met her look, what can i tell you. She stands for popular strain in the economy. A lot of people feel like these guys got away with murder and she is is not going to let this issue go. I think when you look at the bonuses, you say, wow, those guys make so much money, and i make so much less. And theres still a level of anger, but its not as great as it used to be. It would be hard to top a couple of years ago, thats true. Squawk on the street has reached a milestone. And here we go. A new era for cnbc and the nyse. [ applause ] congratulations. That is our boss unveil the post 9 set exactly a year ago today. Nyse ceo Duncan Niederauer will talk about the future for the big boards. Look forward to another big day of trading. A talking car. But ill tell you what impresses me. A talking train. This g