Shortly after ben bernanke wrapped up his speech. We will get into exactly what he said in a minute. But the homebuilders seem to be kind of impervious to all things bernanke. Gains across the board thanks to strong data on Housing Starts and permits that came out today. They looked pretty good. Oil, though, taking the spill listen, up 2 yesterday. Down more than 2 today. Traders heading for the exits on word and its only word that there may be a ceasefire in all of the tension in the gaza strip. Over the past week, fighting between the israelis and hamas, rockets along the gaza strip, its continue to escalate. Its caused oil prices to spike in fear of supply shortage. Word on the ceasefire reversing those moves today. Again you are hearing signs from both sides, who said ceasefire . Who said that . Its just a word. It might be premature. Lets get to the floor show with traders at the New York Stock Exchange cme group and the nymex. We should start with Elliot Warren who is at the nymex. What a reversal you must have seen. Word of this possible ceasefire, again no real support to it but suddenly prices fell. Well, liz, you know, we talk about this all the time, about how crude is really a news driven market. You see tension in the middle east, take it up. You know, you take a little pressure off and the market comes lower. They are always looking for a story. Theres a little bit more interesting thing to look at in crude if you really want to talk about it, though. I mean there are options that trade on this market. And the upside in crude tends to trade at a discount. I dont want to get too technical on it, but today they are still buying upside calls in crude. While the underlying futures have come off, there is still people who are hedging their bets and, you know liz believing it will go higher. It could still spike exactly. Liz despite the fact that neither gaza nor israel produces oil in any major form; right . News driven market. Doesnt really matter. Its all perception; right . I mean thats what drives markets more than anything else. It is emotion and perception. Especially a market like oil. So, yeah, if they have an excuse to move the market, we will take it. Liz teddy weisberg, what emotions are you feeling today on the floor . We started off pretty well. We got good numbers for Housing Starts and then bernanke enters the picture. Well, liz, i think they are trying you know, we had two decent days certainly yesterday. So perhaps they are due for a little rest here. But i think the Bigger Picture is that theyre still in trouble. Theres just simply too many unknowns out there. I mean, you know, unless you have a crystal ball and you are clairvoyant, i mean its got to be really tough to dig in here and do anything positive with the market until some of these unknowns go away, flo mat no matter what the outcome. I dont think it necessarily has to be good or bad, we just need to get some of these things off the table. Liz scott, can you short volatility or go i dont know. What are you seeing in the the pits in chicago . Are they doing something where the vix . Elliot just talked about puts and calls. People believe maybe oil will eventually continue to go higher. What do they say about volatility . We have a volatility market here. They are not really worried. I have been doing it for 24, 25 years now and i get nervous when i see the vix really not react. The ten year is telling us we have some things to worry about. The stock market is kind of ambivalent. And the vix is telling us dont worry at all. So we have got three Different Things to worry about here. Also weve got that 200 moving day average in the s p, in the index, the spx and were bumping right up against that. That could give us another clue where well be going the next three four weeks. Finally we have the politicians given the opportunity to disappoint, they generally do. Look at europe. I think thats something we need to wrap around a big red bow on and give ourselves for christmas. Liz id rather have a fancy car. Whats your next target, scott, the next ceiling or floor . I think we could see another 2 to 3 percent off the market going into year end hopefully we get a deal from the administration and i think we unleash some capital in the market. Liz quick question about natural gas, what changed from yesterday, elliot . You know, we have talked about this too. Natural gas is a very strange market. I mean, i have to understand you have to understand, producers and the people that own a lot of natural gas, as it rallies, they cant sell it because the amount that they sell will crush the amount that they still have in storage. The only thing i can think of is that its really more of a technical, any fundamentalist will tell you that that natural gas should be a lot cheaper. T. Boone pickens thinks it should be trading at 4 bucks. It is on its way to 4 bucks. Thats the best i could say. Liz hes now saying dont use the t anymore, sort of like prince, changing his name. Thank you very much. Good to see you all. The dow falling to session lows following comments from fed chairman bernanke. What did he say that freaked everybody out . You know, the fed chief says that the fiscal cliff outcome will makeorbreak the economy in 2013. We knew that. But i guess peter barnes, it gets a little more legitimacy when it comes from the fed chief . Peter yeah, liz, listen, bernanke trying to push politicians here to cut a deal. He said that the fiscal cliff poses a substantial threat to the economic recovery. He embraced forecasts by the c cbo and others that it could send the economy into a recession, but he said the fiscal cliff is already hurting the economy. Uncertainty about how the fiscal cliff, the raising of the debt limit, and the longer term budget situation will be addressed appears already to be affecting private spending and Investment Decisions and may be contributing to an increase sense of caution in Financial Markets with adverse effects on the economy. Peter now, he said the fed is ready to keep helping the economy of course, suggesting more quantitative easing as an option for example, maybe making qe 3 even bigger. But bernanke said that in the worstcase scenario, with the economy falling off the whole fiscal cliff, january 1st, quote, i dont think the fed has the tools to offset that. Thats kind of scary, liz. Liz well, thats it. Thats what it really was, i think. Theres an underlying message there to congress. Hes probably so sick of congress can you imagine what he says about congress behind their backs . We have done enough. Its your turn now. Get this done. Peter, thank you very much. Peter barnes. New Home Construction you could argue really that the fed has helped that. The latest numbers it rose to its highest level in more than four years. My next guest says the recovery in housing is just getting started. You should be investing in it right now. Clear bridge advisors Portfolio Manager, hes joining me in a fox business exclusive, so it is not too late . Because i look at some of these homebuilders and they have had such great run ups and i think missed it. No, were just getting started. I feel kind of cheated actually because it just felt like a week or two ago there was serious substantial debate as to whether or not the Housing Market had, you know, really the recovery had even taken, you know, hold. And now it seems everyones changed their opinion and the stocks have run too much and weve missed it. Liz theyve changed their opinion because we have gotten a couple decent data points strung together showing that wait a minute finally its not so awful. Think about it, the number today points to and estimates are going to take new Home Construction to maybe 750, 8, maybe as high as 900,000; right . We got as low as i believe 300 at a run rate of about 250, 300,000 homes per year. And based upon population growth, we should be building in Household Information we should be building between 1. 2 and 1. 4. So thankfully over the last few years we have taken the time to absorb a lot of the excess supply thats in the market and now its no should be no surprise that we are building some new homes. Liz whats the best way to play this recovery . Youre saying it is in the early stages . It is. Some of the homebuilders have run up a little bit more than others. I like everyone to think about maybe some of the Building Products companies. Some of the Companies Like a whirlpool, for instance, which is one of the Worlds Largest appliance manufacturers. A company like mohawk one of the Worlds Largest carpet and flooring manufacturers. I mean, i dont know, talk to your friends. You know, when is the last time anyone bought a new washing machine or replaced their carpet in their house . Its been a while. Liz its been a while so the cycle is getting ready to turn perhaps. You have some demand and as jobs continue to improve and Consumer Confidence improves, it will happen. Liz you know, Charlie Brady pointed out to me hitting multiyear highs. Hes talking about names that got bumps around the hurricane, like eagle materials, boy they did so well because people thought you were going to need those materials. Newell rubbermaid, lowes sherwinwilliams these are names that hitting multiyear highs. If that doesnt sell people. Do you think they should go for individual names . I do. It is terrible some of these stocks would get a bounce when you know theres going to be a shortterm blip in demand because you have to repair homes in new jersey or long island, the reality is youre talking about multiyear high. This market sold of and bottomed in 06. We have a long way to go. Liz lets talk about the funds you manage, legg mason clear bridge mid cap core and mid cap growth. The performances for both of these look Pretty Healthy to me. For at least the mid cap core, youve got a year to date up nearly 13 . Three year, up 11 . The growth is year to date up 14 . One year up 18 . The names that are in here, for example, what is it that you do when youre picking a mid cap name, what does mid cap really mean to you . Well, its the kind of the goldilocks of the Asset Allocation model; right . Not too big, not too small. Not a super megacap thats having trouble growing but then you are not a riskier Small Cap Company that maybe is relying on one product. Liz are they getting funding from banks . They have plenty of capital. Certainly, you know, greater access to capital than some smaller cap names, better balance sheets, not quite as big like an ibm for instance. Liz you have Caseys General store of one of your favorite names. Theres the goldilocks picture. You look adorable. Now your friends from college are going to call. [laughter] liz got to have some fun here; right . Looking at Caseys General store which is one of your picks in here. Why that name . Caseys is in a stable business, they sell gasoline and pizza and cigarettes, all this kind of stuff all throughout the midwest. Occasionally you get a period where they are up against rough comps, right, so occasionally you get a period of time when the fundamentals dont look as strong as they are over longer period of times. This is a very very stable business. And so we think that caseys will once again behave the way, you know, it has over great long periods of time. Liz okay. Brian is coming back in a minute. Hes got more mid cap names. Mid caps are a little bit gutsier names he says will be just right for your portfolio now. Dont be scared as a Retail Investor of getting in, brian says. Closing bell ringing in 48 minutes. We are now down 18 points having been lower by more than 90. We will see what happens here. Medtronic, a stock thats moving higher today, you may need their product some day, all of you, millions of peoples hearts are running thanks to these medical devices made by them. But uncle sam could hit the company where it hurts when in just six weeks on january 1, that new tax on devices kicks in. So how is medtronic going to deal with it . You may be surprised. Coming up, the game plan, only on fox business from the chairman and ceo of medtronic in a fox business exclusive. Look, if you have copd like me, you know it can be hard to breathe, and how that feels. Copd includes chronic brchitis and emphysema. Spiriva helps control my copd symptoms by keeping my airways open for 24 hours. Plus, it reduces copd flareups. Spiriva is the only oncedaily inhaled copd maintenance treatment that does both. Spiriva handihaler tiotropium bromide inhalation powder does not replace fastacting inhalers for sudden symptoms. Tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. These may worsen with spiriva. Discuss all dicines you take, even eye drops. Stop taking spiriva and seek immediate medical help if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or probls passing urine. Other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. Nothing can reverse copd spiriva helps me breathe better. blowing sou ask your doctor about spiriva. Well, having a ton of locations doesnt hurt. And my daughter loves the santa. Oh, ah sir. That is a customer. Lets not tell mom. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Fedex office. Liz has anyone taken a look at the best buy chart lately . It looks like a ski slope going down. Shares plunging again today down 13 . This is just a two month picture so you can see what an awful day it is just right here. Big drop off nearly 12 . Best buys quarterly numbers they missed street estimates by a mile. It is all about the internet. Amazon is eating best buy for lunch for lunch, it seems a deal isnt in the card any time soon. The chairman wants to take best buy private. Thats not happening. Take a look at the one year. Its just been terrible for best buy investors who used to have a 28 stock and now 11. 96. Hewlettpackard is hitting new lows today. Here we go, we can see that hp is the worst performer on the Dow Jones Industrials after that acquisition of autonomy turned out i called it wrought earlier nicole petallides. They found some serious accounting errors here. It is a disaster. Nicole this is a disaster for hewlettpackard. 8. 8 billion dollars charge or writedown that they have to take here for hewlettpackard. As you noted it is the number one loser in the dow. Been the biggest loser in the s p 500. The stock is tanking. Its at the lowest levels liz that we have seen since 2002 for hewlettpackard, right . Its basically a ten year low here for the company. And the whole idea is with this acquisition that hewlettpackard autonomy last year, e company, hewlettpackard feels that they were greatly misled as far as the accounting and financials. Autonomy has come out and has denied those claims of fraud. So whats the truth . This is going to untold and untold i mean this is not a story that will end at the closing bell. In the contrary, we will find out more and more. In the mean time you are seeing hewlettpackard down almost 12 . Back to you. Liz they have had to take earlier writedowns on other companies that were just complete busts. It is tough for meg whitman. Shes trying very hard, but again she said you cannot see fraud sometimes. They are not saying its fraud, but when you want to hide something, you can hide it. Then no matter how hard you look, it is very tough. Thank you nicole very much. Lets shift gears here to a company that is so huge in medical devices, medtronic is up more than a percent right now reporting Second Quarter earnings this morning. First off, they met estimates on earnings. They beat on revenue. Revenue grew 5 this quarter. Now, this morning in a fox business exclusive, i asked medtronic ceo omar ishrak what exactly is fuelling that growth and theres more. I would say that the continuing stabilization of the end markets in our cardiac rhythm businesses and spine businesses helped a lot and, you us and big businesses and theyve been under pressure for quite some time, but they are really showing continued signs of stabilization so thats helping. Liz from stabilization to outright growth is there an area of your business that looked super strong or stronger than you have seen it in the past . Japan had an outstanding quarter. They were up 12 on the back of new Product Launch we did out there a couple months ago. And the outlook there continues to look good. Broad based but driven primarily by our coronary business. Japan is a standout. Liz can you beat on these numbers as you have done in the past once that special tax against medical device makers kicks in through the Affordable Healthcare Act . People are wondering will that hurt your ability to make money . Well, number of things, first of all, you know, weve known about this happening for a while. So our approach has been to focus on things that we can control, and so weve been trying to devise our spending and Investment Plan that takes into account the device tax. Liz if its a knowable then, omar, my question is very obvious, have you already started to see it impact the way you innovate, the way you do research and development, the money that you do or dont spend . Indeed it has because, you know, our spending for next year, for example, includes a provision for the device tax. And that would be investment that we would make elsewhere, in either distribution or new products, clinical trials, a variety of areas. So it does take money away from other areas. But again, the outlook that weve issued includes it. Liz all right. Lets look forward then on the innovation. What are you pushing forward for now . When we last spoke in davos, yo were talking a lot about different kinds of diabetes or different kinds of sort of home therapy options. Whats exciting to you right now in your pipeline . We continue to work on what weve called the artificial pancreas or a way in which heavily insulin dependent diabetics can manage their diabetes in a much more automated fashion. That would be a breakthrough. Well get there in incremental steps. We are excited about it. There are areas in minimally invasive heart