First time they have seen that in 18 months. Citigroup also chugging higher. Apple, though, lets take a. Look, interesting day here once again. It is moving higher on better than expected iphone5 numbers in china. 2 million sold there. Morgan stanley pounding the table. Ipad and iphone demand remains robust. You need to own apple into the early part of 2013. Earlier this morning, first, on the flip side, you have citigroup saying they are downgrading apple. My phone suppliers have cut back on some orders. Attention, that donalds shareholders, here, i have one. I will put it on ebay. The race is officially over. We are talking pork, pickles, onions smothered in barbecue sauce. Mcdonalds a widely held stock in light of your portfolios and 401 k s. They bring it back every year for a limited time. Look at what it is doing for the stocks. It is up one full percentage point today. It has been kind of a rough couple weeks. The fabulous mcrib, i do not know, is it really a rib . Lets get to the floor show. [ laughter ] traders at the new york stock exchange, cme aad the imax. I was forced to do one for another network last year. Liz they are super popular, at least when it comes to the stocks. Once again, is it this headline out of washington, d. C. . The headline definitely helps, without a dow map. The overall fax are a rally into the end of the year. If that happens, that changes everything. We are going into the end of the year with some strength. Liz i am looking at all that is happening. We cannot ignore volume, guys. Volume continues to be a little anemic. Chris, at the cme, looking at what is working, you guys do with the trades that are coming through, what are you seeing . We are measuring lowvolume right now. Things tend to drift lower. The big thing we are on right now is still the gold position. We are right around that 1700 mark. If the pops over that, a lot of these traders will become buyers. It is acting as a resistance to the upside right now. With japan coming through with the more liberal, you know, monetary easing, sort of scenario, it may be really good for gold. Liz lets get the gold chart up. We are a full 10 above. If it goes down just a bit more, you may see the real buyers come in here. I think buyers will come in here. As we get closer, i think that 1700 level becomes a support level. Liz eisele, terry terry get pretty bad when gold was falling. It has. Liz manufacturers are trying to come back here. Hedge funds down 25 . Commercial short and down by 30 . That is according to the cftc. I think if you have watched over the past three or four months, the trading right has been really, really tight. The only time we had a big move was what we had geopolitical tensions with iran. I think oil is in a sweet spot where the countries are getting enough money for their oil. Manufacturing in america should be making a comeback. Liz you want to split my mcrib . [ laughter ] it has been a while. Liz off now more than a full percentage point. It is a classic performer. Whether it is plus or minus, it moves markets. Money flows, money flows from hedge funds. That is out of commodities. That includes gold and it includes oil. Liz into equities . Suggesting money is flowing into equities. Obviously, not a big vote. Money flowing in today. Liz good to see all of you. Thank you so much. I am considering putting it up on ebay. [ laughter ] lets get to the Market Driver today. Given the uncertainty, today it looks good, the past couple days it has been down. They implemented special payouts simply because they do not know what kind of tax treatment will really happen after that ended the year. Should you be aggressive, assertive or liz putting the mcrib aside for a moment, are you in assertive investor or are you a shrinking violet feedback this conservative texas investor is assertive right now. Despite the fiscal cliff worries, what we have been watching closely is the housing market. We are convinced that u. S. Housing has bottomed. On five years of inventory, that has been worked out. Mortgage rates are so low. That helps Consumer Sentiment so much. We are very positive on the market and, if in the next few days, next few days, there is a correction because a compromise is not met, and, i promise you, no one will like the compromise. Liz does that mean it is successful if everyone is a little unhappy . Exactly. Exactly. Liz if you are going all out assertive, what are you buying . We are buying a lot of companies. Our portfolios have about 60 to 70 stocks in them. Liz are you up for the year back yes. Definitely. Definitely. We are around 13 . Liz what is your favorite investment right now . What do you like right now . The best way to stay fully invested is to have a good hedge from high quality bonds. Barry, ironically, we are still buying bonds as well. Muniz, yes, in most cases. Taxfree in a simple security. You can very easily by highquality singlea, aa or higher that have lots of good joyces. Liz longer or shorter duration . Shorter. We work with about 50 dealers a round the country to get that better pricing. We do want lower duration. That is a bit more defensive. Liz should they be hospital [talking over each other] that is where there is no full taxing authority to raise taxes, if needed, to cover the interest payments. Very conservative strategy. Even where investors do not necessarily need the cash flow, it is a very good hedge to the equity position. Liz in the 4 00 oclock hour, we have the ceo of they make gigantic cranes. Manufacturing, and it looks of interesting right now. Our firm has been talking for the past two years about the anticipation that we could have a manufacturing resurrection in this country, primarily because of low Natural Gas Prices and the abundance of natural gas. I am in south texas. It is right at our back door. It is amazing how much our Energy Independence in this country just changed in a short timeframe. It is very positive for manufacturing here in the u. S. In the longterm. Liz on that note, she is coming back in just a moment with some of her favorite moneymaking names. Do not miss jamie. She will be back in just a minute. Fortynine minutes until the closing bell rings. A gift that keeps on giving. A 25 million investment. Taking the stores national. Coming up on the next fox business exclusive. We have brad kinstler. Will the second time the hr . They tried this before. They will try it again. Real stores will get his take on holiday sales. I always wait until the last minute. Can i still ship a gift in time r chrisas . Yeah, sure you can. Great. Wheres your gift . Uh. Whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Ship Fedex Express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. [ male announcer ] they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. And at this special time of year, they shine even brighter. Come to the winter event and get the mercedesbenz youve always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ saa ] ho, ho, ho, ho [ male announcer ] lease a 2013 glk350 for 399 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Liz time for the market check after very few encouraging trading days. Hewlettpackard back in the red. Nicole petallides and sandra smith are with us. First, to you nicole. Nicole the question here is a real push and pull. Is hp better off as one big unit or better off to be broken off into parts . It is not were broken up. He says that the company is so quick to gather. Really, this is a head to head with deutsche bank. Karl icahn would basically lead for a push to break it up. Now, it is dropping on the comments from deutsche bank. Liz nicole, thank you. Now, over to sandra. Look at these cocoa and sugar prices. Cocoa prices flat to down today. Up about 10 in 2012. There has been some major supply prices higher. There is almost constant political turmoil. They have also had that coupled with bad weather. The main ingredient in chocolate, those cocoa prices are higher as we head into christmas. Also, sugar prices. They are off today. It has been a big recliner in 2012. There has been some supply of sugar and not price is down. One thing to note in the sugar market, when we are talking about hedge funds out of the commodity market, they were seen bigtime and sugar. Dropping 68 in the latest week. There is a very bearish sentiment in the sugar market right now. Still, cocoa prices, way up. Liz to have seen these twoyear lows was pretty unbelievable for shoulder. What goes down, eventually goes out. Remember, we said that. Sandra, thank you. To a god who has a total suite two. The oracle of omaha. He has since generated within 1 billion profit for Warren Buffett. Right now, these are polar bear paws. White chocolate with the caramel and the nuts. Those are flying off the shelves. This is a cash machine enabling Warren Buffett to buy other companies. How will they finally open Permanent Stores on the coast . Joining me now brad kinstler. He is the ceo and president of sees candy. We enjoyed this holiday season. It is really big business for us. Liz well, it has to be. You open up these popup stores, these little gift centers, that do very well. Now, the big story is you will try to go national. Have you tried this before . In the 1990s. It was in the midwest. At that time, the competition was a little bit different than what it is today. The brandt was not quite as well known. California had a very growing population. The opportunities for the business was really back in the west coast during those years. They collected to pull back and focus on the west and, at this point, we now see the land scape a little differently and we are very excited and open to several stores in texas this year, as well as oklahoma. They are doing terrific. Liz these are the lucky states florida, georgia, pennsylvania and maryland. How did you choose those four states . We actually started in texas this year. Two in dallas and two in houston and one in san antonio. Liz i am talking east coast. I am a california girl. It is unbelievable how everyone there knows their favorite ones. I know everyone talks about how the bordeaux is the favorite. That is not mine. My favorite is the milk chocolate covered caramel. I would leave 50,000 of them if they were put in front of me. The unit hurdle is, of course, Warren Buffetts favorite. The product just felt like hot cakes in those locations. They will do very well with stores in. Liz job creation, is it in meaningful numbers . You know, in every shop, we will hire 20 people or so to run the shop. We will expand the deployment, obviously, during the holidays. It all adds up over time. This year, at christmas, we are employing over 7000 people in our business. We do our part. Liz yours, worn buffet, turns into within 1. 6 billion into profits. He and Charlie Munger yeah, they charged the floor,but they sit there for four hours snapping off pieces of peanut brittle and shoving it in their mouth. It is our job to run the business the way we can get the most out of it and continue to service the customers with this great candy. The pressure, it may come the boss eats a fair amount of candy. Liz cocoa, let me just ask you, cocoa and sugar looking pretty good. Can you hedge . Can you buy . How tough does that make your business at these prices skyrocket . Well, over the last five years, you have seen the cocoa market as low as 1500 a metric ton and as high as 3700 a metric ton. Currently, we are at about 2500. We ride this roller coaster. We ride ahead. Generally, we just work our way through. Liz brad, good luck with the holiday season. Appreciated. Nice talking to you. Liz i have to try one of those polar bear paws. My mother is obsessed. Brad kinstler, sees candy, ceo and president. We will be right back. Market up 68 points for the dow jones industrials. We are watching this very closely. Liz and eerie, quiet has descended over the market right now. The dollar a a 20 month high against the yen. An election in japan and people believe they will be more investment and infrastructure in japan, rebuilding after its done a couple of years ago. He starts to see the yen begins to weaken and the dollar has gotten a lot stronger. But lets get to where it is pretty quiet, jersey city. Probably not quite in jersey city, but knight capital, nobody is talking but the first board of directors continues to weigh the companys future. There is a meeting, Charlie Gasparino knows all about it about the bidding more. Charlie it has descended over the trading said. The Board Meeting is in new york. Liz the opposite of the giants. Charlie whatever. I got what you mean. But the board on these two bids finally the saga is it looks like it is coming to an end. What is interesting here is that the board has been meeting since 8 00 a. M. Why is it taking this long . You would think, former New York Mercantile Exchange chairman who allegedly put up a cash bid. If you put up a cash bid for 3, this thing is done. I wonder there is something about financing. 1. 50 ye 1. 50 billion. They literally have financing from our place. They wonder why they did it not being hit very hard. On the other hand, they virtually do the same thing. High frequency trading. They want to get the Market Making unit. It is a hard business. Making the market, putting the buy and sell together. The handle retail order flow. Why arent they hitting this thing . The bottom line is the employees, we have been reporting this last couple of days but employees are shot themselves to other firms because they ar theyre likely t fired, likely to take noncore businesses and basically sell them off. The hotspot unit is for currency and commodities. Nasdaq is interested in that. The Bond Department because there are midsize firms interested in it. People are shopping themselves. Liz this all began when i had a massive trading glitch in the middle of the night with software they did not test properly. Charlie the stock went from 10 to three. Below three. 2. 50. The strike price is 1. 50. If it can stay around 3, all of those guys who build them out, they would make a lot of money. That is why people get interested. But i cant understand why a cash bid for 3, anywhere from 3 3. 20, why that is not getting hit very hard. Then he is not the chocolate kind of guy. He went to the u. S. Military ketamine, airborne ranger. A smart guy as well. I dont know if chocolates are enough. Liz believe me. Charlie maybe your smile will do it. Liz charlie always has it, everybody else follows. Were up 74 points. It looks like a healthy day. Stay tuned, much more ahead. We will look at the chart. Where you may want to sell the s p coming up. Im adam shapiro with your fox business brief. The Financial Times reports three dozen bankers and senior managers will be implicated in the rigging of leiber Interest Rates when ibf settles with Global Regulators later this week. Close to finalizing a deal in the United States, the uk and switzerland in which the bank will pay roughly 1. 5 alien dollars. Morgan stanley paying 5 million fine to the state of massachusetts over facebook ipo. The complaint against the banking giant cited improper influence of bankers over wall street analysts. Morgan stanley shifted into fox business state is pleased to have reached a settlement and put the matter behind us. American drivers are getting more relief at the pump as gas prices dropped to the lowest level of the year. According to aaa daily fuel gauge, the National Average is down 3. 25 per gallon. We continue our countdown to the closing bell with liz claman. Liz thanks, adam. Nicole, lets get to you. Looking at one mobile phone record that has been on a roll. Everybody has these things for holiday gifts. Nicole lets take a look at the stock, up nearly 3 on the day. Nokia cracked the 4 barrier today. One of the reasons, one of the competitors, htc, could be pushing aside some big plans to compete with nokia. Large screen windows phone, and the technology doesnt support that. Htc recently launched droid dna. Guess what, i am not really into the insides of these phones, but i know the ins and outs and i understand competition. When one of the competitors pulled something off the shelf, that is good for the other guy, and the other guy is n no nokia. Liz i know adam got lazy. He must be burning the midnight oil. Adam i have been eating chocolate. I had to get it in. Liz save some for me. Thank you. After bouncing sharply off the midnovember lows, stocks have been turning searching for direction and investors seemingly wait for some sort of all clear signal to get in. Are you missing the opportunity if youre doing that, taking your time . He will explain all this because he is head of Technical Analysis with a fox business exclusive. Some people say i want to own mcdonalds, want to own apple or dont want to own apple. You get serious signals by looking at the s p, which i guess is coming off of its worst week in a month. When we think about the last three weekly moves, 1418, 1413, we havent made a ton of progress after the balance we got on the midnovember lows. Investors are unsure, but what is actually most interesting is the price action has been a bit more bullish than the levels would tell us. It is impressive stocks havent sold off more. Liz that is an excellent point. Look at apple, you might panic and little bit, but 14. 26 you tell me there is a resistance and there is a support. What is the resistance, what is the floor . Would have kind of merge them. Marking the top of the rally about a week ago. Liz is that a signal to investors . Of what . It would be a positive signal. On the converse side of that commie look at the support, 14, 1405. The odds are higher you retest where we visited several months back. Lets look at the overall backdrop, the fact despite apple been down 50 over the last two weeks, the fact that the gap has emerged between the s p and apple is actually pretty interesting stocks arent down more. Stocks have filled the Leadership Void over the last couple of weeks. Liz what is filling the apple void . It is about 50 of the nasdaq 100, to where it goes is important for the overall direction of the market. The fact it is down the last two weeks and stocks as a whole are off more means of the names have filled in that convoy. Industrials have emerged over the last couple of weeks with a better tone. Emerging markets have emerged over the last couple of weeks with a better tone. Risk assets are acting a bit better than the tape would show was. Liz those are at eightmonth high. Are you suggesting theres more room to run . More energy and fuel for these two continu