it is the last hour of trading. the "countdown to the closing bell." we just got those minutes from the last federal reserve meeting. they were released in the last hour. was it fed officials discussing another round of quantitative easing. that immediately help stocks off their lows. can fed chief bernanke find another tool in his golf that should work. to tough economist for your to battle it out whether no action could be the best action to make. stay tuned. the dow is still in the red. hewlett-packard is the biggest loser on the dow. we will have those numbers. same time yesterday after the bell, dell came after their numbers. the stock is falling.

it was nothing too exciting. a little upsetting for investors of dell. we are going to tell you exactly what to watch for from hewlett-packard coming up. we have some big winners also. luxury homebuilders hitting a five year high today. that is helping the rest of the entire sector get a boost. they are not just getting a nice boost, they are stock leaders. let's get to the market. we have the dow and nasdaq and s&p looking a little bit better. why? >> i think it is they were going to do something. traders were already looking towards september. it really is the dog days of

summer. people are on vacation. it was a very quiet day. when you consider that is probably what has been holding this market up in the face of some very dismal headlines, and other reason to get in there and buy some stock 11 things are extraordinarily quiet on that new york stock exchange. what about where you are? >> the stock market ask like a market that actually wants to break right here and that rally. two things happened today, the words "some" and "many." that leaves just what during said the odds now favor some type of quantitative easing package will be given to us very very shortly. that moves traders from one side to the other. however, that does not change how the market is acting.

liz: here is one of the many sentences, as soon as the minutes come out, i start writing down everything i am saying. extending forward guidance, what does that mean? i extend forward guidance. what does that mean? >> it means, i think, they will continue with low interest rates and it was recommended they do it a little further out than 2014 good. >> i read that what they are saying is they will keep interest rates low. whether it is the long end of the game are the short end, they are keeping the brakes on it. they will do things to stimulate at the same time. liz: mike, the fed numbers have such fancy ways of saying things. you tell me because the dollar started to fall when we started to see the minutes come out, and when you see what is going on with crude oil, you have a

bigger than expected monthly billed, what else played in? >> it is slow out there. the fed comes out and says we will keep interest rate low. the ranges are getting smaller, but we are trading near the height of the ranges. today the high was that 97.5. we settled at 97.25. i thought it would help the market get above. we really did not. once we get above $98, after labor day, i think we will see a whole new picture in this market going into the u.s. elections. the only key i can look after you is there has been some call buying and out of the money strikes. out of the money being like the 140 and 150 calls are being bought. liz: 150 a barrel for june, is that what you are saying?

>> no. they are buying it for a possible conflict in the middle east. that is what i think. that is what i read into it. that is the only thing i can report out of that. otherwise, the im has been lackluster and slow. eleven who the heck knows what will happen next week's, let alone june. thank you for joining us on the floor show. if you look at the markets, year over year-- the volatility index, we talk about this all the time, it has fallen nearly 60% over the past 52 weeks. it has hovered around a level of 15. the past five times it has been there and we pulled us up and made this chart for you, the markets have gotten ugly really fast. our we set for another pullback? chief investment officer at

palisade capital management is spending the last hour with us. for me once, shame on you, jamie twice, shame on me. do you expect that to happen? >> this time it is different. most alligators like hedge funds are set up the wrong way. they are mainly under farming. they are looking at exactly the same charts we are looking at. i think the key time this time is europe. they had plenty of time to reverse course on druggie -- this kicking and screaming type of rally. everyone is so mad about this type of rally.

liz: i will not be in equities. sure enough, equities have jumped anywhere from 18-25% year over year. all you have to see is the trend and that is a massive outflows away from stock and equity fund. and into bond funds. >> our friend points out since 06 you have had over $500 billion of net outflows out of equity funds. more importantly you have had $1 trillion go into bond funds. that differential, that is like a spring that will resolve itself. you stretch the spring very very far. could there be a correction here? clearly, there could be. the vix telling us there is a pause. they put out a note that we would see as much of a 25%

correction and s&p. i just do not see that happening. liz: that would be quite this not back. definitely. you have come here time and again saying you like stocks. the last time you were here, back on june 1, the stock you picked is up about 28%. >> again, we have made a lot of money taking the other side i'm a the other view, the opposing view, when consensus lies, you have to take the other view. liz: "the closing bell" ringing in 52 minutes. the dow is still down. we had and s&p and nasdaq moving higher. nike is getting serious pushback. the hundred $15 shoe. the lebron shoe. it has some type of grain inside

of it. we are bringing in the team to break down all the angles. is there some downside for nike? stay tuned. ♪ everyone has goals.

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liz: stop distracting me, charlie. nicole is better looking. you are okay. nicole is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: i want to discuss williams sonoma. when you talk about williams sonoma home a look at the stock today, it is faring beautifully. a lot of people question whether or not the consumers or ready to go in there and buy $25 bachelors. turns out they have a lot of registries. they raised their outlook. all about houseware. 12% to the upside. liz: thank you so much.

the mighty mississippi, not so mighty anymore. we have been all over this story. as the drought continues, we have been telling you, mississippi drying up causing many barges to run aground. jeff flock is in davenport, iowa today. jeff: it is dead out on this river. this is one of the locks and dams. this is number 15. do you see any barges going through? no, absolutely not. gary, go ahead and kick the boat into beer. i will show you what the mississippi looks like today. this is a river, as you know, has commend this amount of traffic geared we are told by

the coast guard -- they expect d traffic back in gear sometime this afternoon. not long. we hope that by tomorrow we will hope to see some more traffic coming from point like this in the quad cities starting to head back down there. a barge captain does not want to take off from here and had all the way down and make it stop all the way down there. that is where we stand right now. it is nice being out here on the mississippi. no barges to get in your way. liz: yeah, for now. jeff flock, thank you so much. and thanks to captain jack. i note that is not his name. jeff: gary. he is a bass pro fishermen.

liz: did not capital had a secret white knight to it bailout? they need help bringing it back under control. charlie gasparino has another name that helped out speaking scott trade. scott trade came in. it is interesting why they came in. it is still trading above the conversion price on a convertible securities they got. this was a sweetheart deal. knight capital caught by the way

it is going down again today, we should talk about that in a second. knight capital convinced the others to get rid of some of their shares and put scott trade in so they could make money. this gives you an inside, insight, on how wall street works. scott trade is a big order supplier for knight capital. they wanted to pay them back for all the orders. it actually gave them orders when they were on death bed. why did the other firms agree to give up some of that, they all have relationships with scott trade. they make markets with them. it is a big, you know, i would call it a circle. liz: he said he jumped in on that thursday night after the original problem and he said they did not want them. charlie: because he was not a big enough customer. blackstone was in that group.

they use jefferies which led to the efforts to recapitalize knight capital. used a lot of luck stones du jour -- do diligence. should have disclosed it, probably. what does this mean? this just shows you how and sensuous they are. they do not care about you and i. they will, basically, grace the palms of their best friend and their best customers. it is an interesting insight to this. it is now getting out there. liz: let me ask your insight on a story that was big yesterday. that was warren buffett regarding municipal bonds. a lot of our viewers are invested in muni bonds. charlie: bearishness by warren

buffett on the muni market which it may or may not be. i will tell you this, before you start, sort of thinking that warren buffett thinks the muni market will have hundreds of billions of dollars, who said that again i forget her name, right after the market fell, it began almost a year and a half climbed where muni bond prices are pretty high right now. all the things you hear about municipalities right now, you hear where they are short on cash. people are buying municipals left and right right now. he was ensuring bonds. he underwrote. liz: you are saying don't survive that he is making a bearish bet speaking he basically wants to cash out of this position. by the way, we should point out,

what are the two cbs's he held on? from what i understand, it was illinois and california. these are troubled states. he may be betting, not that they are going through default, guess what, credit concerns, those prices will go down. we don't know. he did not talk to any of us think what is going on. i would be very hesitant because a lot of our watchers on muni bonds. every state and city is going bankrupt, every state entity is going to default, this is like armageddon. liz: and it is not. charlie: i have read a lot. they need to get their acts together in a major way. liz: 40 minutes before "the closing bell." nike has this new $315 shoe on the market.

what kind of shoe do you wear, charlie? charlie: johnston and murphy. liz: never heard of them. we are talking about this much talked about story. then we have a former hockey player. looking to perform a hat trick with your portfolio. >> that was good. liz: stay tuned. bernie wolfe coming up next. ♪ we have big dreams.

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liz: nike has a new shoe hitting the market that is stirring up so much controversy. the lebron shoe. let's shake it up with the team,

find what the problem is and whether it is really a problem. adam shapiro. >> we got a statement from nike, the high-tech shoe that will tell you how height you are jumping, when they introduce the lebron x without the additional technology, it will be $180. the president of that national urban league asking nike to hold off with the high-tech shoe because they do not want to create a firestorm. i don't know, you are too young, liz, to remember starter jackets. i am trying to get on your good side. remember the controversy over the starter jackets. kids are stealing starter jackets from other kids. there was a concern that that same thing may happen billowed here is the deal, it was not just stealing. people were killing people over

starter jackets. liz: sandy smith? sandra: these are for sale at neiman marcus right now. $480. jamie choose are over $1000. come on. perspective is everything. liz: no such thing as bad pr until someone gets hurt. nike stock any major reaction here. nicole: not moving too much. sketchers has really outdone nike this year. when you talk about a shoe or a new product, it is just like the apple iphone.

i do think that the head has a great point. all the kids will be fighting and wanting this. there's so much better ways to spend money. the truth of the matter is, it is america. if there is demand for it, that is how it goes. liz: more power to nike if it becomes popular. nicole: i want to see how high we can jump. >> you don't have to jump is the where those shoes that sandra was showing. liz: exactly. sandra and tracy are the ones that are really good and walking in those high shoes. nike is down just nine cents at the moment. we know after the financial crisis hit, many of you felt like hockey players after the playoffs. can you actually learn to grow your money by beheading like a

hockey player. bernie wolfe is right here with me. he is chairman and ceo of bernard associates. the lessons of hockey. we have seen every college football coach in basketball coach write a book about the lessons of teamwork. please tell me there is more to this than just that. >> you have to learn to be a good team player. i learned a few other things. how to adapt to change. we have seen plenty of that in the financial world. learn to be able to adjust, like when the used to play hockey, there would be different teams that would know, they would do certain things, shoot pucks more often and i would have to adapt. discipline is the key. the investor has to be much more

disciplined today and not just make moves based on today's news. liz: bernie, when you talk about adapting, are you talking about adapting to all the issues you see out there on the financial landscape? such as the problems we see with europe's, a china slowdown. >> exactly. the old-fashioned way of buy and hold, i think only works today if you have and 80 year time horizon. i do not have that. i think the 100 year flood is happening now every ten years. because of that, we need to be, it is no longer good enough to be diversified amongst asset classes like stocks and bonds. you have to be diversified in their market strategies, their market strategies.

they are not fluctuating daily based on the stock market. liz: let's get to some of those. you are saying it is no longer good enough. learning from new experiences and moving forward. people used to eat by the food pyramid. we know now that is totally lame and you have to change it up. let's get to some of the ideas. the investment ideas you feel work best now. >> well, alternatives. too much of anything is not good. yale and harvard endowment however, i have been told, 70 plus percent and alternatives today. the thing that i consider alternatives are sr. debt portfolios that are paying monthly income to our clients, senior debt gets paid before everybody except the irs. relatively safe. leasing transactions.

there are companies out there buying equipment and leasing it to pager reparations. the banks are not doing it. a lot of companies don't want to carry equipment on their balance sheets. these are all providing investors seven-8% current yield. liz: what would you tell people to avoid right now? >> well, i am nervous even though the fed has talked a little bit today about making, you know, loosening up a little bit more. i am nervous about buying long-term bonds. one, you are not getting any yield for it. there has always been an inverse relationship between interest rates and the value of the bonds. i am worried about that. i am also worried and i cautioned client not -- i don't think we are in a hole market now. i really think we are in a secular bear market.

i don't want them jumping on the bandwagon at this point. liz: bernie wolfe, he played goalie for the washington capitals. who do you pick for the stanley cup in 2013? >> i note you are a los angeles kings than. i would love to see my old washington capitals. liz: was that a stash? did you have a mustache back then? >> yes. [laughter] it was cool in those days. it got to greg 11 lots of pressure. lots of pressure. thank you, bernie. >> thank you for having me. liz: "the closing bell" ringing in 27 minutes. to ease or not to ease. bernie just mentioned what the fed will do, make it easier? this is the question. there is still a pretty big

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♪ >> i'm adam shapiro with your fox business brief. the congressional budget office warned that the country could go into recession if lawmakers allowed to go up office -- of of fiscal cliff. spending cuts and tax hikes set

to start next year will do more harm to the economy than originally predicted. the cbo also says failure to avoid a fiscal cliff will cause gross domestic production to shrink half a percent and eliminate the 2,000 jobs. the multibillion-dollar patent trial between apple and samsung is now on the hands of a california jury. been in a heated battle in which apple accused samsung of violating numerous patents. negotiations on a new collective bargaining a renter in the national hockey league and the union representatives were called off for today. no reason was given for the sudden cancellation. doctors his will to resume thursday. the current agreement expires september 15th. we continue our "countdown to the closing bell" with a hockey fan liz claman. liz: yes, i am. when we need to talk about hitting a brand new high. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: looking at american eagle outfitters, this

name doing so well moving to a 4-year highs. the profit that they have seen so far is beating the analyst estimates, now raising their guidance. also talking about the back-to-school, looking good, and preparing for that with these retailers. two tabs where they make their most money, back to school, on the holiday shopping season. autlook. you can see stocks jumping up 7%, as i noted. really outpacing, beating out the profit estimates going forward. beating at the other two, beating out arrow postdoc and abercrombie and finch. of course these companies are all battling for the same customers, but their outlook for american eagle outfitters is really outpacing both arab postal and abercrombie and fitch liz: and my the only one that cannot keep these things straight. >> reporter: i agree. thank you very much.

the federal reserve released its minutes from his most recent meeting that came out at 2:00 p.m. eastern. liz: s&p and nasdaq immediately turned positive. more quantitative easing or large-scale asset purchases were discussed. no action was taken. we know that. should the fed make a move? senior fellow at the peterson institute for international economics and a former federal reserve monetary ssc director and once more action. on the other side, oppenheimer fund chief economist thinks now is not the time for quantitative easing. before now not. that me get to joseph first. the first two rounds of quantitative easing. very salubrious or positive effects on the market which is not why they should be doing its, some people say. correct? >> that's correct. it is not about the markets. it is about employment and inflation.

we are really having lesson plan and then we need, and inflation is about where it should be or maybe a little low. liz: one thing that we did not see was more employment in the wake of qe1 and two. so why a third round? >> well, you know, there have been studies that argue that qe1 had a particularly large effect on employment, so i guess there is some disagreement out there. qe2 was quite small. operation was quite small. i think that they have been really quite timid for the past two years. liz: you're right. we should be fair. we did see some positive employment growth, and then it slow down after january. yes, up until a certain point we started to see some action. at least we are not contracting. your side of this. and i will take the other side. the question would be, why not and we still aren't seeing businesses step up to the plate to hire, maybe it is the role of the fed to continue to do

something because they have the ability to do so. >> they have the mandate, i'm not sure they have the ability. my concern about monetary policy is kind of like penicillin. it works really well for pneumonia. that is 2008, but it is not very good for treating the common cold. it is not doing anything in all. i just don't think it is the right medicine. i don't think monetary policy as well as it has been applied in the past is going to help the economy in current conditions. liz: if the first two are not in massive form of having the continued results of this cannot tell me how and what form it should take if we were to seek to foxbusiness.com? >> well, i would recommend targeted toward the mortgage market. and in particular i think the feds should really announce a range of mortgage rates that it would like to see which it can enforce by limited purchases of

mortgage-backed securities. and the deadline of time horizon of course that would be in effect to give people who want to get into the housing market some certainty that for a good 6-12 months of financing will be there at the super low rate. and give kurds and enthusiasm to really get housing back under way. liz: would that work? >> you know, first of all, housing is getting better. very low. jussive makes an important point about the availability of mortgage lending as opposed to the rate at which mortgage can be made. right now the rate is not an issue. that is what the fed can presumably a fact. the problem is the availability. it is hard to qualify, and a lot of homes are currently under water, so it is difficult to refinance. the appraisals are not there yet. the fed cannot influence the price of housing except by lowering interest rates. i don't think mortgage rates

going lower would make more people qualify substantially more people qualify for mortgage loans. liz: at historic lows loud. -- historic lows now. we will be watching this command and above that you will be canceling all plans august 31st when jackson hole has its big meeting and the fed reserve chief speaks. we will talk again. senior fellow at the peterson institute and oppenheimer fund chief economist. closing bell has 15 mess before it starts clanging of the storm. coming up, managing three and half billion dollars. last time he was here the stocks that he picked, up 28%. what else to see light? let's hear more. he has a bunch of names, but one where they raised the dividend five times in the past five quarters.

liz: i have been waiting all day for this. back to tell us the best opportunities he is finding in any market conditions. three names. your first one, not only doing well with the past year, and also if a 9% dividend. >> of business development company or ddc, a subsidiary of a very well-regarded part -- private equity fund, the market capital. they started this demand really they are the future of middle-market lending, and i think this is one of the best plays of getting a combination of modest appreciation and a growing dividend. we have known this company since it went public.

there raise their dividend five times and paid as a special dividend as well. liz: and you like the management? >> the founder of new mount capital has an impeccable reputation of delivering fantastic private equity returns, leveraging that research they have applied that same strategy to the business development company, and i expect great things in the future from his company. liz: we just had the ceo of your second pick which of only has that food service business, but many of us know them for their crane business, a gigantic cranes which to me i would be nervous if a lot of people are building big buildings at the moment due to the economy why you still like them. >> in the last quarter actually cranes or the bright spot. they slept a little bit on the food service site. i think this is a great company. first of all, these trains, the total cost of ownership, is actually higher than domestic. because manitowoc as a name for quality, anything that is used data china virtually has no value whatsoever in the

secondary market. at this company is well-positioned, and cyclicals in general have really underperformed relative to the proceeds more stable dividend payers, defense is sort of names. i think that is likely going to be pretty much over for the rest of the year. liz: we always like to mention this to my notice 9% of the slope is being shorted, so there are some bearish bets, but we like this company. watch it closely. the third one, and tennessee and wyoming if. >> we have talked about this company several times a fork. apposition a short line railroad as one acquisition away from being a cheap stock again. they're currently in the process of buying their -- the biggest and the only competitor that they have. a transformative deal. carlisle is coming in. the committed at least 350 million capital to fund the deal. shares are up almost in% since the deal was announced.

very unusual for the acquirer to go up as well as the inquiry. and i just think, if you can look 3-5 years down the road you will make a multiple of what this share currently trades for. liz: we always enjoy the next time you come back because we always good to see how well your stock picks have done. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. liz: chief investment officer at palisade capitol with more than 3 billion in assets under management. we are waiting on our earnings from some big names. liz: -- >> reporter: here is a look ahead. the stock actually down about 3%, some nervousness. by the way, the stock shed about one quarter of its value so far this year. analysts are expecting hewlett-packard to report earnings per share of $0.98 on revenue of $30 billion for the quarter. here is what you need to watch for their release, an actual quarterly net loss for the company that said it would take in a billion dollar non-cash charge for the quarter.

we will see what that number actually is. analysts on liquor for additional a impairment and restructuring charges. ceo may woodman placed three and half billion in expenses. looking for what that actual number will be. all eyes are on the court -- forecast which could be a big factor in how the stock response to that report. stay tuned right here where we will break down earnings on hewlett-packard, the release to the second that it comes out. that is going to be a big one to watch. liz: indeed. i know a lot of you own it. dow component. stay tuned. clear yourself to where you're sitting right now because the closing bell is six minutes away if. follow me on twitter. check out the show's twitter account. by the way, you can request. what other show allows you to do that topic whenever and we will do it. one stock getting a dollar price target from an analyst, shares are falling into a downward spiral.

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trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. liz: but it up on the screen, looking at clear wire, a broad band wi-fi company. analysts say this should be it dollar and is falling nearly 9% on news among the still holding about $1.63.nd nasdaq holding ae flat line, still positive. dow cannot make it just yet. let's go over to david asman. >> very exciting. hewlett-packard down about 10%. once it reports, we all have good coverage. liz: first, let's go to nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole, stocks reacted positively to the fed minutes

today. the dow cut losses in half. what about it do that traders really focus upon? nicole okay. she can't hear me. can you hear me? david: [talking over each other] to your point, market wants, the headline on market watch right now, of course, this is rex nothing. ticket with a grain of salt. get ready for q e. three. that is the headline on market watch, and that is what turned the market around. it has pared some of its loss. it is still trading to the negative side, but imagine where it could have been had they not come to that consensus that, in fact, we are getting ready for foxbusiness.com. nicole is ready now. let's talk about retail stocks. williams sonoma which reported yesterday, seeing a huge jump today, at one time of 11% and is over 11 percent right now. also with american eagle hot. and getting ready to report,