liz: one of "barron's" top 50 in the entire nation. richard scelz, neuberger berman. [closing bell rings] the dow couldn't make it all the way. we had been down 145. david and melissa, pick it up here for "after the bell." david: stocks sinking in the final moments of trading. the dow ending well off its lows however, down 30 points right now. s&p and nasdaq in the red right now. i'm david asman. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." we have you covered on all the big market movers. here what else we have for you coming up this hour. dealing with aggression in syria and north korea, president trump meeting right now with both his national security advisor and the head of his national economic council. this as secretary of state rex tillerson issues and ultimate testimony -- ultimatum, side with us or syria. we'll have an update from

moscow. cracking down on illegal immigration, attorney general jeff sessions talking tough from the mexican border, talking this a new era under president trump. what he is asking of all federal prosecutors, that is now. among our guests this hour, bret baier, dan henninger, texas attorney general ken paxton, chris harmer and mercedes colwin. a lot of good ones. david: a packedded hour of good stuff. meanwhile the dow ending down just 6%, 6%, six points. it actually came well off its lows during the day and, in the last couple of minutes, ended almost in the flat line. let's go straight to gerri willis at the new york stock exchange. gerri, it was way down, and then kicking its way back today. >> we did have a bit of a turnaround here david, that's right. the words are on the lips of all traders down here, geopolitical risk. if it is not syria, it is russia, it is north korea. one headline traders said they were trading on today, one from donald trump. this is his quote.

north korea is looking for trouble. that is what our president said. as a result, investors flocking for safety. we see the vix, that is wall street's fear gauge, hitting a five-month high today. so investors worried. they're nervous. what else have they done? they have gone into gold. gold prices, gold miners going higher, in the highest settle in five months. gold is up three of the last four days. you see the gold miners right there. one thing i want to add happened, should have gotten more than it did, san francisco fed president john williams, saying he wants to bring rates to a more normal level. expanding on that he would like to see 3 or 4 rate increase this is year. now that is far above what consensus has been, two to three rate hikes. that will be important for the markets going forward. guys, again, geopolitical risk. what we're worried about. why? because we think it will delay tax cuts out there. that is the word from the floor.

david: i think you hit it on the head there. thank you very much, gerri. melissa. melissa: who's who of ceos. president trump meeting with elon musk and gm's mary barra. blake burman is at white house with latest on this. blake? reporter: another does plus ceos coming today to the white house as what is known the strategic and policy forum. this is the second time this group came together. first one was back in february. the president says he wants to do this fairly often. among leaders meeting with top cabinet members, ceos of walmart, ibm, gm. blackrock, name a handful. among the cabinet secretaries, budget director mick mulvaney, transportation secretary elaine chao. in the lead-up white house officials say it would be taxes and infrastructure would be on top of the agenda. meantime here at the white house it appears the second push for health care reform isn't dead just yet.

the leader of the house freedom caucus, mark meadows, gave an interview to a local radio station in north carolina, he feels, they are quote very close potentially to a deal. two options are on the table, that he was delivering to the house speaker paul ryan. i asked the white house press secretary sean spicer about that earlier today at the press briefing. spicer telling me does feel they are getting closer to a deal but he did not say that the white house has necessarily signed off on those two options. listen to spicer earlier this afternoon. >> it is not a question of us signing off. we're get with the direction this is going as long as it continues to grow the vote. a lot of these provisions being discussed give states the flexibility to enact certain provisions which is consistent with our general philosophy giving more competition and more choice to the people in the states. reporter: now, melissa, spicer

did say they feel, quoting here, buoyed by the direction this is going, end quote. but at this point clearly they still do not have the numbers that they need. melissa. melissa: blathank you.