yellen. i thought you were talking about maria. >> i meant both. >> thank you very much my friend, david darst. the dow up 54 record high. the nasdaq -- s&p above 1800 for the first time and nasdaq ten points from 10,000. the last time the second hour of the "closing bell" with maria bartiromo. have a good weekend. >> there is no stopping this rally! the dow and the s&p 500 closing at all-time highs once again. hi, everybody, it's 4:00 on wall street. do you know where your money is? welcome back to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo on the floor of the new york stock exchange on a record-setting friday. take a look at the numbers. dow jones industrial finishing with a gain of 5 3 points and all-time high market down 16,063 and change on the dow. the nasdaq up 22 points. s&p 500 also at an all-time high. finishing above 1800 at 1804. never seen that at the close.

standard & poor's at 1804 tonight. it was another record-setting week for the dow and the s&p 500. with the s&p finishing above 1800, first time ever. dominic chu recapping all the action and the highlights. also highlighting a few red flags investors need to know about. over to you. >> thanks. let's put it in context for you viewers about how strong this bull market has been. intrady moves and then the year to date moves for dow industrials. up 23% so far year to date. a massive move to the upside. just to put it in context here. also checking out what's happening with the s&p 500, because that as well up 27% so farr year to date. a nice move. again, a record close for that. with the nasdaq composite showing those gains as well at the highs of the year. multiyear highs for nasdaq composite. check out the winners on the name. jpmorgan chase, chevron, united health care closing on the

upside. lougs losers include names intel, ibm, as well as s&p 500, biogen tyson. on the losers gamestop, best buy, peabodie. nasdaq winners, biogen celgene, reagain ron. there are some red flags we talked about in the past. investors have pretty much shrugged off. one is the small cap market outperformance or underperformance versus the s&p 500. you can see here, there was a concern that small cap stocks might lead the market lower. we can see from the overall picture so far, we haven't seen that real underperformance with those stocks at all. that's a big move here for those particular stocks. that's one of the reasons why you're seeing this chart the way it is. it hasn't been a concern for investors at all. then we have what's been happening over the past week or

month. a lot of people putting money into the small cap stocks. of course, the fed, a huge concern for a lot of investors here. a big question mark when will rates go higher and when will the taper come affect stocks? we have indication that markets think ben bernanke and janet yellen will keep the rates low until the economy recovers even more. maria, uncertainty is yes. but markets seem to be shrugging them off. >> thanks. want to bring in our market experts to talk about whether they're seeing any red flags. joining me is stephanie link from the street, can ryan schaeffer, larry mcdonald from new edge usa and cnbc contributor and kyle harrington from harrington capital management. good to see everybody. thanks for joining us. kyle, what's your take on this market? record after record after record. you want to put new money to work here? >> wow. this is a tough time. you know the dow jones, over 16,000, exciting. i just want -- i want to pick the right time to enter the

marketplace. >> you're waiting for a decline? >> i'm going to wait for a decline. i'll look at retail sales and see how it shapes up before we put new money to work in the market. >> stephanie link, where are the values in this market right now and where do you see froth? >> i've been saying i'm not really sure we go a lot higher in the market between now and the end of the year unless we have that famous blowoff we usually have. we've had a nice run f you look at certain sectors that have lagged will benefit from a taper, meaning better growth down the road is the financials. the financials led in a huge way this week. i think they will continue because the valuations are compelling. clearly they benefit from a steeper yield curve but they benefit from the economy for better loan growth. i think the encouraging thing in the most recent report is c&i loans, leading indicator for consumer loendzans, rose 7%.

that's encouraging. a sector can you put money to work in. can you put money to work in industrials. i'm a fan of 2014 nonresidential construction. we're starting to see pockets now. that's a play -- you want to be buying them now for the play into 2014. >> what do you think, ryan you agree with that? you want to put money to work here? how are you playing it? >> we think so. you want to buy these little dips. we just had 3% dip in small caps and they are high. we know how previous leaders have broken down a little bit but the financials are leading. there's a lot of roon to think the market keeps going high her. the last seven years from the day after thanksgiving -- starting on good friday until the end of the year we've been higher 7 out of 10 times. when you consider the fact short interest on s&p 500 components is at the highest point it's been all year, that's a lot of buying pressure out there.

i continue to buy the 2% 3% dips. >> larry, how are you injesing in the market here at these levels? >> if you look at the s&p up 26%, 27%. there's a tremendous amount of gains people have in their accounts. i think over the next two to three weeks you're going to have the january effect with the losers like miners. last year the worst stocks in november december best buy, hewlett-packard. last year the most hated sector in december 2011 financials. bank of america in 2012 was up 115%. you want -- i think with this 27% performance in the s&p you'll have an outsized january effect. that's what i'm looking for. how do you want to approach that? how do you want to invest then

being exposed to what larry? >> i want to be exposed to the miners, the parts that are exposed the most. miners are really beaten down because everybody is selling their losers to lock in those losses to offset some gains. i think you see tremendous outperformance from miners in january. >> you say you're wait fog a selloff. what's most vulnerable. where do you think the weaknesses vulnerabilities are in this market. >> i go back to the hard data, right? you're looking at employment market place. janet yellen coming in. there's going to be a discussion of tapering coming up soon. when that happens, my only fear is is that when the markets sell off, they sell off significantly. when you have big institutional investors spying the exits, you have to be careful with respect

to where the money is. the sectors that have underperformed miners utilities. park some money there temporarily to still be exposed to equity markets. hopefully dividend players. wait until i think we get a little more health in the market. >> stephanie link, real quick on catalyst. >> it's a short week, as we know. we do get housing data and the chicago pmi number. tiffany's and hewlett-packard. i would circle back quickly on the taper talk if we get taper talk, which i think we have been over the last couple of weeks, and i think it's going to intensify, the sectors that benefit the most highest correlation, financials and industrials, that's why you want to be owning those stocks into the end of the year. >> we'll leave it there. thanks, everybody. great conversation. i'll see you soon. thanks guys. blockbuster deal in the work. comcast, parent company of this network, has a potential bid for time warner cable. both companies surging on the news. broken first by david faber. david joins us on the phone with

the latest. stock up 4% on comcast and 9% on time warner. david, what can you tell us? >> clearly investors are embracing the idea of consolidation. what we reported this morning is that comcast has employed people to advise it on the feasibility of a time warner cable acquisition. particularly from the regulatory hurdles it might face and whether it could overcome those hurdles. they aren't specifics to any trust because the caps for cable ownership was thrown out some time ago. but there is still a question as to whether the fcc would allow comcast actually acquire time warner cable for any number of reasons, including, it might control as many as 37 million separate house holds. perhaps too much power with programmers. time warner itself has been under siege to a certain extent. we know charter and liberty, since last june have been eyeing that company, trying to get it to the negotiating table, to agree to discuss a deal under which the much smaller charter

would acquire time warner cable. the stock of which has been up sharply on takeover speculation since we really did report it back in june. that deal remain a question mark in terms of whether charter will be able to publicly propose it put enough pressure on time warner and shareholder base to get the cable giant to the negotiating table to try to hammer out a premium deal. but at the same time, i can tell you that time warner would prefer if that were the case to try to negotiate a deal with comcast, of course our parent network. all of that does not mean we'll see consolidation any time soon. certainly investors are embracing this team, as is the looks of jon meloan one of the pioneers of the cable business overall. he's fixated on netflix and what that has meant to destabilizing the cable business. a lot more to come. >> david, are we talking about then in one and number two player in the industry?

terms of the cable players? i'm wondering about in whole department of justice and this possibility of you know sort of reluctance from the government. what do you think? >> you know there's no longer -- -- there's no longer caps on ownership. clearly a deal would not bump up against any concern there. but the concern would be the 37 million overall households. you also have competitors you didn't have before. uverse from at&t fios directv and dish. it's a different world competitively than it might have been a number of years ago. the key consideration would not be -- it would be fcc and whether they would allow a deal to happen. >> thank you so much. great work breaking the story today for us. milestones on wall street meanwhile, this week. if history repeats itself investors may be a little more thanksful next week. that's not just because of

turkey. wall street's money pros will explain coming up. one week before black friday, the big shopping day, the head of bon ton stores will speak with me exclusively for opening up on thanksgiving day. shorter shopping season is already giving him a case of shopping blues. >> it's a new currency. >> billionaire entrepreneur richard branson is pumped up about bitcoin. should you be? as it gains wider acceptance. you're watching the "closing bell" on cnbc, first in business worldwide. ♪ ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ [ male announcer ] the beautifully practical and practically beautiful cadillac srx. get the best offers of the season now. lease this 2014 srx for around $369 a month

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welcome back. traders are expecting low volume next week because of the thanksgiving holiday. stocks could good investors reason to cheer if history in any indication. >> the bulls should look forward to the week of thanksgiving. over the past 20 years the s&p 500 and nasdaq on average have posted a gain. the s&p 500's biggest gain for the index was nearly 11% back in 2008. and the markets continue to do well after thanksgiving. our data shows on black friday. the nasdaq has been the biggest winner over the past 20 years, up 70% of the time with an

average gain of more than half a percent. that could be the case next week. jeffrey solomon tells mow the greatest rotation from bonds to stocking will fuel this market to new high. a lot of hedge funds chasing performance. on average, hedge funds are underperforming the s&p 500 this year. in case you're wondering between thanksgiving and christmas, all three indices have been able to close higher over the past four years. that's why they call this period a seasonally strong period. mariea maria, back to you. >> seema so much. stay with us. we want to bring in anthony from skybridge capital and mark lehman from jrm securities. thank you for joining us. an thoerngs you like this market, right? >> do i. the chashgt sticksracteristics of monetary easing from fed will continue to melt up. fundamentals have gotten wildly unattractive. usually these things end in euphoria. which i don't feel. there's still a lot of worry out

there. still we're talking about retail and the shopping season things like costco and macy's look particularly attractive. general motors for example, ten multiple stock, upside optionalty to the growth next year and to their pickup truck market. those are things we like right now. >> i'm glad you brought up retail and specific stock picks. people are looking for some selectivity, right? mark lehman is that what you see as well? how do you want to ail allocate capital here? >> i agree with anthony. i think the market is separating the best companies from those not performing. i've been looking at the ipo market, which has been very strong this year. the market separated the good from the bad. we've had sectors that have been extraordinarily busy in the ipo market this year. biotech, for example, was very strong for the first ten months of the year. and yet in november, about 7 seven deals have been postponed or canceled 37 that tells me investors are separating the good from the bad, or at least paying more attention to not

buying anything buying the best companies. i think that's a healthy part for the market. that continues, i think, for 2014. >> what about that seema? the momentum players seema, you're watching all the time at the nasdaq, they were leading the market the entire year. the last month or so they rolled over. >> we have seen many selloff in those momentum player. i got to say that biotech, as your last guest was mentioning, has been a bright spot. you take a look at nasdaq biotech index, it's up 55% year to date. it's been on fire, thanks tobetter than expected drug data. a lot of biotech companies analysts say have strong underlying fundamentals. that's been one of the areas that continues to move higher. >> would you bye-bye yoe tech right now, anthony? >> well, it's outside of my field of expertise, so i just to want stay in my circle of competence. i'm not really a biotech expert. i like some drug stocks pfizer merck, bristol-myers. we're staying in the large cap sub, because if you look at it

on a discounted cash flow basis with the potentiality for more share repurchases next year, i think there will be some still buoyancy to the market. >> in terms of the broad market mark, where do you see the most vulnerability? i've been asking guests this today because if in fact, we're looking at a situation where we could see selloff in certain corners, what do you want to avoid? >> an area we've been touting for a while but have been much more tepid in terms of our enthusiasm has been mortgage rates, which have garnered a mayor amount of capital 2012 and 2013. they will not perform well as rates rise. i think this could possibly be one of those goldilocks scenario, as rays rates creep higher the overall market will creep higher because the overall economy will be better, banks will be lending. again, i don't tend to be the most bullish person but right now it just feels good. you're seeing cash flow in

equity mutual funds at pace wes haven't seen for a long time. valuations are not that stretched. the market i feel is going to go higher in 2014. the most risky spot for us are the mortgage reits. >> that doesn'ts inially translate into other mortgage-related areas of this market. you're just looking at reits. >> i am. home builder stock, rates have been relatively low. they're creeping higher. commodity pricing, oil is cheap. inflation contained. mode right now, i see home building market continuing to be strong. albeit not at the pace we've seen in 2013. >> seema, let me ask you about catalysts for next week. fction, it's thanksgiving. it will be a slow week for volume. but catalysts you see moving the nasdaq, what are you seeing? >> not a whole lot of data we're expecting next week. we'll continue to watch the ipo space. if we have any more companies

come and list on the exchanges next week. that will be something we continue to watch. earnings are pretty much done but a couple of companies that are expected to report next week. but i think overall we're still waiting for more analysts to publish their 2014 forecast. that fktof course, will be highly anticipated. we want to know what the forecast analysis is for next year. that, will be something to watch out for. >> the only other thing i want to say, in the research we're doing, the personal income numbers will probably be better than expected. for the first -- automotive industry as well. >> gasoline that has to be a real positive for the consumer right now. >> no question. like a tax cut. >> going into the holidays. like a tax cut. >> exactly. the that's a factor president the other factor is there's been more hours, particularly on the part-time side. we all know we haven't had wage growth in quite some time. our disposable income is down

about 8% over the last five years. but we're going to see a slight uptick on that. that's going to be positive for the consumer area. >> you know when you look at where gas is versus crude oil, everybody says there's such opportunity in energy, but i wonder if anything has changed given the price movements recently. >> well i do think it's cyclical. i think it's a little recession outside of the core countries, like western europe and the united states. they've slowed down a little bit, maria, that's why the price is down temporarily. but i do think going into 2014, i think gas prices will go back up a little bit. having said that we both know that in the next ten years, the united states is going to be very well positioned on this. that will also lead to a further leg up in valuation for us. >> we'll leave it there. >> before i go i have to give this to you. this is from david wright. from one new york icon to another. he knows it's your last day today. he wanted me to give that to you. he's a huge fan of yours. and that is an all-star --

>> i'm a fan of his. >> that's an all-star baseball that was signed at citifield. >> i love you. >> from the all-star game. a parting gift from skybridge and myself to you. you're an enormous talent. we wish you the best for everything you do in the future. >> my gratitude. thank you so much. i hope to talk to you very soon. being one of my last guests -- >> a huge honor for me to be here. >> maria it's been a real pleasure, the 15 years i've known you and had the pleasure to be a part of this show. i wish you all the success in the future. >> thank you. mark you and i really started out together on the phones in the morning, didn't we? the way back days. >> the original -- >> he had more hair mark. >> anthony doesn't even remember we started in london 25 years ago. >> that was you, me, and john. i was just commenting we all three have rour hair. >> a miracle. >> i remember calling mark in the morning, wanting his morning call. thank you so much. >> we were at the london school

of economics. >> thank you so much. appreciate that. thank you so much. thank you for humoring me and allowing me all of this everybody. sorry about that. we'll take a short break. how can you tell if an investment is about to go sour? bill ackman is down half a billion on his herbalife short. he's sticking with it. scott sperling will be with us giving me his insight. we'll talk about roaring markets and how he's putting client money to work. are bitcoin going mainstream? it's gaining wider acceptance but should it be? the american dream is of a better future, a confident retirement. those dreams, there's just no way we're going to let them die. ♪ ♪ like they helped millions of others. by listening. planning. working one on one. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. that's how ameriprise puts more within reach. ♪ ♪

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i love logistics. activist invest erbil ackman is at it again telling investors at robin hood conference he'll fight herbalife to the earth. pe put $1 billion on the company after he alleged it was running a pyramid scheme. that costing pershing square half a billion dollars. scott, ackman has lost millions on this bet. this is a serious and risky bet. what do you think about this? when do you know an investment has gone bad and you need to say, uncle, i'm out of this? >> bill is a very smart guy. let's put that on the table. i'm sure he's done extensive analysis and come up with a conclusion. i think when you move from a situation that has some trouble in terms of where it's being

marketed at any point in time back to your analysis i want to make sure that the analysis still gives you the confidence you'll end up in the right place at the right time. i don't think he's doing this just to be stubborn. i think he must have analysis right or wrong, but again from a smart guy that says i think i'm going to win on this one at the end. >> he has conviction. he says he'll never give up this fight. >> well, again, hard to comment on -- >> on somebody else's investment. >> understood understood. let's talk about what you invest in. you invest in companies, you know the boards, the management. you get in there. >> right. >> to really understand the company. what's your take on activist investors right now? do companies benefit in the end? do you think activists really do know the companies the way you do, the work do you? >> i think there are activists who do extensive work. i will tell you, we will spend anywhere from 3 1/2 months to 3 1/2 years looking at a transaction, doing diligence all from the outside. then when you get on the inside

there's often things you discover that you didn't figure out until you got in there. so, that's the caveat. there are certain things that go on in the company, often go on in the mid levels of the bowels of the company you can't figure out no matter how good you are as a analyst from the outside. that being said you can get a reasonably good feel. i think activists have generally done a good job at analyzing those things that can cause a company to reposition itself. particularly from a capital structure perspective but sometimes from a business structure perspective. and i think they've done a good job at causing things to happen that number one, create opportunities for people like me, so we're not adverse to activists from that perspective. but i think they also help shareholders realize value that may have olz been trapped in a company. interestingly, on sit on boards of most of the companies we own, but also other public companies. and i think everyone's aware that activists are going to ask

questions you should have the answer to. at the very least, i think it's causing boards across this country, and now maybe in japan, to actually sit back and say are we doing what we need to do to create longer term shareholder value? >> i know you're looking at various m&a deals, potential ipos. what's your take on the consolidation story we heard about today? comcast is going after time warner cable. do you think they're going to be able to do it? >> well, i think that there are are -- on the face of it serious anti-trust/fcc issues they'll have to deal with. this is not my area of expertise. but given the concentration of power that that combination would cause, i'm sure it's going to be a very significant issue. and if you look at the issue from not just from the context of the consumer but from the companies that create content as well as the consumer who may be looking for choices in the cable

world, you don't have a lot of choices, so they may want the ability to have companies that -- >> i think there's going to be anti-trust. >> i think there's going to be anti-trust. >> anti-trust regulation anti-trust pressure. what do you think of this market? dow hitting 16,000. hitting ohiohighs. >> i don't see irrational exuberance, to borrow greenspan's phase. i think the market in many ways is reasonably priced but it's not cheap. it's hard to find pockets of cheapness. we try to do that all the time. it's hard when you're trying to buy a public company now because when you layer on a premium, it sometimes puts it to the point where it's not an attractive buy from a private equity perspective, and even sometimes from a strategic perspective. which is why i think you've seen some m&a activity at a level you

would expect to be higher than it is. >> so from a private equity standpoint, when you see this market hitting new highs in terms of the public market are prices getting away from you in the private equity market too? getting expensive? >> i think you have to work really hard to find transactions. the last three deals we've done are things we've worked on from nine months to 3 1/2 years. they were what we call off the beaten path. it's been harder to do deals straight out of an auction market. now, that being said people have bought those companies and they've done well with them. and i think as long as the economy continues to move forward, even in its incredibly sluggish way it's moving forward, will be okay. it would be really nice if the government would get out of the way. because i think there's enormous pent-up power in our economy right now. i think you see enormous amount of activity on the m&a said particularly from strategics if

they had a little more certainty what the world would be like without the government adding to the macro uncertainties. >> they aren't doing anything. we need fiscal policy clarity on fax reform. good to have you on the program. >> wonderful to see you. it's such an honor to be here on your last day in pa particular seat. look forward to seeing you in other seats. >> yes i'll be there. scott, good see you. scott sperling, co-president at thl partners. check out this chart. one bitcoin is now worth over $700. even richard branson is giving it the thumbs up. skeptics say it may have climbed too far too fast. you think? it was half the value last week. we'll debate the bitcoin. tis the season to shop. the head of bon ton speaks to me about opening on thanksgiving day. don't touch that remote. you're watching the "closing bell" on krbs. tro of project management. baron of the build-out. you need a permit...

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virgin galactic richard branson's company is the latest to accept bitcoins. here's what he said on cnbc this morning. >> those who got into bitcoin early on that made quite a bit of money.

you know so you know virgin galactic is a bold intrapraur neural technology. it's driving a revolution. and bitcoin is doing just the same when it comes to inventing a new currency. >> so does this help legitimize the currency? joining me is barry and also dana. good to see you guys. thank you for joining us. barry, it's been a volatile week for the bitcoin. i think one thing that scares people is when you see bitcoins going from you know one bitcoin is equivalent to $400 and then a day later it's equivalent to $700. i know we had the senate committee hearing, you know, and that was sort of legitimizing the bitcoin. what about this volatility? should we be nervous? >> i think this is just an indication that this is the start of something very big. we'll see big, big price movements. as you said the hearings this week on the senate were very very positive. i think the regulators and policy makers are taking a very balanced approach.

but i don't think this volatility is going away any time soon? >> what do you think? you aren't convinced the bitcoin is a viable currency. >> no. i think it's dangerous. the use of it for the purchase of an automobile the purchase of a ticket on mr. branson's airlines a purchase for an airplane ticket. how are you going to price something in a currency whose value can move 400% in the space of three or four days. that's nonsense. speculative vehicle, trade it if you wish but to think this will be a viable alternative for the dollar or the euro or for the yen for payment of expenses i think is nonsense. >> i actually agree. i don't think bitcoin any time soon is going to replace the euro, dollar, yen as restorative value. people are excited about the fixed nature of the supply.

as a transaction network, it has the potential to change the way that money movers around the world. for now, it's not going to be a fantastic currency. but as a store of value, people are excited about it. >> well, i mean, when you say -- like, i keep asking this. i know it sounds a little weird. where's the money? i mean if i want to buy something with bitcoins and use bitcoins online and translate it to dollars, how easy is that? >> 20,000 plus merchants online that accept bitcoin and they handle the conversion into dollar. you as a consumer, you have bitcoin, can you use it lots and lots of places right now or exchange it trade it or just hold onto. >> dennis what about that? you heard there's -- you said 20,000? >> over 20,000 merchants. >> 20,000 merchants who are accepting bitcoin. >> maria, first of all, congratulations. you didn't just break through the window. you created -- you broke it down destroyed the wall let people come in for women who wouldn't have been on television doing business.

congratulations. you're going to be missed on cnbc. i've known you for a long time. >> thank you dennis. that's very kind of you. >> betting inggetting back to this a currency shouldn't move more than half a percent in the course of a day. to think you're going to be able to play for an automobile or anything with a currency that moves 400% is nonsense. perhaps two years from now, three years from now, who knows what, when it settles down it may be a viable alternative. my other problem with bitcoin is i think it's going -- if you start to buy things with it i think you're going to attract the irs into your own personal circumstances. and i don't think anybody really wants to do that. that's a problem that i think is going to become incumbent in this circumstance. >> i think dennis' skepticism is healthy. it took me nine months to get comfortable with the idea. as i said before there's $7 $8 billion of bitcoin out there right now. people are looking at the $7 trillion gold market and saying gold's down 25% this year.

maybe bitcoin deserves a small portion of my gold allocation because the upside is significant. if it does grow to be a $150 billion monetary base, it's a great currency. >> who created the bitcoin? >> an anonymous developer -- >> this is why i'm asking you. an anonymous developer. why is this person anonymous? you're a genius, you created the bitcoin, come out of the wood d.c. work. >> it's an open source. it doesn't matter who developed it because now basically the world has taken it over. it's a global phenomena. taking off in countries around the world. the hearings this week basically common straighted the u.s. government is going to take a balanced, thoughtful approach but not shut this down. >> what's to stop somebody else from coming out and creating another sort of twobit coin. isn't that a likely circumstance? czink the first mover with bitcoin is meaningful. you have $7 $8 billion of early adopters. venture capitalists like fred

wilson and dree sen horowitz investing in bitcoin. there's no reason for early adopters to adopt a newer currency. >> what about the federal reserve? the federal reserve -- the dollar is backed by the trust and faith in the u.s. government. we know you know what the strength of the dollar is. who's behind the bitcoin? >> it's based on math and trust. what we know is over the next 100 years only 21 million bitcoin will be created. i think it's hard to predict how many u.s. dollars will exist 100 years from now. you're talking about a known supply of currency that can serve as a store of value and transaction network. can you send money around the world instantaneously and basically free. today someone moved $150 billion over the bitcoin network. took six seconds and spent $300 to do it. >> who is this person? >> no one knows. >> that's one positive because it gives you anonymity. >> what we're hearing from the

government is bitcoin is traceable. every transaction is on an open ledger. the bad guys, if they're going to use a currency that can be traced, they're not very smart. it's better to use dollars or euros or any other asset. >> dennis, anything here change your mind? >> no, nothing. let it settle down. let this currency become a stable circumstance. instead of moving 400% in the course of a week, let am move 1% in the course of a week. then you'll have my interest. until then i can't imagine anybody's going to make payments using that type of currency with that sort of volatility. >> we'll leave it there. dennis thank you for joining us and your kind words. >> best of luck in the next chapter. >> thank you. love it. barry joining us and dennis. we'll see you soon. make or break time for retailer. i'll talk with retail challenges with bon ton ceo next. find out if he thinks stores may

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or xbox video to watch the shows i'm never home to see... and i can still get work done at the same time. excuse me do you mind if i... yep. ♪ honestly i wanna see you be brave ♪ hi honey, did you get the toaster cozy? yep. got all the cozies. [ grandma ] with new fedex one rate, i could fill a box and ship it for one flat rate. so i knit until it was full. you'd be crazy not to. is that nana? [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. everybody's been making me blush all day. now i'll make my next guest blush. he's been called a retail rock store. credited with turning around lord & taylor and worked for bergdorf. he's the ceo of bon ton stores.

thanks for having you on the program. >> thanks. >> retail rock star. what are you expecting for the holiday shopping season this year? >> i mean that's hard to answer. harder than usual because the last six months don't give us any reason to be optimistic. the weather wasn't cooperating. gas prices were high. government uncertainty. but the last month when the government got back to work got cold gas prices dropped and we started to see some signs of life across all businesses. >> is that what happened? gas prices started dropping, it's like a tax cut on consumers, and all of a sudden they went out and spent the money? >> i think especially for the bon ton customer. we're in the heart of the midwest. to that customer that's an immediate tax rebate. that can't be underestimated. >> what about brick and mortar versus online. how much of a tough challenge is it to compete with amazon.com and other retailers? >> it's a double-edged sword. our e-commerce business is our fastest growing store and providing a couple points to our comp every month. having said that as you said we have the threat from amazon and others who are doing a great

job delivering to some of these smaller towns we pride ourselves on servicing. i think we have to go after the opportunity on our own side but also manage the threat. >> and the time between thanksgiving and christmas is shorter, so we have a shorter shopping season. extra short this year. how does that affect business? . it's going to be a real sprint. i think in some ways it makes it easier because last year felt a little long. we were trying to create events to get the consumer excited. so this time it's going to be a real sprint starting next -- well thursday night now since we're all opening up early. we're excited to see how that plays out. >> there was so much buzz a few months ago, that's when i mentioned when i called you the rock star business insider called you rock star because you were perhaps saving jcpenney. is that in the cards? >> jcpenney has a terrific ceo doing a great job, looked great last month. we're anxious for them to bring

more more traffic to the malls. >> it's by fur indicated. upper end is doing well and then the lower -- walmart, i was with the ceo recently and he said we're not expecting a great holiday season. what's going on. break down the whole retail sector for us. >> that will take a long time. >> that's okay. >> i think there is a big spread between the top and bottom and middle. sdpnding on which sector you're talking to you'll get a different answer. some of our customers are a little more aflaunt in chicago, and helped by wall street but most of our customer base is in the farm base and she's struggling a little more like walmart. gas prices, anything that can help, we'll take right now. >> what's going to be the hot sellers this season? >> right now it's outerwear. we haven't had a good shot of cold weather in the last couple of years. that's exciting. outerwear, high profit and something to give a lift to the

store. >> and it is getting colder out, which is what you want. what about discounting. this is something we hear a lot about, that it's going to be a tough season companies will be forced to take prices down. are you doing a lot of promotions? >> i think take prices down are you doing promotions? >> yeah. that's been part of the fabric of the nature of the department store business for a few years, that's what i mentioned earlier, with the longer christmas, we had to come up with new promotions, now we have our promotions set we're happy with the discounts we're giving the customer, they are deeper than they have been. that's all factored into the margin we have inventories quite lean we are down 5% year over year which will help mitigate any up front discounting. >> it's interesting, you have to walk a fine line you want to be lean on inventories, but you need the product to get the sale. >> better to be lean in this business, you can always chase, we feel good about that position. >> great to have you on the program. >> thank you. best of luck. >> and to you. good to see you, sir. thank you so much. the world takes, but not any

more. up next final installment of our week long series saving american cities the new jersey capital in focus today, back in a moment. we asked people, "if you could get paid to do something you really love, what would you do?" ♪ ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should

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trentin, new jersey a hub of manufacturing years ago, as we vift to a service economy, trenton lapsed into decline. the final installment of our week long series, critical condition, saving america's cities. >> the final stop on our cross country, critical condition saving america's cities tour is trenton, new jersey. in a lot of ways, this crystallizes what we have talked about all week budgets cuts at the federal and state level trickling down to cities sometimes with disastrous results. here in trenton, to balance the budget, they had to lay off a third of the police force, they hired some officers back, and state and county officers are picking up some of the slack but not all. guess what? this year a record 33 murders in trenton, and counting. nationwide according to the fbi, there are 20,000 fewer police officers on city streets,

than there were five years ago. we've got all of our reports from this week on our web site cnbc.com/cities, we still want to hear from you on twitter, use the #saving our cities we'll send it back to you, maria, all the best. >> thank you so much scott. appreciate that. my final thoughts next. stay with us. closing bell. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...you see opportunities. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we're here to help tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 turn inspiration into action. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 we have intuitive platforms tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you discover what's trending. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and seasoned market experts to help sharpen your instincts. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so you can take charge tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 of your trading.

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finally tonight, it is time to say thank you. thank you for 20 amazing years on cnbc. i won't give you a long and mushy goodbye. especially since i've been getting choked up all day. but i still must extend my love and thank you to many as this is my last broadcast on cnbc. after 20 plus amazing years, i will be moving on to my next chapter. thank you first to all of our viewers, who have inspired me with your support, your curiosity, your challenge, love your challenge. and your passion. i hope you will stay in touch with me on twitter and on google plus until i announce my next stop. and i will be doing that shortly. thank you to my colleagues, my dear friends, the producers, directors, the cameramen in the field and in the studio floor

directors, that's you, brian, that's you, manny. lighting audio, editors, tape editors, writers, bookers, segment producers, that's you, donna, makeup pr hr everybody who comes to work every day to win. it has been an honor and a privilege to work with you. thanks in particular to the closing bell team led by gary and before him lulu chang, you have been the team to beat in business news you will all continue to soar. i will hold my head up high knowing i was able to work with the best in the business. we broke new ground for generations of investors, from breaking open the morning call 18 years ago, to traveling the world, and chronicling economic stories of the world to welcoming the biggest names in business to this set. i have been incredibly privileged to hold this seat the last two decades, while i feel like cnbc is one family. my other family is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. thank you also to the security guards the traders,

specialists, friends, all at the new york stock exchange. they gave me a warm welcome earlier. clapping, i thought trading stopped for a moment. this has been my home much of the last 20 years, thank you for welcoming me here so many years ago, thank you for the education, thank you for your friendship. it's been a true joy. thank you to all of the early building blocks bob bright tom rogers, jack welch among others thank you mark hoffman, i wish you and your team success. to all the investors out there, i hope we continue the conversation soon. have a great weekend, thank you so much for being with us that does it for closing bell tonight. have a good weekend. nasdaq markets in times square, this is fast money, america's post market show. here's the lineup.