♪ liz: the big question right now well bernanke and company take the foot off the accelerator? they want it done sooner rather than later. good afternoon, everybody. i am liz claman. it is the last hour of trading. "countdown to the closing bell" begins right now.

with a dose of past hour, the fed released the minutes from its december meeting. it reveals that policymakers believe they can tap the brakes before the end of the year. back in january, it would purchase $8500 worth of securities each and every month. a combination of later dated treasuries and mortgage backed securities. what does this mean for your money? let's look at how the markets are reacting to the news. stocks are holding heavy. we are now down. down about ten points for the dow jones industrials. use all that we are slightly lower for the moment. maybe ten year yields rising sharply. we have not seen 1.9% in a long while.

a totally different story at the currency market. the euro falling through. some traders consider that numbers to be a parish technical breakdown and strength of the dollar. in the grand scheme of things, so much stronger than were was a year ago. gold down right now. twenty-four dollars. the dollar rallies stronger. silver pulling back by $0.55. this on the perception that the fed takes away that punch bowl at some point. sober getting taken down as well. copper also caught in the downdraft. why is the equity market or do much for taking it in stride? let's get to the traders.

let's first get to andrew. i am sorry, jonathan. jonathan, if we are talking about what is going on, as far as the trading session is concerned, is this all minutes driven? >> right now, i do not think that is it. we have seen a 2.5 rally each day. investors looking to see if we will get a selloff in this market. we are clearly seeing that. the economic data is supporting this market where it is at right now. the market does feel like it is strong enough. it will hold on what is going on. we should not be panicking. it seems like everything has rebounded nicely here. all eyes will be on tomorrow's employment number.

it will be smooth sailing until we get down until the end of february. liz: the jobs number tomorrow will not be one of the magnets that uphold everyone's attention in a negative positive way? >> as we see, bernanke is putting his foot off the gas pedal a little bit right here. that means gold gets crushed. the printing press may not be going on as much as everyone thinks. we do have the japan printing press going on. the situation tomorrow will not be that big of a deal. alcoa is the first component to report earnings. alcoa is always the first to kick off, not the biggest component.

we see the pics getting decimated over the last few days. [talking over each other] liz: down 35% over the last week of trading sessions. just getting decimated. you are right. i am looking at crude at the moment. we see it down $0.30. what does this mean going into the new year and the actual consumer sentiment? >> i think, you know, people are now looking at the next debt ceiling raising. tomorrow we have the inventory number. i think we will get a lot of sideways, choppy trading. it will probably stay there. you do not have a lot of room to the upside or downside. no one can really tell what will be happening with the policy. both fiscal and monetary policy.

liz: at the moment, it is the fed and what is happening inside the beltway. great to see you, gentlemen. jonathan, john and andrew. we will see you next time. the market had a lot of problem making up its mind. the dow crossed the unchanged line 33 times. take a look at that. once the federal reserve hinted -- these minutes came out regarding what was said at the last meeting. the dow finally plunged into the red. we are looking at all major industries moving lower. peter barnes live in d.c. what have we really learn today? peter: i think tapping the brakes is a message out of these fed minutes.

it is man policy is interest rates. the fed described the outlook for economic growth as moderate, but still wanted to launch that last round of quantitative easing in mid december. it is also said it will not start using up on that using until unemployment gets to at least 6.5%. that sounds like the interest rate piece of this. several members wanted to slow or stop the bond purchases well before the end of 2013. some others said they want to keep it going at least until about the end of the year or

they did not state a position on it. liz: i still think it is interesting. peter barnes, thank you very much. we have actually handcuffed him to the bureau. he is not allowed to leave. everything is happening out there and affecting our money in the markets. here is one thing that has really moved ahead. it is housing. it is clearly in recovery. then we see auto sales have also picked up considerably. showing tremendous movement over the last year. december auto sales numbers on your screen looking great. both ford and gm saw gains. chrysler, japanese are looking pretty decent. is there a way to invest around what appears to be a trend?

we have phil orlando here now. i am so happy to have you here. it was a year ago that you came on. you said tune out all about fear and invest in equities. sure enough you see double digit gains for the markets. now you really see a link weaving and with the housing industry and automobiles. >> our outlook for this year is somewhat tepid. our forecast is below consensus and half -- liz: 1.6%. >> trendline is 3.6% growth. there are two sectors of the market. those are autos and housing. we think we are in the early stages. liz: would you go with the pure play housing construction

companies or would you go with second derivative it place? >> the big companies will continue to do well. liz: eagles did so well after hurricane sandy. this is not a name that a lot of people have been talking about. >> exactly. we are in the very early stages of what we think is a multiyear recovery here. liz: that is an area that you feel safe about. now, we are in the clear. we do have certainty. we know what the tax structure will look like. you are saying the opposite. it is tepid. >> in terms of the near-term, what we got was the tax side of

the equation. we have not gotten the spending part of the equation. we have done the easy part. the hard part will come up over the next couple of months. we are thinking we are a little cautious here. liz: general motors see a 2.5% gain. do you just go with, again, the automakers or the parts guys? >> our favorite domestic name is ford. focusing back on ford, there is sort of a tie in on the market as well. the most important part of for ford is the pickup truck. there is a correlation with how well the housing is doing.

liz: you are seeing a pickup and pick up sales. >> absolutely. liz: the ford pickup -- how about them towards. i used to go to a lot of those shows and all of that. it was a great year for your company. you went bullish. >> we did well. we think there is some potential for some sloppiness over the next couple months. liz: named the number one traffic that an investor should not get caught in, but may. >> the trap is the market will run right to 1600 right here. stocks dropped 20%. we are cautious and watching it.

liz: watch the credit ratings. it did not kill us the last time. >> we think from their -- liz: by on the fear. do not flip out and get nervous. happy new year. great to see you. we will see you many times throughout the year. phil orlando. down about 21 points here as "the closing bell" rings in 48 minutes. will these companies become -- leading the country to avoid taxes. yes, he fled france to avoid all of those taxes. cyber onyx is a company dipping its toes. find out how they are dealing with the overhang. what does it mean for jobs and

innovation? a conversation with daniel moore coming up next. stay tuned. ♪ she knows you like no one else.

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he said, "i think that, you know, sometimes i don't feel like you're focused." so the next day, i went and saw a doctor. it was my adhd. like many kids with adhd, i didn't outgrow it. if you were diagnosed with adhd as a kid, you might still have it. find out more. take a quiz at ownitquiz.com to help recognize the symptoms. then talk with your doctor. it's your adhd. own it. liz: i have to talk to nicole petallides right now. i heard you were talking about looking at certain things. nicole: all right. i know you know. it is netflix. this is a name that has really been jumping over the last couple months. here it is today. up five alone.

new price target $88. it is well beyond that. they still think netflix will remain and be the dominant streaming video service provider. we have heard about other companies tried to do the same. they will continue to penetrate additional international markets. as a result, you can see the stock is up 5%. liz: nicole, thank you very much. i know some of you have heard about this, derard depardieu saying not at all to a proposed super tax on millionaires. he fled the country. he is going somewhere else. all kinds of countries are getting excited and offering him

citizenship. now that the medical device tax has become reality, we may have some companies that are following in derard depardieu's footsteps. joining me now is cyberonics president and ceo, daniel moore. he speaks for hundreds of these medical device companies. we over state it with derard depardieu. you are very much based in the u.s. you are dipping your toes into another country. let's first talk about that. where are you breaking ground? it is the first time your company has ever broken ground in this rearguard. >> for the first time in our 25 year history, we are going outside the united states.

it has been brought about partially because of the metal device tax. it is not good for patient care. if you combine this medical device tax with other taxes regarding pay as a corporation, we had to do something to start to decrease our overall tax impact. specifically, what we are doing is creating manufacturing outside the united states. liz: you are going to costa rica. >> we are. liz: you are setting up a ghost arica. >> we are. we made all of the products for the world in the u.s. we are setting up our first a new fracturing facility and ghost arica. liz: we have this picture we made of uncle sam pointing to costa rica. you are arguing that this tax cut off by way, about 2.3% tax on sales of all the medical

device makers whether you make a profit. nonetheless, you will be having that excise tax on you. you feel the tax structure is better and costa rica. >> overall, when we look at the tax burden that we are facing, we have to do something to lower that tax burden. this is a 2.3% tax. that is 2.3% on revenues, not profitability. they have to, in addition to getting a return on the capital, they have to do that with the burden of the new tax. in our case, it is just a manufacturing situation. liz: you have argued that really it squeezes innovation and it squeezes research and development. let me just press you one more

point. i did a little bit of research. what is it that you are getting out of ghost arica? >> i think we are getting a government that is working with us on taxes. we need to do something to repeal that device tax. i think we can get there in the next couple of months. this tax has party cost thousands of jobs in the last year. whatever we can do to lessen the impact of the tax burden and create jobs in an economy where i think the president and congress agrees we need to grow the economy. we need to grow drops. particular u.s. manufacturing jobs. liz: my dad was a surgeon, he

used to talk about you guys all the time. very, very innovative. you have to be. let me play devil's advocate. i know they are bigger. you look at your stock, for example, in the past year, you are up more than 55%. with billions added to that insurance rolls, it will wash over the 2.3% excise tax. you will get so many more customers for your products which, in your case are, well, the neurological devices. more people will be demanded upon it. >> that has not proven to be the

case. we do not expect it to be the case going forward. when we look at the case of massachusetts where there was care provided for all citizens, we did not see an increase. most patients that use our devices are covered by the care. what we are talking about with this policy are younger patients who are typically healthier and do not devices. when we are paying a 2.3% device tax it has already impacted lots of jobs. it will impact innovation. liz: any chance you will see a repeal of at least that tax or some kind of compromise? >> we think anything short of a repeal is the wrong move. as i mentioned earlier, we do have support on both the house side. we have had support on the senate side. we will continue to pursue that. that is the right thing to do for american a new fracturing. liz: you have a whole host of

companies supporting you on that. daniel moore, it is great to see you. thank you. closing bell ringing in 36 minutes. the holidays are over. what are you doing about all of that property upon? nutrisystem is all about helping you lose weight and stay fit. the trouble is, competition swirling in the business is not what it used to be. what are they doing at a time when competition is heating up? that is coming up next on "countdown to the closing bell." ♪

liz: i want to draw your attention to the nasdaq and the s&p read we are pretty close, if not at session lows at the moment. the fed minutes that came out, this was what was articulated at

the recent fed meeting and they said maybe there are more than one athletes who feel we should start tapping the brakes were pulling the foot off the gas in terms of qualitative eating. we really wanted to show you solar stocks, a lot of green, double digit, very nice moves and a nice, nice move when you are looking at solar. mid-american energy bought some power projects sending shares skyrocketing 40% today. meanwhile as in the capital up from a sell. new year's resolution time, that

means it is time to battle the bulge. take a look at the big players in a publicly traded diet game, the stars at weight watchers, you have nutrisystem and they shows us the guys need a diet. who's going to pack a big punch in 2013? pretty much the new ceo here. >> on the job for six or seven weeks. liz: it coincides with the one new year's resolution or break talks about, losing weight. have you seen a bump in sales, how does that work for you? >> four nights ago, three nights ago half of america made a resolution to lose weight and it is an exciting time for us. we're doing a lot of marketing, we have calls coming in, or

phone is ringing off the roof. their call center out of pennsylvania. your biggest stars are male athletes, coaches. will that continue and what is the strategy? speak we have a strategy of celebrities, terry bradshaw, dan murray now. we put men's dieting on the map, 30% of our dieters are men. marie osmond, a lot of celebrities but also you will begin to see a lot of stories about real people. they have very compelling stories, very emotional, lots of success so going forward we can

expect a mix of celebrities. liz: it was stunning to me how big dan murray no had gotten and how he slimmed it down. guys don't relate to look at somebody thinking that is great for her, but smart, smart decision to have gone that route because you don't see a lot of other names doing that and yet your stock has not reflected that. took me over the past five years were used to be around $70 per share, here we are down 43% year over year. that certainly is attractive and yet the stock continues to come down, what can you do to get wall street excited about nutrisystem's? >> this is a turnaround. nutrisystem is a turnaround story. the thing i love about nutrisystem is almost everything is measurable.

you know how the orders are coming in, a lot of things you know, lot of information that you can immediately act on to keep the customers with us. we have 30 new products. liz: today there was an article consumer reports did popular diet plans for the new year, and one of them is free. consumer reports said it was one of the most popular diets. but only up against the weight watchers of the world but now free apps? how are you babbling about? >> talking about a $66 billion weight-loss industry. that is a lot out there. currently where we are focused and where we will be focused but if we can get one or 2% of those people to convert, the diet that

works when others fail, i love an informed consumer and so many people tried to do it on their own and they fail time and time again. it works, it is scientifically based, high in fiber, low in carbs, it definitely works read liz: we will be watching how you control this. new ceo and president. on to something that is definitely not as healthy as nutrisystem, that would be spam. investors do have an appetite, the company known for meat products hitting an all-time high today, so what about skippy peanut butter, what do they have in common? it may be more than you think.

along with some other headlines that could make you hungry.

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will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. liz: from startups to spam, the next round of stories oral related we are calling at fox business bytes. starbucks is going to roll out a reusable plastic cup that cost $1. it is happening some point today, but the ones near us didn't have it. giving customers a 10-cent discount each time they bring in any reusable cup, back in 2000

starbucks wanted to serve 25% of all drinks and reusable cups by 2015. expectations have been tempered since with penetration a neighborhood of about 5%. and m my wendy's offering new os on the value menu with items ranging from $0.99 up to $1.79. burger king and mcdonald's have already moved past $1 menu. here are the $0.99 fries and we could get it on back here from nutrisystem's. this is probably all you should be eating although i go with nine french fries and i stopped. and a little frosty.

it gives you just a taste, right? finally, saying yippee skippy. agreeing to buy the skippy's peanut butter business for $700 million in cash. the company continues to weigh larger acquisitions to beef up revenue, but going with hormel now. sandra smith at the cme tracking the weakness in the soft commodities. nicole petallides looking at a gusher in transocean, sandra, we begin with you. sandra: talk about food prices. unbelievable selloff in some commodities like sugar and coffee. coffee prices on the day down 2%, a commodity over the past

year has lost 40%. it has just gone straight down. there is word out of brazil they have a major producer of coffee, you get rain, nigh nice crops ad more abundant supplies if prices go down. and the sugar prices, and other commodity suffering big losses over the past year down 21%. today saw the biggest drop amongst many commodity trading speed it is down the most in eight weeks. there is still sluggish local demand and also very abundant supply of sugar coming from its major producing region in which is brazil. lots of rain coming through for a lot of these foods pushing prices down, they continue to decline. back to you. liz: i'm counting out nine french fries. sandra: that is discipline.

liz: until my daughter doesn't finish hers. all right, thank you very much. let's get nicole petallides. nicole: the question is, do you share, will you give one away? i know i wouldn't. one name that is a gusher. let's talk about transocean. here it is. up about 6.6% right now coming out, they have agreed to pay $1.4 billion settling charges the u.s. government, back in 2010, the findings were tough for them, and now they're settling this. some thought it was a good price, some thought it was more than they anticipated. it takes away the uncertainty, the really big spill back led to so much scrutiny in the oil market, drilling obviously was

quite detrimental. transocean shares have been on the rise because now the uncertainty takes away the questions that surround that. liz: to know you have the boards near you. a market at or near the lows of the session. the federal reserve minutes are in. the tapping of the breaks. nicole: they might hit the brakes we might not have collated going forward. the committee on whether or not we really need all of this stimulus. liz: thank you, nicole, and thank you to sandra. sales for the big retailers upped in december, but it is a different story for the

discounters. shares of family dollar falling off as the new product, cigarette soft drinks, they did not bring in the big bucks and now is it th at the perfect timo avoid paying top dollar for the same brands? are they really cheap now? capital markets senior analyst will make some calls next.

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momentum from 2012 on the back half of 2012 suddenly things are looking pretty well. whirlpool, honeywell, some names still hit highs today staying with the trend as well. another day, another dollar. maybe not, check out family dollar, they're getting hammered after added to cigarettes and soft drinks actually hurt the margins in the last quarter thinking it would bring people in but in essence they were offering expensive products that hurt the margins so is the fall a buying opportunity for you? who will bring in somebody who knows all about the dollar nam names, he is a managing director and senior analyst. let's tackle family dollar first. they are struggling today, they have numbers out that indicated an attempt to broaden and figure out other ways to bring people in the stores hurt their margin.

what was their biggest mistake? >> i don't think i would characterize it as a mistake that brought more consumable items in the store, more food, health and beauty items, tobacco products, under the assumption it would drive a lot more store traffic and that has been successful for dollar general which is essentially the market leader. they are not getting enough incremental velocity, they're taking a hit and not necessarily making it up by leveraging their fixed expense. liz: they did with wal-mart tried to do, bring in a door buster for somebody comes in, they might get a bunch of other things in the shopping cart. but where everything is a dollar, it is not such an opportunity no matter what people buy. right? >> you have got to get the

consumer to buy the higher margin items when they're in the store buying low-margin consumable and s insofar familyr has struggled with that. we have seen other retailers who can do that. dollar general is very good at that. dollar tree is very good as well. liz: what would make you change the call on family dollar? >> if we saw they were getting some traction with getting consumers to cross shop the store and as much of a hit to the gross margins. liz: who is your favorite name in the space? >> dollar tree. dollar tree basically everything is a dollar whereas general dollar has multiple price points. to some extent dollar tree is insulated from competition with dollar general and as well as wal-mart and target and some others. liz: is this a buying

opportunity? >> i think it really is. another thing i really like his refill the company has much better long-term growth potential. they've only got 45 for 100 or so stars were family dollar over 7500 dollar general over 10,000. dollar tree also just recently bought a company in canada, they can go to 1000. liz: they are lower price poin points, there is competition growing in this space. >> competition has always been the name of the game. one offer is value. very low price point particularly relative to the supermarket, drug store or convenience store and offer convenience, so many of these stores are easy to shop and get in and out. liz: what does it tell you over the past year the dollar stores for outperforming the s&p retail index of all retailers and

around mid-september you saw the crossing of the two lines and suddenly the dollar store starts to underperform retail, which of course is in the form of an etf we can show you to be able to say what happened in september. >> it has been a combination of a few different factors. wal-mart has always been the 800-pound gorilla, the retail everybody worries about and started to think we will go after the dollar stores. they have not had much success with it, but around the same time dollar tree, dollar general reports disappointing numbers and family dollar and consumers say these are great stocks particularly in the great recession coming out of that maybe now that the trade is over. melissa: maybe that is a positive sign. you cover a lot of other retail, what is really attracting your eye right now?

>> one retailer was pier one imports. a great long-term turnaround story where the head new management overhaul in the merchandising which has led to dramatic improvements for sales productivity is. a very strong e-commerce opportunity. liz: candles and liquor, could n never have enough of that. thank you very much. managing director and senior analyst. we are sort of languishing as with any doubts of specials, the s&p down five, quick check, the russell was in the green most of the day and continues to see a gain slightly of 2%. it turned negative. there it is, will down $1.72. we lost it all. the closing bell ringing in seven minutes.

follow me on twitter. depending on all kinds of opinions. short on a company, another goes all in. i will tell you which stocks are soaring after quite a tug-of-war.

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melissa: stick a needle in his eye, the investor made it public he had a huge short against the company called herbalife. another activist coming out said i don't think so, i'm going to put 35% of my entire portfolio in herbalife read jumping 12.5% right now, $4 for pennies. if we stretch it out, you can see the one-year picture, pretty significant drop after the billionaire investor said you know what, i think this is in essence a ponzi scheme and they said absolutely not and so does another. fascinating to see these bigwi

bigwigs. you can't control those guys. they tend to make big moves in the market. we are very much close to the lows of the session when the fed minutes came out and said we might tap the brakes crossing the flatlined the dow jones industrial 33 times, david asman. it looks like the bears will win this one. david: another thing that is jumping is yield on 10-year treasuries up to 1.9%. ithat is still very low historically speaking, but it is a big jump percentagewise from what has been doing recently and having the same influence on the market, the minutes from the fed suggesting before the year is out able and the bond buying getting the money printing. yields on 10-year treasuries are going up, that could be good news for those savers, people on

fixed income. liz: nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. at least it was really good news in the auto sector. fresh 52-week highs today. nicole: ford and general motors hitting 52-week highs. they have seen improved demand for pickup trucks and economy so auto sales looking pretty good. david: netflix, i just canceled my netflix service, i'm happy with the service i'm getting with apple but the investors didn't seem to mind because the stock is jumping like crazy today. >> they continue to be a dominant player. liz: not bad. retailers getting hit hard following disappointing numbers while a bunch of others were pretty good. nicole: you talk about limited, all the analyst jumped right on board. the an