market committee for the year after crisis, ben bernanke leaves behind a less independent that. did you know germany is amazon's second-biggest market? good morning, everyone, this is "bloomberg surveillance." it is fed they, december 18. joining me is scarlet fu and alix steel. there is a lot going on. >> we will start in the uk because unemployment help to 7.4% which is the lowest since april, 2009. it is nearing the threshold where the bank of england governor said officials might consider raising interest rates. japan, they had the biggest november trade deficit on record. u.s., it is also busy, seven :00 a.m., mortgage applications are coming out and then housing starts and then building permits and then the fomc rate decision. there were two big winners in the second biggest lottery jackpot. i could be one of those people but so far, the winning tickets were sold in california and georgia and the two winners will a $63600 $36 million -- million total. there could be more, you never know. i won $40 once. >> we won seven dollars once. >> let's do a data check as i cap my winning

the top business stories from around the world. ben bernanke and other policymakers are wrapping up one ay meetings.st two-d will the fed start backing off its easy money policy? a news conference at 2:30 eastern time. government is selling off assets to help finance their bailout. paulson is not commenting. sold forng tickets -- the second biggest lottery jackpot in american history. they will split a prize of $636 million. tickets were sold in san jose, california and atlanta, georgia. if no winners were drawn last night, the jackpot could have had a billion dollars. we will be back in a couple of minutes talking about going public. with stephanie ruhle. ♪ >> amc makes its trading debut this morning. abouteater chain raised $330 million in its ipo. stephanie is down with the amc president on the floor of the new york stock exchange. take it away. >> big night at the movies, big day at the movies, erik schatzker. i am here with ceo, jerry lopez. >> thank you, stephanie. >> we have seen a bunch of ceos price at the top of their range. you took the lowlands of the range. why? bette

fed chairman, ben bernanke said the economy is healthier and the job market is making progress. this marks the beginning of the end of the historic money program that lunched in 2008 to stabilize the economy during the deb tating financial crisis. the reaction was surprisingly positive. stocks skyrocketed and the dow and s&p 500 hit new record highs. the blue chip dow soared almost 300 points rebounding and closing well above the 16,000 level. the nasdaq jumped 46 and the s&p surged almost 30 points. over in the bond market, prices on the ten-year treasury fell and yields rose to 2.89%. >>> we have two reports on the fed's big decision, the massive record setting reaction in the stock market. bob has that story but we begin with steve liesman on what the fed did, why and what the chairman said about it in the last press conference as central bank chief. >>> out going federal reserve chairman ben bernanke, a historic move engineering the 10 billion-dollar reduction with the purchase of assets by the federal reserve to take effect next month. it is the last press conference for f

power to stimulate the economy using quantitative easing. ben bernanke announced the feds will scale back the program next year. we'll decode the fed's actions, look ahead to the tenure of incoming fed chairman janet yellen and look at the recovering economy. >>> the federal reserve wrapped up two days of policy meetings and concluded the u.s. economy is strong enough to start tapering the banks investment program known as qualitative easing. >> starting in january we'll purchas scale back purchases. >> reporter: the positive signs are few but strong. unemployment reached 7% in november. the s&p 500 gained 25% just in the past year. the highest in a decade. and congress passed a budget for the first time in four years. >> today's policy actions reflect the committee's assessment that the economy continues to make progress, but it has much farther to travel before conditions can be judged normal. notebly despite fiscal head winds the economy has been expanding and we expect growth in the coming quarters . >> reporter: all this good economic news could mean its time for the federal res

you are "in the loop." ben bernanke and other fed policymakers are wrapping up their two-day meeting today. remember that bernanke's news conference will be 30 minutes later. coming up short in the fiscal sector here in an airline reported earnings that missed estimates. fedex raised its forecast for the entire year. shares of amc began trading today. the movie theater chain controlled by china's third millionman raise $302 and invited members of its customer loyalty plan to take part. an unusual aspect to this ipo. we mentioned, chairman ben bernanke will be holding what is likely his last news conference today. expires january 31. the confirmation vote in the senate may take place as early as next week. no one is taking that's after the surprise where the central bank confused -- prediction.making a you are not sticking your neck out. class i am not. job creation has really picked up and that has a lot of people talking about the possibility of a taper. we talked yesterday about how retail sales were pretty good. maybe that means things were sustainable. let me show you som

to taper in january cutting the bond purchases by $10 million per month. fed chairman ben bernanke saying assuming everything goes forward as the fed forecast and the economy keeps improving, the fed will likely continue this on a monthly basis and a measured pace and wrap up quantitative easing purchases by later next year. however the fed chairman said once again that tapering is not tightened. tighten. here's what he said. >> attempt to maintain and monetary policy, nothing we did today was intended to reduce accommodation. with that want to be buying assets at a high rate and increasing our balance sheet at holding onto those assets. we maintain the 6.5%. peter: so, the fed taketh and give it. it was that policy statement on the federal funds rate that the statement fomc plans to keep them down and low, well past the time it dips below. take it away, given the market and investors assurance is the fed is going to keep short-term interest rates low for a long, long time. david: essentially moving the goalposts. i guess 26.7%, it will rise interest rates. now well past that time, you wo

chairman's wild ride as we say bye-bye to ben bernanke. female announcer: female announcer: it's time to make room for the new mattress models during sleep train's huge year end clearance sale. get beautyrest, posturepedic, even tempur-pedic mattress sets, at low clearance prices. save even more on floor samples, demonstrators and closeout inventory. plus, free same-day delivery, set up and removal of your old set. why wait for the new models? sleep train's year end clearance sale is on now. superior service, best selection, lowest price, guaranteed! ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ >>> this is a story of survival. a tale of life over death. this is a story about love. there will be tenderness, there will be separation, there will be reunion. there will be new life. >>> the history books written about the great recession and recovery will likely include several chapters on fed chief ben bernanke. he's not single-handedly responsible for the recovery, but as cnn international correspondent maggie lake tells us, bernanke's historic decisions are shaping the way our economy mov

will start to see the taper come into effect. >>some months ago when ben bernanke talked about it it rattled the markets. do you think some of the fear has been built in already? >>i think that's why we saw the s&p pullback about 1 ½% last week. i think caused that momentum for traders to take some of the money and pull some things off and start looking toward next year. >>tell me about some of the sectors out there that you might see impacted by any announcement that comes this week. >>we should see the gold market selloff hard. i think that will press that 1200 level. that's been a key level of support so we're probably gonna see another leg down on that. we'll also see the oil markets sell off. most likely 2 -3 dollars on that type of news. >>both of those commodities have already been dropping. >>absolutely. >>how about equities in general? >>we're probably gonna see the s&p 500 continue to melt down. 1750 is a key level of support and i think that a lot of liquidation is gonna occur as a result. >>you think people should be ready for the turnaround right? >>back to the downside

. that policy has been the signature of outgoing federal chairman ben bernanke. but the fed will begin to ease off the easing under new chair janet yellen. under this new edition, we'll examine the green shoots of a recovering economy. >> reporter: the federal reserve wrapped up two days of policy meetings and concluded the u.s. economy is strong enough to start tapering the banks investment program known as quantitative easing. >> we'll be purchasing $75 billion a month reducing purchasing of treasuries by $5 million each. >> reporter: the positive signs are few but strong. unemployment reached a five-year low of 7% in november. the southboun s&p 500, and congd a budget for the first time all year. >> the economy is continuing to make progress but it has much farther to travel before conditions with be judged normal. notebly, the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace as we expect growth to pick up helped by monetary policies and waning fiscal drag. >> reporter: all this good economic news could mean that it's time for the fertile reserve to ease it's massive monetary program. the

chairman ben bernanke's last. adam: will it be jawboning with a bite? chief economist and others on when they see the tape are starting. cheryl: amc entertainment making their trading debut. we will hear from the ceo as they go public on the new york stock exchange. adam: started growing at a breakneck pace. it took 90 days, $1,000,000.10 employees for online startup to spread to 48 states. delivering bulk size items a run for their money. nicole petallides to find out what investors are thinking. nicole: this is a big deal because last time the fed met, popularly doing some tapering, which they are not. now the question is while we have seen some improved economic numbers, although they are not looking at the numbers, looks great, is it enough to stop the tapering? will they taper. the s&p 500 down by four. the fear index has had an interesting day, pulling back in the morning and moving to the unchanged line as we eagerly await on the fed. it will guide the market at least the next hour and a half or so. back to you. adam: cheryl. cheryl: lets get to our man who will bring us late

we're going to have it live here on cnbc as you know. ben bernanke giving his last news conference as fed chairman today as well. steve liesman will ask that question, we'll see it later. that does it for us today. more fast at five, follow me on twitter. power starts now. >> lace them up. "halftime" is over. the second half of the trading day starts now. >> all right. countdown to the fed, everybody. you know the story, your investments and their performance could hinge on what takes place over the next two hours. the rate decision, statement on the economy and ben bernanke's final news conference as the fed chief. will he go out with a bang and begin pulling back on stimulus? we'll give you a playbook to how you might want to react. three big stories on the housing front. housing starts, six-year highs, but mortgage apps plunge to 12-year lows. why affording a mortgage is about to get a lot tougher. and we continue counting down "power lunch's" top five business and finance stories of the year. number three is coming up later this hour. see if you can guess what it is. meantime l

. ben bernanke began tapering this week. is he making the right move? >> yes, yes, i'm worried about a bubble forming if we don't begin tapering, so -- >> is he doing it at the right speed? >> well, we'll see. the numbers just came out, as you saw, today indicating that our gdp growth in the third quarter was higher than expected. a lot of it was inventory, so we're not sure how much to trust that, but i do think that we have to begin this tapering. we're unprecedented in terms of the fed balance sheet, and also having the overnight rate be at zero. basically, there's no flexibility for the fed to be able to respond to the possibility of going into another recession, so i think it's appropriate. >> senator portman, let me close by asking you a political and personal question. earlier this year, you reported that your son was gay and that you had changed your position and you now support gay marriage. nine months later, what's been the political fallout? and really more importantly, what effect has it had on your family? >> family's doing great, first of all. i'm very proud of my son, a

of environment or list it over to next year. >> you mentioned the fed. ben bernanke is holding his last meeting as chairman of the fomc raising speculation as to whether they will reign in their bond buying program. >> most banks predict the federal reserve will taper in march, but there are some outliers. goldman sachs, for example, holds the consensus view saying the central bank will focus more on weakening inflation than the most recent jobs picture. the most hawkish prediction includes the federal bank. jpmorgan says the central bank will start laying the groundwork this week, but only in january. and cnbc's survey saw bring forward their taper timeline from april to february. chairman ben bernanke will give his final press conference as head of the central bank after the decision he hands over the helm to janet yellen on january the 31st. in the run up to today's meeting, fed president officials from across the country have given conflicting you videos on the taper timeline, raising doubts about the validity of forward guidance. >> the jobs report continues to show more jobs

announced. here is what ben bernanke in his last conference as fed chair had to say about the fed's thinking and the general state of the economy. >> today's policy actions reflect the committee's assessment that the economy is continuing to make progress and it has much farther to travel before conditions can be judged normal. notably despite head winds, we expect grope growth will pick up in coming quarters. >>> the fed has been expected to start to taper its monetary stimulus. interest rates were inching upwards with mortgages rise to go an average of 4.24%. up a full percentage from may. >> that's near historic lows. lower borrowing costs have helped fuel a spectacular housing market six years after it collapsed. rates will continue to rise in 2014 as the fed decides to taper even more bond purchases, we are seeing a noticeable drop-off in the number of mortgage access. last week, they fell 5 and a half percent from the previous week, dropping to their lowest level in more than a dozen years evenso so, home construction continues to surge. the government reported permits to buil

♪ ♪ lou: government reserve chairman ben bernanke announcing tapering of the fiscal program will finally begin next month. and wall street celebrating the news with an almost 300-point rally on the dow jones industrial. ben bernanke is a popular fellow tonight. i am lou dobbs. ♪ ♪ ♪ lou: good evening, everyone. ben bernanke announcing that they will reduce the bond program by $10 million in january. while saying that the paper will continue further measured steps at future meetings if the economy stays on course. and here is the outgoing fed chairman explaining why the decision was made to begin reining in what has been an explosive expansion of the fed's balance sheet and the greatest capital injection into our financial system in history. >> policy actions today reflect the assessment that the economy is continuing to make progress. and that it also has farther to travel before conditions can be judged as normal. notably, despite headwinds, the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace and we expect that growth will pick up somewhat in coming quarters, helped by highl

all the stories and issues by logging on to the website. >> this is what ben bernanke had to say about the general state of the economy. >> today's policy reflect that the economy is making progress but it has much farther to travel before considered normal. the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace and we expect growth to be picked up in coming quarters. >> he speaks like a regular guy. the fed had been expected to start to taper it's monitory stimulus for some time now. already interest rates were inching upward in anticipation of fixed interest rate up a full percentage point of where it was in may at record lows. this is still near historic lows and borrowing costs have helped fuel a spectacular recovery in the housing market six years after it collapsed. now that rates are rising again and will no doubt continue to rise in 2014 as the fed decide to taper more of its bond purchases we're seeing a noticeable drop off in the number of mortgage applications. last week they fell 5.5% compared to the previous week dropping to the lowest level in mortgage applications in mo

ben bernanke's camera. if we get it reestablished we will immediately get it back to you but we have enough to talk about right here. i am liz claman, welcome to come down to the closing bell and we have the camera back. >> uncertainties out there, fiscal, regulatory and so on that no doubt affects some of these calculations. we hear that from the fomc participants around a table as they report from their local districts. there are a lot of factors. usually you think the way at deficit or long term-would affect investment would be through crowding out, raising interest rates but high interest rates, we may have many problems but high interest rates are not the problem. particularly for larger firms there's plenty of credit available at no interest rates and we intend to try to provide that to help the economy grow and stimulate investment spending but it is going to take faster overall growth to get firms to expand capacity and think if consumer spending increases as we think it will and if exports increase as they seem to be doing, we will probably see greater investment as wel

week. that is coming next. liz: tell us what you think. fed chairman ben bernanke said fed bond purchases created jobs. talking about qe. do you agree. log on to facebook.com/afterthebell. we'll read some answers and get richard fish arrest response. don't go away. ♪ [ m male announcer ] once, there was a man who found a magic seashell. it told him what was happening on the tradg floor in real time. ♪ the shell brought him great fame. ♪ but then, one day, he noticed that everybody could have a magic seashell. [ indistinct talking ] male announcer ] right there in their trading platform. ♪ [ indistinct talking continues ] [ male announcer ] so the magic shell went back to being a...shell. get live squawks right in your trading platform with think or swim from td ameritrade. get live squawks right in your trading platform it's be that y ysie e day u met.team. but your erectile dysfunction - itld be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use lps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you cabe more confident in your abity to be ready. anthe same cialis is the

ben bernanke his advisor at mit so i think to me it's just it's it's what i a little bit worried about is is just more of the same you know i think it in our in our film we highlight officials like paul volcker and some of the regional bank presidents at the fed who have a slightly different perspective i think with stanley fischer i think you know he's clearly a very smart guy and an esteemed you know figure in this world the question is will his ideas be any different from what we've been seeing for the last five ten fifteen years out of the fed and i think i think the answer unfortunately is is notably more of the same now in your film you have a lot of access to current and past that officials what they have to say about quantitative easing and i mean specifically the effects that will have on the economy if and when the fed starts to wind it down yeah i mean i think. a good quantitative easing similar to the vocal rule is the kind of thing i think a lot of people have been judging in the short term and i think we really won't know for years to come what quantitative easing t

of that announcement. we are asking our viewers what you think ben bernanke's legacy will be when he steps down from the fed. give us a call. .epublicans, (202) 585-3881 democrats, (202) 585-3880. independents, (202) 585-3882. outside the u.s., (202) 585-3883 . you can also catch up with us on twitter, facebook, or e-mail us. a very good thursday morning to you. ofwant to begin with some the front pages about that ben bernanke press conference. here is the "financial times." a picture of ben bernanke. a historic end to the tenure. over to the front page of "usa today" money section. a bit from the front page of "the wall street journal." that is the lead to that story on the front page of the wall street journal. here he is announcing the decision to taper monthly asset buying. [video clip] >> let me just say that one of the things i am proud of and i have tried to accomplish over the past eight years is to increase the transparency of the fed and to increase the accountability of the fed. you mentioned those trips to capitol hill. i testified many times, as have a number of my colle

for the stock market ben bernanke has been very explicit about wanting stock prices to go up and recently with with their purchase of mortgage backed securities at five hundred billion dollars a year explicit support for the housing market and so there's a number of people at the fed who think this is a bad precedent this is a bad road they're going down and they would like the fed to get off that road and to unwind q e to stop talking about the stock market to stop talking about the housing market to stop buying mortgages and to go back to what a traditional treated the central bank more traditionally does because you could argue that their policies today are designed for you know massive crisis and right now we're not in a massive crisis so really it represents subsidies to certain groups in the economy and historically you know when governments or central banks do that kind of thing it doesn't work out and b can sort of backfire on them can create a lot of public backlash when people see the fed supporting one group in our economy and not another do you think the fed has a han

ben bernanke, everyone. welcome to the most important hour of the session. haslong awaited taper begun. the fed is cutting its bond purchases by $10 billion a month, but promising to keep interest rates lower for even longer than previously anticipated, and the market likes it. the dow is at an all-time new high, seen triple digit gains. this, adam, is what you call the best of all worlds, for the market, anyway. >> the fed is taking us off of life support, we have begun tapering, but the fed says we will keep rates low for a long time, and the 6.5% threshold will be moved down to 6%. that is my key take away. xp pole like it, and we see that reflected not just in equities, but the bond market, and you have gold prices actually down, which is counterintuitive, but it has to do with the idea that we are tapering. >> let's go right to the charts. let me show you three that really paint a picture of the moment. look. absolutely no doubt -- the markets and to petition how we shot up at 2:00 when we found out they are going to taper and then keep rates low for a long time. i just want

there will be many ben bernanke critics on capitol hill applauding the fact that the wind down has at least started. i think you will hear as much from ben bernanke's critics that finally this move has been made. and we saw from eric rosengren posta sent -- from eric , especiallydissent at a time when congress is not extending unemployment benefits again. i think those are the kinds of criticisms you will hear with regard to this. all as ben bernanke will to his final press conference. federal open market committee decision is an important decision and an historic decision. 2006-13, ben bernanke chooses with his fed to taper. as hes his first speech returned from the woodrow wilson center in february, 2006. what a safe quotation, michael mckee, from a safe time. >> at that time, inflation was not even on the radar screen. disinflation and re-inflation was nowhere. they are concerned about , but not enough to sway him or the committee in the vote. they say, especially if project inflation is effective to run below the committees two percent longer-term goal. they did add an inflation c

stories, log on tower our website, aljazeera.com/. ben bernanke going out with a bang, virtually no one expected the fed to announce it was tapering on his watch, last wednesday, which was his last press conference. ben bernanke says the u.s. economy is almost ready to stand on its own two feet without fed. that i had that made invest organs heaps for a day but ben berneke t took you him months to tanking. he stood side-by-side with then president george w. bush, henry paulsen, as they continued to try to convince americans that everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. that administration did americans a huge disservice. bernanke gave it credibility. he came it out and came out from under their shadow. his fed led the charge coordinating in the darkest days of the financial crisis, ensuring the global flow of money and credit. while congress spent much of the last few years actively sometimeying the economy, the if he had has replaced it as the adult in the room. game. he stepped up. for that, he deserves the nation's gratitude. >> that's our show for today. i am ali velshi. than

we get? >> we get that ben bernanke finally hit one out of the park. his last at-bat. we have a slow taper. he has finally convinced markets that tapering does not mean tightening. they are going to keep low interest rates. the key changes they made in terms of the policy decision is they will keep unemployment, the when term rates well past unemployment dips below that 6.5% level. >> we certainly have not given up. nothing we did today was intended to reduce accommodation. we'll still buy assets at a high level and increase our balance sheet and hold on to those assets. we strengthened our guidance to make clear that we expect to keep rates low. >> they are going to be increasing the balance sheet. at the end of quantitative easing if you take the stedge of $10 billion a month, you get to about a 4.5 trillion balance sheet at the end of 2014. then we talk about how they unwind it and that is a fun conversation as well. guy? >> it is like the whole challenge really is laid out in front of us. presumably bernanke and yellen joined at the hip on this one? >> all we have is bernanke's w

and a stronger job market which is good news all the way around. >> reporter: ben bernanke announced the fed will begin to taper off its economic stimulus by reducing its bond buying program by $10 billion. it won't end it entirely, which was what some analysts feared. and the fed also decided not to touch interest rates. its key short-term rate will stay near zero until unemployment drops more. >> it now is expecting the unemployment range to fall from 6.3 to 6.6% in 2014 down from 7% we saw in november which was already a five-year low. >> reporter: ben bernanke made it clear the economy is improving slowly. so any change in stimulus should be equally deliberate. and if the pace continues, the fed's plan for changes will remain the same. >> my expectation is for similar moderate steps going forward throughout most of 2014. >> ben bernanke is wrapping up his termed as chairman. tony aiellojanet yellen will take over next year and will continue the same program. >>> thieves ripped out an atm in front of a san francisco store. that was just the beginning of an overnight crime caper. a

jumping 1.15%, simple. the fed knew what it was doing. because ben bernanke knows what he's doing. because in this case, the one rare case we are a part of the government than the people who trade stocks and bonds for a living. we might have to endure endless attacks from ben bernanke and the president and the policies that hurt growth. we can digest the endless slagging for creating balloons and the disciplines that so many idea logs, dogmatically think are right. however, in the end, though, and today is the end, the last meeting of the ben bernanke era, he got it right. it was the critics who got it wrong. with this rally in the face of common sense decision to cut back the economy and we have the reason not to own stocks that one day the fed will begin to slow down as bond buying and it was fabulous, plus the worry is now behind us. we saw a glimpse of the future and they tried to prop up the stock market, and they know the economy is growing enough that the fed doesn't have to keep pumping in steroids and rates are still going to stay low perhaps to 2015 and beyond. bernanke confounde

best fed chairman in recent memory? the contenders, paul volcker, alan greenspan, ben bernanke. i will have my pick and so will our panel of experts. >>> don't forget, folks, free market capitalism always the best path to prosperity. we're "kudlow" and we'll be right back. my mantra? family first. but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron. the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle, feet or

% and interest rates will remain low. we heard cautious optimism from ben bernanke as he explains the situation. >> today's policy actions reflect the assessment the economy is continuing to make progress but that the economy has much further to travel. the job market continues to improve with unemployment having climbed further. the recovery is far from complete with unemployment still elevated and long-term unemployment still a major concern. >> ben bernanke says the fact he will soon be replaced by his deputy did not affect the decision. the reaction was quick and strong on stock arctic. --l street rallied, the tao dow jumping one percent. the s&p also up about a percentage point. the fed welcomes this response is a tries to scale back massive support of the u.s. economy. let's turn to brussels, where european finance ministers say they have made a cruise in the long-standing efforts to deal with eggs. -- banks. beingnking union negotiated would likely be the eu's biggest project since the introduction of the euro. >> when banks across europe found themselves on the brink of collap

stimulus for the economy, your mind, and your relationships. ben bernanke begins to tap the brakes on economic stimulus. we will tell you how this might affect your portfolio and finances. move over candy crush. the app quizup takes the casual gaming word by storm. grouper is looking to bring some romance to your off-line world. >> u.s. senate has passed a budget bill. the agreement eases automatic spending cuts under $63 billion. the vote was 64-36 in favor of the bill. oracle reported fiscal second quarter that topped analyst estimates. revenue climbing 2%. sac capital adisers' michael steinberg becoming the longest- serving manager to be convicted of insider trading. it is a government figure that might increase pressure on his former colleagues to cooperate in the u.s. investigation. >> thank you very much. important news, the federal reserve's decision to trim its monthly bond purchases, this pace will follow to $75 billion a month. this will be divided between 40 billion. stocks surging. shares on the dow jones industrial average up nearly two percent. here to tell us more, robb

stimulus for the economy, your mind, and your relationships. ben bernanke begins to tap the brakes on economic stimulus. how this mightu affect your portfolio and finances. move over candy crush. quizup takes the casual gaming word by storm. er is looking to bring some off-line world. >> u.s. senate has passed a budget bill. the agreement has been automatic spending cuts under $63 billion. the vote was 64-36 in favor of the bill. oracle reported fiscal second quarter that topped analyst estimates. revenue climbing 2%. a c e pfizer's michael steinberg becoming the longest- serving manager to be convicted of insider trading. it is a government figure that might increase pressure on his former colleagues to cooperate in the u.s. investigation. >> thank you very much. important news, the federal to trim itscision monthly bond purchases, this pace will follow to $75 billion a month. this will be divided between here to tell us more, robbert van batenburg who is with newedge.we are joined with with j.p. morgan funds. withth anastasia amoros j.p. morgan funds. is this a good decision today?

million. that is good to see. that means good things for the economy if that can keep up. ben bernanke of course, is there any kwicoincidental thing aboutm going out the door? >> janet is supposed to do the same thing. is it too much? ben bernanke is accused of doing too much. >> you said it is bad for savers but it is good for borrowers but you have to wonder whether or not it affects the stock market. well all of this conversation has had a big impact on stocks. every time we talk stocks team to go down and they expect it to come and you may not see a big impact from them. >> we'll be watching your show later on today. >> another fox news alert where the latest outreach campaign out today. the president and the first lady moms. and a fox news contributor. they promised on a daily basis that they were going to have a obama care every single day today it is moms but with the first lady, what are they telling the moms? >> they are trying to sell the advantages of obama care for women, maternal care, prenatal care options and one thing that the white house has not done they haven't haven't

clearer picture as to when the fed plans to begin monthly bond purchases. ben bernanke will speak in what is likely to be his final news conference as chairman. what is he going to say? >> we think he can provide a lot areontent and guidance on they forming a consensus toward one of the myriad options they discussed in terms of forward guidance. setting the stage for 2014 and how they view the outlook. the last data point they have on continued to decline going into this meeting. growth was slowing, that has to be worrisome. bernanke has laid out 3 criteria for tapering. better incoming data and a stronger outlook, we have got that. plenty of policymakers have shown we have had substantial improvements in the labor market by showing the unemployment rate falling. was his thirdhat criteria, that is turning upwards -- >> and i write -- right. >> many economists on the fence about the fed's message on tapering. sizeey will talk about the of tapering and if we go back in september when it seemed like a 0 billion dollars, it is likely to come back today because yellen will get the chair f

tomorrow. and ben bernanke pots of final news conference will follow. we will have that then comprehensive analysis on "bottom line" when the bank of tokyo economist and the former that is of the fdic, when say, only on bloomberg television. let show you how the equity markets finished today for tuesday, december 17. stocks fell following monday's rally for the s&p 500 and on wednesday, fed policymakers may announce plans for their monthly bond buying program so investors were once again in wait and see mode. let's look at the numbers. the broader market index was down. the dow jones industrial average was down nine points. was offnasdaq composite by five points, finishing at 40 23. newsroom is in the with those details. >> a reverse of the rally with the focus on the fed and what they will do. there could be a lot for the market to digest. dowhen they taper, they will other things. they will do something with forward guidance and something with the threshold variables and they will do something with reserves. the idea is that the fed is going to offer the market a package in the market is

equities. this round goes to ben bernanke. he's going to finish on a high note. he's threaded the needle on calling $10 billion taper instead of -- stocks love it. there will be very doubt in my mind that equity should be able to run up for the rest of the year. what equity trader, what portfolio manager is going to challenge the notion of stocks going higher? what vested interest do they not have to put this money in their pockets? i think the real adjustments are yet to happen. i think dr. doom has it right when he said qe forever. you might taper it off for a bit but for the most part it's extremely large. >> lease talk to steve liesman who stepped out from the news conference. you asked the chairman about holding record low rates well beyond the 6.5% employment rate possibility. i mean, were you expecting that? are they just leaving their options open at this point? >> reporter: well, what i expected -- i didn't think they needed or were going to use that particular tool right off the bat. my expectation, bill, is that they would taper, see how the market reacted and then use that to

this program back in september last year. liz: maybe that's why, diane, we had ben bernanke saying very specifically what he said, we pulled that sound bite out so people could hear it once again and you comment on it. here is ben bernanke yesterday. >> the fomc also provided additional guidance on future short-term interest rates stating that it expects the maintain the federal fund target in its current near zero range well past the time the unemployment rate falls below 6.5%. liz: if we had the fox business translator up, diane, it would say, everybody relax and calm down. we'll not gyrate mortgage rates. we'll keep everything low, specifically what you said but then as you spin it forward to 2014 what looks good? what areas of investment look good? is it housing? >> housing is good in the sense that we've overshot so far on the downside there is nowhere to go but up. that is the good news. the bad news we're not seeing first-time homebuyers out there. the overhang of student debt, 32% of so of 18 to 34-year-olds still living with their parents, unable to get over hurdles of buy

reserve is ready to begin winding down its economic stimulus. chairman ben bernanke announced today the central bank will start reducing the bond-buying program next month. he said the economy has strengthened enough to make it possible. we'll hear some of what bernanke said, and dig into what it means, right after the news summary. the fed's finding of economic progress sent wall street soaring. the dow jones industrial average gained 292 points to close near 16,168-- a new record. the nasdaq rose 46 points to close at 4,070. the senate gave final approval today to a two-year budget agreement, 64 to 36. it erases $63 billion in automatic, spending cuts, and replaces them with targeted cuts and additional revenues. nine republicans joined 55 democrats and independents in voting "aye", after supporters and opponents jousted over the measure. >> i think one of the problems we have around here often is that we don't know how to declare victory. we don't celebrate our successes. i'm not prepared to declare victory in the fight for fiscal responsibility, but i am prepared to declare progress