all higher at this moment. as for the u.s. futures, a bit of a mixed picture with the s&p trading above fair value. the dow and nasdaq both below it. >> all right. mac world. under way tonight. tomorrow the real fun begins. steve jobs may very well speak, spurring new rumors about his health or maybe dousing the old rumors. apple stock is up throughout the day. here's silicon valley bureau chief jim goldman. how does he feel and what's the outlook? >> reporter: good evening to you. it's a mystery while apple's steve jobs waited to address his incredible shrinking body so long noticeable in his public appearances lately. the delay in dealing with his weight loss led to months of speculation and rumor monogoring that he was desperately ill. one blogger even reported his rapidly declining health was the reason he pulled out of tomorrow's keynote address. he attributed his weight loss to a hormone imbalance, a simple and straightforward nutritional issue for which he is being treated and he'll remain ceo during that appearance. a new mac mini and new desktops, they're likely better bets. we'll be here all day and back tomorrow night with, of course, a complete report. back to you. >>> director research author of the the cult of mac and ipod, great to have you with us. cullen, certainly he addressed the rumor there. it was a hormonal imbalance. from a shareholders' standpoint, until he puts on more weight i won't believe zblit the key thing here is not only do they have some issues regarding steve jobs' health and did he adequately address the issues, but if you look at the shares of the stock, you have to be careful owns this. you have to be concerned about the march quarter eps out look. this is a company likely to have strong december quarter results but we're still worried about consumer spending in the march quarter. numbers are addressive. we want to wait and see, can the company post decent march quarter results and can steve jobs put more weight on. >> maybe we don't have to wait until the weight is put on. maybe we do. in the medical reports that came out today or the general discussion, i admit it came from apple, did you hear enough? did you know enough? are they transparent enough? did you get enough information today? >> we were not satisfied with what we got. the reality is is that he does have an issue. that he finally came out and addressed out. this is not a bug or common cold. the reality is he's the founder of the company. you have to be worried about the succession plan. >> i think it begs just as many questions as there were before. there's a lot of conflicting information. he said he had an enzyme problem. he wasn't taking proteins and wire.com reporters told us some endo krolgss today said it doesn't make sense. >> what do you want him to do? what do you want him to say? do you want him to give you printouts of his medical reports? >> yeah. he's a public figure. i think he'll show up tomorrow morning at the mark world keynote. >> will that make you think he's okay? or will it spur more concerns because he weighs 140 pounds and not 170? what's all this chitchat about he doesn't have a succession plan? who says? >> he doesn't have a public success plan. >> the no public success plan, no matter who steps in, you're stepping in for a very significant figure. >> no doubt about it. >> while his weight is down and he looks so thin and while this news is coming out, there's no doubt this is going to be an overhang on the stock. >> have any of you guys go in an apple store at christmas. it was the only one of the stores jammed 24 hours a day from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night. every one of those stoers was packed with people spending. they were the only ones that were winning. >> absolutely. apple's fine in all cylinders. one of the things about the company that hasn't come out over the last ten years while jobs has been in charge is it isn't a one-man show. they've got a deep penbench. the company is -- >> quick question. if the company came out with a success plan, would you feel more confident to invest in stocks? >> absolutely. i think an interesting test is going to be tomorrow. will they give phil a product to get out there that has meat they can present. or is this going to be an evolutionary where there's only -- maybe a mac mini or i mac. if you want to generate buzz, let phil get out there and present the $99 iphone. >> what happened to the adage in society that you can never be too rich or too thin. >> it does not apply to ceos, larry. >> i guess not. >> thank you guys. >>> straight ahead, much more on bernie madoff and today's ruling or nonruling regarding his