us live. >> i'm dennis kneale. he mapped the human genome and founded celera genomics and he has algae for energy. he is a slime supplier and he'll join us live from the wsj eco-nomics conference. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera, how wall street saf set cast of "jersey shore". find out when we serve you foot for thought. here's what cells on the menu. >> i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. this was a big year for movies, but what was the last time you rented a dvd from blockbuster. the struggling ceo will join us with his plans to turn the company around. >> citigroup's ceo vick pandit is in the hot seat on capitol hill, though it has been relatively friendly by my estimation so far, testifying before the panel for t.a.r.p.

citi has received bailout funds and whether the company is making ample loans. our mary thompson joins us from capitol hill with the latest and fascinating hearing. >> it really s tyler. i would agree with you so far they've had a friendly exchange with the panel members and mr. pandit. one thing mr. panned sit trying to sell here is a new citi, smaller, less risky and no longer the financial supermarket that it once was. >> clear that we were in a lot of businesses that were not directly related to being a bank, and so the fundamental decision that i mead is that we're going to be a bank. we're going to be the global bank for america's companies. >> one of the changes that pandit has outlined, he says the bank has been cutting leverage ratios and boosting capital ratios and scaling back on proprietary trading and panel chair elizabeth warren wanted to know why u.s. taxpayers should support a bank that pandit says

is focused on growing abroad rather than here at home. listen in. >> why should the u.s. taxpayer alone carry citi? >> madam chair, we're not a foreign bank. we're a global bank. we're actually america's global bank. we started in business years ago helping america's business essex port their products and that's what we've been doing and this particular time, as we need growth and we need jobs it's even more important that we hold small businesses, medium businesses and large businesses make those exports. >> one thing that pandit told the panel citi doesn't need is any more t.a.r.p. money. he also said citi is solvent, right now its share price at $3.44 reflects the fact that shareholders are well affair the government holds a 27% stake in the company, that it plans to sell over the next 12 months. as far as the plans for selling that stake, the undersecretary -- or treasury undersecretary herbal son told

treasury earlier it plans to sell that stake in an orderly manner when circumstances allow the treasury to go ahead and do this. again, the lockupped for for that ends march 16th and the treasury wants to sell its 7.7 billion shares over the next 12 months. back to you. >> mary, thank you very much. let's bring in our citi analyst jeff hart director of equity research at sandler o'neal. welcome. mr. pandit is testifying the stock is trading. you have a buy rating on citi, but the fact of the matter that that stock unlike many in the financial area has not improved terribly much over the past year. what's it going to take to get that stock moving? >> i think we need to differentiate between the current citigroup. vikram panned sit outlining pretty well today. they clearly defined the businesses they're in. they've had a management upgrade almost across the firm and we're getting better disclosures. i think look at citigroup

today, it's a very strong franchise. it is now solvent, but very under owned by institutional investors and that's not a surprise because a lot of institutional investors got burned when the stock was up at 50 and it went down a lot, but i think the real key to citigroup going up from here is the economy will be at all cooperative and that's important for financials in general and more specifically for the government to start getting out of its stake. its common stock stake because i think that will be what triggers institutional ownership and to put it into perspective, about 30% of citigroup shares are institutionally owned and 70% of the competitor shares are institutionally owned and that's where the buying power comes and that pushes citigroup's up. >> one reason i like watching these hearings is the subtext and the offerings. to me, vikram pandit seems much more self-assured and relaxed than in previous appearances which makes me think things must be going okay back at headquarters. we will not come ask for a bailout if our global transaction services that serves other banks around the world

would get in trouble. were you encouraged by that or no big deal. >> unfortunately, for vikram he's had experience sitting in front of panels and i would extend it from just vikram pannedity to citi's overall management team. i've been sensing a calm confidence for months now. it means things are moving along. really, what got citigroup in trouble was a very large vet or holding of mortgages with a yield curve, leveraged play essentially. i don't think they'll get themselves back stuck in that business and yet a lot of the international businesses, like gts and the processing business isn't the type of business where assets get you in trouble. i certainly hope that's the case and i think that will be the case. >> on the international side of the business elizabeth warren's first question out of the gate was word for word what wilbur ross asked her on "squawk box." essentially why is the u.s. taxpayer funding what is a foreign bank because so much of their assets are overseas or so

much of the businesses are overseas. do you think that's a legitimate line of questioning? how do you think he should have responded. >> citi has paid back its t.a.r.p. it's exited a lot of the extra support. so a big chunk of that is actually gone, but at the end of day, this economy's becoming more global. international flow of funds is part of the reason the global economy is growing. do you want to have one of the leaders be a u.s. bank or would you have rather have one of the leaders be a non-u.s. bank? citigroup is positioned to be the leader in international banking, i mean, not that the taxpayer needs to support that. citi will be profitable in and of itself and you need to look at where economic growth will come in the future and you want international companies to be housed in the u.s. >> just to talk about the other players in the field and how you feel about them from a portfolio standpoint. you have a new buy rating on j.p. morgan, it used to be a hold on goldman sachs and a new

buy rating there and a buy rating that's new on morgan stanley. and you have a buy on citi. of those, the goldman sachs, the j.p. morgan and citi, when which is your favorite of the group? >> it is interesting. i've gone from some sells to a lot of buys and a lot of holds and no sells. >> the contrarians would be worried about that. a lot of the things i like about a citigroup or bank of america i like about a j.p. morgan and the stock's been pounded down, but specifically for people looking to put new money in, i think citigroup is the one you have to be looking at. it's the lowest value of the group and it's a clear catalyst of institutional ownership to boost it up. >> where do you think the stock will be trading five years from now? i correct myself. it's gone up a good bit over the past year, but it was a $1 stock back in march a year ago. we're five years. >> some of that depends on how does the global economy do? i think you're going to see a

north of $5 stock a year out. if we can go out three to five years i would expect to see a north of $10 stocks. there's an awful lot of upside in citigroup. i think they're capitally and fundamentally sound now and it becomes to me more a matter of when, not if. >> thank you, jeff. >> there you hear it. >> more fallout from greece's debt crisis. vikram pandit also asked bin voflment with greece upon union act sifts today protesting austerity measures by occupying the building in athens. guy joins us live from greece's capital city. guy? >> reporter: good evening, michelle. very mixed emotions, i have to say, in athens tonight. we've got the demonstrations taking place. the finance ministry was occupied a little bit earlier. there was a large demonstration taking place in parliament square this evening and obviously the media images about that will be beamed around the world. on a good note, greece did go to the bond market today and its

offering was successfully received. indeed, it was nearly three times covered. yes, they had to pay up for it, but they did at least manage to get money away and i think that is highly significant. 5 billion, they've still got another 45 billion set to roll by the end of the year, but it was at least a good start and it takes the pressure off george papandreou. there's been speculation that that meeting would be about some kind of german support for the greek economy. it was never actually going to come out directly from that meeting. it was likely really to be coming out in the finance minister's meeting which would be taking place in a week or so's time, nevertheless, this was one of the critical meetings. the fact that germany doesn't have to stand behind greece in the way it would have had to have done if the auction had not been successful is a huge boost to greece and the greek economy, but i have to say, my hotel is next to the finance ministry. i'm hoping i'll be able to get back there tonight. dennis, over to you. >> we hope so, too.

>> greece is the word. i've got early food for thought this morning. we ran a poll on cnbc and we asked should greece sell off some of the islands to pay off their debt. almost half of you say yeah, they should. one banker e-mailed me and he says we should do the same thing at home. sell off all kinds of federal and state proper toe reduce debt. who wouldn't want a condo in mt. rushmore right in lincoln's eye, maybe a timeshare in the white house. right back to the lincoln bedroom. remember that, guys? >> it was a time share at one point, wasn't it? >> that's a great idea. >> condos in mt. rushmore. >> oh, my gosh. >> all right. >> walmart hikes the dividend and we're seeing more of that lately, to not mention stock buybacks and m&a action. are these the rally signals the bulls are looking for? we'll ask the market insiders and plus it is oscar week and the business model for the dvd industry is indeed in trouble. can blockbuster survive? simple question. we'll get the answer from the

ceo, and we go off the charts. i'm just going to keep reading for the rest of the day here. we've got a stock up over 100% in a year. stick around. >> share a little. >> you know what's coming in a half an hour, "the fast money halftime report" and matt nesto, which ones are on your radar? >> i've got french fries that are supposed to be hot, they're cold and cold water is running hot. i'll give you the details coming up and "power lunch" is back in two minutes.

>> want to know what the market says? look at the advanced decline line. it is basically a split tick wet advancers outpacing decliners by five issues that the moment. over at the nasdaq basically the same thing. decliners leading advancers by 20. >> all right. let's talk more about what's going on in the market with bob pisani. he kicks it off at the new york stock exchange. what are they watching right now, bob? it's a data-filled week and there's been fed speak and what's on the mind of participants you're talking to? >> tyler was right about the advanced decline line. you could make a lot of money on the advanced decline line by doing rotation and that's exactly what's going on today. sue, take a look at geld stocks.

they had big moves up in the last four or five days. nice moves up and today they're all selling off the gold stocks and they're buying other things. the same thing with the commodity stocks here. your coal stocks, your iron ore stocks and stocks like freeport-mcmoran. they were up 4%, 5%, 6%, and they're selling them today. airlines, we've had good friends for the airlines and they've had a nice run as well. they're selling them off. what are they doing? number one, they're buy something financial stocks and number two, they're buying the retail stocks. the numbers were generally better than expected and you're wondering, gee, where why aren't the retails up so much that the same-store retails reports and the smart money and the hedge funds have remained long in the retailers throughout the believing that these numbers would be better and that has indicated their position and there wasn't a lot of people who could necessarily add to the long positions and rick santelli is standing by in chicago. have you noticed a strange

dichotomy, the macro numbers like pending home sales still aren't very good. >> yeah. no, i guess that's a phrase on the home side that we've -- it's been a refrain for quite a long time and once again, there's a lot of issues with regard to trying to dachtry ing to catch a dropping anvil mid-air. all these modifications, do they really help the on bottom or just rip off the band-aid like one millimeter every five hours, but something interesting going on today. first of all, the dollar wild again today on the european closing zone. if you look at intraday of the euro versus the pound versus the dollar. those three handles that the dollar lost yesterday, they got them back today. amazing volatility, but i haven't heard so many whispers in the short term funding market. we're not sure what's going on, but we see the market knows something is. look at intraday two-iary note yield that's elevated by five

bases points and you look at the ten-year and it's basically down a couple of basis points and yield curve flat in seven basis points and the flattest it's been in two months and of course, we'll continue to monitor exactly why. sue, back to you. thank you very much, rick. we'll check in with you later. rising dividends and increasing buybacks and increasing m&a activity, signs of a rally that it's for real, perhaps? let's talk about that with the "power lunch insiders. state capital advisers and craig columbus. craig, we were looking at a variety of different measures and one of them was a newspaper article in "usa today" that pointed to these factors that is a it was rate to have sustainability. do you agree with that or not? >> let's forget, we've never had an exclusively cap ex-led recovery which means valuation or income at a reasonable price becomes all the more important.

>> so you're not sold on this? >> i am are am not sold because we're in an era of rolling sovereign debt crisis because once you get to the super highway of fiscal responsibility where you see one curve at a time and one auction at a time and the labor situation is still contracting, sue, when the average duration is still greater than six months and the worst period since 1980 it tells you you've got structural unemployment problems. >> it doesn't know when it wants to surge up again or whether it wants to take another tumble. we were down 1.5% in that correction. is that over? >> i don't know. it's starting to maybe feel that way, but i think that we probably have several more weeks of technical reassessment and consolidation here before we move up and don't get me wrong. i'm extremely bullish about the u.s. economy. mr. market is miss behaving right now. the mrs. economy will show some dynamic numbers, i think, going forward, and look, we've been here before. the last time we saw the problem

with the ldcs and countries can go bankrupt and latin america, and devaluation and madness from 1979 to 1989, if we had a mark to market there wouldn't be a single bank and america that survived, but we'll get through it and we'll get through this. you don't want to miss the opportunity for being frightened of risk and manage it. >> craig, if your view of the world is accurate and it's a weak recovery because cap-ex isn't strong enough to lead us out of it, what do you do? >> that's a fed with mortgage-backed securities and that's a quasi tightening. do i think there's asia exjapan has income growth? yes. do i think a tech refresh strikel is going? yes. do i think the dividend growers and players are still an ak tractive place? yes. do i think corporate and high-yield bonds are there? yes. >> why aren't you happier, craig? why aren't you more optimistic, my friend? in the labor situation, and a lack of small business dynamism,

and they're stopping the mortgage-backed security proses is and investor-owned commercial real estate will be a drag in earnings. >> okay, but retail sales were surprisingly not so bad and the job losses have actually truly eased and so fewer of us are fearing our job loss. how come you lack faith in the consumer still? >> mixed picture and that's how you get the s&p range bound between 1050 and 1150 and that's how you have a super ball bounce. >> nasty mother nature beat us like dogs. half of the people in america live between boston and washington and we shut down. we lost five or six days. you what? >> despite that, listen, there's money in money. i think foreign exchange has a fantastic -- volatility is your friend. king dollar, look at oil is down, commodity, natural gas, when they start to realize they bought a sucker bet you can see that thing move 100 and $200 an ounce like it's nothing. there are lots of opportunity.

pick your favorite stocks. i mean, there are tons of things you can buy on sale. >> if you say avoid bonds, bill, why? >> well, you know what? whenever you see who i call joe stupid do things in mass, $600 billion of scared money went into money into things they can bite their heads off. you're not paid to take risk there. 0% overnight or 3% for ten years. i'd rather buy greek bonds now. >> a lot of people are saying that same thing. we'll see how they do. >> thanks, guys. coming up, the dvd business used to be hollywood's big encore, release a fill thom theater and rake in the dvd sales months later. not anymore. studios want to cash in quickly ask debut the dvd after it leaves silter have screen. >> answers in a power lunch exclusive with the ceo of blockbuster standing by to talk us to. we're back in two minutes.

>> here's a look at the most actively-traded stocks on the new york stock exchange. citigroup, bank of america, general electric in positive territory and ford and pfizer in negative territory, but not by much pf those are 4 and 5-cent moves. take a look at the most active board from the nasdaq. tivo is up, like, 45% because the company won a u.s. appeals court ruling that dish network and echostar are infringing on their patents that help them record tv shows on dvrs and they have to stop doing that. tivo higher by 49%. qqqq and intel and cell therapeutics off the most actives list. >> blockbuster once the gold standard for movie rentals now struggles in a market jammed with digital options. can the chain reinvent itself for this new landscape? julia boorstin joins us and has an exclusive interview with blockbuster's ceo. >> julia? >> blockbuster's stock is down

5% and just this week, moody's lowered its ratings on blockbuster by two notches. joining us now to tell us how he plans to turn around the company is blockbuster's ceo james keyes. thank you so much for joining us. so, jim, blockbuster's earnings seem to be in steep decline. what's your strategy for the company? >> we're in the middle of a turnaround, a dramatic transformation. "the wall street journal" called it a re-make of blockbuster, if you will. during this transformation it is challenging for the short term because we are moving away from total reliance on dvds as we were in the past to now a different form of distribution for both dvds and for digital content and we're building these new channels. >> but there seem to be infinite options for watching movies whether it's i tunes or netflix, why should consumers come to blockbuster. >> they are. people think about the future of the digital world and they think the brand will not be as important, but when you're driving the main street and you see the blockbuster brand you know it's the place to rent

movies. the same experience will be true on the internet. there will be a vast array of people offering movies. blockbuster is a very reliable brand. we think the future is bright once we are able to make that transformation. who is your biggest competitor. >> in the near-term, the largest competitor is netflix who developed the by mail service and we also have a by mail capability. we have coinstar that developed a vending solution. we have blockbuster express as be well. in the term these are the physical competitors and in the long term it comes to the apple and amazons to compete on the front. >> to compete with red box and with the by mail or online streaming business which now competes with netflix. how do you now compete? is. >> we don't think it's late for the digital side. it is just now emerging and it's a wide open landscape and there's very little traffic today, and we think our a la carte solution competes very

favorably with net flicks's subscription solution which is much more limiting in the digital arena in terms of the availability of content. in terms of the near-term on the physical side we think we have a better box. yes, we were a little bit late versus red box and the development of vending, but we partnered with ncr, it's a world class provider of self-service devices and our box is future proof. it has a server that allows digital downloads as well as physical dvd distribution. >> dennis, i want to jump in here. >> i admire your digital dreams, sir, but it seems to be likely that a lot of blockbuster's capital is tied up in bricks and mortar and all those assets. why aren't you doing more to want to get me to go to a blockbuster like at starbucks, like free wi-fi and cap chino and hang out there as a place of community. >> that's a great question. we're doing just that. we developed a prototype called rock the block. in that store we brought in a self-service beverage bar and a

coca-cola cafe instead of a starbucks cafe, but the same concept, basically and we are trying to make a store experience a better experience. >> but also you're shutting down almost 1,000 stores between last year and this year. there's been rumors of bankruptcy. how are yourestructure? >> it's an interesting thing. we are adding points of purchase with the blockbuster express and the store, the perception of closing stores is really about rationalizing the portfolio, shrinking sport base somewhat and not eliminating the store base because there will always be an occasion for the stores and adding many more purchase points for blockbuster express. >> your stock's down 70% in a year. say i'm an investor and i'm betting on your demise eventually. the fact is a friend of mine years ago made a ton of money buying distressed retailers because of the underline value of tlts real estate, their leases and property holdings. how many stores have you got?

how many do you own? is that an underrecognized asset to get rid of those and get cash. >> we have 3500 domestic stores. >> that you own? >> no, this is the difference. we actually lease almost all of the stores and they're very short-term leases. the store itself, the store portfolio say hidden asset, we believe, but not in the sense you would think, not for the real estate value. instead, we think it's a hidden asset because it represents a stepping-stone to be able to introduce our customers to digital solutions. >> all right then. thanks very much, jim and thank you, julia. good snag. over to you, michelle. straight ahead, matt nesto set to take us beyond the midcaps. plus, they grew the economy and moved the markets. we're talking about boomers. sue's going to introduce you to the first boomer? >> yech, absolutely, we found her and interviewed her. >> the first one. >> during that period? >> yep. >> cool. >> coming up at 12:45 eastern get ready for "the fast money

halftime report."

beyond the big caps, sir? >> would i be not doing my due diligence if i didn't talk about tivo? it is in the russell 2000, it is

the only major index that is a member and the stock's up 50%. we talked about the story, but i just want to show you the big picture. there you go. 49% move today. they won in federal appeals court victory, if you will, in the patent feud with echostar and dish. there will be appeals. look at that chart, though, man. the stock's above 15 taking it back to levels you haven't seen since november of 2000. i'm kind of happy that they were able to hang on for all that period of time. i mentioned some of the consumer services stocks, bally and igt in the gaming devices sector all under pressure and goldman cuts the sector to neutral from attractive. they lowered the price target on bally's and they think it will turn around, just a little slower than expected and you can see bally technologies down sharply, but still over 150% in the past 12 months. >> this was an intellectual property thing for tivo that they won, but the dvrs, they don't have a monopoly on that anymore. there are lots of other manufacturers. they make some for other

companies. >> it was a contempt ruling, actually because they said those two satellite tv providers to stop making those. >> they're telling us we've got to go. sue? >> because we've got to meet the first boomer, right? because out of the millions of baby boomers out there there had to be a first. well, she is alive and well and has seen both economic booms and busts come and go and like many in her age group she is facing a changing retirement landscape. >> can you tell i'm a boater? >> boating took a little getting used to for kathleen casey kishling. >> i was always getting seasick as a kid. >> but change is what the nation's first baby boomer is all about. >> as i look baca my life, i truly am a boomer. >> she was born in philadelphia just after midnight on january 1, 1946. writer landon jones called it the dawn of the post-world war ii baby boom in his 1980 book, "great expectations, america and the baby boom generation."

she's been smug of a celebrity ever since. her home in florida was acquired as an investment and now it's a full-time home. >> that was my dream. >> that is a change, too. her first dream home is in maryland and no longer practical. >> that economic crisis that we had in the last two years, well, we've decided that we have to move on and sell this place. >> change touched every boomer's life in the 1960s. >> kennedy. we were traumatized because we watched that happen. >> and television took them to the moon. >> setting up the flag now. >> pop culture was revolutionized. much of it as vibrant today as the 60-something boomers themselves. >> to go through the whole process. >> the first boom tore collect social security will be eligible for medicare in 2011. neither program will survive unless major changes are made.

>> if we don't it's not going to take care of the baby boom generation and it's certainly not going to take care of our children and our grandchildren. >> forever young? maybe not, but the first boomer is forever changing except for one thing. celebrity or not, she's no more important than anyone else. >> i don't need to be a celebrity because the whole generation is a celebrity. >> yeah. it says first boomer right on that boat. >> a programming note. be sure to watch tonight's original cnbc documentary, tom brokaw presents "boomers." it airs at 9:00 p.m. eastern time only on cnbc. but up next here on cnbc we'll go off the charts with a stock that's up 100% in the last year. not playing around. stand by for the name. back in a minute.

toy maker mattel more than doubling since the march low gaining 10% for a month now. joining us now with all of the buzz, what is all of the buzz? linda bolton wiser managing director covers mattel. linda, good to see you. >> hi. >> huge move for this stock. is this generally because a lot of the people expect the economy to get better and hence better toy sales or is this a mattel-specific move? what's driving it?

>> there's a little of each going on, but i happen to think there's a good story for mattel specifically, they've got toys coming out this year related to "toy story 3," they're the master toy licensee for that movie and you've also got them the take along thomas license and the world wrestling federation toys launching in the first quarter. whenever i think of them, i think of barbie and they're far less depend own the barbie than they used to be. that's true, but barbie is doing pretty well, too, right now. >> can we get more out of the stock? do you like the stock here? >> yeah. i recently upgraded it with a price target of 26, and i think they're going have some, you know, potential upside still and i'm anticipating a dividend increase after a flat dividend at 75 cents a share, and i think it will be increased in november by at least 10%. >> wow! as we saw from walmart money back. >> and now he's working on

biofuels and exxon. we'll talk exclusively to craig venter. >> up next, cool and the gang. we have melissa with our fast money halftime report.

welcome to "the fast money halftime report" we don't follow the money, we are the money. unexpected strong retail sales putting a floor under this

market and if we're headed higher this afternoon it will be the financials whiching rocking to led us there. let's get to the word on the street. your fast money crew today, guy adami, dr. j, john najarian and zeke care vel and patty edwards of storehouse partners. guy, i have to start with you. goldman sachs is pretty much sitting at the highs of the session and we're at a one-month high on the name although it has been dead money for the last six months, do you think it's breaking out here? >> how are you, melissa? good to see you. we said the 160 level, there's been huge resistance in the name for quite some time. people have been trying to short it thinking it will go down. the financials look okay right here and i think goldman above 160, you hold on and hope for the ride higher. >> 160.254 is the level and what are you seeing on the options pits on goldman? very active today? >> absolutely. double normal activity in the options and particularly on the buy side where it's all buy, buy, buy, and i think a lot of

it it is coming from the bankamerica and merrill option of those warrants because that really sounds a completely different all-clear when they're able to get that much more for those warrants than they got out of many of the others like even goldman sachs warrants. so i think this is saying that financials are definitely going to be coming back and even if they do pull them off of the government in the way of that fed funds, if volcker rule does get enacted. >> right. then i think that's not going to hold them back much, melissa, because most of the revenue streams aren't tied to a quarter of a percent interest rate. >> just a quick thing on this. i happen to think purely on this i'm much more of a trader. on goldman, you have to like fundamentally, but the stock will not do much. citi on the other hand has such a terrible stock that any other sense of stabilization and they're at 3.40 now you can see that going up 20% even in a relatively flat market. >> isn't it scary, though, that the march lockup expires in march and the treasury will dump a whole bunch of issues on the

market? >> yeah, and then it will go back down to 320 before it goes up again. >> patty edwards. you look at the space and are you a trader or long-term investor? >> we're long-term investors in goldman and we've been picking more up over the last week or two. i have no interest in getting anywhere near citi, for example. >> why? >> well, because it looks like more of a gamble to me than anything else. like zeke said it is a trade. it's not something -- i'm looking for the stocks to go to $6 bucks or anything. >> you can make a percent here or there on a 5-cent move in the stock. >> topping the tape, retailers and it appears the unrelenting february snowstorms could not keep a determined consumer out of those malls and gap target making solid gaim gains. patty edward, you're the retail expert. nice interest, and it's very high, though. >> what do you make of the move? >> abercrombie did a 5% comp on a negative 30 last year. i know everybody gets all

excited and things moving really big today, but you know, if you look at what's going on, we are still not back to 2006 sales levels even with store growth. i'm not that excited about it. i think maybe you have short covering, but if you're looking for something to buy, buy something where you have a strong operator and right now they're not it for me. >> i'm -- i've got to tell you something. abercrombie & fitch, i've got to go shopping because there's something going on because the stock just rips my face off. i'm with pat owe this one. i just don't get it. it sort of denies logic and they're carried out to the wood shed. the comps were good and they weren't that good and frankly, people bet on their international exposure. i'm not. it's still a domestic company and things aren't great domestically there. >> 9% of the float out there. let's take a look at some of the retail indices and no matter how you choose to play retailers it seems like you are a win or the session. take a look, the three of the etfs hitting one-year highs.

zeke care vel, this seems to defy gravity, the consumer and even though the jobs picture is lackluster. are you a buyer into this picture? if you were an investor into the retail stocks you would be a winner here through etp. >> i'm hung up on the notion of guy wearing abercrombie & i would prefer to be in that specialty retail space. you didn't put up the xrt, the specialty retail. it has exposure to online names and higher-end consumer. in the generic area of the consumer and retail space where we get headline national figures you have some replacement spending you, may have bottoming or flattening from last year. i don't think this is an exciting or interesting or profitable space to be in. >> xrt up 1.6%. one retailer missed, shares of kohl's, attracting a lot of atech. a big block trade, representing 10% of kohl's average daily volume change hands early this

morning. dr. j., a big institution putting its money behind a name like kohl's. what do you make of those moves? do you like kohl's? >> absolutely i do. i think they're one of the good operators. they didn't have the right product mix and/or one of the folks impacted by the weather. some folks were impacted by weather. others fared better during the storms in february. kohl's based right up north of us in wisconsin, i think that could have been part of the problem. >> let's move on here and talk about the big jobs report expecting tomorrow morning. we got the retail sales, and everybody under the sun was saying snowstorms would put a dent into the sales. i put it out there, if people overestimated the retail on on the sales are we overestimating the jobs report tomorrow. >> people stay home when it snows, don't look for a job. >> they go shopping. >> why not? with or without the snowstorms i

don't think it's a great jobs report. i don't think the employment picture's getting better any time soon. people argue against it. companies have learned to operate with the smaller staffs. there's no reason to hire. productivity is going hi ining . i think we're going to be around 10% level for a long time. >> what are you bracing for in terms of the jobs report? >> i'm with guy. productivity went higher because wages were lower than expected. even those companies that maybe hiring are not hiring at a wage level. this is actually going to play positively into the retail space we talked about-we've got to be careful about jobs. i don't think just this month for the next year. >> good point there. let's move swon talk about greece. strong be-ddemand for the greek retail bond. brian kelly says -- actually, we have breaking news.

vikram pandit is on the hill. you can see him right after that testimony in front of congress. he took a lot of q&a addressing questions about the stock price. let's see what he has to say. >> as you know, we sold a number of the hedge funds. those are things that we're engaged in are those that [ inaudible ] >> sir, is the naming -- you're no longer considering the sale? >> you can see him walking away. we did have audio issues. but that congressional testimony addressing a lot of questions out there, including the stock price. he said it is more important for the bank to focus on performance and the fact that it is a global consumer bank.

the stock trading higher on the back of that testimony. john najarian options flying in one steel name. >> a.k. steel, it isseer is eerily similar to millipore or smith international. when they start pushing down on leaps or the further out options and aggressively buying in the front, that is shaping up to mean that there's somebody taking a look the at stock. only thing i'd like to see is more action in april. it's all in march. it's a an all-in bet that it happens like that. >> we've got to take a break on halftime. tonight at "fast money" at 5:00, the best returns from last year's lows and why they might be headed for a pullback on the anniversary of the bottom. next, "power lunch" health care summit. ceos of aetna and cigna weigh in on the president's plan. halftime continues after this. all eyes on the

all-important jobs report. will we get a clear forecast on america's future? the demo that will drive our economy. boomers. which pills and procedures will keep them healthy, wealthy and spending? tonight at cnbc.

welcome back to "halftime "s we kikds ocked off with a touch goldman sachs. 3.2% is the gain. 162.76. do you buy or sell, patty edwards? kick it off. >> i like some of the stocks in the market, i don't like the market overall. same with retail, like some of the stocks don't like the space overall. i think you need to pick the

best operators. look at somebody like nordstrom, look at somebody like buckle. >> zeke? >> i still think this is a flat market trending higher. i'm continually getting in names that i like. one in the industrial space we haven't talked about much for a while, manatowak. >> dr. j., buy or sell? >> i'm buying. i like rambus into the close. >> i'll see you at 5:00. >> see you at 5:00. you have analysts with the call of the day, an lifrtss walysted coke shares. >> the man who mapped the human genome trying to solve energy problems. plus a whole lot more. a "power lunch" health care summit. the ceos of aetna and cigna, what they think of president obama's latest health care plan and its feieffect on consumers company. plus, take your kid to

workday at air traffic control. >> clear for take-off. >> no big deal or what was dad thinking? "power lunch" debate coming up. back from the dead. how a bun. of hippies from san francisco became business models for the music industry. our very own steve liesman rips with bob weir. the second jammin' hour of "power lunch" starts right now. ♪ >> from bernanke to bob weir. that was the highlight of his career. >> the two bobs. >> absolutely. welcome to the second hour of "power lunch." i'm tyler mathisen, pet smart, family dollar, aig, better than 7% higher. >> i'm sue herera. natural gas prices falling to the lows of the year. they expect demand to be a little bit less than expected the next few weeks. dennis? >> i'm dennis kneale. the grateful dead coming back to life. the rest of the music industry struggles in the digital age. steve liesman's remastered

sitdown with bob weir straight ahead. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. health insurance industry enduring a beat-down with the president. >> reporter: this is part of the administration's effort to put public opinion in a place where members can feel more comfortable to vote for health care bill through this reconciliation process that they envision over the next month. part of that is putting a bull's-eye on the insurance industry and arguing that premium increases, which are happening now, will continue unabated without comprehensive health care reform. kathleen sebelius, the health secretary, brought executives into the white house. the president dropped. by sebelius liked the conversation to so much it's a continuing conversation. >> a system in a conversation i'm hoping that will be followed by greatly increased transparency about what indeed is going on in these marketplaces. >> reporter: as we've talked about of about, part of a

protractive vote counting operation. democrats are drafting legislation that will be able to be passed by the senate and the house through reconciliation then try to get votes after they get it scored by the congressional budget office. we should know whether or not the strategy's going to work by easter time. >> thank you very much, john. joining us straight from the white house health care meeting is ron williams, chairman and chief executive officer of aetna. welcome. i guess the question i should ask you is, how did meeting go? and did you feel as though you had been taken to the woodshed? >> one, let me say thank you for the opportunity. i thought the meeting went very well. i felt like it was a constructive dlab rative dialogue. i think we need more of it. the only thing i suggest beyond the insurer is to bring physicians, hospitals, pharma companies, device companies, those entities who are responsible for the cost of health care, which ultimately shows up in the premium.

>> will you excuse us for a moment? we have the opportunity to speak with vikram pandit of citi on the hill. let's do that. >> reporter: thank you, tyler. here with vikram pandit, the ceo of citigroup, who just finished testifying before the congressional oversight committee, our panel on t.a.r.p. the first question, i want viewers to hear it from you, there's been some question about a statement that you made concerning he propriety trading. you've mentioned that citi is focused on being a bank, that you scaled back propriety trading. is this an endorsement of the volcker rule? >> mary, i haven't seen the details of the rule. i've said this in past as well but i do believe that we're moving in that direction and we believe banks should be committing capital for clients. they should be making markets, providing liquidity, managing positions, but for us as a bank, we've sold fibro, as you know.

we sole certain other private equity and hedge fund businesses. those are not businesses that were important to us. >> reporter: how much of an impact on citi if you had to completely get rid of propriety trade, trading for your own book, not for customers. >> a vast, vast, vast majority of upon money comes from making markets and propriety trading is a small part of what we do. >> reporter: at the beginning of the opening of panel, this isn't the first time, meaning the t.a.r.p. billout, citi's been involved in a crisis. what can you tell us, or can you assure us, that citi will not be one of a major player in future crisises? >> that's exactly why we have changed our capital structure. that's exactly why we focused on being a bank. exactly why we're focused on clients. that's exactly why we cut costs. that's exactly why we're driving to responsible finance as being our culture. i believe we need regulatory

reform. let's make sure we end too big to fail. >> reporter: on that note, another issue that was brought up by ms. warren, why not split up citigroup? some consider you too big to fail. the credit rating agent i agencies it's helping your business, your cross structure. why not break up the bank? has the treasure asked you to look at this as a possibility? >> we make our decisions based on what's roois rigight for our and shareholders. those are our decisions and my decisions together with the board. we have made some decisions. we made decisions that those businesses in citi holding should be sold. in that respect we are breaking up the bank and selling it out in a very systemic way. but what we are going to be going forward is a core business whose size and whose scope is going to be drefrn by what's right for the clients, what do

they want from us, who what do they need from user and that's going to shape us. >> reporter: one thing i want to ask you, you said that credit costs are going to continue to drive citi's results in 2010. when can we expect the bank to return to profitability? >> you know, mary, i believe we entered 2010 well positioned for that. and it's really not a long-term issue on a shorter-term basis. it is about jobs. it's about jobs and what the credit costs will be versus core earnings. >> reporter: are you looking for a certain level at unemployment rate where that would be helpful? >> we like what we're seeing in the economy. we all still think it's early. we're optimistic about it. but again, we're going to have to watch it and see it happen. >> reporter: we want to thank you for joining us today. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: speaking with vikram pandit, ceo of citigroup. >> let's go back to ron williams, chairman and ceo of aetna. mr. williams, we appreciate your

indulging our interview with vikram pandit. a lot of news happening behind you in the capitol. i want to read to you something in an editorial in the "wall street journal" today, the president also claimed yesterday the reason his plan is in trouble, quoting the president, many republicans in congress just have a fundamental disagreement over whether we should have more or less oversight of insurance companies. two questions. do you believe that that is an accurate assessment of why the president's plan is facing such stiff opposition? that's question one. do you believe that there ought to be more federal oversight of health insurance companies like aetna? >> what i would say is that the fundamental issue is the rate of increase in health care costs that shows up in the premiums. i can tell you when i talk to democrats, i talk to republicans, they are all very concerned about the affordability of health care. >> but do insurers need more regulation, sir? >> let me shift to the regulatory question.

i believe that health care by and large is a local activity. and that as health insurers regulation at the state level is the best place to have regulation occur. because regulation really has to two elements, one making certain the rates are well justified and appropriate. the other is to be certain that that the entity being regulated is financially solvent and going to thereby to pay claims. i'm a big believer in state regulation of rates. >> president obama has a favorite say, we need to keep the insurance companies honest. are insurance companies dishonest, sir? >> no, they are not. and i believe that accountability is important in the system, but accountability for insurance companies, for hospitals, for physicians, for everyone responsible for the underlying rate of increase in health care. >> also, the president has been decrying the premium increases. i believe he singled out wellpoint. aren't the rate increases related to a need for insurers to raise rates before the fed

comes in and take control of the system? >> i want to be clear i can't speak why other companies are raising rate increases but from the impression i get from general news articles are that rates a rates are act tu air ily justified, reviewed by state regulators and as we see in many parts of the economy as people are unemployed they drop insurance, and often the healthiest are ones who drop insurance. >> did the white house demonstrate any understanding that, when state legislators pass mandate after mandate they're asking you to sell a rolls-royce health insurance plan but surprised when you're not charging chevy prices for it? >> well, i think secretary sebelius has been an insurance commissioner, and as an insurance commissioner she's well grounded in the underlying d dynamics. but rates are going up because the cost of health care will go up and it will make health care unaffordable and it's a problem we all need to focus on if we're going to make certain we can

preserve the private insurance mark which we believe is right way to deliver health care in america. >> lfast time we talked to you and i asked you if you felt demonized given the rhetoric going on about health insurance companies and you said you received calls from employees who felt like they were targets. has the environment improved or deteriorated sense we last talked to you. >> i think meeting today is a first step in a positive in a collaborative way getting our focus on how to solve the problem. it's fair to say there has been what we view as demonization. we have 35,000 employees. last year they donated 250,000 volunteer hours to communities around america. these are people who care about their communities and care about what they do to help our customers. >> mr. williams, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> good to see you again. >> an ongoing conversation. we expect to hear from the ceo

of cigna. still ahead -- whether a long, strange trip it has been. it's been a profitable one as well. steve liesman takes you inside the big business of the grateful dead. yes, the grateful dead. not the grateful fed. >> speaking of a strange trip, the story that everybody's talking about. kids at jfk's air control traffic tower talking to the pilots. take your kids to workday. outrageous or not a big deal? we'll talk about that.

we back covering the health care debate. joining us is the president and chief executive officer of cigna. welcome, sir. pleasure to have you. >> good to be here with you. >> we just heard from mr. williams of aetna a few minutes ago that he thought it was a constructive conversation. one of the issues d s coming up among the wall street community under health care reform how does your company have to change its business model to remain profitable because of the issues and the burdens that you will have under health care reform? >> from a cigna perspective the vast majority of our u.s. health care business is large and middle size employers where we provide health services for them. there will be some change to our business model under broad health care reform but less impacted because we're not a significant player in the

individual market or the small group market. >> how would a change that would involve the removal of your antitrust exemption affect your company and the industry? number two, tell me why or why not i should be able to buy insurance across state lines? >> from the antitrust legislation, broadly speaking, there wouldn't be a large impact on our company or our industry, from my perspective. as a national player, we have access to data and information necessary to run the business with or without the legislation from that point of view. >> what is the biggest obstacle did -- >> let me get the answer to the second question. why shouldn't i be allowed to buy insurance across lines? >> for large employers, middle size employers today that happens every day. that happens each and every day. we actually do see some opportunity for changes, in constructive health care reform to allow more of that to happen in the future. >> what about the individuals who cannot buy across state

lines? if i live in new jersey, vie to buy my insurance in new jersey if i don't get it from my employer or medicare. >> little different from regulation standpoint -- >> we understand that. >> we had that dialogue with the nic commissioners as well. there's opportunity going forward with regulation change -- >> should individuals who have to buy it individually be allowed to buy it across state lines, in your opinion. >> we would support that. >> what is the biggest obstacle? >> i think it's the recognition that health care's delivered locally. if you somebody in california buying a policy in new jersey the health care is consumed in california. it's that cost base that's going to drive it. i don't think it's a turf battle. >> we often blame insurers, i work for ge only and i don't get my coverage i blame the insurance company. really it's the employer's fault when you don't cover something i think i should be covered by, isn't it? >> if you're a large employer like that the employer makes the

decision in consultation with folks like us in terms of what they're going to cover. the key having good communication with employees and the families in terms of what's covered and what's not and what we need to do collectively to improve health and health access going forward. there's an opportunity to communicate. >> i asked mr. williams whether or not he felt demonized, given some of the discussions that have been going on in congress and in the -- on the capitol and with the administration. do you feel that way? do your employees feel like they have a target on their back because they work for a health care company? >> i think the dialogue has been less constructive than it needs to be. the conversation in the white house today was more constructive. it was table setting, in terms of what the real drivers of cost are and what we need to do collectively to be more sustainable. >> who did more talking? >> the president was in there 10, 15 minutes. it was balanced. he wanted to listen and understand what the drivers of

cost are and what we could collectively do to make it sustainable. everybody recognizes it's not currently sustainable pipe would say it's a conversation with everybody participating. >> were they understanding degree to which government plays a role in raising the cost of premiums when they add mandates in various states? >> broadly speak, there's good awareness of that. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. since 1965 the grateful dead have been known for their unique and eclectic style of music. it is not just bluegrass was the effect there. it's equally known for its business models that continue to thrive even as the rest of the music industry struggles. not talking fescue. we gave you a sneak peek last week. the remastered edition of steve liesman riffing with the dead's bob weir. >> you done grow up by accident to be one of the highest

grossing touring bands in history. you have to make serious business decisions along the way i don't care in you're a hippie or a pop artist. the grateful dead have made business decisions. what business historians are telling us, more often than not, those decisions have been the right ones. ♪ >> reporter: 1965, business was the last thing on the minds of a bunch of hippies from san francisco. ♪ >> reporter: but without planning it, these hippies, known as the grateful dead, become cultural icons and most surprisingly, good examples of how to run a business. >> what we've learned from the music is how to roll with the bunches. >> reporter: i recently caught up and with jammed with bob weir, rhythm get tartist in new york city with his project called further. a new band but one that continues the dead's long extended jams and fan-frendly we

ways of doing business. tickets are easy to get, shows can be recorded. a simple idea. give the product away for free and demand will increase. how does it make you feel 20 years later they called it viral marketing? >> i guess that's what it is. yeah. it's been going on for a while. just got a name now. >> reporter: was there a lot of smart record guys tell you to do things differently? >> no, there were none of those folks in our inner circle. we made our business practices up as we went along. just by doing what seemed like the right thing to do at the time. >> reporter: what was right at the time has proven to be right today. according to the atlantic monthly, the ways of the dead are now taught in business schools. >> it's a little gratifying, i guess, to have yourself being taught in -- while you're still alive and kickin'. >> reporter: there's the merchandising, everything from t-shirts to technology that weir pioneered letting fans buy a cd

recording of the concert right after the show. there are no sponsors for the shows. that doesn't mean weir's opposed to using music commercially. >> you know, a few years back, miracle whip made some inquiries about using the tune that i wrote "i need a miracle" and, i was all for it, money looked good to me. but unfortunately, never got pursued. but i don't view it as selling out. it's just music. >> reporter: it may not be selling out, but weir's newest band further has sold out, countless shows in their winter tour. ♪ >> reporter: just like the dead, they sell tickets with almost no advertising. when they come to new york, a lot of wall street sits in the front row, which weir is aware of. >> i like to think that most of them are the good kind. >> reporter: what do you bheen by that? >> the kind that didn't lead us into the pit that we've found ourselves in. >> reporter: bob, we have a great audience of relatively rich people who are on wall

street. i want to give you an opportunity to talk to them, see what you'd say to them, given the chance. >> you know, the business about the whopping bonuses in a time when everybody else is hurting and stuff like that, i can't get with that. i really can't. >> if you're in the new york area march 5th, new york historical society will open the first of its kind exhibit material from the dead archives, place to learn more about their ways of doing business. >> dream come true. >> see the interview and the jam session that i had with bob weir on cnbc.com. now back to my day job because my night job doesn't pay. >> fantastic, steve. >> really was. congratulations. >> of course, bob weir's a boomer. booms are with ttom brokaw 9:00 eastern time. one very bright guy. mapped the human genome. now he's working on the next generation biofuels. we talk exclusively to craig

venter. >> new 52 week highs, they are still higher. target, ross stores, limited brafr brands and family dollar, up 8%.

welcome back to "power lunch." a couple of stocks here on the nasdaq zooming on patent rulings. rambus, officials confirming 2 of 3 patents have been confirmed by the u.s. patent and trademark office. nvidia's off fractionally. the big winner tivo, winning a big ruling at u.s. court of appeals on its patent infringement case against dish networks and echostar.

the stock at a near ten-year high on that news. also seeing its price target raised over at lazear to $27. echostar and dish, parent company, dtv, saying that dish -- dish network, rather, saying they are going appeal this to the full bench. they hope they prevail when they hear it. back to you. >> what gets you excited? on deck the man trying to find the next generation energy source that will power the planet and that is right after he finished mapping the human genome way before the feds were able to do it. one of the leading scientists of our time joins us now in a cnbc exclusive from the "wall street journal" economic conference. good to see you. which is harder, mapping the entire genome set that makes up a human being or making alg amount e produce energy.

>> doing it on a scale to have a economic and environmental impact is a huge challenge. but we have good partner with that with exxon mobil to try to get it to the scale that it needs to be of billions of gallons a year. we're working in test tubes. >> costs a billion dollars, estimates i've heard to map the genome. exxon has committed $600 million in research. exxon $45 billion in profits in a year. is this a real investment or buying a fig leaf of green cover while they continue to get 95% offed by from oil? >> no, i think they're very serious about this. obviously we wanted to know that at the beginning. they're committed, they said, to put in billions of these first stages to test out appropriately. it's a continue-year process. a lot of key science that has to be done. though people talk about algae

nobody has a solution to getting it to billions a year level. a lot of engineer's required for facilities the size of san francisco. i think they're serious and we're serious. >> i read 600 million from exon. look at fine print, maybe you're lucky to get 300 million. how much did you get up front from exon? how much do you need? >> well, they're funding the research, as we go forward. we haven't reported on the exact amounts. >> but you'll tell us here? >> we have a very impressive team of scientists. we think we have the people needed to do the job. and it takes time. even building these facilities takes time. >> you keep mentioning that it's going to take a long, long time, which is understandable, certainly. but for people who are looking for investment tunes, they are looking to make money off of the

trends that you are establishing. if you were to advise people in terms of a time horizon, how long is it going to be, do you think, before some of these endeavors are profitable investable businesses? >> well, i think before there's new gasoline in people's tanks made from carbon dioxide from our systems i think ten years is a realistic horizon. a lot of people have been hyping algae, but i don't think it's going to happen in a shorter time course on the scale needed. we ahave other programs with bp that could be on a five-year time line. >> okay. >> there's a lot of different avenues underway that biology could change the game for all of us. >> where is most efficient source for capital for the advancements that you're trying to develop, is it government or private industry? >> right now it's definitely not the government. it's private industry, private

investment. i think people making strategic investments because they have dedicated interests in the outcome, are probably our best investors now. we hope the government would step up a little bit more. by the government's not good, as we've seen in my past with the human genome of funding new ideas until after they're already proven. >> you had taken this around the world yachting trip in your 80-foot sailboat. i thought this guy's go on a great trip, writing off the trip. did you find algae there in any of the seas you went to that you're using for this energy project? >> well, in fact, over 20 million genes have been discovers by the scientific community, 19 million of those have been discovered off the deck of my sailboat. >> wow! >> a large portion of those are from photo synthetic organisms that could play an important

role at this next stage. >> you have to sift through 19 million? >> my institute for funding is close to the first synthetic genome where we can write the genetic code and create new, living entities. >> it's scary. you created synthetic dna. a single cell form of life from scratch. do i have that right? >> well, we've made the chromosome now, we're in the process of trying to boot up that chromosome to get an active, living cell. >> you want to design the algae yourself rather than nature. >> what do you do for fun? it's complicated what you do. >> he travels on his yacht. >> aside from sailing around the world, i do occasionally mountain biking and when i really have spare time, some surfing. >> good for you. >> i have fun every day. i have the best job in the world. >> ours is better. >> i don't know.

>> thank you so much. great job. >> more on the "power lunch" menu. we go off the charts with a stock up 80% since the bottom. we'll tell you the name after the break. a look at top dow gainers. the mavrket has a modest gain. winners, walt disney up 2.25. boeing up 1.75.

wem welcome back to "power lunch." snarl gas prices tumbling, after the government reports supplies drop less than expected last week. oil hovering around $ 80. greece passing a key offering. opening and closing in two hours. france's fourth quarter unemployment rate jumping to 10%, the highest level in a decade. mod effort advance in many sectors of the market.

let's talk to steve grasso on the floor of the new york stock exchange. how are we going to end up this afternoon? >> i don't think there's a huge catalyst other than tomorrow. why would people want to step in front of a bus at this snoint you have trading volumes lower. we're at 1119 on the s&p. we'll probably close right around here. let's call it 1117, 1120. no reason to make that move higher or lowing going into the number tomorrow. >> you don't think the number's been discounted because we've been talking about the weather and how we may have to throw out that number? >> i think it could be a one-off. we have factored in so much dialogue about the number tomorrow. but people still don't want to take that -- they want to give a hesitation going into it. there's no reason to lift that leg into the trade, into the abyss, of the unknown at this point. >> we still have m&a activity picking up. talked about buybacks, walmart upped its dividend by a considerable percent, better

than 10%. encouraging, right? >> all encouraging. that is what's really caught a bid in the marketplace. and look at the other unknown, health care. everyone thought that was dead and buried, correct? it's not dead and buried. if the health care gets crammed down we open up the door to cap and trade. if that happens we're off to the races and that could kill the rally. that's the only thing i see that could kill the rally presently. >> good to see you. turning to a stock that has been off the charts in trading at levels not seen since its ipo. directv adding 80%. jumping 12% in the past month. it's the $34.27 a share. joining us with all of the buzz is about, ben stretch, media analyst. you have a price target, ben, of $37 a share, which is what, another 10% where it is today. how's it going to do that? >> we think that's a conservative estimate given

what's go on in terms why this company is managing its balance sheet. when you look at business, a kmg of years ago murdoch picked directv as the asset to swap with john malone back a couple of -- in 2005. look where the business is now, the reason rupert picked directv, he thought directv the satellite business, sat lie pay tv business would be ruled by the cable triple play, video, voice, data. what has happens over the last two years the business has gone from strength to strength and carved out a niche in live sports programming. as we look at the business today, it is one of the few businesses actually gaining market share. they're in the market buying back $3.5 billion of stock over the course of this calendar year which is giving the business a fantastic eps growth profile this year and next. >> rupert blew it, number one. how have they overcome the idea they don't have a triple play?

their weak spod t is broadband delivery. >> directv has said we're firm believers having the best content makes you the most appealing video platform. when you stack up the industry, you have the that&t, fios, you the satellite offering in directv and dish. from a customer perspective the only differentials are price, and the quality of the don't that you have on offer. and directv has set itself apart by having a unique offering. you know you, can take the nfl exclusive in terms of the sunday ticket ace great example of don't that consumers really are willing to pay for and so it's a unique offering and something that comcast and time warner cable and the telecoms have. >> have they solved the broadband delivery thing? they can do partnerships with

companies that can do it, but do they have it themselves, have they solved that one? >> yeah, but arguably the way we're thinking and the way the market's turning its mind they don't need to be a broad diagnos band provider. by having exclusive rights to the don't you don't need -- you can show that to customers. doesn't matter whether it arrive at home and a wire or a satellite. it's a content that matters. >> up income, we don't know the final shape of financial reform, what we know thus far, what's moving through congress? will it protect investors as it stands? plus, in a few minutes, my personal posse, the jersey shore gang. love that snooki. they're on "the tonight show." jay leno asked them questions about wall street. you're going to love their answers. maybe they're more insightful than we think.

the senate banking committee closing in on a deal for financial regulatory reform. will it protect investors? will it protect consumers? duking it out on the power grid, david minn and the dreg, of financial regulation studies at kato. you both get 20 seconds to make your case. david, let's start with you? >> a good first step. i think the financial crisis expose two major sets of

problems. the original level, predator lending led to high default rates rife with fraud. as far as excessive risk we saw there, this is a good start. increases transparency, regulates too big to fail but further steps are needed to rein in that risk. >> what's been passed by the house and what's talked by the senate and proposed by the president is nothing short of a joke. the dirty little secret is that the s.e.c. maintains responsibility over wall street, none of this goes over to the consumer agency that's supposed to protect investors. all of that stayed at failed s.e.c. i don't see anything that gives me any comfort we're not going to get into another bubble or krcrisis in the ex10, 15 years. >> that's as far as what is constituting investments the integrity of the underwrite

process obviously addresses that to a large degree. if you think that foreign investors are going to trust the inside processes of goldman sachs or bank of america to regulate against fraud and sustain ability alone you have another thing coming. as far as the secondary level, as i said this is a good first step. more is probably needed. but at the very least, addre addressing the high conse concentration of risk in too big too fail institutions, making sure those institutions don't blow up again is something we need. >> anything in the ghal dobill does that in. >> not at all. we have not seen details in the senate bill for a lot of the issues, particularly addressing too big to fail. it's pretty chelear that the hoe bill codifies too big to fail, keeps bailout as the framework. if you're an invest somewhere lend get to goldman you're happy because the taxpayer can be backing you. i'll emphasize we don't flow what it look likes in the

senate. everything we've heard is they're backing away from the administration and house bailout position. a lot of credit goes to mark warner and that, mark warner has reached across the aisle and said we need to do a bankruptcy process, not these erndless bailout but was we haven't seen details. >> i haven't heard anything about fannie and freddie. >> that's ridiculous as far as the cause of the crisis. >> excuse me. >> we saw the same trends in commercial real estate, credit cards, auto loans. the problem with the theory that fannie and freddie caused the crisis rather than followed the crisis mark share dipped in the 2000 bubble. it was the pls market that had the larger source of the problems. they were the ones that drove the bus off the cliff. fannie and pre freddie went alo for the ride. the key is, is the focus has to be on wall street and the dealers. >> mark, you get the last word. >> freddie and fannie were the largest single source for

liquidity of the subprime market. >> that is false. >> look at data publiced by the companies. >> they bought aaa tranches. >> arguing about two different points. they were 40%. they were the largest -- >> they were 40% -- >> 40%. the rest of the world had 60%, which is bigger but there was the single concentration. >> they are costing the taxpayer more than anything else combined. we'll spend $300 billion, $400 billion, multiples of the t.a.r.p. cost to bail out freddie and fannie. >> that's obviously a big area of contention. david, mark, always good -- two of my favorites. >> they do a great job. all right. coming up next, it's the story everybody's buzzing about. air traffic controller at jfk letting his kids give radio instructs to pilots. >> there is lots of outrage about this one. everybody's talking about it. are we getting too riled up about it in opinions on both

sides on the other side of this break.

for "fortune" magazine with the top ten companies. apple for its paradigm shifting of products. google for its dominance in everything it does. berkshire hathaway for buffett's understanding of markets. johnson & johnson is on the list. amazon for managing growth in a recession and its kindle product. proctor & gamble for ice consistency. toyota makes the list. you may be surprised about that but the polls was done post-floor mats but pregas pedal trouble. goldman sachs, still the best at what the it does. walmart for its size and efficiency. coca-cola for strength of brand and environmental leadership. >> well, take your kid to workday gone awry. ray lahood has harsh words for the control who are let his children do communicating with pilots. >> this is a stunning example of

a lack of professionalism, not following the rules, not using common sense. the air traffic controller and his supervisor are on administrative leave. the idea that a young child would be directing planes in and out of an airport is totally unacceptable. >> nbc's tom costello has been following the story. hi, tom. >> reporter: how are you doing? >> great. >> reporter: the bottom line on the story, as you know, the controller, a 20-plus year veteran at jfk and newark, allowed his 8-year-old son in one day and the son made five transmissions on the radio. we are led to believe that he was parateen or repeating what his controller dad told him to say. the next night the daughter, the 8-year-old daughter, in the control tower. take a listen to what the 8-year-old boy did. you've heard it before. here's little clip. >> 03 clear for take-off. >> 403 clear for take-off. thank you very much.

have a great day. >> airmex, 403 contact departure padios. >> contact depart tur air mexico 403. a adios. >> reporter: it's cute and fun. but it's no smile organize laughing matter to the faa. or to safety experts who say that the child has no place in the control tower. let's take it as for granted, that the controller dad was still very much in charge, that he had his headset on, he was giving instructs and the child repeated them. we're not talking about controlling traffic at grand junction colorado on a saturday. this is jfk international airport in the push, 4:30 in the afternoon, 7:30 at night. this is an international airport where pilots come in who english is not their first language and this is simply a complete breach of protocol. he's been suspended. the supervisor has been

suspended. >> dennis kneale has an opinion. i can't imagine. >> we hear snippets what we don't hear is an interdruroduct where the real guy says my kid's going to be talking to you. i hope a pilot didn't hear the instructs and didn't ask there's a kid there. >> reporter: to my knowledge, the controller never said, hey, everybody, here's my kid. literally the kid clicked the radio mike. >> anybody who i think that's a good idea, i don't want in the control tower. >> reporter: the pilots could have been more surprised. >> the audio quality isn't very good. could you understand? >> the kid's hard to understand. >> that's part of the point, isn't it? >> i think that is part of the point. if you're an international pilot and you're from mexico or korea or china and you're struggling to make sure you understand english instructions and suddenly what sound likes a child's voice comes on, you know

that might be disconcerting. we have heard from a lot of pilots and patrcontrollers who you're blowing this out of control. the issue is whether it's appropriate, whether the child was a distraction for that controller, other controllers, and pilots out on the ramp. >> and i think your point also about the time of day that it took place. >> and the airport. >> is very important. and the airport. 4:0 to 7:30, we all fly out of jfk. >> what if the pilot got confused? >> reporter: for those of white house are dads or parent we get it. >> totally we get it. >> reporter: your heartbreaks for the guy because you think, ahh i could have done something like that, thank god i didn't. it was downright silly. >> my bringing my kids into cnbc which pie do every take your kid to workday swuting me on the set and saying hi to america is different from my kid telling aeromexico they're clear for

departure at jfk. >> we want to hear little charlie when to tell us to go to break. >> you don't want jackie and vicki tell you you're clear for departure. >> reporter: nice to see you. >> next, they weren't auditioning to be cnbc anchors. but jay leno asked the "jersey shore" cast financial questions last night. wait till you hear the answers from snooki and the gang. >> deadly food for thought.

time for "food for thought" jay leno had the cast of "jersey shore" on last night. >> one of dennis' favorite programs. >> questions about financial topics. let's listen. >> let's go to ronnie. what two animals are the symbols of the stock market. >> i don't have any stocks. >> you don't have any stock? >> no. >> is it the donkey and the elephant? >> no. >> tiger and the leopard. >> tiger and leopard, no. >> lion? >> lion and what. >> i got one right. >> no. i need an animal. >> oh, my god! >> never bet on the -- >> they don't need to know that

stuff. they need to know about teches and abs and suntan lotion. they're good at what they know. >> it's another blow against the state. i've got to tell you. >> poor jersey. >> poor jersey. >> that will do it for "power lunch" this day thursday. thanks for watching. >> "street signs" is up after this. don't move. >> what is with the hair? >> i didn't know -- >> that's texas hair. >> mark, i'm sending you a lobster, baby! hey, it was a good show, okay? they may not know much about thing but was it was a great show. 2:00 p.m. on wall street. stocks aren't moving. laggards, the health care. exhibit a, health insurance show downat the white house. ceos of the top insurers taking hits for health care reform. mortgage rates falling below 5%. e