boost what is kind of a lagging stock price, given what we've seen with oil. this is number three behind exxonmobil and chevron, and the shares are at levels seen about five years ago. the company, led by jim mulva, led by jim mulva, also, you know, they're not working with me. also raising its dividend about 10%. >> all right. david, thank you very much for joining us today. we'll see you again soon. that does it for us today. right now it's time for "squawk on the street." live from the financial capital of the world, it's "squawk on the street" once again. good morning, everybody. i'm mark haines. >> and i'm erin burnett. and "front & center" right now, durable goods coming in with an increase, mark, for the third month running. the commerce department says

orders for durable goods is up 5% last month, slightly lower than expectations, but still, it is now, it is now a symphony of consistent data. >> okay. let's take a look at the futures right now. we are down 3.40, and fair value's pretty much even. so, looking for a decline of 20, 25 points on the dow at the open. don't forget, we're at highs not seen since the fall of '08, and the market up 10 out of the last 11 sessions. >> conocophillips, by the way, mark, has had enough of russia. >> no kidding. >> conocophillips is selling its stake in lukoil. they have had a 20% stake for the last few years. countries like china and russia can be challenging for western countries to do business in and sometimes it's easier to get out

rather than fight the good fight. >> dell expects revenues from china to approach the $5 billion mark this year, by the way. >> they're staying. >> what? >> what? >> you're just saying what? >> no, i said they're staying. sorry, i slurred a bit. european countries must decide on assistance to greece this week. i think the people know what they would like to do in those countries, but governments sometimes do different things, so we'll see. in the meantime, fitch is cutting portugal's sovereign credit rating. >> i wonder what steve liesman thinks. >> oh, i bet he has an opinion. steve liesman, do you have an opinion on that or financial regulation here? as it plods forward? >> i have many opinions. let me just give you one of them right now as we report some news here. we talked to an administration official this morning. by the way, i'm here at the jefferies & company trading

floor, where we'll be bringing you the five-year auction today. but the administration official started ramping up the rhetoric on republicans when it comes to financial regulation, saying the 300 amendments submitted by the republicans show confusion on financial regulation. he says republicans have no plan when it comes to ending too big to fail. the amendments that they submitted would make it impossible to regulate the next aig, bear stearns or lehman. and finally, republicans really don't know what they want, the administration official said, after months of negotiation. so, what's interesting here, guys, is take what they're saying any way you want, but there's clearly a change in rhetoric here, perhaps coming from the health care debate, where they're ramping up the rhetoric on the republicans. obviously, dodd has said he wants bipartisan support, and i think the administration here is trying to exploit maybe a weakness, that there is some confusion as to strategy from the republicans and they're trying to get them to really get off the fence when it comes to financial regulation. erin and mark? >> all right, thank you very much, steve liesman. let us bring in john harwood on this now. john, good morning.

>> reporter: hey, mark! >> what do you think? >> reporter: well, i think since chris dodd broke down in those negotiations with bob corker a couple weeks ago, we've known that fundamentally, this was going to be a partisan fight. now, it can't be like health care in the sense that you must have some republican support to pass financial regulation because you can't do it through budget reconciliation. so, they're going to need at least one republican. what the white house has been counting on, mark, is that the unpopularity of wall street, the popularity of what the president's fundamentally trying to do in contrast to health care will force at least some republicans to go along, and they're trying to escalate that process now. >> do you think it ultimately succeeds? >> reporter: yes. and i think republicans generally think so. bob corker told me when the negotiations broke down that this is going to be very, very difficult for republicans to hold the line against. he was trying to negotiate and get it done. there's a split within the

republican caucus, and that's what steve liesman's reporting reflects. and the question is, who do they peel off and how do they do it? >> all right. thank you very much, john harwood. >> reporter: you bet. >> i'm sorry, did i hear steve? >> yeah, i was just going to y say -- >> speak up, steve. just talk. >> yeah, i was just going to say, i wonder how this is going to play with dodd's camp, because i know that dodd's camp wants to bring shelby to the table. they have a kind of dreamer vision here, where they might be able to pass this financial regulatory reform with 90 votes, and i'm not sure the administration kind of going in and saying with this kind of rhetoric is more likely rather than less likely to bring republicans to the table. it would sure be better for the country, i think, and for the regulation, if financial reform passed with an overwhelming majority, not by 61, 62 votes. and i know that dodd does not want to do it that way. he wants to do it with overwhelming support.

so, we'll see how this plays. i think what john said is absolutely right, they're trying to exploit a divide in the republican camp, but whether or not this ultimately leads to more support for regulatory reform is unclear to me. >> all right. thank you very much, steve liesman. the markets reacting to the durable goods number, and we start with cool breeze on the floor of the big board. >> always good to see you, mark. fitch's downgrade of portugal's credit rating predictably caused the euro to fall down, ten-month lows against the dollar, putting pressure on stocks in europe and the united states. we've got better news from lennar. kb homes was a disappointment yesterday. lennar is terrific. new orders, 18% better than expected. the street was half of that number. that's all you need to know. that stock's up 16% and hasn't moved that much recently. so, that's a little relief on the home front. ipo markets finally showing some life. we talked about this yesterday. max linear, chipmaker, priced $14 a share. the talk was $11 to $13. that's good. we even had a bank ipo, good

heavens, first interstate bank system, they priced within their talk range. we haven't had a bank ipo in two or three years, so, it's rather an amazing day for ipo. sprint/nextel also having a good day, up 7%. they talked about the 4g android phone that could be out this summer. tradertalk.cnbc.com. bertha, how's the nasdaq? >> adobe looking like it's going to be one of the pillars today for the nasdaq 100, up 5% premarket after beating when it came to first quarter earnings, and also topping analyst estimates when it came to its outlook. meantime, google, you know, it's not just the issue of google being a search engine in china. google has now launched the motorola droid phone with china unicom, which says, yeah, we still launched it, but we're not putting the google search function on those phones because of the issues with the government. apple, meantime, its ipad getting just as much traction as kindle, according to comscore. 14% or 15% of folks are considering one or the other. starbucks is paying 10 cents a

share dividend payable on april 23rd. nova vax is one of the winners in the biotech space. it says that its vaccine looks pretty good for h1n1 in its first-stage trial. and genzyme is off about 4.5%, had been halted this morning. says the fda will take action with the company over problems with manufacturing at its allston plant. it's likely to enter into consent decree and likely to have a third party review its inspections and operations. back to you at the nyse. >> thank you very much, bertha. let's show you the asia trade. overnight higher almost across the board, barely so. and very, very small drop in south korea. in europe this morning, mixed trade. obviously, the news out of portugal perhaps relevant, and greece incredibly relevant. and we have got a summit about to begin or already in progress, and guy johnson has the latest for us from london this morning. or i guess this afternoon. hello, guy.

>> yeah, with the hour time difference, it's all fairly confusing, the extra hour or hour less. i get you get confused at the moment. so do we. let's talk little bit about what's happening with portugal. it's been moved by fitch to aa minus from aa. this is a long-term credit rating. what it really does is just highlight the fact that europe has problems beyond greece. now, portugal is in no way a similar situation to greece, but it does have some significant problems. that, plus greece is certainly weighing on the euro today. that break below 1.35 is now looking increasingly convincing, and from a technical point of view, that is a very, very big story. so, keep an eye on that one. there's a lot of guys over here telling me you could look for a 1.20 handle very, very soon on euro/dollar. so, just bear in mind those kind of figures when you run the numbers on the kind of profitability figures the u.s. companies are producing at moment and the number of stocks look very, very different. the uk is another story to watch. we're watching alex the darling,

the finance minister on his feet in the house of westminster, the house of parliament's at westminster, laying out the budget. he's cut his 2011 gdp forecast and also cut borrowing requirements for the uk. now, this is kind of a false storm really, here. we're waiting for the election to kick off, and after that, we'll get the real budget here in the uk and it's likely to be considerably harsher on just about everybody. mark haines, over to you. >> thank you very much, guy johnson. we're down here on the floor with the one and only peter costa, empire executions. >> hello. >> good morning, peter, good to see you. >> good morning, mark. how are you? >> oh, great. couldn't be better. beautiful day. although the futures were a little lower. hey, we're only 112 points away from 11,000 here. >> please. >> still skeptical. >> i am skeptical. as a matter of fact, i became more skeptical yesterday watching a rally on nothing, and i still -- i'm still holing to my bearish stance. i'm not like a huge bear like i've been saying, but i definitely think the market's

way, way ahead of itself now. i think this is a beautiful time to short a little bit, get short, and i'm positioning for the summer because the market will come back in. i do think at some point we probably will test 1,150 on the s&p probably today and tomorrow, and if there's some bad stuff coming out of europe regarding, you know, greece's debt, portugal's debt, italy's debt, could be -- we could see a little bit of a sell-off in the next couple of days. >> maybe the market is pink floyding you. you're just another brick in the wall. >> yes. >> of worry. >> well, someone has to whistle and somebody has to, you know, make america see that we are -- we're going down a path of bubbleness. >> bubbleness! >> bubbleness. it's not the chinese market, but we're definitely seeing, you know, it's a little bit -- there's too much exuberance in a bad economy, and i just don't buy it. >> okay, mr. sunshine, thank you very much. >> sorry! >> peter costa, empire executions. have a good day, peter.

>> you, too. coming up, durable goods and the road to economic recovery. >> and the debt threat strikes back. this time, portugal raising concerns. details on how it will affect the drive for dow 11,000. we're going to open at 10,888.83. and today's street poll, cruise-related stocks are higher. hotel occupancy rates higher. americans traveling. are you planning a vacation this year or not? yes or no. "squawk on the street." natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel,

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all righty, take a look at starbucks' chart here over the last few days. starbucks announcing its first ever cash dividend. it's a dime a share. so, dime a share. so, what will that take -- 50 shares to get you a dividend big enough to buy a cup of their coffee. it will be paid on april 23rd. we will be watching the stock closely all day. >> hey, i've got to say, you know, they've gone through lots of trials and tribulations, and if they're at a point where they're confident enough to be declaring a dividend, knowing that once you declare, it's really got to be the end of the world before you take it away. >> embarrassment, yeah. >> so, that's a good sign with a consumer products company like that. durable goods coming in in february, continuing the uptrend

over the last couple months, slightly less than anticipated, but they were up about 0.5%. we have more insight as we continue on the road to recovery. john canali and bob bauer, from principal global. bob, let's start with you. >> okay. good morning, erin. >> throw in your point of view of what it means when a company like starbucks is confident enough to issue a dividend. >> we like that kind of confidence, absolutely. we were slightly disappointed with the durable goods numbers. i thought the non-defense capital goods ex-aircraft might be a little higher, but it was up 1.1%. we think that gives us a good indication that the capital spending is going to be a driver of the recovery. rather than the new normal, which is talked about, we think there's going to be a new balance in the u.s. economy where the balance of growth will be driven not so much solely by consumer spending but by capital spending, by net exports, by inventory restocking, by modest consumer spending and by consumer savings. and we think this is a much

healthier balance as we look forward to the next year or two. >> all right. what's your point of view, john. >> we're telling a very similar story, actually. you know, the durable goods orders report this morning raises the odds that you get a third consecutive quarter of capital spending growth and we agree that capital spending growth, exports and manufacturing by themselves have helped to raise the economy out of recession into recovery. but i guess the key is what happens as we go from recovery to expansion. >> all right. thank you, bob. >> well, i think there could be some risk there. let's say if europe, as we export about 15% of our manufactured goods go to europe. if europe maybe turns around and heads back into recession, that could be an issue, or if the dollar really starts to strengthen here, that also could put a crimp on our exports, but i do think that exports, the durable goods sector, manufacturing, business capital spending, all that is on pretty solid footing and poised to lead the recovery here.

>> all right. bob, you say, at least in my notes, it says you think that job growth is imminent. >> yes. >> why? >> we think so. well, actually, most all the leading indicators of job growth are positive. if you look at temporary health, we've had five or six solid months of growth. if you look at household job growth, look at the household survey, that's been an increase of 100,000 a month now for four months. frankly, we think a year from now, when they revise the payroll numbers, they do their benchmark survey, we think they'll be showing growth right now. employment in the purchasing manager indices are all positive, american staffing association numbers are positive. so, all those leading indicators of payroll growth show that it's imminent. aggregate hours are up. so, income is rising and we think there are a lot of things positive going on now that will support that expansion that john was talking about. >> thank you very much, john and

bob. >> sure. >> thank you. general mills reporting better-than-expected quarterly profits. the company reported a gain of 97 cents a share. total revenue hit $3.63 billion. strong sales were helped by cost-cutting and new products like -- no, really? >> ew. >> chocolate cheerios? i didn't know that. >> that's for people who like to let them sit in the milk until they're all nasty and soggy and the milk turns brown. >> ooh, that sounds pretty good to me, actually. >> you might be -- yes, people like you. >> shares are lower in the premarket. chocolate cheerios. i did not know. over the last year, shares are up 46%. the company also raised full-year earnings forecasts this morning from between $4.57 to $4.59 a share.

>> honeynut cheerios is a totally different topic of conversation. >> that's good, too. >> delicious. >> yeah. another homebuilder out with first-quarter results, better than expected in contrast to kb yesterday. lennar reporting a loss of 4 cents a share versus an expected 30-cent loss. part of the reason was they were able to cut back on incentives a little bit, construction costs also dropped. shares are up 90% over the past year, mark, for lennar. that's obviously good for almost a double. the company says it's on track to post a profit for fiscal 2010. okay, more pressure from overseas on the portugal ratings cut. we'll get the buzz beyond the big board, next. and later, safe bets in mid cap value. we'll hear from a five-star stock picker. this is "squawk on the street." this is a wednesday? i can't even tell what day this week is. >> it's wednesday. >> it's a long week. we'll be back.

all right, check this out. futures not looking too good. down 4.70 on the s&ps before they close. minus 30 on the dow, looks like, at the open, if it stays that way. and the minis, which is still trading down 4. so, we've lost a little ground here before the open. and now let's get the buzz from beyond the big board in philadelphia. damon volvore, trader with susquehanna financial, good to have you with us. >> good morning, erin. >> we'll have a lower open today. do you read anything into it? >> looks like we're pointed to a lower open, for sure. one of the things we're seeing and expecting off the open is a disproportionate move in the near-term volatility in the broad u.s. and the domestic

market relative to the down move in the futures. we see them down a few dollars. looks like there's going to be a significant pop in the front-month volatility in the options. >> okay, so -- go ahead. >> sure, another interesting point. it looks like a lot of the move in the developed markets activity's been by and large priced in or kind of to be expected, given the news out of portugal and the eurozone and greece. however, the spillover into the emerging markets is one of the more interesting things we've seen setting up in the market over the past few days and we expect it to continue today, where the increased financing costs that we see in europe are having a ripple effect into the emerging markets and the concerns around the effect that's going to have on the economic, the continued growth into this country. as we've seen some aggressive put buying in various emerging markets, etfs over the past few days to protect against that move. >> all right.

damon, thank you. >> thank you. >> and mark, it's been mentioned, but we do have the first u.s. bank ipo since 2007 today. >> yeah. >> obviously, it comes in from well-behaved part of the country, the dakotas, montana, wyoming. >> yeah, they didn't get carried away. >> right. but, so, maybe that's why, obviously, the bank can go ahead. but still, there you go, bank going public. all right, it's all good except for the futures. final countdown to the bell coming right up. and that portugal downgrade that you heard damon referring to, should you be worried about that one? and again, another death threat. it seems like a small domino, but the next of a series. we'll be back.

headlines before the bell. starbucks declares its first ever quarterly dividend.

it's a dime a share. it will be paid april 23rd. general mills beats expectations, profit $332 million. durable goods came in slightly below expectations but still up 0.5% in february. erin. as we count you down to the opening bells, let's bring in michael gurka for our final setup. michael gurka, what are you focused on? >> well, first, i just want to mention that i saw recently that fascination that mark had with 3d, so i just want to mention that. i saw a headline today out of osaka that nintendo was up almost 8% today on a release of their ds now going to 3d. that catches my eye, mark, only because we're starting to see, i believe, asian economies start to continuously exceed gdp, and i think growth there in the equities will continue. i know that most of the globe is focusing on portugal today and how the southern economies in europe are going to dwindle, but one note -- once we get below

$1.44 in the sterling, i think dollar strength could run rampant here and the market is watching how well the dollar performs. lastly, i think u.s. equities, if we pull back at all, that's another sign that the bullish nature is growing on a daily basis. >> thank you, michael gurka. we've got the bells, mark. >> here we go! at the big board, inergy, a diversified energy infrastructure and distribution company, celebrating the transfer of its two securities, nrgy, nrgp, from the nasdaq. we will talk to the ceo in a few minutes. at the nasdaq, gammy award-winning artist angelique k kidjo. >> our market reporters are standing by. we are down slightly, down 26. let's start with bob pisani. >> the big story today is fitch's downgrade of portugal's credit rating.

put pressure on the euro, ten-month low, dollar went up, put pressure on stocks. but i think the biggest story is the ipo market. take a look at the crowd here. this is the crowd for max linear. they make chips for broadband video, look, so you can watch tv on your cell phone, look at it that way. the price talk for this ipo was $11 to $13, the price was $14. the crowd is talking here $16 to $18 right now. so, $11 to $313, prices at $14, price talk now $16 to $18. that's an amizing move up. we haven't seen that in a long time. also, calix networks, a bunch of cisco veterans, they also do broadband for small and midsized companies, they sell shares at $13, the high end of the $11 to $13. indications i'm hearing right now are $18 to $20. $11 to $13, prices at $13, open indication's $18 to $20. and we even have first

interstate bank system, an ipo, a bank today that priced within its price range. it did not price above it, but within it. and i think it was 2007 -- i've been trying to find out, last time i can remember a bank ipo. at least two years, possibly three years. sprint nextel's on the other side there. i just want to note that they're up today. they unveiled a 4g android phone. that's opened up 4% here. finally, lennar, their numbers were terrific. the bottom story, orders were up 18%, well above expectations. tradertalk.cnbc.com. bertha, how are we at the nasdaq? >> we've got a lot of big caps opening to the down side with a few notable exceptions, adobe one of them after beating on its first quarter earnings and also on its outlook. credit suisse this morning is moving its price target up to $43 from below $40. oracle is up just a bit. it's been really high ahead of earnings coming on thursday. starbucks is going to be one of the standouts on the day, up only 1%, but it's likely to put

pressure on a lot of other companies, issuing its first ever dividend, 10 cents, payable on april 23rd. also extending its buyback as well. it's one of the issues people talk about with apple. they've got all that cash, why aren't they issuing a dividend or doing something of the kind? meantime, apple's ipad set to launch in a couple weeks and already it's got just as much traction with folks looking to buy new readers as the kindle, according to comscore's survey. dow says it's going to grow its business in china. it says it expects to see up to $5 billion in revenues there this year. r.i.m., meantime, is in talks with china unicom to launch the blackberry with china unicom. all starting to the down side. china unicom down and genzyme off nearly 4% after the company says that the fda is going take action against the company because of the problems at its allston plant. mike huckman is at the breaking news desk now with more on that.

>> thank you very much, bertha. yeah, genzyme tried to avoid this fate, but this escalated enforcement action by the food and drug administration announced this morning represents a worst-case scenario for this company. now, genzyme makes high-priced, life-saving treatments for very rare diseases. it's been one of the biggest success stories in the short history of the biotechnology industry, but last year, it stumbled when some contamination was found at its manufacturing plant in boston. the company scoured and scrubbed it, cleaned house and manufacturing management as well, but apparently, it was not enough to satisfy the fda. the company says the agency is issuing what is called a consent decree, which means the fda essentially assumes oversight now of this plant. and as a result, genzyme says it will be required to pay the government money and could face other increased costs as well. however, genzyme says drug supply will not be affected. the manufacturing problems and the plummet in the stock price are what spurred billionaire activist investor carl icahn to

start taking a sizable stake in the company last year. icahn recently announced he is nominating himself and three others in his camp for seats on the genzyme board of directors. genzyme is holding a conference call on all this at 11:00 eastern time this morning. for more, check out the blog, farmersmarket.cnbc.com. follow me on twitter at mhuckman. let's go to brian shactman at the nymex. >> thank you. everything's down here except for the dollar index and that's part of the story. starting with crude, we have the very large bill from the petroleum institute in terms of crude stocks. we have dollar strength, equity weakness. instead of talking $82 a barrel, we're seeing if $80 can be defended. keep an eye on that. also want to talk about brent. we have the eu summit tomorrow, greece of course in focus and now we have to deal with portugal, what's going on with their sovereign debt. quick look at gold, platinum as well as copper. copper and platinum the weakest performers and goild also down on the same story.

dollar/gold has broken down a bit, but it's not dead. we'll see if 1,100 will be breached on the close. >> okay, quick check on the markets. put them up. dow down 26 points, pretty much what we expected from the futures. s&p down 3 and change, nasdaq down 8. so, you can see it ranges from 0.25% to about 0.33%. your "cnbc edge" now with joel hider, chief technical strategist with schaffers investment research. ryan, what are the options telling you these days? >> well, mark, right here when you look at the options market, the interest overall sentiment, the one thing we continue to notice is probably too much skepticism. i've been coming on with you for a while and said two things are driving the market higher, too much skepticism and the other is the economy. the economy had 7% for activity, manufacturing's doing well, steep yield curve. the yield curve is a great

determining long-term trend of the economy the last 20 years. i wouldn't bet against that. i think the economy, this trend is going higher. look at the stock market. we have mutual funds that are money coming out of stock mutual funds, money going into bonds. a lot of money on the sidelines. you look at the investor sentiment polls. people are still luke-warm to this rally. two weeks ago, the "wall street journal" had an article that said even after the run-up, investors kind of yawned at the gains. i think that really sums us up. the mentality is people still aren't buying into the rally. with the economy turning around, this market should continue to go much, much higher, in our view. >> all right. joe, what do you think? >> well, i tend to agree with ryan's points from the standpoint that we think the market is going higher. fundamentals continue to strengthen in the market. we're encouraging our investors to go more heavily in equities, particularly if they've been sitting cautiously on the sidelines. we think, you know, there's always some yellow lights out there, but overall, we think the

story's very positive as far as we can see. >> joe and ryan, just want you to hear this. we're going to go to bob pisani and get an update. you're both optimistic, so let's see what you think after we hear how these ipos are doing. bob? >> you know, we're talking about max linear, just opened at $17.95, already trading at a 70-cent price range. why is this so important? because the price talk was $11 to $13, they priced it at $13 and it opened at almost $18. we haven't seen that in a long time. calix, which is also another broadband story, is on the other side. they priced at $13. the high end. we're waiting for it to open, but the price talk is $18 to $20! these are two big ipos. we haven't seen these price moves in a while. maxline maxlinear, by the way, makes chips for broadband. basically, you can watch tv on your cell phone. that's the kind of applications they have here. but a lot of volume and a nice little price range. we'll talk more about this at the top of the hour. back to you. >> joe, ryan, what's your reaction to that? you've got these ipos, first bank since 2007. the floodgates appear to be open

around the world for ipos. joe? >> well, erin, we think there is opportunities, and this continues to show that investors are coming back into the market and that kind of upward price pressure on those ipos i think is great news for the market and continues to reinforce our bullish outlook on the equity markets. >> ryan, what would make you worry about where the markets are headed? you both seem confident, not complacent, but confident. but what could blow this apart? for example, next week, the market's not open, but we're going to get the jobs number. if it's not great, does that signal the end of the rally? >> my concerns are probably what a lot of the people's concerns are, is are we going to potentially overheat? jobs really aren't coming back. i do think they're going to come back, but if they don't, the consumer confidence continues to be low and that could be a drag. but overall, i really do think there's a lot of positives. talking about the ipo market, that's really all with the credit markets. the credit markets are booming back. so far this year over two months, we've had as much

successful debt issuances from companies all of last year. also, over the first two months of this year, there's been half as many buybacks as all of last year, just in two months. so the credit markets are coming back and that's a tremendous sign that it's going to lead the overall stock market higher also. >> all right, gentlemen, thank you very much. joe heider and ryan detrick. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up, five-star advice on mid cap value stocks. and a compelling stock for people who want high yield and are worried about the high yield market and are maybe worried about lots of risk. here's an idea. it's just listed on the new york stock exchange. the ceo of inergy will join us to talk about his business.

welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm diana olick live in washington with breaking news. bank of america is changing its game plan for the most at-risk mortgages, writing down principal as a first step instead of a final resort, according to cnbc sources. in a plan to be detailed later today, the nation's largest holder of troubled loans -- remember, they took on 12 million countrywide mortgages -- will target subprime, pay-option, adjustable rate loans and prime two-year a.r.m.s. so no 30-year in the mix. these are part of the 2008 b of a settlement with 40 states and dc. the loans must have a principal balance of at least 120% of the value of the home and they have to be 60 days plus delinquent. the plan requires borrowers to earn the principal forgiveness over five years and up to a maximum 30% decrease in their current principal balance. now, b of a has over a million delinquent loans on its books,

but this program will affect a very few, only about 45,000, for a total of $3 billion in reduced principal, but it is, again, the first program that starts with principal reduction as opposed to the government's home affordable modification program, which centers on interest rate reduction. some believe this could be the framework of a new plan the treasury is currently working on to beef up its program. mark? >> thank you, diana. all right, time for "commodities corner." this time, the sugar slide. sugar at a nine-month low yesterday. prices are coming back a bit today, but it's been downhill all year. 38% lower year to date, this despite hitting a 29-year high february 1st. yeah. it's weird, isn't it? prices have fallen 43% since that peak. all right, time to get the updates on some "stocks on the move," and that's nesto the

magnificent's turn. >> all right, mark, check it out. the floor's falling out beneath jabil circuit, down about 8% this morning, the worst stock in the s&p 500. their crime, folks? reporting better-than-expected second quarter results and in-line guidance for the third quarter. i will say the stock has risen almost 30% in the two months, if you will, leading up to these numbers, but definitely, jabil taking a hard hit here today. whole foods, some call it whole paychecks. stock down 2% here this morning on a downgrade to neutral from buy from longbow research. and heinz to to neutral by merrill. and boeing at last check is among the best and the few, the few, the proud, raised to out-perform from neutral down under at macquarie. they think it's headed to $0080 share, so another $10 of action at boeing, if you're interested.

under armor taking the one-two blow both from barclays and fbr with downgrades to equal weight to market perform at fbr. they agree on one thing, the stock is worth $30. back to you. >> thank you, mr. nesto. fresh from the opening bell here at the big board, energy and propane natural gas company, transferring two of its securities to the big board today. one is nrgy, up 60% over the past year. the other is nrgp, up 140%. john sherman is the president and ceo of inergy. okay, so, before we get to the differences between the two, let's just get the basics of the business model here. you're able to pay a high dividend out to take your earnings and pretty much put it all through to shareholders. >> absolutely. >> but you're charging utilities, et cetera, to store propane and natural gas. >> yeah, we're in two businesses, the propane distribution business and the natural gas storage and transport business. both are defined by a stable

cash force and stable structure. we distribute about 90% of our cash flow and due to the nature of the business and really the tax-efficient characteristics of the partnership. >> and these are long-term contracts, say with con ed, a big utility, you sign a long-term contract, they pay you a fee to store. >> absolutely. in our storage business, we are building out a natural gas storage and transportation hub in the northeast u.s. we've got about 40 billion cubic feet of underground space that's connected by pipe within 200 miles of new york city. we're connected to two of the major pipes today and we're in the process of connecting to two more. that is a fabulous business. it's fee for service. customers are people like consolidated edison, new jersey resources. and that opportunity is being enhanced significantly right now because of the development of the marcellus shale. >> right, which, of course, is one of the holy grail shales on pennsylvania -- >> absolutely. and we weren't smart enough to see that coming, but it is very much in the hands --

>> well, they can find it. they have to pay you to store it. so, what's the difference between the two securities? one, i know, you said is an operating partnership, one a general partnership. what is the difference to the average person looking at this? is the dividend different? the operating model? >> the assets, the limited partnership, the operating partnership. that is a little bit more tax-efficient. it is very, very steady. it's yielding about 7.4% today. >> right. >> nrgp is the general partner. it owns an interest in the underlying partnership in addition to incentive distribution rights. it's yielding a little bit better than 5%, has a higher growth profile. >> and quickly before we go, the only thing that could hurt that is if you invest in say building out more storage? >> right. >> because you have more stuff coming from the marcellus shale. any capital expenditures in the immediate horizon to hurt that dividend or no? >> no. in fact, any time we invest capital in an acquisition or something like that, it will be accretive to our unitholders,

immediately accretive on a cash distribution per unit basis or we won't do it. >> john, thank you very much. we appreciate it. pleasure to meet you. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> all right, mark? >> yes, erin. next, a five-star fund manager on finding profit in mid cap value stocks. later, forget about a consumer rebound, pent-up demand could unleash a spending boom. details behind the recent move in travel stocks. and in the street poll, we want to know if you're planning a trip this year or still holding off. vote at squawkonthestreet.cnbc.com.

a lot happening on "street signs" today, mark. we're going to be focusing on what's going on in the bond world, the world of risk, the market that's bigger, more important than stocks. and on our guest list, pimco's

chief investment officer bill gross. and we have a special guest on "street signs" today. i'm not going to unveil it yet. it is a guest from the animal kingdom and it will be a special guest through the hour on "street signs." but i'm not going to tell you what it is, even if you guessed it, i wouldn't tell you. but you can go ahead and throw a guess out. >> well, thanks for dumping all over us. even if we guessed it, you wouldn't tell us? >> well, i want to keep it a secret. >> i'm assuming it is subhuman? >> subhuman? >> well, you said the animal kingdom. >> well, why does that have to be sub? some people with peta may have issue with that. >> but is it a human being? >> we're animals, too, right? yes, we're human, it is an animal that isn't a human. >> well, you already had the duck. >> i had a duck on, that's right. >> aflac! >> that's right, that's the duck. i'll have to give this some thought. anyway, turning our attention to some five-star investing, our next guest manages the five-star morning

star-rated ridgeworth mid cap value equity fund. fund's up about 75% over the past year. and the core strategy is our topic right now, dividends! joining us here is tom wardelli, portfolio manage at ridgeworth capital management. don, you like dividends. you've got to have dividends, right? >> have to have dividends. >> you have a three-fold strategy. every stock you own pays a dividend. you buy low expectation stocks. you must own a truckload of ge. >> i'm a mid cap manager. >> oh, and stocks have a compelling fundamental catalyst over the next 12 -- now, how do you decide who's got a fundam t fundamental catalyst over the next 12 months? >> that's where we dig in and do

our fundamental bottom of research. >> what do you look for? >> fundamental catalyst could be numerous, could be management changes, could be new product rollouts, acquisitions, a number of things. >> you have names that involve such catalysts, starting with international gametech. these are the guys who do the slot machines? >> correct. >> what's the catalyst? >> there's an upgrade cycle doing there. there's weakness in the state budgets, so more and more gaming will be approved around the country -- >> more gaming approved and they've got to buy new slot machines? >> they do. >> what's the replacement cycle for slot machines? >> you have to attract gamers. you have to attract people to your casino floor. >> yeah, it's like video games. >> hadn't thought about that. >> you've got to keep coming out with new titles. >> interesting. >> imagine my surprise last time i went, they're buttons, not arms. they're electronic -- >> so, you don't pull them down, cha ching? >> right. >> little ring? >> don't trust. anyway, don wordell, thank you very much.

appreciate your time. mid cap value, get those dividends. february new home sales coming right after the break. and what will dow 11,000 mean for the tortoise rally? could we see new money come into the markets? that's next. national car rental knows i'm picky.

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it is 10:00 a.m. and we are awaiting the news on new home sales. the expectation was for an increase of 1.9%. the number is -- what is it again, peter? down 2.2%, indicating that the housing market, of course, which has been stumbling, bumbling and fumbling, is continuing to do so. again, the expectation was for an increase of 1.9% to a rate of 315,000 units. maybe that was too optimistic given the fact that there was an 11.2% drop back in january. so, that would have been a very dramatic turn-around, but the

headline number, erin, is a 2.2% decline in february new home sales. back to you. >> tyler, thank you very much. bob pisani is monitoring this one. not much market reaction over that number. clearly disappointment, as tyler said. we're also monitoring at this moment a hearing on the chinese yuan. the house ways and means committee is looking into the ongoing controversy over china's foreign exchange rate policy. a study released yesterday points to unfair chinese trade and currency practices and blames them for the loss of 2.4 million u.s. jobs between 2001 and 2008. by the way, other studies show that it has created jobs in the u.s. because of things like walmart. but obviously, it's contentious. we'll have more on the hearing in just a couple moments, but now let's bring in bob pisani. you were disappointed with the numbers, but the market didn't really seem to move. >> well, it did a little bit. look, let's put it in plain english. we were expecting 315,000. that was the number for sales that were estimated.

we came in at 308,000. and i believe that's the lowest on record. i want to check that, but i believe that's the lowest record we've got going back for decades. so, it's a bit of a disappointment. look, we did 400,000, erin, in october, 362,000 in november, 308,000. this is similar to what happened with existing home sales. >> but what this is showing is that that new home buyer tax credit got all that buying in november for existing and new for the first-time buyer, then even though they extended it, we really used up the people who were waiting. >> the first-time home buyer tax cut creates a front-end-loaded system. >> oh, it did. >> it did, yeah. we have clear proof for new and existing home sales that it did. it spurred sales in october and november. it hasn't subsequently spurred sales. that's a little bit disappointment. can we move on here? i want to mention the ipo market. maxlinear opened 20 minutes ago. price talk was $11 to $13, priced at $13, opened at $17.95.

calix, which is the old cisco guys, $11 to $13, priced at $13, opened at $17. this is -- >> back to 1998. >> i'm very encouraged by that. i just wish the new home sales numbers were better. >> big picture, much more important. bob pisani, thank you. let's get to bertha coombs at the nasdaq, also lower there, bertha. >> yeah, we are lower, seeing some profit-taking, especially in the big caps. a few standouts. adobe put in a pretty good quarter for the first quarter, topped expectations. its outlook above estimates as well with the anticipation of its new product launch. it's up about 4%. that's the best performer today in the nasdaq 100. had a little bit of a halo effect on some of the other applications software makers, but that's kind of worn off. krit rix is now down. starbucks at a new high today, issuing its first ever dividend, announcing it's going to pay out 10 cents a share on april 23rd. it's also going to increase its buyback. we've got checkpoint software on a new high today, comcast coming

off a new high. apple continuing to move higher as well today, at a fresh high at $2.28, nearly $2.29. and google, meantime, continuing to lose out on the situation in china while rivals baidu and yahoo! in search there today are higher. let's head on back to the nyse. >> and we've got a big drop in energy to talk about today. we're still above $80 a barrel, but a good drop of about $1.40 right now for a barrel of crude. let's check in with brian shactman to find out why and what else he's focused on. hello. >> hey, erin. we have a host of issues here. a stronger dollar, weaker equities, some nervousness about demand across the world, but today in about 26 minutes we get the eia inventory data, and it would be a market mover, for sure. we'll have it for you live here at 10:30 a.m. eastern time. the expectation is for building crude and a drivedown in gas and distillates. now, the color here is the api, the american petroleum institute, late yesterday showed a big, big build, and we'll see if there is follow-through in terms of a bigger than expected

build in crude. take a quick look at the complex. everything is down. only nat gas really holding up particularly well. we'll see what happens with some resistance levels close to $80 and see where we go from there. i do want to check quickly on gold, silver and copper. everything's down, jitters from europe. we have the eu summit and sovereign concerns spreading to portugal. >> thank you very much. fresh data on the economy, new home sales, durable goods. durable goods up, but not as good as expected. new home sales down 2.2%. market really didn't react to that. let's bring in michael jones, chief investment officer, riverfront investment group, drew canally is chairman of canally trust company. michael, i'll start with you. what does this data tell you, if anything? >> probably not an awful lot because we do have to deal with all the weather-related distortions in new home sales in february. i do think the earlier points that were being made about the front-loading of demand and how some of this keynesian stimulus really just shifts demand rather than creates it are probably

pretty accurate. >> drew, how about you, the data give you any clue? >> it gives me a big clue and it's not weather-related. it was all related to the stimulus and everything else the government's doing. so, the declining home sales puts us right back where we were about a year ago and that's probably where we're going to stay for some time until employment turns around. >> uh-oh. >> yep, sorry. >> sounds like you're skeptical. >> very skeptical here. now, before we go too far here, it's going to be a good year, probably, for stocks. we're going to pull a lot of activity from 2011 into 2010. so, corporate earnings are going to continue to be very robust this year. so, stocks in terms of an earnings standpoint, they're going to look really good through the first half of this year, but beyond that, looking into '11 and '12, we've got to be pretty cautious. >> michael, what's your view on why the market doesn't appear to be reacting to what some could argue is the most important data out there? i mean, you've had two days in a row now where it has been clear that that new home buyer tax

credit has not extended into broader strength in the housing market and housing still is the core of the problem in a recovery. if we don't see a real pickup here, how can the rest of the economic indicators keep getting better? >> well, i think it is a function of first they want to see what does the data really look like after you get away from any weather distortions, and two, we also do have a great earnings story right now going on in the market, and a lot of those earnings, that growth is coming from overseas. nearly 50% of the earnings in the s&p are coming from overseas sales. so, the domestic story isn't quite as powerful on the domestic stock market as it might have once been. >> all right, gentlemen, thank you. michael, drew, appreciate it. >> thank you. just ahead, market's slowly rallying. >> yes. >> even though the data was not supported. just ahead, why pent-up consumer demand may mean smooth sailing for cruise ships stocks. and then, why your stimulus

dollars are helping 250 firms get $12 billion in tax breaks. that's a report in the front page of the "wall street journal" today. later, the white house calls out the gop, says republicans are confused when it comes to the new regulations on wall street. we'll have the head of the chamber of commerce to react as we head to a commercial. the big arregest movers, starbun the list, announcing its first ever cash dividend, up nearly 1% on that headline. ♪ throughout our lives, we encounter new opportunities. at the hartford, we help you pursue them with confidence. by preparing you for tomorrow. while protecting what you have today. you've counted on us for 200 years. let's embrace tomorrow. and with the hartford behind you, achieve what's ahead of you.

we're about 40 minutes into the trading. the dow trying for 11 updates in the last 12. we are only 125 points or so away from 11,000. new home sales falling 2.2%. despite that news, lennar, populaty and dr. horton are all higher. bank of america, ge and boeing the bright spots on the dow, all trading up more than 1% again. and mf global, which just named former new jersey governor jon corzine chairman and ceo, along with las vegas sands and tyson at fresh 52-week highs. let's bring your attention to other stocks on the move. matt nesto back at hq with the "realtime flash." matt, we have come back, despite the fact that the only data we got was not good. >> well, i don't know. have we come back? i mean, i saw on the industry level, we saw a couple gainers,

then we erased those after that data. it's pretty thin if you look at the volume, if you look at the percentage gains. there's not a single sector that's up or down more than 1% right now, about 0.5% is the order of the day. the financials are teetering between positive and negative. if you look at jacobs engineering in the capital goods industry, they're the best performer there, up about 4% today, thanks to an upgrade at jpmorgan. they took it to overweight from neutral. they think it's headed to $51. xilinx, the weak dollar trade could not be more dead today and the semiconductors the hardest hit industry group and none hit harder than the 4% giveback in xilinx this morning. nrg off the conviction buy list at goldman. this is the original nrg energy, if you will, and its price target cut to $28. then lastly, a 30% two-day move, check out pmi. remember them, the primary mortgage insurer? well, they were allowed

yesterday by freddie mac to be eligible to insure mortgages again. that's good if you're allowed to do business in what you do, mark, isn't it? >> evidenoh, yeah. >> the market is applauding that. >> very, vethank you, matt nest. right now on capitol hill, the house ways and means committee taking on china's controversial exchange rate policies. some lawmakers threatening to hit beijing with punitive tariffs. hampton pearson tracking the hearing on capitol hill. hamp? >> good morning, mark. make no mistake about it, for lawmakers, china's currency, what some lawmakers say may be 40% undervalued, is the hot-button issue. late yesterday, senators chuck schumer and lindsey graham said they'll put on a full court press for higher tariffs and sanctions in the coming months if china doesn't revalue its currency. as we look in on that house ways and means hearing just getting under way, remember that april 15th will be the next opportunity for the treasury department to declare china a currency manipulator. president obama has said he favors a stronger yuan.

law majmakers say it's time for actions to speak louder than words. >> there's hesitancy within the administration, but that hesitancy cannot lead to doing nothing effectively. and china says anything that we do that would be effective is, in quotes, protectionism, but it is really china that has been protectionist in terms of its trade policy and its currency policies. >> and of course, currency value is not the only issue. the google controversy goes to the heart of technology concerns. business leaders are divided. right now in china, a top u.s. chamber of commerce official says china's pushback against google could lead to american and other foreign technology investors being shut out. on the flip side, there's actually a small group of chinese executives trying to make the case that a strong yuan could be good for china because it would boost consumer purchasing power there. erin? >> thank you very much.

hamp. and cruise ship stocks, take a look at these. this is, mark, an interesting indicator of the economy. they have surged over the past year. look at royal caribbean, almost quadrupling in value. carnival not so strong, but still up 68%, topping the market. when carnival reported earnings yesterday, the company's ceo highlighted that there was pent-up demand, people who put off travel, now taking vacations. so, do you buy the cruise lines now after this surge? you're going to see more companies for pent-up demand. matt jacob is with majestic research. christopher hastings is with global hunter securities. good to see both of you with us. so, let's start with the cruise ship side of things. we've already seen -- have we seen things fully recover? >> no, we haven't. both carnival and royal caribbean are talking about net yield increases on a year-over-year basis in the low to mid-single digits. this is off of a much more sizable decline last year of 14%

to 15%. what you're seeing is the benefit of some really easy comps. and leisure travelers really being drawn to what's become pretty good bargains if you want to buy a cruise ticket right now. >> richard, what's your view? >> looking at shopper surveys, about 8,800 people by our friends at big research looking at deferral behaviors. that means people putting off spending on apparel compared to travel and vacation. the apparel number has been improving for six months and only in the last three months has the travel vacation number been improving. it has still not reverted back to the very strong levels that we saw in 2006, similar to what the other guest just said. >> well, you're not going to see '06 levels for quite some time, are you? >> no. you're not going to see them. in fact, we don't see that those numbers would revert back to that level probably at all for, yes, quite some time. >> yeah. still, nonetheless, in relative terms, what you're saying is it

appears you have signs of an upturn in travel. >> yes. >> okay. >> based who we're seeing, it's improving, yes. >> and would that be cruises, hotels, what? >> all of the above, many different forms of entertainment. i don't follow the sector closely, so i don't have granular information on specifically where is the strongest point of recovery in the sector. >> okay. >> matt, what about the stocks in particular when you're looking at these names that have surged so much? they've already obviously surged in anticipation of the gain that we've seen, so, is there any real up side left, particularly given the that fact that there doesn't appear to be any relief on the fuel front? >> yeah, fuel and oil prices are going to be a headwind for them, certainly. you know, there is more price recovery out there, like i mentioned, you know, even after this rebound that, you know, depending on who you're talking to, is better than expected. there's still a lot of room to get to where we were just a couple of years ago. the question is what is that

trajectory of that recovery going to be? is it going to be a nice, steep, steady climb back to 2005 or 2006 levels or is it going to take many years to get there? generally, it's a lot easier to cut prices in a downturn than it is to exhibit pricing power and raise them, you know, as demand picks up. so, it remains to be seen. i think investors now that are pretty bullish on these stocks are not just looking at 2010 recovery, they're looking into 2011 and beyond and looking at, you know, what they think will be multiple years of nice, strong, steady yield recovery. >> thanks very much to both matt, richard, appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and mark, just interesting as we talk about people spending money on vacation or not, obviously, please do our street poll. >> yes. >> and let us know whether you're holding off or not. but it comes back to housing and the data we got today and yesterday. if you're not seeing improvement there and people buying, then it's hard to see how anything else on the vacation consumer discretionary spending fund can be that sustainable. bob pisani just confirmed the

new homes sales number for february was not only below expectations, but was the lowest on record. record-keeping began on that measure in 1963. so on absolute value, lowest since 1963. there were a lot fewer people living in this country in 1963 than there are now, so. >> yeah, still got a ways to go. >> right. >> but things are getting better. just ahead, toyota's other problem, angry shareholders and the attorneys that come with them. and did you know that in two years, more americans will own smartphones than personal computers? hmm. >> i didn't know that. >> i didn't know that. so, does that mean that you can still get in on the wireless trade? well, there's a place you can get an answer to that, and that's at the big industry show in las vegas. we'll be going there. and don't miss this very, very, very special "street signs," a -- >> oh, really? >> a secret guest helps erin navigate the dow's slow crawl to 11,000. erin unveils this mystery market maven today at 2:00 p.m. eastern

time. it looks like the maven may make a really good soup. >> yeah, um -- >> but first, a check on the dollar.

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and here are two of the three ipos this morning. bob pisani's been talking about the strength of these. calix ipo'd at $13, good for a gain of 2.6% already.

and maxlinear, a gain of 4%. and first interstate bank is up 7% from its ipo praise. pretty interesting. all three are higher, and that is an indicator of risk appetite. the price there was $14.50 and we're now at $15.55. let's get to california for the "west coast wake-up." do you have a glass half full way of looking at the world today, jane? >> i always do, erin, because the weather is beautiful outside, but listen to this story. california utilized pot for medical reasons 14 years ago and tonight we might learn that there are enough ballots to legalize it for recreational uses, again putting the state at odds with the feds, this as the state supreme court has ruled that even though medical pot is legal in california, you can still get fired for using it. up in seattle, boeing watching closely as reuters reports the pentagon could decide today whether to extend the deadline for bids on a new tanker so that airbus parent eads may put in a solo bid now that partner

northrop grumman walked away. that story never ends. and the plastic surgery industry says procedures fell 17% because of the economy, so now doctors are nipping prices. the "l.a. times" reports one miami surgeon is doing tummy tucks for only $6,000! giving it away. and the first quarter box office receipts are up 9% from a year ago to $2.4 billion, according to variety. thanks to movies like "avatar." it's not just higher ticket prices boosting the total this year. erin, more people are going to the movies. back to you. >> okay, thank you very much! there you go. good news. jpmorgan chase reportedly closing in on a deal that would allow it to benefit from a tax refund of $1.4 billion. this apparently stems from a little-noticed portion of the stimulus bill. according to the "wall street journal," the law allows the company to apply losses from 2008 or 2009 against taxes paid in the previous five years. usually, you can only apply them against losses in the previous two. washington mutual is eligible

for about $2.6 billion in tax refunds. 16 homebuilders also eligible. they clearly lost a lot of money over the last couple years. airlines are also on the list of companies that are going to be benefiting from this. a lot of people are up in arms, but this sort of thing happens all the time in the tax code. it happens to individuals, it happens to companies, and then people's fortunes turn around and people get angry at them. well, we've got breaking energy news just a couple moments away. weekly oil inventory report going to be hitting the tape. we'll have the numbers and market reaction. we'll be back.

headline just before 10:30 on the east, 7:30 in the west. an unexpected drop in new home sales, down 2.2% in february on an absolute basis. it is the lowest level since 1963. durable goods posting a third consecutive monthly gain, though. 0.5%. they were slightly lower than expected, though, but the only

dose of all good news we can give you, mark, only dollop, three big ipos begin trading today, two broadband equipment makers and a regional bank, and all of them, well, first bank was up at $15.55 right off the top, so it's flat, but the others are up sharply. no, now it's showing -- okay, maybe that other chart was incorrect. this is the accurate trade here. it is continuing to go higher, up nearly 9%. >> what is the new number? >> it looks like 7.3 million barrels in crude, a drawdown of 2.7 million barrels in gas and a drawdown of 2.4 million in despera dislate fuel. the difference is 7.3 to 1.4 and the drawdowns were bigger than expected in gas and distillates. the impact on price, crude is carrying the day. we were down about $1.50 about

the data broke. we're now down about $1.83 and pushing towards reaching $80, just below $80 a barrel. so a bearishshber when it comes to the eia inventory data as it pertains to crude. back to you. >> okay, let's look at the markets and their internals right now. the dow is down 35. we had a small rally, but now we've dropped back again. well, not really a big deal, though, about 0.3%. nasdaq down about 0.5%. let's look at the internals on the big board. hmm. almost 2-1 negative. didn't expect that. nasdaq? a little better. something less than 2-1. can't really break that one down any better. more issues for toyota. mark, you talked a little bit about this. we've got lots of attorneys. oh, what a shock, lots of attorneys now involved with toyota. sometimes cleaning up the mess can be a lot worse than the mess itself, huh, phil? >> and the mess is going to start playing out tomorrow at a

courtroom in san diego. that's where a number of the lawyers who are representing class action suits and 118 have been filed around the country, are going to gather to look at whether or not they consolidate this into one giant national case. and when you look at the cases toyota is facing when it comes to recall-related issues, you can break it down into certain categories. certainly, there are a number of people filing lawsuits over a diminished value of the car. they want to be compensated. the drop in the stock price. this is an interesting set of lawsuits that are going to be presented where people think they should be compensated because the stock has dropped since the recall started. then there are individual injury and death incidents. those are the point of some of the lawsuits, one that's getting a lot of attention involves a crash the day after christmas just outside of dallas. a family of four people, the family of the avalon driver who was driving this car that crashed into a lake, is suing toyota. four people died in this accident. the driver's wife, his widow, monte hardy's family claims that the avalon was defective and the

attorney for the family believes that you connect the dots, toyota should pay. >> toyota's very good at taking one consumer complaint about sudden unintended acceleration and dissecting it and convincing you it may have been a floor mat or a driver error or a sticky pedal. but when you put all those complaints out on the table, then you can see the big picture. that's how you connect the dot. >> meanwhile, for toyota executives, akio toyoda and yoshi inaba along with other executives, the more troubling issue may be class-action lawsuits. there are more than 100 that have been filed. it could cost toyota billions of dollars. many toyota owners could benefit, even if they're not initially part of these class action suits. some owners are even asking for payments to be repaid for the lower residual value of their toyota since the recalls started. >> 20% hit because it's a toyota or they're being told by the

dealer, like i just read from the one fella, we don't want to take a car that might kill someone. so, what's happening out in the marketplace, i think is different from what those industry analysts are telling you. >> for more on the legal cases facing toyota, which by the way, we tried to reach the company for a comment and did not receive one. if you want more on these cases and what's facing toyota, check out the blog behindthewheel.cnbc.com. mark? >> thank you, phil lebeau. want your cell phone to work like a credit card? now it can. senior correspondent scott cohn is live in las vegas, where cnbc is the official broadcast partner of the 25th annual -- or 25th international c ttia wirels show. scotty. >> hey, mark. we have all kinds of gadgets here. there is so much to see. first of all, here's an old-fashioned gadget. i'm kind of embarrassed to say this is my wallet. it is full of credit cards and a lot of paper. what if you could do away with

that and put it all on your cell phone? visa has rolled out something called pay wave. it's an application on my blackberry and there is a dedicated chip. you can also get a phone with an integrated chip in there. so, i'm going to click here on "pay." and then i go to my merchant, which has one of these pay wave stations here, and i just wave it and i've just spent some of visa's money, i guess. so, that's kind of an interesting thing. but also, one of the big items here at this show is what sprint is calling the world's first 4g phone. it's the evo 4g. we showed it on "fast money" yesterday and sprint nextel stock actually got a bump as a result of this. the first thing you notice is they say the screen is 30% larger than an iphone, clearly what they're taking aim at. there is an application called google goggles. i'm going to show this to you, which is really kind of neat. i'm going to click on that. here's the eiffel tower, not the las vegas version, but the real one, a picture of it. and we take a picture of that. it's now going to analyze it and

it's going to take me to the official eiffel -- first of all, a google search. see how quick that was? and now the official eiffel tower website, which is a flash-enabled website. so, you can see that it is, it got there fast and it's showing you the flash video. and i'll quickly show you, this is also hd-enabled. so, here is a -- off of youtube. we'll do this really quick, we hope. and everything really is quick with this. interesting, as i say, this is going to go on sale this summer. they're already taking p preregistration for it. the price point yet unknown. but you can see that's pretty impressive. and video is a big deal. and also, the band width to do all this. coming up next hour on "the call," we'll talk to the head of at&t mobility about this new competitor from sprint and how the nation's networks are going to handle it. back to you. >> and later from the ctia in

las vegas, mr. cohn will be with at&t mobility's ralph de la vega. at&t's coming on, 11:30 a.m. eastern. "power lunch" is a full two hours from the floor of the trade show starting at noon and the chief technology officer from cisco will be on at 2:30. >> would you have a phone that could do that, the credit card thing? the credit card trick? >> you know, i would probably -- it's one of those things where i think, you know, ten years ago, i would have said would you trust your credit card on the internet -- >> right. >> and i would have said no, but now, but you eventually get used to things. so it's hard to judge. >> i would worry about it. on the other hand, you can easily lose your wallet with the credit card in it, too, so, i don't know. coverage of the wireless connection continues on cnbc.com. go to -- oh, you're over here. sorry. go to ctia.cnbc.com to watch live video of all keynote speakers, and while you're there, check out cramer's top 21

smartphone stocks. we're closing in on dow 11,000, not today, but -- >> well. >> recent days. >> it will be unlikely. >> yeah. can the market rally on? can it continue to be the tortoise that beats the hare? will slow and steady win this race? plus, the chamber of commerce's tom donohue, one of the most influential lobbyists in washington. he talks money, power, what's next in his health care fight and his take on financial regulation. and here's oil following the inventory report, down $1 to $88.89, off the low of the session.

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all right, folks, wanted to show you some stocks moving here. welcome back to "squawk on the street," matt nesto. consol energy underweight to neutral at jpmorgan. the stock's up 2% on a buy on weakness call, if you will, following the weakness that the stock had after the asset acquisition from dominion resources. remember buffalo springfield? ♪ something's happening here check out genworth, quietly muscled to the top performer in the s&p 500, big volume already. 60% of what it does on an average day, and this pushing it to a new recovery high, about an 18-month high, 7%. it's number one, genworth, and going to go higher after i said that. red hat is rallying after earnings, due out after the close. up about 2% here today. look for 16 cents on $193 million. that's a good indicator. and tyson foods as well as sanderson farms both stronger in a weak sector. staples are the weakest today and both of them, mark, are higher here today after an upgrade at bb&t.

they say buy them. back to you. >> all right, thank you, matt nesto. the dow up almost 10% since the market low in early february. >> mm-hmm. >> been a slow and steady climb. dow 11,000 clearly close by. is the move sustainable? here with the mood on the floor, bob pisani and jonathan core pina, senior managing partner of meridian equity partners. jonathan, what say you? are we just going to continue this plod northward? >> you know, very quietly, this market continues to drift higher. investors continue to wait and we continue to say waiting on the sidelines. at some point, they feel like they have to play catch-up. i don't think it's at this point yet, but little by little, it's starting to occur. we got through earnings season fine. we've had mixed economic data. we got through health care. next is bank regulation. i don't know exactly where we're going to see this market, this big influx that everyone's waiting for, but as we wait, the market continues to move higher.

psychologically, investors are in it. technically, we're looking at levels that resistance levels have become short-term support levels. >> i'll give you a guess on that. in terms of retail investors -- >> yep. >> i think if we get above 11,000, all of a sudden, people are going to wake up and say, wait a minute, i'm missing the boat. >> been waiting for two years for them, and they just keep sitting on the sidelines. this has got to be the most unloved rally in history. the traders are miserable because the volatility is so low, they can't make any money trading around. your firm making a lot of money? i think the answer is no. >> the volatility has been low, and with that, sentiment, the love isn't there in the market, but we continue so see green. and a day like today mixed with yesterday, economic news that's not really favorable to this market. it's hanging in there. we're going to rally towards the end of the day. >> nobody's focusing on the negative anymore. two weeks ago, there's a positive in junk body issuance and every week they were obsessed with the issuance of the treasuries. now nobody cares. >> you should be optimistic

about that. i'm optimistic about earnings and retail sales, worried about the dollar strength and i do not like the home numbers the last two days. they have been very discouraging. we'd better get a great print on the jobs report next week. 200,000's the estimate. the street, i see numbers at 300,000 and 400,000. the whisper numbers are way higher than the official numbers now. >> plus -- >> we need to get some action going. >> plus 200,000 or 300,000. >> yes. 200,000 is the estimate, consensus. i know people who are at 300,000 and 400,000. exactly my point, if we can't get housing and job starts showing some growth in march -- >> then we might get some -- >> the nay sayers have got some real bullet points at that point. that's what worries me. >> what would drive the jobs number higher, census hiring? census workers? >> temporary jobs, yeah, that's going to be it. >> you've got to strip out census. i want a number ex-census, because that's a three-month filler, that's a new home buyer tax credit number. >> that's what we look for, but on the outside when people look at the numbers, they focus on

the one number. >> sure, yeah. >> fair enough. thanks to you both. >> thanks, guys. straight ahead, the one thing the chamber of commerce wants included in the financial overhaul bill, or the one, the most important thing, as i think there's probably a list, but the most important. but first, oh, trish. >> oh, mark. i don't know as i like the tone of that. >> oh, trish. >> okay. hey, erin. coming up at the top of the hour, the dow heading toward 11,000, volatility at nearly two-year lows here. we're going to discuss whether it is time to take some money off of the table or whether you want to stay in this tortoise rally and make some more money, maybe. the battle over bank tax breaks. we're going to debate whether they're good for the economy or just plain bad for taxpayers. plus, we're going to head to the ctia wireless show in vegas. cnbc is the official broadcaster there. at&t wireless's ceo is going to join us for an exclusive interview. it's all coming up only on "the call" at the top of the hour. but first, "squawk on the street" is back right after this break.

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. in business leaders and politicians meeting in washington today. it's the fourth annual capital

market summit. the focus is getting jobs in america, creating jobs in america. joining us now, thomas donohue, u.s. chamber of commerce president and ceo. good to have you with us, sir. >> glad to be here. >> we told viewers there was one thing you wanted in the financial regulation bill that may not be there, one thing, and i said i was suspicious. i said i was suspicious, probably more than one. but maybe you would share with us the top of the list of the most important thing that needs to go in. >> we at the chamber and in the business community believe that we need a financial regulatory improvement bill and we support what's going on with senator dodd who is now in consultation with the community about proving the bill that he brought out the other day. number one on top of the list is to make sure that the consumer protection organization that is envisioned in this bill is put in a position that it does what it's supposed to do, not to intrude in every type of

consumer credit in the country, including whether your doctor wants to give you credit. most important, we have to recognize the idea of having a single regulator reporting to no one with ultimate authority to make all of these decisions without any consultation is not the american way and we're going to have to deal with that and i know we will. >> what would be acceptable to you? what would you like to see? >> well, i think we all agree on the subjects. i think we need, i think we need it -- >> i understand what you don't want. >> i'm not sure you do. well, a positive thing is we want a consumer protection operation that is, that brings together the work of many of the existing regulators and a counsel to sort of go out and look at these issues in a collaborative way. it will not work to have 15 different agencies doing the

same thing. or to have one agency duplicating all of the work of 15 other agencies. we're going to get this done. i think the issues are the same. everybody wants consumer protection, everybody wants to protect against systemic risk. everybody wants to be sure that we keep focused on the question of getting capital to small companies. we all support that. we're down into the devil is in the details and i look forward to the next few weeks to work that out. >> all right, mr. donahue, thank you. yesterday on the closing bell, was it the closing bell? oh, never mind, they just killed it. six stocks in 60 seconds on the other side of the break. and still time to vote in the street poll, if you haven't already. this is the one about the vacation. how people are feeling. are you going to be taking a vacation. not like are you taking time off. are you traveling again or still holding off?

that is the exact way the question is posed. please vote and we'll have the results coming up in just a couple moments.

all right, we have barney frank and chris dodd at the white house after a meeting. let's listen in. >> the door is still open. i'm still willing. senator shelby and i have talked and see what ideas they bring to the fable. we intend to get a strong, financial reform package. we'll end too big to fail and never again our american taxpayer will be asked to bail out a failing financial institution because they have an implicit guarantee from the federal government and strong consumer protection agency so that people can count on someone watching out for their interests on mortgages and credit cards and other financial activities. we want to have that systemic

risk, council, so we have a good radar system to pick up problems and threaten the entire financial system. strong statements and regulations with dealing on derivatives that could put our system at risk. a lot more in these proposals. barney and i are going to work very closely in the coming days to harmonize where we can and minimize a conference when it occurs, if necessary. i'm confident we can get a bill. i think the american people expect us to address the largest, most significant financial crisis since the great depression caused by a collapse in our financial system. either because regulators didn't do their job or no cops on the beat at all. certainly in unregulated activities that contributed to this mess. i'm very hopeful in light of our conversations in the last couple days that we could have a good, strong, bill on the floor of the united states senate and to work with barney during that process

and, if necessary afterwards, to give the bill to the president of the united states and have a bill signing ceremony before this agenda ends. >> i very much agree. one thing that people should note if you look at two major pieces. house and senate version of a major piece of legislation, we're closer on this set of rules than we usually are. that's not an accident. we have been working both of us with the obama administration and with their financial steam and the basics are there ending too big to fail. you go back to the problems of aig and lehman brothers. we dealt with both those things. one of the problems was in 2008, the administration, according to the bush people, felt they had only two choices in case of trouble. they get paid none of the debts or all of the debts. you had the opposite reaction and we resolved that. as i said, there are going to be death panels enacted by the congress this year, but death panels that can't make it, we'll

put them to death and won't do very much for their hairs. there were a couple areas of difference, but they were within, i think, reach. i am, obviously, committed to a very strong consumer agency that can't be overruled on policy ground and there were some areas where i, frankly, would be delighted if the senate can kind of improve on us. i was not fully happy with our bill on derivatives. i was on the losing side of a couple votes on the floor. one thing i think is different now and in the house and i hope in the senate it will be different it became partisan, not because we wanted it to be, but the republicans made it that way. with the discipline and the mass vote in the house before passage, the last amendment, every single republican going to kill every single form of reform. not amended, not fix it. that makes it hard to work together. i hope we can