now it's time for "call to

action" on stocks you need to watch during afternoon trading. mike huckman is here with a look at the winners in business spending recovery. >> hey, larry, we'll finish with some news that i know you're going to like. 4% rise in capital goods orders and pulling up stocks in a number of sectors that sell stuff to business. for example, in the construction equipment space shares of caterpillar are at a new high and so are shares of paccar. cummins and deere not benefiting as much and tech in cleaner industry is getting a lift from corporate spendings and earning reports, as well. some stocks rallying to new highs including xerox, sandisk and lexmark. sandisk continues to bask in the after glow of a quarter reported midweek today. those are today's stocks to watch. the buffalo news is reporting that cummins is bringing back in the process of bringing back hundreds of workers that were

temporarily laid off earlier this year. >> that's good news. we were just talking about this earlier, sort of the natural progression of things. these guys are out there rebuilding inventories, it means jobs. >> i love this story. little v-shape fed action. >> that will do it for this edition of "the qual." >> i'm larry kudlow. y see you tonight on "the kudlow report." "power lunch" is up next. power lunch for friday begins right now. i'm tyler mathisen. welcome, everybody. the kind of century mark that wall street actually lakes more than 100 stocks hit new 52-week highs today. apple the standout at another all-time high. >> i'm sue herera, she's just the person you want to hear from as the push for financial regulatory reform.

i'm michelle cubruceo cabrera. that's our power grid debate. a red hot stock that has tripled from last year's march bottom. is there still room to hit the buy bottom? greece is formally requesting what would become the euro zone's first bailout appealing to the e, partners and monetary fund for a rescue package. the white house says it supports that request, but german chancellor angela merkel says that greece must wrap up talks with the imf before any decisions can be made on the size of that aid. earlier today on "squawk box" mohammed alarian asked how his firm was playing greece right now. >> this is not the time to go back in. it is the time to be cautious and the time to reduce exposure to elements, instruments that could be affected by greece because it's still going to play

out in a rather bumpy fashion. >> so, when will the fear factor surrounding greece's debt crisis fade away? let's bring in mark mattison, kevin cook, market analyst at the cme group in chicago, steve liesman, bob pisani and rick santelli. everybody is around the table. you know, rick, i'm going to start with you, if i could, frankly, because the germans seem to be allowing greece to kind of twist in the wind. they're saying they're not going to do anything until the imf and greece formalize things. that could be weeks. to me, this seems like it is far from resolved. >> absolutely. and even the comments that germany will give the money when france gives the money so there's that whole issue going on, as well. >> so, is it a bailout package or not? >> you know, i think as el erian said and that probably the money

will come, but it's still going to be bumpy. exactly now to say you have to wrap it up with the imf puts more uncertainty and the amount of time ticking between the next payment and, of course, watching the markets move. what i found interesting is if you look at the year to date on all the interest rates affected in portugal and spain, it's mostly portugal and greece. greece is mostly unchanged even though they had a lot of volatility. >> steve, it's striking to me how we talk about a sovereign default in europe, what many would have thought was unthinkable and, yet, our markets don't react that much in the united states. >> i think we're on different trajectories right now. this is seen very much as a european problem. what is interesting to me, michelle, this famous phrase, he who does not learn history is doomed to get pummeled by markets. and in that respect, they could look at what happened to fannie and freddie in the united states. the markets tested the guarantee, was the guarantee there or not and it gravitated

and it punched and pushed that weakness until the government was forced to put it up. they came up with a dithering, unclear plan for bailout and, frankly, the governments are losing. >> mark mattison, i know we're all interconnected and i know if greece goes down look for spain or portugal, but as an individual investor in my retirement account with my money in equities, i don't have to worry about this that much, do i? >> to the extent that you're going to own equities in your portfolio, you need to be diversified internationally. we have about 52% in europe and of that percentage, less than a half percent is actually in greece, but these make a great diversifier long term and a great cost to capital story. the more risk in these countries, the more depressed their equities and the longer the high term. i'm looking at the next 15, 20 years. >> mahomud, el erian says stay

away from greece. >> i have been a seller of the euro and looking to sell every rally here. to extend steve liesman's points, the markets will continue to test the weakness in europe and this is definitely not over. what is surprising is we took out the lows around 132.75 and went all the way down to 132 and we had a really strong balance in the euro which is probably a lot of fun, short covering and euro optimism but i would still be a seller of any rallies up to 135, 136 and no better vehicle for investors to do that than the futures here at the cme. they are the safest, most liquid platform for investors. >> return to our regularly scheduled program. >> good shot at that. one of the issues, certainly, equities in the united states are not reacting as much as one would think they would and bob

pisani will comment on that. the european banks that have exposure to greece in the meantime with european rates continuing to move up and the fact that germany is not antying up what are is the implication for those banks and the u.s. exposure to those banks? >> i think they are important, sue. as different trajectories right now economically and also coming by the way by the financial crisis. they seem to be quite different right now and i think the united states took action earlier, some of which were criticized but ended up being useful and the amount of capital that has been raised by the u.s. banks. they are in better shape than they are in europe. but you can't get away from the sense that is out there and there will be implications if it's allowed to go too far. my guess is that it won't be. what will happen here is europe and the imf will come to the table and get this thing done in a way that markets expect. but in the meantime, they're going to look, they're going to get pummeled. >> it's going to be lend, extend and pretend. >> rick santelli, could you explain something to me.

seemed six, nine months ago like europe was growing faster than the u.s. and we were the laggard but what happened? >> what happens is we get smarter trying to uncover and do forensic on how we got here and i think your question is well asked in so many different areas whether it's reform in our country. you uncover new frauds and you uncover strange derivatives that made greece's balance sheet look better. before anybody start thinking they have a handle on how to fix or alter medicine y don't know if we have a handle on how we ended up here. let me make two quick points. we have already seen some things happen. russia the first deal in a dozen years and the lowest interest rate and the dollar denominated interest rate $5.5 billion and mark can verify this because of some of the anxiety in greece makes the emerging market look better. >> i think what rick was referring to and i dent know what we uncovered, now it is

very clear that greece was lying about its finances so there is a lot of distrust there. bob, what are traders saying about the situation? >> i was at the security association meeting and there were two topics. one, why is business so lousy in the united states and, two, should markets be going up the way they should be going up and, number three, how could we rely on greece at all? when you have your gdp is now going for the deficit, that's kind of like astonishing. >> somebody else told us, they wouldn't even fess up to it. . >> number one, the reason the market keeps going up is this ocean of liquidity and worry when the fed starts tightening. that's the general feeling at the security trader's meeting last night. what happens when we hit this deadline because the greek bonds are coming due and redemption in may and what happens if the political process is not completed by that time? can they disperse without actually having everybody complete their political

process, particularly the german parliament. >> that's the worry because the imf is expected to take three to four weeks if, indeed, things are on target, with the imf that isn't always true before germany can consider -- >> the parliament has to get into this. a whole bunch of olaps left to run. >> can i partially answer that question and rick will correct me if i'm wrong here. one of the reasons why the short end of the greek curve is trading is the expectation that part of any solution here involves what they call a cram down. that guys with one and two-year notes are going be forced and whatever solution is worked out can take longer term paper. the long end is up, but not nearly as much as the short end and that's what people are expecting in markets, essentially in default. >> rick santelli, here's a softball for you. do you think it's better if greece just defaulted and went into bankruptcy and just started again? >> well, i'll tell you what. in my opinion, for what it's worth, i think that either

germany and france should leave the euro or they should kick greece outand live any lifestyle they want. i think those alternatives because what's going to happen is we'll know at midnight before that payment how this is going to turn out. it doesn't do a great notion for the overlay of the european union as a powerhouse and as peter said, all the countries that could be affected might account for 30% of its gdp output. >> go ahead. >> mark mattison, i think you said 52% of your whole portfolio or foreign portfolio was in europe. why would you cut back on that and going into asia? >> because we don't speculate in forecast. these markets are extremely unpredictable as this show proves out time and time and time again. the trick to a diversified portfolio is adding asset categories and emerging markets were up 90% last year, which greece was a member of it and we need to stay diversified and not try to pick.

overall we have higher exposure in the united states and one of the stories that no one is talking about today is u.s. microcap value stocks up 24%. see, that's the problem of trying to focus in. quite frankly, i would like to see greece go under. it will be the best cautionary tale for america and the rest of the european union and the rest of the world. until we get back -- it's a problem. >> what happens if that does happen because that is a key test for the euro or is it not a key test for the euro? >> it certainly is because they put together 16 countries and they made up a rule that your fiscal deficit has to be 3% of gdp and they, all the countries have shattered that on average now. so, we're going to continue to see tests of the euro zone. i don't think the euro and the zuro zone will fall apart, but i think the euro will trade lower -- >> you say short the euro. >> it's already at a new low. >> it's going to continue to go lower. >> a rule with no punishment. you go to the club and the rules

in the club is you wear a jacket, you get thrown out if you don't wear a jacket. not in the euro zone, if you don't come with a jacket, come on in, we'll stitch you up in a jacket. >> greece is wearing a bathing suit in the club. >> and prices are telling you where it's going. price proceeds fundamentals. let's get to the market action bertha coombs is kicking it off at the nasdaq market site. >> fueled in part by apple which hits yet another milestone today. this morning the stock hit 272 that put its marketkeep at $252 billion and for a time this morning given the way the s&p looks at the market valuation cap evaluation, apple actually surpassed microsoft. microsoft selling off on the back of its earnings report despite strong report, there were some concerns about some weakness in some sales figures. amazon, as well, on the guidance. amazon hit that $550 mark.

ebay continuing to sell-off with. let's head down to the nimax. >> gold touching that 1155 level and we are looking at commodities that have turned around here in this session as we look at some of the commodity etfs and look at the uso both higher as the we see commodities rally. as you look at gold prices, the effect of the euro balance that has aided gold prices today, as we have been talking about the greece situation and as we see that balance, we've also seen gold hit record high in terms of prices in euro terms. that has spurred some more investment demand and we're looking at that in the gld and continue to watch that 1155 level and some traders say if we close above that we can see gold $10 or higher on monday. sue, back to you. >> thank you very much, sharon. up next we'll wrap up a big week for investors. a lot more on the "power lunch" menu.

tv advertisers hate it but viewers love it. tivo up 200% since the bottom. today's off the chart stock. then we heard all the arguments about how thin rfin r bad for wall street.

welcome back to "power lunch" i'm diana olick in

washington. sales of newly constructed homes not only beat the street but rocketed out of the park in march. rose 27% in february but chwas a record low. inventories of unsold homes fell by 5,000 or 2.1%. the lowest in 31 years at a 6.7 months supply. prices rose 4%. stocks of the big builders bounced on the news. up just over 4% and now remember this data series is based on contract signed in march and not closings which they base their existing home report on. this shows the jump right before the end of the tax jump. for more go to the blog realtycheck.cnbc.com. over to earnings central now. taking a look at the week in hits and misses. paying a lot of attention to revenues. >> who was the biggest winners when it comes to revenues. when we say winners they beat by more than anyone expected.

at the very top, citigroup. more than $4 billion compared to expectations. that is pretty impressive. you know the analyst, i don't know -- >> analysts don't understand your company, yeah, they don't know what you're doing. >> goldman sachs was $1.7 billion above what people were expecting. those were the big hits when it comes to revenues. >> two financial pinatas right there. >> wells fargo, even though it's a financial was below. relatively small miss when you compare to the hits. 263 million and pepsico was below by $206 million, as well. that's revenue. >> flip the page and let's look at profits. the biggest beats, once again, were those two familiar guys citigroup and goldman sachs. beating by 4.2 billion and that was above the estimate and goldman sachs $830 million above. travelers this morning it was earlier, the worst performer in the dow today. 72 million below on profit.

why? because of all of those storms that hit the united states. ice storms, hail, wind, snow and so forth and the chilean earthquake where they had a surprising amount of exposure. >> some year insurers have great years and some years they don't. that's why they're insurers. >> when there is a catastrophe, it could be catastrophic. sue, back to you. the big three in beijing. why china means everything for american automakers. and, later, it skips commercials but you might not want to skip the stock, tivo. up 200% since the bottom. it's in today's off the chart spotlight. we're back in two minutes. anncr vo: with the new geico glovebox app... anncr vo: ...you can get help with a flat tire... anncr vo: ...find a nearby tow truck or gas station... anncr vo: ...call emergency services... anncr vo: ...collect accident information. anncr vo: or just watch some fun videos.

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shares of merck on the rise today by 3%, almost 4%.

merck says increased medicaid rebates and other consequences of reform will reduce revenue by about $170 million. it also says the unfavorable sales impact in 2011 will be 300, to $350 million. all right, then the big three in beijing. why american automakers are betting on china more than ever before. phil lebeau has more. phil? >> ten year uz go when i went to my first auto show in china they would say, oh, that's quaint, you're going to china for an auto show. do they sell many cars over there? this is one of the top three shows in the world, along with frankfurt, along with detroit. it is must for all automakers to be there. it will feature 14 world premiere models this year. chinese automakers will unveil 75 new models. the sales are critical to the success of not only all automakers but gm is the blue

print everybody wants to follow. number one in china and, keep in mind, china has passed the u.s. to become the number one auto market in the world. for gm, this is critical. the success that they've had there that they built upon it. by the way, china auto sales expected to grow by 255% by 2015. ford has seen what gm is doing there and are waiting to catch up. they have a long ways to go. just this year breaking ground on a new plant that they're building to meet demand there. ford sales in the fourth quarter jumped 84%. that speaks to the kind of growth they're seeing over there. speaking of ford, take a look at the stock which is now trading over $14 a share. continues to move higher. ford is going to be your focus next week, guys because earnings come out for the first week for ford and big numbers expected from ford. no longer going to be a surprise when ford posts big numbers and it is going to be expected. we'll be in dearborn.

check out the blog behindthewheel.cnbc.com. >> sales over 600,000 cars in china and over 400,000 cars in the united states. it's already a bigger market for gm, but does that help gm employ any more workers in the u.s.? >> eventually the idea is that you're going to be able to export some over to china. not a huge amount. keep in mind, dennis, at the end of the day with a few exceptions, almost all automakers, the vehicles they sell in china are going to be built in china. you really want to build in the region where you sell. you could export some over to china, but the vast mu yor jorty that they're selling there will be built there. on the job's front, people would like to say, add more jobs here. that is dependent on sales in north america. >> will gm be able to make so many cars in china with much cheaper labor and health care costs that they can float it on a boat over to the u.s. and supply the u.s. market with cars that their employees make in

china. >> it is possible, dennis. they already do that from their facilities in south korea. in china, keep in mind, they're having a tough time meeting demand in china and you add in the cost equation of building there and shipping here and it works with not a ton of vehicles. there is always the concern, you are taking american jobs and shipping them off there. that is really a misnomer. the idea is you build in china for china. >> so, phil, five years from now very quickly. will we be saying, will the story be how china saved general motors. >> that's already the story. notice the auto task force when they redid general motors, tyler, they didn't touch china. didn't touch china at all and they wanted to get rid of the buick brand and then they looked at all the data. we had auto task force members tell us here on cnbc. why would we touch buick? blockbuster brand in china. >> i went to the new york auto show and some of those buicks i never knew anybody who drove a buick for years and years and

years. >> it's a perception issue now. >> i didn't hear that china upside play up when we were giving $50 billion in bailout money to save the u.s. job base i didn't realize that china thing. that's an interesting development. straight ahead, mike huckman is keeping track of the stocks on the move right now and he'll focus on the industrials and we'll go off the chart with the stock that is up 200% since the market bottomed. 12:45 eastern time. you know what's coming up "halftime fast money report." national car rental knows i'm picky.

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we are almost halfway through the trading day. welcome back, everybody. in the headlines at this hour, mcgraw-hill announcing it is dropping out of the bidding for interactive data corporation. teva pharmaceuticals says it has resigned from the generic pharmaceutical association stating the that the group no longer appropriately reflects the policy priorities or market realities. oprah winfrey's harpo studios announcing a digital app

called oprah mobile. time now for a look at stocks that are on the move that are worthy of your attention. mike huckman has some names for us. >> the durable goods order spending more money, as well as some individual earnings reports, as well, that are moving stocks. diversified dover, for one. one of the things it makes, by the way, trash trucks is up right now 7.25%. that is a new high. the company beat the streets and demand and margins are getting better. earth moving equipment maker and a dow component caterpillar is also floating like a butterfly to a new high. truck company paccar and transport/train company csx also trading at new highs. coming up next hour we'll go beyond the big caps and how tech is benefiting from today's economic reports, as well. for thnow, those are charts to

watch. tivo stock recently spiked but its ability to protect this technology is not the only thing it has going for it. here to break it down is edward williams and he said the stock is set to outperform. the stock is up 80% or more year to date. on april 19th, you initiate coverage and give it an outperform like a buy, aren't you too late to this? >> it has had a massive move but the key thing is there is still significant amount of upside that can come from the stock. the patent litigation that, the move that we saw in march is a significant, significant piece of the puzzle, but still some more decisions that have to be made and then i think once those get settles there is still material upside that the company can generate. >> this company, of course, sells a monthly subskripgz and dvr but more and more cable systems are selling the kind of box without the tivo brand name and they've been able to build

other businesses. where is that here? download movies to your x-box? >> the key thing is they have with the launch of tivo premiere they have a new user interface and what that interface is going to allow consumers to do is be able to watch and search for and find the over the top video content distributed via the web as a whole. as well as combining that with the televishz, traditional television. and i think tivo sits there at the nexus between that historical way in the way we currently watch tv and the way we will be watching video and consuming it and going forward. >> how do they do with this approach hoping to ally with all kind of different rivals to each other and are they just basically waiting to get bought? will they get bought by some big at&t telecom company? >> i think there certainly is a good opportunity for them to find a partner or others who are looking to tap into the combination of the, of internet

being on television sets. so, certainly potential partners out there in tivo, i think, would be attractive for a number of different players. i think for right now, though, i think the key thing for the company is first of all to make sure to get through the patent litigation and defend their patent as they have been doing in the lawsuit with echostar. but from there it is also to continue executing the business and start growing subscribers and growing the revenue and cash flow. >> thanks for your recommendation. straight ahead financial regulation and the hard sell is in high gear and key senators meeting today and the senator making his pitch in new york yesterday. >> the president says it's good for wall street and main street. but is it good for main street? the powergrid debate.

the senate getting ready to debate financial reform. here's christopher dodd cracking down on risky behavior this morning "squawk box." we don't have that sound bite. believe me, he was cracking down.

is financial reform good for main street? squaring off in the power grid cnbc contributor former assistant to president bush and vice president cheney. you both have 20 seconds to make your case. keith, let me start with you, is financial regulatory reform good or bad for main street? >> it's good for main street. main street and wall street are connected. it actually has more transparency so people know what's going on and the derivatives are being made and marketed out there and provides more accountability for wall street and consumer profection agency that is something that hasn't happened before. and most importantly it gives shareholders, or for a lot of people who are watching this show, some sort of say what is going on in the businesses they're invested in. a number of different accounts, it's good for main street. >> keith, you have extra time because we forgot to put the clock up. ron christy, i guess you think this isn't good for main street? >> i don't think so, michelle.

creating a $50 billion slush fund for the administration to contribute as they see fit. the government is in the business of picking winners and losers and i'm concerned about the government demonizing certain parts of the industry. we're all connected, main street and wall street are connected together. i am worried about the ability of people to get credit and access to credit if the government has too many restrictions imposed upon people. >> ron, why do you say this is allowed to pick winners and losers? >> if you look at the slush fund, the government can decide they can want to nationalize or commercialize or decide that they'll let certain entities fail. i think the government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers and keith can laugh -- >> keith, i hear you laughing. >> the government already has an authority anyway. they did that with president bush and when hank paulson went together and forced congress to approve a $7 billion bailout for wall street. the government can do that.

whether we have a process so we don't have to go in and provide that kind of assistance in the future. this is a much better plan. it provides accountability for wall street instead of just a blank check whenever there is a crisises. we don't need to go back to the patterns of the past, ron. >> keith, i would say this. i did not agree with the t.a.r.p. bailout and this administration has used the t.a.r.p. bailout funds for their own personal slash fund. >> we're not going to agree on that. >> if we talk about serious regulatory reform you need to have fannie mae and freddie mac in there. those two entities aren't in here makes me believe that the democrats aren't serious. >> this is a red herring. the republicans have been using this distraction trying to throw this out there. if we don't get the government enterprises in the loop we're not doing serious financial reform. this is a trick on the part of the republicans to prevent financial reform from taking place at all. let's focuses on if it does well in this bill. >> let me ask you, there is an item in this bill that allows

the fdic to pay more to creditors who are considered systemically more important. when i hear that, i think, wow, china is more likely to get paid than the little guy. and the big huge bank, the aigs of the world are going to get more than the little guy. i think that's what people are worried about. it gives a lot of flexibility to individuals where, before, you had the bankruptcy system. >> i think before the government still had the authority to step in and intervene as it did in 2008 when president bush and hank paulson made their t.a.r.p. bailout program. i think the reality is the consumer protections in this bill will still benefit the consumer in a way that doesn't exist right now. you have people who are fighting this because they don't want the banks and financial institutions to be accountable. they don't want the consumer to have the information to know what's going on when they getting into mortgages and lending situations. they don't want to stop the predatory lending that the banks are involved in right now. >> that's apart from what i was

asking. you ron, i'll giveioatyou the lt word here. if we tax the banks, doesant the consumer pay for that? >> yes. that's what the dramatic effect could be on main street. if the government put regulatory reforms and they put fees and excise taxes and all they do in turn is put them on the consumer which will make it, yet again, another hidden tax increase even though the president said he will not increase taxes. another indication of how the president has broken his word. >> thank you so much, keith and ron, thank you. still ahead, the banking system. we're talking more about financial reform. one of the real power players in that world is going to join us here on set. sheila bair at the top of the hour. plus, for sale, i can't believe this story. l.a. mega mansion of the late tv super producer aaron spelling. 150 million bucks and it could be yours. get your checkbook. >> i will, if i can have the garden. up next fast money halftime report.

welcome to the fast money halftime report. stocks seeking direction as investors continue to weigh promising economic data against further overseas concerns and earnings. let's get straight to the word on the street. right now your fast money crew for today steve grasso and eugene profit of profit funds

and scott nations of nation shares and, of course, options action trader. brian kelly, i'm going to kick it off to you because greece was a big deal. greece finally saying it is time to accept some aid, but some of the reaction in the market that you might expect simply are therant there. national bank of greece not doing too much. the euro not doing too much. why? >> confusion, confusion because we're not sure what the end game here is a bailout, but we don't know how we will get to that point and what it will take. is the imf going to come in immediately and take a hair cut. we don't know what will happen yet and it will take a bit and have to get through the political rhetoric over the next three weeks. >> you know no confusion over, it hasn't hurt equity markets since the low, greece has been out there and hasn't do anything to damage equities at this point. no reason it will have any damage from here going forward. >> better now with this news. >> it's not hurting the euro yet. >> one at a time here.

let's talk about what might be concerning the markets or, of course, what is in focus today and that is, the economic data we have gotten so far. the home build eder eers trade . 29% in the last month. eugene profit are you a believer that the recovery is under way and the consumer, the market is telling us that the consumer is back, are you a believer that home buyers are back, as well? >> i'm not. you have the tax credit, $8,000 aspiring the end of oapril going into june. foreclosures are still growing and that is going to be a major issue in the second half of the year. >> we have a bear on the housing market but second derivative plays here. if you're a believer on second derivative, brian, does that mean you have to be a believer in the housing market? >> for me, i like to look at the rail car loadings and lumber doing really, really well. i have been along the home builders for a while and taking

some profits in here but on the second derivative trades the one i love the best, still room to run, armstrong worldwide. they make the floors and home e depot and lows say floor sales have been great. >> what are you watching, scott? >> well, you don't really have to be a believer. you can kind of be a believer and we see that huge call volume about 18,000 calls traded so far today. all of the 25 strike in may, june and august. now, these are people who are worried like eugene is that when the home buyer tax credit disappears, home sales will disappear again. so they want to buy calls rather than running in and buying the stock. >> that's what we talked about last night, melissa. the usg, oc, wy. all about the erosion when you're talking about plywood and lumber. >> a lot of tickers there. oc, owens corning and you said a supply and demand with the strand board. >> that's right.

you have the supply chain erosion. the guys are actually cutting down the trees all went out of business on the downturn. you had a real lack of production out of those companies. >> let's go straight to the retail stocks. a lot at multi-year highs and you borough down into the realty sector. take a look at some of the individual shares approaching five-year highs, not just 52-week highs. steve, you like any of these holdings? >> well, let me tell you, in the retail space i'm happy i gave some of my funds to actually retail money managers because i would have never bought the stocks the way they were boughten up. they were shortened and out of favor and now just ran for the last foreseeable past now. >> eugene, profit in terms of the list? take a look at the list. best buy is the only one you can touch. >> i think so because of electronic sales there. i'm a bear in this area, as well. these stocks are coming off such a low base that the positives in

the economy actually made them jump. >> i think eugene is going to be right in the next couple months, but the problem is, every day they have another 52-week high and multiple 52-week highs and people are chasing in this market what is working and not what they think is going to work or the laggers. they're chasing what is working. >> scott, are you seeing any notable activity within the retail space. i'm asking if people are buying protection and that's why they're willing to remain in the stocks. >> we do see some protection. . option prices are lower than they should be. they are lower than they are historically on this date. you see protective put buying and really kind of hit and miss and people are trying to pick their names and trying to find names that they're worried about. they don't want to sell the stock, but have a little protection. it's very hit and miss in those names. >> talk about amazon.com falling more than 2% today. second quarter outlook that fell short of expectations. citigroup says, though, it is time to buy.

still sees a 25% upside on this one. on the fast line now mark who is the internet analyst over at citi. mark, great to have you with us. >> hey, melissa. >> do you think the street is getting too hung up on the operating guidance and why? >> amazon is very consistent and very typically conservative in terms of their guidance. if you look at the pattern, right in line. the typical guide and people also concerned about the margins and this company expanding internationally and you'll have gross margin bumps there but the long piece is well in tact. >> another big concern on an overhang is the perceived impact of the ipad, i should say, and of course, the ipad is a current quarter story. but, still, we didn't see necessarily in terms of taking a look at the unit sold in the past quarter, we didn't see people holding back on buying a kindle in order to favor the ipad. at what point do you say, you know what, maybe the ipad is really not going to be the kindle killer? >> well, i think, one, you're

right, melissa. there is an assumption that ipad will kill the kindle. increasingly, that's not the case. increasingly likelihood of the dedicated ereader and we think amazon is writered to do a kindle refresh and at a price point below 200. the stock needs that. >> the real test then, mark, is going to be the next two quarters. >> correct. >> going to leave it there. mark, thank you so much for your analssis of amazon. brian kelly, just quickly, would you buy amazon or are you in that sort of street mob that you think ipad is going to be a kindle killer? >> i think the ipad is a device killer in general. i think even something like a nokia could hurt from that. but i do think that amazon could actually benefit because you could still buy books and still put it on your ipad. i would buy some amazon here. >> i didn't expect that, i have to tell you that much. didn't expect to hear you say you're a buyer. >> i have to shake things up. want to move on and talk about a number of big names like

microsoft, ebay, seeing big drops following earnings reports. could these downturns give you, though, a buying opportunity. lets start off with microsoft since they came out yesterday. see the stock crushed. eugene, is this one you could look at? >> i would buy microsoft here. large cap tech stock that people have learned to love to hate. if you look at their numbers, they were up 29% revenue in the areas and windows 7 is coming on strong. the deferral of income which was a hit which a lot of company's market cap. beat the street by 3 cents is very positive for microsoft. >> yeah. the tools revenue line, eugene, missed the street estimates and, also, they didn't give much information about enterprise renewals, which is the business that's contracted but not yet billed. brian kelly, what do you say on microsoft? >> well, you know, what i say is i wouldn't buy it with eugene's money or government money or

anybody's money. i just think that the problem you're seeing with microsoft is that software is now free. now, i know there is the windows 7 upgrade but when you talk about oracle who just bought sun and they have the open office system and you talk about google docs. less of a reason to buy microsoft products. i would rather be in the other names than microsoft. >> okay, we are going to take a break here on the halftime report. but do not go anywhere. back in a minute. the drama next week will it derail the rally from earning season fears to the greek saga and the goldman testimony. how to trade the obstacles that lie ahead. tune in tonight so you can master the market on monday. fast money at 5:00 p.m. eastern only on cnbc.

welcome back to the fast money halftime report. brian you have a name because of the durable goods number. >> in the durable good's report the cap x spending was incredible. usually leads hiring. so, you want to be in some of the human resource and my name is hewitt hew and human resource outsorcer. they should do well, fidelity is leading the space and hire picking up and health care implementation should all benefit this company. >> we usually do call to close, but on this friday we'd figure we'd ask the traders the one stock they're asking. let's go around the horn. scott nations, kick it off. >> i would probably be looking at broad com next week. they get no love from street and i'm bearish in general. >> eugene? >> i'm looking at american

express over the weekend. >> the credit trends are improving. this is a name we've been heavy in and we'll look there quite a bit. >> beaks? >> i would be looking at morning star omrn. this market takes off and pulls the retail investor and lever to the retail investors. >> grasso? >> they're the only ones in north america that has their own. >> i'll see you, grasso and beaks tonight on the fast money. but that's it for us on the halftime report. tonight live at 5:00, we will be all over the movers of the week and how to get you set up for next week. of course, that's followed by options action at 5:30 p.m. eastern time. >> you're a busy lady, melissa. still to come, it's just not getting any better for goldman sachs. that, plus a whole lot more. a cnbc exclusive. chair the fic sheila bair why bigger banks should pay bigger fees.

instead of counting calories or carbs, this restaurant you to count carbon. fast food founder of otarrian will explain her carbon conscious philosophy. plus, the latest porn scandal and, no, it's not tiger or jesse, it involves the government agency and your taxpayer money. the findings will be sure to shock you. the second buttoned up hour of "power lunch" starts right now. and welcome, everybody, to the second hour of "power lunch." i'm tyler mathisen. the white house says it backs greece's move for aid. >> i'm michelle caruso-cabrera oil is rising after this morning's home sale numbers and sharon epperson will have more. despite flat markets today 110 stocks hit 52-week highs including industrials, tech and even real estate. i'm sue herera. president obama making a big

push for financial regulatory reform. what will reform mean for banks and consumers? joining us in the studio right here with an exclusive interview is a key player in that world. sheila bair chairman of the fdic. welcome. pleasure to have you in the studio. the president making a big push for it. critics say that compromises in that bill will make it difficult to execute in an emergency. it makes it ownerous. supporters of the bill say it ups capital requirements and increases transparency, but there have been some compromises that have people worried, which is it? >> well, we think overall it's a good bill. we think one area that we've been particularly focused on is the title two of the bill, which provides for an orderly way for the government to take over a large financial institution, if it is failing. and unwind it and break it up and sell it off in an orderly way without taxpayers having to take any exposure and imposing it on shareholders. this is a process the fdic long

used for banks and it works well and it is a process the smaller institutions have to deal with and we think larger institutions should have to deal with the same type of robust process that imposes the losses on the shareholders and creditors. with this new resolution authority we will make clear to the market that too big to fail is over and the government will not bail these institutions out and if they're going to invest in these large institutions by their debt, they better do their own due diligence and find out what is going on oin that institution and how well it's managed and what kind of risk it's taking. this will create market institution for these to derisk and that is good for all of us. the consumer protection unit is very important, too. i don't think we've done as good a job as we could have protecting consumers going into this crisises and that's clear. having an agency specifically charged with consumer protection writing those rules and monitoring the markets and early intervention. when mortgage lending standards start to deteriorate have good

stra standards across the board. i think on the derivative front, derivatives are appropriate as a risk management tool, but they could be misused. >> can i go back on that? the $52 billion component of that. there are those that say that basically, one of our guests said earlier it is basically a slush fund for the administration to use. >> said basically the same thing that the better way to go is to just let these companies go bankrupt rather than set up a fund -- >> i think that is misinformed opinion. first of all, bankruptcy does not work. we saw with the leeman brothers bankruptcy, the entire market seized up after the lehman brothers bankruptcy. bankruptcy is a process that is abrupt and immediately disrupts credit flows followed by a large intermediary and gives the rights to counterparties to pull all their collateral out of the failing institution which

creates a lot of liquidity and disruption and our process is one where the institution is put into resolution. we can set up a bridge facility and provide temporary working cap at the bridge facility to continue providing credit as we break up the institution and wind it down. >> are you satisfied, though, the components of the bill as it stands now clearly define what is too big to fail because the critics say and i'm playing devil's advocate with you -- >> i'm glad you are. there is a lot of misinformation. >> the critics out there say that who determines what's too big to fail as one of the flaws in this bill. it is not clearly enough to find and that brings up the comments about a slush fund, you know, the government makes to make choices instead of it being clearly defined in the bill. is that the case or not? >> it is not. first of all, our process is every bit as harsh as bankruptcy. the secure creditors take any losses with the failure and secured creditors are paid only

to the extent they have good collateral to justify their claim. we are more efficient, though. we are faster. we have the ability to require derivatives counterparties to continue to perform on their contracts and that way we are probably harsher than the bankruptcy because unlike lehman when you saw a giant exit to the door and a lot of counterparties pulling all the good collateral out to compensate themselves, they cannot do that with this process. the boards of directors are gone and the senior management is gone and the employment contracts and the bonuses and we have the power to repudiate all that. this is a time tested process used for banks and smaller banks face this type of process every friday afternoon. the smaller, the community bank strongly support this resolution of authority because it basically puts the same type of discipline and harsh process on the larger institutions that they have to confront. so, it's just, it just suggests otherwise that it's really not the case. this is designed to end

bailouts, not perpetuate them. the $50 billion fund is there to provide working capital to make, you're going to get a better recovery if you have an operating entity compared to one that is liquidated. this is working capital. the government is paid back off the top as the assets are sold. we don't want the government really providing that funding either. we don't want taxpayers to have to be anywhere near the failure of one of these large institutions. >> they don't want to either. >> that's why we want the large banks to pay an assessment. the very large, the wall street banks will pay into this fund to provide us with working capital, really, for the funeral expenses for these large entitieses. >> let's step away from financial regulatory reform for a moment and go to a baseline question. have bank failures peaked in this country, number one? number two, when you have to go in and unwind a bank, are you finding that the buyers of those banks assets are more eager to

pay more for them? so, first, have they peaked? >> they have not peaked, but i think they will towards the end of this year. and we do think things are improving. we had 140 bank figures last year, that sounds like a lot, but a small percentage of the 8,000 or so insured banks in this country. >> we had 50 last week alone -- >> no, 50 this year so far. we think it will be more than 140, but less than what we were projecting, for instance, three months ago. >> the pace is slowing. >> the pace is slowing. there will be smaller banks. smaller banks that will fail. the dollar amount ofs assets will be lower. and i think, again, not as many banks, some of the banks that we thought were going to fail have been able to raise capital and they have come off of our list and we even found when the banks fail we get better prices to your second question and that's also a good sign of economic improvement. we think it is getting better. >> you have raised money in the insurance fund by assessing the

members of the banks. >> right. >> does that "war chest" cause you to move more quickly to take over a bank or not? does it have any effect? >> let me say, first of all, thank you for bringing up the depauosit fund which we had for6 years. it's not a slush fund. it has never been used for -- >> i didn't say that. i said war chest. >> i wanted to get back to the earlier question of this -- the fdic has a long, proud history of using those funds only for what they're provided by statute to be. the statute is very clear at $50 billion fund working capital for resolution and we have a strong record for insurance funds. thank you for letting me get that point in. i think we are by statutory requirement and by cultural commitment we minimize losses to the deposit insurance fund and the industry pays assessments to give us the money to always protect and insure depositors, but we also are backstopped by

the federal government, by the taxpayers. we are very judicious in guarding that fund and minimizing our losses because we don't want to have to turn to taxpayers and we have not had to turn to taxpayers throughout this crisises. so, i think the fund is there to make sure that we have the resources to protect insured depositors and we guard it carefully for that purpose. >> is it big enough? you asked some institutions to prepay. >> we have. >> is that sufficient? >> i think our cash resources. we collected $45 billion from the industry at end the of the year and had about $66 billion in liquidity going into the first quarter of this year and that liquidity holds pretty stable. so, yes, we think we have more than ample cash on hand to deal with this. again, we have very wide authority to borrow from treasury, if we needed to, to protect and insure depositors but we don't think that is going to happen. >> can i turn you to the securitization mark because one of the reports on cnbc this morning, which did move the market, was that there is pressure mounting within the fed itself to start to change the

mix in terms of the mortgage-backed securities, perhaps that particular strategy a little bit earlier than expected. the state of securitization where it stands right now and should the fed do that? >> well, we would like to see the securitization market come back, but we want it to come back in the right way. so, it, it resulted in a very bad outcome going to this crisis. it resulted into a lot of deterioration of lending standards and, so, when securitization comes back, we want to make sure when it comes back it comes back in the right way. i think the fed has difficult decisions that they have been buying mortgage-backed securities and they are exiting out of that and tough decisions to make about the pace at which they do that and they're handling it the right way. i have a lot ofbernanke, he's b masterful throughout this crisis. i think at some point we need to see whether the housing market can sink or swim on its own and i think they're being very careful about this, but at some

point we need to get the market back standing on its own two feet and i think the fed needs to exit. >> back to the question of financial regulatory reform. as i understand the dodd bill, it will effectively require banks to spin off their swaps businesses. is that, is that a good public policy to move them into some special purpose vehicle or not? >> that's a good question. i think the focus is on dealing and derivatives, not -- banks, themselves, there are good derivatives and bad derivatives and some are very good. we certainly want banks to be doing that. the question is if they're acting as dealers for derivatives. should that be done in a bank or be done somewhere else? we are supportive of having that done out is insured depository with the one caveat that we do not want a capital release. activity that is done inside insured deposit. we have higher capital standards for insured depositories.

so, we would not want to see capital being released, being held against that higher risk activity because it would be moved into a less regulated venue. that's an unintended -- >> is credit flowing sufficiently or not? >> credit is getting better. the loan balance for the smaller institutions rvesh actually, are staying higher than they are for the larger ones. i think there is a mixture of factors. borrowed demand has been declined. but i think that's privy, too. >> we want you to get back. we've kept you long enough. thanks, ms. bair. call it what you want, big brother, wall street appears to be headed for some changes. you just heard. what type of regulation do we need? that is the subject of wide-ranging debate and that is this week's "inside word." >> these are reforms that will put an end to taxpayer bailouts that would bring complex

financial dealings out of the shadows that would protect consumers and give shareholders more power in the financial system. >> i think the american public understands that when congress gets a hold of something and creates a 1,300-page bill i doubt it is going to be effective. >> there was this period where we were on again/off again with respect to bailouts and i think this institutionalizes that and i would find a way to reform the bankruptcy code. >> they would learn to live with this. isn't that the public understands every last details of derivatives that they're not. if they are traded on an exchange and if there's transparency and if their margin and capital requirements so we don't have aig calling up hank paulson the day after lehman failed by the way saying, us, too. >> true reform comes if regulators truly understand what they need to look for in the market and if conduct and practices in the marketplace itself change. >> the two greatest lovers of regulation right here. what do you think, dennis?

>> the word of the day was regulation and you may also use rake them over the coals and securities was always protecting the less sophisticated investors because they needed it. but now we're moving more and more towards protecting the swaps traders. is the sec protecting like two or three big banks that are doing nothing but trading for themselves. >> the thing that i don't understand is what we learn during lehman brothers, we have a system for this, it just takes too long. when i look at what they're proposing y don't see how it gets shorter. you are going to get three bankruptcy judges up in the middle of night and get somebody from treasury and the committee to decide what to do has only gotten bigger on this bill, not smaller. >> a paragraph in the journal, you just lift capital requirements on everything and another guy a week ago said, actually, if we had derivatives just fall under chapter 11.

as soon as a company goes chapter 11, that would freeze it and stop a domino effect, he argued. >> that would be tough. but that's something to be considered. guys, what do you think? no, no, you're going -- sorry. >> speaking of investment and fraud, fraud charges, allegations, a board member at goldman sachs passed on insider information about that warren buffett deal. we have mary thompson here with the latest on this. can the reputation of the firm survive? >> it's an interesting question. you know, legal and governance expert that cnbc spoke to has been calling goldman's handling of its problems subpar while criticizing the board for its silence. michael says well not devastating yet. over time it could hurt goldman's brand, as well as its business. >> boards and ceos and cfos are fairly risk averse right now and couple that with the aggressive marketing that goldman's

competitors will be doing and i think that's a recipe for long-term damage. >> ford motor company and blackstone chairman said they will be remaining clients but more voices need to be added to that chorus and that goldman needs to be more vocal, too. it denied that fraud charges detailed why it believes the charges are false and sending lloyd blankfein and its army of oothers to testify before the senate on tuesday. still too many say it's not enough. the firm's board needs to step up. acknowledge there's a problem and assure investors that they are working on it. however, the board is facing its own problem. reports say director who is stepping down in may passed down inside information to a hedge fund manager, sound particular? rajaratman has been charged with insider trading and he has denied those charges and the attorney didn't return our calls

seeking comment. one person who declined to be named because their firm does work with goldman says even if the firm believes they will be exonerated on all counts, they need to be more hummable and respectful to the fact that people have a lot of questions about this and that those questions need to be answered. >> day by day, something new. >> something new. >> brick by brick it feels like. >> you have to think that, you know, you have to at one point try to get out in front of this story which they, they've been making efforts, certainly, from goldman's standards they have been a lot more vocal on things and they acknowledged in that letter to shareholders that they sent out with their proxy statement they're concerned about the risk of media attention and they still don't seem to be out in front of it. really, the report on, i think the director, is very damaging. >> very damaging. >> and very troubling. because, you know, they've always considered themselves best of breed. if you have a director of a best of breed firm, it can't sit well

with their clients. right now, market reporters beginning with bob pisani down at the new york stock exchange. >> hello, michelle. people ask me, why does the market keep going up? because the news keeps getting better here in the united states. look at ed wolf's comments this morning. transports are at a new 52-week high right now. looked at all the evidence and put out a note this morning. railroads strong volume trends being driven by real demand growth rather than temporary restocking and talked about the trucking business this morning. business there was strong, as well. increased activity he saw in the business sector because people started fixing up their homes. all transports hitting 52-week highs here today mostly in the trucking sector and all around throughout that particular area. let's move on. housing has been strong. not only new home sales but existing home sales had good numbers in the last two days. the home builders are all up dramatically, thank you. there's the home builders. this is this week in all these

major stocks. finally, can i put up building materials here? because those also have been up here throughout the day as we have this great home building numbers. merck is up because they quantified health care reform and it's not as bad as expected. tyler, back to you. up next, they say it is a good time to buy a house if you're in the market. jane wells has a very, very roomy place to show you. hi, jane. >> yes, for you and about 5 million of your best friends. aaron spellings' show one was "the love boat" you could fit it in the lawn of his house here. we only need $150 million. candy spelling said she is getting some offers. find out about those. here comes jack jones. bull market or bear, traders are always hungry for ideas. they find them at td ameritrade. trading's all about strategy. and strategy... is all about information. so i start my trading day... with td ameritrade's morning perspective.

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welcome back to "power lunch." rick santelli here. what do we have to look forward to in the credit markets next week? supply. it has been so crazy around here, i haven't had a chance to talk about supply because next week we will have $118 billion of 2s, 5s, 7s, 42 billion respectively, but also add in $11 billion for five-year tips, whichic i whichic actually is $1 billion more than the last look. starting in the second week of may, we have the may refunding

and today the treasury on the website put up the normal questionnaire for dealer that they want refunding. one of the question is, hey, did deficit slim down a bit and what coupon should we alter and how? like the fed selling securities, their words, their questions are going to move markets long before the actions. last but not least, we will pay close attention to the ongoing hot potato in greece in terms of the credit market. imfs, who is going to write a check before the greece need to write a check. sue, back to you. >> thank you, rick. according to forbes, it is the most expensive home for sale in the world. $150 million. the neighbors include hugh hefn hefner. is anybody capable of buying in this economy? sue joins us from the backyard of the manor with the answer. >> it is unbelievable, sue. this is the house that dynasty

built, charley's angels, the love boat. but the owner is putting the house up for sale now because at 56,000 square feet, it is just too big for one person. how many rooms are in the house? >> i don't know. >> that's understandable. candy spelling's mansion is the biggest in a town where you can never be too big. but after losing her husband, legendary producer aaron spelling four years ago, she wants to downsize. hoping to sell their 56,000 square foot mansion. >> i think it has everything to offer. >> for $150 million, it better. seven bedrooms, 27 baths, a bowling alley, screening room and there's the painting annie warhol made after seeing her on the set of "love boat." even what spelling claims is the original painting of "dogs playing poker." the house has been on the market

a year and spelling has said she has gotten offers, but she won't name names. >> one offer was offhere money, which i wasn't comfortable with because i didn't know how i would bring it into this country and then they wanted the house so badly they also offered me a gulf stream. >> reporter: she said no. another offer involved stock from two unnamed companies, but as a veteran investor, she turned that one down, too. >> i didn't think that either company was going to go anywhere and i was right. >> has anyone come in and really low balled you, like ridiculously? >> yes. i have -- and it was really, you have to understand, in anyone's language it was an incredible offer, but it was too low for this house. >> candy spelling said she's open to lowering the price, but she doesn't need to. she owns the price. >> there never was a mortgage. my husband didn't believe in mortgages. >> which may make candy spelling the only person in los angeles

who is not under water. of course, she doesn't have a mortgage and she still has taxes and won't say what the upkeep is only that it is allot and then there is the insurance. the warhol and the dogs playing poker. there were a few by well-known artists that we doont show you. she flies commercial, although not coach. >> maybe kate gosselin could use some of those. time now to go off the chart. red robin more than doubling since lows last march. joining us to go inside those numbers a guy that recently upgraded the stock to buy. senior analyst with key bank capital markets. brad, welcome. good to see you. let's talk about where you see this stock going from here. it's in the high 20s. where do you think it will be a year from now? >> well, we have a 12-month price target of $33, we think that's very reasonable and believe if same-store sales do

continue or do recover along with what we're seeing in a lot of the space it could go higher than nat. . >> a lot of competitors in this marketplace for burgers with a plus. you know, it's not just your fast food restaurant. what makes them stand out and why do you think they can keep growing? >> you know, i think one big thing with this place is it's differentiated in the fact that it's appealing to both adults and children. they have the balloons and the waiter that dresses up as the robin going throughout the restaurant once a week. and they also have quick table turn times. below 40 minutes at lunch and about 44 minutes at dinner. so you can get in and out before your kids really blow up. >> i like this stock at $29 a share, talk to me about its valuation compared with its peer group. >> valuation is still a discount to the peers. it's right now trading on an enterprise value even dollar basises down in the 5s, about a 5.7 times.

the peers are trading at about 7.5 times. it's been held back and rightfully so to some point because they did severely underperform in 2009. >> all right, brad, thanks very much. go have a burger. >> thanks. coming up next, a glitzy event at chriti's. movers and shakers and business entertainment and fashion were all on hand and so were we. >> so was michelle. >> we'll show you what the bold and the beautiful had to say about the economy on the other side of the break.

welcome back. christie's green auction to benefit the environment pulling in millions last night in new york. cnbc was there to talk to the world of movers and shakers. here's the state of the luxury consumer and economy from a couple well-known faces that were there. >> very booming like 20% of the move. so, still very, very hard over there. but america is back and consumer america is back in the stores and things are looking good in america. >> i think the worst is behind us. once again, big issues for us are still consumer confidence, high unemployment and they affect the kind of travel that takes place and we're starting to feel better. >> the market in australia and the market in new york give on the difficult economy that we have been going through, i feel that everchally will pick up again because people always need homes to live in. >> great deal of confidence

returning into the market. spectacular sales coming up here in may. probably some of the best works to be offered for some time and they're going to do extremely well. >> i would give the advice to put a lot of focus in the international market right now because as far as films is concerned, it's becoming stronger and stronger and stronger. >> wow. >> wow, it was really positive across the board. america's back. the option market has turned. >> that's great news. >> i remember jonathan saying some of the very same people were saying the death of the consume consumentsumer was going to be fundamentally changed for a long time. things kind of revert back, don't they? >> michelle, what was the atmosphere like? some of these things are really glitzy and after the 2010 economic crisis it was not en

vogue to have the big events. >> people were willing to show up and ken griffin was in a back room somewhere looking at a picasso he might want to build on. >> how does this benefit the environment? >> it's to save the earth campaign that they're going to donate the money to four different environmental groups. >> what were the items being auctioned? >> damian hirsch painting that was titled "all you need is jealousy." went for $92,000, fraump. a lot of contemporary art and a lot of trips and silent auction kind of stuff. >> that sounds like it was fun. straight ahead, mike huckman is back and he has some movers in tech at this hour. going green with the greens. we'll tell you about a restaurant that doesn't put the calorie count on the menu. they give you a carbon count. special "power lunch" dish in two minutes.

welcome back to "power

lunch." here are some of the stories we're following at this hour. new home sales surged 20% in march. former credit rating industry execs tell a senate panel congressional investors led analysts to award safe ratings to risky investments. and the coast guard reports no oil appears to be leaking after the drilling rig that exploded and sank in the gulf of mexico. ty? sue, tech names on the move and for that we go to mike huckman. >> mostly big caps and a couple beyond big caps today because as data continue to point to a turn around inerts certain parts of the economy, spending on big stuff that is supposed to last a very big time went up 4%. it's having a ripple effect in several stock sectors today. analysts and investors believe that is a solid indicator and businesses and corporations are oep oening up their wallets again. so, for example, we're seeing a share of rallies in peripheral products.

netapp, sandesk and western digital is surging 9% right now. it could also be the halo effect of earnings out of sandisk which blew away analysts' estimates. now, we will go beyond the big caps. investors are hitting the jackpot today with international game technology. the stocks up right now 9% right now to a new high after the slot machine maker reported earnings in mind with expectation and revenue that came in a little light but gamblers putting more coins in their machines and casinos picking up the pace. back again to business spending going up. but it's not all triple 7s, it is still keeping tight control of costs because it says the operating environment remains challenging. dennis? >> all right, thank you, mike. some are used to counting calories, how about counting carbs. tracking the carbon imprint of your food choices. that's a new restaurant opened in new york and it has that angle going just in time for

earth day this week hoping to make you and the planet you live on healthier. it is called otarian. the owners claim their vegetarian menu is the first in the world to count carbon. make customers aware of the impact of the food choices. can carbon friendly delicacies be profitable. ? let's talk about it with the restaurant owner. thank you so much for being with us and radica is rocking a look that is both playful and refine. now, this vegan thing and the vegetarian restaurant, a simple comparison a wendy's double cheeseburger versus a vegy burger. what is the difference in the carbon count and how do you measure that? >> i think a kg of carbon, if you think of it in terms of -- >> a kilogram. >> i know you guys talk in pounds, i'm still getting used to that. a kilogram of carbon -- >> 2.2 pounds.

that's the wendy's double cheeseburger. >> that's the saving it would give you as compared to a general meat burger. >> but one half of the wendy's burger. you said it is 2.2 less -- >> what we've done is we compared our menu to generic meat items. for example, we compared a tex mexburger on our menu compared to a burger made with a beef patty with a 130 gram beef patty compared to -- >> what are the two ratings? what are the two readings? how many kilograms for one versus the other? >> i'm not sure of the exact readings here, but there is an offset of 1 kg for the burger if you choose our burger over the meat one. >> have you found a really popular hook, you know, the whole greeny thing? basically vegan is no butter, no animal products at all. is this vegan? >> no, there's cheese there. >> okay.

do ayou think the market out there. are you going after people who are vegetarian and green consciouses or convert the unwashed masses like myself? >> i think i'm off to everyone who has an environmental conscious because everybody has one nowadays but what's lacking is people don't have the time. they're money conscious and they don't understand the measurable benefits of what they're doing. what we are providing the benefits in terms of carbon by choosing our meal -- >> you've done it for them, more importantly michelle loves to cook, i love to cook but if you try to put this together yourself one you don't know what the carbon imprint is, two, it's hard to do. how hard was it to come up with the differing menu items and compute the carbon. not your typical business model. how challenging to put together as a business? >> we started with a 600-dishes

on our menu and we had 14 different shifts to get the taste correct and after that we had it carbon footprinted which meant we had to exclude certain things and sometimes you realize local isn't good enough because in the case of the united kingdom, we did a whole taste and saw a tomato sauce in spain and denmark was better than tomato grown in the united kingdom. >> we only have a few seconds left. are you basically giving simple little figly for cover. because i go to your restaurant i feel a lot better about myself and i'm a lot greener but i took my rolls royce and my driver to get there. are you giving us a new way to do this rather instead of omaking sacrifice in our lifesty lifestyle. >> if you eat good, if you eat a good vegetarian meal for the week, you've really done your carbon for the week. >> i feel much better about my

lunch today. >> you're empowering people to take that first step. >> the most important thing i have to tell you, if you choose them you save 3 kilograms of carbon and that is equivalent -- >> let's eat. thank you so much. good to see you. coming up, the push for financial regulation and the greek credit krcrisis plenty of potential headwinds. next week's markets? the smart plays for next week on the other side of the break.

time now for the trader triple play and the best trades for next week from our experts beginning at the nyse peter costa president of empire executions and at the cme we have rich regan and at the nymex tim jennings of vantage trading. peter, rome may not be burning but it looks like greece is and, yet, it looks like the dow is up yet again. what gives here? >> i think, you know what it is, you know i'm bearish. i have been on this show and on every show on cnbc and i've been bearish since 9700 -- >> glad to vuiohere, peter. >> i'll be honest. i'm sucking wind with being

wrong about my bearish comments but what is happening is a lot of money is coming out of, you know, something, we have a lot of good money, this is what i hate to say to you guys, but we have a lot of good money chasing something that may not be there on u.s. equities. a lot of money coming into the market and coming into europe and coming into the u.s. and looking for some place to be safe where it looks like they'll get a better return. you know, to me, that's not a way to invest. >> rich, pick up on peter's thoughts there and react. >> i think what we're seeing right now is foreign money come ing into the u.s. we're seeing a huge improvement in earnings and a big improvement in the economy and basically everything except the job's number is getting much better. that is giving benefit to this rally and that's why we continue higher. >> tim? >> i was going to say, that's one reason why we're seeing oil doing what it's doing, right? >> absolutely. >> tim? >> tim, go ahead.

talk about oil. >> i was going to say that the market's responding to the economic numbers whether they're accurate or not and the fact that that dollar is lower today for the first time in seven days and this, in spite of the fundamentals of the, mat which shows us adequate supplies going forward. that is the thing that traders are looking at in terms of the energy picture. >> lightning round here, our friend jim cramer likes to say, that is your best play, your best trade for next week. peter costa, what will it be? >> black rock. earnings due out monday and i think when they took over bar clay's asset management i think it was a great move for them. even though it's a $202 stock or maybe a little higher than that, i still a lot of room on the upside for that company. that company hitting on all cylinders. >> t.roe price among them. >> tim? >> the long s&p futures. we have seen nothing but buying coming in. even when the sellers come in,

huge buy programs that come in to meet it. the goldman news hardly put a dent in the market. >> tim jennings, your best play of the week. >> i think the june/july spread that is $2 today and big move in the last two weeks. i think it's a little over done and i think it will narrow. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. this special note, guys, to peter costa, i know his pain, i was wrong all the way down. >> he's honest about it, though. just when you thought you heard everything about the financial meltdown, 401(k)s were melting and spreads were widening and, guess what some top officials at the sec were watching. >> no, not the bond market apparently. maybe the bondage market. you're not going to believe the answer to this one. gecko: quite. boss: come a long way, that's for sure. and so have you since you started working here way back when.

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the sec is on capitol hill's radar, again. this time over reports agency staffers spent hours surfing porn websites while on the job.

hampton pearson is in washington with more. >> hey, dennis. it turns out the notion of sec employees porn surfing on the job in the middle of the financial crisis isn't the only thing that is being exposed here. it turns out this is really old news with some questioning the timing of republicans turning up the heat again on the sec. believe it or not, the "washington times" broke this story back in february. through a freedom of information request it found a few dozen employees out of a staff of 3,500 surfing for porn at work. in march they updated the probe citing 35 investigations of employees with 31 incidents in the last two years. according to a summary requested by senator charles grassley that got leaked to several news organizations last night. the highlights, senior employees were involved earning just under $100,000 to $222,000 a year. one staff account had over 1,800

porn access denials. another incident a senior attorney reported spending eight hours a day viewing pornography on his office computer. it a violate of government workplace ethic rules but the office of personnel office has never initiated any kind of review. a private survey finds 16% of men with internet access at work admitted to viewing porn online, key word admitted. house oversight committee ranking member darryl issa who all week long questioned the timing, said, "this stunning report should make everyone question the wisdom of moving forward with plans to give regulators, like the sec, even more widespread authority." now, beyond the salacious detail, it turns out there is a real issue going forward for both the government and business going forward when i update this story later on on "the closing bell." >> eight hours a day.

how do you do that? >> you work for the government. you would think the government has better filters to just block those sites. >> how do you even get to the sites. >> from now you publish the name of the users and you publish the sites they visited. >> i would just fire them. >> some civil service protection. >> some have been dismissed, i think. >> you can only hope. coming up next, an upside to the travel turmoil caused by the volcano. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that's why, at schwab, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 every online equity trade is now $8.95 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no matter your account balance, how often you trade tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or how many shares... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you pay what they pay what everyone pays: $8.95. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and you still get all the help tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and support you expect from schwab tdd# 1-800-345-2550 millions of investors. one price. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 investors rule. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 are you ready to rule?