tweets. keep them coming. >> thanks so much for watching "power lunch." >> "street signs" begins right now. we'll see you in the afternoon tomorrow. welcome to "street signs." i'm brian sullivan. guess what, there is hope for housing. say what you want, more markets are improving and we're going to show you where prices are popping the most. forget the baby boomers, meet the singletons. nearly a third of americans are flying solo. and they are spending like mad. the staggering stats and the stocks that stand to benefit. and can microsoft finally connect with investors? the stock's been getting no respect for years despite printing money. will the xbox technology be the push the company needs to gain some respect? courtney reagan is here with a look at what else is in the news. >> thanks, brian. i'm courtney reagan. greek political leaders are meeting in athens to finalize details of proposed austerity measures. that's necessary before the

country can receive $170 billion in bailout funds. and another banner month for mcdonald's. worldwide same store sales rose a better than expected 6.7% last month as strength in the u.s. market offsets slowing growth in europe. and slow global economy or not, consumers around the world are still in the mood for a cold one. world beer sales grew 2.7% last year and expect today rise 2.5% this year. that's according to research firm. >> all right. courtney, thanks very much. stocks may be overall stuck in neutral today, but there is growing hope for another asset class. housing -- notice we said hope and not the other h word. first to the growing refi boom. millions of americans taking advantage of record low rates. diana olick is live in washington with details. diana, how big is this boom? >> well, brian, it's big. refis are on a roll up over 9% last week and up 16% in january. they now make up over 80% of all

mortgage applications. now, record low interest rates as you said are a driving factor. take a look down to 4.05% on the 30-year fixed. that's the lowest in the history of the mortgage bankers survey. something else driving the refis though is a change in the rules on fannie mae and freddie mac government refis for under water borrowers. the cap of owing no more than 125% of your home's value was lifted. now it doesn't matter how under water you are. if you're current on your payments, you can still qualify. bank of america says they've seen such a huge surge, they've had to temporarily shut down cash-out refis which are the most time consuming for the bank. that's 10% to 15% of their business gone just to handle all the new refis coming in. brian. >> there are still people doing cash-out refis? >> i know. that stumped me for a minute. >> sorry for the pause. i heard you say cash-out refi and i'm thinking what? >> there are some if you have a lot of equity in your home and great credit. it is still 10% to 15% of their

business. they shut it down because it takes more underwriting to do those and they want to take the time to do the new refis. >> i'm more intrigued that there are still cash-out refis. time to buy a beamer and a boat on somebody else's money. >> no. that's how we got to this place in the first place. >> don't housing prices always go up? >> no. they do not. have you not been watching. >> sorry. just woke up from ten years ago. thank you very much. the overall housing market is getting better as well. the national association of home builders reporting today that 98 metro areas are now improving. they also released their list of markets where prices have bounced the most off their lows. here's a look at the top five. joplin, missouri's at the top of the list, but that town had to rebuild after a devastating tornado. put that one aside. deltona, florida, 15% from the low in prices. punta gorda, florida, danville,

virginia, and lansing, michigan. winchester because that's where i went to high school and still my parents' hometown. hope you're watching mom and dad. most of the stock builder hopes ridden a wave. look at pulte. does that run make this stock a wee bit too hot to handle? joining us now, c capital markets. bob, what say you, is this run done? >> i think it's been a huge lift. the rising tide has lifted all stocks from the sector. so if you look at dr horton, pulte or any of those, they've had a massive run in the last three months. so high valuations are congruent with very high expectations for a very strong spring selling season. we think that there's strong backlog growth in comparisons. so a good setup for stocks going into the spring selling season. >> how much optimism about a resurgence in new home builder sales is already built into the

price? or is it simply people say sales can rise a little bit but functionally fixed balance sheets. >> the balance sheet issues for companies like kb homes have been addressed. we don't have any residual concern on the high quality bid builders. in terms of expectations, there is a lot of optimism. in our opinion, some warranted, our official house revenues will be up 9% this year. we're looking for 650,000 starts in 2012, which is 50,000 better than 2011. >> are there going to be 50,000 new buyers -- more buyers? >> i'm going to go on the line and say yes. when you look at unemployment ratcheting down from 8.5% to 8.3%, we're getting a great setup for the entire sector as we go through 2012. that being said, the market's anticipated a lot. stocks have run. might try to buy some of the higher quality names like kb homes and lennar on a dip as

oppose today plunging. >> thank you very much. neutral view on phm. let's welcome in david goldberg from ubs a little more bullish. make the bullish case after a 35% run this year still has room to go. >> so we upgrated pulte when it was a $4.50 stock. i think if you're going to own or build, pulte makes sense. there's operational issues at the company. management's working on getting better, driving cost, more efficiency, as they do that there's more earnings in their model relative to some of the peers, there's potential more upside relative to the rest of the group. >> wlast going to drive the earnings? better pricing, smarter balance sheet management? what's it going to be that gives it that extra pop? >> it's about volume. it's about fixing the cost structure. it's about driving more earnings growth and driving better profitability while you get the market expansion.

some competitors like lennar for instance where we went neutral on the stock a couple months ago, really the call was they're already performing well from an operating perspective. with pulte it's volume and operational excellence. they have to drive more margin expansion relative to peers. >> quickly, where would it get to a price point that would be too rich even for you, david? >> i mean, 10%, 15% upside from here you would certainly be getting levels you would be more in line with the rest of the peer group. >> fantastic. david, thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> stay with housing. some provocative words from real estate mogul on "squawk box" talking about what he calls a mortgage moral hazard. listen. >> we are the only country in the world where you can borrow money on a house and walk away from it. by virtue of not being a person reliability, we've created a moral hazard. >> rick santelli in chicago as well as steve liesman here onset. steve, what did you make of what sam had to say? he's slamming the system.

>> you know, i think he's got a point there. but the reason why the government came in was because the alternative was thousands of people essentially -- millions of people, losing their homes. and i think there's a place for government help here. it's proven though that all the government programs, brian, have not worked out all that well. in fact, the market has sort of been left to its own designs on its own. and seems to me capable of figuring it out on its own without the government involved. >> rick santelli, we've heard about fair share, do you think viewers writing myself, all the time saying i was smart about housing and feel like i'm not getting a benefit from the government because of the help they're providing? >> you know, once again, when it comes to fair, it's a relative term. what's fair in the eyes of the president may not be fair to the eyes of some in the electorate. how tall is tall? i'm tall if i'm in a land where nobody else is taller than five feet. it's all relative. and i wouldn't call what sam was

discussing this morning provocative. i would call it refreshingly honest. and i do think that there is something very wrong -- look at the way you started. when you were joking with diana olick about cash-out refis, you said, oh, no vacation, no bmw. so why in the world do i want to pay for a vacation or bmw from all the no docks and cash in the past, a card laid is a card played -- >> but, you know, you and i agree on a lot of things. but to steve's point also, if you don't do something, then you're going to destroy maybe values for people that were responsible agree. >> they're going to destroy the rule of law. what about the bondholders nobody talks about? what about all these forgiven mortgages where the guys who bought the bonds or the entity or the teachers fund or anything? it's something taken away from

somebody. you're saying you're helping the government -- the government's helping? there is no government. there's only other taxpayers. >> rick, aapplaud you on what you did a couple years ago in your expressed outrage for people you would be paying somebody else's mortgage. but what i said at the time i think stands and stands true. you may not want to pay for your mortgage, but we are all paying for the foreclosure right now. and you're paying for it through -- the housing industry you're paying for it through a completely -- what's the word i'm looking for? paralyzed financial system that can't -- >> you're exactly right. you're right. >> we've got to clear the system, rick. and my opinion what government should do is that which the market can't do and needs to be done more quickly. and so far, rick, the market can't clear itself. i don't think it's the government getting in the way right now of the market clearing. >> sam said it best. take your finger out of the dike, let the market hit the bottom. and the next day we'll start hearing. until that happens, it's going

to take another ten years. so we're in agreement, i think. >> what's interesting is i think the securitization process is the thing that can't unwind on its own. it's all the cdos and rmbss that hold all this paper and it just can't unwind and there's a lot of uneconomic decisions being made right now by the banks as well. >> guys, i'm a little -- >> that's what happens when the government gets partnered up in the home affordability little fine print. >> we have to go, but i will say thank you because i think we're finally coming somewhere. we all got along so well that clearly it's some kind of a bottom, somewhere. thank you both. >> we can only hope. >> rick and steve, thanks. all right. still to come. why doesn't microsoft get more respect? we're going to show you some staggering numbers and find out from a microsoft exec how connect technology on pcs may change the game. and later on, the government's reporting that job openings are way up. but in some industries, hiring is not keeping up.

what's the deal? lack of skills? lack of people willing to take the job? we'll debate that as well. we have herb coming up here. herb, don't worry, you're coming up. "street signs" coming right back. a privilege for the ultra-wealthy. it's a necessity. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. quickly. easily. i use pre-defined screeners and insightful trading ideas to dig deeper. work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself the one person i do trust to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship.

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stocks may struggling overall to find their footing today, but we are really in a bull market from our lows. since the october lows, the s&p 500 up more than 20%. the russell 2000 is up even more. bob pisani and seema mody are here to take us deeper inside

the numbers. bob. heck of a rally. >> yeah. i'll tell you what i like about it. and this is really characteristic of both since the 2009 and recent bottom. i'll tell you what strikes me immediately other than the big moves, this is pretty big, is diversity of the sectors that are involved. american express got a financial, caterpillar an industrial, ibm a tech, dupont material, jpmorgan financial. this is a very well diversified group that's out there. now look at 2011 and see what's going on. it's the same story. same diversified group. industrials, bank of america financial, disney consumer stock, home depot a retail stock, dupont a big material name. brian, so far the rally we've seen off of these bottoms has been very well diversified even

though financials had a tough time last year. you can see they're still participating in the rallies longer term. >> all right. seema mody, what about the technology side. pretty much the hottest sector of all has been tech. >> that's right. technology just being this hot space to invest in. a couple of key levels to point out, the nasdaq is up around 56% since president obama got elected. in terms of 2012, the nasdaq is up better than 20% since the lows of 2011 when the markets turned for the worse. the reason for the recovery? we can thank upbeat corporate earnings from the likes of apple. the risk-on rally as investors put money to work in the new year. and semiconductor stocks have been a source of strength for the nasdaq. chip stocks have been rallying on the back of an improvement in the economy and recovery from these devastating thailand floods. that gives you an idea of why we've seen so much money flowing into tech in 2012. >> all right. seema and bob, thank you very much. now, let's bring in jim paulson,

chief investment strategist at wells capital management and joins us now. jim, as always, you bring up excellent points. i want to hit the issue of stock valuations because you noted us the s&p 500 expected to come in around $100 of total earnings. every multiple point therefore is worth about 100 points on the index. >> right. >> are you confident we can get the expansion we need to say drive the s&p 500 to 1500? >> well, i think a lot of what's happening here in the rally from late last year's lows is a reversal of the fear that was generated last year. last year we had good earnings, but you had the multiple of p/e started about 15 and ended about 13. and you had a collapse in the valuation with rising earnings. you have a flat market. this year what i think we're seeing is the fear subsiding. we found out we way overreacted, that the u.s. was headed for a recession. it probably wasn't close. and we're finding out that europe is not probably an

eminent calamity going to take the world down, it's more of a chronic problem. as a result you're seeing valuations go back up. the p/e already gone from 13 to 14. i think that over the course of the rest of the year we could see this valuation expand a little higher say back up to 15. maybe totally reverse the collapse that occurred last year. and if earnings grow a little bit, you're going to get close to 1500 at some point this year. >> that's been the thing bob pisani and others have hit on extensively which is that in the past, say last year, we had the stock market do okay, but we didn't get any sort of multiple expansion probably because people are moving into defensive names or they were fearful. do you feel like though maybe the last couple of months are defining a shift into more risky and higher valuation names that will pull that expansion of the valuation up? >> i think one big thing that's different than any other time in this expansion, we're having some of the most greatest

evidence of normalization of this recovery. for the first time in this recovery in the last year bank loans have been rising steadily. for the first time we're having the biggest and most sustained drop in the unemployment rate. also the biggest and most sustained job gains. we're seeing the biggest evidence yet that the housing market's coming back to life just as you earlier were talking about, brian. we have the stock market, the dow that's already gone onto another new recovery cycle high. and confidence throughout the economy by most majors is right at the cusp of breaking out to its highest levels. my point about this is i think a big difference is we might be on the front end of the first sustained upward move in confidence in this country of this recovery. and confidence more than anything else establishes valuation. if you also consider the fact that we're starting this burst in confidence from a 2% 10-year treasury where a year ago at this time we were facing a 3.75% treasury and that really depresses the price to earnings mold.

>> bottom lining this whole segment you love amongst others domestic small caps. sounds like you made your case. >> i do like domestic small caps. i think if you're reaccelerating attitudes, that's the way i look at. this you're regaining confidence, i think investment flows are going to go to where there's the greatest profit leverage for reaccelerating the economy and that's the smaller company player. larger companies have a lot of fluff in their income statement and don't get as much leverage when sales accelerate, but smaller companies get more. and i think you're going to see more leadership in small cap stocks. >> jim, we have to go. but we're going to use that term. herb and i talking about balance sheets and income statements, fluff. lots of fluff. thanks very much. >> thanks. >> just ahead, herb is heated up about bread molds. we'll find out why and the cost of convenience of coffee at $51 a pound. wait until you see just how much you're selling out for those k-cups. herb is well caffeinated. he's here. he's grumpy because he hasn't

been on yet. he'll be up right after the break. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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there's your market. time now for herb on the street. you are talking about coffee, bread. going into the break i said coffee is $51 a pound. some people coming out saying you idiot it's about $16 a pound if you're overpaying. what we were talking about is what you'll pay per pound if you use coffee in a -- >> k-cup, pod, there's actually a great story in the "new york times" today that really delved into this and put the number out there and actually tweeted it out on facebook. it's interesting because for that ten-pack, they basically say as you can see there, look at that 10-pack about $50 to $51 a pound because you have so much involved -- my mic keeps falling off. you have so much involved in the cost. it's not the grounds, it's the making of the k-cup. >> but it goes to an excellent point which is what we are -- it's not a green mountain story. it's what we are willing to pay for convenience. >> or gar --

>> and people -- moving on. if companies can figure this out, whatever you think about green mountain's balance sheet, they figured out people will pay a lot more for convenience. >> the american consumer cares more about convenience right now -- >> can you trademark that? >> no. but i will tell you it also gets down to the issue of taste, which you and i both know if you grind it yourself, you get a better taste. right now we're not there. >> panera bread. >> this is just a great example of a company knocking it out of the park and look what happens to the stock today. down about 5% or 6% or so. the company's cfo is leaving going to iac. you know -- >> the cfo is going from panera bread, a franchising company -- >> yes. >> to iac? >> yes. >> the west side highway and the funky building? >> this is an interesting story. it's not a broken story yet. by the way, this is the first time they are actually putting a store in manhattan. they just announced that. you thought panera would be

everywhere. >> now the cfo has a place to eat. >> you wonder whether they are going to buy someone to get into manhattan even faster or whether they're going to grow there. one to definitely watch. >> quickly, because i want to give you credit with panera what you said is true. you said a month ago said it multiple times that valuation doesn't matter until it does. and you better hope for a big beat if you have a high for p/e. this is what happens when you don't. >> in this market that's what happens if you don't. also we talk a lot about dividends here. there's a company called tk tankers. the company has a 12% yield. it did have a 17% yield. i want to point out, look, the stock has taken a hit today. the company's coming out offering more shares. just be careful. >> be careful with shipping rates. we could charter a super tanker now for less than a car from hertz. let's do it this weekend. you and i an oil tanker. >> who gets to steer? >> me. >> definitely not. >> tomorrow on "street signs" we're going to be talking to a

shipper, the ceo of seaspan. the company just announced a dividend boost. up next on "street signs," do you need a job? there's an app for that. the hidden upside to the explosion of apps. and more and more americans are choosing to live alone. they're being called singletons. we'll show you the big numbers around being single and what companies are going right after this market. [ male announcer ] the draw of the past is a powerful thing. but we couldn't simply repeat history. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs, with leading-edge safety technology, like available blind spot monitor... [ tires screech ] ...night view... and heads-up display. [ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs.

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welcome back to "street signs." mandy's out today so i'm going to walk the walk and talk today's talk. caesar may not have lived here, but stock is up 64% in its debut session. it ipoed just above $9 a share. in its first hour more than 3 million shares traded hands. is motor city back in business? the big three showing a renaissance on exports. more american cars are being drifren around the world. our philip lebeau is going the whole eight-mile on the export boom for you. also helping motown's economy, apps. that's right. a new study shows more than 1% of the jobs in the metro detroit area are thanks to the app economy. well, that app trend not just unique in silicon valley or

detroit for that matter, it's a nationwide trend and it's a big one. jon fortt is following this story. jon, how big is the app economy? >> well, try 466,000 if you trust the math of michael man dell, an economist known for writing about how innovation e creates jobs. how does he get there? well, 44.4,000 job listings in the category tens to mean there are 3.5 times that many in existence. that gets you to 155. double that for the nontechs at app firms multiply that by 1.5 an outside job a firm creates and boom. here's why i think that number can be low. yes, it counts some jobs that probably already existed. engineers working on web development and switched to aps, but it probably undercounts entrepreneurs and cloud-friendly companies that haven't launched app yet. >> 466,000 jobs and growing. any sign of a top in this market? when do we jump the app shark?

>> well, here's why i don't think there is. this is more than just some new thing tacked onto tech. it's a direction that all of tech is shifting into. think about the various companys that are coming out with apps. microsoft being one. coming out with obviously apps for their own platform and also for apple's repurposing existing cloud development into mobile friendly terms which only makes sense because mobile devices are growing so quickly. >> jon fortt on the app economy. thank you very much. let's talk about another green shoot for the economy. record car exports bring in philip lebeau. phil, how many cars made here are being driven over there? >> about 1.5 million is the actual number. look, we're on a record pace right now, brian. this year we're probably going to export about 1.65 -- over 2 million by 2015. you see canada and mexico in there, that's what you would expect. but country that might surprise people number two being germany. number three china. and then number four saudi

arabia where they love our suvs. the one that stands out to me in the top ten is nigeria where sales of u.s.-imported vehicles -- u.s.-made vehicles up 32%. almost 100,000 are being driven over there. those are vehicles imported to nigeria built here in the united states. this is why we're seeing all the plants expand and add jobs here in the u.s. >> all right. phil, stay with us right now because we're going to look in the job market and drive into the sharp increase in manufacturing job openings maybe like car making. it comes from something we showed everybody yet. if you look at the job openings from december, construction 61% more job openings than in december of 201. manufacturing 43% more help wanted signs than a year ago december. but we take a look at the numbers of new hires, it's a different story. construction, the number of people hired actually fell. same with manufacturing jobs. so hiring down there. the question we had is this, why are job openings up so much in these two sectors but hiring

down? are companies not finding workers? not finding the right workers? or are people not going after these jobs? let's bring in senior fellow at the manhattan institute and former chief economist at the labor department. an odd gap. diana, we talk about the pain in the job market. a number of openings, but hirings are down. what's going on? >> it is a big gap. and one problem is that i think we have a lot of regulations that are discouraging hiring. and i think employers are worried about the implementation of the new health care law where if they don't have the right kind of health care, then they're going to have to pay $2,000 per worker per year. that's certainly effecting some smaller manufacturing companies. >> like what? be more specific about that. you and i have talked a lot, you're probably going to go back to health care and how you got to have a certain type of health care once you get past 39 employees. do you think that's holding back hiring? >> i think that's certainly one of the factors. i think the overregulation of

the economy is holding back hiring. and the uncertainty -- people don't know what the tax rate is going to be. they don't know what environmental regulations they're going to have. epa just passed a large mercury regulation right before christmas, which is going to raise the cost of energy. it's going to make some power plants close down. so there's a lot of uncertainty right now. and with manufacturing in a global environment so plants can decide whether they want to locate here in the united states or in canada and mexico, china, india, anywhere they like. >> so, phil -- >> brian, i disagree to be honest. >> you can disagree. >> i talk today a number of manufactures. those are certainly some factor, but the more overriding factor, manufacturing jobs now require more education and a more sophisticated worker. and you have a combination of you need people to do greater education, whether it's community college or in some cases an undergraduate degree to run some of this machinery. a lot of people who do that say

i don't want to wear blue jeans and get grease under my fingernai fingernails. >> i'm not going to speak for her, but i don't think she would disagree with that. >> i think that's the broader issue. i don't think health care is stopping mom and pop. >> that's smaller shop. you're talking big companies, phil. when you were in toe lee to le doe, are they going to find those people to hire? >> i think they will because they have an established base there. there are so many plants in that area between toledo and detroit. when you get away from the big cities, western michigan, there are plants on the western side of michigan struggling to find workers because they don't meet the qualifications. that's a bigger issue for the manufacturers. >> we have 13 million unemployed workers and right now we have unemployment insurance benefits up to 99 weeks. so if the real story is that the workers here are not taking the jobs, maybe we need to be cutting back. the duration of unemployment benefits and ratcheting it back

to 26 weeks where it used to be to encourage people to take these jobs -- >> but, diana, many of the other industries we didn't show have more openings and also no hires. it seems to center around construction and manufacturing where there were more openings but hiring was down. so the unemployment issue is noted, but then you'd be saying it's specific to those industries. >> i think that we've seen the past month or so and what the data from the jolts show, those show december and now we have data from january where we show that leisure and hospitality and many of these areas are actually picking up. and we had good employment numbers then. and construction picked up a lot in january also. so maybe what we're seeing in december is weather related. weather in january was a lot better and construction picked up. >> before i let you go, i want you to answer to phil's point. if there is a skills gap, who should pay? the government, the private employer or the potential employee? >> if there's a skills gap --

>> who pays for training? >> if there's a skills gap, then either the individual should pay or the employer should pay. individual should get all the education they can, but there's a lot of on-the-job training employers have traditionally done. >> all right. thank you both very much. good discussion. >> thank you. >> still ahead on "street signs," we're going to show you the most widely held stocks in 401k plans. the cool slacker singles of the '90s giving way to a new breed fueling a $1.9 trillion solo and the companies going right after this market. let's hope matt dylan never has hair like that again.

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we're going to call it widely held wednesday here on "street signs." and today we're doing all the math for your retirement equation. we're looking at the most popular stocks in a variety of 401k plans. to get there, you have to look at the biggest funds in these plans. so our good friends compiled this list of the top five funds found in the most 401k plans. number one, bill gross's pimco, total return bond fund. then into equities. american funds growth fund of america. vanguard institutional index, american funds yur ro pacific growth fund. little odd there. and fidelity's contra fund. in those funds, what stocks are in the plans? well, pimco's total return fund doesn't invest in stocks, but three out of the other four had, you figured it out, apple, as their top holding. look at this. also on the list, google, home depot, oracle, ibm and a name we'll be talking about in a moment, microsoft.

all right. herb, what do you make of this? now we know why apple's been running. >> why in the world is amazon on that list? that's the one that surprises me. >> what's your beef with amazon? >> the type of stock it is. >> you don't like the valuation. >> no. it's got a lot going on there. >> it's too risky for a 401k plan. >> riskier than say google which is in there. in this kind of situation i was just surprised to see. most of the others i think made sense. but that was what microsoft in there by the way. >> we're going to talk about in a moment. do you know it's national marriage week? i did not know that. >> love that single. >> more and more americans are indeed going solo folks. that's according to a new book on the subject called -- they're called the singletons, actually. "going solo" is the book. people live it alone mostly by choice spend about $1.9 trillion annually. so what is behind this rise of singletons and what companies stand to benefit?

let's bring in the author, a sociology professor. when this was pitched to us by the producers on the excellent "street signs" team, i said who cares. singletons spend half of what a married couple might spend. and then i dug into the data and i was wrong. they spend more per capita than married people. >> absolutely. you can see the signs of that on the streets and sidewalks of most american cities almost every night out there spending money and fueling urban economies that might otherwise be suffering more than they are. >> how much more do -- does, a singleton spend than a, you know, married person without a kid or married person with a kid? >> it's about $3,000 to $5,000 per capita. >> more. >> yeah. these are numbers that are very hard for people in the business world to ignore, i think. >> you know, you brought up some excellent points which doing the research 30 or 40 years ago sort of looked down upon, don't be single. what's wrong with you? now you have people living single by choice. and research talking to people

saying, hey, i want to live alone so i can go out five nights a week. who's benefitting from this trend of the singletons? >> yeah. there are have been huge transformations in american society. in 1950, 22% of american adults were single. today about 50% of american adults are single. it's 49% to be precise. and an enormous number of them are living alone. for young adults, getting a place of your own has become the way to grow up. it's a way to get o tonmy and independence and go out and spend a little bit on yourself. >> and maybe some of the people watching will spend a little bit on your book "going solo." interesting stuff. thought-provoking. thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> some companies going after these big spending singles, gm, they've got car ads targeted right at single women. lowe's the same thing going at the group that eric calls the singletons. and what about church & dwight.

nearly an all-time high. why would they be on the singleton list? herb, what do they make? they make arm & hammer. >> the tooth paste i use. what else do they make? they make trojan condoms. >> trojan condoms. figure out your own assumption with the singleton. we had to throw it in there. why not? >> but they don't break it up. >> all by myself. all right. is microsoft the rodney dangerfield of wall street? >> that's the story of my life. no respect. >> microsoft stock looking for respect after a decade of being stuck in neutral. coming up, we're going to speak with a microsoft bull, we're going to speak with the company's lead guy on kinect and how their games software may inspire a new revolution in pcs and staggering numbers around microsoft that may give it a little respect. stick around.

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we just showed you apple being so widely held. it's another all-time high for apple today. this is interesting, the blog says that apple is in talks with

walmart-operated sams clubs to expand their current partnership. could take the form of an apple store within an apple store within a store within a sam's club store. target evidently looking at this mini store. but we know how much you love apple headlines. speaking of tech, let's talk about microsoft, right? now, for the last ten years or so, this blue chip stock really has not gotten much respect. kind of the rodney dangerfield of stocks. it's been through ups and down over the last decade. back in 2002 it was trading right around 30 bucks. exactly where it is sitting right now. though at today's gain, it is sitting at least a 52-week high. but many market watchers, including our own jim cramer, thinks microsoft is one of the most underrated stocks out there. and potentially ready for a breakout. joining us now, microsoft bull walter prichard. i want to walk through your numbers. i want to show our viewers what we're trying to get at here with regards to a number of financial metrics, right?

if we look at sales, based on, say, last year versus the estimated numbers for a couple of years, you've got a big gain there. if you look at net income, and i believe we have a chart for this, or a graphic for this, guys, net income numbers there, you name it, it's up. but the pe has come down. why doesn't microsoft get any respect? >> you know, i think the biggest reason is the company was built on the back of the windows franchise. in the last three years, with the advent of new products in the market, that dominance and really leadership position has been called into question every year. people fear that a company that's been built on the back of windows could easily decay on the back of windows on the other side of it. >> okay. so when we look at those figures, and we also look at the growing cash pile that is sitting on microsoft's books, what's it going to take? you've got a $35 target, so you're out there saying it. but what's it going to take for investors to finally believe that microsoft is a stock worth

investing in? >> again, i think going back to what i just brought up, i think on the windows side, this company is viewed behind the times, not able to produce a device that really impresses people. and you're on the eve of the beta launch of windows 8. you've got that product likely to ship, we think in the fall. that is the catalyst for the stock. >> we're hoping to get mark whitten on the phone with the xbox live division. connect technology, cool from a video game perspective, coming mostly to the pcs in commercial applications. when can that go on the desktop? maybe you can get rid of the mouse and it's a whole new computing experience. what is your expectation for this and what it could mean to microsoft? >> i think today, i think for the next couple years, i think really touches the interface that really wows people. i think they have to get touch right. in the next 12 to 24 months, people's view of windows will be dictated and the stock largely

will be viewed how they are able to bring a touch interface to the device. i think the natural user interface, whether it's touch, speech, motion, whatever it is, i think plays an increasingly important role. i think they've shown that thus far, just around the tv. >> thank you, walter. appreciate it. let's go to redmond, washington, with mark whitney, for xbox live. kind of the last minute. we do appreciate you joining us. we were talking to jim cramer about this the other day, he thinks the connect technology could be huge with what the interface and experience is on the pc side. when, i'm not going to say if, but when it comes, what is your expectation? >> yeah, i think it's been really great. it's all about how does natural user interface change how we're going to interact with computers of all types. that's about what we're looking at with connect for windows. how do we take those tools and put them in the hands of developers. they start imagining new ways we interact with computers, that we

start doing things in our daily lives using natural user interface. >> well, the phone worked magically into video. that's what happens when you work for a technology giant. thank you, marc, for patching in. it's mostly commercial applications right now. and there's still a ways to go. but what we look at, if i'm thinking, i can get rid of the mouse, i can just kind of do this, and move around the screen, that's something we vice president seen. how protected is that, though? i mean, how much of a lock does microsoft have on the p.ip, the patents, that is all you. >> we were really excited about the natural interface use. we believe when a computer can see you, and it can listen to you and learn from you, you can start to do things that are amazing. that you can unlock entertainment, or as you say, commercial applications that we've never seen before. so that's really the focus of where we've been building both intellectual property and tools for developers and platforms, so they can take advantage of this device and start to bring those

experiences to life. that's something we're really excited about. >> yeah, we're looking at sort of connect for windows, and again, mostly commercial applications released february 1th 1st of this year. when can everybody out there on windows will be able to use connect, do away with the mouse and totally change the way they interact with their computer? when's that going to happen? >> you know what, i think we'll be using a mouse for a long time. i think what we do in windows, with our laptops, and thinking about that, will continue to be critical. i don't think we're going to be gesturing to write our documents or work in excel. but what i will tell you is that as you think about natural user interface, it expands the horizon of computing, expands the way we all are going to work with computers. some of the companies are doing things like having shopping carts that follow you around with the power of connect so you're always -- you're able to use your hands to shop and you don't have to inter act with it. you're not going to do that on your computer.

that's really what natural interface use is about. doing things that we couldn't do before. >> and that rafting game in connect adventures, is really hard. my daughter kicks my butt all the time, and she's 8. good stuff. thank you. >> all right. thank you. >> we're going to take a quick break. 2:56 here. we're back right after this.

no time for sunshine or

disaster, because we've got breaking news coming from the greece agreement. again, crossing right now. i'm getting the headlines sent to me by a contact out west. here are the headlines about what greece and the big three are agreeing to do. greece will cut medical spending. they're going to cut public employees. they're going to cut as many as 150,000 public employees. they also target selling helenec petroleum as well. other headlines there. forgive me for reading this, they're going to cut 20% off the minimum wage. and that they see a 2012 gdp decline of 5%. but somehow, a return to growth in 2013. so again, from a source, headlines about what is crossing about the draft agreement on the greek debt situation. thousands of public employees cut and gdp decline of 5% this year. forgive the commentary s