joey t. >> dominion resources. >> and mike murphy. >> titan international. twi earnings out tonight after the bell. >> that does it for us. don't forget to catch more fast at 5:00. watch power, which begins right now. and a busy power it will be. three hours to go in the trading day and after breaking through 13,000 yesterday, the markets are looking for a direction at this hour. greece and oil still an overhang, but all the major averages are on track for their best start of the year gain since 1991. how do you make money in this market? we've got $200 billion of advice for you. kayla. >> well, tyler, it will be game on. sony's new hand held on sale today. the question that we're asking, is it that much better than your smartphone? >> i didn't get a lot of

research done, but we have nuclear tensions rising in the persian gulf. new threats from iran, sanctions starting to bite. but will sanctions get it done, or is it going to actually take military force? and i'm tyler mathisen with kayla tausche and brian shactman. and "power lunch" begins right now. >> i guess you could say markets are meandering a bit. a definite downside bias. greece and iran, existing home sales were better but not enough fire pow tore set off another leg in the rally. the s&p down about five points. tech, actually which has been the leadership the laggard today down .5%. check out commodities, the whole complex. what's standing out to me? 1.5% to the downside in natural gas heading back toward $2.50. metals pulling back a little bit, especially silver. get an update from the nymex in the next half hour and sugar down about 1%.

garmin's q-4 guidance jumped. that stock very up. something about that company was dead with gps and re-invented themselves. q-2 profits up 62% and nabors up 5.5%. drilling in the lower 48 better than alaska and canada. and nuclear exploration big earnings missed and two downgrades followed that. it's down 12%. investors hitting control, alt delete on dell today. outlook disappointing. and sales of the cheesecake factory were up but the stock selling on a cautious outlook. they are down almost 7%. let's get to the trading floor. start with bob pisani from the floor of the nyse. welcome back, bob. >> thank you very much, brian. slouching towards a greek deal not really impressing a lot of traders. in the last two days three of two declining to advancing stocks. look at sector leaders. wherever you get a day you're barely positive in energy and your leadership group are utilities and healthcare and your laggards are technology and financial, that's what the

market is looking for, direction. energy is the strong point. we've seen the spike in oil the last few days. also note natural gas has sort of stabilized a little bit. so all of the exploration production stocks, for example, in the last few days have been moving to the upside. there's your strength. but very selective advances here in the energy group. laggards, a lot of groups looking top in the last few days. financials topped out a couple days ago and have been going nowhere in february. most of these stocks are not up much on the month. and you can see now and here on the day. that's been a concern. the other group looking toppy. down several days in a row. toll good but not good enough and existing home sales in november. diana olick will be here in just a moment to give you more on that. there's the etf for that. brian, it's been moving down for several days. >> was the case yesterday too. breaking news right now, $35 billion in five-year notes up

for auction. rick santelli tracking the action at the cme. rick, obviously there's been a lot of demand for treasuries in general, but how -- >> you know, there's not a lot of difference between the auctions this week and many of the auctions we've had prior to some of the issues in europe. looking forward to next week's ltro. as he pointed out $35 billion, these were five-years. the ultimate yield at the auction .90. 90 basis points. 2.89 is the bid-to-cover. exactly smack on the 10-auction average. 44% is the 10-auction average for indirects a smidge under 42. this one 12.9. it's a redo of yesterday. a b plus auction and tomorrow we look towards $29 billion 7-year notes. back to you. >> rick, thank you very much. a do-over auction today. switch on the "power lunch"

power surge. we hone in first on housing. existing home sales surge and the nation's biggest luxury home builder posts a surprising loss. diana olick in washington now with the details. hi, diana. >> hey, tyler. you know, surge might be a little strong for the sales numbers out today especially since the december numbers were revised down so far as they totally negate that month's gains. that said existing home sales did rise 4.3% month-to-month in january. basically flat from a year ago. now, with the weather so warm this winter, you might think we'd see big every year-over-year gains but not so much. condos took the big jump over 8%. the big news was in january around reo or bank owned homes. they made a full 35% of all january sales. that's an increase from december. and heading back up to highs that we haven't seen since before the robo signing scandal about the foreclosure process to a halt. clearly it's ramping up again.

realtors say there's big invest investor demand for the homes and not enough supply. all that distress keeping prices low every down 2% year-over-year. anything under $250,000 is picking up. 73% of all january sales were in that range. cancellations though still running very high at 35%. and cancellations hit toll brothers very hard. the luxury home builder missing expectations on fewer closings. on another note though, mortgage applications, especially to purchase a home, have been tanking for several months in a row. that's not a good sign going forward, but it does say to all of the demand out there as investors as investors tend to go all cash. there's much more on this all on the blog realtycheck.cnbc.com. moving to the pharma beat, we have seema mody talking jane j. recalls of iconic brand tylenol battered reputation and facing intense generic competition and stock gone nowhere over the past five years.

can j & j's new ceo turn it around? talk about a long and winding road for them. >> it surely has been a winding road for the company. first priority for the company is to fix some of these glaring problems. they're dealing with manufacturing errors, ongoing supply chain issues and that all led to a series of recalls as you can see right here. now i've been speaking to analyst who is have covered this company since the news broke. overall a positive reaction to welden stepping down. and most thinking alex is up to the challenge. he's actually the 411 on the new face of j & j. he's a former army captain joined as a sales rep in '88. switched over in 2004 to head the north american pharmaceutical business and then returned to j & j. the question is will his top priority be? one can only speculate, but first it's pretty obvious no more recalls. fix the manufacturing problems.

second, close $21 billion acquisition they announced in april 2010. and lastly, focus on heart disease and cancer franchises. they have a couple drugs in development which could boost their bottom line. now, if he can do all of these three things, guys, j & j overtime could reignite confidence on wall street and main street. >> all right, seema, thank you very much. treasury secretary tim geithner holding a briefing earlier today to outline president obama's new corporate tax plan. our eamon javers was at the meeting and joins us from the north lawn with the details. >> reporter: the administration is calling it a framework for business tax reform. not a very detailed plan, but the big headline here is that the obama administration would like to lower the corporate tax rate to about 28% from 35%, where it stands today. they would do that by expanding the base, closing a lot of loopholes. and because of that, we can start to get a feel for some of the winners and losers sector by sector here starting with the

winners. the administration putting out a set of numbers just today showing who would benefit under this sector by sector. again, the construction industry now pays a 31% effective rate. they would benefit. wholesale and retail trade at 31% effective rate today, they would benefit by going down to 28%. and services at 29%, they would benefit. but, of course, for every winner there are going to be some losers here. we have some of those as well. sector by sector, utilities at 14%. they would see a bump up. mining at 18% would see a bump up. leasing and transportation and warehousing would all see a bump up in their effective rates. tyler. >> eamon, thank you very much. is president obama's plan good or bad for business anded economy? joining me now seth and chris edwards, director of tax policy studies at the kato institute. seth, let me begin with you. does this plan do enough for the

economy? is it good for business? >> i think it is. i think it's a really well-balanced and well-thought out proposal. and it's a serious first step towards reforming a tax code, specifically a corporate tax code, that's really broken. i think the most important thing about it is it reorients the incentives towards investment in the united states as opposed to investments abroad. and it does so while being fiscally responsible. so that we can meet our national needs while not shifting the tax burden on to the middle class. >> chris, the rate comes down from a top rate of 35% to a top rate of 28%. a lot of preference items, a lot of subsidies, a lot of writeoffs seemingly go away. so it's not a zero sum game depending on what industry you're in. but the other side of this is that as i understand it it raises revenue. is that the killer item in this proposal? >> yeah. >> nobody on the right wants more tax revenue coming in. >> the president's talking out of both sides of his mouth. he closes a few legitimate

loopholes in this plan, but he opens a lot of new loopholes. he has special new loopholes for manufacturing, green cars, for business wages and that sort of stuff. and some of the loopholes he would close such as reducing depreciation reductions are not loopholes at all. in fact, reducing depreciation are anti-competitive. the average corporate rate amongst all the major industrial companies is only 25%. our rate with state tax on top is 40%. so we need to lower the rate a lot more than the president is doing today. but i do think his lower rate is a step in the right direction. i'm glad they're talking about corporate tax reform. but there are items here i don't like. i'll give you one more, he tries to penalize the foreign operations of u.s. corporations. that is not sensible policy. the foreign operations of u.s. companies like general electric benefit the u.s. economy. they don't hurt the u.s. economy. so i think the idea of going after big multinationals is really wrong-headed.

>> address that point, seth, if you don't mind. as i understand it, in this proposal is a minimum tax on the foreign source income of u.s. corporations that do business overseas, conglomerates, multinationals. is that good tax policy, number one? and number two, what's the point of it? >> right. i think it's actually one of the most important elements of this plan. i don't think it's penalizing anybody. what it is is cracking down on the types of loopholes and tax shelters and tax avoiding schemes where companies that are -- they're not doing business in the cayman islands in any meaningful sense, but they're reporting profits there. they're reporting billions and billions of profits there simply to avoid corporate tax. so it shuts down the schemes. and i think that's important. you know, it's important for ensuring that we have adequate revenue. >> but the companies that base operations in the caymans or the bahamas. it's like pharmaceutical companies that do business in ireland and have manufacturing

facilities there. isn't it, chris? >> it sure is. in fact, most industrial countries like canada, holland, france, germany, they do not tax the foreign operations of their corporations because they understand that makes them more competitive. the united states is already more aggressive than just about any other country in taxing the foreign operations of general electric, intel corporation, that's wrong-headed policy. >> gentlemen, we have to leave it there. i saw, seth, you were shaking your head. i'll take that as you disagree with chris on that particular point. we have to leave it there. we'll have you back. i'm sure this will be one we'll talk about throughout the election year. a programming note by the way, on "street signs" a first on cnbc interview with that man. that is the chief economist of the white house, jason furman, on the plan to restructure the corporate tax. kayla. >> and up next, the dow and s&p both up around 100% since the march 2009 woe, the nasdaq up 130%. with the dow near 13,000, is it too late to get in or does this

rally still have legs? the power player with the answer on the other side of the break. [ 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. there's no going back.

the all-new 2013 lexus gs.

welcome back to "power lunch." let's check in with the man that we call stock wapner and see which ticker's on his radar today. scott. >> kayla, thanks so much. the home builders ripped higher

since the october lows and toll brothers at the head of the pack. company out with earnings today. and they posted a surprise loss, which really seems to have spooked the street. if you look at what the shares are doing here, down 4%. it did not spook mike murphy. he was loading up on those shares as they were falling. he says that they have the best balance sheet in the game. best home builder out there. they sell at the high end, obviously, right? so it's just like the high-end retailers have continued to do well, he thinks that toll brothers is going to continue to do well because it's high-end customer's not going to be hurt by the economic slowdown or certainly as much as some of the other consumers and customers may be. so toll brothers even though it's down today is on my radar for that reason, guys. >> for whom the toll bells. scott wapner, thank you very much. taking a breather today, the major markets surging from their march '09 lows. so the question is, is there still time to jump in? or has most of the money already been made? if so, what areas are your best

bets right now? joining us with more than $40 billion worth of global investment advice is power player george chief investment strategist with william blare asset management. welcome back. good to have you with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> has this market gotten away from me, specifically? all roads lead to me. it's up more than 100% since march of '09, is it too late to play? >> no. i don't think so. we had a minicrisis atmosphere and a minibear market in 2011 because of the surge in earnings that we saw in 2010 and the significant growth in earnings in 2011. in both of those years, multiples contracted. so we came into this year with values as cheap as they've been at any time since the financial crisis. and we've seen that somewhat reflected. >> isn't that one of the lessons of the past decade or so? is it values can be cheap and they can stay cheap? >> i think that they fluctuate in a range and that's what we've

seen. but i think after two depressed years in a row, the odds are on your side for at least a significant rebound. and we've gotten globally about 10% so far this year. >> george, do you have the s&p trading at 16 times earnings. and a lot of these ceos coming out saying our outlook isn't actually as good as we maybe thought it was. so why wouldn't we see a pullback? i mean, why will the market keep rallying? >> well, i think in the short-term we could see a pullback. we've really gotten -- gone a long way toward resolving the european crisis that's been on the minds of the market for such a long time. and that's led to this rally that we've seen in the fourth quarter and the first quarter. to see some consolidation now wouldn't be at all surprising. but valuations are still not challenging, particularly stocks relative to bonds. >> you like a variety of sort of an eclectic mix of equities including some multinational consumer plays, some automation plays and some miners and drillers. >> yes. i think that globalization is

really the key underlying strategic theme that we're most interested in. and globalization means the integration of the global manufacturing production supply chain as well as the integration of consumer brands and market perceptions worldwide. >> so fanuc, pe tro bras, am i looking at that correctly? is that $14,000 a share for fanuc? >> that's 14,000 yen. >> thank goodness it's 14,000 yen. and would make buffett's company look like a bargain. where are the worries, george? >> well, i think there continue to be some concerns about about emerging market inflation and about emerging market governance generally. i would say that we're not

currently seeing a pullback in china and india, but the potential is there in the longer term. i just don't think it's going to be a 2012 issue. >> george, a lot of investors are saying the market doesn't move enough in either direction. it's range-bound. it's not going in a certain direction that's strong enough to make money. what do you think it's going to take to get some of that money off of the sidelines and back into equities? >> well, i don't think we're in a big long-term secular bull market environment like the '80s and '90s. but i think the opportunities for good returns present themselves relatively frequently in a market like this. and the opportunities for strong performance at the individual stock level are even more interesting. the real outperformers in terms of corporate return earning companies can add value over a long period of time. even in a static market. >> george, thank you very much. good luck to you. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. up next, the name of the game.

and the name is sony and p ps vita. it's a hand held. in addition to games two joy sticks, two cameras, apps, it can cook dinner and has a music player, kayla. >> but is it better than a smartphone? and is it worth the price tag? we'll put the ceo in the hot seat. power's back in two. my journey continues across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon.

cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance. yeah, you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em.

dude, those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade.

we're taking a look at shares of brocade up today. up nearly 5% after announcing earnings after the bell last night. big margins, profit more than doubled, beat the street estimates. we'll see if they can finally ink a deal. tyler. >> hi, i'm bertha coombs at the nasdaq. time for three in 30. on a day when the nasdaq is flat, couple stocks under pressure. one first solar. solar stocks overall under pressure. germany looking to perhaps cut solar subsidies. meantime rising after its profit and forecast beat analyst estimates among the catalysts they look at this year is a development of a generic advair. netflix still under pressure on the comcast our parent company's streaming video. meantime the company will be streaming videos, tv and movies on the ps vita.

tyler, i don't want it to cook, i want that ps vita to be able to clean the ring around my bathtub. that's the device i'm looking for. >> it will do that and vacuum the house and do a lot more, bertha. this is a boy's toy here. i'm here with brian. he's been playing all morning on the new powerful gaming handheld. it's the ps vita. it officially lau lly launches today. launched earlier today in asia. under $300. it folds in netflix, youtube, twitter, facebook into that ps vita. and into the ecosystem there. the question now is how to win the gamer hearts and whip the competition. sony computer entertainment ceo is here with us. jack, welcome. what's the niche you're targeting here? this is not -- this is more than some of the competition because you have web access on it, you have wi-fi on it. it does a lot more than just a handheld gaming device. >> there's no question it's the trojan horse, tyler, but we are

marketing it as the ultimate portable gaming device. when i started it was considered a toy targeted to 12 to 17-year-old boys. now we have a billion consumers worldwide considered gamers. 163 million in the united states alone. >> tell me about the various price points. where do they start? where do they go? and if i want wi-fi, it comes with it, but if i want 3g cell service, i pay a carrier, right? >> there are two models. $249 for the wi-fi model $299 for the 3g model. we have at&t as a service provider. there's no subscription service requirement. they can buy a data plan for $15 which will give them 250 megs or 3 gigs for $30. it's kind of pay as you go. they can try it out in the 3g. ultimately our motto is never stop playing. >> so $249 for the base model. how does that -- the predecessor version of this, really didn't have a predecessor per se, but there was a sony handheld. what did that go for?

>> $249. >> i bought one for my son. yeah. brian, what's your question here? >> well, again, i was ignoring everything you said. >> i understand. >> but one thing is has the interaction with your regular thing you play with the tv. if i'm playing a baseball game, second inning with two outs, can i take the game and put it here and play this game? >> if i had to walk the target consumer out here, it would be a ps 3 owner and there's over 60 million of them and they'd be their early 20s and they'd be male. they have the playstation network and have the trophies they've earned. all the data transfers over. look at mlb the show game, baseball's a 162-game season. play the first ten games at home and have to travel all the time, i can pick up my season on the vita and play games 11 through 25 while i'm on the road. >> as i said my son who is six picked it up and started playing what you described as the hardest game and loved it. we had two of our veteran gamers

here do their own pigeon review of it. here's what they said, i want to go up here, cnbc reviews "this device is a por sh for handheld gamers, a luxury item geared towards specific motivated and presumably wealthy gamers. why spend $400 when i can get an ipad for a bit more. address both of those thoughts. >> if you're a gamer, that's not a debate. gamers put gaming just above food and shelter in terms of priorities. if you're not a gamer, you're obviously not the core audience for this. for things like cell phones and smartphones and tablets, gaming is becoming more familiar to more and more consumers. you'll find them migrating up the food chain and looking for the experience. >> carry it with you. go ahead. >> is this a link between when smartphones -- buys you some time for the hard core gamers because they can't get the experience of this? this is really intricate with

incredible functionality and graphics, with the ipad and smartphones catch up, you'll have a new product. is this sort of a gap? >> i think you hit on two things. the core gamer is not going to confuse a smartphone and tablet experience with the vita. they're going to be drawn to that. but the casual gamer may get the introduction through smartphone and tablet, but they're going to find they want a more e mersive experience and they're going to gravitate towards consoles. >> quick final question on security. lots of companies including i believe sony have had issues with security. what have you done to enhance security? >> it's a nonstop battle. we're ever vigilant. without our consumers, we have no brand. they trust us with their information and we work very hard to protect that information. you have to say ever vigilant. you can never say we're bullet proof. it's a daily battle. >> nobody would make that claim. no sense of a person would make that claim. congratulations on the new product. good luck. it's a beautiful display. >> i'm stuck on the top of the river on the bridge. >> ask the 6-year-old -- >> yeah. jack, thank you very much. kayla. >> tyler, very cool.

i'll leave you there with your boy toys. i'm going on a hunt for yield. stocks having a huge run up, where can you get the best returns on fixed income asset sns a major power player from jpmorgan will tell you. back in a flash. borrowed technology from ferrari to develop its suspension system? or what if we told you that ferrari borrowed technology from cadillac to develop its suspension system? magnetic ride control -- pioneered by cadillac, perfected in the 556-horsepower cts-v. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. our machines help identify early stages of cancer and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life, matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor,

i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. [ jocelyn ] my name is jocelyn, and i'm a cancer survivor. [ mimi ] i had cancer. i have no evidence of disease now. [ erica ] i would love to meet the people that made the machines. i had such an amazing group of doctors and nurses, it would just make such a complete picture of why i'm sitting here today. ♪ [ herb ] from the moment we walked in the front door, just to see me -- not as a cancer patient, but as a person that had been helped by their work. i was just blown away. life's been good to me. i feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world. ♪

welcome back to "power lunch." time to reset the marketplace. spent so much time on the game, some things are happening in the marketplace. i want to point up over there we're basically now almost flat in the dow. only down 11 points. we've rebounded about 30 points or so during "power lunch" so far. quick look at the sector haet map. see changes there as well for most of the morning energy was the only one in positive territory. energy and health care. financial still the weaker. oil servicers, halliburton, nabors, all up huge. nabors up on earnings. leadership at six-month highs. weakness in the financials highlighted by regionals. my pick for best in show down 3.3%. lincoln, regions rounding it out. sharon epperson at the nymex. hey, sharon. >> hey, brian.

gold is getting a bit of momentum here going into the close as we've seen some key trading around a technical area of 1765. bringing in the buyers. but we're also focused on what happened to platinum today because that's really where the power was in the metals complex. platinum at a five-month high up 2% on the session. some big concerns about production in south africa. of course that's where the biggest platinum mine is. and we've seen some work stoppage there. that is contributing to what we may see as a production deficit for 2012 according to logic advisor's bill onl. look at this gold and platinum, it's been a key trade for years and historically platinum has outperformed gold. we haven't seen that in the last couple years, but maybe we could start to see that because the discount of platinum to gold has come in tremendously just in the last month. tyler, back to you. >> sharon, thank you very much. today's power player is robert michael, jpmorgan's fixed income and currency group. there he oversees $140 billion

in assets. full day's worth. bob makes his first-ever appearance and you're calm. >> thank you for inviting me. >> we're going to have fun. welcome. good to have you here. >> thank you. >> i'm looking as i think a lot of american investors are looking for last words on greece knowing we're never going to hear the last words on greece, i want to get your impression on whether the deal that was struck over this weekend in your view is the best of a bunch of bad possible outcomes? and whether in as some people believe, the smarter course would have been to have an orderly default that would have allowed greece to leave the euro, go back to the drachma and devalue its way to a kind of prosperity? >> well, i think what happened this weekend is decidedly positive for the markets. i don't think a disorderly unwind or restructuring of greek debt and greece leaving the euro helps anyone. i think then it opens the door to flight of capital from other sovereigns, from spain, from italy.

and we've already begun to see deposit outflows. and that could accelerate that. so when we look at what happened, we think near-term it's positive. you've got, a, going to greece. you've got the ecb kicking in. and you're going to have the imf participating. so it buys time. >> but you don't think that this is going to be a positive for all sovereign debt. you like the uk even when moody's came out and revised outlook to negative on the uk. why do you think this is not going to rise or be a tide that lifts all boats in europe? >> well, there are some sovereigns that if you're going to own government debt, there are better than others. certainly the uk is one of those. if you look at the minutes of the last mpc meeting, their central bank, the vote was 7 to 2 to pursue 50 billion pounds in additional quantitative ease. but the two decenters actually wanted to do $75 billion in quantitative ease. the bias is there to keep interest rates low, much like

we're seeing in europe and much like we're seeing in the u.s. >> and you think the treasury yields are frighteningly low. where do you see them going? >> well, they are. i have to accept that when you go out to 10-years and you have a negative real yield, it's not the best of investing environments. >> to put it mildly. some people call it financial repression, right? >> it could be. but the fed is telling us they intend to keep them there whether the range is 1.75 to 2.25%, they don't intend to raise rates until 2014. >> but they are one of the best performing asset classes last year. so you could argue even though rates are low, you could hold it like a stock and do pretty well. >> it's a hurdle. and if you look at bond investing, forget about treasuries, the aggregate yields just under 2% and last year returned about 8%. so the math is tough there this year. >> let's talk about a couple of the areas that you like rather

strenuously. one would be high yield, why? >> defaults are low. when you look at the yield in the market -- about 7.5%. i would take 9, but it's only 7.5. >> and the likelihood of default 2%? >> 2%. we would have thought that it would have gone up over the last year from there. but companies are pretty sharp about managing their balance sheets. >> and emerging market credits is another area you like. >> you have to follow where the money's going. and today the money is still flowing to the emerging markets. into latin america. >> mexico, right? latin america, mexico. >> mexico very positive if you want to live a little further out on the edge, argentina. you're getting yields of 8.5%. and then if you look into europe into eastern europe, russia looks pretty attractive. >> you say the story of the year in fixed income is going to be the compression of the spread, right? did i get you right on that? >> yeah, you did. >> is that because government yields are going to go up? or high yields are going to come down? >> well, i'm hoping that

government yields stay where they are and credit spreads drift in. >> drift in. >> and all the liquidity that's being supplied by the central banks encourages investors to come in off the sidelines. and that's what we've been seeing over the last couple of months. >> could you get stuck out far out on that yield curve if you go into some of the riskier assets and rates end up going up and other uncertainty that comes into the market? >> well, you could. and it depends on where you're investing. certainly if you go into government bonds or high grade investment grade corporates and things do reflat at a very rapid rate, yields will go up a lot more than credit spreads come in. but if you're looking at in the investment grade side, the bank sector looks attractive. high yield looks attractive. we think there's enough yield cushion to offset any surprising rise in interest rates. >> thank you very much for coming on. >> pleasure. >> first time was pretty good. hope you'll come back. >> if you invite me. >> we will indeed. thank you very much. >> up next on "power lunch," iran's nuclear threat deep

sanctions imposed by the west, what does it mean for companies that do business there? >> our chief international correspondent, michelle caruso-cabrera, is live in jerusalem with the fallout. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business,

protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. launch your dreams. [ male announcer ] ylord of the carry-on.. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained.

the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer. next on "street signs," out of focus. we've got the best start for stocks since 1991, so why are there still signs on the street that are difficult to read? why etfs could be the single biggest mistake that you make with your money right now. and real money, could investing in the silver screen be a big hit for your portfolio? we'll tackle it all next on "street signs." now back to "power lunch." thank you, brian. iran clearly not backing down from its nuclear problem despite the fact that sanctions are increasing. today iran's oil minister went on state television to say sanctions aren't having an impact. international correspondent, michelle caruso-cabrera, reporting live in jerusalem on several things including the drive to isolate iran economically. she joins us on the phone. michelle, do we have you? >> yes, we do. there are so many issues they face here. there's a saying over here,

those two talk don't know, those who know, don't talk. but that's not stopping military experts outside of israel from weighing in all over the world about whether or not they think israel could really truly have a big impact on ending iran's nuclear program. a german military analyst this week said israel is capable of striking a launch on iran that could delay iran's nuclear program by a decade. but many in the u.s. say an israi israeli would only delay by about two or three years. and also sanctions, the defense minister talked about this last week. he was in japan trying to convince the japanese to reduce the amount of iranian oil they bought. reports now saying they're willing to buy maybe 11% less. not a huge effect there. and despite sanctions, iran's oil does keep going to places like japan, russia, china, also by the way greece because iran is one of the few countries that

will actually extend credit to greece because everybody else is worried they're not going to get paid back if they give oil to greece. iran's financial system is target number one for the u.s. based organization called united against a nuclear iran. it's by ambassador mark wallace served under president george bush become a point man making companies all over the world divest from iran. >> sanctions to date have been robust and you're seeing a real effect on iran right now. the currency's been devalued by some 60%. but now is the time in an economy that is truly we believe subject to economic pressure to enact and enforce the most robust sanctions in history. >> on the financial system, wallace also wants the international community to cut off iranian shipping and the insurance sectors. he believes this will have an immediate impact which could lessen then the need for military action. now, larry haus has worked in the white house under president clinton, he's a senior fellow

with the american foreign policy council. he says sanctions might work, but those have to be backed up and bulked up with the credible threat of american military action. >> if you want to prevent a catastrophe, then we have to make the iranians understand that we mean business. and i don't think the iranians understand that we mean business in a military sense. >> so back to oil. iran's economic life blood, india has become one of iran's biggest oil customers, but because of sanctions targeting the country's financial system, india is actually working out a barter agreement for some of the oil. they're paying in rice rather than in cash. guys, back to you. >> that's i guess one way around the financial system. michelle, thank you very much. we'll be in touch throughout the day and the rest of the week. what will ultimately work in stopping iran's nuclear program? sanctions or bombs or something else? let's bring in senior

geopolitical strategist with barclays capital. welcome. good to have you with us. >> thank you for having me. >> can diplomacy work? >> i mean, certainly the iranians are showing willingness to go back to the table. they're saying they're willing to talk but also linked to saber rattle. if they want to march ahead with nuclear ambitions, it's not clear what can stop them at this point. >> their supreme leader has said nothing can stop iran's nuclear work. would an attack as michelle just pointed out merely postpone or eliminate the nuclear program in iran? and if it merely postpones it, for how long? and would the cost of such a military attack be so great as to make that a bad cost-benefit analysis? >> i mean, the conventional wisdom is a military strike can set the iranians back at best two to three years unless you can put every nuclear scientist and one woman blow up that room,

they will reconstitute their program. what their hope is in that two to three years you get an uprising on the ground and topple the government and whatever new government emerges decides to ban the mission. unless you occupy iran, you will stop them from getting nuclear weapons if they really want nuclear weapons. >> it's a bella koes regime one born out of the hatred of the united states. but they make the point by golly pakistan has nuclear weapons and you're not threat toing to atta them. >> pakistan is too nuclear to fail. it's been linked to all sorts of na fair yous activities in the region and western powers can do nothing about it. we continue to supply aid to pakistan despite the fact that the isi has been linked to attacks on americans in places like afghanistan or to the attacks. everyone treats you differently. >> thank you very much. >> coming up on "power lunch,"

mitt romney unveiling bold new tax plan. we'll dive into it. plus the most influential and powerful donors in politics today. here they are and staggering amounts of cash they're throwing at the candidates. here's a hint, there are only a few of them. that story next. [ male announcer ] aggressive new styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. ♪ the new c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services.  we were just driving along,er comin' back from the lake,ng. and all of a sudden, ka-plam. it blindsided us. what is it? our college savings account. how do you think it happened? not sure. i think something we bought a while ago turned out to be something else, annnnnd, i remember a lot of other stuff in there had the word "aggressive" in it.

is everyone okay? well, now, yeah. who knows later. ♪ forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

[ music playing [ music playing ] president obama giving his hometown some blues. mik jagger and bb king. take that. meanwhile republican presidential candidate mitt romney hoping to sing a sweet tune to voters has unveiled new tax plan ahead of tonight's big debate in arizona. our chief washington correspondent john harwood is in the house. so what's in the romney plan? we hear from the president, the romney plan comes out. did it come out? >> could they have danced to a

song like that at uva or carolina? >> duke. >> that would work at duke. mitt romney has proposed a top rate down from 35%, the bush rate, down to 28%, which was the reagan rate before it got raised subsequently. he says it would be revenue neutral because he'd have offsetting spending cuts and eliminations of deductions although he didn't specify. those are pretty popular. and through economic growth. so mitt romney is countering rick santorum also proposed a 28% rate. big debate tonight in arizona. >> there's a lot of talk today about how a lot of romney's donations are coming from maxed out donors. but that really doesn't matter if these super, super, super donors don't have any limits to what they can get to these people and what happened. >> the combination mean kayla

that the existing limits, the maxed out donors mean more than they used to. the ka scasino executive can gi $10 million. you have a texan big donor giving to multiple super pacs. someone with resources steve schwartzman if he were so incliened could give tens of millions to somebody and instantly make up a funding. >> and a huge percentage of the money flowing into these super pacs, will this decide decision 2012 for us? >> i'm not sure about that. when you get to a presidential election in the fall, there's so much public attention, everybody knows there's a race going on, there are two candidates, maybe three if we get an independent. the amount of information out there is pretty substantial. so money matters less than it does in primaries. when you're talking about

primary elections and less high profile elections, money matters more less in a presidential race. >> let's talk a little about that presidential race. in michigan the latest poll there has romney, who was a michigan -- a son of michigan, deadlocked now with santorum. what's the latest here? >> mitt romney had seen rick santorum race ahead, not just nationally but in michigan, in ohio, another big rust belt state, but now the pounding that mitt romney and his super pac have put on rick santorum have slowed that momentum. romney's up 37%, 16 percentage point lead in arizona. if he could win these two that would be the step to righting the ship. >> just over two hours remaining in the trading day. our charts -- kayla, you've been preparing all week for the chart of the day, haven't you? >> i have. >> we'll have them ready when we return in two. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices?

sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning

and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. [ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet. these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ mike ] it's gonna fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ jaronda ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom,

and people like that who work on engines every day. [ tom ] i would love to see this thing fly. [ kareem ] it's a dream, honestly. there it is. oh, wow. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] [ tom ] i wanna see that again. ♪ take a look at the dow jones industrial average. we came on the air down 35 points, now 8.5. we have definitely bounced well off the lows of the session. >> you see there the s&p at

13,060. let's move to the charts. with the sony vita you spending most of the morning and my son did too, i looked at one-year of sony and not necessarily a nice picture. down 42% as that company has hit some hard times and of course made no better of course by the earthquake over in japan last year. >> and i want to do chesapeake energy. investors not exactly jazzed about their earnings for the most recent quarter. down about 2.25%. but what you're not seeing is the attack of the short sellers. short selling activity just increased according to data explorers, increased from 2% of shares that are outstanding to nearly 8%. so people are not really buying the company's line here. >> that's four fold, right? >> yeah. >> look at first solar down 53.5%. the news of the day germany might cut subsidies for solar. the names that started good 2012 recently pulling back. with oil this high you would think thou