a little while. jon fortt's outside. we'll see if there's any news out of that. that does it for us today. don't forget to catch more "fast money" tonight at 5:00 p.m. and follow me on twitter. interesting market that we're following today on a day where crude oil hits $107. "power lunch" begins right now. indeed it does, scott, thanks very much. three hours to go in the trading day and we have some breaking news about apple. brian shactman has the latest. let's go to brian. >> the share holding meeting getting underway as we speak. big question for investors will ceo tim cook announce any move toward a dividend. what happens to the stock if he does? and what happens if he does not? also in focus, apple's response to the labor controversy at the factory in china. and any news about the ipad 3, we are tracking it all in realtime. we'll bring you any news that comes out of it. tyler, back to you. >> thank you very much. on the "power lunch" menu this hour, the soaring price of gasoline. doesn't go down too easy. being driven bip fundamentals or

speculation? >> health solutions moving higher. the pharmacy benefits manager reporting earnings today. and investors are really liking what they see. we're going to talk exclusively to the ceo,ty. >> and along with mandy drury and brian shactman, i'm tyler mathisen. we're on apple patrol this hour. "power lunch" begins right now. okay. stocks are turning higher after a fairly weaker open. another drop in jobless claims outweighing some disappointing earnings. this is where we're standing right now. you have the dow once again talking about 13,000. remember that, if you missed it, you can't be blamed because it was short, sharp and sweet. we're sitting at 12,976 right now. the nasdaq composite at 2949. per sen teenage terms best outd of the three. and the s&p 500 right there smack on what has been very stiff resistance recently.

whether or not we can close above 1360 and move even higher from there is the biggest question right now. let's take a pulse of the market. we're tracking oil prices very closely. it's very painful for a lot of people as they fill up on the way on the highway. crude oil around nine-month highs 106.85. natural gas is to the downside and euro dollar. and exploding to the upside, 86% to the upside after an fda panel backed its weight loss drug. seema mody will have more on that in just a minute. really exciting news. also sears is moving higher as well. they posted a big loss, but they're selling assets to boost liquidity. a bit of restructuring going on there. more on that one as well. and here behind me is metro pcs. those earnings sharply higher beating estimates and once again investors pushing that stock up by 12%. on the downside safeway down

big. down by -- not very safe at all then, is it? down by 7.5% now. q-4 earnings fell. higher costs driving down margins. we saw that story earlier this week with walmart as well. and hewlett packard also sinking down 5% after a 44% drop in q-1 earnings that came out late yesterday following a disappointing report from dell. remember the day before. and kohl's here behind me another retailer getting hit on dropping q-4 earnings. the outlook for q-1 also short of expectations. it's off by merely 5%. let's get to the trading floors. bob, did i leave anything for you to talk about town there at the nyse? >> there's always stuff to talk about, mandy. two to one advancing to declining stocks. we moved into positive territory in the middle of the morning even as europe stayed down. the u.s. outperforming europe. that's been going on for a while as a lot of people believe the stronger u.s. economy is helping support our markets. certainly that's been going on. europe's been down three days in a row.

we're basically on the flat side. take a look at major sectors. i have been talking about some signs of toppiness in the last few days and market indicators. transports have been rolling over as oil moves up. reverse a little today. bank stocks moving sideways in the last two days, they're up today. materials same thing. sideways, they're on the upside today. and finally the home builders which has been the big market mover since the middle of december, some of those stocks up 40% or 50%. i've moved sideways again. they're on the rise again. in other words, all those sectors starting to look stronger today. one group that has had a simply horrendous week, that's not hard to figure out, airlines. some of these stocks are down almost 10% for the week all that due to higher jet fuel cost. tyler, back to you. >> bob, thank you very much. breaking news now $29 billion in 7-year notes up for auction. and rick santelli is tracking all the action at the cme. what's the demand, rick? >> well, i guess the best way to

summaryize this is if this 7-year note auction was a bo derek movie, it would be called an 11. this is a shocker. look at the wi range, the yield range, it was 142 to 146. this auction came in below the lowest yield. so a higher price. 1.418. so it went right through. if you look at the bid-to-cover 10-auction average 2.81 this one sailed it 3.11. $3.11 chasing worth of securities. the indirects above the 40% 10 auction average. 19.3 on directs blows away the 12% directs 10-auction average. here's something interesting. dealers took down less than 40% of this auction. it was spectacular. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much. >> okay. let's switch on the "power lunch" power surge and drill down on the stories driving the day. this has got to be the stock of

the day. and i showed it to you earlier. it is vivus and it's really soaring by 86% right now with the company getting key recommendation approval from an fda panel for its obesity drug. seema mody is at a pharma meeting in orlando. this is exciting news. >> very exciting. we're talking about it being a $3 billion drug by 2020. that's at least what some analysts are estimating. a sweet victory for any pharma firm, but even more so for vivus as it's been a long road. the fda panel voting 20 to 2 in favor of the weight loss drug setting the stage for a potential comeback. it was plagued by questions since first submitted to the agency in 2010. it was rejected by the fda due to some safety concerns. the company went back to the drawing board and now in 2012 the fda panel seems to be convinced that the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks. now, the ceo telling cnbc that

he's very optimistic that the drug would be approved and he's targeting april 17th as the day of approval. now, mandy, if this drug is approved, vivus could get access to the market that could improve. saying a new weight loss drug is need today treat this growing epidem epidemic, according to the cdc nearly 33% of americans are obese. 67% are overweight. and by 2030, 51% of adults in america are expected to be obese. and 86% will be overweight. those are some pretty staggering stats. but if these projections are correct, this does create a very lucrative opportunity for vivus. >> i'm wondering who else is in this space. who would present any competition? >> there's a trio of players pushing forward approval of their very own diet drugs. at this point it looks like vivus is a front runner. anything can happen.

arena drug rejected in 2010, but yesterday's positive panel vote has renewed some hope that these other players will also get to market very soon. as you know, this has been a 13-year drought when it comes to anti-obesity pills. >> thanks very much for that, seema. >> sears has been a real head scratcher today. the department store chain misses its earnings estimates by a mile and says it's taking steps to boost liquidity, but the stock is on fire, up 21%. $11 a share right now. so what the heck is going on at sears? courtney reagan is all over that one. courtney. >> there is a lot to explain here, but i'm going to do my best. sears missed expectations by 24 cents reporting 54 cents a share. revenue fell for the fifth straight quarter. and gross margins also contracted even further. now in its first earning call since eddie took control in 2005, sears announces a series of actions to boost liquidity by about $1 billion. sears will spin-off its 1250

hometown outlets and hardware store businesses, sell 11 stores, significantly reduce inventory. the ceo says that the cost cuts announced in december that include store closings and undisclosed number of head count cuts will be at the higher end of estimates. shares of sears -- hard to say, are soaring by more than 21% on the announcement. but these shares have a very volatile history. only a quarter of them are available to trade to the public. it's a heavily shorted name. a third of all trading sessions so far this year have seen swings greater than 8% in either directions intraday. target, also releasing quarterly earnings. analysts scratching their heads on this one too because while target's release gives fourth quarter eps of $1.45, eight of the 11 analysts that have filed notes are using $1.43. costs associated with canadian operations and discounting the

loss on early -- retirement. still a beat but a narrower one. target tells us they standby $1.45 as the best eps measure. that means forward looking guidance is a toss up for the street depending on how you treat some of those items in the accounting. >> let's move ahead and talk a little about gap which has certainly been a bit of a struggling child. what can we expect? >> it sure has. i think we've seen six straight years of decreasing same store sales in the united states. it seems as if the assortment is getting better, but analysts are going to listen to hear if we see anything about increased traffic. international is a growth-driver for the gap, but last month sales were down about 10%. very, very disappointing. so we need to really listen for those specific notes on the gap call. >> all right. everybody in khakis, courtney, thank you very much. >> colored pants all the rage this year. from shopping for clothes to shopping for cars, new data out showing auto loans are soaring. what's fueling that?

and what's it saying about the health of the industry? let's bring in philip lebeau in chicago. >> basically looking at more people taking out auto loans and a wider pool. especially those with sub prime and deep sub prime credit according to expeern in the fourth quarter sub prime and deep prime went up almost 14%. the average new car loan coming in at $26,419. up about $630. the monthly payment coming in at $468. but here's the piece of data that really caught our attention, mandy, take a look at the growth in six to seven-year loans. most of those being the seven-year loans. up 47.4%. the bottom line, people want a low monthly payment, mandy. that's why they're stretching out these loans longer than ever. seven years is becoming more popular. >> maybe they want the low monthly loan because they have to pay for high gasoline prices. we know how much they're soaring. i think the average is sitting around nationally speaking around $3.61 a gallon. we haven't been here ever at this time of year. so the question to you, phil, is are the automakers better

prepared now than they were before? >> yes. much better. look at the last gas price spike back in 2008. look what's happened in terms of the engines that are going in the vehicles that people are buying. clearly people are migrating toward four cylinder engines. this is coming from experian. check out what's being bought. four-cylinder up. decrease from six-cylinder and eight-cylinder. you say that's not much of a change, but look at the models on the floor, huge difference. 22 models this year 2012 have the ability to give 40 miles per gallon. a lot of that is because you see these four-sicylinder engines me fuel efficient. >> thank you very much. >> headlines are crossing on proctor & gamble.

>> it's now the second-best performer in the dow. previously announced some details on cost cutting. their e they're projecting to cut 4,100 jobs for a cost saving and total of $10 billion. of that $10 billion breaks down in this particular way. it will be $3 billion in overhead costs cuts, $6 billion in cost of goods and another billion in market efficiency. 4,000 plus jobs cut at proctor & gamble. back to you. >> thank very much, brian. up next, the dow breaking through 13,000 on monday and then backed off a bit. we are sneaking up on it again. so what is it going to take to get it back through 13,000 to stay there? what's the catalyst the markets are looking for? we'll tell you what to watch. >> and we're watching the sectors today. here are the leaders and laggards as we speak right now. industrials, utilities lagging.

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the dow inching towards 13,000 again following a better than expected report on jobless claims earlier today. so will that alone send the dow above that magic number? joining us with their catalyst for the market are kevin, market strategist for the private client group and ted parrish, co-portfolio manager of the henssler equity fund. start with you, 13,000 in and of

itself is no magic number. but we do like round numbers. i guess my question for you would be 13,000 or not, what are the catalysts that will keep this market moving upward? >> i think the primary catalyst has to be this handoff from a government-driven recovery to a private-sector initiative and recovery. we've seen a tremendous amount of improvement in some of the data points that we've followed over the last, let's say, six months or so. auto sales better, hiring data better. manufacturing data better. that's all good. and most importantly we've seen an improvement in risk appetite. willingness by investors to step up and put -- and take a risk. so that's all very good. but there are potential pitfalls down the road. >> do you think the handoff has been going well so far? do you see signs of it being fumbled? or being smooth? >> well, i think that given the size of it, when you look at the amount of debt, for example,

that's been incured to fill in budget deficits of about $1.3 trillion a year for the last four years, there's been a doubling of debt. so at some point we're going to have to transition out of that. and that's going to be a jeopar jeopardy. at the same time you have the fed with a $2 trillion balance sheet that's going to at some point have to transition away from that in order to make this a smooth transition. >> ted, i understand you feel it's earnings that's the key catalyst to push up convincingly above 13,000 in the dow and 1360 you could argue for the s&p. it's been a little hit and miss, hasn't it this earning season? is it going to get better in the next quarter or two? >> we hope so, but earnings and the economy go hand in hand. i think we've had several years -- well, two years of great earnings. and we're at a point now where moderation in earnings growth. nonetheless growth. and i think that's key for the markets. earnings growth has a direct correlation to the price of s&p 500, for instance. and over the past three years since 2008 it hasn't matched. you know, we had 27% growth in

earnings and about an 11% appreciation in the price of the s&p 500. that disparity's going to change because we think we're going to continue to see growth. if we hit numbers for 2012, 8.5% earnings growth, that's a new record for the s&p 500. if the earnings expectations for 2013 stay in tact, i think we're going to be well on our way to new highs. >> then, ted, to what degree do you feel that high oil prices and high commodity prices as well are presenting a clear and present danger to those earnings? or do you feel maybe it's only temporary? >> well, i mean, it does have an effect. we don't know exactly how much demand destruction there's going to be. if you overlay retail gasoline prices with gdp and retail sales ex-gasoline, there truly is an effect. but we don't think it's going to be that big of a deal. if you look at the last two or three periods where we've had oil prices spike, retail sales didn't totally turn over. we can't extrapolate it exactly to the last few times we've had

oil spikes. >> kevin, very quickly, give me three -- kevin, give me three very quick places where i can find some love in this market. >> all right. we like corporates both investment grade and high yield over treasuries. on the equity side we leike emerging markets and small cap, increased allocations there. in terms of overall sectors, technology and health care have demographics behind them and need for growth in general. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. have you back soon. >> let's head to bertha coombs at the nasdaq for the three in 30. take it away. >> thanks very much, mandy. worst performer at the nasdaq 100 today is the company that operates the wireless service under the nextel brand. posting an unexpected loss. ceo promising this is going to be a turnaround year. meantime liberty interactive at a new high after posting better than expected results and saying it's going to split off two tracking stocks to better track its interest in qvc and home

shopping network and its stake in other travel sites. finally o rilely automotive at an all-time high. folks are holding onto cars an average of six years. that's the longest folks have held onto cars in an awful long time. >> thank you very much for that, bertha. straight ahead on the show, they may not be a household name, but sxc is a major player in the pharmacy better management services. the stock is up 46% in one year. and the ceo will tell us if today's earnings report can drive the stock even higher. it's a "power lunch" exclusive. >> we'll be back in two minutes. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus' dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained.

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are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. the apple shareholder meeting, the first one without steve jobs in a very long time, is taking place right now. and we are monitoring it. the stock higher by $1.53, about .3% at, yes, $514.58 a share. let's check in now with scott wapner and see which stock is on his radar. scott. >> all right, tyler. thanks so much. big news in the market today. and certainly one of the biggest stock moves is for vivus pharmaceuticals. they've got that big diet drug called qnexa. i got off the phone and seema mody talked about this right off the top of "power lunch" today. i got off the phone with the ceo of the company who had some very interesting things to say about the prospects for his company. you see the tremendous move in the shares today.

up 90%. it was up more than 100% as seema noted earlier. the ceo telling me he's very optimistic now that the drug will be officially approved by the fda. says formal approval could happen on april 17th. that's the target date that the ceo is now looking at. calls it clearly a game changer for his company. wouldn't give any sales estimates yet. but an analyst that we had on the "fast money" "halftime report" is looking for about $3 billion in sales. certainly a huge number. really a game changer for a company that has spent hundreds of millions of dollars, guys, in ten years trying to bring qnexa to market. it would be the first diet drug officially approved by the fda since i think 1999. so can't -- just a tremendous story. and he'll be on the "fast money" "halftime report" with us live on monday to expand all this. we look forward to that. >> we sure do. that's what the wap is watching. thanks, scotty. sxc is really hot and wall

street knows it. the pharma benefits manager turning in better guidance and given its long streak of double-digit growth and revenue, it's no wonder "fortune" magazine ranked it number one fastest growing company in america. it's hitting a 52-week high today. we have a "power lunch" exclusive with the ceo. mark, great to have you with us today. you've been up about 42% over the past year. your revenues have been doubling if not tripling. you added 300 new hires last year. what's going to keep you growing at such a fast pace? >> well, i appreciate being here. and i'll tell you, we're hitting on all cylinders. the i thithing that's going to us going is our strategy. the company has created a great organic growth engine and couple with a strategy that sets us apart. i think you should expect and your viewers should expect more of the same from sxc. >> what is your acquisition strategy? what are you looking to acquire? how does it set you apart? >> in 2011 we made three

strategic acquisitions and each were users of the sxc technology platform. so in many respects we're rolling up the middle market of our industry. and we're first looking for acquisition targets that are users of our own technology. it makes the integration risk much lower. and our ability to extract synergies much sooner. >> indeed. you are in an industry that's consolidating fast. my question to you is here and i don't mean to be pointed, but you're kind of like the middleman, right? you've seen united health care already take pbms in-house. so why would you be needed anymore? >> well, the fact of the matter is this issue of health plans bringing services in and pushing them out, spinning them out, this has been a long-saga in this industry. and when you boil it down, the question is who's best positioned to manage pharmaceutical spending? and who takes all day long, everyday, to build out expertise

to manage drug spend? it's our perspective that the skills it takes to run a business like this are something you need to work at 24 hours a day. so if you look at some of the largest health plans in the country, health spring is an example and bravo now cigna, each of these plans have made stra titegic decisions. we think we're well-positioned to do that. >> sounds like you want to remain independent. my last question here is, we've seen big expensive drugs like lipitor go off patent and other big blockbusters are going off patent. now people are going to generics. how's that going to effect you? >> actually, when branded drugs lose their patent and go generic, this is a very good thing on two fronts. the first front is it's a money-saver for our clients. and it's our job to push the lowest net cost therapy that's

appropriate for a patient. b but, secondly, we have a much better profit profile on a pill basis for a generic versus a branded medication. so this big convergence and conversion from branded drugs to generic is really good for our profit. >> and cost savings for the consumer like us as well. thank you very much for joining us. ceo of csx solutions. not easy to say. >> a mouthful. good luck to them. straight ahead tim cook taking the stage right now as apple meets shareholders. what happens to the stock if he announces any move towards a dividend? and what happens if he doesn't? we'll talk about the apple iconomy when "power lunch" continues. ♪ [ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid.

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm brian shactman. two and a half hours left in trading. want to reset the market. i want to point a few things out. the vix is now below 18. the dollar index now below 79. of course we have 10-year note below 2%, a lot of real interesting markers here. the dow up about 28 points now off the highs. the biggest leader right now is the nasdaq up .5%. top names some in the s&p, sears in focus all day because of the earnings call. sprint having a good day up

almost 5%. but two oil and gas names trading much higher after better than expected numbers. 9% and 6%, now the bottom of the s&p, we did touch on safeway, kohl's and hp. i want to focus on first solar down again today. not only are german subsidies getting cut more than expected, it's happening sooner than expected. and that stock getting thumped for the second day in a row. >> thumped is the word. thanks very much. gold and other metal prices are getting ready to close right now. let's bring in lou grasso at millennium futures. i want to start with silver which has fire in the belly today. what's going on with the impressive rally? >> silver up about $3 in the last week. today we had an expiration of march options. i think that fuelled a little volatility and pushed it to the upside. we'll see how it holds over the next couple days. silver's been looking great. >> gold also looking good. i think it's up about 13% year-to-date. pushing just marginally higher,

but it did break a key resistance level yesterday, didn't it? >> it did. around 1765, 1770, it had butted up against that a few times and failed fairly miserably down to the low to mid-1600s. i'm expecting us to test the 1810 range, which i think if we can get above that, we'll really start to push up to the 1900 level again. >> 1810 is what we're watching. lou, thanks so much for joining us today. >> thank you. >> ty. >> and as we've been telling you, mandy, the apple shareholder meeting underway. shares of the tech titan trading higher right now surging 27% this year alone. lots of things on the minds of investors out there. like a potential dividend, the next generation ipad and the performance of the new chief, tim cook. joining us to discuss all these things and more, senior analyst with pacific crest securities and cnbc.com net net senior editor john carney. what kind of rating do you have on apple right now?

where do you see it trading over the next 12 months? >> we continue to have an outperform rating. price target is $580 based on just 13 times. at this point we don't think you get a lot of multiple expansion, but the earnings growth we think will be there. >> does apple need to pay a dividend, andy? you don't expect them to announce it today, do you? >> no. i don't expect them to announce it today. do they need to? no. i guess they don't need to do anything. they need to keep selling iphones. >> that's a point well-taken. >> status quo feels -- >> do you think they will eventually? >> yeah. i think they will eventually. i mean, there's two issues. one, cash pile is ridiculous. and, two, coming up on half a trillion dollars in terms of market cap and it becomes difficult to find new investors. so a dividend is a way to get new people involved. >> john carney, when tim cook took over the reigns and speculate how apple might be different, i think already he's proven he's different in a

number of ways. what's struck you? and what do you think people want to hear today? >> i think people would really like to hear they're going to pay a dividend or at least that they're seriously considering paying a dividend. they have so much cash on the books. investors really have to wonder if you don't have plans to use it, there's no way you can possibly need that much cash lying around. it's always a bad temptation for management to have so much cash that they can be tempted into doing foolish things. some of that should go back to the investors in the company at some point. i think that the new ceo is actually probably more open than steve jobs would have been to paying a dividend. i think he comes from a slightly more business-minded sense where steve jobs was much more of a sort of messy onic character if you will. >> would you agree with that, andy? >> yeah. i would. so far in the messaging tim cook seems more open to doing a dividend to giving cash back. he's kind of a kinder and

gentler version of the apple ceo. >> andy, do you think it would change the multiple at all if apple did come out with a dividend? people always say it has such a low earnings multiple compare today some of these other companies out there. >> it could. i think that would come from -- obviously it depends on how big the dividend is. if they got really aggressive, you could change the multiple just because of the yield. but i don't think that's terribly likely. you could get a little bit of multiple expansion just by drawing new investors in. >> not that they've had any trouble drawing -- attracting investors, andy, but a dividend does broaden the types of funds that can actually invest. but let me ask another question that maybe sort of off the wall, i know it makes no real difference, but is there any argument for them to split the stock? either you, andy, or john? split it ten for one? >> i think it would allow some people who can't afford to buy you know at $500 a share in to buy the stock. it might help what andy was saying bringing in new

investors. you know, in the long run we snow stock splits don't make a difference in terms of price. >> can i ask about the increasing legal problems apple seems to be facing in china, andy, is this something that could gather steam and hurt the company? >> you never know when it comes to the courts. that's one of the things i've learned. there's always risk when it comes to a judge's decision or a jury's decision. as the proview stuff though i do think it's mostly noise. this appears to be a very small company that's fairly desperate and is just taking big swings to try to save itself. >> so it's not going to hurt apple's growth strategy and potential in what is obviously a huge chinese market? >> i highly doubt it. >> okay. >> andy, what's the next big product they're going to come out with? what are you looking for in that product? >> well, ipad 3 is the next one that we're expecting, actually in a couple weeks here. and, yeah, we're expecting better resolution. about the same battery life, faster processor.

basically just a souped up better version of what they have now. >> andy, i have a question. there's a lot of eyes on the shareholder meeting and a lot of hopes that apple will do at least something dramatic. do you think there's any possibility of, you know, people being very disappointed? perhaps the stock selling off a bit if they don't have anything big to say today? >> yeah. there's definitely that possibility. you know, for whatever reason people got it in their heads that today was going to be the day that the dividend was announced and went so far as to speculate on how big it would be and to the extent that that doesn't come, if it doesn't come, which i don't think it will, then you could have people selling the stock on disappointment. i think that would be very, very short sided though given the strength of the product cycles right now. >> all right. apple just turned negative as we were talking there. look what you did, guys? you cost them $3 billion. not really. thanks, folks. >> i mean, we all know how well apple has done, but just to tell people how well they've really

done, year-to-date up 27% over five years up 477%. >> i like a slice of that apple. >> i would like a slice of that apple. just a tiny bite. coming up next, the iran threat. how companies are doing business under the constant fear of nuclear danger in the middle east. plus, gas prices soaring to $5 a gallon in some parts of the u.s. are speculators to blame for the pain at the pump? [ horn honks ]

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could higher prices dig into the history. and koultd yesterday's story cause controversy? today we're going to show you the other side of the coin, that's next on the second nicest program on the network. now to mandy and tyler. >> would that be controversy or controversy? potato, potato, depends on where you hail from. let's get straight to the other brian. >> that's right. thank you very much. the topic of a dividend has now

been raised at the shareholder meeting. the first shareholder got up, took the microphone and spoke against a dividend saying they should use money to acquire video content and then jon fortt clarified the shareholder speaking against a common stock dividend as perhaps a special divide dividend. so the topic is up but no definitive news on any announcements. back to you. >> brian, thank you very much. tensions rising in the middle east over iran's nuclear threats. so how are companies operating inside israel coping under the umbrella of nuclear danger lurking just a few hundred miles away? our chief international correspondent, mechanichelle caruso-cabrera, joins us from jafa. michelle. >> tyler, as you would expect it's a subject of intense media interest here in israel. constant coverage in the media and also in the newspapers including this article that ran in one of the most widely read dailies here in israel about our interview yesterday with the minister of finance in which one of the highest ranking members said for the very first time they think iran could have the

capability to strike the eastern part of the united states within two to three years. at least that's what he told me. and he firmly believes it. in the meantime, besides speaking to the minister of finance and other high-ranking officials here, we have spent time with high-tech start-ups that exist all across israel. we wanted to get a sense, you know, there are 90 companies from israel listed on the nasdaq. how do you run a publicly traded company when you're constantly under threat? this is israeli innovation face-to-face. color chip makes high speed transceivers. components in computers allowing data to go from place to place much faster than you're used to now. in order to see how they do it, i had to get dressed up in a clean suit to go in the clean room. >> what's happening in this room? >> this is the heart -- >> israeli industry is unique for a lot of reasons, but one of course is the ever present security situation. he's in charge of business

development. half the company sales are done in the u.s., but he talks to clients all over the world. >> we intend to stay here and grow our business here despite any threat we might have. >> despite whatever threat, the ceo vows to deliver to investors and customers. he's already taken two other israeli companies public. so right now downloading a movie takes forever. with this it will be much faster? >> absolutely. it's like a third of the time. >> wow. hurry up. >> we'll do our best. >> that little device, that transceiver, transmits data at 40 megabits per second. think about what you're paying your cable company or internet provider right now, you're probably paying for somewhere between 3 and 10. you pay extra if you want 15. you're paying a whole lot of money for 50. and that little device can do it at 40 megabits per second. guys, back to you. >> yikes.

does the ceo want to take this public too? >> he was very coy about that. he's done it twice and it was installed by a private equity firm. you do the math or follow the logic to declare that's possibly one of the exit strategies for the original investors. i wouldn't doubt it. but he wouldn't say yes. >> all right. thanks very much. thanks for staying up late for us. take care. >> well, the u.s. increasingly looking outside the middle east for oil investing billions of dollars in parts of africa despite allegations of rampant corruption and human rights violations there. are we willing to sell our souls for nonopec oil? scott cohn is hot on the money trail in a new cnbc documentary that airs tonight. >> it's not just africa, it's all parts of the world including central asia, former soviet republic that sits on the shores of the caspian sea. that's one of the heart of the petroleum regions in the world.

you know when there's oil, where there's oil, there are americans. we attended the annual meeting of the chamber of commerce in the capital city rekrentd cently. u.s. diplomats have called it a choice between u.s. interests and u.s. values. critics say the regime there is brutal and corrupt. >> and it's very upsetting to see where the country's going because it is a very rich country in terms of its oil and gas. but this wealth isn't going to the people. >> while the average worker makes a little more than $400 a month, the family of the president is worth millions. that is his eldest daughter, 25 years old. we'll ask her about her money tonight on the premier of "filthy rich." you can see she lives a little differently. >> she looks like it. can i ask what are the critics

suggest we do when it comes to this kind of issue and these kinds of countries? >> it's a difficult dilemma. >> yeah. >> that this all points out, because the critics say, look, if we disengage from these countries, others will engage. so we can be a force for good, a force for transparency, but it needs to be transparent. they need to know where this oil is coming from, where it's going, who's getting the money. >> absolutely. we're looking forward to it. 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. thank you very much. of course that is coming up tonight. follow the five-point, what is it? how many trillions? $1.5 trillion trail of money around the world. >> let's go to brian shactman right now for more on apple. >> ceo tim cook addressing the dividend issue. and it does not look like we will get a decision on that today. i'm paraphrasing. my message there is that the board and management team are thinking about this very deeply

and we will do what is in the best interest of shareholders. there will not be as far as we can tell a decision on that. and we'll update you on anything about the ipad 3 and china. >> thanks very much. coming up next on "power lunch," gas prices soaring across the country. president obama expected to address it in about an hour from now. >> what is fueling the pain? can you make moneom it? stick around and find out. ♪ [ 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. there's no going back. we were just driving along,er comin' back from the lake,ng.

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gasoline prices jumping almost 9% since the beginning of the year. the energy department says the national average now for a gallon of regular fuel is $3.65. and crude, let's take a look at that. it's up $1.08 to $137.06. what's driving these higher? speculation, fundamentals? a little of both. let's bring in ceo of spartan commodity fund. and, again, capital founding partner and cnbc contributor. welcome to you both. alan, what is making these prices go higher? the economy globally isn't so hot that demand is pushing it that high, is it? >> thank you for having me. we have a couple things adding

to the fuel of this energy market. we have a rising market that had a resistance level at 105.75. we got down to that level, couldn't break through it. technicalwise it's a bullish market. probably see 108 by the end of the day maybe 108.5. i think it's based on news-related reports that are coming out with the iranian tensions that are going on in the marketplace. >> so you think that's basically what's driving it? oil prices, john, are up about 40% from their trough back in october. do you expect these prices to continue to move up? >> i do, tyler. but it is going to require more fear around the iran situation. it's clearly what we're seeing. this recent leg up here is entirely attributable to the iae inspectors leaving the country in haste and waiting for us all

to see what happens next. i would say though that the lower ban of prices still only down around 90 because if oil price did rally from those october lows on the good economic data particularly here in the u.s. that we have been seeing, the various pmi, fed reports and employment data has been a big surprise to this market. >> alan, quick answer. why are companies shutting refineries? >> i think we're at capacity. they're running as fast as they can. they're running the risk of the refineries having issues with this type of capacity that they're trying to run through. they're just at full capacity. >> but i thought companies had been closing refineries, am i wrong on that? >> they have been closing refineries. if they're at full capacity, they run the risk of losing refineries. they have to cut back. >> a lot of people are paying more at the pump would love to offset those rising prices by smart stock picks. do you have any in this sector? if so, which? >> you want to stick with the oil producers and the ones who

focus on that. i think the best in the group are eog resources and apache among others. there's a chance that the refining sector, they have held back on their capacity, but as other guests have said, retooling. i think it could be a rebound there as well. it's a tricky call at the moment. you get the companies there that have the great oil-producing portfolio with the refining flt right now for me that really is hess. hess and ox si both great libyan production coming back online very quickly at $125 a barrel. >> john and alan, thank you very much. back to you soon. >> coming up, just over two hours left in the trading day. we'll bring you charts of the day. i better find one. >> me too. >> "power lunch" is back in two. ♪ [ male announcer ] the 2012 m-class

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welcome back to "power lunch." update you on the apple shareholder conference. the shareholders have some great questions. one shareholder asked about facebook friend or foe tim cook said facebook is a friend. i'm not going to comment on your second question on the tv. just to recap, no decision on the dividend. doesn't look like we'll get one today. no announcement on apple tv.

back to you, mandy. >> let's see what the markets are up to. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500. the dow is currently at 12,976. no 13,000 in sight just yet. the s&p 500 is above what has been very stiff resistance at the 1360-mark. and the nasdaq is up by about .5%. >> i guess we're 25 points, 26 points away from 13,000. who knows, maybe something will happen later in the day. charts of the day. shall we take them now? >> let's take them. >> i'm going to a stock that's basically doubled, vivus. sort of a tentative approval on a fat drug 20 to 2 i think was the vote or 22 to 2 and that stock is up 86%. >> indeed it is. i'm going to look at gold. we were talking about this earlier on. lou grasso says next level to look for is 1810 above which we could see further gains. it's off about 14%