>> look, it was almost impossible not to disappoint some people because they have so much cash. i found myself thinking, had they not spoken, done nothing this weekend, we would have been focused on ipad sales which i think would have been phenomenal this weekend. but as it is, look, some firms cannot buy a stock that doesn't have a dividend. now they will. i don't want to call it a nonevent because anything apple does is not a nonevent. the u.s. government was talking about the biggest on this one. >> 15% dividend tax rate and we can debate that all day long. let's put this into perspective. this is not a lot of money, is it? >> no. >> they are sitting on $100 billion. >> every single day they are generating cash. >> generating cash every single day. they are still sitting on a huge amount of money which you know is going to annoy some people. a lot of it is overseas because of the repatriation tax.

>> sysco started low. they are expected to do something. this is no reason to own the stock whatsoever. you want to own it for earnings. >> now that they've issued a dividend, now mutual funds that need to have dividend paying stocks can own it. >> but there were people with dividend funds that say, listen -- >> that's an excellent point. what about calpers? maybe it will make it more attractive, to melissa point, to a pension fund perspective. >> right. jpmorgan had a report out saying 40% of the index to the russell 1000 do not own apple. 40% do not own apple. 77% of shares are held by institutions. in terms of hedge funds holding

apple, that doesn't affect them in terms of the dividend payout but only 40% of the market cap. >> it's incredible. you go to an apple store. i happen to have a fabulous apple store near me. it's remarkable. you go over to a store that's a gap and nordstrom but this is a heavily owned retail stock. it's one of the major issues i have with the stock market. how can people be so negative if it's right there to have? >> number one, they rarely work in terms of stock price appreciation but number two it's a sign to the market that you don't have something better to do with your money. >> except for the fact that they still have tons of money to do something zels what could they possibly do? tvs? >> you're getting points -- even if you go out 18 months and you want to buy high-quality paper,

you're getting .4. you're getting no return on this paper. you might as well give it to people. they don't need it all. >> why not do what microsoft did six or seven years ago. kick off a one-time deal. >> hey, let's talk about domino's. >> where was microsoft when they picked up a special dividend? who wanted to own microsoft at that time? >> very different. >> the growth was very different. >> but criticized widely for sitting on it at that time. apple's got 2.5 times that amount. they are kicking back a little bit. maybe they could have given the shareholders who have stuck with them through thick and thin -- >> thick and thin? >> remember, layerly ellison

offered to buy apple back in 1996 or something. >> which is the last time they had a dividend. >> i think that this is a $50 fiscal year play. that's how much they can earn. i think it's a low local stock that gives you dividend. it remains something that i think people should buy. >> everybody already wants to own apple. i get it. >> i've got 2,000 other stocks that i think are right for criticism with this one. >> there you go. >> i'm just trying to play the herb greenberg role. >> there you go. >> 5:30. >> so late? >> he's really slipping. >> he must be slacking off. >> very negative argue, very skeptical article.

does anyone care about that besides herb and you? >> we had some people over and -- >> web bush raised apple from 750 to 585th morning and also remember last week, morgan stanley raised the target to 960. that's the highest on the street at this point. >> this is completely -- these backs have been the leaders, a lot of companies saying good things about the banks, a lot of talk about the short rates going up. remember, bonds had a major move and i know that's a subrosa theme. i've got it tell you, i'm warming up to this. i didn't mention apple. i said over 120 did not mention apple. >> except for it now, you made up for it mentioning apple six

times in the last sentence. >> apple craziness. >> i wanted to throw out safeway. they sell apples. >> true. the old-fashion apples. >> i had only 20 people in line when i went to buy my ipad. >> the line moved and moved and moved. this thing was a phenomena this weekend. i love it. of course the first thing i did was scramble with friends. >> words with friends? >> no, scramble. i find words with friends tedious. that's my term for you, omg pop. >> why don't we care how many ipads have -- they have this conference call that got under

way and all of a sudden we don't hear about that number. >> what a shame. >> normally we'd hear how many new ichlt pads have been sold this past weekend. >> look, i think that this was -- let's put it this way. it was a one-two punch had they addressed it. obviously they are focused on the cash distribution. i think the ipad alone would have been a phenomenal story. >> let's quickly just -- not to be a dark cloud -- here's the thing. i supply says the new ipad costs more to produce. we've got to keep raising the price. at some point, just as consumers, does the ipad, if they keep making these improvements, get too too expensive for people? >> it's still a 50% -- 50% of the 29 on average is profit.

>> >> how about trusting them? you paid 1200 for a tablet. >> why would you pay 1200? they are not going to make 1200. the history of tech -- the history of tech average selling price coming down. i don't think it will be any different. >> it's a commodity cycle. >> for the ipad, each version has cost more to produce. >> i want to go to courtney reagan. she's been on the conference call. >> particular cook just handed over the call to peter oppenheimer. he sees significant opportunities in the large and growing market and no ceiling to those opportunities. apple is issuing a $2.65 a share

dividend, plus a $10 billion repurchase program. cook also says that innovation remains the most important objective and that the cash has grown significantly for all the right reasons. peter cook is talking -- peter oppenheimer is talking right now. we'll continue to update you with all of the latest. melissa? >> thank you, courtney reagan. in addition to the apple story, apple being 18.7% of the nasdaq 100, it's interesting to see that the nasdaq is looking to open lower even with apple's turn around by about 11%. >> amazon, kindle e-readers dropping sharply. when we think about ipad, i still think this is ipod. in other words, i think that this is a device that is going

to be game set match in this particular area. i just don't want any other device. i don't. this is anecdote ta but you see the numbers. you know -- you go on twitter. did you see any complaints about how it didn't live up to obligations? i didn't. this thing is just incredible. and i really want to come back to that more than the capital allocation. the stock can go up, absolutely, because they can own a stock now that they didn't. but this is an earnings per share story and i believe the ipad is a monster for sales. monster. >> and you look at 1.8% payout, ibm and oracle has a lower payout. microsoft has a 2.5%. it puts it in the realm of a

much higher growth rate and a dividend payout. it pushes it over the edge if you're comparing it to other stocks. >> i'd like apple to gain more share in the computer segment. >> listen, they are not dead. computers are not dead. i've got a blue tooth keyboard. it's still functionally limited for work. we're sitting here because we want to type and want to access our data systems, et cetera. the reality is this, apple's market share for computers is still, what, 7%? >> i know. go to a younger person. if they can double that market share and keep the ipad and tv business as melissa has alluded to, then can apple be the trillion dollar company? >> i still struggle with a p.e. multiple. this is a young growth company. this is whap funds do. is it a mcdonalds mogul?

the stock has to be dramatically higher. >> it's probably a better machine but it's always been more expensive and there's a limited number of people willing to pay out. >> you're going 10%? >> i'm looking at 9%. >> you also have to think that it's the ecosystem effect. they want to capture the entire -- >> they synced me up with every device. >> i'm in that halo that melissa just referred to. and in order to run it properly it has to be a mac computer. either a mac book air. that's going to power everything else. if they can grab that, you might see -- because wozniak thinks that apple can be a $1,000 stock.

if you put that in the regular computer business. >> a 20 mob multiple. >> if you agreed the 20 multiple, where would the stock and market cap be? that's not out of the realm of possibilities. >> >> remember google? >> that's like the overcoat, a fabulous book, by the way. >> a deal worth at&t saying 5.5% higher than a bid it rejected last month. the deal makes ups the biggest shipper of packages in europe. now, there was a deal abroad that didn't back away from

price. >> and keeping the theme there, i do point out that europe can't be that bad. >> there you go. that's it. that's what is surprising me about the deal. if europe is going into the dump, why would ups pay this type of a premium for the number one package delivery firm in europe or whatever it is? >> i see germany's p.e. coming on strong. there is -- the germans are have. they are extraordinary. >> ups buying this thing doesn't preclude europe from being in the dumps right now. i mean, when does the deal close? when are they actually going to -- there's a lag time to these deals actually closing if you want to wait eight months, this is an opportune time. at&t was under activist shareholder to do something with its shares. alberta investment was in there. wanting the company to do something. so here it is. it's got to do something. >> at the same time, look, if you really feel like they are

going into a severe recession, which is a one big school of thought -- >> if you're persistent, yes. >> ups has been a very conservative company. they've done a lot for their shareholders. i really like them. look, let's just say when you see the stock trading up, obviously people think, you know what, they've got a good deal. it's important to remember how bullish this tape is that that stock is trading up. >> how bullish is this tape? >> you know, i was going through the charts this weekend. i can't believe how the high growth stocks are doing great, retails are are doing good. >> i think -- who is not doing -- serve doing great. doesn't that make you nervous? >> i got nervous in '87, 2001. i think you have to run scared -- >> gas and coal aren't doing well because you go to $1. >> nothing would shock me with nat gas. i think it's trying to put in a

bottom. i do not like the coal stocks. when you criticize coal stocks, management is very aggressive in telling you you don't know what you're doing. i just look at earnings. earnings are not so good. >> are you suggesting that a stock price is the current stock price of future snerngs. >> it's got to be better than that. >> got to take a break. coming up, we'll talk live with ireland's prime minister and the kelly ringing the bell here at the big board celebrating ireland. let's take another look at the futures here. of course, apple is trading higher. look, apple is at 2.5% at the open. the dow is looking at a lower open. stay tuned. looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of: fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank.

like no-fee atms -- all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now, depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. 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 could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro.

welcome back to "squawk on the street." apple's news conference is in the q and a portion. he said that they are not considering a stock split right now. they would only do so if it was

in the best interest of the shareholders which they don't believe is the case right now. shares are just under $600. also, a big focus on innovation. many products are in the pipeline and customers will be pleased. this dividend will have no impact on innovation. it remains a key focus. melissa, back to you. >> courtney reagan, thank you. interesting to hear tim cook say that stock split is not in the best interest. a stock split is phony. it's the same stock, worth the same amount of money. >> i know. i used to say, you split a pencil in two, it's the same pencil. but this is a big retail name and people want to own it. two shares doesn't give them the bang for the buck. >> as far as who is going to own this stock, if this is going to bring in new buyers looking for the dividend, the income, maybe more pension funds heavier, if you get a calper name in here,

you see a new round of buyers in here. >> brian marshal over at isi came out with a note saying this will drive incremental buyers, right? >> yes. >> so if you think apple needs to be in the a 2.5% position, that will create an incremental $4.5 billion purchase of apple shares. >> that's a lot. >> that is a lot. >> it's in the top 20. >> my friend, stephanie, a colleague, 60 to $70 billion of cash should be generated over the next four quarters. >> okay. but, again, not to be a wet blanket, fox has been raising worker wages. this ipad was 9% more expensive to produce than ipad 2. at some point do they hit that cap, they can't sell it for a

higher price but their costs keep going up? >> but they have a long way to go in terms of the margin. it's only 50% of the retail price. >> if margins start compressing, why would you get multiple expansion then? >> because you're not selling more products. >> look at the multiple you have. you're selling at like 596. >> so why doesn't it get more respect for the multiple? >> because steve jobs isn't with it, he's no longer with the company and also because i've got to tell you that people feel that they can't keep maintaining this pace of innovation. first off, the apple tv does exist already. >> yeah. >> we're talking about the physical -- >> all right. let's take a break here.

winter's just about over. cramer's hotter than ever. his mad dash is next as we head to break. take a look at the futures. it doesn't look like a higher open without the shares reaching pretty much not session highs but climbing as a conference call progresses. we're looking at the dow opening for the dow in the s&p. stay tuned for the opening bell. "for starters, it didn't cost me anything." "and i got a one-hundred dollar cash bonus for rolling over by april 16th." "i like bonuses." "plus at scottrade, there are thousands of commission-free investments." "and if i need help, i can find it online, by phone or at one of over five-hundred scottrade locations." "it's why more investors with i.r.a.s are saying.." "i'm with scottrade." ♪ [music] ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there

track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪ 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. ♪ fourbout about four and a half minutes until the opening bell.

>> of course, the -- >> all right. rie did not get the big bailout. that is bank of ireland. i think it's somewhat attractive because i think the irish economy is going to come back. most people do not think that ireland is anything other than going to tip back down into a severe recession. i disagree. people are very thrifty. i'm going there in may. this is the highest population in europe. i think it's a big mistake. >> lots of tech companies operating in ireland as well. >> yes. this country may be -- and this would be the play other than crh, an aggregate company. i think that ireland should not be written off. it would be a big mistake. >> yes, we got it down 3% as well as european banks. i want to head over to brian

sullivan at the podium. >> that's right. the opening bell is just a few minutes away and ireland's prime minister edna kelly is going to ring that bell. it's another big day of trading. it's apple all day today along with ireland. my bad irish accent and more coming up right after this. there's nothing worse

introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account.

and here we and here we go, the first trading session of the week gets under way. it's ireland day at the new york stock exchange. we'll be speaking with the prime minister about the company's economic prospect. united online celebrating the wireless subsidiary of united online. we're just getting under way here in terms of trade. apple single handedly higher. >> not a lot of spill over. a lot of stocks should be on the move. we were talking during the break

ahead of the quarter, which is a gutsy thing to do. i also think you ought to keep an eye on the stress. it remains a very inexpensive group and trying to allocate capital, people recognize that group is still historically cheap. don't lose sight of that. it's a great place to be. >> and we're looking at the home builders. close right now to 52-week high ahead of the survey at 10:00 a.m. >> kind of amazing, goldman comes out with a very thoughtful piece about home builders. that is really late in the game. a lot of home sales this week, if they pick up, this group is going to be very strong. rates going up. here's a contrary theory. people will be drawn off the sidelines. we know rents go up and

affordability is as good as it has ever been. >> take a look at the components in the new ipad. let's see. arm holdings is higher by a percent. you've got a mixed trade when it comes to technology. qualcomm, for instance, is higher. >> a lot of the really speculative names, not really worrying here. you've got to be careful with cirrus because of the heavy reliability on apple. i know that the apple tear downs last week. a lot of anticipation for everything that apple does. every trade application has a wrap on it. there is an apple fatigue. >> really? after we spent, what, 20 minutes of the first half hour of the show talking about apple?

>> yeah. it can cause some fatigue. >> you think? >> taking a look at whether we're getting a bit of a run in the machinery stock, focusing on the china trade again, stocks related to china are going up. all i'm talking about is this maintains a bull tape except for a couple of situations that are anti--apple. >> right. >> i think amazon is dicey when it goes into a remarkable ipad game. >> you mentioned the yield curve and ten-year yields going up sharply. it was the biggest run in just about a month or so. we're seeing financials struggle a little bit this morning. bank of america -- i was out last week but to come back and see bank of america trading at close to $10 a share is an amazing turn around. >> these are heavily-owned stocks. we talk about apple being heavily owned, america is riddled with bank stocks.

this is going to be a remarkable comeback if we start gettinging this momentum. jpmorgan, goldman sachs, a glancing blow. the op ed piece. jpmorgan talking about revenue growth. that would certainly do some good. >> morgan stanley is down a percent. >> trade going into the earnings because the stock has had such a run. people wrote the stockoff during the mf global. a very aggressive stance. i wish all banks took that on. look what it's done. it gave you a double. >> financials are struggling to stay in the green. i want to head over to pisani who is on the floor with brian. brian? >> before we get to apple, which is on everybody's mind, bob be, i want to talk about the overall market. you were just chatting and you were saying how amazing how many naysayers are out there. >> my e-mail fills up with them

every single day. they think the rally is wrong and the economy is not right. they think somehow in the second or third quarter is very prevalent and they are out there saying this is going to be it. i've been in the glass is half full several months now. i see the numbers improving every single month here but the important thing is, these people have been wrong so far. >> sure. >> and they are short and wrong. >> what happened to the double dip crowd? >> that's the point. they are still out there. we're going to get home sales this week. existing home sales, new home sales, the construction numbers. >> and these are all february numbers. a little bit backward looking. spring sales, spring numbers have so far been pretty good. the anecdotal reports have been in line with expectation. so far everything has been happening with housing at least that we've been expecting.

this will be a big week on that. apple, i stood in line along with everybody else and got my new ipad. jim, you got one of them. the remarkable thing is just the screen done by samsung. if you look at the small print, you can see the pixels. forget it on this one. this is as smooth as i've ever seen. you can't see anything. >> by the way, you need to buy a case for that one. >> wouldn't that have been nice if they did something off the wall, like twitter or something like that why not kick off 10, 20 bucks a share one time? i guess they don't need to do that. >> no. and here's the other thing. $2.65 a share. for most of the people that i saw over the week, it's disappointing. a lot of them were 2.5%. that would have been $3.75 a

share. not 2.65. i'm not saying that it's bad or anything but the street had 2 and 2.5%. speaking of dividends, did you see target? an announcement for target. we're talking about $3 a share for target by 2017. right now they are paying $1.20. they are assuming the earnings are going to go up companies besides apple are out there. >> and take a step off that because we talked about this on street signs, 2:00 p.m. eastern, by the way. maybe melissa can address this. this is why we did a segment of, is apple good for the company? it's an amazing story but it's taking away attention from what you just talked about. target with their announcement, safeway with a big market.

it's taking so much attention from other good news stories. >> and there's other reaction in the market as well. everybody is complaining where is all of the m and a action going on? it's a huge acquisition for them. they are going to be number one with the synergies that they were talking about, 400 to $500 million, with the reduced competition they will be able to raise prices. this is a huge m and a day for them. finally, you're going to ireland. one thing, go hit the pubs. there's a thousand fewer pubs in ireland since 2006. they have gone from 7500 to 8500. ireland is the face of austerity right now. >> well said. bob, thank you. jim, do you think apple is down? >> target's not getting any play. >> there's a long day ahead of us. first of all, i echo what bob said with apple and the pixels.

i'm going to ireland the first week of may. i cannot wait. we can open some of the pubs that have been close especially in court. >> don't go after court. we're going to have words. >> all right. also my executive producer from "mad money," her dad has booked quite a trip for me. any way, let's check out the latest moves in energy. >> of course, the price of oil at these levels and the impact of economic recovery. we're seeing a breather but wti prices continue to breathe higher. we had that surgeon friday after some said it was because of the nymex for crude but more over it was an izzy newspaper talking about the support that the security cabinet had for an attack on iran and then, of course, over the weekend, no real news on iran materializes that we're seeing prices where

they were when we reach those highs in the overnight session. we're looking, though, at reports that perhaps we could see brent crude top $140 a barrel. that's according to bank of america and merrill lynch. of course, they are seeing demand pick back up and tight supplies. on the supply front, we know that valero is closing its refinery unit at the end of the month. it's another refinery closer. we also are seeing the supplies coming back from libya. we're seeing pre-war levels in terms of exports and deliveries in libya. back to you, melissa. >> it's ireland ringing the bell at the new york stock exchange. the irish stock exchange is up 19%. with me is the prime minister of ireland. mr. kenny, good to have you with me. >> thank you, melissa. >> the reason for you making the case that ireland is a great place to do business in and invest, what sort of reception have you been getting so far?

>> i kachl over to chicago for the business organizations up there. mayor rahm ee man yell, went to notre dame, came to new york last night and staying today. ireland is very privileged, actually. with our demographics and the terms that we offer for track record and makes us a really strong place to invest in. president clinton called it the investment in a couple of weeks ago and said people would be nuts not to invest in a country like that. so we've changed structures in our governance, proven by american decisions in particular, the last three months. >> jim cramer and i were making

a point that a lot of tech companies are heavily invested in ireland and that that remains a good place to do business because of the demographics, a highly educated workforce. how does that overlap with the 14% that you have in unemployment? do you see that being the answer to your high unemployment rate? or what will make that drop? >>. >> you have a very creative workforce. clearly unemployment is much to too high when you are given the employment pool that we have. in the last period ireland has focused and we cannot demonstrate that we are a great company to do business. and we are ahead of the posse in

many respects to give those young unemployed people to give opportunity in all of those sectors to actually find gainful employment. >> so one of the answers may be the cloud for ireland? >> yes, the cloud has enormous potential over the next decade and we see no reason. >> i want to ask you about the referendum that is coming up. if voters reject that referendum, ireland will lose in points. with what do you think is actually on the line? are you confident that the referendum can pass? >> i am confident that the referendum can pass. this is an inter-governmental agreement among 25 countries. therefore, ireland cannot stop

this. what is involved is ratifying the treaty, it actually guarantees for the future that in the country for some unforeseen reason needed finance from the mechanism, ratifying the treaty guarantees that. so it's like a house insurance policy. you hope you never have to draw it down but it's there if you need it. it keeps investor confidence at a high level. in other words, we want tone sure that there are people around there. >> in terms of europe, have we seen the worst? is the worst behind europe? >> i think what you're seeing here is a change of attitude and understanding by europe. i joined the european council just 12 months ago. clearly there were decisions not followed through and not reflected in market confidence. europe has now changed its position. instead of talking about catastrophe and default, they are talking about a constructive

future. the growth and jobs are central to every agenda and it's in america's interest. good housekeeping, good budget control, growth agendas, a jobs agenda is now a center feature from now on. >> mr. prime minister, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. >> melissa, thank you very much. it appears that the high-profile case involving the owners of the new york mets and the trustee for madoff victims will not going to trial. let's get more with darren rove vel. darren? >> the judge announced that there will be a settlement in the case of the mets owners. the settlement is $162 million will go back to the trustee. now, the mets owners claim that they are owed 178 million.

so it's possible that no money will change hands because if they get what they are owed, no money will change hands. the mets' owners will also be on the hook for $29 million personally. the judge said that, according to the settlement, that mario fuomo helped settlement this. it was settled on friday but announced today. and they said that all of the terms have to be rapped up by the 1 3th of april. it looks like they will continue to own the mets and obviously there was a lot on the line. they could have lost much more than this and that's potentially by both sides settled to come away with something rather than nothing. guys, back to you. >> thank you very much, darren rovell. today we're asking you, if

you were ceo tim cook, how would you spend the billions in cash? h? ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] you're the boss of your life. in charge of long weekends and longer retirements. ♪ ask your financial professional how lincoln financial can help you take charge of your future. ♪

and people. and the planes can seem the same

so, it comes down to the people. because, bad weather the price of oil those are every airlines reality. and solutions won't come from 500 tons of metal and a paint job. they'll come from people. delta people. who made us one of the biggest airlines in the world. and then decided that wasn't enough.

we are here to we are here to update you. the apple conference has ended. the largest company holding a meeting to discuss the first dividend payout in 17 years. $2.65 a share as well as a $10 billion stock repurchase program. that $2.65 represents a 1.8% dividend yield and last paid in december of 1995.

some highlights from the call. ceo tim cook says the dividend and buyback and make sure that they have them on hand and in the pipeline, customers and innovation remains the first priority and that any stock put is not being considered at this time. it is not believed by the company that it is in investors' best interests. at least not at this time. melissa? >> courtney reagan, thank you so much for that. if you are ceo tim cook, how would you spend apple's $98 billion in cash? andrew tweets, i would buy greece and turn the company into a new euro campus.

>> i don't know if we need an app land. >> a lap land. it's a country north of the sweden. >> frozen planet. >> aplandia sounds like a good place to live, though. >> you have to buy it every day. it's 99 cents. >> yep. rt wilall right. the trading day is young. much more on squawk on the street. >> announcer: still to come -- the number 6 is special to cramer, too. six stocks in 60 seconds is on his mind and ours. all that and more when we return.

an investment opportunity you didn't see before. fidelity's next generation ipad app lets you see what's trending around the world, as well as what over a million fidelity customers are trading throughout the day. and advanced charting lets you customize your views and set up your own comparisons. our ipad app can help refine your strategy or even find a new one. i'm velia carboni, and i helped create fidelity's next generation ipad app. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades and explore your next investing idea. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create

hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy.

all right. welcome back. sim simon hobbs is back. he's going to tell us what is coming up on "squawk on the street." >> the dividend of apple and the ceo of avalon and what is happening in china to hong kong. back to you guys. >> all right.

time for 6 in 60. we get to six stocks in 60 seconds. i've got to tell you, i think it's late. sprint has enough capital to be able to develop 4g the analysts are saying absolutely no. i don't know. i think the bonds will end up owning this company. >> okay. the gap, people are finally starting to see apple despite the run, 25% increase coming up. that's amazing. >> capital one? >> did a very big secondary last week and it's held which is amazing. >> caesar's entertainment? >> i don't know. it should never have gone public. >> and schwab to wrap it up?

>> search starts to warm up, why? because shorts is how they make their money. >> we did. see you on "mad money." >> i think post-stress test and i'm revealing a new technology stock that nobody thinks a technology stock up and down on sto, is it good, is it bad? analysts disagree. >> now you're dropping names of norwegian-based companies. >> speaking of segways, after the break, more homebuilding news. that's coming up on "squawk on the street." [ tires squeal, engine revs ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] not everything powerful has to guzzle fuel.

the 2012 e-class bluetec from mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. without the stuff that we make here, you wouldn't be able to walk in your house and flip on your lights. [ brad ] at ge we build turbines that power the world. they go into power plants which take some form of energy, harness it, and turn it into more efficient electricity. [ ron ] when i was a kid i wanted to work with my hands, that was my thing. i really enjoy building turbines. it's nice to know that what you're building is gonna do something for the world. when people think of ge, they typically don't think about beer. a lot of people may not realize that the power needed to keep their budweiser cold and even to make their beer comes from turbines made right here. wait, so you guys make the beer? no, we make the power that makes the beer. so without you there'd be no bud? that's right. well, we like you. [ laughter ] ♪

♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪ only hertz gives you a carfirmation.

hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. welcome back to "squawk on the street." i'm diana olick. february's reading was revised down one point. 50 is still the line between positive and negative on the national association of home builder index. sentiment has been rising which is why this is a big disappointment as we're in the heart of spring marketing.

they are cautious, according to the report. breaking down the component, current sales conditions fell one point. buyer traffic remained unchanged. it fell a whopping 10 points out west. so, again, we're bouncing along the bottom here for newly built homes. confidence still twice as strong. tight credit and high investor and we'll see, melissa? >> thank you very much, diana olick. there is not much reaction to this latest news. meanwhile, let's get to the road map. apple with a $10 billion share repurchase program. we have analysts ready to talk the tim cook's big move in just

a minute. and brent crude sliding. bank of america increasing it is forecast. wti prices could hit $140 a barrel. meantime, jpmorgan saying that china's economy was slowing. is china the mother of all black swans amid the economic recovery. on the lighter side of life this monday morning, starbucks is looking to outjuice jamba juice. starbucks is hoping that its new line will boost the position. >> google saying that china has

extended the review of the proposed acquisition of motorola mobility. continuing to expect to close the deal during the first half of 2012. >> bank of america shares crossing the $10 level today just moments ago morgan stanley this morning raising the estimates on bank of america, citi, goldman, and jpmorgan. as you look at the markets today, it's important to recognize that important rally. 2.4% on the major indices. and that's a big move, 30-point yield. that's a real confidence -- a confident week that we're coming off. >> and to cramer's points, a lot of the steepening of the yield curve. a lot of these financial shares doing quite well. citi higher by 4.5%.

morgan stanley down 4% and hugh i higher by 1.5. they were taking their key from europe. stocks are lower across the board. now trading higher here in the united states. apple is dominating the quarterly dividend as well as a share buyback program. web bush upping the estimates on apple ahead of the announcement to $750. that's the highest price target on the street. joining us is the analyst behind it. $750 target. scott sutherland joins us on the news line. great to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. >> you did this prior to the dividend innish asian and the buyback. does that change and make you more optimistic? >> you know, i think a lot of people anticipated a 1 to 2% yield and then this was anticipated and we think fundamentally it's a strong story. >> what sort of multiple are you

using to get to 750 a share? >> you look at this company and you look at next year's number, we get to this price target. companies should still grow earnings in 20% for the next few years. i think it's still a very reasonable multiple. >> when you look at other tech companies out there or other stocks in general, investors like to do the mental exercise, if you applied the multiple of chipolte or of nike to apple, it should be a trillion dollar company. when you look across your tech universe, what should it command, do you think? >> if you put any of the comparable multiples on it, from a growth perspective, it could be a trillion dollar company. if you look at large numbers, that multiple becomes less out there and people are wondering, can a company this large grow

any more? >> but people get nervous. this stock put on $70 billion in market cap in eight days of trading and inevitably, people watching now, they will be nervous of these sorts of levels. what would you say to them? >> i could say, we're ahead of major product cycles. if you look at their market share numbers, in like the pc market. they are only 6% of the global market there. if you look at how fast that is growing and the smartphone market, again, they are only single market share. there's a lot of market share to grow from a global expansion opportunity as well as these markets, like smartphones and tablets that have rapid growth. >> can you help us out with exactly where the cash comes from from the buyback and the dividend. two-thirds of the cash is overseas. does that distort where the money is and have implications of being forced into overseas buys? talk me through your feeling

about that. >> right. so they have about a third of their cash in the u.s. and they are talking about $45 billion over a three-year period starting at the end of this year. they are generating about $45 billion in cash flow a year. a third of that is going to be in the u.s. that's still going to use the cash flow that they make in the u.s. market, making room for other strategic endeavors which has never been big for apple or keeping the balance sheet strong. >> apple is the supply and component costs and labor costs are raising the costs to make this thing by 9% which could be roughly 50% of the retail price of 729 if you wanted to use the higher end models. at what point as an analyst do you begin to see this become an issue? labor parts and cost parts will remain the same or it will be able to raise prices? >> you know, apple's always

continued to guide and warn that margins could come lower, especially with the ipad and build and material costs that go into the ipad with the higher processor and speed. that's increasing the cost a little bit with the ipad. we think that they make that up on scale and on the line and they continue to operate operating margins. we talk about the competitive tv market and pricing there, should they have a fully integrated tv. it's how they scale, is the bottom line. >> scott, thanks for your time. appreciate it. scott sutherland. >> let's carry on talking about these stocks and get the shareholder and good morning to you. are you tempted to just book a

little? >> we've trimmed apple over the last few years. no reason to make changes to our position side. as chris was saying earlier, a big expectation for a dividend announcement. i think we've got it. it makes sense. it's in line with expectations. no change for us at that point. >> let me come back to this fundamental move that we have so far this year. as you rightly say, you knew that this was coming. they hinted on the conference call that they might return cash and then, of course, when we have the shareholder meeting february 23rd and throughout that run-up, a huge move that you've had in the stock in anticipation that this would happen now. so where does it go from here? >> yeah, we look the the announcement back in the tech conference in the middle of february where tim cook said, give us some patience, the stock's up north of 16% since that announcement, which is a good four times the average large cap growth stock. so clearly a strong performer, no question. even in the shortest of terms. but we own this company and its

shares because we belief in the long-term prospects of it and at the same time we look at the product cycle we think is still coming forward. the additional markets that they are addressing, it's becoming a services company. we're okay with it. you can see consolidation short term but long term it's not expensive. still growing nicely for a large cap growth fund for us. >> from a portfolio management perspective, the challenge that a lot of people are facing is because apple is growing in share price, they are reaching a percentage of the portfolio which forces them to pair back the position and reach whatever threshold it is. do you have that sort of discipline in place where if a position reaches whatever number it is, 9.5%, 10%, you've got to pair back or would you be willing to look past that rule in order to continue owning shares of apple? >> right. so the sean yes, answer is, yes,

we do have those types of rules. we have maximum size positions despite what an index weight can be. we use those for risk controls. risk controls for our clients are very important. at the same time they don't get blown up when things get sour. you don't get to look past that. there's never a time when you get to change your mind. we'll be trimming when they hit those numbers but not before. >> what are those numbers? just curious? >> sure. no stock can be greater than 10% of the fund and then we have corporate clients that have more strict regulations. they might have 5, 6, 7% depending on their guidelines. we're beholden to our clients. >> michael, just before we let you go, there's a lot of talk that now with the dividend, more people, more funds will be able to buy and want to buy. have we already seen that effect?

will they abort in anticipation or is that still to come? >> it's still to come. we look at the shares that we own and then in the ridgeworth family broadly speaking. as the growth shop at ridgeworth, some of my partners on the value side, of course, i don't own apple shares. we think some folks will have waited for this announcement. now get a chance to buy it. do they buy it today in the short term? i wouldn't speculate. longer term we think it's positive. >> michael, thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> meanwhile, crude oil is trading higher. bank of america raising brent this morning. on that very basis, we'll talk about america's vulnerability with b of a's head of global commodity research, francisco blanch when squawk on the street returns. let's -- let's start over from the beginning.

we were just driving along, comin' back from the lake, 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. ♪

brent crude is at $114 a barrel and the price gains will prove unsustainable and could create risks in the economy. francisco blanche made the call. he's head of bank of america, merrill link.

he joins us now. good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me. >> this is a good move for you. you were at a projection of $80 a barrel and now you've increased, what, 20%? >> we had a projection of $110 a barrel for brept and $103 for wti. we've upped our numbers by $8 and wti number by $3 on the stronger than expected demand condition cans and, frankly, a much weaker supply outlook than we initially anticipated. >> >> this is not about risk premier or political arguments. this is supply and demand that you see at the moment? >> yes. look, we were forecasting $820,000 barrels a day on supply growth and opec in the first quarter of the year. we are getting about 150. we are off by about 700 barrels a day in the north sea and yemen and other barrels going off the

market in sudan and syria. so there are a number of supply issues here that are very important. >> but to be clear, you're running from the back, aren't you? you think that the price is going to fall from where we are now? >> again, we're saying 118 on average for the year. the curve is roughly pricing in about 120, 121. there's a little bit of downside but very small. but frankly i guess what is new here is we think the price structure of the market is more sustainable. because i think if you look at what central banks have been doing in the past three or four months, we've seen repeated word from central bank that they will keep monetary policy extremely loose against any potential demand acceleration. we saw it in europe and back in december again in february. so we are adjusting our views to reflect that no central bank

seems to take the risk of consumer demand. that's the basic call. prices are supported but, again, if we were to move higher we could see substantial demand destruction. so we are caught in a little bit of a dilemma here because any foreign rise prices will mean demand. >> what is that number, francisco? i heard 130, 140 in brent. what do you have modeled? >> right in the middle is 135 for this year. we think any number above 135 in brent is very damaging to the underlying demand equation. and, remember, there are a lot of economies out there that are not ready to take high oil prices. start off with the european countries, start off with portugal, spain, italy, or maybe some of the emerging markets, india, i think it's going to

have a hard time absorbing oil prices. so i think the next six months we look very much like the last couple of years where prices start to improve on liquidity and improve demand conditions but then ultimately something fails. there's a company that falls off a cliff and then goes down. >> even at these level of gas prices, close to $5 a gallon in some parts of the country, demand destruction has not been reached at these numbers. is that what you also see, at least for the united states? >> the u.s. is seeing a rides in domestic crude oil prices and very low uds natural gas prices and lastly i think demand has been coming down for the most

part because all of the efficiencies from the standards are starting to bring demand lower. so you have a funny situation where import dependency in the u.s. is falling quickly. the high oil prices are being more easily absorbed. i'm not too worried about the u.s. i'm worried about the frail european economies and the emerging companies. >> francisco, thank you for your time. >> thank you. up next on the program, our very own steve liesman has been crunching big data over the weekend. as investors keep propelling equities higher, what is amid the rally? those results next after the break. the typical apple launch.

looking for a better place to put your cash? here's one you may not have thought of: fidelity. now you don't have to go to a bank to get the things you want from a bank. like no-fee atms -- all over the world. free checkwriting and mobile deposits. now, depositing a check is as easy as taking a picture. free online bill payments. a highly acclaimed credit card with 2% cash back into your fidelity account. open a fidelity cash management account today and discover another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity.

in search of the big question, does the rally continue or is it in some way tabted? steve liesman has a result of the exclusive proprietary results. >> you left out patented and copyrighted, simon. >> really? >> if it was a party, our experts would say all the cool people have ft. the booze is gone and there's no more food. take a look at the outlook for the s&p for the remainder of the year and they are saying we've been there and done that through

june they are looking at 1404. how about the rest of the year? a 2% gain when you look at where we are right now. 2.3% higher. and the outlook for the ten-year yield and after that rally was going on, 2.3% about 20 basis points from where they were in the survey. how about the rest of the year, 2.6 and as we look at the commentary that's been out there bond market has a strong possible start of a new era

direction as borrowing improves a. sustainable economic recovery takes root. stock market evaluations appear attractive. he tells investors it's time for risk on. now, some more commentary that is of interest, as long as the economic data is improving, stocks are moving higher. issues in europe and political rhetoric is dragging on the markets. they anticipate a pullback from here. i guess that could potentially be the good news in that they expect at least the market gains to continue. what about the fed? this is, after all, the fed survey that we want to highlight again. the headline of our survey, 63% do not expect q.e. that's up 20 basis points from the january survey and 33% saying yes. and that, again, is down quite substantially. so, guys, at least we're going

to hold on to the gains. but pretty much been there, done that when it comes to the rest of the year, simon. >> you know the feds better than anybody, steve. what are they going to do and say about the big run-up that we have in the ten-year yield? do they come out and say something? i see deutsch bank saying, if you were to completely price out the prospect of further easing, you'd probably be about 2.8%. >> interesting, simon. i'm getting commentary from guys like tom gallagher that may, at this point, given what is out there in the markets, may come out and reiterate the commitment to 2014. our survey shows that the fed will not remain on hold until that time and could come out and do additional quantitative easing. they want to hammer home this idea to keep long-term yields down. i will tell you in our survey, 43% expect no additional access

by the fed whatsoever, either sterilized qe, decline in interest rates on reserve. one person wrote in and said, please, no more. >> interesting. steve, thank you. >> sure. all right. apple, apple, apple. apple announcing the first dividend payout since 1995 along with a $10 billion share repurchase program as the new ipad hits stores on saturday. sending buyers into an apple frenzy. find out why he thinks 75% of tim cook's products could triple in sales within the next few years. "squawk on the street" is back but not how we get there. because in this business, there are no straight lines. only the twists and turns of an unpredictable industry. so the eighty-thousand employees at delta... must anticipate the unexpected. and never let the rules overrule common sense. this is how we tame the unwieldiness of air travel,

until it's not just lines you see... it's the world. like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account.

one hour one hour into the trading day. here are the stories we're squawking about. 10:30 here on wall street. home builders sentiment remain high. priceline shares hitting 52-week highs passing the 694 mark. the volatility index is up more than 3% hovering around 15 mark. >> financials are leaving us today. notably, bank of america which crossed the $10 a mark share, citigroup also higher at $1.24 after all of the excitement last

week. remember, we are coming off a monumental move really in stock market terms last week. relatively quiet today. but, in essence, we've held the gains that we've held for the first four days of last week. let's break it down and look at the brents of the move so far today. relatively evenly balanced. over at the nasdaq, let's take a look at what is happening over there. slightly greater to the advance line. with one hour in, let's head over to chicago for more on the markets and where we're likely to trade during the course of the week. ceo and founder, good morning. what are you hearing? what are people saying to you? >> good morning, simon. that's ii trader, by the way. we're all licking our wounds as we listen to the fed and watch interest rates. i think every trader down here

if you're a commodity guy, you have to watch the dollar here. we are all interested in the six-month low or six-month high in yields, if you will, into 30 year. i'm kind of on the sidelines here as we see gold have a big breakdown i think a lot of traders have taken off some positions in fact, up to 2.5% of all of the commodities were pulled off. that's about 600,000 futures contracts. that tells me we're all in the same boat. we could go either way from here. you've got to watch the equities and the yield. >> is that mainly because higher market interest rates will probably lead to a higher dollar and is that essentially the mechanism? >> absolutely. in fact, a lot of the clients that i deal with daily, i'm saying, watch that 30-year. if we watch a new high, it's

going to be massive stops. it's going to be a very important trade carrying us for the last couple of months. >> richard, presumably that is not what ben bernanke wants to happen. there has to be, does there not, have to be verbal intervention in his view to bring that back down or to keep it from happening further? >> he may try to do that but you know the market is always right. i'm a momentum guy. i'm not going to sit here and defend a position because it should be or could be. this could be a game changer. >> richard, thank you for your time. let's watch the moves in the metal market. sharon epperson has more. sharon? >> gold is finally stabilizing here above the 1650 level. this is after last week's steep drop. keep in mind, during that time

we saw speculators cutting their holdings in gold positions and that happened to the greatest amount that we've seen in two months and specifically cutting those net long positions drastically down to 20% or so. we've seen gold prices, of course, that february 29th date was key when gold dropped 7%. the biggest single one-day decline in three years and the top now is, will gold be able to retest the 1680 level if it's unable to do so we could see it drop, some traders say, to 1600 and perhaps go low. meanwhile, the metals market is out with a note saying despite the note we got on china's economy last week, they remain fairly positive about metals demand coming out of china. we are watching and continue to watch platinum outperforming gold, about $20 higher right now. again, that's a trade that many traders are watching very carefully. melissa, back to you. >> downgrading the name to bankruptcy are the release of the 4g lte phone.

craig, great to have you with us us. >> thank you. >> the issue with the lte phone getting launched, what is sprin sprint's problem here? >> they are badly disadvantaged in lte. they have been struggling with the network transformation that they call network vision. unfortunately, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place which is not enough spectrum to launch a new network, a free and clear spectrum, and the spectrum that they have is incumbered with old technology and they don't have the money to transition it quickly. >> does this force sprint into selling itself? what are the next steps in order for sprint to avoid bankruptcy at this point, then? >> well, it's going to be a struggle and the problem is, it's hard to attract acquirers when there is the potential

option to pick you up cheaper later on. you know, right now sprint equity price is effectively a wave of probability between bankruptcy and evaluation is much higher and you can see it in the spreads right now. tds spread discount, a 50/50 chance right know. all we're saying is that the lte iphone comes out, it will push that risk even higher because of the disadvantage that they've got on the one hand on the product level and an incredibly take or pay contract that they have with apple. >> i think it's important to underline the central case that you're making. this is a call on the balance of probabilities. you also, in fairness, create an upbeat scenario which you say may also come true and that's why it's the only underperforming rating that you have. the stock has lost half of its value over last year. that's where we are coming from. >> that's exactly right. all you can do at this point is

say, what is the balance of probabilities because there's no analytical tool that you can use that will say definitively will this company enter bankruptcy or will they not? again, as the iphone 5 comes out, because they will be substantially disadvantaged, it will skew further in the direction of downside risk. >> are there valuable parts? will companies emerge to buy the scraps of sprint in bankruptcy? >> well, i don't know that they would actually be broke unup in one scenario. again, we could be talking about something down the road because the real maturities of what they hit is not until 2015. but one scenario is that they would simply restructure and emerge from bankruptcy. in fact, that's probably the most likely. in another scenario, a player like t-mobile which is struggling with an lte could end

up with all of sprint and doing a combination and their interests would be the real cost of sprint isn't the cost of the he can qu equity anymore. it's the cost of the debt. their interests would be waiting. >> do consumers care, are they willing to enter a multi-year contract if they think that there's a 50 slash lash 50 chance th chance that the company will be bankrupt? >> i don't know if it will affect consumer demand if that hasn't been the case. i think the real issue is whether customers are going to choose sprint or an lte iphone if their network is disadvantaged. there is at least some risk that the lte feature will not be

enabled on this -- on the sprint network. >> wow. okay. craig, we're going to leave it there. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> we certainly need to talk about black swan events and china could be the mother of all friends and we need to talk about china and what slowing it could have on the investor. next. oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen [ donovan ] and i thought "i can't do this,

it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen....

for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen. to me, that's the membership effect. [ 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. ♪ one stock making a big move today. shares of ups up by 2.9%, this after it acquires tnt. $6.85 billion, making ups the biggest packaged shipper in europe. remember, tnt was a fierce rival

and was willing to undercut its prices. ups taking it out given the reaction. >> have you seen the financial times this morning? >> no, i haven't. >> it's very interesting why fedex has been so quiet in this bidding process. it raises the possibilities that the anti-trust concerns could be so great that actually the whole thing could break apart. fedex could sweep in and get it on the cheek. i don't know if that's true. >> if there are concerns, wouldn't there be the same concerns? >> i don't know what the overlap is but let's talk about china for a minute. a lot of people are focused on these comments that we had had with jpmorgan last week where they were suggesting china is in a hard landing. car sales are down, cement production is down, steel production is down, construction stocks are down. it's not a debate anymore. it's a fact. we wanted to double-check that for you because clearly that has huge implications for a lot of investors. so from hong kong we're joined

by brian jackson. he's a senior emerging market strategist at rbc. good evening to you. thank you for joining us on the program. is china in the middle of a hard landing? and, if so, what are the implications? >> well, i think the problem with the hard landing is quite an imprecise term. generally speaking the slow down has been gradual and driven not just by external factors, such as the weaker euro situation but also very much by domestic policy from beijing. they've deliberately tried to slow things down in order to get inflation under control. that's a large part of what has been driving this slow down in that data that you showed. >> when we see overnight that the fell for a fifth month in february, that's good news, from your point of view, isn't it? that's policy makers doing what

they need to do? >> i think so far, yeah, if you talk to officials in beijing, if you hear it, they are very much welcoming the slow down in the property market so far. you've got a situation warehouse prices are rising too quickly for the average home buyer in china. that's been a big focus and now we're starting to see that really take effect. if things were to deteriorate much more sharply, sure, you would have a situation where they would take a break off the curve that they've had on the property sector. we don't seem to be at that stage just yet. >> it's a hard landing, this black swan event, unimaginable consequences, or could it be quite good for people in europe and indeed in north america because it would take the heat out of the commodity crisis? notably it would take potentially the heat out of oil. and that's actually going to raise the profits and margins of a lot of people quoted down here at the nyse.

>> well, there's a continuum. you would like perhaps chinese growth to be moderated a little bit but wouldn't want it to completely collapse. it would, you know, help commodity prices but do a lot of damage in other parts of the global economy. i think what is happening is that we see in chinese growth come down from the double digit levels that we saw in the mid-2000s and part of that is due to demographics. the chinese workforce is aging and it's a deliberate move by beijing to rebalance the economy. they are very exquisite and greater growth if they can achieve that objective. >> so a hard landing is off the table. at the same time, you're in fact seeing a slowdown in china. does this make it an attractive investment opportunity still? >> yeah, you're not going to see

the same returns that you've seen in the past but there is still, i think, a fair bit of growth in the chinese economy. we're still expecting 8.5% growth this year and we do expect to see further gains in the currency over the term as well. so you had a 5% appreciation of the currency last year against the dollar. i think that's going it slow down in 2012. i'm expecting that long-term trend for a while longer. >> brian jackson joining us live from rbc in hong kong. >> well, from china's black swan, blasting china last week for hoarding precious metals vital from iphones to missiles. why does china have a near monday nop monopoly in that's next.

a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪

the u.s., eu and japan are filing complaints with the world trade organization on china's export restrictions on rare earth minerals. where else can rare earth elements be found?

let's go to the president and ceo of avalon rare metals joins us now in a first on cnbc interview. >> great to be back. >> in terms of the complaints, what do you think is going to happen here with china? >> it's kind of hard to predict. i'm not sure how they're going to react to the export quota announcement last week regarding president obama's speech and the world trade organization. i would expect they'll probably take the same position they have in the past, that they're making adequate supplies available, and the export quotas are necessary to make their industry more efficient and protect the environment. >> right. i also wanted to hone in on your business, and that is, of course, you have a heavier weighting towards heavier rare earths and the distinction is that the quotas that china's placing right now are essentially on light rare earth. can you explain to the average viewer out there what the difference is? because i think people really don't understand between the

heavies and the lighter. >> yes, it's a very important distinction for investors to understand. the rare earth elements consist of 15 different elements that occur all together but generally fall into two subgroups, the light rare earths and the heavy rare earths. the light rare earths are much more common than the heavy rare earths. a lot of the new technology that's demanding these elements needs these heavy rare earths that are simply not available in any great quantities anywhere in the world right now. so they're truly the only rare, rare earths, and avalon is positioned with the deposit in the northwest territories of canada that has an exception ap enrichment in these heavy rare earths. so we're positioni inin ining a be a significant new supplier of these heavy rare earths to the market. >> and in terms 6 the new technologies that you talked of that uses heavy rare earths, what are they? they're used in high strength

term magnets, and they're needed in hybrid car technology and any modern electric motor technology that requires miniaturization and they're also critically to energy efficient lighting. l.e.d. lighting relies on luminescent phosphers. >> i think a lot of people would be very interested and concerned about your share price, and they're concerned about how many new suppliers in the west the market can actually support for the prices plunge still further. and of course, you've got linus in malaysia, monocore in canada, they're coming out with almost an equal supply to what we get out of china at the moment in the next few years and people will be concerned that actually these rare earth metals are not as uncommon as we might think. >> well, this is where it's important to understand lights versus the heavies, again, both

linus and mollycorps will produce light rare earths. the light rare earths market will be well supplied once they come onstream with their production plans. but the heavy rare earths are not in the mix there. that's where the opportunity remains for a cop like us, who is to come to the market with a supply of the heavy rare earths. >> all right. don we're going to leave it there. thanks for your time. always good to see you. don bubar, ceo of avalon. we should know they have $287 million. so smaller market cap stock. just wanted to point that out. >> quick time, and of course we're talking apple this morning. we're asking you if you were tim cook how would you spend apple's $98 billion in cash? tweet us your answers, @c cnbc squawk st. we'll air your answers throughout the morning. how can you just stand there?

what do you mean? your grass, man. it's famished! just two springtime feedings with scotts turf builder lawn food helps strengthen and protect your lawn from future problems. thanks scott. [ scott ] feed your lawn. feed it. is moving backward. [ engine turns over, tires squeal ] introducing the lexus enform app suite -- available now on the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer.

and people. and the planes can seem the same so, it comes down to the people. because, bad weather the price of oil those are every airlines reality. and solutions won't come from 500 tons of metal and a paint job. they'll come from people. delta people. who made us one of the biggest airlines in the world. and then decided that wasn't enough. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back.

they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. let's get to it time to squawk on the tweet. if you were apple ceo tim cook how would you spend apple's $99 billion in cash? jay tweets to us, i would buy sprint and create apple mobile. interesting. igor tweets tim cook should use the cash to by r.i.m. to make sure microsoft never catches up in the smartphone market.

i think a lot of people would say they don't have to do that in order to make sure microsoft never catches up. >> really? seriously? and immediately buy twitter. and keep innovating. that is actually one thought in terms of that strategic war chest that tim cook was talking about on the conference call today. a lot of people were saying, that's a logical acquisition. buy something in special media. >> why don't they buy facebook, then? >> it's too big. and it's going public. >> okay. >> it's going public. >> what's comie ining up on "fa money" tonight? >> the ceo of i-robot. plus the first an tloist initiate coverage of facebook before the ipo from clfa. >> how can you initiate coverage if you don't even know what it's priced at? >> we're going to see. we're going to see what the price target is, if there is one, and what this analyst's take is on the stock. it's one of the few outfits on the street not part of the syndicate, of course, which is why so many analysts out there cannot initiate coverage.

we have this one analyst who has initiated coverage. that should be an interesting conversation. all right. let's get to it. third hour of "squawk on the street" starts right now. >> welcome to hour three of "squawk on the street." here's what's happening so far. >> we're in a pretty good sweet spot right here. moderate economic growth, inflation is low, aggressive monetary policy. valuation is hardly stretched. my guess is while the pace may slow, we'll grind higher. >> i hope it's a smart republican, by that i mean someone who is going to focus on the big issues. if this campaign is bogged down in social issues and things not on the minds of business people and how they create jobs and how they make america stronger, i think we all lose out. >> the news is out. it's going to be a dividend, initiation of dividend and share repurchase program. >> and $10 billion in total. >> $45 billion over three years. >> and here we go the first trading session of the week gets under way.

here's the big board. it is ireland day at the new york stock exchange. >> put together in our country, with our demographics, and the package that we actually offer in terms of tax, technology and track record makes us a really strong investment. >> there will be a settlement as you said in the case of piccard versus the mets owners. the settlement is $162 million will go back to the trustee. >> we're bouncing along the bottom here for newly built homes. builder confidence still twice as strong as it was six months ago but builders continue to cite roadblocks like tight credit and high inventory of distressed properties. >> good morning. it is a mixed picture for the markets on this monday morning. here's a look at the indices. the dow jones industrial average down by 16 1/2 points. s&p 500 above 1400. up by a tenth of a percent. the nasdaq holding steady

higher, by six points or so. 3062 even is our level. it is a tale of two retailers. shares of the gop up more than 2.5% after getting an upgrade to outperform. the firm saying it's more confident about a turnaround in all three of the company's brands. kohl's on the other hand, down 2.5%. steel companies some of the biggest winners, u.s. steel the biggest gainer on the s&p. ak steel also seeing very big gains this morning. >> 11:00 a.m. on the west coast. type for the road map and the third hour on "squawk on the street." at the top of everyone's minds apple announcing a dividend and share buyback. find out why one analyst thinks apple's product cycles are just now starting to heat up. plus, calling on facebook analysts, the social network inviting research analysts from wall street to a meeting at its headquarters. we'll get a preview of what's expected to be said behind closed doors at that meeting and what it could mean for the company's ipo. then, home builders, building

quite a rally into spring selling season. should you be buying these stocks now? the home builder trade is straight ahead. and of course, gearing up for illinois. it's a must-win primary for mitt romney if he wants to solidify his political strength within the gop. the chicago tribune endorsed him, but will that be enough? former senator jim talent will be live to discuss the republican race to the white house. >> we start off with the story of the morning. that is apple's dividend and buyback announcement. courtney reagan is live at headquarters with all the details. >> good morning. the largest company is announcing a quarterly dividend. $2.65 a share and a three-year, $10 billion share repurchase program. apple last paid a dividend 17 years ago. the dividend to begin on july 1st represents 1.8% yield based on the company's fiscal fourth quarter 2012 earnings and a 2001% increase from the first dividend paid in december of

1995. the announcement and amount in line with wall street's expectations largely. over the last couple months company executives began hinting that an announcement regarding the nearly $100 billion in cash was somewhat imminent. the buyback just an extra sweetener. now apple's ceo tim cook and cfo peter oppenheimer hosted a conference call to discuss the distribution of cash. oppenheimer noting $45 billion in cash will be used for these programs leaving plenty of money left to run the business. and that $45 billion will come from current domestic cash, and future expected earnings. so that apple can avoid the hefty tax consequences of repatriating any of its roughly $64 billion located overseas. oppenheimer continuing to say apple will maintain cash balances in order to be able to take advantage of strategic opportunities. saying though there is no magic number for the amount of cash that the company would like to keep on hand. and when asked about dividend growth, oppenheimer noted apple will review its dividend program

periodically, but executives really gave no further detail as to how frequently. now while shares are currently trading near $600 a share, ceo tim cook said the company is not considering a stock split at this time and would consider it only if it was in the best interests of apple's shareholder. he also said innovation remains the most important objective at apple. adding the company has a pipeline of new products and customers will be pleased. >> all right, courtney reagan thanks so much for that update. >> okay we're going to have further apple analysis in just a few minutes time. let's talk about the broader market first. clearly the recent data is indicating a more optimistic outlook for the u.s. economy. and there was a powerful rally last week in both the equity market and of course the sell-off in the bonds. so what will happen now? let's bring in cnbc contributor dan greenhouse, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> what's happening now do you think? >> if i knew that i would be -- but in all seriousness, inherit

in that conversation is the economy's gotten better, the stock market has gotten better with it. we remain in a very wait and see mode. i think that the two important headwinds or three important headwinds we're keeping aware of. the first of which is the elections in greece and france. the second of which is the expiration of the fed's operation twist. i was one of those people less concerned about previous program expirations and that proved to be incorrect in the past. so i'm a little more cautious this time around. and then something that's gaining more attention is the expiration of all the fiscal and tax programs at the end of this year. the sum total of which will basically put the u.s. in a recession. >> one thing that you didn't mention which is on the front page of the "financial times" today is earnings season. and the idea that actually on average first quarter earnings will come in a half a percent lower -- >> lower. >> this year than they did last year. >> yes. profit margins, at the levels that they are. there's a lot of reasons to be quite cautious. and our position has been for some time that the market didn't belong as low as it had fallen. and now we're really, if you take a step back, just merely

back to the level, give or take, that prevailed prior to that summer sell-off last year. and so we're comfortable right here and we're going to wait and see, as things progress. >> one thing that may be ammunition is the recent rally that we've seen in financials, certainly last week, going into this week, very powerful rally. bank of america is trading at double what it was trading at december 19th low here. does that make you more cautious? do you think that this rally that we've seen is backed by fundamentals or do you think it's a false rally? >> well, i mean, certainly there's an improvement in fundamentals that's reflective in the rally. again, we've been saying, as most people have, the market can't make a move without financials. it's not surprising to see them up in tandem and it's actually interesting for all the talk that apple gets, rightfully so because it's the single largest contributor to the s&p 500, it's really i believe the 25th or 26th best performing stock year-to-date. names like federated investors, bank of america, they're way further up the list in terms of performance here to date. you would hope, of course, to see that happen concurrently. >> it sounds like on balance

you're sort of neutral. you say you're comfortable where the markets are right now. on one hand you're saying we are seeing this powerful rally in financials backed by fundamentals. the one single biggest contributor to the s&p 500 apple is doing well. what's holding you back? why are you tipped to the neutral as opposed to to the positive with these positive factors? >> two points. the first of which is respective financials. this has been a terrific rally. my good friend barry biddle who runs the big picture blog put up a little blush showing the forms of the finance agos since bear stearns went bankrupt. i believe jpmorgan was the only one up in that time frame. secondary with respect to apple, bpig, we have a buy on it. this is the single largest contributor to the s&p 500. it's had a very powerful rally and dragged the index with it. how the stock and the index performs at this point is sort of intertwined and we're not -- >> that said the truth is that you guys are on the run, aren't you? as a group you were on the run last year when you were overly

optimistic -- the commentators and analysts, professionals, it's not about you, this is about the group as a whole. last year you were way too optimistic and the stock market didn't perform as you expected. this year at the beginning of the year you were way too pessimistic. the s&p is trading 3.5% above the average year-end price target of your community. >> first of all, let me make two quick points. you say your community. there really is two communities. the big bank strategists and economists, the big bank strategists of which tend to be significantly more bullish than do the mid size and smaller size firms for reasons that we don't need to get into right now. >> sure. but the bigger issue is that the market is doing far better than most of you guys thought it would. >> with respect to the big bank estimates, the market is somewhere around 3% to 5% higher than year-end price targets. and if you're someone such as myself or even, dare i say, someone who i admire greatly, adam parker at morgan stanley the market is significantly higher. >> you were negative at the beginning of the year. >> that is accurate.

>> but inherent in your tone is the assumption that this is part one of a four-part story which will continue through the year. whereas someone such as myself, and i will speak for myself, would say the market doesn't go up like this. 1995, this is not, you're more likely to see these head winds and speed jumps along the way, not the least of which again is the french election. we have a whole new story, and i saw mohammed el arian today, employer of my good friend tony say portugal will be the next greece by the end of the year. your assumption is this continues uninterrupted. i would argue you the other side. >> that's what makes it such fun. >> all right, coming up, new ipad madness and apple watcher weighs in with his theory on the company's pricing strategy for the tablet and what the new dividend and buyback means for the company.

as we've been reporting all morning, apple announcing it will pay a dividend to shareholders and will buy up to $10 billion in stock. technology and media communications analyst at william blair joins us now. aneil great to have you with us. you focused on the new ipad but i want to first get your reaction to the news this

morning. pretty much in line with what you were expecting? >> yes and actually i'm here in paris, i met a bunch of clients. 1.8% seems to be the actual number. 1.8% of the buyback. based on the reaction of investors, very positive. so it was pretty much in line. the s&p pays about 2% dividend yield so pretty much in line. people believe that this could be the beginning of something better but overall very positive across investor base. you say a lot of apple's products are in its infancy and revenues could triple. walk us through the impact of margins, as well. we're getting reports about the new ipad that margins are smaller, more compressed than the ipad 2, because parts costs, labor costs, have both gone up. >> yeah, so the theory that i

have on the whole apple and ipad experience, i believe that apple will not see any competitive threat on the tablets with the ipad. why do i believe that? if you look at the ipad, it came after years of apple delivering a robust application storefront with millions of subscribers captive consumers. when apple's iphone came in it would revolutionize the way of use. it was all about better browsing and making phone calls. users wanted to screen the app store on a bigger screen and moved on to the ipad. if you look at competition today, most of these guys are actually focusing on producing tablets, and really playing the pricing game. none of these guys really have a robust and big application store from the millions of captive consumers. i think that's the wrong strategy, and i think it's not going to work out. second key thing is that if you look at app -- story? >> please carry on. >> the second key thing is if

you look at apple it's a single product company, i would argue that ipad and owners say the ipad is a dumbed down version of the iphone. if you look at apple's strategy, every time they come with a new product, 70% to 80% of their components are reused. it's in the last 10% to 20% of components that they add some value. contrast this with nokia. it wasn't too long ago nokia would come up with eight to ten phones on the quarter, throw it on the wall and hope something would stick. they didn't have a lot of scale. in terms of r&d utilization, apple being a single product company with a longer product cycle and incremental changes has the best efficiency. >> we're going to -- >> the third part is -- >> we're going to have to let you go very shortly. i just wanted to ask you before we completely run out of time. the stripdowned versions or stripping down of the ipad 3 before the weekend has revealed that tim cook is sourcing a lot of his components increasingly from different companies, in different parts of the world. what game is that man playing,

and where will that lead us potentially on his his acquisition strategy and the investment that he's outlined today? >> well, tim cook has built his name in terms of efficiencies across the supply chain. so i think he has the reach, bredth and depth of reaching out the best player across the whole space. but the whole ipad issue about them pricing i think it's such a nascent market. this could be 300 million plus units. i think they could use potential pricing power and make sure some of the guys up and coming are killed right there up front. this is not a strategy they'll play in the iphone perhaps, but on the ipad they will play. coming to the acquisitions, the whole -- >> anil i'm sorry, we've got to leave it there. anil from william blair coming to us from paris. hence the delay that we were experiencing. squawk on the beat, facebook summoning analysts from wall street's big banks to its menlo

park headquarters for a pre-ipo briefing. taylor is back at hq. what can we expect kayla? what will they be told behind closed doors, these lucky insiders? >> those doors are closing just about now. that meeting starting pretty much as we speak. it could go anywhere from a couple hours to all day. the presenters on deck, likely the entire suite of facebook executives as well as key engineers and product heads to discuss what comprises each segment and how it makes money. the big question, whether the company will disclose forward-looking information. typically companies do but whether that gets disclosed in its filings later depends on whether that material is deemed, well material. capital markets lawyers we spoke with said facebook would have to disclose hard estimates it gives out to the audience, even though the audience has signed nondisclosure agreements. but if executives couch the outlook as general opinion on the industry on numbers it could slide. perhaps more interesting about this meeting is the makeup of

the attendants. not just all 31 banks but representatives from both the banking and the research side. they're no longer restricted from holding these meetings together in the same room as of about a year ago, as long as in-house and ipo counsel are both present there to broker that conversation. >> so when will we get the details of it then? how will we know what has been said? >> oh, we'll know what's been said if we do our job as good journalists. because of the strict mbas and the sensitive nature of what's being discussed the company would be prudent to disclose it in one filing that gets amended. of course that meeting could go on all day so it could end as far as west coast time much much later this evening. we'll hope to have an updated -- an update on what happens at that meeting later for you guys if not tonight, then tomorrow. but it's really anyone's guess. google chose not to disclose any sort of forward-looking information when it did its dutch auction. that was at the advice of its

lawyers who said if you want to open this up to a disproportionate amount of retail investors via the dutch auction you cannot give the big fidelity, vanguard, t. roe prices a leg up by being able to meet with those analysts like they proven today. but as far as facebook we are expecting this to be a pretty standard ipo, therefore research analysts will get let in on the game. >> kayla, do you have any sense of what the overlap is between the banks and the research houses that are part of the syndicate, essentially, so therefore they should have a lot of information on facebook, and how many of these participants in this meeting are actually from the outside? out of the syndicate? >> you know it's interesting, because with 31 banks on the syndicate you have to imagine most all of those banks will have not only, you know, a banking side that's involved in the actual underwriting of the ipo, but also will have a research house. they're really casting the net wide on this one as we see with a lot of these giant ipos. it's likely that every single bank will have someone from each

of those arms there, as far as overlap for other independent houses. we'll have to wait and see. >> all right, kayla tausche thanks so much for that. coming up here, home builders on the six-month run, which sets are most likely to keep the momentum going? [ female announcer ] it's time for the annual shareholders meeting. ♪ there'll be the usual presentations on research. and development. some new members of the team will be introduced. the chairman emeritus will distribute his usual wisdom. and you? well, you're the chief life officer. you just need the right professional to help you take charge. ♪

here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now. ♪ ♪ why do you whisper, green grass? ♪ ♪ why tell the trees what ain't so? ♪

[ all ] shh! ♪ whispering grass ♪ the trees don't have to know ♪ no, no [ all ] shh! ♪ why tell them all your secrets ♪ ♪ who kissed there long ago? [ all ] shh! [ male announcer ] dow solutions use vibration reduction technology to help reduce track noise so trains move quieter through urban areas all over the world. sometimes the best solutions are the ones you never hear about. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. [ all ] shh! [ male announcer ] solutionism. the new optimism.™

as you know the new ipad hit store shelves over the weekend and at&t has already issued a statement out on ipad sales over the weekend. this came out just moments ago. on friday, march 16th, at&t set a new inkle-day record for its ipad sales and activations, demonstrating robust demand on the new ipad for its 4g network. a record day, friday march 16th.

we're probably going to get a lot of information as the day goes on in terms of sales of this new ipad. as we talk about apple initiating dividends. >> absolutely. home builder stocks as you'll probably be aware have had a fantastic 2012 so far. the home builder index is up nearly 30% against the broader s&p 500 which is up about 11%. so is there more room to go from here? don't forget of course they had a good fall as well. megan mcgraw is home building analyst at mk and partners. good morning. >> good morning. >> this is a research note that you wrote a month ago. >> yes. >> saying on the valuation grounds we think you should go neutral or start selling. >> yes. >> still home builders are up 7% or 8% since then. >> they are, yeah. they retrenched a little bit the couple weeks after we wrote that then they came booming back about two weeks ago. i've been really surprised at the recent strength. i thought the retrenchment would last a little bit longer and investors would have an easier time getting in. but investors seem to be very confident in the housing recovery this year.

and they've really held up. >> obviously each year you tend to get this seasonal buying. the home trade. >> yae. >> when would that normally have wound down? >> mid to late january. so that's a little bit of the reason we held in a little while longer. we downgraded in mid february and they felt like they had a little room and they felt like they were getting a little bit tired. and people woke up again a couple of weeks ago and really started buying in. so we got the sentiment index today. flatish. so the stocks are trading down a little bit today. so what we're telling people is, look, this is a group you want to own in a housing recovery. we want to own them. we just prefer to own them a little bit cheaper. take days like this and start to build your position slowly on days when the stocks are going to be down. it's not going to be a linear recovery. everything's not going to be up all at once. so take time when the things are down, and position them. >> in terms of the stocks that you like in particular you've got buy ratings on toll and pilte. they're operating in more

expensive markets. toll brothers a number of new construction projects in new york city metropolitan area. are the stakes higher at that point? they're putting more money in. they've got to command a much higher selling price and there could be a risk in new york city that, you know, people might not be getting bonuses, et cetera. >> luckily, we're past bonus season. hopefully they've already reported their quarter and things were fine. stock traded down a little bit but things seem to be holding out. the newark, new jersey area has been really good for them. held up very, very well. we like their niche in the luxury market. we think a lot of their competitors have left the market so that gives them an edge. and they're a public company. they have access to capital. when they need to go in and buy even in the new york city, the new jersey area, they can buy the things they need to buy. >> i interviewed the cew a few weeks back and he said 75% of purchasers get through mortgage through tbi. does that give you an advantage as well? >> most of the public home builders do have some kind of lending arm. i think in competition with some of the privates, it absolutely does.

it just greases the wheels. it makes things a little bit easier. when the market is still trying to recover, as easy as you can make things for the buyer, the better. >> to be clear most of your ratings are neutral. >> yes. >> and you have ratings on -- >> yes >> thank you megan. thank you for coming in. >> straight ahead, no more volts being made in detroit for five weeks as of today. why general motors is betting on california to save the struggling brand. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

check on the markets, about two hours into trading here. the dow has turned to the negative, s&p 500 higher by two points. the nasdaq still higher by nine points as apple leads the way. it is up by 1.3%. qualcomm we should mention trading at levels not seen since april 2000. the snapdragon processor seen the beneficiary as the uptick in ipads continues here. qualcomm higher by 1.75%. a positive article in barron's over the weekend saying qualcomm stock could rise by about 30%. priceline trading at levels not seen since july of 1999. look at that chart up 2.3%. >> let's bring in bob with more on today's action. >> i'll tell you what was interesting about today.

two groups that were the market leaders earlier in the order are continuing to be today. i know it doesn't look like we're down 13 points. in fact put up the financials. because once again they are clearly far and away market leaders we've seen here. look today, here's your big cap stocks here. even some of the regional banks like key corp have been strong. wells fargo, again, you want to watch these kinds of moves on a daily basis that's been going on for days now. the other group earlier in the year, remember, was material stocks. now they're a much smaller part of the overall index. they're a tiny part of the s&p 500. but, the dollar has been noticeably weak in the last hour, and the dollar has been weakening, material stocks have again moved to the fore here, a little bit of an outlier, u.s. steel. most of the major names up 1% to 2% today. there's your market leadership. that's a great goup to have in terms of market leaders. you just had a housing analyst on. i generally agree with what she said, i used to be the real

estate reporter here. i have problems with valuations. this is year-to-date the housing stocks versus the s&p 500. there's that big spike up as we saw evidence that the home building season, or rather the spring home buying season was finally materializing, orders were up 20% to 30%. the key here is going to be kb home. that's going to be out on friday when we get the earnings on kb home. these stocks generally trade as a multiple-to-book value. generally you're getting these stocks around 1.5 times book value. that's historically very high levels. i think she made some comment about that. i would worry when you get these stocks up past 1%, 1.25% of book value. around 1.5% which is roughly what kb home is at you're a bit on the high side. the stocks unloved, underowned. they could get overbought historically. finally in the vix. have you noticed things have calmed down over in europe? that europe is not purning the stock market around. simon you've noticed that for a

long time. instead there are different volatility issues associated. this is why we're at 14 on the vix because europe is not there. look at the other volatility issues. volatility in interest rates and number two, volatility in oil. so those things have replaced the volatility concerns that we've seen in europe. that's why i keep emphasizing, do not look at the cash vix at 14 right now. look further out on the curve here and you can go just in to june at 24 and august at 26. my point here is that the concerns about interest -- market volatility, particularly interest rates, have not gone away, they're still out there. they're just being masked a little bit. >> what excellent use of the red arrow. >> the arrow. >> i always wondered, i never had a chance to use the arrow. >> some of the red arrows. not a lot of things you can do. >> i left ten days ago you were on yellow squiggles. now you've got red arrows. >> they're a little bolder against the screen. >> fine job, bob. >> thank you. general motors officially

halting production of the chevy volt today. the line will stay idle for the next five weeks to clear out inventory. meanwhile the automaker is making a big push on sales in the golden state. phil lebeau is live in chicago with that. i would imagine there's no coincidence that california is where gas prices are high. >> and that's really the most receptive market in this country when it comes to electric cars, meles stay. we'll talk about that in a little bit. first let's clarify for people what this reduction or the idling of the plant in detroit is for the chevy volt. it's going to be shut down for five weeks. temporarily laying off 1300 workers who work on the volt assembly line. gm does plan to restart volt production once they have matched production with inventory levels. that will happen in mid-april. when you take a look at volt sales they've really been all over the place over the last six months. they thought that they would have a steady upward trajectory. as you can see toward the end of last year, right when they were going through the whole issue about whether or not there would be a full recall on the battery, that's when the sales dropped off and they've come back a little bit. still only 1,000 a month.

meanwhile the company is running volt ads, specifically targeting california buyers, and running those in that state. they are now selling volts in california that have been modified for hov lane clearance. in other words, people in california who have a volt, they can drive a volt by themselves with no other passengers in the high occupancy vehicle lane. meanwhile, gmc ceo dna ackerman has met with volt owners in northern california reiterating the company's commitment to keeping the volt going. >> we are not backing away from this product. in fact we sold more cars in the first year than prius sold in the first year at toyota. and they stuck with it. and prius has been a success. hats off to toyota. they've done a great job. this is a better car for a different time. >> really what gm is hoping is gm will stop focusing purely on volt sales and say listen it hasn't ramped up as quickly as possible. they believe it will be successful. it's been trading between that

25 and $26 range after bouncing back up off of $20 range late last year. the question is whether or not we see that next delay go forward. we will see production increase at general motors at some point this year. remember that's going to be driving all of the autos, not just gms, but all auto stocks as we see more production. >> phil lebeau, thank you very much for that. up next on the program, bank of america doubling its value over the last three months. and briefly this morning, crossing the $10 mark. there you go. $9.97 is where we are at the moment. we'll tell you next on the program whether you should double down on boa. [ male announcer ] the next generation of lexus cannot be contained. [ clang ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs.

there's no going back. see your lexus dealer. but not how we get there. because in this business, there are no straight lines. only the twists and turns of an unpredictable industry. so the eighty-thousand employees at delta... must anticipate the unexpected. and never let the rules overrule common sense. this is how we tame the unwieldiness of air travel, until it's not just lines you see... it's the world. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we're hitting new highs. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the spx is on my radar. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and i'm on top of it all with charles schwab. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i use streetsmart edge and its tools like... tdd# 1-800-345-2550 screener plus. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i can custom build my own screens tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or use predefined ones to help me find tdd# 1-800-345-2550 possible trading opportunities quickly.

tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i can also bounce my ideas off their trading specialists - tdd# 1-800-345-2550 on the phone or face-to-face. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and i can trade wherever i want, whenever i want. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 the kicker? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i pay $8.95 a trade. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that's a deal in any language. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 hey... a breakout on a head and shoulders bottom! tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that's what i'm talking about. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open an account and trade up tdd# 1-800-345-2550 to 6 months commission-free. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 call 1-800-540-0098 tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and start trading today. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over.

[ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back. not only this company, but this country. ♪ all right. welcome back. the halftime report tees off with guest coast jeff keswin, managing partner at lyrical and co-founder of greenlight capital. but top rated analysts will tell us whether apple just called a top in dividend investing, and we're talking to some of the biggest players on wall street today about investing in a rising rate environment. managing risk and real estate, as well.

see new a few minutes. now back to melissa at "squawk on the street." >> all right. the high profile case involving the owners of the mets and the trustee for bernard madoff victims not going to trial. darren has more on this story. >> thanks, melissa. the long nightmare for the mets owners is over and i'm not talking about the team. that's still on. but the madoff trustee and the mets have settled in their case, as you said. here are the details. it's $162 million is the settlement which is equal to the fictitious profit that the trustee alleged they had taken, withdrawn over six years. they won't have to cut a check until four years from now, and that's only if they don't recover that $162 million as net losers from madoff on their other business sterling equities. so from that distribution they're expected to get $178 million. the deal was negotiated by mario cuomo, arrived at on friday and

announced this morning in court. the mets around their ownership were on the hook for as much as $183 million in profits. to be given regardless of the verdict and another $300 million in madoff investment principle. that was also up for grabs. while the burden of proof was on the mets owners to prove that they didn't turn a willful eye to madoff and his fraud, the madoff trustee had failed to deliver any red flag that firmly suggested they did so. after the settlement was announced, mets co-owner was asked about the state of the mets. >> i can't wait to get back to our businesses, which i love. and the first order of business and the first priority will be getting down through florida tomorrow, getting to that spring training camp and trying to bring the new york mets back to prominence. >> good for them. maybe not so good for mets fans who hope they would lose this case and have to give it over.

the mets, by the way, had seven stakes in their team that they put up for sale. six of them went back to the mets owners. one, of course, to stevie cohen, the hedge fund mogul who is also the leading bidder for the dodgers. looks like this will allow the mets owners to stay in control. simon back to you. >> thanks very much, darren. darren rovell. bank of america shares today, bac is trading double the low. remember it hit just three months ago december 19th. so should you now double down on boa? jeffrey hart is principle at sundler o'neill, he joins us now. are you surprised at the speed of the movement that we've ultimately got here? >> yeah i've been surprised at the speed of the rally. but i was still really surprised by the speed of the sell-off last year. you know it's nice to see the

event again kind of breaking into double digits. and i think a big driver is, you know, we've been getting some decent mortgage numbers. it seems like housing, we're getting more since housing has stabilized. that's one of the biggest challenges for bank of america. but it's been a pretty quick run-up. >> just to be clear will your price target remain around $11 or would, in the view of what you're saying, would you be looking to upgrade that down the line? i mean does it continue to rally substantially beyond another 10%? i mean at this point my price target is $11. i can't speculate to what i would change it or not change it to. i haven't really seen much to change as far as earnings power since we updated our numbers last. so the question i think will become does this rally and specifically this stabilization of housing have more legs, and enough legs to push forward estimates up just to find the higher valuation? that's kind of the question i think we're going to have to ask. >> jeff, i wanted to ask you about citi, which is also seeing

a nice gain in today's session. i remember you had a note probably a year and a half ago making the case that citi was institutionally underowned. i'm wondering what sort of dynamic that's playing in the rise that we've seen so far this year. >> citigroup has continued to become better owned by kind of the mutual funds and the institutions, which has helped. bank of america has kind of gone to being very underowned, as well. so i do think some of the rally we're seeing here in both stocks is probably driven by, if you were a money market -- or excuse me a mutual fund manager, institutional investor and you're underweight financials. financials are leading the way up. you need to make some ground up there. some of these higher alpha, riskier names are kind of where you go to get that. i think that probably is helped in both of those names. as long as the rally continues and we keep seeing financials going up, you probably see more and more of a draw into names like bank of america and citigroup. but in both cases they're trading close to 75% of tangible

book value. your average, you know, u.s. bank, at least the larger banks, are trading close to 1.5 times tangible book value. they're still pretty cheap stocks. >> jeff, thanks for the analysis. jeffrey heart from sandler o'neill. up next on the program the former missouri senator and a member of mitt romney's economic talent team jim talent will join us for a preview of the illinois primary. "why did i roll over my i.r.a. to scottrade?" "for starters, it didn't cost me anything." "and i got a one-hundred dollar cash bonus for rolling over by april 16th." "i like bonuses." "plus at scottrade, there are thousands of commission-free investments." "and if i need help, i can find it online, by phone or at one of over five-hundred scottrade locations." "it's why more investors with i.r.a.s are saying.." "i'm with scottrade." ♪ [music]

♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪

we we like to point out that the s&p is actually within less than 10% of its all-time high. >> all-time high. >> all-time high. >> record high. within less than 10%. and my first reaction was well, you know, that's still a lot. you said it's within -- >> it's not. it's doable. presumably that was in 2007. >> looks like. >> it's not been a great five years on the whole. >> it has been a stellar run from the bottom of '09. >> exactly. if you listen to our good friend mark he called it. >> here we have the s&p 500, 14909 up by 0.4% in today's

special. the gop presidential candidates are battling it out in the land of lincoln this week. the illinois primary is tomorrow. with 54 delegates at stake. former missouri senator jim talent is a top romney surrogate and a member of romney's economic policy team. senator, it's great to have you with us. >> thank you, melissa. good to be here. >> a lot of people say a lot is at stake for senator romney simply because this is the state with the most delegates out there. what is on the line? >> oh, it's a very important start. of course, they all are. we just had a big win in puerto rico. he's got a good message. he's the one with the experience in the private sector, and as an executive leader and the others, i mean forget about meeting a payroll. they haven't really been on a private sector payroll for 125 years. so it's a strong message and we're hoping to do well. >> you mentioned how well he did in -- good morning by the way. you mentioned how well he did in puerto rico. all 20 of the delegates there, it's interesting to note guam or the virgin islands that mitt romney has won 52 of the 54

possible delegates that those territories throw up. which raises the question whether you believe he'd still have such a commanding lead if his opponents were as well organized as he is in those sorts of areas. >> i don't think the others are really running the national campaign. i don't think they have a national message. we're doing well. simon, there's two alternatives at this point. one of them is that governor romney gets to the necessary delegate count. the other is that we have a deadlocked convention and i'm sure the president is rooting for that alternative because it would be very bad for the republican party and very good for him. >> i'm amazed you raised that as a possibility being on romney's economic team. the fact that he might not get the 1144 delegates that you would admit to that, i think is quite an extraordinary thing. >> well that's -- >> you don't want to be there, do you? >> well, i mean, reality is, there's two mathematical possibilities. one is that governor romney gets this. i think that's far more likely.

the other is that we go to a deadlocked convention. we saw, by the way, in missouri over the weekend on saturday what happens when you have -- when you have deadlocked type of caucuses or conventions. it was pretty chaotic. >> do you fancy his chances if he is in that situation, given that so many tea party members will be there for the first time and what i believe is a kind of a usual more conservative bias to those sorts of meetings to that convention? >> i fancy the governor's chances of getting to the majority that he needs to get to. we just as you mentioned picked up 20 in puerto rico. every time newt gingrich and rick santorum don't get 69 or 70% of the vote, they fall into a hole. governor romney's been -- had support across every segment of the party. he has a very strong message. look, i fancy our chances of getting the nomination under any circumstances. but that isn't what we need to do. we neat to bead barack obama, and the longer we fight this out, every day that goes by does make that harder. >> i wanted to ask you about

something that certainly made headlines, what governor romney said on the sunday morning talk shows, calling for a gas hike trio to resign saying that these three haven't done much given where gas prices are. now senator, we have seen the economy strengthen over time, and unemployment picture improve as well. this despite the rise that we've seen in gas prices. we're pretty close to the level that most analysts out there are telling us would be the level at which demand would be destroyed. demand destruction. and at which point gas prices would tip back lower anyway. what is the immediate term fix that the governor would be proposing at this point if he were president? >> i think if all we really need to do. the most important thing certainly is just get the energy we have in this country the way other countries do. i think if the markets believe the government was going to consistently follow a policy which is what governor romney advocates of allowing us to explore and recover the energy we have here, not just oil and natural gas, nuclear cole, i think you'd see prices ease in

the shorter and longer-term because the market would know that more supply is coming >> this week just changing the subject slightly, senator, we're going to get from the gop and the house some new budget proposals to try and obviously capture more of the agenda away from the democrats, would your man mitt romney and your economic team that you're part of would you also develop policies separately from that and are there or can you promise some nice, juicy policy measures that could perhaps reinvigorate the romney campaign to a greater extent? >> simee simon, we've got a lot great policies. he's running on the most comprehensive set of policies to reduce the side and power of the federal government anybody's run on since reagan. just announced a few weeks ago the marginal tax cut that he wants, coupled with important tax reforms and other changes, for example, to lower the corporate tax rate. he's come up with comprehensive proposal in the energy field,

regulatory relief. they're very, very strong. and again, he is the person with the leadership ability, and the experience of the private sector to get it done. in contrast his opponents in the primary. >> how much of a mistake do you think it was he only pays tax at 15% and he doesn't offer to pay it at 30% and he will have to stand in front of obama and obama can point at him and say you didn't pay enough tax, i'll make you pay more. >> well, i think he paid what he owed. and he wants everybody to be in a position in the country where they're doing extremely well. i think americans would think somebody was kind of dumb if they paid more taxes than they owed. i mean, he has a very strong record of success. and i think that's what people want. not only in the presidency but for themselves. >> all right. senator, thanks for your time. we appreciate it. senator jim talent. >> thank you. well, keep those tweets coming. apple using its cash for dividend in a buyback. we're asking you if you were apple's ceo tim cook how would you spend apple's $98 billion in cash? tweet us, our handle

cnbc @krchcnbc cnbcnbc @cnbc squawk stth. h. we want to protect the house. right. but... home security systems can be really expensive. so to save money, we actually just adopted a rescue panther. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands.

this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy.

okay, let's get to it, time for squawk on the tweet. if you were ap am's ceo tim cook how would you spend apple's $98

billion in cash? leo tweets, i'd open a u.s. plant and close the sweat shops in china. thus making our economy better here. brandon tweets, apple should share money with loyal investors, not all of it, though, keep most money to fund innovation. and the tweets go on. just do it. buy twitter. >> oh, it comes up again. >> again and again and again. we want to talk about financials. nice rally here. citi's actually strengthening throughout the session. jeff harte continuing to say citi and bank of america are largely underowned. although that isn't picking up. but there's still room for purchasing these shares. >> morgan stanley was up a few minutes ago. >> we're also watching sprint an apple related story. downgrading the stock to an underperform $1.75 price target