the world's most dominant tech company. >> ags are still growing. keep an eye on mosaic. earnings coming soon. >> don't forget to catch more "fast" tonight at 5:00. "power lunch" begins right now. >> thank you, scotty. three hours to go in the trading day. mixed economic signals making for modest markets. investors cooling off after yesterday's red hot rally. still, the nasdaq and the s&p are both at 52-week highs. we'll tell you which sectors will help you ride this bull. shares of apple hitting an all-time high yet again today. ceo tim cook is in china looking to expand his company's footprint in that huge market. how big are the potential rewards and what are the risks? investing in america. companies that make their money in the u.s. are absolutely booming. case in point, home remodeling. we'll tell you which companies are cashing in on all those new kitchens, decks and my personal favorite, the finished basement. with sue herera and brian

shactman, i'm tyler mathisen. put down that hammer. take a break from your home repair improvement. because "power lunch" begins right now. home prices we learned earlier remain weak. consumer confidence showing a little bit of slack. still close to the highest levels in a year. that result is a stock market taking a bit of a breather after monday's rally. we are flirting with negative territory in both the dow and the s&p 500. a little bit more breathing room in the nasdaq. up .25%. pulse of the markets, i want to talk about energy. nat gas hitting a new intraday low for the year and pretty close to the lowest levels in about a decade. down 1%. want to move on in terms of midday movers. home builders having a solid day after lennar's numbers beat.

pulte up more than 5.5%. apollo with failing grades from investors. earnings were good. projected enrollment numbers not good. stock crushed. energy stocks having a tough one as well as i talked about the energy actual commodities. nabors and cabot the biggest losers. bob, more trying to figure out why we bought so much yesterday? >> no. we bought for a very good reason. mr. bernanke did not eliminate the possibility of qe 3 and left the door open. today we're sort of left with the fallout from that. a couple of comments here, brian. number one on your natural gas, there's a problem. warm weather. too much gas out there. and too much gas that's in storage. also, remember, these exploration production companies have become very efficient at drilling. they can drill a lot more. they can drill less, rather, and get a lot more gas these days. the efficiency of these companies are up. the last few days they've been

under pressure. by the way, they haven't had a horrible year. just recently as we've been seeing the supplies away, they've been in trouble. natural gas names, these are drilling companies really out there, they're on the downside. elsewhere there's just an ocean of analysis going on about the supreme court and health care. of course, yesterday some of these stocks moved up on some expectations that there might be an attempt for the supreme court to limit president obama's health care reforms. hmo stocks yesterday moving to tup side. today they're a little bit to the downside. i can tell you there's no finality or agreement on what all this is going to mean to health care companies. i'll have a little bit more to say of this in the next hour. tyler, back to you. breaking news now. $35 billion of 2-year notes are up for auction. rick santelli is tracking the action at the cme. take it away, rick. >> $35 billion as tyler pointed out. the ultimate yield at the

auction seconds ago .34. bid offered at .34. we were right there. 10-auction average on bid to cover 3.53. survey says for this auction, 3.69. indirects, 34.3. a couple of percent better than 10-auction average. directs, 21.4 versus 13%. 10-auction average, i'm doing quick math, dealers only took down 44%. that's a good thing. i'm giving this auction a b plus as we start our 99 billion week. back to you. >> thank you very much. sue? >> let's switch on the power lunch power surge and drill down on the stories driving the day. fresh fears today about housing. home prices falling for a fifth straight month. our real estate correspondent diana olick joins us and breaks down the latest numbers and what it all means for the housing recovery. hi, diana. >> reporter: hi, sue. that's right. the s&p case-shiller home price index hitting a new low. but actually better than

expectations on this report. that's something, right? take a look if you will. top ten and top 20 cities down 3.9% and 3.8% annually in january. month to month essentially flat. down 0.8%. these declines are less steep than we saw in december. that's an improvement. again, looking two months back at a three-month running indicator. on that average it's not really indicative of what prices are doing right now as we head into the spring market. eight cities, however, did hit new price lows. atlanta really tanking, down over 14% annually thanks to a wave of foreclosures. chicago's price drop was half of what it was the previous month. that's moving in the right direction. three cities saw year over year gains. that's phoenix, denver and detroit. again, this is a very backward looking indicator. we have to look at what we're going to see going forward into the spring market. where are the sales going to be? specifically geographically and what price range. are we looking at the low end? are we looking at the distressed market only? that's what's going to drive prices. of course, we won't know what happened, though, until we go

toward june and look back again. sue? >> intedeed, diana. home builders usually move in tandem. not all the home builders are created equal. lennar today, quite different from k.b. homes which posted a bigger than expected loss. >> reporter: that's right. there was a lot of trepidation going into lennar's earnings today because of what we saw last week with k.b. home. it was the reverse. lennar coming in well above expectations. they do have a rhialto part of their business. that boosted earnings by $9 billion. what analysts are saying about lennar, they timed the market well. this is a company specific earning. looking back at k.b., a lot of people thought they were going to do better because they do build on the lower end of the market. again, as i keep saying, they are in competition with foreclosures. disstressed properties. that could have been what hurt k.b. as well. if you're wondering why i'm standing in t.w. perry, which is

a lumber and building supply store, we are going to be talking about one sector of the market that's really doing well. that's home remodeling. that will be later on in "power lunch." >> we look forward to that very much. thanks, diana. president obama's health care reform facing a crucial test today. the supreme court just wrapping up a second day of hearings. today's question, can the government force americans to buy health insurance? or maybe more technically, penalize them if they do not. hampton pearson is live at the supreme court. some on the court certainly seem skeptical on that critical point. >> reporter: tyler, right you are. first of all, outside the courtroom today twice as many demonstrators, twice as loud, underscoring the performance of the debate inside on the heart of the health care reform law, the constitutionality of the individual mandate. a barrage of questions for the government from justices scalia. justice kennedy, are you creating commerce in order to

regulate it? justice scalia, does the mandate open the door to a huge expansion of congress to regulate more and more of the economy? chief justice john roberts expressing the concern, quote, once we say there is a market and we require you to participate in it, we can't set limits. solicitor general donald verilli basically making the government's overall case that what congress did in the case of the health care reform law was to device a scheme for regulation of the health care market to ensure that all people have insurance and advance of using and consuming health care which sooner or later we all do. perhaps offering a defense on the court among the justices, judge ruth baderr ginsburg, whe a person makes a choice not to buy insurance everybody suffers. pope ben fiedict on the sec day of his tour through cuba just landed in havana.

he just deplaned. there are dignitaries in havana who are meeting him right now. this is, as i said, the second part of his tour of cuba. yesterday he was in santiago. earlier this week he was in mexico. michelle caruso-cabrera is on the ground in havana. we will get a report from her shortly. meantime, as we continue to monitor that story, it looks like it may be a good time to go public as stocks hit new highs. it's gearing up to be one of the busiest weeks for ipos in years. kayla tausche is looking at the big names that are on deck for us. hi, kayla. >> hi, sue. there are ten deals on deck this week. the busiest week for ipos since december 2010 according to renaissance capital. confidence is soaring and volatility is falling. vix touching historic lows several times. prices likely going to come in the range they're trying for and swings in trading once they do go public will be mild. that wasn't the case earlier in the year with more than a third

of this year's ipos having priced below that range. that's provided another positive data point in that ipos on average are up nearly 29% from where they were offered originally. one deal pricing today after the bell already has outsized demand. organic food company annie's raised its price range yesterday from $16 to $18 a share from a previous change of $14 to $16. investors clambering not only to get into the ipo asset class but also wanting exposure to the organic food market. those players already in it certainly are doing well. annie's s1 filing estimates slowing growth from the fast pace of the last decade. jpmorgan analyst jessica schmidt is still very upbeat on the sector. with $1.3 billion in revenue, hane appears a closer competitor to annie's. kraft had 54$54.4 billion in

revenue. the catch is kraft makes organic mac and cheese, what annie's is best known for. the battle to control the entertainment pipe in your living room just got a bit more interesting. microsoft's xbox announcing landmark news today as it moves into the media business. julia boorstin following that story for us. >> reporter: tyler, microsoft's gaming platform is becoming a true entertainment hub. it just announced that for the first time people are using the xbox more for entertainment, tv, movies and music, than for playing video games. microsoft announcing use of its entertainment apps has more than doubled over last year. today xbox is launching three new entertainment apps for its xbox live subscription service. hbo go and come kath xfinity tv as well as mlb.tv which provides more than 2,500 live games. these apps can be used with voice control through microsoft's kinect.

all the content is delivered over the internet. that doesn't mean consumers can cut the cord. in fact, it's designed to keep them paying subscription fees. in order to access apps xbox owners must pay for a gold subscription which costs 60 bucks a year. they must subscribe to hbo, kom ka cast or mlb premium. microsoft hopes to lure people who aren't interested in gaming to both buy xboxs and pay its annual subscription fee. of course, microsoft also wants to compete with google tv, nintendo's new wii u as well as the apple tv. tyler? >> another tech titan, google, is going old school when it comes to advertising. what's the online ad giant doing with traditional ads? >> it's spending a lot of money on them. $70 million on tv ads last year up from just $6 million in 2010.

google's overall ad spend nearly quadrupled to 2$213 millionlast year. getting into tv is really a big about face for google which has shunned tv ads for years. after all, google builds its business on the power of search ads. now google is turning to traditional 30-second spots in order to grow its market share. it's promoting its social network, google plus, browser google chrome and even google search in the tv ads. google's ad spending as a percentage of revenue is almost as high as apple, microsoft's and yahoo!'s. google is trying to diversify away from search with google tv, youtube original channels and google music. at it moves more into these different categories and not just search ads, we can expect it to buy more tv ads. tyler? >> thank you very much. straight ahead, just days to go in the best quarter for the s&p since 1998. certainly the best first quarter. can this bull run continue and are u.s. stocks the best place for your money? the cio for atlantic trust is

going to be along. he's going to tell you what he thinks and pick his favorite sectors. mixed performance in sectors. here's how they're trading right now. consumer staples, financial, telecom and energy in the red. half a percent gain in utilities. about a third of a percent gain in material stocks. we're back in a moment. [ male announcer ] how do you trade? with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

welcome back to "power

lunch." time for 3 in 30. let's start with amazon. seeing is stock up more than 3% after the company announced that harry potter is going to be available on the kindle. that distribution deal sending the stock higher there. also looking at shares of micron up 3.7%. this one seen by analysts as one of the leaders as this industry continues to consolidate. also taking a look at sears. of course, we've seen some selling pressure as of late. but a little bit of a pop today. 3.3%. despite the fact that sears has had a rough time. poor earnings and a lot of store closings. this is going to be one to watch. back over to you, sue. stocks showing strong gains so far this year. the dow and s&p both on track for their best first quarter performance since 1998. the best first quarter for the nasdaq since 1991. does this move have legs? is investing in america your best bet right now? joining us is dave donabidi and cio of atlantic trust with $18 billion under management. good to see you. welcome back, as always.

>> thank you. >> it tuz seem like it's been a pretty stellar first quarter which has some people thinking that the tough sledding is still ahead of us. others disagree. where do you come down on either side of that argument? >> the market has been supported in the year to date and last six months really by a combination of better economic news and continued ultra stimulative monetary policy. that's the good news. i think going ahead the challenge gets a little tougher. the economy will continue to perform fine but is probably reaching maximum growth potential. as we look to the second half of the year, i think investors are going to start to focus on what happens at the beginning of 2013 when we have a sort of a tidal wave of fiscal contraction that could hit. we think there's more upside in the market. but it's quite possible that most of the gains have been seen already. >> does that mean that u.s. stocks might not be your best bet right now? that perhaps you look in other areas of the globe? or do you just have to be extremely particular and careful if you're going to stay in u.s.

equities? >> it's really the latter. we actually think right now the u.s. looks in many ways the most attractive vis-a-vis the rest of the world. our asset allocation models are as u.s. centric as they've been in several years. we last summer eliminated exposure to europe and japan for obvious macro reasons. our models today are 75% to 80% in u.s. equities and 20%, 25% in the emerging markets. yes, you have to be very particular and selective. you have to focus on quality. we're looking in the large cap area at stocks that have strong free cash flow and that have the potential to raise their dividends successively for a number of years. in the mid cap space looking for steady growth stories as opposed to growth story stocks where there's execution risk. >> in what sectors are you finding those values? >> one of the things you're talking about today is investing in america. when we look at the industrial and manufacturing sector in the

u.s. today, it's really quite interesting. at the macro level, 31 months in a row we've seen manufacturing growth in this country. at the same time that we see it obviously weakening substantially in europe and retrenting even in parts of the emerging markets. we look at the various industrial industries, we see stable wage costs, high productivity which means that unit labor costs aren't growing a lot. so increasing competitiveness compared to the rest of the world. and we see order backlogs rising in areas like the engineering and construction industries, industrial gases. >> are those industrials being led by the resurgence in domestic auto making? >> a big part of it. domestic and international. but it's much broader than that. as i mentioned some of those other industries are seeing order backlogs as well. >> we don't have much time left. i'm going to eat upmost of it just asking this question. spin the movie forward to me to post-election. there are a lot of things

conspireing towards the end of this year that could cause trouble for u.s. stocks. isn't that true? >> yeah. that is really my biggest concern. if there are no legislative changes at all, you're going to see all income tax rates, capital gains rates, dividend rate, estate tax rates, payroll tax rates, go up really at the same time at the beginning of 2013. not making an editorial comment on whether tax increases are good or bad but a practical comment would be if they're all going up at the same time, the economy is going to have a problem. so normally you would hope that rationality would tidictate in washington and no one would want that outcome. we've seen enough of the situationings in the last couple years where we worry some about that rational outcome happening. >> rationality in washington rather than oxymoron. >> putting it lightly these days. coming up next, pope benedict as you see here live on cnbc is in the middle of a historic visit to cuba. that country may be on the brink of major economic reforms. that could mean huge opportunities for businesses,

including tourism. >> our michelle caruso-cabrera live in cuba. she will tell you all about the hidden treasure just 90 miles from florida. "power" back in two. ] technology not moving forward 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. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. hi. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. at&t. ♪

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so you can kill invading weeds down to the root. without harming your lawn. guaranteed. ortho weed b gon max. welcome back to "power lunch." >> on a flat day for the most part for the market today, pfizer's bucking that trend. it's the best performer in the dow today. that's why i'm taking a look at it. see that nice move here.

it's up almost 2% today. provocative note put out by goldman sachs about the stock, talking about the potential breakup of the company. they say they recently met with pfizer's ceo, ian reed, and in their words expressed an openness to going further with separations beyond animal health and nutrition. they say you could see branded and generic segments within the next two to three years. they also say pfizer's research pipeline could support $33 a share. that's not where they're taking the 12-month price target today. that, though, is being bumped up to 26 from 25. nonetheless, there's a lot of research flying out of wall street firms every day, guys, as you know. this happens to be one of the most provocative reports of the day. it's no doubt moving the shares. >> thank you very much. pope benedict arriving in havana this hour for his historic trip to cuba. our chief international correspondent michelle caruso-cabrera is in havana looking at what impact tourism

is playing there. michelle? >> reporter: yeah. it's a big one, tyler. certainly the pope's arrival here in havana is one of the drivers of tourism. we know a lot more exiles from the cuban exile community in miami came down here because of the pope's visit. he just landed on the tarmac within the last half hour. we know after this he's going to meet with members of the catholic community here in havana. he's also going to meet with raul castro and is expected to meet with fidel castro as well. we don't know if we're going to get pictures of that and we don't know if he's going to give an audience to venezuelan president hugo chavez who coincidentally happens to be here for cancer treatments. as he arrives, cuba is a country who desperately needs foreign exchange. they would like to produce everything themselves, but that which they have to import they've got to pay for somehow with foreign exchange. they've got very few sources. they used to get a lot of nickel. the price of nickel has fallen. remittances from exiles reaches about $2 billion. also tourism revenue.

that's key. when you arrive in cuba, it feels like a country frozen in time. the lack of development over the last 50 years has led to an architectural purity that attracts a lot of visitors. the government says 2.7 million tourists came last year. up 7% from the year before. most of those tourists are not from the united states. that's because the u.s. embargo against cuba strictly controls americans' ability to travel here. but there are exceptions. u.s. citizens can get special licenses issued by the treasury department allowing certain trips to cuba. but only for some very specific reasons including educational or religious programs, performers or athletes who are going to be in a public performance, and business meetings related to exports. the majority of the visitors come from canada, argentina and parts of europe. when they come they bring much needed foreign exchange to what is a cash strapped economy. makes tourism perhaps the most important business sector in this country.

we just don't know how much revenue they bring. because the cuban government doesn't publish those statistics. they don't publish a lot of statistics. one thing we can tell you, one of the key reasons they come or one of the things they love to do when they're here, they love these antique cars that are still on the road. in fact, they dominate the landscape here. coming up on "street signs" in the next hour, we're going to show you what they're used for to this day. commuting, actually. of course, for tourists as well. >> they won't say how much revenue comes in as a result of tourism, but where do the tourists come from? we know there are not really so many americans who go. are they canadians? latin americans? where are they coming from? >> reporter: vast majority, canadians. january of just this year we know that more than 100,000 canadians came. far more than the next number, argentinians. average about 10,000 per country. canadians are the vast majority. >> michelle, thank you very much. straight ahead, brian shactman will join us. he'll update all the market

action for you. sharon epperson will be live with us with the latest at the nymex. plus, apple hitting yet another all-time high. ceo tim cook doing something steve jobs never did. he's in china. so how big are the rewards? what are the risks as apple pushes growth in that country? we'll tell you on the other side of a quick break. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. 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'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain,

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shares of nordstrom up .25%. probably the result of my last online transaction with the department store. nonetheless, the stock is in the green. it's traded last at 55.41. all right. brian shactman. reset the markets for us. >> sue moving markets really right there. a few things i want to point out. vix up 7%. still at very low levels. we do have the dow and s&p turning into negative territory although just slightly so. 10-year note below 2.2%. aig a bounce earlier. a call from deutsche bank that it could soon buy back millions in stock. more got out of positive mentions by ben bernanke. another leg up. still up almost 4%. interesting price action in crocs. already met average daily volume. web bush niche waiti inin ining

months still down 23%. still recouping q-4 losses. metals getting a major boost. producer in china -- still doubts about pricing moving forward. molly corp. up almost 9% app avalon, 3.74%. quest up 4.25%. sharon epperson has the latest. >> it's a rather lackluster close here today. in fact, we're not seeing much of a movement at all at the close. basically flat on the session on this options expiration date for gold. after all, gold did hit a two-week high earlier in the session. it looked like gold might try to get to that 1700 level. we know there was some open interest at that strike price as well. but unable to get above that mark. and unable to actually close here above the 200-day moving

average. 1687 is a key level to continue to watch on the gold chart as well. the euro partly to blame. the fact we saw the euro retreat a bit is why we've seen gold and silver stabilize at the moment. we continue to watch to see whether we can recapture that 1700 level. back to you. >> thank you, sharon. a big day for apple in the market and overseas. apple's ceo tim cook is in china trying to clean up a number of problems in its biggest growth market. from trademark battles to labor conditions at apple suppliers. his trip comes as apple shares hit yet another all-time high. rising to nearly 615 bucks a share. jon fortt is in silicon valley with more on what's driving mr. cook's mission in china. hi, jon. >> hey, sue. all apple is officially saying is tim cook is in china to meet with government officials. he certainly would have plenty to discuss with them. that's not all he's doing. cook stopped at an apple store in beijing and took photos with star struck patrons. this is the first time an apple ce oh, has made this kind of

official visit to china. it comes at a pivotal time. cook often sites china as apple's most promising market. apple is also the most visible brand associated with chinese labor right now because of questions that news organizations and others have asked about labor conditions for workers who make apple products. then there's the trademark issue, a chinese company fighting with apple over the use of the term ipad. the fundamental issue for investigation to investors, apple stock has nearly doubled in the past year. >> jon, stay with us if you might. as cook makes moves in china, what are the risks and rewards? brian blair is a principal and senior research analyst at wedge part partners. jon hit a lot of the high points of this trip. which is kind of different.

one pope is in havana. the pope of apple is in beijing today. >> that's right. >> his big target here has to be china mobile with all of those cell phone customers. he's got deals with two of the other mobile suppliers over there. but not china mobile. >> that's right. that's right. that is -- you know, that's the biggest jump ball over there. they have 660 million subscribers on china mobile. there are about 15 million iphones in the network. they're unlocked. they're not coming from a direct relationship with apple. the real opportunity in addition to getting closer to the government and expressing the desire to do, you know, even more business in china is to really land china mobile. i think that's going to happen later this year. >> how big of deal, brian, is this -- is this patent spat with the chinese company over the brand ipad? >> i don't think it's that big of a deal. these things are usually remedied with a check. it's just a question of just how big that check needs to be. clearly this company proview had the rights to the ipad name. this is just going to be a question of writing a check. i don't think it's that big of a

deal. i think it's much like the iphone name itself. that was taken care of with a small check. this will be the same thing. >> is the ipad sold there at all? do you agree with brian that this may not be, in the end, such a big deal? >> i agree that it's not a big deal. it isn't sold officially there yet. though just as soon as the first flight leaves the u.s. after the ipad launch, you can pretty much guess when it's going to be on sale in china as news organizations have said. you know, i think if apple wanted to write a check over this issue, they would have already. apple argues they already wrote a check to proview for the use of this trademark. i wouldn't be surprised if tim cook's presence there actually means more than just the meetings that he takes there. it's a big deal when someone of this kind of stature in the business world goes to china. you know, apple -- apple ceos don't just show up places for official visits. you think back, steve jobs went to places to launch products. to do events. didn't do these kinds of official visits. his very presence there sends a certain kind of message. that's good politically and

possibly marketingwise for apple. >> it comes at a key time, tdoe it not, brian? we will have a change in the government in china. an extensive change in the government. the chinese value relationships in somewhat of a different way on a business side of things. i would think it's almost a preemptive move on mr. cook's part before the government gets put in place. >> i think that's a great point. you're right. they definitely value the long-term relationship. they really look favorably on any company willing to set up operations there, put research there within the country and to have people on the ground. apple has done that to a degree through fox con. you're right. getting closer to the government is only going to help them both with the government change, but just for apple long term there. it's not just -- iphones are trying to sell there and i pads. they still have the mac line. maybe we'll see tvs in a year. it's a critical market over there. getting close to the government in every way is only going to help apple in the long term. this was 10% of their revenues last year. that should continue to grow in the years to come.

>> what about fox con? what does he have to do there? supply chain management is a strength of his, certainly. >> right. >> brian and jon, if you could weigh in on it, what to you think he's going to do there? >> i think they're already doing the right things. a month ago they announced this fair labor association is doing a review of all of their final assembly, you know, facilities in china. that is the right thing. instead of trying to hide what's going on in the factories, to put it out there and to let people know what they're doing to raise the status of the workers, to increase wages and to make sure the overall working conditions are safe. my bet is that tim will check in on that while he's there. >> jon, final thought? >> an area where apple in the past wasn't as savvy was in how it was perceived as a company. it was very tuned in to how its products were perceived. tim cook seems to be sharpening the focus on how it's perceived as a company. labor is one of those issues that's going to be an issue going forward. his focus must be on that. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. >> thank you. now on to some fun and

games. apple and android's top game apps. first up, draw something. think of pictionary. >> that would be a flamingo. >> you are really good. so popular, in fact, zynga just scooped up parent omg pop for $180 million. coming in neck and neck or beak to beak, rove oio's angry bird space. i haven't got it yet. players blast fuming feathered avengers into pilfering pigs. this time in zero gravity. need we say more. sounds like fun. >> it does. >> we will have it on our ipads or wherever. >> momentarily. >> i'm sure.

coming up next on "power lunch," investing in america. the other emerging markets as well. other companies are making big profits right here in the good ole usa. house b is struggling as numbers confirm today. but remodeling is booming. we'll tell you which companies are cashing in and which stocks should be on your radar. 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. 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.

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are making huge profits by doing business right here in the good ole usa. we know housing is still struggling. but one slice of that business is on fire home remodeling. diana olick looking at stocks soaring in this red hot area. earlier you were standing there near some cabot stains. >> it moved on to the valspar primer area. we know the housing market still isn't on solid ground yet. a lot of americans are still staying put. as the economy improves and they start to feel better about their personal finances, they say, hey, if i'm not going to move maybe i should fix things up around here. that's really boosting the remodeling business. especially in private companies like right here at t.w. perry in the d.c. area. and, of course, the big guys. we're going to get to those in just a second. residential remodeling as measured by building permits in january were at an annual rate of nearly 3 million. that's up 13% month to month. up 11% from a year ago. that all according to build

facts. joe emison of buildfax expects it to continue to grow throughout 2012. that's great news for the companies that serve the market like chsherwin-williams. home depot the best level since april '02. lowe's since 2007. don't forget lumber warehouser. it takes about 65% of revenue from u.s. sales. it's seeing gains. u.s. gypsum shares. take a look at any of the products around a store like this one which goes on for miles and you know they are going to reap the rewards of this new surge in remodeling. plenty more of this on the blog. go to it. realtycheck.cnbc.com. the fortunes of the nation's top two home improvement chains

are tied very closely to the health of the nation's housing market. both shares have been trading on the upside with home depot in particular coming off nine straight quarters of double digit profit growth. low's exceeding analyst expectations on pretty much all fronts. are these buy, sell or hold right now? let's ask laura champagne with the concord adams group in new york. good to see you again. >> thank you. >> let's start first of all with how you feel about these home improvement stocks. diana really laid it out quite nicely. there is a resurgence in home remodeling. is that, do you think, reflected in the shares yet? >> you know, home depot in q4 put up best stam store sales since 2004. low's in q1 probably will report as high a comp as they've had since 2006. the stocks as you mentioned hitting multiyear highs. trading at high teens multiples. housing better be improving. the remodeling sector better be picking up. otherwise you just can't justify

high teen multiples for really no growth companies. >> yeah. that's, perhaps, why you have a neutral rating on both of the stocks? >> it is. we're really waiting for home prices to start trending up. because i think that could drive a multiyear cycle investing in the home again. until i get confirmation of that it'll trade around short-term trends. having an early spring and a very mild winter is good news for their spring and summer. probably a good short-term buy. over the long term i really need housing numbers to turn. >> short of that, though, is there anything more that either home depot or lowe's can do? >> home depot has been gaining share, reporting better comps than lowe's over a number of quarters now. they've really improved their supply chain, improving merchandising, making the stores a little easier to shop. putting more profitable and cheaper products there. i think if you had to buy one over the other home depot is still my favorite. >> one that often isn't on the list is lumber liquid daters.

how do you feel about the stock and what are the fundamentals that would support perhaps adding to a portfolio. >> it's one of my absolute favorite ideas right now. they have a new ceo, rob lynch, who came from orchard supply and before that from home depot. he's doing really dramatic things to take their cost structure down. if we get a multiyear up trend in remodeling, they really will benefit from that. >> thanks, laura. appreciate it. always good to see you. >> thank you. are soaring oil prices actually good for the economy? why it may lead to more job growth. "street signs" dives into that one in a special day long coverage of investing in america. coming up today at 2:00 p.m. next on "power lunch," as more americans live longer how do you make your retirement money grow? we'll show you new options for your nest egg, after this. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm brian shactman. keeping an eye on general electric. trades in a pretty narrow change. holding on $20. yields almost 3.5%. a $200 million contact from saudi electric. will be allowed to bid on a new

power station in finland. up double digits year to date outperforming the broader dow by about 4%. back to you. >> thank you very much. the good news is americans liing longer. average life expectancy for men. sharon epperson looking at the cost of living longer. >> tyler, many retirees say their number one fear is running out of money. of course, conventional wisdom is that you put more money in bonds and less in stocks as you grow older to lessen the risk. >> they're looking at the wrong risk. the risk of the market going up and down for somebody who's at retirement age or fairly soon after retirement age, their real risk is money death. >> he says to avoid money death, running out of money, you want to be in higher yielding investments like dividend paying stocks. you also want to consider adding

another strategy to the mix. that's longevity insurance. how does it work? it works like this. you set aside money now and it's going to make payments to you when you turn 80 or 85. >> the reason why this works well is because you're waiting that maybe 20 or 25 years, that builds up. and so they can pay a much higher pension or annuity than if you just bought an annuity right now. you're really insuring against longevity, literally, the risk of having a long life. >> if you're 55 or 70 and you're in good health, you may want to consider buying longevity insurance. remember, it should only make up about 10% of your portfolio. you never want to be overweighted in any one investment. also the treasury department actually endorsed longevity insurance about a month ago as part of its new 401(k) plan rule changes. it's probably not in your 401(k) just yet. you can buy this longevity insurance on your own, though, through companies like met life, new york life and similar metra. there's one downside i have to

talk about. that's the fact if you want to get the best rate on this insurance, remember, it's pure insurance. if you don't reach 80 or 85 you're not going to get the money. >> sharon, when you say the treasury department endorsed it, you mean that they made it eligible to go into 4 -- >> 401(k) plans should offer this as part of their many offerings. it's going to take many of the experts say several years for it to roll out and be in a plan. >> would you ever buy it? >> if i continue to be healthy, if i continue to exercise, i definitely would consider buying it. again, many people are living a lot longer. but it really depends on your family history. one thing i would say, tyler, everyone should check out a website called livingto100.com. do the test. see how healthy you are now. it'll give you a good idea about how long you may live. that might tell you whether this product would work. >> livingto100.com.

i'm sure everyone here is going to be doing that. >> i'm not sure i want to know the answer. >> pass the fries. >> stop. just over two hours left in the trading day. charts of the day coming up next. first, a reminder that cnbc and churchill downs are giving you a chance to win a vip trip to the 138th kentucky derby. enter through facebook or twitter. we are back in two. 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.

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[ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. get it and you're in. all this week we are honoring our veterans with a very special initiative called "hiring our heroes." cnbc and nbc news have teamed up with the chamber of commerce to find ways to get our vets back to work. cnbc will be live tomorrow from the "u.s.s. intrepid." also special interviews with the vice president of the chamber and ceos of jpmorgan and lockheed martin tomorrow on

"street signs." for more information or to tell us how your company is helping with the effort, e-mail us and we'll connect you with the chamber of commerce. >> in all honesty, we're very proud of that program, to be associated with it. take a look at the markets. positive in the s&p. still negative in the dow by about three points. let's look at charts of the day. i chose to look at natural gas. if natural gas is so cheap, why is my heating bill so high? >> you like a warm house. >> i do not like a warm house. i like it cool. look at that. almost a ten-year low on natural gas at 2.18. i guess that's per thousand cubic meters or whatever it is. >> we were talking a lot about housing and how lumber demand may be up at the home improvement retailers. it's really not reflected in the lumber chart. we are up 1% today. if you look at a longer one-month chart we haven't seen the type of move that we saw -- >> so often we have a stock story. we talk about it. the next day we don't talk about