comes out tomorrow. span irk banks, italian banks and french banks all under a lot of pressure. watch europe tomorrow. >> and that will do it for "power lunch." thanks for watching. >> "street signs" begins right now. have a great afternoon. welcome to "street signs" where we have the clash of the titans, jack versus jamie. jack welch telling us he's got some reservations about the recovery. jamie di monotells us yesterday he's bullish on america right now. we're going to head to the front lines of business. living high on the hog. harley revved up since the great recession. is this is good way for you to invest in the america now. and megamillions up to $540 million. we hope you win. if you do. we'll have the dos and don'ts on investing the cash. maybe, mandy, you should buy a hidden international real estate gem if you win. we're going to give you some

ideas and look at the hottest beaches in the world. >> i bet most are in australia. hello everybody. stocks down for the third day now. with today's drop, the dow and s&p have gone negative for the week. the dow seeing smallest gains for both the month and the quarter now with the s&p 500 having its biggest three-day drop since march 6th. the same goes for the nasdaq. oil down over $3 lowest level since february 17th breaking through key techal support levels. now, here's your wet blanket stat of the day. i'm debbie downer. your chances of winning that megamillions jackpot that brian just talked about, it is one in 176 million. we're all playing anyway because those odds are better than none at all. bob, we're coming to the end of the quarter. we get tear ri, we look back over the quarter and say what worked, what didn't? what kind of tallies have we got? >> it's about evenly split. i'm happy seeing tech stocks

holding up. if apple rolls over, we're in trouble. there's concern with other groups that aren't doing much of anything. tech stocks have held up well. right near highs. down the last couple days. consumer discretionary, health care and consumer staples all near the highs. terrific numbers. look elsewhere. financials are your other big group. financials and tech have been the two main stocks here. but the financials are starting to top out. and they're down again here today. so they topped out two weeks ago. i don't like what i see industrials, materials are topped out in february and have been rolling over for the last several days more than a week now. energy stocks topped out in february, and that too has been starting to roll over. we're seeing some weakness internally in the s&p 500. even though we've got a good end of the quarter. >> thanks a lot, bob. rick, over to you. we had a 7-year auction. i saw prices rose in the u.s. treasury after that. what are they doing right now? >> well, you know, basically we're still testing the low

yield range going back to the 13th day of the fed meeting. and, you know, we had some data today. and the 7-year note auction was about average. we're done with the supply. gdp today our last look at the last quarter and you can see on this chart we've now had ten quarters of positive gdp. and this number at 3% is the best level since the second quarter of 2010. but you also don't see any 4%s on that chart because we haven't had a four handle on gdp since '05. even though it's no spriurprisee need more horsepower but really no surprises in this morning's report. and as such contributed a bit to the buying that's ensued in treasuries. >> if we want a surprise, we want an up and not a down. thanks very much, rick and bob. always looking for signs of life and yesterday we had a bit of a clash of titans on cnbc offering mixed signals on what they are seeing right now. >> i'm seeing a slow down

because of people not drawing down their savings, pulling back. >> we look at the economy, it's kind of getting stronger all the time. >> okay. so who is right? let's head to the front lines and get the signs of life from the backbone of this economy, larry, president of air power systems. they manufacture air cylinder parts for autos. and mark is president of a scrap metal recycling company based in michigan. larry and mark, thank you for joining us today on "street signs." larry, let's start with you. you've got essentially the clash of the titans. who do you think is right? >> well, i think things are going really well, especially in oklahoma. we're doing so well that we can't find enough workers to help us get product out the door. that's our biggest problem. and that, you know, i've mentioned that before when i've been on this program. work force is the number one problem for manufacturers today especially in oklahoma. >> what do you think is the solution there? i mean, i think in this country and my own country, everyone feels they want to go to

college. at the end of the day therefore you end up with a whole pile of people with college degrees and not necessarily any skills. is it technical skills specifically lacking out there, larry? >> i think so. we've got a bunch of people that don't have any -- don't have work, but they don't have any appropriate skills. i'm one of those with a college degree, but what's important right now are people that know how to do things. people that can work with their hands. this is a great time for the worker in america especially in oklahoma. so many times in the past we talked about shipping manufacturing east or sending down south to mexico. this is a great time because we're trying to bring manufacturing back to the united states. >> mark, let's go back to the economy. you just heard sort of the not conflicting but a little bit of opposing views of jack welch and jamie dimon. what are you seeing? is the u.s. economy strengthening, weakening or staying the same? >> yes, no. part of our company, the strength is we are also metal

distributors with 10,000 customers in ohio, indiana and michigan. we think -- i'm mildly optimistic, but also the glass is usually half full. january was very strong in the metals distribution. february and march were a little slower, but the numbers of sales were there. but not quite the volumes. >> but, marc, are you up from last year or down? same time last year. >> we are positive. we had a great quarter last year too. i'm mildly optimistic. michigan just came out with their unemployment yesterday and it was the best that it had been in four years. so we are going forward. but i truly believe it is fragile. but it is better. there's no doubt about it. we see projects that are coming to fruition. they're going to start in a couple months. and most of the companies i know they're optimistic but not ready to go out and spend a ton of money yet. they also want to see what's going to happen with this election. >> right.

that would be cautiously optimistic. lar larry, to what extent do you feel there's a real comeback in the manufacturing sector especially as we've been talking about this this week, we've seen the u.s. dollar decline against the number of emerging market currencies. emerging markets like china are getting real expensive to operate in. >> you know, it's all the above. this is a wonderful time for america. a wonderful time for manufacturing. what breaks my heart is people talking about the unemployment. people that aren't working, people still drawing unemployment checks. why aren't they going to the vo tech schools. oklahoma has one of the greatest systems in the united states and we need to have them filled with people learning new skills. >> that is well said. completely agree, larry. i got to get back to the issue at hand. is your business up or down from last year? >> we're significantly up. >> signs of life. you're seeing them, larry. >> yes, sir. >> things are better than they were this time last year, right? >> last year we were 47% over

the previous year and this year we're beating that. we need workers. oklahoma, manufacturing all over oklahoma needs workers. we're trying to organize something in the mayor's office and also in our chamber of commerce. we need people that will work that want to work. >> absolutely. marc, i want to get to you because i know that rising fuel costs have been a concern for your company. and yet you've got i think 16 trucks in your fleet running on natural gas? we're going to be talking about this later on, but considering how cheap nat gas is at the moment, how much more capacity do you have to use nat gas? and is the infrastructure there for it as well? >> we're very fortunate. i heard somebody say not too long ago that you don't wait until you're thirsty to dig a well. i think we looked at natural gas two years ago, i think we've been listening to mr. pickens, but we went with 16 trucks. we know our carbon footprint will be significantly lower. we're saving 9,000 barrels of oil. and we have a fleet where if

this works out, we believe we could probably go to 60 or 70 more trucks in the next two years. it definitely is the wave of the future. >> okay. hopefully save costs for you as well. larry, marc, thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> we want to hear from you, dear viewer. are you seeing signs of life in this economy? if so, what are they? you can tweet us. we're very twitter friendly. we'll get some of your responses in fact on our air. coming up next though, the ipad band. how apple is changing the way you play tunes. and investing in the american shopper. oh, yeah. is there still time to get your motor running with harley davidson? we'll dig in. and later on, if you're like us, you're probably already dreaming how you're going to win the megamillions winnings, new yacht for grandma or whatever it might be, stick around to find out the smartest way to spend your new fortune. ♪ 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. ♪

well, you could call them the i band. a band from astone ya uses the ipad instead of instruments. the band is called orange in es tone yan. apple is down by the way with the rest of the market. >> okay. our investigating in america series is revving up with a look at hog, harley davidson to you. it's down a bit today but up about 24% year-to-date. trading at its highest level

since 2007 at 48 and change. the motorcycle maker gets 75% of its revenues from north america. but can they keep the motor running? jane wells is here with the answer. jane. >> hi, mandy. i'm at barger harley davidson here in the los angeles san fernando valley. this is a new retro look that harley is doing well with. there are a few brands as american as harley david as you said 71% of sales come from the old u.s. of a. and that's something the company makes a selling point. >> these are people who believe in the american craftsman because they are american craftsman. >> harley has had a tough recession, but january and february have been great thanks to nice weather, high gas prices and reaching out to new types of buyers who don't fit the stereotype like this. watch. okay. so your average harley owner is

not in a drug-selling motorcycle gang line "sons of anarchy." others are heading on the highway. william blare says harley share of buyers under 35 years old has grown 13 points to nearly half the market. its share of african-americans and hispanics are both up 10%. women up 6%. how? well, for example, sales manager says they're targeting the latino market with a very specific bike. >> the whole roots to that is the '70s and cruising the boulevard and that's where it got its name, 72 was highway 72 back then. they're going to that east l.a. look. they are targeting different segments that way. >> now, analysts say dealers are seeing people trade-in japanese bikes for harleys. inventories are leaner, but challenges remain as the company restructures. >> we are moving to a phase where retail is growing and dealers may have to add inventory over the next several

years. and that's a great spot to be in when you're the manufacturer. >> i don't think that the full quarter's going to look quite as strong as january and february sales have because of that seasonal effect. and harley needs to go outside of its core u.s. market to continue to grow. >> and that's really a big deal. harley is neutral on hog. ken isson says perhaps harley will build bikes closer to markets but "there's no chance harley will build american bikes outside of america." guys. >> by the way, jane, since that's a very cool shot and the soft tail looks gorgeous, what are we talking now for a new harley? 12-grand, 15-grand. how much do you have to spend on one of those bikes? >> this is about 15 and a half, tax and licensing about 18 and a half. it has the matte look they've been going for and in the back it's a thinner back wheel. that's what's different about

this bike. this is brand new. just came out with a couple months ago. the gas mileage combined is about 42 miles to the gallon. >> not bad. i'll be in l.a. in a few weeks. you and me, jane, secure one of those bikes. i'm going to start walking after work. >> you're on the back. i'm on the front. >> i don't think i'd fit. jane, thank you very much. bike would go like this if i got on the back. >> yeah, it would. >> from investing in america, milwaukee, to investing anywhere but america, are emerging markets a better bet for your money right now than the good old u.s. of a as jane called it? where does the best place in the world, one country right now if you had to put all your money in one country, i know you don't but say you did, where would it go? >> that's a horrible question. >> estonia? >> no. one we like right now at the moment is china. you wouldn't be surprised to hear that. if you're looking at emerging market investment, it's better

to take a broad brush approach across the range of emerging countries rather than get super clever and pick just one. >> i would like to just talk more about china and the so-called hard landing everyone's got themselves in a tiz about. we can't trust the numbers for a stat, so i'm not sure how it would be a hard landing based on those numbers, but shanghai has been taking a hit of late. >> yeah. when we talk about china hard landing, we're really talking about an economy that grows by less than 7%. so chinese definition of hard landing. the government has suggested -- >> are you concerned about a hard landing? >> no. the government's suggests 7.5% this year. we think it's going to be more like 8%. >> you know, no offense, i am tired of talking about china, to be honest with you. you never know. i made a bet with jamie dimon yesterday about growth. maybe it will come in good. but the government's going to tell you what they want to tell you any way.

you look a little bit east of china. there's a country there called japan. g-3 nation. doesn't get a lot of attention because everybody says they haven't grown in 30 years, which is true. but look at the nikkei this year. demographics stink, but they care about the economy and they do spend. do you like japan at all? it's hot and no one seems to care. >> japan isn't an emerging country. it's far from it. it's a very, very developed country with very poor demographics. but you know if you look at the last ten years or so, you've made something like 550% in emerging markets in japan, in the u.s., in europe, you've made maybe 50% or 60% during that time. >> or you've lost it all if the country goes bust and defaults. >> that's why you don't pick one country. that's why you take a diversified approach investing across the range. but when you're talking about defaults, where are you worried about the moment whether it's

greece, italy, portugal, spain, even the u.s., massive fiscal problems, these are all developed countries. they're not emerging. >> well, they might be getting back to the emerging stage, right? history says when a country defaults, you want to buy their equities, right, because all that freed up capital will go back. if you had to pick one though, next country to default -- i believe it's going to be hungary, they're a wreck. do you agree? >> i think we haven't heard the end of the story in greece by the way. and i think hungary's probably going to be okay. but i think greece and then, you know, portugal, there's a lot of problems still in europe. the big thing to remember is a lot of the issues since the financial crisis where you're worried about leverage, deleveraging, high levels of debt, all of these problems relate to the developed world, not emerging. >> in fact, since we've talked about the nikkei 225, we showed a chart a moment ago up 20% year-to-date, the best performing developed market year-to-date.

alan, thank you very much for joining us today. just ahead on "street signs," landlord nation. why warren buffett may have been onto something. >> and the shorts are getting ugly on deckers. more into the deckers story. saw more than 46% of its value in five months time. i talked to some analysts, we have original comments from them. >> see if it's a downer or not. y but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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it is the bunny bounce. organics snack maker, annie's is up 6% on second day of trade. ipo priced at $19. look at that sitting at $38. that's a good ipo so far this year. >> let's see a year from now how these guys do running a public company. >> thank you for raining on that parade. >> there aren't many things in the market that have gotten the kind of negative attention as the t vix. what is that? i'm glad you asked. an exchange traded note based on the volatility index, the vix, that's seen share price wildly lately and the debate subject over how many the world really needs and whether investors really understand what they're buying. herb is here, in case you didn't notice. he's done some digging and he is outraged, outraged, about what he has found.

>> doesn't look very outraged. >> he's outraged with his smile. >> let's tell you what's dwoing on right now. "the wall street journal" reporting today that the s.e.c. is looking into the volatile trading in the tvix. that's a double leveraged etf. that's a double leveraged exchange traded note, etn that is tied to the futures on the vix. now, its shares have been whip sawed in recent weeks raising questions about who knew what when. but there's something else more important here. why are some of these etns even allowed to come to market? the answer may surprise you. as i write on cnbc.com, these etns exist in large part thanks to a gaping loophole in securities rules. the loophole is this, to the s.e.c. these etns are notes, nothing more than good old fashioned debt. and because they're issued by big banks like credit suisse, which is actually the bank behind the tvix, they get what's

known as well-known season issuer status. sounds kind of complicated. but what that means is the etns pretty much skate right through the s.e.c. before they hit the market without even a review. but here's the kicker. while these etns may technically be debt, they really aren't. the banks are getting cash but not for the purposes you or i might associate with raising cash. what they're really doing is creating a fee-generated asset. in other words, it appears to me that banks have found a way to legally game the system. now, what does credit suisse have to say about this? i asked them. nada. they referred me to some press releases. i've been bombarded to the average guy here's just a taste, greg writes i assumed the product would mostly work as

advertised. my mistake as i found out. dan, i owed $180,000 of this outrage, what's a poor boy to do now? how can this sort of trash be allowed to be traded. >> have you heard anyone defending them though? >> not a single person because the people i'm hearing from are those who lost money on them. i should say, there are people who defend them saying if i knew how to trade them, hey, i can make a lot of money. >> and i think, too, and, listen, i'm not trying to insult any viewers or anybody like that, any investor, but i would love to have an anonymous poll how many read the prospectous. >> i had a registered investment advisor tell me today he bought these things and did not read the prospectous and sorry for that. >> more common than not to not read. >> all right. herb, i know that your disaster du jour is still ahead. but we have a bit of our own. i'm going to steal your thunder but i want you to chime in decker outdoors, you know them

as ugg boots. down 46% in five months. i called up a couple analysts about the company say what's going on with deckers. you know how traders love it or hate it. one analyst i talked to said the stock is undervalued in his view but it's hard to defend because as he put it, it's guilty until proven innocent. everybody thinks the warm weather's going to crush first quarter sales because ugg boots may be better in the cold weather. also short sellers on this name, guys, 6.6 million shares shorted three weeks ago, 8 million shorted now shorts going right after deckers. the ceo's been absent. hasn't said much in a while. people want to hear from him. that's an open invitation to come on the show. we have to watch this name. it's getting crushed. >> the leather issue they had but also the question whether uggs are really -- >> 85% of their sales. >> but if you're telling me the shorts are hitting it as it's falling, that's kind of fascinating. >> one ofts analysts said, there's no reason to own it right now because we don't know how first quarter sales are going to look and shorts are going after it aggressively.

we're not confident necessarily in what the ceo told us a couple months ago about sales. and with ugg's 85% and there's a lot of fear around that name, so i wanted to bring deckers to your attention. >> i think what you say about whether or not they're a fad is a very good question. they have been quite through an evolution. they started in australia ugg boots back then something you would buy in australia equivalent of dwaine reed. relatively inexpensive and burst on to the international scene and became the item and the price skyrocketed. interesting to see if they go back to more humble roots. >> it's not helping. all right. up next on "street signs," a perfect picture find or picture perfect find. how about a $14 thrift store that became a $12,000 surprise gift. and who cares if you have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning, the winning of megamillions. we're still going to show you how to grow that megamillions jackpot even bigger. all you need is a dollar and a

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we're into the final hours of trade here, folks. why don't we catch you up on today's big stories in today's street talk. stocks on the slide here. market once again in the red. stock sliding to the weekly jobless claims this morning. here's another four-year low. financials and telecoms the biggest losers of the day. but it's not all bad news even with today's selloffs stocks still poised to log their best quarterly gain since 1998. in the meantime, oil is breeching several key technical levels and natural gas continuing its free fall as well. our own sharon epperson at the nymex with more.

hey, sharon. >> hey, mandy. oil had been range bound for weeks. you knew it was going to break out in one way or another. today was a significant breakout to the downside following the 50-day moving average. right now we're below $103 a barrel here for nymex crude oil. also seeing weakness in the brent crude contract as well. the saudi arabia oil minister's comments in the "financial times" about the oversupply of oil and the fact they'd be ready to meet any supply shortage if there was an iranian shortage, that is something that traders are watching. they're also watching all of this chatter about strategic petroleum reserves and tapping them and the supply data from the energy department. natural gas down 6% of the session. how low can natural gas go? that's what everybody wants to know. peak theory research says $1.36. >> we're at $2.14. thank you very much, sharon. in related news, natural gas is leaking from a platform in the north sea. nbc news chief environmental

affairs correspondent, ann thompson, is live in scotland with the latest for us. what's going on, ann? >> mandy, about 150 miles from here totale says it thinks it knows the source of the leak on the platform. they say it's actually coming from about 2.5 miles beneath the ocean floor. and then it's making its way up to the platform. the leak itself is actually on the platform. it is not the gas -- the gas is not bubbling up through the sea. but it is leaking from the platform in the shape of a plume, they say. above that platform some 500 feet is a flare that is still burning. and all of that is creating a very serious situation. totale is pursuing two tracks to try to figure out how to stop this leak. first of all it's considering sending a kill team of professionals to the well site and capping that leak. that's dangerous because the gas while it's not toxic, it is explosive. the second option is a relief well and that could take up to

six months, a very long time, mandy. >> ouch. hope they manage to contain it. thank you very much, anne, thompson. americans are gobbling up homes and keeping them as investment properties. diana olick has more on this. >> sales of homes to investors jumped 65% last year from 749,000 in 2010 to 1.23 million in 2011. that according to a new report from the national association of realtors. now, we knew investors were eating up the market. but this really gives you an idea of how much. nearly half of these purchases were all cash and half were distressed properties as in foreclosures and short sales. 41% of investors bought more than one property clearly looking to hedge against last year's volatile stock market. and half of investment buyers said they purchased primarily to generate rental income. 34% wanted to diversify their investments or just saw a good investment opportunity. and, finally, very important, nearly half of investment buyers said they're likely to purchase

another property within two years. it just goes to show how hot the rental market is right now. brian. >> all right. diana, thank you. stay there because we're going to analyze this now. as america is becoming a nation of renters. let's bring in managing director at eagle asset management. we were chatting off air, you say the housing finance market is broken. why? >> brian, i think what we see now is the gses -- the former gses completely dominating. all mortgage product is essentially going there. the banking system either for lack of demand or perhaps lack of willingness is really -- >> are they effectively insolvent? do you believe that? >> i think there are certain financial institutions whose balance sheets are under significant strain. i think the fed is well aware of this. despite the stress test we just went through, most of the product, the $800 billion of home equity product, the second liens are clearly at risk. the write downs that were forecast nowhere near what we think they really will be. >> sorry, come in, diana.

>> i just wanted to say i agree with you on that point, but you're leaving out something which is fha, which is a huge market for the first-time buyers and people on the lower end of the market who are now renters and should be buyers. fha is raising premiums april 1st and tried to shrink market share by raising premiums before and raising costs and fees. that's another problem we're seeing in the market right now. you need to get fha if you're going to get the low end in. >> the problem with the federal government dominating the housing market to me is back to where we were prior to the '08 experience. the secondary market for mortgages via securitization worked beautifully for decades. in 2007 we started leveraging and putting product untestable, not underwritten and not documented into a machine that wasn't broken. >> okay. diana sort of touched on this and i was digesting what she said. got to get the low end. you're not going to discriminate, but there's a big difference, diana, between credit score -- you could be poor, don't have a lot of money

and have a good credit score if you pay your bills on time. we look at the issue of everybody owning a home, right, james? the american dream. why do we say that? why does the government basically push this home ownership idea on us for 30 years? there are some people -- i'm not trying to be rude here, just who shouldn't own a home, right? it's a huge financial commitment. it's got a lot of people in trouble. >> we looked at home ownership as a multiplier for the economy. it became sack sankt. the end all be all for the economy. we're paying the price in the fact that balance sheets are strained, banks are not lending to the businesses, consumer, and we have an asset class with nothing but empty boxes. >> right. >> brian, also you have to remember while not everyone should be a homeowner, that's what got us into trouble in the first place was people who could not afford homes. household formation has been running way below historical averages. so while not everyone should own a home, a lot of people should. and they're not because they're

either afraid to get into the market or they can't get a mortgage. there's a huge sort of pent-up demand for this home ownership that they can't get into because of the mortgage. >> when the bubble bursts, what did the government do? look at hr 1772 thank goodness never became law to drop the minimum down payment requirement on fha loan from 3.5% to 0%. the government sitting there like this pumping it up and shocked when it collapsed. >> that is not what the government needs to do. but the entire mortgage market needs to loosen up some of its standards in order to get people in who are qualified who do have -- and need to get into that. >> diana, i agree with you. let's do one thing further. let's not have qualifying mortgages be 20% down, 80% funded. let's allow the markets to price that risk. they did it for 20 years. i've been in the mortgage market for nearly 25 years. it didn't break until we put subprime, alt a, negative am

into the machine. the machine is not broken. capital is out there that wants to invest in bonds. i see it every day in my business. flow funds is off the charts in the bond market. we have pent-up capital. we have a need. let's get the government out of the way. >> but even jamie dimon -- >> bottom for the housing market? >> i think the housing market bottom is five years from now. >> you know, you and i agree on a lot of things. you can't say that. gross point, michigan, where you can't take three years to sell a house? >> let me go back to the math. 7 million units in risk by under water or delinquent -- >> that's more than 7 million. you have 11 million under water. >> okay. but what i'm saying is if we take the actual probability of defaults, not every under watder mortgage is going to default. i'm giving you an expected inventory based on actual defaults we're seeing in the upside down mortgages. i'm giving you a number of 7 million and 9 million units. household formation is about 1.2 million per year. half of those people may be

buyers. we've got to create demand of 3 million to 5 million households wanting to buy mortgages over the next five or six years. i think that's where the tail is. >> okay. so another five years' time from now. i think it's always ironic when more housing starts is a good indicator for the housing market. we do not need more houses, right? >> more housing starts -- >> don't say that to the builders, mandy. >> i know. but don't we need to clear the inventory we already have? [ overlapping speakers ] >> i think perhaps we should put an excise tax on housing permits, it's not going to happen. >> seriously, guys -- >> if the government's going to manipulate housing, do it all the way through. >> i know we're running late. 100,000, give the home free to 100,000 hardest working smartest well-educated people want to come to america tomorrow. give them a house. >> buy one of your lotto tickets tonight and do it for everyone.

good to see you guys. >> maybe you can buy an island if you won the half a billion or so megamillions jackpot. we're going to give you advice f. you win, we're going to make sure you don't blow the winnings com coming. >> coming up as well the rimm bet. got his dinner on sully's dime. we're going to ask the guys about their betting bromance. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. 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.

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i'm bill griffeth. coming up at the top of the hour on "closing bell," it's stock is down more than 70% in the last year. so is research in motion starting to look like a bargain? we'll look at that. speaking of rimm, that company is set to report earnings some time after the close of trade tonight. we'll have the instant analysis and investor reaction as soon as the numbers are released. plus, he's already one of the fed's largest critics and now grant's interest rate observers james grant explains why he's sounding the alarm on the state of china's economy. maria and i look forward to seeing you coming up from the new york stock exchange here on "closing bell." >> looking forward to it. 3:00 p.m. eastern. thank you very much, bill. well, green mountain has herb just percolating. >> people are so sick of me

talking about this company. taking any opportunity. but, look, this is a live by the starbucks, die by the starbucks story. over the past year green mountain got a kick after starbucks agreed to license its k-cups. now goldman sachs out with a note today saying that a few months after this roll out of starbucks k-cups, starbucks k-cups sales appear to have stabilized and k-cup industry growth may have reached a plateau. that note was about starbucks, but it's not what the doctor ordered for green mountain, stock off 3% or 4% today. not a disaster, worth mentioning. and, you know, i said it. >> you said it. outrage to percolation to whatever. >> whatever. >> being there, done that. if you're looking for a hot real estate play, you have to get out of town. international living created the global retail index with the hottest hidden gems. they're ranked on affordability

and overall attractiveness. >> first up, costa rica's southern zone. lots there going for about $40,000 or so. the runner up was mexico about 80 miles from cancun. a five-acre lot there goes for $80,000. or high-end condo about $180,000. >> the top spot, number one, shockingly, ecuador. the north coast of you can ecua. you can buy a home for $135,000 or a lot for $31,000. >> we have a lot of beautiful beaches in australia, but nothing, nothing, nothing in australia could ever be that cheap especially with the australian dollar. in the meantime, herb-alishs brian paid up on your rimm bet. this was tweeted out, i believe. look at that. i've never seen you so happy. >> that's because he was paying. and that wine he bought was just -- >> did you like that? you like that wine? >> yes. >> i still have the cap. i kept the screw off cap. i will never wash it again.

>> do you want to remind people what the rimm bet was? >> i got hammered on the rimm bet. our bet was just about dinner. i think i still would have won if it wasn't for the blackout. i think that the rimm outage was the black swan that just crushed the stock. it's still down big. let's see if the new ceo has any tricks up his sleeve. they didn't warn down this quarter yet, which is the first time i think in eight quarters they haven't cut guidance. >> i love the way you blame it on the blackout. that was a huge -- >> that's what i mean. and corporate i.t. departments started to put on iphones. >> you have another bet going, don't you? >> that's right. jc penney. >> maybe me getting this wine back to him in the terms -- >> you would never buy the wine i bought. >> maybe. i know what the cost was. >> no you won't. i'll be drinking lightning creek mad dog 20/20. >> best buy, its stock is sharply lower today. the company reporting weaker than expected quarterly sales. they're also closing 50 big box

stores. they're cutting 400 jobs. the stock hammered today 7.5%. tonight we are going to go inside this company. inside best buy, it's our cnbc documentary, best buy the big box fights back. that's tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. now to a different kind of bet. megamillions, what if you won a half a billion? that's what the jackpot is. $540 million. we're going to ask a money manager all the important questions so you won't blow it as fast as you won it. >> "street signs" back in two. 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.

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today's requirement equation, the mega millions jackpot is up to $540 million. this could hit 7, $800 billion by the time they hit on friday. before you get too excited, check out this stat. 70% of lotto winners lose it all and one in three go bankrupt. we're here to make sure you don't spend that windfall. >> here with us to discuss is president of asset management

and herb as well. great to have you on the show, ken. i understand that you actually ask your first-time clients. you sit them down and say if money is no object, if you won a lottery, you have that kind of money, what would you do with the rest of your life? >> it's a situation that people wait for, to cash in their 401(k) and many treat it like a lottery ticket that they won. so i ask, what do you want your life to be? you have a chance of doing something. >> so what would you do if someone came to you with $540 million by the time it's drawn on friday night? what would you do? >> probably say they are buying dinner tonight. >> after you've been to apple bees, where would go? >> i would get a financial gatekeeper. it can be an accountant or an

attorney. >> hold on. everybody takes the cash payout. the annuity pays more. $26 mill kwlen for 20 years. what would you advise someone to do, take the annuity or one-time cash chunk? >> i would take the one-time cash chunk because it allows you things that you might want to do, charitable giving and estate planning. >> when you say get a gatekeeper, for example, i have children. if something, god forbid something happened to me and at the age of 18 they might become extraordinary wealthy, they might blow it overnight. >> that's kind of two issues. one s. you need a gatekeeper because once you win money like that in a public fashion, you're going to get so many phone calls for people asking -- >> the problem is, finding the right gatekeeper. i'm going to assume the gatekeeper is going to take advantage of me. >> i would like to hire somebody

that hopefully someone knows. maybe they are not as all as gullible as you. a lot of lottery -- >> do you want to immediately get an attorney as well? >> right. >> set up a trust, hire a couple security guards. where would you park the money? if you have 10 million where, would you put that right now? just go into bonds? >> immediately. absolutely. you have to let the dust settle. i try to tell people, never make a financial decision with long-term ramifications when things are swirling around you. winning a lottery is swirling around. >> once the dust has settled, what would be the portfolio for that kind of cash? >> i'm not sure but the reality is you would need a very well-diversified portfolio.

someone needing that kind of capital would need to set up a charitable trust than a trust for their children and a trust for their own situation. i think it's very important. you touched on this before. if you win that kind of money and have young children, make sure you put it in a trust because you don't want to bestow on young children all this money. >> teach them the value of money. >> apparently there's no child labor laws in australia. >> i have my own personal coal mine. >> one of the things you want to be careful is somebody doesn't want to marry a child because of the money. >> the gold diggers would come out in force. good luck. into why you might want to run, not walk to your local thrift store. [ male announcer ] any technology not moving forward

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here is a different kind of jackpot and a framed poster for a 1958 picasso exhibit in a thrift store he paid 14 bucks for it. it was the original artwork by pab low picasso and it was signed. >> it can sell up to $6,000 and twice that if it goes to a gallery. that's a feel-good story. >> okay. here are some signs of life. vegas strip seemed really picked. >> i'm seeing more elective knee surgs.