selling off dramatically off 3% today alone. and that is calling into question whether or not even if the u.s. economy is getting stronger whether or not the global growth economy story is in tact. >> that will do it for "power lunch." >> "street signs" begins now. and welcome to "street signs." stocks and gold are slumping. the dow down big. gold off about $50 an ounce. you can blame the pain in spain. you can blame the fed. or you can blame the good old fashioned pullback. we're going to dig into this decline. find out how long or steep it might be. does $4 a gallon gas matter to the economy? i wrote why it doesn't mean as much this time. many of you begged to differ. we're going to debate it. plus, what golf ball sales will tell us about the economy and why the ipad may be sort of kinda hazardous to your health. kelly. >> all right, brian. and at this hour stocks are beginning the selloff that began

yesterday after the fomc minutes. dow, s&p and nasdaq falling more than 1%. tech the weakest sector off nearly 2%. commodities getting hit. gold at its lowest level since january. silver also trading on the lows of late last month. and oil is on the retreat. did you know today marks the 32nd time in the last 65 trading sessions that the dow went plus or minus 100 points intraday? on those days so far the dow finished with a triple digit gain five times. a triple digit loss just once. we'll see if we add to that. bob pisani is at the new york stock exchange. bob, who do we blame for today's selloff? >> you can't blame europe. 60% europe, 40% spain. when i say ism services, that's when this came out and we just kept dropping here. this is an intraday chart of the s&p 500. notice how we've come off the lows late in the day. still obviously down. this is important, if we can come up just a little bit more here, the european markets key off of that in the morning.

so even with the dow down 100 points if we ended up i think that it would be positive. mention the vix, it's popping up 17. that's the cash contract you're seeing here. important thing is don't pay so much attention to the cash contracts. look further out and see what's going on here. you can see how the circles are occurring here. 21 here just a little further ou. markets are higher, but let me tell you something, kelly, i think the numbers will come down. the probability is if you look out further out, you'll come down on the vix and they won't be going up so much. that's what we've been seeing recently. these numbers have been coming down, not going up. kelly. >> all right, bob, thanks so much. >> why don't we stay now with the markets because it does seem like european fears what we coined as eurosis earlier this year are indeed creeping back into our collective investment psyche. joining us now is andre julian, president of trade aviator and rob morgan. rob, i'll begin with you. good to see you again. >> you too, brian. >> is this a european blame game? is it the fed?

is it simply more sellers than buyers? >> well, it's a combination, brian. bob pisani kind of touched on that. let's keep it in perspective that the s&p 500 just hit a four-year high on monday. and i've been calling for some type of sideways market, which would be healthy for the stocks. i'm still long-term bullish here, but i think kind of a pause refreshes would be a good thing for stocks here. >> are you still bullish on industrials and financials even without fed support in the market? >> kelly, yes, i am. i think we're getting to the point where the recovery is sustainable even though last week fed chair bernanke said we can't declare that yet. but just went to overweight on financials and i've liked industrials for a period of time. >> it seems like those are the sectors that could suffer as people start to question growth expectations and how the market can stand on its own without the liquidity that those might be some of the weakers.

>> that's possibility. but it's all going to come down to jobs. we got the adp report today. the nonfarm payroll friday. last week the business round table had a survey of ceos and the number saying they're going to hire staff this year almost doubled. so i think my betting money is that this economy is going to show itself to be self-sustaining soon. >> andre, as often happens, i am confused. i'm confused for this reason. we're talking about how the fed may not have qe-3, the odds may have been reduced. but isn't that because things are getting better? and if things are getting better, shouldn't corporate earnings grow as more people go back to work? and thus the stock market go up? i can't figure this out. >> you know, i think the fed just injekted some confusion in the market. that's the problem. i think the fed's even uncertain. they had to take the training wheels off at some point. you can bet if the market really corrects too much and there's too much of an economic downturn, then the fed's going to step right in with more

stimulus. i don't think qe-3 is off the table. i think it's just off the table right now. we'll see what the market participants do over the next coming weeks and months. >> andre, do you expect the vix to keep climbing? volatility keep climbing as long as fed is out of the market? is this a chance for people to pick up protection on the cheap? >> this could be a one-off. i think time will tell and i think it has to do with the economic data. look at the durable goods reports, look at the manufacturing data, look at this friday's jobs report. if we start getting good economic data coming through and it's true this economy has lift without fed stimulus, i think you see the vix just stay where it is, maybe go up a little. but kind of stabilize out. however, if some of these economic indicators start coming in poor, we have more pressure from europe, we have more eurosis, more euro fear. the spanish bond auction was not great today. i think that's adding to the fear. as these debt issues -- >> andre, do our viewers a favor. i get this question a lot and i can't answer it squarely. why does a spanish bond auction matter to the dow industrial

average? >> you know, it really does because of the psychology of it. the dow does have some infrastructure and it does have some companies that are really reliant on europe and maybe it's 10% to 15%. maybe it's not that much. has to do with the fear coming into the markets that maybe things aren't all well in europe. is spain going to lead to something in ireland and france maybe even. germany seems like they might be the only stable country in europe right now. that changes the macro dynamic. remember, in the short-term the market is going to be a popularity contest. market participants right now at least today are showing they're a little nervous about what's going on. >> we need to remind people too the eurozone economy the european union economy still the biggest in the world. there's no way it won't have an impact. rob, to you, there was some optimism that perhaps this european problem wouldn't impact the u.s. economy so much in the last couple of weeks. are we starting to see that come off now? >> you know, andre made the point a minute ago that today

mibe a one-off. i want to wait and see on that one. because when you look at trade with europe from the u.s., it's a drop in the bucket -- >> exports to europe from america are 1.4% of our gdp. that's it. >> yeah. >> total exports though. >> but still. in the grand scheme of things, i mean, you listen to ceos of multinational companies and they're saying the real action is in the emerging economies of the world. those places are booming. so i'm kind of with andre. today could be a one-off. we just had a four-year high. s&p 500 monday. let's see how this shakes out. the data has been for the most part pretty good. even the data today even though it was a little soft, it wasn't terrible by any means. the spanish bond auction, it was a little disappointing but bonds were still purchased. >> they were indeed. andre, rob, gentlemen, thank

you. >> if that's the bar, i'm worried. >> better spain than greece. in other words, aig, remember them? their shares higher this hour after our own david faber broke the story that the federal reserve is moving to sell the former assets of a specific investment it bought from aig at the height of the financial crisis. david, what do you got? >> recap for it. a complex story involving something called maiden lane iii. as brian said, one of those vehicles set up to rescue aig at the height of its crisis in 2008. today the federal reserve bank of new york has confirmed to me that in fact it has changed its objective -- so-called objective, with regard to the assets within that vehicle, such as asset backed security, debt obligations, abscdo. $17.8 billion total value. they're saying we're going to explore selling some of the assets in here. in fact, it could be all of those assets in light of what

they're saying are improving market conditions. and the fact that they had great success in selling similar assets although less complex ones out of the maiden lane ii vehicle. of course, all of this goes back to the rescue of aig and to what really at this point is a very much unexpected conclusion it would seem as we enter the end game here that the u.s. government will in fact get back all of its money. why aig shares are up is because they had $5.5 billion of their own equity wrapped up in this vehicle. they need to repay a $9 billion loan from the federal reserve bank of new york. if they get anything beyond that, well, it all goes back to them in addition to the $5.5 billion, i should say. that's one reason why because the market is improved and investors are looking for the higher yield that many of these instruments contain. >> is there any insight as to how this would happen? via private placements, some sort of auction? >> great question. reverse inquiry. taking the complexity of those involved, they're going to wait for dealers to approach them and say here's a group of assets we

want you to bid on. there will be bids and then they will choose one of those bids. doing it through so-called reverse inquiry which worked quite successfully in maiden lane ii. another one of those vehicles that contained less complex securities. >> kudos to the new york fed. they have an excellent chart and graphic. i'm shocked by how good it is. shows the balances coming down, which is obviously good news for the taxpayer, david. when we look inside these things without getting too specific, a lot of commercial real estate cdos, asset backed securities, is this -- if we get a strong bid into these maiden lane iii assets, could we view that as another sign that the collective market is saying real estate -- commercial real estate, whatever, is continuing to improve? >> yes, i think you can to a certain extent. let's not forget originally they took on $60 billion face value of assets or more worth about half of that. that's come down as you point out because of maturities and interest payments on the

portfolio. no doubt the instrument in the instrument themselves goes back to what is underlying them and the chase for yield we see so often in a low rate involvement. >> that's why you want this low volatility risk environment to continue for those sales. >> amazing story here because if i'd asked you in november of '08 are they going to get $180 billion back? no way. >> whatever happened to joe? where's he? he's hanging with corzine. >> let me know when you find them. >> both of them. they're on maiden lane downtown. my take on why $4 gas is not as big of a deal as some are making it out to be. and lots of you think i'm completely idiotic about it. and what does it mean for your money if big ben and the fed take the training wheels off? can we pedal an our own and not fall down? we'll debate when "street signs" returns.

man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years.

let's talk about the minutes first. do you agree with the way they're being read? that somehow this makes any further injection of liquidity less likely? >> i don't. i think it's much adieu about nothing -- >> that was bill gross of course talking about yesterday's fed minutes. and no indication maybe of qe-3 specifically in there. a lot of us really didn't expect

it anyway. but is it the final nail in the qe coffin? well, a couple of members saying it may be necessary again, but generally those minutes showing the fed thinks the economy's getting back on track. our own steve liesman rejoins us after yesterday's minutes broke at 2:00. also joining us is senior u.s. economist at ubs. so, steve, i will begin with you. there's a big -- woke up this morning to a big debate between -- get a lot of e-mails same as you comments of investors et cetera that we way overdid the qe-3 is off the table story yesterday. do you agree? >> i think definitely there was a step back in terms of what the fed is thinking about and doing with qe-3. i thought this, by the way, going back before these minutes. my sense of what bernanke was saying the market thought that bernanke was saying more qe was on the way. what i heard bernanke trying to do was defend the existing level of accommodation. i think as these numbers

improve, there's no way that the fed is going to launch qe in that environment. the first thing i pointed out yesterday was what's on your wall there. a few became a couple. and if you follow the fed, you know several is different from a number is different from a few is different from a couple. those are the kind of tea leaves out there . it doesn't mean they won't have that discussion in the next month. this month we're going to start to hear it en route to the fomc meeting in april. >> i want your thoughts on this. drew, how important is the 2% inflation target for the fed here? it seems like we're getting to a point where the recovery seemed a little self-sustaining. why did they pullback, do you think? if it was that significant of a pullback, does it have to do with that target? >> i don't think so. i think they're focused on unemployment and i think the inflation numbers are clearly in the backseat. and there's probably a skew which is to say a 2% target meaning they'll accept anything between 1.5 and 2.5. steve's point is the right one

though. what was really important to us was the fact that bernanke had several opportunities to discuss qe-3 before these minutes and didn't say a word. so i'm surprised people think they took a step back. i don't think they ever took the step forward to begin with. >> and can i point out the cnbc survey of which drew is members of the unofficial advisory board, i call him and ask him what are the right questions to ask, our survey showed only a 33% probability on the chance of additional qe-3. so i'm surprised. i think what we have here, brian, is money moving around that was betting on the qe-3 trade. >> i want to bet bottom line with this. we can argue this all day, but what do you think is the reality there of qe-3? can you put odds on it? 20%, 70%, what are the odds? >> it's above 10% but it's probably less than 1/3. part of me wants to say is there going to be a recession? the answer in my mind is no.

that of course there is some probability of recession at any time. but the second part is well, this fed does tend to surprise. here's the third part which i think people tend to ignore is operationally can they do it? do they have enough treasuries to buy? do they have enough mortgage backed securities to buy? no one asks those questions if they're not omnipotent. what can they do, how can they do it and do they have the information to move forward? >> one reason people are speculating they could happen with mortgage backed securities. but, again, looking for any detail on that, steve, in the minutes you didn't see anything about that. >> no. >> and constrained on mortgage backed securities. not like there's a lot left to buy. >> i would just say, kelly, that the probability of qe-3 is 100% if we have a european meltdown, if unemployment starts to go the other way because we're not creating jobs in this country, if there's a recession, bernanke

will pull that trigger. >> there will be -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> that's true. >> at some point there will be another recession. >> in the current perceived context of a very fragile economy -- >> goes back to the idea that it's an overreaction to say this was a big game changer because everyone knows that's going to be the reaction. >> kelly, if you swing three of the voters expecting rate hikes in 2014, all of a sudden majority looking for 2013 rate hikes. it's going to be very curious to see what happens with the forecasts that they're producing now because i think you could have that kind of swing where you can convince three people to move forward. do they change the language then from 2014 to 2013 or keep it 2014? if there's a disconnect -- i think the fed boxed themselves in here. >> don't lose the hopium here, brian. we're talking about less fed easing in return for better growth. and i think that's the only situation where that's going to happen. >> but it's coming right at the time when you're starting to see growth worries across -- >> this is a hot money moving

out of -- >> i know. >> not the medium term bigger money going to bet on growth or no growth. >> this is a challenging job sometimes. steve and drew, stay here. i want to hit on another big economic topic these days. you're not leaving. don't worry. gas prices. this morning i posted a piece on cnbc.com arguing why $4 gallon gas will not crush the u.s. economy this time. my main points if you missed the article number one $4 ain't the same as $4 a few years ago. it's actually about $3.64 in 2007. number two, average miles per gallon for the top selling vehicle ths year 16% more than just four years ago. so your gas dollars go farther. three, the payroll tax cut is in effect unlike a few years ago so families have about 2% more income to work with. most of the comments to the story told me i'm an idiot if not worse. i want to get everybody else's thoughts. drew, do you believe $4 gallon gas this time is going to be the

same or have a less impact ft impact on the economy. >> i would say less of an impact simply because we've seen it before. what takes a shock to the consumer is a shock. that might be a five handle. i don't know what the exact break point is. there is a break point and i might worry about that. how many people remain current on their debt has effected people on an annual basis too. consumer has more tailwinds behind them then people give them credit for. >> i'm a little tempted to let brian twist on the win. the other thing i thought you could add to that is what's happened to the cost of natural gas and overall housing and utilities. >> i should have put that in there. that was my mistake. >> you also pointed out correctly what's bat #bad is it hurts poor people, it's a regressive tax and you did notd deny the payment causes. i'm actually interested in the way it improves the economy andover all fuel efficiency

because if you know anything about economics, nothing is more powerful than price signal. >> it's well-said. listen, i got to say something too. people read and don't know some rich tv anchor, my father, middle class upbringing, my father ran a gas station during the gas crunch. we got crushed. my family got destroyed. >> i used to work at a gas station. >> when i was a kid, my mother was a telephone operator, i lived through it. i know it's painful for a lot of individuals. my point was the macro for the overall economy. >> it took me being on cnbc to get my first hate mail. >> then you're doing something right, drew. congratulations. >> welcome to the club. >> yeah. drew, thank you very much. steve, thank you as well. >> thanks, drew. >> still to come, the chinese are coming. and they're gobbling up real estate at a staggering pace. are the billions they're spending here in america a good or a bad thing? >> plus, stocks may be struggling today, but we'll show you a sign of life that's got a little something to do with the revival of tiger woods.

we'll tee it up, yes, we'll tee it up when "street signs" returns. ♪ ♪ [ 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. ♪

arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

look at best buy. lowest levels of the year. just keeps getting tougher for the minneapolis based retailer.

s&p putting ratings on credit watch negative. current model for best buy simply not working according to s&p. some tough words making an impact on best buy's stock and its investors. now a little bit of sunshine. we're always on buffett watch here. and he's apparently watching us too. huffington tweeted a pick last night "visiting warren buffett in his office. just a regular nonflat screen tv on cnbc, priceless accoun". >> he's missing a lot of cheap add-ons for the cnbc screen. >> here you go, it's made in china. call this the golf ball indicator. the masters starts tomorrow and tiger is not the only golfer apparently getting his groove back. more americans are taking a swing. bridgestone golf is ramping up golf production of its balls by 40% at its covington, georgia,

facility by 22%. also plans to add 20 jobs. good news. freddie couples, paula and davis just a few of the golfers representing the company. how about this, bridgestone recently produced its 600 millionth golf ball. >> that's two for what every person in the u.s.? >> that's a lot. i need 10,000 marbles. >> for what? >> that's an "animal house" reference. >> it's a bad day to be a gold bug. the entire commodities complex could have been our disaster du jour. details on the carnage after the break. >> and later on, the old saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away. can spending too much time on your apple ipad actually send you to the doctor? a new study on the impact tablets could have on your health when "street signs" returns. 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. ♪

and welcome back to "street signs." time now to catch you up on the latest headlines in today's street talk. we really do have indeed a metal meltdown. gold having its worst day in more than a year. silver also continues its slide. we are also keeping an eye on oil. let us get right now to brian shactman at the new york

mercantile exchange. >> 24 hours later we're still talking about the fed minutes. but if you believe that there's little or no chance of a qe-3, which a lot of the traders in gold now believe, then it takes that premium off the table in gold. i mean, you have basically speculators getting routed here. and a fundamental repricing. now we're talking $1,600 an ounce and only up about 3% for the year. oil's different. the fed minutes had an impact, but it's part of a bigger picture. we had a huge inventory bill today. no real news out of iran. saudis saying even if the spr is tapped they'll maintain production levels. and you see u.s. production levels continue to increase. there's a lot of bearishness within oil beyond the fed minutes. you have to separate it out between metals and the petroleum complex when it comes to pricing. when it comes to metals, speculators are getting run right out. >> certainly are. brian shactman, thank you very much. stocks also selling off, right? people are viewing to what brian shactman just said really the cheap money pipelines.

harder than it looks, but if stocks go down, does that make more of an opportunity? john, good to see you. we're going to be there tomorrow by the way this chicago. are you viewing this as a buying opportunity for stocks? or are you taking a pause because you're nervous? >> i think it's more of a buying opportunity, brian. let's keep in mind that really the sharpest moves that we've seen this year both equity markets and in metal markets, gold specifically, have really come on the back of fed speak. and fed officials can easily change their tune depending on the data. buried in yesterday's fomc minutes were some interesting things. one of which we thought a discussion about gasoline prices, how we had a warmer than otherwise winter here and how real disposable income on the consumer side is still rather soft and could soften if in fact gasoline prices continue to march a little higher. so, sure, fed officials sound -- [ technical difficulties ] >> all right. there we go. we lost john brady. john, if you can hear us, we

lost your feed. but we appreciate your insight. saying he thought it was more of a buying opportunity. i sort of teased it, kelly, tomorrow i'm going to be live from the cme in chicago. i know you know more about the fed than probably anybody here except for steve liesman. you can fight it out one night over that, but we're going to talk about the fed. i'll learn something tomorrow. we have rick santelli, talking interest rates, gold, oil and the fastest company in chicago it's a hedge fund marketplace. >> i'm guessing it's not groupon at this point. >> it might have been last year, point noted. a hedge fund marketplace, i don't know what that is either. we'll check it out. tomorrow we'll be in chicago. even if i have to walk because not yet high speed rail. >> i just want you to bring me back some pizza. we're going to keep an eye on ticker kerx. the stock is down more than 70% this week after one of its colin

cancer drug. sometimes big risks can mean big rewards. a few biotech names hit 52-week highs before pulling back. mark teper says there's huge opportunity in the biotech sector. he joins us now. mark, why bio tech? >> well, you know, as wayne gretzky says, you need to skate to where the puck's going, not where it's been. right now the biggest wave that's in front of us is the biotech sector. there's just a ton of companies out there that are really on the verge of some pretty remarkable breakthroughs when it comes to treating the likes of cancer, heart disease, alzheimer's. and these advancements are really going to change our lives over the course of the next several years. >> what names in particular? >> if you're looking to hit a home run, stay away from the big boys. look at really the small cap players. spectrum pharmaceuticals. seattle genetics. these are all examples of companies that we feel have some pretty good potential as far as the smaller companies go. and the one thing they all have

in common is that they develop treatments, therapies and pharmaceuticals to treat some pretty serious diseases just like cancer. >> mark, the problem we're reminded by down 70% for a hedge fund maybe a good way to get exposure for something that really plays off if it goes for a home run. if not you could get burned badly. something individual investors should be playing? >> probably not. one of the things we recommend for s -- my clients are pretty successful and recently cashed out of their businesses. what we're using for them if we want to play that trend is more of a diversified etf. we like xbi. the reason we like that is it gives us potential to hold some different biotech companies. it doesn't discriminate against the smaller cap bio tech companies. and helps us pick winners and losers beforehand. >> performance looks pretty good. question being how regulatory changes or some of these drugs getting approval or not getting

approval might affect the investment. any names you don't like, mark? >> it's too tough really to single them out. you know, i think one of the biggest players right now that is just on fire is regeneron. in all honesty, i think the best thing for the individual investor to do is really to stick to more of a diversified basket because for every single home run that exists out there, there's going to be two to three strikeouts. >> absolutely. >> this is not only caught gambling necessarily but this is money that you can afford to lose, right, mark? >> exactly. keep this to a very small percentage of your portfolio. even if you do that, i would advise that you pick a few different companies as opposed to pushing all your chips in on one of these. >> you're putting your money on a number, not a pass line. >> exactly. >> new numbers on how the great recession effected your retirement equation. >> next up, call it the ipad elbow. we have a doctor on call to diagnose what some are saying is

a hazardous thing using a tablet too much. want to hear this. stick around. i think research in motion's out of business. it's going to come down to android phones built on samsung and apple. >> i want to remind people about what happens when analysts are uniformly positive. this was a time when one out of three publicly traded mutual funds owned this stock. >> look at how gold has dropped here on those fomc minutes. >> as hopes for qe-3 fade, wall street reacting big time.

what makes the sleep number store different? the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. now, sleep number redefines memory foam, combining coolfit gel foam with sleep number adjustability! during our white sale, receive $400 in free bedding. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair.

i'm bill griffeth, coming up at the top of the hour on "closing bell," we are all over this selloff. biggest we've seen. we'll see whether the meltdown in gold is actually a golden buying opportunity right now. plus, is this pullback in the u.s. market a sign that it's time to put more money overseas? we have that trade for you. and then burger king announces plans to go public just a day after overhauling its menu to try to turn something sales around. we have that and one analyst who says the ipo has flameout written all over it on burger king. see you at the top of the hour,

kelly. >> all right. meanwhile taking a look at the smartphone wars. google's android is king. google, apple and research in motion stocks all down today along with everything else it seems. but the android mobile operating system is gobbling up market share now with 50.1%. apple's iphone is a distant second with 30.2%. for the three months ending in february. research in motion's blackberry meanwhile dropped to 13.4%. rimm's well-documented troubles continue. 50.1% though. >> it's booming. android is everywhere. poor rimm. you know, what's not on my list is windows. windows mobile. >> true. >> all right. are tablet computers bad for you? a new study shows spending too much time on your tablet -- say it's the ipad because they have 90% some market share. we're not picking on apple, but the tablet world can lead you to the doctor's office. let us bring in dr. bill winken warter, primary care physician and former coo of blue cross.

the study we based this interview on was a bit small, we'll be fair. but it did show that sort of the position that most people use to use and view their ipad or their other tablets is bad for you. do you agree with the study? >> well, this study was done at the harvard school of public health. i've known and worked with people there and the faculty students there. it's a great place. they do good work. but only 15 people did they look at. that's not a large number. and they really were just looking at the positions of the head and neck as people used the device. it wasn't a long-term study. it didn't ask about neck aches or back aches over time. those are the studies that they want to do next. it did show some interesting things. >> yeah. is it simply because we lean over them? we often hear using a regular desktop is a bad thing because we hunch over.

>> that's what i'm wondering. is it worse to use a tablet or desktop? doctor, what do you think? >> more of a strain on the head and neck to use the tablet especially if you're putting it in your lap and you're sort of lounged out there in a chair comfortably and you're there for a long period of time, hours or so. because of the angle of the head and you're looking down. and this is stretching your neck and your neck muscles. it's why people get neck aches ask back aches and headaches. >> do people get those from reading? seems to me a similar position to holding a book or magazine and looking at it. >> that's right. they do. this could apply to, you know, your laptop, if you're using your laptop in that fashion. but i think they wanted to draw attention to the fact that these new devices are really so easy to use, they're mobile, they're with you. and so they drew attention to this. now, i wouldn't make too much of it. more studies need to be done. but i'll say this that it's

certainly my area in the health care field, we expect the ipad and other laptop devices to be used widely because they are so much more easy to use. >> i wonder if it's not ultimately going to be eyesight, carpal tunnel and the elbow when people show more signs of usage from these. >> that's right. you need the right angle. i know with my own ipad and maybe this is a little advice back to apple, but the little prop up mechanism in the back keeps it at a fairly low angle. it would potentially be better to have it at a sharper angle. you can see it better there. but when it's at too high of an angle, then you may run into problems with the wrist and hands. >> and i smell, doctor, a new app called find a lawyer because the tort lobby right now saying aha. >> i think the doctor needs to get into the apple accessory business. >> i'm waiting for the lawyers to say class action with the ipad elbow.

angry birds finger. >> commercials on tv. >> angry birds finger. >> no lawsuits. it's a great device. >> fantastic device. certainly is. doctor, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> check out cnbc.com for a write-up, ipad alternatives and a case for the top blogger for the kindle fire. you can search king ipad. time now for your retirement equation. the great recession led to a spike in early 401(k) dipping. compares with 1.7%. the african-american community was one of the hardest hit in the downturn. the jobs report out this friday economists are expecting an increase of 203,000 jobs in march. the numbers and analysis on a special edition of "squawk box" on friday morning. i'll see you then. and finally, yahoo! is slashing

2,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring effort. the internet giant says the cuts will help the company become smaller, nimbler and hopefully more profitable. and up next, kate kelly has a peanut butter and chocolate combination involving delta airlines. i don't know what that means. >> nor do i. is it china to the rescue for the struggling u.s. housing market? buyers from hong kong and mainland jumping in. we're going to debate. is this a good kind of chinese investment in america? we're back.

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.

all right. kate kelly joins us now with an odd couple teaming up. that was the peanut butter chocolate reference. delta and conoco-phillips? >> she's better looking and smarter than i am. >> tell us what's happening here? >> it's a pact breaking deal if it comes through. here's what i'm hearing, serious talk in the commodities world about the idea of delta airlines buying a conoco-phillips refinery known as the trainer

facility. it's been on the block for a while now. conoco-phillips is the seller. they had an original deadline for march and extended that until the end of may. there have been reports out there by the gas price research service and the local papers near the refinery that delta was one of the serious bidders. i'm hearing that delta is seriously looking at this refinery as a way of cutting down on their costs of jet fuel. it's about 36% of delta's costs. and by doing this they are hoping, i hear, to save some money, essentially by, first of all, getting domestic crude by other sources rather than west africa which is a key source of the petroleum used in jet fuel refining. also, that they would be able to do something on their own rather than outsourcing and that would save them some money as well. we've never seen an airline by a refinery, that we know of. and oil traders, at least some of them, are pretty excited

about it it. it could really change the economic of the business. >> it's incredible. >> it sounds very interesting. where the planes are. >> very good point and not only that and they have to somehow get that on trucks or railway to the east coast, which is no easy feet right now. that's an issue that a lot of those in the oil business is running into. it's just hard to do the ground transportation. there's such a boom out there but actually shipping the product is another story. there are a number of issues that we're hearing about. the two companies are talking this week to try to hammer out the final details and the price tag, i should say, is not a huge deal. it's north of $100 million and

it needs to be overhauled which could cost $90 million or more. >> how much is this predicated on being at current levels? what happens if we lose 10% from here? >> that's a good question. it's meant to be an insurance policy against higher fuel prices. this is something that a lot of people are worried about, the airlines being foremost here as well as people fixated on the prices at the pump. if crude continues to go up, it could be a really ugly summer and the airlines are going to have to figure out how to hedge their bets. some of them use options to help hedge their exposure but this is yet another way of looking at it that would be pretty interesting. >> ultimately does this mean lower ticket prices? i'm sure you've noticed this, too, prices are significantly up. >> if it's successful, it could help consumer ticket can prices down the line. initially they are going to have

invest quite a bit of capital, buying this thing, getting it going, purchasing the crude. i don't know if we would see an immediate effect. i should say, i've made a lot of calls about this. some people are quite skeptical whether they can pull this off. >> it's not their core business. >> or whether it will result in -- >> ladies and gentlemen, we'll be landing in a couple of minutes. >> kate kelly, keep us up to date. that is fascinating. >> will do. china's military are switching up foreclosed homes in america, in fact, the chinese only canadians and other prices argue, the chinese are taking advantage of an unfair advantage. that's the debate. peter novarro is a professor. peter, now first to you. you think this stinks. how come? >> let's think it through.

we've accumulated $3 tril kren in debt to china and they are buying not just our luxury homes but our farmland, our factories, and our technology. gee, that doesn't sound that it's good for america. what it sounds like to me is the buying of an america by a regime. >> pete, the largest buyer of u.s. homes is still canada. i don't hear anyone out there railing against the canadians. >> well, they are a free and democratic country that trade freely and fairly with the united states. they don't have a military which threatens us. they don't hack our computer. they don't steel from us. i think from a cnbc point of view, i think it's important to

understand that $3 trillion buys a lot. it would buy petroleum interest in the dow jones industrial average. it would buy all of the companies on the russell 2000 in terms of controlling them. it would buy most of the farmland in the midwest do we want to sell that to the chinese government? >> no, we do not. but they are massing on our oh borders. >> they are taking over florida. >> let's bring in derek. listen, peter is making good points about human rights. we can all agree on that. but do you agree with him on the economic side? is this unfair because they are manipulating currency at an unfair discount. >> it's hard to imagine that i could disagree more with peter. americans want to sell their property and that's to the

highest bidder and that's chinese. americans can sell property to the people they want to sell it to. i don't get it. >> well, let me help you out, derek. let's look at this over the longer term. if we essentially let china cheat and accumulate this $3 tril kren of debt -- >> which has nothing to do with the property. you're talking about something else. >> our kids become renters. they use it to buy our farmland -- >> peter, they are buying a small percentage, they are buying a couple of homes. >> >> the story that was created, a third of the homes that kb is selling in one of their laj juror subdivisions is going to mainland chinese. >> but that's one builder in one -- >> i'm not as worried about homes as i am about farmland, for example. china has a pretty good track record going into africa. >> fair enough.

peter -- >> peter -- we've got to go. >> and shipping the things to china. >> derek, quick last word, 20 seconds. >> we have something called the china global investment tracker that puts together data on this. they are not buying china property. this is good for the market. the end. >> clearly a canadian hater. i'm kidding. thank you very much. tomorrow we're live in chicago. i completely disagree with peter. what can you assume? by the way, street signs live. >> it better be hot with pepperoni.