three, it's up about .75%. small-cap winners, prestige brands, walter energy, yelp, tasaro and kb homes. ty, up to you. >> very close to the dow at an all-time high. see later in the day. that does it for this edition of "power lunch." >> have a great afternoon. see you tomorrow. "street signs" begins right now. well, will the streak of summer swoons finally be broken, or is a stock slide just around the calendar corner? we're going to dig in. well, don't tell the market so-called old media is dead. will you not believe who the host stocks in america are right now. plus, we're going to unveil the second best state in america for business as we count you down to the top spot, and herb warned you on a stock that's down nearly 20% today. we'll tell you who it is coming up, mandy. >> indeed we will. hello, everybody. the dow is now up for the fourth

straight day which would be the first four-day winning streak for the dow since the end of april. in fact, we're now closing in on a record high of 15,409. take your pens yils ocils out a it down. for all those worries about rising rates, the july gains for all the major averages are already mohr than any month since march. let's get down to the trading floor. bob pisani at the nyse and rick selly in chicago. bob, all about earnings at the movement might be earnings season, possibly might not be as bad as many have expected? >> my feeling it will be a little bit sub par but that's better than some people. some people think it's going to be a mess. my point is right now the expectations are 3% earnings growth, hit the historical average, they will end up with a 5% gain, 5% to 6% gain in earnings. a lot of people seem to think that's silly or impossible. i don't know why they think that because that's the way the numbers are looking right now. a lot of people don't like the

markets right now as they head towards historic highs again, complaining about the meager earnings growth, 5%, 6%, some people think it will be below that. modest economic growth is not going to help and don't think it will get any better. i think it will get better on the second half of the year and complaining about the fed tapering. markets are already factoring into a september fed tapering. i don't think that will happen until at least september, and yet, mandy, 1% below the historic high in the s&p, up 1669. keep saying this number for the last two days and keep getting closer to t.only 17 points away from a closing historic high. the markets have factored in a lot right now, and right now they are talking about the possibility of better economic growth in the second half of the year. >> finally good news is good news. bob pisani, waited long enough. rick santelli, you know we had the three-year auction today pretty decent and a number of auctions this week. will that really gauge the appetite for treasuries? now the yield is around two-year highs? >> well, i think it most

certainly makes a difference to some investors. you know, even though i would look at a three-year note and say 71 basis points. wow, that's not very much. still double what it was a couple auctions ago on may 7, and s&p downgraded the long-term credit rating of italy, probably about 40 minutes ago, mandy, to bbb so the only thing that separates italy from a negative output, all that's left is one more level. is that a big deal? not really, but still underscores weakness in europe, the euro currency broke on the news. it's now under a major important level of 1.28, and my guess is germany is probably secretly pretty happy about that because they will have to shore the gdp load in europe and a lower euro helps the biggest export market in the region, of course, being germany. >> shocking that a country that has had 517 governments in the last 50 years and a high

debt-to-gdp might have a negative outlook in the bond market but too nice outside for sarcasm. >> as always, thank you very much. got to send it over to josh lipton for a market flash on hma. >> some news here on hma. reuters is reporting that hma has attracted takeover interests from community health systems and others about buying the hospital operator. other possible buyers include, according to reuters, hca and life point technologies. you can see the intraday spike there in the chart. hma up nearly 5% right now. brian, back to you. >> wow, keep an eye on that as well as tenet and some of the other hospital companies. josh lipton, thanks very much. our which go question today, america, where's the big summer swoon? had one each of the last one, two, three, four years. many have called for one this year, but we really haven't had one unless you count the drop in the third week of june, a drop, by the way, short lived and from which we've almost regained

completely, so is a drop just around the corner, or will this be the lucky year, 2013? joining us is geena sanchez and john butterworth. john, i want to begin with you. what do you believe? do you believe a summer swoon is imminent, or will this time finally be different? >> well, brian, if you look at the numbers from the earnings perspective, not looking for strong growth in this quarter. the expectation right now is .70%, but if we look out to the next couple of quarters, analysts expecting a significant jump. in q3 the expectation is for 7% growth and q4 the expectation is 14% growth so from an earnings perspective analysts are looking for a significant improvement in the second half of 2013. >> but i think to your point, john, and i'm going to throw this out to you, geena, because the expectations for second-quarter earnings are low and the buyer is being brought down, couldn't that potentially give us all those upside

surprises? might this be the thing that drives us through summer so that we don't have the swoon that we've had in the past? >> well, i think you're right this could definitely get us over on the earnings front, but the thing to watch is sales and sales where we've seen a lot of misses. good earnings surprises and those have been well-managed but the sales numbers have been somewhat stepied. the outlook on equities is i respective of direction. we have two options in front of us. either we're looking at a better economic recovery and you'll see better earnings, or you're looking at a weaker economic recovery and you'll see liquidity support. both support the outlook for -- >> which camp would you be in? >> i'm probably expecting a little softer data, more -- a slower tapering than what the markets are pricing in, and i think that that's probably going to expand the multiple. either way i'm actually bullish on stocks here. >> let's bring it back to the segment topic. >> right. >> is there going to be a summer swoon. >> probably not. >> this is interesting. >> this is tre interesting.

when bernanke came out and made the comment that sort of brought the markets tumbling down, he created a very interesting situation. he got rates rising, which he wanted them to do and wants to channel them upwards, but he also managed to get equity markets to re-price in a way that they became a lot more palatable for investors. >> so john, the segment topic is will there be a summer swoon? may not want to make a bet on the market direction because i know you focus on earnings. based on your earnings forecasts, do you believe there's good chances for upside surprises and happiness all around? >> definitely the case on the earnings side. the average over the last year has been for 73% of companies to beat the earnings estimates. we're on that pace right now, 71 companies have beat to date but on the revenue side, one of the trends we've seen is more companies have missed revenue estimates than beat revenue

estimates in the last few quarters. right now only 48% of companies have beaten the top line. something to watch as we progress through the peak weeks of the earnings season. >> what were you say are the risks out there for us to have a summer swoon? might that bring us undone, or are we strong enough at home that we're going to sale through? >> i think global concerns with definitely high on the list of headwinds. europe continues to be weak. that's been the case for some time and emerging markets are somewhat mixed picture. for many quarters emerging markets were a driver of growth. hasn't been the case in the last quarter and last quarter we saw mixed comments, some companies such as ibm and china, and other emerging markets continue to be weak while other companies such as ge and united technologies saw strength in emerging markets so that will be a theme to watch. what sort of comments and performance are we seeing from companies in china and other emerging markets? >> possible at the mar egyptian, all the problems we've been seeing in places like china and

turkey and egypt and everywhere else. is it possible that that is actually benefiting us, that we look better by comparison? >> certainly makes the u.s. look better by comparison, without a doubt, and it's been driving down input prices and that should be beneficial for margins unless you're someone like alcoa today, and aside from that it has been driving down basic metals. it's been driving down energy prices. >> that's a tailwind for our economy. >> you mentioned bottom line, let's bottom line this segment. you don't believe that there's that much of a risk of a giant summer swoon a la 2009, 2010, 2011, you see where i'm going here? >> i see where you're going. >> the bias is to the upside. >> gina, thank you very much. john, thank you. let's get back to hma, speaking of bias to the upside. you heard josh lipton give you the breaking news. hma reuters is reporting could be the subject of a takeover. the stock has absolutely soared, up 6% right now, nearly a buck to 16.42. reuters again reporting

potential takeover interest on hma. watch many of the managed care and hospital companies like tenet, hma and others, they are all going to be in play now. on deck, don't say that he didn't warn you. intuitive surgical down 18% right now. nobody's done more reporting on this company than our own herb greenberg. what you need to know, plus an analyst who just downgraded the stock. >> also, do we need to know more about our pilots? should we be able to see their training and track record before you board the plane? we're going to debate that and would really like you to join the conversation? tweet user check us out on facebook or e-mail us @streetsigns.cnbc.com. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office,

i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine. ♪ [ male announcer ] some things are designed to draw crowds. ♪ ♪ others are designed to leave them behind. ♪ the all-new 2014 lexus is. it's your move.

we'd like you to check out intuitive surgical because it's down about 18% after pre-announcing a huge miss last night, and obviously you're warning us. you raised the red flag on this one so we cannot say you didn't warn us, herb. >> well, mandy, i have to tell you something. the -- the intuitive surgical pre-announced second-quarter results last night with big misses on the top and bottom line. the company blamed a number of things, including economic pressures on hospitals that cut into the sales of its da vinci surgical robots, but even before it pre-announced, intuitive surgical had been the focus of

controversy, including a number of legal challenges based on allegations of death and injury tied to the da vinci, like the one from sean todd who recalls the nightmare in her hospital's emergency room after a robotic hysterectomy. >> he said this is going to save your life, and -- and it was torture. but they held me down, and they stuck me four times with needles that went down into my back and into my kidneys. >> that was in our documentary "the da vinci debate" on cnbc.com. shaun was told her ureters were burned which her attorney said is a complication from the surgery. intuitive declined to comment and insists the da vinci is safe. still, critics have alleged complications are underreported to the fbi's database including one former employee who talked with us on the condition of anonymity. >> have you ever seen a

situation where there's a complication and then just for the heck of it you went back to the fbi database to see if it was reported and not see it reported? >> yes. >> more than once? >> yes. >> if you look at that database, how understated do you think it is? >> i think it would be significantly understated in terms of complications. >> among the reasons for its miss, intuitive blamed moderating growth and benign gynecological procedures which has been a focus of industry scrutiny. it's unclear whether the controversy caused the unexpected slowdown in sales, but this much is clear. intuitive analysts were surprised by the magnitude of the slowdown. analyst jason mills who joins us in a second went so far as to say the results usurped his most bearish scenario. the big question, is this temporary or for intuitive is this the sign of something bigger? brian? >> well, let's answer that

question right now. great reporting as always, herb. let us bring in now who her just spoke about herb mills who downgraded it from a buy to a hold. jason, welcome. you've heard herb's reporting today and in the past. you obviously heard the news from intuitive surgical. one quarter problem, or is this a sign of bigger things to come? >> well, thanks for having me, first of all. we cited in our report that the reasons given, coupled with our research, seemed to us like these reasons were more structural, perhaps even systemic, and those are a bit more difficult to resolve and take a bit longer to resolve, so to answer your question directly, to us it seemed like something that would not be resolved within a quarter's period of time. >> how do they recover from this? >> well, that's a good question. the deviation from the historical trends, especially on

the system sales, was quite dramatic. 15% growth over the last nine quarters gave you a very good trend by which you could model. the problem is this was such a deviation, coupled with the fact that procedure growth is inextricably linked to system placements. it's going to make it difficult for consensus to model this. that will widen the variance and, therefore, increase the risk to the stock, so to answer the question again directly. it will take in our view at least two to three quarters to where the company needs to establish another trend of reaccelerating the system in placement growth, throwing this was an outlier and not a trend and showing you procedural volume does not decline from current run rates. and it has been declining modestly, but with the system placement deviation to the downside, the concern is that procedure growth could actually be lower than what we're modeling, notwithstanding our

lower numbers today. >> jason, how much of this do you think is the result of hospitals seeing some of the controversy and saying, whoa, we've got to step back and take a closer look at this? >> it's hard to tell is the honest answer but it probably has something to do with it at some hospitals. also the company mentioned macro economic issues. certainly hospitals are becoming more cost conscious. to the extent that there's capacity on existing robots, first they will want to eat into that capacity by doing more procedures on the same robot before getting a second or a third. i think that's always been the goal and the objective, but i think even more acute now from a hospital perspective when margin is so important to them. >> well, you know, jason, i think that the economic pressure on hospitals is an important issue, a broad issue for a lot of companies, but when it comes back to intuitive why do you

think so many analysts were caught off guard by this, so blind-sided by this. it's a fair question. admittedly a hard one to answer, but i think the standpoint from what is easiest or the ability to channel check this company, it's easier to do so, never completely easy, but on the procedural volume side than it is on the system side. last quarter procedural -- first-quarter procedural volume was actually a little bit lighter, but system sales were lighter. this quarter that flipped. it's harder to channel check the systems than it is the procedures, and flowedures were actually relatively inline this quarter. >> do you get the question that the company may be softening a little bipt in terms of toning down its marketing, both inside the hospitals and to surgeons and to the hospital itself. >> i do not get the sense that they are doing that.

this company's marketing prowess is quite strong, and it's been a hallmark of their success, so i would be surprised by that. >> i will say, in our documentary and say it again, "the da vinci debate," one thing we pointed out is that sales people would actually have access to the calendars of the surgeons and would try to get them to convert from one procedure to the other, and i'm wondering if there's an indication as to whether that's something intuitive is looking at because there's been a lot of concern about that. to be honest, it is the sale's personal's job to do that, right or wrong and if the -- if the complication rates are not outside the realm of what we would typically see in these procedures, he will probably continue to push to use the da

vinci, their opinion versus i'm sure some others. >> jason, thank you very much. appreciate you joining us on "street signs" today. herb, thank you many very much. the full documentary online at investigations.com close. >> what's that name? >> herbgrownburg.com. that might be a website. a big headline involving the a'shanae air tragedy, the pilot's first flight. >> nine, the poilt in question is tossed to be tubinging to ntsb investigators. we'll keep to they can to know what happened in the final spekds of flute 214. that's how long they turned off the autopilot for the airplane. they started rapidly slowing

down. at one point they dropped below the target landing speed of 132 knots, and they kept on slowing down just they hit the runway or the sea wall, before they hit the runway. already done to 103 knots. that brings up questions, about the pilot know he was going too low and too slow? mose most of them boeing 73s. the head of the sets needs says this is one area they will focus on during the can i of him. >> we want to make sure you fell understand this. no pilot is going to walk on a plane with 100 landings under their belt. they need to have the operating experience. you can do a lot in a simulator, but do you have to take the

controls, so you want to make sure that you've got a good crew pairing and that there is good training. >> this hinges up the question. they get their per sue under the naa. they do keep information. wear it with the airlines but not the public. public x, y, z has a tendency to land house or pilot at abc does nothing else. >> speaking in terms of track record, with it came off. a lot of note about what we should know regarding that. >> how many transparentsy should there be and regards of the

pilots? should we be able to pick our own pilots and if that's not enough have the ability to not go on that plane. >> no, no. >> i say maybe a little more transpaernsy. >> what's your experience and give you a right to talk about -- >> our bios are up there on the web. >> but only after you're hired. if you're hired by somebody, you have to assume that person is qualified to do that job. >> they don't have to choose to watch our show, right? >> what do you mean, i don't understand? >> you're somewhat mixing -- got all our records out there for all the work to see. they might be higher. >> the point is, phil, if you're flying a aaaaaaa, you don't at 23 hop into the pilot seat of a 777. go i get on that plane i assume that pilot has been flying for a

rock time. that's just the way it works. >> and the other issue that is brought up with all of this, brian, is the question of how do you know whether a pilot with 5,000 hours of flying time is better or rrs than have. >> you were a better pilot as this person. >> yeah. as we say. thank you for the report, phil re-bow. >> yelp for pilot. we want people sitting in the back of coach saiding in coach and saying i don't get enough. >> i don't think i would want to-to-have been on the asiana flight. >> he had 10,000 hours.

got to start somewhere. >> give us your view as well. coming up next, the holy grail for apple geeks, and it almost likes like the microsoft shakeup we've been talking about for a while is going to happen. mr. softy's make wroefr. >> find out why we were floored by the top three performing s&p 500 companies over the last month. oh, and we've also got what could be -- you note cronut, croy is on the high drid. they're not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is "how did i end up here?" i started schwab for those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. hooking up the country whelping business run ♪

♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice! ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ you know it even after all these years. but your erectile dysfunction - you know,that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach,

delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial.

we are near session highs. the dow is at 15,313, and if you're listening on the radio, it's up 88.92 points or .58%. we like to be precise. we're near session highs. everything is fine. meantime, the two steves would be amazed. an original apple computer known as the apple one now sold for $387,750 at an auction at christy's. the original circuit board was built in 1976, no keyboard, no monitor. it was the first one built by the steves, jobs ands wouldiac in steve jobs' parents garage.

only 200 apple one computers were built. apple is giving away top-selling apps and games for free today to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the app store, and in that time over 50 billion apps have been downloaded. the top-selling app to date, i translate voice for 99 cents. the top grossing app for i guess everything else is candy crush. apple stock is up 140% in that time frame. >> we've been talking about it for a while now, but it sure does look like that big microsoft shuffle is going to happen so we're very lucky to have jon fortt with us in person today. welcome to the mothership here, jon. >> thanks, mandy. >> some analysts calling for it and other analysts saying it's a long way off but now it could be this week. >> could be this week and if not this week thinking certainly next week with microsoft. there's plenty of reasons why microsoft needs to shuffle things around. not just egos involved. also the way they define the way

forward. they say steve balmer has said this will be a devices and services company and a lot of products key to that are sort of in a middle. take a look at how some of this breaks down. the business division says business hats office division and that's the order of size and server an tools is cree. that's where you've got all the cloud stuff and the executive players who aring if to be involved in this shakeup, some of the key people, the president of the business division, you might any that he's a big player. he hasn't been in that position that long. some other people are interesting, the person in charge of cloud. more and more what microsoft wants to change, expecting he could get a significant role here and ki lu in charge of bing and online services.

>> could i ask you a question question with regards to the ceo of barnes & noble resigning. is it possible that microsoft could buy the nook business, invested $330 million in nook just last year. could they buy the business outright? >> it's possible, but you have to think about what they would be getting. >> might get it for free soon. >> the hardware itself not that valuable. a lot of that is contracted out. software, microsoft has its own that it's built out with windows 8 so there's not so much there. it would be more of a cop tent play but they already have their own content deal. if they want to buy something, maybe nokia would make more sense. >> a buddy of balmer's. >> how incestuous. >> good news, america. we are not longer the fattest people in the world. we're going to tell you who the heaviest nation is coming up. >> and also the runner up is -- well, we're going to unveil america's second best state for

business, and then there's this. why the wiener mobiles are all lined up outside this very building at cnbc hq. i'm a careful investor. when you do what i do, you think about risk. i don't like the ups and downs of the market, but i can't just sit on my cash. i want to be prepared for the long haul. ishares minimum volatility etfs. investments designed for a smoother ride. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

because what you dont know can hurt you.urance, what if you didn't know that it's smart to replace washing-machine hoses every five years? what if you didn't know that you might need extra coverage for more expensive items? and what if you didn't know that teen drivers are four times more likely to get into an accident? 'sup the more you know, the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum -bum ♪ with fidelity's options platform, we've completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies... to get a list of equity options... evaluate them with our p&l calculator... and execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. i'm greg stevens, and i helped create fidelity's options platform. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

the dow is currently at session highs and exactly 100 points away from cracking the record high. let's get to street talk and find out some of the big stock stories of the day starting off with ibm getting a downgrade for big blue. >> a big call, though ibm is not getting totally walloped. lowering its price target from 220 to 200. they think the pressure is on the business going forward. going to be a weight on to ibm stock. shares down 1.5% so not crushing the name. keep your eyes on accenture. when they cut their forecast a week and a half ago i believe it was you and i that said watch ibm.

>> we did say that. why don't we move along and take a look at what's happening with the electric car-maker tesla. >> going to be in the nasdaq 100 and will replace oracle. big move up by tesla. this stock up 249% year to date, though watch out though because i was reading an article today, north carolina is trying to ban sales of tesla to protect the auto dealership network and new york state hinting around. something to keep around. >> maybe international growth will maybe up. lots of orders coming in from places like hong kong for the tesla and sirius xm radio >> another car story. satellite operator upping its subscribers and with all the new subscribers it added for the second quarter it's now above 25 million subs, can all listen to cnbc at the exact same time. a car sales story because when you buy a car it's got sirius. i'll never own a car if it doesn't have sirius, really a legal monopoly, the only one in

that space. >> also yy which is under the radar, never heard of it. >> because because. >> why? >> chinese communication platform. think of sales for online ads for game development and banner ads, piper jaffrey upgrading it to a neutral or from a neutral. they site revenue drivers as well as improved profitability. why, y, why not? up 3.8%. lots of people have been calling for the death of cable tv which is particularly offensive but don't tell that to the stock market because media is hot right now. i want you to take a look at this. reran we ran a screen and cablevision, gannett and time warner cable, boom, boom, boom, what gives? senior media analyst at standard & poor's, my question to you is

this, what gives? >> what gives, that's a great question. i think you're seeing a renaissance of a lot of media companies. what we've been calling for is another wave of consolidation in the cable and broadcast landscape and all of those three companies that you pointed to are actually i think benefiting from either deals already announced or potential expectation they may be involved in some potentially transmissional deals. >> why all the deals, especially on the local side? some suggesting it may be a play on the 2014 and 2016 elections because you go after markets where there's a lot of political revenue in. >> that's been the thesis but over the past couple of years broadcasters are now doubling down, and diversifying their traditional advertising revenues and starting to generate very significant revenues on retransmission and at the same time you're seeing newspaper publishers like gannett and tribune. >> gannett and trib up, which

are primarily printed forms of publication, are now becoming real tv networks. >> that's exactly right, and you're seeing a reinvention happening to take advantage of all of the trends i described and what you're likely to see now are the multiples of trading up. a lot of former newspaper companies will hook to diversify an take advantage of this secular shift to broadcast retransmission. >> appreciate it, buddy. see you soon. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> coming up, where in the world is scott cohn. he's crisscrossed the country like forrest gump tracking down the best businesses. we'll give you the runner up in the best state for business coming up. >> cronut is so passe. what about the crookee? is that the next sweet treat? >> boy, are you guys fickle. already over the cronut. we creep ever closer to new

highs for the major averages, plus the ceo of fast food chain fat burger explains how his franchises are avoiding obama care without cutting worker hours. plus, elliotte spitzer's opponent in the comptroller race says why voters should not give the disgraced former governor a second chance and the number one state for business on our watch in 2013. that will be coming up on "closing bell." kelly evans is with me today. look forward to seeing you at the top of the hour. meantime, more "street signs" coming your way after this. it's a brand new start.

your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'.

[ woman ] hop on over! (announcer) at scottrade, our clto make their money do more.re (ann) to help me plan my next move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars... plus, their live webinars. i use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. and my local scottrade office guides my learning every step of the way. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade... ranked "highest in customer loyalty for brokerage and investment companies."

all right. here's the bad news. america has lost its top spot but here's the good news. we lost our top spot as the world's fattest nation. that portly privilege is now bestowed on to our folks in the south, viva mexico. about 70% of that country's adults are overweight or downright obese. as mexico's economy continues to expand, so do the waist lines but don't worry, america is still solidly in second place.

a full 32% are obese or overweight. >> and i believe australia is not too far behind. speaking of fat, twinkies are coming back and they will have a longer shelf life as well, a 45-day expiration date when they return to the stores next week. the old twinkies had an official shelf life of just 26 days, but as we all probably know, according to urban legend, that official shelf life is nowhere near the real shelf life. could this be the new cronut? it's called the crookee made by a french bakery from n toronto. the croissant is packed with crushed oreos and then fried. we'll talk to the hundreds of people that are apparently there every single morning waiting in line from 7:15 in the morning and it turns out you do not need to eat those calorie-laden concoctions to feel better. can you get a good mood boost just by drawing a picture of a fatty food item. the study done by new york's

st. bonaventure university. subjects drew a picture of a cupcake and were in a better mood afterwards than those who drew a pepper. sully has already gone off and is eating the crookee. first off, it's ten hours old, but i was a little concerned it was like a piece of pastry with an oreo stuffed on top, to wit you could make anything, i just want to make sure. there's the crushed oreos inside. >> i could make a hamburger and put a banana on top and say that's a banana burger but there is an oreo inside the crookee. >> you have to eat us now to tell us what that is like. >> i'm going to do it. >> go ahead. that's fantastic. speaking of crazy food. we want to know what your local craziest food item is, don't make it up, something at a restaurant that's near by you that actually exists as of now. send us pics of the wildest food

near you. tweet the team. yeah. >> yeah. >> the she's over because we spend so much stuff promoing stuff about the show. >> that was delicious by the way, ten hours old and still delicious. up next, we are counting down the top states for business. who is going to snag the number two spot? >> this is cool. great yachts, the world's biggest boat, the azam, now has another title under its bow, awesome. the founder of the cronut just bought that yacht. that's not true. we're back after this. >> time now for today's return on retirement. the worst states for retirement revealed. bank rate combed through lots of data including taxes, crime rate, access to medical care and cost of living, and they found of the cynic states are pretty ugly when it comes to retirement. fire of the worst, delaware,

minnesota, maryland and vermont and maine. the rest in just a second. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice! ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪

♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪

here's the rest of the worst states for retirement, according to bankrate. wisconsin, california, washington, alaska, and topping the worst list, oregon. it's got beautiful views, but also higher than average crime, taxes, and cost of living. be sure to check out retirement.cnbc.com for more great retirement tips. >> oregon has beautiful views, though. >> trees? >> the pacific ocean, and voodoo doughnuts. >> nice organic food. >> probably too liberal to watch us, but if you have voodoo doughnut, send us some with the nyquil inside. the cnbc annual top ranking for businesses in the country. we're scoring all 50 states and counting down the top five for you today, scott cohn is joining us again -- he's not in the top state, but he'll tell us who the runner-up -- we have no idea, by the way, scott. none. >> reporter: no, you don't.

and i've been -- i've been hearing from, you know, your producers in the control room, guessing at what the top state is. the sharp-eyed folks among you, those following us too closely, know we did not give a hint in the last hour in "power lunch," so we'll do that in a moment. let's just say we called an audible there. and now, the runner-up. let's look at state number two. texas. the lone star state comes in at number two this year with 1,593 points. texas was america's top state for business last year. it has never finished below number two. and even at number two, texas is a business powerhouse. the nation's top economy. the top infrastructure. second-best for technology and innovation. but texas comes in 41st for quality of life, in part because

so many texans don't have health insurance. something governor rick perry defended when we talked last year. >> texas decided a long time ago that we weren't going to burden people and force them to buy insurance. >> reporter: with high utility costs and rising rents, texas also comes in 35th for cost of doing business, even though the state has no individual or corporate income tax, just a 1% state franchise tax. the state sales tax, 6.25%. unemployment in texas? 6.5%. the largest employer in texas is the heb supermarket chain. the largest industry is healthcare. so are you totally confused now? well, we'll give you another hint about the state that i am in, america's top state for business. this is the hint we forgot to give you, or we called an audible about the last hour. the next hit is negative territory. negative territory. so our hints thus far -- big mouth, well anchored, scratch beneath the surface, and negative territory.

next hour in the "closing bell," we'll give you the final hint. and then in the 4:00 hour eastern time, of the "closing bell," we will reveal america's top state for business. we want to hear from you, use the hashtag top states on twitter. go to topstates.cnbc.com where a number of governors have weighed in. you may want to see if your governor is talking up your state. topstates.cnbc.com. >> oh, come on, brian, you know your history of the states. what do you reckon that hint is suggesting? >> i think i know. i think i know. i'll tell you, and that what i it's not, like, bs. okay? >> okay. >> i would never say it, scott, he busted his butt on this. it's fantastic. >> we won't bust your suspense. >> is it guam? >> reporter: is it -- yeah. no. >> it does look hot out there, but you're wearing long sleeves, so clearly not seriously hot. we won't bust your suspense, as i say, and steal your thunder, but we'll catch up with you later on. thanks a lot, scott. well, you're going to need a

bigger and faster boat, because the world's largest yacht just one-upped the boating world again. robert frank knows all things big and beautiful when it comes to the outing world. you're here to tell us all about it. >> reporter: that's right. in april, we told you about azzam, the largest yacht in the world, 1 1/2 football fields, cost more than $600 million to build. it went for its first sea trials recently. it's like a road test for a superyacht. it hit a top speed, get this, of 31.5 knots, that's about 36 miles per hour. now, azzam is far and away also the fastest super yacht in the sea, over 300 feet. executives tell me azzam can go even faster in deeper water. that sea trial was in the north sea. it was only about 60 feet of water. now, by comparison, the second-largest yacht, eclipse, can only hit around 22 knots. what makes azzam so fast? well, the jet engines. there they are. rather than propellers, it uses supersized water jets powered by two gas turbines and two diesel engines cranking out 94,000

horsepower. of course, that's going to burn a lot of fuel. but the owner is reportedly the royal family of the united arab emirates, so they have lots of oil and lots of money to burn. >> i am floored. what a surprise that -- >> reporter: exactly. rich guys in the middle east buying yachts. who would have guessed? >> yeah, fantastic. coming up, an american icon is here. tv history in the making. find out where these well-heeled hot wheels are headed. those guys are right now in our parking lot. we're going to find out where they're going coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] if you can't stand the heat, get off the test track.

get the mercedes-benz you've been burning for at the summer event, going on now at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. but hurry, offers end july 31st.

vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members,

veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. okay. well, you saw it here first, right? it's a cross-country road rally. it's kicking off today, and here to announce the fan-fuelled race to the finish are all six of the wiener mobiles parked here in front of the cnbc headquarters, and for the first time in 25 years, right, brian, fan, i.e., you guys, can actually control your own fleet through social media outlets and through oscar mayer events, as well. >> you can vote on them, and one is speedy wiener, which if you're a guy, is not what you want. what is your hot dog name? >> sam and cheese. >> hungry hannah.

>> hungry hannah? >> casey concase so. >> that's cheesy. >> atta-dog alex. >> don't crash. >> do you have qualifications -- do you have driver's licenses? >> yeah. >> they'll be asked to complete any number of challenges. you have to tune in and join the website. thanks a lot for joining us. you know, we've had a lot of lead-ins on this show, but that was one of them, wasn't it? >> you are going to sing the song? >> no, i will not. we were singing the jingle a moment ago. we'll let you do that at home. welcome to "closing bell." things are grinding higher again as we enter the final hour of trading today. >> i'm in for maria. she'll be back tomorrow. the dow is up 75 points, within string