done to keep america growing and what the single most dangerous thing may just be to the american economy. the dow is having another big day. we got lots of other news ahead. right now, we've got to get to the breaking news. it's called the beige book but it is usually not as boring as the name implies. >> the beige book saying that the economy expanded at a moderate pace with some districts seeing what it describes as a pickup in growth. retail sales gained in most districts. the holiday sales were on plan or even a bit up. this is a collection of economic information from the 12 fed reserve districts. the real estate markets continued on balance to improve with home prices up in 7 of 12 districts. real estate loans however declined in five districts, mostly the result of refinancing activity declines. a few activities report slowing in home sales construction but that was not the majority. banking loan volume's mostly unchanged when it came to real estate and commercial loans.

districts who reported continued strong energy demand and production, i think we need to look at that indicator now more and more when it comes to the u.s. economy. wage and price pressure, the thing the fed follows most importantly from this report, was seen as contained. want to break out some of the anecdotes we are hearing from the beige book on the labor market since it's so important to the fed. staffing demand grew in five districts, that's a temporary help thing, something worth watching. growth was seen in internet technology and engineering. minnesota saying the labor market was tightening and new york said there were signs of robust hiring in finance in an off-month, which is december. finally a quick word on manufacturing which was seen as growing and the outlook was optimistic in many districts. manufacturing strength was seen in aviation, autos and construction materials. those are your three industries that are having some of the better growth out there. defense was one area of manufacturing, a result of the federal budget. finally, manufacturers in several districts were concerned about health care. inflation, something else we have been monitored. >> give us a bottom line.

>> a bit firmer. pretty much the same but just a touch firmer detail. >> that's your headline. the bottom is firmer. >> the bottom is firmer. >> i told you the beige book wasn't boring. >> your experience as a journalist is something that's really helpful to me. at all times. >> my mind, i'm reading the summary, the first paragraph, as i'm sure you have, and it looks positive. bob, you heard what steve had to say. is this a positive report? >> yeah, it's positive. it's been positive. growth has been expanding and it's been moderate. it's been moderate and it's been expanding. steve reports we've got increases in hiring in five of the districts, but that's five of 12 and of course, non-farm jobs do increase every month. i'm not really sure that there's really that much bump there. we had a disappointing december jobs report which seemed to say that october and november were irrationally exuberant. year over year job growth over

the last 12 months is the same as from a year ago so really, jobs aren't going anywhere. it looks like the same old, same old. >> it's been a positive beige book. it's been a 2% growth beige book. we read the beige book to know is it a 2.5, 3 or 3.5% beige book. on the other hand we have this outliar, bob may disagree with me, of an employment report where the other stuff has been strong. you have to acknowledge other strong data. are you acknowledging or not? >> i think what happened is we had stronger job numbers in october and november and people were fooled into thinking that was a pickup. >> you're saying the strong numbers were the aberration. >> yeah. >> but there has been other strong economic data and now the jury is out on which is the real indicator. >> let's bring in the voice of deutsche bank. do you feel we have reached the point of escape velocity? >> yes. we grew at 4% in the second half of 2013, about double the first half pace. beige book sounded slightly

firmer but my god, if growth doubles in the beige book just says moderate, what do you believe, the hard data? gdp, or do you believe the beige book? i think the beige book is a lagging indicator and as the numbers get better, the beige book going forward will reflect it. i look at the december employment report and see that totally is an aberration, given what we're seeing from the economy, given what we're seeing in order flow and what markets are telling us. >> back up for a second. what the heck is escape velocity? >> escape velocity essentially is the economy entering a sustained period of above trend growth where the fed does not have to be as accommodative. that's how i interpret it. the economy's momentum is strong enough that the good times continue. >> is there anything that's holding us back? that if it gets out of the way, we could be even stronger? >> oh, yeah. what's been holding us back and why i don't believe the economy is accelerating and why the october-november job numbers were that much better is that the service sector continues to

show weak spending growth and continues to show very moderate job growth. that's the job part of the economy. so we've had some aberrant -- >> how do you fix that? >> it's partly confidence. the services sector is a different part of the economy. people actually have to feel better. a lot of the services people buy are when they are actually more affluent. they fill the swimming pool, hire a pool guy, somebody cuts their lawn, all of this stuff. that's not going on in this economy. >> we created about $8 trillion in wealth. what are you talking about? >> i want to ask the economists to put their money where their mouth is. how are we growing in the first quarter and is the momentum going to continue? >> yes. the private final demand probably grew, if i'm right at 4%, the consensus it moved up closer to me than where they were a month ago. we're looking at private final demand of about 4.7. that's a lot of momentum. that carries over into the first quarter where growth should be

at least 3, if not better. >> joe? >> can we change -- >> i just want to get bob's answer. >> trust me, bob will have something to say about my next point. we just had a friendly discussion in the makeup room prior to coming out here. joe and bob, you guys disagree on this. bob, listen, you and i have talked for a long, long time. i respect your views very much. i will say this. you highlighted the five of 12. joe points out the 4% growth. are we focusing too much on the negatives in this economy? i understand there's a lot of people that have a lot of problems still out there. no one is saying america's fixed. income inequality is a problem. a lot of people can't find jobs. i get it. but i feel like lately there has been so much focus on all the negatives that people that might want to go out and take capital risk are so terrified because of what they hear and that we're not highlighting -- there are positives in this economy. if we continue to highlight more the negatives, we are going to hold ourselves back from greatness. >> there are positives. but the positives are above zero but they're not strong enough. you look at, for example, the

nfib survey. the nfib respondents are showing some improvement but the numbers are still very weak. you look at -- joe wants to talk about this 4% growth. we've had excess of inventory. that's one of the things that added to growth and will take away from growth in the period ahead. he wants to talk about all the wealth. the wealth is created in the stock market and is concentrated among a few individuals. >> housing -- >> just a minute. >> every inventory -- >> let him make his point. >> joe, come on. i heard your point. let me make my point. you've got wealth concentrated among wealthier people. the service sector which is where a lot of the jobs are isn't picking up. that $8 trillion -- >> based on where, bob? where are you seeing it's not picking up? >> i'm looking at the numbers. >> you can respond now, joe. >> we had consumer spending growth between 3.5% and 4% led by services. bob is looking at confidence measures. confidence is not how we measure the economy. >> no, i'm looking at the data. >> where are you on the fourth quarter? where is your estimate from the fourth quarter?

where is your estimate for the fourth quarter? >> steve, steve, come into this. >> he's not going to answer the question. >> here's the problem with you and bob both, you are both right. >> i don't know if i'm right. i'm just saying i want to know what bob's number is. >> the point is this. this is the point i was trying to get at, which is we can take any piece of data we want and look at it however we choose based on our natural inclination. >> no, we cannot. >> yes, we can. >> no, we cannot. >> i agree with steve on that. >> why not, steve? >> because it's not subjective in that regard. >> that's right. >> that's why you look at data to begin with. that's why bob's answer to joe's question is significant. >> that's not true. >> where are you, you must have a tracking estimate. are you saying we were at 2% or 1% in the fourth quarter? >> i don't know. we might be at 3.5%. >> that's a big number. >> but we don't have pce numbers for december yet. we don't know what services -- >> two-thirds -- >> but now what about for the first quarter? are you saying we are going to go back down to the doldrums or worse than that?

>> i think we're looking at consumer spending somewhere around 2.5% to 3%, not much more. >> i want to wrap this up in terms of the bottom line. the bottom line, are we our own worst enemy? are we so used to being dependent on being spoon-fed by the fed, by the government, that we are waiting for them to somehow fix things opposed to getting out there and investing? >> bob and joe are right about your question about confidence. we know a couple things. a lot of excess reserves out there. a lot of cash on the part of companies. there's a lot of slack in the labor market. the only thing standing between us and greatness are the decisions we make and the psychology of what's going on in the minds of ceos. >> by bob's own admission, growth is accelerating because consumption has not been sust n sustainably between 2.5% and 3%. >> getting to sustainability, getting to escape velocity, you

cannot prove that just as surely as bob cannot prove we're not. >> yes, but the point is if you see two quarters of back-to-back gdp growth at near 4%, that reinforces the confidence because the confidence is indigenous -- not where we've had 4% in a row two quarters in a row gdp. >> it's two quarters of stronger growth. you can go back to two quarters of weaker growth and you still don't have the services sector creating -- >> of course we don't. growth is all a mirage. inventories are totally unintentional. >> all what? >> listen, i completely agree, bob. but you said five of 12 in the fed districts. that's not even half. >> by my math, anyway. >> and hopefully mine, too. the point i was trying to make is that we can say at least it's not zero. at least it's not two of 12. at some point, the country has got to move to psychological optimism because we have had a long five years, had a long six years. it's still really bad for millions of americans.

all our viewers know, my family is one of those who lost their job in the '80s and went through hell, economic hell. at some point we got to put it behind us and go out and take capital risk. you're a michigan guy. you've seen it. a lot of your friends are still living it. >> that's what we call the glass half full. >> at some point we got to say it's not as bad as it was. that's all i'm saying. >> it's not going to guarantee you a return on capital if you're the guys making the investment decisions. but it is true that if more and more people made that decision, more and more of those decisions would succeed. >> okay. on that note, live long and prosper. >> no spock ear jokes. >> can i just report that charlie evans in his speech he's giving right now, thank you to dan greenhouse, saying the fed's bond purchase reduction should continue. tapering should continue. just want to get that out there. >> that's what lockhart said earlier this week. okay. bob, joe, steve, excellent discussion. thank you.

on deck, answer to two questions, two more you might be asking. number one, what the heck is net neutrality and number two, why could a big ruling yesterday be potentially bad for netflix? we will help you look even smarter than you already are. later on, talking of smart. herb greenberg says he's going to be very wrong for a very long time over this particular stock. but that is not stopping him from raising the red flag. since when has that stopped him? plus we tell you about a theme park in china some people think is literally a disaster in the making. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that won't trap me in a rate. that's correct. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd.

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take a look at shares of pandora hitting an all-time high today, going back to their ipo on june 15th, 2011. they're up 30% this year, leading the russell 1,000 right now. my belief that pandora might be negatively impacted by the birth of itunes radio has been monumentally incorrect. >> i believe you did say that. net neutrality. there's a big fancy phrase for debate that is actually fairly simple. should internet providers have to treat all traffic equally and who should be paying for the internet. julia is here with a look at what's at stake. give us the 101 on net neutrality. >> net neutrality was the fcc's attempt to keep the internet free and open. that meant all broadband

providers had to handle all traffic the same way, whether it was a text article that doesn't take up much broadband or a movie on netflix, which accounts for as much of a third of north american peak internet traffic. a federal court just struck down net neutrality, siding with verizon. this is a win for all internet providers, including at & t, time warner cable, comcast. they can now charge fees to big users who want to speed up their content delivery. the losers are the companies like netflix, youtube, espn and skype which stream a lot of content using a lot of broadband. the fcc which is considering an appeal fears consumers will fair higher bills and startups will be disadvantaged because they're unable to pay the fees that netflix could afford. comcast can't take advantage of the new rules just yet. it agreed to abide by net neutrality policies until 2018 as part of its nbc universal acquisition. in the meantime, we have to see if others start charging more.

>> thank you very much. let's move on from what julia and by the way, great explanation because it is a confusing topic, to what this may mean to you and your money. joining us is technology editor john herman, herb greenberg. herb, you said in an e-mail yesterday with your usual 72% typos, but we understood, this is bad for netflux or something. why did you say that? >> if netflix has to pay more, as other companies will have to pay more, how can that not impact, if they have to spend hundreds of millions more, whatever it's going to be, how can that not impact their costs and their bottom line? if you look at all the companies that would be affected, i would argue netflix is about the closest to a purist play. i want to point out something. netflix's stock yesterday was up even though there was this news. today, you had the buffering, it looks like some of the reality is actually catching up. >> john, who do you think apart from netflix loses out of all this and who wins? >> the biggest losers are

startups. netflix may need to pay more money to internet service providers to ensure they have the best possible service, but the next netflix won't have the kind of cash it needs to pay those same fees. if you are an investor and looking at new startups and they're competing with major incumbents that have the partnerships with internet service providers, you will probably disregard them or think less of their potential because they need incredible -- they would need incredible amounts of money to rival -- >> you disagree, john? >> i don't know. i don't think we exactly know what's going to happen in the open market with net neutrality struck down. just supposing there were no appeals and it was officially struck down today, would the comcast, time warner, charters of the world block netflix traffic? can you imagine the uproar from their most valuable customers? suppose netflix said we are not going to pay that or what if they decide this is great, we can get our streams more reliably? >> can i ask a question? i do not know and i'm sure you

know, john. is it not just about blocking? couldn't they then also charge more peak pricing, if you will? we know there are certain people that download stuff all the time and they are sort of blocking the wand widtband width? >> in theory, yes. >> that's why herb is saying it would be bad for netflix. if i'm a heavy netflix user and suddenly my internet bill is $100 and it was $40 because now i'm being charged more for the download, i might drop netflix. >> if your provider has the market power to do that. we are assuming they are operating at a monopoly environment. >> it won't affect comcast customers right now. not until about 2018. >> i kind of doubt we will be dealing in a net neutrality free zone entirely before 2018 anyway. there are a number of arguments still to be had about this. i think any provider that tries to really be prejudicial about internet traffic in a harsh way is going to attract a lot of regulatory attention. >> to that point, john, it feels

like the battle is far from over. nevertheless if you're a tech company or company who has some stake in this space, you want to be planning for a post-net neutrality world, wouldn't you? >> i would say so. i think it's going to be a long road to reclassify internet service providers as common carriers. that's why the fcc didn't do it in the first place. that's why they found themselves in this mess. i think this is also not really about customers and what they will directly experience so much as what the companies they pay for content will do. blocking content is terribly unpopular with customers. every time any isp has tried to do that, the backlash has been huge. if you start making your netflix stream or your facebook downloads or any type of content like that not count against your data caps, for example, that's at & t's proposal, then this refiguring of the entire internet, this non-neutral internet seems like a gift but is actually the same thing they have been trying to avoid for years. >> we wouldn't want to live in a

world of physical net neutrality where every package that wanted to arrive at your home has to take the same amount of time and be delivered by the postal service. because amazon prime couldn't exist. we like amazon prime. we like the idea that amazon can choose to pay more to get me my stuff faster. so there's a flipside to this. i don't think we know exactly how this is going to work out. practically for the consumer. >> by the way, we've got a note. herb greenberg, thank you very much. john, thank you very much. john, thank you. cnbc, our parent company, nbc universal, their parent company is comcast. we have a horse in this race as well. just like the debate. we are trying to come at it from a net neutrality point of view. >> we will get back to herb in just a second. still ahead, think of it as google android for drones. we will introduce you to a startup making a big bit on how unmanned aircraft will operate in the future. then a china trifecta. we will talk about iphones, about beauty products and potentially a titanic fail.

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welcome back to "street signs." how about an mm-mm delicious market flash? check out hershey's. the company will introduce a line of chocolate spreads as it goes head-to-head with nutella. sales of nutella in the u.s. have more than tripled to around $240 million, say some estimates, over the past five years. in 2012, j.m.smucker got in the game with hazelnut spreads. a very tasty market flash. back to you. >> that's nutty. thank you. let's take a look at today's metal movers. a lot of red. copper is actually in the green today. look at that. since the beginning of the year, dr. copper as it is known is down 1.5%. it's called that because it's seen as perhaps the best leading economic indicator of any of the metals because you got to use it for wiring, if you're building a building, you buy copper for the wires. dr. copper up today. there you go. there's a reason to be

optimistic. the transportation committee about to hold a hearing on the future of drones in the united states and how they impact our economy. the u.s. is behind other countries in allowing drones into domestic space but in one aspect, drones are stuck in the past. one company is disrupting the status quo, shaking things up a little bit. >> that is right. it's like the old mainframe days of computing. all the drones out there are operating on separate systems. the military wants a single software platform, one like windows or android, could add apps and upgrades and only one company so far has come up with one. an l.a. startup called dream hammer. >> so if you wanted to have a satellite look for something, find what it needs to and send a drone to go have a high resolution image on it, the system can do it by itself using our software. those two worlds don't talk together right now. everything is very customized. >> how come? >> a lot of different reasons. it's a hard problem to solve.

>> that's right. dream hammer's operating system is being tested by lockheed martin. commercial use, of course, is the next big market. while the u.s. debates domestic drones, dream hammer is selling to countries like australia which does allow them. a company down under called cybertech which makes this thing is one customer. other buyers do aircraft. one company wants to deploy several at once using dream hammer software. >> it is a critical piece to being able to use an unmanned system. having a ubiquitous system that allows you to operate multiple vehicles and multiple types of vehicles gives you great capability across the planet. >> of course, once you have an open common system, security becomes more of an issue. more on that right now at cnbc.com. >> it makes perfect sense for a

place like australia because you have these big open spaces, long distances. at the moment, you have to get ducks flying out to the outback ranches miles and miles and miles away from nowhere. imagine if a drone could do that, deliver medical supplies, mail, fuel. all kinds of things. >> the drone is going to do the proctology exam? or is the doctor going to sit on the drone? is it just me, by the way, are some of these drones that you're showing, they are cool, a lot of them look like nothing more than remote control cars with a propellor. there's not a lot of difference in the technology. >> you know what's so fascinating, right now if you're an amateur with a radio controlled drone, you can go out and it's not commercial, you're not selling it, you can fly it as long as it's under 200 feet. if you are actually trying to sell that product and is actually a professional manufacturer, the faa won't let you do that yet. >> interesting. thank you so much. we have two big news pieces coming out of apple today. the first one, breaking about a couple hours ago.

apple will refund $32.2 million after settling an ftc complaint against apple that it was charging parents for apps that kids were using without express parental consent. just turn off the app ability. the second story is china mobile beginning to sell iphones in china starting friday in what is

called a watershed moment. tim cook spoke about it earlier today. >> the chiefs of apple and china mobile were in good spirits today. they plan to switch to the iphone, saying tim cook had given him a new iphone made for china mobile in gold, the color that's most popular here. both men said they were confident and optimistic about the release of the 5s and 5c in china mobile which is going to have this friday. >> it's a watershed day for apple. it's a huge announcement. i'm so honored to be doing they have the largest network. we are incredibly impressed with them. we have deep respect for them and have had from the very first discussion that we've had together. we see this as bringing the world's best smartphone to the very largest and now the fastest network in china. >> china mobile's chairman said the company already had millions of preorders, even though the pricing is higher than its rival. back to you guys. still ahead on "street signs," we are digging in on one of the year's hottest stocks. all right, mandy, this stock is up more than 10% already this year. it is named after a coniferous plant. >> there is only one company that comes to mind. plus, we are counting down the top five states with the most millionaires per capita. do you think you know where they are? tweet us your guess if you like. the answer will come up, you can tweet us.

first, let's get today's pump patrol. >> gas prices holding steady today. the national average for a gallon of regular, $3.29 a gallon. according to gas buddy.com. the cheapest city for gas in the country, tulsa, oklahoma, where the average price per gallon is $2.94. the most expensive gas can be found in honolulu, hawaii at $3.91 a gallon. the average in hawaii, $4.02 per gallon. in the tristate area, new york city seeing $3.68. new haven, connecticut, a penny less. new jersey, far less overall. toms river, new jersey at $3.27 a gallon. that's today's pump patrol. mine was earned orbiting the moon in 1971.

afghanistan, in 2009. on the u.s.s. saratoga in 1982. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, 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 current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

all right. let's send it over to dominic chu for a market flash. a company near and dear to our hearts. >> we're checking out comcast, the parent company of nbc universal which owns cnbc. the company announcing it will jointly develop the $1.2 billion comcast innovation and technology center in philadelphia. it's going to become a dedicated

home for the company's growing work force of engineers, technologists and software architects. the building will be designed by sir norman foster and will become the tallest building outside of new york and chicago. back over to you guys. >> i may be wrong. i think the current tallest building outside new york and chicago is in charlotte. is it the bank of america tower? the comcast building is 975 feet. i will make a quick comment. if we have any viewers in philadelphia, i got to say philadelphia is on the ascension. if you look at the restaurant scene there, hotter than new york. serpico, spectacular stuff there. artists are moving from new york because williamsburg is expensive, to philadelphia. it's on the rise. >> it's on the move. i feel a "street signs" special from philadelphia. >> can i volunteer to go with you to that "street signs" special? i want to say, i'm licking my chops right now just thinking about it. >> go to denic's in the reading terminal market and get what the travel channel called the best

sandwich in america. roast pork cheesesteak. spectacular. >> okay. go, philadelphia. street talk time. hitting investment recommendations. stock stories. let's talk about intel being upgraded to outperform. >> upgraded to outperform and the stock doing well again today. they see intel gradually making a comeback. they boosted the target to 31. the stock is just under 27. remember, jpm upgrading intel yesterday, jpmorgan. so a lot of people to begin the year starting to come out on intel. >> just last week it was all wearable technology. interesting strategy. dick's also getting an upgrade to outperform. >> dks sporting goods up 2.5% to $56.62. credit suisse sees significant growth opportunities. also t private label program dick's has, this is obviously for sporting goods, that should help comparables. their price target to $65, 14% more than dks is trading for

now. >> move on to pet smart, getting a downgrade to neutral. >> looks like it's hurting. pet smart down 2.25% to $65.65. they say the risks will keep the stock range bound. this is interesting. the analysts point to departure of the chief operating officer, quote, as inviting a layer of unexplained circumstances. you don't hear that much. a layer of unexplained circumstances. i guess some questions about the departure of the coo. got to dig into that more. ubs basically saying don't bother buying this stock. >> we also have susquehanna raising their target on allergan. >> not helping the stock, but here's what's interesting. the target was up to 145 from 122. that's about 17% more than the current price. the stock was already at their target. the reason we put it on here was although the stock's not moving a lot, it was a sizeable target boost so obviously susquehanna is bullish. allergan is the company that helps us look better in a way. they do botox, other stuff.

>> united states is the botox capital of the world. >> like every dentist now -- >> anyway, moving on. >> let's go down to talking numbers where we hit a stock technically and fundamentally every day. we talked about the coniferous plant. juniper networks, best performing stock in the s&p 500 this year that has not been bought out. now hedge fund elliott management announcing a 6.2% stake in the company. also a proposed stock buy-back program. they are the second biggest maker of networking gear behind their main competitor, cisco. should you buy juniper? let's talk numbers. first to the charts. jnpr has been hot to begin the year. how do the charts look? >> you're right. it has been hot to start the year but i'll say this. over the last three years it has been an underperformer. over the last two and a half years it basically moved sideways, top being 25, bottom being 15. you basically in two and a half year base, $10 in between and

finally with the news from elliott, all of a sudden investors started taking a look at this company. we gapped up on monday 7.5% and for a technician, a gap out of a two and a half year base on increased volume, that is what we like to see. however, what concerns me is it has been an underperformer and all of a sudden this proposed news comes in, nothing has really happened yet. while i do like it for the long term, short term, a lot of my indicators are overbought and i would just -- i wouldn't rush in for the stock. i would take it nice and steady and see how this plays out. but i do like it longer term. >> feels like it's an amber light as opposed to green. andy, do you like juniper? >> let's take a look what elliott management wants and what their criticism is. first, they say they have inefficient capital structure and they want $200 million in immediate expense elimination. that's a tall order. most importantly for stock investors, they asked the

company or recommended $3.5 billion in share buy-back with 2.5 of that occurring right now. this is a really outsized move. when you're looking at something like this, this is kind of an event, this is an activist shareholder stepping in, ackerman, icahn, other guys have done similar things and pushed companies to act. that's really the question. will elliott management get juniper off their butts and act on these things. that's the question for going forward for the company, because they are under the gun with the cloud and the competition that's come. that's really one of their problems. if you believe they have solved that and business is going to pick up for them, happy days. buy it. i would say watch january 23rd. the company has said they will get 35 to 37 cents per share. if they miss that, it will fall back down. >> elliott's a giant hedge fund.

juniper is not that big of a company. if elliott really digs in, they can push juniper around. they have the ability to buy a lot more stock. guys, thank you. be sure to check out the online edition of talking numbers on yahoo! finance. click on cnbc. there we are. herb is back now with a new red flag on a stock that he says is going to make him sound very wrong for a long time. but don't lose faith in him just yet. plus, the bull cage for a nasdaq stock that is actually down 15% year to date. we are also counting down the states with the most millionaires per capita. at number five, this is your hint, folks. moose and salmon. there can only be one place. you got it. it's alaska. alaska now has ten times as many millionaires than polar bears. we will count you down to the top state. first, let's get back to bill and kelly. what's coming up? talking sea world today. the stock up a fraction but the shares are down sharply since the controversial documentary "black fish" debuted last fall.

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we've got two stocks that herb greenberg has on his radar. the first is nuskin. that's down more than 16% right now. herb waving the red flag on this one for awhile. what is the news on nus? >> there is actually a link to a people's daily story in china where nuskin operates. raising questions and suggesting it was an investigative story raising questions and suggesting the company's an illegal pyramid scheme there. you have to understand, in china, there is significant rules on how these things can operate over there. i thought this was a fake story until i reached out to a number of people in china, including

cnbc's own eunice eun looked into it from the china side. here's what's interesting about this story. it's not a question about what they're saying on one level. it's that it's in the people's daily and this is the communist party paper. when you have this in china, that means it has the government's backing. that's the significance. i must say, the company says there are a bunch of inaccuracies. the company, they didn't have any chance to talk to the reporters, they're trying to find out who the reporters are. anyway, that's a significant takeaway from this. >> i also want to mention one other thing here. that is as it relates to the other companies doing business

there. i have a piece on the street.com about this right now. whether it's herbalife or others, you have to take a look now because if the government comes out and is sending a message to nuskin, you can best bet they are sending a message to all of them. >> okay. thank you for that.

herb, always great to see you. thank you so much. will the nasdaq hit a fresh 13-year high today? but there are some names that are deep in the red so far this year. the worst performer of them all in the nasdaq 100 is bed, bath, and beyond, down 16% so far after retail sales mast for the holiday season. is this a good time to get in or should you be steering clear? anthony says hold onto the shares. brian nagel from oppenheimer

says you should be buying up more right now. welcome to "street signs." anthony, i believe you will go to your therapist with ptsd after the retail numbers this season. >> i think we saw an inflection point in the third quarter performance. comparable store sales were down over 420 basis points on a two-year stack basis, and the gross margin was down for the eighth consecutive quarter in a row. it's very simple. bed, bath & beyond is facing a ton of online competition and it's starting to have an impact. they've made some investments and come out with new websites for bed, bath & beyond and bye-bye baby concepts but they're light years behind amazon in terms of user experience and functionality. >> brian, none of these things are giving you cause for concern? you're saying buy the stock. >> i agree with anthony on the numbers. we saw a deterioration when they reported third quarter results but i disagree on the internet

side. they are investing aggressively to build up its own internet businesses. i don't see the evidence that amazon or any other players are taking significant share from bed, bath & beyond. >> we go back ten years, this is a $20 stock five years ago. it's had some drops before, may 7th, 2010, had a pretty big decline as well. it just continued to climb. are you long term expecting the same kind of behavior? we've seen big drops from this name before. >> well, one thing i always tell my clients on bed, bath & bond is what we have going for us is it's an extraordinary well-run company. very solid management team. pristine balance sheet. they generate a lot of cash and they buy back stock. i think what that does from an investment standpoint is gives an investor a lot of optionality. long-term optionality in bed, bath & beyond that eventually they will get this right and over time the stock works. >> not just bed, bath & beyond,

anthony. i believe there are a number of other companies you cover that you think are completely blown up like pier one, gamestop, family dollar. are there any in there in that universe that you think after the blowups might be worth a look at? >> we like pier one imports. they had disappointed december sales results but that was largely due to weather. weather really hammered these guys in the month of december. we've picked up that since sales have improved since the weather has improved and the valuation is pretty darn cheap. we also like gamestop. that stock really blew up yesterday. but we think that investors are misreading the tea leaves here. we're bullish on the company particularly with a new console cycle having just started and the early sales results on the new hardware are just off the charts. >> i never do anything but wait in lines at gamestop. it's always full. anthony, brian, great to have you on the show. >> what are you doing at ga gamestop. >> i have two sons.

>> i thought they were studying. >> education is highly overrated. coming up next, a titanic fail in the making. >> and speaking of, i will admit i was wrong about something. i said something in the show that i was completely wrong on -- >> you were half wrong. >> i will correct myself. look at that chart. alaska has the fifth most millionaires per capita. do you know who is fourth, third, second, and first? fourth is hawaii. the last two states to join the union, fourth and fifth, they're going to count you down the top three millionaire states per capita. trust me, number one is going to be a surprise. it's coming up. how is that for a tease? [ car alarm chirps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze, and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned mercedes-benz for the next new owner. [ car alarm chirps ] hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing

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welcome baalaska was five, second. robert fractink is here to coun them down. >> number three, it's the home of the hedge funds, connecticut is the number three state. they have 100,000 millionaires but that was enough to give them a 7.32% per capita. our number two state right where we're standing right now, new jersey, with about 7.5%. and the number one state when it comes to per capita millionaires, virginia may be for lovers, but maryland is for millionaires. the number one state is maryland

with 7.7% of its millionaires. what's interesting about this is that three of the top ten states were all in the d.c. area. so d.c. now the capital of wealth. >> i tell what you, i have a lot of friends in maryland, love the state, but can you name one majorly public traded company based there? >> i can't. >> our baltimore based producer goes mccormick. yes, kevin flynn, it's mccormick, but that's it. >> that's it? >> and they're number one in millionaires. what does it tell you about d.c.'s influence and underarmour. that's two. a titanic fail in the making. the most ridiculous headline of the day next. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that parker. well, did you know auctioneers make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em. hey now do i hear 23.75? 24! hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and .75! 25! now a quarter,

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in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪ some people are saying file this under worst idea ever. a chinese energy company is planning to build a titanic theme park, brian. it's going to feature is full-scale replica of the ship which sank back in 1912. the company is spending $165 million to build this theme park. it's going to create the experience of what it felt like when the titanic collided with the iceberg. >> what? >> it will take two years to build and you might remember there was an aussie billionaire who unveiled plans to build his own sea worthy replica of the titanic. it will make its first at tllan crossing in 2016. i would do it. heaps and heaps of fun.

>> titanic crossing, no brainer. theme park? what's next. >> they're going to plunge you in icy water until you freeze. >> these people were terrorized. most of them dies. >> s&p on track for a record close. thanks for watching, everybody. >> wow. and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange on this wednesday, bill, where the rally we saw yesterday continues. >> i'm bill griffeth. monday's sell-off seems like a long time ago. so we had a big sell-off on monday, worst in three months. then a big comeback yesterday and an even bigger move today with the dow and the s&p flirting with all-time highs. the nasdaq at multiyear highs once again. i mean, i'm having traders coming up saying why is the market higher today? >> 1848 i believe w