that auction rick told us about before, and he gave it a b. right now the yield is holding at 2.73%. all three of those -- >> session highs and the dow back above 16 soushg,000. folks, if affected by the storm, good luck. be safe. that will do it for "power lunch." >> "street signs" begins right now. stocks up as the thermometer stays down for most of america. pretty much everything east of the mississippi is a total disaster. don't worry, because here on a special "street signs" we've got your frozenomics trade from retail to clothing to maybe even baby-making. how to help you make money in this market. look at coffee and talking a love one day ahead of valentine's day. mandy, how are the markets looking? >> and it is a wacky day in the markets, just like the weather, folks. opened in negative through the winter blues and now the nasdaq high for the sixth straight day,

and we are at session highs for the dow. the dow and s&p are finally on track for a second straight winning week, which is the very first time this year. all that glitters is occasionally gold. look at this. the precious metal smack on 1,300. psychological barrier for the first time since november 8th. i leave you with this fact. on this company that 1997, brian, the dow broke through 7,000 for the very first time closing at 7,022. >> mandy, thank you very much. we are trying to turn a snow day into a pay day calling it frozenomics. three snow day trades lined up for you. retail, housing and -- baby-making trade. let's kick it off with retail. sarah eisen is here. it's bad? is it? >> it's bad. new updates how business is impacted. making calls all day. hearing from macy's now. 125 stores closed or delayed. 74 stores closed.

51 delayed in an area that stretches from north carolina through northern new jersey, and that includes macy's and bloomingdale stores. hearing from home depot, based in atlanta. 70 stores in that area closed today, closed yesterday that is. they said all but three reopened today. and home depot also emphasizing it moved 6,000 truckloads of salt, shovels, generators, to replr replenish stores since early december. color that big business is dealing with. a lot of complaints about getting staffing in today and re-route when it comes to shippers. u.p.s. are going by train now instead of by air. there you have it on how business is dealing, but really retail sales numbers today tell the story, that drop in january, negative .4%. february, certainly not off to a great start here, mandy. >> not off to a great start from the that point of view, but there is money to be made.

indeed, what is the best snow day trade for retailers? bringing in sam and your pig, the uggs trade, isn't it? >> it is. we really like it. if it keeps you warm and can keep you dry, it works. uggs primarily keep you warm. weather-proof, working well. a lot of people ruin shoes, want to stay warm, buy more and setting up exceptionally well for next year. >> the stock can be volatile, sam. i don't need to tell you that. a good run the last 12 months. what makes you think they're going to continue to do what they've done in the last year? >> basically, the business is quite good. we think inventory levels are low. retailers inventories in good shape and the product for fall '14 looks better than it has and their cost savings from the cost of the sheepskin as well as ugg pure, a new peer they're using in some of their product. >> not the vol taity of the stock what is the risk going

forward for deckers? >> risk going ford is that they don't control think distribution. part of the problem in 20912. we think they've started to get it back together again, and they're working, and doing the right thing. >> the '09 recession, but the '11-12 is dehind? >> yeah. actually they picked up during the recession. dipped in 2009, at the beginning of 2009 because they sdrn visibility but ended up, 2009-2010 amazing years. end of 2011 started to hurt them because of cost of goods issues and a little excess distribution. >> quickly, who do you think is their biggest competition? especially in the face of this wintry weather? >> other i don't say competition but we've heard good things about the timberland company. doing well. >> sam, thank you. that's retail. move on. housing. diana olicker looking at that beat. diana? >> that's right.

talk to any real estate agent they'll tell you this mess around me is what's calling, causing weaker home sales. this winter compared to last winter. but the data doesn't necessarily support that. if you look at home sales across the nation, they're down everywhere, but actually worst out west where you don't have this weather impact. sunny southern california is seeing its worse winter home sales in six years. now, we did see a bump up in jobs for specialty contractors in construction. your plumbers, electricians and roofers. some are thinking maybe that has something to do with home repairs from all of this winter weather causing havoc on your home, but, again, that's just one small part of the economy that's seeing a little better from this winter, whereas realtors say it's worst because of that. when you tack to the economists, frankly, it's not the weather. low sly on the market. higher home prices. it is tight credit and investors slowing down in the market because there are fewer foreclosures.

mandy? >> diana, thank you. interesting stats about the west, i guess. we talk about this freezing weather, and whether or not it will crush housing. bob from rbi capital markets braved the snow and weather. braving us and coming in, bob. we appreciate it. interesting stuff from diana. down most out west where it has not been zero degrees. should we, though, only invest in home builders right now that are more exposed to warmer climates? >> we love companies like lennar, biggest builder in florida and california and a strong presence as well in texas. not in line for the snow issues rng in the rest of the nation. striking a bullish note regarding expectations for all builders ahead of the spring selling season. low yields on the ten-year, great for stocks. high degree of affordability. tight inventory levels where the public borders operate. we think it's a good time to take a look and put fresh money into these stocks. >> why not kb as opposed to

lennar. i understand kb in terms of land position, 75% in states like california or texas, obviously not quite as affected by the bad weather. >> we're actually bullish on kb home as well. we think they've done a terrific job in the last years. and excellent in california. so cal in particular. and texas well positioned as welling. we're optimistic overall going into the spring selling season. we think the risk/reward is highly favorable to get into builders for today for fresh money especially with ten-year yields coming in tighter. >> looking way out. if people aren't trying to trade the weather, fortune brands home security. fbhs, a spin-off. you loved this company longer term? >> i was with chris klein, the ceo in boston. leader in branded home products. they do a fantastic job. if you're looking for an excellent three-year investment, this is a wonderful company. we have high confidence they will meet or beat investor

expect aces. tremendous growth, and over 2.5 billion in cash flow coming out. look for acquisitions down the road. a story to watch. >> your best three-year trade. okay, bob. great to have you with us, as always. let's have fun. seema mody looking at the cabin fever trade for you crawling up the walls this winter. myself included. seema what have you found? >> reporter: mandy, about six to eight inches of snow here in times square. you can see behind me, not a lot of people outside. more people staying inside, and experts that i speak to say that's a big opportunity for online streaming companies and entertainment platforms like youtube, hulu and necessary flix. in fact, netflix during hurricane sandy reports indicate netflix saw a surge in video streaming. others trying to take add rang of more people stuck at home, verizon advertising at-home entertainment. when it comes to more people staying home think of entertainment. that seems to be the big opportunity here. back to you. >> thank you very much, seema.

and for all the people that have been also feeling cooped up in the storm -- ♪ perhaps nine months from now, maybe they are going to need new baby clothes. joining us from piper jefferies, stephanie, probably had no idea we would pull that kind of stuff on the intro. hope you're not feeling a bit uncomfortable, but you did upgrade the children's play, plce this morning. honestly, don't know how else to put it. is this like a baby-making trade or something else? >> well, certainly we'll know in nine months, i guess, but i think this story is intriguing in terms of a defensible retail improvement name. margin improvement by self-help, not a retail recovery. in this market, retail so volatile you need these names in a port follow. recommending this for the margin improvement more long term. i like the nine-month trade idea. >> it's a good one. talk to us agents about the democrat graphics, how they feed into the children's play story here. you say you note you believe

2012 was the bottoming of the birth rate. was it upwards from here and why? >> look at the statistics, it's shows we're seeing improvement in the birth rate trend and as a firm track an index of prenatal screening companies, which we think is a good indication of second trimester activity and lead to an improvement in the birth raid trend and think the millennial parent household is changing the way brands are perceived and servicing that customer. >> so your analyst ultrasound i guess we could call it suggests there are indeed more people pregnant right now? >> correct. and office visits and prenatal screenings are up. >> and kpcompetitors on the boa. target, all potential competitors. which is the most for children's plays? >> the opportunity here is really to be the dominant player. multiple competitors. from a value standpoint their the winner in the space. not a retail driven recovery

story. we're looking for margin improvement through other tactical initiatives. the infant business is a new emerging category for them. looking forward to that being added to the overall model. >> anybody else? two-year play? five-year play? off to college play, stephanie? these children born soon age. anything else you like? >> look at teen retailers at some point. feeding right in. >> that's right. >> the stroller set. >> stephanie, thank you for playing along and being a great sport with you know, the music and everything. take care. the bottom line, how are these storms impacting overall growth? that would be the beat of our dear steve liesman. starting to see the quarter growth 12i67ratch ichting down. what have you found? >> if we have a baby boom everything will be okay. before i do this i want to interrupt myself for breaking news. loretta j. mester named president of the cleveland fed replacing the outgoing sand traa

p. analto. i didn't have her in the pool. >> it's a cross-fed hiring. one of the things we've seen, she was an executive vice president director of research at philly. seen these research directors come up and become bank presidents. worked under ploser. now working in cleveland. >> under peen naught oh. >> she's going to -- replacing pianalto. >> what's significant? >> that's pianalto and prats ploser? las name starts with the letter p? >> a really astute analytical observations you make. >> always said she was the smarter half of the whole operation here. i don't know -- >> 10% weight. >> i don't know monetary policy but it may be that. this is a little hawkish turn that, what was a more dovish bank becomes a more hawkish

bank. i shouldn't think the person working underneeth charlie is especially -- >> that's my point. >> back to the cnbc survey. >> 19 economists and asked how much of all this stuff was a result of weather? looks like the economy takes about a $50 billion hit from the weather all-in. $50 billion all-in. they estimate about 45%, 50% of the economic due to weather. here's the individual gdp effects. q4 not so much 2/10. look at this. talking about it mandy. rebound. a quarter point you get back leaving 0.3. do the math, a $50 billion effect. how you might ask, steve -- >> how you might ask. >> what about pay rolls? >> here's payrolls. >> a great question, brighter half. >> awesome question. december. go back to the payrolls quick. minus 32. 1,000 in december. there we go.

minus 25. not a whole lot. under 70,000. that's the estimate for how much the maeth effect is on payrolls. a couple quick comments here. diane swan saying, weather exasperating the overhang. and weather effects mowly temporary neutralized by a rebound. yes, give some back, and rebuilding. >> not all of it. >> dennis, weather and confuse overobam"abrams & bettes beyonde forecas forecast"care stifled hiring. >> something to my bumpkin brain. both of y'all smart folks have missed. >> what is that? >> the ending of a lot of unemployment benefits. >> important point. >> taking a lot of people out that would spend probably 100% of those checks. >> i agree. maybe in oyou're not quite at - never mind. 50%, seen from weather, leaves

another half. one of the things -- >> steve, cold head. warm heart. >> shiny head, warm heart. thank you, as always. >> it's always a pleasure to come ob "street signs." >> it really is. so much more left to do including the deal the day. you got the news first from david faber at cnbc, our parent comcast buying time warner cable but there may be other companies that need to be concerned. love at first byte. one company cashing in big time on the power of love. 00. but this asus with windows is lightweight and has everything they need -- not like chromebooks that can't install office or have to be connected to the internet to get much done. with this they can do homework, chat, play games -- on their own laptop, and their own time. so no more fighting... at least not over my laptop. ♪ honestly, i wanna see you be brave ♪ who found a magic seashell. it told him what was happening on the trading floor

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oh. >> oh. >> sorry about that. anything -- you know, big happen today? maybe in the news? like a deal? >> haven't seen anything. i don't know. >> a big, major purchase? >> let me see. yeah. maybe. possibly. >> and it is, in fact, our top corporate story. massive deal, we're coy about it, faking it. comcast buying time warner. should companies like google be tern e concerned about some others. writing a piece on gigaom, giving comcast more power, probably a terrible idea but

we're going it anyway. despite this is our parent company, why do you believe this is a bad deal for consumers? >> i believe it's a bad deal for consumers, because it hurts innovation. hurts consumers' access to content over the top from netflix, google, companies like that. and it will also put consumers more consumers under comcast's data cap caps. >> i know you believe this is great for shareholders but also bad for consumers like stacy said? >> yeah. i mean, i think it certainly has a lot of risks for consumers. any time you have one company whip the footprint comcast would have and the number of customers they woe have you're giving them a lot of control, and that carries risks. >> stacy, you're focused on broadband. i've been reading your stuff for a while and appreciate you coming on. we get the argument. fewer players generally mean as tougher time for consumers. however, we also now have

satellite. perhaps kbrchraerhaps ymax and kansas city and your home town of austin, texas. do you believe new players could step in? >> so the exist ig players, cable is the fastest best broadband you can get except for fiber to the home. google's doing fiber to the home in three cities. actually only done in two so far. maybe nine other cities in the country that have access to fiber to the home. so it's not really competitive. and to build out, to reach the kind of footprint comcast currently has and will get, to build that out with fiber is going to take years, and a lot of money. so i think the near-term worry is very real. >> stacy, who woke up in a lot of pain this morning? google and netflix? >> i think both of them are probably a little worried. i think -- i think it's actually probably a bigger deal for smaller companies. i mean, google and netflix, they've got -- consumers will be

a negotiating chip between comcast and google and netflix, whereas a smaller company, a start-up trying to get kind of on the network, they would probably be a lot more concerned. >> you know, it's interesting with comcast, again, our parent company. nbc universal, we are both a pipe and content provider. how about this? right? is there a benefit to consumers? maybe there's not. be honest in there isn't. we've seen subscriber rates go up with the espn's of the world, there is a lot of power. comcast a bit bigger to push back. would there be a balancing out in that respect? a lot of people don't realize their bills go up because of content providers, fox, cbs, nbc, demand more money? >> that is totally true. comcast lieutenant hawill have negotiati negotiating power against the largest companies but that leaves the rest of the market out in the cold in terms of

bills. there's a lot of people that don't necessarily want to watch all the cable and have that kind of cable package and they're turning to the internet. comcast has historically been pretty aggressive about causing problems for over the top internet providers. >> and if this deal passes you view it as negative for directv and dish, but what i'm focusing on is in this deal passes. saying, comcast, it's not going to be anti-competitive. is there a possibility the competition regulators are not going to be pleased about this deal? >> there's a polssibility. to stacy's point if they're not it's going to be about the broadband aspect and not only the strength in just being a broadband service provider by the potential down the road for them to have a significant competitive advantage in bundling services along with the core broadband offering. i think on the video side it's not really that big of a deal, and probably if it was purely a

video deal would pass with fairly little issue, but the broadband dominance that they would have could xplaet problems. >> andy, stacy, thank you very much for your commentary. still ahead, our top secret way to out perform the s&p 500 and here's a hint. it is all about design. we're going to sdlan ahead. explain that ahead. first, love is in the air. it's cold outside. make a fire. and if you need somebody to maybe, you know, match up with, the ceo of eharmony is here to talk about the big money in online dating this valentine's day. "street signs," back, right after this, baby. up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com

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more on car insurance. you know it's cold, folks. i'm sure you're cranking up the thermostat impacting natural gas prices. a bullish report for higher prices. i. >> e., probably bad for pup at 520 per million buttu for gas. four years from today. february 12, 2010 since we've seen this level. that means your heating bill will likely go up.

you've got to get it here. >> transportation and infrastructure. absolutely key. facebook out with a list of the top 50 u.s. cities for singles. with the best city for all the single ladies, a/k/a, the city with the most single males cursing the female, number one. san francisco. two, san jose. number three, seattle. >> and the best cities for all you single dudes out there, a/k/a the city with the most single women, for a single male is -- memphis. hanging on biehl street, a little barbecue. jacksonville, florida. tim tebow, hello. fort worth, texas. >> in terms of san francisco being the number one place if you want a guy, a single lady, want a guy, all the silicon valley dudes. the 24-year-olds driving around in mazaradis, in chine oes and polish -- if you like that type. >> the new kings. not wall street any more. right? should put california my beloved home state, replace the bear with the bmw 3 series.

the new flag. golden state with the bmw. seems everybody is driving a beamer. rolling in dough. burning money. >> yeah. tomorrow is valentine's day and one of the biggest days for online dating sites. julia boorstin is live whip the ceo of emarmny. over to you. >> i'm joined by e harmony ceo dr. neil clark warren. thanks for joining us. >> an honor to be on. >> you described valentine's day as your super bowl. what happens on emarmny on valentine's day? >> on eharmony, five times as much traffic and the way i like to think about that is, that of all the marriages that are going on in the world today, so many more of them get started this week. this is the big week for love. >> are people signing up to sub describe your $59 a month service tomorrow? will you see big jump in subscriber numbers? >> oh, yes. a big jump. thousands of people will sign up

tomorrow, and our equipment is prepared to handle five times as much. >> got to get the servers ready. eharmony face as ton of competition. other paid service, match.com, free services like okay deep in tinder. how do you compete with so many services and so many new free services in particular? >> you know, eharmony has always not tried really to compete with anybody else. we just try to do it the best way we know how. we've had a lot of social scientists, psychologists, work on our site. and when we match people together, those matches last better than any other sites. >> i understand you just announced or recently launch add premium 5,000 dollar a year service. how big is the market for such an expensive service? >> well, you know, it's pretty big. people are willing to pay quite a bit of money to be ensured of all the personal help that they can get. we carefully select persons for them. we -- virtually guarantee them a

new, a date every month. a person who is really well selected for them. so it's a pretty big market. >> i understand you're looking to expand at the end of this year? planning to launch a job matching site. why should eharmony expand beyond online dating, why does this make sense for you? >> well, we're people who know how to match people pretty well, and we've proven that through all of our matches. we've had over 600,000 marriages, and the match that is required for an applicant and a company is a match that we think is somewhat similar to the match in marriage. so we're going to expand out into these various other areas soon. we think we'll be pretty successful. >> fascinating. we'll see what the rival it's say about that like linkedin. thanks for that. dealing with the traffic tomorrow. >> look at that weather. julia is short leaves. a bird of pair dyradisparadise.

a parrot will land on her shoulder. >> i love you and hate you at the same time. a penny for your thoughts on recent earnings reports papa ku peculiar subject coming up. martha stewart against oprah winfr winfrey, who's had the bigger impact? "street signs," just after the break. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right, no hidden fees. it's just that i'm worried about, you know, "hidden things." ok, why's that? well uhhh... surprise!!!

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i know, you viewer might stay tuned on every "street signs" day, but something peculiar we noticed in earnings rorchts the two cent club we'll call them. companies beat or missed by two cents. >> okay. one of them is whole foods. reported earnings at mixed estimates by two cents.

that is a whole lot more than two cents. >> that's what two cents costs you, right? a couple hundred million dollars in market cap. whole foods down. weaker revenue. worse, cut their 2014 sales forecast for the second time in three moss. jpmorgan t jpmorgan cutting their target. deutsch from 70 to 60. stock down more than 11% year to date. >> and this one beating expectations by two cents. up about 22% from a year over. >> some of that today's cbs stock up 4% accelerating share buyback and move on ceo or on cnbc this morning talking about the comcast/time warner deal. and saying the target still stands at 70 a share for cbs. >> and also mondelez.

two cents. >> stock up 2%. you probably don't know mondelez, one of the most interesting named companies. the parent company of oreo, ritz crackers and cheese nips. the stock is up, eps guidance a little higher than current expectations and the average target on mdlz is 35.28. about a buck and 30 above with the current stock price. finally the cheesecake factory reporting earnings that missed by 475.1 million dollars. >> stock down now about a half percent to 45 pa.05. eps, management said we will keep growing. expected to open as many as 10 to 12 company-owned restaurants throughout year. 4944. still above the current price. >> we've been talking a lot about the weather today. haven't we? >> why would we do that?

>> just because -- >> 90% of america is either burning or under an ice storm. >> not saying you are the smarter half, because you are bang-on correct with that. air travelers in particular feeling the pain today and airlines seeing the most cancellations they have ever seen, at least since 2011. straight to phil lebeau at chicago's o'hare airport. the numbers and pain? what are you looking at? >> they're not good numbers, mandy. so far today there have been almost 6,500 flights cancelled. we're within 1,000 of catching that record back in 2011 in terms of most cancellations for wurn day. according to flightaware.com, the most impacted airline, delta. 32% of its flights cancelled today. reporting bad news all day long. a ray of hope. this video out of washington here at dulles arp. the video shop. clearing a runway. at least one runway open there.

however, reagan remains closed now. it's been closed a couple of hours. when you look at the most impacted airports, just go up and down the east coast. charlotte, douglas is 75%. things clearing up a little in atlanta. you see philadelphia, reagan, newark, a mess across the board. and for the big four airlines, this year, surprisingly while it's a mess operationally, in terms of investors performance, they like what they're seeing so far with all of these stocks moving higher this year despite, guys, what's really turning out to be a cruddy first quarter for these guys in terms of operations. back to you. >> all right. phil lebeau, thank you very much. let's call this the getaway trade. talked about terrible weather up and down the coast. maybe you're thinking about going somewhere warm. interesting. when we look at our screens this morning, we noticed expedia, a performing stock and priceline

has done well. the most priciest stock in the s&p 500 at a cool, what, over $1,100 a share. what's behind the trend? start talking numbers on the names. on the technical, steve cortez, founder of veracruz, and ron, capital markets. ron, i noticed at all of my screens this morning the travel-related names had done well and i joked to the team, maybe everybody wants to guess the heck out of dodge. is there anything to that or something else moving these stocks? >> i think it's something else. i think it's related to the fact that these stocks are the only real growth stocks in the marketplace today. it's a really hard environment for growth overall. the s&p 457b sa500 sales growth. and double digit sales growth. we liked the names based off that and that's one of the reasons the valuations are so high right now. >> ron, when you say, clarify, some of the only growth stocks,

are you talking be travel names are of all names? >> of all names in the marketplace. >> wow. >> we look at, for instance, the s&p 500 growth index, there are a lot of traditional value companies that are the heaviest weighted stocks in that index today. so companies like expedia and priceline, xzibit, more of those growth trends, vis-a-vis the sales growth margin growth, roic. go down the list in terms of what investors are looking for for organic growth, and these companies have it. >> a very bullish call, but steve, priceline is sitting at 1280. almost 1300 a shiare. what's happening from here? >> the chart tells me beware the price in priceline. the stock is extremely expensive. look at chart. an overlay with a 15-day moving average a significant technical indicator you see right now today priceline's price is

trading further from the 50-day moving average than at any time since december 11th. about two months ago, of 2013. marking a thy then nut a 7% correction in priceline. so the technicals are saying that this stock is extremely stretched and it is very rich at this price. >> thank you very much to both of you. great. i also want to mention as well orbitz as well this morning, absolutely soaring. it was i think up about 30% when i was doing my european, mentioning exactly what we've been talking about with priceline, expedia, orbitz. everybody? >> strong words from ron. the only real growth stocks out there, travel names. >> yeah. folks, check out the online edition of "talking numbers." part of our partnership with yahoo! finance. check it out when you can. you may have time at home the next day or two. >> unless they're, you know, busy doing the baby trade. up next on "street signs," a top secret way of beating the overall market. plus the battle to be the most

influential person of the past quarter century. later, pictures that show just how bad this storm really is, and it's a -- a kpucouple ce to my heart and physically close to kelly evans' parents as well. bill griffeth, what's coming up? >> keep it all in the family for sure, brine. thank you. a massive cable deal before comcast and time warner. first, former time warner ceo rarely gives interviews. his take on this merger. then two top former regulators weigh in on whether this deal will be approved, and one of these former regulators thinks it may already be dead on arrival. also, more earnings. aig set to report numbers after the bell. tonight the ceo joins us to break down the numbers in a first on cnbc interview. kelly evans and i look forward to seeing you at the top of the hour for "closing bell." we'll see you then. there are trading opportunities tdd#: 1-888-648-6021 just waiting to be found.

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do companies that focus on design out source? good question.

out with new research showing shdesign sent trick companies have been able to outperform the s&p by 228% over the past decade. sounds specific. bring in jeanine, the ceo of a strategies companies. sounds interesting but a little wonky. try to take the wonk out of it briefly and explain how you came to this conclusion? >> very good. thanks, mandy. my company teamed um with a demand management institute to create this index. the design management institute is a professional organization that represents designers from all over the world. we wanted to see whether companies that invested in design actually did better than companies that were, you know, the average in the s&p. and what question was, we started with the basket of about 75 companies and called 15 of those companies out based on a set of rigorous criteria developed for companies that really are highly invested in design.

>> okay. is this an intellectual property flad some ways? >> an intellectual property trade? i don't think i understand. >> you're herm's mill an miller achair. it's a design feature. you're going to patent that chair. a lot of the stuff also could just be protection from competition in to your branding and design? >> well, it's true, and that's one way to think about design, but when we think about companies that have great design capabilities, they do so much more. what they do is, they spend a lot more time with their customers. they do design research. they do creation. they drive innovation. they prototype, test with customers. they do a lot of things other companies don't necessarily do, because therapy not switched on about design as much as these companies are. >> and some of the companies you have singled out, you've got, like, 15 out of 100 that you really are focussing on, like apple, coca-cola, ford, herman

miller and ibm. herb what do you make of this? agree or disagree with the basic principle? >> well, as a sucker, or that is fan of anything design oriented, i like the concept, because on one level, because an investors can see that. that is something they can feel, touch, they may be will use. i was stopped in my tracks when i saw ibm. the last company i think of when i think of design. >> oh, no. >> i don't understand the -- explain that? i'm stumped. >> okay. herb, don't fert the first person that said good design, good business was tom watson, the ceo of ibm, and ibm has a long, maybe the longest history of being in design of any of these companies. they've had capabilities for a very long time, done a lot of work against their brand for years and years when developing products. the pcs et cetera. they had famous designers working on those and a great design team and today turned their head towards interaccess

design which is their more services and software, and they're training people in design methods. normal people. not designer, in the way designers think. >> i think the one thing -- >> they can create -- >> herb? >> okay. >> yes. no. i was going to say, i think the one thing you have to look at is beyond the design. are these companies actually growing? are people buying the stocks because they love the products or actually something really -- >> herb, herb, i know you drink your double pump non-soy latte. you would not pay $6 if starbucks looked like a kindergarten room. yellow and orange and plastic? >> unless it actually, really was very good. of course, that draws me in. >> you wouldn't no. know, you pay for the experience. >> you wouldn't have walked in in the first place. >> you pay for the experience. that's why you get the massages where there's the red velvet and the candles and not when you have to walk down the stairs. >> i also pay for quality, brian. >> that's true. >> okay. >> really interesting concept.

thank you very much for explaining it to us and herb, great to see you, buddy. been a long time. >> glad you talked ak the experience. >> thank you. still ahead, the ultimate battle of the divas. ♪ who won the world, girls on te shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro.

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all right. welcome back, everybody. as you know, cnbc is compiling a list of the 25 greatest

influencers in business over the past quarter century. who should make the list? we've been facing off, folks, every day now. today is the battle of the queens of the personal brand. in one quarter, martha stewart. in the other, oprah winfrey. julia boorstin is back to make the case for martha. robert frank is making the case for oprah. julia, kick it off. >> well, brian, martha stewart is the ultimate domestic goddess, turning her name into a household name starting with a catering company in the '70s that turns into an empire of all things living. cooking, entertaining, gardening and home making. martha stewart living omnimedia. it went public in 1999. martha stewart has 8,500 products at a range of retailers from macy's to petsmart, to home depot, plus books, cookbooks, monthly magazines, websites, apps, a radio show, and various tv shows. the company reaches an estimated 100 million consumers each

month. the resilience of stewart's brand is all the more impressive considering the fact she was convicted and served time for insider trading. mandy? >> thank you very much. julia, stick around. that is the case for martha. but we want to get the other side. the other side is the case for oprah. robert? >> thanks, guys. oprah doesn't really need much explanation, but i'll do it anyway. she really proved the power of the personal, not just the personal brand, but the personal endorsement and the personal confession, of course. her multibillion dollar empire includes television and the oprah network, films, magazines, radio, book, and even politics through her ties, of course, to president obama. now, the oprah effect has helped make dr. oz, dr. phil, rachael ray, and other household names. not to mention all the books, food products, and clothing products that exploded after they became part of oprah's favorite things. some criticize the oprah-fi

oprah-fication that set the stage for social media. but oprah is proof that anyone of any race and gender can make it in america. her fortune estimated at $2. billion, and she's given away more than $400 million to educational charities. vote for your pick online. head to cnbc.com/25 to cast your vote. guys? >> you know, i'm going to take this from a very australian centric point of view. growing up, everybody knew about oprah winfrey. from that point of vuriew, opras tentacles went all over the globe in terms of her influence. she mentioned a product, she mentioned a restaurant, and bang, there's business. >> and here's the thing, mandy. i think you're right. having a syndicated talk show, oprah really had massive reach. i think what's impressive about oprah is the fact that she's been able to reinvent herself for this cable age.

her syndicated talk show ended. now she launched a cable network. the cable network was off to a rocky start at first. now it seems to be on stronger footing. she's been trying to redefine herself. i think in martha stewart's favor, what's been impressive about her is she was at the head of this maker movement. martha stewart is the ultimate initial maker, teaching people how to make everything from a tart to decorations for your kid's birthday party. that maker movement has really taken off. now you have, you know, she has a deal with ebay and the etsy generation. >> that is a good point, but what is the enduring idea of both of these women? i think the enduring idea of oprah is just so much stronger today than martha stewart. there's a sense with martha stewart that you had to do everything perfectly in your household and the expectations to be the perfect hostess. you know, that seems a little outdated. oprah today, again, the confession, the self-improvement, that's still so much more powerful today than

before she came on the scene. >> two very strong cases, though. and of course our viewers can vote as well. thank you very much to both of you. coming up next, snowed in sullivans. not one but three of you out there. >> yeah, mom, dad, and the dog. >> yeah, the dog. >> wait until you see these pictures, america. sorry, mom and dad. welcome back. how is everything? there's nothing like being your own boss! and my customers are really liking your flat rate shipping. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order.

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scare there in rural virginia. mom and dad, good luck and be safe. here's the bad news if you're watching. more on the way. more snow coming. two feet about they have at their house. >> oh, look at that. yeah, keep warm. keep safe. thanks for watching "street signs," everybody. "closing bell" is next. -- storms down here at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffith here at cnbc global headquarters, not willingly, you understand. on the day the "sports illustrated" swim suit models are ringing the bell, you think i want to be sitting here? missing the photo op of the year. we've got a lot to cover here today. we had a 90-point selloff on the open. maybe disappointing retail sales figures didn't help. the jobless claims numbers were nothing to write home about. and there's the weather. we're in the middle of one