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 of the harshest winters the u.s. has seen in many years, as you

all know. this storm that made its way through the south and up the east coast this week may have been the harshest one so far. freezing rain, snow measured in feet, not inches, and we've already gotten about a foot here in the northeast. the economic impact cannot be denied as hundreds of thousands are without power and about 20% of all flights in the u.s. have been canceled this week. we will have complete team coverage of that coming up. >> yeah, we all seem to be wearing our meteorologist hat lately. bill, i also have to tell you, aig ceo bob benmosche is making it to the new york stock exchange today, despite the snow. earnings for his company are due in about an hour. we'll have those numbers first an exclusive reaction. that's coming up in about an hour. >> and of course more on the deal of the day, the business story of the day. comcast, our parent, moving to buy time warner cable for $45 billion plus. we will hear exclusively from a

man who rarely gives interview these days, former time warner ceo gerald levin. get his take on this deal, which should be very interesting because it is the content providers who some say could pose an obstacle to this being approved. so a lot of folks will be listening closely to gerry levin in a few minutes. >> now let's look across the markets. we started the day negative. we had weak sessions overnight across europe and asia. some worries about earnings. the yen was stronger. right now, as we stand and head into the last hour, things have turned around. the dow is up about 66 points. it's back above 16,000. the s&p 500 adding several points. same with the nasdaq, which is also green at this hour. >> by the way, in case you really are paying attention, today janet yellen was supposed to testify before the senate banking committee. that has been postponed because of the weather. let's talk about the markets in

our "closing bell" exchange with patty edwards from u.s. bank, jim lowell, david sourby, and dennis garteman. patty, maybe it's your maternal instincts kicking, in but you see the relationship as a parent-child relationship between the fed and the markets. >> i have two boys. they're both very different. you're seeing it throughout the world, markets are reacting differently. if you look at some of the emerging markets that are different, they've been overspending the past few years. those are the ones kicking their feet ae remember belling. if you look at the u.s., we've been better behaved. we're starting to get our house in order. you're starting to see it in the stock market and the numbers. >> mark, why the turn around, especially after the early numbers like the retail sales report, were a miss? >> kelly, i think it's a function of it's really tough to keep a good market down. you know, we've had this corrective phase in the equity market here early on in the

year. i think largely because as much as anything, there was an absence of buyers and sellers who were looking for an excuse to sell. they had one form of weaker comparable economic data along with some concerns about emerging market currencies in related countries. now we're starting, i think, to attribute a high probability to the weather-related impact on these economic statistics. we're looking back on track for a better economic climate on a go-forward basis in the u.s. equities remain the asset class of choice for most investors given the lack of alternatives in bond land and in cash. >> dennis, you have said you're quietly bullish. not anymore. now that we're mentioning it on television. are you skeptical on this rally? was the pullback we saw in january and february it for the time being? or is there more to come? what do you think is happening here? >> i've been around for a long time, but that break last week scared the bejeepers out of me. but this is still a bull market.

we have to remember that fact. today's activity, i thought, was very impressive. every reason to sell stocks lower this morning. they tried to break them. they can't. it's still moving upward. it's still a bull market. you can only have one of three positions. really, really long, pleasantly long, or neutral. you've got to be at least pleasantly long. you have to own stuff. >> or longer, bill. if you go back to the 1940s, more than 60 years of history, years after stocks significantly beat bonds, such as 2013, stocks can beat bonds by as much as eight percentage points, especially it you don't get a recession. for this recent turnaround, you had the average stock down 10% from its 52-week high last week. they were still down about 8% as of midday today from their 52-week high. i think that's inviting buyers

into the market and that's why we've seen this turnaround. because 2014, i think, can be surprisingly good for stocks, even after an incredible year last year. >> and jim, i want to talk a little bit about this mega-merger we have. it's a merger thursday, in fact. the comcast/time warner deal, the tenth largest deal on record, the third largest deal in the media and entertainment sector of all time. do you think that has anything to do with the reaction we've seen today? >> it probably has a lot to do with the fact that money is still relatively cheap for corporate borrowers. now more than ever it makes sense to true and pursue a merger and acquisitions strategy, which may or may not find good grace with the regulators. overall, it's days like this i miss rick santelli the most. unfortunately, we seem to be in agreement that flat is about exactly where we thought these markets would be at this stage. but the long-term prospects are

for, we think, reasonable gains. >> who was jumping in there? well, let me bring dennis in. i want to ask you about your favorite investment, gold, which has been flirting with $1300, even as the stock market goes higher. so, you know, that would suggest a hedging position, even as the risk-on position picks up here. what's going on? >> it really is. i mean, that is the trade of the year, is to own gold and own stocks. it would seem to be antithet call to one another. but that's what's going on. i guess the markets are expecting the fed to continue to follow the same policies, to expand reserves into the system, money's finding its way into the gold market. i'm not a gold bug, but gold is going higher again. it's interesting to watch gold and to watch the stock market move together. if you feel like you have to hedge something, buy stocks, buy gold. >> i would not be a buyer of gold in any way shape or form. the best way to purchase god and

use it is to put it around the neck of someone you love. the reality is that gold is a broken trade. i'd much rather own even a ten-year treasury etf than gold if i was looking for a way to counterweight my blue chip equity position. >> gold is a diversification in portfolios. in portfolios where correlations have gone higher, gold is still a low correlated asset. maybe not in 2014. but long term -- >> it's a low correlation, i'll grand you that. but the volatility of its price behavior renders that, i think, inoperable. >> there's going to be a time we want an inflation hedge in our portfolios. may not be this year. >> always will be. >> patty, on gold? >> you know, i think that you want to have an asset diversified portfolio. we like having gold as part of that diversification, but it's not a large piece of the pie. what you have to bear in mind is that it's not just the u.s.

buyer going in there and buying gold. there are a lot of places around the world where currencies are devaluing. i think that's part probably where we're seeing some of the buying on the mar jen. >> emerging market buyers are basically shying away from food, let alone gold. i don't think that holds water. >> mark, can i ask you quickly about your earnings? we've had so many in the last 24 hours. in fact, a lot of notable misses again, whether you're talking about some of the european players or cisco yesterday. kind of a soft report. we had some key earnings coming up after the bell today as well. does any of that matter here? are earnings driving the market? what are you looking for? >> well, i think some of the companies that have reported earnings that missed expectations were somewhat unique to that particular company as opposed to being an indictment of an industry or the market at large. we know that actually earnings beats are running at about 65%, 75%, which is decent.

r revenue is also at 65% to 75%, which is particularly good, which means you don't have to purely manufacture earnings. in addition, the earnings growth rate on a year-over-year basis is coming in around 8% to 9%, which is better than expected. all in, i think the market is feeding off the mother's milk of corporate profits, as larry kudlow is renowned to say, as opposed to necessarily trading up and expanding valuations purely on the come. i think that's good news, even accounting for those companies that have come in and obviously disappointed investors. >> and add in that the mirk cyclical small caps are running earnings 13% to 14% compared to year-ago levels. revenue, 7% or better. i think the earnings story is still well intact. >> we're about three-quarters of the way through. so far, so good. thank you, all, for your thoughts on the markets today. good to see you all. appreciate it. about 15 minutes left in the trading session here. about 160-point swing for the dow from bottom to top.

the dow opened down 90 points. we were up 70 a while ago. >> and we've got fed chair janet yellen speaking on tuesday. the market rallying back from what had been a dismal start to the year. but is the fed the only thing that's keeping stocks afloat now? we want to talk about that next. >> and remember, it's the nasty winter weather that canceled her testimony today before the banking senate committee. we want to know if you think the market would have done even better if she had spoken again. your best tweets on that issue. it's @cnbcclosingbell on twitter. >> later, insurance giant aig set to report earnings just after the closing bell. ceo bob benmosche will break own the momenumbers moments after they're released. keep it here. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. 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 ♪ ♪ where you think you're gonna go ♪ ♪ when your time's all gone? [ male announcer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more interesting it gets. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer. for $299 a month for 27 months. does it end after you've expanded your business?? after your company's gone public? and the capital's been invested?

or when your company's bought another? is it over after you've given back? you never stop achieving. that's why, at barclays, our ambition is to always realize yours.

when fed chair janet yellen speak, the market listens, and so far it liked what she had to say on tuesday. the dow finished up nearly 200 points after her first congressional testimony. while the markets have come back a bit, the dow was down more than 90 points at its low this morning. >> that's right. we have had a substantial comeback today.

the question is whether markets will be trading even higher if the massive snowstorm hadn't postponed yellen's testimony today. how much impact, in other words, is she having on these markets? with us now, greg ip from the economist and our own rick santelli. great to see you both. greg, first to you. there are people here who are saying on trading desks that it feels like every time whether it's yellen, if they're speaking the right language, the dovish language the market likes to here that bolsters stocks, they start speaking and support goes. >> i don't follow that logic. janet yellen basically said it would take a notable beklein in our forecast to change our tapering plans, and we think everything's fine. i'm not worried about the last two bad payroll numbers. therefore, we infer from that nothing is going to change in terms of tapering. why would you get bullish over that? on the one hand this morning, we had these awful, awful retail sales numbers, and you have -- so on the one hand, you have the data getting worse on the economy and a fed chairman telling us she's not going to do

anything about it. soy don't see why that's reason to be bullish. i think the best spin you can put on it is she knows something we don't or she has a better fix than we do. and her optimism is going to be vindicated. >> rick, are we making too much of a correlation between a fed chair speaking on any given day and the market movement on that same day? >> well, i think in many ways, in this particular instance, the answer would be yes. i do agree with most of what graeg said. i do think the perception that the house vote the evening of her testimony was pretty much a lock or they wouldn't have called the vote. had a lot to do with the rally. yes, on the debt ceiling. clean cr. i also think that the negative cycle that was going on between china and its trust issues and potential default there in the notion of what was going on in the emerging markets all played into the storm so that janet yellen's timing was good. i'm not so sure anything she said was largely responsible

except for one thing. as i talk to traders, they still thought that the way she framed it, maybe not even much different than ben bernanke, but that they could go either way, okay. if the data happened to slow dramatically, they could actually extend quantitative easing. i think that there's a half of ben bernanke left. i think that's one of the main issues i have. i think we need normalization much faster. greg, there's, what, let me see, seven meetings left. we're at $65 billion. $10 billion a meeting means in october, the second to last meeting before december, which is the last, we'd have $5 billion. it's going to take the whole year at this pace to get rid of qe. that doesn't even address other issues. we need to normalize. i think the markets will get a whole lot more impatient. >> greg? >> i think it's actually valuable we're going to get this big gap between her testimony and her senate testimony. she's got to be asked more closely about what these bad numbers mean. this morning, morgan stanley

took their tracking number for first quarter gdp growth down to 1%. now, the fed is out there with a 3% forecast for all of 2014. at some point, how do they reconcile these two facts? i want to hear the senate -- >> it's the weather! it's the weather, greg. come on, it's the weather. >> rick, come on, please. explain to me why the weather caused internet sales to fall 0.3% in january. was the weather keeping you off of amazon.com? >> no, i'm just teasing you. >> the weather excuse is wearing thin. >> i'm completely in agreement with you. the weather is just an excuse. and granted, it's going to definitely play in effect. but it isn't going to play to the extent that i think some investors think. and therein lies the rub, greg. here we are again. in 2011, 2012 s we had a lot of bumps in gdp that fell flat in subsequent quarters. you're talking about a one handle on first quarter gdp. even if you look at some of the other estimates, i believe goldman's at 1.9, we're going to see the second revision shortly for fourth quarter gdp.

that's going to be under 3%. we've seen this movie again. their programs don't have efficacy. we shouldn't be penalizing savers anymore. richard fisher, where are you? >> rick, for those who think that zerv may be a bad guy in the "star wars" movies, what is it? >> zero interest rate policy. sorry. >> let me make a quick point. rick has touched on something important here, and it pains me to say so. the issue is can the economy actually grow faster than 2% or 3% year after year s? we keep expecting a year of 3% growth and keep not getting it. but look at the unemployment rate. year after year with this crummy growth, it keeps going down. at some point, the fed and the rest of us will have to grapple with the possibility that the economy cannot grow faster than this. >> that only happens if the inflation rate starts to move up. that's the only time in which the way -- >> no. >> because look.

if that's the case -- >> it's not about the inflation rate. you're not going to have inflation until you have velocity. no. you're not going to have inflation until you have ve loss itty. you're not going to have velocity until all those excess piles of money get to work. with all the stock buybacks i see, that's not going to happen any time soon. i think the real issue here is simple. we're going to turn into japan potentially. greg, the price we've paid to not have disastrous outcomes around the world in 2007 and '08 and subsequent years was through efforts that are going to shave growth in the long term. that's the way it looks. i don't think there's any doomsday scenarios out there like many do that are looking at that 1929 chart for stocks. but i think we've sacrificed future growth by all of these programs that have wasted a lot of time, money on strategies that don't work and created long-term deficits. we're going to have to service for a very long time. >> very quickly, greg. >> i disagree with that, but

let's forget about the past, look at the future. kelly made a good point about inflation. interestingly enough, yellen's staff said they don't think the drop in inflation we've had is fundamental. they think it's more related to the dollar and commodities. they don't see anything strange going on with wage inflation. they're starting to come around to the point of view there's less disinflationary slat in the economy than we used to think. >> thanks, guys. i never cease to be amazed that we all hear the same testimony, hear all the same words, but we can never agree on what it means when it comes to fed policy. >> that's what makes a market. >> thank god we're in the tv business, bill. that's a good thing. >> got it. thanks, rick. thanks, greg. >> we have 40 minutes left to go into the close. the dow losing ground a little bit, but we're still up 50 points. it's a turnaround from earlier. nasdaq and s&p also green. >> let's talk about this massive deal in the cable industry. our parent, comcast, moves to buy time warner cable. >> the deal is procompetitive. it's proconsumer. we're going to be able to bring

better products, faster internet, more channels, on demand, tv everywhere, and a national/local platform that's really special. >> however, will regulators see it the same way as comcast ceo brian robert just stated it there? coming up, we'll hear from two former fcc big shots with very different opinions on if this deal should go through or not. >> and first, we'll hear exclusively from former time warner ceo gerald levin on this mega deal. find out if he thinks it's go both good for cable companies and consumers when we come right back. [ female announcer ] who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters.

and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. i'm spending too much time hiring and not enough time in my kitchen. [ female announcer ] need to hire fast? go to ziprecruiter.com and post your job to over 30 of the web's leading job boards with a single click; then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list. you put up one post and the next day you have all these candidates. makes my job a lot easier. [ female announcer ] over 100,000 businesses have already used zip recruiter and now you can use zip recruiter for free at a special site for tv viewers; go to ziprecruiter.com/offer2. at a special site for tv viewers; phone: your account is already paid in full. oh, well in that case, back to vacation mode.

♪boots and pants and boots and pants♪ ♪and boots and pants and boots and pants♪ ♪and boots and pants... voice-enabled bill pay. just a tap away on the geico app. ♪ huh, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. yup, everybody knows that. well, did you know that some owls aren't that wise. don't forget about i'm having brunch with meagan tomorrow. who? seriously, you met her like three times. who? geico.

pretty decent turnaround for stocks on a very snowy day on wall street. the dow was down 90 plus points at the bottom on the open this morning. now we're up 55 points. dom chu, what's leading this move higher today? >> let's start off with orbitz, which is moving higher after reporting better than expected quarterly revenues and profits, increased in hotel stays and vacation package sales. it's up big. air products and chemicals also higher because billionaire investor bill ackman says there's room for the company stock to double in value in the next few years if the industrial gas producer hires the right ceo. capital management is the company's biggest shareholder with a 9.7% stake. also, goodyear tire gaining ground after reporting better

than expected fourth quarter profits. this despite a 5% drop in sales, which put it short of wall street forecasts. and we're going to end on, of course, comcast, the parent company of this network. it fell after announcing it would buy time warner cable for about $45 billion or about $159 a share in stock. ceo brian roberts says they are confident this deal will pass regulatory muster. kelly, bill, back to you. >> all right, dom. thanks very much. now, with exclusive reaction to the mega comcast/time warner deal, we're joined on the phone by the former chairman and ceo of time warner, gerald levin. great to have you calling in, sir. what do you think about this deal? >> i think it's great, kelly. i'm very excited. not just because it's a large transaction in the media business, but historically, big cable and the leading cable operator has been the source of innovation, creativity, especially on the technical side. that's what i see coming here.

you look back at the old at&t moving into time warner cable, the old pci, at&t moving into comcast. most of the digital innovations that have led to media platform have come from the cable industry. >> gerry, good to talk to you. bill griffith here. we should point out you're on a cell phone in an area where the storm is headed. the cell service might not be what we hope for, but we do appreciate your time here. you often say regulators apply weird rules or you disagree with their silly rules. what do you talk about when they're trying to apply rules to a deal this size? >> well, what happens, bill, if you look at the regulatory process, regulators are either too early or too late, or they're going in the wrong direction and they feel

compelled to -- run into the wall of unintended consequences. you look at the environment today, and you don't just have, you know, at&t and directv and dish and netflix. [ indiscernible ] so you have a fairly big market. if you really want to define what this market should be, it should be a global marketplace because what we're looking for is innovation in the market for technical supremacy, and these digital networks provide current activity. it's really a world market. so anything that has a national objective, it should be done. i'm sure you'll get a lot of

wailing have nose cothose corne saying this is a gatekeeper with us precedented power. it's not true. look what happened more recently in the competition over lead transmission consent. >> so your point, mr. levin, is that this will allow for more innovation, more investment, and i just wonder, again, going back to the consolidation that occurred, of course, under your decade at the helm of time warner, you know, the idea was that the future will belong to media companies that have both content and distribution. do you see this as a validation of that model in a way that obviously the aol deal at the time was not? >> kelly, i don't necessarily see it as a validation because comcast, your parent, was already in the movie business,

the network business and the cable business. the way i see it, brian roberts is a cable guy. that's what this is about. this is about the cable business. it's not necessarily you have to have distribution. frankly, i would say that's probably in the a bad idea. >> all right. gerry, always good to talk to you. hope you're doing well. stay safe as the storm heads your way on that part of new england. thanks for joining us. >> thanks, bill. thank you, kelly. >> gerry levin joining us, making the case for innovation. spoken like a true ceo. from that point of view, innovation will trump competition any time, right?

>> well, we hope. >> we'll find out. you're going to be talking with a couple people about that later. right now as we head toward the close with 30 minutes left, the dow still up 56 points. >> and shares of online travel agency orbitz, look at this. they are taking off after better than expected quarterly earnings. up 31% today. granted they still trade below $10 a share. up next, the ceo barney har ford breaking down the results. he'll tell us about the state of the consumer an the travel business. >> and this monster winter storm slamming parts of the south and northeast, forcing people to stay home from work and school. coming up, we'll look at how that cabin fever could give a boost to the bottom line of companies like, oh, netflix and amazon. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online instantly with the game changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts,

that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 life inspires your trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 where others see fads... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...you see opportunities. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we're here to help tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 turn inspiration into action. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 we have intuitive platforms tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you discover what's trending. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and seasoned market experts to help sharpen your instincts. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so you can take charge tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 of your trading. (voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the 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. we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness if you qualify, and new car replacement, standard with our auto policies. so call liberty mutual at... today. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

welcome back. here's how we stand as we head into the final half hour of trade. the dow is up 63 points, back up 16,000 despite the conversation we were just having about the weak economic data this morning and some concerns about just how strong growth in the economy really is. again, green across the s&p and the nasdaq, bill, at this hour. >> another 13-year high on that nasdaq right now as well. meanwhile, online travel agency orbitz soaring today.

company swinging to a profit. reported strong fourth quarter earnings. other companies in a area, expedia, very strong, priceline, very strong today. does this weather help or hurt that business? >> and here to talk about it all first on cnbc is the ceo of orbitz worldwide, barney harford. great to see you. thanks for being here. >> welcome. >> thank you. >> so a large increase, obviously a large reaction on wall street today to the quarter. it was interesting to note that your flight business was down a little bit, but the hotels in particular look better. what can you tell us about trends there? >> we did have a great 2013 revenue. it was up 9%. a really strong acceleration as we focus on this dramatic opportunity in hotel. >> you make more money when you book a hotel than when you look

an airline ticket. why? >> oh, that's a great question. i guess in the hotel space, it's a much more fragmented category. there are many more players. the margin characteristics of the industry are such that, yeah, the take rate, as we call it, is substantially higher in hotel than it is in air. >> so when airline traffic for you fell, that 11%, the revenue fell, it was okay because you make more money on the hotel and travel package site anyway, don't you? >> exactly. our strategic focus over the last few years has really been to drive this hotel segment. that having been said, we recently launched a ground-breaking loyalty program, and the way that connects air purchases and gets them interested in using orbitz to book hotels is really interesting and is making us think, wow, that air opportunity is something we've got to make sure we really nail as well. >> and barney, how do you do that? this is a space where there's been a lot of consolidation. obviously priceline trading it incredibly high. we've got the kayak brand

working for them. it's a dizzying array for consumers. where is this all heading, and where does orbitz fall in the line of being acquired or acquiring? >> well, with orbitz, we are absolutely laser focused on building our websites around the world to be the most rewarding place to plan purchase travel on mobile devices, on touch devices. and we're doing that on orbitz doing, for example, with the launch of the loyalty program. when you book an airline ticket on orbitz, you get up to 2% back on a future hotel stay. when you book a hotel stay, you can get up to 5% back. this can be used to redeem future hotel purchases through our website. that is to deliver repeat value and get customers who purchase airline tickets to connect that to a hotel. >> do you consider the hotels and airlines clients or

competitors? i can go to their websites and book my tickets just as easy as i can do it through you. >> well, i argue that you don't get anything like the selection, the breadth and depth of selection of airlines or hotels when you go to any individual supplier site. when it comes to mobile, which has been a huge focus for us, the apps that we've been able to develop for iphone, android, and ipad are so easy to use. you can book yourself a hotel in 30, 60 seconds. it's such fun to do. that's a real advantage that orbitz and the sister sites across our portfolio have against suppliers. we see them a mix. they do compete with us, but fundamentally, they're our supplier partners. >> you can't ignore what's going on with the climate, the weather this year, in recent years. how is that affecting your business? is it driving people to search for trips, say, in the northeast more than usual? is it a problem when it comes to a number of people who want to cancel or change plans because of what's happening with the flight situation?

i mean, how much do you have to grapple day in and day out with the effect this is having on your business? >> well, at orbitz, we're a global business. we generate about $11 billion of consumer travel demand around the world. in general, weather in any individual particular area doesn't have too much of an impact on our overall business. however, it is certain to say that when we have a major storm system, you know, hitting large parts of the united states, that does create disruptions for many, many people when there are thousands of flights canceled. and it can -- it does mean we need to work particularly hard to make sure we're able to give great service to our customers who need our help. >> yeah, sounds like you suffer as much as we do sometimes when the weather is bad. good to see you. >> definitely challenging. thank you so much. >> ceo of orbitz joining us today. >> w.o.w., someone was just joking, should be their ticker

today. in any case, not too much of a wow today. the dow standing up about 60 points in the final 20 minutes of trade here. >> have the "sports illustrated" models shown up yet? >> that will deserve a w.o.w., i think. >> sales of military drones are red hot right now, but u.s. manufacturers are now at a major disadvantage to foreign rivals when it comes to selling drones overseas. we'll explain why coming up. >> also ahead, can the mega deal between our parent company comcast and time warner cable win regulatory approval? >> we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't think we could get it approved. we spend a lot of time thinking about it. it's a really special transaction for both time warner cable and for comcast. >> coming up, two top federal communication commission officials weighing in. they've got very different opinions on this deal. we'll be right back. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that.

i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. you want everything.orks an expert ford technician knows your car's health depends on a full, complete checkup. the works. because when it comes to feeling safe behind the wheel, going the distance and saving at the pump you want it all. get our multi-point inspection with a a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation, brake inspection and more for $29.95 or less. get a complete vehicle checkup. only at your ford dealer.

iwe don't back down. we only know one direction: 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 welcome back. as you can see, stocks are rebounding after a rough overnight session and start to the day. mary thompson, what's driving the comeback? >> what we saw earlier today, the dollar actually started to strengthen against the yen. it was much weaker. of course, yen strength is correlated directly with stock market weakness here in the u.s. that seemed to turn the markets. of course, the markets jefr coming bad retail data and

helped again as well, i should say, by the big deal today, comcast offering to buy time warner. and some good earnings news as well. as we head toward the close, the nasdaq is on track for its sixth straight day in what's been a fairly light-volume session because of the weather. let's look at the group that drove the that's tack higher today. it was the semi conductors. within the s&p 500, the best performing group was utilities, expected strong demand for the utilities in this cold weather we're having. also lower interest rates helping there as well. speaking of power generation, generac reported a very, very strong quarter. as a result, its stock is one of the biggest winners today. up over $6 today. the one stock that really was a drag on the dow, which right now is up 58 points, has been cisco. after the bell reporting better than expected numbers, but

guidance for this quarter was weak, and its stock taking a hit on that news. back to you. >> that's all been around earnings lately. mary, thank you. meantime, global military drone sales are soaring. however, u.s. drone manufacturers are missing out on a huge part of that manufacturing pie. josh lipton explains why. josh? >> yeah, bill, news today that u.s. drone makers could be cut out of big business overseas because of some outdated export rules. still, these companies finding a way to sell these unmanned aerial systems as the industry likes to call them. specifically, there was an agreement signed in 1987 by 34 countries that restricts the sale of vehicles that could carry nuclear weapons. drones fall under that agreement. but i just talked to michael blades, he's an analyst at frost and sullivan, covers this industry. he says there are changes coming. u.s. defense companies have been lobbying to loosen up these export restrictions and blade says we're going to see these restrictions change in the near

future. the market for drones is now $5.2 billion. that could grow to $89 billion in the next ten years. that's according to the teal group. there are ways around these restrictions, though. manufacturers can sell drones that are designed for nonthee n purposes. still, the restrictions do put u.s. arms makers on the defensive, potentially gives their rivals the upper hand. in fact, israel has now overtaken the u.s. as the world's largest exporter of drones. bottom line, a lot of money at stake, and drone makers and lobbyists are working hard to modify these defense export rules soon and pad their bottom lines in the process. bill, back to you. >> all right, josh. thanks very much. good story. heading toward the close, about 14 minutes left in the trading session here. and the industrial average holding on to pretty good gains. we're up 62 points right now. >> we are. and up next, barclays managing director larry cantor is joining us to explain why he believes u.s. equities are less expensive

than they might seem right now. we'll be right back.

it's the annual visit of the "sports illustrated" swim suit models who will be gracing the panls of "sports illustrated"'s annual swim suit edition, which unveils next tuesday. they're there with "sports illustrated" executives to ring the closing bell. wouldn't you know, that is a blizzard keeping me away from the big board. i see lots of company they get there. a lot of the trader, executives from the new york stock exchange there in suits making their way with those models toward the balcony. and i have to just -- i have a photo sent to me by my co-anchor. i thank you, kelly, for that of the swim suit models. ten minutes to go. the dow up 63 points. larry cantor from barclays joins me. are you distracked there, larry? can you hear me okay? >> yeah, i can hear you. >> you can look at the swim suit models later. a lot of questions about valuations. is this market still cheap?

we'd heard that for a couple years now that, the u.s. market was still undervalued, relatively speaking. now we've had these stellar gains for the last couple years. but you still maintain that the stocks are pretty cheap right now, yes? >> no. i wouldn't call them cheap. it's one of these -- >> but they're not as expensive as some would have us believe. >> i guess so. the thing is, we had a massive uptick last year, as you know, bill. 30% or so. i would have liked to have seen a little more of a correction. i thought this whole fire drill around emerging markets would take things down. on a short-term basis, it doesn't look cheap. fed hasn't even started tightening yet. so we see bonds gradually selling off over the years. relative to bonds, we still like stocks. right now after the kind of gains we had last year, you know, in terms of an entry point, this isn't probably the greatest entry point. >> but the argument can be that if the fed's tapering, it means

the economy is getting better. in fact, corporate earnings this time around, something like 67% of those companies reporting so far have beaten their estimates. we've seen some stellar examples of that in the last few days. will earnings propel stock prices higher? >> what i think is we are due for a better year on the economy than we've had. i think it actually started in the second half of last year. the question is how much of that is priced in already? stock market usually anticipates this and had a spectacular year last year. i would say expect gains this year, but nothing like you got last year. probably mid-single digits, maybe 10%. that would be a good result. >> stay right there. we want to bring you back here and talk about the close. we'll have the closing countdown in a moment. then we stand by for earnings. another big company, aig, due out any moment. ceo bob benmosche will be us in a first-on cnbc interview to break down those numbers with

kelly before he even speaks to analysts on their conference call. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. back after this. psh 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

[prof. burke] at farmers,we make you smarter [bell rings] about your insurance,because what you don't know can hurt you. what if you didn't know that home insurance can keep your stuff covered,even when it's not at home? or that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered. and what if you didn't know that you could be liable for any accidents on your property? 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♪

who found a magic seashell. it told him what was happening on the trading floor in real time. ♪ the shell brought him great fame. ♪ but then, one day, he noticed that everybody could have a magic seashell. [ indistinct talking ] [ male announcer ] right there in their trading platform. ♪ [ indistinct talking continues ] [ male announcer ] so the magic shell went back to being a...shell. get live squawks right in your trading platform with think or swim from td ameritrade. less than five minutes remaining in this trading session. a lot of cross currents today. you had the retail sales numbers come in below expectations. the jobless numbers were higher than anticipated.

the system by janet yeln to the senate banking committee was postponed until next week because of the storm today, which also could have had an impact. selloff on the open this morning, down 90 points on the industrial average until things turned around. some feel it was a result of the currency play between the dollar, which then strengthened against the yen and brought the stock market back. we're up 64 points right now. about 150, 160-point swing for the industrial average. coming up, we've got the earnings from aig. that could set a tone for tomorrow. a lot of the financials have done well on their earnings to this point in this season. again, ceo bob benmosche will be joining kelly in a few minutes to go over those numbers before he even goes to the conference call. back on the floor of the new york stock exchange with larry cantor. also joining us is matt cheslock. what's your version of this turn around today? >> kind of amazing, actually. we had a lot of cross currents, as you mentioned. one thing to look at today is gold and the health care stocks

have performed pretty well. i think those are typically defensive names with the risk-off trade. but we're not seeing the risk-off trade at all. we're seeing it on and the market take it higher. >> you feel gold is a risk-on trade? >> no, it's actually -- well, it's funny because the market itself is a risk-on trade. that's generally a risk-off trade. i think you're starting to see value investing in gold. it got down to 1250, held there solidly. we got a buy signal out of that. that's one to look at if this market does turn a little lower. >> larry, sectorwise, what are you looking at right now? if you like this market, what's going to propel it higher? >> yeah, so as i said before, i think in the very short term, i'm a little nervous. as you were saying before, this is a year where the economy is doing better for the first time in a long time. you got to like more cyclical sectors here. so that's where we're focused.

>> like? like which cyclical sectors? >> okay. so technology, consumer discretionary and so forth. telecom. all those are sectors that we like. when it comes to financials, we for a long time preferred the debt to the equity. if you think about it, regulators are making banks safer. it's not great for bank profits, but it's not bad for bank debt. and that trade's been working for a long time. in that sector, we've been liking the debt better than equities. >> matt, you'd been looking for a pullback in this market. was that enough of a pullback for you in january and february? >> i don't think so. i mean, i'm certainly looking for a little bit more. >> you're like larry then right now. >> obviously we're skeptical about some of the numbers we've seen today and some of the rally that's ensued after it. it's something to keep your eye on certainly. i'd like to see a much bigger pullback so we can deploy some of the money we have sitting on the sidelines and have a healthy rally without the fed behind it. >> explain to those people out

there who may be puzzling why a trader and smart analyst would be hoping for another pullback in this market. why is that advantageous in the longer term? >> well, i think that you want to deploy your money at the cheapest point possible. if you've missed this run-up already, you want to get in at a lower entry point than you're seeing now. you want something other than the fed to be your backstop. that's what i'm looking for as a trader. i don't want any other cross currents going on. >> and like you said, larry, the market may have anticipated the strength we're seeing in the economy. >> right. we all know, those of us who have been around the market, it just doesn't go up a all the time. last year was a year where it went up and up and up. it's not going to keep doing that. we're looking for a little better entry point here as matt said. >> gentlemen, thank you, both, for your thoughts on today's markets. appreciate it. >> any time. >> all right. we're going out near the highs of the session.

up 62 points on the industrial averages. we head toward the close. stand by. those numbers from aig and ceo bob benmosche joining kelly evans coming up on the second hour of the "closing bell." i'll see you tomorrow somewhere. >> thank you, bill. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans on this thursday. here's how we're finishing this day on wall street. stocks started out stormy. a tricky session overnight. the tone here at the close seems to be much better. certainly much better, by the way, than the weather across much of the country. and certainly outside here. the dow up about 61 points, finishing back above 16,000. the closing level again, 16,025 or so. the nasdaq adding about 40 points. almost 1%, by far the outperformer today. let's talk it out and get right to it with today's panel.

great to see all of you. we know we're going to get to lots of earnings this hour. aig in particular. before we do all that, though, just want to sort of talk out the session that we had today. guy, why the turnaround? >> shocking. >> why the better sentiment? >> i think when the italian situation seemed to rectify itself, i guess, if you even want to use that word, i think that put a calm to the market. to me, i'm shocked though. the retail sales numbers were bad, in a word. to me, most of the economic data's been at best marginal. yet, the market still wants to go lyihigher. when i was on with you monday, that was 30 s&p points ago. i've missed that. i still think we're headed down there. the market shocks me here. >> 1725. hold that thought for just a second. aig shares are moving after

hours. they are out with earnings. dominic chu breaking down the numbers. >> about 2, 2.5% move to the up side. here are the headline numbers. they come out with earnings of $1.15 a share versus analyst estimates for 96 cents. a handy beat there. also, in terms of revenues, $8.62 billion versus $8.65 billion. also, a couple headlines here. aig's board has announced a 25% increase to the company's dividend. it will now be 12.5 cents per share quarterly. that's a big headline as well. also on share repurchases, they've announced an additional $1 billion boost to their share repurchase authorization. that brings the total authorization including the previous one to $1.4 billion remaining. again, share repurchase boost, dividend boost, top-line beat, bottom-line beat. looks like a nice move here. back over to you. >> thanks very much, dom. aig ceo bob benmosche will speak

with me shortly in a first on cnbc interview. he's going to talk earnings, obamacare, the economy, markets, and a lot more. there's so much to discuss. please stick around for that. in the meantime, mary thompson, your view on what's going on with aig, the financials, insurance? >> what we want to focus on are their casualty lines. we want to see what the combined ratio was, see if they made any improvement there as well this quarter. >> well, i can tell you actually. with regard to the combined ratio, a little worse than expected. for every dollar of peopremium taking in, putting out a little less. 103.8. it was supposed to come in a little under 100. paying out they're taking in. >> we'll have to wait and see what the commentary is. there was a note coming out saying looking at the insurers

saying they've been able to pass on a price increase that typically affects or impacts their stock to the upside early on, not so much later in the year. we'll see what plans they have there. >> and they're coming off the year with hurricane sandy. >> but still, they want to see how the property and casualty lines here in the u.s. in particular did because there was some work that needed to be done on that business. >> and jane, by the way, as everyone here is trying to make heads and tail of just how much of the weather impact we're having on the economy on some of the soft data we're getting, we've been focusing a lot because it's our bias here in new york about the cold weather. california has had a pretty severe drought. i understand it's getting a little better, but this is not a weather pattern or phenomenon that's unique to this part of the country. >> a little bit better. we got a little rain. we need noah-like floods to get us back to some sort of

equilibrium. whole foods had a disappointing outlook. a lot of their organic food is grown here in california. prices for those are going up because so much of the farmland that is used for that is going foul. i think you're going to start to see that with the organic and the natural food pricings. that produce is going way up. it'll impact margins at some of these companies. by the way, i'm going to blame the weather for the market turnaround today. people didn't want to go out. they were so cold they stayed home, stayed in the office, traded up the market. that's my theory. thank you. >> elon, what about the fact it has something to do with what we heard from janet yellen this week at the fed? it kind of feels like maybe if we had heard from her today, you know, what would have changed? >> kelly, i don't know how much more she can say. she testified for four hours on the hill. that's got to be a record. i think what i'm worried about

is the macro picture is just not good. i worry there's not going to be a lot of clarity before the fed's meeting in march. right now we're in a situation where 2014 was supposed to be the year the economy sort of broke free, that we reached that escape velocity. i don't know how much more information the fed is going to have to go on. >> there's a lot of earnings we should talk about. we've got numbers from cisco yesterday. we covered that quite a bit. how much of a tell is that really for people who often would talk about them as such a barometer for the sector? or are there other people instead when you're combing through earnings reports you say, that's how we know what's really going on. >> the overall feeling i'm getting is you look at stocks moving today. even look at cisco earnings. it's not as bad as we feared it would be. you see maybe some trading stability in emerging markets, plus you get cisco.

revenues were a little stronger than some people had feared. the emerging markets weren't as bad as some people had feared. facebook is doing well. palo alto networks, which is one of those point players, forcing cisco to move a little faster. also doing better. seems like some of the scrappier names actually have room to grow in this market. >> mary, yeah? >> that means also help today. one other thing i want to note, and a number of traders were talking about this, coming into the session, a lot of people were looking at the movement with the dollar-yen. >> why do we care? >> there's a strong correlation between market weakness and yen strength, essentially risk on, risk off is what they tell me. what happened is despite the retail sales numbers, you saw the yen strengthening against the dollar right after that. then the dollar made a comeback.

if you look at the way the markets reacts, it was almost in perfect tandem. >> we've been here before, by the way. the way people are trading these currencies and trying to take positions, you know, whether it was the late '90s or the last cycle, you have to kind of watch the liquidity, right? it's not just about earnings. it's not just about fundamentals. it's actually about the way in which people are placing bets, guy. >> yeah, and the people are -- and my good friend, one of the great traders of all time, andrew scott berman of goldman sachs, points out that the russ will outperform the s&p today, which you haven't seen in a while. it appears as though people are trying to get back into some of the beta names. i think they're misguided. i think this last 100 points in the s&p doesn't make a whole lot -- it scares me actually, here, for the first time in a while. >> but is it a selling opportunity? >> yes, yes. thank you. and i know you said that for me. i appreciate that. >> he did. >> you the man.

>> for people who are -- >> guy, you're bringing me down. >> come on, jane. i dig you, man. you're out on the west coast. you're out there in the sun, but you got to get back to reality here. we all believe that the feds, janet yellen, they're the greatest things for stocks. i get it. not least of which is that thing in china. these wmps that no one wants to talk about, that's close to $2 trillion. you think there was a ponzi scheme with madoff? this is the biggest ponzi scheme in the history of mankind. >> all it's basically doing is -- >> oh, come on. >> it's extending credit. a ponzi scheme is when the entire premise is you take a dollar from one person, give it to another, and the payouts only add up so long as they're growing. we see in this kind of institution time and again and every kind of country and situation, which isn't to say it's a sound one, but i'm not sure it's a ponzi scheme. >> i hear you. i'll play the semantics game with you. but you understand what i'm saying. >> i do. >> it's a dangerous game.

guaranteed 5% to 13% risk. there is no risk free anything. >> right, right. we've learned that lesson here. elon, back to something greg ip was saying last hour, which was really interesting. we were talking about how yellen can do no wrong and look at the market reaction. he was saying, look, people aren't reading this the right way necessarily. what was basically seen as softening economic data and a fed chair who tells us she's not ready to do anything about it. perhaps that's a reality or realization the market is going to come to if the soggy spell continues. >> i don't know that janet yellen feels like she can't do anything about it. she said qe is very successful. she said it very blatantly during her testimony. i think she feels like the program will continue in hopes that particularly the long-term unemployment number will come down. she highlighted that during her testimony as one of the key metrics that she's going to be looking at. unlike the bank of england, they haven't released 18 or whatever different measures they're going

to be looking at. long-term unemployment is going to be one of them. part-time work is going to be another one. labor force participation rate. even though the fed's own monetary policy report blamed demographics as the reason for the big decline in labor force participation rate, she still feels like there's a big cyclical component to this. >> if/when she goes back before the senate, i imagine she'll get questions on that. guys, thanks for now. olympic curls, by the way, is coming up in about an hour here on cnbc. people are loving it. get that second screen ready because guy and the "fast money" freestyle will be streaming live on fastmoney.cnbc.com. that is a lot of fun. the last couple of days have been fun to watch. appreciate him joining us this hour, bringing the lumber, sir. >> unsenscensoreduncensored. >> that's an important part as well. the snowpocalypse not over. this massive winter storm is grounding thousands of flights,

shutting schools and businesses and creating a travel nightmare. we'll have full team coverage of the storm and its impact on your money coming up. plus, the other big story of the day. >> we don't compete. we're not in the same markets. we're not in any of the same zip codes with time warner. >> our parent company, comcast, buying time warner cable for $45.2 billion. two former top fcc officials will go head to head on the deal's chances of passing regulatory muster. don't miss that spirited debate. keep it here. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide.

opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances.

welcome back. never mind the snowstorm. wall street's getting hit by a flurry of after the bell earnings. dominic chu keeping an eye on all of it. >> we have three of them we're watching right how it. we're going to start off with aig, which reported better than expected fourth quarter profits. it also increased its quarterly dividend by 25% to now 12.5 cents per share per quarter. also increases its stock buyback program by an additional $1 billion. programming note, aig ceo will be live to talk earnings in the next half hour of this show, "the closing bell," so let's stay tuned for that.

also, brocade communications moving higher after better than expected quarterly earnings and sales. the shares up about 3%. then there's weight watchers. this one is getting slammed in the after hours. the company is posting weaker than expected fourth quarter earnings and delivering 2014 full-year guidance that fell below its previous and wall street views. its ceo said 2014 would be a very challenging year, and that stock challenging right now. kelly, down about 17, 18% in the after hours. back over to you. >> a big gap lower. thank you, dom. more on what turned out to be a pretty surprising day to the upside for investors now. hey, guys. >> how are you? >> kenny, first to you. you were in the middle of this action today. how did we go, especially with weak economic data from minus to plus today? >> we went right to the 50-day moving average where it found some support. it churned there for a little bit and bounced higher. we got those weaker retail numbers, but nobody seems to be

concerned. they're trying to pass it off as an outlier, and they're still looking forward to the market being stronger in the weeks ahead. i'm a little suspect of it. i think it's a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction. but today is what it was. >> david, it's been interesting. both kenny and dave said not so sure they like the nature of this quick rebound. do you agree we might be heading lower next? >> it's very possible. people like janet yellen speaking on message, they felt continuity. china, the second seat. china's tremendous trade surplus, okay, which says that their economy's not going to dip as low as people thought. thirdly, earnings and revenues have been strong on a number of the economies, the bell weather companies. those three things, i think, have given fundamental support to the market. and get ready, kelly. japan and europe are likely to add more monetary stimulus. and i think that's in the wind now. >> the baton could be passing.

>> yes. >> mark said something interesting last hour. he said this market wants to go higher. a day like today is indicative. that's the other side of this story. there are some who say too far, too fast. others say, well, that's because actually the bias is much higher. do you think there's anything to that? >> i think that the year is going to end up higher. i think the first half of the year is going to continue to be choppy and go lower. i think 2014 is going to be a turnaround year. i i agree with everything david said. i think europe is going to come online. but when you talk to someone like me, right, my focus is day-to-day kind of shorter term. i have a long-term view, but my job forces me to be short term. therefore, my view thinks in the next couple of months, weeks, whatever, that we're going to have this test lower and then move higher as the year goes on. >> this is going to be a sloppy first half. he said choppy. sloppy. it's going to be like the slush outside right now, kelly. it's snow and rain together. it's going to be messy. china, the new ceo, xi jinping, is there to clean house. he's going to do all the

restructuring. so you're going to have a rough first all over the world. it'll be choppy. you could definitely go back and test these lows, but we would be adding to health care. i would be adding to technology. all of your viewers should look into these new floating rate notes that the treasury has begun offering. that's for your cash. it's not exciting enough for you? >> well, look, it's pegged to the short, short, short end of rates. you have to look out several years beyond the longer end of the curve, correct? >> if it moves significantly higher, and the consensus is for the end of the year for bond yields to be 370. if you're too far out, it will hurt your capital value and your total return will be low. if you have floaters that reset every three month, you'll be able to march higher with that. so the coupon's not fixed, but therefore, the capital value

remains fixed. unlike a bond where the coupon is fixed and the capital value gets hit when interest rates go up. >> last quick word, kenny. >> ditto. exactly. >> i'm between the two ks today. >> we're going to leave it there. thank you so much. we'll see you tomorrow if that downward momentum reasserts itself. in the men time, a block buster deal. cnbc's parent company comcast making a move to buy time warner cable for $45 billion. >> we wouldn't be doing this if we didn't think we could get it approved. >> two former fcc officials are up next. and they're going to talk about the deal's chances of getting the green light from regulators. don't go anywhere. we'll be right back. 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 a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? i would. i would indeed. well, let's be clear here. i'm actually a dj. [ dance music plays ] [laughs] no way! i have no financial experience at all.

that really is you? if they're not a cfp pro, you just don't know. find a certified financial planner professional who's thoroughly vetted at letsmakeaplan.org. cfp -- work with the highest standard. it's been that way since the day you met. but your erectile dysfunction - it 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 4 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. welcome back. it is a media megadeal. comcast, the parent company of this network, saying it'll buy time warner cable for $45.2 billion. comcast did end lower today, still near all-time high levels, though, for those shares. time warner cable, meanwhile, surging. david faber has more on the deal, which he broke early this morning. >> it is one of the biggest media deals of all time, and certainly the biggest we've seen in cable, creating a coloss sas that will stretch across the country. comcast agreeing to acquire time warner cable for $45 billion. of course, any trust regulators and the fcc still have to weigh in before this deal will be approved and will close. nonetheless, the possibility of

it has been in the air for quite some time. in fact, time warner cable has embraced comcast as it tried to avoid the clutches of charter and liberty media and said, hey, why not bid for us? why not do this deal? the financial part of it, well t makes a lot of sense, many would say. and finally, that seemed to be the case for brian roberts, who i spoke to earlier in asking him, well, why this deal as opposed to an international deal or expanding in content? >> when you take out the synergies, we're paying about 6.6 times cash flow to buy some premier markets and a premier company. that's because of the synergies. when you look at that, that may be the most attractive acquisition. >> of course, whether it's the acquisition of at&t broad band or nbc, they're the king of doing deals. we'll see if the regulators let

this one get to the finish line. >> all right. that's have david faber. for more, let's bring in two top regulators from the fcc, the agency that likely holds the key to this deal being approved or not. welcome to you both. michael, i want to start with you because you think this deal should be dead on arrival at the fcc. why? >> it's just beyond the pail to me that one company should be allowed to of this much reach and this much power in our media environment. in an atmosphere where consumer prices keep rising and where competition keeps disappearing. this is about broadband and broadcast. it's about content and distribution. it's movies, it's entertainment, it's the whole ball of wax, and it's just beyond anything that consumers should be expected to tolerate or a democracy should be expected to suffer.

>> al, you know, the companies themselves will say, look, we're going to divest about 3 million subscribers to go below 30% market share. we've never had more competition from some of these web-based startups, and that the consumer has choice between satellite and broadband anyway. what's your take on this deal? >> first of all, i don't think you can say just because it's big that it is therefore somehow illegal, somehow injurious to the public good. i would not handicap what the fcc is going to do, but i know that the fastest growth in providing video subscription services by the telephone companies, not by the cable companies. so, you know, if you're a cable company, you've got three national competitors. you've got the two phone companies, verizon and at&t, then you have satellite. so i think what you've got to do is look at this as potentially amortizing a much more significant amount of research and development to provide what

needs to be software-enabled consumer-centric network by comcast. >> we heard a similar remark from gerald levin last hour, michael. so what about that? >> research and development and putting money into investigative journalism is not what happens when you get these big mergers. what happens is journalists get fired, news rooms get closed, and our democratic discourse, our civic dialogue on which our country depends, disappears. research and development are important, yes, but that's not what we've seen as a result of this kind of coming together. >> the time warner company doesn't employ a single journalist. >> michael, did you catch that? he said time warner cable doesn't employ a single journalist. so what is the concern? >> the concern is a company that owns all of these outlets and networks and magazines and everything else has so much power over our civic dialogue,

over our journalism that we rely upon to inform ourselves. it's just too much. now adding time warner to that with its distribution and outlets and its own content is just throwing gasoline on a fire. >> well, time warner cable was spun out of time warner. so there's been a separation between content and cable. >> there's no separation in comcast. i was the lone commissioner at the fcc to vote against the initial comcast/nbcu merger acquisition a few years ago. that was -- it's amazing to me -- you want to know where the money goes. i mean, that cost $40 billion, $50 billion, i don't know, $80 billion. now a couple years later, we have $45 billion more to finance this. yes, it serves the interests of big business and the bottom lines of the company, but it does not serve the needs of the american people to have this much power reposed in one

gigantic cable broadband, broadcast behemoth. >> al, to you before we have to go, how do you measure this power that michael's talking about? how do you know and how does the fcc determine whether and when there's a real threat, a real harm being done to consumers? >> well, first of all, i think the justice department is better at measuring whether something is likely to restrain trade or involve price fixing as contrasted to the fcc. secondly, i would, you know, comment that in a dynamic network environment, power can be fleeting. if i worry today about power, i'd probably be looking more at google and amazon than i would comcast or time warner cable. so, you know, you've got to, you know, be a bit more global in your focus on what is or isn't power, how it might or might not be injuriously used. >> and michael, that's a great

point. is it not? you have to consider as well some of these players that are amassing a lot of leverage, the googles, the amazons of the world. that's kind of the point that comcast is making here as well. >> well, that doesn't mean we have to build up a behemoth on one side to contrast and take on the behemoth on the other. there's such a thing as a public interest. there's a duty of the fcc not just to look at competition and department of justice to look at competition, but to look at the public interest. how does this serve the interest of consumers? >> michael and al, thank you both. i really appreciate your perspectives on this one. a huge story, a huge deal, and one that's going to affect millions. i want to bring in my panel. john fort? >> when monopolies get bigger, pricing doesn't come down. so what can they give to the consumer? what can they promise that makes this a little more palatable? and what should the government be doing to drive the future of content distribution?

>> jane, how does this story sit with you? because so much of it seems to focus on the properties and overlap, you know, on this coast. >> well, you know, time warner is in l.a. and comcast has its work cut out for it winning the love of cable customers here because people are not fans of time warner. in fact, somebody joked today that comcast needs to bayuy unid airlines, then they'll own every hated company in america. it's really whether it's comcast or time warner, doesn't matter. you go to directv or verizon or your cable company, whoever it is. >> what about this point that the googles and amazons of the world, if you want to talk about power and clout, that you should look there as well. but at the same time, if you do, does that make comcast's point that perhaps there is more competition than the geography would otherwise suggest? mr. fort. >> well, it's an interesting point bringing up facebook. if you're concerned about size, no one company should be allowed to own everybody in social networking and hold so much information.

should google be allowed to dominate search the way it does? if you're going to decide that's not allowed, i think you have to have a framework and rational for deciding that. we haven't heard that yet. >> that's the important next piece. thank you, guys. aig shares are moving on the heels of its earnings report. ceo bob benmosche breaks them down with me next. we'll also talk obamacare, the economy, markets, and a lot more. he hasn't even spoken with analysts yet. keep it right here. we'll be right back. (vo) you are a business pro.

seeker of the sublime. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the 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. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ tires screech ] chewley's finds itself in a sticky situation today after recalling its new gum. [ male announcer ] stick it to the market before you get stuck. get the most extensive charting wherever you are with the mobile trader app from td ameritrade.

wherever you are with the mobile trader app on beautyrest and posturepedic. financing and save up to $500 get a sealy queen set for just $399. even get 3 years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. but only through presidents' day at sleep train.

welcome back. aig reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings earlier this hour. joining me now for more on those results is robert benmosche, the ceo of aig. welcome. >> thank you. nice to see you. >> so a year ago you had hurricane sandy to grapple with. didn't have that in the fourth quarter, though we certainly have had some unusual weather. what did that end up meaning for your results? >> first of all, year-over-year results are very strong. we had smaller catastrophes, natural catastrophes. however, we are also in the business of insuring large buildings, large businesses. our large losses were a little higher than normal. >> why was that?

>> well -- >> the nature of the business. >> you know, all the sudden a plant will have an enormous fire and you have to deal with those kinds of issues. that's why people have insurance. for us, it's a pattern over a four, five-year period. you'll see it's normal, then you'll see some big events occur. but that's what aig stands for. we stand for our ability to insure properties up to $1.5 billion. so we take some of those losses that occur you should unusual circumstances, man made, if you will, versus natural. >> when it comes to natural, just to dwell on this for a moment, because we're in the middle of an unusual weather pattern now, how are you modeling this? >> we're looking at normal industry models, which looks at what happens if there's a certain kind of event. we're also doing things in a very proprietary way. we're bringing our science group together, working with our teams to think about how do we get a better insight as to what are

the probabilities and what kinds of exposures you want to have under certain kinds of storms. so it's really the business of understanding exposures and what can happen if a category 4 comes through new york but maybe closer to the sea versus inland, what that could mean in terms of losses. >> i guess part of what i'm getting at, not to be political, but from a business point of view, is there climate change? >> i think there's a lot of talk about climate change. it doesn't feel like that way outside right now here in new york. >> well, maybe not warming, but certainly change. >> things are changing. the world is alive. this is a changing planet. if you look at earthquakes and you look at the ring of fire, for example, there's a lot of things that are going on that can create changes in nature. our job is to make sure we think about our risks, how much exposure we want to take in any one given area k and make sure we're being paid for that risk so we're comfortable that we're diversified, global, and so on. that says that we can afford to take a loss in one area versus another. it's really about risk diversification and geographic

diversification, not global warming. >> are you planning to make some other big deals? you're generating a lot more cash than you did a couple years ago, obviously. you got a couple of choices about what to do with that, right? you can hang on to it, which to some extent regulators like to see. you can pay it back to shareholders. you can buy companies, especially maybe some of the bigger asian companies, that might give you more growth and exposure. talk us through the way you're thinking about what to do. >> you want me to give you stock symbols, i hope. >> a couple stock picks, you know, if you don't mind. >> that would be great on tv. why not? our first priority is to make sure that we focus on our credit ratings. so it's important that we deal with our coverage ratios, we deal with enough liquidity and capital so that we are living up to the ratings that say we can live up to our guarantees. so that's first priority. second priority is to focus on shareholders. what we said was we wanted to be balanced with dividends so they get some cash back. also, share buybacks. to the extent we have an ability

to take on a severe risk in terms of it happening in the marke markets as well as the credit markets, equity market, and so on, that if we can stress this company for a really bad event, then we can be comfortable there's excess cash we can provide back to the shareholders. so it's finding the right balance. but if we can find a good business for the right price -- remember, we're big. we're the largest insurance company in the world based on shareholder equity. if we find a good economic transaction for aig, we'll use that money to buy a company, that is something that will allow us to grow a little more rapidly in some of the countries we're doing business with. other than that, we will just focus on good credit ratings and then our shareholders. >> if you're doing relatively better and generating cash in all of this and so forth and returning cash to shareholders, why also cut 3% of the work force? what is that all about? >> first of all, we've been talking about moving to lower-cost locations. now, people say, well, that means you're moving offshore.

that's not true. amarillo, texas, is a wonderful location for us. texas is still in the united states of america. and it's a great -- >> i'm not sure rick perry wants to talk about that. >> we're not going into it, but it's bringing some jobs to amarillo from other locations. we bring jobs to tennessee from other locations. so it's finding locations where we can get pools of talent, lower cost. olatha, kansas, is another area we're bringing jobs to. when you bring jobs from one area to another, high cost, low cost, you have to have some duplication. so we've done that in 2013. we've moved a lot of jobs to lower-cost locations. and therefore, the jobs that were created are added, and now we have to begin to eliminate the jobs that have been replaced as we move them. you have a lot of that going on right now. >> is your work force going to grow or shrink overtime? houp of this reflects technological change? >> it's a combination of technology. it's a combination of making

sure we delayer the company. we want to have less layers because people want to feel empowered, and we feel we have too much bureaucracy. the other part s quite frankly, technology makes a big difference. as we continue to invest a large amount of money in our technology plant -- for example, we had -- but we're bringing them into locations that are very secure. so it's about hardening our environment. making sure that catastrophes can't hurt the ability of this firm and to deliver on its processing results. so that's all part of the efficiency you'll see. >> you mentioned earlier what aig stands for. for a lot of americans, it still stands for the villain at the height of the financial crisis. derivatives trades, other kinds of decisions that were made at the time. do you feel as though it's mission accomplished to some extent? i mean, what is aig -- what does it represent today, and does aig today pose any threat to the

financial system? >> one, i don't believe it poses any threat to the financial system. it's an important part of the financial system. our data doesn't agree with you. we have seen that the public's negative sentiment is down dramatically to levels lower than we've seen. and the positive is starting to move up because people realize that aig paid back america plus a profit for about $205 billion. many people thought aig was finished. so we lived up to our promises to pay back america. in addition to that, we employ 30,000-plus people in america. these are jobs. and all the jobs we have here at aig, we create many more thousands of jobs for people who do business with aig. when you talk to our risk managers, major corporations, remember we do business with 98% of the fortune 500 in this company. >> but that's the problem, right? we're talking about this issue of too big or too interconnected to fail or what have you. there's this sense that, well, for a company that important, we can't let it go down because

think of the impact. >> first of all, our insurance companies didn't go down. our insurance companies are very well regulated. and we are regulated to make sure that we can live up to our promises. so i'm very comfortable with any insurance company out there making sure that if they fail, there's enough money and capital behind that company to live up to the promises made to the policyholders. but aig is important, but it's not too big to fail. but i will tell you that we provide an enormous resource to the companies. people need our people. they need our problem solving. and so these companies are doing business with us not because we're too big, it's because we're skilled in what we need to do. >> how safe is the u.s. financial system today? >> i think it's safer than we've ever imagined. i think ben bernanke has done an outstanding job of taking us through this crisis. if you look at the stress tests that banks are dealing with, the leveraging that's happened, what's happened here at aig. we're out of the financial

products business and so on. this system has never been stronger in a long, long time. and i mean decades upon decades of what's been happening here. now, obviously by being constrained, we're very safe, but we're not taking on enough risk to grow the economy. that's not going to create jobs. so we're going to have to find the right balance. but i will tell you it's never been safer. >> last question. you're one of the names on our list of cnbc's 25 most influential over the last 25 years, in fact. i wonder who you would say has been influential enough to deserve a place on that list? >> well, unfortunately, she's not alive, but i say my mother deserves a place on that list because she's done an outstanding job as a business person, and teaching us values that make sense. but if we talk about other people in the business world, i would say the chairman that just retired of the federal reserve. i think ben bernanke stood up, and what was most important is we needed someone to make decisions in '08, however

popular or unplrnopular, and ma sure we continued to stay focused on keeping this economy from stalling. the unsung hero, why did he do this, why did he do that. but the fact is the financial system is as strong as it is today and as vibrant as it is today, ben bernanke deserves an enormous amount of credit for quietly taking the abuse. >> we'll leave it there. thank you so much for coming by. that's ceo of aig robert benmosche. we'll have more after the bell earnings and wall street reaction coming up. we'll also have the latest on the massive winter storm we're experiencing first hand. it's slamming the east coast. we're going to have full team coverage from air travel to your investments. keep it right here. in the new new york, we don't back down. we only know one direction: 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

. . . . . . . . ing is, or how ornate the halls are. it doesn't matter if there are granite statues, or big mahogany desks. when working with an investment firm, what's really important is whether the people behind the desks actually stand behind what they say. introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter.

it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply. chuck vo: standing by your word, that's what matters the most. welcome back. call it frozenomics. another major storm is wreaking havoc along the east coast an beyond. morgan brennan is outside cnbc headquarters in new jersey where it's now a wintry mix. seema mody is at the nasdaq and phil lebeau at chicago o'hare, where flights keep getting canceled. morgan, kick it off for us. i understand there's another round coming tonight. >> another round coming tonight from d.c. to new york. already seen 8 to 12 inches of snow. right now it's about 36 degrees and very wet. it's misting right now. all that snow that's coming, it's all contributing to pressure on government budgets. we're keeping a close look on that right now. new jersey, for example, before

the storm had already spent $70 million on snow removal. that's a new record. also, still seeing salt shortages for many towns and cities. that's as demand continues to outpace deliveries. another issue, water main breaks. we're seeing hundreds of across the midwest and northeast already. that's really costly for cleanup. it's also a big issue, big reason we're seeing another problem. that's potholes. so in the first six weeks of 2014 alone, chicago had already filled 125,000 potholes. new york city, nearly 69,000 potholes. and that's an 83% increase over a year ago. lastly, propane, we're keeping an eye on that. prices are down a little bit in the last week, but they're still close to the record highs. we're still seeing shortages there. back to you, kelly. >> wow. crazy. and, you know, by the way, a little surprise that there are some big tech names winning from this winter's cabin fever. seema, there are actually quite a few angles here. >> that's right, kelly. the powerful storm that has swept through the east coast

leaving people from maine to georgia stuck at home may actually be good news for a couple of few companies. for example, morning star sees online retail companies amazon and ebay benefitting from consumer spending time online while stuck at home. youtube, hulu, and netflix seeing higher traffic. don't forget, season two of "house of cards" premieres tomorrow. lastly is the beverage opportunity. e-commerce delivered in countries nationwide says wine sales are up 60% year to date. vodka up 35%. weekend sales are expected to be extra strong as people celebrate valentine's day at home. we'll have to see if that's a

boom for beverage makers. kelly, bottoms up. back to you. >> yeah, we hope everyone is enjoying the spiritsing to and not by themselves. that's a lot of booze. thank you, seema. snowpocalypse grounding thousands of flights across the country. phil lebeau, how bad is it? >> a record-setting day, kelly. in fact, this is the worst single day for flight cancellations in the u.s. in more than three years. the total numbers, and these are the numbers within the last 15 minutes from flightaware.com. nearly 6700 flights canceled so far today. more than 5400 delayed. the biggest impact for any single airline, delta. washington-dulles, this is the best video we've seen all day long. most encouraging video. they have reopened one runway. just one so far at dulles. meanwhile, reagan, the runways remain closed. 20% of the flights in the u.s. canceled today. think about that. there are 30,000 every day. we've already seen more than 6,000 cancellations. charlotte-douglas feeling the

biggest impact. 81% of its flights canceled today. this year has just been a disaster for the airlines. more than 73,000 flights canceled here in the u.s. that works out to an average of almost 1700 flights canceled every single day. passengers impacted, 4.9 million. in fact, i just got an update. they say it's now 5.6 million americans impacted. bottom line is this. as bad as these numbers are, kelly, we're expecting to see even more cancellations tomorrow as this storm continues to linger in the new york and boston area. back to you. >> and phil, perhaps what's most interesting is the fact that, you know, the shares for these airlines, they've done all right. investors seem to be looking at the much bigger picture here. >> they're all up for the year. that's because people are focused on the fundamentals. there's not one airline that is not, you know, impacted by this storm. >> exactly. phil lebeau, seema, morgan brennan, our thanks to all of

you. it's a chilly one, so much appreciated. the latest after the bell action is coming up. forget the storm outside. we want to talk about the storm of earning in the last hour. it's having a big impact on markets. details on those for you right after this. ng faster than ever, we believe outshining the competition tomorrow requires challenging your business inside and out today. at cognizant, we help forward-looking companies run better and run different - to give your customers every reason to keep looking for you. so if you're ready to see opportunities and see them through, we say: let's get to work. because the future belongs to those who challenge the present. because what you don't know, can smarhurt you. insurance. what if you didn't know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii! what if you didn't know that as the price of gold rises, so should the coverage on your jewelry? [prospector] ahh! what if you didn't know that kitty litter can help you out of a slippery situation?

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♪ we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. we still run into problems.

that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness if you qualify, and new car replacement, standard with our auto policies. so call liberty mutual at... today. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

double the fun. be sure to catch the latest olympic curling action from sochi here on cnbc thex. while you're watching it, you can also stream "fast money" freestyle at fastmoney.cnbc.com. mandy drury is filling in today. what's on tap? >> cnbc is going to be omnipresent. you can watch the krucurling ate olympics. you have "fast money" on the way. you can listen to it on the radio. myself and the guys here. back to you, kelly. >> okay. that's hi, pereverybody. that's coming up. one story we want to get to today, facebook announcing it's offering a new custom gender field. it expands options for users to choose what they declare themselves beyond male or female. what i like is john fort's take

on this. explain the importance of this, sir. >> i think part of the reason why this is important is because facebook is huge. it's sort of become the new census form. for a lot of transgender people and others in this community, they've been looking for ways to do this on facebook. facebook has finally given them a standard way to do it. >> maybe as facebook goes, the census will follow. thank you for being here. so much to get through, and a lot happening next. olympic curling and "fast money" freestyle. enjoy it all. uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today.

♪ ♪ where you think you're gonna go ♪ ♪ when your time's all gone? [ male announcer ] live a full life. the new lexus ct hybrid with an epa estimated 42 mpg. the further you go, the more interesting it gets. lease the 2014 ct 200h for $299 a month for 27 months. see your lexus dealer. i didn't think i could buy them their own, let alone for under $300. 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 ♪

at least not over my laptop. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. mmmhmmm...everybody knows that. well, did you know that old macdonald was a really bad speller? your word is...cow. cow. cow. c...o...w... ...e...i...e...i...o. [buzzer] dangnabbit. geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know.

mother russia, meet your newest olympic champion, jamie anderson claims gold in slopestyle!