pains me to say this. you won the debate. >> pains you? what about me? >> the bear on walmart. give us a final trade, pete. >> acas. keep an eye on this. >> home depot. big call buy today. >> target. >> bb & t. >> that does it for us. "power lunch" starts now. "halftime" is over. "power lunch" and the second half of the trading day start right now. >> we have a major hour of "power" coming up. a full theme of frozenomices today. economists taking this much more seriously now. so are stock analysts. today we talk about the companies that are likely to benefit and those likely to be left out in the cold after all this cold and stormy weather. germany's powerful unions are not happy with the vote down in tennessee. the uaw losing that one and the germans, the unions there, aren't taking it sitting down. see what they're planning and

how it could affect the entire american auto industry. and the terrible violence in ukraine just keeps getting worse. just 18 months ago, they hosted an international soccer tournament and now are on the brink of, if not in, a civil war. markets are starting to react to this. russian stocks down big today. sue is out. kate kelly is at the new york stock exchange. we will check in with her in just a minute. we start, though, with frozenomics. take a look at this chart of gas, up another percent today, a percent in the last month. one big reason of course is because new weather models, this big move today, 40% in one month, new weather models came in overnight. wsi senior meteorologist dan leonard telling us today to expect cold now throughout much of the nation into quote, the first week of march and beyond. originally, leonard's model said the cold would back off by the second week of march, but now

that part of the forecast has changed. jeff grossman trades nat gas for brg brokerage. where do we stand? where do you see prices moving? >> i personally think we may have topped out near term but again, tomorrow we have some very interesting, we have figures coming out about inventories. there is talk of 200 to 255. we have a possibility of this market probably reaching its goals and probably selling off. this market has gone way above what most people even considered normal range here, and we now have a point where no one's willing to sell this market. usually when that happens, the market's ready for a good sell-off. >> we are up 41% as that graphic shows in just the past month. take us through, if you don't mind, the sort of supply and demand equation. i get that demand is up but i thought supply was much higher as well. >> well, truth be told, what was

considered a glut of natural gas has vanished and right now, we have already now certain sort of logistical issues that come as far as delivering the natural gas and giving people reason for concern. we're not at a point where you have to be overly krconcerned. there is ample, the biggest issue is really the propane which really has delivery problems and issues but natural gas, it is down to the point where now suddenly it's almost like a cash and carry kind of basis. really from an overabundance we are now living by day to day to see how we stand as far as inventories. >> thanks very much for that report. we appreciate it. hope your dream comes true there and the market may go a little lower. at least those of us paying natural gas bills. i saw sara eisen here yesterday and now she's in florida, tracking how consumer companies like campbell soup and hershey's are doing and weathering the weather at a big u.s. consumer products event down in sunny

florida. first, though, to dominic chu. he was here yesterday and he is still here today. he's looking at companies likely to win by the cold weather. >> there is a flipside to every coin. let's kick things off with companies that get hit by the bad weather. first, perhaps no surprise, of all the snow, ice and sleet, airlines like united have had a tough go. take that united, continental story. the vice chairman called that first polar vortex in january among the worst weather events in the company's history. it canceled 6300 flights and other airlines canceled tens of thousands more. a lot of that revenue is now lost, perhaps never to be had back again. what about restaurants? take the cheesecake factory, for instance. they are a big one. when it rains and snows that much, you can't really get out to your favorite eateries. that's a lot of lost revenue as well. it said severe weather impacted its business and of course, there's walmart. that said the plethora of storms

hurt their sales as well. a lot of the losers here, but there are beneficiaries to all that cold weather. take o'reilly automotive which sells aftermarket replacement parts. the cold weather generated higher car parts failures which boosted sales at aftermarket parts makers. also, battery makers like johnson controls, also cited bad weather as more of a tailwind for their business than a headwind, a hurting factor. so johnson controls make a lot of car batteries and a lot of those batteries are being sold because of the cold weather. then of course, there's the cold weather apparel makers like columbia sportswear. those shares up 10% today and strong earnings forecast were better than estimates. the ceo tim boyle said strong momentum is carrying over so now it's cold outside, baby, it's cold outside, but not everybody is a loser in that kind of market. >> you think of bent wheels and things like that that will happen out of this. >> you know, i replaced all four

wheels on my car because every pothole i hit the first time in years i have had to do that. >> i think it will be a full employment act for body shops around the country, not many publicly traded, if any, but they will do some business. all right. now to sara eisen, he said, in boca raton where the weather is no problem. consumer companies are at a key conference there and making important decisions based on the weather. >> reporter: the weather is just one of the problems these consumer companies are facing right now. they are saying it makes an impact but overall, it's part of a broader narrative and that is consumer spending in this country, internationally as well, has been weak. the ceo of clorox, talked to him earlier. they have a great grasp on consumer spending, making everything from bleach to charcoal to water filters to kitty litter. he says the consumer is quote, fragile right now. that was his word. and that weather really is only a small impact.

clorox, interestingly enough, stands to benefit from this and saw that in their latest results because it sells more wipes and bleaches because of flu season, because people stay home and try to clean and try to stay healthy. another one that is seeing a boost from the colder weather, campbell's soup. i was just speaking with the ceo, denise morrison. she says she's not changing the strategy given the weather but certainly saw a nice bump for their core product, campbell's soup, the broth, people staying home, they are cooking more, using that broth, trying to stay warm. but in general, a lot of companies, especially the food companies that sell at the grocery stores, say that consumers haven't been coming out, haven't been spending as much, and as i said, it's just one of their problems. they are also here at the conference complaining about sluggish income growth, sluggish job creation in the united states. in particular, europe turning a corner a bit and here's the other big concern that everybody is talking about here. emerging markets. a lot of these companies, the colgates of the world, have been

overseas expanding heavily. that's where the growth is. that's where the consumer of tomorrow is. in the long term, they are still bullish but in the short term, they say pretty big head winds, especially on the wild currency moves. back to you. two big stories in the world of real estate today. mortgage applications down 4.1% last week. housing starts fell for the second month in a row last month. diana olick is live with us in washington. welcome. >> reporter: this was not exactly unexpected after yesterday's huge drop in builder confidence. housing starts down 16% month to month. that's single family. even down nearly 7% from a year ago. everyone blames it on the weather but starts were actually up in the northeast even though that's a very small sample, yes, and down in the west where weather wasn't a factor in january. sure, weather makes it hard to start a house, but permits were down as well for both single and multi-family month to month, up slightly from a year ago. weather doesn't matter when you're just going into the

permit office. so bill pulte said on "fast money" that we have just had exaggerated seasonality this year, i.e., the weather. i spoke to the ceo of red fin, an online brokerage, and he says no, this is not about the weather, it's about affordability. so what about all that pent-up demand? >> the answer to that question is that there must be low demand. that's what we're seeing. so we saw a huge spike in demand last year. that's why we were so confident that the market had bottomed and we're not seeing the same thing this year. even though there aren't many homes for sale, there aren't many buyers looking for them, either. >> reporter: that, he says, is why mortgage applications are way down, why existing home sales have been down for four straight months, and why more people are not listing their homes for sale. kate? let's send it over to dominic chu for a market flash. >> check out shares of eli lily. an experimental cancer drug significantly improved survival rates in lung cancer patients.

some are touting it as the company's next blockbuster drug. the drug has already been shown to be successful in treating stomach cancer and the company is waiting for fda approval to market it for that disease. you can see there, they are currently up on the session. back to you. last week, auto workers at volkswagen's chattanooga plant said no thanks to joining the uaw. today, german unions may be striking back and changing the face of the american auto industry perhaps in the process. phil, tell us about it. you're live in chicago. >> reporter: you know what's interesting about this is that the german auto unions have a lot more influence in germany, especially at vw, than the unions here in the united states. the latest move comes from the german unions, basically it is now threatening vw after the uaw vote. they are essentially saying we are going to fight any further investment by vw in the united states unless the workers in tennessee can have some type of works council or reunion

representation. remember, they rejected the uaw by a narrow margin last week. senator bob corker before that vote made it very clear that vw would expand production, at least that was his understanding, if the uaw was defeated. now the unions in germany are coming back saying you know what, there ain't going to be any more investment in the southern united states unless things change in tennessee. quick check of what's happening with shares of volkswagen, it's been an interesting move over the last six months. kate? >> absolutely. very tough talk coming out of volkswagen. another story, this one on airplane manufacturing numbers. what are these numbers telling us? >> reporter: continued recovery for general aviation. when we're talking about here, the turbo props, biz jets. the latest numbers, worldwide shipments up 4.3%. a nice increase of 24% in billings. the big move has been in turboprops, only a slight increase in business jets. that's a slight increase from last year. when you look at what's happening in the biz jet market,

they are starting to see demand improve. in fact, if you look at the used business jet supply, it's dropping around the united states in part because there's greater demand by corporations who are saying you know what, now's the time to get in here and buy one of those used business jets. take a look at shares of the parent of gulfstream, general dynamics, which has had a very nice move over the last year. kate? >> thanks, phil. tyler? the violence in ukraine only getting worse today. this is video -- look at that. of an armored personnel vehicle coming under attack. police vehicle. the explosion was caught on tape. we don't have word on the fate of the crew inside but so far, some 25 people have been killed in the clashes. boxing champion vitale klichenko is urging the 20,000 protesters in kiev's central square to defend their camp. the violence starting to impact

the russian stock market. it was down 3% today. there you see the decline, down 3.5% over the past week. the bigger russian companies fell, those companies doing business in the ukraine and they transport oil and gas throughout the country. the rsx, an etf that trades russian stocks or tracks them, i should say, also lower today as you see there. kate? just taking a quick look at the boards, it looks like the dow is looking down for the moment, just slightly down. the s&p basically flat, closing perhaps not far from its all time high of 1850 depending if it can hang in there. the nasdaq down just slightly right now as well. not a terribly exciting day in the markets but a big deal in diamonds. the ceo of signet jewelers is with us. also jane wells on coffee's huge spike and what that means for

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welcome back to "power lunch." a small down day for the market overall but a tough day for steel makers in the u.s. led by u.s. steel. this after the department of commerce declined to impose tariffs or taxes on south korean steel pipes. that sent u.s. steel, ak steel,

northwest pipe and ternium to the downside. those very much in focus. back over to you. speaking of focus, one thing gets my focus going, it's coffee in the morning. prices of the beans are up 57% in three months over supply concerns arising down in brazil. jane wells covering the story from l.a. jane? >> reporter: blame it on rio, tyler. brazil is the name of the game when it comes to coffee, one broker tells dow jones, and the weather has been too hot and too dry at a critical time for the development of the coffee crop. this the world's number one coffee producing country. a futures making another strong run today. you saw that awhile ago. where are they right now? yeah. over $1.68 a pound. this on top of the biggest jump in prices yesterday since 2004. price vs shot up this year after a nice steady decline during most of 2013. some expect futures could hit $2 a pound until traders get a better idea of how the weather is playing out. the "wall street journal"

reports 10% of the crop in brazil may not be salvageable at this point. one third of the world's coffee comes from brazil and 2014 has been the driest so far in three decades. you can see how the coffee retailers are faring. if the crop turns out to be significantly reduced, this will impact them once they start contracting again in the next few months, then eventually it will impact you and certainly impact me. kate? >> thanks so much, jane. it's a gem of a deal and certainly the big deal of the day. signet jewelers valuing zale at $1.4 billion, including the assumption of debt. the combined company will have 3600 stores in north america and the uk. the ceo of signet, michael barnes, is here with us for an exclusive interview from dallas. thank you so much. great to have you on the show. >> thank you for having me on the show. i appreciate it. >> congratulations on the deal. i wanted to ask you, you guys came under a bit of pressure within the last month or two, hoping you would put a little more of the cash on your balance

sheet to work. i was wondering to what degree that played any sort of role in your decision to buy zale. >> well, that didn't play any role in the decision to make an offer for zale. we have been working on this for quite a few months now. there have been a lot of great people on both sides that have worked very hard on this deal. a lot of the things that our shareholders bring to our attention, are things that we really believe we need to listen to very carefully, and that's what we have done over time. we are one of the great things about this deal is we are going to be able to utilize a very strong balance sheet to make this happen very effectively and very efficiently, and i believe that that's what most of our shareholders want to see from us. the utilization and optimization of our balance sheet and our ability to grow our business and there's nothing better than investing back into the main core business that you own. >> i wanted to ask you, jewelry

sales were one of the strong spots in the holiday retail season during the fourth quarter of last year. to what do you attribute that strength and do you expect that it will continue in 2014 or even out to '15? >> well, i think that jewelry is a fantastic category. it's a very strong category. it has been for many, many years. people love jewelry. you can't argue with that. they are going to buy it year in and year out. both for occasions and just for -- to show love. they really want to go out there and express the sentiment of love and be able to celebrate their life, and that's really what it's all about. we want to give them the opportunity to do that. we believe by making a strategic acquisition, a transformational acquisition such as this, that we are going to be able to give our customers much better innovation by doing more research and development and ultimately it will lead to more choices for them. >> coming up with the products that they love best. we got to go in a second but i'm

just curious, what did you yourself give as valentine's gifts? did it involve jewelry? >> it did involve jewelry. you know, he goes to jared and he goes to kay. every kiss begins with kay. pretty soon he will be visiting the diamond store, zale. >> well, thank you very much, michael barnes, for joining us today. congratulations on the deal. tyler, over to you. >> thank you for your time. how's the russian -- how do they build an entire city for the olympics? find out coming up. coming up, "power pitch." flu season hasn't melted away just yet and this startup believes it has the cure to track and stop the spread of disease. just by taking your temperature. >> this is the world's smartest thermometer. >> we need to know whether or not we are in or out. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here.

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standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. welcome back to "power lunch." check out shares of teva pharmaceuticals, moving higher after the new york attorney general and the u.s. unts of the companies settled claims that the two drug makers were in collusion. tyler, those two companies very much in the news. back to you. >> thank you very much. time for our "power pitch" our weekly look at entrepreneurs. we give them 60 seconds to make their pitch, then our panel of experts decides whether or not the startup has what it takes to become the next big thing.

>> i'm mandy drury. on today's "power pitch" we have a startup that is revolutionizing one of the world's most recognized medical devices. yep, the thermometer. before launching his own startup, inder was at the clinton health access initiative. he raised more than $50 million and helped millions of people get access to life-saving medicines. let's take a look at his pitch. >> i'm inder. i'm the founder of kinsa. we are reimagining the world's most common medical device. this is the world's smartest thermometer. it connects to your phone through the headphone jack and does what no other thermometer can. for example, we use the visual display of the smartphone to create a fun and engaging experience for a child. making it easier to take a sick child's temperature. with a few simple taps, you can track symptoms over time and even send that to your doctor.

the various features of the app, you can also see the local health situation or the health situation at your child's school. this is also a less expensive thermometer than today's versions. that's because we use a smartphone intelligently. we use the power of processing and display of the smartphone and there are no electronics inside. but this isn't just a thermometer. this is a tool to realize kinsa's broader mission, to create a real-time map of human health to track and stop the spread of disease. in the future, you will see the kinsa health weather on your local news station and know what's going around before it affects your family and friends. >> inder is on the right side of your screen. he can hear us but can't react just yet. on our "power pitch" panel is angela lee. angela trains women to become angel investors. we also have patrick chung, the founding partner of nea and harvard's experiment fund.

thank you for joining us today. let's huddle up on kinsa. what do you think about this? >> i love the idea of having consumers have a lot more information about their health. giving consumers access to that type of information isn't going to have any sort of reaction in terms of people getting overly concerned. is it okay to give consumers access to this much information. will we scare people. >> patrick? >> i really love it. this is a combination of quantified self meets crowd sourcing. it's a system in which each of us can help all of us become healthier. i just love the idea of a weather map for health. i disagree with angela. i think giving consumers more data about their health is fundamentally a great thing. >> i wonder just how many he can sell to really make money here. also, they call it a smart thermometer. just how smart? i can just find out from my school that there's flu going around the school. what more information can be value added on top of that? come sit down next to angela. you're in the hot seat now. she had a few questions during

the huddle. would you like to pose one of them? >> how are you going to educate people how to use and understand the data they will be seeing? >> we are big proponents of democratization to access to information. there are possibilities that there could be negative implications of using this information. perhaps i wouldn't send my child to school if i knew there was a lot of flu going around. that will be an adjustment for society, when you have this much information. we are also proponents of democratizing access. we think it's a good thing. >> patrick? >> what is it that's hard about what you're doing? >> this is a medical device. you have to get fda approval. you also have to deal with health regulations. these are barriers to entry for a lot of companies. google as you know shut down google health a few years ago. moreover, we are building a business that's about data. we have to build that business. selling that data to monetize it is a new kind of concept when it comes to health information. >> how much does it cost for one of these smart thermometers?

where do you sell them and how many do you sell a month? >> we designed it to use a multi-channel strategy for distribution. we are potentially going to allow companies to co-brand the product and distribute it to consumers for free, where we actually cover our costs based on the co-branding. this is one of the least expensive thermometers ever made. it's because there is no battery, there is no integrated circuit, no lcd inside it. we leverage the smartphone for all that. we will sell it at retail for about $15 potentially. we will expect to sell online in the next few months and will be in retail hopefully back to school season this year. >> the smarter the thermometer the more this starts to look like a diagnostic device. how do you avoid getting regulated as a diagnostic? >> this is the first fda approved smartphone connected thermometer. the other software features may be regulated in the future. we are health care guys who understand the regulations globally and really are thoughtful about how we develop those features. >> guys, we all heard what inder had to say about this smart thermometer. we need to know whether or not we are in or out on kinsa. angela?

>> my biggest concerns were really around manufacturing of it and around just there are so many big people in this space, can they really compete. i thought the responses were fantastic so as a result, i'm in. >> what about you, patrick? >> i think this is just the beginning step of a much larger play for kinsa. i'm in as well. >> i like the idea that he's got a multi-channel distribution strategy mapped out as well as just being a plain old retail consumer product at $15, i think that's a very accessible price point. so i'm going to be in as well. what's your reaction? >> i'm psyched. that's awesome. we are actually closing a round of financing right now. let's find room in the round and get you guys all into it. >> well, thank you so much to inder singh and to our panelists. that is today's "power pitch." >> i don't know about you but i'm feeling a little febrile right now. you heard what the panel had to

say. now we want to hear from you. are you in or out on kinsa? go to powerpitch.cnbc.com or tweet us and follow the conversation on twitter with #powerpitch. kate? the metals market closing a few seconds ago. gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium all down today. let's head to the nasdaq with sheila dharmarajan. >> reporter: well, what's also down today is the nasdaq. nasdaq taking a breather today after an eight day winning streak, down about half a percent on both the nasdaq 100 and also the overall composite. remember, though, the nasdaq has gained about 6.5% over the past eight sessions so traders telling me look, not a huge surprise that we are seeing a little bit of pullback, especially on a day like today when all eyes are on the upcoming fed minutes. looking at the movers, take a look at garmin, the biggest winner today after the gps maker reported earnings and forecasts that beat estimates. also seeing some very nice strength in facebook, social media giant hitting a new record

today. as for the rest of the sector, little bit of a mixed picture. yelp, groupon and twitter are lower. of course, the one stock here that everyone is talking about is tesla. remember, tesla was one of the key momentum stocks that led the nasdaq higher so a lot of people waiting to see what mr. elon musk will have to say. kate? rick santelli tracking the action at the cme. rick? >> reporter: well, thank you. yes, today we see -- first we will start with the boone's. they had an auction. they moved about 4 1/3. before we get to the next chart, more traders today, we are talking about how the housing data being weak and the 56% surge in the northeast on starts really negated the entire weather story but then bonds reversed. why did they reverse? look at the next chart. whether you look at a

correlation for the entire 2014 or this one day, the dollar/yen overlaid with ten year note yields. maybe the stock isn't tracking the stock market anymore but ten year note yields certainly are and you need to watch this relationship. it continues to be almost tick for tick. tyler, back to you. coming up, a face-off. donna karan versus ralph lauren. both are top 25 contenders on the cnbc list of icons, rebels and leaders who affected business most over the past quarter century. plus michelle caruso-cabrera in sochi. >> reporter: so far, the games have gone off fairly well but it was an incredible endeavor to get all the infrastructure and the housing built for the inundation of people that were coming. we will show you one of the towns they built from scratch, then controversy on ice. the u.s. short track speed skating team were never wearing those controversial uniforms so why all the disappointment? that's next.

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let's tell you about the olympic medals count right now. we couldn't get our graphic changed in time so i'm just going to tell you. the u.s. has now taken the lead in the medal count with 23 total medals. russia and the netherlands each have 22. norway and canada, not far behind. now to sochi and chief international correspondent michelle caruso-cabrera. the first story on her list today, building an olympic city from scratch. >> reporter: six years ago, there was nothing here, not only did russia have to build all the venues you see behind me but they actually created whole new towns up in the mountains. take a look at gorki. this was constructed for the olympics but with the idea of becoming a permanent ski resort with a hotel, and a shopping mall and new gondola to go skiing.

it has lots of familiar names plus a place to buy russian souvenirs. one of the hotels is a brand new marriott with 428 rooms. here's the brand new gondola. ultimately the commercial success of this development depends on one thing. will russia's emerging middle class come here winter after winter to use this brand new ski resort, all these new facilities that were created with the vision that they would be used long after the winter olympics are over. there are four gondolas to get you as high as 7,000 feet, where the snow is usually plentiful enough for skiing. now on to men's speed skating where there is one final hope for the men's team. 23-year-old j.r. celski will compete on friday. he's the one last hope for an individual immediamedal for the. we had a chance to sit down with him, talk about the pressure and all the drama related to the suits for the long track

skaters. >> yeah, i'm a short track speed skater so we're -- fortunately we have simple, basic suits. i heard a lot of things going on with the long track side. i think they are dealing with it and getting past it. i'm not really too focused on it. >> reporter: now to ukraine, where the deadly violence has cast a pall over these olympics. the protesters in that country want their president to pivot towards the west and not toward russia, as he has thus far chosen. as a result, it's taken a lot of the focus away from the athletes and the sports and instead, on to russia's involvement in that country. the head of the ukraine olympic committee tweeted out today our athletes are competing hard in sochi but peacefully and with honor. violence has no place in the world. i want to bring olympic truce to my country. dialogue is power. violence is weakness. one ukrainian athlete told reporters he was sad to see the violence in his home country, especially when so many athletes were here in russia competing in

a peaceful way. guys, back to you. >> and that tweeter was one of the great all time pole vaulters, by the way. tonight at 5:00, cnbc picks up on the curling tournament once again. we are getting down to the wire, maybe call it the final rock, the hammer. check in tonight, 5:00 on cnbc. kate? now over to dom chu for a market flash. >> this is something sweet for you here. hershey's just getting a bump to session highs, announcing an additional $250 million share buy-back program. the stock up toward session highs right now. still, it's fun to talk about on an afternoon for "power lunch," sweets for dessert. back over to you. dollar general cuts to market perform from outperform at wells fargo. the firm citing a deteriorating environment for the low end consumer. that as credit suisse suggests walmart should buy family dollar as a way to fill a small store hole in its portfolio.

the heavy construction company upgraded from outperform to neutral. donna karan versus ralph lauren. which fits in the cnbc 25 of leaders, icons and rebels? jane wells and courtney reagan will make a case for one. 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

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welcome back to "power lunch." coming up on "street signs" at the top of the hour, we are going to give you the latest from ukraine as well as the latest from the olympics in sochi. not too far away, a country that is economically tied to the

ukraine. a terrible day for hockey but the men of the united states are doing well. plus a new look at the formula one track being built right here. a lot more to do in a bicontinental "street signs" beginning at the top of the hour. now back to tyler, whose virginia cavaliers beat my team last night. >> virginia is doing pretty well this year. they never win in football. all right. let's move on to cnbc's 25th anniversary. we are presenting of the 25 leaders who had the greatest influence and sparked the greatest change in business over the past quarter century. we will narrow down our list from 200 eventually to 25 and you are going to help. you already have. today's face-off, fashion icons ralph lauren and donna karan. to help you decide are courtney reagan and jane wells. courtney, you go first. whom are you making the case for? >> ralph lauren. come on. this is an easy one. he personifies the american

dream. he found a way to package and sell that dream around the world. born to immigrant parents from belarus, he started his career on store sales floors, ultimately growing an early product line of neckties into a multi-billion dollar empire. the ralph lauren brand umbrella includes categories from high fashion to home decor and can be found in boutiques, department stores and even on the backs of the u.s. olympic team. his polo brand swelled to be more than a brand but a concept. there is hardly anything more american than the ralph lauren brand identity. his brand resonates with consumers of all ages, income levels and geographies, maintaining consistency while expanding across categories. something a very elite few have only been able to do. >> he's been a game changer. let's turn to another one, donna karan, and jane wells. >> how about this, a woman making clothes for women. it was said of karan, quote, i

don't believe there has been a designer who has more consistently and thoughtfully addressed the complex needs of the modern dresser. karan struck out on her own 30 years ago, a native of queens who brought manhattan style to main street. her goal, to design modern clothes for modern people, starting with seven easy pieces you could mix and match while ralph lauren may have been your weekend, donna karan was for working women's weekday and night. she then made it more affordable with dkny and expanded into jeans and men's clothing. she is still designing though the company is part of lvmh. best of all, she did not design the u.s. olympics team's uniform. that is not on her. tyler? >> you know, one of the things that's interesting is both of them were new york city born and bred. >> exactly. >> one from the bronx. jane, you point out karan from queens. these were not to the manor born kind of folks. >> no. not at all.

lauren's parents were from belarus, modest working class folks. he really turned something -- >> and donna karan came from anne klein, another trailblazer for women in fashion. she was also from new york. that's where the fashion business was. what i thought karan did was took that sort of new york style and made it accessible for people like me on the west coast, especially in the '80s when women in large droves were entering the work force. >> my fashion icon is johnny weir. that's who i'm voting for. if you would like to make your vote known, make sure to vote your pick online. head to cnbc.com/25 to cast your vote about the icons who made a big difference over the past 25 years in business. kate? since the financial crisis, wall street has been losing its luster for some newly minted college grads and mbas. kayla tausche is following this trend. what's the story? >> all the banks are making big

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it used to be that the best and brightest were recruited by wall street and they wanted to go but since the financial crisis, all that has changed. kayla tausche working on a special series of stories on this topic today. good to see you. >> instead of the best and the brightest they are now the young and the restless. these wall street analysts since the financial crisis in this two year boot camp that's become very well documented, they have seen their peers in other industries have better hours, more substantive work and pay that's just as good. it wasn't long before wall street realized it needed to shape up or lose out on the top recruits. goldman sachs, a 145-year-old firm, is now playing guinea pig, making big changes to its two year analyst program after consulting with adam grant, a behavioral expert at the wharton school. analysts will now join as

full-time employees, not two year contractors as they had previously. the suggested work week, 75 hours instead of 100 and saturday work is discouraged unless there's a big deal on deck. in march, goldman executives will review the early benchmarks like the feasibility of a shortened work week and whether it will actually keep attrition rates low. one immediate result, a fortune best places to work ranking. another effect, other banks joining the fight. jpmorgan's adding more analysts to divide the workload. bank of america says take four weekend days off a month. credit suisse is giving back saturdays. two weeks later, citigroup said it would do the same. morgan stanley while mum on the issues is said to be enforcing four weeks of vacation for analysts. brad hints, formerly a morgan stanley partner and lehman brothers cfo says the changes are easier in theory than in practice. >> they eat their young. i think they are being nicer about it than they used to.

>> reporter: for grant, it's a small step in the right direction. he says more banks should axe the two-year program so they can start hiring employees with a long-term mindset. a big idea beginning a new chapter for a wall street institution. >> in five years, i think the chapter ends by saying there was a small number of investment banks who said we are going to take culture change beyond just a few rules and a few limits on the horrible things that we can do to analysts, and there are a number of investment banks on the fortune 100 best places to work list. that's the dream. is it going to happen? only time will tell. >> banks like goldman sachs are hoping to keep attrition around the industry average of 10%. analysts who have worked on wall street say the new ethos is hard to sell, especially in an overachieving industry. like most things, it's easy to say these things but harder to put them in practice. i should note that we asked every single bank who has done this for an executive on the record to discuss some of the efforts with us or for an on the record comment. we didn't get any of them.

>> they all said no. here's my big question. i remember graduating from college in the late '90s and a lot of people were going into investment banking. everybody knew that the hours were grueling, you didn't have a personal life and you just accepted it because of the money. what changed? >> what changed is something that paul oyer, a researcher, did in 2008. he said okay, let's look at investment banking after stock market shocks and see how the pool of people has changed. he found that the people who are only interested in wall street for the pay and the cache choose other alternatives after a downturn. and people who do choose to go to wall street in a bear market make up to $5 million less in their careers than the people who join in a bull market. executives say we are not getting the people who are only interested in the compensation. we are getting people who are interested in the core work that we do, meeting with clients, effecting mergers and acquisitions. >> a lot of it is not the most interesting stuff. i obviously find finance

fascinating but there's a lot of document preparation, a lot of bean counting, looking at spreadsheets. unless you have math skills or are really interested in m & a maybe it's not for you. >> a lot of this is really long lead time. we profiled a few analysts in a piece who said about 5% of the work they did saw the light of day. they had really long lead times, they worked on mergers for two years and never saw them to the finish line. they are trying to change that to make it more substantive, put them in more meetings, give them more face time with the client, not just with the other analysts. >> that has to be disappointing. interesting story. thanks for joining us. tyler? the top stock winners of the day coming up. plus on tap at the top of the hour, "street signs" will have the release of the minutes from the fed's latest policy meeting. stay tuned.

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kenny pulcari with me on the floor. markets are essentially flat but the vix up 6%. what gives? >> it's really in anticipation. there were comments this morning talking about rates going up the first quarter of 2015, well ahead of where the market was expecting, right? that's going to cause some volatility or at least a sense that the future's going to be

volatile. >> this could be anticipating volatility? >> i think it's expecting volatility the next couple weeks. certainly not today. there is not a lot going on. >> anybody got their eye on the fed minutes? is that playing in? >> they do, but what do they really expect to hear? janet yellen came out last week at the committee. she said everything there is to say. does anyone really expect they will find anything in these minutes? >> guess not. >> you always want to see what the hidden ideas might be. so far, she stayed the course. >> they will try to do that so let them do it. i don't think they will find anything. >> the other thing that's up today, natural gas. we will get those fed minutes in just a little less than a minute. that's all for "power lunch." "street signs" begins right now. see you tomorrow. welcome to "street signs." i'm melissa lee along with simon hobbs. the fed is second away from releasing minutes from its latest policy meeting. let's take a look where the

markets stand pre-release here. we are basically flat-lining but it is important to note we have big moves in some key sectors, energy for one is up about 1%. retailers surprisingly also pretty strong. energy, we cannot ignore the big jump we have seen in natural gas. that's largely because of the weather. let's go to steve liesman for the fed minutes. >> the federal reserve at its january meeting had a taper debate and had a guidance debate. the fed, couple participants at the meeting questioned the taper and citing labor market slack and low inflation. several participants also say the taper should continue unless there is a change to the outlook. i want to give you specific language. a number of participants noted if the economy deviated substantially from its expected path, the committee should be prepared to respond with an appropriate adjustment of the trajectory of its purchases. want to put that up against the comments from janet yellen last week who said a notable change in the outlook, and here we