>> how about final trade? >> bank of america. it's down 5% from its high. very good fourth quarter. >> doc, i know you like that as well. what's your final trade? >> my little chinese internet secret etf is about to take out an all-time high. obviously the news from facebook yesterday benefits a lot of the companies in this index. >> "power lunch" starts right now. "halftime" is over. the second half of the trading day gets under way right now. "power lunch" is all over it. >> thank you very much. a winter reprieve. near spring-like temperatures in parts of the nation like right here. it's about 40 degrees. i am saying 40 is the new 60. it feels so warm. but the cold is about to make a big comeback. it could have an impact on schools and businesses, crops, stocks, the economy. it's already having a big impact on the great lakes. we are live on an icebreaker trying to keep the shipping lanes open. >> reporter: how cold is it? so cold the great lakes have

almost completely frozen over. we are with the coast guard breaking up the ice trying to deal with a massive economic impact. and another big story. a deal in ukraine. maybe you have heard. this comes on the heels of a huge fist fight breaking out inside parliament earlier today. there you see the hubbub in the ukrainian parliament. protests, government leaders working their way towards a deal. we'll see whether it sticks. we will talk to an expert. outside of parliament in kiev it's been of course a bloody week with scores of people dead now after street fighting. today we'll ask if the truce can last and see if the deal that was reached simply to keep the cameras away in the closing days of the russian olympics, putin's olympics, that are closing up right now. and a look inside rupert murdoch's brand new bachelor pad. we have the real estate broker who made the deal happen. sue is off this week. sara eisen joins me at the nyse.

we will check in with her in a few minutes. but we start with the weather and an incoming blast of cold. here's the weather channel's greg postel. >> much colder air is coming for next week, not just in new york but for many locations across the country. let's look at the next five days in new york, for example, where the average high is 43 degrees. looks pretty good through about sunday but watch what happens. temperatures fall way below average monday through thursday and it continues beyond there. the reason why, the reason why has to do with the shape of the jet stream, because it's going to do one of these awkward buckles here across north america beginning on sunday. you start to see that bitter cold air work its way southward. on the heels of that southward flowing jet stream over north america. here comes that bitter cold air. it will almost plant itself across the northeastern part of the country so expect several days of much below average

temperatures, at least across that section of the country. if you look at our highs on thursday, this arctic air, and it's a true arctic air mass, with residence right now above the arctic circle so that air is coming all the way down from near the pole, minus three for a high on thursday, 30 in new york, 21 in burlington, all across the region, way below average. it will continue on beyond that. back to you. >> that forecast of course is having a big impact on the commodity markets. since the first day of winter, december 21st, natural gas futures as you can see, up 36%. cold also having an impact on wheat as well. wheat futures up more than 7% in a month. >> thank you. 90% of the great lakes frozen, icebreakers are working around the clock to try to keep shipping lanes open. scott cohn is on a ship and we track him as he heads south on

the st. claire river towards detroit. >> reporter: we are turning around heading back north toward lake huron. this is the problem. it kind of looks like the crushed ice in your afternoon cocktail, but this is dangerous stuff and it is wreaking havoc in the great lakes. as you said, close to 90%, 88%, to be specific, of the great lakes are like this. so this cutter, the u.s. coast guard cutter "holly hock" is basically going back and forth almost like a lawn mower, trying to keep this going because when this ice, this so-called brash ice refreezes, it will refreeze thicker because the chunks are piling up on top of each other. come along with me down to the buoy deck. this ship in the summertime actually places buoys on the great lakes. right now of course it's an icebreaker. we will show you a little more about how this works. it kind of, it feels like any other boat ride, even though we are going through as much as two feet thick of ice.

but you know, occasionally when you hit a particularly heavy patch, you get a little bit of vibration, almost like a car on a rough road, and occasionally they actually have to back up and go forward again almost like you're rocking your car out of a snowbank, despite the fact that this is such a massive ship. as much as the lakes themselves, the operations here, are absolutely vital. the coast guard cutter "holly hock" is a 225 foot monster. >> 30.01 and falling. >> reporter: with a crew of around 50 -- >> we are about to enter that ice right there. >> reporter: a captain from hawaii. >> i'm not going to say i wouldn't mind being on a warm hawaii beach right now but this is pretty fun stuff. the opportunity not many people get to experience. >> reporter: and this time of year, a mission. to make sure even in a winter like this, that 20 million tons

of cargo keeps moving. >> it has, you know, it has -- we are working longer hours, using our ships a lot more. the amount of ice is more than i have ever seen in my career. >> reporter: they make it look easy breaking up two foot thick sheets of ice but it's not. it may look like we're just slicing through the ice but actually, the way this ship's hull is designed, we are pushing the ice down so it's the weight of this massive vessel that's breaking the ice. >> so there is some risk. >> reporter: that, and a lot of precision. push too hard and it could put too much stress on "holly hock's" massive engines. not enough, and the ice stays put. break the ice wrong, it could make things worse. >> if we break too much, we will cause more ice jams and make parts thicker where we don't want it to be. >> reporter: they will do it all over again tomorrow. let's talk a little about the potential economic impact here. as you heard, a one-day trip,

what's normally a one-day trip through the lakes is taking as much as a week. that means that things like iron ore that's going to the steel mills is delayed, stockpiles of that raw material for steel are low. that could potentially lead to production delays if this persists. up in the northern tip of lower michigan, that is a key point for trafficking of all of this iron ore, things like that, through the great lakes and those are normally closed this time of year. they will reopen in about a month and they want to have a smooth start, but that's a concern because of course, it's obviously even colder up there and the last time the ice was this bad, they were still breaking it into may. we'll see how it goes. >> that's amazing. i was very interested to hear they are not actually cutting the ice, they are crushing it by weight. how fast do you know or if you know, are you going right now? >> reporter: depends on how thick the ice is.

the maximum speed here is ten knots on the st. claire river. oftentimes they go as slow as three knots. it's relatively slow. i feel we are going at a decent clip right now, probably -- and that's because so much of this ice is broken up because of the work that they do, and we have had the winds and we've had some warm enough temperatures that it's breaking it up a little bit, but it's not nearly enough. again, we're towards the south. they are still getting some really rough weather up to the north, and so they will be dealing with this for awhile. >> you said it looked like my afternoon cocktail. you know me too well. thank you. detroit is filing its highly anticipated plan to deal with $18 billion worth of debt. the city proposing cuts to pensions and bond holders, cuts to unsecured creditors such as the city's two retirement systems and owners of certain detroit bonds, range from 10% to as much as 80%.

the plan also includes steps to improve essential services and public safety over the next decade. the plan needs approval from a bankruptcy court judge before e detroit can emerge from the biggest municipal bankruptcy in history. check out disney shares, leading percentage gainer in the dow. the stock hit a record high today. bad weather in the northeast and midwest could be helping this company out. remember, its theme parks are located in good weather areas like orlando and like anaheim, california, popular destination spots. sara, some perhaps positive signs on the weather front for theme parks. back over to you. >> as you mentioned, cold is certainly a big problem in the east and the midwest. in california, though, it's drought. jane wells is live in l.a. reporting on avocados. big problems this year for the avocado crop. is it all the drought? >> reporter: interestingly, not. california produces nearly all domestic avocados but output is

expected to drop by half this year to only 250 million pounds. a significant drop is one reason the largest single grower, disappointed wall street last earnings report. the company produced 15 million pounds in 2013 but may only churn out six or seven million this year. get this. it has nothing to do with the drought. >> avocados tend to be alternate bearing, so basically, what that means is when you have a really big crop one year, the tree is putting all its energy into that crop and not as much into producing the next year's crop. so this year as a result, is much smaller. we anticipate our crop somewhere between six and seven million pounds, way down, but it's consistent with across the entire california industry. >> reporter: so it's cyclical. luminera is the largest lemon grower and suffered through a big freeze in december, however, it projects the lemon crop in the west overall will drop 10%. but prices are shooting up, more than compensating for that. with avocados, a smaller crop will leave you paying through the nose for guacamole?

maybe not. 75% of the avocados we eat come from mexico which could make up for a shortage here. the ceo harold edwards says this is one case where imports have helped everybody. listen to this. by allowing in more mexican avocados, it has put the fruit on more menus, gotten everyone hooked and per capita consumption in this country has doubled from about three pounds a person to six. i eat six pounds in like one week. >> i can totally relate. who doesn't love guacamole? before we let you go, you are also working on a developing story right now about the tobacco industry. >> reporter: yes. for the first time, the fda is removing tobacco products from the market, four products, thin cigarettes wrapped in leaves and tied with a string. the fda says they are not quote, substantially equivalent to other tobacco products here like those put out by the big public

companies. the fda can now do this under authority given it a few years ago to regulate tobacco. back to you. >> jane wells in l.a. now we want to go to a news alert. eamon javers in d.c. big story we have been following regarding railroad safety. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. major rail safety announcement here. the association of american railroads announcing that it's come to an agreement with the u.s. department of transportation on oil cargo safety. remember, we have seen several incidents over the past couple months where we have seen huge explosions of oil cargoes being transported across the upper midwest of the united states. now they are saying that this new safety deal will help prevent some of that. they are going to slow down oil trains as they route through major cities, increase the number of track inspections and bolster emergency response planning here. that's the industry coming to an agreement with the u.s. department of transportation. obviously all of this plays into the debate politically about the

keystone pipeline. supporters of that pipeline have argued that it's actually safer and more environmentally friendly than transporting all of this oil by rail, which is something that we have seen exploding in recent years as a result of all the new oil that's coming out of the united states. back to you. >> exploding quite the word choice there. >> reporter: unintentional, but yeah. let's take a look at ukraine's parliament today. you can't tell by looking at this video, but the two sides actually did come to an agreement today to end violent street protests and violent crackdowns. as the truce came into effect, the government released one of the leaders from the protest movement who had been jailed earlier. obviously a tense situation there. just yesterday another truce was broken. scores of people killed in yesterday's crackdown. it's been a very bloody week in kiev. in essence, the fighting is between two groups, one more favorably disposed to russia, the government side. the other -- government supported side. the other towards the rest of

europe. on the phone, willis sparks, an expert on that part of the world. mr. sparks, welcome. can this truce hold? >> yes. this is a different truce than the one we saw yesterday. no one really agreed to that. the truce yesterday that fell apart quickly was offered by a president who was in full retreat in the face of mounting protests and violence. this is different. you've got the major three opposition leaders. they don't speak for the entire opposition, but they have signed it. the foreign ministers of france, germany and poland are there. they have signed it. the russians, importantly, have not yet signed it but there is a russian representative there. this truce is, you know, that there is a deal they are going to form a unity government in the next ten days. they are going to change the constitution to take some power away from the president. they are going to move to early elections. this is not everything that the protesters wanted, but this is a much more significant truce than the one we had yesterday. >> is vladimir putin happy about this truce? did he want it and did he want

it in part to stop the flow of attention away from his olympics and towards kiev? >> well, whatever the opposite of happy is, is what putin is today. the olympics really isn't part of this. the stakes are so much higher. the future of ukraine, it's relationship with russia which is centuries old and a crucial part of the soviet union, et cetera, the stakes are so high for the russians. they sort of see that they have very limited options at least in the near term on this deal. they can create problems in months to come, at the margins for ukraine's economy but at the moment, putin is really on the outside looking in with no good options to reverse the tide in ukraine toward a government that's going to be more european focused than the current government. >> very interesting. thank you very much for that analysis. we appreciate it. willis sparks, global macro director at the eurasia group. sara? rupert murdoch has a new

bachelor pad. cnbc's cameras were inside. the broker behind the deal is coming up. also ahead, what business leaders can learn from colombia's fencing team. plus phil lebeau on the auto beat out in chicago. >> reporter: couple of big stories when it comes to autos. first, the big chill when it comes to auto sales in february is it's starting to finally thaw. second, what's happening down south of the border. another automaker starting up production to build cars for us here in the u.s. [ tires screech ]

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earlier this month it was clear the cold was hitting the auto sector but now the wheel may be turning. phil lebeau always behind the wheel in chicago. >> reporter: good news. i think a lot of us were wondering when would auto sales start to rebound and would it happen when the temperatures started to improve. this is data coming to us from j.d. power and lmc automotive. they have been tracking retail auto sales around the country. they found in the first week it was down about 5%, down just under 1% for the first half of the month. clearly some improvement as the weather improved in the second week of the month, and now j.d. power says for all of february, they expect sales to rise above 5%. j.d. power expects the sales rates for the month of february to come in at about 15.7 million. compare that with january, where it was 15.2 million and even more impressive is the fact that transaction prices, what people are actually paying at the dealership, is going to be up

above $400 year over year, a little over $29,000 when it's all said and done. look at shares of general motor, look at the slide over the last several months if you go back towards the end of last year. part of that is due to a buildup in inventory and people are looking at gm and other auto makers and saying you know what, is this the beginning of them having too much supply out there. clearly with sales improving, that should change. >> let's turn to another automaker, honda. not a great month for the japanese car maker. there they are at $36.28. honda is building, it is opening a new plant in an effort to keep up with growing u.s. demand. but it's not in the u.s., it's in mexico. what gives? >> reporter: we were down there not too long ago. we are seeing this with all of the auto makers. this is the second honda plant in mexico and when they open this plant up, the whole idea here is they will build about 200,000 of the small fit hatchbacks a year. most of those are going to come up here to meet demand in the u.s. as well as in canada.

this plant is part of what we are seeing with all of the auto makers and look what's happened with mexican auto production. it is now the eighth largest auto producing country in the world, fourth largest when it comes to being an auto exporter, third largest in the u.s. this year they will pass japan. look at the ramp-up in production. this is for a lot of people, a little bit surprising but it shouldn't be if you have been following the auto industry. go back to 2009. they will be up well over four million vehicles exported every year by 2017, and it's because they have the best passport in the world when it comes to auto production. more free trade agreement with more countries than any other place in the world. that's why auto makers are going down there. >> thank you, phil. sara? watching the markets here. staying strong on equities. s&p just a few points away from record territory. the number to watch, 1850.

we are talking about five big names, big cap stocks that should be on your radar next. before the break, check out three of the biggest winners in the s&p 500 so far this year. alexion pharma, and akamai. we'll be right back. in a world that's changing faster than ever, we believe outshining the competition tomorrow quires 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.

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weighing in with some very critical opinions of comcast's proposed acquisition of time warner cable, saying that it does make a better argument for directv and dish merger, saying quote, it is incorrect that time warner cable and comcast do not compete. they do. they compete for content. when they can combine to buy content, they can buy content cheaper than anyone else. he says this deal would increase the risk to everyone else who is in the content broadband or video distribution business, saying there is no question about that. he said we will be facing realistically a much more challenging environment if that merger is approved. he also spoke very frankly about the risk that cord nevers posed to the satellite tv business, saying that video business is shifting from mature to declining. sara? >> thanks very much. we'll see what the regulators say. want to go to breaking news with courtney reagan. thanks very much. we are just learning that gi asset management has a proposal to acquire 51% of barnes &

noble. that's at $22 a share, marking a 30% premium. g asset management also making an offer to buy 51% of the nook business segment, valuing that at $5 per share. right now, shares of barnes & noble are halted on a circuit breaker. we will get back to you when we have more. >> you can see the crowd gathering. thanks very much for that breaking news. let's go to the broader markets now. the s&p 500 in record territory. check it out. just points away from an all-time high of 1850, reached on january 15th. what is pulling the market higher? kenny pulcari joins me, director at o'neill securities and cnbc market analyst. mike holland is the chairman of holland and company. good to see you. you have been bullish for the past few years. you have been dead on. reaffirm your optimism for these markets that are in record territory despite pockets of weakness in the economy. >> good to see you.

the good things that got us here over the past five years are still here. what i mean by that is five years ago, you had stocks at ridiculously low levels, if you look back at them at the time, and the federal reserve telling us they had the back of the market, they would support asset price of financial assets and for people who believe the fed, five years later, they have been rewarded. companies have actually produced more earnings so we still have reasonable valuations, not ridiculously low but quite reasonable valuations given the alternatives and the fed is still here. they are going to be here for at least two more years. those are good things. the backdrop, there has been a lot of bad headlines and the market has done this despite -- >> i know you want to jump in on the markets but there's a big crowd developing here around this barnes & noble news. >> it just reopened. just reopened. the crowd is dissipating. just actually down a couple cents from where it had hit the volatility. >> we had that proposal valuing barnes & noble. you see the spike right before the volatility. i know you want to jump in on

the comments because you are frustrated with this market. >> i am frustrated but michael is right in the sense that equity valuations were so low four or five years ago and the fed comes in and pumps it all up and here we are five years later and the fed is still here, which is exactly the problem. why equities are continuing to -- >> wait, wait. you have big time m & a, three blockbuster deals in the last few weeks. signs the economy is improving, maybe some bad weather. >> i understand kenny's frustration, including today, the market is going up on lower volume. he knows this stuff better than i do. and going down -- these are crazy things. in the background, companies are doing okay and the fed is still here. your point is equally well taken and that is when companies are making these bids now, they are 20, 30 and 40, forget about what's out, you have 20, 30, 40% up when you have things like barnes & noble. that shows you the private market value, maybe it's in

large part due to the fed, but the fact is, those prices are where they are and they are probably, according to jerry, going higher because of the fed. maybe the nosebleed territory. >> so here we are. we are at this slippery slope, right, because as the fed starts to withdraw, if the economy's not really there, prices are going to have to readjust. so my view that when we talk about this, my view is as a trader type much more short term. in the long term i'm very much a bull. i agree. i think the market's going higher. if we talk about where the market's going today, tomorrow, next week, we are frustrated because the market moves higher on light volumes. there's got to be some consolidation to it. >> lot of enthusiasm here. lot of excitement with the barnes & noble shares spiking. kenny, thank you. good to see you, michael. thanks again. we want to check on the precious metal trade. gold prices are closing right now. you can see gold, silver and copper all closing out with a gain, about half a percent apiece. platinum in the red. also want to check on the bond

market, because you have been seeing money goes into stocks and out of bounds. rick santelli tracking the action at the cme. higher yields today, rick. >> reporter: it's an amazing day, amazing week. if you look at the intraday chart, we have pretty much gone sideways after yields came down. remember, 2.75 is huge, big 38% retracement of the entire year, where we started out at a 3.03% yield. if you look at the chart starting february 11th, what you would notice is in that time period, eight trading days, we have been in a closes yield range and close is the operative word, between 2.71 and 2.76. we really still haven't broken out. if you look at a year to date chart it jumps out at you on the retracement. year to date of the dollar/yen spread overlay with ten year note yields, can't show this chart enough, that tells you everything you need to know. it's still a push as to whether rates will pop and follow the stock market. we have breaking news this hour once again. g asset management trying to

acquire barnes & noble and the nook. the stock is up big. there you see it at $18.04. are we going to courtney? we'll be right back. we'll talk more with courtney and about this potential deal. ♪

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welcome back to "power lunch." just want to update you on the latest from barnes & noble. it does look at if g asset management has made an offer to acquire 51% of barnes & noble for $22 a share, marking a 32% premium. barnes & noble says they have no further comment beyond confirming they have received the offer. that's what we know as of this point. g asset management also a proponent of spinning off, separating that nook division. they had suggested it in the past back in february of 2012. sara? >> thanks for the update. we are seeing reaction in the stock market right now. barnes & noble shares spiking, though off the highs. want to check on housing. earlier today, home sales, we saw, took a dive. diana olick tracking it in washington. >> reporter: sales fell to this

lowest pace in 18 months, down 5.1% in january both month-to-month and year over year. blame it on bad weather? not if you're looking at the map. sales were down the least in the northeast and down the most in the west. realtors say that points directly to weak affordability, tight credit and a lack of supply which is quote, hindering buyer enthusiasm. also, these are closings so contracts from november and december, before the weather hit. sales are being hit the hardest on the low end of the market, as investors move out. first time buyers are now not picking up the slack there. their share, 26% is the lowest on record since realtors began tracking that in 2008. higher end sales are up but they are also a smaller share of the market. the only bright spot is that inventory is up 7% from a year ago but the realtors say the market is quote, underperforming. going back to that high end, real estate agent to the super rich, dolly lens, runs her own real estate firm in new york. she's joining us from the nyse. lots of data this week.

what's your take? >> it's not surprising. we have a dichotomy in the marketplace where we are talking about the luxury space being super confident going forward, all these new records being set, then we have sadly, the low end of the market where new records are being set in a bad way. it's not surprising we've got all negative data. we have employment data that's negative, we have all the negative data you just mentioned, and in addition to that, we have student loan data that just doesn't go away. >> a lot of factors at work. good to have you here with your thoughts on the housing. especially today, because dolly just represented mr. rupert murdoch who just bought a four-floor penthouse in manhattan for $57 million. congratulations. that must be quite the commission for you. you have had higher? >> oh, yeah, much higher commission than this. >> we have an inside look here of the apartment. >> this is pre the sale. this is when we filmed it way before the sale, way before we knew anything. it's interesting.

>> tell us about some of the little gems that you can get for $57 million. we know for instance that rupert murdoch is a new bachelor. what kind of bachelor pad features does this one have? >> i have to tell you, it is the most spectacular apartment and i may say that a lot but this truly is the most spectacular apartment i have ever been in. the building is a new building. >> one madison. what's interesting, it's downtown, below 57th street. >> exactly. it's downtown, in the epicenter of the world. the views are spectacular in every direction. you really have 360 degree views from every room. it's just -- there are no words. you can see from the pictures of the apartment. >> can i just ask you, we have been talking before about condos versus coop. we know mr. murdoch moved out of a co-op, very high end, very tough building to get into. usually we don't see the american buyers in the really high end condos. that's been the realm of the international buyers. are we seeing a major shift now

of high end american buyers moving out of co-opes in manhattan and into condos? >> we are seeing a lot of buyers moving into condos both foreign and domestic. it's very interesting, this particular building has attracted 100% americans so far. so it's a very interesting mix. i think part of that mix, it's the "it" building. all the people in there, tom brady, kate upton, or of course, rupert, it will just be the most amazing elevator to ride in. >> fun neighbors. gisele. okay. thank you very much. congratulations on the sale. tyler, back to you. >> i want to see rupert walk down the hall and knock on kate upton's drawer and bring her a housewarming gift. that's nice. perfect lonely guy kind of condo. you might be asking yourself why these guys over my shoulder, members of columbia university's fencing team are here. they and their coaches have a great lesson for anyone in business. i'm not kidding you. it's straight ahead. theirs is a turn-around story.

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm courtney reagan at the breaking news desk. want to give you an update. we do have an offer from private equity firm g asset management, barnes & noble, 51% stake. alternatively, they have also made a proposal to acquire 51% of the nook segment. they had previously thought there was value in the nook segment if it were to be spun off. those comments made earlier in february of 2012. the company had previously made an offer for barnes & noble for $20 a share so this new offer is above that previous offer. we know barnes & noble has said they have received the proposal but have no further comment at this time. back to you. >> forgive me for not knowing as much as i probably should. what do we know about g asset management?

who are they? what do they own? >> they actually are a private equity firm. my colleague dominic chu has a lot more on that. as soon as he's ready, he will bring that to you so we can talk a little about the p.e. firm who runs the firm, what exactly their interests might be in something like barnes & noble. this again isn't their foyers foray into the company. there had been previous interest there. >> a bit of background here, because there were big questions about this business, the weakness in the book stores, we have seen them closing all over manhattan. and the strength in the nook business. was this how the analysts and those who watched the stock expected it to play out? >> there are fewer and fewer analysts who watch the stock because the company has shrunk in its footprint and in its market cap over recent times. we know the nook business also just let go of a lot of the folks that had worked there, sort of lowering that head count. there's value but potentially not nearly what it was. there probably is some value left being sort of that last man standing, that last physical brick and mortar bookstore and

barnes & noble could occupy that space but perhaps with a lower footprint than prooefevious. there's a lot of changes in the way we read. we don't necessarily have hard copy books anymore. can they sell us the hard copy book or the digital version on the nook and make that viable going forward. >> there is also a question of how much of the business they really want and how much do they want some of the real estate and lease obligations they could get ahold of for those properties. one never really understands or i certainly don't how those things get put together. let's go to dominic chu who has some background on g asset management among other things. >> like courtney said, this is not the first time g asset management has been tossed around with barnes & noble in terms of the overall story behind barnes & noble. a little about g asset management. they are a value oriented investment firm. they specialize in value oriented public equities. they also take a look at special situations investing. this could be considered perhaps

one of those things. the firm's managed by michael glickstein. we reached out to g asset management and when you call their number, it's actually michael glickstein's voice you hear on the voice mail. so again, g asset management, this man was formerly a goldman sachs employee, research analyst at one point in his career in the industrials group. also worked for pequod capital, the large hedge fund group at one point in his career as well. again, during that time there, he was a research analyst and co-portfolio manager of a distressed mortgage fund as well. so a little bit of background here. g asset management run by michael glickstein, a former employee of pequod capital and goldman sachs. so again, just a little bit of background on just who it is that is making news, making waves. >> if you look at that long term chart there, also the shorter term chart which really had a

sawtooth look, you said that this is a group, g asset, that specializes in deep value investing and special situations. barnes & noble certainly would seem to fit the bill there to a "t." >> also real estate i thought was an important point as well. perhaps this is a play on the real estate versus the more unprofitable nook business. >> g asset management has been talked about with barnes & noble going back to 2011, maybe 2012. this is not the first time they have been very involved in trying to shake things up or trying to generate value at barnes & noble. >> thank you very much, dominic chu. i guess we will come back and talk more about barnes & noble here as we get more, and as courtney just reported, calls put in to barnes & noble say they have received the proposal from g asset management but have no further comment at this time. obviously they need time to look at that proposal, evaluate it and get it in front of their board and maybe we will learn more later in the day.

both from the side of g asset management, where you can call them and hear mr. glickstein's voice on the phone, or from barnes & noble. listen up, wall street. you can learn a lot from fencing. yes, you can. the tactics of columbia university's comeback team and the lessons for business imbedded in it. that's next. [ tires screech ] [ car alarm chirps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze, and recondition each one,

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this is basically an editorial meeting every day at cnbc, just like that. check out the balcony. that is part of the columbia university men's fencing team. the team was unranked just a few years ago. now, they are tops in the nation. the head coach joined the team three years ago and brought with him some unconventional methods. sometimes called the jedi master of fencing, he's been a coach at some 30 years at columbia. welcome to you. michael, how did you take what had been a downtrodden team and turn it around? your background wasn't like his as a long time fencing coach. >> not at all. first off, i'm a stern school of

business graduate. so i couldn't compete with all these other coaches. i took a lot of my business and put it into effect. one of that is statistical analysis with my retreating, with fencing. >> moneyball kind of approach. what did you look for -- i understand on-base percentage, rbis. in fencing, what do you look for in a promising young fencer? >> beyond just desire and hard work ethic, you're looking for people that can fence five touch bouts really strong. >> what does that mean? >> five touch bout, in the olympics they go to 15 points. in college they go to five. >> much faster. got to score early. got to score quick. is 15 touches literally 15 touches -- >> 15 touches on the body. yes. >> so five wins in college. >> five wins in college. there's a lot of underrated fencers that people just don't see and we look for that. >> who score early? >> they are very good at things and we know if we bring them to our program, they will get a lot better. >> your particular specialty apart from teaching technique

is, as i understand it, getting people in the right mental frame of mind. even using meditation as a means to doing it. tell me about that. >> well, the mental aspect is very important not only in fencing. you have to have the physical and technical and mental aspect working. so the mental aspect is very important. about 60 years ago, i was asked to coach a fencing team. lot of fencers, excellent

coaching. i could compete only if i have some advantage. i had the same education as the best hungarian coach. i had extra advantage, the mental aspect. >> the mental side of it. how do you get your team in business or in fencing to buy into what you're trying to sell them? >> it's all about treating them like champions. we pay attention to every detail. even things that you might not think are that important. what are they going to eat, if they want a particular shoe, we get them that particular shoe. we treat them like champions and they fence like champions. then they buy into the mental aspect. they try a lot of different things maybe that they haven't tried before, and here we are. >> it's working. you are champions. you just won or tied in the men's group in the ivy league championships. >> that was two weeks ago. >> you also coach the women's team and -- >> they are fifth in the country right now. >> where do you find young

fencers? are there certain high schools, prep schools, are they mostly in new york, new jersey? where do you find them? we know about college football recruiting. >> the east coast is a huge hotbed for fencing. but they are all over. we have people from california, texas, even internationally, especially. but the hardest part is getting them into the school. >> because you have to meet certain academic standards. >> absolutely. >> you have scholarships for fencing? >> ivy league, no scholarships. >> let's look up, if we might. is this a saber? and foil. >> the difference is the target area and the rules. they are fencing saber, the target area is the waist up. you can hit with the side of the blade. these are our top guys at columbia. they were part of the reason why we won that championship. >> that is really -- it is very cool. thank you very much, both of you, for being here. we appreciate your time today. continued good luck with your team.

congratulations on the turn-around. sara, down to you. we are watching the story of the hour. breaking news on barnes & noble. the stock reaction trading sharply higher on this news of a proposal from g asset management to buy 51% stake in the company, valuing at $22 per share. that's a premium. courtney reagan has the latest. >> they also alternatively are making an offer, when i say they, g asset management, for the nook business. right now, it is combined still with barnes & noble but g asset management thinks it's more valuable if it's separated. so their offer is 51% of the nook business which is $5 per share. g asset management had previously made an offer to barnes & noble for $20 a share. as you said, they are now upping that offer to $22 per share. barnes & noble has confirmed they have received the offer but have made no further comments out of that. just so we get a little context, the nook business represents only about 6% of barnes &

noble's revenues and that's as of the latest quarter. barnes & noble will be reporting earnings on wednesday so no doubt they will get some more questions about potentially what the future of the company could be now that we have this new offer. we know the ceo as of january was previously the cfo, moved up, and leonard riggio is still the chairman of the company. as soon as we know more, we will bring it to you. back to you. >> thanks for the update. makes for interesting earnings on wednesday. we are getting new information on a call between president obama and russian leader vladimir putin next. [ male announcer ] it's simple physics... a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis,

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welcome back to "power lunch." i'm john harwood in washington. jay carney, the white house press secretary, is briefing now. he's just told us that president obama is conducting a phone call with russian president vladimir putin. of course, he has had a strained relationship with putin but they need to talk now because it concerns the ukraine, the violence that's been flairing all week. there is a tentative compromise designed to end the violence in which president yanukovych would give up some of his power, one

of his rivals would be freed from prison. the parliament is trying to make that happen. we don't know whether this is going to be successful in stemming the protest and violence which have cost dozens of lives over the last couple days. the president is trying to see what he can do with vladimir putin to try to solidify and cement that deal and make sure that the violence doesn't flare again. of course, these two leaders don't get along all that well. president obama didn't go to the olympic games which are going on right now, in part because of vladimir putin's policies on gays and others. so we will see how successful this effort is. now i will throw it back to sara at the nyse. >> thanks very much, john harwood, for that breaking news. check out shares of barnes & noble, the story of the hour. spiking earlier, off the highs but trading up almost 7% after we learned that g asset management offered a proposal to buy 51% stake in either barnes &

noble inc. or the nook digital and device business. that really is the story. it will be interesting to see how barnes & noble responds. a few other winners, intuit coming out with better earnings and safeway continues to march higher. >> great to be with you this week. that does it for this edition of "power lunch." i have been trying out my fencing. thanks to the columbia team. "street signs" begins right now. good afternoon. welcome to "street signs." i'm melissa lee. let's see where we stand right now. looks like a flat line across the board except for some pretty big moves by particular sectors. housing stocks for one, up more than 1% and biotechs hitting a new high in today's session. i'm also with simon hobbs. >> ahead in the next 60 minutes, we bring you the very latest from the ukraine. as you just heard, obama is now talking by phone to putin after a big deal is signed by the government and protesters but will it stick? we have an on the