pete, you won the debate. final trade? >> discovery financial. >> solo etf. >> ruks. >> power. see you tomorrow. we have three breaking stories we're following right now and our attention will be focused on all three, all hour long. facebook's mark zuckerberg finishing a key speech in barcelona. secretary of defense chuck hagel announcing a plan to reduce u.s. forces to pre-world war ii levels. and stocks are jumping. we're up almost 190 points on the dow, and the s&p has officially crossed into record territory. we will get to spain and washington in just a moment. tyler is out today. so bob pisani and simon are in at the nyse. gentlemen? >> this is actually quite a

strong rally today. we punched through the previous high on the s&p, as you mentioned, up 1850, and we continue to make gains. bob pisani is with me. this is health care, energy and then some. >> that's right. it's really across the board rally. people keep writing in, why are we up 200 points. the answer is there's no fundamental reason why we would be up 200 points. it's a technical rally. put up the s&p 500. we started hitting intraday historic highs on the dow right after the open about 9:45. 1848 was the old closing high. you got to 1850. you see the move jump up right after the open. that's a technical move as we hit new highs, people started covering, volume picked up. you look at certain groups by the spdr, where a lot of activity is. that's the way it is. here's the midcap. across the board, we are at new highs. let's not quibble at a few points. even the russell 2,000 just shy of a new high. i think 1182 is probably the closing high on the russell. we're close enough. you mentioned the sector leaders. we've had energy today really strong, again, some of the smaller natural gas stocks have

been moving to the upside. that gold miners gdx, that's been a leader all year long. that's a double digit leader, up again today. biotech, same thing. that's double digit games on the year. pharmaceutical, the other big winner. basically a continuation of the trend with the biggest movers on the year outperforming the overall market. again, this kind of day, tech dm nical rally. >> sue, back to you. two other breaking stories. secretary of defense chuck hagel is set to announce in just a few minutes some major spending cuts in defense. we are monitoring that live. we will bring it to you when it happens. mark zuckerberg finishing a key address in spain. shares of facebook have been up big-time today. let's take a look. they are now up almost 4% at 71.19. take a look at a longer term chart, up 162%. remember how skeptical many investors were. not so much today.

jon fortt is live in spain for us. hi, jon. >> reporter: hey, sue. two big subjects that mark zuckerberg touched on during this chat that he had. one was whatsapp, the monster acquisition from last week. mark zuckerberg talked about whatsapp, the size of that acquisition. someone asked him if he might make a bid for snap chat. he said after you spend $16 billion maybe you're done for awhile. he also talked about the size, the scale, the valuation of this acquisition. take a listen. >> there is some chance this is the one service that gets to a billion people and ends up not being that valuable. i don't think i am wrong. you can look at other messaging

apps that are out there that are monetizing at a level of $2 to $3 per person with pretty early efforts. i think that shows if we can do a pretty good job of helping whatsapp to grow, this is going to be a huge business. >> reporter: my favorite part of that is i could be wrong. $16 billion, could be wrong, probably not. he also talked about intranet.org, this goal of connecting the world that he shares. they are basically trying to go out and establish preservices including facebook and whatsapp to offer on carriers in emerging markets, could be good for them in the long term, not make money in the short term, but would certainly be a new standard in services in those markets. >> jon, thank you very much. jon fortt live with the big tech guns there. to the s&p 500, it's hitting new all time highs. the nasdaq is also a winner. sheila has the details. facebook up almost 4%. >> yeah, facebook's a big winner today. you and bob were just talking about energy and health care.

can't forget about tech. it is another winning day here at the nasdaq, hitting a 13 1/2 year high for the second consecutive session. don't forget, year-to-date, nasdaq also a big winner, looking to chalk up nearly a 3% gain for the year. on a day like today, really a broad-based rally. more than 80% of the nasdaq 100 is in the green. we are seeing some nice strength in chip stocks. take a look at qualcomm, near a 52-week high on its rollout of new products at the mobile world congress in barcelona. biotech, this is such an eye-popping sector. that momentum is continuing, adding another 1.5% today. the sector is up about 12% in just the past 30 days. finally, got to talk about some of the individual movers like ebay pushing the nasdaq higher and a lot of large cap techs, so facebook, google, all those stocks higher helping the nasdaq rally. simon? >> thank you very much. we are continuing of course

to wait on secretary of defense chuck hagel to officially propose some of those massive spending cuts for the pentagon. jane wells will be monitoring the pentagon for us live. we will also have reaction from a defense stock analyst. in the meantime, let's take a look at the defense sector. seema mody is at the flash desk with more. a lot of those stocks have been very strong. >> they have. with the obama administration planning on shrinking the army to pre-world war ii levels and eliminating an entire class of air force attack jets, you would think defense dogs would be on the defensive but not even close. instead, stocks are soaring. lockheed martin, general dynamics, raytheon, rockwell collins, all trading at record highs. back to you, sue. >> thank you, seema. as the u.s. prepares to slash defense spending, we are following that developing story in ukraine. our chief international correspondent michelle caruso-cabrera is live now in kiev amid kind of a quiet

tension. russia's prime minister calling the ouster a mutiny. given the tensions, what's happening right now? >> reporter: well, like you said, a quiet tension. there are thousands of protesters still in the square. what they are waiting to see today and over the coming days is what will come out of parliament and the new acting leadership of this country. are they going to do what these protesters want, which is to pursue an agreement with the european union. it's not that these protesters are so interested in trade, but they're interestd in good governance, transparency, a government that doesn't rip them off. we just heard some noises here. not quite sure what they are. we will keep you up to date on that. in the meantime, once again, like i said, they want a government that doesn't rip them off. now that viktor yanukovych has left the city and they are able to see the palace where he lives and there have been documents uncovered there, they are

beginning to see that he likely was stealing from the country by an extensive amount. frequently, what you hear from protesters here is they don't want to be governed by a kleptocracy. that's government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed. that's what they feel they have lived under now for decades here in ukraine. one of the outcomes of that, i want to show you this chart, this bar chart that shows the concentration of wealth. if you take the 50 richest americans in the united states, they represent, their net worth, 4.5% of u.s. gdp. if you take the 50 wealthiest russians, their net worth is equal to 17% of russian gdp. the 50 wealthiest ukrainians, their net worth is more than 45% of gdp. the wealth concentration that

came about as a result of botched privatizations in the mid '90s still hinders this country and these people are quite angry about it. that's the situation they face here and the situation down on the ground is that they're waiting to see exactly what comes out of parliament. sue? >> michelle, stay safe. thank you so much. appreciate it. another worrying sign overseas today, reuters reporting iran has signed a $195 million deal to supply iraq with weapons. that breaks a u.n. embargo on weapons sales by iran. defense analysts say that could force the u.s. to stop sales of sensitive weapons to iraq, fearing iraq will in turn share those weapons with iran. a story we will continue to follow. >> absolutely. defense spending is going to be a very, very big issue this afternoon. at any moment, defense secretary hagel will outline his plans to slash pentagon spending or more accurately, slash spending on the army. we have an analyst on standby. that's also the yahoo!

finance question of the day. tell us where you stand. plus a big security hole for apple. the company is responding. the stock, not so great today. if you have an iphone, a mac, whatever, you will need to know about this. it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. centurylink. your link to what's next.

which will cause me to miss the end of the game. the x1 entertainment operating system lets your watch live tv anywhere. can i watch it in butterfly valley? sure. can i watch it in glimmering lake? yep. here, too. what about the dark castle? you call that defense?! come on! [ female announcer ] watch live tv anywhere. the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. welcome back to "power lunch." i'm seema mody tracking all the big movers on this big market day. let's start with the nation's number one supplier of wood, plastic composite decks, trex.

it hit a record high after posting better than expected fourth quarter earnings, reversing a loss from a year ago. this on improving margins, sales rose 38% from a year ago. the company also announcing a two for one stock split and a $50 million stock buy-back. the stock up, wow, about 26%. simon? listen up, apple fans. a security flaw has been exposed leaving apple software open quite literally to attack. threatening your e-mail and financial data. a fix has been issued by apple for mobile platforms like the iphone. for more on that, go to apple.com/support. there has yet to be a fix issued for mac, osx, laptops and desktops, but in a statement to cnbc, apple said we are aware of this issue and have -- and already have a software fix that will be released very soon. eric hasseldoll is senior editor

with re/code.com. nbc universal has a minority stake in re/code's parent company. what do people need to know here about this security error? >> basically, first off, apple is not running and hiding from this. they talked to some sources today, they take it really seriously, and they are definitely on this. what's going on here is this is basically the software plumbing. when you are a third party software developer or even apple itself, you are using this plumbing basically to establish a secure connection back to an external server, whether checking e-mail, doing secure browsing with the safari browser or whatnot. the initial diagnosis was that this vulnerability primarily affected just the safari browser. if you use google chrome, which a lot of people do, on the mac, it was not affected. point one, if you're on the mac, probably better to be using chrome today versus safari. i use chrome myself generally anyway.

secondly, the check -- go ahead. >> i think the other advice is not to use land networks, publicly open wireless networks, is that correct? >> yeah. especially. i was just going to get to that. if you're checking banking data on the wifi network at starbucks, probably not a good idea anyway, but definitely not a good idea to do it today. lot of third party applications are also affected by this. twitter, the desk top client for twitter, apple mail, couple other third party applications affected by this also. i'm getting from my sources, the fix is coming soon and that could be days if not hours. we could be talking about this being fixed as soon as tomorrow. >> thank you very much. useful information. a big chunk off the mississippi river is shut down due to -- over to you, sue. >> i actually do not have a flash. back over to you, sue and simon. >> thanks, seema. i'll take it and update you on the markets. we are up about 180 points on

the dow jones industrial average. s&p in record territory. we will talk next about a big chunk of the mississippi river that was shut down due to that oil spill over the weekend. that includes the port of new orleans. that's just ahead. plus, one area of the u.s. economy coming to a virtual standstill. morgan brennan live in the port of elizabeth, new jersey with that. truckers are backed up for miles here, right? >> reporter: yes, trucks have been backed up for miles here on and off at one of the country's biggest ports. we will tell you why and what it means for businesses and consumers, next. pay my bill. 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. ♪

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we can come back tomorrrow. and we promise to keep it that way. driven to preserve the environment, csx moves a ton of freight nearly 450 miles on one gallon of fuel. what a day. can't wait til tomorrow. we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. (announcer) scottrade knows our and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online

so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates. welcome back to "power lunch." seema mody here. a big rally on wall street but dillard's not part of it. the department store operator at session lows after reporting weaker than expected fourth quarter earnings. the company saying markdowns designed to boost sales cut into its profitability. the stock down 6.4%. back over to you, sue and simon. >> thank you, seema. more evidence today that frozenomics is the main topic for business leaders from coast to coast. morgan brennan is at the port of elizabeth where ice and snow has been causing major delays.

first to steve liesman at a key conference in arlington, virginia, where the weather has become job one for economists. >> reporter: a lot warmer here than it is for morgan there. a lot of long range talk here about long range growth forecast, budget deficits but also the short term. understand the loss of momentum in the economy from q-4 into q-1 and increasingly economists are pointing the finger at weather which is taking a bigger bite out of the economy, especially housing, over the next several months as the data come in. one of the big stories here, everybody says existing housing, if california was up, then why was it not -- why was that weather and because it's two reasons. california might have been private institutions not buying investment properties and the other parts of the country, weather. so a lot of finger pointing at the weather. macro economic advisors, one of the better forecasting shops in the country, says it could take a 0.7% hit out of gdp over a two quarter period.

>> cold weather definitely slows down activity. but the thing that's a little bit harder to gauge quantitatively are the big snowfalls. those can keep people from getting to work and not everybody can work from home. >> reporter: now, he is among those who say you can get a rebound or snap-back of 0.7% on the other side in the second quarter and i am hearing talk here of a second quarter that could be as much as 4% to get back what we lost from mother nature and the weather. sue? >> eventually spring will come but not soon enough for me. thanks. >> reporter: are you sure? >> i'm not sure this year, but i hear, rumor has it we have about four more weeks left of winter. now to that big backup at a major east coast port which is going to impact spring retail sales in a very big way. morgan brennan is braving the elements for us at port elizabeth in elizabeth, new jersey. over to you, morgan. >> reporter: yeah, we're at one of the largest ports in the

country. you can see behind me, there is some trucks that are moving back and forth to get cargo. it's moving right now but what we have seen over the last couple weeks, last couple months, is lines, truck lines that have extended out as far as a mile and a half to the jersey turnpike. it's been causing massive wait times. there are two reasons we are seeing this backup. the first of course is the weather. we are seeing cold temperatures and big piles of snow that have caused multiple closures at the ports since early january. the second, labor shortages for unionized longshoremen. all of these delays of course worrying retail associations. for example, the retail industry leaders association saying the disruptions have had quote, damaging consequences on the delivery of retailers goods. among the companies that receive goods here, kmart, dollar tree, walmart and home depot. home depot spokesperson tells me the company is aware of the delays but their logistics team has implemented strategies to

make sure that supplies are getting out to stores in a timely manner. so product shortage -- no product shortages on their shelves. the company won't tell us about those strategies, though, for competitive reasons. home depot of course reporting their earnings tomorrow. back to you. >> thank you so much, morgan. appreciate it. now to the breaking news we have been watching. defense secretary chuck hagel at the pentagon announcing a major proposal to slash u.s. armed forces to pre-world war ii levels. jane wells is monitoring the situation from los angeles for us. jane, what are you finding out? >> reporter: well, secretary hagel is just beginning his comments now but what he is expected to talk about over the next hour are really three things. cuts in spending, although he is hoping that congress will go for the president's asking of what he's expected to ask for $115 billion in spending above the sequester over the next five years. also, cuts or delays in some programs. he's expected to show support

for the f-35 and a-10, long on the chopping block, is expected to finally go away. then what we have been talking about so much, we are expecting to hear about cuts in growth in many cases to pay for military, as they slash the size of the army in particular, pay will not grow very much. housing allowances will be reduced. commissary items will cost more. then even retirees and active duty will be expected to pay a little more for health care, if they can get this past congress. also, he is expected to ask congress for another round of base closings in 2017. >> before we let you go, this is very personal. it's affecting your family, specifically your husband and son. how are you dealing with that? >> reporter: well, i'm more concerned about my son. my husband retired as a navy captain and we are counting -- that navy retirement is a major portion of our retirement plan. for now, it is expected not to

change when that kicks in. we'll see if that lasts. i'm more concerned, my son is a midshipman who will be commissioned in the marine corps upon graduation. what's happening with the marines being commissioned right now, it used to be you would be commissioned to go into the basic school and get paid. now what they're being told, they are being commissioned and they may not go to the basic school for six months, nine months, and not get paid. you can't really go out and get a job, you are not getting paid, you are in the marines. it looks like the marines are being reduced but not as significantly as the other forces. of course, they are also much smaller already. one emphasis, the secretary is expected to make, is the focus on a smaller, more rapidly deployed force and special forces are expected to actually be one segment of the military that should grow. we'll have more. i will let you know as it happens. >> thank you very much. simon? let's have a look at how secretary hagel's proposed cuts will impact the defense contractors. are there winners in there? we have a senior research

analyst. welcome to the program. some of these defense manufacturers have done extremely well over the last month. general dynamics, lockheed, they don't seem too badly affected. i imagine this is more about personnel than long term defense contracts. >> well, it is, but the problem is that congress is very likely to reject any additional payments that personnel have to make very likely to reject base closings which means either the budget goes up from the requested level or you've got to make cuts elsewhere. we are going into an election year so i think the pressure will continue to be on weapons systems. i think the reason they are doing well is they have great cash flows. you are looking at a strong market and as you mentioned, what's happening in the ukraine. i think the real opportunity if there is one is in more of the shorter cycle businesses. the funding there really was not

released because we went into this year expecting to live with a sequester. we are not living with it so more of that funding which is from the fiscal '14 budget, will start to flow in the june and september quarters. >> thank you for the advice. as the defense secretary continues his remarks in washington, our chief washington correspondent john harwood is with us with the d.c. reaction. it seems as though this might be setting us up for an election year fight with congress over the defense priorities. >> reporter: yes. i think it will be a limited fight, though. remember, these cuts reflect the spending levels that both parties agreed to in that recent ryan-murray budget deal that passed the congress, sort of put to rest the fiscal wars. will there be fights over priorities, yes. but will that change the overall amount of money going into the defense? probably not. because then you would have to open up that agreement. it's clear that some changes can be made. we saw that from the recent very

rapid repeal of the one military c.o.l.a., retirees under 65 who had retired, were getting pension benefits and they reduced the cost of living increases, and congress immediately after protests from veterans, rescinded that, both parties did. so that suggests that some things may be vulnerable but the overall spending levels for defense are really set by the sequester, then this follow-on budget deal which reduce the impact of the sequester somewhat, but not entirely. >> john, thank you so much. we will continue to monitor secretary hagel's remarks. simon? let's just check on gold prices closing right now. in fact, at a four-month high after consecutive weeks of gains. there you go. a very interesting trade too many people. to the bond market. rick santelli is tracking the action at the cme. >> reporter: you know, if you look at a two-day chart of tens,

you can see we are hovering at the very significant retracement level and psychological level of 2.75. why is this so important? it's a major retracement from the high yield at 3.03 at the end of last year to the low yields after that high yield was made, right around 2.58 on the 3rd of february. here's what's fascinating. let's go to the 12th. the 12th was the highest yield close at 2.76. as you see, the left side and right side are the same. we haven't really moved. look at the 12th when it comes to the dow jones industrial average. 350 unanswered points up. lately, it's been all about how stocks trade dictating where yields go. many are getting short looking for higher yields. the treasury market seems stubborn. we will keep you informed as to whether the unanswered buying in stocks showed up in sales pushing yields up in treasuries. simon? >> in the meantime, let's focus on the price action stocks in

rally mode. the s&p 500 hitting a new all time high today. some cyclicals like materials have been underperforming this year. are we on the verge of a rebound for them? how do you position? stick around. ...return on investment wall isn't a street... isn't the only return i'm looking forward to... for some, every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement

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which will cause me to miss the end of the game. the x1 entertainment operating system lets your watch live tv anywhere. can i watch it in butterfly valley? sure. can i watch it in glimmering lake? yep. here, too. what about the dark castle? you call that defense?! come on! [ female announcer ] watch live tv anywhere. the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity.

i'm jane wells monitoring the pentagon press conference as they lay out their budget request for the fiscal year. defense secretary hagel talking about current spending and a proposal that the president wants to put before congress to raise it above sequestration. if you look at these figures here, he is saying for the current fiscal year, defense spending will be $496 billion. that's $31 billion below the president's request. next year, same amount, $496 billion. that will be $45 billion below the president's request of what they need to maintain, in their opinion, readiness. he says the president is going to propose $26 billion in extra spending and an opportunity growth and security initiative and over the next five years, the president wants to ask for $115 billion above sequestration levels. secretary hagel saying quote, continued sequestration cuts would compromise our national security both for the short and long term. we will get back to you as he begins to outline cuts to

particular programs and to pay and benefits for military personnel. back to you. >> thank you very much. look forward to that. let's take a look at how defense stocks are faring. they are holding up very well, considering. some of that may have already been factored in. we have 1% plus gains, in some cases 2% gains in the likes of raytheon and northrup grummon. seema? >> take a look at netflix, now at an all time high. the stock soaring on news it agreed to pay comcast, the parent of this network, for faster speeds for its service. the two signing a multi-year deal. the stock trading up by 3.2%. the s&p 500 if you are just tuning in, hit an all time high today and the dow, no slack either, up 186 points. bob pisani is with me on the floor. for no real reason. no great trigger. >> moving to historic highs is the reason. but there's no fundamental

reason why the dow is up 200 points today. look at the s&p 500, green for the year now. as we moved into historic territory right after the close, around the 1848 level, pop up there and you can see we are just off the highs. three to one advancing to declining stocks throughout the day. a number of sectors up more than 1%. kind of unusual. half the sectors, five of ten sectors in the s&p 500 up more than 1% including energy, industrials, financial, health care and consumer discretionary stocks. you see all up 1%. the standout is natural gas stocks. now they are going after even the smaller names, billion dollars in market cap, newfield range resources, penn virginia. finally just want to mention even the precious metals are up 1%. the gold stocks also doing well. >> let's bring in kenny pulcari. i feel embarrassed i said we rallied on no reason. that is probably not accurate. how can that be true? >> essentially there really is no reason. new highs beget new highs. although you had the ukrainian

situation which didn't spin out of control, asia didn't get nervous over it, europe didn't get nervous over it. therefore, investors are really looking at it as kind of they saved themselves because there wasn't complete bloodshed. there has been a little bit of a takeover -- >> no invasion. >> right. >> are we going to hold these levels? >> i don't think so. doesn't feel like it. i think we will churn all day and towards the end of the day, they will close right below that significant level. just feels like that. there's no real push to go higher. technically, we are up and through. don't be surprised if they start talking about s&p 1900 relatively quickly because it's the next round -- it's a reason for the market. >> the russell is there, the midcap is there, dow is lagging. transports are lagging. let's not quibble. we -- >> i'm dying to see what happens when the macro puts actually come out positive where the market's going to go. all the ones this week are expected to be negative. they are being revised downward. gdp, downward. durable goods down. >> we don't care. we are using the weather excuse.

steve liesman says we will make it up in the second quarter. >> when we start to turn positive, where are we going? >> the rest of the world believes the u.s. economy is going to be the economy that improves this year better than everybody else, if there is anybody -- >> and i agree. i think that's what's happening. they are looking at us as kind of going to be the leading economy to invest in. >> i read over the weekend that retail investors are getting in and it might be a bad time. >> always a problem when the retail guy gets in. >> i welcome the retail investors. please, after five years, i welcome you back. they started coming back last year. let's see them more back. >> thank you very much. sue, back to you. >> too bad kenny isn't passionate. so far this year, defensive sectors are indeed outperforming the s&p 500. cyclical sectors like materials and consumer discretionary have been underperforming but is that about to change? seema mody is out behind the market flash desk. right here in the newsroom. what have you found out? >> you're right, defensive

sectors like health care and utilities have been outperforming. they are up better than 6% year to date. several strategists are betting that economically sensitive cyclical sectors like consumer discretionary, tech and materials, will outperform and lead this market higher. jpmorgan says concerns over the negative impact of weather and rising natural gas prices on the consumer overblown. he recommends names like dollar tree, home depot, delta airlines. when it comes to techs, i.t. spending is coming back and thanks to the recent sell-off, tech in comparison to its historical average is trading at an attractive valuation. marshall's top tech picks including f-5 networks and vmware. lastly, basic materials are likely to benefit as a global growth story. he expects eagle lab, and dupont to outperform in coming months. experts say, though, however, they are continuing to watch for any further weakness in economic data or volatility in emerging

markets which could make these cyclical stock ideas less attractive. >> there is always that caveat. thank you so much. simon? ford has been struggling with its in-car technology for some time. it's reportedly now dropping microsoft in its next generation sync system. the detroit news says ford will team up with blackberry instead for its voice activated system. customer complaints about malfunctioning technology and touch screens have hurt ford in surveys by the powerful j.d. power and consumer reports organization. shares of those three as you can see, blackberry really catching some upwind there, not least because more broadly messaging is so in. watch natural gas prices this week. prices up about 40% so far this year but polar vortex, of course, bringing more snow. we are now forecast for the u.s. this week. here's the weather channel's tom niziol.

>> as we get into the week, just another blast of arctic air coming down out of central canada for a good portion of the eastern united states. let's take a look at how this sets up here. that cold air moving down again and it is really going to drop the temperatures across the eastern u.s. from the central plains all the way down into the southeast. as a result of that, look at your overnight lows, wednesday night down into the minus teens in some areas of the upper midwest. take a look at atlanta. thursday night, a 28 degree reading, 16 in cincinnati and down to zero in buffalo. in addition to that, we have got this weak weather system that moves off the coast here and it is going to bring limited moisture back into that cold air right along the northeast coast. this is not going to be a major snowstorm by any means but it is going to produce probably one to three inches of snow here running from baltimore, philly, new york, all the way up into boston. not a major winter storm but just a reminder for everybody in the east that winter is not over yet. stay tuned. we will send it back to you. >> i'm jane wells continuing to

monitor the pentagon press conference. we are getting some important information that matters to the defense contractors. good news for lockheed and boeing, the defense secretary saying the pentagon remains commit tod the joint strike fighter which is built by lockheed, the new refueling tanker built by boeing and the new bomber which both of them are bidding for. it will be reducing and retiring the a-10 warthog, a beloved but an aircraft that has long been on the chopping block now is going to officially go. in addition, the air force will retire the u-2 in favor of the global hawk, it will reduce the number of predators and reapers that it is planning to use. and he is about to talk about another program important to lockheed martin and general dynamics. the secretary is not convinced the combat ship can do all it says it can and the pentagon

plans no negotiations at this point beyond 32 ships. he is also saying if the president doesn't get the extra funding he wants above sequestration, then there will be even deeper cuts, the air force will have to retire 80 more aircraft including its entire kc-10 tanker force. a lot of the reasons he says they're keeping the big programs like the f-35 is because it's an emphasis on capability over capacity. this is key, guys. this new funding will also help assure a robust industrial base, itself a national strategic asset. up next, we expect him to talk about pay and benefits. if we hear something, we will let you know. >> thanks, jane. we'll look forward to that. meantime, a big stretch of the mississippi river remains closed today. because of an oil spill that happened over the weekend. we will talk about the economic ramifications. jamie dimon gearing up to face investors. what can he expect? >> what a difference a year has made, $25 billion in legal charges, a retreat from growth

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we asked the pentagon plans to shrink u.s. defense spending to pre-world war ii levels. what's your take? 39% say it's bad for americans and homeland security. 47% say it's a good idea to cut back and adjust for the times. 14% say the money should be reallocated toward cybersecurity defense. >> very interesting. all right. thank you. seema? >> here's a market flash. check out advanced technology, a solar and l.e.d. equipment maker said it could turn a profit in the second half of the year, after posting a smaller than expected loss in its fourth quarter. the company will open a plant in arizona to make sapphire materials for apple's electronic devices. it said about 80% of its

revenues from come from the sapphire business. the stock currently up about 14%. a developing story to update you on now. the port of new orleans is now back in business after the coast guard reopened a portion of the mississippi river an hour ago. over the weekend a barge collision and oil spill had shut down about a 65-mile stretch of the mississippi. no one was hurt, thankfully. but it did force the closure of water traffic in all directions during the cleanup. here with an update for us is gary legrange, ceo of the port of new orleans. welcome to "power lunch." >> thank you. pleasure to be here. >> what can you tell us about the backup on the river and perhaps some of the environmental damage that may have been done? >> well, the river is rolling. we are really pleased with the small amount of consequences that we've had from a negative standpoint. the spill overall was very much unlike the spill of 2008 which was well over 40,000 gallons. not the bp spill but the other

one. this one's about 31,000 gallons. so the coast guard did an excellent job of averting any dangers and any consequences that might arrive as a result of it. >> i know there was some worry that perhaps drinking water would be compromised but apparently, that has been ruled out now, is that the case? >> yes. that's the case, from an environmental standpoint we feel pretty good about it. as you alluded to earlier from a safety standpoint as well. ships are moving again. we've got 29 ships in the queue at the time, which are moving one by one. commerce is moving. five ports -- five ships within the port moved out. two cruise ships actually were given permission to move out yesterday. five other ships at anchor are moving in. there's a lot of activity and it was less than a 24-hour event so we are very fortunate that things were minimized. >> so much traffic goes up and down that river, with portions of it still closed do you have an estimate on when the entire river will be reopened? >> the coast guard's going to do a flyover this afternoon, i

think probably at 01400 from what i understand so when that happens, midafternoon, late afternoon, we should have an indication. it's only from mile marker 130 to i think 150 at this particular point in time, 20 to 25 mile stretch of the river, which is upriver from new orleans, between baton rouge and new orleans. >> best of luck. you are a busy man. thanks for spending time with us. >> thanks for having us. >> good luck with that. simon? jamie dimon and jpmorgan getting ready to face investors. kayla tausche here with what we can expect. very different from last year. >> jpmorgan is one of the most widely held stocks, a dow component with trillions of dollars in assets. once a year the company's executives clearly lay out the strategy for shareholders. here's what you are likely to expect tomorrow. the latest on the company's ambitious cost-cutting plan first. that involved 17,000 layoffs before the end of next year so does the bank still need to do more?

that's one of the big questions there. second, an update on legal costs. jpmorgan is still the focus of numerous investigations ranging from chinese hiring to alleged manipulation of the energy markets. third, how much capital can it return to shareholders. jpmorgan has had a stressed relationship at best with washington through the last year, and questions were raised about its 2013 capital returns. can those buy-backs and dividends continue. finally, the bank is expected to announce a broad strategy regarding its retail branches. it's about to expand branches in california and florida was contrarian since consumers are flocking online. core analysts say the bank could axe more than 1,000 branches in a broad retreat. that would be nearly 20% of its retail storefronts. expect a facelift for the ones that stay. the stock is up 19% since last year. it's underperformed b of a and wells fargo but it's a solid return in a tough year. jpmorgan has moved to stem one

of the big challenges, a referendum on jamie dimon and his chairmanship. last year the bank reached a deal with shareholders over whether dimon should be chairman and ceo. at least that is out of the woods at this point. >> thank you so much. well, not in my backyard. that's what some are saying. exxonmobil's ceo is in a fracing dilemma. buckhead justin bieber. is jeopardy in jeopardy? [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they're gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some financial folks

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time for the power rundown with simon and bob. guys, first up, exxonmobil is a known user and supporter of the fracing process but its ceo doesn't want that happening in his backyard near dallas. "wall street journal" says rex tillorson joined a suit to block a water tower that could be used from fracing being built due to the fear of noise, nuisance and traffic hazards. what do you think? >> apparently the water tower is 15 stories tall so it's a big issue on the edge of his estate. i don't know if it's fracing in particular. what i found interesting was his threat to leave the area after much discussion. he said to the council i cannot

stay in a place where i do not know who to count on and who not to count on. which is quite mysterious. >> in his defense, he's not objecting to using water for tracking. he's objecting to the fact that the tower is there at all, and would basically change the appearance of the neighborhood. but you have to admit this is pretty darned delicious as a story. i really smirked a little. >> which is why we are doing it. let's move on to publicly shamed pop star justin bieber not wanted in the atlanta area of buckhead. people there protesting. as for mr. bieber, he was seen looking at mansions in the upscale neighborhood. just last month, you may recall the 19-year-old arrested in miami for driving under the influence and drag racing. i want to note that i'm very proud of my kids because they have thrown out their justin bieber stuff. would you want to live near him, simon? >> apparently he's also accused of egging a neighbor's house recently. i can understand why they don't want him around. maybe he's just after the quiet life. maybe he's growing up and just wants to calm down.

>> you know you are notorious when you're living in a neighborhood with janet jackson and elton john and they declare you to be too notorious. remember elton john in the 1970s. what justin bieber is doing is pretty tame compared to those antics. >> let's move on. this is the four time "jeopardy" champ, back on tonight's episode. social media people don't like his aggressive and some call it unruly playing style, including catching the other contestants off guard by jumping from topic to topic. he has been playing along on his own social media accounts. you know, should the strategy even matter? it's working. >> it should. it should matter. what's happened to "jeopardy" is what's happened to the rest of television. call it the cablization of "jeopardy." used to be everybody was nice and pleasant. now you have a guy who is brash, throws people off, uses game theory because he treats it as a game. what's the best way to win? throw the opposition off, take unusual choices in the middle of the board. he's doing it.

why do you hate the guy? he's winning and getting attention. >> he will be on "street signs" at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. i'm sure he will be very well behaved. >> i'm definitely watching. he interrupts the host as well. >> yes, he does. >> he says it's because he's asian, that people don't like him or at least don't see him as the underdog. i don't know if that's true. >> we'll see. we'll talk to him about it on "street signs." thanks, guys. coming up, more on that pentagon plan. the stocks in the defense sector have been up and that's contributing to the moves we have seen in the dow jones industrial average. back in two minutes. weekdays are for rising to the challenge. they're the days to take care of business. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week.

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get a complete vehicle checkup. only at your ford dealer. i'm jane wells monitoring the pentagon budget news conference. half of all defense spending goes to pay and benefits. it's growing much faster than the private sector. here are some proposed changes. a 1% raise only in basic pay. general and flag officers pay will be frozen, housing allowance reduced from 100% to 95%, a $1 billion cut to commissary subsidies on bases and many active and retirees will pay a little more for health care but this is important. medically retired service members, their families and survivors of those who died on

active duty will not pay the annual participation fees charged to other retirees and would pay a smaller share of costs for health care than other retirees. back to you. >> thank you, jane. that does it for us on "power lunch" with a big triple digit rally on wall street. brian sullivan makes a triumphant return now from sochi as "street signs" takes to the air. we're back. i don't know if it's triumphant. did you win a trophy? when you were off? >> i won a chocolate trophy. i have already eaten it. >> that's our triumphant return right there. happy monday, everybody. stocks are making a triumphant stock to the week. maybe all the problems around the world are pushing money right back here in the good old usa. welcome to "street signs." the markets, the stop to