post because he should be saying this. >> if we change that model, we're going into darkness, we don't know what will happen and i'm very much against that. >> thank you for being here. come on back. "shark tank" is the show on cnbc. we're thrilled to have you. make sure you join us. "squawk on the street" begins a little early, right now. ♪ work hard play hard work hard play hard ♪ good wednesday morning welcome to "squawk on the street" i'm carl quintanilla with jim cramer and david faber at the new york stock exchange. take a look at futures on a very big day for retail. we've already got at least half a dozen earnings out including target. we're going to walk you through all of it. bonds may react to new home sales when those hit the tape in about an hour, in the meantime, here's a look at the ten-year yield, europe is struggling and asia the yuan continues its losing street. and taferinget beating the

street despite the impact from the massive customer data breach which shaved two cents per share of earnings and cut into sales. andics inned quarterly results from a slew of other retailers that includes lowe's, dollar tree, tjx and abercrombie & fitch and barnes & noble. and dream works animation down sharply in the premarket after posting fourth quarter results that were below expectations but we'll begin with target, reporting better-than-expected fourth quarter results but saying the massive data breach shaved two cents a share off of earnings and comps down 2.5 in the period but gregg steinhafel said sales trends have improved and u.s. comes down 2.5%. i know you were tweeting early about not just what the quarter would mean but the yield at this point and so forth. >> i have to tell you when i look at target, i expected them to miss the miss. we're happy with minus 2.5 and

the answer is, yes, we are, because a lot of people felt there had to be a sudden drop-off, the comeback is being viewed well. the other thing you have to -- it yields free. gross stock that yields three. you have to start thinking how much lower can it go and the answer is i don't know, probably not that much more. >> macy's and walmart in the last couple of weeks kripet s optimistic shopping patterns, i don't know if it will translate to a significant change but you have the anniversary of the payroll tax increase and the sequester not far away, there's hope that you'll get more economic activity translating into more consumer spending although we're not sure how that will play out because we have this potentially seminal in the way people shop. >> we had a big increase in the value of homes and macy's talks

about how furniture was very strong. i mean, there are lots of people who are still putting money in homes. and that seems to be the trend that a lot of these retailers have been talking about. remember, target has a nice home business. people are spending on their homes. they are. >> now, target's q-1 profit view's a little below consennious aconsenn io consennsus, and they don't know what the data breach will cost them down the road. what is your game plan on target? >> i think the yield will hold it down. it's so funny do you know what we've got this interesting market that's the opposite of how skeptical we were coming in about retail. lowe's goes up yesterday on home deem poe doing well. low they give us a good number and it goes up again today. that's typically not been the pattern. there's a forgiveness pattern and then a pat on the back pattern and i think it's we've decided, do you know what, let's not be too critical on this group anymore but tjx which is the charitable trust name i own

is down today. the shake-up would be okay. but if you look at macy's what they say there weren't a lot of markdowns, when you hear that that means no a lot of dump-off of merchandise and gross margins are good and that's the case. >> because they manage their inventories well. >> as did abercrombie did. >> the longer-term, bigger picture which, by the way, an interesting journal story about target and procter & gamble in something of a dispute. a lot of this is past tense but it had to do with procter & gamble allowing amazon access directly into its warehouses so it could ship diapers and the like directly from the customers to a fulfillment center and the customer and target retaliated not giving p & g products as much prominence in the stores. isn't this the bigger issue over the long term? can they expect to grow when they are facing competitors like amazon and zulily. >> cramer loves them no matter

what, yeah, five. david has a great point. if you go over the macy's quarter which i think was a seminal quarter because everyone thought the stock would be down, they are talking power over suppliers. they are dictating terms and talking about technology. frank blake throughout the home depot quarter talking about technology. blinds.com talking about the dotcom, we read this, these companies that have harn -- the bricks and mortars companies that harnessed the web are doing quite well. >> target is not, 2%. and amazon managed their web until 2011, managed their online. >> look, if you -- >> that's not a good scene. >> what is getting rewarded with new highs are companies like -- macy's has this mom initiative, a lot of it involving getting the merchandise to the store that needs the store, using the web, picking it up, same day. macy's has got a lot of technology to it. home depot, i mean, frank blake is not growing that store base, he's growing the technology within the store, getting more

money off of each good he sells. >> as you said yesterday only one store opening all year long. >> a couple in mexico. >> lowe's 31 cents did meet and comps up three nine, and beginning to close the gap between the comes they are posting and home depot is posting. >> i know. last quarter was the opposite. these companies are doing very well and, again, i come back to the value of housing. when we were talking to schiller yesterday, you would think you're still getting housing going up not at that same trajectory but lowe's is a beneficiary. both companies are doing well. there's a moment in the home depot conference call where you talk about are you still killing the other guys? and there's a pick-up, remember, there are still little guys in hardware. i still want to know is sears continuing to lose share. >> what do you think the answer is to that? >> yes. >> you mentioned abercrombie, $1.34 does beat $1.03 and they see high single-digit comps down

for the remainder of the quarter. >> and low double-digit decline. again, this is this pattern we're seeing -- >> could have been worse that's the pattern? >> i saw abercrombie, and i thought holy cow, they're not down double digits, look at they are not giving away merchandise. they bought back stock. we lowered expectations for this group so below the rest of the market that we're happy with anybody even getting someone in the store. >> you mentioned tjx which by the way i think was a miss by a penny. i haven't seen the numbers on that. >> they do not miss so this will be regarded as something unless they explain on the conference call why they didn't deliver and this is, again, you talk about the good ones, my charitable trust owns, we sold a little bit, but obviously not enough. if retail is doing better and they are not dumping merchandise then tjx does poorly. if retail is doing better -- i shouldn't say poorly, but not as well as expected. then dollar tree doesn't do as well.

>> 1.02 and misses 1.05 and low single digits. >> a lot of confusion out there. if things are as bad as some people would judge from the employment numbers dollar tree should be going up and not down. >> still continue to get that chatter of consolidation amongst the dollar stores. i've mentioned it many times here. we've seen no evidence per se and i've reported there's no conversations that i'm aware of at least between advisers certainly and nonetheless family dollar is the one that figures most prominently in that. it will be interesting when we do get that what will it mean overall to the sector. >> well, california has still been under-dollared. >> and dollar general. >> and dollar general has been such -- that was one of the great private equity stories of all-time. >> it was a good one for kkr. and they've had their share of good ones. >> you mentioned apparel, jim, wells takes ralph lauren to an outperform and price target goes up from 186 to 197.

they said they've invested a lot and margin pressure eases up a bit. >> one of the great stories over the last, let's say, two quarters reacceleration of europe and they say that ralph lauren's going to do that. obviously kors mentioned, kors mentioned so lovingly on the macy's quarter, by the way. kors was the sign that europe, when they did that great double digit number that europe's pretty good. you have to go back and say who does europe pretty good, pvh does and vf corp came right back. they do europe so well. it's positive in this market, it's a change. >> it's a definite change but you have worries about asia and emerging markets. >> david, tesla's up again. >> i tweeted yesterday the big upgrade from morgan stanley and then come su"consumer report's" them the best car in the world and what does elon musk find 100 dollar bills on the sidewalk? >> i've said skeptical things about tesla and i think i have

to go get a bodyguard. i used the term skeptical. i didn't say short it. i said i'm a skeptic. and i've changed the route that i go home. >> but that can typically be a sign that perhaps things are getting overvalued. it can be. you get the -- we've all been there. we've all gotten the hate mail. used to actually be real mail come in the mail. >> are you on the lookout for a secondary? are you on the lookout for a purchase? what do you do with this currency? >> they have cash. musk, that -- when he issued that release, it did have every box checked that was a nightmare for the short sellers. >> it did. it did. everything. but why not raise more -- if you can raise, why not raise more? raise. you know, it will be positive. they'll file for a secondary and it will be a positive. they're going to have even more money to spend on -- on replacing the electricity grid or whatever. >> i've can pondering over let's go back to the netflix situation. did -- what was the size of the check that comcast wrote netflix? >> i do not -- it was the other

way around. although we don't know how large it was. >> we know they might have saved money. but the fact is that we don't know and yet we still take it up. again, skepticism on netflix, i'll change the route and i'll take the f-train instead of the g-train, you won't find me, i'm expressing skepticism. >> we don't what whatsapp revenue number is we don't know how many kindles amazon sold. it doesn't matter. >> it's power. when we come back this morning a busy day. a nightmare for dreamworks animation, a poor performance of the movie "turbo"playing a role in the weaker-than-expected results. and also ahead marijuana and money, meet an executive whose company makes an e-cigarette product that actually has a twist of weed. and take a look at futures, we're trying for the third time to close above our all-time highs on the s&p. we'll see if today's the day when "squawk on the street" comes right back. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance

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off a big hit and they got "mr. peabody and sherman" coming next month but they wrote down 13 million on "turbo." >> when you look at the disney quarter what stands out versus the dreamworks quarter is hit, hit, hit, dead away from the notion maybe it will be big, maybe it won't be. disney goes from 65 to 80 because of the predictability of franchises. this is unpredictable and that's -- >> right. they are trying to change the revenue makeup of the company. julia boorstin a couple of days ago before the earnings, by the way, spoke with jeffrey katzenberg talking about the various initiatives they have to diversify the revenue base theme park rides and other areas that they can derive a profit from the franchises they've created and, you know, he had films going down to as low i think it was 30, 40% overtime but right now it's all about the movies still and it's not gone that well. this is perennial take overcandidate that has never actually been taken out.

everybody's look. >> the viacoms and disneys that level? >> yeah. >> sony? >> you walk by katzenberg on the sidewalk. >> it does bring to mind disney which raised ticket prices, again, i think for the second time in nine months, record highs. today on "good morning america" it was a big frozen sing-along as that movie has made almost a billion dollars. >> i went to the movie theater, and there were two "frozens" and i haven't sung along with a movie since "the rocky horror picture show." this franchise is exproceeded i exploding. >> i've seen the picture six times. from start to finish. >> six. >> and well, i got to tell you, this is one i've been talking about it on "mad money," the younger people if you listen to younger people you are making a lot more money than if you listen to older people. older people are buying general electric! my charitable trust buys general

electric. it yields 3%. >> why do you own it? >> because i think the restructuring will be very good to buy back the financial. you don't sing with it. >> not anymore. >> i like the oil service business. >> and you believe those businesses at general electric are better off together than they would be perhaps separated? >> is there more value if you break it up? i think you don't need health care under the same roof as oil service, as appliances, if they want they can do a big move. >> and magnetic resonance imaging machine, it all belongs together? >> i think there is hidden value but there's also the possibility of more cash flow generation and if i can understand the company without the finance business i think it's going to get the same kind of multiple that maybe you would get from an eaton had is a very good company. >> it has made progress on those margin promises even though they've been a long time coming. >> but this is the two-track market which i keep talking about. i listened to the jpmorgan conference, it's a good analyst day. the stock goes down a dollar immediately.

but then i looked a linkedin, they talked about china on monday. they talk about china on tuesday. well, let's keep taking it up. i'd like to see new information as reasons to take stocks up not the same information. >> yeah. >> that's one of my concerns. >> david, i see you are reading paper. >> i'm reading another icahn letter. you know, it's funny when jeff bezos started amazon, he thought about naming the company relentless. carl icahn needs to call himself relentless, when you are up against mr. icahn, you can expect it will not end. you can beat him. clorox did, apple most recently, we'll see if ebay, whether they are capable of withstanding him. the latest letter follows the one we told you about on monday morning questioning the independence, if you will, of two key directors that we talked about here marc andreessen and mr. cook as well from intuit, founder of intuit. the latest letter doesn't seem

to have too much, it's a response to ebay's response saying simply the disturbing fact is that ebay sold a controlling stake in skype to a sitting board member in silver lake for about $1.9 billion and a mere 18 months they sold it to microsoft. they did hold 30% but they are talking about the $4 billion gain not going to ebay. coming back on the same themes i'm seeing here as i read it while we're sitting here, more or less repeating the same ideas. not a lot new here from icahn but he keeps coming. >> did you see this conflict, the cook conflict? >> the same questioning of -- the cook conflict was -- was there from -- >> we knew. but he's saying it's bigger than we realize. >> listen, it may be the doj did get involved. again, ebay has come out and said it's cherry picking old news. they cite the extreme experience of both of these directors who

are very much enmeshed in the world of silicon valley, certainly mr. andreessen is. but there's a larger question about andreessen in particular. he's on the board of facebook. he's on the board of hp and he's on the board of ebay. and he's got a lot going on. >> these companies they all want to compete in the end. >> right. and, you know, he was on the board of hp when they did autonomy. i don't know. >> you think he has a point? >> i kind of think there's a point to be made there. and i know, listen, andreessen as an extraordinarily smart guy with a great deal of experience and he is somebody conceivably you could say i want him on my board, why wouldn't i? knows everybody. can help the company. but -- but -- >> the allegiance, where is the allegiance? >> marc, you want to come on and discuss this? any time. love to hear your point of view on it. >> certainly vocal on a number of topics on twitter. >> right. >> but doesn't come on. >> has not responded to this, though, interestingly. >> no. >> i was looking at his twitter feed the other day and did not

see any response to this whatsoever which is challenging his credibility directly. >> yes, it is and that's a great point. we got to stay tuned closing paragraph on ebay. stay tuned, we're going to give you the detailed business plan of the separation. i think that will be quite exciting. remind the me very much, nelson peltz, stay tuned and pepsico stay tuned. a lot of people that are older are telling us what to stay tuned for. >> they are. icahn seems much more focused on governance as opposed to on explaining the scenario behind his wish to have paypal split up. >> nasty nasty. >> various hedge fund guys who i know own the stock and, i tell you, i've gotten split decisions. some people believe paypal would be better off on its own and others say, no. >> from a calm standpoint carl was on cnn yesterday, he has a web page. he's obviously twitter was another step. i mean, he has gone broad so to speak in an era where activists, he's trying to change the image, right? the connotation of the word

activist investor. >> exactly. exactly. the people's activist. look, i know that 1980 he would not have said in the '80s he was not the people's advocate. >> no. >> in this one greed is bad. greed is bad. the anti-geko. >> considerations i had with him for many, many, many years you'll end up having the same conversation for much of that time you are on the phone with him, these boards, you know, it's the same guys, nothing's gotten any better, david, you know this, it's off the record but come on. >> nothing better than the uniroyal board? >> listen, you know, corporate governance is very important to me. so, it's the same stuff. it is interesting how somebody who began his career to a certain extent in the public stage one way has become another. by the way, he's turned it on in his late 70s. turned it up a notch. >> good for him. andreessen, come on this show, david, that's the right takeaway. come on the show. >> anytime, marc. >> or alternatively docilely

convalley rally around andreessen and start speaking out in favor of what we know is a unique corporate culture in a small town, a small company town. >> i had dan hesse on from sprint and there would be a time when i would say, dan, dan, how about verizon, how about at&t, how about google, how about facebook? these company have all blurred to the point that everybody is competing. these were not competitors five years ago. >> and now they may be. and payments we know is very important. jamie dimon talking yesterday about silicon valley conceivably becoming one of his biggest competitors at jpmorgan chase and he's talking about things of that nature. >> i was shocked. i thought it was wells fargo. little did i know. >> a company you never heard of. >> it could be whatsapp. >> silicon valley going up against jpmorgan. cramer's "mad dash" as we count down to the opening bell. a lot more "squawk on the street" straight ahead.

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all right. we got about 3 1/2 minutes to the opening bell, time for a "mad dash," it's hump day, always like to have our "mad dash" on hump day. >> mike, mike, mike. one of the things that happened is we've got two solars, we've got solar city which is a musk company and therefore a must-own company for growth managers because they have a financing program that really makes it so individuals can put solar panels on the top and then we have a real solar company, when i say real, meaning it has real earnings and does a lot of megawattage and that's first solar and they did 444 megawatts instead of 485 megawatts and that's regarded as disappointment. when you see that, these companies have to produce results. it's further along than solar city so to speak. and they -- last time they had a good analyst meeting and got the stock right back up, but i find this to be one of the signs of what you got to be careful for when you get a junior growth stock becomes a senior growth

stock where you actually have metrics you must beat. first solar didn't beat them, stock gets hammered. >> first solar still up, what, 70% in a year. >> it's a good company, but do you know what you have to produce. these are solar companies that are expected to be able to make money -- >> but not solar city and you have elon musk in your pedigree, right? >> my kids -- my daughter told me go to kiddie city and my daughter says go to solar city. go to solar city and get a solar panel. musk has captured the youth. musk and icahn, two polar opposites getting exactly what the market wants. i'm going to leave here and i'm going to my knee doctor and i'm going to get monovist, they have a synovial fluid injection who have nothing in their knees and has had the operation, this is it. the fda said it's good.

osteoporosis. >> you are young. >> this is the man who gets up at 3:30 to work out. >> thank you for saying that. >> if you open my knees, you'll see nothing! i want it in my knees! and people want anaka in their portfolio. >> after intermune of this entire year of biotechnology are we in some sort of final inning? it's gone broad and it's in "usa today" yet again today. >> peggy hamburg it's not a promotional person, fda, the fda's been approving things at a pretty considered pace. that is something that doesn't get talked about a lot. but when they talk about trying to fight fatal lung disease they're going to put that drug out for people. we have a very progressive fda that doesn't get talked about. that's one of the reasons why you see regereron going up and gilead they are not blocking drugs that are potentially lifesaving and not blocking drugs that make it so i can run again. >> i wouldn't try that!

>> no? >> take it slow. take it slow. >> like dr. nefario in "depi "despicable me." down here at the big board, u.s. olympic silver medalist in skeleton, noelle pikus-pace, remember her from sochi a few days ago? we'll talk to her in a few moments. over at the nasdaq, a specialty biopharma company. >> look at this market. tjx, it was a miss, right? but, no, they can explain it away and now the stock's roaring. forgiveness in retail is the story of the last five days. >> all right, so does that mean i want to own retail in a way that i might not have previously because i've been so concerned about the weather and this bigger change that may be overtaking retail in terms of people using mobile in the web? >> yes, if it were friday of last week. >> so, it's already a little late. >> look, the macy's conference

call and the home depot conference call changed my mind about a lot of things because basically what these guys are saying, you think things are bad, but ever since the last couple of weeks it's snapping back. that pattern that had been missing of people not shopping, they're coming out. and i think that, you know, people just -- you're only as good as your last couple weeks in retail. >> you think a spring thaw is going to really -- we had i think it was stern ag on yesterday who said there will be a release in pent-up demand once spring weather arrives. >> that seems to be the case. taear terry lundgren is saying things are getting better, perfumes, luggage, furniture. frank blake is talking about areas of his store doing incredibly well. and it's just -- it doesn't jive with the unemployment numbers. how's that? it just doesn't jive. >> chauncey gardner market in the spring. >> yes. >> there will be growth. >> i like to watch. >> frank blake said it better get warmer those who buy our

flats at home depot right now know we are not looking at an early planting season. >> certainly lowe's, all of those names we mentioned at the top are leading the s&p higher today. >> but they're not expensive. let's give them that. you see target at 3%. they're not expensive. you're not paying a netflix-like multiple for retail. >> tesla up another 5%. >> just five? >> just 5%, 4.7% actually. >> is there a negative story out there? >> if i recall it had been up more percentagewise yesterday than where it closed, but we're talking a $259 stock, you see it right there, about $32 billion market value. not -- larger than renault. >> you are going to go to that? >> i can go to all sorts of annoying comparison ala -- >> con ed and dominion and southern, is it larger than american electric power and -- come on. the trillion dollar utility grid is about to be torn asunder. >> not to mention the

self-learning, self-driving car. >> "consumer reports." >> best sedan the honda accord and best luxury was the audi a-6 and bests sports sedan the bmw 3 series. >> what would you do if you were short this thing? >> short tesla? >> short tesla. there are guys who shorted it and they are still coming up with all their numbers and saying -- don't you just -- >> i think you just say it was a -- i liked this business but i'm now going to go into a new business. >> you can't short on valuation with no catalyst. you cannot do it. >> speaking of heavily shorted names, sota beats by a penny, a relief rally there, too. >> don't forget everyone is still reeling from the green mountain coffee move by coca-cola so there's always going to be rumors that someone will come in and take soda stream. i'm not buying the rumors. but the fact is this is another really beaten-up stock where people say, hey, it didn't fall off a cliff. what a reason to buy stocks they didn't fall off a cliff.

>> how about cigna, humana, tenent. >> $10 up on negative news. >> it was negative but not as negative as people thought. >> it was minus 4 1/2 once you read through it. it could be minus 6, and 8 even. there's an idea also that they went either way if you talk to some people that own it, either they'll make more money by priciprice is being higher than thought an gain a lot more share and pbm that people brought up and they could outsource that, that could create value. i talked to a couple of people. >> some people are saying express scripts is being back and being a bargain. and cvs was nipped when they got out of tobacco. look at this thing, 52-week high. a lot of forgiveness. a lot of happiness out there in a sector that had been the grim sector. a lot of people showed me we're

not chartists here, but the etf for retail had created a head and shoulders, some people were telling me, you got to short retail. obviously that didn't work. >> what about shorting some of the reits that rely on mall-based retailers for their growth? >> doing pretty well. >> that's outlets. that's outlets. that's a slow death, right? >> you want to bet against donwodo ddo don wood? >> who is opening new stores in malls? >> got a couple actually. >> and don't forget, there's still going to be companies that are just not going to be amazon, i mean, whole foods is not -- whole foods, when are people going to circle back to that? maybe whole foods wasn't as bad as we thought. >> did you see the obesity figures for young kids out of the cdc? >> thank you. >> "new york times," yep. >> saying that healthy practices when it comes to eating may now be the norm. you've been preaching this gospel as long as i can remember. >> soda back to 1999. i've got white wave on tonight.

i don't know about you guys, i am a soy milk drinker. they also make horizon, whole milk. have you had almond milk? >> i have. >> pretty sweet. >> with my smoothies. >> the growth rate on plant-based foods, these plant-based, is extraordinary. it's all part and parcel with this obesity and i got to tell you, it's a really positive story out there. but soda, soda, soda, challenged business. >> we talk tesla, cover of "usa today," splashed right above the fold is the gm recall. doubling the recall. recalls come and go but this will be an early test for mary bard. >> i read that. my khary trabl trust owns it and i thought it was a bad story. everybody knows it. everybody knows the story. >> yeah. faulty ignition switch that can potentially i guess with a heavy key chain not only cut off the engine but also disable the air bags which they've known about for a while and are now having

to admit that some early indications came as early as 2004. >> well, that group has been the last of the bad ones. >> yeah. >> okay. how about that? gm traded to 40, 41 when we talked about the pension benefit and then the ten-year went the wrong way. ford did not deliver in europe. people thought they would. that's been the worst of the major groups. of the year. i think that's interesting. >> tw thwith that we're back to. let's check in with bob pisani on the floor. >> hi, guys, the nasdaq slowly, slowly trying to get into positive territory. we made it on an intraday basis on monday and a hard time getting over it, but nonetheless shorting stocks this year has not been successful. transports have been lagging. nasdaq's been leading throughout the morning and consumer discretionary and all the retailers are up despite disappointing 2014 guidance on a part of a lot of them. tech stocks are leading and consumer staples and industrials and one you don't see health

care is the real market leader but that's lagging today. take a look at the retail earnings trends, it's pretty obvious if you take a look at it, here's the retailers, a lot of reports, abercrombie, the trend is beating on the bottom line but the revenues have been light and the guidance is a little bit disappointing, there's your key earnings trends that we're seeing so far. put the board back up abercrombie guidance, 2014 same-store sales in high single digits but it's good enough. lowe's overall, guidance 260, the consensus is 264 and a little light but some people thinking good enough. same-store sales for 2014 up 4% is the estimate. target beat on bottom line, too, but 2014 estimates 285, 415, that's the very low end. the consensus is 415. so, again, nobody's quite coming in topping the numbers. very conservative guidance and same with dollar tree overall, their guidance 291 to 213 and that's below the estimate.

and you see the stocks doing very well. i want to highlight tjx because they were a penny lower than expectations but the bottom line is guidance not particularly great, a little below expectations for 2014. but they authorized a $2 billion stock repurchase program. how much is that? that's 5% of the shares outstanding and they've got $970 million left on the old one. they're talking about potentially pulling back 7% of the shares that are outstanding with the repurchase programs now authorized. the new one as well as the old one. south air. bear that in mind. now the dividend will be 1.3%, not a heavy one but still pretty good. tjx on the upside. what about big news here in some of the big momentum names so far this year. i want to show you how important some of these big names have been in terms of helping out the nasdaq and overall momentum, tesla, yelp, facebook, netflix, priceline these are the names being traded every day on a heavy basis. look to the moves to the upside

and yet on many days they don't help the rest of the market. the names were up yesterday, but the nasdaq, guys, on the downside yesterday, so a lot of people are concerned about the very narrow leadership we're seeing even with the markets still right near new highs. guys, back to you. >> thanks very much, bob pisani. let's head over to the bond pits and join rick santelli in the cme group in chicago. rick? >> thanks, david. well, i know that the equity markets at least at this point in the trading day are up a bit. but the treasury market, having none of that. it's definitely kind of doing its own thing here and it has been for a while. look at a one-day and a two-day, the two-day especially. granted we're only a basis point below where we settled yesterday, but, boy, we are hovering and we've already expanded the range and it looks as though we're going to trade below yesterday's low which is right about here at 269. that's important. pay attention to that. take the chart back to february 10th that's the last time we had any settlements under 270 and in the interim period, it has been

compressed. big time. now, the yield curve. i know that, you know, if you want to take a real mac macro long-term, you know, you talk about how the u-curve is steep and what it means for the banks but that's not what's going on for 2014 if you look at twos versus tens or fives versus tens what you will see is we're starting to resume the flattening. well, the flattening really does seem to be kind of linked up with lower yields, so we want to pay attention to all those moving parts because they all imply maybe we're going to see more buyers and sellers in treasuries. and the biggest talk continues to be the chinese currency, now if you look at the dollar versus, you can see we haven't seen these levels in terms of dollar strength since about august 20th. and at 1050 today, santelli exchange, i'll give you a reason i think this is going on and it might not be the same as everybody else's. carl, back to you. >> all right, rick, thank you very much. back here fresh from ringing the opening bell we want to welcome

u.s. olympic silver medalist skeleton slider noelle pikus-pace, her husband jansen, their kids lacy and tracen, noelle, congratulations. it's great to see you on your silver out of sochi. >> thank you so much. >> people may know your story, but in case they don't, you came in fourth in vancouver, you thought you were done, basically heartbreak is what it was. >> yeah. >> and two years later you decide i'm not done. >> yeah. >> what went into this decision? >> honestly, this guy here. he kind of talked me into it, he built my sled if we can do it as's a family and travel the world and make it happen if we can find sponsors that will help us out to support us as a family to make it happen, we can do it. >> why that type of encouragement obviously aside from the fact that you love her and she's your wife? >> it was just a big struggle going into the vancouver games getting hit by the bobsled and not getting back to her potential, i knew she had more to give and really excel like she proved the last couple of

years it's been a whirlwind and it's been worth every effort and minute we did for it. >> silver is a big deal. does the color of the medal matter? >> it never did. it was a matter of achieving this dream and walking away knowing that we did it together as a family, we have this fairy tale ending. >> what happens now? you are done and this time you mean it? >> we mean it. right? >> yeah. >> no, we're done. >> obviously children, i'm the parent of two, and it is a big decision. you are on the road. you're away from them. how much of that played into your decision to not only come back but then leave this time? >> yeah. to come back to have them with us and to allow them to experience all the experiences that they've had, i knew that if i could stand at that line and have my family at my side and have my kids down at the finish line, that that would be everything, that would make it all happen and allow me to do my best. >> i know you are here for td ameritrade, one of five athletes they support. congratulations again. >> thank you.

>> i bet these guys will be glad not to have a microphone in their face. >> thank you. >> david, over to you. >> thanks very much, carl. still to come on "squawk on the street," get ready for food for thought from the ceos of domino's pizza and jim cramer. that's coming up next. and later, a trip into the green shares of trip adviser have more than doubled, by the way, in the last 12 months, an interview with the travel website's ceo. we've got that as well. keep it here. here in philadelphia you can access a philly cheesesteak anytime, day or night. just like you can access geico anytime, day or night. there is only one way to celebrate this unique similarity. witness the cheesesteak shuffle. ♪ cheesesteak, cheesesteak ♪ ♪ it's the cheesesteak shuffle! huh! ♪ ♪ every day, all day, cheesesteak, cheesesteak! ♪ ♪ every night, all night cheesesteak, cheesesteak! ♪ ♪ 9 a.m. cheesesteak! ♪ 2 p.m. cheesesteak!

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certified pre-owned sales event. visit today for exceptional offers. ♪ technology is helping to heat up business at domino's pizza last night on "mad money" patty doyle told jim that digital sales were playing a big part in the growth strategy. >> it's an exciting part of our business and copting to grow at a very fast rate. it's what's really driving the global momentum right now, so there are a lot of good things happening, but as people are transitioning from phones on to digital, it's clearly played

into our strength. >> interesting to watch, i mean, a direct line between r&d investment and sales. >> right. this is a facebook story. this is a story about how people do not want to have to talk to a person. this is a story about getting the pizza made that you want and they have a personality profile of you. this is driving domino's sales, plus terrific international. one of the nicest sides that we went over is there's franchise money. for the longest time there hasn't been any money, new franchises domestically, they are growing again domestically. and i asked him about the funny ads where people are i can't hear you, i can't hear you. listen, we want people to use the technology. saves them a lot of money. saves a franchise a lot of money. >> it's so interesting when you talk about digitally disturbing other businesses. and pizza is conceivably being reallocated in market share and brings me back to weight watchers, think about what the

fit bits and the like have meant for that business. >> anybody who has used a domino's app knows it's fun. it's interesting. the mobile app is doing well. the fact that you now get your credit card in there so you don't have to worry about change with the person. this is demographically people of the ages 18 to 22 they have pizza and beer, right? they have pizza and beer. >> and they don't like to talk on the phone. >> they don't like to talk on the phone. it's a lost art. >> nobody under the age of 30 wants to talk on the phone. >> no. >> we should text the whole show. >> all they do is e-mail. phone call? what the heck is that? if you are a loyal viewer you may know that jim references his bar san miguel on the show but now the conversation has crossed over to tmz live. take a look at this. >> how did you do on saturday? >> $3,300 -- i'm sorry, $3,300 after tax and it was the biggest by far. >> can i just say to you, that is so shocking to me, all i

meant really was did you fill all the tables? >> of course, he knows all the numbers. of course, he knows the numbers. >> great interview. >> we've become bad hedge fund managers at the restaurant. there's a program called bread crumb from the underperforming groupon which allows you to know what you did the night before. this is like going up against the s&p. last night frankly there were only three people at the bar. i was suicidal. >> don't take it that hard. >> no? >> i like the way your inn informs your view of yelp and now owning a restaurant informs groupon. >> the bread crumb is not a needle mover. tr tripadviser, they make you or break you frankly. you get three bad tripadvisers in a row, your place is empty. yelp, blessed with good yelp reviews. this is, like, remember when danny wryer were wrote his seminal book "setting the table" that was about "new york"

magazine writing review that was negative on union square. it's what people are writing on their mobile whether you had a good small plate mexican. may i suggest that the pork sausage is really good. >> i'm going to have some tequila there this weekend. >> empanadas, and chile is good, too. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. start building your confident retirement today. hi, are we still on for tomorrow? tomorrow. quick look at the weather. nice day, beautiful tomorrow. tomorrow is full of promise. we can come back tomorrrow.

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♪ but if you cholose your eyes does it always feel like nothing's aged at all ♪ ♪ and if you close your eyes does it almost feel like ♪ time now for cramer and "stop trading" jim. >> the idea that craft beer may have peaked and going back to buds, people are bud izzing abo that. boston beer numbers is not what we expected, this sam. and anheuser-busch, inbev, grade number turnaround in brazil and mexico, huge places that drink beer. is it a trend that can continue? if boston beer wants to spend less money they can show better gross margins. but this deal worked out. and worked out for

constellation. the beer market's good. i don't want to make too much of the idea that craft beer has peaked but people will reach that conclusion. >> spirits taking a lot of share overall. >> diagio reported a quarter that was not so hot and the stock came back. if people want to take a real close look at boston beer they're not going to find that much to dislike. but the goldman negative is a neutral note that reads negatively and i think it is knocking the stock down. >> what is coming up tonight? >> you want to talk about obesity and white wave and the chal leng that white wave has done to make it so that we have do natural and organic, this is the number one natural and organic grower in this country, hain is telling me the category is growing and the numbers from white wave are the fastest grower in the natural and organic. dan hesse i have to go over where they are with dan hesse. >> and we continue to hear a lot about his desire for

consolidation and sprint and t-mobile being the focus of that desire, how does he figure into that. and what are the anti-trust implications and what did he hear from washington, d.c., when they are down there all the time trying to turn it a little bit in their favor. it's not easy. >> i'm sure they will be tough topics because any sort of acquisition talk. >> you won't get much. but price competition within the wireless industry is also key and i'd love to hear his take on that. and t-mo is taking share. we keep talking about verizon and at&t, are they taking it from sprint? >> there's a churn problem. it's not about that good at sprint. let's not forget whatsapp. whatsapp is the killer. is that the killer? you know, we want to find out. verizon stock has not done that well lately. att, maybe too many players and too much price competition and maybe dan hesse has answers. >> we'll see you tonight, jim, "mad money." when we come back, breaking news on new home sales and we'll get reaction from that from

dianale diana olick. and we'll hear from tim boyle and back in a minute.

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morning, guys, and in general being received fairly well as we talked about with jim in the last hour, david, maybe the spring thaw is happening not just with weather but investors' attitude toward retail. >> as jim was walking out, he was muttering to himself, in the background, the stocks are all up. dollar tree puts out a not great. don't read the releases. just buy the stocks. >> what's the reason? there are some announcements of share repurchases, investors like that, but guidance doesn't seem to be fazing the traders. >> let's go to rick santelli for the home sales. >> holy cow, up 9.6% on january new home sales. now, 414 was last month originally for december that was down 7%. that was upgraded to 727,000, so they almost cut the losses in half to 3.8. this number is now 468,000. so, let's go through it real quickly. we haven't been over 500,000

since may of 2008 but this number usurps the 463 from october of last year and is now the highest level since july of '08. i guess weather isn't as much of a factor especially, you know, looking at that revision to december as well. carl, back to you. >> thank you very much, rick santelli in chicago. lucky for us we have diana olick on on set working through the numbers. >> it's a good number because we have to remember that new home sales are based on signed contracts and not closings and the existing home sales numbers are based on closings. these are folks that went out in january and signed a contract to buy new home. supply is going up a bit. that's good. the builders are ramping up, what i'm interested, though, is the pricing, we did see prices rise higher and they had to raise prices because they are dealing with higher price for labor and land and supplies. and so, you know, they've had to raise their prices up and affordability has been tougher of late. but, again, this is a good number because we talked so much

about the weather and how that affected folks and obviously we're seeing some good signs in january. >> it's an inflection, isn't it? we thought it would continue to go down and it spiked back up, almost as big a number as in october. >> we have to remember the new home sales figures are very volatile, a lot of folks don't buy into them because it's such a small samming supply. they are not like construction because they are only single family homes which is not multifamily which gets thrown into the construction numbers, again, it's good. bad sign, though, we did see mortgage applications to buy a home really drop dramatically, down to 20-year lows. so, sometimes the numbers don't always jive, again, weather playing in to a lot of and, of course, i'm sure that regions are playing a lot into it as well. >> we'll talk to ivy zellman on halftime. >> she is bullish. she said we were in housing nirvana in the spring and we spoke to her before the interview and she's still very bullish. >> it's good to have you here to

make sense of all the mixed housing numbers. always good to see you. cold weather giving a nice boost to one retailer. shares of columbia sportswear trading around new highs after reporting upbeat earnings last week, but what will spring bring for columbia? tim boyle is the ceo of columbia sportswear and he joins us on first on cnbc. we're talking about the weather impact. obviously outdoor apparel has been a bright spot but how much is really the weather boost for you? >> we love cold weather. the bulk of our business is cold weather apparel in the second half of the year, and we love it when it's cold, but we're an international business and we haven't had the robust weather we've had in north america in europe or in asia, so our businesses there were not as impacted. but, you know, north america is a big part of our business. but we're anxious to see spring come. we have a big business in spring apparel and summer apparel.

and so we're anxious for summer to be here, for our retailers to start cranking out some numbers on warm weather apparel. >> obviously you put out good numbers but just within this whole retail mix this morning, tim, we're seeing themes like the weather and also struggling with e-commerce, online sales, brick and mortar getting hit a little bit, and there are also hack attacks and retailers are facing a number of challenges. which ones are you dealing with and how do you deal with them? >> the bulk of our business is wholesale. retail for us is about maybe a third of our total business. we sell to retailers, so we're relying on having retailers that have robust businesses. but frankly i think the consumer's coming back a bit. really globally. and, you know, these -- these vagaries that happen week against week and month against month for prior years really don't have that much impact on the total business for us. so, our businesses relied on our

product development pipeline making sure that we have the right merchandise because at the end of the day even though we're nearly $2 billion in sales, we're a small player in the apparel business. lots of bigger opportunities for us and we're focused on having our products be right and then our retailers will do well with the products. >> speaking of opportunities, big debate right now regarding amazon and going after some retailers who wouldn't ordinarily play in that sandbox. maybe the weak comps push them that way. what are your thinking? what are the pluses and minuses of that kind of move? >> listen, amazon is a terrific company and they're very aggressive. they're very competitive. and they need to be watched because the consumer today has so many options about where to acquire merchandise. so, you know, obviously they move to the lowest price retailer from time to time. and we need to make sure that we understand and comprehend the e-com and the mobile business

which frankly has become a bigger part of our business as well. >> tim, you mentioned innovation. can you just explain to us what innovation you have broadly what is exciting the wholesalers? is it simply innovation at a lower price, so going to where the rest of the market is innovating but delivering at a lower price pont or is it something more exciting than that? >> we talk all the time about the fact that consumers, the retailers don't need another brand. there are plenty of brands out there to provide retail product for them. so, we need to make sure that we differentiate our company and our products in a special way, and we've chosen really to focus on innovation. so, for winter product, our largest innovation has been something called omniheat reflective which basically is an aluminum that we put on the inside of the garment, still allows terrific breathability but reflects back and can add up to 20% to the warmth of the

garment based on how it's used. so, that for us for winter has been spectacular. >> okay. >> it's a very visible. in the spring we use what we call omnifreeze zero which is a special polymer that is sweat activated, so when consumers become active, they can stay cool. >> tim, very quickly, wanted to get your thoughts on the olym c olympics, i know you outfitted some of the skiers in the olympic games. are you sympathetic what under armor was dealing with? >> we never like to see athletes get impacted by their gear. we were fortunate that we had really positive reception from the athletes and super results for our apparel. so, you know, that for us at the end of the day it's about how our athletes are doing and we were fortunate enough that we had athletes from many countries wearing our apparel. >> all right.

good of you to talk to us today and congrats on the strong numbers you just put out. tim boyle, the ceo of columbia sportswear. >> thank you. a slew of retailers reporting results including, of course, target which beat the street despite the massive customer data breach. mixed results from other retailers it should be noted, lowe's, dollar tree, tjx, abercrombie & fitch and barnes & noble. let's bring in stacy ridlitzsw retailers advisers analyst and as well as our own courtney reagan. let me kick off with you. as far as target is concerned. i think we should note that they might have beaten what the street was expecting, but it's 81 cents a share against last year's $1.47, it's almost half what they came through for the last holiday season and at the same time there's now a 25% divergence on what the broader market has done against what target has done over the last six months. all may not be as it appears on the head hines for target. >> exactly, simon, and i don't

think that much of it to be honest has to do with the data breach. i think that consumers are either forgiving or they just forget. i myself have been to target a number of times and i certainly know a lot about what has happened since that data breach. the canadian segment is really disappointing. yes, the loss is a little bit less than what was expected but target canada hasn't done well. we know that consumers are a bit strained perhaps even more so on the lower end. walmart's discussed it, dollar tree's earnings were constrained, too. it's a very competitive environment for target in general to be playing in and i think the market is a little bit forgiving because it's not as bad as it could have been but it's not really that strong either. >> or factored in. stacy, at what point does target become a buying opportunity. you know, the commentary we have is to the cost moving forward is so open-ended at this stage and indeed the dates which they might be able to settle the things stretches well beyond 2014 possibly they say. would you be a buyer here? >> yes, simon, you know, i think

the key thing is we're seeing the relief rally today because the comps were down 2 1/2 percent as expected and could have been worse here. we know that canada has had huge missteps. the dilution from canada is three times the original expectation there's been so many issues, the fact that not only did they guide to where the street encompasses but also things really weren't worse than expected. we're getting a relief rally here. but i still think the biggest issue going forward is traffic in the united states and the canada dilution which we just have no visibility on here. >> okay. courtney, we're relatively short on time inevitably. what would you pick out from the other retailers? what should people notice in the other reports? >> well, i would like to point out dollar tree, they did miss there and, again, they're operating in that same consumer base as walmart is which blamed a lot of macroeconomic factors. dollar tree didn't get into it the way that walmart did, that's

still an issue. and barnes & noble did take a profit, it is small but it compares to last year where there was a loss, no mention of the g-asset management offer in the release but the conference call is ongoing. >> i'm curious about jcpenney and we haven't heard from that one. always a dramatic one. how far fast the troubles with ron johnson is jcpenney, are you looking for any signs of a turnaround and perhaps a better liquidity situation? >> yeah, i mean, i think the two big issues on the conference call tonight we already know the sales number are gross margins, how bad was it, how bad did they have to buy the sales and number two, where are we were the new ceo? where is the new management team going? so i think those are the two issues. that's what will drive the stock after hours. >> for the moment we'll leave it there. stacy, thank you for joining us. "staquawk on the tweet" companies could be considering more than your resume when considering you for a job. turns out plenty of employers could be looking at your old

s.a.t. test scores so we're asking you employers looking back at your s.a.t. scores as irrelevant to future performance as blank looking at blank. tweet us @squawkstreet and be looking for your answers a little bit later on. i'm guessing all of us here at this table remember our scores. >> of course. >> i do. >> it was 1600 when i took it. >> oh, yes, right. >> now i think it's 2400. >> and you got 800 in both. >> no, i didn't. >> that's a good score. >> you probably did better in the math. >> i did better in the english. >> you were a bright child. >> read enough, i guess. still trying. when we come back, how one bank used cloak and dagger tactics to help its richest customers hide billions of dollars. and "wolf of wall street."

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." check out share of sturm ruger, getting hit after reporting fourth quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates as fourth quarter orders fell to the lowest level in 2013 and it's the first time since 2009 that the company has not beaten street estimates you can see the shares currently trading down. back over to you. >> dominick chu, thanks very

much. credit suisse turns out clients hide billions of assets from the irs according to a senate investigative report released tuesday, john harwood is live in d.c. with more on that. and i guess executives today will get a chance to defend themselves. >> reporter: they will and so will the obama justice department because there are two targets of this senate investigation and the hearing takes place today, the james bond intrigue, though, comes from the details of what credit sw suisse did to help shield the money. carl levin laid some of that out in the opening statement today. here's senator levin. >> one u.s. client told the subcommittee about visiting the bank's main offices in zurich. the client was ushered into a remotely controlled elevator with no floor buttons and escorted to a bare room with white walls all dramatizing the bank's focus on secrecy. the client opened their account

after being told the patching did not require completion of the w-9, without that form the account was not reported to u.s. authorities. >> now, of course, that's only part of it. you also have bank statements hidden in the pages of "sports illustrated" magazines, phony visa applications but, again, as i indicated this is not just targeting credit suisse it's targeting the obama justice department for not doing more to get the names of the 22,000 u.s. taxpayers. there's unusual force to this bipartisan investigation for this reason, democrats often get accused of going after financial institutions, going after wealthy people, but john mccain is there to provide republican credibility. republicans get accused of taking potshots at the obama administration but senator levin is a democrat retiring from the senate this year. he's lending credibility to that. so, we're going to see what both

credit suisse executives and the justice department officials have to say about this this afternoon. >> already we know what they are going to say. they're going to say that management had no idea what was going on. i mean, i just think it's laughable. what did you think 22,000 americans were doing opening swiss bank accounts if it wasn't to hide money? i mean, why else -- >> reporter: simon, it was very interesting. we had a press conference yesterday that was embargoed. it was a preview of this hearing today and you had an interesting division. there were american reporters there raising questions like that, but you also had international reporters swiss journalists saying, hey, why are you picking on switzerland? you're going after an institution in our country. so, intriguing crosscurrents there and this is i suspect one of the reasons the obama administration's going to say they haven't done more is because they have to work through diplomatic channels and try to get the swiss courts and the swiss government to cooperate. >> yeah, i think there's actually a treaty on the table. switzerland built its reputation on the ability to keep stuff

secret. that's kind of what's -- >> reporter: exactly. >> in the meantime they changed the rule recently, i know as an immigrant, you have to declare to the treasury every year repeatedly if you have an account abroad, the penalty there i think it's automatic is $100,000 possibly $250,000 just, john, for not actually saying that you have that bank account and it's yearly. you have to do it time and again. >> reporter: exactly. and you mentioned that treaty. there is a treaty on the table. it is being held up in the senate right now, and both senator levin and john mccain were urging the ratification of that treaty. it is believed to be, being held up by rand paul of kentucky. we'll see whether this hearing helps push it through. >> okay. john, we'll leave you to get back to it. thank you very much. john harwood there on the credit suisse investigations. colorado's marijuana business is growing like, well, like weeds, and now that business is going high tech. we'll have more on marijuana in america right after this break. i always say be the man with the plan

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colorado's billion dollar marijuana business is growing like weeds, nbc news court harry smith gets an inside look at a company that's putting the high in high tech. >> reporter: inhale on the pen and a battery heats a cartridge filled with purr cannabis oil. for the user discrete smoke-free bliss. as you look around here, this does not look like marijuana business, this looks like high-tech start-up. >> the whole feel was supposed to be the google of cannabis. these are super critical co-2

extractors. >> reporter: the tie-dyed chul ture is ancient history. >> pound of trim the leftovers from the marijuana plant go into here. >> reporter: right. >> and maybe that much oil will come out. >> this is all part of a documentary tonight called "marijuana in america" colorado's pot rush, it premieres 10:00 p.m. eastern time and pacific right here on cnbc and harry smith joins us at post nine. we were talking during the break this is like waving a new industry created from scratch. >> watching a genie come out of a bottle. it's a social experiment and no one knows where it's going and just last week the state of colorado thinks that in the physical year to come in colorado alone, marijuana's going to be a billion dollar a year business. this is a tiny state with 2.5 million people. imagine that extrapolated across the country. >> is this solving revenue problems? >> nobody really knows that yet.

lord knows especially retail marijuana is taxed very highly at 36%. so, there's going to be a windfall of money. where that money is going to end up needing to go in the end, first it's going to go to schools, but after that, well, nobody really knows or can anticipate what's the social cost of this. >> or the health care cost. >> if people are smoking marijuana more widely, what will that do? >> except they are not smoking it as much as 40% of the use is, like, in hash oil and in inibles and that number is going like this. >> and i didn't even know they had this kind of -- >> e-cigarettes with highly, highly refined hash oil in every flavor under the sun. every kind of plant, every kind of strain has its own oil and you can get a vapor pen that hooks up with that. >> one of the turning points to following this whole story and the industry the impact on business was when banks were allowed to be able to accept

business to these marijuana users. >> right. >> to the marijuana shops. >> right. >> is that actually happening? because that's the key i think. >> no. because they come out a couple weeks ago saying we got to fix this, all the businesses are running on all cash. we heard about guys going in to pay their tax bills with pillowcases full of, you know, hundred dollar bills. it's kind of insanity. holder says this is too attractive for lawless groups that want to take advantage of this, so we'll pen some legislation that says it's okay. well, the banks have said that's not good enough. our regulations and the standards we have to be held to are much tougher than what you've written and so the banks are not in it yet. >> i asked you during the break are the people making money whack jobs or real businessmen. your point is if you don't have your lawyers ready to face the onslaught of regulation, you're going to get steamrolled. >> because the hoops that you have to jump through in order to make, you know, get your

licenses and everything else are fairly significant and especially as these businesses continue to grow, it's the guys with the business acumen who are going to end up on the top of the pile at the end. >> and possibly private money more than limited companies. this is not where the blue chips are going to go. >> some of the people we talked to, the businesses are doubling and tripling in a year and i turned to one guy and i said, where are you getting the money? he said, we don't have to go get money. we're making so much cash we're just plowing it back into it. >> the cash flow is that intense. >> that intense. >> i cannot wait to see. >> when you go to las vegas there are 150 investors in a room vc guys licking their chops, how do we get in? >> which state will be next to get the laws changed? >> washington state is next. they say they'll vote in alaska probably this summer. >> we'll see you tonight on tv, harry. >> once again, marijuana in america colorado pot rush" premieres tonight 10:00 p.m.

eastern and pacific on cnbc. when we come back, shares of tripadviser rising 30% since the beginning of the month. can they keep the momentum going you'll hear from the ceo for a first on cnbc interview when we come back. ♪ ♪ humans -- even when we cross our "t's" and dot our "i's," we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. if you qualify, your rates won't go up due to your first accident. because making mistakes is only human,

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welcome back to "squawk on the street." the department of energy just releasing its weekly inventory report on crude oil stocks and actually we saw a little bit of it build. 100,000 barrels but much less

than what everybody was expecting. they were predicting a build of 1.5 million barrels and as soon as the number came out we saw a spike of crude prices up about 50 cents and up about 65 cents at this point but traders telling me this report one thing that they're watching they're also watching the geopolitical situation, vngz, ukraine, that is adding support to oil prices right now and the department of energy's order yesterday, sorry, the department of transportation saying the balkan producers need to test crude before shipping it. that will keep the prices elevated. some traders say we could see it go to $110 per barrel. analysts predicting we'll see a tickdown, 86.7% and that means good supplies in the marketplace but all of the other issues impacting crude prices right now. simon, back to you. the travel giant tripadvisor is celebrating the fact that it's now got 150 million reviews online.

that and the fact that its stock has surged 130% over the past year. joining me now is the co-founder of tripadvisor, and its current ceo, steve kaufer, welcome to the program. >> thank you very much. >> so, celebrating a good stock market performance, but also these reviews, an extra 50 million reviews this year alone. what does that mean for the business? >> it's really a testament to the scale in which we operate now. we're in so many countries all around the globe, and everyone really wants to express an opinion about the good, the bad and everything in between on their trip. and so with so many attracting so many users to our site, to read so much about hotels and restaurants and attractions and vacation rentals and everything, of course, people want to share their tidbits to the next traveler, that's what's attributing to the 50 million increase. >> it's interesting when you look at how you guys are going to drive traffic,al y all you b

beasts are reverting back to tv advertising and search and social media and you said you are actually going to invest until you get a zero incremental profit margin. do you have any idea what sort of spend that will be at this stage? >> well, again, we've been spending in a lot of different channels to grow what we call trial of the site. we want everyone to be able to give tripadvisor a chance. all around the globe because we're confident that if they give the site a try, if they're not familiar with it for some reason, if they give us a try, they'll come back and they'll come back frequently. so, we know the reviews speak for themselves. the millions of candid photos that really lly tell the storyt what it's going to be like when you go on the trip speaks for itself. when i talk about acquiring new travelers at a break-even basis for us it's because i know they'll come back the second time and that's when we start to continue to build a really big business all around the globe. >> do you have a figure on that?

for share holders? >> no. but that's the point. there isn't a specific spend figure because as we continue to spend on a break-even basis or up to a break-even basis, making a dollar for every dollar i spend and so i'll continue to try to grow the top line and grow the overall business. because, remember, as each traveler comes, visits the site, we get a percentage of those folks to come back and write another review, so we want the 150 million reviews to get up to 200 million, 300 million to continue the growth because every new review makes the site that much better for the next traveler. >> and the next big technological change for you is going to bee the rollout of the personalization initiative that i know you've already got in data testing. it's called just for you. can you give us an idea of what difference that would make to people? >> well, it's all about for the traveler finding really the best recommendation for your particular trip. and right now when you come to

tripadvisor and you look at a page, you're seeing a great recommendation but it's still a little bit one size fits all. why not take the intense amount of data that we have about travelers all around the world and really help deliver a recommendation just for you as an individual. a different one for the next person. a different one if you come back a year later and we know a little bit more about you. travelers are looking for what can really make that vacation perfect for them. >> just before we let you go, i mentioned you have this 130% surge in the share price, now up to $14 billion. are you attempted to do a mark zuckerberg and a whatsapp-style acquisition with that share price? i don't know, new technology, new personnel. new customers? >> well, i think if you look at the history of the company, you'll see that we do acquire several companies each and every year. we've been doing that for quite a while and if history's any judge of future activity, we'll continue along that road.

i think facebook plays in a different league than tripadvisor. we have a great partnership with them, we wish them well, but that's probably not our style. >> okay. good to see you, steve, thank you very much for sparing the time. steve kaufer the ceo and co-founder of tripadvisor. >> pleasure. thank you. all right, simon, thanks. america's wealthiest residents have often been the subject of controversy and scrutiny there's another sign that the wealthy are becoming targets. robert frank has details. >> the occupy movement or at least its slogans have reachth atherton, california, residents there have included chuck schwab, eric schmidt and meg whitman and the median house price there is more than $2 million. police tell me last week someone spray painted anti-wealth slogans on eight different sites in atherton, these photos from police being shown for the first time. most of the graffiti used the same phrase, "f" the 1%.

it was painted on gates, fences, garage doors and even cars. now, police are still investigating and reviewing security cameras but so far they tell me they have no leads or suspects. of course, this just could be kids making mischief, but police said it could also be part of something more organized. they tell me they've contact the fbi in case this is connected to the occupy movement. officials are also telling residents to tight been security and lock cars and doors and keep cars and valuables secure. this follows, of course, the growing protests in san francisco against the tech wealthy and the battle over the commuter buses for tech workers all a sign that the occupy movement may be morphing from wall street to silicon valley, of course, where the real wealth is these days, sara >> it's a story that we'll definitely continue to follow. robert frank, good to see you. >> thanks. in light of the massive breach at consumer data at target, the company that secured the networks are basically in an arms race to scoop up the most innovative and most valuable

companies in the space. eamon javers is live at the rsa security conference in san fran, has some of the cybersecurity plays that we should be watching. eamon, name some names for us? >> reporter: absolutely, sara. this is a little bit early in the morning here but this place is going to be packed later on today. we've got tens of thousands of the nation's top cybersecurity experts who are here in san francisco this week for one of the biggest cybersecurity conferences of all year and a lot of folks are telling us that all that bad news for retail companies is actually really good news for the people who are doing business on this floor later on today. in terms of a wave of mergers and acquisitions that it's expected later this year. we've already seen a billion dollar deal for the acquisition of mandiayn and i talked to gray lock partners yesterday and they financed a lot of the start-up companies and they think the acquisitions will come in three different buckets. take a listen. >> some of the areas that will see strong activity are anything related to cloud security is hot. mobile security is hot.

a lot of new companies doing next generation end point. and then the last theme out is big data. >> reporter: we also talked to an analyst at freeman billings ramsey who listed the acquirers and the big sellers that are likely to happen this year according to him the big acquirerers are the big companies, emc, microsoft, symantec, ibm and oracle, but who might sell this year, companies to watch for include fortinet and imperva are on the potential seller list according to analysts, proof point and qualys and a lot of activity and we heard a lot of the buyers are actually walking the floor of this conference looking for companies to pick up because the technology is moving so quickly they need to capture the innovation that happens in the small start-up companies, guys. >> we know you've covered the story from the beginning, we'll talk to you soon. eamon javers out west. "the wolf of wall street"

was a big hit but it didn't portray a lot of people in a flattering light. one of the people featured in the film is fighting back, saying a lot of what you saw on screen just was not true. he'll tell us why when "squawk on the street" returns. and guaranteed one-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price -- just $7.95. in fact, fidelity gives you lower trade commissions than schwab, td ameritrade, and e-trade. i'm monica santiago of fidelity investments, and low fees and commissions are another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources

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from market buzz to oscar buzz andrew green who says he inspired the character in "the wolf of wall street" has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against paramount pictures. i have seen the film. i'm trying to remember this character, andy, remind us who he is and why you think you were the inspiration for that role? >> although there's no issue

about whether it was me or not, we go back since we're little boys, ever since 10, 11 years old. i'm the individual who went to law school, who was the only individual that was portrayed with a toupee, i'm the only one who headed up the corporate finance, the only one who have filed things with the s.e.c. i mean, i can go through detail after detail. but i've been listening to interviews with the producers of the movie, with the stars of the movie, with the director, with the screenwriter. what's awfully disturbing to me is that the way they are enamored with him, that the only due dill jedigence was spending hundreds and hundreds of hours with jordan. he's very good at what he does. he's very good at what he does. i considered him like a brother.

but they only listened to what he was sharing. they never even in a minimum way tried to do any due diligence. not even in a minimal fashion. >> never contacted you during production, preproduction? >> never contacted me. never wrote an e-mail. i can assure you that after this lawsuit was filed, every single news reporter's been able to get my e-mail and my telephone number. >> we found you. >> everybody found me. >> stephanie, walk us through without getting too technical the case law on this, because it's a film, and filmmakers have a right to do some level of fiction. >> some level. some level. but like he just said, they never checked out anything. they used his image. they never, ever, ever asked him anything. they used -- >> i need to intercorrect on one thing. i saw an interview with the screenwriter. and he was talking about spending the days and weeks with jordan. and while he was aghast at what he heard, he wanted to tell the

story. he didn't care about the investor. excuse me. it wasn't that he didn't care about the investors. he wanted to tell the story as jordan portrayed it. and he only -- the way he verified was speaking with the fbi agent who took jordan down. >> stephanie, was there a prior case, a precedent, that you are pointing to to make your case in another time of movie situation? >> i'm actually not. this will be the case. this is a whole new field. and it's interesting because mr. greene is a lawyer, well, he's waiving admission, he will be a lawyer. he's a very prominent, he is a very caring, he is a very -- >> forgive me for interrupting, there must come a point at which the defamation becomes so great that it's clearly not you any longer. i mean, you know, did you shave a woman's head after paying her $10,000? >> i want to stop you for one second before we go further. the defamation becomes so great that it's not you. i don't understand that.

>> when it becomes so outlandish, were you arrested with a swiss banker trying to embezzle money? >> let's be very clear about this, because i know what you're asking. >> if it's not true, it's not you, is it? >> no. >> how about the that the screenwriter -- >> can i anxioswer this? >> yes. >> how about if it's someone image and you start putting things upon them, then it's things that are not true and it becomes defamation. >> it's lovely to have you on the television, but byh coming public and putting yourself out there aren't you more likely to make the connection that you are now the character in the film? isn't this actually doing a disservice to you? >> no, the calls that i got after the movie came out, saying i can't believe how you were portrayed. i am a father with two young children. i have to take care of my children. how do you think i felt explaining to my daughter who i have raised with moral values

that she should never allow a man to treat her in any type of abusive fashion or tell my son how he's supposed to treat a woman? you just brought something up. how do you think i felt as a father having to explain to my children that i would sit there and cut a woman's hair in front of hundreds people and make fun of this woman? or have deviant behavior in my work place with prostitutes? how do you think as a father i had to explain that? >> you are not arguing those things never happened at the firm? >> i am telling you those things never happened at the firm. in the time that i was there, people don't want to understand that my mandate was coming in after the s.e.c. settlement. to put in all sorts of compliance procedures, corporate finance procedures, i wasn't portrayed in any way of the job that i did. jordy has his reasons for wanting to have me be this humiliated figure.

>> yes. >> i wish we had the time to go into all of that. >> sure. you want the film pulled and you're asking for $25 million in damages, how do you come up with that number, stephanie? >> i felt that that was a fair number for the damages that he's going through. he can't get a job. he's an attorney and he's having a horrible time trying to get work. >> yeah, let's be clear about that. i want people to understand i'm not one of the people that made millions of dollars. i made a nice living. i am like many other people out there who since 2008 have been trying to re-create my life. i have to give credit to a special person in my life who helped me find my way to do what i've done in the last year, which is to study for my bar exam, which i haven't taken in 25 years, okay? it wasn't easy. while working 70 hours a week. i am now trying to speak with start-up companies because

that's what i do best. and speak with investment bankers. how am i supposed to provide for my family when i'm being portrayed as a criminal? crimin i'm being portrayed as someone who is a money launderer, that i'm a degenerate, that i would do drugs during my workday? if you were someone out there, would you hire me? would you now give me that opportunity? >> well arc lot of people on this floor obviously had reaction to the film and i imagine they will have reaction to your appearance on this show. come back and keep us posted. by the way, paramount did not respond to cnbc's request for comment. still ahead, senator pat toomey will be joining us live to discuss new tax plan. what it could mean for american high earners. of course, you remember s.a.t. scores. the "wall street journal" report that employers could be requesting your old s.a.t.

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wsh back to "squawk on the street." and the wednesday edition of the santelli exchange. jap japan, the united states, they're doing a lot of things to stimulate their economy. japan in particular seems to be at the epicenter of phrases like the kerry trade. the yen, the weaker it gets, of course, really helps a country like japan because they're an export market although the asterisk for the last couple of years especially after the horrible nuclear issues they've had recently is energy when your currency gets weak it might be good for exports but you pay a lot for energy. let's harken back to another time, the 1930s where the whole better thy neighbor scenario was born and what it basically amounted to was over simplified quickie is that everybody wants

to weaken their currency, everybody wants to be king exporter, especially when they're so very few economies that rely on consumption within their borders like the u.s. so now think today in china. okay? remember, it was mid 2005, the peg to the dollar was thrown out the window. and for the most part, i've sense the chinese currency has been moving up. well, recently that isn't the case. it's moving down. with a variety of explanations. but how about the easy explanation? i'm not theying it's the case but it doesn't seem to get a lot of airtime. maybe they're doing it intentionally. let's look at some things very quickly here. okay? they have a 1.35 billion population. okay? the percent of their population that is rural based on their entire population right before that peg, 2004, was 60%. now it's 48%. they moved areas and are now working in factories. the gdp before that peg was under 2 trillion. now it's 8.2 trillion.

think about it. they are a lot of issues. shadow banking, all the reverberations of the emerging markets emanate from china. maybe we're seeing the currency weaken because they've learned a lot from the likes of the japanese and from the americans. this we should pay attention to because it might be the easiest barometer as to how healthy the economy is. tweet time according to the "wall street journal," companies could be looking at your old s.a.t. scores when considering you for a job. so we are asking you, employers looking back at your s.a.t. scores is as irrelevant to future performance as blank looking at blank. tweet us @squawkstreet. we'll read some of your answers, next. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing.

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let's get to it time for squawk on the tweet. according to the "wall street journal" today companies could be looking more and more at your resume and perhaps more are looking at your old s.a.t. scores. that branings us to this. employers looking back at your s.a.t. scores is as irrelevant

to future performances a blank looking at blank. scott tweets, employers looking atlanta your s.a.t. scores are as irrel santo future performance as paris hilton looking at a physics book. figured that one would come up. as traders looking at your pe spanned mt.gox looking at bitcoins. that's a really good one. very timely one. carl and kayla like the timely tweet there's. mt.gox, bitcoins, traders pe. >> you might as well just retake the s.a.t. to have a fresh score on tap just in case. >> what an idea. i'm going retake all of my exams so that i score straight as. the problem is you might score less now than you did back then. >> let's hope not. >> thanks, guys. good morning to everyone. we're live here at post 9 at the new york stock exchange. it's 11:00 a.m. on the east coast. 58 a.m. on the west where you're waking up in big news on tech today. we'll bring you the latest on bitcoin, states trying to ban

google glass, companies like apple fighting back against this proposed law in arizona. plus, this start-up billed itself as the tech focused anti-bank. why is the company selling itself to one of the biggest banks in the world? we'll ask them. then this business calls itself, quote, the google of marijuana, but its product is no larger than a pen. the ceo is here. the newest announcement from the man behind the world famous space race x prize. we'll bring that to you in just a few minutes. the great john steinberg, buzzfeed president and cnbc contributor. always good to have you. we're going to start with bitcoin. mt.gox, of course, what was once the largest bitcoin trading platform has been subpoenaed by federal regulators. comes one day after mt.gox shut the website and halted trading. a lot of people asking is this a lehman moment for bitcoin? i'm guessing you don't think so. >> i don't think so. i think it's an fdic moment for bitcoin. what i thought about buying a few bitcoins i had to think long and hard because there's no insurance and no nothing.

i own five coins. i did that because union square ventures backed it. this these people vetted it i could get comfortable. bitcoin is trading at 555.80 depending on where you look. >> if you're a target shopper and you see the target, you get an e-mail from the company that says we're aware of this, taking moves to sly and stem the fallout. what happens if you're a bitcoin holder an something like mt.gox disappearing happens? >> i think it's dramatic and terrible. there's potentially $400 million, 6% of the bitcoin eco system lost or potentially stolen. you can't get a straight answer on it. it's an evolving eco system. people always say it could go to zero for $400,000 a coin. that's why i'm sitting tight on my five bitcoins. >> all of the supporters and the libertarians and all those who want to see this work say that people are already deserting them in advance. >> yes. >> and those still playing there

were taking a risk and this is what you get when the market works. >> i'm not quite that libertarian about it. i think there does need to be some regulation. if there's too much regular lagsz we won't have the birth of ideas and the innovation we need in what could be an amazing store of wealth. i think this does show there's been significant losses. investors need to be corrected to some extent. i'm looking forward to some level of regulation. >> who regulates it? you mentioned the fdic. >> s.e.c. could do it. there's a variety of different things. i got to leave it to the government to figure that out. gookle the trying to banning driving with headsets like google glass. right now eight different states are trying to do this. if we know google well, which i know you do, they have an army of lawyers at work on this. >> what i love about this topic is i have google glass, i have not drive well without my google

glass on. the thought of actually driving with google glass on is a scary thought. i have a friend who drives with google glass. it gives you a heads up display almost like a fighter pilot. i have walked the streets with google glass on giving me turn by turn walking directions. it's a question of how good of a driver you are. it's scary. >> how much of your time do you spend driving? a lot of states have weird rules, like you can't eat a sandwich while driving. here in new york, you can't text while driving. >> the driving is a small aspect of it. google has invested heavily in ways and things like that because the car is the third place. you've got desktop, you've got mobile, and you've got car. so i think i see why they want people to be able to use it in the car because there's so much media consumption that goes on. if they can get this approved, it could be a huge drask driver for them, unintended. >> kayla mentions texting for which you have down. those two seconds are often the difference between life and death and google, you could make

a case actually prevents having to look down like that. >> you could make the argument if you're seeing the turn by turn directions up here as opposed to your gps here you're safer. you don't have to look here to see where you turn or don't turn. they need to do testing. build a giant course and test out how distracted or not distracted are people using the headsets. >> how do you know if people are looking at gps and not lookiwat a movie? >> they could restrict the activities. google tends to be a company that takes this seriously. they would probably lock down the ability to watch a movie while driving. urging jan brewer to veto a bill to allow business owners to deny service to gays and lesbians. it includes yelp, delta, marriott on this list. what's at stake for companies in that area? >> i think -- first of all, i think it's a terrible fwhal needs to be vetoed. what's great about the companies

in the local space, i think it's great that jeremy came out against the bill because, after all, yrk elp is the platform that people go to to look for local businesses to frequent. same with open table, same with trip adviser. these businesses in the local space could really come out because it's their human rights that's at stake as anybody. >> if you lose business, deny business, that is less money you're bringing in. to what extent do you think that open table or yelp should leave it up to local businesses to decide? >> this is a human rights issue. it's great to see the businesses leaning forward and calling for a veto. it's just the right thing to do. it's great to see these businesses do that. >> whether you agree with the bill or not, hotel owner on "nightly news" last night talking about the lost revenue. even if you support the bill and a boycott occurs that's going to have an affect on the economy. >> a lot of the open letters i've seen from at&t, delta has made comments as well, petsmart

last night on "closing bell", the ceo came out against it. not only is it bad birks it's, again, bad human rights. >> exclusive. >> yeah, so i think that's a huge risk as well. both the frequency of the shoppers and the expansion of businesses for call centers and things of that nature as well. >> it's huge nationwide debate. she did tweet last night or this morning saying she would do the right thing for the state. but she has until friday to veto or automatically it becomes lu. >> i think it has to get vetoed. i can't imagine a law like that getting passed. in the meantime, a news alert for you on netflix. julia boorstin on the cnbc news line. >> good morning, carl. that's right. bob iger is announce that marvel studio will shoot the live action maced in new york after considering several other filming locations. this includes four series and one mini series adding 60

one-hour episode. the state is expected to unveil reportedly about $4 million in incentives, this happening in a press conference right now happening with andrew cuomo, governor cuomo. this would make it one of the largest incentive production deals ever in new york state. the production announcement is part of this big deal that disney struck with netflix in november to create four live action series based on lesser known mar havel characters reled on netflix starting in 2015. >> julia, just thinking about all the news on disney in the past 72 hours. raising prices at the theme park, right? the mobile movie service. "frozen" at the oscars this weekend and now this. little surprise it has hit all-time highs recently. >> disney has been busy. i think the reason why this announcement today is interesting is just that disney's relationship with netflix has been so fascinating. and it shows that disney's really willing to take its content and even lesser known

characters who people may not care about, invest in them a little bit, you know, profit from them on a platform like netflix, and then if these knelt fliks series are successful, disney can turn them into a movie. they're really taking advantage of the new revenue from netflix and using it as a platform to test different characters. >> julia, it's also spec tack clr to see the way that disney has been able to leverage the marvel brand, the marvel characters to keep going back to the drawing board and finding new corn tentent to create use company they bought several years ago. >> exactly. the marvel acquisition, people were thinking about the main couple of characters. the fact that they can dig deep into the library, these are not the spider-mans of the world but they can really figure out how to profit from them from netflix. there's no question the marvel acquisition has been a valuable one for disney. >> yulia, thanks for that. certainly a windfall for new york city and we thank you for bringing that news to us on netflix and disney. meanwhile, the ceo of ibm is

getting set or delivering the final key note in barcelona. everyone is buzzing about what big blue has in store. jon fortt has more in barcelona. jon, what's going on? >> i tell you what, this is an important address for ceo of ibm. take a look at ibm stock chart year to date. kind of all over the place. down from the start of the year. revenue has been a struggle. hardware has been under pressure. there are a lot of customers here. so i think you should expect to hear her bring a message about blending big irngs that's ibm's high-end hard wir which they're holding on to and their an it in lick software, blend that and mobile. ibm is not alone. there are several big tech companies looking to get with global operators and make the pitch, hey, we can save you money if you switch to our services. we can make you money if you get our big data analytics.

so i think of mobile carriers and consumers possibly would be a target here, not directly. tends not to target consumers directly but through partners. she'll probably have something to say about that. i caught up with a general manager of this cloud business. he talked about how important mobile is for them and how important the cloud could be for the mobile eco system. take a listen. >> big data, analyzing, minding that and figuring out how to mondetize that. in particular, the mobile network operators. >> and in particular, your smaller mobile operators, or rather, those operating in that emerging markets. they are under a lot of pressure because sms revenue is going away. whatsapp is taking a bunch of it. they're looking for ways to look for money and save money. back to you. >> all right. jon fortt who has been having way too much fun in spain this week. jon, see you soon. tensions are high in the

ukraine this morning after russian president vladimir putin put troops in western russia on high alert. we'll go live on the ground in kiev with the latest. start-up billed it's as anti-bank. more tech focused, less bureaucratic. why is the company now selling itself to a gigantic traditional bank? the ceo will join news a moment. rick santelli watching something today. rick, what is it? >> you know, alan greenspan once called u.s. productivity the silver bullet. well, maybe it's more like bronze or may be more like lead these days. consider, for 2011-2012-2013 thus far, 1.1% is what productivity averaged. since '48, it's been 2 1/2%. we're going to talk to leo who wrote an article about productivity and why we need to pay attention to how low it's moving. this is a big one. you want to testify it inially tune in at the bottom of the hour.

take a look at the consumer discretionary sector. it's been volatile this year. one of the winners on the s&p today, dominic chu at hq with more on that. dom? >> green spots, bright green, strong day for the consumer

stocks led by improvement retailer lowe's who added 5 billion bucks to stock buyback program. also consumer discretionary, cablevision higher after a 4 1/2% rise in fourth quarter sales. target as well advancing after posting better than expected fourth quarter profits despite the massive target data breach. lots of different names. not just retailers but the consumer discretionary space overall. in ukraine, russian president vladimir putin ordered an meet test of combat readiness in western russia. chief international correspondent michelle caru caruso-cabrera is live. is there rhetoric from medevev and now this. where are we headed? >> that's the big question, and we'll show you video in a moment of a situation that's going on. let's tell you what's happening here in my right shoulder. 45 minutes, there's going to be a big meeting down there.

the protesters along with the current acting leaders are going to discuss who the new members of cabinet are going to be with the protesters, trying to get approval so that way they can announce a new government tomorrow. we'll go down there and see what it's like. it's crucial to form a new government because the imf, international countries that want to lend this -- lend ukraine money need somebody to negotiate with. right now they don't have anybody to give money to. that's an important step. let's show you why they need the money. look at ukraine's currency. it's now trading at 10, maybe even weaker. it was 8 to the dollar last week. that's a 25% move in a week. that's pretty tough on a currency. the reason that's happening is this country is running out of reserves and can't defend it anymore. they would do that by buying a currency and selling dollars. but they're running out of that stuff. let's show you also, carl, you were mentioning this, show you now the ruble which is trading at a five-year low. a lot of analysts and wall

streeters are attributing this to what is happening in ukraine, especially in the south where there is a big protest from pro-russian ukrainians and anti-russian ukrainians including a minority group based in the black sea area. they've been going at it all day. they've been separated by police. apparently more than 1,000 on either side charging each other. this country is quite ethnically divided almost right down the middle on one side you've got a very pro-western area of the country and on the east and southern side you have a very pro-russian side. we're being told by one government official here that he's on some kind of international wanted list, the former yet. guys, back to you. >> all right, michelle, a lot of moving parts to that story. thank you for staying on top of that for us in kiev. smi she' . banking start-up simple labeled itself as a financial

service for people fed up with banks. simple provides online and mobile tools without charging fees to help the 100,000 custer hers manage the funds and processed $1.6 billion in transactions last year. but simple recently announced it will be acquired by spanish bank bvba by $1700 million. why the start-up that said it would change banking forever sell itself to a big bank? josh is the ceo and co-founder of simple and joins us here at post 9. >> thanks for having me. >> you have recounted personal correspondence with the chairman of the bbba. how did the partnership and the eventual deal evolve? >> it was an lp in one of our earlier investors. so we got to establish a relationship with them over the past few years. and we realized they had a very different outlook on banking. and they've made a very significant investment in banking technology unlike the local large banks. i recognize we have a unique advantage in connecting people with technology that marries well with their investment in

technology. >> what happens to simple because the hall mart was no fees. the merchant paid the swipe fee but the customer never saw that. >> they have a strong commitment. we never want to profit from customer confusion. none of that changes with this acquisition. making a very large investment in not only what we've done but what we want to do together in the future. >> for a company like bbva, based in madrid, a lot of branches throughout the sun belt region. what can simple do for it? >> i think what we've been able to demonstrate is we're able to complete a new approach, provide realtime tools that enb able a new way of customers with their money on mobile and they see that as anz opportunity to take that globally. that's something we're excited to do together. >> did they have to convince you? where was the pull and where was the push? >> it was a bit of a dance over the past few years. we heard they made a significant

investment in processing in america. >> we approached them about doing a partnership. and the fact that it had made that investment was a tractive to us to look at during the partnership. as we got to know each other better and in madrid, they were different from other banks and they had a strong culture of innovation and history of acquisitions that complimented their core. >> your rules stay the same? >> my role stays the same. i'm sticking around. i believe in this vision. we have decades to do go. >> just yesterday we heard jpmorgan chase ceo jamie dimon saying that apple, google, and tech companies want to eat their lunch. when you have companies that are as big as jpmorgan trying to get into the tech space, has it become too crowdes? >> jpmorgan probably has a lot to do to fix the banking operations before they worry about taking on the tech space. one thing we're proud of is how much love we have from our customers. highest rating banking

application from android and ios. we have a team of people who really care. that sets us apart from the competition allows us to really go above our weight. >> josh, thanks so much. congratulations. >> thank you so much. >> next interview will be in spanish. >> i don't speak a word. i've got a lot to learn. thank you. >> thank you. when we come back, the newest big idea from the man behind the world famous space race x prize. that's coming up next. plus, check this out. why are you looking at me at age 77? well, we'll tell you what this product is and what it could mean for your retirement portfolio when we come back. radi 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.

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thousands of young ceos foreign policy around the globe are occupying downtown los angeles this week as young presidents organization, global edge, gets under way. cnbc is the one and only exclusive media partner of this powerful organization posting more than 20,000 members. companies collectively generate $6 trillion in annual revenue. joining us this morning one of the key note speakers, ceo of x prize and cofounder and chairman of the university. they just announced we are partnering to launch the exponential finance conference this june. the breakthrough conference will bring together the world's top leaders in tech and finance. pete, it's brato have you. good morning.

>> good morning. great to be here. >> we're brethren so to speak here. walk me through what this partnership means. >> we're living in a time right now where the rate of change is increasing. it's going to start to disrupt a lot of things we take for norm. finance in particular is going to be changing a lot over this next decade. so on june 10th and 11th, singular university and cnbc are coming together to bring you the smartest thinkers in artificial intelligents in robotics and 3d printing, computer, networks, the kinds of technologies that are really going to transform the fortune 500 companies over the next ten years. so it's going to be an amazing event at lincoln center. >> just listening to you makes it sound so exciting. when you talk about the rate of change accelerating is there one or two examples that you point to specifically? >> yeah. i mean, if you think about it right now, the rate at which you

go from i t got an idea to i'm running a billion dollar company is faster than ever before. you know, look at what's happened, as an example, uber, air b and b and instagram. these are companies that have started and gone from something to billion dollar concepts. today an entrepreneur using these kinds of expo then shall technologies can do more than a government in a large corporation could do 20 years ago. the projection right now is that 0% of today's fortune 500 companies are not going to be here in a decade which means you haven't heard about the other 40% yet. we're going to talk about that. >> most disruptive forces go through growing pains and thinking about built coin on this one. what do you find the lasting ideas and what separates them from some of the fads? >> yeah, i think the lasting idea focused on the world's biggest problems. today the world's biggest issues, the grand challenges, water, energy, food, literacy,

these are billion person problems and these are the problems that today's entrepreneurs are going after. you know, the idea that you can attack a billion person problem and solve it and become a billionaire in the process. so at singular university we focus on the grand challenges of the drivers for the companies that are being created today. it's an exciting time to be alive. >> peter, let's talk x prize. u.s. had a pretty good showing in sochi. how are we doing on this front? >> yeah, x prize is doing amazing. we have something called the qualcomm tri quarter xprize. a device that any mom or dad can use to talk to their device, do a call find, finger and blood brick and have it look at you by a team of board certified doctors. it will teach 880 million people around the world how to read and write. these kinds of technologies that are going to be changing the world. you know, i should mention for those watching the dow and the nasdaq and so forth, when

artificial intelligence and quantum computing comes into the mix, it's going to change the way we trade. the very stock markets themselves is going to be potentially disrupted this decade. on june 10 th and 11th we're going to be looking at not only how technology changes the way we trade but what are the companies out there that create the dow and the nasdaq that are not going to be here anymore or the companies that are just coming in the lab today that are going to transform our worlds in the next five years. i'm talking about 30. next five years. major change in how we live. >> we will see you at lincoln center, peter. please come back soon. >> pleasure. i look forward to see you i don't guess there. >> peter dianandis out west today. the nasdaq hitting a 14-year high. let's get right uptown to seema mo mody with more. >> add new 14-year high thanks to resurgence in tech, biotech and social media.

within tech, avago technologies earnings beating street expectations. stock at a life of time high. large-cap tech contributing to the out performance in the nasdaq. we're seeing google and amazon shares higher today. biotech, you got to take a look at biogen, aelectionion in the green. and we talk about social media, web 2.0 stocks. facebook today raising the price target to $85. writing that facebook is undervalued. now, with that said, take a look at the s&p tech index. you will see it's up on the year. guess what, apple not contributing to this year's gains. very similar story to what we saw last year. in fact, morgan stanley writing that when it comes to apple, sentiment is negative as most funds are questioning apple's ability to grow revenue long term. back to you. >> thank you, seema. let's bring in simon hobbs as we count you down to the close in the uk and continental europe. >> take a look at this chart. what stands out?

greece stands out. right at the bottom. 3% gain on greece. one of the best performing stock markets this year. up 12% this year when we're flat in this country. in the meantime, overall, across europe is pulling back from the six-year highs. it's notable a lot of utilities are lower and the uk house builders are also in negative territory. boy, what a run. the uk house builders have had. for example, up 75% during the course of the last year. in switzerland they're clearly watching what is happening with the ceo of credit suisse on capitol hill. credit suisse was down 3%. big mover is swiss life holding, biggest live insurer in switzerland. you can see the result there. a double whammy in retail. third largest retail in the world,es the cois going to abandon the margin target and go out for an all out price war. this is a portuguese retailer. one bright spot for the

europeans, eads, or airbus as we call it, has announced it's going to increase its monthly production of its workhorse. the a-320, single aisle, 150 seats a plane from 42 planes to 46 has he reports. take a listen. >> we increase earnings, profitability. pay a higher dividend for 2014. the overall market environment in commercial aircraft or airbus aircraft has been pretty good in '13. we had record order intakes last year. we had record deliveries. >> the ceo of airbus speaking there. interestingly enough, the out performer on the pair with this country is boeing, which is up for the year for a 12 month period, 67%. >> nice. but that a-320 is a beautiful plane no doubt about it. >> certainly very economical. commercially it's a winner. i'm trying to think of what boeing's equivalent is. >> 737 roughly. >> i think smaller than that.

it's the dreamliner? >> really? >> no, too big. anyway, beautiful planes. meantime, the productivity of u.s. workers has taken an alarming dive, averaging a mere 1.1% since 2011. that's less than half the historical rate. rick has more on that. hey, rick. >> oothe article was in the op- of the journal several weeks ago called u.s. productivity growth has taken a dive. one of the co-authors that's with us today leo han i don't know. i'm going to call her professor. i had to read it twice. welcome, professor. it just seems to me that ucls is probably not going to turn out more articles like that. my hat's off to you. productivity is a silver bullet. alan greenspan said that. i would imagine you would agree with it. >> yes, yes, it is. it's the most important driver of longer economic growth. we're the wealthiest country in the world because we've had 200 years of productivity growth

that's been positive, averaging 2 1/2% every year. that doubles living standards roughly every 28 years. but right now we're running about 60% below our normal growth rate. that is a big problem for us. >> you also did something that very few have done before you. you gave some issues regarding why japan is the way it is. and it was productivity. can you explain? >> right. so this standard story that people read all the time about japan is that they've had 25 years of poor economic growth because their inflationary has been 0 or slightly negative rather than plus 1 or plus 2. that's not the problem with japan. the problem with japan is that they've had very low productivity growth now for close to 25 years. and that's really the heart of japan's economic growth problem. >> okay. i want to get inside your head for a second. tell me what went through your

mind on several occasion where's the congressional budget office, whether it was about obamacare, affordable care act, or minimum wage, has basically said these programs and these notions that could be legislation will actually cause some jobs to be lost but maybe more important, will disincentivize workers. what did you think when you read that? >> well, the analysis i think is right on target. it's a point that a number of economists have been making for several years that many government programs that have been implemented since the crisis have been structuring incentives in a negative way to depress investment and productivity, to depress participation in the labor force. it is again another troubling aspect of today's economy. >> professor, it's been a pleasure having you as a guest today. thanks for taking the time. "squawk on the street" crew, it's all yours. >> all right. thank you, rick. well, the question we're asking this morning is would looking

retirement straight in the face make you more likely to plan for it? bank of america has argued yesterday. so today it's releasing a 3d app to show users how they will look in three years to come. what they need to do to adequately save for it. the new app builds on the web version of the same tool which they rolled out in 2012 and which we've brought to you on "squawk on the street" before. it's not a pretty picture. >> in your case it is. >> your nice to say that. you have to spend the whole hour with me. here's me at 77. it is 2064 is the year. a plane ticket would cost $2,000. let's go down to age 87 if i'm blessed to live that long. that is, face only a mother could love at that point. carl, i think that you should do it. >> i'm happy to do it. take my picture? >> you hold it up. >> a selfie. >> frame yourself in this app. >> yes. >> where is the picture? just hit the camera? >> hit the camera. got it.

so there's me as of today. >> so we're going to use male. you can whisper your age to me. >> 43. >> all right. you're not ashamed of it, as you should not be. now it's aging. bank of america has had a million people use this since they rolled it out. >> a million people. >> at 60% of those people according to today's press release actually have inquired about -- >> wow, they just decided not to renew my contract. >> you're speechless. >> i like that you're animated, too. you can almost feel the arthritis in my joints. >> that just looks painful. >> that's disturbing. >> then you pull this up and here you go. cost of living up 222%. >> all right. and college cost i can tell you, inflation will be steeper than that. >> your daughters will be apply for a lot of scholarships. >> where can they go for the app? >> it is on the apple app store. it is called face retirement merrill lynch. it's news you can use or not

use. with all that in mind, let's goat xwet to dom chu who always looks good. >> i just t got to say, carl, kayla, you guys both look great at age 77. that's for the record. for our market flash, check out the maker of fuel cells soaring on news it received a purchase order from walmart to power the lift truck fleets in six north american distribution centers. $464 million cap. that's a smaller cap company but it's sent those fellow fuel cell makers up as well. back over to you guys. >> all right. thanks for that. check this out. this may look like an e-cig but it's meant for marijuana. we'll talk to the ceo of the company selling these and making big bucks in the process. that story coming up next. then simply select the best candidates from one easy to review list.

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with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. coming up at the top of the hour, she calls the top and the bottom of the housing market and one year ago told us she was more bullish than ever. what does ivy zelman think today? find out in a cnbc exclusive. plus, as s&p neers another all-time closing high, are we topping out or breaking out? not all retail stocks are created equal as some rallies, some might be better off dead. carl, we'll see you in 20.

>> sounds good, scott. thanks. as you know, marijuana is now legal in colorado and we're just starting to get some numbers on how much tax revenue it's bringing in across the state. our jane wells is live in l.a. this morning with more on that for us. hi, jane. >> hi, carl. they're counting up the cash literally as it's still basically an all cash business. the tax offices across colorado, the first numbers coming in. in pueblo county where two retail pot shops open in januaried, those two alone had $1 million in sales netting the county 56 grand in taxes for one month. another 10% of those sales will go to the state, or $100,000. pueblo may be benefiting from tourism from new mexico and another three stores opened there this month. >> we projected a cumulative $400,000 from our 3 1/2% sales tax. it looks like we're going to break that, if this pace continues. >> the county is now predicting 670 grand in taxes for the year, one half of 1% of the budget.

a million in sales in one month from one small county has people wondering what the figures are going to be up here in denver where you're looking at now. they're not out yet but we maps lists three dozen retail outlets in the greater denver area. up next is washington state where they are predicting $51 million in tax revenues from retail pot. but they're still working out a lottery system to award licenses. get this, after limiting the amount of total space which can be used to grow pot there to 2 million square feet, washington has been so overwhelmed with demand. it's increasing that to as much as 13 million square feet. finally, my favorite story, a trademark war already brug over the use of the name star buds and it doesn't involve starbucks, no. seattle claims it had the name first and starbuds in denver the k. not use it. carl. more on that in court. >> all right, jane. talk about creating a market there especially for those companies. we'll get back to you for the latest on that.

jane, certainly an interesting story there. colorado's newly legal pot industry is projected to be soon worth $600 million annually. in a new documentary airing tonight on cnbc nbc news correspondent harry smith gets an inside look at a company that's giving high-tech a whole new meaning. >> inhale on the pen and a battery heats a cart ridge filled with purified cannabis oil. for the user, discrete smoke-free bliss. as you look around in here this does not look like a marijuana business. it looks like high-tech start-up. >> no. the whole feel was supposed to be the google of cannabis. these are super critical co2 extractors. >> reporter: the tie-dyed culture is ancient history. >> pounds of trim, the lieftoves of the marijuana plant goes here and maybe that much oil will come out. >> joining us now is the chief

revenue officer of open vap, to todd mitchum. when you think about the business of electronic marijuana smoking, everybody expected january 1st to be a boon for the retail shop but what does this ancillary market look like? >> it's exciting by the way, thanks for having us on and a special thanks to harry. what a great special. we're glad to be a part of it. it was really interesting. you know, you watch when recreational happened we saw the typical user of cannabis and consumer start to change a little bit. so consecentrates and oils and e pens that we create and sell became more popular than they already were. it was a real boom in the colorado market and expecting the same growth out of washington as well. >> sales are legal but actually smoking in public is still not yet legal. but if you're holding something like this, like one that carl brought here from home, i kid, but -- >> from home, huh?

>> how does anyone stop you on the street and say that's not a pen? >> well, it's definitely not legal in the city of denver to consume cannabis in public. so people should not be doing that for sure. >> todd, walk us through the potency versus obviously if you were to roll a joint, where does this rank? >> sure. a typical puff of an open vape is about one milligram, so if you compare that to a joint used, it would be similar to that. so one hit of a joint. the difference is, the technology in the pen is -- creates more of what i would call efficient system. so where a joint use you might lose 40% to 80% of the plant matter in the smoking of it, the pen is much more efficient and delivers in a much more concentrated fashion. but you have a lot more control over it as a consumer. so you can decide how much of a dose you want to utilize. and that's part of the popularity of the open vape is

that people are able to control dosage in a much more thoughtful way for themselves. >> have we reached a ceiling? are they able to magnify the potency more? do you think the industry is going to basically hold themselves within some reasonable measure of potency? >> yeah. it's a great question. you know, potency is always a thought that we have in the company and building a product that the consumer can control. and really making sure the consumer has that dynamic control over their usage is really important to us. we spend a lot of time and we have some interesting new products that are coming out over the next year that will give a consumer even more choices and more control over that potency. unlike other forms of cannabis use, the vape pen gives you maximum control over your intake. >> todd, you said this could be a billion dollar business in just the course of two years. have you heard from investors yet? >> yeah, we hear from lots of investors. the good news is we get to be discerning about investors.

being a company that has literally grown under its own steam with little to know debt and not having to have a take on investors right now. it's kind of an exciting time. we get to be really picky and really choosey about what type of investors we bring in and for what purposes as they -- you know, as we look at our strategy going into the next year or two. >> todd, expansion, cap x, all of that, does that come right out of free cash flow or are you able to finance this stuff or get any financing from traditional banks? >> great question. yeah, we are not able to do traditional financing, a lot of this is coming from our own coffers and our own funding. and so we are growing at a record pace. last year we outpaced ourselves by 1200%. we are the nation's largest cannabis brand. we're now, just to give you an idea on numbers, i've sense the special, when the special was recorded we were selling one cart drinlg every half hour -- every half minute nationally and

now we're at one every 15 seconds. so our sales are expanding so quickly that luckily we're able to still fund all of our growth. but it's a powerful time right now. and we are exceeding expectations. this year we will exceed by 600% on our projection. >> todd, thank you for joining us. someone with a background in executive coaching to be a chief revenue officer and such a quickly growing energy, i'm sure they have a lot of use for your skills. >> thank you. yes, it's a lot of fun. >> don't miss tonight's premier of "marijuana in america, colorado pot rush" at 10:00 p.m. only on cnbc. >> unbelievable. when we come back, congressman dave camp set to make news this afternoon when he unveils his brand new plan for tax reform. but does his plan actual i have a chance of passing? we'll ask republican senator pat toomey in just a moment. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah.

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call or drastic cuts to the personal and corporate tax rates at the end of some desuctions. senator pat toomey serves on the finance banking budget and joint economic committees. senator, good to see you again. >> good morning, carl. >> is this going to go anywhere? i have a feeling you would like it to. >> well, i would certainly like to see us through tax reform. i haven't had a chance to see

the product that chairman camp is putting out. i'm looking forward to reviewing it. you know, we desperately need to reform our tax code. it's ridiculously complicated. it's unfair. the marginal rates are way too high. it's a great opportunity to encourage economic growth and investment and job creation. it's a tough environment because we're not getting any leadership from the president on this. but i'm glad that david camp is pudding something on the table. >> you mow, we talk a lot about small business on this network as you know. i'm just thinking of all the things that are weighing on their decisions to create jobs. not only tax policy, the minimum wage, whatever health care will bring us down the road. what is the best thing you can tell tell ithem right now? >> i think the best thing to tell them is we might be heading towards a good election. honestly, small business and medium and large business, one of the biggest obstacles to growth is washington, d.c. it's a ridiculous avalanche op regulations.

it's policies that actively dissuade people from working. it's huge tax increases in the past. threats for more in the future. no constructive trade agenda. . no tax reform agenda that's coming from this white house and the democratic leadership and the senate. so i really think the best news would be a good election so that we can move on these things and get the economy going again. >> senator, yesterday jpmorgan chase ceo jamie dimon said that because of all the capital and because of all the regulation that banks actually can't lend as much as they used to to some of those businesses. what do you think washington can do at this point to fix that? >> you know, it's very hard. i think that's exactly right. and it's not just the big banks, it's the little banks. i travel across pennsylvania and small banks tell me they're hiring more compliance officers than they are loan officers. this is just ridiculous. frankly, i think we should repeal dodd frank. it moves us t in the wrong direction.

it'scounterproductive. it's making credit less available and more expensive. so, you know, this is difficult to do. obviously in this political environment. but i'm going to keep pushing back on the excessive regulation. >> senator, you voted -- i think you were a no on the debt limit. i don't think you're supporting -- supported yellen's nomination. are you standing in the way of clearing some of the uncertainty that small business essay they may be up against? >> i think the debt limit was raised. i think janet yellen is the chair of the fed. so -- but look, i don't apologize for wanting to get ourselves, our federal government, on a sustainable fiscal path. i think it's terrible policy to give the president the ability to borrow trillions of more dollars on top of the $17 trillion that we already have without a single shred of a reform. the president's refusal to even negotiate how we could make at least some modest reforms to out of control spending i think is very irresponsible. >> all right. we did see him and speaker

together yesterday. maybe that's a sign of something new. >> i hope so. >> senator, thanks again. >> thanks for having me. >> senator pat toomey joining us. tune in tonight, larry are interview congressman dave camp. meanwhile, tweet time. according to the "wall street journal" companies could being looking at your old s.a.t. scores. yikes. when considering you for a job. we're asking you, employers looking back at your s.a.t. score is as irrelevant to future performance as blank looking at blank. classic analogy. tweet us yours @. in a world that's changing faster than ever, we believe outshining the competition tomorrow quires challenging your business inside and out today.

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squawk on the tweet. companies could be looking at more than your resume. some could be look at candidates' old s.a.t. test scores which terrifies us. brings us to this morning's squawk on the tweet. employers looking back at your s.a.t. scores is as irrelevant to future performance as blank looking at blank. as google looking at your bench press. as me looking at their market cap and stock price on the day i

took my s.a.t. rich write, banks mortgage underwriters looking at your bitcoin credit score. >> my favorite part about this is the article where the executive self report their s.a.t. scores. felipe, pat on the back. 1600 back in 1967. >> very, very proud. that does it for us here today. let's get to scott and "half time." target is up 7% today. >> number of retailers on the move, carl, despite, you know, somewhat mixed or lackluster numbers. that's one of them. abercrombie is up today. looking at the s&p going for that closing high. haven't been able to do that for the last few days. that's raised red flags, if you will. >> i know you've got i've ivy zelman on. >> welcome to the qul halftime" show. here's what's in our game plan today. solid foundation, ivy zelman about what's going on in real estate and where to invest. going to pot. harry smith with a special report on the big money b