top spot for many weeks now. >> great call with palo alto networks. >> he has apple, too, the wild card in all this going forward. that does it for us. have a great rest of the day. "power lunch" begins right now. "halftime" is over. "power lunch" and the second half of the trading day start right now. >> thanks, scott, very much. this hour starts with two big stories and two big questions. should you invest in this new puerto rican bond, it is triple tax free. it could yield 8% but is there just too much risk involved? and a new painkiller that is causing a lot of controversy has just hit the market. it's hydrocodone bitsetrat. if you can say it, you are probably not taking it. it is ten times as powerful as vicodin. we will get down to sue in a moment at the nyse but let's talk about these two top stories. michelle caruso-cabrera reporting on puerto rico's bond

offering, yielding the 8% range. that's juicy, tempting. but we start with sheila dharmarajan and a very controversial new drug, oxycodone very prone to abuse. this is a more potent variant. >> yes, it is super potent. it's also super controversial. i want to talk a little about the drug because it's important here. it is a painkiller marketed by a small company. the active ingredient is hydrocodo hydrocodone, the same stuff you find in vicodin but unlike vicodin, this is pure hydrocodone in a higher dosage form. that's actually the positives of the drug because it makes it very effective for chronic pain sufferers and also avoids some of the liver issues connected with long-term use of acetaminophen. this has been controversial from the get-go. the fda approved it against the advice of its own advisory panel. that only happens about 10% to 15% of the time. since that approval, critics have been calling for the fda to

reverse its decision. they are basically saying look, we don't need another powerful painkiller on the market. the backdrop to all this is the tremendous rise we have seen in painkiller addiction, abuse and related deaths. in fact, the cdc notes that drug overdose rates have more than tripled since 1990, and a big part of that is actually prescription painkillers. so the big question, why did the fda approve the drug in the first place? basically, it was following its own rules. despite some of the public health issues with painkillers, it's really tough for the fda to prevent a new one that actually meets all the fda standards without reexamining all the other drugs already on the market. analysts i spoke to said it's basically unheard of for the fda to technically reverse a decision unless there's new evidence that shows otherwise. so it does seem like for now, it is likely here to stay. the stock is actually up about 100% in the past year on the success of this approval, but it has fallen in the past couple weeks, as this controversy has

swirled ahead of the launch. oppenheimer thinks it's a good opportunity to buy the stock but keep in mind, this is a very small company. talking about half a billion dollars in market cap. so very volatile as well. >> a $4 stock to boot. thank you very much. now to michelle. you have been following this puerto rican bond story for weeks now. >> small island. >> small island, big bond issue. highly oversubscribed. >> yeah. puerto rico is going to borrow $3.5 billion today. the coupon on this offering is 8%. consider that that is triple tax free. you would have to get like 12% or 13% on a different kind of bond if you're paying taxes. if you're lucky and you get to buy the bond during the offering process, kind of like when you get to buy before the ipo actually starts to trade, your yield is actually 8.7% because you get to buy it at a discount, you only pay $93 for $100 of face value. it matures in 2035. the commonwealth has $70 billion of debt for fewer than four million people and yet, take a look at these stats, according to one source, there are $17

billion worth of orders for this $3.5 billion bond, most of the buyers are alternative investors, code word for hedge funds, et cetera, but there are muni bonds buyers as well and also high net worth individuals buying as well. >> so individuals could buy this theoretically, but -- >> theoretically. >> at the offer price you would have to be a big player. >> a very big player. they assume you meet all these qualifications, you know what you're doing, you're a sophisticated buyer and you have to be a big client of some of the underwriters. >> whole lot of flipping going on here. >> we will start to see a trade likely this afternoon. that's where we will get a sense of what exactly is happening. we might actually see the yield go lower. remember, some of these folks bought at a discount so some folks may be willing to pay $93, $94, $96 and take a lower yield. >> you will be watching it. thank you very much. sue? >> we will head to chicago, because this is an auction week and we have breaking news in the bond market. the three year note up for sale. rick santelli is tracking the action. what did it look like?

>> reporter: it looked ultra-average. the grade is c and it was pretty much average in just about every way we measure on the demand side. the yield at the $30 billion three year note auction, .802 so a whisker above 80 basis points. the bid side, the bid side was 80 basis points so it tailed just a bit. 3.25, $3.25, chasing every dollar available, that's called the bid to cover. basically that's average. 29.9, below the 35% ten auction average of indirects, 15.5 in directs, little under the 16% ten auction average. dealers took 54.6%. we always like when investors take the lion's share. tomorrow, of course, we will be moving further down the curve to ten year notes and i see stocks make new lows right around the time of the auction. i can tell you this. i don't think it was the three year note auction that was the catalyst. back to you. >> i think you're probably right on that.

we will talk about the market in a few minutes. thank you very much. back now to that puerto rican bond offering. these are triple tax free. they pay in the 8% to 9% range so is it a good buy? robert dimela, with $7.5 billion in muni bond assets, joins us. i know you said this is below investment grade. it's not for the average retail investor. michelle outlined the fact that there is a pretty high hurdle as an individual to be eligible to buy these. but would you consider putting these in your funds? >> we are as a speculative grade credit for most retail investors, we don't think this is appropriate for the municipal bond portfolios because it has several inherent risks with it. just because this deal came doesn't mean all those hurdles that the issuer has are gone. >> indeed. in other words, what you're saying is puerto rico's troubles may be alleviated a little bit short term, but the bigger issues remain.

>> correct. >> they may have to come to market again, perhaps? >> they expect to come to the market again, toward the end of this year, so this alleviates some of the liquidity concerns here but some of the bigger problems, some of the bigger hurdles are their slowing economy, it's been in decline, close to a decade now. people are leaving the islands so structurally, those are big negatives in the economy in puerto rico and ultimately, they don't have enough tax collection revenues coming in to pay off all their debt so they will have to continue to roll over debt, most likely again later this year, and this is what we have been telling clients, that this is really a speculative grade credit, that it's not appropriate for most of them. >> thank you very much, robert. appreciate it. let's go up to bertha for a market flash. >> the big deal finally done. men's wearhouse is buying jos a. bank. the agreement ends the takeover saga between the retailers that

originally saw josa. bank trying to buy men's wearhouse. men's wearhouse responded to an offer by offering $1.5 billion. it will be the fourth biggest men's retailer in the country with about $3.5 billion in sales. jos a bank will end its deal with eddie bauer. >> bertha, thank you very much. buy one suit, get three free. several developing angles right now on that search for that mystery malaysia airlines flight 370. phil lebeau with details from chicago. >> reporter: still no indication about what happened with this flight after four days of searching. the only thing we know for sure is that they have expanded the area being searched. initially, you see where the plane is located there, that was the last known location. that's where most of the search was focused over the first three

days. now if you go to the west, look at the strait, that is where the search is concentrating. why are they looking there? malaysian military says radar indicated flight mh 370 turned west from its last known location and was actually tracked going into the strait of malacca. they have found no debris or anything linking mh 370 to where its final location may have been. investigators have been showing pictures, meanwhile, in malaysia of the two individuals who boarded this flight with stolen passports. they showed these pictures but then a few hours later, they made it very clear that from all indications, as they looked into the background of the two individuals, there is no link between them and terrorism. why they were on this flight remains a bit of a mystery although many believe they were ultimately headed into europe at some point, trying to seek some asylum over in europe. but at this point, still no indication about what happened with this flight.

i want to bring in daniel baker, the ceo of flightaware.com. you may be familiar with flightaware because we use them quite often when talking about the status of delayed flights and canceled flights here in the u.s. daniel, you are familiar with the radars and how they are used on land as well as when flights are going over water. explain for our viewers real quick, the fact that it's lost communication or lost communication, that was not unusual because it was in an area where it was supposed to go out of communication, correct? >> that's right. when an aircraft gets about 100 to 150 miles offshore, it generally is out of contact of any of the civilian land-based radar that sends signals that ping the airplane and receive a response back from the aircraft. it's not abnormal on a flight like this that it would lose touch. however, it sounds like at this point they are receiving some additional data from military radar which could be not only ground-based but also could be maritime or in the air. there's a lot of other options and it's a lot more

sophisticated than the civilian radar that's typically used to track a flight. >> when this flight started turning west and if it headed into the strait of malacca, when it went back over land, shouldn't radar have automatically picked up the flight? >> that's right. that's a good question. one thing about the air traffic control style radar is that it's considered to be cooperative, meaning that you set up the airplane to send data back to air traffic control, and you are coordinating with them on what beacon code you need to send those air traffic controllers, so the expectation is the pilots and aircraft are all working normally and that it's cooperating with the air traffic control system to coordinate the flight plan. however, if there was a problem on the plane or there was some other issue that the aircraft wasn't necessarily participating correctly or cooperating, then it would have been very difficult to track and can sometimes require a human to really analyze the radar data to try and draw conclusion. it's a little more difficult than kind of watching the blip move across the normal air traffic control screen.

>> last question, quickly. let me know what your thoughts are on this. will this entire incident end up resulting in airlines having more sophisticated constant communication worldwide? >> i think there's always an improvement due to the improvement in technology. when air france had an accident over the south atlantic in 2009, the same questions were asked. i think the problem is, the technology is very expensive. airplanes stay in service for decades and it's just difficult to enact such a large change. as the technology becomes better and more affordable, there's no question that there will be more communication and more gps updates to controllers and airlines around the world, regardless of where the plane is. >> daniel baker, ceo of flightaware joining us today from houston. there you have it. as the mystery continues, heading into the fifth day of looking for mh 370. sue? >> it's a story everybody is glued to. thank you so much. appreciate it. aum's npple's new incentive. is honesty the ticket to success

in business? that's topic number two. and what will the spring jobs season look like? and two new big shots fired in the war of the sexes. all of that is on our agenda. marcus lemonis will address all of those in two minutes time. stay with us. (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time.

plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates.

at a company that's bringing media and technology together. next is every second of nbcuniversal's coverage 0f the 2014 olympic winter games. it's connecting over one million low-income americans to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment in ways you never thought possible. welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. welcome back to "power lunch." i'm phil lebeau with a developing story involving tesla motors. at 2:00 this afternoon eastern time, the new jersey motor vehicles commission will be

holding a meeting. at that time, the commission may be voting to change the rules of the state in terms of vehicle sales. it would directly ban the sale of direct sales of automobiles and obviously that means tesla would no longer be able to sell vehicles in the state of new jersey. within the last hour, we have heard from the v.p. of vehicle development and business development for tesla regarding the impact of this proposed change in new jersey law. here's what he had to say. >> this is at the very least disappointing, if not outright an outrage what's going on to our business in new jersey right now. shutting us down, putting people out of work. >> we reached out to the new jersey governor's office for comment regarding this development. the governor's office said since tesla first began operating in new jersey one year ago, it was made clear that the company would need to engage the legislature on a bill to establish their direct sales operations under new jersey law. this administration does not

find it appropriate to unilaterally change the way cars are sold in new jersey without legislation and tesla has been aware of this position since the beginning. by the way, there are two states, only two states in this country, that directly ban the sale of vehicles from an automaker to the public. that's arizona and texas, but if new jersey changes its rules this afternoon, it would become the third state to ban the sale of vehicles by tesla to the consumers in that state. guys, back to you. >> phil, thank you. i know when that decision, if that decision comes down, you will bring it to us. back up to bertha coombs for a market flash. >> lots of news in retail today. jc penney higher after citi upgraded the retailer to buy from neutral saying it believes it can continue to deliver positive same store sales as it updates its merchandise mix. and macy's also in the green, also on an upgrade there. this time from wells fargo. upgrading the stock to outperform from market perform, pointing to its solid holiday season performance. and walmart turning around today

after the disappointing numbers yesterday on same store sales. its cfo saying the company has seen very good sales since mid-february, since the weather has started to improve. not just for retailers' sake but for all of us, i hope this weather continues. >> i hope so, too. i think we got one more hurdle. then we're into spring. the nasdaq struggling to avoid its first four-day losing streak since august. among the tech leaders today, telecom lagging. seema mody following the big movers to the upside and the downside. >> that's right. the nasdaq down just slightly but we are trading in a narrow range. what makes this interesting is people on the street still seem bullish on stocks moving higher. for example, b of a saying they expect capex to pick up and that will be a boon for the overall tech sector. another hot debate on wall street, high-flying stocks like netflix, facebook trading in bubble territory or are they good growth stories to invest in? the jury still out despite this bubble talk. take a look at facebook. still bullish on the name,

writing about the opportunity behind the whatsapp acquisition. plug fuel cell has been on fire but today, some reasons cited to be cautious. lastly, biotech index outperforming the major indexes. jeff solomon, chief executive at cowan and co says the market is due for correction but the fundamentals of this new class of biotech companies are unlike ones in previous cycles. something to take note of. back over to you. >> thank you very much. power rundown time. joining us is "the profit's" marcus lemonis. usually we have two or more people doing this. you are doing the work of ten right here with the power rundown. >> flattery will get you everywhere. >> first up, congress launching an investigation into gm's recall of these ignition switches that apparently can shut off if you put extra weight on them. did gm handle this right? >> what this really does is shakes consumers' confidence.

general motors was on the way back to really instilling confidence in people. i'm concerned that now mary has to deal with this in her first term. bad news is still better than no news. they should have let it out. >> marcus, let's turn you to apple which has quietly rolled out a new customer loyalty program for the bigger spenders starting with those who spend more than $5,000 a year, kind of corporate and education level. apple will give us a comment shortly, we hope. does it work? >> two issues here. retailers are very focused on retention, holding on to the customers they already have. you have to give them a reason to come back. in addition to that, this is a strong play on apple's part to go after the desktop business with intel and some of the other players. i think it's okay. they just have to pay attention to the margins. >> these would be mostly corporate buyers, i would think. >> it's geared toward corporate buyers but if they have success, you can expect it to land in

consumers' hands as well. >> let's move on to the hiring outlook. manpower group saying nearly 20% of employers surveyed say they plan to increase their staffing levels and that is the highest level since 2008. marcus, what about you? you feeling that way? you going to add? >> manpower is very focused on technology and engineering. so what i like about what i'm seeing is they believe cap ex will stay strong in the second quarter. that tells us about companies' confidence in the marketplace. >> now on to something a little dicey. the big cost of telling lies. "new york times" interesting piece today says the secret to success in business and in life is to never, ever, ever tell a lie. i bet you will agree with this, but that's pretty hard to do, according to this article. >> i'm going to agree to it when it comes to business. transparency and trust is really the foundation of any business. but if your girlfriend or spouse asks you if she looks nice or if they're fat, you are definitely going to lie. i want to be clear that there's a time to lie and a time not to

lie. i don't want anybody lying in business. >> i am not touching that. >> i was just going to say -- >> you look fantastic. >> ty, want to follow up on that? >> let's hear from you. >> i'm not touching it. i'm not touching it. you like my hair today? >> no. no. >> he's honest. researchers at harvard, m.i.t., and penn publishing a report that investors are more likely to put money into an idea pitched by a good-looking man than by an attractive woman. the national academy of sciences, sciences, saying managers are more likely to hire men than women who performed equally in math and science. have we not come as far as we maybe think we have? >> let's talk about the first part. i don't think -- a good pitch comes from somebody who understands their business and has things dialed in in their business. i don't want to hear about whether it's a man or woman. the part that i'm struggling with, i will be candid with you,

you gave me two equal candidates, a man and a woman, i would choose the woman. they are better listeners, better leaders, and they know how to multi-task better. >> yes! >> how about the second question? >> especially if i have to choose between you and sue. >> boy, i couldn't agree with you more about multi-tasking, as my wife reminds me every evening. what about the second one? math candidate, math candidate, the male typically gets the job over the female. all other things being equal. >> i don't think it matters if it's math or science. we still have a bad trend in this country for people skewing towards men instead of women. i don't think it matters that it's math. >> okay. marcus, thanks very much. >> i would agree with you. >> we will come back and visit more with marcus later if the hour to talk about tonight's new episode of the hit show "the profit." sue? >> can't wait for that. ty, i can wait for this. would you believe it, another major snowstorm heading our way. how it's going to impact your area when we return on "power lunch." plus, the cia facing very serious heat. is the agency spying on the senate?

and what will make russia's putin back down on ukraine? maybe punish the super rich oligarchs? what do you think, robert frank? >> many people are talking about this. the 110 richest russians control 35% of the country's household wealth. there's a growing call to freeze their visas, bank accounts and super yachts. we will tell you who could be a target after the break.

iwe don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan.

there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com no two people have the same financial goals. pnc investments works with you to understand yours and helps plan for your retirement. talk to a pnc investments financial advisor today. ♪ customizable charts, powerful screening tools, 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. well, 60 degrees around these parts today. it was good while it lasted. but get ready for another major snowstorm this week. weather channel's tom niziol has the latest. >> we start with cold air moving south out of canada. where have we seen that before this winter? this low pressure system here, winter storm vulcan, intensifies, pulls moisture back into the cold air in places from chicago to detroit, cleveland, buffalo, interior new england are all going to be in the line for some very heavy snow from this storm. take a look at snowfall totals. as much as eight to 12 inches in detroit, wednesday morning rush hour, air travel will be heavily impacted in chicago. up in the northeast, that area of 12 to 18 inches from buffalo along the i-90 corridor into new england. it drops off quickly here. one silver lining in the cloud, most of it will be rain for

places like new york and boston. another major winter storm for the great lakes and northeast. we will keep you updated. back to you. >> thank you very much, tom. spring will come eventually, though. the cia meantime under fire. the agency is being accused of spying on senate leaders. eamon javers is in washington with some of the fallout on that. >> reporter: well, it's a dramatic, unusual confrontation here this morning between the chair of the senate intelligence committee and the head of the cia. senator dianne feinstein, the intelligence committee chair, making an accusation that cia officials apparently potentially illegally and unconstitutionally searched senate computers and removed sensitive documents from those computers, all of it part of a senate investigation into cia actions during interrogation, enhanced interrogation, waterboarding and all the rest of it during the iraq war. the question is, what did the cia do and when did it do it. take a look at these dueling

comments between senator feinstein and john brennan, head of the cia. >> i have grave concerns that the cia's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the united states constitution. >> as far as the allegations of cia hacking into senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. we wouldn't do that. i mean, that's -- that's just beyond the scope of reason. >> brennan said the cia didn't hack into senate computers. what exactly did happen, though? he said it's under investigation and he's going to defer to the judgment of those investigators when that is rendered so guys, an ongoing mystery here. what happened to those documents, where are they going to go, whether we in the public are going to see them, all an open question right now. >> thank you, eamon. we await an update from you as the story continues to develop. gold market is closing right about now. right now, we have about a $5

gain in the gold market. the rest of the metals are on the down side with the silver, copper, palladium and platinum market all in the red. ty, up to you. >> sue, thank you. ukraine's interim leaders creating a new national guard and appealing to the u.s. and britain for support. with russia standing its ground, what's the best way to punish putin? maybe to cause pain for the oligarchs. robert frank here to explain why. >> this is kind of the willy sutton theory of russian diplomacy. go where the money is. the 110 richest russians control 35% of the country's wealth and together with putin, they of course control the power. so there is growing support in the west to freeze their financial lives and pressure putin to back down. here's how it would work. the u.s. treasury could identify russian politicians involved in ukraine, then the u.s. could sanction any billionaire who has ties to those politicians. this all is traceable through u.s. treasury. now, what could we do?

their visas could be restricted, their yachts could be prevented from docking in western ports. their bank accounts could be frozen. they could be prevented from dealing with u.s. financial institutions. as the oligarchs have rushed to westernize and borrow from western banks, this could be a powerful blow to their businesses. of course, not every rich russian would be punished. this 440 foot yacht is in new york harbor owned by a russian vodka tycoon who clashed with putin in the past. perhaps he sought a safe harbor right here in new york. no comment from him on whether or why he's here. >> i bet he has good vodka on the boat. thank you very much. sue, down to you. to the bond market with rick santelli tracking the post-auction action for us at the cme. one down, couple more to go. >> yeah. $21 billion, tens tomorrow. as i look at stocks, i might be the jinx. every time i get on we seem to be making new lows. that is affecting yields somewhat.

look at intraday of tens, we are virtually unchanged, half a basis point down on the day. what's interesting, if we expand, it will be important, today thus far is an inside session under yesterday's highs, above yesterday's low yields. open the chart up towards january, something else jumps out at you. see that middle section of the chart? the highest yield there is 2.76. should we slip back into that which is considered wood, we would probably chip away at it. stocks are the direction of treasuries. last chart, collateral. copper and iron ore are big collateral loan uses with regard to the chinese and finance. so as the copper price go down, the wan going down as well. this is a chart you want to keep on your screen. tyler? >> very interesting. thank you very much. microsoft amping up the video game wars with its latest title. will it be able to cut into sony's lead?

what this new game could mean for the future of microsoft's very popular, in my house, xbox 1. plus a new episode of "the profit" at 10:00 p.m. eastern on cnbc. marcus lemonis is in the house and will join us for a sneak peek when we return. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.ould yep, everybody knows that.

well, did you know the ancient pyramids were actually a mistake? uh-oh. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. so i can reach ally bank 24/7, but there ar24/7.branches? i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally.

at a company that's bringing media and technology together. next is every second of nbcuniversal's coverage 0f the 2014 olympic winter games. it's connecting over one million low-income americans to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment in ways you never thought possible. welcome to what's next.

comcastnbcuniversal. welcome back to "power lunch." the energy sector is the worst performing sector in the s&p 500 and big oil companies are all losing ground today as oil prices fall more than $1 a barrel. take a look, exxonmobil, chevron, conaco phillips all in the red today. the eia is lowering its forecast for oil production because of the bad weather. they say a lot of rigs couldn't get out there and get to work. >> i can understand that. given the winter we had. thank you so much. to bob pisani on the floor of the nyse with a quick update on the market, down about 49 points. >> take a look at the s&p 500. sort of steady as she goes. we are in a standard range, 12 points fairly normal for the s&p 500. sitting just off of the lows for the day. i want to highlight alternative energy stocks, noting the huge explosion in fuel cell and plug in the last few days. plug power had very good overall

numbers. fuel cell reported inline earnings better than expected sales amid growing demand for clean battery technology. all of these stocks had huge gains but look at this. clear profit taking now going on. this just started happening in the middle of the day. how about copper? a lot of discussion on what's going on, down 2.5%, multi-year lows here. take a look at the copper stocks. freeport's down about 17% this year. this is not happening today, folks. this has been going on for awhile. some of this is due to weakness in the chinese currency. rick had a very good point earlier. it's making it more expensive for the chinese to buy copper but 50% of world consumption in copper is chinese. look at this relationship between the shanghai stock market and the copper business. very clear relationship. investors, because china is so closely tied to commodities, investors believe china and commodities kind of move together. breaking that relationship might be a little bit traumatic and that's part of the problem right now. i think it's not just currency. there is a lot of concerns that

china's gdp growth may not be in the 7.5% range, we could even see a six handle later. those are some of the concerns. >> understandably so given the export figures from earlier this week and the week before as well. thanks so much. appreciate it. we are down about 47 points now on the dow jones industrial average. but the s&p 500 still near record highs. so is the bull run over or still intact? we welcome back joe and andrew, both here at post nine with me on the floor of the nyse. good to see you guys. i always look forward to seeing you both together. i know you are both stock guys but i will hit you with a quick bond question because i have gotten some viewer e-mails just a few moments ago about this puerto rican bond. when it starts trading tomorrow, after the big institutional investors either flip it or decide to sell it, individual investors may be looking at that yield as they grasp for yield. would you buy it if you are an

individual investor, or no? >> i think there's a reason why you are able to get that 8.5% yield. i look at puerto rico and see there are clearly a number of structural and demographic issues. to me, i'm cautious. i think ultimately as a bond offering, it's bought them a little time but ultimately, you really need to sort of weigh out that risk/reward. >> what about you? >> i'm an equity manager, not a fixed income manager. but what i think the message of the bond market this year is, is that rates have actually come down this year which is actually very positive for stocks because alternatives to stocks are always bonds and if rates are lower, that means the valuation on stocks probably go up. >> do you think that the bull market run is still intact? >> absolutely. because again, what causes bull markets to end? when bond yields get too attractive or valuations get too high, neither of which exists today, or we have a recession and i don't think that's around the corner either. so i don't see the reason to be

bearish just because the market's at an all time high. remember, the market does go up on average every year so you should be at a high every year on average. >> that's a good point. maybe it's because, maybe people are cautious because we had such huge gains in the market last year. it's hard to believe after what we went through in 2008 and afterwards that we don't need to take a rest, but a rest is not the end of a bull market, right? >> this is not necessarily end of a bull market. most importantly it's about managing expectations. last year, you had a 30% price run in the s&p 500 and the biggest pullback of 6%. i would say it's clearly more the exception than it is the norm. we need to temper expectations moving forward but just because prices keep moving higher and hitting these all time record highs, it doesn't necessarily mean markets are expensive. we look at valuation and say they are roughly in line with the long term average. we are not yet at a level where we say you have to start taking some of these gains off the table because valuations -- >> what is the long term average

return of the market? 9%. would you take average valuation, average return? bet you would. >> i think i would. absolutely. what do you like in this market? what are you looking at? >> what i find fascinating is as joe said, the market's not expensive but we know about some of these what i will call the bubblelicious stocks. if they are expensive that means there must be a lot of companies out there that don't fall into that category that are pretty cheap. so i think it's still this kind of mid to large cap growth companies that aren't necessarily on the headlines every day that are growing at double digit, they are selling at very mid-teens multiples. there's a lot of them out there. that gives me confidence as a portfolio manager that we will continue to find these types of names. >> you both have had great success, by the way, in the last couple of years with the picks you have given our viewers. joe, what do you like? >> i think i would echo a lot of the comments andrew's made as far as looking at larger cap companies as opposed to small cap within the u.s. i think there's more opportunity

there, as far as valuation's concerned. we continue to favor the developed markets over the emerging markets. you would be right saying the emerging markets have more attractive valuations but there's good reason why the valuations are more depressed. we continue to like the u.s. we also continue to like europe. europe has a number of issues, to be very clear, but it is a story of operational average. as you continue to see growth pick up little by little, i think you will see profit margins pick up. as a result of that, we will see earnings momentum pick up in europe. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it very much. always enjoy our time with you here at post nine. ty? the nhl back in full swing after the olympics. some frightening moments in last night's game between dallas and columbus. one of dallas' players, rich peverley, had a cardiac event where he collapsed on the bench. you can see the players, the trainers and the team doctor there rushing to help him. now, peverley had surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat about six months ago. he reportedly wanted to get back

in the game after his condition was stabilized. he did not. he is in the hospital now undergoing some tests. the players were so shaken that the game was postponed. puerto rico is getting a break with rates on its bonds. would you buy? go to finance.yahoo!.com to vote now. the results are coming up. plus a brand new episode of "the profit" airs tonight at 10:00. marcus lemonis standing by with a sneak preview of what's to come this evening. stay tuned. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 trading inspires your life.

tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 life inspires your trading. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 where others see fads... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...you see opportunities. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we're here to help tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 turn inspiration into action. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 we have intuitive platforms tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you discover what's trending. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and seasoned market experts to help sharpen your instincts. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so you can take charge tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 of your trading. welcome back to "power lunch." we are watching herbalife. bill ackman is preparing a web pass for this afternoon where he says he will present evidence that the company is operating in violation of chinese law. "street signs" will monitor that call which will begin at 2:00 p.m. eastern at the top of the hour and will have much more on what he says. he's definitely not backing down here. >> no, he is not.

take a look at the stock, down almost 2% in advance of that web cast. back to one of the interesting stories in today's trading session. there are many, but this one caught our eye. that puerto rican bond offering. our question of the day, puerto rico getting a break with rates on its bonds. would you buy? 9%, only 9% of you say yes. 75% say no, it's not for me. 15% say i'm interested but not certain. ty, cautious investors over there. >> yeah, cautious. tonight at 10:00 on cnbc, marcus lemonis, the profit, hits the gym. does the gym hit back? >> hey. >> hey, marcus. how you doing, buddy? >> you said you wanted -- >> yeah. thanks for coming in. well, i wanted to talk to you about a lease, you know. unfortunately i'm not in a position to get out of this lease. >> what did you do to try to get out of it? >> i read it myself.

i know the lease that i signed. >> did you talk to your attorney? >> i'm in an ironclad lease. >> did you hire a realtor to find a subletter? >> no, i didn't get any realtor. >> sounds like you didn't do everything. when you and i made the deal, i was very clear with you. i asked you to do one thing and that was get out of the lease. i told you that in the negotiation. i told you when we went the look at space. i told you several times. >> but that one thing is challenging. that one thing is very difficult. >> if you didn't agree and you thought i was being unreasonable while we were negotiating or telling the employees about what was happening, why didn't you tell me then? you are telling me now because you failed at it. >> you are asking me to jump through a ring of fire. we met a long time ago, we said we would do everything together. he's sitting out here like i'm some -- >> i don't want to get in a fight with you right now. you are pouting like a baby. once again, something good has happened for me and that's a problem for you. >> you talk too much. >> no. >> you're talking too much. >> you never let me talk.

>> you are always talking. >> this is what i was worried about when he did leave the deal. >> oh, yeah. i saw your eyes going ching, ching. >> you think that's all that matters to me? >> you are always worried about your own identity. >> everybody has their own identity. >> you already have your own identi identity. >> if something good is happening to me, something good is happening to you and to us. that's how it should be viewed. this shouldn't be a bad thing. i certainly don't want it to cause a rift. >> it already caused a rift. i got to swallow it. >> that's on you. >> now you're martha stewart here. >> i'm just saying, this is why new jersey is the greatest state in the nation. right here, these are characters who move to indiana to do a personal training gym. give me a little of the back story here. >> michael, the main character here, has been a trainer for 35 years, a personal trainer. he's got the right concept. he opens up a small group personal training facility, 5,000 square feet, competes with the big box retailers. him and his wife are in the

business together. she's got her own product, and that's where the rift starts. >> the issue here in part, in that clip, was he's got a lease that is costing him too much, i assume? >> he's got a lease in a plaza that's bad but the real issue here is can husbands and wives really work together. >> can they? >> in some cases, they can. in most cases, if you can avoid it, avoid it. you can't spend eight hours at home, then spend eight hours at work. there's no time apart. >> it is tough to mix love and money, isn't it? >> the lines get blurry. it gets personal very quickly. we'll be watching tonight. always great to see you. marcus lemonis is the profit. watch it at 10:00 on cnbc. when we come back, the latest in the bridgegate scandal. fired chris christie aide bridget kelly is in court today. what is she trying to convince a new jersey judge to do and why? plus, this is titan. microsoft's newest game. will it be enough to push xbox 1

sales higher? it's a growing trend in business: do more with less with less energy. hp is helping ups do just that. soon, the world's most intelligent servers, designed by hp, will give ups over twice the performance, using forty percent less energy. multiply that across over a thousand locations, and they'll provide the same benefit to the environment as over 60,000 trees. that's a trend we can all get behind. (voseeker of the sublime.ro. you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we.

go national. go like a pro. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

fired chris christie aide bridget kelly attending a hearing in trenton, new jersey

today. john harwood is following the latest in the so-called bridgegate scandal. john? >> reporter: the news today was that bridget kelly appeared in public. we have been waiting to see her ever since the disclosure of that e-mail where she said time for some traffic problems in fort lee. that really was the crescendo of the problem for chris christie and it hasn't gotten much better since. what happened was the state legislative committee in new jersey that's investigating this has requested more e-mail documents and other pieces of evidence. bridget kelly and also bill stepian, who has been a political advisor to governor christie, they are resisting the request to disclose those documents on the argument that it could be self-incriminating for them. this is something, there's a legal basis for this claim. it was established in a supreme court case during the investigation of a clinton administration justice department official who got into trouble. they are making the argument that the legislative committee

should grant immunity to them or they should not have to turn over the documents. the judge is going to take arguments from both sides and we are expected to get a ruling in a few weeks. meantime, we had the disclosure in the "new york times" this morning that chris christie's aides on the port authority had orchestrated a rise in tolls that allowed christie to appear to be opposing them while actually trying to make them happen which is what i meant by saying that this story does not get any better for chris christie. >> it certainly doesn't. being a resident of new jersey, i can tell you, it's the top headline almost every day. thank you very much. appreciate it. let's switch gears a little bit. in the battle of the game makers, microsoft counting on its new game, titan fall, to boost xbox one sales. question is, will it work? it's a very competitive marketplace. josh lipton is in silicon valley with the latest. hi, josh. >> reporter: hey, sue, yeah. the xbox 1 needs a jolt and

today, it could get it. microsoft is debuting its hottest new video game title, titan fall. the company has a lot riding on its success. npd says that sony is beating microsoft by at least a two to one margin in the u.s. microsoft isn't throwing in the towel. i caught up with microsoft's top gaming guy at south by southwest and he expressed a lot of excitement around titan fall's potential. >> i do think that titanfall will be a big boost to the console generation market. it's already off to the hottest start yet. i think people have been waiting, a lot of our fans have been waiting for a great game like this to come and make the move. we are optimistic that it will get a lot of people to come try xbox 1. >> reporter: microsoft needs strong software titles like titanfall to drive sales of its xbox platform. titanfall could help. i spoke to louis ward of idc today. he says titanfall will take advantage of xbox 1 technology.

it will offer gamers great special effects and the feel, he says, of a blockbuster movie. u.s. spending on video games still massive. gamers spent more than $15 billion last year according to npd. growth last year was flat, but game sales revenue was down 25% in january so microsoft, sony, still going to rely a lot on these megahit titles like titanfall. sue? >> we will wait and see what happens. thanks so much. when we come back, the top stock winners on a volatile trading day. the dow is now down 35 points. iwe don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state.

move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. there's only one way for your business to go. up. find out if your business can qualify at start-upny.com [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly.

we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announcer ] some questions take more than a bank. they take a banker. make a my financial priorities appointment today. because when people talk, great things happen.

shares of gm at session lows as congress is widening its investigation of the automaker's recall which has been blamed for 13 deaths in connection with problems with its engine. senate commerce committee chairman john rockefeller wants hearings. tyler? >> thank you very much, bertha. sue, we are wrapping up another day here, watching the nasdaq to see whether it ends in the red for a fourth session in a row. >> that's right. it's trying to avoid that, down about seven points on the nasdaq. the dow is down 33 and the s&p is down about four. there are some winners out there right now. mcdonald's is one of them, bouncing back after yesterday's

move, up 3%. alcoa up 2.75%. salesforce.com is also up 2.75%. there are winners out there. that will do it for tuesday edition of "power lunch." >> have a great afternoon. see you tomorrow. "street signs" begins now. it is 11:00 a.m. out west. the dow down about 30 points. forget that, though. we are jam-packed today with big stories and actionable advice. does it pay off to buy the worst performers in the red-hot nasdaq? we will call it the digital dog theory. is google finally facing a real threat? maybe, but not one you might expect. why one big regulator is saying beware of bitcoin. and the investor who called plug power a 50 cent casino stock is here. >> fantastic. okay. i'm seeing red today. the dow is down o