midwest. we know you're out there. we're paying attention. thank you for watching "street signs," everybody. >> "the closing bell" is coming up next. hello, everybody, and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans down here at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffeth. a lot of drama. the market is doing one thing, but there are a lot of individual stocks that we've been following today. the stock story of the day has to be about herbalife. the battleground stock now officially embattled. a government investigation has been launched and investors have been punishing that stock. it was halted for a while. you knew the drama from a couple hours ago here live on cnbc. for a time it was down 15%. it's come way off that low. we're down 5.5% right now. we'll get more reaction, give you the latest on herbalife coming up. >> for people who are desperate for a market up stocks, today is one of those days.

also a new wrinkle to the general motors ignition switch recall story. there are, of course, congressional hearings. now a criminal investigation. but because gm has gone through bankruptcy, it will not be civilly liable for any accidents that happened before june 2009. we'll get the latest from phil lebeau and speak to legal pros on if this will hold up even if the company is found to be criminally negligents. >> that's a fascinating wrinkle. also a cnbc exclusive, rock legend neil young, that neil young, joins us coming up on "the closing bell" today. neil is not happy with the sound of digital music right now, and he has used crowd funding to do something about it. it's a new music service which sounds so good they say it's like being in the recording studio with them. neil will be here to talk about that and his plans to make new music. he's still working very hard these days. he's been touring. he has a new album out.

more plans for more music down the road. do not miss the great neil young on "the closing bell" today. in markets right now, the dow is off 34 points. the nasdaq is positive on the session right now. it's up about 7 points, about 0.2%. there's a lot of differentiation in this space. we're holding up reasonably well considering the losses we saw in the japanese market overnight. >> meg green, jack ver ruchian. larry mcdonald, adam and rick santelli. jack, what do you make of this market these days? kind of hanging in there. >> it is hanging in there. bill, you have to be really impressed with what's been happening, especially after the year we had last year. the real question is how many portfolio managers that were chasing returns at the end of last year will be doing exactly the same thing going into the end of the quarter.

i think over the course of the next two weeks it will be a question that's answered. >> all the same, adam, we got to talk about what's happening in china right now. and the extent to which we've been talking about the losses in copper and iron ore and some of these areas. we've been talking about the credit growth in that economy and what happens as it starts to slow. of what should investors here be focused on, be worried about, if anything, when it comes to the developments there in china specifically. >> well, it's interesting because the chinese economic rebalance, which will take them from about a 45% to 50% investment-led economy to more consumption oriented, will put a major downward pressure on commodity prices. so i think this will keep inflation somewhat capped for years and years to come. >> years and years? >> yeah, years and years. this will be a long long-term process, and what will happen, in my opinion, is because inflation will be capped, consumption-based economies like the u.s. actually stand to benefit because price to

earnings multiples tend to be inversely correlated to inflation. >> you know, larry mcdonald, our stock market has been spooked by what's been going on in the chinese market as the central bank there tightens, trying to wring out some of the speculation which was taken a toll on copper and iron ore. but yet our stock market kind of hanging in here. what is going on? >> we're back at 2007, and 2007 the emerging markets were flourishing and the argument was they had decoupled from the u.s. so emerging markets no matter what happened to the u.s. in 2007, emerging markets had decoupled and they would be fine. and it was proven very, very painfully that they were not decoupled. now here we are all these years later, and we're saying the same thing. we're saying that the u.s. is decoupled from the emerging markets' pain. that's not true. weakness in the emerging markets will impact u.s. equities very, very shortly, and i think you

want to be selling. >> some of the underperformance we have seen in europe lately as everybody is talking about the prospects for better growth may have to do with the fact that china is slowing. in your opinion how serious is some of the weakness we have seen? i think europe is down 2.5% over the last five trading days. is that a sign this is going to take a bite out of the global economy? >> it could. it very well could, but i want to go back and focus on all the money -- everybody is easing. okay, we're cutting back on our easing, but the whole world is easing. to me that is ultimately inflationary. i would have to say -- consumers are now doing well in the united states. we're buying again. it's almost like happy days are here again. not 2007, because i don't think we're in the same situation, but i definitely think there's a global economy, and balance is the name of the game because if you start trying to guess where to be and when to be, overweight the u.s. certainly, but i don't

think you can leave any of the outside markets and you have to also have a presence in bonds. everybody ran away from bonds last year. they were scared to death of the taper. >> speaking of which, rick santelli, the demand for the ten-year -- >> rick, the bond guy. >> the demand was very, very strong today. quickly, let's run through a few charts. an intraday chart will clearly show you several factors. rates were already coming down. the auction ended at 1:00 eastern. you can see they went down further. so we're down about a handful of basis points. open the chart up a bit, you see that middle part of the chart? we are below some key areas there from february. that's super important. any kind of close under 2.76% today reverses momentum. why was the auction good? most likely a big group of shorts decided to use the auction to neutralize that exposure. and high yield whether you look at the barclays spread or the etf, it is moving a bit higher even though it's coming from historically tight areas. so there's a little bit of

nervousness there. i will contend that for the near future, it's not whether you want to run to or run away from treasuries. it's shadowboxing with running to or running away from equities that i think is the biggest dynamic, and when it comes to weather -- >> whoa, whoa, whoa! wait a second. wait a second. if you had paid attention to bonds -- >> come on, jack. >> if you had looked at the bond market you would have been out of the biggest rally in stocks -- >> no, no, jack. i'm talking 2014. settle your engines. i know you're always bullish. i always understand that and that has made you really correct since march 9th. i have never advocated and still don't advocate selling stocks because the fix is in. but from december 31st to today, the best way you would have stayed out of trouble in bonds was to play it against the equities. there is no alternative to stocks. you're right. until they go down. >> the bond market has been sending the wrong signal for

five years -- >> bond market never sends the wrong signals. it's the intent of the equity traders that are out of whack. >> you can say that but the market never lies and i'm looking at a stock market that is at all-time highs -- >> it doesn't. unless the fed is there. >> it would have kept me out. >> the fed can make the market lie a lot, a lot! >> i love it when stock and bond guys argue like that. >> i do, too. >> jack, i'm going to help you with this one. you feel like stocks are higher right now because corporations are actually making money right now. >> they're making money. we got earnings that are up 180%. you have got corporate america stronger than ever before, and guess what? there is a stock shortage out there. >> if they're so darn strong, jack, why do we have two fed presidents that are too nervous to take off the program? >> all right. break it up, you two. to your separate corners. larry, just a quick question -- >> let me jump in here -- >> the prospect of a parallel to 2007. i want to raise whether 1997 might not be a better way to

think about what's happening here. we've got the prospect, as adam was talking about, of commodity prices. oil in particular may be coming down. maybe that gives a bid to some of the consumer economies like the u.s. and all of a sudden that starts to look a little better over the next couple years. >> multiple expansion tends to -- >> for larry. >> where equity investors have continually been burnt is when they ignore the credit markets and not just treasuries. you have to look at what's happening in the credit markets in asia. they're dramatically tightening. look at hsbc, standard charter, much wider than the u.s. banks. jack, guys like jack got burnt in 2008, very bullish jack in 2008. i heard the same things. you want to look at credit because if credit is dramatically weakening in the largest economy on the planet -- second largest economy on the planet earth, you better watch out for u.s. equities. >> same thing happened in 2010 and i'll tell you right now, people that sold in 2010 were crying last year because they missed one of the greatest moves

ever in equities. >> adam, what do you think? what were you going to say? >> i think if you look at the s&p's multiples, it really is a tale of two ratios. since 2009 the price to sales multiple is up about 37%, but the pe ratio is actually a bit lower than it was back then. so it's really demonstrative of this weak sales growth environment that we've had with cost cutting strategies. cost cutting strategies have a limited useful life, and at some point they become counterproductive. so i think we're getting to the point in this rally where we need to see a pickup in sales if it's going to be saenustained, if you look at next year's projektspr projectio projections, they're not great but they're better than what we saw in 2013. >> meg green, i hear you own a tesla. >> oh, do i ever. >> you must not live in new jersey. >> how many other cars does she have? >> i'm telling you, i am so upset about what they're doing in new jersey and texas and

arizona. where is your free market? i mean, everybody -- >> there is a free market. you got to follow the rules. if you don't like a law, you change it, you don't go around it. >> wait a minute, what are the rules? >> this is so bogus. the rules are they have distribution dealerships. if you don't like it, change it. but when you go around rules, you set bad precedents. >> who set up those rules? it's the automobile dealers. it's the oil people. >> it doesn't matter. you follow the rules. >> where are the rules? i'd like to read those rules because i have never seen them. >> when they created dealerships at the turn of the century, read why they -- >> the turn of which century, rick? >> a lot of bad rules you need to get rid of. >> which century are you turning? this is 2014. >> there are franchise laws on the books that they are invoking in this particular case. yesterday i think it was new jersey voted to not allow tesla to -- or anybody sell cars

directly to customers. >> have you ever had an issue with your service? have you ever had an issue with your service not having gone through the dealer model 1234. >> none. let me tell you something. i had my screen went blank in my car. i drove it home, i called tesla online. they said to me, all right, give me your name, they saw my car. we're talalking about a piece o technology. they told me what to push on my car, and it was fixed. this is not a motor, this is not an engine, this is not an exhaust pipe and i don't need to go to a dealer. i went to my driveway and i fixed it technologically. now, i'm here in this century, and the automobile dealers and everybody else is back in another century. get with it. we're driving new technology -- >> we'll see how well that battery technology goes. yeah. >> oh, rick -- >> we have to leave it there. >> sell 22,500 cars for crying out loud. >> last call -- >> wait until the giga factory starts in. >> we're taking the punch bowl

away. here we go. everybody, winding the clock. good night. off to bed. that was fun. see you later. whoo! we had some discussions going on there, didn't we? that was fun. >> i'm still thinking of the price of sales versus price to earnings. >> you would. she hangs onto the market nerdy stuff. 47 minutes left in the trading session. the market marking time down 34 points on the dow. the s&p is down 2.5. coming up, general motors facing criminal investigations over its ignition switch recall linked to 13 deaths. the automaker may be shielded from some liability lawsuits though because it went through bankruptcy. phil lebeau has the details on this big story. also ahead, fannie maemae, freddie mac tumbling on the heels of a deal to replace them with a new government insurer. we have that story and the impact it will have on housing. we're going to speak with the head of the national association of home builders next about how this could affect

home building and borrowing in this country. later, find out how the wacky weather we have been seeing could affect the cost of your summer barbecue. boy, i can't wait. i don't care what it costs. i'm having a summer barbecue. the head of tyson foods, the largest beef and chicken processor in the u.s., will be in the house. how real is food inflation? we'll find out coming up. stay tuned. >> i better get an invite. >> you will. >> you will. lemme just get this out of here. to go. unlike some places, we don't just change your oil.

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fannie mae and freddie mac plup n plum netting on the news of this deal on capitol hill. >> incredible. off 12%, 16% respectively for fannie and freddie again today. and pershing square hedge fund really feeling the heat. it owns big stakes in both mortgage lenders. kate? >> kelly, it has been a rough two days really for these government mortgage insurers whose common stock has suffered over news they might be wound down altogether. fannie and freddie have plunged 35% or more apiece. very volatile stock. that's moving around a lot, but clearly big double digits. front and center on the recent losses have been big ackman.

this is the hedge fund manager who runs pershing square and bruce berkowitz. those are the top two holders of the agencies' common stock. other hedgies have invested in their preferred shares. they could also get hit. they're two of many hedge fund managers betting that they will return nice dividends to investments as part of the post crisis restructuring plans. the plans that are now on the chopping block as lawmakers try to wind the agencies down. still, it isn't all bad for bill ackman today. his billion dollar short position, yes, that was a "b," in the multilevel marketer herbalife just got an announcement that it's under investigation by the federal trade commission. this is the news he's been waiting for for almost two long years. he believes that herbalife is a pyramid scheme. >> i was thinking of bill ackman with the fannie and freddie story and herbalife, what do you

pay more attention with. you're losing with one and making money with the other. >> fannie and freddie are smaller investments for ackman. they're very volatile. they trade on the over the counter bulletin boards and they have been a popular retail set of stocks. the preferreds are a little more interesting when it comes to the huge money managers. but the herbalife thing is clearly an interesting story. i mean, it's a two-year drama. we broke it on our air in december of 2012, and, of course, we had the billionaire brawl between ackman and carl icahn, the short versus long. it will be an unfolding drama and herbalife believes their business practices are sound and they're going to come out fine in all this. >> thanks, kate. >> thank you. >> good stuff. let's focus on replacing fannie and freddie and the impact that would have on what is obviously a linchpin to our economy, the housing industry. >> and the 30-year mortgage. with us in an exclusive interview is jerry howard, the ceo of the national association of home builders. welcome to the program. >> thanks for having me.

i appreciate it. >> so, look, the senate perhaps moving forward with this. some d.c. types are giving it a little bit less than a 50/50 chance of moving forward this year. let's just say it does. what does that mean for america's housing industry? >> it's great news for america's housing industry. our industry has been in a depression for the past several years, and to expect it to come out of that depression when one of the cornerstones of the housing sector, the secondary market for mortgages has been in limbo basically is kind of absurd. so i think that this news is very, very positive, and if we can get this done this year, and by the way, i give it more than a 50% chance right now. >> wait, jerry, i'm sort of surprised actually because there are a lot of people watching your industry, watching the home builders who say if something happens to fannie and freddie, if they're replaced with a different kind of entity, if this means just a different kind of mortgage product or what have you, that that's actually a net negative for the industry. so what am i missing here?

>> well, i think that the plan chairman johnson and senator crapo have laid out will provide a very, very sustainable, very workable secondary market for the mortgage sector that i think will both protect the taxpayer and be workable within the industry. so we're very, very positive and very bullish on this proposal. >> if you haven't heard, folks, what they're proposing is essentially a federal mortgage insurance corporation which would backstop mortgages, but the private sector, those lenders that do the lending would be on the hook for the first 10% of losses before the government has to kick in. so what they're trying to do is minimize the impact all of this would have on taxpayers. there's no bailout as there was in 2008 or at least not to the magnitude we saw in 2008. but the question then becomes if the private sector is going to be put more at risk, will they participate in the mortgage industry? does something perhaps as risky

as a 30-year mortgage go away? what do you think, jerry? that's been a hallmark of the industry and allowed people to afford a home. >> the 30-year mortgage has been the hallmark of the american housing sector and we believe -- our surveys show the american consumer still wants a 30-year mortgage. it helps them plan for their financial future, and i don't think that's an issue at all. i think really that this plan will reinvigorate the housing sector, and are there risks to the private sector for investing in mortgages? yes. but if you looked at the success of the american housing sector from post world war ii until this recession, i think that's a risk worth taking. there's been a short-term blip and it's been a very bad blip, a very damaging blip, but you can't judge the history of the market or the market going forward by one bad time. >> so let's think through this. if it happens, if it passes the senate this year, as you suggested perhaps it might, maybe it goes nowhere in the house especially after the

midterm elections. are you basically saying this should be a place both sides of the aisle rally around and get this done? >> absolutely. i think for members of congress to want to go home and campaign this fall while the housing sector is still in limbo is a dangerous political strategy. that's why i think if this gets through the senate, it will put a great deal of pressure on the house to look at the bill that they've passed through their committee. maybe make some modifications. make it more of a bipartisan proposal so the country and the housing sector can get operating on all sicylinders. >> did you say you feel the housing industry is still in a depression? >> we are really struggling to come out of it, but it's a very, very sluggish recovery for us right now, and part of that is the inconsistency -- the people out in the field don't know what the rules are, and the situation that the secondary market is in is a large portion of that uncertainty. >> fascinating stuff, jerry, as we think to the future of this

critical industry. really appreciate your time. >> thanks, jerry. >> my pleasure. 40 minutes to go to the close. the dow is off 44 points. the s&p is lower by just a couple, so 1,864. we're off not quite 15 points from that record high. five days later, still even more confusion clouding the ongoing search for that malaysian airlines plane that vanished over the weekend. we'll have the latest developments, including footage from a news conference that got very ugly. that's coming up next here. and as general motors faces criminal and government investigations over the massive recall, the company may be shielded from some liability suits because of a deal it made during hits bankruptcy restructuring. you have to hear this story. phil lebeau up next. next.man with the plan but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men.

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welcome back. here is a look at shares of general motors. they're lower again today. the auto giant facing government and criminal investigations over its ignition switch recall. but gm may be shielded from some liability lawsuits because of its bankruptcy restructuring. phil lebeau has more on this story. >> i get a lot of questions from people saying, well, will general motors be held civilly responsible if they are taken to court and they lose a civil lawsuit for accidents that happened with these recalled vehicles back before bankruptcy? and the answer is no. the general rule is when these companies go through a corporate bankruptcy and in general motors' says it comes down to this, any accidents that happened before june of 2009,

all of those cases if there is some judgment will go to the motors liquidation company. that's the shell. since bankruptcy would be responsible of the current general motors corporation. gm has just changed the number of deaths linked with the recalled vehicles. it's now 31 accidents and 12 deaths. gm said they accidentally miscounted on the information there. most of the known accidents happened before general motors declared bankruptcy but we'll still see some civil lawsuits play out over the next couple of years. gm is offering free loaner cars to recalled vehicle owners. so if you have one of these vehicles, you're going to be getting a note, if you haven't already from general motors in the mail, saying they are offering $500 to the owners who want to buy or lease a different model. that's just something that general motors is putting out there as part of the recall effort. by the way, stern ag out a wiwi note saying it could cost them

$550 million. barclays out saying it could be $100 million, the final cost for general motors. >> let's get more reaction on this bankruptcy wrinkle bringing in two lawyers to break this down for us. nolan klein is a personal injury and litigation attorney. seth berenswag. first names all around if we can. seth, let's start with you. how solid is gm's ability to not be liable for cases that came before 2009 simply because they filed for bankruptcy at that time? >> well, their position is very solid. the bankruptcy court is an inherently unlufl playing field that provides a powerful toolbox to corporate debtors to be able to reach in and use certain tools to shed certain liabilities. the two main tools are the so-called automatic stay statute which literally slams the brakes on these cases when they're pending pre-july of 2009, and then ultimately what's called a

section 363 sale. it's an asset sale. it's very fast. it's very powerful and unforgiving. these are the assets that are sold to the new gm without these liabilities. because of the statutes organically, you end up with a harsh result. >> nolan, if you're one of the families affected, where does this leave you? >> i think it's not as simple as we have in a typical bankruptcy situation. here we have evidence at least suggesting that there may have been fraud, there may have been intentional concealment of this known hazard. if i'm going back and representing a family that pre-2009 perhaps didn't file a suit, didn't get to the point where they had a judgment and were a creditor of the old gm because of intentional concealment and fraud, i come back and i say, i didn't get the benefit because of your fraud of even being a judgment creditor and having a shot at some of the assets of the old gm. if i'm representing someone post-2009 that was injured, i say to the new entity, continue

to cover this up. they bought the assets of the old entity. the new entity new presumably, it seems like there were a lot of the same people still in charge, still in key positions, they knew or should have known this defect was out there. they continued to perpetuate this concealment, the evidence now suggests, and so i would say that makes them liable. >> what about that, seth? >> well, that is a recognized legal theory but in the world of reality it will be very, very difficult for anybody to be able to provide clear and convincing evidence, the basic legal standard, for purposeful, fraudulent conceal am. >> the government has opened a criminal investigation into this. the senate is looking into it, the house is looking into it. if they can find -- what you're saying then is it's going to be difficult for anybody to prove that there was actual intentional fraud on the part of general motors with this slow recall that was unfolding here? >> yes. it's profoundly difficult. it's remotely possible, but profoundly difficult to be able to establish that with the requisite evidence, and at the end of the day, unfortunately, i think you will have a situation

where the pre-july 2009 general unsecured creditors will be in a room that's long on people waiting to get paid but short on cash, and then you're going to have other people on the other side of this line in the sand, a legal fiction, that are going to be treated very differently. it's remotely possible they'll have that evidence, but that's a real serious uphill battle. >> nolan, we have to go, nolan, but real quick, do you think you could win this case? >> yeah, i would argue that the people certainly post-2009, the reality is that these families possibly were lied to, possibly had relevant facts covered up, and there's no reason they shouldn't be able to get relief at least to the post-2009 entity. >> let the government do the work for you in the meantime. very important story. appreciate it. another one we're following, five days since that jet went missing. the confusion and the disorganization seem to be mounting. >> there have been mixed messages from malaysian officials. keir simmons has the latest from

c malaysia. >> reporter: there was a tense news conference where they explained they're searching 27,000 square nautical miles of ocean and some land. that wide search is because they are, frankly, confused or not clear about where the plane went. what they do know is that it was signaling where it was over the south china sea just having taken off an hour or so earlier. that communication stopped, and then the malaysian military picked up on its radar they now know a sign of some kind of aircraft flying, that was east, flying west of here, and they don't know whether or not that was flight 370, but they suspect it may have been. so they say that's a possible sighting, which is why they are searching both east and west of

malaysia and are, frankly, struggling to figure out exactly where the plane went. so every step that is taken is crucial. back to you. >> the twists and turns of this has just been incredible. unbelievable how they're still looking for that thing five days later. heading to the close, 25 minutes left. the dow is it down 46 points. kind of holding stead here . >> herbalife under investigation. the stock under pressure. the latest on what's been a dramatic day for this hotly contested name. ♪ i want to live >> that's the song i had in my head. music legend neil young is launching an online music store and player that promises audio snobs better sound quality in this digital world than we've ever had before. he rocks out with us coming up on "the closing bell." ♪

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welcome back. as we head into the final stretch here, keeping an eye on markets. it's a mixed day, a lot of specific stock stories, but generally speaking the dow off 50. a lot of people saying it's

holding up relatively well given what's happened across china, japan, some other markets today. bill? >> a tough session for herbalife after receiving what is called an investigative demand from the federal trade commission. dominic chu has the play by play. >> multilevel marketing companies took center stage this afternoon. at around 1:18 eastern, shares of herbalife halted for news pending. at that point shares were up around 4.5% on the day. they stopped trading at $68.30 a share. now, they had a pretty swift impact on the shares of fellow multilevel marketer nuskin. about ten minutes later, nuskin dropped and triggered a circuit breaker of its own. nuskin has been up around 10%. they went negative before recovering and heading hire. the news on herbalife came out. the ftc will start an

investigation over possible, quote, unfair or deceptive acts or practices. shares of herbalife went as low as $54.59 or around 17% to the downside before rebounding somewhat here. remember, hedge fund manager bill ackman has been waging a campaign against this company and shareholder carl icahn. this all comes a day after ackman himself made a presentation questioning herbalife's business practices in china. china very much a focus for a lot of multilevel marketers. kelly, a very, very important day if you're an investor in these types of companies. back over to you. >> thank you very much, dom. let's get reaction to today's news with the manager manager who certainly knows his way around stocks. >> joining us, david winters, ceo of wintergreen advisers. i don't know. herbalife trades right here and then after that opened, they scurried over behind us to the nuskin. what do you make of the herbalife phenomenon lately? >> it's just incredible. i mean, you got to admire ackman

for his determination, but it's something that i don't understand. >> the structure of the company or -- at issue is what percentage of what they sell goes to the actual public and how much of what they sell is sold to their sales associates who are in the process of finding new sales associates down the road? >> all i can say is we don't own the security, and it's interesting to watch this and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out, bill. >> what consumer names do you like? >> we like boring things like coca-cola. you know -- >> the stuff that's causing demand for herbalife? >> we like companies -- we like companies we can understand, we can understand the accounting, you know, that we feel confident, kelly, that, you know, our investors can go to sleep at night and know that -- >> you have people aren't drinking as much diet soft drinks. is there any such thing as a sure belt? >> the market is slowing for

coke. >> the people are shifting from the fully sugared beverages and these things go in waves. they're selling more fruit juice. we think it has a bright future. >> what about you do consumer names but give us your top couple ideas right now. >> well, you know, the things we love, we're shareholders in swatch. we love the watch business. you're wearing -- >> even -- look, i'm not wearing a watch. everyone is starting to wear these tech watches, these smart watches. still like a swatch here? >> we love the watch business. it's jewelry. you're wearing all kinds of beautiful jewelry. >> hat tip to the wardrobe department for that one. >> and, you know, one of our big holdings is the company that holds cartier. and everybody wants to look good. >> you're looking for value. how much has value though been distorted by the easy money policy, not just here in the united states but around the world? >> well, you know, easy money i think ultimately will create inflation, so you have got to have companies that can reprice.

you have had a boom in the hot stocks, and then there's lots of companies that have been left behind. >> netflix, the teslas, twitters, the facebooks, that's the stuff you're shying away from. >> absolutely. >> got to ask you real quick because the oil complex under pressure. there are more people talking about maybe this trades down 10 or 20 bucks per barrel. maybe this becomes a new structural play here. do you share that thesis or do you still think we're talking about higher oil prices? >> i don't know where oil goes in the short run but we have a society that's based on oil, and we love a canada-based company called canadian natural resources that's very undervalued. >> one way to play the space. >> we think there's lots to do. >> thank you, sir. >> we'll let you get back to it. >> thank you. nice to see you. >> thank you for being here. 15 minutes to go to the closing bell. the dow is off 40. not too much movement since we started the session but the s&p is down three points. we're getting further away from

the closing highs we set. speaking of energy prices, are you getting sticker shock the from your energy bills? you're not alone. there may be more coming up this summer. and after the bell, another pain in the wallet, tyson foods ceo will give you the low down on food prices and the impact mother nature is having. we'll be right back after this. . ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. 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.

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welcome back. consumers across the country are doing double takes on these energy bills we're seeing thanks to the cold winter. >> but the worst may be yet to come this summer if you believe forecasters. jackie deangelis is at the nymex with that story. >> good afternoon to you, bill and kelly. you're absolutely right. of course, old man winter may not be done with us yet. even though we are only about a week away from the official start of spring, of course, we are expecting to see another winter storm coming later this week. traders are saying they expect march to be the most significant draw down in natural gas supplies we have seen in history. remember that these prices for nat gas have been really, really volatile over this winter. higher prices, a boost in demand, and also the decreased supplies. they have already boosted prices for the more than 58 million u.s. homes that use nat gas. they're paying 10% more to heat

their homes this winter. that is according to the department of energy. those using electric heat paid about 5% more and the minority who are using heating oil and propane, well they saw a 7% and 65% increase respectively. as you said, the worst may not be over. some forecasts are calling for the hottest summer on record. that means the heating needs will turn to cooling needs before you know it. there won't be any time to catch up on that supply and traders are saying the supply has been so damaged because of the cold winter that those days of $2 and $3 natural gas, they're out the window. >> so these forecasters who are forecasting the hottest summer, did they forecast this frigid winter we've been through this year? >> well, they did, and what's really interesting here is that it was the european model that was forecasting the very frigid winter and the domestic forecasters were sort of shrugging them off and discounting what they had to say but they were correct. and we're getting the data about this hottest summer on record,

it's coming from a german scientific study. you also have the australian climate council saying it's going to be an angry summer. we shall see. >> i don't think bill would be angry about higher temps. >> let it be a long, hot summer, please. i'm begging you. >> you will live to regret that. >> we're all ready for it. >> i will never complain about the heat. i always complain about the cold, never about the heat. >> i will. no thank you. >> bring it on. there are about 12 minutes left to go. we can maybe draw some market parallels between the european and australian warnings or maybe not. the dow is off 29 points. the nasdaq is positive on the session today but a lot of focus on some of the momentum names that have been whacked here even as broader market relatively holding up. >> exactly. next hour on "the closing bell," do not miss kelly's exclusive with music legend neil young. he's launching an online music store and high-end device that he's hoping will be a big hit among audiophiles and music

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ukrainian prime minister who is visiting this country right now. a moment ago they both spoke with the press. we're getting that videotape, and as soon as that is ready to roll, we will show that to you coming up, and it's expected momentarily. if we have to interrupt in a moment, you will know where we're headed for that comment from the president and the ukrainian prime minister. eight minutes to go, markets coming back. the dow now down just 14 points, and joining me here at the new york stock exchange is sean darby from jeffries. do you like this market? there still seems to be some boyians in the market. >> this has absorbed geopolitical risk, fiscal ceiling debates, a severe winter. >> is it because of the continued morphine drip from the fed though or is it because the economy is actually getting better? >> we think underlying earnings may be starting to pick up which is the signs we made some inflation longer term.

most of the u.s. economy has been able to absorb a pretty big hit from the fiscal contraction over the last year, and the banks are in great shape. i think there's only one place in the global economy and that's the u.s. >> do you invest now anticipating that long-term inflation? are you buying things that you expect to benefit from higher inflation? >> i guess the best way to look at it is you want to be paying companies that can benefit from the operational leverage as the economy is picking up and can absorb any costs inflation coming through. so cyclicals, large-scale industries, tech. that's the sort of companies we want to be owning. >> and do you feel they are growth or do you actually see value right now? because a lot of these are already at lofty levels here. >> i think the key thing has really been there's going fto b a period of time when earnings numbers have to become visible. there's a bit of hope embedded in some of the prices, but my suspicion is the way the bonds are trading, people are

beginning to think the economy is going to do very well in 2014. >> that would seem to be the case. sean, good to see you. thank you for joining us. we'll come back with the closing countdown for this wednesday. after the bell, find out if this year's tough winter will result in higher prices at the grocery store and this spring and summer. we have tyson's ceo speaking with kelly. plus, neil young himself, that neil young, using crowd funding to launch a new music service. he will tell us all about it only here on "the closing bell." should be very, very entertaining. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. ness worldwi we don't back down. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state. move here. expand here. or start a new business here... and pay no taxes for 10 years. with new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan.

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♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ before we go to the president's statement with the ukrainian prime minister, here is what the market did today. up in the morning, down in the afternoon with the dow down 24 points. here is the president. >> it is a pleasure to welcome the prime minister to the oval office, to the white house. i think all of us have seen the courage of the ukrainian people in standing up on behalf of democracy and on, you know, the desire that i believe is universal for people to be able to determine their own destiny,

and we saw how ordinary people from all parts of the country had said that we want to change, and the prime minister was part of that process, showed tremendous courage, and upheld the principles of nonviolence throughout the course of events over the last several months. obviously the prime minister comes here during a very difficult time for his country. in the aftermath of president yanukovych leaving the country, the parliament acted in a responsible fashion to fill the void, created an inclusive process in which all parties had input, including the party of former president yanukovych. they have set forward a process

to stabilize the country, take a very deliberate step to assure economic stability and negotiate with the international monetary fund, and to schedule early elections so that the ukrainian people, in fact, can choose their direction for the future. and the prime minister has managed that process with great skill and great restraint, and we're very much appreciative of the work that he has done. the most pressing challenge that ukraine faces at the moment, however, is the threat to its territorial integrity and it's sovereignty. we have been very clear that we consider the russian incursion into crimea outside of its bases to be a violation of international law, of international agreements of

which russia is a signator, and a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of ukraine, and we have been very firm in saying that we will stand with ukraine and the ukrainian people in ensuring that that territorial integrity and sovereignty is maintained. i think we all recognize that there are historic ties between russia and ukraine, and i think the prime minister would be the first one to acknowledge that, and i think the prime minister and the current government in kiev has recognized and has communicated directly to the russian federation their desire to try to manage through this process diplomatically, but what the prime minister i think has rightly insisted on is that they cannot have a country outside of ukraine dictate to them how they should arrange their affairs,

and that there is a constitutional process in place and a set of elections that they can move forward on that, in fact, could lead to different arrangements over time with the crimean region, but that is not something that can be done with the barrel of a gun pointed at you. and so secretary kerry is in communications with the russian government and has offered to try to explore with his counterpart, foreign minister lavrov, a diplomatic solution to this crisis. we are in close communication with the ukrainian government in terms of how we might proceed going forward, but we will continue to say to the russian government that if it continues on the path that it is on, then not only us but the international community, the

european union, and others will be forced to apply a cost to russia's violations of international law and its encroachments on ukraine. there's another path available, and we hope that president putin is willing to seize that path, but if he does not, i'm very confident that the international community will stand strongly behind the ukrainian government in preserving its unity and its territorial integrity. let me just make two final points. obviously, because of the political turmoil, the economic situation in ukraine has become more challenging, not less, and that's why i'm very proud that not only as critical members of the international monetary fund, the imf, we are working with the prime minister and his team in a

package that can help to institute necessary reforms inside of the ukraine but also help to stabilize the situations that people feel confident in their daily lives, that they can meet their basic necessities. we're also asking congress to act promptly to deliver on an aid package, including a $1 billion loan guarantee, that can help smooth the path for reform inside of ukraine and give the prime minister and his government the capacity to do what they need to do as they are also organizing an election process. so i would just ask both democrats and republicans who i know are unified in their support of ukraine to move quickly, to give us the support that we need so that we can give the ukrainian people the support that they need. and then, finally, mr. prime minister, i would ask that you deliver a message on behalf of

the american people to all the ukrainian people, and that is that we admire their courage. we appreciate their aspirations. the interests of the united states are solely in making sure that the people of ukraine are able to determine their own destiny. that is something that here in the united states we believe in deeply. i know it's something that you believe in deeply as well, and you can rest assured that you will have our strong support as you move forward during these difficult times. thank you. >> thank you, mr. president, and we highly appreciate the support that you have given to the ukrainian people, and my country feels that the united states stands by the ukrainian people.

mr. president, it's all about the freedom. we fight for our freedom. we fight for our independence. we fight for our sovereignty, and we will never surrender. my country has faced a number of challenges. the military one is a key challenge today, and we ask russia to stick to its international obligations, to pull back its military into barracks, and to start the dialogue. with no military, with no tanks, but with the diplomacy and political tools. on behalf of my government, i would like to reiterate that we are absolutely ready and open for talks with the russian federation. we adhere to all international obligations, and we as the state of ukraine will fulfill all bilateral and multilateral international treaties. on the economic side, mr. president, we highly appreciate

the support of the united states and the decision to guarantee $1 billion loans for the ukrainian economy. you know that we resumed talk was the imf. we do understand that these are tough reforms, but these reforms are needed for the ukrainian state, and we are back on track in terms of delivering real reforms in my country. as i already informed you probably in the nearest future next week or in ten days, ukraine is to sign a political part of association agreement with the european union, and we want to be very clear that ukraine is and will be a part of the western world, and our russian partners have to realize that we are ready to make a new -- to craft a new type of relationship where ukraine is part of the european union, but ukraine is a good friend and

partner of russia. so much will depend on whether russia wants to have -- >> and welcome back to "the closing bell." that, of course, is the ukrainian prime minister. that tape just out from his sit-down with president obama. let's get reaction from eamon javers who is monitoring all of this for us at the white house this hour. eamon? >> well, it's a remarkable meeting really when you think of it. there you have a 39-year-old ukrainian prime minister sitting with the president of the united states. just weeks ago, he was on the barricades as part of the protest in kiev in the ukraine. now he's here to solicit help from the united states government, which president obama said is forthcoming. the purpose here for this meeting from the u.s.' perspective is to send a message to the russians saying, we support this ukrainian government. the purpose from the ukrainian perspective of this meeting was to get some help, financial and political, from the united states government. both of those objectives would

seem to have been met here. >> thank you very much. i want to get more on this subject and what happened in the markets with the panel. joining me now with so much individual stock news, lots of different geopolitical stuff to sort through, jon najarian, sara eisen and scott cohen and carol roth. also "fast money" trader guy adami is here. great to see all of you. dr. j, first reaction, the market closed ever so slightly positive. the dow was still negative. do you think it had anything to do with the headlines coming out of washington? >> it may have, kelly. it didn't seem to be there was much direction to trade today outside of people watching fannie and freddie again, second day in a row with just the taking apart of those two stocks, not the preferreds, but those stocks, and copper with the fallout from that, people that know that is the shadow banking system in china. >> we'll definitely get into

that. sara, there are -- the ukraine issue has moved to the back burner. a lot of people are trying to figure out what the impact really will be. and do we have any sense yet of that or is it just going to take time for all of this to play out? >> you remember that one day where it really took its toll on the u.s. markets. that was when things were looking very tense. since then it's sort of brushed past the negative headlines, even though tensions remain. obviously europe is much more dependent on rush sharks but the threat of sanctions is out there. you can bet talking to traders around here, they're watching the headlines, but until something really happens, then u.s. stocks have been insulated, insulated also from the china news which has been increasingly negative. what's interesting is to see the resilience in the u.s. equity market. >> jim vogel says domestic equities remains an island of relative calm, he mentions these issues coming out of asia and the ukraine.

mr. adami, does that make the u.s. a relatively more attractive place or is this a time people should think about getting conservative until some of this sorts itself out? >> i have been thinking you have to be conservative for a while. i have missed the last 40 or 50 s&p points. let's get that out there that i've been wrong. a couple things stick out to me. the fact -- the volatility in the nikkei, i think it's crazy that that seemingly moves from 1.5% to 3% on a dailyup and dow talk about it. i think the genie is out of the bottle there. that scares me. i know sara can speak to that. the fact that the tlt has general strength means to me that maybe deflation is what's really out there. that's what we've been fighting all along, and that's a battle you can't win. i think yields are going lower in the u.s. and the fact that the s&p is up at these levels to me leaves me scratching my head. yeah, maybe it's a relative strength thing, maybe people are looking just to hide somewhere. i think they're playing a fool's game. >> the macro backdrop is almost canceling itself out, carol, and that's making some individual

stock names so compelling. that's where we're seeing the real action. >> it's funny you talk about the relative calm. the one place that has not been calm at all are the direct selling stocks like herbalife and nu skin which are a can of hairspray short of an '80s soap opera. >> who is wearing the sequins? >> i think that's bill ackman. >> maybe the shoulder pads, too. >> but the ftc is going to open an inquiry into herbalife. you have china, who may or may not have struck a deal with nu skin. there's some rumors on that going on today. i hope that finally once and for all we will get some answers here. i used to cover the direct selling stock whence i was an investment banker. i am a proponent of entrepreneurship. i think they sell entrepreneurship. i do not personally think that they're a pyramid scheme. while i do not trust any

government organization to not regulate when they have the opportunity to, i am hoping they will put this to bed once and for all because it's really not fair for the investors and the companies and the entrepreneurs who are in these organizations. >> but it becomes a big wildcard for those stocks. and everybody is sort of frozen in place now because you don't know what the ftc is going to do. you don't know whether to side with ackman or icahn. >> a quick final round, sara, if you had to pick the one issue that whips markets around, in other words, what is wagging the market's tail? >> everybody is watching china. tough look at the metals market and some of the industrial metals market in particular. china was mentioned. gold reached a six-month high today. what's coming out of china is more and more worrisome. it's about the economy, fears of a hard landing. it's about the banking system, fears of a potential second onshore corporate default. that's what has the market worried. this is the second biggest economy in the world, and it's only so insulated at this point

versus what it was several years ago. >> same question -- >> interesting we settled almost as flat as we did given all of that. >> exactly. real quick, dr. j, in a nutshell, same question, what do you think pushes the market around? is it china? >> and the referendum vote coming out of ukraine and crimea for that matter. so i think both of those are events next week that could move the markets. >> great point. thanks, everybody. sorry we shortchanged you with the president and everything. we have much more coming up at 5:00 p.m. with guy adami and the "fast money" crew. stay tuned for all of that. here are consumers ditching target? the big box retailer a big drop in traffic online and in stores in january after that massive data breach. so are these customers gone for good? we'll discuss that issue coming up next. plus -- ♪ keep on rocking in a free world ♪ >> he's a legend and still rocking. now he's also taking on the digital music world. i'll be speaking exclusively with neil young about his new

music player which he says gives users the ultimate listening experience. jim cramer will join the conversation. neil young, jim cramer, "the closing bell." you're in the right place. the r, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price, maybe even better than you expected. it's all part of our goal to execute your trade in one second. i'm derrick chan of fidelity investments. our one-second trade execution is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today.

welcome back. a new report finds fewer customers are shopping at target following its massive data breach in the holiday season. courtney reagan joinen us with the numbers. >> a report from cantor retail details troubling data for target. they survey 4,000 heads of household on a monthly basis asking those consumers who shopped at various retailers over the past month. cantor says in january 33% of u.s. households said they did shop at target during the month, but that's the lowest response rate in three years. what's worse is the sharpest declines come from target's core shopper, the gen x adult. 5% of all shoppers surveyed have stop shopping at target, though cantor says the regular target shopper seems a bit more committed to continuing to shop at target though the friend shopper, the with unthat doesn't go as often, does appear more faebted by the breach. a senior analyst says while target's january penetration

drop was large, it has been trending downward over time. weather hit february pretty hard as far as retail was concerned. while cantor hasn't released a report for the month, they say target's penetration for february was lower year-over-year than competitors. in the earnings release on faeb 26th, target acknowledged the data breach took a toll on traffic and sales noting fourth quarter transactions fell 5.5%. that's the largest quarterly decline since the retailer began disclosing the metric in 2008. but target also said sales have improved in february and were running nearly flat for the year before, so that's year-over-year. this cantor survey is talking about january. now, i reached out to target for comment and the company has no new information to share beyond what was said in its earnings report. >> all right, court, thanks very much. i just want to know -- dr. j, are you surprised the stock didn't move lower more today because it seems like ultimately it's all about traffic, and this seemed like a pretty big knock for them. >> the bogeyman has been the winter that has just not died.

it just hit chicago again today with another 6 to 8 inches of snow. >> it's coming here next. >> that's why carol is in new york. >> it's coming across syracuse and buffalo are going to get nailed. >> i don't think you can only blame the weather. >> true, i agree, but walmart was down about 6% at the lows in february. this one, target, was down double that. they've both come back to be only down about 3% or 4%. >> it's not just them. retail broadly, it's amazing. if you look at the mvrx, some of the indexes have done pretty well even now a note from rbc talking about how the retail sales report might show some strength in spending. what do you think is going on here? do you think target's more vulnerable than perhaps the share price today indicated? >> i think target is vulnerable, but i don't think it's because of the data breach. i think it's because of their own internal management and particularly because of their web strategy. they are so far behind in terms of web. when you go online to shop at target, there is a very small

selection of products vis-a-vis what they have in the show. they launched canada without an e-commerce enabled website. they need to get their e-commerce strategy together. if they don't do that soon, they'll continue to lose share. amazon is going to take those gen x type of shoppers who like to shop online and they weon't e able to recover. i'm not going to blame the weather or the data. i'm going to blame the management and the strategy behind the business. >> what about that data breach? >> brick and mortar is a tough business to be in right now. that's clear. the data breach really emphasized that. even though target probably in the last month or so has probably been the safest place to shop as far as brick and mortar stores at all. i think you have seen the stocks hold up because there's certainty out there. we know it's a bad winter. we know sales are bad. they're putting actual numbers on it. but where do you go from here when people are wanting to shop online and, as carol said, if there's not the offering out

there, you will go somewhere else. >> people are giving some of these retail stocks a pass i would say and the expectation is that demand, consumer demand, is going to pick up toward the end of the year when the economy comes back and the weather gets warmer. the fundamental point is, and we've seen this, the consumer habits are changing. there's a traffic shortage versus what we saw. consumer traffic in the holiday season was half of what it was three years ago. the quicker the retailers can adapt, and some are doing it faster than others -- mcdonald's a working on even digital payments right now -- >> dunkin' donuts is a technology company. >> starbucks now has that ability to give a tip to your b barista. >> i love that. president obama is pushing for a broad expansion of overtime pay rules. it would force businesses to increase compensation for millions of workers. we'll discuss whether that's a good or bad thing for the

economy and the job market. and food inflation. fears on the rise as weather wreaks havoc on crops around the world. i'll be joined by tyson foods ceo donnie smith to get his take on what impact this will have on consumers. we'll be right back. be right ba. we'll discuss whether that's a we'll be right back. l right ba.

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second quarter results. it doubled its differ dend to 41.5 cents per share. william sonoma moving higher after posting better than expected fourth quarter profits but it reported disappointing guidance for its coming quarter, so that's at least one bit of news on william sonomsonoma. krispy kreme's full year guidance was in line with expectations. a tough day for herbalife. moving lower after it received an inquiry from the federal trade commission. this coming a day after bill ackman accused herbalife of at least questionable business practices in china. a tough day as well for zoge nix. we were going to end here on express after the retail reported weaker than expected fourth quarter earnings citing increased promotions as weighing on those results, so, kelly, overall it's been an interesting day. a lot of company-specific stories to talk about. >> a market of stocks. thank you, dom.

food inflation has become a hot topic as well. economists say consumers can expect to pay more for food later in this year. for the u.s. it's mainly due to the drought in california. what are major food companies doing to prepare for potential increases? in a cnbc exclusive, we are joined by donnie smith, the tyson foods ceo. welcome back to the exchange. >> thanks for having me. >> let's just start with the u.n. warning that we're seeing another spike effectively in global food prices. how much are you seeing in your business? what's coming? >> we're definitely seeing higher beef and pork prices. the revenue on the beef side, we call it the cut out value, is record high. yesterday and i haven't looked at pork prices today, but we also see record high pork prices. i think consumers should expect record high meat prices this year. >> how much higher? put this in some historical context for us. what are we talking about? what will we think about in 2014 relative to all the ups and downs we've had over the last couple years. >> sure. so coming into the year, we saw

the beef revenue at about say $2 a pound, we're at $2.40 now. that's a lot. pork prices were about 95 cents a hundred weight. we're at $117 now. these are significant price increases. >> what is that going to mean when i'm walking down the shopping aisle both for the -- say i want to buy a chicken cutlet or say i want to buy that packaged 235 ed food dinner. will you have to absorb that in your margins? >> beef demand -- really meat demand is still really good, and so we're able to pass those prices along. i think you should expect to see very high prices for your ground beef, your other meat cuts, all the pork cuts will be higher this year, chicken prices have begun kind of the seasonal move upward. i think you will see pretty high meat prosices at retail. >> u.s. consume ser in slightly better shape but only slightly, especially for a lot of shoppers in the supermarkets buying your

products. how elastic is demand? in other words, what does it take, how much of an increase for a consumer to not buy or to substitute into something ch cheaper? >> if we could relate the consumers' disposable income perhaps to gasoline prices. today, you know, eia average gasoline prices might be $3.40 a gallon across the country. we see consumer behavior starting to change at about $3 a gallon. and so you're seeing consumers today who used to reach for that package of meat, but beef prices are so high, now they're reaching for that package ever chicken because it's a cheaper protein relatively speaking. >> your argument i'm sure is your business in other words has a safety cushion on it. >> that's the model. >> is chicken a higher margin product and what happens for those people who might even buy a little less chicken? at some point the wallet can only go so far. >> typically our chicken business has a better margin structure than the beef

business, but what we also see is as millennials are entering the marketplace and some of us gray top boomers are starting to retire, we're backing off a little bit on portion size and that type thing. the millennials that are into the marketplace, aren't hardly the meal preparers that the previous generation -- >> no kidding. i can tell you a little bit about that. >> so they're looking for more convenient solutions. >> yes. >> we're moving a lot of our portfolio up towards the more value added, more convenient food solutions for consumers. >> but that also means you have to keep innovating not only offering product that is they like, competing with other names in that freezer aisle, but, again, going back to higher input costs. what do you do -- is there a sticking point? do you not want to charge more than $4.99, $6, $7 for one of these meals? >> no. you know, in our business we continue to pass along the price increases that we see, and consumer demand so far seems to be great enough that if you want

to call it the takeaway has given us an opportunity to maintain, and frankly this year versus last year, increase our margins a little bit across the portfolio of our business. >> and how is the business looking for 2014 just generally speaking? >> yeah, this will be a very good year for us. as we announced at the end of our first quarter, this should be record earnings for us this year. >> that's interesting because we're talking about declining traffic across a lot of retail establishments, across restaurants even, and supermarkets are not immune. i can't tell you how many people i know, and part of this is an urban phenomenon, they get their stuff directly delivered to them, they're not walking up and down the aisles like they used to. >> it's important to have a broad portfolio. we not only participant in the perimeter of the store, fresh meat, but we have value added items in the center of the store, and our portfolio is pretty well balanced between food service and retail. for example, the past few weeks with the weather impacting food service sales, well, that

traffic moved to retail, and we're able to capture that traffic because of the balance of our portfolio. >> and final question, you know, when we talk about all of the initiatives coming out of washington with regard to raising minimum wage, we're talking about one part of your business in terms of the input costs. that's a big other part. what's it going to mean for you? >> meaningless for us as far as the minimum wage because we already pay our team members wages above that level. >> well above? >> considering the benefits, absolutely. >> but i just mean if they raise it -- how far do they have to raise it before it starts to impinge on what you pay? >> it would be to the point it would affect the economy in such a way that it would start costing the economy jobs because you've already got 49 million americans participating in the s.n.a.p. program. so, you know, anything that would slow down as soon as possible growth will certainly impact our business. >> donnie smith, it's been so good to hear your point of view on a wide range of issues. thank you for being here today.

>> thanks for having me. >> really appreciate it. ceo of tyson foods. breaking news on general motors. fim lebeau rejoins us. >> these are comments from transportation secretary anthony foxx who is coming out of a budget marryihearing on capitol when we caught up with him. remember, the national highway traffic safety administration is investigating how general motors handled the recall of 1.6 million vehicles. secretary foxx said that, yes, the d.o.t. has been in touch with the department of justice but won't comment on what kind of conversations they've had, and he doesn't want to prejudge the outcome of the gm investigation. then the question was raised, should people feel safe if they own one of these recalledg m models driving it right now. here is what he had to say. >> they should follow the recommendations of gm. gm has issued a recall and asked people to do things, for

instance, to use a single key. folks should follow the recommendations that are now set forth and feel comfortable driving their cars. >> may have been a little hard to hear, but what secretary foxx was saying is that people should be able to continue driving their cars, follow the gm protocols they have laid out in the recall. those comments coming a few minutes ago on capitol hill. kelly, back to you. >> phil, thank you very much. wages are flat but corporate profits soaring, and the white house has an idea about what to do with that cash. up next, we'll outline the president's over time pay plan that could put a little more padding into worker paychecks. but will it work? and he's a double inductee into the rock and roll hall of fame. now he's looking to deliver recording studio quality sound directly into your headphones. i'll be joined exclusively by the legendary neil young. you won't want to miss it. we'll be right back. k. back dow. we only know one direction: up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas,

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welcome back. in addition to those minimum wage hikes, president obama is now looking to force american businesses to pay overtime to misdemeanors millions of workers currently ineligible to receive it. john? >> president obama has got two imperatives this year. one, get things done even though congress may not cooperate with

him. and, two, motivate his base for midterm elections. he did both by directing aides to explore new regulations expanding the number of people, workers, eligible to receive overtime. here is one of his economic advisers. >> what we know right now is the threshold has been eroded by inflation and there are 3.1 million people who if the threshold had kept up just with inflation would automatically be covered by overtime provisions. what we're going to be doing is in the weeks and months to come looking deeply at this problem and making sure that the overtime provisions are working as well as they should in today's economy. >> what she's talking about is in 1975 it was set that workers who made as much as $250 a week could be eligible for overtime. then under george w. bush that threshold was raised to $455. don't know how much it's going to be raised now. it could go up to as high as $800 is what california has set

it at. john boehner, the house speaker, said it doesn't do any good if the economy is not creating enough new jobs. >> well, there's all kinds of rumors about what the president may or may not do with regard to overtime pay and reclassifying some jobs for overtime. but if you don't have a job, you're not qualified for overtime. so what do you get out of it? you get nothing. >> so, again, this is the president trying to do whatever he can in a midterm election year that's very challenging. we saw that last night when republicans won a special election for a house seat in florida and we saw it in our nbc news/"wall street journal" poll that has the president with his lowest ever approval rating during his presidency at 41%, kelly. >> that's right. thank you very much, john harwood. now, neil young, one of the most iconic stars of rock music, but he thinks digital muse

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welcome back. so when digital sound falls short, neil young steps up. neil young announcing the long of pono music which he hopes will offer the ultimate quality in music. it will sound like you're actually in the recording studio. the launch encompasses both an

online music store and the pono player device and he did it with crowd funding via kickstarter. he's already raised nearly $2 million in a single day. and with us to talk more about it is neil young and part of the conversation our very own jim cramer because neil is a big fan of jim's and vice versa. welcome to you both. jim, how far back does this fandom go? >> i'll tell you that my first album of neil's was "everybody knows its nowherenowhere" and i the vinyl for her daughter for christmas. she says i can't stand the missing digits in music. people younger know the music has been destroyed by digital. >> they do feel it. i think they do feel it. anybody who listens to it can feel it. there's a difference. and we're used to this lower quality that we've had, and now

there's an option, there's an alternative. >> neil, you have had some great people involved already, some great artists. what are they saying to you when they hear it versus what they're used to? >> well, when we hear it, like my daughter said, what happened? she said how come i haven't heard this? i said, well, the technology hasn't been there to bring it to you, and now it is. so it's an alternative. now you're going to have freedom to choose the kind of music that you listen to because there's different choices and they're all convenient. >> and, neil, when you're choosing, what i think a lot of people are trying to understand is, is this just a way of presenting music files differently or if you become part of this whole ecosystem you're pushing for, does each artist have to record it specifically, have it be distributed one way, and then play it on your device in order to capture that full experience? >> that's a good question, michelle.

the artists get to do exactly what they want to do. there is no format with pono. it's not a cd or an mp3. it plays back exactly what the artist gave you. it's the kind of technology we're capable of in the 21st century. it's freedom of choice for both the artist and for the listener. so whatever the artist created in the studio is exactly what you hear. >> have you heard it, jim? >> it's digital bit for bit. >> jim, have you heard it? >> no, kelly, i have to tell you. i want to very badly. i don't know how many albums -- i had a stack of albums that maybe -- >> cds. >> five yards high. all because i thought the quality of it was so good. but, neil, this isn't totally disruptive technology. there have to be large, entrenched bases that don't want you to succeed. >> i think it's going to succeed because you'll be able to hear it immediately, and young people today are not living in

yesterday. they're living in today and tomorrow, and as soon as they realize that there's some better way to listen to their music, they're going to want to hear it so that they can tell for themselves. they're not -- they're only content with mp3s because they've never had anything else. >> it's android based. do you think it could be part of a phone? >> i would love to have my phone have this kind of quality sound. >> well, it would be great if it did, and there are some makers that are doing that, and, kelly, i'm sorry, i called you michelle. that was my mistake. >> it's a compliment. come on. >> all right. well, anyway -- >> we went from a million to 2 million. is it like 3 million now? people have to be -- this is like whey thought was -- i'd rather be in this spthan spotif or pandora. i'm not allowed to invest but i would have sent you money

immediately. >> i'm so happy all these people are joining us and supporting us. between 5,500 and 6,000 supporters now, pledgers, for pono music, and we sold thousands of players now, and we have, you know, i don't know, 1.8 million now. it's going up every second as we're speaking, which is great. it's just that people want something good. it's like when you go to whole foods, you get great food. when you go to mcdonald's, now, okay, your brands, i know people sponsor you. there's different levels of food. now there's different levels of music. we don't want to offend anybody but it's nice to have a choice. in america you're supposed to have freedom of choice. >> that's so true. >> and people have been stuck with mp3. >> you've come to the forefront about reinventing your sound and what is next for you? are you going to reinvent your sound again, speaking of ways of listening and participating in it. >> well, i'm just really happy

that myself and my artist friends from the community are going to have a chance to create records that you will be able to actually hear. that nothing will have happened to them. there will be no intellectual property format that they have to go through to get to you. they're going to be exactly what they are and so the artist can express themselves, and i think artists that have freedom of expression is basically very american, and i think it's a very good thing for us to have finally after 20 years of being held back by this technology that everyone has been listening to. >> neil, can we go back to the tapes. let's say we wanted to get to -- i had a great opera collection. can we reget the original tapes, the masters, and run them through your service? >> when the record companies go back into their files and they get the original tapes, they can bring them out and they have to

do some things to them to prepare them, and then they can be transferred to the highest resolution digital, and then you'll be able to hear them on pono. there are some of the companies that have done an incredible job of doing this so far and other ones that are now just starting to do it and so it's a moving target. but we have a lot of great music from the deep past that can now be archived at the highest possible level that is available today in the 21st century, and it truly does justice to the history of american music to have it -- to be able to listen to it and to preserve it at the highest possible level that we can. i think that's incredibly important for us as a culture. >> it is, and that choice is so important and people want -- jim, you mentioned your record collection. my brother has a huge record collection, same reason. he felt like the sound quality was so much better than a lot of the digital and cd-based stuff you could otherwise get.

neil, i'm just curious, if you get on -- for example when we knew you were going to be on, i was telling people about it, they were trying to get on spotify and stream your albums but it's hard to do because there's not much there. so at the risk of preserving -- is the perfect the enemy of the good here? are there people who might never hear your songs because they're not available on some of the most widely distributed systems? >> well, my music is available on a lot of streaming services, and it's available just about everywhere. you know, we really don't -- we may have some business problems with some of them, but i think that's part of doing business. so on those ones, you may not hear us because we haven't been able to make the correct kind of deal. but truly all the streaming services are basically the same, and they all have different ways of marketing what it is and curating and doing different things. i think there are a lot of good things out there trying to do new things. i like what beatz is doing.

i like a lot of other once. they're great for discovering music. when you find something you like on one of these services, now you have a chance to buy the real thing and that's what pono is. it's like that it's like that streaming services are the old radio and pono is the new record. >> neil, the big guys, apple, google, have any of them been part of the -- mostly just regular people who love music and the great artists that you're friendly with? >> the people who love music are our biggest supporters. it's the music movement. and we do have one great investor that is, thank goodness, has been there for us for this last year. and made it possible for us to make the great technological strides that we've made with air acoustics. and so, that investor would be johnny tyson, at tyson foods. and he's a friend of mine for years and years. and he stepped up. and without him, pono wouldn't be where it is today. there's no doubt about that.

>> how about our mutual friend, mark? isn't mark in it, neil? >> mark is great. mark is my good friend. we love mark. mark is great. mark has given me some of the greatest advice with record to pono. he's one of my biggest cheerleaders. he's a very valuable friend to me. a dear friend. and like mark and i both, we agreed. to be in business might not be the right thing for us. just to be buddies and hang out and do what we do and enjoy each other's company and our families together, is more important than business. >> neil, we so enjoyed your company. jim, by the way, what's your favorite album or live show of neil's, before we go? >> i'm still in love -- i'm still in love with "harvest." >> everybody is. neil young, it is great to see you. jim cramer, thank you for your time. >> incredible story. >> good-bye, kelly. good-bye, jim. >> thank you. thanks very much. what's on fire on our website right now?

find out. it might be this interview, by the way. the rest of the hot list, coming up next. up next. opportunities aren't always obvious. sometimes they just drop in. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. for tapping into a wealth of experience. ♪ for access to one of the top wealth management firms in the country. ♪ for a team of financial professionals who provide customized solutions. for all of your wealth management and retirement goals, discover how pnc wealth management can help you achieve.

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welcome back. what is atop "the hot list"

today. allen wastler joins us with the list. >> you know what does well on our website? >> obamacare? >> food. >> bacon-wrapped obamacare. >> we had this news about them filing for bankruptcy. analysts are arguing that the restaurant industry needs to have a circuit city event, where one major player goes bankrupt. clears house. she looked at the numbers. and the number of dining visits per capita is going down, while the number of restaurants is going up. that's not going to work for a long time. people are digging that story. number two, our 401(k) story. we look at where rules stand right now for fiduciary duty. and finally, ron insana wrote an op-ed piece for us on why he thinks the united states is going to be the superpower for the next coming decade. those are the hot ones for us. >> great stuff, allen. thanks very much. we want to see how neil young

plays. the slew of data out tomorrow, to the meeting next week, janet yellen's first, our panel will weigh in on what key numbers to watch out for. o latte or au lait?

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lightning round. quick final thoughts here from the panel. sara? >> stan fisher testifying tomorrow. first time we'll hear from him. he'll get questions from the senate banking committee. he'll be the second most powerful member at the federal reserve. that could be market-moving. >> dr. j.? >> i would say by groupon, yelp, open table, what allen said about restaurants. >> how mean how they're all shuttering? >> if they're shuttering, they're going to be more desperate and need help. >> the president's continued assault on small businesses. the job creators of this nation talking about raising pay for those who are on -- now eligible for overtime. not a good thing. >> if we were to buy, sell or hold the president at this point, i think i'd -- >> sell. sell. >> scott, what about you? >> i think you start to move into lame duck status. he may be looking out for workers. i'm looking at markets that are showing no fear despite all that we heard about copper in china

and all that. v.i.x. at 14. i'm not sure that's a good thing. but maybe in the short-term it is. >> great to have you on the program. and neil young, as well. what an icon. the man transcends, as gary is saying. "fast money" coming up in a few moments. melissa lee and the gang, i hand it over to you. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site. tim seymour, dan nathan, karen finerman, and guy adami, back from italy. straight to our top story. >> ciao. >> today, investors looking the other way as gold, a safe haven, hit levels we haven't seen since september. and yesterday, worries about china. copper barely moved the broader market. what do you make of a market like this? guy adami, want to go straight to you. fresh from your vacation. >> i missed you guys. in italy, i was in l