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tv   Street Signs  CNBC  May 21, 2014 2:00pm-3:01pm EDT

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welcome to a special "street signs", where we are just minutes away from the release of the fed minutes. this is one of the best ways to try to decipher when the fed might start to raise rates, and an exclusive interview with the interim ceo, and one of the most famous chef from down under, mate, stops by to talk about his expansion plans. steve? >> at that joint meeting, which we knew about, slightly overlapping, they discussed the rate hike process, which is what the market surmised at the time. what does that mean? first of all, what the fed is saying is that rate hike discussion does not mean there's going to be any action on raising rates anytime soon. what they discussed was the right mix of tools to control rates once they get there. those tools include reverse repos, interest on reserves, i could explain all these things, you don't have the interest or the time right now.
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participants agreed that a mix of tools is likely necessary once the process the fed starts the rate normalization process begins. now, here are the minutes of the regular fomc meeting, a number of participants cited a potential down side risk different from the minutes them/fuls. that included housing, china and ukraine. the fed debated the amount of slack in the labor market and in the economy. specifically they discussed an issue we brought you many times here, a paperly alan kruger that said long-term unemployment exerts for -- therefore less slack in the economy. overall it seems at that meeting the theory was rejected, meaning the fed believes there's lots of slack. a number of participants said the fed should provide more information, and that's critical, folks, following what bill dudley said yesterday, in a largely unappreciated remark,
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where he said the fed may not begin reducing the balance sheet, suggesting it could happen along with rate hikes or sometime thereafter. what that meant is there would not be as much tightening, a modest amount of less tightening -- less soon than expected. >> first of all, we always have the interest and time for your minutes. >> you really want the -- look -- >> well, no, no, no. i said that to be nice. >> just one second on that. the fed has a dizzying array of tools, and the process of explaining this to the public and the markets is going to be peculiar. >> we need an owl with a graduation cap to understand these minutes, right? that's the only thing that could be smart enough to figure this out. i can't get it. what i'm hearing is we sort of like the idea of a rate hike, but not really. >> what they're saying is we're going to raise rates soon. we have never raised rates in an environment with a massive
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balance sheet. what do we do to control these reserves? we have three different facilities we have talked about. interest on reserves, keeping themselves, essential like certificates of deposit for excess reserves, and reverse repos which basically say i give you securities, you give me cash. three different tools p. in addition, by the way, to the normal interest rate. >> i'm still not clear. when are they going to race rates? are we clearer on that? >> no. >> we need a reverse repo man. >> and book ruska, who is also the first guess ever on cnbc in our 25th anniversary year. good to see you as well. first, do the honors. any sense of this in? any sense of timing? >> well, we knew they had to discuss this. i'm not sure they still have a plan, but the problem is they do have these instruments to use, and when they start working with them, there will be a certain connection. they have to figure on the what
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the arbitrage is, and they'll have to experiment very carefully. they'll have to do it in the real world, and then try to see how it's working and make some adjustment. >> are they planning to have a plan? >> they're planning to have a plan. >> but planning to have a plan, then the investor doesn't know what to do, either. we're all a bit lost here. let's bring you in as well. what does the investor take away from what we just heard? >> that it's more of the same, and the backdrop -- with all due respect to everybody on the panel we've been talking about rising rates for three years, we're getting more minutes and more data, and the recovery is taking longer than we thought. the investor has stone back into the equity markets, but we're still in a delevering world, in a market that's overplayed on the bond market. people are underexposed to equities, albeit at levels quite high, but i think it's game on still for the equity market. >> if we're not entirely sure,
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we do know -- yeah -- >> these minutes are very procedural in the following way. they're talking about stuff the fed has to figure out. if your question is when are they going to raise rates and when is the information on that? there is no information, in part because the fed provided that information. the market has digested it and i think the fed is not feeling a need to redirect. where are we? the market generally believes the first rate hike will happen in the second or third quarter of next year, with some uncertainty about the balance sheet. i don't know that the market is craving information. >> i understand. >> i think the market knows that, the fact is the tapering has to end first. the thing about rate hikes, not yet, and then there's a question of how long that period of time might be. >> a considerable period. >> and then there's the question about who wins the debate. there are some who think that the financial -- the old financial rules aren't really that applicable, and others
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think the real economy -- like the unemployment rate argument, and -- so we have two sides both of them are casting doubt. >> so the question i was trying to get to is we don't know when they're going to start raising rates, but we do know they are winding down qe. i've heard all kinds of dire predictions. >> i don't have a dire prediction. i still think, the equity market is still the best place to exist right now. i still think you have pockets of real strength in the economy, places where the market is quite overvalued. we've seen the correction in the last six weeks, but overall i think investors are underexposed, the market albeit somewhat a pricey side, a better place to be, and i think they're interested in cash equities. the dow jones industrial average had a session high on the market likes this, guys. they're up on the dow right now,
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just about 1%, so stocks keep on humming as the fed keeps on priming that asset pump. that wasn't really a question. >> what is this, the stock market saying never mind? and the concerns about the growth and the earnings, the retailers? >> when do we start to worry about inflation? i understand it's not on their radar yet, but kind of like retirement planning, right? you don't worry about it, and all of a sudden it's there? >> a speech came out earlier, in which he talks about the inflation not getting back to the fed target for several years. that is the sense right now among the doves of the federal reserve. the hawks would tell you they're worried about it now that the fed is late. it's best hind the curve. i want to ask bob this question about the balance sheet. i thought what dudley said yesterday was astonishing, the idea that the balance sheet will not be allowed to run down. does that change your outlook at
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all? >> i think it's unclear. this is this art about whether we go back -- it's a is it going to work again? are they going to be loaned out? i don't think it does matter. i think banks are being regulated heavily. and so i don't really think that lending will go gang busters. >> you know what dudley said yesterday as another reason for underperformance? bank regulation. i assume he's talking about dodd/frank, all these additional liquidity requirements, holding down bank lending. >> they do restrain -- >> very quickly, some advice before you go, mark. we know we will get higher rates at some point, maybe next year. assuming we're living that long, how do we start to shift our portfolio to manage through that type of environment? why not now? is it too early?
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>> you kind of said a year or two ago was too early. when i talked to portfolio managers, i've been on the road this week, and the investment retirement vehicles you just were talking about. they are seeing cash flowing still, sticking to their knitting, some parts of the market are overvalued, some parts they feel have real value in the market. i think the real issue for investors is nowhere looks really atrackedive right now. putting money in the market at an all-time high doesn't look attractive, but we have to do that all day long. i think there's never a good time. the bells don't go off when the market hits highs and lows, but i can't say that an investor would be silly to start put more money in. >> we have to leave it there, but there's something important we left out. >> happy birthday, steve liesman. >> happy birthday. >> thank you very much. >> you don't look a day over 25. do not move a muscle.
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the interim ceo john mulligan will go on the report with our own courtney reagan. he's going to be joining us live when "street signs" returns.
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female narrator: through monday, get 36 months through monday, get 36 months interest-free financing and save up to $400 on beautyrest and posturepedic. even get three years interest-free financing on serta icomfort and tempur-pedic, but this special financing offer ends memorial day at sleep train. tyler reporting a 16% drop in quarterly earnings today as the retailer continues to -- but same-store sales came in better than expected, the stock is nonetheless down about 8% since
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december 19th. that is when the breach came to light. courtney reagan has been following the story since the very, very start. she's joined by the interim ceo, john mulligan for an exclusive interview. over to you, cort. >> thank you so much for joineding us. i know it's a very busy day. you're also the chief financial officer, so you've been busy on the phone all today. if we could just get started with canada. little has gone right for target in canada. is it worth it? what would it take to exit entirely? >> right now we're focused on accelerating improvement. we've begin to get the stores better in stock. we're not where we need to be, but we've begun. we're surveying and getting credits for the in stock, for the value we provide, a better view of our pricing. so we've got a great new leadership team in place, and they are focused on accelerating
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our improvement in operations, and more broadly than that, looking at all aspects. >> so you're note looking to leave canada? >> we are very focused on improves or operations in canada. moving back into the u.s., you said you've made some investments in improving same-store sales. both have been disappointing for a year now. what improvements are you making? >> yeah, i think coming into the quarter, the thing we could impact the quickest was giving our guests great deals. we provided some very compelling promotions, and we saw them respond, come back to our stores. we'll continue to use promotions as we go forward, but we have to narrow the focus. importantly get back to and remind guests of why they fell in love with target in the first place. you'll see us bring great news merchandising apparel, mom and bay, over the course of the next year, and continue to increase the amount of new product that's in our story.
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reminding them about why they love target. >> can you afford to keep that level of promotion? are you worried not at all about the margin? >> we're always concerned about margin, you know, as you know, i'm the chief financial officer also, but it's really about striking the right balance. we want to bring great promotions to our guests, but make sure they're impactful. the first quarter, we used a significant amount of proprocess, and our gross margin rate was down. we'll strike more of a balance as we go forward, focus our promotions and start to blow that newness into the store. . in the earnings release today, you said you're not able to estimate the cost of the data breach, but it may materially impact the second quarter, the full year and bexwrond. how are investors supposed to understand what the potential costs could be if you're not able to quantify that? >> that's a great question.
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unfortunately we're in the place as it relates to the data breach, where we don't have visibility yet to the potential third-party liabilities and operating expenses. the process is fairly well defined. they'll com back to us when they have an estimate of what the incremental expenses might be, and the process, you know, we don't have visibility to that, but what we have seen in other cases, that can take several months. currently our view is that will likely happen, and of course as we know more, we're going to provide that perspective to our investors. >> mr. mulligan, you are the chief financial officer, what is target looking for for the ideal permanent ceo. what does the resume look like? will you go beyond tradition? and look outside? >> well, certainly that's the board's job to find the ideal candidate. i can tell you the three focus areas which i'm sure they'll be
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focused on is growing sales and traffic in the u.s., continuing to improve our performance in canada, and third getting us to be a leading omnichannel retailer, accelerating or transformation. the third one probably the most important. that's where our guests are, and we need to accelerate or transformation and finding the right person who can lead that effort will be important for us going forward. >> speaking of online, many folks look at your operations there and say you're behind the curve. do you think that target can catch up? if so, how are you going to do it? >> yeah, i think we've made great progress. certainly we're a bit behind. we stubbed our toe as we transitioned off the amazon, but we need to continue to accelerate. the great thing we can bring is our brand and focus on mobile. two thirds of our traffic comes to our sight through mobile channels. we've done a great job there. we've won mobile retailer of the year award for the second time in four years. great applications like cartwheel that we put out in
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beta and continue to refine based on the guest feedback. that allows us to continue to refine it, and really deliver what the guest wantsds. more applications like that, and we're focused on accelerating, and we believe we will be very competitive. >> john, before you go, i have to ask you, do you want the ceo job? >> i will be very content to move back to my cfo role when we get the right individual to lead the company going forward. >> okay. john mulligan, interim start cfo, we really pressure it. >> thank you, courtney. >> have a good day. so a couple things that stuck out to me. excellent interview, great get, by the way. a bit surprising that he's -- with all due respect, that's just my pin. canada, you were right to lead with it. a lot of skepticism whether they
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can fix it. >> exactly. there's a lot of problems there. the gross margin rate. 18.7%, yet it improved from the year before. very costly. they just replaced many of the management team members there. they've made the investment. i do think they have to stick is it out, at least for a while. i don't know how they're going to fix it our how long it will take. >> was there anything that surprised you with his answers? >> no, i like the candidness with online. the app. that he mentioned, we haven't talked about it much, but it has actually really caught on with the target customer, more so than i originally thought, so i guess kudos to them. i was skeptical. >> by the way, i disagree with you about saying no, i don't want the ceo job. i think it's a fantastic negotiation tactic, right? you can say no, no, no i really don't want it, and then you can say, well, if you pay me enough d. please, pick me, pick me -- >> i don't think you're saying
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please pick me. i think you're saying i would love it lead this fine organization. folks, who's right? mand. mandy or me? yeah, i would like the job, but if i don't get it -- i'm happy here, you're doggone right. >> i think it might be your personalitivities exactly. that's a good point. >> you wonder how long they'll let canada go on. >> that's exactly what i was trying to get out. maybe they don't know. maybe they're going to give their best chance at turning it around, and at some point it may not make sense to say. >> that was a spectacular minnesota accent, too. >> did i do it on accident? >> no, john mulligan. >> can you do it? >> no, don't cha know? it's beautiful, i love it up there. my daughter goes to camp north of minneapolis, but you hear it. >> a good place.
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>> thank you, courtney. >> you're welcome. speaking of retail, a favorite targets of cyber-criminals, just how vulnerable you might be the next time our out shopping. plus one sunshine stock that's living up to it's name today. you, my friend are a master of diversification.
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who would have thought three cheese lasagna would go with chocolate cake and ceviche? the same guy who thought that small caps and bond funds
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do you think that cyberthieves only want your money? think again. also nonpayment information is also a big target. josh, what do they want? >> well, the reason why cyberstreet firm trust wave, they're 2014 global security report, the reason that's so valuable to a lot of folks is because the data is actually based on real breach investigations that their firm conducted last year, at the top of the list the industry is retail. food and beverage, hospitality, financial and professional services, those round out the top five. the hackers continue to go after payment cart data, no surprise there. that would be the most
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detrimental to a business, as we've been seeing with target and others, but the real surprise i think is how valuable the nonpayment card data now has become. >> the credit card information, that's easy to turn a quick buck in to sell on the black market and get quick funds, the other is used by nation states to obtain secrets of organizations, how they build things, blueprints, blackmail, things like that. >> in 38% of nearly 700 breaches investigated here, the cyber-thieves were after that valuable nonpayment data. we're talking about things like -- company internal communication, and merchant i.d. numbers. within those top targets, it's important to mention e-commerce is particularly vulnerable. we saw that with ebay's announcement. today. the point of sale brick and
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mortar, also a big target for hackers. >> thank you, josh. let's get you caught up on other headlines, president obama vowing to get to the bottom of the v.a. scandal calling reports of misduct dishonorable and disgraceful. he also backed hi support of the current v.a. secretary eric shinseki. general motors announcing another recall, recalling 218,000 chevy amount veo model from 2004 to 2008. this brings the total number of vehicles gm has recalled this year to about 15.6 million worldwide. and google, well, we could see google ads raiding your fridge. i'm going to file this under i can't think of anything worse, but google says tech be providing ad and other kentsds on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermos glass and what did the not just to name a few possibilities.
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i don't know about you, brian, but i don't want ads when i'm opening up to get milk and other things from my fridge. >> they didn't say that's what was going to happen, but they're trying to redefine the definition of mobile. they didn't bring out the mobile numbers, in the future it could be your therm other stat or a fridge, so they sort of unveiled it that way, but i completely agree. i'll be frank, i bought a nest months ago, i have yet to install it, because i have no electrical skills. google bought them, and there's been talk about the wifi thing, and i'm a little hesitant. it's maids me nervous. >> maybe this proves you have every right to be hesitant. you're referring to the $3.2 billion acquisition of nest. remember when that came out, they were saying, i wonder what they want with thermostats. they want to be in your home. >> can you imagine turning down your therm other stats and an ad for an irish wolf sweater pops
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up. you know, 1-800-don't get cold. >> there you go. if you've been watching "shark tank qug you are likely familiar with this next story. lori greiner calls it her best investment yet, and because of it she's all smiles. >> the best investment i ever made was the scrub daddy sponge. it's bright yellow, turns hard in cold ward, soft in -- doesn't scratch any surface, and holds no odors. how could i have not done the deal? >> right before i went on "shark tank" the producer had been telling me she wouldn't be interested. the statement was, aaron, one down, four to go, and he left the room. that's how i entered the shark tank. >> today i'm seeking a $100,000 investment in exchange for 10% equity. you better know your numbers or you're the chum. >> what's the cost? >> about a dollar. >> what are you selling them for? >> about $2.80.
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>> i thoughtfuls going down in. >> i'm out. >> i'm out. >> i was totally shock when he went out, but instead lori fought for the product harder than anyone. >> i'll make you a millionaire within a year. >> so mine just went to 175. >> whoa. >> up to 175? >> yeah. >> mine just went to two. >> whoa! >> it went on and on. at the end, he says -- >> i'm out. i wanted to stick it to her. >> but i'm the winner, because the scrub daddy has now down $15 million in sales just under a year. >> before "shark tank" we had only done about $100,000 in sales. since shark tank we're about in every major retailer, including walmart, shop-right. bed bath and be yond. i've appeared five or six times on the canadian shopping channel and just returned from taiwan. >> i think they could double, if not triple.
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when people have to throw away a sponge for every three months, the sales are limitless. take a swim in the tank with us all this month. all right. you ask, we deliver. viewer says he is interested in knowing the fundamentals and charts on my chron technology, folks. we have listened, we're going to talk numbers and analyze it. could the bailouts be coming to the insurance industry. what "los angeles times" uncovered today that could have a huge impact on your money. that's all coming up. really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans... ...with our best-ever pricing for business.
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could mean less waiting for things like security backups and file downloads you'd take that test, right? well, what are you waiting for? you could literally be done with the test by now.
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now you could have done it twice. this is awkward. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. time for street talk, our daily rundown of stock news, views and analyst recommendation. let's hop to it. raymond james, the name that's usually doing the downgrading is getting a downgrade of its own. >> but not hurting the stock up half a percent. goldman sachs cutting raymond james to neutral. they also in the same call reiterate their cell on steve financial. they say the retail investor engagement is starting to show some cracks. >> plus goldman going the other way on aig. >> and ai giismt shares up 1.5% to 5346.
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they slapped a target on that as a 16% upside from here. they think investors to shove the focus to -- the average target the analysts cover, about 57 and change. >> target is 19 here. it's always a battleground stock. going back a decade ago. herm greenburg got into a big fight.
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upside. this provides a lot of things. he's the man camp, they've got to build temporary housing, because they have a billion guys. >> i know this, into willis, it's all dudes on the plane, overrun. >> remind me never to go there. under the radar. >> new york city-based business process management company, which is up to outperform from neutral at wedbush. their target bumped higher to 27, now talk to talking numbers, both a look at a stock from a fundamental and technical putbull fan tweeted out, i would like to see a technical analysis of micron, you ask, we deliver,
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let's talk numbers. j.c., i'm going to start with you, mike reason, highly volatile, technically driven stock, what are you seeing? >> well, you know, that chart looks pretty good. >> i can see some investors, over the short term, i want to put money to work right here, right now, even with the upgrades. this is the thing, up 150% over -- at the 52 weeks versus the s&p up just 12%, but i'm ver bullish, and happy about the long-temple chart last november, when we broke out above 19, you confirmed that breakout and has room to run. count the stock at 35. obviously he's not going to move to 35 in one straight line. i just saw the last few weeks, it consolidate between 21 and 25. now, i'm very interested here. it broke out, hit 27, so i would
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love to buy it a bit lower, but the short term and long term are very bullish, but would love to buy it lower. >> so you like the long-term chart, looking bullish. what about the fundamentals. do they agree? >> yeah, i think the fundamentals line up very well with the technicals. micron is on the right side of the demand equation, a demand for d-ram is very strong right now. and supply is constrained, so and visibility into the future. the stock is also very cheap at just nine times forward earnings versus the industry average of 14 and trades at only 0.8 times growth, which is half the industry average, plus a bit of a contrarian play in that 11% of the float is sold short. if we do get a bump higher, you could see some short covering which could further a stock advance. >> i do like the stock a lot here. >> i think they like it both technically and fundamentally.
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i appreciate that. and be sure to check out our online edition, part of our partnership with -- >> and right, by the way, the dow is currently sitting at 16,517. what is it, like about 38 minutes. 139 points to the upside. >> if you -- >> we moved higher on the back of the minutes. >> thank the fed, send the fed a thank-you card. we're about to be joined by celebrity chef curtis stone. >> but first on a more serious note. 2 we are going to speak with one have laid mer putin's most outresponsible critic, whose friend was killed in a russian jail. coming up. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 there are trading opportunities tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 just waiting to be found. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at schwab, we're here to help tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 bring what inspires you tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 out there... in here.
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in a world that's changing faster than ever, we believe outshining the competition tomorrow requires challenging your business inside and out today. at cognizant, we help forward-looking companies run better and run different - to give your customers every reason to keep looking for you. so if you're ready to see opportunities and see them through, we say: let's get to work. because the future belongs to those who challenge the present. can you start tomorrow? yes sir. alright. let's share the news tomorrow. today we failrly busy. tomorrow we're booked solid.
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we close on the house tomorrow. i want one of these opened up. because tomorow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often, that day arrives by train. big day today? even bigger one tomorrow. when csx trains move forward, so does the rest of the economy. csx. how tomorrow moves. a couple charts we want to show you s we got the fed minutes about 40 minutes ago. as for what's happening with
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crude, just a couple weeks ago, setting at $100, currently at 103.93, so we've gained about four bucks since about two weeks ago. the obama administration hitting 12 russians with sanctions today, over human rights abuses. the death was a direct result of his exposing tax fraud within the russian government. your reaction to the sanctions against the 12 russians? >> well, the sanctions are the second sanctions that have been published by the united states government since the act was passed on december of 2012. the u.s. government sanctioned 18 people in march of last year, and we were really happy to see another 12 sanctioned yesterday, mainly because what it shows, the act, is now in sort of an
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ongoing everlasting piece of legislation, as opposed to one off. what it means in this case, and in many other cases, the u.s. government will continue to sanction russian human rights violators going forward. this is really important with all that's going on in russia right now about the big reperez. >> a lot of our viewers may not be aware of your satire, you were, your attorneys was effect i have beenly arrested and killed in prison here. give us the current state of doing business in russia. >> i was one the largest foreign investor in the country. i discovered that the companies i was investing in, were basically being robbed of all their profits. i started to expos the thievery. i was then expelled from the country. my offices were raided, they used all the documents seized from myooffices they were used
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to perpetuate a tax fraud. i hired a young lawyer to investigate. he was then put in jail and they should tortured to death. he died at the age of 37 four years ago. after he was dead and the first ever trial against a dead man in the history of russia last year. so what it tells you is you basically don't want to be an investor in russia. nothing can justify that kind of thing. >> i don't know that much about the country, but there's so many warm and friendly people that are of russia, but when you look at the government and the history of business, not only yours, but some deals that russia has taken over, why do you think american firms continue to seem to do business over there. >> i would actually dispute
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where that's many firms that are eager to do business there. i go to davos every year, and you see the captains of industry there, and i would say about 90% of ceos won't do business in russia. it takes companies effectively that have been to do big there to go there. if you're an oil company and there's aisle in russia and nigeria and venezuela, tough lick, you have to go to russia. most banks have pulled out. most other companies that could consider doing business there have pulled out. people do want to sell into russia, but to actually put yourself at risk on the ground investing in russia is insanity right now. i think most people don't want to be involved. >> and ironically the russian stock market is up about 20% in the last two weeks. big broward, thank you for your fight for him and his family.
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we'll talk to you again. >> thank you. shares of apple are above -- very close to a 52-week high. in fact the symptom has been coming back over the past month. up about 13 march, but let's bring in kelly evans. yesterday kelly, you had a guest who said apple could hit 700 or even 750. what kind of time frame were they looking at? >> mandy, brian, good afternoon. bill miller joined us yesterday, and touched on a lot of different themes. when it came to apple, though, because we've had this discussion, he and high, he likes appearing, doesn't like it, he said as much as he did back in 400s, but still says it could go to 700 or 750. so didn't give us a specific time horizon there. we'll check back with him to be sure. he also mentioned, guys, keep an eye on what's happening with amazon. it's been a core holding, he says it's viable for him for the first time in a couple years and more broadly was pushing back --
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that discussion with another guest, saying he still believes as he said in the recent past, conditions for -- and last point before moving on to other things that are happening on the show today, he said he's concerned that you could see a stock market melt up later in the year. >> melt up? as opposed to melt down. thank you very much, kelly. looking forward to "closing bell." coming up on this fine program, insurance companies need a bailout from taxpayers because of obamacare? a surprising story today that a plan may already be in place just to do that. plus curtis stone coming up, your boy. i can't wait. stick around. (mother vo) when i was pregnant ...i got lots of advice, but i needed information i could trust.
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performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. the sun is shining bright. the solar company posting a quarterly profit, reversing a loss from a year ago helped by rising prices in solar panel. it forecasts higher shipments for the current quarter as well. the stock, as you can see there, is currently trading up about 30%. brian? >> obamacare critics have been warning for month that health insurance companies could lose money because of the new health care law. if that does happen insurance companies might be protected by
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the administration. according to new regulations the federal government is prepared to provide a safety net, billions of your taxpayer dollars, to bail out insurance if companies face losses. bertha, before we get to the interview, give us the interview, some of it is old but some of it is new. >> the law itself built in these risk protections for insurers for the first three years, and that's what all those fees that they are collecting go to fund, so some insurers, if they lose money because they end up with a lot of high-cost patients would get some sort of rebate. we're not sure what will happen this year in 2014. it's way too early, but the fact that we've seen more people actually on the exchanges means there's more going into that fund. what the administration clarified last week was that if those funds end up short, especially next year in 2015, that they will make up the difference to make sure those
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protections are there to keep insurers on the exchanges. >> okay. what's your thought about all of this? >> the key thing is that premiums on the exchanges went up 41% relative to 2013 rates because of all the regulatory changes in the law and insurers were saying they would have to increase rates even more next year because of all the changes that the white house made, like the grandfathering changes and some of the other improvisations so the administration effectively had to do -- to put out about $3 billion, $4 billion in the risk corridors to ensure insurers wouldn't raise their premiums anymore 2015 because you'd find out about it this fall. >> the support worried about the political backlash with all of this. >> there's a lot of concern about this and there's concern about the legality of this move because a congressional research service report stated that's the inhouse think tank of congress state that the white house doesn't have the authority to move these billions of dollars around without an official congressional appropriation. >> yeah, okay. there's no certainty we will
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need this taxpayer bailout, right? if the premiums can stay kind of calm and they don't lose a bunch of money. >> right. >> but it does sound like a bailout. >> it's built into the program is the thing. the majority of it was already built in funded by taxes. one of the things that -- that insurers have done at this point is they haven't built this into their annual estimates because it's -- it's a backward looking thing. they won't know whether they will get it until next year so a lot of analysts have been asking them all along is this part of your earnings estimate for this year, and so far they haven't calculated it yet because it's just too early to know. >> here's the key thing. so congress and the white house have asserted that this risk corridor program would be fis l fiscally neutral because the fees they would collect from insurers would equal the payments that they would put out, and what they are finding is that they may not be true, there's substantial risk that the fees they put out will be a lot larger. >> it sounds to me like another
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issue of privatizing losses and socializi socializing. >> that's the political concern and the argument you'll hear from the white house is we need to give them that sweetener, that subsidy and extra shake because otherwise they won't participate in the exchanges. >> and it is temporary. it is only for the first three years. after that they are on their own. >> that's why the congressional budget office anticipates that in 2017 to 2018, when this program goes away, you are going to see a spike in premiums at that point because the subsidies won't be there to cushion the blow. >> yikes. >> thank you so much for that. >> celebrity chef curtis stone is in the house, not our house, but is going to be talking food next. passenger: road trip buddy. let's put some music on.
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[ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experienced pros with dedicated chats and daily live webinars. and trade with papermoney to test-drive the market. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. he's nicknamed the quiet terminator, may have seen him on "top chef masters" and "the biggest loser" and he's also from my home town of melbourne, australia. this celebrity chef has a very long resume and he has a new 25-seat restaurant called maude inspired by his grandmother who had a love of food. rising food costs have been biting household budgets and
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consumers. >> it affects us quite drastically as the food costs fluctuate. people don't expect their menu costs to change so we quite often have to sort of absorb some of that extra cost. we've gone through pretty tough climate conditions in the u.s. >> so you absorbed it. you don't pass it on to the consumer? >> each restaurant will probably take its own tact. i've only just opened as well so i'm very lucky that i was able to sort of open with an appropriate margin but if you think about big chain restaurants, people used to paying 12.99 for their entre at some of the restaurants and they are not so accustomed to being open to the increases, but, you know, the increases do happen. >> and your restaurant's particular feature is having one key seasonal ingredient every single month. it's rhubarb in may. but what's next in the food
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movement, the molecular gas tropical storm my movement, the slow food movement, what's next? >> we take one ingredient and work a long way out with the farmers that grind those ingredients for us so we know what we're going to get. different varieties and different quantity and take that ingredient and we do a tasting menu so each -- each dish has that ingredient featured in it in one way, shape or form so essentially what we're doing is flipping the model of a restaurant on its head. we're saying there's no choice. you come here. we know exactly what we need to order and what we're going to cook. so people quite often say to us you're way too cheap and the reason we are reasonably price it had because we have zero waste. we know we're cooking for 50 people per night, 25 seats. so, you know, we can get right through it. >> real quick, ten seconds. do you support raising the minimum wage because not all restaurants do? >> look, i think it's really important to -- to take care of your staff, whatever that means.
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you know, it's different in every state, but, yeah, i do support minimum wage for sure. >> curtis, thanks for joining us. we'd love to try maude out sometimes. >> try, it i gone the get in. >> only had 25 seats. >> could have made two seats for me. it takes two. >> thanks for watching "street signs," everybody. >> "closing bell" is next. take care. welcome, everybody, to "closing bell." i'm kelly evans here at the new york stock exchange. >> and i'm bill griffith at headquarters. we'll talk with why later. remember yesterday the dowed a its low was down 165 points. today the dow at its high was up 165 points, so remember yesterday, never mind. it's all about the fed again. i don't know. what is it about? >> yeah, it's a mirror image. interesting, only three components of the dow are down right

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