where saul that rum going, ty? i don't know about that. all right. that's all for us on power lunch. >> a great day, sue, thank you very much. and "street signs" begins in just three, two, one second from now. ♪ 1.3 trillion, is that stimulating enough for you? hi, everybody, full reaction and analysis to europe's monster money printing plan ahead. plus, is this the perfect time to buy european stocks? a potential clue as to whether the big oil names bottomed and proof that good stocks can, indeed, come in small packages. >> a lot of good things come in smaller packages. all right, we are looking at longest winning streak of 2015 for the dou, s&p, and nasdaq. okay, yeah, i get it. it's been four straight days, but nonetheless, and, also, our year to date losses have been

cut for all three indexes to well under 1% each. we are seeing new record highs, brian, for utilities and consumer sti consumer staples, and the airline highest in 13 years, no real surprises on guessing why, but bob is at the new york stock exchange. bob, great to see you there. you know, if we were ever wondering what happened to the target if the ecb got aggressive, well, here's our answer, right? >> yeah, we got it. particularly, over in europe, bond yields lower, euro's lower, getting what they want. pointing out our market is moving also on earnings, particularly in the transports and financials. the transports up 215 points today, look at the earners coming out. the airlines, hope you all saw this morning the southwest ceo on our air, cheaper fuel preess helped earnings, and that's 8%, and united is terminating all fuel hedges, not doing that because they lost money on them. and separately, the railroads, good numbers from unp, though

they said lower oil would impact crude shipments. transports are up. regional banks, good, not great numbers, but good enough. key corp., huntington, bbnt had earnings, talking about deposit growth and modest loan yields going on, but, still, good enough, 3% on the upside. finally, i want to note a deal. royal bank of canada bought for a 25% premium, talking m&a activity in the regional banks. we have not heard of that in a long, long time. believe me, that's helping the markets as well. back to you. >> all right, bob, thank you very much. now we'd like to welcome in a guy you're getting to know. miles, chairman and ceo of mdc partners just in from his hometo hometown of toronto. miles, thank you for joining us. >> great to be here. >> your company, sixth biggest ad agency in the world if our viewers are not acquainted with it. you have business and clients and people in europe. you heard the news. is this going to help the

european businessman? >> well, i think it's going to help confidence. i mean, i think traders expectsed $50 billion a month in purchases. this is 60. 20 % more. hopefully it gives confidence that the government is behind the economy. it's going to stabilize the environment. i think confidence is a critical part of stimulating both capital spending by business in addition to consumer confidence. so it should have an impact, but as you know, it takes time for this to filter into the economy. >> if you're negative on europe yesterday, are you wildly bullish today because of this news? i don't suspect it. >> you're not wildly bullish, but less negative if you were negative before. a stable kind of state in that regard. at the end of the day, though, it trickles into the economy and see capital spending, see employment growth, see gdp growth, et cetera, and as you know, that takes a year or so to have meaningful impact. >> and impacts like will it directly help bank lending,

stuff like that. talking more in a second. hold that thought, miles, getting back to you shortly. talk more about the ecb move because the euro gets walloped after the european central bank kick you have its version of quantitative easing. sara eisen, euro hit 114, below the dollar. this is a full blown currency war. >> well, let's look at what happened in the past week alone. momentum and active week for central banks, not just europe. canada, india, switzerland, denma denmark, and peru. they all came out, they are central banks, surprised the markets, cutting interest rates, and they will not all necessarily say it, but that easier monetary policy leads to a weaker currency. it is very, very helpful for economies making exports more competitive and helps them grow. yeah, policy moves in effort, in many cases, including europe, to fight super low inflation exacerbated by plunging oil prices, but the upshot is

everyone is ending up fighting for a weaker currency. you mentioned the euro. what a stunning move today. no question. it is falling hard impressed by mario draghi in a level not seen since back in 2003. reading the research, impressive parts, the size above a trillion, and the open endedness of the stimulus program. the fact that it is flexible and targeting higher inflation rates with a soothing effect on europe with the euro at a time it neds needs it badly. the dollar at multiyear highs. we see it's pain. for companies that do business overseas. it's a key theme of the earning season, but as dennis just pointed out, guys, we can handle it. we have a trade deficit. we're not a huge exporter. we'll see. secretary jack lew is on tomorrow morning mayintaining a strong dollar is in the best

interest of the united states now that we're clearly losing the currency war. we'll see how much we can take. >> appreciate the time and thoughts. thank you very much. >> no problem. >> when the fed announced quantitative easing back in 2008, the dow was sitting at 8,000. it's now nearing 18,000, a huge run. if you had the guts and money to get into stocks. with today's announcement about the european central bank of a similar program, is this the same chance you missed back in 2008 except in europe? dan greenhouse and cnbc contributor likes math. your math says european stocks might be a good bet right now? >> yeah, i mean, listen, let's be clear that there's two separate conversations here that investors, to your point, missed at the bottom, and to some degree, rightfully so because of the armageddon scenario prevalent at the time. the question is whether or not what's been announced is good for the investment landscape and whether one is good for the

economic landscape. to some degree, they are separate. the sort answer to the question having said that, yeah, i think european stocks are likely to benefit from what's been announced. >> do you think, though, we talked about miles, a smart guy, similar to yourself, dan, on the show yesterday, saying, look, he thinks it's ineffective no matter what the ecb does. you have yields already incredibly low. >> listen, this is the primary criticism of the ecb's program that with german yields, spanish, and so on, those yields at extraordinary levels, the benefitin benefit, mechanical benefits is nonexistent. that's fair. i would note, as i believe i did to the producers, i don't think people remember, but qe in the united states did not lower nominal treasury yields. qe raised nominal treasury yields. each instance, one, two, and three resulted in higher yields

than was the case in the beginning. it was only when qe ended in each instance that yields moved lower. listen, look at the german ten year, is that going higher or lower if they engender growth estimates? the answer is yields are likely to go higher in the environment. of course this is predicated on the fact that the ecb is successful in what it's trying to do. >> when the bank of japan did their big number, the nikkei was the best performing stock market in the world at 57%. we talked about what happened to our stock market. is it -- there are many who say this is just a fed-driven asset bubble, don't give me anything else. is it just that simple? >> well, part of the answer is, yes, but part of the answer' no. remember -- >> are you an economist now? >> yes, on the one hand, yes, and on the other hand, no. >> and the third hand? >> can't be accused of giving a

straight answer. >> if you gave a straight answer, you must have misunderstood what i said. >> not all programs are designed the same. not all qe programs are the same in size nor intense. look at the case of japan, for instance, qe was necessarily launched to sort of try to engender higher inflation expectations, whereas what's happening in europe, that's part of it, but fixing dislocations in the economy. they have different desires, different implementation time scales, and attempting to achieve somewhat different outcomes, but at the end of the day, from an investment standpoint, if you tell me that six months, 12 months, 18 months from now, european growth and inflation expectations will be higher than they are today or will result in better outcomes than is today expected, then that's an environment in which stock prices should be higher, and in that regard, it's very simple. >> dan, i have a question for you. you said that not all stimulus

programs are the same. inherent in that is the assumption that the characteristic and challenges that each of the economies, what they're designed for, have different structural issues, so how would you compare the european structural issues of today versus what existed in 2008 that the central bank in the states was dealing with as it related to qe1. >> there's certainly some similarities. i think the biggest issue in terms of the divergences, if you will, are that some of the structural issues that play in europe have been completely and totally unaddressed, and they are, to some degree, the primary issues facing europe. in particular, the labor markets. you look at what's going on in italy, for example. they are trying to make it or tried to make it slightly easier to fire people in order to make it slightly easier to hire people, and there's armageddon in the wake of the attempts. now, that was not necessarily the case in the u.s. i'm not trying to suggest that

structural adjustments would not have been welcomed. i think they would have been and so some degree, still would be. what ails europe is not necessarily solved by qe to the same degree that qe1 was effective here in the u.s. in particular, when spreads are high, yields are high. confidence is low. a central bank or a fiscal authority steps in the breach saying, i'm a buyer, the proverbial jpmorgan in 2007, i'm a buyer. that happened to the u.s. in 2008. that is not the case to the point in europe today. yields are very low. spreads are not necessarily incredibly wide, and so the primary benefit in that regard of qe is not existent. >> dan, a pleasure. thank you very much. >> thank you, sir. >> well, there is one thing that nobody seems to be talking about that might just signal a bottom in oil stocks. we'll tell you what it is coming up. biggest winner in the crude collapse, not just one company,

but an entire nation. later on, talking the mega ad spin in the super bowl and who is really cashing in on uber. first, reactions to the ecb from davos. the longer term objective for europe, which is really about jobs and economy, is going to take more than what governor drag draghi can do in bond buying. >> time to be honest that we move forward here with the qe program. we've seen it operate in the u.s., i believe, successfully, and we saw it in japan, confronting deflation in europe. it's not the be all end all, but it's a necessary step. >> the transmission mechanism for qe in the united states was a lot stronger than the mechanism in europe. it's ultimately going to take a lot more than what we did in the united states to get this thing going. recently, a 1954 mercedes-benz

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welcome back. huge news, on the brink of hitting $2 even at the pump nationwide. sure, some are paying well below two bucks, but this is the national average. a gallon of regular is at $2.04, down $1.24 a year ago, last year's price, there you go, $3.28, and pump prices have fallen, brian, for 119 consecutive days. without a break.

i don't know if that's happened before. i don't know. you've been in the country longer than i have. can you tell me? no, that's a record. >> that is a big time record, mandy, and it's quite the amazing number. as i tweeted out, by the way, you live in the new york and new jersey region taking the bridge to stanten island and brooklyn, gas savings are gone boosting the toll by a buck. subway and bus fares going up in new york city. one wonders if politicians do not use cover of lower gas prices to chip away other things to raise prices on. mandy, as a new yorker, i will say this, back to you, do not tell a new yorker there's no inflation in anything, rent, food, whatever it is. >> all going up, baby, all going up. they'll raise the toll prices because they justify because of lower gas, right? once prices are up again, do you think they like bring toll prices down? absolutely not. >> by the way, james jay braddick, history there. we teased it as the one thing

that may signal a slow down or end of the collapse of the oil stocks, and here it is. the biggest oil stock etf is up more than 6% over the past week, 1 % this year, but that's as oil prices have dropped 4 % this week. jim, tjm institutional services, a man who, if he's taking the dan ryan, knows about toll hikes, but, jim, back on topic. are oil stocks hitting bottom? >> i think it is. maybe not a bottom, but i think that any movement lower than here is very difficult. i think -- and i bought some oil -- energy service names last week. the reason i did was because think about the dividends that most of these names pay. they've gone up considerably at the same time u.s. treasuries have gone down. at some point in time,eetertott on a relative basis. that's why i jumped in. >> in the same way, stimulus

plans are not created equal. that's what we talked about earlier, not all oil etfs are created equal either. some are up, but another etf in the oil patch, uso, is down about 4.5%. what's the difference there? proves to our investors you can't just say i'm going to go for an oil etf, but be careful what's inside etfs. >> no doubt about it. oil is not paying the dif divide dividend. oih is. big companies, they are not going out of business soon. companies could cut dividends if profits are hit, but it's too early for that. concentrate on the fact you get more for your money, particularly compared to u.s. treasuries. >> jim, miles. so a lot of the smart money missed the movement of oil. the only smart money that i know that actually found it was zac

at point state capital. >> making a billion dollars. >> yeah. >> this year. >> yeah, yeah. >> yeah. >> and i actually tried to give him money, but he would not take it. >> you can give me money. >> what's interesting, i guess the question to you is, where is the smart money today? are they of the mind set that one year from now oil is up from where it is today? is it up materially? >> i think they will be soon. i think it's funny you mention smart money. i think the smart money is going to start to gravitate towards the names, towards the dividends, but not yet towards oil. it is got to put in a base. put a gun to people's head, is oil higher or lower this time next year, overwhelmingly people say higher. in their heads they think the range is 40, that's what i think too, but the smart money is not in yet, but i think it will. >> jim, good to talk to you from a trader's perspective. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> as with any crash, winners

and loser emerge. one the biggest winners in the crude collapse is india, a big oil importer. we are joined with more on that. you know how much of the record highs of the india market we've seen today, can you attribute to the fact we've seen such a crash in crude prices? >> you know, i think, mandy, a lot has to do with lower oil prices, just given that oil is a net importer as you pointed out. lower prices mean the country spends less specifically on fuel subsidies, something the indian finance minister spoke to cnbc at davos this morning, listen in. >> whether it be climbing oil prices, certainly help us in many, many areas. they help us in cutting down subsidies. they help us in our current economic deficits, and, of course, they help us in bringing down inflation. >> pushing down inflation has been one of india's biggest

challenges over the past couple years. this recent drop in inflation has been welcomed by citizens as well as the government. just last week, cutting interest rates by 25 basis points, surprising the market with that move, and analysts say that could, perhaps, provide india a rebound in growth. right now steady at 5% gdp, and in 2010, there was a growth of 9% when i lived in mumbai. in terms of rebound growth, something investors expect, that helped bombay close at all-time high, breaking 29,000 for the first time ever. it was one of the best performing emerging markets in 2014, gaining 29%. more news expected out of india next week. president obama will be making a visit, the first time u.s. head of state is a chief guest at india's republic day celebration signifying strengthening relations with the u.s. something to watch for.

>> thank you very much. okay. dom chu has the market flash. >> check out what happened with alaska airlines. the company is boosting 60% as the profit nearly doubled in the december quarter just quarter end of december on lower fuel costs. that boost dividend yield to a 1.2% yield, higher than both delta and american airlines, the stock, you see there, up by 3.5%, brian, as a result of the move. back to you. >> wow, thank you very much. speaking of the airlines, the main airline etf, the xal, is hitting the highest level since march of 2002. so, mandy, pop quiz time. >> i hate when you do this. >> name the best performing stock in the index over the last 12 months. >> that's impossible. >> could be any of them. >> it's not any. it's one of them. >> i don't know. which one? >> let me give you the answer. hawaiin airlines. look at that.

soared, more than doubled in 12 months. >> how about that. >> fact finding mission in hawaii. >> they have thee best record of all airlines of being on time. helps when you don't have to deal with sleet and snow. >> or just new york. >> all right. there you go. hawaii, congratulations. meantime, a huge news today from the nascar world. plus, what might be the ultimate hail mary pass for advertisers. later on, soda stocks popping, but is the space getting too bubbly? stick around to find out.

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cnbc tomorrow, treasury secretary jack lex is live from davos with the "squawk box" crew at 8:15 eastern right here on cnbc. the super bowl is also the biggest advertising event of the year, not just a good football. it's more than a week away, and nbc reportedly getting $4.4 million for each 30-second commercial. chairman and ceo of the ad agency has been with us already, with us all hour. this is your baby. this is your thing. nbc has the game. >> yep.

>> unlimited pricing power? >> think about it. over five years, pricing increases have been 75%, so i heard 4.5 million for 30-second spot. what's fascinating is 40% of all ads are 60 second spots. >> that's double or is there a discount for going -- >> there's no discount. 14.9 billion going to be spent around super bowl advertising. it is 130 million people viewing it, and now the amount of activity before, during, and after online as well as offline is at an all-time record. so this is one of those mainstream major opportunities to see a mass audience and what's great about super bowl advertising is it's become like the academy awards of advertising. >> right. >> it's really viewed by all consumers. >> talking of those consumers, is it translating to them buying products advertised?

like, is it actually worth it for the advertiser to spend that much? >> what's interesting is brand awareness for super bowl advertising is 15% of what's viewed. regular advertising is 9%. it's 60% more impactful from viewership, and no question that over time with other marketing and continue new ities in the y you have purchasing power of brands for the super bowl. >> you're an ad executive, take us in the room. do you want to be the one leading the creative on the ad. if it hits, you're a hero, but if it flops -- i got to imagine the pressure of being on a super bowl ad has got to be out of the world. >> no question. that's what everybody lives for. >> do people -- people want to be on that campaign? >> absolutely. every great creative person in the world wants to have the pressure and opportunity to create a super bowl spot.

>> i would be in the fetal position sucking my thumb. no thanks. >> do you think tom brady is nervous to play in the super bowl? he lives to play in the super bowl with 25 seconds left. most in the advertising industry are like that. they want the opportunity to showcase something innovative and creative and take risk. >> pays to have a bad ad because they tweet about it, around the cooler, oh, man, that ad stunk. at least we're talking, right? >> what's interesting is the level of sophistication of the average person to advertising on the super bowl who is not an ad executive. >> really? >> people have a strong point of view. there was a great david quote, average consumer is not a mormon. it's usually your wife. >> yeah. switch gears, jeff gordon announcing, big nascar star, my favorite driver, personally, announcing this year coming up

is the last full year. he's retiring from full time rides. one of the biggest stars. you own one of the old race cars. you're a car guy, miles. what is the impact when somebody like this -- this would be like tom brady retiring. >> absolutely. first of all. he's loved by old and young, male, female. >> used to be hated. now he's loved. >> absolutely. what's fascinating is i thought he was 38. he's 43 years of age. ageing exceedingly well. >> last year, the best year in a long time. still doing it at 43. >> going out on top is terrific. look, he's loved by fans. he's loved by advertisers. he's a big draw to nascar racetracks around the country, and he's very important to the sport. i certainly don't -- i think if there's a challenge to copy his impact, also, it's -- he's important to hendrick motor sport. they have two other drivers.

>> yeah. >> look, i think there's -- any time someone who's been so iconic, like michael jordan leaving basketball, tom brady leaving football, wayne gretsky leaving hockey, it's -- >> there's a seminal moment in sports. >> anyone else who could be the next jeff gordon? >> brian is a race car guy knowing more than i do, but there's other iconic figures in the sport. he's been there for a long time, over 20 years. >> everything is a young man's game now. >> absolutely. >> good to go out on top as you say. >> absolutely. >> thank you, miles, great to see you. >> pleasure, great to be here. >> come on again. all right. final trades crossing for the day, settling down at 3% to 46.33. oil had seen, you know, i don't want to call it upside moe ten tum, but it seemed to firm couple days ago, but not the case today, down 1.44 a barrel.

there you go. >> a sale call on a name i'm sure you all know. we'll give you the answer if you stay tuned. >> massive fire ripping through an apartment complex down the road here in new jersey. full details behind that devastating video. this is a huge, huge fire, and thankfully, nobody was injured. when we come back. outside of the nasdaq, where we bring you live daily market updates. and today, we have a very special free gift for you. so many viewers e-mail us wanting to know our secrets on how we trade options. so we put our secrets into a new book. and if you're one of the first 250 people to call in right now and just cover shipping and handling, we'll send you a copy for free. look at the rate of return we've made on some of our recent options trades, versus what we would have made had we just bought the stock. there's no comparison. to make the best returns in today's market, you have to learn how to trade options. and our book will show you how to do it for free. jon has been trading options for more than 30 years.

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welcome back too "street signs," shares of amazon.com, reporting the company purchased an israeli startup designing net computer chips for data centers, paying a reported $350 million for it. now nbc universal is a minority investor with a content sharing partnership. shares from amazon, again, up 4% in today's trade. over to you. >> thank you very much for that. let's bring up a board of the three indexes seeing what's going on here. 5 nice rally going on. thank you very much. mr. draghi, 208 points to the good side for the dow. that's a gain of over 1% for all three. you know, i think it's the best winning streak so far of 2015, four days in a row we have been

moving higher. can we make it five? well, tomorrow, we find out. >> yes, there's going to be cynics, and i'm going to predict headlines today for tomorrow. you throw $1.3 trillion u.s. dollars at a european problem and all you get is a percent on the dow. people will say that. >> there are nay sayers. people will be disappointed. >> try monetary stimulus rather than a large antitank weapon. >> something we do every day at this time. stocks we think you need to know about today. today, first stock is sandisk, a big sale call. >> they cut revenue outlooks last night, okay, saying revenue's going to fall. got that news, analysts react, web bush cutting the rating to neutral, cutting the target to 67, about 14% below the current price of $78. don't be neutral if you're 14% below the current price.

>> right. absolutely. okay. up next, rockwell automation, assuming new coverage on this with a buy. it was originally a neutral. >> change in analyst there. added rockwell automation, rok ticker, boosting the target to 135 from 120. that's 25% upside from the current price. >> next up, citi upgrades to, they boosted coty, calling it 13% up to here. >> okay. this is today's under the radar name. it's mealdyne, a new stock. just rolling out. credit swiss deutsche bank with an out perform, $21 target, but more bullish at $24 target, 30% upside to mpg. >> and, finally, ubs starting

coverage on general electric, ge with a buy. >> big call, saved for last for a reason. find out in five seconds, $30 price target, upside, critical of ge capital called a pivot, but ubs calls it a divot, a hole you dig in golf, because of the earnings problems, but they like the industrial segment earnings growth. that's why there's a $30 price target on ge. >> out with earnings before the bell tomorrow morning. let's get to the earnings squad that's there. give us a preview, melissa. >> welcome to the earnings squad, tim and cnbc's mary thompson. 15% of the s&p 500 firms reported so far, 74% above estimate, 7% met estimates, 20% fell below estimates, we talked about ge, so, mary, what are we looking for at this time? >> get the numbers, 55 cents up

from last year, but i have a feeling people will not be concerned about what the company reports in the fourth quarter. they had an analyst day in december giving guidance. what people look for is what's happening with the oil and gas business, and at that point, the company said, with oil around $65 a share, we are looking for profits to be flat to down 5%. of course, oil's dropped since then. looking for the update on that. there's concerns on the stronger dollar, a head wind, they get 53% of the revenue outside the united states. they might -- i think there's some question as to whether or not ge gives any indication that they sell the rest of the stake in the consumer finance business before 2016. it's a possibility. they want them to model the sale in 2016, but if they get it done sooner, they might do it. >> 17% of the sales are tied to the euro, and already today, tim, there's been a decline in the euro. do you think that the estimates at this point have taken into account these head winds? >> how could they have?

the speed of the move is something a lot of companies talk about. talk about mcdonald's, something there, and ge, the energy infrastructure business is so important to the guys, and it's a long term business, and i think they continue to talk about the strength of that business and commitment to it. jeff is sold on that. i think china is going to be a very important place for the guys despite headlines, talk about china, that is core for the guys, and it's a great place. >> which they say is okay. how he puts it. >> an underperformer, down 7% last year. >> major relative under performer. there's rotations people are looking at ge. >> mcdonalds, another under performer last year and reporting before the bell tomorrow. this is really a show-me stock at this point, dead money, and the same store sales are disaster. in fact, in november, the worst same store sales in 14 years. investors listening for, you know, the economy's improving, gas prices are down, and what now? it's got a new chief marketing officer, a new u.s. president, have to revive sales.

they want to hear progress. this stock, look at mcdonald against wendy's, and it is severely lagging its peers. >> can you compare them? in other words, cmg is a high -- >> what about wendy's? >> okay. when people look at mcdonalds now, there's so much bad news in the price like the china food scare, probably 10 cents on multiple national hits. everybody knows this. the marketing hits this, andreas, an important piece. they need to do it differently. a high multiple. >> starbucks, after the bell. >> high multiple stock doing very well, multiple expansion, i think, certainly if you look at this, there's consumer packaging, 16% of single serve, multiple kensive to itself, especially if u.s. sales slow. >> if sales are slowing. >> growing 15 to 20% eps per year telling us they would do

that. revised down eps but revised up revenue at the last analyst. i long the name. >> all right, guys, thank you, mary thompson, tim, and tonight on "fast" at 5:00, on starbucks conference call trading comments. over to you. >> all right, melissa, thank you very much. we have a david versus goliath story in the soda wars, and david is winning -- again. >> we'll update you on the latest on the massive fire ripping through a new jersey apartment complemeplecomplex. no one or no pets were hurt. the most important thing. they were all accounted for. stay with us.

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wow, look at that. this is what it looked like last night when a luxury apartment complex in new jersey, not so far away from cnbc studios, caught fire. more than half apartments destroyed, and more than 1,000 people are temporarily displaced. amazing part here is that, thank goodness, no one died, and there were only a few minor injuries. apparently, all pets were accounted for as well. the authorities are investigating what caused the fire. we also want to point out that the building is owned by a publicly traded reit, avlon communities, and they released

the statement saying the cause should be covered by insurance and should not impact the company's financial condition. back to business now. while it's a solid start to the year for the three soda company stocks, one says the doctor is in. in the lead, that is. dr. pepper snapple up 10% this year, and pepsi and coke up 3 and 4% respectively. we have clsa here, and dps, dr. pepper snapple is not your favorite name, why do you suppose they have been, not just this year, but the last couple years, wildly outperforming pepsi and coke? >> great question. i think increasingly with the strengthening of the dollar, investors have been flooding back into the u.s. market, looking for domestic focused companies. dr. pepper's really just a u.s. operator, whereas coke and pepsi are major multinationals with exposure to declining currencies in emerging markets and shaky

economies. that's one reason. the other reason, though, dr. pepper, great cost cutting initiatives, well-managed, free cash flow generation, return to shareholders in dividends and buy backs. >> they are not your top picks, which we'll get to in a second, but out of the of the three we mentioned, you like pepsi, but not for the soda business, right? >> exactly. i think the snack business is remarkable and has incredible long term prospects. caters to fragments desires because of the different flavor delivery systems in the form of potatoes and corn. it's got an activist investor. that keeps pressure on them to deliver earnings or split the businesses, which i think would not be a bad idea. >> we're going to get back to the top picks as we said three times in a second, but did you say flavor delivery systems? >> i did indeed. chips -- >> is that called taste? >> they use potatoes -- paper -- potatoes, corn, and they vary flavors rapidly. they have a lot of flexibility

in the system. something that the big soda companies do not have. >> my ancient irish brothers were short on delivery systems. >> they were. >> for potatoes. monster beverage, the best performing beverage names this year. why? what's it doing right? >> a great stock. they have been the ultimate in great innovation, appealing to the young, cool, athlete, and male consumer, and they just keep innovating coming up with great products that keep them relevant. they connect on the internet. they did that long before anyone else did. coke has taken a 17% stake in the company. showing how keen they are to get the product overseas through their distribution system. so we have great expectations for the international operations of monster. >> beyond that, top picks, you like beer, increasingly cider. sam boston beer? >> different reasons, boston

beer, again, great innovation, catering to the craft segment, which is rapidly growing continues to expand, and yet they have hung on to market shares by really investing in the business, staying relevant, and so we love that. we love that company. the distributors love that company, even more important. they get the beer in front of consumers. with ab, that's a different situation. they are big brands that are under pressure. they do super bowl ads and certainly be exciting for the consumers, but the fact is, consumers want more fragmented interesting local beers, so that's the challenge. the reason we like it? we think they are ready for an acquisition -- >> of who? >> yeah, the big beer guy waiting out there is south african brew eerbreweries. it's an opportunity for serious cost cutting. >> you're ready for them to strike. >> absolutely ready. >> when i go out to dinner, i'll ask what flavor delivery systems are on the menu this evening.

>> you thought she was australian. >> no, she's south african. >> you said, they're all the same. >> that's not what i said. you can't prove it. i might have said it. >> thank you. pop quiz time. see if you can find a common thread between these stocks. newmont, netflix and constellation brands. nothing, except these are the stop three this year. so further confirmation this is a stock picker's market? >> perhaps more proof. we'll talk about it after the break. i've been called a control freak... i like to think of myself as more of a control... enthusiast. mmm, a perfect 177-degrees. and that's why this road warrior rents from national. i can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. and i don't have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. and i don't. and national lets me choose any car in the aisle. control.

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the relation volatility in the markets continuing today. we're seeing somewhat of a comeback this week. triple digits. 242 to the up side for the dow. is now the time to be buying stocks? doug sandler of riverfront investment joins us. it's been a wild ride so far which makes me wonder whether we should just be thinking about individual stocks. is now the time to be a good stock picker? >> you're asking a stock picker and my answer is yes. i think selection will make a difference. i think that's what happens as the market matures.

being more selective and not just playing the risk on or arriving off trade. but selection i think will matter, increasing willy going forward. and particularly in the u.s.. >> how do you know what to select? >> well, we have a three stage thing. number one, just pure valuation. we tell that yyou that large ca more attractively valued than smaller mid caps. number two, dividend stocks are better than nondividend stocks because i think capital discipline matters a lot. low interest rates, companies do stupid things. and if you have companies that don't have a lot of money in their pockets because they pay it out in dividends, they will do less stupid things. and we like the consumer. we think companies that indicator to the consumer in a period of unemployment going down, wage growth going up, and a nice little benefit here with the gas tax -- i mean with lower gas prices, that should bring incremental consumer spenkd. and then the dark horse is energy. energy stocks. i don't have to tell you how badly they have been beaten last

year and several years before. that i think will be a dark horse for 2015. >> dark shohorse energy. consumer staples already at an all-time high. are there any particular consumer stocks that you would be looking at? >> i'd go more toward consumer discretionary. and i think companies that indicator to sort of middle class, they were the first to cut their spending when job security was at risk or gas prices went up. so i like the retailers. if you look at some of the drug store companies, that's one area we're looking at. i also like the home builders. they have been beaten up a little bit this year, but rates go down, people have jobs, household formation goes up. people ultimately will build houses and those that have houses are will move up to the next level. so we like both of those spaces. >> doug, thank you very much. and by the way, the s&p has wiped out its 2015 or should we say january losses. i think nasdaq and dow are just

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time ever breaking down their driver/partner demographics. the company surveyed 600 drivers in 20 of its markets nationwide. their motivation summed up in one word. it's flexibility. 87 purse 87% want to be their own bosses and set their own schedule. as for where they're coming from, almost half of them previously worked in the for hire transportation industry. they say uber's schedules allow them from taxi shift work which can be costly as far as barriers of entry are concerned. and while most are men, 14% are women who say the job once again affords them that work/life balance. this compares to new york city where just 1% of drivers are female. and study shows they're may go going an average of $19 an hour. more than half of their drivers they say drive more than 30 hours a week. and in a conference call this morning, uber said in december alone, it added 40,000 new drivers nationwide. back over to you.

>> thank you so much, kate rogers. this is the irony. it comes also on the same day where place like south carolina are banning uber. p. >> uber will probably ultimately win. we'll see. the only thing down this so far this year, the vix. >> "closing bell" is snegs. welcome to the closing bell. i'm kelly evans at the morning stock exchange where we're picking up some momentum. >> and i'm bill griffith. it seems the market does like a good old fashioned central bank bond buying program. no matter the continent, no matter where it's taking place. although we did dip lower briefly this morning. you see a little bit of red until the rally got back into gear and especially in the last hour or so. so now here we are, the 15th trading day in a row where the dow