brian. >> that's just cruel. >> i will see you tonight on "fast money" at 5:00. we're going to be talking about gas prices how low can they go. tom kloza will join us and the ceo of unilife. >> we'll see you tomorrow. do not kick robot dogs america. >> i'm try not to. >> "the closing bell" starts right now. good afternoon and welcome to the standing hour of "the closing bell." i'm simon hobbs in for bill grific. >> i'm sara eisen in for kelly evans. we're at the session high. hopes of a deal with greece and its creditors are taking stocks higher. more than a triple digit gain on the dow. >> absolutely. 143. investing legend bill miller telling kelly evans yesterday he expects a fed rate hike in june.

today a top analyst says miller has the june part right but it won't happen until june of 2016 one year after this market believes it will happen. he's here to explain why he thinks first move from the ned won't come until then. >> and union battles are percolating across america. the port slowdown out west and the governor of illinois blocking unions from collecting fees from workers that benefit from union deals but are not actual members of the union themselves. we'll talk to afl-cio boss richard trumka. he'll join us exclusively with reaction. >> basically, if you look at the broad market it brings us positive for the year. dow currently up 140 points. session highs give or take a couple. s&p 500 2,067. and the nasdaq up 1.25%. joining us now, our "closing

bell" exchange karen cavanaugh, mark spellman from alpine funds, eric ristman from russell investments, ron wiener from rdm financial group and our very own rick santelli. okay. let's kick off then with -- let's go to karen first. karen, what is this for? is this all about greece do you really think? >> no. i think we worry a lot about greece and it's a throwback to 2011 where we were worried about contagion, but right now greece is a small part of the eurozone economy. it's not really about greece. there are a lot of other worries investors are worried about. we're in the middle of a sustainable economic expansion. it's driven by accommodative federal policy central banks around the world are accommodative. liquidity isn't drying up anytime soon. earnings are coming in better than ever. corporate earnings we have

about three-quarters of them reporting so far. we have growth of over 4%. and it's just normal volatility. that's part of getting back to normal. markets are volatile. >> i find it interesting, ron, given that backdrop that was just laid out and korchtscontinues to lay out that you like u.s. large cap stocks. those are the ones most exposed internationally. >> we've been saying that for a number of years. we've been staying there not just because we think it's the west place to invest we think it's safer. there's all kinds of volume 2i89 out tilt out there. you can make money in u.s. large caps, it will be two steps forward, one step back but the ceos have done a great job for the past eight years. let them go they'll be fine. >> if you're a buyer, ron, over what time period? what's your time horizon if you're a continual buyer? >> we're fully invested have been fully invested for the equity portion of portfolios because we don't see a 10% decline or a 12%.

people can't time whole market cycles. how are they going to time 10%? just stay in and take it like the speaker before. we don't see that much volatility. there's too much money floating around the world, so if it does slip, 4% 5% 6% buy or just stay. either way. >> it sounds like mark you would agree with a lot of what is being said especially this whole u.s. growth centric outlook and how that relates to what you're picking in wur portfolio. >> i agree with everything he said and i would also emphasize income generation as well. these large cap stocks, they're the ones who have a propensity to have a big dividend and raise them going forward because as you were mentioning the earnings are coming in great, free cash flow is coming in great, dividends are going up. that's a very good backdrop. >> and yet not to discount the point but to add value to it if you would, utilities have been absolutely hammered over the last week. dividend-paying stocks down 4%

5% over the last week because people are concerned interest rates generally are rising and like bonds they will fall in price. >> i think there's two reasons there. the first one is if you go back five, ten years, the correlation of utilities to interest rates is extremely high. some people would say it's up to 90%. so you got to get the rate call right to get utilities right. and i would say that's -- >> although they are rising today along with lower yields. let's get the rate call right. rick santelli it looked like we were going to go above 2% on the 10-year. pulling back a little bit. is the trend now for higher interest rates? >> well i don't think the trend could be for higher interest rates, but i certainly do think that there's a very very significant possibility of testing the level that we closed out last year and began this year right around 2.17%. and i think, you know, should that occur, at that point we could make a better call on the outlook, but remember we started out last january and this january in a very similar

fashion in treasuries and after that for 2014 treasuries never were in the red, meaning if you would have purchased treasuries on the first day of '14, awed profit every single day. well, is that going to be true or not for 2015? it's true thus far but the melt up is very interesting because it seems to coordinate with a lack of significant downside further downside on the benchmark european sovereigns especially after that big meeting, and it semz toems to correlate with a little more stability in the dollar. it's hovering at decade-plus levels but it has been hovering of late. >> let me ask you a very practical question rick. with so much going on at the moment, for those that are lucky enough to be able to remortgage and may have remortgaged already and are wondering if the rates will come down to make it effective again, particularly with a flattening so a 30-year remortgage would be a really good idea potentially, do you

think we're bottoming out here because of what is happening with u.s. growth and the fed or do you think that the ecb actually starting qe will start a further move down on interest rates? >> i think if there's any big activity post-march regarding qe in europe it will be bad news not necessarily good news so i think yields would go down but i would say this. anybody out there that's looking to refinance or get a mortgage i would assume that these rates are as good as it gets because i think we're splitting hairs on the benefits moving forward versus the risks. >> you know just looking at the price of oil, want to introduce that into the conversation. eric, we saw a 5% drop in wti crude oil that's obviously hitting the energy names. with a more than 100-point ral yea on the dow, does that mean we've broke than correlation where it seemed at one point tick for tick the equity market moved with oil? >> i think the market is really obviously been processing the impact of lower oil prices and a higher dollar on corporate

earnings. i think we're going to get through that maybe we're through it. i don't expect oil to continue to -- i did not expect it to continue to move up even after the recent movements. and you got a basic supply/demand imbalance. there's more supply than there is demand. both of those sides are inelastic. it will take a long time in our minds, at least the end of the year, before you see any rebalancing of that and oil moving back to $70. i think you will see the equity market crunch ahead with the understanding low oil prices are good on balance for the u.s. economy as a prior speaker said. particularly for the consumers. >> you have been frantically nodding through a lot of that. last word from you. >> i get excited. the truth is oil prices low ser good for everybody. i can't imagine, i think you buy the oils that have gone down more than they should have. this is an opportunity to buy oils, but i think it's good for the entire u.s. economy, make us stronger. it's all better. >> you know karyn, i did hear

that from coke's ceo when i spoke to her this morning. should see it throughout the year. do you buy consumer staples, discretionaries? >> i love the consumer discretionary sector. earnings are up 9%. the estimates were slashed, that was inappropriate. energy sector earnings are down 20%. still overall growth on the s&p 500 companies is up over 4.5%. so, yeah consumer discretionary, technology. i like industrials as well. that fits in with the whole global economic expansion. so i think there's definitely good things for the consumer coming up. >> i agree. when you get back that to energy comment you made i do think we're starting to see the bottom in energy. >> do you really? >> i think so. >> because we just heard we weren't to the bottom. wasn't citi calling us down to

$20 yesterday. there were some big voices saying this isn't it. >> we've been underweighted and i'm still underweighted. we're trying to let the stocks tell us when they're bottoming. you saw diamond offshore terrible numbers, terrible outlook, down 8% on the open closed up 3%. that's a positive sign for the stock. going forward i think there could be m&a. you want to buy the names with down stream. i think the service companies though, if we're at $50 for a long period of time, those earnings are still susceptible. i would stay away from those. >> do you believe the stocks in general are a lead indicator? you just said you're looking at the stocks as a lead indicator on oil. >> no no no. i'm trying to find when all the sellers are done. when i see the stock go down 8% and close up 3%, that's a good sign everyone is washed out. >> you don't think the basic price of oil is the main driver here? >> no i don't think -- >> they can foresee where that's going. >> no. i think you need to get it directionally. if it's going down or flat that's one way to invest or if

you think it's going up. the exact number if it's $22.50 or $60, that's less important. it's directionally what you need to nail. >> thank you all for your time. >> here we are about 50 minutes to go before the closing bell. we're looking at a 140-point rally on the dow. breaking a two-day losing streak. s&p 500 up more than a percent, and the nasdaq in the lead here simon, up 1.3%. apple is a big part of that story. >> up next on the program, we will pick up that conversation about dividend paying stocks under the gun lately. our own jeff cox says they're still a good bet this year. jeff will be with us to state his case and have it cross-examined. >> also ahead, general motors in the crosshairs of activist investors pushing for a seat on the auto giant's board, plus an $8 billion stock buyback. the pros discuss how this could play out and how much heat this puts ceo marry barra under to

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well for the first time in

three sessions we are looking at gains. 45 minutes left to go before the closing bell and the dow jones industrial average is up 135. the s&p is up a percent. nasdaq up 1.25%. these are session highs, simon. >> you don't need me to tell you stocks paying a healthy dividend did great but when experts are predicting they'll tail off this year. now that we're more than a month into the new year, our own jeff cox updates us on how that forecast is working out. good afternoon jeff. >> good afternoon. good times for dividends seem destined to last at least for the rest of this year. every time this trade gets written off, we see wall street offer new reasons to stick with dividends. credit suisse recently outlined a few of those, low bond yields reasonable pricing, and strong cash flows into dividend stocks. dividends are projected to increase 20% through 2020 and that dividend payers have been outperforming by 7.5% per year

since 2009. now howard silverblatt tells me dividends are on pace to grow over last year. finally, dividend etfs have been easily outperforming the broader market. we can see them withd wx international fund and the spdr global is up 8%. the fear is yields can rise and make dividends less attractive. even with slowly rising yields which is probably going to be the case dividend payers should remain ahead of the pace and continue to be a solid play amid a volatile market. while many have tried writing this trade off for several years running, it looks like dividends will remain a solid play for the year. >> i suppose we should point out the elephant that's standing in the room jeff. as these dividend payers rise in price, as people chaise them to buy them so the race of dividend they're paying falls. it's simple math. >> you have to be careful with this. it's a good point, simon.

you have to be selective in the category. i think you want to look at areas like telecom and even though utilities fell outside of bed last friday son-in-law ofme of those stocks. you have to watch for high debt companies. that's why i think the etfs are a good play especially the globally diversified ones. they will help you kind of sort the wheat from the chaff. >> stick with us for a moment because we want to bring into the conversation on daily dividends here patriarch equities ceo eric schiffer. eric has some pretty strong thoughts. eric, you're not such a fan of dividends. you like share repurchases or reinvestment as a use of cash better? >> i do, i do. i think it makes more sense. you know, to me an organization, if it's really a strong orths, organization, is going to continue to reinvest in organic growth. they will look at share repurchasing and akacquisitions. if you're an investor and you want to give money, why just get your money back?

you should be getting a much greater turn. so for ceos that are running companies, the fact that they have to give a dividend to me means it's lacking in creativity. they're lacking in putting money to better use to get the yields that you can get because of the multiples that those earnings should be able to deliver for the share price. to me i think it's a bad move. i think there are good stocks -- >> hang on hang on. we can stand here and pontificate on whether it's bad news, but it's been the major theme certainly through last year and arguably heading into this year. the major buyer of stock or one of them has been ceos buying back their own stock and i don't know what the figure is but half a trillion dollars is what springs in my head. i mean, we could debate the rights or wrongs. it has worked for the likes -- >> you're making my argument though. >> okay. >> in many ways. you're saying that they're buying back their own shares. to me that suggests a strategy if all ceos were to take it to

eliminate the whole concept of dividends. if you're reinvesting in your shares that makes good sense. you're using that money and that capital that you wouldn't just give to investors. >> here is the problem with that. buybacks were a great formula for the market while the market was as cheap as it was. the market is not as cheap as it was anymore. we're getting up to now the point where we're hitting at least historical norms for valuations on stocks if not even a little bit beyond where we should be. so those buybacks start to get more expensive. it just gets to be in like i said a volatile market a much more sensible play to just say let me just pay you to own our shares rather than take the chance of hoping that the market continues to keep climbing. especially when we see we have a flat market this year. i think that's just as dicey of a strategy. >> you know eric i just want to make this point.

i'm lucky enough to have a lot of conversations on air with ceos and off air with ceos, and whilst jeff makes a good point, we're at a stage now where some of them still have to buy their own stock because as soon as they stop buying their stock, people will say, do you not think it's worth a buy anymore? some of them have painted themselves into a corner where they will probably end up buying stock way beyond valuations that in hindsight will prove to have been worthwhile. that's the argument. what do you think? >> i think, look in some cases that may be true. i'm looking at a much broader argument and i'm also taking into consideration that the whole concept of dividends if you're giving it out, it prevents you not just from repurchasing shares but prevents you from doing acquisitions prevents you from organic growth and that doesn't include the whole concept of taxation. with a stock, if it appreciates, if you sell it you have capital gains. if you sell a dividend that you're -- excuse me when you're paying tax on a difficult dendvidend,

you're talking about incredibly high rates especially if you live in beautiful places like california where you're talking almost close to 50% of that money is gone. >> so the final question i have it goes to you, jeff since you were sort of the proponent of dividends in this conversation. aren't these stocks expensive? if you look at the utilities and consumer staples, they have been rich in terms of their valuations because they offer steady paying dividends, they're defensive, but can the earnings growth keep up with these kind of valuations? so where are you looking in terms of dividends that you like that may not be that expensive? >> i think what you want to look for are the companies that are paying -- that have a low payout ratio right now which there's still quite a few of those because they have been using so much of the money for buybacks so the payout ratios have been staying low. i think there's still a lot of those companies out there. you have to go company by company but look for some of those etfs. the funds out there are doing

very well and, you know, i also don't necessarily buy that this is a mutually exclusive thing, like it has to be either dividends or buybacks. i think companies have been doing both. as the market is more expensive, as m&a gets more expensive, i still think there's at least another year's worth of room to grow for dividends. >> well it certainly was a lively conversation. thank you both with two ideas out there on dividends. jeff cox and eric schiffer ceo of patriarch equity. >> with the markets up now 135 points on the dow, taking us into positive territory for the year, worth pointing out in the wake of the conversation we've just had, top gainers today, wyndham up 8% marriott up 5% all on that buyback and returning cash to shareholders acceleration argument. >> and those are all the companies you follow. >> well they just happen to be clock clogging up the top of the market and they happened to have reported today, two of them. >> up next richard trumka speaks with us exclusively. a lot of issues to tackle

including a nasty union fight at the ports leading to a shutdown over the weekend. the slowdown that could be a speed bump for the entire economy of america. also, we've got to talk about the controversial move by the governor of illinois to weaken public unions. that's all coming up here on "the closing bell." ou're up there, i could use some help. smart sarah. seeking guidance. just like with your investments. that sets you apart. it does? it does. you're type e*. and seeking another perspective is what type e*s do. oh, and your next handhold... is there. you don't have to go it alone. e*trade gives you the support and guidance to make informed decisions. are you type e*?

136 points is the gain on the goudow so far today. market is in positive territory and some of the stocks and

trades that have worked so well or so badly being reversed. as you can see on the s&p 500 we have on the nasdaq 100 -- thank you, we have but six stocks in negative territory. if your eyes are really good you can spot the winners. >> energy is the loser. that's what you need to know. illinois governor bruce rouner use using executive authority to block fees. the government says making the fees mandatory is a violation of the first amendment right since unions end up making political contributions. >> labor unions also in the news due to the labor fight in the ports on the west coast causing a prolonged slowdown or lockout depending on your point of view that's having economic implications not just in the west but across the nation. with us is richard trumka president of the afl-cio. he is the nation's main labor

federation. mr. trumka also importantly penned an op-ed in "the new york times" entitled investors should know the pay gap between ceos and workers and we'll discuss that in a moment. let me first get your thoughts on the situation in illinois where workers who benefit from deals made by a union but who are not in the labor union according to this ruling may not now have to pay fees. what do you make of that? >> well first of all, let me correct something that sara said. this isn't collecting dues from nonunion members. it's collecting dues from members. and, look by his own admission, the governor said he's got a $2 billion deficit trending towards $13 billion in a few years. he's got an unemployment rate that's higher than the national average. and he's got a poverty rate of 11.5% or 11.5 million members, people in illinois living in poverty, and his big idea is to

make war on its workers to lower their wages. we have a different agenda of course. our agenda is to raise wages, and it's to do things like improve the minimum wage to have comprehensive immigration reform and do a number of other things including address the pay gap between ceos and workers. >> richard, what about this argument though -- i understand your ideas on his politics and what you think he's trying to do, but what about this argument that it is a violation of free speech to make those union members or nonunion members that do have to pay fees pay fees and contribute to political complaining that the people might not necessarily agree with? >> well let me put it to you this way, sara. you know what? a lot of the workers in illinois don't agree with what rauner is doing, but they sure have to pay their tacks. so if it's a violation of the first amendment rights for a union member to pay for union

dues for some decisions they may or may not agree to there ought to be a first -- >> that's a totally different issue. >> let me take you back to the more fundamental question here. you said at the beginning that you thought they were union members. my understanding and i'm not in illinois and i'm a guest in this country, my understanding is actually he's trying to build on what the supreme court said last year in illinois when it said look, for those health care workers, the subset of workers who find themselves in this position, they don't have to pay dues necessarily, and he's trying to extend that now more broadly and trying to say to those that are benefitting from a collective bargaining arrangement, you don't necessarily have -- >> so here is what he's saying simon. he's saying he wants to have people that don't pay for the services that they get, like us -- if i go to a service station, i could get gas and not have to pay for it. they get a collective bargaining agreement and all the benefits

under it and he says they don't have to pay for it. what he's doing is actually unconstitutional and that will probably be challenged very, very quickly. >> but importantly he's linking it through to this argument -- what you said may well be true. he's bolting on an argument that sara mentioned that says they could be using the cash for political contributions. maybe that's the chink. >> i'm sorry, i didn't follow you. i couldn't hear you. >> he's adding to the argument you're making and that sara referred to by saying actually there may be a political contribution element within that transfer and that's what he's standing up against. >> well, that's not true because he didn't say take a little portion of the dues away. he said take all of them away and, again, let me say this i'm a taxpayer in illinois. he's doing stuff to lower my wages, and i don't want my wages lowered. should i be able to withhold my taxes from him? isn't that my first amendment right as well?

>> it's certainly a debate and yet to be determined because he is now executing this by way of executive order. mr. trumka, way tonight move on to your op-ed which is also a hot, heated top irk out there, and that is whether companies should have to disclose the ceo payout ratio, how much the ceo earns versus their employees. why is this so important? i thought this was getting done under dodd/frank. >> well, it was, and it is done now. they're just challenging it. moody's investor service says when there's an excessive ceo pay, that means you have a weak board, and you have bad decision making. it also -- it's proven where there's a high gap between what the ceo makes and what the worker makes, there's bad moral, there's turnover, there's poor products. so this is important for investors to know when they make decisions. if this company has a gap where they're paying their ceo too much it's probably a poorly run company and we as investors should be able to know that and

use that information to make decisions with. >> well i think there are two arguments and one you just sort of responded to and that is why does this help the shareholder which is what the s.e.c. rules are intended to do. the other is that it's actually very complicated to do. it doesn't sound like it is but a lot of these companies, especially multinationals have employees overseas. should they be counted in the average? should the contractors be counted in the average? >> here is what intel said. intel said that this would cost them about $15,000 to calculate. it's not that complicated. and lynn turner the former chief accountant of the s.e.c. said it's cheap, and if the company -- it isn't cheap for a company, they probably have other management problems that are making it not cheap. so it's a subterfuge for them to try to get away from it because this is what it will do. it will not only let people know that the company is well run or badly run and that moral is high or low, it will also be an an

septic because people will be able to look at that and say this person is getting overpaid compared to their workers and that will have an anti septic effect and be better for shareholders. >> it's good to see you, mr. trumka. richard trumka the president of the afl-cio. >> thanks for having me on. i really appreciate it. >> much more to come on "the closing bell." activist investors putting general motors on notice what they want, what it means for ceo mary barra. >> and let's just note that the dow is now up 146 points on the session overall. sue herrera is here with a cnbc business news update. >> indeed i am simon. here is what's happening this hour. the obama administration has set a goal of raising some $2 billion through philanthropic

investments to fight climate change. it's trying to bridge the, quote, valley of death, which is the gap in funding between research and development and commercialization that holds back startup companies. would you believe apple at $150 a share? that's what barclay's analyst told cnbc today. he said the company's free cash flow is, quote, mind blowing. apple trading higher. and connecticut wants to keep its billionaires happy. so much so that tax officials are going to great lengths to keep them in state. in one case they set up a meeting with a super rich hedge fund owner who was threatening to leave connecticut. well, go to cnbc.com and you can find out what happened. coming up on "fast money," jim cramer talks with spirit airlines ceo ben baldanza at 6:00 p.m. eastern on cnbc. more "closing bell" after a quick break. there's confidence. then there's trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence.

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session highs. the dow up 151 points. the s&p also up more than 1%. the nasdaq riseingrising. coca-cola is the biggest winner. shares are up 3% after beating the street on earnings and revenues earlier this morning. >> this is a stock that you cover famously sara. >> getting back at me.

>> you spoke to the cfo personally earlier today. >> talked about the cheaper gas prices helping consume efforts, also talked about higher prices of coca-cola helping. obviously sales are down overall but that pricing helps. >> general motors gaining ground. a group of activist investors including david tepper and kyle bass are pushing for a seat on the board and a hefty stock buyback to boot. we'll get to gm in a second. phil lebeau joins us with breaking news on tesla. phil? >> and simon, some of the headlines are coming to us from reuters citing an internal memo in which elon musk apparently wrote that if there is not a clear path to positive results in china, that there may be a shake-up of executives for tesla in china. reuters also says that the sales in china last month just 120 cars. of course, tomorrow we'll be getting fourth quarter results in tesla and at that time when we get the fourth quarter

results, we'll find out just how poorly tesla did in china in the fourth quarter. elon musk last month in detroit said we had really poor results. that's the tesla side of the story. by the way, that stock up just a little bit in trading today. now, let's shift gears and talk about general motors because this has been the talk of the auto industry today and the fact that you now have a former member of the auto task force aligning with a number of hedge funds saying we need some of the cash that general motors is sitting on right now. harry wilson who was a member of president obama's auto task force, intimately familiar with the workings of general motors. he today said he wants to be elected to the gm board of directors. he's planning to nominate himself. he is representing four investor groups including three hedge funds. what do they want? they want general motors to buyback $8 billion in company stock. clearly, if that were to happen it would give a big boost for the gm shares which, frankly, have been stuck between $33 and $36 a share. general motors is sitting on a mound of cash right now.

$25.2 billion in cash and securities, a total liquidity of $37.2 billion for mary barra and her executives. that's what they're working with. they have said they plan to increase the dividend by 20% once it's approved by the board of directors. in response to harry wilson saying free up this cash and let's elect new members to the board of directors, gm said the board and management have demonstrated their ongoing commitment to return value to shareholders through a series of previous actions, cluck the repurchase of $5.5 billion worth of stock from the u.s. treasury in 2012 and the initiation of a strong quarterlily dividend of 30 cents per share on its common stock in 2014. as you look at shares of general motors over the last year yes, it's back over $37 a share right now, sara and simon, but keep in mind this is a stock that many people look at as a value trap that it's stuck here in that $33 to $37 range with a mound of

cash. that's why a lot of people are saying free it up and that's what the activist investors are looking for. guys, back to you. >> phil just whilst you were speaking, i looked up the market cap of gm and we're at $59 billion. can you just repeat to me the cash figure that you gave there? of that $59 billion market valuation. >> their cash on hand is $25.2 billion at the end of last year. so at the end of fourth quarter. you add in a $12 billion revolver, they're sitting on liquidity of $37 billion. now, we should point out, simon, general motors has said and mary barra has said this as well they want to have a fortress balance sheet. in other words, they never want to get into the situation that they saw themselves in back in 2006 and 2007. but this is a far different company now than it was then. that said it will be interesting to see the tug of war going on between gm's management and the activist investors. >> let's see what happens. phil, stay there because we want to get more insight on what this

could mean for gm and for ceo mary barra. james mely is with us to join the conversation. you have been keeping an eye on that. do you think general motors there's a disconnect between mary barra's plans and investors' plans when it comes to the cash pile? >> right, absolutely. i mean when we take a look at their balance sheet and see half the market cap of the company is just sitting there in cash and that an investor can look at the chart and say, hey, take out today's move go back 12 months from now and i'm pretty much exactly where i started, that's frustrating for investors, and this big buyback that these activists are calling for would do a lot to boost the stock price which most believe is extremely undervalued at these levels. to have that much cash and to have that kind of sentiment amongst your invests doesn'tors doesn't make much sense. >> phil, i guess it comes back to you and the politics and the structure of the shareholders here. you know it doesn't matter whether you agree with these guys. time and time again you will see

an activist come through and they do succeed in boosting the price. icahnapple is fairly obvious. karl icahn in general is able to turn these around. that's an awful lot of cash to have on hand. will they succeed? >> simon, kyle bass said to cnbc in davos, they've got too much cash. they need to start freeing it up. he was very vocal about that. what happened within a few weeks? gm in announcing their fourth quarter returns said by the way, we plan to ask for an increase in the dividend by 20% and, oh by the way, we may do more in the second half of next year. so kyle bass has already succeeded in moving general motors in this direction. clearly, they believe they can do more. harry wilson would be a voice for them on the board and a voice that they think could get elected because he comes from the auto task force. it's not like you're electing somebody who doesn't know this company intimately. >> and they've already been making changes on the board recently. >> i would focus is on that one thing, phil. does any company -- how many

companies generally are allowed or permitted or wish to retain what you called a fortress balance sheet in the present environment as you look around? >> but keep in mind the auto industry and auto companies tend to have a lot more cash on their balance sheet than do other typical companies. and i know people will sit there and say, well it shouldn't be that way. if you go back and look at when the industry has gotten in problems in the past during down cycles, and there will be a down cycle for the auto industry at some point, you need that cash on hand. do you need as much as they have right now? clearly the activist investors don't think so but that's going to be the argument here. >> final word james. you're the trader. what do you do with the stock? do you bet that the activists will get their way and buy it? >> right. i think that's what i would be looking to do. they've already managed to get them to raise this dividend. it's clear that they're being heard on this and the market seems to agree. we're seeing a nice pop in gm shares today. if we're able to break through

current resistance levels the stock should continue higher if alone on the optimism that this buyback will go through. >> all right. thanks to you both for talking about this. we'll see what happens with that cash pile. phil lebeau and, of course james ramelli. we have 15 minutes to go before the closing bell. we're looking at gains across the board. apple reaching a record in terms of market cap and its price gain. >> only four members of the dow in negative territory. it's been an up day for most of the session on wall street, but as we've seen recently it says here anything can happen in the final minutes of trade. let's hope we don't plunge 151 points within those last 15 minutes because that really would be pretty down. dominick chu will tell us what's moving next.

12 minutes until the end of trading. cometh the hour cometh the man. dom chu has the main movers. >> let's start with bad news first. on the jobs front, oil field services company halliburton is going to cut up to 8% of its global workforce amidst a challenging market environment driven by the decline in oil. the company did say none of the

job cuts are due to their pending acquisition of headachebaker hughes. martin mar yet thatieta posted better than expected revenues on stronger demand for cement. also authorized a new stock buyback program. let's cap things off with a look at beverages. alcohol first, molson corps shares are weaker after cautious comments after its conference call. and the positive story comes via soft drinks. coca-cola shares higher after the company reported better than expected profits and sales driven by strength and higher priced drink brands and better cost controls. the ceo did say, however, he expects 2015 to be a transition year in an uncertain and volatile macroeconomic environment. sara, simon, back over to you. >> another transition year. >> another transition year. although we'll see what pepsi has to say.

they report tomorrow. stocks may be up big today but hedge fund manager dan loeb is calling this a haunted house market. kate kelly has the details. what does that mean exactly, kate? >> more choice words from dan loeb who is known for his poison pen. right now he's calling it a haunted house market for a vashth of variety of reasons. decline in growth. depegging of the swiss franc. the disconnect between the fed's plans and the market's expectations of those plans when it comes to rates. rising populism in europe and what he calls a surprising lack of leadership in the u.s. in foreign affairs and promoting democracy abroad. he said his strategy is to invest in companies with consistent growth. he's looking for market dislocations to add exposure so perhaps a leg down from time to time is not going to be bad for his portfolio or his strategy. i also want to point out third point added a new position a japanese robotics company and they were up last year a little lets than 6%. not great compared to the s&p,

sara, but 23409not a terrible performance. at least in the black. >> thank you very much kate. we have ten minutes to trade until the end of the hour the session, and halfway through the show. >> wild swings in the final minutes of trade have become the norm for us. we'll keep you on top of all the action. do not go anywhere with the dow up 142 points. less than ten minutes before the closing bell. >> cliff-hanger. you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family. and when it's time to plan for your family's future we're here for you. we're legalzoom, and for over 10 years we've helped families just like yours with wills and living trusts. so when you're ready start with us. doing the right thing has never been easier.

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an important day on the markets. the gains we've had have taken us positive as far as the s&p is concerned for the year overall. joining us is brad from adviser shares and our own bob pisani. two different views of the market. bob has a naturally sunny disposition. bob has an all short portfolio. >> i think the important thing is we have the two things that matter most greece and oil, both moving the markets today. hopes for a deal on greece moving the markets overall. oil has been weak and that's hurting energy but not the rest of the market. i think that's very important, that oil is not dramatically moving the rest of the market around today. other than that, dollar has stopped going up for the last several days. i think that's also a pacifying influence on stocks. >> hell for you when things are going so well presumably.

>> well that could be the case. we have a different opinion. we think that while the glass is half full for bob, it's half empty for us. mutual fund cash is at record lows, 40-year lows. margin debt on the new york stock exchange has never been higher, and we just think that the breadth of the market has also been very poor and commodities and lower yields suggests a much more subdued forward looking view. >> but if the dollar stops going up, we know that's a major problem for commodities. the dollar rally has been killing things. for the last week and a half the dollar stopped going up and i think things are beginning to calm down. >> did you see the china numbers this morning? >> okay -- >> i have to interrupt you. it's very naughty because bob has an earpiece and he knows they have to go to commercial break. you did get to ring the opening bell. >> it was great. >> we can talk about this after the break. brad and bob, we're back after this. r? your boss?

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order yours today at weathertech.com or call 1-800-car-mats weathertech floor liners. proudly made in america. two of the top gainers or three of the top gainers on today's 136-point rally on the dow -- these aren't in the dow but you know what i mean have reported results. wyndham worldwide, starwood. bob pisani is here with brad. this is about share buybacks and dividends and what's your take? >> revenue per available room which is the main metric was up

7% essentially for both of them. those are great numbers. not only are they getting good occupancy rates, they're raising their room rates. in fact, they went out and said don't expect room rates to drop. they're expecting room rates to increase through 2015. if you're looking for a cheap hotel room like i am always it's not going to happen. starwood said they're doing great. i think that's a very good sign for the overall economy. >> brad doom and bloonlglam? >> we're looking at s&p 500 earnings in the last four months they've come down from $134 to $119. that's a very dramatic drop. it's only occurred a few times in the last 20, 30 years. >> although in fairness s&p capital iq says it's gone up 60 basis points over the last week. >> yes. >> things are improving. >> that's right. we bottomed -- brought the numbers down and we bottomed on those numbers. >> sure but that's day-to-day. we're looking at a few months. >> how far lower do you think

the market will go? >> i think we're easily in for 15% to 20%. >> yikes. thank you very much. brad, bob, "the closing bell" with sara and simon. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm sara eisen in for kelly evans. simon hobbs will rejoin me in a moment. we are finishing the day on wall street in the green. first time in three sessions. finishing out the day with 136-point gain for the dow jones industrial average. s&p 500 up 21.5. the nasdaq up 1.3%. the only losing group in the s&p 500 was energy. driven lower by the 5% move down in crude oil. joining today's panel former stockbroker, andrew stultman from stultman law offices, our

own robert frank. also with us for more "fast money" trader tim seymour and terry dolan is finishing up his trades and will join news a moment. in terms of price action tim seymour, one thing that was different was we got three-digit moves in the dow. we hadn't seen that in two days and we got a gain for all three major indices. haven't seen that in three days. what changed? >> i think some of the earnings were very very strong at a time when one of the previous guest mentioned s&p earnings hadn't been that great. coke surprised people by showing organic revenue growth. that kind of follow through from companies that we're expecting to is helping the dow. if you look at the overall tone of markets, greece setting the tone macros setting the tone. gold remains weaker. the china cpi numbers over the night give you a sense they are going to cut rates. saudi arabia involved in quantitative easing effectively with oil prices. everybody is easing and that's very good for markets.

>> that is certainly. i also want to point out apple becomes the first u.s. company to close officially here with a market value above $700 billion. robert frank, that is certainly a milestone. new market cap high new record high for apple. >> yeah. just going back to the coke earnings for a minute that tell us about what is happening globally and in the u.s. roberto would have gone ballistic at volume growth of 1%. but the pricing power in the u.s. which is griffin adriven a lot by increasing wages. we've heard companies talk about the wage growth problems and the cost side. i think the recovery of the rich we've seen is spreading to the rest. it's slow, but i think we're really seeing the start of it. >> we are on the lookout for wage growth and we got a jobs report today, a jolt which is sort of less than the bigger monthly jobs report but it showed we have the most job openings in this country since back in 2002 2001 above 5

million. >> isn't that the $64 billion question right now? is the u.s. growth and this engine that really is going in the right direction, is that going to be able to take us out of all the economic malaise we're seeing with respect to other countries from russia to china to japan to greece? and that's kind of i think what the markets are waiting to see. it's been an up and down market. it's a question whether the united states will get us out of the mess or whether every other country will weigh us down. >> luck which we have you here to answer that question. >> i'll try. >> but you can't say it remains to be seen. >> it remains to be seen. juf juf to >> you have to take a judgment. >> there are things you can do to hedge the market and the most base sic don't put your eggs all in one basket. spread your rixssks out. >> don't you get paid to take the risk on the market? isn't that the point of it? >> if you're willing to get into

some markets that have a high degree of risk, you have a chance to be compensated for that risk. my point is it's too early to determine what's going to go on. nobody knows for certain. >> tim seymour, that's a good question. >> i get paid to take risk in these markets. i think europe will continue to outperform. if this is late cycle and for europe it's probably early cycle, but if you like at industrials they should be responding. look at the european autos. i think they continue to grow. if you look at the eps momentum in european stocks it's 9% or so to the s&p's 4% or 5% if you look at the multiples. that's where you put risk on. that's a place you can feel comfortable because i think you are implicitly hedged by a currency. the euro going weaker is very good for these economies. i think the u.s. financials are another place you want to look because these are guys who are trading at very interesting price to book levellevels. a lot of these guys are increasing dividends, the yield curve is steepening. >> of the financials that you

mentioned, the second worst performing sector what's a better bet financials or something like gm which has activist interest in the prospect they could be buying back shares or returning cash to shareholders to a more accelerated pace. of those two, which do you like the most? >> gm is a stock you want to be long in. if the activist angle to me i think is being overplayed. if you want to look at the cycle in truck groat and youwth and where lower input costs are bringing it to gm this is where reasonable value comes in in a cycle going higher. gm has much more upside i think near term than the financials although i think the financials give you a conservative way higher as the market recovers. >> let's talk about what else is in the news today. terry, i think you're with us now off your closing trades here. correlations stronger u.s. dollar, weaker oil prices two

headaches for the market for companies lately yet we got a 130-plus gain on the dow. what does that tell you about how everything is being correlated right now? >> i think the fact that the t.o.w. has dow has traded in this trend for 800 points back and forth has reflected the uncertainty to that answer. in the fall going into the end of the year i was concerned about the headwinds that might be coming out of europe and the justify offset of the increased dollar on the -- offsetting the impact of the consumer's benefit from lower oil. that's been an issue of my concern for some time now. whether or not the manufacturing index or manufacturing sector i should say will run into a little bit of a steam wall going further as the euro and the price of competitiveness overseas becomes weaker. >> just out of interest what is your -- now that you made that very important question that so many people are worried about, how do i react to the strong dollar and the currency effects? is it just a question of time

horizons? i asked this question earlier. if it's a good franchise now isn't it a good franchise now still where the dollar is slightly higher if you have a time horizon of three or five years? >> i think you're right. i think it's a question of the time horizon variety as well as the fact that with some uncertainty that grows from time to time in the market and the flight to safety through the dollar, both accommodations while the dollar is giving us a little bit of a time. the federal reserve is also focused so much on the internal balance they're taking their eye off the ball on the external balance which would be a somewhat strong dollar with a good balance of payments. we have a high dollar which the fed wouldn't want to be quoted as saying they would like it to come forward but to solve the balance of payments problem, they would like it to come lower. >> there's so many themes we're talking about, andrew what are you watching about? are you watching the economic data, the fed, or greece? the headline on today's market was hoption fores for a deal.

>> i take a look at the market with a pe of 20. last year it was 17.5. the historical pe is 15. this is a pricey market. we have all these land mines like greece out there that could sink the bismarck and obviously a lot of other issues as well. so it's just -- it's a tough, tough market. >> you're talking about price to earnings talking about valuation. >> yes yes. and you look at it from objective standpoint. it's a pricey market. if earnings continue to accelerate accelerate, great. but if there's a hiccup, if there's a hiccup overseas i think a lot of people's expectations sorare so high -- >> you're very good at asking questions. do you think there's a hiccup that will derail the markets? as we go into greece we're relatively immune -- >> the emergency meeting of finance ministers. >> correct. because you have a strong economy here or because you have qe in europe we're now immune.

do you believe we're immune? >> i don't think so. i think if greece is foolish enough to pull out and try to stiff its creditors, that's going to be a huge problem. if we hit a hard landing in china like many people are expecting, that's going to bring that market down. >> do you think those things are likely to happen? >> i think there's a greater rick of those things happening than what the market is pricing in right now. >> fair enough. am joo >> that's an interesting statement. we're a few weeks away from when greece runs out of cash and it will need an extension of this type of bailout loan or it will need to renegotiate something that the greeks have been dicking in their heels with this new government. do you have to prepare for that risk have? >> of course you do. volatility is going up. you have seen the vix dancing near 20. you have had volatility north of 2% on the s&p in 15 out of 25 sessions or so this year. so we know greece is a question that mass markets up in air.

they don't have the majority they need and the supportive parties are ones that are into restructuring and not necessarily looking for forgiveness. if i'm looking for markets, what am i watching? continue to watch the rur ken si currencies. the yen began to weaken up. it had been stuck around 1.17. >> 1.19. >> but now that we have moved back to 1.19 1.20 that tells me people are putting carry trades on. watch gold because as gold trades down it tells you the markets are feeling better. >> final word to you, terry. what will you be watching going into tomorrow? we have big cap earnings pepsi earnings, and we continue to get this economic data which has shown a little bit of weakness but still overall pretty much on trend on a strengthening u.s. economy. >> well, again, i think the bigger points are the wins that were just discussed coming out of europe issues on volatility issues on greece.

i think short term data is kind of incidental. the market gets a reaction here or there but it's about looking at the data as a combined effort annually rather than one specific piece of data and i think the earnings will be fairly in line and i think the market right here is fully priced and is vulnerable. >> all right. we'll leave it on that note. thanks, everybody. be sure to catch tim seymour later on "fast money" at 5:00 p.m. they'll be talking to oil price information services who says we have not yet hit the bottom in oil. don't miss it. that really is the debate. >> as you can see on the screen the ceo of sealed air will join us shortly. >> let's send to to dom chu. >> we're watching shares of accorda therapeutics. down 10%. now flat in the after market. they're the target of kyle bass. he and other interested parties

have filed a petition challenging the pat tents they have for their multiple sclerosis drug. you may really kyle bass had said he would be targeting the u.s. drug business specifically with regard to the validity of its patents. those shares you can see there moving. also here first solar shares gaining ground about 5% late in the session into the close after climbing and it's still climbs in the afterhours. this after apple's ceo tim cook said that apple will partner with first solar on an $850 million solar farm. its first partnership with first solar, and this is the interesting part they're speaking, tim cook making these comments at stanford university at the goldman sachs technology and internet conference. speaking of apple, this is interesting. it's the first company ever in u.s. history to close with a market cap of over $700 billion. so add that to the list of milestones, simon and sara that apple has racked up. now a $700 billion company at

today's close, guys. back over to you. >> only a matter of time before people talking about the $1 trillion mark. >> you know they will talk about those large numbers before they get there. no? >> maybe. it's getting large. >> it is getting large. $700 million. our next guest says investors can forget about a fed rate hike in june. in fact, they can forget about it until june of next year. he believes all the arguments for raising rates are flawed and says fed chair janet yellen wont won't make a move until the middle of 2016. >> and conventional wisdom says young people should load up on stocks, but now financial advisers are steering people away from stocks. find out why. that's later on "the closing bell." it's a fact. kind of like mute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda.

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so yesterday here on "the closing bell" kelly evans interviewed noted investor bill miller who remained bullish on the stock market despite warning a federal reserve interest rate hike is likely coming sooner than later. >> we saw that with employment report how quickly bonds can move when people think fed tightening can move up. i think an earlier guest he thought it was a zero chance of it happening in june. i think there's a psychological imperative to doing it sooner rather than later. >> our next guest says bill miller is off by one year and he doesn't expect a rate hike until the middle of 2016. let's bring in steve, chief u.s.

economist. this is a really off consensus call, steve. why are you making it? >> well the reality is if you look at the domestic economic conditions, i hear all this discussion about the u.s. economy accelerating. if you look at the gdp number we're probably going to have in the revised report for the fourth quarter, combine that with the negative report in the first quarter, average growth for all of 2014 is about 2.3%. fourth quarter over fourth quarter growth will be 2.2%. that's where the committee has been growing over the last five years. there's no acceleration in underlying economic activity. nominal gdp growth is running around 4%. we've had a nice pick up in in employment in the last couple months. that's squeezing productivity. that's not going to be allowed to go on very long by corporate america who needs very strong earnings to justify the multiples that they're getting in the stock market. so either we're going to have a decline in the earnings numbers or we're going to have multiples be maintained by stronger earnings which are going to mean a slowdown in employment going forward and i think that's

really going to be the limiting factor on the fed as well as the deflationary forces taking place overseas that we could also import on a stronger dollar. >> wow. that's a very long list of nonideal situations we find ourselves in. >> and we could keep on going. >> what we're talking about is being at near zero zero interest rates having come through a massive force feeding ofq e into qe into the economy. you don't have to have a perfect world to start raising rates. you mentioned deflation but almost as an afterthought. >> well i mean the deflation story is very very critical but there's a wrong concept i keep hearing about the acceleration of economic growth that isn't happening. last month we had a horrible retail sales number, horrible durable good numbers. this month we have a strong payroll number and we say it's great. it's not great. it's been the same thing for the last five years.

>> steve, i don't disagree with you and i don't know whether it matters, but the key here is that's not what the fed is telling us. if you look at their communication, and they've been pretty out when it comes to that. just look at today. san francisco fed president williams was just out talking to "the financial times." he's talked to steve leaseman saying liesman saying it's coming sooner and sooner. and we've talked to fed presidents who say it's not unreasonable to expect it this year. do you not believe them or do you think they're going to change their mind? >> i do not disagree with they think it's reasonable. however, it's reasonable based on the assumption we're going to have an acceleration in underlying economic activity. we'll have been acceleration of inflation and an acceleration in wage gains and i haven't seen any of those basic assumptions come through. therefore i have to question whether or not reasonable is based on a forecast or reasonable is based on reality. if i look at reality today, it's not reasonable. if i look at it based on the forecast, it's reasonable. and their forecasting records have been pretty abysmal and i

think that's what's going to show through by the middle of the year and they will be pushing it out like we have been doing with the bank of england. they have been preparing everybody for a rate increase for quite some time too. we have to take the reality as it comes through. >> steve, i love somebody that takes a contrarian bet and is willing to go out on a cliff and this is about as far out on a cliff as you can possibly be. i mean in terms of the jobless numbers being very close to what we were prerecession levels having the economic data we had come up from the labor department on friday i guess do you have any recommendations for how investors can profit from this if you're right even though so many people probably don't think you're right? >> well there's two things to do. first of all, if i'm wrong and the federal reserve does raise interest rates, i'm going to tell you right now it will be the best long duration trade you could do buying the upcoming 10-year auction because it would be a monitor policyl -- monetary policy move.

especially given the situation that's taking place in europe and asia. remember, the china inflation number were abysmal. we'll continue to see that. we're looking at global deflationary environment. that's critical. >> steve, you're saying something very important here which is potentially very good advice to people. the treasury market or the 0 10-year will rally if they raise interest rates because it's such a bad idea. the consensus of the market is actually it might not shall a bad idea. it's probably due in the middle of the summer. so i'm just trying to kick the tires on that and see why treasury -- >> tell me when the consensus has been right. >> well, because what you're saying -- >> that's the question. the consensus -- >> they'll feel it's so wrong they will automatically dive in and buy treasuries. they'll go fair enough we're strong enough to take this now. >> foreign investors will come in on the stronger dollar and buy it before they have the

opportunity. >> all right. it certainly is an interesting idea and you got a point. the consensus has gotten it wrong on bonds for the last few years. thank you for joining us with your opinions. >> with the dow up 139 points at the close of the market, let's get a news alert now on general motors with kate kelly. >> thanks so much simon. statement just out from appaloosa management one of four hedge funds agitating for the addition of a new director to the board and asking for an $8 billion share buyback. here is what appaloosa, which hasn't commented specifically on these plans says. they say that the buyback and the addition of wilson to the board is the best means of enhancing shareholder value at the company. they also say interestingly they've had a dialogue with gm over the years about a number of critical issues including that they have a lack of transparency on executive compensation. they say that gm needs greater discipline and efficiency in terms of allocating shareholder

capital, and they say finally that gm should address these issues productively and refrain from acrimony as this discussion takes place. so interesting words, simon and sara, from appaloosa. all activist fights have the risk of ending up sort of a bruising battle or at least a war of words, but in this case it seems that appaloosa is urging caution and cordiality. >> but also piling on the pressure for gm to make the move. thank you very much for the update, kate kelly. certainly watching that story. well everybody loves bubble wrap, but did you know that bubble wrap maker sealed air also makes those little packing peanut that is seem to go all over the place when you open a package? the company's ceo tells us what his sales are saying about the economy. >> and are young people relying too heavily on stocks for their retirement plans? financial planners are apparently increasingly starting to change their minds on how much stock people in their 20s and early 30s should really be buying. we're back in a moment. first impressions are important.

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not only does sealed air make bubble wrap widely viewed as america's favorite packaging material, the company sa great barometer of the u.s. economy. >> most recently sealed air announced its moving its global headquarters from new jersey to north carolina. here to talk more about in an exclusive interview is sealed air ceo. >> good evening. >> before we get onto that great day for the stock on results

today, up over 10%. market cap $8.6 billion. what is the transformation you're making? >> we're taking those iconic brands and those iconic products, we are the inventor of bubble wrap we're the world leader of packaging for protection we're also the world leader of meats packaging and meat equipment and a very large number two -- >> pass me the fake meat. let's see if the cameras can pick it up. this isn't real beef. >> although you thought it was. you got excited. >> sorry. >> is it a rebounding u.s. economy driving these results or is it specifically moves you're making that are industry related? >> it is industry related and we are actually transforming our company. the packaging which we have here is just brand new innovation which -- and this product, which is called fresh tray is enabling

meat to get as close to the shelf life you're getting, the better the meat is believe it or not. it's just outstanding innovation. >> congratulations on a blowout quarter. i'd love to hear your opinion about whether lower oil has had an impact? >> it helps a little bit on input costs but our transformation is about making this company a very modern company. we're reducing our working capital as a percentage of net sales from last year from 17% to 14%. we have a way forward. we are continuing to cut costs but we also are starting in our change the game strategy which is all about innovation. >> what about the fact that you u.p.s. and fed ex are changing their rules? >> that's great for us. >> let me explain. it's not just about the weight of a package, it's the volume. because what you do is you make those air filled bags. you encourage amazon or whoever to have big bockxes stuff in and

put your stuff around it. surely they're going to have smaller packages with less of your filling. >> that's what you think we're doing. what we're really doing is we reduce damage. our job is to help the customers of fed ex and of u.p.s. and all the others in reducing their damage but given what they have done and needed to do what we are doing, in fact is we are reducing the size of the packaging by bringing innovation into the protective packaging through new you solutions. actually it's better for us also. >> what percentage of your business is online residential private commerce and how much will that grow in the next five ten years? >> in our protective packaging division, which is our smallest division today, about 20% of our sales are e-commerce. so it's not that big but it's growing very fast. >> should governor christie be worried about you leaving the

state? >> we don't have so many jobs in here. we had a small headquarters and a plant which the plant is obviously staying here for the time being, and what we're doing in north carolina is that we're building a campus where we're going to have the three divisions together where we're going to have our research center. it's going to be a huge collaboration location. >> jerome why not new jersey? what was the reasoning for not keeping it in new jersey? >> very quickly. >> we have looked at what would be the best option for the company, and we had screened several states -- >> and it's warmer. most importantly. >> and decided to go to north carolina. it's a great state to attract people. and we're going to have a magnificent campus for making people work collaboratively together. >> merci, jerome. the ceo of sealed air. >> we have a breaking news alert from courtney reagan.

>> we are here at the goldman sachs technology and internet conference in san francisco and apple's ceo tim cook just finished his keynote address. it was to a packed room standing room only. he dressed much more probably for investors and they talked about a lot of things here on stage, not the least of which was what apple was going to do with all of that cash it has. tim cook said, look in april on the earnings call they're going to make a next announcement about possibly what they might do saying in the past they have done buybacks and dividends that they are not cash hoarders even though that is what some people might think. he talked a little bit about apple pay. said the success has been much faster than he could have ever imagined. and that at panera bread for example 80% of all transactions are done using apple pay. he says he doesn't want to collect customers' data because he's not in the business of where you shop what you buy, and how much you spend. that's not something he wants to know. he also broke some news saying that they are partnering apple,

with first solar to create a solar farm in monterey california, saying all of the data centers are powered by renewable energy and climate change is real and the time to do something about it is now. those are some big headlines from the ceo. i understand that first solar stock is moving on that news as well. he also said that they have 2,000 banks and credit unions going well over 90% coming when we talk about apple pay. something that he thought he would never be able to say in february after only just launching in october. lots of headlines here out of this conference from apple's ceo tim cook. back to you, simon and sara. >> was that the hedge fund manager david tepper leading him around? >> oh i'm sorry, i don't know. if it happened right behind me i don't know, i didn't have eyes in the back of my head. but moderating the conference was gary coen. >> okay. >> it's gary coen. >> good clarification.

otherwise you'd be watching tepper with increased interest. thanks, courtney. >> coming up we'll hear from one investment adviser who is flipping conventional wisdom on their head saying people in their 20s should not load up on stocks to save for retirement. we'll find out what they should be doing. >> first, sue herera joins us with a news update. >> hi, so i simon. greece's foreign minister took his government claims to berlin and received a clear rebuke. the germans saying all reparation issues have been judicial. >> you dishlly settled. russia needs to cut its budget by $8 billion in 2015. the country's economy is being battered by falling oil prices and economic sanctions from the west. you just heard the discussion on interest rates earlier in the show. there's also more. richmond fed president jeffrey

lacker said the fed should raise rates in june citing strengthening u.s. economy. record number of americans renounced their citizenship in 2014. the catalyst the foreign account tax compliance act which requires foreign banks to reveal any americans with accounts over $50,000. for more on that story, go to cnbc.com. more "closing bell" in a moment. what are you guys looking for? claims! legend has it these hills are full of 'em. it can take months for an insurance claim to surface. claimin' takes patience. aflac paid my claim in one day. they got some new-fangled kinda one day payin' machine? hehehehe yea, i got aflac at work. aflac... in just one day, we approve and pay. one day pay, only from aflac. aflac...

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breaking news on procter & gamble gamble. morgan brennan has more on that. >> hi, simon. that's right. former ceo and chairman of home depot frank blake has been appointed to the board of procter & gamble effective immediately. mr. blake will serve on the audit and governance and public responsibility committees of the p & g board. he was ceo of home depot until november of 2014 and just retired as chairman of home depot earlier this month. frank blake, former chairman and ceo of home depot will join procter & gamble's board effective immediately. >> wanted to mention, it's a high powered board of p & g. ter this as proctor and ganler & gamble

is in the process of choosing their new ceo. it's interesting to have blake's experience having just successfully engineered a ceo, what investors saw as a smooth ceo transition for home depot. someone in their 20s has 40 years to save for retirement and for generations the common belief was that stocks were the best place to grow the most over that amount of time. but some financial plainers are now steering young people we're told away from stocks. sharon epperson what's going on? >> well, i'll tell you what's going on? young investors are loading up on stocks in their 401(k) plans. in fact, 85% of the portfolio for the average 25-year-old is in equities. a decade ago stocks only made up a little over half. younger investors are increasingly getting the bulk of their equity exposure through target date funds were were the fastest growing investment. at a time when it's thought that younger investors can bear more

volatility and risk. the funds eventually decreationse exposure to stocks. they face over risks, lack of energy savings. half of those in their 20s are cashing out of that you are 401(k)s which may indicate it's a riskier time than conventional wisdom may suggest. >> stay with us. we want to talk more about it. pretty interesting, especially this idea of whether staying out of the stock market is a good idea for young people especially considering our story yesterday. remember 92-year-old man from that small town in vermont who surprised everyone in his little burg by leaving an $8 million fortune to the local library and the hospital. the fortune made on the salary of a janitor toby investing in the stock market simon. >> joining us now, rob arneault chairman and ceo of research affiliates. rob, welcome to you. you actually subscribe to this

correct me if i'm wrong. >> i sure do. >> why? >> i sure do. well fidelity did a study in which they showed that 41% of young adults in their 20s and 30s when they lose their job, they find they have to liquidate their 401(k) plan in order to make ends meet between jobs. when do people lose their jobs most often? during a recession. when do bear markets happen most often? during a recession. what does that mean if they're 8 80% to 100% equity allocation is whacked during a recession? it means their portfolio has gone down in value. they liquidate during a bear market. they get hit with penalty taxes, so they wind up with a triple whammy. >> so are you -- do you think that this advice has always been wrong? is it only occasionally wrong when you're in bad times, or is it something new because of lack

of stability in the economy? >> i think this is more pertinent now than in the past but i do think this has always been true. i think young adults need to start out cautiously. your first $5,000 or $10,000 that you invest is very very appreciate. and if you start out cautiously and build your risk as your risk tolerance grows, as your retirement kitty, as your savings grow you wind up being able to take on more risk as your wealth grows. when you're first starting out, you can't. >> rob, i think you're right when you're first starting out it's very difficult to be able to figure out where to invest and to invest properly. i think the issue is that many young people are confusing saving and investing. the first thing, as you said with that first $5,000 needs to be saving that saving that money in case something happens like you lose that first job you only had for six months that you thought was going to last for

three years. and budgeting, which a lot of young people don't do. so a lot of people don't do. so i think those things have to come before you start investing which should be done for the longer term but still many advisers i talk to say it is wise to have a bulk of your portfolio for retirement, again we're talking about a longer term investment portfolio, in stocks. 85% may be too much but it's not just 40 years old a 20-year-old has to save. it's more lishg 60 years or maybe even longer depending how long they're going to live so they need to be -- make sure they have that growth in the portfolio for that longer life span that many people have. >> now, the other element here that's i think overlooked is how you invest that first $5,000 or $10,000 makes almost no difference in terms of how much wealth you have when you're 60. ramping up the aggressiveness when you have a little bit more money invested how you invest, whether you invest aggressively or conservatively when you have

more money, is what really defines how much you have to retire on, not how you invest the first $5,000 or $10,000. people's risk tolerance is shaped heavily by their early investment experience. millennials are much more risk averse than the baby boomers because they've been whacked by two horrible experiences in the aftermath of the tech bubble and the global financial crisis. >> very quickly, rob, i know we're running out of time. what is the alternative. what are you suggesting would be a better place for young people to put their money? >> i think if they start out with a balanced portfolio, 30% or 40% in equities 30% or 40% in bonds. 30% or 40% in liquid alternative alternatives whether it's cash or global diversification, t.i.p.s, reits, even a global bond portfolio something like that. it gives them broad diversification. there's actually some pretty

interestingly priced markets away from mainstream. but the mainstream stocks and bonds are very fully priced so that's another problem. >> i think, sara quick, i think the real objective would be to put away 20% of your pay. make sure you're not -- >> wow! >> i know that seems like a lot. i know simon. simon is freaking out. you start when you don't have a lot of responsibility. 20% -- >> you live in a different world, sharon from the rest of us. >> i don't live in a different world. i live in the same world but i know that when you get more responsibilities, it's much more difficult to be disciplined with the savings. you're not putting that money away, you won't be able to have that money for energies and that's why -- >> anybody can live on 80% of their income. >> we have to leave it there. sharon i will take investing advice from you over simon any day. sharon epperson and rob are anott. >> some people will go to any lengths to keep their money. i'm sorry.

>> no, that includes giving up their citizenship. turns out more than 3,000 americans turn their back on home of the free and the brave largely due to money. it's a story that's popular on cnbc.com today. it is right up robert frank's alley. we'll get the details on "the hot list" next. and the state of connecticut, a small group of hedge funders are getting special attention to the state to the point they'll do almost anything to make sure they don't leave. and that also is a robert frank story. we'll have it right ahead. >> i love this song.

let's get over to morgan brennan for a quick market flash. >> two big retail movers in the after hours. pier one imports down 29% in extended trading after announcing the cfo is resigning. it also significantly lowered it's 2015 guideanceguidance. on the flip side chicos is reportedly in advanced take over talks. sick more partners is looking to buy the company for $3 billion and we're seeing shares shoot up 11% in the afterhours. >> that's a big move on pier one. >> down 30%. wow. >> if the cfo resigns -- >> talk about big stock moves,

mind blowing is what one analyst is calling the cash flow of apple. >> and what impact that cash flow will have on some stock price was a popular story on our website. for "the hot list" let's check in with allen wastler. >> it's been an apple day. an analyst thinks free cash flow will propel apple stock up to 150 bucks. a more sobering story is kind of getting attention as well. a murder/suicide involving a jpmorgan employee comes on the heels of several deaths from employees at that bank. experts are saying don't put too much credence in that. still, it's getting attention. finally a piece by robert frank. it turns out 3,415 people have turned in their citizenship because of overseas taxes and bank regulations. that always gets attention. >> as do citizenship because of

taxes and -- >> he's got another story and it involves connecticut. please, don't leave. that's what connecticut is saying to a handful of billionaires who would have a huge impact on tax revenue if they picked up and bailed on the state. that story is amaze, and it is next on "closing bell." why are we so committed to keeping you connected? why combine performance with a conscience? why innovate for a future without accidents? why do any of it? why do all of it? because if it matters to you it's everything to us. the xc60 crossover. from volvo. lease the well-equipped volvo xc60 today. visit your local volvo showroom for details. startup-ny. it's working for new york state. already 55 companies are investing over $98 million dollars and creating over 2100 jobs. from long island to all across upstate new york, more businesses are coming to new york.

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it's no secret that southern connecticut is home to many ridge hedge fund managers. this is a good story, robert frank. >> the department of revenue in connecticut are keeping an eye on the top 100 taxpayers, not for tax evasion but tax retention. there are a half dozen who, if any one of them left it would impact revenue. the top 1% pays about 40% of the income taxes in states like california, new york connecticut, new jersey. in connecticut, it's so extreme that there's now this 100 group where the department of revenue is saying if there's a problem or you think you'll leave or we see a reduction in your wages, we'll make sure you are happy and staying and paying your

bills. this is an incident of income inequality. isn't it dangerous when a state gets so reliant on six hedge fund guys. >> do they get better roads? >> i'm sure if they wanted one. the state went to one hedge funder because they heard he was going to leave and said is there anything we can do? >> this is something distasteful about tax officials pandering to billionaires. i realize they can leave for a better tax haven, but it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. >> when you are the head of the department of revenue, you want to cater to your revenue sources. this is a progressive tax system in the states especially connecticut which has raised taxes on the wealthy. combined with the fact more income is coming to this top group. some years you get a big google cash in. any one of these facebook guys

cashes in $1 million, that affects the entire state. >> at least they are residents and paying tax. >> we're just about midweek. the earnings parade continues. >> on wednesday, tesla drives up with its earnings as does cisco and whole foods. we'll preview what to expect tomorrow right after this quick break. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 even on the go. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open a schwab account and you could earn tdd# 1-800-345-2550 300 commission-free online trades. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so when a market move affects one of your positions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 schwab can help you decide what to do. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 with tools like free live-streaming cnbc tv tdd# 1-800-345-2550 that give you the latest financial news and trends. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and bubble charts and price charts that let you see exactly tdd# 1-800-345-2550 how market activity is affecting your positions. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so when the time comes to decide whether to scale in tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or scale out you can make your move, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 wherever you are. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and start working on your next big idea. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 ♪ ♪ open a schwab account and you could earn tdd# 1-800-345-2550 300 commission-free

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another barrage of earnings set to report tomorrow. one of the names will be tesla. revenue of $1.23 billion. let's see what the panel is expecting from that and in general for the markets tomorrow. you're focused an volatility. >> i think investors have become complacent. the markets have moved 1%. last year 14%. year before 10%. this is the new normal. this volatility we have to expect. investors have become complacent when it comes to volatility. >> we took a two-day breather on triple-digit moves from the dow. this was on the up side where it hadn't been on the last few trading sessions. do you see volatility -- >> i think what the fed is doing, what the international land mines, we should expect a

lot of volatility. >> do we go higher or lower? >> i'm hoping higher. i'm hoping the engine driver of united states earnings keep pushing us higher. >> you mentioned tesla. a big theme will be how china did. there's some doubts and some warnings about the strength of those numbers. the other one, especially when talking international, pepsi is out after a good report from coke. though pepsi has bet big on russia. interesting what it saw in its results with the ruble down almost 50%. >> as you get to reports on pepsi. do you get to talk to indra privately on the phone? >> no. thank you gentlemen for being here. "fast money" coming up in just a few seconds. melissa lee, what's on tap? >> the latest from tim cook and also a stock that moved 13% in a

single day today. the ceo of unilife. >> sounds like a good lineup. >> "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site, i'm melissa lee. huge day for apple. officially becoming the first history to close the day with a $700 billion market cap and unveiling a new partnership with first solar. the new headlines straight ahead. tesla in trouble? january sales numbers are in. iran musk was threatening to take action because the numbers