with us. tonight on fast money, i'll be peeks with dave dewalt up 10% on the back of earnings. 5:00 eastern time and brian, see you tomorrow right? >> look forward to that. tomorrow, it is the big oil special. we're going to trace the oil fallout, banking, real estate consumer we're going to dive into the defining economic story so far this year. "closing bell" starts right now. and welcome to the closing bell everybody, i'm kelly evans here at the new york stock exchange. >> and i'm bob in for bill griffith. >> welcome, great to have you here. >> don't look now, the dow is flirting with 18,000 and the s&p 500 is only points away from a record close. i'm talking three points oil also surging today, now back above $50 a barrel. >> let's go back to the s&p for a quick second and make sure everybody's aware of this. we're three points away from record highs. >> 2,086, old high, 2,090, this

is a classic stealth rally. it happened very slowly. we saw material stocks energy stocks moving up. 4-1, advancing to the declining stocks throughout the day it's gotten better. slowly to the close. >> it's just not the kind of year that has felt like a record high year yet. if things change and we should mention the dow itself is only 100 points off. >> it helps that cisco is having a great day. semiconductors have had a great month as well. >> meanwhile, tesla is running out of juice. they hit hard the founder says his company still will be worth as much as apple, remember apple's worth $700 billion right now. he says that's what tesla will be worth in ten year's time. we're going to look at tesla and apple and figure out which you'd be better off owning for the next decade. the government seizing the personal bank accounts of small business owners without justification or accountability. this didn't happen in venezuela

or cuba or russia but right here in the united states. the irs is now facing increased outrage and scrutiny in washington and across america. we will speak with a business owner who nearly lost it all when the irs took it all without any good reason. you'll want to stick around and hear his story. >> joining us now, healther jones, jim lull and of course our own rick santelli. rob morgan let me start with you, we have a stealth rally, materials, energy stocks now, industrial's joining the party. what do you think is moving the markets right now? >> well bob, i just think the

fact that we've really consolidated in stocks over the last six weeks, and people are realizing, this is still a pretty good time to buy stocks. they aren't expensive. the economy is improving, even though we had all that volatility and retail verss were shaken out we have that fear back in the market and we have the wall of words. i think this even though we're near record highers, the earnings are there, and i think people should continue to buy here. >> heather. >> yeah. i think as robin eluded to it's only been a quick six weeks this year, so far, very sharp swings and energy markets and interest rates. and the dollar also and we also have increased in height and volatility although markets are about flat on the year from the great elections and fighting and intensifying in ukraine. i think when you look at fourth quarter earnings right now, they look okay but the jury is still out as far as the retail sales data that we got this morning as well as the help for the u.s.

economy. >> you like europe one of the factors helping the market has been a little bit more calm there. certainly europe has outperformed so far this year. what is it that you like about europe given the turmoil around greece and the ukraine is still there? >> exactly the turmoil i like more than the relative calm. i think we'll see the current attempt with the ceasefire between russia and ukraine go away past tense and increase certainly up to 228 where their bailout expires, they'll have to negotiate art for some sort of trim on their obligations. ultimately they'll return to their senses or go their own way which will will the likely route for countries like germany. so i think it's the volatility there, the uncertainty. especially in the hands of good active manager like ted white, fidelity international growth. really has focussed on europe as a good place to turnover the stones, look for the rubies and the rubble. we did this starting last year.

so far this year, among our diversified fund it is the number one performing fund this year. >> is that rick what you think this is all coming down to? germany thinking as jim said there it's for the best to let greece go? >> nothing would surprise me the point of his comment's interesting, if we look at markets, most affected by cease-fire. i don't think it's all fixed with putin. it was an extension of greece and the issues. i'm not sure it's going to be fixed in a way that we all are aware of today, so the markets are moving the things that are definitely not fundamental in nature, i like the reason tesla's stock moved. the momentum comes from a different place. also, i know as we saw down nine tenths down 8/10 this month. worst back to back performance since 2008 the crisis. question explain some of it away, the gs we're selling is at

a lower price, i get that but it was a weak number. i think the fundamentals are catching up to interest rates and maybe this very small change in direction we had for three weeks up might have run it's course. we'll monitor of course which side of 2% the ten years close out for the week tomorrow. >> and we have monitor as well with crude. everybody can see, up 4% on your screens. i want to talk more about oil. stay right where you are everybody, with the new report out highlighting the winners and losers from oil prices joining us now is one of the authors, welcome. >> thank you for having me here. >> thanks for being here. let's remind people what we're talking about. so much of the debate has been due by america or due by europe. you're looking at markets and seeing winners and losers from low oil prices what do you see? >> a few observations we highlight in the investment institute report lower oil prices in general are good for the world, good for the world

economy in the sense that oil-importing countries have lower savings rates than oil exporter. because of that, economic activities -- >> so they spend more. >> lower oil prices. and because of that the world is better and emerging markets in general are looking better over the median. that's why we call it a widespread. >> they are beneficiary, in india for example or japan, they're really going to see an economic upturn. >> absolutely. so when you have the specific winners, there's a few of them in emerging markets, energy and food have a higher percentage of the cpi indexes. so inflation, which had been somewhat of a problem in certain countries is calming down and that's giving room for monetary policing authorities to either lower rates like we've seen already in the case of india, in the case of turkey for example, or to increase rates to a much

lesser extent that would have been otherwise been the case. look at the case of mexico for example, look at the case of brazil, so when the, certainly inflation points like we're seeing right now create this over the past couple months, but when it dust settles, the world is going to look much better. but you have some countries, a few countries that are really suffering, really distraught. >> and you should stay away from in a quick nutshell which ones? >> you have to think about whether markets are doing a good job or not, and the shaping in those countries. there's a high correlation among those countries that happen to be important oil exporters and the institution of weaknesses. what we see in the report in the investment institute report is that for those countries that stand to suffer the most you

can look at groups the south areas of the world, another group of countries in the middle, malaysia mexicos, and then the weakest country, venezuela -- >> and russia as well? >> russia brazil and mexico are a bit of a different category just because the timing has been very unfortunate to that. >> we have to go in a minute but what should we do with energy stocks? >> so energy stocks have been struggling in a very important, in a very important way. same thing with credit. oil, intensive. we've seen already significant amount of auction for 2015. notwithstanding that it's likely that oil production will increase this year and next year we will see more important stuff. and there's a line between the old account and promotion that is being processed through the

system. >> let me just quickly put this our panel before we let people go. rob, jim, heather, are you investing in emerging markets, if so, which ones? >> i'm not investing in emerging markets. >> as bob noted, asia is a net importer, wind at it's back there, so does india. we definitely would be shy, anything to do with russia middle east, north africa and pretty much the whole of south america giving that they are net exporters. it's not just the price, it's the destablization and the weakening economies suffer most. >> rob morgan do you want to overweight stocks over bonds and small caps. what's the rational behind that? >> i think the dollar will keep going up here bob, and that's typically bad for big cap multinational. that's why i'd say, overweight small caps and back to the oil comment, you know if you look at the u.s. stock market over

the last 40 years, the stock market has performed twice as well in a dollar bull market which implies falling oil prices than in the bear market. you have to look at history there, oil prices are good. >> quick last word quick. >> sure kelly, what's important to the u.s. here and investors is that the two positives, both a strong dollar and lower oil prices have actually in the short run be two tahoe negative given the multinational earnings results and terms of oil with capitol expenditures and potentially job losses. >> that has to turn around to work out. thank you everybody for being here. appreciate it. deeper look at some of the emerging markets as we keep an eye on oil. rebound again today of 4%. might be helping out the market here. major index is not all that far off. all-time highs and that's certainly helping the s&p with almost 50%. >> tesla elan as the market cap could match apple's $700 billion market cap within ten years.

is it tesla or apple? which should you own over the next decade. the pros are going to battle it out. and onslaught of earnings after the bell today. aig, cbs, and kraft and break them down with a team of experts. and the internal revenue service back in the cross hairs, for seizing assets of small businesses without charging them with a crime. we speak with one person whose life will never be the same because of what happened. stay tuned for that. you just got a big bump in miles. so this is a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things. so you call pwc. the right people to get the extraordinary done. ♪ ♪

you total your brand new car. nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had a liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. new car replacement is just one of the features that come standard with a base liberty mutual policy. and for drivers with accident forgivness,rates won't go up due to your first accident. learn more by calling switch to liberty mutual and you can save up to $423. for a free quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

welcome back let's take a quick market check. s&p 500 is the little bit of drama here. 2090 would be a closing high 2090 and change. three points away from that. dow lagging a little bit, still only up 1.06%. declining stock, midcap index, new high i'm sticking with my idea here of a stealth rally. kelly. >> meanwhile, tesla shares are big after the automaker posting last quarter. >> phil was on the call last night with elan musk was more

optimistic than the numbers warranted. he was unusually forward-looking, phil. >> very forward-looking, bob. and very optimistic despite the numbers we saw in the fourth quarter from tesla. it's what he said about ten years down the road that's getting attention and comparing with where apple is right now. if you look at where tesla is right now and where they want to be in 2025 their a long way's from building a few million vehicles. that's property jex for 2025 according to elan. the market cap he is targeting. $00 million, that's right, the same we see for apple right now. here he is on the conference call explaining how tesla gets there. >> if you take this year's revenue around 6 billion, or thereabouts, and if we're able to maintain the growth rate for ten years, and have the probability number and have a

20 pe our cap would be the same as apples is today. >> a lot of people weighing in on those comments today. stifel out with it late this afternoon reiterating shares of $400 saying simply put, we do not believe there is a demand problem, that's jamie albertson, reiterating a price target of $400 a share. look at where tesla is right now. it would basically have to double to justify his price target. and by the way, guys what i find interesting about his comment is when he says if you're assuming a 20 pe ratio, tell that to somebody like sergio who is lamenting, he would love a 20 pe ratio. >> ten times, phil a lot of these automakers these days. where are we on the evaluations? >> i haven't checked lately but yeah, you're looking fwar lower than that. i thought it was closer to 20

13 somewhere like that. and that might be optimistic. >> all right, phil thank you so much, really appreciate it. should you share musk's outlook, which will be the better bet, apple or tesla? >> with us now is gene and destination wealth management and michael, you heard that comment from elon musk there, there's a lot of if's there, 50% growth rate for ten years, achieved 10% profitability and still noted, 20% pe is this at all in the realm of possibility, michael? >> it's a stretch, i think. and i was really frankly shocked when listening to the conference call that he actually went into these type of metrics. but whether or not apple or tesla is the better buy for ten years, i think really comes down to is apple in a space that's going to multiple in terms of it's addressable, sellable opportunity as fasts a tesla's opportunity is going to? and i don't think that's going to be the case in ten years. in two or three years, apple wins, don't get me wrong, love

apple. but i think in the long-term, if tesla stays on the same track, whether they're making their own cars or licensing to other automakers, i think tesla has the nug over a ten year period. >> wow, gene, make the case for apple here then over tesla. >> i think the markets are instilling huge room for growth. and they have about 20% market share and smart phones right now. that could be 50% market share. the tv i still believe in that if you put all together it equals about 45% upside to the current numbers for the street and there's huge room and there's the wild card. every investor wants some big wild card that they can shoot for. remember this term augmented reality, and this is light field is the technical term but think of google glass on steroids you would want to wear and that's the stuff, when we do our research around apple that they're working on. if you think what's the product that's going to follow the iphone. it's this augmented reality, you

blare all this stuff together they have some good stuff for the next decade. >> and yet michael, is tesla is tech company or car company? people think in assistance of car company, but they have the battery gigafactory opening in nevada, storage could be used for solar power, potential huge other business that elon musk seems to be developing with these gigabyte factory, is this really a tech company? >> i think there is a case to be made. i think that the car is really essentially the deliverable on the technology that they're developing. they also announced a system that will go in homes as well. i think where tesla really has a huge opportunity in is in terms of licensing, and in terms of what gene just said about apple, i agree with all of that it's just a matter of where they are on the life cycle of a company. no matter how much everyone loves elon musk they're a start-up company is what they

are. this is essentially apple, excuse me ipads if you will when they were recreating their new brand after steve jobs came back. i still think apple has a huge huge opportunity, we like the stock, but i just think the addressable market cars around the world, energy efficient cars around the world is just going to be a bigger market than apple's market over the ten year period. >> gene, let me ask you because people are making comparisons back to microsoft's peak evaluation, 690 million before the dotcom collapse. is it the ability to convince itself, and could they get into the car space in the future? >> the latter first, i think they could. i think sometimes the argument is going to be for not because apple probably ends up buying tesla eventually as far as what can really -- >> i think that's entirely possible. >> there's still a lot of room. there's still a lot of room to go in the core markets, and i would just continue to point out that there is there is stuff that apple's working on again

that's augmented reality, this is a huge deal. this is going to change our lives and right now, investors aren't even thinking about that. >> gentlemen, we're leaving it there. gene from piper, and cnc contributor, michael. >> they're converging, one used to be a maker of ipods, the other didn't exist. very kbikly all this technology is coming together. yep. we have about 40 minutes to go until the close here. dow keeps edging higher about 110 points. that puts it closer to the record high. you can see the s&p even closer. it's only about two points away in fact about 2.5 call it right now on a nice day up almost 1%. with 40 minutes to go we'll see if it comes within closer striking distance. rand paul fundraising, very successful on his push to audit the fed. yep, it's back. richard fisher weighs in with steve weseman and fisher does not mince words. >> no. plus the irs irs in the spotlight for freezing the assets without filing charges. our john harwood has a special

report from washington you won't to want miss. and we'll speak with a business owner who's life and livelihood was almost ruined because of what the irs did, that's next coming up when "closing bell" continues. you've got to make every second count. banking designed for the way you live your life. so you can welcome your family home... for the first time. chase. so you can. what makes it an suv is what you can get into it. what makes it an nx is what you can get out of it. introducing the first-ever lexus nx turbo and hybrid. once you go beyond utility there's no going back. kid: hey dad, who was that man? dad: he's our broker. he helps looks after all our money.

kid: do you pay him? dad: of course. kid: how much? dad: i don't know exactly. kid: what if you're not happy? does he have to pay you back? dad: nope. kid: why not? dad: it doesn't work that way. kid: why not? vo: are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab ok, if you'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*? welcome back as we head into the close. we have the dow up 111 points. oil is higher by 4%. a couple of important developments on a geopolitical

front helping as well bob. >> richard fisher speaking with steve just a short item ago. he had some choice words about the push by some in d.c. to audit the fed. >> steve joins us now with the highlights, hi steve. >> hey guys you guys know richard fisher doesn't mince words. and he doesn't do fed speak, he wears a badge of honor that he's outgoing after ten years in office. never did speak in the fed obscure way, but even by his standards, these are very blunt words that he just told me when it comes to his opposition to this bill in congress. recently introduced by rand paul, senator rand paul to audit the fed. >> we are audited as i've said we were audited, these are sheep in wool's clothing basically saying that they want to interfere with monetary policy. and i would ask your viewers the following, they can't even get a budget together. who wants them to run, the answer is nobody.

he went on to point out that the problems in germany, in the republic where that the bank there wasn't given enough independence when he talked about the market impact. and so richard fisher not mincing any words here when it comes to his opposition to this bill. it's well to point out, monetary policy has not gone the way that richard fisher would have liked it to have gone but he still seems to support the process by how they arrived at it guys. >> thanks very much stay with us let's talk more about auditing the fed. joining us now, barney frank. former chairman of the houses services committee and acnbc contributor. do you support rand paul's audit the fed bill? >> absolutely not. i think richard fisher stated it exactly. as he said the fed a is audited, there's a confusion here of words when i was

chairman, we were working on this. we did a couple of these. we took away from the federal reserve. the power to unilaterally grant the 85 billion for example they gave aig. to pay the debt we also required there was concern about well when the fed is giving with all these other entities whether they are foreign, central banks or private companies, what's going on. as a result of our legislation, the fed is now totally audited in that every transaction the federal reserve system has with any other entity becomes public. and it's audited. what the fed is trying to do is have a political process call up members of the federal reserve who vote on interest rates and quiz them as to why they have decided to do what they did on interest rates. mr. fisher is exactly right. they are audited, i guess he said up the with a zoo, i wasn't

sure what he said he's in that part of the country, but the fact is that the fed is now completely audited, people who were afraid that they were all kinds of secret deals going on that was part of the reason for an audit. >> the senator. >> misbehavior, it's not to set policy. >> right, so the element of the bill that rand paul has put forward that would allow for a review of monetary policy decisions, you do not support, is that right? >> no. we have, and that's the only thing that's left. and so far as you want to know what the fed is doing, what it's activities are, whether there was any hanky-panky, i don't think there was, but there were some people who suspected it. whether they're playing favorites with various private sector entities. that's now all subject to audit and publication. the only additional factor here is to have the gao and arm of congress set the stage for members of congress and then call out members of the open market committee.

they are subjecting them to the political process would be a good idea. >> steve, jump in here is this an attempt as mr. fisher implied to cover up for the failures of lawmakers to deal be economic policy? >> no. i think clearly it's an issue whereby what they're trying stood they disagree with the policy. what they're doing is they're going about changing the policy in a different way. >> i think it's worth asking from a political point of view whether or not among the things that the fed may need to fight this congress on if this is exactly the one to go to the mat

on. i see it as important, i am not sure it's the most important of all the issues that are out there. i think the fed needs to start -- go ahead, barney. >> it looks like we have to go in a second. please also address, it looks like this could pass both houses. develop you see that happening. >> i've got to say, i think this is a case, you know i said before the election that the business community might want to be careful in getting what they wish for. i don't think most people in the business community want to see this degree of plitization of the federal reserve. i think what's happening is some of the people they are allies with have done this. i have to come to the intellectual defense. some is based on quantitative easing, but to trace this back to rand paul his father is for quantitative easing. there was an element in our society on the very conservative side, a few, also very much on the left who have this suspicion that the fed is somehow doing these dark things

almost like out of "harry potter," dark magic going on. i think it gets some further strength from people who -- what they don't like many of them the fact that our -- >> congressman. >> dual mandate. >> last word steve. >> it's worth pointing out, it's worlt pointing out that the fed has gone so far the other way, about trying to be transparent with press conferences, speeches, interviews they give to the media, that there are complaints on wall street right now that there's too much vet talk going on. so washington seems to be worried about there being not enough transparency wall street is complaining about the other side. >> we'll have to leave it there, guys. >> wall street ought to tell the people they elected to knock it off. >> all right gentlemen, thanks very much. we have to leave it there. good debate thanks to steve and congressman barney frank. >> much more to come. tax man freezing the personal bank accounts of small business owners without due process. it's happening in this country. the irs is now finally being held accountable. we're going to speak with one owner who fought the irs in this case and lost.

first here's a cnbc business news update sue. >> here's what's happening this hour, the federal reserve says the results will be released after the bell on march 5th. the annual examination of the 30 largest financial institutions is seen as a key part of the government's ability to ensure banks can withstand another financial crisis. here's music to the ears of some, the minnesota orchestra announced that will play two concerts in cuba in may. it's believed to be the first major cultural exchange between the two countries since a breakthrough in relations. if you think you're having a bad day, how about warren buffett? his american express is biggest shareholder, with the the stock down about 6% his paper losses are a cool $800 million. then again, maybe it's a good thing if you are able to afford that kind of a loss. marriott international stock on a rise. 25 million shares. coming up later today on "fast money," cnbc exclusive, jim

kramer talks to atlas ceo, 6:00 p.m. eastern time right here on cnbc. closing bell will return after a quick break.

have you heard of the new dialing procedure for for the 415 and 628 area codes? no what is it? starting february 21, 2015 if you have a 415 or 628 number you'll need to dial... 1 plus the area code plus the phone number for all calls. okay, but what if i have a 415 number, and i'm calling a 415 number? you'll still need to dial... 1 plus the area code plus the phone number. so when in doubt, dial it out!

and let's take a quick market check, drama for the close is 2090 on the s&p, if we get above that that'd be a new historic closing high. we've been sitting there essentially three or four points away from that. dow had a good day as well. nasdaq deposit being moved up semiconductors are having a great day as well. not far from the highs of the day, kelly. embroiled in a new controversy, this time treating small business owners like hardened drug dealers. >> now in washington what has got the attention of congress incredible story, john. >> the issue of civil forfeitture as a law enforcement tool has grown increasingly controversial in recent years across a range of agency. in terms of the internal revenue service, the house had a hearing about one aspect of the problem which is the seizure of bank accounts that are linked to unlawful transactions. now first of all, let's look at why these seizures happened. first of all the bank secrecy act of 1970 enacted under

president nixon said that transactions in excess of $10,000 have to be reported to the authorities. secondly, in 1986 the money laundering act signed by president reagan said if you structure transactions to evade that $10,000 threshold, that in itself is illegal. that's become a tool for law enforcement to go after drug dealers, terrorists other people engaged in illegal activity, but what's happened is some business people who are believed to be innocent and whose representatives in congress are speaking up have been caught up in this. so what you had yesterday was john, the president's director of the internal revenue service announce the policy shift. and the shift is a refocussing, a targeting of the prosecute tomorrow division of the irs. they are no longer going to put resources on cases in which they can't link these structured transactions so-called, to

illegal sources. that doesn't mean they may not suspect that they come from illegal sources, but unless they can establish that that money is from illegal sources, they are not going to pursue those cases, that's an effort to deal with some of the controversy and some of the businessmen who, businessmen and women who have been unfairly caught up in this. >> john harwood, thank you. our next guest is one of the business owners who appeared in congress yesterday. in 2012, the irs seized more than $62,000 without charging him with a crime. he paid about $32,000 to settle. randy sowars that's a dairy farm in middletown maryland thanks for joining us farmer randy. you have now settled with the irs, am i right about that? how much money did you end up losing in the end? >> altogether about 32,000. >> and randy, what happened here it sounds like is the structured transactions were just a series of deposits as a course of you're doing business,

is that right? >> yes. we do a lot of farmer's market and have a store on the farm. so we do handle a lot of cash. my wife always deposits the money on monday and we've been doing that for years. but one day she happened to take $12,000 into the bank and teller said well next time keep it under $0,000 and i won't have to fill out all this paperwork. and nobody mentioned it it might be against the law, but you know that's what my wife did, not that we had much over probably never had much more than $10,000, but she always had to keep cash on-hand for change for the farmer's market and things like that. we just never deposited everything. >> so what happened a couple of years ago, randy, in 2012 when the irs, it sounds like they just boar road first and asked questions later about what was going on with your business. >> one day the treasury department showed up at the farm

and said they needed to talk to me about my one bank account. you know i thought for years that some day they're going to show up and try to find out where i got all this cash. i wasn't too concerned. i tried to call my lawyer he didn't answer. i didn't think it'd be a problem. we started talking about it and it seemed like i said sometimes we get 12 $14,000 of cash a week. after ten, 15 minutes of discussion, then they pretty much cut it off and i think they used that as ed that i sometimes had more than 10,000 and they informed me that they had just taken over my checking account. the irs took that money. >> did they ever accuse of anything else other than violating what they thought was this law or the way you were violating that law. did they accuse you of laundering money or being a drug dealer? was there any other accusations here?

>> well the two agents that were there seem to be pretty well satisfied that we were working farm and there probably wasn't any criminal intent what they said if it's gone this far, it has to go through the process now. so, they really never accused me of anything, i had a day to schedule to go before a grand jury to see if they were going to indict me on the accounts of what they were charging for. it was charged and signed by a judge. >> that was an incredible story, thank you for sharing it with us. i think the irs has adequately apologized to you. thank you very much for appearing with us. >> absolutely incredible. >> trying to deposit, go to a farmer's market trying to deposit the money and this is the stuff that gets you. >> under suspicion if you deposit over 10,000 and you're under suspicion if you deposit under $10,000. >> as you mention, randy testified yesterday before congress. we have 18 minutes to go until

the close here. markets are sitting towards their all-time high levels for the day up about 108 points. that's about another 100 points shy. and the s&p as bob mentioned only # # 00 points away from 2090 where it marks an all-time high as well. >> and the dow, kelly is lagging there. the dow would be much higher today if it wasn't for american express. why is that stock getting hit on a good day for the market? that's up next. also ahead -- >> the truth is that what women have to do is not work for less money. they have to walk away. people shouldn't be so grateful for jobs. >> that was former sony pictures amy pascal speaking for the first time since being moved out of the top job there. more on that interview and the response coming up, stay tuned.

[ male announcer ] approaching medicare eligibility? don't put off checking out your medicare options until 65. now is a good time to get the ball rolling. medicare only covers about 80% of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans they could help save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. taking informed steps really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™. call now and request this free decision guide and explore the range of aarp medicare supplement plans. all plans like these let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. call now and request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you go long™. ♪ ♪

welcome back. it's all about the s&p, 2090 little bit above that would be a new closing high. we've been stuck at 2087 for the better part of an hour. dominic covering the movings for us. >> breaking is up hard to do today. it's about the retail and credit card business. share was american express are down by over 6% today. that's after the costco could

not come to terms on an agreement to keep their 16-year exclusivity agreement on going. now our marriage news comes via online travel just weeks after exmedia fought travel losty, it'll buy orbits worldwide in cash. the deal brings orbits and chief tickets under the same umbrella as expedia. interesting stories here one of the breakups and one on the make upside, back over to you. >> thanks very much. 13 minutes before the closing bell. we've been stuck here for the last hour. s&p can hit 2097 that would be the historic high. u.s. stocks making a comeback this month, but still behind europe in terms of performance this year. still a new survey finds wealthy investors still think there's no place hike home. is the smart money, not so smart this year?

that's later on the closing bell. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right. plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision

or any symptoms of an allergic reaction stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com

welcome back. closing bell whose voice that was in just a second. we have ten minutes to go here the dow's up 106, joining us on

the floor, o'neil securities hall of famer charles barkley here during the closing bell. welcome. >> what a great day. >> you know what being from a small town in alabama, you've seen this thing a thousand times. this is one of the coolest things i've ever did in my life. >> this is the first time you're here? >> yes. >> retreat. >> but it's going to be cool. you think growing up in a small town in alabama, you've seen it a thousand times. it's cool to see it it's crazy here. >> i'm a small town kid myself i never get over it. i do this every day. >> i would imagine it's exciting being here all the time. >> 2015 all-star game at the guard, with but other activities at the barclay's center how the preliminary activities. >> slam dunk contest. the entire weekend, you don't want your stars to get hurt but saturday night is the probably

the biggest night with the slam dunk. three point shooting contest this year, probably the best we ever had. >> listen kenny, set charles here straight on the importance of analytics and numbers. >> this is not my business. this is the only time analytics come into play. listen analytics does not work against lebron james, but this is i say analytics does work at a stock market. >> kenny. here we are, right. i'm thinking testing the highs on the s&p really a relief relief out of europe ukraine, out of economic data earnings season is over. everyone's feeling good. therefore, look at us, new high opinions. >> it's the hype. >> we don't know if i made any hype today. >> are you in stocks too? shaq is joining us. >> what are you investing in? >> i don't keep a close eye on that. i let people who do that for a living, they ask me i get the pros and cons to know i said

tell me the pros and cons. i'm in a unique situation, i already got money. when you don't have money, you have to take a lot of risk i'm blessed, blessed to make a lot of money, i don't have to do a lot of stocks and stuff. >> people invest for you. you've been happy -- >> raymond james. in birmingham alabama. he's glenn guthrie. been with him for 27 years, and i trust him with my life. >> what's the biggest money mistake you ever made? >> the biggest money mistake i ever made. um probably not, you know, getting greedy with stock options. you know when off chance to make a lot of money with stock options, you should take it probably 50 to 60% of it don't wait, sometimes it goes back down. >> a little bit of controversy going on he wrote a letter to a knicks fan recently can you comment on that? tell us what you thought about that. >> much to do about nothing. everybody makes a big deal people talk bad all the time

he's the owner of the knicks. i don't think he should have called the guy an kploik but fans have this perception you can say anything because you're a celebrity. one reason i do no social media whatsoever. i don't need to talk to all these nit wits out there. if people have something bad to say, it can go into the air. >> this wasn't your typical celebrity trolling though this guy runs the franchise. isn't the customer always supposed to be right? come first. >> no. >> you knew that. >> that's a movie. customer's not always right. unfortunately we've given all these trolls to voice their opinions. listen just because you watch grey's anatomy does not mean you can do the operation. that doesn't give people the right to say bad things about him. >> what do you mean? >> knicks have been awful. knicks fan got to be patient, they're probably two, three years away from being competitors. >> 76ers better too.

>> thank you so much here. as well as we head into the close. up next we're coming right back with the closing countdown. >> we will have instant analysis of earnings from aig, cbs, kraft. first in business, worldwide. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can.

there's a gap out there. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe the gap will close when healthcare gets simpler. when frustration and paperwork decrease. when grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home. so let's do it. let's simplify healthcare. let's close the gap between people and care.

[ female announcer ] who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. welcome back. we have two minutes to go here here's the s&p 500, only little spens here going to the close, will we hit 29 that'd be the

historic high slow drift upward we have been stuck sideways for the last hour. dow also doing well but underperforming because american express is underperformance. energy stocks helping, material names have been doing well. heres the xle, spider energy etf, that's up 1.4%. joining us right now from the closing bell and of course our caption here every day with us. lee, you're an expert on the earnings situation, seems that things have improved in the last few weeks. >> they have. the numbers came above the expectations, way above wall street, what's really going on is the market is lifting because energy isn't taking everything down with it. and, dollar lot of questions coming into the quarter, was energy kind of a leading indicator for corporate earnings across the board? global slowdown? there's not, and that's why -- >> what's behind the stealth rally? there's a little bit more. >> we have benign bonds, they're

not hurting. crude oil moving higher again. get the thoughts out of europe magic combination of three has put a bid under the market. >> ever since bond yields stop dropping dramatically oil bonds go down a little bit. the markets are calmer as well. earnings have also bottomed at the same time, are you anticipating that 2015 earnings with, that's what the market cares about first quarter, it's going to be today issier. >> a lot of people came in saying that the multiple was too high. largely because energy and financials were taking those numbers down. but when belook across the board at the other sectors, expectations for growth are very, very good and they lived up to it this quarter. so we expect that energy bottoms out here financials get their act together. market goes up. >> what are you anticipating for the next couple of days and whether or not we're going to get some resolution to the greek prices? >> we're going into a long weekend here in the u.s.

i think we'll actually see shortcoming tomorrow on friday. >> all right. art cash, and lee, thanks very much. there's the closing bell we go into the final few moments here. big issues of whether or not the s&p can make it to 29 2088 right now. just thigh of the closing bell. kelly evans is next with the closing bell. thank you, bob. welcome to "closing bell" everybody, here's how we're finishing up a good day on wlooelt. one that puts us within reach of new closing highs on the s&p and the dow. looks like we'll settle about 19 points, 2088 it was 2090.97 was the record on that one. strong session for the nasdaq as well. dow going out with a gain of 106, that's good enough for a percent and puts the dow within the level of 1853 that is the closing high for that index as well. let's talk about it right now.

waiting on earnings. today's panel, joining me now, cncb contributors very own sharon down here. great to have you with us. also with us with more tim seymour, and john let me start with you in the market. i was genuinely surprised to see how close we were again at record highs on the indexes. as this year felt worse than it's performed for u.s. stocks? >> you have strong underlying fundamentals in the sense of big central bank money pushing the markets with but huge volatility creators i think the volatility has masked a positive performance. today you had a little bit of good news out of greece little bit good news out of the ukraine. so it was enough to help the market up. >> are you worried carroll they're whistling past the graveyard here? one of the things goes wrong. >> i'm always worried, that's my role here i'm worried about these kinds of things, but i do think there might be another story here and that's the corporate finance story. and if you think about not just

the corporate buybacks we're seeing, but the mergers and acquisitions, another big one today with exmedia and orbits. we don't have as many shares to trade. if you're putting your money into equities there may be that because of that. >> he pointed out the typical, or the evaluation of the companies, higher than it was during the dotcom era. there has been of a lot of buybacks and there is money in the market. maybe there aren't enough out there. come on everybody, go public. now is the time. >> i think we're also getting a little bit of encouragement from not only the greece story and also getting oil prices up 5% today and tnet getting back above the $50 barrel mark. if that's sustainable, maybe then we'll see some more volatilely will not be as severe in the markets. and we'll see some more of the

updrift here. >> seymour, promise me this isn't all predicated on oil rebounding today. >> it's predicated on mack we're at the tail end that was largely mixed. eps momentum is not there. in fact, i think it's in europe. i think that's probably where you want to find the eps momentum and they're getting more into the heart of their earnings season. not just russia not just greece, i do think that there is a basing and kmod i did prices, this is probably a controversial thing. if you look at the data in china, we're going lower on pmi's, we're actually the world's commodity consumers don't need as much. look at the most bombed out commodities, you can start to build on it. those are the beaten down parts of the investment complex. those in financials and the other here is the steepening, and that's helping financials. so i like financials here. >> hold that thought for a second. cbs results are hitting, julie has the numbers, hi julia.

>> hi cbs reporting earnings of 77 cents per share. that's a penny better than the 76 cents that wall street has been expecting, down one cent from the year ago quarter. revenue coming in slightly better than expected revenue come income at $3.68 billion up from the 3.65 billion expected. so just a slight increase there. the company also announcing that it plans to pick up the pace of it's share purchases. even more on the first quarter with a target of $1 billion in sharer purchases in the first quarter. as to what drove the quarter, it was a 4% increase in advertising revenues behind the increase of their led by the broadcast thursday night football and political revenues. kelly, back over to you. >> julia, thank you. shares may be under a little bit of pressure after hours, just flipping over here what do you make of this? a number of a lot of people were watching to see whether john cbs could hold up on that front. >> absolutely. in the last year we have now

seen finally bank loans kick in. lendings up 14%, that's enough to start raisinge inging revenues. we're now kicking into the next stage of this sort of post-ue market where the weight of those reserves is turning into bank loans. that's what's picking up gdp. that's why the u.s. is so far ahead of everyone else. >> carol. >> what i was saying before they're buying back more shares. and i think as long as interest rates stay loan, which even if they start to kick up they're not going high up any time soon. they're going to have a lot of availability to use corporate financial maneuvers and financial engineering to continue to do that. i don't know kelly, we may not have any shares to buy anymore one of these days. >> the reason the reason why everybody is so worried about the multiples i think is because the asset prices have run ahead of the gdp. so we've got, you know, stock prices an asset price. energy and energy prices gb can't move until there are live

banks out there. finally we're starting to see banks come along. that ought to allow the denominator of the dp to rise. >> in a way that makes both right, i'm told you haven't looked closely enough that some of the increase we're seeing in loans is loans to companies to be buybacks is that right? is there truth to that? >> there are companies that borrow money to buy back tech. there is a ton of cash in the tech sector. >> to buy other companies as well. which is again back to sort of the corporate finance end of this. but if you look at the consumer story today, the thing that's really going to expand multiples on an organic matter. not on a financial matter. today we got another month of not so great data. >> but i'm going to call it the not-so-great retail report. you feel like it's 15% of total consumers spend. and spending on a lot of things that aren't traditional original detail anymore. it's a report that keeps disappointing. it does feel like it's coming elsewhere in other parts of the

consumer economy. >> some of the spending is coming elsewhere, not where everyone expected which was for the low gas prices to generate a lot of spending on the consumer's part. i think a lot of the surveys out there have been consumers saying yeah, they're low now, but i don't buy this. so they're not spending and that's what we're seeing now in the retail sales report john. >> it's hard to spend when you don't have an income. the income growth has been very slow. that's beginning to pick up. labor market will tightening across the country. smast something over the next year. >> tim let me ask, how does that play into what you were talking about with the base mentals and the financials? >> first of all, i think there's misinformation about wage growth. some of the highest paying jobs are places where also the higher paying jobs higher than the norm, 475 an hour is the average wage. above that you're seeing more earnings power below that not as much. the less sexy jobs are the ones that are probably not doing so well. middle and mainstream americans are doing better than people

say. things that i think are ultimately going to lead a late cycle rally. one you have a place where you've gotten to oversold conditions where you are a cash cost or near cash cost in commodities. it's not going to happen overnight. i'm not telling you -- >> carol is shaking her head over here. >> bring it on come on. >> what i do think they're referring to many people forget about average numbers which tends the higher numbers and some of the lower numbers. there are too many people who are in the work force who are underemployed, let alone us not seeing enough of the wage growth. so i think when i'm out there talking to small business owners and people working from them in the midwest and the rest of the country, people still are hurting and are scared. >> agreed carol, i would say if you look at the trend here we have had three successful months in a decade. and this is a case where it's starting to get to a place where wage pressure has to follow here

if we keep going at this rate. >> i hope you're right, tim, you have to remember we have a changing economy. we have the sharing economy. we have people now becoming uber drivers, they're working these smaller jobs not as many hours and i think that's a challenge as well as in terms. >> sharon after i question about how that might impact people's long-term financial wherewithal. when you start out as let's say a person entering the work force and you have all the resources of a big company around you with a savings plan and health care plan a lot is being privatized are people doing a good enough job of looking after themselves? >> no. they're not because for many it's new to them. it's a discipline they've never had before. they need to acquire, and they're having to acquire this discipline being underemployed, we're not seeing the wage growth right away right now. maybe it's going to happen later in the year in the fourth quarter, but they're not seeing it right now. so the idea of living within their means of saving they don't really have that discipline. >> and john what would you recommend to people who are

starting, you know, i mean engaging in the labor force, but all of these things around them are now decisions they have to make on their own about health care saving investing, et cetera, what is a person to do. what's to prioritize at this point? >> it's very important in this kind of a world to make sure that you have enough altitude which means enough cash. and so don't, don't debt yourself, don't run out of cash. the kinds of jobs people are getting are the savings and health care plans, they're small business jobs self-employed jobs they're on their own. they have to be ready for anything. >> this sounds like the answer to the discussion we were just having. all of those things about the labor markets improving. it's not quite, don't you agree, tim? >> i tell you what, people have been poo pooing this far long time. a lot more liquid i did coming into markets. i think the rest of the world will be a growth driver for a lot of multinationals that people keep forgetting about. >> the world's a better place. and right now with the markets

are validating that call. >> the volatility is the push and pull that we're having in this discussion right now. that's exactly what's playing out in the markets and why today was a good day. we haven't had very much good days, i think both factors are at play here. >> wall street is not main street. just because we're doing well on the market doesn't mean that everybody across the country is doing well at home. that's something often forgotten. >> and that's a tricky thing as well. go back to kell logs this morning, easy to say that's a narrative, but maybe just our shift in habits and we know the companies are outperforming in the meantime. we have a craft reporting, a word for you here as well people are trying to think about what parts of this economy are going to do well this year what kinds of piece, what piece of the market should be places to bet on? what would you say? >> the health care sector is benefitting in terms of cash flows from the continued rollout of obamacare. basically, it's pushing people out of the hospitals, into other places. in their homes, nursing homes and the like and there's lots of jobs around around that.

tech, also is growing very fast. with huge huge cash balances too. >> and by the way, we want to break into aig now, those quarterly results are no in now. and we have the numbers. >> so far, we're digging through the numbers right now. i mean as a lot of investors may know aig's earnings often times are more complicated. right now we do have a bottom line number of 97 cents per share. that misses the average analyst estimate of 1.05 we are still combing throw find comparable revenue numbers, right now there's a bottom line missed on aigs earnings. however there is maybe at least a little bit of positive sense in the stock. the company did say they have upped their stock buyback program bying a ra gait, $2.5 billion. also spent about $1.5 million in share of purchases during the fourth quarter of 204. and nearly $5 billion for all of 2014. so again, some share buyback news about $2.5 million more in share buybacks that's what the

board authorized, and there is a bottom line 97 cents per share. that misses the estimate of 1.05. we'll still come through, we'll bring you more details, back over to you guys. >> thank you. yeah just a quote from the release, peter hancock, ceo is saying looking back it was a year of transition and transformation, and he talks about some of the important steps here changing of the way their reports and business units, et cetera but johnny aig again, a company that's been through many a transformation still looking to see what are going to be the income and net revenue going forward. >> absolutely. this is a market where the financials perform in strange ways. traditional financials banks, are not earning money off the spread. their earnings are disappointing and the government is collecting money ut out of them in penalties. untraditional financials, i'm talking about companies like blackstone. and the deal business is rocketing ahead right now. this is when they make all their money.

>> great point. we'll leave it right there for now. quick break, thanks for everybody. catch tim coming up with the fast money crew at 5:00. they're going to talk fire ice stocks soaring. dave dewalt coming up in 45 minutes. the u.s. stock market has been lagging, europe this year but a survey finds wealthy investors do believe the u.s. is still the best fly put their money. is america set to outshine europe for the rest of the year? we'll talk about that next. and later, congressmen from both sides pushing to lower the tax rate where overseas profits and use that money to fix the crumbling infrastructure. it could be something they agree on but will it get done? we're back in two. no. you? no. aflac! 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...

female announcer: get 36 months interest-free financing, and save up to $300 on beautyrest and posturepedic. even get three years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. and of course, free same-day delivery. but only through presidents' day at sleep train.

welcome back. even with the dow and s&p knocking on the door of new all-time highs europe's been the place to be for investors this year outever. performing the u.s. market. new survey finds investors still think there's no place like home. jeff cox with us and has the details. >> thanks kelly. deep pocketed investors believe the u.s. market is the best place to be this year. so far though, they've been wrong. according to a study this week from mason, some 85% of affluent investors favored domestic

stocks against the global counterparts. now that's a substantial gain over last year's 74%, however, markets across the world, in places like germany, hong kong, and italy, have done much better than the u.s. it's probably no coincidence that stocks are performing best or central banks are eedsing the most which we know is not the case anymore in the u.s. now a couple interesting points here that could give u.s. verss pause. mason official says he worries about what he calls complaisant si creep, or the fact that overconfidence has come into the market. some aren't so much when you look at fund flows. sprinting for the most popular etf which is spider fnt 500. $23.6 billion this year. that is by far the most out of any etf. it's an indication that faith in u.s. stocks may be misplaced. so much about the u.s. being the best house in the bad neighborhood. 2015 may be shaping up the year that the rest of the block gets a fresh coat of paint.

>> good way to put it what do you think? >> jeff i have a question do you think this is on a risk-adjusted return basis or a total return basis? from a total return standpoint i'm not sure i can make the argument, but on a risk-adjustment return basis, if things were to fall apart in the rest of the world and certainly there are enough concerns throughout, i could see where you might make that argument. >> i think you could almost make it on either case though. you look at look the rest of the central banks in the world are zigging and the fed is zagging. that's an issue there. we saw how much he played into the u.s. stock markets, and also, i think it's a basic rotation trade. you know i don't think this is a doom and gloom story. i think that it's a matter of investors looking for rotation looking for places where they can go to grow they're finding in asia europe and really remote outpost as well. >> one question that's come up lately is that people looking into europe a couple seats behind the u.s. it could turn out to be more

than like a japan long-term situation. the truth is europe is not an economy, it's a museum. right now, the ecb is throwing money at the market. that means the stock market's going up but the currency is going down if i own the german market, but short the currency at the same time. same in japan, stock's up currency down. >> is europe like more america or japan? >> more like japan. europe is still dead in the water. there's no growth. there's no productivity growth. >> you wouldn't invest there? >> if you're a fundamental investor, don't buy europe don't buy japan. >> here's the issue, stories like this may make retail investors think there's something wrong with u.s. stocks. why are you telling me i shouldn't be in u.s. stock, and what we found from the survey, the reason why they're telling to get into equities they're

overweighted in the u.s. stock market. so it's a very understandable situation that you want to rotate out of what your big winners have been, take some of those profits and go into areas that you have not explored yet that could give you rope over time. it may not be month, this year but you may -- >> basic rebalance. >> exactly. >> basic rebalance, it's not a doom and gloom story. nobody feels that the u.s. is going down the toilet but it's a matter of when you compare markets there are going to be -- and you know when you talk about the economies, we know you don't need a rip roaring economy to have a good stock market. we've seen that. >> thank you. thanks for coming down. good to see you. jeff cox, out to dominic chu. >> what we got are a couple of online game makers. first of all, what's happening with xinga shares they are zone pretty markedly in the after hours section. here, zynga was moving lower to the tune of about, we'll see 10% now, 3.7 million shares.

now with xynga, they reported earnings per share in line with estimates of flat. revenues estimates $182 million, 201 million was the estimate there. they did say that fourth quarter monthly active users were below estimates and q1 bookings guidance is also below analyst estimates as well. they also say that q1 earnings guidance is a loss of projected, loss of two to three cents a share. analysts were expecting a break even. that's the pressure here on zynga stock. king digital, candy crush, earnings of 57 cents per share. versus $520 million for the estimates who have beat on both top and bottom lines. and a 94 cent per share special dividend. we're turning cash to shareholders by a special

dividends and buyback, a beat on top and bottom, and a buyback, and that's why those are up big. back over to you. >> candy crushed headlines. nike and underarmor think tech is the future. do rivals have a plan to get on this? the ceo joins us next. also ahead -- >> people to want work for less money, i'll pay them less money. i don't call them up and go can i give you some more? >> former sony pictures co-chair amy pascal say executives need to worry about running businesses, not ending the gender pay gap. that's not all, we'll give you more later on the closing bell. daughter: do you and mom still have money with that broker? dad: yeah, 20 something years now. thinking about what you want to do with your money? daughter: looking at options. what do you guys pay in fees? dad: i don't know exactly. daughter: if you're not happy do they have to pay you back? dad: it doesn't really work that way.

daughter: you sure? vo: are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab. why do we do it? why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people? 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. you total your brand new car. nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had a liberty mutual new car replacement, you'd get your whole car back. i guess they don't want you driving around on three wheels. smart. new

car replacement is just one of the features that come standard with a base liberty mutual policy. and for drivers with accident forgivness,rates won't go up due to your first accident. learn more by calling switch to liberty mutual and you can save up to $423. for a free quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

well from silicon valley to wall street, people have their eyes on wearables as the next big techaway. making to fashion and sports now. last week on squawk box, kevin plank made this prediction. >> if you think we're going to walk around with these three inch by five inch pieces of hard glass that sit in our back pocket, no absolutely not. wearables will equal apirl some day. >> is my next guest in agreement? first is tim boyle, he's the ceo of columbia sportswear tim, good to have you here, welcome. >> thank you very much. >> and so columbia, you know at this point, as you just heard from ken plank, apparel technology it's all converging so rapidly, can you continue to exist if you only make clothing

going forward? >> you know i think we can actually you know we think that the areas where we can really control what we end up doing in terms of operating as a company are really around the textile products that we manufacture. and obviously with tons and tons of innovation on those products as an example, one of our biggest products for 2014 and continuing into 2015 is our turbo down product. it's interesting to think that here in 2015 we're still using feathers off a bird to keep warm. so we combined a downed jacket with synthetic insulation and our technology and so we're going to focus on those kinds of products to clothe our consumers and i think we'll be rewarded of it. >> tim, one of the things that we cannot control is the weather, but the weather here in the northeast has been unpredictable and extreme in many areas, how are your sales of cold weather apparel?

you mentioned this product, how is it going overall and that percentage does that make of your overall sales? is that really going to drive your profits forward? >> you know we're a global economy with over 40% of our sales are outside of the u.s. and believe me, we love it when it's snowing in boston and new york city, and people are buying our products, not only columbia apparel, but surreal footwear and so that's perfect. nor in asia. so, we're a lot of our business is. so we have to be prepared to have products and protection. all sorts of different kinds of conditions. and if you saw her release that just went out on the wire we had a spectacular 2014 certainly we were aided by the weather, but frankly, our business has gotten much better in all kinds of products that we sell. >> we see an income of basically

50% on the year it's impressive. >> i want to ask about your future growth. your about, i think nine months into your prana acquisition, interesting in terms of opening up your brands to new customers and potentially getting some margin expansion, how is that going and do you imagine that it'll be a strategy for growth for you in the future? >> we love the brand. and frankly the results have been close to where we thought it would be when we put together the plan to acquire the company. it allows us to access consumers, we're very focussed on the environment on stainability, and frankly, it's a heavily involved in women's apparel and tals it's quite even from a seasonal basis. so, we're thrilled with that. we've never said we're going to grow the business through acquisitions but when the bail themselves, we have the balance sheet to put together deals like

we did with them and frankly i think it's good for the company. we'll keep our eyes open but we have a lot of opportunities, a lot of runway with the brands we own. >> are you a columbia guy? >> i love the products. i think you have a true to your brand way of running your business. and you're playing into the best part of the demographics. so very very good start. >> well-put and congratulations on the quarter, tim boyle thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> he's a ceo of columbia sportswear. doing it the old fashioned way. up next shaquille o'neal is in the house to tell us about his latest venture in the business world and there he is how he liked ringing the closing bell, you saw that a half hour ago. first cnbc update. >> wow, terrific. here's what's happening at this hour, u.s. has a new defense secretary, fourth in six years. senate confirmed ash ton carter by a 93-5 vote. he replaced chuck hagel. carter served as the number twor

from 2011 to 2013. the obama administration sees new planned cyber security rules in china as a major barrier to trade. it has raised the concerns with beijing at the highest level. they will host a summit tomorrow in stanford california, at cnbc will be there live. hewlett packard will become the biggest company to hold an online only. the trend towards virtual conferences worries it'll keep them off the hot seat. equal employment opportunity commission is suing darden restaurants in hiring for it's seasons 52 restaurants nationwide. in the complaint, the eeoc is accusing the company of denying jobs to applicants aged 40 and above. closing bell will be back after a quick break. there's confidence. then there's trusting your vehicle maintenance to ford service confidence. our expertise, technology, and high quality parts mean your peace of mind.

now you can get the works, a multi-point inspection with a synthetic blend oil change tire rotation, brake inspection and more. $29.95 or less. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 60,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire. so you can make owning a business even more rewarding. ink from chase. so you can. ♪ ♪ ♪ tigers, both of you. tigers? don't be modest. i see how you've been investing. setting long term goals. diversifying. dip! you got our attention. we did? of course. you're type e*

well, i have been researching retirement strategies. well that's what type e*s do. welcome home. taking control of your retirement? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*? female announcer: through presidents' day, get 36 months interest-free financing, and save up to $300 on beautyrest and posturepedic. even get three years interest-free financing on tempur-pedic. plus, free delivery, set up and removal of your old set. and sleep train's 100-day money back guarantee. keep more presidents in your wallet. this special financing offer ends presidents' day at sleep train. ...guaranteed! ♪ sleep train ♪ ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪

welcome back we start with dominic and earnings alert. hi. >> hi kelly. groupon are down 3% about three and a quarter million shares earnings per share came in at 6 cents per share. that's above average. analyst estimates for three cents a share. revenues also came in 925 million dollars, that's above wlooets estimates of $908 million. but here's the rub, the current quarter forecast has some

traders worry they say that earnings per share will be flat to a two cent per share game that misses some analyst estimates here. they also see revenues. hence the breakness here keep an eye on it back over to you. >> under pressure there. dominic, thank you, and now in case you missed it check out shaquille o'neal and other analysts. they're here with turner broadcasting to highlight their coverage of this weekend's upcoming nba all-star game here in new york. with us now, joining us is mr. shaquille o'neal himself. rare opportunity for know look up to somebody. welcome back. good to have you here. >> how are you? >> listen we want to ask you, since the last time we spoke, you're involved in business ventures, now a jewelry one, is that right? >> yeah jewelry line at zales. you think of the diamond store, and also think of the style and sophistication sophistication. i wanted to do a men's jewelry line, very affordable $60 to

$1200. i have something you can give to your boyfriend. >> should i open it now? >> if you'd like. >> i'm surprised. okay. oh nice. everybody knows, this is -- >> we have many different men's styles. >> bracelet. it's all about style and sophistication. i'm in the fund business i just to want help men look good. and diamonds are for men and women, so we're 600 stores now at zales by father's day. we should be in all stores. >> you have so many ventures now, drinks to jewel troy clothing. you bring people in and you guys had these big meetings and figure out how to create synergies and create the brands. what's this going to look like? what's your vision? just going to continue to have fun, you know, i'll be here with my staff. we never talk about money. just talk about having fun and creating partnerships. and also never get, get involved with businesses that i don't

really feel for. do you know how many times i went to zales and bought earrings bracelets. >> you knew the business well. >> in 2012 i thought it would be a great partnership. >> not many people who can genuinely say don't look at money. not just launching one or two things. it's important in the long run to have a sense of whether they're profitable. >> you know for me in my experience, if it's monetary-based, usually fails. you believe in the product, if you believe in what you're doing, if you believe in the people usually successful. never said i'm going to buy this name tag. >> you're sounding like charles barkley barkley. this is the place for numbers, not basketball. >> you know what again i never look at money first.

>> do you think he's right? >> yes, of course. >> analytics have no place in basketball? >> of course analytics was created by people that do not play basketball. you can always break things down analytically and look at things. great players can always adjust their games, and analytics will be off. so put it this way, if you try to use analytics to stop me you're going to lose all your money, i promise you. you're going to lose every dime every penny you invest. >> let me ask you something else. it's this letter that dolan had written to a fan, to saying some extent, just insulting him. what's your view? do you think barkley was saying not a big deal the customer's not always right or upset? >> i wasn't upset by the approach. dolan is a very, very brave man. obviously he was touched by the letter. in this world, you can't please everybody.

you know whenever i get criticized, i'm able to look at it and see if there's some truth in the criticism. if there's not any truth, you know first thing that's criticizing is how do you know? can you really criticize. a lot of time it's hate but dolan, you know some people think you did the right thing, some people don't think he did the right thing. i thought it was okay. >> are you still in petty stocks? >> every now and then. >> why? >> it's fun, do you want to know why? i'll tell you why, come here peter. >> uh-oh, peter chuckman joining us here on the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> peter is smart. when i'm at home i want to feel like peter. it hasn't been going well. >> that's my point though. financial advisor take care of that, 20 year relationship he doesn't mess around and that sort of thing.

>> no the big stocks i let my guy handle them. right now i'm looking at stuff. >> do you approve? do you approve of the strategy? tell the public, peter. do you approve of the petty stock strategy? >> absolutely. >> oh my god. all right. >> give me five. >> thank you so much for being here. shaquille o'neal good luck on all of it and good luck with the broadcast. definitely be tuning in. news alert, hi dom. >> we're watching shares right now, recover some of their losses, they were down about three, 4% in the after hours, the company is basically saying that they are going reduce the amount of their fiscal 2015 earnings per share forecast to be between 2.13 and 2.18 dollars share. the reason why and we've heard this before a strengthening dollar has negatively impacted our eps outlook. they also say, they cite the ongoing labor dispute as also

having an effect on trade overall. that's why those are lower in the after hours. also campbells is out with a revised forecast as well. the company says that because because of foreign currency issues. they know expect their net sales gains to be either a minus 1% or 1% gain they also say that earnings per share will again be about 2.30 per share, decline a five to 3% points here. the reason why, the strong dollar being blamed here. two other companies on the food side say that the u.s. dollar strength is going to impact their performance in 2015 kelly, back over to you. >> thank you so much. last corporate tax holiday ended in 2004, another one is back on the table in an effort to help pay for infrastructure repairs in this country. this time it looks like the house, senate and president are on board in broad terms at least. as always, the devil is in the

details. up next two congressmen on opposite sides of the aisle that are trying to get it done and tune into "closing bell" tomorrow sally jarrett will be joining us from the consumer protection summit at stanford university. that's tomorrow on the closing bell. don't miss it, we're back in two.

$2 trillion that's how much corporate money is estimated to be overseas because u.s. companies won't bring it back due to a high tax rate.

and washington wants a cut of that cash. now it seems the splan coming to get it together. the president and the senate and now the house have separate but similar proposals to lower the tax rate to help fix america's roads and bridges. with us now are the co-sponsor rs democratic from maryland and republican from new york. welcome, great to have you both with us. congressman delaware lainny let me start with you here i want to be clear on what you're proposing in this bill. sounds like an 8.75% corporate tax rate and for a period of how many years would this start? >> so the bill puts a tax at 8.. 5% on all the earnings existing overseas which is over $2 trillion. that would allow all that money to come back to the united states, it raised about 170 billion of revenues which we allocate 100% towards infrastructure. pre-funding the short hall and highway funding, and also creating a large scale infrastructure funding vehicle. and then on the go-forward basis, we put in a place a

system than changes got-forward tax so the money can flow back and forth and a minimum tax of about 12 and a quarter, and the tax rate will go down as companies pay taxes and local jurisdictions. the bill does two things. >> sorry, my head's spinning a little bit trying to follow all of us but congressman, the central question i have is why do you think an 8 pn 75% tax rate will cause companies to bring the money back if is it sounds like it's increasing. and right now they can raise money for basically nothing to get what they might need themselves. >> we know absolutely that a 35% rate is the real reason why it was close to $2 trillion overseas. you have to be competitive and our rates simply aren't. we're the highest tax country in the world. and it shouldn't be a wonder to anybody that companies like apple are forced to borrow money rather than bring it into the country. so this isn't just for transportation, this is something we should do for the

country's good overall. this is this money is sitting out there, we need these investments and infrastructure but we can use that money back. if there's one thing that's true. that is that companies work in their own self-interest and many of them want to do business in this country. we're simply too punitive in the way we treat the money that they've earned. >> conmangressman, have you tried to test this out at all at whether it'll actually spur them to bring the money back? >> we've talked to a lot of companies about this. we started doing this two years ago when people heard about tieing fixing international tax to infrastructure, people thought it was a strange idea. we worked really hard at it we ended up with about 100 members of congress about 50 on each side of the aisle, it's very bipartisan and almost 100 third party groups supporting the bill including a lot of corporations. we feel like there's 8.75% rate is about the clearing price where you can get a lot of that

money coming back raise a bunch of revenues to put into infrastructure. and importantly make our companies competitive. because this does three things it increases our investment in infrastructure which is a win for the american people. it brings $2 trillion in cash back to the united states which is a win for the american people and fixes our go-forward system so we don't have these strange incentives. we think it's a triple bottom line. >> congressman hannah last question to you, what realistically, and i appreciate the two of you together representing that we might get something to happen on this front. realistically, do you think it passes both houses the other one, the poll rand paul boxer bill is 6.5%. a lot might need to be done to reconcile those and need to get the president to sign off. >> no one wants to raise taxes overall, we have a huge debt. this is an opportunity to go after a resource that we know is out there. that we know many companies would like to bring it back and there is unanimity in this

congress everywhere. and the president, the senate and the house on the knee far long term very very robust highway bill. for all the reasons you already know about. >> right. that has not to this point led to an actual legislation. >> and we're looking forward to this being part of the debate and you know highway trust fund is on it's side. this is something this country should address. >> absolutely. >> you have to wait for long-term tax reform for overhauling our charter tax reform to do something that's relatively simple. and we know it would bring money in this country. >> we'll leave it right there again, appreciate it. joining us on their bill to help bring some of the that cash back into their country. don't leave home without it. that's what american express used to tell card members. if they're heading to costco they'll bring another type of plastic. we'll tell you when we come back.

you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim. so you talk to your insurance company and... boom! you're blindsided for a second time. they won't give you enough money to replace your brand new car. don't those people know you're already shaken up? liberty mutual's new car replacement will pay for the entire value of your car plus depreciation. call

and for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch to liberty mutual insurance and you could save up to $423 dollars. call liberty mutual for a free quote today at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance.

we begin here with our dominic chu and a news alert. >> we're going to circle back to conagra. they say they have appointed a

new ceo. that man is going to be sean conley. he'll take over the reins from current ceo gary rodkin effective april 6th. conley was the former ceo of hillshire brands. they were bought out by tyson foods. he's worked for sara lee before also campbell's soup and proctor and gallon bell. sean conley takes over for conagra. shutter fly falling in the after hours. fourth quarter earnings came in better. fourth quarter sales came in better. they announced a share buy back program of $300 million. here's the thing. the first quarter earnings and sales forecast are on the lighter side of analyst expectations as are the full years earnings. shutter fly down by 4%. back to you, shelly. >> i'm trying to resist saying

something about conagra and sean connor ri. cheap gas prices are having positive effects on america's pockets. >> we're leading the site about dry shale. a lot of people don't realize that the shale wells actually drain out a lot quicker than regular oil wells so between rigs dropping and oil prices falling, we might all of a sudden have a production problem. number two story on the hot list today, amex and costco apparently couldn't reach a deal, by the end of march if you go to costco and try to use your american express card, they could say, sorry, we don't take that here. that usually happens in restaurants and stuff. apparently the high fees did it. kelly, we put up your interview with charles barkley on the website. it is crushing it right now. especially his comments defending james dolan and calling out the trolls. we're getting ready to put up the shaq interview, too. i expect that to crush it. those are great afternoons. >> it's been a fun afternoon.

alan, thank you so much. back at headquarters. former sony pictures co-chair amy poehler speaking out. she was speaking last night about pay discrepancies between men and women in hollywood. will her marks get her in even more hot water. the panel will discuss. we're back in two minutes. so you can enjoy that second home sooner. know the right financial planning can help you save for college and retirement. know where you stand with pnc total insight. a new investing and banking experience with personalized guidance and online tools. visit a branch, call or go online today.

why do we do it? why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people? 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. there's nothing more romantic than a spontaneous moment. so why pause to take a pill? and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom? with cialis for daily use, you don't have to plan around either. it's the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be ready anytime the moment is right.

plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any symptoms of an allergic reaction stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. why pause the moment? ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. for a free 30-tablet trial go to cialis.com

former sony pictures co-chair amy pascal speaking very candidly about women and pay in the workplace. here's what she said and then we'll get the panel's take. >> people want to work for less money, i'll pay them less money. i don't call them up and go can i give you some more because that's not what you do when you run a business. the truth is that what women have to do is not work for less money. they have to walk away. people shouldn't feel grateful for jobs. >> kelly clarkson, walk away sharon. what did you think of this? >> my reaction is what? who is she talking about. i have to think of the context of who she was talking to and the affluent woman she was talking to. what statistics show even if you are a ph.d. candidate, even if you have an mba, the wage gap still exists. they're still not equal pay for women whether you're a middle school teacher or computer scientist. the idea that there's equal pay does not exist.

women can't walk away. they need to negotiate, carol. there are two dueling realities, if you're a man or a woman but especially if you're a woman you need to advocate for yourself. i advocated. i was called a self-promoter. at the end of the day i didn't care about getting liked, i cared about getting paid. i did very well. on the other hand there are industry benchmarks. i can't imagine she was referring to jennifer lawrence whether it was a $2 million or $5 million pay day, that there isn't an emma stone or scarlet johansson that might be willing to do it for less. you have to advocate. you have to also know what the benchmarks are. in hollywood the benchmarks are what they are. >> john what about in phi fans? >> looking down the panel here i think we should pay women as much as we possibly can. >> 2, 3 times. >> 2, 3, 4 times. >> yeah. high five. >> thank you. >> running businesses you always pay people a little bit more than they're worth and

expect them to deliver. that's a much better way to do it. >> be worth every single penny. thank you guys and gals. that does it for us on closing bell. "fast money" is coming up in a few moments. melissa lee, what's it. >> 50 trades and pay. >> trade over to you guys. >> "fast money" starts right now live from the nasdaq market site overlooking "new york times" city scare. anthem sony target all victims of cyber security. the cyber security firm fireeye. we'll talk to the ceo about what he thinks could be the biggest threat out there. we've got the biotech name that could be in for a big shakeup next week. a new segment called stock therapy and it's coming up. first, to our top story, oil's big rally. crude up. comments from the ceo of royal dutch shell. the ceo saying rapid recovery and oil