>> cdw going higher. >> have a great day. power starts now. >> scott thank you very much. tyler matheson. manned where i is out today. >> fwood to see you once again. trouble on the home fronts. we have interest rates on the rise. sales numbers aren't what we see changes in pricing. >> the stocks most vulnerable to the hold-ups out west and is the east coast about to see the same storm? >> and the hedge fund report card. if you are thinking of picking a fund, well you'll want to see this first. >> all righty. we start with power lunch today with a revolutionary quote. one if by land.

two if by sea. jane wells covering the problems out at the ports. she is live between the ports of l.a. and long beach, and, diana olich is on the land. surf and turf here. she's on the land in washington. interest rates rising. home sales numbers not. diana, you're first. >> well tyler, look spring housing is not getting off to the best start. higher interest rates in a pitful supply of homes for sale are squeezing potential buyers. now, weekly mortgage applications showed just how sensitive today's buyers are. rates rose to their highest levels since early january. 30-year fixed at 3.93%. it's still under 4%. even at that historically low level, applications to purchase a home dropped 7% for the week. they are barely 1% higher than one year ago. rates moved even higher where heed. does that mean real cash money? well a borrower taking out a $200,000 mortgage today would have to pay just $42 more a month than they would have if they had bought on january 1st.

now, that might seem like chump change, but it gets higher the bigger the loan, and the homes are still getting ever priceyer. why? because there's no supply. pitful supply of homes for salinationwide, and builders are not helping. take a look. single family housing starts fell in january month-to-month. they're running at about half the level of 2000. that's pre-housing boom. that's not even adjusting for population growth. one more interesting note. while the bump in interest rates doesn't translate into a lot of cash, one source tells me the absence of increasingly lower rates takes a lot of the fuel out of buyer confidence. more on-line at cnbc.com. back to you. let's get to the surf then in the west coast. dozens of ships anchored off shore unable to deliver their cargo. jane wells is in los angeles. just off the ports there. what's the very latest? jane. >> well not much. we have seen supply ships running back and forth today. mostly bringing crude.

these guys aren't stuck out here all this time. this ship left china last month. it has been sitting here since february 12th. the one behind it the same way. we got one out here in the hayes, china shipping line. this has been here since february 13th. we're near one that has been out here since february 9th. that is nine days. you know imports are one thing. exports are another. basically nothing is leaving. this is hurting u.s. exports. we're talking recyclers, beef pork california produce. labor secretary tom perez will meet with both sides again today in san francisco. now, both sides are reportedly close on pay, but the big hitch is that the union wants to distance the arbitrator that settles disputes in the long beach area because the union says he favors management. take a look at the map of the l.a. long beach port. the green squares are container ships. there are about 30 of them outside the port waiting for space to open up. we have all the maps waiting outside the port of seattle. same problem.

in seattle we have a photo from someone who lives out on windby island who for the first time is seeing boats with nowhere to go parking out there. there's been a 200% jump in cargo going from china to the east coast since this has started, but rates to the east coast, which were already expensive, are up now 60% from a year ago. tyler. >> thank you very much, jane. so with no agreement seemingly in sight, how do we get around this port problem? conveniently, little known fact alan wassler, cnbc.com managing editor right here. he is a former port reporter. not a court reporter. a port reporter. little known trivia. >> actually, it's coming in hand where i here because the alternatives, well if you are an agricultural exporter very limited. your best shot maybe is to go down to the center of the united states by rail and then out through the panama canal to try to reach asia. that's very hard for a

time-sensitive commodity. >> importers, you are talking retailers, manufacturers. they can try to loop it up to either canada or down through mexico. all right? but we're already getting reports those ports are beginning to fill up a little bit. what do you do? well, you can go from asia to the east coast. as janing pointed out, a lot of traffic is going that way. costs a little bit more. >> you bet it does. >> you talked about how much it was. >> about $4,000 to get into the west coast. talk about $6,000 $7,000 to get to the east coast. >> these are the east coast ports that would be getting that spillover effect. >> exactly. i was talking to a couple of sources this morning, they're saying that savannah and norfolk are actually turning out to be the big winners in this. big rail connections always key. you have to get it to the interior. >> who owns these ports, or who operates them many. >> the ports themselves are public facilities but they lease out terminals. you get terminal operators. they're a stand-alone company, or the ship lines open the terminals outright. here's the trick, tyler.

all foreign-based. >> they're not u.s. companies. auto a lot of them hong kong singapore. >> international shipping is all foreign-based. we have some domestic ship lines. smaller operators. for the most part -- and this is key -- the ship line is still going to get your money, whether you go by west coast or east coast. it's the same ship line serving both sides. >> who is in theory here most affected? smaller companies, i would guess, would be the ones that don't have the padding or the logistical sort of backstop. >> exactly. this is where -- if you are an investor, you should pay attention. this is what the company you're invested in is it big enough to be multi-channel, multi-sourced? a big outfit can easily say, hey, i already got shipments coming asia to east coast via suez. i'll just transfer more that way. little guys that don't have those alternates in play they're the ones -- >> i suspect that the west coast port strike is going to be this quarter's version of last year's it was a brutal winter.

that's going to be the excuse here. basically have your b.s. detector -- >> very good. the west ports could be the dog ate my homework for the retail. >> b.s. means best sales. all right, alan. thank you very much. susan, over to you. >> that's a new interpretation of that acronym. let's check in on the markets right now because they are sliding and coming off those record highs on tuesday. this is just hfd the release of the fed minutes in just under ab hour's time. let's go to bob pasani who is standing by at the big board with the latest action. >> hello. we have been moving in a narrow range range. we have the whole month of january. that's kind of flattened out in the last couple of weeks. we do have moves in oil. dom was telling you about that incident at the exxon refinery in torrence california. oil did move down a little bit, but it's been weak all morning, and all the big oil names. dow is having trouble because exxon and chevron has been week. all the big names have been

done. moved a little lower late in the day. banks have had a fantastic month. they really have been a marked leader but today they're slipping. big names like bank of america, zions, wells fargo, some of the regional names are to the down side. we have the fomc minutes coming up. we asked our partners what typically happens to stocks and bonds on a day like this and it's very interesting. the movement really is in the treasury area. ten-year yields trade up higher. 77% of the time. that's since may 2013 when the fed first started talking about raising rates. the average return 1.2%. that's a few basis points in the ten-year. unfortunately, the s&p 500 and most of the stock market kind of indeterminate. it's only up 53% of the time on these days. the average return only 0.15%. i don't think that's very statistically significant. however, guys i do think it's interesting that the ten-year yield is up most of the time. guys back to you. >> all right. okay. bob, you mentioned let's get to dominik chew for more on that exxonmobil refinery.

dom. >> we've got new information here with regard to what's happening. first of all exxonmobil has acknowledged that there was an incident at their torrence california, refinery earlier today at approximately 8:50 a.m. pacific time. they do also go on to say that their main concern is for the safety of their employees and their neighbors. we are accounting for all personnel and still eve waiting the cause of the incident or the occurrence or amount of any damages. more information, again, to come -- as soon as it becomes available here. what you are seeing right now are the latest live shots that we have from this torrence refinery in southern california. as you can see there, it looks and appears as though there are hoses, fire hoses, going off in the distance here and smoking coming out of various structures around the refinery. this is a separate refinery than we showed you earlier, which is what appeared to be some kind of a burnoff, controlled or not, was happening. there is what you saw before. now, that is still going on right now. what we just showed you was in another part of the refinery.

again, we're monitoring the situation very closely. we will now say, though that torrence police department, the torrence police officials have closed off some roads because of this incident. we also have information that -- there is no need to shelter in place air quality. it's not yet an issue. that's what we understand right now. there are still a lot of details that we don't know but for right now what you are seeing again, a structure that is the exxonmobil oil refinery in torrence california with various parts that appear perhaps to be damaged and appear to be smoking with a fire hose or what looks like fire hoses going off in the distance. again, we'll bring in more details as they become available, but for right now the torrence police department has said there is no air quality issue at this time. no need to shelter in place. the police have cordoned off and closed off certain roads in and around the area. again, tyler, susan, a very obviously not good situation, a bad situation happening in

torrence california but we'll bring up to speed as soon as more details become available. >> developing story there in the state of california. dom, thank you so much. now, we're going to go to break, but it's been a strong we're for india's stock market. it's up about 42%. that's right. 42%. we'll take a look at that market through the prism of the etf. plus, one 36-year-old professor, just 36 years old, could be the next leader of spain. the rest of the euro zone thinks he could be their next nightmare. power lunch is back right after this. the road. it can bring out the worst in people. but the m-class scans for danger... ...corrects for lane drifting... ...and if necessary, it will even brake all by itself. it is a luxury suv engineered to get you there and back safely. for tomorrow is another fight. the 2015 m-class. see your authorized dealer for exceptional offers through

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welcome back to power lunch. here's a boston scientific leading the way in the s&p 500 today. currently up about 11%. this following news that the medical device maker will pay johnson & johnson $600 million to settle a lawsuit over boston's acquisition of fellow device maker guidant. that was back in 2005. now, with the settlement j & j will permanently dismiss its legal challenge, so again, shares up 11%, tyler, on that bit of news. back to you. >> dom, thank you very much. activists beating street earnings estimates and iz raising its forecast on sales growth. the drugmaker taking on the allergen corporate name once the acquisition is completed. there will be no more activists. we won't trip and call it actevist. also disclosing a 5% stake

in deere and company. a mixed picture for hotel earnings. hilton missing forecasts by 1 cent, although revenue beat estimates. opposite, though for hyatt. it topped estimates by 9 cents despite revenue falling below expectations. susan. let me show you one of the world's best performing stock markets in the past year. india. it looks like the ascent continues. check out the performance over the past one year. up 42%. how does an investor get into this right now? we have a look at the etf's. seema. >> despite the run-up some traders are telling me this rally could continue. here's why. the economy starting to show signs of improvement. we're seeing a rebound in growth and narrowing of its current account deficit, and inflation moving lower. remember india is a net oil importer, so it has been benefitting from lower oil prices. all those helping to push

investors into indian stocks. with that said the country is still facing a lot of challenges. especially when it comes to tackling corruption and port. with that said some analysts say taking a step back and looking at india, in comparison to piers like china, which is dealing with sluggish growth. brazil suffering from lower oil prices and a depreciation in its currency. russia also dealing with declining oil prices and western sanctions. india, in comparison, is being seen as a much more attractive bet. investors like what prime minister -- the pro-business leader has to say and has promised to revive the economy going forward. now, if you are looking to get exposure to india, there are some etf's. there, of course is the msci that houses many multi-national names. there's a more indian-specific etf like the wisdom tree earnings fund, and the power share india etf all up. if you are also wanting to bet on the rupi which has been strengthening against the u.s.

dollar, there's the wisdom tree fund also up so far in 2015. susan. >> seema, thank you so much. india would be one of the contributeors to the record-setting year for the markets. power lunch will reveal institutional investors best and worst hedge funds in 2014. how are they performing right now? the report card is coming your way next. also -- >> up next power pitch. a budding marijuana start-up creates a tinder for pot lovers. >> this app gets those cannabis consumers to connect with each other. >> will the panel swipe right on this big whered? >> as someone who is also single and actively looking for husband number three -- >> or will it go up in smoke? >> is there room on people's phones for a -- what appears to be a tinder clone? >> stay tuned to find out. 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.

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[ 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. time for our weekly power bit where we give an entrepreneur 60 seconds to pitch his start-up to a panel of experts. >> hi there. my name is todd mitchham ceo of high there. cannabis is legal in 23 states but there still exists a bit of a stigmatization around the cannabis consumer, and there certainly does not exist a way for these cannabis consumers to thoughtfully and meaningfully connect with each other. we created high there. it's an app, and through a few

simple on boarding questions, this app gets those cannabis consumers to connect with each other to share different types of experiences in a like-minded, nonjudgmental environment. we call it high there, and it solves the problem of how these people can connect with each other. high there in phase two is going to have an amazing monday tiesation strategy and all new dynamic ways that groups of people will come together to share these experiences. we call it high there, and as we say around here you have more friends than you think. >> well welcome to today's power pitch. i'm mandy drury. hi there. you just saw the 3i67 now. let's meet the panel. on set with us is an angel investor fascinated by all the budding investment opportunities in the cannabis space. alicia syret. also a board member of the new york angels. joining us is patrick rea, co-founder of canopy boulder. he also works with arkview group, a private equity form focussing on marijuana.

and in las vegas, the martha stewart of marijuana, cheryl shuman. founded the beverly hills cannabis club and invests in the marijuana space and fun fact she holds a trademark on the phrase "stilletto stoners." it's great to have you all with us. you obviously have a whole lot more experience in this space than i do, but, todd you're in the hot seat here. patrick, question to you. >> is there room on people's phones for what appears to be a tinder clone? >> are you talking about the tinder weed probably which i'm not really fond of that. i think there is room for it. i think, again, you know my own personal experience is i'm a single guy, i have been dating i have used tinder and other apps for dating, and i'm not afraid to admit, and i have had dates that are disasters. the minute i say, by the way, i'm in the industry, and i consume cannabis and it's like there it is. date's over. i'll pay for dinner. have a great night. yet, here we are at this time where consumers like me want to connect with other people like us in a way that's safe and a way we can count on. i think there's plenty of room for it. >> todd i have heard studies

upwards of 70% of cannabis users are male. how do you run a dating app and not have a bunch of guys log in only to find another bunch of guys? >> i think a lot more women are entering into the space openly and a lot more before were not as open about it. i think what's happening here is we're seeing a shift in the culture. we have to be dynamic, and it's a social connection. it's not just about one thing. >> as someone who is also single and actively looking for husband number three who also is on match.com, et cetera how do you plan on competing with the corporate giants if they decide all of a sudden to start catering to the marijuana market, and do you believe that you can gather enough market share to compete with that if and when that happens? >> we're going to grab a lot of market share in the weed space because, as you know, cheryl, it's still a huge stigma out there, and a lot of these companies don't want to touch it, so we'll have a jump on it and we're already seeing a lot of interest and then because the tech is really good i think

we're going to also see a lot of companies saying hey, you guys are doing something cool beyond just the weed thing. we're really interested in that. >> is this an app business or an app feature? >> to me it is a tech app business. we are looking at this as a lifestyle brand. you do it with the t-shirts and branding. we are looking at it as much morrow bust than just an app. >> i literally have about six different apps. one of them being duby that are also looking for funding, and i haven't seen their proposal yet, but could you tell me specifically how you compare to that, because it seems similar to me. >> we need the competition. the object is to pull more consumers into cannabis to help them feel safe and comfortable, and we need that diversity. we need contrast. our differentiator is however we're not just like the tinder of weed or a dating app. we're a social network. we are going to be a brand that is a lifestyle brand that connects people in a way that really is kind of mainstream. >> okay. a lot of information out there. hopefully our panelists know what to do with it.

let's find out what they think. okay. are they in or out? alicia? >> i think cannabis is a multi-billion dollar industry. it's growing fast. i think there's tons of opportunities for start-ups out there. but i would like to see the competitive dynamic play out a bit more. especially given you have players like a mass roots with arkview fund and a head start on users. unfortunately, for this business for now i'm out. >> okay. patrick, what about you? >> even though i know there are opportunities in the cannabis industry facing less competition, i love your energy and i think you have great experience in the industry. i'm in. >> cheryl, you are the decider. >> my concern about this had is that you might have a group of five people from silicon valley that have the next app and perhaps high there will get wiped off the map. i'm concerned about the safety of the investment. especially as compared to something like duby which i know is trying to come into the market. that being said i think that all businesses are backed by supreme leaders, and because i believe in todd so much and i

think he is such an amazing entrepreneur, i'm going to say i'm in. >> okay. wow. you know i had no idea what it was going to be. i was, like twisting and turning. that being said however. you got an in. you got two in's and one out. what's your reaction? >> i'm really excited about it and excited you guys are into it and you and i can talk about it later. >> okay. fantastic. thanks very much. todd from high there and our panelists, aleash yashgs patrick, and cheryl thank you. that is today's power pitch. >> do you agree with the panel? let us know if you would be in or out on high there. tweet us using the hatch tag power pitch. for more on power pitch, visit power lunch.krst nbc.com. susan. >> a quick update on the power pitch you just saw high there. just became available in the apple store. all 23 states where cannabis is legal. of course where i'm from in canada. the founder says that lit them up with about 2,000 more users per day on the app.

who are the best of the best? institutional investor is here with a list of the top performing hedge funds of 2014. you don't want to miss that live reveal. plus coming up in the second hour of power lunch, a cnbc exclusive and a first ever television interview with the new ceo. power back after this. what does it mean to have an unlimited mileage warranty on a certified pre-owned mercedes-benz? what does it mean to drive as far as you want...

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i'm scott walker, and here's your cnbc news update for this hour. the federal reserve set to release its policy committee's minutes in about a half hour. investors looking, of course for clues on when the central bank will raise rates, which could come as early as june. cnbc will have the minutes for you when they are released at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. unsecured creditors at radio shack say the company timed its bankruptcy to benefit a hedge fund trading strategy even though it's cost the company millions of dollars in added losses. that according to a court filing. can you believe some military hardware that is going down in price? lockheed martin saying a series of manufacturing changes and technology investments driving down the cost of its f-35 fighter jet. sflimplts california

representative janice hahn has become the first democrat in the new congress to announce she won't seek re-election, citing frustration with washington's partisan gridlock. she has served in the house since 2011. coming up on "mad money" jim cramer talks to six flags ceo jim reid-anderson. that is the cnbc business news update for this hour. let's get over to dominik chew now for an update on that exxon refinery situation out in california. hey, dom. >> thank you scott. we have new details here again just to bring you up to speed. there has been what exxonmobil characterizes as an incident at its torrence california refinery southern california right near the 405 highway. again, some of the live shots have been fairly fairly dramatic here with regard to the structural damage done to this part of the refiner where i. you can see there there are some at least what look like vehicles that are no longer able to be moved. there are fire hoses being deployed, and you can see structural damage or what appears to be structural damage to parts of this refiner where

i. now, we have some details on what this refinery is actually capable of doing. according to exxonmobil, the torrence refinery covers about 750 acres. it employs approximately 650 employees, 550 contractors, and it processes an average of 155,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produces about 1.8 billion gallons of gasoline per year. this is a decent size refinery but it's not all that large with regard to the overall oil market. now, what's also interesting here, we have reports here that more than 70% of each barrel refined by this refinery is turned into high quality specifically specially formulated low emission gasoline that's used throughout southern california and parts of arizona and nevada. if there is a refinery outage gasoline prices in the area or those areas may be affected. also something interesting here early reports have been there have been no serious injuries with regard to this particular incident with exxonmobil. again, these are just early

reports. what's interesting though is the torrence memorial medical center nearby in torrence california, is one of three l.a. county area hospitals that have designated burn units. as of now, as of right now, they have cede no indications from the fire department of torrence with regard to any patients or anything they are needed for. again, torrence memorial medical center not yet aware of anything they need to do by the torrence fire department. again, those are the latest details. that's what we know. there's obviously a lot that we still don't know or are closely following the situation here. we'll bring in more details. right now those are just some of the live shots coming out there. there appears, again, susan, to be significant structural damage to this torrence refinery for exxonmobil. back to you. >> dramatic footage there. that seems to tell of a really large explosion and dom, keep on top of that story for us. let's check out gold prices. we still have one month lows for silver and gold. gold dipping below $1,200 an

ounce for the very first time. let's check in on silver copper, paladium and it seems to tell a mixed picture there, but we're really watching on silver and goal as you know people are convinced as markets are telling us that there might be a deal for greece. institutional investor alpha just out with its annual rankings of the world's largest hedge funds based on how pension funds, endowments foundations and funds of funds rank them this time around. a brand new name grabs the top spot. our friend michael peltz gives us a first peek live at the winners and losers along with our own kate kelly who follows this area for us. all right, michael. tell us how you did this survey as you have your -- show the magazine, michael. hold it up there. we need to see it. >> there it is. >> how did you do this, sir? >> we go out to institutional verz, foundation pensions endowments, fund of funds, and we did this stagt after labor day, and we did it right through

thanksgiving. we ask them to fill out a pretty detailed survey across eight different metrics, the funds that are invested. the thing is also if you are an investor, you can't actually rate a fund unless you've had money with them in the past 12 months. we're trying to make it fair that they're not going to penalize someone that they had money with in the past and they might have bad feelings. >> the raw performance and how they did. >> what are some of the other metrics metrics? >> there's also a risk management. >> for people that don't know what alpha is. >> better than the market. >> better than -- >> what else? what else are you looking for? >> risk management is one. alignment of interest which is very important. the manager -- they have money with the funds. their own money in their own funds. transparency is really important. >> a couple of names in the grade a overall list that either surprised me or haven't even heard of tell us about the

number one ranked fund here at london-based fund. >> edgerton capital. >> edgerton. >> still pretty quiet when it comes to the press. >> transparent enough for their investors. >> transparent with their investors. they've been around since 1994. it's a long-short manager. they burst on the scene in the u.s. a couple of years ago. they had outstanding performance in 2013. they were up about 28%. their assets doubled. went up to about $13 billion. all of a sudden this is the first year they've actually been rated in the hedge fund. >> what's their asset mix? what types of investment dozen they make? >> it's long-short. >> equities. >> equities. >> so could be some macrocurrencies? >> as most long-short equity managers they tend to be more stock. >> who else gets an a here? >> we've got 14 firms that get an a. silver point is number two. >> connecticut-based.

and then citadel in chicago. >> citadel. we have two chicago-based firms. magnatar that was started by a former citadel guy comes in at number four. >> magnetar surprised me. they were involved in buying risky subprime mortgages or were shorting them back in the day, and they attracted some very negative publicity over that so they've gotten a bad rap. however, you say that investors seem to have moved past that at this point. >> investors at the time were actually pretty pleased. since then certainly -- risk management. risk managers -- >> i was going to say that we're looking at the high graded funds, but i want to look at the degrades because some include famous names as well including gap, and also paulson and co. >> you have f's too. >> four f's.

they managed to squeak by. >> a victory in their case? >> minor victory. we have -- if you look at the list, you know the bottom of the list was another london-based firm. >> bluecrest. >> they're bringing up the rear. they are as we would say, dfl in sports, right? i won't spell that out. bluecrest capital. >> they are. even if you look at the ratings that came with it the numbers, i mean, they're really so much lower than many other firms. >> i think it's worth mentioning a few of the low-graded names. you mentioned a few good ones but paxton fortress brevin howard, discovery took a number of losses on the tech side. i know it's not just performance you are ranking here but it's pretty remarkable. some very famous players that are low on the list. >> yeah. leave it there. thanks for being with us. kate, thank you as well. institutional investor alpha magazine ranking of the funds. log on to power lunch.cnbc.com for more details on the segment. plus, a link over to institutional investors hedge fund report card and much more.

much much more. that's power lunch.cnbc.com. susan. >> right. let's get to the bond reports. rick santelli tracking the action at the cme. rick. >> thank you, sue. of course today we're going to be receiving the minutes in about 20 minutes from the fed's last meeting, january 27 28. what are all mat urts doing? intraday at fives. see the high yield? you see ten's? see that high yield? >> whisker shy of where we settled last we're. you get the point. look at 30 years. 274.5. half base point away from where they settled last year. let's look at the day before the ecb meeting in january. let's look at what boon yields did. fell for the first time ever. they're knocking at the door. that's their equivalent of our year-end settlements in terms of a pivot. the last chart. the dollar index since the ecb meeting. it's going sideways is what it's doing. even though it's doing it at very lofty levels. of course, we're going to pay

attention to minutes. they usually give us a big dose of volatility. tyler, back to you. >> all right. rick, thank you very much. he is only 36 years old. a former professor, but he could be the next leader of spain. the rest of the euro zone thinks he could be their next nightmare. our chief international correspondent michelle caruso cabrera is here with the story. who is this guy and why do we care? >> pablo iglesias is from spain. he has been in new york the past four days. we had a chance to sit down with him. he is the leader of bodemos party, that means we can. he is running a big austerity platform. very much a leftist and very much running on the same points. the euro zone is frightened of him, and it's one of the reasons why they've been so tough on greece during this recent negotiation. they think if they give in to greece, maybe this guy becomes the next prime minister of spain, and then they've got to give into him as well. we had a chance to sit down with him for about 20 minutes yesterday at the new york stock

exchange. conducted most of that conversation in spanish. some of it in english. we'll pipe to you the parts in english so you can get a sense of what he is like. >> if you could say anything to an american audience generally capitalist audience, what would you say? >> we can do the things better. >> such as? >> i think we can have government that work for people and not for the banks. >> do you think you're going to be the next leader of spain? >> i will work for that. i know the things are going to be -- it's very difficult to win an election and to get absolute majority in the government. we work very hard in order to become the next government in spain, where he. >> you're only 36 years old. would you be ready? >> significant question. i think that we need wrung people doing things.

i think we have matched old people with very old ideas. i think we need new ideas and new people ruling the government. >> so here are his ideas. he wants to raise the minimum wage. he wants to lower the retimplt age. he wants to stop foreclosures and evictions with a big real estate bubble. it's been a political issue. he has tapped into that. he wants to restructure the country's debt. more state intervention into banks. he does support the euro. incredibly similar platform to greece, and he says salvadori, the marxist leader in chile is his inspiration. >> we'll see. when would the election be? >> sometime in the fall. not set wret. >> he would be in line if his party prevails. >> right. >> and then he forms a coalition, he would be the prime minister of the new government. >> right now he leads by this much. he shot up in the polls in the last month. it's been incredible. let's see if he holds out. >> the end day is near. >> yes. >> very interesting. >> thank you very much. susan, over to you. >> we are minutes away with the fed's latest read on the

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rolls royce motor cars we are uniquely focused on the desires of our customers and are driven by our own thirst to ino vat. it helps that luxury suvs and ultra luxury suvs in particular are really hot. last year in the u.s. luxury suv sales guys up 14.2%. you can bet this elizabeth only be popular here in the u.s., but in the middle east it has become an important market for rolls royce. back to you. >> thank you so much. let's get to the market moving news. the fed's latest read on the economy due out. stocks right now are looking at declines across the board. albeit, minimal at this point. let's get back to the trading action. bob pasani. and brendan is following the movers. are you first. >> we've been waiting for the fomc, the narrow range that we've been experiencing for two days. take a look at the suvs. >> you heard about that incident at the exxonmobil refinery in

torrence that weakened some of the energy stocks that have been weak from the beginning. exxon has been a bit of a drag. chevron on the dow. marathon and conco also on the weak side. it's been a great february. all up 5% right across the board. we are just off historic highs there. nasdaq s&p 500, russell 2000 and the dow industrials all on the up side. finally, we're waiting for the fomc. interest rate sensitive stocks taking a tough time recently. although utilities first time in a while are on the upside. what i want to know is some kind of indication that a june rate hike might still be on the table. a lot of people pushed that out towards 2016. that's what i want. clarification when is that rate hike coming. guys back to you? >> over to morgan brennan at the nasdaq. >> hey, nasdaq largely flat today. we're down about two points right now, but folks are still keeping an eye out for the 5,000 mark. looks like we're not going to get in today. it will be the fist down day in six. nonetheless, still performing, out performing versus the s&p and the dow, and that's largely

due to the relative wrout performance of biotech and tech companies. notably, internet stocks doing really well today. one of the biggest movers is actually a small cap name and keep in mind slightly less than $500 million mark cap. angie's list. this company posted earnings that were better than expected. the review website operator says it has hit the 3 million member mark. the stock is up about 47%. facebook netflix also higher. strong earnings from pot belly and jack in the box. both of those stocks getting lift to other restaurant names like sonic, texas roadhouse, and bj's restaurants, and lastly some of the biggest losers. garman down 9%. both of those earnings that were not as good as the street had anticipated. also forecasts that were weaker than expected for 2015. also, gopro. we're seeing that momentum name down 8% given the fact that we've seen that stock lock up expiration taking place this

week. >> black bear suing ryan seacrest again. warren buffett increasing its stake in ibm. new global shows americans don't want their tax dollars going towards space. they want rich guys like elam musk to pay for it. that's all in the second hour of power. back after this.

welcome back. one of the news we've been waiting for when it comes to greece. we appear to be getting details on. this is coming from dow jones. they quote one source saying that the ecb has approved continued emergency liquidity assistance, what we refer to as ela, for use for greece banks saying they're going to have 68.3 billion euros worth for two weeks. that would be an increase of roughly 3.3 billion compared to last week. this can only be done through leaks. the ecb meets every other week in person to make decisions like this brsh based on leaks only. they never come out and tell us. they don't give out the numbers.

we always wait and see if someone at the ecb, someone within the actual government of the country in question will leak the number. we believe there has been a slight increase. if the ecb had decided that they were going to cut them off completely, it would be devastating for greece. they could have said no increase. that could have been devastating as well. a slight increase. this means at least for now maybe new capital controls. it depends, guys, on whether or not we see an increased amounts of money coming out of the banks as more and more greeks do withdrawal from the system for fear of what's going on. >> carrot and stick going on there, it seems. we'll get the minutes of the latest fed meeting. the dow industrials off 40 points as we head to that moment. s&p off five and nasdaq off three. power lunch returns in two. and why stop what you're doing to find a bathroom?

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with personalized guidance and online tools. visit a branch, call or go online today. welcome back. we are closing in on breaking news for the federal reserve. what exactly went down behind closed doors at their last policy meeting? how much did they address the drop in the price of oil?

back to you, tyler and suesan. >> looking for possible hipts on the timing of the first interest rate hike, and how do you invest in a higher rate environmental? let's talk to our market strategist, david ellison of the four star rated hinesi large cap financial fund, and we have lamar villery, of the villery balance fund as well. let's talk about the word patience. that's the key to this statement, right? >> well i think the issue here is that i think the economy is reasonably good and the fed minutes will reflect that and i think the question now is whether the rise in rates will be perceived by the market as a positive or a neutral. we'll see what happens. >> lamar, does it really matter whether the fed raises rates in june or whether it waits until

september, or really whether it waits until next year? does it matter to you? >> it doesn't matter to us. you know the kind of stocks we tend to invest in are smaller growthier stocks. unlike the big blue chips that really trade on their dividend yield, you know our stocks are more focused on growth. i think what investors are looking for is just consistency and some understanding of what the fed is going to do. >> do you think they haven't been consistent or transparent? i mean hey, i did, and wron about you, but i grew up in a time where the fed didn't talk much. they just acted. you had no transparency. >> i think they're being transparent, but i think the expectation is that they're going to keep kicking the can down the road. i think they're as worried about what is going to happen to the market if and when they finally increase rates as everyone else is. you know i think the way investors should position themselves is by avoiding the highly interest rate sensitive areas. >> do you think they're even going to be able to raise interest rates this year? that u.s. dollar, as you saw in

the corporate report cards, really wreaking havoc on the numbers? >> it's going to be tough, and i would say they also have to keep track of the fact that when rates go up that's going to be a serious hit to the federal government trying to pay interest on all these treasuries that are out there. right now they're not even paying 2% on these ten years, but when that goes up that's going to be a real hit to the economy. >> what is your thought about what they should do and maybe not what they will do? >> well i think what they should do is just keep doing what they're doing. basically telegraph it very success iktly. i think they've been very good about the qe's coming on and then coming off. i think the economy should drive this, and i think that's what they're waiting to have happen and i think the economy, as you see, you know the economy is reasonably good, but i had a chuckle with your comment, tyler. i think paul volcker was the chairman of the federal reserve for seven years, and he gave one public interview in that seven-year time.

here we are now -- >> alan greenspan was not exactly the model of clarity either as you listen to his -- >> that's right. >> we have to leave it there to get out on time. we appreciate you being with us today. >> we have breaking news right now from the fed. hampton pearson. hampton. >> at the end of january the fed discussions dominated very much by the timing of rate increases, the pros and cons and when to move with the case basically for patience prevailing. the fed saying the adverse he was from keeping rates too low too long was discussed. there were concerns about raising rates too fast by express by market participants of premature increase and said many participants. they were worried it could hurt the recovery. some members wanted more proof. specifically proof of labor market gains before moving. also, there were concerns about indications of higher inflation. that was important to many

members. the fed talking about the challenges frankly, of how it goes about signalling higher rates and rate hikes are on the way. they continue to rate patience. that was the consensus. they viewed economic activity as expanding at a solid pace strong job gains, under utilization of labor, continuing to diminish. they did discuss the timing of the rate increases and concerns about the adverse effects of keeping rates too low for too long. and, again, that was really the genesis of much of the discussion. there also was concerns about what was happening overseas? could this strong dollar continue to hurt u.s. exports? that offsetting of course the gains here stateside to consumers in the form of lower energy prices. bottom line overall, the keeping things pretty much as they are right now and taking a very long time to really fashion

when to move and how to signal the markets the rate hike are dominating the discussion of the two-day meeting at the end of swran. >> hampton pearson, thank you very much. do appreciate that. rather event of the fed minutes on a couple of different levels. let us now gets instant reaction to the fed minutes. we have melissa joining us from the nasdaq as well. david kelly of jo p morgan funds and, mark i'm going start with you. first off, we're seeing stocks go higher and my guess is that it's because the fed is saying well we're trying to address the challenges of how to tell the market we're going to raise rates. if you are talking about the challenges of doing something in your investment brain, does that signal that you are thinking about doing that thing? >> brian, i think they want to but clearly, they are going to have to be patient. i think the market is going to accept this as a positive and also this is happening in a context where central banks all over the world are easing. with the fed being patient and other central banks very very

accommodative, this is going to be supportive for equities. >> supportive for equities, but not for financials, and, in fact guys that's exactly where we're seeing the reaction. i don't know if the guys in the control room can pull you an intraday for the kre or bank of america for that matter david, i'm just curious from your standpoint because the reaction of the -- they're expecting a patient bet. they did use the word patience in & that maybe rate hikes could be farther off than we expected. >> i don't think so. i remember when the statement came out itself it seemed pretty imbalanced. this is january 28th. we've had a blockbuster jobs report. their worries about jobs should be even less so now, and what's more since april 28th -- since january 28th we've seen oil prices go up 20%. they bounced off their lows. they are worried about inflationing not moving back up, and they've been calming those fears. the news since then, and, of course, the stock market gains since then but the news since

this meeting really i think works on the side of the -- i still think of it somewhere rate increase is on the cards here and i really think that that's what they were thinking in had january also. >> do you think we are overstating the fed's reaction towards lower oil prices. do we want to get to a different part of that. only inasmuch as inflation is part of a story. >> yeah. i think so. i think we did it initially, and i think a lot of people saw oil prices fall, and they assumed this was a problem with the global economy. it isn't. it has to do with oil markets. as fears about that have subsided, i think you can see a stronger global economy, but also the idea that low oil prices will keep inflation low forever. that's beginning to dissipate here. you know we get a few really great months in terms of year-over-year changes and month-over-month changes. by the time we see the march and april report and cpi, it's actually going to be moving the opposite direction. i think the fed appreciates that. i just think that people have been reading into the fed a degree of dovishness which even

they are not capable of. >> mark what happens now to treasuries? i mean, since you were last on with brooirn and mandy, the treasury markets basically down aboutle 8% 9% at the end of january. what should we look to ahead? is there support just sort of even an artificial support in the corporate bond market because there are so many european pension investors looking for yield at this point? >> yes. you know, as we said two weeks ago, we thought treasuries were mispriced and yields would go higher. we still think the yields are going to go higher. keep in mind that the setup going into last week's auction, a lot of investors went into treasuries because of geopolitical concerns concerns over greece concerns over russia. those are now dissipating. so the reality is that as of fed eventually raises rates, those hedged yields to foreign investors will not look as attractive. also, people who bought treasuries because it was the only risk-free asset to own, now with the geopolitical concerns diminish, you'll see the sell-off in treasuries we

think, continue. >> guys this is important here because the banner we're running at the bottom of the screen says fed minutes suggest lower oil prices could slow the economy. there's been a near universal agreement that low oil and thus low gas is going to be an automatic positive. we've tried to tell a slightly different story. the fed may be agreeing. i want you to respond. david first. "in addition it was observed that if capital investment in energy producing industries slowed significantly, it could damp the overall expansion of economic activity for a period especially if the slowing took place after most of the positive effects of lower energy prices on growth in household spending had already occurred." david, the fed seems to be admitting if capital spending which we've seen be cut, cut, cut, cut, cut continues, it could slow the economy. do you agree? >> no. i can't really believe that. they know that lower oil prices

are a stimulant for the economy. of course it would hurt capital spending in the oil patch and in the dakotas with shale oil production. but net it is a huge benefit for lower income consumers in america. indeed, for lower income consumers throughout the developed world. i mean, i can't think of a better stimulant to a global economy than lower energy prices. i think most people in the fed believe that. i think the fed minutes reflect a lot of individual views and thoughts from members. >> that's an important point you are making david, because the way the fed minutes are read -- i pray that the majority of our audience has never sat down and read the fed minutes. about 27 pages of bad grammar and 3,000 commas. however, the way they phrase it is some talked about this some talked about that we talked about this others disagreed. >> brian that's well said. i think the related here -- >> i don't even know what i said. >> i think the reality here is that these low energy prices are very positive.

it's happening in the context the consumers as good as they've been in a decade. you have income proxy of the u.s. consumer up 5.5% 4% real. you have rising equity prices rising housing prices. net-net, the energy sector it's only 1% of job creation and only 10% of cap x. the consumer is 68% of the economy and as strong as they've been in a decade. the consumer overrides on this end. we -- that's why we think these rates are going to go higher. >> is it more or less likely that a june rate hike is on the

table? what we saw in the headlines is definitely indications that it's a little more dovish than some people thought. when you hear headlines like fed is concerned about adverse effects of raising rates too fast, concerned about a premature increase might hurt the recovery, some members want more proof of labor market gains, those are dovish comments. look at utilities. remember utilities has a tough time as ten-year yields have moved up. that's competition. down about 6%. the utility index, you see that spike there. that's another indication of a little bit less concern. when rates were down about 1.6% in the ten of this year a few weeks ago, a lot of people were saying rates would likely -- rate hikes would be pushed out in the 2016. i just don't think that's likely, but this definitely is a sense down here that june imminent a little less likely at this point. guys, back to you. >> you know bob, following up on that for just a second before we get to you know rick because here's the thing. many of our viewers and our

investing audience may completely disagree with the premise that lower oil prices could hurt in some ways the economy. however, if the fed believes that even a hint that would make the fed more likely to keep rates low, or zero for longer correct? >> yes, absolutely. first of all, i think the fed would disagree that low oil rates will be bad for the economy overall. i they they've repeatedly said they believe it's good but to the extent that low oil keeps inflation down and maybe below the fed target that makes it easier for them to keep rates lower for a lot longer. brian. >> bob, thank you very much. rick santelli. rick, your reaction to a continuously dovish federal reserve. >> well you know patience. how long do we need to wait? 11,400 dow points. 11,400 dow points. okay? from 6,600 to basically 18,000. i believe we were at 666 on s&ps. we were at 10% unemployment.

we're now 5.5. we're averaging close to 2.5% gdp. how much patience do they need? 30s down two basis points. the biggest loser or winner depending if you are long or short, dollar index went for basically up a half a cent to unchanged. i don't know that the markets were surprised, and i don't think it's a coincidence that the high yields of the day that were made in the wee hours of the morning are pretty much exactly where we settled last year which is by far the best yield resistance and we're backing away from it quickly. back to you. >> all right. thank you very much, rick santelli. rising yields and mortgage applications lower. let's bring in diana. what does this all mean for those looking to get a mortgage these days? >> well we're just seeing incredible sensitivity in the market right now over the past

two weeks we did see mortgage rates edge up higher and for two weeks we saw applications to purchase a home lower. when you look at the real cash value, if you were to look for a mortgage on january 1st versus today, you're only paying $42 ray month more today on a $200,000 loan. that was enough to push those applications down 7% last week. 7% the week before. what the experts are telling me it's not so much the actual cash value that those higher interest rates represent, but it's the fact that buyers are so sensitive that, they're looking at higher home prices that their confidence is still very weak in the market, and when they looked at the rates not going lower, that has a defueling effect on them to want to buy a home. >> this could actually move people off the sidelines so to speak, get them in the market? >> if rates continue to go higher, that's going to hurt them. if rates move down a little bit even, that could get them back in. hoping to get in before rates go even higher. >> right. all right, diana. thanks very much for that. >> elsewhere we are following a developing story out of

california. there has been an explosion at an exxonmobil refinery in los angeles. let's get down to dom with more. >> all right. brian, what's happening right now is we do know that there have been according to reports three minor injuries of employees treated on sight. that's according to a fire department over there in torrence. again, no major sxwrrz to report. three minor ones that were treated on site. what you are seeing there are videos of what we were talking about taken just a short time ago by knbc's news chopper out of l.a., and are you seeing structural damage to this refinery, and you know this. this is a refinery here that accounts for about 10% of all gasoline production in the state of california and processes about 155,000, 156,000 of crude oil a day. now, the other thing that we do know, again, if we could bring up the map, this is not very far from downtown los angeles, nor is it from -- you can see there,

torrance, 18 miles away from downtown l.a. if you look south, you would see the port of long beach where there is a current work stoppage. it's about ten miles away from there. again, the latest details there. we'll bring you more as they become available. >> got to go. i was born in gardenia and lived in torrance as a kid. >> andy lipow. is this explosion -- this is -- for those that don't know this is about a three block long refiner where i. it is gigantic. is this going to an impact of gasoline for our viewers in southern california? >> it certainly is, and i expect that the wholesale market has gone up a good 10 cents a gallon because they just don't know how long this particular unit which is called a -- it is the heart of a refinery producing gasoline. >> yeah. we're looking at images right now. i mean, it's again, hard to tell how big this is. it looks like a big explosion. still waiting to get details. hopefully everybody is going to be okay. andy we talk about california.

remind our viewers what an unusual gasoline market this is. they've got special regulations. that's why california gasoline tends to be some of the most expensive in the united states. >> not only is it cleaner and different than gasoline sold in other parts of the country, but they're already on summer grade gasoline in southern california. there really is no resupply readily available in the lowell local market to make up for the shortfalls. >> yeah. andy lipow, let's just hope everybody is okay. it's really a block away from a big high school north high school. let's hope everybody is okay. thank you very much. let us set the menu for the rest of this hour. coming up, the ceo of color objection. his first interview on tv is only on power lunch. plus, big news from greece today. it is the news that international investors have been waiting for. we got that coming up as well. then the nasdaq is slightly higher. itans continues its march towards 5,000. we're at 4,902. the markets turning up on the

dovish fed minutes. we are back after this. i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars.

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start us off with the best performers since the march 2000 record all-time super high of it is nasdaq. >> all right. there are a lot of -- i mean the nasdaq composite has thousands of stocks. we decided to limit our universe to current nasdaq 100. it gives large cap companies right now, and which ones have done the best if they existed back in march of 2000. the fist one here no surprise for a lot of investors out there and our viewers. gilead sciences up 4500%. a huge move higher for this particular stock on the biotech side of things. then take a look at the next one here. tractor supply. go and get yourself a browning t-shirt, maybe a four speed. whatever you want. those shares up 7500% since march of 2000. a huge return. then they become eye-popping now because keurig green mountain didn't exist back then, but if you adjust for everything it's done it's up almost 30,000% during that time span, and the single best performer of current nasdaq large cap stocks around a 45,000 percent gain for monster beverage and, brian, you

as well as anybody knows here that it used to be called hanson natural beverage. back to you. >> thank you very much. melissa, what are you looking at? >> to be exact in the global economic downturn. we're going to focus on the latter. since 2009 the nasdaq composite has gained 285% to the nasdaq 100. a whopping 319%. when you dig into the 100, there are 14 stocks many what i'll call the four figure club. gaining 1,000% or more in that nearly six-year time frame. two of those, 2,500% gains or more. regeneron soared about 3100% since 2009.

siriusxm just about 2500% perfectly in general. other big movers that we've seen since 2009 well dom mentioned keurig green mountain. that stock has continued rally. so has starbucks. that's up about 1,000% since 2009. also a number of internet companies. netflix, you want to talk about a comeback kid. that has gained 1100%. priceline, up 1300% despite the fact we've seen that stock fall double digits the last 12 mouz. bidau still up since 2009. lastly, we can't talk about the big movers since that most recent bottom without talking about apple because melissa, those shares of the tech giant are up about 977%. as we know it just continues to grow and go higher. >> morgan brennan, thanks for that. sdmrirchgts as the tech heavy nasdaq has a new record high should you pile in or pull out? joining us now kevin bearish on tech stocks and bullish on the

index and overweight on technology. guys, great to have you with us. kevin, i'll start off with you since you're the naysayer here. you don't like the nasdaq right now because of the heavier weightings in the index, correct? >> i'm still bullish short on u.s. stocks, but i think there are certain aspects of the index that will hold it back. first of all it's mostly weighted in consumer discretionary information technology and health care. we did some research at lookbacks the last time the fed embarked on a very slow gradual easing program back in 2004 to 2006. what we found the three worst performing sect ors over the three-year time period were consumer discretionary information technology and health care. while this time may be different, there may be better places to put your money than in the nasdaq 100. >> that's pretty compelling but burns, why is kevin wrong? >> well, at nfj investment grooep group we're not buying the nasdaq 100, but within our dividend value fund, our

flagship u.s. strategy it's one of our largest overweightings, and for starters you know whereas the s&p 500 right now trades at a premium to its long-term averages, there are two sectors that trade differences to those averages, one of which is telecom and technology. the technology stocks on i pe multiple basis traded at a discount to the 15-year averages. between that and the fact that within the s&p 500 right now technology surprisingly enough accounts for more dividends paid than any other sector, and they don't just pay the most dividends, but that's also where we're seeing the best dividend growth, and likewise technology pay-out ratios still remain fairly low. so not only have they been growing by the greatest amount, but they also have the ability to grow those pay-outs more than any other sector. >> kevin, if you don't like information technology, consumer discretionary, some of the sect orz thaw say won't perform well in the slow rising rate environment, where do you go at this point? >> one wrar that i like to go in is reets. if you look at the nasdaq 100

index, they actually exclude financials from their composition. go again back to 2004 2006. reets over that three-year time frame were up on average about 24.5%. reets were one of the best asset classes of 2014. knee been one of the best performing asset classes in 2015 thus far. if you look past mortgage-related reets and other areas of the reet market that could benefit from a slowly improving economy, it's hard not to consider it for your portfolio. >> do you like reets. >> right now we actually with given the potential rise in interest rates and the fact that the spread on reet dividend yields relative to longer term bond yields isn't necessarily what is better historically. we don't find ourselves exposed to the reet. >> good conversation guys. it's information you are diametrically opposed where i stand. burns and kevin, appreciate it.

don't go anywhere. we have the first live tv interview with the ceo of color objection and that's when power lunch returns. financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise

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>> here's a peace fed market check. we've got a 60 point range in the dow, and enough to swing it in and out of positive territory. the s&p down five points. about one-quarter of 1%. the midcap stocks and small caps have done better. the s&p midcap 400 is positive. i mean fractionally. but it is still up and melissa, up near the -- i'll call it 5% to be genrouse a cold wednesday. it's up 4.9% this month. >> sure. we're seeing the most reaction, brian, in the financials. particularly among the banks -- bank of america at session lows. take a look at the s&p 500

regional bank index. that is also at or close to session lows right now. >> well do you want a company of -- they are now etf's for that. we're going to tell you about what we call whale watching thus, the video. we are just minutes away from the oil market close. we'll have your sell-off price for you when "power lunch" returns.

i'm scott walker, and heres your robinson nbc. the fed releasing minutes from its january policy meeting. policymakers expressing concern that rising rates too soon could dampen an economic recovery. exxonmobil's oil refinery in torrance california, suffering structural damage following an explosion this morning. according to exxon, four people were taken to the hospital under observation for what we believe to be minor injuries. nearly 150,000 barrels of oil a

day are refined there. nexton mobile shares falling 3% on that news. labor secretary thomas perez is planning to hold a second round of talks. the shipping company executives and union leaders seeking to broker a deal to end months of labor turmoil that's clogging traffic at west coast ports. look, a new book. more than 20 years after his death, randomhouse saying it will publish a recently discovered manu script from dr. seuss called "what pet should i get?" it will be available at the end of july. for more go to cnbc.com. that's the cnbc news update at this hour. back to you, brian. >> all right. scott. thank you very much. always go with the dog, america. always go to the dog. coming up at 2:30 eastern time the nymex here. in fact oil prices it's past 2:30. it's 2:33. we're three minutes behind. crude oil closing down to $52.16. after coming off our $44 and change, dollar low of a couple of weeks ago, crude oil has stalled that move back up.

supply demand and where we're going to go. ecb, agreeing to give more money to banks. chief international correspondent militia carusa cabrera has headlines that crossed right before 2:00 eastern time and i looked up at the giant cnbc monitor and said what the heck does that mean? >> i'll try to explain. we see multiple reports in the last hour, brian, that the ecb's governing council voted to continue allowing funds to flow to greek banks. key lifeline. comes in the form of what's called emergency liquidity assistance, eela as it's known in europe. it would have been devastating for the greek banking system. likely would have led to capital controls in greece. meaning as a customer, it away limit how much money could you withdraw from an atm or your account or transfer. citing a source dow jones says the ecb increased the amount of ela to 68.3 billion up from 65 billion euros allotted last week. now, reuters was reportinged that they had wanted even more.

they wanted 10 billion more. a total of 75 billion. maybe the ecb putting a little bit of a squeeze on greece because it all comes in the middle of extremely contentious negotiations between greece and its european lenders. bottom line this means probably, brian, you could still keep on getting money out of the bank in greece if you need to. melissa. >> all right. i'll take it. michelle, thank for that. got to get to sarah eisen in florida. sarah, go easy on him. the stock, by the way, up 25% in a year. >> all right. thanks very much melissa. like to welcome bedo to cnbc. first interview. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> your predecessor was there for eight years. shareholders liked him. fought off activists. what do investors need to know about you? >> well this change really had been about consistency of purpose. we have a strategy that's working. we have great brands. my mission really is to accelerate profitable growth and we're doing that by leading

into brand investment and by leading into innovation. on that note we're feeling good about the second quarter where we've been able to grow 4%. >> it helps that you have 80% of your business in north america. good place to be right now with everything going on in the world. >> it is. we see plenty of growth opportunities in north america. we are proud to be based in north america, and that's where our strength is. like i said innovation is really how we're going to drive our categories. we're seeing some signs of life lately. >> innovation. i know on cleaning on wipes. what's another example of something we can expect to see from you? >> burt's bees and across the lip, face, and body portfolio. we're doing very well. we've extended our lip portfolio into color. innovation that's been very successful and we think there's a lot more room to grow with burt's bees. >> with such a good handle on north america and the u.s. i want to ask you about the state of the consumer. we were told this morning that it was very challenging and

cautious. do you agree? >> it is challenging, but we're seeing some signs of life. we are cautiously optimistic. we're seeing some growth in our categories. categories have grown almost 2% in the last quarter. we hope that that will continue as consumers will see oil and gas prices decline. >> and also the oil factor. i know a lot of investors are asking about this today. how much does it help you in terms of input costs. you make chemicals and bleach and wipes. shouldn't that help that you are seeing low oil prices? >> in the last quarter that actually still was the head wind for us but we expect the lower oil and gas prices to flow through the p & l later on in the fiscal year. we are optimistic that it will turn into a tail wind later in the year. >> all right. thank you very much. preview of what we can expect from beda the brand new ceo of color objection. been on the job for a few months. back to you in the studio. >> a fresh step for kitty litter, trash bags and bleach.

that is perfect vertical integration i think. >> it is quite a diverse line-up. they also make charcoal by the way, and britta filters. >> shout on the to the u.p. you know what i'm talking about. time for street talk. every day five stocks with news. melissa lee, are you ready sf. >> i'm always ready, brian. >> let's do it. cell gene. start with a buy target $156. about 30% up side. goingen him securities also starting coverage with a buy. >> just today the fda also approved its blockbuster drug for another use along with another to treat people with recently diagnosed multiple myoloma. that's helping to boost the stock today. the one that i'm watching restoration hardware. cowen -- sees a long-term path of $4 billion to $5 billion. 20% plus. they talk about magical and galleries driving profitability. it looks relatively inexpensive

compared to piers. >> he has been getting into cat nip there. the average rating is overweight. average target 10 3.50. don't -- have you gotten their catalogs in the mail? >> they're like this big. >> 17 pages. >> it's crazy. i put it in the recycling bin. >> save the tree. >> century link. goldman sachs says sell. they cut it to a sell from neutral. their target? 33. stocks at 37.78. our viewers can do the math on that. they see century link falling. >> this has been a traditional yield play. people looking into space for yield. 5.755%. euro recently said forget century link. go to at&t if you are looking for yield in telecoms. rack sfas. 52-week highs. upgraded to outperform. remember last night they came out with earnings lower than expected revenue, but margins improved. also gave a 2015 outlook that was solid, and the analysts say it trades at a 25% discount to

its sector. >> steefl nicolas saying despite foreign exchange head winds because rack space does have some, the stock and the company are doing well. under the radar name of the day is back to biotech. home yum pharmaceuticals mnta. greene capital reiterates a buy. $15 target on a stock that is trading at $12.50. they like a drug and potential for generic approval there. >> this stock has not had momentum. >> there you go. >> past 12 months down 32% versus the ibb which is the biotech up 23%. we'll see if this holds. >> they're trying to bring the sun. you're bringing the rain. i get it. you fwot to have both sides. melissa, thank you. >> unless you, america, have millions of dollars to invest you are not going to be able to afford to get in on say, carl icon's hedge fund but there is a way you can invest like a hedge fund manager on the cheap. we are going to tell you how. plus we have a staff that may

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>> take a look. four of the worst five performing stocks in the s&p 500 this year are retailers. fossil, you know the news. today absolute disaster of a quarter. down 27%. ralph lauren down 26%. phillips van heus know down 16%. and tiffany down 16% as well. the fifth stock that we did not name is sandisk. >> hedge fund invest issing usually expensive. generally costing 2% of assets and 20% of profits. that's like a diamond-studded fur coat someone left in a bentley. fear not because our own jeff cox thinks that he has cracked the code on how to invest like a hedge fund whale, but cheaper and without a staff of hundreds. jeff cox, welcome. what is the secret? >> brian, if you can't beat them and you can't join them clone them. >> that's what we're talking about. like a sheep. >> exactly. like a clone fund.

it's an etf where managers follow these 13 f form ebbing closures. what they're doing. the thought that they're picking. they put them into a low cost fund. some are actually doing okay. let's talk about a couple. one is the alpha clone fund. that's $100 million fund started three years ago. up 12.5% last year that didn't beat the s&p 500 or did beat by a mile the total hedge fund returned in the industry. another one, global x gu are you. blockbuster, 2013. about 47% gain. also, the iq hedge multi-strategy tracker. that's a $1 billion fund. it tracked close to $300 million of assets in the last year or so. basically the idea is you don't want to pay those fees. you buy an etf, and you can track what these guys are doing. >> i assume they're getting this data from the 13 f, which, of course, we on cnbc report all

the time, so you can theoretically just watch cnbc and we'll tell you these guys bought this, these guys dumped that, or is there something more to this? >> in a fund you decrease the volatility exposing yourself to individual stocks, that kind of thing. it's a big basket of stocks a nice offering. if one stock says hey, they don't always have good years. we see some guys like einhorn and abbingman had a bad year two years ago. they do you have a buffer, and again, it's at a lower cost. >> let me get this straight. in terms of performance, for all three of those funds, i mean, you take a look at last year, a year in which the s&p 500 was up 13%, they are all -- they were all under performing. you were better off just buying the spy basically. >> i think it depends on what your benchmark is. if you do look at the s&p 500, it's not doing that well. hedge funds is a group that only gained about 3% last year. at least they did better than that, and, yeah, you know, there's definitely a word of caution. one thing we didn't talk about

is these are lightly traded funds, so you have to watch that, and have you to -- as with any etf, have you to know what are you getting into. it's interesting. it's a young industry now. it's worth tracking to see this is a better way to -- >> melissa, my esteemed colleague, yes we know now the s&p was up 13%. did you put all your money on buster douglas? probably not. you don't know the wrout come until it happens. >> of course not. >> all right, brian. >> how to invest like a hedge fund whale on the cheap. >> take a look at the xop, the oil and gas exploration production etf. that's up 25% from its low. about two months ago. is it too late to get in? we're looking at investment opportunities in oil. maybe, though looking for solar. two big solar companies. will there be sunny skies or dark clouds?

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crude oil has been attempting to make a recovery. it's up about 7% of the past week. now, earlier this morning bmo capital markets initiated

coverage of many of the u.s. oil services names with outperform ratings. is now the best time to get into the sector. mike kelly is joining us but he says he cannot get too excited about many of the stocks. mike joins us now. you have pointed out that the equities and oil historically move in lockstep together. now we've got stocks going up and oil kind of going up. have investors gotten ahead of themselves. >> good afternoon. we do think the market -- well it's forward looking, and you could see investors saying $50 isn't the right price for oil. we agree with that but the move has been rather drastic here. you've seen emp stocks in particular up 25% above the performance of oil since mid-december here. so we do think especially in light of an inventory level here on the crude side of things that

are at unprecedented high levels and set to potentially test functional capacity of storage come may, that that could be a little bit of an overzealous move for these equities. >> how about this? will some of the buyers of the equities anticipating a stikpike up in oil at some point because the foreign futures were in a big contango, will they ultimately be proven correct in buying the names? are they just too early? >> you know ultimately they could pan out, but what we think is you have a lot of the move already. we've seen a lot of the equities the way we slice and dice the figures that are already reflecting $70 long-term oil prices and to get tremendous upside beyond that we think could be a stretch given the dynamics in the industry right now. >> you know it's interesting, too, because the moves in the last month mike have been so different. some stocks back 30%, some up 2%. everybody trying to figure out who is a good play, are they on

the fringe, whatever. are there one or two companies you think have not been discovered again by investors but are worth it? >> yeah. i think you're absolutely right, brian. the names that have moved first have been the names that investors are comfortable that they're investing money and they're not taking a dollar and turning it into 75 cents, which a number of the emps are at $50 oil. there's a companile that i think the street has it wrong where there's misperceptions about the asset quality or the levels of liquidity. two of those, whiting petroleum and rosetta resources we think fit that bill. we upgraded rosetta today. we think the permian asset is getting tremendously better and we'll see evidence of that with their q4 call. we think the liquidity is just fine. a modest outspend on probably a revised budget and it's now cheap. a couple turns below your average valuations in the group pup. >> mike kelly, global hunter securities. mike it's a real pleasure. thanks very much. >> thank you, brian. >> coming up from oil to solar,

two big energy companies reporting after the bell today. what do you need to expect. plus a company trying to turn "fifty shades of grey" into 50 shades of green. when "power lunch" returns. [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops. so open an account with schwab. and when a market move affects, say a cloud computing stock you're holding, we can help you decide what to do. with tools that help you see how market activity is affecting your positions. so when the time comes to decide whether to scale in or scale out... you can make your move wherever you are.

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if you're running a business legalzoom has your back. over the last 10 years we've helped one million business owners get started. visit legalzoom today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. legalzoom. legal help is here. these fed minutes really moving the odds of a rate hike this year. i want to give a shout out to our digital team and ben ber berkowitz. only a 53% chance of a rate hike

in september. it was 62% before the fed minutes came out at 2:00. so we are 9% more dovish than we were. check out shares of cinemark today. it's at a new all-time high. even though movie ticket prices were down people spent more money on popcorn and soda. last year was not a great movie year. so far been a couple block blockbusters blockbusters, "american sniper" and "fifty shades of grey." >> two big solar stocks set to report after the bell. solar city and sun edison both names that have been on a tear. up 8% and 13% respectively. gordon johnson of axiom capital says to keep an eye on the long-term fundamentals. good to see you. >> thank you. >> and, of course deployments, megawatts deployed. that's the key metric for any solar stock.

>> these two stocks have been on a tear recently. it's really due to the rebound in oil and the idea that oil has bottomed. specifically for sun edison it's a stock we like and you know that's not typical because we're very bearish but sun edison is a well-run company. what's going to be the focus today is backlog, megawatts produced, gross margins on the megawatts they sell. i don't expect any fireworks from the earnings announcement after the close today and the call tomorrow because they have an analyst day next week. however what you have to realize with sun edison is last year when they did their yield call everyone said everyone is going to follow and do a yield. and no one has done that. i think people need to realize that. i think at the analysts' day next week is when the fireworks will go off. we like this stock. we'd still be long the stock into the earnings today and more importantly into the analysts' day next week. >> will we hear more about obama's plan to extend the

investment tax credit? >> i think that's going to be a question on the conference call. i think the reality of that happening is very low. clearly that's also been a boon for solar stocks so i think that will be a question. i don't think that's going to be their focus. >> what's your number one issue with solar city? >> competition is increasing. the way they calculate net asset value i think is coming under scrutiny. i think that there's clearly again more competition, and i think that this earnings release in the winter period where you're not potentially going to have as many deployments, i think you may have some disappointments. they disappointed, the stock got hit hard. you have seen a lot of insiders selling and the op ex has been very high. i would be short that stock in the easternings. >> gordon johnson, thank you. and, of course we'll have full coverage of sun edison as well as solar city in the conference calls tonight at 5:00 on "fast money," brian. >> and if guy adami is a part of "fast money" but we don't have to wait because he photo bombed

you. guy adami, we're calling you out, adami. >> tricky. >> we look forward to the show tonight. thanks for watching. get your "power lunch" to go at powerlunch powerlunch powerlunch cnbc.com. >> the fed released the notes from their most recent meeting. >> this one fascinating. we have already seen for example as we were talking about a big move up in rates relatively speaking in the u.s. these minutes come out really threw a towel on that. >> pick your spot. the 5-year note had the biggest move. it was down as much as nine basis points after the fed minutes report came out. by the way, what they were saying was they're still trying to figure out when to raise rates and whether to take the