row. >> i will see you tonight on "fast." you heard of the super bug cre claiming lives. we have the ceo that was one of the only drugs out there battle cre. >> "the closing bell" starts right now. and welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans over here at the new york stock exchange. where are you, bill? >> let's see. i'm where it's a lot colder. i'm at cnbc global headquarters in new jersey. stocks backing off the highs just a bit today. we continue to keep an eye on the nasdaq composite index. already has had an eight session win streak. that's in jeopardy today. that march back to 5,000 may be hitting a bit of a speed burch today. we'll take a close look and see if the nasdaq can make it nine in a row with a late bush late today. >> quite a streak that would be. meanwhile, it was a terror threat so serious that the

homeland security chief warned mall of america shoppers to be, quote, particularly careful, and yet yesterday it was still hard to find a parking spot at that mall. why aren't american consumers worried if the government is? some surprising answers on this one just ahead. >> important story there. another one as well, the president just wrapping up comments about these new rules they're talking about for 401(k) rollovers making sure the investment advice you get is good for you and not just for the financial planner or broker who is advising you. there are some concerns that people are being steered into investments that have higher fees. they're suitable for you, but they're expensive at the same time, and there are cheaper alternatives. so brokers may be making more on these higher fee investments, and so the president wants to do something about that but the industry is fighting back. so we have both sides of that issue coming up a little later here on "the closing bell." >> yeah divisive one. here is we stand in the markets. take a look at the dow down 55

points today. pretty much been in negative territory for the entire session. still above 18,000. the s&p still above 2,100. the nasdaq we're watching to see if it can turn positive into the close. at the moment it's also down about 5 points. >> if i can ask quickly for oil, we had a turn up briefly at one point today, about an hour hour and a half ago, when the nigerian oil minister said that opec had been talking about the possibility of an emergency meeting to deal with lower oil prices. you see that blip up just before 2:00 eastern time. we've since given back all of that, but at some point there was some talk of maybe opec getting together. we'll talk about that among other things. we have "the closing bell" exchange today. erin gibbs from s&p capital iq. we have kevin kelley from recon capital. kenny polcari from o'neill securities. everybody is at the new york stock exchange except me. hank smith from haverford trust is with us so is tom essay from

the sevens report. kenny p. let me start with you and get to this oil story. if opec did meet prices theoretically could go higher what if we did have higher oil prices down the road? what would that do to the equity market? unless they're going back to $80 or $90 or $100 it will not really have that much of an impact. the market has priced in oil going back to the $60 to $70 range. i wouldn't get too worked up about oil stabilizing. the fact it's starting to stabilize should not be causing anyone to get upset. >> kevin, this goes back to i think it was goldman talking about so the most owned parts of the market by hedge funds, apple and energy. i mean these are the two places to watch. these are the two things that are ticking the market along. >> absolutely. if you look at technology, it's continuing to grow. if you look at the nasdaq 100 over the last three years, sales growth is over 20%. if you look at the s&p 500, that's 8.5%.

>> 20% to the three-year period zbr . >> and year seeing that going forward. if you look at the s&p 500, it's 8.5% and energy is a big sector. if you start to look at utilities, they're trading at 19 times earnings when you really want to be at 19 times earnings in technology. >> you raise a key point. 20% topline growth. that's a rally built on fundamentals and not just manipulated earnings growth but real genuine top line growth. >> absolutely. and they actually have the cash on their balance sheet to do the cap ex. apple just did $2 billion in europe today. they can do buybacks they can buy other companies, and they can issue dividends, all of which apple is doing. >> and the other big story that we have to follow here that influences the markets, janet yellen will be testifying to congress tomorrow and on wednesday. you've got something in the back of your mind that says you're kind of waiting for some hawkish surprise from the fed. what are you waiting for? >> well i'm waiting for the market to start to really

compress the gap between where fed fund futures at the end of the year are priced and what the fed is saying. it's a 75 basis point gap. at some point i think the market may have the fed a little too dovish. i don't think yellen will do anything shocking tomorrow but if she's a slight bit hawkish, i think we could see bonds continue to decline. >> at the same time we just had knew murrah who said they expect yellen to reiterate the fed to keep the patient language in the march meeting. is that your view? >> well, they might tweak the language a little bit but i think one thing will be clear, it is going to be a data dependent fed, and when they begin raising the fed funds rate it will be different than the greenspan led fed where they telegraphed rate increases at each meeting. this is not going to happen this time. in fact, we might just get one rate hike this year and it might be well into next year before the next one. so lower for longer i think is

the theme here that is going to dominate the marketplace. >> meanwhile, erin gibbs, here we sit at all-time highs. we're waiting for nasdaq 5,000. could come sometime this week. how do you guys at s&p capital iq value this market right now. obviously when we get back to nasdaq 5,000 inevitably the stories about a tech bubble start to come out again, but are we as expensive now as we were back in 1999 relatively speaking? >> no, no. we're nothing close to that. we are at a peak. we're trading at almost 18 times forward earnings but still we're nowhere near those 29 times like we saw in 1999. there is clearly a risk on market right now, and we're seeing that even in just -- in any of the comments with yellen. so we're cautious. we're definitely concerned about how earnings are looking. right now we're looking at 1.6 growth in earnings for 2015. pretty slight but obviously a lot of that is because of the energy.

there's clearly a big discount because of that energy story, and it's risk on. it's a market return market. >> kenny? >> bill, i would say if you remember what it was like in '99- '99- '99-2000. it was all about the dotcoms. people were almost nuts the way they traded. investment banks would price them at 20 open to 100, trade up to 300, back to 80 and close at 250 in the same day and created thism mania among investors. you would say what just happened? >> that was a speeding train that hit the wall in march of 2000. this is a train that's slowly making its way into the station. >> i would reiterate people need to be careful of the multiple expansions. whether it's consumer discretionary, utilities, and the real value is overseas. we're getting off that accommodative easing. they're just starting.

the german dax index, they're at 14 times earnings 3.1% yield. as we're getting cautious in the u.s., you can start looking overseas to find real value. >> they're at a 14 multiple and our multiple is 15? >> our multiple is 19. >> you're talking about the nasdaq, the s&p. >> both. >> s&p is at 17.7. >> that's higher than i realize. that does show you bill there is some value. >> and you would think. and hank, i look we keep showing this graphic, the utilities are leading again today and you feel rates are going to stay lower longer than people think. i mean wouldn't you just want to go with those dividend-paying utilities right now? >> well i like the theme dividend-paying but we don't like utilities because we believe that's an overvalued sector relative to the earnings growth you're getting and relative to historically a below

average yield even though utility yields -- >> where are you looking for dividends right now? >> well you can still find dividends across all s&p 500 sectors, not just the utility rich or telecommunication rich but you can find it in consumer staples. you can find it in health care. j & j at a 3% dividend yield. where you have a history of great dividend growth so when you look at dividends, it really does favor equities and favors being invested. >> tom, by the way, can we talk about energy valuation here? there are a lot of people still looking at this space. what do you think about the relative value? >> well we don't think oil has bottomed. we'd look at it to a point as a value trap. we see oil starting to roll over a little bit here and we are continuing to pound the table. it's rig count decline does not mean production goes down. and the nigeria comments from today, unless the opec nation from nigeria has been promoted

to opec leader of saudi arabia, it doesn't matter. >> what about natural gas? they told us the price would drop and the production would drop off. it never has. >> let's jump back to the rig count. as these rigs come offline, then you're going to start to see the supply of oil decrease and i think we're going to see that come in the spring and so therefore, i actually think and a lot of people actually think right here oil is going to find its base and so -- and i think that's a positive. >> all right. >> very good. thank you all. appreciate your thoughts. >> thanks, everybody. >> busy week coming up. >> we have 50 minutes to go in this session. keeping an eye in the nasdaq. right now red arrows pretty much across the board. not by a lot. >> coming up more economic data out today. home sales fell to their slowest pace in nine months. diana will have a special report on what's ailing the housing

market. that's coming ahead of the spring selling season. and up next a new terror threat issued against shopping malls across america, but are consumers and wall street not taking it seriously enough? we'll speak with the head of the international council of shopping centers when "the closing bell" continues. hey, girl. is it crazy that your soccer trophy is talking to you right now? it kinda is. it's as crazy as you not rolling over your old 401k. cue the horns... just harness the confidence it took you to win me and call td ameritrade's rollover consultants. they'll help with the hassle by guiding you through

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market. closing bell" continues.

minus signs on wall street, some of it might be a come back from the rally we saw on friday which was expiration day, so sometimes you get a little pull back from that but the dow is down 63 points. that's about the low of the session right now with the s&p down 6. nasdaq in danger of losing its -- ending its eight-day win streak as it marches towards

5,000. here are the ten sectors inside the s&p 500 index. three of them are positive. that would be the utilities, health care, and consumer staples. interestingly, energy is 4% lower today. >> this good everyone's attention over the weekends. a terror threat against america's malls. secretary of homeland security jeh johnson saying this on "meet the press." >> i'm not telling people to not go to the mall. i think that there needs to be an awareness, there needs to be vigilance, and, you know, be careful obviously. it's a new phase. we're in a new phase right now, and that involves public participation in our efforts. >> well the market not yet responding to that warning. mall real estate investment trusts, reits, they have been trading higher today. yesterday a spot check of mall of america showed it was crowded. it was a, quote, typical busy sunday as one store manager put it kelly. >> well for more let's bring in

michael now. he's president and ceo of the international council of shopping centers. michael, good to have you with us. was this news to you? >> the part that there was an announcement that the malls were being targeted is something we've been living with for a long time, so that in itself wasn't news. i think some of the response was newsworthy, but this is unfortunately, a situation we've been living with ever since 9/11, and i think what is good and one of the reasons your seeing the stocks performing as they are is the mall sector and the shopping sector in general has been very responsive ever since 9/11 to make sure that the shoppers and the retailers and the properties themselves have gn been well protected and that vigilance continues to this day. >> secretary johnson used some interesting language during that "meet the press" appearance. he said we're in a new phase. maybe the public will have to start participating more actively in all of this. will malls do the same thing? we've talked in the past when there have been other threats of

some kind about the possibility of increasing visual security whether you have security guards that are armed or whatever it is. is that a likely possibility down the road do you think? >> well i think what is a likely possibility is you will see more of the presence. it's one of the things that our industry has done quite well. shoppers want to feel secure but they also don't want to feel blocked and on trucedn truced by the situation. shoppers respond to that when the threat level goes up. of course, there are lots of things you don't see that are behind the scenes and a lot of technology that in the last 12 15 years has really advanced significantly. the digital cameras throughout the shopping centers, in the parking lots tracking virtually everyone to really make sure the properties are secure. so i think -- >> michael -- >> yes, i'm sorry.

>> i was going to ask how much of the responsibility do you feel falls on your shoulders to keep shopping malls safe? do you need more resources? is it a question of communicating more with your mall operators? or do you just leave this in the hands of law enforcement? >> well i think what we can say is that the shopping center owners have themselves been very vigilant, and what they've been doing is collaborating very closely not only with local law enforcement, but also with the fbi, department of homeland security and other national law enforcement agencies. so there's a lot of collaboration, and in many shopping centers, for example, you will see local police substations in the shopping centers. when the alert levels rise often the local law enforcement agencies will park the patrol cars in the shopping center lots or they'll make patrols through the mall. so there's been a good level of not only cooperation but also communication with the mall owners, with the retailers, and the local law enforcement. >> and this couldn't come at a worst time for brick and mortar

stores because online shopping has been growing by leaps and bounds the last few years. the latest number from target for example, just showed 2.5% of their sales are now online. that's billions of dollars right there. and if i'm a consumer worried about security at a mall, i'm just going to shop more online isn't that a concern for you guys? >> well, it's one of the things that we've been talking a lot about, bill, is the fact that the online retailing really is operating hand in glove with the brick and mortar. target has great online presence and online sales but they also have great brick and mortar stores and it's been a symbiosis. the retailers that could do well is those that have a strong brick and mortar presence and a strong online presence. consumers still indicate they want to go shopping in brick and mortar stores. they want to go in malls. at shopping centers across the country, we're now at vacancy rates which are as low as they were before the recession.

sales per square foot are at record high. actually the shopping centers are doing very very well. and the american consumer, they're pretty resilient. >> michael, just last question before we let you go. for americans who are watching is the mall of america safe? >> i think that the mall of america has all of the protections it could possibly have from the local security force, the number of security professionals in that property alone dwarfs some local police forces and they have been vigilant since 9/11 to make sure everyone is safe and feels safe in the shopping centers. >> all right. we'll leave it there. michael, thank you for joining us. president and ceo of the international council of shopping centers. >> all right. heading toward the close. 40 minutes left in the trading session. minus signs for the major averages with the dow down 59 points, s&p is down 5, nasdaq, we haven't seen this lately a minus sign down 9 points right now. and up next speaking of target it's taking aim at

amazon. cutting its free shipping minimum to just 25 bucks. is that going to be low enough to make amazon prime members question paying $100 a year for unlimited two-day shipping? we'll have the retail pros weighing in on who will win the free shipping wars. also ahead, another day, another record for apple. our dominic chu rounds up today's winners and losers on this monday on "closing bell." stay tuned. through good times and bad. our experienced investment professionals are one reason over 85% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper averages. so in a variety of markets we can help you feel confident. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. ♪ help brazil reduce its overall reliance

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welcome back. red arrows for this market today. take a look across the sectors

of the s&p 500 for some of the pressure as we see that index down about six points. it's coming from the financials today. it's coming from the industrials, bill. not a ton of green as you can see there and a lot of the defensive parts of the space are outperforming on a day when these more cyclical pieces are having more of a struggle. >> i'm sitting in front of the wall here. i can see some of the best performers there. humana and united health were among -- and aetna. health care one of the leading sectors today in the stock market in the s&p 500. dominic chu is tracking some of the other movers on this first trading day of the week. what are you finding, dom? >> let's continue with those themes here. first of all, we'll start with investment banking giant goldman sachs which is lower in today's trade here. it said in a regulatory filing it was raising the upper end of the legal cost estimate to 3 million bucks. it was 2.5. government officials told it in december it could face potential legal action involving the sale of mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis. and let's talk about the big

health insurance companies on the rise. some of the best performers in the s&p humana united health group, aetna, and wellcare. the government's proposal calls for a 1% cut to payments for health insurers but it could lead to a small revenue gain. green arrows across the board. we'll look at target. fractionally lower. the company is cutting the minute you have to spend to qualify for free shipping. the threshold is now 25 bucks. the online shopping price wars continue. they're heating up. amazon walmart, they're all looking at the free shipping threshold. >> thank you for now, dom. is target trying to target amazon? is $25 low enough to get amazon prime customers to question the $99 annual price tag they're facing? listen, i can't imagine this moves the needle at all for

people who are buying everything from amazon with that prime account. >> right. i think that it's not so much taking on amazon prime customers. it's trying to take on the vast majority of amazon's customers that are not yet prime. target is still very very small online. as you had rightfully said it's a small single digit percent of their overall sales. they're just trying to move the needles on their own dotcom business and this is a good thing for them. $25 is lower than amazon's nonprime threshold which is $35. and it's lower than walmart's which is $50. they're definitely trying to get share of that mass customer. >> are we headed towards zero? is that where it's going? and can these guys still make money when they have this kind of a deal? >> well everyone offers steerowzero at some point or another. during the holiday season it's hard to find a retail that doesn't offer zero and zero is -- one could argue that for a

lot of amazon prime orders that's essentially what it is because people just perceive that $100 fee as a sunk cost. but in terms of, you know, kind of are we headed toward completely subsidizing free shipping, there is no question that has always been one of the most effective levers in e-commerce. shipping is only getting more expensive, so i expect, you know, retailers to really fight on that front. >> that's exactly what i was going to ask. i feel like shipping has evolved in a way that content on the internet has to some extent as well where in the early days it was assumed you would give it away for free and it would be zero to borrow from the famous -- the wired story and all of that. now we pay up for it. we pay significantly for it. i wonder if shipping as well will become more and more of a visible as opposed to an invisible cost. >> it's interesting, we'll see if it ever actually -- you know it almost seems as if from the

consumer standpoint we've never experienced really inflation in shipping in e-commerce. the consumer almost always will opt for cheaper, freer shipping and there's so many e-commerce stores. there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of e-commerce stores. somebody is always offering you what you want for free shipping. and consumers can easily go to google and find another retailer that is willing to offer whatever you're looking for for free shipping. so that's typically the behavior that we're seeing and kind of what we also find which zappos cause us is you can increase the price of your items and give free shipping and still break even. so i think that's really part of kind of how retailers are playing this as well. >> what? they raise the price before they go to fwreree shipping? shocking. the group we're not talking about are the shippers. what kind of pressure does this put on them? we all know what happened to u.p.s. last christmas when they were under prepared.

this time they overprepared. they have to be prepared for whatever is coming when these guys start going to zero threshold on shipping right? >> yeah yeah. well, the good thing is that q1 is one of the least busy times for e-commerce and the carriers have -- they're fine from a capacity standpoint now. the big issues really happen in late november early december. so we don't have to worry about that issue just yet. but over time i mean we'll see how the carriers are even able to -- if they respond and if they respond by building more sortation centers and they invest more capital in the e-commerce space. >> just quickly, your views on these particular names, target here and amazon? i'm sorry, walmart? >> yeah. so i think that target's definitely doing the right things in terms of trying to grow the e-commerce business. i think that they're still reeling a bit from the security breach in a couple years ago.

so those are some of the issues that they absolutely have. i think that what we'll see with walmart is that they'll likely reduce some of the threshold as well to be competitive with target because i think that walmart.com and target.com are probably a little bit more competitive. and then amazon i think that it's going to be a while before we see anything significant on the amazon front. i don't think that they view target.com as a competitor right now. remember that target actually was on the amazon platform for a number of years until a few years ago. >> and you have to wonder if people ultimately do move towards their model with the security and the payment information already stored and everybody using it. we'll leave it there for now. thank you. >> you taught me a new word sortation. >> it's a good one. >> sortation centers. i never heard that before. >> joining us from forester. much more to come on "the closing bell," have you noticed gas prices shooting higher? >> yes, i have. >> bill certainly has. you're not imagining it. but why is it happening if oil

is at or below $50 a barrel? >> first, here is sue her hara with a cnbc business news update? >> here is what's happening at this hour. president obama warned the nation's governors their states will receive a direct hit if congress doesn't extend funding for the department of homeland security. senate legislation is being stalled after the house passed a bill linking the funding to a roll back in the president's actions on immigration. in a speech to the aarp the president is proposing tougher restrictions on brokers who manage america's retirement accounts. it would place the brokers to place their clients' interests their own. nigeria's finance minister saying his country will call a meeting of opec if crude slips further. in november the cartel chose to hood production at 30 million barrels a day. check out this video. a huge chunk of ice fell from the roof of a five-story building in portland maine, and crashed right through the windshield of that car. luckily nobody was hurt but the

car's owner says his insurance won't cover the cost of the repairs which doesn't really seem fair. that's the cnbc news update at this hour. "the closing bell" returns after a quick break.

welcome back. crude oil dipping back below the key $50 mark but gasoline prices are rising quickly, so why is that bill? >> yeah why is that, kelly? we have team coverage on that very question. jackie deangelis is at her perch at the nymex. we have morgan brennan. jackie, kick things off. what's going on with gasoline prices? >> it's really interesting. we're witnessing here sort of a divergence, a decoupling between gasoline prices and crude prices. as you mentioned, we did settle under $50 today, and these two typically trade together. we were down 50% in crude prices over the last year. gasoline prices at the pump down $1.11 in the same time. now, the first reason we're seeing a little divergence and a spike at the pump is because it's seasonal. this is typically the time the refineryies go into maintenance mode and start to switch over. you know you can't see the spring coming. it is coming and that is when we get that more expensive

summer blend online as well. add to this the fact we've had refinery strikes that are more pervasive and that refinery accident at the exxon facility in california. all of these things taken into account. we've seen gas prices go up 26 cents in the last month. we never got the national average under $2 and right now we're at $2.30 according to aaa. so the question of course now is, well, how much higher can we go from here? even if crude oil goes down traders tell me we could see gasoline prices $2.75, 285 it's$2.85 by the peak of the summer driving season. >> we have morgan brennan with more. >> jackie mentioned the refinery strikes and those have expanded. we've seen that expand to four more facilities. for historical reference, the last time we saw an oil workers strike of this magnitude was 1980. a number of analysts note that strike had little effect on output and prices. a lot has changed since then. refining operations have become more efficient and that is

thanks to tech. with the exception of one tesoro refinery in california capacity at the 12 refineries experiencing walkouts is at a near pre-strike level. companies have been bringing in nonunion management to oversee it. scheduled maintenance at the time of the year when refineries come offlines for repairs in servicing, analysts say bringing those operations back online is what take more people people like steel workers with expertise. that's the risk where the strikes are concerned. something to watch -- excuse me geez. which is the largest in the u.s. and that's partially undergoing maintenance right now. so if this strike is still under way when those repairs are complete, we could see output impacted that could cut into supply and continue to push product prices higher due specifically to the strikes 1234ed instead of some of the other

factor jackie mentioned. >> try staying port of arthur three times. >> tricky. >> squinjoining us now andy lippow the president of lippow oil associates. we get the maintenance issues we get strikes. this time ever year is when we usually get the bottle neck in the refining area of the process and prices go up don't they? >> well they do. as jackie has pointed out, we did have a bunch of maintenance going on, but especially in california where prices are up almost 50 cents a gallon over the last month, they're just being exacerbated by this exxon torrance problem that i think is going to go on for several months and affect the california gas price. >> i was just going to ask about that andy because we've had a number of incidents lately. talk us through the impact because most people have just dismissed it entirely but it sounds like you don't take that view at all. >> i don't. in fact, first of all, i did work the strike in 1980 down in texas city, and prior to that in 1978 we had a similar problem

with the cat cracker in texas city, so this exxon torrance thing, it could be down months and months and months affecting california prices. so that's really bad news for the california consumer and i expect retail price there to go above $3 a gallon in the next week. >> jackie earlier today we had the talk from the nigerian oil minister at opec that maybe they were talking about a possible emergency meeting to shore prices up. how serious were traders there taking that conversation? >> well it's interesting because we saw some volatility for about ten minutes. there was a little euphoria. prices bounced. the brent price over $60. we saw wti go over $50. when they really absorbed what was being said that this is just a request for an emergency opec meeting, we've seen this before, nigeria is not one of the main opec players. we set up technically for another leg lower potentially tomorrow and there are other

headlines and reports out there. right now that was a knee-jerk reaction to this news, probably won't see much more from it. >> andy what about the fuel blends that have become so common anymore. owing to various regulation in different states how much is that increasing the price of gasoline from what might have 20 or 25 years ago been the case? >> well when we go from a winter grade gasoline to the summer grade gasoline that's add being 20 cents a gallon. if we look to california which has the most stringent specifications and compare that to the rest of the country, that's an additional 20 cents a gallon, especially in the summertime. >> morgan i won't make you say port arthur anymore but i will make you say strike. that does not help and i can imagine that if they're striking for wages at a time when capacity is as strong as it is right now, that labor issue is not going to go away anytime soon. >> not necessarily, and i think one of the things -- there's a few things that the union is striking for and one of them is actually to take on more, i

guess, market share within the refineries taking on some of the jobs that have been taken over by nonunion workers which are a lot of same workers keeping the refineries going. going back to california, the torrance situation, certainly affecting output. you also have the one refinery in california. one of the most interesting things to me and maybe this is something andy can comment on is the fact when you look at retail gas prices over the course of a year kind of go like this. and so we tend to see them bottom out and sort of hit their lowest levels in november and december. one of the things i have been hearing is we didn't see that bottom out until earlier this year potentially in january and sort of that seasonal move upward has been happening later and also that a lot of refinery that is were scheduled for maintenance are maybe not necessarily coming down for that maintenance right now because they're on a rolling 24-hour contract with the union in light of the strike. >> andy? >> well i do say we are in the heart of the turnaround season especially the gasoline

producing units, but that peak is going to be ending over the next couple weeks. the good news is gasoline inventories are rather high for this time of year. refiners are operating at historically high levels so i don't really see a supply issue going forward. and that to me is going to temper the retail price of gasoline as we go through the summer. i'm expecting the summertime average to be only 2$2.50 to $2.60 a gallon. . >> we were so excited to see it go below $2. >> i paid $1.89 one day. i got out and took selfies of everybody. i was so excited but it was a one-time thing. >> now it turns out it's a good thing you documented it. >> andy lipow, jackie deangelis and morgan brennan. >> 18 minutes left in the trading session. the dow is down 45 points. we've been keeping an eye on the nasdaq wondering if we could finish with a ninth consecutive positive day. still possible but we're down

3.75 points right now. >> just over 15 minutes to go. up next the housing market not showing much strength. the worrisome details from today's report just ahead.

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we learned this morning that home sales hit a speed bump ahead of the all-important spring sales season. diana olick, what happened. sho term blip or what is going on? >> there's bigger issues at play than a blip and i'm talking about inventory. we're not seeing enough new listings coming on the market. granted, today's report showing an unexpectedly steep 4.9% drop in sales month to month. it's a big backward looking based on contracts signed in december. real tors are warning about supply after 16 months of inventory gains. we have two straight mons months of losses. sales were worst in the west where there's no cold issues. that's where the supplies are falling. california las vegas, denver all with fewer homes for sale this january. even moving east in texas and chicago, not much for buyers to choose from. miami is a little bit of the outlier. we have talked about overbuilding especially in the condo market there. new york is better boston not

so much. so why are people not listing their homes? it could be that they just can't afford to move up. home prices have started to increase in larger gains again up 6.2% in january from a year ago. and that's across most priced categories. it's not that mix of homes issue anymore. interest rates are moving up as well. add it up and people may just want to stay put. the first time buyers shares is falling. not a good sign. bill? >> all right diana. thanks very much. diana olick in washington. 13 minutes left in the trading session. still minus signs but look at the nasdaq. starting to come back. >> this would be the ninth session in a row if we are positive. incredible run and getting closer to the 5,000 mark. we'll talk about that. also still to come the obama administration pushing new rules aimed at 401(k) advisers saying they may have a conflict of interest when suggesting which funds to put your retirement money in. sharon epperson will tell us

what we need to know. >> and why are ticket prices between floyd mayweather and manny packquiao more expensive than super bowl tickets? i had no idea they were.

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ten minutes left. look at this nasdaq turning positive as we head toward the close. art cashin was signaling we are seeing a slight imbalance to the sell side about $100 million to the sell side into the close but that's not a whole lot. that will probably pare off before the bell rings, down 37 on the dow, the s&p down 2 points. joining me right now anthony chan from chase and our own bob pisani. bob, it would be nine consecutive up days for the nasdaq as we march towards 5,000. >> if you look what's moving the nasdaq, it's two things this year. a couple things, but first and foremost is biotech. if you look at the ibb, that etf for that or the xbie those are at historic highs that essentially have been straight up. the other major part of this is any of like cyber security stocks, fire eyes they have been great so far this year. that's a major mover. even some but not all of the social media stocks have been moving. >> anthony chan we all know that the big story will be

tomorrow when janet yellen goes to capitol hill, her first testimony of the year before congress. at some point she's going to have to start getting us ready for the possibility of them raising interest rates. do you think that starts tomorrow? >> i think there's a good chance. i think she can basically say that the word patient has outlived its usefulness. i know when she says that, everybody will start estimating when will the federal reserve raise rates, the next meeting or two more meetings from now. the way to calm financial markets is to say once they start that strategy of normalizing policy that that strategy will be data dependent. it will maintain fed credibility because after all, they've said they're going to raise rates this year. why not start to get the word patient out of the federal reserve lexicon. >> bill i'm trying to remember when janet yellen -- she made some comments about high valuations in certain parts of the stock market last year. i think it was june or july but specifically mentioning -- >> small cap biotechs. >> and i think the biotech

index, xbi, they're probably up 40% since she made those comments. i wonder if she will be asked about that again. >> it was clear from the minutes of the previous meeting that came out last week that the market -- the fed is concerned about the market response when they do begin to raise interest rates. should they be concerned about that, anthony? >> i think that the market is important and i think that one of the things we know is that the federal reserve is not only data dependent but is also market dependent. there is no need for the central bank to disrupt financial markets. their goal is to try to maintain their two targets of price targets and inflation and, of course, employment. and they don't want to disrupt financial markets, and i think that's the reason why what they want to do is maint that credibility and at the same time give the markets the impression it's going to be steady as she goes. if the economy gets better they raise rates and the market should like that. >> the fed has been agonizingly sensitive about any problems they might have with the market.

look how much they're worried about changing the word patience or removing the word patience frens the statement. forget about raising interest rates. they can't even decide whether they want to take patience out of the statement. >> and i think best time to do it. >> they are deliberate. that's for sure. stay right there. we'll come back with the closing countdown. see if the nasdaq can finish positive for the ninth consecutive day. hedge funds used to be called the smart money on wall street but they've been underperforming for a while now, and that's why one pro joining us thinks it's a bad sign that they are hot on stocks again. hedge funds have never had longer positions in stocks than they do right now. we'll have more details coming ahead on "closing bell." right here. with a control pad that can read your handwriting, a wide-screen multimedia center, and a head-up display for enhanced driver focus. all inside a redesigned cabin of unrivaled style and comfort. the 2015 c-class.

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about three minutes left in the trading session. the dow is it still down 33 but we're watching the nasdaq and we will this week -- it's likely that if the market continues the way it has been that we probably will see nasdaq 5,000 this week. it's just a number i realize, but it takes us back to a historic moment back in march of 2000 when the dotcom boom came to an end and then it became the dotcom bust. right now we're up 1.90 right at 4957. bob pisani mentioned biotech has been among the groups leading the way and those two big biotech indices you were mexing mentioning are leaders in the session. we have anthony chan with us,

too. we go back to that time anthony. it is a very different time from what it was when we ended the dotcom boom in march of 2000 wasn't it? >> it was. price earnings ratios were a lot higher. we had companies that people were buying them because of clicks and things like that. today companies only get purchased if they're making money and they have good prospects. things are a lot more settled down. even the forward price earnings ratio for the s&p 500 which is little above the 15-year average is nothing like -- the spread is nothing like it was back then. and guess what? the economy is showing signs of improvement. >> remember, what was it the nasdaq pe ratio, it was 100 or close to 100 in march of twaun2000. >> but valuations didn't matter. >> that's right. eyeball clicks are what mattered. >> for the s&p 500 we are talking about a number in the 17 range. much more sedative. >> the closing high as i recall

5,048. that was march 10th, i think, of 2 2000. we're not that far away. we could beat that in just a day. 5,048 i believe was the closing high. we certainly remember those times. >> absolutely. >> quickly, anthony, talk of possibly an opec meeting. what if oil prices went higher if they start to cut production. what does that do to the economy here? >> well, i think the markets never really came around to the notion that lower oil prices are good for the economy even though i think they are, so if oil prices start to stabilize or creep up a little bit higher i think that that will boost investor sentiment and it will be good for the market even though prices are still down even though they have come up a little over 30% from the low levels. guess what? they're still much lower than they were from the peak. you still get the positive impact without the panic situation. >> for all the concerns about earnings, once the big banks got out of the way and oil, the rest

of the market earnings were not that bad for the fourth quarter. >> thank you both. thank you, anthony. bob, will see you later. i'll see you later on "nightly business report." here is the second hour of "the closing bell" with kelly he was and we have nine days in a row, kelly, for the nasdaq. thank you, bill. welcome to "the closing bell," everybody. i'm kelly evans, and as we hit 4:00 on this monday let's look at how we're finishing up the session on wall street. be headlines all about the nasdaq today. it goes out just at the bell there with a gain of 5 points. good enough i believe for a nine nine-day win streak when we haven't had something like that in quite some time. puts it just 40 points away from nasdaq 5,000. we'll talk about the significance of that when we might cross that milestone, and much more. the s&p couldn't quite turn positive on the close, down about just 1 points to 2109. the dow giving up 23 and without

further ado let's bring in today's panel, rick adelman, kayla taushy ytausche and larry kudlow on the perfect day to have you. and with us is "fast money" trader guy adami. great group here. welcome, everybody. rick, what are your thoughts, nasdaq closing positive nine-day win streak puts us closer to 5,000. >> are the 2000s almost over? that's the only major index we're waiting for to get back to its all-time high. long time coming and maybe it's here to stay. >> kayla? >> well we did see investors have a little bit of a fear of heights. there was $6.8 billion in outflows in the etfs that track the nasdaq 100 as we got closer to the 5,000 level throughout december and january but it appears it's greece for the most part. we saw that the dow and the s&p were in the red, but as we've seen, the broader markets go up the nasdaq has gone with it. in addition the nasdaq has had its own propellers going forward, too. so it's sort of getting a benefit from both but i don't think a lot of people this time

around are that worried and i don't know whether to be scared about that or whether to think this time is different. >> larry, what do you think about it? >> you know back in the old days when i used to show up on "squawk box" on every friday with my late pal mark haines i must truly tell you i never thought i'd see a 5,000 nasdaq again, all right? and we are seeing it. so what does it mean? it means a lot of good things but it's a growth signal. it's a very important growth signal. it's also an innovation signal. it's also an iphone signal. it's an information age signal. it's a social media signal. american ingenuity is alive and well and one of the things i really like about a lot of these stocks, they're multinational companies. they don't whine about the dollar. the industrial -- >> listen when you're apple you can afford that guy adami. >> most of their cash is held overseas anyway. >> that's a point. >> but at least they don't whine. i love that. >> guy, my favorite data point from last hour it was the 20% topline growth of the past three years that kevin talked about last hour for the nasdaq.

why? because it's top line. it's not just earnings growth. it tells you there's fundamental revenue growth and demand propelling this index forward. >> absolutely seems to be. kudos to larry. we've gone back and forth, but larry has been steadfast on his view of the markets. he's been bullish, he's been absolutely right. i understand also why the markets go higher. i just think we both think they're setting here for different reasons. and that's fine. i will say this some of the things that still stick out to me is it feels as though to me as the bond market had its sell-off. i think it held a key level last week. you had a nice bounce today. i still think rates had lower. the oil volatility index big move to the upside again today. still elevated. that gives me some reason for pause. with that said the russell that i have talked to you about for months, i said it closed above 122 sets up for another leg higher in the broader market. that sort of augers really well for the s&p going forward. >> by the way, i want to first of all say thanks to my friend guy who is a great guy and a

brilliant investor and lord knows, i don't always get it right. lord knows. i just want to say that and i will say this even though i remain moderately optimistic, we're going to have to cross some hurdles here and this may surprise you. i don't think the fed is one of those hurdles. i think the principal hurdle is earnings profits are the mother's milk of stock. forward earnings estimates have been marked down a lot. >> not earnings estimates. yes, the multiple is going up especially energy. >> that's correct. i want to see where that story leads. actual profits in the fourth quarter coming in rather well better than we would have thought. i think there is an issue about forward earnings. >> richard, do you share that view? >> yes in the short term i agree with larry. it's hard to disagree with larry. what it comes down to, i think if we look a year from now, five years from now, there's no question we will be far higher prices and profits than today. >> why? because it would only take a

recession for the opposite to be the case. >> and there's not one on the horizon other than one of those black swan events one of the unknowns a terrorism attack or lord knows what a horrific event. i think everything is pointing very strong and my confidence level is as strong as its been in the last eight years. >> you know what's so great about that? i really agree with you. if you look at market indicators, market price indicators, which i live and die with, there is no sign of a recession for several years, and there is frankly, no sign of inflation either. and i don't know in the old days, those used to be two very bullish factors. >> guy, why aren't you a believer? >> larry says our fed is not a hurdle, and, okay i'll give him that but i think to me one of the unintended consequences of the actions of our fed, whether you agree with them or not, is that they've enabled -- they have empowered other central banks to act in kind and i don't think those other central banks have the tools or the wherewithal or knowledge to handle or to carry strug the

landing. do you like that reference? it might be too obscure for you. >> i'm lost. >> 1996 atlanta olympics. i got it. >> very good. the atlanta connection. sorry, finish the thought. >> i think we've empowered other central banks to do like actions which i don't think they're properly positioned or have the wherewithal to do, and they have to stick it in order for these markets to continue to move along their merry way. >> you've had pretty good moves internationally. look, europe -- the eurozone, i mean, it ain't great. southern europe is never going to be great, but northern europe, which is where the money and the companies are actually looks a little better. stocks have done rather well. china looking a little better. >> china? china feels like the sleeper story that's the key to the entire collapse in the commodity sector in all of these things. >> shanghai index is just booming right now. so the other one i want to note my favorite actually is india.

india. all right. and -- >> i know why you like india. we have modi down there doing the supply side thing. >> all those british colonialists keynesians have been blocking india for 50 years. >> who is going to be the modi for america? if you're of the view and i know greg ip and some others are talking about this, that the supply side in this country needs work who does that work? >> i think we have a lot of modis out there. we have a scott walker modi. a john kasich modi a rick perry modi. a jeb bush modi. i like the gop bench and i think the other team is moving way too far to the left and we can get into that later. >> rick? >> well, i think even when we get past the bumps of china and india, we're forgetting the next major economy and that's africa. talk about an emerging economy. it's still way -- >> how long has it been emerging? >> for centuries, for eons but

they're on the cusp because scripping in the 18th century to the 21st. and once we get china and india back where we want them to be heads are going to turn and see what's going on in africa -- >> the mobile payment stuff if nothing else i will say out of africa has been transformative. >> and they were among the first to develop a bitcoinesque technology and pace which a lot of people think is a good sign for the development of africa but there isn't really a capital market infrastructure there, so even though there's a lot of resources to be gained from investing in africa, it's hard to see how you would get a return there what it would look like -- >> and it's hard to know by the way, guy adami, how it will get us over nasdaq 5,000. >> it feels like it's all systems go. over the last six moments, think of all the negative -- you could probably rattle off a dozen headlines that have been negative. ten years ago would have been maybe disastrous for the broader market. the market shrugs it off. right now barring something that

i don't see happening, it's all systems go but the markets just feel like it's the next leg higher. the markets don't give you this long an opportunity to buy the lows or in this instance sell the high. >> okay. whip around here. >> kayla mentioned out of africa. it was a fabulous movie. >> meryl streep? >> meryl streep and robert redford and the clothing was beautiful. it was done by ralph lauren. i don't know about the economy. we could talk -- >> i'm the only man in america that hated the movie. >> apparently you are. >> quick round before we let everybody go. what do we watch for the next move in this market? larry, i'll let you go first. >> profits. >> kayla? >> tomorrow janet yellen. she made a comment in july about biotechs being overvalued. i think now that conversation has restarted. i wouldn't be surprised if she gets asked about it. >> don't ignore the retail investor with the white house announcement we'll be talking about later today on the show. investors are going to be paying a lot of attention to conflicted advice and where are they getting the information they

need to make investment decisions. >> to get involved. >> guy? >> stabilization in the commodities market, specifically energy. you don't need energy to take the next leg lower. >> we have our four horsemen. stick around to see guy at 5:00. hedge funds placing a record bullish bet on this market. our next guest says that's a terrible sign for stock. jim bianco will come here and try to get this story out. and president obama taking aim at conflicts of interest in the world of retirement planning. >> there are a lot of very fine financial advisers out there, but there are also financial advisers who receive backdoor payments or hidden fees. >> the white house endorsing new rules ensuring our 401(k) adviser won't steer you into investments they're financially

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>> there are a lot of very fine that important story is coming

welcome back. some breaking deal news in the financial space. our dom chu has the details. >> kelly, steeple financial is

announcing another acquisition again trying to bolster it's ranks. they announce fortunatelially they are going to acquire stearn stearning a. this was part of their earns release. they boston stifel has been looking to bolster a lot of business was the acquisitions. you may recall back in 2012 they acquired miller buckfire. again, this adds to their financial expertise. again, stifel will buy stearn ag. this was part of the overall earnings report. you may recall this was reported by bloomberg last week on friday. back over to you. >> all right dom. thank you for now. hedge funds making a bullish bet on this market.

how bullish? jeff cox, maybe a record bullish bet on this market right? >> yes, kelly. thanks. after six years of dismal level of underperformance, hedge funds have decided to kind of hitch their wagon to the stock market. now, as you say, we're at pretty much a record level, 57% net long allocation to stocks. now, this could be a little situation of the gang that couldn't shoot straight. hedge funds have still underperformed the market this year. they're only up 1% so far. now, the number gets a little better when you adjust for risk but it's still not a very good situation. now, hedge funds their total assets are over $3 trillion now, so the underperformance is not really bothering investors a whole lot but a more stock focused strategy could help allay any concerns investors

have. hedge funds lately have been allocating heavily towards stocks. report that i saw from bank of america and merrill lynch says they've upped their exposure to the nasdaq which we know has been on a tear lately. now, for that story and a whole lot more, check back with cnbc.com. back to you, kelly. >> much more on that one, jeff. thank you. according to our next guest, this could be a contrarian indicator marking an end to the bull market. jim bianco joins us to explain. we have to hear this because how important is positioning generally when we've been talking last segment about a number of factors that otherwise would seem to point positively for this market? >> well i think what jeff said early on in his niece was hedge funds have underperformed since the financial crisis as an industry. the group has been terrible in terms of their performance. they've done very poorly. they continue to do poorly this year. and now they're starting to get long. so it is literally the gang that

can't shoot straight that's getting long and there's a reason for that. at a 2 and 20 that's the compensation scheme of a hedge fund, that's a lot of money. you have to be a very good manager in order to get over that hurdle. there's probably a few hundred managers that can do that. there's 9,000 hedge funds. so i think there's just way too many hedge funds out there that are getting that kind of fee and that's what's dragging down the performance of the entire industry. >> you know i think jim bianco is absolutely right to put up cautionary flags here. hedge fund records have been rather poor. except for a few months after the bottom in march of 2009 and they bellyache they're buying gold, that collapsed. too much liquidity, there was no inflation, they were wrong about that. upsetting financial market dynamics, they have basically been wrong about that. i don't want to lump them all together. there are some brilliant hedge fund guys but you know what? i think bianco is right. i think this is a warning

signal. >> if you're thinking at all about hedge funds, don't invest in one, start one. it's the only sure way you're going to be able to make any money from the suckers who are going to put their money into your fund. >> i don't know, kayla. >> i don't know either. it's only really a surefire way to avoid the management fee and collect one instead. no surefire way to make money in the market but, jim, a lot of talk has been made today about this goldman sachs note about -- i think it was 12% of all hedge funds have apple as one of the top ten holdings which we were joking earlier in the day that maybe that's a contrarian indicator because they all got the apple trade wrong in 2012. at what point do we start looking at hedge funds and saying this is what they're doing, we're going to do the exact opposite. >> the apple trade is a concern. research affiliates did a study about two years ago and they found that going back to the 1950s, if you had constantly owned the largest cap stock out there, now it's apple, you horribly underperformed the

market. usually when the stock gets to number one in capitalization, it's got the target on its back everybody is gunning for it whether it's regulators, customers, it has a very difficult time of performing well and if you want a good example of that perhaps it's apple in 2012 when it first became the largest stock. it fell 40% and it's recovered but underperformed the market. now is not the time to look at getting out of the hole by owning the largest market cap stock. >> another thing these hedge fund guys i hate to generalize there are some brilliant guys who have done good. having said that they're friends of mine but it was the hedge fund guys that started the panic about lower energy prices being bad, and they were wrong. they are just dead wrong, okay? period, end of sentence. as i said months ago, this is an unambiguously good thing for the world economy. so they missed on that. i want to ask my friend jim bianco jim s there another issue that might be catching up

hedge funds. might longer term rates which affect stock market valuations as you know might they go a lot higher than the consensus believes? they're say around 2% now. >> speaking of everybody being on a different side of the trade. >> that's right. >> what you do you think? >> what do you think about the interest rate risk? >> well two things about the interest rate risk. you're right that the consensus is looking for rates to go higher. and i'm actually a bond market bull. i do think they're going to start to head lower from here. i'm with guy adami in thinking they're going to go much lower, but the consensus is wrats are going rates are going to go higher and earnings outlook is terrible. at this point fact set has earnings negative for 2015 outright and when you're in an environment of negative earnings and higher interest rates, that's the textbook definition of a stock market that will struggle. we have that right now. >> that's something to keep in the back of mind. we have to go unfortunately, but great to have you with us on a couple of important trades to

think about. jim bianco. we'll send it back out to dominic chu with express scripps. >> we have a profit beat and a revenue beat. they've recovered losses and are up marginally on 152,000 shares of trading volume. express scripts earned $1.39 per share. analysts were looking for $1.38. revenues came in at $26.3 billion. analysts were looking for 25.7 so beats on both ends. however, there were some concerns about guidance. they do report their current quarter earnings per share, they see somewhere between $10.07 and 1 -- $10.07 and $1.11. a bit light. of course, kelly, the reason we care about express scripts is because it's america's largest pharmacy benefits manager and you may really that just a couple months back in december of last year they were the ones

who in a high profile way said they were not going to go with gilead's hepatitis c treatment opting for at least a less costly version. so an interesting move here. esrx now getting back what it lost in the afterhour session. back over to you. >> a huge decision we discussed with the company here actually. thank you so much for bringing us up to date. dominic chu back at headquarters. is your financial adviser putting your retire am at risk? or brokers steering you into a low performing fee with high fees because of a conflict of interest? the white house says yes. and walmart the latest company to hike salaries. do we need the government imposing higher wages? david axelrod is weighing in later on "the closing bell." rket is never clear. but at t. rowe price we can help guide your retirement savings. our experience is one reason 100% of our retirement funds beat their 10-year lipper averages. so wherever your long-term goals take you

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can it tell the flight attendant to please not wake me this time? ♪ ♪ the answer is yes, it can. so, the question your customers are really asking is can your business deliver? welcome back. president obama taking aim at one of the biggest threats to retirement and that's excessive investment fees. our sharon epperson jinoins us with the details on this one. hi, sharon. >> president obama wants to change the rules on brokers who deal with retirement accounts by requiring them to put the best interests of their clients above their own bottom line. >> there are a lot of very fine financial advisers out there but there are also financial advisers who receive backdoor payments or hidden fees for steering people into bad retirement investments that have

high fees and low returns. so what happens is these payments, these inducements, incentivize the broker to make recommendations that generate the best returns for them but not necessarily the best returns for you. >> now, many people call themselves financial advisers but there are differences. brokers can put you in investments that are suitable but not necessarily best for your situation. on the other hand, certified financial planners those with a cfp designation but uphold a fiduciary duty. they must put your best interests above their own financial interests. and that's what president obama wants brokers to follow as well. while the financial planning consortium support the plan some say the new rule may hurt investors by blocking access to financial assistance and services brokers already offer. >> that's exactly the question now for the panel.

stay right there. we have rick adelman champing at the bit to weigh in. >> as a register investment adviser working with consumers and we have a 401(k) program we give to clients as well but the movement here is exactly what consumers need. there is no question there's conflict. everything in the report is accurate. wall street hates it because this is a major revenue source for the big brokerage firms. there is no question this is conflicted and there's no question investors need to understand the difference between brokers and registered investment advisers. >> kayla? >> this has been something that the banks have been in the crosshairs of for quite some time because they do have financial advisers many of them do, and they have been fined millions of dollars because they have been pushing investors as federal authorities found they have been pushing investors in their own products which were not necessarily the best performing products but their argument was, well aren't we here to stir up -- >> put people in products? >> to put them into our products. isn't that why they're invested with our bank than other bank?

i agree with you, rick, if there are unnecessary fees they shouldn't be here. >> it's not a question of one or the other. you can have it both ways. in other words, i'm proof of that. you can be a successful financial adviser while serving the clients' best interests. you don't have to be conflicted. you don't have to be a crook. you don't have to take back door payments and revenue sharing. you don't have to do that. >> i don't get this backdoor payment stuff. i don't know where he gets that. look, i grew up on wall street. i also had a lot to do with the financial planning industry. i don't know about back door payments. it's a matter of judgment. i think the interesting thing is we've already -- we're going to flat fee-based plans anyway. i mean the investors are not rubes. they know how to calculate costs versus returns themselves. this is okay. john vogel says it's okay but what's not okay last point, i don't know if it's going to be part of this regulation or not, but in president obama's budget, this is the second time in a row or the third time in a row, he wants to limit the amount of

money you can invest in these tax advantaged investment programs, 401(k)s -- >> yeah. >> and that is bad policy. that is tax the rich policy. that is anti-capital investment policy. that's the one that bothers me a lot more than that. >> sharon get in here. let me give you the last word as well listening to some of the concerns that have been raised or haven't, frankly. your point about the extent to which this maybe hurts some of the smaller guys by driving some of the business out of the market, how serious a concern is that? >> it's not a serious concern i have but it's one many financial services firms have raised. the real issue is yes, consumers are educated but they need to be better educated. talking about a fiduciary versus suitability standard is way over the heads of most folks. bottom line of course they need to figure out how their adviser is being paid ask them if there's any conflict of interest, ask those basic questions to find out if it's the right before for you. you may be getting fine advice

or fine investments rather from your broker but the advice that you need for wholistic planning may not be what you're getting there and that's what investors need to understand is the difference between a registered investment adviser and a broker. >> good point, sharon. there's much more on the website to help people try to get informed. sharon epperson this afternoon. appreciate it. did walmart throw a monkey wrench into the 2016 narrative by boosting its minimum wage. david axelrod joins us next. first, sue herera has this cnbc news update. >> here is what's happening this hour. secretary of state jon kerry departed from geneva after another round of nuclear talks with iran. although some progress was made kerry is expected to return for more gogs next week. the two sides ever hopeer are hoping for an agreement by the end of march. the european union has opened a probe -- the fda approved

novartis' drug for treating multiple myeloma. novartis stock up just a bit on that news. and check this one out in europe. a 33-foot sinkhole opened up suddenly in a street in suburban naples,itily. it was caused by an undergroundwater pipe bursting. heavy rains in that area. and that's the cnbc news update this hour. "the closing bell" returns after a quick break.

welcome back. wages remain a hot topic in this country especially in political circles. it's a top issue for 2016 and late last week walmart created waves by boosting their wages voluntarily. some say it proves the government should stay out of this issue. >> sure markets work and there's particularly today a premium on talent and we've got 5 billion jobs that could be filled if we had people with the skills but there's also on the part of companies a desire to retain their workforce. that was what aetna said and

walmart was sort of hinting at the same time. we want to build our own and train them. >> with us for his reaction to thatened a all things 2016 is former senior adviser to president obama david axelrod. he's the author of the recent best-seller "believer: my 40 years in politics" and joins us for the first time at the new york stock exchange. >> good to be here. >> good to have you. let's begin with the minimum wage. doesn't it prove companies ever raising it themselves now. we've gotten to this point in the cycle we don't need the government to be setting prices for us? >> i don't know about that. we have a long way to go across the country, and even that only applies to a small amount of walmart workers. so i think -- look we've been having this debate about the minimum wage. i heard the governor's argument we've been having this argument since the 1930s when minimum wage was first implemented. we need to get wages up in this country and it's really important for the economy because we're a consumer-driven economy, and when people have money to spend, they spend it.

>> yeah. it does seem though that if we allow the business cycle to run its course listen it's not easy in the early years. you don't want to tell people that they just have to be patient and that the recovery will take hold but it is taking hold. you'd have to respect that i imagine. >> i do, but, kelly, it's been six years since the minimum wage has been raised nationally. states are raising it. the corporate books are looking healthy, and we need to get those wages up. we can't make that the standard moving forward. >> i wonder if the high profile announcements, this walmart news was all over the front pages of every paper. strategically, how do you think it affects the democratic party's odds of taking the white house in 2016 and the relative odds of, say, a hillary clinton over and elizabeth warren. >> one thing from a democratic standpoint that democrats should be heartened about, now you hear republican candidates talking about jeb bush talking about

wage -- about income inequality and mashrco rubio writing a book about the middle class and all these candidates are out there now talking about issues that a couple years ago they weren't talking about. that suggests that they understand that this is what people are talking around their kitchen tables. we have to return to an economy where people who work hard feel like they can get ahead, can support their families and that their kids have good prospects in the future without taking on tons of debt to get educated and trained. >> you summed up president obama's campaign in 2008 and yes, we can, which it was interesting to read in the book he thought was corny. >> yeah he thought it was corny. happily michelle obama was sitting there when we were filming that ad where that debuted and she said it's not corny, and he didn't trust me, but he trusted her. >> i bring it up because i wonder, that was all about the president himself, almost the cult of personality, but if we take the focus off the person

and onto the issues for 2016 what do you think the message, what's the slogan? is it going to be something more macro like that or personality driven do you think? >> first of all, let me say part of the reason i like that slogan was it was about we and not him. yes, we can, and that's one of the reasons i was so committed to it. but i think anything that -- any slogan or any principle that a campaign is boiled down to in 2016 has to be about this issue of wages and the ability to get ahead. and respecting that fundamental value. >> don't you that i that's a message elizabeth warren fundamentally delivers more authentically than hillary clinton or no? >> i think she does deliver it authentically. i heard hillary clinton make a speech, for example, up in philadelphia during the midterm election. she was campaigning for tom wolf, the now governor of pennsylvania, in which they made a stirring speech about her own middle class upbringing, about why it's important to our economy. i think she has the ability to deliver this message very well

and elizabeth warren is obviously nudging the party in a direction, but -- >> in the book you talk about your skepticism that clinton would have won in 2008 and her involvement with the obama white house at times. but do you think 2016 is the year she can win? >> i do because i think every election cycle is different, and they're generally defined by the outgoing incumbent. barack obama was the best counter point to george w. bush. bush was all black and white sort of analysis. obama could see the gray and the nuance better. the pendulum tends to swing. obama wanted to challenge the establishment in washington. i think in 2016 people are going to be looking for someone who can manage washington and who maybe is a little less nuanced than the president is and in that environment hillary i think is a much more appealing candidate than perhaps she was in 2008. >> and i know you addressed it already, but obviously there

were lots of criticism of rudy giuliani's comments. he says i stand by my message basically. are you surprised at this point president obama still hasn't i don't know won over -- >> well, i don't know. i would write this more off to mayor giuliani's desire to be relevant than anything about the president. i mean i have been around the president now for many many years. i don't know anybody who is more aware of the greatness of america because he's lived the american dream, and he talks about it so powerfully. i don't know wherejoule giuliani has been all of that time. >> you talk in the book about the president's ability at times to -- he didn't always deliver, doesn't always deliver his message in the most effective way. >> well, what i said was that he

treats goff governing in a different way. he can be laborious in his presentation and he doesn't thematically thematically. >> speaking of laborious, this is quite a read, david, thank you sop for being here. the book is called "believer," and your best guess for who the candidate is for the gop in 2016? february bush? jeb bush if? >> center right republicans have to to make faustian bargains the last two cycles. if it happens again, they're going to lose again. >> we'll leave it there. thank you so much david axelrod at the new york stock exchange. we'll send it over to dominick for a quick market flash.

>> what we have is an interesting deal developing in the solar business. first solar and sun power shares are up between 9% and 12% in the afterhours session. that's because the companies have announced they are in advanced talks or negotiations to form a joint investment vehicle, something called a yieldco. what this is is basically both companies saying they will take some of their assets and put it into a company or a holding company structure called a yieldco. it acts very similarly to a master limited partnership or some kind of a holding company reit type structure. what they want to do is have these negotiations, form this holding company with the eventual goal of perhaps ipo'ing these particular assets. they will both contract assets to this joint company. now, they do say that there is no assurance that this yieldco will be formed or an ipo will be consumemated but it's an interesting team up of two of the bigger players in solar energy getting together both putting assets on the table and

forming this joint holding company structure called a yieldco. these are talks they say are in advanced stages but they may not, kelly, lead to any kind of deal. still moving both stocks. back over to you. >> investors certainly hopeful. dom, thank you very much. saving money just got a whole lot easier. we'll introduce you to the creator of a new app that automatically transfers money into a savings account when it knows you don't need it and it's already gotten google as a high profile investor. it's being billed as the biggest fight ever. boxing greats floyd mayweather, jr., and manny pacquiao will finally fight in may and you won't believe how much it will cost you just to watch the fight of the century in person. we'll break down the numbers coming up. stay tuned. 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

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welcome back. those fluctuating oil prices continue to have cnbc readers clicking away. here is allen wastler with "the hot list." >> we had that little spike in oil prices because of the ft report saying opec was considering an emergency meeting and that brought the readers right in. another hot topic, apple. hit new market cap territory and we had a nice little feature about reasons wall street is still thinking about apple. four times as many stock lookups of apple on the site today than the next highest which was facebook. and finally, ken griffin's messy divorce continues. robert frank wrote up a nis piece for us. they have released details about

how money is being spent. $6,800 a month on groceries, $7,200 a month on restaurant meals. it's the $2,000 stationary bill that seems to be getting people's goat. >> and clearly people are looking for it. thank you, allen. good to see you this afternoon. americans just do not save enough money but a new app plans to change that by automatically transferring money into a saving e accounts. and is the fed sending the markets mixed message about when it will raise interest rates. jim grant is joining us tomorrow on "the closing bell." don't miss it. even on the go. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 open a schwab account, and you could earn tdd# 1-800-345-2550 300 commission-free online trades. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so if you get a trade idea schwab can help you take it on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we're getting a lot of questions tdd# 1-800-345-2550 about organic food stocks. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] sharpen your instincts tdd# 1-800-345-2550 with in-depth analysis by schwab experts. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and if you want to run your idea tdd#

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something that struck me two years ago was how bad we are at saving and i felt that software could do it better for us. if we could go back to living our lives and doing the things we enjoy while it's figuring out every day how much we should be putting aside. >> i wonder what rick edelman here thinks of the software-driven model. >> if i understand your website correctly, it strikes me that the software you developed is a rip-off. you're taking money out of their bank accounts, transferring it to a savings account where you are earning all of the interest not the person who gave you the money, is that right? >> how much is the average national interest rate today. >> it's not historic. that's not relevant at all. the people fully realize that they are not generating any interest at all. you've raised a million dollars in consumer savings assets and you're earning all that money, not them. why shouldn't that interest be in their account. why shouldn't they be able to direct where that money is saved so they can earn the kinds of returns that are better? i think this account is not in the consumer's best interest.

>> if you end up saving $2,000 with digit, let's say over the course of a year you would give up about 20 cents. if you were to put that money in a regular retail savings account. so i think the question -- >> then why do they need to transfer their money if it's not going to make any difference? >> the question they should ask themselves, is it worth setting aside $2,000 over the course of a year to pay us 20 cents in that sense. >> the digit thesis is basically saying consumers aren't good enough at identifying where their savings should come from and actually directing it to a different account, even though that money could be -- that interest could be theirs. they just don't do it. so digit is therefore going to do it. and i'm wondering how your algorithm actually works. where are you getting the money from? how are you evaluating a customer's cash flow. where do you get it from? >> just to highlight that 60% of people aged 18 to 40 saved no money in 2013. >> where are they getting the

money to send it to you? >> they're not saving money because they're just not doing it. but the money's there. >> if the money's already there, why do they have to bother transferring it to you so you can earn interest? i don't get it. >> you must have a friend that's a smart person that lives their life works super hard and just can't save money. >> if they can't save money, there's no money for you to transfer to a separate account. >> that's ridiculous. >> your whole industry is predicated on this as well. it's basically, there are people, as you know, who are not making sound financial decisions. we know that there are people who need to dedicate more of their income than they are. >> i agree. >> this is just basically a way to try to do that. >> i agree with the proposition that people should save much more out of current income. i think you're 100% right on that. and i'm opposed to any governmental limits on saving by the way. i just want to ask you, though are you going to create a diversified portfolio? in other words, bond accounts stock accounts. how does this work in a practical -- i'm looking at the

investment side. >> in a word ethan, because we have to go. >> sure. for most people they shouldn't put their safety net in a stock market. it should be held in cash. this is the money they're going to need if an emergency comes up in their life. once we get people that safety net, we'll most certainly help them automate into a diversifyied portfolio and save for the future. >> we have to leave it there. i'm so sorry, we're out of time ethan. but this discussion is going to continue. >> thanks for having me. >> ethan bloch is the creator of digit. it's being billed as the fight of the century. it will cost more than this year's super bowl to witness the battle between floyd mayweather jr. and manny pacquiao. the astounding ticket cost, when we come right back. stay with us.

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it's being billed as the biggest fight since ali-frazier 2. manny pacquiao versus floyd mayweather in early may. if you want to see the fight live, start saving live. eric has the startling numbers about how much this one is going to cost. >> so this is definitely going to shatter all the records when it comes to boxing. the previous record for pay-per-view numbers was about $150 million. you can go to cnbc.com i've got all the stats up there. they're looking at $400 million

possibly. this could be 300 or more. you could even bet on the number of subscribers. for example, 3.15 million. that's the over/under for the number of pay-per-view subscribers. they're looking at $100 a ticket. >> $100 a ticket just to watch it on pay-per-view? >> on pay-per-view. >> and here's the ticket price. >> which apparently is already higher than the super bowl? >> if you look at the ticket price on the screen $10,500 is the actual ticket price to actually watch it in the stadium, $100 more than the super bowl average ticket price. it's three times more than the biggest boxing match-up. >> explain to me -- i like boxing. i don't know enough about it. they're both past their prime. one is 36 one is 38. >> will be 38 tomorrow. my birthday, actually. in seven years if i'm making $120 million in a day -- >> but why? i mean, i get it -- >> the only two boxers anyone has ever heard of. >> i'd rather watch the boxing match than the new york knicks

i'll grant you that. >> the rangers would be a better show. >> this kind of money, these guys are old, their past their prime. they're going to be standing up wobbling in the 12th round. >> better that they're old. it's better that they're wobbly. they don't get knockouts anymore. if this was over it could be over in one round. this fight will actually go the whole way because no one's getting knocked out so you can afford to pay them because you know the sponsors are going to get the full value of their dollar. they are actually going to make more money now than if they had done this five years ago. >> people are saying floyd mayweather this boosts his career regardless because he had been seen as not stepping up to the fight in the past. >> if he loses, there's more money to be made because pacquiao is definitely the underdog here. if pacquiao wins they fight again, they both make another $100 million. >> unbelievable. >> you're not suggesting that's what's going to happen by coincidence? >> saturday may 2nd. that is the date to watch this. we're taking "closing bell" to las vegas. got to go.

>> where are these dollar estimates coming from? >> all the projections. you've got all these media experts. >> and there's plenty more at cnbc.com. thank you, eric. happy early birthday. thank you, guys. "fast money" is coming up in just a few seconds. melissa lee, what's on tap? >> hey there kelly. live from the nasdaq market site this is "fast money." apple closing at $133 a share today. its market cap now double that of exxon mobil. you sell the name or just hold on for the ride? and just announced in the past hour, a joint venture in the solar space. we've got the details and how to play coming up. plus dennis has his eye on the cheapest stock market in the world. we'll tell you what it is and whether you should buy along, too. let's start with this, apple move getting a big bump. plus news the company would be spending nearly $2 billion on data centers in ireland and denmark. the stock closing at a level