about-face and will do something with sunpower. the street loves the stocks at 14% as we speak. >> first solar is your file trade. i think you laid out the reasons why. general motors for you, jimmy? >> gm. >> northern trust. ntrs. >> hewlett-packard, going higher. >> power lunch begins right now. >> halftime is over. "power lunch" and the second half of the trading day start right now. >> scott gentlemen, thank you very much. tyler matheson here. mandy drury. no rate hikes just yet. >> fed chair janet yellin wrapping her testimony a short time ago. details on what the market thinks. 30 seconds away. >> how about the nasdaq 15-year high today? five stocks five of them are powering the index right now. should you buy them or are they too hot to handle? sfwroo the s&p 500, the dow and the russell 2,000 all trading at nigh all-time highs toted. we have a five-star rated investor playing it all through etf's. we'll see exactly what he likes.

>> now to the state of the u.s. economy. janet yellin getting grilled by lawmakers up on capitol hill. stocks seem to like what they heard. investors in stocks. stocks have no mind in and of themselves. it's the investors who move it. but the investors like what they heard initially. our senior economic reporter steve liesman has the details. hi, steve. >> tyler, thank you. fed chair janet yellin giving no hint at the first -- fed's first rate hike in nine years is imminent or that it's not coming. the only definitive statement on the outlook for monetary policy is that it depends on the economic data and as long as that word patient is in the statement, there won't be a rite rate hike for at least two meetings. >> the fomc's assessment that it can be patient beginning to normalize policy means that the committee considers it unlikely that economic conditions will warrant an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate for at least the next

couple of fomc meetings. >> as tyler said the fixed income stock markets took the messages modestly dovish. you can see the futures market down from 51 basis points and where it would be in december 2015 now just well, there it goes just to 47. to my mind, yellin was mutual in the debate over whether the fed would take hikes in june or september. to be clear i think she's preserving the fed's -- whether to drop the term pashgt from the staemt. she was grilled as expected from the democratic center in mass marks elizabeth warren. this time over the issue of what warren said were criticisms of the dodd frank financial reform bill or the fed's chief council skol alvarez. >> do his criticisms reflect your criticisms or the criticisms of the federal -- the federal board? >> i think i personally and the board consider dodd frank to be a very important piece of

legislation that has provided a road map for us to put in place regulations. >> i appreciate that madam chairman, but i just need a yes or no here. do his criticisms reflect your criticisms? >> i'm certainly not seeking in any way to alter dodd frank at this time. >> then from the gop side yellin was strongly questioned by senators on whether dodd frank is too tough on the banks, and this is a prelude to possible changes that could come in the new republican-controlled senate this year. now, yellin likely faces an even tougher grilling tomorrow from the house where there's more support for the fed to conduct monetary policy according to rules passed by the congress and for a bill to audit the feds making a monetary policy both of which, guys yellin strongly opposed today. andy. >> thank you for wrapping it all up for us. >> stocks are missed. what do you as an investor do? let's bring in nick from

converge x group and strategist at wells fargo group. great to have you. let me start with you. when do you think the fed is going to start raising rates, but from an investment point of view, how much does the exact timing even matter? >> he think we're a little closer mandy. i think markets were still somewhat concerned about the exact language the fed was using in the minutes and the releases most recently and today's testimony i think really clears that up. it looks like a clear, long runway of low rates for a while longer, and it does help. at the margin it does help u.s. stocks a little bit more because i think investors were looking at europe as the most interesting place to invest but now that we have clarity in the u.s. market it helps us see money flows come back here. >> it sounds like you still like u.s. stocks at these levels despite money going elsewhere. well let me break in just very quickly because we have news from the bond market right now. sue herrera, what's the action telling us? >> we had the two-year note

being actioned off, and it came at a yield of 0.603%. the bid to cover ratio, which is also known as the measure of demand, came in at a stronger than expected 3 .45. the last ten bid cover auctions came in at about 3.41%. it was slightly stronger than traditional demand. indirect bids is also higher by -- it came in at 48.2%. it's a pretty decent auction. i don't know what grade rick santelli would give it. i don't give grades. it was a little stronger than expected. back to you, manned where i. >> maybe you should start giving grades. maybe a little competition between the two of you. >> nobody can match rick santelli. >> let me get back to our guests. stock, how is the investing world changing for you post-yellin, if at all? >> well i mean janet yellin mandy, she has been a dove. she remains a dove. i have a bias.

the fomc minutes, i thought they were dovish. today yellin in my mind was definitely dovish. i have a stronger opinion about that than i think maybe nick or steve liesman, but, you know in my mind our official stance is we're going to see a hike at some point this summer. now, you, that could be june to september. really you're splitting hairs whether it's june or september. what you really want to know what the market needs to know is how quickly are they going to raise rates? are they going to do it fast? are they going to skip a few meetingsed, which i think they certainly will after they start. that to me magnitude and speed, that's what we really want to know, but janet yellin i thought really today i was thinking did she -- does she want the marketed to say, hey, the minutes were not as dovish as what some people thought or not, and in my opinion dove all the way. >> it certainly seems, scott, as if she's playing it very safe very true to nature. scott, do you agree with nick

that the u.s. is still the same for play -- still better to stay in the u.s. than to europe or elsewhere where we have seen a lot of money recently go. >> i definitely agree with that. i think if you had to rank the performance, u.s. large caps would do best. developed international, and then emerging markets, and that's -- you know you got to take the dollar move into account, and especially when you look at what the dollar is doing, i think u.s. stocks are going to be where you want to be. i think through the global safe haven in terms of equities and i think we're going to continue to see the stock market do well this year. >> let's get a little micro. let's dig beneath the surface. nick, i see you like -- not just like. it's your favorite sector right now. it's energy. >> yes. i think scott really nailed the right hierarchy. energy is one interesting sector that we see a lot of client interest in. it's lag the s&p. it's only up 1% versus the s&p's 4. if you look at the etf money flows you are looking for $3

billion for money flows into energy stock etf's just here in the u.s., and we see a lot of interest as well on the sector. we have an interesting contrarian sector to -- >> what in particular are you looking at here? >> i think the sectors we want to be overweight mandy, are industrials, technology consumer discretionary sector. those are going to be the outperformers over the course of the next year. now, energy if you want to try to catch that falling knife, you know there's plenty of opportunities there, but for us i mean we want energy exposure. we want to be even weight which is about 8% 8.5% of a portfolio. that's where the representation is in the s&p 500. we're neutral on energy, but certainly we want to pay attention to what's going on with energy as we move forward over the next couple of quarters. >> i do see just to rerate that yes, you do believe they are a net positive for the u.s.

economy this year. not a net negative. >> absolutely. loo nick and scott, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> also if you -- you want to check out the underweight that is nick and scott have you can go to power lunch.cnbc.com right now or maybe just wait until after the show to see what you should be avoiding in this environment. tyler, we don't want people to tune off from the screen. we want them to stay with us although way to the end. >> all right. mandy, the nasdaq hitting a 15-year high. they say a rising tide lifts all boats, but sometimes, dominik, a rising boat lifts all tides. there are about five boats that are doing this. >> this is five boats that are really doing the yoman's duty of the whole thing here. the real work horses behind the naxz. if you look at the overall nasdaq composite, which has, like, over 3,000 stocks that's a lot of them in the apples of the world all the way down to the $20 million biotech stocks. the nasdaq composite and the nasdaq 100 are very similar in terms of performance so far this year. so they're almost the exact same. the nasdaq 100, though is the largest cap of the nasdaq composite stocks. let's take a look at these work

horses because five companies, like you said have accounted for every single points worth of gains in the nasdaq 100. if you don't believe me, check this out. netflix shares they're up about 38%. at least through yesterday's close. that accounts for ten points of the nasdaq 100. all right? now you move on to the next one. gilead big biotech name. it's added 15 points overall. another one here to look at biogen, up 20%. that's another 17 points. keeping tally here right? then you talk about amazon.com. it's up about 22% here, and it added 35 points to what's happening. then there's apple, which with its move because it's a $770 billion company, has added 141 points. you add all those together it's 218 points and that is every single point's worth in the gain

of the nasdaq 100. tyler, a huge move for the nasdaq, but these five boats are going to be what powers the nasdaq. >> rising boats lift all tides. thank you very much. greece's reform plan getting the green light now from europe. the country's finance minister speaking clues exclusively to cnbc just moments ago. our chief international correspondent michelle carusa cabrera is with us now. you monitored that conversation. tell us what went on. >> you are right. they got approval. with big astericks and big cavats. you're not getting any money until you prove that what you put in this document, you are actually going to do. this is really crucial because they need the money desperately. our colleague in london, she's in athens right now, one of the anningors for cnbc europe spoke exclusively with the minister of finance for greece just in the last hour. first thing she asked him is what is your first thing? what are you going to do on that list? she says we're going after tax evasion. that's priority one. how much money are you going to get, she asks. we don't know. it's like a treasure hunt. >> it's like an archaeological site where you dig.

you don't know what you are going to find. hopefully you find a great treasure. i'm sure we'll find a great treasure. the question is do we have the means by which to do so. >> all right. the money is crucial because even though they've gotten the green light, no money goes to greece until maybe april, maybe may. they're running out of cash now, however, within weeks they could really come to some kind of financial crisis. julia asked him what are you going to do and he was pretty convinced for some reason but the euro zone in some way will help greece out. >> when there's a cash flow problem which is effectively a spike for a day's time but the long-term -- they can be confident that europe is going to find a way of dealing with the cash flow problem. -- >> it's possible. it is possible to see this thing fall apart over a few billion because there's only a few --

>> when does the cash krurchlg hit? >> it all depends when greece pay their taxes, right? this government campaigned on we're going to lower taxes and we're going to stop foreclosures. guess what happened. greeks stopped paying taxes and their mortgages. big financial problems for the government and also the banking system. right? now mario droghi said you must reinstate the culture of payment. in other words, you got to get people to pay. if people start paying the cash flow problem reduces itself. michelle carusa cabrera. >> well, march is almost here folks, but there is really no end in sight to winter is there? there's more snow. there's more sleet, and cold snaps are also on the way. here is tom nizzle at the weather channel with more bad news. >> we got another cold week in store for the eastern u.s. where records are being broken on a daily basis. record high temperatures this

week. here's the cold air working down across the great lakes, and although way down into the southeastern u.s. by friday. take a look at the temperatures tomorrow as an example. chicago only a high of 20 degrees. 20 degrees below normal. atlanta at 40 degrees. well below what we should see at this time of year. as we go into thursday that continues. denver nearly 30 degrees below normal with a high of only 21 degrees. then into the friday time frame, take a look again. new york city 26 degrees and dallas at 39. that cold air does stay aloft across the country, and it's amazing if you look at the month overall. in the east many of these cities, if we ended the month today, have either the highest second or third highest or third coldest, i should say, february on record overall, and in stark contrast in the west many of these major cities are working toward their warmest february on record. that's the dichotomy we see across the u.s. right now. i'll send it back to you. >> boy, it is true. it is the coldest february i can remember. all right, folks.

the port problems out west have -- they may have been resolved over the weekend bshg ut they are beginning now have a very real and huge football impact on many of america's small businesses. we have the staggering stats and the fall-out. plus, a developing storm. we are watching this hour. a commuter train crash. a developing story, i should say. a train crash in california. dozens of injuries, and we will have the latest on that. 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... for up to three years... and be covered? it means your odometer... is there to record... the memories. during the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event now through march 2nd, you'll get complimentary pre-paid maintenance and receive your first two month's payments on us. only at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer. e financial noise

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developing story we are watching closely. three cars of a southern california metro link commuter train derailed and tumbled on to their sides as you see right there. after a collision with a truck that was on the tracks. this took place, and there you can see, i guess the remains of that truck. >> these pictures coming into the newsroom. a camera getting shots of the accident. that is as it happened. i believe it happened a couple of hours ago. they're obviously still -- it was night when it did happen. >> very dramatic. okay. let's recap the headlines. comcast raising its annual dividend by 11% to $1 a share. the universal parent beating

revenue street forecasts, but missing the irnkz by a cent. home depot trading at a new record high after it's profit rose 36%, but the home improvement chain is also warning that currency headwinds will hurt 2015 earnings. shares of luxury homebuilder toll brothers rising after its profit nearly doubled. toll also lifting its full-year pricing and delivery guidance. as can you see, the shares up 4.3% as a result. ty. >> mandy, a deal may have been reached in the story out in the west coast, but the backlog out there could take months to work through, and it is having a very significant impact on a lot of small businesses. this is kate rogers. she's here with that story. >> hi, tyler. that's right. some small businesses in california have seen losses of 10% to 50% in export sales in the past six months. now, that's aorganized do the center for international trade and development, which represents about 1,000 small businesses in california. business owners like paul cramer who exports animal feed and pet food to the pacific rim from his

paris, california based star milling company, says he has lost time and nearly $60,000 a week over the past nine months. tyler, that's not even his biggest problem. what cramer is most worried about is losing his customers for good. >> the biggest disruption that we have isn't necessarily the money on a week to week basis. it's the customers that we potentially lose because then they're out of business in the places that we send stuff to. it's great that they've come to a tentative agreement. what that means and where it will end up in a week i don't know. >> now, a separate trade group called the party club of america tells me they fear halloween costumes won't make it on to store shelves in time for the holiday as imports have slowed from overseas. a small trucking company says they're being hit with daily fines from steam ships for being unable to return shipping containers to the port due to all that back lock. they tell me they have amassed $50,000 in fines.

>> halloween costumes won't make it in time? >> what are you going to do? >> it's months away. my goodness. >> they're saying it may take six months to get back to normal, that's when they start stocking their shelves. >> my naughty librarian costume will be unavailable. >> old school baby. old school. well they are the best cars on america's roads. consumer reports announcing its 2015 picks. it's a highly anticipated release. there's a lot riding on it also for the automakers. this year it's pretty good news for a number of u.s. brands. we've got the list for you next. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms? i sure hope so. with healthcare costs, who knows. umm... everyone has

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it is the only american brand. buick is the only american brand among the top ten brands for consumer reports this year. first time we've seen that in the three years that they've been making brands and they site there's improved reliability when you look at the buick models they test and they heard back from their subscribers about. when you look at the top five brands according to consumer reports, you've got lexus at number one. followed by mazda. then toyota. then audi and subaru rounding out the top five. now, the bad news in this report, if you are a mercedes owner, they're not happy with what they're seeing or what they're hearing back from their subscribers. the brand dropped from number ten last year to number 21 this year. a lot of the reasons revolve around this vehicle right here. the cla class, which is the entry level model. >> the new one sfwloosh the new one they started just under $30,000. hey, it boosted sales, but guess what. it's got poor reviews. according to consumer reports, poor performance. then the s class also had reliability issues.

consumer reports is concerned about what they saw from mercedes. >> that was a new thing. maybe they're working the bugs out. >> you would hope. >> you would hope. >> thank you very much. mandy, over to you. >> let's get a check on the market and the backup. both the two-year note option. sfwroo the market has had some times. okay. let's take a look at yields. currently sitting at 1.995%. yields did reverse some of the early gains, and we've had to throw into the mix that weaker than expected consumer confidence data as well. hi. >> mandy, the nasdaq 15-year high. we talked about that. the s&p, the dow, the russell all-time highs there. if are you playing this market for etf's, we've got five-star trades. target reports earnings tomorrow. that stock up 35%. a giant facing challenges right now. the chief financial officer will join us live on power tomorrow. john mulligan.

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i'm sue herrera, and here's your cnbc news update for this hour. federal reserve chair janet yellin testifying on capitol hill and saying the u.s. economy is making steady progress, but for now the fed will remain patient about raising interest rates because the job market is still healing and inflation remains low. consumer confidence fell this month after a big gain in january, but it's still remaining higher than it was a year ago. consumers were considerably less confident about the next six months. jp morgan says it is aiming to save about $1.4 billion in annual expenses. mainly in consumer and investment banking. as a proposed government requirement to hold more capital is expected to be a drag on profits. eye fedex plane had to make an emergency landing after there was smoke inside the plane. it was headed to minneapolis from memphis.

that's the cnbc news update for this hour. back to you. >> okay. thank you so much sue. gold prices currently closing. prices have been kind of dancing around that 1,200 level for some time. they are staying below it. this would be the third straight day of declines. we're sitting at 1,197 to the down side by $3 for one troy ounce. silver and copper well copper is moving slilts higher. silver moving lower along with platinum. puladium to the up side. let's get on to dominik for a quick flash. >> it's burgers, shakes, and fries for our report here. shares of recently ipo shake shack are managing to post gains today, and that's a slew of new analyst recommendations as the shares are not able to be covered by analysts who work for underwriting banks during the ipo process. good news first. you can see the shares up by

3.5%. thank you, dom. >> let's get a market check with the dow, s&p, and the russell 2k. they've all set record highs. let's get to the day's trading action with bob and the floor of the nyse and i took note of a comment from art cashin who has been around the block a few times, right? he knows a thing or two about the markets. it's almost as if janet yellin has taken the hippocratic earth. ie do no harm and that means do no harm to the markets. >> if her goal was don't surprise anybody, and that does seem to be her goal she certainly accomplished that. look at the s&p 50000. again, she reiterated using the phrase, a very unlikely move. a rate hike for the next two meetings. now we're certainly into june, and a lot of people feel even june is sort of unlikely. a lot of people were talking about september for a rate hike. you see the markets -- the senate shall speak tomorrow in

the house. we are dealing with higher oil prices, but the energy market is very mixed today. deemed off shore. that's a common slate. they may be losing potential contracts. look what's wha that's doing to the rest of the big drillers. noble also on the down side. lower demand for commodities. we all know it has crushed some of the commodity players. first, let me show you the builders here. toll brothers has had an absolutely amazing report. prices are higher. they're the high end producer. their margins are higher. bottom line is the high end of the business, the building business, and that's what toll brothers is doing very well. it's dragging all the other builders along with it today. standard pacific and kb homes, great reports from toll brothers. now back to the commodities. we know that bh 3 billiton and all the big names have been crushed this year on lower demand for commodities. they're turning into yield plays. bhp billiton said we will look to maintain or increase our dividend. they already got a great

dividend. to almost 5%. they're going to increase it or maintain it. that's moved off all of these stocks. also up notably today are the solar sfox. not because of any new earnings announcement from them but somehow on first solar they said they're in talks to form a joint yield. pay-out very high dividend yields to shareholders and a number of yields that have been announced in the last year or so. most of them have been successful. tyler, back to you. >> all right, bob. stick around. we're going to bring in ron insana to talk about janet yellin's testimony on the hill. bob said that clearly the earliest contemplated writ hike would be june. you have been in a camp that said -- >> what they indicated -- the time frame in which they're going to talk about it is over

the next couple of meetings. it doesn't mean they're going to do it. it's still a debate back and forth. it's a much more dovish fed than it was a year ago. janet yellin mentioned housing. she also mentioned, of course, inflation. not the fed's target. including bringing down the underemployment rate and senator richard shelby, and i'm surprised he brought this up. he has been more of a proponent of a fed that's tighter. he pointed out that u6 was still high relative to historic normz. that gives the fed a lot of latitude and room not to do anything. >> bob, just a few minutes ago, one of our guests scott ren said what he is watching or will be watching is not just the when will rates rise, but the magnitude and speed of those hikes which he expects to be very slow and episodic with big moves. >> the one thing you can see with janet yellin here is that

absolutely no surprise. they're agonizing over when they should remove the word patience from the forward guidance. let alone whether they should actually raise rates. certainly when that comes, it's going to be very very slow. another very interesting point is that she made it very clear they would only start raising rates when they start getting inflation over their 2% objective. she made a very interesting point. >> higher rates is your classic tool against rising inflation. i think there were surprises. one that she pointed to housing. two, she outlined a potential stop and go pattern. you know remember the gradualist fed under alan greenspan and to an extend ben bernanke. once you started moving, it was 25 basis point increments. >> regularly. >> she seemed stop and go and she opened the door to maybe smaller than quarter point increases. i think that this is going to be an incrementalist fed that is not on a sustained path towards normalization, and as she said

normal could be lower than what we're accustomed to. normal being 4%. may have been -- if indeed we even see them tight news 10 the next six months. i tell her, i don't think anything is really baked in stone here and she opened the door to leaving rates down for a considerable period. >> to read ron insana's story on janet yellin go to our website at power lunch.cnbc.com. hi mandy. >> okay ty. in this market environment many investors turned to etf's for higher yields. he runs the five star tech growth fund up so far, but to get those out sized returns, they really -- when i say entire, we're talking a very active annual turnover rate of 225%. really not for the faint of heart either. paul welcome to power lunch. great of you to join us today. >> thanks for having me. sfli see that you've invested about 84% in u.s. equities.

it seems as if you are bull oish what's going on in the united states. we're currently also sitting around record highs. have you seen the exposure to the u.s. equity market dialled back any time soon or are you still that bullish? >> i'm still very bullish, and we dialed it up. mid october we were down 63% u.s. equities. we slowly have used proprietary process over 1,300 a day, and it's just got us more and more invested in the u.s. equities up to 84 which is -- >> you look at over 1,300 etf's every single day. what specifically are you looking for, and what is everything that really sticks out right now for you that you like? >> we're looking for compensating for the risk that the etf is playing. calculating the difference. what we like now fixed frontal boundarying. early october we were at 26%.

we're down 10%. we're really following the numbers. the other sectors we like consumer staples i have been in in a while. telecom is a recent addition. >> you have dialled down your bond exposure. from what you heard from yellin today, what kind of implication do you feel has been the bond market? >> i think it's priced in but she's yol a loose canon. she's not going to come out with anything that scares anybody or spikes anything. that inflation number has to be over 2% before she start raising the fee. it's telling everyone where it's going to be. it's going to be -- >> what do you do within your portfolio to get kind of in defensive strategy should you want one? >> this portfolio can go defensive, and it does play defense. we can -- the only asset class i'm married to is u.s. equities. we average around 75%, as you said. we can go into commodities if rates start spiking. we'll go into that. will international equities, and anywhere where there's a well run etf. >> what about particular sectors? i know you don't like utilities.

you don't like rates. the typical sector that don't do well when rates rise. >> we road them out. we road them last year and we did well last year and we did well of the utilities at the beginning of the year. now, as i said we're overweight midcaps. we don't own any of the sep across the board. financial services we just started to add to the portfolio and the telecom i mentioned. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> i see weather down in texas, a 15-car crash near lubbock. up and down i-45. also a real mess as you see. the glaze of ice out there in a part of the country that is not quite as accustom to it as we are -- have grown to be in the northeast. the roads are generally clear, but the big hudson river is sure not, and that and the cold have

had a big impact on heating oil. up 27% in just a month's time. nbc's dillon dwyer is on an ice breaker trying to make the hudson passable. sfroo we are here on the u.s. coast guard cutter willow and that sound you hear is us literally cutting through ice. if we were to keep going north, we would end up in albany. if we went south, we would end up in west point. we are right in the middle. this is where the river tends to freeze. along that 80-mile stretch. it is so crucial to break up all of this ice which at times could be about 13 inches thick. there are barges that use this waterway to transport about 70% of the home heating oil for the northeast. obviously with the winter we're having that is very very important. i was told by the coast guard crew that if the barges can't get up and down this waterway the folks in the northeast will last about three days with the heating oil they have, and then there's no way to get more heating oil. that's why it is so important to break up this ice, this vessel

is specifically designed with the steel hull that breaks through that ice, but the crews say this is one of the worst winters they have seen since 2004. it's already the coldest february on record for so many in the northeast. we broke record low temperatures yesterday morning. we broke record lows again this morning. unfortunately, the cold isn't going to let up any time soon. back to you. >> all right. thank you, dylan. take a look at this video. two unsuspecting patrons exiting a bus in south korea. watch what happens there. a sinkhole opens up right in front of them. you won't believe what happens next. we'll show you when "power lunch" returns in two minutes.

>> among the worse performers in the s&p, but they are managing to find some buyers off these dip levels. among the reasons for the weakness, a times report earlier that samsung reached a deal to supply a large portion of memory chips for apple's smartphones as well as more negative comments

from cleveland research which sees lower memory chip pricing. other analysts have come out to defend the stocks. right now, tyler, they're off, but they're only off by 3%. maybe having their losses. back to you. >> dominik, thank you. unbelievable video out of seoul, south korea. two pedestrians, knee left the bus. look at that. a sinkhole opens up in the sidewalk right in front of them. they are swallowed up. it's all caught on tape by a security camera from a bus service. luckily, the man and the woman suffered only minor injuries. they were eventually, watch again. look at that. oh, man. they were rescued by firefighters. mandy. >> yeah. i believe they were fine. okay. on the housing front, home prices rose in december but what does it all mean for the overall health of the housing market? we break did down for you live from wash wash. diana. >> well mandy, home prices have been rising now for three years, but the gains started shrinking at the end of 2013 when the market just got too hot and sales suffered. now for the first time since then price gains are increasing again, and that is not a good

thing in today's cash-strapped market. it's just a little turn but it was enough for s&p's david glitzer to say the housing recovery is faltering. yesterday the realtors reported an unexpectedly large drop in january sales, and their chief economist called it a speed bump. now, whatever you want to call it, it's all because there is such a limited supply of homes for sale. there is definitely demand but buyers are not finding what they need and what they can afford. the exception, of course is on the very high end, which is why luxury homebuilder toll brothers beat the street in earnings. also when asked on the conference call, if they were going to ease up on prices and push volume which is what their loefr end competitors are doing, well, bob toll said that's not our game. clearly, they're doing well enough where they are. the high-end is staying high but the rest of the market which is about 95% of housing, is seeing affordable weaken due to that still very tight supply. more, of course on-line realty check.cnbc.com.

new studies suggest that contrary to what parents have been told for years, feeding infants peanut products could prevent them from developing a peanut allergy. that story next on "power lunch." or myself, which i did. its because i had, had a passion. my whole life i wanted to teach myself to build computers. i wanted to build these things for free. i just wanted to do it for the world and you know when you want something, that's what you do the best. ♪ ♪ you can call me shallow... but, i have a wandering eye. i mean, come on. national gives me the control to choose any car in the aisle i want. i could choose you... or i could choose her if i like her more. and i do. oh, the silent treatment. real mature.

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common food allergy for kids and the most deadly. the conventional wisdom has been to keep babies away at least until you can be sure that they are not allergic. now the new england journal of medicine suggests that that might be counter productive, saying that diet that includes peanuts in the very first year reduces the chances of developing the allergy. in 2008 a survey showed more than 2% of children have a peanut allergy. the new england journal of medicine however, also cautions not to suddenly start introducing peanuts into the diets of babies. instead, gets an allergy test first, which does seem like a good idea because, you know it can be fatal, right? it can be life-threatening. certainly it's one of those allergies, tyler, that people very rarely outgrow. you want to be careful on this subject. that's what i'm saying. >> so many children today have food allergies. >> yes. >> my wife and i, we have a little boy, and you have kids too. my wife and i were with some physicians at an event over the weekend, and we asked why do you think so many kids have food allergies these days or allergies generally these days.

>> it's on the rise as well. >> their answer was because america has become too clean. >> that's what i have heard as well. >> that we don't have enough exposure to allergens and other particles in the atmosphere or in our food and that that's why we develop these kinds of things. maybe this new england journal study is on to something. the more you expose children who don't immediately have or aren't born with an allergy, the less likely they might be to develop one. >> because we're not so much living on farms, and we're not exposed to the same germs we used to be. we have access to good medicine and good antibiotics. our immune system i've heard, therefore may start to attack the good proteins out there. such as in nuts and various other things that cause allergies and, therefore, it's on the rise. i mean you know who knows what the real answer is. there are a lot of theories out there. i've read a lot of different theories, but nonetheless, be careful. before you go and start feeding your baby peanuts on the back of this study, go and get a test first.

>> let's take a look at some incredible video now of fire that broke out this morning at a payless shoe store in philadelphia. officials say the fire quickly spread to apartments above the store. philadelphia transit riders near the fire were shuttled away from the scene to a safer location. no injuries have been reported but look at that blaze. no word on what caused the fire but my goodness all that water in these freezing temperatures. those men and women who do that you got to really hand it to them. mandy. >> you really do. the bravest of them all. okay. here are this hour's power points. ie, what we have learned. number one, in regards to the port slowdown we found that independently owned businesses are losing up to $60,000 per week. next up the s&p kay shiler composite index increasing by a 4.5% year over year in the month of december, and, finally, we confirmed that greece has secured a four-month extension of financial aid among its euro zone partners. discuss discussions of

appropriate funding will begin this evening. i call this the proverbial kicking of the can. just my two cents worth. two euros worth. >> if you missed the big stories, you can go visit our website. power lunch.cnbc.com. and the secretary of the veterans affairs department bonding with a homeless veteran over their military service except some of what he said didn't happen. that story is straight ahead on "power lunch." hey mom, you want to live by the

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welcome back to "power lunch." endo international shares are getting a slight boost on a reuters report that they are close to buying endo's medical device unit. that could fetch $2 billion. both companies are reportedly aiming to close the deal within the next few weeks. boston scientific shares moving slightly lower. now moving at least to the up side slightly. two-thirds of a percent. brian, over to you. >> thank you very much. coming up on the second hour of "power lunch" yellin fed speak. how the central banks language may be mucking up the system. plus solar ore heating up but analyst with a different point of view. plus, one amazing mystery chart just for you. this stock up more than get

this guys, 50,000% since the nasdaq bottomed in 2002. yes, 50,000%. can you name it? join us at the top of the hour. first back to mandy and tyler. >> no idea. >> i'm scratching my head. you're scratching your head. clearly we're not as cler as you. >> aarp readers may not have visited rapper dr. dre gracing the cover of "aarp" making sfleen. well, sort of. in honor of dr. dre's 50th birthday, the aarp tweeted out this mock cover with the caption "this rap icon may be turning 50 today, but he's still d.r.e." whatever that means. >> whatever that means. i guess it means he still can be a rapper. >> he is still cool at 50. >> very rich with those beats headphones. >> the veterans affairs department in hot water over a false statement he made about his military career. if i'm recalling correctly, john arwood, he was a west point guy. >> he was a west point guy,

tyler, and robert mcdonald, the former ceo of proctor & gamble got in trouble after people revisited this exchange which occurred in january and was aired in a cbs news story about his encounter with am homeless veteran. take a listen. >> army, navy, air force. >> army. >> what unit? >> special forces. >> special forces. what years? i was in special forces. >> you heard that. i was in special forces. robert mcdonald was -- served in the 82nd airborne. he got ranger training there. he graduated from west point. that's elite training but it's not the same thing as special forces. that's why robert mcdonald has apologized for that and josh ernest, the white house press secretary, just a few minutes ago said that is not going to be enough to cause the president to want robert mcdonald to leave his job. >> there is no reason to think that the mistake he made should leave his ability -- to continually implement the kind of reforms at the v.a. that are so critical to making sure that

our veterans are getting the benefits they deserve. >> given the tremendous media attention in recent days about the accuracy of statements made by our colleague brian williams by bill o'reilly of fox news you don't know how these things are going to go but it is in robert mcdonald's favor that republican members of congress do not seem to be trying to turn up the heat and push him out of that job, guys. >> forces that they are, as i understand it, the green berets the rangers, as you point out, john extraordinarily skilled. they do receive special training, as do folks in the 82nd airborne but there is a distinction there. >> they are special, but they're not special forces. >> all right. john harwood, thank you very much. that, folks, is the first hour of power lunch. brian is usually standing here with us. i guess he is now -- >> i don't know -- >> they've moved him somewhere. >> i can't even actually see him. he might be in a different studio altogether. >> we will find him for you, or he will find you for us. brian. >> i don't know if you will see me, but you'll definitely hear

me. >> that's true. >> thank you very much. all right, guys. 2:00 p.m. he said on wall street. here's your market setup right now. the dow is up 93 points. oil still below $50 a barrel but up a quarter to $49.62. then you've got comex gold at $11.95 down $2.30 an ounce. by now, mefshg you know what janet yellin said in d.c. as always the market literally hanging on every word. some words and phrases have been much more important than others to your money. consider these ones that are nice handy format here which have been lustfully poured over by investors for years. patient, accommodative, considerable time, appropriate. that was a bernanke favorite. of course, we cannot forget the most famous fed phrase of all. irrationale exuberance. then our friends is the topic of the hour. the fed word obsession. can we truly have a healthy stock and bond market with a choice of specific words from the fed chair can move billions or even trillions of dollars?

steve liesman and larry kudlow are in the house to break down all this fed speak. this is not a word fine. you get the point here. let's be fair. the media is part of the problem. we obsess among these words. the greenspan briefcase as much as anybody. can we have a healthy market with this obsession over language? >> it is a healthier market when the fed is less sensitive to the federal reserve. when we haven't had a rate hike in nine years, nine years, the way the market has changed over the time when larry and then later i came along to comment on policy. much more sensitive, much more volatile. what happens, brian, is as soon as the fed changes direction in

policy policy. >> you live by it, and you die about it. >> you do live and die by the fed. >> can i say something, speaking as a ratings guy. robert roland clinton's treasury secretary, had an excellent op ed piece in today's wall street journal where upon he said basically central banks do not really solve our economic problems. that is my point of view. you want to grow this economy at 4%, 5% like it should. you want to raise income and wages for middle class people like we should? you want to create more jobs. okay. lower the corporate tax. deregulate. stop spending so much. in other words, fiscal policies are the drivers of growth and ruben had it exactly right.

exactly right. >> agreed. >> i want people to think -- >> hang on to that thought. >> that is not the end all. >> i am sure that you know paul vogel very well. >> i was once his secretary. >> we didn't hear from paul vogel. s he didn't say much. >> except for key points. you are right. that's a key point. >> now we're hanging on every word and phrase. we went from patient, considerable time bernanke with accommodative. you get the point. can we have a healthy stock and bond market when we're fixated? again, we're part of the problem. it's all we have to go on. i guess my point is this. the fed has tried to communicate better, larry, but in my mind they failed because we're too -- we're too obsessed with every turn of phrase. >> we are. we are too obsessed about the fed. we are too obsessed about what they say, and, also my argument with the 12 reserve bank presidents has always been they should be seen and not heard. that adds to the obsession. yellin is doing her job. she did a fine job today. >> can i just --

>> i want to come back. i'm going to totally be a contrarian here. most important thing right now for the stock market is not whether the fed inches up the target rate in june -- >> we know it's coming. >> it's profits. it's profits. keep your eye on profits. that's the best advice i can give an investor. >> come on up here. got a market participant here as well. a bunch of guys yapping about theory. you're in the markets. you get our point, right? do you think this market is healthy with our obsession? again, i'm putting the media square in the spotlight as well. with this obsession with language? >> i really like what larry had to say about the ability of central banks to produce growth. the only thing they can produce in the long run is inflation. all they do is print money. >> think of this particular the last four years in washington. the last two -- laws in any session of congress in 200 years. it's a little painful to watch janet yellin have to listen to

questions and be pressured and credit seized when they the congress washington, more broadly haven't done a lot of. they haven't done much to support economic growth. we see this playing out. central banks will have to do more. yes, words -- think of today the word patient. 300 words out of the 847 words and yellin's testimony spent on describing what the fed will do with respect to that one word. next month perhaps at the margin. >> we're both kind of heckling -- >> i'm a republican. he was a clinton democrat. i thought he was a fine treasury secretary. i thought his words were very wise today. >> he creates economic growth. >> it's the best advice i can give. >> how do we get out of the trap? we're in this language trap right? it's not yellin's fault. bernanke was in the same trap. >> i'm a finder on google

chrome. i hit find. i look for the word to see if it's in there and where it is. >> i'm a guilty party. >> so, what brian? >> that's not healthy. >> you are -- something is broken. when every academic study has shown is that the clearer the more transparent fed policy is the better fed policy is. think of fed policy essentially trying to take advantage of the markets proclifty to discount future earnings. then the more transparency there is about future policy the more the fed is able to do that. >> how about rules? how about rules? how about rules? >> all the rules -- all the rules they've shown to have don't work either a, the policymakers ignore them or b, they don't fit. >> he wouldn't have had this 30-plus year run. >> tony -- >> i'm sure. >> last word to you.

let's get some -- do you change your investing thesis based on what you heard yellin say today in. >> no. remember what the fed is trying to put our attention to is to path on rates, and not the timing of the first hike, and think of the ecb. the markets are priced for the ecb to keep the policy rate under 1% through the end of the decade. same for japan. around 1% for the u.s. in the low 2s or so. focus on the path. not the initial hike. >> and the path is up. tony. >> larry. >> there noz inflation or recession. that's what the numbers -- >> we do have a fed crossword puzzle. there's word. melissa lee. >> records falling across the board in the market today. the dow, s&p, russell 2,000 all hitting new highs. the nasdaq the ftse the nikkei are sitting at multi-year highs. let's get to dom and how are people playing these multi-year highs? >> one of the ways that u.s. investors can do it if you aren't going to go to the local markets themselves, is to go to the etf's, right, and there are a lot of country etf's. these days there's an etf for just about everything. if you look at the ftse 100,

tracks the largest stocks in the u.k. you can see here over the past year it's not seen a lot of action, but it's still up about 1%. it gets back up to those level that is weave seen. the neex neek of about 25%. that market has been absolutely on fire. abenomeics has something to do with that over the past year. one of the big things that investors use is the ewu. that's the i shares etf. those shares are up marginally today here but can you see over the past year down about 10%. this represents a swauch of just larger than the ftse 100. shft reasons why the performance discrepancy is there, and then the ewj, a very popular i shares etf as well for the japan market. you can see here up about 6% over the course of the past year. these are the etf's that track. they don't mimic exactly what the underlying indexes do. still, a lot of investors use these as one of the big ways to go about doing the markets there internationally, and i want to mention because you did mention the nasdaq reaching that 15-year high as we inch closer to 5,000.

if you look at the qqq, the q's, of course, the ones that track the nasdaq 100, the largest stocks there those stocks, again, moving higher as well. the qqq doing pretty decently brooen. >> it's not been doing badly at all, dom. but my question to you is how much impact has apple had on either the nasdaq composite or the nasdaq 100's run to a 15-year high. >> i mean here's the big deal. you, melissa, and i, we talk about this all the time. we've talked about apple a lot because of the sheer mass of the market value of that company. it has a disproportionate affect on the overall indexes. so far this year the nasdaq composite and the q's, all right, the nasdaq 100, are both up around 5%. they equate in terms of performance, but there are again, just a handful of stocks, and apple is one of them that drive the bulk of them. in fact two-thirds so far of the year-to-date gains in the nasdaq 100, two-thirds of those gains are just because of apple. again, this is a $5 stock back in 2000. you can see where it is right

now. this is a -- it's been a big move, guys and that's the reason why apple continues to have a lot more weight in it. this is not about being a cheerleader of apple stock. it's more about pointing out the fact that because its size has gotten so large, melissa, it's such a huge for the market and a big influence on a lot of indexes out there. >> so basically without apple, ex-apple, the nasdaq might not be at these highs. >> 213 poins. that was the year-to-date gain on the nasdaq 100. 141 of those points are just apple. you strip two-thirds of that away and you are talking maybe instead of a 5% gain, more like a 1.a5%, 2% gain. >> i wouldn't weigh 240. >> i would look a lot better too, guys. that's -- >> yes. >> we'll eat apples and oranges. >> nothing else. >> apple, by the way, new record high in today's session. thanks dom, for that. more on the nasdaq for a new record high. check out power lunch.cnbc.com. >> we're not done melissa.

let's set the menu for the rest of the hour. jp morgan meeting with shareholders. a lot at stake. what did they say about a possible break-up? should mcdonald's buy, shake shack, and are we about to officially enter the age of the commercial jetpack? jets on auerbachs. what's not to love. that maybe getting closer to becoming a reality. time for today's mystery chart. can you name it? it's up 50,000% since the nasdaq bottomed in october of 2002. the answer to that jetpack-like run when "power lunch" returns.

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>> shaerz of jp morgan as the bank holds its annual investor day conference. we're joined with the highlights. kayla. >> hey, melissa, jp morgan investor day is always a day when the banks set the agenda for the year ahead, and there are two words getting a lot of buzz today. derisking and simple fiction. being discussed right now by consumer banking executives is a plan that we'll see jp morgan chase cut about 300 bank branches and cut $2 billion in costs by the end of next year. now, slimming down seems to be the name of the game for a bank that's often called one of the best candidates for a break-up. mostly because of how much capital its massive balance sheet requires. this morning cfo marianne told investors any benefit that the bank might get from the break-up

will be overshadowed by additional costs. >> >>. >> it's too risk functions two boards two operating committees, two -- two general ledgers, two mortgage platforms. these are not trivial things and expenses are real and significant. the list goes on. >> and that's if the bank splits into two clean entities. blake said the bank will reoptionalty, but it needs to hold against it. one specific way that they've outlined that they'll do that in near term is by xharjing financial firms for their deposits in hopes that that money goes somewhere else. that way they wouldn't need the capital against those assets. it's about $100 billion that they're targeting with that plan. investment banking had daniel pinto that says he will do whatever it takes. where will growth for jp morgan

come from? pinto says all the revenue is coming from europe believe it or not. in the consumer bank spending and deposits are up broadly, and agos et cetera under management in the asset management unit are up as well. the highlight of this day is when ceo and chairman jamie diment takes the stage. we'll bring you the headlines. that's certainly going to make news about the macroenvironment and also the future for this institution. back to you. >> we'll await that breaking news. on deck stock picks just for you. one retailer says basically it's about to pull a steve miller and fly like an eagle. we'll give you the name coming up next. plus, last chance against today's mystery chart. the stock up more than 50,000%. wow. can you name it? the answer coming up next.

>> time to reveal the mystery chart. we've said it many times now. the stock up 50,000%. since 2002. the name? sba communications. the xe question is who is that? why is that stock soaring? let's go to josh lipton with

more. >> well brian, sba communications might not ring a bell, but plenty of investors, they wish they had bought it when the nasdaq hit that low 13 years ago. since then it is the top performer in the nasdaq. it's up more than 51,000%. the next two biggest gainers, monster beverage at 50,000%. netflix takes a surge of 18,000%. sba is a tower company. it makes money by leasing and tennis-based carriers like at&t and verizon. it's really a broader play on the explosion of mobile device. remember, 2002 the iphone didn't even exist at that point. now the number of smartphone users worldwide will surpass two billion in 2016 according to e marketer, so that means carriers they need to lease more antenna space from companies like sba to meet that growing customer demand for mobile data. >> whether you are using an ipad or whether you are using an

iphone every single carrier at this point in the u.s., and abroad for that matter. >> some 7,000 towers there. one risk for investors, carriers consolidate or dramatically cut their spending but analysts don't expect that to happen any time soon. they bet this stock does keep going higher as long as there's global demand for mobile data. brian, back to you. >> all right, josh. thank you very much buddy. time for "street talk." our daily look at five analyst recommendations or other stock moves that you need to know

about today. it's about computers, a retailer, and a rig. kind of. first up meltsa computer science that's not an upgrade, but a big ownership stake taken by hedge fund janna partners. they have a stake in csp, and they have strategic alternatives. kind of oddly, melissa, though it's not moving the stock much. >> yesterday, brian, had it had a big move. there are some reports that perhaps it was looking to sell itself. also, just in the past week or so, it settled with the sec over an accounting investigation. it's actually restating results from 2009 to 2012. this is an interesting one to watch. i'm watching meantime a st. jude medical. credit suisse to the underperform to outperform. that's a two-notch downgrade. cardiac rhythm management. there's competition there from people like boston scientific as well as medtronic. it's likely to lag years given competition from those players. >> no love on this name though despite a two cent dividend hike.

they had insider selling earlier this month as well. at least two that i spot on the wires, melissa. >> exin up american eagle outfitters. thus, the steve miller reference. the year of the eagle. strong recovery for the company head. >> this is actually a new high on the stock today, and keep in mind when aero pos tle had better than expected fourth quarter results, there's a lot of sentiment that came into the retailers. namely this name and maybe that's why analysts are getting positive on this. junk status -- the ces to insure rigs default on the day. within five years has, in fact soared. they're saying that perhaps the downgrade could come as early as tomorrow. brian. >> it's been terrible. the analyst rating is underweight. basically a sell. the average target price of analysts absolutely higher than

the current price of rig in 1647. i'm trying to find a little bright spot. all right. well, today's under the radar name is aratona therapeutics. the ticker petx. there's a reason bank of america, merrill lynch starting with a buy and the ticker is because it's a kansas city based pet medication company. they almost got a $25 target. about 40% up side implied on this name. >> it's a slightly smaller on the market cap scale. about 5292 million in market cap, and the stock performance over the past year has been terrible. it's been down about 20%. the s&p 500 up about 13 or so. i don't know. it's calling a bottom here on the stock. we'll see. >> there you go. all right. the stock had gone to the dogs but we would never say that. melissa lee, thank you. >> we would never say that because it's awful. it's a terrible joke. >> it would have been perfect. don't worry. all right. on deck consumer reports out with its ten best cars and there are some big-time surprises. it is that time of day again. the final crude oil trades about to cross. we're going to take you live to

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>> hi know. i'm sue herrera, and here's your cnbc news update at this hour. the white house says president obama will veto the bill that would have allowed congress to approve the keystone oil pipeline from canada. congress sent that bill up to the white house earlier today. the obama administration says it is not correct that it and its partners are negotiate aing ten-year nuclear deal with iran. this is iran's top nuclear negotiator promised quicker cooperation with the u.n.'s nuclear agency. the statement comes after that watchdog agency said iran continues to stall its investigation. iran hoping for an agreement by the end of march. buick has cracked the rankings of the leading auto brands in the annual listing of top auto picks by consumer reports. coming in at number 7, it's the first american brand to crack the top ten in three years.

up in l.a. around l.a. at least, 30 people were injured when a california commuter train bound for los angeles slammed into a truck causing a fiery derailment. the collision happened between oxnard and camarillo about 80 miles northwest of l.a. several metro link cars flipped on their sides after they struck that utility truck. that is your cnbc news update. this hour back to you, brian. >> sue, thank you very much. meantime, the final oil trades are coming in just now. oil trading negative on the day. let's go to jackie deangeles of the nymex. >> good afternoon. really interesting action in oil today. most of the day we were sitting a little bit higher. i'm told it's because we saw some of those gains in heating oil and gasoline coming off the table. we saw some money going into crude. wr ti down 40 cents. we are watching brent crude. what we are waiting for this afternoon is the api inventory report. that gives us a sense of what

we're going to hear from the department of energy tomorrow morning. of course we are expecting more builds on the table that would send the price down and could be why we're seeing some selling pressure now. the dollar also stronger this morning, and it has since turned negative, but traders are saying that they are bullish on the dollar. they expect that to push the crude price down as well. do want to talk about prices at the pump. up 27 cents in the last month alone. $2.31 is the national average according to triple-a. we've seen a big rebound here. all eyes on those refinery strikes. now affecting about 20% of refining capacity, so this could potentially get a little worse if there are more pervasive. back to you. >> jackie thank you. well chevron shares also in the news today. oppenheimer, downgrading the stock to a perform from an outperform. also removing their $115 a share price target. downgrade based on a couple of things. their outlook for lower oil prices as well as the valuation on chevron's stock. now from oil and gas to the

mostly four-wheeled creatures that utilize said commodities, cars. this is big. consumer reports out with its list of new top car picks and it is a good year for american made cars. phil lebeau joining us with more. phil. >> this is a highly regarded report that come out every year. people like to say where are we on this list, and how are the american automakers doing relative to their foreign competitors? a couple of things stand out. the tesla came in as the best overall vehicle for the second year in a row. finally, mercedes benz struggled in this latest report from consumer reports. we'll talk more about that in just a little bit with mr. jake fisher who is the director of auto testing for consumer reports. he joins us live from washington d.c. jake, let's start, first off, with what we're seeing on the

positive side. specifically buick. the only american brand in the top ten auto brands, and the first time you have put an american brand in the top ten over the last three years. what stands out about buick? >> well general motors is turning itself around, and buick has been leading that pack. they're making really nice vehicles to drive, and they're improving the reliability too. i'll get emails. they'll say this guy is nuts. would you put them in a car with lexus? >> sure. i mean lexus is really known for, you know really luxury and nicely finished and reliable. actually, when you come down to it and drive those buicks they're more sporty to drive. in fact, the buick regal is our top pick for sports sedan. that really is a surprise to many, but it really drives like that. it drives like a european sports sedan. it drives great. >> according to the report lexus at number one.

followed by mazda and then toyota, and you have audi coming in at number four. subaru at number five. we don't have it on the chart here but you have buick coming in at number seven. jake what stands out about your report when you look at the brands is what we don't see at the top, and that's mercedes benz dropping down to number 21. what's wrong with mercedes right now? >> two introductions. both ends of the scale, the s-class mercedes which is above $100 vehicle, and the cla, which is an inexpensive mercedes benz. both of them just were very poor when it comes to reliability. it really brought them down at the ratings. >> you and i talked about this yesterday. you think this is not a quality vehicle, am i correct? >> that's absolutely right. the cla looks great, but it's really a mediocre small sedan with front wheel drive. it doesn't really match what people are really expecting mercedes benz. dmroo did mercedes go too cheap because they want to correct the $30,000 threshold. did they take a basic sedan and

slap a badge on it when people that eventually are going to say this is not a mercedes? >> they really did. there's no other way to put it. this is not a car that drives like a mercedes. it doesn't have the comfort or the handling. nothing that you would expect out of mercedes benz. >> real quick, overall quality for the vehicles that you guys tested this past year? is it improving? is it about the same? >> it's a little different. we're seeing different types of problems. it's not necessarily the power train issues and a lot of electronic issues a lot of that infotainment systems. >> he has thoughts here as well. >> first of all, i think the cla, unfortunately, it looks like a honda akoord that got rearended. it slopes down. why don't we hear more about subaru. three of the top ten were subaru cars. five or six overall. how come we never talk about subaru? >> let's start talking about subaru. they make great cars.

you know three of the top picks. i mean, they're making great sedans and suvs. >> they get no love. >> i mean they're practical. they're nice to drive. they're quiet. they do a lot of things well. it's really impressive. >> brian, one quick fact about subaru? if you go back to 2008 it is the only brand in the united states that grew sales every single year. even going back through the financial crisis. think about that. >> everybody. >> let's go to eamon javers for breaking news. >> at this hour a new $3 million reward for information leading to the arrest of a major alleged cyber criminal.

his name is evgeny bogachev. they say that over the course of the operation of that botnet game over zeus was responsible for more than one million computer infections. they also say it resulted in financial losses of more than $100 million. here's the new fbi wanted poster for evgeny bogachev. they're hopeful that the new $3 million reward will help them get information they need to figure out exactly where he is and somehow bring him back to the united states to face justice. guys. >> all right. eamon, thank you very much for that breaking news. now we have heard what janet yellin said. we have tried to figure out what she really meant. now we're going to find out how much money we can make off of it.

we're talking about the yellin trade ahead. what say you, america? does e-mail at work make us more or less productive? a debate on when the company should end the scourge once and for all. or if we love to hate e-mail. financial noise financial noise financial noise

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take a look at this video wrash group of rannize getting together in the czech republic for a self-defense and first-aid training class. it's in response to increased violence against views in europe, and what rabbis call a lack of action in order to protect them. let's see how the markets are responding to fed chairman yellin's testimony in front of congress. take a look at the tlt. this is a big move in the tlt, which, of course tracks the bond market. it is higher by 1.25%. did the fed just give an all clear to bond investors to stay long? let's bring in -- the manager of the five-star morning star rated multi-strategy income fund. what do you think? >> well i think it was predictively noncommitmental today from janet yellin. i think that's really really part of the fed driven volatility that we're going to see this year. especially in the fixed income markets and in the treasury

markets. that's why as a bond investor i caution most bond investors to stay away from gambling on interest rates at this poebt in the cycle, and there are still better opportunities within the credit markets within fixed income. >> and i want to talk about those opportunities. you have in the past identified subprime as one of those opportunities. it's not just banks making these subprime loans these days. it's also hedge funds and other institutions like venture capitalists. i'm wondering, is this part of the side effect of central bank easing around the world, this chase for yield, and so, therefore, we may be looking at another bubble or chase for yield at this point because treasuries aren't getting it to you. >> i don't think we're there right now, melissa. i think we're still at a point now where yield is still very difficult to attain, and we're at a point now where central banks are extraordinarily accommodative. even if at a point you reach a point of lift offthis year with your own central bank. i think investors are generally looking for opportunities.

they look to angel lowe to look for off the beaten path opportunities. all of those offer higher income a way to carry through so much of the volatility that we expect this year and even into next year in transition to a point of what rates do eventually do climb. >> when you say subprime is making a comeback many of our viewers and listeners' eyes roll into the back of their head, and they say oh no here we go again. please tell us this time is different. >> i promise, brian, it's different. it's going to be different this time. in fact, i think it's really more of a misnomer. this is a completely new version where the borrowers are putting down so much more from a percentage standpoint 20, 30, sometimes 50% down, and the credit scores are 100 points higher than they were. let me interrupt. i'm sorry.

i heard this last week on squad box, and i couldn't jump in. i was on the radio pounding the dashboard of my car. if they're putting 30% to 50% down, why is that subprime? why is that even considered subprime? i'm not putting 50% down on a house. >> i think at this point you're still -- you saw that even with the testimony today. we're at a point where there's still a tremendous amount of scrutiny around the banks, and they're in a position where they're just not willing to stretch outside of the extraordinarily tight lending criteria they're at right now, and it's -- as melissa mentioned, it's now given to other institutions, some call shadow banking, but other lenders that are out there that are willing to make comments and sdigs rather than fear-based decisions that the baichx are doing right now. >> all right. brad, we're going to leave it there. thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> mcdodged's and shake shack.

would that be a burger made in heaven? they team up on something called a yield ko. we'll explain what that is and whether it could be right for your portfolio. stay tuned. your mom's got your back. your friends have your back. your dog's definitely got your back. but who's got your back when you need legal help? we do. we're legalzoom, and over the last 10 years, we've helped millions of people protect their families and run their businesses. we have the right people on-hand to answer your questions backed by a trusted network of attorneys. so visit us today for legal help you can count on.

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now with the xfinity tv go app, you can watch live tv anytime. it's never been easier with so many networks all in one place. get live tv whenever you want. the xfinity tv go app. now with live tv on the go. enjoy over wifi or on verizon wireless 4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. >> sun power posting strong gains in today's session lifting

solar stocks across the board on news that they are in talks to form a joint venture yield co. this is what sun edison's ceo told us about the impact of the industry. >> we need more investors to come into this space, so that we are more valued. i think as more people come in there's more float of various yield co's. i think we'll be recognized more. i'm excited about it. i hope it really succeeds and i wish there's more. it's hard to do a yield co. that's why you have two companies doing it together. some other companies have failed the last three months. actually it's in the news. i really would like to see 20-30. there's 130, 140 of them. i would like to see around 20 30 yield co's in this space. >> joining us tonight on "fast money at 5:00" for more on the yield co as well as the future of solar. in the meantime, you can see the stock has done well so far this year. up more than 20%. for more on this news here and on sun edison and what to expect

after solar is gordon johnson of axiom capital. great to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> huge positive stock. what do you do? ure in the interesting sort of little slice of time where sun power has reported. you just mentioned that the guidance of light. first solar is about to report. >> i think -- i don't think you fade the gains. i think if you do the analysis on first solar they have 1.4 gigawatts of backlog. they -- if you dot simple math it's about $14 of incremental value to first solar stocks. theoretically, people do the math without disclosure. you'll get to what is abruptly a simple stock. the risk is what people are missing right now. >> which is? >> i think the risk is you know essentially people are ascribing best case scenario value to first solar right now and sun power. with their yield co, they're doing primarily utility projects, and there's risk in those projects. sun edison is a bit more diversified. in addition to that in addition

to the initial yield co they need to show dividend growth of 10% over the next five years, and that's going to require them to get more backlog, and a lot of companies, including sun edison are going into markets like india, and china and chile. >> first solar has pledged to build 5,000 megawatts in india by -- >> if you would have done that in argentina, they have been around when argentina had the currency crisis, you know they didn't have inflation protection. these yield co's would be losing money, but none of that risk is being priced into the market now. the other thing i think guys need to look at is the chinese solar stocks. they're all -- >> they're all rallying today. >> they should not be. their earnings are going to be very disappointing. i don't think the street has adjusted for the currency risk as well as the risk of projects not getting done in china. we think you should be fading those stocks on the strength. >> let's back up in terms of the yield co question. sun edison has its own yield co. there's going to be this yield co filing out by the end of the first quarter. sun edison has the yield co that

will track emerging market assets and potentially in the first half of 2015. how do you look at yield co's and whether or not to invest in them, and obviously, it's not just the yield that they're going to give you, but it's also the entire structure. >> reality is if you get more yieldcos, you need more growth and the reality is if you look at at japan, hawaii california solar has a certain point at which it reaches a percentage of your energy mix at which it becomes disruptive, it causes disruption in the energy mix. the idea that solar will grow forever is not true. at some point the growth will slow significantly. the idea that you want a bunch of yieldcos like sun edison's ceo just said i don't agree with that dynamic. >> you don't think it's good for the industry? >> there's been analysis that solar said it can only agreegrow to 30%. >> when you look at india and modi wants alternative energy in the mick and sun edison is

pledging more than 15,000 megawatts by 2020 isn't that enough to back an emerging market's yieldco? >> for one company, yes, but if you get a bunch of companies doing yieldcos. canadian solar is probably up with their yieldco. then you will have all the other chinese guy that is need to do this. this is the name of the game. the other key risk is when interest rates go up. if interest rates go up the required return will go up and that's going to bring down the value of the stock. >> buy, hold or selsun edison. >> by. >> first solar. >> hold. >> sun power. >> hold. >> buy, hold hold guys. thank you very much. hello, mcfly. it's 2015 and we still do not have the flying car we were promised in "back to the future part 2" the movie, but we may soon be able to get a jet pack. take a look at that amazing thing. somehow melissa hates them. point, counter point is coming

up. marshawn lynch is trying to cash in on this now famous catch phrase. i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. >> the cnbc realtime exchange market snapshot is sponsored by interactive brokers. no. you? no. aflac! what are you guys looking for? claims! legend has it these hills are full of 'em. it can take months for an insurance claim to surface. claimin' takes patience. aflac paid my claim in one day. they got some new-fangled kinda one day payin' machine? hehehehe yea, i got aflac at work. aflac... in just one day, we approve and pay. one day pay, only from aflac.

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i'm here so i won't get fined. i'm here so i won't get fined. >> that is seattle seahawks running back marshawn lynch at super bowl media day. now he wants a trademark on that famous phrase to put it on its hats and shirts. he suk he hat he's wearing. it's already got the logo for his last trademark, the beast mode. how about this, america, do you have any clever phrases you think would look good on hats and t-shirts? tweet us @"power lunch." we'll read some of the best tomorrow and, please, keep it clean. >> always keep it clean. >> always. >> speaking of clean, let's goat to dom chu for a market flash. i'm trying to stay clean as best i can right now. we're watching shares of computer sciences. reuters is reporting that cap gemini and carlyle, both private equity shops, held talks to acquire computer sciences

corporation. deal reporter talked about a deal to acquire parts of the company. according to sources, those talks have fizzled. they're taking another small leg lower on the headlines. it appears cap gemini and at least carlyle had tried to talk about acquiring computer sciences. reuters citing sources saying those stocks have stalled. back over to you. >> haven't talked about the stock in a year and now it's in the news four times in one day. thank you. time for point/counter point. we pick the topics, you decide two to agree with. should mcdonald's buy shake shack. you had this debate on "fast money" last night. >> dan nathan brought this idea up. i think it's very intriguing and karen finerman thought it was intriguing as well. what i zntsdidn't understand is he made the comparison of tim cook buying beats. it would simply highlight what mcdonald's is doing wrong as opposed to helping it do what it

does better. >> i think it's a terrible idea. the reality is mcdonald's, look inside your own house, fix your own problems. shake shack is not the answer. if you're going to buy somebody go fat burger in and out. >> you can see more about this debate over whether mcdonald's should buy shake shack, cnbc.com/pro. next up here will jet packs soon be cleared for takeoff? i know you're a speed devil, racing cars and all that so you probably love this idea. >> i think it's fantastic. also good for google. think about the money they're going to make off youtube from just entire channels devoted to jet pack fails. >> then you should say go pro. gpro could benefit. >> this will be a disaster. people will be doing loops in the sky, hitting power lines. i think jet packs are cool i think that guy is cool that helmet is not cool. >> you think that guy is cool? >> because it's me so why wouldn't i? >> that's why i was skeptical.

i think jet packs, they seem like fun but i think they are a recipe for disaster. people can barely drive cars and keep their hands off their phones. god knows what's going to happen if they can drive jet packs around. >> it's actually a good band, ump promised jet packs. topic number three, taking a day off from work e-mails. more studies have shown that even one day off or as one company has done eliminated internal corporate e-mail altogether has boosted productivity moral, and worker height. >> you do this right, brian? you try not to return e-mails on friday. >> you remember that when we worked together at a company far, far away. i said i'll read them but i'm not going to send them back. it's too easy to bombard people's inbox with stuff. i don't know this. i have to respond to it. >> i think it's self-discipline. i don't think it should be done as a rule at work. i think it makes common sense if i'm sitting next to you, i'm not going to send you an e-mail. >> people do. >> i will get up and i will talk

to you. >> why would you have to get up if you were next to me? am i that big? >> no comment. >> it raises stress level, people are on their phones at 1 11:00 at night answering e-mail. they could have sent it at 11:30 but they send it to 6:00. >> you think there's -- >> i'm going to auto send you an e-mail tonight at 2:00 a.m. >> she's taking it up a notch. >> always. >> that escalated quickly. >> brian, in terms of what i have tonight on "fast money," it is a big night for solar. it was a big day for solar with the first solar/sun power news. i'll have the full interview with ahmad chatila. we have also got first solar earnings crossing the tape. we'll be on that conference call. that should be interesting because they will probably talk about the yieldco as well. >> good stuff. great show. we look forward to the breaking

news in the scourge of corporate e-mail. the dow is up not quite triple digits. home depot,. check out our fancy website. "the closing bell" starts right now. welcome to "the closing bell," everybody. i'm kelly evans on the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffeth. dovish testimony from janet yellen sending stocks into uncharted territory right now. the dow is up -- it was up almost 100 points but it is as kelly said, in record territory. the s&p is doing the same. the nasdaq is lagging today, wouldn't you know. it's up 3 points right now at 4,964. there's the s&p, there's the nasdaq as we continue the 5,000 watch on that index. >> and the nasdaq may be lagging the other