ou got a 31-inch vertical, chemi. >> the computer says so brian. >> the computer told him. and also started a war with russia playing a video game with matthew broderick. >> eric thank you. see you tonight at 5:00 on "fast." >> thanks everybody for watching. have a great weekend. "the closing bell" starts right now. hi everybody. welcome to "the closing bell." i'm kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. bob, as we finish out what could be a historic month in the making. >> i'm bob pisani in for bill griffeth. the dow is in the red. we'll need a big rally today. s&p 500 also lower. dropped down just about the time oil closed at 2:30 though it will likely close within its largest monthly gain since october 2011. >> and pretty impressive stuff

and it doesn't look like we'll see nasdaq 5,000 today. before all of this point talk the nasdaq 5,000 was the level we were really watching. of course, we don't know what can happen in the final minutes but we are off 22 points on the session which puts us what do you say, about 35 points away from that key level. again, the record closing high is about 5049. not going to get there at the end of the february. that gives us a target for march. the same day, possibly, bob that we hit that level previously in 2000. meanwhile, the biotechs have been a leaving driver of the march to nasdaq 5k. up nearly 300% over the last five years. some see a bubble in the sector. we will have a debate. and word came just a short while oak aboutago about the death of robert benmosche. >> we have about an hour to go. let's get more on what has been a huge month for stocks.

joining our "closing bell" exchange we have. >> beth ann from s&p and mike mcqueen of high tower. of course, rick santelli always joining us. mike, let me start with you. we will have stanley fischer with us in a few minutes. but we already know steve has told us that mr. fisher feels there's going to be a rate hike this year. should the stock market worry about the fed tightening this year? >> no, it's not. unlike all the other times they've done this they're not fighting an imminent threat. the market is absorb this. >> beth ann, respond to that but also this performance we've seen in the markets this month. quietly it's been a pretty historical one. >> talk about what the nasdaq is doing, wow, yeah. it did take them 15 years, i believe, to reach this level. >> i don't just mean the nasdaq though. in point terms we're talking about the dow, maybe even the

s&p having one of their best months in all time. one of the best februarys ever as well. >> i would say particularly looking at the growth stocks in the indices, they're doing rather well. if you take into account growth stocks are forward looking, they're kind of betting on a strong economy which we and the fed seem to agree on. >> the important thing is we've seen some weakness in the gap fourth quarter gdp numbers. do we have any reason to be concerned? >> i don't think so, bob. i think a lot of it is strong dollar stuff. beth ann and i were talking about that during the break. i think the economy will continue to prove stocks aren't expensive here. the last time we were here with the nasdaq at 5,000, the pe multiples were higher. the january volatility shook out a lot of retail investors. gave that you say wall of worry. >> we're at lows for the year on the vix. >> absolutely. >> d.r. barton do you think investors are betting right, or the market that they're betting on growth picking up? >> well i think that is the

right place to go and today we saw the chicago pmi number that came disappointed monstrously and the market just shook that off and sprung back up to session highs. you willed back a little bit at the end of the day as we've already said about crude, but i think all of these things and wrapped in with your point about yellen looking to raise rates this year we've got to remember that the last three times we've gone from easing to tightening that that first rate hike has given us a quick pullback but then we had four five six months of up market following that. so that's not really a worry for the markets either. >> and, rick going to your point there, the markets did shrug off a very disappointing regional number. we've had several disappointing regional numbers. why do you think the market seems to be ignoring this? i have been a little concerned about some of the weaker economic numbers and the earnings coming down. what do you think is going on? why is the market ignoring that? >> i think the market is trying

to account for the longshoreman's strike on the west coast and i think even the national number will probably show those effects in the week upon us that's coming. with regard to gdp today, i thought that was a big deal. i personally, you know, i look at minus 2.1% 4.6% 5% and now 2.2%, so the average of 2014 is 2.425. now, i know one gentleman there said, i wouldn't worry about any of that it's the stronger dollar. well, i would worry about that. because it isn't the stronger dollar in my opinion. it's the weaker other currencies, and i think as they embark on qe in europe that it's something that's going to be a whole lot more worrisome. i don't see japan taking their foot off the gas. i think it's going to be worrisome from that score. and when i look at what's going on with the yawnuan, that's at a 28-month low. i think the issues of comparing things back into periods of

easing and tightening cycles in the past didn't include central banks gone wild, big balance sheets or an extra $6 trillion of debt around the globe. i think all these issues will continue to give the markets a lot of questionable outcomes as normalization may be some day in my life actually beginnings to occur. >> rick you got to look at the long haul. if you look over the last 40 years, the dollar bull market has been twice as good for the stock market as the dollar bear market. so i don't think it's necessarily something that we got to worry about, that we got a strong dollar. we came out of a period -- >> i don't think the last 40 years you've had countries with the need to try to play global currency wars like you do today outside of the 30s. >> well i think we've had a few bouts of that in recent times. >> beth ann? >> well i think if we're talking about the strong dollar certainly that's going to weigh on exports, and we did see that already in the gdp numbers. however, the strong dollar is

also kind of a vote for strong u.s. economy as well and if you look at the gdp report if you look at that strength the underlying strength in domestic spending both of consumers and investors, that's a vote for the u.s. moving along. >> yesterday on the show alan greenspan, i asked him is the economy strong or not strong and he said not strong. and here is why. we haven't been investing a lot, our productivity isn't great, and the economy over time will be a smaller economy. do you share the long-term concerns? >> certainly the long-term issues are there. we have basically a labor market participation rate that's very low. however, if you're looking at the -- certainly businesses are hiring people. we saw 2014 was 250,000 job gains per month. that was pretty nice. i think it was the strongest in 15 years. january wasn't too bad as well. we are expecting wages to pick up already with a side of basically a quit rate that chairwoman yellen mentioned and

we have been talking about on this show shows that basically bargaining power going into the workers' possibilities. >> are we overweighting the negative factors? are there more reasons we should be looking at the positive news and can you highlight that for us if there is? >> i think those factors that are the tailwinds are really of a magnitude greater than a lot of the negatives. we know the man on the street is happy he's less likely to lose his job. he knows energy prices are lower and low inflation are going to be around for a while. those make consumer discretionary stocks attractive. we saw cap ex was advised upward. >> just to go through some of the industries in particular this month that have done quite well, we're talking about construction materials up 23%, personal products, communications, auto components automobiles. media was having a pretty good month. do you stick with what's working or do you look for value

elsewhere? >> we're looking for value. we think it's going to take a while for the consumer to internally the low energy prices are around. we any they start paying off debt and then they start to buy dining out and buy alcohol, those are the first two things they do and then start to internalize it into spending habits. we think consumer durable goods will start to take off in the second half. we want to start positioning for that now. we think that's the story for the rest of the year in the consumer space. >> d.r. and let me ask you about oil. we have seem to have stabilized in this band between roughly $45, roughly $55. we're right in the middle there. when the markets are stable -- when oil is stable, the markets are generally more stable. what do you see happening in the next couple months? >> well i think a lot has been made about the lower rig count. we've heard that a couple times, the baker hughes rig count has been going down down down. down 39% since the peaks in october, but the thing people are pushing under the rug is the fact that supply production here in the u.s. continues to go

up. week over week we have only had one or two weeks out of the past five months that have gone down. we had another up week this week. so i think that's going to come together to keep oil prices depressed. we also have a very technically strong level around $55 where we have overhead resistance on the chart. it will keep oil prices depressed for the next few months. >> and we'll see if beyond that. we'll leave it there for now. 50 minutes to go into the session. very much appreciate it. bill -- bill i called you bill. >> that's so sweet. >> bob, i mean. >> thank you. >> bob pi sansanipisani. dow the s&p-- the sapp is off 5. >> and coming up federal reserve vice chairman stanley fischer in a cnbc exclusive.

plus, what's worrying him the most about this economy. also ahead, the biotech he can change traded fund clocking some impressive gains but the pros will debate if the ibb is overheading or if its best times are still to come. stay tuned. if you're running a business legalzoom has your back. over the last 10 years we've helped one million business owners get started. visit legalzoom today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. legalzoom. legal help is here.

welcome back. let's take a quick data check. the s&p has been moving in a narrow trading range. now it's about an eight-point trading range, not far from the lows for the day. fairly quiet week. not a lot of big moves but we're up about 5% on the s&p. nasdaq we were trying to get to 5,000. we got to 4,988 as i recall yesterday. we'll hit it eventually but it doesn't look like today and the dow just off the lows for the day. >> we've had a big month for stocks. which industries have helped drive its run to the 5,000 neighborhood? dominic chu has been combing through the data for us. >> kelly, bob, we already know nasdaq has been driven a lot by apple and some of the other big cap companies but we wanted to highlight some of the individual industry groups that have been a focal point for many traders and investors throughout the course of this past year. so first of all how about the

chip stocks? the semiconductors. very much a mixed picture here. you got texas instruments up 10% so far in 2015. now, micron though and intel have been some of the biggest drags on the overall nasdaq index as well. you can see there micron and intel both down pretty big just year-to-date. overall the smh has gained 5.5%. as for the social media stocks, they fared mixed as well here. on the nasdaq you got the biggest one, facebook. it's up just 1% year-to-date so it has contributed although not much. a real standout has been twitter. it's not even listed on the nasdaq, it's up 35%. just wanted to point that out. it is listed on the new york stock exchange. but then there's the biotech stocks. stocks like cellgen, gilead. they're pretty big in terms of

market cap. the ibb continues it's upside momentum up 11% year-to-date. those biotech stocks continue that strong momentum kelly. back over to you. >> yes, they do dom. that's exactly where we want to pick up. thank you. biotech etfs leading the charge. ticker ibb, lots of chatter on the street because it's been up 300% in the last five years. >> those biotech names were the top nasdaq performers in 2000. remember that? but is it the right bet today as we approach 5,000? joining us with the bullish case, eric schmidt and jeff porgis is taking the bearish case. eric, it's up to you to make a bullish case. 300% in 5 years, 50% in the last year. what makes you confident we'll continue to move up in the biotech space? >> it's real simple. this is a great business. if you have an approved drug this is a legal monopoly, perhaps one of the last legal monopolies on the face of the planet.

you have got a waiting and ready population that's growing as the baby boomers get older. drug pricing has been under assault but is still xraerdly good. obamacare, huge tailwind expanding insurance to a much broader swath of americans. there's a reason the ibb has outperformed for five years, it's a great business it will continue to be a great business. >> jeff do you disagree about the fundamentals or are you concerned about the valuation? >> look we definitely like the biotech industry and there are many stocks werp recommending. we're just taking a more selective approach. we think the way to play is play the best rowers in the highest quality companies instead of the index. the index is waited to ma-- weighted to mature large company companies and they will struggle to grow. smaller companies that have the potential to still double or triple things like lexion and

regeneron are a better way to participate. we think it's time to move toward the faster growing names with more upside rather than just participating through the ibb? >> you're not really bearish on biotech. you're bullish on select aspects, in particular companies, but you don't really like the index. the problem with the ibb is it's a market cap weighted index as you noted but you can play this a number of different ways. this has 50 companies in it. i know our viewers are interested in etfs so that's an issue. i'm just wondering what your response is. are you uniformly opposed to using etfs? >> not particularly, but we would point out that this is a highly uncorrelated industry where the best stocks do vastly better pan the underperformers unlick commodities driven industries or other sectors of the market where everyone tends

to rise with a rising tide. you can have biotech down 85% and others going up by 100% or 200%. we think there's a lot of value in picking the highest quality names and sticking with them. you tend to as you pointed out in the intro, hit some speed bumps if you're just investing in the index. but moving away from the cap weighted index would be a good strategy. >> there are some concerns reflected for example in the "heard on the street" column in "the journal" and the ways those are contributed to overvaluation. are you concerned that that's inflating valuations across the board and ultimately there would be some sort of correction? >> there's always a little froth in biotech and things can get overheated from month to month here and there, but i do want to address geoff's point about the large cap names. that's still a group we're very much behind. and i think if you go back and look at the reason for that what's very apparent to me is

folks who do the same job geoff and i do have dramatically underestimated the earnings power of these larger companies. back 12 months ago, we thought amgen, cell gene might certain only -- it's that earnings growth that's driven the entire sector. from there i think you will see it trickle down. as large caps go those mid small caps go and we're very optimistic for all segments of this -- >> geoff, i need a quick answer here. we've got to go but what's the difference between biotech now and 1998? we had a big drop then 2001. is it a different industry now? >> there's a lot more substance to the industry. we have a group of profitable companies with cash flow support for the valuations so we don't have the same downside that we had in 2002, 2001. >> thanks very much. >> thank you, both. >> eric schmidt and geoff

porges. we have 40 minutes to go. dow just off the lows but a very narrow trading range. s&p 500 about a 6, 7 point trading range. and again just off the lows there. >> i think we got to get that dow up if we want some of the biggest headlines on the month. if we want the dow to have the best month ever in point gain terms. it would have to lose more than about 8 points today and we're off about 67. so not clear we'll get there but a strong february nonetheless in what's traditionally a weaker month. up next federal reserve vice chair stanley fischer is sitting down exclusively with steve liesman. find out how primed the fed is to raise interest rates plus the biggest risk factors facing the u.s. economy. we're back in two. introducing aleve pm... the pm pain reliever. that dares to work all the way until... [birds chirping] the am. new aleve pm. it's the first to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve.

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welcome back. a big week here. we've heard from fed chair janet yellen about what might happen next. we have oil to think about. it's under pressure again. the dow is off about 62 points. a little bit better perform frens theperformance from the nasdaq. and the top sectors including telecom and consumer staples. >> closing out a terrific month, up 5% on the s&p 500, 7% on the nasdaq. we'll give you some month-end statistics towards the close. the world keeping a close eye on the federal reserve and when it will start raising interest rates. >> fed policy wonks gathering in new york city for the annual u.s. monetary policy forum and, of course, our steve liesman is there. he joins us with a very special

guest. over to you, steve. >> thanks very much. here at the u.s. monetary policy conference of the university of chicago booth school of management, i'm here with federal reserve vice chairman stanley fischer. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> it's been nine years since the federal reserve has enacted a rate hike. is it your best guess this is the year it happens? >> yeah i think there's a pretty high probability this is the year. >> can you walk us through the reasoning behind it in terms of why would the fed raise rates this year? >> we have two goals as you know. inflation around 2% and full employment at the natural rate of unemployment as it's called which they estimate it somewhere around 5% to 5.3% 5.5% no exact number. we're at 5.7%. so we're very close on unemployment, and inflation is in a situation where it's low

because of oil prices but we expect it to go up once this effect wears off which it should do in a couple months. so it's about time. we've gotten used to thinking of a zero interest rate as normal. it's far from normal. >> the fed chair, janet yellen, has discussed this issue that inflation is moving back to the 2% target. can you explain what that means to have that confidence. what will you be looking for in the data? >> well we'd like to see that the inflation rate which has become negative turns around and starts becoming positive, that our estimates of the underlying rate of inflation, the core rate of inflation, is moving in the direction of 2%. it's probably about 1.5% now, and we'd like to see some signs that real wages are beginning to rise more rapidly than they have for the past five six years. >> sometimes i understand what the fed does and sometimes i scratch my head in confusion.

you replaced a phrase considerable time with the phrase patience and then told us they pretty much mean the same thing. was that a mistake to put the words patience in there? does it have to go now? >> well, there's clearly a discussion going on. the chair, janet yellen justed this in the congress the other day. if it goes means we'll move away from saying it won't happen in the next two meetings saying it could happen depending on the data. >> give us your sense of what the chair meant by this notion of meeting my meeting. is that the notion it could happen at any meeting but also weighing against the prior way the federal reserve raised rates which was in regular quarter point rate hikes? >> i think that the -- at least in the way we've discussed

things, we don't have any intention of going meeting my meeting bang bang bang bang for 17 meetings in a row. we'll be led to do things by the data. that's what she was saying. in this case though she was specifically i think talking about whether we have to give more warning than we'll do it when we're ready, and i think that's what the message was for this rise. >> you were just up there on the podium with two other deputy central bankers, both of whose policies are going the other way, europe and japan. does it give you some concern that the fed would be the one that would lead here for i said impact on the u.s. economy, impact on the dollar and that you're too far out in front of where the globe is? >> you know we often used to say when i was a student, that would be a good thing if -- when one country was doing very well it sort of led the others who were doing more closer to

average or worse, and that is the situation. we are stronger at the moment and it's better that we're stronger, and we're going to stay stronger unless something miraculous happens in other countries in the next couple of years. and that's okay. so the dollar is strong is a sign of the strength of our economy. >> you've had a situation where recently the data has been a little weaker. we had a gdp report this morning where fourth quarter was revised down 2.6% to 2.2%. some concern with what's happening with the high frequency data right now. what's your forecast for this year and is there any concern you have from the data? >> well we go with more or less the ampleverage of what the forecasts say, so you're talking between 2.5% and 3% say, but we don't have an official forecast at this particular -- i don't have an official forecast at

this moment. >> switch gears and talk a little bit about the politics of the federal reserve. fed chairman janet yellen went in for i think what everybody would say was sort of a rough ride recently. did it give you some concern about how political the questioning was and how rough the questioning was? >> well, the chair is not one to be bowled over very easily as you notice. she gave back and i think appropriately she stood her ground, and that was right. i was a little surprised. i have been away from the states for some years and i hadn't got used to the new methods yet, and, you know, we'll have to continue to defend ourselves. we'll have to continue to explain ourselves. we are bound -- we're accountable to the congress. in fact, the chair was there yesterday giving testimony on how we've done in the last six months, so this is part of the

accountability to the congress, and that's something we have to do. we have to take it seriously, and we take it very seriously. i am struck -- i'm new to the fed relatively speaking. i'm struck by how bound we are to fulfill the mandate the congress has given us of sustain a maximum sustainable employment and price level stability. that's what the discussion is about all the time. i've not heard political discussions in our decisionmaking processes. >> time for one more question stan. give us your overall view of 2015 and the years ahead. are you optimistic not just about the u.s. economy but the global economy? >> well, i think the european situation is actually a little better than people thought it was a few months ago, and i think the european decision to undertake quantitative easing is a big positive. they haven't started yet. that should have an impact. china has slowed down but india

is looking good. so if you look around there are good reasons to be fairly optimistic and to be opt stickimistic about the united states economy. it's really done a remarkable job of recovering from what looked like it was going to be the most massive crisis, close to the mast massive crisis we've ever had. it was a very serious crisis. did not come close to matching the great depression and for that we have to thank the people who made the policy decisions that kept us away from that. so i'm optimistic about the capacity of this economy to do well over the long run and about the current situation. >> stan fischer, thanks for joining us. >> thank you steve. >> kelly, back to you. >> thank you so much. that's our steve liesman with the fed vice chair stan fischer, and, steve thank you so much. interesting the contrast between his remarks, especially at the end on that optimistic note and what we heard from alan greenspan yesterday but i guess you would imagine the fed vice chair to strike that kind of

optimism. >> i think the key headline, it's about time to raise rates. that's what mr. fischer said. zero interest rate policy is far from normal he highlighted. the dollar strength is reflecting the strength of the u.s. economy. he gave a quick overview of the global economy. and he's optimistic about the u.s. economy. >> we'll see if that's borne out. there's much more to come on "closing bell." >> here is sue herera with a cnbc business news update. hello, sue. >> hi bob. here is what's happening. tim cook telling requesting the telegraph" the apple watch might replace the need for car keys. the paper quoting him saying the watch's battery will last the whole day and will 23409 take as long to charge as the iphone. a u.s. agency says california will not get any federal water aid this year forcing farmers to continue to scramble for other sources or leave their fields unplanted.

this will be the second year of no federal water aid for the central valley region. it grows much of this nation's produce. more than 2,000 people have been left homeless after torrential rain resulted in severe flooding in bolivia. the most damage has occurred on the bolivian/brazilian border. and robert benmosche who headed aig at the height of the financial crisis has died of cancer. he was 70. he headed the company between 2009 and 2014. he had undergone treatment for lung cancer since 2010. robert benmosche, dead at the age of 70. that's your cnbc news update. "closing bell" is back in a moment. 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 the whole process step by step. and they'll even call your old provider.

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welcome back. let's do a quick data check. the nasdaq is just off the session lows. no 5,000 today. we got close yesterday, 4,988. we're largely flat on the week but again a terrific month overall. go over the numbers at the close. we're up about 5%. 7% on the nasdaq. kelly? >> and with that index poised to make history again, we wanted to bring in our monthly retail investor round table and get their take on some of the stocks on that exchange in particular.

what does main street make of the record moves we're seeing in the markets and are they looking to put more money to work in tech, bob? >> joining us a kristin ruby mimi and susan noise from make it better.net. other than your specific stock picks, tell me what kind of advice you want to give the people who are in their 20s right now about investing. >> sure. i think it's so important for people in their 20s, you should be investing. i started investing as soon as i started my company when i graduated from college. i think it's really important, it's the top priority even in a 401(k) anything that you're doing, you have to be on top of it. >> but did you benefit from the fact that that would have coincided with markets at a much lower valuation. going back to the nasdaq 5,000 question, what do you make of where we stand on things today? >> i think on where we stand today, i think obviously from peak to trough we've seen it really go almost full circle. so that's really important and

we're almost at 5,000 again. so i think my personal view on all of this is again, about long-term capital appreciation and long-term growth strategy. >> susan, where are you right now in our buying habits? what do you like and not like and how do you feel right now about the state of the markets? >> i am very bullish on the technology stocks. i actually have doubled down on several of them apple and netflix. the only one i'm not too excited about is amazon because they still aren't actually making money, but i think that doing this and doing this is the way of the future. >> susan, you're not scared off by the fact we're reapproaching this key level on the nasdaq it sounds like. >> no, i'm not, because i think when it happened a long time ago, we weren't -- tech nol wasn't as embedded into our culture and when i say they aren't doing this like nobody had a cell phone ordering everything on the cell phone. now that's a way of life. that's not going to change.

>> right. >> mimi where are you right now? what stocks are you interested in buying and what's exciting you and what's not exciting you? the thing we have been talking about is earnings are coming down a little bit. i don't know if that concerns you or not. >> not really. earnings coming down is a natural ebb and flow of the market. it doesn't really concern me. i think most of the things that are going down that i knowen i about i trust will come back up. i was happy to hear about what kris said about getting started early and investing. i think right now there are some things on sale that would be a great buying opportunity for young people who -- >> such as, mimi? >> -- have studied the margets just a little bit. for example, schlumberger is the best of breed. with the oil stocks down i have always wanted to own that and it's been much too pricey. right now it's on sale. there are -- oh, i can't tell

you a lot of names offhand, but if there's something you've been looking at and it's cost too much before, check it out now. this might be the time. >> so even oil service name like schlumberger, it takes a lot of nerve to buy these stocks here. give us a few names here that you like. >> well, for example, schlumberger schlumberger. schlumberger has a lot of software that helps oil companies to not make mistakes about where they drill, about which fracking area they choose. i don't think they're going to pass on that if they're in the business at all still, so that's important there. o'reilly automotive that's a company that is just a fantastic, absolutely everymankind of company and they have done record earnings for the fourth quarter and for the

whole year, and they are gradually spreading out over the country by purchasing other companies and integrating them into o'reilly. they just purchased a company in new england, so new england should be seeing o'reilly name a lot more often, and they built a warehouse that can service 275 stores. >> quickly before we go because we have gotten some specifics from mimi and from susan. what would be your specifics in terms of recommendations for people getting into this market? >> recommendations right now, i think anything in the data security space is very important, for example i recently purchased nxpi palo alto networks anything like that i think is really important, especially with computer safety and everything going on. >> we are reminded of that on a daily basis. thank you so much for being here everybody. kris mimi and susan to close us out on this month. could be a historic one. people need to get involved i think is the message. thank you. >> 17 minutes to go before the

closing bell. dow jones just off the lows. we dipped down a little bit in the last few minutes. you see the s&p 500 down about 6 points. >> we continue, bob, to lose momentum here on the index. again, end of the month, it's been a strong month, maybe just taking some profits. the major averages on pace regardless for the best monthly gains in years. the editor of the stock trader's market tells us a cold march usually follows a hot february like this one coming up. danger... ...corrects for lane drifting... ...and if necessary, it will even brake all by itself. it is a luxury suv engineered to get you there and back safely. for tomorrow is another fight. the 2015 m-class. see your authorized dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services.

wall street sometimes falls into a herd mentality, and new data shows that's very much the case when it comes to the ratings that analysts give companies. >> jeff cox has the story. what's going on here jeff? >> well buy, hold sell it's all the same to most wall street analysts who in fact almost never tell their clients to get out of positions. according to research less than 7% that's right, 7% of all analyst ratings are to sell with the rest evenly split between buy and hold. it's all part of a wall street culture where it's virtually imable possible to maintain a line between research and investment banking.

how do you per situatesuade a company you want their m&a business while telling them to sell the stock. some advice from investment pros i have talked to it's probably better to look at what's inside the reports rather than to rely on ratings where the playing field appears to be tilted pretty heavily to the buy side. read all about this story on cnbc.com. back to you. >> we will. thank you very much, jeff. good reminder. 13 minutes to go into the close here. dow is off 65 points. been under pressure all hour. we started earlier. more positive despite some weak data but it looks like we will go out with the s&p under pressure. the nasdaq is off 23 as we watch its climb to 5,000. >> i don't see any particular news. i think this is some end of the month profit taking. we had a great month overall. s&p up 5% nasdaq up 7%. it's a banner month for stocks. we'll take you to close plus the pros will tell us if march will bring madness or good times for the street. dentist appointment

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welcome back. joining us now, independent investment consult davis darst and joe zikerman erzickerman. a bit of a reunion you two.

they were reminiscing about the ' '70s and '80s. we have been talking in the last week, you have expressed some concerns about the earnings situation that i have also been talking about on the air. tell me what your feel something right now. >> i think the market is at a standoff point. i think there's -- obviously there's no place to put money, and money i think is being forced into equities but we've had magic, a magical thing happen in the month of february. i'm calling it the 6% month because the market has gone up 6% and yet the earnings estimates have gone from 132 on the s&p to about 119 on the s&p. >> notable decline. >> down 6%. that's not going to last very very long i don't believe. >> david? >> joseph we've been talking about this joe and i and bob, the currency impact we'll get next week the export numbers. the currency impact is hurting the money that we come home.

the growth is slow right now, so we want to see corporate ceos and cfos talk about the futureimistically and they have not been doing that. >> you are one of the most active traders i know. you put your money on the line every single day. how long are you in the market right now? >> i'm really cautious. there's an old expression i'm glad you asked the question. there's an old expression that says a great market you can't get in and a bad market you can't get out, and given the fact that the markets have become so globally oriented and that things are happening literally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week i don't want to walk in one monday morning and have someone go surprise. >> so comparatively, i'm trying to pin you down. 100% invested 50%? how are you on a relative basis? >> very, very lightly long

very, very hedged up. there's a lot of embedded profits over the last six years of advancing markets, and i can see problems ahead, especially with this 6% up in february while earnings are going down and there are things that just don't make sense and that's right at the top of the list. >> do you have any dern about the the fact earnings have been coming down and the markets are up? >> it's not only energy but it's also the banks have come under pressure and they are a leading indicator to me of the market and the banks have been underperforming. you want to watch the small and midcaps also. they have been marginally behind the market as a whole. we talked about this a few weeks. so you want to watch the energy and finally a large part of the profit growth has been one company and we know which company that is. >> exactly. we're going to talk about that in a moment. stay with us. we'll come back with these two

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♪ help join a continent with nearly 3 million rugged square miles with a single broadband connection. when emerson takes up the challenge it's never been done before simply becomes consider it solved. emerson. welcome back. bob pisani on the floor of the new york stock exchange. no new records today. in fact we're ending another the lows of the day. flat week but a terrific month overall. i want to show what's going on with first the dow industrials. we're up about 4%.

the important thing, oil has stabilized around $50. was between $45 and $55 range overall. we saw the dow jones industrial average up 4%. the s&p 500 will close out. it's somewhere right about 5%. we'll give you the final numbers on the other side. there is the s&p for the month. flat week here but a great move to the upside overall and finally the nasdaq is going to be the big winner. it will be up somewhere between 6% and 7%. the same situation here flat for the week. it's now up 7%. this is going to be one of the best februarys for the nasdaq in many, many years. we'll get you that on the other side. joining us again here of course, david darst and joe zucherman. we just heard stanley fischer. mr. fischer said it's time to have consider raising interest rates. do you have some concerns about the market reaction to higher rates? >> i do. i used to have a friend and

client by the name of marty, may i rest in peace. and he built an entire career and had amazing performance on one mantra which was very simply, don't fight the fed. >> he was one of the ones that popularize that term. >> he was the one -- he originated that. and he built an empire on it and had amazing performance and i had great admiration for him and i'm going to follow what he said. >> bob, we are moving from an earnings-driven -- we had a pretty good result of the fourth quarter that came in okay? we're moving from an earnings driven. this next week will be ism, manufacturing on monday. wednesday is the nonmanufacturing. we have on friday the big number which will be the jobs. morgan stanley and the consensus is for about 235,000 jobs. 5.6%. the raising of interest rates is moving towards normalization, not yet tightening. we'll see whether the market can

digest that or not. >> don't fight the fed, does that mean you're still optimistic on stocks? don't fight the fed means just don't go fighting them on the direction of interest rates. >> we're in a world where we've had a very buoyant market for the last 5 1/2 years. it's not going to be this way forever. there are going to be some bumps in the road and if they should be generated by the fed increasing rates, then it's going to bring in that don't fight the fed mentality. >> what are you long right now? >> what am i long right now? >> puts. >> no. i do have puts yes. i do have puts. i have to confess. but i have a port that's pretty well hedged with puts and i have sold some calls and i have some risk reversals and things like that. >> long japan and long europe still. >> you're playing that reversion of the mean trade. you mentioned that before. europe will outperform this year. >> and they are so far.

and you can buy them hedged today, bob. >> david darst and joe zicherman. the nasdaq the winner up 7% this month. kelly evans is next with "the closing bell." and welcome to "the closing bell," everybody, as we close out february. i'm kelly evans. let's start with how we're finishing up the session on wall street street. the dow up negative to the tune of 80 points as we go out on the close. under pressure a little bit. we'll see if some comments by stan fischer just a few minutes ago had anything to do with the additional pressure we saw there. maybe it's just end of month selling, profit taking on a strong february et cetera. nevertheless, the dow closing down about half a percent. the s&p off about a third of a percent or 6 points 2,104 and that nasdaq which we have been watching for the 5,000 mark not going to do it in february.

maybe it will come next month. it's now off half a percent today, off 24 points. here now to talk about all that has happened in this day, this week, this month is today's panel. joining me is chris whalen, mark la pressie, and our very own probt frank. welcome, everybody. "fast money" steve grasso will join us shortly for more on today's market action. i will start you with. chris, what is most significant. >> just crossed the tape bank seizure no puerto rico. it's a shame. the bank has been fighting try to reclaim tax payments from the puerto rico government -- >> do you think that's more significant than anything else that's happened today? >> you don't like to see a bank that size being taken over by the fdic. there are special circumstances here. for me as somebody who rates financials, it's a big story. >> what do you think? >> i have been spending a lot of time looking back at 2000 because we're getting close to that 5k on the nasdaq. what's interesting when you look back at the press at that time

everyone expected there would be a correction. so what we hear now is well, everyone expects a correction so, therefore, it won't happen. everyone is skeptical, so, therefore, it won't happen. everyone did expect it but there was that sort of euphoria that feels similar now, even with the levels being the same. >> it was true even in the housing crisis. there were plenty of people who never thought housing prices would drop but as soon as it started to happen it was basically watching a slow-motion train wreck. >> absolutely. i think the market saw what it expected to see from the fed this week which is why you saw the market trading sort of sideways through the end of the week. the vice chairman's comments from a few moments ago consistent with the theme the fed wants to see a change in employment, they want to see gdp growth. they're just not getting it. i don't think the strength in the economy is as much as anyone would like it to be. we have some employment numbers next week we're going to be looking at carefully. >> those will be huge. >> very important but i don't think we'll see anything that will dramatically change or

significantly impact the market's view on interest rates or the fed's action. >> but the thing is the fed has done what they can, and unfortunately there's still so many structural obstacles to getting the kind of growth we're talking about. they're not going to hit their inflation target. yellen said that. she even said it's going to go lower. i think the more important thing is you're not seeing credit expansion. there's a conflict in fed policy. they're out there buying bonds with bank reserves when banks should be lending that money out. >> and banks themselves are buying a lot of bonds. >> is the market really baked in an interest rate hike? we're hearing more and more people say i don't think really they have. >> why is an interest rate hike a negative -- if you look back at the -- >> it's not. >> -- it's procyclical. there might be a little hiccup at the time. >> look what happened in 2000. >> but we're talking about a gentle raise, not a lot. there's not enough credit demand for a big hike in rates. >> until you see significant change in the economy and the

underlying fundamentals in the u.s. economy particularly i look at gdp growth i don't think that's going to change. i don't think that's going to change this year. >> let's get steve grasso in here right off the floor. good to see you. what do you think was driving us lower into the close there? >> well you had a rebalance today. that's always screwing around. morgan stanley rebalanced. that always towards the end of the day, you get a lot of weird things happen. i wouldn't gauge that as far as anything going forward. if you look at the s&p though right around 2,100, we're really bordering two important levels. you have that old level, 2,093. higher level, 2,020. those are book ends. people willing not re-establish shorts until we trade lower than the old high which is 2,093. and then people don't want to really get longer the market until we approach that 2,120 level. >> here are some statistics as well from robert hum on what kind of month we've had. the best month for the dow and i'm guessing this is in point

terms, possibly percentage terms, best month for the dow since january 2013. best month for the s&p since october 2011. best month for the nasdaq since january 2012. it is in percentage terms. good. even more significant. >> notwithstanding as you said the slower than preferred growth in the u.s. economy. i think the bull run will continue. the hedge fund managers that we talk to and we advise are long this market. >> is that a good or bad thing? >> it's an indication. >> the one thing the fed has been able to go is affect asset prices. what they can't do is cause job growth and, frankly, the rest of policy other than fed monetary is really hurting growth. >> here is the interesting thing. if feels like an inflection point. we've seen greg incompetentp, greenspan, commenting where we have to move from helping the demand side to the comply side of the economy which is why the timing of the election for 2016 if it turns the white house over to the gop, some of the stuff going through

congress, this is where we need to start seeing the action because the fed cannot really can they do anything on the supply side? >> no, they're done. the sad thing is congress is really not equipped to engage on economic issues. you see them talking about silly things like audit the fed, but, frashgly, what they really need to be doing is working with the fed to help them justify fiscal policies, other types of policies -- >> i don't know. isn't it better to be antagonizing. i'm talking about cutting taxes and getting things moving again. >> great point. >> you're not talking about silly things like corporate tax reform. >> yes. >> we were on capitol hill yesterday talking to various people, i don't want to be too specific, on both sides of the aisle about corporate tax reform. when you ask about the real likelihood of it getting done the odds just don't sound that good robert. >> there's so many little interest groups, so many lonnye lobbyists, so many people with a little skin in the game that

it's just too hard to get done. you're going to need some incredibly powerful leadership to really pull these things together. fdr-style leadership to really get things like that done. >> good point. and hold that thought because on a related note we have our john harwood joining us now with some discussions from capitol hill. john, good to see you. what's happening? >> well kelly, i was talking to orrin hatch who fairchairs the finance committee. he said he thought the tax reform process would take longer than two years and specifically he said the president's proposal, which is to on corporate taxes mandate repatriate overseas profits is simply not going anywhere. here is orrin hatch. >> i think it's pretty well dead. look, that's not the way. that's a one-time shot. that's not the way to try to

solve our problems. he wants to tax the monies again that have already been taxed in the foreign countries in order to bring them back. well the corporate world is not stupid. they're not going to do that and neither are we. >> now if you want to look for some bright side that they will get done on this day when we're waiting to see if homeland security gets funded, he is close to a deal with ron widen, the ranking democrat on finance, on trade promotion authority which would allow if it passes it would smooth the path for that transpacific trade deal and he said he did not think populists, including elizabeth warren on the democratic side would have the juice to ston that deal if they can get trade promotion authority. >> okay john. that fits right into the discussion we were having. thank you so much, john hardwood, with comments from senator hatch and trade being one of the few areas where it sounds like we might get something done this year. how significant will that be if we do the transpacific partnership for the u.s.

economy? anybody? and the silence by the way speaks volumes about how significant it might be. >> there's a lot of debate about how much the u.s. economy is really reliant on exports, right? and i'm of the opinion that it's an overstated case. so i don't think -- if it happens, and it's a big if i don't think it's going to have that significant of an impact. >> and the funny thing is the obama administration has largely ignored the details here. he late in the game decided to take a trip to asia. okay, fine but they have shown no leadership on these issues and that's the real problem is whether it's taxes, trade whatever you want to pick the president's been out playing golf. he hasn't been focused -- >> come on. i think plenty has been getting done. that actually seems to be the issue. some people feel that the white house itself has been too activist. >> there's no one on the hill leading the conversation. when you ask people in the white house is the go-to person there is no one there. that's the problem. >> penny pritzker has done an

amazing job in the short time she's been there in commerce but i think trade or you talk about this money that's overseas bringing that stuff back, that's not going to fuel wage growth which is what we really need to get things going. i think that's just a very hard fought incremental, walmart by walmart process that we're getting to -- >> but isn't it interesting that they actually moved? >> last word? >> nothing to do with government. >> you have to get cash off the corporate balance sheets. the only way -- >> but you'd want to see investment. this is the missing link in all that. >> corporations have had no lack of cash for the last five or eight years and bringing that back is not going to suddenly spur job growth. >> speaking of which on that job growth, let me give you, steve grasso, the last word. we have the big jobs report coming up i believe next friday. is that going to be the major factor in march? >> it could be. we know about ukraine, we know about greece we know about jobs. i don't think that's really going to be. it's going to be what we don't

see that's coming and i don't like the way the market is topping out here. i think guys are looking for a reason to sell and you see that with every bad headline or pseudobad headline. i think you have to err on the side of locking in some profits and calling it a day. >> sounds like people were doing a little bit of that today. steve, thank you very much for joining us off the floor. more with steve and the rest of the "fast money" crew coming up at 5:00. monster beverage having a monster day on earnings and they will be talking to the analyst who says the energy drinkmaker has more room to run. don't miss it. straight ahead here the march to nasdaq 5,000 hitting a speed bump today. what does the stock traders almanac say about where the inlex will head. and a sad day for the financial world following the death of former aig ceo robert benmosche. we'll look at his legacy coming up.

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welcome back. the nasdaq closing in on 5,000 just as the month of march is right around the corner. march is a psychological important month perhaps because the last time the nasdaq hit 5,000 was in march. hill history repeat itself.

joining us is jeff hirsch with our very own larry kudlow. great to see you both. and, jeff back in march 2000 you put out this newsletter. what was your nasdaq prediction back then and what do you see today? >> the nasdaq prediction was there was a divergence going on with the dow and the nasdaq. we were concerned. we thought small stocks would continue higher and we were looking at potential for a major top with the divergence between the dow and the nasdaq. right now we put out a forecast in december for nasdaq to test the all-time highs and here we are doing that. it's kind of right in with our thinking. after this we're expecting a little more of a sideways move for the middle part of the year. so setting up as we had expected. >> larry, what about you? >> you know let's go down memory lane. i was around in 2000 okay doing work for cnbc in those days like i am today. you had a totally different situation. first of all, you had the justice department, the clinton

justice department was breaking up microsoft which was a huge concern throughout the technology area. second of all, the fed was very tight. the greenspan fed in 2000 i think their last hike took the fed funds rate up to 5.5%. you could see the dollar rising commodities were falling. it had recession written all over it which vernt is what happened happened. we had a mild recession. we have a growth story today. we have an easy money fed today, like it or not. as stanley fischer said the dollar is going up because the economy is doing better. >> larry, isn't the real story about the fact that we're talking about a completely different nasdaq today than it was in 2000 when it was really the nasdaq otc market? you have the largest company in the world composing 10%. off third of the volatility we saw back then. companies are more mature they have earnings a corporate balance sheet. i agree with you about it being a different world vis-a-vis the fed but isn't the real story the

composition of the index? >> yes, i think you're dead right. the real story is the maturity of so many of these techs -- you have medium and small banks in there, some biotechs but your generic point is a great point. the technology area is different today. i made a couple calls because we're going to talk nasdaq. i'm not a big nasdaq call so i made some calls. people said, you know the nas may be a little frothy right now, but profits are coming in very well across the board. so therefore, maybe there's a little correction but it's just not a bad situation. look overall, okay this is the bull market that everyone loves to hate. i think that that's too bad because profits, the mother's milk of stocks continue to do pretty good. >> larry, chris whalen you're telling us you don't think low interest rates are part of the reason stocks are doing so well? >> you know i think low interest rates are part of the reason yes. but i think overlooked -- i

mean, we obsess about the fed 24/7. my lord. prompts are profits are the mother's milk of charts. you can look at the charts and see the rise in profiting paralleling the rise in stocks. zero interest rate has been baked in the cake for years. there's no change. i like your other point better chris. the lack of action in washington to help for example, with the serious corporate tax cut, i think that's most regrettable. i was talking to paul ryan i was down at cpac yesterday. he's going to bring a bill with orrin hatch probably this summer on corporate tax reform. i think orrin hatch was right with john harwood. i wouldn't expect any miracles. that's really too bad because it would be a great thing for the usa. >> jeff just for people who look at the calendar and go, wait a minute what if we hit this on the exact same date in march, the 9th or the 10th or whatever it was, the 5,000 left as we did in 2000.

is it pure coincidence? >> i don't think it's pure coincidence. march is a strong market for the month. we saw a nasty end of march in 2001. but let's think about the inflation that people are forgetting about. there has been some in the last 15 years and we just put out a post on our blog showing that using 2015 dollars, nasdaq's high was really about 7,000. we're really nowhere near the all-time high inflation adjusted. i think it's something to be taken into consideration and i'm not looking for any major downturn. i think we go sideways choppy for the middle part of the year. probably end up with a slightly higher close with the final average of 2015. >> by the way, jeff makes a really good point. on an inflation adjusted basis, the real nasdaq is way, way below that all-time high. we just passed the records on real adjusted for the s&p but -- >> larry, of course there's no inflation, right? >> that's the key point.

>> we have to leave it there. there is a strong dollar there are falling energy prices there is no inflation. the inflationistas have been completely wrong and they will rehain so and that's why the fed has the luxury of going very very slow. thank you very much. >> thank you very much larry. good to see you. jeff hirsch thanks to you as well from the stock traders almanac as we talk about nasdaq 5,000 and did the fbi and manhattan u.s. attorney preet bharara engage in prosecutorial misconduct. that's what a hedge fund mogul claims for forcing his fund to shut down. and sites like draft king are raking in cash in venture capitalists and consumers. should you be betting on an ipo anytime soon. draft kings ceo joins us coming up on "the closing bell."

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it's never been done before simply becomes consider it solved. emerson. welcome back. former hedge fund manager david began irk has filed a civil rights lawsuit. his firm was raided by the fbi in 2010 as part of the crackdown on insider trading. he was never charged. his complaint says the feds used fabricated evidence and destroyed his business. joining us now is nick his

attorney. thanks so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> what's the basis of his complaint? >> civil rights complaint is very straightforward. mr. gannick has alleged and we will prove that the government named him in a warrant, conducted an extraordinarily public and largely unprecedented search of his office. as a result -- and it was based completely on a lie. it was based on a misrepresentation that a witness had told them that mr. ganek had inside information when in fact the witness had told them exactly the opposite. the results were exactly what they knew it would be. >> you're maintaining not only he's innocent of the original charges but also that this led to the demise of his business. >> there were never charges brought. he was named in a warrant, never indicted. but what happened was what the government should have expected

would happen. as a result of being named in the warrant, as a result of how public it was, he was forced to close down his business. approximately 60 people lost their jobs. radically affected him, their lives, his reputation. it was extraordinary. and what makes it more extraordinary is that the government had multiple opportunities to correct it. he and his very well respected lawyers went to the government and said you've made a mistake, you need to correct it. they did it twice. the government refused to do it. and as a result he had to close his business with devastating consequences. >> but how many who worked with or for were eventually charged or pled? >> two people were tried. the convictions were reversed in the second circuit. so now there are no guilty verdicts. >> nick on the one hand i have to applaud you because it's these kind of civil case that is hopefully keep the justice department in check and it's

part of the checks and balances in the system. but as a lawyer i'm curious, are you concerned about prosecutorial immunity and what sort of defenses the southern district u.s. attorney would have to a situation like this and what do you need to prove? without going into your evidence, but what do you need to prove to bring a claim like this prosecutorial misconduct? do you have to show it was an intentional act? >> we're always concerned about immunities. unfortunately from our perspective, immunities provide prosecutors great protections. in this case all of their conduct that was engaged in here was investigate guy at this.a investigative. in terms of what we have to prove in terms of their state of mind, that they were reckless or intentional. >> you cite an interview preet bharara did talking about his awareness of possible consequences of these public investigations comparing it to

collateral damage that could be used by firefighters for example. why does that get to the core of this case? >> what's so disturbing here is i work at a civil rights form. we do civil rights cases around the country. we look for misconduct by prosecutors and police and we try to address it. this u.s. attorney's office prides itself on being careful and meticulous. that's what they claim to be. they've also stated publicly including mr. bharara, that they understand when they engage in these activities, the consequences can be drastic. this case proved they did the opposite. they were not careful in the least. >> but what motivates this sort of behavior by an officer of the court? you know i have been very critical of his office and the others for not prosecuting fraud in securities and other areas, but they seem to have been fixated on insider trading which is a very difficult charge to prove. >> look we see it all the time all over the place, and we're seeing it here in the southern

district. law enforcement officials, prosecutors, police, they get in their mind that somebody did something wrong, they believe it, and they make the evidence fit. and that's exactly what happened here. they thought there was smoke, they find fire and there wasn't. and to get to that point where they could search in the way they wanted to search they misrepresented facts to get there. >> setting aside the technicalities of this warrant, the public still wants to know basically was there insider trading? did people basically have an advantage that everyday investors don't. do you believe that, number one, and, number two, how many of these convictions do you think will eventually be overturned that preet brought. 80-something convictions or pleas. >> mr. ganek did nothing wrong. he was the target. >> beyond ganek. >> the circuit has made clear there was no insider trading here. they made it clear in a scathing opinion in this case.

>> for him, for him. >> but -- to nick's point, this is not a case about insider trading. this is a case about civil rights which is part of what makes it's interesting. whether there was prosecutorial misconduct, whether you had an overzealous prosecutor waving the flag -- >> we have to go but to robert's point the question i guess is not only about this particular case but will there be more to follow? >> i expect that there will. but this is a prime example of overreaching. thank you. >> nick, thank you. i'm sorry we have to leave it right there. we'll be following with interest. nick brustin working with david ganek. sue herera joins us with this update. congressional republicans hope to avoid a shutdown of the department of homeland security by finding enough votes to pass a three-week-long stopgap funding bill which the white house says it will sign if it reaches the president's desk. congress has until midnight

tonight to get a deal done. southwest airlines says it has inspected 115 of the 128 planes that have briefly pulled out of service on tuesday when it discovered maintenance checks were overdo. it expects to complete the rest this weekend. jurors have found that billionaire ira rennert plun tered a bankrupt mining company to pay for personal luxuries. a new york city federal court ordered him to play $118 million in damages. tom brady and world seriesm vp david ortiz among tens of thousands of massachusetts taxpayers on the state treasurers latest unclaimed property list. the two along with new england patriots coach bill belichick are all owed $300 or less. probably tip money for all three. and that's your cnbc news update for this hour. "closing bell" with kelly returns after a quick break.

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move into the future. >> that was former aig chief executive robert benmosche speaking with me last may about the future of aig and ensuring the company's stability. he passed away today at the age of 70 after a long protracted battle with cancer. joining me now with more on his legacy is the man who succeeded him and worked with robert benmosche for several years. aig's current ceo, peter hancock. peter, thank you so much for your time and what reflections can you share with us today? >> thank you kelly. it's obviously a very sad moment for the whole aig family, and i'd like to just say that he left behind him a company so much stronger because of his extraordinary leadership. >> peter, do you think this company would have survived without him? >> certainly not in its current form. he recognized that this was a company that was stronger together. he resisted pressure to break it

into pieces, and recognized that only by focusing on going concerns serving its 90 million customers around the world could it repay the government's assistant in full with a considerable profit and leave 64,000 employees and all of our customers with a company with a proud history but also more importantly, a good future ahead of it. >> peter, why did this company deserve to survive? why do you think robert benmosche came out of retire am to ensure that it did? >> this is a company that has really pioneered all forms of insurance and brought insurance to many parts of the world, and insurance provides a critical role to dampen fears of the future for society, and it's often forgotten the hidden role that insurance plays in allowing people to plan for their

retirement to expand their markets and encounter the risks they face in business and day-to-day life, and i think bob with his own personal experience with his father passing at a young age when bob was a young teenager without life insurance recognized the critical role that insurance plays in dealing with life's uncertainties. >> you know he was also somebody who had strong views on personal freedom and liberty, and as you know could often express those just without the kinds of political correctness today people even feel is warranted. does anything -- any particular memories or discussions or moments when he was with the firm and instilling those values upon the firm stand out to you? >> well he's a huge believer in authenticity, speaking his mind and he encouraged everybody in the company to speak their mind with real candor, and i think that was a critical part of what galvanized the company to take prompt action to improve its

performance and to turn this company around from a very very difficult point, and he was very quick to spot people were not speaking straight from the heart. >> and he had to convince you to join him at aig and ultimately to succeed him, did he not? how was he able to do that? >> well, first, his personality. he is an extraordinarily charismatic individual. but he's very smart. his courage shines through, but he also has a wonderful empathy for people and he understood the concerns that all stakeholders of aig would be feeling, but he had a vision of what the company could be if everybody pulled together and i felt if anybody could get everybody to pull together he was the one. >> you know we also are reflecting on leadership peter, not only his leadership at aig but also the career that he's built. been through a number of different things, a number of

transformations throughout the financial industry. what do you think he will be most remembered for? >> i think that he will be remembered for his ability to relate to people. this is a man who just really understood the business is about people, and he could relate to friends, family and colleagues in such a natural way that understood their concerns and brought the very best out of the people he dealt with. >> and what is the toughest part for you, peter, now at the helm of this company to carry that forward? >> well i think that his legacy is something that has made my job a lot easier so i think that he's a very hard act to follow in some ways but he has been supportive of the five years i spent working by his side and i feel him at my side today as a source of inspiration. so i can't say there's anything

that i feel unprepared for given all the help he's given me. >> and peter, thank you so much for sharing your reflections on that, thoughts on this day as we mark the passing of robert benmosche who came out of retirement to turn around aig, hand over the reins to you. our thanks we really appreciate it.

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what were the most clicked stories on cnbc today. we'll check in with allen wastler. >> kelly, well gas prices seem to be on people's mind. if you filled up in the last week or, so you say what happened? it was going down, down down. we talked to a bunch of experts who say, yeah it seems to have stabilized and gas prices are likely to go up. why? we're finding bottle necks because of weather but also we have that refiners strike going on and it's beginning to kick in. so the good times may be gone in terms of gas prices. also we've got this great little slide show. market force information came out with its latest rankings of the most popular restaurants in different categories. so best doughnut shop krispy kreme. becks mexican, chipotle and qdoba. and best pizza, papa murphy's which i was unfamiliar with. people say it's very popular. people are really eating up that

story on cnbc.com. and then finally on a somber note actor leonard nimoy passed away today. 83 years old. most people know him as spock from "star trek." when you look at how much money the "star trek" franchise has brought into the entertainment world, he was somebody to remember. a lot of readers grew up on "star trek." live long and prosper. >> can i do it? there we go. allen wastler. really appreciate it. have a great weekend. how would you like to cash in on your fantasy football? draft kings is letting you do just that. up next, we'll talk to the company's ceo about this fast growing business and the controversy surrounding it. and then monday have breakfast with buffett. warren buffett will be sitting down with becky quick beginning at 6:00 a.m. on "squawk box" for

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but, guys we're still talking about a pretty historic february some big percentage gains for the last couple of years on these indexes. now we're approaching key levels even on the nasdaq. what are you watching for what propels us for this next move here? >> well, in financials which is where i spend most of my time it's not a very happy story. the nonbanks are still the place to be, but the whole industry is weighed down by regulation. i think to me i'm not looking for any crises. it's putting us all asleep really, but i hope we're going to get some movement on the other side and get a little bit of relief on the regulatory side eventually. >> what are you watching? >> i think mex week it's going to be all about the u.s. economy. we have a lot of employment numbers coming out. adp, nonfarm payroll, we have the spending report coming out on monday. >> fed stress tests. >> also important -- >> some interesting stuff already trickling out about those. >> very true, but to see if this

is a true recovery. >> we're still in a tale of two worlds. next week is the big geneva auto show which in my world is huge. you have brand new ferraris rolls royce, suvs, and that top of the top, not just the top, but the top of the top, the super cars the top of the 1% market is just gangbusters. they can price these things whatever they want and they're selling out. >> who is buying? >> bugatti just told the last of its $2 million car. they're sold out. who is buying? look at all the wealth creation that's happening in the u.s. right now. whether it's in tech whether it's still in energy and overseas even though we have seen weakness there's still a lot of new millionaires being created. we have right now more than 9 million millionaires. i was looking back at nasdaq 5,000 in 2000. we had around 4 million millionaires. >> wow. >> in the whole global -- >> just in the u.s. just looking back at 2,000 versus now we're more than twice the number of millionaires. there's a lot of wealth out

there and still huge demand. >> and we're also atten in nan inflection point where things will collapse under the technology umbrella. it's interesting to talk about the auto industry about this. they're concerned they're going to get commoditized the way nokia did or other -- >> swiss watchmakers are watching apple next week with a lot of interest because that's their biggest threat. >> it's already happened to autos. if you really look at major automakers, they have a cheap car, a car in the middle and an expensive car. >> that's right. >> my point is remember when it used to be the number of -- what are they called? cup holders was the most determining factor for selecting a car. today it feels more like well where can i play my songs very quickly or which has google maps or -- is the interior -- >> it's how smart it is. how smart the car is the performance, and the technology. >> the smartest thing in the car

is your smartphone. >> that's true. >> my audi has google maps but i have to tell you when i'm using gps, i use the android. >> that's why i'm thinking about the very top end of this market robert, and this is the one place of this market. this is the one place the design and function that's still the technological innovation. >> i've been dying to ask this question. ferrari going public a good thing or bad thing? >> it's going to be tough for the brand. this has been a protective brand where they've capped the number of cars. shareholders want growth. current ferrari owners don't want growth. they want to keep values high. we have a clash between the rich ferrari owners and shareholders. that's going to be fun to watch. >> and to cover. thanks very much guys. up next an exclusive interview with the ceo of draft kings, a fantasy sports business. we'll talk about that when we're back in two. stay with us.

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whack back. fantasy sports has gone from leisure time to a multibillion-dollar industry. tens of thousands, often hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money up for grabs. the two leaders are draft kings

and fan duel. the best part is you play for real cash. cnbc.com's senior editor eric chemi is at the sports analytic conference and joins us with jason robins the ceo of draft kings. kick things off for us eric. >> we're here in the conference in boston and daily fantasy has been one of the things we're hearing about. it's great to have you here from draftkings.com. you guys are up like 10x last year. it wasn't even this big of an issue last year at the conference. >> it's been tremendous. in our last year we were in the conference and the talk was much lighter. you started to hear a little bit of a buzz. this year it's all anyone is talking about. the growth is a result of that. a tremendous amount of buzz around the space. lots of customers coming in. the new customers have been

tremendous. >> some of the buzz isn't all positive. some professional gamblers think that daily fantasy looks a lot like gambling and that may be the government needs to step into curtail some of these things. what do you say to things like that? >> daily fantasy is a skill-based game. very different, both by law and function. skill-based gaming is the propensity of players who are skilled, much higher to win than those who aren't. and a chance-based game like traditional gambling. win rates are in the single digits. in traditional casino games, it's the same thing. completely different category. i get that money is exchanged so people want to draw that comparison, but it is very different. >> i want to bring in our panel from new york city. i know you have some questions. >> you are a counsel, our in-house lawyer. what do you make of the

distinction between gambling and fantasy sports? >> the whole fantasy football and fantasy sports world has relied on this game of skill versus game of chance. what i've been following with great interest is where the daily challenges really look like more of a hybrid of the two. the case law you've relied upon which is well founded, is there any concern this is not something that's been considered by the courts and regulators and there may be a need to step in? >> as far as the distinction, our game has, at least if not more level of skill than any fantasy game out there. i can't speak for every offering, but between us and the other large provider there's very great care taken to constantly be doing analysis on the win rate and scores and things we can point to to understand and make sure the game is complying with all state and federal law. as far as any further action goes and what others are saying

i think that any time you're seeing rapid growth people are going to take notice and they're going to naturally want to learn more about it. a lot of what we're doing is trying to spend time educating people answering those questions and helping to share the data. things we think are comfortably in the zone that fits within the law. >> jason, i've been playing with your website on my smartphone during the panel today. i used to go to the track with my grandfather and study the racing form. you can see that picking horses is a skill. but to me what i'm looking at this, i wonder is it really the chance element that involves the winning of the game? silly game of chance than a game of skill? picking players, sure. i can pick different players based on my evaluation of them. how do you separate the skill from the chance? >> i think the best way you

mentioned, you took your phone out is try a few games tonight. nba starting in a few hours. i think if you'll play you'll see it's hard. there's players that are good. we see players that want to get better and improve. >> you have to. >> the one comment i'll make is it's not easy to use this if you don't know what you're doing. there's really not a lot of -- >> we've got some breaking news. sorry about that. our thanks to jason as well. some breaking news from congress here with john harwood. what's happening, john? >> the house is holding open a vote to fund the department of homeland security but we have every indication now this is going down. in fact there are now 219 votes, which is a majority against the proposal to fund this department. this is a stunning repudiation by republican members of congress of their own leadership and their ability to govern the congress. the democrats withheld their

votes to see if republicans could get 218. they haven't come close. there are 50 republican no votes, and this is for a solution well short of what mitch mcconnell advanced in the senate. we'll have to see what sort of resolution gets accomplished here. the homeland security department is going to stay open and operating because so many of their employees are essential employees who have their own sources of funding beyond what congress appropriates. but this is a major embarrassment for republicans, kelly, and we don't know yet the end of the story. >> john thank you. in a word because we have to go your reaction? >> welcome to democracy. this is what happens unfortunately. >> mark? >> i wish we could get kudlow back on. this shows the complete ineptitude of this house. >> we aren't going to get tax reform. "fast money" is coming up with melissa lee and the gang.

what's on tap? >> monster beverage has had a monster run. it's about double in the past 12 months. up big in today's session. we have an analyst who says it's going to keep going. >> this i've got to hear. live from the nasdaq market site, i'm melessa lee. tim seymour, steve grasso brian kelly and guy adami. monster move monster beverage soaring today. an analyst says it's not too late to get in. and nike and underarmour could see big moves on monday morning because of a big conference going on right now. we'll take you there live. first the february pop. the s&p and dow having their best february since 1998. the nasdaq having its best february since 2000. where do you still make money in this market particula