dow jones industrial average down exactly 1,100 points. crude oil off a buck to 45.58. the dollar index is higher up to 99.29. the market's recovering. big home depot ceo interview. the "closing bell" starts right now. hello and welcome to a very special edition of the "closing bell." i'm kelly evans, coming to you live from las vegas as they say, bill, today. >> kelly evans in las vegas on the first day of march madness. coincidence? i think not. >> i think not. >> i'm bill griffeth here at the new york stock exchange. we are following stocks. the nasdaq's darned close to 5,000 right now. and let's not forget today is the first day apple is in the dow. we'll talk about that. we've got oil lower, the dollar has come back again. all after these huge fuel moves by the fed meeting yesterday. we will get to all of that.

but, kelly, you do have a very special lineup of guests coming up from vegas there, don't you? >> oh, yes, we do. we are live here at the home depot manager's meeting in the mandalay bay, where, yes, there is some betting on march madness also going on. but in the next hour here home depot's new ceo will be with me exclusively for his first interview since taking the top job. plus, a whole lot more. in fact, we have several ceo interviews. we'll talk about the strong dollar. we're going to talk about different things in the consumer and in the gambling space right now. and we might find out what the value of my college ring is with rick harrison. >> i know you were wondering what to take. you've got your college ring. you're going to find out what rick harrison of "pawn stars" thinks of that. wayne newton is also on today's program. you're going with the full star board here. >> i'll just say rick harrison broke my heart and leave it at that, until we find out what happened this morning. >> by the way, we should say, this is your very first time in

las vegas. what do you think, so far? >> yeah it's an interesting place. i mean listen i'm here for less than 24 hours. as everybody has noted, next time i think it needs to be a little bit longer or with a, you know, people who can kind of show me the ropes, if you will. i'm not sure i want to see the ropes. >> it's not your kind of town i know. but that's okay. we look forward to seeing you back here when you get back. let's show everybody what's going on with the markets today. if it was up last night and down today, vice versa. the dow down 101 points. it was down 142 at the low. apple, if you're wondering, the first day it's a component of the dow, down about 30 cents right now. not a real big contributor. s&p is down 8 points. and the nasdaq very close to that 5,000 level. that's something we'll be keeping an eye on as we move into this final hour of trading on this thursday. let's get to our markets and our "closing bell" exchange today. ken

ken ken and jim khan and heather hughes cnbc contributor from sun america funds. and i'm going to start with my friend, rick santelli in chicago. rick, you've had a night to sleep on it or maybe you didn't sleep a wink last night after that fed meeting yesterday, but the markets have reversed themselves in many cases today. what is it -- what do you think the markets are saying about what the fed did yesterday, and that knee-jerk reaction they had yesterday, to begin with? >> i think the knee-jerk reaction is, it makes a lot of sense. i think many of the algorithmic, high-frequency, many people had positions that were long in the tooth, whether it was flat euro or flattening yield curve, and i think they blinked a little bit. but i think as the day wore on and the press conference wore on the market had it right. i guess the best way to say it is you know, most investors are still pleased to say it with the fed, even though they get a bit caught in the rigging. >> and heather, tell us where you see opportunity in this

market right now, then. >> yeah i think if you believe that the markets are somewhat overbought, based on the federal reserve holding rates lower for a longer extended period of time, five years now since the great recession in 2008 nine years since we had a fed rate hike or rate increase on short-term rates, then you may want to look to reposition. however, if you believe that the markets are up from a fundamental perspective, when you look at earnings and revenue growth then i guess, investors are looking at this market and they're looking at the rest of the world on a relative basis and saying the u.s. still may be the strongest in the world economy right now, even with the lower economic data we've had with gdp, retail sales, and consumer sentiment, as of late. >> omar the last month or so, people have started to say, you know europe's starting to look attractive here. maybe we should do that especially with the european central bank beginning the quantitative easing. last night -- and plus the strong dollar helps as well,

over there with their exports. but last night, it all reversed itself. and people were starting to say, maybe we've overthought this or maybe we've got it wrong. what do you guys at charles schwab -- did yesterday's fed meeting change your thoughts of what happened at all? >> i think what happened yesterday with the fed is the beginning of what we're going to see going forward. i think the reaction yesterday felt like the stimulus. if you take a snapshot of the asset classes that performed well last night relative to what happened four years ago, it looks the same. you basically have lower oil, higher dollar higher oil, all the risky assets are outperforming. it absolutely felt like stimulus once again. that's not the normal market. i think the only lesson from yesterday is that we'll see higher volatility. so we'll see higher volatility a little bit of the jump today reversing back. what i think we're seeing today is more normal than what we actually saw yesterday afternoon. >> does that mean ken as you've indicated, that you think we're approaching the end of this bull market?

>> well i always look at the market as a yo-yo that i'm playing with as i'm riding on an escalator -- >> that's not good. >> and the escalator is the direction of the economy. so if the economy is trending in the right direction, what the yo owe is doing at the time is not so important, because the next high will be higher than the previous. and vice versa, if we're trending down on the economy, that yo-yo, the next downward will be lower. so right now i look at the trend of the economy and see that as a positive. so right now with the dow being where it is and the market being low and all this volatility, i think you buy on the dips the. but i do think, as you said that by the end of this year this party will come to an end. i think recessions -- the market looks the for recessions. it's forward looking. and i think next year is when the recession will come so if you back it up six months it puts us into the end of this next year -- >> next year a recession? >> yes. >> what triggers the recession, ken? >> what triggers a recession is

oversupply. when you have a booming economy, prosperity triggers recessions believe it or not. because when you have a lot of supply, the businesses in the economy want to supply the demand. so everybody stocks up on inventory, home builders build tons of houses and then all of a sudden there's this massive oversupply. and when that happens, then all the retailers are laying people off, and all the home builders are going bankrupt. >> yeah but the builders -- do you think the builders are overbuilding right now? because it seems like supply constraint is still the issue for the housing market. >> i think everybody is going to try to stock up with as much as they can. they don't want a customer to walk in and not be able to buy their product or service. they want to have as much of that as possible. >> but we can even look at the oil markets right now, not just the housing sector when you're talking about oversupply and booms and busts. and the oil markets may have also been encouraged excessive borrowing and risk taking due to lower rates right now, when you have a lot of supply and inventory on the books as well,

not just in the housing sector. that's another area of concern. >> hey jim khan let me bring you into this conversation here. you know the fed, the net effect, the takeaway was that they were becoming more dovish because they were lowing their expectations for growth and interest rates further out. meaning that, as she said we're taking the word "patient" out, but that doesn't mean we're going to be impatient at this time. do you see greater growth down the road or are we going to be bumping along the bottom for a while. >> we see greater growth. as the markets are adjusting to a new equilibrium, with the u.s. markets adjusting faster than general, to ken's point, i don't necessarily believe that markets follow the economy. if you look over the last hundred years, the years in which the stock market has actually performed the best have been years in which growth actually contracted because the best performance in equity markets is general when you're coming out of the bottom of the cycle. so even though the u.s. is improving, i wouldn't look to the u.s. for the best equity market returns. i would actually look more

broadly to places like europe where you're seeing large changes in gdp. so in france, in spain, in the rest of the eu where we saw relatively slow growth we're getting large percentage increase ifs gdp over the last year, and that tends to be what drives the market higher. so we're still very bullish on europe and asia. >> so jim, it sounds like you want to buy after the stock market correction has happened. where do you see any -- when you look around the world, where do you see an opportunity to buy stocks that cheaply today? >> well what's amazing is i like to look at price to sales, because you can't really mess with sales. whether they're in the u.s. or in europe or in asia, sales are sales and you count sales. there's no ebitda there's no gap accounting. i look at price to sales in the u.s., i can buy stock at about two times. if i look at price to sales in emergeing markets, i can buy it at one time. and price to sales in europe, i can buy it 1.5 times. so i've got a fire sale in the emerging markets and europe selling pretty cheaply, against the backdrop of improving

expectations compared to where expectations were for those economies just three to four months ago. so i think the market is quite bullish for international and european stocks generally. >> omar i saw you shaking your head. i know you're investing in cyclicals right now and you still believe in growth, but for how long? >> we saw the change one's the qe ended in october, and we saw these different styles growth outperforming value. we saw a little blip yesterday when value outperformed growth. but today we go back. the nasdaq is up the rest of the markets are down today. the market is preparing itself for the next phase of the cycle. you know we're far away from a recession. there's still plenty of liquidity that is being promoted overseas, and that always leaves beneficial for the u.s. so the recession talk is definitely something that may be very far away down the road and the fed already hinted that there's going to be very very measured in the way they raise rates. >> i have to say that the fed is one of the worst prognosticators

of how the economy is doing. if you look at in 2007 ben bernanke was telling us that all was well and we didn't have to worry about subprime and all of that. and that's the same time when i told all of our clients and people that have listened to my radio show to get out of the market and stay out for all of 2008. and then,, you know -- so you have to look at when things are at their very best that is the time you have to start getting worried. and when everybody thinks everything is going great and life is good that's the time when you start preparing for the worst, in my opinion. >> all right. well, provocative thoughts and got everybody talking about it. thank you all for join us today with your thoughts. appreciate it very much. omar, safe travels back to san francisco. we're heading to the close with about 50 minutes left in the trading session here. while we were talking, kelly, the nasdaq did briefly touch 5,000. it's flirting with it here. we'll see if we can close above it for only the second time in 15 years. but meantime the dow and the s&p are about half a percent

lower right now. >> all right. much more ahead on this special las vegas edition of "closing bell." we've got the ceos of the home depot, black and decker and boy gaming all coming up. plus, i barter with rick harrison of "pawn stars" in his famous pawnshop. you'll see it. and no need to say danke schoen but wayne newton joins us as well. >> kelly evans and wayne newton that's pay-per-view material. stay tuned. ♪ ♪ ♪ first impressions are important. you've got to make every second count. banking designed for the way you live your life. so you can welcome your family home...

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or choose $300 in free gifts with stearns & foster. the triple choice sale ends soon at sleep train. generally a down day on wall street, really just a reversal of yesterday's frantic moves in all the asset classes after the fed meeting yesterday. if it was down yesterday, it's up today. if it was up, it's down today. the dow's down 103 again. i'll point out, first day of trading for apple, as a member of the dow jones industrial average, and it's down a fraction today. here are all 500 components of the s&p 500 index, mostly red, but a few green at this point. kelly? out to you in las vegas.

>> all right, bill. thank you very much. i'm now joined by two very special guests coming to you life from home depot's manager meeting here. home depot's ceo will be joining us shortly. but first, a pair of ceos who sell a lot of their stuff at home depot and have a pretty good perspective on how this economy is doing. joining me now in a cnbc exclusive, john lundgren and david lumbarly, black and decker home brand is licensed under spectrum. that deal, that sale happened a couple of years ago. >> yes, december '12. >> we'll talk about the products in just a moment. i want to ask you, john first about the strong dollar. your perspective doing roughly half of your business overseas and also being involved with the national association of manufacturers, this is one of the biggest upward moves we've seen in some time. what kind of impact is that going to have? >> it has tremendous impact kelly, on anybody who generates a significant portion of their revenues outside of the u.s. as you suggest, 50% of our revenues

and about 60% of our production is outside the u.s. but what it has given us the opportunity to do as flexible as we can, we've moved some production back to the u.s. most recently in north and south carolina. we've been making professional power tools for about a year, under the dewalt brand and it's been tremendously well received, but it's also helped mitigate some of the cost pressure of the strong dollar. that being said, we have both translational and transactional pressure. >> we saw that when you talked about the effect that would have on your guidance. but this point about bringing workers back or your business back onshore is really interesting. do you think that there's something bigger going on there outside of your company? >> sure i think, manufacturing is still alive and well. we've talked about the renaissance or rebirth of manufacturing in the u.s. u.s. workers in general are paid a lot more than workers in many of the low-cost country. so as a consequence, they have to be a lot more productive. using our products in the right facilities, they can be.

and we have seen it. obviously, the u.s. also has a huge energy cost advantage. we don't happen to be an energy-intensive business, yet we've still made the economics work of moving some production from mexico and china, that's not particularly labor intensive. it's component intensive and technology intensive, producing here in the states and it's worked out very well. >> let's talk about this innovation, david, that you guys especially are driving. i just saw and learned a little bit about kevo. why don't you explain it. >> it's a new lockset system. it's run by blue tooth on your phone, so you can walk up and it knows who you are it lets you in lets you out, but more importantly, it tracks who's coming in and out of your house, and if you're a parent you would really like to know that. and now soon in another month, we have kevo plus you can lock or unlock your door from your phone at work or if someone's locked out, you can let them in. this home automation is an exciting thing that's evolving.

>> does it give you any pause to think, this is a whole new source of vulnerability? >> we're very confident it's not vulnerable. we spent a lot of time on that. and the security systems in general and home automation in general, but believe me we are on that. >> how does home automation do you think, affected stanley black and decker? >> we're not in the home automation business. it is the second largest commercial security company in north america. but it will have a big impact on our remodeling business, on home starts as we build, design and sell our products. it will have an impact. >> what else do you guys have coming out? i'm looking at for example, fusian batteries. where are these fusion batteries going to accomplish? >> for years people have wanted an alkaline battery to last longer. and you don't want to have to replace them constantly. we've spent a lot of time. a battery is chemicals in a can. we finally developed one we call ray rayovac fusion that lasts longer

than any other alkaline battery, and everybody will be able to buy a battery that costs less than the leading brand and lasts longer. when you have some devices that have to keep going and don't have access to another battery, you want it to last as long as possible. >> and batteries are big news in cordless power tools as well. you go back ten years a nickel cadmium batteries replaced batteries. and ten years ago, lithium ion took over but also very expensive. as the cost of those batteries came down, more and more power tools employed lithium ion technology. now the next step has been brushless motors in professional power tools. which means lighter, in terms of ergonomics. dewalt premium power tool now is twice as powerful as a cordless tool was just ten years ago. so the combination of brushless motors, longer run time more powerful, but also much lighter. so a professional who's working

all day on a job site it really makes a difference in the course of eight or nine hours. so that battery evolution was the first step brushless motors was the second. >> i did not expect there to be so much battery discussion here but i love it. it's a window into where this is heading. and would you both mind real quick giving me your sense of what the consumer is ultimately like in this country? >> sure. we sell home and garden pet, batteries, kitchen appliances remmington hardware pfister plumbing, which is automated as well, in a new water system that's here. but the consumer today is spending a lot more time to upgrade inside their house and outside their house. and whether new construction comes or not this is really the phenomenon that's driving home centers in all of our businesses. it's exciting. >> and kelly, real quickly, we're seeing it's good. we're seeing the impact of lower oil prices a lot of other things. interestingly, two-thirds of what we sell despite our brands are eweubiquitous two-thirds of

what we sale are two professionals, to people who do it for a living. and we're seeing strong numbers in terms of remodeling housing starts, it's helping, helping with our relationship here with home depot and across the country. >> i thank you both for that firsthand look. again, i feel like i have a lot of research to do and more power tools to play with. that's john lundgren and david lumly this afternoon. over to you, bill. about 40 minutes left in the trading station. the dow starting to trend a little bit lower, about 115 points this hour as the nasdaq flirts with 5,000, although we're slowly moving away from that as well. coming up, back to las vegas, home depot's ceo speaks to kelly in his first interview since becoming ceo, a lot to talk about including his stock's performance, his view of the u.s. and global economy, plus the impact of weak oil prices and the strong dollar on home depot's bottom line. but up next our janet yellin and company actually kowtowing to the stock market.

we have steve liesman and the pros talking that out when we come back on "closing bell." in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars.

just because we removed the word "patient" from the statement doesn't mean we're going to be impatient. >> and that statement, more than anything else yesterday, may have helped send the dow up more than 200 points when all was said and done. some believed it may have even been directed at the u.s.

markets. is this fed more attune to market whims than it has been in the past? and if so is that a good thing or a bad thing? joining me right now with their takes on that joel lavorgna, chief u.s. economist at deutsche bank and cnbc's steve liesman, who was one of the questioners during yesterday's news conference. we know at the last minutes that were released of the january 27th meeting, they made it clear that they were concerned about what the market's response would be if they raised rates at some point. do you think this fed right now is overly obsessed with market response? >> i don't know that i would use the term "overly obsessed ", both of which sound like their psychological terms and i wouldn't be qualified to make that judgment. i would say they're very concerned and over the time period that i have been covering the fed, which is like i don't know, 12 or 15 years now, they have welcome increasingly concerned. part of that is thinking in economics right now, which is that the stock market, which was

once thought as a wage to gauge whether or not the economy is doing well is more seen as determining it or better seen in determining how well the economy is doing, given the kind of wealth effect and things like that. that's the first thing. the second thing is we've been for a while here, bill, in a post-crisis period. and each one of these crucial and critical policies that the fed puts in place, the fed needs to guide the market along, because policy is contingent upon getting it done through the markets. the markets are the vehicle for fed policy. >> and joe, we all remember and i know the fed officials all remember the taper tantrum that the markets threw after ben bernanke a few years ago laid out a timetable that ended up you know, about when they might end quantitative easing. that's got to be on their mind as well right? >> it is. and bill for the life of me i don't understand what was so bad about the taper tantrum. the economy grew 3% in '13. that was either the labor market finally made its first year of good job growth. the equity market was up 30%. what was the problem? the bond market sold off from

around 160 on 10s to 3%. everything was okay. i'm not sure why they're so worried about markets. they're like hostage to markets. >> do you agree with that? are they hostages to the markets at this point? >> i would like to hear more about how joe means. does joe mean that the fed should ignore the markets or that the fed is treading too carefully and should be free to go further and ease -- and tighten policy more quickly, irrespective of the effecten on markets? >> here's the thing. if you look at the dots there was this issue about the dots being higher than -- rather the fed was higher than the dots -- >> expectation, various fed officials. >> and what we've seen is right, the market now move closer to the dots. in the most simplest of terms, i can't remember a time when the market had strong expectations of the fed doing something, with the exception of the september 9 taper, and the fed actually not following through with what the market wants. i think there is a real concern about investors losing money in

these markets, partly because the fed thinks they've got to engineer robust markets to get the outcome they want. but when i say hostage to the markets, i just think it's like they're so worried about markets reacting volatilely. that's what's supposed to happen. >> steve to some degree do you think janet yellin takes some comfort from the market response yesterday. stocks went higher the dollar went lower, and oil prices came higher. >> i think so. and i think the fed looks to the market to gauge whether or not it executed what it was trying to do well. and what is that execution? i think joe would acknowledge this. joe, part of central banking is telling the market what you're going to do and then doing it. and if the market got the message the first time the actual execution of it should not that be a volatile of an event, which makes interesting the 200-point yesterday and what it is that the fed wasn't telling them. and what other gauge is there? obviously, there's the economic gauge. but the immediate feedback they

get is from the market. and i would just point out, joe, almost everything the fed is doing now is history. they haven't done it before. so you know, when you're walking in the dark and you hear something break, well maybe you realize you're on the wrong path. and i think that's where and how the fed is reacting. it looks to the market for that feedback. is this done the right way. >> yeah but the problem -- >> and the tantrum was a great example, joe. because they had the tantrum, it didn't work -- >> but the thing is -- the cause and effect goes if both directions. that's the problem. the fed becomes irrelevant to the dollar move. what does the fed do? it steps back. i'm saying at some point there's going to be an issue where the fed won't be able to control the markets, if they get the wage and price inflation ultimately that they'll get. >> go ahead, steve. >> very very quickly, i think what we're getting and underlying joe's comment here is the fed making a policy mistake right now by paying the too

close attention to the market? i don't think there's evidence of that right now, but it could show up. over the six-year period we've been talking about this it doesn't appear as if the policy itself has led to -- >> but the great moderation itself didn't become evident until many years later. it's like a sunburn, you don't pay for it until years after the fact. >> well put. make sure to catch rick santelli's exclusive interview with dallas fed president richard fisher of a like mind with mr. santelli. that will be tomorrow on squawk on the street. time now for a business news update this hour. here's sue herrera with our headlines. sue? >> indeed bill. here's what's happening at this hour. an italian cruise line reporting five passengers from one of its ships were killed in that muslim attack in tunisia. four italians and one russian were killed. eight passengers were injured and costa now says it has canceled all upcoming stops in

tunisian ports. a verdict against dzhokar tsarnaev in the boston bombing marathon trial could come as soon from two weeks ago. that's what the "l.a. times" is reporting. earlier today, a massachusetts prosecutor says tsarnaev still faces that murder charge in connection with the death of an m.i.t. officer. california's governor and other lawmakers calling for $1 billion in emergency drought spending. they unveiled a package today during a news conference. it includes local drought relief and infrastructure projects. nasa estimates that california only has about a year's worth of water left. and firefighters blaming electrical arcing in cables for the underground explosion in indianapolis. today's blast sent several manhole covers into the air at a busy intersection. luckily, nobody was injured. and that's our news update for this hour. back to you, bill. >> all right, sue. thank you very much. we are heading to the close. we've got about 28 minutes left in the session here with the dow down a little more than 100

points. the nasdaq flirting with 5,000, one of the few positive equity indices up today, up about a quarter of a percent. our special las vegas edition of "closing bell" will be continuing when we come back. kelly speaks with boyd gaming ceo about the state of the consumer, the economy, the impact of march madness, and a whole lot more. and later, home depot's ceo will be giving kelly his first interview since taking the helm. find out where they are seeing the hottest growth in this country right now and his plans to return cash to shareholders and a whole lot more, coming up on "closing bell."

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if you're just joining us a mixed day on wall street. the dow pulling back from that huge gain it saw yesterday that took it back above 18,000 down 97 points right now. the s&p down about 8. nasdaq, though marching a little bit higher. it did touch 5,000 briefly, a little while ago, hovering just moreau that number at 4996 on this thursday. kelly evans is out in las vegas with a guest now, and i imagine this company depends very heavily on that city right? >> and bill the nasdaq better wait until i get back there for that 5,000 close this time. but anyway yes, i am here in

las vegas at the home depot's manager's meeting. joining me right now is the ceo of boyd gaming withegaming the casino operator still trading near 52-week highs. and i am joined exclusively by now by boyd gaming ceo, keith smith. keith, welcome. >> thanks for having me on your show. >> you've been here in the city for 30 years. >> nearly 30 years. >> you've seen it go from 5,000 hotel rooms from 1.5 million. >> from 50,000 hotel rooms to over 150,000 hotel rooms. >> oh, my order of magnitude was off there. now, i guess the reason why i give that background is because i'm wondering where that trend is going today. it seems as though there's been some saturation certainly some slowing for downtown in january, where you've got a couple of casinos. what's behind this? >> look i think the town today is well off the bottom that we experienced during the recessions. in many cases, we've exceeded the peaks we saw in 2006 and 2007, when you look at occupied rooms, we have more occupied

rooms, or there are more occupied rooms than there were then. casino revenue is still flattish or down from our peak. so i think the town is fully recovered and we're making progress. downtown continues to recover also. on a month-to-month basis, you see some declines in revenues, but overall the trajectory downtown is very positive. >> is that because foreign visitors have dropped or is it because domestic visitors have so many other options now? you have the property in atlantic city, there's a lot of talk about what's happening in terms of other east coast development. is it that people have more options closer to home these days? >> i think that's really what it is. you put the product closer to home and people will participate. at the same time it does create more demand for las vegas. so we'll continue to grow. the borgota competes not just on atlantic city was on the entire east coast. as it expands along the east coast, we'll lose some visits from customers, but gain more customers overall as a result. >> so innovation has been a theme on the product side but

there's some innovation on the gaming side as well. you guys are talking about introducing skills-based gaming. what is that and that's it intended to do? >> sure first, i have to give credit to the new jersey regulators for being forward thinking enough to approve something like skill-based gaming. it's an attempt to give our customers something new today, something they can't do today, and draw on new customers. we're going to try a free throw shooting contest this weekend, invite people down shoot free throws, and the winner will receive a prize. and it's the first attempt. whether it's successful or not is yet to be seen. >> because you're trying to draw younger visitors correct? >> younger visitors and maybe visitors who haven't seen us recently or haven't come down to participate recently, because, you know they got a little bored with the product. this is an attempt to have a new product. >> and skill-based gaming to me seems like it would help fend off some online competition, as that becomes an increasing space. >> that is absolutely the case. you know, trying to have a new product, and once again, give customers something new to participate in. while we've launched an internet

gaming product in new jersey i think skill-based gaming will help overall. >> i was on the plane next to a guy saying i come to vegas every year because of march madness. how much of a lift do you see each year from gamers? >> you have four full days of basketball games, and the town is absolutely full. it's one of the most fun weekend of the entire year. i think next to super bowl it may be one of the biggest weekends of the year. people come year after year to participate in this. so it's a great weekend. look, in las vegas, it's about special events. it's about celebrations. whether it's boxing matches, whether it's final four whether it's super bowl whether it's concerts giving people a reason to come to town and have some fun. >> and 30 plus years in the business, do you have any qualms about it? i guess you couldn't right, if you were still running this company, but coming here as a visitor and taking it all in it does make you wonder whether we want so much of our spend, you know, consumer wallet share going to gambling and gaming and all these activities. >> really, the businessizusiness has

evolved tremendously in the last decade. it's more about gaming or gambling than it is about the overall product. if you look at how our consumer has evolved, it's more about hotel product, about food and beverage product about retail about entertainment, and less about gambling. where we're seeing the real growth today is on the non-gaming side of the business. because that's what consumers where they want to spend their money, less on the casino side. >> well, that is well maybe why we're seeing so many changes here in terms of the spend in traffic. keith smith with a look as we talk about innovation, at what might be next in this space. thank you so much for being here this afternoon. >> thank you. >> ceo of boyd gaming. bill? >> kelly, before you go i know we're running time wise here but a lot of paem have been asking me have you at least put one coin in a slot? have you put a chip down on red or black? i know what you gave up it wasn't gaming and i know it wasn't your thing, but have you, tempted at all while you were in las vegas? >> i truly have not even had the opportunity. we got in so late last night and

are scrambling to get out of here. the answer keith, i guess i'll just have to come back or maybe try my hand at the free throw competition this weekend. i used to do all right with basketball. >> you would do all right with that. we have 19 minutes left in the trading session here with the dow down 104 points. everything is kind of holding steady here as we head towards the close. we're wondering white now whether the nasdaq close above 5,000 -- thank you. 5,000 for only the second time in about 15 years. we'll see if that goes as we head towards the close here. can you believe it? not everybody benefits from rock-bottom oil prices. our morgan brennan will assess the impact of the oil collapse on certain elements of the stock market when we come back. and then after the bell nike tosses up its latest earnings report. we'll bring you their numbers as soon as they hit the tape. and of course we'll have the instant analysis and market response, still to come on "closing bell."

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15 minutes left sort of creeping a little bit lower here. the dow down 113, the s&p down 9. nasdaq up 10 points. i haven't seen art cashin yet, although he should be pretty happy. his fighting irish have already won today. crude oil, that's been one of

the real stories not just recently, but for the last year down 56% on u.s. crude today at $43.73 hovering near that six-year low. and who would have thunk it lower oil prices averaging on wall street. >> that's certainly a dynamic that we've been seeing play out on and off throughout the last few months the idea that crude is weighing on stocks. and we're seeing it largely because of how fast crude prices have fallen in the last couple of months sending ripple effects to the broader equities markets. so morgan stanley says half of the decline, the downward revision we've seen in s&ps, 2013 consensus earnings estimates is due to lower oil. not only that but the direct contagion of lower oil on other sectors, like industrials, chemicals, and materials. however, when oil falls, we've also got some winners. namely, consumer stocks that at least in theory haven't necessarily seen it so much just yet. get a lift from people spending money, saved on energy bills. so according to our data

partner, ken shaw when wti prices have fallen 50% or more which has happened five times, since 1980 the s&p household and personal products group, also the s&p retailing industry group, both tend to outperform. they on average, return 11% and 39%, respectively. the bottom line here bill energy is weighing on the s&p, many strategists expect that to continue, at least for now, in the coming months but if history is any example, the stocks catering to consumers are the ones at least according to our data partners that will do well in the interim. >> and if kensho says it it must be so. >> it must be. >> thank you, morgan brennan. see you later. heading to the close, 13 minutes left. the dow down 108 points. still wondering whether we're going to get nasdaq 5,000 today, up 11 points right now, about 5 1/2 points away from that magic number. lots more to come after the bell by the way tonight. nike earnings we've got home depot's ceo with kelly there in las vegas.

rick harrison of course of "pawn stars" fame will be assessing one of kelly's beloved trinkets that she brought with her to vegas. and mr. vegas himself, wayne newton, that alone is worth sticking around for. don't miss a second of it, coming up.

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a little less than ten minutes to go. the dow down 11 points. the nasdaq is up 11 trying to get back above 5,000. art cashin just this second walked by and said that the imbalance has slipped to the sell side. they have about $150 million. not a lot, bob pisani to go here. >> and it wasn't a complete waste of the day, but it almost was. once again, i complain every day about the groundhog day. you come up and think, maybe it will be different. maybe you can get oil not going down, maybe the dollar cannot rally. maybe stocks will go up two days in a row and you get up and you say, yes with today's the day, and you look at the morning numbers and you're wrong. >> is the market rethinking its reaction to the fed yesterday were, do you think, or what's going on here? >> i think the focus -- in the u.s. i think there's been a new focus on the lower growth

prospects. and i know miss yellin tried to manage that very carefully. we're not downgrading, not saying things are bad at all, just lower the numbers a little bit, but i think there's a little bit of a focus on that. i think anytime you get a little move back up on the dollar lower on the euro and they believe that that trend is relentless regardless of what the fed is going to say, you're going to get metals and you're going to get energy smacked badly. and that's once again what happened today. >> by the way, one point of information, this is apple's first day as a member of the dow jones industrial average. not a big auspicious movement. down 50 cents right now, last i checked. . >> and you know, in a sense, you want a little bit of quiet now that it's in the main index. i think the big thing, right, for the next week or so is we've got a little bit of an information vacuum right now. remember, we're post-fed and post-earnings. we will have some economic data next week. there'll be cpi and some other things coming in but there's a little bit of a vacuum now. and some of this will focus on

where the euro is going to be. we'll be trading with euro and with oil. and some day, we're going to be focusing on something else. but right now, i don't see those trends changing. >> it's what the fed's watching. as janet yellin said yesterday, when somebody asked her about market response to a fed policy she said that portfolio managers should do the exact same analysis that the fed officials do when it comes to the economy, to figure out where interstates s interest rates are going to be going. the market will have figured out what the fed will do as it's happening. >> once again, if you look at bond market actions, interest rates were 2% at that ten-year. banks were moving down again today. we had that nice move up in february, with the banks, as interest rates moved up that's now completely stopped and the banks are flat right now. i'm trying to figure out a way to get the markets off this fixation with oil and with the euro. >> good luck with that.

thanks, bob. we'll come back with the closing countdown and see how we do for this thursday. and nike's earnings out after the bell today. plus, more from las vegas. kelly's exclusive interview with home depot's ceo out in vegas. the scene of the retail giant's annual manager's meeting. they're going to talk about consumers, the economy, and home depot's stock performance. that's just ahead here on "closing bell." you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. you can find a new frontier. there's nothing stopping you and a lot helping you. technology that's with you always. this is our promise. it's never been better to wander because wherever you go, you'll find us doing everything we can, so you can.

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3 1/2 minutes left there are so many charts i could show you, but let me give you two to give you a sense of this week and it really has been a week with that one day in the middle. what a hump day we had yesterday. here's the dow going back to last friday. you know and here is that move especially late in the afternoon, after the fed meeting, put us back above 18,000. we've come back to some degree. now we're at 17,965. the other one, really the dollar, and i'll put it in terms of euro. the euro dollar move the euro skyrocketing yesterday, getting back above $1.10 for a while. and now today, back down. i mean it literally has come back, full circle here to where it was yesterday afternoon at this time, to $1.06 and change. crazy moves, just a reversal of what we saw late yesterday. joining me right now, we have walter todd from greenwood capital and greg syrian from high tower. walter you think the markets overreacted to the fed and their expectations for the economy. what do you mean?

>> i think they misinterpreted focused on the wrong thing yesterday. they focused on the plot coming down. the policy statement said they were going to raise rates for the first time in nine years -- >> just not right now, though. >> but soon. it's the first time they've green lighted a rate increase i think that's important. so the things at work yesterday afternoon are unwinding, as you alluded to. >> greg a lot of people say welcome they're looking to europe right now for value. with the quantitative easing beginning over there. yesterday, suddenly people were saying, i'm wrong about that. where do you see places to informs invest right now? >> investors should be prepared for more volatility. the fed made it clear, rates are going higher. if the three weeks prior to yesterday is any indication, we'll see more choppiness in the market. and i'm concerned about first quarter e season. i think this dollar strength is going to put pressure on corporate earnings. this market needs earnings to be good to go higher.

europe, you have the qe program in place. i think profit margins are much more attractively valued in europe than they are here. year-to-date, it's been a better place than the u.s. >> multi-nationals ultimately will be hurt by that stronger dollar. small caps in the russell, though, often are immune to that. they don't have that international exposure that the multi-caps do. so where are you putting money to work? >> we run large, mid, and small-cap money. small-caps have done well this year. i'm really interested to see nike's earnings and see the influence of the dollar on them. so you do have to be cautious in the near term i think, given the reaction that we have with the fed and the uncertainty around that. >> i was reading analysis of nike today. they said when the company became public in the early 1980s, it was an expensive stock. it's still an expensive stock, but it's so much higher than it used to be. do you like nike at these levels here? >> we own it. >> do you? >> i think the health care sector has been the best performer this year. the m&a activity in biotech is not stopping. >> all right, greg good to see

you both. thank you for your thoughts on this crazy market environment that we've been in here this week. the dow down 113 and it doesn't look like we're going to get nasdaq 5,000, at least today. maybe tomorrow. hey, let's go back out to las vegas. the home depot's manager's conference and the second hour of the "closing bell" with kelly evans and wayne newton. see you tomorrow, kel! ♪ viva las vegas ♪ ♪ viva las vegas ♪ >> thank you, bill! welcome to the "closing bell" from las vegas, nevada everybody. i'm kelly evans. and we will be joined by home depot's ceo, craig menear in just a few minutes here at the home depot conference at mandalay bacony convention center. now let's check in on how we're finishing the day on wall street. the dow off with a decline, about 116 points by far the

underperformer of the day. the s&p 500, off half a percent, down ten points on the close there. the nasdaq certainly bucking the trend. it's up about 10 49.92. we couldn't quite close above 5,000. again, we did that earlier this month for the first time in 15 years. but we've only done it once and it's been a struggle to get back to that level ever since. we're going to talk about these volatile markets with a great group today. joining me now is our bob pisani from the floor of the new york stock exchange. kenny polcari, "fast money's" guy adami, and our mandy drury back at headquarters. a warm welcome to all of you. guy, i'll kick it off with you here. you know, the dow and the nasdaq had two very different days today. >> very different days, because you know, listen the fed is convinced they can -- their job is to have price stability. that's one of their jobs. their dual mandate is to make sure that the s&p and nasdaq goes higher and they've done a remarkable job of that. but for price stability, they have failed miserably. and just all you need to look at are the moves and currencies.

what does it mean for the broader market? i still think the stock market wants to go higher. i still think the nasdaq wants to go higher. i point to the russell that was up on a down day overall, but the fact that we are so reliant on fed and fed speak should scare every single person watching today. >> well i like that point you were making though about how we're really seeing the small caps doing a little better maybe now that bigger names, you want to stay away from. darren cherovitz, i know we have you here to talk about apple's inclusion that's having on the dow, is that part of the reason you've decided to underweight the gain? >> the reasons why we've cut back apple from being one of our top two positions in the jacob internet fund to being just outside the top ten has a lot more to do with the overall cycle of the iphone 6. i believe it's going to be a lot tougher for them as we get longer and longer into that cycle to show positive growth rates, especially next year. i think the numbers will come down. last year our thesis was that

there was so much pent-up demand for these bigger phones is that they were going to have a lunch and they sure have. so going forward, that's what we're concerned about. and it's imperative that apple be more successful with some of their other initiatives, like the iwatch obviously, and ipay and itv later this year. it's really important for them to increase their non-hardware revenue sources going forward. the dow inclusion, it's kind of meaningless. >> although it sounds bob pisani, like what darren's saying, this dow inclusion should have happened a long time. what do you think about how the blue chips are positioned here? >> first off, the dow industrials have a long history of including stocks after they peaked. and in a sense, that's a good idea. that's not a bad idea. they're not behind the curve. stocks should be adequately seasoned to be in something as influential as the dow jones industrial average. so i don't have anything against them for not including apple up until now. i think it's appropriate, that it should be in the dow industrials. i think the problem we've got right now is there are some

particular concerns about slower growth that are going to weigh on the markets. i know the fed went out of their way to try to tell everybody, they're not dramatically downgrading their outlook, but the market is acting today like that is, in fact, what's going on. on top of that until we can get our hands around where the bottom is on oil, and particularly the weak euro and strong dollar, every day that smacks things around. the reason the dow is so weak today, is exxon and chevron. again, that's one to have the main reasons we've seen this underperformance. i think it's very heartening that some of the small caps internet service names, internet so wasware names, did a little bit better going into a rate hike six months before we talked about this today, they tend to do a little bit better, the tech stocks. >> mandy, what a 24 hours it's been since that fed meeting. >> it's incredible. >> what do you think about it all? >> i think the market is bipolar, right? and i think guy adami hit the nail on the head when he talked about this incredible obsession with passing every single word that the fed says or

specifically janet yellin says. but so many people have said to us on our show "power lunch," you know, whether it's june whether it's july whether it's september, whether it's october went we get that first rate hike the market is just so short-term in its thinking right? because at the end of the day, it's only going to be less for argument's sake a 25 basis points off incredibly low levels, like zero levels. which means that globally monetary conditions are still very loose. and it's certainly showing up in international markets as well. you know you have our markets not far away from record highs. you've got europe many of those markets at record highs or multi-year highs. china, the shanghai composite, is also at multi-year highs. this is really monetary policy being plaid out all around the world. >> and kenny, what does that mean for people who have been piling into europe, piling into some of these other markets? should that trend continue to assert itself or do you think people will start to move money back into the u.s.? >> listen i think europe's a great opportunity. and i think europe is only going to go higher based on much more

so what the ecb is doing. the recovery there is going to be slow. but i still think there's an opportunity in europe. now, that being said i still think there's an opportunity here at home. and yes, i think the market backed off a little bit today, but, look what it did yesterday on the back of her speech and her conference -- on her conference call. they just took this market higher. you know, the automated trading system took it higher. the sells disappeared. they were reaching reaching reaching. when you see today's action you shouldn't be surprised at all, and you shouldn't necessarily be surprised at some of the big multi-national names are the ones that kind of suffered a little bit today as people kind of repriced. we saw better action in nasdaq we saw better action in the russell. that makes sense if you're starting to be concerned about what the impact of a stronger dollar is going to do come earnings season just two weeks away. >> but we can't seem to reverse the broader trend. we can't reverse the broader trend. the fed had one-day impact and it looks like it's all dissipated. >> and nike's about to report its earnings results. that will be an interesting

lens, bob pisani, into just what, again, a big blue chip name has to do and it's dealing with some maturing growth perhaps, a competitor nipping at its heels in under armour and these currency headwinds. >> we'll have a very interesting period right now for stocks because in theory the fed has told us interest rates will stay low a little bit longer and we're going to see subdued inflation. that's not a bad environment for stocks. yet we also know that when you're going into an interest rate hike situation, stocks usually have headwinds. that's why we get all of this confusion about what we should be owning right now. it seems like cyclical names like retailers and home builders should be pretty good for the next few months. but i know people arguing that they shouldn't do anything with stocks. a lot of confusion right now. >> darren what about you? when you look around this space, where do you see the most opportunity? >> we've pivoted the internet fund in particular to be focused more on the small and medium cap

range. we like companies like yelp like facebook like twitter. we do feel that the major indices, the broader indices, have had most of the run, and they've already begun to lag. and i think that's going to continue in the future. you cannot argue on one hand that you can't fight the fed. and then when a huge shift begins, to then argue that something won't change as well this is an incremental move but in the long run, this is a change that is going to continue for some time. >> guy, you got to start it on this topic, so we'll give you the final word here. what do you say? >> and enjoy las vegas, kelly, but i don't know what shift we're talking about. they can jawbone all they want they can continue to push this thing out. and frankly if the market wanted to raise rates on their own, the market would have done it all right. it's not. look at the move in the bond market yesterday. ten-year below 2% again. the moves in currencies are unprecedented. 5% moves used to happen in a year, not in three hours. the fed has lost control of

markets. they won't say that, but it is the truth. and it is extraordinarily scary. not to say the stock market can't continue up but you better be careful out there, folks. >> march madness. we're seeing it all over the place today. thanks, everybody. really appreciate it. bob pisani kenny polcari, darren chervittz, and "fast money's" guy adami this afternoon. catch guy coming up with the rest of the crew on "fast money" at 5:00. they'll be asking ben kalla why tesla is still his stop pick despite today's sell-off. you don't want to miss a moment of that. straight ahead here home depot's stock is red hot, up another 10% this year so how does craig menear hope to keep up that momentum and keep cashing in on the home renovation rush. i'll ask him next. home depot ceo craig menear when we come right back. grind virtually any kind of food waste

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welcome back. there's a look at home depot. shares have been on a tear up 45% in the past year near 52-week highs, and gaining about 10% so far this year as well. all day, we've been live in las vegas at the home depot's manager's meeting, where major companies are showcasing their new products. and hoping my next guest will

take notice. joining me now in an exclusive interview, his first since taking the helm is craig menear home depot's ceo. welcome. >> thanks for having us. >> i would typically say, thanks for being here, but at this point, i feel like i'm in your house. look around us. this is a huge space. you have how many people here? >> we have about 3,000 of our associates here. we have about 700 of our vendors here participating. and this is about 400,000 square feet of show space. >> so very much hinges on what happens this week. but it also does in an interesting way hinge on what 2,500 miles away the federal reserve has just signaled about perhaps moving towards raising or normalizing interest rates. obviously, that could have a huge impact on the housing market. what kind of impact are you bracing for in your business? >> well first of all, kelly, i'm not an economist, so i'll start with that. but if you think about what the fed's contemplating going forward, i think the underlying premise of why they're thinking about that is good. you've got an improving economy, you have an improving labor

market as a result and i think those two things actually bode well for the economy overall and we're starting from a pretty low base, so we're not overly concerned about it. >> here's the rub, though. the fed's own projections showed much lower interest rates for a longer period of time, reflecting a much weaker economy, perhaps. so there is some confusion about what they think is going on. are you seeing signs of a slowing economy at all here showing in demand? >> i mean if you look at our performance last year we were extremely pleased. we sat record performance, highest retail sales in our company's street. and we're off to a reasonably good start. you know weather is always a factor hour business. so when that little round thing in the sky soutis out we really like the business. >> it's interesting, apple's ceo tim cook just reminded us again this week is that despite any number of headwinds from weather to port strikes to oil produce

movements to currency movements, you know, the best businesses and the best products always win in the end. what are some of the best products you're seeing right here that can help you continue to grow your topline in an environment like this? >> it is all about innovation, right? and new sells, there's no question. so if you think about some of the key technologies that are driving the business so start with lithium technology. it is a game changer -- >> this is the lithium ion battery that i just saw in one of the drills over there? >> yep, that's what -- it's a game changer. it really is. it's taking things that used to either be corded or had to be pored by gas, and with the enhanced technology that's coming through the lithium technology, you get the comparable performance that you used to get whether it's gas powered or outdoor power equipment for garden or whether it's power tools that our pros and our consumers are using on the job. >> the difference being, as i learned earlier, that it used to be if a battery was running low,

your power tool would run low. now it runs at full speed until it's done and that really does change the way people can use it. >> it does. and also the technology has been enhanced in such a way that it operates just as well in cold temperatures, which, you know, historically batteries don't like cold temperatures. >> we're also noting the home automation presence here. you've been doing this event for about ten years. just two years ago, you guys didn't really have a home automation space, if you will. and now that's become so big. does that mean that we're going to start seeing a lot more home automation product? and what kind of product across home depot stores? >> today, it is a growing category. and between our stores and what we carry online through our digital assets we have about 700 products that are available that have some type of home automation or smart technology built into them. and you're seeing it across a number of things. things like in the outdoors to be able to control sprinkler systems. being able to control your hot water heaters, being able to control thermostats or

lightbulbs, for that matter. so it's spreading pretty rapidly. and when you think about the fact that there's a computer chip now driving inside of a product, it's amazing what you can do with that. >> oh, sure. and listen you guys are starting to throw off a lot of free cash and do -- you've historically been doing a lot of buybacks and a lot of increasing your dividends, which has helped shares do what they have which is kind of moving upward along that slope. as you continue to think about what you're going to do with your free cash flow how do you decide how much of that to put towards buybacks versus dividends, versus investment in the business? >> so first and foremost we're going to make sure that we're investing in the business to drive the business. so that's the key priority number one. and then we look at you know, the intrinsic value of our stock on a quarterly basis, and determine whether it continues to make sense to drive a share buyback program. we believe it does. >> you're at 22 times forward earnings. you guys have done if i have these numbers right, $53 million

in buybacks that i think since 2002. you did 7 billion last year. you have 18 billion currently authorized, of which maybe $4.5 billion this year. at what point are you almost buying back so much and seeing the shares at such a level that it doesn't make sense to keep doing it? >> if you look at that $53 billion, the average purchase of that stock was $44. so it's a pretty good model for us right now. >> and remains so today, even though we're near pretty much all-time -- or 52-week highs. >> yes. >> and the dividend as well you're increasing. so the reason why i bring up all these financial metrics, as well, some have said you guys have basically cracked the code. you're a big, mature company, able to keep your share price increasing, even though this space itself may not be increasing as fast as it could. what lessons do you think other big companies like yours might be able to learn from these decisions that you've made? >> well kelly, we have benefited, obviously, from the buyback program, as well as an increase in our dividend which we have a commitment to as well.

the majority of our growth in our stock has been driven by performance. and been driven by the fact that we've had great innovative product in our 400,000 or so associates take it and drive it in the market place. >> and let's get back to that for just a second. you guys are building up an online presence rapidly. as you focus on product, a lot of it is also going to be fending off competition from the likes of amazon for example. how are you going to keep doing that, and what kinds of new online and mobile things might we start to see here? >> so clearly, we take our product authority and approach to product both in our brick and mortar store, we take that same concept online. so we believe that great product with innovation and great value drives the business through all channels, not just online. the really cool part for us at home depot is, with that growth that we've had on homedepot.com, 40% of all of the orders actually finish in one of our orange box stores. the customer finds it incredibly

convenient to be able to huge our digital assets to order product, have it shipped to the store, pick it up at their convenience. the great part about that as well is 25% or more buy something else when they come into the store. >> oh, no kidding, and pick up an item there as well. >> correct. >> you know, last time we spoke or met, it was down in atlanta at one of those big distribution centers that's helping you fulfill orders on a daily if not hourly basis. how close are you towards whatever the holy grail is for home depot in terms of getting the that product to the customer in the shortest possible time? >> kelly, last year we were down in locust grove, and at that time, we had our first one open which we were in. we've since opened our second facility in california. and we're now completing our third facility that will open this year in 2015 in ohio. that will give us the capability to hit roughly 90% of the u.s. population with parcel shipment in 48 hours or less. >> and that means, as well that when i start to place one of these orders and look at whether i can get it from an amazon or

somebody else that the amount of time the product gets to me becomes a determining factor and swinging in your favor and not in theirs. i want to ask about a couple of things that have come up in terms of snags on the delivery process. product delays. you know there are analysts who say you guys could be better, and i understand that you've got these centers up now and running. is it an affect of port strike? has that been a headwind at all, or are there other reasons that you'll have to keep investing in logistics to improve that outcome? >> we did have some challenges and clearly with product that was tied up in the ports. but in large part for us, as it relates to being i believe to deliver product through our direct fulfillment in dcs, it's a matter of building out those capabilities and finishing out our network that we're doing this year. >> understood. meanwhile, some questions about the health of the consumer and demand. what impact are you seeing from the drop in oil prices the crash that some are calling it given the share of your business that's in texas and some of

these other affected states? >> so we haven't really seen an impact in given states if you will, on our business. what i would say is that we've spent a lot of time trying to understand the correlation with gas prices to our sales, and really haven't been able to draw a correlation. but, you know, it's a great thing when the average consumer has, i believe, people are saying $750 more in their pockets. that's good for the economy and for our business. >> and so far this year the housing data top level, has been a little bit shaky. what do you think is going on in the housing market and how related is that -- and what do you think you can tell us as well, about traffic and tickets so far this year? >> kelly, the housing has played out much the way we thought it would. i think people are a little bit more bullish last year than we were. so when we did our plans for 2014 and likewise we think that it will be much the way it was in 2014 going into 2013. so we're confident that you know, the business will lay out, much the way we've planned it

based on housing. >> and what about home depot perot pro? this seems to be a really interesting opportunity for you guys. it's aimed at more of the business side of the business, if you will instead of the consumer. what are we going to see and how much is that driving trends for you? >> so the pro is a very important customer for us and it has been for a very long time. roughly, 4% of our customers, which represent our pros do almost 35% or so of our business in total. and it's an area that we're focusing on. we know it's an opportunity. if you think about the aging population in the united states more people are electing to have it done for them either through a pro, that they have that they work with or through home depot services. and we've seen both the pro and our services business grow as a result candidly above the company average, particularly with our large spend pro. >> fascinating services as well for you guys over time, do you have a sense of how much that might grow? and when we're talking about home automation and if i walk in and buy a wink or a nest or

one of these products that i'm learning about, what happens if i need help in its installation or servicinge ingservicing? >> as far as our installation business, we think that's a great opportunity to help us continue to grow. and it's outpaced the company for the last 13 quarters in a row. when it comes to home automation and what the potential service needs are there, i think in many ways, what's happening is, folks are really trying to make that super simple. if you know how to download an app on your phone and compare a device, which most people can do, that's all it's going to take as you see this technology evolve. it will make it very, very easy for customers. >> and finally the data breach. are you confident that that's behind you now and should all shoppers at home depot feel protected when they're using your systems either in-store or online? >> you know from the very beginning, when that happened our first and foremost thought was, how do we make sure that our customers understand that they're not responsible for any losses, that we in fact or the

banks will take care of that. that's first and foremost. we put a lot of effort into we put encryption in place. we accelerated that in the 2014 right after the breach to be able to make sure that we could protect our customers. >> and so final word craig. how would you describe the outlook for you this year? >> we're very optimistic about this year. we believe that we've got, overall, an improving economy here in our country. we think housing will play out much the way we anticipate it so we're very excited about the new products we're showing here at the show and our store managers are pretty fired up. so we've got a lot of confidence. >> i can hear and see them all right behind you scheercheering you on here. thanks very much, craig menear the ceo of home depot for having us here. really appreciate it. dow component, nike. dow components is out with its earnings now and our sarah eisen has those numbers. >> nike's out with a beat on the bottom line by a nickel. 89 cents, reported. the street was looking for more

like 85 cents. the revenues did come in a bit light. $7.46 billion versus $7.6 that was estimated. currencies is a big deal for nike, because it does get most of its revenues overseas. revenue up 7%. but if you take out the currency impact, that number would have been up 13%. gross margins coming in higher and futures orders which is a good indication of what happens next for nike trades on it. up 11% versus 9% expected. china is a strong spot there. so is europe, so is north america, emerging markets, not so much. back to you. >> wow, sarah, shares look like they're up a little bit, but we'll have much more on nike's earnings in a moment. thank you so much. and what would a trip to sin city be without seeing mr. las vegas himself. wayne newton will join me live in just a few minutes. who knows, maybe we'll even get to hear him sing when we come back. ♪ thank you for all the joy and pain ♪

nike out with its earnings moments ago. shares a little bit higher but the company beat on the bottom line. its revenue came in short of wall street estimates, that futures numbers looked pretty strong. let's get more reaction from rob

plaza. thanks for your quick take here. i mean listen do you think the share -- i guess there's, on the one hand on the other hand. you know the revenue number misses, the futures numbers is better. which to you is more important? >> it's definitely the underlying fundamentals of the company. we were looking at constant currency results and the low teens number that i think i heard in the broadcast, that was pretty good. that's a number that i'm pretty bullish on. >> okay. so when you hear that the ex-currency futures orders are up 11%, rob, what does that tell you about nike's momentum here? zbrit >> it tells me it's still strong. where they're at they pretty much own the shoe market here in the states sand it's gaining momentum. very important to gain the momentum in china and it sounds like there's even improvement in western europe. i would like to see some more strength with the emerging markets, but you can't have everything. but nike's definitely -- this was a good report coming in.

coming in expectations everybody, including myself we were worried about the currency and the headwinds that could cause an impact to the results. so for them to beat on the bottom line this is a good number. >> so you think shares could keep climbing from here then? what's your price target? >> oh, i think this stock can go well into the 115, 120 area. i mean where are you going to find 20% bottom line growth a company with the ability to growth revenue, constant currency revenue in the low teens to mid-teens. and the ability to raise gross margins? >> a quick last question though. under armour they are investing huge you know, kevin plank is crazy about nike and doing everything he can, i hear to steal some momentum from their business. are you worried about that as a competitive threat derailing this growth? >> not yet. i think nike realizes that there's competition, not just here in the states but everywhere, and they're really heavily invested in innovation

and trying to go beyond just the shoes or beyond athletic -- i've been told not to say@ athleisure. >> those belong on a list of banned neologisms. thank you, sir, rob plaza. i know we didn't have a lot of time, but from key private bank on nike as that's moving a little bit after hours on the back of those results here. while we wait for that to shake out, let's send it out to sue herrera for a news update. >> here's what's happening this hour. the white house saying today, it is committed to working with israel on military intelligence and security. president obama and prime minister benjamin netanyahu have been at odds of course over middle east policy for some time now. medical examiners identifying the remains of another victim of the september 11th attacks more

than 16 years later. he had worked on the 97th floor of the south tower at the world trade center. new details emerging from last month's deadly commuter train crash outside of los angeles. accident investigators say the driver of a ford pickup truck mistakenly turned on to the rails. they published their initial findings today. and a new survey suggests items at walmart, on average, are nearly 4% cheaper than at target. consulting firm kantar retail based its datas on a basket of grocery, health and beauty products. so now you know. that's your news update for this hour. kelly, back to you. >> all right, sue. thank you very much, sue herrera, back at hq. but what's a trip to las vegas here without visiting rick harrison's famous pawnshop? up next see what i tried to sell the reality star. and here's a preview, he didn't go easy on me. >> you got like $200 worth of scrap here. >> oh, really? so $200 is all i would get -- >> it gets worse! we'll show you, next.

and when it comes to retiring, you could roll the dice at the tables in investigation and hope to earn $1 million. or you could stay tuned and learn the three simple secrets that 401(k) millionaires already know when we're back in just a moment.

welcome back. every day, some 4,000 people visit the gold and silver pawnshop here in las vegas. they come to the shop made famous by the tv series, "pawn stars" with dollar signs in their eyes. and i'm no different. i paid a visit to rick harrison and he showed me no mercy. take a look. i've never been to las vegas and i've never pawned something in my life but i have to know how much the gold in this college ring is worth. >> um you know the college rings, the one thing about them it's a real specialty item you know what i mean? it's really only -- >> a lot more personal value than market value. >> yeah so you basically have scrap value, and this one is -- >> 2007. >> 2007 and you got, 15 grams, you got like $200 worth of scrap here. >> really? so $200 is all i would get if i traded this in right now. 200 bucks. >> so rick you do a lot of books here a big book business?

>> we do a lot of books. as a matter of fact, i just sold one the other day for $50,000. >> wow okay! so i found this in a new york bookshop. i don't know how much about books, though so i paid 20 bucks for it and i want to know what i'm actually looking at here in terms of its historical value and how much it might be worth. >> we know it's not a first edition, but there are lots of editions of this book. and this one was printed in the 20th century, you can tell by the dust jacket and everything like that. and -- >> 1948. >> 1948 which is awfully new for a book. >> old for a person new for a book. >> yeah. and you paid right around what it's worth. >> you're telling me i couldn't get more than 20 bucks for this? >> no. >> and turn about fair play. we welcome back to "closing bell." although this time we're on his turf "pawn star's" rick harrison. good to have you here. >> thanks for having me back. >> you broke my heart with the book and the ring.

but they're both sentimental value. so 4,000 people walk through your store every day? >> 4,000 people every day. it's not like it used to be. >> what do you mean? >> i'm now the number one non-gaming tourist destination in vegas. >> that goes into the conversation we're having with keith boyd who says vegas isn't even about gaming anymore, it's about all this other stuff. >> vegas is just you know 90% of the people in the united states live within 100 miles of a casino now. >> wow. so, vegas had to do something to keep it going. and it's the great thing about this city, it keeps on changing. the nightclubs are just insane. people come from all around the world just for those. >> i'll take your word for it. speaking of building what are you doing with the strip mall across the street? >> i am building pawnshop plaza. >> pawnshop plaza. >> it's really neat because it's -- they look like containers, but they're not. it's actually manufactured containers and it's a giant strip mall, sort of looks like a rubics cube. >> uh-huh. >> and we want to build it really different. the construction cost was a lot more, but if you're going to have -- >> what's going to be in there?

>> everything from rolling smoke barbecue, which is like the best barbecue on the planet and we have the entire bottom floor is rented out and part of the top floor, it's -- >> is there going to be a bigger pawnshop over there? >> no, i've still got my one pawnshop there -- remember television shows go away -- cnbc will never go away. >> you have to get something else that will be more long lasting. we couldn't believe the line this morning, it was just the normal business that you had there. >> well, yeah it's -- i've got a television show that's on in 150 countries in 38 languages, so, half the people that show up at the pawnshop are just tourists. >> just fans. >> and they all want a t-shirt. >> and you by the way, i love talking to you, because you walk around the shop and you're pointing out the plans from this and that battle that you have on the wall and then talking about the history of these movie posters and the whole thing, it's really an educational process and it's about telling these stories. what's next for you, though in the rick harrison story? you've got the trivia app.

what's next? >> i have the trivia app, i have this old man interactive, i have my shopping center going, i'm opening up a restaurant and a bar in the shopping center i'm on the board of the directors of the epilepsy foundation. i also have my game show pawnography. >> and trying to get home depot to open a location near your other home. >> i have a little ranch up in oregon, you really show open up one that's not three hours away. >> understood. talk to us a little bit about what's driving customer interest right now. >> it's just like everything, you know, you just have to be really innovative. businesses that don't evolve are businesses that die. you know that's why home depot is this big and the small hardware store goes away because they just didn't innovate you know what i mean? >> if it's not gold for example, if it's not, you know a couple of years ago when everybody was crazy about selling their gold what is it today that still has -- >> i mean part of the reason is because my show people are really interested. you know if you can't -- if

enough good merchandise doesn't come across the counter, find a place to find good merchandise to sell your customers, you know? you have to have what your customers need, because if you don't have what your customers need, you won't have customers. >> and what do they need these days? >> jewelry's always good. quality watches. i mean art is really -- art's a really big seller. people have larger homes now and they need to fill up more walls. so i would try to keep what's cool and what's hot on the walls. >> how about that 30,000 -- we didn't show this but after we were talking about my $200 ring here, you pulled out a super bowl ring that the patriots had from 2001. >> yeah. >> that was worth $30,000. >> yes. i do a lot of business in sports rings. i don't think you were there when i saw it, i have a display in the pawnshop that's full of sports rings. sports have always been a hot item. people are fanatical about sports. >> do they have to get rid of the stuff under duress though? that's what i always worry about? >> it's one of the things. one of my best friends played for the broncos back in the '70s and these young guys, they go into sports and really don't

know a lot about money, and i think he got a $30,000 signing bonus back in 1971. and i said, what'd you do with the money? and he said i bought a fur coat and a van. >> but he had a great year. great to see a firsthand look. rick harrison is the star of "pawn stars." want to retire with more than $1 million? are you trying to get it done gambling at the tables? probably a bad idea. but if you want to get it done by using your 401(k) you might have a good shot. stay with us. "closing bell" is back.

welcome back. here in las vegas rolling the dice is a way of life but not even the most hardened gambler would admit that a sound investment strategy would involve betting it all on black. sharon epperson reveals how you can become a 401(k) millionaire without taking on the house. >> you don't have to have made a million dollars to have saved a million dollars. the number of workers who have saved $1 million or more is at a new record having doubled in the last year. and many of fidelity's 401(k) millionaires made less than $150,000 a year. their success isn't purely based on stock market gains, they are serious savers. they started early, giving them a powerful advantage thanks to compounding. they generally started saving at 25 and plan to work until 67.

most financial advisers say you should contribute a minimum of 10%. the savings rate for fidelity's savers was even higher at 16%. and most important, they're sticking to their plan. financial advisers are quick to point out that it's discipline that can make the difference and not necessarily the amount you earn. regardless of income you can put in $18,000 into a 401(k) this year or $24,000 if you're 50 or older. so just socking it away is a winning strategy kelly. >> and sharon, just a quick question, what do you think is the biggest mistake here that people are generally making? >> i think generally, the biggest mistake people make is that they're not consistent savers. and that's something that these 401(k) millionaires are doing for decades. and that's really what it takes. a lot of people want to know how they should invest their money. yes, that asset allocation is key, but just putting away that 16% in some cases, 25%, if

you're behind in how much you need to put away that is what it's going to take to get you where you want to be for retirement, and i think a lot of people just need to adopt that discipline. >> yeah, get time on your side! >> exactly. >> sharon thank you. >> sure. >> sharon epperson back at headquarters. and because we're in las vegas, i'm in a bit of a gambling mood. up next, we'll roll the dice and see what the top stories are on the cnbc hot list. he was once the highest paid performer on the strip, and today everyone knows him as mr. las vegas. just ahead, wayne newton joins us to talk about the casino and the music business. stay with us.

welcome back. if and when the fed raises rates your money will feel it. how? that money burning up cnbc.com. what's on the hot list? >> we wrapped up a compendium of how an interest rate hike will affect your money. some of these are mortgages, car loans, so we felt it was good to get in front of people right now. they're eating it up. number two on the list tesla. a big subject today. we had elon musk do his announcement about you know new software to help range finding, but he also talked about a new automatic steering

thing that he's trying out. >> oh, yeah. >> said it should be out in a few months. people are really eating that one up too. that's the subject du jour. brackets. we had this piece about harvard how they're likely to lose to unc. they're number one in fashion. voted them best in uniforms. 99% of the brackets are busted now with iowa state and the georgia state games. >> march madness must be driving traffic. >> yeah. it's in a big, big way. we'll hope for harvard tonight but, you know. take care. >> craziness. we'll see if ucla can pull it off. alan back in headquarters. what would a trip to sin city be without a little music. up next i'll be joined by mr. las vegas himself, wayne newton. see, this is so much better than the ncaa tournament. we'll be right back. ♪ thank you for all the joy and pain ♪ this cnbc program is sponsored by --

my next guest has seen vintage vegas on the strip with the long gone hotel the star dust and the by laj yes.

wayne newton has seen everything rice and fall. everyone knows him as mr. las vegas. welcome, wayne newton to the closing bell. >> kelly its's a great pleasure to be here. >> thanks for coming. >> the thing that bothered me most about imploding some of the hotels that you mentioned, like the star dust the thing that bothered me the most about that is i was on stage at the time. >> little reference to the past there. you really have witnessed this city go through an amazing change. i was reading when you started and you got a gig, nobody's here in november no one will show up to these shows. it is a seasonal town. that is not the case today, is it? >> not anymore. we went from when i came here 70,000 people residents, right? to today over 2 million. so that in itself has been a remarkable change. >> and as we talk about some of the newer attractions, you're

going to become a key part of this, long-time attraction on the entertainment scene, but you're state, your home kcasa de shenandoah. >> open to the public. what's behind the 40 acres of wall. what's behind them is the most beautiful place you'll ever seen. >> arabian horses cars. >> arabian horses we have penguins, we have wallabees, we have kangaroos, we have peacocks, we have swans. you name it we have it. >> what's it going to be like when i come visit once you're open you said in may you're looking at later this spring? >> mid may there will be the airplane i've flown for many years all over the world. >> because you have a landing strip there as well? >> i took it apart to bring it there. now getting it out will be the difficult part if we ever do

that. >> yeah. >> i have a car collection of about 14 vintage cars. the horses. we swim the horses. we work the horses. there's the home that i built for my parents and i when i was 16. >> right. >> there. and then the home that turned into -- people call it different things. i will just say the main house. >> the main house. which is probably an understatement. i've got to ask you as i like to do when we bring big names through. what's the biggest money mistake you've ever made? >> money mistake that you've made or lesson you've learned. >> biggest money mistake i ever made was going into partnership with the wrong people. >> oh. >> and what about your greatest success as an investment? >> the greatest success that i have have had was the affection

of the people that follow me as i sing and do my show. >> i think a couple of them are about to join us coming up here with "fast money." melissa lee. i don't know melissa, you have a couple of wayne newton fans there if i understand it. >> you know what's funny, guy adami is always singing dankashe. >> he says he's better than wayne. >> i saw this with beverly deangelo. here you go. real quick ♪ i recall central park in fall ♪ how is that? >> what do you think, wayne? >> that was great. that was great. >> you can do it together. >> dankashea. >> you should sing together. >> we don't have time. maybe when i'm out there in vegas, wayne, i will hook up. >> you're on. it's a deal. >> i'll pay to see wayne. >> wayne newton thank you so much for being here on "closing bell." i really really appreciate it.

best of luck to you with the whole estate opening this spring. that is sure to be as long lasting an attraction. >> that does it for us at "closing bell." now it's time for melissa lee and the gang. >> thanks a lot, kelly. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market site overlooking new york city's time square. i'm melissa lee. john jerry, karen and guy adami. here's what's coming up tonight on "fast." tesla ceo elon musk announcing something in a conference call today. >> most cars don't improve over time, but the model s is out there, software updates does get faster smarter, better as time passes. and the car improves while you sleep and when you wake up it's got added functionality at this, improved user experience and it feels like driving