>> there's you. your boys are in the mix somewhere. you have a stock, josh, to take a look at before we go? >> i want to talk about itb, the housing index that's breaking out. it's been -- this is the space power starts now. >> all right, scott. thank you very much. tyler mathison along with mandy drury. >> indeed. we start with a developing story. terrible plane crash in the south of france. authorities have just found the black box. phil lebeau is here. he is our aviation reporter. hello, phil. a lot of questions need answers here, not least of which what the cause of this is and to what agree we find out and when from the black box. quickly. now that they have it they will likely analyze that data. it's hashed to say when we'll have answer from the black box, but the fact that they've already recovered it mean that they will quickly move to analyzing it. we should mention that the search crews not only do they have the black box, but they're on the scene now.

here are some of the pictures coming in from the southern alps of the crash site. we should say crash sites because we've seen a number of pictures showing debris spread over several areas and really the main question involving this crash of the german wing's a-320 is the rapid desent of the plane. all the way down to approximately 6,500, 6,800 feet. 150 people were killed on this flight. 144 of them being passengers, including some german students. there were also six crew members. the german wing's a-320 was built in 1991. some people have been suggesting, well look it's 25 years old. isn't that old. in the commercial airline business an airplane that is 25 years old -- the main questions right now that investigators are going to be focussing on really comes down to this.

why were there no alerts sent out from the crew inside this plane? especially as they started their descent. we should point out that this plane was checked yet. that was not a full inspection but it was the most recent inspection of the plane, and, again, there were no indications of any problems there. see if they can get a better sense of what exactly what went wrong here. >> stay with us as i bring in

debra hersman now head of the national safety council. she's live on the phone. let's begin -- and thank you for being with us -- with what the circumstances suggest to you. in other words, no distress call that we're aware of. what was described as an orderly descent, albeit a straight one. what does it suggest to you? >> well, i can tell you one of the things that's going to be critically important is that black box that they've now located. you're going to get a sense of if the data is there and if it's intact you're going to get a sense of not just what the aircraft was doing and how that descent was being managed, but you'll get a conversation of what the conversation is going and what the cockpit were like. if they had good recordings that you should probably expect at least a two-hour recording on that cbr, and if it's good quality, you're going to know

exactly what was going on. very interesting in this situation there was no communication with air traffic control. >> does that suggest to you some sort of catastrophic failure of the electrical system and the engines, some sort of depressurization event that may have incapacitated the pilots? >> well we certainly have seen over the last few years events that involve either incapacitation. we had a flight in greece that had a depressurization event. we've seen events where there are criminal activities it is, hijackings other things. we have no sense that is what has occurred here but there's just too many questions that are unanswered. we've got to wait for the data to come in. we've got to wait for more evidence. all we know right now is that we have a plane that has crashed. we really don't know why, and until they get that black box, we won't know. >> so the black box has been

recovered apparently. mandy was asking a moment ago how long does it take to get information out of it and where is the black box typically taken to do that? are there facilities in germany, france or is it usually brought here to the united states? >> so there are a number of countries that have great state-of-the-art facilities. clearly, the united states has a lot of experience with recorders because we see awe lot of them but, you know the other state of manufacturer, the major state of manufacturer, we've got boeing here in the u.s. airbus that air is certificated in france so the eba or ntsb's ekwifl enlt in france the bea has a lot of experience, and i expect they're going to be taking those recorders to paris once they get their hands on them and the b.e.a. will download them. you can have an audition of those cockpit voice recorders within just a few hours, and so we could see information if they can get the recorders off the mountain and to the lab we can

see information in a couple of hours. >> let me bring phil lebeau in. phil. loo debra, i'm curious, there's a lot of speculation about depressurization about being the main cause of what went wrong here. if that were in fact the case -- again, we don't know for sure but if that were the primary factor here how quickly can that cause the crew and the passengers basically to be incapacitated? >> you know it really depends on how that depressurization is occurring. if it's a slow leak or something that's catastrophic and acute. it can happen very quickly. the one thing that we've seen though, whether it was payne stewart or whether it was the flight that i just mentioned that involved the greek 737, as you generally see them operating at a level flight for a period of time if they're completely incapacitated. this one we're seeing descent. we need to really understand what was going on in the cockpit before we jump to any conclusions, and i think pretty quickly, you know within the

first 24 hours if they get those black boxes and read them out, we're going to know a lot. >> debra, thank you very much. debra hersman, former government official in charge of aviation safety among other things. >> we'll continue to monitor any revelation from that tragic story. we have breaking news right now in the bond market with two-year notes up for auction. what's demand looking like ricky? >> well, demand wasn't bad. i gave the auction a c-plus. a little better than average. keep in mind this is the first phase of 90 billion in supply two-year note. the yield at the auction .598. the bid line -- almost on top of the ten auction average. 49.7 sounds pretty good for indirect. with the last several auctions it's been in the 48 camp and 18.3 on directs, 36% go to

dealers. c-plus for this auction. tomorrow, of course we'll look forward to $35 billion and five-year notes. back to you. >> thank you very much. a c-plus. thank you, rick. well, shares are on track for their best day since january 30th. this comes as google and other high-tech firms come under fire for a lack of diversity in their work force. our tech reporter josh lipton who is based in silicon valley in new jersey. >> don't miss that part at all. no. >> another wall street person being stolen by silicon valley. >> it's true. so wall street may be cheering the appointment today of ruth horath as google's ceo. it's not because of her strong background only, but also because with this hire really potentially it signals for investors. porat has been at morgan stanley since 1987. she has played several key roles

at the company. that includes vice chairman of investment banking. she knows how to manage very high complex institutions. there is another reason the street is applauding this hire. it might signal an increased chance of cash return sun trust bob peck says investors believe capital return is a real possibility at the search jibt which is why he says you should see that stock as gaining nearly 10%. as peck points out, that was not going to happen until a new cfo was hired and now that is a done deal. google's hire does come at a sensitive time for silicon valley. the community dealing with issues of gender discrimination in the trial of ellen powell and cliner perkins. that's sure to put pressure on other tech giants to at least be more aware of the role diversity

and gender in their boardrooms. >> we're going to talk more about that with a couple of female gc's. thank you very much, josh. >> you got it. >> good to have you here. over to you, ty. the american housing market getting a boost. new home sales soaring. seven-year high despite the brutal winter weather. diana in washington with more on what's fueling it. these numbers are a little surprising, diana. sfwroo they are. they certainly surprised the street, tyler. the jump in new home sales was dramatic. no question. the highest pace in seven years. any sales gains are good in this market but there is a back story to this bounce. take a look. the annualized sales pace hit $539,000, which means that is the estimated number of homes that would sell in all 2015 based on the pace in february. again, highest pace in seven years, but seven years ago housing had just undergone an epic crash from a 1.4 million

annualized pace in july of 2005 to a bottom of -- that's all according to the u.s. census. if you take the numbers back to 2000 before the housing boom sales were at an 880,000 annualized pace. still higher than today. the u.s. population has grown more than 11% since then. we need more houses right? the supply of existing homes not helping. it is far lower today than it was in 2000. again, with that population growth, so builder sales are likely getting a big boost simply because there are so few homes altogether on the market. now, while this is a great monthly report we really need to see more construction of new homes. hougz starts in february were not nearly as encouraging. perhaps these sales numbers will help the builders. perhaps, mandy. >> thank you so much for that diana. what do insiders think about the impact of high speed trading on the markets? well, hedge funds, broker dealers weigh in and it is a

first on cnbc. you're possibly going to be really surprised by the outcome. also, the rocket wars. a rare and exclusive inside look at the next generation of space launch vehicles. it's incredible stuff. make sure you stay with us right here on power lunch. [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops. so open an account with schwab. and when a market move affects, say a cloud computing stock you're holding, we can help you decide what to do. with tools that help you see how market activity is affecting your positions. so when the time

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there's a price grade from barclay's and cantor fitzgerald for netflix. they say there's -- the price target at $450 a share. it was $400. those shares very much getting a pop today. now, over to sue herrera and the breaking news desk for something on the global telecom front. >> absolutely dom. basically what's happening is spain's telefonica has made a deal to sell its wireless carrier unit to hutchison lampola, and the price tag is about $10.25 billion pounds. that equates to $15.25 billion. it's a big deal. they have come to an early agreement in the early part of the year january, february but now they are saying that there is a definitive agreement. spain's telefonica will reach that deal and sell its british buyerless unit. $15 billion. >> it is a big deal.

>> shares are rising after billionaire carl icon upped his stake in the company. seven million shares to a total of 73 million. chesapeake up by 1.5%. freeport mcmoran slashing to just 5 cents a share. the mining giant citing volatile market conditions for the cut. shares of freeport, as you can see, they're down 1% but they're down 40% over the past year. and general motors investing $350 million to produce its next generation chevrolet cruise compact car in mexico. this is part of the automaker's $5 billion investment plan in the region. ty. >> mandy, yesterday flash boys author michael lewis joined us to discuss the flash boys one year later and the complexity of these high frequency trades in the financial markets. here's what he had to say. >> the complexity is the new owe paft in the financial markets. it's a way -- the way bad behavior gets disguised is it's very complicated.

it was -- the complexity was at the root of the financial crisis. >> 57% said the markets were not fair for all participants, though this is down from 70% who said the same thing in the survey last year. now, perhaps more importantly, only 42% report that they had made any change in the way they trade or interact with the markets. now, joining us now is eric miller the ceo of convergex. this is an interesting survey. 57% say the market is not fair but only 42% report that they're making any changes. what is this telling us about

the state of wall street's head right now? >> yeah. well, i think it's telling us a couple of things which is one, that most investors, at least on the large institutional side of the marketplace, don't really feel like the house is on fire. they may have a lot of concerns about the way the market works and how it's being dealt with and the changes that should be made, but they don't really feel like it's rigged or that they're not getting what they want in the marketplace, or they would be making changes. >> now, michael lewis yesterday on our air said he kind of regrets using the word rigged because it created a whole side show about whether the markets were fair or not, and it took people away from other important issues, like the weird relationship that is exist among a lot of the participants. what changes do you think wall street wants to see in the way the stock market trades -- wall street wants to see? >> the changes i think wall street wants to see is first of all, they want to see and are asking for greater transparency among their brokers about how orders are routed and dealt with in the marketplace. to the extent that the people who participate in our survey responded, one of the things

they asked for is that's where we want to see some change. the other two areas where they're really looking for change is they would like to see reform about market data. that's the difference really from the consolidated information processor and direct market feeds. that's really the source of the late answery arbitra fwge. the other thing is they pay people to make markets on their floors, and they think that might create conflicts and different kinds of incentive that is may not be good for all markets. >> eric ceo convergex. always a pleasure. keep us up on the survey results. eric knoll, thanks very much. back to you. >> thanks very much bob. >> firing up the engines and the race to space. jane wells is live in decater, alabama, and the inside look at the next generation launch vehicle. jane. >> mandy, that is a big rocket. this is where it's made by united launch alliance which up until now has been the only game in town when it came to military

launches. that's about to change. up next a live interview with the ceo about surviving the space race in the face of new competition when "power lunch" comes back. in new york state, we're reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started... only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that partner companies with universities, and venture capital funding for high growth industries. see how new york can grow your business and create jobs.

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>> rocket wars are heating up, and there's a lot of money at stake for the major players. jane wells knows all about it, and she's live in decater, alabama. jane. >> hey, mandy. united launch alliance.

with me is ceo tory bruno. thank you for joining us. >> pleasure. >> you know, there is a lot on the line. you have competition like you've never had before, and now you're about to announce the development of a new rocket because for one thing you have to get rid of the russian engine you have in the atlas. what can you tell me about this rocket? >> it is going to be more powerful, more capable than any rocket we've made before and even less expensive. >> how can you do that? >> we're going to reduce the cost structure. prior we have been required to be the country's only provider of two redundant systems. now we can focus on one and make it as competitive as possible. >> you're telling me also that the engine may possibly come from blue origin by jeff basos. what can you tell me about what's going on at blue origin? >> he has a great team of some of the best rocket scientists in the country. when i met them, i found a bunch of people that i have lost track of, and they are off doing great work and introducing new technology that's going to advance the state of rocketry in america.

>> the problem is the russian engine in the atlas, congress is saying you can't use it mast 2019. if you use blue origin or aerojet -- it won't be ready until at least 2022. what are you going to do over three years? the delta is very expensive to fly. does space-x get all that business then from military launches? >> the country really needs to have two systems in case there's an urgent need. i'm expecting congress to give us just a little bit more time. >> you mean to get a few more russian engines. >> yeah. >> space x says they can do it for cheaper, that they don't get $1 billion subsidy to maintain launch capability that you are slow to ino vat. how do you compete? they say you're costing $400 million a launch, and they're doing it for about $160 million. >> well it's not $400 million. i'm not quite sure how they do that math. the average cost of our entire fleet of 16 rockets is $225 million. the least of which is comparable to a falcon nine. the comparison is really to 164. >> and the billion dollar

subsidy you get, they don't get that. >> neither do i. there is no subsidy. that contract is just the day of launch when launch infrastructure costs broken out separately, they get it too. it's just in one contract for them. >> all right. tory bruno, when are we going to actually see the mock-up for this new rocket? >> you'll see it at the space sim pose wrum in april. we're only two weeks away. >> thank you very much for talking with us. tyler, back to you. >> all right, jane. thank you very much. let's get back to the cme. rick santelli with a bond report. hi rick. >> hi. post two-year note auction, rate slipped a bit. a little bit in twot-year note. you definitely see it down the curve. look at the intraday ten. should we close under this 190 level, once again, we'll be back to february 5th, and if he welcome look at the euro versus dollar. it made its high above 110 early in the session about 9:00 eastern, and then continued to move lower. well traders down here like buying and selling equities based on the euro. today it was a sell.

look at the s&p 500 on an intraday. as the euro moves down and the dollar goes up multi-nationals suffer. they tell s&ps and doubt futures. it's something to pay attention to. back to you. >> we're always paying attention. thank you, ricky. >> well the fed, the economy, and your money. despite polls by some fed members to begin raising interest rates sooner rather than later, why rate hikes may come later rather sooner. plus, closing arguments today in a high profile gender lawsuit in silicon valley. protecting has been under fire for its lack of diversity, but today google naming a female cfo. two top female venture capitalists weigh in on silicon valley's gender problem and how they think we can fix it. [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses. if you have a business idea, we have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. with easy step-by-step guidance, we're here to help you turn your dream into a reality. start your business today with legalzoom.

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sdwrirchlgts welcome back to power lunch. shares of facebook are getting attention today. the "new york times" is reporting that facebook is in talks with news companies about publishing content directly on facebook. they're up a 1.5%. the social network is hitting

another new all-time high today above $85 a share. at least in today's trade, remember, this is just before its two-day developer conference. now over to sue herrera with the cnbc news update this hour. >> hi dom. thank you very much. here is your news update. the french interior minister says a black box has been found at the plane crash site in the french alps. it will now be taken in for analysis. the white house, meanwhile, says the crash does not appear to have been caused by a terror attack. the president has been briefed on the situation and has offered his assistance. house speaker john boehner says he was shocked by revelations that israel speed on closed door nuclear talks involving the u.s. and then pass the information along to members of congress. when asked about the "wall street journal" report, he declined to say whether such actions by the israelis were appropriate, describing himself as baffled. we should add that israel denies the allegations. china is road testing its new 59 foot long electric bus in beijing. it is the first of its kind in

china and set to officially hit city streets tomorrow. it has a driving range of 620 miles on a single charge and can carry 143 passengers. that's almost double the capacity of a traditional bus. and speaking of driving lower gas prices had americans driving at near record levels last we're. the department of transportation said motorists travel 3.02 trillion miles in 2014 2% more than last year and just a bit lower than the record levels that were set in 2007. that's your cnbc news update this hour. back to you, ty. >> all right, sue. thank you. we heard from fed vice chair stanley fisher yesterday, and he seems to be moving closer to the chair, ms. yellin. will rate hikes come later rather than sooner? let's discuss this this evergreen topic with ron insana. it really is. editor of market intelligence at market fi.com and our senior economics reporter steve liesman, which suggests there is a junior economics reporter

though i've never found. >> 17 of them. >> 17 of them. >> they've been deputized and not been told. >> basically what's happening here is that mr. fisher has moved a little closer to the later rather than sooner camp? >> it sounded like he was walking back -- actually the comments he made to steve liesman a little over a week ago where he said middle of the year we'll start raising rates, and then he said we're going to start -- we'll get there by the end of the year, and it sounded to me like a walkback. then when you look at the broader array of what's happened at the fed, when you see the dot plots coalessing around and lower inflation, kind of where janet yellin is, it seems to me that she's still in control. you have more of a convergence of fisher moving towards yellin than yellin moving towards fisher, who is supposedly a little more hawkish on policy than ms. yellin was. >> do you see it that way? >> not quite. first of all, i think, ron, if i could correct the record i think he said this year when he spoke. it was the first time that had been said quite so definitively. i think, on the other hand i

think that the vice chair is going to have to be at least publicly close to the chair. my thinking of stan fischer is he represents in many ways his own orbit, but an orbit not for this moment. when -- i think he is pushing the fed towards normalization. that's where he wants to be but he can't do so too quickly, and he is going to be the guy who is the guy you want there when they start to normalize. kind of like a throwback. here's the story. i think that the normalization camp won one, but not definitively, and it dpoendz the data. if they get where they're going to go, ron, then he is going to be seen as having won that. >> but they have to get where they're going to go. you look at cpi. it's up .2%. it's just as likely to reverse itself next month after falling for four months in a row as it is to go back up. the inflation argument still very much in play. >> very unresolved. >> you have a soft patch in the third quarter. the fed itself is looking at .3%

growth in first quarter gdp. they've downgraded their assessment. >> right. >> it becomes less clear as to whether or not the trajectory in the economy, as it was in the third and fourth quarter of last year. >> in a sense, you're in fischer territory rather than let's call it yellin or ultra dove territory. you're talking about a fed that's data dependent rather than time commitment or forward guidance dependent. that's i think a change that fischer has helped affect. not that yellin wouldn't have gone there anyway but the idea of moving off that we're going to do this in no more than two meetings or six months or a we're. >> one thing that became clear to me yesterday in his remarks at the economic club of new york is whenever those changes start to be made they will be very gradual and we will go -- >> they're not going to do the 25 basis points every year. >> it's going to be data dependent, and he said basically we're going to go from -- i forget -- >> ultra super -- >> having said that though the

data still don't support a move. we look at china. pmi last night, the manufacturing data was the lowest we've seen in 11 months. some people are talking about green shoots in europe but that's mostly germany. >> this is the conversation they should be having which is when do you think, ron, those conditions exist, and i think we can't have that conversation until june. >> right. look, i'm in the ray dalio camp that says you don't want to make a mistake. erring on the side of ease is -- >> we can't have that conversation now because the producer is telling me we can't have that conversation now. we'll have it. >> i should talk to the producer. >> they are your junior economic correspondents. >> you're full-time, so you can do what you want. >> see you. mandy, over to you. >> otherwise known as the voice of god, ty. okay. stocks are giving up their earlier meager gains. even the in a case has now gone negative as investors are focussing on the dollar strength and the impact of earnings. what happens if indeed the fed does decide to hike interest rates later rather than sooner, as they were discussing a moment ago? well, joining us now phil

orlando, chief equity strategist and mike holland, chairman of holland and company. both long-term bull who's say they will not be surprised, however, if there is some pullback here. indeed, phil, i see you have a correction of maybe 5% or so% near term is not out of the question. >> that's exactly right. we're sitting here in with stocks at record highs, and i think there are three significant concerns right ahead of the market. first, you just spent a good amount of time talking about confusion over the fed. we think earnings for the first quarter which are going to kick off on april 8th are going to be weak. we think first quarter gdp, which will get flashed on april 29th is going to disappoint. for those three reasons with stocks sitting here at record highs, 5% to 10% correction i think, would be completely appropriate. >> it certainly sounds like, phil, you would be in the camp of voting for a rate hike later rather than sooner. especially if the dollar keeps on strengthening. >> i was at the fischer lunch yesterday. >> okay. >> and listening to what dr. fischer was talking about, it

seemed as if he was taking his dual mandate and was placing greater emphasis upon the employment portion of that which, frankly, is in pretty good shape, and putting the inflation concerns in second place inflation is not where the fed likes it but the rate of unemployment will probably be at 5% by the end of this year. >> where do you fit into all of this, mike? >> i think it's later rather than earlier for all the reasons phil just mentioned, but i think at the end of the day it really doesn't matter when they do it because they're not going to do very much and i think a year from now we'll look back and say, you know they really didn't do a lot, and i think the reason for that is just as you were asking, mandy, the headwinds of the dollar for the u.s. economy are very clear of a force, and i think it's kind of funny to keep hearing the phrase data dependent. they're always data dependent, and i think the data would indicate that we have an economy that's not robust, and is not creating a lot of jobs. >> you're still a bull? >> oh yeah.

>> from 2008 to 2014 that was pretty easy money. we have to work a little harder for it. do you see a near term correction like phil does? >> i think the path of least resistance right now mandy, is down, not up. i think we are firmly in a bull market. i think that the federal reserve is one of the reasons we're still firmly in a bull market. just as the people's bank of china and europe even central bank are supporting those markets. the federal reserve has supported our markets here. easily over the last six years, easy part is over as you were implying in your question and i think that right now it's going to be a little more volatile, and i think that we're going to lose a little built of money before we make money. that's all. >> phil let's talk treasuries here because i noted something sticking out like a sore thumb here. you see the ten-year could go down to 1.5. >> you have a situation if we're right about concern about the fed, weak earnings in the first quarter, weak gdp, i think there may be a flight to safety during the first quarter. we may get a near-term rally in treasuries. >> we've got to leave it there. phil orlando sees 2350 by the

end of the year. >> i do. >> a second half comeback is what we're looking at. go to powerlunch.cnbc.com. see why mike prefers china over europe. let's go to a market flash. dom. >> mandy, shares of apeomed are up 16%. the fda is approving the company's miniature blood pump system. it's designed to maintain heart function and circulation during high risk procedures, so those shares abiomed now up 17% to the up side. back to you. >> dom thank you very much. is there sexism in silicon valley? closing arguments today in a very high profile gender discrimination lawsuit. also today, google naming a female cfo. two top female venture capitalists will weigh in on silicon valley's gender issue and how to fix it next.

first, closing arguments today in a gender bias lawsuit which could have ram ficks on hiring to firing throughout the valley. second morgan stanley cfo rick is leaving the firm to take on the cfo job at google. starting may 26th. she will report directly to larry paige. is the valley a boys club closed to women, or a cool and powerful place where women can thrive? >> inside now from ceo vc the fist woman of not one, but two tv networks usa networks and scifi channel that have led tech startups through the accelerator spring board, and jillian hellman from realty mogul. a leader in pier to pier real estate investing. welcome to "power lunch," both

of you. let me begin, kay, by reading you a line with respect to the ellen powell trial pigment this former employee of cliner perkins against the firm. the writer in usa today says that as we go to the closing arguments, the pictures of the two lawyers attempt to paint with their words will be very different. which one prevails will set a tone for hiring in the tech world for years to come. do you agree with that? >> i think it will have an implication for hiring for a number of years, but i don't think that is the only thing. i think there are many things going on. i think the good thing about the trial regardless of the outcome of it is that it's created a dialogue that had to happen in the valley. there is a lot of unintended or intended bias in the valley against women in the tech sector, and i think it needs to change. it will change i think, as a result of this trial one way or the other, whichever way it's decided, but i don't think it will change all hiring and

firing in the industry for very many years to come. >> i'm going to ask both of you this question. you first, kay. have you experienced discrimination based on gender, and if so what kind? >> i don't really think so. i started usa network at a time when cable was just getting started, and it was clearly all a men's world at the time, and i think i thrived in that world, so i don't really feel that way about it. i actually feel it's more important to be successful at whatever you intend to do and to find a way to do that. i lived in a world that i pursued what i wanted to do in the media world. i on do think in the finance world, as we go into finance, women in companies and life sciences and spring board enterprises, we do see that there is still redi skens in the marketplace. we're in business to get parody financing for women-led companies and technology and

sciences. >> what about you in the tech world? have you experienced discrimination? >> i haven't personally experienced discrimination. there's no doubt that there's a higher percentage for men. we were able to raise $9 billion in venture. women have to out hustle and execute. i agree with kay's comments. at the end of the day that's what entrepreneurs thrive on. they love being able to perform in the face of adversity. i mean, that's what excites me as a woman in this business in some respects. i really haven't experienced direct implications. >> so therefore, do you feel that maybe just a few high profile cases like the powell case that is also now lawsuits being filed against facebook and twitter as well based on gender discrimination, do you think maybe just a few high profile faces are painting the whole industry with a negative brush that shouldn't be there? >> you know i think that frivelous lawsuits or lawsuits where people feel like they've had negative implications are not good for the industry in a whole, whether they're gender-based or not gender-based

because it inhibits us from running or businesses and doing business. at the same time this conversation needs to be had. this conversation about women not having as big an impact in technology start-ups, but also in financial services and real estate i think it's a really important conversation. the conversation is only going so far. at the end of the day business is about execution, and i want to see more women get involved. i want to see more women put up a fight and fight for their right to have a seat at the table, fight for a right to be an executive, and prove to the world that women are just as good as men in execution, which is what really matters. >> you know kay, let me get your reaction today to the appointment of ruth the female head of yahoo, a female very prominent female at facebook sheryl sandberg. there are women in high places but there just don't seem to be enough of them in a business in a world where the general employment base in silicon

valley is 70% or thereabouts male. >> well let me say, first of all, that google smartly hired the most qualified person for the job. i mean, ruth is spectacular. she has a spectacular resume. she's well respected on wall street. she's really top of the line. congratulations to google for doing that. they've picked the best person. yes, there are high profile women heading different companies, but it's not enough to point out to a few, a handful of high profile women. that's not enough to give women throughout the ranks equal opportunity to come up the ranks. i think that that's what really needs to be done. there has to be an acknowledgment inside companies, and i applaud intel, for example, for making the commitment of $300 million over the next decade to increase diversity. not just women, but diversity in their ranks. they're going to work at it and

it's going to take time. you have to identify the people give them opportunity to rise in the ranks and, yes, it's wonderful to have high profile people at the top, but it's not enough. you have to really -- let me just say that i've been in the funding business for 15 years, and bringing women very highly qualified in technology and life sciences to market to build companies, i-robot, zip car, constant contact, viacord, achilean, on both technology and science, and women are well equipped to compete in the marketplace. i think that by growing the companies that are led by women, that is another way that we can show that women are not only up to the task but they are going to outperform the marketplace and in many cases i think this is a good thing. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> and a mansion with massive security and moving it a different climate to please the

dog. those are among the secrets of the secret lives of the super rich. >> robert frank is the man who is on this case. he knows all about it robert. >> hey, guys. we're going to show you 23,000 square foot mansion in l.a. with 32 cameras, double high gates, and a secret panic room. we're going to tell you what it sold for. you're not going to believe it. a penthouse in high my with a blunder bus collection and a waterfall toilet. you're also going to meet the dog. there he is. he is forcing them to sell. right up.

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4g lte. plus enjoy special savings when you purchase any new verizon wireless smartphone or tablet from comcast. visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. >> shares of petroleum are now down over 19% so far today. the company has announced its plans to sell 35 million shares of common stock, north dakota's largest oil producer that wants to reduce debt from it's rival kodiak oil and gas. there had been rumors of late that whiting was considering a possible share of i was or its assets. for right now it's doing a secondary stock offering. back to you. >> dom, thank you. you can see an suv after having been swallowed up by the

sinkhole. happily, no injuries reported. authorities say the ground opened up. at least four homes have now been evacuated. a manager with a massive -- a mood to please the family dog. the secret lives of the super rich. he knows all about the secrets. what is this about pleasing the dog? the lab has to be happy? >> it was an incredible story. we're going to take you inside the 200 million worth of highend real estate, and one of the stocks stops is an l.a. mansion with 23,000 square feet and a security system designed make even the most paranoid russian oligarch feel safe. then we'll go to a miami penthouse that took the owners years to build and only one dog to make them sell. >> this 10,000 square foot $20 million miami penthouse sits atop what the super rich

consider the rolls royce of holtz hotels, the four seasons. the dog that lives here lots to check out. more on windsor later, but, first, meet her mom, laura drezner. >> we can see south beach. we have the downtown city views. >> laura, and her husband, fred former owner of the washington redskins and new york daily news, bought the entire 54th floor of the four seasons just to gut it and hand pick nearly every painstaking detail. >> we chose the leather floors as a nice contrast to the stone mosaic tiles, and then the carpet is from tai ping in new york. it's all silk. the waterfall bathroom in my husband's office was something we saw in new zealand in a restaurant so, we thought, oh we need a waterfall toilet. >> what's really attracting buysers are the things you don't see. >> the people do ask a lot about security and privacy. they want to make sure that they're not being seen by neighbors, and this home offers

that. ♪ >> it's hidden away and tiny. this room is a major selling point. >> the property has 32 cameras. it also has four gates with double high walls. i would have to say it would be very, very difficult for someone to get past those gates and go unseen. >> some breaking news on that l.a. mansion. just sold for $46 million. the miami penthouse is being listed because the dog windsor, prefers the climate of their other home i kid you not, in aspen, colorado. a $20 million home being sold for the dog. >> how do they know? >> how did the -- did the dog tell them? >> look, we know our dogs, right? that's what they told me. they know that this dog is happier at their home in aspen, so they're just not spending as much time in miami. the wealth where i people are in those $20 million, $30 million homes maybe two weeks a year and then they sell them. >> i hope my cats don't get any

ideas. >> that could be expensive. >> secret lives of the super rich premiers tonight with robert 10:00 p.m. eastern and pacific right here on cnbc. >> okay. let's take a look at the stock market. we're seeing some of the gains from earlier on today being given up. we're going to talk more about what is driving those declines. the dow is currently down by 50 points. plus, the very latest developments on the tragic plane crash in southern france carrying 150 passengers. stay tuned. in new york state, we're reinventing how we do business so businesses can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started... only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny business incubators that partner companies with universities, and venture capital funding for high growth industries. see how new york can grow your business and create jobs. visit ny.gov/business

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>> the s&p overall down just four points. look at this. eight, almost nine out of the ten sectors, mandy are negative. the only one that is positive is technology. materials unchanged right now. sometimes the overall number doesn't tell you the story as vividly as the graphic. >> talking of tech the nasdaq is considered in and out of negative territory. earlier on it was outperforming the other two.

the dow and s&p was up down up down. >> it's a directionless market right now. >> that's right. >> we may live with that and increase volatility for some time. some people have been saying that. >> that is it for the first hour of power. >> hand it over to you, brian sullivan, with breaking news. >> all right, mandy and tyler. thank you very much. we have much more on the markets ahead. we begin this hour with some new developments. what is the latest at this hour? fwroo we have the black box, and that's encouraging news as they're looking for answers as to what happened with this german wings plane. within the last 45 minutes, the frerchg interior minister confirmed to nbc news that they have recovered the black box. now it's a matter of how quickly they can get it from the crash scene to a lab likely in france although we're not sure exactly where they can start to analyze both the flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice

recorder. that will tell them what was happening in those final phenyl nine or ten minutes of the plane when it was doing a fairly rapid descent. that's the latest foot thaj we've just received in. you can see that the crash scene is spread out over a wide area of debris that was strewn over the area as the plane crashed into the alps. here's that descent we saw going from 38,000 down to 6,500 feet. that will give them a real sense of why there was no distress signal from the pilots as they were moving from 38,000 down to 6,000. >> all right. i want to get into the geography of the region in just a moment. however, let's talk about the rate of descent first if we can. it was rapid. as i understand it it is not out of the realm of the possible

for the plane. >> correct. it's not like the plane was in a free fall. this was an orderly descent. that's what stands out here. this was not a case where it dropped down unstableized and dropped down again. it was a fairly orderly descent from 38,000 down to 6,500 feet. that's what puzzles some of the people who are looking at this right now. we need to move down to the lower altitude. nothing like that. it is very rugged here. what can you tell us about the region and what the recovery efforts and the rescuers may be having to do just to get to

where they need to be? >> well the video says it all, brian. you can fly over this area in a helicopter clearly but landing a helicopter, a, in the mountains is difficult enough and, b, you've got to find a flat enough open enough area where you can land a helicopter. most likely they're trying to get relatively close, and then from there you've got search crews, and you've really got a number of different crews here. you've also got crews there recovering vimsz from the crash. in an area where there's debris and the victims are spread out over a wide terrain, a rugged terrain, it's going to take some time to do that. the important thing from the investigative standpoint is thief been able to recover that black box relatively quickly. depending on how quickly they can get it to a lab, we might have some answers perhaps within the next 24 48 hours as to what happened in the final ten

minutes. >> a depressure sdmrags. that's what i hear more from experts and former pilots and investigators. a few of them who have gone through this. they say look it looks like that, although they are baffled and no communication between the pilots and air traffic control, and no distress signal either. those are the things that concern them about this idea that it was simply the cabin losing pressurization. let's bring in chairman and ceo, also a cnbc contributor, gordon. take us on the corporate side of this. luftansa, how do they expedite this rescue and recovery mission? >> well, brian, they're doing all the things they need to do. they like in our country, you file an emergency response program with the d.o.t. doing

the helpful things that make it less traumatic for the surviving families. you are there to help with the authorities recovering bodies or recovering part of the airplane but that primarily is the job of the safety experts in the country. >> it's their version of the ntsb, and you have i don't feel -- this is a french built plane in the french alps. it is a german corporation. you have international investigators here. you have the parent company of german wenkz. what is the process? what happens? front to back on the corporate side. >> well from the corporate side, you're not leading this investigation. this is a government issue.

aur there to provide the insurance, the comfort, the care, the backup of the families that are affected, and you're not running a program. >> they're going to be whatever help they can be. it's like boeing in our country. to phil lebeau's point about the emergency descent, that flight profile fits an emergency descent. what's obviously missing is why didn't make the call. why didn't they swap the transponder to the emergency frequency. all those things you would do in an emergency descent. i'm sure those questions will get answered quickly when they get the flight data recorder.

>> i'm not familiar with the environment in europe when it comes to budget airlines. german wings was created when there were a lot of these budget carriers created in europe. ryanair, easy jet, air berlin. could there be some sort of backlash against the lower cost carriers with this accident? they're not competing low cost and not providing the full service. i'm sure they're held to the same rigorous standards as we are in this country no matter what your price of the ticket is. >> gordon bethune, we do appreciate your time on this difficult day. thank you very much. >> thanks brian. >> the president is about to hold a joint news conference with the new president of afghanistan. we'll bring that to you live as soon as it begins from the white

house. >> all right. even though it is a difficult day for many we're going to do what we have to do. we'll bring you street talk and hidden gems on bank stocks. in other words, we are going to get back to the markets here. the dow not moving a whole lot today. you can see the euro and pound not moving much. we'll be back with your latest markets on cnbc. stick around. 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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if there are any new

developments in the hunt for the german wings plane, we'll bring them to you. >> the financials have been a big part of the story with sort of looming interest rate hikes out there, but not all have done well. in fact, where don't we show you this. these are the three worst performing bank and financial stocks this year. i know they're all big names, but when i say the worst, i mean of any company over $1 billion. bank of america down 12%. american express also down 12%. discover financial down 11% as well. however, we did reference and promise some hidden gems. bank united up 15.3%. central pacific financial cpf up 15%, and e-trade up 14%. we're going to get more on stocks, financials, and even oil in just a bit. let us talk now about what is rather a large head scratcher on

the housing front. the headline this morning read that new home sales rose to a seven-year high in february. this is kind of a case where the headline may not tell the entire story. let us bring in diana ohlich. here's why this is a head scratcher. we dug into the report. you and i were going back and forth earlier today. >> brian, you cannot take this number at face value. i repeat you cannot take this at face value. first of all this is the weakest data set in all of housing data sets. incredibly small sample. huge margins of error. then go to the northeast. the northeast is the tiniest, tiniest share of newly built homes in the nation. in fact in february the south showed eight times more newly built homes than the northeast, and even in june when weather is all equal, the south sells ten

times as many in the northeast. you take this tin yeay data set in the northeast, sales dropped off by half and then bumped up. if you go down half and then you make that back up it's up 100%. now you say 150%. well, there were some increases in the northeast, but it is from such a small base that that 150% accounts for actually very few newly built homes. did we see an increase in the northeast? yes, we did, but did it go crazy gang busters and everything is fine now? absolutely not. >> it was a decent big number. we go to the oil story. the west declined 6% month over month. it was not stellar everywhere.

seven years ago was pretty darn awful. if you look back before the housing boom we were at a pace of $880,000 home sales, and we have 11% more people living in the country now. if you look at those sales numbers, forget the 1.4 million sales during the height of the housing boom. these numbers are still very small, so you can't look at these percentage moves as being that large. >> so diana, give us the bigger picture. i think a lot of people out there will remember the talk that we had about existing home sales and how that was a really paultry number over the month of january. here we are with new home sales and it's a huge number over january. what's the overall picture in february going into the spring selling season? >> remember the newly built homes homes. the little supply helped the new home builders a bit because if there's nothing to buy in the existing home market maybe

you're willing to spend more and go buy awe nigh will you built home. price premiums on new homes are high. they were a little smaller in february. that's a good sign. the builders may be easing back to get more people in. just one point, quickly, based on what you just said i'm not trying to discount the reports that we get, but because supply is so low -- the next couple of months out with a big grain of salt. is that what you are saying? >> you have to take all this with a grain of salt because we're working off these lower numbers. we're hoping to see more supply come on in the next few months.

>> all right. well, as always we have got our eye on oil. not a huge move in crude oil today. still down about 5% this month, and actually down about 15% over the past three months. this despite the fact that the future curve and nearly everybody we talk to thinks that oil will be markedly higher by the end of the we're. john hoffmeister former president of shell oil. are you in that camp. you are one of the folks betting that oil will be heading back to 90 or 100 or whatever it is 08 by the end of the year. why? >> well i look at it from an operational standpoint not a trading standpoint. with all of the cost reductions from the big majors right down to the smaller independents we're seeing a huge laydown of rigs in a market that was --

that is still growing in terms of demand. it will be a demand story by the end of the year in my opinion. the world is not in collapse. thank goodness. if the world does slow down it will slow down the price appreciation. in my view what went down very quickly can also come up very quickly, and as soon as we reach equal lib yum when i think happens probably in the third quarter, we're going to see pressure on price for all the downplaying of the saudis you know, just set that aside, they have a different agenda. i think we're going to see prices rise for the $70, $80 level and maybe even higher by the end of the we're. >> you know better than i do that a rig is not a well. it's to drill a well. the amount of actual oil coming out of the ground is still at a record. we seem to be playing some giant game of global oil chicken where nobody wants to be the first to blink and actually cut production.

the natural decline rate you can't do anything about. that is in the gulf of mexico. it is on shore. it is all over the world. the 92 million barrels of oil a day being produced will naturally decline by four million to five million barrel az day by the end of the year. that is oil that disappears forever and has to be replaced with new production. you'll start to see the decline set in in a material way, and that's when we'll see equalibrium. >> at what point do you think we'll actually see consolidation, we'll see some maybe the larger players actually be willing to step in

and buy some assets because whiting petroleum today announced a secondary offering. they're raising $1 billion. the way the market is reading this is that they cannot find a buyer. they had to go to market dilute their existing shareholders and raise money when their stock is at a multi-year low. they're forced to do it out of desperation. when do we finally see big companies coming in and saying you know what let's take a gamble on a whiting. it's no longer a falling knife. mroo in the next three months we'll see a remarkable amount of corporate movement. we have the banks that are going to be looking at the loan performance ratios of the companies. they're going to be looking at whether the loan criteria are being met in the business journal in houston this week last week law firms are advertising their bankruptcy services, believe it or not, and so we're going to see a lot of jumbled activity on the corporate level. >> i want to follow-up on that because it's a great question. i have something to add. a couple of weeks ago i was at a

dinner with a bunch of oil investment bankers, and i talked about the deals. they said everybody, melissa, wants to make a deal. everyone is talking like they want to make a deal but this was a direct quote, john that between what they wanted to buy it for and what the sellers thought it was worth, you could quote "drive a super tanker through." >> take a look at whiting. they sealed the deal on kodiak in december, and how much more has oil come down? we've seen this right, john time and time again. it looks like it's hi good-bye. >> well i think to both of you, we will probably reach a distress level of prices where people just absolutely have to sell in the may-june time frame in my view. that's where why i say we'll see more turbulence in the next two to three months because people are still holding out some hope that maybe they have more value that's worth something to somebody else but it may not be. >> okay, john hoffmeister, we'll leave it there. one point to add. thank you very much. melissa, keep this in mind as

well. in north dakota there's a law. if you do not complete a well within a year it's done. these half completed wells, the people who have put a couple of million bucks into them they're going to have to either reopen them or pull them out. most of the people i talked to say they're going to go ahead and drill the well because they already got half of the cost and production could go up in north dakota over the next couple of months. >> the other layer of trouble here, brian, is if a bank loan was secured with that well. in which case there could be distress and assets -- >> they're coming back out. melissa, thank you. >> all right, most oil and gas company stocks are down considerably this year right? melissa talked about whiting. not everybody is down. in fact, we dug out some of the better -- some of the few names that have done well this year. here are the three best oil and gas stocks year-to-date. pdc, energy is up 22%. not bad. fang, best ticker out there. diamondback energy up 21%. newfield exploration, melissa, up 20%. not everybody has done terrible. >> all right. let's get to dom for a quick

market flash. >> melissa, shares of poultry are falling as the government says it has no distribution for bird avian flu. key overseas buyers have limited imports of u.s. poultry since the outbreak of that disease in arkansas. if you look at names like tyson foods, pilgrim's pride, sanderson farms, they all erase most of their losses in the last two weeks as concerns have eased about the spread of the disease, but now you can see today they are taking a leg lower. brian, back to you. >> we talked about a game of chicken. you were being serious, dom. >> serious, yes. >> seriously. you're playing fowl. we are awaiting a joinlt news kfshs at the white house where the president is hosting the new president of afghanistan. you can see them getting ready for that as well. the news conference should get underway at any moment. we do not know if the president will express the german wings air tragedy in france. we will take that. more power lumpl in two minutes.

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in fact, freeport, the only third company in the s&p 500 to cut its dividend thissier. by the way the other two, both energy-related names. enscoe and diment off shore and freeport has doom back a bit. keeping up with the dividend theme. usa today running a story on seven ceos that get this are netting $700 million in dividends alone. the paper based the calculation on dividends paid last year and the number of shares currently owned by executives. here are some of the names. receiving the biggest annual pay-outs. richard kinder, about $426 million. walgreens ceo, $99 million. wynn resorts ceo $55 million, ralph lauren $35 million. their names are on the door melissa. >> interesting. let's bring in dom who has more on dividends. actually, dom, you ran a screen searching for the best dividend plays out there. >> it's interesting. if you take a look at the s&p 500 stocks we wanted to find the ones that have dividend yields that might be attractive

but not the ones that are so out size because they might be because of a falling stock price. now, if you look at s&p 500 stocks dividend yields had to be above 2% because that's what the current def dent yield on the s&p 50000 is and they've had to have positive year-to-date price performance, again, in 2015. 500 stocks became 223 and became 111 and we've picked out some of the top names here. first of all, take a look at a fun and games type stock, right? this is hasbro shares. hasbro is up about 12% year-to-date. it carries about a 3% dividend yield. a positive price performance and you get a dividend. now, if you take a look at another stock that's going here as well. hasbro is one of them. you control ahead to the next one. we saw another one that's an interesting story. boeing shares a big defense contractor. also of course they make commercial airlines. this stock is up about 23% over the course of the past year and it's got a huge dividend yield.

about 2.4%. not too bad for a large cap company like that and then we'll finish off with another stock here. one of the best performers. this one is a retail oriented name. it's kohl's. midscale shopping. those shares up 23% over the past year. this also has a 2.4% dividend yield. now, what's interesting here guys, is the number one stock in terms of price performance that has at least a 2% dividend is actually in the energy sector. we're not going to tell you this right now, but you're going to want to go to cnbc.com. that story is up right now, and, again, a greater than 2% dividend yield, brian, and it's in the energy sector. a top performer in the s&p. see if you can guess what it is. if built, go to cnbc.com right now. >> i think i might know but i elizabeth ruin the surprise. the one quick thing to add, kohl's is my surprise stock, i said it two weeks ago, of 2015. we are still awaiting a news conference from the president and the president of afghanistan. the white house expected that it will announce it will keep 9,800 troops in afghanistan.

that is more than expected. more "power lunch" in two minutes. 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.

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well. all right. here come the two leaders walking out to the podiums now. let's take you live to the white house and listen in to the president. >> good afternoon, everybody. please have a seat. >> our thoughts and prayers are with the people of germany and spain following a terrible airplane crash in france. it's particularly heartbreaking because it apparently includes the loss of so many children. some of them infants. i called german chancellor merkel, and i hope to speak with president rajoy of spain. our teams are in close contact,

and we're working to confirm how many americans may have been on board. germany and spain are among our strongest allies in the world, and our message to them is that as they're a steadfast friend and ally america stands with them at this moment of sorrow. now, it is a great pleasure to welcome president ghani in to the white house. he spent time in the united states as a student and a scholar. he happened to go to columbia university where we both studied and then spent time in the world bank just down the street from here, and so his life reflects in many ways the friendship and mutual respect between americans and afghans. in that spirit mr. president, i want to extend to you the warmest of welcomes. president ghani's presence here today along with chief executive

abdullah underscores afghanistan's progress. in last year's election millions of afghans defied the threats from the taliban and bravely cast their ballots. in the spirit of compromise and putting their interests behind the interests of the nation president ghani and dr. abdullah insured the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in afghanistan's history, and today they now lead a national unity government that reflects the diversity, the strength and the determination of the afghan people. their government signed the bilateral security agreement between our two countries and on december 31st after more than 13 years america's combat mission in afghanistan came to a responsible end. afghan forces now have full responsibility for security across their country. some 330,000 afghans serve in the police and security forces

and they are making extraordinary sacrifices fighting and often dying for their country, and they continue to grow stronger month by month. today we honor the many afghans, men, women, and children, who have given their lives for their country. we salute the more than 2,200 americans, patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan and the many more who were wounded. this morning president ghani and dr. abdullah visited arlington national cemetery to pay their respects to our fallen heroes. we are grateful for that gesture of gratitude. we know it meant a lot to the families as well. we'll see the bonds again between our people on display when president ghani has an opportunity to address congress tomorrow. so with a new government in afghanistan and with the end of our combat mission, this visit is an opportunity to begin a new

chapter between our two nations. pez ghani, dr. abdullah i thank you both for your strong support of the partnership between our two nations, and yesterday they had a chance to spend time in camp david with our respective teams and had excellent discussions on how we can move forward together. today guided by our strategic partnership, we focused on several areas. first we agreed to continue to keep in place our close security cooperation. afghanistan remains a very dangerous place, and insurgents still launch attacks, including cowardly suicide bombings against civilians. president ghani is pursuing reforms to strengthen afghan security forces including respect for human rights and as part of the ongoing nato mission, the united states will continue to train, advise and assist afghan security forces. as we announced yesterday, we'll work with congress on funding to

sustain 352,000 afghan police and troops through 2017. at the same time we'll continue to conduct targeted counterterrorism operations and we'll -- we agreed to maintain a dialogue on our counterterrorism partnership in the years ahead. at our peak four years ago the united states had more than 100,000 troops in afghanistan. in support of today's narrow missions we have just under 10,000 troops there. last year i announced a timeline for drawing down our forces further, and i made it clear that we're determined to preserve the gains our troops have won. president ghani has requested some flexibility on our drawdown timelines. i have consulted with general campbell, my national security team, and i have decided we will maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of this we're. the specific trajectory of the 2016 drawdown will be

established later this year. today our final consolidation to a kabul base embassy presence by the end of 2016. this flexibility reflects our reinvigorated partnership with afghanistan, which is aimed at making afghanistan secure and prevent it from being used to launch terrorist attacks. reconciliation in a political settlement remain the surest way to achieve the full drawdown of u.s. troops in a way that safeguards national interests and peace in afghanistan, as well as u.s. national security interests. second, and since the best way to insure afghanistan's progress is a political settlement we're going to continue to support an afghan-led reconciliation process. president ghani, you've shown bold leadership in reaching out to pakistan which is critical to the pursuit of peace. afghanistan and the united states agree on what the taliban must do. break with al qaeda, renounce

violence, and abide by afghan laws including the protections for women and minorities. third, we'll continue to support the national unity government in its efforts to truly serve the afghan people. we discuss the urgent need with parliament's support to see a full cabinet. president ghani, in your inaugural address, you spoke forcefully about the need to combat corruption uphold the rule of law, and strengthen democratic institutions and the united states very much commends you for those efforts, and you moved many afghans with your eloquent tribute to your wife and partner, first lady. america will continue to be your partner in advancing the rights and dignity of all afghans, including women and girls. finally, we'll continue to support the development that underpins stability and improves the lives of the afghan people. over the years there have been major gains, dramatic

improvements to public health life expectancy, literacy, including for millions of girls who are in school. president ghani is a leading expert on development, and i have been impressed by the reforms that he is pursuing to make afghanistan more self-reliant. he wants to empower afghans in these efforts, and that's why under the new development partnership that we announced yesterday, u.s. economic assistance will increasingly go through afghan institutions in support of afghan priorities with an emphasis on accountability, performance, and achieving results. in closing out, as you know president ghani by training is an anthropologist which was my mother. it has said that the purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences. afghanistan and our world is marked by incredible diversity and differences, of history, and culture, and faiths but i believe that the progress we've made in this visit will help to advance the goal for which so many of your citizens mr. president, have sacrificeded

over the years. the goal of making our two countries and the world safer. president ghani, chief executive abdullah, thank you both for your leadership and your partnership. america's combat mission in afghanistan may be over but our commitment to the afghanistan people that will endure. president ghani. >> president obama first of all, i would like to express the deep sympathies of the government and the people of afghanistan to german and spanish families. both of these countries took part in the coalition. they have made major commitments and sacrificed in afghanistan. i would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to those common sacrifices and simultaneously take the opportunity to pay tribute to

the 2,215 american service men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice. more than 22,000 american soldiers who have been wounded in action civilians, numerous contractors, and others. you stood shoulder to shoulder with us and i would like to say thank you. i would also like to thank the american taxpayer for his and her hard-earned dollars that have enabled us. yesterday in pentagon i saw young girl. her name is reese. her father came out of retirement, out of reserve to serve again in afghanistan. she's send aing care package of relief to her father and i want to thank her and the fathers of

all other american children for making sure that their parents are helping us and standing next to us. reese, i promise, now has three million sisters in school, and those sisters are dreaming of achievements that would have a career path and hopefully one day will see an afghan woman president. it should not be too far. it will be soon. we now have four women in the cabinet. that's 20% of our cabinet are women. i hope that some other countries will match us. we are intent, and thank you for the reference to afghanistan's first lady. she was delighted to have an opportunity to speak to mr. obama. she's devoted her life to the

most underprivileged in all affairs and has committed to make sure that 36% of afghans that live below poverty will live with dignity and one day not in the distant future see prosperity. we're grateful for the reception you have accorded us. your national security team has gone out of its way to engage in intensive comprehensive discussion and both of us would like to thank secretary kerry for the loss of hours of sleep we caused you, and for your very able diplomacy and country liesing the wrunty that today is on display, the government of national unity is going to be an enduring phenomenon in both affairs stamped for the unity against the divisions that our

opponents and enemies had hoped for. this unity is a reflection of the desire of the afghan public to overcome the last 200 years of our political history where rarely public figures have chosen the countries. we are committed in this regard to emulate the founding fathers and mothers of the united states where national interests will stand above personal or factional interests. i'm glad that the security transition is completed. you fulfilled your promise to your people, and we've fulfilled our promise to our people. afghans for mill enenia have protected our homeland and have a reputation for serving. the last years were an exception

when we needed help and we are grateful that help was provided but we are pleased that the security transition has been met according to the timeline that you set today and the combat role in the united states is over. the train and assist mission is a vital part of our collective interest and collective endeavors. tragedy brought us together. interest now unionitis us. we can assure you the government of national unity is revitalized the partnership and looks at this partnership with the united states. not just for our stability, but for regional and global stability. much binds us together and the flexibility that has been provided for 2015 will be used to accelerate reforms to insure

that the national security forces are much better let equipped, trained, and are focused on their fundamental mission. i'm pleased to say that the departure of 120,000 international troops is not brought about the security gap or the collapse that was often anticipated. i would like to pay tribute at this moment to the continued sacrifice of the afghan security forces civilians and a patriotic nation. patriotism is part of simultaneously our internationalism. we are unique in that we have embraced democratic ways. we are very proud of our islamic civilization, but it's an islam that is truly in dialogue with the woorld world, and we have

the capacity to speak truth to terror. they do not speak for islam. we do. it is the genuine islam that is interested in dialogue between civilizations and endeavor forward. on regional cooperation, we have taken both in novel steps. we do hope that these steps would be reciprocated because the threats that exist the changing ecology of terror are making it imperative that all governments cooperate with each other. today the state system as we have known it is under attack. these are not classic national liberation movements. these are destructive movements, and it's essential that we confront them with vigor and determination. we must differentiate between those and afghan citizens who

desire peace. any political difference anything that divides us must be resolved politically, and we have shown the determination that we can arrive at unity of purpose, so our commitment to peace is clear. what we require is reciprocity to afghan patriots will choose the country themselves and unite in resolving whatever might be that divides us. we will not have peace with those who use our territory as a proxy for other purposes as a battleground for alien forces or as a launching pad for global terrorism. this trip has provided us an opportunity to have a comprehensive overview, and,

again, i want to express thank you for your commitment to submit a bill to congress for support of our security forces to 2017. there's much work that lies ahead of us and the has been provided will be used to maximum effect to accelerate reforms, to ensure that our security forces honor human rights that they internalize the practices that binds an army a police force, a secret service to the people. violence against our people has no place within our security culture, and we will overcome those types of legacies. it's again a pleasure to be standing next to a graduate of columbia university. there's much that unites us, and your mother was an inspiration to us. i understand that the president of the world bank actually got

the job because he invoked your mother's teachings to convince you that anthropologists could lead the world bank so thank you for according him that rare opportunity. >> he's done a great job. all right. with that let's take a couple questions. leo, "military times." >> thank you, mr. president. this is on, right? >> yes, it's on. >> with the increase slowdown in the drawdown here, we're looking at more risk more danger for u.s. troops in afghanistan. how do you justify that to them. how do you tell them that the mission is still worth it and how do you assure them that there is an end coming to this mission? and for president ghani, you have talked the last couple days a lot about the sacrifice of u.s. troops. you were at arlington earlier today. how do you tell them that continued sacrifice will be worth it to them as well? >> well first of all, i think it's important, leo, to remember

the time line for a withdrawal down to an embassy centered presence a normalization of our presence in afghanistan remains the end of 2016. so that hasn't changed. our transition out of a combat role has not changed. now, i am the first to say that as long as our men and women in uniform are serving in afghanistan, there are risks involved. it's a dangerous place. casualties have come down precipitously as we've engaged in the drawdown. it's been over 90 days since two americans were killed in afghanistan. that has occurred precisely because we're not in a combat

role, and i think it is worth noting the significant casualties that the afghan security services have incurred as we've drawn down they've stood up and they're fighting. and, you know, they're fighting with courage and tenacity and they're getting better month by month. but you can't minimize the sacrifices that our military families make. it means some folks are going to be rotating back into afghanistan for a few extra months relative to what otherwise would have been the case. we're essentially moving the drawdown pace over to the right for several months in part to compensate for the lengthy period it took for government formation, in part because we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to help afghan security forces succeed so we don't have to go back so

we don't have to respond in an emergency because counter -- because terrorist activities are being launched out of afghanistan. we're on the path to do that and it was my assessment as commander in chief that it made sense for us to provide a few extra months for us to be able to help on things like logistics, making sure that equipment is not just in place but it's also used properly that the training and advising and strategic input that's been provided continues through this fighting season in part so that president karzai who has taken on the mantel of commander in chief in a way we have not seen in the past from an afghan president, can do a serious review and can assess here is where our strengths are, here is where our weaknesses are, and we can proceed with more effective joint planning going forward.

so the bottom line is our men and women in uniform make enormous sacrifices. their families do too. they serve alongside them. this will mean that there are going to be some of our folks who are in afghanistan under the new schedule who would have been home, but it is important to keep in perspective, first of all, that we've gone down from 100,000 down to under 10,000. that they are not on the front lines because they're not in a combat role. we are doing all that we can do to make sure that force protection is a priority for those who are in afghanistan. and the date for us to have completed our drawdown will not change. but it is my judgment it's the judgment of general campbell and others who are on the ground that providing this additional

time frame during this fighting season for us to be able to help the afghan security forces succeed is well worth it and in that sense, you know, once again we are asking our men and women in uniform to fight on behalf of our freedom and on behalf of a more orderly world. it does perhaps raise one thought, which is right now there's a debate going up on capitol hill about budgets. this would be a good time for my friends up on capitol hill including on the other side of the aisle, to take a look at their budgets. if we're holding both our defense and nondefense budgets to 2006 levels it's a lot harder for us to do the job that we need to do not only on the national security side but also here at home makeing sure when

your men and women come home and when they potentially go into civilian life that they have a strong economy, that their kids have good schools, that they can send their kids to college, that they get the veterans benefits that they have so richly earned and deserve. you know that would be a good way for us to express the thanks for the sacrifices they consistently make. >> i met yesterday the widow of general green. she would like the memory of her husband to be preserved by a sustainable afghanistan that is secure secure. the americans that have died must not die in vain. they must leave behind a legacy of a stable afghanistan, and

it's that preservation of those gains that i think inspires the american servicemen and women to obey the call of their commander, the order of their commanders. second, we have taken them out of the harm's way. as the president mentioned, for the past 100 days because the combat role is ended, the exposure, the number of casualties, is really down. there isn't -- my most horrible reading of the day is my first and middle of the day and end of the day security reports where i see the casualties, the figures, but thank god there are no longer american or european casualties. general campbell is making sure that they remain in support role, they train, advise assist role has risks but they're nowhere comparable to combat

role. and end of that combat role is very significant to this and, again, the institutional gains that would be achieved through the train, advise and assist role is what will guarantee that the investments of the last 14 years pay off in terms of gains that would ensure. last point, afghanistan is the front line. because of american engagement in afghanistan, there have not been attacks on mainland united states, but let's not forget that fortresses cannot be built around countries or continents. we are living in an interconnected world and our security is joint together. >> thank you very much. president obama, you're talking

about the long-term strategy partnership between afghanistan and united states. at the same time you're talking about deadlines about the withdrawal of the soldiers from afghanistan. how do you ensure the long-term or how do you define the long-term strategy partnership after 2017 or from 2017 onward? >> mr. president, what do you expect, mr. president, what would the expectation coming to the united states and what would you like to return with to afghanistan? >> translator: our expectations were that our cooperation will be enhanced and we will have clear vision and practical vision for cooperation for an enduring cooperation with the united states to b