and we're also of course watching dow component caterpillar, one of the best performing dow components, up 35%. federal officials raiding three locations in illinois. that is the story we'll be watching into the close. thanks for watching "power lunch." "closing bell" starts right now. this will. welcome to the closing bell here. what are you doing? i've always wanted a rainbow tongue. let's try something else here. there we go. what did you say about this picture? >> you look like you did 20 years ago. >> and this is what you will look like in 20 years. all right. let's try another one here. oh, that's nice. that's nice. there you go. >> this is as close as i'll ever get to using snapchat by the way. you look lovely, bill. >> what have we done hooer? where have we gone? all right. let me save that one. we'll get out of that and yes

now we welcome you. >> i'm kelly evans and this is bill griffith. >> snapchat ipoed today and it has been a huge success so far. >> it's up 50% from that price of $17 we told you about after the show yesterday. it's pretty much sat up here all day. we'll have a lot more on it as we head into the close. >> bob pisani joining us with a look at what has been a successful ipo. a lot of questions, but focusing just on the number, they look good. >> bill with whiskers, a total turn on. this is where all the action happened. so remember, priced at $17, but opened at $24. 40% more. and it's held up, we're about $25 right now. traded almost 200 million shares. that's how many shares they floated. anytime you trade the 234r0eflo that is big volume. looks like we'll close above the

initial price. why did it do so will? three reasons. number one, stock market is at a new high. and number two, there has been a lack of ipos out there. here it is coming to save the day. and finally, it has a small float, only 14 respect about % . $35 billion market cap, that is the top third of the s&p. they're not in the s&p, but look here, that is where norfolk southern is. it has the same market cap as deere, general mills, marriott. this is a big ipo, biggest since ali baba. we've had a number of first day pops that are big like 40% or no. twitter did it, box did it. some of the other big names did it. so square, ali baba, fitbit. i think the problem, just because you pop 40% doesn't mean it will happen. a lot of these companies, it happened with twitter and ali back about a, six months down the road, they kind of hit a wall where they start drooping a little more. and this when you really find out when it really -- pedal

really gets to the medal. >> and not just technology companies because we had shake shack yesterday. but remember, these snapchat will shares don't have voting power. so when you think of facebook's ip onch ipo, it fell to 19 bucks a share because they didn't have the mobile strategy. zuckerberg said we'll right the shape. and so will they similarly be able to change will course. >> and of course you can say 40% chunk, did they leave too much on the tashl. did they underprice it. you could sort of make that argument. but the bottom line is i look at the broader picture. this is a great green light for the other ip chlt ons that are waiting. cal lenl dhar starting to fill up for april. that's why it's important. and if it holds up in a couple months, they can sell more shares down the road at these kinds of higher prices. so my opinion is i'm fine with it and let everybody gripe that they undersold it. this is good news for the

overall market and the ipo business. >> happened with google, ali baba, twitter, facebook. and you can talk all about the zero votes rights and of course the public's had a problem with that. that has been a major legitimate issue. but you can see there is no shortage of people who want in on this. 200 million shares trading right now. >> and we'll have more when we speak with tom farley in the next hour of the show. bob, thank you. how should investors be getting in? let's bring in kevin landis and sean seeful. welcome to you both. kevin, you've been more cautious here. is that still the case? >> right. the ipo process is all aboabout whipping up demand and they try to make it at the rich valuation if they can. rich eest sustainable valuation. and that is rarely the best entry point on the stock.

>> sean, i would ordinarily just ask you to make the case for snap, but in the interest of time, let me read you at least one of the analysts out there who issued a sell rating on snap today already after the stock came out. he says snap is a promising early stage company with significant opportunity ahead of itself. unfortunate li, it is significantly over valued given the likely scale of its long term opportunity and the risks associated with executing against that opportunity, significant ongoing delusion from share based compensation will likely represent an additional negative consideration for the stock. so this is from pivotal. and they issued a sell rating with a price target of $10 a share. how do you respond as somebody who bought shares of snap today? >> sure. and he sent me the note earlier and i had a chance to review it. this is not about 2016 numbers or even the valuation or top

line today. this is a story of bridging the divide. it's $60 billion in just digital mobile asd todds today, growing clip far beyond anticipated. so now a top technology company bridging that divide where the user now interacting with brands. that is a market that will be monetized and we're excited to see how they monetize it sfwln and you participated in the facebook and google public offeri offerings. what made that more interesting to you? >> i think for facebook and also for twitter, we were able to get shares prior to the ipo. and we were sort of taking advantage of the fact that companies went public later and we could get in at a slight discounts. that worked great. by the way, two years ago, i would have loved to boouy share of snap, but we couldn't find in. so not finding that opportunity, we're not in any rush to buy

them today. we can always buy them next week or next month. that's the nature of a publicly traded stock. >> sean, in the meantime questions about the business model, today fee cussocused aro advertising. but when you look back at the conversation we had in 2013, here's what we asked him about how they make money four years ago. >> we have seen growth across all demographics. but obviously the biggest is 13 to 25. >> both sexes, male and female? >> yeah, service skew is female. >> how do you monetize it? >> transactions, gaming has been extremely profitable. >> in app purchase, they clearly now embraced advertising. do you expect that to be the driver for them going forward? >> absolutely. i think their whole play here is bridging that began between the physical and the digital. and that's where we're most excited about.

obviously the hardware and in app purchases will be increment incremental revenue for the new shareholder, but we're most excited about the ad revenue. >> the shares that you were trying to buy, kevin, that you couldn't get in on, have no voting rights. very, very unusual if not unique for a company like this. that is not a turnoff for you? >> you know,ly really wish that i could kind of pound the table about voting rights issue. the problem is that some of the most success fful companies are ones where magt i management is control. facebook, google. and some other companies like twitter, you have a lot more rights and it hasn't really helped. so i'm really conflicted. i wish the data backed up what my heart says. but right now, it just doesn't. >> well, remember, investing is an unemotional or should be an unemotional exercise. so go with your head, not your heart. gentlemen, thank you both. it's been a big day here at the

new york stock exchange with the ipo. let's get to the "closing bell" exchange now with the dow down 57 points. i've gotten that you could have minus signs. >> we were only up 303 yesterday. so certainly time to take a breather if you want to call it that. >> and joining us today michael pap pass, steve grasso, and rick santelli checking in from the cme in chicago. so steve, what do you make of this, is this just a pause or what is going on here? >> well, the first thing is what is at the forefront of everyone's minds as investor, refail, whether institutional or the politics du jour. so this morning we came in and we have the jeff sessions headline. spooked the market a bit. still continues to spook the market. but the mar get is not downing a agre aggressively. for me if you look at it, a lot of these things are entry points

where the money dumb are stimen there. so while today you see utilities outperforming and financials take a back seat, i do think that in the next couple of days, once those jeff sessions headlines dissipate a bit, you will see the bulls back this charge. >> steve, what do you think this market is, all politics or something? >> it is all politics. basically 75% politics. a source surveyed this morning saying just that, that people are watching will. when bill asked me the other day what am i concerned with, earnings, yellen, what am i really focused on, and it has to be politics because that is what is searing tteering the ship. >> nik and he wilmichael, what concerns about earnings relative going forward? >> we're riding the wave of optimism. there is a pro business government. but you bring up a good point. what will drive the market higher is earnings growth. are companies going continue to

grow their earnings, will they continue to keep cash on hand, are their balance sheets going to stay clean. we believe they were. there might be a this will slight pull back, but we're projecting everyoarnings growth market growth. >> so you're riding wave of ennews yachlg? >> and earnings growth. earnings haven't grown for 2 1/2 years and now they're projected to grow over the next 18 to 24 months. and we believe they will continue to grow and will drift market higher. >> another voice perhaps alluding to a fed rate increase this month, jay powell was on with steve liesman earlier saying maybe the time was right for an increase. do you think markets are set up for that now will? >> absolutely. and even if we have none of the fed speak out there, i think will as we would have drawn

closer to fed day, that you'd see the market get a little anxiety. i think it's sped along because it certainly seems as though the fed officials that have grabbed mikes thus far see the landscape for what it is. they need to respond to some of the issues going on in the markets and in the economy and try to divine exactly how much insurance they need whether things grab too aggressively. you can always throttle back a little bit. it would be fun to get 150 or 175 overnight rate if nothing else for a cushion. and as far as the setback in equities today, my two guests, your two guests certainly seem to have a lanl have a handle on. we touched 2.5. haven't hit hit it in 5 1/2 week. and i still want to draw attention to where we finished off 2016. dollar index was exactly where it is right now. rates were about three, four basis points lower.

but we all know even with the setback in equity, they managed to add on about 6.5% for the dow and s&p and over 9% for the nasdaq. i think that formula is still intact. >> steve, do you think this market is becoming detached from the gdp process pekts here? when jpmorgan is saying 1.5% for the first quarter. >> yeah, i think when people start focusing in on pro-growth government, you look at lower corporate tax rates, you will 150e th see that gdp start to ratchet up. so when people start to focus in on corporate tax rate in the united states coming in from 35% to 20% and i think that is what the consensus feel 1, you will look at that gdp above 3% and i think that is what people are focused in on. 1. 1.5 won't get people excited. 3%, 4% gets people gang busters. so i think it will be higher than that if get all the cards in place the way we think well have them dealt.

>> all right. gentlemen, thank you all for your thoughts on daird's mtoday action. see you later. so we have minus signs today. >> yes, dow down 64 points now. look at the transports though, down 130. oil is lower by about a percent. the dollar is higher. i think i saw that bitcoin is now above gold. >> and utilities have been a counter balance late. will and items 's up 8 point. we're told there is a health care reform bill that could be ready by mid april. the trouble is you can't find it. they have been searching for it at the rayburn. we'll go live for the latest developments on that. >> also coming up, two energy stock watchers to bheet theat t sector. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide.

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for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. i love to see businesses that just started from ground up grow into further success. it just feels good to know that i'm helping someone else. my first goal is to learn about their business, what they're currently doing in their advertising. pull some research, create a great story. trying to figure out some way of building some kind of trust in a very quick moment. you have to love to work with people. our goal, without a doubt, is that all customers are satisfied before they leave. ♪ welcome back. pretty much down session across the board today. the dow down 87 points. we've taken a leg lower here just in the last 30 minutes or so s&p down 13, nasdaq 41, russell down 14 today.

monster bencht oig is amoveragen 13% after quarterly revenue and gross margins topped street estimates. analysts say international growth could offset a possible slowdown here in the u.s. and monster announced a new $500 million stock buyback plan. you saw it live here. president trump delivering remarks at the super carrier uss gerald ford oig a while ago go. eamon javers has that story for us. >> yeah, an emotional speech from the president wearing his bomber jacket and u.s. navy cap. he talked about the heroism of sailors back during the balgtsd battle of midway, all to underscore his point of calling for more defense spenkd. he has called for $54 billion in additional defense spending. here's how he put it on the aircraft carrier. >> after years of end lastlelest

cuts that have impaired our defenses, i'm calling for one of the largest defense spending increases in his foerp and by h history. and by eliminating the sequester and the uncertainty it creates, we will make it easier for the navy to plan for the future and thus to control costs and get the best deals for the taxpayer which of course is very important. >> so that's what the white house wanted to talk about today, but it's being overshadowed by the revelation of the "post" that attorney general jeff sessions spoke to the russian ambassador twice last year during the presidential campaign,ing something he apparently denied while testifying before congress earlier in the year. and i'm just told by our control room here that news is just crossing the wires that attorney general jeff sessions will hold a news conference at 4:00 p.m. so we may get more to the story

before the day is out. and i can tell you also that the president while he was on that aircraft carrier was asked by pool reporters what he made of the story and he was asked if attorney general sessions should recuse himself from any session into the russia issue. the president said i don't think so. he was also asked if he knew about any contact with ambassador and the president said i wasn't aware of it at all. so now with this news of a sessions newser at 4:00 p.m., we'll wait to see what the attorney general has to say about all of this. >> should be very instructive. we'll see what happens then. thanks very much. is. health care reform bill could be ready by mid april. kayla tausche has been working her sources for this one. >> well, that sessions news has been a little bit of a distraction for congress here that is trying to push that health care reform through. house republicans are facing a somewhat self imposed deadline of next week to have a bill begin being marked up in the house. but members of congress we spoke with this morning said that they

expected to be out of the house and to the senate by easter, that this version is expected to include a provision to sell insurance across state lines. and that a plan to offer tax credits to those that are buying into this plan is currently being fine tuned. that has been somewhat controversial within the republican party. some wanted a tax deduction on the back end instead of a tax credit on the front end, but meetings yesterday and today have sought to bridge that gap. one lawmaker who was opposed to the prior draft, representative mark walker, told us that he thinks they can reach a deal by next week. >> i believe that some of the energy over the last even 48 hours has risen these concerns to the top, that is one of the reasons why ways and means are engaging for the entire weekend to make sure that by monday or tuesday, monday when we get back, that we're ready go with some kind of idea where this is headed. >> today paul ryan said the

house, senate and white house are all in sync where this is headed and he believes the republican holdouts will come around. >> i am perfectly confident that when it's all said and done, we're going to unify because we all, every republican, ran on repealing and replacing and we will keep our promises. >> all know now there is criticism over how tightly the authors of this bill are holding to the vest. you might have seen this video of senator rand paul coming over to the house side to this room that was really nothing to write home about, but there was a rule other that this was the room where the bill was in a read only copy. he brought his own printer. he was trying to get copies of it made because he's been critical of some of the items in this draft or this proposal that had been leaked out. but no dice. he was told the bill wasn't there. there has been a wild goose chase for reporters and lawmakers to find it. no dice yet to report.

>> i mean, i'm intrigued obviously they want to keep things under wraps untils soup is ready, but what do you think is going on? >> there is some criticism and some worry that there is not actually full text of a bill in place, that it's really just a blueprint or a draft outline of some of the details that could be included in a future bill and obviously that would push the deadline down the road even farther. this morning is nancy pelosi said that it would be hypocri hypocritical of the republicans for criticizing the democrats when they were passing obamacare for not actually putting out the full text of the bill and trying to jam it through at a time when people didn't have time to review it, that that would be hypocritical for the republicans not to put this text out. and so that's why there is this push and pull because the republicans have said that they would make this a public proposal that everyone would be able to get their eyes on it, but so far that has not been the case. >> kayla tausche in stthe haule

there. thank you. wilbur ross will be speaking with the "squawk box" gang tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. don't want to miss that. we will all have to get used to calling him now mr. secretary. >> looking forward to that interview. we have 37 minutes left in the trading session. it's a down day. looks like it will be a down day when all is said and done with the dow right now down 75 points. >> meanwhile mcdonalds wants to wrap up demand by using more technology. but could its growth plans backfire? we'll hear what the a ceo has to say next. and caterpillar shares lagging the dow after federal agents raided the company's headquarters earlier today. we'll have details on that coming up.

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keeping our eyes on the declines today. the dow down 80 points. the s&p down 12, nasdaq down 40 and russell down 14. and steve grasso discussing how he thinks politics does have something do with this. this morning the news about jeff sessions has cast a different tone. >> we have been calling it the trump rally. >> absolutely. half an hour from now, we will get more information from sessions himself. >> meanwhile mcdonald's trading

off session lows right now, one day after the fast food chain, details to ramp up digital enhancements and delivery options. steve he ceo discussed those chattillen. >> can our kitchen keep up and the crew and managers do a xwlat j great job. so we will link end to end as you place the order into our kitchen operations so we can meet the demand. so we are confident there is no hurdles as we grow our business. >> and in case you hadn't heard, mcdonald's expected to launch mobile ordering in 20,000 restaurants by the end of this year and it's addingkiosks, as . shares have risen more than 12% just since the election. >> so they have some of these kiosks in the neighborhood. i've used them. they're very convenient. do you know why? because they let you jump -- so

if there is a line of eight people and you get your mobile order in, it goes right to the top. >> i've reeled you in here. i was going to say, miss millennial, is this what will entice you to go to a mcdonald's more often now? for me it's about the food. the veefrconvenience factor is but is that a reason when you say, gee, if mcdonald's has this cool kiosk, that's where i want to go? >> they are trying out fresh meat. if they did a better burger, would you go back? >> if they have a better burger tharks's whe that's where i'm going. >> and the other convenient thing they're trying to do now is they will bring the order out to you. if you order it, they will bring to your car. and that again, convenience factor goes a long way. if you're on a road trip for example. >> build a better burger and they will come. >> they're working on that, too. time for a news update with

sue herera. >> my kids personally love mcdonald's, so there you have it. we start out this hour with a russian air strike in northern syria which accidentally hit u.s. backed syrian forces according to a senior u.s. official. russia reportedly though denying responsibility saying their forces followed u.s. guidance on avoiding friendly forces in that area. sweden's government is bringing back military draft for both men and women and that means that 4,000 swedes may be called up for service each year. they stopped the draft search year oig year as go, but is r reintroducing it. pope francis addressing hundreds ever priests in rome to mark the beginning of lent.evero mark the beginning of lent.fran hundreds ever priests in rome to mark the beginning of lent.ever mark the beginning of lent. he also heard confessions of a dozen priest. and on a light note, tom hanks delivering a big thank to you the white house press core in the form of a brand new

espresso machine. the actor also sent a note. it said keep up the good fight for truth, justice and the american way. especially the truth part. this is the third machine that he has sent over the years. that is the news update, guys. back to you. i'm still back on the other one. how would you like to be offering your confessions to the pope himself? # a litt a little intimidating i think. >> especially when the sermon is on the deferrvil and temptation. >> thank, sue. see you on the business report. roughly 30 minutes left with the dow down 76 points. dow component cat pillar lower after federal agents searched some company facilities including its corporate headquarters. we'll have details on that coming up. also ahead, costco and american outdoor brands release earnings after the bell. we'll break down the numbers as soon as they hit the tape.

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. 26 left in the trading session here with the dow down 91 points right now. we were talking about when was the last time we had this kind

of a selloff. but first mark newton joining me to look at a sector that has lagged this year as the market continued higher. that is the energy stocks. >> yeah, energy appears like one of the better risk/reward sectors to play given that the market has gotten very overbought. we've rallied about 7% in the first couple months of the year. >> this takes back to june of '14. >> this is where we peaked and made all-time highs. you see we pull back, a believe rally after we broke this little down trend. now we're at a level where we're challenging the down trend just from december. so this is an interesting juncture at a time when all the high energy levels have kept crude compressed, but it's been range bound for the last few months. so energy down about 4.5% for the year thus far. almost down 1% in the last month. similar to health care, this is a sector you want to look at in terms of buying and coming into a bullish time of the season. >> i was going to say, what do

you wait to tell you that it is time. >> this general it's right now just because it's technically set up. we really moved down to an area that is decent support for the xle. you've seen an upstart, a jump in money dumb. energy has outperformed all but seven sectors up about 1.5%. so in the last week, we've outperformed even though for the year we've underperformed. this little trend, if we get above 73, it pays to be involved now i think as opposed to jumping for financials, industrials, technology at these levels. market obviously very overdone. so in general it's a great risk/reward for the months ahead. and big companies in the xle like exxon are very defensive. if the market starts to pull back, this will offer a lot better protection given the size. >> thanks, mark. let's hear more on exxon right now. energy has incumbent biggest laggard of the rally. sector down 5%. and the ceo sat down with becky quick on "squawk box" and weighed in on oil prices.

>> our view is there is still a lot of uncertain city. so while we have seen prices go up in the short term, we're not building our investment campaign based on the assumption that those prices will be there forever. >> is it time to start buying energy names? joining us now, skip ailsworth and rob hayward. good to have you both with us. skip, you're bullish here. does that imply you see the oil price going higher? >> not only i think at this level, companies can make money drilling for oil and on the distribution side, i see a growth in that area, too, as we foster a more positive business environment. >> and mr. hayworth, you echo what the exxon ceo said. you're cautious, it comes down to the price of oil for you. >> yeah, i think that's right.

sentiment for us is fairly overextended and the fundamentals continue to access supply. so we think there is down side risk to oil prices. and i think in the near term energy stocks are still elevated in our view. >> so the question, skip, for me is that if you like the production, like the distri abuse of what is happening in u.s. centerienergy, doesn't tha price of oil might be going downward? so can the companies make enough money even if the price goes lower because they're producing more? >> again, energy has a broad definition. and so not only do we talk about oil, we can talk about natural gas. and i think on the natural gas side, it's a very positive environment that we're at these price levels. we're raising production. we'll have abundant supply, low prices and increased distribution as we increase our use of natural gas. and that is another side of the

energy picture. >> and you brought, skip, some stock picks. on the large cap side, southern companies. why southern? >> well,ing southern is an old one of the largest power produce nerts urs.ng southern is an old one of the largest power produce nerts urs. er in the u.s. machined r. historically is a coal producer. and never been changing. as limits on coal have been constrained by regulation, and they have acquired natural gas distribution company, solar and wind power to diversify. >> what about the costs? sounds like they're way overbudget either and not necessarily going to be will economical. that doesn't concern you? >> well, again, it's the tortoise and the hare.

until the stocks give you in the 8%, 10% range, there is nothing in the mohorizon. i think you're referencingi a coal plant. so that's why they're diversifying. >> you feel like we need a correction for you to be interested in buying some of these stocks here. how much lower do you think oil needs to get to balance out supply and gland rigdemand thate you interested again? >> we're thinking it's probably a few dollars before you get some shift? n. po in policy from opec to start rebalance the market. but you also need sentiment in rebalance the market. but you also need sentiment to start to change. you look at the speculative data and we're ht record highs for bullish speculation in oil priced markets and we think that is part of what needs to come down, as well forkts m, for theo become much more constructive. >> all right, gentlemen, thank you. good to see you.

trying to figure out what oil is worth. >> good with luck. >> thank you. . dropping after federal agents raided the company's headquarters. what is behind that action? it's next. ♪ say carl, we have a question about your brokerage fees. fees? what did you have in mind? i don't know. $6.95 per trade? uhhh. and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $6.95 online equity

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caterpillar headquarters today. morgan brennan is tracking this story and has the latest. >> so shares of caterpillar have been sliding today and that is after federal agents searched and seized materials at three of their illinois facilities including its head quarters. u.s. attorney's office confirming the searches and that agents from the fdic office of the inspector general, irs criminal investigation, commerce department's office of export and enforcement were all on the scene today. the company confirming the searches as well and saying that it is cooperating, but offering no more detail beyond that. in its recent 10 k filing however, cat did disclose receiving federal subpoenas seeking materials related to its

swiss subsidiary, specifically movements of casual tied to the sales ever replacement parts. for background, a 2014 senate investigation had said the company created a strategy in the late '90s to reduce its u.s. tax burden by using the swiss business to shift the sale and thus profits ever replacement parts to switzerland. so the s.e.c. investigated it and has since concluded that without recommending a penalty. but other agencies have continued to look into this. and that recent filing cat saying it believes the matter will not have material adverse effect on consolidated results of operations, financial position or liquidity. while not confirmed, it would appear daiftoday's searches wer tied to these claims. and shares are down almost 4.5% and they have been the biggest negative point impact to the dow which is also down today, as well. back over to you. >> yeah, it may not have a material impact, but it won't be great pr for this company right now.

>> no, and certainly up until these investigations started in recent years, you know, wall street analysts have noted that this is a company that up until a couple years ago really sort of had something of a squeaky clean mid western image. so this is just -- so as this continues and the biggest impact here could be the potential that it has to pay back taxes and penalty of up to $2 billion. the expectation right now is that it may not be that bad. the company is expected to continue to defend itself and fight this. again, we don't have confirmation this is what this is about, but this is what it looks like this search was involving. >> that is the only dot we have to connect to right now. >> exactly. >> so we'll see if we get more information. morgan, thank you. a moment ago go we were down more than 100 points. >> and dow now down 96. we haven't been down more than 100 points since january 31. >> i'm aware. >> s&p by the way down 13, nasdaq down 43, russell down 16.

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. about ten minutes left in the trading session with the dow down 101 points.

look at some of the top stories that have been moving market. snap ink soaring on its first day of trade. we'll keep an eye out as it closes with everything else. the financials, biggest laggard today after leading yesterday's offices, that stock has been the biggest drag on the dow today. down more than 4 %. >> and the dow is down 108 points right now. we haven't had the decline this big since january 31st. we were up 300 yesterday. >> right. >> for more what to buy, we'rob luna, we'll start with you. would you be buying snap here? what interests you in this market? >> kelly, i think i learned my lesson with twitter on that one. we've been staying away from that stock here. no, but you know, it's a difficult thing what's going on right now, kelly, you know, fear and greed are who of the most difficult emotions to judge in

the market. we're getting to point where you have to start looking at how greedy are people being. vaguation valuations are stretched here. we're not only looking at what to buy, what we might be taking off the table here right now, but that being said, to your question, we're trying to find some industry-leading companies who maybe have been left out of this rally a little bit. one of the companies we like that we are buying here, we'd be buying today, for example, is a company like polaris. that's the industry-leading company in motor sports. very, very good balance sheet. they had some recall issues last year that sent the stock down. but there's some great things going on at that company with emerging markets exposure. that will be a really good place to put some money right now. >> what are you doing right now, oliver. >> we're continuing to play it safe. as we talked about before on the program, we see a bell curve for the market, lmarket momentum is very much positive. i wouldn't read into today's selloff of the death of the rally or anything of that sort. we continue to stick with high-quality companies, very,

very strong balance sheets and solid dividends. there are some value plays out there, if you think of verizon, for instance, the telecom sector got beaten up a little bit. very solid company. you got pfizer pharmaceuticals, johnson & johnson, health care sector. a lot of interesting plays. the reality is every day that passes you get closer to a correction so have to mentally prepare for clients for that asaen that's okay because they're part of a natural cycle. >> the problem is it's not here yet. if you're trying to say to people, we'll get you in at the next opportunity, you know, the meantime, do you just -- >> that's why we stay invested. you know, you reduce the risk by focusing more on high-quality dividends, stronger balance sheets. you reduce the risk by, you know, making sure that you're not using anything that's leveraged or that can be, you know, that's too volatile. so you pare down the vol tatili but not to the level of investments. >> robert, it becomes more evident every day from the fed speak that the fed probably is going to raise rates this month.

what do you think that whil do to the market? is the market prepared for another rate increase now do you think? >> i they're they're pricing incremental hikes in here, bill. i don't know that that necessarily is going to be the catalyst for a soenddoend-down. tax issue are one of the biggest things right now. i personally think the market is pricing in lower corporate prices. if that's something that doesn't get passed, watch out below, 10% to 15% correction is something we're preparing our clients for. like i said, selectively buying some stocks. i look at your portfolio today and ask yourself, if i had cash, is this a stock i'd buy today? if it's not, today is a good time to raise a little bit of cash. >> all right. very good, guys. good to see you guys, both. cue the arthur cashin animation, mr. cashin stopped by and said the market on close orders

showed an imbalance to the buy side of 250 million. not large and certainly doesn't like it's going to make the positive here. >> we keep sliding into the close, moving lower down 105 points now on the dow. >> we'll have the closing countdown in just a moment. >> after the bell, the wall street vet who called this market runoff the face-off rally says it may be time to be more cautious. and we're minutes away from attorney general jeff sessions' news conference, that gets under way at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. that should be very, very constructive and could have a market impact. we'll bring it to you live as soon as it begins. stay tuned.

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comie ining on the ining up three-minute mark. the dow down. the stock of the day, snapchat. their specialist, glen curell, who got it open this morning, same guy who opened twit and big ipos recently at the new york stock exchange, a spectacular gainer today, up 44, 45 points. let's review the other markets before we get to more on snapchat in just a moment. biggest decline we've seen for the dow since january 31st, at least, down 109 points right now. it doesn't help that caterpillar is a big lagger. but also there's talk on the floor here that the -- what's going on with attorney general jeff sessions also didn't help. and he's holding a news conference at the top of the hour. everybody knows that. so we're seeing some selling here as we head toward the

close. we had fed governor jay powell on the air earlier today talking to steve liesman, said yet again, here's somebody else saying it looks more and more like the fed may be raising interest rates when it meets on the 14th and 15th of this month, so yields continue to rise. that's about the high for the year. almost. it's not quite. we're getting close to the highs for the year an ton the ten-yea yield. costco reports earnings after the bell tonight. some of the retailers, we got mixed numbers from. very price conscious retailer, obviously. the stock is up just tiny fraction right now as we head toward the close of trading. but the story of the day, bob pisani, certainly is snapchat. >> the important thing, here it is right here. behind us. remember, nobody cares it is priced at 17. it opened at 24. all the retail people bought at 24. the question is does it close at 24 or above? because that's how you judge the success and the answer is, certainly he looks that way. >> right now.

>> 24.50. >> remember, it did get as high has 26 at one point. nevertheless, this will be judged successful ipo. bill, one of the smoothest ones eve se i've seen, no price gyrations beforehand, didn't go on interm bli. opened 1,1 20 or so. did this open up the ipo pipeline? i think the pipeline is going to fill up. >> i know we said this before, i think april, bill, i'm going out on a limb on this. >> okay. >> very accurate. the first, second third week of april, i think you're going to see -- unless this thing falls apart the next couple weeks, you'll certainly see a lot more activity. >> broad eer market, you wonder whether this is a one-day wonder or if this is the beginning of a new movement for the market. >> remember, there's a blackout period for the fed. starting on saturday. so this is the last chance for yellen. you notice even though yields were up today, all the bank stocks were trading to the downside. i don't think that means too

much given the strength that we've had, but yellen is definitely going to move the markets and this is now about yellen and the president. >> clearly a successful ipo for snapchat. but a big down day for the markets here. stay tuned now. jeff sessions news conference gets under way momentarily on the second hour of "the closing bell" with kelly and company. i'll see you tomorrow, kelly. thank you, bill. welcome to "the closing bell," everybody, i'm kelly evans. here's how we're finishing up the day on wall street. banner day for snap, not so much for the broader market which makes that company's debut all the more impressive. dow barely clinging on to 21,000. as things settle out, we'll make sure that's still the case. dropped 115, 115 points today, more than a half percent decline. even though caterpillar had a lot to do with that, the dow outperformed all the other averages. the broad s&p 500 was weaker down .6%. 14 points today.

2,381. nasdaq down to 5,861. russell small caps down 1.3%, 1,395 is your level there. yes, in points term, worst day for the dow since january 31st, the last time we fell more than 14ur 100 points. snap did okay in this environment. company finishing its first trading day higher by 44%, $7.50 gain, to close today at $24.48, after going public earlier this morning. ooel we'll be talking to tom bar lirly, president of the new york stock exchange about what this means. donald trump saying he has confidence in jeff sessions after revealed sessions met twice -- sessions, as you can see here, this is a live shot of the justice department, is going to give a news conference any minute. this is only announced about an hour ago.

we will bring it to you live as soon as it begins. joining me here on set today, we have cnbc's senior markets commentator and pro columnist, michael santoli. raymond james. equity portfolio manager, stephanie link. great to have everybody with us. we'll talk about the markets until we can until sessions begins. it may have been why we were eager. >> at least late in the day, perhaps. after you had the market running as hot as it was at yesterday's close, tremendous amount of new money flushing into the exchange traded funds and everything else, not that surprising to regroup on a day like this. also this market refused on the way to this point all these excuses to back off and have a -- you had some indicators saying that was coming. we don't know if it's the start of anything. bank stocks gave up half of what they gained yesterday. we'll have to have a couple days to see, whether, in fact, yesterday was more climactic or not. >> stephanie, what do you make of snap's debut?

it's not like this is the banner of what's been this great pipeline, it's been pretty quiet and it's funny it became the day -- at least a price the day the market was kind of at a top. >> yeah, it's exciting because as you said there haven't been a lot of ipos. this is a story a lot of the bulls if you're bullish on it, you can get behind. right? any of us that have children that are in that age bracket, we're all very excited about it. you look at valuation, talk yourself out of it. >> are you buying your daughter a share of snap? >> no. >> she's probably valuing this thing on her own. >> she sure is. she's telling me. >> new york i thio, i think it'. don't read too much into it. it's a company that has to prove itself over the long term. you're going to have bulls and going to have bears. i prefer facebook. i think they're the industry leader. in terms of the market overall, there's so much to digest. i'm not surprised we have good bullish risk-on days like yoed. we have to digest what trump said and what the implications

are and now have all of a sudden add on a hawkish fed, for good reason because the data is getting better and we're kind of figuring out what's going to happen with the dollar at the same time. i understand it. i still think you want to own cyclicals and look at some of the laggers in cyclicals like energy and offset it with health care. >> i want to come back to that point about interest rates in a second. jeff, since you're here, though, i want our viewers to know, you said we were going to have a rally, which arguably we have, and now this decline you're calling for, is it taking you out of the market? what do you think is going to happen here? >> it's not taking us out of the market. the models that call the trump rally suggested at the end of january, beginning of february, we were coming into a window of downside vulnerability so we trimmed some positions. so far, that's been a wrong call. yesterday, however, felt like a blow-off top to me for this move. >> jeff, what do you think has opportunity here? i mean, it is enough to kind of whauk walk away or be tactical and pick your spots and, you know, kind of ride this thing out?

>> well, i think if you get a pullback here that it's not going to be very big. it's going to be maybe 5%, 7%, maybe 10%. we think you're still in the secular bull market that has six, seven, eight years left to run. i wouldn't try to get too cute with it. >> stephanie, you mentioned interest rates. let's talk about that for a second. the two-year was at a zcseven-yr high earlier in the session. the ten-year was moving higher. we had comments that came out overnight, powell, of course, speaking with cnbc earlier. we hear from janet yellen tomorrow. does seem overall, though, as bond trader was pointing out, we went from pricing in 2 1/2 pikes to 2.7. this is a big deal, big moves in that complex. >> it's a very big deal. if the economic data wasn't getting better, i'd be more worried, right? we had pretty good data not only here in the united states, also globally especially on the manufacturing side. we'll see if that momentum continues. if it does, they should be raising. we don't need emergency policy

like we have in place right now. i think we can handle it. >> yeah, big day for snap and the new york stock exchange. look who stopped by. new york stock exchange group president thomas farley. welcome to you. >> thanks for having me. >> what was your worst fear about what would happen today? >> oh, my gosh, i always come into these, it's a bit paradoxical, i'm confident, we're good at this, my colleagues, 225 year conditions, but i'm also paranoid as heck about what could go wrong, so we're always thinking about what are the little things that to go wrong and mushroom into something worse? >> you guys practice. >> we practice multiple times. we did an entire industry test. the underwriters took it seriously, jamming us with lots and lots of orders in complicated situations over the weekend. that helped me sleep a little bit although i did wake up quite a few times last night. >> i don't know about you, i thought the guise looked a little uncomfortable. >> it's overwhelming. they're 26 years old and walk in, there were 50 media outlets here. >> wow. >> a roomful of people. it was yellow the entire place

and get up there, you look down, there's a sew of huma of humani. this is not their lifelong dream, but adulthood-long dream and taking public on the new york stock exchange. i understand -- i think they were a little overwhelmed but had fun. >> you say you practice it, paranoid about the process. you have ipos we don't talk as much about all the time, maybe not as many as you like. is there something different about one of these larger ones that you have a lot of focus on? >> there is, absolutely. you get more orders. >> yeah. >> there's more messages. and at some point, every system, no matter what you're talking about, whether it's the space shuttle or some other sophisticated system, it reaches a point at which it can't take more messages or commands, if you will. this was -- don't hold me to this, but i believe this was the third largest opening trade we've ever had. >> in terms of number of shares? >> in terms of number of shares. in terms of the number of shares because while they raise quite a business less money than say

alibaba, there was a very large share count. you really work on stressing the system, don't say, i'm going to run the system and put the number of orderers i think we're going to have, you put the number of orders that are 20 times number of orders that you think you would have. >> let me jump in for one second, we're getting breaking news out of washington we definitely want to get to. eamon javers, what's happening? >> reporter: news is breaking that the attorney general is going to say that he's recusing himself from this are russia probe. that means that he as the seniormost figure at the department of justice won't be involved in that investigation any further in the wake of these revelations that he did, in fact, meet with the russian ambassador to the united states. at least twice. once during the republican national convention last year, and once in september in an apparently one of one me-on-onet his office. that's the news we're waiting for on the left-hand side of

your screen and we were also given some information from sean spicer who was gag lg with reporters on air force one as the president's flying back here to the white house just a few moments ago. spicer said that the president -- >> it's good to be with you. welcome to the defarpartment of justice. jody, thank you for being with me. he's my chief of staff. jody has been almost 20 years in the department of justice. let me share a few thoughts. first, about the comments that i made to the committee that have been said to be incorrect and false. let me be clear, i never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the trump campaign. and the idea that i was part of a, quote, continuing exchange of information during the campaign

between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. that is the question that senator franken asked me at the hearing and that's what got my attention as he noted it was the first, just breaking news. it got my attention and that is the question i responded to. i did not respond by referring to the two meetings, one very brief after a speech, and one with two of my senior staffers, professional staffers, with the russia ambassador where no such things were discussed. in my refly the question of senator franken was honest and correct as i understood it at the time. i appreciate some have taken the

view this was a false comment. that is not my intent. that is not correct. i will write the judiciary committee soon, today or tomorrow, to explain this te testimony for the record. secondly, at my confirmation hearing, i promised that i would do this. if a specific matter arose where i believed my impartiality might reasonably be questioned, i would consult with the department ethics officials regarding the most appropriate way to proceed. closed quote. that's what i told him at the confirmation hearing. i have been here just three weeks today. a lot has been happening in this three-week period. i wish i'd had more of my staff onboard, but we're still waiting for confirmation for them. much has been done. much needs to be done, but i did

and have done as i promised. i met with senior officials shortly after arriving here. we evaluated the rules of ethics and recusal. i have considered the issues at stake. in fact, on monday of this week, we set a meeting, a final decision on this question. and on monday, we set that meeting today, so this was a day that we planned to have a final discussion about handlings. i ask for the candid and honest opinion about what i should do about investigations. certain investigations. and my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign, i should not be involved in any campaign investigation. i have studied the rules and considered their comments and

evaluation. i believe those recommendations are right and just. therefore, i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. the exact language of that recusal is in the press release that we will give to you. i've said this, "i have now decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the united states." i went on to say "this announcement should not be interpreted as confirmation of the existence of any investigation or suggestive of the scope of any such investigation." because we in the department of justice resist confirming or denying the very existence of investigation. so, in the end, i have followed

the right procedure just as i promised the committee i would. just as i believe any good attorney general should do. and a proper decision, i believe, has been reached. so i thank you for the opportunity to make those comments and would be pleased to take a few questions. okay? >> just to clear up any confusion over this, could you just explain a little bit about the september 8th meeting, who on your staff was there and what was discussed with the russian ambassador? >> the russian ambassador apparently sent a staffer to my office. i did not see him. and asked for a meeting as so many of the ambassadors were doing, and we set up a time as we did, as we normally did, and we met with them. two of my senior staffers were there and maybe a younger staffer, too.

and they both retired army colonels and not politicians, and we had a -- we listened to the ambassador and to what his concerns might be. [ inaudible question ] well, just normal things such as -- i started off by saying i don't remember a lot of it, but i do remember saying i'd gone to russia with a church group no 9 1991 and he said he was not a believer, himself, but he was glad to have church people come there. indeed, i thought he was pretty much of an old style. soviet type ambassador. so we talked a little bit about terrorism as i recall. somehow the subject of ukraine came up.

i had the ukraine ambassador in my office the day before and to listen to him, nothing -- russia had done nothing that was wrong in any area and everybody else was wrong with regard to ukraine. it got to be a little bit of a testy conversation at that point. it wrapped up. he said something about inviting me to have lunch. i did not accept that. and that never occurred. [ inaudible question ] i don't recall, but most of these ambassadors are pretty gossipy and they like -- this was in the campaign season, but i don't recall any specific political discussions. [ [. >> do you recall meeting with ambassador kislyak any other time? >> i don't recall having met him. it's possible. i'm on armed services committee and things happen, but i don't recall having met him before the two meetings.

>> the question of sanctions, do you think -- why do you think he sought the meeting with you? did he understand you were a representative for the trump campaign? >> i think ambassadors are always out trying to find out things and advance their agenda. most of the countries' ambassadors i met with, they would lay out the case, ukraine would lay out its case, poland laid out its case, latvia, lithuania, hungary, japan, canada, australia. i met with all of those ambassadors over the year, and so i think that's why they -- >> did you consult with the white house about your decision and just to follow on the last question, with hindsight, do you believe that this is a coincidence that the russians asked you for a meeting? do you believe you were targeted because it came at the height of russ russia's interference and at the same time then-candidate trump was giving an interview to "rt"

saying he didn't believe there was anything to the reported interference. >> i don't recall and don't have a sense of any connection whatsoever about that. i'm not sure i even knew what -- when we set up the meeting, what was going to be going on in the world at the time. so i can't speak for what the russian ambassador may have had in his mind. >> have you met with any other russian officials or folks connected to the russian government since you endorsed donald trump? >> i don't believe so. i -- you know, we meet a lot of people, so -- >> from those two meetings you discussed with the ambassador? >> i don't believe so. >> the white house press secretary and the president, himself, both said today they think you should not recuse yourself from these investigations. did you -- [ inaudible ] >> i did share with white house counsel, my staffers, that i

intend to recuse myself this afternoon. but i -- i feel like -- of course, they don't know the rules. the ethics rules. most people don't. and, but when you evaluate the rules, i feel like that i am -- i should not be involved investigating a campaign i have a role in. one more question and we'll wrap this up. >> two questions, if i may. one, you were already considering recusal before today, is that correct? secondly, when you answered -- >> taken aback a little bit about this brand new information, this allegation that surrogates and i had been called a surrogate for donald trump, had been meeting continuously with russian

officials and that's what i -- struck me very hard and that's what i focus my answer on and retrospect, i should have slowed down and said but i did meet one russian official a couple of times. that would be the ambassador. thank you, all. take care. >> attorney general jeff sessions addressing allegations about his meetings with the russians. first reported by the "washington post" last night that it since prompted president trump to defend him. the news here is he says he has recused himself in matters that deal with the trump campaign that will come up at the justice department, but also saying he won't confirm or deny the existence of any investigations and it was not his intent to iew or misrepresent his answer back during his hearing when he was asked if he had had contact with russian officials. repeated theme of president trump's cabinet. let's get out to our eamon javers and john harwood with more reaction to the announcement at this hour.

eamon? >> reporter: question going into this was whether or not attorney general sessions would recuse himself. that we saw that he, in fact, did, although he said he transmitted that information to the white house counsel. the white house might not be fully aware of the ethics rules at the department of justice so he feels a proper and just decision was reached here. another key question, though, going into this, if he didn't meet with the russian ambassador about the trump presidential campaign, what was that meeting on september 8th all about? there the attorney general was a little bit vague. he said normal things and he said i don't recall a lot of it. he did say that the subject of terrorism came up at one point, and the subject of ukraine come up at one point but he said that ambassadors tend to be gossipy sorts here in washington. they're always trying to find out things and gather information. he said he didn't recall any discussion or any significant discussion of a presidential campaign. so i think you might hear reporters probing for a little bit more detail on what exactly happened in that september 8th meeting in mr. sessions' senate office, kelly. >> eamon, thank you.

he went through a play-by-play when asked, the attorney general did, talking about how somebody came into his office, set up a time to meet with the russian ambassador, two senior staffers were there, he met with the ukrainian ambassador the day before and when the subject came up, the conversation turned testy. john harwood, this in a way that is jeff sessions saying i'm not going to step down, i'm not going to take any further steps in this matter beyond recusing myself. >> definitely not. his questions raised more. as eam oon was saying, he mentioned ukraine. a hot-button issue. the republican platform at the convention changed policy toward ukraine to the benefit of russia. so what exactly was that conversation? and to say that it was campaign

season and ambassadors like to gossip, that seems to be a tacit admission that the election was discussed but he couldn't remember the particulars. so i think there's going to be a lot of questions to continue to be asked about jeff sessions, but also the broader set of contacts with russian officials and russian potentially intermediaries by various trump campaign officials, surrogates, associates, you know -- this caused the resignation of michael flynn, the national security adviser. we just had today the -- adam schiff, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, he and his republican counterpart agreed on a scope of an investigation, but adam schiff also called for a special prosecutor. now, i don't know if one of those is going to be appointed. certainly any administration likes to resist that step after the nightmare that bill clinton went through with a special prosecutor during his term which ended up resulting in his impeachment by the end.

so i think this is a treacherous moment for the trump administration and jeff sessions may have calmed today's storm, but the longer-term doubts and questions remain. >> all right. john, thank you. eamon, thank you. let me turn to the panel. we have jeff sant, i'm wondering what market impact you think this will have. >> i don't think it will have much impact, kelly. i worked in washington, d.c., beltway area. i have really good contacts on the hill. i've never met jeff sessions. the people i know who know him find him to be an honorable and fair guy. i think this is a bunch of noise from people that just can't cope with the fact that donald trump is now president. >> stephanie, what about you? >> well, initially i thought he was direct and he was clear and addressed the questions quickly, so we didn't have to wait so see if he was going to recuse himself or not. initially i was positive, but obviously his presentation led to more questions.

i don't think the press goes away. i don't think this issue goes away. do i think it has a market impact? no. >> i think the market has been taking a very cut-to-the-chase view of all these things going on in washington, which does it in any way imperil the likelihood that at some point we're going to get something business and market friendly out of policy? >> right. >> i doubt this rises to that level. this investigation was going to be going on no matter what. it's hard for me to draw a direct line between what happened today and that except the fact the market could use pretty much any excuse to back off some more. >> after this kind of run. jeff, stephanie, thanks for sticking around. jeff sault, raymond james, stephanie link from tiaa investments. we'll be right back with much more "closing bell" right after this. you do all this research

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welcome back. let's begin with a quick look at how we finished on wall street dow. s&p down 14. nasdaq down. russell down 18. the dow's first 100-point drop since jan 31st. speculation about what these issues with jeff sessions at the current attorney general had something to do with casting a shadow over the market. he just spoke about the matter watching futures here, any reaction there, but we'll get more as we extend throughout the evening. we have an earnings alert on costco to get to now. looks like a big earnings miss. courtney reagan has much more. court? >> hi there, kelly. thank you very much.

for costco's fiscal second quarter, earnings came in much lighter than analysts had expected. $1.17. the street was looking for $1.36. revenue also slightly light and the comp sales also a little light. when you're looking at what the expectations were. but something else to notice, costco is increasing membership fees for some 35 million members by $5. for those members that have a gold star, business, or business add-on membership. so the fee will go now to $60 as of june 1st. and then for some executive members, the fee will increase from $110 annually to $120 annually. you can see the shares after hours down by about 4.7 %. kelly?courtney. you can speculate about reasons why they have some challenges right now. missed four out of the last six quarters. definitely something bigger going on. >> definitely not a strong

tailwind behind basic in-store shopping. even for costco. they don't give guidance. it's not as if costco was managing to the street's comp number or earnings number. on the other hand, february didn't seem great in terms of consumer spending. really across the board. i saw the "x" gasoline and foreign exchange number was even weaker than the headline comps number for costco this month or quarter speaks as if it's a struggle but it's a very long-term player and bt by the way, fee increase, if we do the math back of the envelope, they're not going to lose any numbers >> i just signed up for a membership with costco -- they had a nice file cabinet, it was kind of cheap, figured 55 bucks at that point for a year. i'm a counterindicator. let's get to sue her rareerra fe cnbc update. fight to take back mosul from the islamic state is intensifying. iraqi police faced off against islamic state militants in a western mosul neighborhood. some 4 ,000 people fled that city each day since late

february. hungary starting construction on a new fence along its southern border with serbia. the barbed wire and metal fence is meant to prevent illegal entry of migrants. the second fence is meant to fortify an older fence erected in 2015. it turns out that hours-long outage for amazon web services was caused by an employee's typo on an input command. this caused a domino effect taking down several websites. the service is now back up and running. and the ceo of tesla, eelon musk, took advice from a fifth grader. tesla will hold a contest for homemade commercials after a young girl wrote a letter to the ceo with that suggestion. her father tweeted the letter to musk who responded, "thank you for the lovely letter. that sounds like a great idea. we'll do it!" that's the news update this hour. kehl ical kelly, back to you. we'll keep track on what the commercials end up looking like. >> that's why we love social

media. thank you, sue zblchblgs bre. breaking news on caterpillar. morgan brennan has an update. >> an update on caterpillar in light of federal agents searching three of its facilities earlier today specifically it's an updated statement from the company which not only confirms the search and the use of warrants focused on the collection of documents and electronic information but the company saying while the warrant was broadly drafted they believe the execution of this search warrant is regarding among other things the export filings that relate to its swiss subsidiary. this is the tax-related investigation that we discussed earlier on the show. and has been disclosed most recently in cat's recent 10k filing from last month. so, again, caterpillar saying that it is, quote, cooperating with law enforcement, but, again, we're starting to get some confirmation that this is in regards to that tax-related investigation that caterpillar has been dealing with for several years now. so if you take a look at shares of caterpillar, virtually unchanged now.

they did close down 4% today on this news. back over to you. >> yeah. dragging down the dow. although, again, all the other averages did worse. morgan, thank you. snap inc surging more than 40% for its first time as a public company. residents in venice, california, where the company is headquartered aren't so thrilled with snap. julia boorstin joins us live to explain. >> reporter: hey, kelly, that's right. i'm at snap inc's headquarters, we're a block from the venice beach boardwalk. as you can tell from the protesters behind me, many folks in the community are not so happy with the company's gentrifying effect on the artsy bohemian neighborhood. the company after its first day of trading is valued at about $34 billion. co-founders evan spiegel, bobby murphy, now each worth about $5.4 billion. now, there was a group of protesters here today complaining about snap killing mom and pop businesses, driving up local rent, saying that snap and its security guards don't fit in.

>> the artwork on the walls, it's not going to be like that in a year if they change this whole place. it's just going to be, like, huntington beach or newport beach or blah, blah, blah, you know? nobody is going to be here. not going to be any excitement. that got to stop this, man. >> reporter: snap saying, "we don't just have our headquarters here, many of us call venice home. we've been grateful to be part of this community for over the last four years and worked closely with local schools and non-profits to be a good neighbor. no one could have anticipated how quickly we've grown and already begun focusing our future growth outside of venice." snap brought in a couple l of food trucks here today to offer free burgers and ice cream to the community. we did see a number of protesters getting food including the man you just heard from. others say they won't take food from snapchat and it's all just for the cameras. kelly, back over to you. >> all right, julia. thank you. julia boorstin in venice beach. investing in private companies and startups like snap just was has been getting some attention in the nation's capital. the acting chair of the scc,

securities and exchange commissions, wants to aller current investor restrictions to allow people more access to invest in the new companies. joining me now, ceo of equities in, connecting shareholders of private companies with accredited investors who want alternative investments. welcome, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> so if washington expands access, that's actually bad for you, right? >> it's actually fantastic for us. here's the thing. currently these invest isments are only accessible by people that already are ultra wealthy. and the logic goes -- >> to be accredited, you have to make more than 200 grand a year or have a net worth of over a million bucks. >> over a million bucks, that's right. that's about 10% of the households in the u.s. 90% of the people could not have invested in snap, so many of these other companies. >> 20 years ago, that might not have been a big deal. today they're waiting so long to go public, you're missing out on the potential valuation. >> that's right. amazon went public when it was a four-year-old, five-year-old company, generating $16 million in revenue. after the dotcom boom, wall street is now expecting, the public is now expecting

companies to be a lot more mature, that takes time, that takes money and means the company have to be private for almost ten years before the public market can invest in it. when you limit it just to accredited investors like the scc mass up until now, this is what they want to change, they're effectively letting the rich get access to these investments when they do well, they keep getting richer. >> but the idea is they can -- mike, they can ain order to lose. so, you know, for every snap there might be nine or ten investments that didn't work out. there's no transparency in the companies and don't want the people -- look how much pressure there is on private companies. >> want a level of sophistication and ability. i wonder if this widened access would or should come with the requirement of increased financial disclosure by the companies. >> that's right. and that's something that we've been working very closely with the companies. so what we do is work with the company on every single transaction in order to make sure that this is a, you know, this transaction is suitable, only appropriated investors are allowed access and well beyond that, only work with companies

over $100 million in enterprise value or greater. the average company we work with is well over a billion dollars. our focus really is in getting the larger, more established companies, companies that are generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue, before making it available to the general public and by general public, i still mean the accredited investor pool. >> so that's the interesting thing here. i see what you're saying. it's good for you guys because there might be a bigger pool of accredited investors. if they lower the threshold to 100k a year, half a million dollars or lower, how many people are we talking about that could potentially have access? >> about 10% of u.s. households are currently considered accredited investors. everyone is focused on what's the amount, what's the cutoff going to be? there's another way to look at it, hey, let's give people a simple test to figure out whether or not -- >> i read that, to see if they have some sort of -- what would this test look like? i mean, what are you going do ask people questions about? >> it's a matter of asking people, like, hey, how long of a time horizon are you looking to invest in, how much experience

do you have investing in the past? do you understand -- define what it means -- >> can't i google these answer and say whatever -- the brilliant mike santoli said, i'm suddenly accredited. >> that's why the scc hand done this for so many years. they're still trying to figure it out. for the last three years, equityzen has been writing about this very topic trying to shed light on the fact the scc is trying to make the access available to a lot more people, but they need to do it in a way that doesn't just allow a lot of fraud st fraudsters to call up mom and pop and say here's the next facebook or snapchat. >> if everybody can do it, the sellers out there really better information, have a wider pool of people to foist off bad merchandise. >> a lot of the sellers are actually employees of these companies, early investors. they don't actually get invited to the board meetings anymore. you know, it's much bigger, you know, there's much bigger playing field of shareholders that need liquidity. >> right. >> investors that need access. the scc is paying attention to

it which we welcome. >> it's a fascinating topic. we'll see happens. atish, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> ceo of equityzen. >> dothe head of the cfpb will weigh in on his fight to keep his job coming up. watch out, chase sapphire, american express is upping the rewards for its platinum charge card but there's a catch. we will lay it out for you right after this. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. ♪ guyhey nicole, happening here? this is my new alert system for whenever anything happens in the market. kid's a natural. but thinkorswim already lets you create custom alerts for all the things that are important to you. shhh. alerts on anything at all? not only that, you can act on that opportunity with just one tap

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join directv today starting at $35 a month. no extra monthly fees. welcome back. let's start with susan lee here and an earnings alert. >> i'm going to show you cig kpant movers in the after hours. let's start with a very successful ipo in september, nutanix, last year. though the stock is down double subjects in after hours, earnings are pretty decent. they beat a pretty healthy beat in the quarter and revenues coming in ahead of estimates as well. now they're predicting a loss in the third quarter, 45 to 48 cents adjusted. that's much worse than what the markets had anticipated. also billings a little soft as well and, yeah, that is the guidance that they've given us. hence, the stock is getting punished. another stock i want to bring to your attention right now is a company that used to be called smith and wesson.

now called american outdoor brands. earnings beat estimates. revenues missing. and, again, it's the guidance that's really dragging down the stock, looking at very weak next quarter epa guidance, much less than what analysts had anticipated giving us a range that's far short of estimates. back to you. >> it's interesting here, susan, thank you, you could argue smith & wesson, maybe that's the trump trade. newtanix, supposed to be a company emblematic of tech ipos and how well they've done on some level. >> exactly. don't want to draw the direct line to snap but that was a big pop on the first day, went to 45, now in the mid 20s. >> newtanix down after the loss it just reported. american express is upping its platinum card perks in a fierce battle over credit cards rewards. archrival jpmorgan chase the plastic of choice, should say the metal of choice. amex platinum card holders can

get more points on travel plus 200 bucks in free uber rides. some are wondering if the free benefits are costing the card companies too much. here's jamie dimon's view. >> one of the fixes here is that the marketing cost, effectively called the marketing cost, gets booked over 12 months. the benefit, gets booked over seven years. all that was, the card was so successful, cost is now $200 million, but we expect that to have a good return. i wish it was a $400 million loss. >> joining us, credit card and banking expert at nerd wallet. sean, it's heating up. if jp every other card company? >> there's a market for the mass affluent premium credit card than we ever thought. we'll see if they recoup it over seven years. it's interesting to see the other players fight back in this arms race. >> it's interesting, sean,

having american express in here and essentially competing on the same terms with these other players that have been out there. it's, of course, an acknowledgement that the brand of the issuer, perhaps, doesn't really matter as much as it used to. and so these are seen as basically, look, who's got the better deal? there's really not that much of an expense to kind of adding another card. so is this going to just going to intensify, do you think, from here? >> it really does. there's actually very few situations where it matters what brand your credit card is. one really prominent one is costco, for example, famously switched from amex who they partnered with for decades over to visa. so now all of a sud den a lot o consumers do care. outside the niche consideration, you're right, the banks' brand doesn't make a difference. >> one thing to wonder about, not only is the upfront charge and the benefits the card companies may get over time, just the importance of this business in terms of what it's telling us about the state of the consumer, right? what do you think is going on out there when we have auto incentives at all-time highs,

credit card incentives at all-time highs, you know, it just seems at odds with the fact the consumer confidence is also at all-time highs. >> yeah, there's certainly a lot of money being poured into this market. i think to tell a quick story, if we think about the credit cards we saw marketed, maybe 20, 30 years ago, there one of two types. one either helping you save money on your interest, low apr credit cards or travel cards. there's really nothing in between. nothing for the everyday consumer who just wanted to use credit cards for rewards. we've seen that blossom since the recession. i think that's because a lot of banks lost their shirts on the low-end apr credit cards before. now these credit card companies are competing for the upper end of the market for consumers that use their cards and pay them off in full, competing to get the merchant credit card acceptance fees that the have so valuable for these banks. >> sean, is there any sense these companies as a secondary consideration are also trying to fend off the sort of non credit card competition so mobile payment apps, anything else,

basically keep people sticking to the plastic? >> that's a great question. very smart one because if we think of the benefits of bitcoin, cash, if you want to go that way, none of those systems have the rich rewards that the credit card market can offer so as long as the credit card companies are like you're saying, really doubling down an offering those values back to consumers, consumers aren't going to want to make that switch. >> sean mquay, thanks for joining us. exciting times. depending on you look at it. sean mcquay from nerd wallet. cfpb -- if president trump and republican lawmakers have their way, it may expire sooner. we're going to hear from the regulator, himself, next. coming up on "mafast money" kevin o'leary will have three to buy. at stocks sit at record highs. it's all begins at 5:00 p.m. eastern. when you have $4.95 online u.s. equity trades...

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welcome back. richard cordray head of the consumer finance protection bureau but the trump administration is reportedly looking for ways to either fire him or strip him of some power. harwood recently sat down to discuss. >> reporter: the trump white house congressional republicans and american business are all gunning for richard cord ray but this obama appointed regulator says his job is one worth fighting for. "the wall street journal" your agency is lawless, an independent minded senator refers to you as king richard. they say he's a dictator. what do you say about that? >> i think it's completely illinois founded. there's never specifics in those kinds of claims but what i would say is accountability is really at the heart of this agency. we're all about holding financial companies large

financial companies accountable for complying with the law and treating people fairly. >> reporter: do you not accept that you need to be accountable to someone in government who's elected by people? >> sure. we are accountable. i have to be accountable to congress. i have to testify in front of them four times a year. i'm accountable to the courts. they oversee what we do. they get a chance to test the boundaries of whether we get something right or wrong. when we get something wrong, we fix it. >> reporter: doesn't accountability mean that somebody in government above you can fire you or change your budget? >> what they can do is replace you from time to time. that's the way the independent agencies work. nobody's talking about firing janet yellen at the federal reserve. nobody's talking about firing other independent agency heads. that's the principal of our government. >> reporter: now, will richard be fired? there's a court case right now

to resolve whether president trump currently has the authority to do that. if he doesn't, republicans could abolish the office or curb its powers but one question is with all that's going on, do they want to take on that fight too? >> the question is does he serve at the will of the president, and if so, he can be replaced. the question john is not just will they replace him with someone from a idealogical feel but a more person structure like we see in a lot of other agencies where that does lend to a more natural balance or pushback. >> reporter: there are two key changes. the business representatives i talked to, they don't want to get rid of the office all together. they accept that this dodd-frank created office inspired by elizabeth warren should exist but they say it shouldn't be a single regulate later. they also don't like the financial arrangement where the money is on autopilot from the federal reserve.

they want congress to control that money. of course, defenders of the agency like warren said that just means more political pressure from business on the regulator. to be determined. >> thank you, john. it's not just wireless carriers that are getting into the unlimited plan game. the surprise company throwing its hat into the ring. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced. our senses awake. our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say...if you love something set it free. see you around, giulia with e*trade's powerful trading tools, right at your fingertips,

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welcome back. mobile phone carriers aren't the the only phone provides of unlimited data. general motors rolled out an unlimited plan. the plan is available on their models and will include access to a prepaid hot spot. ford announced it's unlimited data plan to put 4g mode ms. >> this is one more way that general motors and we're seeing this with other automakers as well, they're trying to convince people, when you buy a new vehicle, you want to have that connectivity and we tell you that you're going to have 4g lte

connectivity. it's going to be provided through on star and at&t. general motors will not give us final numbers in terms of how many people are part of the on star program who are paying that monthly fee but they do tell us that about 15% of those people who after the three month initial test of the on star system, they then say, sure, i like what i have here, i'm going to keep it. so this is yet another way we're seeing automakers with these hot spots trying to convince people it's one more few tour you want in your vehicle. >> if i have 4g and wi-fi in my carg, is that data i'm paying for available to access for other features like calling, for example? >> good question. you have to read the fine print there in terms of what your hot spot can actually provide for you. i have heard some people say not just with this program, but when it's been suggested that 4g lte connectivity in other vehicles, if i've already got some kind of

data plan through my work phone or something else, do i really need this? so it is something people will have to consider. >> i have to say this story hits home for me. we're sort of vaguely in the market for a new car. we have an old one -- >> the pick-up. >> the volvo. it might be the last one they sold with a cassette player. >> my parents have one older than that. >> the kids are upset with the idea of having wi-fi in the car. >> you're hitting on the key point and if you look at the people who are most ambitious about this type of service from general motors, it's in some of those larger vehicles where you have several kids or you're hauling carpooling kids and you got a lot of people who are trying to access the internet at one time, that's the attractive part of this plan for people in that position. if you're individual and just buying a car and driving it by

yourself and you might say this doesn't make a difference to me. but if you've got a lot of people and kids and they want that connectivity, that's when you're going to be saying this is a pretty attractive offer. >> we consulted phil about his -- just thoughts on new car. you have an opportunity right here to a sounding board. >> i'm going to look at the incentives and see what a deal phil can cut me and we'll see. >> incentives, they keep going ever higher. that's a separate story. >> they are but remember you have to look at the percentage of those incentives relative to what the price is paid at the dealership. it's still usually 11 or 12% because the prices keep going up. >> thanks for joining us. we had some weak earnings after-hours and we turn our attention to tomorrow. >> the costco, i don't think it's a sector wide thing but it's another reminder it was not a very strong consumer month in

february. the market is okay with it as long as the mac kroe data optimistic. >> you think it's basically priced in. the way the yields have risen, if -- >> it's very rare to be well above 15% odds and not have them go. something strange would have to happen to get in the way. >> "fast money" begins right now. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq markets overlooking new york city's times square. tonight on "fast," kevin o'leary, aka mr. wonderful. he's buying stocks at near record highs. plus president trump vowing to amp up military spending today. and later energy lagging the market today as oil fell to its lower level in nearly a month but the commodities came. first, we start off with the big story of the day and that's snap's