we do use hedge funds, to answer your first question. the way we deal with hedge funds is we extract all of what's called the beta. systematic market returns you can get cheaply. >> we have to wrap it there. >> they're playing our song. >> we appreciate it, mark. >> thanks for watching "power lunch." "the closing bell" starts now. hi, everybody. welcome to "the closing bell." i am kelly evans at the new york stock exchange. >> i'm bill griffith. a busy day. we're following four key stories at this hour and will do so over the next couple of hours. here in the u.s., president trump meeting with the congressional black caucus behind closed doors. we could get comments from the president within the hour. also on capitol hill, there are last-minute efforts to garner support for the gop health care bill before tomorrow evening's scheduled house vote. >> yes.

if it happens. overseas we are watching for new details on the fatal london attack that's put the entire parliament area on lockdown and of course the market reaction to all of these stories as we follow them into the close. let's start, as you see the dow down 15 points with the latest developments on the health care reform package. as it stands, kayla tausche is in washington with the latest. >> opponents of the health care bill are facing just about 24 hours before the vote is expected to happen on the american health care act. first you have the president hosting the majority whip as well as moderate republicans this morning and then members of his top staff meeting with the house freedom caucus. 25 to 30 members of that conservative wing of the republican party. and hosting them, vice president mike pence, chief of staff reince priebus, kellyanne conway, steve bannon, health and human services secretary tom price, budget director mulvaney and others were there meeting

with the house freedom caucus. we spoke to -- >> kayla. devin nunes has just left the white house after earlier saying he had some intel that he was sharing. let's take a listen. >> why is it appropriate for you to brief president trump given it's his campaign associates that are a part of this investigation? >> because what i -- because what i saw has nothing to do with russia and nothing to do with the russia investigation, has everything to do with possible surveillance activities, and the president needs to know that these intelligence reports are out there, and i have a duty to tell him that. >> -- conclusions before it was completed? >> i am not drawing any conclusion. i am just telling the president what exists in intelligence reports. [ inaudible question ] >> i don't want to get too much into the details. but these were intelligence

reports, and it brings up a lot of concerns about, you know, whether things were properly minimized or not. but i will tell you, i have only seen some. it's in the dozens. i don't have -- we don't have the full scope of all the intelligence reports that were produced or who ordered the unmasking of additional names. >> are you saying the surveillance -- if it wasn't related to russia or anything like that, are you saying that it was political surveillance, of political opponents has the president has suggested in his tweets? >> what i have read bothers me, and i think it should bother the president himself and his team because i don't -- i think some of it seems to be inappropriate, but like i said, until we get all the information to the committee it's hard to -- it's hard to really say until we see

it -- >> mr. chairman, we knew that there was some incidental collection because lieutenant general michael flynn was caught up talking with sergey kislyak. does this go beyond that and qualify as the sort of wiretapping the president was tweeting about? >> it definitely goes beyond what happened to general flynn. we don't actually know yet what officially happened to general flynn. his name was leaked out but we don't know how it happened. we asked for the nsa, cia and fbi to get us all the unmasking that was done. nsa is being cooperative but the fbi has not told us if they'll respond to our letter which is a couple of weeks old. >> does this respond to what the president was talking about, the "wiretapping" when they then

said was broader surveillance? >> what i have read seems to be some level of surveillance activity, perhaps legal, but i don't know that it's right and i don't know that the american people would be comfortable with what i have read. but let's -- let us get all the reports -- >> chairman, was the president personally involved -- >> correct in what he tweeted? >> it is possible. >> chairman, the president said that president obama tapped his phones. did you see anything -- >> that did not happen. i have said this for many, many weeks, including the day -- the day after, a couple days after, in front of the press. that never happened. >> have you seen anything to suggest that president obama ordered any kind of surveillance of the president? of the president-elect? >> we don't know who sent the taskings, if the taskings were changed into what went into the intelligence reports but we'll try to find that out.

>> -- personally involved -- >> permission to put out this information today, did the justice department give you the okay to talk about this? >> justice department doesn't have anything to do with this. >> you unmask somebody -- >> this was information brought to me that i thought the president needed to know about incidental collection where the president himself and others in the trump transition team were clearly put into intelligence reports that ended up at this white house and across a whole bunch of other agencies. i thought it was important for the president to know this. that's why i briefed the speaker this morning and i came down here as soon as i could. >> how many people are you seeing in these reports, and do any of them currently work at the white house for president trump? >> i don't want to get into the specifics of it because we only have -- i was only able to see a few dozen. of which i think a lot of it does have foreign intelligence

value. >> reports or people? >> there were dozens of reports that i was able to see that we're hoping that the nsa, fbi, cia will provide because i know they exist. i want them to provide them to our committee so that all the members have an opportunity to see what i have been shown. >> what did the president tell you after you briefed him about this? >> i think the president is concerned. he should be. i think he'd like to see these reports. i hopefully -- hopefully, when we get them, hopefully they'll get them to the white house also. >> you talk about -- president used the word wiretapping in his tweets. [ inaudible question ] >> the wiretapping, if you use it generally, like the president has said, he clearly used it differently than what i think a lot of people took it, which was did obama actually wiretap trump tower which didn't happen. the president has been pretty clear on that. >> the physical act of wiretapping, do you see anything --

>> no. no. i said that on day two. >> can you rule out the possibility that senior obama administration officials were involved in this? >> no, we cannot. >> given that you have said. [ inaudible question ] >> are you concerned that essentially you're saying members of the trump team were in contact with people who were the target of. [ inaudible question ] >> this would be -- i think you are reading too much into that. what this is, this is normal intelligence reportings. normal intelligence reporting. the question is should he himself or others, should they have been put into these reports. i don't know the answer to that yet. but we're going to try to get to the bottom of it. there's two issues here, okay. there is the -- there is additional unmasking of names which i think is totally

inappropriate. but we have to get to -- i don't know how many names were unmasked. i know there were additional unmaskings that occurred. then you have the issue of these -- of the names that were put into these intelligence reports that we have to get to the bottom of. this is why we sent a letter two weeks ago. we need a response to it. >> are you suggesting that mr. trump's communications. [ inaudible question ] ? why did you not discuss this with the ranking member before you came to the white house? >> yes, no, and i'm going to be meeting at some point to talk about where we go with this investigation. i had to brief the speaker first, and then i had to talk to the cia director, the nsa director, and i am waiting to talk to the fbi director because he still has not told us how he's going to get us this

information. then i am talking to all of you, not you yourselves but those of you who exist at the congress. then i voted. then i said i was coming here to brief the president. >> just to clarify -- [ inaudible question ] >> we are investigating. >> you just said no. >> incidental -- incidental -- we're not opening a new investigation. >> you said it has nothing to do with russia and you're folding it into the investigation. >> it that is to do with the unmasking of names. >> an ongoing investigation that you thought it was appropriate to talk to the president about. >> just remember, we have had an ongoing investigation into russia for a very, very long time, all of their activities. we have the scoping document of the russia investigation and we'll continue to investigate everything and anything else

that might be caught up in this. clearly we're concerned about what ends up in intelligence products and whether there was unmasking. >> can you say what he was communicating about or who he was communicating with? >> no. >> you also said somebody brought you this information recently. can you tell us who brought you the information and why they brought it? >> i can tell you we have been asking for people to come forward. it came through the proper channels with the proper clearances. and i am just going to leave it at that. because we have to protect people who came forward in the right manner -- >> would you describe that person as an intelligence w whistle blower. >> are you suggesting that the communications could have been selected incidental as part of a criminal investigation, a criminal warrant? >> no. >> how do you -- >> because i read -- in the dozens of reports i was able to see, i was able to determine

that it was -- it looks like it was legal collection, incidental collection, that made it itself into intelligence reports. so it has to deal with fisa, and there are a multiple number of fisa warrants out there, but there is nothing criminal involved. one more question. >> was it information that was looked at realtime or information that was collected, held, stored and then allowed to be looked at later? >> it was -- it was fairly quickly. from what i have seen. but we have to -- once we get the reports, then we can ask more questions of the agencies that produced the reports. >> if it was legal collection, what is it that you find inappropriate about it, and are you attempting to give the president political cover for his wiretapping claim? >> because we -- the reason that we do this, and we have all these procedures in place, is to protect american citizens who

are incidentally collected. so there are certain thresholds that have to be met to make it into foreign intelligence products. if something else happened where -- where it appears to me like there were things that maybe they didn't meet the minimum qualifications. i don't know. there are things to me that don't reach the level of foreign intelligence value. if that's the case, you have to ask yourself why did those end up in reports. >> just to clarify, this is not intentional spying on donald trump or anybody in his -- >> i have no idea. we won't know that -- >> you said this is incidental collection. >> we won't know that until we get to the bottom of did people ask for the unmasking of additional names within president-elect's transition team. >> you have said legal and incidental. that doesn't sound like an effort to spy. >> i would refer you to -- we

had a similar issue with regard to members of congress picked up in incidental collection over a year ago. we had to spend a year working with the dni on the proper notification for members of congress to be notified, which comes through the gang of eight. i would refer you to that because it looks similar to that, that's the best way i can describe it. >> -- specifically unmasked? was his name unmasked? >> i won't get into that but i have every indication that it's clear who is in these reports. i have to get going. >> who would have access to the unmasked names? people within the intelligence community? >> we don't know that yet. we don't know who did the unmasking and who it would have been disseminated to. i don't know. i assume -- i'm fine with the health care bill so i probably don't have to talk to him for a while. thank you. congressman devon nunes,

after briefing president trump on the information he has in hand on the incidental collection of information about u.s. citizens by the intelligence community. they happened to collect information about members of the trump transition team between november and january. he called it legal but maybe not appropriate. >> he is going straight to the white house with this information, prompting questions about the relationship with fbi and justice about the information, both between nunes and the agencies and the agencies and this information in terms of disseminating it. a little bit of a convoluted but intriguing twist today. >> more questions to be answered for sure. >> as if we needed any more news coming out of washington today. back to kayla tausche with the update on where we stand on the health care bill in the house. kayla, where were we? >> safe to say there are many irons in the fire for the administration and members of congress. congress is extremely busy with

the hearings on the supreme court nominee, director comey testifying on monday. i'm told it's still scheduled for the full house to vote on the american health care act. there was a meeting with the house freedom caucus, the conservative wing. here is how congressman mo brooks described the meeting. >> general speaking, they were asking us to support this legislation not because it is good but because we need it to pass in order to move on to other things. well, that's not satisfactory. >> so clearly that's a common refrain for the administration. they want to move on to tax reform and other things but they begrudgingly have to do health care first. i spoke to congressman mark meadows, the chair of the freedom caucus and he says he still hopes he, the white house and senate colleagues will be able to reach a compromise before the vote takes place. he told me he hopes they get to

yes but it's unclear. the vote is still scheduled for tomorrow. unclear exactly when the time is. house leadership has told members to stay late in preparation of that. interestingly, we're still waiting for the cbo score. there was some speculation that it would come at some point today. we're still expecting that. chairman of the ways and means committee said the problem is, if they have to make substantive changes to the bill any cbo score that comes out tonight will be stale by the time it happens and will people still want to see a fresh cbo score and actually see how much this costs and what the cbo says about it before they put it to a full-floor vote? we'll see. we'll see what the cbo says, what the freed om caucus says. it's anyone's guess. >> must be interesting behind-the-scenes machinations. earlier it was reported barletta flipping on the bill.

so these will all come in as people look to see do they have two or three members of the freedom caucus to peel off and support the bill to push it through tomorrow? >> congressman brooks and meadows told me there will be some members voting in support of the bill, that they're still planning not to vote as a bloc. that's their approach to this. you will still see some hard-liners like congressman brooks who wants a full repeal of obamacare which is unlikely to happen even though he proposed the amendment today. we'll see how many they can turn. brooks said there are actually, he suggested, some moderate republicans who have switched from yes yesterday to no today. 24 hours is an eternity in capitol hill time. >> yes. it will be -- we'll watch it all play out. >> an hour is an eternity today. kayla, thanks very much. that's the latest out of washington. more breaking news on the deadly london attack. willa marks is on the scene.

so is sara eisen as close to ten downing street as she can get. willem, let's start with the latest this hour. >> four and a half hours ago a man driving a vehicle over westminster bridge behind me at speed, knocked down a number of civilians. this is a very popular tourist destination behind me. the iconic big ben and a lot of people crossing the bridge over the river and enjoying the views of the house of parliament. eyewitnesses telling us they saw at least one person going underneath the wheels of the vehicle. once on the northern side of westminster bridge it veered off the road into the railings that surround the estate around the palace of westminster, the seat of british government, and it's there that the attacker leapt from the vehicle, travelled a few yards around to the other side of parliament where there is a gateway, mps, members of parliament passing back and forth through the gate on a daily basis. a number of policemen are

normally there. it seems the attacker attacked one of the policeman with the knife. sadly the policeman has lost his life. he is one of four who died including the attacker and two people on the bridge behind me. we have heard from the metropolitan police in london, there were 20 injured. we saw some of them on stretchers being taken to this building. this is st. thomas' hospital. they're receiving treatment. we have seen at least a dozen ambulances on the bridge over the last couple of hours. heavy police presence in central london and the entire area now being treated as a crime scene. they have said it's a terrorism incident. the counter-terrorism wing is in charge of it. sara has been monitoring the situation. theresa may has a statement out as well. >> we are seeing that statement right now. willem, thank you. willem marks in london.

to sara eisen at number 10 downing. we may have to disruinterrupt y. we're waiting for a tape of president trump after his meeting with congressional black caucus at the white house. proceed at pace and give us your point of view on what you are seeing from where you are right now. >> reporter: bill and kelly, i am in trafalgar square. this is as close as we could get, a few blocks away from parliament, a few blocks away from 10 downing, the prime minister's residence where she is just at the head of admiralty gate. this entire area on lockdown. they've closed streets off for driving. there is police tape everywhere as this investigation continues. willem mentioned that the prime minister now at her residence at 10 downing. earlier today she was inside parliament. i know that because i saw her. i happened to be visiting london and went to the weekly pmqs, the

wednesday session where she takes questions from members of parliament. today she got quizzed on everything from the opposition party going after her on scotland, the referendum, on the new conservative budget, on education. that happened at noon local time. it wrapped up just about a quarter to 1:00, and then reports two hours later of the incident. local press reporting that she was actually 40 yards away. but she is back safely as was reported. the rest of london, i can tell you, guys, very much functioning as normal. >> thank you, sara. here is the president. >> the fact that they found what they found. i somewhat do. >> what did they find? >> thank you very much. >> thank you, president. >> that was the president. yeah. >> what we didn't hear, what we know he said there -- he was

asked whether he felt vindicated about his comments about being wiretapped, whether he felt vindicated after hearing from the house intelligence committee chair and he said yes. you heard that part of it. >> somewhat vindicated. we're seeing headlines also about the same time about bidding out drug prices. there are a lot of moving pieces on capitol hill. that was after the meeting with congressional black caucus as you mentioned. that was all he would say on anything happening right now. it's been an insane day. >> to say the least. here is where we stand. the dow is now up 18 points. we have been on either side of unchanged. let's talk about where we stand right now in our closing bell exchange. kevin cronin from washington crossing advisers. steve grasso from stuart frankel and rick santelli from his perch at the cme in chicago as well. we get a selloff like we had yesterday, and you can -- there were any number of reasons why

we had the selloff. but today there is no follow-through, there is no bounce-back. we're back to sideways again. what do you make of it? >> it feels that people wanted to take something off the table, wanted to make themselves feel better about their portfolios in case this runup -- people have argued there it was a massive runup or not. we ran 10% higher in the markets off the election. i would say that's a massive run in the market in a short period of time. people are very sensitive to losing those paper profits. shoot first, ask questions later. take it off the table. and wind up locking in that profit. but now today, when you don't see a follow-through, i don't think there is a reason to see a follow-through until we get more closure as to what happens in d.c. even if a light deal is done the market rallies back to 2400 in the s&p. >> kevin, there have been so many political and international

developments today. are you looking through it to figure out where there still might be opportunity? >> we don't know yet. we know the pattern we've seen in the last nine months, which has been steadily increasing confidence, compressing spreads, flattening the yield curve, and looking at high beta risk-on kind of equities leading the way, that clearly has broken. it's unclear, though, whether or not this is a temporary thing pending this bill tomorrow or whether it's something deeper. we're watching to see how it evolves from here. i would say that, when you look at valuations, they're higher than average. spreads are tighter than average in the corporate market. our takeaway coming into the year is that the expected returns have to come down to reflect those two realities. it's a question of where do you go? we think equities are still a good place to go as long as the economy looks good. bonds and cash are not terrific. >> rick, i want to bring up the flattening of the yield curve that kevin mentioned. guys in the research department pointed out that the spread

between the ten-year and the two-year is the narrowest it's been since just before the election. what do you make of that? is the optimism for economic growth gone now or what? >> well, i'll tell you what. first of all, 260, 263 has been an important resistance level for a long time. about nine months people have been looking for that level. we hit it. when did we hit it? high-yield close. the monday before the tuesday that started the two-day fed meeting. on march 12 we get the high-yield close for the year. on the 13th, beginning of the meeting. 14th, they raised rates. drifting lower ever since. hit resistance in the nervous lead up leadup to the fed meeting. if trump wasn't president, most of the data really doesn't stand out. so i think that what's going on in treasuries is not necessarily the driving force in the stock market.

and i think the stock market still hasn't broke its mold, though i would continue to monitor volatility. volatility, coming back would be a negative. yesterday we did see the vix kick up but still, not a lot. >> 12 is not something to get too upset about. gentlemen, a lot of breaking news. we have to move on. thank you for your thoughts on today's market action. a little over 33 minutes left in the trading session here. the dow is up just eight points. it's been a pretty narrow range for the market today. >> up next we'll update you on hospital stocks after yesterday. we'll tell you which are in recovery today. >> and a judge issues an order for exxonmobil to confer with a new york attorney general over missing e-mails of former ceo rex tillerson's alias account. we have that story as well coming up.

health care reform talk has put the hospital stocks in the bull's eye for the sellers. bertha coombs joins us with that part of the story, bertha. >> hospital stands a lot to lose from the gop plan. millions potentially losing health insurance coverage according to the cbo and the big reason why is the change in medicaid funding. that shifts more of the burden to the states. on the plus side the bill would repeal $43 billion in obamacare cuts with extra money for states who didn't expand medicaid.

the negatives are big. keeps $300 million in medicare cuts over the same period. after '20, the medicare funding cuts kick in, meaning a lot fewer people for those hospitals. back to you. >> bertha, thank you. keeping an eye on markets broadly with half an hour to go. dow in positive territory. started the day with it dropping 70 to 80 points. s&p up 5. nasdaq up 25. russell still negative. >> russell struggling. president trump says he wants to bring down drug prices, but will that bringing down drug stocks. both sides of the debate coming up. >> also ahead. how investors should play the retail apocalypse. two stock watchers place trades you need to know about. stay tuned.

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welcome back. half an hour to go. 25 minutes now heading into the close. many things to digest today after the big selloff yesterday. how do you see the market position. >> the markets feels like it's trying to find stability. tomorrow is the big day based on what happens with the vote. the vote will speak to the other reforms that we are talking about. tax, fiscal reforms, whether or not he is getting the support he wants.

that's where you'll see the market test lower. i think it will test the 50-day at 23, 25ish. >> the vote may not happen until late afternoon. if it doesn't pass or doesn't happen what happens on friday? >> you get the pressure from the market. though investors assume the vote is not going to pass because that's the chatter but until they see what it missed by or hear the chatter and what congress is saying, that will dictate the amount of the pullback. we're only 2.5% off the highs. this is by no means any reason for anybody to panic. even if we go down another 3% or 4% we're still not in correction territory. people need to put it all in perspective. >> it's hard to do. >> i hear you. >> counting the votes one by one at this point. kenny, thank you so much. >> bill. kelly, come back on over. in a little while some recipients of the congressional medal of honor will be ringing the closing bell here at the new york stock exchange today.

one of them is with us, our friend and colleague colonel jack jacobs, u.s. army. congratulations on that. welcome back to the new york stock exchange. we wanted to pull you in to get your thoughts on the deadly attacks in london today. it's the one-year anniversary of the attacks in brussels and yesterday is when the united states and great britain were talking about not allowing people with larger electronic equipment to fly into the united states. are these related? >> they are related. the second less so. less concerned about reactions to decisions that are made at the governmental level that will make it difficult or more difficult for terrorists to travel around. isis is very much into symbolism. and today's one-year anniversary i think figures heavily on the decision to conduct the attack today. this is -- i know it's a cliche to say this is right out of

isis' textbook but it is exactly that. isis has been encouraging sympathizers around the world to conduct exactly these kinds of attacks. >> wouldn't we know by now? don't they typically like to say, look at what we did. >> so far there has been no claim of responsibility, but in previous attacks sometimes it has taken some time. when somebody has not been a direct operative of isis but has been self-radicalized and motivated by isis' exhortations, usually it takes a little while for isis to come out and say this person was a soldier of isis. >> theresa may is new on the job. donald trump is new on the job. is that a moment that's not lost on the terrorists at the same time? i know the security apparatus remains constant and the same, but with new leadership, will they be testing them, do you think?

>> yes. as a matter of fact, they're not the only ones testing the leadership around the free world. there is not a lot of smoothness, by the way, either in europe among the leadership or the united states. and between, at least superficially between the united states and its allies. and so, yeah. i don't believe in coincidences and this isn't one either. >> well, again, congratulations. i wish we had better things to talk about when we bring you up here. we'll let you get upstairs to have you ring the closing bell. >> thank you for having me. >> colonel jack jacobs. dow is down ten points. new developments in the battle between new york state and exxon to produce lost e-mails from the alias current of former ceo and current secretary of state rex tillerson. we'll bring you the details next.

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welcome back. take a look at shares of frontier communications, down 11%. and that's actually off the lows today. it's still on pace for the worst day since 2002. goldman downgrading the stock to sell from neutral. cutting the price target in half to $1.50. frontier trading around $2.10. the analysts say frontier may suspend the dividend entirely.

other names in the sector as well getting hurt today. all going back to this report. elsewhere, a new york state judge issued a new order to exxonmobil regarding lost e-mails from former ceo and now secretary of state rex tillerson's private alias account. leslie picard has the story. >> the new york attorney general's office is now saying that exxon may have lost up to a year's worth of e-mails. these are the e-mails sent by rex tillerson, then ceo of exxon and now secretary of state under the alias wayne tracker. this is the latest in a long-running court battle between exxon and new york attorney general. today, a judge ordered exxon to work with a.g. snyderman's office to recover the last e-mails. the judge also ordered exxon to turn over the documents from the company's management committee by march 31st. this is win for the new york attorney general who issued a

subpoena more than a year ago. his hope is that the materials could provide answers as to whether the company misled investors over the impact of climate change. exxon responded by telling cnbc, quote, during today's proceeding the court repeatedly stated that exxonmobil had already provided the attorney general with a comprehensive response that addressed the attorney general's concerns. guys. >> leslie, thank you. the interesting thing about this is that, you know, the -- remember we talked to the a.g. in massachusetts about this. >> right. >> there is a concerted effort to go after the oil companies on this claim. as that was taking place, the alias, the wayne tracker thing with rex tillerson, it's opened a whole other avenue for people to explore both about the topic at hand and all of these e-mails that they are looking for. apparently they're having a hard time finding a year's worth of them. >> more private e-mails. >> 17 minutes to go. dow down 13 -- 11 points. it's bounced around a lot today. s&p up 3.

transports higher by a lot, up almost 50 points. nasdaq up 22 and the russell lagging, down 3 points. more problems in the retail sector. sears spooked investors today. we have details on what it means for that sector after the break.

it is an annual event here ott the new york stock exchange we recipients of the congressional medal of honor ring the closing bell. we have a group of them with us today. we chatted earlier with colonel jack jacobs who will also be n ringing the bell. certainly they're well appreciated by the members of the new york stock exchange staff and members and others who are filling the floor of the big board today. they'll be ringing the closing bell today. a dramatic moment when these folks with such a high honor to receive for various reasons make

their way up to the balcony. the president of the new york stock exchange here as well and others as they bring some of the other recipients up. [ applause ] >> this is the new way they do it now where they bring folks around who are going to ring the bell to this podium, and they sign that book. boy, that book is going to be worth something at some point. they sign that book, and then they head upstairs to ring the bell at 4:00 eastern time. so there is the group for 2017 of the medal of honor winners as they get ready to ring the bell here at the big board today. all right. sears, j crew, payless all out with bad news. courtney reagan joins us with details on the continuing

troubles in retail. >> it's not fun to be the bearer of bad news lately. a number of troubling filings and reports out today, all seemingly questioning the viability of a number of household retail names. so many have thought for a while that sears' days are numbered the department store itself has not acknowledged that fact it will now. in the annual report it says ilts result indicate substantial doubts related to the company's ability to continue as a going concern. sears says it is not giving up. through ceo eddie lampert continue. they can't be sure the measures will generate the liquidity it needs. in a blog post they say it has to make these statements that require sears to assess and disclose, quote, potential risks the company could face within one year.

he continues to say it's the opinion of independent auditors that sears can meet its financial and other obligation for the foreseeable future. debt-laden jcrew. we're getting reports from bloomberg that suggest payless pay file for bankruptcy and women's retailer be be is looking to move its stores online in order to avoid bankruptcy. it doesn't have the debt but the sales have struggled. >> blooduluth trading company i finding a way to perform. did they make the woolly underpants? >> that's one of their commercials, yes. >> there is your growth spot. >> out of my league. >> in the industry. >> makeup. look at names like ulta. sephora. it's not everyone. today was not so great. >> especially if you're a mall operator. should investors be avoiding brick and mortar retailers?

bringing in justin and christian. welcome to you both. john, i'll begin with you because you're bullish on the space. how and why? >> well, i am a value investor. buying things when they go on sale which, of course, is a retail statement right now. lots of retailers are on sale. i would argue that many are priced for imperfection. if you can be selective, buy companies with great balance sheets and big dividend yields and reasonable valuations with the earnings hopefully not heading south and at least staying flat or increasing. i think there is opportunity out there for those who can take a long-term view. >> christian, you can't find any retailer you would want to buy? >> we don't think any of the traditional brick and mortar retailers are a buy. they could be traps. we think the online retailers

are the way to go. >> by the way, cbo was struggling as we were getting the reports in, john. who in particular do you think is cheap or attractive enough long-term to ride out the storm? >> i have four stocks i talked about today, all of which are paying big dividends. american eagle outfitters, which is likely to still earn $1.25 this year, trading for around 13 times earnings, yielding -- getting close to 4%. and then another name is kohl's, which has been crushed this year. strong free cash flow generator, likely to earn over $3.50. here you get a yield of 6%. the dividend was just increased. foot locker, williams-sonoma if you want a more quality name. companies still likely to grow earnings. and both have just raised their dividends and are buying back stocks with great balance sheets. that's a recipe for success.

higher yields. stable or growing earnings and very reasonable valuations. stocks that are priced for imperfection. >> christian, i want you to flesh out your feelings about the retail stocks. on monday we had ebay ceo devin winnik with us. we asked his view from the perspective of an ecommerce company how he views the brick and mortar stores. listen. >> the fourth quarter, the last holiday season was an important moment. it was an inflection point where that was the end of retail as we know it. i do think the restructuring of this industry is going to happen faster than a lot of people think. first of all, i am not sure that all the retailers are even make it in a healthy economy to this holiday season, and i do think you're going to see drastic changes in store footprints and also what stores do. >> is that what you think is going on? just -- you know, since he made

that comment, we have heard from sears now with their dire warning. payless talking about bankruptcy. be be. >> cnbc and ebay is on the money here. this is going to be a downward spiral for retailers. we have seen a spike in bankruptcies this quarter, in retail companies. hasn't been this great since the financial crisis, bill. so i think it's a downward spiral. the groups that are winning are online retailers, that there has been an outperformance by about 20 percentage points between online and traditional retailers in the last 11 months. we're going to hear about bankruptcies, restructurings, closing off stores, selling off brands just to survive. it will get ugly. >> your ecommerce etf includes ebay, wayfair, stamps.com. it's not fair to say some of the entities -- you have netflix, a

few others in here, that they might not have more physical distribution in the future, right? the point he was making is the economics of it have to change. >> that's right. you have to take away some of the people and the real estate imprint. take away from being just a showroom to a delivery source, maybe an area where drones can pick up packages, storage lockers. the retail space is changing. we think online retail is the way to play it. >> christian magoon, john buckingham, good to see you both. thank you for your thoughts on retail. we're coming back with the closing countdown with the dow up one point. >> after the bell, bidding to build president trump's border wall is officially under way. so is an unexpected backlash. we'll tell you all about it. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. 200,000 at at&t, wen people with good-paying jobs. connecting consumers and budiness through mobile,

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this is my retirement. retiring retired tires. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement with e*trade. just inside the two-minute mark. we head to the close with the dow virtually unchanged. it's worth looking at how we've done this week so far. monday for the dow, sideways action. then the big selloff yesterday. and now we're back to sideways action. the dollar index. essentially sideways, then lower. pretty similar chart there. and we are still below 100 on the dollar index. wti, more volatility there.

$50 has been the ceiling suddenly. we are at $48.16 right now. and that's -- earlier today it hit the lowest level we've seen on wti crude since november 11th. the ten-year yield is now hovering around 240 these days. and the spread between the two-year and the ten-year, bop pisani is the narrowest since the election. >> flattening yield curve. no follow-through to the selloff. volume average. the yield curve is average. the big banks, they can't figure out what they want to do right now because of the yield curve problem. another problem is oil, still no attempt to rally in oil. the oil stocks, many are down. 14%, 15%, 17%. we don't know about the fate of the obamacare. they say there will be a vote tomorrow. may or may not be a vote.

we've been following some of the health care stocks. molina. one of the managed care stocks. down. a lot of technical damage done in the market for things like retail, oil and bank stocks. >> the market takes a wait-and-see attitude before the vote in the house tomorrow. the second hour of "the closing bell" coming your way with kelly evans and company. see you tomorrow, kell. [ applause ] thank you, bill. welcome to "the closing bell," everybody. i am kelly evans. after a rough session yesterday, we are stabilizing on the street. today the dow down five points on the bell. look at the level, 20,662. the s&p 500 and the nasdaq managed to gain today. the s&p about 4.5 points to close at 2348.5. the nasdaq up .5%, 5821. seems to be in its own world. russell 2000 lower as it continues the string of losses, still in the red for the year,

of course, 1345 is the level for the small caps there. the dow recovered from an 89-point drop at the beginning of the session but couldn't turn positive today. the nasdaq biotech index finished the day higher by .75% after being slammed yesterday. the question is whether you should be buying ahead of the house vote tomorrow on the obamacare replacement bill. we have a bull/bear debate on drug stocks coming up. joining me nowi michael santolli. neil hennessey from the hennessey funds. there is so much, mike, going on as we get up to speed. oil earlier in the day at the lowest level since november. snapchat up 6% after an upgrade. interesting. fedex, we covered the earnings yesterday. big reversal. nike couldn't quite do it. retail pains continued. these are the small stories. existing home sales data weak because of a shortage. then everything else that happened in washington and

around the world today. a lot for people to digest. >> it all nets out into a market that basically sort of stood still and everything offset one another. i think it was the market regrouping after what passed for a high-drama drop yesterday. i don't know that anything was decided here if you were on either side of this, either saying, look, yesterday was a one-day blip for perhaps more of a recognition. basically parts of the market had been pulling back significantly for weeks and this was kind of a reflex of this reaching the headline level. to me, i don't know if the character of the market changes after yesterday. i hate to think we're waiting for this congressional vote tomorrow but i think everyone has decided it's something we have to wait on because everyone else is waiting on it. >> jeff, what do you see playing out here? >> i think that's right. from our standpoint you have had a lot of internal softness, divergences small cap versus large cap. correlations at some of the lowest levels in years. there is really a tug-of-war

going on beneath the surface even though the market averages have stayed relatively firm. you have seen the turmoil underneath. i don't think yesterday is over, but i don't think yesterday was that big of a deal either. i think this is just sort of a reflection of the surface tensions. >> stocks can go down too. they don't just go up. the interesting thing is, when we're even talking about is this the beginning of a selloff. how important if it's a drop of a point or two. it will feel painful. maybe it doesn't mean anything. >> right. >> is it going to be like what we've seen play out so many times in this rally? we get a drop, sometimes a sharp one, and then we get an even sharper pull-back? >> i think importantly credit has been, other than the yield curve but credit itself has been very well behaved. you can go through every single industry sector and look at it. there is not a lot of stress in terms of the credit markets pricing in something that would be reflective of a recession or something global in nature.

it's very well contained. >> neil, i am glad you're with us. one of your picks is pbh which reports their earnings in a little while. we were talking about the trouble in retail. what's attractive to you about a company like that? >> kelly, you don't see a pbh store out there. if you look at calvin klein, tommy hilfiger, whatever, you can buy it at macy's, pbh, at their dot-com store, different places. it's just the merchandise. you don't have the brick and mortar situation with pvh where you are having a brick and mortar problems. >> let me ask you this. it makes sense. nike down 5% or 6% today. one of the things the ceo, mark park park parker emphasized is we're trying to go director to the consumer. they're still tied up with the

retailers. then perry ellis with a revenue miss this morning saying -- it follows a similar model to pvh. many of the customers cut back shipments due to a challenging retail environment. doesn't it trickle back through to everybody? >> not necessarily. looking at retail, there are places where you absolutely have to have brick and mortar. thor industries. that makes airstream. you are not going to buy an airstream on a computer. you will look at it. furniture the same way. if you are looking at a motor home or heavy-duty piece of furniture, you're going to want to see it, sit on it. mattress. but books, footwear, dresses, hairpieces, you can do it online. >> nike, guys, actually down 7% today. w winnebego. nice peak today. >> the rv market.

it's been interesting. interestingly, too, along with home builders. they have been strong year-to-date. i don't know if that's about a sheltered trade or not. with nike it's one of those things. expensive stock price for a lot of growth and they don't have it coming at least in the next couple quarters. >> the other retailer after-hours reporting is five below. i think it's out now. courtney reagan. >> mixed report. shares are higher in after hours. earnings for the fourth quarter in line with estimates at 90 cents per share. revenues slightly missing at 388 million. analysts looking for 394 million. when it comes to guidance, first quarter guidance for both earnings and revenue is a little conservative. then the full-year guidance is in line. i do want to point out the comp sales were up 1%. five below says this is their 11th straight year of comp sales growth. this is not as established as some of the other retailers. they opened up 85 stores in the last year and plan to open 100

this year. this is one of the retailers that's building stores as opposed to closing them. it's a different phase of the company's life cycle. kelly. >> wow. courtney, thank you. jeff, it's interesting. five below's merchandise is what it sounds like. they have a lot of t-shirts and -- i don't know how you would describe the stuff. cat wearing glasses on it. it costs five bucks. maybe that's the price point to get people into the stores. >> i don't know. retail is such a hit-or-miss business. it's the one area of the market that's the most contrarian. the excess returns are abysmal. the momentum is as bad as anything out there. >> are you itching for a low? you think there might be an opportunity? >> i turn over rocks but wait for breakouts. nike is a bit of a disappointment. that was one apparel name that was starting to show some momentum, and then it fails. i think it's building a base but there haven't been a lot of signs that we're getting the

turn that has sustainability. when they break out i'll be buying. >> photografive below looks lik dollar store charts. you think they'd do well as people are strapped but they haven't really done it. i don't know if it's food deflation. walmart doing is better job. >> five below shares popping 7%. tomorrow the house is expected to vote on the gop bill to replace obamacare. are republicans closer to getting the votes to pass it? with john harwood with the latest. >> this is fascinating. the first big legislative test for the new president donald trump and the republicans controlling both chambers of congress is turning into a huge gamble. a member of the leadership staff told me today they're going to hold the vote tomorrow whether or not they have the votes to pass the american health care act. and both the white house and republican leaders are telling their members, this is the only

option for repealing obamacare. >> is there a plan b? >> no. there is plan a and plan a. we're going to get this done. >> so you're confident -- 100% confident? >> we're going to get it done. plain and simple. >> now, here is the prospects for that plan a. republicans have 237 votes in the house. if everybody shows up who is now serving. they'll need 216. that means they can only lose 21 people. a house freedom caucus source told me this afternoon they have 25 hard nos against the bill three lean nos. that's 28. enough to bring it down. the white house continues to lobby. republican leaders continue to lobby. then the question, of course, is if they manage to eke out the votes, what happens in the senate? a lot of opposition. senate leaders signalling they want a very short debate. it does not appear that there is a huge amount of optimism from republican leaders that this is going to make it through. the question will be, if it does not make it, are they then going

to turn quickly to other issues such as tax reform, or will they stick with health care until they get something passed? we don't know the answer to that yet, guys. >> john, thank you. neil, i wanted the hennessey fund's point of view. how much is riding on how this plays out? >> personally, in the way we invest, i am not putting any credence in either one. if it fails tomorrow. it's no different than losing your first basketball game of the season. it doesn't mean the season is over. the reality of the situation is, as president trump is throwing everything out at the beginning of his term that he promised that he was going to try and do. does it go through? he never promised it will go through. is it going to go through? at least he put it out there. the real question and what i am hoping for is a debate to go to the floor on corporate taxes. that could really put people to work. the health care bill is not going to put people to work, so i am not sure they're right on focusing on that from the

beginning. but corporate taxes could put people to work. >> neil hennessey, jeff de graaf. appreciate it. president trump tweeting he spoke with uk prime minister theresa may about the deadly attack in london near parliament today. willem marks is on the scene with the latest. willem. >> reporter: here is what we know. several hours ago a car sped across westminster bridge behind me at some speed, knocking down pedestrians. we heard from one eyewitness at least one person was caught under the wheels of the car. on the other side of the bridge close to the houses of parliament, westminster palace the vehicle veered off the road into the railings and the grounds surrounding the palace. the attacker at that point left the car. ran around the corner to an entranceway guarded by police. members of parliament come and go into the houses of parliament. he attacked a policeman with a knife and unfortunately that

policeman has lost his life. the attacker was shot by police. members hearing three or four shots at the time. parliament was on lockdown for several hours. we know now that some people have been let out of the building. there were a large number of injured on the bridge here. the metropolitan police saying around 20 people injured in the attack. some very situationally. we saw stretchers being taken off the bridge into st. thomas' hospital behind me. two people there still in treatment. prime minister theresa may has had a statement out. the thoughts of the prime minister and the government are with those killed and injured in the appalling incident and with their families. we heard from the mayor of london, he has had a statement out just now as well talking about this horrific attack saying londoners should be aware there will be additional armed and unarmed police officers on the streets tonight in order to keep londoners and those visiting the city safe. the 400 yards up to parliament and in all directions has a police cordon around it.

it's being treated as a crime scene. i've seen members of forensics specialists looking at evidence as part of their investigation. >> willem, sara told us the closest she could get to 10 downing is in trafalgar square. that suggests a large part of central and western london is shut down. what happens come the morning? is it supposed to be business as usual? has anybody gotten information on that yet? >> the police i have been talking to say the cordon has been held back four or five hundred yards. i've seen police patrol boats on the river and there are a number of helicopters as well. this is the largest police presence i've ever seen in london. born and raised here. this is pretty extraordinary for me. seems like the cordon, three-quarters of a mile cross, is being held by security forces. >> willem marks. thank you. home builders were been under a lot of pressure over the

last week. they've underperformed the broader market. we'll debate whether you should buy the builders on the dip. president trump says he wants republicans to add a provision in the health care bill to lower drug costs. we'll talk about how it could impact business and pharma stocks. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. are moving to cities every year. at pgim help investors see the plications of long term megatrends like the pri time of urban expansion, pinpointing opportunities to capture alpha in real estate, infrastructure and emerging marke. partner with pgim the global investment management businesses of prudenti. oh...wh's goin here?method! you know howe technology allows us to fix probls before they... they slow oduction, yeah. well, no more tchy business acronyms. wait, we don't need to smooch? i'm sure we can smooch a solution!

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welcome back. the apparel maker pvh is out with the earnings. courtney reagan has the results. >> shares higher after hours for pvh. putting out earnings that are beating the street here. $1.23 adjusted. analysts looking for $1.19. stronger than expected revenues of $2.11 billion. the range given for full year earnings of 730 to 740 beats consensus of 727. full-year revenues also about in line with growth seen at about 2%. there is a $750 million buy-back that will be issued. interestingly, ceo manny chirico notes the challenging macro economic environment and geopolitical uncertainty but still posts the strong full-year looking guidance. also notes the recent

acquisition of true & co. it's a lingerie start-up. that was about getting data. very important. an interesting acquisition for pvh. >> the shares up more than 7%. courtney, thank you. manny chirico will discuss with cramer on "mad money" tonight. don't miss it. home builders lower today after existing home sales fell down 3.7% in february. should investors buy the home builders. chris, i will begin with you because you're bullish. i don't understand why the builders would sell off on an existing home sales report that was a miss because there wasn't enough inventory. >> absolutely. they've been pretty hot since the beginning of the year. breaking out from the 2013

highs. 35% discount to the market. most earnings reports have been a beat and a raise. fundamentally, though, good. but that's not the best reason to buy them. >> we'll come back to your picks in a moment. chris, maybe you can tell us why you're more cautious on this area. i am sorry. ken, you can tell us why you're more cautious on this area. >> certainly. thank you, kelly. for the home builders, while they are growing, starts are up somewhere between 6% and 9% depending on when you look at it, the growth in units is not being matched by the historical positive relationship between price and gross margin expansion. so we have seen gross margins come in tied to labor, and obviously rising land costs. >> so i see, ken, you do like some of the product stocks in the sector. you say, you know, bet on the home depots, the lowes' of the world? >> owens corning is our top pick. the 6% to 9% volume growth will

drive fixed cost assets, for example, insulation, within tightening utilization rates. >> chris, talk about why dr horton, lennar and toll brothers are a buy here? >> they're in the focus of policy from washington. it's one area where both sides of the aisle can agree on, providing jobs. sure, infrastructure provides a lot of jobs but nothing like home builders. all of the three. toll on the higher end. lennar and dh horton more affordable, are absolutely in the sweet spot. if you want to create jobs, i think they will be pushed from a policy point of view. i like them for that reason, those three particularly. >> ken, to take off on that point, just exactly how scaleable are a lot of these home builders' businesses? how much could they ramp up production. you already mentioned constraints obviously with

acquisition of land and potential for labor shortages or the costs going up. >> right. from the demand perspective we have generally been seeing seasonal trends. it looks to be -- they're adding communities. what are the constraints for the builders? their gross margin expansion. it's been coming down call it 50 to 100 bips per annum for several years. that's a big head-wind leveraging ebit, covering stocks. we care about the ebit margins. i think they can continue the high single-digit growth which benefits the high profit companies but any gross margin declines need to be matched which is trickier as inflation embeds itself into the economy. more jobs, higher wages, that's makes it tougher for the builders. >> terminology dictionary. chris, let me ask you, going back to the report this morning. if the idea is that sales of previously owned homes in this

country, you know, the inventory, for whatever reason, is not there. i don't really understand why it's not there because you think, if it's a hot environment, people would be eager to put their homes on the market which in many cases they've been sitting on for a decade. if that's not happening, what does it mean fundamentally for demand for new homes? does it pick up? is there a substitution effect? or does it not have as much of an effect? >> great question. i think the problem is that it's really the affordable housing that starts up the whole chain. we need to have entry-level affordable housing. that's what's been missing. that's one of the reasons why existing homes have been slow. new homes, they go pretty quickly. >> there in florida. >> thank you both. chris and ken. biotech stocks, meanwhile, crushed over the past week, down 4%. we'll debate whether there is more pain ahead for that group or whether that's a buy on the

weakness. companies starting to bid on building a wall with mexico. a move looking to leverage pension investments against potential bidders. details coming up.

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the report says $12.5 billion of ad spend in 2016 was either viewed by bots or the result of invalid traffic. meanwhile, dow jones reports at&t is pulling all of its ads from google's youtube and display networks. giant worried the ads may have been placed next to content from terror or hate groups. e-sports grow in popularity and the motive for players to get an edge. some players using unauthorized software and other methods to cheat, forcing companies to ban users and hire spies to identify cheating. one company estimates players worldwide are spending half a billion dollars a cheeyear on c software. >> how much overlap is there between the hacker community and the big-time gamer community. >> you're asking for it. >> as long as they hire the best ones to work in national security, maybe they'll get a pass. president trump said he

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welcome back. police launching a terror investigation into the attacks outside of parliament in london earlier today. wilfred frost has the latest. >> four people have died including a police officer in a terror attack near parliament in westminster, london, that began at 10:40 a.m. eastern time. the assailant amongst the dead. 20 people injured. the assailant drove a car along the sidewalk of westminster bridge hitting pedestrians as he went including three police officers before crashing into a fence next to palace yard on the north side of parliament. he then exited the vehicle and approached parliament, breaking through barriers on foot, where he stabbed a police officer with a knife before being shot by armed police. the stabbed officer and alleged assailant died from their injuries. assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police, steve rowley, said he was satisfied that there was only one assailant, though the

investigations continue and urged londoners to be vigilant though they did not need to be alarmed. this is an elevated police presence across london today. theresa may was evacuated to her nearby official residence at 10 downing street where she currently resides and will soon chair an emergency meeting of the cobra security committee. the prime minister released a statement. other mps and staff were kept in parliament as part of the police lockdown until they were released less than an hour ago. london mayor khan said london is the greatest city in the world and we stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us. kelly. >> sara eisen happened to be in london. she is a short walk away now from where the attack happened. it's extraordinary how you leave and all of a sudden wind up in the middle of yet another

horrific terror incident. what are you experiencing right now and what else can you tell us? >> kelly, we have made it, as you can see, closer to parliament, big ben just behind me. it just chimed as normal on the half hour. we're just about 100 yards away from downing street where wilfred mentioned the prime minister theresa may is at her residence at 10 downing and just outside the treasury. one of the government buildings that evacuated the employees around 5:00 p.m. they left earlier. also, as you can see, the streets are still closed all around the perimeter of parliament. we got as close as we can get. this area is really still being blockaded. this area of westminster, westminster abbey, buckingham palace, all the major tourist attractions and government buildings still blocked off. white hall, the tube stop, the subway stop, of westminster still closed at this hour but

all the stops around it are open. that's what i want to emphasize. getting down here. it still is a functional city as normal, especially outside of this area. we have seen people at the pubs, the cafès, going about their daily commute on a wednesday. we have talked to a number of local residents here. they say, while it certainly feels strange and they have to navigate around some of these closed streets, kelly, it feels familiar. we have heard that from a number of people. we heard it also from some french tourists here. of course, this happening one year to the day from the belgian brussels attacks, happening a little more than a decade from the last london bombings. while it certainly is not a normal sight or sound to hear the helicopters which are still circling around me, about six hours after this attack, and certainly even more abnormal to see armed guards on the streets here, kelly, it is something that people here in london have seen before. >> yeah. familiar but still so troubling.

sara, thank you so much. that's our sara eisen in central london. turning back to other news developments. we can tell you, kevin mccarthy saying 7:00 p.m. tomorrow is when they hope to have the health plan passed. he says they plan to be walking off the floor with a bill passed at 7:00 p.m. he told that to nbc's kasie hunt a few minutes ago. health care stocks slightly higher. passage of the new american health care act is no certainty but president trump is confident. and while in kentucky earlier this week he named his next health care target. >> once this is done, we are also going to work on bringing down the cost of medicine by having a fair and competitive bidding process. we're just adding that to the bill. i said, we've got to add that to the bill. we're going to do a bill later. we're trying to add it to this bill. if we can't, we're going to have

it right after. >> for more on what's ahead for drug pricing and drug companies, joined by the founder, managing direct director. and manager at e squared. >> david, the drug companies specifically. what do they gain or lose from the passage of this bill? >> i actually think that what the president said is true. what they want to address, what he is alluding to, which has a lot of political heat around it, will not end up being part of this bill. it will be something they address later. he's shown his cards as to what addressing it later means. i think he means it by better reform at the fda. speeding up drug approval and eliminating the hurdles that are keeping drugs from getting to market at a reasonable time. that will have the effect of bringing prices down. what i don't believe he means is

a full-blown almost kind of statist drug-pricing mechanism. >> les, same take away? >> my view is there is no mechanism by which we can do bidding. i am not sure what he means. in fact, the hhs secretary mentioned the fda reform. i actually don't necessarily see either one happening in the near term. but i think that it's going to create a lot of volatility in the sector. and so i -- in terms of stocks, i am probably inclined just to wait this one out and see what happens over the summer. >> you did have a couple of names you think will benefit no matter what happens like hqi. >> health equity. these are things the republicans have. areas where the republicans have said we really want to do health savings accounts, we really want to make systems more efficient. in terms of ac -- an

affirmative. they are not drug stocks but you don't have to deal with the volatility around errant tweets should they arise. >> if we could transport ourselves to a world where it wasn't so dependent on headline risk, potentially, or maybe even opportunity and policy moves, would this sector be attractive? would the big pharma stocks, some of the biotech stocks, be a no-brainer without all this? or would it be interweaved? >> it would be a complete no-brainer. amgen, merck. some of the strongest operating cash flow stories that one could buy in the s&p 500. amgen has doubled operating cash flow in the last five years. $5 billion to $10 billion. and their dividend is up 6x. they've increased 600% in five years. compounding dividend growth at that kind of rate and all types of pipeline r&d opportunity.

we think some of those names, with good balance sheet strength. when you look at the biotech sector and go downstream there are more risky names out there. i wouldn't paint the big and small names alike as far as risk. some of the broader names that are strong dividend payers would be no-brainers. with or without this headline volatility that certainly will exist for a little while longer. >> les, as we continue to look at the votes and consider whether ahca passes tomorrow or at some further point, how much does that hinge for those drug prices. >> in the long run not a whole lot. if you are a long-term investor, ride it out. if you are trader and you want to trade from the long side, i say wait. the big caps will not double on you before we have a resolution. quite frankly, we'll have a resolution one way or the other probably by may. so you won't

have to wait that long. then you can go back and revisit the fundamentals. >> it will just feel like an eternity. thank you both. tax day is just 27 days away. many people are paying more than they should. there are some key deductions taxpayers often forget about. we'll reveal ways to lower the tax bill coming up. companies have started bidding to work on president trump's border wall, but if one border state has its way there could be big repercussions for builders of it and investors in it. those details next. ( ♪ ) upstate new york is a good place to pursue your dreams. at vicarious visions, i get to be creative, work with awesome people, and we get to make great games. ( ♪ ) what i like about the area, feels like everybody knows each other. and i can go to my local coffee shop

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it's your trade. ♪ ♪ e*trade. ♪ ♪ start trading today at etrade.com welcome back. bidding to work on building president trump's border wall has officially started, and so has the outrage. >> the backlash is brewing against president trump's border wall. state and local lawmakers in new york and california are trying to ban companies from bidding on the project by using the power of the purse. officials in new york city and san francisco want to block businesses that work on the wall from getting local government contracts. protesters gathered yesterday outside one company in san francisco that's shown interest.

>> she these companies have a ce to make. ed build the wall or work with san francisco. >> the states would ban pension funds. california runs two of the largest funds in the country, together they're worth more than $500 billion. new york ranks third, at $178 billion. lots of big money at stake here. i reached out to the funds, and one of them told me on background that their policy has been to engage rather than divest. in other words, if they pull their money out, that way they'll have no say over company decisions, kelly. so expect to see more on the debate now that the department of homeland security is formally accepting proposals. >> what are your thoughts, mike? >> seems to me, obviously within any municipality's right to log their view on it and try to put their finger on the scale in terms of one way or the other. but there is almost no way that the project will lack for a sufficient number of participating bidders, i would

think. >> i wonder when this goes too far. it's one thing to give up alcohol, tobacco, firearms and those investments. but there are no corporate angels out there. i understand there are projects you don't want to support and that's fine if this is one of them. you're also trying to fund the retirement living. if there is one pressing issue the country faces it's back to that pensions are underfunded. if they're divesting of all these potential investments because of disagreements over politics, i wonder if it goes too far. >> it's also a blunt instrument. i don't think there is a massive amount of public market cap in companies that are directly going to be making a lot of money building a wall. >> ylan, are you getting a sense of the pushback from all this and people who might not agree with the decisions? >> the funds as you said sort of ba fall back on the idea that bottom line they're there to fund the employees' retirements. that's their number one priority.

they've got a fiduciary responsibility to do that. they have had questions about the types of investments they have had in the past. the dakota access pipeline. they fall back on the way to change a company's actions is by investing in that company and having a say rather than not engaging entirely. the only industry in which they've done so is tobacco. calforce told me they pulled out of tobacco investments because you can't tell a tobacco company not to make cigarettes. that made sense but for these other companies, the funds are pushing against this. >> thank you very much. a news alert on mylan labs. >> they're issuing a recall of 81,000 epipens in countries outside the u.s. australia, new zealand, europe and japan, because of two reports that an epipen failed to work the way it was intended to

when administered. again, this is just reuters reports for now. mylan says it's working with regulatory authorities according to this report. we don't have to worry, apparently here in the united states yet. this does affect other countries, but 81,000 epipens are being recalled according to reuters in these other countries. kelly. >> another blow to the company. it's had a number of pr issues lately. courtney, thank you. shares not moving much on that. surprising deductions that are often overlooked that could help you lower your tax bill. we'll tell you about those next. coming up on "fast money" one top strategist says the vote on health care could trigger a market correction. julian emanuel will explain why next hour. you guys watch game of thrones, right? inconceivable! surely, you can't be serious. i am serious. and don't call me shirley?

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welcome back. if you haven't filed your taxes yet, listen up. we have surprising and often overlooked deductions that could lower the bill. kate rogers has the details. >> everyone wants a lower tax bill, right? there are two primary ways to do it. through the use of deductions and credits. deductions help lower your bill by reducing your taxable income based on the tax bracket that you are in. credits give you a dollar for dollar reduction of your income tax liability. here are some examples that often are overlooked. first up, your rv or boat. if it's primary or secondary residence, it has a bathroom, sleeping area, kitchen, you can deduct property taxes or mortgage interest you are paying for your house on wheels or water. if you hit it big but then lost it all at the casino, you may be able to deduct a portion of the gambling losses. you cannot deduct more than you won.

if you have got a free-loader hanging around your house, you may get a tax break as long as they've lived with you for 12 months, you've provided at least half of their income and they have made less thandeduct up to that amount on your federal return. and did you put in a pool this year? if it was primarily for health reasons and a doctor prescribed it, you may be able to take a medical deduck for costs that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. if you send your kids to summer camp, you may get a. at a credit. this is for parents or going to school and it doesn't apply to sleep away programs. it can be worth up to 35% of qualifying expenses but it does phase out according to your income. none of these apply to me. if you want to claim any of these breaks, you'll need to file an itemized return as opposed to the standard deduction. >> now i know what 22nd my gambling losses, the boat i own

and does a bathtub being used with epsom for recovery days, can i get a deduction in. >> if you're making adjustments or additions and your doctor is prescribing it and there's a medical reason behind it, you might be eligible for one. but check with a tax professional. >> or if you're recovering from professional trauma. every day i said what i didn't want to say.

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drove across westminister bridge killing two people and injuring many more including three police officers. this attacker who was armed with a knife, then ran toward parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. tragically one officer was killed. the terrorist was also shot dead. the united kingdom's threat level has been threat at severe for some time and this will not change. acting deputy commissioner rowley will give a further operational update later this evening. our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected, to the victims themselves, and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off but will not now be welcoming them

home. for those of us who were in parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risk their lives to keep us safe. once again today, these exceptional men and women ran toward danger, even as they encouraged others to move the other way. on behalf of the whole country, i want to pay tribute to them and to all our emergency services, for the work they have been doing, to reassure the public and bring security back to the streets of our capital city. that they have lost one of their own in today's attack only makes their calmness and professionalism under pressure all the more remarkable. the location of this attack was

no accident. the terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. these streets of westminister, home to the world's oldest parliament, are engrained with a spirit of freedom echos in some of the furthest corners of the globe. and the values our parliament represents, democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law, command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. that is why it is a target for those who reject those values. let me make it clear today as i have had cause to do before. any attempt to defeat those

efforts is doomed to failure. tomorrow morning parliament will meet as normal. we will come together as normal. and londoners and others from around the world who have come their visit this great city will get up and go about their day as normal. they will board their trains, they will walk these streets, they will live their lives. and we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart. >> that was theresa may speaking with the attacks today. it is extraordinary to think about pefg has happened over the last couple hours. on this the one-year anniversary

of the brussels attacks. the type of attack is similar to what we saw in nice, in germany, and it does come after a day they were using bans on flights. >> had i think there's a way to look at it and say if these are the methods terrorists are resorting to, it does show that trs there's a path to perhaps the most devastating attack they could use. >> and what is so difficult is how you try to prevent something like this from happening. it is a terrorist attack. whether it is a crazy person, a criminal acting in the nail of isis, whether they take credit for it. there is something more disconcerting that is difficult to translate into cities like new york and others that would be obvious targets for anybody who wants to do something like this. how do you prevent a car from running peel down on the sidewalk? >> on that scale, it is almost

impossible to 100% prevent it. and i think that's why it would have to be repeated attacks that unnerves a population. >> that was theresa may saying the partic parliament tomorrow as usual. sue? >> yes. the dow jones reporting the federal prosecutors are building a potential case which would accuse north korea of directing the theft of $81 million from bangladesh's account at the federal reserve bank of new york last year. the heist occurred in february 2016. cyber thieves used the swift access code to transfer in one weekend $81 million from the bank's account at the new york fed to accounts in the philippines. so they are accusing north korea of being involved in that. they might not be able to bring charges against the country but they may be able to bring charges against a chinese

middleman who they say helped north korea execute that theft. one of the biggest in modern history. back to you. >> yeah. destabilizin destabilizing, too, for the banking industry. thank you today. see you tomorrow. that does it for us on closing bell. "fast money" begins right now. "fast money" starts right now. i'm melissa lee. a correct is coming, according to julian emanuel. plus, snap is soaring. is it just the beginning of snap's big comeback? the analyst minld big call is here to explain why he is so bullish. and later, a smack down. there's a beaten down, one is pushing the buyback. he has the name of the