>> i'm not sure of the terminology. speaking of cryptocurrencies your central location for crypto news is back, "fast money. on the stocks you should fade on this bounce in the markets we've seen from the lows big show tonight thanks for watching "power lunch. thank you for being with us today. >> thank you "closing bell" starts right now. >> hi, everybody welcome to the "closing bell" on this monday. i'm kelly evans from the new york stock exchange. >> welcome back. i'm bill griffeth. are buybacks about to give stocks a new lift? a new note says we should see aggressive share repurchases, 23% higher from a year ago. >> warren buffett speaking exclusively to cnbc. find out the stock he likes more than others and his warning. that's coming up. we have a rally. up more than 334 and s&p up 335.

the dow is the story today bet than 1% gain the russell, small caps trailing a little bit bob pisani on the floor with more >> we're reversing that trend. we used to sell off in the middle of the day, but friday we diplomat and today we are holding onto our highs it's very important. three trends i've seen that's happened in the last two days. number one, the healing continues. s&p regained 20% of the losses we're finally seeing new highs appear and familiar names are on that list. finally, the leadership group since the bottom is the leadership group getting us into this, and that is cyclical stocks look what's leading today. boeing, 3m, apple, cisco, these are all cyclical names lacker eds, coke, mcdonald's, johnson & johnson, general electric not doing too much overall

s&p new highs, old faces we've seen time and time again on the list amazon, netflix, adobe, hewlett-packard, jpmorgan chase. we continue to see the rally move forward not going back to that idea of selling off late in the day. we'll see how we close in the next hour. back to you. >> we will see you at the close. in the meantime, hope you saw this this morning. becky quick sitting down for an exclusive with berkshire hathaway warren buffett after their annual meeting here's his take, would he buy long-term bonds or equities? listen >> if you had to choose between buying long-term bonds and equities, i would choose equities in a minute that doesn't mean i think the stock market is going up or anything else but if i were going to own a 30-minute equity bond or bond for 30 years, i think equity will considerably outperform that 30-year bond over the 30 years. >> you know, i wonder -- i don't

know maybe mike does. we'll bring him in for a quick comment here did he feel the same way when the ten-year was at 20% or something? >> oh, back in the early '80s? >> i wonder if he would have picked - >> he was buying stocks at much lower valuations than he is now. i don't know if he was as vociferous as he is right now. if you do a 30-year time horizon, it's kind of a rigged game for 30 years, almost nobody is choosing between treasuries and stocks for 30 years, either/or. >> in the letter he talks about how over any ten-year period there's more years that stocks are up or down by the way, he also, a fascinating twist on this, is the bet he made whether an index fund could beat a fund-to-fund and five years through that in 2012, they were so concerned that their treasuries were overvalued and the yield was so low, he said, why don't we just swap this into stocks. instead of giving $1 million

back upon a maturity in 2017, they got $2.2 million. he put his money where his mouth is. >> it was a good trade he more or less picked the -- it was zero coupon treasuries so they almost reached their full value. it was easy to say zooish this is out of whack. >> take it all now. >> the markets have made quite a comeback since the early february selloff jeff cox joins us with some highlights from his latest piece. >> thanks, kelly while everyone else was selling stocks, companies were buying. corporate buybacks stand at $113.4 billion in february, the highest level in nearly three years. according to trim tabs now, there are three reasons why this is important. one, of course, is that it helped stem the correction tide back in the early part of the month. two, it signals employees are willing to cut tax cut savings three, in a year of high volatility, companies will be

there. the two biggest weeks ever for buyback desks from goldman the estimate is decline 23% to $650 billion this year even though investors have been demanding more cash deployed for growth, buybacks still definitely matter in this market >> yeah. more than ever, perhaps. >> let's talk about this some more jeff, stay there are buybacks fueling this market comeback right now and what should we think about that mike santoli is still with us and we bring in cnbc contributor kenny, who is on the floor of the stock exchange in the past when we talked about buybacks we complained it was lack of initiative or imagination by a corporate board. couldn't they think of something better to do with that money what do we think now >> i think that argument potentially could still stand. first of all, i think it was overstated they were only putting money into buybacks. there seems to be enough money going around, especially with

repatriation going around and tax cut. the pool of cash flows accessible by companies and the repatriated cash leaves money left over for dividends, buybacks and all the rest. i think it's important pointing out that as a value of the percentage of the stock market, we're nowhere near the highs of stock market volume. that shows in the mid-2000s, companies were buying back a much higher percentage of the stock market it's still a relevant factor, about 2.5% market value per year at this pace. >> it makes the overall amount look very small, even sew -- i mean, are we talking about less than 1% of the market cap? >> it's not -- no. it's 1% per quarter. essentially it's 2%, 2.5% of annual buyback volume. >> that adds up. >> it adds up. it's comparable to the amount of cash coming out in the form of dividends. i just don't think it's something that's truly driving the market it might even have more of a

psychological impact on v investors. there's an idea there's aid price sensitive buyer in there with you - >> i love that analogy equity qe. >> there have been incidents of companies doing a buyback and they don't carry through all the way. >> sometimes. >> kenny, what do you think of all this >> especially what happened a couple weeks ago, companies certainly want to take advantage. when those stocks on those days got so dislocated for reasons beyond really anyone's control is when they take advantage because it makes perfect sense they're in the market anyway when they see the price of their stock get arbitrarily dislocated, they want to take advantage of that. i think it's a great sign in terms of what the companies are saying about houd they're using some of their cash when they have the right opportunity but i agree. i don't necessarily think that's completely supporting the market at all because as mike point out, it's a small overall, a small percentage it does send the right message to the market and to shareholders that companies are willing to stand there. >> hang on for one second. i'm coming to you. if we put the chart back up for

one second, it's -- consistency is fascinating we're talking about a market that appreciated in value but yet that chart is almost flat line going back to buffett when he's asked about corporate buybacks, his answer is, tell me the price. doesn't seem like price is being taken into consideration here. >> he had a very interesting point during that conversation with becky when becky asked him whether he's considering buybacks of course, they had that big pile of cash they don't know what to do with. he said, yeah, if we ever get down to that 120% threshold, we would do the buybacks as opposed to a dividend. goldman pointed out in this note as well, they have their basket of stocks they watch the basket of companies investing through cap x and hirings are performing better than companies that focus on buybacks and dividends thet also point out that there's going to be a lot of cash pumped back into the market this year and big double digit increases both for cap x and for -- and

for m&a. there's just going to be a lot of cash flooding the market. i think the buyback issue with the correction, i think it did help stem the correction tide. but i wouldn't argue it's juicing the market completely. >> someone's buying back their shares right now >> speaking of juicing the market. >> let's see, jeff cox, thank you. kenny, thank you, for stopping by mike stick around here by the way, for more on jeff's article, you can check it out. it's just been posted at cnbc.com it's a great conversation starter. yes, look at that. up 380 points on the dow near the highs for the session. new data shows investors put $14 billion in hedge funds in january. that was the industry's best start to a new year in more than a decade, since before the financia leslie joins us. >> hedge fund solidifying the rebound in january

the industry raking in more than $14 billion last month to put that into perspective, the amount of money hedge funds selected in january is already half of the inflows for all of 2017 it was also the first january of inflows since january 2014 the strategies taking in the most, macro as well as long, short, equity and directional credit allocators say these three strategies have become more popular in a rising interest rate environment macro says there could be more distinctions between economies in the world compared to the rising tide we've seen in recent years. long/short equity indicates stock picking will once again be in vogue and directional credit is popular with the changing regime among central banks the real question is, after allocating to these strategies in january, how well did they hold up in the correction in january? we should see those numbers come

out this week. >> we were just talking about the bet, who quwon, s&p 500 or - they picked five strategies. i don't think one made it the entire five years. >> that was not a good period. in 2007 is when that bet was entered at the top of the stock market and still the stock market over time did outperform. >> by the way, in that first year, the hedge funds did outperform in the -- >> oh, yeah, in the steep downturn, without a doubt. that's what would happen again i think to - >> it's 2.5% a year so we'll protect you in the one downturn year. >> the flows leslie is talking about i think represents a psychology of big institutional investors and other allocators saying the market is giving us a lot. let's get into strategy that might be all-weather if we're late in the cycle. >> i was going to bring that up. it flies in the face of the comments we were making in january when we felt like it was

the public coming into the market at that time. you know, they are notoriously late in a cycle in that regard here you have the institutional money coming in as well. >> they were coming in in areas not just riding the stock market they're looking for ways for people to say, direction appear credit, let me bet on the companies going bust as well as those -- a lot is not just about let's get into the market. it's trying to navigate a market near the highs. >> leslie, real quickly, have we seen a sea change in terms of fees have they come down. >> oh, yeah. >> when you look at '07, is it cheaper to get back in these days >> the days of 220 is gone they look more like 1 in 10. we're looking at about half the fees they were paying maybe before the financial crisis. a lot of people still say those are too high given the returns they're putting out. remains to be seen >> thank you interesting story. 48 minutes left. this could be a barn-burner to

go into the close here the dow up just off the highs, up 378 points. everybody is the water. late last night i checked on japan. they were up almost exactly -- >> what were you checking on japan? >> just curious. it's my job. >> we still have 45 minutes to go here and the "closing bell" is just getting started. >> announcer: next up, a first look at what rising rates could mean to the spring home shopping season which just got under way plus, what warren buffett calls one of the worst moves an investor can make right now. this is the "closing bell" on cnbc, live frothe w m neyork stock exchange with kelly evans and bill griffeth. build and run apps anywhere you like, while keeping your competitors at bay. the ibm cloud. the cloud for smarter business.

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welcome back we have breaking news on the fed. steve liesman with that story. >> thanks very much. fed governor and vice chair for bank supervision randy quarles says he's optimistic and sees higher growth. he says it could raise the natural or call it the neutral rate that could possibly mean a higher path for monetary policy. he's not ready yet to commit to that he says the economy appears to be in a good spot right now. but fiscal policy looks to give

a, quote, considerable momentum to growth over the next years and tax cuts could bring workers back into the workforce and also boost investment what he's saying in his speech, he's waiting to see if the impulse we get on growth is from the demand side, which could create more inflation or the supply side and maybe from greater productivity, which would not really be inflationary it's too early to call a turning point on the stronger growth he's seeing but he seems to be leaning in that direction that we're in an upward shift in growth inflation weakness, he expects, should fade as tight labor markets show up in wage and wage growth he does caution if deficit spending can have negative economic effect. that's the first speech on the economy from the new fed chair -- vice chair for bank supervision. it's really important, as you know, there's only three there's the chair, vice chair for bank supervision that's it. >> so far.

by the way, before i let you go you no doubt know about this i was just noticing tomorrow afternoon ben bernanke is going to interview janet yellen at brookings institute and it's labeled as her first time to speak candid i wonder how candid she can be on the day jay powell is testifying. >> or so soon. >> it's unorthodox for the former fed chair to be speping out quite so quickly but you would expect her to show a certain respect to the current fed chairman bernanke is going to interview yellen and then a little later on david wesle, former "wall street journal" reporter who kelly knows very well and now heading the hutchins institute - >> i still think of him as the boss he still makes me shudder. >> he might ask a couple questions and they might take questions from the odds yens that will be interesting

it's chockfalcoholichockful of h powell in the morning and bernanke and yellen in the afternoon. >> get the popcorn and the gatorade. >> are we getting headlines during the show? >> we're having a meeting after my appearance to determine how to cover -- we may take some live it depends on what jason wants to do, as you know, kelly. >> yes, he's the boss. steve, thank you very much steve liesman there. could be fun tomorrow. >> david wessle makes you shudd shudder. >> the whole crew, they taught me 40 minutes to go in the session. let's talk about the home construction etf falling nearly 5% just this year, so far in the past two months. mortgage interest rates have started to accelerate since early december pulte group down 13%, dr horton down 12%, lennar down 10% and kb down 2%.

let's get to diana olick who has more on what's happening with housing. >> reporter: we just got a pretty strong sign of things to come in housing. a drop in sales of newly built homes in january and mortgage applications to buy a home also down for the past month. much of that due to higher mortgage rates take a look at where they we want from january 1st to january 31st, up a quarter of a percentage rate. the new tax bill was signed into law and takes away for tax breaks new home sales fell over 7% for the month after falling even more in december new home sales are now down 1% compared to a year ago and that's the first negative annual read we've seen in a while. we also saw the supply of newly built homes rise to the highest in over four years, just over a six-month supply here are the two biggest issues for the spring market. on the home builder side, there's plenty of supply, just not affordable supply. and rates moved even higher in february, making matters worse on the existing home supply,

we'll get the contracts later but we know sales are weakening because there's not enough listings not enough affordable listings pretty good on the high end but that's not where the bulk of the demand is. back to you guys. >> thank you very much we'll see you later. heading to the close, 39 minutes left in the trading session. yes, here we go again. up 393 points on the dow and it is the best performer of the major averages today. >> starting to get significant 1.5% gain there. better than 1% for the s&p nasdaq, russell lagging the group today. as we head to the break, here's a check on technology stocks >> as we've seen, the nasdaq has intel, alphabet, microsoft, facebook intel up nearly 3% today the chips have been popping up up next, he increased the price of a live-saving drug by 5,000% we're talking about martin shkreli could be facing more

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"american greed" and martin shkreli is the focus new developments in that case? >> yes, it's about the securities fraud case, not what made him famous, raising the drug price $10.4 million total called into fraud which could influence the length of his sentence he was found guilty three of eight counts, including securities fraud the case was complicated because shkreli's investors made back it is money and then some so his attorney argued the judge should determine the total losses to be zero. after a hearing on friday where he sported a new beard he had grown in his five months in prison, the judge sided more with the government prosecutors

saying in her decision today that, quote, the evidence does not support and, indeed, contradicts mr. shkreli's position sentencing date set a week from friday, columbia professor tells us it's a factor in the sentencing guideliness and judge's findings of $10 million could justify a ten years or longer his attorney says he's disappointed by the ruling but still hopeful the court will find it in her heart to impose a reasonably lenient sentence on march 9th. we'll bring you the news on that day. >> what a story that's been. thank you. in tonight's episode of "american greed," you can get a look at how martin shkreli's use of social media helped land him in hot water. >> the judge revokes shkreli's bail and has him await his time in brooklyn central detention

center >> oh, you done went too far, you stupid [ bleep ] i love the fact that trolling actually eventually got him locked up because nobody cares when you troll rappers nobody cares when you roll hip-hop, radio personalities but take that troll to a former first lady of the united states, a senator, now your [ bleep ] is in jail. good riddance. >> oh, my. "american greed" premieres tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> glad to have stacy back. dow was up 400 a moment ago. all averages are in the green today. >> the rally, the market rallying to more than 350 points at the high. actually more than 400 pntois. we'll look where you should be putting your money next.

♪ welcome back the bulls are at it again. the dow up more than 400 points today. the -- with a gain of more than 1.5% s&p up strong. nasdaq, technology strong as well even the russell and small caps up 0.58 of a point. >> the percentage gainers include cisco with better than

3% move higher 3m up there, too we mentioned intel amex up as well. >> it's time for a cnbc news update let's get over to sue herera. >> hello, guys hello, everyone. here's what's happening at this hour virginia democratic senator tim kaine hosting a roundtable discussion on gun violence with the local chapter of moms demand action that meeting took place in richmond the purpose was to achieve common sense legislation on firearms >> i have proudly voted for these things as a gun owner, as a supporter of the second amendment because i understand the second amendment is just like the first amendment, which is a right is conveyed with an understanding that reasonable rules to protect people are important. a u.s. marshal was shot this morning in st. louis county. task force officers were serving a warrant when the suspect fired shots at them as they exited their vehicles the marshals returned fire on

the suspect who was barricaded inside a home. a highly anticipated new york city museum highlighting the life and work of david bowie will offer exclusive perks for those willing to pay $2500 for a ticket the brooklyn museum's david bowie exhibition will run from march 2nd to july 15th the regular price is 20 bucks on weekdays and 25 on the weekends. so, if you're willing to shell it out, i bet it's going to be a greater great exhibition back to you. >> i would see it. >> i didn't make it to the met when i lived like three blocks aw away. >> sometimes when you're in the middle of it, you never go. >> exactly. >> have you been to the statue of liberty >> when i was 12 >> that's what i thought sue, thank you >> thank you see you next hour. back to bob pisani up 240 points. >> it's not backing down we have almost all the elements for a terrific rally today let me just show you the s&p

500. remember what happened tuesday, wednesday, thursday last week. we rallied in the middle of the day and then it fell apart friday we did better and today we're really doing better. sitting at the highs for the day. i said we had three of the four elements for a notable rally look at the market internals breadth two to one advancing/declining, that's great. leadership, cyclicals still believe that's happening volatility is dropping what we're missing is the volume it's not nearly as heavy as it was on days when we were moving to the downside. i think that's the one little gripe. but it's a small one kelly was mentioning the dow leadership group these are all cyclicals, boeing, 3m, boeing, cisco. they tend to move the markets around a little more dow is up half a point more than than the s&p 500 the one big cyclical not on that list, general electrici it's up but barely that's been a laggard amongst

the cyclicals. >> yes, it has we'll see you on the close joining us is steve grasso at post 9 and rick santelli from the cme in chicago welcome. steve, what do you think we've come out of the gates pretty strong but perhaps more significantly, everyone said after that selloff, we're going to retest the lows and -- we have basically climbed right back as we went down in the first place. >> i think the takeaway was even though we had an abbreviated week last week, we had this pattern where you sold off to the close and friday reversed everything and i think the people are getting ahead of this week so, there's a lot of stuff going on there's a lot of inflation data going on there's a lot of isms coming out. >> jay powell. >> jay powell. not the least of which we mentioned a couple weeks ago that the risk is for jay powell to be more dovish than people think he will be because everyone assumes he's going to be the leading hawk. >> is that possible now because

it looks like we're pricing that in a little bit today. >> sure. you always -- you always overreact a little bit but if it confirms what the market is speculating on friday, dawes we had a pretty good selloff into friday's rally. so, i do think you can play both devil's advocate on each i think higher markets are probably going forward in our cards. >> rick, what do ul think? what are you guys talking about, expecting jay powell's testimony first thing tomorrow, especially when you consider the ten-year last week hit that high of 2.95 and where we are today, 2.86. >> you hit the key point intraday we traded the lowest level since valentine's day, a week and a half ago. most people on the floor think the new fed chairman is going to be rather even keel with a high bar towards continuity it's hard to argue that. does that mean he's not going to be more hawkish than dovish? no but i don't think we'll learn a whole lot tomorrow

maybe not as much as we're going to learn after the first meeting, which may, of course, result in a rate increase. interest rates are rather interesting here as i look at the equity markets, talk to equity traders, watch the charts, it really is a nice rebound. and as kelly point out, many were hoping that it would trade lower. it doesn't seem to be in the cards. and with respect to interest rates and how they match up, i was a little surprised that we didn't get more of a selloff pushing rates even closer to that high yield close you mentioned at 2.95 you mentioned last week. consider this. the break-even ten-year right now is 2.13, so the rates on the board versus the rate on a tips. and that matches its highest level from the 2nd of february, which goes back to september 14th the reason i bring it up, right now it seems to me that nothing is going to change the stencil on interest rates still remaining firm but not volatile until we get a one week from this friday and actually see what's going on with wages

was that 2.9 year over year we had in the last report real or memorex? it seems if we don't get a back-to-back jump there, we might be surprised to see us ease off a bit there definitely didn't seem to be any impetus for selling, pushing rates up today. >> and, greg, we've -- you know, it's tricky because we often talk about, you know, when you could have gotten in and bought things at a discount, blah, blah, as the market keeps moving, but regardless, where do you think the right places are for investsers to be right now, especially with the fluctuations going on with rates and inflation and the rest of it >> i think you nailed it, kelly. there's a lot of discussion around what rising rates mean to the stock market i think investors need to be careful on how they're placing their bond assets. clearly based on what we've seen the last few weeks, interest rates are moving higher, not lower. in that environment, investors want to focus on high-quality, short duration municipal bonds,

especially for high income wage earners. look at the cap on s.a.l.d. deductions with new tax laws think about tax laws with writing off home equity line of interest maybe investors should think security based loans instead of tax equity. >> warren buffett told our becky quick if he had a choice between long-term bonds and equities over the next 30 years, equities are still the winner in a heart beat you agree, i assume? >> perhaps warren buffett is perhaps the greatest investor of our time. it's interesting, he's talking about an institution with an infinite time frame. certainly, equities with no time horizon are perfect. but if they need that to pay college tuition, buy a second home next year or generate income for retirement, maybe getting a bit more defensive i agree, i think this market grinds higher, but i think we're

in for a more choppy five years going forward than the past five so, if you have a need for that capital in the next two to three years, you may want to use that lift we're probably going to get to take a more defensive posture going forward. >> you know, when you look a the market, we've all had this debate over how many market participants that are returning these trading desks that have not been involved in a raising environment, an inflation rising environment. how many of them and how many of us were around, zero, when we saw the corporate tax rate at 21%. you're seeing these estimates ratchet higher and higher -- >> by the way, we will talked about that when the volatility gauge was jumping. it's back around 16 today. do you think that's what accounts for some of that behavior >> i think analysts have been behind the curve you want to talk about fed behind the curve analysts are behind the curve because they don't understand what a 21% corporate tax rate is going to be throughout the economy, what the intended consequences are going to be that's why they probably chase this market higher. >> buffett agreed this morning

with a lot who said it's going to be a huge tailwind for the economy. >> it has to be. 21%. the last time we had that, kelly, 1941. >> i remember it well. >> what a year it was. >> a great year. >> she reads a lot thank you, guys. appreciate it. greg, good to see you. steve, ba, to work i'm sure people are rushing to google to check out this real or memorex line you quoted. >> 1941. >> no doubt. >> 20 minutes left, here we go incrementally setting new highs again for the day with the dow up 417 points. >> let's look at some of the winners in the s&p 500 as well we told you how intel had been a strong performer, cisco, some names leading the dow today. in terms of the sectors, it's telecom, technology, industrials and financials up, even though the ten-year is down. >> utilitieses and real estate, they're the laggards. >> warren buffett would like to buy a new company but price is a problem.

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3m and cisco along with intel and american express leading the way with gains two names in the red, home depot and coca-cola. fractionally lower. >> it's like owning ge for the last 15, 17 years. by the way, after the bell today we will get earnings results from fitbit and palo alto networks shares of fitbit have moved an average of 15.2% up or down over the past eight quarters after their earnings were released and then palo alto networks has had a slightly smaller swing data shows that that stock tends to move around 12.4%, either up or down, over the last eight quarters and we'll be monitoring those numbers, bring you the instant

analysis as soon as they released after the top of the hour. >> 15 minutes to go. dow up 380 volatility gauge, vix down around 16. the transports having a nice session. the s&p 500 and nasdaq both up 1% the russell up 0.6%. sflu warren buffett said he didn't make a deal last year because nothing looked cheap we'll discuss whether he should put his cash to work and some names he should be buying. free advice for warren coming up let's begin. yes or no? do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? do you want $4.95 commissions for stocks, $0.50 options contracts? $1.50 futures contracts? what about a dedicated service team of trading specialists?

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welcome back let's get a check on some of today's market movers. shares of dairy producer dean foods falling after they posted fourth quarter results that missed analyst expectations on the top and bottom line. dean foods also announced plans to consolidate its manufacturing capacity that stock down almost 13% in a

big up-day otherwise hp inc. on the heels of jpmorgan from upgrade to neutral. they reported strong earnings last week. jpmorgan says that positive growth momentum can continue that stock is up 6% right now, kelly. >> all right warren buffett, meantime, has his berkshire hathaway with $16 billion cash hoard the letter released to shareholders tells why he didn't make a deal in 2017. the main reason, said it was highs rices. that was the barrier reviewed for all deals last year. >> so, what should buffett buy let's give him free advice scott joins us from some thoughts here. are you surprised that he couldn't find anything to buy last year, first of all? >> the well, i'm not surprised but what i would like

mrmr. buf mr. buffett to do is start to think like a millennial. it's hard for the genarian to do, but we have to start investing in products and services and companies that millenials are using we've got to get our - >> he did buy apple. >> he did buy apple. >> he has two -- his chief lieutenants, to bill's point, are much younger and they identified names like apple. on the investment portfolio, that's one thing his outright acquisition list, i guess, is another. >> well, yes, but sometimes you may want to start with, you know, putting your toe in the water with some of these companies. and -- but for $116 billion there's a lot you can buy out there. again, i just think he's got to get his mind out of, you know, what worked 20, 30, 40 years ago. we see ge isn't working. we see a lot of the financials really aren't working. i don't know why he still has money in wells fargo

i think that's the most -- the most crooked bank in the world >> well, how about -- what should he buy? any for-instances? >> i think he has to look at some internet, app-related stocks priceline, grubb hub, paypal he has to think what the youngsters are doing with those smartphones that they're working around with. look, i have five kids aged 21 to 30. i teach at seton hall university i speak to these kids all the time i know where they're spending their money. they're not saving it. they're going on cruises, they're spending - >> as you know, there's a lot more to a good investment than, hey, this is something people use. i mean, something people use is the reason he went into ibm. look what happened there in other words - >> understand that. >> if you wanted to make the case to me that pricing power doesn't work the way it once did, instead of investing in companies that have it, he

should invest in companies that can lower prices, that's fine. but just to say this is stuff people use, he should buy it, isn't a good argument. >> that's a fair point but when you look at the companies, they are generating positive cash flow, which is one thing he looks to, above and beyond all so, what i was saying it is, you know, begin to include some of these newer technology millennial-type companies in your criteria. you will come upon something i think if we keep on seeing warren buffett go back to the banks and some industrials, then i don't think that he is going to outperform as he's done in the last 30, 40 years. i like to see him go into -- >> what about his interest in this -- this partnering now with jamie dimon and jeff bezos where they want to find some mechanism to bring down the cost of health care and drugs

are there opportunities that you can sense that he could move into in that category, even though those are very volatile and often very risky at some level? >> no. i think those are great ideas. i've often come onto cnbc and i've said berkshire hathaway is the largest private equity company in the world and i think he should be making some of these small investments. work with the geniuses like bezos, work with people like jamie dimon. work with other smart people out there. there's a lot of them that can use his funding and can use his relationships in the marketplace to put together these deals. so i really love what you mentioned. i think he should explore more of that. and, again, think more like a private equity investor, which is what he's been doing. >> minus the debt. minus the leverage and debt, scott. >> excuse me >> you know, berkshire, they're famously debt averse and private

equity is, you know, that's -- debt is part of their whole strategy anyway - >> i understand that but he can -- he can do whole equity deals with the amount of cash that he has and the amount of cash that a jeff bezos has, amount of cash an apple has. he can partner up these firms and do things just for all cash and not have to worry about leveraging up. >> scott, thanks for your insights into what warren buffett should be looking at thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me speaking of warren buffett, let's get a market flash on berkshire hathaway what's going on? >> that's right. berkshire hathaway's b-class shares up about 4% today after, of course, the oracle of omaha released his annual letter on saturday, disclosing, among many other things, a $29 billion benefit from the tax bill. he also, of course, spoke this morning on "squawk box" revealing all sorts of things.

i also wanted to look at the airlines here because in that interview he spoke about how he wouldn't rule out buying an airline. as you can see, delta, american and united each up over 2% back over to you >> at the right price. >> at the right price. and with no debt >> the dow is up 356 we pulled back a bit we're coming back with the closing countdown after this ♪ feel that? that's the beat of global markets, the rhythm of the world. but to us, it's the pace of tomorrow. with ingenuity, technologies, and markets expertise we create the possible. and when you do that, you don't chase the pace of tomorrow. you set it. nasdaq. rewrite tomorrow.

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the last two minutes of trade here on another rally day. bob pisani joining me here i want to look at year-to-date charts i think that's a better way to get a perspective of the market right now. this is the dow, beginning of the year, we've gained back now roughly half of the losses that we did after the peak on january 26th. >> yep >> for all the major averages. >> more importantly, i think 75% of the s&p 500, a little more than that, 80%, from the bottom we saw back on february 6th or 7th. >> this one's interesting. the ten-year we began the year at 2.45, we hit the peak of 2.95 last week looked like 3% was a chip shot away but now we pulled back. 2.83 at the low and now at 2.86.

just ahead of jay powell's testimony tomorrow morning. >> that may have been a factor on friday and today when we didn't have selloffs in the middle of the day. tuesday, wednesday, thursday, selloff rates were approaching 3%, moderating and vallrallies holding when they normally do not at 3%. >> vix famously hit 50 february 9th. we pulled back today we had a 15 handle briefly we were 15.97 for a brief time. >> it's quite a decline. i think that's one of three things supporting the market right now, beside it is very strong breadth, but we don't have big volume here >> it's okay you can still make money, lose money -- >> you can lose money on low volume. >> don't forget the earnings coming out we have fitbit and palo alto networks coming up thank you, bob

we get those earnings and get you ready for fed chair jay powell's first testimony to congress tomorrow morning. we'll have live for you on cnbc beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time right now, second hour of the "closing bell" with kelly evans and company. see you tomorrow, kel. >> thank you, bill welcome to the "closing bell." i'm kelly evans. nearly a 400-point rally 397, 398 we'll see how the final tally comes in we're at 25,707, 1.5% gain for the blue chips not bad for the s&p and nasdaq, adding more than 1%. s&p closed at 2779 nasdaq up at 7421. nasdaq, by the way, at least at the highs of the session was positive on the month. looking at its eighth straight monthly gains and those declines

we saw in early february now seem like a distant memory the russell 2000s up 0.65% the volatility gauge lower, interest rates lower the dollar a little lower here as well. joining me now to talk about all of this, cnbc senior markets commentator, michael santoli along with jim khan and david rosenberg. everybody's here at post 9 welcome one and all. leading the do yw was 3m coca-cola was laggard. on the s&p, hp inc. still up, and albemarle was the decliner michael, what do you make of it? the significance is mostly in the context of crazy selloff we started the month with and now the crazy rebound we've had. >> the market acted as if it didn't want to go sideways and build a base and be patient recovering those losses.

we gained about back three-quarters of the losses if you count back the intraday lows that's more than you would expect you'd get by this point i think it's important to dial back and say, where have wecom one month to the day since the market peaked? you're down -- >> a month today - >> the melt-up peak appened. >> the final friday of january was when it peaked you're still about 3% or so below those levels but up more than 4% year to date it's really only in relation to how good january is we've had such a hard time lately. that being said, you cannot pencil in, we're going up to the highs and up and away from there. something has changed. the volatility of the market is not quite subsiding. >> we used to be below 10 on a consistent basis i was going to say, when we started off january so hot if we're now only 3% below those levels, what do you think?

>> i think what's interesting is we saw a correlations breakdown. bond yields rising at the same time -- bond yields falling the same sometime stock yields were rising that made me nervous as an investor on behalf of my clients, we look to those to - >> is it diversification or is it that for so long we were in one paradigm and are we shifting to a new - >> that's the question that's the question. was there a paradigm shift was something fundamentally happening? what was happening is the leveraging happening that was skewing the market funds and skewing the correlation. we're seeing correlations are back to normal we see the vix coming down. >> the old normal? >> the old normal. the good normal. the normal that makes sense in textbooks. that we were taught in macro economic classes - >> what normal >> bonds go up, stocks go down stocks go up, bonds go down. that's generally the way the world is supposed to be.

when risk increases, bond prices should go up, stock prices should go down when risk decreases, we should see stocks go up and bonds go down it's a basic equation of how you value a security >> okay. david, i want you to weigh in on this, too. has there been a paradigm shift? you know, has interest rates, inflation -- we'll hear from powell tomorrow morning. >> i think what's happened in the last couple of weeks, i call it a reprieve. what didn't happen is the ten-year note yield, it was like staring at a clock >> at 3% >> and we didn't break above 3%. i think a lot of people were really nervous that was going to send some sort of signal that the fed was behind some proverbial curve that inflationary pressures were starting to build. i think we step back from the brink. i think a lot of this rally we've seen is ipso facto is that ten-year bond yields come back to under 3%.

something michael santoli said, which i agree with, last year was an anomaly today the vix was over 16. last year's average was 11 we spent 85% of the time with the vix between 9 and 13 the first 26 days of the year when we were just melting up so, i think that this overriding theme that we are in a wider fluctuations, more volatility, that has not gone away one thing investors have to realize is that volatility runs in multidirections it runs going down or runs going up pressing towards the high, looking at the sentiment, i'd be circumspect. >> you're talking about the narrowness of the rally we're seeing. >> i would say it's been selecti selective. it has not been an all-inclusive recovery, even today you had this kind of market that was straight up from 10:00 in the morning and stocks were 2 to 1 positive to negative in terms of the s&p 500 or the nyse that just shows you some stocks

are being left behind. that's textbook. once you get a powerful rally, a peak, then a correction, when coming out of that you have a winnowing of market. the sectors that are leading are the ones you would want to see, financials, industrials, technology, if you're bullish. >> here's the -- >> it shows compared to the regular market weighted s&p. it shows you all year the average stock has been lagging the big cap guys leading the s&p. >> i'll add to that in terms of the narrowness of the market, i think it's one of bob farrell's top ten rules to remember about healthy markets are broad and unhealthy markets are actually narrow i mean, look at the dow. year-to-date, three-quarters of what the dow has done this year has come down to three stocks. 100% of the rally we've seen this year comes down to seven stocks as michael santoli -- have we ever been in agreement this much

before >> as long as you agree with what i just said. >> what i never understand, no matter what market you're in, everyone thinks a healthy market is technology. it always has to include technology why couldn't a healthy market include energy i understand financials, they're the bedrock of the system, that's the oxygen tent for the system, but why do we get lured into this belief that it has to include technology >> you're talking about the canadian playbook. >> a quick question about buybacks, how much of a factor is that? goldman says share buybacks will jump 23% this year, partly fueled by tax reform necessity think we'll get a big increase in dividends. what does this all say to you? do you just say, bring it on >> we say bring it on. usually buybacks are a way executives can market time there's a great paper out there that shows outperformance of companies with large buybacks. basically it's a way where executives can't buy more stocks during the quiet period. they do buybacks, pushes up the values of the options and

holdings and it's been a good signal historically to buy stocks i think it means companies are bullish on their own security. that's always a positive. >> i'm amazed, and we mentioned this a little while ago, too, but i'm amazed the pace has basically been unchanged or maybe will pick up now, even as the prices have just kept going higher and higher. >> i think one of the reasons for that, kelly, is that it's become just standard operating procedure for mature companies to allocate "x" amount of dollars we have left over after what we need for cap "x" to buy back it's not as if they're being opportunistic, the stock is low, let's get some bargains for the benefit of our existing shareholders it's a way we say, this is a way to return cash to existing shareholders in a different form cisco is a great example all money repatriated, going to the buyback. >> one of the best performers today. >> that's the kind of money that should be handing its cash back to shareholders if they're not doing acquisitions and mergers because it's not a fast growth company.

what kind of return to you get from plowing capital -- >> a lot of companies say we don't want to do value destructive deals so we're going to avoid doing something just for the headline. >> the reality is they don't have to the do the buybacks. so, it's still ail relatively good - >> but they almost always do. >> well, because they have inside information about their own businesses that's the way they can express it >> how much did they spend on the buybacks over the last couple of years? we have an earnings report on fitbit let's see how they're doing with ade adidi. >> fitbit with weak numbers. revenue coming in at $571 million versus estimates of $589 million. that's a miss. also eps was a miss. a loss of two cents versus zero cents estimate the company also took a hit on guidance q1 revenue guidance was 240 to

$255 million versus estimates of $340 million that's a big gap there the company is expecting a year-over-year decline in q1 revenue of 15% to 20%. full-year revenue also the company is forecasting below estimates. they're forecasting full-year revenue of $1.5 billion versus 1.75 billion also q1 guidance of eps, also the company is missed on that. so, a lot of different misses in this, and i know analysts have been looking closely, specifically the top line growth and looking at holiday sales again, shares are down about 12%. back to you. >> down 12% today. i think they were up about 5% on the session, but still some clear disappointment for fitbit there. it's below five bucks a share. just looking at the market cap of the company, which is currently 1.3 billion. >> 1.3 billion and half of that is net cash. >> wow >> so, the value of the actual business, i believe, is far lower than the state of the

market. >> is that only because they sold off so much or have they always had - >> the relative is because they sold off so much i think the cash is there from the ipo and money raised. >> maybe buffett should just buy fitbit. >> the market is saying, there's no revival happening here to the core business. >> right they're so small, that it's -- i don't know who buys them as a bolt-on to - >> and this is a perfect -- this is a perfect take private. it's a single product. you put it in with a larger consumer goods company and it becomes just a product line as opposed -- >> why shouldn't ibm buy them, going back to our ibm discussion a moment ago if part of the argument is, we have the data, we can do analytics? fitbit is getting a massive amount of data on people. >> you don't need watson to say, i need to run more. >> and consumer gadgets might not be their sweet spot. >> speaking of consumer gadgets, earlier today warren buffett, who is a notorious flip phone user told our becky quick why he has confidence in apple, whose

shares they keep buying. >> over the last year we've bought more apple than anything else i like tim cook very much. i like their policies. >> how strong that ecosystem is to an extraordinary degree i look at my grandchildren, great grandchildren, everybody in the office, their families, i talk to the people at the furniture mart when the tent hadn't arrived, nobody goes over to the -- you know, to buy android. you are very, very, very locked in >> again, that's warren buffett talking about apple. he also said is a better fit for berkshire as more of a consumer products company than ibm, which they notoriously ran into problems with. >> he clearly has the keep it simple thesis on apple everyone uses it nobody's switching out of it

they have this recurring revenue. >> my investment guys picked it and i'm okay with it. >> it's not expensive. >> can i be a little negative here his thesis is effectively they have this great ecosystem. >> remember, he's not the one who made the slechlt. >> it's his business at the end of the day it rolls up to him. the ecosystem got apple into trouble in the '90s. >> what do you mean? >> when they were a closed system you couldn't bring a non-apple product onto the apple platform. the question is, has apple learned? can they continue to open up the platform to the outside to continue innovate or is is it a dead-end platform which it was in the '90s when they got crushed by the pcs - >> they were smaller back then. >> they were. >> they weren't selling a couple hundred million units a year. >> they were but you can see it a little bit with the inability to use other apps on the iphone and app downloads are declining. the question is, can they open it up enough or are they going to restrict it to the point where they actually destroy

value over the long run? i think that's the real question. >> i think that's one of the ways you can explain why the stock looks cheap, right there are overarching concerns about how long they can maintain these margins. >> let's circle back over 400-point gain on the dow today. we've made a lot of progress in making up the declines about 75% for the nasdaq intraday highs at one point we made up just about 100% of those losses here's actually a look all-time high of the dow, 26,616 today we're just -- i mean - >> 900 points. >> thank you doing the math in my head. below that level look at the nasdaq, only about 80 points away from there. do you think this is -- is it ignorant of the risk you talked about some of the landscape changes you think are going on here. >> it's not ignorant of the risk i think the whole discussion is just about the price volumes are not been doing that great.

you can't just look at price without everything else. the breadth has not been great the question is, what are we going to be talking about three and six months from now. this could be a classic double peak we saw this in 1990. we saw this in 2000, in 2007 for all we know we're seeing a classic double talk and failed top of the highs we could be talking about this three months from now -- >> are you a technical analyst now? >> look, there's a very high -- look, we just talked about earnings right now look, my kids know about the tax cuts. >> look at hp last week. how well they did after the results. the benefit wasn't fully priced in. >> 18% earnings for this year. everybody knows that number. strip out buybacks, which are related to the tax cuts. it's 8%. knock yourself out you have a 19 multiple at some point if the market is

forward looking because we're talking about where the market closed we're looking at 2019 what's the earnings outlook there? >> and there's too many unresolved issues right now. we have unresolved issues on interest rate, on trade, and on fiscal policy as well, right so that do not deserve the multiples in the marketplace. >> i think it makes sense, to rereciprocal saying i agree with dave it would look exactly like this if it's a huge recovery going to huge new highs or just a retracing back to the highs and we failed. you never know >> fair enough that's what makes it fun to watch. or something thank you for joining us to talk about all of this. a lot more still ahead on the "closing bell. next up, energy stocks on the move we'll tell you which ones could be your best bet. plus, after warren buffett says - >> it's a business always subject to somebody doing something very dumb competitively. >> what's valued well in the industry and what's not. former continental ceo gordon

be the weighs in next with kelly evans on "closing bell" live from the new york stock exchange mom you called?

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♪ welcome back we have earnings on palo alto networks >> those stocks rallying in the after market after a beat on both the top and bottom line the enterprise security company posting revenue of $542 million. that compares with estimates of $525 million on the earnings side, they reported 86 cents per share compared with estimates of 79 cents per share. one metric the analysts are really looking forward to with this earnings report is q2 billings, futures revenue there, up 20% the ceo in the statement says robust customer acquisition was thanks to that i also want to draw your attention to shares of

nutrisystem, those shares moving in the opposite direction in the after market down 24% on the earnings side, it was a beat they beat on both the eps and on revenue. on the eps side, they reported earnings per share of 42 cents compared to 40 cents on revenue side they reported $131 million versus $129 million estimated. but the weakness was on the guidance numbers they gave >> i wonder if that's an oprah effect if weight watchers has taken the momentum away. >> the industry is streaky in that way in a sense if something becomes popular, they have a new offering - >> it's faddish. >> give and take. >> fad, fad warren buffett told cnbc this morning he might just buy an airline. take a listen. >> it's a business that's always

subject to someone doing something done competitively they've done it a lot in the past there was much chance of them doing it when there were seven of them than the big ones than four i mean, the industry was suicidally competitive for decades. i mean, they net lost money while they were growing like crazy in units and i was on the board of u.s. air, so i saw how it all happened it can turn into fierce competitive battles that wipe out earnings or it can be a business that's more decent but still subject to lots of competition and really hard to know, you know, for sure how it will develop >> airline stocks took their cue from that, rallying. gordon joins us, former continental airlines chairman and cnbc contributor thanks for joining us. what did you think was

significant about warrwarren buffett's remarks on the airlines >> one bitten, twice shy he was right, u.s. airlines looked good but it wasn't. that was 20 years ago. there were a couple morons in the business that wiped you out with pricing you had to match the price of independent air or hooters air, whoever they are, and that really destroyed earnings. >> i wasn't aware there was a hooters air. >> yes, can you believe it >> i can, but now i'm curious to hear more, maybe i'm thinking about frontier and spirit today and he did allude to these saying it's better there are four, the big four instead of seven in terms of the competition but he did say he knows there are these low cost airlines on their way up so, why don't they count as putting similar pressure on the industry >> first of all, i think they've

learned that you can't buy market share the big boys are not going to let you come in and discount they'll just match your prices so, what their tactics have been to stay on the fringe and offer a really basic, lowest cost service, at you've got to give the big boys, i'm talking about the big four, credit for matching those kind of low-end coach only, no benefits, prices so that they can't continue to grow market share. i think there's a balance being struck and everybody kind of respects the other person. >> is that balance durable i mean, i guess that's the real question from investors' point of view. can they keep the competition limited in that way or do you have folks saying, we're not going to cede any market share and can that launch a new round of competition >> i don't think so. the guys -- i know mauler in top of the top four airlines are really smart people so they're not going to do anything stupid. you never know, you know, when

you can suffer brain damage but that's knowing the market share is not for sxal knowing they're not going to allow the allegiance of spirits to grow market outside the fringe markets they're in. >> the one company when i read about the culture, southwest has always struck me as the perfect kind of fit for berkshire. i wonder if, you know, he said he wouldn't rule buying -- he wouldn't rule buying one is there one you think would be most appropriate for berkshire, gordon >> i think they're all really good, kelly. there's not a bad one in the group. southwest has been a long-term performer. it started with a blank sheet of paper with the right guys running it and did a tremendous job. the other three today are all managed by really smart people so, they're really close in their earnings and potential and

reluctance to overplay their hand if berkshire wants to buy, they should buy a percentage and not a whole airline. that's my advice >> i'm surprised he talks about it at all. the price is going up, he should say no, i have no interest i would never do it. we're going to sell. >> that's what i would do, too i'd say the same thing >> but he's warren, he can do what he wants. gordon, thank you for joining us >> sure, kelly nice to be here. energy has been lagging the broader market all year but we will hear the bullish case for the sec store on why it could rally back first, here's a look at today's top performers in the s&p 500. back in two.

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through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading support from td ameritrade ♪ welcome back a news alert on the nfl. >> that's right. "the new york times" is reporting that nfl commissioner roger goodell is trying to fine jerry jones, the dallas cowboys owner, millions of dollars for his actions detrimental to the league over the past few months. if you remember, jerry jones was adamant and publicly outspoken, trying to remove goodell as the commissioner he hired a big lawyer to sue the compensation committee

it caused a lot of problems for the league a lot of owners put goodell up to this, according to "the times. goodell didn't want to be seen as exacting revenge against jones but the league said it crossed aid boundary and that's why in the next few weeks you'll see a fine against the cowboys for millions of dollars by the nfl. back to you, kelly. >> is that going to impact their operations at all or is it, like you said, more an issue about whether it's retaliation >> it's more to that they just want to get repaid for the legal costs the league incurred for defending itself when jerry jones went after them and for the issues jones was suing them on, or threatened to sue them on, which caused a lot of legal fees. the cowboys make $800 billion a year in revenue so it shouldn't impact them. >> thank you. the other headlines from sue herera >> thank you here's what's happening at this

hour, everyone a tearful teenager thanking everyone who saved her life after she was shot three times inside a florida high school maddy wilford blanked by her parents washilking into the hospital first responders who found her thought she was dead >> and i would just like to say that i'm so grateful to be here. and it wouldn't be possible without those officers and first responders and these amazing doctors and especially all the love that everyone has sent. >> the ohio river overflowing its baction in louisville after some heavy rain. the river is cresting and flooding homes and businesses along the way. the water levels should drop over the next few days but rain is in the forecast for wednesday. budweiser announcing mike lobe ultrapure gold without

artificial flavorings or colors. it was aimed for millenials who are concerned about ingredients but want a low carb, low calorie beer that's your news update. back to you. >> i always wanted it when i wanted a water but was too embarrassed to order a water it's the closest thing you can get -- yeah, i'm drinking too. anyway, thank you, sue. >> you got it. >> sue herera. just after 4:30 on the east coast. the dow up nearly just about 400 points the nasdaq and s&p up more than 1% as well the russell 2000s lagging a little still gained two-thirds of one percent today. let's move to energy and whether the sector is set to turn around that sec store up about two-thirds of 1% as well jackie with a look. >> good afternoon to you year-to-date the s&p energy sector is down 5%. it's the third worst performing sec store. surprising when you look at crude oil. it's up almost 6% in the same time period.

why are energy stocks and crude stocks diverging it's difficult to know if higher prices are going to lasts and if companies will see a tangible benefit. the experts seem to think things are different this time. higher prices are here to stay part of it is that the excess supply has been slowly worked through, taking about six to eight months longer than most people thought to get to that sustainable balance point. but the other part of the equation is demand as we head into the summer season, demand generally picks up this year the expectation is it will be even more robust thanks to trump's tax policy and the fact that stocks are moving higher as well it's still close to the beginning of the year but analysts are talking about where crude could end the year consensus seems to be between $65 and $75 a barrel december is isn't the peak of the season fourth of july is. by that time, wti could be closer to $75 a barrel >> no one wants to hear it

maybe down south but not around here - >> exactly >> thanks, jackie. the f.a.n.g. stocks have been red hot after the recent selloff. we'll get the "fast money" tdera if their comeback can keep rolling along, back after this e. that five stars, two thumbs up, 12-out-of-10, would recommend thing. because if you only want the best thing, you get the #1 thing. directv is rated #1 in customer satisfaction over cable. switch now and get a $200 reward card. more for your thing. that's our thing. call 1.800.directv oh, that's lovely...so graceful. the corkscrew spin, flawless... ...his signature move, the flying dutchman. poetry in motion.

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welcome back let's get to some of the other big stories today in our rapid recap. >> u.s. equity futures sharply higher let's see if we made it -- yeah, 182 on the dow after a 350 point gain on friday >> if you own stocks like you own a farm or apartment house, you don't get a quote on those every day, every week. you look at the business and the value of american business depends on how much it delivers in cash to its holders between now and judgment day i don't think it changes 10% in a two-month period if you're looking at it as a business. >> our january read on new home sales. wow, some action back there. we're expecting a number around 650,000. we ended up with 593,000 seasonally adjusted annualized

units. that's close to 8%. >> the dow industrial average is at the highs of the day. now by more than 330 points on the dow. >> nearly 400-point rally for the dow to kick offer the week 397, 398 we'll see how the final tally comes in we're up to 25,707 blue chips was the best performer of the major averages. >> we were up 399 on the bell. with the rally, today's so-called f.a.n.g. stocks have corrected their correction losses can they continue their climb? joining us now, "fast money" traders tim seymour and guy adami. hi, guys. >> good to be back. >> lovely. great to see you guys. "fast money" is back this is the most important thing to - >> no curling. >> but the curling was amazing it was amazing schuster, if it wasn't so late. >> the curling was amazing

after you've watched about a half hour of curling, what else do you need to see it's a bunch of guys you might as well be in a bar with a couple of beers on each side. >> hold on that's not fair. >> that is fair. >> we raged in curling >> we are curling. >> it was the mira-curl on ice >> oh. >> f.a.n.g. has come all the way back what do you think? >> you think about some of the anxiety over the market the last few weeks, it was around interest rates, those companies that might have higher sense stift to a higher rate environment. that also includes companies playing a high div, companies more levered to certain parts of the economy that could suffer in higher interest rates. that's not f.a.n.g if you look at google and facebook, valuations to me within that group that are defensible in an environment where people are worried about valuations. >> then you look - >> guy, i was going to point out -- >> hi, mike. sorry. >> that's me >> i was going to point out those two laggards, if you have to take anything away from

facebook and google? >> you know, i think at a valuation level, that's the most interesting one out of all of them that's performed the worst out of all of them i don't know what's telling you. i still think in terms of moat, alphabet has the deepest and widest netflix did not get obliterated in that week and a half selloff. here we are basically at all-time highs i get the valuation story. i understand everything competition. if netflix can grow in india like they say they can grow. >> it's a valuation -- curling -- it's curling to me. >> by the way, kel, what did you say, the mica-curl on ice. dan nathan, melissa lee in unison laughed out loud. >> i thought you were going to said rolled your eyes. it was in the new york post. i can't take any credit. have a great show. much more "fast money. back after two weeks of olympic curling.

coming up top of the hour. tonight the chart master makes his epic return with two groups of stocks you should fade as the market continues to rally. it's all coming up in about 20 minutes' time. steel stocks were tearing higher today after president trump reportedly supported sharp tariffs on aluminum and steel. whether you should be a buyer we'll talk about after this. ♪ feel that? that's the beat of global markets, the rhythm of the world. but to us, it's the pace of tomorrow. with ingenuity, technologies, and markets expertise we create the possible. and when you do that, you don't chase the pace of tomorrow. you set it. nasdaq. rewrite tomorrow.

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welcome back we have a news alert on fedex. sue hawith that one. >> fedex is responding to nra gun safety and policy. fedex basically says its positions on the issue of gun policy and safety differ from those of the national rifle association, otherwise known as the nra. fedex opposes assault rifles being in the hands of civilians while we strongly support the constitutional rights of u.s. citizens to own firearms subject to appropriate background checks and fedex views assault rifles and large-capacity magazines as an inherent potential danger to schools, workplaces and communities when such weapons are misused. therefore, we support restricting them to the military most importantly, fedex believes urgent action is required at the

local, state and federal level to protect schools, students and -- from incidents such as the horrific tragedy in florida on february 14th the statement goes on to say that fedex is a common carrier under federal law and, therefore, does not and will not deny service or discriminate against any legal entity regardless of their position or political views. the nra is one of hundreds of organizations in our alliances and association marketing program whose members receive discounted rates for fedex shipping it has never changed the rates for any of our millions of customers around the world in response to their political beliefs, positions or views. coming out with strong support of the second amendment, however, they are recommending limiting assault rifles to the military back to you. >> we'll see if there's any movement from congress on this week thank you, sue. speaking of washington, american steel stock climbing

higher on reports the president supports harsh tariffs after the commerce department recommended the taxes. now reports some countries are preparing to strike back with their own tariffs. kayla has that for us. >> the options provided to president trump by commerce secretary wilbur ross, he is reportedly considering the most wide-reaching penalty. slapping tariffs on all aluminum and steel imported into the u.s., not just supper specific countries. that means allied europe would face steep costs and brussels is now thinking of hitting back, like kentucky bourbon, harley-davidson's manufactured in wisconsin or agricultural products like cheese, bpotatoes and tomatoes the eu stands ready to react swiftly and appropriately in case our exports are affected by any restrictive trade measures from the u.s

then there's china which skoo target soybeans. the u.s. has been losing market share to brazil and china could extract further pain from u.s. farm states. china's already retaliating against u.s. tariffs on washing machines and solar panels just ten days after that announcement from the white house, its commerce minister launched an investigation into u.s. sorgum, a train used to feet u.s. livestock. the move isn't final but critics say the only way he may back down is with pleas from companies and congressmen highlighting the potential impact on his specific voters. >> exactly they'll be doing that in spades now. thank you. we're talking more about the impact of tariffs on the market with today's rally in mind charlie is vice chair and head of the investment group at ariel investments. welcome back >> hi, kelly >> charlie, so do you -- look,

there's so much to think about with the markets lately. on the tariff issue, what do did you think about it do you side step it for a while? see what happens >> it's another one of those things that's potentially dangerous but probably doesn't have a lot of short-term impact. everyone knows the history of great depression it started over trade wars, the smooth-harley strtrade act is w brought on the depression. so far the steel industry is pretty small business. >> i was going to say, it's not just that. can you own ge, can you own a carmaker, can you own an equipment manufacturer if this is all in the back of your mind? >> i'm glad you brought that up. net-net we have more users of steel than manufacturers of steel. you add up all the people who have steel in their products, including people like boeing, big companies. it would be harder on us if you increased these prices this say tough issue because politically you have a lot of steel workers in swing states like ohio and pennsylvania, but

then you've got car manufacturers in ohio and in michigan i think net-net it's better for the world without tariffs but this is one where core trump constituents want to see less imports. >> we'll hear from powell in the morning. your thoughts, who cents on how we're set up for that? >> i'm very worried. you've had me on before. i'm worried about inflation. it's the number one bugaboo, the number one thing to derail this economy because it makes interest rates go up i think there's more inflation out there than people think. >> we'll see if the chairman has your same concerns in mind tomorrow morning when we hear from him charlie, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. there's an investing trend that's leaving markets vulnerable and that's next in today's takeaway coming up on "fast money," crypto is striking back. the co-founder of etherium will

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welcome back it's time now for our takeaway. investors are using to buy stocks. the "the wall street journal" has a page one story about this. warren buffett reiterated that there is no reason to buy stocks on leverage. it's just too risky. you don't even know if the stock market is going to open tomorrow so why leave your self expose today that. will america take the advice to heart? >> no. i put this story in the category of people discover that a bull market is acting like a bull mark. this is a feature of a bull

market which is account values good up. it's a source of cash. you don't have to borrow money against your stock holdings to buy more stock. you can buy a boat. you can do whatever you want with the money. it just becomes another piece of collateral to borrow against. yes, it is risky if we have a down turn. >> and we had a recent reminder of it too. a new study picked up old tech could come roaring back against the young darlings of silicon valley. the report argues the study is from ibm and oxford economics and it was presented by ibm at mobile world today. now speaking of warren buffett, the orcal said he's wrong about big blue. is ibm right that it can unlock significant value? >> obviously you allude to the self-serving aspect of this but it's defensible argument which is basically that an old tech

company doesn't these days have to be afraid of some brand-new out of the blue patton, some true better mouse trap that's going to knock them out of the box. it's more about these kind of publicly available software creating a platform or analyzing data. but it's easier said than done to turn that into a business that overtakes some of these new -- >> it is harder to disrupt something and get the scale you need for the phase -- for what's hot right now which is analytics and artificial intelligence and all this number crunching. >> it's off the shelf software. they don't actually have many patents that give the network value. it's marketing and adoption. >> if you started another one now, what your end be? >> tremendous uphill battle. >> change is under way at fidelity. the "the wall street journal" details the dark side of this power. managers behaving

inappropriately in the office. fidelity is now looking to more of a team based stock picking approach like wellington system. should they be relieved or worried? >> you should be relieved and welcome the change and think it's late. not just because of the allegations of inappropriate behavior. i think one of the elements of the story was, portfolio managers with these analysts working below them had great influence over what they got paid. and it was subjective. we think this person did a better job in giving me ideas than the other one. i do think it's an outdated model of saying this is a star portfolio manager. >> it sounds like these are all positive changes that investors should embrace. they shouldn't be concerned, why do i want to be involved if this is going to be a team instead of these brilliant -- >> everyone's going to more quantitative systematic approaches. the question you have to ask is,

fidelity still welded to that idea of having the brilliant stock picker that can beat the market over time. >> and that we'll have to see on. we'll get another check on the names moving and earnings after hours. looking to the big week coming up for retail earnings. he'll come right back. finally. hey ron! they're finally taking down that schwab billboard. oh, not so fast, carl. ♪ oh no. schwab, again? index investing for that low? that's three times less than fidelity... ...and four times less than vanguard.

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. welcome back. he got earnings mover after-hours after posting the results. fitbit included. that one down about 9% there. palo alto holding on to a gain of more than 5%. it's a big week for retail earner. macy's -- the daughter should know. >> it does stand for something. >> it's eye, lips, face and carter's reporting tomorrow, then lowe's -- >> we're done with carter's. >> what's that >> baby clothes. >> lowe's office depoet. thursday you can see there, kohl's, nordstrom and gap and best buy. is it good or bad we're moving into the retail phase? >> it's good. it'll give you signals about the consumer and good battleground stocks there. that's what retails always have.

restorations a good example. >> it will tell us whether the death by amazon trade goes back on or not. that one is moved like a chunk. >> you basically had it since august or september. it's been straight up. >> we'll see what that means for those results. we are back. "fast money" starts right now. live from the nasdaq market. we're looking i'm melissa lee. tonight on fast we are back and so is the crypto rally as bitcoin and other currencies search today. something just happened that could add more fuel to the fire. we'll be here on set. the oracle of omaha speaks and we listen. what is warren buffett buying right now. some of our traders speculating on his next big target. when we were last on air the markets were going