an indication that you should do something illicit and illegal. the issue is you'd need more evidence than this emoji train actual life and then execute in the train and your uncle laughed and sent the high heels. you'd have to have all that. >> fascinating, thank you, ellie from above the law that does it for "the exchange." i'll join melissa on "power lunch" which begins right now. >> we'll see you in just a moment, kelly. i'm melissa lee. the rally losing some steam. warren buffett on cnbc saying stocks look cheap but getting difficult to find bargains is he right? we'll debate that. general electric surging on news of $21 billion deal and stock up 45% this year alone. is it headed even higher biotech stocks soaring the names could be in the cross hairs, next, "power lunch" starts right now

let's get a quick check on the markets this hour. stocks here off of session highs. dow up more than 200 points earlier in the session today's gains fueled by president trump saying he'll delay tariff hikes and nasdaq up for the 10th time in 11 days check on s&p 500 we're going to be watching that level carefully to see if we can hold above 2800. financials, best performer of the latest sector to exit territory. morgan stanley leading today's gains. bob pisani at the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: no particular news headline but 2800 was the old high in december december 3rd and went all the way down to 2351 as i recall come completely all the way back essentially, 2800 to 2350 back

to 2800, losing a little steam we've had some big movers that aren't quite as much momentum in the middle of the day. so take a look amazon was great earlier on. we were 1655 or so on amazon that's off home builders have been great recently and positive, sort of turned negative and still the problem in the consumer staple kraft down again today and kellogg's down and campbell is down again also weighing on the markets but the advanced decline line is still positive on the day. we have some modest breakouts. new highs in the dow jones industrial average the number of companies, cisco at a new 52 week hike and merck, proctor and gamble, but earlier on, new highs. what we need, melissa, more of the new 52 week break yoouts and see stocks moving again. >> bob, thank you very much. bob pisani a big reason, the president pushing back the deadline to raise tariffs on chinese goods progress made on the trade

talks. let's get to kayla tausche in washington with all the details. >> hey, kelly. president trump tweeted yesterday, not only had enough progress been made to delay that deadline, the talks not only progressing but could be nearing conclusion here is what he said yesterday he said that another round of talks in the u.s. could be on the table followed by a summit with president xi jinping. >> i told you how well we did with our trade talks in china and it looks like they'll be coming back quickly again and we're going to have another summit we're going to have a signing summit, which is even better so hopefully we can get that completed but we're getting very, very close >> that signing summit is expected to be at mar-a-lago in march but what gets signed exactly is still a question. the president and his top trade officials sparred on friday, set a memorandum of understanding is simply not enforceable. >> i don't like mou's because

they don't mean anything better off going into a document never a fan of mou. >> mou is a contract the way trades are generally, people refer to it like a term sheet. it's not a term sheet. it's an actual contract between the two parties. >> it was a public display of some behind the scenes tension between the administration's china hawk and a leader who wants a deal but melissa, it is that leader most likely here will win out. >> that was an awkward moment. kayla tausche in washington. another reason for the recent rally, easing recession fears. on squawk box, warren buffett weighing in on the state of the economy. >> overall, things are are litt better the rate of improvement is tapered but it certainly hasn't flattened. now, that could change in x amount and home construction has been disappointing right now, things look fine.

>> buffet also saying jerome powell is doing a great job as fed chairman we'll hear from chair powell himself tomorrow and in the meantime, steve liesman joining us with more on this, steve? >> jay powell set for two days of testimony semiannual monetary report to congress he'll be faced with difficult decision with economy, trade and tax cuts a major issue. whether powell sticks to his upbeat view on the u.s. economy and argued the situation hasn't worsened, only the risks increased and those have come formula global economics and made worse by trade tensions and brexit, how much has been reduced because president is delaying higher tariffs on china. likely stick to the view that the fed can be patient in figuring out the next policy move on rates. with inflation running just below the fed's 2% target, despite strong growth and low unemployment, it could come into focus. the fed is revisiting its framework for policy including

whether it should shoot for a higher inflation target to push up inflation expectations. vice chairman richard met with community members in texas today as part of a month's long fed listening tour on policies with the public said the economy showed greater capacity to draw workers and said the economy is running hot to boost labor markets guys. >> and what was yellen saying? some critical comments >> she shot back a little bit questioning whether or not the president understands fed policies or basic economic policies at all. >> wow, damning. that's unusual for yellen. >> quiet about really criticizing the president in several interviews i've done with her, in conferences and on cnbc she's criticized the fed but

said the president keeps pointing to bilateral trade deficits and almost no economist thinks that's the right way to go and the president also said things like we're raising billions of dollars with tariffs being paid by foreign countries when in fact those are likely being paid by u.s. citizens. >> steve, thank you. steve liesman. weighing in on what low rates could mean for stocks. >> if you tell me that 3% long bonds will prevail over the next 30 years, stocks are incredibly cheapbecause even, you know, i mentioned that kraft heinz earned $6 billion on $7 billion in tangible assets, even if you'd pay $70 billion and earn $6 billion on it, that's better than having $70 billion out and 3% interest rates govern everything >> but buffet also saying it's hard to find opportunities when everything is moving higher. with us now to dive deeper, president of permanent portfolio family of funds and the cio of

greenwich wealth management. great to have you both with us i'll start it off with you do you agree it's difficult to find, even with interest rates so low >> harder. >> harder. >> yeah, we take the position there's always opportunities in the market he's obviously dealing with a different level with his market value and what he needs to be successful the bigger you are, the harder it is to find those opportunities so i get that. we're not at those levels but i think we find opportunities and i would look at areas that haven't kept up with the marketplace. >> give us one, for example. >> energy commodity space. definitely that area, freeport, for example, copper prices increasing and economic growth if it picks up and dollar weakens, operating leverage there and potential for dividend increases. absolutely an opportunity. >> mr. buffet may have been referring to his inability to find large targets i mean, those kind of targets are harder to come by at a decent price would you agree with him or say, hey, mr. buffet, why don't you look over here for some of the

opportunities? >> generally, i do agree with him. he did point out that prices are sky high for the kinds of companies he's looking for and of course, he's looking for very large companies. he's looking to invest a tremendous amount of money into one company and i would agree that most of the larger cap stocks will probably be a little bit pricey but there are opportunities out there, i would agree with, michael, and i think in the smaller cap or mid cap area, there are in the value sector, stocks undervalued but i also think larger cap stocks are undervalued. one i like is one that buffet recently dumped. that's ibm i think ibm is selling for a very nice price. >> as i say about these stocks, they're unloved. not a lot of people with the table on that one. i'm curious with the smaller mid capsized ones you like >> it's taken quite a bit of time but starting to grow revenues again

they pay an excellent dividend and have enough cash flow to sustain that dividend. and if you are a very long-term investor like buffet, that's a good stock to be in and surprises me he recently dumped it as far as smaller companies go, one i like is a company called adnt they make seating systems for passenger cars that stock has been absolutely killed and of course, it's done extremely well year-to-date. it's bounced back quite a bit but undervalued. >> you mentioned freeport macmoran last year when it comes to copper as well as nickel and zinc do you have to believe the chinese economy has further to go in terms of stimulus to kick in order to be a believer in these stories? >> that's definitely a factor but it's not only china. i mean, it's global economic growth we need to see and that's a big risk factor. if they don't grow -- >> we're not really seeing

global economic growth in many places aside from what we're seeing here in the united states and in china. >> that is fair. and i think you have to have a long-term perspective on this. my view on the commodity cycle is that it's been beaten down and hit a double bottom and, you know, there's a long way to go up, but you have to be patient it's not going to come quickly or routinely so that matters. it's going to take a while >> quickly on berkshire itself, what do you think after saturday's letter? after the problems with kraft heinz about the valuation there? >> as far as the valuation goes, probably fairly valued i don't think it's a stock i would consider to be undervalued. we do hold it in some of our client'sportfolios i think it's a good long-term holding but as far as buffet's letter goes, i really find some of the comments that are more politically related or criticisms of ceos and stuff like that the most interesting you can always count on him to

say interesting things in that letter. >> like this year? >> i thought he took a swipe at the trump administration when he talked about how bipartisanship is so important. trump is not known for that. he talked about how america benefits most when all countries do well. trump, of course, seen as an america first position with imposing tariffs he does it subtly but interesting to read. >> thanks. coming up on "power lunch," the reimagination of general electric continues the stock is jumping because of it is the worst over for long suffering ge shareholders? this biotech is doubling on a takeover spark which stocks next? and president trump tanking oil with one tetwe closing trades are moments away. back in two. wall street guy. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that.

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welcome back checking on the markets, dow is up 135 points and s&p up to 10 to 28. levels in future breakouts. >> we got to close at 2800 first. that's been a level the markets have failed a few times in the past, and so we're going to be watching carefully to see how strongly we can close above 2800, hold that level. right now, we've got the leadership of the financials which is a very important, which had been missing in a couple of the other rallies that we saw

last week. >> and the comments from warren buffett this morning, he's not unhappy to own that many financials and still offer some of the best value. >> no choice, kelly. a lot of his portfolio is financial. >> it is he seemed okay with that sector is appreciating it. ge shares, surging as much as 15% today. the company selling biopharma business for over $21 billion. a huge step towards ge's goal for slashing its debt stock is up this year. find out where ge goes this year vp and senior analyst. welcome. >> thank you, kelly, thank you, melissa. >> current price target for ge >> sure, thank you we don't actually forecast in terms of price targets but we have a private market value for general electric of a ye$7 a ye growing to $19 a year which a buyer would pay for ge's

businesses today's transaction with a lot of value in the high businesses health care which we think worth excess of $60 billion for ge and goes towards a large part of the $12 per share of aviation and health care after all pension and debt and other liabilities this is a very important transaction today. >> i want to focus on the liabilities aspect, justin how important is this to reducing liabilities mostly through pensions. >> sure. i think today's deal is very important. people heard the message that ge would look to monetize 50% of the health care business and the process of separating it and there weren't specific details as to how that would happen. now, i think we have a little bit more evidence of how that will happen with the $21 billion from the sale, the baiy bio pha business and get you close to half of that $30 billion plus

going a long way to reducing the $55 billion or so net load as they define it under their uniform, covenant agreements. >> what happened to health care? it was thought prior to this that health care would be spun out. now what >> i think there's a good chance that health care does get spun out. i think with the cash expected to come in, you know, by the end of 2019, ge has more strategic flexibility to figure out if ipo'ing part of the health care business remains the best course of action or if they're merger partners for the remaining part of the health care business including the larger imaging business and what they're keeping in the life sciences business. >> justin, cullp said we have too much debt. of course, if they can show a lot of growth, those concerns are diminished but what happens

in the meantime, they can't really reduce that, can they >> they just obviously closed the web tech merger with the transportation business today. so they'll have close to $3 billion of cash, by the end of the year, they'll close with cash and reducing the debt load and buys them time to think about other strategic actions but more importantly, to fix the power business with clarifying insurance liabilities, i think, the two remaining steps to get ge on solid footing towards being in improving trajectory, both balance sheet and operationally. >> final question, given your optimism about the stock, what do they do about power, which seems to be, you know, in facing s secular challenges >> because of the secular challenges, worth a lot less than two years ago within the context of ge's engine expertise particularly in the aviation business, it

appears power belongs in the portfolio but important they take care of the problems that are their own problems this terms of pricing and execution and getting back to a solid positive margin and free cash flow maybe not a very high positive margin versus historical levels, but still generating cash flow and generating to the value of the underlying business and i think that will go a long way towards helping surface value. >> we'll see if the analyst community rallies around him justin, thank you so much. >> thank you. stocks are higher on optimism about a trade deal with china but we are off session highs right now. take a look at what's happening with the big name chinese companies. alibaba, weibo, sina "trading nation" is next

welcome back to "power lunch. i'm mike san-- rick santelli the shanghai composite added

more than 5% during its session overnight for the best day since mid 2015 let's bring in mark newton sanchez of globals this comeback by chinese stocks relative to u.s. stocks actually got rolling months ago where are we in this process in terms of this revival in chinese equities >> i still like to consider myself the bull in the china shop, mike it's been a big move of late you look at a couple different positives. one being the dollar starting to go over and that should be a bullet for em and china. structural progress, technically speaking, broken not only since last year but got above 43.5 since last spring. it's been a big break out of late and moved 5% in the last few days good technical progress and the third, of course, prospects of a china deal around the corner and certainly improving and nobody wants to be out of it potentially for that i do see negatives in the near term moved up too far too quickly 46 is a big level.

50% of the entire move down since last year. near term, i think the prospects are limited. i don't think it's too much for china but would be a pretty aggressive buyer on pullbacks in the weeks and months to come the story is there we see good relative and absolute progress to make a more intermediate term bull >> the china trade worked for now as an investment, can it be trusted? for a long time, people have been saying chinese and emerging markets have been cheap anyway >> yes, the fxi was very cheap but there's some concerns you have to look at. one, the fxi made up of 58% banks, financials. you're talking about an npi, npls and china hitting a 10 year high you do have to keep up with that and the second is that, you know, china still has a number of structural issues it has to face now, of course, it's slowing down very slowly and it

continues to put out better numbers to the u.s. but the china story and the e. m. story is now very overcrowded in trade. i would wibe careful here. >> always important to look inside the etfs, thank you, gina and mark for more trading nation, head to our web site and our twitter, kelly, back to you >> thank you so much ahead on "power lunch," rolling the credits on this year's oscars. how well did netflix stack up against hollywood? and commodities big lately oil, gold and copper and big biotech more than 100% today who could be the next takeover targets? stay with us >> and now, the latest from tradingnation.cnbc.com and a word from our sponsor. >> daily price fluctuations of individual stocks can offer opportunities. however, if you're unhappy trading actively, consider

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welcome back everyone. i'm sue herera here's your cnbc news update at this hour. president trump departing for his second summit meeting with north korean leader kim jong-un. air force one lifting off after noon for vietnam kim is traveling by armored plated train through china en route to the summit. young activists demonstrating at mitch mcconnell's office calling on him to support the new green deal many of those who demonstrated are residents of kentucky who asked to speak with mcconnell about the legislation. it was unclear, however, if mcconnell was in washington. r. kelly's attorney entering a not guilty plea on the singer's behalf in court this morning. he expects kelly to post bail this evening and only telling the judge his name, next court date is march 22nd west point has suspended classes for a day, so cadets can

address sexual assault and harassment after an increasing number of incidents at the academy. the superintendent ordered a full day standdown on monday you are up to date, that's the news update this hour. melissa, back to you >> sue, i'll take it thank you. 90 minutes ago before the closing bell rings off of session highs, dow up as many as 2 points and 123 right now. s&p holding on to 2800 2802 is where we stand the nasdaq is higher by 46 points or 0.6% crude oil, sliding today following president trump telling opec prices are too high crude finishing lower by 3.1%. kelly? >> oil not the only commodity on the move lately. drill down on them with jim, of tga institutional services thank you, jim. >> hey, kelly. >> it's too high, prices up more than 20% this year and gas prices moved up.

what happens thousand, jim >> first of all, wow, that he can move the market 2% can one tweet. we're seeing new things all the time and they're amazing the momentum to me is still higher crude has been trading with the risk on-assets that moved along with stocks. as long as it stays above what's called 54.25, i think it's going higher up towards 60 or 62 a key element of that trade is going to be the dollar though. i need the dollar to go back below 96.12ish and that will come on continued fed easeiness, i'll call it. >> it underpins all the commodities. maybe a little bit of a weaker dollar that gets us to gold as well and a big deal in the market today barreck making a bid do you think that goes higher too? >> first of all, i think gold is more affected by the fed and the dollar than even the other two commodities we'll talk about gold has been a boring trade for five years, in between 1100 and

call it 1380 spitting distance right now and to go above it, what we need is a little bit of resolution in the china situation and a bit of resolution for brexit so the dollar can go weaker and not respond with a more hawkish tone if we can knock it below the level and take gold above, gold could have a significant hofabo. >> you're so right, it's been so range bound, a time of unprecedented expansion and everything you could have wanted, you've got in the soup and it's just not budging. >> not everything. we've got three dovish central banks. so you think that makes gold go higher but the least dovish of the three has been the fed and that supported the dollar gold hates the high dollar so been caught in the range the last five years. >> why then the breakout in copper copper up 11% this year. some are saying it's not just the flip side of the dollar. often, we say it's early kind of

sniffout the economic picture and a good sign. is it also the tariff back and forth do you think >> there's no question, i think the copper market is sniffing out some sort of resolution in the china thing before everything else. partly technical too stocks lower, 13 year low, of copper stocks. that's important as well but again, and this is going to be the reoccurring theme dollar, dollar, dollar as soon as it goes below 96, it goes to 310 where copper goes and mostly about china in trade. >> jim, appreciate it. thank you very much, sir a big night for netflix at the oscars even though roma did not win best picture, julia boorstin joining us now with more on netflix versus traditional hollywood at the oscars hey, julia. >> reporter: melissa, last night's best picture win was an upset. netflix lost the top award to universal's "green book. universal and cnbc both owned by the same parent company.

"green book" story of a white chauffeur and black musician he drove in the south pushback from family of one of the main characters. giving the focus features together six awards in total giving top award to a traditional hollywood studio was seen by many as a rebuke to the growing power of netflix alfonzo cuaron did win for best director and cinematography, the fact netflix didn't win best picture after investing $30 million plus to campaign to academy members shows the establishment holding netflix's influence at bay "black panther" won three awards fox soon to be owned by disney won six between "bohemian rhapsody" and "the favorite" at

fox search light they liked the fast hostless show last year, it hit an all time low. >> still three hours long. >> the speeches. if they had a speechless show, it would be much faster. >> but it was only three hours and 15 minutes last year's show was almost 4 hours long so it did seem to move a lot faster without a host going between all the speeches. >> i used to think the awards went to the most deserving, but after all the talk about >> oh, how naive >> how naive netflix and they got three but didn't earn the big one because they're trying to send a message. i mean, you know, there's a lot of politics at play there. >> reporter: i don't know if you saw the movie "roma," very beautiful and artsy, but it was kind of unconventional film. there was no background music. it was black and white and in spanish. it's very unusual to have a film both win best picture and best foreign film

so this was really an unusual year, kelly. i think so momentous to have a film like "roma" even in the running for best picture and nominating for best picture. many people would say netflix won before the awards show even started. >> but did they even see "la la land"? won like nine awards. >> "la la land," a lot more people saw that than "moonlight" which did end up winning despite that snafu. let's get to the bond market rick santelli tracking the action over at the cme rick >> the exact opposite of "la la land." this is bond land. a two day chart of five. it feels like rates are higher until you look at the previous day and just got done auctions off 41 billion fives and before that, 40 billion twos. how did the five year option go? b as in boy. quickly go through it.

the dutch auction yield, close to where the issue market was trading and all the metrics cover about average, 243 but in 60% was definitely very close to slightly above average on indirect but here's where it all ends and where it really grabs on direct bidders at 22.5%, that's the best since the summer of '14. that put it over the top tomorrow, we'll have the balance of the auction supply and pharma's seven year notes and while we talk about markets, the treasury complex is compressing. look at a chart of s&p 500 on top of ten year note rates after the end of last year, rates stayed tame but the stock market didn't. when i always talk about the dollar index and the context of you can't hold 97, maybe a better picture is looking to november 1st and gone hardly anywhere and still bouncing along the rail like a bowling ball that can't hit any pins i tell you what, mario got an

issue but the euro and the dollar index kind of shadow boxing i'm not sure they're going to break out anytime soon melissa lee, back to you >> thank you if you're watching this network, you probably believe investing in the stock market is a great way to build long-term wealth up next, a closer look at who and who isn't investing and how to get the non-investors on board. "power lunch" will be right back it's absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts. or it isn't. it's inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians. or it isn't. it's backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned, or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. now through february 28th. only at your authorized mercedes-benz dealer.

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cnbc launched a financial education initiative called invest in you, ready set grow. it's all part of a new partnership we have with acorns to save you investing app. senior personal finance correspondent sharon epperson with you and founder and ceo, a member of the cnbc financial adviser council. recently published an op ed called more black investors should look to the stock market to grow their wealth welcome to you both to "power lunch. i want to start off with you, lizet lizette. i was floored with the difference of investing habilitates with bla-- habits wh

blacks and other races >> there's the investment gap with african-americans i'm thrilled it's gotten better over the years and still work to go >> when you read some of the stats, sherin, 50% in the income rate of $50,000 compared to 81%. i mean -- >> it's a big factor. >> it's huge. >> when you look at the wealth gap with african-americans and whites, the average white family has about seven times the wealth of a black family. a lot of that is due to investment, retirement savings, stock market investments and also homeownership and the earnings gap one of the key ways and points out in her own story, closing in the gap is to focus on what you can control and that's investing in yourself and investing for yourself by investing in the stock market >> for anybody, lazetta, i don't care what color you are, it's hard to think about investing in the stock market what do you tell the clients

just getting started >> we want to anchor in the idea that retirement accounts are very much in the market. so that gives some familiarity to everyday households also, want them to be empowered to know that they can also invest in the stock market as well with basic apps just to get a taste of maybe stock ownership. we have to be careful because if you're just stock picking, not getting diversification and that's another whole story what we're trying to balance, retirement accounts is where a lot of the exposure to the markets are and then we're also thinking about small investments in stocks as well as a way to expand your portfolio. >> what are the biggest hurdles you faced, lazetta, when you start working with people? >> fundamentally, just understanding basic concepts of stocks, bonds, cash, and other asset classes like real estate and commodities. so i'm giving them the baseline saying, if you know about, you

know, business ownership, that equates to stock ownership if you know about lending, being a borrower and a lender. keeping it very simple and building upon what they are familiar with. mortgages and loans, they are the borrower but in a case of other bonds, they can be the lender, which is a concept they can easily resonate with as well as the stocks too. >> when it comes to investing though, and i think you'd kbrag, people start with what they know and for many, that is an employer sponsored retirement savings plan but for african-americans more than whites, that's not the case. they don't have access to a 401k so they're investing through a 401 k and have to be encouraged to increase contributions, to not get emotional when the smaesstoc market is at highs or lows and continue investing but that's a

long-term investment option. not just emergency savings and taking that money out for a hardship, or because you switch jobs that's something as african-american community, we do that more than the white kwhu community and that's going to keep us lagging in terms of wealth >> so the long-term play, we understand the long-term play with homeownership and when it comes to investments in the stock market those are separate buckets, what you're saying, the cushion account. when you have money in your savings, you can tap it and it's not subject to mark it ups and downs and that's why the long play is so important when it is understood with investing. five or ten years, even longer when it comes to letting that money grow >> i wonder, lazetta, through example sometimes? do you need kind of prominent african-americans to, maybe make this point more? especially the younger people that they kind of get familiar with this and aspire to it >> yes, but it's exposure and

trust. you know, being in a community where people really understand how to vet and feeling like you can ask, financial planners like myself, how do i get started it takes small steps and we can do it together and grow that wealth there's no minimums out there for a lot of financial advisers, as well, i'm one of those. let's take what you have, put it to work. let it grow for you. >> having that partner, it's so key and that's the role that you serve for so many of your clients and people you speak to. people need to understand, that's also critical because you're investing in yourself but investing for long-term but you need someone to help you stay accountable and make sure you're doing what you are supposed to do, whether you use an app or a real life human adviser. you need someone to make sure that you're on point and that's the key part of staying that long course. >> yes, part of it is accountable. you mentioned before, the market in terms of the gut check can make you say, wow, it's time to

pull out but that's not part of your strategy. so that's what a good partner will help you understand what your strategy is and how to stay true to it. >> some terrific advice, thank you both lazetta braxton and sharon epperson nbc and comcast are investors in acorns >> how about sparks therapeutics more than doubling if you mised out on that one, you could be early on the next big buyout stocks that could be in play next on "power lunch." we see engineers simulating the future to improve today.

at emerson, when issues become inspiration, creating a better world isn't just a result, it's a responsibility. emerson. consider it solved.

shares of spark therapeutics soaring about 120% on news that r 06che acquiring them that's a 138% premium. in addition to action, the senate committee holding a hearing tomorrow lots of news to break down let's bring in michael ye. great to have you with us. >> thanks. great to be here. >> we saw novartis buy a 1vexis last year. is this the first of many? >> great question. i think that after watching last

year for $8 billion, spark today, i think it's consistent with our thesis. i think her going to see continued pharma interest in gene therapy i think what was notable about some of the speculation of a second bidder for spark. and third, i think that there's a whole host of companies that are mid to late stage companies analogous to spark and could be in the mix over the next 12 to 18 months. >> which are the most likely seeing many of them soar in today's session. blue bird you will 14% you got to look at sengama, as well which are you looking at most closely any. >> most amenable with the host of manufacturing and technology pipeline probably are the blue birds, even sarepta and smaller

ones that will never be a standalone of night star and axgt a whole host of companies analogous to spark. >> how many up this take over premium must be priced in to some degree, right? this isn't a surprise. >> you know, what's remarkable is a lot of these companies we are talking about are down off the highs 10%, 20% spark was down 50% over the last six or seven months and what you are seeing consistent with some of the deals that have happened over the last couple of months is they were down and then taken out so if you look at some of these like blue bird down a lot off the highs, a lot of these companies are off the highs and when they're most amenable to be taken out and some moving today if you have a multi-year time frame and obviously roche does have, there's a long-term

pipeline with more stuff and what justifies the premium. >> who needs to do the acquiring? roche seems to be in the game. >> yeah, yeah. so i think there are three or four major players i think data points suggest are probably still in the mix and like i said there's probably another bidder for spark. one of those is obviously novartis which acquired one program last year. and i think then novartis to partner with spark on the approved retinal opt molg drug and a player looking to add more secondly was pfizer which did a gene therapy acquisition and interested in orphan gene therapy players and i wouldn't be surprised of biogen or others

interested in orphan plays and some of these new cutting edge technologies and they have the cash to do it. >> michael, there's not an outcry but eyebrows raised when the spark last year at almost half a million dollars a year for the treatment. we have a hearing tomorrow i think of drug pricing on capitol hill are the companies able to defend those prices given the kinds of treatments we are talking about and cost of researching the therapies, or are those prices too high and are we going to get less innovation? >> that's a great question ironically, i think roche was invited to tomorrow's hearing. i would say that there's going to be headline, you know, noise about some of these prices, whether that's spark's drug $400,000 prior or $800,000 total. cure or repairing blindness and

the drug which saves babies' lives. you know was that it could be a couple million dollars and there is certainly justification to support that and then some of the hemophilia products and spark is primary asset can justify because the existing products are upwards of $800,000 a year for many, many, many years and yet this drug is basically a one-time treatment that would save you from years of infusions or injections so while the cost is high, they're going to be able to spread the payment out and many of the pairs including express scripts said publicly they're on board with understanding that if you break up the payments and you understand that the alternative is other expensive drugs and over infusions over many years and this is a one-time treatment and seeing huge efficacy spreading out the payments and a life saving therapy. >> michael, thank you so much. we appreciate it >> thank you

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check please. >> today our attention on her rim lynch fading away from bank of america operations. the bank according to the journal to phase out the businesses and losing the name,

others like wealth management will keep the merrill part. >> and the bull. >> and the bull. >> which is so iconic, of course. >> in that case i see dropping, unfortunately -- >> the lynch watch financials going into the close. we are losing the leadership there in financials and just hovering bo hovering above 2800. >> "closing bell" starts right now. ♪ good monday afternoon. welcome to "closing bell." i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm courtney reagan david rube 2346stein, what he said about the market and taxing wealth. and merger monday. mario gabelli will weigh in on the pairings and who could be next if he's trading the names. big movers today off the back of m&a. just bofr th