these days, the average cost of a funeral is over $7300, and social security pays a death benefit of just $255. don't leave a burden for your loved ones. since 1994, over 6 million people have called about this quality insurance. there's no risk or obligation. call about the colonial penn program now. you'll be glad youid. melissa: welcome. lori: good afternoon, everyone. the dollar slippin dow was slipm historic highs today, but our guests will tell us why now is the time to buy in. melissa: protecting business

from cyber attacks. the president issuing an executive order to help america fight back against attackers. does the plan go far enough? michael chertoff joins us with more. lori: is hiking the minimum wage a problem? fighting back against president obama's plan to raise the minimum wage by $1.25 per hour. melissa: postmaster general warning it may need $45 billion bailout if congress doesn't act now. oh, boy. lori: oh, boy. stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. let's check in with nicole petallides. the dow pulling back after yesterday's record high. nicole: that is right. we are off of lower lows of the day, but yesterday closed with a record high close that we haven't seen since 2007. we have been hovering around 14,000 mark for the dow jones industrial average. the bank index and drug index or lower although one of the names doing well in the dow jones

industrial. the banks doing very well. last friday is where we broke out and started this trend. yesterday we continued, today pulling back a little bit which is not unusual and doesn't surprise the traders here on wall street. a one-year chart for the dow jones industrials and that is where you see the stocks breakout led by these groups. today keeping an eye on the dollar, for the most part so far so good, the traders call the s&follow thes&p. lori: thanks, nicole. despite being in the red today, the dow and s&p are both up more than 6% so far this year but my next guest says stocks are still reasonably priced.

david, always great to see you. where do you think the market is headed? >> i think by the end of the year expects to see us may be close to 1600 or so. beginning of the year i was a little bit late on that. maybe 1550. but we have come out of the start of the new year so robust, it is very well within reach. earnings look like they are going to grow. if we can just get beyond some of these political uncertainties in the weeks ahead, the economy will be ultimately growing around 2.5% pace. lori: you're not worried about the negative fourth quarter we had a little bit earlier and the pullback on the dow doesn't concern you all that much. how would you strategize around the political scene in washington? would you be buying right now? >> i would not be buying quite

yet. i'm so expecting a little bit of a pullback, maybe something in the lines of two, three, 5% at the most. we haven't gotten it. the market continues to want to go higher, but as we go closer to the sequester kicking in, and i suspect it will, that will be a little bit of a head wind for the market. ultimately i suspect they will do something to avert the worst of the cuts, but while that is being debated i expect the market to struggle a little bit in the short run. lori: when it is time to dip in after the deadlines in washington, what industries in particular would you be most interested in? >> i think the global economy is in the early stages of an upturn, so i think you want to build a little bit more in your portfolio. the defensive categories have been the best place to be in the past. going forward that leadership is going to change. you mentioned earlier the financials look good to me.

technology is an interesting one. tech is doing well, i think there is more to go. a little more economic sensitivity is the way to do with. lori: apple fell 2.5% yesterday. we think apple is a unique story, not a bellwether? >> no, i don't. if you back it out, doing better than the broader market so i think there is a lot of pent-up demand particularly in the enterprise side for an upgrade cycle that hasn't happened yet, companies reluctant to spend. that will loosen up in the second half of the year. lori: any ideas after listening to the state of the union last night? just from listening? >> i was encouraged by that mention, particularly when the president indicated the licensing process needs to be speeded up.

i think it is terrific because obviously we're having an abundance of it. more than enough to set the domestic needs up. i would like to build some facilities for export, pipelines domestically. the whole story is an extraordinary one and i'm glad to see the president at least gave it a little bit of a nod. lori: always a pleasure. >> thank you. melissa: president obama signing a negative order to defend against cyber attack so what does the plan entail? peter barnes with all the details. peter: the president pushing for a private defense strategy, it did program to fight attacks on government and corporate computer systems, especially computers in the nation's critical infrastructure. recent cyber attacks against the "washington post," "new york times," "wall street journal" and twitter have highlighted the issue, chinese hackers suspected in most of these attacks, but

building a unified national cyber security program has been hung up by concerns of some companies over their privacy and customer's privacy, protectionn3 of their intellectual privacy, backdoor government mandates and liability protection for businesses that share computer security information. as a result, the government is moving cautiously with corporate america. >> it is your framework, not ours. the goal for the private sector to produce security responsive framework to proceed. leader: to get the ball rolling, the new executive order would allow government intelligence agencies to start sharing more information with companies on a voluntary basis but the government itself updated its own standards and the administration is seeking legislation from congress to create broader cyber security safeguards. melissa: peter barnes, thank you so much. criticism mounting against the

cyber security order you just heard about. some say the president backed off earlier drafts with much stricter regulations. former secretary of homeland security, michael chertoff, joins me now. thank you so much for coming on. let's get right to it. the specific criticism is an earlier draft of the executive order had required the industry come up with the best practices standards and that regulatory agency would be assigned to go in and enforce that, it was taken out because they were lobbyists in the last minute that pressure the president into excluding that. what do you think of that charge? >> executive order is an important step, but it is not a final step. it can only really address what the u.s. government does and does not do, cannot make congress have to do something. i think the effort here is to move forward with a collaborative process in which the private sector works with the government so they are not

facing unrealistic mandate. also to make sure we are raising our game in terms of defense all across the critical infrastructure. congress will have to act to really complete the process. melissa: what you think about practices that there would be some federal agency that enforces it. that sounds like the sec trying to deal with and monitor trading and although there are many flaws and problems, please there is a revelatory body out with a set of rules enforcing them. would that work when applied to cyber security? >> in certain areas of the economy we already have preparatory agencies that have looked at cyber security and have made it part of what the requirements are. other parts of critical infrastructure don't have those kind of revelatory bodies, so you're going to have to even it out.

the executive order does ask the revelatory bodies that exist to incorporate cyber security into what it is very clear, but it is going to have to be more than those agencies. melissa: would like to see them set standards and enforce it? yes or no? >speak a good idea would you hae each sector set the standards appropriate for that sector and i think that is the model considered both by congress and the executive branch. melissa: the other concern is if you asked banks and the like to collaborate with the government with what the security is in what they talk about with compromises consumer's personal information, are we justified in being afraid of that? >> was covered by this consumer information are the attacks. people who steal the information. the way to protect that information is those who have cyber security. you want to make sure you are not identifying the residuals

unnecessarily, but privacy is protected by security, not threatened by securities. melissa: is it reasonable to expect that? the bank would not be able to identify you personally to share the information without sharing too much? you know how it works. they want to know what are the characteristics of the attack, with the signature. what is the ip address in which the attack was launched. don't geyou don't need consumer information community to know what the bad guys are doing and that is what will be shared. melissa: how vulnerable are we? this topic gets so much attention, but a lot of us are fuzzy on the exact details on how vulnerable we really are because when they attack a website or money isn't necessarily stolen, somebody steps in to stop them in time or there is insurance for that. i don't feel personally vulnerable. should we?

>> there are billions of dollars of intellectual property is being stolen every year from these countries. there are billions of dollars in fraud being carried out. while the chance of any given individual being a victim and not be very high, to look at the major important sectors of the economy having a real negative impact. it is like a job killing attack where intellectual property is exported illegally overseas and used by other companies in other countries to produce goods and services. melissa: secretary michael chertoff, thank you for coming on today. we appreciate your advice. lori: appreciate it, but my stomach is queasy now. we should feel vulnerable with all the information out there. good information. as a payroll tax hike squeezing consumers? the latest readings on retail sales straight ahead. melissa: did you know tomorrow

is valentine's day? the ceo joins us with how sales are looking ahead of the crucial holidays. lori: speaking of shiny medals. maybe you will be lucky enough to get some for valentine's day. gold down $4 per ounce today. we are back after this.

melissa: as we do every 15 minutes, let's check the markets. nicole petallides on for the new york stock exchange with reaction to the retail sales report. nicole: we talk about retail sales, shows how resilient the consumer has been as of late. they were slightly better than what has been expected, and while we take a look, looking at the fund, a basket of these retailers all put together. when you look at most of the fans together, they are not too far off the unchanged line, but these are retail sales picking

up one-tenth of 1% in the month of january over discover. look at how it is faring. virtually flat, which is what a lot of retailers are doing, many of them are up .5 are down .5. over the longer-term come you can see there is a great five-year chart showing you we have the retailers jumping and coming off of the lows for the year ago period this is what we focus on when the retail index is slightly on the upside. another way to gauge how the retailers are faring in the shows once again the american consumer is very clear and despite the economy. melissa: thank you so much. lori: don't ever count out the good old american spender. melissa: there you go, that is you. lori: you have some thoughts on the market. charles: i would not say

anxiety, uncertainty and little bit of anxiety. 14,000, every time we get around it, the thought is the catalyst to get us over and get us moving. we have had a whole lot of would-be catalyst, consumer confidence, nicole just talked about retail sales so-so at best. it just hasn't been enough. very stubborn resistance level and the irony in my mind is once we get through all of this, there is no news, that might be where we see they reveal themselves. that might actually end up being the catalyst. but the idea but keep on waiting on some news to send us over the top, i have seen this happen a lot with the market, i really have. melissa: it has no relationship to the economy except they know ben bernanke targeting the unemployment rate and they feel safe, long has we're nowhere

close to going back to 6%, the fed will keep the money easing in. they want of employment to stay right where it is. charles: that does make the jobs number a conundrum. the market actually goes down rather than up to your point, however i don't think the ben bernanke money printing has infected the stock market to the degree it will. i still think the banks are hoarding the money, cleaning up the books with someone at the housing market but don't see that hitting the stock market. melissa: you can't get any return on bonds. charles: people have been pretty comfortable on the sidelines. i don't know that has happened yet, all those things i see down the road. the real all-time high numbers has to be 685.

lori: the battle between herbalife is set to take stage this afternoon. charlie gasparino details next. melissa: $45 billion in debt in four years, warning from the u.s. postal service pleading for congress to act, we are live on capitol hill coming up next.

>> 22 minutes past the hour, hello, everybody. your fox news minute. at the vatican, pope benedict is resigning for "the good of the church." presiding over ash wednesday services before stepping down at the end of this month. the coroner's office study remains to see if a body found is that of former lapd cop and suspected cop killer christopher dorner. associated press is reporting a drivers license with his name has been found inside the burned-out cabin where he is

believed to have died in yesterday's shootout. in comparing the use of drones to partake. noble peace prize lawyer is saying he is "deeply disturbed only drone strikes against america's might get judicial review." saying it is like, in his words, dehumanizing. that is a quick look at the headlines making news this hour. back to melissa and lori with mh more. melissa: thank you so much. breaking news, forbes reporting time warner is in talks to sell the publishing business. check out the shares of the media giant initially jumping on the news, up $0.17. a meeting of the buyer's representatives have been scheduled for today to discuss a potential deal, which is still in the early stages. lori: we shall see. treasury secretary nominee jack lew facing tough questions on personal investment and time while at citigroup.

senate finance committee during the confirmation hearing. rich edson on capitol hill with the latest. rich: given the 2012 campaign president obama criticized mitt romney for private equity and a number of other issues dealing with compensation, overseas accounts and investments, jack lew had a couple of issues here leading republicans to say it is a hypocritical pick for treasury. jack lew had a venture capitalist investment organized in the cayman islands, to that he says he didn't know it was organized in the cayman islands, he was transparent on it and recorded it on his taxes. he took a bonus from citi, taking taxpayer money. to that, he said was a private firm, he had nothing to do with investments in instead ran the business of the business. also a lengthy conversation about tax reform and lew says there is room in that process to raise taxes. >> i think there is still more work to be done in terms of the physical path and we need more revenue to be part of it.

i think separate from that there is a need to do tax reform and in clearing out the tax code and running the base, there is room to raise revenue that we need. rich: lew says it should be reformed. he talked about a minimum worldwide tax rate but didn't get specific on that. also says and comes to clearing out tax deductions, the federal government and congress must consider what business tax investments in with business tax loopholes can be closed but don't necessarily give an advantage to companies for coming here. basically said oil and gas is an example of that because oil and gas companies will not move overseas because the resources underneath u.s. soil. back to you. melissa: rich edson, as always, thanks. u.s. postal service has wrapped up with a record loss of over 15 early in dollars. for 2012.

no more saturday mail, what more can the postal service d due to save themselves? in washington now with the committee findings. what did they say? >> melissa, the postmaster general made a strong case for himself begging congress to untie his hands, allow him to make the post service more competitive and says major changes aren't made by congress, taxpayers may have to pick up a very hefty tab. listen. melissa: it covers acts, can avoid a future scenario in which the postal service requires a taxpayer bailout, which could be in excess of $45 billion by 2017. we must change our business models. >> the post office lost $15 billion last year, losing 25 million everyday. as a business reason, requirement the agency paid 5 billion every year in advance

payments for employees health retirement benefits. because of declining revenues and increasing cost, saturday first class mail delivery will be eliminated, sums for the move while others say it is illegal and wolf unfairly impact the elderly, disabled and those in rule areas. even a senate hearing, two members of the house have very different views on this matter. >> last week the postal service announced it intends to end saturday mail delivery, sending packages beginning in august. in my opinion this announcement was an unfortunate development and it will not solve the postal service's long-term fiscal problems. instead, the congress needs to pass comprehensive reform legislation i believe the postmaster is correct that he has the authority consistent with the law in that he is maintaining a service but the law never intended him to do it at a loss.

>> comprehensive reform was passed by the senate last year, but that bill was not hacked up by the house. melissa: and they are losing $25 million per day while everybody sits there and debates. thank you so much. lori: only a matter of time before they come calling. melissa: i know. you have heard it a million times. lori: we will see if they can hold it together. comcast going all in on nbc universal. reaction to the deal next. melissa: president obama wants to raise the minimum wage, but a hike of $1.75 per hour could be a tough pill to swallow for business owners. you remember them. we are going straight to the source. small business owner of advantage payroll ways in next.

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lori: another edition of stocks now for you. as we do every 15 minutes. back to the floor of the stock exchanges to nicole petallides who is watching ge and we're watching the dow pare some losses here. >> right. let's look first at general electric. dow component, general electric. trades right here. it is up 3.3% right now. we're seeing general electric jumping to 2008 highs we haven't seen obviously in years and comcast moving to an all-time high on the news that comcast is going to acquire general electric's entire 40% common equity stake in nbc universal, the

joint venture. it is approximately 16.7 billion. what's going to happen general electric will in turn return some of this dough to the shareholders. you're talking dividends. you're talk talking bibacks. these are some of the things we'll watch. nbc universal for comcast is a good move especially at a time they compete with netflix and come amazon and the like. as far as the dow jones industrial average we're down 42 points but we're seeing s&p and nasdaq with gains. back to you. lori: nicole as always, thanks. melissa: president obama in his state of the union speech last night proposing an an increase in the federal minimum wage. >> tonight, let's declare in the wealthiest nation on another one who works full time should have to live in poverty and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. melissa: is boosting the minimum wage by $1.75 really going to keep people out of poverty? or will higher wages mean

higher unemployment? rob basso is owner of advantage payroll services. he joins us with his take. you have the advantage of talking to many, many, many small business owners. >> correct. melissa: what do they tell you? ideas like this, it is noble to say we want people to make more than. they can spend more, boost the economy to support their family. unfortunately this money doesn't come from a money tree. >> the rhetoric is great. everybody loves to hear the president of the united states say everybody should earn more. first off i don't believe that the minimum wage was set to be a permanent wage for someone. it was supposed to be a starting platform to further your career and further move earnings along. it was never meant to be a permanent wage. unfortunately many americans don't have skills and resources to move beyond that wage pause of their education level. so there's a lot of things at play here. it is not just the dollar amount. but if i look at my client base, take an example. one of my clients has six or seven employees. they're an ice crime shop. if you raise the minimum

wage to $9 an hour. they will have $14,000 additional expenses. they're barely making profit. if you raise it then the quart of ice cream will be $6. melissa: they can cut back everyone's hours so your paycheck is the same. you're working fewer hours. they can fire an employee. >> that is exactly what will happen. that is what my clients tell me they would do. they would lower hours individuals work if mandated up to $9 an hour. how many places you do business with have basic minimum wage earning individuals. it would make a big impact. >> argument the other side always tries to make when i have this conversation, if people are making more they will spend more. so that ice cream shop owner he will have so much more business because the people on his block will have more money to spend because they will have a bigger paycheck. he will make more. he can give it to their employees. what you're say something false. what do you think? >> i have never seen that happen in practice.

you say that. it is a nice argument. i would love to see it in black and white. the reality if you take more business and more money out of a small business owner's pocket the economy will not grow at the pace it needs to. last month we added 150,000 jobs. we need 300,000 jobs on average to be able to crawl out of the mess we created for ourselves. melissa: people think it is turning into president obama's war on the ice cream shop owner. that is only six employees, if he owns multiple franchise a restaurant owner, god forbid he has more than 50 employees. all of sudden he is subjected to obamacare and has to decide, does he pay for health care or does he cut back on the workers hours because of that? >> and unfortunately they will cut back on workers pay to pay for this platform of obamacare. but there's also a bigger issue here at play. americans like our cheap labor. we like getting things for less. so the reality a lot of small business owners hire undocumented workers because they can't even afford to

pay the minimum wage to keep their businesses up and running. it is a rampant problem i not only see with my client base but this region in general. melissa: what are your clients telling you about what it is like out there now? are things getting better? >> things are getting better in a modest way. people are more optimistic than they were a few months ago. i'm not sure how they're feeling after his speech last night because anybody who really follows these things realizes this was just his rallying call and his flag for the democratic party. the reality is, i have seen things get a little better. my clients on average have 1 1/2 more checks printing than they did last year. so the economy is moving in a positive direction and i can directly see that in numbers in my payroll. melissa: do they feel like washington is helping them or thwarting them. >> oh, thwarting them. they feel they're regulated into oblivion and they feel the government is in the their friend right now. in new york state alone there is wage theft prevention act. more regulation for business owners to comply with. it is a problem, every time

they spend time on these types of things it is money away from their business. melissa: thanks nor coming on. >> thanks, melissa. lori: there are pad days and then there are really bad days. definitely the latter for the biggest loser on the s&p 500. the stock is down 20% today and why. melissa: charlie gasparino joins us on exclusive details on the fight over herbalife. lori: let's check interest rates today. the stock market is something. they're selling treasurys too. everything. back above 2% on the 10-year. as you see on the 30-year the yield is 3.22%. we're back after a short break. all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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>> good afternoon, i'm sandra smith with your fox business brief. a chick check on the markets, the push for the all-time highs started with selling on wall street. the dow is down 42 points but off the lows of session. global sales of mobile phones dropping for the first time since 2009. according to research company gartner, smartphone sales are rising customers reject cheaper phones with fewer features. gartner said half of all phones sold are smartphones with apple and samsung dominating the category. there is some good news for drivers as jd powers and associate, latest dependability study shows cars are becoming more

reliable. the study measures the numbers of problems owners experience in the past year in cars purchased during the 2010 model year. lexus, porsche, toyota, lincoln were the top brands. that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

melissa: battle between herbalife and short seller bill ackman is likely to take center stage at the conference this afternoon and charlie gasparino has, exclusive details. >> we do know this. ackman will speak about herbalife. i think it will be his first post-, i guess smackdown remarks when he had the infamous smackdown with carl icon a couple weeks ago. this will be the first remarks about his short position and how long he will be in it that is expected to come this

afternoon. interesting enough herbalife has prepared a response. they may know what he is going to say but from what i understand they do have a response, when he comes out with his thing they will come cut with their thing. if you're in the stock, look at, and this is short term. long term battle between ackman or herbalife, whether it is a pyramid scream, a fraud or not the being stock will move around. two data points that are pretty interesting for investors. number one, herbalife next week reports earnings. they will give an update on their buyback program, exactly where it is. as they previously reported, their buyback program a lot of people expected a massive buyback. they're doing it incrementally, from what i understand. going very slow. we'll get indication whether they speed that up, whe we'll get some indication from what i understand next week i believe tuesday. that is big if you're a shareholder. if you know they're buying back a massive amount you want to be in the stock at least for a short term. the second thing is, this is

key, corporate filing deadlines, i believe is in the next coming days. we should get some indication whether carl icahn is really in the stock. we do know that carl icahn hates bill ackman. he has attacked bill ackman and his short position. we don't know --. melissa: hasn't attacked him personally. >> here's what we don't know. we don't know if he is in the stock. there has not been a carpet filing. from what i understand that could come in the next couple days. obviously if he owns it in his checking account, carl icahn is worth, two, $10 billion? he could have a checking account with a lot of shares without having to disclose it. from what i understand, if he is below the 5% threshold if has it in one of his funds he might have the to disclose that. anyway, good chance whether we see carl icahn is on the stock. obviously if he is not in the stock, his, attacks on ackman are clearly like, you know --. lori: vendetta personally.

>> just a personal vendetta you, which it is anyway. melissa: i was going to say that. >> this is kind of an interesting story, herbalife. melissa: for sure. >> not the biggest stock in the world, not the biggest market cap we have. it is not even the most important company. we deal with many more important companies but if you're out there it is a tradable stock. these short term iterations if you're a trader, traders do watch, average people can trade. they do it all the time, are two sort of interesting data points. today, what ackman is going to say at this harbor investment conference, should point out he is one of the cochairs. he will have the marquee billing. we understand it will be later in the afternoon. that is one data point. watch us because i'm sure we'll have an update on that. number two, what icahn does, do we get some disclosure whether he is in the stock. if he is, expect shares to spike. a little bit if he is in it.

if he is not in it there is another issue. shares could go down. next week earnings coming out, conference call. we'll hear about the buyback program. investors obviously want a bigger buyback program. melissa: very interesting stuff. thanks for staying on it for us, charlie gasparino. lori: let's check markets with nicole on the floor of the new york stock exchange. watching natural resources. cliff's natural resources which is a big loser today, nicole. >> it is talk about loss and slipping revenue. we'll delve into that here. you can see the stock is down 19%. so let's talk about the latest quarter. they did suffer a fourth quarter loss. they did see revenues slip. they had significantly higher charges, impayment charges they were facing. you had sit group and also deutsche bank cutting cliffs natural resources to to hold from buy ratings. they're cut to something regular like hold or

neutral. they said they had a challenging year from the market perspective or operationally. the good part the ceo noted that the year had noteworthy highlights including operational turnarounds in north american coal and record sales volume in australia. those sound well and good. however you can see the stock is suffering greatly today. losing almost 20% in one day is obviously heavy volume and a heavy loss. they do plan to sell nine million shares in order to raise some funds to repay the outstanding debt that they are facing. so that is something that they will continue to do as well. but for now, you're seeing it selling off in a big way. back to you. lori: always on it, nicole. thanks. melissa: so they say money can't buy you love. it can buy you chocolate though. lori: and a lot of it. no one knows it better than our next guest godiva ceo jim goldman here with chocolate ahead of tomorrow's busy valentine's holiday. it better be in my house anyway.

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lori: fellows, valentine's day is tomorrow. a lot may be wondering what to get your sweetie pie. no one knows the holiday better than our next guest, godiva ceo, jim goldman, the chocolatier. valentine's day is the their single biggest day of ther year. 50% of their valentine's day transactions take place in the last three days leading

up to valentine's day. >> thank you, lori. happy valentine's day. lori: biggest sales day of the year. 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate sold. give me a sense how much anticipation, how much buildup, how much extra production goes into effect leading up to valentine's day. >> this is our super bowl and valentine's day is all about chocolate and godiva chocolate is a special choice at valentine's day. we do prepare. we start preparing early. we develop special products. we, this year we have a whole range of strawberry and chocolate products. we also have special packages. and if you want to talk about gearing up for valentine's day, our dipped strawberries in our stores, we start dipping them on valentine's day about 2:00 in the morning. lori: a lot of your mall stores with the big glass windows and kids and customers can peer right in. talk about luring in the customer. talk about how you come up with these ideas. you mentioned some of these

tastes, chocolate leche, passion fruit all monday. you're r&d ship shop must be great. >> our chefs make magic with chocolate. we're a belgian chocolatier. we go back to the 1926. lori: you bring average people on the street to taste the stuff? >> we bring them in the stores to taste them. and i get the opportunity to tate them which is the best part of my job. we have new items like the strawberry leche nut. we have white truffles and milk chocolate mousse. it is a variety of offers. lori: so how much do you spend then coming up with these valentine's days specialties versus how much money you expect to make during valentine's day, and how much that backs up during the total year revenue? >> our stores are the center piece of godiva. we focus a lot making the experience is there and welcoming and make sure we have the right product the right time of the year. that is our focus. we don't do mass

advertising. lori: so tell me, give me a sense then, if you will, this year in terms of how much you'd expect the average person to spend on valentine's day? the projections are for a couple dollars more but we're watching all this chaos to put it simply going on in washington. we know the payroll tax goes back up to 6%. >> sure. lori: do you expect that to influence people's decisions what they will spend? >> sure. lori: face it this is not one of the bigger holidays compared to -- >> well, this is really big holiday. lori: but for the consumer spender if i'm making a priority list. >> sure. you don't have a long list but everyone on the list is really important, starting with your wife and significant other. so we have great offeringings for that. this is one of the favorites, satin heart. which is the traditional. but we have many others hitting different price points. so, for example, this year, you know, my daughter gave this particular heart to everyone in her class because it's cute. it's very appropriate for giving a little gift to

people you care about. lori: you mentioned kind of the broad range of price points. you have your premium stores that you were describing to me earlier. in just a couple seconds i know the drugstore, you have the impulse buyer like me who you can take advantage of. >> the consumer is multidimensional and they like getting product in multiple places. when you want a great piece of chocolate you want it now and our philosophy we want them to enjoy godiva chocolate. if you want a experience, go to the stores with the amazing experience with dipped strawberries and personalized service. >> sounds great. i'm sorry the interview has to end. jim goldman the ceo of godiva. >> happy valentine's day. lori: thanks for coming in. mole list is a. melissa: don't hoard all of that. i want at least half of that. coming up tonight on "money", multiple franchise owner will discuss his testimony to the house small business committee today and what president obama's minimum wage increase will mean to

his business. we'll break it down at 5:00 p.m. eastern here on fox business. coming up in the next hour one retail expert who is not impressed with the january numbers, christine benz, says they are much worse than you think and she joins tracy byrnes and ashley webster coming up. don't miss it. ♪

[ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ] ♪

[ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experienced pros with dedicated chats and daily live webinars. and trade with papermoney to test-drive the market. ♪ all on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. tracy: good afternoon, i'm tracy byrnes. ashley: i'm ashley webster. stocks are holding back a little bit. the dow is off 40 points right now, trading below that psychological 14,000 mark. so what are the best market moves to make right now? glen meade's jason pried oversees $20 billion in investments. he will share his picks ahead. tracy: treasury secretary nominee jack lew weighs in on taxes spending and his role in the financial crisis. is he headed for a an easy confirmation?

"wall street journal" washington bureau chief jerry seib will weigh in on that. ashley: the president's new plan to fight cybercrime, the question is, could it end up raising another threat, one of more regulation? former white house cybercrime official howard schmidt weighs in on that topic straight ahead. tracy: we have dow down about 40 points. top of the hour. we have to head down to nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. hey, nicole. >> tracy, ashley, i'm looking at a market, we can see the divergence. nasdaq and s&p 500 are winners. the dow is pulling back a little bit, one quarter of 1%. we can't deny we're around the highs we've been seeing since 2007. so shouldn't be too worried if you have a little bit of a pullback. traders don't seem to be phased. the vix, the fear index, is slightly to the upside. there is the all-time high. we're 183 points away from the awl-time closing high set back in october 9th of 2007. we'll take a look here at an

s&p 500 chart over time as well. and it is trading right now at 1520. trades the above the 1523 line. that would be the first time since november of 2007. so and the s&p 500, is nice broader average of compared to the dow, right? the dow is just 30 names. s&p 500 has 500 stocks that represent. this is good one to take a look at right now. you can see it .1 of 1%. groupon is good name to watch. talking about groupon and a buy rating and new price target of nine bucks. certainly upside potential. they like the mobile. they like the expansion abroad. so this is something that they continue to watch and that's why they're hot on the stock. back to you. tracy: thank you, nicole. get free massage off groupon. ashley: always a good thing. treasury secretary nominee jack lew, he will need a massage, making his case on capitol hill.

asking tough questions from his time at citigroup to the country's current budget problems. rich edson is there with the very latest. rich. >> some of the most significant challenges you saw from republicans had to do with really the campaign president obama waged against governor mitt romney during the campaign last year with private equity, the money romney had made and some offshore invests and accounts that mitt romney has. one of the issues that came up an investment jack lew had a few years ago. it was a venture capital fund. it was based in the cayman islands and that is something republicans challenged him on. >> do you believe the president was accurate in referring to the building which housed your investment as quote, the largest tax scam in the world? >> senator, i'm happy to answer questions about my own investments. i'm also happy to answer about questions about tax policy regarding the sheltering of income from taxation. i reported all income that i earned. i paid all taxes due. i very strongly believe we should have tax policies

that make it difficult if nnt impossible to shelter income from taxation. >> the debate also focused on corporate tax reform. jack lew says the 25% rate republicans are looking to achieve on corporate tax reform would be difficult to do but he is willing to talk to republicans about doing corporate taxes and individual taxes. as for the chances jack lew has this is pretty good indication. senator orrin hatch the top republican on the senate finance committee mentioned that he thought that lew did very well today. back to you. ashley: we shall see. rich edson in d.c. thanks very much. tracy: our first guest says the concerns over jack lew's qualifications and personal investments in the caymans and yaw did i yada should pose no obstacle to his confirmation as treasury secretary. joining us, "wall street journal" washington bureau chief gerry seib. every time we do a confirmation hearing we nitpick and find all the things. if i put on the stand they

would tell me my years of using aqua net hairspray would kill the ozone. >> the question you posed is it enough to stop the confirmation hearings? i don't think so. the questions about the cayman island investments jack lew made a few years ago is awkward. democrats talked about those schemes as tax scams. i don't think that is enough to stop the show. it is interesting when jack lew was nominated one of the arguments was he didn't have enough experience on wall street to be treasury secretary. ironically most of the difficult questions are those that had to do with citigroup up on wall street. i don't think those are show stoppers. these are warning shots from republicans. one of the things jack lew benefits from because most republican fire on nominations is directed at chuck hagel, the obama pick to be defense secretary. other people are getting a little more of a pass as a result of that. tracy: i guess jack is happy about that but orrin hatch especially. get out your pencil.

i have got questions. you will answer these. jack at the end i think he handled himself pretty well. he said i didn't opine on any of this stuff. >> exactly. his argument on the cayman islands invest was pretty simple. i didn't even know it was in the cayman islands. i knew it was a hedge fund. i invested money. on the broader question of citigroup as one of the big banks that got into trouble and need attacks payer bailout, the jack lew response was i was coo of a couple units. not financial officer. i didn't have say in investment decisions. if you're going to look for somebody to talk about why the banks got into trouble, i'm not the right guy. i was interested in how to organize the bank, knot how to run the bank. tracy: talk about last night. what do you think? he ran the gamut from investing in manufacturing to preschool for everyone. is any of it going anywhere? >> well, you know, some of it will. not all of it will. some of it was recycled. i thought the most interesting thing was, and i wrote a column in the journal today, it was like

activist government on a diet. there was a lot of rhetoric about government activism in various areas including things to spur the manufacturing sector, waying to improve education and add infrastructure and improve infrastructure around the country. if you look behind those words there is not a lot of money there because there is not a lot of money to spend. the president doesn't have a blank check or anything approaching that right now. so a lot of money he proposes to spend on things is shuffled around from other accounts, including defense accounts. some money he asked for before and never gotten. some is leaning on the private sector or the states to help pay for these things. so there was more government activism in words than there really was in dollar signs i think. tracy: i think one of the most poignant moments when he talked about gun control and went through a litany of people and said they deserve a vote. do you think gun control will go anywhere? >> you know i think there is consensus forming about doing a better job, having a better law that governs background checks, the people who buy guns. i don't think there is consensus forming around the other big issue which is an

assault weapons ban. that is not going over well with even some democrats including harry reid the democratic leader in the senate. whether there will be a vote as the president asked i don't really know. i don't think it will pass. other gun control measures, lesser measures particularly background checks have a good shot getting through this time. tracy: gerry seib washington bureau chief, read his column in the "wall street journal." thank you, sir. >> happy to be with you. ashley: the ozone called. it wants its layer back. tracy: don't put me on the stand. that is one of the myriad of things i ruined the country for. ashley: on deck, who dominated the mobile phone market for 2012? the final numbers are in. they might surprise you. they may not. we'll have all the details next. tracy: retail analyst kristen bentz said january's minuscule rise in sales is worse than you think. she will explain ahead. as we do every day at this time of day. we'll look how oil is trading. the dow is down. so is oil. it is off 40 cents.

97.10 a barrel. we'll be right back. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally.

tracy: it is tile to make some money with charles payne. at this hour is looking to profit from the restaurant industry. makes me want to have a steak, charles. >> this is not just about the restaurant industry. yesterday i gave lori and melissa, michael kors, particularly women with the big michael kors watches, you should own the stock you should own the stock. ashley: and they don't. >> well, i'm always at dell fresco's across the street. i'm always over there. we had our company party, had a birthday party. my whole company came up. i can't tell you how much money we spent. it is embarrassing. i don't own the stock. it is exploding! the low was 11 bucks. look at this chart.

i don't, i knew they were going public and it is always packed but i didn't think they would grow fast enough. today they announced two new locations in dallas-ft. worth. it is one of these things. what i like they did an investor presentation last month and talked about things that made them different. reason i like it, diverse menu, swarming upbeat service. large central bar. that is important to me and ashley. ashley: amen. >> appeals to both genders, music high energy. i'm like, yeah. tracy: wait. they're opening the grill, del frisco's grill. i was there recently with some of our cohorts. it is really cool and not as expensive as. ashley: right. tracy: the wine list is still there but the food is not as expensive. so it is a nice middle ground. >> did you think when you were there i should own this stock? tracy: no, i was thinking about my next glass of wine. >> by the way operating margins are the best. they're better than any other restaurant comparable restaurant in the industry. ashley: yeah.

>> so might still be a buyer who. i will look at it. they have only one --. tracy: will go next door and take a look at it. might have to do some research. >> i can't believe it though. i can't believe it! what the heck. i love the place! every reason i tell people to own a stock and i didn't own del frisco's. ashley: way to call yourself out, charles. appreciate it. everywhere you go people are talking on their cell phone, we know that. it may come as surprise worldwide mobile phone sales actually fell last year because everyone has bought one i guess. according to research firm gartner, sales falling 1.7% in 2012 compared to the year before. it was the first year-over-year decline in sales since 2009. so take a look at the top three. well, here we go. samsung and apple actually gained market share year-over-year. nokia, took a hit. samsung and apple were helped by sales of their smartphones of course which gartner says drove overall phone sales last year. together, they now control

52% of the smartphone sales. so, pretty dominant. tracy: samsung in its earnings call said by the end of the year the market will be saturated. ashley: you can understand why. tracy: it seems there are a lot of emerging markets that don't have smartphones. ashley: there's china first off a billion people or more. tracy: all right. it is that time. quarter past the hour we've got to go back to nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange where we go every 15 minutes. do you have a smartphone or still have a blackberry? >> i have very old school blackberry and then i have a regular phone which does not have any, --. tracy: it is not smart. >> not smart. no data, no internet rpt. no nothing. i do enough all day long. i don't need to do extra. so let's start, if i need the blackberry i use that. talk about what we're seeing with tech earnings after the bell. we're looking at cisco systems and applied materials both which will report quarterly

numbers at 4:00 p.m. or there about. you are seeing up arrows here. i have to tell you the analysts on these earnings are pretty positive. we've seen today piper jaffray and susquehanna both raising price targets on applied materials. piper jaffray has a $16 target up from 13. applied materials, $9 up from $8 for susquehanna. positive news there. we also had several names such as citigroup, raymond james, piper jaffray being positive and reiterating their expectations and positivety on cisco systems over the last 24 hours. both of these names are certainly ones to watch. cisco up .1 of 1% and a dow component we should note. back to you. tracy: nicole, thank you. we will see you in 15 minutes. she will be on her blackberry. ashley: keep it here on fox business for all the "after the bell" results. i will join liz claman later on in the 4:00 p.m. eastern hour. results are coming in. tracy: lots of them. coming up how can you

maximize your returns in this ever changing market? glen meade director of investment strategy jason pride shares his picks next. ashley: first as we go to break look how the dollar is moving against other currencies. we'll be right back. she knows you like no one else. and you wouldn't have it any other way. but your erectildysfunction - you know, that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready.

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>> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm uma pemmaraju with your fox news minute. carnival cruise lines canceling the next 12 voyages for the triumph cruise ship that was scheduled through april 13th. triumph is that damaged and disabled vessel being towed and expected to arrive in mobile, alabama, tomorrow. more than 4,000 passengers and crew are still stranded at sea since an engine fire on board ship on sunday. the coroner's office is studying remains to determine if the body found is cop killer christopher dorner a wallet and california driver's license with dorner's name was found inside the burned out cabin where dorner is believed to have died in yesterday's shootout. pope benedict is telling worshippers he is resigning, quote, for the good of the church. he resigned over ash wednesday services in his

last public mass before stepping down at the end of this month. that is a quick look at headlines making news right now. back to more with tracy and ashley. ashley: fox's uma pemmaraju thank you very much. we appreciate it. >> you're welcome. tracy: analysts at hsbc are lifting their forecast for the precious metal. how could you possibly play a silver rally and get it in your portfolio? sandra smith will tell you in today's trade. >> hey tracy and ashley. i prepared a little chart to show how silver is real mover in 2013. gold just the opposite in the blue. silver made bigger moves and it is outperforming gold so far this year. hsbc is basically saying they think silver down today, by the way, at $30.75. they think it will be a big winner climbing to $33 and ending there by the end of the year. here are the reasons why they're turning so bullish. they're calling for higher industrial demand. gold doesn't have industrial component like silver. more tied to global economic

recovery. steady investor appetite. they're seeing lots of demand for coins and bar purchases. bottoming out of jewelry demand. remember a big component there as well. silver has all kinds of uses gold does not. they're calling for silver to continue to outperform gold for the rest of the year. if you want to play this in the stock market, guys, always remember you can play it in the etf for a fee of course but slv is the largest silver etf. it had similar moves to silver but it tends to track the price of silver. it is down a percent. it is a big winner as far as companies are concerned. silver wheaton always good to look at and rather attractively priced right now. hsbc hot on the silver trail. tracy: silver. 25th anniversary gift in case you're wondering. ashley: very good. you knew that. i will keep that in mind. thank you, tracy. tracy: anytime. ashley: the dow is taking a breather today but it hit a new multiyear high in nine of the last 17 trading

sessions. with momentum apparently moving higher is there still room to get in? joining us now, jason pride, director of investment strategy at glenmede. jason, thanks for joining us. it feels like the markets have reached that ceiling. kind of hard to move higher. we come back down waiting for the next catalyst. where do you see the market going from here? what kind of correction if all the other analysts predicting a correction are corrects? what do you think, five to 8% correction, perhaps? >> there is always a possibility for a correction particularly as you have had such a strong run at the end of the year on a relief rally following basically not going over the fiscal cliff but we have to kind of step back and urge a little bit of caution. reality is, we are still in a deleveraging environment. many of the plans have yet to be put in place. we're definitely making progress. the markets should generally be moving higher but moving to fast to far on a near-term basis can cause

some weakness and some pullback on the near-term basis. so we've been very much a advocate of kind of a cautiously constructive of positioning for portfolios for investors as a whole. not hiding in cash and treasurys but not necessarily jumping up and down on every stock we see. ashley: what fits the bill when you're cautiously optimistic and you kind of want to hedge your bets a little bit? >> what this means, we're trying to take selective risks. we're taking risks. we want clients to take risks. it is not hide under the covers and just own cash. but taking selective risks means you're not taking blind equity risk. that means buying some credit risk. high yield bonds. bank loans. international emerging marketing market debt. all these of those are attractive opportunities right now on a long-term basis. within equities, find your protection there. actually be more defensive in equities as counterbalance to the risk-take

in fixed income. those are two approaches. high quality equities in a sluggish growth environment are likely to still deliver respectable returns but we'll probably have somewhere around 20 to 80% less risk than traditional equity investment. ashley: you like philip morris too. is that based more on its potential for overseas sales? >> some of these things have multiple themes wrapped into them. philip morris fits that bill of a high quality, dividend paying, dividend growing company. it definitely fits in our thesis before. it also fits in the thesis surrounding the growth of the emerging market consumer. much of their sales are to emerging markets. the growth there as consumers make more money reality is they will spend more money. good habits go along with the bad habit. smoke is one of those, once people make more money they have the propensity to smoke a couple extra cigarettes, philip morris a big risch -- beneficiary of that. ashley: of course. they saw inflow $17 billion,

according to a the latest numbers, 40% of the money went into international and global funds. you think that's a good move? >> we do think it's a good move. international valuations whether in the developed markets or in the emerging markets are relatively undervalued compared to the u.s. you know, the developed markets obviously for reasons in japan and europe. in the emerging markets really there isn't too much of a good reason there, other than that's kind of where they have historically been. ashley: right. >> both of those cases we think provides opportunities for i am problem and opportunities for valuation expansion. >> cautiously optimistic. jason pride, director of investment strategy at glenmede. thanks very much. >> thanks for having me, ashley. ashley: buy stocks, right. sin stocks. tracy: yeah. president obama wants to boost the minimum wage. so will it stop companies from hiring more americans? liz macdonald will break that down next for us. ashley: but first let's take a look at some of today's

winners and losers. the dow is off 57 points. but we have some winners on the s&p. take a look. we'll be right back.

>> and there we are. we are about ten points above. so not close enough to that 14,000. although the right of the top. so there is that. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange standing by. down 52 points, but anything could happen. >> reporter: anything can happen. he's alive market action that would bring you every day, taking a look at earnings

season. propping it up to a certain extent. how'd you feel after you have gotten in all the corporate earnings? what you think about the market going forward? >> i think the highs have been tested. would like to see them fall back to reset. it's better for the up to the market. most important things to keep an eye and as the money flow in equities. stunned to see money leave the bond fund coming into the equity markets, increasing the exposure that will allow people to retire earlier. >> does that surprise you that is happening? not really. >> the fact of the matter is that of thing people understand the risk they have. a 1%, the ten year to 2%, you will lose 16 percent of the value of your portfolio and its principal. that is a significant move if

you're trying to retire. that is the risk. most people don't see it that way because bonds are safe. >> inflation. >> natural interest rates. they kick up and they go from being where they are. your bond portfolio of get hit and hit hard. >> something we don't really delve into that much. they're risking the bond portfolio. >> absolutely. tracy: the thank them for us. he does make a good point. as you were saying, the rotation. people are still nervous. ashley: and the rotation and equities is people with cash on their hands. as much as bonds. president obama's proposal to raise the minimum wage sparks a big debate on both his critics and supporters.

what are the key issues here? >> this is a really controversial proposal lighting of on the internet. basically the president wants to raise the minimum wage to $9 by 2015 up from seven to five. move higher. the supporters say this is a great anti-poverty measure. it would help the poor, the women, a lot of women work at minimum-wage jobs, income inequality is an issue. nineteen states have minimum wages higher the federal level. the retail federation are out in force big time today. college grads, 25%. and also, one at $25 an hour. herndon contracts credit.

coming out in full force on the internet. this is a great idea. other saying totally against it. ashley: the coalition between raising the minimum wage and job loss. >> stories across the country. economic studies. one telling story can get this anecdote. this is really surprising. long beach california recently enacted a living wage. we're not destroying to lay off people. we are going to reduce the available room that you want to stay in for the holidays for your vacation or never. get back on the available room. so it's not just job losses that can hurt in different ways and unintended and unexpected ways. so, you know, whether this passes congress remains to be seen but the president saying we should raise the minimum wage. small businesses in the business community saying don't do it. it's a job killer.

ashley: interesting. more to come. tracy: breaking news. oil closing down $0.50. $97.1 per barrel. that is snapping a two day winning streak. this ever security threat. one former white house officials as president obama's plan does not go far enough. what needs to be done next. ashley: as we head to break it's time to check the ten and 30 year treasurys. we will be right back. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really needed is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses.

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♪ >> i'm adam shapiro with your fox bussness brief. the battle is likely to heat up this afternoon. charlie gasparino is reporting that there will discuss the position. barbara investment conference. sources say that they are preparing a response in advance of the speech. also reporting that corporate falling due in just a few days could disclose the position held by other investors, including the possible holding. postmaster general patrick, who is urging congress to not block the agency's plan to eliminate saturday service for first-class mail. pointing to a major drop in post office businesses. e-mail an online bill payment. as the latest from the fox

business network, giving you the power to prosper.

♪ ashley: president obama signed an executive order on cyber security. it aims to boost protection at our nation's dams, power grids, banks, and other critical infrastructure by sharing information on cyber threats between the government and companies. it also requires the government to come up with voluntary standards for several security within the year. the question is, is this enough to fight the rising threat of cyber attacks? testing and former white house ever securities are howard schmidt. thank you for joining us. it is amazing that here we are. an executive order to increase the sharing of information between government and companies that oversee critical infrastructure. why isn't that being done already?

>> that is the problem. as we proposed legislation when i was at the white house last time, congress asked us to tell them what they needed. we said we needed legislative relief by sharing information. got mired down. that was submitted in may of 2011 and here we are, nothing has been done. i would add that we were talking last week. february, as a matter of fact ten years ago tomorrow we released the national strategy for cyberspace which once again ask congress to do things, but nothing has happened. ashley: and so we have also a call for voluntary standards, by its very nature voluntary means it may not happen. >> well, and that is the issue because when you look at the national institute of standards and technology which will be driving this activity, tremendously respected in the private industry, respected across government as the body that can bring everybody together and sort of say, one of the best things to make the problem is when you look at the business incentives to do this

people question, is that enough? to we need to have our procurement, better contract in temecula not only provide these services and banking, finance, water distribution, all of these things, but part of the contract has to be the will take care of cyber security as well. the other thing when you look at the regulatory bodies across the government, some cases we have conflicting regulatory bodies saying one thing that affect various industries. ashley: businesses will say, more government regulation. cumbersome would be? >> well, that is one of the things that is really good about the executive order. it tasks the government to say go back and look at the things that are going to be helpful. don't be duplicative, adobe conflicting. the regulatory bodies, get your act together, look at this and help private industry do a better job doing better at the business of security. ashley: what is the biggest risk this country faces from hackers that want to do harm to us?

>> and it is interesting. the critical infrastructure, the industrial controls, the electronic switches that control our dams, telecommunications, a lot of the things are now being connected to the internet. that is the thing that will have the biggest impact. the second piece is the intellectual property. we are just getting every piece of intellectual property and private sector and government pulled out and distributive over the world. who knows where that will end up from an economic perspective as well. ashley: ten seconds. simply, are we doing enough to counteract the threat of cyber attacks? >> we are not, and that is the reason that the president had to act on this, the reason congress needs to do more. also, we have to take this seriously because it is good for the economy in the national security that we do more. ashley: all right. as a last, thank you so much. tracy: he's right.

, passed scooping up the rest of nbc universal, but not exactly on the cheap. covering this story. downright expensive. >> it shows that they are getting cocky. the bid to buy the remaining 49% stake that the whole comes two years after it bought 51% control. comcast shares surging of as much as 8% today on that deal, in the stock is up 50%. stock also bumping up, up 3%. and it's going to add $2 billion to its stock buyback plans this year. comcast paying a princely sum for the back half of the peacock. nbc shows such as the biggest loser. but paying 26% higher price than it paid for the first half two years ago. it will vote -- for cover some 12 billion in cash. adding to the swagger, going to

raise the dividend 20% and buy back $2 billion of stock in the coming year. so why buy now? ceo brian roberts to father founded the company could have waited to seven years to buy the rest. says he is buying now because the price will go up later. done pretty well, running new properties, but the thing is, also may have some control issues. the original deal led g force comcast to acquire half of the state by july of next year or even force a public offering. comcast's buyout avoids that uncertainty, so the pressure now is going to be on comcast exec steven burke. a veteran insider, disney alum, sun of a legendary broadcast executive. he oversaw a theme park to disney years ago. it will plow new money to jazz at universal theme parks. but comcast paying top dollar just as the internet threat against of entertainment lens. wall street loves the deal, but

it los aol time warner. ashley: don't put much in store. >> speaking of time warner, in talks to sell. the biggest magazine group in the country, 160 magazines. this is important. fortune magazine which is owned by time warner. so first, will the price even come close? and bet you it is cheaper. second, will it be a buyout died? get hosed. or some kind of print company. watch for that. i'll bet you the guy who chomps it and sells it off. third, time warner wants to hold on to three prius titles, sports illustrated and fortune and time magazine. that will bring the price lower. they are selling at the bottom. tracy: selling the junk. ashley: interesting. ashley: all right. just quarter till, time for

stocks as we do every 15 minutes. head back down to the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: be here is the world's largest farm equipment company. today down three and a half%. not necessarily on the latest quarter, but more importantly the outlook which is disappointing. the analysts. they came out with a fairly modest increase in sales this year. despite the prospect of a big corn crop. it fell short of the analyst estimate. with that outlook, having a crop is nice, but it means that the price will be lower. so when you have one thing you have another which is something that obviously was a little disappointing. they themselves noted economic uncertainties factoring into their outlook being a lower-than-expected which is another reason why you see those tiros. ashley: thank you very much. tracy: the payroll tax hike in american spending. retail analysts say there could be a rough road ahead and will

explain next. ashley: take a look at some of today's winners and losers. there are winners. we will be right back. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? so why do banks do it? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. ♪

(train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. vonorfolk southern.ains go, one line, innite possibilities.

>> welcome back. down 61 points. we just want to bring back the story about time warner, and talks to sell the publishing business. fortune actually lead to the news. actually said that forbes did. fortunately the news.

good stuff. ashley: january retail sales seventh step ever so slightly. shoppers out but maybe not in full force. is this the normal now that everyone has a bigger bite taken out of their paycheck? jeff flock is in chicago with more on today's data. >> reporter: we like to bring this to main street and what better place to come in the shoe store. almost a misnomer to call this issue store. a starbucks venture that wants to become the envy sabots. i have to ask you, do you feel with a number said today, a brief, small take? >> i feel the consumers are feeling definitely more confident, but the only thing growing is online right no. >> more about that in the second, but i want to show you the numbers. the past several months, take a

look. they had been pretty it other than a month leading into the election but pulled back a little bit. do you lori adelle? >> we always worry in february. we are very cautious. thus the optimistic going for it, but january and february are like the dog days of retail. >> video has become a huge. that is a growing part of the business. and there he is right there. he says, you have to have video online. >> launched last year compared over 600 episodes and had 150,000 use, so tracking amazingly converting sales. >> cautious optimism in chicago on main street down retail sales. ashley: all right. thank you so much. tracy: our next guest is not surprised by today's data and says it will get worse the you

think. joining me now, venture group executive director. good to see you. the retail etf hit a 52-week high, so someone got the news is good. >> a few and far between. obviously the luxury consumer is feeling confident contrary to of the last death said ee that consumers are confident and feeling better about the situation. tracy: paychecks did not reflect the payroll increase because a lot of people get paid once a month, so if you did not get paid until the end of january were not really feeling the pain yet. >> exactly. february is that going to be a fun month. buckle up for that as consumers to realizing demoted my paycheck go. they're going to start reacting in kind and not negative light. tracy: those of us that it paid weekly a feeling the pain already. u.s. saying in your notes you're

seeing the amount of money being spent increase well the transactions are going down. explain that. >> people are, you know, shopping less frequently more closer to need. they're taking their time to look and what is missing, obviously of their spending money. have to watch and see what they're spending it on. tracy: let's talk about what you like. how do we play this retail market? if it's going to get worse where should i investors should stay away altogether? >> the consumer is not going to lead this come back. it is the debt ridden come back. it will be slow and painful. how do you played? obviously doing great. absolute luxury names. just blew the doors of yesterday. true luxury there really can be found just on every corner. something like that. definitely follow the low-end consumer. walmart, family dollar. people are shopping at dollar

stores as a defective grocery store, stopping by everyday. they splendid 55 expanded the floor plan. that's scary. that is of people living in shopping. tracy: do you think it gets worse as the year goes on? or do you think that said eureka march, we'll into panic mode, stop spending. >> i don't think it's going to be pretty. it's going to be painful. obviously like the weather that we have had. the luxury spin for consumers in new york is 20 percent of all luxury goods. there is going to be a dip. a chance to buy on that dip. take some profits, but killing florida feel very slow, painful malaise. tracy: a lot of people have yet to feel that. when they do it will be pretty.

tracy: liz claman is going 1-on-1 with the ceo of the big industrial conglomerate . talking about the company's plans to help rebuild america and maybe even create more jobs. a fox business exclusive.