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melissa: welcome. i am melissa francis. it is like speed dating around here. welcome, then this field. dennis: sam stovall for bulls and bears alike. what that signals for the market. melissa: kevin brady joins us with his warning on america's growing debt problem. dennis: president obama black on capitol hill for the third straight day. after rounds of discussions, are we anywhere closer to a budget

deal? will dobbs has that story. melissa: carnival having yet another problem with one of its ships. dennis: time for stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. our own nicole petallides is standing by. nicole: we are really seeing another wedding day here on wall street. we got good economic numbers. many of these people are surprised. to see up arrows again and had the eighth consecutive record all-time close for the dow. we are up about 62 points right now. not too far off from our session and all-time highs. some of the names that are helping the dial along our

hewlett-packard, chevron and ibm. this is a five-year chart. you can see we are up about 120% off the lows for the dow jones industrials. obviously, now at 14500, much better than 6500. back to you. dennis: thank you, nicole. melissa: the stand out in today's session is without dow natural gas. phil plan of price futures group is in the pits of the cme. there are a couple things that are driving up that gas. >> number one, of course, is the thermostat. it has been very cold in some of the consuming averages. that is driving the market higher. that is not the whole story.

we have seen record electricity demand powered by natural gas this year. some of the biggest producers in this country say they will continue to consume natural gas at the same record rate they did a year ago. this could be a very significant demand for this market. the other thing is seasonal. you usually get a nice little pop going into the summer heating season. supplies have fallen out on. down a lot more. oil today is very interesting. it seems to be driven by the dollar. the spread was blowing up like crazy. it returns to north sea

production, as well as other concerns with europe. partly because we are getting more oil out of cushing, oklahoma. the u.s. prices are starting to go up with the expectation we can export more of our oil in the next coming months. the spread is coming in. it is helping to support the accrued wti here in the u.s. today. melissa: phil flynn, thank you so much. >> thank you. dennis: the vix trading at low levels not seen in nearly six years. is this a positive indicator are just that investors are getting complacent? sandra smith has it in today's trade. sandra: it has often been a contrarian indicator. when the stock rocket goes up, the vix goes down.

the s&p 500 now flirting with closing highs. look at this. down 3%. it is already sitting near its lowest level in years. we have seen it sustained above 20. this is historically very low. if you go to the year chart, you will see we are trading at the lowest levels over the past year. people are just not nervous right now. the only thing that is making people nervous is the fact that nobody is nervous. we are now at a level in the vix that we have not seen since before the financial crisis. we are at the lowest levels we have seen since we entered the financial crisis. with that being said, our quiz did research and said do not

necessarily use this as a contrarian indicator. often times when the vix would indicate here in the marketplace, the market seems to be rallying on that bad news because the federal reserve is stepping in or than ever. do not necessarily make it to nervous for you, dennis. dennis: my next guest says the markets climb higher is water torture for both bulls and bears. we have sam stovall here. >> those people who are long right now and realize we are just inches away from an all-time high on the s&p 500 realize it usually does not break through and close meaningfully about that all-time high in the first attempt.

usually you have some sort of repulsion. the pairs, on the other hand, are saying i really do not like all of this momentum because every day when the market goes up by two or five-point i am that much further in the hole, if you will. both sides are waiting for the music to stop, but one is waiting with a bigger smile than the other. dennis: a fear that something will go wrong and a fear of missing out. sandra smith just did a report on the vix. it is at nearly a six year low. would you tell your mom to go buy it right now? >> that is a good point. i can see why that is the case. as a result, whenever prices climb, they tend to creep higher where as when they fall they tend to jump from the highest

holding. usually, the vix increases as investors are nervous and get more fearful. at least since 2000, when we have this level of complacency, it has become a matter of when not if. we will just have to wait and see. dennis: when you look at the last time stocks were at this 14,500, in that range, the economy is in better shape arguably and back then. why can't we be happy about this? >> well, we should be. our report showed this. the levels we are looking at right now, economic indicators, valuations, monetary sentiment,

etc., really the only thing that looks out of mind is how far the index it is from the 50 and 200 day moving averages. dennis: where, generally, speaking in stocks, would you put money now and is it basically a bet that we keep moving higher or a bat to protect yourself from moving lower? >> leaning towards we just celebrated our fourth birthday and five of the six bull markets since world war ii that did so went on to celebrate their fifth birthday. number four was on march 9, number five will be a year from now. it is the cyclical factors that tend to lead the way. dennis: that what all kind of messed together. thank you so much for being with us. sam stovall. >> my pleasure. melissa: just a month after

carnival cruise ship was stranded at the. another one is stranded. carnivals dream was wrapping up its trip when the emergency diesel generator malfunctioned. things appear to be working normally, they say. while engineers work to fix the issue, carnival is giving stranded gas a refund and 50% off a future cruise as compensation. dennis: first prize is a cruise, second prize is two cruises. i am surprised they had anyone on board after the last one. apple on the defense. the iphone maker taking jobs at the competition as samsung gets ready to reveal its latest

smart phone. melissa: is president obama's approach working? we will get lou dobbs take. dennis: take a look at metals as we head to break. ♪ all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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♪ melissa: it is time to make some money with charles payne. he is looking at online auction site ebay. charles: there is a little pullback today for amazon. yahoo!. no one talks about ebay anymore. melissa: that is true. charles: cover core upgraded it to an overweight from an equal rate. i hate these guys who upgrade their stock in target goes from 5251. they are looking at 64 from 51.

from the conference call, they sort of talked about putting a little bit of margin pressure on paypal. the stock was down yesterday. this is much to do about nothing. paypal is still in amazing asset for them. dennis: it should be able to serve all kinds of sites. it is the biggest part of the company. charles: the old ebay may go back to present dispensers and irrelevant. for shareholder value, i think you have a great point. in the meantime, there is an analyst day. they have been great catalyst for stocks. if you are in it, i would definitely hold on to it. i like the volume today.

melissa: what you think about this record after record every day on the dow? charles: you know what, though, light volume has been the problem of this rally since march of 2009. it is not confirmed by volume. i think we have such a crash from 14,000 to 6000, we shook up so many sellers. there are just a few more fires and sellers. melissa: charles payne, thank you so much. dennis: as we do every day at every 15 minutes, let's check the markets. nicole petallides. nicole: let first take a look at apple. apple right now is up 1%. it is up over four dollars. some positive comments from one of the analysts.

they raise it from a buy to a neutral. they talked about earnings-per-share growth in 2014. many revenue opportunities. they still think that apple can bring it. apple can bring those revolutionary products. how about amazon. different picture here. it is pulling back. it has a downgrade. sitting at 267.82. jpmorgan is considered about amazon's profit. you are seeing them coming to the downside. back to you. dennis: thank you, nicole. melissa: the market for hot wings and hotpants is going well and global. we will follow the business all day tomorrow on fox business

showing you how you can make money on other people's sense. i went to hooters once in coaster rica. dennis: were you wearing hotpants? i haven't heard that in 20 years. melissa: i was wearing regular pants. i was just dressed for a cheeseburger. anyway. the iphone maker playing defense ahead of samsung's revealing of their new phone. dennis: facebook and twitter feeds. my beef with it all. that is next. ♪ it's a new day.

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>> 21 minutes past the hour. i am jamie colby. this is your fox news minute. pope francis stayed and roll, that with brief and prayed.

he is the first latin american pope. hope to 41% of the world 1.2 billion catholics. in washington today the judiciary committee approving a new assault weapons ban. the ban also bans large capacity ammunition bag of beans. measure predicted to be facing an uphill battle when it reaches the full senate. i am jamie colby. those are your headlines. back to melissa and dennis. dennis: thank you very much,

jamie. mortgage rates are on a rise. the highest level since august. freddie mac's chief economist says it is stronger signs of job growth and spending. melissa: apple is down playing samsung big launch today. shibani joshi has all the details. shibani: oh, how the mighty get defensive. the competition has never been more fierce. no new iphone will come out until probably later this summer. it has nothing to do but become offensive. an executive at the company saying to the "wall street journal" android is often given as a free replacement and the experience is not as good as

the iphone. people are buying these things like hot cakes for a variety of features, lower price point and they have a new device that is coming out this evening. it will be unveiled at a big splashy event. amongst some of the features, we think it will be 5 inches in size making it more of a stylus instead of a phone or tablet, possibly by scrolling features and a mega camera as well. melissa: trash talk all you want, people like those things. blackberry phones come out next week. our orders promising? shibani: it saw its biggest orders and company history. 1 million units placed by an

unknown establish partner. it could be anybody out there. again, a good start for the blackberry. melissa: shibani joshi, thank you so much. dennis: it turns out not everything you read on twitter. melissa: who knew. dennis: go figure. a 52 page report claiming the right to censor sponsored tweets. a false post on twitter is an offense. in the early 90s, we were passing off protecting the internet from government intrusion. they tell you to not there yet. do not hide it. they are just interfering so much. they believe they have the right to force 33 million loggers whenever they write a tweet to

expose that they got free nike sneakers. i think it will end up in court. melissa: okay. there you go. dennis: both parties duking it out in washington. lou dobbs will weigh in on president obama and his heading to capitol hill for the third time in his many days. melissa: what does america's debt crisis mean? congressman brady is working to find answers. that is coming up next. ♪

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dennis: time for stocks now. as we do every 15 minutes let's go to the floor of the new york stock exchange with nicole petallides. s&p 500 now is trying for a record itself. >> that is absolutely is. we're seeing the dow much of the same. the dow setting yet another record intraday high, trading as high as 14,523. you mentioned the s&p 500 just a few points away from its all-time high. granted at these moves these are multiyear highs, more than five-year highs on the s&p 500 which in percentage terms up one-third of 1%. new york composite index which comprises every single stock on the floor is up half a percent. it shows you the rally is

pretty broad based, drug stocks, they're all doing well, dennis? dennis: what about the bank stocks? >> look at one of the banks. i'm near the citigroup post. it is up 1% at 47.42. this is the one of the best performers in the banking stocks overall. certainly a winner. look at a lot of bank stocks are doing well. fed stress test is coming up. a lot of people expecting a lot of these banks will reinstate dividends or up dividends or even announce stock buy-backs. watch the group overall. they certainly give you a sense of the market one way or the other. this is market running hot, no doubt. especially with economic news trending better, you know, now finally we're starting to see a little recovery on main street as well as wall street. back to you. dennis: always nice to be back from the dead. thank you very much, nicole. treasury secretary jack lew hitting the ground run in his new role touring a siemens manufacturing facility today and peter

barnes is with him. he joins us from georgia with a preview. peter? >> reporter: that's right, dennis, the treasury secretary making his first road trip out of washington to the siemens plant outside of atlanta, georgia, to try to heighten and bring attention to some of the administration's major priorities. this is a plant that builds what are called traction drives for large electric motors, the kind that are used in, for example, amtrak trains and in hybrid buses. infrastructure spending is one of the president's top priorities and more investing in manufacturing, helping out the middle class is one of the messages here today with job training and highly-skilled, high paid jobs. this is a company, siemens, that is, in fact, doing a lot of job training here, paying higher wages and continuing to invest in the united states with 60,000 employees, and more than 10 plants. take a listen.

>> we've invested about $25 billion over the last, ten or 12 years here in the u.s., created, thousands of jobs in the last few years. built many new, large manufacturing, plants, and have upgraded and expanded many plants. so we think this is a great place to manufacture now. labor rates going up in china. transportation costs because of energy more expensive. this is still the biggest market in the world. so great opportunity to do business here but also to export. >> reporter: the treasury secretary is right there behind me. so may get a shot of him as he walks by. he is getting an explanation from one of the plant managesers. we'll sit down here in another hour or so to talk with him and that interview will be airing at 4:15 eastern time this afternoon. dennis, back to you. dennis: thanks for the plug, peter barnes. it has been 587 days since s&p downgraded the u.s. what will that new treasury

secretary do to get our aaa credit rating back. peter barnes will ask him at 4:15 eastern. don't miss it. melissa: my next guest think is it is important step to reducing the debt. he likens it to a 500 pound man to lose ten pounds. i love that. kevin brady is joint economic committee. he focused on other debt solutions. he joins me now exclusively. if you hear anything new, innovative or surprising in that hearing today? >> not necessarily surprising except across a very broad idealogical spectrum you've got consensus that when i asked the question, when does congress and the white house need to act to sustain, to make social security and medicare solvent over the long term, all of them is said now, this year. several said before june or july is the answer. the urgency of solving that is a consensus. second thing is, everyone is

concerned about the growth gap. we know economy is getting better that is good news. huge growth gap between this recovery and the average recovery, and even, more troubling, more evidence showing in the long term, america's economic potential may have shrunk by as much as a third. that has huge consequence. >> no, i want to pick up on that theme. we had pictures of distinguished panel testifying before you. one of them was douglas holtz-eakin, former director of the congressional budget office. he presented testimony, when the debt-to-gdp ratio exceeds 90% you sacrifice one point of growth off gdp. did you believe that testimony? did it have impact on people that were listening? >> yeah. it is empirical. the study of countries that got themselves deep in debt. global competitors find themselves in the same situation, their economy slows. like in your business when all your money is going to

debt and credit cards and interest payments and not to reinvesting in your company, your growth slows. same in america. but the impacts is that you've got one-third slower growth, for the country for the future. big impact on people's seeking jobs. you've got also a loss over time of 93 trillion dollars of federal revenues. that is bigger than all, to put it in perspective, bigger than all of our unfunded liabilities on social security, medicare and pensions. melissa: that companies from lost tax revenue because the economy is smaller? is that where you're getting the number from. >> yes. a mere 1% growth loss over time is huge impact on the economy and our ability to pay our bills. melissa: now you say this testimony is empirical. that is right in front of us and quantitative and not sub executive and people have to pay attention to that. that is not the case when you present it to the democrats and the president. they say cutting back on spending now would damage

growth and the economy and cost us jobs in the short term. how do you respond to that? >> well, basically what the witnesses today said, for the most part, is that congress and the white house is making progress on discretionary spending, more can be done. but they really felt, the focus needs to be on how we make social security, medicare, medicaid, solvent over the long time. there was one other area of treatment. asked, given the obamacare taxes that have kicked in, the new taxes from the fiscal cliff, absent fundamental tax reform, would raising taxes again be helpful to our economy? no one agreed with that. so, really is a focus on getting our spending, for social security and medicare under control, fundamental tax reform. melissa: yeah. i wonder if the other side of the aisle is listening? republicans as well who continue to spend and don't realize the price our children are going to pay. congressman, thanks so much for coming on. we appreciate your time. >> thank you, melissa, so

much. melissa: it is an important discussion. it is quantitative. that is why we're continuing it tonight on "money". i was talking about doug holtz-eakin. he will be joining us. he is the former director of the congressional budget office. he testified at the hearing we were just talking about. he is coming on 5:00 p.m. eastern right here on fox business, crunching the reality and the numbers behind the economic growth we're sacrificing in the future by spending all this money now. dennis: yep, can't wait to see that. melissa: yes. dennis: goldman sachs ceo said he developed a new policy on a pressing matter that affects employees, shareholders and investors around the world. what is it? charlie gasparino has the latest next. melissa: take a look at the 10-year and 30-year treasury as we head out to break here. we look at a dow up 51 points. yield on the ten year rising one basis point, over 2% now and the yield on the third year rising as well. we'll be right back is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money.

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we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally. >> good afternoon, i'm sandra smith with your fox business brief. boy, it is a bullish day on wall street with blue-chips extending gains into a 10th straight session while the s&p 500 is moving closer to its all-time high. the number of new foreclosure filings rising in february even as the housing market continues to recover. according to realtytrac filings are up 10% from january but still down 25% from a year ago. florida had the highest foreclosure rate for the

sixthth month in a row. walt disney delaying the launch of infinity gaming initiative to capitalize on more favorable retail season. the infinity game is disney's answer to activision sky lander. the new launch date will be august 18th. that is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper

dennis: now that lloyd blankfein says he plans to extend his controversial reign as chief executive at goldman sachs, nice to know he developed a new policy on one of more pressing matters affecting shareholders employees and investors around the world. what is that? not going to take away charlie gasparino's thunder. go ahead. >> or irony. what is fascinating about this, you generally don't see ceos wade into social

issues especially lloyd blankfein was under pressure on business practices and under investigation. he done that recently, came out in favor of gay marriage. basically said it was business issue. allows them to attract talented employees. i'll tell you this is unusual. that is what he says publicly, behind the scenes, let me get out some stuff and we should bat this around, and this is big issue affecting wall street, behind the scenes, people at goldman sachs are telling me the firm is being prodded and pushed by these social activists investors, unions, you name it. these sort of groups that really don't care about the share price. they want to transform corporate america and make it much more, much more left-of-center. dennis: other wall street firms could be under pressure too? >> they're all under pressure. look who is trying to force jamie dimon to split the ceo and chairman. well, it is one of the unions i believe.

you can go down the line. this is a pretty intense lobbying effort by unions, by the seiu, teamsters, afl-cio, other various lobbying groups. they are out there and they are pushing the buttons. these are the same people preventing wal-mart from opening up in brooklyn because of their policies towards unions. these are also, trying to get, these groups are trying to get these companies like goldman sachs, to stop giving to the business council and the business roundtable and all these major business groups, the u.s. chamber of commerce. so this is a concerted effort. we'll see more of this in the future. if you want to know why lloyd blankfein is wading into this, listen, i'll be honest with you, i'm pro gay marriage. i have, i advocate it but you have to ask why a ceo of a major company is trying to draw the connection between gay marriage and profits, okay? it is a hard, that is, i think it is hard to make that connection. dennis: could be a way to draw talented employees to

your firm if your firm is seen more progressive on issue and that issue is more important to the employee you're trying to recruit. >> if you're ceo of major company, i agree to a certain extent, there are 40,000 other issues more pressing for profits. he has his hands full. you have to ask yourself why he is coming out and in favor of this. dennis: so to speak. >> listen, i think lloyd, i know him a little bit, i think he would say he is socially liberal and fiscally conservative. but, generally, you know, listen there are a lot of right-wing causes out there, we're not talking about gun control, guns and stuff like that but there are issues that are right of center, like dealing with the budget. doing, family value issues. when was last time you saw a major corporate chieftan come out in favor of one of those right of center issues? dennis: yeah, okay. >> when was last time you've seen any of those guys, any of them say, come out --. melissa: chick-fil-a.

>> look what happened. dennis: to the other side. got pilloried. thank you very much, charlie gasparino. melissa: as we do every 15 minutes, let's check the markets. nicole petallides on floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole, you're watching a major mover. >> i'm watching retailer men's wearhouse which is down over last 52 weeks. 2013 has been a little better. today you can see, and some of that is because what we're seeing here today, it is up almost 20% now for mens warehouse off earlier highs of the day. they are shopping and looking for some alternatives, strategic alternative for their k and n business. they were -- k&g business. they tried promotions and customers didn't take to it. strategic alternatives gave the stock real boost. melissa: nicole, thanks so much. president obama heads to the capitol hill for the third straight day to talk with

congress. they highlight the major differences between the two parties. dennis: you're already looking at it, winners and losers on the nasdaq. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. reque a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. with investment information, risks, fees and expenses today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? t's go ahead andbring it on.

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melissa: president obama back on capitol hill today just wrapping up meeting with the senate republican conference. later this afternoon he will move to the house democratic conference. after three days of meetings and greetings on capitol% hill president obama and lawmakers have to be closer to coming to an agreement, right, on the budget? sure. time for lou dobbs. what do you think? >> i think it's great fun to look at these two budgets. we await anxiously the president's which we will get the week of april 8th,

but senate democrats and house republicans managed to put forward two budgets frankly live up to the billing. paul ryan, who is, i think it is wonderful that he aspires to balance the budget in ten years but he does so on the back of the president's signature law, which is obamacare, and its repeal. that is $1.8 trillion of the 4.9 trillion that he would cut in spending over the next decade. the democrats say the hell with it. we're going to spend. the united states will be a debtor nation in perpetuity. we don't care whether the result, is in effect servitude for the entire american nation, for as long as the eye can imagine, let alone see. so they lived up to their billing. big government for the democrats. unlimited spending, unlimited debt. and republicans wanting to refight the great battle of obamacare again rather than deal pragmaticly and

practically with the issues. dennis: so you think ryan should not have done that where he included in his budget obamacare. >> it's america. it's america, dennis. the i mean the chairman. budget committee can do whatever the heck he wants the problem is he will not get anything done. at some point you have to acknowledge what is, is, and it's a battle about 2014 and future and the republicans sure as heck better be about more than johnny-one-note party that keeps hectoring and lecturing us on debt. if this is what the president wants, let him roll. try to stop him as best they can, in the house of representatives. but campaign like hell for 2014, with new ideas and a new proposition for america. and i think that proposition should be prosperity, economic growth, and lay this thing where it belongs, right at feet of the president obama and the democratic party. melissa: now you have the

president today, you know, day three going around and glad-handing and -- >> charm offensive. more offensive than charm.% shouldn't it be offensive charm? melissa: making headway. dennis: i wonder who does more talking in the meetings where he wants to reach out? i get the feeling he does a lot of talking in all of those meetings. seems lying the fed will be the one who will force us to cut government spending, right? we spend as much now, 360 billion in a year on interest as we spent in 2000 when we had one-third as much debt. when interest rates go up because the fed starts to raise them, then suddenly interest costs soars and we have to cut. >> i think your anticipation is exact and appropriate. however, i think we have a sufficient window here, where we can credit the fed with the fact that we have equity markets that are starting to demonstrate something of a wealth effect. will they have to be reined in at some point? yes. we're not near that target which is interesting to me that the fed has a labor

market target for its monetary policy of 6 1/2% unemployment. we're a long ways from being at that in my opinion. melissa: yeah. dennis: have to cut before then. >> what we have to do is have some elections and sort this thing out because, the country --. melissa: we just had some elections. dennis: i don't want another election for a while. >> at some point are we going to say we'll put up with idiots like this, i'm refering to republicans and democrats. melissa: yeah. >> if people are determined to put up with these, this idiocy, we are consigned to hell but we've got to do better or we're not worthy of this constitutional republic that is ours to assure and to guaranty for the next generation. melissa: so i wonder how this particular budget gets resolved if at all? >> this budget well be resolved in the following way with a continuing resolution. we're going to move forward with the same nonsense from this president as we have in the previous four years of

his illustrious presidency. we'll see the same thing from the republicans, at least for the short term until they understand in the polls that the american people are sick of this silliness. quit refighting and refighting battles. either win some or shut up. dennis: einstein's definition of insanity. doing same thing over and over again expecting new results. melissa: lou done, you san see -- lou dobbs you can see him every day during this hour and 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern. tonight you have former governor of mississippi haley barbour. >> you got it. melissa: he will discuss the budget battles going on in washington. >> and the future of the republican party. melissa: really we look forward to that. dennis: what is the best money move to make right now? stifel nicolaus strategist kevin can rohn shares his picks next with ashley and traysy next on "fox biz." don't miss it.

ashley: good afternoon, everybody, i'm ashley webster. tracy: i'm tracy byrnes. stocks extending their record run with authority. the dow is up 48 points right now, trading above the 14,500 mark, just barely, about three points up. the s&p 500 is closing in on its record high as well. billion dollar manager kevin caron from stifel nicolaus says there is a clear way to play this market right now. his strategy is moments away. ashley: lobster on the menu for president obama's lunch with senate democrats, very nice, thank you very much. will be it be served with a side of progress on the budget talks? maybe just coleslaw. new details from capitol hill ahead. tracy: in this economy everyone is looking for ways to make extra cash. how about renting out your car? relay ride let's drivers do just that. its ceo is here. he will tell us much more and how his customers are making money.

that is coming up. ashley: don't want a smoker in the car but hey. dow is at record high and s&p 500 closing in on a new record. but so-called veer index, the -- fear index the vix is sending a different signal. nicole petallides is on the floor of the new york stock exchange and sandra smith is tracking the volatility index, the vix from our studios. let's begin with nicole. >> i want to break down the major market averages. they are up 48 points at 14,50. at our high point we were at 14,523. as you noted the s&p 500 not too far off from the record closing high of 1565. we have arrows and banks and drugs and oil services that index is higher. transportation index is gaining. we got in jobless claims this week. the weekly jobless claims

which showed claims were better than expected. so fewer claims came in than the estimates. that is something that helps us along. also we were looking here at other names such as overall the major market averages looking good here on wall street. that is the latest. back to you. ashley: nicole, thank you% very much. we just got breaking news for you. you saw at the bottom of your screen treasury secretary jack lew will be traveling to beijing march 19th and 20th. do in the miss peter barnes interview with the new treasury secretary lew. find out what he said about the spending debate, taxes, the dollar, and what he hopes to achieve in china. that is coming up at 4:15 eastern time here on fox business. tracy: two days. that is serious. ashley: it is. currency manipulation will be a big topic. tracy: can't wait to hear. let's talk about the vix. nicole mentioned it. it is trading at a six-year low. is that a positive signal for the markets or a sign of

investors total complacency? sandra smith has a look in today's trade. hey, sandy. >> it is a sign that investors are confident what is happening with the stock market especially because we're on a pace of 10th straight day of gains for the dow. this is the measures implied volatility on s&p 500 stock options. long story short called a fear gauge, what you will. it is 11.53. if investors get nervous about what is happening in the stock portfolio they buy options that causes volatility in the market. we're not seeing that happen right now. the vix is down 2 1/2% today. flip that screen, guys. go to a one-year chart. for the year the vix has gone down 2%. down 36% this year alone. here is a significant drop-off. if you branch it out even more and we always like to look at history what will happen now, barclays capital analysts are doing the same thing. they said we haven't seen the levels in the vix before the financial crisis hit.

meaning we were at the low levels, the financial crisis hit and dow plunged and volatility skyrocket, it went up to something crazy, guys, up nearly at 60 at one point. you've got the volatility index at historic lows at 11.53. now flip this chart to the dow versus the vix. this is why investors are saying the lack of nervousness is what is making them nervous. tracy: right. >> it can be used as an indication of a turnaround in the stock market. when the dow jones industrial average in the blue goes up, vix tends to go down. when you get to the low levels in the vix it might be the stock market might be turning around to come of the highs. barclays answered this question in a note. it said the game has changed for the vix at this point. you have got historic interest rates at historic lows here and abroad. tracy and ashley, they're basically saying that you can't use it as a contrarian indicator to indicate a turnaround in this skyrocketing dow market. don't get too nervous about the lack of nervousness is

base -- basically what barclays is saying. tracy: everything you learned about the stock market you have to throw out. >> it is a different environment. tracy: totally. fundamental analysis, you name it, it is gone. we're starting from square one. >> yep. ashley: rewriting the books. sandra, thank you very much. stocks are at all-time highs. as we noted the volatility index at a six-year low, how should you invest this market environment? joining us with his strategy, kevin caron, portfolio manager at stifel nicolaus. kevin, thank you. let's pick up the conversation about the vix. very, very low. is complacency a problem do you think? are we setting ourselves up for a big fall? >> it is hard to tell. the low vix gives traders something to worry about when they have nothing to worry about. what we've seen over the years has been a vix that tends to move much higher when there, when there's something in the environment that has got traders skiddish as we saw in 2007, 2008, again in the spring of

2010, 2011. right now we're down around to 11 on the vix that puts us where we were around 2007. the problem with using it as a gauge it could just stay here for quite a while and without anything to upset the applecart, if nothing were to happen we could stay here and languish with relatively low vix and decently performing stock ashley: the last time we saw a winning streak like this back in 1996, when then fed chairman greenspan after the infamous phrase, irrational exuberance, of course that was during the dot-com bubble but you know, fast forward to today's market. do you think stocks overpriced and are prices not supported by the fundamentals? >> no, i don't think so. if you look at where stocks are on the underpriced overpriced meter you're about in the middle, maybe slightly overpriced but not significantly. i think ultimately when you look at the fact that stocks really have not moved very much in the last 12 years,

although we certainly had a lot of volatility, when you look at the fact we have very, very low bond yields, when you look at the fact we had a full recovery in earnings, all those things suggest that stocks are relatively fairly valued at 13, 14, 15 times earnings depending upon which measure you pick. ashley: that said, let's get to some of your stock picks. the first one you like is norfolk southern, a railroad. why do you like this? >> we like norfolk southern, because of a variety of things. they have a great balance sheet. they're consistently profitable. we think the stock could work ten higher from here next 12 months. if you look at market place, intermodal is where it is at. it is getting harder and harder to move goods and services on major roadways particularly markets they operate in. if you look out the next en, ten, 20 years they have a natural monopoly they have a long run to exploit. ashley: next one, wal-mart.

we all know wal-mart. why do you like this play over someone like costco? >> i think it has a number about things. number one i think they're turning the ship around. they had some stumbling in terms of execution last few years. we think they have got those pssues under hand. if you look where they're growing, they're growing very nicely overseas where you have a rising consumer base. number three they're certainly the category killer in terms of the business that has the most clout in setting price in the marketplace. fantastic, fantastic brand. fantastic market clout and we think that is something that should be a core holding in a portfolio in a nice dividend to boot. ashley: finally, i wanted to mention triumph group. this is aerospace defense sector play. why do you like triumph? >> we think this company has a very big opportunity ahead of it in terms of selling into a recovering aerospace or expanding aerospace business at this point. boeing is a very large customer. they have got a very good backlog so therefore the

visibility is good and they have been consolidating their competitors over the last several years and provide a very good and solid array of inputs into all things aircraft related. so we think it is very well-positioned. we think the stock moves higher. great balance sheet, well-managed, good profitability. ashley: very good. three picks to consider. thanks very much for the information. kevin caron, stifel nicolaus. kevin, thank you. >> you're welcome. tracy: ashley, breaking news. michigan governor rick snyder appointed banking and restructuring lawyer kevin ore as detroit's emergency manager. this marks the state takeover of a detroit ultimately filing for municipal bankruptcy. michigan governor rick snyder announcing a emergency manager for detroit. we've been waiting to hear. ashley: it has been very contentious. the city council in detroit is pushing back saying we could handle it. ultimately that is where it's at. they have to do something. tracy: yep.

on deck, day three of president obama's charm offensive. day three apparently include lobster. he is on capitol hill. is he giving any real ground in the battle over spending cuts and tax hikes? ashley: bringing the charm and lobster i guess. natural gas prices spiking to a more three-month high so how high could they go? first as we do this time of day let's look how oil is trading, moving up, up 33 cents so far at 92.84 a barrel. we'll be right back i'm a conservative investor.

but that doesn't mean i don't want to make money. i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i also try to keep my costs down.

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>> i did not have the lobster. kind of a pain to eat that. i don't know how productive it was during the lunch session. president obama has been meeting with different factions on capitol hill past three days. this is the final day here. he has senate republicans now. he is off to the other side of capitol hill to meet with house democrats. over on the senate side they're discussing first time a democratic budget. at least the last four years. $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction democrats say. which also includes $100 billion in additional infrastructure and job training spending and $975 billion in spending cuts. $975 billion in tax increases. doesn't touch medicare like the ryan budget. house counterpart that republicans are pushing. leaves medicare basically where it is. republicans say that budget is fiscally dangerous. >> the senate democrat budget is more than just is disappointing is it is extreme, extreme. it is one of the most

extreme and left-wing budgets of the modern era. it say says something i think about today's washington democrats. >> the truth is, congressman ryan's fiscal plan relies on a lot of budgetary sleight of hand in order to create the illusion of a balanced budget. the document is filled with deceptive gimmicks, farfetched assumptions, and phony arithmetic. >> democrats don't like the house republican budget. republicans don't like the senate democrat budget. if all goes according to plan here on capitol hill, the house will pass its plan and senate will pass its plan and negotiators work out a common proposal although that could be farfetched at this point. back to you. tracy: certainly sounds like it. when they take the lobster bibs off and get the lobster out of their hair they will realize they're so far apart on this thing. ashley: very messy eaters. tracy: thanks, rich. you need a bib. ashley: of course you do. tracy: for more on the budget ahead this hour,

committee for responsible federal budget head maya mcginn necessary will tell us the best and worst ideas from both parties plans. ashley: all right. guess what? time to make money. that was quick, with charles payne. very quick money. this hour he has a sporting good store pick. what do you have, charles? >> this is kind of a risky idea, guys, you know earlier dick's sporting goods had a a disasterous earnings report. tracy: yes. >> this is reporting tomorrow. i throw the caveat out there initially right away. here is one of the differences. they are mostly in the south. overwhelming majority. 84 stores in texas, alabama and 92 in georgia. they have one in south dakota. the main reason dick's failed, they had all the winter stuff and it was too warm and they didn't sell it. i'm hoping that is one of the main differences. quick trivia for you, sunbelt states between now and 2030 will go up 19% in population where the snow belt states will go up 4%. they have got that

demographic trend thing working for them. the stock is trading higher. valuation, if you will than dick's. i think it is important they come up with a good number. it is a solid company. always delivered. doesn't, really has blockbuster earnings but i don't think they need blockbuster. the stock gets to 55 i think it is off to the races. ashley: we'll see what they have to say. tracy: interesting that cabela's did well. >> cabela's, when dick's reported they said their hunting segment was phenomenal. tracy: guns. >> i couldn't find guns at hibbett, which is shocking. they're all over alabama, texas and florida think they would have them automatically. what is going on? ashley: baseball stuff. >> you were down there. all over the place. guys in the south they play sports a little more than we do. all you do is watch college football. those athletes in alabama, phenomenal. you can tell who shops at hibbett's and who shops at dick's. ashley: great analogy, charles.

tracy: time to check the markets. first quarter coal petroleum on the floor of the exchange. up. >> if you're a bull, good for 401(k)s, iras, record day on wall street. let's look at check stocks. apple is up nearly 1%. they think apple has ref solution nary products in the -- revolutionary products in the pipeline. ever core raising ratings on ebay to overweight from equal weight. i want to get to amazon where jpmorgan cut its rating on amazon.com to neutral from overweight. worried about some of the gross margins going forward and tough competition and tough comps. back to you. tracy: nicole, see you in 15 minutes. coming up we've got one company helping drivers turn their cars into money-making machines. you know why i'm reading this, right? all about my car is sitting in the garage right now wasting away. real ride ceo tells us how big the company's growing

next. ashley: might be something for tracy to think about. look how the dollar is moving today. it is a little weaker. look at euro, back above the 1.30 mark. barely. pound struggling above 1.50 the dollar is a little weaker today. we'll be right back. @í

>> 20 one minutes past the hour. hi, everybody, i'm jamie colby. this is your fox news minute. president obama called the new chinese president today to congrat late him and discuss future of u.s. china relationship. in that call the president noted that new treasury secretary lew will visit china next week. we have another carnival cruise ship experiencing problems. the carnival dream stuck in a caribbean report after the diesel generator malfunctioned. they are arranging to fly passengers home from st. marten as engineers work to fix the issue. carnival is canceling the next scheduled voyage. pop francis stayed in rome and met with priests and prayed. the 76-year-old archbishop from buenos aires is the first latin american pope that is home to 41% of the

world's 1.2 billion catholics. they must be pretty happy there. back to tracy and ashley. tracy: jamie colby, thank you very much. some are looking to make money however they can. renting out extra rooms or even their car. that is the idea behind relayrides which spread through 50 states after launching a year ago. we have the ceo of relayrides and he joins us now. i love this notion. i drive into manhattan each day. my car sits in garage that i pay exorbitant money for and i take it home. someone could be using it right? >> you're the perfect candidate. we build the marketplace to enable people like you to rent out cars to neighbors or travelers in the city. our owners on the marketplace are able to make up to $1,000 a month renting out the car. tracy: let's talk about how this works. clearly you get a piece of

this, right? who makes the love connection? do you find me someone who wants to rent my car? >> yeah. think about it as ebay but for car rental. tracy: okay. >> so we built a marketplace that connects the buyer, who is the renter who wants to drive the car, with sort of the seller or the owner of the vehicle and we make that connection in our marketplace, in our mobile apps and on the web. we also prescreen all the drivers to make sure they have great driving history and driving records so that you can safely rent out your car to a prescreened driver. we also provide insurance at that covers both the renter and the owner for the rental. and so we really enable all of that to happen in our marketplace and we take our cut from the transaction. tracy: because insurance was a big issue to me. you're taking care of insurance, god forbid anything happens. >> yeah. tracy: how do i know the guy won't get in the car and eat a whopper, smoke a cigarette and my car will smell like crap on the way home? >> you know, that's a great question.

we have feedback civil from the marketplace. you can check everybody's feedback. you see many could men terri from the the owners and from renters. it functions very much like a ebay marketplace or a b and b. the based on feedback and transactions you can trust the other person. tracy: okay. you're kind of i would think in the market to take on zipcar, hertz, avis. is that the idea here, to make your place the optimal choice? >> we're trying to build a really large and disruptive new business and i think the opportunity is huge. the opportunity is to provide mobility with car rental to people around the country, around the world and we like to think about our market as a really huge market that can disrupt a lot of players that you mentioned. tracy: how did you come up with $1,000 a month? >> so, we have seen a lot of our owners, we're calling them power owners. these power owners began as someone like you who started

renting their car only when they're using it infrequently. and then they realize that they have actually very valuable car, very valuable location in the city. they decided to make their car more and more available and so if you make it available, you know, every day, you can make up to $1,000. some owners are buying second or third cars and becoming small fleet managers. they're making up to $60,000 a year. tracy: i think it's genius. i do. and i know you were ceo of shopping.com. so you clearly have some background in buying things off the web. andre, thank you for taking the time to be with us. >> thank you very much. ashley: that is great idea. why not? tracy: i don't know. ashley: whether you want strangers in your car though, that is a big issue, you're okay, you don't care, you're going to get money, great. tracy: in ideal world take it to the car wash with money you made. ashley: very good. don't forget all day tomorrow fox business will be reporting on business

behind america's biggest vices. in the 2:00 p.m. hour, two tobacco analysts, thomas malarkey and bonnie herzog weigh in how you can make money off america's tobacco addiction. the money behind kicking the habit. the ceo of electronic cigarette maker enjoy. craig weiss will tell us how far his company is growing. can't afford to miss it. here on fox business. tracy: that is cool. we had someone from reynolds american. you wonder is it a requirement to smoke? ashley: if you work there? tracy: if you work at reynolds do you have to smoke? ashley: i don't think that is the case. we should ask. tracy: product placement. coming up a new twist in the work life debate sparked by silicon valley's two most powerful women. the results of a surprising new study are next. ashley: will less stress results bring more cash from investors? liz macdonald is here with

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trace: dow 30 to going for its tenth straight positive gains. more green on the screen than red, that's for sure. mcdonald's down even though they introduced low-call sandwiches. if you add bacon, it might go back up. [laughter] all right. let's head back to the floor of the new york stock exchange where nicole coal petallides is standing by. >> reporter: [inaudible] broke through certain levels on the s&p, you expected it to go higher. but my first question is how do you feel about the fact that we're setting records and now

eight record closes for the dow in a row? >> well, right now we're in a technical trading range, and with a lack of participation that we've seen in there, i don't feel bad about it at all. >> reporter: fine? >> yeah. i think we're going to touch the all-time high on the s&p 500. once we touch there, we get into unchartered territory, so there's what we call severe overhead resistance. if we consolidate around that level and punch through it, then we could certainly see 1600 in the s&p 500 really quickly. >> reporter: oh, wow. you're not talking a pullback, you're talking a breakout. >> potentially. you know me, i always hedge. >> reporter: everybody does, i mean -- >> yeah. we have to see what happens when we dote to that revel. >> reporter: i've got to stop you right here. do you think we could actually see some major selloff, that people should be nervous here. >> >> i don't think a major selloff could be in the offing, but it could be a 5% selloff if we get up there, we fail, the sellers

take over, then we could see 5% down in the s&p 500 and then a real opportunity to get back in. >> reporter: then you back on the dips. >> of course. >> reporter: back to you. tracy: love that. thank you, nicole, we'll see you in 15 minutes. ashley: breaking news, oil closing up 51 cents at $93.03 a barrel, today's gains reverses yesterday's loss. we've been right around this $93 level for a while. all right, the federal reserve will release part two of its bank stress tests in an hour including plans for dividend increases and stock buybacks. e. mac's here with e. mac's bottom line. she's been digging into this. >> wall street analysts, this is what they're telling. here are the banks to watch, wells fargo, united bancorp state street, these are the banks that could be raising dividends and doing stock buybacks. let's drill into those names. jpmorgan chase may have a smaller stock buyback than the $15 billion it's been doing

through the first quarter of this year. why? the london whale loss. so they're being conservative. they still have a solid dividend. the other name we're not seeing in terms of the difd tend hike is citi group. but they are purchasing, get this, a nominal $25 million possibly in shares. that's nothing. they've got a $3 billion share float out there. that about covers their corporate executive pay, you know? tracy: so why bother? i mean, pr? >> yeah. just for pr. well, not pr, because they want to reduce the float and help out their investors. is this a meaningful exercise, what we're going through? listen to what dick bove told cheryl and dennis on the noon show. here's dick. >> we have a law which, in essence, requires these spanks to go back -- these banks to go back to the federal reserve once a year or to the federal banking authorities once a year to prove that they can stand a one in 100-year event. >> you know what? i mean, that's an interesting

way to look at it. others could say, hey, the stress tests were great because they gave confidence back into the banking sector, right? and reinstilled confidence in a shaky -- ashley: the bow i have thing is just -- bovey thing is just lip service. >> the way to look at it is, you know, they're supposed to be hitting this threshold level of 5.5%, you know? ashley: right. >> that's what their capital cushion should be. anybody who's near that, you will not see a big dividend increase or a big buyback plan. that's the way to read the numbers as they come out later in the day. you know, morgan stanley probably won't do anything because they're still buying that citigroup/smith varney unit. ashley: oh, that's right. tracy: what about bank of america? >> still not sure about that, still struggling with those bad assets. but the names that i just gave you are the hot players that people are watching for to see for dividend increases and stock buybacks. ashley: it's like a one-cent dividend right now?

very, very small. all right, e. mac, thank you very much. >> sure. tracy: all right, lizzie, and you'll be reporting on these bank results in just two hours from now. so facebook's sheryl sandberg and yahoo!'s marisa meyer have sparked new controversy about the roles of women in the pork place. according to a research poll out today, 37% of working mothers say they'd actually prefer to work full time. that's up from 21% in 2007. there are reasons, though, for working, and they're very different from those of the tech millionaires. roughly half of working mothers and fathers said they'd actually rather be home with their kids, but they have to work because they need the money. and while they say it's difficult to balance work and family, nearly three-quarters of mothers think they're doing a good job raising their kids. we try. you know what the problem is? you can't say it out loud though. you cannot say i would rather be home with my kids because then it appears you have no aspirations -- ashley: well, that's true, and it's not fair. in sweden, of course, they have

the most extensive social programs, but fathers get 240 days off for maternity leave, they get a government check, and they say you walk down stockholm in the middle of the day, and it's fathers pushing programs. they just hang out at the coffee bars and bond with their children. tracy: it's tough. it's a very tough choice. anybody says it's easy or that women are missing the boat, i think it's unfair because -- ashley: of course it is. double standard. tracy: yeah. each house is different. ashley: all right. nat gas trading at a three month high. one expert is not asking why prices are so high but why were they so low? tracy: and let's take a look at your ten and thirty-year treasuries. ten year is 2.02, and your 30-year also unchanged, 3.33%. we'll be right back. ♪ [ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ] ♪

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i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reity. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. >> i'm shibani joshi with your fox business brief. treasury secretary jack lew hitting the ground running in his new role, touring a siemens factory in georgia today. secretary lew will be making his first international trip next week with a visit to china where he'll meet with the nation's new leadership and senior economic officials. stay tuned to "after the bell" today when our own peter barnes has a one-on-one interview with the treasury secretary. and samsung is set to unveil its newest smartphone, the galaxy s4.

the device is widely expected to feature a 13 megapixel camera, and some analysts predict it could top ten million unit sales in the first month after its lawn after alone. that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

ashley: u.s. natural gas futures hitting a three and a half month high after government data showed inventories fell more than expected last week, so futures are up more than 10% so far this year. so can this rally keep going? kevin book, managing director of resource at clear view energy partners. kevin, thanks for being here. are we going to see these prices continue to climb? what do you think? >> yeah, i think expectations for natural gas prices that are going to keep falling as production keeps rising are

pretty unrealistic. in most parts of the world and in economic theory, supply curves don't slope downward. so, yeah, prices are normalizing now, and it's a result of a lot of things happening behind the scenes in the production side, and it's also part of the economy recovering, so you shouldn't be that sad about i. ashley: obviously. and look, natural gas seems to me in the united states of america to have somewhat of a bad rap. i think people are not sure of it, they're frightened of it. we have a massive abundance of this energy resource, don't we? >> yeah. the past has really scared a lot of people, and they're thinking about the three times in the last 15 years natural gas has broken more hearts than any starlet you can name. but this is different. we have a different resource, we have a new production technique from a different part of the source rock. it is a very different story, for sure. ashley: and what about exports? i mean, aside from what we're using here, and i know we could be using a whole lot more, how are the exports? are we increasing those? >> well, it's a lengthy process, unfortunately.

the current plan right now would involve going through a review with the department of energy and also review with the federal energy regulatory commission. it's relatively straight forward, it's about environmental soundness. the doe process is murkier. right now only one company has been given an export license, and there's currently more than a dozen waiting in the wings. so there's a political question being asked, and it's whether we can export our newfound bounty. right now the political leaders aren't sure. ashley: you know, i saw a report today there's a chinese firm, enn, that's planning to spend millions on these natural gas fueling stations for trucks along u.s. highways. it's fascinating. in other words, these big old semis, i guess, would be fueled by gas. and this seems to be happening. i've not heard about, but it's already, the infrastructure is starting to be put into place, and i would imagine that the potential for this is enormous. >> the potential is absolutely enormous. and it's actually happening

organically pretty much within defined routes where you have fleets that can buy the trucks and haul in predictable ways. down the road there's a couple things that could happen. railroads, freight local locomos could certainly open up a new market, but you want engine manufacturers buying into the idea this is worth investing in. we're probably looking at the tail end of the decade before this will become a meaningful part of the market. ashley: fascinating. and exports to mexico expected to double by next year, is that right? >> all this fight about lng, yeah, absolutely. they need it, we've got it, and it's coming mostly from texas which is close. so it makes all the economic sense in the world. ash ash very good, indeed. well, obviously, this story has a long way to go. kevin, thank you for joining us today. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. tracy: well, it's quarter til, time for stocks. we go back to gnu coal petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. >> reporter: hey, another headline for carnival cruise lines.

of course, everybody remembers when the ship was stuck out in the middle of the gulf of mexico. now about a month later, we have another situation where carnival's dream ship is actually sitting at the port in st. martin. now they're forced to fly some of the people that were on that ship to florida today, it was actually set to set sail today, but they did have some problems overnight where they had intermittent power to the elevators and toilets. they're working on it and, obviously, are getting the people off and back to the united states of america, but just another tough headline for carnival to deal with. back to you. tracy: i tell ya, the fact that anybody gets on a cruise ship, god bless your soul. ashley: very brave. tracy: all right. well, the federal trade commission out with new guidelines on advertising disclosure on social networks, and our dennis kneale is here. dennis, this is a problem. i'm not happy about it. >> maybe i'm just a little ornery, but in the 1990 the internet was free and unfettered. two decades later, the ftc

issuing new guidelines, this big report here, that require any ad on, say, twitter must also make all the same disclosures required in older media. but that's hard to do in twitter's 140-character limit. it could block some advertisers spirally from the next media revolution, hurting twitter's ad sales. and at what point do ftc rules end up violating the first amendment rights that protect truthful commercial speech? so a couple points for you. first, is the ftc drunk with power? it says its mission is to prevent bad business practices, not just crack down on actual wrongdoing, prevent. and it also says its authority is, quote, it covers virtually every sector of the economy. pretty sweeping. in fact, the u.s. has 33 million bloggers who get manager like 25 billion page views every month, and ftc says it can force them to disclose financial ties for the products they write about. it's impossible. and second, the new report says that if your ad can't fit in the

needed disclosure space, then, quote, that platform should not be used. bye-bye, twitter birdie. don't regulations, shouldn't they accommodate new technologies, not snuff them out in and third, ftc admits these new guidelines, quote, do not have the force and effect of law, but it says they'll prosecute anyway if you have the temerity to ignore these guidelines. so is this huge problem that forced the ftc to act? nope. scant few cases in the past four years and nickel and dime stuff. ann taylor loft gave gifts to bloggers who didn't disclose the gifts. but remember the whole mission is to prevent, which is why activist groups that believe consumers need the bubble wrap of government protection, they kind of like it. the thing is, twitter's own rules already require labeling an ad. let companies set their own policy than have government force it. ashley: they've got to have more important things to do than this. of. >> and they do a great job of going after ripoffs of -- [inaudible] for poor people that they're

wonderful. i don't think they need to be in this space yet. buyer beware. ashley: it's like trying to herd cats, isn't it? >> it's too much. you've got to come up with a different approach. you can't say the same disclosure requirements in all old media, maybe you've got to be more creative. ashley: like get up-to-date on the technology. >> yeah. ashley: thanks. tracy: herd cats, huh? both parties unveiling their budget plans, so will they find common ground on what's needed to cut our nation's massive deficit? ashley: take a look at some of today's winners and losers on the nasdaq. be right back.

tracy: as we reported, president

obama on capitol hill yet again today talking the budget. house republicans and senate democrats both releasing their proposals this week, but do these dueling budgets bring us any closer to a compromise? joining us now, maya3 macguineas, president of the committee for a responsible federal budget. quite a mission you're on here, and good luck with it, because it seems to me that we are more apart than we've ever been. let's go through each of them. let's start with the democrats. budget committee chair patty murray releases it, what do you like about this? >> well, listen, let's just start with the point that budgets are political documents, and these are documents that give both parties the space to say what they would like to vote for, how they say they would like to lay out their budget priorities. but they're not realistic reflections of where we're headed, and that's probably a good thing in many ways. tracy: sure. so what you're saying is they basically shoot high. they come out of the gate, might as well, right? that's the key to negotiation.

you ask for the sun, the moon and the stars because you know you've got to pull back. >> that's true, and also from a political point of view, i think it gives something for members to vote for, and when it's clear that it's not going to pass, the house or the senate budget is not going to move forward and actually become law in any form, it then allows them to say, well, we couldn't get our ideal budget done, so we can move forward and compromise. tracy: but doesn't this backfire a little bit? you know, the dems come out and say we're raising more taxes, and that infuriates the republicans, and then the dems get annoyed that the republicans aren't even talking tax increases, so everyone goes to their respective corners and just fumes. >> um, doesn't everything in washington backfire on the budget right now? [laughter] tracy: yes. >> yeah. and what we keep doing is we keep having moments where we could move forward, and instead the political process chooses to kind of make things more difficult. the budget process is no different. it's something that's or very political. this is a very political week.

that said, there are a lot of people who know we have to go through this budget process, look at these documents. but they want to get down to real business. they want to put those budgets aside or take the things that work from them and bring them to some kind of discussion about really what can get done. the question is how toxic the environment will get. and often times things get really nasty around budget season. i hope there are a lot of members who want to work on this issue, and the president has started to get involved again. i hope that this is a moment people can ratchet down the rhetoric so that we can leave some of the real issues on the table and start talking about how to restructure taxes, entitlements and spending. tracy: but we've been hoping for something like that every time a new issue comes up in d.c., and we never do it. what, to you, what would make this budget responsible? >> um, and you're right, this has sort of been the season of dashed hopes on this. we keep having moments where we really could move forward, and instead we take steps pack.

what would be serious in my mind is if we talked about realistic ways that we could reform our entitlement programs, our retirement and health care programs. because we're aging as a society, and our health care costs are growing too fast. we need to talk about how to reform our tax code, raise more revenues as part of an overall budget deal and look at all parts of the budget in a way that understands you can't undermine economic growth, and you need to protect people who depend on these programs. that's kind of a nod to the progressive and the conservative values that both need to be melded into one budget. compromise. it's not a bad word. you're not going to get a budget done unless both parties are willing to come a little bit towards each other. tracy: the problem though, maya, is it is a dirty word in d.c. ya mcginnis -- maya macguineas, maybe we should put outsiders on the budget committee. ashley: responsible is another dirty word down there. all right, listen, don't forget tomorrow fox business is devoting the whole day to the

business of vice. we'll be reporting on gambling, alcohol, adult entertainment and, oh, as much more. in the 2 p.m. hour we'll be talking tobacco with morris moore, plus a family-run boutique cigar brand run by a father and his two children. list set perez-carrillo will talk about how taxes are affecting the industry. don't miss it only right here on fox business. tracy: that's cool. what else is cool? cheryl casone. ""countdown to the closing bell" is up next. dow is up, don't go anywhere.