down again today. [closing bell ringing] david: markets are trying to ease this thing into the green arrows. i don't think it is going to work but the bells are ringing. the people are happy. the market could have done a lot worse. it was a lot worse at various points. almost flat on the s&p and the dow. we had bear moves to the downside. nasdaq significant losses on the nasdaq, about half a percentage point. a lot of tech stocks getting crushed. we'll talk about that in detail coming up. russell 2000 not doing well either. that is small and mid-sized. when you think how bad the market has done and seemed to be gaining momentum on the downside in days past it, sunk very deeply to the downside by the end of the day, that did not happen today, sandy. sandra: no, it did not. if you look at the nasdaq, david, up days, nasdaq leads on up days and nasdaq down a -- david: we don't want to put

lipsticks on a pig but it could have been a lot worse. today's headlines, microsoft new ceo, sat yamana dell last, breaking with the past in his first public appearance as chief executive, announced office for independednt pad. the app is available for download right now. sandra: initial jobless claims dropped 10,000 last week to a seasonally at justed 311,000. it was the lowest since november. david: compared with earlier estimate of 2.4%. growth was still slightly below what economists had forecast. sandra: shares of baxter international surging after the company announced it is splitting in two. it is spinning off its biotech operations into a publicly-traded company and will focus on its core medical technology business. interesting timing on that with the big selloff in biotech. david: certainly is. the pharmaceutical giant glaxosmithkline recalling it's non-prescription weight-loss drug ally. is it ally or alley?

i think it is ally. the move in the u.s. reported that customers were finding other pills and tablets in some bottles. that is not good. sandra: bailout auto lender, alley financial, you got me then off, they will sell more than half the remaining shares. the treasury currently owns 37% of the stock that ipo could raise more than $37 billion. "after the bell" starts right now. david: charlie smith will tell us what he thinks is the only sector out there that he thinks is worth your money. gary kozlowski, from the cme. gary i want to start with you. why is the market kind of soft

today? >> we had positive numbers as soon as the jobless claims came out. nobody expected it to come down 11,000 the way that it did. we're winding down the first quarter right now. so we're going to see things pulling back a little bit. we have the weekend. like i said the end of the first quarter. and what we're looking at right now, there is lot of uncertainty and volume levels are coming down. there is not as many traders in. a lot of people are out on spring break right now. a couple things we'll be looking at tomorrow. we'll look at personal income spending. we'll be looking at consumer sentiment. one of the important things that has been kind of off the radar is farm rises right now. i don't know if anybody notice, in the last 10 days we have six limit up on futures in hogs right now. the price keeps climbing an climbing and climbing. there is concern about a ped virus. there is lot of feeling they're not reporting many cases as there are really out. there is lot going on. yes, bacon. keep your eyes on bacon, folks.

sorry to hear that. sandra: we can joke all day but serious implications for food inflation. you know, mark, but which look at these markets, you have to make some sense of this for us. we have a flat day in today's trading session. you look at the stock market so far this year. it has gone nowhere. everybody seems to want to put their money to work. where are you seeing opportunities right now? >> well, sandy, as you mentioned earlier on the market is flattish, but that doesn't mean it is indicative what is going on all over the world. as a matter of fact some markets away from the united states returns have been outstandings. we advocated a position actually in the european area as a to take advantage of a couple of things. one that european economy is growing, albeit at a very, very nascent pace at this juncture. we think it is showing continued signs of improvement. in fact the aggregate p m.i.a. cross the eurozone are indicating a growth rate of approaching 2% which for europe

is actually quite terrific. in addition to that a lot of great companies support valuations that are much cheaper than their u.s. counterparts. the combination of better news coming out of europe and prospect for multiple expansion which means we'll see returns from the euro area. that is where we find investment opportunities. in peripheral countries returns year-to-date are not just positive but up double digits. david: charlie, let's bring it home and dare we use the word, correction. do you see a correction coming? >> no, i would sort of echo mark's comments about trivial returns for the u.s. this year. we see fair value of s&p about 1935. 17 times $114 earnings number. consensus estimates for the s&p 500 are falling down. they fell four percentage points in the first quarter alone. we expect the consensus will continue to fall rest of this year and wind up this year at

about $114 in earnings. 17 multiple is perfectly reasonable. that is 3% to the upside this year. really not much to write home about jdey gary, in all of this we are watching gold. it fell below $1300 an ounce. on a day the market was flat you look elsewhere for activity and that certainly showed up in the goldmarkket. >> what i'm seeing in the goldmarkket, you have a lot of fund guys are selling out right now. the dollar is slowly gaining as u.s. economy is trying to gain. we're seeing a little bit of a selloff f it breaks for 12 eight at this we're see 1250. i don't think it will break it into the near future. i'm looking back up into 1350, possibly close to the 1391 range which was the high earlier this month. david: mark, i understand your enthusiasm for the market and growth. i believe in the u.s. economy and perseverance of u.s. companies that could push equities higher but a lot of

people are despite that moving into some defensive sectors. wouldn't you shift your portfolio to a bit more defensive right now? >> you know i've been reluctant to do that. we saw what happened last year when you had an uptick in interest rates. granted it was a rather violent one but it was those defensive sectors that are more interest-rate sensitive generally speaking got absolutely pummeled and in addition to that because we think it's a base case that the u.s. economy is poised to accelerate in 2014 over last year's growth rate we think that's going to benefit more pro-cyclical stance. david: but i'm wondering, forgive me for interrupting, mark, isn't that what the market already forecast? hasn't that increase in growth already been cooked into these market numbers? >> in fact i don't think that is the case. i think that was actually pulled into some of the returns for last year. so far this year, because we haven't had that positive impulse from better-than-expected economic news and we have fairly full

valuation of the u.s. equity market i think that cocktail has combined to really sort of make this market a trading range environment like we experienced so far year-to-date. i think we'll see bleeding through the economic data coming forward, better news economically. as a result that will be what is transpiring into higher equity prices. >> charlie, what do you get excited about right now? >> domestic energy. there's a lot of capital flowing into gas gathering and pipelines. there is big opportunity to put a lot of money to work there. very capital intensive. names like kinder morgan, charter industries based in cleveland. companies that build infrastructure for natural gas buildup that is continuing. david: charlie, are you a little bit concerned about housing? we have a housing guest coming up that says the housing recovery is over a little later. what do you think about housing right now? >> i think housing is a bit of a victim of its own success. 13% annualized increase in case-shiller over the last year

of the we really lost the first-time buyers, the move-up market isn't there. the housing movement is price than unit volume. until we get higher volumes of homes being built at lower prices people can afford i think there is a good chance that the housing recovery really does peter out. sandra: i'm partial to commodities talk right now because simply that's where we're seeing the most action and money moving around with equities flat today. looking at the oil market, what the heck is going on there? oil prices climb back up above $100 a barrel. we had extremely bearish oil report yesterday so what gives in the energy market? >> what we're seeing there is still a lot of talk, now that it is an election year you will hear a lot more about the keystone pipeline. it really does need to come into play. all the politicians up for election this year they will use it to for their advantage. what we've seen lately is a lot of train accidents, with petroleum. we're seeing a situation over in

europe and in russia right now and russia exports a lot of their fuel and natural gas, over to europe. so we're seeing those things just come into play right now. we're seeing the spread widen between brent and crude oil right now. sandra: yeah. >> so there's a lot. and the demand really isn't there here in the u.s. the refineries are down. they're having a tough time getting it into cushing. that was down 1.6 million barrels for the week yet we had build on inventory. there is lot going on. david: forgive me, i have to go back to mark luschini for a second, you have anti-russia energy play. gdp suez. very quickly tell us why you like it. >> french based company. basically largest energy infrastructure in the world today. about $66 billion market cap and as well about a five plus percent dividend yield. we think it is well-positioned to take advantage obviously of elevated oil prices but as well perhaps an energy buildout in the euro area.

david: there it is, gdp zy is the ticker symbol. thanks, guys. charlie and mark, and gary will be back in a few minutes when s&p futures close. thank you. sandra: average ceo made more than $10 million last year but the question is did they all deserve it? big payouts there. who are three ceos, we have somebody coming up pinpointing three ceos that may be destroying shareholder value. bottom line, are some of these ceos getting overpaid, david? david: are they worth it? return on investment, i don't think so? not in all cases anyway. this is what sandy was talking about. a new ruling has the potential to turn the multibillion-dollar college sports world upside down. are students employees of the university? if they play sports? if so, are they entitled to form or join a union? students as employees? what do you think? tell us what you think. the should the ncaa players be

allowed to unionize? is it time players got paid? tweet us, fbnatb. you're answers later this hour. sandra: at sandra fbn too. of five tech stocks with more than a 10%... change in after-market trading. ♪ all the tech stocks with a market cap... of at least 50 billion... are up on the day. 12 low-volume stocks... breaking into 52-week highs. six upcoming earnings plays... that recently gapped up. [ male announcer ] now the world is your trading floor. get real-time market scanning wherever you are

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guidance is let's head back to nicole petallides on the floor of the nyse for details. what is going on there , nicole? >> gamestop has been under pressure. talk about the fact they have done well with the new consoles and xbox one and playstation 4. they're waiting on new games to be all the rage as people get in there. people are downloading games now. they're going to other retailers for games. they also now , walmart for example, recently announced they will take in trade-in games,. stock is to the downside on latest report. david: s&p futures closing 30 seconds ago. gary kozlowski in pits of cme. how is it shaping up for tomorrow, gary? >> personal income that comes out at 7:30 central,

8:00 new york time. we'll look at consumer sentiment. that is one of the key numbers to focus in on. i do probably see the s&p and most other indices will be pulling down a little bit more for the weekend. we're coming to the close of the first quarter. a lot of fund guys will want to bailout, sit on sideline. wait until tuesday and jump back in real strong again. i see indices pulling back a little bit more. i will be surprised if it broke 1830 or below that would be tough number to get at. david: let's hope it doesn't go to 1830. sandra: thank you, gary. >> you betcha. sandra: earlier this week coca-cola found a public battle with date winters over proposed executive pay package. here is what he told our own maria bartiromo about the company's plan. >> essentially. david: taking from the shareholders pockets and transferring $24 billion over four years, maria, to management. david: wow, that's a lot of

money but looks like coca-cola may not be alone when allegedly overpaying ceos who don't return shareholder value. we have will ashford, investor place contributor. will, thanks for coming in. good to see you. not only corporations people have made this charge. i think of overpaid movie stars who don't get box office revenue but are still paid 20 million, whatever it is. it happens in sports. it happens in hollywood and happens here. talk about david winters charge about mukhtar kent at coca-cola? do you think that is true? by the way, the $24 billion is 12% of the company that would be going over to management if mukhtar kent has his way. go ahead. >> that's correct. basically he is talking about the 24, 2014 equity plan costing shareholders $13 billion as well as the previous years plans, in total, it is 24 billion as you say. and that's, diluting the stock

as much as 14-point% as david winters has said -- 14.2%. i think mukhtar kent made 29 or 27 million over the last three years on average. about 48% of that was in equity grants. the rest in cash compensation, et cetera. i don't necessarily think it is so much about the pay but rather if a man like david winters who does this for a living can't understand the proxy, and he has held shares of coke for a long time, then how are the rest of investors supposed to be following this? david: good question. sandra: will, let's get to the three ceos that you've identified. >> okay. sandra: that you, according to your research, believe are overpaid and destroying shareholder value. >> okay. let's start with, hga holdings. that is a hospital operator.

richard bracen is the ceo and he averaged 23 million over the last three years. about 70% of that was for equity grants. now that in itself isn't such a bad thing but since 2005, that company has issued 10.7 million shares. to senior management and just so happens that this past november hca repurchased the exact same amount of shares. so really, that repurchase program that it undertook, was nullified by all this ceo and executive compensation. really was a, you know, that share purchase, repurchase program did nothing for shareholders. david: that's really the point. whether there is return for the shareholders. if there is return, then you're willing to give the guy as much as it takes to make you money,

right? >> that's right. david: let's move on to another one, nuance communication, paul richie. >> nuance of course makes voice dixtation products. i use their dragon dictate for apple and it's a good product but they're not making money. carl icahn has bought 24% of the company. his son's on the board as well as another executive at icahn enterprises. and, if things don't improve, paul richie is going out of a job -- ricci. regardless of what paul ricci does to bring the business out of a funk, he will get time-based, time-based share grants worth $15.6 million. whether the shares move anywhere. so that -- sandra: we don't have that much time left but i want to get to your third ceo and company,

activision blizzard. this is the videogame-maker. >> yeah this one is interesting. robert kotick has been ceo since 1991. him and his partner buy a anklely, who is the chairman, bought 25% of activision back then. and, recently in october the company bought back the firm from vivendi. in 2012 he was paid $65 million as an inducement, including, sorry, 58 million in share grants as an inducement to sign the employment agreement. it just seems to me that someone who has been ceo since 1991, and you know, been that involved with the company, you really don't need to give them that kind of compensation, or that kind of inducement when he has been there so long and has got so much invested already in terms of his life. david: probably a has to do

with -- we'll talk about that some other time. nuance, probably true if carl icahn owns 24% of it he will not sit back to allow the company to go down because of some ceo's mishandling of the situation. so we will probably see that company, carl icahn step in if it doesn't make a lot of money. we have to leave it at that. will ash forth, investor place. >> thanks for having me. david: bombshell knaus about activist investors. we were just talking about carl icahn. "wall street journal" is reporting that some of the biggest names on the street share information and only handful of investors know about that the coauthor of that story joins news a moment. sandra: are college football players employees or are they students? should they be unionized? a landmark legal ruling could send the wind of change through college sports. we talk to an nfl agent who has the inside track. david: join us in that conversation. do you think the ncaa be allowed

to unionize? are the players students or employees? send us a mayesage on facebook.com/afterthebell. ♪ gunderman group is a go.

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david: northwestern football players are closer to forming a union. potentially game changing moment, national labor relations board they were actually employees of the university making them eligible to join a union. sandra: this opens the door for

a floodgate of changes. we have a person who has represented players from 12 nfl teams. eugene, your thoughts on this? >> i think it is a landmark decision. it is going to open up the door for collective bargaining of a multitude of matters including working conditions, state of facilities, are two-a-day practices thing of past, player safety, finally last but not least compensation. sandra: this is a mess. >> it is. it is. david: but the bottom line very simple students are not employees. you can get a job if you're working but you're not an employee of the university. you are a student. getting something from them. when you get something from somebody, you know you pay them, not the other way around. >> i think they're deeming students employees because of revenues they generate especially in big-mon sports such as football. you're generating billions of dollars. your annual scholarship is 75,000. david: should colleges become like class a teams for professional sports? >> no.

that is the downside. that is the risk to this decision. if players unionize you will see the same situation possibly you've seen in the nfl past several years in terms of labor unrest. the possibility of strikes by players. lockouts by college athletic departments. david: crazy. sandra: full disclosure. i was a division 1 ncaa athlete. i ran track-and-field for lsu. it was made very clear to me academics came first. athletics were second. i was not an employee of this university. i did receive money but that was to accommodate my situation at the university. what seems to me, could be a huge problem, by the way, lockout strikes could be in the future if this actually happens, what happens, you just think about the raw fundamentals of the teams. if all of a sudden you have a unionized team, they're going to have to play other unionized teams, you will have this whole new divided, college athletic society that will be horrible. >> the key point to remember is that the federal agency, the labor agency does not have

jurisdiction over public universities. so only private institutions such as northwestern or possibly my alma mater, notre dame can have the right to unionize. david: you know when it happens one place it bleeds over into other places. >> correct. david: that's, likely to happen. but i'm just wondering if the universities themselves, the private universities, will, challenge this? because they must be afraid about strikes. >> absolutely. the appeals are being written right now as we speak. they will definitely challenge this ruling. >> you cover all these gentlemen in the nfl. you must have your ear to the ground as far as what people think about a decision like this. guys that are in the nfl, that came out of ncaa athletics, would they be in favor of something like this, an afterthought? >> i think the aftermath or the effect of this decision is the fact that players will receive stipend. they will get paid. i think 100% of my clients are all for that. players receiving stipend on top of their scholarship. however the downside with labor

unrest, the possibility of pandora's box being open, slippery slope, that is aftermath we don't want to go down. david: there is another question. what it will do to the cost. frankly the thing that concerns me the most is the cost of tuition. as somebody that pays tuition, most people are most concerned what this does to tuition? do you think it is possible, very often when you have money coming into a university, whether government grants or more money for athletic program, all costs go up because the university says to the parents, look we're providing all this incredible stuff for your kid. therefore we can race the cost of tuition? >> i think that is correct, a very profound way of looking at it. the cost of providing athletes with salaries, stipends, that will be borne by the entire student population. sandra: people don't understand, the money brought in by football programs like lsu, that money goes to facilitate other problems that would not exist without those dollars coming

through. >> absolutely. sandra: not to mention academic programs and buildings, facilities built with money coming in from the football program. the non-athletes benefit from this as well. >> you will have title ix consideration as well should this go down. david: unbelievable. sandra: eugene lee. david: by the way, what do you think about the nfl thinks about this. >> i don't think the nfl wants to see this happen. david: why? >> they have seen enough in their situation between collective bargaining and the teams. david: interesting. you between lee, great to have you in. thank you very much. very interesting decision. looking at the recent housing data hard to argue that the recovery is going strong at least in housing. in fact we've already begun to see signs of a slowdown and d.c. is worried about the future of the economy specifically what is happening with housing but is it its own legislation part of the problem? sandra: plus, this is not technically insider trading. activist investors have been tipping off a select clientele about upcoming moves and it is making them a lot of money. details of this new

investigation which is not unlawful by the way, next. i ys say be thman with the plan

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david: we've been asking on facebook and twitter whether ncaa players should be allowed to unionize. chris kelly says, they're employees but scholarships should be considered income taxes and offset any other

compensation amounts. all or nothing. so if you want in on this conversation, there is still time. a lot to talk about here. fbnatb. give us a tweet. sandra: it is not called insider trading just yet but certain investors have been doing quite well based on tipoffs they have been receiving from activist investors whether to slam or praise a company publicly. so the tipped off investors get valuable information before a stock is about to potentially move that few other investors have at their disposal, david. david: so, is this kind of coordinated effort to move a stock legal? "wall street journal" detailed this strategy in a terrific front page report that appeared in today's edition. one of the coauthors of that report, susan pulliam, joins us now. susan, great to see you. congratulations. terrific piece, front page of "wall street journal." everybody should go out and get it. the tipoff, when activist

investor tip off whether they were about to buy a big chunk of it or sell a big chunk of it? is that legal? the sec is investigating whether or not it is legal? >> the rules the way they're written now it appears it would be legal. there are two areas potentially it could be a violation. one would be insider trading. it doesn't appear to be a violation of insider trading rules. there are two reasons. one to have insider trading violation you have to have a breach after duty. the person who is tipping, the other person needs to know they were required to keep this information secret. so that seems to be the problem here in terms of, you know, it being, not the problem but the good thing for activists being in terms of a violation. so i mean the rules don't really seem to cover this thing right now. sandra: in your research where did you find specific examples of this? i'm picturing an act very voice investor, i will use carl eye ahn cast -- carl icahn as a

example. he talks to his other buddies and says i am about to target this stock. tips off buddies, activist investors, whatever it may be, with this stock having a big move, where specifically are you seeing these cases? >> there is one case the sec is looking at. it was referred to them by bill ackman regarding herbalife. his lawyers wrote to the sec in the summer saying that an employee of the soros fund had tipped off a bunch of his buddies about the fact they were about to file a big or disclose a big stake in herbalife. so there's one investigation into this kind of general area but there has never been any cause brought by the sec that would include these kind -- david: i have to break in for a moment. we're talking about activist investors and big-time investors. steve cohen is one of them. he is still embroiled in all these lawsuits, sac capital founder. he bought a big stake, 5.3% stake, in zynga. and zynga is trading as you can

see, a little bit after-hours. this is according to reuters now. we haven't confirmed it independently but a 5.3% stake is not small matter. so we'll be watching what happens with that stock. back to susan now, actually 5% is an interesting number because the sec sort of uses that as the benchmark. if you go above 5%, you have to fulfill all kind of disclosure requirements that you don't if you have less than 5%. and the interesting point about that is because george soros's shares of herbalife chimed in at what, 4.9%? >> exactly. david: just below that disclosure point. >> that is exactly right. one. issues, you know, potentially that the sec would be looking at would be when he went and talked to these other investors and apparently, ackman's lawyers said that he was, this soros guy was urging his friend to go long as well. david: but, 49-point%, it didn't matter because he didn't have to disclose all that right? -- 4.9%. >> he didn't have to but he

diddies close it and went on another television station and disclosed it. but the idea if he was tipping off these other people about they could potentially this, has never happened, but could potentially, if they had, certain kind of discussion, be considered a group. then their stakes would be combined. sandra: this is really important investigation considering money managed by activist investors right now totals $93 billion. those are the figures in 2013. if this isn't illegal now and you've done this investigation and this reporting, is this something that could potentially be regulated by the sec, do you believe? >> i don't know. it could. i mean at this point there has never been, there has never been a case like this. they really never looked at the issue. they are looking at it with herbalife. there are some other things sort of swirling out there that suggests that they might be, you know, delving into this area. who knows. sandra: they have a job to

protect the individual investor, in my opinion, based on your reporting, an individual investor could be adversely affected by this activity. >> strikes you as a level of unfairness about it. if you've got this hugely market moving piece of information you can share with your buddy and there is no rule protecting average investor who is left out of that circle, seems kind of -- david: cooperation or collusion? that is really what the sec is trying to figure out. by the way, sec has sent out 25 sumps of hedge funders. they are not is thing back. susan, good to see you. thank you very much. with mortgage lending getting tighter and housing data starting to slow down has the housing recovery run its course? if it has who is to blame? sandra: top bank officials meeting at the annual financial services roundtable. our own peter barnes sat down with several ceos today. coming up, hear what they have

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he have. david: well there is no question lending standard have tightened up since new financial industry regulations like dodd-frank and bass saul three made i it harder for americans to get a mortgage. that has not stopped home prices

popping in recent years until this. pending home sales unexpectedly falling in february for the 8th straight month since october 2011. new home sales have dropped 3.3%. existing home sales are down 3.4%, reaching the weakest sales pace, sales pace, remember since july 2012. our next guest says bet used to it, folks, the housing market recovery is basically over. chris whalen, coauthor of the upcoming book, financial stability, fraud, confidence and the wealth of nations. good to see you, chris. thanks for coming in. what's causing the slowdown? >> it is more of a case we had somewhat of a abnormal recovery, david. you ticked off some of the metrics. new mortgage application, normally, march, april, you want to see very strong applications. they're running half of where they were last year. i think it is combination of very tight lending standards on one hand and flat economy on the other. jobs, income, those are really the key factors behind people

buying homes. and the other thing is, part of the reason prices have gone up on very, very low volume, we still have between 20 and 30% of all hopes in the u.s. underwater. they can't be sold. so you have a tight supply and in a lot of markets where people want to buy a house. david: god forbid, i'm not calling for help from washington because the most, dangerous words, i'm from washington and i'm here to help but the bottom line politicians love to fiddle around. what does the administration, starting at the top, what do they want to do about this? >> well it's a schizophrenic response. on one hand you have dodd-frank, the 2010 law, which is really messed up the housing market terribly. about a third of all americans shouldn't even bother trying to get a mortgage now because they can't qualify. the basal iii, which is the bank capital regulations, they make it very disadvantageous for banks to make mortgages except for rich people.

on the other hand though, this lady i was on a panel with tuesday at hud is trying to deal with tight lending standards. they're pulling in both directions, david. they are not going to fix this. we need a republican congress. we need to go back and look at parts of dodd-frank and fix them. it will take time. we're a democracy. unfortunately after the crisis we swung way, way too far in the direction of regulation. now we have a situation where, as i say, at least a third of all americans who could have qualified for a mortgage before can't. shouldn't even bother. david: try to figure out if there is any consistency in the administration's policy here because -- >> no, definitely not. david: one hand they're saying that the lending standard are too tight. on the other hand they fully supported dodd-frank which tightened the standards. >> well, it did. you see the problem with dodd-frank, david, as you know, it cut a supposed a consumer protection was the problem. it wasn't the problem. we had securities fraud. but nobody in the obama administration wants to talk

about that because they're too busy taking money from the big banks, right? both parties. so, you know, we have, really demonized the consumer piece. we had a settlement. we had all these other things that happened driving banks out of the mortgage biggs. on the other hand we haven't really addressed core problem of the crisis which people were creating a lot of toxic waste that almost cratered the world economy. consume remembers suffering here. people want to buy homes. david: we have to wrap up but i have to talk about another institution in washington, the federal reserve board. they will stop buying mortgage-backed securities. >> they have to. david: what happens to the housing market, how will that affect the housing market? >> banks are selling less and less paper. so the fed has to stop buying it, david. in fact their proportion of market is going up because banks are making fewer and fewer mortgages. it really only helped on the margins. the actually rate people get charged for a mortgage has not been affected by fed purchases.

i would say the fed actions could be wound down entirely. the market is tapering faster than the fed is. to quote my good friend jay brinkmann i was on a panel with him at american enterprise institute. david: chris whalen, we have to leave it at that wish it was more better news to report. thank you, chris. >> thank you, david. sandra: one day after the fed releases results of second round of stress tests we'll go to d.c. next to find out what all those banking ceos talked about today. david: also, ronald mcdonald is known all over the country as mascot of mcdonald's. one of the restaurant chain's top rivals is clowning around with a brad new campaign that targets mcdonald's. is this fair game? details when we go "off the desk." ♪ we asked people a question, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last.

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sandra: top officials from 100 banks and other financial institutions are in washington for the annual financial services roundtable. david: you are our own peter barnes is in d.c. he had a chance to sit down with some of the biggest names in the financial world. you're used to hobnobbing with some of the greats, peter. >> 100 people from the financial

services companies were in washington, d.c. for conferences with the financial services roundtable with meetings policy makers. they heard from janet yellen at a session this morning. she spoke to them a day after the fed announced it rejected capital plans from citigroup and four other big banks and foreign banks with u.s. operations. the fed rejected plans for citi and three foreign banks not for lack of capital but risk management and practices. the fed said citi for example, was weak in its ability to project revenue and losses its in global operations. now the fed's rulings and rejected banks next steps was part of the buzz at the conference. >> that's something they need to work on. and so they argue and methodology and have some objections about the way the stress tests are done. for those who didn't get the green light there, is more work to be done. you know, the tradition is, once they don't get the green light

they fix it and it gets reapproved down the road. i'm sure that will happen in this case. >> in fact the rejected banks must resubmit new plans to address the fed's concerns within 90 days. citi's ceo, michael corbett, did not attend today's conference, sandra and david. david: peter barnes, thank you very much. so we asked you on twitter or facebook, by the way we got more response to this tan ever. sandra: i'm telling you. david: do you think ncaa players should be allowed to unionize and players about time they got paid? james said if you pay student athletes and pay student musicians that form university concerts and student actors. >> slippery slope. david: that's true. sandra: ashton tweeted, not like you're allowed to miss practice to get extra lab time. sound like a job to me. agree to disagree on that. david: let's go "off the desk." taco bell launching its breakfast menu today and using the ronald macdonald name to

promote. i don't mean the mcdonald's clown. that will feature 25 different men from coast to coast, happen to have the same name as macdonald's mascot. >> i love that. david: this group of ronald macdonalds will be shown eating and enjoying different items from taco bell's breakfast menu. sandra: also "off the desk," musicians insisted their work should be treated like fine art. a hip-hop group is putting their money where their mouth is. they will only create one copy of long rumored, super top secret, 31-track album, once upon a time. one clan member said the long-awaited album will be collectors's item comparing it to scepter of a egyptian king. david: right. number one thing to watch tomorrow will be final reading of march consumer sentiment. it will be released at 9:55 a.m. eastern time. economists expecting sentiment to slide to 80.5, from 81.6 in

february. the preliminary reading for march was 79.9. thank you for coming in. sandra: thanks for having me again by the way. david: absolutely. appreciate you being here. sandra: "the willis report" is next a ron: i'm never alone with scottrade. i can always call or stop by my local office. they're nearby and ready to help. so when i have questions, i can talk to someone who knows exactly how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. that's why i'm with scottrade. announcer: ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates. but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still gonna give me a heart attack. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. she lovea lot of it's what you love about her.

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