president obama addresses the nation. it is our generations task to re-ignite the true engine of america's economic growth, a risingm thriving middle class. in today's cover story, reaction to the president's speech. will it prompt action or stir more debate in congress? plus, the threat of military budget cuts dealt a blow to defense stocks. is now the time to buy? you could soon be tuning into intel for your viewing pleasure. and, why the hottest new toys are turning down the tech. first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas.

good morning. it's wednesday, february 13th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look:president obama details an ambitious plan for america. now is our best chance for bi partisan comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit his solution to virtually every problem we face is for washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more. ahead of the speech, the dow closed above 14,000 yesterday. bank of america was one of the stocks propping up the blue chips. apple fell 2.5%, weighing on the nasdaq. the s&p gained 2 points, while gold and oil edged higher. and the boards of american airline's parent company, amr, and u.s. airways are scheduled for a separate meeting today to talk about a merger. larry shover of sfg alternatives joins us now for some trader

talk this morning. good to have you on the show post the president's speech last night. how much will it mean to the markets today? > > you know, it was a really great speech last night, but i think a lot of that was priced into the market, because president obama did lay out his proposals and his plan quite a while ago, and there really was nothing material that changed from what he had spoken about even a couple months ago. > the market seemed to be a little concerned about some statements out of the g-7. how is that playing out? > > it is funny, the market is concerned, but i think they are more concerned with the g20 that is coming up on friday. right now we are just stuck in a micro-range right now, because people don't know what to make of it. there are so many headlines coming out of europe. i don't think people know what end is up right now. > here is a big headline: opec is talking about all the demand out there for oil. what will that mean for oil prices? > > i do believe oil prices will go lower, but not right away. i

think it is going to take another three or four months until that oil can get down to port arthur into the refineries. right now it is stuck, like i said a few weeks ago, in cushing, oklahoma. it has nowhere to go. there is a lot of supply right now, it just can't get down to port arthur. it is going to take some time. > thank you larry. have a good day. > > you're welcome. in our cover story---president obama is set to visit asheville, north carolina, where he'll tour an auto parts manufacturer--building his case to strengthen the middle class---a case reiterated many times including last night in his state of the union speech. president obama reported the state of the union was better now than when he first took office. "we've cleared away the rubble of crisis...state of union is stronger." obama announced creating public and private sector manufacturing hubs in 15 cities, an energy policy that shifts cars off oil for good, and raising the minimum wage to $9.00 across the u-s with increases tied to the cost of

living. "it could mean the difference between food bank and getting ahead." the president announced a bi- partisan commission to improve voting delays and made this vow about the war in afghanistan. "over the next year, 34,000 will come home and by the end of next year, our war with afghanistan will be over." the president ended with a plea to reform gun laws "gabby giffords deserves a vote. aurora, oak creek, (etc) deserve a simple vote." florida senator marco rubio provided a republican response.

"obamacare is the reason companies 50 and larger aren't hiring. it's turning fulltime workers into part-time workers" observers say president obama has a limited window of opportunity to get it done. "simplify the tax code, certainty on that and spending that's what the economy needs." following the president's speech, senior white house advisors began a question and answer session via twitter, google-plus and facebook.it's called an "open for questions" marathon--a few of the subject areas--- jobs, energy, guns and immigration.it runs through friday. the ceo of apple was in the crowd as the president delivered his state of the union address. before heading to capitol hill as a guest of the first lady, tim cook was the

headliner at the goldman sachs technology and internet conference in san francisco. cook told analysts he's bullish on innovation at apple and apple stores need more space. he also fielded a number of questions about the company's massive $137 billion in cash. cook called the lawsuit by hedge fund manager david einhorn over giving shareholders more money a silly sideshow. apple officials will file a response to einhorn's lawsuit today. a hearing is set for next week. president obama steps in to combat the growing threat of cyber attacks, including those against the nation's banks. the president will release, possibly as soon as today, an executive order to help thwart further breaches. this is in reaction to the recent targeting of pnc, citizens' bank and fifth third banks, among others. the president is taking action in the wake of congress' failure to pass cyber defense legislation last year. mgraw hill, the company that owns standard and poor's credit

rating division, is lawyering up. the government is accusing s&p of cheating investors out of billions of dollars by issuing high credit ratings on bonds tied to risky mortgages. in a statement, mcgraw hill says: "claims that s&p deliberately kept ratings high when it knew they should be lower are simply not true." boeing continues traveling through turbulence with its dreamliners. the ntsb's investigation into the troubled jet is now reportedly focusing on tiny fiber-like formations that can form inside lithium batteries. they're called dendrites, and the formations can cause short circuits. the lithium batteries caught fire on past dreamliner jets. an update now on a seemingly never-ending carnival cruse. conditions are worsening for passengers stuck on this disabled triumph cruise ship. it's adrift in the gulf of mexico after a fire in the engine room knocked out the ship's propulsion system on sunday. running water, food and bathroom facilities are all severly limited for the more than 4,000 people on board. the

ceo of carnival says the ship will be towed by tug boat to a port in mobile, alabama, tomorrow. the u.s. is gaining power in the energy market. a new report by citigroup shows how rising oil and gas production, along with dropping demand, may mean the u.s. is moving closer to being an exporter of energy, as opposed to a large importer. analysts predict this could also push oil prices down dramatically. popular brands make up today's earnings wrap. sales of beauty products at avon were better than expected for the 4th quarter despite a decline in revenue. coca-cola revenues fizzled below the market's anticipation. some of that was caused by sales that are going flat in europe. however, coke's profits bubbled above estimates. and michael kors continues to strut down wall street. strong demand for its high-end clothes led to a leap in its sales numbers, its forecast for the year, and its stock. barclays is giving its business a makeover. in the wake of the libor scandal, the bank is restructuring to make up for losses. barclays is cutting

3700 jobs and downsizing its asian and european equities business. it's also shutting down 30% of its european branches. barclays was fined $451 million for rigging global interest rates. dell's deal is facing more scrutiny. the founder, michael dell, and silver lake are planning a $24-billion buyout that would take the company private. dell's third largest shareholder, t-rowe price group, believes dell is worth more money. the second largest shareholder, southeastern asset management, also opposes the current dell deal, along with at least six other investors. michael dell is in the process of shopping for better offers. starting today, shoppers can "tweet to buy." american express and twitter are teaming up for a social media shopping experiment. twitter users can now make a purchase just by tweeting a certain hashtag. it has to be linked to an american express account. the strategy will specialize in "flash sales" with certain products.

the toy industry is going retro. today wraps up this year's american international toy fair, and we've learned that when it comes to toys, what's old is new again. cabbage patch kids, fraggle rock and my little pony are all making a comeback. companies such as hasbro are re-launching brands to market popular playthings of years past to younger children. toy sales slipped in 2012, down 3.5% from the previous year. we asked a toy industry insider if children have made the switch from toys to tablets. "the toy industry has responded to kids playing with tablets and apps and things like that, so you're seeing kid tablets that are out there, you're seeing physical toys that interact with these devices. and you're also seeing traditional toys like board games that use licenses from popular apps." another bright spot for the toy industry: toys that require assembly and creativity. mattel has relaunched a hot wheels line that lets kids create their

own unique track. student loan procedures need a complete overhaul according to a new report. the respected institute for college access and success says that it should be easier and cheaper for students to go to college. among the many suggestions are to beef up pell grants and make the applicaton process easier. a different study, by wells fargo economists, says the student loan debt burden is increasing and shows no sign of easing. how about a latte with your burger? burger king is the latest fast food chain to introduce gourmet coffee to its menu. the burger chain is partnering with seattle's best coffee and will serve 10 coffee drinks. the move mimics mcdonald's' attempts to compete with starbucks. move over apple, intel plans to launch its own internet tv service sometime this year. the chip maker is developing a box

which would connect your tv to programming from the web, much of it bundled just as any cable company does today. however, the box also monitors viewing habits and may provide information to help advertizers target certain viewers. still to come, keeping the peace. how to avoid money conflicts in your relationship. that's later. but first, what do the kardashians, justin bieber and suze orman have in common? find out after the break.

what's with this debit card thing? we've got justin bieber, russel simmons, the kardashians, suze orman - why are all of these celebrities pushing their own debit cards? doug bobenhouse is president and co- founder of synchology, which creates a type of branded pre- paid debit card. so, are these celebs getting into the banking business to make money here? > > i think they are mostly getting into it to be closer to their fans. they want to issue a card that allows the celebrity's face to appear on the card. when the person uses the card, they think of the celebrity. > why now? > > there are a lot of changes that have been happening in the banking world, and i think there is a younger audience that is maybe not appropriate for a regular bank account. there are overdraft fees and things like that that happen with a

checking account if they spend too much money. you can't do that with a prepaid card. > and how cool is it to whip out that bieber card? but you are also taking advantage of these changes in banking laws. you are doing sort of a different thing with retailers and rewards. > > right. our intent is to partner with retailers that have existing reward programs and issue a card with their brand on it. retailer xyz would have their own card. then, when you are buying groceries, you are earning the rewards that you would normally earn from frequency. if you go to a shop a lot, a lot of times they will give you points or rewards for shopping just with them. our intent is basically to bring new funding into their situations, so that when you are buying groceries or paying bills with our card, you are earning rewards with the partner. > all these advantages to using these debit cards that are not bank debit cards - though they are issued through a bank - are

banks fighting back? is this sort of territory that they would like to recapture? > > the problem is that there was something called the durbin amendment that happened a year or so ago, and what it did is it limited the amount of money that a large bank can make from a debit transaction. so, therefore, you have seen a lot of large banks eliminate their reward programs. so you can't earn rewards with your large bank debit card anymore. > and that has opened up the field to other players. very interesting. what is the growth potential here do you think? > > it is really large. prepaid is actually the largest growing segment. i was just at the visa prepaid forum out in arizona, where it was much warmer, and they had a- basically they said that the prepaid part is the largest growing part of their whole portfolio. so prepaid beats debit and it beats credit. > wow. doug bobenhouse from synchology. thanks so much. > > sure. thanks for having me on. thank you bill. still ahead, is money a stressor in your relationship? find out how to talk it out - next.

you've likely heard of the 5 love languages. well, we are putting a twist on that today. we are going to talk about money love languages with joe duran. good to have you on the show this morning! > > hi, it's great to be on. > now you actually say that people have to have a certain money mind... > > every human being has a bias when it comes to money based on how we think and make decisions about money, and that really came from the way we grew up and some of the things that have happened to us. but that perspective affects everything

and every decision we make. either you are a giver, you are a protector, or you are a pleasure seeker. > how do people determine that, what category they fall into? > > you can go online - it's totally free - to honestconversations.com, and it will walk you through a very quick quiz that will tell you how you think about money, and most importantly, how it affects your decision making and how people should interact with you so that they maximize the outcome without creating a battle or a fight, because very often money is a very emotional thing, and we end up having a much more to of discussions and we need to have when it comes to money. > why is it so emotional? > > i think it is emotional because we grew up in an environment where most people didn't talk about money comfortably. second, it is an intersection between what you think and what you feel, and so there is this whole value confusion that occurs, and it always feels personal when somebody says you spend too much money or you don't know how

to enjoy life. it feels very personal, and so knowing how to distance the emotions from the decision making is really important, or you will repeat this pattern of making the same mistakes over and over again. > what is the best way to bring up the topic of money in spending? > > the first is to do it in a non-charged environment. so what we would tell people is, have a scheduled time to do it. i meet with my wife of 20 years every week, but for most people once a month or once a quarter would be enough. second, make sure that you understand the other person's money mind, so that when you approach a sensitive area, you do it in their language. third, use a checklist. we have a check list - it's totally free - for individuals as well as for couples, so that it is done in a very pragmatic way. as soon as emotions start getting involved, step away and say "let's get back to this in a little bit." > thanks joe. that is joe duran, and you can find more in his book "money code." thanks again. > > thank you and have a great day. coming up in chart talk, why stocks tied to the military are showing profit potential formations. first business

continues after this.

alan knuckman of option shop joins us now for chart talk. good morning to you. and you have a defensive play for us. you are watching raytheon. what do you think about this sector after hearing the president speak last night? > > i think this sector has gotten beaten down a little bit here. it is down nearly 13% from december 20th because people are concerned that military spending cuts are going to hurt profitability. but looking at these shares and looking at the charts, i think it has a nice support base to lean on based on the $60 highs and the $40 lows from 2011. that puts a support base at that halfway point at $50 a share, and we are at just about that right now. > is raytheon the best one of the bunch, or should investors look at all military stocks? > > i think the sector could have some opportunity after a bit of a pullback, as does

everything in the marketplace, we want to see it at a discount. but this stock in particular is holding that $50 level, and that is important to me, because i can buy that $50 call - it gives me the right to be long from $50 - the january $50 call for about $575. and right now we are trading about $54. so the break-even on this option, for a january option, nearly a year away, is only $1.25 higher. i am looking for this to recover to $60, and then go back to these highs at $67 from many years ago. > good to have you on the show. that is alan knuckman of option shop. have a good trading day alan. > > thank you. that's a wrap for today. coming up in movies & money, why this film may be the first major hit of 2013. from all of us at first business, have a wonderful wednesday.