time is running out. congress begins a week-long recess, with the sequester deadline looming. in today's cover story, range anxiety: the latest charges for and against electric cars. plus, why online tax filing is opening the door to cyber-scams. and, meet your match. where to find investors who will fund your idea. first business starts now. you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning. it's tuesday, february 19th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: traders gear up for today's session following a 3-day weekend. the s&p 500 is on a winning streak. here's where we left off friday: stocks stayed close to the flat line, but beyond those numbers, the dow is down 2 weeks

in a row while the s&p has made gains 7 weeks in a row. gold and oil both sold off. and billionaire eddie lampert, who is running sears, is boosting his stake in gap. traders have plenty to keep them busy today. trader andrew keene, president of keeneonthemarket.com, joins us now. let's start with g20. what will the yen trade be off of that meeting that happened over the weekend? > > very, very simple: if i see a rally in the yen, the euro, or the british pound, i will be looking to get short all of those. i want to sell those on rallies. that has been working out. the yen hasn't gone up three straight days in three months. if you look at all those charts, top left to bottom right. that means they are all headed lower. > are you trading herba life with bill ackman on one side and carl ichan on the other? > > it was interesting on friday, it opened at around $48 befor the market opened at 6:00

a.m., then it sold off all day. when ichan got on tv, he said he was long it, but he was long it at $36. the stock got whacked, closed on the low of the day. i do have a position on it. this is more of a trade than a position for me. i don't think it gets under that $36 level. ichan has got huge pockets, way bigger pockets than ackman's. as mentioned, the end of the payroll tax holiday reportedly is causing a 'sales disaster' at walmart. in a compromise deal to avert the fiscal cliff, lawmakers increased the social security tax back to 6.2% from 4.2%. for 160 million americans, it means less money in their wallets. according to reports, it's having a direct effect on walmart shoppers, who are hardest hit by less money in their paychecks. bloomberg news reveals a walmart vp emailed colleagues: "february mtd sales are a total

disaster, the worst start to a month i have seen in my 7 years with the company." walmart responds: "often... internal communications... are not entirely accurate. they lack the proper context and represent individual opinions." congress now has even less time to tackle automatic spending

cuts, known as the sequester. congress returns from recess on february 25th, just 5 days before the cuts kick in on march 1st. it's just one of the issues facing lawmakers. president obama was in chicago friday, where he talked about a plan to increase the minimum wage. under his proposal, the wage would increase to 9 dollars, from $7.25. house speaker john boehner has said the plan would hinder companies from hiring. also, last week, the house voted in favor of freezing pay for federal workers, including members of congress. the bill is expected to be defeated by the senate.

economists are upbeat about the first half of 2013. they expect the gdp to show 2.1% growth in the current quarter, up from previous estimates of 1.7%, according to a survey from the philadelphia fed. second- quarter growth is pegged at 2.3%, up from 2%. growth for the entire year is expected to drop slightly to 1.9% from earlier forecasts of 2%. more than ever, as you are preparing your taxes, con artists are preparing to rip you off. jennifer waters is here with details. hi jen! how exactly does this work? what are they doing? > > good morning angie. i'll tell you, they are getting your name, and they're finding your social security number, and they're getting it from any number of ways - through breaches, a security breach somewhere, somebody may have broken into the insurance agency or medical files or something like that - and then they are electronically filing

your name and social security number, and they are making up how much money you might have made, what kind of deductions you might have had, and then having the refund go either directly to - a bogus account, but it is a temporary checking or savings account - or, more often, they are going to prepaid cards, which have no tracking whatsoever. > what is behind the trouble here? what is causing this? > > it really seems to be the e-filing. we have really see a lot more people e-file now than ever before. and you even look at how many problems there were with e-filing in 2008: the irs recorded about 48,000. last year they recorded 650,000. so you realize how fast it grows. this is an easy thing for the bad guys to do, and they do it. they will fill out 10, 12, 100, 200, in hopes of getting some money. it is a big payday for them. > jen, thanks for the tipoff. > > thank you.

a giant pension fund is casting doubt about disney. the california state teachers' retirement system opposes re- electing disney ceo robert iger to the company's board of directors. the pension system is the second largest in the nation, and holds a wide stake in disney. the fund says it's "troubled" that robert iger holds both the board chairman position and the role of ceo. it's cricizing executive pay and says the board lacks independence from iger. disney defends itself and says "iger's compensation is almost completely linked to disney's financial performance." the sec is suing traders over suspected insider trading in the heinz deal. last week, warren buffett's berkshire hathaway and 3g capital bought heinz for $23 billion. shares of heinz shot up 20% on the news. the new york times reports the sec is probing insider trading and the possiblity traders bought options and allegedly made $1.7 million on the move. the sec is freezing accounts in switzerland. the report also notes 3g has previously been involved in insider trading cases, including the takeover of burger king. the company had no response to the times' report. xoom lived up to its name in its first public day of trading. xoom opened at 21 dollars and soared 40% as investors hopped on the latest developments in cash-transfer technology. the ipo priced at 16

dollars a share, above the expected 13- to 15-dollar range. xoom trades under its name, ticker symbol "x-o-o-m," on the nasdaq. the chips are down for donald trump's atlantic city casino. trump plaza was recently sold to a california company for $20 million. it's the lowest price ever paid for a casino in the jersey gambling mecca. reports say trump entertianment resorts is $270 million dollars in debt. the donald has a 10% stake in the company. in our cover story, makers of electric and hybrid vehicles got a boost from one of their own, a solar energy systems ceo who organized a road rally in chicago. more than a dozen alternative fuel cars and one produce truck re-enacted an 1895 road rally through chicago and north suburban evanston - a rally inspired by david funcheon, whose company builds

solar thermal electric systems. "if i can't get people behind alternative energy cars, i can't get them interested in solar thermal systems." the rally, just 50 miles - barely into downtown chicago's closest northern suburb, was more parade than race. on a 25- degree day about 50 onlookers braved a sharp wind off the lake. fisker led at the half- way point, where someone asked evanston's mayor if the city's fleet was going green. "we've purchased hybrids. we can't afford the fisker, yet." there was a little controversy in the dueling blogs between tesla and a reporter's critical review of motor trends's 2013 car of the year in cold weather. but in general, dealers selling alternative fuel vehicles admit, it has not been easy to assure the public anxious over how far these cars can go and how long they take to charge. "if i have to wait a half-hour for a minimum charge, can you sell this car? let my answer a question with a question: on a

long drive, do you stop for coffee?" "it's still not like putting in gas, and it has to get to that point for people to feel comfortable." after 32 miles, lunch and a half-hour recharge. except for the mitsubishi, whose driver thought the race was over. at 45 miles, the mitsubishi pulled over to charge. it took ten minutes. they all crossed the finish line - and no stragglers. there was no trophy, no prize money. it really was more parade than race. there were 45 alternative energy vehicles at the recently concluded chicago auto show. the fda is giving the public until april 26th to voice comments and concerns about the so-called "frankenfish." aquabounty technologies has created hybrid salmon, trout and tilapia that grow faster than traditional fish. the fda claims the genetically engineered salmon is safe to eat and won't endanger the fish population. however, alaskan fishing groups

says gene splicing will hurt the industry. more u.s. workers are saying "i quit." about 53% of workers who left their jobs in december of 2012 did so voluntarily, and not due to layoffs or firing. that's up from about 37% in 2009, according to the u.s. department of labor. analysts say it signals faith in the economy. still to come, the hunt for the hot idea. why venture capitalists are ramping up the search for the next big thing. that's later. but first, why farmers are bracing for higher expenses in 2013. that's next with bill moller.

some quiet but very important changes are taking place down on the farm these days. they're prompted by the sky-high land prices that we have seen for the past few years, but also by new technologies and greater efficiencies. these changes are outlined in a report from the federal reserve bank of chicago. david oppedahl is the business economist who compiled the data. why don't you first talk, david, in general terms

about these changes and trends? > > agriculture is seeing a lot of activity in the last few years as some of the commodity prices have gone up a lot and you see corn and soybean growing in terms of the ability to grow, but then also as the prices have been higher, the yields are higher in general, but then this last year was a drought year, so that kind of set some momentum back. but overall, the land values have been rising, the efficiencies have been growing as equipment gets bigger, and we see agriculture changing over time. > and farms are getting larger. they are really scaling up. but at the same time, the family farm exists, they are just much larger family farms. > > yes. there is a lot of operations that can get very large, because they can bring in multiple family members. the children may be coming back to the farm now and seeing that as a more attractive option for a career. > and also risk, you're telling me, is changing, how that is being managed in agriculture. > > you have a situation where

you have a land owner on one side and many of the farmers on the other side wanting to farm those acres, and in order to have the operation function, you have to have this level of risk that, maybe the farmer is taking on more risk now in a cash mode of rental where they have to pay an up-front amount of cash and then the owner gets that automatically. but then you also have situations like the more traditional share operation, where the land owner puts in his own capital, and he shares in the returns then at the end of the summer. > does this essentially mean that agriculture in america is still, though much larger and getting more expensive, still pretty healthy? > > it is very healthy right now in general terms, but you do have some sectors, like the livestock sector, where the higher feed costs have really been hitting them, and we see that in the consumer price of meat products and some of the availability. so, it is definitely a very complex process, but at the same time, it is quite healthy overall.

> david oppedahl, from the fed here in chicago, thank you so much. > > you're welcome.

thank you bill. still ahead, if you think you've discovered the

next big idea, why buying a plane ticket should be high on your list. the reason is right after the break. money may be looking for you. you heard me right. there are investors on a serious hunt for businesses to back. john bintz, managing dirctor of valuation research, joins us on set this morning. good morning john. > > morning angie. > what are you seeing out there? where does this money want to go? what are the hot areas? > > the hot areas seem to be healthcare, technology, software, and energy. > i noticed you mentioned technology. we reported not too long ago that silicon valley is in a boom stage again. what do you see? how do you view the situation? > > it really is. they have all the money. a lot of the venture capital funds, the big ones, are getting more of the money because of their track records, and those are the companies that are backing some of these early stage vc, and some of their growth that they are in right now. but if you are an early-stage company, and you need to get capital, or you've got a commercialization of a product or a technology, i think san francisco and silicon valley is where most of the money is. > just buy the plane ticket? > > buy the plane ticket and get to silicon valley, because there is more of it there than here. not to say that you can't

raise money in other areas, but silicon valley and san francisco has a lot of it. > all right, and what do you recommend for somebody who wants to get prepared to maybe attract vc money? > > sure. in any company or any business that you are starting out, you have to have a product that works. you need a market, you need someone that is going to buy your product, hopefully more than the cost of goods sold. you have to have a great management team - that is what venture capital money is looking for - and then you have to have the ability to execute the strategy. so those are kind of the main things that they are looking for. > recently samsung announced that it was boosting its vc money by $100 million and is looking for companies to buy. is that a strategy you are seeing a lot of out there? > > there is venture-capital investors and buyers, and there is also strategic buyers and investors, and that is the corporate money. and the corporate balance sheets are chock full of cash, and they want to make sure that they are going to buy something that is synergistic to their businesses already, or if they want to expand into different verticals.

> so microsoft, google, they are always looking for start-up possibilities. > > always. constantly angie. all the time. > john, thanks for the information. > > you're welcome. how one trader hopes to make money on the economy through a housing stock and a car play. chart talk is next. i wanted to be in the military since i was a kid.

i served a total of 16 years. and at 19 years old, that's the first time i ever saw somebody die. coming back, i was raging. i started having pretty horrible nightmares. i started drinking a lot. i guess i never recognized it in myself. it all starts with going to the va. there's a whole community of veterans that just want to help you out. it's for the guys who couldn't come back, you owe it to them to live well. because they're not here with their families.

daniel stecich of tjm investments joins us to take a look at a couple of stocks you are currently trading. good to have you on the show this morning. > > thanks, glad to be here. > you have a homebuilder and an automaker. let's start with the automaker. it is ford. what do you see in the charts for this stock? > > you know what i like about ford is it is the only one of the three majors that didn't take any money from the government during the bailouts back in 2008, 2009. and it is a pretty solid company. they are

getting their debt under order, and now are starting to be profitable. the biggest thing against them right now is their european operations, but i think with the u.s. sales, they are going to do all right. > what is your position that you currently have on? > > i am long position, just outright stocks and a few options. and one of the reasons i am is, as i say, i am very confident about this company. cars in general, the average age of an auto i think is about 2.5 or 3.5 years older than it normally is, and should the economy start showing firmer strength, which i think it is, people are going to want to buy cars, and you'll start seeing that roll over. ford is well poised to make some money off of it. > what will be your sell signal on the stock? > > i guess the thing you have to look out for, if the government doesn't make nice, the market could take a pretty good hit, and the economy might start to get a little shaky again. at that point i will consider selling it. > what about hovnanian? this is another one of your big trades here. what do you see in the charts on this one?

> > hovnanian, it's another one of these parts of the economy that hasn't gained any type of steam or traction until now, and the housing industry in general. hovnanian's last earnings numbers were really good. they are coming up in a little while, here, a couple weeks, i believe. but, they are, again, well positioned for the economy, should we get that footing that i think is coming, people are buying newer homes, which kind of surprises me given there's so many out there. but the supply on every one of the homes, whether it be new homes or existing homes, is starting to pare down some. > thank you daniel, have a good trading day. > > thank you. appreciate it. it's closing time for us on this tuesday. coming up tomorrow, the booming business of knock-offs. how counterfiet electronics, clothes and shoes are robbing jobs. from all of us at first business, thanks for watching and have a great day!