earnings season kicks off. the crucial earnings that traders are tuning into. in today's cover story....are the skies friendly or becoming more surly--and where's our luggage? the results of a recent survey of the airline industry. plus....why energy companies are benefitting *big time from individual investors. and.... could a few raindrops have a trickle down effect on the price of corn. thats all ahead on todays first business! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas good morning. it's tuesday, april 9th. i'm chuck coppola, angela miles is off today. in today's first look: an earnings boost. stocks ended the session higher yesterday, after traders received positive earnings news from alcoa. the major indicies ended the day in the green. the dow up 48

points, s&p up 9, and nasdaq ending up 18 points. gold was up a dollar, oil, up 10 cents. sources say jc penney ceo ron johnson is out! jcp shares jumped 11% in after hours trading after cnbc reported that johnson will leave the company. interim ceo mike ullman will takeover the role. taking flight. united airlines will fly boeing's 787 dreamliner in a trip from denver to houston on may 31st. it is the first airline that will do so since the faa grounded the aircraft back in january. confirmed! the senate has confirmed former wall street prosecutor mary jo white to head the securities and exchange commission. let's jump on in and take a look at the markets with doug rothschild of performance trust investment. doug, you follow the bond market...it was a miserable jobs report friday---what kind of bond action did you see after the report? > >you did see a bad jobs report come out on friday and the market reacted, certainly the bonds. and you've seen

yields at their lowest point that we've seen in sevearl months and a pretty big---about 30 point move in the bond market in the last couple weeks. what's really driving that is thew swingback in sentiment of investors that the fed is going to continue its purchase program. and they're going to continue to buy bonds and keep rates low. > > earnings season kicks off this week. what are you watching? > > so you've heard about the big rotation of investors moving out of bonds and into stocks. we're gonna be watching earnings season to see if the earnings are gonna prove that out. we're looking for strong earnings potentially. you saw strong earnings in the fourth quarter but we think that some of that may have been driven by tax moves as people were taking advantage of the tax code changing at the year end which would have made earnings a little bit stronger in the fourth quarter. we're gonna see if that continues and then that would show true economic growth, will be contrary to the jobs report we just saw. so if earnings are strong we would continue to see the stock market obviously rally but if

their earnings are weak it could be just a rubber band effect from the fourth quarter when people were taking advantage of the tax code. > > so doug, which ones are you watching? you're gonna watch all the early earnings. alcoa obviously is an important number that has come out and they're a little better than expected so that's gonna be the theme. you got jp morgan later this week. some of the bigger names are gonna set the scene to see whether this is gonna be a positive cycle or not. if it's positive i expect people to continue to rotate out of bonds and into stocks and if not you've seen some contrary evidence with this jobs report that the economy may not be doing as well as we thought and you may see a pullback. > > we'll watch. doug rothschild performance trust investment. diane moca is here, with a closer look at the airline industry. diane? customer satisfaction in the airline industry has been taking off in recent years... and the 'airline quality rating' just- released shows the carriers 'generally' remain on track... though there are bumps along the way for some airlines... and a big 'question mark' for southwest. southwest appears to be flying

high... with on-time arrival and lost baggage rates both improved. but for american.. tied at the bottom of the list for delays... and for united... landing last in the rankings overall... the skies are not sunny. "united continues to get dogged with these problems. they make progress, and they seem to slip back. that's real disappointing to stockholders." southwest slid in the total rankings... too... but stayed on top in one measure -- fewest customer complaints.-- both last year and this year. "it's sort of a controlled chaos, with no seat assignments. they have fun with it. i hope they don't lose that." but some analysts think that could change... and consumers say they are already seeing signs. "they have the corny jokes and everything. but i don't know. i feel like the last flight i went on she was a little moody or something like that." southwest's latest ad campaign debuted during the nc-aa tournament... and featured serious nods to its recent upgrades... like inflight wi-fi -- but no silly ribbing of the

competition and no mention of its popular tagline -- 'bags fly free.' analysts expect this summer travel season to break records... if the momentum is not derailed by sequestration. the l-a times reports that federal budget cuts to airport screeners did not affect on- time performance over spring break... but could slow travelers... in the coming months. it's the fisker fizzle that's now turned into a fight in court about 160-employees laid-off friday from the anaheim, california carmaker have filed a class-action lawsuit saying the company didn't give them enough warning. the warn act mandates large companies give employees 60- days notice for mass layoffs. the lawsuit and layoffs are the latest depths to which the hybrid sports car maker has sunk. cars-dot-com says its a

symptom of slow demand and mismanagement. "i suspect it might be the end of fisker. it's headed to bankruptcy and i don't know who's around who'll want to buy its assets and continue building vehicles." despite government loans of nearly 200-million dollars, fisker got into its financial fix when it's electric battery supplier went under, compounded by stalled negotiations to sell the company to a chinese motor group. newly appointed treasury secretary jack lew is in europe this week. lew is set to meet with german and french officials today to discuss a pending free-trade agreement between the u.s. and europe. lew said this week that europe should focus on growth policies and ease off austerity

measures. meanwhile, portugal's prime minister is searching for budget cuts after a court ruled that proposed austerity measures were unconstitutional. " at the end of the day, the social unrest and the political unacceptance of these type of measures is going to have a say in whatever decision is going to be made regarding portugal." that was alexander mirtchev of the krull corporation. portugal's government now says it will cut spending on education, health and welfare. don't let investing's terrible two-some--greed and jealousy push you into investing based on emotion. it's especially tempting if you look around and see a bull market rally that have yet to get in on. be strong---that's the advice from brad glickman of bernard r. wolfe and associates who says it also applies when the market drops and your tolerance for risk and volitility is tested. "that's a great time to reexamine the overall investment strategy because you need to focus on the long term goals. when the markets fall people have a tendancy to do the wrong thing at the wrong time and they let their emotions dictate their investment allocation. and

that's when the advisor needs to come in and remind them what they need their money to do for them." a ten-year study just concluded by morningstar, found mutual funds generated higher returns than typical investors--- as much as two=- thousand dollars less on an initial 10-thousand dollar investment. could jamie dimon be on his way out at as ceo of jp morgan chase? the board of directors may be forced -- by an investor vote -- to appoint a separate chairman to help lead the bank. that according to analyst charles peabody in a note to clients. peabody went on to write that should such a vote happen... he believes dimon would leave within a year. dimon has been under pressure since the bank lost $6.2 billion last year on derivative bets -- due in part to a lapse in risk-controls. a spokesperson for jp morgan chase declined to comment on the note. analysts warn first quarter bank earnings will be bland. banks are being stung by near record low interest rates coupled with more regulation. the result, according to analysts, will be banks struggling with both earnings

and profits. factset predicts that financial sector profits will grow by only 3.8% in the first quarter -- down from a 16.6% rate increase in the fourth quarter. general electric will buy lufkin industries for $3 billion. by purchasing the oilfield equipment-maker... g-e is poised to grow its oil and gas operations. the sprawling company has become more focused under ceo jeffrey immelt, and is particularly focused on the business of mining difficult-to-reach oil. the environmental law foundation is taking the nation's largest baby food makers to court. according to the suit, dole foods, del monte and gerber, among others, are selling products that should have consumer warning labels about lead, as dictated by california law. the companies targeted in the suit maintain that the lead in their products is naturally occuring and does not pose "unacceptable" risks. the bench trial got underway yesterday.

its good news for the struggling newspaper business. newspapers saw the first revenue increase in a decade. consumers are reportedly signing up for more digital subscriptions, a sign that the "pay to read" model may actually be working. however, ad revenues are still lagging on the digital platform. j-c penney and and macy's continue to fight over martha stewart. the retailers were back in court yesterday after a mediation effort apparently failed. the question is whether macy's has an exclusive right to sell certain martha stewart branded merchandise. martha stewart omnimedia struck a deal with j-c penney last year to sell its branded products. macy's says that deal is a breach of contract it has to sell martha stewart products exclusively. martha stewart omnimedia made the deal with j-c penney when now ousted ceo ron johnson was at the helm. no word yet on how johnson's departuure might impact the case. britain's "iron lady" has died. margaret thatcher, england's first female prime minister, died yesterday after a stroke. she was 87.

politically formidable, and a strong proponent of free- markets, thatcher spent her career transforming britain's economy. she dubbed it "a culture of dependency" and set it on a course of far fewer government controls. if you could renovate fort knox to house all the gold in the world in a single vault, how big would it be? according to a tally by thomson reuters: the world's supply of gold could fit in a cube of 68 feet high, tall and wide.for those who like to measure their gold in sheer weight.it's about 3-7-7 million pounds or the weight of 26,250 elephants. the u-s geological survey thinks there's at least 114 million pounds of gold yet to be discovered. still to come farmers are preparing for a bumper crop this season....but could a little rain get in the way? find out later. but first....why more energy companies are tapping individuals for investments. thats next with bill moller.

the funding of renewable energy...large solar systems or wind farms. it's mostly indirect government funding or the money comes from wealthy investor groups. but wouldn't it be cool if you could invest and earn interest helping build a clean energy installation yourself? for a few months now a start-up in oakland california, mosaic, has made that happen through crowd- funding. and the interest and the money raised has been

explosive. billy parish is the co-founder. give us a sense of how explosive the growth has been for you in such a short amount of time. > > our first round of offerings which was $400,000 worth of investment was fully subscribed in less than 24 hours by over 400 people. so it's been hard to keep up with the interest. > > now you're scrounging around for new projects. do you have greater demand than the projects to be funded balance? > > we have over 12 thousand people already signed up for the next round of projects which show up next week so we're excited. we think it might happen again. > > is this because of the improved cost and performance and efficiency of solar energy? solar power---that's mostly where your projects are. or because you've tapped into this new otherwise unrecognized demand out there? > > i think it's some of both. the cost of solar has come down 80 percent in the last 4 years so solar is now just a much better investment for everyone.

but it is also something that people haven't been able to participate in until now. investing in clean energy projects has been a bank only game and there are a lot of people who want to go solar and who are looking for solid investments that they can believe in. solar represents a new asset class that people can invest in that there's a lot of interest in. > > quickly, give us an example of the roi you offer your small investors. > > to date it has been 4.5 to 6.38 percent annually. > > and is there a minimum level to participate or can somebody just write a check for 50 bucks? > > $25 minimum investment but we've had up to $ 250 thousand investment. > > it really speaks to the growth of interest in solar energy. i was reading an article not long ago, all kinds of people are getting involved now so this could be a real critical mass period in our history. > > absolutely. warren buffett has put 4 billion dollars into solar projects in california and now mosaic lets individuals

do the same thing. > > billy parish from mosaic thanks so much. thank you bill, still ahead....could april showers bring may profits? we'll get a check up on crops, right after this.

it's the most wonderful time of the year for corn planting.but its a wet week and that's delaying what could be the beginning of the biggest bumper crop of corn since the 1930's. jack scoville joins us---where are we in terms of the crop insurance threshold for

planting? > >really this is normally the time of year when the farmerjust begins to plant anyway so the crop insurance threshold is several weeks off. it's not something that we're worried about right now. > > would you be worried if you were a farmer about frost at this point? > >that's more of a possibility, especially conisdering the size of the system that's moving across. i know that that was a concern with wheat prices here on monday when wheat prices in kansas city went a lot higher and that was probably due to frost. nothing has really been planted yet so at least north of the mason dixon line anyway. and those areas even though they might get frost later on in the week its gonna forst on really just black dirt so its really not a concern just yet. > >all the same, i hear from farmers that they are anxious to get planted for corn this year. what's one week--if its a wet week in the heartland. what's one week's delay? > > one week delay at this time

of year really doesn't do all that much. i'm sure they would certainly welcome the precipitation. especially in areas west of the mississippi river where its still a little bit drier than normal. at this time of year though one week doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot. what it could do is push more of the pollinating corn into the hottest time of the year which is after the fourth of july here in the u.s.. that's when corn normally pollinates and its the hottest time of the year. the earlier you can get in the better chance you have of your corn pollinating in june which even though it can be warm is somewhat cooler than july usually is. > > that makes a lot of sense. what if everyone does plant? does that mean that prices will go down because we'll have too much of a good thing? > > i think that there's a lot of ideas. we could see new crop corn prices eventually trade significantly lower down to 450 or so. that seems to be the target for a lot of the bears here. and that's certainly possible if we get the corn

going in good shape. get it in, get it up,get through pollination with no problem we will be looking at the potential for a bumper crop and that's when you have a chance to see those types of prices. > > jack scoville, watching the weather along with commodities. thanks jack. up next....we'll get some earnings analysis as traders prepare for a flurry of news from corporate america. thats next in chart talk.

analysts are calling it the first big test. earnings season is happening now and it is coming right after the s &p 500 cleared 1500 just last week. with me is matt shapiro of mws capital. matt -- what do you think? alcoa is first out of the box. > > kind of like groundhog day--alcoa has fallen on tough times. its stock is 8 and a half dollars. seems to be in such a competitive business . nothing they can do even though its a great american company to get the stock going. revenues

weren't quite there---not a disaster. earnings were a little bit better than expected. but in terms of the overall earnings season, traders don't really take a look at it that much anymore. its the 80,90, 100 dollar stocks that are going to be crucial this quarter is the first quarter wheer earnings estimates are for a slight decline in the s &p 500. so if they come through just a little bit and we can show a little growth, that's the most important thing is showing a solid quarter overall for the components of the s &p 500. > > a couple others in the news---lufkin industries up after g-e announced aquisition of oil -well pumps manufacture---its stock is up. the sale is for 3.3 billion, that's $88.50 a share. not bad > > yeah, if you owned it the night before. ge is getting into the oilfield equipment business slowly and steadily and affecting margins. now there's entrenched players in the business, but ge is steadily getting in. but i don't think it's going to be easy.

obviously they have had these aquisitions paying a big premium for lufkin overnight but it seems to fit in to their industrial strategy. that said, ge's stock 23 its gonna be tough to get it to 30 over the next year or two. i know that's what the executives want to do but i guess just picking away here at the oil business. > > very good. matt shapiro of mws capital. thanks so much. it's time for us to call it quits for today. be sure to meet us back here tomorrow. we'll uncover why identity thieves are targeting children in a growing tax scam. from all of us at first business, thank you for watching.