oil companies fall under intense scrutiny as accusations of price fixing surface. in today's cover story, the under-reported battle female veterans face with unemployment. plus, irs outrage grows as lawmakers from both parties go into attack mode. and, it's waistline versus the bottom line as corporate america gets on a fitness kick. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning. it's wednesday,

may 15th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look, this stock market is turbo-charged. stocks reached new records in what became the 18th tuesday rally of the year. gold drifted down $9 and oil 94 cents. walmart launches investigations into all of its factories in bangladesh following the tragic building collapse that killed more than a thousand workers. the google developer's conference starts today, with word from ceo larry page he has a rare vocal nerve condition. and, boeing resumes delivering its dreamliners to customers after the jets were grounded in january due to overheating batteries. tim mulholland of china america capital joins us now. tim, everybody is watching this aussie dollar. if it moves in the stock market, is it predicting a slide? - i'm not so sure that is the case. there is a lowering of interest rates. the aussie has been a huge performer over the past five years, if not the past 10 years. i think what happened to australia was the overestimated demand for commodities in china. i thinkuco

the decline we've seen, especially in the metals. so, i think they're susceptible to the mining commodity segment of the market, so i think it is suffering somewhat there. but what it portrays for the entire market itself, i don't think it tells us anything that we don't already know, that the global economy is still anything but stable, and that really what is the driving force behind the, especially equity, markets, is really the fed easing and zero interest rates. - as you know, it's not just the u.s. market that is on fire here, but also overseas markets, with the dax reaching a high, and all-time high, in germany. what do you think about that, and will it continue on? - you know, i think, again, that's a product of the central bank liquidity that's in the market, because certainly there is nothing to get excited about in the european economy. and also, from the dax and germany's standpoint, what is going on with the yen i think is also going to hurt their international competitiveness for exports as well. so, i

think it is really driven pretty much by liquidity, and i think the lesson for everybody is that economic growth doesn't translate into higher equity prices. in fact, it is probably lower economic growth. and if we do get higher growth, i would probably look for the markets to start rolling over at that point. but, again, i think it is really about liquidity in these markets that have no where else to go from these zero interest rates. - thanks tim. have a good trading day. - sure. shock waves are rippling through the oil trading market this morning. european officials have launched a full investigation into alleged crude oil price manipulation that may have been going on for more than a decade. e.u. authorities reportedly raided several major oil companies in london, the netherlands and norway. bp, shell, statoil and price reporting agency platts all confirmed to reporters being under investigation. shell's statement reads it's "assisting an inquiry into trading activities." bp states: "we are co-operating fully with the investigation." statoil reports "authorities suspect anti- competitive agreements." oil traders at total sa in france reportedly told regulators last

fall "several times a of line." reaction to allegations of oil price fixing is reaching u.s. shores. "i think shock and disgust. i don't know if it's going to have a real market impact short- term, but long-term it's raising the creditability of some of these markets." that reaction from phil flynn, a prominate oil trader and fox busines news contributor. it's reported price collusion was happening in crude oil, refined products and biofuels. a multi-layered investigation is happening now into exactly how workers at the irs targeted conservative groups. at a news conference tuesday, attorney general eric holder said he has ordered an fbi and justice department investigation. "i think, as everyone can agree, if not criminal, they were certainly outrageous and unacceptable, but we are examining the facts to see if there were any criminal violations." the acting chief of the irs acknowleged "a lack of

sensitivity" in the agency's screenings of political groups seeking tax-exempt status and says "those mistakes won't be repeated." the story came to light last week that the irs was apparently singling out conservative groups that used words such as "patriot" or "tea party." "no stonewalling, no more incomplete answers, no more misleading responses, no holding back witnesses, no matter how senior their current or former positions. we need full transparancy and we need full cooperation." there are calls for at least 2 congressional hearings. the first could begin by friday. the unemployment rate for veterans is consistently higher than for the general population. at last check, it was 9.9%. but it's even higher among women who are veterans. our cover story explores an effort by one group trying to change that and create paths for

women veterans on the job. after 18 years in the army and navy, pamela jones knew all about organization, management and leadership. but convincing a lender to loan the $20,000 it took for a truck and equipment took help from the women's business development center, a chicago group helping women launch businesses for more than a quarter century. "i actually went door-to-door, getting one store at a time to take on the product. " now, 4.5 years later, pamela jones' line of barbecue and other sauces are in more than a hundred stores, and she plans to double that within a year. "would you like to try a bbq sauce?" "the military gives you self- confidence and structure, and i transferred that to the civilian world." but pamela jones is the exception. last year, a clinton foundation survey found once women leave military service, more than 35% of them remain unemployed. "frequently, women complete their military service and don't know about the benefits

which they're owed." there are job fairs aimed at the more than 80% of veterans who are men, but few aimed to help women vets. the women's business development center is trying to change that, helping andrea brown transition from the army to owning one of the busiest midas automotive shops in chicago. "the army has given me skills. why not use them for my own business, rather than clock in for someone else?" it is a program that began earlier this year. so far, it's reached out to 150 women veterans, and includes classes in developing a business model, tweaking it to accomodate changes in the marketplace, micro-lending, mentoring and childcare. defense department employees get a furlough reprieve. originally facing 14 furlough days, workers will now be out for only 11. the defense

department is the largest federal agency and must cut $41 billion by the end of the summer to align with sequestration budget cuts. meat inspectors and air traffic controllers have also been granted furlough exemptions. texas is "on the map" when it comes to the housing recovery. four texas cities are included in the list of top markets for new home sales. houston topped the list, along with dallas, san antonio and austin. those markets are facing growing labor markets and higher rates of affordability. one of the new darlings of venture capital is cyber- security. just about any company or government agency that uses computers is interested in cyber security. one researcher, quoted by usa today, says that by 2016, global cyber security spending will reach $85 billion. that's up from about $65.7 billion this year. venture capitalists have taken note and are investing accordingly.

blackerry unveils a new, cheaper model of its flagship phone. called the q5, the device is meant for consumers in emerging markets. the phone will be available in select areas later this summer. the company also says it will make its once-popular blackberry messenger service, or bbm, available for iphones and google android devices. dell surprised wall street with a plan to release its earnings report tomorrow. results were not due until next tuesday. no reason was given for upping the date, but the computer company is in the midst of a takeover bidding war between ceo and founder michael dell and shareholder activist carl ichan. a shareholder activist has his eyes on sony's entertainment unit. that's the side responsible for film, tv shows and music. billionaire hedge fund manager daniel loeb reportedly has taken a 6.4% stake in the company. he's urging sony to spin off its entertainment division into a separate firm from sony's struggling electronics and manufacturing division. loeb

led the charge to bring marissa mayer to yahoo. in the latest makeover move at yahoo, the chief financial officer says the company wants to be "cool again." citing the aging demographic of its customers for its loss of cool status, the company plans to target younger users in the 18- to 34-year-old bracket. yahoo is in a multi-year campaign to turn itself around. mcdonald's tweaks its iconic dollar menu. faced with rising costs, it has become more difficult for the chain's franchisees to make enough money on the value items. the burger giant will begin charging for add-ons such as bacon and introduce a price increase on the mcdouble sandwich. there will also be new sandwiches introduced. the chain's chief marketing officer says the new sandwiches will be more attractive to customers and more profitable for its restaurants. it's a record number that won't surprise most travelers - last year, the airlines collected $6 billion in baggage fees and other add-on expenses. the a.p.

has crunched the numbers put out by the bureau of transportation statistics and found that between baggage, ticket change and seat reservation fees, the airlines collected more last year than any year since the fees began. wedding season is fast appoaching. as couples head down the aisle, wedding industry insiders expect spending to be up from years past, as couples "pay up" for locally-sourced food, invitations, and eco- friendly materials for the big day. "people really care about eco- consciousness. whether its the vendor or the service that they are using from the caterer to the invitations or stationary provider, they are really thinking about what are the local ingredients to reduce your carbon footprint, and what ways can we give back? what ways can we feel socially responsible to local communities and worldwide." adelaide polk bauman of forevermark says many couples are investing more on a larger, extravagant celebration versus a destination wedding. still to come, tax strategies

when it comes to uncle sam and your stock market profits. that's later on. but first, bill moller reveals the flaws of corporate wellness programs. first business continues after this.

th a deadly disease. i was one of them. i'm a nurse and i knew how damaging the disease was to my life. nothing i tried seemed to work. my brother died. from complications of the exact same preventable disease and i knew i had to do something to get healthy. my disease was obesity and after consulting with my doctor, i received the effective treatment i needed.

obesity is a second leading cause of preventable death in the united states. but it's a treatable disease, and there's effective treatment options available. now is time to get help. please join the obesity action coalition and acknowledge obesity as a disease for acceptance, for access to all effective treatments, including diet and exercise, pharmacotherapy and weight-loss surgery for obese adults with at least one obesity related comorbid condition. visit obesity action dot org and sign an open letter pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about your weight and your treatment options. together we can make a choice to end obesity now. a public service from the obesity action coalition.

corporate wellness programs: they're supposed to induce you to replace your bad habits - things like smoking and drinking and chocolate malts - with good habits - vegetables and jogging. a healthier you, it goes, saves you and your company money in lower healthcare costs and less absenteeism. well, maybe we should be a little wary of wellness programs as that may not always be the case. rex huppke is a reporter with the chicago tribune. you looked at a couple studies about this. so, if it doesn't make a difference, can i just go and indulge my chocolate malt habit? - as much as i would like to endorse that, i am afraid, no, you probably shouldn't do that. but there are some definite

question marks as to how effective these programs are. - what did the studies look at, and what did they find? - there were two different angles that they approached it from. one looked at a place where there's a program like this. it was actually a hospital. it has a wellness program. and what they found was that, over the course of a year or so, there was actually a 40% drop in hospitalizations. - that would be a good thing. - right, that would be a positive. but from the company's standpoint, the overall cost in healthcare didn't change. - which was the ultimate goal, at least from the company's point of view. why was that? - that's because you've got- first of all, you've got people going more regularly to the doctor, so there's those costs. you have people who are going to the doctor, finding out that they have some kind of an issue, and then having it dealt with, perhaps with pharmaceuticals or what have you. so that is adding in cost. so, it winds up being kind of a wash for the company. you can certainly argue that it's still a positive thing for the company to do in terms of promoting

better health, but the idea that these kind of programs are going to save a company a ton of money is kind of debunked, i'd say. - that is very interesting. how about target areas for higher risk, like obesity and hypertension? - those are the main areas these usually try to address, and they can address them with some of effectiveness, but what they found in another study is that, overall, they are not really working that well. and there are a lot of different reasons for that. some of it is demographic. some people who tend to have some of these problems - obesity, smoking, etc. - also will be in groups that tend to not have as much time, for example, to take advantage of the programs. so what you have is people getting involved in the programs who are already pretty healthy. so they are taking advantage of these things - they're using the gym on site or whatever, and it's helping them, but they were already doing well. - bottom line, i guess we should say, is that it doesn't mean these are bad programs or failures. - right. - companies will still do them, save some money, and it will make people healthier. - yeah. right. it is just that they are not any kind of a miracle cure that is really going to make an enormous difference, either on employee health or on the bottom line for companies. - rex huppke. thanks so much. - thanks. thanks bill. still ahead, tax territory: as the market hits new highs, what you should know about selling stocks. that's next.

th a deadly disease. i was one of them. i'm a nurse and i knew how damaging the disease was to my life. nothing i tried seemed to work. my brother died. from complications of the exact same preventable disease and i knew i had to do something to get healthy. my disease was obesity and after consulting with my doctor, i received the effective treatment i needed. obesity is a second leading cause of preventable death in the united states. but it's a treatable disease, and there's effective treatment options available. now is time to get help. please join the obesity action coalition and acknowledge obesity as a disease for acceptance, for access to all effective treatments, including diet and exercise, pharmacotherapy and weight-loss surgery for obese adults with at least one obesity related comorbid condition. visit obesity action dot org and sign an open letter pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about your weight and your treatment options. together we can make a choice to end obesity now. a public service from the obesity action coalition.

the market highs are causing some investors to consider taking money out of stocks to lock in profits. david elyashar of horwitz coleman levin is here now with a break-down on how to calculate taxes you owe the goverment when you sell stocks. good to have you back on the show david. - good morning. - so let's talk about some options here. one option is

first in, first out. how does that work? - first in first out, also called fifo, that's the default method for selling stocks. essentially with this method, you are treated to have sold your earliest acquired shares of stock first. - what are some other options? - you do have the option to designate which shares of stock you specifically want to sell, but you need to be careful, because you need to pre-arrange this with your broker beforehand. - you are a cpa. you do this day in and day out. i am guessing there is some strategy to help people save money and not have to give their money to uncle sam when selling stocks. would do you do? - people are going to want to be strategic when selling stocks. for example, in a rising market, using the fifo method may be less advantageous because you'd essentially be selling your cheapest stocks first. that

is not always the case. other things to consider would be short-term vs. long-term capital gains, and whether or not you have capital loss carry-forwards from previous tax returns to offset any gains. - what exactly is the wash sale rule? - the wash sale rule is this: if you were to sell a stock and then purchase that stock again within 30 days after the sale, the loss on the sale of that stock would be disallowed. - interesting. and what about if somebody inherits stock right now. what would they do? - you need to be careful if you inherit stock, because your tax basis in that stock will be the fair market value as of the date of death. so if you inherit stock, you have a little research that needs to be done. you could either go to any financial website to look up the fair market value, or you can even look at that person's estate tax return, if you want, because it would be on there as well. - david, always a pleasure to have you here. come back soon. - thanks for having me. still ahead, sky-high stocks: why one trader says it's time to short a couple of popular high- fliers.

ngbl us now for a look at a couple of red-hot stocks: tesla and netflix. good morning. we will start with tesla. this stock has been on fire. i know you are a contrarian, so what is your play? - absolutely on fire, to say the least. stock posted finally some positive earnings, opened up about 30% post-earnings. since then has moved up another 35%. yesterday finally saw a little bit of the momentum waning. we jumped in and bought some puts to take a short position, so the stock got up around $95, traded down into the $80s yesterday. so, i think going forward, this stock certainly could get back to that $65 level where it opened post- earnings before the short squeeze took place. - would that be your price target? - probably we'll trim out the position before then, certainly, but ultimately somewhere in that mid-$60 range would be a level i would be comfortable taking the whole position off. - just think of those days when they couldn't give this stock away and it was over in the $20s. people who own it and hung in there, they were smart.

moving on to netflix, this is another stock where the high- fly plays are starting to come in. what do you think about netflix? - same kind of idea, although the stock really hasn't come in yet. but that-out of-the-money call-buying smacking of almost oil in 2008, where things are just going up because they are going up. really, again, no fundamental reason based on belief. just need that belief to be challenged at some point, and i think it might have 60, 70 points of downside on the stock here, back to that kind of $170 level where it was hanging out before the latest earnings report. - those call buyers up in the 300 strike thinking this could go above $300. tim, always a pleasure to have you on the show. - thank you angie. that closes out our day. coming up tomorrow, it's a movies and money day. we will find out why critics under-estimated the power of gatsby. from all of us at first business, thanks for watching, and have a wonderful wednesday.

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