financial disaster: why the oklahoma tornado could be the most expensive in our nation's history. in today's cover story, new options for small business owners on the hunt for capital. plus, why lawmakers are reaching out to taxpayers for help in the irs scandal. and... they're back! the "hangover" crew gets ready to re-live the madness. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas good morning. it's thursday, may 23rd. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: fall out from the fed: stocks took a dive wednesday on comments from the fed chair and the fed minutes that indicate quantitive easing could end

sooner rather than later. gold and oil also staged dramatic sell-offs. pepsi is going for a sales pop by changing its pricing stratgey. the soda-maker wants to break consumers' habit of only buying soft drinks when on sale. the sec is charging south miami with misleading investors on the status of its municipal bonds. the city will settle the charges. triple predicts a memorial day travel dip. the number of motorists will drop by nearly 1%, while air travel declines 8% as fliers are becoming fatigued by added fees. trader mark sebastian joins us now on the show for a closer look at the thursday trade. good morning to you, and do you suspect it will be another day of wild swings in the market? - you know, i am not so sure this morning. we saw a big range yesterday, but that was just a continuous slew of information out of the fed, the fed kind of whipping the market left and right. i don't think we are going to see that today. end-of-day yesterday we saw the

vix really sell off to the close, and the futures rallied. i think we are heading back toward our normal slowness we have been seeing for the first half of the year. - what do you think is in the cards for hewlett-packard? their earnings numbers came out last night. everything seemed to look good, and the stock rallied. - yeah, they missed on revenue, but they did really well on their actual earnings and raised the dividend, so that shows that they are producing really good free cash flow, which means the stock's not going anywhere anytime soon. that gives meg whitman plenty of time to turn the company around. you've got to like hewlett- packard. it should probably keep doing what it's doing now. - and what's your take on the retailers? target ran into some trouble here. now we have more earnings coming out from retailers today. - you know, it's hit-or-miss. the key is best-in-breed. we've seen that across the board: wal-mart beats target, home depot beats loews. you have to go with the best in the breed. we have gap today. that should be an interesting one. i will be really interested to see whether they can continue to ride the wave of that is known as "colored jeans." - [laugh thanks a lot for that. mark sebastian of option pit mentoring. thanks mark.

- thank you. lawmakers are hoping americans tell all when it comes to experiences with the irs. the house ways and means committee has launched "the irs political discrimination investigation" on its website. a form asks taxpaying organizations to share information regarding a past audit. yesterday, tensions rose after key irs offcial lois lerner pledged not to testify. "i have not done anything wrong. i have not broken any laws. i have not violated any irs rules or regulations, and i have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee." lawmakers also questioned former irs commissioner douglas shulman and neal wolin, deputy secretary of the treasury department. fed chairman ben bernanke's day on capitol hill turned into a major market mover. bernanke presented this statement wednesday to lawmakers: "a premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of

slowing or ending the economic recovery." those comments reassured wall street that quantative easing would continue, which sent the dow soaring up 155 points. stocks later sold off when bernanke mentioned during q & a with a congressmen the fed's bond-buying program could end in the next few months depending on economic data. damage from the devastating tornado that hit oklahoma could exceed $2 billion. that figure comes from the oklahoma insurance department, which is still assessing the destruction. between 12,000 and 13,000 homes were damaged within the 17-mile-long disaster zone. it is still unknown how many people have been left homeless. president obama will travel to the disaster area on sunday. residents of moore, oklahoma, now contend with the long process of "re-building." this week, home depot reported earnings that came close to $1 billion for the quarter. a large chunk of the money was made from the housing recovery and reconstruction from superstorm sandy. michael schlesinger reports on how the home improvement store is already assisting recovery efforts in oklahoma.

as soon as monday's tornado touched down, the home depot in moore knew it had to do its part and reach out. it has the resources. "volunteering and supporting the first responders. we've employed about 100 associations from dallas, tulsa, just different markets to support the store, and also support the community." district manager jarred farmer knew he and his company had to step up to the plate to make sure this central oklahoma community pushed back from the tornado's damage and destruction as quickly as possible. "we'll stay open as long as the public needs us. we recently had tornadoes in texas. we stayed open 24/7, as long as they needed us." home depot's slogan is "more saving, more doing." you might say some of those savings are going right back to the people who keep the operation going - the everyday customer.

"we've secured a million-dollar donation, and we've already given $250,000 of that back to the red cross." michael schlesinger, reporting for first business. home depot insists it will keep its merchandise fully stocked during the crisis in moore. it's also offering shelter to lost pets. in our cover story, a lot of small businesses start out funded out-of-pocket - family and friends may join in, and perhaps 3rd party investors. but how do you make that leap toward financing from a bank or alternative lending source? this gathering is one answer - face-to-face meetings between nearly two dozen lenders and about 450 current or aspiring business owners, initiating deals or just getting information. track record and sales growth matter, but at this level, so does the individual. "do they have confidence you'll handle the bumps in the road? they're betting on you as much as the business idea." sharon schnieder says 200 satisfied customers validated her online resale shop of children's clothing enough to

earn a $200,000 loan to expand. her business, moxie jean, is now an example at this "access to capital" conference sponsored by dun and bradstreet in chicago this week. the first thing banks will consider - your credit score. "our benchmark is 680. if you don't have that, we'll still work with you, if you're within the range." if you aren't within range, there are alternative lenders that specialize in amounts smaller than what banks lend but can be paid off quickly, boosting credit. "what we look for is cash flow. if you have damaged credit, you can apply for a $2500 loan, then get a larger loan." similar events are planned in

atlanta and seattle later this year. the nation's big banks claim to be close to meeting the obligations under a settlement to help struggling home owners. jp morgan, wells fargo, bank of america and citigroup reportedly have provided $51 billion in aid to more than a half-million people. however, a consumer advocates group says much of the relief is from banks cleaning up balance sheets with short sales that forgive the debt of homeowners. higher demand is forcing u.s. automakers to shift summer production plans. general motors, ford and chrysler are reducing traditional two-week production breaks down to only one week. automakers hope the changes will help them meet the added demand, as consumers have started buying more cars and pick-up trucks.

in an update to investors, the president of boeing says the dreamliner fix should be complete by next week. ray conner says work is done on 90% of the jets. the lithium ion batteries onboard sparked fires, which lead to the faa grounding the 787s in january. production of the dreamliner is said to be gaining momentum. boeing expects to have built 60 by the end of the year. sony reportedly will entertain the idea of an ipo at its shareholder meeting today. sony is being pressured to spin off its money-making entertainment arm of movies, tv shows and music into an ipo. the pressure is from third point hedge fund, run by billionaire daniel loeb. loeb's idea is to free up cash to strengthen sony's electronics side, which is suffering in competition with apple. third point is sony's largest stock holder. microsoft may be headed toward a fiasco. the tech company just released its new xbox tuesday, and already reports say gamers are troubled about a possible fee to play pre-owned games on the new xbox. a microsoft director blogs: "we have only confirmed that we designed xbox-one to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. we have not confirmed specific scenarios."

after years of declines, more farmers are back to using pesticides. harmful insects are reportedly becoming immune to some genetically-modified seeds. in response, farmers are increasing pesticide use to protect against those insects. enviornmental groups question the safety of the chemicals. citigroup analysts believe bristol-myers may be closer to finding an answer to cancer. shares of bristol myers jumped 5% yesterday after a citi analyst said the drug-maker's newest treatment could be the beginning of the end for cancer. marketwatch.com says the drug, nivolumab, is in phase 3 testing and could get fda approval by next year. the roche drug company also has similar treatments. after billions spent trying to find an effective treatment for alzheimer's disease, inexpensive vitamins are showing promise. a new study finds evidence a vitamin cocktail of b-6 and b-12, along with folic acid, may delay the onset of alzheimer's and dementia by slowing the atrophy of the brain's gray matter. the study

was partially funded by a swedish vitamin maker. aarp is calling it an "epidemic." officials are warning of scams targeting grandparents. scam artists impersonating grandchildren call grandparents in a frantic search for money to get out of a jam. it's estimated scammers have stolen tens of millions of dollars from seniors. officials recommend verifying an emergency situation with friends or family before wiring money. forbes is out with its annual list of the world's most powerful women. topping this year's list, angela merkel, chancellor of germany. she's followed by brazilian president dilma rousseff, melinda gates, michelle obama and hillary clinton. still to come, are audiences ready for *another hangover at the box office? that's later in movies and money. but first, bill moller takes a

look at struggles and the progress that african-americans are facing as the country climbs out of recession. that's next.

as we climb out of the recession, consider this question: what is the state of your individual financial health? how about your optimism? well, it is getting better for most people. african- americans, it turns out, are feeling a lot more optimistic than the population at large. this was borne out in a study conducted by prudential financial. michael davis is a senior vp at prudential. michael, why don't you just, in a nutshell, give us the main findings? - first of all, prudential is very excited about the 2013 research results in this study. this is actually the second study we have done on african american financial experiences. some top-line observations: first, african americans were more optimistic about their financial condition than the overall population. 50% of african americans said they felt better off today than they did a year ago. that compares to 33% in the overall population. the drivers of that optimism were very varied: things like household assets, confidence in

the futures of their kids, confidence in life insurance and health insurance coverage. so, very varied - more varied, in fact, than the case was for the overall population. that said, we did find some headwinds that african americans felt. first was a big concern about debt. that was the number one financial priority that african americans had. it was their number one thing. for the overall population, the number one financial priority was saving for retirement. we did see throughout the survey this focus that african-american families had on more short-term obligations and needs verses longer-term savings. - michael, why is it, that point of optimism? why do you feel african americans are more sanguine than the population at large? - it's a very interesting question. i would say, first of all, optimism has been something that african americans have had, and it has sort of carried them through a variety of challenges historically throughout the country. also, just within the survey, again, they felt just more optimistic about the future with respect to the money they had saved,

income, savings levels, and this sort of notion of insurance coverage. so there are a variety of different things. also, these results are similar to the results we saw in 2011 - probably a little higher in terms of their optimism, now that we are further out from the recession in 2008, so people might be a little bit more removed from it than we were in 2011. but again, this persistance, this optimism is much more significant for african americans than it's been for the overall population. - all right. michael davis,g fil davis from prudential financial. thanks so much. thanks bill. still ahead in movies and money, why the summer box office has a few curve balls for movie lovers. stay with us.

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hollywood is pulling out all the stops for the holiday weekend: there's animation, a thriller and a "hangover." joining me on set this morning is erik childress. he is from the chicago film critics association and our movie guy. good to have you back as always. we will get to what is coming out this weekend, but first,

here is what happened last weekend at the box office: "star trek" coming in at number one. was this a big win? - it looks like a big win, but we are living in an age where $98 million in six days is not always a big win for a studio that has a $185-million budget. the pundits were all expecting $85, $95, even over $100 million once they moved the release date to thursday, and i think the marketing backfired on them here. - also in the top five: "iron man 3" coming in at $35 million, "the great gatsby" at $23 million, "pain and gain" and "the croods" tied at $3 million. now, coming up this weekend, it's "epic." - yes! - there's also "the hangover part 3" and "fast and furious 6." - "epic," i think, is a film that a lot of people are underestimating. "the croods," which we had back in march, had two months to itself in the animation department, and look how well that did. and now

"epic" has a full month before "monsters university" comes out. i think this movie is going to do very well over the memorial day weekend. - you had the opportunity to screen "hangover 3." what's your impression? - it's the worst trilogy ever made. - really? - yes. absolutely. hands-down the worst. we couldn't come up with a worse one. - what about "fast and furious?" any hope there? - "fast and furious" is probably the best in the series, actually, although it's so dumb, it's so ridiculous, i can't quite recommend it. but the fans of the franchise are going to be very happy with it. - as we continue our peek into what is coming up this summer, there are some big films for universal this year. let's take a look: "fast and furious," of course, we just talked about that. "the purge." - "the purge" is sort of counter-programming. it's this little horror film about a day in the future where all crime is legal for 12 hours. so i think, it's not a big risk for universal, so the don't have anything to worry about there. - and "despicable me" is back. - "despicable me 2." yeah. along with "fast and furious 6," this is going to be a huge blockbuster for the studio. the original did over half a billion at the box office. the buzz on this is really high.

the expectations for it are very high. anything less than $250 million will be a disappointment. it could even hit the magic $300. - "r.i.p.d." - "r.i.p.d." is a film that i would recommend universal move out of the summer. let "despicable me 2" have july all to itself. this this sort of a faux-"men in black" about undead cops fighting the undead to protect the living. moved that back into october, where like the "zombieland" slot is. they have nothing coming out in october. that would be my recommendation. - and "2 guns," featuring denzel washington and mark wahlberg. - yeah, we've talked about denzel's box office streak. he certainly opens movies, and i think the combination with wahlberg will produce a pretty solid august hit for them. - last one... - "kick-ass 2." - i will let you say it, because my mom might be watching. - [laughin not a big blockbuster. the first one was put out by lionsgate. universal picked up the sequel rights to it. but it didn't cost much, so i think if the film does $60 million - they added jim carrey, they are going to have more hit girl, chloe grace moretz, in it. i think it could be a decent hit for them. - thank you erik. - thank you. coming up in chart talk, matt cavanuagh joins us for a look at see-saw trading.

matt cavanaugh of cmz trading joins us on the show now for a closer look at that heavy selling that was going on in the market yesterday. hi matt, and do you think we will see a continuation today? - you know, i don't. obviously there's no way to tell, but really, why you saw the markets move so much is because of chairman bernanke's testimony, and really the first time we have heard him say that the fed could maybe slow down or taper off their asset purchases. so, kind of a stray from his prepared remarks, and that's why you saw the big reaction in the markets. but i don't really think it changes too much. - where do you see support in this market? - i think there is definitely support at the 1600 level, but, really yesterday was the first time we have seen a pretty strong sell-off or reversal off the highs in quite a while. so, the mantra really for the last several years has been "buy the dips," and i think it is going

to continue, unless we start to hear more chatter and more thoughts that the fed is going to taper things down. but i don't really think that is the case. - are you seeing any signs - maybe through the vix - that people are starting to want to hedge more, maybe kind of hold on to what they already have in their portfolios? - there does seem to be support for the vix when it gets down to a certain level. but, you know, when we saw this big, almost $45 move in the s&p from the top, the vix was up a little bit, but nothing really too crazy. so, i think that there continue to be people playing both sides of this, and that is why you are seeing the vix stay fairly low, and also the market stay fairly resiliant. - thank you very much. matt cavanaugh. that's it for now.coming up tomorrow-- it's traders unplugged.plus,why the candy industry is promting tiny bite sized pieces to sweeten sales.from all of us at first business... have a great thursday!

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