a historic strike comes to an end. what's next for protestors who stood on the picket lines for a decade. in today's cover story, all shook up: why ben bernanke's next move has the market on edge. plus, cashing in: how high- yield checking accounts are making a comeback. and, let's hear it for the ladies! what our traders have to say about women on the trading floor. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning. it's friday, may 31st. i'm angela miles. in today's first look, it's the final trading day of the month, and so much for sell in may and walk away. the s&p 500 is up nearly 4% for the month and

about to become a gainer for the 7th month in row. yesterday the major indices held on to gains into the close. gold was a stand-out in the session, rallying $22 and closing above 1,400. oil added 41 cents. in earnings after the close, shares of guess gained more than 8% on better-than-expected earnings. lionsgate also headed higher after topping wall street estimates. ubs is boosting salaries by 9%. according to bloomberg news, the investment bank apparently needs to pay more to attract and keep key employees. mortgage rates are on the rise. the 30-year has bounced to 3.81%, the highest level in a year. the 15-year fixed rose to 2.98% larry shover of sfg alternatives joins us this morning from the trading floor. good morning larry.

- good morning! - more economic numbers are coming in today. gdp came in slightly shy yesterday, but is the market telling us the economic recovery is a lock? - you know, right now i think what we are seeing is we are seeing growth in the economy, although it is not great, but it is enough to keep the market moving. you combine that with central bank intervention around the world, it creates a great environment for the stock market. - gold moved up to its best close in two weeks. is strong demand from asia behind the move? - yeah, it's about time. we haven't seen anything from asia, especially india, for quite some time. but let's also keep in mind that the u.s. dollar has been getting smashed all week, including yesterday. that actually puts an upward bias on the gold price. - surprise stocks: facebook and first solar jumped on upgrades. presumably the shorts are getting squeezed. what's the trade there? - well the trade right now is

just wait and see what happens, because when you look at the options markets for both of them, they are overwhelmingly bearish, whether that be a short squeeze, we are going to have to see, but it is one of those things where i would just wait a little bit, especially with facebook. it seems like a lot of short-term bears in that sock. - have a good friday, larry! - thank you so much! the quantitative easing experiment may be coming to an end, albeit very slowly. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke hinted as much to congreess last week. but what will potential new fed policy look like, and how will it impact you? just ben bernanke's suggestion that the federal reserve could cut back on its bond buying in "the next few meetings" sent markets moving. "we are in unchartered territory. we've never seen this unprecedented buying program. as far as its impact on

the market, it's going to be hard to predict." doug rothschild says "tapering" is now the watch word. each month, the fed pumps cash into the economy by buying up $85 billion in treasury and mortgage bonds. they're now signaling that the flow will continue, just not at the same rate. "we see them tapering in september, but that doesn't mean that they're not expanding their balance sheet, they're just not expanding it at the rate at which they are currently." an improving jobs picture, a more active housing market and a climb in equity prices are all signs that has the fed considering this slow policy shift. "the fed is not leading the economy, they are there responding to the economy. so

what's important is that as the economy strengthens, as the job market gets better, the fed will respond to that and change their course of action." and though it may be years away, how the economy ultimately reacts to the end of quantiative easing cannot be known. "when you talk about the qe program stopping, the analogy i'd give you is like taking the training wheels off your child's bike. you don't know if your child is going to fall and crash on the curb or he's going to take off, and the fed's policy that we're in unchartered territory, we don't know what's going to happen, ultimately when they stop, is the economy going to take off and they've been what's holding it up?" both nice and rothschild agreed that we do know two consequences of the fed's evolving policy: first, volatility is back, and second, mortgage rates will continue to climb. the obama administration is hoping for a bigger rebound in the housing market by extended loan modification programs. homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages back to fannie

mae and freddie mac will have more time to take advantage of "harp," the home affordable refinance program, and "hamp," the home affordable modification program. both will be extended until the end of 2015. the longest hotel strike in history is over. after a decade of protesting low wages, workers at the congress hotel in chicago may soon be back on the job. the union says in a statement, "the decision to end the strike was hard, but it is the right time for the union and strikers to move on," adding the boycott "effectively and dramatically reduced the hotel's business." the hotel's attorney calls the strike's end "a surprise." a few dozen of the original 130 picketers could potentially get their jobs back. it's nearly impossible to make money on basic checking accounts, but bankrate.com has discovered a number of banks are offering ways to earn money with your money in a high yield- checking account. greg mcbride of bankrate joins us via skype. question: why is the discovery so surprising? - i think this comes as a surprise to a lot of people, the fact that these accounts exist, that it is money that is still

federally insured, that you can get to it at any time. for a lot of people, this works very well, because they're using debit cards already, they have direct deposit, and they are getting their statements online. i think all of that comes together very nicely, and gives an opportunity for people to earn some more yield without taking any risk. - what are the rates, and what are the caveats? - not hard to find them. we actually have a list of bankrate.com. about half the accounts we surveyed are available nationwide. the yields themselves, i think you have to look at not just the yield, but also the balance, the maximum balance, on which they will pay that yield. we see a lot yields, 2, 3%, where they will pay that out on up to $10,000 or $15,000. - thank you greg. - thanks angie. a takeover deal is putting america's food chain in the spotlight. this week, chinese company shuanghui acquired american pork company smithfield foods for $4.7 billion. the relationship is raising questions about safety standards following several high-profile food contamination scandals in china. last year, the u.s. imported 4.1 billion pounds of food products from china, including fish, fruits and vegetables. however, the

companies insist no pork will be imported into the u.s. pittsburgh, known as the steel city, is becoming a powerhouse in oil and gas drilling, and the town is attracting a large number of foreign executives. according to cnn, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, is listed as a city to watch as overseas oil firms head to the u.s. fox news reports ge has already invested $15 billion in oil and gas drilling, better known as fracking, in pittsburgh as well as other american cities. however, landowners in pennsylvania are protesting because of negative environmental effects of fracking. david patraeus is starting fresh with a new firm. the former head of the cia is now chairman of private equity firm kohlberg, kravis, roberts and company. he'll help with exploring diligence in investments in overseas economies. kkr has more than $78 billion in assets under management. patraeus resigned from the cia in november after admitting to an extramarital affair. following the grounding of its

dreamliners due to battery troubles, boeing managed to win its first order for a stretched version of the 787. singapore airlines plans to purchase 30 of the 787 10x dreamliners. the jets will be delivered to the airline beginning in 2018. analysts view the order as a strong endorsement of the troubled aircraft. tesla wants drivers to go the distance. the electric car company will triple its network of charging stations from l.a. to new york by the end of june. the ceo also furthered his plans to develop a high-speed transportation system known as "hyperloop," which would get passengers from l.a. to san francisco in a half hour. tesla shares traded up 32 cents to nearly $105. car companies are giving the electric car market a charge by lowering prices on leases. honda is the latest to cut the cost. the automaker is leasing its fit ev by a third to $258 per month. gm and nissan are

offering similar deals on electric cars. self-driving cars are closer to hitting the road, but still face safety issues. the national highway traffic safety administration is pushing for the cars to be driven as test vehicles only and is now launching a 4-year study into safety concerns. until there is more data, the nhtsa also recommends that a driver should be in place to manually operate controls. microsoft is hoping to lure back customers with a reboot of its operating system. windows 8.1, the new name for windows 8, will be easier to navigate. it will allow users to set up software so it displays in a more familiar format, and includes a "start" button. more details will be released in late june. nearly a quarter of u.s. workers are often "sleeping on the job." snoozing costs the economy roughly $63 billion.

according to a study, that equates to eleven days per worker. some employers are offering nap rooms to sleepy staffers, but others blame it on laziness. still to come, a controversial traders unplugged as the battle of the sexes lands on the trading floor. that's later on. but first, voting for power: a look at the evolution of corporate boardrooms, next with bill moller.

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serving on a corporate board ain't what it used to be in this age of scrutiny, responsibility and greater accountability. board membership is no longer the cushy life it once was. joe cahill is the

business columnist at crain's chicago business. what has happened? it used to be pretty nice. they had a lot of perks. - well, what has happened is that the expectations for director performance have been rising in recent years as some shareholders have become more assertive about their rights as owners and have demanded that directors do a better job of supervising management, which is what they were put on the board to do in the first place. - but they are usually almost in cahoots with management. - that's a big problem, and that results from the way directors have traditionally been chosen. management has always had a great deal of influence over the selection of directors. there was a recent reform passed by congress as part of the financial reforms that required that a committee of independent directors make the choice. but there's still no provision for shareholders to have a meaningful role in that process, and as a result, you still get a lot of directors that are very oriented toward management - many of them are ceos themselves, so they are generally going to tend to side

with management. - what influence do shareholders have? do you think this is a turning point? - well, we are getting closer. there are some things that we need to see the outcome of this year that could determine whether the momentum continues or whether it fizzles out. unfortunately, in my view, an sec rule that required companies to let shareholders put their nominees for the board on company proxies was actually overturned a couple years ago, so there was a setback in that process. - shareholders need better legal advice, i think, because ultimately they are the ones who are supposed to be the result of what companies are working for. - right. they own the company, and the directors are supposed to represent their interests. yet, they have almost no role in choosing their own representatives. - i see pitchforks and torches coming soon. joe cahill, thank you so much. - thank you.

thank you, bill. still ahead: tesla is making moves on the road and in the stock market. is it too late to get in? that's next.

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and now what you've been waiting for. joining us from the floor of cme group, alan knuckman and andrew keene, ready to kick into high gear for traders unplugged. hello guys, and in topic #1, we are going for a tesla ride. the stock is now trading above $100. they've paid off that government loan, but some states are having issues because tesla sells cars online. is it too late to get in? - absolutely not. i don't think so, because if you look at the stock, it's all price action, price momentum. i don't actually care what most companies do. i look at the price action, price momentum. $98 is the breakout level from before. it tested that two days ago. as long as it stays above

$98, i think it's got clear sailing. - i was wrong. i thought it was going to go to $60. it traded between $20 and $40 for a couple of years. i thought it was going to go to $60, it has gone much further than that. you have to sometimes step back and let things go. you don't want to be short this stock. - absolutely not. - look at the short interest. that's just a painful lesson for a lot of people to learn. we've seen it now in j.c. penney, we're seeing it in tesla, we're seen it in herbalife. be careful being short, because you can get squeezed. - topic two: is it time to go bold on gold? - i like gold here. we came up and made a couple of weak highs here recently. we broke above $1,400. $1,450 is kind of the key level for me in gold. that is the halfway point of this last sell-off that we've seen. so it will be interesting to see. but the dollar has turned over, and it's made a weekly reversal last week, it's following through. below 83 on the dollar is a very good sign for gold, and it's very encouraging.

- in the last three days i have seen a lot of unusual option activity: call buyers and a lot of the gold miners, they have gotten beaten down so poorly i haven't participated in any of those. a lot of these $4, $5 stocks, we have seen call activity. i am actually short the gld through put spreads in june. i am profitable on it so far. i think it tests back down to 133 on the gld. - abx on the upside, look for that to move to $24. it is trading at $21 right now, so that's about another 15% move here. and that's just a little bottoming out- - and barrick gold, abx, actually was a good point. in 2015, huge massive call buyers, $25, $35 bull call spreads, they've been buying them like water. - somebody knows something. - topic three: oh, mama. paul tudor jones recently made some comments that ruffled feathers. he said that moms cannot be top traders. what are traders on the trading floor saying about those comments? - don't underestimate anything that women can do. 40% of households now, the breadwinners are women, so anything can happen, and actually i think they have more discipline and - guess what - this will show - less ego than guys like us. - i think women can also be good traders. when i was on the

trading floor for over 10 years, there was probably only a handful of women on the floor - it was very competitive. guys are in general very aggressive and get in your face, but it doesn't mean women can't be good traders behind the screens. - plus on the screen it's all equalized. - yeah. - time for your bonus round question, and we are going to put our money where our mouth is. name one of the richest women in the world. these ladies must be billionaires. just give me one name. - i got nothin'. - 1 billion-dollar lady. come on. - oprah! - oprah's not worth a billion, is she? - the lady that came up with spanks. - you won it. oprah comes in as the poorest lady on the list at $2.8 billion. alice walton is near the top, and abigail johnson has $12 billion. she is a money manager. - didn't know that. - good job. - thanks for being on the show. first business continues right after this.

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pledging your support and for more information about how to talk to your doctor about weight loss and treatment options. together we can make a choice to end obesity now. a public service from the obesity action coalition. matt cavanuagh of cmz trading joins us for a look at the charts on a couple of stocks, starting with sony. good

morning to you. - good morning. - now sony, of course, has some pressure coming in from an activist hedge fund owner who wants the company to spin off its entertainment division. would you buy the stock at the current level? - you know, i wouldn't. and i really think he's a great investor. he knows what he's doing. but this stock is a stock that has been on an absolute tear. it's up 20+% in the last two weeks, so, while dan loeb has a really good idea, and it looks like sony might be open to it, i think this is a stock that is priced to perfection. it bounced off its highs. i think it sits in a range here until it does something else, and it's really just hard for me, psychologically, to buy a stock like this that is so expensive with so many good things already priced in. - what about morgan stanley? this stock got an upgrade after the close last night. - sure. this is a stock that really should benefit, if you think that the recovery is for real. increased business activity, increased housing activity, all good things that

should benefit them. so even though this is a stock that has really taken off over the last year - it's much higher, i think it's not so expensive when you look at it on a valuation basis, and it's also one of those stocks that, if this recovery is for real, is really going to benefit. - i also find it fascinating that the stock sold off after news of that upgrade came down. usually a stock would rally. why do you think that would happen? - you know, that's a good question. it could be some people just expecting more or expecting them to say some other things, or maybe they didn't get the move that they wanted, so they got out of their position. but i think, you know, in this market, there are going to be short-term gyrations, you just have to look for the opportunities and stick with your gut. - matt, thanks for being on the show today. - thank you. it's already time for us to wrap up the week. coming up monday, a new report finds lloyd blankfein, the ceo of goldman sachs, is completely and totally overpaid. we take a look at ceo perfomance and pay next time on first business. from all of us here, have a great weekend.

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