dropping the drama... the house clears the way for a debt ceiling agreement. in today's cover story... hints on the hill. what janet yellen's testimony revealed to wall street. plus.... let's do lunch. simple tax tips inlcuding how to get reimbersed for meals on the go. and.... scoring big ...how olympic athletes get "camera ready." first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's wednesday, february 12th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: the big relief rally the dow added on nearly 200 points tuesday, the nasdaq 43 and the s&p 20. gold ran up 16 dollars and oil fell 16 cents. behind the scenes traders welcomed word out of

washington the new fed chair janet yellen will stick with the central banks current policies and lawmakers in the house agreed to issue money to cover u.s. debt. green mountain faces a lawsuit. illinois based tree house foods is suing the coffee company for allegedly attempting to illegaly maintain a monopoly on pods for its upcoming keurig coffee brewers. and, graco recalls 3.8 million car seats due to a possible buckle defect. it coveres 11 different models manufactured betwen 20-09 and and 20-13 time now to get some commentary coming from larry shover of sfg alternativeshe's watching the market for us today. good morning larry. >>good morning. >>was yesterday's rally mostly about janet yellen and her comments to the lawmakers on capitol hill? >>i think a combination of both of them really did help the

market yesterday. keep in mind that people didn't realize or didn't know if yellen was going to carry the baton for bernanke and she sure delivered with a great q & a yesterday. >>she absolutely did. and what about the gold bounce? what's behind the gold rally? >>part of that just might be that we were in a deeply oversold condition. secondly, we are seeing a slow down in growth which is a little bit more dovish from central bankshence we're gonna see a pop in the gold price. >>and in the earnings checkhow well do you think earnings are coming in? >>i think earnings are coming in great 76% have beaten by 5%--that's quite a bit. however, traders need more right now because they might be long but they're not necessarily bullish. so even though earnings season is good they need great to get really bullish. >>will it be enough then to lift the stock market? it sounds like it might not be from your tone. >>no i don't think so. i think we're gonna need cooperation from growth metrics and last night we saw the trade number out of chinanext week we're gonna have pmi. so i think growth metrics is really what's

gonna carry the day. >>thank you larry. >>you're welcome. a power packed snow and ice storm reaching from the north to the south threatens to close businesses and slow commutes for this morning for millions of americans. accuweather's- bernie rayno joins us with more on the crippling effects of winter storm pax. i think it's going to be coming to a standstill. already this morning as we head into wednesday into thursday, problems will be shifting north in the virginia and into pennsylvania. as far as the big cities along the i-94 corridor let's say boston, new york, dc, we are looking at snow that will accumulate at least several inches before a change over to sleet freezing rain and maybe some rain as well this is going to be a big, big snow storm. thank you for that update bernie-- "you're welcome" the federal reserve is also tracking the winter weather. yesterday, philadelphia fed president

characterized the weather as "unusually disruptive" making it difficult to assess the underlying economic trends. chuck coppola has more on the new head of the fed. in our cover story, federal reserve chair janet yellen says the last two job reports were "surprising" but not enough warrent any change in fed policy. instead, yellen couched it this way: the labor market recovery is far from complete, which indicates an overall trend but also tips off that the fed isn't likely to boost interest rates, soon. federal reserve chair janet yellen told the house financial services committee that she would not change the fed's course...predicting "a great deal of continuity" with her predecessor, ben bernanke...and expected the economy to continue improving. "my colleagues and i think unemployment will continue to fall and inflation will tick up to 2% in the coming year." "one of the things is that the fed finally said 'we have confidence.' when the fed does that, it helps wall street and

that's what we heard from yellen today." yellen called job numbers for the last two months...113- thousand jobs created in january and 75-thousand in december "surprising" but warned that the fed and others "have to be careful not to jump to conclusions." "those out of a job for more than six months continue to make a large fraction of the unemployed. the number working part-time but would prefer full-time remains very high" to many, "stay the course" was the message they heard from yellen....along with 'do no harm," the hypocractic oath of doctors toward their patients-- in this case, the patient---an anemic economic recovery. "it's pretty clear that they're not going to raise interest rates, although they may creep up on their own, which may

affect housing in terms of mortgages." as for volatility in global financial markets, yellen said at this stage, she does not consider it posing a substantial risk to the u-s economy. a major hurdle could be cleared today, as the senate is set to vote on a "clean" debt bill, which sailed through the house last night. house speaker john boehner shocked capitol hill yesterday when he agreed to increase the government's borrowing limit with no strings attached. a previous plan to reverse military pension cuts failed to gain support from the g-o-p. boehner's actions riled some conservative groups who are now calling for the speaker to lose his job. reid: i'm very happy to see that the house is legislating the way they should have been legislating for a long, long time. mcconnell: they are certainly

free to express their opinions about what we do here, along with everybody else, and we'll see how it plays out in the senate. texas republican ted cruz is threating to filibuster the bill. voting starts today for 15- hundred workers at a v-w plant in tennesse on uaw representation. if workers vote the union in, it will be the first time the uaw has represented workers employed by a foreign car maker. the state's governor is fiercely opposed to the possible unionization, he has also questioned v-w's neutrality in the matter saying the german auto-makers is attempting to orchestrate unionization. disney workers plan to take on the mouse house. union negotiations with disney world begin in march. employees want higher wages, more affordable benefits and better pensions. cnn reports-- the starting pay for a disney charcter is $8.20 per hour and maxes out at $13.59. disney offered to raise wages by around 3.5% last year but the union rejected the offer hoping for more, as the theme parks enjoys a record number of visitors. britain's second-largest bank, barclays, says it will cut 12- thousand jobs. the bank employs

about 140-thousand people around the world. about half of the cuts will be in britain. this all despite the fact that the bank increased bonus payouts in 20-13 by 10% -- totalling 3.9 billion dollars. the bank's profits dropped in 20-13 -- down 37% to $4.1 billion. call him the watchdog of wall street. the u.s. attorney in new york...preet bhara, says he has recovered $2.7 billion dollars during the past year in money from financial firms involved in bad behavior. the money is coming from settlements by jp morgan chase, sac and others. bhara's office claims to be 79 to zero on wins in insider trading cases. toyota is said to be in talks to pay another major settlement, this time to the u-s government! the wall street journal says toyota could pay one billion dollars linked to how complaints of sudden acceleration were reported to regulators. toyota confirms "it continues to cooperate with the

u.s. attorney's office in this matter." the automaker already paid 1.6 billion dollars in a class action case. shoppers are aiming lawsuits at target. cnn reports 70 customers have filed lawsuits. it's not clear if they have a case that will warrant a major financial award .. but some say money was stolen from their bank accounts following the massive hack attack at target during the holidays. banks and credit unions are also suing. target has promised to cover customer's losses. whole foods has inked a deal with "square." that's a mobile payment company that lets customers pay by smartphone, or tablet. it could decrease long lines at the grocery store. whole foods plans to let customers pay for items like coffee, and pizza before getting to checkout lines. the chain's stock is trading higher ahead of it's earnings report, out today. dean foods is on a downer...shares are trading near 2 year lows..after..falling more than 7 percent yesterday after reporting a 4th quarter loss. the milk producer blames high dairy commoditiy prices and lower sales-- that were in part cause by the cut in food

stamp benefits. dean foods is the largest milk distributor in the country. in the battle for fast food bucks...mcdonald's wants a better breakfast. ceo don thompson said in a call with analysts this week that the chain will incorporate more of a "coffee culture." and, bring on the beef. burger king aims to compete with the golden arches with a new "big king" burger that is heavier than mcdonald's classic big mac. after 40 years, nestle is selling its l'oreal stock. in a joint statement nestle and l'oreal said that the food giant will sell 8% of l'oreal back to the french cosmetics company. the nearly $9 billion deal is seen as the first step in the de-coupling of the two companies. nestle will still own 23% of l'oreal. in earnings news... high- prescription drug sales at cvs resulted in better than expected profits, this quarter. c-v-s confirms growth in its retail pharmacy business will help offset a loss from a recent decision to stop selling cigarettes. the stock rose over 2 and a half percent. at sprint-- shares rushed as high

as 7% in trading yesterday, due to more wireless subscribers. however, the company warns that it expects to lose customers in the first half of the year. activist investors are on track to be more active than ever...data shows last month 31 companies were targeted by activists. that's a hot pace considering last year large investment funds initiated fights with 237 companies. in 2010 there were 114. so the number has really ramped up. herbalife, men's wearhouse, sony and apple are all corporations that have faced threats and badgering by large investment firms. soaring college costs have many students questioning whether it pays to go for higher education. a new pew study says yes, and the earnings gap has never been wider. newly-released data from the research center says that millennials with a college degree made about $17-thousand more in 20-12 than their peers with just a high-school diploma. still to come:

why this chart looks eerily familiar to some traders... plus .... team usa... how olympians go from being well known athletes to bankable icons. and, who better to bring us tax tips then the pro's at h&r block. a senior tax preparer joins us right after this break! i'm going to pass chemistry, and i'll take it from there. i'm going to do what makes me happy. i'm going to work hard. be independent. live large. make the most of every opportunity. i knew i wanted to go to college.

but figuring out how to pay for it? i didn't have a clue. the u.s. department of education has over $100 billion. and that's a lot of money. to help students pay for college. and the free application? you mean the fafsa. i did it online. it was easy. i'm never giving up on my goals. i will make a difference. i'm going to find out how to pay for college. i'm going to college.gov. talking to veterans about the real issues they're dealing with can be awkward and uncomfortable. but when their behavior changes, it's time to act. because if we don't, our families and relationships will suffer. listen to the veterans in your life and show you care.

it matters. when you recognize a veteran is in crisis, call the veterans crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 and press "1".

h&r block is running ads claiming americans are missing out on $1 billion dollars! one billion! richard gartland-- who is a senior tax preparer with h& r block joins us this morning. glad to have you on the show. how do we get our money? >>glad to be with you angela. we found that 50% of people that did their own tax returns had

inaccuracies. half of them were leaving money on the table. major areas were tax credits that they didn't claim that they were entitled toso education creditsthat could be $2500. the child tax credit is $1000 per child. and for low and moderate income folks with children the earned income credit can be up to $6000. last year 1 in 5 people who qualified for that credit didn't claim it. this shouldn't be happening. >>what are some other common mistakes you're seeing? >>i think the other main common mistake is that people don't realize they've had a life change that affects their taxes. purchasing a home is a great example. if you buy a home you're going to be deducting mortgage interest and property taxesunless you won the lottery maybe. people don't take advantage of that. they don't know that they can itemize those deduction so they just check that box that says standard deductions. that's a big area. >>the other big deal in our

society is that a lot of people have more than one job or are self employed on the side. what can they do to maximize their taxes? >>for people who have multiple jobs where they're employed in both of themso both receiving w-2'sneed to keep in mind that getting from job 1 to job 2 on the same day is deductible mileage. no employer's gonna reimburse you for that because it's getting from one to the other. they should be keeping track of that mileage and writing it off. the current rate is 55 cents a mile that the irs allows. that could add up if you're doing a lot of that. for self employed folks of course they've got to keep good records obviously but they've got to track all of their revenue. they've also got to track all of their expenses. we find a lot of people are not aware of the expenses that they can deduct and sometimes miss major deductions that way. >>is it true that you can also write off your lunches if you are a freelance worker? >>no that's not true actually. you can write off lunches where you are entertaining either existing clients or potential clients. that's really the purpose of that meal deduction. there is one exceptionif you are working away from your tax home. so if you are out of where you live you can deduct meals. they're only deducted at 50 cents on the dollar. if you spend $10 bucks on lunch you get $5 as the deduction.

>>hey i'll take it. >>but you need to keep good receipts for that. >>oh, yes. absolutely we will. thank you for your time. >>thanks. my pleasure angela. coming up.... a sign it may be possible to become addicted to a video game plus.... the olympic games you don't see on tv.... that's next with bill moller.

ted ligety, shaun white, bode millerthese are some of the big names at the sochi olympics-- names that win big endorsements and sponsors. but there are lesser known names that can attract sponsors too. chicago sports & entertainment partners represents 11 us athletes now competing at sochi. scott kirkpatrick is a partner for the agency. good work, you've won your 11 clients some 40 sponsorship deals? that sounds impressive. >>yes, it was a lot of hard work. we are fortunate to work with a lot of wonderful athletes so that helps.

>>give me some ideasyou've got one guy and he's in a pretty well known ad right now. >>billy demong's in the citi commercial right now. it's great to see all of the effort that he's put in capitalizing on his gold medal in vancouver and the hard work. he's just a wonderful individual and we're really excited for his success. >>how long is the process? have you been working on some of these deals for years or is it just the past few months? >>i would say the first deals came together well over a year ago. so right after london we start talking to all the u.s. olympic sponsors and get our athletes in front of them to consider. >>who else do you represent? >>we also represent a wonderful mother by the name of noelle pikus-pace who's gonna be competing this thursday and friday at skeleton. we're really hopeful that she's gonna have a great run. >>and there's a paralympic competitor >>heath calhounwho's in a great spot with at&t right now. he's an incredible war veteran and just an amazing skier. he does a great bit of acting in it i think you'll see.

>>yeahwarm little ending with that smile. are these guys making millions of dollars? how big of a deal do you get for them? >>i think realistically for the vast majority of olympic athleteswe're trying to get them sponsors to help them spend time training so they can potentially not work and make this their full time occupation as they lead into the games. so it's really not millions of dollars. there are a few exceptions to that with shaun white and ted ligety but for the most part these athletes are making a living. >>we've got the 2016 rio olympics summer games coming up. are you already working on that? >>yes we're already talking to and recruiting athletes and getting our athletes who competed in london up to speed on their plans for rio. >>sounds like fun business. thanks so much scott. >>thank you. bill - from olympic games to video games..the creator of the wildly popular flappy bird app says he pulled the game because he feared players could become

addicted. he might be right. ebay stopped selling phones equipped with the flappy bird app...as prices shot up near $100,000. in an email to users ebay said it's a violation of apple policy to sell app- equipped phones on the site. stay with us as we fly in next with chart talk. find out if the latest stock market rally is just getting started, after this. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

dan deming of stutland equities joins us now. what do you thinkare we in for a runaway rally? >>i think right now we've seen a pretty big rally like you

said. i think the upside is still limited. it appears right now that we are getting a nice reaction to the fed chairman's testimony yesterday basically favoring stimulus that;s currently in the marketplace so we saw a nice reaction. but we're pushing up towards the highs again really on what i would see is not very good volume. and the fact of the matter is that we're seeing some serious volatility in the market which i think bodes not particularly well as we move forward. >>so you're watching volume and volatility. what other signals do you have your eyes on that will tell you what we could be in for next? >>right now if you look at the s&p and you look at the nasdaqcertainly positive short term as far as breaking back above the 50 day moving averages. but if you look at the dowit still has not gone back above its 50 day moving average and if you look at the dow for a longer term patternif you look back to the past year and a half, there has been a chart out there circulating the last couple of months that looks very similar to the 1929 chart that they saw. so i think that's

playing into some traders minds as you see vol getting very cheap but at the same time we have seen pickup in vol buying. >>this market has left me feeling uneasy. i can't pinpoint it but what's the feeling from the trading floor? >>i think that it's similar angie. basically we're seeing these violent moves. have we snapped back significantly and does it look favorable over the short term? yeah. but the fact of the matter is that it's too far too fast maybe. so you see this kind of momentum in the market. realize that vol in the marketplace is running around 15%-18% over the last 10-30 days. the vix is now trading around 14it's actually discounting what the market is actually realizing on a day to day basis as far as the movement. that causes me a little bit of concern as well. >>good to know dan. thank you. >>you're welcome. coming up tomorrow. it's a movies and money thursday. our critic will focus on lionsgate and how the film studio plans to top the success of the hunger games. from all of us at first business, thank you for watching.

>> announcer: the following is a paid advertisement for armando montelongo live events. you're about to meet a man that can change your future now. he is america's top real-estate investing expert, he has been featured on the number-one real-estate hit reality show, "flip this house," and is a best-selling author. he is the most sought-out real-estate expert in the world and has changed thousands of people's financial futures. you now have the opportunity to spend time learning armando's money-making real-estate strategies at his live event coming to your area. >> after attending one of armando's seminars, i started making offers, got into a property, made $35,000 net profit. >> after learning from armando's techniques and teachings, we went ahead