political tensions overseas rattle the oil market. in today's cover story....what's beefing up prices at the butcher? and... juice boost.... the "juicing" trend is a runaway hit...but for how long... plus... in traders unplugged....is a chart from the 1920's sending signals about danger ahead? first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's friday february 21st.i'm angela miles. in today's first look: the trading day begins with the s&p close to a record high. the index reached an all time high of 18-48 january 15th. it ended last night at 18-39. in trading yesterday, the dow surged nearly 100 points as the nasdaq

rose 30. the s&p up 11 gold tacked on $3. oil dropped a dime. checking earnings that came in after hours last night. groupon exceeded estimated, but issued a weak outlook. hewlett packard topped wall streets view as ceo meg whitman claims the turnaround is making gains. priceline fell short on its forecast. although profits were up on bookings. bye, bye cpi. white house sources say the president will not include the so called chaned cpi in his budget. it would have reduced the cost of living growth in social security benefits through a corolation to the consumer price index. trader chris gersch is on deck for us this morning. good morning to you chris. > >good morning. > >do you think that the market will continue to look past economic data that's being blamed on bad weather and rally? > >i think that the market is in for a test and i think it's gonna happen in the next 3 trading sessions. we're about

to hit a triple top on the s &p. the all time high is about that 1850 to 52 level. if we hit that again and don't go above it, where do we go if not higher? lower. so that's a big test technical level in the s &p futures. > >it's been a wild week for trading. i know some people have made money and some have had big losses. is there any predictability at all to this market? > >there really is no predictability. everyone seems to be hunky dory. i know that's a little cheesy but 2 weeks ago everyone was tying in their bootstraps and getting ready for the big fall. so the volatility has come up not only in the equities space but on the commodities. so i don't think that there's any certainty right now that we're going higher. if anything, i would take some money and put it into cash. > >strap yourself in. thank you chris. > >thank you. chuck coppola joins me now with reaction in the oil market to global unrest... deadly protest rage in ukraine. global unrest and oil. and it's

driving up the price of oil. oil futures remain above $103 per barrel. oil traders and fox business news contributor phil flynn explains the connection... "you have the situation in venezuela where protestors are erupting in the street. you have the ukraine, which is a very important transporation hub for natural gas to europe, and with the upheavels there, the possibility that a cut off of supply will lead to more oil use is keeping this market well supported." now on to the other stories making financial headlines...tesla is fessing up to rumored talks with apple. tesla ceo elon musk admits to bloomberg news having a conversation with apple executives. however, he did not say whether the talks were

regarding a possible takeover. a morningstar analyst explains why tesla might be a takeover target. "the tesla deal would make sense as far as expanding into automobiles, we are seeing a big trend of companies in tech moving into the car, trying to expand electronics content in automobiles. " elon musk did reveal he had "concerns"about his electric car company being aqcuired. and that tesla will excel with driverless cars. tesla's stock hit a new all time high yesterday of $215 in the wake of stunning earnings. facebook's $19 billion dollar acquisition of "whatsapp" rocked the stock. f-b shares closed at nearly $70 dollars yesterday. whats app is a worldwide popular texting & messaging service. the deal could possibly help the social media company dominate over messaging apps such as snapchat. although, whats app fans are concerned about facebook's influence in terms of ads. and, fun fact...prior to creating what'sapp... the

founder lived on food stamps, and created the free messaging service because calling home to the ukraine was expensive. food delivery company "grubhub seamless" is on the go with an ipo. the company aimed at people who order takeout food online reportedly filed for a confidential initial public offering. the ipo could happen by june. grubhub started up in chicago in 2004. seamless launched in 1999 in new york. as a combined company it processes 150,000 customer orders per day. challenging days are ahead for walmart...fourth quarter profits plunged 21% to $4.4 billion. and, the world's largest employer gave a muted outlook on earnings for the rest of the year. the retailer blames tough winter weather and the government's november first expiration of of additional food stamps to low-income shoppers. however, walmart is making inroads into more neighborhoods with plans to open as many as 300-small stores this year. wal mart shares closed down a dollar-33, yesterday. the gap is committing to raising wages... this year more

than 65-thousand gap chain employees will see a pay hike from $7.25 per hour to $9. and $10 in 2015. gap inc also owns old navy, banana republic and intermix. according to a gap executive this was a "business decision" and only coincidental that it comes at the same time as the national debate on wages. the city of detroit has an $18 billion "debt gap" to fill. and today the emergency manager of detroit will release the blueprint for restructering the city's finances. a spokesman says kevyn orr will file the plan in federal court. tens of thousands of city employee and retired workers are bracing for possible severe cuts to their pensions and health care benefits. faculty at the university of illinois at chicago return to the bargaining table today. professors and lecturers went on two day strike that started tuesday. the union is asking for a salary increase of 4 and a half percent. the administration has offered 3 point 2-5 percent. it's the

first strike in the schools' history. hearings continue today for the northwestern university athletes attempting to unionize the football team. yesterday, an economics professor testified that the university "exploits" players. however, attorneys for the school argue players receive scholarships with no bearing on performance. a national labor review board wants more evidence that there is an employee--employer relationship. the team's coach testifies today. federal reserve chair janet yellen heads back to the hill next week. lawmakers will hear from yellen in her second hearing on the hill next friday. this time yellen faces the senate banking committee. earlier this month she testified in front of the house financial services committee. the senate meeting however was rescheduled due to a snowstorm in the nation's capital. home buyers may be in for a bit of sticker shocker this spring. as home values rise...sellers are higher home prices mean more equity and that can encourage more owners to sell. but it can make homes less affordable for potential buyers. according to data from realty- trac -- average monthly home

payments in more than 300 u-s counties were 21% higher at the end of 20-13 than at the end of 20-12 -- a huge jump. gary salem, a real estate broker calls this is a 'wait- and-see' situation. "because as we start to thaw out from winter i think we're going to start to see activity again pick up once again. as for first time home buyers, yeah, at some point they are going to get priced out if we continue to move up at a rapid rate." adding to those payments are higher mortgage interest rates on 30-year fixed loans--they edged up to 4.33% this week, compared to last week's 4.28%. new revelations about just how much jp morgan knew about bernie madoff's crimes. jp morgan shareholders that are seeking damages from the bank, claim to have evidence that jp morgan had - quote - "direct knowledge" of madoff's ponzi scheme. acording to a complaint filed wednesday, some of the evidence comes from jailhouse interviews with madoff. in january jp morgan agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle claims around its role in madoff's fraud, but did not admit guilt. the country's first bitcoin atm is open for business. the atm that lets users transfer the virtual currency from atm to

smartphone, opened for the first time yesterday, in a bar in austin, texas. meantime... two of bitcoins biggest backers are launching their own index for the currency. the winklevoss twins -- known for their battle over facebook -- have unveiled the "wink-dex." the index is designed to reflect the true price of bitcoins to investors, by collecting data from existing exchanges. a new fad is happening in the restaurant industry.. jackie keenan reports on the juicing trend. it's another loud morning at squeeze. a juice barn st. petersburg, florida, but this noise is music to the ears of owner kelly lessem- bates. her business of producing cold-pressed juice jumped 400 percent since starting out just 18 months ago. it's been such an exponential growth, even from the time i was by myself in the kitchen. juicing is squeezing every last nutrient out of fruit and veggies until it's left into a pile of pulp. the juices are combined into ecclectic concoctions that nourish your body with more veggies than most people eat in a week.

this process. it not only allows you to get those nutrients, but it allows you to get it in a very concentrated form. there's 4-6 pounds of fruit and veg that are in any 16 oz drinking tall glasses of green has gone beyond just the yogis and hollywood health nuts. a swanky juice bar like squeeze is the latest trend in the 50- billion dollar health and wellness industry, and the category is estimated to grow by 6 percent a year. over time as these juice bars grow and evolve they're going to saturate the market, similar to the way cupcake have grown over the past six years a juicing is a tedious and messy process, and not easy to do at home. so buying from a hip juice bar is much more convenient. and you have to pay for that convenience- squeeze's bottles can cost up to 10 dollars. this freshness is going to come at a higher pricepoint, so the

miniority of consumers that have the affluence to invest in these juices will likely continue to look for them and demand them. and lessem-bates is not the only one seeing green. corporate america is hoping to get healthy with profits. starbucks is selling its evolution fresh juice in nearly 70 percent of its stores. but lessem-bates says despite competition from bigger players, she is confident her business will grow. she envisions a business customers turn to as a hub for nutritional counseling. we have people that are very serious about their health. you have people that are going through healing crises - whether that's cancer, or autoimmune or obesity. but i believe that the way we're doing it is so unique and such a personalized service, that it will only grow. for first business news, i'm jackie keenan. smoothie giant jamba juice is just now jumping into "juicing" the chain is rolling out cold- pressed juices in 300 locations and pricing drinks below typical market prices. well, they gave a mesmerizing

performance, but failing to bring home gold could cost the u.s .figure skating team. yesterday on the ice...russia scored gold for the women's singles skate. team usa's gracie gold finished fourth, and ashley wagner seventh. sports business daily reports figure skating revenue has lost millions of dollars since 2007...and, that a key to more money is more medals. still to come: in traders unplugged... stocks behaving badly. is a wicked crash ahead for the markets? plus... burger bump. why beef prices are moooving up? and after the break... why family farms are vanishing... we'll be right back! ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ [female narrator even if you're not planning on getting pregnant now, you should know that foods rich in folic acid like white bread and leafy greens can help prevent some birth defects before you even know you're pregnant.

farms are disappearing in

america...the government takes a survey every 5 years... and the lastest data from 2012 shows... the number of farms is decline as farmers grow older. in kansas alone the amount of farms fell by 6%. but here's what's interesting. the value of crops and livestock is on the rise. in today's cover story, beef prices are about to go up. in fact, they may rise faster than prices for anything else, this year. that's according to the u-s-d-a. what's causing it? a lot of it's tied to cattle herds still not fully recovered from a recent series of droughts. two successive years of drought in the southern plains, and high feed prices led ranchers to take herds to slaughter, leaving the u-s with the smallest herds in 63-years. and cattle futures at record highs. "there's a concerted effort to get producers to increase the herds and it's starting to work." but building up the herds could take until 20-16 or longer. bill begale, who owns paulina

market in chicago is bracing to pay more for beef from his supplier as early as next week. "obviously, if that goes up, everything's gotta go up; our ground beef, our steaks, our roasts." according to the u-s agriculture department, the price for ground beef went up 5%last year to an average of three-fifty a pound. cattle research firm cattlefax estimates steak prices this year could climb five to ten percent...and ground beef prices climb ten-to-fifteen percent. ground beef jumping higher from increased demand as consumers shop for cheaper cuts. "the consumer will shift to lower-priced cut of beef. a steak is fancy but ground beef is less so." the u-s agriculture department says it'll take at least two more years before the first of the new herds may be brought to market. despite fewer americans eating beef, a trend that has accelerated in the last seven

years, the export market which accounts for ten percent of u-s production remains strong. "as many countries around the world increase their standard of living, one of the things that includes is increasing sources of protein. that includes a lot of poultry but also beef and pork." but for the next two years, consumer advocates suggest buy in bulk when a cut is on sale and freeze it. "beef freezes well. it'll last a year if it's wrapped properly." the agriculture department projects that as beef production increases, so will beef consumption in the u-s. coming up...the 44 million dollar man...what the guys think about outrageous ceo pay. and later in chart talk...gap employees get a raise...should you shop the stock? stay with us!

game on! joining us from the floor of cme group, alan knuckman and scott shellady here for fresh round of traders unplugged... at the sound of the bell let's roll with topic number 1...party like 1929? the stock market is behaving similar to what was happening right before the

great stock market crash in 1929. should investors run for cover? alan: it is very eerie but past performance is not indicative of future results. i'm not afraid until the customers get back in and no one's afraid of the market. it's nowhere near like it was in 2007. people are still outside this marketplace. scott: it's disengenuious to lay a chart from post qe to pre qe. but you're overlaying a chart with a 33% return versus a chart that went up 150%. that's not fair and it's technically incorrect. alan: lincoln had a secretary named kennedy and kennedy had a secretary named lincoln. angie: topic number --2 nfl commissioner roger goodell earned 44 million a year....fair or foul? scott: alan sneaks these questions in all the time because he's a wannabe athlete. and my answer would be if you don't like it, don't watch. if you don't like it, don't go to the games. it's the most democratic process in the world. if you think he's getting paid to much, stop giving him

money. alan: the nfl is a non-profit. scott: it's hard to be non- profit when you don't have any revenue. so stop going to the games. alan: i don't have a problem with people making a lot of money. zuckerberg in stock and salary. but this is salary. this is not something he did with a stock to get better performance. there are 23 out of the 30 nfl teams worth a billion dollars, so he's made them happy but it is somewhat disproportionate. the average s &p salary of a ceo is $10 million. he's making 4 times that. scott: what would you have to complain about if we didn't have this? alan: i like college, not pro. angie: topic number 3 sjm jam - smuckers had 25% selloff from august highs to low last week, investors sticky or sweet with this stock?

alan: yes, it's a buying opportunity like a lot of things that selloff that are in distress. people are worried in theory about the high fructose corn syrup hurting their business and their jam but people are gonna pay. people like food even if it's not healthy. and the stock at 100 right now is at the midpoint in the selloff so i think it's a good value. scott: the economy's looking better--i think that the stock goes down because more people have more money to buy the alternatives which are more expensive and healthier. if you think the economy's poor,i think the stock rallies. alan: have you just invented the peanut butter indicator? scott: the stock will rally like mcdonalds will when the economy goes down. i think the economy is gonna go down. because i don't think things are doing 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. hi, i'm ben affleck, and many actors have played the part of a u.s. serviceman in the movies, but for veterans like james crosby and so many other brave men and women, his service and his sacrifice for our country are real. outside baghdad, a rocket attack blew up my humvee, killing one of my marines and leaving me paralyzed. [ben affleck] when james returned home, he, like many others, was in no condition to cope

and advocate for the services he needed. fortunately, paralyzed veterans of america's trained experts were there to help him so he could concentrate on getting well. for over sixty years, paralyzed veterans of america has worked to ensure that our injured veterans get the medical, housing and auto benefits they have earned. i'm so thankful paralyzed veterans of america was there for me. surely those who sacrificed so much deserve no less. join me in supporting our paralyzed veterans. visit p-v-a dot org.

scott bauer of trading advantage joins us now for chart talk. good morning scott. > >good morning angie. how are you? > >i'm doing wonderfully well. you're here to talk about solarcity--a stock that investors have been starstruck with. it's up 300% for the year and earnings are coming out on

monday. is this a stock you would buy ahead of earnings or wait? > >i would probably wait to see it settle in. i think imminently on earnings, there's probably a little bit more downside pressure than there is upside. with that being said...we have seen this stock get involved with situations before and we've seen negative news come out yet you look at the charts and like you said-- it's up 300%--from 20 up to the mid 70's now.i would let it settle in a little bit and if there's any retracement here to that low 70s number--i'm a big buyer. > >let's move on to gap. exciting news here. the company is raising wages for workers. earnings are out on thursday. this stock is up about 33% for the year. what do you think? > >i'm just leery in general of retail right now. we just have not seen good numbers come about. now, this news in gap is great. the fact that they're raising wages is great. they may report a fairly good number. there comps number have

been good but in general in retail, i'm not so enthralled with that industry right now. so if anything, i would give a wait and see. maybe if it pulls back and into the mid 30s that we saw earlier--that's a place where i would dip in but not right here. > >thank you and have a good friday. > >you too. we just want to thank you for watching our show this week. coming up monday-- the capitalist pig will be here an inside look at trading you probably have not seen before. we hope you will joins us. from all of us at first business...have a great friday!

>> 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.