safe haven search...traders scramble as turmoil in ukraine reaches u.s. markets. in today's cover story....disturbing accusations of inaction bygeneral motors. plus... after an incredible rally...how to make sure your 401k savings stay put. and ... the new, and familiar faces on forbes billionaire's list. why the rich, just keep getting richer! first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's tuesday, march 4th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: tensions flare between the ukraine and russia triggering a sell of stocks. the dow fell triple digits monday losing 154 points. the nasdaq dropped 31 and the s&p 13 gold rallied hard gaining $31 as did oil which is

trading above $104 per barrel. president obama warns russia the country could face costly sanctions over the conflict. secretary of state john kerry travels to the ukrainan capital of kiev today. members of the european union call a meeting for thursday and russian president vladimir putin responds that he has the right to invade the ukraine. let's get down to it with glenn schultz of performance trust. he's watching the market for us today. bring us up to date on the market reaction so far to the ukraine-russia situation. >>right now the market's reaction has been relatively benign. we really haven't seen a powerful quality trade coming into the markets yet although we have seen it somewhat. on monday evening the treasuries closed at about a 260 yieldand we did see risk assets soften

somewhat. so we have seen a rotation from risk assets into the safe haven assets. i would expect today to see a continuation of the flight to quality trade but the market is really standing down in terms of a really powerful flight to quality trade to assess what's going on with respect to the ukraine. so obama came out and said any kind of military intervention is really off of the table and they're going to try and persuade russia to leave the ukraine through an series of economic sanctions. but i think this means that we're in for a long drawn out affair. putin has done the calculus and if you look at the map, the ukraine forms an important economic corridor for russia between asia and the european union. so it's going to take a lot to get the russians to back down from this position because the ukraine i believe is economically important from a strategic perspective for the russians. this means we're

probably going to be in for a long drawn out spring as this drama plays out in a very slow and painful fashion for the markets. >>thank you glen. that's glen schultz of performance trust. as the ukraine remains a country in crisis...money managers are standing gaurd of the portfolios they manage. among them matt shapiro of mws capitol who is now looking at buying opportunities in eastern europe stocks... "no one knows what vladimir putin is going to do and what i've been telling my clients is kind of look at it from russia's perspective -- there is, in a sense, a little bit of an arab spring where a government of ukraine, which is in their sphere of influence, everyone has to recognize that, was overthrown and they want to protct theri lease until 2040 of their deep water fleet in the crimea. so, you've gotta look at it from that perspective, but i think things will wind down a little bit and even russian stocks, look at yandex which is the google of

russia, was down 15% yesterday, so for very interpid investors yo can certainly look at stuff like that" our thanks to matt shapiro. chuck coppola steps in now with an update on manufacturing in the u.s. angie-- back in the u.s. a surprise bump in u-s manufacturing. the index of factory activity around the nation--- known as the i-s-m-- rose to 53.2 in february. a number above 50 indicates expansion. in january, the index was 51.3, the lowest since last may. february's reading also topped economists'expectation of 52. the west leads the way in job growth according to new data. north dakota, texas, arizona, colorado, utah, idaho and oregon have the fast growth, according i-h-s global insights. the recovering housing market, oil boom and demand in the high tech sector are all creating the need for more workers. the report says the west is well-positioned to continue the trend.

a new shake up within microsoft's management. bloomberg reports that the company has chosen former washington insider mark penn for the role of chief strategy officer. penn has served as executive vice president in charge of ads and strategy. he is also a former aide to the clinton family. penn was head of microsoft's "scroogled" campaign, a google attack ad. meantime, those leaving microsoft, include an executive v-p for marketing and executive v-p of business development. darden restaurant group executives give some insight into plans for olive garden and red lobster. there are hints the restaurant chain will spin-off or sell red lobster. and, an updated menu and new logo are in the works for olive garden. darden stock closed down 5 percent yesterday. comcast considers spinning off its 3 million subscribers into a separate, publicly traded company. this is part of the company's $45.2 billion takeover of time warner cable. regulators may support the spin off to create a new competitor which would become the fourth largest u-s cable company. comcast is set to submit documents on the time warner buy

to those regulators at the end of march. maybe they'll finally like the way they look -- together. executives with men's wearhouse and jos a bank are talking merger. the retailers reached a non-disclosure agreement monday. this is the latest chapter in a months-long drama that has seen each company try to take over the other. being an activist has really paid off for carl icahn. his company, icahn enterprises made a one billion dollar profit in 20-13, up 144% from last year. icahn tells shareholders it's because of its activist investment strategies. he says this eliminates "mediocre ceos and wasteful bureaucracy." icahn has made his mark on companies including apple, herbalife, and forest labs. shares of icahn enterprises closed out the day up 1%. citigroup's cfo is calling the banks alleged accounting fraud in mexico-- an "isolated incident". the comment was made monday at an investor conference. citigroup admited last week, the incident happened at its mexican subsidiary "banamex". bank officials say they took

immediate action and are cooperating the investigation. citi has received a subpeona from the fdic. a subpeona has also been issued to p-n-c financial services group. the wall street journal reports that the justice department is seeking information about the bank's relationship with a payment process service. regulators say customers complain that they were fraudulently charged for certain services. the company is cooperating with authorities. despite yesterday's sell off in the stock market. there is one stock that just keep plugging away. the stock is plug power. it trades under ticker p-l-u-g and it surged 24% monday. the company makes fuel-cells to power forklifts and other warehouse equipment. the stock has been on a steady rise during the past several sessions -- but is picking up investors---since winning a contract with walmart last week. analyst believe more deals may be on the way.

warren buffett is opening up about controversial topics.as crisis escalates in ukraine, buffett tells cnbc that he would use this as a buying opportunity for stocks. he also said he would "love" it if the minimum wage was 15-dollars an hour, but believes it would hurt the job market. the billionaire investor also said he supports construction of the keystone x-l pipeline. enviromentalists took to the white house over the weekend to protest the pipeline. hundreds were arrested. bill gates is back on top of the forbes list of the most wealthy in the world. kerry dolan, forbes' assistant managing editor of wealth , joins us by skype this morning to talk money. big money. >>yes, we're talking some serious money. we found 1645 billionaires around the world. together worth 6.4 trillion dollars. >>mr.gates, the founder of microsoft has a net worth of 76 billion dollars. what else did you learn about the tip-top of the 1 percent? >>well, it seems like we say this every year but the rich

just do keep getting richer. the combined net worth of these billionaires is 1 trillion dollars greater than it was a year ago. we found 268 new billionaires around the world and some of them for the first time in countries like lithuania, tanzania, and algeria. >>that was actually a record. more people are becoming wealthier as you mentioned. who are some of the newcomers? >>some of the high profile newcomers here in the united states are sheryl sandbergthe chief operating officer of facebook. facebook shares have been on a tear. she joined the list. 2 young entrepreneurs from a company called what's app that facebook just bought for 19 billionjan koum and brian acton. and world wrestling entertainment's vince mcmahon is new on the list this year. >>it was a lot of fun to have you on the show this morning. take care. >>thanks so much. facebook's sheryl sandberg is

denying a report that she has plans to run for the senate in 20-16. a source close to the author, and chief operating officer of facebook, told business insider that the rumors are - quote - 100% untrue. sandberg started out in politics, serving as chief of staff for former treasury secretary larry summers before leaving to work at google and then facebook. still to come: digging deeper into a recent pr nightmare at general motors... that's in today's cover story... plus...how apple is trying to reinvent "behind the wheel." and next how car dealerships are weathering the winter! that's next after this in the know message!

consumers are warming up to the idea of getting out of the house to buy new cars and trucks. following january's frost bit ---sales numbers improved significantly in february. gm's sales dropped 1% but that was a better showing than forecast by analsyts. chrysler sales roared 11 percent as car buyers put the pedal to the metal to buy jeeps

to nagivate harsh winter conditions. at ford, sales fell 6%. but the car company noticed momentum building and exepcts a better seasonally adjusted annual rate. "we're expectiong a significant better month and expecting saar to finally rebound to that over 16 level." jeremy acevedo-- an analyst at edmunds.com, predicts automakers will reach the goal of selling more than 16 million cars this year. in our cover story, general motors is recalling nearly 1.4 million cars for defects that stop air bags from deploying in accidents. it's caused more than a dozen deaths and what's more, there are accusations that the car maker and one government agency knew of the defect but did not order recalls for several years until now.

general motors says it knows of thirteen people who died and 18-more who were injured when faulty switches kept air bags from deploying in crashes. the center for auto safety, a consumer rights group says g-m knew about the problem ten years ago but chose not to recall the cars, nor did the national highway traffic safety administration find reason to act. "this is one of the worst safety scandels since the ford pinto." the recall expanded this week, affects the following models: 2003-through-2007 saturn ion, 2005-to-2007 chevrolet cobalt, 2006-through 2007 chevrolet h- h-r, pontiac solstice and saturn sky and 2007 pontiac g5. the problem was traced to cars' ignitions---when jostled by a heavy key ring or bumped by the driver's leg, shut off the engine, electrical system and disabled air bags. g-m sent out service bulletins to dealerships advising drivers

"remove unessential items from their keychain." it's just a complete failure of the recall system in this country." g-m's north american president issued a statement saying "we are deeply sorry and we are working to address this issue as quickly as we can." "the public should be suspicious that this may not really be the "new gm" it wants us to believe. they knew what the problem was but did nothing about it at the time." despite numerous lawsuits and settlements, the national highway traffic safety administration said it never opened an investigation because it did not find evidence of a safety defect trend. it is reportedly reassessing that, although n-h-t-s-a's washington offices were closed yesterday. apple is racing ahead with technology for car dash boards. the tech company launched "car

play" monday at the geneva auto show. it gives iphone users the capability to make calls, use maps, listen to music and get email with a word or a touch. the wall street journal reports...apple is ramping up its hiring of engineers in asia to speed up product launches for iphones or ipads. coming up... traders new view on the what's ahead for gold you won't want to miss that's later in chart talk. plus... how to "hold on" to all those gains in your 401k from the recent rally. we'll be right back!

strength from the stock market is propping up the average 401k

retirement fund. here to make sure you know how to keep the money you have earned is deena carr-- founder of finance: according to your faith. good to have you on the show. >>thank you for having me. it's a pleasure to be here. >>dr. deena, i don't want to see people lose any of this great money that they have earned over the past year or 2 here. what should they be doing? >>this is also a great time because at the end of the year we still have time to make contribution and have it count against our taxes. the other thing though is many times people lose money because they don't make the right moves at the right time. we sell when we should be buying and we buy when we should be selling. there are 2 newer things in the 401k world that helps people. one is target date funds. so opposed to having to make that decision or do what most people do which is look at the performance of last year and then select that fundthe target date fund allows you to say i'm going to retire in this year and chose a fund that will be allocated to the appropriate age or time frame.

>>so basically if you are going to retire in the next 5 years this is the x amount of money you hope to retire with in your 401k. >>exactly. >>should you be paying somebody to make those allocationsto shuffle things around for you? >>i think for some people it's a good thing because a great decision or a series of great decisions can make all the difference in the world. a second thing we're seeing now is managed accounts in the 401k market. you pay just a little bit of a fee and they will make those allocations and adjustments. ecah time you make contributions they constantly rebalance it. it becomes a way for us as average people to have world class financial management in our 401k's. >>i like the idea of a manager. i do not like the idea of paying. i am frugal fanny all the way. so how much should you actually be paying somebody. >>we're talking less than a percent. we're talking 0.7% of the amount that you allocate. so i think it's a small tiny percent to pay for great advice. you get what you pay for. if you want it free and

want to do it on your own then finedo it on your own. but if there's someone thereyou have people like financial engines that are world class in terms of their techniques and abilitiesthen go for it. >>great to have you on the show as always. dr. deena come and visit us soon. >>absolutely. still ahead---more on market reaction to crisis in the ukraine as investors run away from the russian ruble. chart talk is next.

talking to veterans about the real issues they're dealing with can be awkward and uncomfortable. we think to ourselves, "i never served. how could i understand? they'll talk about it when they're ready." and then we wonder why they don't want to talk. but when their behavior changes, when they withdraw to themselves, increase substance use, or even talk about hurting themselves,

it's time to act. because if we don't, our families and relationships will suffer. ask the hard questions. listen to the veterans in your life and show you care. make the call. it matters. when you recognize a veteran is in crisis, call the veterans crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 and press "1". ben lichtenstein of traders audio joins us now for more on the crisis in the ukraine. good morning ben.

>>good morning. >>let's break this down for viewers. you are watching a number of areas right now. let's start with currency. what's happening with the u.s. dollar? >>we've been watching actually the dollar chop trade right around that 80 even level. it touched down below but then saw a bit of a bid yesterday. so for the most part we're really keeping a close eye on this euro currency. the dollar has been stuck sideways for the most partbasically parked right around this 80 even level.if this can't stir it up in the dollar, i don't know what will. so again, we're keeping and eye on the euro currency at the 138 level. but we need to see some energy. not only energy but some follow through and conviction associated with the trade. for the most part, the dollar has just been married and parked at this 80 even level. >>the russian currency has struggled over the past several sessions. what do you see there? >>i think understandably soi think there's a lot of flight to quality into safer havens and i don't see why anyone would want to hold onto that. i think that some of what we're seeing

in terms of activity in the dollar and euro currency. but again, it's certainly under pressure and rightfully so. >>what about oil? we saw a big jump in the market yesterday. >>we did. yesterday we saw some energya big move but again kind of limited in terms of real follow through. everyone's looking at this 105 level. what i notice most is the acceptance or rejection of price activity. so if you look back, clearly we recently rejected that 80 level and unable to get down to 70. we saw the big comeback into the $100 area. up above 100 right now and zero in terms of rejection whatsoever so i think there's room to the upside now in the oil. >>last but not leastgold. >>i love it. gold has been high energy and also silver. the metals across the board for the most part are benefitting from the flight to quality or that safe haven type trade. gold in terms of acceptance or rejection? well clearly we just rejected that 1200 level. right now a lot of traders that i know have targets set on the 1400 level. gold's got comfort right now, right around 1350. gold is pointed north and it had

a vertical day yesterday. when the market goes vertical out of balance, it's seeking value and it's a mistake to get in front of that. who knows where value is? once it goes vertical it's seeking value so the market's trying to find that area of value. it could continue on againi'm not going to say to infinity but this market is poised, pointed north and it could continue on. gold and silver right now could easily have legs to the upside here. >>be, great to have you on today. thank you. >>my pleasure. thank you so much. that's it for now. coming up next time...a fight over flood insurance in coastal areas is drowning in controversy. find out why in tomorrow's show. until then, from all of us at first business, happy fat tuesday.

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