tomorrow's jobs number? has the weather already made a dent in the market ahead of tomorrow's jobs number? in today's cover story.... why a mega corporation is may suddenly give employees a raise. and....are tech savvy cars ready to go mainstream? plus....that's a wrap! the oscars are over...but a new crop of films is ready for release! first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's thursday, march 6th. i'm angela miles. in today's first look: what a drag! new data from the fed shows the harsh winter is holding back the economy. the report lead to a choppy trading session on wall street. the dow

fell 36 points. the nasdaq gained 6 while the s&p remains unchanged. but did hit an intraday record high. gold lost four dollars and money flowed out of oil sending futures down $2.38 cents. mega merger mania-- dealogic calculates $336 billion dollars in deals have been announced this year. a 31% jump from last year. and the most since 2000. and the u.s. mint will resume selling american eagle coins. good news for coin collectors. trader todd horwitz of average joe options joins us on this thursday morning. good morning to you. >>good morning angie. >>i want to start by asking you about the ukraine crisis. on a level of 1 to 1 where do you place this in relationship to the stock market and some of the commodities? >>right now i place this as a non event in the ukraine. all the action came in on monday and the market showed that they have no fear on any market across the board. they have all been

lower since the initial fear on monday. >>really? interesting. and as far as your bearish attitude shall we saywhere are you with that? are you shorting stocks still? >>i am looking to short stocks. i think we saw yesterday the fed beige book came out and people will tell you how positive the news was but the way i look at it is they have spent 325 thousand per american family to get this kind of result. 155% in the markets is a rally? it's not good enough for me. i think the market is looking for a top. and i think it could be ukraine later if there's another uprising that could be the catalyst. but you saw that the catalyst was not big enough on monday and now the market is looking for a catalyst to actually make it start to sell and take profits. but i am certainly looking for opportunities to short and would be looking to short everything except for gold and silver. >>what about the jobs number? will that be a catalyst? >>the jobs number could be a catalyst but i think they're

already cooking in a less than equal number. we always have this constant excuse right nowit's the weather, it's the weather. so i think the markethas priced in a miss and as we go back the last 2 months, we missed pretty horribly yet the market rallied on both of those days. >>isn't it hard to be a bear though as the market hits new highs? >>it's hard to be a bear but again i don't have to participate or be actively involved. i can be out there lurking and waiting for my prey and that's really what i'm doing. i'm not real heavily involved. i'm waiting for my prey but i will be ready to jump. >>ok, you keep lurking. thank you so much. >>have a great day. chuck coppola joins me know with the breakdown on the adp results as traders await tomorrow's jobs number. hello chuck. hello! more financial analysts are blaming the latest scapegoat for slow economic growth...the weather. payroll processor a-d-p says extreme winter weather is largely behind it's count of 139-thousand jobs created in february. that's about 19- thousand fewer than economists were predicting. "it has basically delayed retail spending, auto spending, unemployment // they're not hiring, they're not traveling,

gas sales are down because everyone's staying at home." niemann says bad weather's taken about a quarter of a percent bite out of the economy.but she predicts a relief rally in april---easter comes late, this year." now on to the crisis in the ukraine. treasury secretary jack lew confirmed in a senate hearing wednesday, the u.s. is committed to providing support to the ukraine. it's move that is likely to win support from nato. at this time we're looking into a wide range of options including sanctions and ways to increase russia's political and economic isolation. our ultimate goal is to de-escalate the situation in ukraine." steps we have taken today as well as steps by taken by other actors will facilitate diplomatic and political solutions. some pressure will pave the way exxon mobile is feeling the

effects of the unrest. a senior executive tells investors the company's offshore oil exploration activities near the ukraine are on hold due to current circumstances. in interesting turn of events. cbs news reports-- russian president vladimir putin has been nominated for the 2014 nobel peace prize. closer to home-- the obama administration is giving insurance companies a two-year grace period. insurance companies will be able to continue offering health plans that do not meet the minimum coverage as required by the law.it also means americans have the opportunity to "keep the plans" that might otherwise be cancelled. the first lady was in miami, florida yesterday encouranging people to enroll. so far, four- million americans have signed up for coverage under the affordable care act. facebook shares shot up to a new high despite taking aim at gun control. the social media giant plans to block minors from seeing postings of gun

sales.plus-- delete ads for guns that don't require a background check. groups for gun control are thrilled. gun dealers are circulating petitions. facebook stock traded above $71 dollars wednesday. analysts at stifel raised their price target on shares to $82. a shocking loss in the bitcoin industry. the ceo of bitcoin exchange "first meta" was found dead in her singapore home last friday. the cause of autumn radtke's death is "still under investigation". a statement on the company's website says "the first meta team is shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and ceo autumn radtke." the head of technology at target is stepping down. the management change is happening as the retailer attempts to recover from its massive security breach during the holidays. the president of target says a new chief information officer will be hired along with a cheif security officer and a chief compliance officer. a consulting firm has been called in to evaluate target's technology structure. new evidence is emerging that banks are lending more money to

small businesses. a report by the a-p says major banks had $287 billion in outstanding loans to small companies at the end of last year. up 1.4% from the previous year according to the f-d-i-c. lending to small businesses by wells fargo increased 18% last year. nearly 40 passengers are cruising to court to sue the carnival corporation. they were stranded on carnival's triumph ship that drifted at sea last february-- following an engine fire. passengers are seeking thousands of dollars apiece for medical and emotional issues since the trip. carnival contends there is no proof their problems are linked to conditions on the ship. the lawsuit is the first to go to trial involving the incident. testimony should wrap up this week. back in the u.s.... a committee clash! tempers flared during a house oversight hearing of former i-r-s official lois lerner. lerner refused to answer questions regarding her time as head of the i-r-s. it

sparked a feud as democratic congressman elijah cummings tried to ask a procedural question as republican chairman darrell issa, adjourned the meeting. "let me say what i have to say! i have listened to you for the last 15 to 20 minutes, let me say what i have to say! "ms. lerner...you're released... " "but first i would like to take my time to make some brief points. for the past year the central republican accusation in this investigation... " "we're adjourned. close it down" the irs was accused last year, of targeting tea party conservatives in search of tax exempt status. democrats contend progressive groups were also targeted. car companies are hording cash like crazy. counsulting firm e- y reports-- the world's top 10 automakers are sitting on $221 billion in cash. reasons range from heavy spending still to come on research and development. also-- car makers are not favored by banks. by having a stash of cash. car companies have money to cover

upcoming expenses. general motors ceo mary barra makes a bold move. barra will personally direct a recall of 1.3 million vehicles that have a potential flaw on ignition switches. yesterday... the national highway traffic safety administration ordered information from g-m about why it took so long to issue a recall that affects 1.3 million cars. gm discovered the problem in 2004. 13 deaths have been reported in connection with faulty ignition switches. meantime...gm wants smart cars to be more affordable. gm is adding active safety features to its buick encore and chevy malibu. features include blind spot monitors, and forward collision warnings that notify drivers when cars ahead are slowing down. james bell of gm, explains. "it really is the way of the future. every technology that we introduce is to mitigate some of the mistakes that humans make...and the more, the faster

the better." this comes just days after apple introduced carplay...a tech makeover for dashboards. bell said he can't speak for g- m specifically, but says acquiring that technology is something quote "we are actively working on." up in the air-- it could be a record breaking spring. the airline industry is projecting 129 million passengers will fly in march & april, the most traffic in six-years. it could put airlines back on track after a bumpy winter. last year, the airline profits worldwide totaled more than 11 billion dollars--- it's fourth consecutive year of profits. united airlines is cracking down on carryon bags that are overstuffed and larger than the rules permit. starting saturday-- passengers with carryons that exceed the limit will be sent back to the ticket counter to pay the $25 fee to check it. you have been warned. u-p-s is powering up its fleet

with propane. it's adding one thousand delivery trucks, which can travel 200-miles on a single tank of propane. the plan will be rolled out in rural areas in louisiana and oklahoma, next year. deals in other states are pending. global warming may force chipotle mexican grill to say adios to gaucamole for a while. the restaurant chain claims volatile weather patterns are having a severe effect on the availabilty of ingredients such as avacados.california is the nation's main source for avacados and may lose 40% of crops due to drought. chipotle may take gauc off the menu temporarily or raise prices. google is investing $50 million dollars to put an online real estate website on the map. the site is auction.com. the investment money will come from google capital -- the venture capital arm of google. google execs want a stake in auction.com. they believe the site will change the way residential and commercial real estate is bought and sold. companies are still banking on a bump from oscar gold. this year's best picture winner has

already earned about 50 million at the box office, but is going back for a final round. 12 years a slave is being re - released in theaters this weekend by fox studios. and, samsung's 20 million dollar ad campaign -- including this now famous celebrity group shot gave a boost to samsung's brand. according to visable measures... samsung's "reach" on social media jumped 6% after hollywood's big night. still to come if you have the post oscar blues... the movies coming your way that could lift your spirits! plus...why costco's earnings report will be closely watched today.. and....and a major fast food chain may soon be forced to give workers a raise! that's after the break! ♪ ♪ ♪

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in our cover story, mcdonald's corporation told the securities and exchange commission that the increasing focus on income inequality may force it to raise wages. and the timing comes as president obama and governors across the northeast pressure congress to act. president obama left washington for the northeast---on a campaign to apply more public pressure on congress to raise the minimum wage. "what happens if workers get

more money in their pockets? they spend more. it's common sense." obama was joined by a group of democratic northeast governors who all support raising the minimum wage to ten dollars, ten cents an hour. and fast-food giant, mcdonald's corporation acknowledged the pressure. telling the sec in it's annual 10-k filing, that its financial condition may be affected by "the long-term trend toward higher wages and social expenses in both mature and developing markets." "i think they'll look at automation and some price increases." a mcdonalds spokeswoman called the minimum wage disclosures

"routine" and had been ackknowledged in mcdonalds last two sec filings. but today, the group "organizing for action" which held a rally in chicago two weeks ago will turn the debate slightly toward women who comprise two-thirds of workers paid minimum wage. "i think we can all agree that women working fulltime should not be in poverty. that's just // not acceptable in america." in its s-e-c filing, mcdonalds reported a slight increase in profits in 20-13--making 5.58 billion dollars. thank you for that report chuck.still to come ... costco reports earnings today... will the results be a deal breaker for one trader? and... can a couple of childhood characters bring back the magic to the big screen for a hit?? that's next in movies and money.

hollywood is marching forward with a couple of new films this weekend. here with his reviews-- plus a re-cap of the oscars---- our movie guy erik childress who is skyping with us this morning because a snowstrom has him land locked. how original erik. good morning. >>good morning. >>it's okay to gloat. you did very well with your oscar picks. however, you did have one big miss and that was best picture. you picked gravity which actually fared very well. >>yeah 7 oscarsit's the 2nd film after cabaret to actually win 7 oscars and not get picture. which is always kind of weird to me that a film could be the most technically proficient film of the year, get best director, and then somehow lose out to best picture. so that's kind of odd. >>what did you think about the oscars overall? i thought they were very easy to watch. they had a nice flow. i thought

ellen was great. how about you? >>it was easy enough to watch. i think it went a little long again. it had a lot of unnecessary montages. it was just sort of a really unsurprising oscar cast. we had the john travolta moment that everyone's making fun of right now but other than that there wasn't really anything to talk about other than the winner's speeches. many of which were very nice. >>i thought so too. well, here's what happened at the box office. while we were watching the oscars, other people were actually going to the movies. coming in at number 1 was non- stop with liam neeson. a great job with $28 million. the son of god coming in at number 2. the lego movie, three days to kill, and the monuments men. so lego's still bringing in money and liam neeson leading the box office. >>lego movie is over $200 million now. it's well deserved. liam neeson has become quite the action star sincetaken. and this is going to be a nice little hit for universal. i was kind of curious to see how people were going to react to son of god. it is a stripped down version of the bible miniseriesthe sort of last

fifth of that story. people did show up. they didn't quite show up in passion of the christ numbers but certainly better than some other religious films that have come out. we'll see if it holds up nownow that we're into lent. >>son of god had a lot of promotion. even joel osteen's promoting the film so it's getting a lot of buzz out there. moving on to this weekend. as i mentioned a couple of new films coming out300: rise of an empire and mr. peabody and sherman. >>yeah, remember last year warner brothers was going to release 300 the sequel in the summertime in august. in the beginning of the summer they moved it and pushed it to march which i think is smart move. i think they're gonna reap a few extra dollars because of that. i thought it wa going to bomb last summer and i don't think it's gonna do quite the money that the original did in 2006. that did over $210 million. so we'll see if the fans are still

interested in that style that's been copied over the years. mr. peabody and sherman on the other hand is an even bigger disappointment because as a fan of that cartoon back in the rocky and bullwinkle rerun daysit's a film that doesn't quite know its audience. it's appealing to kids as opposed to the adults that remember it. it sort of a kid's version of bill and ted's excellent adventure and it actually turned out to be really disappointing. but i think those 2 are going to battle for the top of the box office and you might see son of god hover around there as well. >>thank you erik and have a great weekend. >>thank you. you too. find out next if traders think more cars and shopping carts are rolling into costco. and if the stock is a deal. chart talk is next.

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costco reports earnings after the close tonight. matt

cavanaugh of cmz trading is all over this stock for us this morning. good morning matt. >>good morning. >>are we likely to hear any weather related issues from this company? >>that's a really interesting thing because the weather's been so much in the news lately and costco is one of those few stores that had really good december and january same store sales growth. i think it's gonna be a big factor in their earnings and it should be interesting to see if the market takes note of it. >>the stock trades around $116. is that a good buy or a let's wait and see kind of buy? >>my personal feeling is that this is a great company, a great brand. they're doing a lot of good things. they're signing up millions of new members every year. they're going to open up 30 stores in 2014. i personally think that it's really priced for perfection. it's kind of an expensive stock and it's one that i would like to own but i would like to own it on a little bit of weakness.

>>you say it's expensive so what line would you want to own this stock? what level? >>i think if we could get it closer to maybe the $100 range it would be really good buy. maybe even slightly below that. but i could see this stock popping on the earnings if they do surprise to the upside on the back of this good same store sales growth in december and january. it's one of those that i'm really twisted on but i think for the long term i would like to buy it slightly lower. >>that sounds good. it sounds like wall street might reward those companies that did not have issues with the weather. great to have you on the show today. >>thank you. that's it for now-- coming up friday.. the guys in traders unplugged go to toe over global warming as the ceo of apple warns about climate change. will it cloud up how they think about the stock. from all of us first business.. thank you for watching.we'll see you tomorrow.

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