what's driving the sell-off? short-term profits or nervousness? in today's cover story, the fees behind mutual funds--a different kind of don't ask-- don't tell--that could cost you. plus...bailing on biotech. is the sector facing new challenges? and stepping up sanctions--how far is too far for european trade and will backlash cross the atlantic? first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's tuesday, march 25th. i'm chuck coppola in for angela miles. in today's first look. investors on edge. some major selling on wall street yesterday, with the dow, s&p and nasdaq all losing steam. gold lost two percent to close at 13-10. oil---flat for the most part--

finishing at 99-dollars-38 cents a barrel. the search continues for more than a hundred people missing after a mudslide destroyed a fishing village north of seattle, washington. eight people were killed when the slide, 15-feet deep in places struck, saturday morning. president obama is in europe meeting with leaders of the group of seven, that's the g-8 without russia. they may step up economic sanctions against russia for its annexation of the crimean peninsula. and disney is paying 950 million dollars to buy privately-held maker studios. the online video company has over 340-million youtube subscribers. trader glenn schultz of performance trust joins us now. hello glenn! >>hi, how are you? >>i'm doing very well. how are janet yellen's comments from last week playing now into this week? >>janet yellen's comments are playing into higher short term rates. when you look at, for example, euro dollars futures the red contracts specifically december of 2015they are pricing in about a 120-125 libor. so the market is looking at her comments specifically

the comment in which she stated that she thought short term interest rates could rise or begin to rise as soon as 6 months after the end of the bond purchase program. that's what got the market moving in terms of short term interest rates and they pulled their expectations from the 2nd half of 2015 into the first half of 2015 and we're seeing that play out in terms of higher short term rates and what a lot of people in the fixed income markets call a bear steeper the yield curvethat is front rates going up while the back end remains somewhat stable. >> so what does this acceleration mean to you? >>what it means to me is that the federal reserve is looking at the overall strength of the economy. plus i believe they're factoring in the overall size of the soma portfolioso those are the open market operations. that's the portfolio that holds the bond purchases that the federal reserve has been

continuing on over these years and that's now at 4 trillion dollars. so federal reserve economists have already estimated about every trillion dollars of asset purchases is equivalent to a 1% or so cut in terms of the fed funds rate. so as far as the federal reserve is concerned when you factor everything together they believe the target fed funds rate is actually minus 2.75% or so. so in their minds i think there is plenty of room for them to begin to raise interest rates and start to paint a picture of the economy in terms of a more normal state. one that responds to traditional monetary policy, follows the fisher rule, follows the taylor rule. and that means something like 1-1.5% on the short term rate. >>of course all of this is looking at the domestic picture. what about the russian conflict? are you concerned about that spilling over into the u.s. economy? >>i'm not too concerned about that spilling over into the u.s. economy. it looks like the western leaders are going to try to handle the russian problem, specifically the annexation of crimea, through diplomatic meansspecifically they're looking at sanctions. the sanctions are intended to hurt russia. quite frankly, i don't think putin really cares too much about the sanctions. i think the broader question iswas this a test of the western leaders? and did they fail? and is there an even broader agenda with respect to the soviets and putin in particular as far as reassembling the soviet empire. >>alright, we'll leave it there for now. glenn schultz of performance trustthanks very much. >>thank you.

it was painful news relatives hoped would never come. those with loved ones aboard malaysia airlines flight 370 learned that new satellite data revealed by the airline and by malaysia's prime minister, that the boeing triple-7, missing for more than two weeks went down in the southern indian ocean. officials say there were no survivors. " it is therefore with deep sadness and regret that i must inform you that, according to this new data, flight mh370 ended in the southern indian ocean." authorities from australia, china and france say satellite images of debris floating in the ocean more than 15-hundred miles southwest of australia are consistant with "pings" satellites received from the plane, more than seven hours after controllers lost contact with it. still no word what caused the airliner to reverse course on its way from kuala lumpur to beijing on march 8th. there were 239-people aboard. we turn now to paul eggers for the latest on the conflict in russia. good morning paul. good morning, chuck. the g7 group of industrialized nations says it will not attend the sochi g-8 summit,and instead

will meet, without russia in brussels this summer. leaders also confirm the escalating conflict will increase russian sanctions. more severe penalties for russia's annexation of crimea could send russia's economy into recession. bloomberg news reports russia's economy is expected to shrink over the next two quarters. analysts say if economic sanctions intensify...it could send shockwaves to it's financial system. back in the u.s...the oil market continues to react to conflict overseas. yesterday crude oil futures hit over 100 dollars a barrel due to russian worries, and supply concerns in libya. all five of bernie madoff's former employees on trial in the wake of his massive conspiracy have been convicted. prosecutors prevailed on all 33 counts against them. each was found guilty on conspiracy and securities fraud charges, among others. prosecutors argued that the five not only enriched themselves but also helped madoff cheat investors out of billions of dollars. the six month trial was one of the longest in manhattan federal court history. biotech stocks are under scrutiny and under performing. analysts say the downturn comes after a letter from three members of congress questioned gilead sciences' pricing of

it's product "sovaldi," a hepatitus-c drug that's costs patients a-thousand-dollars-per- day. analysts say the pushback by government healthcare agencies spooked investors of other biotech companies as well. trader james ramelli of keene on the market, explains. "it shouldn't affect the broader space too much. i think the broader market is in a place where bad news is really going to make investors nervous. especially with something like the biotech sector. its come up so much so fast, that i think any little bit of bad news is going to send some of the weaker money headed to the exits." the nasdaq biotechnology index finished the day down more than three percent monday. roughly a month ago, that index, a gauge of 121 drug companies was up 20%. the nasdaq biotechnology index finished the day down more than three percent monday. roughly a month ago, that index, a gauge of 121 drug companies was up 20%.

in our ipo watch...investors are eagerly awaiting grub hub's public offering. the food delivery company expects 7 million shares to price between 20 and 22 dollars per share-- for a valuation of 1.7 billion dollars. grub hub hopes to gain capital so it can expand to more cities. also....candy crush maker "king digital" is powering up for an ipo-- expected tomorrow. it's one of the most hyped ipos so far this year, and one of 14 companies going public this week. herbalife sees some new life after activist investor carl icahn gets three more seats on its board. shares of the nutrition and weight loss company jumped more than 6 percent yesterday after the anouncement. herbalife does face an investigated by the u-s federal trade commission over its business practices and has been labeled a pyramid scheme by investor william ackman. icahn is herbalife's biggest

shareholder with a 16.8% stake. general motors struggles to keep angry customers from soiling its social media presence. the auto maker admits that faulty ignition switches have caused the deaths of at least 12 people and is the reason behind a recall of 1.6 million vehicles. now, g-m is trying to deal with the fallout: customers are taking to twitter and facebook to voice frustrations, fear and anger. the new york times reports the company is trying to walk a fine line on its facebook page and website between buiness as usual and dealing with posted -- and public -- ridicule. u-s manufacturing hits a snag. activity slows in march despite hitting a four-year high in february. what's called a "flash" or preliminary index number slips to 55.5 this month -- down from 57.1 in february. this is lower than the 56.5 number that economists were expecting. the good news is that any number above 50 still indicates expansion. bright spots are also emerging in the euro zone recovery. new data suggests that europe's

economy is expanding at the fastest rate since 20-11. data is compiled from 5 thousand businesses in europe. the largest strides last month were made in france --as exports grew. business activity also rose in greece and spain. job creation is also rising. in january, the unemployment rate in europe stood at 12%. the latest unemployment data will be released, april 1st. there are signals from apple and comcast that a new level of cooperation could be on the horizon. the wall street journal is reporting that the two companies are in talks about a joint streaming service. the arrangement would see comcast give users special access on its cable system allowing them to bypass web congestion. this would be done via an apple set- top box. users would be able to stream both live and on-demand programming. there are also rumors apple could release it's new iphone 6 late summer or early fall. shares of apple closed up slightly on the news.

microsoft will have to wait a little longer to acquire nokia. the $7.2 billion deal was announced in september and was expected to close by the end of this month, but the global regulatory approval process is still underway according to statements from both companies. the u-s and europe have signed off but asian regulators are reportedly still conductiong reviews. the deal is expected to close next month. after several years of eating more meals at home, americans are going out again. before the start of the recession 77.4% of meals were eaten at home. that percentage quickly grew to 80 once the economy faltered. now, new data points to that number leveling off. this according to market reasearch group n-p-d. still to come: money is shifting out of some of

the market's hottest stocks. plus.... are fees attached to your portfolio wiping away some of your stock market gains? and... why the s-e-c is getting angry letters over ceo compensation. that's next after this in-the-know message

on the trail for transparency, the securities and exchange commission has received more than a thousand individual letters on a new law requiring companies to disclose the ratio between the salary of its c-e-o and the median pay of it's workers. it's also received 127-thousand form letters on this aspect of wall street reform under dodd-frank legislation. for example, if an employee makes $45-thousand-790 a year, and the ceo's total compensation is 12-million-260- thousand, the ratio would be one-to-268. the ceo would be making 268 times more than the median worker. final rules could be adopted later this year. in the early days of dodd- frank, the finanical industry successfully challenged s-e-c

attempts to include stricter rules covering disclosure of mutual fund fees. as a result, individual investors can remain in the dark on the true costs of mutual funds investing. in today's cover story, a closer look at how fees -- not performance -- may drive the popularity of mutual funds. front end load funds can charge a one-time fee around 5 and a half percent up front, then, 12-b-1, or expense fees, can add another 1% annually. and if that mutual fund is inside a brokerage account with a wrap fee, you could be paying another 2 % every year -- taking a big chunk out of your initial investment. "that's an excessive fee structure, in my opinion. lay person investors and even professional investors aren't aware of this at all. " james sanford of sag harbor advisors believes it is this structure -- that can pay

brokers handsomely -- that keeps mutual funds so popular. " they can easily replicate the risk/return in an etf or closed end fund or basket of stocks. the problem with that is they don't get financial advisors or brokers paid." investors typically don't ask about fees when making investment decisions, according to financial planner and blogger roger wohlner. "not too much but i've been getting more and more lately as the topic was on the retirement gamble on pbs and other thigns out there. i've been getting more and more." information on expenses is in the fine print of the mutual fund prospectus but brokers do not need to disclose how much they earn from selling a particular fund. it is on investors, then, to ask more questions of their advisor on mutual fund fees and performance.

" only 10% of mutual funds outperform the s&p 2 years in a row. so there's really no compelling reason to put your client into mutual funds" still, mutual funds do have proponents and maybe a place in your portfolio. the idea that expensive mutual funds hurt a client is underscored by a recent morningstar study, which revealed that expense ratios is the single biggest predictor of overall success. the lower the expense to the investor, they higher the return in their portfolio. morgan stanley is betting on merger and acquisition madness. the investment bank has revealed the stocks that are on it's radar as possible takeover targets. it expects 44 companies have a good chance of being acquired in the next year. separated into eight different sectors, some of the notable stocks include newfield exploration, dreamworks, and wellpoint. it is expected that 20-14 will be a huge year for tech acquisitions. coming up.. the nasdaq takes a turn for the

worse. what's causing tech stocks to lose power? we'll find out later in chart talk. plus... tax strategies for retirees. the advantages you might not be aware of, and should know before april 15th. that's next with bill moller!

so how are your taxes coming along. hmm i see. you know - in large measure, your income taxes are based on, you income. but if you're retired, that's a different matter, and you actually have some control over what you pay the irs. christine benz is director of personal finance for morningstar.com. retirees don't have one income stream, they have several. >>most retirees do. they might have social security, they might have pension income, and they might be drawing income from their investment portfolios. so they can think about where they go for income on a year to year basis. >>let's talk about that. i'm retiredwhat can i do to minimize my taxable income? >>you can be strategic about where you go for cash. if you are required to take minimum distributions from your

traditional ira's and 401k'sand in 2013 those rmd's may be a little bigger than usual because we had better investment performance than in the past. you might think about taking money from your taxable account or your roth account where the tax rates will tend to be more favorable on those distributions. >>how about deductions? are there any options there? >>there are. what i find is that when a lot of folks are retired, the standard deduction may be better for them than itemizing their deductions. especially if they've already paid off their homes so they're not getting that mortgage interest rate deduction. i think a great strategy can be to bundle their deductions so that if they do have a lot of things going on in a given year, they can in fact itemize those deductions. for example, if you have voluntary health or dental procedures that you plan to undergo, cluster them in a single calendar year. you could also think about prepaying your property taxes so that you have

more than 2 bills falling in a given year. you may make that itemized deduction threshold. >>so for property tax billsthat's a different kind of tax you're talking about. that's an exemption. is there an option there? >>there may be and it depends on your community and the way it might be set up for seniors. but definitely make sure that you are availing yourself of all of the tax breaks that are available to you as a senior and/or a long term homeowner. even if you don't qualify for a freeze and you typically do need income below a pretty low level to qualify for a freeze. you may be able to qualify for that long term homeowners exemption. >>hopefully the accountant knows about all this. christinethanks so much. >>thank you bill. thank you bill! coming up next... investors hit the pause button..... find out what sent traders running from some of the market's most watched stocks. that's right after this break!

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in chart talk, big name stocks have taken some hits in this selloff. matt shapiro of mws capital joins us now. hi matt! >>how are you doing chuck? >>i'm doing very well, thanks. so what's causing this selloff? >>i think it's a little of the aggressive investors that got into the go-go phenom highly valued stuff actually kind of lost their nerve yesterday contributing to the selloff of tesla and biotechnology, small caps and really anything that was hot so far this year. >> are we waiting for any economic data is that partially what is contributing to this?

>>i think the market has been a mixed bag of a lot of investors on the pause button right now. and the aggressive part of the market that actually has been doing well has been very valued. so there were some stories over the weekend speaking about the high valuation of the russel 2000 and of small caps we knowtesla, facebook has a high valuation. finally investors took a cue and ran for cover from a lot of that. that took the market down. >> everyone has loved tesla up to this point... what's causing this? >>it's really instability that's created when everybody in the media and everybody who's a speculative bent kind of investor starts investing in a company like that and drives the price up to really unsustainable levels. it's really mathematics and psychological behavior that causes a fracture in the market and stock dropping. >> do any of the uncertainties in the world have anything to do with this? >>i know that's a little bit of an excuse and i look at that more as just sort of the

general neutral pause button kind of thing in the market. there's a lot of good fundamentals in the market when you talk about economic growth. transportation stocks are doing well. i think we're kind of waiting to get going this year and corrections in the highly valued part of the market for me really don't have much to do with the fundamentalswhich i think are really good. >> one would think gold would be doing better though... why is it not? >>because often times gold is positively correlated with people taking risk. so people ran out of biotechnology and tesla. and the people that pushed up gold this year on speculative interest ran out of that too. sometimes gold doesn't work the way people think it will. >>thanks so much matt shapiro. >>you're welcome chuck. that's a wrap for us today... coming up tomorrow...find out why dentists are the latest medical professionals facing a jobs crisis. we hope you'll join us. from all of us at first business, thank you for watching.

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