the final countdown. american's scramble to buy health care insurance. in today's cover story...the windfall stragies startups use to attract big money . plus...the justice department is making an agressive play in the world of television. and... why small businesses owners have a spring in their step. first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas good morning! it's monday, march 31st. in today's first look: traders and invstors will say so long to the first quarter today. stocks gained on fraiday-- but the nasdaq turned in its worst performance for the week-- since october of 2012. gold was down 2 dollars and oil gained 33 cents. s&p downgrades

target to an "a" rating following weaker sales caused by the massive data breach. mf global is suing pricewaterhousecoopers for $1 billion. mf blames its bankruptcy on what it calls erroneous advice. pricewaterhouse tells first business it's disappointed in the claim, and regulators found no errors. northwestern university prepares to appeal by april 9th. the decision by the national labor relations board to allow the school's football players to unionize. and mcdonalds will soon offer free coffee for two weeks to perk up its breakfast business. trader phillip streible of rjo futures joins us on this monday morning. good morning philip. >>good morning to you. >>today marks the last day of the quarter for trading so what do you expect from the market? >>a lot of it has to do with a lot of sector rotation right now. we've seen the equity

market start to come off in the last couple of weeks. i think that traders are going to be a little more defensive. remember when we had such a big runup here in 2013. you're probably going to see some people with the problems that are escalating in russia and the ukraine shift into some of those other assets like the gold. that's been undervalued recently. also the crude oil market has come up quite a bit as well. >>new fed chair janet yellen makes her way to chitown today. will you be waiting for her comments? >>absolutely. i'm very interested in that.i want to see if there is any kind of indicationespecially with tapering and interest rates. she's been very vocal and very open. i think that gold prices have some legs to rebound on especially after that dip on friday and the key reversal. >>what about oil prices? oil has been running higher. >>on friday we saw some comments from obama. he was really telling russia to back those troops off from the border. on that type of news we saw crude oil push back up to

102. we had a high last week of 104. i still think that prices have some good upside momentum to go. it seems like we're gonna be eyeing that wednesday report for the eia and see if there's anymore drawdown in cushing which could also increase the price as well. >>thank you for your insights. >>thank you. chuck coppola joins us with the last dash chance for obamacare. ... good morning chuck! today is the "last chance" to sign up for health care insurance! the penalty for not signing up this year is 95 dollars, or 1% of your household income, depending on which is greater. the penatly will show up on your taxes. "you will be asked to furnish some proof that you have health insurance, you'll be getting that from your insurance company, or from your employer, and you will be stating on your tax return whether or not you have health insurance. and the penalty will be charged against your refund if you have a refund coming on your income tax." americans who start the sign up process before midnight will have time after today to

finish. this week-- the house votes on a provision of obamacare that defines a full time work week as 30 hours. house republicans along with some democrats want a return to 40 hours as a full time employment to alleviate pain on small companies with part time employees. google is splitting it's stock in half. shares traded last at $1,120.15. people who own class a and b shares as of march 27th-- will recieve class c shares. the shares open for trade thursday under the goog ticker class a shares shift to googl. class b's are held by googles co-founders. in our cover story, from the smallest start-ups--looking for the secret to attract venture capitalists...to multi- nationals such as dupont, the recent summit in chicago on 'reinventing america" sought to come with a winning strategy for both----even when weather and world events seem to conspire against it. in the short term, dupont says cold weather across north america and upheaval in ukraine disrupted crop seed delivers there. both threaten to affect dupont's first quarter sales and earnings. but looking ahead, dupont, known as america's largest chemical

company is expanding its agriculture research. hiring scientists and investing 1.2 billion dollars in it's biology- based businesses. agriculture accounts for nearly 40% of dupont's business. a lot of that growth---dependent upon small suppliers. "small companies continue to grow for us. we have a thousand agreements with companies to bring the tech we need." one of those companies is michigan-based farmlogs-- software from this two-year-old start-up helps farmers track rainfall grain prices and inventory to better schedule operations and forecast profits...all of it via smartphone...a concept that got support from midwest venture capitalist marl kvamme (kwah- mee). "guess what? farmers have smartphones amd farmlogs is becoming the system of record. it has 6% of the farms."

it's an example of how venture capital, start-ups and big business can pull together to increase profits all around...an often repeated story at forbes' recent reinventing america summit. where the biggest factor in attracting venture capital is less the product and its team but the market for it. "we think mobile is the way. everyone in the corporation is walking around with a 64-gig computer in their pocket." the payoff for companies such as dupont could be significant. half of its ag business growth---expected to come from the america's--the other half from emerging markets in india, southeast asia, china and eastern europe. onto changes at tesla--the electric car maker is adding a triple underbody sheild and

alumimum deflector plates to model s sedan's. now that tesla is making the enhancements. the government is agreeing to end its investigation of two car fires last year. and, tesla struck a deal with the governor of new york that will allow it to continue selling cars directly to customers. in new jersey, lawmakers are giving the automaker until april 15th to continue direct sales. shares rallied $5 dollars friday. general motors chair mary barra testifies this week about the recall of a flawed ignition switch. gm admits some employees knew of the ignition problem as far back as 2004. the switch problem led to at least 12 deaths. as of friday, the recall expanded to more than 800 thousand chevy cobalt models. also on friday-- gm said its halting sales of certain chevrolet cruze models. the cars include 20-13 and 20- 14 models with a one-point-four liter engine. the automaker says its not a recall and shied away from explaining the cease in sales. the bp oil spill in lake michigan is worst than first reported. bp now says 39 barrels of crude oil leaked into the lake last monday. the previous estimate was 18. the leak is linked to bp's relatively new distillation unit built in whiting indiana to process more heavy canadian oil

from the tar sands of alberta. lawmakers in illinois want agressive action from bp to prevent additional spill. drug companies may be in for a billion dollar settlement deal. the u-s wants more than a billion dollars from drug companies for paying for patent delays. the federal trade commission alleges drug makers paid for patent delays. the ftc claims it was costsly to consumers because it took longer for less expensive generics to get on the market. brand-name drug companies argue that if they release products before patent-infringement lawsuits are over, they risk paying triple damages. a virus that is killing piglets is driving up prices in the hog market. last week hog futures went limit up on reports the deadly virus spread to at least 27 states in the u.s. gary kozlowski of united futures joins us from the trading. gary how bad is the situation.. that ped virus in hogs right now it's a lot worse than they are reporting. they are looking for a pullback of anywhere from 15 to 25% of slaughter this summer. you know what that is going to mean? alot less barbeques that you and i will

get invited to and if you look at the cattle too. same situation there is a virus in there also but its not as big of a situation right now, but you're seeing the prices are running so we're going to have a situation where the cost of meats is going to go through the roof. thanks for the update. the price of fruit is also becoming more expensive... the severe drought in california is causing in uptick in the cost of limes and lemons. while in florida, crop growers are dealing with a devasting greening outbreak affecting oranges. retail prices of limes have jumped 152% since last year. lemons are up 41%, and oranges 27%. due to the spike-- some cocktails will cost more because of expensive garnishes. it's wedding "bill" blues for brides and grooms. according to the knot.com-- couples set a new record-- by spending an average of $30,000 on weddings last year. newlyweds also report the economy is becoming less of a factor compared to when the

recession was in full swing. the new ceo of blackberry is attempting solve a sales problem. the phone maker reported a smaller-than- expected loss and a drop in revenue to below $1 billion dollars. blackberry has struggled to lure customers back with its blackberry 10 operating system. new ceo john chen is focused more on services, such as messenger, than devices. shares closed down slightly, ending the day above eight dollars. facebook plans to deliver internet access via drones. in a facebook post, mark zuckerberg revealed the "facebook connectivity lab." it will use high-altitude drones to bring internet access to users in suburban areas - and satellites to beam internet signals to third-world countries. zuckerberg's goal is to make internet access more affordable worldwide. pinterest is proving it has major potential. the social media site generated 7% of web traffic on retail sites in

march. users can "pin" or link a product from a certain site to their pinterest profile, which can be viewed by other users. the site is only four years old... and is dominating web traffic , especially compared to seasoned sites--such as facebook. still to come: marching on...why small businesses are looking forward to a month. plus...is our notorious apple trading fanatic switching to samsung??? and ...an inside view on the justice department's crack down on media monopolies ... that report is next after this in the know message!

the fcc is proposing changes to the number of local tv stations that can be owned by one media company. ky sisson reports from capitol hill-- on media monopolies. hill. the buying and selling of local stations nationwide has exploded in recent years and

now there is a bill that would stop the fcc from cracking down on television station monopolies in local markets. matt wood is the policy director for free press, a media advocacy group that promotes diverse ownership among newsrooms. wood testified before congress that single ownership of multiple tv stations is harmful to job creation in the industry as staffs and assets are combined, but more importantly, viewers are negatively affected. having a single voice and a single source of control for all the news that you see about your town is dangerous. we need to have competing viewpoints on the air. beyond the issue of a single voice for news across multiple outlets are joint- sales-agreements. the jsas allow for cost-reduction when one sales team sells advertising for multiple stations. the department of justice is concerned that advertisers will have fewer options when looking to buy ads. the department of justice sees harm in allowing

these types of combinations. when we allow stations to combine all their operations, they're no longer competing for programming, talent or advertising. they're selling ads as a group the national association of broadcasters has been proactive in supporting the bill preventing the fcc from cracking down saying shared service agreements and jsas benefit the public by keeping tv stations solvent and thriving. dennis wharton is the vp of communications at the national association of broadcasters. the reality is jsas have helped preserved local broadcasting in communities all over the country. what happens is one station which is stronger in a tv market assists a station that is failing and they are able to sell advertising for the struggling station. inevitably that results in more local news for that market and it results in better public service and a stronger, healthier station that can provide competition to the cable behemoths. the nab testified before congress that continuing to allow jsas benefits the local economies with local advertising dollars in a way that other entities such as cable, internet and mobile do not. local broadcasters are supportive of the jsa arrangements because it preserves localism and a competitive alternative to the large cable companies. sinclair broadcast group is one of the several large media companies that would be forced to sell stations if this

bill does not pass and fcc chairman tom wheeler starts cracking down on jsas. sinclair has already started to restructure one of its billion dollar deals in anticipation that these rules could change as soon as march 31st. in washington, ky sisson, first business news. the house of representatives will be voting on the bill date. the fcc is slated to vote on the proposed joint service agreements crackdown on later today. a number of moves are happening in the ipo market...chinese pork producer "shuanghui" international holdings has the go ahead for a $5 billion initial public offering. according to the wall street journal: the company will start this week gauging investor appetite for the stock (shung- way) made news last year by acquiring smithfield foods. the chicago tribune reports; corporate re-location company sirva has filed for an ipo worth up to 175 million dollars. and, friday-- cbs outdoor america debut on wall street. shares rallied 5% thanks chuck! coming up in chart talk...why one trader says the next generation of apple's iphone will be a game changer for the stock. and-- here comes the sun. bill moller reports on why small business owners are seeing better days ahead! that's next.

as we close out the first quarter with its nasty extended winter wallop, it's time to look ahead to brighter times-- brighter for the weather and the economy. the data for the surepayroll small business scorecard for march are out and they look modestly encouraging. not in the current numbers - but for the future. so for march, hiring slipped 1- 10th of a percent. the average paycheck dropped .3 percent but at 69 percent, optimism remained pretty strong. michael alter is president and ceo of surepayroll. i note that you found 3 times as many of the small business owners you surveyed expect to wrap up the 1st quarter in a better condition than a year ago. >>absolutely. that shows me that there's hope for the future. the other statistic we found is 9 in 10 of surepayroll customers believe that this year

is gonna end as good or better than it did last year. >>what does that really measure? how people feel? or are they reacting to some real workplace issues and incidents? >>i think that their experience and their accumulator is driven by what goes on in their business which is driving how they feel. but to me the real state of what we're seeing here is the strength among small businesses as opposed to a strong growth track for small businesses. our clients are feeling comfortable that their businesses are doing well and that they are porifitable and will continue to see some profit growth and some revenue growth. quite frankly some of that is driven because their productivity keeps increasing so that as their growing a little bit they don't need to hire new workers. >>that's the downside in a way because the economy needs more people to get hired sohow's that to be interpreted. >>and that's the conundrum that we're in. until we get some more demand in small businesses we're not gonna see significant

growth going forward. >>but nonetheless 2014 is likely then from all that you're looking at to be a pretty good year with some growth. >>right. i think what we'll see is a little bit of growth we just won't see incredibly strong growth. >.what are they worrying about though? it used to be healthcare was the issue and the fractious environment in washington. do they have any concerns on the horizon? >>i think healthcare is still a question that folks have and it's still on the horizon in terms of a concern. i think we'll see how that plays out over time. i think you've got a world economy where we see some challenges and some questions about what might happen and that does have an impact on small businesses. so there's still some uncertainty but it's clearly not what it was a year or two years ago. i think that's one of the things that gives the optimism for the future. >>michael alter with sure payrollthanks so much. >>thanks for having me. is hype a blessing or a curse in the ipo market? the answer, next in chart talk. 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.

trader andrew keene, president of keeneonthemarket.com, joins us now. andrew, it seems like ipo's are all the buzz in the market right now. what do you think about the money that's going into those initial public offerings? >>it's really interesting because a lot of the ipo's have done pretty well. then you look at the two biggest onesking candy crushwas very hyped up ipo and then it sold off all day on the ipo. it came in at around $22 and sold off to around $19. facebook was very similarit got hyped up so much and then fell flat on its face. obviously facebook has recovered from there. but a lot of the lesser known ipo's are doing very well in the market. >>what about apple? there's

some news that apple is about to come out with news potentially for this iphone6. >>we see old technologycisco, intel and microsoftall performing really well. we saw microsoft hitting a 52 week high. cisco and intel both loook to be on a breakout to the upside. apple is almost in old technology with the fact that it's so cheap on a pe ratiothe iphone 6 is going to have this larger screen. i know personally i almost got the samsung phone because i want that bigger screen. i think it's so much cooler. but then i couldn't pull the trigger so i stayed with the iphone. but i know a lot of people aren't upgrading until the 6 comes out. i think the 6 is going to put up blockbuster numbers. i think this is a game changer. i think apple will outperform the market between now and the end of the year. >>are there any stocks that you would want to sell or buy here or just trade? >>i'm still short rigged via puts so you know this one has been hurting me for a couple weeks. i have options positions out there all the way to august

and january 2015. so my biggest short position actually rigged transocean and it seems like it wants to roll over but in the last couple of weeks it's been pretty strong. it hit the 52 week lows. we saw institutional put activity. diamond offshore is another name i'm long puts in. the chart looks very weak but it has rallied for the next couple of days. i think the market wants to roll over. we've seen the s&p in a 50 point range over the last 6 weeks. the end of the quarter is today so we should see maybe some sellers on tuesday. >>and we hope those trades work out for you. thank you. >>thank you. coming up tomorrow ...hack at hand. how to protect cell phones and tablets from cyber criminals. plus, our coverage of janet yellen's first trip to the windy city. that's it for now. from all of us at first business...have a great start to your week!

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