apple gives investors something to talk about after a critical earnings report.. in today's cover story....retail is evolvinging into e-tail... why that's spelling trouble for workers. plus... postal employees hit the picket lines in a fight for jobs. and... in movies and money... another flop for johnny depp... why the star isn't shining so bright in hollywood these days. first business starts now! good morning! it's thursday april 24th. i'm bill moller in for angela miles.in today's first look: apple reported its numbers after the close and the numbers were good. so good the company announced a 7 for 1

stock split and that it would greatly increase its stock buyback plan.its shares took off in after hours trading. but not so for the overall market. a setback in ukraine & negative economic data set off a slight selloff yesterday for the first time this week the main indexes were all down.for the 1st time in 4 trading sessions gold closed higher by 4 dollars.oil slipped 31 cents. in photo ops and meetings president obama is making the rounds in south east asia. for the past two days he's been in japan. he wants to reassure the japanese the u-s is committed to to protecting their economic and national security interests.in the course of the next week he will also visit south korea, malaysia and the phillipines. and a small side bar item. it's take your kids to work day, so take them along and show 'em what you do all day when you're away from home. our trader today is phillip streible,he' s with rjo futures. let me talk commodities. that's your specialty after all. wasn't oil just $104 a barrel just a couple of days ago?

>>a few days back we saw it right at that $104. remember the violence over in the ukraine and russia. it's still there but kind of taken a back burner right now. we fell back from that level from 104 down102. a lot of it was the may contract was up for expiration yet a lot of the speculators were all long because of that violence and concern. the problem is that time had run out on them so they had to exit the contract and it sent it sailing down about. >>you figure it will start to move back up again. >>absolutely. we had inventory data come out yesterday. they had a bill that was 3.5 billion barrels. you got crude oil inventories at the highest levels since 1931. i still think there's going to be a bit under it because something that a lot of people aren't paying attention to is gasoline inventories. those are below the 5 year average. we haven't hit driving season yet. we're sitting right around 210 million barrels . if we see a big draw down next week, you're probably going to see crude oil prices take that next lunge up

over the next few days and gasoline prices will follow it as well. >>it doesn't bode well for the summer season when everybody's going to be on the road. let me ask you about goldis that also because it's up too after several days of declines because of ukraine and the worries there? >>gold right now is a cheap insurance play. remember ithas come down quite a bit. we're sitting right at 12.75in that area. i think gold prices are going to continue to remain firm because it's cheap insurance and a lot of investors they should keep 1-5% of their portfolio in an exposure to precious metals. you can't always be into treasuries. remember treasuries haven't yielded much at all. but closer to the end of the year you see that 10 year note north of 3%, then maybe you start looking at a higher waiting on the treasuries. >>phil streible, you have a good, safe day out there. >>thank you. chuck coppola has news on an upcoming vote in college sports that could make history. bill-- football players at northwestern university vote tomorrow morning on whether they want to be represented by a union. it follows february's

landmark ruling by the national labor relations board that players are considered employees. northwestern is appealing that ruling, but a decision is not expected before the vote. players argue that they are left out of billions of dollars that n-c-double-a organizations bring in. as many as 76-football players are eligible to vote tomorrow . protests are planned outside 50 staples stores today. who's picketing? postal workers. they don't like the plans of staples and other retail stores to open mini post offices. initially it was a pilot project but it's now expanding to more than 15 hundred stores. workers say it is a step closer to privitizing the us-ps. they're worried about their jobs. but post master general patrick donahoe says no one's going to lose their jobs because of this. next week when congress returns from recess, a bill to reform the postal service is expect to be introduced. the white house provides a "transition tool" for members of the military. it's a new online employment center. the first lady announced the

launch of the site in kentucky, yesterday. it'll serve as a resource for veterans and returning members of the military looking for work. resumes may be posted and military personnel can connect with potential employers on the site united parcel service, capital one, and xerox have all pledged to add thousands of veterans to payrolls. bonuses - for bad behavior?that seems to have happened at the internal revenue service. nearly 3-thousand employees who were disciplined for several infractions, including, not paying their taxes - received 2.8 million dollars in bonuses and 27- thousand hours of time off. in his report the treasury inspector general recommended the irs look at who's been disciplined before awarding bonuses. the message was received. the irs says it will consider changing its policy. in today's cover story---the u-s commerce department says internet retailing is growing four times faster than goods sold at brick and morter stores.it's not only changing how we buy but if you work in retail, it is changing the skill set needed for success. retail spending in the u-s, grew 3.7% last year. but online sales grow 16.9%, four times faster. retail in the u-s now

totals three trillion dollars, with sales over the internet accounting for 11.4% of all retail sales and that's causing changes. "fundamentally, we know that retail jobs will disappear as we move toward online and away from the stores where we used to do business, there." according economics research firm, e-m-s-i, retail jobs in the last ten years have grown only three-tenths of a percent..with huge layoffs at music, photo and book stores. at the same time, retailing has become more efficient. hand held inventory computers and other devices have enabled sales-per-employee to double. but now, the brick and morter stores themselves are being replaced. "retail professionals may have

to become buyers or go into technology, or store management because we won't need as many people on the floor. " retail workers are not only impacted by the rise of e- commerce, dubbed the "amazon effect" for amazon-dot-com's popularity...there's also the rise of supercenters, such as walmart. the arkansas-based retailer has 32-hundred stores across the u-s and hired a half-million people. but published reports calculate that even with walmart's hiring, a county loses 150-jobs when a new walmart opens. congress is considering a bill that would force online sellers to collect sales taxes.it passed the senate but is stalled in the house.a study of five states that have imposed sales tax on goods bought online found internet sales fell ten percent in those states. good news from our long punishing winter. yes! post winter sales! analysts say retailers are launching sales to clear unsold inventory that built over the winter and the late easter holiday. ann taylor, abercrombie and fitch and american eagle outfitters are among stores are having "up

to 50 percent off" sales.wall street cut estimates for the sector for the first quarter of this year.bebe and other stores are raising third-quarter loss estimates. winter may be over, but its impacts are still showing up in the housing market. new home sales in march fell to its weakest level in eight months, dropping by 14 and a half percent.the census bureau suggests the lagginghe median ps is up 13% since the same time last year. the report was disappointing for industry analysts, hoping for a major bounce this spring -- due to pent-up demand from the winter- that-wouldn't-end. busy week and busy day for earnings....with some bright spots, including boeing. the planemaker beat expectations and saw higher profits. it's cranking out jets and winning new orders. the stock was up 3 dollars on wednesday. delta

airlines topped its profit forecast in the first quarter, on strong business travel and higher fares. the stock soared 6 percent.and p&g had a better first quarter from an increase in home care. the stock dropped 25 cents wednesday. we'll have more earnings news in chart talk. general motors is sending thousands of repair kits to g-m dealers to fix faulty ignition switches. letters were mailed to 1-point-4 million owners of 2003 to 2007 recalled cars, instructing them to make an appointment with their local dealer. owners of 2008 to 20-11 models, recalled in late march, should get a notice by may 8th to confirm their participation in the recall. they'll be notified later, when to bring in their cars as parts become available. the ignition repair should take roughly 90 minutes. investor bill ackman is under fire again ...this time, for alleged insider trading of botox-maker allergan on monday ackman's pershing square capital management and valeant (val-ee-ant) pharmaceuticals sealed a deal to buy allergan for $46 billion dollars. the stock surged 15 percent after the announcement.ackman said in an interview with c-n-b-c that he

did not violate securities law in his deal to buy allergan.he says legally, he is allowed to trade on inside information as long as the source did not breach confidentiality rules. tomorrow marks a new day for nokia, when microsoft's acquisition of the company's device and services business becomes official. the popularity of apple and samsung devices has delivered a blow to nokia's bottom line.however, analysts expect teaming with microsoft represents a fresh start. meantime... i-b-m attempts to take the lead in the chip market. it has released it's new chip technology called power eight. ibm partnered with google for the innovation. it says the chips are speedy, and able to handle more data. watch out netflix, amazon is comming on strong. starting in may -- if you subscribe to amazon prime you'll be able to get h-b-o shows like older favorities the wire and the sopranos, and newer hits girls and veep. after gains this week, netflix shares took a hit on the news, falling 19 dollars. amazon is trading near 324 dollars, ahead of its earnings report today.

sodastream shares are popping on rumors of a buyout from starbucks. shares shot up 10 percent wednesday. starbucks is in talks to acquire nearly 10 percent of sodastream, according to israeli business newspaper globes. the move would help the israel-based carbonated beverage maker boost its presence in the american market.neither company has commented on the report. a menu adjustment at popular sandwhich chain potbelly. flatbread is coming as consumers aim to cut down on calories and enjoy healthier options.potbelly went public back in october, the stock is currently trading near its 52 week high, above 16 dollars. it's earnings are expected may 6th. as wedding season approaches...guests are getting ready to spend more. american express says couples are planning more lavish weddings, which puts the pressure on family & friends to shell out more to participate in the big day. guests will spend an

average of 592 dollars per wedding on travel, hotel, attire and pre wedding festivities. that's up from 539 dollars last year, a 10% jump. still to come: chart talk and what do facebook's earnings numbers mean for traders and investors. johnny depp's latest big screen bomb and the winners of the box office sweepstakes. we'll discuss it all with our movies & money man erik childress. first though- business leaders. what are their plans for hiring, buying, spending and expanding? we'll see what a new survey says - after this.

we've all seen the signs, the american economy is improving. a key component of a healthy

economy is how we feel about things. well - there too is reason for encouragement, consumer optimism is up and jp morgan chase has just released a report on business leaders outlook. jim glassman is senior economist at jp morgan chase. okay jim, let's dive right in. what do the numbers show? >>they show the business community is becoming more optimistic. they are very optimistic about their own business and that optimism is improving. it matters a lot what the optimism in the business community is because they are the ones that make the decisions to expand business, to build capacity, to finance capital spending projects. what this is telling you is that if new life is coming to the small and medium sized business community which is what our survey is showing, then that means the recovery is really broadening. so i think it's quite promising. >>in terms of being optimistic, what does this mean? a business person will hire more, raise

salaries, have capital expenditures, buy more inventory? >>yes. all of that. it's forcing them to think about what are their future needs. when you're forced to think about your future needs and you're convinced that the economy is expanding and recovering you need more capital projects and you have to get financing for that. you need to start thinking about adding staff. you need to take those part time jobs and make them more full time. that's what the survey is telling us and i think that's not surprising that you're seeing signs. when the small business community becomes optimistic, that's what helps to give the recovery a little more energy. >>do you know what kinds of companies will be needing financing this year? those companies that will be going to banks looking for capital? >>it's the larger businesses in our survey that are saying they are thinking about capital spending. smaller businesses, maybe their capital needs are not as intensive as the bigger

ones. so it's really the larger businesses that are talking about this. the smaller ones are saying we're going to need financing more for working capital. so they are not really yet thinking about expansion to the extent that they do it. so it's what you expect to seethe largest businesses have very large projects that need to be able to think ahead several years. in our survey it's really the mid sized businesses that are thinking more about their capital spending needs. >>all in all it sounds like good news. jim glassman with jp morgan chasethanks so much. >>thank you. coming up...chart talk when we go over one of the most anticipated reports of earnings. and, johnny depp - what happened? we'll pick through the wreckage of his latest flop - transcendence - after this.

johhny depp is testing the waters of failure once again. 2013's big bomb was the lone ranger in which he starred. erik childress, our movies & movies man and board member of the chicago film critics association - now, johnny d's done it again starring in transcendence. >>yeah this is 3 in a row for

him. you mentioned the lone ranger and the year before that, dark shadows didn't do very well. now you have another high profile filmpeople don't get tired of movie stars so much, they get tired of stars making bad movies. that's the case with transcendence which was very horribly reviewed. >>let's take a look at the top 5 in the box office. the top is captain america for the 3rd week in a row. unbelievable. heaven is for real, rio 2 with 22 million, and there's transcendence with just under 11 million, and a haunted house 2 at 8.8 million. >>it took in 10.8. it needs what to break even? >>it probably needs about another 200 million just to break even. >>so international is its only savior? >>that's really its only savior. if the film breaks 30 million here in the u.s. that will be somewhat of a small miracle for them. so it really has to do most of its business overseas. johnny depp is popular over there so i think it will

make some of its money back. there will certainly be bigger bombs this year, but that's 3 in a row for depp. >>so pirates of the caribbean 5 is the only thing we hope for. >>it's the answer for the money. i don't think it's the answer for his career. i'd like to see him go back to some of the more quirky, smaller films that he used to do before he became a success with jack sparrow. >>let's look at some of the other moviesheaven for real this is a religious movie. >>another faith based movie based on a true story. greg kinnear, kelly riley. it's a film that did well over the easter holiday. >>that's becoming a successful sector. have opened this film on friday, they might have seen it take the number 1 spot over the weekend. it only missed the weekend by 3 million. >>we have exodus coming out later in the year and then noah was the other big one. >>yeah it has done 300 million at the box office and if we believe the budget numbers that paramount has given us of 125 million that's a success for them. >>opening this coming weekend we have 3 big onesthe other

woman, brick mansions, and the quiet ones. anything there excite you? >>not really. the quiet ones they aren't screening for critics. brick mansions is one of paul walker's last films, and the other woman is an unspeakably horrible romantic comedy revenge film with cameron diaz, kate upton, and leslie mann. it's unspeakable but it will probably be number 1 this weekend if captain america falls back enough. >>you've got the chicago film critics festival coming up in may. that's becoming a pretty well recognized event now. >>it is. it's may 9-15th at the music box theater. passes and tickets are on sale for now. we have 25 films and shorts that are going to be playing throughout the week. we're basically taking over the music box for a week and programming films that we want to get out there. so please come see it. >>good reason to come to chicago and enjoy yourself. erik childressthanks so much.

alright, chart talklet's get into it. james ramelli is with

keeneonthemarket.com. everybody was waiting for earnings numbers from facebook. late yesterday they reported. what do they tell you? >>they beat on both top and bottom line estimates but the stock sold off initially. the options market was implying that the stock could sell off as much as $5, giving us a downside target right in that $56 region. so that's a level i'm going to have to keep my eye on until the close on friday. one of the interesting things that we saw in this earnings report was that their cfo is stepping down and is going to be replaced. that's a little bit unsettling for investors considering the massive amount of cash that facebook has burned through this past quarter in the acquisitions of whatsapp and oculus. like i said, they were implying $5. the stock didn't quite move that much but that is definitely going to be a level to the downside that i have to keep my eye on. >>i'm wondering why they would announce that right now? this is one of the worst times to make such an annoucement.

>>it's definitely unsettling. i think it's making a lot of investors and traders nervous. also, we're gonna want to hear what the plans are for those units going forward. they burned a ton of cash in those acquisitions and we want to hear in guidance how that is going to translate into future revenue. they did see some nice moves higher in ad sales so that was a big positive for facebook. i think the 2 big question marks are how they're going to monetize those new units and acquisitions and what the future of their ad sales business is going to be now that they're changing up the way that they're doing their news feed. >>you're not quite as bullish as others that i've been listening to. you're somewhat cautious here. >>i'm definitely somewhat cautious. there's a few things in the report that are question marks still. uncertainty is not good for the price of the stock especially with this surprise announcement that we saw with the cfo stepping down. >>james ramelli with keeneonthemarket.comthanks so much. and with that, it's time to say, it's a wrap.where are you going for summer vacation?tomorrow on first business we're going to help make your plans. we'll give you the most popular and most cost effective destination spots. i'm bill moller. on behalf of the first business team, i bid you a good thursday.

>> announcer: the following is a paid program for the clear tv digital antenna, brought to you by tristar products, inc. >> hi. i'm brian hyder. let me ask you a question. how much money are you paying your cable or satellite company to watch tv right now? >> 75 bucks a month. >> over $80. >> $73 a month. $90. >> on today's show, we're gonna let you in on a little secret -- one that cable and satellite companies don't want you to know about. you can watch your favorite broadcast television shows for free. that's right, free. all you need is the clear tv hd digital antenna.