is corporate america lowering the bar for earnings expectations? in today's cover story.... spirit sales soar...why more americans are ditching beer for booze of a higher octane. plus...summer vacation hot spots... how to find an exotic getaway for less! and.. in traders unplugged... not your average "soda" stock... are the guys bullish on soda stream... first business starts now! you're watching first business: financial news, analysis, and today's investment ideas. good morning! it's friday april 25th. i'm bill moller, here for angela miles.in our first look: the earnings flood continues.amazon had skimpy profits, but strong sales. starbucks reports hot profits. sales rose 6% as the coffee chain raises its full year outlook.

and microsoft beat estimates, reporting a smaller than expected profit decline. the markets were in the green most of the day. all the indexes closed higher - the dow, barely.for the 2nd day gold futures rose - a direct result of all the hang wringing over russia and ukraine. that also drove oil futures up.online broker charles schwab and company has been fined a half a million dollars. regulators say it added language to client agreements to prevent them from joining class action lawsuits against the company.next tuesday. the date just announced when the senate banking committee will vote on whether to confirm president obama's 3 candidates to joing the federal reserver board. all 3 are expected to win confirmation. our trader this morning is bob iaccino from tethys partners. let me ask you about durable good orders look pretty promising, a lot of the earnings numbers were looking good and yet the markets didn't show a lot of enthusiasm. >>you're right. i think that what you're seeing especially with yesterday's earnings is a lot of the big names come out.

they're beating or matching a much lowered bar. you saw analyst assessments as well as corporate guidance that was released over the last 4 months kind of trending down. weather might have been the excuse for that but i think it's a legitimate one. you are seeing some beats and some matches of a lowered bar. that's not really going to give the s&p that fuel it needs to get up to new highs, at least not at this stage. >>is that true with amazon and starbucks? >>i think so. starbucks i really like actually going forward but the chart looks lower. it matched basically lowered earnings. it had decent sales but starbucks has a really good chance to get a weather snapback. we all had this cold weather through the u.s. and canadaparts of the east and the southeast in the u.s. i think starbucks is in good position to take advantage of the warm weather that's coming. they also did really well in china which i think will reflect here as well once that weather changes. >>what's going on in the oil markets? i understood that our supplies are up and prices are

too. >>global supplies are up. u.s. supplies are up dramatically. canadian crude is up dramatically. the issue is the problems in the ukraine when you're looking to see whether the crisis is affecting oil overall you don't look at wtiwest texas intermediate, you look at brent. brent is seaborn crude and that didn't really trend lower even though it's been trending lower all year long. >>bob iaccinothanks so much. >>thank you. here's chuck coppola with news about the regulators stepping in to the growing e-cigarette market. the 2-billion dollar electronic cigarette industry is headed for government regulation. the food and drug administration wants rules banning sales of e- cigs to minors, and for manufacturers to put health warnings on any nicotine- delivering devices.rules will include cigars, pipe tobacco and hookahs,but will not restrict television advertisements or flavorings. a lot of deal news in the health care sector this week. look at the zing in the stock for zimmer holdings. up 12 percent to an all time high after it said it would buy one of its rivals - biomet which also makes orthopedic

devices, like artificial hips and knees. that news also stopped biomet's plans to launch an initial public offering. separetly the 2 companies had nearly 8 billion dollars in sales last year. zimmer expects double digit earnings in the first year of the merger. accretive health's ceo is stepping down after less than two years on the job. stephen schuckenbrock's is set to leave on october 2, when his contract expires. schuckenbrock joined the struggling health care firm just over a year ago after leaving dell.accretive's stock was delisted in march after the company failed to meet a deadline for restating its financial results. general motors learned how costly auto recalls can be to the bottom line. in the first 3 months of this year gm called back for repairs 7 million vehicles. the cost to fix ignition switches and other repairs is so high, it nearly wiped out all profit for the quarter. eliminate the recall cost of 1.3 billion and gm is left with a measley 108 million dollars of profit. fortunately gm earnings were better than expected which gave lift to its share price.

earnings week is wrapping up with some big gains...and big losses. on the gain side...aetna outshone earnings and shot up 6 percent. caterpillar was up nearly 2 percent on better than expected results. and southwest airlines posted a record profit of 150 million dollars. profits and revenue both beat analyst expectations. the stock rose eight tenths of a percent cents yesterday. verizon had mixed first quarter results.its stock dropped nearly 3 percent.both 3-m and ups missed estimates and were down for the day. while some analysts see tarnish on the apple brand, the stock had its best single day gain in 2 years yesterday. apple shares rose more than 8 percent after it surprised analysts with the number of iphones it sold during the quarter. ther was also positive energy from the news of its 7 for 1 stock split and aggressive share buyback plan. apple closed 43 dollars higher at just under 568. facebook is jumping into

fitness with tracking app "moves". the mobile app tracks users to determine their mode of getting around, from walking or biking, even taking the bus.it's also courting journalists with a new wire service. "fb newswire" will make it easier to "find, share, and embed content" according to facebook and it's partner storyful, a social news verification company. remember heart bleed - one of the biggest vulnerabilities in the history of the internet. it was a code error in a widely used open source data encryption service. teaming up to prevent another such scare, more than a dozen tech companies. google, facebook, microsoft, amazon among 'em.each company will commit 100- thousand dollars a year for the next 3 years. it's called the "core infrastructure initiative." it's aim, to protect open source projects upon which much of the internet depends. the federal communications commission wants new net neutrality rules. reports say the fcc plans to allow broadband providers to charge companies more for access to their fastest routes.the regulator says the new rules prevent the providers - including time warner and comcast - from

blocking or slowing down high- traffic websites, such as youtube or espn. the move would also allow providers to give preferential treatment to traffic from some content providers.critics say it would destroy the open internet. still no breakthrough in trade talks with japan. president obama was in tokyo this week to meet with prime minister shinzo abe. the two nations have been in many rounds of negotiations trying to expand a free trade agreement. japan wants to protect its exports rice and beef-- the u.s. is protecting automakers from japanese competition.obama says the two sides are close. members of the american postal workers union hit the picket lines. workers protested in front of staples stores in 27 states yesterday.that's as the postal service teams with the retailer to expand a program that offers "mini post offices" in staples retail locations. workers don't like it.they say the plan will eventually lead to job cuts.staples says it is testing new ways to serve customers.we talked to postmaster general patrick donahoe, who said the postal service is trying to create new sources of revenue. " we still think the postal service is important for the american public and the american people and it is our

responsibility to pursue new revenues to keep the revenue flow and the financial stregnth in this organization. " donahoe says the postal service has lost 28% of its mail base in the last 6 years. the greek yogurt growth curve apparently is still on the up swing. chobani is already the largest player in the category. it's increasing its exports and now has a 3- quarter of a billion dollar private equity loan to further expand exprts and develop new products. the money comes from tpg capital which will also have a seat on the board and may take an equity stake. in today's cover story--- americans consume more soft drinks than anything else, but alcoholic beverages are second, accounting for nearly half of all liquor sales. but in the last five years, the biggest growth has been in spirits. home-grown american bourbons and whiskeys making the biggest jumps in volume sold and sales raked in. "we're up 75% for our brand and we've been out of the market for 60-years."

one of the factors boosting sales--a resurgence in classic cocktails. "a lot of mixologists are going back to classic cocktails, with some, making a few changes to give people alternatives." vodka still remains the top- selling hard liquor in the u-s, accounting for a third of the volume and more than a quarter of all sales...mostly on the strength of flavored varieties. but on youtube, top bourbons parade past in review. four roses, an old name that was a top-seller in the decades after prohibition but whose decline in quality and discontinued sales in the u-s left a bad taste is trying to rebrand itself and bloom again. "it took awhile to convince people that were weren't the "blended whiskey" and it's started to pay off. we're in 50-states." in chicago, what better way for the distiller to spread the word than prepare a free lunch and invite members of the bartenders guild---mixologists who admit they can steer sales

pretty easily. "some people do know what they want but a lot of times they're waiting for a cue. so who better to ask than someone who's tasted everything behind that bar?" but even bigger than bourbon's rebound has been the sheer explosion in the number of craft breweries. in 1979, there were 89 coast-to-coast. at the end of last year, there were more than 25-hundrred. it is now a 14-billion dollar industry. but among america's largest breweries, which still account for about half of all alcohol sales in the u-s...the growth rate is flat. to complete the trifecta of american alcohol sales, wine sales were up 2.7% in 20-13-- with more wineries bypassing distributors and shipping directly to consumers. java jolt! coffee prices - already rising - have gotten an additional push from drought in brazil. get this. coffee prices have doubled in the past 6 months.

coffee futures are at their highest level in 2 years. this won't hurt big roasters like starbucks - they locked in prices a few years in advance. but it might eventually, says john caruso of rjo futures. "we have seen coffee prices in, you know over the past 2 years, we saw them in a long sustained downtrend. but there's no doubt that this will eventually be passed on to the customer, especially if this is a long sustained move as we're expecting." caruso says there is a global supply deficit of 11 million bags of coffee this year, and he expects it to continue for the next two years. ronald mcdonald is getting a makeover before joining the social media world. the iconic clown has new threads, including cargo pants and a vest - but he'll keep the big red shoes. the updated look is ahead of joining twitter as the fast- food chain's 51-year old spokesperson.modern ronald will emerge in u-s commercials and social media later this year.

still to come: apple's big move...why it's seeking to "relocate on wall street...from apple to soda pop our two guys play it all for debate in traders unplugged. but first - get a notepad. we're gonna help you plan your summer vacation. yeah - the top spots and the most affordable spots. we'll give you the list, next.

the long cold hard winter is over - so where are you going for summer vacation? we can help. orbitz has put together a list of the most popular and most affordable destinations. let's talk with our favotire travel expert - jeanenne tornatore - senior editor at orbitz.com. is the summer of 2014 going to be an expensive one for travellers? >>it's not going to be too different than what we saw last year. the average airfare is up about 6% and hotel rates up just slightly so no big change to folks pocketbooks this summer. >>let's first start with the most popular destinations this year. where are people going? >>our number 1 booked destination for summer travel on orbitz is cancun. that's followed by las vegas, orlando, seattle, and los angeles. >>popularity is one thing. how about affordability? what kind

of affordable spots should people consider? >>interestingly, a couple of our top destinations also rank as the most affordable. for families it's orlando where average rates come in at just $119 a night. here at disney world they're going to be completing the new fantasyland which has been the largest expansion in the magic kingdom's history so that will be big for visitors this summer. also, las vegas with average hotel rates at just$116 a night. airfares to these destinations in the $300-350 range. so it's pretty affordable for vacationers. >>i've been reading about how to time it right to get the best airfare deal. what kind of advice might you give to ensure that we get something decent and not get hit too hard in the pocketbook. >>flexibility is the key here. if you want to get an airfare deal. orbitz actually has a tool called orbitz labs. you can look at pricing trends for airfare and you can look within

days before or days after and see how the prices change for airfare because it can be just being flexible within a couple of days and you can get major changes in your airfare. >>i have to believe that these travel destinationsflorida and las vegasthat they actually work very hard to make their destinations as affordable as possible. >>they do. what's key i think about these 2 destinations is the amount of hotel inventory and accessibility for travelers. so you see a large amount of inventory in las vegas, lots of options for all different budgets in orlando and that what keeps them really affordable because they rarely sell out. you can always find a hotel room in these destinations. >> jeanenne tornatore - senior editor at orbitz.comthanks so much. >>my pleasure. coming up...chart tawk... apple throws a curve ball... is now the time for average investors to get in?

time for our friday tournament. there are our contestants on the cme group floor. scott shellady and alan knuckman - primed and pumped for their no holds barred brawl we call traders unplugged. ready? okay number 1-- soda pop - starbucks is rumored to buy a stake in sodastream, so which stock is a buy? alan: as you know i'm a recovering soda addict and i got through because of sodastream and the fizzy water. i like starbucks as a chart a lot better. it's been trading between 70-80, the breakout target is 90 which is 30% above. i'm not so certain on sodastream's long term prospects. scott: for the kids out there, look what drinking soda does to you. if you look at both of the charts year to date starbucks is down 9.8%, sodastream 15%. we haven't been waiting to see how they are doing selling beer. let's see what happens with the beer and then we'll

start making a judgement call. bill: round 2--russian in- prognosticate the politics - what does this mean for making money? alan: i think it all comes back to the money. i think eventually the army's not going to win. that's not going to be an arms battle, i think it's going to be an economic battle. their stock market is 25% off their october highs and they're down near 5 year lows. that's going to hurt the oligarchs and they're going to make noise and change things. scott: i think we're going to use it as an excuse but at the end of the day, it's going to be here a lot longer than we both think. it will go from page 1 to page 30 and you're going to have to ignore it. oil's going to be a problem for the short term. in the end it's not going to be an issue. don't get too caught up because you're going to whipsaw yourself to death. bill: round number 3--shiny apple- can anything in the positive earnings news be minimized and what is your price target? alan: i'm going to say no. i

have seen price targets now with 625. the higher price target is 665. if we have a move back up to these recent highs at 575again nothing but good news. if you think of any bad news i'm just going to go right now. they had a stock buyback, 7 for 1 stock split, a revenue rise. there's a list of ongoing positives. scott: we need alan to make one suggestion on what any of those things did for the economy. the problem that we suffer with nowadays is it's de rigeur to buy back your own stocks because the stock market is where it's at now. we're not trying to make anything new here. they've split their stocks to try get up in the stock price and a dividend hike is giving cash back to investors. bill: let's move on now. here's the bonus round--chicago's wrigley field -- home to the chicago cubs -- turned 100 this week.... which of these is not true about the famous landmark ? a. the highest ever scoring baseball game in major league history took place there.

b. it was the first ballpark to allow fans to keep foul balls. c. there has never been a world series played there . alan: there was a world series played there. the only thing i know that's true is that they're mathematically eliminated. bill: c. 1945 was their last world series before that dreaded curse of the billy goat. now on to your day jobs. good day gents. first business continues right after this.

our trader this morning is dan deming. he's market specialist at stutland equities. let me ask you about the s &p 500. it's getting a lot of attention. > >we're seeing a push back up toward the high end of the range. basically we saw close

yesterday at 1878. the high close was 1890. so just a shade off of the high close we saw a few weeks ago heading into april. we'll see if we can push that level as we roll out of april. > >it's been influenced by all the worries about the ukraine. i would have thought that the vix would have been higher than it is right now. > >we saw a spike up a couple of weeks ago when we saw the market give up some of the gains but now basically we're seeing the vix back up under pressure. the market is starting ti focus on the earnings aspect of things and we're seeing with that the market reacting pretty positively and we're seeing the vix basically under pressure down so it's a low end of the range now. > >that 7 for 1 split on apple is pretty big news. was that done strategically to get it into the dow? > >there is some speculation that was a possibility. right now you're seeing apple trading would put it below $100 actually around the value of 81. basically what you're seeing is the dow is a price weighted

index as opposed to a valuation weighted index so that does put it into play and there was some speculation that apple could replace one of the dow 30. > >doesn't that sound funny? apple trading at 81. > >it sure does but now it opens up the ability for more people to be able to participate as well. > >even though a lot of people think there is still some tarnish on it's brand, they're not all that sure that 81 is not an overvalue. > >exactly. right now looked at valuations relative to everything else in that sector but apple still looks fairly valued for sure. > >dan deming, good to talk to you. thanks. > >thank you. and that's first business for friday.next week, the boating industry and how it's recovering from the rough waters of the recession.we get into that on monday. from all of us at first business, thank you for watching, and have a great weekend.

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