between carl icahn and bill ackman. it has motivated icahn by his disdain for ackman.estment considerations for herbalife and that is the number one consideration for icahn is to destroy ackman. >> just incredible. >> we'll see what happens. >> i don't know what it is. i'm going to try to find out before we get it, but it's all good. we'll see if the participants can buy it. i don't want to speculate. >> this is monumental. this is, right now the soul of what will happen today is jc penney and herbalife. >> it's big! >> white knuckle time as someone just said. >> i'm going to herb greenberg. i'm doing everything i can on this. herb is not quite sure. >> there is the opening bell and look at the s&p at the top of the screen. the big board as we said earlier. retail properties of america celebrating the first anniversary as a public company and we'll speak to the ceo, and cirque du soleil's production of totem currently performing and we'll keep an eye on herbalife. and it turns out jc penney may not be -- >> city field, while the cirque du soleil's performing there. the

pill ackman and pershing square. kpmg resigned as auditor and inside provided insider information about herbalife. the news sank herbalife shares 4% but ackman is smiling because he sold 20 million shares herbalife short. called the company an illegal pyramid scheme. guess who is not making money today? also bill ackman! his fund is jcpenney's largest shareholders. jcpenney shares tanked 12% in the wake of ron johnson's ouster. ackman's fund owns 39 million shares of jcpenney. it lost nearly $76 million on that stock today. >>> rick pittino making money on last night's win the louisville basketball coach gets $150,000 bonus for beating michigan in the national championship game. it pushed his compensation for the season above $6 million. good for him. even when they say it's not it is always about money. melissa: more on the power of money. a new insider trading scandal as partner of the accounting firm kpmg is accused of leaking inside information about the controversial supplement company herbalife which kpmg was a

however, ackman's portfolio overall has been good.o that in a second, but i want to talk about ackman's own reaction to ron johnson. he was a huge force in replacing him in 2011. at the time he thought the company needed fresh blood and most investors would agree. he also said to the doubters, stay tuned, let's take a listen to his words from last summer. >> he was a genius, we hired him, now people think he's an idiot. a year or two from now they will think he's a genius again. >> now, of course, ackman is never afraid to be a contrary an, so he was very comfortable saying that at the time. however n recent weeks, my sense was his tune started to change. we saw public comments from him within the last couple of days that you reported on the fact that mistakes had been made by johnson and, you know, setting the tone that he was disappointed in his behavior at the investor conference as ceo. obviously, he was a key force in replacing him, but that said, ackman has other good stories to tell right now. if you take a look at his portfoli

ackman snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. liz: oh, boy. done schreiber of wbi last hour said stick a fork in jcpenney and he picked a lot of winners in the past. you don't wish this upon the company but really looks like they will have a cash flow problem. >> you talk about that in regards to the fact that they have roughly a billion dollars in cash. you have s&p, the rating service, actually saying this is a quote, less than adequate liquidity. the job for mr. ullman, who by the way, shares fell 15% when he was at the helm. his job right now is to stablize the decline, maybe sell off stores and start raising capital. that is what investors will look to see him do. liz: adam, thanks for flagging us on that. at least one analyst

it's been a bad, bad bet for ackman in j.c. penney. how overall is hess doing with his fund pershing square. >> surprisingly the fund is actually doing pretty well, much more than 6% and hold about 12.4 billion in assets under management if you look at their top holdings, canadian pacific railway and png are two big winners. looking through the relatively small portfolio, because he's an activist investor, most stocks are up. we soo action weakness with mattson, but the big losers, of course, is j.c. penney, with the huge negative reaction to the ousting of ron johnson. so, you know, ackman, it's still performing well, and it remains unclear how it will affect his current quarter. her alive, it will be interesting to see how the kpmg situation plays out. i would say it's probably a net neutral for the company. and investors are reacting as such. >> nothing to do with either ackman or icahn. it's apparently a rogue employ decree of kpmg. >> exactly. my only curiosity if the new auditor takes a fresh look, will it get a rubber stamp or r

for change, has ackman used up all his cards?an activist investor, what gets the stock going? if it doesn't work with ron johnson, is that part of the story over? >> it's hard to say. i would assume they'll be looking for, again, as an interim ceo, so bill ackman you got to believe is going to be working hard with firms and looking on his own and talking to other people to find the right man to take this job. i've spoken with sources over the last several months in working on this story, asking what kind of names were out there for people to start considering if this day was to come. there aren't that many names that were mentioned to me. the people out there are either running other companies or unavailable or perhaps their better days are behind them. in the right time, would allen questrom be the right guy? maybe. but he told me he's not the right guy for the job. so i don't think there are a bunch of blow you out of the water names that are going to come to the top of mind of most the people i've spoken with in the last month

>> ackman's is much more concentrated than most.t one of these guys with 30 or 40 stocks. >> a miss or a win is a big deal. >> no. it's a big deal. >> herbalife is still unsettled and out there as well. it's to be determined how all of that is going to play out. it's important to note on a day where, look, ron johnson is going to be criticized. certainly he failed at what he tried to do. the pricing strategy was a disaster. but in a week where we're going to ceo pay and recognizing the fact that larry ellison made a lot of money last year, he put a lot of skin >> matt: game which is something you don't see often. on a day you know ron johnson will be facing a lot of criticism. >> is he even stupider? >> wasn't a very good move, a very good investment. >> obviously not now. >> you have to admire him for putting his money where his mouth is. he lost all the money he put in. would have been better just to take the salary. now he really looks. he's down how much on the whole experience. >> anybody thought this was going to be a failure

ackman? i thought he was doing time. no, he's out. he got out. the medical establishment-- they tried to frame him. it's all politics, but he's a rebel. a rebel? mm-hmm. johnny yuma was a rebel. ackman is a nut. you want to take care of your tonsils, do it in a hospital. he's holistic. george he's holistic. holistic? yeah. that sounds right. george, you need a medical doctor. let me ask you something. what's the cost of having tonsils and adenoids removed in a hospital? an overnight stay in a hospital, minor surgery... i don't know. 4 grand. uh-huh. what's the healer charge? first visit? 38 bucks. oh, yeah. holistic. that's what i need. that's the answer. this summer, imagine the perfect walt disney world vacation with the keys to more fun the keys to the room and all new experiences to make this the best summer ever. because right now, you can save up to 30% on rooms at select walt disney world resort hotels. call 407-w-disney and our travel experts can help your family plan a summer vacation that works perfectly with your budget. so don't wait.

the criticism is well deserved, ackman said today of ron johnson, ackman said.ailer today starting to roll out its new home furnishing departments. that stock finishes up 2.5% today. melissa, back to you. >> josh, thank you. karen, jcpenney. you believe this move here, maybe there are signs of life. maybe this home goods rollout, better than expected. >> maybe. maybe. maybe a unicorn will dance through -- i don't know. i can't rule it out. but i just -- >> love unicorns. >> do you? >> rainbow unicorns,s herb esp. >> i'm sure the stores look fantastic. the problem is, the 90%, 70% -- >> unicorn. >> the rest of the store -- there, forget it. i'm covering everything. i love it. i love it. >> all right. let's hit our friday edition of pops and drops. the biggest movers of the week. a drop here for f-5 networks, down 17% on the week. beeks? >> most of that happened today it was because of earnings. it was a bad week and a bad day to miss earnings. again, people are talking about this being company-specific. when you start to track them together, i think you probably

we know he knows bill ackman, they're in the same office building.s been jcpenney's biggest champion, and he's also taken a beaten on his large investment as the stock has taken a beating today. but he's, i'm sure, at every opportunity, has talked up this name to george soros and his team. and soros fund management manages about $25ç million as family office. they're not technically a hedge fund anymore with lots of outside investors. they can take a risk that a normal hedge fund can't take because they don't have to keep that external crowd as happy. it's almost the equivalent of trading for your p.a. as opposed to for public investors. >> and they're letting the world know this is a passi iive investment, unlike bill ackman, who's been very activist in this whole thing. so darrell, i guess george soros would be the kind of guy who looks longer term, expecting them to get through some of the difficulties and headwinds you're expecting them to have. >> i think that's exactly right. also to kate's point, this is a $250 million position. that's 1% of

ackman to be sure is outspoken and sometimes wrong but the knocks against him aren't entirely fair. in 2011 the hiring of ron johnson at jcp was clearly a favor but most other holdings doing quite well. pershing square rose 6% and canadian pacific railway up so far this year. herba life, the subject of a billion-dollar short on his books has already returned at least $200 million in profits. and that figure increased further today. besides jcpenney, larry, the only dark spot in ackman's portfolio now is the shipping company, matson, inc, also his smallest holding. >> kate kelly, appreciate the update. >>> let's go to rebecca patterson, best mer trust and stephanie link of thestreet.com, co portfolio manager of jim cramer's charitable trust. never believe the teleprompter. i know where you're from. is jcpenney going to be bought out, a lot of real estate, a big mess in their business. will somebody come in and buy them out? >> well, alman is obviously in to do something and we're going to hear something in may. remember when you willman was first in place, the stock fell 19% under hi

. >> what do you think of the ackman icahn spat?ness man and saw an opportunity and bought the stock. >> does it bother you if a majority of sales are to distributors and not really outside the network? >> you know, you can't say that is the case. >> would that bother you? >> no. if they use the product, it's -- look, you get a discount if you could get a discount? absolutely. >> we should get more distributors might actually be reclassified as preferred customers, buying at a discount with no intention to sell. guys? >> jane wells, thank you very much for that. let's bring in herb. what do you make of all of this? >> it's very interesting to see david simon there, a very smart guy. and he is an interesting opinion. i think what we're looking for, of course, earnings are coming out monday afternoon. what i think people will be looking for is any indication that distributor growth isn't quite what people have been expecting. whether there's been defections. there are other companies out there. there's a private company called vima. t

bill ackman is breaking his silence. ackman says he is sticking by the beleaguered department store retailer. he says we are digging in. i don't know if that means he's buying more shares or if it means he's not selling a single share. but if you were worping, bill ackman is still in the picture. >> calling all road warriors. if you have about a million-and-a-half dollars and two years of vacation time bank, you could take what could be the world's most expensive trip. a website called veryfirstto.com is offering the trip around the world. you'll visit 962 sites as picked by the united nations world heritage having outstanding world and cultural value, places in the u.s. just yellow stone. >> jelly stone is a chain of campgrounds around the country. >> i was doing yogi -- >> rin. but it has yogi on the sign. >> they named the statue of liberty. international locations included the taj mahal, the great pyramids in china, also peru's machu picchu. your flights will be of business class and your hotels at a minimum ultra hi

so is ackman's conviction still right at this point? do you believe him? >> no, i don't.id before bill ackman might be a great investor, doesn't make jcpenney a great jempt pi recall him saying it was a ten-bagger. you could read today's news that he's lowered his price target to 75. so i'm surprised he's out there talking about it. i think it's time to not talk about it for a while. fix it. then talk. >> right, get it done. >>> you tweeted, we trade. let's get to your tweets. karen, we kick it off with you. significant drop in pc purchases what does staples do when they designate 100 to 200 feet of retail space for laptops? >> that's a great question. not the best for staples. i sold my staples, not well i have to say. the best thing going for them is the officemax office depot merger. you bring up an excellent point. i'm out of staples. >> would you put new money in halliburton? >> ultimately we have a strong argument that you'll see more complicated drilling and expertise involved in oil and gas services. halliburton is one of the world's best and they're in the places

there is this huge fight with carl icahn and bill ackman whether it is a short and a long?t do you say. >> if ackman is right the sales are coming from growing the sales staff and not actually sales of the product. if icahn is right --. david: we'll get numbers about. i come right back to you. todd, or mark. i go to adam shapiro with the numbers. >> on earnings per share adjusted earning per share was 1.27 cal. street was expecting 1.07. david: wow. >> revenue was what the street expected, 1.1 billion. some of the guidance, fiscal 2013 they see net sales growth versus 20 '12-13% to 15%. also looking at some of the what they're reporting here. again it was an earnings per share adjusted of $1.27. street expected 1.07. revenue though essentially flat. in the premarket, after-market, they're trading down. bid is down below the closing price of $38.75. david. david: let's go back to mark sebastion as adam goes through the numbers. we want to find out about total sales volume. thing about this company, all you want to know about the stock the short interest accounts for whopping

. >> bill ackman of persian square speaking at a luncheon in new york. persian square the largest shareholder in jcpenney. and ackman saying he still thinks that jcpenney's shares are worth $75 each. now, they're currently trading at around $15 each. for those of you playing along at home, $15 to $75 would qualify as a 4% surge. ackman also saying that the new chief executive, mike ullman, is, quote, the right guy at the right time. maria, back to you. >> josh, thank you so much. we're in the final stretch of trading here. we have a market that is uncharted territory once again, even though we are off the best levels of the afternoon. about 35 minutes before the close and we've got the dow up 51 points. >> and maria, the banks helping to lead this historic market rally. tomorrow kicks off a huge round of bank earnings. what will those mean to the market? we'll explain that, coming up. >> also, a bird flu outbreak taking a big bite out of yum brand sales in china. find out if that could make the stock sick. back in a moment. we went out and asked people a

the bottom line here, ackman saying the criticism of ron johnson was deserved. i want to know if anybody is willing to buy the stock. >> as i mentioned, i'm long the stock on jcpenney. we bought calls yesterday. if you look at the charts on jcpenney, if this gets through, 17, start to see people all of a sudden saying technically the stock looks good. the fundamental story, i'll give you. i'm not saying they're going to turn around their sales tomorrow or the next day, but i think they are on the right track. this home sales division, the home goods division, that may really help them. >>> all right. coming up on the "half" facebook's mobile move a reason to buy the stock? two of our traders square off in a spirited debate. >>> he predicted the dotcom bubble and housing bubble. yale university's robert shillor making a big call on the markets. >>> kate kelly found where the hedge fund's fortunes will be won or lost this year. stick around to find out where the next battleground lies. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accoun

i bet carl icahn and ackman would like to know. maybe a head start on these' counting disclosures before they are published. >> go ahead, jane. what have you got? >> reporter: well, according to scott london an what he's tell federal authorities, this did not impact the audits of herbalife at all, and he has said, to the authorities and so far they appear to believe him, that this was not a kpmg thing at all. >> he does not want kpmg to become arthur andersen and that's why he's thrown himself on the mercy of the court and admitted all. he says repeatedly this is not about them, and his attorney said there was, quote, relief on the faces of the federal agents when they finally contacted him and met with him approximately two weeks ago because they feared this was just the tip of the iceberg at kpmg and now according to london's attorney they know it was just one guy. >> all right. mitch epner, wrap me up on this. what's your take on this whole thing? >> here's my take. herbalife, somebody new is going to come in, probably one of th

charlie: that is good for ackman. maybe there is some value here. liz: okay.value in your next story. it is exclusive and it is breaking. charlie: there is a reason why a lot of people inside sec capital -- if you are in a hedge fund, you can only pull your money out at certain periods of time. the last one was in february. the next one is mid-may. a lot of investors are looking at that wondering if they should pull out given that there is an investigation. here is what people inside the firm are saying. they are saying everything in the end will be okay. i am not saying that. here is why inside the firm, though, they are telling people that they feel pretty good. the government, apparently, from what i understand, more than five years of ims, e-mails, i also heard that they looked at his tax returns. they have found nothing. this is kind of keys. if you do not have a cooperator, you do not have an idea. they tapped his phone as well. they have little to convict this guy on. liz: especially, if they do not get this guy to turn. charlie: he is not flipping. i t

stuart: ackman said-- >> i added that part in myself. stuart: ackman thinks it's worth $70 a share.e in, charles. they need a billion dollars. and 70 a share? are you buying it. charles: not yet. they've gone through this before and it's a big enough brand and do the right thing and take their time. i think that ron johnson wanted to hit a grand slam right off the bat. you can't change a lumbering giant. stuart: we're close to 15,000, we've opened down 45, stabilized on the down side and not fallen any more in the last few seconds and low selling at the opening bell. i want to bring in john layfield from layfield energy. three big numbers, the first is 15,000. do you think that we get to 15,000 on the dow soon and go up from there? >> i think we get to 15,000 on the dow, yes. i don't know how soon. you know, that's dictating certain things as momentum shifts, i think we get there. there's a disconnect between this economy and the stock market. the stock market has performed phenomenally over the last couple of years. you can't say that about the economy so there is a disconnect. and

activist investor bill ackman says he's not giving up on jcpenney.n fact, he's doubling down. >>> one day after an historic session on the street, both dow component and s&p 500 hitting all-time close highs. blue chips less than 200 points away from 15,000 and the s&p within 13 points of 1,600. the nasdaq closed at a fresh 12-year high. jim, it has been an extraordinary run for the stock market. >> it's been one for the books. my take on this run is, it is very unusual to have the cyclicals, the techs, the financials and the drugs all move at once. it is reminiscent of other times when we saw a radical revaluation of the market. it is important to recognize that the s&p is still only at 15 times earnings. i say "only" because the alternative, the bond market, continues to not be a place where you can get any return. i am amazed every day at this rally. amazed. >> to your point -- david, the stocks that were the leaders yesterday, it plays right into jim's point. the cisco, intel, pfizer, merck, microsoft, now of course that's going to be a little bit

liz: london told shaw there would be later opportunities that would be better to trade because of ackmanthe hedge fund, big hedge fund guy who has been shorting herbalife as you know, natan. they should take a pass on this one. was your client going to go long herbalife or short it? >> well, again, remember during the undercover my client wasn't actually going to make the trades but the discussion with mr. london and mr. london didn't know that mr. shaw was cooperating with the fbi at the time, was that mr. shaw was going to go long on herbalife, based on guidance that was going to be coming out showing that herbalife was going to beat the street's expectation. >> the sec complaint which just moved, and i have in my hand here, in it says that in 2009 your client started to see his diamond business, his jewelry business start to go down due to the financial crisis and the ramifications of that, was it your client was desperate? is it really simple greed? why did your client start doing this? >> it was probably less greed than it was stupidity quite honestly at the beginning. he understood

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. >> and yesterday with all the rumors about sorros withdrawing funds from ackman or at least asking the money out of ackman's funds, that obviously is going to keep investors focused on what could negatively impact his trades in jcpenney and/or life in particular. >>> the next guest thinks the last leg of the rally, is in fact, upon us. he is head of global asset allocation for socgen. welcome. great to have you on the show. >> thank you very much. >> we have a pretty sizable satellite delay so we'll try and keep the questions to a minimum, but make your case here. why are we on the last legs of the rally? what are the warning signs? >> we had astonishing bull market on the treasuries since the '08, after the lehman brother and the equity market, the s&p had one of the most beautiful since then. the balance of features, we had growth in the u.s., or a very low growth. on the other side, checked it much more than we expected every year since then. we have to expect around summer the u.s. economy will go up, that is one of the biggest cone census around, that there is potential for a

he doesn't like ackman. we all know that. not liking ackman is a little gravy for him. if he doesn't believe in the country. >> the short interest is surreal. short squeezes have been epic, and he has really played that well. >> getting to iep, he owns 90% of the company there is not a huge float. it's not heavily traded. and you have to be a partner, you know, very minority partner of carl icahn if you want to invest in that. >> ken, we're going to leave there it. thanks for stopping by. ken squier of the 13 deactivist fund. >>> nasdaq taking a hit today, down almost 13%, after announcing the acquisition of espeed. but some options traders making big bets the stock will recover in just the next couple of weeks. mike, what did you see? >> we saw some buys the april 31 calls. they were paying 40 cents for that. those are bets the stock will be up maybe by 11% by april expiration there was a coup i think for brrr cg partners. i'm trying to figure out what nasdaq was thinking. i wouldn't buy the stock. the call is the only way to play it. >> if you want to buy nasdaq, call

hedge fund manager bill ackman who has a major stake in jcp gave the stock a bit of a lift yesterday when he told reporters he's standing by the retailer. investors rolled out the welcome mat for taylor morrison this week. shares of the homebuilder opened up 6.1% yesterday, from its ipo price of 22 dollars and closed at $23.04. the return of the housing market has sparked an interest in home building stocks. also new to the market this week, shuttle tank operator knot offshore partners. that stock rallied nearly 4% on its opening day. chimerix, kye-mare-ix ipo-s today. the company is developing a drug for use in stem cell transplants. also expected pharmaceutical company omthera. pfizer is closer to getting a new breast cancer drug onto the market. the fda is giving "breakthrough therapy" to an experimental treatment that could generate annual sales of $5 billion dollars. pfizer stock rallied nearly 3% yesterday on the news. it's being marketed as the ideal babysitter for home alone dogs. dogtv -- is a new television channel meant specifically for dogs. pet psycologists say the stimu

tracy: hope springs eternal. >> bill ackman has taken a huge hit on this.ldings go from a billion dollars to 700 billion in the last couple months. tracy: ouch. >> in jcpenney. tracy: ouch. ashley: thanks very much. stay tuned as thee say. there is more to this story as we follow the travails of jcpenney. adam, thank you very much. more on stocks, the weeks ahead are critical as companies report first quarter results. our first guest says right now the s&p is cheap in comparison to other investments. jack ablin, bmo private bank chief investment officer. jack, thanks so much for joining us. is it the earnings season will be the catalyst to keep this rally going? if that is true what do you expect to see in the earnings and how will markets react? >> just by way of background i think the market is cheap relative to bonds which means that most of the move we're going to continue to see for the now, until the end of the year will likely be fueled by liquidity and momentum. that said, earnings expectations, ate least for this quarter have an about pushed down p

of course, ackman called into question everything about the company. then of course there's news that they're leaking material, nonpublic information, the accountants. so you just don't know. and for me, it is a headline stock i am going to avoid. - too many question marks. good to have you on the show this morning. that is matt shapiro, president of mws capital. time for us to roll on out of here for today. coming up tomorrow, the hidden toll work stress is taking on your life, and tips to relax. from all us at first business, namaste. >> announcer: the following is a paid presentation for 10 minute trainer, brought to you by beachbody. >> hi, i'm mark steines, coming to you from hollywood, california. we would all love to lose weight and get in shape, right? but the problem we have is time. look, i had all the excuses in the world: i was too busy, i was too tired, not enough time... that is, until i discovered 10 minute trainer. that's right, 10 minutes. look, i'll be very honest with you. i was skeptical at first, and then i heard it was developed b

ackman is jcpenney's biggest sharehold shareholder. the chief operating officer, chief craven officers and chief talent. jcpenney is up 3%. >>> chevron says it produced 2.63 million barrels a day of oil and natural gas in january and february. that's flat from year ago levels. chevron experience experienced a major cut in its fuel production business because of planned maintenance at a refinery in mississippi and repairs at its richmond, california, facility damaged by fire last year. chevron reports its full q1 results in two weeks. >>> and carmaker opal is to receive a multibillion dollar cash injection from general motors. $5.2 billion will be invested to support new launches at the struggling european brand, 23 revised models and 13 new engines are scheduled for release by tend of 2016. last year, opel's revenue was hurt from car sales across europe. >>> and it's my favorite time of year mainly because of this, the first major golf tournament, the masters, gets under way in augusta. tiger woods is seen as a favorite to win his fift

but jcpenney, i admire what they're trying to do, but bill ackman, the biggest investor in jcpenney,on-dollar debt jcp has said that there's been mistakes. that they've abandoned their core customer. >> he came out today and did a 180. he's famous for being on cnbc and saying, sales have bottomed, and supporting ron johnson through all of this. he came out and said, he should have tested the concept, criticized him, but he has to. his investors must be furious with this -- you know, with this defending and defending. after a period of time, you just can't anymore. >> so we've got one flipper. the other flipper today, potentially, alan questrom. he spoke -- former ceo of jcpenney. >> and a frequent guest on our show, said the smart test guest ever in retail. >> he's been very critical of ron johnson. actually, referred to him as delusional at one point on our air. but johnson took him through a tour and he talked to scott wapner about it and he said, there's a lot of things there that i like, that i saw in the prototype. ultimately, it will be up to the customer. but it seemed as if,

we should point out that doesn't mean the company is a pyramid scheme as bill ackman says it is, but an investor, what we try to do is give some, dispense some knowledge for investors. i will give four reasons why you should really stay away from the stock right now. put it in, maybe mattress was a little bit of hyperbole. melissa: it is a euphemism. we know what you're getting at. >> just be, i don't know, buy news corp, whatever. buy something else. here's why. and i'll tell you, this is stock like i said, a lot of trading going on, people want to go short, long, you ought to see my twitter page. i would just stay away. listen, as the details of this insider trading case emerge this stock will be really volatile. it may trade down depending on what those details are because somehow mentioned with the word insider trading even though the company itself, herbalife is not directly involved, its stock is involved, one reason to stay away from it, stock traders are notorious for hitting the button when they see the word herbalife next to the word insider trading even if they have nothin

london said they would later be opportunities better to trade because of bill ackman, the hedge fund guy who has been shorting herbalife and they should take a pass on this one. was your client going to go along herbalife or short it? >> remember during the undercover, my client wasn't actually going to make the trades, but the discussion with mr. london, he did not know mr. shaw was cooperating with the fbi at the time, mr. shaw would go along on herbalife based on guidance coming out showing herbalife would beat the street's expectations. liz: the sec complaint which just moved, and it it says in 2009 your client started to see his diamond jewelry business go down due to the financial crisis and the ramifications of that. was it your client was desperate? is it simple greed? why did your client started doing this? >> it was probably less greed than stupidity in the beginning. he understood he was getting inside information from mr. london, mr. london in a position to provide it. he initially made a small dollars and small trades and it grew over time. certainly it became more and m

. >> kind of like ackman on herbalife. >> early early on the call today, i was wondering whether they were levied and if they are, we just picked letter x for example, you could own some bottle rockets that just take off. >> the expectations first solar, 30% of the flow was betting against it. the company says, it ain't that bad. >> you can make the same argument with intel. when was the last time you saw intel move 5% in a session. >> to your point, people say intel is lagged, take a shot, and it's worked. but we'll know a lot more a week from now, specifically about intel. and microsoft obviously as well. the movement in microsoft, although we haven't seen microsoft move that way in three or four years. >> and apple, you throw these names together and people's expectations have been lowered to the point where people, to take a flyer, may not be so bad. >> i'd sell microsoft, it was up 6%. i doubt there's a takeover in the offing. so i had to take some money off the table. >> microsoft hasn't been above 200 since last september. >> we'll get more on that in a minute. meantime, top tr

that conversation happened as bill ackman was speaking at a conference in boston and made some pretty critical, if not the most critical public comments that he's made to date, about the strategy at jcpenney under ron johnson thus far. there's a lot going on. >> there's a lot going on. even if you are willing to give them the martha stewart victory, which i don't think you can, it's still going to decline more of the stock price and the sales, you just can't recover. you've already seeded the loyalty of those customers to other retailers. no coincidence that macy's is hitting a 52-week high while jcpenney is going lower. there are some people who i've spoken to and gotten second-hand that are really worried about macy's. even if ron johnson is not there. >> you mean swrrjcpenney. >> i did. thanks for the correction. you were in and then bought back. >> i bought back. >> added? >> no, i'm out of it now. i took risk off of the market a few weeks ago. i haven't added risk back yet. >> tjx continues to deliver it. back half of their month will show on thursday that actually things are bet

. >> gina, what do you say about bill ackman and his various divisions when it comes to investments inbust, borders was a bust. now jcp. is he eating crow? >> yes, he definitely is. i mean, he brought johnson in, hailed him as this great retail guru, said he would give him three years to turn the congressmen around, even when jcpenney was falling and, obviously, he ran out of time, just like johnson did. so this doesn't look good for him in the future. >> maybe he should stick to other sectors. brian? >> well, i was wondering from gina, you know, you talk about a company like this. and we tend to look at it in very binary ways, right? it's either going to be a boom or a total bust. gina, is it possible, is it probable that jcpenney just doesn't lie there? it just limps along for years? >> i think that's actually a big possibility. because it's really, actually, hard to kill these brands. i mean, blockbuster is still around, even though it sort of seems to be, yeah, limping towards its death. >> very strange sounds coming from this -- >> montgomery ward does come to mind. and, you know,

. >> reporter: i don't think it's ackman, but if it's one of those, yes, that would be a huge story.hat this guy knows, but here's the interesting thing: which way did this guy trade? let's just say he shorted the stock particularly recently or sold the stock based on what the auditor said. the auditor knows how to read those numbers inside and out, inside herbalife. that would mean the auditor himself, herbalife's auditor, is basically signaling sell the stock. that would be huge in terms of this battle whether herbalife is a stock to own or not own, whether it's a pyramid scheme or something like that or not. that would be huge. so -- now, why is it trading down right now? i don't know if the market's factoring in what i'm telling you because we haven't heard whether this guy traded or sold -- liz: not the worst trade to the downside. >> reporter: it's down on the potential delisting, obviously. here's the other thing. when you have an issue like this where the senior auditor of a company is sort of doing something sleaze i have on the side -- sleazy on the side, it raises the poss

ackman and icon going head-to-head over their positions on herbalife. >> i appreciate, bill, that youreat investor. i thank you for that. unfortunately, i can't say the same for you. >> this is not an honest guy and this is not a guy who keeps his word and this is a guy who takes advantage of little people. >> talk a little icon, talk a little herbalife. we're going to ask jim to weigh in, as well. we're back in two minutes. [ beeping ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned... mercedes-benz for the next new owner. ♪ hurry in to your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for 1.99% financing during our certified pre-owned sales event through april 30th. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ge has wired their medical hardware with innovative software to be in many places at the same time. using data to connect patients to software, to nurses to the right people and machines. ♪ helping hospitals treat people even

a couple just behind bill ackman with persian square capital management. but certainly a big vote of confidence by jcp, which has been beaten down in recent quarters and recently saw the departure, maria, of ceo ron johnson amid disappointing results. could be a big vote of confidence coming from a highly respected investor. we'll be getting more details as soon as possible. >> kate, thank you so much. the stock is moving for sure on this news. and we immediately saw the stock take off, as soon as that s.e.c. file crossed. let's get more now on amazon earnings, as we spoke with earlier, r.j. hadevi. he's with me again from morning star. also with me is aaron kessler from raymond james. aaron, let me kick this off with you since r.j. and i have been discussing this. what was your take on the amazon quarter? >> the numbers look fine. i would say revenues looked a little light, and same with the guidance for q2, although some of that may have been affect from japan, a big part of amazon. operating income was better, did about $448 million of operating income,

hedge fund manager bill ackman who had taken over the company.arrogance of ron johnson and his backer created a polarizing set of expectations that led to total failure and then collapsed and then the comeuppance, johnson getting fired yesterday to be replaced by his predecessor. that's all history. what matters right now is that there is a land grab of retail sales as i genuinely believe that jcpenney could go away. and johnson's buffoonery has opened the floodgates. how do we play? dismiss the notion that jcpenney is worth buying. not worth the risk, the retail is the hardest business in the world to attempt to turn around. the biggest winner so far is macy's and i think a huge chunk of what is left in jcpenney sales will still go the way of that chain. especially if penny loses its lawsuit against macy's over the right to sell martha stewart home products and i believe they will lose. walmart and target are both game but the new found sales may not be as meaningful. both companies doing fabulously and walmart hit its 52-week high again today.

february, and that should send the stock up, but, quote, he was concerned about hedge fund manager bill ackmann the price of the stock. and later after carl icahn revealed he bought a lot of herbalife stock, shaw told london, i wish you would have known that he was going to release that and we could have made some money. london responded, quote, yeah,ed that have been nice. both men, maria, have admitted in public statements that they made mistakes. shaw calling his actions stupid, will have to see if that carries any leniency with authorities. >> unbelievable. >> jane, thank you. let's dig a little deeper into this case with the man leading the investigation. andre birotte is with me. mr. u.s. attorney, andre, good to have you on the program. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me, maria. >> so there on a deal on the table for mr. shaw in order to get evidence against scott london? >> well, look, i cannot comment at this time, as it relates to the nature of that aspect of the investigation. you've heard the comments from mr. hoffman, and we'll continue to move forward. >> i guess i'm

if we find out that the books were cooked, and that's ackman's position, not that the books were cookedwas a ponzi scheme and he's been allegedly shoring it. i don't know all the facts and details, but does the fbi come in on those folks? this is an era where all law enforcement want to go after everybody all the time, does this spread this investigation? >> undoubtedly this is a messy story, but it seems like we are seeing the tip of the iceberg. bags of cash in the parking lot bad enough, but as jared says, this goes deeper and deeper and it will be interesting to see what the investigators turn up. >> even though they may not have a case, once you unravel this thing you start pulling the strings out, who knows where it's going to end up. >> one of the problems we have here in my humble opinion is there's a bit of a market failure in the accounting business. why are there just four firms? >> post enron. that's really what -- this came post sarbane, i didn't like any of that stuff, the government gives them favorites, that's not good. taxes are due on monday, isn't that a happy thought

some of the biggest names of hedge funds like ackman, cohen and einhorn are pitching investors. from the scene. constellation brands upping its game right here in the united states with full control of corona. the ceo rob sands will join us for an exclusive on "squashing on t squawk on the street." ♪ [ laughter ] ♪ [ female announcer ] each one of us is our own boss. ♪ and no matter where you are in life, ask your financial professional how lincoln financial can help you take charge of your future. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> it's not baseball playerses at yankee stadium today. it's some of the biggest players in the hedge fund world. goldman holding the u.s. hedge fund symposium there and our mary thompson has the pregame from outside the stadium. mary, good morning. >> good morning to you, carl. as you mentioned, goldman sachs is hosting the big hitters from the 2.2 trillion hedge fund industry today. earlier this morning we saw goldman's president and coo gary cohn come into the stadium and he's here to address the attendees of the symposium hosted by goldman sachs. it's akin to speed dating

he herbalife says it will prove bill ackman long. in an interview with reuters, the president of herbalife says the resilience of our customer base and our distributor base will continue to show that he's wrong and dead wrong. >> they should have said he got the idea from ron johnson who said he could run jcpenney. this would be a bad, like, three. month period if this -- if herbalife is not a peer mead scream because it comes right after jcpenney. >> the problem is the investment thesis only works if the fda -- not the fda, but the ftc decides it's a pyramid scheme and takes action. ftc. >> because there are products being made that are going into some type of distribution channel and they do eventually make it some consumers that do consume some of the products, right? >> what i don't understand is why they're so secretive about some of those numberes and what eventually gets sold and what comes back. it's weird when you ask them questions about it and they as a public company don't -- >> once you get the candy bar, they do have pr

bill ackman was at a luncheon yesterday making some comments which were supposed to be off the record which then got recorded by some news organizations that were in the room anyway saying things like i don't see a scenario in which we don't work this thing out. the company will continue. amid some of the questions that remain out there about how long this company can remain, is a growing concern, just given questions about the balance sheet. >> i wonder if he has to put more money in, more skin in the game with the 18%. >> the betting is the settlement can't pull this off. i spent a huge amount of time in the last 48 hours and ken ullman pulled it off and there are a lot of people think he can't because of how difficult it is to break the spiral. >> it's a total of 25% if you count the shares that he owns in swaps or whatever that he's got a bigger part of this company than, you know, beyond sort of this 18%. >> he's going all lampert with us. >> he didn't put himself in the ceo role. >> that's not eddie lampert. >> and we'll issbe watching the stock very closely and it's unclear how

. >> i've got to ask you about bill ackman, still in the stock. are you talking to him?his problems with jcp. >> he wants ron johnson to go in and take over. >> he probably does. >> is that okay with you? >> listen, my door is open to any shareholder. talk to anyone. >> has he been constructive in your mind? for procter? >> shareholders are generally constructive. 100% of my portfolio is in p & g stock. so generally -- >> okay. i got some whitening stuff. if i use it for two weeks and i've still got brown teeth. i'm trying to use it. better than those going to the dentist where they torture you with that bleaching. it's like shooting pain through. so i'm hoping this is going to work, but so far i'm still wearing yellow ties to match the teeth. >> keep at it, joe. >> i'm going to keep using it. but who is this guy? what is he? center fielder? >> unbelievable. >> who is this guy? >> leading the national league. >> i know. where is he from? >> from cleveland. >> oh, see i don't follow the american league. that was a good acquisition. i've got my fingers crossed, we lost las

most notably war of words between short seller bill ackman who famously called it a ponzi scheme andrl icah with stake in the company. we don't know who that is. meantime, the withdrawn audit reports could pose a bigger problem for the nutritional supplement company. an analyst who has been the bull on the stock cutting his rating today from a buy to neutral. also slashing his price target saying he continues to believe in the company's story and growth potential but "it will be a serious problem to be out of compliance through no fault of their own with nyse requirements because of those audits being withdrawn and potentially breach their loan covenants." welcnew york state, where cutting taxes for families and businesses is our business. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups. the new new york is working creating tens of thousands of new businesses, and we're just getting started. to grow or start your

soros is among the top jcpenney shareholders along of course bill ackman.ng jey to the top in s&p 500 trading. look at that shares surging 9% to 16.57. >>> revolving door turning again in the yahoo! boardroom. chairman fred amaroso resigning after a year on the job. he is 7th. >> who board member to leave in the last year. he is replaced on interim basis until the company annual meeting in june. yahoo! shares hitting 52-week high perhaps on that news, giving back some of the gain shortly. melissa: a big interview coming up on monday you don't want to miss right here on this show. blackberry ceotores son heinz talks about the companies turnaround plan and sales of the z10. that is monday at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. don't miss it. lori: we won't. riding a wave of negative publicity we're live in the miami with a check on the cruise industry. melissa: bidding for a cup of joe with tim cook, a share auction and conversation with apple's chief. lori: see what is going on in interest rate markets. look at treasurys. looks like they are gaining. people are popping

hedge fund manager bill ackman has alleged the company is running a pyramid scheme. letter to the scc, the wireless network is compelling. sprint says it's on track to close its 20.1 deal by july. it's considering the 25 billion bid from dish. softbank's ceo came out earlier this morning and he slammed dish for not doing proper due diligence and saying their offer is incomplete and illusionary. the softbank stock is up 1%. dish network up around about 1%. >>> fuses and merck report first quarter figures. we'll preview what to expect from those pharma giants. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ge has wired their medical hardware with innovative software to be in many places at the same time. using data to connect patients to software, to nurses to the right people and machines. ♪ helping hospitals treat people even better, while dramatically reducing waiting time. now a waiting room is just a room. [ telephone ringing ] [ static warbles ] [ beeping ] red or blue? ♪ red or blue? ♪ ♪ the new blackberry z10 with black