you know that is unusual week for ann taylor.is because yesterday we discussed, today come to fruition, in fact ann taylor now tapping into jpmorgan to weigh in on a possible sale of the company. yesterday here on fox business we reported that the hedge funds that hold about 1% stake, that which include, engine capital and red aulder were pushing for ann taylor to consider selling itself to private equity or a large retailer, saying that they could fetch, 50 to, $55 a share. now in fact ann taylor is working with jpmorgan to explore options and strategic alternatives. you see a big pop. you know who else stand to make a pretty penny on this? well, golden gate capital took nine 1/2% stake in ann taylor, saying it was undervalued this year. we'll see about that story. dierdre: thank you very much, miss nicole, joining us from the floor of the new york stock exchange. talking about big brand, we're focused of course, burger king buying canada's tim horton, it is a tax inversion deal. it is controversial. in fact some congressman are

going to get earnings before the bell from couple of retailers, locklocker and -- footlocker and ann taylorocks rallying yesterday popping the dow back above 17,000, gaining six points for the dow. the nasdaq was up five points to 4532 and we are within 10 points of s&p 2,000. bad news meantime for jell-o makers. jell-o is alive was the old slogan, maybe it's time for something new. jell-o sales have slimmed almost -- slipped almost 20d % from -- 20% from five years. it is falling out of favors as folks feed their kids greek yogurt instead. and college students aren't doing jell-o shots nim. >> i'm not sure that's accurate. we need to look into that more. >> see, its been so long since i've been in, but that was the last time i had jell-o. >> fair enough, thank you bertha. >>> i want to check in with hey, take a look at this. oh my gosh, this is what you've got to see. christina loren promised to take the ice bucket change p challenge. oh, did she deliver. she's cool as a cucumber. christina doing the responsible thing as a meteorologist dealing with the drought, she's the ice cold bucket o

we told you last night two activist investors are urging the company which owns ann taylor to exploretrategic alternatives, including putting itself up for sale. the stock popped to nearly 5%, to 41. $7. >>> well, drones could be making a debut at disney world. walt disney has filed three drone-related pants that could lead to an era of puppets flying through the sky. it could be an alternative to the fireworks and light shows at the company's theme park. shares were up slightly to $90 and change. >>> after the bell today, cable reported earnings on strong subscriber growth but revenue and guidance were disappointing. also in that report, the company announced a $350 million share buyback program. separately, tivo says it's introducing a new dvr for customers without cable or satellite tv. the device would record both over the air broadcasts and streaming online networks. after the report, shares were volatile. during the regular session, the stock was up 2% to $13.90. >>> and smith & wesson reported earnings, but sales were below forecast on weaker demand for its guns. its third quar

. >>> shareholders of ann, inc, ann taylor, are putting pressure on the retailer to explore a sale.ngine capital and hedge fund partner red alder delivered a letter to the board saying the company is deeply undervalued and is urging it to explore strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value. the stock popped about 6.5% to 9 $39.49. amazon is buying twitch that let's gamers live stream their games. the online dealer expects the acquisition to close before the end of the year. this comes after reports that google had almost sealed the deal to acquire twitch for $1 billion. amazon rose slightly to $334 and change. meanwhile, class a shares of google fell a fraction to 590.57. >>> blackberry markets a blackberry like key board that its on an iphone. a u.s. court upheld the preliminary injunction that prohibited the sale of the product. shares edged up slightly to $10 a share. >>> and shares of lifetime fitness had a nice runnup in today's session. the fitness center operator says it's considering converting its land holdings into a real estate investment trust or reit. its board

posted earnings and revenue that topped estimates but a weak outlook disappointed investors and ann taylor cut its sales guidance for the rest of the year because of soft traffic and continued promotions and that sent shares down more than 3% to $37.52. >>> bucking the trend of down the earnings from retailers foot locker posted a beat on the top and bolt up lines. its second quarter profit was up almost 40%, as its sales continued to climb. shares rose about 3% to $54.12. keurig and kraft have joined forces. now keurig will make kraft branded coffees like gevalia, maxwell house and even mcdonald's coffee for its single serve keurig brewing system. the financial terribles of the deal weren't disclosed. the stock jumped 13% to $133 and change. meanwhile, an executive shake-up at mickey d's. mcdonald's is replacing its u.s. press for the second time in two years. the move comes as sales at mcdonald's restaurants in the u.s. have been slumping. shares were off slightly at $94.45. >>> our market monitor guest says today's fed news should make investors more confident about buying stocks. he's

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and the owner of ann taylor is the latest target of activist investors. of them are urging the company to sell itself, as much as $2.5 billion. we will have more in 30 minutes. >> welcome back to the second half-hour of "bottom line" on bloomberg television. i am mark crumpton in new york. thanks for staying with us. sales of new homes in the united states fell unexpectedly in july for the second month, declining 2.4%, the fewest since march, and weaker than the lowest estimate of economists surveyed by bloomberg trade housing has advanced in fits and starts this year due to tight credit and slow wage growth. atdreds of mourners gathered a st. louis church today for the funeral of michael brown, the 18-year-old was shot and killed by a police officer in ferguson, missouri, earlier this month. father asked protesters to take a break and observe a day of silence. president obama sent three white house officials who attended the funeral. pacific gas & electric says it expects to continue searching for possible gas leaks following the earthquake that hit the

also, activist investors engine capital and red older have ann taylor parent ann inc.r sights. they sent a letter to the board saying the company is deeply undervalued and urging it to explore all available strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value. ann inc. says it welcomes open communication with its shareholders. and u.s. steel was upgraded to outperform by underperform by credit suisse which cites raw materials cost advantage over competitors. >> 2014 has been a comeback year for mega deals. joining us is private equity titan scott sperling, thl has invested more than 100 employ yo poll yos, 150 billion since its inception. last time you were on were you saying this was a time to be an opportune time to be selling some stuff in the portfolio, are you still finding things that make sense? >> i think it's both ways. one of the things that we've done over the last few months is use these opportunities to realize on a number of the investments that we've had. it's been a good time to sell. i think there's been strategic interests out there. for the reasons th

ann taylor, couple guys take down 1%. 1%? 1%?hares. >> engine capital. >> and they're saying, it's underperformed. again, these are situations whether lifetime fitness, there are too many health clubs and there are too many retailers. prevailing theme here is, guys, sell yourself. lifetime actually has a great bi business. very nice facility. people feel like give us growth. dough a real estate investment trust. people are looking at burger king, give me the next burger king. >> which is? >> is it a wendy's move. >> i think wendy's has to think. dunkin'. the first thing, cramer, how could you say that? we're doing great. tim horton had a big, international idea. take -- burger king can take them nationally, 3g international company. tim horton can be everywhere. the tax rate in canada for burger king pretty much the same. it's not driven. it's really -- it's not driven by cash. it's driven by the notion that tim hortons' brand will carry overseas not unlike starbucks, where i had a cappuccino with skim on the enppennsylvania turn

activist investors engine capital and red -- putting pressure on ann taylor, saying it's deeply undervalueds. steel has been higher. it was upgraded to outperform by credit suisse, citing cost advantages for raw materials. >>> why make piles of money studying liquor when you can earn a living making your own. that's her plan when he started a rum distillery in brooklyn. >> this is something, you know, a crazy person would do, build a distillery, make a product having ner made it before. hi. i'm bridget, the founder of the noble experiment nyc. i used to work at a hedge fund. i was a financial analyst. i had a specialization in the global alcoholic beverage categories. i had decided that i wanted to open my own business. i love rum and wanted to make something that i was going to be drinking a lot. a big part of the research was kind of visiting the small distilleries, listening to their experiences, understanding how they actually constructed the distilleries. i kept it really hush-hush for a while. i told my parents and they kind of brushed it off. they were taking aback a bit. i'm bridget

applause ] 2% said, "you should stop guzzling chardonnay like a a marathon runner stampeding towards ann taylor 35% said, "let's just talk about this at home." [ laughter and applause ] and that's what people are saying about the post office. >> steve: saying about the post office. f-m-l. >> jimmy: but here's some good news, everybody. some really good news. i saw that starbucks is bringing back its fall drink, the pumpkin spice latte a a month -- [ cheers and applause ] ♪ they're bringing it back a a month early this year. [ cheers ] nothing says summer refreshment like a piping hot cup of caffeinated squash. [ laughter ] mmm. i don't know why i keep doing this to myself, yeah. jerry, that's close. jimmy, but jerry, i'll take jerry. [ laughter ] they always misspell. >> steve: zucchini. >> jimmy: zucchini? that's not my -- whose name is zuchinni? oh, that's the flavor of the latte. [ laughter ] and, finally, this is a crazy story. this week, a town in minnesota elected a dog named duke as its mayor. [ light laughter ] they elected a mayor that pees on the streets, sleeps on the floor and eats

. >> number six is the parent company of ann taylor, cutting their outlook for the second quarter.enue fell short of estimates and sales slumped. beforell report results the bell on august 22. >> no surprise when you have so many choices now. over-retailed country. >> we keep talking about the hourglass retail where there is a lot of action in luxury and a lot of action in the dollar store. >> julie is our dollar store person. fedex's number five. the delivery company stock was added to a focused list of citigroup. fedex's favor.in sandsbling -- las vegas saying the recent selloff creates a buying opportunity. down 22% so far since reaching a high. its lowest level since october of last year. >> and windstream reporting a $.65 drop in second-quarter profit, missing analyst estimates. windstream said the progress they made in the first half of the year has positioned the company well for the rest of the year. >> number two, duke energy. second-quarter earnings surged 80%. said its international energy business ledger for performance -- led to performance in the quarter. >> bank of a

and tell and -- ann taylor. it is down 3%. grover norquist. first he loves uber.bout the new hire? we will take that information next.e' ♪ toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. stuart: researchers at the university of washington say there is a global warming hiatus. they say it has plunged into the atlantic ocean. part of a nationally occurring cycle. uber coming out of nowhere. now it has a value of $18 billion. now this, former obama staffer david roth will be uber negotiator and chief. grover, i was expecting to see you smiling there. what do you make of this guy. >> more challenged. the challenge for uber. for air bmb. for a list. for all of those efforts to break through corrupt cities and cartels and cronyism.

summer friday is on tap as we hear earnings reports only out from two retailers, footlocker and anne taylor. the action picking up next week because looking ahead to monday, a bunch of pmi services numbers, a read on new home sales and the latest from the dallas fed survey. >>> looking at some of today's other top stories, ta shake-up at home depot, tapping craig menar as the new ceo come the first of the year. he's work in the retail industry for 34 years. that's a long time. the company's current ceo, frank blake, will be serving as chairman. the company closed a little higher than yesterday. >> between 2000 and 3011, the report shows most americans are still worse off now compared to the previous recession years. >>> part, old friends is never easy, but find out why investors are cheering ebay's potential pinoff of paypal. stay tuned for that. keep your e-mails and your tweets coming through. >>> hi, everybody. good morning. these are your headlines. another record setting day on wall street. investors countdown to janet yellen's speech at jackson hole. >>> home depot is tapping a new ch

they have been in retail, ann taylor, a guy buys the share, puts company up for sale. i think they are fully value. we have abercrobie. i did the restaurants last night. people want me to recommend pot belly. refused to be recommending a stock where basically says if you come in, you get fat. that's not what the millennialsment. i'm attune to the millennials. i'm attune. they are not going to get fat. that's not their ethos. they don't believe it in. >> fast food, the stocks, burger king $33 north of that, up two and a third percent today. >> what's the budget premium. >> horton's up nearly 10%. those who missed the top of the program, just tuning in to see the market trading, you do not like this deal? you don't like the companies? >> take the profits all right. in the en, financialing serging gets you so far. i like growth and chipolte since 50. they are connected with the younger people. like burger king? like regeneron because the drug that will be out this weekend, you don't -- burger king and anticholesterol drugs, match made in heaven. >> i thought the same thin

then there is ann inc., parent of ann taylor stores, moving higher after two activist investors called on the company to put itself up for sale. ann shares up about 6.5% on the trade. and let's end with one that's moving lower. grubhub is moving lower on news that online food ordering company who was going to sell 10 million shares of its company in a secondary stock offering. its shares there down near session lows, off by about 8%. so, scott, kelly, lots of green, grubhub, a notable one, to the downside. back to you guys. >> dom, thanks so much. >>> new home sales dropping for a third straight month. diana olick, what's going on? >> scott it was a disappointing number, but these census numbers are really volatile. a very wide margin of error on this. so, you have to look at june to understand what happened in july, so let's do that. the street was looking for annualized sales from june's 406,000 and got 412,000, but june was revised way up to 422,000. so, it's a 2% drop month to month, but up over 12% in july from a year ago. i hope you followed all that. one note on that, on the yea

it was kind of, you want to own ann taylor in back-to-school season simply because moms might be out in the mall. can you make a foot traffic argument for williams-sonoma, jaime? >> i think we're less positive on foot traffic for malls, but i think what's really interesting about the business is that it has carved out a really special place for direct sales. and with 50% of the business coming through direct channels, they really get to have a much leaner operating profile than some of their competitors. >> anthony, let me -- you like williams-sonoma, you say, and you like the multichannel, you like the fact that they've got pottery barn kids, pottery barn teen, which i think is one of the thesis of the citigroup argument, but you don't favor it as a back-to-school play. so, the natural question would be what do you favor as a back-to-school play? >> one name we really like right now for back to school is five below, the teen and preteen retailer. the economic environment continues to be quite challenging, so i think the fact that the consumer, either the parent or the child can go t

and we end with ann inc., moving higher on news that ann taylor reportedly hired jpmorgan to explore a possible sale of the company. brian and kelly, back to you. >> all right, morgan. thank you very much. >>> well, 2014, the year may bring 2014 on the s&p 500. in fact, we're up just 5% in the past three months. but will these levels also bring some caution and some selling, kelly? >> yeah, you might think that a dow and s&p at record highs would push a famous short fund manager to get back into the short selling game, but it's still not enough for our next guest. joining us now in a cnbc exclusive is bill fleckenstein, president of fleckenstein capital, on the cnbc news line. bill, welcome. so, this is the question. you know, we're at all-time highs. does that make you itch here to finally short the market or no? >> no. i mean, i don't think it's debatable that stocks are expensive, but you could make the argument they've been expensive all year. the bond market is i think drastically mispriced, and as a consequence, so is the equity market. and that mispricing is a direct consequen

and another retail name, ann which is -- no it's the parent company of ann taylor's. o that? >> because they have the loft stores, too. so they wrap everything in. although i don't know, ann is not -- i don't know why they did that. >> like when they change united or wool worth. we don't -- we don't like a worldwide brand name, we'd rather get everyone used to venator. or united. how about allegiance or primrica. >> i don't know. >> it's the branding -- >> basically we don't like change. >> no. results topped estimates but the retailer warns that the second half of the quarter was, in its words, challenging. >> we don't like change but this is something you may just have to get used to. check this out, it is wine in a can. we're talking about pinot noir and pinot gris specifically. it's available in 40 markets and counting. the winemaker says they're pushing for a pinkies down movement making wine more accessible to the masses. also to appeal to a new varietal of wine drinker. joining us is the founder and uner of union wine company. ryan, good morning. >> good morning

"frozen" will return, but this time ann wra and elsa will continue their adventures in a series of books. >>> and wait. what? who is that? that is taylor swift, of course, with a video on the tonight show with jimmy fallon. it's in preparation for her appearance on the show. >> do you remember seeing her like that? >> no, i did not. >>> at last night's annual teen choice awards, the fault in our stars was a big winner in seven different categories. hunger games won four. the rock had a family minutes emergency. both his mother and cousin were in a car hit by a drunk driver. he shared words of wisdom. he said, "first reaction is to find the person who did it and to realize the most important thing with your family. we can hug each other, and they are much tighter these days. hug your family, stay close, and be grateful, and tell them you love them. these are words to live by every day. i'm dara brown. this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day. >>> five rescued off oregon coast after boat caps seeses. the group of boaters is recovering this morning after their charter boat sank. the coast guard helicopter crew c

taylor swift officially crosses over. jill wagner is at the new york stock exchange with that and more. good morning, jill. >>> good morning, anneoking to continue the steady climb on wall street this morning. the dow soared 175 points yesterday. the nasdaq closed up 43 to finish at a 14-year high. and the s&p 500 gained 16 points. >>> four california slaughterhouse workers now facing charges related to a massive beef recall. prosecutors say employees at ranch hill feeding corp. slaughtered cows with cancer while inspectors were on lunch breaks. that meat went to stores in four states. it led to a series of recalls this year that included nearly 9 million pounds of brief. beef. >>> more than one-third of american adults have not started saving for retirement. that is according to a new study by bankrate.com. the study also shows 1 in 7 seniors over 65 haven't put any money away either. one bright side of the survey, people in their 20s are starting to save earlier than previous generations. one reason some families want to save the climbing cost of raising kids. a government report says a child born in 2013 will cost parents $24

. >>> and jen ann anyton revealing a personal moment with her fian fiance, and how she's staying fit at 45. >>> and mo'ne davis is with us live, leading her team to times square. >>> taylorhion hits and misses of the night as we say -- >> good morning, america. >>> that all d.j. calcutta, rocking us through the morning along with -- >> look at the moon man, go. >> that's the moon man. that moon man can dance. therf. aisorvexpe.nefre t as,wero th st.e thini >>> h h mour cti s shome.rted drn a nthnge p but they're not exactly sure what happened to them. >>> hundreds of beach goers in florida have gone to the hospital after being strulg strung by jelly fish. that'sy stings like this. they invaded daytona beach. and they are tiny and almost entirely clear. >>> and uninvited guests at a surfing contest overseas recently. take a look, dolphins crashing right into one man in the surf, knocking him clear off his feet. we're going to show it to you again. boom. there he goes. the dolphins clearly not impressed by his skills in the water, so they took him down, those friendly dolphins. everyone was okay. back to you guys. >> okay. >>> turn now to an eye-opening report out this mor

. >>> and jen ann anyton revealing a personal moment with her fian fiance, and how she's staying fit at 45. >>> and mo'ne davis is with us live, leading her team to times square. >>> taylor the big fashion hits and misses of the night as we say -- all the big fashion hits and misses of the night as we say -- go with #1 dentist recommended listerine®. power to your mouth. also try listerine® pocket paks to kill bad breath germs on the go. [ male announcer ] when you see everyone in america almost every day, you notice a few things. like the fact that you're pretty attached to these. ok, really attached. and that's alright. because we'll text you when your package is on the way. we're even expanding sunday package delivery. yes, sunday. at the u.s. postal service, our priority is...was... and always will be...you. ♪ and if you wanna go and lick it i believe you should ♪ ♪ don't need to play that basketball to dunk it ♪ ♪ don't need to play an instrument to funk it ♪ ♪ and if you don't have any milk then there's no milk to spill ♪ ♪ there's just a little sandwich cookie and it's wonderfilled ♪ eventually. guess who's going to warm up? us here in the >> good morning, washing