brian schactman is live in new orleans tonight. good evening, brian. >> hi, larry.z superdome right over my shoulder seven years ago was in absolute tatters. now it has mercedes-benz as a sponsor with a $100 million ten-year deal, and it's absolutely beautiful. the city has been transformed since katrina in '05, and of course the bp spill in 2010. they spent about 300 million upgrading the superdome. another 300 million upgrading the airport. and another 400 million on various other projects in the city. i've been down there about four times in the last four years, larry. the city has never looked better. and also on a jobs day i do want to note the unemployment rate in the city of new orleans right now is under 5%. so if anything could say they came back stronger, you could definitely say that about new orleans. although i will tell you that there are some pockets that still show the damaging effects of the storm 7 1/2 years later. >> well, okay. but it's still great news. and the low unemployment rate is great news. >> absolutely. >> now, i hate to do it to you, o

and cnbc's brian schactman.e ohio valley. let me break down the details. right now we're watching a little snow mixed with rain in areas of kentucky up toward louisville. you'll see snowflakes today. the roads should be okay. maybe a slushy inch on the grass and the car. this is going to move again into west virginia later on today. get some snow there in the mountains. then we're going to move into the northeast. dc, rain for you this afternoon. maybe some wet snowflakes tonight. it's a little bit colder up towards philly and new york city. after the sun sets, that's when we'll increase our chances of the snow. it's not going to be a blockbuster event. may just have to brush off the car. again, temperatures are warm. probably a heavier wet slush. one to three inches around philly. same for new york city. if anything it's going to be towards the lower end. the timing would be to end around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. your morning commute hopefully they'll be clearing it out. forecast today the rest of the country, looks p

and brian schactman has been covering it for us all day long. hi, brian. >> the game is always played, who might be next. and in the food group, might be a lot of o consolidation moving forward. but a lot of people first look it buff whoet clearly said he is looking for more, right? companies like heinz, classic brands well run immediately shoot to the top of the list. hersheys is an obvious one to discuss. $18 billion market cap. not out of reach based on what we saw today. but the key with hershey is family trust is the number one institutional holder. they need to be on board with this and maybe that's why the stock is not popping. two other names with heavy family involvement. kellogg and who mel. kellogg owning 75 shares and hormel owning 127 million shares. after an all teem high, flat to down in terms of hormel foods. smucker, general mills and campbell soup p.m. family holdings much smaller at smucker. it is below heinz. that's a possibility. problem with general mills, is the cap is 28 million. that is bigger than today if that happened.

brian schactman is here. what can you tell us about this that we need to know? >> well, first of all, there are two other names you need to know. 3g and jorge paulo lemann. he is the money behind 3g, which is major part of the deal with anheuser-busch and still owns majority stake of burger king. they will run the business. buffett and berkshire will put money behind the deal. paying 72.50 per share, about 20% to the premium all-time high. debt is 20 billion in all. take a look at all of the portfolio. highlighted by ore idea. a slew of names mentioned in the whose next category. i want it point out, hersheys, kellogg, hormel have family or foundations here that could have take over action. atalked to analysts and some say, don't expect rash of consolidation within the food sector here. this is a pretty descent size multiple. i'm not saying it is a one off but a pretty unique deal. >> it is. thank you. another big deal changing the way you fly. american airlines set to merge with us airways. phil lebeau, what does it mean for us, the consumer. >> nine out of eve

speaking of racy, on tomorrow's program we will have brian schactman together with the cover winner of the 2013 sport illustrated swimsuit issue. that will get minds wandering, sue. >> yes, it certainly will. >> all right, that's it for us. "street signs" begins right few. >>> and welcome to "street signs." where we're just fine, thank you. but are things too fine right now? stocks off to one of their best starts in years. since mrs. sullivan delivered me to the world, this is one of the best things that happened in the market. no. is it a case of too good equals too bad? sec is too cozy with wall street? the relationship might be closer than you think. plus, how would new york times car review is slamming tesla today and something microsoft said which has everybody, you know, scratching their heads, mandy. but investors are smiling. >> okay, yikes. so many great stats to choose from. okay, okay. i know, you're looking at numbers there. thinking, hang on. markets are looking soggy. but here it goes. indexes that are record highs are dow transports and s&p 400 mid caps. in fact, sa this

brian schactman, why don't you like the story? 4% income, the highest in three decades. gasoline expenses. that that's not nothing. >> americans are used to gas between $3 and $4. and i don't think they change their habits one bit -- >> you grew up -- >> i know, it cost a nickel. but the bottom line is -- >> you walked both ways to school. >> and you made buttner the churn. >> and you played both sides of the football game. >> unless there is a shock to the up side or it breaks you into record, i don't think americans pay attention to it. >> is there a shock coming? that's an interesting question. >> his point is spot on. we're used to that $3 to $4 range. the other piece of this is as a country per capita, our energy use in total per person has gone down. come down significantly. so to talk about the record highs, in the '70s we used much more are energy per person because we're much more efficiently. >> drill, drill, drill. frac, frac, frac. pipeline, pipeline, pipeline. if the mideast blows up, there will be some ramifications. i get that on brent crude. about f but f

brian schactman has more on thattage. over to you, brian. >> interesting concept, maria.ake a look at some of the newspaper stocks and how they did, "washington post," "new york times," all outperforming the broader markets. news corp did not, and i'll have a possible explanation for that in a minute, but, first, the newspapers. how would they benefit from the end of saturday mail delivery? well, a lot of the direct mail and coupons destined for your mail docks could end up in your sunday paper. i talked to a lot of analysts today who cover media companies. sunday papers still generate a lot of revenue mainly because of the inserts and demand for them. getting more business in this sector could be an unintended consequence and a benefit. look at the price action on the companies heavily leveraged in mail promotion. valassis hit hard. less than 1% of their deliveries are on saturday so maybe a bit of the selloff is unwarranted. news corp, yes, news corp is a key player here. valassis stock, worse shape in the trading day, probably because they are more known in that partic

brian schactman is at a brand new under armour concept store in baltimore with the story. over to you, brian. >> reporter: thanks, maria. they are using this 8,000-square foot retail store as a test lab focusing on women, focusing on shoes and maybe even setting themselves up for international expansion, and they have huge room to grow in all three segments and need, to actually, if they want to go after nike which is 25 years older as a public company and has a $49 billion market cap, compared to ua's five. right now it's 75% abarrel sales and 13% shoes. more perspective. half of nike's revenue comes from footwear and then there's geography. 94% of under armor's revenue is for north america and for nike it's 42%. ua's international for the whole planet outside of north america is just 6%, bill, you can come down to the store in baltimore and get fitted from head, all the way down to toe, and i picked this one out because i think you would look good in the blue and gray. >> with under armour taking on nike, which of those stocks is a better buy? it's under armour versus nik

brian schactman is joining us. >> it seems like if they do what he wants, he will support it. about encouraging addiction and worried about diluting tourism. but in the end, the opportunity it jump-start atlantic city is just too appealing. he actually vetoed legislation on the issue but gave two to three things that could be done to earn his signature. he wanted ten-year trial period. of course he want to date on-line gambling and not marry it yet. he will live with it for a while. higher ta tax rate to 15% from 10. and governor wanted more funds dedicated to addiction services. those additions are expected to happen, and it should pass being the third state with nevada and delaware allowing gambling on-line. the companies would be based in new jersey too. that means gambling revenue as well as jobs would come into the state. you know how gambling has been a big way it get revenue in the tight times of state budgets. also, out of state gamblers could be allowed to do this as well. if they are on state allowed gambling. right now there is only two others. on the stock side, ta

brian schactman, you have to admire the man's goal. >> we will see how this ends.ng story. hours ago, department of justice announcing joining floyd in defrauding the government. basically the allegation centers on armstrong using performance enhancing drugs while on sponsorship of the post office which paid lance about $30 million. the government could be entitled to triple damages which makes lance's response interesting. part of his statement reads kwoest the postal service's own study shows it benefitted tremendously, benefits totaling more than a hundred moil million which is slightly more than triple damages. feds were looking at lance for fraud and landis filed his case about three years ago but nobody joined. since lance admitted to cheating on oprah things changed. both sides, i can tell you, have been talking so a settlement could still be possible. reports are millions. lance is worth estimated $125 million. simon, back to you. >> for how long, do you think? >> how long until we get a settlement? >> no, how longworth $125 million. >> not for long. to los

brian schactman has the story. >> they are adding more water to the whiskey, reducing the alcohol content company say that global demand is at the point where they cannot supply it. with this move, they can make more but their fans upset about it. on twitter, they ranged from the rational, pull back to your core markets, complete your expansion, grow stocks, then export. keep true to your values and traditions. the down right angry -- how to lose a loil customer 101. dumb. one question came up a lot and with the analysts i talked to. why not just raise prices? bill samuels with the brand said, quote, we don't want to price maker's mark out of reach. they didn't want to alienate on price but willing to risk it with alcohol content. a few things to point out here. number one, this is not without precedent. jack daniel's did it in 2004 and jim beam criticized it in an effort to take share back then and number two, in some ways, this shows an increased focus on overseas market, right? in the marketplace. they sacrifice domestic discontent to get more bottles in other countries. we'll see if t

brian schactman has the details of berkshire hathaway's big purchase and phil lebeau is covering the purchase of usairlines and american. >> reporter: a quick recap here for you. berkshire hathaway and brazilian investment firm 3g buying heinz in a $28 billion deal when you roll in the debt. 3g will own half the company and run t.buffet gets the other half. he put in a little more equity, but will draw a dividend. classic buffet move, right? owns a great brand and gets income from it as well. when you look at the brands, you wonder why buffet didn't already run it, oreida and cherry coke, goes really well. nelson peltz sold off a lot of heinz last year and will get profit off this deal as well. the question many are asking whether this will spark more deals in the food space. you never know, but a lot of insiders told me today because of buffet and the brazilians this may seem special. talking about special ones. how about the deal that created the largest airline in the world. phil lebeau, of course, it's all over that one. hey, phil. >> hey, brian. you know, we've been talking abou

here's brian schactman. >> reporter: i touched it yesterday. as a sox fan i touched the sock. >> did you wash your hands is this. >> do it like southie does. >> you criticize mine. >> sock. >> reporter: even though it's kind of odd, a long song with dried blood back. those not in the know, want me to keep going like this, sul? 2004. curt schilling pitched a six-inning world series gem on a damaged ankle so, dang it had bled through the sock, as you see. the sox ended up winning the title for the first time in 86 years. need this little history level and the sock became an iconic symbol of it. since retiring from a career in which he made $114 million schilling's video game captain went bankrupt and he's selling the sock through heritage optics. guess we're not going to use the sound bite. >> show is over. >> 64,000 is the current bid. >> think it may get half a million. >> thanks for joining us on "street signs." see you tomorrow. >>> hi, everybody. we enter the final stretch on wall street. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo at

the great brian schactman is here with the answer. >> i'm not sure with beyonce being totally off thek. it was like a sibling fight. no, no, she did it. no, no, he did it. but the utility company was quick to say that it wasn't their fault. but today we learn it was their fault. >> easily to quickly say it wasn't. >> i know, but that's what they wanted to say. ironically, something installed with the express purpose of preventing a power outage was cited as the call. etr saying something called a relay, which i thought was a little thing, but it is actually huge. that's the problem. manufacturer of the relay, company out of chicago, came out and said the part was fine but settings were wrong. that's another set of fingers pointed at entergy. the equipment is housed in a building outside the superdome. it did not malfunction during the sugar bowl last month, but it is the same. the only difference between the two is the big halftime show. >> and the men's basketball turn many. >> she is not totally off thook >> but somewhere out the back there is a techie in white overalls sweating rig

. >>> it's time now for business before the bell with cnbc's brian schactman. want to talk about, dell going pride of for $24 billion led by michael dell taking it back private after 25 years of being public. microsoft contributing on the deal. "wall street journal" saying it's the unofficial end of the pc era. i have to tell you i thought that happened when apple came out with the ipad. u.s. postal service getting rid of saturday delivery. as we know, the postal service lost 5 billion last year. they say this will save 2 billion. post offices will still be open. package delivery will still happen. mail delivery is going down but the package business is going up. it won't take effect from six months from now to give people the opportunity to get ready for it. so i guess -- i used to like the saturday mail. finally, disney, i don't know if you saw this, guys, but they basically said they are going to do spinoff "star wars" movies based on the characters, and some people are saying they might do a yoda movie but i personal want to see the back story on chewibacca

kayla tausche and brian schactman tried it out friday in the newsroom.er hou fra center house. it consistently ranks in the top 20 amongst all the free apps in the apple app store. we are joined here at post nine by snapchat's co-founder and ceo. first, do you really get rid of the photos? >> as soon as they're viewed, they are deleted from our servers. >> meaning they can't be found, they can't be crawled by google and some -- >> it doesn't prevent someone from taking a screen shot but from taking a photo with another camera but they're gone from our servers for good. >> and how do you make money from all this? >> that's the million dollar question. there's a couple things we are really excited about right now. a lot of businesses are experimenting. a cool brand called 16 handles, it is a frozen yogurt shop in new york. we did a really awesome expiring coupon campaign. we've also seen a lot of artists, musicians teasing previews of their albums before they are released. like a stu