and costco is the master of understanding this virtuous cycle. amazon is online and also highlights the value of convenience, making it as easy as possible to get what they want. hospitality, same goes with google, ebay, then you have a retailer like men's warehouse, taking share from mom and pop stores by giving customers better prices. i mean, when he came on he mentioned men's warehouse, i was like, are you killing me? it's killing everybody. nordstrom, the only department store on the list, has always been a master of hospitality. lately they've made a substantial investment to the website making it an easier place to shop. maybe it's a place you should run to and not go away from. how about whole foods and chipotle? these are both very similar in that they're healthy eating plays that have built up a huge cache of trust with people who want natural and organic foods. when you shop at whole foods, you're not putting anything harmful in your body. that's the point of the good housekeeping seal of approval. chipotle especially makes its custome

>> that's a negative trend in our mind. >> what about costco? >> costco is the complete opposite.trend. a series of higher lows and higher highs. that's the textbook definition of an uptrend. >> and there it is. there's costco. there's the trend line. moving higher and i'm sure we're going to put a trend line in there to make it very clear. >> higher highs and higher lows. >> joe, you like both those companies, don't you? >> absolutely. cost cco looks very well. it's a safer place to play. they have tougher comparisons going forward, but they are in the zone and doing very well. on the flip side, tiffany, yes, i would agree that they have some tough going to get -- they have to get through some tough sledding in the near term, but the longer term trend for f tiffany is still good. lots of international opportunities. from a longer term perspective, tiffany still looks very good to us. >> you acknowledge they're going through a rough patch right now. >> they are going through a bit of a rough patch right now. granted, look, they're not big in watches and watches is a hot trend righ

>> costco sales rose only 4% in april excluding fuel but it wasn't just costco that fell short of expectations. so did macy's, target, kohl's gas, saks, walgreen's and others. before you get worried for the outlook for consumer spending it's important to realize there were several factors hurting business in april that were beyond any source control. >> we have the easter shift. and that always complaints the read -- complicates the read. either it's a strong march or a weak april or vice versa. >> the other issue was colder weather at the end of the month. there's hope may could be strong. there are five weeks between east ter and mother's day this year. last year there were only two. that means consoomplez will have a few -- consumers will have a few extra paycheck in the bank. area miller nbr harlem. >> what about those jobs. tomorrow morning we will learn if the u.s. created any jobs last month and if so how many. job growth has been flowing nationwide. nebraska and north and south dakota can brake about having the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. diane east brook is in omaha tonig

costco or circle k have the same but it is generic.ger dibble spent a year discovering motors. >> i have a jeep cherokee, 1993, 270,000 miles. >> reporter: what does he do when he fills up? same as tankers driver joe does. >>> i buy gasoline at a lower cost station, five times and then on the fifth, sixth time i go to one of the named stations. >> reporter: from the university laboratory to gas pump itself, insiders agree you can easily and less expensively protect your vehicle with some simple additive like this that you can pick up, all you have to do ispour it into your gas tank and change your oil. >>> starting tomorrow the u.s. postal service will no longer ship tablets, laptops or smart phones overseas. part of a new ban on electronics that use lithium ion batteries. the postal service says they can catch fire or come bust if fully charged or not correctly packed. since 2006, lithium ion batteries are thought to have caused two fatal, cargo plane crashes. >> without babies there would be no mothers day. one woman made special del

costco, i know -- carl, you have the chief costco correspondent -- >> you're mr. costco now, like i was with walmart. yours was only recently a great documentary. >> the comps are going to get tougher as we go through the rest of this year. they had a very strong spring last year. the summer was incredibly strong. average out march and april, trending with january and february. but there is a larger concern given what target and macy's said today. maybe the mid-tier consumer is having some problems, even though some of the comps of the nordstrom's of the world at the high end are doing pretty well. >> it was the smallest same-store numbers for costco in 32 months. it got downgraded to a hold from a buy at deutsche bank last week. erns about the price cuts the company initiated last spring lasting longer than expected and especially in canada where the company is going to have to go head to head against target. are they going to keep the cost cuts in place? sit going to further contract margins in that area of the world? >> at the sears shareholder meeting yesterda

welcome to superderivatives. >>> costco >>> costco getting a sales boost from its discount goods, lowrundown. courtney? >> thanks, carl. despite an intraday stock boost, costcos latest earnings as a low quality beat. the 19% rise in fiscal third quarter earnings beat by a penny but the profit was lifted by a stronger dollar and more favorable tax rate than strong sales. costco's decelerating sales trend is causing concern. third quarter comps slowed to 5%, and the third quarter from 10% in the first. competit competitor, sam's club posted ex fuel at 5.3% for its latest quarter, slightly edging out costco. as a wholesale club, membership fees are a key component to revenue. and over the quarter, membership fees at costco rose 9.2% guard to 8.2 increase in sales. gasoline, another strong revenue component, and as gasoline prices have fallen, there is a bit less incentive for drivers to fill up less often as those less expensive costco pumps. while shares are enjoying a lift, costco has underperformed the greater s&p index by a wide margin over the last three months. the average analyst

. >> reporter: chris says he usually tanks up at the shell or chevron, not the costco.re per gallon. >> i don't know. i've tried the triple k gas and it seems to burn just as efficiently. >> reporter: joe was filling his hank at the nearby costco during his route where he hits many different stayings. >> got customers from 7-eleven to costco to conoco phillips. >> reporter: when he was finished, he motored back to the shell refinery and got more gasoline for costco. is there any difference besides 20 cents a gallon. >> it is like medicine. you got your branded medicine and your generic. >> reporter: the difference is the branded cleaning adtivity each company puts in its gas to scrub fuel injector jets or on older cars carburetors. it also helps the engine's valve seats. chevron calls their additive techron. less expensive gas such as costco or circle k has the same sort of additive but it is generic. we went to the engineering department where professor robert dibble has spent a year studying motors and fuel and he also drives. >> i have a jeep cherokee from 1993. it h

. >> construction is under away -- under way for the new costco stores. a filling station has some say in no way. >> they are trying to shoehorn the busiest gas station at midst single-family residences. >> the call upon scientists about exhaust creating a toxic cloud hanging over their neighborhood. >> this is a terrible location for a major source of hazardous air pollutants and carcinogens. >> members of the council stepped into the fight. >> we have to start being careful about whether we put these things. >> they cannot be within 1,000 feet of schools playgrounds hospitals, or places where people congregate for recreation or entertainment. a pool is right across the street. >> we finally have the county council on our side. >> with gas prices scaling new heights some residents say bring on the mat a gas station. >> i think it is wonderful. >> it will be very convenient and we need it. >> the council has scheduled a public meeting for next month. we did not hear from costco today, but it is likely they will send a representative to the public hearing.

and last night's dividend boost from costco. europe can't pull that one home depot has done a wonderful job, but who knows how well it can do if home building comes back. they have had nothing but head winds, now they might have a tail wind. i'm not whistling past the european graveyard or the technology f technology fiascos, but the bottom line, housing's coming back and taking a ton of sectors with it. plus, housing is as domestic as it comes. moves have been big, but still in the early innings of a nationwide housing recovery. they may have too many homes in spain, portugal, and ireland. but here, we just aren't building enough of them. let's go to dan in wisconsin, please. dan? >> big boo-yah to ya, cramer. >> well, thank you, dan, what's going on out there? >> checking out the company, they've been losing month. last month they cut about 10,000 jobs, today they lose another $5.7 billion. where's the future of this company? >> you know, look, everyone wants to call the bottom on sony. wanted to do it for 15 straight points.

costco. they sell premium prices at great prices and charge you a reasonable fee and has gone up only once. polite staff which is terrific gives fabulous free samples. i like the shrimp dip. i like it more than the crab dip. i've come for multiple visits and no one has said a word. they encourage it. that's why i never eat before going a costco. am i clear? let's contrasts those with owning stocks of companies that are difficult to fathom, maybe unfathomable. companies like jpmorgan. had a big pow wow. jamie dimon, fabulous ceo. a simple model that has total control. fish monger he isn't. he didn't have control over the mortgage obligations his firm bundled and sold for clients a few years ago and didn't have control over this recent $2 billion debacle. how do i know he didn't have control? he told us. from the look of things no one had control. this is too complex, too dense and beyond the ability of everyone. at one point there's a guy in this movie, a rocket scientist understands it. he wo

. >> reporter: chris says he usually tanks up at the shell or chevron, not the costco around the corner a gallon than necessary? >> i don't know. i tried the gas and it burns just as efficiently, but you know, it's a name like anything else. >> joe was filling the tanks at a nearby costco as part of his route in which he hits many different stations. >> go to shell, chevron, you know, got customers anywhere from 7-eleven to costco to phillips. >> when he was finished, a motor back to the shell refinery and got more gasoline for costco. which begs yet, is there any difference between the gas you buy? well yes and no. >> it's like medicine. you got your branded medicine and then your generic. >> the difference is the branded cleaning additive each company puts in its gas to scrub fuel injector jets. it also helps the engines valve seats. chevron, for example, calls their heavily advertise attive tech-ron. less expensive gas, the same sort of additive, but generic. we went to the mechanical engineering department where he spent a year studying motors and fuel, and he also drives. >> i have

companies that he believes embodied this hospitality factor, companies like whole foods, chipotle, apple, costco, amazon, goldman sachs just to name a few. the result, back when we first talked to danny about this idea, the hospitality index stood at 65. now it's at 232. that means while the s&p gave you a 65% return, the hospitality index is up a -- drum roll please. spectacular 257% over the same period. there's some comparisons, huh? look at that. that can't be random. it can't be idle, it can't be foolish. i very quickly became a convert to danny's philosophy years ago. i still found this to be incredible. danny meyer's not a stock guy. he's not a professional investor. his picks left the averages in the dust. what's he doing? he's using his insight as a restaurant operator to create a prism for identifying great stocks and that prism works. maybe hospitality isn't as ethereal as it sounds. fact is of the 17 companies in the original index, only one, just one underperformed the s&p and that was dreamworks, dwa, the other 16 left the averages in the dust. really amazing, isn't it? the second

it was better than expected. >> you have to have a membership to go in costco. be a member to eat there? >> they do not. they place the food court by the exit. if you go in there, they don't check for member. you g in, eat, maybe you see a friend, a brother, a cousin. >> or a brend. >> how do you know about costco. do you have a membership? >> i have a card. >> i do too. and you do not. >> i do not. there's one here in new york though. >> thanks very much. we go to erica at pull on those gardening gloves. and let's see how colorful an afternoon can be. with certified advice to help us expand our palette... ...and prices that give us more spring per dollar... ...we can mix the right soil with the right ideas. ...and bring even more color to any garden. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. lay down a new look, with earthgro mulch, now three bags for just $10. never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. if my mom can fight and beat breast cancer, i can walk 60 miles. (woman) the fund-raising was the easiest part. people

. >> a weekly trip to costco turns into a modeling gigs for one ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >> >> they waited for years, but finally one san fransisco family sought justice in the trial of the man accused of killing three relatives. the alleged gang member edward ramos was accused of killing a father and his two sons. he had mistaken them for rival gang members. joe vasquez was in court to see the verdict along with relatives of those that died. >> it was highly emotional inside of the courtroom here today, as the verdict was read, the family members and friends at first burst into muscle applause, and then tears started flowing. and the victim's widow crying out loud at every single time of the word " verdict but aren't, guilty " was read. >> after a week of deliberations, the jury decided that he was guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, as well as attempted murder. interestingly enough the jury was hung on to lesser charges including one that identified him as the triggerman. >> my family as we did a very long time and justice has been served today and we're thankful for everyone that

>> as a big fan of costco, i can confirm we did eat costco that night.> we did not. it's a good question. >> the president played golf that morning. nine holes on the grounds of nearby andrews air force base. back at the white house at 2:00 p.m., he headed downstairs to join the others in the situation room. >> this is the lower hallway. the part nobody gets to see of the house where you get to live and work. and you have worn a path to the situation room. i saw these. this is unbelievable. these are the -- this is the drama -- >> as it was unfolding. >> of that night. all of the different scenes. i mean, when you see it now, i would imagine that was as tight as things ever get in this building. >> it was tense. it was a tough, tough night. i tell you. everybody operated just the way you'd hope they operated. we're going in the situation room. >> do they open it for you? >> once in awhile. >> upon entering the situation room, everyone has to surrender their electronics. they're placed in a metal-lined wooden box that was once a cigar humidor. it's a brig

it was better than expected. >> you have to have a membership to go in costco.ere, they don't check for member. you g in eat, maybe you see a friend, a brother, a cousin. >> or a brend. >> how do you know about costco. do you have a membership? >> i have a card. >> i do too. and you do not. >> i do not. there's one here in new york though. >> thanks very much. we go to erica at lincoln >>> it is real warm outside and the rain has moved out. sharon will wrap up the rush after marty's first warning weather. >> a couple of showers skirting the mason dixon line. slow clearing then partly sunny with a high of 83. low 60s now. here is sharon gibala wjz traffic control. >> marty, good morning, everyone. big problems 791 southbound. it's closed because of an accident. watch for he delays that will extend to franklin boulevard. new accident in the city as well. that is north warwick. there is an accident in the city in the clearing stages frederick at south winslow. heading out on 795 major delays because of the accident at 0 win mills. delays on jfx and 95. this traffic

take a look at costco. largely impacted by fluctuating gas prices and foreign currency, up 4% but below expectations and lowest month of growth since december of 2010. target same store sales up 1.1%. but disappointing apparel sales put that below consensus. macy's up 1.2%, but the weakest year over year growth in 13 months. in general the barbell market continues. on the high end saks posting a gain of 2%, but below expectations again. nordstrom, one of the strongest in the month up 7.1%. and discounters, tjx and ross stories as you can see down here below both beating with some decent numbers. it is a dicey day in retail, but many analysts think april was simply an off month and not indicative of a downward trend. look at macy's. shares already shaking off earlier losses trading instead on fundamentals of that company. and kohl's actually up 1.5%. the average analyst price target is about 11% above where we're currently trading right now, 51.46. >> courtney, thank you. shares of herbalife down. another 8.

>> as a big fan of costco, i can confirm that we did eat costco that night. frankly, throughout the day. >> did we declassify that? >> we -- that's a good question. that's a good question, boss. >> reporter: the president played golf that morning. nine holes on the grounds of nearby andrews air force base. back at the white house at 2:00 p.m., he headed downstairs to join the others in the situation room. this is the lower hallway, the part nobody gets to see of the house where you get to live and work. and you have, you have worn a path to the situation room. i saw these. this is unbelievable. these are the -- >> these are the folks. >> this is the drama -- >> as it was unfolding. >> of that night. >> yep. >> all of the different scenes and vignettes. >> yep. >> i mean, when you see it now, i would imagine that was as tight as things ever get in this building? >> it was tense. it was a tough night, but i tell you, everybody operated just the way you'd hope they operated. we're going into the situation room. >> so they open it for you? >> once in a while. >>

when i see you at 8:00, move over mcdonald's here comes costco. we'll take you to the tony award nominations this morning honoring the best of broadway. >> first as we do every morning, we begin with a look at today's eye opener. your world in 90 seconds. >> there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they would do something else, i would go ahead and let them explain. >> a campaign controversy erupts on the anniversary of the osama bin laden raid. >> obama web video suggesting that mitt romney wouldn't have had guts to order the raid. >> even jimmy carter would have given that order. >> mitt romney would have done what president obama did like he did with health care. the exact same. >> security has been stepped up at airports around the world. additional federal air marshals have been shifted overseas. >> german authorities dug up secret al qaeda documents that alabama plans to target cruise ships. >> al qaeda and associated forces still have the intent to attack the united states. >> get ready for a may day to remember. occupy wall

>> and a chance encounter at a costco helps a local boy with a congressional art contest. >> and good evening. i'm jeff ranieri in the nbc bay area weather center. another record setting heat again today. wall-to-wall sunshine but the cloud cover starting to increase with winds picking up anywhere from 66 in san mateo to 54 in santa cruz and much hotter england. more on this trend going down. how hot it's going to be for the weekend in a few minutes. >>> top marks for some bay area schools. the annual list of the nation's best high schools came out today and six of the top 100 right here in the bay area. u.s. news&world report ranked dublin high at number 12, san francisco's lowell high at number 51 and mission san jose high in fremont at 67. oakland's american indian public high at 71. summit prep in redwood city at 81 and at 97 monta vista high. they evaluated on proficiency tests and how well students are prepared for college. >>> a sad day are for all those adults who grew up knowing where the wild things are. author and illustrator maurice sendek died today. he never regained con

s, costco and all the big box stores make themselves look like warehouses so you feel you're getting a bargain and, yes, you are, but you feel like you are not paying for the chandeliers and the wall paper and all the display cases and you did when you walked into tiffany's, and the upscale illusion they wanted to give you went hand-in-hand with the whole activity of shopping. it was just a whole different world back then, and i grew up in it in the 1950s. by the way, if you compare tiffany's from 1906 with lever house on the right, from 1954, which one really has more operable glass and if you stop to think about it, if you look at lieber house, all of the opaque bands of glass, the dark bands of glass are opaque and all solid and they might as well be stone and if you think about it, tiffany's probably has more real window glass and more of a glass box than lieber house from 1954. look in the early evening when they light it up in the early winter sunset, a beautiful building for selling upscale merchandise with an upscale feeling. now, the idea of the department store wrapped to l

thursday's costco day.already missed jim senegal as new ceo, craig gellinik, don't know the guy. remember, costco put through membership dues increase. we also hear from tiffany. they just gave you a 10% remember, costco put through membership dues increase. we also hear from tiffany. they just gave you a 10% dividend boost yesterday. that's terrific sign of a company's prospects, but tiffany is in the penalty box after the last quarter. we have to wait and see. typically i don't care about popular sentiment indicators but as we get close to election this is different. we have -- we need to stay focused on the may michigan sentiment index. a strong one and domestic retailers that did report good numbers might get another pop. i also want to know if europe is beginning to infect the psyche. will it get americans down? we'll parse through that data. we're trying to figure out who is vulnerable to europe and who isn't. we pick away, as we lighten up to companies without european exposure, as we have every othe

. >> heated debate over plans to build a costco gas station in wheaton.anned building mega gas stations near schools. they warn it could create health problems for the people who live nearby. >> when i was in waldorf, i saw a similar large station outside of the safeway. i do believe this is going to become a growing trend. we have to start being really careful where we site these things. >> costco said it's already built seven stations similar to the one in wheaton, claiming it would not build a station that has an adverse effect on people and the climate. >> and coming up, the risky tanning happen habits of young adults. >>> it's time once again for the dc 101 chilli cookoff. >> thousands will flock to sample the area's bechilli. that classic stew of meat, beans. the national kidney foundation brought us four of the 101 chillies. >> you caught me mid bite. let's get some other people up here and give it a try. >> this is a very serious group of folks here today. >> we want you to take one from a, one from b, one from c and one from d. >> a. >> because?

costco moving the other way up 1.3% at $84.46. courtney reagan's got both ends covered. >> tyler, analysts are actually classifyi ining costco's latest earnings the profit boosted more income like stronger dollar and more favorable tax rate than sales. membership fees rose 9.2% over the quarter. costco's decelerating same store sale trend doesn't stop at retailers, gas pumps causing some concern. a troubling outlook for tiffany. the luxury retailer beating expectations for its latest earnings but issuing a weaker than expected forecast and negative comps in the americas and europe on a gap basis. now, tiffany can't blame the european debt crisis alone because europe only represents 11% of total sales. u.s. a little less than half. manhattan flagship fell 4% for the quarter. >> courtney, thank you very much. let's go to brian shactman for a market flash. >> real quick look at aig, tyler. thank you very much. we have citi group winning an auction for $1.6 billion in assets out of maiden lane 3 portfolio. a stock in that pop from neg

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connumer reports says consider costco's kirkland signature drrwstriig trash bags. 40 years agg. 3 ...and coming up in just 5 minutee on the late eddtion... 3 3 a library takes drasttc action. what a foor year old child did to get a visittfrom poliie. 3 a inkhole nightmare for a &pflorida couple.what they were up to this scene. p social nettorking ... sites.../ prove.../ it ...isn't all ad. facebooo... actualll helped son find his mother after he was put up for adoption 0 years ago. ago.larry johnnon had been looking for his mom for 20 & years....but thankssto the & pooer of the interret, mother and son were eventually brought ack together.. ohnson found his mommon herrbirthdaa - and also skyped her to wish her a happy mother's day.. 3 "i almost fell out the chair, whhn i ssw this come p i though oh my gosh. oh my gosh. lord what are you doing here. is it time for me to finally &psee myyson." sonn"in just a few weeks, alma olson is flying to arizona to 3 "the ramps were

still holding on. >> those big box stores, like sam clubs and costco. bob, thank you so much. bob pisani. >>> taking a look at business headlines, we look at david faber reporting. michael eisner attempting to raise $800 million to start a production company. the company aiming to release four to five feature films and two to three scripted shows a year. technology blog reporting that target will stop selling amazon's kindle tablet. it obtained an internal memo which only cited, quote, a conflict of interest. it's the top-selling tablet surpassing sales of apple's ipad. and facebook will drum up support for the deal on the way. executives at the social media giant, including founder mark zuckerberg, will be on that tour. the group will include coo cheryl sandberg. they will do most of the heavy lifting. talking about the nasdaq up 17% year to date. driving the upswing, leading those gains have been technology and the financial services sector. technology up 19%. but which groups tend to lead the way in the second half? on average doorg the second half of the year, the sectors

costco was a miss, gap was a miss and chuck, we may or may not get him back, but his winners in this space would be target, sachs, macy's -- >> how about the discounters, though. look at what ross stores is doing, tjx. they're looking for 3% higher and report 8% higher. look at dollar tree, for instance. are they overextended? i look at dollar tree up above $103 a share. you just wonder, they announced a stock split. this is a company doing everything right and they're stealing some of that away from walmart. walmart is getting some back but i don't think they're coming from the dollar staores. a lot of names are working well. >> costco's core number beat at 5.4% and accelerated from last month and traffic was up over 4%. i like that name. i'd love it to pull back a bit. we've been in tjx, we're taking some money off the table. i think the tailers is where you want to be. >> i like sachs, pushing up against a 52-week high again. it's already approaching 4 million shares at noon. that's a very strong performance out thereof. it doesn't look like that one's stopping. i'm not calling fo

i remember being at costco with my dad when elderly customers spotted him. they were hugging him, asking him where he had been, and telling him how much they missed him. it showed how much everyone missed him, and how much he had missed them. we are happy to say he will have to be missed no more. he will be opening his new restaurant on a street in san mateo. customers will once again be able to eat the food they have enjoyed for many years. we cannot wait to see them all again. we knew our dad could not be away too long. many people have had the privilege of meeting our father, but none are as fortunate as heat -- as we are, his family. we have always been proud of our dad. his honor in receiving a special commendation is just a reminder of how a young man who came from a small business in greece cannot connect with so many people through a big heart. thank you for recognizing his small business today. [applause] president chiu: our final commendation of the day will be provided by supervisor mar. supervisor mar: thank you. i would like to ask if several pe