darden restaurants is counting on dinner deals to prop up earnings. fourth quarter profits fell, but revenue beat estimates. it's hoping cheaper menu items at its olive garden and red lobster chains will lure customers and drive up profits by the end of the year. darden dropped over a point to $50. meanwhile, carmax first-quarter profits were up more than 21%. used cars and better consumer credit drove up sales. carmax traded up after the open, but closed down slightly at $44. another united 787 dreamliner flight has been diverted, this time for oil issues. a flight from london to houston was re- routed thursday to newark, new jersey, due to a low oil indicator. earlier last week, a 787 flight from denver to tokyo was diverted to seattle due to indications of oil filter problems. both planes landed normally. united is working on the problems and says the jets will fly again soon. airline passengers hoping to power up devices on flights will have to wait a few months. the faa is expected to relax rules on using electronic gadgets on low-altitude flight

darden, and from carmax, the big car dealer. first, darden has to fight the suggestions that are not eating out. i think they will perform better than expected. given the move up in stock, that may not be a revelation. if we are going to finish the week on a high night, they have to show that new car sales are strong. we have to hope that carmax puts a kiebosh on that story. the fed is in charge of stocks and bonds for the moment. if bernanke throws cold water on stories that says he is done with his bond buying. it will be a good week. if he doesn't, it will be a bad one. no matter how many earnings we get. sadly for the moment, hopefully for the moment, it's a binary, please be careful, it's no longer that easy to make money. it's possible that bernanke may no longer have our back. although i'm confident that he will the continue to do the right thing, longer term for the u.s. economy as he has since 2009, when he ended the bear market, saying no more big banks are not allowed to fail. let's go to al in california. >> caller:

and darden has lost their way and start blaming themselves. what do i not know?ally top of mind i think on monday and tuesday when we come in? what we should be worried about. first, what the heck is going on in china? i have no idea. it seems like there's some incredible stress in the banking system over there which feels like the stress we had in 2008 and 2009 in this country and the stress that europe had in 2011. stress in any banking system going to reverberate all over the place. we know from the big declines when the banks -- when we had the incredible decline in our banks because of the puny banks in cyprus. in china, they're huge. they could take it down to 2 or 3% in a heart beat. and in brazil, many people to the streets in brazil, it's a million people. nobody protested they wanted a more capitalist government. could we see more socialism coming into brazil, a country that many thought would be strong going into the olympics. what could be worse, nothing. no wonder why gold has been weak. there's until today. russia is hurting to as the oilwell is bec

up next, we will try to talk darden, talk to darden restaurant ceo france otis in opening up a chainell tapper. just kidding. we will talk earnings right after t. as we head to the break, a look at futures this morning. "squawk box" will be right back. ] we've been conditioned to accept less and less in the name of style and sophistication. but to us, less isn't more. more is more. abundant space, available leading-edge technology, impeccable design, and more than you've come to expect from a luxury vehicle. the lexus es350 and epa-estimated 40 mpg es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. . >> darden restaurants reporting x items a penny below estimatesled 69. darden raised its quarterly dividend, joining us is clarence otis. clarence, thanks for coming on this morning. >> good morning, how are you, becky? >> i'm good, thank you the stock was under pressure, probably because of the broader markets and things happening here. when you take a look at what's happening in the stockmarket, do you change things? do you sit up and take notice when the dow drops 52 points over the days?

someone like darden talking about a tough economy. we got some tough reports today.ybody is looking for deals. when a market is down 500 points in two days with dow down, everybody is looking for deals. ubs thinks they found one in facebook. they gave a nice rating to facebook. facebook rose as a result. other social media stocks did not do so well but facebook got a lift nice to get positive commentary from ubs. facebook is wanting instagram with the 15-second video. people are trying to gauge how important that will actually be. david: swat that guy down. swat that guy down. >> quadruple-witching. david: zing ma -- zynga not doing to well. on the downside. [closing bell rings] liz: nasdaq closing bell, monster university at the nyse. look, on-site bell ringing for the new york stock exchange and lots of action. look at this, most interesting is the action here on major indices. s&p 500 come back. russell 2000 coming back by a. third of a percent. after two days of real spasms in the market not a bad recovery on the market, david. david: 30 times it jumped between t

>> the people at darden are some of the smartest restaurant people, they know their customer, they are right now is recognizing that price and portion counts, they are tinkering with it it a test market, i think it will roll outgoing forward. nothing wrong with food how to deal with price with such a big competition in restaurant industry, if you do the no change you will be left behind. neil: look at this dude, that guy. that looking like a cheap guy, the guy at table. that looks like a cheap date right there and she knows it, she is into it just breadth -- bread sticks honey? neil: carnivallas alive and well after that ship hit the fan, earnings better than expected but cruise line forecast, drop in bookings as expected. still gary, i would have thought that numbers would have you know been crappier. >> i want to know who wrote that? neil: no wise comments. >> carnival is a good cruise line, they have had rough waters over last year, bookings are down because of it, as you get father away -- farther away, the cruising industry is huge right now, people love it, i expect things to get

i like darden very much, that state business is coming back. i will say this is good.ever forgot that episode of ruth chris and stunning it was for kids to understand. >>> let's go to bill in california, please, bill. >> caller: boo-yah, bill. >> boo-yah, bill. >> caller: the ceo was on your sale, it's clean harbor clh. >> yeah, you know, geerksz you know what, it has been dispinting, that last acquisition. remember, will is not a lot of drilling going on. last acquisition they paid too much. let's stay cool on this one right now. don't want to purpose it. got to see a better quarter than we have the last time. >>> let's go to leara in alabama ka. >> caller: boo-yah from the gulf shores. wanted to get your opinion on kimberly clark. >> it pulled back to 3.5%. it's a high quality company. at 3.5%, i think it is safe to buy. it has come all the way down from 106. i think that's okay. i would buy half of it now. boy buy, buy, buy, then come down more to buy the rest. let's go to justin in indiana. >> caller: boo-yah, jim from southern indiana. >> nice, we like it there. >

i like darden very much. i'm going to say this is good. i never forgot that episode of the wire where they went to ruth crist and how stunningly difficult it was for the kids to understand. let's go to bill in florida. bill. >> caller: booyah, jim. >> boo-yah, bill. >> caller: the ceo was on your program a short time ago, and since then the stock has had some large sales to its hedge funds, and it's not performed well. it's clean harbor. >> you know, it's -- jeez, you know what, it has been disappointing. it has been disappointing that last acquisition. remember, not a lot of drilling going on. that last acquisition, they paid too much. let's just stay cool at this point right now. don't want to push it. don't want to push it. got to have seen a better quarter than last time. let's go to liara in alabama. >> caller: hi. how are you? big boo-yah to you from gulf shores. >> oh, nice. how are you? >> caller: doing great. just wanted to talk to you and get your opinion on kimberly-clark. >> all right. it pulled back the 3.5%. it's a high quali

the earnings report from darden, the restaurant chain from rob lobster and olive garden, and carmax. first, garden has to refute press reports that people have been cutting back on dining out because of more expensive dinner checks and higher gas prices. i'm reading that both chains apparently performed better than expected, but given the insane move up in the stock, that may not be that relevant. and we have to finish the week on a high note. that's certainly been the rap of late, although yesterday i heard that car companies had to boost inventory. here's the bottom line. the fed is in charge of stocks and bonds for the moment, and if ben bernanke throws cold water on stories saying he's almost done with his bond-buying, it will be a good week. if he doesn't, it will be a bad one, no matter how many great earnings reports we get. sadly at the moment, hopefully just for the moment, it is that buying art. be careful, it's no longer that easy to make money because it's possible that bernanke may no longer have our back, although i am confident that he'll continue to do the right thing

instead, rick scott sided with the likes of walt disney, darden restaurants, the folks who own olive garden and red lobster, and florida chamber of commerce because as scott sees it the bill is essential to ensuring a business-friendly environment that supports job creation. according to a study done by the drum major institute for public policy, since san francisco became the first city in the country to implement a paid sick leave law, job growth there has consistently been higher than in neighboring counties without such a law. the other bill governor rick scott signed into law on friday is called the timely justice act of 2013. what it does is add a ticking clock to the execution process. forcing the governor to sign death warrants within 30 days of a review of a capital conviction by the state supreme court and the state would be required to execute the defendant within 180 days of the warrant. florida, a state which leads the country in death row inmates who are exonerated or later acquitted after retrial, with 24 such cases, has now increased its chances of executing an innoce

the earnings report from darden, the restaurant chain from rob lobster and olive garden, and carmax. first, garden has to refute press reports that people have been cutting back on dining out because of more expensive dinner checks and higher gas prices. i'm reading that both chains apparently performed better than expected, but given the insane move up in the stock, that may not be that relevant. and we have to finish the week on a high note. that's certainly been the rap of late, although yesterday i heard that car companies had to boost inventory. here's the bottom line. the fed is in charge of stocks and bonds for the moment, and if ben bernanke throws cold water on stories saying he's almost done with his bond-buying, it will be a good week. if he doesn't, it will be a bad one, no matter how many great earnings reports we get. sadly at the moment, hopefully just for the moment, it is that buying art. be careful, it's no longer that easy to make money because it's possible that bernanke may no longer have our back, although i am confident that he'll continue to do the right thing

. >> steph, darden. >> i thought the quarter was pretty good relative to what they have done in the past. i think the most important part of the report was that same store sales were up 2.2% and grew in all of their divisions, which is the first time in five quarters. they're making progress. the problem is they lowered guidance on higher costs. i think down 4% the stock is a buy. >> spectrum, dr. j. >> they make chips for smartphones. we talk about the fact they own the market virtually in china. we talked about it for the worldwide developer conference. the stock was a teenager then. they get a $28.50 nonbinding takeover offer and the sock is off to the races all the way up to 27 bucks a share. >> weiss, sprint? >> basically dish came out and said softbank, sold to you, good luck to you. they decide not to bid. if you want to own sprint on the fundamentals? i don't. >> the dow is now down 64 points. so you're looking at over a three-day span about a 600, maybe a touch more than 600-point loss for the dow. looked like the dow was trying to work its way back a bit, but we've just taken a

you've got a neutral rating on cheesecake factory and darden and while not the highest of high-end chainstive on these two? >> well, brian, what i would say is you look at the valuation for these names. investigators have mig railed towards the chains with the better operating trends and those you've just mentioned a couple minutes ago clearly are within that group and the valuations have expanded. the earnings numbers have been very strong. if in fact they can continue to beat expectations, there's a good likelihood that the stocks could continue to work, but that being said, remember, these stocks are up, you know, on average, well over 30% as a group, and while they will still appreciate, the appreciation won't be nearly strong enough as i believe as we go forward. >> ruth, for example, up by 65% year to date. which of those stocks though in this sector do you think are still looking goodperspective. >> yeah, what i would say is one of the names that we continue to like is a company that -- brinker international which operates magiciano's which is their higher end brand and their opera

>> yeah, we're looking at the first 10 on the clock, so oracle last night, darden this morning, carmax this morning as well. ten companies in the s&p that reported main quarter ends and the collective results, earnings and sales have reaccelerated, so there are good trends here and there. and the growth is expected to reaccelerate in the second half. so ben bernanke, we think the grand plan is working for the fed. and ron said it well. the fed doesn't want the short-end rates go up. they will keep the fed funds rate low. they're okay with the long end going up for a steeper yield curve, because that's going to help the financial institutions. when the fed eventually pulls the jumper cables off the drained battery that's been the economy, a healthy financial sector could be good, needed, and essential for a sustainable economic recovery. >> you mentioned oracle, nick. a lot of people were looking at oracle and saying this is evidence that global growth is slow. so what did you see in the oracle numbers? >> when we look at the numbers for all of the companies, things that are still tied

nicole: you can see that darden would operate-- i thought it was down, i didn't want to say anything. it's down, i'm sorry i got it wrong. nicole: they had a good decent quarter, but it's a winner, you're right a winner year to date. >> well, look, we're looking. i know people are watching the show and they want to know, look, where are my stocks, what's going on with my stocks and i'm looking to see if there's any nice rebound for any of them. not seeing much. nicole: i have good ones, tesla and facebook are winners and home builders. stuart: not bad. thanks so much, nicole. let' go to politics for a second. another example that congress just can't cut. the farm bill in the house, republicans wanted to cut the food stamp programs and add a work requirement. democrats didn't like that. democrats wanted to cut farm programs and republicans didn't like that. the result the farm bill is dead. and sir, congress, i'm referring to both sides of the aisle, you can't cut anything, can you? >> well, stuart, i would point out, this is what of course america voted for last november. divided gove

the ceo of darden restaurants, the ceo of continental an delta world wide and a health care summit withic. ♪ [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] >>> welcome back to "squawk box." the s&p 500 futures are off by 11.5, but that is not the only place that you are seeing the damage or the correction or whatever you want to call it after the fed comments. you can see the 10-year is yielding 2.141%, and yesterday after the fed chair spoke, it is up more than 15 months. and in europe, you are seeing that they are swayed by the same sentiment and france is down by 2.5%, and in germany, the dax is off, and the ftse is off by 2.25% and in asia, if you are looking at the reaction, it was steep and the shanghai is off by 2.77 and the hang seng was off by 2.88%, and the nikkei was off by 1.75. >> if you put it in a time capsule and they are all 15,000 on

darden blames the economy for people not spending at lo of money to buy the breadsticks. i don't want to hear that. >> and meanwhile, we think that the economy is improving and yesterday the numbers in a different environment most likely would have been positives for the equity market, but we are not overwhelmed by the worries of the philly fed, and numbers that most people thought were better than they thought it would be. >> and i look at the bonds and how is the 10-year, strong. okay. buy me 50,000, whatever. we are in one of the moments and if we are not looking at the bonds, you know, having fun. >> and something else that people were looking at is the chinese shibor. we don't talk about it a lot. >> right, something that can jump up to bite you. >> and the rate has come down overnight, and they are trying to tighten up the money supply, and tighten it up, and the corporate inflows are not as strong as they might have originally been for china, but all part of the plan in a way of 300 million people, and 15 years to urbanize them, and play a consumer economy and play

that is controversial where they are going, because darden, the tone is olive garden and the red lobster tone that says it is better, but the going out quotient, panera is saying that things are better and little bet better chatter of how chipotle is doing this quarter, and you say, this is little $6 to $9, but it is difficult to figure out the restaurants, but not difficult to figure out the restoration. >> yes, it will open up at historic high. >> yes. >> and very good management. >> and as we go into the halfway point, how do you make sure that the portfolio is full of profits? keep your eyes and ears open for cramer's "mad dash." and the futures kick off at the s&p's second best day of the year yesterday. "squawk on the street" from the nyse is straight ahead. out there owning it. the ones getting involved and staying engaged. they're not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is "how did i end up here?" i started schwab for those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of thei