eamon javers has more. >> reporter: it's an iconic american company and been headquartered in new york since its founding in a red brick building in brooklyn in 1849. under a potential $100 billion deal announced today pfizer could become a subsidiary of the uk based holding company. the deal would be capital tax experts call an inversion in which pfizer acquires astrazeneca and then incorporates the combined company in the uk even though it will keep pfizer's headquarters in new york. pfizer which reported an effective tax rate of 27.6% in 2013 will be able to take some advantage of the uk's 21% rate and as an added bonus pfizer will likely be able to shield its $69 billion offshore cash from u.s. repatriation taxes. the move could save the company millions in taxes but critics say it's not right. >> i think like probably the average american who hears about this sort of deal looks at this as a company that at some level is renouncing its american citizenship in order to engaging tax avoidance. it smells bad because it is bad. >> reporter: others say companies have no choice but to pl

eamon javers joins us now from washington with more on this story. eamon, what do we know about the investigation so far? >> reporter: well, we knew earlier in the week as you mentioned that the fbi in new york was looking into this. they actually put out a 212 area code phone number for people with tips on high frequency trading to call them. but this really rachets it up to the level of the attorney general of the united states, a much different degree of scrutiny here. we also know that the new york attorney general is looking into this. and the s.e.c. says it's got a detailed and data-driven investigation of its own. we haven't seen much publicly from them on this. but maybe we're about to see a lot more. >> so we've got a couple of these investigations going on, eamon. what is this justice one going to be looking into that might be different from the fbi's and the s.e.c.? >> reporter: i think the s.e.c. is looking at civil issues. what the department of justice is looking into is whether there's any criminal violation, whether anybody actually vi

a eamon javers in washington. >> brian, how did mary barra do in your view? did she answer the question that is you wanted to hear? >> i think ms. barra did as well as can be expected. she's new to the job, she wasn't ceo when this all took place. i found her to be humble, apologetic. she did not speculate as to what the real answers can be. i think they're in search mode as to what the answers really are. this is very early in the process. it's not surprising congress wanted to see her so quickly. but i think to her credit she did not go so far as to make any statements that down the road could come back to haunt her. >> in some cases she didn't answer the congressmen and women's questions, did she, brian? >> no, i don't think she did. and i think that could be expected. as she said, there was a 200,000-page data dump that she and her team are working through right now i think that -- >> if congress people could have read it why couldn't she or her people have done that and briefed her on it? >> i think it's very easy when you have a 200,000-page data dump t

eamon javers, back fact checking some of those big claims. eamon?> reporter: yeah, the dust is still settling from the great hft debate on "power lunch" earlier this week. let me play you two chunks of this debate that have both sides going back to play a little factual cleanup. let's start with the first chunk here, i will play this and then tell you what the facts are. take a look. >> my question to bill if he's launching these accusations -- >> i'm launching accusations. >> what market data do you use to price trades? >> we use direct feeds and the sip in combination. >> no, i asked you a question. not what you use to route. what do you use to price trades in your matching engine on direct edge? >> we use direct feeds. >> no. >> yes, we do. you use the same data we do. >> absolutely not. you guys use the sip to price trades. >> that is not true. >> now, look, this is an important issue because the sip is the slower, allegedly slower feed. if they use that, that would allow in theory high frequency traders to come in and poach some trades. now bat

here is eamon javers with a timeline of the troubles at gm. >> reporter: what did general motors know and when? those are the questions being asked about a faulty ignition switch. answers are emerging from documents released from the auto maker and congress. in 2001 gm became a ware there was a serious problem with select vehicles. in 2002 delfi says gm approved the part knowing it didn't meet they are enter specifications. in 2003 a dealer technician observed the car stall after the ignition switched off while driving. these are in contrast that they only knew of the defect in 2004. gm under mary barra issue as recall for over 1.5 million vehicles. sparking regulators a launch a formal investigation. this month, national highway transportation safety add machine station demanded detailed answers to 107 questions to determine if gm properly followed the legal processes and requirements for reporting recalls. and just last friday, gm added almost 1 million vehicles to the recall totaling more than 2.5 million worldwide. tomorrow barra will be on capitol hill. why did it take so long to

let's get straight to eamon javers.ll us in on the very latest because obviously this is a still developing story. >> reporter: that's right. just another very tough day for gm's ceo mary barra up on capitol hill today. again, she apologized and again, she said that because of this ongoing internal gm investigation, she didn't have a whole lot of the answers that the senators were looking for today. she came in for some very rough treatment from some of these members of the senate committee. take a listen to senator barbara boxer dealing with mary barra this morning. >> in march '05 your gm people said it cost too much to fix me these cars. none of these solutions represents an acceptable business case, quote. that was a public document. gm gave that document over. you can't even talk to that. you don't know anything about anything. >> reporter: it got even worse there for mary barra when senator blumenthal of connecticut suggested that from what he's hearing, he thinks it's not just civil liability that gm has to worry

in the meantime, we have eamon javers standing by. he is also on capitol hill. at exactly can we expect to hear from mary barra and what do we hope to hear from mary barra, eamon? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, mandy. look, there's not going to be as much heat here as there was in this hft debate we were just talking about before the commercial break but there is definitely going to be some emotion here, because we have some of the families of the victims of this ignition switch problem here in town today. they held a press conference up on capitol hill, tearful families holding up pictures of their dead loved ones, talking about what gm didn't do to protect them as they drove in those vehicles. remember, the ignition switch issue here is relatively easy for the vast public to understand. it has to do with exactly how you turn the key in the ignition, whether weight on the key from a heavy key chain or bump from a pothole could turn the ignition off while the car is going 50 miles an hour or something like that. that's an obviously dangerous situation. mary bar

eamon javers was there, has the story for us. >> why not just come clean and say, we're going to do justice here? >> that is incredibly frustrating to me. oh, you can't even talk to that. you don't know anything about anything. >> reporter: it was another tough day on capitol hill for g.m. ceo mary barra who continued to frustrate lawmakers looking for new information about g.m.'s ignition switch failures. but barra explained she couldn't provide answers until g.m. finishes its own investigation of the problem which has spawned widespread litigation. >> what litigation began after that deposition? >> that is part of the investigation. >> so you don't know whether or not anything happened after that investigation. >> i don't have the complete facts to share with you today. >> reporter: the defects in the ignition systems on chevy cobalts and other models caused cars to turn off while drivers were on the road. that's led to at least 13 deaths and a recall of 2.6 million cars. again today, barra apologized for g. mchl's handling the issue. >> today's g.m. will do the right thing. this begins w

eamon javers on capitol hill.give some remarks on the health care deadline today coming up at 4:15 p.m. today eastern right here on cnbc. >>> when we come back, the profit himself, marcus le mo le on mary barra and gm in a moment. moment. save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.d everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential. you have...oh boy. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. make it happen with fidelity active trader pro. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. ♪ ♪ get your motor running head out on the highway ♪ >>> about an hour into trading some of the stories we're talking about, 7:35 on the west coast and 10:35 on wall street. the ism index up to 53.7. any reading above 50 marks the tenth consecutive month of growth in manufacturing. shares of ford

good morning, eamon javers. >> mary barra met with some in washington, d.c. last night. met with 22 family members last night here in d.c., some of them showing pictures of their loved ones who have died as a result of this ignition switch error. clearly an emotional scene last night. we can expect more of the same up on capitol hill today because those family members will be here in washington. they will be making themselves visible and very well known in an effort to demonstrate that gm knew what was going on with these ignitions switches and could have done something about it much earlier than it did. take a look at some of mary barra's prepared testimony for today. here's the line she's going to take. she will say i cannot take it why it took years for a safety defect to be announced in that program but i can tell you, we will find out. today's gm will do the right thing, that begins with my sincere apologies to everyone affected by this recall, especially to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured. i am deeply sorry. and as you know, t

eamon javers out of the nation a's capitol with a certain hot button story. >>> now, another company that does a lot of business overseas, coach, a rough ride for investors with that stock down 10% so far this year. coach is scheduled to report earnings today. should you be a buyer today. stephanie is the bull and joe the bear. >> it's not really about the quarter in my mind. i've liked this since the end of last year and started to warm up to it because i thought 2014 held a lot of promise, new management and very depressed valuation. new management and new ceo head of international will now run the whole company. the international piece has been the bright spot for this company the last several years. i think he will do a lot of good in that regard and best practices. only 32% of revenues is international and i think that will get to 50%. china and japan are only a small percent of sales and he showed a promising product line in february. i think as he access rises more, as they get into footwear more, i think you will have more chance of better store traffic. valuations, stocks do

eamon javers bringing us that story.imagine all these regulators -- >> trying to define a millisecond advantage as a material, not public information is sort of an odd -- >> it's a front run but i don't think it's -- but it is kind of amade izing a book comes out ane stuff has been going on for years. "the times" did a fabulous job. no one cares. >> so interesting how they -- >> be interesting to talk to the rank and file, all of those under ling underlings and say where are we on this thing. we've been working on it for a long time. let's get in front of a microphone. >> this is fulcrum day. you have got to see these stocks stop going down. i'm talking about the high multiple stocks. facebook. here's one that's also a great indicator. solarcity. this is it. deutsche bank draws a line in the sand says this is the right level to buy. it's underperformed the market and it's 88 to 60. if you see solarcity be able to hold then i think you can say maybe there's a short-term bottom in this. you see facebook, facebook's got to

michelle caruso-cabrera joins us as well as eamon javers. you've made the point you don't there should be anything -- >> i don't even have to make that point right now. he's trying to buy a company. in order to buy a company, you have to buy the shares, beginning and end of story. if you think, my gosh, the stock is going up the minute everybody knows, if you use that logic, carl icahn and warren buffett could never be involved. that's not fair? that's the way it is. if you're going to buy a company, you have to buy the stock. >> look, sue, what we've got here is a classic case of how rich and powerful people use their money and power to become more wealthy and powerful. what ackman did also involves a washington connection, which is rob qassami. he's been working on some of the lawyer work here to make sure it states on the right side of rules. a lot of people may by from us traded, but the players in the game have to play by the rules as they are. ackman is making the case he didn't get any information from anybody who had a fiduciary obli

eamon javers has been dugging for some answers. it seems like this is something congress would embrace, but is there appetite on the hill for it? >> that's the big question. when you look at a company like valeant, you have to keep an eye on political risk, the risk they'll change tax policy to prevent what valeant did in 2010, when they acquired a canadian company and did a tax inversion and moving the head qua respect to canada. they've long are targeted by congress. i've covered efforts to clamp down on them since 2001. but it was affected arier this year when the obama administration included an anti-inversion measure within the budget proposal. i've been talking to folks on capitol hill today, experts in this. they say there's no real clarity here on what the hill will actually do what it comes to these kind of tax inversions. there's a way to do a reform on inversions that doesn't impact companies that have already inverted. there's a lot of wiggle room and no real likelihood politically that anything is coming anytime soon,

let's bring in eamon javers to start this off.ory, eamon, and tell us, first of all, what's going on. >> a piece of a broader trend that we're seeing with particularly liberal groups trying to make the point that ceos and leaders of large corporations are donating corporate money to political candidates based on their own personal world views and political views, not necessarily what's best for the company or even what is consistent with what the company has said in the past so there's a big effort going on now by shareholder activists to try to hold those companies accountable to what they have said their corporate values are and to see if their donations politically square with those or these are more tactical donations that they are making. >> let's bring in julie goodrich, a major player in this story, the ceo of northstar asset management which owns over 55,000 shares of facebook. julia, great to see you, welcome. >> thanks, great to be here, kelly. >> so you -- >> go ahead. what's your specific issue? as a shareholder of fac

eamon javers has the latest on what the acc is looking to do. what do you add to this?> a little more momentum here possibly on the reform side of this conversation. dom dominic talking about this. yesterday a speech yesterday, the so-called maker/taker rule. the exchanges pay a broker to direct the trades their way. aguilera saying, any market structure review would require a close examination of the maker/taker mold's and resulting conflicts between broker dealers and their customers. the criticism, the maker/taker model incense be vise not for the best price but go to the exchange that papers the biggest rebate. critics going back a couple years saying those rebates amount to nothing more than kickbacks in the system and distract what the brocker should should -- broker should be doing with their money. >> as we kick this around, people suggest via e-mail schwab is hypocritical by making this comment in light of the fact that schwab is making money in some of the same ways, by the rebates, et cetera. is that fair? what's the deal? >> i have a great deal of respect fo

i'm eamon javers in washington where cnbc learned iv eint acti brokers announce the first large retailrokerage 0 of 0erring customers to iex. so much attention in the wake of mike's lewis' book and new trading plastform designed to allow customers to avoid high frequency trading technologies and techniques. interactive brokers offering its customers the ability to click on an icon and choose directly to route their trades to iex, the first time they've had that ability. that is expected to be online within the next five to ten days, that option should be available for customers of interactive brokers, and we expect to see that announcement as early as this afternoon. back to you. >> ayman, interesting stuff. we asked brad about that and whether business had really picked up when we had him on "power lunch." he said, yes. ever since the publication of michael lewis' book, it had gained quite a bit of momentum. 's pras understandable. right, steve? given the controversy over high frequency trading. >> now we can all get on the super highway and take a but trade here. right? >> what's int

sarah eisen, eamon javers.making a surprise appearance at vladimir putin's q&a session, asking him about his stance to mass surveillance of his citizens. let's listen in. >> i'd like to ask you a question about the surveillance online communications and the bulk collection of private records by intelligence and law enforcements. does russia intercept, store or analyze in any way the communications of millions of individuals? >> well, he kind of answered no, eamon. he said -- shocking that this would even be asked, right? >> yeah, look, the whole thing was a shocking and extraordinary moment, tyler. earlier this morning, a lot of questions that are unanswered as of right now. was snowden live or on tape during that interview? was there any coercion involved or was this snowden's idea in the first place? what vladimir putin said was no, the russian secret services do not do mass collection, but they do go after specific individuals for collection of information with a court order. they say they don't have enough

eamon javers with more on this developing story. >> reporter: it's u.s.e gonzalez ramos who will make the decision here. gm is fighting this. they don't want to pull all these vehicles off the road. you remember earlier this week we saw gm's ceo mary barra up on capitol hill. she was asked whether these recalled vehicles are still safe to drive. a lot of chevy cobalts and other vehicles. she said yes, they are, as long as you don't hang anything too heavy off the keychain. a lot of senators and members of congress were not happy with that. they asked her whether she would let her children drive this vehicle and she said yes, as long as you follow recall instructions, it's safe. we will see today whether the judge agrees with that. >> eamon, thank you very much. >>> still ahead, we got a lot to do in about 19 minutes. you ready? >> i'm ready. >> we got herb's five biggest mistakes. what else? >> we will think robot to lattes and a lot more on this late friday selloff. a look at the names we have be talking about. we have two big money guys joining us to te

eamon javers joins us now with more. i bet you it's like the same thing. going to hear the same questions and get the same answers, but each one of these politicians, when they get the cameras on them, it looks like it's the first time the question has been ever been asked. they love this, don't they? >> and a lot of times you see the politicians asking the same question that has already been asked half an hour earlier because they get the chance to ask it. >> but they do it like the fedex guy. but i said it like this. they do a little different hand motion. >> yeah, one of the members of congress yesterday actually asked the head of nitsa what nitsa stands for. if you're going a hearing on traffic safety, you ought to know what they're all about. you get these questions because a lot of the members are new to the issue. we'll see at 10:00 whether gm adjusts its strategy. yesterday she was on able to provide a lot of information about an internal investigation at gm. i have two sound bites that give you a sense of what she was saying, starting with what gm

uk-based at csonka is surging on pfizer ears $99 takeover offer >> eamon javers, tell us more about this>> critics today are calling this proposed deal outrageous because in the deal pfizer would be endajing in what's called a tax inversion. that's when one company buys a subsidiary overseas and inverts its corporate structure so the mother company is now a sub of the overseas company. that's what would happen under the deal. here's how pfizer laid it out this morning. pfizer saying the transaction, if consummated is expected to result in the combination of the two companies under a new uk-incorporated holding company. why is that important. well, taxes in the uk are lower corporate rise than they are here in the united states. pfizer's defenders argue that the fault here is simply in the u.s. tax coated and taxes in the united states are too high and forces companies overseas to engage in transactions like this. i spoke to pfizer earlier today saying they are seeking the most efficient tax struck two, the word they use for it, and have 28 days now where they have to figure out whether o

. >> eamon javers joins us now with a story from washington. where do things stand here, eamon?'s right. earlier in the week we learned that the fbi in new york was looking into this, but today's comments from eric holder raise the stakes on this. it makes it clear now that this issue of high frequency trading is on the agenda of the attorney general here in washington. that's a little bit of a different level than what we heard earlier in the week. take a listen to holder testifying on capitol hill earlier today. >> this practice which consists of financial brokers and trading firms using advanced computer algorithms and ultra high speed data networks to execute trades has rightly received scrutiny from regulators. i can confirm that we at the united states department of justice are investigating this practice to determine whether it violates insider trading laws. >> and that question of violation of insider trading laws is the interesting legal issue here because one of the questions is going to be, is it insider trading if you have advanced knowledge of somebody else's activi

eamon javers, did she give any new insights in the recall crisis? >> not really.oblem for gm. they don't seem to be able to provide answers, and, man, was there some tough treatment for mary barra on capitol hill from the senators who were very frustrated today. watch this. >> why not just come clean and say, we're going to do justice here? >> that is incredibly frustrating to me. >> oh, you can't even talk to that. you don't know anything about anything. >> you know, as a ceo on capitol hill when somebody says to you -- a senator says to you you don't know anything about anything, you really have a problem here. another senator trying to get at this question of whether or not the chevy cobalts which had this ignition switch issue that are still out on the road today are safe to drive. watch this one. >> if i were to have a recalled chevrolet cobalt, would you recommend that i drive home in it tonight? >> if you take the -- all the keys off the ring except the ignition key or just use the ignition key, our engineering team has done extensive analysis to say that i

eamon javers has the latest. >> that's right.e is giving banks an additional extension on a piece of the volcker rule. let me explain to you what the fed is just saying in a release. they say they will give banking entities two additional one--year extensions to conform their ownership interest in and sponsorship of certain collateralized loan obligations. that's a piece of the volcker rule so banks will have a little bit more time here to get right with volcker, that's probably going to be a relieve for some of those people responsible for implementing that very complicated rule making process. kelly? >> eamon, thanks very much. a quick reaction from the panel. nomi, seems like the obvious place to go here. >> kind of exactly what we were saying in the last segment. things aren't that healthy. on the one hand banks using any power or any muscle that they have to extend any aspect of the volcker rule. on the other hand, you're talking about the area that's related to loans, that's related to mortgages which is still a hangover fr

eamon javers with that story. >> that's right, bill. what cnbc has learned is later this afternoon, interactive brokers is expected to announce it's launching a new piece of its service, which is going to allow its customers to connect directly to iex, that new trading platform that's been highlighted by michael lewis' book "flash boys." interactive brokers saying they don't necessarily want to take a side, but they want to offer their customers to connect to iex, which is marketing itself as a trading platform where customers can't easily be taken advantage of by high-frequency traders. we're going to see that announcement later this afternoon. interactive brokers saying customers will have a choice. they can let interactive brokers' smart router decide which exchange their orders go to, or they can click a button and say, i want iex, i'm sending all my business that way. a new option in the market, guys. >> eamon, thank you. let's talk about the brokerages. larry, let's put up some of what the discount brokerages are doing today. this

our eamon javers is in washington covering it for us. about the senate panel for mary barra than yesterday in the house? >> reporter: well, the big thing everybody is going to be watching for here is whether mary barra and general motors change their strategy in this hearing against what they did in the house of representatives yesterday. mary barra pledging transparency, but not really answering the lawmakers' questions or not answering all of the lawmakers' questions, real frustration on the house panel yesterday as barra continued to cite an internal gm investigation and say we can't provide all the answers until this investigation is over. but then also saying that she's not pledging to release the results -- the full results of that investigation, not even pledging that that investigation is going to result in any kind of work product or document or report or anything like that. will they change based on the frustration they saw yesterday in the house today in the senate, that's going to be the big question and we're going to have t

he's there for a four-country tour of asia in the president's -- let's stay in washington, eamon javerse supreme court now upholding the state of michigan's ban on affirmative action. the supreme court ruling today that the voters of -- in that state were well within their rights to block racial preferences. an excerpt saying, deliver brative debate on issues such as ray shall preferences may shade into ranker. does not justify removing certain from reach. democracy does not prove some are too divisive or profound for public debate. voters getting their way and has implications for states acos the country. we're waiting for a couple more rulings from the supreme court today. we'll keep our eyes on those and bring them as we have them. >> thank you very much. the view from d.c. on the earth day you might be shocked to learn in this country roughly $16 billion paper cups are thrown out each year. that's billion with a "b." now some entrepreneurial students from the school in brooklyn hope their new cup cycle initiative could help reduce that waste. currently in a three-day test phase call