adam: don't trust finra to do it. finra missed the 1600. hope it is warm in dallas by the way. it is freezing up here. >> thank you. adam: look at stories you're clicking on tonight on foxbusiness.com. stock market surge and rebounding home prices pushed americans wealth to a record high. household net worth jumped nearly $3 trillion during the last three months of 2013 to nearly 81 trillion bucks. but those gains slowed down this year. >>> stocks are once again mixed as investors look to tomorrow's employment report. dow was in the green. s&p 500 was reli havely flat. nasdaq was down slightly. >>> staples is down as the company will close 10% of its stores as more people shop online. the supply chain will close 225 stores by end of 2015 hoping to save half a billiondollars annually. >>> president obama signed an executive order to allow the u.s. to impose financial sanctions in response to the crisis in ukraine. obama rejected a planned vote for rest den in the crimea region to rejoin russia. president obama says that vote violates international law. those are some hot stories

. >>> bitcoin down a bit today and finra issue an investor alert saying it's too risky.is basically saying the bottom line message is you invest in bitcoin, you're on your own. >> absolutely. and i think for anyone who has been following bitcoin for a while, this release from finra, you're going to say this is sort of no duh. we know that's the case. it's a very volatile asset, goes up and down. more importantly, for anyone who wants to buy bitcoin, the companies that sell it to people keep crashing and people do lose their money and they have pretty much no recourse. >> and here is the thing, when finra come out with a warning of this kind, it's usually with regards to i don't want to say dodgy things, but things that are very speculative. you know, certain chinese stocks, perhaps gold stocks that aren't necessarily stocks. is that putting bitcoin in the same camp? >> well, from finra's point of view and if you're a retail investor, yeah, this is a speculative commodity. some of the other things that finra has issued these alerts on have been marijuana stocks, sort of p

the investor alert issued by financial industry regulatory authority "finra": warns of widely and wildly fluctuating bitcoin prices. finra also advises investors to be aware of the potential risk of fraud involved in the digital currency. this week, the nation's largest bitcoin exchange, mt gox, filed for bankruptcy following an earlier hack attack that wiped out 400 million dollars of investor's money. the senate banking committee is agreeing on legislation that will wind down the government's roll in fannie mae and freddie mac. freddie and fannie own or back 60% of all u.s. home loans.the government spent $187 billion dollars bailing out the agencies during the housing crisis.the senate committee has a bi-partisan bill that calls for private investors to take the first 10% of any mortage loses before the government steps in with emergency money. shares of fannie mae and freddie mac. each fell more than 25% on the news... as many corporate executives watch pay skyrocket, one ceo is taking a hit. ebay executive john donahoe's pay for 20-13 fell 53% to 13 million dollars. in a statement,

finra is not subject to the freedom of information act. that is ridiculous.hey're owned by the industry. to think that goldman sachs and j.p. morgan in these institutions are going to fund a regulator and will get meaningful oversight. >> they have a $2 billion portfolio that they invest in wall street. >> the cops on the beat or using the analogy of a wall street casino, they're the eye in the sky. they have money allocated to different tables, different parts of the market. this is just screaming with conflicts of interest. >> how do we break this chain because it does not seem that there is anyone who wants to step up to the plate and stop this. >> you need public pressure which is the reason i wrote my book. to think we will change this within the halls of congress in my opinion is ridiculous. so the stuff needs to get into the public arena. that is why appreciate you having me on to raise these issues and expose these conflicts of interest. you're talking -- >> can we get enough public pressure? >> we can. i will tell you how. you expose the real corrupt

so finra is now on the case, regulators jumping on this, why? >> well they were using common core principles to figure out how puerto rico will pay off this debt. it is very simple. when puerto rico sold 3.5 approximately dollars of debt last week, it was historic. it was junk bonds. rated as junk and a lot of people said stay away from it. to entice to hedge funds they had to put in offering plan it would be sold minimum denomination at 100,000 bucks. they have been trading 100 cents to the dollar, at 101. now it is falling and it is falling because somebody is trading these in blocks these than 100,000. finra launched the investigation. that is only beginning of the decline. gerri: adam, i know a lot of people out there, there is a big debate whether it is worthwhile buying these bonds a lot of people are worried that individual investors, people who are in retirement, will go for this higher yield with these bonds offered but you say there is danger there. >> here is how you have to look at this. you and i, if we had 100,000 bucks yes we coul

and pleased to be the chairman of the center of investor foundation and the finra foundation and its many partnerships is focused on helping underserved americans with the tools they need for financial success. for example, our grant-making partnerships with the american library association and united way worldwide reaches vulnerable communities across the nation. they've leveraged opportunities to engage youth in financial education, both in school and out of school and they've piloted innovative strategies in the workplace. adult-based education programs and the community colleges to help young adults achieve financial goals. part of the city empowerment coalition, including san francisco. i want to particularly note i'm very pleased to treasurer cisnarrows is with us in the new version of the advisory committee and i think we'll provide terrific leadership. we also reach youth through our team financial literacy project known as generation money. generation money is a multimedia partnerships with channel 1. it reaches five million middle school and high school students annually ad

finra worse for the sec and the sec is lot a fortress, keeping a lot of people out from gaining data.at expungement is, the history of an industry person, and industry entity, it can be wiped completely off their slate. if someone calls up finra and goes to broker check to see if there are complaints about their broker-dealer or their advisor that history can have been wiped completely away so multiple people will use that same investor who has a history. there is a group that in a recent press release saying that one broker-dealer advisor had 40 complaints against them. 35 of which were expunged. so had this hedge fund had complaints against them or had related advisers or broker-dealers had complaints possibly involving past behaviors or even on this entity, there is a good chance that the trusting public going to a finra to try to do diligence the research is not getting the real story. host: what you do for a living? caller: i was a journalist. i now run my own e-zines and a focus on intellectual property and copyright, and the second one is focused on faith. guest: i think the qu

i'm also pleased to be the chairman of the finra education foundation and the center foundation and its many partnerships is focused on her by the underserved americans with the tools they need for financial success. for example, our grant making partnerships with the american library association and united went world wide in which is affordable to commend across the nation. they have levered opportunist engage youth in financial education, open school and out of school and they piloted innovative strategies in the workplace. adult basic education programs in the community colleges to help young adults achieve financial goals. several articles involved with the city's financial empowerment coalition, including san francisco, and i want to just note that i'm pleased that the treasurer has joined us in this new version of the advisory committee and i think will provide terrific leadership. we also, there are teen financial lives the project known as generation money, generation money is a partnership with the consumer federation of america and channel one. egregious lightning middle schoo

. >> first place start with the regulatory background, publicly available on finra site or sec site.k how many firms and how many years, people who move a lot, that is bad sign, right? look at customer disputes and how they have been resolved and ought to look at regulatory discipline for the advisor. that's absolutely the first place you need to start. gerri: is average advisor have that, or disciplinary background or good ones don't have anything at all? >> best majority of advisors have no displain nary record. if you happen to pull one and see that there is one -- gerri: even a little bit. >> why take the chance, right? gerri: other question i want to ask you, these guys all have letters after their name. >> yep. gerri: certified financial planner. cfhbc, mickey, what are the best ones? >> cfp, cfa and sima. there are 200 other designations. many are marketing gimmicks by the firms themselves or by firms that sell a designation for a certain amount of money with no really demonstrated expertise needed, argue we zoo a lot of cfps. particularly if you're interested in financial pla

finra, wall street industry watchdog. >>> sac capital advisors, the firm that pled guilty to insider in november trade changing its name. they will become point 72 asset management named for the sac address. they agreed to stop managing outside money and paid a record $1.2 billion fine to settle criminal charges. >>> small business optimism index fell to lowest level in a year. reported a february reading 91.4. that is down a whopping 2.7 points from the prior month's reading that is the latest from the fox business, giving you the power to prosper. >> it was a retailer on death watch. stores closing, sales spiraling out of control, but guess what? jcpenney shares jumping after upgrade from citigroup. sandra smith with the latest. >> citigroup basically upgrading jcpenney shares, buy them at this level. here is the stock up five 1/2%. it is top gainer in the s&p 500 right now. it has come off its session highs but still a hefty 45-cent gain for a stock trading around $9 a share. this is the story we've all been talking about. look at this drop, over 40% fall over the past year and ev

i am rich ketcham, the ceo of the largest nongovernmental entity working with the sec, finra. i am also pleased to be you the forrman of the centers investment in education foundation. the center and its many partnerships are focused on providing underserved americans with the tools they need for financial success. for example, our grantmaking partnerships with the american library association and united way worldwide. they deliver opportunities to engage youth both in school and out of school and have piloted innovative strategies in the workplace. conduct education programs and community colleges. city'sve worked with the national empowerment coalition, including san francisco. i am very least that treasurer cisneros has joined us in this new version of the advisory committee, and i think will provide terrific leadership. ourlso reach youth through financial literacy project all generation money. it is a partnership with the consumer federation of america and channel one. it reaches 5 million middle school and high school students annually to develop the finance skills that

reports suggest finra routinely deletes red flags on brokers from records that it makes public to investors show things that should be reported, such as personal bankruptcies and criminal charges. >>> and in other news, japan has taken a stand on the bitcoin and says, nope, it's not a currency. so instead of regulating it as a financial product, the government plans to treat it like other goods and services and that means bitcoin transactions would be subject to sales tax. japanese officials say they're still working out how to define bitcoin. and any future rules around it ought to be made together with other countries. >>> and in other news, turkey's prime minister says the country could ban facebook and youtube. he says the sites are being abused by his political enemies. the comments were made in a late night interview and they come after a set of audio recordings allegedly revealing corruption in a seshgel, which was posted online. the turkish leader says he would not leave the nation at the mercy of youtube and facebook. >>> and for those of you addicted to your smartphones and cab le

i sit on a finra committee that talks about this all the time but we never talk about half the volume from program trading. >> what are you saying? >> i think this is a beautifully executed diversionary tactic by goldman to focus us on structural issues instead of asking why we have program trading in the first place. >> those issues exist and if we weren't doing this way, wouldn't all the activity -- >> we have a market of lily pads. we have over a dozen -- >> a great way to put it. >> they're supposed to communicate efficiently in realtime and expose -- >> and they don't. they keep all of the orders in house. they say we can pair them up on our own systems. they're all dark pools and, frankly, there is a really big problem. you've got all of these high frequency firms co-locating with the exchanges. they're in bed with the he can changes. the exchanges are incentivized to keep it that way. it's a very nice, cozy, warm bed. you know, the new york statea g just came out yesterday and said we're on it and we're going to take some time to go after all of these guys. of course everybody