let's look ahead right now, chief investment officer hank smith joining me now. thanks for being here. >> it's good to be with you. maria: first, what struck you about the first quarter and let's talk about with where you think things are going, second quarter and rest of the year. >> well, look, for a long time in 2017 we kept telling clients, you need to expect volatility. what we were experiencing in 2017 with no volatility was very very unusual. so we certainly got our share of volatility in the last two months of this first quarter. but let's examine why this occurred. there are four factors in 2017 that the market was keenly paying attention to and they were all about fundamentals. gdp growth was accelerating here and abroad, corporate profits were improving both here and abroad. inflation remained benign and interest rates stayed low and steady and that created an environment that us with just perfect for equities. maria: yeah. >> what has changed is inflation has ticked up a bit, interest rates have ticked up a bit reflecting that tick-up in inflakes, and

liz: thanks very much hank smith. haverford. have a great friday.o report. melissa: my gosh, we haven't had a moment's break. david: stocks falling slightly. ending the day off 1 is 5 points to the downside. s&p and nasdaq all in the red. all major averages higher for the week. that is good news on this friday the 13th. i'm david asman. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." we have more on the big market movers. here is what else is happening this hour, wow. breaking the inspector general for the justice department releasing the explosive report that led the firing of former fbi deputy director for his leaks to the media and lying about them ahead of

liz: thanks very much hank smith. haverford. have a great friday. david: too bad there is not much news to report. melissa: my gosh, we haven't had a moment's break. david: stocks falling slightly. ending the day off 1 is 5 points to the downside. s&p and nasdaq all in the red. all major averages higher for the week. that is good news on this friday the 13th. i'm david asman. melissa: i'm melissa francis. this is "after the bell." we have more on the big market movers. here is what else is happening this hour, wow. breaking the inspector general for the justice department releasing the explosive report that led the firing of former fbi deputy director for his leaks to the media and lying about them ahead of the 2016 election. the details you need to know about all that coming up. >>> plus the gloves are off. james comey taking on president trump. the president fighting back, big shocker there. the latest on the battle only just beginning. shocking revelation, the former fbi director hinting at a secret would have cast serious doubts on loretta lynch