part one, simon, jane wells joining the discussion.rican airlines apparently testing a new boarding process to let passengers without carry-on luggage board first. let's see what you said on yahoo!'s finance question. 67% said yes, anything to get on and off the plane faster. simon, jane, is early boarding incentive enough for you to ditch your carry-on? >> look, i fly a lot. i think this is a great idea because other people will do it and that leaves more room for me and my bags, because until american approves its lost baggage policy, i'll going to be the horrible person who comes on with my one-ton suitcase and my small carry-on to make sure my luggage arrives. >> if you were thinking of carrying on or checking, now because you want to get on and off quicker, you're going to check and they are going to charge you for it. >> that's one way of looking at it. i think it's simple math. want to get as many people on the plane as fast as you can before they get stuck behind people like jane who have packed so much in their bag they can't

for "nightly business report," jane wells, los angeles. >> all right. a lot of differing opinions. let's get some more insight on the individual investor and what they should do next. joining us now tom bradley, president of retail for td ameritrade. tom, i bet you had a lot of questions today from individual investors. should i get in? is it safe? what were you telling them? >> we sure did. well, the key here is to look at the long-term trends, and then you have to determine your time horizon. the long-term trends in the stock market are up, and as long as you're five to ten years or more out, then the stock market is in your favor. it's an incredible way to build wealth. >> you know, tom, the last two times the markets hit multi-year highs back in the year 2000 it was at the end of a bubble. it was a tech bubble. in 2007 it was a housing bubble. what do you say to the person in the tape piece who says it's a bubble again and i'm going to get hurt again? >> again, you have to go back and look at the long-term trends. it's very different, a retired person versus a younger person th

corn planting this year are expected to be the highest in decades, and jane wells tells us what that means for farmers and consumers. >> reporter: farming is like housing. it's all about location, location, location. >> i'm a bit nervous. >> nebraska corn farmer jason kohls should be. he's coming off a horrible 2012 due to the drought. >> i expected around 150 bushels average year going into the year. and i ended up with 75 bushel on my corn. >> reporter: curt mallory's texas operation could not have been more different. >> our 2012 corn crop was excellent. it's probably the best corn crop we've ever raised down here. >> reporter: mallory already has corn coming out of the ground and he's optimistic about 2013. farmers are expected to plant the most acres of corn in 77 years. and if the crop is good -- corn prices could fall as much as 40% and bring down the cost of everything else, especially beef. america's cattle herd is the smallest it's been in decades. ranchers have been getting rid of animals because it costs too much to feed them. texas rancher bob mccann says his herd is sma

jane wells has been looking into that question. joins us now from l.a. jane?her hand it's like the college of cardinals, on the other, it's like the entire roman catholic church. the good, the bad, and the mediocre, one worth $4.25 million market cap. it was there since the 1890s, even as money managers benchmark themselves against the s&p and most etfs based on the s&p, one makes headlines, the other gets the work done, kind of like this. ♪ >> reporter: the dow is the beatles, legendary, the s&p is the stones -- still rocking. the dow is mobile, the s&p is regular old internet, rodman versus jordan, alexis versus crystal, black smoke versus white. and while the emperor seemed most powerful, turns out darth vader was. luke -- identify always loved vader. bottom line, the best america has but the future is tucked inside the s&p. and also in the nasdaq. melissa? >> that's crazy. some of those metaphors were on, jane, but stones over beatles? no way, man, the stones needed the beatles to become what they were -- >> so did the s&p. >> what do you think about alexi

jane wells has been digging through the data, joins us now. jane, what have you found?ney appears to be coming from everywhere, but a huge portion of it is from 401(k) accounts as more americans go back to work. 401(k) accounts. the average account was $77,000. now, not enough to retire on, but 12% more than a year earlier. for people 55 and older, the average topped $143,000. analysis of investors had a 401(k) and an ira, the average is $225,000. the rise is credited to increased contribution and a better performance, and, well, because everyone is doing it, the herd mentality. confidence has grown, especially on the coasts, as housing improves. home prices go up, confidence goes up, investing goes up. even as home prices are still 27% bell low their previous highs. but it's not just 401(k) money flowing in. look at the numbers from e-trade. in january, there was a little bit more than 3% rise in net new brokerage accounts, though stock plan and banking accounts were way down. daily average revenue trachlds roetz 18% from the month before and net new brokerage assets w

>> still to come, cnbc's jane wells has the latest in geek fashion. jane? have it because i was neither chic enough or geek enough, but thousands of other people are now lucky enough to soon pose as hipsters. that and what would you do to avoid paying the bills? we have got our priorities all screwed up. when we come back. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ if you don't have something important to say? ♪ your finances can't manage themselves, but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances toget

jane wells is -- there are medical devices, as well. >> same thing, you know?ijuana and medical devices. anyway. we're going to start in vegas, where, they have everything. las vegas sands lashing out at reaction that auditors believe there were likely violations of foreign corruption laws. in the record keeping area, not in the actual alleged bribing. the company called mia reports about that admission misleading and sensationalistic, insisting no violations have occurred, and, by the way, their ceo is listed by forbes at the 15th richest earthling. he's down a spot from last year, but he is a billion dollars wealthier. >> tim? >> he's got great growth internationally. i have to say, i think this is a very interesting stock. but the 50 level is something you have to watch here. 75% mostly singapore and macau. i would be cautious at 50 bucks and stop myself there. >> all right. call him bond. jeffrey bond. jeffrey gundlach tells reuters he's bought more long-term treasuries in the last month than he has in the last four years as rates popped above 2%. he has mo

jane wells joins us from the best coast. jane?bile device one step closer to reality. glue mobile has launched its first gaming to money product. it includes elements of its famous samurai versus zombies defense. i'm betting on the zombies. glu shares shot up over 16% today while melissa, its much larger rival zynga saw shares fall. >> zynga is one where half their market share is in cash. they had a pretty successful for a week ipo. they're sitting here. yahoo, there's been takeover speculation. this is one if you want to play and you're long and you know where you're stopped out, down 3 1/2 dollars or so, you can sell puts on this one at a level where their cash is and generate some yield to that. >> jane? >> all right. disney's off to see the wizard with the number one film. bob iger on "closing bell" addressed attempts to separate the ceo and chairman positions. >> i think this is essentially a cause searching for a problem. the walt disney company has been a great performer for now quite a long period of time, good solid seve

jane wells joins us from the west coast. >> starbucks has bought the farm. own farm in costa rica to research and develop varieties based on what it learns through soil management. there's a picture right there. this could quote offer significant advantage in the development of future blends and melissa, the company could do more. >> you like it? >> yeah, i like it a lot. you got this stock, they got a huge head wind of coffee prices. all time high last year, that's coming down. >> jane? >> sticks, nix, hick, pix. today, after 80 years, this is the last daily print edition of the viable. it was hard to get this. just about every 7/11 in burbank was sold out. the focus on the web and a weekly print edition. variety's owned by jay pinsky. >> doesn't spell the writing on the walls for a lot of the newspapers. what do you think? >> it was interesting we saw today that the family is is reducing their position "the new york times." i'm not real crazy about the newspaper business. it's a secular decline story. "new york times" the reason why that family is pulling

jane wells says the granny nanny business is attracting all kind of entrepreneurs and all flocking tonny, right, jane? >> that's right, mandy. americans are growing older and more can afford to grow old at home. that is fertile ground for aspiring business creators like sydney cap lin. >> i love being with the seniors. learning from them, being around them. i love their energy. even when they are cantankerous. p. >> she calls her saeherself a granny nanny. doing shopping, running errand for the more wealthy on the west side. she is licensed, bonded and charged $60 an hour. okay, jane, you still there? no, i'm afraid not. there's live tv for you. unfortunately we lost jane due to a technical difficulty. we will try to get her back. next, dog food supermarket and bacon addition of street talk and banks are leading the rally but still well and truly off their all-time highs. is there still time for to you get in? we will dig in, next. ♪ [ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ] ♪ [ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experience

jane wells is here with the list for us. hey, jane. >> hey, sue.ion and you have not guessed it yet and i will save it for the end, and that was not last year's winner who was apple's ceo, tim cook who had a 76% approval rating and now on glass door.com, he is only good for 18th place. and this year, include sap's co-hosts bill mcdermott, and hagemannn and smabe and mckinsey & company, and ernst & young's turley. and jamie diamond fell, and lloyd blan ek fooin fell to-- blankfein fell to 36th. and melissa meyer, she is too new to have enough reviews to qualify, but she has an 87% approval rating which is much better than the predecessors, and so who is the most beloved ceo. drum roll, please. facebook's mark zuckerburg with a 14 point up approval rating from last year despite the stock trading and i.p.o. >> well, we are going to do the rundown and jane, julia boorstin is joining us from los angeles. julia, you have been hanging around facebook and reported that story for a long time and does it surprise you that he is number one? >> not at all, tyl

jane wells has been looking into that. she is in los angeles. hi, jane. >> hey, sue.llion americans are over the age of 85 and increasingly paem are aging at home, not in a facility. people like lorraine irvine who hired a care giver through alta home care, says they are hiring 15 to 20 people a week. >> i have so many friends that absolutely, you know, wish they could afford this. they wish they could. >> this year we will do about 15 million. we service currently between louisiana and california, about 600 clients everyday. >> are you hiring? >> we are hiring everyday. it is our biggest challenge. >> staff -- alta trains its own staff and says most are rejected. big public can companies are circling the players to get a piece of business be not subject to whims of medicare. medicare is seeing stocks rise at least 70% over the last year. a thousand new agency open netd u.s. last year, including ten knew franchising corporations. but this is not for everyone. >> some of them are a little bit surprised at just how much work it is. because it comes back to customer serv

jane wells tells you whether a danger zone may be ahead. >>> plus, an extended version of hold 'em orold 'em. ♪ >>> that's so nice. great job, crew. >> so nice sitting next to the lady in red. >> welcome back to "fast." jane wells has your channel check. >>> here's what to watch for in the defense sector in the quarter ahead. quote, defense is no longer a sacred cow, says one analyst. and most expect to see flat to negative earnings growth. now, defense usually underperforms after a presidential election. but sequester is a whole new ball game. stocks have held up pretty well, but b of a merrill lynch believes that's a mistake. quote, sequestration is not priced in. longer term, cowan & company predict lockheed martin could see cuts to future order ps for the f-35 and the little combat ship. north korea, though, is making threats and crt capital report says beefing up missile defense in alaska could benefit orbital sciences. that's your q2 channel check for defense. >> oh, there you are live, jane. >> there i am. >> wow, the magic of tv. >> i changed my clothes like that. >> very nice

jane wells.pending cuts showdown as ax hangs over spending programs that will put hundreds of thousands out of work and potentially slow down the economy. i'll be talking next with gary gansler. the head of the commodities tradings commission says the cuts could help him stop bad actors on wall street and later taking the stand. jc penney ron johnson facing off against macy's lawyers over who has the rights to sell murtd products. we'll recap the courtroom drama. back in a moment. i know what you're thinking... transit fares! as in the 37 billion transit fares we help collect each year. no? oh, right. you're thinking of the 1.6 million daily customer care interactions xerox handles. or the 900 million health insurance claims we process. so, it's no surprise to you that companies depend on today's xerox for services that simplify how work gets done. which is...pretty much what we've always stood for. with xerox, you're readysiness. [ no audio ] understand my charts, and spend more time trading. th

jane wells has more. >> reid ruker is checking his 401k again. >> i have looked at it more in the last four months. >> and investors like him are starting to call financial adviso advisors. >> the volume of calls has definitely picked up. americans are clicking away as the market hits new highs. more than 5.5 million unique visitors went on to trading sites the first week of march. >> i was checking periodically throughout the day. >> shawn likes what he sees. >> it's nice. but honestly it doesn't change my day to day life. >> what are people doing about it? one sold some of his boeing stock and moved it to cash. another is concerned that a muni bond fund may be part of a bubble. >> i'm feeling pressure to move that money out of there. >> when we asked people on twitter what they're doing, most said they are checking them more often and a few are starting to make changes. >> contemplating dumping bonds but can't find a good alternative. moved half from equities to money market. got a bad feeling. but it was countered, adding more risk as long as big ben is here, so am i. >> advisors ar

. >>> a hat tip to jane wells at cnbc on this item. this is likely an april fool's prank but was too delicious to pass up. america's love of bacon spawned a new industry for the breakfast meat. this ad room nates over many uses of bacon only to culminate over a bacon-flavored scope mouthwash. i really do think that's an april 1st prank. march madness returns with the number one seed going home. plus, one wrong step causes a hero to spring into action. but the dangerous third rail pose as deadly threat. we'll show you when we come back. you're watching "early today." ooh . >>> the lead editorial this morning in "the new york times" malicious obstruction in the senate. the piece points out when president obama poisaid to ease on filibusters he may as well have been talking to statues in the capital. and alaska congressman don young apologized but described workers who picked tomatoes as wet backs. a good samaritan fell into action after a man walked off the subway platform. now hailed a hero, the man jumped onto the tracks while others c

jane wells has that story. so what's the word? >> a lot of it is about perception. the dow has 30 companies worth $4.25 trillion, the s&p has companies worth $14 trillion, including 30 in the dow. which is the best judge of the economy? >> i'd probably go with the dow. >> probably the s&p, because they got more companies. >> well, most money managers benchmark themselves against the s&p. >> reporter: but former goldman sachs vice chairman says the dow 30 companies is still a pretty good indicator of the economy, though you won't find any emerging names in here. >> the s&p is much more likely, you're going to see a lot more activity and dynamism in the s&p than you are going to be in the dow. >> reporter: think of it this way. the dow is like an aircraft carrier, the s&p is the entire fleet. the dow is a swimming pool, the s&p the the ocean. iphone versus android. a bloomberg-approved soda versus a big gulp. and while james t. kirk seems larger than life, like the dow -- >> risk is our business! >> reporter: sean luc picard, like the s&p, might be a better captain of

jane wells has been asking exactly that question on tw twitter. >> cyprus has a gross domestic product of $24 million. who are these people? we learned they really have a great sense of humor. one ad company parodied new york state of mind with state of mind. ♪ there's no toilets round, just a big hole in the ground ♪ >> see the whole hilarious video on my blog. how did one potential bank tax on an island give everybody a market wedgejy? i asked, it's like fill in the blank. here's responses. it's like a 20 buck battery grounding entire 787 fleet. an unpruned tree in ohio taking down the entire northeastern power grid. like a kim kardashian marriage. only lasts a short while and utterly meaningless. bloomberg banning large sodas. sailing a carnival ship and expecting to make it home. like me giving a rip about honey boo boo's next show. >> i love all of those. >> i liked them all till the last one. jane wells has clearly not redneckognized that's a hot show. >> when you have to subtitle white people. >> thank you so much. we'll check out your blog. funny business. thanks for watching "

jane wells is live in moorpark, california. hi, jane. >> reporter: hey, sue.at spillover we get from this. the restaurant industry buys a lot of milk and milk products. and the suspension of these monthly milk product reports from the usda has the american restaurant association's david maloney concerned it's going to create uncertainty which means his members will pay more for dairy. >> we're also concerned about the liquidity in the dairy markets which are already relatively illiquid which would make it harder for our clients to contract. >> reporter: it's been tough for dairy. the average price for a gallon is 4 cents down from a year ago. dean foods, the largest milk processor in the country, is planning another 15% reduction. they're predicting zero net growth production. we're just not drinking it. that could be offset by china, but despite the uncertainty in milk pricing, the restaurant association is optimistic that the cost of everything else may come down if the weather holds and we plant the largest corn crop since fdr. >> we believe that this could

for "nightly business report," jane wells, los angeles. >>> another positive on the economic front, a lot more of us are seeing growth in our net worths. the federal reserve reports as of the final quarter last year americans had gained back just about all of the $16 trillion in household wealth lost in the great recession. americans' net worth now totals $66 trillion, and it rose $1.2 trillion from the third quarter of 2012, with much of the rise coming from higher stock prices. >>> one stock contributing to that wealth effect for american households, google. shares of the search giant have overtaken apple to become the most-owned stock by the 50 biggest u.s. stock mutual funds. and it's not hard to see why. when we look at both companies over the past year, in sync most of the way, then around december google takes off and apple heads south. for the year, google is up 37%, while apple is off almost 19%. >>> with the s&p 500 index approaching an all-time high, we kick off our market focus tonight with another s&p milestone. standard and poor's reports dividends reached $300 billion f

jane wells is at a farm in moore park, california. us with that angle. >> it's so beautiful here today. cows love this kind of stuff. the usda is reporting that there were 70% fewer pounds of beef that were processed in the u.s. in february. 8% of fewer animals, but the average animal weighed a little more. this is further proof that ranchers are reducing the size of their herds because of the high cost of corn. however, word that farmers plan to plant nor acres of corn this year than they have in 70 years gives more hope to ranchers like bob mccann. he used to run 5,000 head and now down to between 3,500 and 4,000. >> until there's some really good relief in the drought situation, it's going to be hard to rebuild the herd. i think people want to do that. there's good prices, if we can rebuild our cow numbers, we would certainly do it. because the price is certainly an incentive right now. >> now, ranchers are also having a cow over the usda plan to furlough meat inspectors because of the sequester. that's going to slow down getting b

jane wells joins us from the best coast. hi, jane. >> hey, melissa. saying she's investing in stocks. don't mess with mila. she has the midas touch, or the emerald touch. >> deep down you are wicked. >> i'm not wicked! >> no, you're wicked awesome. for the second week in a row disney's "oz: the great and powerful" slayed the box office with another 42 million, way head of the competition, though down from opening weekend. not very magical, though, was the incredible burt wonderstone. only $10 million in tickets for a film that reportedly cost warner brothers $32 million. melissa? >> it's only a dollar off of its 52-week high, grasso. >> it's about the content providers. i still think you can put money into disney even at these levels. >> huge buyer of mila, too. >> by the way, jane. >> yes! >> apple, by the way, is so 2008. blackberry ceo thorston hines tells the financial review the company needs to catch up. heinz. ketchup? the user interface on the iphone with all due respect for what it invention was all about is now five years old. so now it's bl

. >>> and a hat tip to our friend at jane wells at cnbc on this item. this is probably an april fools prank, it was just too delicious to pass up. america's love of bacon has spawned a whole new industry for uses of the delicious breakfast meat. the ad reminisces about the many uses of bacon, only to end on a bacon-flavored mouthwash. but don't expect to find it on shelves anytime soon. >>> one wrong step causes a hero to spring into action. but the dangerous electrical third rail poses a deadly threat. we'll show you the outcome next. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but after one day's use, dishcloths can redeposit millions of germs. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to a fresh sheet of new bounty duratowel. look! a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth, as this black light reveals. it's du

thanks so much, jane wells.gap which is halted for news pending. >> yeah -- >> on a day where it is doing extraordinarily well. >> take a look at that rise at the open. it jumped 4%. so this should be some pretty interesting developments, especially i don't want to link the two together, but there was a go private deal on hot topic, much smaller, of course, $600 million for the total size of the deal on hot, but interesting to see this halted here. we're going to watch that. >> yes. meanwhile, what's coming up tonight? >> we're going to talk about the bank stress test especially as the officials enter bull market territory. we'll get the latest trade on facebook after the results. got mark mahaney tonight. >> we've got factory orders in germany and a lot more. >>> if you're just joining us, here's what you've already missed. >>> welcome to hour three of "squawk on the street." here's what's happening so far. >> when everybody's waiting for that market pullback, it is not going to happen. because everyone's going

jane wells. man, what a gorgeous vista. has more on that. morning, jane. >> reporter: hey, carl. richie rich malibu is officially going to license apparel, swimsuits, watches, maybe even volleyball. does malibu need money? >> every city needs money. you know how it is now with the economy the way it is, it goes up and down every day. so having more revenue sources gives us the opportunity to do more for the environment and for public safety, which is always a problem. we've got 15 million visitors that come here a year. and we want the water to be clean for them. we want the streets to be safe for them. we want the pch to be safe. those are the kinds of things that we would use as revenue for. >> reporter: malibu is contracted with xl branding, did $100 million in sales at its peak. its had other similar accounts. its least successful may have been attempts to sell the brooklyn bridge, at least the t-shirts. but malibu is very evocative. >> we did some research, and malibu is one of the few names that actually probably will have a stronger presence in the licensing business that

jane wells explains. >> well, bill, it's 3:42 on wall street, have you checked your 401(k) today?visitors hit online trading sites the first week of march, up 5% from the week before, up 46% in six months. people like reid rucker. >> they're all up. it's good. >> here he is checking his retirement accounts more frequently and moving money out of muni fund bonds into equities. >> i've never been trading in a market where the fed is this involved in the market, and i don't know what to expect when the accommodation that the fed has in place starts to wear off. >> well, join the club. wealth strategy adviser mark is seeing similar concerns develop telling investors, it's not about timing the market, it's about time in the market. the volume of calls has definitely picked up. amongst my clients. whether these relationships have been short-term or as long as ten years. >> on twitter we're hearing from a lot of people. @tommyjshort says, moved half of my 401(k) from equities to money market last week, got a bad feeling. a counter, added more risk to my portfolio, as long as big ben is h

our resident bacon correspondent, jane wells, what's this all about?love everything bacony, so i thought i'd died and gone to pig heaven when i heard about this. >> scope bacon, for breath that sizzles. >> it is bacon flavored mouthwash from scope. or is it?! being the hard-nosed investigative journalist i am, i checked with scope's parent, procter & gamble and said, is this real? and after a long pause, they said, i don't really know. i asked, is this an early april fool's joke? i was met with coyness and said, check next week. i no longer smell bacon scope, i smell a prank. >> it smells so disgusting. >> oh, it sounds beautiful, julia! >> jane, no matter how much you like eating bacon, would you like your breath to smell like it? >> what's wrong with the smell of bacon, whether it's coming in your nose or out of your mouth? >> jane, didn't you have bacon ice cream one time? >> i've had the bacon sundae. that was not good. i had the bacon shake. that was worse. but the bacon taco, the baco, it's awesome. >> some could say jane's breath already smells

jane wells has been snooping around. she's live in los angeles for us. hi, jany. >> hi, sue.oney came from me. >> excellent. >> like most regular joes, the vast of my investment is through 401(k). william blair says as employment recovers, more people are eligible for 401(k)s, helping the market. and betsy blair says she is seeing confidence recover. >> where my business is focused, primarily on the coast, is the housing market, people feel more comfortable putting money into their 401(k) and not see a drop into the proverbial black hole. >> but people who were burned in '08-'09 may not recover emotionally. you hear that in their voices. >> happy, but then like people have been saying, you've got to be careful right now. so i think you just have to use common sense. >> my 401(k) is in a money market fund. i'm happy with that. >> what goes up, must come down. >> by the time i'm eligible to draw that money out, i hope it'll be a large guess game but we will see. >> people are trading their personal accounts. schwab saw a jump in january compared to a year ago. etrade saw 6% yea

jane wells has more. >> reid ruker is checking his 401k again. >> i have looked at it more in the last four months. >> and investors like him are starting to call financial adviso advisors. >> the

veteran wine drinker, jane wells, reports he is making lots of dough off that, right, jane?think there is any merlot in there but he has made lemonade out of lemons or wine out of raisins. he found a a revenue stream against wines around the world. >> close of a hundred thousand pounds worth of wine here. >> burton's company, makes loans for 35% of the market value of the wine put in hawk. he made 200 loans totaling $30 million. interest rates on these loans is 15%. he passes through 12% to his lenders. and he has more lenders than he needs. why would a wealthy person do this? becaaren't lending. rich people have bad credit too. and sometimes they need fast cash. burton never asks what for. >> well, i just think it is really strange seeing people living these $20 million homes, wanting $100,000. hundred thousand bound loans or something. that's crazy. i have a lot of lenders in hong kong. singapore. tokyo where interest rates, deposit rates at the moment are negative percent. so they are getting a pretty good deal. >> so he's got rich people on both sides. so far, sellers cl

from td ameritrade. >>> the one and only jane wells. >> bankruptcy trial in the foreclosure capital oflic pension funds versus wall street. a judge is hearing arguments over whether stock qualifies for chapter 9. cal-pers argues it is not a creditor and is therefore exempt from payment cuts through bankruptcy. bond holders disagree. they want the pain shared. and now the city of pacific grove has hired a bankruptcy attorney to explore reducing its calpers payments. back to you. >> anthony, muni bonds, how do you feel about them? >> i think that the negative push on muni bonds are now over. this is a legal case. the only thing i learned in law school, melissa, is don't get into litigation or lawsuits. ultimately, this will be a coin toss. if you're asking me long-term trends on municipal bonds, i think people are going to be very happy in their positions. >> i raised a couple of 17-year-olds. not always fun. the most effective way to punish them are going to take away the car keys. how are nick d'alosio's parents going to punish him now that he can afford his own car? nick's no fool. me

let's bring in our resident bacon expert, jane wells, who discovered this glorious mo monstrosi monstrosity how many have you had today? >> this is my second, actually. this is the remains of the first one. my sodium levels off the charts. it is called the baco, because it rhymes with taco, brian. >> but bacon. >> are the west michigan white caps called the baco. think of it as a blt without the bread. eat, it's good. >> that's good. it's hard to eat, though, because it's kind of floppy. that's the only thing i would say to the downside. it's kind of hard to eat. you get mayo on the side too. you could put mayo on it. >> oh, man, that is good. >> i'm going ton vacation in about 30 seconds and this is a great way to start it. >> you have sour cream all over your lip. >> oh, hello! >> enjoy your vacation, brian! >> "closing bell" is next. >>> bon appetit, our colleagues over there. >> hi, everybody. welcome to the "closing bell." final stretch for friday. tgif. i'm maria bartiromo at the new york stock exchange. another rally. looks like this market finishes up. a down week, but a positive no

jane wells has more. >> reid ruker is checking his 401k again. >> i have looked at it more in the last four months. >> and investors like him are starting to call financial adviso advisors. >> the

thank you so much, jane wells. >>> very quickly, the markets are continuing to claw back some of their down, though, by 72 points on the dow. not as bad as the 128 from before. >>> next, workers told to fork over their weight and bmi or pay a steep fine. is this outrageous, or is that just right on the money? >>> later on, tweets on the street. if twitter went public, would you buy the stock? perhaps the bullish case for a twitter ipo coming up. >>> the >>> the cnbc real-time exchange market snapshot is sponsored by interactive brokers. okay. >>> okay. the dow is now recovering about 50 points. it's now only down by 77. let's just get to peter kenny right now. what do you think is bringing this comeback in the markets, peter? >> i think, mandy, it has an awful lot to do with being very, very sharply and steeply oversold on an intraday basis. we came into the day with some very soft footing despite the fact that we had some very positive economic data in the form of the employment numbers, housing, existing home sales, home prices. the fact that they went up 6.5% over the last period. t

jane wells has the story. >> maria, marissa mayer shaking up the yahoo! corporate culture.ecommuting and now she's tightening up hiring standards a lot. ignoring recruits that didn't graduate from top schools and personally reviewing every candidate, which slows down the process. now, the ceo's goal is to make yahoo! a first choice, not the worst choice, for jobs in silicone valley. reuters told she told staff, quote, why can't we just be good at hiring? apparently a play on the line, why can't you be in a good mood from one of her favorite fames, "say anything," an ironic choice because he sounds like the last guy she'd hire. >> whatt what are your plans fo the future? >> spend as much time as possible with diane. >> really? >> i'm serious. >> good news for mayer, her own employees are giving her an 86% approval rating on glassdoor.com, where people give anonymous reviews. that is up from 84% last quarter. >> thanks so much. >> so is marissa mayer doing the rate things to turn around yahoo!? >> fred has his doubts. he's chairman of consumer giants avon and bausch & lomb. h

let's get to jane wells who's in a field. >> reporter: that's right, simon.op. then came the drought. this year we are expecting a record corn crop. we'll see. the weather service says it's going to be warm and dry over the next few months. wells fargo expects corn to go to 6 bucks. kurt already planted corn in texas and it's starting to emerge. up in nebraska, some are not planting until next month. he had such a horrible year in 2012 due to the drought that he's doubling down on crop insurance. >> we had some snow and some rain to make up a little bit, but i would say we're still 12 inches below normal in this area of northeast nebraska. and so i'm a bit nervous. >> reporter: well, kurt mowery is not nervous. not only did he have a great year, but he benefitted from record corn prices due to the drought elsewhere. but mawery also grows rice globally the competition has become ruthless. american farmers are glad they can finally start selling rice to iran, but they're unhappy with what's happening in iraq. >> they used to be our number one market was iran an

jane wells is on the case. jane? >> reporter: listen, mostly from american workers.. what a nice surprise. fidelity said increased contributions pushed averages to the highest level ever. up 12% in 2012. though still the average account $77,000. not enough to retire on. for workers over 55, the amount about twice that, 143,000 and while everyone who's done well in the rally is happy, for retail investors burned before, confidence can be a hard thing to regain. >> my 401 and investments are going up. that's great. >> i'm glad it's up. i have some stocks so i'm not worried from that point of view. i hope it will hold. i don't know a good explanation as to why there's all this enthusiasm. >> i hope that it goes up not too high an turns in to a bubble and then crashes but i'm just saving for the long term. >> i think there's always been this feeling, you know, is this lasting? is it real? are we going to hit a bubble? i'm not really sure that feeling is ever going to leave. i think 2008 was a shell shock for people. >> reporter: she said she's seen the most confidence on

and i don't think, as much as i hate to say it, that that applies to jane fonda. >> well, thank you,ood question. it's been a lively debate. senator paul has a lot of passion. that's a great thing. you can have all the passion you want, this is an important issue, i welcomed a reasoned discussion, but i don't remember any of you coming down suggesting that president bush was going to kill anybody with a drone. you know? i don't even remember the harshest critics of our president bush on the democratic side. they had a drone program back then. so what is it? all of a sudden that this drone program has gotten every republican so spun up? what are we up to here? i think president obama in many ways has been a very thorough president. i think his executive orders overstep. i think he's goen into the executive arena -- i think he carries a nightmare. there's a thousand examples of a failed presidency, but there's also some agreement. people are astonished that president obama, senator mccain, is doing many things that president bush did. i'm not astonished, but fill applaud him, to having

our jane wells joins us. >> it is the king of indices and when it makes history, we notice. >> here we the big deal? the dow's only 30 companies. the dow was much more dominant in our consciousness, and i actually think it's fading a little bit and the s&p has become more talked about, more dominant. >> see, if you measure the economy by the dow it says the u.s. is made up of basically a bank, a plane, a phone, a computer, a can of coke, plus the can of viagra, downgrades and simba. ♪ ♪ >> the dow 30 companies have a total market cap of 4.25 trillion. the s&p 500 has more than three times that, so can only 30 companies really tell us what's going on in america? >> the truth is they do. i don't think they reflect the economy as well as the top 500, but listen, any time you pick the top 30 data points it gives you a pretty good indication. >> okay, the dow and s&p correlate, but not exactly, so what's a good analogy like the take to the s.a.t., the dow is to the s&p as -- ♪ ♪ >> if the dow is sexy ginger, the s&p is reliable mary ann. the dow is an extra foam latte, and the s&p, the coff