looks sharp. >> i saw the other day in jc penney they were selling massive men's onesies as well.e stocking for you. it's day four of our fierce competitors series. today all out war over women. ann taylor in one corner. chico's in the other. who's going to win this christmas? >> senior research analyst at piper jaffray. >> it's ann taylor. not just for this holiday season, but into 2014. this is who you're going to want to own. women are employed. if they're employed, they get to look good. if they're looking good, they're shopping ann taylor. we say it's ann taylor this holiday season. >> what about you? >> i like chico's better. i think their intimate apparel brand is working. it's growing. chico's. i also think white house black market, their other division, looks about as good as a company is going to look right now in the mall for the missing customer which does compete with ann taylor, actually. >> is ann -- this is not my market specialty. let's be clear about that. but is chico's really a direct competitor to ann? chico's always seemed to be -- >> a little older than ann.

. >> how about this november jc penney number up 10%? jc penney, previous guys became real good partners with you. they're using legacy. that's been good, right? >> very strong for us. the izod business continues to be very strong. and what we really saw is -- i think i've been on there a couple of times. i've been critical about the lack of classification inventory product like dress shirts and basic sportswear. what jc penney is known for. those inventories really got back in line in the third quarter. and you started to see that sell through improve in october, dramatically improve in november. and i believe those trends have continued as we're going into december. >> calvin klein europe jeans. how much the design and the quality, how much the fact that southern rim still not really turning for you, but northern pretty good. >> yeah, i guess different from the tommy business where we're 75% in northern central europe. the calvin business is really very much 75% to 80% southern european business. spain and italy continue to be challeng

we'll duke it out over jc penney. quicker if you're looking for returns that is. >> returns, right. lb with a compact fluorescent bulb, the energy saved could light how many homes? 1 million? 2 million? 3 million? the answer is... 3 million homes. by 2030, investments in energy efficiency could help americans save $300 billion each year. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. (announcer) at scottrade, our clto make their money do more.re (ann) to help me plan my next move, i take scottrade's free, in-branch seminars... plus, their live webinars. i use daily market commentary to improve my strategy. and my local scottrade office guides my learning every step of the way. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) ranked highest in investor satisfaction with self-directed services by j.d. power and associates. >>> big news on a company we follow very closely here on "street signs." some would argue too closely. jc penney reporting a jump in same store sale but inves

jc penney is not one i want to be in. macy's is a big kors provider, too.y's is the winner that segment so why don't we buy the winner and not the also ran. tim in california. tim? >> hey, cramer, i've been doing some bottom fishing on coach. do you think it's reached the bottom or no? >> my partner stephanie link from my charitable trust and she's in the halftime report saying coach is right. she says she likes the way the stores look. she thinks it can could have a real bounce here, and i would defer to her because i've had my head beaten in by coach, and stephanie does like it and i've heard her speak valiantly on scott wapner's show. i think she sounds right. even on some days it does pay to believe that they are different and wearing them together like? no. i don't think so. stay with cramer. >>> tomorrow, kick off the trading day with "squawk on the street," live from post 9 at the nyse. >> you know how hard it is to be cool at my age? >> very. >> a general idea. yes. >> both of us are understanding. lack of coolness. >> it all starts at 9:00 a.m. eas

how does jc penney get off the island of misfit stocks.s to show traffic and sales have improved for this holiday season and then get to people really consistently going back, over and over again. that's a big thing. then, of course, jc penney away, bank of america kicked out of the dow on september 20th. exiled to the island of misfit stocks. shares up about 8% since then and investors will be looking to see how it can and all the other big banks really start to ramp up the growth, get over the regulatory hurdles and find new sales and revenue streams. then hewlett-packard, the tech giant cast out of the dow same day of b of a. those shares are up 32% since getting the boot on to the island of misfit stocks and they've nearly doubled in 2013 alone. ceo meg whitman needs to show hp can grow again, may or may not involve the presence of 3d printing as part of its business mix. if hp was in the dow it would be the single best performing stocks this year. overall, hp, the island of misfit stocks but one to consider as you head into 2014. >> i

board. >> we begin with jc penney which has entered into an agreement with bill ackman.or. it paves the way for him to completely walk away from this holdings in that company. >> we continue to follow this developing story regarding herbal life whose shares have spiked on the news that the company has received its reaudited financials. >> i would like to say that i never really doubted that this was a viable company. >> i think it's been a fascinating year to watch these market pros who have been in this market for such a long time like a carl icahn, really become headlines once again, ty, with what they're doing. >> if there were a business person of the year, i would nominate the activist investor as a kind of conceptual person because they really have made their mark on so many big companies from dell to herballife to apple and many more. i should point out, sue, on a side note, the website of milk and honey which was our power pitch a few moments ago, went down. you guys crashed it. so many people apparently went on looking for shoes, but it is now back up, we're hap

. >> wal-mart, jc penney, big lots, kohls open on thanksgiving. >> jon: every store vinegar world open. dildo depot open, just ger bills, open. (bleep) a bear workshop? open. [cheers and applause] so if you are thinking i guess i have to shop all day but once the stores close i can go home and get a solid 15 minutes of thanksgiving in think again. >> k-mart opening from 41 hours straight. >> jon: do you have any idea what this sneens if someone tramples you for a furby thursday morning they don't find your body until friday night. all right, maybe thanksgiving has become a pregame for black friday but at least they cannot take away our turkey. >> butterball which produces 20% of all u.s. turkeys says there's a shortage of fresh turkeys 16 pounds or larger. >> jon: are you (bleep) kidding me. if my turkey is not at least 16 pounds why am i have -- i might as well eat a hummingbyrd stuffed with a single crouton and a crazein. >> they are limiting the supplies of fresh turkeys. >> they are not saying why the birds are actually smaller this year. >> jon: hello. perhaps we should go to the

>> we're hearing reports jc penney stock is down. too much inventory.cern about them as well. >> thank you very much for joining us. >>> you swipe, they strike. 80% of holiday shoppers snatching up gift cards this year, and don't scammers know it. now they're coming up with new ways to rip you off to security analyst on what to look out for. i have my own list on what to look out for. i'm especially caution of discounted gift cards that may be at auction sites. >> especially used cards. you usually do business with those you know and like and trust with established reputations. >> i would be ware of unsolicited web offers in the mail or on the web. wouldn't touch if with a ten-foot pole. >> certainly if you receive an e-mail that has a too good to be true offer for a gift card or a popup for that matter, chances are it's a scam. >> is it command? are the scammers really out there looking at gift cards in particular? >> there are bad guys out there in full force, 24/7, 36 5 especially this time of the year, and gift cards are form oft cash, and ultimatel

jc penney despite the fact it has the sec issue had good november sales up 10%, and pvh ceo has tolds on air he's got a healthy partnership for penney's izod brand. macy's option activity, last time macy's spoke, they said things were good in apparel. well, pvh has a hammer lock on ties and shirts. we know that g3 blew the doors off the quarter, one of the best quarters of this year -- of this reporting season along with conn's. and we know that warner has had enough time under the belt to get the kinks out. so i think pvh will do well. it was disconcerting that the stock got hit today for 65 cents. yeah, it was down 65 cents, though, to 130. and that's daunting on a big up day. that does concern me as a former trader that somebody knows something but the details, the clues are all there. tuesday's more retail. and we know retail's been incredibly inconsistent lately. more on that later. if you've been executing well, you can make money here. so i would bet that this first quarter that we get from burlington coat factory as a public company, i think it could be a good one. i like tha

da vitae, jc penney and my con three of the winners today. >> all right. safely, see you when you get back. that will do it for "power lunch." >> "street signs" right now. >>> will the fed deliver a nasty surprise this christmas? the chances the dreaded taper could come as soon as next week and how to play it if it happens. happy monday, welcome to "street signs." as we welcome back in the globe trotting mandy drury to the set. >> thank you. >> that's it. that was golf clap. your other hot topics what may be the best piece of economic news nobody else is talking about. if bitcoin succeeds will these two companies get sacked

jetblue and jc penney. the largest case of its kind ever. security experts say it might be just the first shoe to drop. that other big retailers are having issues. one of the difficulties in tracking down hackers is many of the large rings are overseas and the u.s. has little authority to go after them. >> stephanie gosk and tom costello covering our lead story tonight. thanks. >>> we mentioned at the top of the broadcast a huge emergency response is playing out in london after part of the balcony gave way, fell in on the audience during a play in the london west end theater district. there are multiple injuries. nbc's jim maceda is at the scene tonight. jim, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. we can hear sirens, ambulances going through the west end part of london. we understand at least 80 injured, some seriously. the sirens and ambulances are dealing with that. officials told us they have now cleared out, evacuated that theater. but just a few hours ago witnesses were saying it felt like the sky had fallen. it happened just a

of the after christmas sales, here is a list of who is opening early: kohl's opens at action, and jc penney and sears opened at 7:00, banana republic and g.p.a. open at 8:00 a.m. along with toys 'r us. >> in san francisco two are hospitalized after a fire at the newly refurbished victorian before 9:00 a.m. in the four story victorian near golden gate park. two people suffered serious burns and were rushed to st. francis memorial hospital. two others displaced by the fire held by the red cross. firefighters say there were no fire stops between the walls or floors because of the construction. >> we say this lit up quickly because of the construction. the unit did a great job and hopefully everyone is okay. >> they finished 2 1/2 yours of renovation, like $1 million worth of gorgeous restoring. it looks like that is ruined because we could hear them breaking windows. >> the fire started on the third floor and spread to the 4th and arson investigators were at the scene trying to determine how it was started. >> happening now in southern california, a red flag warning is in effect in los angeles

dell, herbalife, and jc penney were all victims of hedge funds this year but that did not stop tradersndrew keene, president of keene on the market dot com. welcome back to the show as always andrew. > >thank you. thanks for having me. > >now, we did have these billionaire hedge funds moving stocks around. it was very difficult for the average trader or even the average investor. but you found some ways to out maneuver the hedge fund guys. what have you been doing? > >basically i watch something called unusual option activity. every single stock has how many options it trades in a day. when calls are bought they are bought for one of two reasons---speculation or a hedge. i try to combine the chart in my proprietary trading plan to make sure i want to take speculative bets and it's been working out great this year. > >do you think it will continue into next year with these hedge fund guys? > >absolutely. let's be honest, the hedge fund guys know more than us, they're smarter than us, they have a team full of analysts with their mba's from chicago, northwestern, kellogg. so they have mor

. >> when you think about what's going on in corporate america right now in terms of jc penney, otheres that need real turn arounds, who do you look to and say they got it right and they got it wrong? >> well, there's a lot of -- southwest airlines. you know, when they brought in a new ceo, gary fit their culture. he was perfect for southwest, he plays the guitar at company meetings, the kind of guy with a fun-loving attitude but a great leader. he's someone doing it right. southwest is doing it right. dell, i spoke to dell years ago and i saw their culture really going downhill. i knew they were doing the wrong things years ago before they started to crash. >> where do you put jc penney in that? we've been talking a lot about retail. >> right. i'm really concerned about jc penney and their ability to turn things around with the big challenges they had in the past. i understand microsoft being very cautious about their ceo because you don't want to have another jc penney. >> then i look at a company like yahoo and think of marissa mayer. are you surprised by the success of that? >> i'

the thing holding us back on jc penney right now is you still have the secular problem of department secondarily, most importantly, unlike best buy last year jc penny has negative cash flow and is losing money. >> after a year like you just had and a career where you've seen the highs and seen the lows do you worry about mean reversion this year? do you worry it's going to be difficult to replicate that performance at a time when guys like bill gross and jack boeingle are saying why not stick with a more index -- strategy here in this market? >> i doubt we're going to replicate this year's results. we're up in the 60s this year. up 40 last year. but we try and assess across the portfolio. what our companies are worth. what we're trying to do is good evaluation work as we can. we've ranged many. in march of '09 we had close to 300% upside to our assessment of normalized value. we try -- a normal market would be 30% to 50% upside. we're about 40% upside to normalized value right now. there are a lot of companies in the market that are trading very cheaply. i'm a big fan of passive inve

apps already alert 6 million users to deals when they walk into 7,000 stores like best buy, target, jc penney. soon, if you let them, they will follow you as you shop at select macy's. >> we can send them products they love as they stand near it. >> reporter: they can follow a smartphone's wi-fi signal to track traffic to see how many walk past the door. >> we can get the numbers and understand, wait a minute, what do i need to do different as a retailer to get customers to come in the store? >> reporter: if it feels too much like big brother, disable your wi-fi. >> a customer who knows what they wanted and what they are willing to give up in terms of privacy or other information can get a lot out of the applications. >> reporter: for her, sharing her name, e-mail address and shopping habits is part of the deal. >> we put so much information out there blindly on facebook, to lots of people, we are part of the problem. >> reporter: for now, she's willing to give up some privacy to save money. john yang, nbc chicago. >>> call me maybe. a surprising study for students who can't keep their hands

we even had retailers split month to month and jc penney is bad in october and they announced strong sales in november. what happens? the stock gets hammered. gap is bad in september and it falls from 40 to 36, then back to over 40. stock of sears has been up more than 25% for the year until today. one redemption is from the fund led by sears ceo eddie lampert. sears fell more than 8% on the news. it extends to hard goods, too. gamestop and best buy seemed to have run out of gas. the latter because there's -- well, not many more analysts left to recommend the stock. but they just had a fabulous black friday, both of them. the whole weekend was good for both of them. sales are very strong. microsoft and sony are blowing the doors off with new consoles. and can it really be this bad for best buy and gamestop? i don't know. i think they're buys. we have terrific home sales today. how about home depot, right? certainly better than the competitor, lowe's. not so fast. lowe's rallied and home depot declined. i don't know anyone who has been able to navigate it. so here's the bottom line. p

not only a great concept, one that's been taking shares from likes of kohl's and jc penney, but an impressiverowth story. still in the early innings in the expansion overseas with a quarter of the sales coming outside the u.s. plans to double in store count long-term with 50% growth in the countries where it currently operates as well as expansion in new countries, primarily in europe where they have really growing and profitable business, even during the downturn. i think tjx's home goods division, which represents 15% of the sales and has about 450 stores has enormous capacity to grow here. it's a lower, less expensive william sonoma. these home good stores are doing incredibly well in an environment where consumers want hard goods, especially home-related ones. consistent, high-single digits same store sales. not just a place to get a huge porcelain plate with a turkey on it for thanksgiving. although, i got the huge porcelain plate with a turkey on it for thanksgiving there and everybody loved it. tjx has recently increased the online presence pretty dramatically with the launch of tjx.co

jc penney, i'm not sure how impacted they are. $8 seems to be a bit of a for this day. >> k.b. holmes down 1%. tim. >> on a day when you have an index print. you see a lot of pressure, a big downgrade, ultimately, people will be looking at their 4th quarter numbers out thursday and oracle is expected to be down 5%. >> and we got a drop for botox t. reigning cosmetic cure all is facing a celebrity backlash, after ten years of eraseing a-list wrinkments, hollywood a-star listers are turning the other cheek. nicole kidman saying i can now feel my face. gwyneth paltrow says she begged it off because she'd look like joan rivers. >> it's close. not really. not really. >> the point was being fa facetous. >> speak for yourself. >> oh, out on the mooch. >> all right, shares of 8.5% after they announced they will buy at&t land lines in connecticut. despite this, skeptical traders don't see any reason to get another telecom name. mike. >> hey. we saw some unusual put activity in several of the telecom names frontier about 2300%. wind stream actually was the one that stuck out, though. ove

. >> the jc penneys and biteny be pitney bowes of the world. >> the fact of the matter year to date yougreat companies like exxon mobil that are only up in the -- exxon mobil just surpassed double digits but you have ibm that's negative, at&t that's just up, the stayed low -- i'm sorry, the stayed stable companies, are up just about 20% year to date. the high flyers, those are the ones that have moved the market. why don't i think the market can correct more than 20%? i think that the stable companies are likely to hold up a bit more than the high flyers. >> you're going to be shorting names in a second, i want to get to that. but herb to you and our excellent producer put this together, if you look at what's called quality rankings for stocks, with an a-plus quality ranking, have actually performed the worst out of any of the quality rankings and the group that's rated c, right, mid-to low quality stocks is up 57% this kind of stuff makes you nervous. >> it creates a level of complacency. it's become almost toos yees to make money. people want to get in, they joke about if i'm red flag

by the way, i would buy the stock of any place she goes, even jc penney if that miracle would ever occur. but otherwise i'm going to pass lulu, too dicey for this guy. finally on friday, something we ought to be remembering. and we get a number that might help keep interest rates down, although not aggressively anymore, and that's the producer price index. we have zero inflation in this country, we're going to get a zero on that number. and i think when people see that, maybe they'll remember that stocks do well when there's low inflation. as someone who hates equities when inflation is raging, i like stocks when inflation is tame. watch this number, don't lose sight of the fact as long as there's no inflation system, there's plenty of room for the fed to stay the course if it wants to. here's the bottom line, we got a picture perfect labor report today, at least if you're a bull. that allows us to focus on how companies are doing. not just doing a bull and bear debate about whether the fed's going to do this or that. my two favorite trades, not that those are important, but we can focus

if your name is not tesla, amazon, apple, greenberg, jc penney, drury, you're probably not getting all that much attention these days. some of america's best known companies have been studs as of late and nobody seems to be paying any attention. nobody except for the great dominic chu. dom? you stealth stud you. >> i'm trying not to laugh because i look at these stocks and i say to myself why aren't we covering these more. we're going to give you a snippet of a few. first of all drug company forest labs. a stock that's up 58% so far this year and if you take a look at shorter term performance of the stock, it's up again about 15% just over the last month. this company is going through its own strategic review trying to figure out how to cut costs and looking to buy back more shares. bullish story somewhere for these investors. another one we're talking about here is h&r block, one of the biggest tack preparers in the country, up 56% year to date an it's not tax season just yet but this company over the shorter term is up about 4% just in december alone. so as we approach tax season, th

some winners in today's session we'll point out supervalu, pulte group and nice job for jc penney.e of the other retailers are stronger in today's session as well. that does it for "power lunch." i'm sara eisen. "street signs" begins right now. >>> hello, everyone, i'm mandy drury, and welcome to "street signs." are you missing a gift this yis mass? well, you might be pointing the finger at fedex or u.p.s. back from the dead, no, we're not talking about zombies. we're talking steel. and is 2014 the year to buy dollars? well, one guest says it is america's turn to shine. and talking of shining, i'm joined today by tyler mathisen who is standing in for brian sullivan. >> mandy, thank you for having me. great to be with you. double duty. back to back. let's playwo

also, jc penney is rolling back the clock and hoping it's going to build its future.test growing iphone app ever. all those things and lots more, guys, coming up, top of the hour on "street signs." back to you. >> terrific, mandy. see you at 2:00. >>> it is "power house" time. steven saunders is back with us, managing broker with coldwell banker in seattle, washington, one of the most beautiful parts of the world. welcome back. >> good to see you. thank you. >> these stats are for the seattle proper area where the median sales price is about $707,000. but the average sale price is coming in at about $766,000. there's about four months' worth of inventory, and sales are up 5.3% this year. so let's take a look at our first listing. 2439 lorentz place. list price, $625,000, taxes, about $5,200, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and 2440 square feet. tell me more about it. >> it's located in a great neighborhood, the queen anne neighborhood, the premier neighborhood that's the closest to downtown seattle core. really the location is 110% here. this is a cute house. probably n

da vitae, jc penney and my con three of the winners today. >> all right. sue, get home safely, see you when you get back. that will do it for "power lunch." >> "street signs" right now. >>> will the fed deliver a nasty surprise this christmas? the chances the dreaded taper could come as soon as next week and how to play it if it happens. happy monday, welcome to "street signs." as we welcome back in the globe trotting mandy drury to the set. >> thank you. >> that's it. that was golf clap. your other hot topics what may be the best piece of economic news nobody else is talking about. if bitcoin succeeds will these two companies get sacked and we begin, our year-end quest to find the worst ceos in america, let us know who your candidates arep. mandy. >> thank you very much. great to be here. so far today the s&p 500 has traded above the all-time closing high but not yet above the intraday high. while the nasdaq hit a fresh 13.25 year high early on, how is that for getting specific and the s&p and dow broke eight-week winning streaks but starting this week wi

jc penney getting whacked today, not falling off any more than it had in the last couple of hours.n 8.5% to $8.85. it just, melissa, as you know, got moved into the s&p midcap 400. >> right. >> and now it's the worst performer today. despite those comps which people liked the other day, the stock's completely fallen out of bed. >> they're good but not good enough. >>> "street talk" time. we are talking stocks making big moves in today's session. >> up 1.2% to 89.67. it was added to goldman's bicyclist. the goldman note saying they see expanded profit margins as well as expanded free cash throw. >> look at conns. ticker c-o-n-n, and it is up by 21.5%. >> if sandy vilerly, our guest on monday, he said he loves it and owned it for a while. if you're listening, kudos to you. the stock's up to 70.93. record revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter. texas-based retailer. they sell everything from appliances to electronics. >> and a big credit arm which he liked. >> we made fun of the name. >> i know. >> conn credit. it just doesn't have a good -- if you're a marketer, that's not what you w

we'll point out supervalu, pulte group and nice job for jc penney. some of the other retailers are stronger in today's session as well. that does it for "power lunch." i'm sara eisen. "street signs" begins right now. >>> hello, everyone, i'm mandy drury, and welcome to "street signs." are you missing a gift this yis mass? well, you might be pointing the finger at fedex or u.p.s. back from the dead, no, we're not talking about zombies. we're talking steel. and is 2014 the year to buy dollars? well, one guest says it is america's turn to shine. and talking of shining, i'm joined today by tyler mathisen who is standing in for brian sullivan. >> mandy, thank you for having me. great to be with you. double duty. back to back. let's play two as they say, doubleheader. >>> let's check out the markets since monday. it's the first one after christmas, get that. we're pushing further into record territory for the s&p and the dow. there you see the dow industrials up 117 points at 16475. nasdaq with a very nice gain, getting up there close, almost to 40% for th

you've got jc penney, macy's, big concentration in the northeast. it snows at this time every year and christmas comes on the 25th every year. so some people are going to go out and brave it no matter what. >> you know, courtney, evan if people do show up for the last nine days, we're on the countdown at this point. even if people show up at this point, my guess is, the retailers who have had issues to this point, it's too late because they're nervous, they have all of this inventory. they're offering things at deep, deep discounts. even if they make the sales, they're not going to be profitable sales. >> reporter: exactly. and i think some consumers have actually gotten smarter over the years and started to realize that. and instead of bulking up on the black friday weekend, they wait until the end because they're taking advantage of those discounts that come out of desperation more or less. so while they do make the sale, it is in a much-compressed margin. and you've got folks who have waited until last minute and will pay whatever price they need

>> are we going to talk about jc penney next year? on what happens with mike ulman, because we all think he's temporary, the board says they are continuing to look for a replacement ceo, but they haven't given us anymore. i think if we get a replacement, then we'll talk about it. >> it's constant on cnbc relevant to the mine share. >> you're right. >> and i didn't put it in my predictions this year because i was kind of like -- >> done with jcp. >> i need a break. >> temporary and interim ceos has to be the worst idea ever. just choose a ceo. >> well, as of right now, he's the ceo. the board has come out and publicly said we are looking for a new ceo, but they have not given us a time frame. >> also, why would you do that to all of the employees. how can you get anything done when you say the person is temporary, right? >> they did bring him back. that was the thing, they had to stop the bleeding from johnson. and he was a stopgap. >> that's what he's done. >> by the way, i was going to say final question and i'll have one. where's ro

cheryl: take a look at shares of jc penney. after the company disclosed the sec is probing $800 million stock offering which occurred in september. an attempt to sure up cash position. they saw the sale as a sign of weakness. the sec wants information on the offering and the company's current liquidity level. adam: sticking with retail, shares of sears holding our up after the company announced it is pinning off the business. sears controlled by billionaire investor edward lambert. distributing all of its shares and the company has been struggling for years closing 300 retail stores back in 2010. cheryl: los angeles is ramping up the mortgage fight taking citigroup and wells fargo to court. the city alleges the banks engaged in mortgage discrimination that led to a high number of foreclosures in minority communities. they initially mixed mortgages in minority neighborhoods. but targeted the same people for predatory loans. the news today not affecting the stock. again, we are sitting near the accession highs for the market. ada

jc penney, which has been sort of the company we all keep watching as -- i don't know if it's a bella return story or not. we saw what happened with best buy last year and that was an amazing story. is jcp going to be in that category a year from now? >> i came on here and talked about best buy when he made his presentation and said, this guy's got it right, it'll work. they have it right at penneys, as right as they're going to get it. but, yes, it's getting better. they had a decent christmas, a good november. they're probably 85% on the product in the store right now. they'll be 90% some time in the spring. it will get gradually better. they've got the sg & a under control. they're not going to have expense problems. their gross margin will probably run 31% here in this quarter. things are just getting marginally better. >> we've got to run, but you were right on best buy. does the stock make sense anymore, though? it has run up tremendously. >> the best buy? >> yeah. >> i'm not saying it's a buy now. but they've got it right, they're doing it right. are they a long-term winner ag

john's bay or worthington and adjusting the home area where the prices are in sync with the jc penneyory? >> it is going to be that keeps sequentially showing signs of improvement. >> you said you liked the gap and thought they were doing a great job on the promotion side. i don't understand the gap. i don't know who is shopping at the gap anymore? >> i was in there store on 34th street last night right at around 10:30, watching everybody close up. you have the tourist there, the mom there and the daughter there. i think they have the fashion more right today than in the past. >> we'll take that to the back. happy holidays dana. thank you so much. >>> coming up, what janet yellen brings to the table in the new year. more from our guest host. for next year, the 100-year anniversary for the fed and coming up on "squawk on the street," the holiday p shoing season is coming to an end. the retail roundup. the latest on amazon and the tech trade. the energy in one gs is also enough to keep your smartphone running for how long? 30 days? 300 days? 3,000 days? the answer is... 3,000 days. beca

. >> you probably hope you don't have jc penney as your anchor tenant, right? >> yeah.our world, we try to stay with the top flight brands, neiman marcus, bloomingdales, macy's. >> need a big food court? >> not necessarily. food courts are a part of the business depending on which markets you're trying to serve. i think great sit-down restaurants with the complement of food course uses and other unique food offerings that really speak to different groups is very important to have as part of the offering of your shopping development. >> all right. just -- is there -- between now and the next five years, do you see more malls in the country? or will we will down 10%, 15%? >> i would say we'll be closer to being down 10% to 15% than being on the upswing. some of the older shopping centers, the ones that haven't kept current with the times don't have current stores that are speaking to the shopping public today are the ones really going to suffer. >> all right. thank you. merry christmas, i hope you have a great season, happy new year, happy holiday. make sure i cover all m

we're also watching shares of jc penney today.ent a letter to the retailer seeking more details on the liquidity, cash position and debt as well as the late september secondary stock offering. that offering was at the center of a shareholder lawsuit. >>> and australian airline faces an uncertain future. after an unexpected first half loss followed by a downgrade of standard & poors. quantas has asked the government for help. >>> president obama says the minimum wage should be increased but could a mandatory wage hike do more harm than good? that's -- i'm sorry, jared, that certainly is sort of a leading question. and i want to talk to you seriously about it because i read your stuff. and i've been making points recently, jared, you might like. jared bernstein, the senior fellow at the center for senior budget policies, also former chief economist for my hero, joe biden. >> another great joe. >> joe, we sent him to china, it's done, boom, 24 hours, everything's fine. right? pats a couple people on the back. i don't know. we need mo

. >> and even jc penney you think it's happening. >> it's happening. it's a turn around.ke turning around a battleship. the story on pennney's. everyone has to watch the gross margin. >> i was talking to people who say they get great discounts for coming in. maybe that's what they need to do. >> and the other thing, they're really changing the mix of business. really refocusing back on some of their national brands and private brands. and i think really what you're going to have to watch. i think the apparel business has come back. their home business has always been one of their most profitable areas and productive areas. if that business can get back on track, that went through a lot of for lack of a better word, damage under the old regime and getting that business repositioned and re -- getting it back to being the kind of profitable business it was, it drives the consumer into the store where she purchases that and she's buying apparel. >> another she -- and specialty not so good. >> how could it be? i walk the mall and i'm not going to name names, but the competitor

tell me about this >> jc penney august bella cookware set, the stainless steel one is normally $100,like the non-city the bella non-stick set is on sale for $129, normally $280. >> okay. bedding, always good to kind of stock up on that stuff. >> right. if your new year's resolution is to make sure all your sheets match for once, a good thing, kohl's, all sale, all bedding, not just sheets, comforters and mattress pads and pillows as well. >> you have to be really organized for this next one, but if, do you you get a good price on wrapping paper. >> everyone knows they should buy the wrapping paper after the holiday because that's when you get the great deal. the container store has something they called gift wrapped wonder land, all types of gift wrap, bows, ribbons, these little gift sacks and boxes and wrapping paper, you get it for pennies, clearance, rather than, always bugs me so much to spend $6 on bow. >> especially when you know what it will cost the day after crist malls. >> target has a clearance on holiday storage as well. so these are nifty little box, you can organize yo