a good data point like lennars is going to continue to fuel that.me point we get the realization, the turn, while it might be here, it's not a step change and we're not doubling housing sales any time soon. >> michael, thanks for the bottom line, with stifel nicolaus. trade here? >> i don't know why he doesn't have a sell on it. it's pure momentum. everything he says is negative. valuation fundamentals. i would get out of the sector. >> caution is different than -- >> you can't fight momentum. right now you have to let it go. >> it would be fair. >> i would get out of the sector. if i owned these stocks, i don't, i'd get out of the sector. i'd rather play it through what we're going to talk about next. >> patty? >> i'm with him. if i'm going to play it, i'm going to play it through home depot. >> cortes? >> it's an important part of the momentum. i agree with michael, the analyst, that the sector is ahead of itself but had an incredible six-month run. the most concerning thing is the fact that building materials are not keeping pace. look at copper

still, lennar's c.e.o. calls the recovery erratic, but notes the builder is able to raise prices while reducing its inventory of unsold homes. with today's 4.7% rally, lennar stock is at its highest price since the summer of 2007. more analysis of lennar's stock chart under the "blogs" tab at nbr.com. other builder stocks caught bids off the lennar optimism. ryland was up 4%, pulte rallied 3%, and d.r. horton finished up 2%. energy shares were under pressure after mcmoran exploration announced finishing work on a key well in the gulf of mexico is being delayed because of equipment problems. that sent shares plummeting, down 7.5%. volume jumped ten times normal. the well in question had been expected to be finished by the end of this week. coal stocks were also dropping. the environmental protection agency proposed new limits on emissions from new power plants. that could hurt demand for new coal power stations. patriot coal fell more than 3.5%, peabody was down almost 2%, alpha natural resources dropped 1%.

lennar knocked the cover off the ball. 33% increase in orders. halleluiah.omes was an outlier. don't miss the ceo of toll brothers. bob yearley will be out with maria. bill and marimaria, energy stoc are down. there's your problem sector. >> it had been a leader for a while. thank you, bob. meanwhile the dollar index is hovering through its intraday low level. the dollar index dipping at fed chairman bernanke's remarks this week, leaving the door open to further quantitative easing. is the dollar at the risk of weakened further? well, rich bernstein says, no. we found a dollar. >> yeah. rich things the u.s. dollar will benefit greatly over the next several years. rich joins us right now along with meg mcclellan. she's head of u.s. fixed income. meg, good to see you. thanking for joining us. what kind of a move are you expecting? >> well, in the short term, i'm not a good short-term trader. i have no idea. but think over the next three, five, seven years we will see the dollar meaningfully appreciate. pretty much reversing what we've seen in the past decade o

the real story with lennar, solid top line performance.d developments from the margin standpoint and good order growth is universally strong and reinforcing the view on the housing market. we think the read through of lennar, an excellent company is also applicable to the broader builders. >> you're there at 225. as you have watched the bond yields rallied a bit here, how much does that infuse in the rates and the ability to get an affordable mortgage? >> there's an incredibly high level of affordability in the housing market so we don't see higher rates as an impediment to a recovery in the housing market at this juncture. >> clearly optimistic about where we are and traveled a long way with the stocks and home builders index doubled since october last year. i see lennar in particular, pretty close to the $29 price target that you have. i mean, are there further capital gains of people to make in the stocks or are we approaching fair value? >> the sector's had a really big move, especially on a year to date basis but if you look at it on

lennar today, quite different from k.b. homes which posted a bigger than expected loss. >> reporter: that's right. there was a lot of trepidation going into lennar's earnings today because of what we saw last week with k.b. home. it was the reverse. lennar coming in well above expectations. they do have a rhialto part of their business. that boosted earnings by $9 billion. what analysts are saying about lennar, they timed the market well. this is a company specific earning. looking back at k.b., a lot of people thought they were going to do better because they do build on the lower end of the market. again, as i keep saying, they are in competition with foreclosures. disstressed properties. that could have been what hurt k.b. as well. if you're wondering why i'm standing in t.w. perry, which is a lumber and building supply store, we are going to be talking about one sector of the market that's really doing well. that's home remodeling. that will be later on in "power lunch." >> we look forward to that very much. thanks, dia

the highest profit margin in the industry, goes to lennar.ne of the big public companies that make 21% on what they sell. mandy. >> thanks, brian. that's really interesting especially when we saw the lennar numbers this morning. steve weiss is with us here on set. we're trying to figure out which stocks are going to be the share. steve, which one do you think is going to get there first? >> i'm going to go with priceline. not because i think it's the best investment but it's the closest, number one. it's not overvalued. 36 times thisser yoo, -- this year, 19 times next year. say i that because they're closest to the target. however, if i talk fundamentals, who deserves to be there, it's apple. so it's tied between the two. >> why's that? >> it's the cheapest stock. right now on a forward earnings basis, only 11, 12 times. for the type of growth they're seeing, that's almost unprecedented. >> do you care? >> i care. >> we care about the numbers in the media, round numbers. do you care as an investor about these ronald numbers? >> i could care

kb home, lennar or pultegroup? the "dividend" pays off after the break. >>> just before the break, as part of the dividend, we asked which home builder stock has shot up more than 50% so far this year? kb home, lennar or pultegroup? now, the payoff. kb home. >>> welcome back to "closing bell." i'm seema mody here at the nasdaq. while apple might be posting negative gains -- is in negative territory, excuse me, we're still seeing the technology sector post gains. a nice recovery after yesterday's sell-off with microsoft and yahoo!. pandora, missing q-4 estimates, issuing weak guidance. that being a huge red flag for investors. two downgrades today. raymond james downgrading that stock. we also have citigroup lowering their rating to neutral from buy. maria, the stock down 22%. >> thank you so much, seema. just 20 minutes before the closing bell sounds. nasdaq on course to snap a three-day losing streak today. renewed optimism that greece's debt restructuring will go through. that certainly put a floor and strength i

same with lennar next week. but barron is looking for kb home to report a loss due to hefty interest costs and lennar to exceed expectations. and he predicts investors will increasingly focus on that kind of relative performance in the coming year. >> the companies that are losing money, i think investors are going to think twice about owning those. >> reporter: which companies do well may also depend on how much business they do in the 100 markets where the national association of home builders says the economic foundation is strongest and prices are rising. darren gersh, "nightly business report," washington. >> susie: the world's largest >> susie: the world's largest delivery company is getting bigger. u.p.s. is buying dutch shipping firm t.n.t. express for almost $7 billion. u.p.s. is confident the all-cash bid can overcome any european union regulatory hurdles. it has even agreed to a reverse break-up fee, where u.p.s. would pay t.n.t. roughly $260 million if the deal is blocked. u.p.s. is counting on the d

lennar came up higher. that's a good sign. kb home was a little bit below that. so far spring home buying is looking good, but about in line with what people were expected. >> all right. so no surprises in terms of spring buys. this is a very important season for the group. >> right. so far the numbers are good. the problem is the street's been expecting them to come in good. >> probably even more important to talk about is the end of the month, end of the quarter. a lot of different positioning going on in terms of the end of the first quarter. what are you expecting? >> i think fie biand large we've got a great quarter. i think what i'm worried about are the energy stocks. the crummy natural gas prices are putting a lot of pressure because a good component of energy stocks are natural gas. so not only are energy stocks down but they've been going down for days on end. the s&p has been going up. there you go. you see that chart? that's one month. the green line is energy stocks, the top line is s&p. the energy stocks which is 12% of that is decoupling. that's wh

horton, why don't you talk about those and why you have holds on lennar, toll, k.b.lte. >> yeah, sure, well, the way to look at this is as we go from just pricing in whether recovery is happening at all, the next stage will be much longer. what is the recovery going to look like, what are the year over year growth rates going to look like? you want the builders with quality balance sheets that can invest into the recovery and have less land supply sitting on their books that might be legacy leftover from the boom, and that's why we like mdc and d.r. horton. >> can you explain how you value these stocks? aren't they traditionally valued on book to loan value, they own land and homes, isn't it a mult mall to book value the way you look at it, is it at historically high or low levels, where are we? >> you have to value them on price to book. they aren't normal companies with ongoing earning streams they are like private equity land funds which is why you have to use price to book. the quality names like d.r. horton are trading 1.4 times, that number could go to 1.6 time

we have a great program for them all set up with a new lennar development at candlestick park. i think they will recognize that and come back. >> was there anything magical that happened in your district as a result of the world series? >> i imagine there were a lot of districts in district 7 he sat and cried when they watched the celebration like i did. i think those are the magical moments. a lot of parents and children region that whole week of the world series was one i will never forget, particularly the day of the parade. it was not just my district. that was a magical time for this region. >> in your regdistrict, deal have any particular projects to give us insight on? >> one was a basic infrastructure thing that was a big deal. san francisco circle. not a lot of people realize that more cars travel through one of those intersections than any other in san francisco. we had to shut that down and completely rebuild the intersection for the muni winds utilities, and overheads. we pulled it off. we got through it. now we have pedestrians walking through safely. we have the t

. >>> homebuilders rallied after better-than-expected earnings report from lennar, despite dismal housing data. >>> apple shies hit an all-time high above $616. meanwhile this morning, apple offered a refund to australian buyers of its new ipad after a 4g incompatibility issue. >>> fresh off a highly publicized phone hacking scandal, rupert murdoch's news corp. is facing another controversy over allegations it ran a secret sabotage unit that, among other things, promoted piracy of its australian pay tv rivals. >>> kohler is retreating from rush limbaugh's radio program after his on-air attack of a graduate student who testified in favorinsurer-provided contraception coverage. >>> and finally, j.k. rowling has done it again. she's conjured up another realm in her "harry potter" empire. the website pottermore where ebooks of the popular series will be sold exclusively. and unlike other sellers, "harry potter" ebooks will be compatible on all major ereaders. >>> coming up, the mavericks top the rockets, the sabres slay the caps and the panthers claw the canadiens. >>> plus, kobe bryant comes

. >> also, home builder lennar reporting first quarter profits.also reporting improved profit margins. the futures this morning after yesterday's big gains. can you see right now those dow futures up by about 31 points. this comes after the third biggest day of gains for the dow this year. >> we are focusing on investi investing in america. florida governor rick scott has an opinion or two. thanks for being here. >> nice to be here. >> not all governors have a ceo background. governors, unlike senator, are ceos more than most people in congress. the buck stops where you are. >> all decisions. >> we had a delaware governor that came in, he happens to be on the our side of the aisle but he's very conscious of balancing budgets, living within means. >> if you want jobs to grow you better have the lowest taxes, less regulation, less litigation. we're going to do it. we're going to make it difficult for everyone else. >> i would say what's good for states is good for the federal government. what you said low taxes, friendly business. but you can't move

charity suicide prevention line in two thousand and eleven calls here doubled calls like one that a lennar picked up from another standing on the fifth floor of a building threatening to jump she had a family member it sowed with it it was hand the cards and receive the benefit and this benefit then if it was about the cards and she was about to lose its all and said there's nothing they can do what can i do to help what can i do to help myself into their that are suffering more to charity to is short of money it's daunting is unsure of their future although many greeks grudgingly accept the need for austerity they're adamant that m.p.'s should combine compassion with the cuts the main problem now the funding is throughout the day because this was the one thing it's like for people they've decided before the problem of the market in the house for everyone agrees that greece's road to recovery will be long and painful but greater and greater numbers of greeks worry that the debt their country is in could cost their families much more than just money tom barton party. but from one country in

sears has been on that list for sometime, but lennar, we new a lot of them were seeing the big runs andrting them. does that this cause you to think they could be higher? >> since october, i have been advocating getting back into the home builders. it went down and tested their lows and most likely at a secular bottom in housing prices and i don't think you should be trying to short them. it looks to me they are going up. it's not a trade, but an investment. >> you have been looking at amd. >> you look at the tech names and you look to intel and some of the names. the fact that they are short doesn't surprise you, but it's moving up despite the fact that the numbers are not fantastic. it seems like it is moving up with a sentiment attached to the rest of the chips. i would stay away. >> obviously when you take a look at this information, this could be just one side of the trades in the options market. what have you been noticing in terms of activity on these shares? >> when you look at the short interest, if there is a lot of open interest in options, why is that? two of the most common

breaking out into other regions, dr horton and lennar.ow this was the first in a slew of housing data we're getting this week. housing starts tomorrow. then existing and new home sales later in the week. a look back at february, one thing we will look at closely is if all this warm weather we are having pulled spring demand to jn and february. we are talking about that on the blog as well. maria some. >> thank you so much, diana. get ready for another hollywood blockbuster, meanwhile. >> five, four, three, two, one. >> coming up, breaking down the big winners and losers in the release of hunger games. >>> and race for the republican presidential nomination, is ron paul staying in the race, or will he bow out and support one of his rivals. we will ask him next. cannot be contained. [ clang ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer. all in one account. keep watch on the markets. or use our exclusive tools to help find ideas. it's powerful, easy-to-use technology for trading stocks, options, and futures. keep

home prices dropped for a fifth straight month, however, home builder lennar reported better than firster surge in orders in three quarters. that sent shares up nearly 5%. that's it for cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." the miami herald is reporting new information about trayvon martin's school record, a record that includes three suspensions. a columnist for the "new york times" and a reporter for the "washington post." sherry, i was talking to you just a few moments ago. you've been doing hardnose reporting on this story. going through all the sources that have been reported, they've actually been covered in the various newspapers, including the orlando sentinel. where is the hard news coming out of regarding the exact incident that occurred a month ago that led to the death of trayvon martin? >> chris, what we're seeing is the narrative of this story is shifting. what we're finding out, because a police report has been leaked yesterday to the orlando sentinel, we're hearing george zimmerm zimmerman's version of events that nigh

look at one-week of lennar. after the selloff on tuesday, it's been a nice hike upward.12% in the last week. on the downside i wanted to talk about a few key internet and consumer names not catching a bid. we have expedia, second worst in the s&p. amazon also not doing particularly well. but i also wanted to compare year-to-date. expedia up almost 9.5% year-to-date. amazon 6.75%. and that's lagging the broader nasdaq composite which is up almost 15%. just an interesting note how those two widely held names are lagging the overall index. of course gold and other metals closing in the open. sharon epperson at the nymex. hey, sharon. >> hey, brian. gold is ending the week on a slightly higher note. we've seen a reversal in gold and silver today. keep in mind traders are now focused on the week ahead and the weekend ahead. and of course iran concerns continue to percolate around this market. we're also hearing there is speculation that after india reduced its reserve bank ratio that we might see the reserve requirement for china lowered in the week ahead as well. and perhaps

want to hear what lennar has to say on tuesday. then we'll find out whether the disappointments is really for the whole industry. i want to focus on bats because let's just call it an embarrassment here. bats is a stock exchange competition with the nyse nasdaq. we're young, fast, efficient, we have better systems. so they go public today. ipo $16. comes out first trade that happens in the morning $15.25. that's a disappointment, but what's really a disappointment. put it up. there was effectively only one trade. the initial trade. after that the system crashed over there. we're trying to figure out exactly what happened, mandy. frankly, we don't know. i tell you, there was only one trade right there at 15.25. th series of trades at pennies. now it's not possible, mandy, you have a series of trades with pennies. they were obviously erroneous. regardless, this is an embarrassment. you're a stock exchange, you're going public, and you're trading your stock on your own exchange and it's the only stock on your exchange. you got to figu

lennar held up well in the last few days on a terrific earnings report. kb lower, we're starting to see splits in the group as it looks like some are winning over some of the others. finally, i wanted to show you the vix. people saying it's gone from 14 to 17 this week, isn't that a big deal. i keep insisting it's not. you don't want to look at the cash vix, sue, at 17. you want to look further out. look all the way into october. it's at 26. these numbers have not changed here that much in the last several weeks. and that's what i mean when i say bottom line here is volatility going out more than the front contract really is not that high. sue, back to you. >> very good observation. thank you very much, bob. now some breaking news. the results from the $29 billion auction in 7-year notes, rick santelli's tracking the action for us at the cme. hi, rick. >> hi, sue. don't you just love auctions? well, this 7-year auction $29 billion, the yield 1.59. the wi was trading 158.50 offered 158 so we tailed a bit. 10 auction average bid-to-cover 2.86, this auction,

take a look at dr horton up and lennar up 5.3%.trong moves here two days in a row for housing stocks. i'm a little obsessed with sears holdings. i'm not sure why. not an easy one to understand with a company with sales slipping so much, but it's up more than 140% year-to-date and up another 4.5% today. if you're in it, you love it. let's go to gold. and other metals. bertha coombs at the nymex. hey, bertha. >> hey, brian. gold rebounding after that big drop earlier this week. today really it's been moving along with the euro very strong today on the hopes for that greek swap deal tonight. when you take a look at gold and other currencies in the euro, gold and euros has the weak point today as mario draghi, ecb head said, he doesn't see more need for quantitative easing there, but gold and yen is what's on fire these days. dennis gartman telling me in fact that's his real long buy. it's really very strong right now. as far as the rest of the metals, recovery there as well. if you look back three years, silver has been the outperform

lennar is out on monday too so it gives you a little better take on perhaps if it spreads throughout other home builders the kind of kb thing we saw today they'll be out tuesday and more of a southeast presence. >> okay. >> so we can get a better sense of geography balance there too. >> thanks so much. patty edwards, trade to home builders or those that service the home builders whether home depot or lowe's? >> you know, if i was going to be in the space all i would be in home depot i think they are by far the winner. as he mentioned, it's the people who are staying in their homes, can't afford to move. plus you've got the foreclosures that have to be refurbished. that is $6800 a house. you start adding that up over time, that is still going to be a tailwind for home depot. >> next up on the halftime report the european markets minutes away from closing for the week and it could have a big impact on the rest of our trading day. perhaps where we go on monday. details after the break. how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 in

brothers is just a remarkable growth engine that also has a fabulous balance sheet and stuart miller at lennarad who i really respect mr. miller has done a fantastic jock. >> what's on "mad" tonight? >> look, these are hot. we have high-yielding natural oil and gas. here's the deal. this is a 9% yielder. i got to find out if that 9% is safe. if it is, wow. you got a really good story going. >> right. >> it's hard to find. >> brian, over to you. >>> all right, melissa, and jim, thank you. we've got another big hour of "squawk on the street" ahead. check this out. representative ron paul is going to be with us. obviously we'll talk about his presidential bid, but qe-3, is it possible, jpmorgan's tom lee has one stat that to him is probably the most bullish stat for the s&p 500 that i've heard and maybe he's heard in a while. we'll find out what that is and john rogers with a new stock pick and here's your hit, tweets, you can tweet me and see if you can guess it, the ticker symbol is the same as a food additive you generally do not want in your dinner. see if you can figure that one out. big hou

i'll get some information to you a little further but, number two, lennar, which is a big competitor,is is company specific or not. but the street is not expecting these kinds of lousy numbers. they're expecting much better numbers. the only thing i would say, carl, is these only go through the end of february. spring home buying season is february, march, april and into may. >> right. >> so it's still a little bit early. >> just looking at some of the s&p losers, i mean, housing is taking it on the chin. >> that's what i mean. if it wasn't for bats this is the big story today. >> thanks very much bob pisani. not every day that you get a single stock circuit breaker on a name as liquid and popular as apple. let's bring in john fort who can talk about the stock being halted briefly earlier today. hey, john. >> hey, carl. yeah. i talked to apple. you know, how apple likes to not say anything that they hadn't planned to say. but the sense that i got from them, no news on their end this morning. that would account for any kind of strange trading pretty much directed us to talk to nasdaq a