for example, notice to ensure -- in order to ensure lennar's continued interest in completion, lennar may not close sale until block 49 is completed. should the deal fall apart before the land is conveyed, lennar goes back to providing 50% ami units within their market rate project as was contemplated before the sixth amendment to the dda was executed. should there be problems after the land is conveyed, meaning that either the ground lease is not -- never executed or [speaker not understood], then agreements may be terminated and the agency and the developer have a 60-day period to file tentative arrangements to complete the project. if no arrangements are made [speaker not understood], ground lease block 49 to lennar and it will be their obligation to complete the project and enter into agreements that substantially act as vertical lease development agreement and option to ground lease or subsequent ground lease as it is before you today. so, the same terms that amco has. the small business and work force information has not changed since last october's schematic design presentation

miami-based lennar down 15% from the 5-week why. ceo stewart miller said of q1 earnings, they saw healthy increases. you may recall star analyst on the "half time" report a month ago saying the recovery had taken a pause but was revving up again. >> i think we're back to seeing very strong activity throughout the country despite the bad weather and nirvana is not far around the corner. i think we're going see things rip when we see the weather thaw and the consumers are coming out. >> now, i speak with ivy yesterday about the correction in the builder stock. she told me she is still bullish on the fund males but that traders are not seeing what they might have anticipated for the season. quote, we think housing starts will be definitely at least up double digits. we know the builders are bringing a significant amount to the product market. i guess the expectations have got so negative and i think it's piling on bearish sentiment with fed chairman yellen also indicate that the fed could tighten sooner. she admitted maybe spring is no

lennar and kb have a smile on your face this week, i bet?> actually, we're very big believers in the spring selling season. we'll point out a couple of things, very strong demand in the west coast, california, good, with sustained demand in texas, huge rebound in the florida market. we would be buyers today on lennar, below 40. great entry point. pulte is another name we really like and we think kb home at $18 is an excellent entry point. so we like these stocks, the market's taking a breather. there's uncertainty about the interest rate environment. i agree with the prior guest, interest rates are an overhang on the group. but the fundamentals and earnings growth is coming to the surface. the news is going to be better. that's going to drive share prices higher when these guys deliver excellent earnings reports. we also like the building products guys too. they're taking a pause. we think they will benefit from the surge in housing. where are we cautious? commercial. you don't see a rebound in commercial construction yet? that's where we're

today it is lennar.ge selling price or the contract price was up about 10% year over year. company making somewhat cautious comments about the spring selling season. but the stock is rising nonetheless. they're actually coming out and saying that they expect things to continue to improve through the rest of the year. another earnings report crossing the tape this morning comes from the food giant conagra. a profit of 62 cents. that topped the wall street consensus by two cents a share. c conagra dealing with operational challenges but seeing pockets of strength as the year progresses. some potentially good news for the auto maker tesla and it could use some. just days after new jersey banned tesla from selling directly to consumers, arizona lawmakers are considering a bill that will lift a similar ban in the state. it is only a handful of states that had such a ban in effect. a state senate panel approved the bill yesterday. it is, of course, facing opposition from traditional auto makers and dealers. we

i want to put up the numbers for lennar.but the rest numbers were spectacular. average selling price 18% up. a tremendous number. gross margins 25%. i'm the son of a home builder, i grew up in this business. a company like that 25% gross margins? that's a tremendous number overall. and here's the most important thing stuart miller said sequential improvement month over month was continuing. that's very important. he said, i don't know what it's going to look like but he clearly indicated stuff was improving month over month. in terms of the retail numbers it's another bring-down day. i'm tired of talking about it already, but cato brought the numbers down for 2014 big time. i'm talking 25% below expectations. those are huge takedowns overall and even burlington guided lower. specialty has been a total mess this year and it doesn't matter, trendy, untrendy, discount, not discounted, it doesn't matter everybody's lowered guidance. ann taylor, l-brands, tjx everybody here. the nonaffluent consumer isn't spending much. if things

lennar and kb, back to back. what's not to like out of those? >> nothing. think you have to like what you're hearing. talking about new orders and the ability to have pricing power as well. this is something that they telegraph to us long ago, though, scott. this isn't something that just got released starting yesterday and today. they've been telling us for quite some time they have pricing power, they've been able to get through some of the inventory. that's been low as well. now we're starting to show the orders. i think many of these names have plenty of upside. >> the problem is, pete, you've got rising rates. that's going to remain a significant headwind on the space. look at the stocks. >> i saw -- i listened to what diana was saying. i think folks, and i talk to rel ors who tale me all the time, people are being able -- figuring out a way to get their arms around this issue because it's still the lower end. it's not the lowest end of 3 1/2%. but it's the very low end. at 4 1/2%, 5%, people just have to understand that's the new normal. that's going

while new home builder lennar sold off by 2%. both reported selling more homes at higher prices. in the broader housing market-- the national association of realtors reports: sales of previously owned houses--- fell .4% in february as nasty weather and rising prices slowed home buying. "i don't think the weather was the main factor, even though across the country temperatures are lower than normal, temperatures were actually above normal in a lot of places, temperatures were above normal in alot of places that account for much of the housing activity." "the other piece of the story is that inventories are down pretty signficantly, there aren't that many options out there for buyers who are looking." its a different kind of march madness as competition for your gardening green begins to blossom. discount retailer wal- mart plans to prune the profits of home depot and lowe's with the rollout of more outdoor living and lawn and garden items. the 2 home improvement giants are taking walmart's move very seriously because spring sales are big part of the bottom line. americans are chan

conagri foods and homeowner lennar are out before the opening bell.ike is out after the close. >>> german chancellor angela merkel says economic sanctions could be brought against russia and eu leaders will agree on further sanctions at today's summit. this after the u.s. president barack obama says there would be no military involvement in ukraine. russia's deputy foreign minister warned it could impose tit for tat sanctions on u.s. officials. meanwhile, pro russian forces have been advancing again in crimea taking an additional two ukrainian bases. julia chatterley is in brussels where the ukraine situation is set to dominate the agenda for today's meeting of the eu leaders. as mentioned, nbc's jim maceda is with us out of moscow. julia, let's head to you first with the eu minister's meeting and at the same time you have russia moving ahead to further absorb crimea. what can the eu leaders actually do? >> well, louise, i think it's interesting the comments of lang la merkel suggesting they're going to show they're ready to step up the sanctions shou

it's not shown on the screen here, but it's, it was an idea that, frankly, one of our competitors, lennar it's this idea of another living suite in the house. that particular floor plan that you had if florida has it. so if you have in-laws coming to visit or stay, elderly parents, children coming back, guests coming, there's actually a whole suite with a living room, kitchenette and bedroom, its own bath. liz: that's called the greg brady i need my own space area. [laughter] thank you very much. i think the headline here is while he says the hunt from last year's behind us, you believe there will be some surprises, positive ones, during the current quarters. >> i think so. liz: we'll be watching hovnanian's stock. thank you so much. ara hovnanian, ceo and president. closing bell, we're 15 minutes away. still seeing a decent rally here. has apple under tim cook's leadership lost its way even as the tech giant gets ready to unveil new iphones, new ipads and new fill in the blanks here? the author of the controversial new book "haunted empire: after apple's steve jobs," coming right up. muc

. >> lennar was great performer when it came out with its own numbers.er then. existing home sales were off chose colors colors, i think everybody is -- [closing bell ringing] everybody is ready to have a couple of beers. all the excitement seemed to be last weekend at least for now. not a lot going on this weekend. all indices are down. nasdaq is the biggest loser of the day. down over a full percentage point. dow jones less so. there was a big turn around with regard to all of these markets. s&p well off its mark as well, down about six points. russell 2000, small and mid-sized caps, hit pretty hard. half a percentage point. again i think investors are glad, cheryl, to see this week is over. cheryl: it has been a very volatile week, david, for all of us. we have big headlines crossing. first facebook founder and ceo mark zuckerberg is among a group of tech titans about

we're buying into housing sector stocks, lennar in particular. we'll be talking to john allison from the cato institute. he of course really turned bb&t into one of the biggest banks in the country, one of the biggest regional banks in the country. he knows loans. he is seeing an increase in loans particularly to small and mid-sized companies. as the fed begins to open up credit, when it begins to borrow less in order to buy fewer bond that gives more credit to the private sector, don't you think, perhaps that credit will be put to use and that's going to help homebuilders? >> i definitely think that could be one positive going out the next few months and even coup years now. i think when we talk about the home building sector, one etf, more of a basket of stocks. itb. the other guest mentioned we had good news. kbh homes. kbh stock ticker symbol had better-than-expected earnings report. kind of lifted that sector in the green despite the broad market selloff. i think overall, homebuilders especially once we started tapering expectations have bee

miami-based lennar down as well. they saw healthy increases and the ceo there was optimistic about the housing recovery. you may recall ivy zelman on just about a month ago, saying housing nirvana had taken a pause but was right around the corner. i spoke with her yesterday about the correction in the builders' stocks. she told me she is bullish on the fundamentals but traders are not seeing what they might have anticipated for the season. she says quote, we think housing starts will be definitely at least up double digits. we know the builders are bringing a significant amount of new product to market so i guess the expectations have just gotten so negative and i think that it's piling on bearish sentiment with fed chair janet yellen indicating the fed could tighten sooner. she mentioned it isn't a boom but it is solid in the majority of markets. she and other analysts say now is a great buying opportunity although we could see the housing market get a little worse before it gets a little better. more online realty

seeboard, coca-cola, mensa, lennar, builds houses and communities. what about hotels?what about the marriott? what about some of the other sectors like, i don't know, beer or some of the other sectors that could maybe potentially take advantage of this once it opens up? >> well, all of those, mandy, makes sense. take, for instance, wasco, one of our largest holdings that sell air conditioning. the entire country of cuba will need air conditioned, or some of the companies, you mentioned infrastructure. for instance, martin marietta materials. and we own two companies that are in the aggregate business. enormous trade with cuba. >> got to leave it there. >> culpa holdings, of course, operates the airline to currently operates, has flights to cuba. so their traffic will have a significant increase. >> another one to watch. tom, thank you very much for filling us in. we have breaking news now with john howard. >> reporter: mandy, the white house is announcing what it considers very welcome news about the affordable care act, which is that with four days left before america

check out shares of lennar. revenues better than expected. they sold 13% more homes. in fact, the average closing price also up about 10,000 bucks year over year. and they are optimistic the housing market will continue to recover. >> mortgage rates spiking following fed chair janet yellin's speech yesterday, but week over week, they're still down slightly. diana olick is here. diana, as many of our viewers are sure of the situation, if you're thinking of buying or refinancing your home, where do things stand? do you move now? >> reporter: well, if you're talking about refinancing, look, refinances are down over 60% from a year ago, because people who already financed at a 3.5% rate certainly aren't going to do so now at a 4.5% rate. and we've seen these rates kind of hover between 3.75 and 4.5%, and you said they were down from a week ago, they're actually up today. nose freddie mac numbers are lagging. mortgage rates spiked after the fed spoke yesterday. so if you're going to refinance, you would have to have a much higher rate. so the odds are, no. as for home buye

the strength is carrying over into names like lennar, pulte, d.r., horton. all among the best performers in the s&p 500 so far today. tyler, back over to you. >> dom, thank you very much. it is time for our weekly wednesday segment the power pitch where founders of companies get 60 seconds and just 60 seconds to convince a panel of experts that they have the next big thing. >> we've got three patents on it. our tag line is you just became a better golfer. >> jack nicklaus once said a perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke. we're here to change that by optimizing the only piece of equipment you use on every single shot, a golf ball. this is what you've been using for the last 30 years. and this is what you'll be using the next 30 years. the benefit of our hollow core technology are simple. straighter shots off the tee into the green and a truer line on the putting surface. just swing and let the ball dot the rest. the global golf ball market is an estimated $1.5 billion. with a product that's the first and only one of its kind that's been tested a

it sold more homes at higher prices, and looking ahead, lennar says it is optimistic they will continue guess.umber seven, shares plunged after it forecast a loss for the first quarter. sales remain under pressure, citing weakness at its north american stores. no one wears guess jeans anymore. >> exactly. >> someone does. they have them in europe. >> people in spain, i've noticed. at number six -- u.s. solar. 4 christ received target upgrades after announcing it expects 2014 booking to match -- 24 target upgrades after announcing it expects 2014 booking to match -- >> number 5 -- microsoft. microsoft will debut a new version of the ipad at an event next week in san francisco. we were scoffing at this yesterday, right? >> morgan stanley thinks it will be popular. >> the reason i have an ipad is so i can do non-office things. i don't ever want to do a spreadsheet on my ipad. >> isn't one of the growth markets for apple that it's trying to get more corporations? >> i guess. i got my ipad from work and i still don't use it for work. >> there is something sacrilegious about doing work on it.

. >> tonight, you have lennar in terms of earnings.y have to say. >> that was a big move today, those shares. >> the stock's pulled back a little bit on the yellen commentary. and i was say that also, you're looking at data. u.s. data. initial claims and existing home sales and leading indicators. >> 315,000 was the number last week. incredibly low. it points to strength in the labor market. >> i think we're going to see about 330 this time coming around. averages somewhere between 320 and 330. i think yellen learned -- that chair's a little different than the vice chair chair. really. >> i also want to point out, you're watching this, as well. niking earnings are out tomorrow. and that's a good global benchmark. western europe has been a bright spot for them. >> thank you so much for your time this afternoon. great panel. >>> and "fast money" is coming up in a few moments. melissa lee joins us with a preview. >> hey, kelly. all about yellen today. but there might actually be a bigger concern amongst institutional investors on the stre

we'll here from lennar and nike on thursday. about the banks and how much capital they might be allowed to return to shareholders. a lot of people, whether it's the hedge funds or more broadly, near the financials to do well for this market to do well. how important is this week and what we hear from the fed? >> there are two important dates. this thursday you will get the results of the stress test, which is how much capital the banks have but it won't be until next week that we actually know how much of that capital the fed has approved for banks to return to shareholders. expectations across the board are pretty low because they think that the populist sentiment against wall street is still so strong that taking that money and taking it away from the buffer and giving it back to shareholders will not be a popular opinion. but you bring up the broad rally we've had. financials have been a huge part of that. that's been such a bullish trade that i think people are expecting that could pull back a little bit. you can't forget th

kb home and lennar set to report quarterly earnings later this week. er. >> thanks very much. the green, after global worries appear to be subsiding. crimeans opting to rejoin russia in a controversial referendum over the weekend, plus chinese stocks rebounded after a it tough week. jason trender, the chief investment strategist, greg ipp with us, u.s. economic senator and economyist as well as cnbc contributor. jason, first to you. u.s. investors now, would you buy on this news? looks like so far no major surprises when it comes to russia and crimea? >> i think so. i think largely this fits with a story we've been telling, a narrative, very few other alternatives, seems to me. emerging market stocks are cheap. this highlights concerns many people have. equity risks are cheap in the emerging world but the u.s. comes out ahead. economic growth is still going to be strong here. i just came back from asia last week, some of the fears about chinese growth are overblown. so, i'm of the view that probably some of the dislocations we saw last week will be short lived. >> i wanted to

lennar, d.r.rformers in today's s&p 500. >> thanks for pointing it out, bertha coombs. >>> today janet yellen will host the first ever news conference as federal reserve. next guest is notorious for his distaste of the federal reserve and current policies. joining us ron paul the former republican congressman and presidential candidate, now host of "the ron paul channel." good to see youss a always, dr. paul. >> good morning. nice to be with you. >> it's great to get a mix of opinions on the federal reserve. this is janet yellen's first day as fed chairman making the decision, giving her news conference, investors seem to be encouraged by it. they rallied on the day of her testimony. they're rallying here into her first meeting. i take it you're probably not as enthusiastic. >> well, long term is, you know, an illusion. i don't believe that a federal reserve system where any one individual knows how to plan the economy by manipulating interest rates. interest rates are so important that if you giv

was post-2001. 2005 was really this kind of period where people said, hey, go buy toll brothers and lennary, oit come back. interesting cheap stock. >> really? >> yep. >> did not know that. >> this will be about the nine. >> make a big deal at ten. >> we'll have a cake that will be fattening and i won't be able to eat until sunday but i'm signing books at costco on saturday at east hanover and i'm not having any samples. >> good. >> there it is, "get rich carefully." >>> in the time we've got left before the opening bell, a lot of activity and activism. sotheby's has two people for its board that it nominates to go up against dan loeb, wants three board seats. nelson peltz brigwrites a very letter to pepsi and its board of directors. >> executive session without injury. >> i want to understand where your real expenses are. i want to understand your excessive overhead costs, i want to understand your advertising declines. be transparent and tell us what's going on and then, of course, continuing battle between carl icahn and john donahoe over at ebay. this is the season but -- >> isn't this

downside, hess and some of the other halliburton leading the charge lower along with home builders, jim, lennarohawk for instance, right? >> no. these companies put up again the fabulous interviews on "squawk" and you felt good and when you look at the tape people say, oh, yeah, give me a break. we all know things have softened. i'm in the camp which says employment was pretty good. that tends to be a nice indicator of some sort of real job growth which then produces real home buying. but the tape is saying otherwise. i think we have to digest this. hope the froth goes away. i don't see anything dire but obviously when you look at your screen people are saying china is more important than anything right now and china is really getting hurt. europe, by the way, those numbers is that not indicative that china -- remember how much business china does with europe. 25 of their exports, the european numbers were weak. one of the great stories for the last six months was europe coming bang. your point at the beginning aren't there substantive things going on. we don't want to lose europe. >> we don't

there are some companies that should be doing well, lennar had a good quarter, it got killed. are the least seasoned companies in the marketplace and also the cheapest tech companies. classic, oracle, disappointed, right? that's a low multiple stock. how's it doing? it's going higher. intel going higher. microsoft going higher. these are incredible. in the meantime, people are worried about gilead. which is doing quite well. >> have a great show tonight. >> tiffany's up. that's important. don't sell nike at $75. don't. >> all right. >>> coming up pulitzer-prize winning columnist james stewart it's a cnbc exclusive. jim's dinner mate. >> yes. >> of one night ago. >> last night. >> keep it here. (announcer) scottrade knows our clients trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (anno