will loeb walk it up?l herbalife stand behind it underneath, take it up, and create the short squeeze that you may regard as violation of the 34 act. but i'm waiting for that to happen versus the next shoe that we keep hearing from -- >> there is a great point here. he says if somebody comes in, they buy back shares, if someone came in to buy the company, the issue is, if you had this underlying issue, still the biggest issue, because ackman raised it. i have done research that raises red flags and puts this company in a gray area. is it somehow close to operating, if not totally operating in a pyramid scheme. >> you need a government authority to come in. ackman doesn't own the government. the government is not sitting there thinking, we ought to go in and investigate this. >> how do you know? how do you know what the senators are doing right now? how do you know what attorney generals are doing right now? >> okay. here is what i know. you need a tro. >> very quickly. we are going to take a break and come

i'd be careful with loeb. i don't know what his thinking is. when you have ackman coming out and trying to just flush the thing. he said point blank it's going to zero. i think there was a setup there where if you could force a squeeze, you could force his hand. >> i'll give you the last word. >> this was so classic, the setup of this. he comes out, ackman, and two weeks before the end of the year, he starts pounding the table. he comes out and pounds the table for why this stock is going to get hit. he profits from that, even if he didn't take the profits off the table, obviously his position works. but what he had done of course is he exposes himself. now the animal spirits come out and then you've got loeb and icahn and a host of others who say i know a guy who is really, really short on a stock that is under where it was trading weeks ago and they're going to twist them as hard as you can. those are the animal spirits you'll see. that's like a lion wounded in the jungle. earlier it was herbalife and johnson and now it's him, ackman, and the

but loeb has powerful allies and they are real.n has taken a stake in herbalife, and so company the state of play. ackman a fickle potential ally in some entity of the government not nearly as motivated as he is to take action against herbalife. and loeb has kacarl icahn. that's all well and good. a battle royale between rich people over herbalife. the fundamentals, this morning, herbalife is making a ton of money making supplements, particularly overseas, and the ceo has done an amazing job of making distributions in mexico. where it's like selling weight watchers, nutritious, good tasting, helps you lose weight. a terrific pitch. the numbers say it's resonating. you can argue that tactics that the company uses, uses a nonretail format that allows it to selling to other people, including those who sell the product to others may not be your cup of tea. you could also argue that the company admitted today that ackman's attack is costing it money. could be elevated as it defends itself. that's bad. you have to factor in the possibili

dan loeb today revealing he is taking a long position in the name. briefing but now a nice pop on the news. get this, it is now up 24% so far this year. for the past ten months, our very own herb greenburg is working on cnbc investigation ink project called selling the american dream. and herb joins us now. >> by the way, now live on cnbc.com. >> multilevel marketing, long been a point of controversy for the industry that utilizes it. and more investors of companies like haesh al life. since we began. >> reporter: ireporting on herbalife ten months ago, they have generated 15 mi29 billion sales. to get a closer look at the industry, i went under cover with hidden cameras to this jreh al life recrewsment meeting in new york. >> my first six weeks part-time over 9,000 cash in my pocket. then i made over 20 thousand. >> did you really make 20,000 a month doing this? >> she makes 65,000. >> you think? >> i know. >> critic of the pyramid scheme alert says the industry is creating a main street bubble. >> madoff conned a relatively small number of people w

why aren't they saying, that's right, dan loeb has our back?> this takes a long time for it to sort of hash out the same way it did in for-profit education. >> five minutes to trash ackman. >> by the way, by the way -- well, remember, they're coming out tomorrow with the analyst meeting in new york. it will be webcast and presenting their case and remember they said they'll shred ackman. >> i was at solomon taking it public. the same issue that is are raised now raised back then. this is nothing new. >> interesting story. takes a juicy turn today. we'll continue the follow it. >>> how does a 12.5% return for stocks sound in that's what deutsche banc is predicting. we have two guests for a cnbc exclusive interview. thank you for coming on. >> thank you. >> how do we get 12.5%? >> yeah. it's certainly a good return, low interest rate environment. i like to think of it as a fair return for honest work. not the best return out of the equity market in past years but a good return coming from some earnings growth and pe expansion and a 2.5% dividend

and to david's point, both ackman and loeb has done well of late but loeb has been killing it.tivist shirt after about five years i believe of not being terribly active with stocks, but he obviously had a big win with yahoo! he's made other bold bets. so what he's doing no matter what the stock will be interesting. einhorn for what it's worth has studiously avoided the limelight ever since i believe it was the second quarter of last year that he participated in an herbalife earnings call and his mere presence and sharp questioning drove it down by a big chunk. but at the same time, he has not said whether or not he's short. the indications based on that call would suggest that he's short, but we didn't know that. we don't know if he's here today. i've asked the question. i did not see hill. but that doesn't mean he didn't come in on the late side. so a lot of interesting institutional presence. s retail point is interesting, too. underprivilege onlied folks might be getting manipulated and hashle life saying it's offensive to hispanics and others and it's part of the american d

dan loeb taking an 8.42% stake in the company. that bill ackman of pershing is making in this company. this comes, of course, a day before herbalife will make its case to analysts why ackman may in fact be wrong. that is happening tomorrow. interesting development in this ongoing saga. herbalife, this multi-level marketer of nutritional supplements and such. interesting story we're watching. >> last ten trading sessions, up 56%. you don't see that too often. that's going to get more interesting. in the meantime, strong sales on wall street has gm stock picking up some speed. the world's largest automaker up 46% in the last six months. now for the first time since the government announced it's selling its stake in the automaker, ceo dan akerson is speaking out. >> good morning, carl. i'm joined at gm headquarters by the chairman and ceo of general motors, dan akerson. we showed your stock chart. up 46% in the last six months. do you feel as though you're starting to turn the corner in terms of growing the profits? you've been profi

number one, did the activist investor, dan loeb, was that his idea? >> first that's not exactly accurate what you just said. 82% of you are employees will get 100% of their compensation. the remaining 18% had the cash deferred over three years but over that three years 25% of it is paid in four months. >> it is still pretty radical. >> understood, but charlie 50% of it is paid out this year. >> okay. >> so it's not deferred over three years. 50% this year. 25 next year. 25 the year after. >> it's staggered over three years. >> absolutely. it's a deferred process. >> the timing was impeccable. we find out loeb has now taken a stake in morgan stanley the activist investor from third point capital. now all of a sudden this gets announced. >> completely irrelevant. >> nothing to do with each other? >> absolutely nothing to do with it. the only conversation i had with dan loeb was to welcome him. i'm delighted to have him. i like to see somebody who also thinks the stock should go to 40 bucks, why not, this is a great thing. he's a smart guy and he's figur

, daniel loeb and icahn teaming up -- >> i tell you, scott.ut i tell you, scott. what i found the most fascinate, new name here is mills lane. scott mills lane wapener. unbelievable tv. congratulations on the interviews. >> thanks. >> was the insight into each man, right, ackman was reserved, highly technical, wanted to go into -- you were trying to drag him out of the legal argument. icahn was don't bleeping tell me what the bleep to do. right? what did you take away from each man's disposition? >> just how much animosity still exists, brian, over a decade, when this all really started. when ackman was running his prior firm, gotham. it went through court a number of times and the court decided with bill ackman and that animosity has clearly festered and now it is pouring out into the public. maybe because of this public position that ackman was taken and addressiveness which he has done it with, that icahn has taken issue with. it is the way these two guys roll, you know, if you will. icahn is -- i mean, ackman is methodical, right? it is th

loeb says that's preposterous that ftc would sit on this for 30 years. ackman says the product prices are so inflated. loeb says look at starbucks, you can go around the corner for a cup of coffee for a buck. that's the way the market works. if people want to pay more for it, they will. obviously ackman says ftc has been asleep. loeb says they have been working. to nicole's point, it's made a huge move. whoever got in under 30 is smart, smart enough to get in at that level but probably risk takers might be selling into some of this. so it continues. but obviously a $68 target suggests a whole lot of upside if loeb is right and 0 target means if you chase it here, you could ultimately be in trouble. i'm not in the stock either way. connell: 68 or 0. charles: i looked at this thing so hard in the low 30s but didn't pull the trigger. dagen: you can have inflated prices if you have a sales force, again it's like stocks products are sold not bought. charles: 3 million. according to the ftc, it's a pyramid scheme if most products are only going to distributors

he said, great news tomorrow, dan loeb files a 13-g which is a passive filing. he filed it well before he was required to. released the copy of the letter to the press about why this is a great company and a disclose that is herbalife is well known for having a great so-called buy back policy. anyone who wants to get out can get out by urn returning the product back to the company. dan hasn't done his due diligence. the buyback policy is a fallacy. it's difficult to return product to the company. that's why very few distributors were able to. i don't wish dan negative things but if he's long herbalife he will lose his investment. that's my position. >> let me move to a well documenteded position, well discussed within the markets and on business television. jc penney. i found it interesting. this morning i read a quote that you said about procter & gamble. "i think it's unlikely bob mcdonald, the ceo, is the right person for the company based on his track record there." are you sure you're not talking about ron johnson? >> yeah. p & g put up a good quart. organi

dan loeb is questioning the pay of james gorman. 2011 proxy filings, he received $130 million. that's up from $50 million combined in '08 and '09. in those years, many top bankers took little or no bonus. now workers and other firms are waiting to hear what their 2012 bonus will be. the bottom line is

dan loeb revealed an 8% stake in the company. bill ackman revealed his massive short position. c nbc's herb green berg has been following the story. herb joins us with the very latest on this and herb, this is a day ahead of the big meeting. what are we expecting? >> what we're expecting is the company to come back, as they said, shred ackman's presentation. but the question is, will they do that? in one sense, it is theirs to lose. and most important here, you want to see what the company says about a comment they actually gave kay kelly on cnbc, when she asked the question, how much of your sales go to customers that have nothing to do with herbalife, they are outside the network. and michael johnson, the ceo said, 90%, kay said, really? he said, absolutely. that's a number i certainly have never heard, because the company has said they don't know the number, they don't know what that number is and now we need to see what they say about that number and if they can really quantify that number. >> right. and herb, you've been looking at this company for months at this point and

bill ackman and dan loeb fight it out. and, we have answers coming up in the good, bad and ugly.ore "fast money" coming up after this. at 1:45, the aflac duck was brought in with multiple lacerations to the wing and a fractured beak. surgery was successful, but he will be in a cast until it is fully healed, possibly several months. so, if the duck isn't able to work, how will he pay for his living expenses? aflac. like his rent and car payments? aflac. what about gas and groceries? aflac. cell phone? aflac, but i doubt he'll be using his phone for quite a while cause like i said, he has a fractured beak. [ male announcer ] send the aflac duck a get-well card at getwellduck.com. nothing. are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my... this thing. i save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. that's a great idea. i'm going to go... we got clients in today. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping at fedex office. olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small busi

has undergone further surgical procedures since we last spoke, which was to repair her left facial loeb. the facial nerve, as it comes under the year, one of our surgeons has reconnected its and managed to do that without having to graft the nerve. had it not been long enough, he would have used some from the leg. and he has managed to reroute it. malala yousufzai does have weakness in her face on the left side and there is a very good chance after this procedure that this will completely recover. >> that was the update on the condition of malala yousufzai from the queen elizabeth hospital in buckingham. stay with us, there is much more to come on "gmt," including the fungus that is threatening one- third of central america's coffee crops. we have a special report for guatemalans. the british, especially the men, are famously said to be very stoic or reluctant to display emotions. that stiff upper lip could help to explain why fewer people in the u.k. survive cancer than in other countries. a study suggests that people in the u.k. are more likely to languish, not wanting to waste a doct

shares were up 7.5% today as another high profile hedge fund manager daniel loeb, has taken more than an 8% stake in the company. a milestone of sorts for facebook. for the first time in six months the stock is over $30 per share. it rallied 5.3% on heavy volume. there was some excitement about the possibility of a new product as company announced a media event next week. four of the five most active traded exchange traded products were higher. the lone loser of the group was the financial sector fund, down 0.2%. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: despite the worries about european government debt, and violence in mexico, exchange traded funds following stocks in those markets did better last year than the s&p 500. we spoke with stuart schweitzer, vice chairman and global markets strategist at j.p. morgan private bank. >> tom: welcome back to n.b.r. and happy new year. >> as you look across the globe and put your client's money to work, what global market do you see as poised for the best stock market. >> we're really optmistic about non-japan asia. china has bottomed, we th

shares were up 7.5% today as another high profile hedge fund manager daniel loeb, has taken more than an 8% stake in the company. a milestone of sorts for facebook. for the first time in six months the stock is over $30 per share. it rallied 5.3% on heavy volume. there was some excitement about the possibility of a new product as company announced a media event next week. four of the five most active traded exchange traded products were higher. the lone loser of the group was the financial sector fund, down 0.2%. and that's tonight's "market focus." >> tom: despite the worries about european government debt, and violence in mexico, exchange traded funds following stocks in those markets did better last year than the s&p 500. we spoke with stuart schweitzer vice chairman and global markets strategist at j.p. morgan private bank. >> tom: welcome back to n.b.r. and happy new year. >> as you look across the globe and put your client's money to work, what global market do you see as poised for the best stock market. >> we're really optmistic about non-japan asia. china has bottomed, we thi

and ackman, who -- >> loeb. >> let me ask you, who is it?ld bring a gun to a gun fight. >> he would bring a gun. >> maybe three or four. >> chemical weapons to a gun fight. >>> bob is here on the floor this morning. >> happy tuesday, everybody. we have usac, compression partners go public today. they priced 11 million shares at $18 yesterday. the price talk was 19 to 21. that was below the price talk. the stock opened at $17.50. currently trading at $17.69 or so. however, they increased the deal size. they went from 10 million to 11 million shares. they got the money they wanted. they wanted about $200 million, and that's what they raised. price was a little lower but they raised the actual deal size. these mops are very hot right now. since the ones happened since december, seven have been master limited perms. and they're all backed by physical assets. they throw off nice pieces of income. the yield on this company right now, the current yield is about 9%. we're going to have two other ones that are coming later this week. i'll give you mo

. >> this is part of a public fight like what he had with dan loeb. >> certainly short sellers win.you mentioned bill ackman is on one side of this and there are other high-profile investors including dan loeb. >> do we have any suspicion as to where icahn is or simply bad blood? >> there have been a couple of people who have speculated about what carl icahn's position may or may not be in herbalife, but as of now, he's been on the record saying that he won't admit to owning herbalife. >> all right. thank you. >> rebecca jarvis, thanks. >>> u.s. anti-doping agency is giving lance armstrong one more chance to answer under oath. if he doesn't do so, it will be considered irreversible. >> he suggested that cycling in those years was a level playing field because everyone did it. he wasn't doing anything special. >> it's just simply not true. the access they had to inside information, to how the tests work, what tests went in place at what time, special access to the laboratory. he was the one on in entirely different playing field than all the other athletes even if you assume they had

boulder yet, they did not pick a random beer drinker's day picked 100 nickle loeb triggers the culmination of a campaign running throughout the playoffs. five live television taste test each with 100 consumers of competing brands conducting the blind taste test and each was promoted aggressively just like the playoffs they would say watch schlitz beer vs budweiser live during the playoffs. do you remember? the marketing message was clear they think they like another brand would prefer schlitz beer but for super bowl live that halftime schlitz beer hired the former referee to oversee the test given that risky nature with live tv if they assume they produced a delicious beer. not the case. [laughter] they only needed a mediocre beer and a solid grasp of statistics to know this ploy, said termite deny use lightly would almost certainly worked out in its favor. most beers in the category tasted about the same. in the '80s. all beer was bad. ironically that was the fact this advertising campaign exploited. the typical beer drinker cannot tell schlitz from miller oracle up or budweiser proposal

statement today that to me sums the whole argument up and it talks about the battle between ackman and loebit comes down to which guy can prove whether the business is good or not. >> end of story. it's either a good business or it ain't. >> you're right. remember this battle that's going on between these twice has more to do with ego than what they know. there's no way -- >> money is money. >> look, i consider the fight between them a side show, a distraction from what's really important here. look somebody is going to win, somebody will lose. maybe both guys will end up winning. >> it's on the basis chanos says. >> not what the business is good. what that model is actually about. in other words if they come out and say, then the government if they did an investigation said hey this is more about recruiting then selling the product that's an issue. if they come out and say something differently it's not the issue that ackman thought it was. >> herb greenberg. another good day for oil as crude rises more than 1%. let's go to jackie host of cnbc.com futures now. >> oil is trading up to a lev

>> supposedly sofia vergara and her fiance nick loeb were at the delano and somebody spilled a drinkdentally and nick got upset. sophia started yelling at him. and then there were some reports that her top fell down, which sounds like it would be like a solar eclipse. people were just like -- >> nobody got a picture of that? >> i guess nobody got a picture of it. i guess people were just stunned, like a car accident. you're just like -- you know, you just like -- >> like my chest, stunned. not for that reason. also new year's eve there was a wedding, right? hugh hefner. >> yes, hugh hefner. >> what is going on there? just so we're clear on the ages, 86 and 26. >> true love, people. >> what do you think happened? because 18 months ago -- it's christie, right? >> crystal. you're really classing her up, no, it's crystal. >> she sort of left him at the aisle. so what happened in the 18 months? >> god knows. i'm sure -- god knows. >> you were here for it. >> i mean, yeah, i don't know. she just decided they were compatible. i'm sure she -- >> that's sweet. >> she probably discovered viagr

. >> one day after hedge fund managers dan loeb says he is long the stock, we also find out that carlhe stock. we haven't seen a fight like this in a long time. >> no, this is a great one. i have to tell you something, once today you had the company coming out in the morning analyst presentation, and coming to basically saying to everyone, this is a very slick presentation, their bot oom line, we are a legitimate business. and look, they have to start running commercials. all sorts of things you wouldn't expect from a multilevel marketing company. they know they have to do a bet ever job communicating things. then outcomes bill ackman with a statement of his own saying what they presented was distorted, manipulated. he will have his own set of questions on the internet. >> and i have been watching herbalife stock over the course of the day, right? i was watching herbalife shares up over 2%. then the exclusive interview that cape kelly did, right, with herbalife. >> bingo. >> and the stock started appearing its gains and now it is down by 3%. what do you think it was in particular that

enjoy your lunch with dan loeb.t he says about herbalife. >> i thought you were going to ask me about rabini. >> we are out of time. weeg do that next time. >> all right. >> new data out of germany points towards signs of a strengthening eurozone recovery but will the rally continue? let's bring in andy bush of the bush update. i guess that's one of the big questions. the stock market is wondering if it continues. >> the euro is really interesting here. every other country out there views the weak dollar as a problem except for the ecp. this is insanity on their part. even the bank of canada backed down on their hawkish commentary. the only country not doing this for the area is the eurozone. so this is awesome. even euro aussie fell quite a bit. then the little question of the uk pulling out of the eurozone. that's helping the euro stand tall even though these other currencies weakened quite a bit. >> what about the other levels? you weaken the chart and that is not far from 135. what kind of trade do you want to m

obviously, we're very happy that dan loeb has chosen, and we believe he's, obviously, chosen the right always welcome investors that are interested in the long term and understanding about herbalife. but we never comment about other individual investors until such time as they choose to make themselves known. >> okay. without commenting on whether he invested, has he contacted you guys? >> again, it's not something i'm prepared to comment on. >> you're not denying it? >> no comment. >> okay. that's a nondenial denial. you didn't deny it. anyway, we'll move on from there. you said today, or i believe mr. johnson said today, that the company would answer all questions posed about it in the coming days. mr. ackerman came out today and said he's going to pose some questions. do you plan to answer his questions? >> you know, it depends on the question. i mean, at this stage we believe that we have addressed in a very comprehensive and decisive way the questions that have been raised. but we're committed to total transparency, so we don't propose to go back tit for tat. >> with him? >> any l

your securities out or borrow them, forget actually which side, i'm wondering if somebody like a dan loebis shares out of a margin account and puts them into cash account, that takes them out of eligibility to be shorted. >> right. >> if he's not the only one doing that, i wonder if that has the ability to create a short squeeze. and if we look, you know, today, we try to borrow shares, there was no boar record available. >> when a stock goes from $25 to $46 -- >> it's bounced back. recovered everything it lost from the bill ackman -- >> you have a lot of motivated buyers. when you have a signal, all you have to do is validate it. what do i get my guys to do? do some research on herbalife. they are screaming buy to me. anybody that shorts this stock has to play defense unless ackman has a catalyst that is not himself. >> well, but to your point, karen, you are saying the short squeeze, it could theoretically continue as the shorts get out, there could be more in but if you take the shares off the market -- >> out of circulation. >> it becomes smaller and the squeeze becomes more painful.

the door is open and i had dinner in the hall monday night, marshall loeb who starred in fortune magazine. after looking at the chandeliers and all the things on the wall and on the floor, i participated in a fund-raiser in new york. not to give any money but being very creative lot of excitement, pictures, and i spoke, and spoke to the panel and went up the ladder to raise money to get women into politics and that was an awesome experience, so many boards. i have to do something on my list in 2010, justice ruth beta ginsberg, also the first ordinary citizen to testify for elena kagan when she was confirmed and i didn't take that lightly. i researched her, i knew had been at harvard and found out her background and looked her record up and supported her and i was the first to testify for her. it has been an awesome journey and everyone of those, when i did the thing on the counter, valerie jarrett, told me he was getting tired of getting me approved to get into the white house, he just got me a permanent pipe. a lot of people think i only want one time. i was supposed to have been there m

dan loeb saw his flag ship up 21%.operman saw net returns of 26% with picks like aig and sprint. let's take a deeper dive into what hedge funds did right and wrong in 2012 with our expert, anthony. his company had a very good year, sky bridge capital up 21%. congratulations. >> thank you. >> navigating the fund through tumultuous times last year. >> i have to tip my cap to our team, ray nolte and ray and their team on the research side that helps to do this stuff. if you were watching the show, you would know the most of the hedge funds were not going to do well, because 55% of the indexes have been long short. at sky bridge, with 55% of the index weighed there, we have a 0.6% waeighting in long short. there's a lack of price discovery in tshhe markets. and there's a lot of correlations matching each other to one and these guys were overhedged and underperforming particularly in an up market. but let's talk about the future for one second. there will be money made in mortgage-backed securities. money made in distressed

loeb might be buying nothing. what does it mean it does nothing? >> it doesn't mean it's not going to do something. >> mexican standoff. >> herbalife was centered on that argument on friday. >> a long storied history between them. >> how many parallels between that conversation and michael douglas and wall street, i can buy in ten times over. it was amazing. it was amazing. >> icahn, he's been doing this a lot longer. he's 30 years older than ackman. he's the better investor on track record, no doubt. and he's got cahonas that go on forever. what can i tell you. >> was he off his game, though? everybody thought he was rude. >> that's carl. >> that was so typical of carl. very typical of carl. >> i thought that -- >> he curses on the air when he's just on himself. >> that's the way it goes with him. he's one tough dude, period. >> okay. >> it will be interesting to see how it alters his perception on the street and beyond, from this point forward. we just don't know the answer to that yet. speaking of showdowns, amazon versus barnes & noble. the lat

to me that's going to be the big event of the day. >> kevin, what is loeb going to do?oped. >> well, the oil world is going to be sort of boring as long as nothing really exciting like algeria happens again. right now for the year we're at $93 wti, $110 brent and that's predicated on 1% brand growth which is below the numbers the international agencies put out this morning. they tend to start the year high, optimistic and pare it back as the year goes on. we're a little bit more skeptical as far as the heat of recovery, particularly the lower oil intensity of demand. if you have a second incident, you can start to get to the point where nonstate actors are beginning to interrupt the oil supply system because of actions in mali or just broader al qaeda risk. that will filter into the market. could take you up to 99 dollars per wear, wti for modest disruption risk. even above for the year, to 104. >> he we were at 93 dollars at other times didn't we get to $4 gas? something's weird. i mean, did no one even -- i don't even notice what the price is anymore and it's down at

today we heard dan loeb reported a huge steak, a big 8.2% stake in the company.a nice big boost today but this comes on the heels of act man and pershing square being worried about the company having short positions. 3% gain today. back to you. tracy: nicole, we'll take it. ashley: president obama set to nominate we've of white house staff jack lew as treasury secretary. if confirmed he will have to jump into the debt ceiling debate. that will be trial by fire, isn't it? rich edson is live at the white house. >> this is the reason why he is selected. he has really been a budget person here in washington for the past 30 years. he was budget chief under the clinton white house and obama white house. he has been in all the particular budget fights especially next to president obama with the debt ceiling year-and-a-half ago in most recent recent round. according to folks early in the week telling us at fox we would get announcement by the end of this week that jack lew would likely be the next treasury secretary pick from president obama. we don't have much week left

it has been rail and the doors open and i had dinner and the home monday night of the marshall loeb, who started "fortune" magazine. i could need for looking at the chandelier and all the things that the wall on the floor because i participated in a fundraiser in new york. not that i could give any money, but me being there created a lot of excitement and pictures and i spoke at the equal pay piano and when that the latter to raise money to get women into politics, either republican or democratic and i was an awesome experience. so many doors. i've got to do my last thing on my bucket list in 2010. i got to meet justice ruth bader ginsburg. i also was the first ordinary citizen to testify for elena kagan when she was confirmed. i didn't take that lightly. i found out her background and look there that could have been supported her and that is the first one to testify for her. so it has been an awesome journey. it really has. when i did the thing with valerie garrett and the president come he told me he was getting me tired of getting me a proof to get the white house. a lot of people

and above where loeb bought it. >> i hope everybody makes money. >> especially if it's for char ti, rightnk stocks are opening to the down side here. i think wells fargo is the down side leader. it was down 2% just a few minutes ago. this was a good report, and it is typical for the banks to sell off immediately after. it's a little unusual. usually jpmorgan leads with the banks. this time it's wells fargo. it's typical for the banks to sell off immediately after the first day of the first bank earnings report. what happened to the wall of worry? we don't seem to have any worries anymore. we don't seem to have a wall either. notes out this morning about that. we've got the vix at historic lows. the russell 2000 at historic highs. japan's rallying like crazy. telling the bank of japan to keep printing. china's been rallying recently on hopes they would do a little bit better. how much room is there for the markets to expand? risk is really low, the returns that you can expect are lower. high yield bond funds, talking 5% yields now in some of them. the better ones, maybe 5.5%. what kind of

. >> and dan loeb, you said brings three guns to a knife fight. >> yeah. >> that's what i said this weekend, the ravens brought three guns to the knife fight. >> jim sounded off on the fed. >> he has no idea what it's like out there. none. and bill pool has no idea what it's like out there. my people have been in this game for 25 years. >> jim was absolutely right. if you saw these transcripts last week. stick around for that. also ahead, sheila bair one day after the president's inaugural address. what she has to say about the debt ceiling standoff. >>> what a week it is going to be. "squawk on the street" is back in a minute. twins. i didn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligations, but obligations. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it

since we just mentioned dan lobe and since you do travel among a special billionaire set between loebou consider friends of yours -- >> i don't -- >> what do you make of this? >> it's great theater. what do i make of this? i don't know. it's -- it's entertaining. >> that's as far as you're going to go? do you have a few on this -- >> herbalife? >> on herbalife -- >> i'd rather that comment. i mean i really -- it's just amusing. i mean it is fun. i mean it's fun. i showed the video from your station to my whole family over the weekend my kids were like, ah. so it was fun. >> we were talking about -- >> i'm not sure they would like to have -- i've done that, by the way. >> either one of them. >> i think both of them. >> you know, but look, they're passionate people. that's what you can say about bill and about carl. and they're very strong views, so it's combustible and it exploded on set. >> what's great is i think ackman, ackman gets on a, you know, he gets an opinion about something. i saw him with the hong kong dollar, and he'll give you 400 slides to show you why he's going to be r

it has been rail and the doors open and i had dinner and the home monday night of the marshall loeb,tarted "fortune" magazine. i could need for looking at the chandelier and all the things that the wall on the floor because i participated in a fundraiser in new york. not that i could give any money, but me being there created a lot of excitement and pictures and i spoke at the equal pay piano and when that the latter to raise money to get women into politics, either republican or democratic and i was an awesome experience. so many doors. i've got to do my last thing on my bucket list in 2010. i got to meet justice ruth bader ginsburg. i also was the first ordinary citizen to testify for elena kagan when she was confirmed. i didn't take that lightly. i found out her background and look there that could have been supported her and that is the first one to testify for her. so it has been an awesome journey. it really has. when i did the thing with valerie garrett and the president come he told me he was getting me tired of getting me a proof to get the white house. a lot of people think

dan loeb is still in there. probably will be for some time. and has done very well with it. that helps also. he was key in terms of at least the appointment of mayer to the job. >> but look, there's so many things that could go right here. and one of the things she makes the point of is, 200 million. she keeps talking about the 200 million users. people never left yahoo!. you could say they're hibernating in it. but i felt after this call, momentum is coming. and i want to stay at yahoo! if i'm working at yahoo!. my resume is finally out. and they want to bring out the best people. good people on the board. >> and that's about the core business. many investors still looking at some of the parts. what's the valuation going to be. when it comes to yahoo! japan, that has gone up sharply. but the yen has fallen sharply, so that may wash out and not be a loss. but there are significant sums from both of those investments that have yet to be potentially realized. >> good quarter. >> the stock is up this morning. ford reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings at 31 cen

dan loeb that says no, no, no. perfectly legitimate company. it is a little -- this is a battle royale, guys, you do not see very off own wall street. two powerful guys seeing one company in two very different lights. sort of keeping us occupied here on cnbc. >> i bet. another business for you are following aig. followup to that. they are backing -- not in a lawsuit now but how does it effect the overall story as it goes? >> well, i think that the fact that they smartly chose not to include themselves in the lawsuit is a good thing for aig. i mean, listen, the lawsuit -- >> they look like idiots. >> yeah. took a bailout from the united states government to the tune of $180 billion, not million, billion dollars. yes, they paid it back. right? the government will make money on that. you took the bailout. putt paid it back. listen, if your uncle lends you money because you are in dire straits and you pay him back, don't sue your uncle. just move on. pat them on the back and say thanks. question, question. cnbc has new

. >> yesterday fellow hedge fund manager dan loeb challenged the validity of ackman's claims.ter this morning to respond to the claims made by ackman and concerns about the company. joining us now from new york is des walsh, president of herbalife, with a review of what we are likely to hear at this meeting later today. good morning to you, des. >> good morning, andrew. good to be with you. let's help set the record straight. >> let's do that. and if you could, spend 30 seconds just teeing up what exactly you plan to say today about bill ackman's claim that this is a pyramid scheme. >> here's what we're going to hear. what we're going to hear is that bill ackman's claims represent a gross distortion of the reality. that herbalife is a great company, we're a legitimate company, we've been in business for 32 years. we have tremendous science-based products that are very high in health and safety and efficacy and we've got a tremendous business opportunity and we're proud of where we are today and confident about our future. >> okay, des, let's talk about the pyramid scheme thesi