our morgan brennan is live at the big event out in san francisco. hi, morgan. >> reporter: hi, tyler. yes, sitting right outside the building where on the 11th floor this event isic canning off right now. new ceo satya nadella making his first appearance in front of media and wall street for that matter. we're hearing there's about 100 people upstairs, standing room only. expectation, hearing from sources now, mobile, cloud, two areas where microsoft has been lag on competitors. also, widely expected to hear about office 4 ipad today one of the things sources telling us there should be big news around 1:20 eastern. keeping a close ear out for that. in the meantime, seems wall street is -- investors are hopeful about nadella. stock up about 8% since he took the reins from steve ballmer last month. with this in the meantime, you go upstairs and walk around at the event, they've color-coded m&ms to look like the microsoft logo. back to you. >> thank you so much, morgan. >>> diving deeper into what is a major event for this company. jon fortt joining me

for nightly business report, i'm morgan brennan. >>> moving to the economy in china. as the national people's congress met today, laying up growth targets and spending plans for the world's second largest economy. we have more now from beijing. >> as we open up this year's chinese congress, investors set up better sense of the new leadership's economic priorities for 2014 and china's version of the state of the union address the premier reaffirmed the country's annual target. economic growth is forecast at 7.5%. consumer inflation at 3.5%. now, the figures have just set policymakers what really takes to slower growth than previous years. the target in the past years have been seen as a floor, but with the economy slowing down, the target is increasingly being viewed as an actual target. now, much of the premier's speech focused on the costs of china's rapid economic growth. he declared a war on pollution. the administration also said it would find ways to help local governments reign in debt. perhaps by allowing them to sell bonds. now, another highlight from the day

for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan in rio, vista, california. >>> fat head is a companynown for selling larger than life cut outs of sports stars and pop singers. and now for a limited time, the company is selling you see it there giant cut out of warren buffett for just $30 a pop. it's all to promote the quicken loan's billion2w dollar bracket challenge for the ncaa college basketball tournament which the buffett owned geico is insuring. >> but nobody's going to win it. so he's going to make money on it. that's a little more buffett than i need. >> all the profits go to detroit charities so that's a good thing. that's "nightly business report" for tonight. i'm susie gharib. thanks for watching. >> i'm tyler mathisen. have a great evening, everybody. we'll see you tomorrow. >>> "nightly business report" has been brought to you in part by -- >> thestreet.com. founded by jim cramer, thestreet.com is an independent source for stock market analysis. cramer's action alerts plus service is home to his multimillion dollar portfolio. you can learn more at thestreet.com/nbr. >>>

for "nightly business report," i'm morgan brennan in san francisco. >>> and another set back to tell you about in housing. pending home sales in february fell .8%, making eight months in a row of declines. you guessed it. cold weather, higher lending rates and a lack of available homes on the market get the blame this time for the latest drop. also today, freddie mac reporting that mortgage rates ticked a little bit higher last week, with 30-year fixed rate loans now going for 4.40%. >>> ty, some good news about economic growth and a fresh read on gross domestic product in the final quarter of last year. shows the economy grew at a pace of 2.6%. .2% better than a reading from just one month ago. and some positive news out of the labor market as well. the number of americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to a near four-month low. >>> there could be more trouble ahead for general motors. a federal judge in texas will hear arguments next week on an emergency motion that would force the automaker to tell owners of more than 1 million cars with those faulty ig

and as morgan brennan tells us, it could be the start of a new wave of acquisitions in hollywoo hollywood. >> reporter: you may not know the term multichannel network, but if you've ever watched a youtube video you probably know the content. multichannel networks are mcns produce digital videos and distribute them through youtube. they test hundreds of channels, hundreds of thousands of subscribers, billions of monthly views and now the funding of traditional media giants like warner brothers and dreamworks animation. to access the young adults to have been increasingly foregoing pay tv subscriptions in favor of online video. >> it's a different kind of content. now you have the studios going from the more traditional content packages of motion pictures, television, down into these microsegments of content where there's also a lot of innovation happening. >> reporter: big studios can offer more distribution and in return get access to new content and new talent geared toward a different kind of audience, an audience whose digital consumption could disrupt traditional pay tv models for yea

morgan brennan now on why this so-called old media form of advertising is now attracting a lot of new money. >> reporter: ever wonder who's responsible for those billboards on the highway? they're called out of home media companies. they own and operate billboards, airport signs, subway and bus station posters, even those neon displays you see in times square. they're considered old media companies, and today one of the industry's biggest debuted on the stock exchange. called cbs outdoor americas, the new company was spun off by its namesake, cbs corporation. the broadcast giant spinning off its outdoor advertising business to focus more heavily on content. >> the idea of splitting off the outdoor division, it was a positive for the outdoor group plus a positive for cbs. because it gives us more cash and more ability to continue to expand in the content business. >> reporter: but cbs outdoor has amassed quite the display empire. the company counts 330,000 displays across the u.s. and another 26,200 in canada and latin america. and those numbers are likely to grow. for the industry, sp

morgan brennan reports. >> reporter: the "new york times" is launching a new app called nyt now. for $8 a month, users will get selective content from across the paper's web site that editors have deemed the most compelling. but the new app is coming with something else as well. what the company calls paid posts. better known as native ads, it's a new kind of advertisement, and one that publishers like the times hope will turn around declining ad revenues. >> in many cases the primary form of advertising in digital and in mobile. and i think a lot of digital publishers are moving to that, are embracing native because of that. >> reporter: native ads have been a source of controversy. they're the web's version of magazine advertorials, for matting like an article and giving an advertiser for brand storytelling. while they typically show up in content streams labled as ads, it can sometimes be easy for readers to overlook those disclosures. still publishers like the "new york times" are adopting them because they command a premium over other kind of advertising. while one critic is

and morgan brennan with the fish in california. hi, morgan. >> hi. yes, we're in california where the salmon are making an unexpected journey via tanker truck. we'll have more on that after the break. we know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is. customizable charts, powerful screening tools, and guaranteed one-second trades. and at the center of it all is a surprisingly low price -- just $7.95. in fact, fidelity gives you lower trade commissions than schwab, td ameritrade, and e-trade. i'm monica santiago of fidelity investments, and low fees and commissions are another reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? yup. all 5 of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line, anytime, for $15 a month. low dues, great terms. let's close! new at&

our own cnbc's morgan brennan has the details. good evening. >> good evening, larry.ssa has tried to get lois lerner to talk, she's done so in the past and did so again today >> my counsel has advised me i have not waived my constitutional rights, and on his advice, i will decline to answer any question on the subject matter. i respectfully exercise my fifth amendment right. my fifth amendment right. my. i respectfully dlan to answer that question. >> reporter: in all she repeated that same line nine times. clearly frustrated chairman issa called an bankrupt end to the hearing. >> seeking the truth is the obligation of this committee. i can see no point in going further. i have no expectations that ms. lerner will cooperate with this committee and therefore we are adjourned. >> chairman, i have a state. mr. chairman, you cannot run a committee like this. you just cannot do this. this is -- we are better than that as a country, better than that as a committee. issa then excused all the witnesses, but said he would let elijah cummings make his statement. >> but first i

for a look at today, let's check in with morgan brennan. >> thank you.companies with exposure to the russian market are taking hit. the pay pal of russian. the russian internet and tv provider, an internet search operation in russia. check out the market vector russian etf. fertilizer stocks are moving higher. they stand to benefit if the crisis leads to economic sanctions against russia. potash, and intrepid potash all in the green. darden restaurants, one of the worst performers on the s&p 500. this is as the chain projected third quarter earnings below street estimates blaming, what else, the bad weather for lower sales. loral space movingi higher. >>> seema mody join us with some highlights. >> warren buffett touching on a variety of topics. while the crisis in ukraine may have many investors on edge, buffett didn't seem discouraged. >> you're going to invest your money in something over time. the one thing you can be quite sure of if we run into a major war, the value of money will go down. that's happened in virtually every war that i'm aware of. s

. >> the winner is not morgan brennan even though every guy here has already beaten me up saying morganis house and the wildcats. >> the brick beauty. >> yes. >> that one is moving on to the next round. >> i still like the tuesday can mansion. >> you like morgan brennan. >> i like both. i like chu but i like the mansion. the million dollar brick beauty winning round one. that's going to move on to the semifinals. let us know if you agree, tweet us using the hash tag million dollar home. you can catch dolly on "squawk on the street." later she'll crown the winner during "closing bell." >> do you think kentucky can beat louisville. >> you mean million dollar homes. >> no, the game friday night. >> i do. i do. >> that guy hit every free throw. >> i saw your pictures. thought that was great. >>> coming up, ebay firing the latest shot in its activist fight with carl icahn. and the shake-up with jim cramer. that's coming up next. make it happen with fidelity active trader pro. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account

. >> i'm morgan brennan with the market wrap. optimism about the economy bo t boosts stocks.ds 11 points. the number of americans filing for first time job benefits rose less than expected last week. claims are near a three-month low. the philadelphia fed said factory activity in the mid-atlantic bounced back after a tough winter. and existing home sales fell slightly, that's according to the national association of realtors. that's from msnbc, first in business worldwide. [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance. call liberty mutual insurance at... [ thump ] to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house, or add a car to your policy. personalized coverage and savings. all the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect.

morgan brennan join us us with more. hey, morgan. >> reporter: hi. right behind me, the big event here from microsoft just wrapping up a few moments ago inside new ceo satya nadella making his first appearance in front of media. you mentioned, the big news here, office for ipad. that is debuting in the app store right now as we speak. so here's what nadella had to say about this product at the event today. >> when it comes to office 365, the vision is pretty straightforward. is to make sure that the 1 billion office users and growing can have access to the high fidelity office experience on every device he love to use. and office on the ipad and today's announcement marks one more step in that direction. >> reporter: so now this is really a watershed moment for microsoft. and its core office suite. the first time we've seen this software available on apple's ipad. nadella saying to expect more announcements in the coming weeks starting with another next week at the build conference here in san francisco. back to you. >> margin, thank you for the deta

our morgan brennan is live at the big event out in san francisco. hi, morgan

morgan brennan is live in l.a. with some of the details. hi, morgan. >> hi, sue. disney's kicking often its annual shareholder meeting and we've got news to share. according to a regulatory filing, disney is tweaking the wording in its proxy statement as it relates to the chairman position. here's the gist. basically the chairman of the board be an independent director unless the board decides it would be in shareholder's best interest to do otherwise. what exactly does that mean? this doesn't effect ceo and chairman bob eiger's positions. the language clarified the standard the board had previously committed to. what it does do is appease shareholders who are looking to vote today on whether the largest stockholders could actually nominate candidates to the board. that is reportedly now off the table. so other topics that could come up today. secession plans for ceo bob iger. his tenure was extended through june 2016. there's buzz about who succeeds him. the two top names being tossed around, the cfo, staggs. and sweeney said just last week that she is stepping d

morgan brennan is there with more. hey there. >> reporter: hi guys. we're on sunset strip.an see some of the biggest billboards in the world. advertisers spend about 5% of their ad budgets outside like this. even those ads you see at the airport. and today, cbs spinning out it's outside advertising business. until now, this was under the cbs umbrella. the broadcaster is spinning this out because it's doubling down on content and this is a noncore asset. this is what cbsceo had to say about this earlier today. >> when you look at it, it was a positive for the outdoor group plus a positive for cbs because it gives us more cash and ability to continue to expand in the content business. >> reporter: so analysts noting the timing of this as well. that's because it's capital intensive and it's very cyclical. it moves with the economy. they have 30,000 displays across the u.s. more in canada and latin america. also worth noting, it is converting to a root structure. we have seen this before in the space most notably with lamar advertising. investors really seem to like this old me

morgan brennan has been inevitably plugging in. >> that's right.closer look at plug power. this manufacturer's hydrogen fuel cells for work force forklifts. huge run, 4600% in the past year now, and -- but that's even after that run, the company is trading back where it traded in 2011. today, up another 26%. that's despite another stock offering. fuel cell energy up 65% this week as well, fuel cell releases earnings on monday. two more, maxwell technologies and ballard power systems, both up more than 40% this week, too. we are seeing this as government extends more funding. we have companies adopting more clean tech, car makers like toyota and hyundai are rolling out fuel cell programs and of course, elon musk drawing attention to the shortage of lithium doesn't hurt either. companies in the space are small and many haven't turned a profit yet. going back to plug, saying it will make money in 2014 but until now, it's been losing millions of dollars, going back to the chart we saw at the beginning. at its peak, it was over $150, then went down to a

. >> morgan brennan is in los angeles with the latest on t quake that hit los angeles. >> reporter: wein our studios ourselves. right now preliminary 4.7 magnitude quake. it hit in the hills north of westwood, near ucla, around 6:25 our time. 9:25 eastern. right now we're trying to get more information. that's what we have for you right now. it's a decent sized quake. back to you. >> thanks. what is a heavily populated part of the los angeles area. >> one of the great areas. >> beverly hills, universal city as we're seeing. santa monica. >> you want to see houses that are on stilts, hoping everything's fine. >> want to go to mary thompson on the floor. >>> mary's watching the action on the floor. i would guess that some of this news now of coming out of los angeles is going to be talked about on the floor here? >> reporter: i think so. certainly isn't impacting the markets the dow jones industrial average, best levels of the day, 119 points. broad-based gains. weakness in crude and gold today. look at sectors, industrials, very strong today. banks, retails, all higher across the board.

morgan brennan is in los angeles following the story for us. it? >> yes, it does. so pandora is raising the subscription price for ad-free streaming service by a dollar, $4.99 per month for new subscribers and scrapping the annual subskrigss which represents a dollar increase for those subskripers. the music streaming giant is doing this to cover rising music licensing costs that artist royalties are up 53% over the last five years. and that they're expected to jump another 9% in 2014. subscribers may not be too happy, especially since there are other services to choose from. apple's itunes, spotify and beats which offer various subscription offers and more competition. actually coming in. we've got samsung just announced. milk music, amazon launching a service through prime and, of course, youtube. but also keep in mind, subscribers only make up 3.3 million of pandora's 250 million registered users. and consumer appetite for online radio, it keeps growing. streaming music revenue in the u.s. grew 39% in 2013. and that's making up over 20% of t

morgan brennan keeping an eye on all this. what is it going to mean to microsoft's bottom line?: well, this could be big. at the very least symbolically. microsoft finally launching offices for ipad today. that's going to include excel, power, and word. we saw this debut in the app store this afternoon following the event. actually, apple ceo tim cook tweeting a welcome to nadella in light of this news. anyone can download to their ipad to view documents and give presentations. only office 365 subscribers will have full access and actually be able to edit. so take a listen to what nadella himself had to say about this. >> today the fact that anyone who's an office 365 subscriber can get access to those beautiful applications on the ipad and do more is definitely the news of the day, but you can expect us, our commitment going forward is to make sure that we drive office 365 everywhere. >> reporter: now, this represents a big step towards what experts are calling a more agnostic microsoft that's potentially less tethered to windows. nadella himself saying this is only the beginni

evan newmark, morgan brennan, lauren sylvan and robert frank.about the kinds of activities, whether people are worried about ukraine, from the hedge fund guys you talk to, what sense are you getting? >> everyone in new york seems happy that they're literally just applauding that ukraine is over. a hedge fund move i saw was buying tail risk protection. if there's conflict it could mean a drop in the equity market and they want to protect against that. >> what do you mean they're happy about this? they see it as a trading snunt. >> i'm saying the mood in the u.s. is happy generally with this good jobs report. i'm saying in ukraine it's a much different situation. >> got it, got it. what song is still on top of the charts. it's literally the song is called "happy" is it not? pharrel? who does that song. >> you're dating yourself. >> the song is like three weeks old. i'm not going to sing it right now. steve grasso, who is joining the conversation -- sorry, he's not here just yet. he'll come in a second. i'm all rhode island up by these markets. >>

morgan brennan has been monitoring the annual shareholders meeting. are they happy? >> i think so.he meeting just ended. 10 of the 11 board members were re-elected including sheryl sandberg. blackberry ceo john chen and quar and twitter could founder jack dorsey. probably the most interesting piece of news relating to today's meeting actually came before the meeting. there had been a proposal for the largest shareholders to be able to nominate candidates for the board. that was actually taken off the table today after disney tweaked its language regarding the chairman position in its proxy statement. that language basically reaffirming that the chairman be an independent director unless it's in shareholders' interests to do otherwise. a new cars sequel is coming and a new "incredibles" film and the next "star wars" movie will take place 30 years after "return of the jedi." kelly, back to you. >> morgan, thanks very much. let's stick with disney for a moment. it's been on quite a run, up 44% other the past 12 months. >> let's talk about it. timot thinks there's more room run and abi

pl morgan brennan joins us. >> yes. file something out and the compensation for 2013 markedly lower than 2012. here are the three 2345i78s you need to know. mark zuckerberg, $653,000 in 2013. that's compared to $1.9 million in 2012. sheryl sandberg, facebook coo, $16.1 million in 2013. that's compared to $26.2 million the year prior. lastly, david ebersman, cfo, he made $10.5 million in 2013. compared to 17.5 million in 2012. that's thanks to a reduction in stock awards. back to you. >> that's going to be interesting, morgan. thanks very much. what has got the street clicking today? we'll bring you the hottest stories on our website next. it's "the hot list." it's next. don't go anywhere. don't go anyw. especially if you're thinking of moving an old 401(k) to a fidelity ira. it gives you a wide range of investment options... and the free help you need to make sure your investments fit your goals -- and what you're really investing for. tap into the full power of your fidelity green line. call today and we'll make it eas

thanks so much, morgan brennan in l.a. with that interesting wrinkle. a lot of the high multiple names, kayla, that we talked about for most of the past year or two. trip advisor, priceline, gilead, facebook, michael kors, all the high multiple names are being traded in basically for names that haven't done much in the past year, proctor & gamble, mcdonald's, at&t, staples. >> yeah. when you look at the biotech index i know sheila was talking about it earlier this hour but the move down has been pretty stark down 7% for that biotech index which is a sharp move in the last couple sessions. >> the dow and s&p have not had a losing march since 2008 and they're just barely in the red for the month. the last significant down march was actually 2005. so we'll see. by the way, the markets have not put together three winning days consecutively for the entire month. so it has been sort of a difficult month in terms of news flow. >> and data driven market. >> last week was a big adventure as well as everybody knows. scott wapner has a lot to work with for the nex

morgan brennan is at the event in san francisco. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, yes.e in san francisco. not too, too much buzz here at the physical location just yet. that said, we are seeing press set up and we have seen some microsoft employees come through the doors of the venue which is right behind me. one of the things we're hearing from sources here basically to temper some of the expectations that have been swirling ahead of this event. what we are hearing, what is being buzzed about is that satya nadella will talk today about mobile and cloud, two areas that microsoft has lagged behind competitors in. also hearing that he will be potentially discussing office for ipad which has been very long awaited. number of analysts releasing reports this week ahead of that in anticipation. looking at some of those estimated revenue impacts we're looking at somewhere between about $1.2 billion on average in future annual revenue, so we're going to be listening for that as well. one of the other things coming up today ahead of the event, some folks hoping because this is n